My Final Thoughts on Starfield

It took a little bit longer, but I have finally closed out my complete "review" of Starfield. Truth be told, the more I played, the more mixed I became on so much of the game. However, I truly believe the main story and the main characters are some of Bethesda's best (at least in recent memory) and despite my issues with the game, I'm happy I played it.
We might revisit Starfield in the future with either mods, updates, or both, but for now, it is time for me to move on.
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Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:00 - The World
06:57 - Side Missions/Exploration
14:34 - Writing and Roleplay
20:13 - Characters
25:30 - The Story
37:09 - Outro

[@NopeNotHere.]

The cities in Morrowind make sense. You literally have the farms and mines where resources come from that cities love off of, and people working then. Every person has a home, a role, it makes sense, and that's, it makes sense in physical space in how spread out things are and the logistics of the cities.

[@blumoon131]

The issues most people have with the characters isn't from misunderstanding them; it's from not having the variety in choice of _who_ you can have as your companions. All of the essential companions come from the same club and share the same morals despite whatever their individual personalities are, so you can't do anything with them that they don't like and that restricts you into playing _their_ way.

[@StarfieldWX-tb42]

I definitely wish there were companions who didn't care if you filched credits from a chest here and there. One of my characters is TRYING to be a space pirate but keeps getting "so and so disliked that" messages every time I kill a freighter captain to take their ship and cargo. Well duh. She's a pirate. Players are free to do what they want, as long as it's morally good, otherwise forget bringing a companion with you. I shot a non-hostile robot once with Andreja and she flat out yelled at me and went back to the ship. WTF? I'm sure it's something with her backstory, but come on.

[@elitereptilian200]

I cannot understand how godd howard, in his infinite wisdom, thought it would a good idea to completely remove the two things people play and love their games for, the sandbox and the freeroam exploration 🤷🏻‍♂️ I liked some of the handcrafted content but, outside of that, there is just a vast, empty & totally pointless galaxy to do nothing with 🤷🏻‍♂️🤦

[@gangaim08]

Honestly it really feels like they created a blank canvas game so the mod community would be able to finish the game for them , they def know what they did for Skyrim and gave us a huge base for ppl to do the same here , which is absolutely lazy but unfortunately the game will prob end up being really dope when the modders get their hands on it

[@dennygunawan208]

​@@gangaim08only for those that capable of modding and run the modded game...not any pc can play starfield, even more the modded one. Skyrim mod can takes a lot of memory to run..cant imagine this one. But yeah, modders are amazing things that happened to gaming, especially bethesda. Their games wont hold up this long without mods.

[@vincer7824]

But when Buzz Aldrin went to the moon he wasn't bored! 😂😂😂 Insane logic there Todd.

[@dougyfresh4345]

⁠@@gangaim08 if you can’t even start to explain how, it sounds like cope, mods can only do so much, they improve upon the core, if the core is rotten it will only be putting lipstick on a pig.

[@ModernWelfare_]

@@dennygunawan208I run over 200+ mods on fallout 4 on ps4 and rarely crash you’ll be fine with your toaster oven pc

[@TheBHAitken]

My main issues with Starfield: (1) Lack of features, from transitions to NPC reactions and everything in between, we got a stripped down version of the engine that makes everything seem cheap and immersion breaking. (2) Linear Story. There is only one way to approach the plotline and only one avenue (Constellation) in order to achieve Starborn. Plot hole warning: I think just about every faction would be VERY interested in an individual who was gaining powers by interdimensional means, and NOT in a good way. Which brings up the next point, (3) No interactions between factions. The UC plotline doesn't interact with the Freestar Collective, nor do the Crimson Fleet. House Varunn is the upcoming DLC but will its story be contained to its own space as well? Yes, there is a side mission where UC & Freestar work together for self-defense, but it doesn't carry over to other plotlines and we never hear of it again. (4) Incomplete systems. I know this should hover around the first point, but I do need to point out the gaping hole that I imagine was to combine the settlement and the ship systems to make bases more of a necessity than a feature. From the interviews I understand this was removed because it might have been "too complicated" for us. Spoiler: We were supposed to use the bases as "gas stations" because our ships were supposed to use fuel. This would have necessitated their use on Helium rich airless moons instead of full biospheres and thus proved unattractive for game presentation. (Censored expletive here). Guess they were scared of bad trip planning. Add to this the news of the Senior Bethesda staff retiring immediately after release and I understand what the game was: The Minimal Contractual Obligation before they could cash-out and leave. I can hope things will improve for the final release but right now, if it wasn't for game pass I'd be really pissed over what I would have paid.

[@seththepotate]

Yeah I talked a lot of about the half-baked mechanics in my first video, but these are all pretty much my main gripes too. Like with Fallout 4, there's the bones of something that could be great, but it was just not executed nearly as well as it could have been.

[@sadarumhogai9337]

main issue with starfield (1) starfield

[@goadfang]

Regarding companions, it's not that I'm upset that Sarah doesn't like me doing things she disagrees with, it's that every companion shares the exact same moral and ethical outlook. Sarah doesn't like what I do, Sam doesn't like what I do, Andreja doesn't like it. It's like playing a game of D&D where everyone plays the lawful stupid paladin except you, so you either get constantly shit on, or you play the way your companions tell you to play.

[@blumoon131]

Exactly this. No one misunderstands Sarah's character because it's made bleedingly obvious the type of person she, along with everyone else at Constellation, is. Fallout 4, for all of it's many issues, at least had a diverse band of companions to choose from that would react differently to choices you made. Starfield is so grossly over-sanitized.

[@Cyromantik]

​@@blumoon131 Having a Raider companion, a Junkie, or a corruptible companion (like Vette in SWTOR) would be a game changer. At the very least a companion that doesn't mind if you're sometimes a murderer hobo.

[@arkeshn729]

I'd probably enjoy Starfield more as a novel. The game feels at odds with itself.

