The REAL Problem With Starfield Isn't Starfield

[@TCPolecat]

I'm 50, but I'll be the first to admit that I find the rhythm of Starfield's play to be... relaxing. Almost soothing. No it's not a perfect game, but it's a game I definitely enjoy.

[@ikeduno7973]

Y'know, this is what I hear from my professional friends too. The ones who have, like, awesome real jobs and just play the video games for fun. They love it! The vibe is soothing. Something about the way Starfield operates does right by the Venerable.

[@lolitsajoke77]

I keep coming back to it and haven’t gotten bored yet after 110 hours. That’s a lot of hours for me to put into a game. The Witcher 3 I needed to get back in I was obsessed with the world. Starfield isn’t that for me but I continue to play it consistently. It wouldn’t be a game I would recommend to everyone but it def fits my vibe.

[@lolitsajoke77]

@@ikeduno7973this is how I felt with Diablo too (until I ran out of content). I work so damn much and travel for work Diablo and starfield I can just flip on and get out what I put into it. No cheating glitchers or grieving annoying players. Just my own experience and it’s relaxing.

[@mr.coolmug3181]

Old fart near death finds Starfield... "relaxing" 😂

[@lolitsajoke77]

@@mr.coolmug3181 person who doesn’t own property tries to flex.

[@downix]

I am at almost 600 hours in Starfield and it continues to entertain me. Always a new surprise over the next ridge. And it was that way from the start. I got off the train, saw the woman mopping the floor, and stopped to talk to her. A cute little quest, the first of many, many more. From Spacers to Space Frog, never a dull moment.

[@catvr_18]

Glad you enjoy it! I'm happy to finally be someone who can enjoy something despite my original position.

[@daizenmarcurio]

How have you been playing 600hrs and finding new stuff? Everything past 100hrs has been copy paste or a variant of a copy paste thing I've seen before

[@downix]

@@daizenmarcurio easily; I play, and come across something new. The fused spaces are rare, but have been interesting, for example. And just yesterday found an abandoned mining camp I hadn't seen before. Adding that this morning I had a new questline I hadn't ever seen before appear, with robots searching for intelligent alien life giving me a quest which led me to a cave, a miner defending his claim, and Ecliptic mercenaries trying to steal it from him. Absolutely amazing storytelling, and all new to me.

[@lolitsajoke77]

600?!? God damn!

[@AlvinWillistonDavis]

Getting her that drink made me feel good, I was like "you know what, lemme hop up to the coffee shop real quick" , like she was someone I knew or something, as soon as I saw that I knew I'd like the game.

[@glopping1984]

Starfield is just such a comfortable game to me, I can spend hours on each planet just walking around scanning and mining, looting outposts, and doing the occasional randomly generated side quest from time to time. A lot of people may find it boring to explore in this game, and I get it, but to me it’s fun. I just love seeing all the different biomes and creatures, just the overall atmosphere of the game is what keeps me playing.

[@K.R.98]

It’s the detailed, dense, handcrafted world that makes exploration fun. Not huge amounts of empty shallow places where they bombard you with generic fetch quests. They all are the same, there is no uniqueness, no „I wonder what’s around the next corner“ There is no history to explore. It’s lIke: go and fill that endless emptiness. And have fun doing the same uncomfortable stuff over and over again. Skyrim Special Edition has now a bigger daily player count than starfield. Because an almost 15year old game is far more fun. I really wanted to like starfield but when I heard that they use ingame procedural generation, I knew this would break it. You can use procedural generation but you have to use it to create a ready game that still feels handcrafted.

[@patwilson2546]

I can respect your opinion. I just don't share it.

[@K.R.98]

@@patwilson2546 Thanks man. I respect your opinion too. Btw. I always join games late/later because it becomes cheaper and they may still add content. Maybe Bethesda can pull me in on the „starfield-idea“ if they show passion and add good content. I said what I said because I am waiting for TES6 for at least 10 years and my fear is that they go with TES in the same direction. (Huge space that feels empty, generated and wants to be filled by the player. I really like my handcrafted quests and intriguing stories. ☺️🎉

[@Yusuf.819]

Agree. Something about the soundtrack and sound design just gives you chills

[@missingn0o]

I lack the english skills to articulate, but in short: Bethesda fans should absolutely demand better, when one looks at what the competition puts out, and it's a shame they don't.

[@danilojonathan1013]

I adopted this mentality of "I want to play what the devs want to create and hope that they are able to realize everything they want to us to see". As soon I learned to think about games that way, I started to have way more fun playing games.

[@BKPrice]

My favorite was a video that claimed the long promotional video for Starfield that came out not long before its release was "deceptively edited" to give the impression that we would have flight controls while landing on the planet, then proceeded to show the footage from said video where it showed the unedited landing sequence from start to finish exactly as it appears in game.

[@irtdome9522]

Dude they cut out every single loading screen... I think I know what video u are referring too. The criticism was that they edited out the loading screens and yes that is "deceptively edited" as people would think by watching the promotional material that showcases "real" ingame footage, that the cutscenes were used as the loading screens....

[@BKPrice]

@@irtdome9522I don't know what to tell you. The video claimed that they deceptively edited THE LANDING SEQUENCE. He showed the landing sequence as portrayed in the promotional video. Every single moment of it, including a black screen right before the player has control again, was shown in that video. It matches my experience in game on my computer beat for beat. The load time might differ, but that's always the case since my hardware isn't the same as theirs.

[@irtdome9522]

@@BKPrice I mean u can send the video of it so we know for sure if we talk about the same. Maybe we watched 2 different and still quite similar ones. Nonetheless my point still stands with the editing out the loading screens. If u are referring to a different video than I well can’t say anything about that.

[@jalontf2]

You said the same exact thing I thought originally: "If you combined Elite Dangerous and Starfield you would have the perfect game." I love them both!

[@Ploskkky]

I agree, but it depends on which elements you take from which game.

[@MaakaSakuranbo]

Sounds accurate, given I dislike them both for how they manage to take every single feature and underdeliver it severely haha

[@MorgDragon]

i totally agree with you! i have been having a blast playing the game. yes, i think there are areas for improvement - like enemy AI, landers, more info on what stuff does (i still have no idea what my alien DNA trait actually does!) - but the stuff people complain about, like not actually flying to a star/planet/moon - which drove me away from elite and NMS - i don't miss. thanks for this vid!

[@ShiftnWolf72]

You hit the nail on the head as far as people's issues with the game. Thanks. So many rage bomb reviews.

[@NagaTales]

Starfield absolutely doesn't hold up against any modern Space Sim... because it's not one. Starfield is an entry in an surprisingly rare genre of RPG, the Space-centric Sci-fi ARPG. It's a genre that doesn't see a lot of entries, but Starfield shares genre with classics like the Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 and, more recently, the Mass Effect Trilogy. Those are the kind of game from which Starfield takes the bulk of its DNA. And when you stack Starfield up against KotOR and ME, you get a much better picture of where it succeeds and fails, rather than the false comparisons to E:D, NMS, or SC. When stacked up against others of its actual genre, Starfield pushes the boundaries of the genre in absolutely *incredible* ways. It represents a massive technical leap forward for the genre. Mass Effect's lackluster planetary exploration, expanded. KotOR's idea of a hero ship, expanded. Space combat, expanded. I could go on, but while it doesn't knock it out of the park in *every* category, it deserves a huge amount of credit for how far it has pushed the boundaries of its genre.

[@MaseOnDrums]

Completely agree with your take. Starfield hit the spot for me. I'm about 110 hours in, finished the main campaign and feel as though I still have 100s of hours ahead of me. I love spending time decking out my houses/penthouse, I love spending time working out the outpost system (although some room for improvements here) and I am obsessed with ship building! The level of customisation is incredible. I'm really keen to finish all the faction quests and continue doing more random side quests. I also love how you can randomly explore any place and if you don't give yourself an agenda, but just do whatever is interesting within your immediate vicinity, it's super fun and adventurous. [Spoiler ahead] My only qualm is NG+. If all of my above mentioned ship building and outpost building was to be reset I would be devastated. I also really don't care for becoming some combat god with all of the powers maxed out. For that reason, I'm ignoring that aspect of the game and implementing the mind frame that my player fell too in love with his original universe to skip across to the next.. which to be honest there was actually dialogue options to role play that mind set too... so I'm ultimately still okay with this.

[@NickGuelker]

As a long time Bethesda fan, Starfield fell completely flat for me. I don't think it's a bad game. But it's absolutely not the game I expected. I don't think the world/lore isn't remotely interesting. In Fallout and Elder Scrolls, the lore and environment makes the lackluster writing work because my brain fills in the details. I'm genuinely glad people enjoy the game. And I hope Bethesda takes people's criticism to heart. We all want amazing Bethesda games.

[@catvr_18]

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it, and I'm truly not here to defend a game studio full of strangers, but I did want to share why I moved on from downright hating it. I hope you will come to enjoy it in the future like I did! Thank you for your comment and thank you for watching my video.

