Starfield Thread - now with Shattered Space horror expansion

[ind33d]

just playtested the update

beta patch gives you basically locked 30 FPS even in cities on Steam Deck at 88% render and low settings, should have a verified sticker now

as expected, when you crank the survival mechanics all the way up, starfield actually has gameplay again. literally the second i turned them all on I started taking damage from the ice planet I was exploring and had to run back to my ship. bethesda obviously playtested with hunger/dehydration/environmental damage enabled then at some point during development an imbecile turned them off

 

[ColonelMace]

an imbecile turned them off

 

[Vyvian]

"Mod Support (Creations)"

Just fucking end it now.

 

[n0denz]

Who has had fun playing this? It's such a buggy mess that even normalfags would be put off by it. Where is the appeal?

 

[Late Bloomer]

Who has had fun playing this? It's such a buggy mess that even normalfags would be put off by it. Where is the appeal?

I followed this thread and game as a whole for a good long while now. I have discovered that there are two types of people who enjoyed this game. And no, it is not Bethestards by and large.

1. Homosexuals
2. People who ignored most every quest, save for some faction questlines, and used the game as a looter shooter with a dash of autism based exploration of some of the worst procedural generation imaginable.

 

[n0denz]

2. People who ignored most every quest, save for some faction questlines, and used the game as a looter shooter with a dash of autism based exploration of some of the worst procedural generation imaginable.

So, ADHD 9 year-olds? Even as a looter shooter, I'd rather be playing Destiny 2. Somehow, Bethesda managed to outdo Bungie in obnoxious load screens.

 

[ADL]

Starfield was somewhat redeemable as an exploration looter shooter game with starvival and deadly hazards mod paired together. They just need the Creation Kit to be released so they can be implemented to feel like it was there from the start instead of it being addon menus. There's actually a mod that (re)enables fuel consumption that's a pretty seamless integration.
https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/9075

 

[ind33d]

Starfield was somewhat redeemable as an exploration looter shooter game with starvival and deadly hazards mod paired together. They just need the Creation Kit to be released so they can be implemented to feel like it was there from the start instead of it being addon menus. There's actually a mod that (re)enables fuel consumption that's a pretty seamless integration.
https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/9075

all we're missing then is the Traveller-style course charting where you go to the Lodge and plan a route and depending on the path through your outposts it costs different resources to get to your destination

 

[ropetight]

All they need is modders to remake the entire game

Modders only need to change story, characters & models, procedural generation, planetary surface exploration, space flight & fight, make starship be actual starship and not fast travel shortcut, RPG systems, most of graphics, music, weapons.
That would be it, I guess.
First terabyte Wabbajack modlist is just around the corner.

 

[Harthwain]

they bother me. They have this dystopian vibe. its like the real developers were killed and replaced with androids

Of course they have a dystopian vibe to them. Bethesda became a corporation that killed developers' souls. You could replace their logo with Weyland-Yutani Corp and there would be no difference. The future is now.

 

[Yoomazir]

Wooow, land vehicles? Truly the power level of MS top engineers knows no boundaries.

 

[ArchAngel]

Who has had fun playing this? It's such a buggy mess that even normalfags would be put off by it. Where is the appeal?

I had most fun when I was first trying to get enough money and skills and then hunting down all the ship parts needed to create my ship to be as close to The Defiant as possible.
Once it was finished, I took it out, did two fights and uninstalled the game.

 

[PlayerEmers]

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/t...oo-different-than-youve-seen-from-us-in-past/

 

[Lemming42]

And although Howard thinks that's "perfectly understandable," he says it's just not the experience Starfield sets out to provide. "I do think for us—particularly me—going into a science-fiction game, I want to be able to land on all the planets. I want the game to say 'Yes' to us, knowing that that content is gonna be different than you've seen from us in the past."

I like Todd but his head seems stuck in, like, 1990. He still seems to think Starflight is the pinnacle of gaming because you can "go anywhere" (which was also his favourite thing about Arena, apparently). Doesn't matter that there's nothing to actually do when you land, the appeal is simply that you can go anywhere.

If Starfield had released in 1990 - exact same game, but with older technology and released on DOS - it would definitely have been an all-time classic that people would still be playing/pretending to have played today, and would have been absolutely seismic and influenced games to this day. But it's not 1990, it's 2024, and I don't get how he can still think it's impressive to be able to click on a planet and be greeted with a giant empty procgen space with nothing in it. Even Mass Effect already did this with the shitty Mako maps. His "dream game" is shit that's already been done over and over again. He literally thinks, speaks and acts like someone who's been in a coma for three decades and has just woke up.

Next up he'll release a game that plays exactly like Wolfenstein 3D and enthuse that "it's my dream game because you're in first person, it's like you're really there".

 

[Bulo]

It's impossible to diagnose these things from the outside, but going by developer interviews I would guess that the fault lies rather in Bethesda's structure than Todd's vision. He's juggling command of three or four games at the moment, and he isn't hands-on with any of them. More, there seem to be no designers directly under him who are able/allowed to pick up the slack (here I'm thinking of Tim Cain's teams: Chris Taylor, Jason Anderson, and Leonard Boyarsky all contributed massively). Game systems are seemingly allocated in a slapdash way. One retired designer recalls being asked out of the blue to make a new perk system for Fallout 4. Why weren't they iterating on 3's?

