Starfield discussion thread

[Launcestonian]

Good friend of mine asked me to care for his pets over the holidays while he was travelling, and invited me to use his PC if I wished. I started a fresh game of Starfield, and I guess I put about 25 hours into it over the week. As soon as I possibly could, I ditched the main quest, along with all of the companions and the robot. Just started to explore a bit, and see if I could get into some trouble.

As I soon discovered, so many of the various structures and facilities are not only copy and pasted, again and again, but I reached a point that I knew precisely where an enemy would be as I cleared an area, right down to the way they would be facing, and seemingly even if they would be male or female. The very same items in the very same places, over and over. Anyone who has played the game surely knows what I mean.

Apparently while developing this title, no one enforced any sort of common sense with regard to the believability and practicality of these various human outposts. There is simply no proper recognition given to the various hostile environments portrayed in the game. Buildings with a very definite 'shirtsleeve environment' interior, but no airlocks present at the entry points. Shelters sometimes not only have no restroom facilities, but not even any beds. And, it's -205° C. on a moon with no atmosphere, and apparently the locals like to just lounge outdoors, drink beer from a bottle and eat toast, judging from what you find at these locations. Stupid stuff...

These are fundamental gaffes for a science-fiction game. Inexcusable, unforced errors. Very early in development, somebody should have started swinging the axe over this nonsense. The repetition the game undeniably displays isn't necessarily a deal-breaker. But, the hard-to-ignore disregard for immersion most definitely is. At least for me.

Vanilla Skyrim was like that too quite often but not always with regards to spawn points of enemies. As a fan of Bethesda titles for many yrs already, the devs just put the "bare bones" of a game out there & predict the modding community will do the rest. That seems to be usual for Bethesda open world RPGs.

 

[Chrispy_]

Good friend of mine asked me to care for his pets over the holidays while he was travelling, and invited me to use his PC if I wished. I started a fresh game of Starfield, and I guess I put about 25 hours into it over the week. As soon as I possibly could, I ditched the main quest, along with all of the companions and the robot. Just started to explore a bit, and see if I could get into some trouble.

As I soon discovered, so many of the various structures and facilities are not only copy and pasted, again and again, but I reached a point that I knew precisely where an enemy would be as I cleared an area, right down to the way they would be facing, and seemingly even if they would be male or female. The very same items in the very same places, over and over. Anyone who has played the game surely knows what I mean.

Apparently while developing this title, no one enforced any sort of common sense with regard to the believability and practicality of these various human outposts. There is simply no proper recognition given to the various hostile environments portrayed in the game. Buildings with a very definite 'shirtsleeve environment' interior, but no airlocks present at the entry points. Shelters sometimes not only have no restroom facilities, but not even any beds. And, it's -205° C. on a moon with no atmosphere, and apparently the locals like to just lounge outdoors, drink beer from a bottle and eat toast, judging from what you find at these locations. Stupid stuff...

These are fundamental gaffes for a science-fiction game. Inexcusable, unforced errors. Very early in development, somebody should have started swinging the axe over this nonsense. The repetition the game undeniably displays isn't necessarily a deal-breaker. But, the hard-to-ignore disregard for immersion most definitely is. At least for me.

That's the problem, you ditched the main quest.

Unlike what was advertised, Starfield is NOT an open world game. Bethesda lied to you because there's f*ck all of value outside the main quest and faction quests. It's a short, story-driven game that is hollowed out, low-quality, and lifeless if you deviate from the one, intended playthrough.

The quality of any gameplay outside of the main story and four factions is F-tier garbage that wouldn't even be fit for a 15-year old smartphone F2P grindfest. I tried to enjoy it but as you say, it's pointless, bad, meaningless drivel that achieves nothing apart from wasting your time. It's not even a good way to gain XP/levels!

Play the main quest and factions like an on-rails campaign and don't shed a tear for the open world of older games. That Bethesda is dead, and it hasn't been healthy since the Fallout 3 days.

 

[Dragam1337]

That's the problem, you ditched the main quest.

Unlike what was advertised, Starfield is NOT an open world game. Bethesda lied to you because there's f*ck all of value outside the main quest and faction quests. It's a short, story-driven game that is hollowed out, low-quality, and lifeless if you deviate from the one, intended playthrough.

The quality of any gameplay outside of the main story and four factions is F-tier garbage that wouldn't even be fit for a 15-year old smartphone F2P grindfest. I tried to enjoy it but as you say, it's pointless, bad, meaningless drivel that achieves nothing apart from wasting your time. It's not even a good way to gain XP/levels!

