What It's REALLY Like To EXPLORE In Starfield!

[@thorrior1786]

I've been playing Starfield for more than 15 hours now and I've enjoyed it very much so far. I'm playing it as any other Bethesda game. Running around and getting distracted by exploration, side quests and whatever gets my attention.

[@UncleSkiBum]

Me too spent at least 4 hours getting distracted by engaging side quests before heading back to my main quest

[@freighttrain7143]

Just playing it as it unfolds for your character, seems to be how they intended; it's jaw-dropping how much randomized and procedural content pops up, and so many of the scripted side-quests are so well voice acted, with interesting story elements, that almost all missions feel of the same quality to me.

[@Foxiol]

Same here, taking it slow.

[@SolarFlare307]

​@freighttrain7143 IKR it's kind of mind boggling how huge the game is...

[@AMM278]

Why does it sound like your justifying your playtime? Let’s face it, the game is disappointing woke garbage

[@mandalore41]

I get what Todd Howard meant when he said the game did exploration different. I think it does work but I don't think it meets what most people had/have anticipated

[@jean-lucpicard581]

People anticipate all kinds of bs when it comes to new games - even if it was shown clearly what to expect. There is no pleasing entitled gamers. If they would have put long spaceflight in, people would complain it's too boring. If they don't have it, people complain about that etc. It's actually pretty stupid. I played for 36 hours and loved every minute of it. Is the game perfect? Nope. But most of what ppl are complaining about, I learned through reading comments lol. A lot of gamers can't just accept a game as is.

[@mandalore41]

@@jean-lucpicard581 exactly right, I played Elite for yrs and stayed out in the black. The time spent traveling was the worst aspect of exploration, so I understood why Bethesda did what they did b/c you are absolutely right, if SF took the Elite Dangerous approach to travel, people would absolutely be crying about it b/c that type of gameplay isn't for most people

[@billywashere6965]

Sorry but this just isn't true. Bethesda did not show that the game has hard invisible walls, or boundaries on the tiles, or that you cannot seamlessly traverse planets. They vaguely led people on thinking that the traversal system was similar to ED, NMS or SC, and that just wasn't true. @@jean-lucpicard581

[@AlesStibal]

@@mandalore41 True. I've been playing ED for years, always missing something like jump autopilot. Travel time in ED spent IRL is literally a waste of time - there is nothing else to do, just waiting for the jump to complete, honk and go. Most of the time it's very same. It just sucks. Not speaking about travelling to a far station. I remember I spent IRL 30 minutes to get to a station for something I needed, but it was ~ 120kLy.

[@SewerShark]

@@AlesStibal I feel ED would be a better game if it was a Single player, with a main story and side quests. Being multiplayer, it feels dead.

[@skydonkey245]

Right click your mouse to charge your cutter for mining. you will see the inner reticle move to the centre once charge its a lot quicker mining.

[@holycrap1986]

OMG I didn't even think of trying that! Thanks for your post!

[@tuxuhds6955]

Also, paint your jet-pack red. Red makes it go faster!

[@c.sandiego8425]

Console controls?

[@olmynuwen]

That point about flying to Pluto and only finding a marker happens in Elite as well. I found two stars very close and travelled from one to the other in supercruise for a few hours and there was no star - only a marker.

[@scrollop]

@@underleft Yep.

[@Koffiato]

​@@underleftwe all know they're loading screens but they are hidden as they should be. It feels like you are the one travelling because of that.

[@mdc123-v2v]

If you haven't played SF yet, just a tip, it gets a LOT better the more you play. There's so much content in it. It's worth completing and rushing just to get to NG+.

[@pandagonerogue.140]

I’ve been playing the game but I haven’t really came across much dungeons. Now to be fair I’ve just been doing mostly fetch quests within the cities but my question is how is dungeon verity? Are they huge?

[@wolferr1]

@@pandagonerogue.140 You missed the black cave of the giant man eating cockroaches.

[@pandagonerogue.140]

@@wolferr1 nah I found that one. Pretty creepy

[@omegapipeline4345]

Starfield is part Skyrim, part Fallout 4, and a dash of Firefly. Anyone that either hoped for, or expected, anything more are the ones who are disappointed. Bethesda have removed most of the time-wasting bits of games like Elite and Star Citizen, and while I do enjoy the immersion provided in those games, that isn't Bethesda's general audience, and I feel like they made the right call. Stay in the lane that has made you great, while adding some bits from other lanes in a way that works. I have had a similar experience with my own exploration thus far, and I am enjoying it. I am really looking forward to building my own ship(s) and bases, it looks like there is the possibility that you can make some really great builds. I see some complaining that the rewards aren't worth the time it takes to walk to the POI's, but those people are missing the point, quite frankly. The unknown and potential (emphasis on that) for discovery or an interesting experience are the reward, not some pixel items. Sometimes though, you get the pixels, too. With the fast travel system, you aren't walking both ways, unless you choose to do so for your own immersion purposes, which is another good design choice. I get the feeling that Bethesda did some deep research into how the majority of people actually play No Man's Sky, and that research was the basis for how large the tiles are, how many POI's there might be, and the ability to fast travel back to the ship. Been watching for a long time Ant, keep making videos, and I'll keep watching them. You make quality, grounded content, and that's what I like to watch. If you haven't already, start marketing that voice of yours, FFS. 😎

[@DanielBreitschaft]

So far as I'm playing I'm pretty pleased with the exploration system and FPS, but I think you could carry a little more items in your inventory...

[@ynyslochtyn]

I am surprised it wasn't designed to be playable on lower spec PCs also. Presumably that would have enabled them to sell more copies.

[@lisandroantoniotejedor136]

8:00 Modder's wont let the game to become repetitive and that's for sure Obsidiant

[@jaynecobb5774]

Oh my this has made it a must buy now. Thanks for the effort man.

[@grr-OUCH]

My primary disappointment so far is the lack of an area map. It would be great to see where things are, and where you are relative to them. It would be great to see unexplored areas as darkness. I suppose that the reason there is no such map is the potential to have darkness for secret areas. It would be great for it to have this feature, which has become the norm for decades. Another disappointment is that it would be great to tell your companion where to go, like in Mass Effect (which also has good, player-friendly maps).

