Starfield

https://www.reddit.com/r/Starfield/comments/18myfbe/starfield_end_of_year_update/

Starfield End of Year Update​

As the year draws to a close, we want to say thank you from the whole team for all the time you've spent in Starfield and all the passion you have for the game. In 2024, we'll be updating roughly every six weeks starting with our next major update in February. Here's some of what we have planned on top of regular bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements:
  • City maps
  • New ways to travel
  • New ways to customize your ships
  • New gameplay options to further adjust difficulty
  • Official mod support with the launch of Creations
  • Our first story expansion, Shattered Space
More info on all of the above will be coming soon but for now, we hope you all have a relaxing holiday season and we can't wait to continue this journey with you in the new year.
 
The quickest thing they could do to make my life easier is to have a Trade Authority kiosk with an unlimited budget that you could toss in your settlements/homes or even your ship. Waiting 24 hours resets vendor $, so why not just skip to the chase and speed that whole process up? Ditto with allowing you to "mail order" supplies from vendors elsewhere in the galaxy rather than having to trek all over the damn place by hand.
 
Domingo said:
The quickest thing they could do to make my life easier is to have a Trade Authority kiosk with an unlimited budget that you could toss in your settlements/homes or even your ship. Waiting 24 hours resets vendor $, so why not just skip to the chase and speed that whole process up? Ditto with allowing you to "mail order" supplies from vendors elsewhere in the galaxy rather than having to trek all over the damn place by hand.
Click to expand...

While I agree that would be easier and more convenient, it would likely also upset the balance of the games entire economic system, requiring new higher prices for everything.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
While I agree that would be easier and more convenient, it would likely also upset the balance of the games entire economic system, requiring new higher prices for everything.
Click to expand...

I'd be fine paying higher prices for everything. I've got like 2,000,000 credits and that's after buying pretty much any gun with a name, 3 condos, and 2 ships. That doesn't even count the ones I've just stumbled upon for free.
Nearly every gun I pick up has a sell value of 2000-6000 credits and every enemy is packing at least some sort of weapon. At this point I don't even touch anything that sells for less than 2000 credits, but I find myself carrying like 700lbs. after every mission. I'd happily pay 2x or even 3x an item's value if they want to save me some time buying and selling things.
 
I am not that far in to the game but this is hilariously bad. So boring. More like a loading screen simulator. Click anything and see loading screen. Walk a little bit and see another loading screen. Then kill 2 idiots to go to next area, guess what? Loading screen. Glad they removed the loading screen nonsense of space jump and now when you set a course, it just lands you direct on many planets especially ones you visited so there is that. But they really need to change their engine.

The gameplay is also stuck in the past where most combat I just cheese idiots. They keep getting stuck in places or running around like idiots in front of my sights. Gunplay is also OK at best and terrible at its worst.

I don’t know why I am playing it but probably because I feel dirty as this is one of the games where I spent full price on day 1 since gamepass UAE didn’t have it on PC. Giving me Alan Wake 2 vibes all over again.

Also Bethesda needs to get over encumbered shit. Level 13 and XP gain is slow af. Trying to bee line the main quest and every damn artifact location looks the same. Carry a cutter just to get the artifact and then get epilepsy everytime you touch it.

I will give it a fair shot but I don’t know wtf people are doing with 100+ hours on this game. The whole mechanics haven’t moved in ages and honestly, those loading screens are such an immersion breaker that they need to go. At least on PC they are fast.
 
KickAssCop said:
I am not that far in to the game but this is hilariously bad. So boring. More like a loading screen simulator. Click anything and see loading screen. Walk a little bit and see another loading screen. Then kill 2 idiots to go to next area, guess what? Loading screen. Glad they removed the loading screen nonsense of space jump and now when you set a course, it just lands you direct on many planets especially ones you visited so there is that. But they really need to change their engine.

The gameplay is also stuck in the past where most combat I just cheese idiots. They keep getting stuck in places or running around like idiots in front of my sights. Gunplay is also OK at best and terrible at its worst.

I don’t know why I am playing it but probably because I feel dirty as this is one of the games where I spent full price on day 1 since gamepass UAE didn’t have it on PC. Giving me Alan Wake 2 vibes all over again.

