I refunded after 20 hours, AMA

[Harris]

Disclaimer: This thread was created in good faith and is an accurate representation of my opinion on Starfield. This thread was not made with inflammatory intent and is not aimed to incite or promote arguments, rule violations and other non-productive replies. This thread was also not made with the intent of farming awards, as I currently hold over 200k Steam points I've no idea what to do with. I waive responsibility for how other users on Steam might choose to interact with this piece of content. Thank you.

I meant to leave a review, but Steam says I can't do that until the game actually releases, so I suppose it'll have to go here:

As a fan of Bethesdian RPGs with thousands of hours on Skyrim and Fallout 4, my expectations for Starfield were pretty down-to-Earth (pun). And yet, I was still disappointed with it. I tried to give Starfield the benefit of a doubt, but ultimately considered a refund. Let me tell you why:

1) Exploration is the most important part of RPG for me. In Skyrim or Fallout 4 the exploration is limited by the number of points of interest on the map, so the idea of infinite generated maps looked very exciting on paper. In reality though, it's empty, lifeless. A few days ago I was replaying Fallout 4 and I visited Sandy Coves Convalescent Home. I spent half an hour there enjoying the enviroinmental storytelling inside the residents' rooms, and then a group of synts arrived. Starfield doesn't tell any stories like that, making me realize that a single, hand-crafted map will always be superior to procedural generation of infinite soulless caves.

2) Starfield failed to captivate me and make me engaged in its story, or care about its world. In the opening hours of Skyrim, you kill a literal dragon and gain the ability to shout. Fallout 4 has its power armor, deathclaw and minigun set piece. Starfield, however, does not have anything. I have collected like 5 pieces of artefacts and the game still felt as boring and pointless as in the beginning.

3) Starfield locks away a ridiculous amount of abilities behind skills, making you feel weak and powerless in the opening hours, and limiting the ways you can interact with the world. Even if it's supposed to give you a great sense of progression after some 150 hours - the game is about the journey, not the destination. And the journey is not somethng that made me wish to be a part of.

4) Starfield is indeed "5 different games" - but not in a good way. Its weapon modification, ship and outpost building, space combat and exploration all feel very disconnected from one another, like modules that you're able to completely ignore rather than a part of an integrated experience.

5) Graphics and performance are terrible even on a rig above Recommended. The water is atrocious. It all feels like playing Fallout New Vegas all over again. And I'm talking visuals, not narrative or builds. And the loading screens.. the majority of playtime is spent in a loading screen, really killing the immersion.

6) Unlike Fallout 4, where you pick you character's sex, Starfield is unfortunately marked with Western sociocultural trends and values of the recent years. It has you picking gender and pronouns and ensures genders and ethnicities are proportionally represented in the world. Don't get me wrong, this one is a relatively minor concern, hence #6, but I just wish the attention and focus were given to something more important instead.

I could name more reasons, but these are the main ones. I'd rather tell you a story instead. When I arrived at New Atlantis, I saw a terminal in front of a warehouse. I hacked the terminal, got some contraband inside, and half a dozen security guards turned on me. I killed and looted all them, and then... their bodies remained on the ground forever, and I kept seeing them every time I came back.

TL;DR No offense, Todd, but this is not a good game. I don't see myself spending a 1000, or even a 100 hours with Starfield. It's disappointing all those years of development and resources were wasted on creating such a dated mediocrity.

[potato]

lame, i'd feel bad after refunding a game i spent 20 hours in

[Chaotic Entropy]

"Don't get me wrong, this one is a relatively minor concern, hence #6, but I just wish the attention and focus were given to something more important instead."

What do you feel got left on the cutting room floor in place of this exactly...? It's not like manual space travel didn't make it because they were too busy reading up on modern societal diversity theories.

[Sweetrollthief]

I'm too lazy to type it all up so I'll just say +!

[≤Ţhė Nebeský Mûž≥]

Zamn!

[Mezray]

imagine telling a review after 20h

[Alabeo]

Imagine being so self-important that you make AMA.

[Masquerade]

For me it's literally just how bad the space "gameplay" is IN A SPACE GAME YOU CANT EVEN FLY ANYWHERE WHY IS EVERYTHING JUST A CUTSCENE

[Chinese_Pizza]

No one here cares that you refunded after TWENTY hours of game play. Warcraft is probably the game for you, based on your complaints.

[Nahui Ollin]

out of all the issues I seen from streamers and gamers, somehow pronouns are always the biggest.

Not the empty planets that suck all motivation out of people and breaking the will of people PAID to play the game, not the fast travel and load times, and not the performance and soft locking.

No, its pronouns that somehow ruined the game and not the boredom that led to people having meltdowns all over twitch.

[Unknown]

haven't played and won't. from everything i've seen, several hours of playtime videos, the game clearly lacks salt.
skyrim was interesting, caves, knights, bandits, beasts, undead, vampires, dragons, castles, magic, and while skyrim would be long dead without mods even just the barebones skyrim itself i would rather play than this boring and just boring starfield game.

[Rwibby]

Originally posted by Chaotic Entropy:

"Don't get me wrong, this one is a relatively minor concern, hence #6, but I just wish the attention and focus were given to something more important instead."

What do you feel got left on the cutting room floor in place of this exactly...? It's not like manual space travel didn't make it because they were too busy reading up on modern societal diversity theories.

Well, loss of immersion that's for sure. I know some people would like to believe that every city in the world should be gender and race diverse, but that is not a reality in planet earth, and unlikely to be the reality in the whole universe.

Gentrification, ideological minorities and races being more present in certain areas of the universe than others would make a lot of sense to make a universe feel realistic. I haven't played the game yet, but if what OP is saying is true, miss-representing the distribution of biological and ideological diversity in nature could take a huge hit on immersion.

(maybe incorporating some of this stuff in the story would be a good idea, if you wanted to represent modern day issues in a futuristic game)

[kalhamm3r]

This "review" didn't tap on ANYTHING that is relevantly important or significant about Starfield. it's just a cry session. And you want a refund after 20 hours?! wtf is wrong with you entitled babies? I played about 10 hours straight yesterday and I am totally invested. Will spend at least another hundred or two in this universe.

[Leto]

after 20 hours ? ... nonsense, steam does not take games back after significantly more than 2 hours

[Masquerade]

Originally posted by Leto:

after 20 hours ? ... nonsense, steam does not take games back after significantly more than 2 hours

not pre release

[The_Daleatron]

ya know as an older gamer i feel bethesda just never wants to advance as a game dev, it's the same core dev's and they have their dated skill set's and like to make games together but its never going to be a tripple A game or even a game worth over 60 quid. They still use the same god awful engine and at this stage it looks like its because they are just to lazy learn how to use a new one. Dont give me the "updated the engine" ♥♥♥♥♥.

This game looks the same as fallout 4, its dated. Its average and that's all it will be but now with excessive loading screens.