Starfield - Todd Howard's latest masterpiece

[rusty_shackleford]

If New Atlantis was an actual city, nobody would care if it was surrounded by procgen terrain with a few POIs, because there would be a big city to explore.
The only way you could make the environments themselves interesting to explore is to turn them into themeparks, which is the exact opposite of the point they were going for.

The main issue is they worked on the game for something like 8 years but 6 of it got thrown out the window and they hastily cobbled together the release build in the span of a couple years. The biggest city is probably the size of Vivec City.

[maidenhaver]

Starfield would have made for a good mmo or survival sandbox, as it is Parkan 2 does everything Starfield tried, only better. They have the same flaw: space is big and empty, which Starfield could have alleviated if it's settlement and shipbuilding were fleshed out, instead of having TES tentpole factions and more than one big hub. The ships and shipbuilding should be so cool, that the ship is the only hub you care about. You just go to the city worldspace for some story, maybe join a faction, buy tech, singleplayer stuff, or meet players from other games for missions and trade, then boogey. The way planets work in Starfield, modders can't even do anything with them. We never would have gotten overhauls, even if the interest was there, because its such a **** game.

[rusty_shackleford]

Parkan 2

Been meaning to check this series out

[maidenhaver]

I'll need to start over. I've only put about four hours in, but it looks every bit the game Starfield wanted to be.

[Lhynn]

Exploring empty planets was a side activity on Mass Effect, while it was the main activity in Starfield. But I agree that the game failed because it simply sucks. Bethesda should have either focused on space nerd exploration and survivalism or going the space-fantasy route and just building ESVI an engaging gameplay loop+a handful of hand-crafted planets to showcase their systems, while leaving most procedurally generated planets as canvasses for future mod integration (even on consoles).

Pretty much. No one actually wants to explore the barren, lifeless surface of ProcGenSlop IV. You seen one ProcGenSlop planet, you seen 'em all. Other planets are only interesting when we can loot 'em or conquer 'em.

We knew this with New Mans Sky. Game gets old pretty ******* fast, even though their RNG is a million times better than whatever Bethesda could come up with, and their universe feels far more alive, and you can actually fly from one planet to another instead of it all being loading screens.

So yeah, Just play New Mans Sky if you want to scratch that itch, it does its job, though it also leaves you wanting more and better.

[Norfleet]

Pretty much. No one actually wants to explore the barren, lifeless surface of ProcGenSlop IV. You seen one ProcGenSlop planet, you seen 'em all. Other planets are only interesting when we can loot 'em or conquer 'em.

We knew this with New Mans Sky. Game gets old pretty ******* fast, even though their RNG is a million times better than whatever Bethesda could come up with, and their universe feels far more alive, and you can actually fly from one planet to another instead of it all being loading screens.

So yeah, Just play New Mans Sky if you want to scratch that itch, it does its job, though it also leaves you wanting more and better.

Well, obviously, people wanted No Man's Skyrim. Some may have used the name as mockery of the concept, but this really is what people wanted. The problem is, we didn't get No Man's Skyrim. I'm pretty sure if they had simply delivered No Man's Skyrim, with all the usual expectations of detailed world of presumably Space Elf Mysteries, people would have been thrilled. Instead, we got a world where everything is boring: The aesthetics are boring, the world is boring, the plot is boring, the characters are boring. The game doesn't even apparently have the decency to be BAD. It's just so thoroughly meh. It doesn't have anything memorable about, good OR bad. No "I saw a mudcrab the other day". No "Stop! You've violated the law!" No "Arrow in the knee". Nothing.

[maidenhaver]

It can't even be modded, or if can, its so meh nobody wants to.

[rusty_shackleford]

Starfield's May update is live!

Starfield’s latest update features additional support for Creations as well as numerous fixes for Quests, vehicles, UI and the Shattered Space DLC.
Read on for the full update notes!FEATURES
● Added Very Low display settings to improve performance on some devices.
● Creation Kit: Added the ability for Creators to add new icons to the game.
● Creations Store now supports bundling Creations.
● Creation Kit: Creations up to 2GB in size can now be uploaded.

