Thirty Hours of Starfield Shattered Space - My Verdict

[@XKathXgames]

I completely missed that about Jendar's Rest 😱

[@RichardBejtlich]

I thought I was just not remembering the name properly. 😆

[@svranca]

I tip my hat off to you! Truly a well done review! I agree with you 100%! As you know, I played Shattered Space twice already and spent close to 70 hrs on it. I think your video fully explains the many positives of the DLC very well. Thank you again for informing the community in a fair and honest way. Well done.

[@RichardBejtlich]

Thank you for your support! 🙏🐍🐍🐍

[@svranca]

@@RichardBejtlich it’s well deserved! Your analyzes are a breath of fresh air, fair and critical in a constructive way. I can honestly tell you, as I am a managing partner shareholder at a multinational corporation, that I can recognize someone who is thoughtful, talented and balanced in his/her opinions! So bravo 👏 from Me. . (Gaming is my secret hobby)

[@greenmerrick7407]

All must serve, Richard, thanks for the review.

[@RichardBejtlich]

TYVM for watching! 🙏

[@Starfield_Eclipse]

05:42 I think a cut scene maybe eluding to the great serpent would have been cool there

[@RichardBejtlich]

Yes, and I forgot to mention in the video that I was surprised the game had a cutscene!

[@alleycat5472]

Ha Ha. All must serve. Enjoyed the post, thanks. I have over 3k hours with 30 characters I rotate, from level 10 to 330 and above. Still making up my mine :)

[@RichardBejtlich]

WOW! Thanks for watching and posting. 🫡🐍🔥

[@mel-archivals4773]

Well done review, Sir. Very thorough. I missed a lot on my first play-through.

[@RichardBejtlich]

Glad it was helpful! 🐍🫡🙏

[@Whoopski007]

Thank you for a great review. All Must Serve!

[@RichardBejtlich]

Glad you enjoyed it! 🐍🐍🐍

[@KyoKomma]

I am still working my way thru Shattered Space. I have found a lot of stuff using scanner to find lot of hidden items and areas

[@RichardBejtlich]

Awesome. I probably could have used the scanner more.

[@christopherperdue3334]

14:30 vocalizations ... I hear them from time to time in the base game without headset (Xbox version). I enjoyed Starfield. The DLC is not in my budget right now, but hope to be able to get it soon after watching a few reasonable reviews rather than the vitriole being put out by the haters.

[@RichardBejtlich]

THANKS for commenting on the vocalizations. I plan to pay more attention in the base game to find them. I hope you can get the DLC soon! When I see sales I post them to my Community blog here.

[@ZygmuntNadratowski]

All must serve. Good to know about Jarek's Rest. I'll look that quest up next time I'm in Dazra.

[@RichardBejtlich]

Excellent -- it's a neat find. Thanks for watching!

[@dkindig]

Those vocalizations are from the Mantis quest. That's where I first encountered them and I think it's supposed to represent the previous Mantis looking down and approving of your action... Post mantis-quest, I haven't been able to figure out exactly what triggers them.

[@RichardBejtlich]

No kidding! That’s really interesting.

[@Maelvus]

All must serve, great vid 👍🏻

[@RichardBejtlich]

Thank you very much for watching! 🐍🐍🐍

[@danceswithowls4000]

All must serve! So far I love this dlc I have not finished it but workin on it. I wish it was longer but it is a doc not a new game! The modding is great I hope to see more good content soon! I will be playing this dlc for a long time!

[@RichardBejtlich]

I agree 💯 Thank you for watching. 🫡

[@marybethleaton9105]

a nice well balanced and fair review! thank you for being a voice of reason! THANK you for identifying the voice actor for Anasko, it was haunting me!! I poured hours into the DLC and played it 3 x and I totally enjoyed it.- i played twice when I was already committed to andreja and once when I was not - but became promised and then went through Andreja's loyalty quest to see what changed. I will say for me personally i feel like the dialogue changes in her quest line once you are promised were spliced in and could have been given more attention -as some of her response did not make sense now that you are of the promised. Her reactions were not commensurate with the degree of emotional turmoil you see her experience when she is speaking with Tomisar. I feel like BGS missed an opportunity to capitalize on andrejas back story and history: Is she from a great house or a minor house ?- where are her parents/ family, and did they survive the devastation. you would think that is the first thing she would want to know when she sees the devastation. Is she an Envoy for house Ka'dic - as that seems to be the where she would be aligned in her role? so many questions, and maybe in a future release they will be addressed one can hope All muse serve!

