A Starfield rant thread

[Jarnin]

16 hours ago, DocClox said:

 

So you're not holding the Mass Effect writing up as an example of good writing to which Starfield should aspire?

 

Which writing? Which game? Mass Effect had two different lead writers over the four games produced:

 

Mass Effect = Drew Karpyshyn

Mass Effect 2 = Drew Karpyshyn for half, Mac Walters for the other half.

Mass Effect 3 = Mac Walters

Mass Effect: Andromeda = Mac Walters

 

It works like this:

• When people are gushing over the writing in Mass Effect, 90% of the time it's something that Drew wrote.
• When they're complaining about the writing in Mass Effect, 90% of the time it's something that Mac wrote.

[HappyHimitsu]

On 10/23/2023 at 10:50 AM, DDetrix said:

 

Siding with the goblins was not like siding with the legion in Fallout NV. Gale the drugged out mage who claims to fuck a god? Companions need serious help. I kill Karlach on the spot so I have no idea who she is but... according to game telemetry, she is less romanced than the mindfrayer. ~Harsh. Astarion should been more grey or at least more understandable (why would he side with the goblins? just makes no sense)

 

It's an adult story. The game designers treat you like a grown up so that's why you're feeling that way. The first pillars of eternity was like that, very mature in it's delivery and ideas put forward. I like the storyline in bg3 much better than PoE but both had some dark themes and didn't treat you like an idiot. 

 

If BG3 had the evil route finished. So yes half your team drops but you pick up new evil companions. (imo planned with the female drow but clearly was cut) Someone fixed the companions, I heard they fixed shadowheart. I guess she was as unlikable as the rest of them until the rework. I'd give you that 'PHENOMENAL' but until then it's just good.  I know I'm not alone with saying bg3 is a good game but is a bit underbaked.

 

Back on Starfield, I think the storyline was pg-13. Very light, nothing too dark and pretty easy to follow. Most adult gamers find that pg-13 stuff boring.

 

I just don't overthink it. I play the game for entertainment and nothing more; and yes, it is nice to have a game that doesn't tip-toe around mature subjects, it makes me feel like my early days of PC gaming sitting in my Dad's basement on my 486sx33 playing things I thought would probably get me into trouble if I was caught lol. 

I've only gotten a few companions so far (I have a tendency to play multiple games at the same time and rn I'm split between BG and CP, with CP taking most of my gaming time as I won't play BG without my partner) but for the most part I've enjoyed them. 
Gale is a bit annoying and all too pretentious, but I get a laugh out of it so... 

Perhaps I see it differently because I'm playing multi with someone sitting 4 feet away from me so we have a heck of a good time with it; but then again, I'm not picky. I've always been an old school RPG fan and I LOVED the other Baldur's Gate games, so to me it's like that, but with great graphics, yay!

[DocClox]

8 hours ago, Jarnin said:

Which writing? Which game? Mass Effect had two different lead writers over the four games produced:

 

Don't ask me. I'm just trying to circle back on the question of using the inclusion of soft porn as an indicator of good writing. Which seemed a little on the debatable side. I just wanted to try clarify the initial claim first.

 

 

[belegost]

On 10/23/2023 at 6:50 PM, DDetrix said:

bg3 is a good game but is a bit underbaked.

 

If we are to stick to this comparison, then Starfield would be a bunch of ingredients loosely, but not entirely, mixed together in a bowl, blown over with an acetone torch to form what looks like a nice, crunchy crust, topped with nice cream and sprinkled with sugar candy toppings.

You buy it thinking "damn son, that's a nice looking cake, I bet it tastes amazing!".

Then when you get home and slice, a raw egg-flour mixture pours out and gives you the worst toilet run you had since the last time you were fooled in similar manner by a different big brand bakery.

 

If BG3 is a bit underbaked, Starfield is so raw it developed sentience and walked away before even being put in an oven.

Edited October 31, 2023 by belegost

[Battletooth]

My first disappointment was boring, bland and just idiotic companions, and their god damn awful and boring dialog.

After like 15-20h, maybe earlier i was really annoyed for boring dialogue in overall everywhere in the game, and there was so much of it, just pointless jabbering I had to skip and press skip button like grazy.

