Starfield Pre-Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Vic]

idk man there was a female employee at the coffee shop who complained that she should be in a managerial position. then the guy tells her if she wants to manage something she should go in the back and manage the mop.

Writing is definitely not pozzed but all these proc gen’d niggers man wth

Named NPCs are well done at least

 

[Yoomazir]

Wow, this game almost makes me want to replay Outer Worlds, almost...

 

[deuxhero]

I've just surveyed Maheo 1 - based on a job I got from a mission board - and it was a complete waste of time. The overworld was empty, it literally might as well have been procgen'd Daggerfall wilderness. I visited three locations - Abandoned Mine (six pirates standing in a small settlement, nothing else to find here), Civilian Outpost (several unnamed generic NPCs who would trade with me) and Cave (empty).

This is really boring honestly. Skyrim, Fo3 and even Oblivion were constant content, you couldn't walk five steps without finding a proper dungeon that was generally worth exploring. Starfield is the exact oppoiste, you walk through endless barren wilderness for ages to find something, and when you do, it's a total non-event, worse than even a crappy Fo4 dungeon.

I don't know how they went from Skyrim, which was the perfect distillation of their formula and a recipe for success, to this, which deliberately throws out all Skyrim's strengths. Skyrim threw content at you and overwhelmed you with places to visit and things to do, while Starfield forces you to go seeking content out yourself, only to discover that there basically isn't any.

About six~ hours in and I'm already thinking I'll just not bother exploring uncharted worlds anymore. I'll only go where quests take me, so I know I'm not totally wasting my time. Now, onto the next problem: the quests suck.

Really, from what I've heard so far it sounds like the game has as much non-RNG content as Arena, and Arena's 18 main quest dungeons (all big and expansive with a few puzzles) were its only non-RNG content. Is this a correct guess?

 

[Lemming42]

 

[Lemming42]

Really, from what I've heard so far it sounds like the game has as much non-RNG content as Arena, and Arena's 18 main quest dungeons (all big and expansive with a few puzzles) were its only non-RNG content. Is this a correct guess?

I'm not sure. I'm ignoring the main quest and trying to get into hand-made sidequests now, though nothing's too exciting so far.

The Arena comparisons work in as much as the distances in the world are all fake; trying to fly away from a planet is exactly like trying to walk through the wilderness in Arena, in that you're not actually going anywhere, you won't find anything notable, and you've got to use fast travel to move to another actual location.

Arena made much better use of procgen IMO, there's nothing in Starfield like Arena's cities and towns, and all the NPCs in Starfield are non-interactive beyond a few generic barks, unlike Arena townspeople. For Todd, it seems like procgen was just a way to create a lot of big, boring, empty planets so that he could claim the game was vast or whatever. As opposed to Julian LeFay's approach of using it to try and create a fully interactive, believable world.

 

[Lovely Feather Pillow]

This game is so diverse it’s distracting. I kinda hate it.

 

[Gerrard]

Alright, I'm scared

Characters look and move like in all those fucking indie Asian jank-ass horror games on Steam.

Wow, this game almost makes me want to replay Outer Worlds, almost...

Makes me wish for a nuclear winter.

 

[Modron]

In 12 years when I get the inclination to try this game I am going to make my mc look like James Hong.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

 

[Lovely Feather Pillow]

Really, from what I've heard so far it sounds like the game has as much non-RNG content as Arena, and Arena's 18 main quest dungeons (all big and expansive with a few puzzles) were its only non-RNG content. Is this a correct guess?

I'm not sure. I'm ignoring the main quest and trying to get into hand-made sidequests now, though nothing's too exciting so far.

The Arena comparisons work in as much as the distances in the world are all fake; trying to fly away from a planet is exactly like trying to walk through the wilderness in Arena, in that you're not actually going anywhere, you won't find anything notable, and you've got to use fast travel to move to another actual location.

Arena made much better use of procgen IMO, there's nothing in Starfield like Arena's cities and towns, and all the NPCs in Starfield are non-interactive beyond a few generic barks, unlike Arena townspeople. For Todd, it seems like procgen was just a way to create a lot of big, boring, empty planets so that he could claim the game was vast or whatever. As opposed to Julian LeFay's approach of using it to try and create a fully interactive, believable world.

Yep. The game is vast but ultimately empty. There’s no real passion or soul in it.

The writing is abysmal and you’re forced into a generic good character. There’s no RPG beyond colored loot and getting a skill point every level.

 

[tastywaffles]

Then there's the lack of exploration, the constant loading screens - almost no overworld to explore (and what little there is isn't worth exploring), just dungeon to dungeon to dungeon to dungeon. Part of the fun of exploration is the wonder of discovery and the beauty of the environments. You won't find much of that here. Even the supposed biggest Bethesda city ever is ugly.

I hate to be that guy but... you are playing it wrong. Did you do any quests in New Atlantis? Did you do the electric circuit quest? Doing that without a minimap should give you enough exploration within the city.

edit: also I think it was you who I asked earlier in this thread when you complained about lack of exploration if you have explored Kreet, but you didn't answer. Are you rushing the story that you do dungeon after dungeon? You can spend probably 10 hours alone in New Atlantis exploring and doing the quests.

