Starfield: The biggest gaming disappointment of my life

[Imperius]

I'm writing my thoughts here just as a post-launch reflection, and I want to express how disappointed I am with what I got. And no, I probably won't argue in the comments, and no, nothing will change my mind. I'm not that kind of player who has make a big deal about the option to choose pronouns, which only appears in the character creator for maybe 5 seconds. I also don't care about racial representation etc. I see online that people have a big problem with this, and I don't think I will ever understand why ( The NPCs look so terrible that I can't even tell who belongs to which race ). Considering the state of this game, I think we need more constructive criticism.

Quantity over Quality: The Game

As a huge fan of sci-fi and space, I was really excited about this game, and I spent a lot of money on it (which of course was a mistake, but hey, I can't turn back time). It's not the worst game in the world, but it is very MEH, and a symbol of lack of innovation and laziness. It was said that this game and universe had been in development for years and was supposed to be Todd Howard's magnum opus, so the current state of this game is unacceptable in my opinion. I could compare Starfield with Baldur's Gate 3 at every turn, but I'll refrain from doing so (BG3 crushes Starfield at every turn anyway).

The Lazy: Space

Beneath the curtain of a pretty cool spaceship editor and some good spaceship combat, there's a lot of laziness lurking behind the labeling this game's space exploration as "realistic." And yes, in reality, 99% of the planets are empty and lack dynamic things to discover. The problem with Starfield, is that it is a game, and games are supposed to engage the player. If this game was some kind of simulator or a form of interactive documentary, then I wouldn't have a problem. But this is an RPG, and when after a few hours I feel like playing something else, then there must be something wrong. There in lies the problem; this game gets worse and worse as the hours go on. The more hours a player puts into it, the more the lack of anything interesting or innovative becomes visible. Due to the fact that 50% of this game is a simulator of loading screens, flying a spaceship becomes something very optional, and the exploration itself is simply boring and soundless (not to mention the lack of ground vehicles, etc.). I understand the emphasis on realism, but games are supposed to be an escape from reality. If one enters into the other, it's a recipe for an unpleasant and very unbalanced experience. After these few hours, the only thing that pushes us to further exploration are side quests, which are exactly the same quests a person can imagine. And no, the argument that "wait 15 hours and the game will become better" is one of the stupidest arguments. Games and movies are entertainment and distraction media, and if they can't deliver that to the consumer fast enough, then what's even the point of playing/watching?

The Lack of Innovation: Boots on the Ground

Apart from the rather boring unvaried companions, the terrible mini-map and the not-so-revolutionary character and weapon development system, the biggest stupidity here is the terrible dialogue system. For some reason, Bethesda returns to a strange approach where the camera gets uncomfortably close to the interlocutors, and their random placement and potentially interfering companions are a recipe for a lot of bugs. But the main problem is the fact that; the game doesn't respect your time. During the hype for this game, it was said that it had a huge dialogue pool, and this is true. However, it was not specified that 70% of these dialogues are repetitions of what was previously said, only with a different context or intonation. In my case, where I try to test every dialogue option, being constantly mocked by annoying NPCs by asking them the same thing for the tenth time in a few minutes is not pleasant, and it artificially lengthens the gameplay ( not to mention that dialogues are slow and just badly written ). I actually sometimes felt like the game was actively trying to punish me for exploring and simply wanting to discover all the possible options. The problem with dialogues is complemented by one of Bethesda's stupidest systems, i.e. immortal NPCs. There are a lot of them here, and although the dialogues often suggest otherwise, we cannot kill even slightly important characters, so the game drags us along a very linear path, only giving the illusion that our choices matter.

Conclusion

I really wanted this game to be a success, but unfortunately I was disappointed. And as I said earlier, it's not the worst game in the world and it has some good stuff in it. If you're a Bethesda fan and you like this type of gameplay, you'll fall in love, but if you wanted something even a little bit better, asking for a refund is probably the best option. Honestly, under normal circumstances I wouldn't care so much, and I wouldn't be writing this. I would consider it a regular Bethesda game and maybe play Starfield once a year. But in this case it is different, because I spent a lot of money, I received a huge dose of false hype and promises, I was told that it was the culmination of Bethesda's work and efforts and Todd's magnum opus, and yet at the end of the road, I still got an ordinary, basic game from this studio. Personally, I think we all deserved better, and as a Bethesda enjoyer, I feel robbed of my money and time. To conclude my ramblings, I would like to see such large studios be held to a higher standards, because we have enough mediocre or bad games on the market, and we certainly deserve something better ( *cough* BG3 *cough* ), and the fact that people either focus on very stupid and unconstructive criticism or blindly defend the game is truly shocking and, for me personally, simply disappointing.