BUG FIXESGENERAL
● Creations: Resolved a possible error when restoring load order if a large number of mods were installed and then deleted.
● Creation Kit: Resolved a possible crash when loading a plugin with an ingredient form.
● Addressed a possible control lock that could occur when changing views at the same time as sitting in a pilot seat while landed.
● Addressed a rare movement lock that was possible during forced dialogue scenes.
● Addressed a control lock that could occur if a vehicle Creation was disabled while a loaded save depended on it.
● Addressed a rare control lock that could occur when immediately opening a menu after loading a save during take-off.
● Fixed an issue that could prevent exiting a vanity camera (PC).
● Fixed a possible crash related to moving or removing buildings at the Main Outpost in Andraphon.
● Resolved a rare crash that could occur when entering the Unity.
● Addressed an issue where rapidly pressing quicksave could result in some quicksaves being removed.
● General crash and stability fixes.
● Creations UI fixes and improvements.

GAMEPLAY
● Skills: The Cargo Link and Robots build limits from the Outpost Management skills should now persist after going through the Unity.
● Weapons: The Space-Adept legendary effect no longer has a negative modifier for terrestrial damage.
● Gameplay Options: Addressed an issue with some interiors that prevented cargo access.
● Gameplay Options: Clarified the status effects text for Malnourished and Hydrated.
● Fixed a Grav jumping issue that could occur after being hailed in Freestar or UC space.
● Fixed a rare issue that could impact items displayed in the Razorleaf.
● Resolved an issue with missiles that could prevent XP awards.
● Fixed a player placement issue that could occur if a new creation was installed and a save was loaded into the UC Vigilance.
● Resolved an issue where creatures could get moved to water if they ever became stuck.
● Addressed an issue where dropped items could lose there stolen status.
● At Hell's Gate: The Crucible Blade no longer damages ships in orbit when used inside a ship.
● At Hell's Gate: The Crucible Blade audio will now play correctly after loading a save or fast travelling.
● The Bounty Board in the Tracker's Alliance HQ now has the correct audio interactions.

GRAPHICS
● Updated resolutions to include 32:9 and 32:10 resolutions as well as more 16:9, 16:10, and 21:9 resolutions.
● Performance: Resolved an issue that could cause frame rate to drop when opening the scanner on long play sessions.
● Celestial bodies should now remain visible in the sky after entering and exiting an interior.

QUESTS
● All That Money Can Buy: Fixed a rare issue that caused the Trade Tower elevator to be inoperable.
● In Memoriam: Addressed an issue where completing "At Hell's Gate" with Sarah as the companion could prevent completion of the quest.
● Perfect Recipe: Shonda will now recover if she was downed while collecting Ashta meat.
● The Starjacker: Adjusted dialogue options that appear for characters playing after entering the Unity.
● Top of the L.I.S.T. - Resolved a control lock that could occur after selling survey data to Phil Hill.
● Trackers Alliance: Resolved an issue where bounty scanner quests could time out.
● Trackers Alliance: Fixed a rare issue where either killing or stunning the target would not complete the bounty missions.
● Worlds Apart: Fixed an issue that allowed the player to leave the planet too quickly after exiting the temple.

LOCATIONS
● Mannequins will now persist as intended in the New Atlantis Penthouse.
● Player should now be able to modify the shelves and cabinets in the Core Manor in Akila City.
● Resolved an issue that could prevent scanning some flora.
● At Hell's Gate: The Plasma Research Facility now shows up on the surface map.
● Fixed a visible opening in the Deserted Biotics Lab.
● Vent Hazards are now displaying correctly on Jemison.