[@tastethecock5203]

@@DailyCorvid Everything's too sterile. Feels ike a first draft where you just outline things happening or general idea of what characters would say. Emil's not a good writer, but it just seems like there was an extra rush to finish the vast amounts of shit the were trying to cram inside this game. So it didn't get finishing touches to make it more believable and is just there to provide basic context on what's going on.

[@helderoliveira2994]

​@@DailyCorvid not enough lewd?

[@evanpage2540]

Glad to hear someone mention that stupid quest where you are forced to steal the artifact from that collector. That was so bad. My character has made predominantly good choices within the game. When I got to that mission I was like "Eh, okay. There must be a few ways of completing this mission." Well I was wrong. I struck up a conversation with three mercs and bantered with them for a bit. Then I had a chat with the main guy himself and I ended up liking him. He seems like an OK guy just doing his thing. Then he was nice enough to take his new friend (me) down to his vault to show off his new addition. He didn't want to sell it to me and I had no other option but to grab and dash. Turns out now I've got to get back to my ship and there's only everyone I encountered on the way trying to kill me. So I'm forced to turn around and ruthlessly murder everyone on the ship that gets in my way (sorry guys! I just really want this artifact OK?). I leave old mate collector alone because he wasn't such a bad guy. I was the bad guy here. Maybe there'll be some emergent revenge plot come out of this? Oh wait I can't jump out of the system because I'm in combat. So I am now forced to straight up blow this bro's ship into smithereens, killing him. Sorry friend I'm on a quest. Todd made me do it. I later discovered that you can attack the main guy once and he will surrender, allowing you to leave the ship without resistance. But still, what the hell man? This quest was whack and felt so out of character for me. Also regarding the whole freedom to do anything you want style gameplay, I've always thought the best way to address this would be to have two seperate gamemodes - a standard gameplay mode much the same as we have now but then a sandbox mode that lets you break the game like the old Morrowind days. Give players the choice how they want to play.

[@spike178]

Yeah wasted so much time trying to get that mission done without attacking anybody, in the end just killed everybody and looted everything.

[@stirfrysensei]

“Interactive cities”? What exactly can you interact with in any of the cities in Starfield? NPCs ignore you even if you’re aiming a gun at them. I guess you can interact with shopkeepers, like any other video game in existence.

[@christopherrodriguez2412]

Bro said the buildings in cyberpunk create an illusion of depth but doesn't realize that 75% of the dialogue options are literally just regurgitated fillers meant to pad out Todd's "OVER 50,000 LINES OF DIALOGUE" statement. Player: What does this do? NPC: gives a non answer" Literally just look at the keeper's dialogue when discussing the starborn.

[@fredwilkins4644]

Theres a reason why Todd is retiring after ES6. Hes getting old and doesnt have the same drive and passion anymore. It shows in Starfield.

[@jfkst1]

ES6 will be four years at least. Maybe longer. I might be retired before Howard.

[@mfspectacular]

The yes man ending in fnv isnt a failsafe at all. Alot of the base game & even lonesome road push you in that direction. Reminding you time & time again that the other 3 endings are just repeating history

[@francisquebachmann7375]

I agree with this, constellation hq should be move to a neutral space.

[@Oink-FM]

The story was awful. A couple of scifi movies put together. The world feels like it was made for you instead of you being just someone living within the world.

[@blaiskris]

NG+ could have had a reason beyond grinding powers or redoing quests, it could be a reset option if really piss off factions, or kill "essentials" as it, bounty board, okay we're cool

[@seththepotate]

This is a super cool idea actually and would have given NG+ actual weight, as well as opening up more roleplay in general.

[@helderoliveira2994]

NG+ DOES have a reason. It literally is stated by the other you. Do you want to start your life over at another universe? Or are you happy with your life in your own universe?

[@Mirthful_Midori]

@@helderoliveira2994 That's a story reason and an incredibly weak one at that. The biggest problem is that Bethesda designs games so that players can see as much as possible in a single play through. Combine that with the severe lack of choices in Starfield and "new game plus" just doesn't have any incentive for the player to choose. It's like Emil couldn't think of any way to give the game an ending and then just decided to not give it an ending at all.

[@Legacyartist]

@@helderoliveira2994 That's the lore reason but Starfield is still a videogame and needs a gameplay reason for a game feature. Sure you can save constellation and if there was an existing way to skip sections of a quest there is now a Starborn way of doing it. From a gameplay aspect it really is just to grind powers. The whole deep meaning of continually playing the same game is ultimately pointless is bull. Especially since Bethesda and Todd want this to be the next Skyrim the reality is they saw alternate start mods and wanted to incorporate one in the game. The sad thing is all they had to do was lock content based on your actions. Your Vanguard well sorry you can't be a Ranger. Didn't let the other fractions know heatleeches are terrormorphs well after some time there systems have terrormorphs increasingly attacking. Mass Effect 2's NG+ had no story reason for existing but because you could mess things up so badly there was a gameplay reason to replay. Starfield could have given us unique stories with each NG+ just by tweaking and locking content instead we get chase the light 240 times.

[@ivanwm2513]

NG+ Needed more variations in every instance, but overall I enjoyed it. IMO, In one universe, Terrormorphs causing a Zerg invasion and mechs being rebuilt to fight them. In another, the Crimson Fleet conquering the UC and the remnants of the UC being like Star Wars rebels. In another universe, the FC is in trouble because Akila's star is entering supernova stage. And in another, House Va'Ruun is crusading once more. There is just so much potential that they could do with the multiverse.

[@paladinezrah4874]

"yes man quest is fucking boring." YOU DONT SAY THAT! 😆

[@DCJiuJitsuGeelong]

just remember that any opinions you choose in this game mean nothing, it effects nothing, changes nothing and has no effect on the game. this game is not a real RPG and is one of the most on rails games iv played pretending to be a "do anything , be anyone game". i think people are upset or disappointed with starfield cos Todd and Bethesda lie !!!!

