Ground control to Major Todd
September 1, 2023 4:42 AM Subscribe
Starfield | Overwhelming Scope [Game Informer] “Even in the increasingly crowded marketplace of big, expansive games, Starfield stands out. Leveraging the gameplay Bethesda popularized with The Elder Scrolls and Fallout games, Starfield expands the breadth of exploration to a galaxy of solar systems, planets, and ships. It populates those environments with a rich palette of activities and missions that tap into the outer space fantasy. It’s a staggering span of content to wrap one’s head around. At times, that scope threatens to impair the focus and pacing, and moment-to-moment gameplay is not always a strong suit. But players can expect to uncover hundreds of hours of experimentation in a richly imagined sci-fi playground, and that thrill is worth experiencing.”
• Early Starfield Reviews Are Generally Positive, From Mild Disappointment To Glowing Praise [Kotaku]
• GamesRadar (5/5) - “Starfield is an expansive and beautifully crafted open world experience full of endless discovery and opportunities.”
• VideoGamer (9/10) - “Starfield is the enchantment and wonder of space bottled and fleshed out into something grand and ambitious, thoughtful and attentive, janky at times, often funny, but always charming.”
• Windows Central (4.5/5) - “With incredible writing, its slow-burn stories snowball into immense moments, and tight RPG/FPS combat thrills in spaceship battles, grounded firefights, and zero-G death ballets — Starfield is a landmark experience with a bright future ahead of it.”
• Shacknews (9/10) - “Not only is it the developer’s most technically impressive game, but it also delivers a worthwhile narrative that takes some major swings and establishes a sprawling mythos. It has some blemishes here and there, but Starfield proves to be an awesome sci-fi adventure.”
• GameSpot (7/10) - “Bethesda's spacefaring adventure has its moments with impressive scale, satisfying combat, and some worthwhile side quests, but its shallow RPG systems and uninspired vision of the cosmos make for a journey that's a mile wide, but an inch deep.”
• IGN (7/10) - “It’s never a great sign when someone recommends a game on the grounds that it gets good after more than a dozen hours, but that’s very much the kind of game Starfield is, and I do recommend it.”
• Early Starfield Reviews Are Generally Positive, From Mild Disappointment To Glowing Praise [Kotaku]
“How does it measure up to those lofty ambitions? It depends on who you talk to. So far, reviews for the successor to Skyrim and Fallout 4 are mixed. There are plenty of perfect scores, but some more muted reactions as well. The game currently has an 86 on Open Critic and an 89 on Metacritic. Destructoid gave it a 10 out of 10, while IGN gave it a seven. The Washinton Post’s Gene Park was positive, calling Starfield’s central storyline the best Bethesda quest yet, and lauding the game for making the right sacrifices to balance its overwhelming scope. Others were less impressed. Paste Games’ Garrett Martin lauded the game’s exploration but found its writing lacking, writing that Starfield lacks the memorable characters or compelling mysteris of past Bethesda games. It sounds like the game is mostly bug-free (yay!) but also suffers under the vastness of its possiblities.”• Destructoid (10/10) - “Starfield is the ultimate Bethesda game. It takes what people loved about Fallout and Skyrim, and casts it across an enormous galaxy filled with captivating characters.”
• GamesRadar (5/5) - “Starfield is an expansive and beautifully crafted open world experience full of endless discovery and opportunities.”
• VideoGamer (9/10) - “Starfield is the enchantment and wonder of space bottled and fleshed out into something grand and ambitious, thoughtful and attentive, janky at times, often funny, but always charming.”
• Windows Central (4.5/5) - “With incredible writing, its slow-burn stories snowball into immense moments, and tight RPG/FPS combat thrills in spaceship battles, grounded firefights, and zero-G death ballets — Starfield is a landmark experience with a bright future ahead of it.”
• Shacknews (9/10) - “Not only is it the developer’s most technically impressive game, but it also delivers a worthwhile narrative that takes some major swings and establishes a sprawling mythos. It has some blemishes here and there, but Starfield proves to be an awesome sci-fi adventure.”
• GameSpot (7/10) - “Bethesda's spacefaring adventure has its moments with impressive scale, satisfying combat, and some worthwhile side quests, but its shallow RPG systems and uninspired vision of the cosmos make for a journey that's a mile wide, but an inch deep.”
• IGN (7/10) - “It’s never a great sign when someone recommends a game on the grounds that it gets good after more than a dozen hours, but that’s very much the kind of game Starfield is, and I do recommend it.”
"I used to be a spacefarer like you, then I took a boltcaster in the knee."
This joke happens earlier in the game than you would think, and that is all I'll say. ;-)
posted by Fizz at 4:59 AM on September 1, 2023 [15 favorites]
This joke happens earlier in the game than you would think, and that is all I'll say. ;-)
posted by Fizz at 4:59 AM on September 1, 2023 [15 favorites]
Happy to read positive comments. I only have a PS5, so I won't be playing this. At least for a while. By then, many bugs and issues will be fixed. Happy for those who can dive right in. This is the first game I've wanted to play that's unavailable on Playstation since... forever. Sci-fi isn't as much my bag as fantasy (fantasy doesn't try to convince you to believe its bullshit), and the "1,000 planets!" hype does nothing for me, because I'm pretty sure I know what that's going to mean in implementation. Have fun. Wish I could play!
posted by SoberHighland at 5:09 AM on September 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by SoberHighland at 5:09 AM on September 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
Starfield seems to be almost excactly what I expected, so I'll put in my order soon, and I'll even consider taking a day off to play it. I expected "Skyrim in space", and I'm all for it, I even bought the custom controller since I needed a controller for my PC anyways.