UI
● Ship Builder: Resolved an issue with the ship upgrade menu when only one module is available for upgrade.
● Ship Builder: Addressed a selection issue when using large fonts.
● Ship Decoration: Updated the names of Empty ship modules.
● All buttons should now work in the Vehicle Builder menu with large fonts enabled.
● Localization: Text for the Dehydrated debuff is no longer cutoff in Spanish and Polish when large fonts is enabled.
● Localization: The bounty boards in the Tracker's Alliance HQ are now localized consistently.
● Localization: Strings for both Hydrated and Dehydrated status effects regarding sneak attacks are fully localized.

VEHICLE
● A keyboard binding is now available for the boost button. (PC)
● A marker for the vehicle will now show up on the player's compass.
● Resolved a camera issue that could occur for players with maxed out Surveying skill.
● Improved logic for exiting the vehicle when partially obstructed.
● The vehicle will now deploy when landing at locations other than spaceports or landing pads.
● Addressed a visible artifact with the Rev-8 when boosting in foggy conditions.

Shattered Space
● Va'ruun outpost modules are now available to players after entering the Unity.
● Skills: Killing enemies inside gravity bubbles on Dazra will now count towards the Gymnastics skill.
● Addressed an issue with the buttons on the lift on the Mourning level in Dazra.
● Weapons: The Penumbra now deals bonus headshot damage.
● Performance: Addressed an issue that could cause slight stutters in the Well and outside Dazra.
● The Va'Ruun Schimaz's blade is no longer pixelated on the Data Menu.
● Fixed a lens flare flicker with the Citadel on Dazra.
● Zealous Overreach: Adjusted Mirek’s dialogue options to account for characters that have been through the Unity.
● Zealous Overreach: Resolved issue that could occur if the player cleared Shadow Station Epsilon prior to speaking to Ekris.

Additionally, you can now BUY creations for Starfield! Paid mods, woohoo!
https://creations.bethesda.net/en/starfield/featured

[rusty_shackleford]

I didn't watch a single Starfield video but lately youtube has been recommending me a bunch of Starfield content.

Is anyone else seeing this? Microsoft might be paying for some advertising, heard rumbles of possible DLCs

[Bertram_Tung]

I didn't watch a single Starfield video but lately youtube has been recommending me a bunch of Starfield content.

Is anyone else seeing this? Microsoft might be paying for some advertising, heard rumbles of possible DLCs

Probably because you've been searching about other space sims lately, and that's the biggest recent property they can push.

[Rienen]

I didn't watch a single Starfield video but lately youtube has been recommending me a bunch of Starfield content.

Is anyone else seeing this? Microsoft might be paying for some advertising, heard rumbles of possible DLCs

The Xbox showcase was back on the 8th and I def got inundated with several SF videos afterward. Most were negative, though, questioning why Bethesda didn't announce any new SF xpac and theorizing the game will prob get another small, uninspired expansion so that it can be launched on the PS5, as sold as a "complete edition".

[Rand]

I just don't get what players wanted to actually be on planets. Do normgroids really have such a hard time accepting that the galaxy is full of barren rock planets?

They wanted there to be reasonable, handcrafted points of interest with decent stories.
They could have hired a team of people to bang these out one a week for 5 years and had 250+ of them, no problem.
But this was too much for ToddCo to even consider.

[rusty_shackleford]

I just don't get what players wanted to actually be on planets. Do normgroids really have such a hard time accepting that the galaxy is full of barren rock planets?

They wanted there to be reasonable, handcrafted points of interest with decent stories.
They could have hired a team of people to bang these out one a week for 5 years and had 250+ of them, no problem.
But this was too much for ToddCo to even consider.

That's fair, actually. Reminds me of how there's entire mods for skyrim, etc., that just add new random encounters. Obviously it would not take Bethesda long to do that and it adds a ton to the game.
They just seem to barely care about the parts of their games people like.

[Rand]

To go further. I visited the "best" POIs in Starfield.
They are, of course, randomly placed with no regard to reason.
So they end up in very stupid places sometimes.

ALL are slop that make little sense.
Poorly designed areas with no thought to realistic layout from usage.
Boring, banal combat with little to no backstory.
And low complexity events on the rare occasion there are any at all.

