Starfield’s World vs. Skyrim’s World

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I wanted to discuss Starfield and what I think Bethesda Game Studios missed in their attempt at their rendition of a Space Fantasy game. I think BGS has always struggled with telling compelling narratives, however their ability to create excellent worlds to explore has often been second to none until recent years. Starfield largely breaks that trend, and unfortunately in that failure I think BGS has failed to deliver a title that will hold the same relevance as their previous works.

[@talus9663]

Playing Starfield made me want to play Skyrim again.

[@nvRanger]

same here, i did stop playing starfield a while back and reinstalled skyrim.

[@boburrides]

@@nvRanger same. Went and bought anniversary addition and installed Nolvus. It feels dirty to enjoy Skyrim this much after all these years, yet here I am having an absolute blast with it not batting one eyelash in the general direction of Starboredom.

[@theblancmange1265]

Todd did it again. His goal is to elevate Skyrim in our minds.

[@talus9663]

@@boburrides I did the same thing haha. Starfield was so bad it got me to buy AE.

[@nvRanger]

@@talus9663 oh the pain, i did the exact same thing

[@gorillachronicles]

They basically wasted an entire console generation working on this instead of Fallout 5

[@nvRanger]

It's quite frustrating from that perspective. I've lost hope with Fallout. Really wish they'd hand the franchise off to another studio. Heard rumors of inExile potentially working on the series, however.

[@Brotelho]

Do we actually want Bethesda working on the next Fallout game? I think they've lost the identity of Fallout. Bethesda is relying too heavily on things like base building to stretch the life of their games which means less resources on things that actually matter. I would love for Obsidian to do the next Fallout, but I hear they're working on Outer Worlds 2.

[@nvRanger]

I could not agree with you more my man, I don't want Bethesda doing Fallout anymore tbh. Obsidian, inExile, really anyone else can have a crack at it at this point.

[@gorillachronicles]

I can reluctantly admit that I played Fallout 76 for more time than I should have but I picked it up after they reworked it, and while I can say that I had fun with it it's not really a good game and I pretty much agree that the direction they've taken it needs to just end and let somebody else pick it back up while still maintaining whatever Integrity it still had before 76

[@Jaezon]

I agree, after lumping 70 hours in Starfield, I'm just completely baffled by their decision to make this game. They have two incredible I.P's in Elder Scrolls and Fallout, why did they not just continue creating products for these series? Was Starfield really necessary?

[@heathbar06]

Instead of 1000+ worlds that are empty, they should have given us our solar system, asteroid colonies, and like 4 other star systems with better planet locations. That would have been more than enough.

[@nvRanger]

completely w ya there. Less is more in cases of trying to provide too much. The quality of content in starfield in unmistakably lacking.

[@dabrams84]

Sort of a The Expanse type setting.

[@AR-lj8zt]

The game genuinely feels like the human population is like a few hundred thousand max if that across the entire game. Like how are all of the main cities the size of a university

[@nvRanger]

Come to think of it, Fallout 4’s rendition of Boston was a more interesting city to explore. Obviously it wasn’t structured the same way but it was an expansive area with settlements and dungeons all throughout. New Atlantis really does feel like a University too

[@JAIMEGARCIA-gw9re]

From the get go, I was like how is there just one city in the whole ass planet of Jemison? Knowing humans, it would have been populated with 100s of cities, towns, and industry. Not just one big city per planet.

[@nvRanger]

@@JAIMEGARCIA-gw9re lmao exactly, we spread like ants. Would have helped the experience feel so much more cohesive as well.

[@Ma1q444]

Facts it makes no sense there’s only one small city per huge planet it’s very idiotic should of just set the game on one smaller planet that you could fully explore.

[@joeyjojojrshabadoo7462]

Could it be interesting if they had lent on the fact the earth has been destroyed and said there's only a handful of human colonies left spread across the stars.

[@remix71]

Akavir is a continent we've never been to but we could probably describe it in better detail than the any planet in Starfield!

[@nvRanger]

😅you’re so right. There’s so much more world building into conceptual locations in TES than there is in places we can go to in Starfield.

[@AretaicGames]

You've hit one of the key problems with Starfield. I commented elsewhere that Skyrim and the Commonwealth were almost characters in their own right, with dimension and a kind of personality that pervaded their respective game. Playing FO4 on survival mode drove this home for me: I would frequently walk from one end of the map to the other, encountering all sorts of things along the way, being compelled to pry into previously unexplored corners, coming across surprising encounters and bits of lore. Starfield offers none of that.

[@nvRanger]

Spot on with the point that the world space of Skyrim and F4. They were significantly more cohesive and memorable. You felt like you were in one location and thus having an impact on that location. This got me a lot more attached to those particular world spaces, which naturally gave them, as you stated, character.

[@eduardoalcazar2600]

I feel like any open world game set in space as ambitious as Starfield is just not possible to build at the moment. Our reference point for a planet is Earth. How many cities and environments does earth have? How is a game developer ever going to meet those expectations when they're trying to build a game with dozens or hundreds of planets? Building one city on a planet is a lot of work but building dozens of cities per planet would be monumental. I think thats one reason they killed off earth in starfield, they knew it would be impossible for them to build what people would expect earth to be like in the future so it was easier to turn it to dust. Like others have said, Bethesda seems to have gotten in over its head and should have built a smaller space to explore. Something like the Expanse tv show would be much more manageable, where only earth and mars are inhabited planets with large cities and theres a handful of asteroids with colonies on them around the solar system. Then they could have spent more time developing a few game areas rather than trying to fill hundreds. The emptiness of Starfield is evident though

[@nvRanger]

I think you’re spot on as to why they destroyed earth. I’m not asking for a realistically fleshed out and inhabited galaxy tho. I’m challenging their game design. They went quantity over quality. I think less would have been more here.

[@hkiajtaqks5253]

I feel that a starfield-like game would be almost beautiful if everything was just on a single planet. Doing an entire planet itself would be a huge feet. Give us vehicles, planes, ships, etc to travel across oceons/continents and many many cities, factions, cultures to explore. A single planet would already be hugeeeeeeeee.

[@nvRanger]

While I think the quality of the game would be awesome I think they would have also received a ton of backlash for releasing a space sim type game with only one planet. I do agree that the quality and experience would have been far better for many though, including my self.

[@gensoustudio4703]

less planets, more polish, more content per planet, better player choices

[@nvRanger]

more involved outpost system with faction relevance, quality writing to build a narrative that makes choices meaningful, different NPC interactions that aren't just zooming into their face. Get them moving, bring the characters to life.

[@dhanapiereza5012]

They lack the cloud district.

[@mariapaz6379]

i first played skyrim when i was 15, i was stupid so i didnt know how the fast travel mechanic worked. For a full year, i just ran to every place y had to go, taking days to complete quests because i fell into random dungeons on the floor or found weird caves on the way. To this day, the music playing in the back while you walk aimlessly is one of my fondest memories and even though i played hours upon hours of the game, i still know that i could download the game again, play and still find more stuff ive never seen.

[@nvRanger]

I’m with ya, I wish I could forget how to fast travel and forget the world of Skyrim so I could relive that experience.

[@HangerHangar]

The prison in the Sysdef/Crimson Fleet questline is probably bigger than most of the cities.

[@nvRanger]

Do you mean the key and Sysdefs ship is bigger?

[@HangerHangar]

@@nvRanger The prison on the planet.

[@kitkazer]

I think they tried to bite off more than they could chew. If they maybe kept travel down to a group of select planets in the galaxy it would be more memorable. Like mass effect, there were plenty of planets to traverse but i distinctly remember Noveria's snowy peaks as well as Ilos' overgrown ruins. But it all seemed like a complete system. Idk On a side note this is why im more excited about the fallout:london mod coming out than starfield

[@nvRanger]

Fallout London looks amazing, great mention. I had almost forgot. I need to play the Mass Effect series still, the first 3 at least, but I imagine that's a good example of what I'm speaking towards. The space adventure doesn't need to feel endless, it needs to feel new, foreign, even strange, but not endless. Especially if endless feels like a never ending series of samey resource farm planets with nothing unique on them.

[@Harut.V]

Mass Effect 2 really nailed the formula, you would go to a planet but you were restricted to few locations that made sense for the story or quests. But the world felt big because how they chose to do art, like you could see rest of the citadel or the cities in the distance and even if you couldn't go there, it made the universe seem alive and huge. @@nvRanger

[@dealwolfstriked272]

Starfield IS stuck in a single galaxy though?! Do you mean solar system? our galaxy....the milky way is what it is called has "Our best estimates tell us that the Milky Way is made up of approximately 100 billion stars.".....SF has 100 stars. Our milky way galaxy has "Doing the math, we can then say that the Milky Way galaxy has - on average - between 800 billion and 3.2 trillion planets, with some estimates placing that number as high a 8 trillion! if you wanna see the difference 1k plantes is to 8 trillion....................1000 vs 8,000,000,000,000

[@dealwolfstriked272]

Just to mind boggle you we have found in the "observable" universe a total of 2 trillion galaxies other than our own milkyway.