There's one thing I did not expect, though, and is the lack of bugs. But I'll take it.
posted by Harald74 at 5:09 AM on September 1, 2023
There's one thing I did not expect, though, and is the lack of bugs. But I'll take it.
posted by Harald74 at 5:09 AM on September 1, 2023
”Starfield Review (Xbox Series X) - Finally!”—Electric Playground, 31 August 2023
posted by ob1quixote at 5:22 AM on September 1, 2023
posted by ob1quixote at 5:22 AM on September 1, 2023
Just in case you didn't know, Adam Savage assembled a little team to build an actual practical for filming model of a Starfield spaceship: Adam Savage Builds a REAL Starfield Starship! - YouTube.
I haven't gotten around to watching the videos, but surely the prop building is going to be good.
posted by zengargoyle at 5:27 AM on September 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
I haven't gotten around to watching the videos, but surely the prop building is going to be good.
posted by zengargoyle at 5:27 AM on September 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
Early impressions of the 2 hours or so that I've played is that this is everything I expected and wanted from a Bethesda ass game. I've not really encountered any jank (considering the history of Bethesda game releases, this is a pleasant surprise).
My one big gripe so far is that the inventory system is trash, so thats par for the course with Bethesda.
But that aside, the game looks beautiful, runs smoothly, & feels good to move around inside of. I enjoyed flying my little ship with my robot friend. Very excited to dig into this further. My afternoon cannot get here soon enough.
posted by Fizz at 5:28 AM on September 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
My one big gripe so far is that the inventory system is trash, so thats par for the course with Bethesda.
But that aside, the game looks beautiful, runs smoothly, & feels good to move around inside of. I enjoyed flying my little ship with my robot friend. Very excited to dig into this further. My afternoon cannot get here soon enough.
posted by Fizz at 5:28 AM on September 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
I've really enjoyed Kerbal Space Program for its open ended exploration and am wondering how much Starfield will fill that itch.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:34 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:34 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
>My one big gripe so far is that the inventory system is trash
Sounds like my Baldur's Gate 3 review :) The nice thing about 2 big games coming out at the same time is that by the time I finish BG3 and get to Starfield, the modders will have hopefully fixed most of the Quality of Life issues like this.
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 5:36 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Sounds like my Baldur's Gate 3 review :) The nice thing about 2 big games coming out at the same time is that by the time I finish BG3 and get to Starfield, the modders will have hopefully fixed most of the Quality of Life issues like this.
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 5:36 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
I was wondering when you'd post about Starfield, Fizz. Thanks!
I only had about 90 minutes to play last night, but I'm already sold and I can't wait to really get into this. I'm not a capital-gee Gamer by any stretch, but I like what I like, and what I like are games that let me take my time. I appreciate that the combat is janky and not FPS-like. I appreciate that I can progress through the main story at my leisure. But I also appreciate that some of the time-sinks (outpost-building, ship customization) seem to be largely optional, because I don't know that those are For Me.
I'm making an effort to role-play in a way that I didn't when I played Skyrim, and the combination of the Background and Traits really makes that come alive for me in a way that I haven't thought about before. I've also been watching lots of Enterprise lately, which is really making me itch for space exploration (and its associated adventures).
Anyhoo, YouTuber Mortismal has already 100%ed the game, allegedly, and has lots of mostly-great things to say about it (there are some well-signposted minor faction-related spoilers in there that you can avoid if you care to).
posted by uncleozzy at 5:37 AM on September 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
I only had about 90 minutes to play last night, but I'm already sold and I can't wait to really get into this. I'm not a capital-gee Gamer by any stretch, but I like what I like, and what I like are games that let me take my time. I appreciate that the combat is janky and not FPS-like. I appreciate that I can progress through the main story at my leisure. But I also appreciate that some of the time-sinks (outpost-building, ship customization) seem to be largely optional, because I don't know that those are For Me.
I'm making an effort to role-play in a way that I didn't when I played Skyrim, and the combination of the Background and Traits really makes that come alive for me in a way that I haven't thought about before. I've also been watching lots of Enterprise lately, which is really making me itch for space exploration (and its associated adventures).
Anyhoo, YouTuber Mortismal has already 100%ed the game, allegedly, and has lots of mostly-great things to say about it (there are some well-signposted minor faction-related spoilers in there that you can avoid if you care to).
posted by uncleozzy at 5:37 AM on September 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
I've really enjoyed Kerbal Space Program for its open ended exploration and am wondering how much Starfield will fill that itch.
From what little I've experienced (and what else I've read any seen), it likely will not. Starfield is, first and foremost, a story-driven RPG that encourages you to explore the way it wants you to explore, by salting side quests and faction storylines around the galaxy. I love KSP, too -- the sense of absolute wonder as you come into orbit around a planet! (or shoot hilariously past it and then run out of fuel!) -- but they are very different games.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:42 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
From what little I've experienced (and what else I've read any seen), it likely will not. Starfield is, first and foremost, a story-driven RPG that encourages you to explore the way it wants you to explore, by salting side quests and faction storylines around the galaxy. I love KSP, too -- the sense of absolute wonder as you come into orbit around a planet! (or shoot hilariously past it and then run out of fuel!) -- but they are very different games.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:42 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm not going to be able to play this anytime soon but I'm glad that the early reviews are so positive because I plan on playing it eventually.
