Is Starfield Bethesda's Biggest Disappointment?

[@Mcw32]

I have never tried harder to enjoy a game more, but after 25 hours, I just wasn't having enough fun with it, so I bailed. I kept expecting it to get better.I'm happy for those who like it.

[@abelke]

Same boat but less time

[@nigelthornberry007]

Same boat but more time

[@tjbrody]

Put it into a bit of perspective. You put 25 hours into that game. Thats actually kind of a lot. The dead space remake (one of my favorites of all time) can be completed in less than that.

[@MKumarY]

Same boat, mine was 24hrs, and Cyberpunk 2.0 launch didn't help Starfield.

[@RinnaDimalanta]

And the saddest part is that you will never learn your lesson. Youll keep buying whatever trash Bethesda offers and become disappointed afterwards.

[@Schumski28]

My opinion is they tried their standard formula on a setting which isnt really compatible with it, space not being a single map like in their previous games, think thats the major issue for me.

[@rageshot4352]

I agree on this point, exploration definitely falls flat, i like starfield, but the generation of random planets and almost no unique handmade areas outside of cities its so boring, feel like they would have been better off making it either one solar system or 2 and then you could just fly your ship around. Not to mention the planets lets say, 4-7 of them could be much more handmade, not completely of course but better and less generic

[@mitchellbrinkerdp]

I wouldn’t even say they tried their standard formula. I feel like the Bethesda formula is about engine mechanics, but the way the world opens up to you. It’s following all those little icons that appear on the compass and getting sidetracked with quests, caves, discoveries. You can finish the opening mission in Skyrim and then set off for hours in the opposite direction and find things for hours before even going to Whiterun. Starfield just doesn’t have this. It’s loading screens to empty planets with enormous stretches of nothing that leads to a copy paste, procedurally generated cave that usually has nothing in it. Not even going to get into the writing and lack of choice and consequence in this game. Idk what Bethesda has spent the last x number of years doing.

[@Mr_Mcfeely]

@@mitchellbrinkerdp hopefully putting all the actually good ideas into ES6

[@VD_the_GodKing]

It's not that exactly. They focused too much on quantity over quality. I recently watched a side by side comparison with FO4. Starfield is just empty. They should have just done a single Galaxy and put much more in it

[@Flaggyt]

​@RepentandbelieveinJesusChrist.Listen to satan and worship the Devil, cause he is the truth.

[@Boss_Fight_Index_muki]

The problem with Starfield is the things NPCs asks you to do would only make sense in a medieval setting. Those "talk to [person]" quests where you travel to another planet, talk to [person], then travel back to the 1st planet, would only make sense in a future where interstellar comms somehow don't exist, but interstellar travel does.

[@mikehansen6327]

I’d say my biggest or with the game is most of the mechanics in the game didn’t improve from their previous games and maybe even regressed

[@Chris-yv2iv]

They do explain that they can’t communicate across space.

[@chrisanderson7820]

That's part of the tech, its mentioned a number of times, you NEED a grav drive to travel faster than light so comms is light speed limited. That's why SSNN delivers its broadcasts by physical packages to the colonies via ship.

[@shbenbapiro686]

That’s the thing! There is no interstellar comms in the Starfield universe. Since Gravity drives are wormhole tech and not FTL, they don’t have the current means of projecting radiowaves through vast distances of space. My best guess is that they rely on a system similar in Halo to what the UNSC used prior to reverse engineering Forerunner tech; they’d have a fleet of messenger ships to relay information from one system to another, since inter-system communications took wayyy too long. Though, this problem in Starfield could be and should be solved way more easily by having relay drones that have individual grav drives to propel themselves in a sort of line from one system to another. Way too tedious Bethesda.

[@adamburgess7890]

It's like why on earth do they have human miners.

[@TravisWiley1983]

I've always been amazed how Bethesda can get so many things right while half assing so many other things. I wish we could combine the best things from Rockstar and Bethesda into one company.

[@giorgioperleka3893]

Rockstar doesnt need bethesda.

[@jiketagg4251]

Cyberpunk 2077 is like if you combined Fallout with GTA tbh Playing it with the expansion in 2024 is one of the best gaming experiences I’ve ever had

[@IshhTheFish]

​@@jiketagg4251I can't support a game that was released 25% finished...

[@TravisWiley1983]

@@giorgioperleka3893 I agree but I didnt' say the literal companies, just the design aspects that I enjoy from both. For example despite rdr2 being one of the best games ever made the controls are still wonky because they seem to be designed around controllers.

[@TravisWiley1983]

@@jiketagg4251 I'm going to play it probably later this year, I'm waiting to upgrade my graphics card and monitor so I can play it properly on ultra settings.

[@RH1812]

I got bored very quickly. But fair play to those that enjoy it. Life is about finding pleasure where you can. I looked elsewhere

[@darkatthecore]

Good on you man I wish more gamers thought like this screw the haters play what you enjoy👍👍👍

[@RinnaDimalanta]

Yikes, i didnt know people pleasured themselves by throwing away money.

[@Zathren]

​​@@darkatthecore the quality of the game matters. We got to the point of "day one patches" that doesn't even make the game playable because gamers keep giving these companies their money for half finished games. You can enjoy whatever you like. I do enjoy games others don't, and their low opinion of them doesn't effect my enjoyment. But I'll always criticize things I think are bad, even within games I love.

[@regidon6816]

Life is about finding pleasure where you can according to?

[@darkatthecore]

@@Zathren this is why I rarely get games day 1 I haven't even played SF yet it may not be the best bgs game but I'm sure I'll like it...

[@NitronF117]

For me, a big problem was repetition. Once I come across something in a game that feels repeated and endless, something happens in my brain where I lose all interest in doing that task. One of the first custom landing points I went to on a planet had a science outpost or something, and a random quest to find someone lost in a cave. Then, another planet I landed on soon after, had a quest to find someone lost in a cave… and there was a Science outpost with the exact same layout as the first. That was basically the end of my planetary exploration.

[@doppelT_066]

This game is made for people with dementia. By the time you see a copy and pasted outpost that you already visited hrs before on another planet, you already forgot the previous one. Perfect!

[@NitronF117]

@@StingRayo98 yeah, I don’t do those.

[@Fragenzeichenplatte]

Once I saw those patterns it completely killed my interest in the game. Seriously. It just felt there was no point to anything and holding the W button for minutes to get to the quest location is not something I wanted to do anymore. Instead I started playing Cyberpunk 2077 and was hooked. Starfield is outdated and dull, and Cyberpunk is better in every single way.

[@Fragenzeichenplatte]

@@StingRayo98 No one cares about those because Skyrim is fun with or without them.

[@roidedup2489]

​@@Fragenzeichenplatte😮😮😮😮😮❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@spaceidiot200]

the magic of bethesda games has always been setting off to complete a quest; 5 hours later you've run into a half dozen other quests, dungeons, pretty landscapes and you've completely forgotten what you had wanted to do in the first place. pretty hard to get the same feeling on a bunch of barren rocks with one thing to do on them.

[@eternaldarkness3139]

There were no questgivers on the Moon. Buzz & Neil weren't bored! That's never getting old. 😂

[@wraaaah]

That's just not true. The magic is still there, but you need to approach it differently. Don't explore planets without reason. The loop is like this: Find city/hub, explore city, get quests, do quest, return to city/hub. Repeat. You get the magic this way. The game just sucks at telling you this!

[@aitvaras5271]

This is not how many people approach sandbox games. People want to find themselves forgetting time, forgetting where they are and wondering how they've ended up going off the beaten track. There's no point in telling people how to approach games, because sandbox games are fundamentally about choosing your own style of play. That's why you need to ensure there's a point of interest every 30-40 seconds of travel.

[@wraaaah]

@@aitvaras5271 I get it. I really do, but once I started thinking of the game like Mass Effect 1 in structure it really started shining. My description might sound somewhat streamlined but you still get the classic random Bethesda events and exploration this way. It's kind of impossible to do the 30/40 second loop in this scale. I mean... Look at Star Citizen for example. It's like this as well(without loading screens lol).

[@Fragenzeichenplatte]

Barren rocks that are procedurally generated so every planet has the same structure and content, it just looks different visually.

[@mandmwest]

As a Bethesda fanboy, really fan-old-man, I was so hyped. 2500 hours in both Skyrim and FO4, Probably just as many in Oblivion and FO3. I wanted to love it but just couldn't. It was OK, good, but that was it for me. I played almost 500 hours finishing most of the faction quest lines and the main story but that was it. I didn't nessisarily want some big new thing, just a vast improvement, or maybe it's better to say expanding on the systems they already had. What I found disappointing was that I felt that in many ways it was a step backwards for those sytems and they had years to fine tune them. For example, outposts. Whats the purpose in Starfield other than to farm XP and cash. If they would have expanded on FO4's settlement system. Even incorperated aspects of the sim-settlement mod. Settlemnts in space, recruit others to settle there, build shops, small quests involing your settlements, etc. A place to manage, trade, and defend, i.e. given them a real purpose. Also companians. While they were better than Skyrim and FO4, not by much. There was a companion mod in FO4, Heather, that after traveling with her, getting to know her backstory, I, as a 60 something year old man irl, was fighting back tears as she very emotionally told me how the institute had killed her sister. How she watched her die and felt so helpless. I am amazed, no blown away, that a part time modder, at home, doing her own voice acting, come create a NPC companion you can connect with and truly want to get to know, empathis with and a game studio with a three trillion dollar company behind them can't even remotly come close. Finally the procedural generation. I think I cleared out five exact same 'abandoned fuel depot' with the exact same bad guys that were in the exact same locations in the buildings on five different planets one weekend. That gets really old, really fast. Give me smaller but had crafted world any time. After Starfield, if I know in the future a game is procedurally generated I probably wont buy it. It's my biggest hestitation in trying Valhiem. Sorry it's so long, a lot to get off my chest. BTW, love your guys content.