[@5226-p1e]

@@nvRanger unfortunatly bethesda chose to go with quantity instead of quality.

[@mmcion1]

best and most succinct Starfield constructive critique I've seen, and I've seen a lot. Out of all the other rambling videos by others, Bethesda should really watch this one.

[@nvRanger]

i appreciate you

[@SamuelCatsy]

The only thing they can do now is exactly what No Man's Sky did and load the game up with systems that make the weak exploration feel better because you're building towards something. Something like an upgradeable base that persists through NG+. It's funny how the way they do NG+ completely negates ship building, outpost building, legendary hunting, and wealth accrual.

[@nvRanger]

I’ll admit when I found out about the NG+ system a bit prematurely I lost a lot of interest in playing. Would love if there were more long term goals to build towards. Really agree w you there.

[@BillyOrBobbyOrSomething]

People are used to immediately ignoring the story and just engaging with the sandbox early in Bethesda games. Starfield is the opposite. You really need to go straight through the story and then hop into the sandbox. This would be a fine choice except that the main story has terrible pacing. The first half is cool and fun and exciting and then it’s just….. Go to this temple. Go to that temple. Next temple. Another temple. 10 more temples.

[@abrahambobst4602]

@@BillyOrBobbyOrSomething Yeah, at least in Skyrim you had to fight or earn the word spells from the word walls as many of them were in dungeons or had enemies located at them and you didn't need some silly puzzle to get them. At least they should had temple unlock puzzles or something or you need to loot the key to the temple from an npc you defeat somewhere similar to dragon claw keys. Then for each New game+ the puzzles or temple unlocks should be different or probably use the generating poi concept but without causing the same stuff to appear as what happens with the generated poi currently.

[@BillyOrBobbyOrSomething]

@@abrahambobst4602 “Fly into these stars!” “Now fly into these stars!!” “Now fly into these stars!” “Now fly into these stars!” “Enter the ring!” >spawns outside of temple 3 feet from Starborn and gets shot in the face

[@abrahambobst4602]

@@BillyOrBobbyOrSomething Yep, really don't know what they were thinking with that one...sigh.

[@amiboilpon4068]

I mean it was a given from the first minute they said "every world will be like the skyrim map!" which would have been a disappointment. No one in this generation has the ability to create such dense open worlds for every single world (1000+ planets). it's LITERALLY impossible unless you throw hours and hours of development, money and time into it. Even RPG giants prefer to make dense open maps rather than empty open worlds (BG3 for example). Why? WHY IT WORKS! rather than making empty lands where there is just one activity, it is better to make smaller but denser maps where the player never gets bored. Bethesda should step out of their bubble of self-conviction for a moment and look at those in the industry who are ACTUALLY making masterpieces of their genre. instead of convincing themselves that they are the best and that the players are wrong

[@rimbusjift7575]

Starfield has provided nothing but varying degrees of disappointment.

[@nvRanger]

I’d have to agree with you. I’ll watch from afar and hope for mods. Not sure that’ll be enough for me tho.

[@lolzasouruhm179]

I will always think Bethesda should of set star-field immediately after the collapse of earth. This could of meant you can actually change the future by choosing to help certain people and factions. Settle factions of planets watch them organically grow over your playtime and help them grow using the settlement building system. Also you could aid in research by delivering the artifacts to scientists to build better gravdrives and then the mainline story would give your ship benefits and half way through they could then introduce the space magic or just leave it out completely and just have the ability to rewind time by going to a different universe but then allow the player to return to their previous universes so you become a actual multiverse traveler

[@nvRanger]

that's actually a great idea, hadn't considered that. Would've been awesome to build up towns and then you would get quests through those towns. That would have been a really unique game. Hard to pull off though i'm sure.

[@redwolfstudios5699]

I agree, I think what they should have done was shrink the scale of the game. When something isn't fun or kinda sucks you don't leave it in, you scrap it and/or rework it. Imagine all the settlements we have now in Starfield but they are all on one planet. Not spread out over a galaxy. Akila struggling down in the badlands with the nightmare creatures makes sense because they settled down there and there isn't unlimited space. Neon is on the oceans still and known for producing fish and such to the other settlements and it's still where they make the space drugs and corruption runs rampant and New Atlantis tries to be the beacon of civilization with Paradiso somewhere on a coast. Now all of humanity came to one planet together and settled. The war makes way more sense now that Freestar tried to take more land on the same planet... Terrormorphs overrunning and destroying londinium is way more terrifying because londinium was orignally built on another planet where everyone settled together originally until we realized the horrors of space and we had to abandon an entire planet. Now it makes sense that the survivors of Londinium are the ones who settled this new planet so the population isn't as large as it should be, especially after the war. and the separation of humanity was caused by political factions disagreeing about what to do during the fall of Londinium. So you've got conflict between them and then you have one of them making a move for more land so its easier to believe war would break out. Xeno warfare makes more sense after the fall of Londinium as well. You could conceivably have entire playthroughs that don't involve space travel at this point. You play the Ryjin industries or w.e and you take a shuttle between cities without leaving orbit. Now you aren't forced to be a pilot or a space explorer if you don't want to be one in this world. The rangers take care of the settlements and such out near akila so you don't need to leave that area to do the rangers questlines. It makes an area feel like home. Hand crafting further out from the cities to make them feel larger. Now you take 1600 planets and shrink that down to 100. They actually did hand craft 100 planets so we only use the ones they hand crafted. To be a space explorer is to venture out to look for other planets in the known galaxy for more humans to settle in the future. The civilizations on this planet have nothing in common and might go to war with eachother so you're looking for new planets that they can settle. Now you have a purpose for space exploration and scanning rather than just doing it for funsies. You also open up for Starfield 2 where the population has expanded into the universe on the planets you were able to find so when you return in Starfied 2 things have changed and advanced because of you! Don't railroad constellation as the main quest, allow us to choose that as a faction if we want to be a space explorer. Now you've got 100 hand crafted planets, each one unique to explore, you're not forced to be a space explorer or pilot if you don't want to be one so all the fishbowls you're stuck in constantly don't seem like such a big deal anymore. Name the one planet all the settlements are on something memorable so that that planet feels like home to us. Keep the fall of earth a mystery... Have the constellation questline have more interdimensional travel rather than just for ng+ perhaps temples or collecting artifacts actually launches you into random dimensions from time to time and you have to do something to find your way back to your universe. Get creative with the idea of interdimensional jumping being your theme... but yeah... iuno. Shrink the scope, everything seems more cohesive and fun to me.

[@ariaika3078]

They could remove half of the space and dialogue and it wouldn't be missed. The bloat is detrimental

[@nvRanger]

Seriously, I hate to say it but I just started skipping dialogue. I also don’t see how the game was play tested in this state. The amount of menu swapping and loading screens is being talked about, but not enough.

[@Tripartite1937]

I’m big on Bethesda but yeah it feels like they took all the worst aspects of No Mans Sky and Outer Worlds and combined them.

[@nvRanger]

Yea please don’t take this as if I’m some BGS hater. I play the hell out of their games. This criticism comes from care. I don’t want their games to do poorly or get hate. I want them to show progression in their ability as a developer.

[@Scoots_McGee]

There are times when I've played for 30-45 minutes and realized I've done nothing but fast travel around and talk to npcs. Starfield's universe is unnecessarily bloated and disconnected

[@nvRanger]

That sums up just about exactly why I’ve stopped playing. Felt like I was wasting time for no reason. Killed the experience for me.

[@Brotelho]

I consider that lucky. One night I played for about 40 minutes and realized that all I had done was move items from one inventory to another and sold to vendor to vendor. So little inventory space and vendors have hardly any money. That was the moment I realized that Starfield isn't for me.