[@PcMacLaren]

By your logic, starfiled made cities smaller to flesh their interiors out but If cyberpunk had a loading screen for ever vehicle or building you wanted to enter you could go into every building in that game too.

[@vincer7824]

I don't know enough about game dev or tech limits to know if that's true, but it really doesn't matter. A big city simply has to sell the illusion of scale and density. Sure have places the player can go in and interact with stuff but it doesn't have to be everywhere. At least from a realistic perspective from someone who has lived in a major city all their lives you can't walk in to any building you want and have an in depth or fulfilling interaction. Especially not in the more commercial areas filled with huge skyscrapers of offices or heavy residential areas that require a key or security check to enter. What you do see is an neverending wave of people everywhere and buildings so numerous and tall you only see small pieces of the sky at a time. New Atlantis being the only place that seems intended to be a big city (Akila is a small town no matter that they say and Neon is a oil rig) fails to sell scale or density. It's looks like it was designed by someone who has lived exclusively in the suburbs imagining what a big city would be like.

[@seththepotate]

This isn't at all what I meant. I was more comparing design philosophies. Both have their pros and cons. Illusion of depth isn't bad, and in Cyberpunk's case is very intentional to drive you toward the main narrative more, while Bethesda wants to allow some more exploration. That all being said, the amount of load screens in this game is quite atrocious and it's a real toss up on if there will actually be anything interesting or worthwhile behind them.

[@ummerfarooq5383]

They're not cities they're unfurled out spaceships. Cities require roads. And much of the eatablishments in the settled systems were abandoned, hard to maintain or survive in thanks to very aggressive animals. Even in the farm out posts on different planets, you'll hear the one or two civilians constantly shooting at violent territorial fauna. It's no wonder the varuun stay in space.

[@orbit1894]

Cyberpunk wants you to explore neon filled alleyways, abandoned places, combat areas find shards and learn the lore instead of random people's homes that add nothing to the narrative. Cyberpunk went for the mega city aesthetic and nailed it. And no you still wouldnt need loading screens if they opened up more interiors as they already have done with Phantom Liberty's Dogtown. Its doable, but imagine the time theyd have to spend to do it.

[@ummerfarooq5383]

@@orbit1894 yet starfield has the following console command you can type: sgtm 10 Then look up

[@breeeegs]

Todd Howard: What's not to understand? You play the game, I get money, win-win! Me: But the game is dogshit *awkward pause* Howard: What are you trying to say exactly

[@vincer7824]

This game has so many inconsistent design choices its dizzying. One of their former devs basically said in an interview that they intentionally dont lock anyone out of any of the experiences (when contrasted with BG3). So you can both shoot your way out of the UC SysDef ship, join the Crimson Fleet, further decimate the UC SysDef navy, then go to the United Colonies capital and stroll into another branch of their miliatry and become a unlikely hero, all by just paying your bounty. All of that is fine if you want a player to be able see everything. But if you design your ending around NG+ then it doesnt make any sense. Game pushes you towards NG+ but also goes out its way to make sure you can do everything in a single playthrough, eliminating one good reason to do NG+. The feeling of your choices being meaningless is the result of both of these mechanics, exaggerated by them being combined. Your choice in identity (pirate/war hero/ranger/corporate agent) doesn't really impact your overall game. By being every role you end up not really being any role. If you do everything and experience all the major content the devs wanted you to see, starting a new game erases all your decisions anyway. Game has very good things in it to be sure, it also fights itself. Feels like it was made by committee. No singular vision to unify everything.

[@patrickbrown897]

On the Yes Man thing… It’s the anarchist path. It’s completely valid and feels like building your own government, or rather alliance of independent communities, which to an anarchist character is much more interesting than working for one of the tyrants. You get to make real political decisions and shape the world in the way you see fit. If you just murdered everyone that’s your own fault.

[@seththepotate]

This is a good point. I should note I love New Vegas and have done every ending at least twice. I just feel that narratively, compared to all the others, it's the weakest because it serves the purpose of having to be a backup while also rectifying a lot of story and character choice. It's hard line to walk, and New Vegas does do it well. My writing process is... a mess as I've kinda just jumped into trying to write long form videos after doing no practice on writing or researching so I often forget to specify, clarify, or make points until after the video is finished. But because of that, I greatly appreciate comments like this.

[@Mirthful_Midori]

@@BillO62 I'm pretty sure he's just saying he thins the Yes Man option is the weakest of the bunch. You could even argue it's a cop-out to ensure that players who "went murder hobo" can finish the game. I think Yes Man is fine, but the others are more interesting and Yes Man is also the hardest to get a "good" ending with.

[@Mirthful_Midori]

@@BillO62 I didn't say it was necessarily a cop-out, but one can argue that it was. The main argument I can think of is how easy it would be to remove Yes Man entirely and not change much of anything else. Pretty much all of his quests are just House's quests, but you interact with Yes Man instead. It's a fine way to end the game, but I tend to ignore it most of the time.

[@mfspectacular]

​​@@BillO62 anarchy literally means "no rulers," & every end slide, no matter your choices say "anarchy ruled the streets. The courier ruling an anarchic region is about as logical as an anarchic government like op said, cant have both. When you look at that ending as reigniting that "great experiment of individualism" that died with early america (something that lonesome road eludes to) it's easily the most interesting ^^

[@LordJaroh]

I think the overall problem is the presentation of the story, the pacing, and the lack of actual character choice in the game. The fact that this game has new game plus and yet still has unkillable npcs and quests that you can't lock yourself out of is a detriment. That and lacking any acrual cohesion to the overall narrative of the story woth the gameplay elements is very poor. A space game, where space doesn't actually matter or play any real part, as well as no real exploration in a game about exploration is very sad. No sense of wonder, discoveries, exploring already explored worlds...the disconnect in the gameplay with the story is very bad.