[@martimrosatmuller443]

You should really give valheim a chance. It's great

[@roadwarrior6555]

As a 1300 hour valheim player getting through the bosses and crafting what you need is challenging and fun. But what really keeps me coming back to it is the base building system. It's fun just to see what crazy awesome thing you can build next. And when you get tired of grinding for raw materials you can turn on developer commands to spawn it in.

[@Nightprowler500]

Valheim is far more worthy of your time

[@SlothinAintEasy]

Starfield. World as wide as an ocean but as deep as a puddle.

[@thisisjames4474]

I've been far more lenient with Starfield than most people. I've been a Bethesda fan since Morrowind, so the gameplay loop of exploration, discovery and loot is right up my alley. The best thing about Bethesda games for me has always been the things you could do outside of the story. Just taking a stroll in any random direction through the environment that they created and finding an amazing bit of environmental storytelling or an unmarked dungeon with some incredible theme to it. Of the supposedly over a thousand planets to explore in Starfield a large percentage of them are gas giants you can't even land on, multiple moons that you couldn't tell the difference between, and rehashed locations to visit on every planet, duplicated down to even the items inside lockers. After the 40 or 50 hour mark there just doesn't seem to be anything left to see or new to explore. I would have taken four highly detailed explorable planets over a thousand cookie cutter boring uninteresting planets. I hope this isn't indicative of what we will see in Elder Scrolls 6.

[@Mr_Mcfeely]

Seriously, put all that effort into three or four planets and they can still call it their precious space exploration game but then at least the exploration part would actually feel like exploring and not the equivalent of pulling out your phone again to look at the time because you forgot to look at the time when you pulled it out previously to check said time. It becomes a big circle of I knew that already why'd I look again 🤦

[@brei.z]

Yeah, Blows my mind when I see articles pop up about people playing for 100-200+ hours or even more.. They must be really bored or have no other games.. or maybe havn't played any games since the last fallout or something.. I dunno but I got bored pretty quick and then there was too many other games to bother trying it again... maybe one day. Glad I played on Gamepass!

[@Bisgetti]

Your leniency is why their next game will also suck. Todd Howard lied and lied for a very long time about Starfield. Don't be lenient. He's a liar and con man.

[@ramrodbldm9876]

@@brei.z or maybe they like it? Clown

[@fedbia2003]

Totally disagree, but not trying to change your opinion which you're more than entitled to. Me and my wife both have about 200-300hrs each. We'd talk about all the issues and the parts we loved. I think so much of this game just got shoved into a negative review spiral. I see so many good things in the game that warrant its price and so many people ignore it. It has glaring flaws which would never put it at my top Bethesda titles. But the idea that people are rating it worse than FO76 is proof of my indignation to the social influence Starfield received.

[@sheltongolden4394]

One of the main issues with Starfield is the lack of interesting wandering. You can wander around the major settlements, and that is actually pretty good. But, other than that, there's not much more to find out there on the planets and in space.

[@GregHuffman1987]

i wonder what the right way to do a space game like this is. How do you offer the player a universe of wonder and intrigues and have many of those planets be unique experiences worth combing through. may require AI to flesh out every planet with interesting idiosyncracies. one other way a team could do it is if their entire mission was to release a game about space and promise lifetime updates to planets n such. i dunno

[@NandosN0W]

It wasn't made to be that kind of game, even Todd Howard said that

[@XhoowieX]

​@@NandosN0Wwhat are you even trying to say here? Do you think OP was under the impression that you're supposed to be able to wander around but there's some huge bug that makes that impossible?

[@henrye3935]

There’s just no sense of “Oh. What’s that over there?” Which is what made Skyrim and Fallout so special to me. You have to actively choose to go everywhere in Starfield and that sucks

[@NandosN0W]

what are you even trying to say @@XhoowieX

[@Djaermi]

I put a couple hundred hours into this game and I have thoughts. When I judge what a game means to me, one of the most important moments for me is the very end, where I accomplish everything I set out to accomplish, go to my favorite spot, put on my favorite outfit (if applicable), and hit save for the very last time (for the time being, at least). It gives me that cathartic sense of a great story reaching its end and me letting it go. At that moment, I look back on the journey that I went through. I reflect on my first impressions during the tutorial and think about how long ago that felt, even though maybe it was only a couple of weeks before. I remember all of the special moments and challenges I overcame and, if the writing was good, the growth that the characters went through. Usually if I put more than a hundred hours into a game, this moment is very special. But with Starfield, it wasn't the same. First of all, without spoiling anything, the ending gives the player an unfair dilemma. It wants you to make a certain choice, but gives you every reason not to make that choice. It basically tells you that those hundreds of hours you put into it were not enough, and in order to nab this mysterious carrot that they are dangling, you need to give even more. In that way, it feels a bit like a never-ending live service game, because there is never a feeling of completion and satisfaction. There is only a feeling that the game wants you to keep going toward this vague future reward, and it expects you to trudge through endless recycled content to get there. I think that's a big reason why so many people have given negative reviews after spending so much time playing it. They endured the excruciating commerce system, the endless loading screens, the major plot beats delivered through boring dialogue instead of on-screen action, and the exhausting traversal systems, and all they asked was for the game to reward them with a fulfilling conclusion. But that reward never came, and at some point they had to just let go of this story and let it drift out into space.

[@tysteven6279]

I totally agree that certain people who finish the game are negatively reviewing it in this way. The story could have been stronger. The sense of wonder was there initially, but quickly nabbed away. But i think a huge portion of people are negatively reviewing it in the first few hours of playing. I had predicted this, but people want control when playing flight sim/ space ex games. The loading screens ARE gnarly, ripping people out of the immersion. I liked starfield a lot. But i can see why people arent. Bethesda needs to ditch creation engine and move on to a more "solid state" fluid model. Then their stories can really shine.

[@daltondenning8537]

@@tysteven6279I agree, but then they would have to spend untold money on a transition of that magnitude. And until one of their games completely flops they’ll never do so. Especially now that they’re owned by Microsoft

[@JamesMelton]

Agreed. I actually enjoyed the game despite it's many flaws until the end. I can endure or overlook those elements if I'm engaged with the story, and my path was enjoyable to me. However, the ending felt like it robbed me of even that. I do think there is a potential for the ending to have been executed better than it was, but as it is, ended up killing the game for me.

[@trentonaustin3318]

That might just be the BEST summary of how I felt about my Starfield experience. You really crystallized my emotions into words.

[@djxgam1ng]

I watched a video on KZbin and after completing the game numerous times, the next time you play NG+ there is a chance for encounters to be different. However, it is a small change and if you don’t notice anything different at the start of your NG+ that means you have to complete the game again and once again, there is a very small chance that the next time you play the interactions and things will be different…that’s crazy. Almost forcing the gamer to play through multiple times just to get rewarded with unique interactions.

[@fasle2]

I think what we're seeing, in real time, is developers finally learning that bigger is not always better. A limited scope map packed full of content will always be a better game and bring people back more than an infinite universe with nothing going on. Their OWN crowning achievement, Skyrim, is a perfect example of this.

[@Tay-v6v]

A nice sentiment but I don’t see that as the takeaway in this case. Skyrim was enormous for its time. 2023 GOTY is by far the biggest game I have ever seen. 2022 GOTY was also an open world RPG.

[@wardengentles53]

Skyrim was huge! Most games that get the buys are massive open world RPGs. Just put out a finished game that isn't boring. Not hard

[@joosh5566]

Skyrim is huge though 😂

[@steveharvey441]

Stupid comment. The game of the year was a massive game. Skyrim was a massive game for its time

[@chasecharron4546]

Id doubt the developers are learning that honestly

[@gbrassa]

I’d say…it’s exactly what I expected.

[@anshitgupta1294]

I kept my expectations low and was not dissapointed. Really liked it

[@nicorobin7762]

it’s exactly as bad as i expected yeah

[@gbrassa]

@@anshitgupta1294well I guess that speaks for itself. Glad you liked it at least

[@makasete30]

I’d also say… it’s what I expected. But, I hoped for so much more after so many years, promise and potential.

[@Megatholis]

I've enjoyed this game quite a bit, I put 300 hours in this game and I still can spend plenty more. I haven't even scratched the new game + option yet.