[@piotrsirek8164]

This is an awesome game, really liking it, explorations is very interesting.

[@christierowley4731]

Ive playeda lot of space games in my time but i class this game as Best ever. I love the resource scanning and collection its been greatly done. Im 7% into game and at L15 cant get enough of it

[@AlvinWillistonDavis]

This game is so amazing, imagine thinking you would literally just have an entire universe just working away without any boundaries, with this level of story and detail. I'm just scratching the surface but I am thinking about it as I fall asleep

[@jasonking5405]

While I've not got the game yet, I have seen other KZbinrs reviews, and one thing that has come up is that the locations you find (like the fracking site you found) are not permanent. Apparently (and I'm only going by what others have said here), you can return to a location if there hasn't been much time passed since you found it, but if a long time does pass, then the same planetary location will be different. Different landscape and different things in it. I guess it helps with save-game bloat by not keeping everything you find, and randomly regenerating something new in the same location, but to me that would be immersion-breaking. Finding a pirate base in a crater one day, and then going back a few days later only to find it's now changed into a mountain range, just seems silly.

[@Bedbug451]

I’m pretty sure that when you land on a random location in a planet the game saves that landing spot and all the poi’s there but if the landing spot is gone then maybe the location will be different

[@SusannaSaunders]

I agree but I guess most players are not the kind of people who revisit places. Personally, I am. I'm curious how they will handle the area around our bases. I'll be annoyed if these keeps changing!

[@DjDragon5000]

Thx for going the extra mile to show this.

[@allansiperly8302]

the lack of ship gameplay is rough in a space exploration game. i could overlook a lot of the other flaws if we had more space oriented encounters and flying around the planet should be a thing. it would require them to make the planets massive i understand that but just load a massive map since we have to go through tons anyways

[@RillUK]

What we really all need is for Star Citizen to have Starfield type content. That would set me up for the next decade or so.

[@Anachroschism]

Once you reach the limit of retained maps, and those NPCs are forever erased from existence, there will be no one to remember you stole that ship. Luckily, it's not like killing a chicken in Skyrim.

[@TheRad1skull]

Starfield does Funsploration as opposed to tramping over a barren rock with the hope of maybe finding something, but most likely finding nothing, I did moon "exploration" on Elite Dangerous and aside from the occasional find it was pretty boring, I much prefer Bethesda's take on exploration

[@tom.m]

My biggest concern with exploration right now is hearing people say the POIs repeat a lot, and aren't related to the planet or area at all. So no matter where you go it randomly spits out the same kind of stuff. And if you go back to a tile it will be completely different. Exploration loses a lot if you can see everything simply by hopping tiles on one planet, the tiles aren't related in any way, and none of it is "real".

[@jamenta2]

Yeah - that concerns me too. But apparently each tile is quite large. So if you allow yourself to forget the boundaries, there seems to be enough to do that is fun - that it is not a game breaking mechanic. But yeah, you would think Bethseda might have designed something a little more seamless and less random.

[@tom.m]

@@jamenta2 Yeah it still sounds fun, but it's like we need better ways to categorize exploration. Exploring a roguelite dungeon and exploring a "real" world, be it hand crafted Skyrim or procgen NMS, are both fun for me; but only having one word for both doesn't feel accurate.

[@firstnamelastname-oy7es]

"if you go back to a tile, it will be completely different" That isn't how it works. You can return to a tile you have previously visited and it is the same tile as it was before. ( the game randomly generates a new land when you land for the first time, then adds an icon on the globe at that spot. you can chose that icon to revisit that map, which means you can build a base and revisit it, or just explore the same areas that you like.)

[@tom.m]

@@firstnamelastname-oy7es Oh, that's great to hear. That was probably the part I was most let down reading. Some people were saying it was temporary. You could go back to recent places but not ones you visited a while ago. Which would make the whole thing feel less "real". Thanks very much for the correction.

[@Bacchus15]

Finally someone who understand, the game have it's quirks but overall its a good game that i see myself put hours, days months into it. There is a lot to do, jun have fun everything else does not matter.

[@willianjohnam]

I know the video is about how the exploration experience is on Starfield and I'm yet to have an opinion on thar regard. I've played just the first 3 hours and so far I've enjoyed the experience. I'm playing on a RTX 3080 + Ryzen 5 5600x with the framerate locked at 60 and using a controller and the optimized settings provided by Hardware Unboxed youtube channel on a 1440p display. Not the prime pc experience I'm used to but it's good enough for me to enjoy. Had some frame drops to the 50's but the game is stable enough. Some optimization would be very welcome.

[@svendtang5432]

This is exactly what other space games could learn from.. surprise new things that suggest a story either explicitly or indirectly.. you can spend hours.. And correct the border is there, but if y do not seek it explicitly it will not bother you.. And a mod can fix that for you already..

[@jamenta2]

How does it fix it?

[@RatBagDad]

Towards the end you mention that the transitions and loading screens might be an issue for people who liked other Bethesda games. This is what I don't get. The ground exploration has loading screens just like Skyrim or Fallout. Every time you enter a gave or building there is a loading screen. There always has been. Starfield feels very much like Skyrim, this is a vast version of what we already know and love, but with a different set of clothes. And that's a great thing!

[@jamenta2]

If I recall, loading screens was also an issue with Fallout and Skyrim. So, some people just don't like them. It does seem like more effort could have been done to reduce the amount of loading screens - and apparently how they are done could have been finesse'd a bit better. But many reviewers say they get used to the loading screens and that in the grand scheme of things - its not bad enough where it stops them from enjoying the game.

[@scudlauncherr]

@@jamenta2 install game on ssd, the loading screen is just few seconds

[@amysteriousviewer3772]

What I really dislike is that it is very hard to actually find stuff without the scanner. I don't really enjoy following icons, I prefer organically seeing something in the distance and going there.

[@Druac]

Free flight space travel sounds really boring to me…32 hours in on my first play through and having a blast playing it.

[@heyspookyboogie644]

I’m just wish someone would make a game that’s not on the extremes of narrative vs freedom/exploration. Like more of a mix between Starfield and elite.