Play the main quest and factions like an on-rails campaign and don't shed a tear for the open world of older games. That Bethesda is dead, and it hasn't been healthy since the Fallout 3 days.

I find a fair few of the side quests to be enjoyable aswell - the ones you can get while exploring neon and the other cities.

But i agree that going outside the cities and exploring planets is a complete waste of time, sadly... aside of just seeing the different enviroments there are (which looks pretty cool tbf).

 

[Onasi]

Play the main quest and factions like an on-rails campaign and don't shed a tear for the open world of older games. That Bethesda is dead, and it hasn't been healthy since the Fallout 3 days.

That’s true, but the issue then arises that the actual quality of the storytelling and overall gameplay is just pretty damn bad at worst and kinda mediocre at best. You start questioning yourself why the hell you are playing THIS when, if we are talking linear campaigns, there are other games that execute this aspect infinitely better. It’s not for combat, obviously, since the gunplay is just passable and fighting copy-pasted bulletsponges isn’t fun. Not the characters, since even the most story integral ones are just painfully boring. I mean, yeah, if you feel like you HAVE to force yourself to play through Starfield, then this would be the way to do it. I would personally rather recommend just installing Enderal and playing an actual good game that executes both the open world and the story campaign aspects better than anything Beth has made since MW. Life isn’t long enough to play mediocre slop.

 

[Chrispy_]

That’s true, but the issue then arises that the actual quality of the storytelling and overall gameplay is just pretty damn bad at worst and kinda mediocre at best. You start questioning yourself why the hell you are playing THIS when, if we are talking linear campaigns, there are other games that execute this aspect infinitely better. It’s not for combat, obviously, since the gunplay is just passable and fighting copy-pasted bulletsponges isn’t fun. Not the characters, since even the most story integral ones are just painfully boring. I mean, yeah, if you feel like you HAVE to force yourself to play through Starfield, then this would be the way to do it. I would personally rather recommend just installing Enderal and playing an actual good game that executes both the open world and the story campaign aspects better than anything Beth has made since MW. Life isn’t long enough to play mediocre slop.

Agreed.

I never said I found the mainline/faction quests good - but they're the only gameplay that's even remotely worth bothering with. I thought the plot was okay and the gunplay was okay. I quite liked building my own ship and can see potential in the weapon/crafting/base-building aspects but they're too shallow, quite high-effort, and entirely skippable - so what's the point of them, exactly?

It's not all bad, but so much of it is bad that I have no desire to suffer through any of it for a second replay. Classic Bethesda nonsense like broken quests and NPC bugs everywhere - I mean like a good 20-30% of the quest line conversations I had were like odd, forced little plays put on for me where everyone put down what they were doing and ran to their new place in the scene where their job (and they utterly failed at it) was to "act natural" while the Main NPC talking to me was facing the wrong way, bouncing up and down as they had a clipping fight with part of the map and eventually won as they slowly fall through the floor and out the bottom of the map or phase through the ceiling/table/chair/whatever.

All the things Bethesda were bad at in 2005 they are still bad at, to a greater degree. The hubris, the bugs, the filler quests/radiant quests, the disregard for players' time, the lack of absolutely mandatory options, the godawful default UI and inventory management.

I couldn't even play my first playthrough without mods - I had to mod the gamma, the colour filters, the UI, the interface framerate, the ship controls (to fix an unpatched bug) and my save broke because I dared to use a cargo link in my base before the first patch that addressed it. Did nobody playtest it before launch?!

 

[arni-gx]

so, when bethesda can make this game to fully support of FSR v3.0, officially ??

 

[Easy Rhino]

so, when bethesda can make this game to fully support of FSR v3.0, officially ??

It will probably be DLC

 

[A&P211]

This game is so unoptimized, I just got this used (new) laptop. I have never saw a game used up so many processors cores. I know its a laptop processor but its the fastest 13th gen intel. The gpu is a 4080 laptop version.

 

[Easy Rhino]

This game completely fell off the map. When Fallout 4 came out there was much more buzz around it for much longer. Of course Skyrim is still the GOAT. People are still developing mods for it. Nobody cares about Starfield.

 

[A&P211]

This game completely fell off the map. When Fallout 4 came out there was much more buzz around it for much longer. Of course Skyrim is still the GOAT. People are still developing mods for it. Nobody cares about Starfield.

I stopped playing after about 110hrs, it got so boring so fast. I didnt send any money on it, I got it free with a AMD gpu, I returned the gpu, kept the game. I stopped when I complete the main quest. I actually completed the main quest at about 80hrs but I kinda continued here and there for another 30hrs. It has no replay value. Fallout 3/4 has lots of replay value.

