#starfield review

[runevex]

When people say Starfield starts slow and gets a lot better, they are right. But I think I have figured out why that is.

I have played a lot of Starfield at this point, I'm at about 13 hours.

The first 10ish hours were spent kinda aimless and confused, and then it all clicked into place. I think the reason is that this game, to a great extent, is allergic to tutorials.

The game has an incredibly brief intro, as compared to other BGS titles. There's a fairly short (comparitive to Skyrim) cutscene; a mandatory fight; a cutscene and flight tutorial that you can skip; and a short mandatory dungeon. After that, the game just throws you into the thick of it.

If you follow the "main story" there are a few more very brief text screen tutorials (think, the lockpick tutorial in Fallout 4, just a text box). But basically, you are fully on your own to figure out how the systems in this game work. And there are a LOT of systems.

It takes about 10 or 12 hours to piece everything together to really get an idea on what exactly this game is doing, what it's about, what the point is.

Now, I understand why it has done this. Starting a new playthrough of Skyrim, Fallout 4, Fallout 3, Oblivion... The intro/tutorial takes forever to get past. Then even when you think you are done, you really aren't. For example, Concord in Fallout 4 is still tutorial. Bleak Falls Barrow in Skyrim is also still tutorial.

Starfield does not do this. It's more like Fallout New Vegas. Make a character, and go. The difference between Starfield and New Vegas however is the number of game systems you need to understand and keep track of.

New Vegas doesn't really ever explain the Reloading Bench to you. You just have to figure it out. But, that's one game system that you honestly never have to actually interact with. Starfield immediately has about a dozen game systems that you do need to have a baseline understanding of.

I'm sure the idea behind not having tutorials is to respect the player's time on subsequent playthroughs.

I am also sure the reason that so MANY content creators got early access to the game, was to have video guides explaining game systems made to replace the tutorials in a sense. However in the absence of YouTube videos or proper tutorials, it takes about 12 hours to actually get into the right groove with this game.

If you did not pay $30 for a week of early access to this game, which is a more than valid stance, I think you won't have this problem with the game as badly. By that point, enough high quality video guides will exist and be posted by reputable gaming YouTubers that you won't need tutorials in the same way.

I also think that on subsequent playthroughs, we will all be glad that the game does not hold your hand and drag you anywhere.

However Starfield as it exists now does not have enough tutorials for you to really have the game click for a while. Once it does click, it's an amazing experience.

So don't be afraid to watch video guides explaining the game systems. You are doing yourself a disservice if you don't.

[suchananewsblog]

‘Starfield’ game review: Bethesda’s sprawling space epic takes you to the centre of the universe

Still from the game | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Bethesda is renowned for its expansive single-player RPGs that immerse players in vast virtual worlds. Among its iconic titles, Skyrim, released in 2011, continues to thrive, with versions available on all major gaming platforms and a modding community that keeps it visually competitive with contemporary games. Starfield, Bethesda’s latest…

[inthekitchenwithmatt]

Starfield Review | Best RPG Ever? | No Spoilers

[trendagon]

Starfield Review: Bethesda's Epic RPG Takes You to the Stars and Beyond

Starfield, the latest offering from Bethesda Game Studios, takes gamers on a celestial adventure in a brand-new universe. Departing from the familiar realms of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, this colossal RPG transports players to the depths of space, promising exploration on an unprecedented scale with a staggering 1,000 planets to visit and a multitude of captivating stories to immerse yourself in. Prepare to forge your unique path among the stars, unearthing ancient relics in the forgotten corners of the cosmos. As you create your character, construct your dream spaceship, and assemble your crew of companions, Starfield invites you to embark on an odyssey that redefines epic gaming.

A Departure from Expectations

Anticipation for Starfield was sky-high, with fans envisioning "Skyrim in Space," "Fallout in Space," or even "No Man's Sky…in Space." However, Starfield manages to carve out its niche, offering an exhilarating and surprising experience while retaining the classic Bethesda RPG elements that players love. The game introduces a structure that is both familiar and refreshingly unpredictable.

The Verdict

Is Starfield worthy of its lineage, following in the footsteps of Bethesda's iconic RPGs? The answer is an emphatic yes. This ambitious title stands out as something truly special from the outset.

Reviewing the Cosmos

Summarizing the entirety of Starfield is a challenge in itself, given its vastness. However, our Features Editor and dedicated space explorer, Ben Sledge, has spent considerable time navigating the game and has shared his insights.

In his review, Ben praises Starfield, saying, "Bethesda boldly launches to the stars with Starfield, confidently planting its flag in the loamy soil of a thousand planets to stake its claim as the best RPG the developer has made to date. It excels in unexpected areas, with quests and characters being the highlights. The main story is surprisingly strong, with great central characters and a solid narrative hook, despite a slow start."

Bethesda's trademark side quests shine in Starfield, breathing life into the universe. However, Ben points out, "These side quests are too few and far between. Interplanetary travel is tedious, and too many planets are devoid of interest. It's in these fringes that the cracks in Bethesda's procedural generation start to show. These issues are quickly forgotten as soon as you return to civilization, however, and explore another vast city teeming with life and teasing myriad secrets around every corner."