Back when this was supposed to come out last summer I was seriously contemplating getting an Xbox to play it because my family would be out of the country so I'd have lots of free time. I guess now I'll need to wait until next summer and keep playing NMS on the Switch until then.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:44 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Back when this was supposed to come out last summer I was seriously contemplating getting an Xbox to play it because my family would be out of the country so I'd have lots of free time. I guess now I'll need to wait until next summer and keep playing NMS on the Switch until then.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:44 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
I think this will end up being my holiday break game. I'm in the middle of Baldur's Gate right now which is going to eat up most of my available time for the foreseeable future (turns out I can't just rip through games like I used to when I was a teenager, who knew?). That will also give them a few months to iron out some of the more egregious Bethesda-isms and maybe it'll go on sale around Christmas.
In the meantime, I will also put a plug in for X4: Foundations if you like mechanics and are less interested in story. All the stuff that seems to getting hyped in Starfield is already here! First person space combat! Fleet management! Piracy! Base building! Fully simulated Economy! Huge amounts of jank!
posted by backseatpilot at 5:47 AM on September 1, 2023 [6 favorites]
In the meantime, I will also put a plug in for X4: Foundations if you like mechanics and are less interested in story. All the stuff that seems to getting hyped in Starfield is already here! First person space combat! Fleet management! Piracy! Base building! Fully simulated Economy! Huge amounts of jank!
posted by backseatpilot at 5:47 AM on September 1, 2023 [6 favorites]
I almost didn't buy BG3 because I didn't want it to interfere. It's a different kind of game, though, and I can see myself continuing on the same way I'd continue reading a novel.
But I also know that when I start playing Starfield on Wednesday, I'll find myself uninterested in BG3 and my book club novel. TV. Movies. Sleep. I haven't been this excited for a game since Elder Scrolls Online was new!
posted by phrits at 6:17 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
But I also know that when I start playing Starfield on Wednesday, I'll find myself uninterested in BG3 and my book club novel. TV. Movies. Sleep. I haven't been this excited for a game since Elder Scrolls Online was new!
posted by phrits at 6:17 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Okay, some more early impressions.
You get into space pretty fast, within the first hour and I will say that for me at least, the first moments in space were overwhelming and I didn't immediately click with the space-flight, it felt a bit unwieldly, but I've read that the first ship you get is kind of dog, so it may just be a reflection of needing to upgrade or replace down the road with something a lot better.
A lot of their user interface stuff is what annoys me and thats always been a problem with Bethesda. This game is not that great with accessibility (no surprise), the only thing it has is larger menu fonts. But the text is often in white and reading gets difficult and washed out b/c of where you might be looking at a particular time.
The inventory system is what makes me want to scream. You have to click start which then takes you to a kind of overview page where you see your character and then you can move your joystick/cursor around yourself to various sections and one of those sections is inventory. So to get to the inventory, you have to click twice and then you finally get there and its just uaflkajfdlsk;jsfsd urhg. It doesn't have to be this way TODD!!
Even with all of those gripes, I'll play this game forever now. Much like I'm still playing Skyrim on my Switch in the year of 2023. I will be playing this for a long long time. It's not perfect by any means but its so very enjoyable to just be in this large space fantasy and try a bunch of things and see what happens.
posted by Fizz at 6:30 AM on September 1, 2023 [8 favorites]
You get into space pretty fast, within the first hour and I will say that for me at least, the first moments in space were overwhelming and I didn't immediately click with the space-flight, it felt a bit unwieldly, but I've read that the first ship you get is kind of dog, so it may just be a reflection of needing to upgrade or replace down the road with something a lot better.
A lot of their user interface stuff is what annoys me and thats always been a problem with Bethesda. This game is not that great with accessibility (no surprise), the only thing it has is larger menu fonts. But the text is often in white and reading gets difficult and washed out b/c of where you might be looking at a particular time.
The inventory system is what makes me want to scream. You have to click start which then takes you to a kind of overview page where you see your character and then you can move your joystick/cursor around yourself to various sections and one of those sections is inventory. So to get to the inventory, you have to click twice and then you finally get there and its just uaflkajfdlsk;jsfsd urhg. It doesn't have to be this way TODD!!
Even with all of those gripes, I'll play this game forever now. Much like I'm still playing Skyrim on my Switch in the year of 2023. I will be playing this for a long long time. It's not perfect by any means but its so very enjoyable to just be in this large space fantasy and try a bunch of things and see what happens.
posted by Fizz at 6:30 AM on September 1, 2023 [8 favorites]
More on the accessibility issues Starfield has via this Kotaku article.