[@I-NUCL34R-I]

I didn't know David Attenborough played Starfield

[@benhale6773]

Having played no mans sky, elite dangerous, and star citizen i will be more than ok with this type of exploration.

[@MirecU]

That people get mad that Starfield is not Elite:Dangerous' or Star Citizen's killer just shows the terrible state these games are in...

[@prestonrussell1452]

I have about 20 hours so far and I don't think it's an amazing game, but it's also not terrible. There is a lot to enjoy and a lot of disappointment at the same time. Nobody even talks about the persuasion system, I think it's the best out of all their games.The exploring part on the other hand feels bland and empty. I don't think fast travel is a choice, because the game is designed around using it.. it's too rooted into the game. You need to have reasons no tonfast travel, like events you will miss or items to find... otherwise it's just wasting to to do it the long way.

[@ThisOldTechGuy]

I am not sure many grasp what was shown here. ObsidianAnt showed us pretty clearly that Starfield rewards exploration and that there is an order of magnitude more content to find than we have ever seen in a Bethesda game. How many quests came from that outpost? There are a thousand worlds like this? I think moons and planets are all counted in that number. The gameplay is two parts Mass Effect (Combat, Space systems), one part Skyrim (LOTS of instances but NO HUGE OVERWORLD to WALK IN) and one part Fallout (Dialog). I am sure there is some Quest Management system at work either choosing from a library and/or combining "chunks" of quests procedurally after choosing and naming NPCs. Indeed the others are too empty and frankly same-ey. I am sure we will see that in Starfield but to a lesser dgegree. I think the amount of bespoke content along with procedural is the magic here. I f you can accept the last gen gameplay you get OMG graphics (except people lol) and the game "starts" after the main quest. Starfield is also NOT for simmers of any kind. Starfield is an Action RPG set in space. About space. The flying is just better than ok. It's nice. Very simple which is good for a lot of middle-aged noobs that really do not want to manage a ship in ED and NMS is too wierd at all. The sound, and approaching for docking or salvage is very "spacey" but also FAST which I will get to. Very important. Space combat is just dumb though. Target, spam weapons, slow and turn as they pass, spam weapons, repeat. Now without a VATS type combat pause I cannot see how it will change. Still, worth it for the content, the EXPLORATION. About fast. This is a game with years of legs. People are going to get into patterns while playing. Yes, flying from surface of planet a to surface of planet b seamlessly is cool and we will have both soon, but I will choose content over seamless but empty any day. People will tire of the animations and repetitive piloting tasks and will appreciate being able to skip to the start of the walking, talking and fighting.

[@jamenta2]

Yeah but some of us middle-age noobs would have liked to have had the option to manually fly our own spaceships in Starfield. So we go Waaaaaa! Because it's just press a button and you're there instead! Surely it could have been done no?

[@ThisOldTechGuy]

To implement apparent seamless travel could have been done, but would change and be entirely out of character for Bethesda. Games with what you want exist, and they put resources in to seamless instead of story in my opinion. I have all of them and Starfield definitely has the best story, and I think that is because it is an RPG first.

[@jamenta2]

@@ThisOldTechGuy I don't think it would have been that difficult. At least on pc's.

[@serpercival2018]

The space exploration will become a paid extra by xmas

[@jazzdirt]

7:38 ... Like Earth (?)... oh wait, no... nonono.. 10:13 Much like Elite (the original) A system you could fly to, wouldn't exist until you actually jumped to it... I once spend a week to fly to a really close by system to find that out the hard way. I haven't tried it in ED, but I suspect that is the same still...

[@JayTsPhoto]

I played for 10 hours and all i could think about the whole time was turning it off and playing no mans sky lol. I dont really have 50 hours to invest before a game gets interesting

[@intergalacticGM]

I'm looking for a new graphics card to run this game. 😢 anyhow purchase is months away if ever possible.

[@CragScrambler]

Such a shame that yet another good KZbinr falls victim to corporate pressures. 😢

[@Yuushiboy]

I'm a sci-fi and fantasy fan and Starfield is good but it does not beat Skyrim so I wont call this Skyrim in space.

[@rhetor4mentor13]

I can't wait for the 6th....

[@Stierenkloot]

This game really needs a hoverboard or something

[@redko79]

So, just came out and already looking and playing better than elite dangerous. NPC are way more immersives. I think I did well by stoping ED

[@Grimulas]

Short answer... i like it. It was worth my money. And we don't know what else they might put on the game later on.

[@fadeeeed]

To be perfectly honest .. is ED more fun to explore ? i found it repetitive very quickly when every system is not so different from each other, most planets you can land on are nothing but a randomly displaced surface with basically 0 content. After countless grinding same missions i just quit the game.

[@stxyist]

Give it time, like "Skyrim" I know with mods we will get the game we want :)

[@wheresmyskin]

There's nothing to explore tbh. Maps are big, sure, but they're also empty with very few POIs. You don't even have any vehicle to traverse this vastness quicker. It's year 2300-2400 and you're walking everywhere? Come on :D

[@unclesloppy8518]

The lack of surface vehicles is probably the biggest turn-off for me, but I'm certain people will mod them in.

[@starscream6629]

With the grid system they have to load more grids at a time for vehicles to make sense. Consoles are limiting the experience especially because of the series s. On pc there should be the option to get vehicles.

[@amitansurkar1769]

@@starscream6629 the tiles are 8km wide and 10 km height approx, it think its more than enough space for a vehicle, considering how cp2077's map is just 11km

[@amitansurkar1769]

unless Bethesda adds them, mods can't do shit, even if by some miracle mods make land vehicles, theyll be janky af

[@kaydens6964]

You got jackpack, just use it for horizontal momentum instead of vertical. Make much more sense than vehicle in sci fi setting.

[@j.d.4697]

To do what? Crash into the invisible walls of your cube faster?

[@zeropoint216]

It's hilarious seeing everything that people complained about in ED for years, now Starfield is bad because it doesn't have that.

[@nighttrain1236]

I feel it's just people looking to signal their status as space game 'purists' (whatever that is). Like they won't get out of bed without seamless planetary landings. A kind of space-game master-race.