Time Well Spent

Starfield is a colossal game in every sense. With 1,000 planets to explore and a dedicated modding community at your fingertips, prepare to bid adieu to your social life indefinitely. Playing through the main story alone will take you around 30 to 40 hours, depending on your pace. However, this represents just the tip of the cosmic iceberg. Delving into exploration, side quests, and building your galactic legacy will likely extend your playtime to a whopping 50 to 100 hours, with some dedicated players easily surpassing 100 hours.

Read More Here

[fallout-tactics]

huh???

oh my fucking god. (source in replies)

[ech-e-sketch]

People are playing starfield and complaining because they expected it to be the be-all-and-end-all of space exploration games I’m playing starfield because it’s a goofy space cowboy simulator

[gibsalad]

Starfield players leaving reviews on Steam with those Dev responses:

[leftyllama]

I was expecting Starfield to be Fallout 4 in space...

Fallout 4 in space has a lot of potential. Despite Fallout 4's snoozeworthy main quest and frustrating dialogue system, I actually found it's moment to moment gameplay quite fun! You set out from your settlement, go to a location, gather as much as you can, use what you got to upgrade your settlement and gear, repeat. It's a good loop and I was excited to see something similar from a game set in space. (I know not everyone was into the settlement building but personally I was a big fan)

Starfield seems to have learned some good lessons from Fallout 4; you can select traits when making a character (the trait that gives you parents is some of the most fun I've had with the game), the player character is no longer voiced, which leaves room for more variety in dialogue (options are still limited but it's a small improvement).

Sadly, with these few steps forward come numerous steps back. Junk items have returned to being meaningless clutter instead of items of worth (I understand this might not fit the tone of Starfield's world as well as Fallout's but it was still disappointing to see gone). Instead of being able to upgrade your gear as you progress, loot will drop at different stat tiers in an incredibly arbitrary manner. This is especially a problem with unique quest rewards which can be quickly outclassed by random drops simply because they're set in a lower tier. The outpost system is a downgrade from Fallout 4's settlements, with far more limited options for decoration or even basic structures. Resource storage is very annoying, with ships and outposts having limited storage and the one place with unlimited storage not being linked to any research or crafting stations, meaning you have to manually schlep resources back and forth constantly. NPCS no longer drop their entire inventory on death, now only dropping their weapon with a chance at armor.

I do want to give some praise to the modular shipbuilding. While it's more limited in some ways than I'd like and there's frustratingly no way to reliably decorate the interior, it's a fun system and I've seen quite a few impressive creations from friends.

I expect with time and the release of Starfield's creation kit, many of these issues will be solved or at the very least alleviated. Unfortunately one thing I can't see changing is in My mind Starfield's biggest failure: it's world. With the exception of three or four major locations, the universe of Starfield is filled with planets that are nothing but procedurally generated mush, filled with nameless npcs you can either shoot or trade with. The characters talk about the wonders of exploring the universe but there's no wonder to be found.

[bigfreakinfrog]

i havent seen a single person on my dash talk abt starfield. we're all in baldurs gate hell

[wookofwallst]

Starfield Reviews are coming in, and either this is one big conspiracy or this is one of the best games this year, and I was very, very wrong lol.

10/10 Destructoid

10/10 GamingBolt

5/5 GamesRadar+

5/5 Attack of the Fanboy

5/5 Game Rant

9/10 Shacknews

9/10 GamingTrend

9/10 Wccftech

9/10 COGconnected

9/10 RPG Site

9/10 Press Start

75/100 PCGamer

Metacritic: 89

Opencritic: 87

[realwomenofgaming]

Starfield: Flawed but fun

Starfield offers compelling side content and weapons, but struggles with story cohesiveness, companion narratives, and purposeless spaceship mechanics. Read more here. An article by RoughGalaxy. #Starfield #Review

Starfield is an interesting foray into the space game genre and while they get many things right, Bethesda struggled with some core concepts of the genre, failing to make a cohesive package. First, let’s talk about the story. It’s not bad, but if you focus solely on the main story arc you’ll get about halfway through before realizing it devolves into a series of routine fetch quests, wholly…

[runevex]

After over 50 hours, I have finally "completed" Starfield, or at least the main story and faction quests.

The good.

The faction storylines are great. I wish they were longer, but really I think that's a sign that they were very fun.

The main story is, interesting. I'm going to avoid spoilers as best I can here, but I will say the pacing is probably a bit off. It starts interesting and fun, becomes a huge drag through the middle, and then becomes incredibly fascinating at the end.

I will briefly give an incredibly vague statement that some people may consider a spoiler, but I want to say it as a warning. To avoid ANY spoilers, don't read the next sentence. That choice the game asks you to make, is going to lead to the conclusion you think it will, so choose carefully.