“Steve Saylor, a content creator and accessibility consultant who has worked with studios like Naughty Dog, Ubisoft, and Raven Software, posted a Starfield accessibility review on YouTube, calling it “extremely disappointing.” “I didn’t know when Todd Howard said on @KindaFunnyVids that they would have big font mode that was all they would have,” Saylor tweeted.”posted by Fizz at 6:51 AM on September 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
“If folks were hoping space would be accessible, it is not,” he says in the 13-and-a-half-minute long video. “I wish I could say that this was going to be the first accessible hit from Bethesda–it is not. Sadly, not even close.” Saylor’s video then shows the accessibility tab in Starfield’s settings menu, and the four options available: general subtitles, dialogue subtitles, toggle iron sights, and large menu fonts, all of which can simply be toggled on or off.
The big font mode is a crucial feature, since so much of Starfield relies on navigating text-heavy menus. “For the majority of the in-game menus—and there are a lot—the text is not perfect, but manageable,” Saylor, who is legally blind, said, before pointing to the enlarged text’s lack of further customization options as another problem.
But the lack of font customization is most egregious when it comes to subtitles. There’s no ability for players to change the font-type, color, or background opacity for the subtitles, and since Starfield uses a stylized, computer-y font throughout, Saylor worries that it may be an issue for folks with dyslexia. “If you’re not happy with the default, you’re out of luck,” he said. The biggest issue is the contrast—there’s so little contrast throughout the menus and the in-game hud, and because the text is white it can often get lost on lighter-colored planets or even in bright parts of space (though Starfield swaps the font to blue when in your spaceship).
Sounds somewhere between Destiny (lots of shooting on planets) and Mass Effect (discover a mysterious artifact and get booted up into a space opera)?
I don't think I'll have time for this until January, but really want to play it now!
posted by doctornemo at 7:20 AM on September 1, 2023
I don't think I'll have time for this until January, but really want to play it now!
posted by doctornemo at 7:20 AM on September 1, 2023
PS: lovely title, Fizz.
posted by doctornemo at 7:20 AM on September 1, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by doctornemo at 7:20 AM on September 1, 2023 [5 favorites]
I didn't immediately click with the space-flight, it felt a bit unwieldly
It doesn't help that their controller bindings are a little wonky, probably because of how much stuff they're trying to let the controller, well, control.
My natural expectation would have been for the left stick to control yaw and pitch (or pitch and a combined yaw-and-roll), right stick to be something like looking, and for the shoulder buttons to control roll-but-not-yaw. Their scheme using the right stick for pitch and rollyaw and left stick for roll-but-not-yaw is gonna take me a while.
It's always nice to sit down to a new Bethesda game... I can reasonably expect that it's somewhere that's going to become a kind of home away from home, someplace that's eventually going to feel as comfortable and familiar as Boston or Skyrim, but I'm just getting to know it. But getting to do this with a whole set of unfamiliar lore and background and a wholly unfamiliar universe feels kinda special. I keep reminding myself to slow down, actually listen to people instead of fast forwarding through their conversations at the bare speed of fastest comprehension, and so on.
The game isn't terribly performant but that doesn't bother me very much. I expect I'll be playing Starfield on the gaming box that comes after the next gaming box I build, and it'll hit 4k60 then or 1080p120 with aaaaaalllllll the eye-candy and some extra eye-candy from mods. For now 1080p at 30-60 is just fine.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:59 AM on September 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
It doesn't help that their controller bindings are a little wonky, probably because of how much stuff they're trying to let the controller, well, control.
My natural expectation would have been for the left stick to control yaw and pitch (or pitch and a combined yaw-and-roll), right stick to be something like looking, and for the shoulder buttons to control roll-but-not-yaw. Their scheme using the right stick for pitch and rollyaw and left stick for roll-but-not-yaw is gonna take me a while.
It's always nice to sit down to a new Bethesda game... I can reasonably expect that it's somewhere that's going to become a kind of home away from home, someplace that's eventually going to feel as comfortable and familiar as Boston or Skyrim, but I'm just getting to know it. But getting to do this with a whole set of unfamiliar lore and background and a wholly unfamiliar universe feels kinda special. I keep reminding myself to slow down, actually listen to people instead of fast forwarding through their conversations at the bare speed of fastest comprehension, and so on.
The game isn't terribly performant but that doesn't bother me very much. I expect I'll be playing Starfield on the gaming box that comes after the next gaming box I build, and it'll hit 4k60 then or 1080p120 with aaaaaalllllll the eye-candy and some extra eye-candy from mods. For now 1080p at 30-60 is just fine.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:59 AM on September 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
Oh also
Not to be a Bethesda fan but oh my fucking god. oh my god. jesus fucking christ. oh my god. fucking shit jesus fuck oh my fucking jesus fucking christ. god in heaven. holy fuck ing shit
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:00 AM on September 1, 2023 [11 favorites]
Not to be a Bethesda fan but oh my fucking god. oh my god. jesus fucking christ. oh my god. fucking shit jesus fuck oh my fucking jesus fucking christ. god in heaven. holy fuck ing shit
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:00 AM on September 1, 2023 [11 favorites]
Starfield is quite similar to Mass Effect Andromeda, which the internet panned at the release. It is definitely more open than Andromeda as far as factions and player choice goes, but it has the same feel right down to the clumsy menu juggling for space travel and scrambling for resources on different planets.