Gamedevs are morons. They used to think they could have the programmers as writers, too, but that rarely worked out great except for a few legit geniuses.
Now they hire massive teams to focus on graphics and presentation that make ray-traced graphical slop and the director and a couple of people think they can write a whole game on the side.
The team at Bethesda should be 40% story/area designers, and it should not be a monolith under one fool.
Multiple independent teams will make diverse ideas that aren't all cookie-cutter ********.
They can start designing before the engine is complete then integrate their ideas.
Then the engine guys could add modules to allow for greater creativity to meet the designer's needs.

It's like if films were made exclusively by teams of cinematographers. They would look interesting, but be devoid of anything substantial, and mostly they would be banal slop. Worse than now.

[wndrbr]

https://mp1st.com/news/starfield-ps5-re ... d-for-2026

According to our sources, MP1st was told that PS5 version of Starfield won’t be released in 2025, partly due to the RPG’s weak sales of the first expansion, Shattered Space.

[wndrbr]

two years after the release, they still promise to improve the game with patches. Trust me bro, just one more update, it'll get better bro, don't abandon the game bro, next patch will change everything bro

[KnightoftheWind]

STARFIELD 2.0 IS COMING! TODD WILL DELIVER!

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/rpg/be ... -overhaul/

soyfield2.png

[DecadeRiptide]

Starfield is one of the greatest games known to mankind. The graphics are fantastic and the character designs are iconic. I can't wait for Bethesdas next release.

[GhostCow]

Apologies if this was already posted in the thread, but it looks pretty awesome

https://genesismodlist.com/

[Vaako]

Apologies if this was already posted in the thread, but it looks pretty awesome

https://genesismodlist.com/

Helps if you put helmets on all the ugly faces. But its probably still mostly empty space without real ship combat where you can pewpew a few stormtroopers. And 300gb is a little much if I can get that also with older games.

[rusty_shackleford]

Apologies if this was already posted in the thread, but it looks pretty awesome

https://genesismodlist.com/

guarantee starwind is better as an actual game

[Cipher]

Still don't understand the complaint about planets being empty. What were people expecting? It's basically an evolution of what you see in Mass Effect.
It's definitely not why the game failed, the game failed because it sucks. The story sucks, the companions suck, the ""cities"" suck, the quests suck, the shipbuilding sucks, so on and so forth.

---

I just don't get what players wanted to actually be on planets. Do normgroids really have such a hard time accepting that the galaxy is full of barren rock planets?

First of all, I played Elite Dangerous and I agree. Space is empty. However, the real issue is that for all the procedural generation it boasted, Bethesda made it so instead of using tiles, like X-Com or other games that use procedural generation effectively, the "tiles" where the actual sites. For example, a raider base will always have the exact same layout, exact same guards in the exact same spots, and even the exact same alien dinosaur skull in the same place. This means every planet has like 3 or so points of interest and, because all the point of interests are exactly the same, might as well have 1 planet with all of them in a more cohesive way. I haven't read or watched enough streams of this **** to know how much variation, that is, how many different "sites" to see there are but from what little I know they are not many.

That, and also not being able to actually travel and "explore". Sure, it is expected that a planet will be mostly empty, ME1 had a lot of that but the thing is that the idea of exploring is essentially the hope of finding something behind the mystery, after all the monotony of the emptiness, suddenly you find an alien relic or a raider stronghold or something, anything.

ME1 also suffered from a lot of "samey-ness" in what you found on the planets but then again the hardware had a memory limitation and there was no procedural generation, it was all done by hand. I say the idea was good but a little too ambitious to do by hand.

As such, procedural generation is the right way to go but they had to implement it properly. But even then, if Elite Dangerous taught me anything, I still think that it would have been better a handful of planets with a lot of sights to see, instead. Imagine each planet has an amount of content around the same as Skyrim. Some of it is curated and handmade and involves quests some of it is "generic" and is procedural generated instead of the radiant quest system. You just suddenly stumble into a maze of caverns that leads to some kind of treasure, valuable minerals or such that you can sell or something. Anything that gives an excuse to explore.