[@chrisdakers3688]

I remember playing The Outer Worlds and being enthralled. Arguably Starfield was bigger, newer (not that newer is better), and a little more content rich, but it was just not as fun. I think like Jake said, it was just ok.

[@DevlVergil]

Really? I thought The Outer Worlds to be the one of the worst games I played, nothing about it caught me in any way.

[@chrisdakers3688]

@@DevlVergil yeah to be honest my expectations weren't high or anything, I just enjoyed it more. Suppose it's just a matter of taste.

[@kevinpalacios1119]

​@chrisdakers3688 I played outer worlds, really enjoyed it and expected Starfield to be Bethesda's version of something similar and it kinda was, time manipulation being the first power you get in both games and being the captain of your own spaceship with a modifiable crew. I don't put any over the other (still need to play more of both) but both are good.

[@animalmother4]

Outer worlds was painfully slow and boring

[@Joel-wx7zk]

@@DevlVergilCompared to Starfield it was leagues better, the story, gameplay, companions, and worlds. The only thing Starfield beats them in is Space Combat and Ship Building (honestly the best feature of the game) Even the rpg elements are more visible in Outer Worlds than Starfield. They should had just given Obsidian the staff and budget of Starfield and we would have gotten a game of the year instead of a meh space game

[@zc8673]

I am a huge bethesda fan and a huge sci-fi fan, so despite having played through the game and only kind of enjoyed it I do still find myself really wanting to play the game. But then I log on and two things in particular bother me. First, the loading screens. I know it's been talked about, but I just can't with the loading screens. It just makes the whole universe feel so small and I end up feeling like 60% of my playtime is sitting there watching the screen do its thing. Second, there's literally just not enough to do. I've already done all the faction quests and the main quest and a bunch of side quests and now there's just radiant quests from the mission board. I've basically not touched 80% of the planets and I've done everything there is to do in the game. So now when I log on occasionally, I find myself teleporting from planet to planet looking for something interesting to do only to realize I've spent the last 10 minutes watching loading screens and I shut the game off.

[@franktherabbit9692]

I hit a game breaking bug during Sam's companion mission. I just checked after 3 months, and that bug has still never been fixed, let alone addressed by bethesda. Locking companions to you during their buggy missions while simultaneously requiring no companions with you to progress the main story was a really bad decision.

[@laner.845]

Apparently, if you already encountered a quest bug on your playthrough, you're stuck with it unless you load an old save from before the bug, or start a new character. The patches can't retroactively undo the bugs already found by the player. Massive load of horse shit, methinks. Lazy design.

[@pepijnvandeweerd2089]

I understand that it's a bit of a bummer to have a bug halt all of your progress for the solo main mission, but that's not boring! When people get married, they also commit to being together forever. Most of them certainly don't find it boring.

[@turvarya]

@@laner.845 patches can do that, since it was done in other games. This is a really lazy excuses. Also I am a Software Developer my self and I just hate, when people say something is not possible, that is easy.

[@Gems56]

My first time playing skyrim was with the anniversary edition I ran into gamebreaking glitches upon reaching alduin he never appeared not even reloading save file fixed it mind you this is not the original version of skyrim Bethesda re released skyrim without fixing it

[@Eneeki]

@@pepijnvandeweerd2089 But it is boring because you end up spending way too much time trying to get around or troubleshoot the bug instead of continuing to play. And having to repeat what you just spent hours doing because of a bug that breaks the save game is not fun, it is annoying and boring. Todd should have been put out to pasture after the nightmare that was 76. He and his ideas are about a decade and 1/2 behind the times at this point.

[@owlishi]

I felt like the city and towns didn’t feel lived in. The npcs didn’t all have a home they went to and I could follow around and learn about them like Skyrim or oblivion. I think it missed that Bethesda charm.

[@TacticusPrime]

The NPC schedules and other things that gave the games life have been walked back more and more, game by game.

[@ZX235w3]

Bethesda tried aiming to be large in scale like other open world games but fell short since their game engine is still too inept for this kinda stuff. CDPR easily rendered an entire living breathing city with thousands of NPCs shown at once and meanwhile Bethesda's engine almost explodes merely trying to render a city 1/20th a fraction of Night City's size that doesnt even have vehicles in it.

[@owlishi]

@@ZX235w3 exactly. The engine can do immersive things given its limitations. But I’m ok with the limitations. But don’t force me to deal with its limitations if that makes sense. Star field was just a constant reminder that this engine wasn’t made for this game. Which is fine they can do so much in the engine and impress like they have before. But we want to be apart of a world where the engine thrives. Not where it’s constantly struggling.

[@owlishi]

@@TacticusPrime exactly the word i was looking for “life”. You couldn’t be more spot on. That was the Bethesda charm.

[@helpimahugedisaster5728]

Damn somehow RDR2 still managed to beat this game after 5 years since release

[@jishdaman99]

I started playing Bethesda games with Oblivion and have played all of them since. I was so excited for Starfield as I felt it was going to be a refreshing story that would give the unique feeling of excitement and nostalgia that only amazing games can give you (nostalgia - feeling like a kid on Christmas with a new toy. The feeling we don’t get as adults very often). For some reason the exploration, planets and travel felt like the biggest betrayal… What’s there to explore? What’s there to enjoy outside of the streamlined experience / story (if you enjoy that)? The lackluster exploration experience is what made my rose tinted classes come off and made me realize that this game is truly a “copy-paste” of the “Bethesda formula”. I won’t say the game broke my heart, I think my expectations and hopes did. “Their most disappointing” I think that’s accurate in that there were expectations. Their worst? Maybe, who knows. I was hoping and I guess expecting this game to reignite my love for gaming and for a good story. It was just one of those experiences that as an adult can add to the “it is what it is”. As someone who has been losing interest and that true enjoyment with gaming over the last couple of years, this one hurt more than a usual disappointment.

[@Silverheart-tg5qs]

Things changed I find after covid , nobody's even trying hard enough to make great games anymore its sad.

[@DanPx8]

This is exactly the same experience with Bethesda and starfield I had😢

[@smurfie8412]

Ain't nobody reading that 5 page essay nerd

[@wetalkinb0utpractice]

​@@smurfie8412L.

[@tysteven6279]

Well said. Im about done with gaming too because of situations like this. The "Hype" is killing gaming.

[@Necropheliac]

The biggest disappointment is that we didn’t get The Elder Scrolls VI because they made this instead.

[@silvijuliandana1900]

Completely aggree

[@DarioVidili]

I had high but reasonable expectations for the game, and I have to say; while I liked it, I never felt wanting more when I turned it off at night. No "One more mission/side quest and I'll go to sleep". It was "alright". I never ended up finishing it but I did enjoy my 40ish hours in the game.

[@wallthemart]

On the same boat. A handful of notable moments like visiting neon, paradisio, and love the shipbuilding, it is quite well put together for such a complex mechanic. But its no skyrim, or fallout. I dont want to look for mods so i can breathe new life to the game. I just want to see what happens upon ending the story and leave for good

[@thenewnostalgic4094]

The reason 40hours is the average playtime is because it takes 39 hours to get anywhere.

[@Antonchigurh893]

Going from Baldur's Gate 3 to Starfield was extremely difficult.

[@cinifiend]

Starfield looks like a complete joke next to BG3. It's hilarious that Larian was afraid that Starfield might affect their revenue and pushed their release date up in order to avoid competing with it. Starfield is one of the laziest and and dullest games released in the last 5 years where BG3 is a masterpiece.

[@Antonchigurh893]

@@cinifiend It didn't help Phantom Liberty was released weeks after too. It opened many people's eyes how good the interaction was in CP2077. The communication between the NPC and you felt organic. I'm with you on how dull everything felt with Starfield.

[@zagon8692]

BG3 yea that porngame

[@Antonchigurh893]

@@zagon8692 The hell

[@Attached-data1]

Well now I know which order to play my first two games is. Thanks. I already bought both of them before even buying a series x yet.

[@Korelon7]

"the best thing bethesda's done since oblivion" lmfao gaming journalism is such a joke.

[@TheNerogarden]

For a "space simulator" in 2023 the amount of loadings and not be able to fly off the planet were a deal breaker for me. If the quests/npcs were at least good... but it's all a mess

[@StygianIkazuchi]

Well there's your problem. It's not a space simulator. it's a space RPG

[@HowieDune]

​@@StygianIkazuchibut the rpg element is even extremely restrictive. You don't really get to make real decisions in the quests, you kind of have a bunch of linear stories that are cobbled together. I found myself being frustrated at the lack of options in completing quest lines

[@eternaldarkness3139]

It's definitely not a "space simulator", hell it's barely an RPG.

[@FTChomp9980]

At least in NMS you can actually land on the Planets yourself if anything more Space Games should be seamless like that not a loading screen to land or enter your ship seriously Bethesda is so outdated it hurts.

[@HunterRodrigez]

To me, this game felt like driving down a long highway, like you're somewhat concentrating on driving, but otherwise you're not engaged at all. My brain just went into autopilot and my memories of this game are just kind of a hazy blur.

