Starfield - Todd Howard's latest masterpiece

[maidenhaver]

Starfield Corp give you and your archaeology team a lift to the dig site. What happens after depends on your build, skill, the planet biome, and what the rng picks is different for your playthrough. The story would just be working for Starfield Corp, the big planetary fleet leaser in your corner of space, or the pirates, freebooters, or outside corp/government. The main game is a war between these groups over your sector of habitable space, and the alien tech is key to victory. It would basically be Daggerfall in space, but with faction wars and castle building. Empty planets and terraformed ones, that can be modded or built up in game. That's all Starfield had to be, and it could have been made by one hobbyist or small team in his attic. BGS are a joke.

[Shillitron]

On January 16, hours before Starfield’s massive update was scheduled to go live in beta form on Steam, developer Bethesda Game Studios announced its delay. The team said it still plans to drop the patch sometime this week, but until it can iron out a newly discovered (and unnamed) issue, we’ll have to wait for those “over 100” tweaks coming to the spacefaring RPG.

Starsisters I don't feel so good...

[Rand]

Oh, wow, what impressive and needed "improvements". I'm so happy.
Todd has done it again, making a game more of a game that is definitely some kind of game.

Starfield Update 1.9.47.0 Notes — January 18, 2024 [IN BETA]
FIXES AND IMPROVEMENTS

► Show Spoiler

ANIMATION
• Fixed player character’s eyes remaining closed instead of blinking in third person view.
• Addressed rare cases where small animation pops could be seen in third person.


CREATURES AND ENEMIES
• Fixed incorrectly invisible creatures on some planets.
• Fixed an issue that could occur on some enemies causing them to stand instead of falling to the ground.


CREW AND COMPANIONS
• Fixed crew members and companions positioning near the cockpit after fast traveling to the ship.
• Companions: Fixed a possible control-lock when talking to a companion without entering a dialogue while simultaneously trying to exit the ship.


GENERAL
• Fixed an issue that prevented Windows users saving if their username featured certain characters (PC).
• Fixed rare save game corruptions on PC (MSS and Steam).
• Fixed an issue that could lead to a control lock or a crash after loading a quicksave while in the targeting mode.
• Fixed player marker following the camera on the surface map.
• Fixed a rare issue that could prevent access to the main menu on when prompted to “Press any button to Start” (Xbox).
• Body type should no longer reset to default when loading a Starborn save from the main menu.
• Fixed flickering on Neon’s Trade Tower elevator panel.
• Improved the appearance of the Ryujin Kiosk material during nighttime.
• Fixed rare issue with how Cydonia’s panel could display the hours without incident.
• Added Optimizations to cloud syncing of save games (MSS/Xbox).
• Improved how crowds behave when desired target is reserved.
• Fixed an issue that could cause airlock doors to sometimes appear floating in sky when arriving at locations.
• Fixed unintended text appearing on the shipbuilder’s UI.
• Fixed game session not properly resuming from shutdown in Energy Save mode (Xbox).
• Various stability improvements.


GRAPHICS
• Improved widescreen support (32:9, 21:9 and 16:10).
• Added support for stars displaying sun disk geometry.
• Shadows can now be seen on planet rings from planet surface.
• Improved eyes and skin on crowd characters.
• Improved reflection on water.
• Improved contact shadows on character skin (Xbox and PC Medium/High/Ultra).
• Improved contact shadows on character cloth (PC High/Ultra).
• Improved contact shadows on first person (PC Ultra).
• Improved lighting in character generation menu.
• Reduced the appearance of some minor artifacts during cutscene camera transitions.
• Fixed flickering on a number of VFX (Sandstorm, corrosive liquid pools, waterfall).
• Fixed a rare issue where the camera would lock while in handscanner mode whenever watching flying fauna (Xbox).
• Fixed potential control lock when opening a game menu a moment before triggering a dialogue with another character.
• Addressed various shadow popping, flickering and artifact issues.
• Improved the visibility of the sun’s lens flare during sunrise and sunset.
• Fixed a rare issue where foam or grime would not show up.
• Fixed rare flickering VFX that could occur in space (Xbox Series S).
• Fixed rare hair flickering (Xbox Series X/S).
• Fixed occasional flicker on digiframes and TV screens.
• Adjusted the appearance of bloom when activating the handscanner.
• Improved the appearance of clouds during weather transitions.
• Fixed rare cases where alignment of grass and wind could appear disconnected.
• Reduced bloom intensity effect while motion blur is active (PC).
• Addressed issues with concealment effect not always applying when using the handscanner.
• Fixed visible edge of the ocean in the distance when seen from a very high point of view.
• Fixed rare white flickering dots around characters' hair during cut scenes.
• Fixed a readability issue in the Starmap when using large menu font mode.
• Fixed inventory menu occasionally failing to generate previews when using a mouse (PC).
• Fixed a brief Depth of Field issue that sometimes occurred when aiming, alt-tabbing or leaving a dialogue screen.
• Fixed occasional lighting transition issues after loading or exiting a location.
• Fixed an issue that could cause intermittent bands to appear in distance fog.
• Fixed a rare issue that could cause fog color to appear inconsistent.
• Fixed a rare issue that could cause rocks to disappear near the player on the surface of a planet.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when switching to DLSS with dynamic resolution active (PC).
• Fixed flickering and delayed shadows sometimes occurring after unpausing the game.
• Fixed various FSR2 and DLSS artifacts (noise, black dots, ghosting).
• Fixed flickering when using the handscanner with DLSS enabled.
• Fixed initial lighting conditions when landing on a planet.
• Improved lighting at 73 locations.
• Fixed various geometry, texture, and ghosting issues.


OUTPOSTS
• Fixed a rare missing terrain issue that could occur after fast traveling to an outpost near New Atlantis.
• Fixed an issue that could cause bulldozed objects to reappear when returning to an outpost.
• Fixed and issue that caused hazard damage to remain even when the hazard was removed by bulldozing in outposts.
• Fixed an issue where outpost’s cargo links would be removed from the terminal list if connected, disconnected, then reconnected to another cargo link during the cargo ship landing sequence.
• Fixed an issue where weapon cases built by the player in an Outpost would populate with weapons and ammo after reloading the game.


POWERS
• Fixed a rare issue that could cause the Phased Time power to remain enabled.
• Fixed the extreme speed that could occur in zero G when using the Phased Time power.
• Solar Flare Power now accounts for critical hits.