[@josephbernal4246]

Bro when Sarah dies I lost all my legendary weapons. I was LIVID

[@cargorunner9960]

You can get them later. Maybe at the funeral. You haven't lost them

[@detectivemadoka69420]

I knew it was over when i heard -DRAGONBORN- STARBORN! NOOOOOO, IT'S NOT TRADITIONAL MAGIC, IT'S SPACE MAGIC!!!! NOOOOOO, IT'S NOT SHOUTS, IT'S HABILITIES!!!! BUYER'S REMORSE, BUYER'S REMORSE, BUYER'S REMORSE

[@DreddPirateRoberts]

It's all but confirmed that the writer, Emil Pagliarulo, phoned it in. His rationale was that players don't care about the story. Of course, when the story isn't very good players gravitate towards aspects of the game that are more enjoyable.

[@ih8theinternet]

im sure someone else already pointed out but to steal the es award without the persuasion check you have to go in during the emergency lockdown sequence of the mission, where the receptionist wont be at her desk

[@XNY_Music]

One thing I have issues with, when it comes to the writing and consequences of going through the Unity, Sam Coe's questline revolves around restoring a relationship with Cora's mother, Lillian hart, yet when it comes to the Unity, Sam shows not the slightest consideration of Lillian in allowing young Cora to go through the Unity. She would be devastated

[@seththepotate]

Bro WHAT. That's wild. Like I said, sometimes the game amazes me and sometimes... my god

[@XNY_Music]

@@seththepotate You gave a really good, unbiased account of the game and that's coming from someone with nearly 500 hours in to it. There is no such thing as a perfect game and I wish people would cut Bethesda some slack, because they put a lot of effort into making something that is entertaining. I personally am seriously impressed at the level of architectural design and the attention to detail, in the sheer amount of clutter that populates the locations you visit. Not to mention the accompanying soundtrack that always heightens the tension. My main character has completed all the character and faction quests, with the exception of Ryujin and will not go through the Unity. My second character is on NG+6 and once I've completed NG+10, I will have a leisurely time without having to pursue Artifacts or the Unity.

[@auntdee845]

Entering the Unity contradicts the lore and all relationships established. It's nonsense. It also has nothing to do with exploration since exploration is about returning with knowledge. It would only make sense if you could return. It's like someone watched Interstellar and missed the point that his goal was to return to his daughter to see he had saved her...that his love was what drove him. But they claimed NG+ was for exploration and providing info for those who followed. What? How?

[@jasonbow1926]

@@XNY_Music They really did put a lot of effort, and created so much that look good, works well, and fun! But also... missed so much. For setting comparison, see Firefly or The Expanse. Those universes had people and societies with history, they had their own customs and slang. It motivated them, changed what they desired and held dear. Now let's look at the Freestar Collective. BS did a great job on their architectural design! You walk the street and can't wait to buy a cowboy hat! But then... they talk a lot about 'loving freedom' but how are you more free there vs the UC? What can you do? Is there anything different? Do they let you target practice in town where the UC will freak out? Where is their slang? Their collective injuries as a society that trigger them? They talk about those UC jerks b/c of the civil war, but I never see any action. No restrictions on where you can fly b/c you are flying the UC flag, they don't charge you more b/c of your UC uniform, not talk to you or block you from taking quests. Just hollow words like they are cosplaying a character.

[@Legacyartist]

@@jasonbow1926 Not only that but there the ones who weaponized mechs to a devastating effect. Where is there any sign of that in there society? There should be robots tending fields, cleaning houses, maybe a "droid" market for your outposts. I believe the UC would engage in biological war fair I can't even see Freestar putting up a fight much less being smart enough to master robotics for war. I don't know maybe there was a note hiding some where that explains everything and makes sense of all the lore oddities but unlike a Fallout or Elder Scrolls game I have no interest in seeking it out.

[@super_terram]

That's the issue though. It's groundhogs day. Your reward for finishing that tiny deeper part of the game, is repeating it 9 more times to max out your powers so you're so OP, all the shallow parts are agonizingly boring. Weeeeeeeeee!

[@ewjiml]

When will developers realize WE DONT CARE about the quantity of planets there are to visit. We want lore and quality missions like Mass Effect in space. If we wanted vastness, we would play Elite:Dangerous which has an ABSURD amount of systems to explore. Quality > Quantity

[@SayMy_User_Name]

This question is the difference between being immersed in a game and not .. when I’m not being immersed in a game, I will quickly start to ask myself “what am I even doing? What’s the point of this?” But when I am completely immersed, hours will go by and I’ll go “oh shit it’s 11:00 already? I need to go to sleep”

[@RagnarTheRed-x5s]

What it's like to play Starfield compared to what it's like to play Mass Effect.

[@SynthLizard8]

So basically it's NOT plot contrivance that Terramorphs attack at the most convenient time at New Atlantis because of the background on how they are made....yea, I don't think so.

[@oni1608]

This was a very well thought out and articulated review and not what I was expecting. Definitely made me look at some of the characters and story segments from a different point of view. I'll be the first one to admit that I sometimes don't fully understand plot points and etc. Very good video. Liked and subscribed 👍

[@megiddox]

Oh, I was so hopeful I'd hear about the deep lore that is the Infinite Addendum and 2 religious figures having repeating digits being the key to finding the Unity. I wanted to hear you laud the writing in such exquisiteness that led to such a great epiphany.

[@DreddPirateRoberts]

Jeezy...the whole way the Keeper figures out that I need to go to the second planet in the Indum system was so contrived. Only but Emil Pagliarulo could write such nonsense..

[@batonnikus]

Completely disagree on Yesman concept regarding Starfield. With Starfield's apptoach to ng+ you should be able to kill everyone because you'd have a chance not to be an idiot in ng+.

[@Pansapistolas]

This game should have been 2 to 3 times bigger than outer worlds and no more. There should have been more handcrafted, unique and roleplaying-centric content in it and damn it, there should have more than 3 damn whiteruns to depict human civilization.