[@Scoots_McGee]

@Brotelho it's basically the same gameplay loop as fallout 4, which I really like, so it's okay for me. But it's not a good sign when you have to actively go find something fun to do. Saw something about the 30-40 second rule recently. It's a philosophy in-game design that open world games should never exceed the 30-40 second mark when placing locations, random encounters, interaction of some kind, players get bored and unengaged after that mark. Starfield you can go 40+ minutes of doing mundane boring fetch quests and listening to dialogue and exposition. I'm giving this game alot of slack because I like the gameplay loop, but I really hope they support mods on console because this game sorely needs mods to flesh out the world and add some excitement

[@Brotelho]

@@Scoots_McGee I'm familiar with the philosophy, but I've played many games where this is not the case and those games have been extremely entertaining and fun for me. Starfield doesn't feel like an open world game, nor does it feel linear. The gameplay loop I don't mesh well with. Fast travel, kill things, come back and listen to dialogue, spend 30 minutes sifting inventories and menus. Speaking of dialogue, you make dialogue sound like something that needs to be boring/mundane. The dialogues and interactions in previous Bethesda games (maybe excluding FO4) have been great and I listen to optional dialogue in those games a lot because it's interesting. Dialogue in Starfield feels bloated, uninteresting, and slow. Not to mention the facial animations are the worse in a Bethesda game since Oblivion. I don't think Starfield is able to be fixed by modders because the core game itself is bland.

[@abrahambobst4602]

@@Scoots_McGee Or get the DLC asap.

[@panzer00]

Bethesda didn't improve their ai and quest systems at all. Procedural generation is lazy game design. Starfield is the safest game BGS could've possibly made.

[@nvRanger]

They didn’t improve much at all past the visuals. I can’t think of a single system that has been genuinely and noticeably improved upon. Gunplay Melee combat Settlement building Armor Exploration Dungeon design Quest structure Dialogue All stale.

[@panzer00]

@MalpaisRanger It's a great showing of where most of the industry is, to be honest. It doesn't seem like taking risks is worth it to these companies anymore. The industry is too big for its own good.

[@nvRanger]

Yea its really unfortunate but we need to appreciate and in some way reward the developer that do take risks, even when they fail. This is BGS's safest game, and likely why its one of the more uninspired boring experiences they've delivered.

[@panzer00]

@MalpaisRanger it's difficult to separate subjective opinion from objective reality, especially when the AAA Industry itself gaslights us through marketing and "review" scores. The AAA industry has become naturally deceptive because there's so much money on the line. It leaves room for up-and-comers to fill in the gaps and develop something truly special but I don't think I have seen a AAA dev team take an idea another team is known for, who has become complacent and innovate on it. Indie devs might do it, BattleBit comes to mind. Let alone create a new idea from passion and creativity in the AAA space. As these Indie devs become more and more successful, will they just be absorbed into the AAA money printing machine? I think of Hello Games and No Man's Sky. They are an Indie developer but look at the love and passion they have for NMS, they continue to add immense amounts of content for free when a AAA dev would've nickled and dimed its playerbase for those updates. Hello Games is leaving money on the table but they're not, or so it seems, in the industry to become rich in the first place. What is failure in the context of your statement? I think Starfield is a failure because it doesn't improve upon 20 or more year old systems. In some instances, it's a ten year old game. BGS has a very specific design philosophy and it is holding them back, the same goes for Ubisoft. Is that objectively true or is that my opinion or is it my opinion that happens to be a fact. Is a game with a grand atmosphere and emotionally mature storytelling but funadmentally flawed gameplay loops and mechanics a failure? The gameplay could be fixed in a future iteration if they can only get the support to fund the next game. Then comes the whole muddled aspect of funding and investors who demand unreachable goal dates and devs who just want to use a game to climb a corporate ladder. One thing I know for certain is that the AAA Industry is too big for its own good.

[@Ma1q444]

Who made the design decision to put one city per planet and call it a day.

[@nvRanger]

really does feel silly

[@Floxxoror]

Dammit, now I have to play Skyrim again :-D

[@nvRanger]

After Cyberpunk im on my way over myself lol 😅

[@CpZ-Z-Z]

Agree 100%. I'm 20 hours into the game and bored. Starfield lacks the charm, story, connectivity, and atmosphere of Skyrim. It should of been much smaller, but more dense, with more to explore. And I really miss the sounds of Skyrim. Soundtrack in Starfield is ...boring.

[@nvRanger]

Playing Starfield has got me really wanted to play Skyrim and it’s been so damn long

[@ryanwatson3825]

After a somewhat embarrassing 48 hours of gameplay I think I finally got my thoughts together. I found it to be both an impressive and unimpressive game. I think the best way to play the game is to genuinely roleplay as if it’s a character separate from yourself similar to a mindset of D&D. I ended up fast traveling less, using a bit of useless features, and focusing on this fictional characters goal instead of grinding for credits and xp through quests. Gameplay definitely slowed heavily but I found things to have more purpose, and it made the environments better as I took my time to move through them, then just clicking the fast travel button every five minutes. (Though I’ll be fair and add that doing this exact process through Skyrim was the same but much more immersive). The biggest problem I found was that I constantly had questions that were never being answered. How big is New Atlantis actually? (Supposedly it has millions of residents but I count like 20 tower’s maybe) Do village sized places exist or is it like you said one city per planet? Why are so many planets completely abandoned if I can literally breath on them? Why are space ports of capitals smaller then the airstrips of a town of 5,000 people in the real world? If shipping is such a dangerous job how can anyone live so far from major cities? Why are all the major cities kinda close if they have some kinda rivalry? (I would imagine that would cause them to destroy eachother rather quickly from resource competition and war like our current society) It felt as though the answer to all of these things was “Well it’s the future, and ummm…space…” So even though I found myself having plenty of fun moments and will probably return to the game I know that I could have easily had just as much fun with plenty of other games.

[@nvRanger]

That’s some solid advice for maintaining a good experience with the game. I think I definitely got caught up at points thinking about how certain systems work. I was also getting so many quests in my quest log that I wanted to clear out that I ended up doing a ton of back and forth fast travel. You certainly have to suspend your disbelief to get behind the world. It’s not well fleshed out. Doesn’t seem like it’s backed by much writing unfortunately.

[@jtzoom86]

Your arguement is somewhat stupid. Why would you play a game for 48 hours and dislike it? Not to mention you were embarrassing?!? Makes no sense. Your arguement are idiotic… like who gives a shit how many people are in new Atlantis? Sounds to me your fishing for bullshit.

[@BillyOrBobbyOrSomething]

That’s how I’ve been playing. I have a Constellation colony ship full of NPC colonists. I just travel around looking for good planets to settle, build a settlement and then spawn anywhere from 5-10 up to 50+ different types of NPCs over time around the outposts like colonists, scientists, shop vendors and shoppers etc. When I’m exploring planets I usually have 4-6 people with me as well to “establish” the settlement. It’s a fairly useless way of playing the game as far as progression mechanics and profit…. Buttttt it’s fun. Btw this is all achievable with console commands and the NPCs are persistent. Doesn’t break your saves either. Makes everything feel more alive

[@abrahambobst4602]

@@BillyOrBobbyOrSomething That is what BGS should have done from the beginning as an added feature.

[@BillyOrBobbyOrSomething]

@@abrahambobst4602 agree 💯

[@peterd9698]

I don't even have a machine that could run it, but I have been following a bunch of reviews because I was fascinated by the (possibly cursed) problem they had set themselves of combining unlimited procedural worlds with an RPG.. and also fascinated by their disinterest in this problem as evidenced by instanced bases without even procedural variation, despite having a whole mechanism for infinite outpost variations in game. Assuming we have to stick with that 1000 world assumption for some reason, here is the best I could come up with. *Skyrim in space.. IN SPACE.* The Skyrim experience is that you see a mountain and you can go to it. On the way to the mountain you are distracted by something else pulling your journey in a different direction. You can at least map Skyrim-style exploration onto the inspace portion of the game. Instead of a mountain, you see a nebula, pulsar etc. Instead of a dragon you see a warship or space lifeform etc. instead of face to face dialog you have ship to ship coms systems. Make this inspace game the backbone of exploration. People have already proven these games work and Im certain it is within the capabilities of the current engine. Only the procedural mesh generation when landing on a planet would need a loading screen, and again when you take off since you dont want to show land you have not generated. Another thing this does is deemphasise the procedural worlds for that sort of Skyrim style exploration. Only a handful will have large handcrafted terrains and structures. We have to find another purpose for the rest. *Integrate non-RPG mechanics proven to work with procedural worlds.* Examples are procedural dungeon crawlers/looter shooters, tower defence, trade route/empire building, survival and crafting. Integrate a subset of these into the main game, plus some in-space options like clearing pirates, by requiring them to mark a system as "safe" allowing fast travel. Let the player have options on alternate paths to concentrate on the activities they prefer. Additionally you can have a bunch of handcrafted "quantum ogres" that get added to planetary surfaces as you progress through the story.. for example a refugee camp or a trader outpost with handcrafted quests sets itself up in one of the systems you made safe.

