[editorial] People like this game

[Low Standards]

There are people who like this game. Please stop wanting a game to fail. Also we are not living in 1984. Games are updated frequently and anything in the game might change for the better. It already has.

Here is what I would like to see:

Instead of consistent abandoned sites in every direction, reduce the number and make them more varied in location. It would also be nice to see some dirt roads or other signs of life outside these buildings.

Vehicles. I don't care what at this point.

Expansion of colony building.

I would like to not be able to skip ship fighting on my travels. If I fast travel from point A to B I would like to be pulled into ship combat sometimes. This makes upgrading your ship feel more important.

Instead of rooting for games to fail. What would you like to see change?

[Don_Salvatore]

The problem isn't really the half baked mechanics or missing features.

The future they have presented just isn't believable. The factions make no sense, what remains of earth culture makes no sense. The societies are utterly unbelievable, the factions are utterly unbelievable, people are utterly unbelievable when this is supposed to be our future.

I am sorry, but unless you completely shut down any cognitive ability while playing it just nags you everywhere you go.

[Low Standards]

Originally posted by Don_Salvatore:

The problem isn't really the half baked mechanics or missing features.

The future they have presented just isn't believable. The factions make no sense, what remains of earth culture makes no sense. The societies are utterly unbelievable, the factions are utterly unbelievable, people are utterly unbelievable when this is supposed to be our future.

I am sorry, but unless you completely shut down any cognitive ability while playing it just nags you everywhere you go.

I don't disagree with you at all. The main story is baffling to me? You created a well-rooted 24th century world and populate it with time-travel and magic? Oh gosh.

I do believe a lot of this can be glossed over or improved with time. I believe in a hobby called world-building that lets people develop systems and test them on paper. Most great Sci-Fi writers have to do it.

I also hope the Creation Kit will allow aspiring Sci-Fi writers to work their magic into this game.

[superpickle8472]

Originally posted by Low Standards:

There are people who like this game. Please stop wanting a game to fail. Also we are not living in 1984. Games are updated frequently and anything in the game might change for the better. It already has.

Here is what I would like to see:

Instead of consistent abandoned sites in every direction, reduce the number and make them more varied in location. It would also be nice to see some dirt roads or other signs of life outside these buildings.

Vehicles. I don't care what at this point.

Expansion of colony building.

I would like to not be able to skip ship fighting on my travels. If I fast travel from point A to B I would like to be pulled into ship combat sometimes. This makes upgrading your ship feel more important.

Instead of rooting for games to fail. What would you like to see change?

I'll go for that,, I LIKe it and agree with you on added items for the game.. Some sort of Dune Buggy Mars thing to drive :-)

[Low Standards]

Originally posted by superpickle8472:

Originally posted by Low Standards:

There are people who like this game. Please stop wanting a game to fail. Also we are not living in 1984. Games are updated frequently and anything in the game might change for the better. It already has.

Here is what I would like to see:

Instead of consistent abandoned sites in every direction, reduce the number and make them more varied in location. It would also be nice to see some dirt roads or other signs of life outside these buildings.

Vehicles. I don't care what at this point.

Expansion of colony building.

I would like to not be able to skip ship fighting on my travels. If I fast travel from point A to B I would like to be pulled into ship combat sometimes. This makes upgrading your ship feel more important.

Instead of rooting for games to fail. What would you like to see change?

I'll go for that,, I LIKe it and agree with you on added items for the game.. Some sort of Dune Buggy Mars thing to drive :-)

At this point I would be happy with a Segway if it would be here sooner :-)

[jonnin]

1) fix the game breaking bugs (ships, outposts, homes, and more rest to stock or vanish)
2) fix the game breaking QOL problems (notably vendor cash supply, but I can list a dozen more)
3) more content. Feels like there are barely 10 or so interesting quest chains and then NG+ time, repeat, repeat,...
4) make stuff worth doing. NG+ the only thing that feels like there is any reward is shooting people. Outposts? Nope... stuff isn't worth making for profit or use so they are just waystations with a shipbuilder and a landing site. Exploration? Same as you saw last time and reward vs your level is pathetic. Same old quests with low tier rewards? Nope, that 30-40 DR mantis junk isn't useful at level 40+ .. the ship is a nice quick kickstart if you need a 2nd one (they give you frontier right off in NG). There isn't a single thing that helps you gear up and accomplish anything that works in NG+ except taking bounties on a level 70-75 planet, everything else feels like it rewards level 20 quality.