[@cendresaphoenix1974]

Your final thoughts are waaaaaaaaay tooo nice

[@dijaysynclaire]

Most of this review is Just "Most people hated this specific thing and they had a valid reason for hating it but I LIKE IT and i have no reason besides ... vibes... i guesss" followed by, "here is a critique of the game that has been proven to be a bad thing, but I either dont think it matters or believe you guys arent seeing the vision becuase *insert half baked reason here*""

[@ih8theinternet]

almost as if thats what an opinion is lol

[@eachandeverything6460]

Master locks on empty weapon cases, mats that you dont need, cargo links are worthless. Things die, but loot is never exciting.

[@GhostOfSnuffles]

Bethesda has an obsession with making you feel like you have a choice but refuses to actually give you a choice. They did the same thing in Fallout 4 where it's completely impossible to fail any of the quests outside of the ones they want you to fail. It would be much better if they just dropped the act and said "do this" rather then "you can choose to do this or this" but both option have the exact same outcome so it was pointless to be given the choice to begin with. Once you notice that's what they do it's impossible to stop noticing it.

[@prjndigo]

welllll.... what's above ground in New Atlantis *IS* a mega-mall. That's what you learn about The Well. All of constellation's characters except for Maheo are too emotionally fragile.

[@DreddPirateRoberts]

28:03 - Love the color scheme. Gold and fire engine red. Tony Stark would like it.

[@zeljkoklepac3180]

I did try to bring first artefact to constelation and then left to play free before: talk to Sarah at the begining of the Loghe. Lost of fun. Oh and you can take Vasco

[@Drak976]

I don't understand the loud music in the background.

[@kidneystonermusic]

I still want to love it so bad 😭 it's every Bethesda game ever: I love this and I can't wait until they make a good one

[@Ripthejack3r]

Idk, the way u explain it in the beginning made it seem 100% more interesting than it is. think about that, a person can explain it with more passion than the game has for itself, the whole games narrative is bland, made by committee to not offend anyone, if they had even cared to hire writers with even the smallest nugget of talent in a primarily narrative driven game then people would have less issue with everything else. Feels like you are letting them off the hook so much when u say its not bad writing. i dont think its even subjective, i mean that u bring up cyberpunk, which its writing brings the characters alive, you can feel their emotions, it doesnt matter how good lore is if you cant make people care about the characters.

[@Alpha1200]

18:02 - In my opinion the essential mechanic should be: If you kill an essential NPC a screen should pop up "Do you want to deliver the finishing blow?" with some extra text telling you in a lore friendly way that this can lock you out of questions. And then you can click "Yes" or "No." And if you click no, they just get downed. If you click yes, you perform a finishing move on them that kills them permanently.

[@drgxiii]

To note you actually can convince the cabinet to let you into the archives during the first hearing. The terrormorph attack happens all the same.

[@joshuabillings5108]

I think the Eye of Magnus is an armillary .... 😮

[@t-rexreximus359]

Maybe the Great Serpent is Alduin 🐉 🤯 …

[@catchthisfire]

"as wide as the ocean but as deep as a puddle" -angry joe

[@ZFPAkula]

That's been every Bethesda game since Fallout 3 (NV was a different studio), and Oblivion wasn't much deeper.

[@mysticranger6894]

I wonder if you can return to your og unvierse if you go through the unity.

[@Brakerofwind]

Nope

[@dumpstercat2229]

Essentially npcs need to go completely. Just let me have consequences Todd Howard please for literally anything

[@marcoglara2012]

Skipping starfield. Not worth playing. Started boulders gate three, I love it

[@Joseph-wh5of]

Same for me but the other way around

[@MikeOfKorea]

Sweet ass armor? It's a pinafore. I'm dressed like Dorothy of Kansas in Oz.

[@AzemSP]

Man idk your opinion on the Yes Man ending makes me question your entire video here lol

[@xxbillybarnes]

really appreciated some of your points in this vid man. although, i had the worst experience playing it on series x, 30fps lock, no fov slider, confusing menus. i'm still more of a lover of cyberpunk especially after the next gen update and more recently 2.0. i'm probably going to give starfield another go in a couple months/years when modders and updates do their thing, just like cyberpunk. as always love ur stuff bro

[@dathunderman4]

Cyberpunk 2.0 is so good

[@MrAyybee2cold]

The FOV update was like a week ago. It’s on console too.

[@markcumbriauk]

I'm new game plus 10 Venerator now, and to be honest, I'm bored now, But the game have great modding potential and hopefully the game devs will release some patches and updates that will improve overall gameplay.

[@scivirus3563]

if you cannot leave negative opinion then what's the point so every thing is ok as long as we agree with you ..they is the definition of censorship

[@seththepotate]

there's a big difference between voicing a negative opinion and being an asshole. there's plenty of people here who have expressed unhappiness, disappointment, and negativity towards the game and I chatted with them about it. The operative phrase is a "pointedly negative comment" more akin to just being an ass than having a convo. And that was more to say I'm not going to give my time, effort, and energy to straight negativity.

[@herbmorrison8958]

I may have a contrary opinion, but I don't see all of the mundane undeveloped planets as boring and wasted. I did not expect BGS to give me a complete and filled galaxy because that would have been and nearly endless and impossible task. Rather, I see the galaxy designed as a platform for development. One of the things that bugged me about Fallout is that the play are seemed limited for development as the boundaries were pretty much filled to the brim. When major expansions came along, they had a tacked-on feel and not integral with the world already created. Starfield is different in that the boundaries already created are galaxy-wide and there is almost endless territory for future development without having to tack on new star systems. When expansions inevitably come, the planets and stars are already there and anything added will feel more naturally a part of the existing ecosystem. I for one, enjoy getting down on a planet, even barren ones, and doing a little surveying (except for scanning those elusive and annoying sea creatures). I guess my impression about the undeveloped galaxy is not so much disappointment about what it is as much as excited about what it is likely to become. To me they were creating a canvas more than a complete game.