 

After while, copy pasted content became boring, also copy pasted fetch quest. temple grind became boring after some NG+ and then I had to put game away. I partially rushed first playthough, mainly because boring content (fells like almost zero content), got bit more interested again in NG+, but nahh

Still i liked the game, but i dont think i will touch it again, it just don't give same feeling like previous games, skyrim,F04

Maybe they had to make game "safe" fo general public, or bethesda is seriously lacking creativeness now

[LWolf8]

On 10/26/2023 at 10:39 PM, Mr. Otaku said:

I don't think these decisions were motivated by ratings. As i mentioned earlier in this thread (or another thread idfk) games like RDR2 and Cyberpunk can get really gory and they're still massively successful in many if not all regions (there can be outliers i'm not aware of). I think they simply didn't wanna bother adding dismemberment to all the spacesuits and shit, like we know a lot of changed and nerfed some time during development so maybe they had plans for it but then got binned.

I also don't think it because of ratings.

But I think it's not only just because they didn't wanna bother with dismemberment mechanics. If you look at Starfield overall, it lacks not only gore, but many other features that can be considered as edgy, spicy, mature, badass, etc.

 

So, why Starfield is so shallow and sterile, it may be a combination of these things:

- Engine problems, lack of inspiration, lack of new talented senior devs.

- "Bigger vs deeper" mentality. 

- Attempt to appeal to an average and large family friendly type of audience, but not because of ratings and direct restrictions, but because BGS thought it's most profitable and most safe way. By safe I mean socially/politically. Things like gore, strong themes, and sexy outfits, often are disliked by many right wingers and left wingers / feminists. So best way (in their mind) is just to make game more sterile in terms of everything: gameplay, style, themes.

- "Stuck in the past and in the bubble" thing. Except 76, all BGS games in last 20 years were huge successes, and Skyrim specifically became basically an immortal, because of how the game was designed, and because of how big and amazing modding community has become. But BGS became arrogant and lost their touch with reality, lost understanding what makes good modern open world game, and why most people mod their games in the first place.

Edited November 7, 2023 by LWolf8

[Mr. Otaku]

17 hours ago, LWolf8 said:

I also don't think it because of ratings.

But I think it's not only just because they didn't wanna bother with dismemberment mechanics. If you look at Starfield overall, it lacks not only gore, but many other features that can be considered as edgy, spicy, mature, badass, etc.

 

So, why Starfield is so shallow and sterile, it may be a combination of these things:

- Engine problems, lack of inspiration, lack of new talented senior devs.

- "Bigger vs deeper" mentality. 

- Attempt to appeal to an average and large family friendly type of audience, but not because of ratings and direct restrictions, but because BGS thought it's most profitable and most safe way. By safe I mean socially/politically. Things like gore, strong themes, and sexy outfits, often are disliked by many right wingers and left wingers / feminists. So best way (in their mind) is just to make game more sterile in terms of everything: gameplay, style, themes.

- "Stuck in the past and in the bubble" thing. Except 76, all BGS games in last 20 years were huge successes, and Skyrim specifically became basically an immortal, because of how the game was designed, and because of how big and amazing modding community has become. But BGS became arrogant and lost their touch with reality, lost understanding what makes good modern open world game, and why most people mod their games in the first place.

 

I'm inclined to agree, i'm personally enjoying the game still but i can't ignore these massive shortcomings and problems. The first thing i noticed when they revealed Neon was how sexless it actually looks despite taking direct visual inspiration from cyberpunk aesthetics, especially those dancers. You'd think there will be actual strippers there and not some middle aged dudes in skin tight bodysuits with tentacles coming out from the back but someone at Bethesda thought that was a good idea.

 

It's such a mixed bag honestly because in many areas the world design is so cool and awesome but in many other areas it's so clinical and sterile. Exploration is also massively botched and i think even the biggest defenders of this game are slowly starting to admit that. You can have the greatest, widest set of content in your game but it would still be a grating experience if it's all spread out so thin and every step of the way there's 5 loading screens, half of which didn't even need to be there on a technical level.