Andromeda had more interesting planets, for the most part. Most weren't explorable unless there was a colony/terraforming to do there. It was clear a person had made the areas you explore. They might have been smaller, but they had more going on. Starfield's planets, from what I have seen, are more like No Man's Sky. A handful of things to scan and collect and swaths of empty area with landmarks dropped in. Kind of a shame because Skyrim/Oblivion/Morrowind are a pleasure to just wander in and enjoy the atmosphere and Starfield is not.
The characters and quests have been fun. New Atlantis as an area is kind of disappointing. The game feels like it was designed for modders to fill in, more so than any Elder Scrolls game. An immersion mod to fix space travel and some mods to fill out the hub cities and outposts will transform the game in a year. It also just kind of needs more stuff in space that isn't planets/moons.
I like it a lot despite the emptiness in places. If you have the game plot jumps for you to minimize menu time and don't burn yourself out pointlessly surveying it's very fun.
posted by forbiddencabinet at 8:13 AM on September 1, 2023
Andromeda had more interesting planets, for the most part. Most weren't explorable unless there was a colony/terraforming to do there. It was clear a person had made the areas you explore. They might have been smaller, but they had more going on. Starfield's planets, from what I have seen, are more like No Man's Sky. A handful of things to scan and collect and swaths of empty area with landmarks dropped in. Kind of a shame because Skyrim/Oblivion/Morrowind are a pleasure to just wander in and enjoy the atmosphere and Starfield is not.
The characters and quests have been fun. New Atlantis as an area is kind of disappointing. The game feels like it was designed for modders to fill in, more so than any Elder Scrolls game. An immersion mod to fix space travel and some mods to fill out the hub cities and outposts will transform the game in a year. It also just kind of needs more stuff in space that isn't planets/moons.
I like it a lot despite the emptiness in places. If you have the game plot jumps for you to minimize menu time and don't burn yourself out pointlessly surveying it's very fun.
posted by forbiddencabinet at 8:13 AM on September 1, 2023
If anyone's bouncing off Starfield and needs a space fix, No Man's Sky just released another new expansion/big patch and expedition.
posted by curious nu at 8:39 AM on September 1, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by curious nu at 8:39 AM on September 1, 2023 [8 favorites]
I cannot stop laughing at this clip. Never stop Bethesda-ing, Bethesda.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:40 AM on September 1, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by uncleozzy at 8:40 AM on September 1, 2023 [6 favorites]
The inventory system is what makes me want to scream. You have to click start which then takes you to a kind of overview page where you see your character and then you can move your joystick/cursor around yourself to various sections and one of those sections is inventory.
I was honestly hoping for a UI closer to the Pip-boy — in the abstract it’s the same number of clicks/presses as Starfield but the Pip-boy just feels so much more “in-universe” than Starfield. (Plus having the flashlight mapped to “F” instead of holding down tab breaks nearly 15 years of muscle memory.)
posted by nathan_teske at 9:23 AM on September 1, 2023
I was honestly hoping for a UI closer to the Pip-boy — in the abstract it’s the same number of clicks/presses as Starfield but the Pip-boy just feels so much more “in-universe” than Starfield. (Plus having the flashlight mapped to “F” instead of holding down tab breaks nearly 15 years of muscle memory.)
posted by nathan_teske at 9:23 AM on September 1, 2023
Absurdly huge, doesn’t get good until you’ve invested more time in it than some games take for their entire run. Yeah I think I’ll wait until I get a coupon to get it for $7 in the box with a new system like my old 360 and Skyrim, especially given that I was dumb enough to buy into the Fallout 4 hype and found it generally tedious.
posted by egypturnash at 10:30 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by egypturnash at 10:30 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
I wrote a review here. It definitely grew on me but I never really got past the simple fact that you're just fast traveling between a bunch of space-adjacent locations. It's not a space game - it's a game set in space. Though I had fun with it as a looter shooter with RPG tendencies, I can't deny I'm disappointed with the shallowness of the gameplay. There's a lot of decent storytelling here and there but... yeah. I'll check back in a decade, though! Skyrim has improved a lot.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 10:59 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 10:59 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Going to hold off for a little while and then wonder if I can run it on my steam deck. I'm still trying to wrap up the main quest in FO76 after spending the last year going through FO, FO2, FO3, NV, FO4, Skyrim, etc. I'll definitely be doing a Bethesda break for a bit with Dave the Diver, etc while I wait for the community to figure out how to make it work on the deck
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:28 AM on September 1, 2023
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:28 AM on September 1, 2023
It's funny I've gone so long without any big ticket games coming out that felt like they were "for me" that I was starting to wonder if I was just sort of moving on from gaming as a hobby a little bit. Then all of a sudden BG3, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Sea of Stars, and Starfield all come out within weeks of one another and suddenly it's an absolute embarrassment of riches. TOO MANY GAMES that I'm just dying to play. You love to see it.
My dilemma now is whether I want to pay it on Game Pass or actually buy the thing. I have this sneaking suspicion that Game Pass is a little sketchy, like supporting Microsoft rather than the people actually developing games. But dang it's a lot of game for the money.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 11:33 AM on September 1, 2023
My dilemma now is whether I want to pay it on Game Pass or actually buy the thing. I have this sneaking suspicion that Game Pass is a little sketchy, like supporting Microsoft rather than the people actually developing games. But dang it's a lot of game for the money.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 11:33 AM on September 1, 2023
I'm already paying for Game Pass, so I only opted for the $30ish upgrade to play early. If they drop it off of Game Pass, I'll buy it then, but for now, I might as well save where I can.
posted by Fizz at 11:41 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Fizz at 11:41 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Microsoft owns the studio behind Starfield, so in this (narrow) case, the GamePass money all goes to the same entity.
posted by FallibleHuman at 1:01 PM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by FallibleHuman at 1:01 PM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
75 on PC Gamer, some 4/5s and 7/10s on various smaller sites as well.