The actual exploration, gunplay, characters... they are all fantastic. Combat is satisfying and rewarding. Planets can be fun to just explore and get lost on. The quests and side quests, for the most part, are a lot of fun. There are only 4 main companions, but all are well written, developed, and interesting. Overall if you play this like it's Skyrim, and ignore the more Fallout style mechanics, you will have an incredible time.

The bad.

My major criticisms of the game are that some of the game mechanics are flawed.

The research and crafting system includes a lot of basically unnecessary steps and annoyances. Having to craft things to be able to craft things is honestly kind of aggravating.

The base building is more shallow than even the Hearthfire DLC for Skyrim. Yes, you can build a base piece by piece. However your reasons for doing that get undermined quickly.

Outposts are intended to be used for gathering resources, but you will be so insanely rich that you will never have a reason to not just buy those resources.

If you are trying to just build a home, you will find your options shockingly limited. Like, fewer things to build than vanilla Fallout 4, before the DLCs. Like a dozen posters and some basic furniture, and that's basically it. You can research more things to build but it never ends up with enough stuff to feel satisfying.

Yes, it's cool that you can drop objects in your home and they stay where you put them. No more Bethesda object explosions. But even then it still just feels, shallow.

Speaking of objects, the looting is flawed. Ninety odd percent of what you find is useless, except to drop in a base or your ship or something. However, without the functionality of a mod like Fallout 4's OCDecorator and/or Place Anywhere, they just don't provide much for you.

And those objects are EVERYWHERE. Like, for every piece of useful loot you find, you will find twenty some pieces of useless decorations. They don't do anything, and you eventually just get sick of seeing them.

Conclusion

Starfield is an incredible experience, as evidenced by my 50/60 odd hours in the game. I do wish that if they were going to have all these systems, that they took the time to flesh them out.

There needs to be a Hearthfire or Wasteland Workshop style DLC for the game. There's just not enough to build or do with the outpost system, and not enough stuff to spend your crafting materials on.

The "end" is awesome. It's heartbreaking in a way, but that's good. I had to make a very serious choice, and it elicited real emotions both before and after I made that decision.

Like most Bethesda games before it, this is a solid 8/10. However I have a feeling that a couple good DLCs, and much like Skyrim and Fallout, it'll become a game that is played for the next decade or two to come.

[mythoughtsandrandomcr4p]

back from a huge break 😅

anyways, Starfield finally released recently and I can't get enough of it 🤩

It was well worth the wait. there's so much to do, the characters are great, the quests are engaging and the soundtrack....it really blows me away.

I bought a series X and a new 4k UHD tv for this game and I'm so happy I did!

anyone wondering to give it a go or not, ESPECIALLY Bethesda fans, GO AND PLAY IT, you won't be bored for a good while!

...and of course, I've already married Sarah. had to be done 😅

[nukaposting]

getting my ssd for starfield installed tomorrow

[inscrutablemachine]

Congratulations, Bethesda. You found an entirely new way to ruin a game, one that I’ve never encountered before.

I wanted to like Starfield. I was in the mood for free-roaming Space, and the sheer genericness of Starfield looked promising to my mood. I read reviews, and saw no problems mods wouldn’t fix.

So, Bethesda invented a new one. They do… something to the graphics. They process it in a bizarre, subtle way. Downgrade the image, make it either blurry or grainy depending on the settings (which I messed with after looking up the problem). They actually deliberately ruin their own expensive graphics with post-processing.

It makes me ill. I get dizzy and disoriented if I play for more than a few minutes. Also, I got to 2.5 hours and can’t return it, because I couldn’t imagine the game was the cause, because… who does this!?

So, congrats, Bethesda. 10/10, never had a game ruined more creatively.

[burningspy]

I've playing an early access copy of the new game Starfield on my computer today.

(not bragging, because I did have to buy the game and pay for the privilege)

I only say that because playing the game much of the day seems to have melted the power cord on my computer! (as seen in the photo above)

While playing, I heard a loud pop come from the computer sitting on the small end table beside my desk. A fraction of a second later, my computer dies and I smell the very distinctive scent of fried electronics.

As soon as it happened, I began to panic, thinking my very expensive graphics card just blew up and killed my computer. Which confused me even more, because I actually have that card slightly underclocked and undervolted in order to prevent it from overheating and crashing in these kind of high quality graphics situations.

I also began to think that maybe my power supply might have been the casualty. Which, financially, would have been the better of the two options; $200 for a decent power supply is much easier to handle than $1000+ for a new video card. Especially when it's an "emergency" purchase for this kind of situation.

Then, I grabbed the cord on the back of my computer to unplug it, and only pieces of it were in my hand. The outer rubber shielding of the cord had quickly melted, hardened, and the whole cord crumbled. Pieces of it had even slightly fused to the part of the tabletop the cord was running across.

I happened to have a much thicker gauged power cord in a closet. I plugged that in, and my computer came back to life. Nothing truly important (or expensive) was damaged. Honestly, the only reason I wasn't using this higher quality power cord already is because I don't really need a 10' long power cord for my computer.

Hopefully this thicker gauged power cord is all I really need to prevent anything like that from happening again.