[Miauzi]

Vor 26 Minuten sagte Herr Otaku:

Das erste, was mir auffiel, als sie Neon enthüllten, war, wie geschlechtslos es tatsächlich aussieht, obwohl es sich direkt visuell von der Cyberpunk-Ästhetik inspirieren ließ, insbesondere von den Tänzern. Man könnte meinen, dass dort echte Stripperinnen zu sehen sind und nicht irgendwelche Kerle mittleren Alters in hautengen Bodys, aus denen Tentakel aus dem Rücken herausragen, aber jemand bei Bethesda hielt das für eine gute Idee.

 

 

This "someone" can be clearly named... and he has a name -> Todd Howard

There is now more than one statement from employees... that in fact he alone made ALL the decisions about the game - including the design (of the dancers) single-handedly.

Every change, no matter how small, had to be coordinated with him personally ... the waiting times for the employees were correspondingly long ... the game is correspondingly unfinished in "every corner"!

And obviously he also made decisions about things that he knew absolutely nothing about... this probably explains many of his comments about the gameplay (such as the size and type of landing zones)

?

[Mr. Otaku]

1 hour ago, Miauzi said:

 

This "someone" can be clearly named... and he has a name -> Todd Howard

There is now more than one statement from employees... that in fact he alone made ALL the decisions about the game - including the design (of the dancers) single-handedly.

Every change, no matter how small, had to be coordinated with him personally ... the waiting times for the employees were correspondingly long ... the game is correspondingly unfinished in "every corner"!

And obviously he also made decisions about things that he knew absolutely nothing about... this probably explains many of his comments about the gameplay (such as the size and type of landing zones)

?

 

I guess you're referring to that interview where an ex-writer (or a quest designer i can't remember) for Bethesda said that exploration was meant to be different but since everything had to be run by Todd there were lots of delays and miscommunications during development. Kinda weird that the same guy who oversaw Skyrim then made such a blunder this time but ig he got too arrogant since then like LWolf8 suggested.

 

A clear example of that was the interview he did with bloomberg where he said the game is optimized and the people complaining about performance issues just need to upgrade their hardware, which is so funny to hear as a 4090 user lmao. Like yeah sure let me just upgrade from literally the most powerful gaming PC money can buy rn, thanks Todd!

Edited November 8, 2023 by Mr. Otaku
Ninja Edit

[Miauzi]

Vor 21 Minuten sagte Herr Otaku:

 

Ich denke, Sie beziehen sich auf das Interview, in dem ein ehemaliger Autor (oder ein Quest-Designer, an den ich mich nicht erinnern kann) von Bethesda sagte, dass die Erkundung anders sein sollte, aber da alles von Todd geleitet werden musste, gab es viele Verzögerungen und Fehlkommunikation während der Entwicklung. Irgendwie seltsam, dass derselbe Typ, der Skyrim beaufsichtigt hat, dieses Mal so einen Fehler gemacht hat, aber seitdem ist er zu arrogant geworden, wie LWolf8 vorgeschlagen hat.

 

Ein klares Beispiel dafür war das Interview, das er mit Bloomberg führte, in dem er sagte, das Spiel sei optimiert und die Leute, die sich über Leistungsprobleme beschweren, müssten nur ihre Hardware aktualisieren, was als 4090-Benutzer lmao so lustig zu hören ist. Ja klar, lassen Sie mich einfach ein Upgrade vom buchstäblich leistungsstärksten Gaming-PC durchführen, den man für Geld kaufen kann, danke Todd!

 

In Skyrim, these important decisions were shared among several shoulders - in StarField, Mr. Howard took everything on himself... completely overestimating his abilities

[Gameplayer]

On 11/8/2023 at 12:30 PM, Mr. Otaku said:

 

I guess you're referring to that interview where an ex-writer (or a quest designer i can't remember) for Bethesda said that exploration was meant to be different but since everything had to be run by Todd there were lots of delays and miscommunications during development. Kinda weird that the same guy who oversaw Skyrim then made such a blunder this time but ig he got too arrogant since then like LWolf8 suggested.