[@lovelybitofsquirrel8272]

for me it felt like when you get to the end of a playthrough in Skyrim or fallout 4 and you just have a couple of quests left in you journal so you just fast travel around to knock them off the list, only in starfield that's the whole game. you don't even get unique locations to explore or any world building lore stuff like a skeleton positions in a way to tell a story.

[@YuriWulff]

Driving on a long highway without and bends or turns which makes you sleepy.

[@HunterRodrigez]

@@YuriWulff yeah, at some point I noticed I was starting to nod off and that's when I was like: "Yup, time for a refund..."

[@kylec7091]

I uninstalled Starfield to make some space and realized I’ll probably never install it again, just because it’s too hard to stay engaged with for extended periods. Hope we get some crazy mods/dlc/fixes to turn it around

[@Scootermagoo]

Did you copy&pasta the comment from @mia_need_you_here or did they copy you, or are you a spam bot bethesda paid for to say the same thing...

[@StygianIkazuchi]

@@Scootermagoo Bethesda's not paying for bots to spam random youtubers.

[@kylec7091]

@@Scootermagooi posted this comment over an hour ago, they just reposted it lmao

[@hiphopefx]

I did the same and thought the same thing as well. The only thing that’ll get me to try it again would be a major 2.0 update.

[@EP_mc]

@@Beehive151skyrim was the last game of theirs people loved, yes there was some hate but overall people loved it, fallout 4 was a bit more divided (it’s fun but mid) and ofc 76(fun now but fuck me) The update they teased for feb does give me some hope they’ll actually fix the game

[@Agent101g]

He keeps saying "some people just love bethesda games..." yeah, so do I, but I hate this one.

[@Justin_Drums]

It is an okay game. It didn't replicate those feelings I got from playing Oblivion, Skyrim, or Fallout 3 for the first time and that's unfortunate, but maybe it's because I've seen this game one too many times. It has also been extremely difficult going from Cyberpunk (I started after the new patches) to this game. Cyberpunk just feels like it has so much more life to its story, NPC, environments, and I feel so much more satisfaction from a fight encounter in CP than I do in Starfield. I'm very interested in the main story, the possible endings, the relationship sidequests, and just the world of Night City in general. I'm about to finally beat Phantom Liberty and then I'll give Starfield more time, maybe with more hours played and actually getting to New Game+ I'll enjoy it a little more.

[@NotMyJob44]

I’m in the same boat 🚤

[@ZX235w3]

Cyberpunk is the trigger flashpoint in revealing Bethesda's outdatedness when it comes to tech. No matter what Bethesda tries, they cant deny CDPR is their closest competitor in the gaming landscape today. And if Bethesda refuses to move along and innovate in their tech, they're not gonna last much longer. I hope Rockstar also joins into the medieval fantasy space to finally kick Bethesda out. CDPR is even moving to the even more advanced UE5 now whereas Bethesda is still gonna stick with their Gamebryo engine for TES6. I dont see how this can turn out good for them. The Gamebryo is seriously seriously lagging behind in terms of open world design. The engine simply cant re-create large breathing realistic cities like other games can and as you've seen, not even empty planets without loading screens. Another problem with Gamebryo is the extremely shitty character animations. That'd be acceptable 10 years ago but Bethesda's kind of low quality character animations is getting really out-of-touch in 2023.

[@swift2873]

Cyberpunk 2077 is an action fps with RPG elements in an open world. It is more appropriate to compare this game with Far Cry, Crysis, GTA. Starfield is an open world sandbox. And Bethesda's games have no analogs. There are CRPGs like Planescape Torment, Arcanum, Baldur's Gate, Wasteland, Pathfinder, Divinity. And there are Action RPGs like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, The Witcher and so on. But there are no games like Bethesda. Where you could enter any room in the game, where there are hundreds of unique NPCs in the world of the game, all objects around the world kept their position, where all things had their own physics, collision.

[@colorcommentary3009]

@@swift2873 Plenty of games have as many or more significant NPCs in the world? Some of the stuff you said it true but youre just describing a good tech demo. Also there are less games like the OG ME trilogy then there are games like TES. Just because you have a narrow view of gaming doesnt make it true. Weirdos man

[@ZX235w3]

@@swift2873 No it's not? Games like Far Cry and Crysis are linear and absoutely not RPGs since you dont make any story choices. GTA whilst being open world, isn't classified as an RPG since the missions are also extremely linear and there's practically no choices nor character customisation except for the ending. "But there are no games like Bethesda." Yes, there are. A plenty. Bethesda has lost their uniqueness completely. "Where you could enter any room in the game," You can enter every room in RDR2 too. And you can NOT enter every room anymore in Starfield cities. "where there are hundreds of unique NPCs in the world of the game" You mean all those generic-looking NPCs giving you generic fetch quests and with the same generic idle animations? Pretty sure BD3 has like 10x more dialogue lines than Starfield NPCs do. "all objects around the world kept their position, where all things had their own physics, collision." Go try shooting a glass cup in Starfield and watch it bounce around and not even break. That's the kind of physics you're impressed by? lol. This isn't 2011 anymore. In CP2077 you can shoot glass cups and they'll not only fly away but break as well. You can destroy glass windows in specific portions. You can even see pillars you take cover behind blown away by enemy nades. Meanwhile go toss a grenade in your Starfield toilet and watch the toilet rolls just bounce around like hard rocks.

[@lordwhatshisname3408]

I expected fallout in space, that's what I got. I love the game, its not phenomenal, but it's very enjoyable. I may not play it that much anymore after getting all the achievements, but am very much looking forward to dlc in the future.

[@jacobmecrob5185]

If a game doesn't grip me within 10 hours of playing I'm pretty much over it. Starfield didn't make the cut for me. I have too much going on to waste time on bad games when there are better ones out there.

[@JGxBane]

Maybe I need to try to put more time into the game, but I totally disagree that it feels like a Bethesda game. If it felt like “just another Bethesda game,” that would be such an upgrade to this game.

[@prestonwinters9656]

I was definitely disappointed, mostly because of the exploration. I don’t really care about the quests because Bethesda is mediocre on quest most of the time but the exploration has always been top tier with environmental lore and Starfield doesn’t really have any of that

[@LlanHeinrich]

I played it up to half way point. Never replaying it. Not at least without some major overhauls... most likely fixed by modders than Bethesda. Because Bethesda can't seem to ever fix most of their issues ever since Morrowind. I was always okay dealing with some jank, because the core of it was fun. Skyrim probably being the peak everywhere I turned, there was something to look at and I could do it without dealing too much with the annoying aspects like loading. Unfortunately Starfield put those limitations right in the forefront and unfortunately did not benefit of the "I want to explore everywhere I look" part of it. What probably hurt Bethesda the most was the gaslighting tone deaf responses to valid criticism. "Not having fun? That's because you're playing it wrong! Astronauts went to the moon and you can't say they were bored".

[@themightydenis]

I’m also at “I like it but don’t love it”. That being said, a really good DLC with a few optimizations (read less loading screen) and it could get to “I love this game”

[@jamalwillis-m9n]

Definitely one of my nitpicks too. The only reason I havnt hopped on the strafield-fun train fully, is just because of the lackof radio and the loading screens (If red deaddid it you can do it Todd)

[@rigo7292]

Man, honestly I really love this game when it comes down to it. I'm sad to say that it was ultimately the lack of optimization that stopped me from finishing this game. I, along with many others, just don't have the means to own a top of the line beefy PC, and it really sucks that this game is kind of locked behind this sort of thing. The loading screens suck, but man I would've been able to look past that and pretty much everything else people complain about if I could just play this game smoothly. I know I'll come back to it and love every minute of it once I can spare a couple grand for a new rig. For now, cyberpunk holds my heart. Thanks, Gameranx, for yet another dope and honest video.

[@ascendordie7427]

man you really should check out games that this game is trying to copy.

[@rigo7292]

@@ascendordie7427 any recommendations?

[@ascendordie7427]

@@rigo7292 no man's sky is trash but still does it better. EVE online is great but more of a mmo.

[@troyknights3342]

@@ascendordie7427no man’s sky is not like this game, you never played starfield.

[@ascendordie7427]

no mans sky is way better and i played statfield and all of Bethesda's other RPG games. this game is by far the worst fuckin idea yet. do you like playing loading screen sim?@@troyknights3342

[@Poopustheclown]

Bethesda itself has become Bethesda’s biggest disappointment

[@RinnaDimalanta]

Noooo. People like you that still trust and buy whatever Bethesda offers ARE the biggest disappointment.

[@Poopustheclown]

@@RinnaDimalanta absolutely missed the position, completely overlooked the point, and STILL made a nonsensical reply. You’re certainly the biggest disappointment to your parents…

[@waywardlaser]

I played it for a good 70 hours, which for any other game would be plenty. But I have little desire to go back to it. Skyrim and Fallout 4 are games I've poured hundreds and hundreds of hours into over the course of several years because I always loved going back to them. Starfield doesn't feel the same; the lack of a hand-crafted interconnected world really hurts it for me. It certainly wasn't a bad game...just not one with the same kind of staying power.

