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Starfield Thread - now with Shattered Space horror expansion

ind33d

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Joined
Jun 23, 2020
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1,790
if bethesda aren't doing ayys, modders should add human breakaway civilizations. Space Native Americans, Space Nazis, Space Vikings, Space Jews. there's all kinds of cool shit that wouldn't mess up the lore. The game's tone should have been like Heroscape. i haven't checked modding sites since Shattered Space, i wonder what people are working on
 
Last edited:

Zed Duke of Banville

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if bethesda aren't doing ayys, modders should add human breakaway civilizations. Space Native Americans, Space Nazis, Space Vikings, Space Jews.
Bethesda should have hired Mel Brooks to write an expansion.

0WcScWz.gif
 

Late Bloomer

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Apr 7, 2022
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Jews in space? Starfield has that covered.

A Small Jewish Thank You To Bethesda
https://www.reddit.com/r/Starfield/comments/16epndg/a_small_jewish_thank_you_to_bethesda/
I know it’s such a small part of such a massive game, but I just wanted to share how much it means as a Jew to see Bethesda have the character of Abe Levitz using Yiddish words in their game. Yiddish is my family’s ancestral language and yet I - like so many other modern Jews - never learned to speak it beyond a dozen or so loanwords. I often think sadly about what it means for my ancestral tongue to be dying. So seeing a depiction of someone 300 years in the future talk about continuing to try to keep Yiddish alive brought a genuine tear to my eye. Thank you Bethesda, for depicting Jewish culture in a way I so rarely see in either Sci-Fi or Video Games

Timestamped at 2:20 Abe has an asian husband who is around 15-20 years younger than him.


starfield-family-reunion-mission-abe-levitz-location-1024x576.jpg
 

Butter

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Messages
8,548
I was going to make a meme about the Crimson Fleet and "If I don't steal it, someone else gonna steal it", but nobody would get it because the Crimson Fleet just look like generic Starfield enemies.

crimson_fleet.png


This is that really strong NASApunk aesthetic I've heard so much about.
 
Vatnik Wumao
Joined
Oct 2, 2018
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19,068
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大同
Jews in space? Starfield has that covered.

A Small Jewish Thank You To Bethesda
https://www.reddit.com/r/Starfield/comments/16epndg/a_small_jewish_thank_you_to_bethesda/
I know it’s such a small part of such a massive game, but I just wanted to share how much it means as a Jew to see Bethesda have the character of Abe Levitz using Yiddish words in their game. Yiddish is my family’s ancestral language and yet I - like so many other modern Jews - never learned to speak it beyond a dozen or so loanwords. I often think sadly about what it means for my ancestral tongue to be dying. So seeing a depiction of someone 300 years in the future talk about continuing to try to keep Yiddish alive brought a genuine tear to my eye. Thank you Bethesda, for depicting Jewish culture in a way I so rarely see in either Sci-Fi or Video Games

Timestamped at 2:20 Abe has an asian husband who is around 15-20 years younger than him.


starfield-family-reunion-mission-abe-levitz-location-1024x576.jpg

Bethesda giving Nano a cameo role))
 

Caim

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Messages
17,308
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Dutchland
Jews in space? Starfield has that covered.

A Small Jewish Thank You To Bethesda
https://www.reddit.com/r/Starfield/comments/16epndg/a_small_jewish_thank_you_to_bethesda/
I know it’s such a small part of such a massive game, but I just wanted to share how much it means as a Jew to see Bethesda have the character of Abe Levitz using Yiddish words in their game. Yiddish is my family’s ancestral language and yet I - like so many other modern Jews - never learned to speak it beyond a dozen or so loanwords. I often think sadly about what it means for my ancestral tongue to be dying. So seeing a depiction of someone 300 years in the future talk about continuing to try to keep Yiddish alive brought a genuine tear to my eye. Thank you Bethesda, for depicting Jewish culture in a way I so rarely see in either Sci-Fi or Video Games

Timestamped at 2:20 Abe has an asian husband who is around 15-20 years younger than him.


starfield-family-reunion-mission-abe-levitz-location-1024x576.jpg

Bethesda took the last jew in space and made him a homosexual, meaning that judaism dies with him.

It's like how Sseth said it. What the Austrian painter started, Todd will finish.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/starfield-shattered-space-review/

Starfield: Shattered Space review​

Shattered Space is damned by its disinterest in addressing Starfield's failings.​


My biggest bone to pick with Starfield was its timid vision of the future. The squeaky clean corridors of New Atlantis did less for me than the crime-riddled backwater of Riften, and on the average planet, points of interest were spread so thin I felt like I was bushwhacking through miles of desolate space just to find something memorable.