[@idm0nkey2pt0]

Well said, they've lost their creative vision. Bethesda has been in a positive feedback echo chamber for a while among their legions of simps and media connections, they get greedier and lazier each iteration and any constructive criticism is dismissed each time. Then Todd convinces even himself his mediocre game was great when he shows up at the game awards, and he gets crushed by Baldur's Gate 3. It's sad to see really.

[@nvRanger]

Yea I do not fully understand their lack of growth. They have so much potential to make albeit flawed games. If they filled the void they have in writing they would be infinitely more well recieved. Starfields world building and engaging quests/story/decisions were a major part of its downfall. Other issues would have been tolerated if those areas delivered.

[@hadifelani]

I'll come back to this game 5 years later to see if it's has any improvement over the current bland one. Nice video, it perfectly elaborate your points.

[@nvRanger]

Appreciate that, and yea I’m curious if it will have a strong modding community and apparently BGS is going to keep providing support/dlc for “years to come”

[@dyanaprajna4556]

I think what bethesda was hooing for was for modders to fill in the blanks. It was a gamble, and it seems bethesda lost. Will starfield dethrone skyrim? At this point, i can say nope, skyrim is still a much better game.

[@nvRanger]

Yea mods need to be icing on the cake, not the cake itself. These games take half a decade to make, and they're expecting unpaid workers to finish it for them. That's a sign they need to rethink what they are doing and perhaps scale things back considerably.

[@atlastheon0111]

I think it was because BGS (or just mainly Todd) always wanted to make a space exploration game. Where there's different kind of worlds to explore, unlike Skyrim or Fallout series which mainly focuses on just one world as in one planet. Playing Starfield kinda reminds me of The Outer Worlds, but with space combat :D sooo.. maybe Starfield is their first try on space exploration with RPG elements on it? but yeah.. it's still missing something though

[@nvRanger]

I hear you, Todd and others wanted to make a space game, but really they just wanted to make a game in their usual style in the space setting. It still remains that there are issues present here that would have been present in another elder scrolls or fallout title. bad writing, stale quest design, dated facial animations, and so on.

[@atlastheon0111]

@@nvRanger all of the issues you mentioned... they are MOST definitely XD

[@KneppaH]

There are no RPG elements in this game anymore. And there's no exploration anymore either. Just grinding, shooting and fast traveling.

[@baitposter]

Starfield makes me want a Prey game with sandbox space travel

[@nvRanger]

Would be sick, you mean the old Prey I’m assuming?

[@baitposter]

@@nvRanger I actually meant the Arkane one with the psychotronics and psionics, but Native American spirit magic Prey would also be great

[@nvRanger]

Haha I’m unfamiliar w both tbh. I own the Arkane one but have not played it

[@ito2789]

I think Bethesda were too ambitious and thinking about the long run instead of the immediate and what they could do to polish and fill their game, they became too preoccupied with setting up the foundations (skeleton) of a game that will become bigger in the next years with the HUGE help from the mods. This was intentional and frankly, not sure if this tactic can or will last even with their devout following with the future ES6 game which I'm sure they're gonna do the same with.

[@nvRanger]

That’s a great point, and I think what helps establish a passionate and devoted modding community is a great game to build from. Mods should add to a game, not finish a game.

[@ito2789]

@@nvRanger 💯

[@KneppaH]

Yeah I want the modding scene to build fallout 5 on one of the planets in starfield.

[@xenomorph733]

Not played Skyrim for years but just got anniversary for the survival mode I'm still in whiterun train to get supplies to climb the mountain to reach the greybeards

[@RingsOfSolace]

You know, I was liking the game for a while, but it's like I said to my brother the other day, I deleted it because it just makes me want to play games that does what it does, but way better, like NMS or Skyrim.

[@nvRanger]

agreed, this got me to install skyrim for the first time in a long long time

[@Grandmaster_Dragonborn]

We meme about Skyrim getting released every season, but maybe that happens because the game is actually good? I can’t imagine Starfield getting released nearly as much. Skyrim will hold up for years yet, more than it already has. Starfield is already being dismissed.

[@nvRanger]

you're definitely right there. Starfield getting a "remaster" will just invite more hate towards bethesda. Skyrim getting remastered in UE5 or something would genuinely excite people still

[@crym77]

"Like butter spread over too much bread."

[@maunaowakea777]

On its face it is linear, shallow and dysfunctional. I am a bit surprised anyone would give it a high rating. Look, why do they have the exact same minigame for each of the 24 powers? Why is the base building so unweildy and provides no real gameplay value? Why is there no chance for deviation from an end result in each NPC interaction? Why are half of the perks completely useless for any kind of gameplay/role play? This is fallout4 in space without the open world, base building, crafting, alternate ending or suspense. You have to turn off your brain to rate it higher than a 4.

[@nvRanger]

I really agree with the turning off your brain part. That’s what I was feeling I had to do and what made me decide to stop playing. I’m tired of reused systems. Fallout 4 did base building indefinitely better and I can’t believe I’m saying that. We had unique dungeons, stories, enemies and so on for every word of power in Skyrim 🤦‍♂️ this is undeniable regression

[@maunaowakea777]

I bought a new Xbox X and headphone system so I could play this game, I waited until the normal release date and started playing the first evening it was available. I had been playing skyrim for 10 years and loved the game. I really believed that it would be a new game with next generation graphics written twice as well as skyrim with all kinds of variance, RPG and build options. The best of Skyrim and Fallout4 put together. Now I want to sell my xbox system and buy a PS5 and never, ever play a bethesda POS game again! @@nvRanger

[@BlapwardKrunkle]

Lmao. Someone didn’t finish the game.

[@maunaowakea777]

yeah, I am in the temple trying to finish it up, can only play for about 30 minutes at a time before I start getting bored to tears with the endless monotonous b.s. @@BlapwardKrunkle

[@RanDAss]

​@MalpaisRanger how about shut up all you guys due is talk shit. It's just annoying now unless a game is god tier you will bitch and complain none stop. Here is the thing it won't be just get the f over it I am really tired of this broken record.

[@j.t.0145]

I think you nailed it with this video. I watched a handful of videos about why Starfield feels so disjointed and your points finally resonated with me

[@nvRanger]

awesome of you to say, glad I hit the mark

[@Lowro]

nice video, but what is this background music? full on kick and bass behind yo voice

[@nvRanger]

its the cyberpunk character creation background music kzbin.info/www/bejne/g2faf5Krp8SIfc0

[@glitchsister]

You have to go all the way back to morrowind to get good world building from bethesda, back when they'd sit in a room for three days on a shroom trip, nowadays you have to use the console command or mods to make sure something isn't a bug

[@nvRanger]

God I really wish they’d tap into their roots in that regard. The elder scrolls Ivan be really really fascinating at its best. Suck a great and unique fantasy setting.

[@crym77]

I'm old and didn't appreciate the difference they made between the original Fallotus and their versions of Fallout. What I'm worried about is the quality of Elder Scrolls 6. I've been an Elder Scrolls FAN since Daggerfall, which I played when it first released, but seeing what has happened with Fallout 76 and now Starfield, my hope for Elder Scrolls wanes.

[@metatron9975]

1000 planets with the same damn cave and outpost to explore, this game is trash, I prefer fallout with vehicles.

[@nvRanger]

Kinda crazy we used to have thoughtfully crafted dungeons and bandit bases and now it’s damn near the same thing across the galaxy.

[@MemoryPallace]

If you look at how they’ve updated Skyrim the past 10 years you’ll see they are in it for the long haul.

[@nvRanger]

My problem with that is selling the game at near full price with re-releases. If they just updated the game and made it better that would be one thing. I still don’t own Skyrim Anniversary edition.

[@MemoryPallace]

@@nvRanger I’m not a fan of it either homie I’m just glad they care at all. Starfield will be a gem it’s not awful to play right now but I’ve looked at the history of Bethesda games and post launch to know they have hidden cards still in play with this game because they knew it was different from one big map in one area. This is definitely a foundation Skyrim anniversary has a ton added on the base game not even to mention mods. It’s crazy mods are on consoles but all they’ve added to the base game is what has me more then curious about the quality of life updates and dlc for this game

[@sanzoxyz]

They just need to be creative with the loading screen. Make the transition feel seamless by showing my ship traversing into the planet, just like Mass Effect did, instead of showing random image.

[@nvRanger]

i think they need to do a whole lot better than just adjust some loading screens to be honest with you

[@jimmyrustlerz]

Space should have been the map. As in what you freely travel in, even if the planets still had to be loaded into. An open space should have been the main map. They could have still had big empty planets but had like bigger better locations on each.