[@rmac4612]

I am not into ED but curious - what is it that people complained about?

[@Nemesis-222]

@@nighttrain1236 - Some people have higher standards than others.

[@Defa_Noob]

@@rmac4612 Travel in ED can be extremely tedious, since from what I recall there's no fast travel system you could spend entire play sessions just trying to reach a single destination you need to get to, when I used to play I remember I had to travel to an orbital station and upon entering the system it would take me around 20 minutes just to get to the station and it was a round trip mission so you could imagine how mind numbing it would get.

[@arride4590]

Im not even into RPG single player games, but Starfield im enjoying a lot

[@davidthomas8265]

It really is funny... so many things I thought I would be furious about actually dont add anything to the game experience and become unnecessary tedium. I love how streemlined things are and it really does work! I can actually play in short stretches and feel like I've accomplished something unlike so many games this gets compared to.

[@oversalt4713]

This is the most underrated comment. Time matters to many of us. I've been playing NMS while waiting for the 6th, keeping in mind I maybe have an hour or two at most right now, I feel like I'm wasting my gaming time just pulsing to a distant planet that takes 45 seconds. I used to love that and I guess I'll miss atmospheric flight or even a speeder type vehicle in Starfield, but really most of the stuff people are complaining about is personally a plus for me.

[@heyspookyboogie644]

I ignore most of the fast travel stuff, but even if you do the sense of “traveling” through space feels a bit too limited. It still just feels like mostly magically appearing in places and then maybe flying a few seconds to a station or ship.

[@pandagonerogue.140]

The way I see it id this is what I wanted destiny to be with its loading screens. Just the option for space battles

[@Degenevesting]

The fast travel stuff is what I wanted to be gameplay.

[@henrywalton5967]

I think the landing/taking off being manual would have added a lot of immersion, but the grav jumping definitely seems necessary just due to the vastness of everything

[@cxns155]

@@Degenevestingplay Everspace 2 instead

[@westr70]

I like this type of exploration. It appears that you if you take the time, you could spend a lot of time on one planet finding new quests, resources, and situations that aren't scripted. That's a game for me.

[@raygrimes9203]

I had to do a mission twice becauae of a crash, the 2nd time around had different interactions and ways to complete. I am sold

[@jamenta2]

Yeah - that does look promising. As long as it doesn't become too repetitive in what you find or situation scripts.

[@nemesisone8927]

I really made some awesome screenshots of biomes the biomes in this game are AMAZING., BTW i have removed the invisible wall via a mod :) works great, i wonder also if we can also build these props that you see in other bases not the standard base building buildings., i have also seen Lava lakes on a moon its amazing, and Earthquakes man the whole screen shook lmao

[@puffpuffpass3214]

​@raygrimes9203 lol I crashed because an enemy ship I boarded flew into space and started combat with another. During all of this I'm fighting the crew and the game crashes and a UC ship blows us all up. That shit had me cracking up. Also the parents in this game can crack you up sometimes as well, I thought their role would be far more basic lol

[@jamenta2]

@@nemesisone8927 Curious what the remove invisible walls mod actually does. What is its mechanic?

[@wolfe1970]

Not sure how you get oil on a moon, seems someone doesnt quite understand where oil comes from lol

[@EricGonzalezM]

I feel there is a way more interesting game in that subplot. Moon dinos? Sign me up.

[@Maartwo]

The lead writer has no world building skills at all. Funny how the only culture in space is murica.

[@JonasGreenFethr]

Hydrocarbons… liquid methane (or something similar) below the surface that freezes when it hits the vacuum of space.

[@SleepySheepish]

Landed on a random planet only looking for resources today and found a gorgeous huge map with hot springs, quakes, an abandoned robot facility, marines being trained and a civilian outpost and still more to uncover. I think it’s insane how well everything worked and it didn’t feel empty while still capturing the vastness of a uninhabitable planet.

[@Dar1usz]

vastness ? u are limited by invisible walls, sooner or later

[@vaibhavsati538]

try exploring earth

[@bernardoblanchetramirez6032]

@@Dar1uszand how far do you explore other planets away from your ship looking for people to kill and sites to loot?

[@jclosed2516]

@@Dar1usz Who cares? There is enough to do. If you in stead of playing the game go completely stupid walking in a straight line ignoring all activities and interesting locations, then you won't have much fun. It's like playing a racing game by taking a slow walk around the parkour, and then complaining it's not exiting or fun...

[@Dar1usz]

people who been lied by todd howards@@jclosed2516

[@Darkrunn]

I feel like this game has a lot of room to grow, either from Bethesda doing expansions and dlc over a few years, or when some really talented modders add a bunch of POIs. It honestly reminds me of 7 days to die earlier in its """early access""" life cycle, where there were only a couple dozen POIs that just got spammed in every town. Now, and especially if use Subquake's Undead Legacy mod, 7 Days is way more fleshed out and there are many, many more POI types. If Bethesda adds more POIs for these maps and weighs the procedural generation so that populated worlds get more of a certain pool of POIs and unpopulated or barren worlds get a totally different set of POIs, then I think they can improve the balance between desolate rocks in the middle of nowhere and interesting nuggets of settlements or mini dungeons so that players feel more incentivized to explore and set up bases near interesting locations rather than just for resources or because that's just what you do. Idk, I'm more excited for where the game is going rather than where it's at, but if I had the money for a new GPU and the game right now, I'd still probably buy it.

[@Alex-444x94]

This game is like a huge sandbox. The more i play the my mind races thinking about what they could add. I cant wait to see what it will look like a few years from now. Hope you get to play it soon!

[@ronweasley4767]

Wait so you haven’t even played the game?

[@GBennie]

I'm 60+ hours played, doing a mix of everything, and just loving it, I never did expect a space sim and it's exactly what I expected, Fallout with space setting, but this is incredible, in that 60 hours only 1 mission used a duplicate "base" so far, and I'm good with that there is so much here to explore and some of the places are huge!

[@kiwikemist]

Damn, I can't even play the game more than an hour without it crashing and forcibly rebooting my computer

[@phant0mdummy]

Bro, your ass is gonna stuff up. Try standing.