[@simonwaugh5519]

I really enjoyed the absence of both outraged disgust and hyperbolic enthusiasm in your presentation. What are you, some kind of rational adult or something? 😊 Starfield content has been 'unavoidable' since the release, but genuinely captured my interest from its launch because of its 'space theme' which in general has instant appeal to me. My first views of Starfield came from the 'early access' gamers declaring it better than sex (or whatever) but there's since been a growing and substantial cohort of discontent about the game. It seems a lot of people got carried-away with their own ideas of what the game would be, only to discover that Bethesda somehow never thought to ask them to personally design, program and manage it to suit their own ideals and tastes. I didn't follow any of the pre-release presentations/promos etc. that Bethesda churned out over the last year, BUT i have seen some clips (without commentary) of Todd Howard talking about the 'cutting edge tech' , how they created 'planets' and all the 'amazing' stuff the player would be able to do, the creative and interesting features it would have, and I noticed right away he pretty much just strung superlative adjectives together without explaining or illustrating anything... just pure 'sales-pitch' with no substance. Todd REALLY 'OVERSOLD' this game, ESPECIALLY to Bethesda's faithful fans of Fallout (2?) and Skyrim (which I've never played but from the playthrough videos I've seen of these, appear to me to be very appealing and deserving of a substantial fandom). I was really quite shocked in viewing initial Starfield gameplay to hear gamers describe the graphics and environment as "AMAZING!", when they clearly are no such thing...( your clips from Skyrim, despite being lower resolution~~ i think~~ look and 'feel' so much better, despite being 10 years old ). I wonder how the people who actually worked on it feel? Anyway...good job on your video and commentary.

[@seththepotate]

Haha thanks. I don't know if "rational" is the best descriptor, but I'll take it. Yeah I think the biggest problem plaguing modern gaming as a whole is overselling marketing to build hype. (Also like the corporatization and commodifiaction, but that's a whole other thing.) Either it's full of generalized statements meant to have people speculate or is just done way too early and things unfortunately change.

[@XNY_Music]

People like being sold to and Todd is very good at selling to gamers, without coming across as a salesperson and he expertly wielded superlatives like a politician. He is a gamer, through and through and He knows how to whet your appetite. Yes, you're probably right about people's expectations, but didn't the same thing happen with No Man's Sky?. Starfield was sold as a space exploration game set and you use your imagination and your past experience of Bethesda games, namely Fallout 4 and Skyrim, to set your expectations. You make no mention of actually playing Starfield, so I'm assuming that you're basing your view on the reviews that you've read or seen.

[@andykod77]

Why was there a time limit for you to get this video out? Surely there was nothing spoiling ,you taking as long as it takes right?

[@AB-hi6ru]

Ty

[@mccm333]

I can still have fun exploring all the different planets, and enjoy doing the mission board missions when I get to a new civilian outpost. Just wish there was more depth to these outposts and were more like small cities, and more unique people to talk to, even if they are AI generated. The AI idea wasn’t even bad, but it just needs way more content in each star system. Hoping a future update will add way more people, AI locations, and a purpose to the player created outposts

[@RagnarTheRed-x5s]

I absolutely loathed the quest where you are forced to steal the artifact from the guy, especially since he's so likable. That right there shows how limited player choice is in this game. All of the Constellation crew had been on my ass about my decisions and then suddenly they're all fine with us stealing and possibly killing for an artifact, not for something that could save someone's life or a city, but for a piece of metal. And you have no choice but to do it if you want to proceed with the main quest. At least there were multiple ways to finish quests in Skyrim. At least in Skyrim I could tell Delphine to FO when she asks me to kill Partysnacks. Man this game really pissed me off. What a horribly, horribly written quest.

[@maximilianoramirez9489]

After playing bg3, I realized how a non problem is to let people kill your npcs. Larian just pops another npc into the role of the one you killed, some of them even appear earlier in the story than they should if you killed the dude that they are replacing.

[@helderoliveira2994]

No consequences at all. Great.

[@VaeSapiens]

@@helderoliveira2994 There are consequences. And not all NPC's are replaceable, some of them are. For example. You can kill Zevlor in the Grove and he will be replaced by his second-in-command (makes sense), but you are permanently locked from his story and obviously he won't help you in the end.

[@wolfwing1]

The other problem with the companions is bgger then sarah is that...even if it makes no sense lore wise they all like/hate the same things. Andreja I think it is that should hate or least be ambivilent to the main group on new atlantis gets up just like everyone else if you do something contary to them or such.

[@TallDarknGruesome]

People who praise Starfield's writing basically just have convinced me at this point they haven't read any sci-fi other than Bethesda games and pre-teen level novels. The writing and voice directing are juvenile.

[@ih8theinternet]

the rest of us peasants that have committed the sin of liking a game can only hope to achieve your level of enlightenment. i apologize for my existence.

[@TallDarknGruesome]

@@ih8theinternet When I'm watching Flash Gordon, I don't try to convince people its Asimov's foundation trilogy. If you honestly think that Starfield is deep and engaging sci-fi, you haven't played or read much sci-fi. its a shallow trope loop that abandons its most interesting ideas or locks them behind level grinds to extend otherwise empty gameplay. If they had leaned all the way into gritty survival, or all the way into space adventure rpg they could have had a good game. but its two bland games half finished then stiched together.

[@zeroDOLLARg-Ro]

This game would have been alot better if there were actually challenging enemies to engage with. The game is simply way too easy, even on very hard. No motivation to level up or develop my skills. After beating it once its like whats the point?

[@balazskertesz5010]

So... basically what you're saying is the ending of this game is boring sh.t, but wait! That is the point! It has a deep meaning! Nah, it's just boring sh.t...

[@ummerfarooq5383]

4:34 - good ol' success. 0.01% survived, 99.99% population decline. Did someone bring the animals? Ain't got room for them, we'll solve the tiny egg bank collection later. Whoops, aggressive spider ponies.