I didn't hate the game, though—it inherits the strengths of Bethesda's previous hits and restores some of the RPG meat I missed in Fallout 4—which is why I went into Shattered Space with some anticipation. A mysterious, '70s horror-tinged Great Serpent cult is a mite more colorful than Starfield's muted "isn't space neat" baseline, and maybe a more focused experience would allow me to put down the machete and see the potential that Bethesda had previously spread too thin.

Unfortunately, I think this DLC had the opposite effect on me. The stage is set to dazzle: it's a handcrafted zone densely packed with quests and NPCs with competing interests. There are new weapons to find, unique enemies to use them on, and a fresh narrative far from the shackles of the glib main story. I was locked in for this sandbox to come to life, but instead Shattered Space delivers a bland stew of business as usual. It's largely on rails, light on substance for the price, and committed to a narrative I'm already forgetting the details of.

The elephant in Va'ruun​

The high points in Shattered Space are the new environments and worldbuilding on headlining planet Va'ruun'kai. After exploring a derelict space station crawling with vortex phantoms—which is what Starfield calls ghosts when they are made out of science—you're thrust into the political mire of House Va'ruun, a cult that worships a serpent god largely unexplored in the main game. The requisite temples and zealot hideouts are suitably atmospheric, and I spent more than a few minutes gawking at the gorgeous skybox from different angles in photo mode.

This insular theocracy's ruling families have no love for outsiders, but you're the main character in a Bethesda game, so no named faction can go un-joined. But even though these sorts of quests tend to shine in Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, Va'ruun's mystique wears off once you settle into the rhythm of its storylines.

In one quest, I had to track down a man's missing son. After finding his camp, I saw footprints and blood, and so I followed what seemed to be the direction he went. A few minutes later I realized I needed to manually interact with the environmental clues at the camp to trigger the next part of the quest. So I went back, satisfied the conditions, and my character quipped back to my companion that we'd have to do this the old-fashioned way. Then my scanner marked in my field of view exactly where I needed to go and drew arrows along the road to ensure I could find it. I was almost roleplaying there for a second.

Later I found a door. It was locked. Next to that door was a computer. I opened it up and there was a big button that said "open door." I hit the button, and it opened the door. That was it. Does that qualify as a puzzle? An obstacle? A captcha? Whatever it was, it felt like the game itself was going through the motions, and that feeling weighs Shattered Space down at the best of times.

This haunts the narrative, too. For a brief moment, a couple characters posture about the relationship between religion and science in an age where humanity has abandoned its home planet and become dependent on its own technology; and then they snap out of it like a bad dream, pointing me toward the next objective marker before anyone can take a meaningful stance. Just like the base game, Shattered Space proves too gunshy to tip the status quo of its world in any direction. At the end of the expansion's main mission you can make a monumental choice with huge theoretical implications, but they stay theoretical and you don't see anything play out. Every new idea amounts to little, and what's left just reminds me why I didn't care for Starfield in the first place.

All my favorite memories of Skyrim, Oblivion, and Fallout 3 are of things I found by myself off the beaten path. Starfield's beaten path remains as underwhelming as ever, and if you stray from it, you're due for the same old disposable brawls and stiff, superficial dialog. When you do find them, random encounters are so cookie cutter they end up feeling like content for content's sake.

Starry-eyed​

The things I had the most fun with in my playthrough were added in free patches a long while ago, not unique to Shattered Space. The new rover mount makes trundling over space rocks quicker and more satisfying, and access to an in-game mod menu adds a whole world of customizability with no fuss. These additions address real problems with the base game and make the whole package better as a result. Shattered Space, on the other hand, doesn't move the needle an inch. I want to be absorbed by this world, but I'm still wrestling with a messy UI, talking with expressionless characters as they glitch through tables, and once I've wrapped up, returning to my ship that I rarely have a reason to take anywhere.

I love the other Bethesda RPGs I mentioned despite prominent shortcomings. Skyrim's lite-RPG concessions leave much of its action disposable and Fallout 4's dialog trees are infamously austere, but occupying those meticulously crafted worlds is worth overlooking those things. I continually regard Starfield the opposite way: it's a game that, despite robust systems and impressive technology, just can't pull me into its banal setting and humdrum firefights.

Bethesda's marketing hype insists on the novelty of the game's "NASApunk" identity and promised this expansion would build that out, but I remain unsold. It's not innovative enough to be confused for NASA, and it doesn't say enough to be confused for punk. Shattered Space drew the most emotion out of me when its occult houses reminded me of Morrowind, a world that feels substantially more alien and provides the player more agency without a single starship on offer.

Shattered Space delivers a few more hours' worth of the game you're familiar with. If, like me, you've been waiting for Starfield to go boldly where it hasn't gone before, you've got some more waiting to do.