[@blackdoc6320]

For me as someone who is a big fan of starfield, they really focussed in marketing about it being a space exploration game. But it never really feels like you're exploring space. Yeah you can dogfight in 0G and make a spaceship. But all of the "exploration" is in a sub menu. You don't just happen upon planets of moons. You have to deliberately go to planets you click on. That mixed with the severe amount of loading screens (I know, dead horse) but honestly imagine if ES6 comes out and you have to go through a loading screen for every little shack you come across. You also gotta take into consideration games like no mans sky and star citizen had to make entire game engines from scratch specifically for what they wanted. Bethesda decided to just patch the one they're currently using so it might literally be impossible to do some things.

[@Chairdolf]

I think you are 100 right i dont think the game engine can actually do what no mans does cuz the creation engine is a bunch of cells stitched together thats why the other games are great cuz that hand made each cell but with space that would not work at all ever

[@sammy_jenkis]

Hey Jake and everyone. Here I am, one of those weirdos who doesn't usually bother with any online discussions. Forums having died is a big one for me as to why. Discord is too messy, so's Reddit, and yet here I am to talk about Starfield. Likely the one and only time. Surprised that my number is so high too, apparently I have put in 375 hours into Starfield at this point. I am less than 10 levels away from getting my last achievement. Is it a little boring? Yes and I still enjoy playing. I wouldn't go so far as to say I love it, but 375 hours is a lot of time in one game. Love, love, loved Fallout, so I suppose I love Bethesda style games, but I was hoping for more. Different engine would have been nice, less load screens would have been preferable, and changes to space combat too. Even still, there's a ton of game, with story I really enjoy and the new game+ is the shit. Anywho, back to never speaking online and playing many other games, it isn't just Starfield for me. I'm just too old to bother with online discourse.

[@Ruddline]

Its cool my man, I think youtube is the best forum on the internet with the nicest people, you can fit in here !

[@dominicanag1032]

Yes, I was very disappointed with the outcome of the game and I’m a big fan of BGS.I finally decided to try out the game and I just felt like I was forcing myself to play it which is not a good sign. I’ve also tried multiple times to go back to it and I just lost interest. The loading screens, 30 fps, and bugs was some of the major reasons why I stop playing the game.

[@gordon7308]

By game studio you already know that they just failed and that's their end. You need to give oppurtunity to other game studios. This is how it works. After multiple titles failing, there's really no hope that Bethesda will do the same or better than they did before. Graphic is one thing and gameplay is second thing... two different things that must be good at this time.

[@gordon7308]

@@shifterzx Fallout 76 ended their series so bad, Redfall is joke, Starfield without graphic would be nothing. At Least those who did those 3 games from their Bethesda co-studio shouldn't make games anymore.

[@TalkingAmerican]

I wasn't interested in Starfield until I randomly wanted to play a space game about the time it launched. Then it had me playing every night until 2-4 am and going to work exhausted because I just couldn't stop playing it. My current thought is that Bethesda took an extra year to release a game that wasn't just broken and would provide a framework for more to come. I put the game down after 230 hours because I didn't want to get burned out. This is a game I want to enjoy for a very long time.

[@jonhooper5388]

I’m a casual gamer nowadays, but grown up with Bethesda games, amongst other classic Triple A titles, like AC, Batman Arkham, FIFA, and COD, but only ever come back to Bethesda after all these years. I’m probably in a minority where I genuinely enjoyed Starfield and like the sandbox style blended with the RPG aspects of your archetypical Bethesda game. Think Minecraft, meets Skyrim, but in space! For me, the casual gamer, that works and is more than enough for me .

[@teamalice115]

I played the game for like 60 hours or so and well. I think it has a good base to build on. There’s just a lot of fundamental design decisions that I feel like just don’t really work in this game. 100s of loading screens to get anywhere in a modern game is just kind of ridiculous and really takes you out of the experience. It doesn’t really feel like a cohesive world whenever every five seconds it feels like there’s a new loading screen that is also five seconds long. The procedure generation itself I don’t think is the problem, but the problem is how little options there feels like for it to generate. The jokes, if you seen one cave you’ve seen all the caves feels very accurate, whereas like Skyrim, it always felt like you were finding something new and interesting. Even if a lot of caves, maybe had similar layouts. They still felt unique enough that each one was interesting. Honestly I really don’t even explore planets towards the end when I stop playing because it really did feel like I’ve already seen all this stuff before. The guns are all right, but it doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of cool unique options with like cool effects or special abilities kind of like in Skyrim, where you can find lots of unique weapons with unique effects on them. And finally, I think a big issue with the game is how Bethesda themselves saw it. Howard has made comments “ well when the astronauts went to space and there was nothing there they weren’t bored they thought it was awesome” or something to that extent but the difference is they actually doing the thing themselves. Like if I was actually going to a moon even though there was nothing on it I’m sure I would find that. Absolutely awesome but I’m playing a video game. You know it’s just a game and they’re being nothing there because that’s realistic that’s not really that fun even if it is realistic. I honestly think if they had just shorten the amount of planets down to maybe like 30 or 50 planets and they had a bigger role and actually crafting each of these planets the game would just be that much better. There may be like 1000 planets but nobody wants to explore all of them because so many of them are dead and lifeless and boring and they’re not fun to explore. there comes a point where realism hinders your games enjoyment and maybe you should pull back on the realism.

[@TCPolecat]

I've said this elsewhere. I enjoyed the game, I found it weirdly relaxing. It was far from perfect, don't get me wrong, but it seemed about on par with the majority of Bethesda games to me.

[@gameranxTV]

👍🏼

[@TheFallen3]

I ain’t play the game but not being able to fly you’re ship on planet seems like the biggest missed opportunity of a lifetime. I honestly wish more space games did it. Jedi survivor would’ve been amazing with that or even a bike like shown in outlaws.

[@EpicConspiracy]

You would’ve flown your ship to a planet twice before you just started fast traveling bro. Thats why there was no need for it.

[@asmodeusml]

I think the core issue is deeper and more depressing: Bethesda simply doesn't know anymore how to replicate Skyrim's quality level of exploration and adventure. Their last indisputable success was over 10 years ago, but Fallout 4 clearly had some questionable decisions. So if anything, I am more concerted about the present and the future of BGS itself, rather than Starfield's future.

[@WetWattz]

Absolutely it was. Dropped it quick after a month of playing. I remember Skyrim gripping me instantly and I played that shit till there was absolutely nothing else to do. Didn’t get that same feeling with Starfield. Very very very boring. Traversing lifeless planets can only be so much fun.

[@Certified_souls_player]

All the planets are lifeless? I wanted to try this game but that does sound dull how is the main story?

[@ChrisFroemming]

@@Certified_souls_player I couldn’t even finish the main story and trust me I really tried to get into it on stream when it came out but it’s barley mid

[@dovahkiin3.14]

@@Certified_souls_player It’s a “realistic universe”, meaning that only like 10 planets actually have any use and the rest are just there for outpost resources. The issue is that there are no vehicles so you’ll just walk/run across a planet

[@lordmolag45000]

Same for me, along with Fallout 4. I've played a ton of Fallout 4 and Skyrim, and I was so excited to play Starfield. Few hours into the game, and I was bored to tears and sadness.

[@Tearakan]

​@Certified_souls_player main story is badly written and new game plus just barely changes 1 tiny faction. Literally everything else in a new universe is the same. Bethesda style exploration is just not there. I wish it was. I love replaying fallout 4 and skyrim for that reason. Also companions are worse than fallout 4

[@viralshark]

Space games tend to receive an overwhelming hype train where people think its going to be some kind of generation-skipping experience.

[@fedbia2003]

Bro, fucking facts. I think everyone wanted this to be the end all be all instead of a company's first iteration into the genre.

[@DragonWorldProducts]

there are some things to love about Starfield, I really enjoyed the idea of shipbuilding. But I really think the game would have been better if it was set during this so called "Colony Wars" or whatever.. It would have been cool to see big space battles, stuff like that.

[@oflippert]

Exactly! The Colony War sounded like the perfect scenario to play the game in. The factions felt a little disappointing since you couldn't really do anything with them or affect the galaxy in any significant way. It would have been awesome to play during the war and pick a side and see how the galaxy unfolds after one side defeats the other. I'm honestly surprised that Betheada didn't do this since they typically do this like in Skyrim, Fallout 4 and Fallout: New Vegas. All of those games take place during a war where you can choose a faction to support. It's bizarre that they elected not to follow their own example in Starfield.

[@ZX235w3]

They purposely didnt do that since their piece of shit Creation engine can't handle wars. Need you be reminded how the 'war' in Skyrim was like? Literally just 6 or so soldiers from each side duking it out. *facepalm* That sort of shtick would've worked in 2011. Not today. Their Creation Engine already struggles to render that many NPCs in New Atlantis

[@GameHoardGame]

Yep, everything cool already got resolved before we start game

[@DragonWorldProducts]

@@oflippert I could see it, custom built, capital ships swooping in, massive space explosions, boarding said capital ships... but sadly they missed the mark.