[@nvRanger]

That would have been really cool to integrate a map into the game that way. Perhaps they could even use some sort of made up sci fi tech to illuminate space with color when you turn on "Map mode" to make areas of sections more distinct, maybe color based on the faction that controls the planet.

[@brooklyn560]

I don’t have a problem with fast traveling between planets and starts because space is empty. I also don’t have and have a problem with most planets being barren because again it’s space. It mostly dead rocks. But what I didn’t like was that the major planets were just cities. I feel if the major planets were heavily hand crafted we would have had a very different game. New Atlantis is the capital city but there should be lots of other places to walk to outside the city. Other cities with towns and people sprinkled throughout. Same with space. Major systems should also have lots of station and things

[@nvRanger]

Yea that’s what I was really getting at with Skyrims capitals and the surrounding holds. Whiterun has Riverwood and Rorikstead plus a ton of locations in between. It really gave life to the region. I do wish there was a more streamlined system for fast traveling. Certain locations block you from doing so. You end up going through far too many loading screen as a result. Leave building-load fast travel to solar system-load land on planet-load go in building for quest-load leave building-load. Drives me insane.

[@lancebarajas6484]

Even the cities are pretty small and lack luster. A single elevator will transport you via loading screen to like a third of the locations in neon. Feels smaller than most of the cities in Skyrim. There is still cool, random encounters in the worlds but its just not that immersive. The writing and lore aren't deep enough to really draw me in which is only made worse by the shallow map design.

[@nvRanger]

Shallow map design and poor writing are a few of my biggest issues as well. I have grown to expect little in the way of writing from Bethesda game studios but poor world design… no. That’s the disappointment.

[@dominic.h.3363]

While I agree with most sentiments, some of your arguments don't hold up to scrutiny, for example why people live on Akila if it's such a hostile environment, while you can find more peaceful planets to settle. The founder of Akila, Solomon Coe, made grav jump calculations into uncharted territory to reach Akila from Earth. He probably only had telescope data at best, spectral analysis suggesting a habitable planet, but nothing in particular about its flora and fauna. It was an expedition into the unknown, and once you are there, you don't exactly have the luxury of changing your mind, to just stay on your ship to survey more systems around the one you just arrived to to find something safer, consuming an unpredictable amount of additional resources you had reserved for settling down on a planet. There is no choice but to settle down on the planet you intended to colonize the first place. (There are side stories where you find derelict ships, the crew of which chose to look around for more suitable candidates, until they died.)

[@nvRanger]

That's fair, I didn't know all the background of Akila. This doesn't solve the issue that we are given access to such an enormous swath of the galaxy and we have 3 planets settled, 2 of which are on incredibly inhospitable environments. You think we could have adjusted locations, there is an example of a ship from earth existing up until the point of starfield, although I understand the lore states something along the lines of, "it was built to last with the infrastructure to support a large population for many years". Still feels a bit inconsistent, like they built the locations then wrote the world around them, rather then writing an incredible world and then realizing it. Perhaps you understand this better than I as well, but how is clearing out the Ashta such an issue for the human species. We have wiped out so many enormous and dangerous creatures on earth before guns were even thought of, but now with space age tech we're competing with Ashta desperately.

[@dominic.h.3363]

@@nvRanger Like I said, I agree with most of your criticism in the video, so I agree that most of these things you repeat here in your comment do not make sense. Neon was a regular resource extraction rig until they discovered the "pleasant" properties of chasmbass oil, which led to the rig being expanded into a city. Yes, it's an inhospitable environment, but they are there, because the species of fish they derive their wealth and popularity from is native on this planet. That's the rationale for Neon being where it is. You don't have to like the explanation given, but the explanation at the very least, in this case, exists. As for why experts in extinction can't extinct an annoying species of predator? Beats me, I really don't like that part of the writing either. As for the ECS Constant, I don't know what exactly your issue with it is, but it's not the only ship that is ancient. Nova Galactic is a defunct ship manufacturer according to the lore, that was based on Earth, and they should have ceased manufacturing when the exodus from Earth happened. That should make every Nova Galactic component you buy centuries old technology, and implies that the technology in Starfield is rather stagnant, there isn't much advancement going on. Which is another wildly unusual thing if you ask me, it just doesn't make sense. Starfield has many aspects and they just don't click together to make something consistent and cohesive. It's a mess.

[@nvRanger]

@@dominic.h.3363 Yea I hear you, I was genuinely curious if there were further explanations. I haven't played in quite a while now. Appreciate the neon explanation, that's sensible to me. I don't have an Issue with the constant, just the idea that some of the ships sent from earth have all the time they need to float about and find an ideal planet, but others had to resort to the first place they came upon despite it leading to worse issues we face on earth now and then some. idk anything about colonizing though, especially on an interplanetary scale.

[@dominic.h.3363]

@@nvRanger "I don't have an Issue with the constant, just the idea that some of the ships sent from earth have all the time they need to float about and find an ideal planet, but others had to resort to the first place they came upon despite it leading to worse issues we face on earth now and then some." You gear up to reach the mission goal. They prepared the ECS constant to last for the 200 years it would need to arrive to a destination. They knew it would take multiple generations, so they made necessary preparations. But when they finally arrived, they themselves stated to you, the player, their mediator, that they simply do not have the resources to just go and find another planet to settle with sublight speeds. It would exceed their original mission parameters and would require additional resources they can't spare. Solomon Coe prepared to do a grav jump to a planet, to settle on it. Those were the mission parameters. That's what they brought resources for with them. Both cases consistently follow a predetermined plan, and they bring resources with them necessary to realize that plan. In space travel, having backup systems may seem like a good safety measure, but it's not as simple as it sounds. Imagine having duplicate components on a spaceship - this redundancy might seem like a good idea as a safety net, but it brings its own set of challenges. First, it adds complexity to managing and coordinating these duplicate systems, making logistics more intricate. Second, surprisingly, these redundancies could potentially introduce new problems and even interfere with the very technology designed to ensure your survival in space. So, the idea that redundancies automatically make space travel safer is not as straightforward as it might initially appear. You only take with you what you need for a goal you set before you even left.

[@Sup3rSn1per]

The lack of detailed local maps is ridiculous, they need to fix that stat. I’m just gonna give the modders a year before I play again.

[@nvRanger]

That seems to be the move, wait for mods. It’s a shame. I don’t understand how major cities do not have maps. Can’t think of a recent open world game missing this feature.

[@boltlinked]

Our love for Family Guy burns like a fading ember, we’ve lost so many loyal fans while your Fallout content takes center stage. Please, rekindle the laughter, even for a moment. We're hanging on by a thread, desperate for a touch of Peter Griffin's humor.

[@nvRanger]

I mean how can I deny you this given your considerable commitment and donation. It would be truly cold blooded of me.

[@Aaron_Red_Ran_Anger]

@@nvRangeryeah it would be…..

[@lordrefrigeratorintercoole288]

for me Skyrim is still the best RPG and Cyberpunk is becoming the next one. I just need to buy Red Dead Redemption 2 and try it allready, it is realy starting to look good to me.

[@nvRanger]

RDR2 is amazing, it's on a pretty deep sale on steam right now I think.

[@Aaron_Red_Ran_Anger]

This is probably your best video to date in all aspects please add more family guy next time

[@nvRanger]

If I can perfect the “KZbin video” without family guy, imagine what I can do WITH family guy. 🤯

[@XVENOM1]

If they won't starfield world become more life they should do a online to the game every player build his own house and live in another planet if they do that im sure starfield will be more fun than now

[@boopuchannel]

the second round of temple quests that vlad gives you in this game broke me. i gave up on playing the game and have since uninstalled it

[@nvRanger]

I don’t get how they play tested it and thought yea this is good stuff

[@dawarboss3709]

Im not excited for elder scrolls 6 anymore cause of this game

[@icebergwalrus7775]

saying it has 1000 planets just feels like a lie. When you land on > 90% of planets you'll either spend 20 seconds scanning two resources or 20 minutes scanning 6 resources, 2 random landmarks and 6 animals/plants you've a;ready seen on 40 other planets then you leave with no reason to ever return. None of the planets feel unique in anyway, since any biome you land on you've already been to 100 times and this is even true for main worlds with cities. Another issue I have is that cities don't feel like cities, scale wise the biggest city New atlantis the capitol of a multiple galaxy civilation, its only like 6 tall buildings and two dozen stores, same with akira, its meant to be the main city of the free star collective but it looks and is even treated in game like some upstart settlement on the frontier which would be fine if that's what it was but its said too be something but treated as another

[@nvRanger]

Yea I’m a bit confused with the game in this regard as well. Most of it is procedural repeat, and then the cities are larger than their previous games but missing so much. They feel bland, not much to explore. Whole lot of set dressing not a lot of substance.