[@NickGuelker]

@@catvr_18 I'll definitely be checking up on it's progress from time to time. And I'm genuinely excited for when the creation kit comes out. One benefit from all the loading screens, is the game is just a collection of individual cells. So mod making should be just as easy as Skyrim.

[@mattmcc7930]

I had 0 expectaions for this game. I wasn't planning on buying it. After falloet 4 and 76 I was pretty much done with Bethesda. Then my GPU started acting up. And I decided the 6700xt was going to be the best new GPU in my price range. It came with Starfield. I've been playing since early access and have nearly 500 hours in it. It's not the best game of all time, it has some annoying things, but it's fun. I like exploring the universe. Ship building is so addictive. I haven't even started using mods yet.

[@Neesmo]

Same for me. Im only 333 hours in as of right now and I havent felt the need to use a mod yet. I'm still really enjoying the base game. Glad others are in the same boat

[@Mantelar]

This will give me something to think about during load screens

[@RichardBejtlich]

Starfield brought me back to gaming after 30 years. I’m approaching 400 hours and I’m tired of the hate. Thanks for this!

[@cleanserofnoobs4162]

I mean, I suppose a game like Gallum would be appealing to you as well, if it's one of the first games you'd start playing after thirty years. Point is, you have little to nothing to compare the "quality" of this game to other much more successful games. I highly recommend you try Skyrim or Fallout. Those games are older, but they're much higher in quality and care.

[@RichardBejtlich]

​@@cleanserofnoobs4162I'm pretty tired of hearing how BGS doesn't "care" about Starfield. I know people who work there and they care about it a lot. It works for me.

[@cleanserofnoobs4162]

@RichardBejtlich I didn't say Starfield doesn't have care. The game is not entirely voided of it. I said Skyrim and Fallout had MORE care. But I digress, I'm not here to tell you not to have fun with the game, but I'm getting pretty tired of people trying to tell me that I shouldn't dislike it. You've got your opinion of the game, and I have mine. Neither side needs to be forcefully converted. But if you do actually know the current people at Bethesda, tell them to lay off the sauce for their next big game.

[@econundrum1977]

Ok another "good review" of Starfield seeking to explain how to grow to love it and that it's failings aren't really failings. If you have to explain to someone that they are wrong and something is really a good game when they've played it, maybe it's really not a good game. What you expected it to be by the way was exactly what all their hype tried to make you think it was. As for the BG3 example, I only had to play it to immediately love it, no one needed to explain to me how I might eventually love it if I played it longer. Just like a great book or a great movie it gripped me from the start and still hasn't let me go. Also really? They would have had to delay another year to have good writing like BG3? Starfield was in development longer than BG3 and had a bigger budget. They had time for better writing and they had plenty of resources. The reason a lot of triple A studios started telling us we couldn't expect the scope or quality of BG3 from them when it came out was panic that we where going to see how low their value proposition was by comparison. That's actually what made me buy BG3, any game which causes panic and excuses from other big name developers and makes them get excuses for the scope and quality of their own games in early must be worth a try and it was best game I've played in at least 20 years. Starfield by comparison isn't an awful game and it's not a classic, it's a mediocre game by AAA standards with a number of obvious flaws many things it doesn't do as well as Skyrim and fails to really live up to the hype it's developer put out about it. Coming out as it did in the post BG3 world just when that game had made people question the value proposition for AAA games from big corporations was an added unfortunate circumstances and made it a bit of a lightening rod for the things many gamers think are wrong in AAA gaming today. So yes I expect without that it still wouldn't have been a classic but would have been a little better received. Also excuses like real space is empty so our game is empty are lame and it does you no credit to repeat them here, realism is only great in a game when it's also fun, because it can add to emersion without making game play boring. Incidentally I am also nearly 50 and have played and enjoy to various degrees many games in my time.

[@PhillDante]

This is it: "Just because you want a piece of media to be something it isn't, doesn't mean it should have been what you wanted it to be!" [12:32] I believe we should stop treating games as mere products to be consumed, and treat them more as people with specific strengths, flaws, quirks and requirements. Sometimes there's going to be a person that seems to not be liked by a large group of players, and that can colour your experience of that person, but if you gave that person a chance, they might surprise you and be a really great friend. And if you gave them a proper chance, met with them on their level without preconceived notions, and you still feel like you can't hang with that person, then that's perfectly fine as well! No person is universally liked by everyone, but that shouldn't be the failing of the person. I know the comparison is a bit messy, but I hope you get my meaning. I absolutely love Starfield! Great video! 👍

[@sagearmaggedon7307]

Good comparison. Well said

[@finnaspenson7272]

Great video. Always felt like I was living in my own pocket of reality when it came to my enjoyment of this game. Much of the complaints I see don't actually feel like legitimate criticisms. They feel more like pouting and projection, which is why discourse around this game feels so alien and off putting. Think you hit the nail square on the head

[@GraceAlone614]

That's what I thought. When I heard about all these crazy "game breaking" bugs, I could never find a single video or source to confirm these complaints. So it makes me think that these issues are being blown out of proportion. I've been thoroughly enjoying Starfield. And the journey has always felt organic in my experience, never forced.

[@samiam4544]

I have lost over 300hrs to game breaking bugs. Also, being forced to be a good space cop makes it more an FPS than an RPG.@@GraceAlone614

[@catvr_18]

Couldn't agree more!

[@KeironP1]

Good stuff. Love the Elite Dangerous/ Starfield combined comments. Spot on! 🙂

[@SpaceCadet829]

This is the video I have been waiting for since it has dropped. Thank you for this 🙏🏼

[@windwalker5765]

As I see it, the problem isn't how good Starfield is-not awesome, but worth the price and decently fun-but that we can all see how much better it _could have been_ if they'd done more development work. The map has a thousand planets, I bet even more will appear with DLC... imagine if each and every one had at least one side quest with that magnificent Bethesda environmental storytelling. "Entangled" is a masterpiece of a level, and the Starborn twist reveal, from "High Price to Pay" through "Unearthed" gave me chills. And of course, we once again have to talk about the Creation engine being a stone around Bethesda's neck. We've all seen people do stuff with Skyrim and Fallout 4 in the Unreal Engine. Bethesda's talented game devs are being held back by outdated tools and have been for over a decade now.

[@catvr_18]

Well sure! I don't particularly blame Bethesda for using the same game engine at least once more though. I imagine more than half of their staff is used to only using creation engine and uprooting that will delay all of their games even longer. I think a lot of the expectations on them and their games has to do with the idea that they somehow aren't people trying to make good games. While I think that the game could use more varied encounters, I don't really expect to see a million new things - if I was to travel to any planet in real life, I don't expect to find a life changing discovery every time I landed. I don't particularly think it's a realistic expectation to think every planet needs a side quest. Thanks for watching the video and commenting! I genuinely appreciate it.

[@jamesandrews5629]

@@catvr_18 I mean is it the reason why they keep the engine is because modders are very familiar with it? I don't think they're willing to go an engine like UE5 because I've heard it's notoriously hard to mod.

[@catvr_18]

@@jamesandrews5629 Oh, I'm not sure about that, as I'm not a modder myself. I suppose that could be true, but I imagine if I was a team member at BGS, I would not want to up and switch to working in a completely different game engine after gaining a lot of experience in the first one. I'm not saying it wouldn't be good for them to switch, as I know UE5 has been a great choice for other game devs, but I tend to give people I've never met the benefit of the doubt. It is certainly possible that a good portion of game studios like BGS anticipate the modding community to iron out the flaws in their games, but I know personally from creating projects close to my heart, that no matter how "perfectionist" I get, I always miss something due to being so close to the project, and anyone off the street could come along and tell me how many holes are in it.

[@windwalker5765]

@@catvr_18 The problem with that is there is a limit to how long you can reasonably run the one engine without updating before lack of optimization begins to catch up with you. The Gamebryo engine was first released in 1997, was updated to Creation Engine in 2011, then Creation Engine 2 in 2021. Unreal Engine was initially released a year later in 1998, but in the 25 years since, has had *four* major updates, not two. And Creation Engine 2 has far more code in common with Gamebryo than UE5 does with UE1.

[@freelancerthe2561]

@@catvr_18 But this also highlights another problem..... This is the engine thats going to be used for ES6. And they have not proven that it'll hold up as current gen engine, much less a next gen engine Todd is claiming it to be. So even if we assumed other engines were not potentially better options, CE2 has years to go just to catch up to what their modding community has done with CE1. And we know a total engine overhaul is possible, because X-Ray64 (the community created fork the Engine for STALKER) looks like a decent last gen engine, despite the fact its code base dates back to 2007.

[@Qtip855]

Finally👍 I’m glad I’m not the only one who loves this game❤️

[@skyriminspace]

Silent majority.

[@Joseph-wh5of]

Plenty people love the game it is just the loud vocal majority and internet influencers capitalizing on the clicks.

[@skyriminspace]

@@Joseph-wh5of makes me actually want to start making youtube vids again. Just need to find the time.

[@OwnerGriffin108]

Finally someone said it. It’s infuriating how many people jumped on the hate bandwagon for starfield.