QUESTS AND RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
• Absolute Power: Fixed missing slate in the safe preventing from completing the optional objective “Locate Evidence to Extort Ayumi Komiko”.
• Background Checks: Fixed possible control-lock that could occur if caught by security.
• Derelict Ship: Fixed an issue preventing the player from reaching the pilot seat if they did not have access to advanced locks.
• Drinks on the House: Fixed rare occurrence where the door to Sub 12 could remain locked.
• Echoes of the Past: Fixed Delgado getting stuck at bottom of stairs during "Continue Exploring the Lock" that could occur if The Lock was left during Delgado's history dialogue.
• Echoes of the Past: Resolved an issue that could cause Mathis' and Delgado’s guns to be invisible.
• Eye of the Storm: Fixed an issue that could cause data transfer to not start after placing the Data Core.
• Eye of the Storm: Fixed an issue where the docking prompt would be missing on the Legacy ship if the player undocked with the Legacy and then reloaded a save before having started the mission.
• Executive Level: Fixed an issue where players could get stuck on a chair in the Ryujin Industries HQ conference room.
• Failure to Communicate: Fixed an issue that prevented the player from finishing the quest if they downed all the members of the defense pact (Alban Lopez, Jacquelyn Lemaire, and Chanda Banda).
• Further Into the Unknown: Fixed a rare crash that could occur when trying to dock with The Eye.
• Groundpounder: Fixed an issue where the door to Lezama could sometimes be locked if the player left the location during the quest and came back later.
• Hostile Intelligence: Fixed blocked doors in the Steam Tunnels room where the Terrormorph transformation occurs.
• Into the Unknown: Fixed a rare issue that could prevent the quest from starting after completing The Old Neighborhood.
• Into the Unknown: Fixed a rare issue where a Temple location might not populate when receiving the “Go to” objective.
• Legacy’s End: Fixed an issue that could prevent interacting with Delgado when he was behind the glass inside in the command center of The Key.
• Legacy’s End: Fixed a debris pile where to player could become stuck while trying to reach the Mess Hall.
• Missed Beyond Measure: Fixed a dialogue between Sarah and Walter not playing at The Lodge.
• No Sudden Moves: Fixed companions not following player during personal quests.
• On The Run: Fixed various issues related to Mei Devine becoming inaccessible the objective updated to “Listen to Mei Devine’s Introduction”.
• On The Run: Fixed a possible control lock when sitting at the table to talk to Jade MacMillan.
• One Small Step: Fixed a rare issue that could prevent Lin / Heller from exiting the airlock.
• Operation Starseed: Fixed a bad view that could occur if the Beagle was boarded after a long idle.
• Power From Beyond: Fixed an issue that caused missing Starborn temples and scanner disturbances that could prevent obtaining all Starborn powers from that universe.
• Rough Landings: Resolved an issue that could occur during the “Meet up with Milena Axelrod” objective that could prevent ships from appearing at the desired location.
• Shadows in Neon: Fixed an issue that could occur when repeatedly using the door to Jaylen Pryce's office before he progressed to Neon Core.
• Supra et Ultra: Fixed a control lock that could occur when entering the Flight Simulator while a guard is attempting arrest.
• Tapping the Grid: Fixed inaccessible junction boxes that could occur after the Hunter attacks the Lodge.
• The Best There Is: Fixed an issue that could prevent objective from advancing when talking to Naeva and Jasmine in the engineering room.
• The Empty Nest: Fixed and issue that could cause Sam Coe’s gun to be invisible when inside Jacob’s house.
• The Heart of Mars: Fixed another location that could potentially prevent recovering The Heart of Mars.
• The Pale Lady: Fixed rare case of inaccessible ship crew log data slate making it impossible to complete the encounter.
• Top of the L.I.S.T.: Phil Hill should now accept survey data for Sumati.
• War Relics: Resolved an issue that could prevent Kaiser from moving to the mission site.
• Where Hope is Built: Fixed a crash that could occur with a specific set of player behaviors.


SHIPS AND SHIP CUSTOMIZATION
• Fixed another case that could cause an asteroid to follow a ship in space.
• Fixed ship hatch being marked inaccessible after swapping to a new home ship.
• Fixed an issue where the ship could end up in an unintended state by simultaneously attempting fast travel during a grav jump.
• Fixed a view issue that could occur when fast traveling during ship targeting mode.
• Fixed an issue that could occur when entering Ship Targeting mode immediately after selecting a Grav Jump.
• Fixed an issue that caused non-functional ladders to appear when the player modified their ship with a Taiyo All-In-One Berth Top A and a Deimos 1x1.
• Fixed an issue where the Legendary ship could take too long to resume firing after the weapons were repaired.
• Space combat should now match ground combat difficulty increase with successive trips through the Unity.
• Fixed an issue where loading an exit save made while docked to a space station could cause names of ships to change.
• Fixed marker not pointing to the current home ship after performing a save/load between different ships.
• Fixed in issue that could cause the Frontier to incorrectly appear if a non-home ship was removed from a landing pad.


SKILLS
• REJUVENATION: Rejuvenation skill VFX no longer replay whenever the handscanner is opened in third person
• SURVEYING: Fixed surveying challenge progress issue with mineral resource.
• TARGETING CONTROL SYSTEMS: Fixed inconsistencies with level 3 and 4.


WEAPONS AND ITEMS
• Fixed incorrect reload amounts that could occur when consuming a Trauma Pack.
• Fixed FOV and zoom issues with weapon scopes.
• Fixed weapon sound effects occasionally continuing to play after killing an enemy.
• Fixed turret state not being restored properly after and save and load.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the helmet light to not reappear in third person after a save and load.

[rusty_shackleford]

The concept of Starfield's new game plus being a diegetic thing where each new universe you enter has some unique changes and you can even change the plot due to having pre-existing knowledge sounds cool in theory.
It's a shame that there's basically one (1) somewhat major change you can make and a handful of what are essentially speech checks

too bad bethesda isn't competent, having dozens of universes with major changes would have been really cool honestly

[Anon]

Oh, wow, what impressive and needed "improvements". I'm so happy.
Todd has done it again, making a game more of a game that is definitely some kind of game.