The Verdict
60

Starfield
While its new environments are a decent aside, Shattered Space seems largely content to tread water, leaving Starfield the same mixed bag it always was.
 

ind33d

Learned
Joined
Jun 23, 2020
Messages
1,790
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/starfield-shattered-space-review/

Starfield: Shattered Space review​

Shattered Space is damned by its disinterest in addressing Starfield's failings.​


My biggest bone to pick with Starfield was its timid vision of the future. The squeaky clean corridors of New Atlantis did less for me than the crime-riddled backwater of Riften, and on the average planet, points of interest were spread so thin I felt like I was bushwhacking through miles of desolate space just to find something memorable.

I didn't hate the game, though—it inherits the strengths of Bethesda's previous hits and restores some of the RPG meat I missed in Fallout 4—which is why I went into Shattered Space with some anticipation. A mysterious, '70s horror-tinged Great Serpent cult is a mite more colorful than Starfield's muted "isn't space neat" baseline, and maybe a more focused experience would allow me to put down the machete and see the potential that Bethesda had previously spread too thin.

Unfortunately, I think this DLC had the opposite effect on me. The stage is set to dazzle: it's a handcrafted zone densely packed with quests and NPCs with competing interests. There are new weapons to find, unique enemies to use them on, and a fresh narrative far from the shackles of the glib main story. I was locked in for this sandbox to come to life, but instead Shattered Space delivers a bland stew of business as usual. It's largely on rails, light on substance for the price, and committed to a narrative I'm already forgetting the details of.

The elephant in Va'ruun​

The high points in Shattered Space are the new environments and worldbuilding on headlining planet Va'ruun'kai. After exploring a derelict space station crawling with vortex phantoms—which is what Starfield calls ghosts when they are made out of science—you're thrust into the political mire of House Va'ruun, a cult that worships a serpent god largely unexplored in the main game. The requisite temples and zealot hideouts are suitably atmospheric, and I spent more than a few minutes gawking at the gorgeous skybox from different angles in photo mode.

This insular theocracy's ruling families have no love for outsiders, but you're the main character in a Bethesda game, so no named faction can go un-joined. But even though these sorts of quests tend to shine in Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, Va'ruun's mystique wears off once you settle into the rhythm of its storylines.

In one quest, I had to track down a man's missing son. After finding his camp, I saw footprints and blood, and so I followed what seemed to be the direction he went. A few minutes later I realized I needed to manually interact with the environmental clues at the camp to trigger the next part of the quest. So I went back, satisfied the conditions, and my character quipped back to my companion that we'd have to do this the old-fashioned way. Then my scanner marked in my field of view exactly where I needed to go and drew arrows along the road to ensure I could find it. I was almost roleplaying there for a second.

Later I found a door. It was locked. Next to that door was a computer. I opened it up and there was a big button that said "open door." I hit the button, and it opened the door. That was it. Does that qualify as a puzzle? An obstacle? A captcha? Whatever it was, it felt like the game itself was going through the motions, and that feeling weighs Shattered Space down at the best of times.

This haunts the narrative, too. For a brief moment, a couple characters posture about the relationship between religion and science in an age where humanity has abandoned its home planet and become dependent on its own technology; and then they snap out of it like a bad dream, pointing me toward the next objective marker before anyone can take a meaningful stance. Just like the base game, Shattered Space proves too gunshy to tip the status quo of its world in any direction. At the end of the expansion's main mission you can make a monumental choice with huge theoretical implications, but they stay theoretical and you don't see anything play out. Every new idea amounts to little, and what's left just reminds me why I didn't care for Starfield in the first place.

All my favorite memories of Skyrim, Oblivion, and Fallout 3 are of things I found by myself off the beaten path. Starfield's beaten path remains as underwhelming as ever, and if you stray from it, you're due for the same old disposable brawls and stiff, superficial dialog. When you do find them, random encounters are so cookie cutter they end up feeling like content for content's sake.

Starry-eyed​

The things I had the most fun with in my playthrough were added in free patches a long while ago, not unique to Shattered Space. The new rover mount makes trundling over space rocks quicker and more satisfying, and access to an in-game mod menu adds a whole world of customizability with no fuss. These additions address real problems with the base game and make the whole package better as a result. Shattered Space, on the other hand, doesn't move the needle an inch. I want to be absorbed by this world, but I'm still wrestling with a messy UI, talking with expressionless characters as they glitch through tables, and once I've wrapped up, returning to my ship that I rarely have a reason to take anywhere.