[@waitbalthy6342]

People complaining this isn't a space game are out of their minds, or haven't played the game. I landed on some random moon this morning and watched the sun rise with Jupiter in the background. As i was sitting there, with Inon Zur's fantastic score swelling in the background, it took me back to my younger years sneaking around Skyrim under the aurora borealis. I didn't care that I had to sit through a loading screen to get there. In that little moment, I really felt like I was an explorer, alone, lost in space. That is what Todd was trying to achieve and all I can do is tip my hat. Absolutely nailed it.

[@arakuss1]

I understand you like the game and don't have an issue with how things are set up in the game. Its your full right but other people who I know have played the game have full right to complain, especially when they payed a good deal for the game. I have a friend who even paid to upgrade his pc for the game and is so far very disappointed. It is not like this game was free or very cheap. People paid money. Some bought into hype of misconceptions of how travel and exploration is. Yes I have not played the game yet. I have not bought it yet. I have not complained nor praised. I am just listening to various points of views. So I like people who have differing points of views, dislikes and likes. It helps me have a better understanding and grasp of the game before I pay for the game. For me how exploration is done and how much freedom space flight has with the ability to have a crew is a big influence if I want to buy this game or not. The idea of loading screens is a point down for me. I don't mind screen transitions but the ability to launch my ship into space and land it on my own is something I like. Can I live without it perhaps. So once more I like differing opinions of why people like it or find bad about it.

[@scudlauncherr]

@@arakuss1 the game not having those feature that u mention is alredy mention in some interview, it is not something bethesda keep secret.

[@juless27]

ED will always hold a special place in my heart but it's just gotten so stale that we really needed something like this for a better space legs experience..

[@Ssparda-dmc]

can't agree more o7

[@jamenta2]

Yes - and we know Starfield will have space legs given the now almost legendary Bethseda Modding community.

[@jazzdirt]

I miss the ED from before "spacelegs". I would've played for years still.. But FDev had to go ruin it...

[@shaycormac7224]

​@@jazzdirtOdyssey killed Elite

[@HCforLife1]

@@shaycormac7224 nah, peoples expectations killed it. Oddyssey is a great addition to the game in my opinion. But they wasted potential with really bad "atmospheric" planet. I mean barren planets with some different skybox. If they were introduce planets with various weather and real atmospheres - this would be a winner alongside with real story driven quests.

[@Tepnox]

Loving it so far - exploration is very addicting in this game. Despite the fact that landing sites on planets are instances or chunks, those areas are huge! I normally try to finish a mission and then go explore on my way back to the ship. There are times those side-paddles took me 3-4 hours because I was chasing one random event / landmark after the other. Always something new to see, sometimes this leads to mini-quests. The level of detail of interior environments is just mind-boggling. It is crazy how much (high detailed) junk, trash and objects inside of buildings are. And more crazy is, that the physics most of the time really work on every object - depending of the planets / moon gravity.

[@Cronicrisis]

​@@alexwalters35the game becomes unstable when you go beyond the existing barriers. Likely due to some distance related bug so they make you reland to reset the origin.

[@pandagonerogue.140]

@@alexwalters35bruh they did it for a reason… I’m sure removing it will cause problems 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@PaulybiGGballZ0820]

They give you no reason to want to explore.. generic ,boring empty world filled with boring outposts.. and boring caves

[@pandagonerogue.140]

@@PaulybiGGballZ0820 I doubt people are putting in 100s of hours because it’s a boring game lol I already have about 60 and I can’t get enough 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@-CrimsoN-]

Yep! I 100% agree with this video! I think a lot of people arent playing Starfield right. like They think that it's just Skyrim or Fallout in space and they should explore the same way. But it isn't like that at all. For example, on Kreet (the second planet after the tutorial), I went through clearing the research base and afterwards, I decided to explore the planet a little bit. I used the scanner, which indicated that a cave was nearby so I started walking out to go explore it. On the way, bounty hunters landed (because I have the wanted trait), although I hadn't seen their ship yet. They tried to kill me, but I beat them and took their stuff. I kept on walking and eventually I actually came across their ship, which had landed at a supply depot. I boarded the ship and killed the additional bounty hunters on board. I would have stolen the ship, but I couldn't due to it being a tutorial still. Otherwise, I could have stolen a new ship right at the start of the game! Instead, I opted for looting the ship's cargo hold and walked off with around 7,000 credits total. I also looted some rare components from the supply depot. I never got to the cave, because I ran into a Terrormorph at level 10 and was only level 2 so I couldn't kill it. I was also reaching the weight limit and just opted to return to the Frontier. and this was just the second planet after the tutorial. Starfield absolutely has a ton of exploration, but you really need to use your scanner to find it. The cave and supply depot didn't show up on a planetary scan. I actually had to be on the ground for those locations to show up. I feel like not enough people are using the scanner to find places. They are playing it like Skyrim or Fallout where you can just walk in a direction and eventually find something, but that's not how Starfield works. There are random locations on nearly every planet, but you gotta use the scanner from orbit and on the ground to find them.

[@TrevorwiththreeVs]

Is destroying the ship ( that you couldnt take ) an option - break it down further for parts i mean ?

[@raygrimes9203]

Terramorphs! I am level 8, just about took out one, was no easy feat with it being a level 28. A lot of luck and usage of every single bullet I had. The more I play the more I enjoy

[@-CrimsoN-]

@@TrevorwiththreeVs I wish I don't think so though.

[@mightylink65]

This is what Star Citizen is missing, actually having lots of content and things to do on planets instead of just standing around and looking at the scenery.

[@KindJoe]

Never played a Bethesda game before this so I came into it without any expectations (do have 1300 hours in ED). Done about 15 ish hours so far and really enjoying it

[@Kris.G]

You never played Skyrim???

[@KindJoe]

@@Kris.G nope. Couple of guys have said I should try it just never got round to it.

[@tzeffsmainchannel]

A game with a title like *STARfield* I would expect to have *freedom* in spaceflight and perhaps also atmospheric flight! It's 23 years after *Starlancer* an excellent space sim with technical limitations of the year 2000...