[@shobikps689]

I was excited for this game but after playing a bit i do not like starfield. They went too big on scale and lost the soul of typical Bethesda game like Skyrim and Fallout. The loading screen is painful. The game is so bad at performing you can only get a smooth FPS on a very high-end PC. You are just disconnected from the world while playing unlike Skyrim. The attention to detail is missing. The environment storytelling that bethesda is so known for is lacking. I just pray that they do not F-up the next elder scrolls entry which should be their next big release.

[@nvRanger]

I agree with you on those points. we'll see what they do with TES 6. I have a feeling it will be a seen as a disappointment given the amount of hype that will inevitably build up, unfortunately.

[@KamalaChameleon]

Not a big fan of greyrim with its crappy ui and greyness but what makes Bethesda games good is seeing something in the distance and going there. None of that is in Starfield..

[@nvRanger]

Truly. Not only do you know what your headed towards from the scanner a mile out, when you get there it’s likely a copy pasted location you’ve already cleared a dozen times.

[@Brotelho]

I've been playing Fallout 3 in the last 2 days and I've realized that Bethesda has lost something over time. The dialogue with characters are way better in older titles. The world itself is more interesting. Despite not playing it for well over 10 years, I still remember quite a bit of the game and the way dialogue ties into the world and rich backstories is stuff that will be missed your first playthrough but evident during subsequent playthroughs. The older Bethesda games are just better. I have no clue what happened with Starfield. I uninstalled after 25 hours because it's just not interesting.

[@nvRanger]

I’m with ya. Actually working on a video discussing their lack of innovation over time. Noticing a lot of stale features they continue to reuse that date back to Oblivion/Fallout 3 at least.

[@KneppaH]

Yeah and in Fallout 3 it was possible to seamless switch between real time combat and the turn based strategic VATS system. Fallout 3 has: less loading screens real exploring better writing original quests VATS karma system worldbuilding weapon breaking/repairing better skills/perks RPG elements like role playing, making choices. better enemies better UI less grindy and boring better replay value better lore more soul better gore/dismemberment killable characters

[@Aaron_Red_Ran_Anger]

I am the second to last family guy fan still living. This is the last generation of red ranger family guy fans

[@nvRanger]

You are a relic and I’ll put you in a museum when you perish.

[@KamalaChameleon]

Youre right skyrim is so colorful! They have grey.. and they also have grey.. plus there is grey.. not to mention the grey.. and i was suprised when i saw the grey!!

[@nvRanger]

I think Skyrim has a lot more than grey to offer. Certainly at least some white. Snow and all…

[@Hero_Of_Old]

Yeah Riften looks just like Dawnstar...

[@nvRanger]

@@Hero_Of_Old Dawnstar is covered in snow. It's displayed as a considerably more bitter mining and fishing town from the northern region. The buildings don't even look alike... Not to mention one where the locals are plagued by nightmares of a Daedric Prince. I would argue Dawnstar is a much more depressed and "grey" location than Riften.

[@BigVorst]

I mean, Skyrim has some brown... And some green, and white... Which are mostly just tints to the grey, and... Okay, it's just all grey.

[@nvRanger]

@@BigVorst i think some of you are undiagnosed color blind lmao

[@jonjonboi3701]

1:48 Witcher 3 actually came out in 2015, Witcher 3 actually has less loading screens than Skyrim, starfield and Oblivion

[@nvRanger]

I said you can come and go from major cities without loading screens. This is true. You can walk in and out of Novigrad, Oxenfurt, any town, as well as Beauclair from the blood and wine DLC without a loading screen. Each of those cities is significantly larger and more detailed than any location in Starfield.

[@jonjonboi3701]

@@nvRangerI agree with you

[@DetectivePikachu37347]

Breath Of Wild that runs on the Switch has less loading screens quite embarrassing

[@zephaniahharrison5171]

to be fair bro what you're describing seems like exactly what they want to do for this game, if starfield was a blank canvas, dlc will be the paint for years to come.

[@nvRanger]

to be fair bro you sound like your coping. Enjoy paying for a $70 game that you have to pay more for DLC so it feels finished. I don't think DLC or mods will save this experience anyway tbh.

[@zephaniahharrison5171]

@@nvRanger nah bro i'm just saying that they said they want it to be played for years to come, not that i support what they're doing or like it.

[@nvRanger]

@@zephaniahharrison5171 I hear you but BGS doesn't have a track record of doing this and I'd be very skeptical with their words. They tend to let their modding community support their games. I wouldn't be surprised if they release a standard 1-3 larger addons, with a couple smaller DLC packs

[@jkhmr8283]

Eventually the old fans will get over missing the wondering exploration and discovery of the other IP's. I absolutely LOVE SF for what it is, including the way the systems exist, the scanning and surveying, and how many there are. I don't WANT the one large map in this IP. But I get the older fans having a problem with it.

[@nvRanger]

What do you mean by old fans? I'm just curious. If that means you haven't played much of their previous work I would argue that you likely just haven't picked up on this tendency yet, and more power to you, enjoy the experience. I'm speaking towards their lack of innovation here largely which is something a "new" player might not notice. My issue isn't whether they have one large map or not, its the content within the existing space. I think its mediocre, especially compared to the rest of the industry, not to mention their own previous work on a few too many levels. They don't need a pass on this because some people enjoy their time, they're an enormous company willing to charge people more than their previous titles cost; they need pressure. A foot up the butt, even. The gaming industry recently hiked prices from $60 on release, yet people will defend BGS releasing a title with minimal improvements and multiple forms of regression for a HIGHER price. Going from Fallout 76 where they happily over charged and screwed over "fans" new and old; I don't have patience to just enjoy Starfield "for what it is".

[@jkhmr8283]

@@nvRanger I meant fans of the older IP's and I've played all but Fo4 and 76. Maybe I just payed better attention, but I knew going in I wouldn't be getting the same experience with proc gen planets that I did with exploration in Skyrim etc, and I don't miss it really. I love it for what it is. Maybe that's the Mass Effect fan in me. I'll admit the POI's could use some balancing but I like the intentionality and I think this IP nails what it set out to do.

[@nvRanger]

@@jkhmr8283 I guess I think what it set out to do was unfortunate then. They revealed very little pre-release. They have delivered nearly the same experience in regard to how systems in game function when compared to Fallout 4 and 76. In comparison to Fallout 4 Outposts are the same but not integrated into the game world as well Gunplay is nearly identical Weapon modding and upgrades are the same Armor has been dumbed down and again, upgrading and modding is the same Dialogue is just about the same Drugs and edible items are about the same in function Melee combat is the same and has been since Skyrim Movement is the same They removed the power armor system from Fallout 4 and despite the talk of mechs, didn't replace that. They have not added much in terms of the games systems since Fallout 4 tbh

[@kingbyouchoob2488]

Definitely have a love / hate relationship after 100+ hours with Starfield. I look at Starfield as not so much a “space” game like I was really hoping for, but it’s more a Fallout game just set in space. BGS def didn’t focus on “outer space” very much which for me has been a huge disappointment. There is like barely any reason to explore space in the game. Space is just just a fast travel system with random encounters. Freelancer handled the feeling of being in an immersive space environment 100x better. Starfield is very odd in that you have to role play the game in your own mind using what limited tools,systems and mechanics are available. Want to be a space trucker? You have to pretend you are one and try to role-play as one. The game, while I love it on the outside, is very hollow and empty on the inside. Like how there is no in-game economy at all. It makes money completely useless eventually. The randomly generated POIs eventually become boring too because there is not enough variety. I’ve played every BGS since Daggerfall. Of all their games, Starfield seems like to me the one BGS is hoping modders will do all the stuff they didn’t and fill in all the gaps and hollowness it has the most. One thing I do want to mention specifically is I think New Atlantis is one the most boring, bland, generic space sci-fi cities I’ve ever seen or played in a game (The Well is the only thing cool about it). Even basic 101 space city details like ships flying overhead to make it feel like a huge space city are totally missing. It is just awful. It’s like a 1/10. I hope modders do something with it.

[@nvRanger]

I think I’m on a very similar page to you. Did find enjoyment in Starfield, especially early on but it has largely faded. New Atlantis is really boring. I enjoy the the over grown tree park/area and as you said, the well is neat. But I don’t find any of the cities particularly interesting. They don’t feel lived in. They feel like set pieces. Some how cities like Whiterun with a fraction of the NPCs felt more alive.

[@joshuacalkins]

Helpful analysis. I am considering playing Skyrim AGAIN instead.