[@RichardBejtlich]

TYVM for your comments! 🙏🐍🐍🐍

[@aarongeeks9139]

Best review and deep dive I’ve seen thank you so much for this.💯💯🔥 I’ve been searching KZbin three days to find some one to just talk about the dlc instead of complain about it lol Edit: yes i have heard that sound in the base game and it definitely creeps me out lol mostly hear them at abandoned poi’s , All must serve!

[@RichardBejtlich]

Thanks a ton!! Tell your friends about the channel if they like Starfield. 😆

[@aarongeeks9139]

@@RichardBejtlich Will do I’m subbed now so please give me more starfield content ❤🙏🏻

[@RichardBejtlich]

Every week is the plan, thanks!

[@leafstormblaze9449]

I just beat shattered space and really enjoyed it, it makes me wish bethesda would release bigger content more frequently cause id love to see new lore and cant wait for the next dlc now.

[@RichardBejtlich]

I hope we get more content too. Modders are stepping up in a big way now though. 🔥🔥🔥

[@jizhoulei3982]

I fully enjoyed shattered space so I look forward to future DLCs. I have a strong feeling that the story of Starborn DLC will be about the first starborn: Sebastion Banks.

[@RichardBejtlich]

I think you might be right… 🫡

[@aarongeeks9139]

Glad I’m not the only one who thought of this. I would be so hyped 😂

[@glcarden3]

I love starfield. I have played it all year.

[@RichardBejtlich]

Same! Thanks for watching and commenting. 🔥

[@shaunrendall5970]

All must serve.I would have liked to see an option for a companion like Sarah Morgan to walk the Serpent’s Path.Imagine scientific minded Sarah walking the path and coming out as a religious zealot in favour of the Serpent’s Crusade.

[@RichardBejtlich]

LOVE THIS idea!! 🐍🐍🐍

[@Unwindfilms]

Excellent review and have some feedback: - It is true that you have to join the House Va'ruun to progress the dlc but at the same time there is always dialog options while doing missions that you are indicating that you are not a believer but only there to help. In my case I played the role of "Vindicator" and my initial main concern was to vindicate Andreja and for that I needed to get in their good side.Although, It turned out at the end I was helping further than just Andreja - I think ( maybe a hopeful wish) that the cannon forward should be the option of no further "holy crusade" and a character that facilitate the relations between the main factions of the settled system in a more meaningful and practical ways that the ambassadors in New Atlantis . I also picked the Dulkehf as the new speaker of the House because was the one promoting commerce and trade between the settled system. - In regarding to "All must serve" well No lol. I am not a believer but I like positive content like this one and definitely I like to help :). Keep the good work up!

[@RichardBejtlich]

Great points, thank you for sharing and watching. 👏👏👏

[@mokin9656]

All must serve! I totally agree with your evaluation of the DLC. The problem is that they marketed it with having a kind of Dead Space atmosphere (they did concentrate a lot of the trailers on the prologue part, too much in my opinion). I still enjoyed it but I haven't explored it like you did...yet. And it's kinda hard for me to say I don't like Starfield as a whole; I have over 1800 hours on the game, and still play regularly. The Buried Temple is routine to me by now (I usually complete it in 20 minutes or so). But, for some reason, it's the first time I see your channel. So I remedied the situation by subscribing. Continue your good work, kind sir.

[@RichardBejtlich]

Great points. Thanks for watching and subscribing! 🐍🐍🐍

[@BeKind1Love]

I love starfield but once the story is played...well if the equinox solstice and Orion is buffed nothing else would matter from dlc

[@RichardBejtlich]

Interesting, I should try more laser weapons I guess?

[@celebril]

I don't know if you realized it, but you're companion having a response option in the base game happens, as well. Not often, but it is certainly there. I think I say more of it here if Andreja was your companion. That's pretty much what I would expect with her coming home. Oh, and you can recruit Tane to your crew, as well!

[@RichardBejtlich]

I must have missed those prompts?? I really need to do a NG and RMQ to do everything again. And yes Tane is available but he’s not Va’ruun. 😆🐍🐍🐍

[@christopherperdue3334]

@@RichardBejtlich There were a number of times you could use the companion prompts, most often in their personal quests. Another example is when in the main quest you are told to take Barrett with you to recover an artifact from a salvage trader. Another time it is an option when going for the artifact on Akila, and you are talking to Sam Coe's father, you can choose to let Sam reply.

[@celebril]

@@RichardBejtlich Yeah, I get it. I'm doing a take-my-time-run just now. I'm planning on adding some ship mods after, cleaning up the load order, then doing a more completionist run on my next NG+.