[@deanlowdon8381]

Maybe there are just a lot of people that don’t like it. I played for 20 hours hoping it would ‘get good’ and it never did.

[@OwnerGriffin108]

@@deanlowdon8381 fair, but if you dislike something why waste your time hating about it online. Just move on.

[@deanlowdon8381]

@@OwnerGriffin108 I was sitting on the train and this video came up as recommended so gave it a watch to see a different opinion. I saw your comment and simply wanted to say that not everyone is just jumping in the bandwagon, there are reasons to genuinely dislike the game.

[@OwnerGriffin108]

I realize that not everyone who hates it is jumping on a bandwagon, and I didn’t mean to say that everyone who dislikes it is in the wrong. I understand there are shortcomings, nothing is perfect. Me personally I found it was never anything that effected the game in a large way for me, and hyper focusing on nitpicks isn’t what I’m all about. I was more so referring to the people who hated this game before it came out, or the people who just say it is bad because they heard some random people online say it’s bad.

[@deanlowdon8381]

@@OwnerGriffin108 You’ll always get people that just like to join in with the criticism, but it’s undeniable that Starfield has genuine problems. Personally, I found the main storyline and the characters involved very dull. The constant fast travel ruined any sense of immersion, and the combat is mediocre at best with some of the worst enemy AI I’ve ever seen in a big budget title. It also didn’t help that I couldn’t complete a couple of the side missions I started because the game broke and I couldn’t damage any of the enemies.

[@polmoro]

Excellent take on the game. Subscribed. You have articulated my exact feelings around Starfield. Cheers

[@originalgrahamster]

I'm 45. I've played a LOT of games. STARFIELD IS GREAT! It's just enormous, and those who bother to play the hell out of it instead of semi-speed-running, should really enjoy it. Yeah it's full of bugs, but few are really annoying, much less game-breaking. Yes Elite: Dangerous will kick its arse in terms of ship flying and combat, but I get around that by just flying less than planned, and focusing on other things. It WOULD be great if Starfield and Elite were combined! But all the Starfield hate is WAY blown out of proportion. I play an evil kleptomaniac psychopath in my Starfield videos, and I have an absolute blast doing so. I'm also sure that with future updates and DLC the game will become even better, and once modding is fully implemented... it should be S-tier. P.S. the death of Sean and my wife in Fallout 4 still haunts me! 😂

[@Garbagedayincorporated]

I don’t know why people absolutely refuse to acknowledge the progression systems of previous bethesda games. People played them endlessly because progression was fun. Bethesda games were never just open world RPGs, they were sandboxes that gave you a range of different mechanics you could use to obtain a goal of your choosing. The ways it let you engage with the systems were sprinkled in the game world. Goofy characters or unique locations are only interesting the first time if they ever are to begin with. The problem with starfield is that it never gives you a compelling reason to engage with the content beyond the novelty of it, and Bethesda’s terrible writing and dated gameplay is just not good enough to justify shifting through the loading screens to experience it. If you like starfield, you just have lower standards. Saying that the problem is that most people “just don’t get it” is and will always be a coping mechanism for positions that are hard to justify.

[@itsange02]

Yes! Finally someone who understands how I feel!

[@Judymoe]

Space Frog!!! I happily did that quest, and was delighted later, when it was mentioned. Renee is a true hero.

[@catvr_18]

I was genuinely surprised when I went to Akila and they were talking about space frog! Didn't know the little guy traveled faster than light too!

[@chainsaw8507]

No matter if you disagree or agree with him, you gotta admit this video is really well made. But yeah, I experienced all this when Cyberpunk came out. It felt like no one wanted to judge that game off of what it actually is, but rather would they wanted it to be. To be fair to the Cyberpunk case, the marketing painted it as something it wasn't.

[@catvr_18]

Thank you! Appreciate it!

[@nicolodeleuce2797]

I listened to your analysis with interest and understand your point of view. My experience was different: the reason why I abandoned Starfield after 200 hours is because, in my opinion, it fails precisely as a role-playing game and compared to previous titles like Skyrim or Fallout it is an undeniable downgrade in terms of plot, missions, choices, depth, relevance of the protagonist's traits, character writing, and finally coherence and credibility of the game world. I suddenly realized that I hadn't been having fun for a while, it was like I was playing a huge demo without ever getting to the actual game, immersed in boring and repetitive mechanics and an extremely banal and predictable story . There are certainly positive aspects in this Bethesda game (for example I appreciated the general aesthetics, the shipbuilding and the improvements in shooting), but for me it's really too little to not be deeply disappointed. I didn't expect a space simulator because I knew this game didn't want to be one, I expected to immerse myself in a great BGS role-playing game like in the past and unfortunately I didn't find it. - Sorry for any syntax errors, I'm not a native speaker, I'm Italian :) -

[@catvr_18]

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it! You seem to have thought this out more than most and I salute you for that. Like I've been saying a good bit, obviously the reception to this game is subjective, and I only mean to shed some light on why I believe most people didn't like the game. Thanks for watching my video and leaving a comment. Your English is better than a lot of native speaker's!

[@SuperBallani]

I find absolutely crazy that someone think Starfield is a downgrade from previous Bethesda games in the categories you precisely mention here : Plot, missions, choices, depth, character writing, protagonists traits, credibility of the world and all of that. Because this is PRECISELY where i personally feel like a serious effort was made by Bethesda to answer the criticism of their previous games, it's like we didn't play the same game here. There is more memorable characters in the world, they are better voice acted by a landslide almost all the quests that aren't very quick fetch quest have at least 2 different ending possibility and some optionnal side choices your background, traits and skills have a shit ton of unique dialogue associated with them in the game, like way more than ANY previous BGS game, even Fallout 3, some can be just flavors of dialogues but some can literally be a new way to resolve the quest, the factions quests are the best in terms of both narrative and reward i think Bethesda has ever done except Oblivion for the writing but i have definitely never seen a reward as good as what you has at the end of the Crimsoin Fleet or Freestar Collective mission, your traits can add a serious aspects to your game, like having parents, the adoring fan, a mortage with galbank or being wanted and chased by bounty hunters definitely add something to your game that no other previous Bethesda game had. There is way way more dialogue with the companions, not just the onest from Constellation, any named companion that you can find in the world, especially the ones coming from factions like Jessamine from the Crimson fleet. And so on and so on.

[@nicolodeleuce2797]

@@SuperBallani I find it funny that different players have such contrasting experiences, apparently we can only be objective about technical aspects (and not always). I think Starfield does a great job on quantity, it's really impressive how much content they managed to include, but I can't say the same about the quality of the various elements: I found the dialogues flat (even those central to the story) and presented in a static way which also minimizes the emotional impact of the main events, the choices are almost all illusory (I have concluded the main plot and all the factions except the UC Vanguard) and the choices you can actually make have an irrelevant impact on the game world, I found the interactions with the main characters (Constellation in particular) superficial and some of their personal quests are concluded suddenly as if a part is missing, the persuasion system seemed interesting at the beginning but that too is an illusion of choice (the content of the answers doesn't matter at all, everything can be reduced to clicking the green ones and you will practically always pass, with sometimes ridiculous results), no NPC with a name can be killed if it is not foreseen by the game at that precise moment (incredibly not even when they give you the ATTACK option in the dialogue, as happens for example during the Crimson Fleet quest and others), the idea behind the NG+ is interesting but, as with many other aspects, it is the way in which it is implemented to be disappointing (I won't go into too much detail to avoid spoilers). What I'm trying to say is that there are a lot of potentially good ideas in this game, but the way they are applied, the way the various parts are connected (or not) to each other, and the fact that it all plays so bland and inoffensive it completely ruined the experience for me. I gave some examples to try to explain my point better, I could continue but I have no intention of convincing anyone... consider that I bought a new PC mainly to play Starfield, space has always been my favorite setting and I couldn't wait to play a Fallout among the stars, so I would have loved to be able to appreciate it as much as you :) Maybe I'll give it another chance in a couple of years, but in the future I'll try not to let hype influence me so much anymore.

[@therealpizzagirl]

In about 3 to 4 years from now, we will see people saying “Starfield was always a good game.” We’re currently going through the exact same discourse Fallout 4 went through. It’s literally no different and history will repeat itself. I’m just going to go ahead and say it now. This game is genuinely great despite its issues. It’s easily my favorite game to come out in years. Awesome video friend, thank you for making it!

[@catvr_18]

I totally agree. I can't stop playing it after getting over the hurdle. Thanks for your comment!

[@scarletina5137]

Its completely different, Fallout 4 was FAR better received than Starfield. It is such a bad game in 3 to 4 years people will forget it even got released.

[@Secretsofsociety]

Lol. It's okay at best. My big problem with it is it makes me want to play other games because its just okay. Fallout 4 was always the worst fallout game that I played. I didn't play 76. I actually like Starfield better than FallOut 4 which is an extremely low bar. I have a feeling modders will make this game more fun though.

