Verno wrote on Dec 28, 2023, 11:20:

Prez wrote on Dec 28, 2023, 09:37:
Without having played it, I feel at least somewhat confident saying that the mostly negative review score is a bit of an over-correction coupled with a massive blood-in-the-water effect taking place right now. Huge game, huge publicity, huge viewcounts for the 10 million overly hyperbolic negative videos on YT, etc. The over-correction seems to be more with Bethesda suddenly not getting a pass for things they have been doing for decades now as if a spell has worn off of everyone all of a sudden.

It's more that they messed with the formula of their games. Without the exploration and a truly interconnected world, you just have a bunch of level cells and some average writing. The discovery and sense of wonder isn't present which is insane in a space game. Marketing is inherently deceptive but they went overboard with it here, truly misrepresenting what the game experience was. Starfield is a really average Fallout-esque game in a generic space setting. The level of repetition in the game is almost insulting. There are even less companion quests and the real highlight of the game is the faction quests which are the only reason to play in my opinion.

If anything I think the community has been overly generous because its Bethesda. To spend this much money, time and talk so much about ambition then launch something so utterly banal and devoid of ambition is bewildering. Nothing was achieved here, the scope of the game is so small once you see its limitations and for a game set in space...yeesh.

The real reason for the massive downtrend is there have been some more data points raised like unique not-story linked POIs (21) or how there are only 31 faction quests (as in, missions) if you compare this to say, a game like Morrowind (without DLC) which had like 53 developers over the 1300 !!! that Starfield credits you see that something is deeply rotten at Bethesda. Also the game only has 1 writer. And I am not even joking. This entire game only has 1 writer credited, and only 12 quest designers.

VaranDragon wrote on Dec 28, 2023, 10:53:
Honest Todd Howard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YMg4ehhCgU

This is gold.

That's hilarious.

WannaLogAlready wrote on Dec 28, 2023, 13:15:

RedEye9 wrote on Dec 28, 2023, 09:28:
ACG liked this game.

Yep, ACG liked this game ... 3 months ago, like so many others in the honey moon phase.

- Gamespot, IGN, gave it a more prudent 7.
- Rock paper shotgun: "Feels smaller than Skyrim or Fallout.
You can't reliably walk somewhere and find something weird and interesting.
You don't have to build an entire universe to make a game last 130 hours. In fact, I'd rather you didn't."
- Even mercenary PCGamer had to restrict themselves to a 75%.

Myself, from the start till I uninstalled, all I saw was ugly, poorly designed, the interactions where childish and lackluster, all I played felt wrong.
Outside in arid planets or in cities, too wide and barren spaces.

Inside, rooms cluttered by dozens of garbage items everywhere.
Is something useful ?, must I sift through all that ?.
And that is the tonic used, instead of good things, they put a lot of things generic or downright useless.

Of course, always someone will be satisfied with quantities of slop, but the blowback is clear and growing.

That's because Starfield grows on you like mold of the worst kind - the longer you play, the worse it gets.

Numinar wrote on Dec 28, 2023, 03:21:
I actually spent 2.5 hrs of wages on BG3 and couldn't stick with it... maybe there was a little too much classic 90's crpg in that! I'll definitley give it another go though. Starfield I will also get back to. It needs more missions like "the mantis" and a better way to handle inventory/loot. I've got a fucking ship. It should hold basically unlimited player inventory shit.

Don't know why it's rated so low though. Probably the lack of Jeremy Soule. Exploring in Skyrim is still the highlight of bethsoft for me and I never even finsihed that game. Oblivion seemed to dumb down morrowind too much, and Skyrim kept in the same direction but made up for it in hella vibes.

Starfield is more fun than any fallout game I've played though, the sterility comes from the initial big city you visit. Plenty of shit down the gravity wells out there.

You think starfield is more fun than a fallout game????????

and no there is not "plenty of shit" down the gravity wells. there are the same 15 things over and over and over and it doesn't even make logical sense (surveying an undiscovered planet yet there are human sites all over the place on it) all while you have to deal with a terrible interface, terrible face models, terrible inventory control, weak gun play and many other soul crushing issues.

even the worst fallout game is 1000x better than this.

RedEye9 wrote on Dec 28, 2023, 09:28:
ACG liked this game.

Yep, ACG liked this game ... 3 months ago, like so many others in the honey moon phase.

- Gamespot, IGN, gave it a more prudent 7.
- Rock paper shotgun: "Feels smaller than Skyrim or Fallout.
You can't reliably walk somewhere and find something weird and interesting.
You don't have to build an entire universe to make a game last 130 hours. In fact, I'd rather you didn't."
- Even mercenary PCGamer had to restrict themselves to a 75%.

Myself, from the start till I uninstalled, all I saw was ugly, poorly designed, the interactions where childish and lackluster, all I played felt wrong.
Outside in arid planets or in cities, too wide and barren spaces.

Inside, rooms cluttered by dozens of garbage items everywhere.
Is something useful ?, must I sift through all that ?.
And that is the tonic used, instead of good things, they put a lot of things generic or downright useless.

Of course, always someone will be satisfied with quantities of slop, but the blowback is clear and growing.

Verno wrote on Dec 28, 2023, 11:20:

Prez wrote on Dec 28, 2023, 09:37:
Without having played it, I feel at least somewhat confident saying that the mostly negative review score is a bit of an over-correction coupled with a massive blood-in-the-water effect taking place right now. Huge game, huge publicity, huge viewcounts for the 10 million overly hyperbolic negative videos on YT, etc. The over-correction seems to be more with Bethesda suddenly not getting a pass for things they have been doing for decades now as if a spell has worn off of everyone all of a sudden.