[@jayceroman6047]

In Skyrim they basically added a vampire war through DLC. Could be something with that sort of significance added later. Personally I didn't fall in love with Skyrim until I played all the DLC with it. I'm quite theBethesda fanboy though to clarify.

[@VincentJValentine114]

For me, this is the best thing since RDR2. It took getting to a few temples, maxing a few skills, getting to "A High Price to Pay" and getting past 200K space caps to have fun but im having a great time man.

[@thingsandstuff4900]

I feel like the expectations around the game were a bit too much. Bethesda, while a successful and influential studio, haven't really changed their formula for a very VERY long time. Same gameplay, same loop, same story-telling style, etc. Which isn't a bad thing necessarily. Don't fix something that isn't broken yk. But at the same time eventually people are going to see flaws in that formula and I feel like that might be a factor to why things turned out the way they did.

[@BrianR146]

I’d say they changed their formula in the wrong way (more procedure generation, expanded (forced) fast travel, bigger but not better game areas) and lost the magic of the journey from place to place

[@Steel-101]

Yeah the more I analyze some of the complaints it feels like a lot of expectations were a bit too unrealistic. I’m not saying Starfield doesn’t have any flaws. However it feels like people didn’t fully understand that the creation engine had limits. In other words we’re not gonna get a combination of mass effect and no man’s sky. It was going to be an outer worlds/Fallout 4 experience with some spaceship gameplay. That is what I expected from the beginning.

[@The_MEMEphis]

It's an extremely flawed formula stitched poorly together with newer stuff the whole game feels like a Frankenstein stitched together

[@djvg7607]

@@Steel-101it shouldn’t be people jobs to know what the engine is capable of. In addition, BGS had Microsoft behind their back and this is what they came up with. Also, the marketing was intentionally vague.

[@ucef9945]

Not really, Starfield isn't even half the game Skyrim was.

[@Ryan-ji6wk]

I was very excited about this game when it was announced. As a self-admitted Skyrim and Fallout addict, I was determined to play this game... fully. In fact, as I only own a PS5 in the current generation of consoles, I was even planning on buying an Xbox Series system JUST to play Starfield. That has changed a bit since its release and subsequent reviews. I still think it looks cool, and I want to play it, but I may wait to see if it makes its way to Sony. That could be a VERY long wait (if ever), but I'm not sure buying an entirely new system for a single game makes sense, especially since I concentrate on PS as my main gaming experience. We'll see.

[@LomiKo]

if you use geforce now + gamepass you could play the game for very cheap compared to a new system. thats what i did, cost me bout 30 dollars. and honestly its not worth it. i am also a skyrim and fallout addict.

[@canadianbeef1958]

Trust me it's not worth it

[@Blackdeathgaming-yv1kk]

​@@canadianbeef1958apparently they announced like just now that it will come to playstation.

[@canadianbeef1958]

@@Blackdeathgaming-yv1kk probably because they can't get enough Xbox players. It was supposed to be an Xbox exclusive only game.

[@haro657]

It’s not even worth 30 bucks. Let alone buying an Xbox to play it. You’re not missing out. Trust me. Play Cyberpunk instead.

[@Ultima450]

It was Fallout in space. I think the biggest issue for me was that Starfield dropped right as Cyberpunk 2077 was fully hitting its stride. CDPR tried something new going first person and it had its issues of course but the environment and characters and gameplay were so inviting it made you want to come back. It was fresh. Starfield released at around the same time and it was more of the same. I do think they messed up not making the side characters not as interesting and very samey and I got the feeling that coming back to play as a bad character wouldn't be rewarding because the game didn't seem to want me to do that. I beat it and felt the drive to do new game + was gone. I think it was Bethesdas chance to do something interesting and new and they just stuck with Space Fallout. That's fine but it's not innovative or great. It's more safe than anything else.

[@hbsharkman]

With no dismemberment which makes no sense

[@-The-Darkside]

Cyberpunk hitting its stride... Three years after release 😂😂😂 🤡

[@sunderwire]

I wish it was fallout in space… then it might be good lol

[@meth3rlence]

Feels like a massive disservice to Cyberpunk talking about it in the same breath as Starfield... "more of the same" comment is very confusing to me too tbh?

[@Facetiously.Esoteric]

​@@meth3rlence lmao Cyberpunk was unplayable garbage at release. Stfu. It took them years to fix the issues.

[@Hardeleiar]

About the modding. I saw some KZbin video about it, something about the main problem now is the origin of the game world is not the player, the game will crash if the player travel too far away. Hence the loading screen. Each loading screen change the origin of the game world. But if people want to mod it, the best option is to fix the origin of the world to the player character. However, since the origin of the game world is where the game build on, it is not an easy fix. Some had said it is easier to make a whole new game than to change the origin of the game world.

[@shadowofnoc5760]

lol

[@bam_bino__]

this is a floating point error, every engine has this issue, if you go out too far the game logic breaks, KSP fixed this by making the world origin fixed to the player position when in orbit... if the world origin is not attached to the ship, it means free flight was never even a consideration.

[@Hardeleiar]

@bam_bino__ this is just really bad design choice... How can you design a space game without thinking about flying? This is like designing a car game without thinking about driving... just designing the 'simulation of sitting and driving in the car'...

[@CopeyCapri]

It's such a strange game, I enjoy the faction story lines and the main story is pretty good after the initial...lazy? Writing of "heres a thing, here are some bad guys, oh look, here is a ship for you" . The combat is good enough to be quite fun. The main downside for me is the exploration, the Skyrim and Fallout games have always been so much fun to explore round, find fun little side quests and random events, weird stuff going on etc. Starfield feels too big and too empty, you land on a planet and try to explore to find very little of interest. Also, I don't know about anyone else, but Fallout 4 brain kicked in and I collected all sorts of random junk thinking "ahhh, crafting items" to find there's no scrap system and it's just...stuff...which seems like a backwards step to me. It's a decent game, but it is full of disappointing issues that really hurt it.

[@Out_on_a_Limb_Life]

Hahaha, absolutely! Fallout 4 deeply engrained in us....must. pick. up. EVERYthing....Very disappointing to find it's just a load of useless junk in Starfield.

[@0xBarth]

Enjoyed it. Only real negative thing I have to say is that I hated all the loading screens. Had a good time regardless though

[@AmogusAsbestos]

I feel like I kind of hit a plateau in my excitement at 15 or so hours. I never really felt myself getting more drawn in like I did with Skyrim. I feel like the world building needed to bake for a while longer.

[@SuperGirl-tf2wn]

Disappointment. Didn't hold my attention like Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 4. I was married to those. This felt boring, found myself on my phone in between the barrage of loading screens having to bounce the cosmos.

[@rantalmore]

This was a very …kind review.

[@eternaldarkness3139]

This was the perfect SF review... It's okay, not great. A bit dull, nothing innovative. 7/10

[@Zab0Zab0]

"I liked It, I didn't love It" Is exactly what I feel about Starfield.

[@vandeno8126]

For me I really enjoyed the story. But I didn’t feel motivated to really explore like in the other series. It felt empty with nothing to do but scan stuff. So once it felt that way to me I quit going outta my way and just focused on the main story. Haven’t played since. Hoping they do a NMS like thing and improve it. And of course the creation kit to release so the god modders can do their thing. Can’t wait to see what they come up with.

[@dlittle9556]

it's not an exploration game lmao

[@anthonybaggott9825]

No. I got exactly what I wanted from it. Fun ship building, improved gunplay, fantastic characters and companions, tons of replability, a focus on a main story (that I consider top notch), and room for plenty of expansion going forward. This game feels extremely similar to Daggerfall. It set the ground work for what’s to come. In time, it’ll be remembered as a classic. Maybe a little too big for it’s own good, with too much procedural generation, but that’s my only complaint. Wheneve a sequel does drop, (probably 30 years from now, given the pace Bethesda is on) I think it’s going to be a masterpiece.

[@shadane1436]

I would say yes, I thought I would be playing this game all the time but after I beat the main story I never went back. It’s too limiting, too many loading screens, hope we get some meaningful updates soon enough.

[@MrDarkx1000]

Soooo many loading screens

[@BindiBushPig]

yeah but if you have the hardware the loading screens are 10 seconds MAX for me @@MrDarkx1000

[@purpledrank2922]

Those ps3 graphics are amazing

[@MrWideopenmusicuk]

I have a different view on the new game plus. It actually put me off replaying. I quite enjoyed it but must admit disengaged from the story half way through at the big reveal. Also felt the ending offered no closure or explanation. In comparison, i played starfield (and spent over 100 hours on it) and felt disappointed. Played Cyberpunk directly after and on completion just wanted to boot it up and start all over again. For me, thats what I want from a game.

[@Antares-Dragon]

It’s my favorite space game to date. I’ve played NMS and elite for hundreds of hours. Only real issue is they made fast travel too easy which bypasses the game and the immersion. It’s a great game to me. I love it.