 

A clear example of that was the interview he did with bloomberg where he said the game is optimized and the people complaining about performance issues just need to upgrade their hardware, which is so funny to hear as a 4090 user lmao. Like yeah sure let me just upgrade from literally the most powerful gaming PC money can buy rn, thanks Todd!

 

4k about 60ish fps with the best computer money can buy or in my case part out an assemble.

My concern is that from my experience modding other BGS games, Skyrim and Fallout 4 mostly.

Well the concern is when I start throwing in a mega load order with physics overhauls for breast jiggle and a Enb reshader suite well at that point my performance will go to shit.

I have fully modded fallout 4 running in triple digit fps without a DLSS mod installed.  SkyrimSE well after all the bells an whistles that SMP tuned up to support 4 effects per 100 actors well the fps comes all the way down to 65 fps in 4k.

So alright now that I pissed off everyone without a 4090 well here is the thing, will I need a 5090 card that does not exist yet to run a properly modded starfield game in 4k and I think the answer is that might not be enough.

Starfield is not cyberpunk an starfield needs optimization, can already tell and just how is Starfield mod scene supposed to take off if a large amount of the targets audience not only has to get over the fact that it's unlike prior BGS games but also is very demanding on recent hardware?

 

That is besides my other thoughts on the game.

[DocClox]

15 minutes ago, Gameplayer said:

So alright now that I pissed off everyone without a 4090

 

Ah, that's OK. My GTX 1080  runs the game just fine on my 1080p monitor

 

On the other hand, I may well be in a position to upgrade in a week or so. I'm looking forward to that.

[belegost]

On 11/16/2023 at 4:30 PM, DocClox said:

My GTX 1080  runs the game just fine

*cries in GTX 970*

[Sneaksmile]

On 9/7/2023 at 7:17 AM, travelmedic said:

Let me preface this by saying I'm only about 7 hours into the game and still exploring the heck out of Kreeb (the first moon you go to, to kill the pirate captain when leaving the mine).  It really is an open world that lets you go where you want, just like other BGS titles.

 

Overall I'm really enjoying the game so far, and would like to keep this thread positive.  It's really just for people who have actually played the game but just want to rant about certain peculiarities.  

 

So I'll start with.,,,  Vasco.  I swear, that damn robot has gone to the Lydia School Of Blocking Doorways And Generally Getting In The Way, and graduated magna cum laude.  He even keeps saying he is sworn to carry my burdens able to help carry stuff.  Look you damn robot, STFU and get out of my way!  And even worse, no amount of beautifier mods are going to turn him into a big-titty waifu (although I'm sure someone will try).

Hmm .. You would have better called the topic "personal complaints that smell like woke by red hats" 

I was expecting something much more interesting, since many hate this game but it seems to be confirmed that it is only for banal reasons .. 

[Mr. Otaku]

On 11/16/2023 at 8:42 PM, Gameplayer said:

 

4k about 60ish fps with the best computer money can buy or in my case part out an assemble.

My concern is that from my experience modding other BGS games, Skyrim and Fallout 4 mostly.

Well the concern is when I start throwing in a mega load order with physics overhauls for breast jiggle and a Enb reshader suite well at that point my performance will go to shit.

I have fully modded fallout 4 running in triple digit fps without a DLSS mod installed.  SkyrimSE well after all the bells an whistles that SMP tuned up to support 4 effects per 100 actors well the fps comes all the way down to 65 fps in 4k.

So alright now that I pissed off everyone without a 4090 well here is the thing, will I need a 5090 card that does not exist yet to run a properly modded starfield game in 4k and I think the answer is that might not be enough.

Starfield is not cyberpunk an starfield needs optimization, can already tell and just how is Starfield mod scene supposed to take off if a large amount of the targets audience not only has to get over the fact that it's unlike prior BGS games but also is very demanding on recent hardware?

 

That is besides my other thoughts on the game.

 

I think we're gonna run into the problem of extreme power draw and heat build up if cards keep launching like this.

 

That said the official DLSS patch has alleviated the fps problem more drastically than i expected, now i'm never going under 100fps (also cause i still use a 1080p monitor like a gorilla, so that helps too lmao) but on 4K monitors too it's very solidly above 60fps, so my guess is that if future enb and reshade models take upscaling fully into account (since every big new game practically depends on upscaling these days unlike when Skyrim and Fallout 4 came out) we wouldn't need yet another top of the line card just to run it with enb or reshade on top. And from what i know (very little) things like SMP are more CPU bound so just focusing on the GPU wouldn't be enough.