[@windwalker5765]

In 3 to 4 years, the mods will have fixed all sorts of issues that prevented us from enjoying the game to its maximum. Which is exactly like Skyrim and exactly like Fallout 4. Which I say even though Fallout 4 is my favorite game and I'm 42k words into a Minutemen fanfic.

[@scarletina5137]

@@windwalker5765 Skyrim was a very good game before mods were added back in 2011, Starfield is not. Its a new low for Bethesda and easily the worst game they have released since ive been a fan excluding ofc Fallout 76.

[@GraceAlone614]

Finally. A video that doesn't absolutely crap all over Starfield. All the mob mentality is driving me nuts. It's not perfect, but it is exactly what I expected from Bethesda. I never went into the game thinking it was going to be like NMS or Elite Dangerous. And I think that was the downfall for a lot of people...they simply had a false expectation of what Starfield was going to be. But unfortunately that's not Bethesda's fault. With that said, I know Bethesda will listen to their audience and aim to give them a positive experience.

[@catvr_18]

YES. That's exactly what I'm trying to say. I don't know why people still expect this to not be a traditional Bethesda game simply becuse it's set in space!

[@isaiahsago7150]

@@catvr_18advertising from Bethesda it’s been like 8 years so people from later generations probably don’t expect it

[@phloxie]

You have to mark the video as "Includes Payed Promotion" When you make a Ad for Starfield like this.

[@cjinworldofgaming511]

As if he would care about it

[@ArtiomSigma]

Finally, been waiting for someone to address this, I'm also mainly commenting to help the algorithm because this video is great.

[@catvr_18]

Genuinely glad you enjoyed it! I've been sifting through negative comments and this one brightened me back up.

[@dannytangeloribaldreviews6310]

This not Fallout in space. The SPECIAL traits allow for much more varied character. The character depth might be 10% of what we found in New Vegas. Having the passive skills not take character levels might've made for a more fun experience. Do you want to make scanning slightly less shitty, or do you want your weapons to do more damage?

[@derektodd6650]

10:27: The thing is we came into this exact situation in 2015 when everyone was making Witcher 3 vs. Fallout 4 comparison videos. Many commented on how, as longtime BGS fans, they expected more from the story department that they now realize were in other competing games. Come 2023 where the direct competition is an open-world RPG game is Cyberpunk 2027 and a traditional isometric RPG games with Baldur's Gate 3, it's getting harder and harder to sell this particular niche. Something I always watch for with these sorts of trends are longtime BGS gamer reviewers or content makers - the type of people who have been playing since Daggerfall or Morrowind. The type of person who knows these games by heart. If you're getting critiques from these individuals, who may enjoy the Starfield formula, but find it wanting when compared to predecessors because of things like the exploration and emergent gameplay narrative lacking? I would argue a Zaric Zhakaron's voice matters even more than your general, highly popular game reviewer's voice like dunkey or Luke Stephens. Also, I believe the ex-Skyrim lead developer commented on how BG3 had a very different design philosophy compared to Starfield. The latter game fears people missing out on any scrap of content so it makes it available to everyone, even more so than it's predecessors which emphasized a degree of roleplay restriction to a finalizing choice. All these singular issues culminate in a worse game for both newcomers and oldtimers alike to the point where I don't see this as just a trend.

[@anthonynorman7545]

Thank you for vocalizing some of my thoughts so well!

[@adamstanley3278]

Starfield is the first BGS game I've ever quit before finishing - from terribly written dialogue and quests that don't even connect correctly and a main story that's AWFUL literally 15x the same fetch quest, to ugly hollow NPC's, to the clunky, multi-gated crafting system that hard discourages crafting weapons, to ONE OUTCOME for all quests removing the last vestiges of RPG, to all the weapons feeling so same-y it's basically like 3 different guns and one melee weapon, to "city" design that makes them feel like small, mostly empty theme parks, to the mind-numbing slog of procedural generation, it genuinely feels like every single system in starfield was a notable downgrade from prior BGS titles, and actual gameplay is just a boring, monotonous chore - it feels like they sat around an ideas board for 7 years and then 2 weeks before release, just asked ChatGPT to generate a generic space game lol - was genuinely miserable playing it and sad/angry I was duped into buying it - thanks Todd.....When every single system feels janky and lazy and unfinished, I don't think it was just unrealistic expectations - the game is just badly made. I didn't need them to deviate from their formula - I just wanted it to be not lazily copy-pasted crap with extra resource gathering chores added in for no reason to waste more of your time.

[@AlvinWillistonDavis]

I really love the game, I have been seeing so many negative videos I started to wonder if there was something amiss with my taste. But I carried on anyway watching tutorials on the various systems and really loving the story and it's moral dilemmas. It's not perfect but, it's interesting and challenging in a non cynical way and that's incredibly refreshing.

[@piersyfy4148]

There is nothing wrong with enjoying a game. Have fun! But there's always something to learn about yourself when you disagree with other people, especially if many people disagree with you. It's good to understand the reasons why.

[@Plathismo]

Good take. You have to engage with what this game is, not obsess over what it isn't. The reception Starfield has gotten underscores why developers don't really try to make this kind of game very often. Every time a dev announces they're working on a space exploration game, on some level gamers immediately expect a game of essentially infinite scope, completely seamless, and 100% handcrafted. Such a game does not and cannot exist.

[@na-dm6jb]

No . We expected a bethesda title with fun exploration and interesting pois. Not copy paste laziness

[@Ser_Salty]

One thing I really appreciate about the game is that it never actually tells you who or what made the artifacts and the temples and stuff. It's not important, they just exist. Maybe they were made by an intelligent life form, maybe they were made by a higher power, or maybe they're just a natural part of the universe, like rocks and light. Also, I have to say, I really do not mind not having to land on planets myself. I haven't played Elite, but in No Mans Sky it never felt particularly good anyway, just a bit janky, and I do not miss having to zoom around a planet because the place I need to get to is on the other side. Always just annoyed me.

[@clavet9727]

you practically put in perspective of what I thought of the game and drama

[@strangebrew1746]

After initially hating it and giving up completely after a few hours, I finally gave it another go. And it has hooked me completely. This game completely ignores any modern standard of space games and realized its just a big Bethesda RPG with a heavy influence from 80s space games, mostly the Starflight series which I guess should have been obvious being called Starfield. Once I got onboard with that I haven't stopped playing.

[@lolitsajoke77]

There is something to it that just keeps calling you back. I can’t explain it.

[@kloakovalimonada]

Most issues are completely self-inflicted. Don't have a manpower to custom design tons of planet? Then DON'T DO AN ENTIRE GALAXY. Can't do seamless space flight? DON'T TEASE IT THEN. Can't make big maps? DON'T DO ENTIRE CITIES THEN. And so on.

[@thekingspin9846]

If I pitched a movie about space and we'd be exploring 100's of barren planets, no doubt people would agree that it would be realistic and maybe serene, but not entertaining.Video games are in the entertainment industry after all, their success unsurprisingly ties in with their ability to entertain.

[@sagearmaggedon7307]

Starfield is a great trap for misunderstanding and self-manufactured misery (where you play a game a specific way that makes it harder than it should be). Truthfully , people don’t know what the game is supposed to be. Its easy to see a game like minecraft and say “I know what this game is doing and its not for me.” But because Starfield does so many things, its super easy for people to form a preconception on what it is and is supposed to be doing. People are running into loading screens because they are landing, getting loot, then selling it to vendors that dont have alot of credits, so they have to jump to another location to sell again. This causes people to run into loading screens alot. If they engaged the game based on its intended design, you can literally go a large amount of time without seeing a single loading screen. If there was one thing Starfield certainly did wrong, it was marketing it to the masses, as it is a niche game and many will not find it entertaining.

[@forcefed6444]

I agree with almost everything you mentioned in this video. I am enjoying this game a lot. Got over 440+ hours in on 1st play thru. In my time playing I have not had nearly as many bug issues. Some I think add a true Bethesda flavor to the game, like when you are in a moon base killing spacers and you shoot his jet pack launching him into the air. Except there is a ceiling above him and his head gets imbedded in the ceiling. Now he is dead hanging from the ceiling like a hung up boxing bag. The only things that really bother me is, 1. Not being able to fly my ship to and from the surface of the planet/moon. I spent dozens of hours designing my ship till I got my desired look (SR-71 Blackbird), but hardly get to actually fly it. Made me think it was a waste of time building but, I did enjoy the time building and trying diff part merging methods. It was fun. 2. the immersion with npc's. They are all emotionless droids. Bump into them, no reaction, they dont even budge. Pull your weapon out and wave it at their face, no reaction, start blasting your guns off, no reaction. I never tried BG3, for I have no interest in playing it. its not that Im hating on the game, if you enjoy it, play it. For me, I played Skyrim from day one. Im done with fantasy themed games. Just like all the zombie games, they are over played and waaaay to many games with the same theme. This Space (semi)RPG is what I have been longing for a while now! Its not perfect but still loving it. Sorry for the long ass comment. lol Great video, just sub'd for more!