[Corso]

this all stems from this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_v._Ford_Motor_Co.
set the precedent that corporations only interest is to benefit their shareholders, and NOT employees or customers.
100 years later, we have zenimax, bethesda, and keywords studios

[TaliHazard]

sorry you have buyers remorse, i'm loving every minute of my gameplay.

[CMDR CWolfxUK]

Also loving it. Plus, would really like he comparisons with BG3 to end - I didn't know that you could take out a pirate ship, board it, have a zero G fight then make that ship you own in BG3. Or there being a ship builder system...

Oh wait, you can't in BG3.

It is a completely different game. Like comparing Tennis to Football.

[Slender]

Yeah, enjoy your braindead turd based combat in bg3. You are really deserving it

[Prowl]

I love the game but you do have a point that Bethesda have not innovated. Before the game released I had hoped they would have looked at what the mod community has contributed to improve their former games. Sadly it is more of the same.

That said I do enjoy the game despite the rough edges and I know the modders will make it their own. Furthermore, expansions and dlc will add new content. I can only hope they will also add some free updates to improve the core experience too.

[UntrustedLife]

I like it.
You are however, entitled to your wrong opinion.

[Imperius]

Originally posted by cwolfxuk:

Also loving it. Plus, would really like he comparisons with BG3 to end - I didn't know that you could take out a pirate ship, board it, have a zero G fight then make that ship you own in BG3. Or there being a ship builder system...

Oh wait, you can't in BG3.

It is a completely different game. Like comparing Tennis to Football.

I didn't compare these games in the gameplay area. What I wanted to convey there, of course, was the differences in production value. Of course, these are two completely different games, but you have to take into account that each game requires time, passion, innovation and interesting ideas at the development stages, and Starfield simply does not have enough of these things compared to the promises made and the monetary value on Steam.

[Jᴧgᴧ]

Originally posted by Corso:

this all stems from this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_v._Ford_Motor_Co.
set the precedent that corporations only interest is to benefit their shareholders, and NOT employees or customers.
100 years later, we have zenimax, bethesda, and keywords studios

To be fair, Morrowind was an absolute work of art. Oblivion and Fallout 4 weren't bad either. Everything since then however, not good.

Once upon a time Bethesda cared about the quality of their work, like most fledgling companies struggling to find a niche and be successful. But after that success... yeah, not good quality. Skyrim was only truly good after tens of thousands of mods improved/fixed it. Fallout 76 was never good. It's pretty much a declining curve for their games ever since Morrowind.

But that's okay - that happens to most successful companies. They stop caring about the quality, and care more about the profit. And it shows. Not much we can do but wait for the next fledgling startup to put out products they really care about.

[Imperius]

Originally posted by Aberdeen Pig Farm:

What's going on y'all? So many people kinda don't like Starfield?

It's not that I "don't like it". It's more meh to me. As I said, not the best, but also not the worst game.

[Zalzany]

Wow you gaming life is depressing as hell what you jsut start gaming last year? I mean come on this isn't even the top 20 of bad games or launches lol

Just say you saw them tell you exactly whats in it they never hid it or mislead you, and you bought it wanting more then advertised. Because some one not working them told you a load of BS to get more ad dollars off you lol

[Imperius]

Originally posted by TaliHazard:

sorry you have buyers remorse, i'm loving every minute of my gameplay.

Yep, I'm not happy. But at least some people have fun, so that's something.

[Imperius]

Originally posted by Slender:

Yeah, enjoy your braindead turd based combat in bg3. You are really deserving it

Thank you, I had a lot of fun playing 500+ hours on BG3, and I intend to play more and more. Very relaxing you know

[copACABana]

"The biggest gaming disappointment of my life"

I guess you are very young then.

[Dax_B]

I'd say that Bethesda needs new blood at the top and in the creative room (along with a new game engine that's way overdue).

After the release of Starfield I feel no excitement for the next Elder Scrolls/Fallout and have little faith that these titles will truly innovate. Most surprising thing to me is how long it takes them to knock out one of these games. They pretty much just rehash the base code.

[Imperius]

Originally posted by UntrustedLife:

I like it.
You are however, entitled to your wrong opinion.

As do you my friend