Also Bethesda needs to get over encumbered shit. Level 13 and XP gain is slow af. Trying to bee line the main quest and every damn artifact location looks the same. Carry a cutter just to get the artifact and then get epilepsy everytime you touch it.

I will give it a fair shot but I don’t know wtf people are doing with 100+ hours on this game. The whole mechanics haven’t moved in ages and honestly, those loading screens are such an immersion breaker that they need to go. At least on PC they are fast.
Click to expand...
AMEN brother AMEN. I stopped playing 5 hours in because of those loading screens. Not for me.
 
I'm downgrading my rating of this game to a 5/10. After about 300 hours of game play, I have come across a game-breaking bug that I simply don't want to roll back to an old save for. I'm working on the "Power From Beyond" quest line and the temple I'm supposed to find is not visible. It's apparently a known bug that Bethesda's workarounds don't work (short of said rollback to before you took the quest and I have no idea how long ago that was).

People who have come across this bug think that it has something to do with getting a quest to go to that planet before you get the "Power From Beyond" quest and the game simply tries, and fails, to spawn a temple over a point of interest you already have on the planet. I have a feeling this may be correct because I keep 'discovering' locations that I've already discovered but when I leave the planet and come back to it, all my discovered locations are all of a sudden undiscovered again.
 
Algrim said:
I'm downgrading my rating of this game to a 5/10. After about 300 hours of game play, I have come across a game-breaking bug that I simply don't want to roll back to an old save for. I'm working on the "Power From Beyond" quest line and the temple I'm supposed to find is not visible. It's apparently a known bug that Bethesda's workarounds don't work (short of said rollback to before you took the quest and I have no idea how long ago that was).

People who have come across this bug think that it has something to do with getting a quest to go to that planet before you get the "Power From Beyond" quest and the game simply tries, and fails, to spawn a temple over a point of interest you already have on the planet. I have a feeling this may be correct because I keep 'discovering' locations that I've already discovered but when I leave the planet and come back to it, all my discovered locations are all of a sudden undiscovered again.
Click to expand...
There is another way to fix it. Ignore it and move on. All those Power from Beyond quests are just picking up the powers from the temples. I don't think you can even get them all, much less fully upgrade them in a single-play through anyway. Just get it done in New Game+.
 
Dan_D said:
There is another way to fix it. Ignore it and move on. All those Power from Beyond quests are just picking up the powers from the temples. I don't think you can even get them all, much less fully upgrade them in a single-play through anyway. Just get it done in New Game+.
Click to expand...
Better yet, drop the game entirely and play something good
 
I just got to neon and took a quest to distribute flyers. Fuck me sideways with loading screens galore. Damn. Even with only 2-4 seconds of loading on my PC they annoy the shit out of me.

Neon could’ve been a single area but no, elevators, tiny shops with doors, going back and forth to do simple quests. Just downright stupid.

I don’t know how long I can take this. I know there is quite a bunch of effort put into the game but get your gameplay right ffs. And also the engine.

So pissed as this game could’ve been great. Add insult to the injury there are many space battles which don’t tell you what you are going up against. I was doing failure to communicate mission and everything was fine until the end where they throw level 30 ships against my stock Razorleaf. Wtf. Where can I see what level a mission is? Sometimes I am chasing a lead and end up in a galaxy with raiders at level 40 pumping my ass.

Just downright retarded. This whole game. I will still continue since I like space mumbo jumbo.
 
Dan_D said:
There is another way to fix it. Ignore it and move on. All those Power from Beyond quests are just picking up the powers from the temples. I don't think you can even get them all, much less fully upgrade them in a single-play through anyway. Just get it done in New Game+.
Click to expand...
You can get all but one in a single “game” and one power is dependent on your quest choices in “High Price to Pay” if I remember correctly.
 
Domingo said:
I can't imagine putting 300 hours into a game that you feel is only a 5/10.
Click to expand...
Like everyone else negatively reviewing the game after hundreds of hours, they are basing it on a "Skyrim in space" scale and not as a game in general.

It's a 7/10 game, but a 5/10 Bethesda game. 300 hours is nothing when people have 1k+ in Skyrim and FO4.
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
Like everyone else negatively reviewing the game after hundreds of hours, they are basing it on a "Skyrim in space" scale and not as a game in general.