[Kingfish]

I LIKE THE GAME

I write applications so I know what it takes to create, product, ship, and provide support. I will attempt to be realistic with my suggestions. Much of what I have to say has already been voiced; apologies for repeating.

Fantastical Stories aside, let’s identify the primary SF Features in a nutshell:

• Character Creation: This is already baked and proven code dup’d from FO and SR series. Pretty much expected nowadays.
  
• Custom Ship Designer: Admittedly this took me some time (200 hours+) to figure it out. Now I’m happy; I grok it. The ONE THING I would really like to have is a PREVIEW of the design before committing to ship purchase/modification. Another idea: Have the Base begin with elementary Ship modules. To gain more – DISASSEMBLE ships (however acquired) to gain research skill points, technology, and production capability. Sort of like how foreign governments do to each other through the history of Time.
  
• Outposts: Having roots in SR & FO series, now supersized! And yet – terribly managed inventory with clunky UI. Likely stubbed out by design to become either a DLC or Mod. I’m not asking for Excel or SQL to professionally manage the inventory; just give me access through an SDK and I’ll write my own queryable sortable interface.
  
• Weapons/Suits/Helmets/Packs Customization: The ONE THING MISSING is a DECONSTRCTION SKILL to gain research skill points, technology, and production capability.

It seems to me that SF on-launch shipped with a future framework in mind; many roads and features stubbed out. Examples:

• Ship Fuel: Presently under-utilized as a throttling device for jumping. I’d like to see this gated in Hardcore setting where you’d have to set down at refueling bases. The distance between jumps dependent on existing ship capacity mechanic. Perhaps even having two or three types of fuel systems: HE3 for the masses, Matter-Antimatter, Wormholes, the spice Mélange, the Mycelium Network LOL… just planting the seed.
  
• The absolute need for Sleep; Hardcore = required.
  
• The absolute need for Food; Hardcore = required.
  
• Basic Ship amenities: If traveling with passengers (regardless of being a companion, follower or not), ships must provide elementary habs – sleeping quarters at a minimum; Hardcore = required. Ship companions could mutiny in severe conditions et cetera.
  
• Planet side transportation: OK so this is a big one because we already have Boost-Packs. The problem I have with packs is that they should be designed as tactical support during engagement b/c the fuel is limited. It makes no sense to be jetting around the surface free-willy with unlimited (or regenerative) fuel supply. The flip side is that existing packs are terribly slow over cross-country. Let’s be realistic: I’m not asking for Astro-Boy capability. I just think the whole surface travel enchilada needs a re-think, and include faster systems such as a buggy, speeder, flyer, balloon, or walker w/ configurable cargo/fuel storage; a mini-ship on the surface. Lots of ways to skin this kitty as an Addon. I know this is asking a lot – so let us pay for the pleasure!
  
• Outpost Feature Expansion: Presently – the development is almost there. What’s missing are realistic purposes to construct them. Instead of being an optional task, make it tremendously advantageous in order to augment far better game-playing! Today – I use my base to max out Weaps/Suit/Helmet/Packs on the forever hunt to find/improve better gear. Rarely do I use it for trade (other than selling off loot); let’s change that! Let’s enhance the mechanic to establish Trading/Merch ranged between strictly legal to black market quid pro quo – with benefits. Through these trades we can gain access to vastly improved production or forbidden tech.
  
• Training Missions: I’ve put in 500 hours, watched a lot of YouTube, and lurked on forums for How-To leverage SF features. It doesn’t have to be this way. As an Engineer I strongly advocate TRAINING coupled with good documentation. For SF – this translates into Training Missions that expose the details of complex features, and how best to leverage them as assets. Don’t leave it to guesswork; that sets the wrong tone and opens the door to crisis and frustration. Create missions that inspire learning, then adaptation, and finally utility. To be honest – when I first began playing I was absolutely baffled and daunted by both the Ship Designer navigation and Base Building – particularly the linking business. A Training Mission here would be entirely useful and, and I think would couple well with the Game Designer’s intended vision.
  
• Storage: Sorry - Crippled on Start. There are two storage compartments with unlimited capacity – both at The Lodge. Cumbersome to get to, and useful only on the 1st play-through. My biggest nit is the tiny “medium” sized Outpost Storage Container; perhaps we’ll get something bigger in a DLC. I would like to see Factory-sized storage on an order of magnitude larger.
  