Its just not fun though. So I do a quest. I have the goods to sell or cash to buy, that means I have to wrangle with the menus and the clumsy shop interface (hope I don't accidentally hock something valuable again!). Next I take my earnings and I want to mod a weapon maybe. Then I have to wrangle with another poorly designed UI, that is no less annoying than every other one. I thought I could tolerate the wretched GUI if the rest was fun, but its not. So I put up will all that irritating crap, and then what? Go exploring? To find what? Ugly places filled with ugly people, and then... more menuing hell? Bethesda really should sack whomever is responsible for the menu designs. They're so streamlined, so cool looking, but they weren't designed to comfortably used, which should be their primary purpose.

What I wanted/was expecting was Skyrim/Fallout 4 with a space theme. This is not that, its something else, something that removed the things I previously enjoyed, and instead of replacing them with something superior, omitted those fun bits or made them not fun. Whomever this game is made for, it ain't me.

I wanted to like this, was expecting fun, but it's just objectively bad in most every area that matters. That they spent a decade on this and at no point did they not realize that it was not fun. Compare to Nintendo, who spent like 7 years on TOTK. At no point did they take it seriously, they just had fun and added whatever stupid crap they thought would be most fun: and the end result was simple dumb fun.

This game is the official end of Bethesda, imo. If this doesn't become a humiliating flop that costs them a billion dollars, then humanity deserves a Starfield future.

 

[gabel]

Humanity deserves nuclear holocaust and following extinction, regardless of how well this shit game sells.

 

[kroki]

200 million budget and 500 strong team, everyone. its gonna make 2x that, too. let that sink in.

you also become "Starborn" as the plot unfolds. i really wish i outgrew this gay ass "hobby" 15 years ago, when i turned 18.

 

[Lemming42]

This game is the official end of Bethesda, imo.

Presumably they'll make a quick pivot to "TES VI is on the way!!" to try and distract people.

Thing is, Starfield is pretty shocking in that it suggests they have no ability to learn from mistakes. All the problems people had with Fo4 have been magnified and exacerbated to absurd levels in this game. They don't seem capable of making "Skyrim in space" or "Skyrim in a desert" or w/e anymore, they're just completely oblivious as to what made them such a titanic and well-loved developer in the first place.

I'm not even hating the game, it's mostly just like an even duller Outer Worlds, but it's just staggering how it lacks almost anything that made Fo3 and Skyrim such massive successes.

 

[Vic]

What I wanted/was expecting was Skyrim/Fallout 4 with a space theme. This is not that, its something else, something that removed the things I previously enjoyed, and instead of replacing them with something superior, omitted those fun bits or made them not fun. Whomever this game is made for, it ain't me.

Weird, plays exactly like Fallout 4 in space for me. Bunch of random shit to loot, gunplay, light RPG elements, modyfing your space suit, base building/crafting. Creepy ass enemies in dangerous locations. Suvival mechanics. Pretty much all there except for the trademark Fallout goofiness and universe. What exactly did you like about Fallout 4?

If you are still complaining about lack of exploration, I can't comment on that yet, I am still exploring New Atlantis and haven't gotten to exploring planets yet. But just exploring the city I have found a lot of "notes" like you would in Fallout 4 giving some tidbits of lore or explaining what happened to the location. Environmental story telling is very strong, but then again, this is all hand-placed so far, like with Fallout 4 the world was handcrafted. I have yet to see how exploration in a proc gen'd world will play like.

By the way I have over 10 hours played and have just explored around half of New Atlantis plus a good chunk of Kreet. So maybe the game simply isn't for you, I can't complain about lack of exploration, and as to how the game plays, yeah, pretty much a Fallout 5.

 

[gabel]

200 million budget and 500 strong team, everyone. its gonna make 2x that, too. let that sink in.

you also become "Starborn" as the plot unfolds. i really wish i outgrew this gay ass "hobby" 15 years ago, when i turned 18.

Just play the good games. Current ones are hard to find, but they exist, and it's easier than ever to emulate everything from the past.
Don't go hollow.

 

[darkpatriot]

most people here probably haven't played FO76 as it's an MMO

76 is not an MMO. it feels like diablo 2

that said, making all of the citizens of a city named "New Atlantis" black is like Bantu Cleopatra levels of retarded

It was originally supposed to be New Atlanta, but it got changed after they had already done all the design.

 

[Cadmus]

I heard the game will randomly generate a location even after youve already visted it lol?

 

[Tyranicon]

I came across this and actually laughed. It's great. Spectacular.

 

[kroki]

Cottonfield

 

[Jinn]

i really wish i outgrew this gay ass "hobby" 15 years ago, when i turned 18.

It's never too late!

 

[Vic]

i really wish i outgrew this gay ass "hobby" 15 years ago, when i turned 18.

It's never too late!

For him it is.

 

[Grauken]

i really wish i outgrew this gay ass "hobby" 15 years ago, when i turned 18.

It's never too late!

For him it is.

True, 15 years of whining is a pretty big investment, you don't want to default on that

 

[Robotigan]

A thought I've had before with Bethesda games and I'm kind of surprised they haven't implemented it yet is to have the player select "ambitions" for their character. Just some basic task like "craft a weapon that does x damage" or "own a home valued at y credits" and award the player with a pile of exp upon completion and the option to select a new ambition. The exp isn't even the important part, just the shepherding players into playing theses games the "right" way imo which is to set your own goals that leverage the freeform systems. I get the feeling the players who get the least out of these games are meandering through quests and side activities waiting for the game to grip them when really it's more about imposing your will on the game.

 

[El Presidente]

That faggot GmanLives is shilling for this game real bad



Never really cared for his videos but this is just pathetic, I thought he had decent tastes.