I love the other Bethesda RPGs I mentioned despite prominent shortcomings. Skyrim's lite-RPG concessions leave much of its action disposable and Fallout 4's dialog trees are infamously austere, but occupying those meticulously crafted worlds is worth overlooking those things. I continually regard Starfield the opposite way: it's a game that, despite robust systems and impressive technology, just can't pull me into its banal setting and humdrum firefights.

Bethesda's marketing hype insists on the novelty of the game's "NASApunk" identity and promised this expansion would build that out, but I remain unsold. It's not innovative enough to be confused for NASA, and it doesn't say enough to be confused for punk. Shattered Space drew the most emotion out of me when its occult houses reminded me of Morrowind, a world that feels substantially more alien and provides the player more agency without a single starship on offer.

Shattered Space delivers a few more hours' worth of the game you're familiar with. If, like me, you've been waiting for Starfield to go boldly where it hasn't gone before, you've got some more waiting to do.

The Verdict
60

Starfield
While its new environments are a decent aside, Shattered Space seems largely content to tread water, leaving Starfield the same mixed bag it always was.
focusing on one planet instead of expanding the procedural generation and adding space stations/capital ships was an insane decision
 

mediocrepoet

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Codex 2012 Codex+ Now Streaming! MCA Project: Eternity Divinity: Original Sin 2
I was going to make a meme about the Crimson Fleet and "If I don't steal it, someone else gonna steal it", but nobody would get it because the Crimson Fleet just look like generic Starfield enemies.

View attachment 55899

This is that really strong NASApunk aesthetic I've heard so much about.

That's a pretty sweet pic from Call of Halofield: SWAT.
 

Orud

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Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming!
focusing on one planet instead of expanding the procedural generation and adding space stations/capital ships was an insane decision
100% agree.

Starfield is a barren sandbox, lacking systems. It needed more or improved SYSTEMS, not a stupid handcrafted quest-hub.

That they don't realize what they've made with Starfield explains the launch state of Starfield.
 

Hag

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Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is.
In one quest, I had to track down a man's missing son. After finding his camp, I saw footprints and blood, and so I followed what seemed to be the direction he went. A few minutes later I realized I needed to manually interact with the environmental clues at the camp to trigger the next part of the quest. So I went back, satisfied the conditions, and my character quipped back to my companion that we'd have to do this the old-fashioned way. Then my scanner marked in my field of view exactly where I needed to go and drew arrows along the road to ensure I could find it.
What the fuck. I guess this is the epitome of games made by committees made of people who don't play games.
 

Yosharian

Arcane
Joined
May 28, 2018
Messages
10,384
Location
Grand Chien
In one quest, I had to track down a man's missing son. After finding his camp, I saw footprints and blood, and so I followed what seemed to be the direction he went. A few minutes later I realized I needed to manually interact with the environmental clues at the camp to trigger the next part of the quest. So I went back, satisfied the conditions, and my character quipped back to my companion that we'd have to do this the old-fashioned way. Then my scanner marked in my field of view exactly where I needed to go and drew arrows along the road to ensure I could find it.
What the fuck. I guess this is the epitome of games made by committees made of people who don't play games.
I don't even have the words, it's just too sad what Beth have turned into
 

sebas

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Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut
Turned into?

This game is an irredeemable piece of absolute dogshit, a circus of alphabet people between loading screens. All of their previous games had a fantastic first 1h of gameplay, before you got into the open world and noticed all the mechanics were on crutches. But even then, even if the worldbuilding was never again at Vvanderfell's level, you still had a decent enough exploration trip. And the environments looked good.
 

Lyric Suite

Converting to Islam
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Mar 23, 2006
Messages
58,207
Turned into?
Well, Morrowind was alright

Game was still developed by old Bethesda. Todd Howard took over half-way through if i remember, while Oblivion was entirely his baby. The rest is history, just a steady push towards decline, the stupid manlet probably completely cluless as to why this series was even so successful to begin with.
 

Yosharian

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udm

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Make the Codex Great Again!
Turned into?
Well, Morrowind was alright

Game was still developed by old Bethesda. Todd Howard took over half-way through if i remember, while Oblivion was entirely his baby. The rest is history, just a steady push towards decline, the stupid manlet probably completely cluless as to why this series was even so successful to begin with.
And now said manlet is the face of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout :negative:
 

Lyric Suite

Converting to Islam
Joined
Mar 23, 2006
Messages
58,207
Turned into?
Well, Morrowind was alright

Game was still developed by old Bethesda. Todd Howard took over half-way through if i remember, while Oblivion was entirely his baby. The rest is history, just a steady push towards decline, the stupid manlet probably completely cluless as to why this series was even so successful to begin with.
And now said manlet is the face of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout :negative:

Probably Doom as well as far as normies are concerned.
 

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