Polygon talked about "gaps unfilled", "spreading further rather than fleshing out" and ultimately "Bethesda's ambition exceeding its craft" ...
The 2 bigger sites I usually get my reviews from, RPS and Eurogamer were only given review code 2 days (vs. 2 weeks) before release, so reviews won't be up for some time. Digital Foundry, the tech / performance sub-arm of Eurogamer were provided with early review code but were told it couldn't be shared with the gameplay reviewing side of the outfit. Hearing that little saga last week definitely got me tooth-sucking.
It's out on Gamepass for everyone in under a week so I could soon check it out for no extra expense... but from what I've heard so far and given the way gaming time / energy shakes out as a 40-something parent I somehow don't think it's going to be pushing the wonder that is Dave the Diver of my personal pedestal.
posted by protorp at 1:27 PM on September 1, 2023
Polygon talked about "gaps unfilled", "spreading further rather than fleshing out" and ultimately "Bethesda's ambition exceeding its craft" ...
The 2 bigger sites I usually get my reviews from, RPS and Eurogamer were only given review code 2 days (vs. 2 weeks) before release, so reviews won't be up for some time. Digital Foundry, the tech / performance sub-arm of Eurogamer were provided with early review code but were told it couldn't be shared with the gameplay reviewing side of the outfit. Hearing that little saga last week definitely got me tooth-sucking.
It's out on Gamepass for everyone in under a week so I could soon check it out for no extra expense... but from what I've heard so far and given the way gaming time / energy shakes out as a 40-something parent I somehow don't think it's going to be pushing the wonder that is Dave the Diver of my personal pedestal.
posted by protorp at 1:27 PM on September 1, 2023
If anyone's bouncing off Starfield and needs a space fix, No Man's Sky
If you want dogfights in space try Everspace 2. It's the best space combat out there. It's a bit of a looter shooter. It's an rpg like diablo is an rpg, you'll be building up your ship (or fleet) to your liking with loot you find and taking it into battle, the story is peripheral.
Yet to play Starfield, I'm waiting for it to install right now. I'm serious about Everspace 2 being the best there is, kinda wish Bethseda just dropped a huge sack of cash at rockfish and said 'do the space combat for us'.
Here's hoping they surprise me!
posted by adept256 at 4:55 PM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
If you want dogfights in space try Everspace 2. It's the best space combat out there. It's a bit of a looter shooter. It's an rpg like diablo is an rpg, you'll be building up your ship (or fleet) to your liking with loot you find and taking it into battle, the story is peripheral.
Yet to play Starfield, I'm waiting for it to install right now. I'm serious about Everspace 2 being the best there is, kinda wish Bethseda just dropped a huge sack of cash at rockfish and said 'do the space combat for us'.
Here's hoping they surprise me!
posted by adept256 at 4:55 PM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Crashed after 2 minutes. Right after I picked up the cutter.
Whatever, let's try again.
posted by adept256 at 5:23 PM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Whatever, let's try again.
posted by adept256 at 5:23 PM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Screen freezes for about 10 seconds at a time, audio drops out. Then the lips don't move while people are speaking. Sometimes the framerate goes to hell and comes back.
So not as bug free as some have suggested.
posted by adept256 at 6:05 PM on September 1, 2023
So not as bug free as some have suggested.
posted by adept256 at 6:05 PM on September 1, 2023
Are you trying to play off a spinny-metal hard drive?
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:06 PM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:06 PM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
👏🏽THIS👏🏽 GAME👏🏽 NEEDS👏🏽 A👏🏽 RADIAL👏🏽 MENU👏🏽 WHY👏🏽 TODD👏🏽 IS👏🏽 THIS 👏🏽 INVENTORY 👏🏽 MANAGEMENT 👏🏽 SO 👏🏽 FUCKING 👏🏽 TERRIBLE 👏🏽
posted by Fizz at 4:55 AM on September 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Fizz at 4:55 AM on September 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
I love this game, but I also hate this game. Welcome to being a Bethesda fan.
And I know much of these issues are related to Bethesda being Bethesda, but getting back to the menu/inventory stuff. When a game is THIS long in development the gaming community evolves and moves on and other games and newer games bring new ideas and new systems of UX/UI that we grow accustomed to and as a result, sometimes by the time your game is released, its too late, the world has moved on and it makes this game seem so much more out of date. PLEASE JUST PAY ONE, JUST ONE PERSON IN UI/UX CONSULTANCY. Talk to a psycho Fallout or Skyrim fanatic who only plays the game for thousands of hours and ask them what they'd like with the inventory and menu system.