• Cargo Hauler: Since we’re talking about small and medium Storage Containers – what about having ships that can carry a container or twelve? Just planting the seed on how-to handle some big shipment mission requests.
  
• Conquer Planet-side assets: First thing I notice when I land on an “uncharted” planet are the numerous industrial sized emplacements, whether active or abandoned. I’m not referring to bases with a landing pad. It’s the other infrastructure littered across the landscape. Why not have those salvageable, recoverable, or defended? Create a mission that shows us how to do it. Then we have a way to create another economy: Salvage! Improved by a Salvage Skill Point. Or add/repair them to our ever-growing empire.

Ooops – out of coffee; empty cup.
That’s me – food for thought!
~K

[Low Standards]

Originally posted by Kingfish:

I LIKE THE GAME

I write applications so I know what it takes to create, product, ship, and provide support. I will attempt to be realistic with my suggestions. Much of what I have to say has already been voiced; apologies for repeating.

Fantastical Stories aside, let’s identify the primary SF Features in a nutshell:

• Character Creation: This is already baked and proven code dup’d from FO and SR series. Pretty much expected nowadays.
  
• Custom Ship Designer: Admittedly this took me some time (200 hours+) to figure it out. Now I’m happy; I grok it. The ONE THING I would really like to have is a PREVIEW of the design before committing to ship purchase/modification. Another idea: Have the Base begin with elementary Ship modules. To gain more – DISASSEMBLE ships (however acquired) to gain research skill points, technology, and production capability. Sort of like how foreign governments do to each other through the history of Time.
  
• Outposts: Having roots in SR & FO series, now supersized! And yet – terribly managed inventory with clunky UI. Likely stubbed out by design to become either a DLC or Mod. I’m not asking for Excel or SQL to professionally manage the inventory; just give me access through an SDK and I’ll write my own queryable sortable interface.
  
• Weapons/Suits/Helmets/Packs Customization: The ONE THING MISSING is a DECONSTRCTION SKILL to gain research skill points, technology, and production capability.

It seems to me that SF on-launch shipped with a future framework in mind; many roads and features stubbed out. Examples:

• Ship Fuel: Presently under-utilized as a throttling device for jumping. I’d like to see this gated in Hardcore setting where you’d have to set down at refueling bases. The distance between jumps dependent on existing ship capacity mechanic. Perhaps even having two or three types of fuel systems: HE3 for the masses, Matter-Antimatter, Wormholes, the spice Mélange, the Mycelium Network LOL… just planting the seed.
  
• The absolute need for Sleep; Hardcore = required.
  
• The absolute need for Food; Hardcore = required.
  
• Basic Ship amenities: If traveling with passengers (regardless of being a companion, follower or not), ships must provide elementary habs – sleeping quarters at a minimum; Hardcore = required. Ship companions could mutiny in severe conditions et cetera.
  
• Planet side transportation: OK so this is a big one because we already have Boost-Packs. The problem I have with packs is that they should be designed as tactical support during engagement b/c the fuel is limited. It makes no sense to be jetting around the surface free-willy with unlimited (or regenerative) fuel supply. The flip side is that existing packs are terribly slow over cross-country. Let’s be realistic: I’m not asking for Astro-Boy capability. I just think the whole surface travel enchilada needs a re-think, and include faster systems such as a buggy, speeder, flyer, balloon, or walker w/ configurable cargo/fuel storage; a mini-ship on the surface. Lots of ways to skin this kitty as an Addon. I know this is asking a lot – so let us pay for the pleasure!
  
• Outpost Feature Expansion: Presently – the development is almost there. What’s missing are realistic purposes to construct them. Instead of being an optional task, make it tremendously advantageous in order to augment far better game-playing! Today – I use my base to max out Weaps/Suit/Helmet/Packs on the forever hunt to find/improve better gear. Rarely do I use it for trade (other than selling off loot); let’s change that! Let’s enhance the mechanic to establish Trading/Merch ranged between strictly legal to black market quid pro quo – with benefits. Through these trades we can gain access to vastly improved production or forbidden tech.
  