[@stevesgaming7475]

I seem to be enjoying it more. Today I found a really cool cave on a moon, captured a huge ship and jumped into a battle between pirates and the navy. Helped the navy and got a reward and then spend 10 mins collecting all the loot from the destroyed ships. it's far from perfect but it is a fun game.

[@heyspookyboogie644]

I don’t expect it to be elite like for space exploration but It feels like a game with a space setting rather than a space focused game where you can actually “explore” space.

[@andyh6849]

yep pretty spot on ... the space portions are largely just for a few dogfight missions and just getting from one place to another... and i think that's by design... which im ok with surprisingly.... It's an rpg set on many planets, rather than a space sim

[@Kreon91]

Modded POI variety and hand crafted lore heavy settlements with item persistence make the instanced system worth it. Seamless travel on harren planets is a purist ideal which most players would skip anyway.

[@leonardsitongia3784]

Thank you for showing this. I was getting the impression from others that the focus is shooting and looting. I'm glad that there are nonviolent options.

[@Erilis000]

I know your comment is 13 days old now and you probably discover this for yourself but there are plenty, so many situations where you can use persuade instead of violence.

[@t.t6294]

I've been loving it so far. I've been doing so much questing on the main cities that I haven't really bothered with the barren planets. I'll explore some of them but the main reason I like this game is the RPG aspects. I'm hoping they improve the space exploration (maybe add a cruise drive for faster travels?) and the facial animations but the rest is very fun and addictive lol

[@EadricRicmund]

My favorite random encounter so far is while quantum driving to a side quest objective I ran into a random ship in space and the pilot started singing “space shanty” over the comms. When you hail the ship the dude just says he want to bring happiness to people and he warps out.

[@josho8888]

lol yea i heard him too on my passthrough i didnt hail him tho. i just said thats nice and bounced!

[@EadricRicmund]

@@underleft Haha. Also, just a few hours ago I ran into a ship that purely exists to crack a Uranus joke. Lol

[@danjohnson889]

That just happened to me. That ship was called the "Valentine"

[@UPfreelancerailroad]

Starfield is everything I wanted elite dangerous to be, I did enjoy ED but ship travel was to much for me personally

[@RED_Theory038]

It's almost everything I've wanted in a mass effect game. Mass Effect still edges out in the writing but SF really captures the exploration aspect of mass effect 1 and expands on it in a way I really enjo save for having an actual vehicle.

[@paulharper7185]

@@underleft My daughter (older) has been playing it too on my Xbox. She went out Yesterday to buy her own to be able to play this game more. Again very different experience she is having than my own.

[@pppppffffffmmmmmmmnn]

Starfield with ED's ship freedom and less loading screens would be my perfect game. ED exploration is still way more fun to me than SF simply due to how free it is

[@JohnMichaelson]

The first random stop I made was on the moon near New Atlantis. I just picked a blank spot on the map and said "land". Off in the far distance was a weapons manufacturing plant. The companion said, "I had no idea something this large was out here, it could support a fleet!" After dispatching the pirates roaming about there was a terminal with communications between them and some other location talking about a shipment waiting at a nearby system. Next time I'm on, I'm heading there. For me, this kind of exploration is just what I hoped for. Aimless wandering, not knowing what something is at a glance, and finding something that results in further exploration to somewhere I haven't been. The fact none of it would've happened if I hadn't wanted to land, hadn't cleaned the pirates out, AND hadn't spent time looking at screens, etc. makes it all the more rewarding for the effort.

[@JohnMichaelson]

@@underleft Exactly, and I don't doubt a lot of the sites are pre-made and reused. As long as the loot isn't, well, it's no different than a lot of other looter type games out there. No matter how big their team was for creating such things it'll be thousands of modders that will be able to fill the planets with variety. Modded Skyrim can get almost unrecognizable. I'm really anticipating what people can come up with for Starfield, too!

[@Duvoncho]

Approaching 50 hours and I have yet to hit an invisible wall. My bags fill up long before then. at which point I go back to my ship to dump the loot and pick a different direction to explore... or just launch and land in a whole new spot/planet/system.

[@humbleweirdo2860]

Will have to see come release. But theres no denying the lack of seamless travel is rather underwhelming, but judging by the games fidelity compared to the likes of NMS and ED some sacrifices would have had to be made.

[@gs.558]

Something that would be amazing , and I really mean it, because it's mostly npc/envirnoment auto-generated; they should make a mod that adds the new chatgpt ia , that would be really amazing. Npc would react naturally to their environment and talk to you with meaning. Maybe it will come one day , I wish.

[@londonspade5896]

Of course it will come, just give it some time (not too long I imagine)

[@NeoShameMan]

The funniest thing is that the generation is identical to ARENA's generation! Arena too don't allow you to walk city to city but confined you to a limited area tile around a travel point, you had to fast travel to the next poi.

[@Runic-Raven]

I enjoy my time in Starfield very much. If Elite was like this, i probably wouldnt play anything else anymore. I did run into some gamebreaking bugs very early though wich i had to fix with the console wich then disabled my achievements. It is unfortunate :/

[@DaringDan]

I remember a mod someone made to get rid of Geralt's post walk animation. It made the game so much better not having to wait every time for him to walk more forward than I wanted him too. Toggle options like that in games are fantastic. We all have different tastes.

[@the_omg3242]

My experience with exploration has been quite similar. Recently found a derelict ship in space with nobody aboard and some notes about what happened to the people onboard. Got some nice loot, but couldn't claim the ship since it wasn't flyable. One thing that took me a while to stumble across is that the cockpit of every ship has a captains locker that may have loot and has a screen to access the cargo hold without going through your character screen. (which you can't do unless you claim the ship) Look for a green display screen. You can also transfer stuff too and from your ship if you're within a couple hundred meters. Makes it easy to unload excess loot.

[@rustynail6363]

From what I've seen, (not much tbh) I find myself underwhelmed, full free-flight in a solar system should be a thing, at least. Sticking to my original plan for now, wait for all the dlc to land, then maybe buy it on a steam sale. Did the same with 2077 and still haven't bothered to fire that game up.