Starfield Update 1.9.47.0 Notes — January 18, 2024 [IN BETA]
FIXES AND IMPROVEMENTS

► Show Spoiler

ANIMATION
• Fixed player character’s eyes remaining closed instead of blinking in third person view.
• Addressed rare cases where small animation pops could be seen in third person.


CREATURES AND ENEMIES
• Fixed incorrectly invisible creatures on some planets.
• Fixed an issue that could occur on some enemies causing them to stand instead of falling to the ground.


CREW AND COMPANIONS
• Fixed crew members and companions positioning near the cockpit after fast traveling to the ship.
• Companions: Fixed a possible control-lock when talking to a companion without entering a dialogue while simultaneously trying to exit the ship.


GENERAL
• Fixed an issue that prevented Windows users saving if their username featured certain characters (PC).
• Fixed rare save game corruptions on PC (MSS and Steam).
• Fixed an issue that could lead to a control lock or a crash after loading a quicksave while in the targeting mode.
• Fixed player marker following the camera on the surface map.
• Fixed a rare issue that could prevent access to the main menu on when prompted to “Press any button to Start” (Xbox).
• Body type should no longer reset to default when loading a Starborn save from the main menu.
• Fixed flickering on Neon’s Trade Tower elevator panel.
• Improved the appearance of the Ryujin Kiosk material during nighttime.
• Fixed rare issue with how Cydonia’s panel could display the hours without incident.
• Added Optimizations to cloud syncing of save games (MSS/Xbox).
• Improved how crowds behave when desired target is reserved.
• Fixed an issue that could cause airlock doors to sometimes appear floating in sky when arriving at locations.
• Fixed unintended text appearing on the shipbuilder’s UI.
• Fixed game session not properly resuming from shutdown in Energy Save mode (Xbox).
• Various stability improvements.


GRAPHICS
• Improved widescreen support (32:9, 21:9 and 16:10).
• Added support for stars displaying sun disk geometry.
• Shadows can now be seen on planet rings from planet surface.
• Improved eyes and skin on crowd characters.
• Improved reflection on water.
• Improved contact shadows on character skin (Xbox and PC Medium/High/Ultra).
• Improved contact shadows on character cloth (PC High/Ultra).
• Improved contact shadows on first person (PC Ultra).
• Improved lighting in character generation menu.
• Reduced the appearance of some minor artifacts during cutscene camera transitions.
• Fixed flickering on a number of VFX (Sandstorm, corrosive liquid pools, waterfall).
• Fixed a rare issue where the camera would lock while in handscanner mode whenever watching flying fauna (Xbox).
• Fixed potential control lock when opening a game menu a moment before triggering a dialogue with another character.
• Addressed various shadow popping, flickering and artifact issues.
• Improved the visibility of the sun’s lens flare during sunrise and sunset.
• Fixed a rare issue where foam or grime would not show up.
• Fixed rare flickering VFX that could occur in space (Xbox Series S).
• Fixed rare hair flickering (Xbox Series X/S).
• Fixed occasional flicker on digiframes and TV screens.
• Adjusted the appearance of bloom when activating the handscanner.
• Improved the appearance of clouds during weather transitions.
• Fixed rare cases where alignment of grass and wind could appear disconnected.
• Reduced bloom intensity effect while motion blur is active (PC).
• Addressed issues with concealment effect not always applying when using the handscanner.
• Fixed visible edge of the ocean in the distance when seen from a very high point of view.
• Fixed rare white flickering dots around characters' hair during cut scenes.
• Fixed a readability issue in the Starmap when using large menu font mode.
• Fixed inventory menu occasionally failing to generate previews when using a mouse (PC).
• Fixed a brief Depth of Field issue that sometimes occurred when aiming, alt-tabbing or leaving a dialogue screen.
• Fixed occasional lighting transition issues after loading or exiting a location.
• Fixed an issue that could cause intermittent bands to appear in distance fog.
• Fixed a rare issue that could cause fog color to appear inconsistent.
• Fixed a rare issue that could cause rocks to disappear near the player on the surface of a planet.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when switching to DLSS with dynamic resolution active (PC).
• Fixed flickering and delayed shadows sometimes occurring after unpausing the game.
• Fixed various FSR2 and DLSS artifacts (noise, black dots, ghosting).
• Fixed flickering when using the handscanner with DLSS enabled.
• Fixed initial lighting conditions when landing on a planet.
• Improved lighting at 73 locations.
• Fixed various geometry, texture, and ghosting issues.


OUTPOSTS
• Fixed a rare missing terrain issue that could occur after fast traveling to an outpost near New Atlantis.
• Fixed an issue that could cause bulldozed objects to reappear when returning to an outpost.
• Fixed and issue that caused hazard damage to remain even when the hazard was removed by bulldozing in outposts.
• Fixed an issue where outpost’s cargo links would be removed from the terminal list if connected, disconnected, then reconnected to another cargo link during the cargo ship landing sequence.
• Fixed an issue where weapon cases built by the player in an Outpost would populate with weapons and ammo after reloading the game.


POWERS
• Fixed a rare issue that could cause the Phased Time power to remain enabled.
• Fixed the extreme speed that could occur in zero G when using the Phased Time power.
• Solar Flare Power now accounts for critical hits.