It's a 7/10 game, but a 5/10 Bethesda game. 300 hours is nothing when people have 1k+ in Skyrim and FO4.
Click to expand...
Your math is off. Bethesda's quality standards at every level are lower than average for a AAA studio so a 5/10 Bethesda game is more like a 3/10 or 4/10 for a AAA title.
 
I can't take anyone seriously that puts over 100 hours into a game and gives it a 5/10.

Step out from your tiny box and look at the big picture. You just played a game over 100 hours. You chose to spend over 100 hours on that game instead of millions of other games and activities. Do the math on that. It's not a 5/10.

If you got bored with a game and now feel it isn't as fun as it used to be that's completely normal, but that isn't how you rate games. It's supposed to be based on your overall experience. You aren't supposed to continually update your rating based on how you feel in the exact moment. That's not useful to anyone but yourself.
 
Hard disagree. Sometimes it takes a while before you notice just how shallow or monotonous a game actually is. Sometimes FOMO or 'the sunk cost fallacy' can grab someone and not let go. Sometimes the first bit of gameplay seems great but then you just go through the motions hoping to recapture that feeling (4000+ hours in WoW for me). I've put countless hours into games over the years that I didn't particularly enjoy and wouldn't recommend. IMO in Starfield's case the idea of limitless possibilities in a vast and open universe can keep you thinking that there's more to it for hours and hours until you realize that there's just nothing more there and it's never going to get better.
 
sharknice said:
I can't take anyone seriously that puts over 100 hours into a game and gives it a 5/10.

Step out from your tiny box and look at the big picture. You just played a game over 100 hours. You chose to spend over 100 hours on that game instead of millions of other games and activities. Do the math on that. It's not a 5/10.

If you got bored with a game and now feel it isn't as fun as it used to be that's completely normal, but that isn't how you rate games. It's supposed to be based on your overall experience. You aren't supposed to continually update your rating based on how you feel in the exact moment. That's not useful to anyone but yourself.
Click to expand...

1) I honestly don’t give a flying fuck whether or not you take me seriously. My opinion and rating are just that: My opinion and my rating.

2) I had already given the game a 6/10 rating. It didn’t change to 5/10 because of ‘da feels’ but because of bugs I can’t escape out of. The game has been out for three months and we’re still dealing with bugs that are directly impeding gameplay.

3) I leveled relatively slowly. My fun in the game is sniping and I wanted to get to the level where I’d have most of the skills needed for a stealth sniper build. Then I needed skill points for spaceship development, outpost building, security systems, etc. Each rabbit hole requires time, both to gain the skill points and to evaluate how it works, or doesn’t. (I have over 1000 hours played in Civ V and I guarantee you that it’s not a perfect game. My first main and second main characters in World of Warcraft have over 500 days played each, not to mention the 20 or so characters I call alts.)

Point is, I tend to really deep dive into the games I do choose to play.

I feel that this is a great game hobbled by poor execution. I get the cut scenes for taking off, landing, traveling to and from star systems or planets within a star system. What I don‘t get is the instancing within cities. If you can give me a complete planet that I have to walk around exploring without an instance, I sure don’t want a loading screen every time I enter a ‘quest building’ within a city.
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
Like everyone else negatively reviewing the game after hundreds of hours, they are basing it on a "Skyrim in space" scale and not as a game in general.

It's a 7/10 game, but a 5/10 Bethesda game. 300 hours is nothing when people have 1k+ in Skyrim and FO4.
Click to expand...
I never played Skyrim or Fallout...
 
Algrim said:
1) I honestly don’t give a flying fuck whether or not you take me seriously. My opinion and rating are just that: My opinion and my rating.

2) I had already given the game a 6/10 rating. It didn’t change to 5/10 because of ‘da feels’ but because of bugs I can’t escape out of. The game has been out for three months and we’re still dealing with bugs that are directly impeding gameplay.

