Trying to figure out why I am not having fun...

[Mavkiel]

I really want to like this game, but.. honestly it feels like a chore to play it at times.

Game-play wise, I like the star-born abilities, they are fun to use compared to say shouts in skyrim. Combat.. is more fun in starfield.

Where I think the game fails is both in story and exploration. Which is sort of ironic given the emphasis they put on the exploration aspect. I recall in the various fallout/elder scrolls games where you travel from point a to b, and get side tracked by encountering interesting places/events... This game doesn't have that at least that I have seen. Sure there are randomly generated outposts.. but not seen anything unique so far. Is that just bad luck on my part?

[Neo]

There are side quests which you can pick up if you listen to conversations or speak to people. Plenty of them in fact.

[Mick Savage]

The side quests are joke, for example we're told to go speak to somebody, and when we do they say thanks and leave. Quest done!

But I agree exploration is the worst part and it was the only reason I wanted this game.

[kdodds]

Do yourself a favor, stop looking on random planets for random cool things. It's a big universe and those things are going to be spread out across it. Fortunately, the game design actually facilitates you finding those things if/when you start playing the quests. If you're not finding side quests that side track you constantly, you're probably very early in and haven't done much in cities. There are tons of quests in the three main cities as well as in the "towns" like Cydonia, New Homestead, etc. Leave the exploration part to do in-between those quests. For example, there's a beast kill/collect quest you can get early on in New Atlantis that takes you to a totally different planet. So go there, do what you have to do, then explore a bit, the planet, the system, return. For me, anyway, this is the most enjoyable way to play, not being a scanner mercenary trying to collect all of the data.

[kdodds]

Originally posted by Mick Salvage:

The side quests are joke, for example we're told to go speak to somebody, and when we do they say thanks and leave. Quest done!

But I agree exploration is the worst part and it was the only reason I wanted this game.

This is pure, unadulterated bull dung. One of the very early random side quests you get is multi-level, extends through multiple locations, and doesn't end when you think it does. Another has multiple resolution possibilities, acknowledged with the fan-service nod detractors say isn't in there. Another has you traipsing across the galaxy and back to reconcile a rift between father and daughter. Another is quite well done, one of the most impressive they've ever done, imo, about father struggling with dementia and his daughter/care taker who was tragically killed while protecting children. In short, you've never played the game, but continue to choose to speak on it as if you have. It doesn't paint a very nice picture, dude.

[lizzo(overturned bans x 69)]

loading the game up is a chore with all the repeatable proc generated trash. you know the game is boring when people brag about finding a new poi after 2k hours of doing the same thing.

[Ravness01]

Originally posted by Mavkiel:

I really want to like this game, but.. honestly it feels like a chore to play it at times.

Game-play wise, I like the star-born abilities, they are fun to use compared to say shouts in skyrim. Combat.. is more fun in starfield.

Where I think the game fails is both in story and exploration. Which is sort of ironic given the emphasis they put on the exploration aspect. I recall in the various fallout/elder scrolls games where you travel from point a to b, and get side tracked by encountering interesting places/events... This game doesn't have that at least that I have seen. Sure there are randomly generated outposts.. but not seen anything unique so far. Is that just bad luck on my part?

Mods is the answer to your question. My first time playing the game at release I had a similar reaction to what you posted here. I got back into it just before shattered space dropped(creation kit had already been out awhile) and more mods got put out for the game.

Some mods you'll want:
-For space-
Dark Universe: Crossfire
Tiny Reasons to Explore Space(this one is 3$ but worth it imo)

-For ground-
Avontech Suit Power Cores
Dark Universe: Takeover
Tiny Reasons to Explore
Tiny Reasons to Scavenge
Batten's Shipwrecks
Fogotten Frontiers(again a paid mod, I like it, but I can see why some would skip it and I wouldn't say it's necessary to have it)

And lasty,
Planet POI and Creature Density Increased

The above mods add more things to run into in space and on the ground, are all free except the 2 I noted that are not, and with the last mod the amount of POI's will increase enough where you never have to travel too far to run into something. I get some people prefer the realism of space being mostly empty, and that's fine, but the changes the above mods makes to the game was more my speed and I found the game much more enjoyable with them than without.

[kdodds]

Originally posted by oh oh oh its lizzo:

loading the game up is a chore with all the repeatable proc generated trash. you know the game is boring when people brag about finding a new poi after 2k hours of doing the same thing.

No one is "doing the same thing" for 2k hours, this isn't an FPS MMO.

[Mavkiel]

Those suggestions actually sound neat. It's just a shame that we have to resort right off the bat to modding interesting things in.

[Ellorien]

Originally posted by Mavkiel:

Those suggestions actually sound neat. It's just a shame that we have to resort right off the bat to modding interesting things in.

You don’t have to resort to modding at all. The game is great as is. I played for almost 2,000 hrs without a single mod installed. And will most probably play a few thousand hours more until TES 6 is out, without any mods. And I will never mod TES 6 either.

Still find new content, after thousands of hours. This game is huge.

[Charlemagne]

Exploring planets is quite optional. You won't find anything extraordinary there, even at POI's visible from orbit. In fact, you can ignore that aspect of the game entirely and won't miss anything big. It's more like an option, something to do when you have already done everything else. I find it relaxing, just exploring without a purpose, like hiking in the woods just because. There are some very beautiful planets out there, but most are not in the well-trodden systems where quests happen.
I've found that when you are doing a Mission Board quest, even if it is the same old POI with the same old pirates, it feels more purposeful.
The quests are really the stuff of the game. I can spend hours just doing all the quests generated in a single place, say Akila or Neon. Some say, they are boring like go there, speak with someone, bring me an item. Well, firstly not all quests are like that, and second, there also were those kind of fetch quests in Fallout and TES.
I suggest ignore the main quest until you have done everything else. My point of leaving it alone until later is when Stroud asks you to do him a favor in Neon. At that point you will meet starborn and then almost all random encounters become starborn and that's boring, for me at least. It is similar to the Mechanist quest in Fallout 4, where after meeting Ada robots dominated the scene.

[JacEEEBABY]

If you aren't having fun just uninstall and fire up a better game.

[Jᴧgᴧ]

Originally posted by JacEEEBABY:

If you aren't having fun just uninstall and fire up a better game.

You can play other good games, and return for some forum fun at any time.

[veer]

I have 3,600 hours in game now and I can assure you there is nothing boring about starfield. I am constantly finding new things to do and have fun. Especially now with Mods :) It would take an exceedingly boring person to be bored in Starfield.

[Charlemagne]

Originally posted by veer:

I have 3,600 hours in game now and I can assure you there is nothing boring about starfield. I am constantly finding new things to do and have fun. Especially now with Mods :) It would take an exceedingly boring person to be bored in Starfield.

Just 1260 here, but I agree

[veer]

Originally posted by Charlemagne:

Originally posted by veer:

I have 3,600 hours in game now and I can assure you there is nothing boring about starfield. I am constantly finding new things to do and have fun. Especially now with Mods :) It would take an exceedingly boring person to be bored in Starfield.

Just 1260 here, but I agree

That is certainly a respectable amount of hours :)