[@Noveler00]

I totally agree with what you said. There are maby ways to play the Starfield. I've spent most of my time, outside of ship building, surveying planets and moons as a brainless mode that earn respectable xp, but ive also learbed how certain resources are connected to certain types of terrain which makes base building an interesting prospect. But, there are the game breaking bugs. Ive lost 2 ship rewards, lost 4 crew(including the fan), unable to complete separate 4 quests with one of them the main quest that prevents me from unlocking the space magic.

[@shaneandera1409]

I agree with this review wholeheartedly. Bethesda created a space game based off of real scenarios, and real expectations. And people couldn't grasp that concept. The POI's is a major game killer for some, saying that they should have created hundreds of different structurers, but that is now how it should be done. Take colonization and resource gathering for instance. How would you colonize a planet, or set up a station for oil refining. Would you try to build something unique each time, or build from a blueprint that is tried and true and you know works? That is exactly how space colonization works. You want to build something that just works, and the cookie cutter approach method does just that. People cannot grasp that concept. I love the story lines that they have created, from the corruption of Neon, to the cowboy culture of Akila City, and the high and toity society of New Atlantis. We get to view different demographics at each city and its refreshing. Everything is spread out, and not all clumped together under one gigantic metropolis like Cyberpunk. Another thing people forget about is the vast expansion experience that the upcoming DLC's will provide. They want ground vehicles and mechs and this and that. Well if they would just wait, maybe BGS will be bringing those in through the DLC portion of the game, just like building robots in FO4 came with the Automatron DLC.

[@r.rodriguez4991]

There are so many ways this game could have been improved but even as is it is really really fun and at the end of the day that is what makes a good game, not being groundbreaking or changing the world of gaming. That's great and all but if a game is fun it has done it's job.

[@samiam4544]

If you could be anything other than a good space cop it might be a real RPG. As is it is just an FPS with some RPG elements that do not effect the story at all.

[@r.rodriguez4991]

@@samiam4544 What are you talking about? I'm currently playing a thief/con-man. Are you sure you've actually played this game? You aren't one of those people who's just watched videos and complain about it, right?

[@samiam4544]

@@r.rodriguez4991 No, over 600hrs trying to like the game. Over half of that ruined by game breaking bugs. It is just boring after first play through. Not saying it is bad just not as good as I expected it to be.

[@r.rodriguez4991]

@@samiam4544 I'm on my second playthrough and having much more fun than during my first. I've also not encountered a single game breaking bug.

[@amitansurkar1769]

I mean you can say that about every game..... Every game can be improved a lot.... and above all I hate when people sit and compare it to games which have had 3 to 6 yrs of constant updates.... I say you give the same time to Starfield and it'll become an unstoppable force.... Give it mods, dlc, major updates..... It's just a matter of time really

[@popstiklt.5922]

All Bethesda games are better later, after they release DLC, mods... patches. And yes Fallout 4 also had such comments, but not this much. I enjoyed the game, but even for me this game isn't as fun as the previous ones... And it's not because of unrealistic expectations.

[@catvr_18]

That's ok! I just wanted to share how I changed my mind about it and found I was able to enjoy it!

[@woolenthreads]

It's my understanding that they actually removed systems so that they could introduce them into DLC's, or so I've been informed. If they truly did this, all I can say is that it was a huge mistake because people don't want the DLC(s) to introduce new mechanics that happen to be old mechanics from previous games, they want, especially for RPG's, New Story Content. So in my opinion, they should have kept those mechanics in the release and worked on new additional mechanics and new engaging stories. Oh well, maybe they'll work it out one day.... Ground Effect Vehicles don't have to be wheeled they could have devised low-level Grav Field Floaters or Hovercraft.

[@SilvyReacts]

Whoever told you this is lying to you. No one knows anything in regards to what is coming in the DLC. Plus, what mechanics are you even talking about?

[@woolenthreads]

Practically anything that was a useable mechanic in F4 should have been available in Starfield, they may have upgraded the creation engine but the base systems are still in there. So dismantling item benches for instance. Walls and Gates. With regards to someone lying or not. I took it with a grain of cynicism as per my second comment. Don't mind the edit I have to correct the spelling. Don't get me wrong I've enjoyed my 400 hours in the game. However there are some things obviously missing which puzzle me. and some of those missing mechanics or items frustrate me at times.

[@RowanTheTree]

One thing I've seen alot is people saying they should've only done a few systems with a few planets to make things more densely packed. I think this wouldn't work for 2 main reasons 1) It doesn't fit their vision or hope for the game, they want it to be agame about exploration and finding new places, you can't really do that in a colonised system where people already have covered all the planets surfaces in settlements. 2) The same problem people have of travelling between different outposts would still be there, just in less space. You'd still be going around, landing at the settlements on the planet or in some unpopulated part where there's just nothing there until you get to where you want to be. Sure there may be a bit less of it, but at the end of the day it'd still be there for people who realy want that "exploration" that doesn't seem to be in the game right now

[@QuantumBucket]

Great video! Definitely feel Starfield really begins to shine after your first playthrough. For me, I felt like after learning about the world and mechanics provided in Starfield, I could create a character to play that would actually fit in it and would want to interact with the factions in my second playthrough and it was so much more fun!

[@piersyfy4148]

I feel like they made a very niche game and released it in a mainstream spotlight. Niche games can be great to certain people, but the reason they're niche is often that they're not made to be accessible to a broader audience, which is what it sounds like to me when people say it takes X hours before it gets good.

[@JosephMichael]

This exactly. It was my first Bethesda game (aside from a brief attempt at fo4 back in the day) and although I enjoyed my first play through I have enjoyed all my consecutive play throughs more. I get the world, I get the people. I can make a character that accurately fits into said world. Love this game

[@AzViking69]

Watching your video was a breath of fresh air as I’ve grown tired of the cry club and crap creators grabbing at low hanging fruit for clicks and sub’s. There literally is far more of us that enjoy the game than of them that haven’t stopped crying endlessly into their pillows every night because a game isn’t how they demand it to be. Bethesda has a long track record that’s been very consistent game after game and watching so many reviews it’s clear so many lack that basic understanding or lack any kind of history. You earned a sub from me as this was well done and well thought out and articulated. Keep up the good work.

[@ItsChevnotJeff]

For me, it wasn't the game itself, but how the creators handled it's backlash

[@Judymoe]

I'm with you 9n the planet variety...irl, it's not a thing, so I never expected every planet to be like NMS, because RL is not full of planets that have tons of plants and creatures

[@catvr_18]

Yeah! I'm genuinely not sure why people are upset about this! Elite Dangerous is mostly barren so I was so glad to land on random planets and find things to do in Starfield!

[@lolololo-cx4dp]

You guys are being unfair, when people point out some flaw about realism you say it wasn't a sim, but when people point out a flaw about fun game element you say it's realistic.

[@highlyopinionated5611]

14 and a half minutes of a review that essentially amount to: "Its not the games fault that you not like it, its you." Oh, I'm sorry for expecting a f*cking RPG when the game is advertised as a f*cking RPG. I guess I'm just an a*hole then for not liking bordeline false advertisement or wasting my money on something I ended up not enjoying, because the developer promised something different. It's Bethesda, I clearly shouldn't have gotten my hopes up for them to improve their craft or try something different for a change with this completely new IP. I mean, its a space setting instead of a DnD adjacent fantasy or the post apocalypse. That's already so different, I must have been crazy to ask for more distinction from their previous titles. 🙄

[@jamesmeldrum4563]

I so tire of hearing the realism argument used to excuse boring. This is meant to be a game, not a simulator.

[@constanciokurdapio541]

Not a simulator, but people bitched about cut screens in landing and moving from system to system. Now I'm confused. Anyway, get missions, and land planets for a reason, the more you do missions, the more you populated planets with PIOs... but yeah, if that's what you only do, it'll bore you, but there's more stuff to do aside from kill missions.

[@amitansurkar1769]

😂😂, I thought people wanted a sim... Now suddenly they dont

[@jamesmeldrum4563]

@@amitansurkar1769 People wanted a game first.

[@iaaiahrios8960]

Its still a game and at first i did had the same reaction up until i actually started to talk and the game started to feel more full

[@Flagsitta]

Who wanted a sim?!? Todd. Todd wanted a sim.

[@MAXHALO369]

Thank you! As someone that loved Starfield from the moment I booted it up it's great to see someone else that gets it! I've lost count of the number of times someone has said "oh if you think Starfield is good wait until you play Baldur's Gate 3, or Elden Ring or (insert completely unrelated game here)" And they don't seem to get that I'm playing Starfield because it's the only game that does all of the things that it does, why would BG3 scratch my itch for a sci-fi adventure game with ship building and real time combat?!

[@oditeomnes]

Usually I feel bad playingas an evil character. However in Starfield I enjoy being a pirate and a Hunter's best bud and I could not figure out why at first. Then it hit me, the character models are just uncanny valley in this game. They are creepy and they stare at me, then for some weird reason the vast majority of NPC are talking down at me while praising me for being a hero at the same time... It just made me think "hey, the shooting mechanics are better than previous bethesda titles, let's massacre New Atlantis citizens!" Usually I don't complain about graphics, but whatever they did, they did manage to immerse me too feel that NPCs are people.