[@youp1tralala]

Tane as a companion is often absolutely hilarious with its down to earth reactions😂😂. I did most of the DLC with him as companion

[@steveswartz6707]

Wow, I completely missed Jendar's rest. I spent over 30 hours on the planet and must of walked right byit, haha.

[@RichardBejtlich]

Cool, enjoy visiting it. 🔥🔥🔥

[@marybethleaton9105]

SAME!!!! going there right now to see it LOL

[@EduardoHernandez-nt8us]

The new buffs ( contemplations ) that Shattered Space add to the game that are like Skyrim blessings also are awesome and the mission where we acquire them are little bit challenger.

[@RichardBejtlich]

You know I didn’t even pay attention to those. Are the buffs permanent?

[@EduardoHernandez-nt8us]

@@RichardBejtlich No there are about 1h or more but are really good some of these buffs The mission is given random npc or travel to temple of redemtion

[@youp1tralala]

​@@EduardoHernandez-nt8us their duration is exactly 2h

[@skyriminspace]

All must serve, but I skipped the spoilers in the middle. 😂 Great job Richard. It seems the latest wave of starfield/Bethesda negativity is slowly leaving my recommendeds, & now the real reviews from people who actually seem to care about the game can start showing up.

[@RichardBejtlich]

TYVM! Yes I think the big negative KZbin channels drew a ton of views from smaller channels. Now that they have moved on the smaller channels are getting more views again.

[@skyriminspace]

@@RichardBejtlich i'm sure it'll be the same with each dlc. Yawn. 😂

[@scang7107]

I completely agree! This is a great DLC. Yes, it has its drawbacks, but it clearly does not deserve aggressive criticism. I'm looking forward to new DLCs from Bethesda)))

[@RichardBejtlich]

TYVM for your comment! 🐍🐍🐍

[@ardaghion]

I might be confused here but did your character already have the Serpent's Embrace trait or are you saying you got that trait after you went through the ritual. I went through the ritual but none of my traits changed. I almost considered temporarily changing one of my traits to the Va'ruun after the ritual just to see what would happen to the story. In my head canon I was sent to Va'ruun'kai at the request of the UC since one of the non-believers they work with was an undercover spy. My job was to investigate and stop any possible connections to the zealots. My character's background is a soldier and a UC native, he want's peace between the UC and FC but there can be no real peace with the Va'ruun so long as they are blinded by their faith. You can see how easily they can be convinced to do what the Speaker wanted. Not all are as easily convinced but in time they might come around. Spolier: I feel like I made a mistake letting the council know that the Speaker wanted to restart the crusade. I talked them out of restarting the crusade but only for the time being. I think if I just said he was out of his mind they wouldn't know that the crusade was the reason for the experiment. I also went along with any missions or steps where I killed zealots or people with connections to the zealots, like killing the hostages and the zealots negotiating with the Va'ruun at the power station. I did have one family member that said I had blood on my hands after killing their relatives at Jendar's rest.

[@RichardBejtlich]

Sorry if that was confusing. I didn’t mean the Serpents Embrace trait. I think if you tell the council that Jinan was crazy, they don’t believe you or care.

[@ardaghion]

@@RichardBejtlich I thought you meant that once you went through the ritual you became one of the promised. That would imply getting the Serpent's Embrace trait. That's too bad about not being able to dissuade them from the crusade. You can hold them off at the time but it sounds like the cult will continue the zealotry. You'd think they would want to reintegrate the separatist zealots into their society. Although 2 of the leaders seem less convinced of the cause.

[@RichardBejtlich]

Oh interesting, if you become Promised I don’t think your traits change. I need to check that, though.

[@ardaghion]

@@RichardBejtlich I became promised, in the cult's view, but there was no change to my traits.

[@CamembertJurassique]

I was disappointed or this DLC, because I really wished something horrific. Maybe in the futur, but for the moments all horror contents in the game missed the mark at the end. I wish we have, one day, our dragonborn dlc for the Lovecraft thème. Love the game but I am still disappointed by the direction they took for the DLC. Its mid, at least for me.

[@RichardBejtlich]

Fair enough, maybe a mod like Kinggath Doom will be more to your liking?

[@xLionsxxSmithyx]

Also... the Tree that has overgrown the Embassy doesn't Exist on the Planet....

[@xxMessMonsterxx]

Why are their so many negative reviews about this game?

[@RichardBejtlich]

That’s a whole video by itself but I try to stay positive here. 😆

[@kabelfritz]

my favourite thing is the audio log that reveals what a nutjob jinan was before becomin the prophet xD

[@RichardBejtlich]

Yeah I was a little surprised by those, but I need to listen to all of them.