3) I leveled relatively slowly. My fun in the game is sniping and I wanted to get to the level where I’d have most of the skills needed for a stealth sniper build. Then I needed skill points for spaceship development, outpost building, security systems, etc. Each rabbit hole requires time, both to gain the skill points and to evaluate how it works, or doesn’t. (I have over 1000 hours played in Civ V and I guarantee you that it’s not a perfect game. My first main and second main characters in World of Warcraft have over 500 days played each, not to mention the 20 or so characters I call alts.)

Point is, I tend to really deep dive into the games I do choose to play.

I feel that this is a great game hobbled by poor execution. I get the cut scenes for taking off, landing, traveling to and from star systems or planets within a star system. What I don‘t get is the instancing within cities. If you can give me a complete planet that I have to walk around exploring without an instance, I sure don’t want a loading screen every time I enter a ‘quest building’ within a city.
Click to expand...

1. Why are you posting it on the fourm then?

2. You gave it a 6/10 and kept playing for 300 hours? 6/10 implies there are many, many better games. So you could have been having a much more enjoyable experience but chose to continue having a bad one. This is the reason I can't take your opinion seriously. You either don't want to have fun or you're lying about the 6/10.


There is a huge difference between an overall rating and a game being perfect. No game is perfect, and you can have plenty of fun with something that is far from perfect.
 
Baffles me more how people can so rabidly defend the mediocrity that is Starfield.

The problem is, the game was marketed and touted as a game with massive amounts of replayablilty and hundreds of hours of content where in truth, it becomes repetitive and shallow after 20 hours or so. I think gamers would be less inclined to give the game bad reviews if they weren't mislead about the true scale of the game.
 
Last edited:
mr_zen256 said:
Baffles me more how people can so rabidly defend the mediocrity that is Starfield.

The problem is, the game was marketed and touted as a game with massive amounts of replayablilty and hundreds of hours of content where in truth, it becomes repetitive and shallow after 20 hours or so. I think gamers would be less inclined to give the game bad reviews if they weren't mislead about the true scale of the game.
Click to expand...
I think that it's the phenomenon known as "cope"...massive amounts of gamer cope with this one because many expected the game to be better than it is
 
Last edited:
If playing a terrible game for hundreds of hours isn’t a waste of time - then arguing about the game’s score after wasting all that time definitely is. :)
 
peppergomez said:
I think that it's the phenomenon known as "cope"...massive amounts of gamer cope with this one because many expected the game to be better than it is
Click to expand...
For someone who doesn't like the game, you sure do like to post in this thread a lot.

You could at least try to provide some kind of input instead of just shit posting.
 
I'm actually curious how many passes through the game people with tons of playtime have made. I only made one pass and would guess I probably spent around 75-80 hours with it. I was at level 51 at the end and had done basically everything that wasn't a random-generated mission-board quest. I had a maxed-out advanced version of at least one version of every ammo type, a mostly pegged out version of the biggest ship, 4 condos, etc. etc. There wasn't much else to do beyond land on random planets and gather resources I didn't need or just to shoot things. That said, I enjoyed the game. It was a solid 7/10 to me. I might playthrough the game again later, especially if they ever add some House Va'ruun content (which was sorely missing). I'm a bit disappointed that none of my gear seems to have transferred over, though. I spent a lot of time getting that shit setup.
To get to 30+ hours, are you on like NG++++ or just doing random board quests?
 
Domingo said:
I'm actually curious how many passes through the game people with tons of playtime have made. I only made one pass and would guess I probably spent around 75-80 hours with it. I was at level 51 at the end and had done basically everything that wasn't a random-generated mission-board quest. I had a maxed-out advanced version of at least one version of every ammo type, a mostly pegged out version of the biggest ship, 4 condos, etc. etc. There wasn't much else to do beyond land on random planets and gather resources I didn't need or just to shoot things. That said, I enjoyed the game. It was a solid 7/10 to me. I might playthrough the game again later, especially if they ever add some House Va'ruun content (which was sorely missing). I'm a bit disappointed that none of my gear seems to have transferred over, though. I spent a lot of time getting that shit setup.
To get to 30+ hours, are you on like NG++++ or just doing random board quests?
Click to expand...
I beat the campaign like 8 or 9 times along with around 40 times through Unity (NG+30 on 1 character).
I rerolled a bunch of new characters to try different stuff, mostly mod related. Had around 150 mods installed when I finally quit.