QUESTS AND RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
• Absolute Power: Fixed missing slate in the safe preventing from completing the optional objective “Locate Evidence to Extort Ayumi Komiko”.
• Background Checks: Fixed possible control-lock that could occur if caught by security.
• Derelict Ship: Fixed an issue preventing the player from reaching the pilot seat if they did not have access to advanced locks.
• Drinks on the House: Fixed rare occurrence where the door to Sub 12 could remain locked.
• Echoes of the Past: Fixed Delgado getting stuck at bottom of stairs during "Continue Exploring the Lock" that could occur if The Lock was left during Delgado's history dialogue.
• Echoes of the Past: Resolved an issue that could cause Mathis' and Delgado’s guns to be invisible.
• Eye of the Storm: Fixed an issue that could cause data transfer to not start after placing the Data Core.
• Eye of the Storm: Fixed an issue where the docking prompt would be missing on the Legacy ship if the player undocked with the Legacy and then reloaded a save before having started the mission.
• Executive Level: Fixed an issue where players could get stuck on a chair in the Ryujin Industries HQ conference room.
• Failure to Communicate: Fixed an issue that prevented the player from finishing the quest if they downed all the members of the defense pact (Alban Lopez, Jacquelyn Lemaire, and Chanda Banda).
• Further Into the Unknown: Fixed a rare crash that could occur when trying to dock with The Eye.
• Groundpounder: Fixed an issue where the door to Lezama could sometimes be locked if the player left the location during the quest and came back later.
• Hostile Intelligence: Fixed blocked doors in the Steam Tunnels room where the Terrormorph transformation occurs.
• Into the Unknown: Fixed a rare issue that could prevent the quest from starting after completing The Old Neighborhood.
• Into the Unknown: Fixed a rare issue where a Temple location might not populate when receiving the “Go to” objective.
• Legacy’s End: Fixed an issue that could prevent interacting with Delgado when he was behind the glass inside in the command center of The Key.
• Legacy’s End: Fixed a debris pile where to player could become stuck while trying to reach the Mess Hall.
• Missed Beyond Measure: Fixed a dialogue between Sarah and Walter not playing at The Lodge.
• No Sudden Moves: Fixed companions not following player during personal quests.
• On The Run: Fixed various issues related to Mei Devine becoming inaccessible the objective updated to “Listen to Mei Devine’s Introduction”.
• On The Run: Fixed a possible control lock when sitting at the table to talk to Jade MacMillan.
• One Small Step: Fixed a rare issue that could prevent Lin / Heller from exiting the airlock.
• Operation Starseed: Fixed a bad view that could occur if the Beagle was boarded after a long idle.
• Power From Beyond: Fixed an issue that caused missing Starborn temples and scanner disturbances that could prevent obtaining all Starborn powers from that universe.
• Rough Landings: Resolved an issue that could occur during the “Meet up with Milena Axelrod” objective that could prevent ships from appearing at the desired location.
• Shadows in Neon: Fixed an issue that could occur when repeatedly using the door to Jaylen Pryce's office before he progressed to Neon Core.
• Supra et Ultra: Fixed a control lock that could occur when entering the Flight Simulator while a guard is attempting arrest.
• Tapping the Grid: Fixed inaccessible junction boxes that could occur after the Hunter attacks the Lodge.
• The Best There Is: Fixed an issue that could prevent objective from advancing when talking to Naeva and Jasmine in the engineering room.
• The Empty Nest: Fixed and issue that could cause Sam Coe’s gun to be invisible when inside Jacob’s house.
• The Heart of Mars: Fixed another location that could potentially prevent recovering The Heart of Mars.
• The Pale Lady: Fixed rare case of inaccessible ship crew log data slate making it impossible to complete the encounter.
• Top of the L.I.S.T.: Phil Hill should now accept survey data for Sumati.
• War Relics: Resolved an issue that could prevent Kaiser from moving to the mission site.
• Where Hope is Built: Fixed a crash that could occur with a specific set of player behaviors.


SHIPS AND SHIP CUSTOMIZATION
• Fixed another case that could cause an asteroid to follow a ship in space.
• Fixed ship hatch being marked inaccessible after swapping to a new home ship.
• Fixed an issue where the ship could end up in an unintended state by simultaneously attempting fast travel during a grav jump.
• Fixed a view issue that could occur when fast traveling during ship targeting mode.
• Fixed an issue that could occur when entering Ship Targeting mode immediately after selecting a Grav Jump.
• Fixed an issue that caused non-functional ladders to appear when the player modified their ship with a Taiyo All-In-One Berth Top A and a Deimos 1x1.
• Fixed an issue where the Legendary ship could take too long to resume firing after the weapons were repaired.
• Space combat should now match ground combat difficulty increase with successive trips through the Unity.
• Fixed an issue where loading an exit save made while docked to a space station could cause names of ships to change.
• Fixed marker not pointing to the current home ship after performing a save/load between different ships.
• Fixed in issue that could cause the Frontier to incorrectly appear if a non-home ship was removed from a landing pad.


SKILLS
• REJUVENATION: Rejuvenation skill VFX no longer replay whenever the handscanner is opened in third person
• SURVEYING: Fixed surveying challenge progress issue with mineral resource.
• TARGETING CONTROL SYSTEMS: Fixed inconsistencies with level 3 and 4.


WEAPONS AND ITEMS
• Fixed incorrect reload amounts that could occur when consuming a Trauma Pack.
• Fixed FOV and zoom issues with weapon scopes.
• Fixed weapon sound effects occasionally continuing to play after killing an enemy.
• Fixed turret state not being restored properly after and save and load.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the helmet light to not reappear in third person after a save and load.

Is this their first patch? Larian pulls a lot more than that with a single month of focused work...

[wndrbr]

walmart are now removing physical copies of starfiled from their storefronts.

[wndrbr]

This is gonna be Atari's ET all over again. Starfield is so bad they will bury it in a landfill.

[Vergil]

walmart are now removing physical copies of starfiled from their storefronts.

[RUMOR/LEAK?]
I had sex with your mother and it was like, soooo tight.

[maidenhaver]

This is gonna be Atari's ET all over again. Starfield is so bad they will bury it in a landfill.

It isn't even worth patching.

[Rand]

Is this their first patch? Larian pulls a lot more than that with a single month of focused work...

Second "major" patch...

[Rand]

[Gastrick]

walmart are now removing physical copies of starfiled from their storefronts.

About what it's actually worth.

[rusty_shackleford]

3 cents is what walmart uses to mean the stock is being liquidated, it doesn't mean it's going to be sold at 3 cents
no, I don't know what they do with it after that, no I don't know why they use 3 cents to signify that but it seems like something I'd do if I was pressed for time to finish something

sometimes a few walmarts have accidentally actually put said items out for 3 cents e.g.,
https://www.dailydot.com/irl/walmart-3-cent-sale/

[Wretch]

Is this their first patch? Larian pulls a lot more than that with a single month of focused work...

Second "major" patch...

This is particularly bad when given proper context. The game isn’t just bad it’s entirely unplayable. More than half the “perks” that are used to build a character don’t work or have no functional purpose.

The stealth system is broken, not as in poorly balanced, but as in nonfunctional. Having maxed stealth perks and walking at a crawl will still result in being spotted through walls 50ft away.

There are tons of perks like planet scanning perks and fuel jump efficiency that are holdover mechanics from former scrapped builds. There isn’t even a fuel mechanic in the game anymore and there is no reason to scan a planet. They tried making scanning flora and fauna on worlds a fun gameplay loop that provides xp but it’s the same 4-5 copy pasted things across all planets and the xp amount is so pitiful that it would take dozens of hours to gain a level.