[@bucket638]

I totaly want a Space Adventure not a Sim. I have ED, and find it kinda boring.

[@jamenta2]

Why not both?

[@eternalblazeofficial]

I just wish they had immersion styled cutscenes to keep the player in the game.. im ok with fast travel. Don’t feel like going around the whole planet. But I would love to see that ur ship would have todo something with the radius of the player. Maybe oxygen levels go lower the farther u leave ur ship! Maybe u can upgrade the radius just a bit more. Like these types of things would help a lot. Instead of a text that pops up saying “border ahead” or “turn back” Like why cant we have something saying “Captain, ur O2 levels are lowering.. ur going to far from you’re ship. Get closer to it immediately or u will die”

[@capobello]

All I can say is, with well over 1000 hours in both elite dangerous no mans sky, and close to 800 in SC, I absolutely love this game. Im very glad for many aspects of the fast travel system, especially when completing quests and especially in an RPG...In my opinion, the planet side content is better than the aforementioned, I also enjoy the space ship content, even though it's very limited compared to the aforementioned. Maybe it's because my expectations were tempered before launch? Sucks that theres a big chunk of the community that feels frustrated, which points to Bethesda setting the wrong expectations for a lot of consumers....if thats the case, then it's on them and they should have been more upfront with the space exploration mechanics

[@anony88]

I dont think they wanted to temper expectations because they felt like doing so would've hurt sales. I think they wanted peoples imagination on what the game could be to go wild. They intentionally held back a lot of information about the game prior to launch and used a ton of vague language, which in my opinion is deception by omission. Opinions on this will vary and people will disagree with me. 95% of what they said was extremely vague. Like "Theres endless content to explore. You will love exploration so much. Its so vast" etc. etc.. Versus a company like CIG that will do a 30min video talking about how the mining system is supposed to work. Thats what happened with no mans sky prior to launch. They boasted the crap out of no mans sky. Only difference is that there were blatant lies made with no mans sky. There are other issues that players aren't happy with that wouldnt have been apparent beforehand that wasnt deceptive, such as the way the interface is designed and the amount of loading involved. I think a 1 hour stream of the game of doing a couple side missions and showing off various gameplay systems in raw unedited footage would've made things a lot clearer.

[@capobello]

Definitely agree

[@Ahglock]

I don't know I think Bethesda was pretty clear about it, and they basically explained how you should play and explore in the game.

[@fadeeeed]

this is what bethesda do all the time. They just ignore the hype people create by spresding bs info and it always backfires.

[@Ahglock]

@@fadeeeed I mean that backfire is pretty much internet randos screaming into the wind. If this doesn't move boxes or subscriptions or sell or a good combination of the 3 it backfired. If it does overall sell well for a new franchise then it did not. Odds are it will sell like mad and people who actually play the game and aren't devoted to twitter and other internet gossip sites wont even know or care about the hype that did not materialize. And masses likely will still be playing this game 10 years form now.

[@FlyleafDreamleaf]

Aside from space, exploration is exactly what I was expecting. Being a console player, I loved ED's space exploration and haven't found a game that quite replicates that. NMS and Starfield have great planetary exploration in there own way and I am quite enjoying Starfield's version. Being without a map doesn't really bother me because it forces me to become familiar with the environments personally, and I feel more like an explorer of new worlds without it. I don't use fast travel in Bethesda games if I can avoid it. I found I couldn't properly enjoy Oblivion or Skyrim with it. For me, they made those worlds feel too small.

[@guve25]

I play No Man Sky on and off, never once I circled the whole circumference of a planet as it's extremely boring to do so. Mostly I just build a base on a new planet and circle around it for whatever resources. I'd gladly choose Starfield limited scope planet but with more things to do.

[@CharlesDSmith-mv7zi]

I just began playing Starfield when it dropped on the advanced release on Sept. 1. I have played Elite Dangerous (Horizon and Odyssey), Star Citizen, Skyrim V, and Elder Scrolls Online for a bunch of years. Yes, Starfield is “classic Bethesda.” The play is basically identical to Skyrim V and ESO. If one insists on the “immersion” of flying a ship to the surface of a planet or moon, then they would be better served by playing ED or SC, and not buying Starfield. Sort of like “Patient: Dr., when I do this it hurts,” “Doctor; then don’t do that!” Everyone should be playing the games they like, how they like, and understanding that not everyone will agree with their opinion.

[@HCforLife1]

I played all of the games mentioned. SF is the game where I feel like I am doing something meaningful. ED has potential - but wasted unfortunately. Gameplay in SF is relaxing and rewarding. I felt playing SC as this was my second job. Its not for everybody - but If you loved Mass Effect, Elder Scroll games - you will love that one.

[@cytokinestorm3074]

That's all fine and dandy, but the game was specifically marketed as being a seamless "go anywhere" space exploration game, that's why there is so much criticism. So it's not enough to just say "then don't play it", that's not the point.

[@Sif3r]

​@@cytokinestorm3074it was never advertised as being seamless. Not once.

[@skyriminspace]

​@@cytokinestorm3074"Dr, when i do this, it hurts...."

[@Eneov]

It breaks my brain that this game is so critically analyzed. Things nobody cared about before and didn't impact the experience of playing, suddenly matters. Some of you need to put away your back or the cereal box videogame engineer degrees.

[@paulharsh78]

Fast travel simulator…

[@paulharsh78]

Over encumbered

[@mandalore41]

​@@paulharsh78well, to be fair most Bethesda game's turn into over encumbered just like City Skylines always turns into traffic simulator.

[@FuriousDevi]

Their excuse it was never intended to be a space sim is only because their couldnt make a space sim out of that mess! If they could - they would have done it and the game would have been 10x better! Starfield is in a conflict with its own identity - on paper it IS a space sim - but during gameplay it break immersion constantly and seems to be limited and hold back by its bad foundation which is an old outdated game engine. A real shame.

[@davidchandler5432]

Hey OA, the rock piles (like ya see at 9:45) are things you gather and not something ya shoot with the lazers; you gotta get out of the scanner mode and just use the E key to snag whatever that rock pile (or gas thingy) has. You've probably figured this out by now, but just in case I figure I'd mention it.