[@psychospyder2283]

If the next time I go to the pawn shop, I have to sit there and wait for 6 days in a row in order to sell what I have on me, I will agree that Starfield is a good game. With over 400 hrs in the game, the economy (vendor credits) is the only thing I truly hate about it. It kills immersion.

[@catvr_18]

Fair point 😂 Selling things can be a pain, just like storing it. Never said the game was perfect obviously, but I'm glad you have 400 hrs! Not many people can say that apparently!

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

Especially in a future where 'creds' are digital data stored on a chip. Bethesda expects players to believe that an entity that spans the settled systems like the Trade Authority, especially one involved in all sorts of illicit business on the side, can't afford to pay more than 11,000 credits for stuff. But then the player is expected to pay 500,000 credits if they want to purchase a fancy C Class starship...

[@skyriminspace]

​@@XoRandomGuyoXyou have to do what's called "suspend your disbelief", as with most or almost all fiction. Of course the TA would have limitless credits, but it would instantly fuck the game's balance. So they put "rules" like this in to, believe it or not, create fun. There are creative ways to sell unwanted salvage. If you find a vendor who only has maybe 2 or 3000 credits but who also sells crafting components, you buy out his stock of components & suddenly he has over 20,000 credits to buy your guns. You can trade with civilian outposts. You can trade with a large proportion of civilian ships you encounter in space.

[@High_Key]

It’s my favorite game in a LONG time. It just works..for me

[@tadhgspiano]

Really appreciate this take. Been annoyed at all the negative reviews, and it kind of put me off actually playing the game - even though I enjoy it quite a lot when playing it. I feel like one thing that I haven't really seen discussed is that this is really the first Bethesda game that has had a full development cycle after it became really clear how integral modding is to the continued success of Bethesda games. I mean, Fallout 4 was presumably already in development when modding for Skyrim really took off. Starfield seems tailored to be a nearly blank canvas for modders to build in, all while also including enough quests and actual exploration options for hundreds of hours of gameplay unmodded.

[@amazinghorizon8270]

Modding for Oblivion and Fallout 3 had exploded though by the time Fallout 4 was developed, so they should have been aware of it already. And even for Morrowind (the first game where they included the modding tools) modding became big quite fast, certainly before Skyrim came out.

[@tadhgspiano]

Totally. Modding was definitely a big thing before development on FO4 was complete, but it had almost certainly been started before modding Skyrim became the behemoth it has. It was still a bit of a "we support modding in our games" orientation rather than a "let's create a game with 1,000 empty planets for modders to fill." @@amazinghorizon8270

[@familialgameaholics7618]

I'm onenof the few whonhas been able to enjoy this game, and I believe it's because I took it at face value. I had no expectations for it as far as comparing it to.other games or experiences. I've enjoyed every minute of playing through missions, looting, exploring planets. These days, folks too often begin a new game biased. You really just have to try and come into a new game with a blank canvas perspective.

[@Axterix13]

The problem with Starfield is Starfield. It isn't bad, but it also isn't good. And in many cases, the potential for it to be good is right there, or, if not that, the bad is so obvious that it shouldn't have made it to live. And the reason you see more and more videos calling the game out for what it lacks is because it does have that breadth of content. And so you move on from thing to thing, hoping to find what will redeem it. Maybe this skill will do it. Maybe if I craft an outpost. And each will disappoint you. Eventually, you run out of new things you think might fix things. And that's when you see the reality of the game. This is why Starfield's rating started out high, and subsequently dropped. This, by the way, means people weren't disappointed by Starfield initially, or because they only played a few hours. They're disappointed because they played more than a few hours, and with every passing hour, the flaws become more apparent and numerous. If they'd put a bit more effort into certain parts, then there would be enough good to make up for the "Well, it's functional" parts of the game. But they didn't. They went with stupid choices, like no maps for the cities (or even the ability to select key places to be guided to). They have that 5k limit for most vendors, and then put chairs next to them so you can sit and wait for vendors to restock. They made most guns do crap damage so you have to empty magazine after magazine into enemies unless you get one of the few good mods that makes the weapon decent. 8 years in development. And you know that almost every single design decision complaint players are routinely raising, that modders are fixing, like the many antiquated/poor UI choices, their in-house testers will have brought up. And someone in management made the choice to not address these issues. To leave the lackluster, no design effort as what they wanted to ship with. Seriously, someone approved their implementation of melee weapons, and ignored everything their in house testers told them about how much it sucked.

[@theitechlab]

This is an excellent video that hits the nail on the head. I am someone who really enjoys Starfield, has 120ish hours in the game since launch, and was really hyped ever since E3 2018. While I do enjoy it, I still recognize that there are some flaws that need to be addressed by BGS. The main problem with Starfield is not actually Starfield, like you said. It's mostly people and their overblown expectations, expecting BGS to do something completely different. Before launch, I was basically running crowd control on r/Starfield saying that people were setting their expectations wayyyy too high and were expecting BGS to deliver NMS+ED+SC+Fallout with all of the strengths and none of the weaknesses. When we got exactly what BGS promised (a BGS RPG set in space), people were livid because they projected their wants, dreams, and ideas of what they thought they game should be onto Starfield. Many got really disappointed because it didn't live up to their image of what the game "was going to be". I set my expectations from the beginning--Starfield was always going to be a BGS RPG in space. I never expected (or wanted) a deviation from the formula they've been using since Oblivion. CohhCarnage said it best--if you go into the game looking for flaws and trying to nitpick it to death, you're going to have a bad experience, because that is what you're looking for. If you go into the game looking to have fun and to play in the sandbox BGS created, you're going to have a good time. There are certainly legitimate issues that people can have with the game, and I'm not saying people can't dislike the game either. I do, however, think a lot of problems stem from people expecting BGS to cater to their exact preferences, and then being disappointed when it doesn't, instantly polarizing their opinion to the far extremes of negativity and hate. This feeds the hate train of review bombing and negative videos on YT about it. I do think in a year or two, people will undoubtedly start putting out "Was I Too Harsh on Starfield?" and "Starfield Was Underrated" videos. Just as Call of Duty has the COD cycle, BGS has the BGS cycle--current game is trash, last game was underrated/good, next game will be the best ever, repeat. EDIT: I also wanted to add that I don't like the game out of a "consoomer" mindset where I have to love everything BGS creates. I'm also a big fan of the real Star Wars (PT+OT+EU novels), and I have been relentless with my critiques of the sequel movies and TV shows and their "consoomer" fans that are fine with eating garbage as long as it has the logo on it. Starfield is not that--it's a good game with some flaws, but at its core it is a solid experience and is an enjoyable new IP in an era of remakes, remasters, or unnecessary/endless sequels.

[@awdrifter3394]

Nah, I'm disappointed at this game even as a Bethesda game. Mechanically I have issue with the lack of a minimap (or even a detailed city map on the non-randomly generated cities), lack of land vehicles, and the loading screens between area of a city or ship or within a solar system. I can accept that grav jumping between solar systems will necessitate loading screens, but I think once you're at a solar system, everything should be seemless. This is a current gen game with the consoles that have 12-16GB of RAM, this should be possible. Storywise I really liked the Freestar, UC, and Crimson Fleet storylines (not so much on the Ryujin), but the main storyline is boring and all the temples being the same is uncreative. So to me, this game is a 7/10, not a bad game but compared to the previous Bethesda games that I've played and loved (Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout 4) this is a downgrade.

[@sagearmaggedon7307]

Remember, the game has to keep up with alot of stuff, including changes that you make in the environment and things that you build as well as random encounters. And each planet you land on has great potential for any of those things. Doing this without loading screens would be an astronomical feat.

[@awdrifter3394]

@@sagearmaggedon7307 Even then, loading an entire planet including the city's building interiors would've been nice. I'm basically a pirate in the game, so I'm in Kryx a lot. Having to load even within the Key makes the game feel so small and disjointed. I understand PS3/PS4 can't do it in their past games (Skyrim, Fallout3/4) , but this is a current gen console only game, it should be able to do that.

[@sagearmaggedon7307]

@@awdrifter3394 If they made changes to certain systems, Im sure they could

[@jjide76]

I am not sure what people are thinking or seeing. I love the game. I just started my 2nd NG+ and plan on going again after so e adventures in my current universe. My save file is over 300 hours, maybe closer to 400 at this point. Soon we will have mods ... oh glory! It will be amazing.