[@nvRanger]

Painful as it is, it’s probably for the best. Save a pretty penny too

[@joshuacalkins]

@@nvRanger Are you a Tamalpais Ranger? I grew up near that mountain.

[@nvRanger]

@@joshuacalkins I am not unfortunately.

[@joshuacalkins]

@@nvRanger Well at least I didn’t miss some hip new abbreviation for my mountain. Ha.

[@SifiFan]

I can't even remember which planet i recently visited that i really liked.. love the game, but really just a bunch of little seperate games connected by that slave map.

[@nvRanger]

Good to hear your enjoying the game. I have enjoyed some of my time on the procedural section of planets. Some really cool views/environments on some of them. Would appreciate more water ways however.

[@baitposter]

Hot take: FO76 is a better Fallout than FO3 and FO4 FO2 and NV players: iykyk

[@nvRanger]

Oof that is indeed a hot take, too hot for me to hold. 😅

[@TheBHAitken]

I just find it amazing that a bunch of uncoordinated unpaid volunteer modders can do better than Todd Howard can with a proverbial army of paid full-time personnel.

[@nvRanger]

hard to say they do a better job given BGS does all the leg work and the modders add to whats there while using BGS's engine but to be completely fair. I generally agree though that its frustrating the moddding community fix and add so much quality to the games it begins to make the base games look bad in comparison.

[@qubicinsanity7847]

Glad to find out I am not alone in my critique. Totally agree! You said everything I had in mind. I shall add: exploration and rewarding is not satisfying. Long distances to reach a POI (many times repetitive) to end up finding underwhelming loot. The loot reward does not match the effort getting it. The world is not connected by any means no activities enough to keep you busy and feel part of the world/NPC issues. Few random random events (also very repetitive ) to keep things unique and interesting. On planets or space. Sadly the game feels so shallow generic and wasted potential. I can't feel connected or emotional to anything in the game. For example just mentioning Skoma or Nuka Cola would trigger memories or emotions to Elder Scrolls and Fallout. 🫤

[@nvRanger]

Absolutely agreed, appreciate you breaking things into paragraphs as well.

[@qubicinsanity7847]

@@nvRanger don't mention it man! 🙂

[@connorsnickers1]

I’ve played a ton of starfield, I do love the game, but I agree it’s too vast and empty, only locations I can think of are Akila City, New Atlantis and Neon and they are pretty much the same throughout

[@nvRanger]

For sure. There’s certainly enjoyment to be had but there’s not a lot of significance outside the major settlements.

[@Me_Caveman]

I played 2.5 hrs. Then I realized how the game loop would go and it wasn't worth more of my time.

[@nvRanger]

if you were on steam, hopefully you could get that refund

[@LeChoisi101]

Bethesda should stick to world building, models, and animation, and they should cooperate with another company (preferably a small one) to create the lore and gameplay

[@nvRanger]

I would love to see some changes to their writing. It’s needed

[@originalw01theonlyone]

You make daddy Howard sad :(

[@nvRanger]

He makes me sad too sometimes

[@boburrides]

They should have gone the Andromeda route with this. Just a couple of planets/systems with fully fledged out and handcrafted, self-contained worlds. Throw in ACTUAL space flight (heck, on-rails space sequences even) and missions and it could have been an absolute banger. I can't believe how incredibly stale and boring this game ended up being, that 100% lacks any soul, personality and identity. It's a product, nothing else.

[@Rockport1911]

I played Starfield for about 30hours before uninstalling it again, the novelty wore off quick. Starfield made me get Cyberpunk 2.0 + DLC and just last week it made me Download NeVegas again and spend a day modding that. NewVegas still doesnt look as good as Starfield, but the rest is just so much better. With Starfield many wanted NewVegas in space, just like many wanted Witcher3 in cyberpunky :) But while Cyberpunk got out of its grave, I fear that with Starfield the engine limitations cannot get rid of loadingscreens and even modders wont fiy stuff like the lackluster story/ worldbuilding...

[@Victor-ij4sv]

It’s space lmao, game is lit af

[@nvRanger]

thats an npc argument if i've ever read one.

[@Victor-ij4sv]

@@nvRanger it is what it is, I’m a happy rich NPC

[@robertdowling4673]

what are you yapping about? fo4 is better than 3

[@nvRanger]

what'd i say...

[@robertdowling4673]

@@nvRanger Idk, its been awhile since I've seen your video. Although I think you insinuated that 3 was better then 4 once which i disagree with.

[@nvRanger]

@@robertdowling4673 yea that's why I asked I dont recall either lol. I think Fallout 4 is better than 3 in most ways, worse in a few such as tone and atmosphere.

[@robertdowling4673]

@@nvRanger I guess I misunderstood or misheard. I'm sorry.

[@nvRanger]

@@robertdowling4673 aye no problem, you could be right and I may have mispoke.

[@exmaarmaca]

Wonder if they should have based on the idea of Destiny, just a couple of planets, maybe a pair o monns and thats it.

[@nvRanger]

Yea or like the Outer Worlds

[@ss90CannibalKing]

Titanfall music? 🤔

[@nvRanger]

Cyberpunk 2077 character creation background music, been wanting to reinstall Titanfall 2 tho ooooo

[@ss90CannibalKing]

@@nvRanger yeah I was between them 2 o though it was titanfall 2 multiplayer menu, you should i been having lots of fun on it, it really it’s back both are great games, nice video like always 🙏

[@nvRanger]

appreciate you and yea I've been in Cyberpunk checking out the update and DLC but the sec I get some time and the itch for a multiplayer game i'm headed to titanfall 2

[@Libertas_P77]

The worst way to play Starfield is to grind for XP or credits, rather than play it for the experiences. Space IS massively empty and disjointed. It’s not a little map on one planet like Night City or Skyrim. It’s showing us what space is like: tiny islands that are planets separated by vast distance we might be able to traverse via a loading screen some day. As for the emptiness.. yep, that’s also realistic. This is an ok review but the stories have been fantastic, I have base building, crafting and far more to do. I’m 170hrs in and will be playing for a long time. I also am interested to find out more about the factions and politics of the human colonies in the future.

[@nvRanger]

Cyberpunks world is significantly larger than Starfield by a measure of handmade unique content. I don’t even think that’s debatable. Space is empty, so it most of earth. That doesn’t mean you base your game development off of that principle. Last I checked space didn’t have loading screens to get through. Where’s the “realism” there? Also don’t recall wondering around earth and hitting a border limit that says I have to fast travel to see that part.

[@Libertas_P77]

@@nvRanger I do, I think it’s completely debatable having played both. I’ve done every bit of hand crafted content in Cyberpunk in around 120hrs, whereas there’s so many side quests I’ve not touched in Starfield after 175hrs that I can say you’re just flat out wrong.

[@nvRanger]

@@Libertas_P77 You can't say I'm "flat out wrong" with anecdotal evidence, not how that works. Go walk around Night City and tell me a single city in Starfield (or all of them combined for that matter) has the quantity or quality in just the environment alone. Content does not just include repeatable quests. Your hours could come down to so many things as well. Outpost building, ship building, and loading screens included.

[@blak4052]

Wow finally someone that understand why starfield is not the great game everyone is talking about. but have potential to be is like Fallout 4 the story is good but how they used is like they force the story on you the player and the disconnection fallout 4 and starfield have is bad the problem is not the loading screens is the disconnection this games have is the real problem i play now skyrim in 2023 and is great with mods even better and looks better. Even more morrowind and oblivion they feel like skyrim. you think this only happen in Elder Scrolls Series, No you can feel the same thing with Fallout 1 and 2 and Fallout NV some people like fallout 3 but there is where the fallout series start to fall from the top they fired the team that create Fallout 1,2 and NV. how you fired the best after they create one of the best Fallout in history for the companie Fallout New Vegas. is sad but... i hope tod understand this and fix it. now only thing is tod need to give the mod community the tools for modding startfield before this game die or people forget about it one year or two is going to be to late for modder to safe this game proof of this Fallout 4 was to late for modders to fix the game people all ready forget about it.

[@oddsquadred]

i hate that every npc is unkillable with the ng+ everyone should be murderable and quests should be easily missed and the replay should of been trying to not have ppl die etc to get to hidden quests but everyone is improtant ant thus cant die the game gives you no freedom despite claiming the opposite

[@nvRanger]

completely agree, there are so many invincible npc's that going on a rampage is meaningless, you'll just have people crawling around. Just another aspect that takes away from player choice.

[@joshuabillings5108]

I think that in 2 years , this game will be so much more than It is now. The potential is limitless. You could literally find yourself in a universe where Earth is Fallouts Earth.

