Bethesda employees try to convince Steam reviewers Starfield is a better game

[talloyer]

I've never seen a company so desperate to try to persuade us we are just playing Starfield wrong. https://www.vg247.com/starfield-bethesda-responding-to-negative-steam-reviews
It reminds me of this topic: https://youtu.be/I0Jf5gU39mc?si=ACtELivhzFaAwZPG

[Hannibal]

Which tells you all you need to lnow about Bethsedas culture today. Just in complete denial. I dont have high hopes for the next elder scrolls game. They cant get past the valid critisms and just begin correcting them. It should be named The Seinfield Game in space. Its genuinely about nothing minus the humour.

[minisith]

Originally posted by Godrik Underscore:

Originally posted by RasaNova:

Highly doubtful. As much as I think it's incredibly disingenuous to bash the game because the studio dares respond to reviews with what was probably supposed to be helpful tips or info, they're taking the wrong approach. We can change character builds a thousand ways and the core game loop will be the same. If we don't like that gameplay, going lasers instead of shotguns or animal farming instead of persuasion is not going to change it.

They aren't responding with helpful info though. Their replies say "Wrong! You are playing the game wrong and here is the proof that the game is actually a fantastic game in spite of your personal experience". That's very unprofessional and unproductive to invalidate a customer's experience in this way.

I did not see any of those words you just used. You are imagining it for your own narrative.

[RasaNova]

Originally posted by Godrik Underscore:

Originally posted by RasaNova:

Highly doubtful. As much as I think it's incredibly disingenuous to bash the game because the studio dares respond to reviews with what was probably supposed to be helpful tips or info, they're taking the wrong approach. We can change character builds a thousand ways and the core game loop will be the same. If we don't like that gameplay, going lasers instead of shotguns or animal farming instead of persuasion is not going to change it.

They aren't responding with helpful info though. Their replies say "Wrong! You are playing the game wrong and here is the proof that the game is actually a fantastic game in spite of your personal experience". That's very unprofessional and unproductive to invalidate a customer's experience in this way.

That's how you see it, fair enough but that's not what they're saying. Sure, maybe they're defending their work, maybe they're giving ideas of different ways to play (which I don't agree with) but you present it like they are judging the reviewer when they are clearly not.

[ReadyNick]

I think it's hilarious that a game company is so in the ♥♥♥♥ with their game that they try to convince it's players it's a good game

[Maelstrum]

Gaming communities complain when developers do not put out a complete game, or if everything is behind micro transactions. Complain that there are bugs no matter how good the game is. The sad realism that most players these days have to have everything GOD status within the first day of playing is why the majority of games released are short sighted piles of crap. I watch so many negative posts form people who go on to a week later on a video saying oh man! how I just found out this amazing fact of game-play after 300 plus hours etc. This probably happens because most players ( I watch my son do this over and over) skip through dialog as fast as they can because it wastes their time, only to completely miss crucial information and or choices. I dare say that if you are bored playing this game then your not doing enough to immerse yourself into all aspects of the game. Just my old timer thoughts as I have been gaming for well over 40 years now and get annoyed by those who just want to bash a game to death.
I would like to thank Bethesda for all there hard work on the game to date and look forward to their fixes and updates to come.

[Groogo]

I enjoy playing Starfield very much and I also agree that the Developer's response could have been much more thoughtful. As a previous Poster stated it's not enough to change a few skills to make the next play-through worthwhile if a player did not enjoy the game play in the first place. I purchased two new games yesterday and plan to return to Starfield for DLC in the future as my plan to make Starfield my winter game did not see fruition the way that Skyrim and Fallout 4 did previously. I did receive 600 hours of good fun from Starfield and that is good value for my purchase.

[ReadyNick]

Originally posted by Maelstrum:

Gaming communities complain when developers do not put out a complete game, or if everything is behind micro transactions. Complain that there are bugs no matter how good the game is. The sad realism that most players these days have to have everything GOD status within the first day of playing is why the majority of games released are short sighted piles of crap. I watch so many negative posts form people who go on to a week later on a video saying oh man! how I just found out this amazing fact of game-play after 300 plus hours etc. This probably happens because most players ( I watch my son do this over and over) skip through dialog as fast as they can because it wastes their time, only to completely miss crucial information and or choices. I dare say that if you are bored playing this game then your not doing enough to immerse yourself into all aspects of the game. Just my old timer thoughts as I have been gaming for well over 40 years now and get annoyed by those who just want to bash a game to death.
I would like to thank Bethesda for all there hard work on the game to date and look forward to their fixes and updates to come.

So lets say nothing and let these lazy developers continue to make outdated crap?

You want to thank them instead, damn.

[ko]

This is one the most hilariously pathetic things I've seen in a long time.

Bethesda just needs to accept that the game is thoroughly mediocre on a trajectory to sort of bad.