Give me a usable map that I can actually see clearly and understand. But no, let's integrate a merchandise/gimmicky-watch-compass that we can sell for a premium edition instead of an actual usable mini-map.
posted by Fizz at 5:01 AM on September 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
And I know much of these issues are related to Bethesda being Bethesda, but getting back to the menu/inventory stuff. When a game is THIS long in development the gaming community evolves and moves on and other games and newer games bring new ideas and new systems of UX/UI that we grow accustomed to and as a result, sometimes by the time your game is released, its too late, the world has moved on and it makes this game seem so much more out of date. PLEASE JUST PAY ONE, JUST ONE PERSON IN UI/UX CONSULTANCY. Talk to a psycho Fallout or Skyrim fanatic who only plays the game for thousands of hours and ask them what they'd like with the inventory and menu system.
Give me a usable map that I can actually see clearly and understand. But no, let's integrate a merchandise/gimmicky-watch-compass that we can sell for a premium edition instead of an actual usable mini-map.
posted by Fizz at 5:01 AM on September 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
Yeah sorry Starfield.. I'm just too busy playing Baldur's Gate 3. Maybe next year..
posted by Pendragon at 5:15 AM on September 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Pendragon at 5:15 AM on September 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
I have it working fine now. Right at the beginning, before getting onto the ship, I chose a spot on the horizon and just started walking. I turned around and took this photo of the base. There are no invisible walls, you can just keep going. I found some nickel and aluminium, and a gas vent that poisoned me with radiation.
pressing 'q' brings up the wheel, pressing 'i' brings up the inventory. You can assign items to the wheel by pressing 'b' in the inventory. Are we playing the same game?
posted by adept256 at 7:24 AM on September 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
pressing 'q' brings up the wheel, pressing 'i' brings up the inventory. You can assign items to the wheel by pressing 'b' in the inventory. Are we playing the same game?
posted by adept256 at 7:24 AM on September 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'm playing on Xbox Series X. You're obviously on a PC with m/k.
posted by Fizz at 8:12 AM on September 2, 2023
posted by Fizz at 8:12 AM on September 2, 2023
And I know there are shortcuts/favorites I can set to the D-pad, but still not the same as having a better inventory/menu system. It's fine. I just wish it wasn't this and it could be a lot better.
posted by Fizz at 8:13 AM on September 2, 2023
posted by Fizz at 8:13 AM on September 2, 2023
This is just too buggy. Yes I have it on the SSD. Sometimes just opening the inventory causes it to have a fit. The graphics are really dated too. The trees on New Atlantis are rock solid, they look like shit. Faces are ugly, the hair is plastic. It all looks like a ps3 port.
When I got to constellation I couldn't kill them all. They're immortal. They don't even react when you shoot them. That sucks. What if I wanted to take their artifact? What if I want to throw mine into the nearest star instead of work with them? Or sell it? Boo. The first choice in the game is already made for you.
It's not what I hoped. I'm taking a break until there's a patch. And a tonne of mods that make it look like a modern game.
posted by adept256 at 11:32 AM on September 2, 2023
When I got to constellation I couldn't kill them all. They're immortal. They don't even react when you shoot them. That sucks. What if I wanted to take their artifact? What if I want to throw mine into the nearest star instead of work with them? Or sell it? Boo. The first choice in the game is already made for you.
It's not what I hoped. I'm taking a break until there's a patch. And a tonne of mods that make it look like a modern game.
posted by adept256 at 11:32 AM on September 2, 2023
Based on what I am reading in this thread, I think I am having a more positive experience with Starfield than most folks so far.
I came into the game with adjusted (lowered?) expectations. This is admittedly easier for me than most gamers, I suspect, because I don't need next gen graphics. I also don't mind typical Bethesda bugginess — I play Skyrim on the Nintendo Switch, for heaven's sake.
Earlier today, I left the first "main" city to run a small, time-sensitive side quest. I had to pass through the Volii star system and decided to stop by on my way back. Four hours later and I got so sidetracked by all the cool things to see and do, I kind of forgot about the main questline.
Right now, the wonder and newness of this immersive game experience is enough for me. I have a lot of patience for Bethesda games and I'm not going to pass judgment on this one until I've put in at least 50 hours. But that's me! I see what folks are saying about the inventory, UI, and especially horrible map systems, but I'm finding that it's becoming easier and easier to overlook those flaws.
Fingers crossed that my instincts are right about Starfield's slow burn, long haul, delayed gratification game dynamics.
posted by nightrecordings at 1:40 PM on September 2, 2023
I came into the game with adjusted (lowered?) expectations. This is admittedly easier for me than most gamers, I suspect, because I don't need next gen graphics. I also don't mind typical Bethesda bugginess — I play Skyrim on the Nintendo Switch, for heaven's sake.
Earlier today, I left the first "main" city to run a small, time-sensitive side quest. I had to pass through the Volii star system and decided to stop by on my way back. Four hours later and I got so sidetracked by all the cool things to see and do, I kind of forgot about the main questline.
Right now, the wonder and newness of this immersive game experience is enough for me. I have a lot of patience for Bethesda games and I'm not going to pass judgment on this one until I've put in at least 50 hours. But that's me! I see what folks are saying about the inventory, UI, and especially horrible map systems, but I'm finding that it's becoming easier and easier to overlook those flaws.
Fingers crossed that my instincts are right about Starfield's slow burn, long haul, delayed gratification game dynamics.
posted by nightrecordings at 1:40 PM on September 2, 2023
I don't have a machine upon which I can play Starfield so I'll just look on admiringly. For my own gaming, I put down Dragon's Dogma finally about a week ago after two more full play throughs. I still love it, but I'm still annoyed at the way damage calculation is done in that chugging periapts can turn a hard boss battle into a trifle.