• Training Missions: I’ve put in 500 hours, watched a lot of YouTube, and lurked on forums for How-To leverage SF features. It doesn’t have to be this way. As an Engineer I strongly advocate TRAINING coupled with good documentation. For SF – this translates into Training Missions that expose the details of complex features, and how best to leverage them as assets. Don’t leave it to guesswork; that sets the wrong tone and opens the door to crisis and frustration. Create missions that inspire learning, then adaptation, and finally utility. To be honest – when I first began playing I was absolutely baffled and daunted by both the Ship Designer navigation and Base Building – particularly the linking business. A Training Mission here would be entirely useful and, and I think would couple well with the Game Designer’s intended vision.
  
• Storage: Sorry - Crippled on Start. There are two storage compartments with unlimited capacity – both at The Lodge. Cumbersome to get to, and useful only on the 1st play-through. My biggest nit is the tiny “medium” sized Outpost Storage Container; perhaps we’ll get something bigger in a DLC. I would like to see Factory-sized storage on an order of magnitude larger.
  
• Cargo Hauler: Since we’re talking about small and medium Storage Containers – what about having ships that can carry a container or twelve? Just planting the seed on how-to handle some big shipment mission requests.
  
• Conquer Planet-side assets: First thing I notice when I land on an “uncharted” planet are the numerous industrial sized emplacements, whether active or abandoned. I’m not referring to bases with a landing pad. It’s the other infrastructure littered across the landscape. Why not have those salvageable, recoverable, or defended? Create a mission that shows us how to do it. Then we have a way to create another economy: Salvage! Improved by a Salvage Skill Point. Or add/repair them to our ever-growing empire.

Ooops – out of coffee; empty cup.
That’s me – food for thought!
~K

First, before I even begin, I want to thank you for a well thought out and written post. I really enjoyed reading it. Sorry to have to say that but tempers are still high here. I really hope this forum can keep you.

I agree with most of what you said. I am curious though. Nothing seems like it matters in the game with money and resources. You can shoot almost anything for iron and other materials. Money seems way to easy to get and a lot of the logic on supply and demand don't really apply.

What would you do with this system?

[alanc9]

I'm thinking about cutting weapon and gear prices 90% across the board. It won't have much of a combat balance effect because the limiting factor for purchased weapons is availability, not cost. (Except in the very early game since I believe mag weapons are available in Neon way before they show up anyplace else.)

[Jᴧgᴧ]

Originally posted by Low Standards:

Instead of rooting for games to fail. What would you like to see change?

Since it's too late for Starfield, I'd like to see a public statement from Todd about what they'll be doing differently for TES VI. The lessons they learned between the release of Daggerfall, and Starfield. What they can take from games that were received as epic, and what they can avoid from more recent games.

And a promise to redouble their efforts with future games, and return to ones that really suck you in and give repercussions for actions, not just safe shooting and everyone's your friend.

Basically I want an acknowledgement that they've gone off on a tangent in the wrong direction, and are planning on steering the ship back on the "epic RPG course".

[Krudtugle]

Originally posted by Low Standards:

I also hope the Creation Kit will allow aspiring Sci-Fi writers to work their magic into this game.

But why swim upstream trying to mod this game when there are ridiculously better alternatives out there? It makes no sense and it's a waste of time.

[Professor Hugedix]

What I'd like to see change is if a company says to your face they're selling you an incomplete game as a "framework for future updates" that you could hold that company accountable for it's own failure instead of blaming the people who decided to wait and see if the framework gets updated.

[alanc9]

Originally posted by Troldmand:

Originally posted by Low Standards:

I also hope the Creation Kit will allow aspiring Sci-Fi writers to work their magic into this game.

But why swim upstream trying to mod this game when there are ridiculously better alternatives out there? It makes no sense and it's a waste of time.

If I agreed with you about that, I wouldn't be here.

[Vlad 254]

Starfield is just getting started. Then there's the fact that outside of other Bethesda games like Skyrim and Fallout there's not much meat on the bone in terms of games to mod. Starfield will be one of those games (like Skyrim and Fallout) once the Creation Kit is released.

[oak]

Biomes
* Increased flora density
With few exceptions a lot of biomes have an overly sparse population of flora. This is right for some, of course, but others look unnatural as a result.
* Increased flora & fauna variety
There's a finite numbers of systems and planetary bodies - scale up the variety to match. I'm not sure if the assets are static and placed per planet, or if they're procedurally generated from a pool of parts, in either case more would aid a sense of authenticity to travelling between distinct planets.