[@vincer7824]

That’s interesting because after 150 hours I concluded that Starfields real problem is indeed Starfield. Not going to write an essay as I’ve detailed its many issues elsewhere but the overall feel of the game is disjointed and disparate. The many systems of Starfield are either incomplete within themselves or lacking efficient connection between them. I don’t think the game has one major problem, but many, many small choices that work against immersion, worldbuilding and role-playing. Some work against enjoyment altogether. I’ve described it as “Death By A Thousand Cuts: The Game”. Is it a bad game? No. I enjoyed the majority of time with it. Playing in 4k the game can be quite pretty and the shipbuilding is the single strongest and addicting part of it for me. Is it an amazing game? No. Its many flaws accumulated the more I played it, got more difficult to ignore/justify and towards the end made it unbearable and frustrating. I love space and sci-fi. I really enjoyed some of the questlines. I actively tried to love Starfield for what it was, and there were times I got close. Then I would encounter one of the many terrible game design decisions and sigh. Aside from the many reviews that lambast the game as pure hot garbage (a simplistic take I don’t agree with) there are many others that will label it as simply bland, mid, disappointing or just ok. Some of those reviews were made by people who have indeed played the game for over 100 hours. Some of them are made by people who love prior BGS releases. Some older, some much younger. Some are exclusively players and some who have modded many previous BGS titles. One such review basically said for every one element that Starfield gets right, there is something attached to or missing from it that makes that element less fun. I found that statement to be accurate. I understand why many people adore Starfield or just think it is a solid worthwhile game. On the other hand I can understand why some people put it down rather quickly and got a refund. It had great potential but never rises to it, fluctuating from brief moments of inspiring genuine satisfaction to wondering how some features even got approved at a AAA studio with decades of game dev experience. In my opinion many of its flaws are fundamental and cannot be fixed by mods. If you know the kind of player you are and do some research to understand the kind of game Starfield is, you can have a good time, whether that means buying it now, waiting for a sale, waiting for mod support or skipping it entirely. EDIT: For someone who decided to not write an essay this is a long post. Guess I couldn’t help myself.

[@jamesbooth3360]

I agree. I have been a BGS fan since Oblivion. I anticipated Starfield since the trademark filing. I learned to expect with each new game release to have a hot mess of bugs and crashes, but the world they developed was always compelling, immersion, and cohesive. Starfield lacks cohesion. It is a collection of disjointed activities. The quests and faction stories fail to unify the various worlds and activities together. At the end of the day it is 'a little bit of this and a little bit of that', but nothing compels me to reload my last save. Previously, I looked forward to continuing the adventure of exploring Tamriel or the Wasteland. I hope they continue to invest in this game and try to flesh it out. Maybe focus more on the dynamics between the factions or build more compelling reasons to explore. Surveying Planets for credits is a very poor excuse and motivation to spend hours hopping around, encountering the same bases over and over. The same goes for space. Add a critical need for dangerous spacewalks, satellite repairs, busy spacestation trading hubs with other ships and crews that you meet and join, compete against, or have conflicts with chasing resources, tech, or bounties. There are so many possibilities for the Starfield canvas, but Bethesda failed to really develop and integrate the elements. Hopefully, the mod tools will be released soon.

[@thatvillainjay]

Awesome vid dood

[@jaymichael497]

Liked and also shared actually which isn't something I often do. I have noticed this trend of "what 'X' game isn't and should be" and "community outrage over most recent patch of 'X' game" or "Playerbase leaving/declining because idiot devs wtf???" type content for quite a while tbh as strictly a consumer of said gaming content. Honestly, I'm over bashing-the-game videos. I've been playing games since a kid in the 90's. Games that, by today's standards, are obsolete in every way. Ya know what tho? I love some of those SNES and Gameboy Color titles for What. They. Were. Not 1000 content creators' bad review/trash posts could ever change my mind, and that can be said about any modern or future game as well. We are all individuals yeah and not cloned lil robots? I like what I like, as I'm sure everyone does, but let's talk about that rather than what we don't like maybe? I like this video, truly. Thank you for saying what I think many are thinking on one level or another.

[@catvr_18]

Well said. I wish we could all say what we like and then "this part wasn't for me" and move on. Thank you for sharing it!!

[@Yusuf.819]

Starfield its just a relaxing comfort zone most players will enjoy and few, like me, will love coming back to. It’s just that gamers nowadays are constantly searching excuses to praise or hate developers. Probably in few months this game will be the “underrated Beteshda gem”

[@ohaya1]

I'm 40. Played it for on game pass for about 5 hours. Didn't like it, not for me, uninstalled

[@Rockr69747]

Brother I'm almost 900 hrs in. I feel your love and your pain.

[@jbreefer148]

Great video. ❤ starfield and Elite Dangerous

[@Hzuuuu]

The point you made about the POIs is exactly what I thought every time I hear someone complain it being empty. Starfield is only a few hundreds of years into the future with humanity almost at the brink of extinction. Space is empty, just like real life. Humans have only managed to travel inside the Milky Way in Starfield. That's not very advanced compared to most popular sci-fi space exploration stories. The fact that Constellation has to exist in Starfield's world shows that their generation has stopped advancing, with so few people that's willing to spare their free time to explore further into space.

[@Chad4401]

Thanks for this video tried of seeing people forcing their expectations on the game instead of accepting the game for what it is, and alot of console war is the driving force.

[@PsyckoSama]

I expect a game to run stable and not be shit. Starfield failed at both.

[@PeterJohnson76]

I played this for 10 hours... 15 mins shooting enemies and 9 hrs 45 mins walking n the most boring environment ive ever seen.

[@kirglow4639]

I am pro social justice and all that comes with it, and I'm a fan of Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3 & 4 and put thousands of hours into those games. I hated Starfield for how uninspired, void, sterile and tedious it was. I'm not going to buy another Bethesda game until they overhaul their engine and start respecting their players

[@chefbink61]

I told a friend the same thing you said here. So many of the content creators speculated how the game was going to be, and when it came out and it wasn't what they wanted they started to trash it. Sure it has bugs,,, all games do. Yes there are things about the game I do not like, but I can find something I don't like in any game I play. That's just life! Starfield is a good game and there is so much to do: you just have to dig around a bit to find it, like talking to NPC. I have 604 hours in the game with NG+10 and I still keep running into stuff that I never saw or did. I like the game and I will keep playing it. I have over 1400 hours in NMS and I like it as well but it's not the same type of game. I think Bethesda understands that a space genre game is hard to make for the masses, Games like SC, Eve, ED, and NMS are really for a niche crowd. I think they wanted to make a game that even someone who is not into space sims would be able to hop in Starfield and enjoy it. Like in SC after a few take offs and landings I myself want fast travel. To me after a few time the fun is gone and now it feels like a job. Anyway I agree and I glad to see this youtube,,, thanks!

[@techno_otaku]

I hope it isn't insincere to say something like this, but Starfield feels like a Space Simulator than a full RPG like past Bethesda titles. It isn't really *bad* , just a different vibe than what most others have seen in other games or are used to when they try to compared other other space-centered games. If other's enjoy it as is, more power to them^

[@basedfemboi9401]

The problem is they copy everything from skyrim the awful perk system completely destoys the rpg elements

[@WilliamH157]

I've been looking for a video like this. I played the game when it released for about a month, and experienced many of the same frustrations you described. I put the game down and picked it up again two weeks ago. I was able to accept the game for what it is, instead of hating it for what it isn't. It completely transformed my relationship with the game.

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

The two main issues I have with the game are how exploration feels under-baked with how often places repeat, with a lack of unique stuff dampening the main reason to explore(compare that to Skyrim where every bend in the road might lead to something new), and how 'safe' Bethesda kept the narrative and supporting cast(Constellation in particular has sticks up their butt, even about entire questlines). As mentioned by players, the Vanguard and Crimson Fleet story-lines might be considered the peaks for the game, which isn't really a compliment.

[@jasonbow1926]

In my opinion, exploration (a la Skyrim style) is not possible in Starfield because you can't traverse the verse. With travel being all menus and cut scenes, you can't 'bump' into anything interesting along the way. I think it's one of the reasons you get quests yell at you in major cities, it's one of the few spots for that to happen. By missing this key part of why Skyrim continues to be amazing, they made a BGS game that's worse than Skyrim.

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

@@jasonbow1926 It could be as easy as having 30 special locations queued into the system, which would then be dispersed across the systems whenever a new game or character file is started. But the basic locations would benefit from having different layouts or events that would be determined one way or the other when your ship lands. It isn't so much of an issue to have standardized "pre-fab" buildings be the norm for space deployment, but whenever you see a location name from the 20 or 30 static locations in the pool you know exactly what to expect. Caves, as boring as they are otherwise, are the slight exception as they can sometimes be filled with live critters.

[@jasonbow1926]

@@XoRandomGuyoXThere are tons of ways to make the current game more interesting. Better random location pool, spreading them out in a realistic way, making the universe more lived in, random settlements and economies. Having every surface of every planet and moon cluttered with POIs, equally distanced 3-4m apart, also doesn't make any sense. But to have space be sparse, you'd need a way to travel, explore, scan to discover rare POIs. These are all mechanics that don't exist in the game. And mods won't be able to fix that :/

[@SilvyReacts]

*"with how often places repeat"* The reason this happens is because there really is no good way to do it. We are talking about trying to fill in empty space that is vast and practically infinite from a human perspective. You can either fill in these locations with procedurally generated structures, but then you run into an issue of quantity over quality. Procedural generation just isn't that good when it comes to man made structures. And chances are, they would all feel the same anyway even if the layout is slightly different. Instead they chose quality over quantity. They hand crafted these locations, but because they are all handcrafted there is a limit to how many they could realistically make while simultaneously developing the rest of the game. Cause remember, those random places are a very VERY small portion of the game. They are practically the equivalent of radiant quests in Skyrim.