[@nvRanger]

I don’t think it’s quite limitless. You can only add so many mods to a game. I like your imagination but I’m concerned mods can’t save this experience for many.

[@eddykaye8217]

I stopped playing Starfield and went back to Oblivion actually. Oblivion is like 100x better than Starfield.

[@nvRanger]

I need Skyblivion to release asap

[@justingillette8185]

I have to disagree. Space is open and and vast and free. I like it and they captured that feeling very well imo

[@nvRanger]

I’m curious of your perspective here. How is it free? In my experience it merely provides the illusion of freedom. You cannot free travel in your ship anywhere. You can’t fly from one planet to another, you cannot even land on a planet your are near in real time. Everything is separated by a loading screen. You cannot do much outside of combat or asteroid mining from a space ship. You also can’t travel far on foot on a planet, you’ll get prompted with an alert saying you can’t go further, you have to fast travel to that part of the planet.

[@loppy6481]

The main city is an absolute joke lmap

[@nvRanger]

very underwhelming cities all around tbh

[@noahhull3390]

Faction questline quests keep bugging, all but one are unfixable by console commands, loading, spawning npcs, etc. Game is beyond broken over a month after release, googling "starfield quest bugged" shows its been a widespread issue since launch. Bethesda is a joke these days, not too excited for the next elder scrolls anymore

[@nvRanger]

I have honestly experienced more bugs, quests breaking, and achievements just not unlocking than seems to be spoken about. Tons of minor bugs but people just go “ohhhh silly Bethesda, their bugs are charming” and excuse it. Just nonsense. $70 game many paid $100 for. It’s not 2011. I’m over it. Just because it’s not 76 or Cyberpunk on release doesn’t mean we ignore it when criticizing the game.

[@peterduprey7286]

Starfield was doomed from the start. They should’ve focused on just one solar system, with hand crafted planets and cities and lore. But noooo, there just had to be 1000 planets. Also, the writing sucks.

[@Ma1q444]

Bethesda really shit the bed with this one. I have been defending Bethesda for a long time but I can’t defend this. I can’t defend delaying TES 6 for this mediocrity, I mean really this is the game you have been working on for 20 years?? The game is just so unfinished and bland, it’s like they were so fed up with critics talking about bugs so instead they made the most boring polished game to date. The world is horrible I have no reason to explore knowing it’s all computer generated and the fact that there is only city per planet makes literal no sense. The geography and the realistic aspects of real world are inept in this game, you don’t see any farmers, or circle of life it’s just lifeless. I think Bethesda is a dead company, they haven’t made a good game since Skyrim. Fallout 4 was very bland as well but I had fun with it but I can’t call it a good game. Skyrim had many problems and starfield largely improves on none of those problems and instead ruins everything Skyrim did good. I just don’t see the point in the first place for creating a new IP when you have 2 of the greatest gaming franchises ever in your hand. This game just seems like a modding sandbox that’s it. Theirs many things wrong with these game. I could not list all without writing an essay. I remember when this game was coming out and thinking it was going to take up all my time like Skyrim. I was mistaken it had no soul I played it for 15 hours and haven’t played since.

[@NightsoftInteractive]

Starfield is so fundamentally flawed on so many levels. It's plagued with bad game design decisions, half baked systems, bland & uninspired writing and outdated quest design. This ain't "Skyrim in Space", nor is it "Fallout 4 in Space" It's a downgraded, mediocre and soulless mixture of Skyrim and Fallout 4, without the free world exploration and the charm of either!

[@nvRanger]

what's even more strange is that this was their chance to switch things up and get creative. no fallout or tes fans with huge amounts of specific expectations.

[@NightsoftInteractive]

@@nvRanger "25 years in the making", 8 years of active development - and this is what they came up with? Bethesda is truly creatively bankrupt at this point. The fact that they recycled Skyrim shouts as weak Space magic, with the laziest implementation of acquiring them, while simultaneously making you the chosen one once again, is just beyond me. Congratulations you're space dragonborn. I'm truly worried about the future of TES and Fallout :(

[@nvRanger]

Imagine upgrading the space shouts all 240 times in the zero G rooms. Mind numbing. Can’t believe that made it through play testing.

[@PixelMurder]

This game looks totally unsexy and boring, I wouldn't even think of touching it before the release of a Creation Kit. And I am an SF fan, and probably spent 15000 hours with Bethesda content.

[@nvRanger]

I'm with ya there, but to be honest; I think i might just skip this game. There's a lot of other games to play and I don't think mods will save the experience. They would have to do some pretty insane things, uprooting much of the foundation of starfield.

[@everlastingbeats]

Old fashioned game

[@nvRanger]

Without the charm

[@LongWalker730]

Es6 is going to be awful lmao

[@nvRanger]

I’m worried. Idk about awful but…

[@rileydumpy8316]

I think this is a mindset issue 💀 If you can’t take in the massive amount of detail in the space available it’s nuts. also the massive potential for modding and updates is exciting.

[@nvRanger]

No no no they do not get credit for mods. Please, I’m glad some are enjoying the game but we have done this for too long, BGS does NOT get a pass because they have found a way to crowd source free labor😅 Maybe it’s a mindset issue, but what isn’t. I could say you have a mindset issue for wasting time in a mediocre game. I made some coherent points I think. Be happy to read yours.

[@jtzoom86]

I wish people would shut up about starfield. You either like or don’t. It’s definitely not empty.

[@ThatLoserTyler]

It's very empty or else there wouldn't be so much criticism

[@nvRanger]

Hate to break it to you but the KZbin algorithm feeds you what you watch. Stop watching, and you’ll stop seeing things that upset you… Silly thing to say. You’re willingly engaging in the content.

[@p0lar83]

@@nvRanger you're the one making videos about a game you don't like lol, do you even see the irony?

[@jtzoom86]

@@ThatLoserTyler yea it’s not empty. If you played it more than say an hour you would see it’s not. I have about 50 hours in the game and I haven’t barely touched the main campaign, crimson fleet campaign, the new Atlantis police stuff and I’m about half way through the ranger campaign maybe. So you have no damn idea what your talking about at all. That’s not including the bounty boards, companion quests and other random quests you pick up. I’d say I have about 35 quests under my quest sheet and have about 40ish active quests. Hell walking around the cities like new Atlantis and neon and listening to people talk and you pick up quests. So I know you haters haven’t played it.

[@jtzoom86]

@@nvRanger I only watched it because I didn’t realize how stupid it was considering the title.

[@HEARTLESSKAMUI]

I literally have no idea wtf yall are talking about, most planets aren't like or even similar to earth or any approximation of it. Starfields maps aren't bad, they're great for their universe.

[@nvRanger]

I don’t want them to be like earth. I want them to have substantive, quality content on them. Also, what maps? The games majorly lacking in the map department.

[@HEARTLESSKAMUI]

@MalpaisRanger If you want every planet to be completely inhabited and have life and something going on every few steps then you do want them to be like earth. Most planets in general are boring wastelands because that's just how the universe is. You can't have "substantive content" and still be more realistic, its not am elder scrolls or fallout game, its completely different and I'm sorry but there is so much more content in starfield.

[@HEARTLESSKAMUI]

@m0ose0909 As in the setting is realistic, if that's not what you want then the game isn't for you. That doesn't make it bad, it's just not for you

[@nvRanger]

@@HEARTLESSKAMUI you just strawman your way through life lmao. I don't want that. Watch the video goku

[@OrkDiktator]

Af course the planets feel disconnected. Because they are. They're planets. You also can't walk to the moon seamingless. We know since NMS that procedural generation of planets is possible. But procedurally filling them with life (npcs, creatures, quests, stories, encounters, and a unique them etc is a hard task. Other than Mass effect and any open world game so far, Bethesda accepted this challenge with Starfield. And they did pretty well in this first step. They know they can't do this alone. That's why Starfield for the first time is designed to be modded and supported for years or even decades. They'll even offer a option for modders to earn money with in a less complicated way than they did with CC. By far the best purchase of a full price title I ever did in the 35 years I'm into gaming.

[@nvRanger]

Bethesda does not get the excuse of “but mods”. Sorry, studio charges $70-$100 for a game, STUDIO needs to make game. Are modders gonna get some of that revenue while they finish this half baked bun? Don’t think so. Heard that kinda nonsense for too long. You don’t make a game unfinished because you can crowd source free labor. That’s scummy. My point on disconnected meaning the world of Starfield feels disconnected. In the meta sense (as in the gameplay systems, the world building/writing behind it not to mention the monstrous amount of loading screens and menu shifting). It’s their job to bring it together into a cohesive experience, planet jumping or not.