Starfield: Good bones, bad game.

[Z0mBieP00Nani]

As a side issue, I have found it difficult to make polls on this site. It's not very intuitive. You would think that the process would be as simple as going over to the poll tab and making a poll title, a question, and then add the choices, then post it. Instead, if you only focus on the poll tab the content tab complains that it has not been filled out, which does not make sense. I guess they're linked somehow, I don't know.

 

Anyway, back to the main topic, why do you agree or disagree with this assessment and why?

[DocClox]

Good bones, good game. With the exception of a couple of weeks of Skyrim, it's pretty much all I've played since it released.

[Djlegends]

same game has its highs and most definitely its lows but still a good game

[Djlegends]

just need to make the gameplay loop better

[Guest]

I think it's a good game, aside from the lack of dungeons and PITA system for unlocking weapon and outpost upgrades.

 

However I didn't have my expectations very high when hearing about Starfield for the first time. I wasn't expecting anything revolutionary, just another Bethesda game. Though I gotta say that they exceeded what I wanted by a couple miles and therefore I can't complain about much outside of the two notes above.

Can't wait to see what comes of the game when we get mod support. ^_^

[Reigor]

This is nuanced, because I am of the firm belief that Starfield was released too soon. It's a brand new IP and the tried and true BGS style of play/exploration wouldn't work as well because Starfield would not use small, dense maps except around its cities. So stuff like land vehicles and other new, but still fun, ways of exploring should be in the game at the start. There are missing game systems like underwater exploration. They also needed to flesh out their IP a lot more, there is a distinct lacking of lore to be found.

 

Starfield had the makings of having good bones, but wasn't allowed to grow enough before getting feature locked, bug tested, and sent out. 

 

Now, doesn't mean this can't be fixed. The latest patch and announcement of land vehicles give me some hope. I'm very curious on how good the DLC will be. I think in time Starfield CAN be a great game if BGS is allowed to keep devoting resources towards it. 

 

EDIT: I should add that mechanics wise, Starfield has some good foundations. I think they did a great job with gravity mechanics and spaceships. Lore wise, besides the lack of it, Starfield's setting is kind of meh and contradictory for me. It's just opinion, but I feel they should have hired a team of dedicated sci-fi writers to create the setting that fit the gameplay restraints they had. 

Edited June 2, 2024 by Reigor

[travelmedic]

Good bones for sure.

 

Good/decent game yes, but not exceptional, YET.  If BGS remains committed to putting out fixes and small QOL improvements, as well as DLC, I think it will get a lot better.

 

In spite of some of its shortcomings I've still got over 400 hours in, and will play more once the DLC comes out.  And before anybody else says it, yes, I know 400+ hours is rookie numbers to some, and I need to pump that up.

[Djlegends]

16 hours ago, Reigor said:

This is nuanced, because I am of the firm belief that Starfield was released too soon. It's a brand new IP and the tried and true BGS style of play/exploration wouldn't work as well because Starfield would not use small, dense maps except around its cities. So stuff like land vehicles and other new, but still fun, ways of exploring should be in the game at the start. There are missing game systems like underwater exploration. They also needed to flesh out their IP a lot more, there is a distinct lacking of lore to be found.

 

Starfield had the makings of having good bones, but wasn't allowed to grow enough before getting feature locked, bug tested, and sent out. 

 

Now, doesn't mean this can't be fixed. The latest patch and announcement of land vehicles give me some hope. I'm very curious on how good the DLC will be. I think in time Starfield CAN be a great game if BGS is allowed to keep devoting resources towards it. 

 

EDIT: I should add that mechanics wise, Starfield has some good foundations. I think they did a great job with gravity mechanics and spaceships. Lore wise, besides the lack of it, Starfield's setting is kind of meh and contradictory for me. It's just opinion, but I feel they should have hired a team of dedicated sci-fi writers to create the setting that fit the gameplay restraints they had. 

well with how CK is releasing  a bit too early yea everything is getting rushed asf

[Guest]

Honestly I am a Fallout 1 and Daggerfall/Arcanum/Baldurs Gate enjoyer, so when dialogue comes up, its hard to take seriously more than any other Bethesda game, they were always good at creating immersive open worlds but miss the mark when doing storytelling from time to time, with Starfield it was just painfully obvious now. Other than the story, the jump in tech in terms of their engine is stellar, considering with what they were working with before. Other than that I like it, cant wait for Shattered Space.