As is, there is no reason to even go into the procedural generated universe, since it has the "seen it once, seen it all" syndrome due to the terribly ******** and lazy way they implemented procedural generation. Todd overplayed his hand, he was too reliant on "let the modders fix it" and presented a borderline bare minimum viable product to the market and put a premium price tag on it.

But yes, normies wanted "No man's Skyrim" which would mostly be empty anyways, but Bethesda tried their hand in the most lazy and ******** way and got **** for it, deservedly so.

[rusty_shackleford]

But yes, normies wanted "No man's Skyrim" which would mostly be empty anyways, but Bethesda tried their hand in the most lazy and ******** way and got **** for it, deservedly so.

I don't think normies actually know what they want, I've come to the conclusion that there really is no way to please normies with an "open world" space game and Bioware managed to nail it only by accident with kotor then mass effect.
Ignore the people that say they want to go inspect barren rocks(they don't), only allow landing where there's something actually interesting

[King Crispy]

Bethesda should turn their game engine into an RPG maker and just let the fans make stuff and all they need to do is release content packs for $50 a pop.

[Cipher]

But yes, normies wanted "No man's Skyrim" which would mostly be empty anyways, but Bethesda tried their hand in the most lazy and ******** way and got **** for it, deservedly so.

I don't think normies actually know what they want, I've come to the conclusion that there really is no way to please normies with an "open world" space game and Bioware managed to nail it only by accident with kotor then mass effect.
Ignore the people that say they want to go inspect barren rocks(they don't), only allow landing where there's something actually interesting

Yes, pandering to normiefags is the bane of any good idea.

[lucky-SVLLa]

My expectation for Starfield is that it will be like a sci-fi-themed version of Daggerfall in space, while also incorporating elements of Skyrim, New Vegas, Oblivion, and No Man's Sky.

Just take a look at everything about Starfield 2.0 whenever it shipped. It would be disappointing if there were no improvements to the role-playing aspects. But if it's just an improvement to the space loading mechanism, it would also be intriguing to try it

[roldet]

But yes, normies wanted "No man's Skyrim" which would mostly be empty anyways, but Bethesda tried their hand in the most lazy and ******** way and got **** for it, deservedly so.

I don't think normies actually know what they want, I've come to the conclusion that there really is no way to please normies with an "open world" space game and Bioware managed to nail it only by accident with kotor then mass effect.
Ignore the people that say they want to go inspect barren rocks(they don't), only allow landing where there's something actually interesting

Weird no one try to copy kotor/mass effect formula. (Greedfall was good i guess.) Especially, there is no third person cover shooter where i can pause and order teammates like Spec Ops:The Line/Mass Effect. I did not like Andromeda/Titanfall jetpack stuff makes it unserious like i am playing TF2/Fortnite.

[Oyster Sauce]

But yes, normies wanted "No man's Skyrim" which would mostly be empty anyways, but Bethesda tried their hand in the most lazy and ******** way and got **** for it, deservedly so.

I don't think normies actually know what they want, I've come to the conclusion that there really is no way to please normies with an "open world" space game and Bioware managed to nail it only by accident with kotor then mass effect.
Ignore the people that say they want to go inspect barren rocks(they don't), only allow landing where there's something actually interesting

Weird no one try to copy kotor/mass effect formula. (Greedfall was good i guess.) Especially, there is no third person cover shooter where i can pause and order teammates like Spec Ops:The Line/Mass Effect. I did not like Andromeda/Titanfall jetpack stuff makes it unserious like i am playing TF2/Fortnite.

viewtopic.php?t=2089-exodus

[roldet]

Yeah, i know about Exodus. Uncanny weird faces and Hasbro(Wotc) are giving me a pause. Expanse looks better.

[rusty_shackleford]

@roldet try Technomancer, other than the backtracking(which can be pretty bad to be fair) it's a fun game

Spiders was the only company making Bioware-likes