It's more that they messed with the formula of their games. Without the exploration and a truly interconnected world, you just have a bunch of level cells and some average writing. The discovery and sense of wonder isn't present which is insane in a space game. Marketing is inherently deceptive but they went overboard with it here, truly misrepresenting what the game experience was. Starfield is a really average Fallout-esque game in a generic space setting. The level of repetition in the game is almost insulting. There are even less companion quests and the real highlight of the game is the faction quests which are the only reason to play in my opinion.

If anything I think the community has been overly generous because its Bethesda. To spend this much money, time and talk so much about ambition then launch something so utterly banal and devoid of ambition is bewildering. Nothing was achieved here, the scope of the game is so small once you see its limitations and for a game set in space...yeesh.

I'm tempted to play it just "vanilla as is" rather than wait for mods and community addons just to see if my experience is the same as most everyone else's. As a rule I don't do that with Bethesda games. I think Oblivion was the last game I did it with.

Just to throw my 2 cents in even though I haven't played Starfield, the underlying question on Steam reviews is whether you recommend the game to others. You can watch a movie, read a book, go on vacation to somewhere new, and even though you spent hours and may have enjoyed some parts of whatever it is, you can still be disappointed and decide not to recommend it to others.

Prez wrote on Dec 28, 2023, 09:37:
Without having played it, I feel at least somewhat confident saying that the mostly negative review score is a bit of an over-correction coupled with a massive blood-in-the-water effect taking place right now. Huge game, huge publicity, huge viewcounts for the 10 million overly hyperbolic negative videos on YT, etc. The over-correction seems to be more with Bethesda suddenly not getting a pass for things they have been doing for decades now as if a spell has worn off of everyone all of a sudden.

It's more that they messed with the formula of their games. Without the exploration and a truly interconnected world, you just have a bunch of level cells and some average writing. The discovery and sense of wonder isn't present which is insane in a space game. Marketing is inherently deceptive but they went overboard with it here, truly misrepresenting what the game experience was. Starfield is a really average Fallout-esque game in a generic space setting. The level of repetition in the game is almost insulting. There are even less companion quests and the real highlight of the game is the faction quests which are the only reason to play in my opinion.

If anything I think the community has been overly generous because its Bethesda. To spend this much money, time and talk so much about ambition then launch something so utterly banal and devoid of ambition is bewildering. Nothing was achieved here, the scope of the game is so small once you see its limitations and for a game set in space...yeesh.

Honest Todd Howard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YMg4ehhCgU

This is gold.

Without having played it, I feel at least somewhat confident saying that the mostly negative review score is a bit of an over-correction coupled with a massive blood-in-the-water effect taking place right now. Huge game, huge publicity, huge viewcounts for the 10 million overly hyperbolic negative videos on YT, etc. The over-correction seems to be more with Bethesda suddenly not getting a pass for things they have been doing for decades now as if a spell has worn off of everyone all of a sudden.

ACG liked this game.

I waited for the reviews, from actual players, glad I did.
Loved Skyrim and completed it multiple times, people are getting so bored in SF they don't even complete it once.
I know it's sort of a 'space' game but someone should have told them there is atmosphere on the planets, because this game totally lacks atmosphere! or soul, what it does have is a seriously dated game engine where fun travelling is replaced by a million load screens! hardly an open world game if every door you open is a loading screen!

No need to spend $70 smackers to determine this game sucks.

Just watch the official promo material and a couple of 'let's plays' and the turkey is strong in this one judgement flows freely.

Anyone who bought it sight unseen deserves what they got.

I actually spent 2.5 hrs of wages on BG3 and couldn't stick with it... maybe there was a little too much classic 90's crpg in that! I'll definitley give it another go though. Starfield I will also get back to. It needs more missions like "the mantis" and a better way to handle inventory/loot. I've got a fucking ship. It should hold basically unlimited player inventory shit.

Don't know why it's rated so low though. Probably the lack of Jeremy Soule. Exploring in Skyrim is still the highlight of bethsoft for me and I never even finsihed that game. Oblivion seemed to dumb down morrowind too much, and Skyrim kept in the same direction but made up for it in hella vibes.

Starfield is more fun than any fallout game I've played though, the sterility comes from the initial big city you visit. Plenty of shit down the gravity wells out there.

phinn wrote on Dec 27, 2023, 21:48:
This game really does look boring, I couldn't buy it. Was a pretty big Bethesda fan back in the day, feels like they peaked 12 years ago with Skyrim.

I've played them all since Morrowind. Skyrim was definitely Bethesda's best game and it's been a downward trend ever since. After Starfield I don't even have hope that the next Elder Scrolls will be good. It's just really surprising how mediocre Starfield turned out to be.

Argonius the 3rd wrote on Dec 27, 2023, 17:54:
The "reviews"

we did it, reddit

This game really does look boring, I couldn't buy it. Was a pretty big Bethesda fan back in the day, feels like they peaked 12 years ago with Skyrim.

Of course, I've seen "real fans" of the game say the game is being reviewed bombed by "haters" for...."reasons". 🤣

Well, people complain about NMS here also so you really should not be enjoying it. never forgive, never forget. :-)

Starfield is TEEEEEERRRRIIIIIBBBLLLLLEEEE.

If i had paid for that game i would have been PISSED OFF!. but thankfully it is on game pass so after about 20 hours of a terrible game that i gave a chance to i never have to play that game again..

You want to know what is unbelievably awesome???

playing No Mans Sky in VR. I got this on steam and started playing it with my Quest 3 and OMG this is amazing and addictive.

Starfield is not even a pimple on NMS's ass.