 

Now, i'm pretty rich (I'm aware how conceited that sounds, not my intention i swear lol) so i can easily afford whatever next top of the line shit they keep releasing but i don't want to. I wanna stick with this system for a long, long time, so i really hope graphics don't get so out of hand that a 4090 becomes a "weak" card. Maybe in 2060's i can accept that but not anytime soon lmao.

[Miauzi]

Vor 54 Minuten sagte Leesjig:

Ich habe einen Fehler gemacht und bin mit Sarah diesen Fata Morgana-Weg gegangen. Jetzt kann ich mich wegen der Fata Morgana, die ich noch nicht gemacht habe, nicht mit anderen Followern zusammenschließen. Gibt es überhaupt einen Ausweg aus der Fata Morgana dieser bescheuerten Sarah? Ich möchte sie nicht heiraten, sondern einfach mit anderen Followern weitermachen ... Könnte mir jemand helfen, danke. Ich dachte, jemand auf LL könnte es wissen, also dachte ich, ich frage mal... 

 

Just keep progressing in the main quest... until those Starborn show up - the "Hunter" has flattened "my" Sarah.

Apart from that... the preferences are very different... for me "Sarah" is the only companion from this bunch that I really enjoyed traveling with... that's why I married her... and as the "Hunter "she killed - was "No more funny"

Spoiler alert:

Spoiler

The companion that the "Hunter" kills later reappears as a star-born "copy"... that felt so completely wrong to me... that I chose the 3rd way in the final fight -> I have both bosses killed!

 

So - wait until the hunter kills "Your Sarah" - then other companions will be available to you without any problems.

Apart from that - you can simply leave Sarah in the building or on its base after the wedding and choose another companion instead... or not go through with the wedding at all.

[Kraven12]

Just two more months then the creation kit comes out and "fixes" some of the issues.

[nIn nIn nIn]

On 12/25/2023 at 11:10 AM, leesjig said:

I made a mistake and took that mirage path with Sarah.  Now I can't team up with other followers because of the mirage thing that I have not done yet.  Is there anyway to back out of the mirage to that bee-otch Sarah.  I don't want to marry her, but just want to move on with other followers...  Could anyone help, thanks.  I figured someone on LL might know, so thought I'd ask... 

 

easy peasy - just go on a murdering rampage with her as your companion. That should do it. Shoot up a town, or kill some UC space ships.

 

Then talk to her and deny any knowledge of wrong doing.

Edited December 28, 2023 by nIn nIn nIn

[ItsMeStackEm]

Something I really wish Starfield had was spaceship to land combat (and vise versa).

 

Other than that, I've literally spent hundreds of hours playing this game...99% of which has been on Kreet.  No kidding.  Renovations, creating the movie set, filming...it's been a lot of work...BUT...a labor of love.  I hope you check out "The Chronicles of Louie".  I'm currently making 2 NSFW videos that I'll house here, and the story will be great.

Edited December 29, 2023 by ItsMeStackEm

[ItsMeStackEm]

How's this for a rant?

 

I have just finished production of my first NSFW video for Starfield.  It's a "Director's Cut" trailer for my 3D machinima series entitled "The Chronicles of Louie".

 

I tried to upload it here, but it's rather large at 4.1 GB (4K 60 FPS), and it froze at 44 percent.  Is there something I must do, or does anyone have any advice as to where I could house this feature?

 

Thanks, I'll await a reply...I'm eager to share this with the community that's provided so much to me over time.  :-)

[nIn nIn nIn]

12 hours ago, ItsMeStackEm said:

How's this for a rant?

 

I have just finished production of my first NSFW video for Starfield.  It's a "Director's Cut" trailer for my 3D machinima series entitled "The Chronicles of Louie".

 

I tried to upload it here, but it's rather large at 4.1 GB (4K 60 FPS), and it froze at 44 percent.  Is there something I must do, or does anyone have any advice as to where I could house this feature?