If Todd were locked in a room with a programmer and told to prototype his dream game, I suspect he would come up with something more entertaining than Starfield

edit:
in one of his interviews he also said something like, "When one of my designers comes to me with a suggestion, I try to say yes as much as possible."; which are not the words of someone who is paying particularly close attention to their game

 

[Stella Brando]

Todd is a strange character. The media sometimes portrays him as the nerd who lives the impossible dream of making video games for a living, but this doesn't seem right to me. He's not a classical nerd, he's in a class of his own. And since when were nerds kept out of the gaming industry?

I'm struggling to think of someone to compare him to. His main class features seem to be a lack of imagination and a dislike of complexity. Nerds have always been imaginative -- look at science-fiction and fantasy. Todd's type is different.

 

[Butter]

Todd is a strange character. The media sometimes portrays him as the nerd who lives the impossible dream of making video games for a living, but this doesn't seem right to me. He's not a classical nerd, he's in a class of his own. And since when were nerds kept out of the gaming industry?

I'm struggling to think of someone to compare him to. His main class features seem to be a lack of imagination and a dislike of complexity. Nerds have always been imaginative -- look at science-fiction and fantasy. Todd's type is different.

He's a manlet who likes sports. Never had the athleticism to actually play, so he played sports video games. Then he glommed on to the most basic and superficial aspects of Bethesda's RPGs (You can go Anywhere!) and lucked into the position of being in charge. This is where his min-maxed charisma came into play. Being friends with Altman had it's benefits.

 

[Stella Brando]

Todd is a strange character. The media sometimes portrays him as the nerd who lives the impossible dream of making video games for a living, but this doesn't seem right to me. He's not a classical nerd, he's in a class of his own. And since when were nerds kept out of the gaming industry?

I'm struggling to think of someone to compare him to. His main class features seem to be a lack of imagination and a dislike of complexity. Nerds have always been imaginative -- look at science-fiction and fantasy. Todd's type is different.

He's a manlet who likes sports. Never had the athleticism to actually play, so he played sports video games. Then he glommed on to the most basic and superficial aspects of Bethesda's RPGs (You can go Anywhere!) and lucked into the position of being in charge. This is where his min-maxed charisma came into play. Being friends with Altman had it's benefits.

Every time I hear about this Altman character, I picture the director of McCabe & Mrs Miller running a game studio.

 

[Vyvian]

Todd just sounds tired lately. I think he's about done honestly.

 

[Fedora Master]

Starfield was somewhat redeemable as an exploration looter shooter game with starvival and deadly hazards mod paired together.

"It was somewhat good if you ignored the story and modded it" applies to ALL BETHESDA GAMES

 

[Child of Malkav]

Todd just sounds tired lately. I think he's about done honestly.

Of course he is. Lying all the time with a straight face takes its toll.
BTW this reminded me of a joke: an 80 year old woman starts jogging one day and after a few meters shes stops to catch her breath. She hears a voice. It's her heart, telling her: "Bitch, either you're stopping, or I am."

 

[Devastator]

Todd just sounds tired lately. I think he's about done honestly.

Of course he is. Lying all the time with a straight face takes its toll.
BTW this reminded me of a joke: an 80 year old woman starts jogging one day and after a few meters shes stops to catch her breath. She hears a voice. It's her heart, telling her: "Bitch, either you're stopping, or I am."

There doesn't seem to be any enjoyment or passion left in his job. When your lifestyle is under control, you eventually amass more money than you can spend. While a larger paycheck is appealing, you come to realize there's little fulfillment in your work. Thus, you begin to plan your next move. Frankly, I don't see the point in him staying on for another TES or Fallout release. If he derived joy from engaging with the public or felt a desperate need for it, then this would be the ideal job for him. However, in such a scenario, it should invigorate him rather than leave him looking exhausted. Instead, he should seek a managerial role free from the burdens of PR nonsense. He's a master manipulator, adept at overpromising yet delivering just enough, and very skilled at conning his fan base. I believe he's had a remarkable run.

 

[Child of Malkav]

He's a master manipulator, adept at overpromising yet delivering just enough, and very skilled at conning his fan base. I believe he's had a remarkable run.

A remarkable run and just a remarkable stupid fanbase that likes to eat shit and order double.

 

[Devastator]

He's a master manipulator, adept at overpromising yet delivering just enough, and very skilled at conning his fan base. I believe he's had a remarkable run.

A remarkable run and just a remarkable stupid fanbase that likes to eat shit and order double.

Of course. I would not ever deny his despicability. He is simply the result of supply and demand.

Alas, the masses have developed a voracious appetite for shit; hence the demand. So... There arises the need for a purveyor of shit. Which is no ordinary job. It has to be one who not only supplies the shit but also sprinkles it with a veneer of joy, convincing their worshippers that this year's shit surpasses that of yesteryear.

Enter Todd, the virtuoso of feculence.

 

[Lemming42]

An alternative explanation might be that people enjoy the games.