[@pitafish]

The fast travel is why i stopped playing. Warping around to every quest just got boring so fast

[@dy031101]

3:29 SQ42 wasn't so much as announced as, in line with the wording of CIG's video overview, declared ready for polishing. It is always part of the project, and it's just that most people, backers included, don't quite grasp what SQ42 is beyond a singleplayer campaign. It has in fact been described somewhere during the project's development as essentially a beta for the project- which makes sense in that SQ42 will rely more on everything other than network performance compared to the MMO portion itself.

[@seththepotate]

Interesting! Yeah I don't exactly follow Star Citizen's update stuff so at least on my end it was more an announcement. Though I'm definitely more interested in SC now...

[@ummerfarooq5383]

Sq42 is 3 years away from what I just saw.

[@user-de9bn5vq4j]

worth the wait.video is really good.keep it going big man

[@seththepotate]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed!

[@davidboesen4400]

Worth the wait! I like what you said about the ending stuff, but I would recommend you try heading to the unity with everyone, then just turn back. It really just adds some dialogue, but there are a few things said that help add to the themes, at least for me.

[@seththepotate]

Yeah if I was more professional about this I would have gone through ng+ 3 or 4 times but alas

[@auntdee845]

Turning back totally ruins any idea of having some sort of committed relationship or true friendships or logic. I mean even deciding to go gives some stupid dialog. Prior to going, you meet Starborn. None of them are decent people. They all attack you. One kills a friend. The Pilgrim's writings tell you how soul crushing changing realities is. The Hunter exemplifies that. The Emissary is no better and basically wants to form a cult to control who enters, though clearly no one should. If you don't side with either which to me is logical, then you're letting everyone just change universes. That's as stupid as the rest of it. The only logical choice really would be to destroy the artifacts and seal off the Unity but you can't. So, don't jump, go back to your friends. Before I went I told Sarah she had to let me go, I had to go. Funny, when I had told her she was the only thing that mattered to me. She was worried about whether we'd become like the Hunter...we will. So, I return and she's disappointed in me and pushes me to go. She tells me we both will one day. Now, that's love and commitment to a marriage. Everyone tells me I should go, what's my problem. It's some of the worst writing ever in a game. The story is totally contradictory from one minute to the next.

[@marcusdelanoeast]

Great review, Seth - I appreciate your balanced approach and measured analysis.

[@Mantelar]

If I had infinite lives…I’m pretty sure I’d sort out a few great investment opportunities and call eternity hacked.

[@ito2789]

This game is not a "next-gen" game, it's a poorly optimized game.

[@dusermiginte4647]

So, you havent played it?

[@ito2789]

@@dusermiginte4647 it's uninstalled collecting dust currently.

[@Justanobody8472]

Fyi, 1000 planets is literally one-one-billionth of the milky way galaxy. Theres literally billions of stars in our galaxy

[@PurgeEvilTV]

UHM, ACTUALLY... DaGgErFaLl HaD tHe BiGgEsT CiTiEs really though, great video and perspective, subbed ⚔

[@Axterix13]

No, sorry, but you're wrong on the Constellation attitude. Not because Sarah dislikes what you do, but because all of them dislike what you do. And of course she doesn't boot you from Constellation. Doing that would mean your actions have consequences, and Starfield works really, really hard to make sure nothing it does has consequences, because maybe that might make someone feel something. Now, having the player have no impact on how the story unlocks isn't a deal breaker. That's pretty much par for the course for any JRPG. But if you want to do that sort of thing, do it right. Don't lie and say you have freedom, and then not have it. I'll also say that, of the various RPGs I've played, and I've played a lot, I can't think of another one where I've been less invested in the main companions. I think part of this is because of that sameness, that they're all good people, and that they're kind of bland and poorly written, for the most part. But another part of it is that I don't really have to try to please them or get to know them. All I have to do is have them with me, let time tick by, and they'll grow to like me more and more. It is yet another aspect where my actions have no consequences. All in all, Starfield has two big problems: Your choices don't matter and most systems are implemented to a basic, functional level, with no further thought, effort, or polish put into it, even when the issues are super obvious and so are some simple improvements.

[@mlaruex]

I think you got the "state of the galaxy" wrong. At around the 4min mark you say 1) I misunderstood the lore 2) I believed UC propaganda. But did you? So lets look at population growth in the last 100 years. As prosperity grows and povery falls, pop growth goes up a lot. At a certain point in prosperity, it falls again. I would say, by the time Earth faced its problems in Starfield, it have around 20-30 billion humans. Now UC tells us they evacuated all, but did they? It does not seem very realistic even with their grav drive. What they actualy managed is hard to say. But lets look at other games like Starlancer and Freelancer, Earth launched a couple of colony ships with couple 100k people. I would say the UC managed to save at least 1-10 million people. Now we can look, again, at Freelancer, or just at our own pop grows of the last 100 years. Its been 200 since Earth evacuation, so it is safe to assume that in 200 years a population of 1 million would grow to 20 million with roughly 1.5% pop growth per year. Now lets look at the faction conflict we got in the game, it was no small "behind the house" skirmish, but a full scale war. This 3 backwater villages we got in the game could never ever support a war of that scale, judging by the number of ships and spacestations and outpost across thousands of planets. So yah UC propaganded a lot and yah maybe we misunderstand the lore, but we are not stupid and can not believe what we see because it is unbelievable, no matter how someone wants to excuse and paint it. And it could have been made believable with very easy tricks. 1) do not let the player explore the whole planet, let player land only on few locations. 2) add a texture to the planet that is not just blue and green, but also looks like a city from orbit. 3) let the player only land on the spaceport and do not let them go somewhere else, after all there is not much to be seen, or how many of you actualy visited every town on earth? 4) place another key location somewhere else on the planet (like New Atlantis in north hemisphere and THe Lodge in south). And now imagine a studio that is working on this for a decade with millions of $, they could certainly come up with better ideas. Whatever, there are millions of people and the certainly did not die all in the war, so they have to be somewhere. And image if UC managed to save 25% of Earths population... that would be 5billion. Nah, this is something Bet screwed up royaly and there is no excuse. The Mass Effect "galaxy" feels bigger and more alive and there are not that many locations we can actualy visit... the embasy district on the Citadel, well not realy that bigger than New Atlantis, or is it?