This past week I picked up No Man's Sky to see the recent updates, but I haven't really seen them. It's still a bit too samey-samey, a bit too ticky-boxy, a bit too fetchy-questy, a bit too reliant on me to give myself something to do.
So anyway I just now started the download of Mass Effect Legendary. I haven't played ME since PS3 so that'll be a nice bit of nostalgia. Probe launched.
posted by seanmpuckett at 1:47 PM on September 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
This past week I picked up No Man's Sky to see the recent updates, but I haven't really seen them. It's still a bit too samey-samey, a bit too ticky-boxy, a bit too fetchy-questy, a bit too reliant on me to give myself something to do.
So anyway I just now started the download of Mass Effect Legendary. I haven't played ME since PS3 so that'll be a nice bit of nostalgia. Probe launched.
posted by seanmpuckett at 1:47 PM on September 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
When I got to constellation I couldn't kill them all. They're immortal. They don't even react when you shoot them. That sucks. What if I wanted to take their artifact? What if I want to throw mine into the nearest star instead of work with them? Or sell it? Boo. The first choice in the game is already made for you.
I understand and appreciate your point, especially since I've encountered disappointing limitations like this in games like Skyrim.
Having said that, I do think that even the most immersive RPG games need to have limits and boundaries. There's nothing wrong with a little rigidity in a main questline. It's a main questline. None of know where that questline really goes yet. For all we know at this point, there may be an opportunity to either kill or betray the Constellation at a later time.
The game clearly wants us to engage with certain people and situations at an absolute minimum, because those people and situations are connected to major in-game rewards and buffs that will ultimately shape what the Starfield world is. And I think that's fine. Because 1) it gives the world meaning, 2) there is already so much to do and see in this world - thus, I feel that Starfield has other ways to make up for the rigidity of its main quest.
posted by nightrecordings at 1:54 PM on September 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
I understand and appreciate your point, especially since I've encountered disappointing limitations like this in games like Skyrim.
Having said that, I do think that even the most immersive RPG games need to have limits and boundaries. There's nothing wrong with a little rigidity in a main questline. It's a main questline. None of know where that questline really goes yet. For all we know at this point, there may be an opportunity to either kill or betray the Constellation at a later time.
The game clearly wants us to engage with certain people and situations at an absolute minimum, because those people and situations are connected to major in-game rewards and buffs that will ultimately shape what the Starfield world is. And I think that's fine. Because 1) it gives the world meaning, 2) there is already so much to do and see in this world - thus, I feel that Starfield has other ways to make up for the rigidity of its main quest.
posted by nightrecordings at 1:54 PM on September 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
On transphobia-monitoring website Assigned Media, Alyssa Steinsiek has a bit of fun with the ridiculous online foofaraw over the fact that you can choose your pronouns in Starfield. Excerpt:
That’s right, folks. Big time internetainment boys, certified based YouTube Chads even, are throwing actual hissy fits, honest to goodness crying meltdowns, about a feature that appears for approximately two seconds at the very start of the game: choosing your pronouns.posted by Kattullus at 4:16 AM on September 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
Starfield is a massive space sim-come-roleplaying game, and like most roleplaying games, you spend a tremendous amount of time chatting with the hoi polloi. The local yokels want to bend your ear about everything under the sun, whatever sun that may be, and they’re gonna have to use the proper words to address you from time to time. She said this, he wants that, they went there. It’s nice that Starfield explicitly disconnects your pronouns from your character’s presentation, and even nicer that the game takes place in a society where people can telepathically intuit your preferred pronouns without ever asking you for them.
But for YouTubers HeelvsBabyface and Dr. Disrespect—the former having 344,000 subscribers and the latter boasting over 4.5 million—the inclusion of pronouns selection in a roleplaying game, where you typically enter into the shoes of a fictional person and get to decide things about them, was the last straw.
I know Bethesda games generally allow for bi/pan romance, but I was genuinely stunned when I (a character who uses male pronouns) chose the "[Flirt]" option with a male NPC who immediately started talking about a former male lover. Was genuinely not expecting that. I assume that female PCs would get the same story, but I'm sort of on the fence about whether it would be more interesting if the story changed based on the PC's gender.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:31 AM on September 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by uncleozzy at 6:31 AM on September 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
Another positive surprise for me was the much improved physics system.
To the poster upthread complaining that the questline was too rigid, an infinitely branching main story is not really something that is technically feasible right now. Maybe in a decade, with progress on chatbots/LLM, speech synthesis and the like it will be possible, but in the meantime getting together with some friends and playing a good old-fashioned pen-and-paper RPG is your only choice.
posted by Harald74 at 9:55 PM on September 9, 2023
To the poster upthread complaining that the questline was too rigid, an infinitely branching main story is not really something that is technically feasible right now. Maybe in a decade, with progress on chatbots/LLM, speech synthesis and the like it will be possible, but in the meantime getting together with some friends and playing a good old-fashioned pen-and-paper RPG is your only choice.
posted by Harald74 at 9:55 PM on September 9, 2023
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posted by seanmpuckett at 4:53 AM on September 1, 2023 [10 favorites]