My opinions on Starfield are largely tainted since I barely interacted with the vanilla game lol.
 
Domingo said:
I'm actually curious how many passes through the game people with tons of playtime have made. I only made one pass and would guess I probably spent around 75-80 hours with it. I was at level 51 at the end and had done basically everything that wasn't a random-generated mission-board quest. I had a maxed-out advanced version of at least one version of every ammo type, a mostly pegged out version of the biggest ship, 4 condos, etc. etc. There wasn't much else to do beyond land on random planets and gather resources I didn't need or just to shoot things. That said, I enjoyed the game. It was a solid 7/10 to me. I might playthrough the game again later, especially if they ever add some House Va'ruun content (which was sorely missing). I'm a bit disappointed that none of my gear seems to have transferred over, though. I spent a lot of time getting that shit setup.
To get to 30+ hours, are you on like NG++++ or just doing random board quests?
Click to expand...
I am not sure how long I've spent playing the game. I was playing on GamePass so I couldn't tell you. If I had to guess, I probably spent 70 hours or more on the first playthrough and then much less time on the second. The third universe is probably the one I've been in the longest on. In that one I've enjoyed building ships and outposts. I've been doing every quest wise and taking my time. I'm nearly done with everything there is to do there and suspect I've been in it about 100 hours. So I'd be surprised if I found out that I had less than 200 hours in it overall. I might have significantly more time in the game than that given I've probably spent 72+ hours in the ship builder alone. It's really hard to tell as I've completely lost track of time doing that. I've even forgotten to eat and seriously deprived myself of sleep to keep building ships.

The new game plus mode is unique in Starfield as the act of resetting the universe is both a game mechanic and part of the game's narrative. It's the star of an otherwise barely serviceable main quest line. It's kind of cool but what's irritating about it is the fact that you only get variant universes after the third NG+. Even then the chance of getting a variant universe is relatively low. (I believe its 15%, but you can force it via console commands.) These changes only effect the main quest line and not the larger universe. I can understand why that is, but what it means for me is that the novelty of going through different universes wears out quickly. Once you figure out that your choices in faction quests are boringly binary and largely inconsequential (beyond a stern talking to from all your potential companions if you "pick the evil option") the replay value is essentially lost.

Aside from wandering around planets and gathering resources or engaging in crap that artificially increases your playtime, I think there really isn't that much meat to the game in terms of quests, story and things to do. Quests have basically no real replay value. It's not really even a 100 hour open world game or wouldn't be if you weren't forced to work without maps and you didn't have to traverse the planets on foot. If I didn't have the ship builder to serve as a huge distraction my total time played would have dropped dramatically. I'd probably still be messing with the ship builder but the game has a lot of limitations with it and even worse, I've encountered save bugs which make save games take 10 minutes to load (or more). This severely curtails my desire to load up the game which seems to break horribly after every major patch. I've had to verify files or reinstall the game multiple times and reload my mods and I've grown tired of dealing with it.

For me, the game exemplifies everything I hate about Bethesda games in general. It showcases the studios worst tendencies and design decisions. The bad design decisions are further highlighted by my time playing the Phantom Liberty expansion for Cyberpunk 2077. I started playing Phantom Liberty one day after game bugs in Starfield pissed me off enough to stop playing it for awhile. Cyberpunk 2077 is far from perfect, but its writing, adult themes and setting make the writing in Starfield seem juvenile, sterile uninspired and safe. The NPCs and companion characters are bland and largely forgettable. Some of the individual quest lines are great, but they are held back by the binary nature of their morality and the lectures that result in "being evil".

Despite its supposedly immense size, you realize quickly just how pointless exploration and most of the planets truly are. Between the loading screens and the few interesting areas in the game, the whole universe ends up feeling tiny. Even the populated areas like New Atlantis make the game feel small. New Atlantis should rival Night City in scope even if we can't traverse all of it but in reality, it looks like a small suburb of a newer colony that was only established a couple decades ago. Akila City is supposed to be one of the oldest settlements but it doesn't even have sidewalks. It's a small mudhole that makes it look like a new colony in the Firefly universe or some poor settlement on the fringes of the Outer Rim in Star Wars. Neon is supposed to be this wretched hive of scum and villany that's talked about like its some version of Night City in space. Yet its basically an oil rig used for fishing with a strip mall on it that has one night club. They talk about it like its some "anything and everything goes" type of club, but its dancers' outfits don't even merit a PG-13 rating. It's not even that busy as it has less people in it than a strip club on a typical Monday afternoon.