Melee and unarmed are entirely useless. All weapons have tiers that go up as the player levels. A tier 4 weapon will be well over 4x the damage of a tier 1 weapon. I think there are 5 or 6 tiers. The devs forgot to put in tiers of melee weapons and only balanced unarmed for tier 1. A hammer swing or sword slash will do less damage than a single bullet from an assault rifle by about tier 3. The whole game is a joke and will require an entire overhaul even for modders to fix. The people who play this game eat the slop up though so I don’t believe they will even have the capability to identify the problems or fix it.

Considering the game has been out for months with no fix or even acknowledgement of these issues it’s safe to say this one is dead and buried.

[Rand]

A tier 4 weapon will be well over 4x the damage of a tier 1 weapon. I think there are 5 or 6 tiers.

Most weapons have 4 tiers, but a few of the pistols only have 3 tiers.
Wearables (armor, packs, helmets) have 5 tier mods available.

[KnightoftheWind]

I have a feeling Bethesda Game Studios will eventually close, this game and it's reception proved to me that there is very little real talent left in the company, and I struggle to think of a way they can possibly salvage their reputation and create a competent game afterwards. Elder Scrolls VI will continue to use the same engine and will build off of what was used in Starfield, which means more bloat and more of the same gameplay. Supposedly Todd went on record to say that Elder Scrolls VI will strive to be the ultimate fantasy world simulator, but on technology that dates back to the late 90s, can it even be remotely possible?. You would need to be at Rockstar's level to even attempt such a feat, and to do so on a Frankenstein engine that can barely run a rudimentary room/cell?. Forget about it.

Microsoft would do better to dissolve the company and just keep the IP. Give it to modern Obsidian which we can at least say makes more competent games than Bethesda, despite being equally taken over. You can even shift Todd Howard there as well.

[Vergil]

Is this their first patch? Larian pulls a lot more than that with a single month of focused work...

Second "major" patch...

This is particularly bad when given proper context. The game isn’t just bad it’s entirely unplayable. More than half the “perks” that are used to build a character don’t work or have no functional purpose.

The stealth system is broken, not as in poorly balanced, but as in nonfunctional. Having maxed stealth perks and walking at a crawl will still result in being spotted through walls 50ft away.

There are tons of perks like planet scanning perks and fuel jump efficiency that are holdover mechanics from former scrapped builds. There isn’t even a fuel mechanic in the game anymore and there is no reason to scan a planet. They tried making scanning flora and fauna on worlds a fun gameplay loop that provides xp but it’s the same 4-5 copy pasted things across all planets and the xp amount is so pitiful that it would take dozens of hours to gain a level.

Melee and unarmed are entirely useless. All weapons have tiers that go up as the player levels. A tier 4 weapon will be well over 4x the damage of a tier 1 weapon. I think there are 5 or 6 tiers. The devs forgot to put in tiers of melee weapons and only balanced unarmed for tier 1. A hammer swing or sword slash will do less damage than a single bullet from an assault rifle by about tier 3. The whole game is a joke and will require an entire overhaul even for modders to fix. The people who play this game eat the slop up though so I don’t believe they will even have the capability to identify the problems or fix it.

Considering the game has been out for months with no fix or even acknowledgement of these issues it’s safe to say this one is dead and buried.

"The more you put into Starfield, the more it gives back"

[Wretch]

I have a feeling Bethesda Game Studios will eventually close, this game and it's reception proved to me that there is very little real talent left in the company, and I struggle to think of a way they can possibly salvage their reputation and create a competent game afterwards. Elder Scrolls VI will continue to use the same engine and will build off of what was used in Starfield, which means more bloat and more of the same gameplay. Supposedly Todd went on record to say that Elder Scrolls VI will strive to be the ultimate fantasy world simulator, but on technology that dates back to the late 90s, can it even be remotely possible?. You would need to be at Rockstar's level to even attempt such a feat, and to do so on a Frankenstein engine that can barely run a rudimentary room/cell?. Forget about it.

Microsoft would do better to dissolve the company and just keep the IP. Give it to modern Obsidian which we can at least say makes more competent games than Bethesda, despite being equally taken over. You can even shift Todd Howard there as well.

The engine is not and has never been the problem. Modders without access to the engine have made workarounds that solve all the complaints people commonly level at the engine.

The problem is that the company is your typical western corporation that is just a daycare for mentally ill men and women. There is no overarching artistic vision or really any cohesion at all in beth games anymore and they are progressively more a combination of broken and unfinished mechanics scotch taped together in an incoherent nightmare.

Their titles all come with a lack of overarching tone and bizarre design choices. They decided halfway through fallout 4 to try and turn it into a building and survival game and failed miserably. They were going for a space sim for starfield but failed miserably and tried to salvage it into one of their standard games and failed even at that.

Bethesda didn’t fail to make a functional stealth system in their game because of the engine. They have done this before in older implementations. They didn’t fail to make space combat enjoyable or travel a fun aspect of the game because of the engine. They implemented the mechanics of space combat and flying and they function fine.

They failed to balance or test all these things and the game is the equivalent of an esl wordvomit post. Every mechanic in the game is at best half-baked, though many simply do not function. There’s clearly no leadership tying things together or making all the systems fit into the overall balance and feel of the game. It’s obvious most of their focus went into the esg girlboss and new niggalanta propaganda. It’s no surprise that weak men who submit to these humiliation rituals cannot even produce a single functioning aspect of their game.

[rusty_shackleford]

There's a hundred dollar bill sitting on the floor for the first developer that successfully reproduces the skyrim formula.
Even developers who merely get close get showered with money e.g., KCD

Same with the Bioware formula too, as Larian proved last year. Publishers & developers have no real knowledge of what's actually popular with gamers anymore. Frank Zappa's talk about the music business in the 1960s is perfectly on point here:


Everything in it matches up 1:1 with video games. Worth pointing out that the massive majority(>90%) of KCD's funding was from some private billionaire that they convinced after the successful kickstarter.

Our investor is strong and capable of funding the complete development of our project. But he does not follow the game industry very closely, and needs proof that publishers and marketers are wrong about our game - that you are indeed interested in a mature, medieval RPG that emphasizes freedom and authenticity. And so we stand, as a studio, at a crossroads. Either those naysayers are right, and there truly is no desire for the game we are making, or we are right. Either way, we think Kickstarter is a great way to find out.