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

@@SilvyReacts There are methods they could employ to break things up. One option is to have different groups or enemy layouts that can be randomized. Bethesda does set aside special circumstances for the buildings for quests, like changing the Deserted UC Outpost to just Deserted Outpost for the Eleos Retreat quest, swapping the usual Crimson Fleet for automated defenses. Another is to make 20-30 'special' encounters that are randomly seeded among the thousand planets upon character creation, or starting a new game, so that there are intriguing things to see in 20-30 of the star systems that aren't directly tied to a quest.

[@markphillips7589]

Well said! Thank you! I have never played any other Bethsaida game, & am really enjoying Starfield.

[@jonmirenhernandezaresti793]

The only Starfield hill I will die on is how much I want land vehicles

[@bobroberts2581]

2:25 “but what if they weren’t goody two shoes.” 2:30 asking bartenders if they’ve heard of rumors or work needing done isn’t horribly unbelievable. Hell, asking a bartender for work in some bars is a good way to find out contractors that are low on workers.

[@catvr_18]

That's fair. I had a pretty strict criteria for what my character would or wouldn't say so I'm glad I abandoned my strictness in roleplaying.

[@pracitus]

It is goody two shoes

[@WizeOldWizard]

HOLY SHIT. An honest, neutral, fact-based review. NOT another goddamn hate-speech published based on an opinion formed by less than a day worth of gameplay. Thank you. Well done! Liked and subbed. I have something like 750 hours in Starfield. I only JUST built my first outpost home-base. Having spent most of my playtime in the ship builder, I haven't even come close to playing all of the quest lines yet, nor have I started an NG+. SO MUCH left to do still. Great game, far from perfect, but it is really and truly great.

[@andrewkelly1337]

This message applies to so, so, so much.

[@lawrenwimberly7311]

It IS a Bethesda game... as someone who has played Bethesda games since Morrowind, It didn't disturb me... You can consume me with side quests while ignoring the main Quest. The variety is enough for me... Kill the hype, and enjoy what s there,... It is a decent game

[@Adam-xd9tr]

It's nice to see a take on the game that doesn't ignore the issues but isn't blasting negativity all the time. I don't know what it is about Bethesda games that gets such strong reactions out of people. I am truly curious to see what people's reaction will be years down the line. After first impressions and a packed year have gone by what the game's reception will be. I'm tired of the whole "it's a masterpiece or the worst thing ever made" mentality that plagues KZbin reviews for both games and movies.

[@dickyboi4956]

Yea the comparisons to fo76 or cyberpunk at launch is pretty fucking annoying. Also the constant need to bring up baldurs gate 3 like i have to pick a side even though the fucking devs of bg3 have come out telling people to chill because its that bad. Seems like its just a meme to hate this game.

[@Adam-xd9tr]

@@dickyboi4956 Huh, I didn't know the BG3 devs themselves were tired of the constant negativity.

[@Judymoe]

Um, I'm a 60 year old woman who's played every BGS game since "Arena", do I can say it's proba ly not older gamers; we're probably more likely to be patient with games...we came up playing text adventures, so you know graphics don't need to be on Ultra.

[@catvr_18]

My bad! I wasn't trying to be ageist with that comment. I was referring to some specific game reviewers I was seeing. I just meant to refute some of these extremely negative claims on the game and how I was able to change my mind by giving Starfield a second chance! Thanks for watching my video!

[@ChrisCar-ym9ds]

Finally a review that's out of the "I want likes and views because of the drama title, saying the same thing as 100000 others" box... And I didn't had to put on x1,25 or x1,5 😂🎉❤ I have Gamepass Ultimate and still spend the +100€ because I can see the future 👀😉😂

[@DanChernikov]

And that's it. Release your expectations and just play the game. Stop trying to force it to be what you want it to be, and see it for its own thing that it is. That's where I found my satisfaction. Now I can spend hours just scanning, mining and selling like a space trucker. May be boring to others, but it has found this place of relaxation for me. The negativity that so many have for this game is that they can't let go of this idea of intellectual ownership for something that was never theirs in the first place. I can't describe this sense of entitlement that so many games (not all) seem to exude when they don't get what they want. Do they even know what they want?

[@porkysoda5899]

I was following this game religiously, and I noticed a hard shift on how this game was being discussed before launch and before we found out it was going to be an Xbox exclusive. I remember everyone was hyped and hopeful about this game when Todd Howard announced along with TES: 6 a long time ago. Then Xbox bought zenimax, people were still speculating Starfield was coming out on ps5 anyway. Starfield is made an Xbox exclusive and that’s when the slander and hate really started. Now I only see PlayStation fanboys refer to this game as “Starflop”. Which it very clearly wasn’t a flop, financially and as a game in general. Not hard to see how the negativity tainted the waters.

[@cjinworldofgaming511]

I love how you waited for videogamedunkey to make a review on the game only for him to make a compilation mocking reviews.

[@joanned8172]

It is a very fun game but I do hope they improve the exploration part. They already did a bit in the patch vastly boosting the random encounters on jumps.

[@iaaiahrios8960]

Agreed on that they need to add a rover or something

[@gangstercomputergod9362]

Maybe it's just the people I've watched talk about it, or maybe it's just because I really wasn't super invested in it, but I never really saw hype for the game. A lot of people seemed like they decided they wouldn't like it and it'd be a bad game before it came out. I've talked to people who bragged about uninstalling and refunding the moment they reached the character creator like it somehow made them better than everyone by deciding it was a bad game before playing it. And everything that's been on my recommendations about it seems really hyperbolic. It could really be a bad game. I haven't played it, probably won't play it for a while, and really haven't watched much content on it. But from an outsider perspective, a lot of the hate around the game feels more like an internet trend than something organic. Like even people who dislike it or think it's meh or never even played it are carried away by the mob to say it's the worst thing ever. If you want to know if you'd want to play a game or not, go to one of those "no commentary gameplay" channels and watch like an hour of it or something. And then if it looks good wait for a sale (fuck paying $70 for a game). Maybe it's just because I aggressively hate trends, but I think people should form their own opinions.

[@Adam-xd9tr]

I have no idea what it is about Bethesda games that gets such a strong reaction out of people. I've legitimately seen people say that you're an idiot and sheep if you dare enjoy Skyrim or Starfield or any of their games. I like the Elder Scrolls just fine, but I wouldn't call any of the games masterpieces. Yet so many people treat these games as either the best things ever made or a blight upon gaming. It's okay to like something that's good but not amazing, just as it's okay to dislike something that's not for you. But forming hate mobs over a damn game where videos like this are a refreshing change of pace is getting ridiculous.

[@Cmdr_DarkNite]

I've played NMS and ED. People say space isn't seemless in Starfield. That's false, as proven by Alanah Pearce. It took her 7 hours to fly to Pluto from another planet. Sure Pluto wasn't actually there when she got there, but she still proved that Pluto is seemless. I can explain why Starfield has loading screens. Its because the random encounters don't load in without the loading screens. Now, whether Bethesda couldn't figure it out or not I don't know, but this is why the loading screens are needed. I played ED more than NMS and Starfield (Starfield time about to pass ED time). In ED, when you want to go somewhere, you have to pull up the menu, mark it, face it, go into frameshift drive and go there. Btw, random encounters in ED DONT happen without being in Frameshift Drive's Supercruise. That might as well be a loading screen. In Starfield, you pull up the menu, mark a location, leave the menu, look at the marker, and activate your Grav Drive. This is the literal exact same process as ED. The only difference is you have control in said loading screen in ED.

[@douglasb5651]

Even though it does have some issues and room for improvement, I too still really like the game. 400+ hours in and still haven't completed the main quest even once so far. It's unfortunate that it's so fashionable for people to pile on and criticize everything these days.

[@philipajfry]

I don't know man, you didn't really touch on anything substantial about why this game is good. It's not. It's a razor thin illusion, a theme park. Like driving a car on a track. No freedom, no depth. With lore and world building so basic, it doesn't really sell the game you're in. Why is there no communication devices in the game? No entertainment (tv, movies, games etc). All Stores are run by one shop keeper and you can barter like it's the middle ages or a post apocalypse. Same old shanty towns like Fallout, except they're not made of trash. No context, just same game, different coat of paint. And the empty space point? Yeah, space is big AND empty, but not boring. Planets have such a variety of landscapes and biomes that Starfield doesn't present. Ice volcanoes, diamond planets! Planets where the star only shines on one side, permanent day and night. Let alone comets, asteroids, nebulae, supernovas, neutron stars or black holes with time dilation. Binary starts with weird gravity fields. The list goes on. The way you explored that could have been so much better than just scan things. Go out and physically find these rare places and find something to make special weapons/armor/ammo base habs. Or find miracle plants for perks. Damn, anything.