[@johngannon]

You can use your scanner to see locations on a planet much easier.

[@-CrimsoN-]

Yep!! I keep telling people this, because not enough folks are using the scanner. Unlike Fallout and Skyrim, you can't just walk to a random location and expect stuff to pop up. I mean eventually it probably will, but the scanner makes it easier and functions like the local map used to function in previous Bethesda games, except that it's integrated into the HUD.

[@OrangeJambo]

Play Star Citizen or Elite Dangerous for 5 hour each. You'll quickly see there's zero substance on the planets.

[@apollo12002]

Looks good so far, you've described the sort of exporation that I always liked with the fallout series so am looking forward this. One observation from the distances your traversing on a planetary body I'm going miss my SRV by the sounds of it.

[@Pheonixco]

One wonders if they'll make DLC of it.

[@GizmoMaltese]

But it’s not the same at all as Fallot. In Fallout you can walk from Diamond City to some other location and have a random encounter like a space ship crashing or the voice of a kid trapped in a refrigerator. In Starfield you can just explore the areas around cities. You can’t explore on your journey.

[@svendtang5432]

Yup it needs you upgrading your boost back pack

[@chintoki]

@@svendtang5432 Yup. The boost pack is awesome.

[@infinitespace2520]

@@GizmoMaltese There are random encounters in Starfield though, enemies will randomly land near you every now and then and you could stumble upon a firefight, there are also crashed ships and skeletons, and various random things scattered about. It's just not as compressed as Fallout.

[@moretoknowshow1887]

Ive been playing since last Friday and I love the fact I not only can explore, but I also pulled into other misadventures along the way in the main questline.

[@RobsRemixes]

You claim that markers are black and once you reach the destination they turn white, while this is technically true, if you highlight the marker with your scanner and then press A (Xbox) this will reveal the marker as white and give a clearer picture of what that area is. This is especially helpful for those that are trying to find planet traits, as there is a particular icon that appears and shows a trait is at that location. This took me almost 30 hours to discover and it’s massively cut down on the running required when searching for traits or specific locations.

[@fromthisposition7125]

I agree Ant, this was never intended to be a space ‘sim’..I have no idea why people think it should be as fully realised as something like ED

[@PureLiquidSensation]

I have to ask, how the hell is there an oil deposit on a completely barren planet/moon without an atmosphere and life or history of one? Oil doesn't just 'spawn' randomly, it comes from millions of years of high pressure and temperature affecting organic matter on a seabed, millions of years of life on a planet. This is primary school level of knowledge. Just something that struck me immediately as simply wrong.

[@Koffiato]

The companions on this game aren't required to wear space suits, that's nothing compared to this. Sarah just chills out with her jacket lmfao.

[@LaVirek]

That frozen oil would be a big frozen puddle probably, if there is actual void, not some very low temperature atmosphere, void is actually good thermal insulator. So the liquid would lose most of its temperature via contact with surfaces.

[@ohthreefiftyone]

Yep, things freeze really slowly in vacuum. Plus if that really is oil, it’s presence on an airless mood makes no sense.

[@jamenta2]

@@ohthreefiftyone Oh come on - ruined the immersion for me! 0.0

[@eureka5635]

@@ohthreefiftyone could be any kind of liquid.

[@TheFunKyDunK]

I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far, one of the best games I've ever played (and I've been playing video games since they were first invented). Have clocked up a little over 50 hours over the weekend, and am only a small percentage through the main storyline as it's just like any other Bethesda RPG, you get sidetracked......lots!! I think the reviewers of this game have missed the point. As you say, it's NOT Elite, No Mans Sky, Or Star Citizen. It's not meant as a replacement for them. It doesn't do what THEY do. But it does draw on some of their functionality. It's a Bethesda RPG first and foremost, so it feels like Fallout 4 in how it hangs together, but it's not based on one single large map, but instead allows the exploration of huge numbers of maps, many of which contain large amounts of procedurally generated content. I've been exploring barren planets heaps, and I haven't hit that invisible wall once yet, 'cause as you say, I'm not trying to, there's too much else to find. The loading screens don't bother me at all, as they were always in Fallout and Skyrim, and so they behave in the same way here. The cut scenes make it feel like a movie when I launch or hyperspace jump, giving me a few seconds down time from actually playing (and they look damn cool). On a slow hard drive this would probably be unpleasant, but on an SSD it's a few short seconds. I've spent a lot of time base building so far (which can be challenging to figure out). Mining for resources and setting up shipping links to make those resources available at my other bases. I'm looking forward to doing more of this and creating a decent resource network. I've stolen and sold a few ships (not a massive money earner, but it's fun and exciting to do, to see if you might end up with a cool ship worth keeping). If this game keeps my attention I think I could be playing it for months, and I'm someone who loses interest in even the best games and moves on after only a couple of weeks. I think the hype train painted this game with the wrong brush. Gave many people, including me, the wrong impression. It's a Bethesda RPG. So if you go into it expecting something that hangs together like Fallout 4 (rather than expecting something that replaces ED or NMS), but with numerous gameplay features from those other space games, hundreds of procedurally generated worlds with lots of outposts and bases to find from each landing site, base building, ship building, planetary exploration and surveying. Then I think you'll thoroughly enjoy this game. If you didn't like Skyrim or Fallout, then I don't think you'll like this. Just my thoughts. Hopefully this helps someone who's currently on the fence about buying it. ;-)

[@gwcstudio]

That is exciting!! Seeing a tower and going to check it out - that's a great feeling. Starfield sounds like it has all the things I wanted in Elite except Fuel Rats

[@Avtarangel]

I did some random exploring on the first planet you fly to after boarding the Frontier at one of the random sites I checked out I got the Dataslate with the Mantis side mission so that was great.

[@pandagonerogue.140]

I discovered everything last night! Literally as I was flying to that marker I was thinking to myself if they added some sort of super hero figure like they did in fallout 4 and to my surprise that was exactly what I was hoping for lol

[@JFrancoDrums]

I am really enjoying the game so far despite the limitations. I feel most people disappointed with the game had the wrong expectations. Starfield isn't a space sim and never will be!