[KnightoftheWind]

I have a feeling Bethesda Game Studios will eventually close, this game and it's reception proved to me that there is very little real talent left in the company, and I struggle to think of a way they can possibly salvage their reputation and create a competent game afterwards. Elder Scrolls VI will continue to use the same engine and will build off of what was used in Starfield, which means more bloat and more of the same gameplay. Supposedly Todd went on record to say that Elder Scrolls VI will strive to be the ultimate fantasy world simulator, but on technology that dates back to the late 90s, can it even be remotely possible?. You would need to be at Rockstar's level to even attempt such a feat, and to do so on a Frankenstein engine that can barely run a rudimentary room/cell?. Forget about it.

Microsoft would do better to dissolve the company and just keep the IP. Give it to modern Obsidian which we can at least say makes more competent games than Bethesda, despite being equally taken over. You can even shift Todd Howard there as well.

The engine is not and has never been the problem. Modders without access to the engine have made workarounds that solve all the complaints people commonly level at the engine.

The problem is that the company is your typical western corporation that is just a daycare for mentally ill men and women. There is no overarching artistic vision or really any cohesion at all in beth games anymore and they are progressively more a combination of broken and unfinished mechanics scotch taped together in an incoherent nightmare.

Their titles all come with a lack of overarching tone and bizarre design choices. They decided halfway through fallout 4 to try and turn it into a building and survival game and failed miserably. They were going for a space sim for starfield but failed miserably and tried to salvage it into one of their standard games and failed even at that.

Bethesda didn’t fail to make a functional stealth system in their game because of the engine. They have done this before in older implementations. They didn’t fail to make space combat enjoyable or travel a fun aspect of the game because of the engine. They implemented the mechanics of space combat and flying and they function fine.

They failed to balance or test all these things and the game is the equivalent of an esl wordvomit post. Every mechanic in the game is at best half-baked, though many simply do not function. There’s clearly no leadership tying things together or making all the systems fit into the overall balance and feel of the game. It’s obvious most of their focus went into the esg girlboss and new niggalanta propaganda. It’s no surprise that weak men who submit to these humiliation rituals cannot even produce a single functioning aspect of their game.

The engine does play a big role, though. I recently saw a video of an ex-Fallout 76 dev working on his own indie game, and he touched on just how much easier Unreal Engine 5 is to work with compared to the Creation Engine. Because you have to keep in mind that the Creation Engine is just a mess of Frankenstein'd spaghetti code, made by dozens of different people that no longer work at Bethesda. Any tricks implemented by one programmer may not be understood or utilised by a new hire working there in 2024. I'd imagine any veterans at the company must be stressed to hell and back, because they're probably being leaned on by the diversity pajeets on the hour every hour. Management (i.e Todd) are set in their ways though, and they probably deluded themselves into thinking it's easier just to carry on, like a twisted form of the sunk cost fallacy. They don't want to start fresh, because they're afraid they might mess up, or are unable to rely on their low skilled employees and the third parties in India. Bethesda has never been a particularly good developer, it's a miracle how they've lasted this long without closing. And of course everything you mentioned is true too.

[rusty_shackleford]

I have a feeling Bethesda Game Studios will eventually close, this game and it's reception proved to me that there is very little real talent left in the company, and I struggle to think of a way they can possibly salvage their reputation and create a competent game afterwards. Elder Scrolls VI will continue to use the same engine and will build off of what was used in Starfield, which means more bloat and more of the same gameplay. Supposedly Todd went on record to say that Elder Scrolls VI will strive to be the ultimate fantasy world simulator, but on technology that dates back to the late 90s, can it even be remotely possible?. You would need to be at Rockstar's level to even attempt such a feat, and to do so on a Frankenstein engine that can barely run a rudimentary room/cell?. Forget about it.

Microsoft would do better to dissolve the company and just keep the IP. Give it to modern Obsidian which we can at least say makes more competent games than Bethesda, despite being equally taken over. You can even shift Todd Howard there as well.

The engine is not and has never been the problem. Modders without access to the engine have made workarounds that solve all the complaints people commonly level at the engine.

The problem is that the company is your typical western corporation that is just a daycare for mentally ill men and women. There is no overarching artistic vision or really any cohesion at all in beth games anymore and they are progressively more a combination of broken and unfinished mechanics scotch taped together in an incoherent nightmare.

Their titles all come with a lack of overarching tone and bizarre design choices. They decided halfway through fallout 4 to try and turn it into a building and survival game and failed miserably. They were going for a space sim for starfield but failed miserably and tried to salvage it into one of their standard games and failed even at that.

Bethesda didn’t fail to make a functional stealth system in their game because of the engine. They have done this before in older implementations. They didn’t fail to make space combat enjoyable or travel a fun aspect of the game because of the engine. They implemented the mechanics of space combat and flying and they function fine.

They failed to balance or test all these things and the game is the equivalent of an esl wordvomit post. Every mechanic in the game is at best half-baked, though many simply do not function. There’s clearly no leadership tying things together or making all the systems fit into the overall balance and feel of the game. It’s obvious most of their focus went into the esg girlboss and new niggalanta propaganda. It’s no surprise that weak men who submit to these humiliation rituals cannot even produce a single functioning aspect of their game.

The engine does play a big role, though. I recently saw a video of an ex-Fallout 76 dev working on his own indie game, and he touched on just how much easier Unreal Engine 5 is to work with compared to the Creation Engine. Because you have to keep in mind that the Creation Engine is just a mess of Frankenstein'd spaghetti code, made by dozens of different people that no longer work at Bethesda. Any tricks implemented by one programmer may not be understood or utilised by a new hire working there in 2024. I'd imagine any veterans at the company must be stressed to hell and back, because they're probably being leaned on by the diversity pajeets on the hour every hour. Management (i.e Todd) are set in their ways though, and they probably deluded themselves into thinking it's easier just to carry on, like a twisted form of the sunk cost fallacy. They don't want to start fresh, because they're afraid they might mess up, or are unable to rely on their low skilled employees and the third parties in India. Bethesda has never been a particularly good developer, it's a miracle how they've lasted this long without closing. And of course everything you mentioned is true too.