[Z0mBieP00Nani]

On 6/15/2024 at 3:49 AM, hydropalgel said:

Honestly I am a Fallout 1 and Daggerfall/Arcanum/Baldurs Gate enjoyer, so when dialogue comes up, its hard to take seriously more than any other Bethesda game, they were always good at creating immersive open worlds but miss the mark when doing storytelling from time to time, with Starfield it was just painfully obvious now. Other than the story, the jump in tech in terms of their engine is stellar, considering with what they were working with before. Other than that I like it, cant wait for Shattered Space.

Yeah, Shattered Space looked interesting.

[brown66]

Starfield is a good game. Not a perfect game, as there is no such thing, but a very good game.

 

But if so, why do so many people say bad things about this game?

 

To understand this, we also have to ask this question - why is it that after almost 10 months, so many people still say hate so much this game?

 

The obvious answer is that a lot of people still haven't forgotten the disappointment of not being able to play this game.

 

I posted a video on YouTube a few months ago in which I said what seemed to me to be the main reasons for so much hate for this game. And I wouldn't change anything I said if I made this video again today.

 

I don't think in the history of computer games, a game has ever triggered so much hate.

 

And the main reasons for this hatred boil down to this - Starfield is a game for rich people! Requires an Xbox or a powerful computer. And its story shows the player inserted into a group of people with a "philosophy of rich people". Here are two of the main reasons why many people who don't have an Xbox or a powerful PC hate this game so much.

 

When in a few years, this game will be at a discount price, as is now the case with Skyrim and Fallout 4, and less powerful PCs are able to run this game as they can currently do with Skyrim and Fallout 4, many of the current haters will play Starfield, and they will say that the game is already "saved", when in reality it will continue to be the same game released in September 2023, except for the addition of some more DLCs, bug fixes and mods with nudity and sex.

 

I religiously save the comments from haters on my channel. It's for later remembering.

Edited June 26, 2024 by brown66

[metherlink]

A really tricky question... Let's say "good bones, decent game.... AND big potential" the technical side is good, the game can be really pretty without any mods, but the writing.... Oh dear God the writing... It's abysmal! The main quest is a joke, and a lot of secondary/faction quests are "hit or miss".

YET... I actually appreciated my run, it's a nice change from fantasy and post-apo...

Now with the CK's availability, now it'll start to be really interesting.

 

[Vuulgar]

2 hours ago, metherlink said:

A really tricky question... Let's say "good bones, decent game.... AND big potential" the technical side is good, the game can be really pretty without any mods, but the writing.... Oh dear God the writing... It's abysmal! The main quest is a joke, and a lot of secondary/faction quests are "hit or miss".

YET... I actually appreciated my run, it's a nice change from fantasy and post-apo...

Now with the CK's availability, now it'll start to be really interesting.

 

 

I agree, its like they only had time to write in an 80s style tv series good guy path. The game needs a darker side. See BG3.

 

I really enjoyed the first 35ish levels but then things seemed to dry up, the game needs more....darker paths and greatly expanded poi lists as a start.

[DocClox]

14 hours ago, Vuulgar said:

I agree, its like they only had time to write in an 80s style tv series good guy path

 

I mean it would be nice to have had an option to take a bribe from a corrupt corporate CEO and turn a blind eye to his many crimes. Or tacitly pardon a mass murderer living in a glass cage in a secret basement. Or even side with the pirates against the one organization with a chance to stop them. You could maybe have doomed a generation ship full of colonists to lives indentured servitude, help cover up the Martian Governor's sex and murder scandal, or enslave an emergent AI just so a couple of Ryujin twats could look good when they got back to Neon.

 

Talk about your missed opportunities.

[Vuulgar]

On 6/28/2024 at 3:04 AM, DocClox said:

 

I mean it would be nice to have had an option to take a bribe from a corrupt corporate CEO and turn a blind eye to his many crimes. Or tacitly pardon a mass murderer living in a glass cage in a secret basement. Or even side with the pirates against the one organization with a chance to stop them. You could maybe have doomed a generation ship full of colonists to lives indentured servitude, help cover up the Martian Governor's sex and murder scandal, or enslave an emergent AI just so a couple of Ryujin twats could look good when they got back to Neon.

 

Talk about your missed opportunities.

 

Just a couple more, in Skyrim I had to kill a dragon for my special powers so the trip to the temples to wish upon a star patch feels like a missed opportunity and I believe I would have been more happy if the Unity had been an invasion portal.