[@ummerfarooq5383]

3:06 - you just became the ungrateful snooty in law.

[@dannyhaya]

I am returned to Ghost Recon Wildlands 😢😢😢😢

[@raptorgoonerstm9132]

Starfield have potential to be great game but the problem is they stuck with their old creative ideas

[@barronwaleford1446]

I actually just married Sara and then did The mission that kills her and I was pissed and I haven’t touched the game since

[@wooley2666]

My only problem with companions was the nagging. Them constantly complaining because I want to loot everything just made me dislike them so much I just left them at the lodge. That being said quest bugs and bethesdas lack of patching to fix them finally made me quit playing.

[@petpuu]

They should have done sf for pc only. The crapbox limited its tech. Probably could have been nomans sky style planet entering without shitbox. Toddlers first priority is money. I hope sf is just a way to fund the next elder scrolls game.

[@BreakHarpe]

I didn't have to kill for the artifact...I pretty much went thru the whole game without havinh conflict if it wasnt absolutely necessary. Especially if you decide to go under cover for the UC...U cant kill people like that or you'll be looked at on the fleets side. I recently just realized to use the non lethal gunz to stop a person whos hostile if they're the only 1. Theres some dude that shoots at me everytime i walk in hope tech so instead of killing him i just knock him out with the non lethal beam...Im hooked on this game. I only played some of Spider-Man 2 & haven't even started on Mirage. Im not goin into the Unity until im all the way over & when i do ill be done with rhe game. I have no interest in starting from scratch

[@BigHugsFromHell]

A pointedly negative comment! Ha! Bet you read it anyway, care or not... And the video was good, too! Positivity: restored.

[@newdefsys]

Isnt the Starfield timeline occur in the 24th century, only 300 years from now ? Thats not enough time for Earth to become legend or myth. Not by a long shot. Maybe 5000 years, but not 300.

[@kelvino.s.9992]

Yes man is the best

[@BreakHarpe]

Im good, im not goin into the unity. I did the main quest, uc, 3 star rangers, & the last 1 was the crimson fleet if u wanna call it that b/c i went undercover to take them down. That was the last 1 i had to do & wouldve been a great way to end the game. I just decided to take a break & play Spiderman but i think this is a game ill always come back to to do something b/c if i had of went into the unity & ended it i would still feel complete b/c i did alot of stuff. I didn't just rush thru the main. But still theres alot more i can always come back to do just to be in the world. I did that with games that had nothing to do but i created something kuz i liked the world. In red dead 1 after u finish the mission where Jack gets revenge for John, i got the sheriff uniform & i would wake up from the house John built go to the train station early & wait until the police comes & nails the bounty poster on the wall & i would do maybe 3 bountys a day & when it started getting dark i would held home, go to sleep & do it again. I did the same in gta 5 whete i basically was a tow truck driver with Franklin. But this game actually has real jobs to do, so ill probably always come back from time to time, but im definitely not starting all over. This isn't 1 of those games that i enjoyed so much i want to start over b/c i didn't do everything. Usually if i start over ive done everything

[@matthewrichardson2533]

I think it's ubfortunate, some people are going to run into the awesome side missions and missions early and others are going to run into mediocre content for 5 hours and give up.

[@ckstuckey4386]

I wonder what shattered space with be about

[@ivanwm2513]

Probably about House Va'Ruun or more, deeper changes to every NG+ instance (Hopefully). From the title, "Shattered Space" implies something is fractured or shattered in at least 2 shards, so maybe the protagonist will be switching universes constantly to fix something or to discover something.

[@rkerver3]

First playthrough: didn't side with hunter or emissary, killed them both. Allowed neurolink with ryujin. Went with Aceles. Let Andreja die. Killed Ron Hope. Married Sarah. Enslaved the ship orbiting paradiso. Was then forced into the unity before finishing spacer quest. Second playthrough: did everything the same but I saved both Sarah and Andreja. Denied neurolink and convinced the ship orbiting to move on with a new grav drive. My second playthrough I really didn't care about forming relations or really cared about the story because I did it right after I just did everything. Really don't see a point in a 3rd playthrough. I have corrected everything that I wanted to and if the enemies aren't going to scale to my level then I don't see a point.

[@j.c.denton2060]

It makes no sense that there are settlements on Uninhabitable Moon 448 but not on Earth when most people know where it's at and old world treasures would be priceless. The fact there is no interest in Earth considering anyone with a ship and a grav drive can go there is stupid. It's not like it's hidden either and the throwaway line that most people don't believe it exists doesn't excuse the fact that many people does yet no one goes there.

[@trexmtb4381]

Honestly, you are justifying an incredibly bad game in the way it is organized with good elements, even the games from before are better and that in the time it came out, they have to evolve, more than 10 years have passed, the new generations will see this game as garbage like a Old school game for them, I'm sure that most of the people who support this game are fans of the company.

[@Justanobody8472]

The game doesnt want you to explore. The story is all.on rails and if you deviate from the main quest, you WILL get lost in a never ending ocean of nothingness and get demoralized from the game. This game would have been A BILLION times better if they just did like 100 planets and mixed the procesural with the handcrafted and had mod support from day 1, let us travel through deep space

[@jaminschmitt]

The point is… to do things. 😬😆

[@ummerfarooq5383]

7:30 - same messages ... lots of abandon. Left behind, dead...

[@dusermiginte4647]

Im loving Starfield. Im 400h in and still encouter new things to do... 💪😃👍

[@Teeebs]

The main story is in many ways Bethesda trying to do Mass Effect, awkwardly faceplanting in the process. Sad.