That's one of the things Bethesda's toolset makes very easy. It's super easy to make areas, super easy to modify, super easy to track assets, and it's pretty darn powerful. Look at this way: there's no way in hell that our team could have made Fallout New Vegas without that tool. It was just impossible. And if you look at the mods, it's astounding what people can do with it. I personally think that is very cool. I hope we get to the point where we can actually develop tools like that. I wouldn't say it's a personally driving ambition, it's something that I hope we do.

[KnightoftheWind]

The engine is not and has never been the problem. Modders without access to the engine have made workarounds that solve all the complaints people commonly level at the engine.

The problem is that the company is your typical western corporation that is just a daycare for mentally ill men and women. There is no overarching artistic vision or really any cohesion at all in beth games anymore and they are progressively more a combination of broken and unfinished mechanics scotch taped together in an incoherent nightmare.

Their titles all come with a lack of overarching tone and bizarre design choices. They decided halfway through fallout 4 to try and turn it into a building and survival game and failed miserably. They were going for a space sim for starfield but failed miserably and tried to salvage it into one of their standard games and failed even at that.

Bethesda didn’t fail to make a functional stealth system in their game because of the engine. They have done this before in older implementations. They didn’t fail to make space combat enjoyable or travel a fun aspect of the game because of the engine. They implemented the mechanics of space combat and flying and they function fine.

They failed to balance or test all these things and the game is the equivalent of an esl wordvomit post. Every mechanic in the game is at best half-baked, though many simply do not function. There’s clearly no leadership tying things together or making all the systems fit into the overall balance and feel of the game. It’s obvious most of their focus went into the esg girlboss and new niggalanta propaganda. It’s no surprise that weak men who submit to these humiliation rituals cannot even produce a single functioning aspect of their game.

The engine does play a big role, though. I recently saw a video of an ex-Fallout 76 dev working on his own indie game, and he touched on just how much easier Unreal Engine 5 is to work with compared to the Creation Engine. Because you have to keep in mind that the Creation Engine is just a mess of Frankenstein'd spaghetti code, made by dozens of different people that no longer work at Bethesda. Any tricks implemented by one programmer may not be understood or utilised by a new hire working there in 2024. I'd imagine any veterans at the company must be stressed to hell and back, because they're probably being leaned on by the diversity pajeets on the hour every hour. Management (i.e Todd) are set in their ways though, and they probably deluded themselves into thinking it's easier just to carry on, like a twisted form of the sunk cost fallacy. They don't want to start fresh, because they're afraid they might mess up, or are unable to rely on their low skilled employees and the third parties in India. Bethesda has never been a particularly good developer, it's a miracle how they've lasted this long without closing. And of course everything you mentioned is true too.

That's one of the things Bethesda's toolset makes very easy. It's super easy to make areas, super easy to modify, super easy to track assets, and it's pretty darn powerful. Look at this way: there's no way in hell that our team could have made Fallout New Vegas without that tool. It was just impossible. And if you look at the mods, it's astounding what people can do with it. I personally think that is very cool. I hope we get to the point where we can actually develop tools like that. I wouldn't say it's a personally driving ambition, it's something that I hope we do.

That doesn't refute my argument. This is 2010 Obsidian, a team of talented guys, commenting on the 2010 version of Gamebryo. Which was a lot less bloated than what went into Starfield, no doubt. And he is correct with his assessment that the engine made developing New Vegas easy, because of course it did. It is an engine that can only ever make a game 'like' Fallout New Vegas. Not to mention that the game reuses a metric TON of assets and code from Fallout 3. The work was already mostly done, so certainly they would sing it's praise, and they damn well better because Bethesda is their employer. They aren't going to say the engine is a piece of crap, because they'd be out of a job.

[rusty_shackleford]

The engine does play a big role, though. I recently saw a video of an ex-Fallout 76 dev working on his own indie game, and he touched on just how much easier Unreal Engine 5 is to work with compared to the Creation Engine. Because you have to keep in mind that the Creation Engine is just a mess of Frankenstein'd spaghetti code, made by dozens of different people that no longer work at Bethesda. Any tricks implemented by one programmer may not be understood or utilised by a new hire working there in 2024. I'd imagine any veterans at the company must be stressed to hell and back, because they're probably being leaned on by the diversity pajeets on the hour every hour. Management (i.e Todd) are set in their ways though, and they probably deluded themselves into thinking it's easier just to carry on, like a twisted form of the sunk cost fallacy. They don't want to start fresh, because they're afraid they might mess up, or are unable to rely on their low skilled employees and the third parties in India. Bethesda has never been a particularly good developer, it's a miracle how they've lasted this long without closing. And of course everything you mentioned is true too.

That's one of the things Bethesda's toolset makes very easy. It's super easy to make areas, super easy to modify, super easy to track assets, and it's pretty darn powerful. Look at this way: there's no way in hell that our team could have made Fallout New Vegas without that tool. It was just impossible. And if you look at the mods, it's astounding what people can do with it. I personally think that is very cool. I hope we get to the point where we can actually develop tools like that. I wouldn't say it's a personally driving ambition, it's something that I hope we do.

That doesn't refute my argument. This is 2010 Obsidian, a team of talented guys, commenting on the 2010 version of Gamebryo. Which was a lot less bloated than what went into Starfield, no doubt. And he is correct with his assessment that the engine made developing New Vegas easy, because of course it did. It is an engine that can only ever make a game 'like' Fallout New Vegas. Not to mention that the game reuses a metric TON of assets and code from Fallout 3. The work was already mostly done, so certainly they would sing it's praise, and they damn well better because Bethesda is their employer. They aren't going to say the engine is a piece of crap, because they'd be out of a job.

That comment is in 2016, and he's made comments since praising it as the best engine he's ever worked with. Here's him commenting on UE5 getting features that creation engine had over a decade ago:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220717141 ... 9476429824

[rusty_shackleford]

Games like Starfield cost hundreds of millions of dollars to develop, if Bethesda can't hire toolset & engine programmers to get their engine to the state it needs to be in then there's simply no amount of engine switching that would have produced a better product. The talent to create a good version of the game simply did not exist at Bethesda.