[@TheExile1138]

I got about 25-30hrs myself. I was hoping for a little more depth to parts of Andreja’s story, but besides that I think it’s pretty cool. And yes I did notice the new voices faintly echoing all around Dazra. “All must serve!”

[@RichardBejtlich]

TYVM for watching! Agreed on Andreja. We literally spend weeks on her home planet. How about a visit to her house? Or if it was gone, how about a line?

[@Shoooder1]

I judged this content by comparing the other factions. My ranking are based on loot and replayability and how likely I will replay in NG+. My ranking is: 1. Constellation 2.Crimson Fleet 3. Freestar/TA 4.UC Vangaurd 5. House Varuun 6. Ryujin Honestly, I could make an argument for Ryujin at #5, as the brain chip is op. This new content didn't improve the base game by adding any must have gear, like the vangaurd Obliterators or the Star Eagle space ship. I'd say this content was stingy and lazy, but I have really high expectations from AAA developers that make billions of dollars a year. But that's just me.

[@RichardBejtlich]

Thanks for your thoughts. FWIW, Bethesda doesn’t make billions per year. According to VG Inisights, their “LIFETIME” revenue (2007 to 2023 anyway) is 2.5 billion, with their Median Revenue per Game at $13.8m. Growjo estimates their annual revenue at $145m. That’s not profit, either.

[@Shoooder1]

From what I understand, Microsoft ownes Bethesda. Microsoft had a net income of Neary 90 billion for 2024. Earnings were near 300B. I bought the 99 game and bought 5500 creation credits. So I'm not one of those angry freeloading, hate mongering youtubers you speak of. 😅

[@RichardBejtlich]

Right, but that doesn't mean much for Bethesda other than they need to pull their weight in the MS Xbox plan. I know people who work at MS. BGS is a biz unit. They have a budget, etc. Less than 500 people work at BGS now from what is publicly available. That's not much more than my own IT company. Same with revenue. I see how software is made and I can sympathize.

[@Shoooder1]

@@RichardBejtlich most people who played the game and gave it a negative review at launch, had positive things to say about ship building and ship combat. I'm not sure why they doubled down on the content that was less liked, and the content that got the good reviews and high praises...that stuff got ignored. 🤔. It's almost as if the people making the game, don't play the game.

[@RichardBejtlich]

I agree with ship building. There's components for building space stations but it's still only accessible via mods. It would have been nice to have that in the DLC. I think we will get more outpost, ship, and other stuff like that in a future non-DLC update.

[@swanseaboy76]

I like your videos Richard. I like Starfield very much too, but shattered space was a huge disappointment to most of us starfield fans. I'm glad you're enjoying though. I feel that modders are the only people keeping starfield alive now.

[@RichardBejtlich]

What did you not like about it?

[@svranca]

I actually disagree. I posted two different polls and my own review of Shattered Space on Reddit. The overwhelming majority loved it and got many positive comments. That said to each his own right ? ❤🙏🏻

[@swanseaboy76]

@@RichardBejtlich I was hoping it would add new elements and mechanics to the vanilla game or at least build on the existing ones. I liked the very beginning in the space station, it just seemed to go downhill after that for me. 🤷

[@swanseaboy76]

@@svranca I didn't think it was terrible but I was hoping it would've been so much more. It's still a great game and I'll continue to play it with innovative mods. 👍

[@svranca]

@@swanseaboy76 cool 💪🏻🙏🏻

[@VampireNoblesse]

I enjoyed Shattered Space.., its no way as bad as many reviewers make it out to be.. ... BUT its still too bare bone (were multiple juicy creations held back from Shattered Space, to be sold separately?), especially when comparing to other big Bethesda DLCs.. ... its too tame / soft characters- & writing-wise.., and the characters are all unattractive (WHY!?).. ... some consequences should have had bigger or multiple impacts.. ... feels as if there was a smaller team (and DEI infested) working on Shattered Space.., Bethesda needed to make something atleast as big & fresh as Far Habor,.. especially for the 1 year time frame & 30.- price tag.. ... so even though I enjoyed the DLC (about as much as the Dragonborn Skyrim DLC), it is imo a "failure" overall.., Bethesda needed to make a A+ or S tier DLC after the lukewarm reception of Starfield..

[@RichardBejtlich]

I guess we will find out what happens next.

[@svranca]

The DLC is actually massive. I spent almost 70 hrs in two play-through; I counted 52 unique and hand crafted POI, the interaction have consequences, and the side quests are just well done. Obviously, I respect your opinion, but I kindly disagree with it. 🙏🏻

[@anderporascu5026]

I'm thinking the lukewarm reception is guiding the dlc after this one, they already had this dlc mostly crafted by the time Starfield released.