[RasaNova]

Originally posted by ReadyNick:

Originally posted by Maelstrum:

Gaming communities complain when developers do not put out a complete game, or if everything is behind micro transactions. Complain that there are bugs no matter how good the game is. The sad realism that most players these days have to have everything GOD status within the first day of playing is why the majority of games released are short sighted piles of crap. I watch so many negative posts form people who go on to a week later on a video saying oh man! how I just found out this amazing fact of game-play after 300 plus hours etc. This probably happens because most players ( I watch my son do this over and over) skip through dialog as fast as they can because it wastes their time, only to completely miss crucial information and or choices. I dare say that if you are bored playing this game then your not doing enough to immerse yourself into all aspects of the game. Just my old timer thoughts as I have been gaming for well over 40 years now and get annoyed by those who just want to bash a game to death.
I would like to thank Bethesda for all there hard work on the game to date and look forward to their fixes and updates to come.

So lets say nothing and let these lazy developers continue to make outdated crap?

You want to thank them instead, damn.

Nah, criticize the game as you will. But the constant excuses to bash the game, make stuff up, twist facts, misinterpret anything said about the game in the worst possible way, and just nonstop anger and pointless bashing of the game - well, it gets tiresome for those of us who want to use this forum to actually discuss the game, good points and bad.

Gloating over falling review scores, misrepresenting lowered player counts, spreading lies like "most refunded game on Steam," bashing BSG for responding to people's concerns, mocking developer streams, NONE of that is productive criticism.

[Godrik Underscore]

Originally posted by minisith:

Originally posted by Godrik Underscore:

They aren't responding with helpful info though. Their replies say "Wrong! You are playing the game wrong and here is the proof that the game is actually a fantastic game in spite of your personal experience". That's very unprofessional and unproductive to invalidate a customer's experience in this way.

I did not see any of those words you just used. You are imagining it for your own narrative.

Did you even read the article?!

[talloyer]

Originally posted by JRootabega:

They do it to elder scrolls online reviews too. Just trying to control the narrative and discredit negative reviews.

They did even worse to Mick Gordon allowing MartyScum to make him the fall guy of the disastrous OST Album of DOOM Eternal and stonewalling him for 2,5 years until Mick had enough. And when he finally gave his overdue response destroying all allegations of MartyScum Bethesda instead chose to play the victim blaming Mick Gordon for the supposed harassment of their employees while not addressing any of his points. To this day there is no official OST Album of DOOM Eternal anywhere to buy or listen to, not even from the DLCs.
All of this to say Bethesda Softworks loves to manipulate the narrative (with copious amounts of Censorship) in their favor to avoid accountability. The difference this time is these employees replying the reviews are trying to olay nice.

[Maya]

It is not unusual on Steam for Devs replying to customers with negative reviewers.
Many times devs want to know what went wrong and want to improve the game.
To me, it means that customers received attention from the company that is willing to change something for the better.
It also shows that as a customer you can influence.

[Shibby]

Originally posted by Maelstrum:

Gaming communities complain when developers do not put out a complete game, or if everything is behind micro transactions. Complain that there are bugs no matter how good the game is. The sad realism that most players these days have to have everything GOD status within the first day of playing is why the majority of games released are short sighted piles of crap. I watch so many negative posts form people who go on to a week later on a video saying oh man! how I just found out this amazing fact of game-play after 300 plus hours etc. This probably happens because most players ( I watch my son do this over and over) skip through dialog as fast as they can because it wastes their time, only to completely miss crucial information and or choices. I dare say that if you are bored playing this game then your not doing enough to immerse yourself into all aspects of the game. Just my old timer thoughts as I have been gaming for well over 40 years now and get annoyed by those who just want to bash a game to death.
I would like to thank Bethesda for all there hard work on the game to date and look forward to their fixes and updates to come.

Nah, I played Robocop and it's janky and has issues with the voices matching the faces but I had more fun with that game than I did in my time with Starfield.

Starfield's main problem is that it feels like it had zero personality. There are hardly any memes or things that people reference like we do with the older Bethesda games. Where is the "arrow to the knee", "Stop right there criminal scum"? The game is just too sterile IMO and that made many of the problems with Bethesda game design show up more clearly for people.

Like I said Robocop is janky and has some technical issues but it had tons of charm and personality behind it. It felt like the devs actually cared about making a fun game that fans would enjoy.

[Groogo]

Originally posted by RasaNova:

Nah, criticize the game as you will. But the constant excuses to bash the game, make stuff up, twist facts, misinterpret anything said about the game in the worst possible way, and just nonstop anger and pointless bashing of the game - well, it gets tiresome for those of us who want to use this forum to actually discuss the game, good points and bad.

Gloating over falling review scores, misrepresenting lowered player counts, spreading lies like "most refunded game on Steam," bashing BSG for responding to people's concerns, mocking developer streams, NONE of that is productive criticism.

Good post!

[PortalShifter]

Well at least Bethesda has officially confirmed that Starfield was intended to be boring. They definitely hit the mark there.