 

Thanks, I'll await a reply...I'm eager to share this with the community that's provided so much to me over time.  ?

 

Create an account on pornhub and upload it there. I guess a link then in a spoiler tag will be ok ???

[ItsMeStackEm]

11 hours ago, nIn nIn nIn said:

 

Create an account on pornhub and upload it there. I guess a link then in a spoiler tag will be ok ???

Thanks, NIN...I had the video on Vimeo, but it got flagged.  I think it must have been the music I used.  I'm going to re-mix the video (a pain in the ass, as there's a timed dance scene to the rhythm of that song), and re-up it somewhere using royalty free music.  I wish I could up it on YouTube, as they let people use music there freely (for the most part).

 

In a way, it's a good thing, as I had a couple of ideas as afterthoughts that I can now incorporate into the video.  :-)

 

I wonder if PornHub takes 4K videos.

 

 

[ItsMeStackEm]

I'd love to know if anyone else has encountered a buggy situation in which your character cannot sit down, can't intereact with chairs (including the damn cockpit).

 

I have gone back far in my save games and they're all tainted with this bug.  I can't fly a ship, I've tried everything suggested in various forums, including:

 

-  Switching between 1st & 3rd person

-  Saving / re-loading

-  Restarting the computer

-  Disabling mods

-  Fast travelling to the ship (force entry to cockpit)

-  Verifying integrity of installed files

 

Nothing's working...

 

If anyone has a band-aid workaround, I'd love to hear it.  Thanks.

[nIn nIn nIn]

There are issues with save bloat from playing one character extensively. All sorts of bugs begin to happen. My last time it was the inability to exit my ship via the space docker. I had to sit in the pilot seat and hold down [X] to board. All the space stations and other ships were affected.

 

You have 2 options.

 

Go through the unity - which cleans your save game and resets the game. 

 

Start a new character and start all over again from scratch.

 

NG+ is basically Bethesdas way of resetting the save file to prevent save bloat created game breaking bugs. The first time this happened to me I had reached level 72 and was in the final stages of the Crimson Fleet/UC sysdef quest when I lost all ability to interact with the key space station. apart from using the console to coc into it. I had no option except new game.

Second time, I had prepared by parking the main quest at {Masada] which allowed me to quickly advance to Unity and reset the save file without losing my levels/skills.

 

Then MO2 was officially released and I nuked my game for a whole swathe of cool mods and started a new game.

 

Basically, without Bethesda doing some sort of fix for save bloat (some means to purge the records) without having to force NG+, we are left with just these 2 options.

[ItsMeStackEm]

19 minutes ago, nIn nIn nIn said:

There are issues with save bloat from playing one character extensively. All sorts of bugs begin to happen. My last time it was the inability to exit my ship via the space docker. I had to sit in the pilot seat and hold down [X] to board. All the space stations and other ships were affected.

 

You have 2 options.

 

Go through the unity - which cleans your save game and resets the game. 

 

Start a new character and start all over again from scratch.

 

NG+ is basically Bethesdas way of resetting the save file to prevent save bloat created game breaking bugs. The first time this happened to me I had reached level 72 and was in the final stages of the Crimson Fleet/UC sysdef quest when I lost all ability to interact with the key space station. apart from using the console to coc into it. I had no option except new game.

Second time, I had prepared by parking the main quest at {Masada] which allowed me to quickly advance to Unity and reset the save file without losing my levels/skills.

 

Then MO2 was officially released and I nuked my game for a whole swathe of cool mods and started a new game.

 

Basically, without Bethesda doing some sort of fix for save bloat (some means to purge the records) without having to force NG+, we are left with just these 2 options.

Excellent elaboration, NIN, thanks...however, I'm now left wondering...I do have literally over 300 save games...I've spent more than that in hours alone on Kreet renovating the Kreet Research Lab and filming.  Could it be due to the amount of assets I've added to the cell?  Is there a "quick" way to go through the Unity, and if I managed to do so without being able to pilot a ship (can't sit), will it reset the cell(s) I've been working on?

 

Thanks for your time.

Edited January 2, 2024 by ItsMeStackEm
Typo.