[@VampireNoblesse]

@@svranca I still enjoyed it, it offers definitely more than most critics let out.. ... but its not A-S tier anymore, as expected from Bethesda.., it's more B tier (maybe they burnt out on ideas by supporting F76 & ESO too long over the years, even if they're not the main developers, they have a kind of oversight??.. besides development issues during the acquisition?) ... TESVI needs to be better (& no agenda BS anymore) ... and somethings are still unacceptable, like the photo mode camera is still broken (!), can't invert the Y-axis..; the inventory / crafting menu & 3rd-person camera are horrible (why not just use F4s?? almost as if amateurs made them for Starfield..), as is the placement of housing items (why does it always re-center the position of things I want place again!?) etc. ... there are multiple odd or bad things still in the game, some have been improved with Creations or mods (not the ones I mentioned though) ... its an overall lack of quality in almost all areas of the game, ... though Starfield & Shattered Space still offer enjoyment, it needs to do better for the next DLC & TESVI ... I LOVE Bethesda Rpgs and enjoyed Shattered Space, and hope the next DLC & TESVI do better.., but there are reasons for concern (not sure Xbox will even allow Bethesda to push out another big DLC.., wish they would and would add more soundtracks too.., Shattered Space had some nice, but eventually too short & too few new pieces.., one track from the F4 Nuka World Galaxy had more music than the whole Shattered Space soundtrack) ... think the music plays a bigger role too, Starfield didn't have enough (or too focused on the radio tracks..) ... I want Starfield & Bethesda to succeed, I still enjoyed Starfield & Shattered Space, but Bethesda needs to get more talent again (worrying, they let go of passionate talents for DEI hires..) ... ahh, didn't mean to write so much, but Bethesda Rpgs are important to me

[@Whoopski007]

I’m on my 3rd run through of Shattered Space as I wanted to try some different paths. On this run through I have found two of the quests had additional components that I missed in my previous run through. Those that say the dlc was terrible did not truly play through the full content. It is not perfect, I was left wishing for more involvement with Andreja, but well done echoing all the points you have made. Only half way through this 3rd run and looking forward to finding more content. All Must Serve!

[@RichardBejtlich]

Interesting! I'm going to give it a try with my modded players on Steam too. Thank you for watching! 🐍🐍🐍

[@lucakrokrowinkel9576]

"don't want to be in house vah ruun anymore?" just start a new game come on bruh starfield's the kind of rpg where you have two choices, continue the story or restart the game. halo 1 had more choices than that.

[@RichardBejtlich]

Not sure I understand your comment... I said "Starfield has the New Game Plus mechanic, which means that going through the Unity removes the Promised membership trait from the character. So, if a player really didn't want to stay committed to House Va'ruun, a reset via Unity would clear that affiliation."

[@lucakrokrowinkel9576]

@@RichardBejtlich yes exactly Meaning that if you were done with the shattered space stuff and said “you know what, these zealots are a bunch of wacky morons. I don’t want this shit anymore.” Your only option is to restart the game essentially. Which is what new game plus is.

[@RichardBejtlich]

Ok I see. Yeah that's why I said I wish there was a "no need to join, just be Chosen" option. 🙏

[@dante001ish]

I believe you get what you put into the game DLC included, 1st time I saw a star rise over the horizon of an airless barren moon I was hooked & I am starting to think that some of the polarizing views of this game are from people who want run 'n gun when in my opinion this game's pace is more 2001.......with a lot of deserted UC listening outposts.

[@RichardBejtlich]

😆😆😆 totally.

[@anderporascu5026]

Shattered Space was as enjoyable as Dishonored and felt like the choice and consequence actually had some weight. Disagree as you wish, it matters not. Still I hoped that this would make it to where 90% of the planets were filled and that we might get aliens besides space beasts and bugs and maybe more lore than we knew what to do with and possible a black hole with a quest attached but alas, maybe with this Starborn dlc I heard about we'll get more of that.

[@RichardBejtlich]

Cool, TYVM for sharing your thoughts. 🐍🐍🐍

[@RufusMcTwigglefart]

All must serve I agree with most of what you stated about the DLC. Especially in regards to the BDS. But I did still find the game and dlc a tad on the PG rated Pixar RPG side of the genre. I'm not looking for Arkham Asylum or Night City in space, but a little more dirt or grit in the overall delivery wouldn't have gone unappreciated. All in all, I've enjoyed the heck out of the game

[@RichardBejtlich]

Yeah I can see that. Thanks for your comment! 🙏🐍🐍🐍