[@marcusrobinson-johnson]

If it weren't for all the bugs that stopped me from competing certain missions and the constant game crashes I experienced, I would have enjoyed the game way more than I did. When the game worked, I had a blast playing, it but the bugs I experienced took all the fun away.

[@darkatthecore]

"it's not a bug it's a feature" -some guy from the Internet -...

[@kami_oniisama9884]

I tend to refuse to play Bethesda games at launch except elder scrolls related but sometimes I can’t help it. If you liked it try revisiting in a year or so a lot of updates and maybe so tiny dlcs later it’ll likely be better

[@igortolstov487]

That’s actually how I felt about Baldurs Gate 3. It was an absolute buggy mess when it came out. But it didn’t stop me from enjoying the experience, because the quality of the game made up for the bugs.

[@grega8875]

100+ hours and never saw a bug

[@marcusrobinson-johnson]

@@grega8875 must be nice. The first couple of weeks after launch is when I started getting bugs and game crashes. Before that I had no issues.

[@richtheobald4390]

I enjoy it and spent a lot of hours playing it. Im just waiting for some mission fixes, more content and less copy paste locations before I go back in. I was not disappointed in any sense of the word. Well, Im not sure the end of the main story lived up to what it promised but it was asking a lot, imho

[@abaddon1371]

Long time Bethesda fan here and I have dodged not one, but two bullets I think. I have played almost any Bethesda game out there and would normally have no problem picking up their games. After FO4 though, I was reserved about FO76 and waited to see what's what, and I didn't pick it up. Same with Starfield. It is an era coming to an end for me and in the case of Starfield, the things I've seen modders talk about regarding the game, there is no fixing this one. Bethesda had a good ride on that relic of an engine and I personally see no reason to buy further games from them going forward, if still using that engine. In the meantime, I will play the games I do enjoy from them, with the mods of my choice.

[@sevendaysin8374]

Similar situation; similar conclusions. Well said.

[@ancientnpc]

The only reason you would be disappointed with Starfield is if you swallowed the hype.

[@burnout3722]

The problem is that there are better space and ship simulators out there that are more immersive.

[@Bean-Games]

Yes, some people say 76 is but the hype around that game and the conversation surrounding it for months after was still there, ngl i forgot about starfield after like a month

[@Mr_Mcfeely]

Conversation surrounded 76 for months after release but hype certainly did not. That's why it ended up with a niche community and a lot of fallout fans just sticking with 4

[@Bean-Games]

@@Mr_Mcfeely ya, but atleast there was conversation, i barely heard anything starfield wise after a couple weeks post launch, it got pushed out by all the good games

[@Mr_Mcfeely]

@@Bean-Games hard to say nobody's talking about it when GR has this video out talking about how divisive it's been since launch. The stat of over 5 million people completed the game is probably a drastic difference between how many people put in similar time on 76 in the same time frame between launch and post launch. Starfield lacks content and fluidity between worlds. 76 basically needed rebuilt.

[@Bean-Games]

@@Mr_Mcfeely most people who didnt refund either game after an hour of playing probably put about the same time on average, if not fallout 76 got more playtime just cuz its a fallout game, in my opinion both games are extremely dry, ya the stories are solid 6.5/10s but i just cant see myself playing starfield for long but i could play fallout 76 for a long while simply because its a fallout game, if starfield was the same game but under a pre-established name it would probably be alot more popular, and if it was on other consoles

[@Mr_Mcfeely]

@@Bean-Games that's the thing though, starfield wasn't so bad it spurred a bunch of refunds, if it did it wasn't nearly on the meme levels of 76. Otherwise I can pretty much agree with everything you said. I still play FO4 here and there and as recently as last week played Skyrim and will almost certainly play the hell out of FO London and ES6. I can't see myself playing more Starfield until Shattered Space and it's hard to say if it'll stick after the dlc.

[@aperturextc]

I have to say, that this was probably one of the most balanced and objective reviews that I have seen to date of Starfield. I’m glad that you guys are able to see it from both sides and present both arguments.

[@ModernWelfare_]

Pandering to fans of the game doesn’t help the game or the industry. This flip flop middle ground position is basically just saying “I have no opinion and my ideas are irrelevant, im just going to regurgitate what’s already been said” so how is that constructive at all? This video actually sucks and I have nothing against gameranx in the slightest.

[@hortex-bb3dp]

​@@ModernWelfare_clearly you haven't watched the video when the guy said Starfield is very divisive: because it is. Because either way, Bethesda's game design isn't up to most people's tastes anymore. It's like I'm going to play Squad and expect a call of duty then cry on the internet for having expected a call of duty...

[@improvgaming4611]

I loved the game at the start. I was super into it, it seemed like there was so much to do and explore, the whole universe at my fingertips, the graphics were and still are on point, the gameplay is fun, the dialogue and talking to characters is very decent. But as I put in a good few hours something just suddenly clicked in my head. I found myself thinking hmm, this is starting to become a little boring and tedious. I love Bethesda more than anyone and want to get lost in their games but as soon as I realised a ton of it was quite empty and a lot of outposts would be the same I kinda felt myself go off the game a little, more and more til the point I suddenly stopped playing. I was surprised because I never thought I would feel like that with a Bethesda game. I feel like less planets to explore and maybe a few more cities/POI’s would have been the better choice. We don’t need all them planets at all. What we need is POI’s you can travel to and explore that you haven’t seen before. Feels like they went for quantity over quality in that department. Plus forever slowly walking somewhere isn’t great too. But they will be adding in vehicles which is cool. I’m not completely done with the game. I will come back in a few months, maybe a year when there has been many more updates and dlc added and go again from there. Still though it’s a decent game and no one can deny the effort that has been put into it. Should have just concentrated a little more on not having so many planets and actually filled up the plants they do have a bit more.

[@MrSpartan993]

Your first mistake was falling in love with Corporation. Don’t make that mistake again.

[@UncomfortableShoes]

I really enjoyed Starfield, it was fun. It was very Bethesda paint by numbers, but that’s not horrid. Then after the 2.0 update and the release of Phantom Liberty, I went back to Cyberpunk 2077. Night and day. Punk feels modern and dynamic the thought of Starfield seems after that seems like a step back. I’ll go back to it, when dlc and updates happen, but at the moment I’m not that excited for it, so many other games are way more on my radar. Also, with a Bethesda game there is no rush. It’ll always be there for the next 10 years getting rereleased.

[@wolfwing1]

except they left out half the colours or didn't put them back, exploration meaningful actual choices, rpg mechanics. The skill system is so bland, so out of an ubisoft and half of them don't really do anything and are just skill point traps....

[@dracdrum]

The bugs and lack of remedies are what killed it for me. I could not build outposts after level 80 or so (and I had saved that feature for last to try, other than a few resource outposts I made early...) I NG+-ed 3 times hoping that would fix it. Starting over seems not worth it.

[@rd0676]

The best way I’ve ever heard Skyrim described was “wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle” I feel like starfield is that concept, taken to its logical conclusion. Add onto that the fact that it was released in one of gamings most ridiculously stacked years in recent memory and a lot of the discourse around it makes sense

[@ShaneDR009]

I'm one of those "silent majority" types you mentioned. Hate gaming forums etc (people arguing about games is pretty sad IMO) and the most I do is watch some of these Gameranx videos sometimes. I'm not a Bethesda "fan", so to speak, though I've enjoyed most of their games since Oblivion onwards. I accept most of the time the games are released flawed, which isn't great, but I never buy them on release because of that. I only got Starfield on release thanks to GamePass. Having said all that, i am enjoying it heaps. I love the ship building. But I agree with most critics of it - it's hardly innovative or massively groundbreaking. BUt as an enjoyable game I can sink some spare hours into and travel the universe having adventures, its fine. BTW, I'm glad I stuck with FO76 too. Loving that game more nowadays. I play it as a solo game and find it fairly easy to treat it like a single RPG.

[@SalvationCode]

I put 195 hours into Starfield before deciding i was done with it until some patches & DLC rolls through. It was fun, addictive, but also bland and had many instances of "one step forward, two steps back" game design. The space travel, if you can call it that, is far too fragmented for me to immerse myself in the game like I did with Fallout or TES. And even if space travel was close to seamless (or just seamed, but very cleverly disguised behind transitions that don't break immersion), they focused on quantity over quality when it comes to planets & activities. There is a ridiculous increase in randomly generated, generic encounters. It's not just the radiant quests that would push you to interact with the world and create your own stories, like the endless quests in Skyrim. It's other types of encounters, recycled facilities and caves that just vastly outnumber the amount of unique content in the game. The unique content itself just isn't that interesting either. There's one or two faction storylines that are cool. But even those are wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle. The Crimson Fleet especially. They're all written like saturday morning cartoon villains. The game's entire universe is very sterilized and lacks any grit, charm or identity. It doesn't help that i put Baldur's Gate 3 on hold to dump a couple hundred hours into this game. So the sheer quality and creativity of the writing was in INSANELY stark contrast. Starfield is *fine* as your brainless, mainstream action RPG with no real role playing or consequence. But I wanted it to be more. Especially after Bethesda's been repeatedly shown up by more complex RPG games made by studios like CDPR, Obsidian and Larian. I liked the game. I'd have to be pretty insane to have played almost 200 hours of a game I hated. I just didn't think it was anything truly special, nor do I think I'll remember over 90% of what I did in it a year from now. And that's a shame. Because Bethesda, while not always delivering the most complex or interesting writing & roleplaying elements, at least used to be able to provide memorable, immersive worlds for you to inhabit. Starfield simply doesn't have that, and I hope Beth's post-launch support can at least improve it all by a little bit.