Encounters
* More POIs (goes without saying)
* POIs need internal element randomisation
This is a big one for (forgive me) immersion.
Sometimes I come across a facility that has a different set of NPCs than the last time I encountered it, but it's rare. I also think it's tied to the (data) structure of the POI asset, because some POIs absolutely never vary; every Abandoned Biotics lab has the same Crimson Fleet NPC sitting on the edge of an open service panel in the courtyard, every Dogstar factory has the same data slates about a mad genius automating the workforce, etc
I'm thinking the NPC inhabitants may be flexible (like a container pulls from a list when you open it, perhaps the POI does the same for NPCs when it generates), but the 'flavour', the data slates, post-its, etc looks like they're fixed references (that I hope CK reveals can be made dynamic).
* Mid-journey encounters
This is another big gap, and again would help with immersion. I'd like to see encounters while on the way from point a to b on a planet surface, or even just point b to some random point in a random direction. Not all planets warrant it, barren ones would have little cause for having a population to run into, but temperate planets, planets with an abundance of resources and/or human suitable environmental conditions, should have more 'stuff'. Traders moving between outposts, prospectors, brigands, peaceful Va'ruun missionaries, etc. More. I can only think of 1 encounter similar to that (and it only spawns at POIs), which is (I think) "escort last remaining, wounded, settler back to their ship".
* More Followup
More smaller side quests need later follow up after they've completed Very few offer any events after the mission is complete, more would benefit from that mechanic. I'm just going to give one, but there are so many others, eg: Juno. You should run into them from time to time.

Ship Builder
* Walkthrough Mode
That's right, I'd like to be able to 'tour' my ship before committing the build. After the build check is complete there should be a "[V] Virtual Tour of Ship" option. Not all habs are the same internally, it'd be nice to see the changes before putting the credits on the table.

Equipment
* Better Wardrobe
Now I'm just personally nitpicking because I turn my BGS games into a fashion show :D
More outfits, more suits. NASA punk has its place, but l'm running some mods to add suits and outfits and it makes a difference to the feeling of individuality.

NPCs
* More randomisation of outfits and appearance
Too many NPCs are clones of one another.
* Lootable worn/equipped gear
If an NPC is wielding or wearing it, I want to loot it. It really is that simple. (I think there's a mod for this already?)

Some of these issues are glaring, and not unique to Starfield (Cyberpunk has the Clone NPCs, No Mans Sky has sparse biomes and flora/fauna that is the same across systems, for example, fewer and fewer games allow the 'loot what you see' mechanic), some will be addressed by mods, I'm sure, Bethesda may even tweak some of these things over time, who knows.

I enjoy the game, in the same way I enjoy Fallout 4; I play it, a lot, but then the content becomes too 'samey' and I move on. It's not quite as bad with Skyrim, due to the DLCs that expanded it, the additional content that modders added to it, it feels like it has a much higher content-density than FO4 or Starfield. None of the above points (and there's more unsaid, of course) are make or break, but they'd definitely enhance the experience, and while some are very personal (looting what I see) others I think would enhance the experience for everyone (greater internal POI variation).

[richard.e.jenkins]

I played a lot in the first 6 weeks or so. I've been wandering around my Steam library lately, settling on nothing really. Actually, I've been thinking of giving Skyrim another run, but then I thought, "SF is several generations more advanced. Should I go back?" I eventually will, but it needs some updates. I must have cleared the same dungeon a half-dozen times on as many different worlds, so more variety please. How about a random generator? The main quest line seemed redundant: find temple, do the luft tanz, kill the invisible guy, fly to the HQ. There's probably no fixing it and that's okay... I don't think I've ever completed a main quest line in a Bethesda game, except maybe FO3. Wandering around the various atmospheric conditions on the planets was way too easy... suit upgrades could actually mean something if you needed specific things for different environments. I understand the keyboard-challenged might find it too difficult so, make it an option. With a suit for each world, ships need more inventory space! Building my own base seemed like fun, but that's it. It is so easy to travel around it isn't worth it other than just for the sake of having your own base. In FO I would play without fast travel and whatever the setting was that I had to eat and drink, and ammo had weight. It made it necessary to build little outposts around to use as a hub while exploring an area. (it did get a little tedious moving loot around though). IDK. SF has a lot of potential but for my time, I need Bethesda to realize some of it.