[KnightoftheWind]

That doesn't refute my argument. This is 2010 Obsidian, a team of talented guys, commenting on the 2010 version of Gamebryo. Which was a lot less bloated than what went into Starfield, no doubt. And he is correct with his assessment that the engine made developing New Vegas easy, because of course it did. It is an engine that can only ever make a game 'like' Fallout New Vegas. Not to mention that the game reuses a metric TON of assets and code from Fallout 3. The work was already mostly done, so certainly they would sing it's praise, and they damn well better because Bethesda is their employer. They aren't going to say the engine is a piece of crap, because they'd be out of a job.

That comment is in 2016, and he's made comments since praising it as the best engine he's ever worked with. Here's him commenting on UE5 getting features that creation engine had over a decade ago:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220717141 ... 9476429824

You still have to suspect a level of bias in his statements. Working on New Vegas was no doubt a very easy and well-off point in his career, because like I said the work was already done and the team had experience making a Fallout game before. The Gamebryo/Creation Engine is well optimised for the exact style of game Bethesda makes, but those types of games are outdated. They were when Skyrim released in 2011, and certainly is now. And the engine has grown far too bloated and cumbersome to ever be used well by the new hires at Bethesda today.

[rusty_shackleford]

but those types of games are outdated. They were when Skyrim released in 2011, and certainly is now.

So outdated that Skyrim became one of the best selling games of all time and re-released multiple times and on nearly every computing platform known to man?

[Vergil]

Seeing autistic ukrainians put tentpole modern FPS features and vehicles with fully accurate collision physics into New Vegas makes me doubt the old engine argument. They could figure it out if they cared to but they've gotten away with squeezing out turds to be greedily gobbled up by their fans why would they bother?

[rusty_shackleford]

Seeing autistic ukrainians put tentpole modern FPS features and vehicles with fully accurate collision physics into New Vegas makes me doubt the old engine argument. They could figure it out if they cared to but they've gotten away with squeezing out turds to be greedily gobbled up by their fans why would they bother?

It's because the game development industry almost exclusively hires through family, friends, and contacts therefore nepotism has made it rotten to the core. It's why you can have two or three autists recreate old games from scratch in a couple years but dedicated teams are barely capable of remastering the same game without fucking it up despite having access to all the original source code & assets.

[Wretch]

I have a feeling Bethesda Game Studios will eventually close, this game and it's reception proved to me that there is very little real talent left in the company, and I struggle to think of a way they can possibly salvage their reputation and create a competent game afterwards. Elder Scrolls VI will continue to use the same engine and will build off of what was used in Starfield, which means more bloat and more of the same gameplay. Supposedly Todd went on record to say that Elder Scrolls VI will strive to be the ultimate fantasy world simulator, but on technology that dates back to the late 90s, can it even be remotely possible?. You would need to be at Rockstar's level to even attempt such a feat, and to do so on a Frankenstein engine that can barely run a rudimentary room/cell?. Forget about it.

Microsoft would do better to dissolve the company and just keep the IP. Give it to modern Obsidian which we can at least say makes more competent games than Bethesda, despite being equally taken over. You can even shift Todd Howard there as well.

The engine is not and has never been the problem. Modders without access to the engine have made workarounds that solve all the complaints people commonly level at the engine.

The problem is that the company is your typical western corporation that is just a daycare for mentally ill men and women. There is no overarching artistic vision or really any cohesion at all in beth games anymore and they are progressively more a combination of broken and unfinished mechanics scotch taped together in an incoherent nightmare.

Their titles all come with a lack of overarching tone and bizarre design choices. They decided halfway through fallout 4 to try and turn it into a building and survival game and failed miserably. They were going for a space sim for starfield but failed miserably and tried to salvage it into one of their standard games and failed even at that.

Bethesda didn’t fail to make a functional stealth system in their game because of the engine. They have done this before in older implementations. They didn’t fail to make space combat enjoyable or travel a fun aspect of the game because of the engine. They implemented the mechanics of space combat and flying and they function fine.

They failed to balance or test all these things and the game is the equivalent of an esl wordvomit post. Every mechanic in the game is at best half-baked, though many simply do not function. There’s clearly no leadership tying things together or making all the systems fit into the overall balance and feel of the game. It’s obvious most of their focus went into the esg girlboss and new niggalanta propaganda. It’s no surprise that weak men who submit to these humiliation rituals cannot even produce a single functioning aspect of their game.

The engine does play a big role, though. I recently saw a video of an ex-Fallout 76 dev working on his own indie game, and he touched on just how much easier Unreal Engine 5 is to work with compared to the Creation Engine. Because you have to keep in mind that the Creation Engine is just a mess of Frankenstein'd spaghetti code, made by dozens of different people that no longer work at Bethesda. Any tricks implemented by one programmer may not be understood or utilised by a new hire working there in 2024. I'd imagine any veterans at the company must be stressed to hell and back, because they're probably being leaned on by the diversity pajeets on the hour every hour. Management (i.e Todd) are set in their ways though, and they probably deluded themselves into thinking it's easier just to carry on, like a twisted form of the sunk cost fallacy. They don't want to start fresh, because they're afraid they might mess up, or are unable to rely on their low skilled employees and the third parties in India. Bethesda has never been a particularly good developer, it's a miracle how they've lasted this long without closing. And of course everything you mentioned is true too.

The whole “gamebryo/creation engine outdated” take is some weird misconception that has been parroted meaninglessly for ages now. Engines like UE5 are also old engines that have been updated and tweaked along the way. Whatever the senior devs are comfortable with and prefer is the correct engine choice. If you like something another engine does then you recreate it or cannibalize the code. It’s not difficult, UE5 does this as well.

Modders talked about “engine limitations” when modding the game and people who didn’t comprehend what they were talking about(the lack of access to the engine itself) got completely confused and ran with it. It’s been some obsession around beth games to explain all their design mistakes and mismanagement for over a decade now. Meanwhile skilled modders can goof around and add mechanics like climbing and levitating or load free cities with cheap tricks and workarounds in the very games the senior devs failed to do so who had access to the full engine and time to implement it. Obviously the modders could do much better with access to the engine.

I think you’re correct beth will go under and I don’t even think they have the capability to ever release tes 6.

[rusty_shackleford]

Another $100 bill laying on the ground is the first big budget game that releases the engine code as GPL with the game itself. Doom/Idtech source releases ensured the games remained timeless, including games merely based on the same or similar codebase.
It amazes me that no developer does this, you get free labor! There are thousands of people out there willing to fix your bugs for you as long as you make a good game!