[@accelement3499]

$70 price tag was the "nogo" for me way too much for a game that wasn't even fully baked...

[@itisWhatitis12345]

My takeaway was that I stopped paying attention to online commenters and unsubbed from a lot of places and now just enjoy what i like

[@mattsharpey361]

Yep 😏

[@likskirtspleetscreen]

...but you are here.

[@williamtopping]

Good for you. I'm delighted you found it in your heart to tell the world just how much you don't care about their opinion. There;s nothing more endearing than someone informing others just how little they care. You carry on enjoying what you like, and you carry on telling the world you don't care about their opinions. Shout it loud as you can. As often as you can. In the end, you might even convince yourself.

[@williamtopping]

@@likskirtspleetscreen I know right, reminds me of someone deliberately walking in a pub and going round telling everyone how little they care about pubs. It's like, cool story bro. Why you here then...

[@pacifica2391]

Same but for different reasons, all those Starfield bootlickers

[@dahnbreese6272]

I've been playing starfield since release and I still find things to love about it.

[@HistoryTeacherSteve]

Really?!

[@richtheobald4390]

@@HistoryTeacherSteve Really! Except finding all the food. I keep getting snacks. I swear I've put on weight.

[@kabman70]

It's a decent game but they really missed out. They concentrated too much on vastness and much less on content. I'd rather have 100 planets with a lot to do than 1000 planets with cookie cutter settlements. Even the loot is mirrored in different locations...

[@robertsamaniego8292]

I would have appreciated if the game took a significantly smaller scope (say 25%) and focused on flushing more personality into that world. I explored the 4-5 major settlements very early on in the game. I was excited at the notion of discovering more of these settlements spread through the rest of the planet systems. I was disappointed that outside of a very few outlier settlements like Red Mile or Paradisio, 99% of the planet exploration involves the exact same bases/encampments/caves randomly populated on them.

[@TH-ln9sx]

I have really enjoyed it so far and after about 70 hours I am still very much enjoying it. It’s not perfect and absolutely doesn’t seem much of a graphical or gameplay step up from prior games but I loved those games so… not that bothered that it’s so similar.

[@Sticky_icky420]

I put over 70 hours into this game the first week on release, but I uninstalled it and haven’t touched it since. I personally loved the concept of Skyrim in space since Skyrim is my all time favorite game but those loading screens really got to me after 70 hours. If they ever reduce the amount of loading screens (the most important is going in and out of the ship) then I will for sure be back to put in hundreds of hours

[@jponz85]

How long are the loading screens if i may ask

[@seanbroccoli2698]

@@jponz85 They are like 5 seconds long lol. Literally a non issue that people keep crying about for some reason. People act like Skyrim never had loading screens.........

[@jponz85]

@@seanbroccoli2698 5 secs isn't a lot at all then. Lol

[@Sticky_icky420]

@@jponz85 yeah the loading screens aren’t long but tbh after a while of playing it gets to be kind of annoying. Like immersion breaking I guess. If they just made it so you could go in and out of your ship without a loading screen then they would be way more forgivable

[@gkey06]

bro loading screens on this current gen consoles is definitley alot especially 5 seconds hahahahaha and especiallly when it happens when you enter and exit a ship and other things. go see spiderman 2 or even the crew motorfest for no loading screens. stop sympathizing and hold these developers accountable. @@jponz85 5 second loading screens was a ps4 thing.

[@oDMACo]

I love how everyone is like. After playing a million hours of this game, I've decided.... you enjoyed it mate.

[@jclosed2516]

As a player I really like Starfield. I have sunken at least 200 hours in it, and still discover things I did not knew. I have not even played NG+ so far, because people that rushed through the game are said to miss a lot by diving into NG+ too soon. But that's not the main reason. The main reason I have still loads of stuff to do before I finally dive into NG+. Anyway - For the money I payed for this game I got more than enough worth it, so I have not a single reason to complain. And with the creation kit coming soon and also the DLC, there is more than enough to look forward to. There is also a big patch coming out around January 17th that addresses stuff some people where complaining about, and give some new stuff at the same time, so yeah... Cannot complain really...

[@victorfyre490]

By no means groundbreaking but I played a lot of it. I had my fun with it, and I hope there will be more to come. The physics system is absolutely wild though, definitely fun to play around with. I would still recommend if you like the bethesda formula.

[@fedbia2003]

This right here is my wife's and my opinions. There was quite a bit of bad but the formula works for us and we played it for 200+ hours each. I do think people are being supercritical just because of hype and trends, especially relative to other games review scores.

[@DudeWheresMyCardz]

Ive never been so disappointed in a game personally, as someone who is cautious of what they buy. Ive never felt so robbed. I lost it when i visited 3 identical abandoned mines each on their own planet but still identical from NPC placement, to the layout itself

[@orbitalstrike]

Its a fun thing to talk about and share opinions on, but its logical to give starfield 1-2 years before making any real opinions. Cyberpunk 2077 got the same criticism, but it became playable after a couple years, and became an actual good game.

[@Stormkindle]

To me Starfield was a beautiful lie. Much like it's ingame food items gloriously cursed. It promised travel by spaceship. What we got was travel by cut scene. And the more and more you dissected it the more and more you realized where ever you went in game there was always some random human outpost just sitting 30 feet away from your target and you cant help but wonder. What was going through those npc's heads. Aside from that featureless glazed look that all the npc's seem to have. "Yeah! There's a big glowing structure just outside our front door lets go explore it and claim a first!" "Or we could wait for some random explorer to stop by and claim the glory for themselves. On top of that there's a random criminal element roaming the galaxy which they mostly claim as UC Space with the exception of House Va'run and the UC appears to be on the backend with the Crimson Fleet. And don't even get me started on the main story line trying to rip itself from Skyrims cold Sort of kind of dead corpse cause keeps getting revamped every year with a new console platform. Truth be told it all felt like Fallout 3 or 76 all over again with the same mechanics same game engine only mildly updated to make DLSS useless from the start.And loading screens every where you went. It got me to thinking. How to classify the United Colonies as a ruling party. And the only conclusion that I could come to was it was a failed state., Much like Bethesda and Todd Howards reputation.

[@Stormkindle]

The Definition of a failed state from Websters Dictionary A state whose political or economic system has become so weak that the government is no longer in control. While admittedly it's not the worst entry Bethesda's put out recently there's aspects of the game I like most notably fiddling with Starship creator. And some of the voice acting talent was top notch. Elias Toufexis for example always wondered where he went to after Mechwarrior 5. All in All I really am starting to hate pushed release dates. Should make a tag "It'll be ready when it's Ready." And give the company enough time to put out a solid project. Ohhh. R.W.I.R. I like that one slap it on a T-shirt.

[@Funha123]

No role playing at all in Starfield. Fake choices and absolutely no inovative gameplay lmao Thats the core of the issue.

[@ACEMAN5253]

While I still have yet to finish the game, in part to the ending being spoiled for me, I do enjoy the game. It just feels like there was supposed to be more than what we got. I have many of the same complaints as others, but I don’t deny that the game is fun and is a new BGS game. The fact changes have been made via updates is amazing to me.

[@taylorzomer5223]

The updated Cyberpunk made me realize I don’t need Bethesda anymore… I re bought Fallout 4, and barely made it a half hour. This kinda game just doesn’t work for me anymore

[@10-5playz]

I had fun with it. I think I checked out of the story when they revealed who the Starborn were under the mask because I cared so little about them. But the exploring and quests etc were fun. I still play more from time to time but I want to cross the Unity a few more times before settling down and really focusing on resources and building a base

[@soroushkhodaii5548]

Having done the resource and base thing, I can tell you that there is absolutely no point in doing any of that stuff.

[@JeffReams]

After playing Starfield, I’m honestly worried about elder scrolls 6. Maybe they should just let Larian studios do it at this point.

[@HauxYZ250]

Starfield felt very Bethesda for my first 20ish hours. I had a blast. Then the shine started to wear off. I got to a point where I felt like I wasn’t really having all that much fun. I decided to look up which quest lines people generally enjoyed and ran through those before completing the game. I was very happy to discover a few gems. Some shared aspects of quests I enjoyed in Fallout (Operation Starseed for example). The ending and how future play throughs are handled also felt like a nice addition to the Bethesda formula. Ultimately I wish the game was more curated and less procedural. Without the depth of environmental storytelling that I’ve come to expect from the Fallout and Elderscrolls franchises, Starfield just didn’t have the long lasting allure of exploration for me.

[@BP-dn9nv]

I thank you for having a nuanced and patient take on this instead of just ragging on it for clicks.