I could go on and on about the failings of the game. Basically just about every complaint you've ever heard about the game is probably 100% on target.

However, with all that bitching said I think the game is greater than the sum of its parts. I have legitimately enjoyed Starfield despite its best efforts to bore me to death and frustrate the shit out of me with its archaic designs, flaws and technical issues. I think there is something compelling about the game and what it has to offer which causes people to sink so much time into it. I cannot put my finger on what that is. Though I am aware the ship builder was a big part of why I've sunk so much time into the game. However, when the illusion of choice disappears and the novelty of the game finally wears off people see it for what it really is. I think that's why people can put dozens or even hundreds of hours into it or more before becoming disillusioned with Starfield and then revise their 7/10 score into a 5/10 or worse.
 
Last edited:
FearTheCow said:
For someone who doesn't like the game, you sure do like to post in this thread a lot.

You could at least try to provide some kind of input instead of just shit posting.
Click to expand...
How is this a surprise? If you buy a game that was hyped to the nth degree and turns out to be a hollow shit show... I'm sorry but the more hilarious factor is the fact some people are still defending it.

We have already posted MANY times about the reasons it's not a great game, yet still, people such as yourself still defend it. I'm not sure exactly if you're a troll, a Bethesda employee or truly do enjoy the game at this point.

Peoples standards and expectations of games certainty has changed over the years. When people see for something for what it is, they call it out, yet here you are telling someone they are posting too much about a game THEY PAID FOR essentially berating their opinion. Nah.. fuck that.
 
mr_zen256 said:
How is this a surprise? If you buy a game that was hyped to the nth degree and turns out to be a hollow shit show... I'm sorry but the more hilarious factor is the fact some people are still defending it.

We have already posted MANY times about the reasons it's not a great game, yet still, people such as yourself still defend it. I'm not sure exactly if you're a troll, a Bethesda employee or truly do enjoy the game at this point.

Peoples standards and expectations of games certainty has changed over the years. When people see for something for what it is, they call it out, yet here you are telling someone they are posting too much about a game THEY PAID FOR essentially berating their opinion. Nah.. fuck that.
Click to expand...
Maybe don't hype yourself up about a game with limited information available?

I'm defending the game because while it isn't great, it isn't bad either, but I don't base my expectations off my imagination of what I think a game is going to have.
 
FearTheCow said:
Maybe don't hype yourself up about a game with limited information available?

I'm defending the game because while it isn't great, it isn't bad either, but I don't base my expectations off my imagination of what I think a game is going to have.
Click to expand...
Umm WHAT? Dont hype yourself for a game based on marketing is essentially what you're saying. Sure, marketing is always hyperbolic but you're literally being sold a pinto when you expect to buy a Ferrari. That is some bullshit justification right there.
 
It's a Gamepass game, so I don't feel any sort or weird loyalty to it since it's $10 I would have spent anyway. That's probably a lot of people considering how many subscribers there are.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dan_D
like this
mr_zen256 said:
Umm WHAT? Dont hype yourself for a game based on marketing is essentially what you're saying. Sure, marketing is always hyperbolic but you're literally being sold a pinto when you expect to buy a Ferrari. That is some bullshit justification right there.
Click to expand...
No.

It was advertised as a sedan with all the features, when you got a Honda instead of a Bentley you decided the Honda is trash and a terrible car.
 
FearTheCow said:
No.

It was advertised as a sedan with all the features, when you got a Honda instead of a Bentley you decided the Honda is trash and a terrible car.
Click to expand...
Still justifying the game being misrepresented I see. It's cool mate. You enjoy and promote a subpar game while other like minded people will convey our thoughts on how disappointing it actually is 👍
 
I enjoyed the game but I still think the Direct showcase was very misleading. Parts of it may have been outright lying, I would need to rewatch it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top