 

[Solaris17]

This game completely fell off the map. When Fallout 4 came out there was much more buzz around it for much longer. Of course Skyrim is still the GOAT. People are still developing mods for it. Nobody cares about Starfield.

Which is surprising, because I hate every fallout game. Literally cannot stand them. I dont mind starfield though.

 

[A&P211]

Which is surprising, because I hate every fallout game. Literally cannot stand them. I dont mind starfield though.

What dont you like about the fallout games?

 

[Solaris17]

What dont you like about the fallout games?

you name it. I dont like any of the universes. Character models, environment biome, enemy models, the pipboy, the story is meh to me.

It isnt just one thing. I dont like the games period.

 

[Vayra86]

you name it. I dont like any of the universes. Character models, environment biome, enemy models, the pipboy, the story is meh to me.

It isnt just one thing. I dont like the games period.

Yeah if the setting doesn't work for you, that's the end of it.
And if the setting does really work for you, you'll probably accept poor gameplay as well. Immersion can carry any game, if its strong enough to you.

 

[neatfeatguy]

you name it. I dont like any of the universes. Character models, environment biome, enemy models, the pipboy, the story is meh to me.

It isnt just one thing. I dont like the games period.

I loved Fallout and Fallout 2. I was skeptical, but kind of psyched when Fallout 3 was announced and how much different it played - according to the game magazines.

When I got the game, that's when I found out I really disliked it. The tactical combat for picking locations was pointless, the game was turned into a crappy first/third-person shooter. The character models bothered me, the combat bothered me and so on.

Fallout Vegas, on the other hand, I enjoyed. I didn't do multiple play throughs, but at least I found it tolerable by just accepting it to be what it was - a run of the mill first/third-person shooter. One thing I really liked about that was most memorable for me was the 50's type music that played. I always had my radio tuned to the music.

Fallout 4 - bleh, this one sucked. I struggled playing through it and I'm glad I got it dirt cheap otherwise I would have felt ripped off. This one and Fallout 3 kind of felt like Oblivion, just awful. You're really not missing much if you don't enjoy the Bethesda Fallout games.

 

[Frick]

you name it. I dont like any of the universes. Character models, environment biome, enemy models, the pipboy, the story is meh to me.

It isnt just one thing. I dont like the games period.

So are we talking 1/2 or the later games here?

Anyway been playing some and

Spoiler

I came to the bit with the Starborn or whatever attacked the lodge, and I was out at the Eye, and Sam Jensen died, and it was such a great moment. No drama. He was just dead. His daughter was pissed at me, which was understandable, and Sarah was like "No, no, no" and I was like "Gotta go!" because I did have to go and that was the end of that. Now I'm back at the lodge and everyone is like "Oh there's a hole after him", but nothing more. The only thing that would have made the moment better is if I could have said "Good riddance", but alas. Not that I disliked him, but that would have been great. But I really liked the lack of drama, it was just something that happened. Make of that what you will, Player.

Fallout Vegas, on the other hand, I enjoyed. I didn't do multiple play throughs, but at least I found it tolerable by just accepting it to be what it was - a run of the mill first/third-person shooter. One thing I really liked about that was most memorable for me was the 50's type music that played. I always had my radio tuned to the music.

Fallout 4 - bleh, this one sucked. I struggled playing through it and I'm glad I got it dirt cheap otherwise I would have felt ripped off. This one and Fallout 3 kind of felt like Oblivion, just awful. You're really not missing much if you don't enjoy the Bethesda Fallout games.

I strongly disagree New Vegas is a run of the mill shooter. It's a pretty great RPG in its own right, even though yes it is also a shooter.

Fallout 4 is so bad I have something like 60 hours in it because I was fascinated with how terrible it was. It's mind-boggling. It's bewildering. Entertaining, but only if you think experiencing terrible writing and design is interesting in its own right, and in this case I do find it interesting. It was so bad I started to take notes. If I'm ever going to do a five hour long Youtube video essay it will be on Fallout 4.

 

[Space Lynx]

I'm still looking forward to revisiting Starfield maybe 6 months after the expansion comes out. I think all of the patches and expansion will be a solid game. I do recall having fun with the game in the 30 or so hours I played it on launch week. On the same hand I am glad I stopped, because it will be worth coming back for a full playthrough someday when it is fully fleshed out.

I do this with most games nowadays, since everything gets a million patches in our modern era of gaming. lol I have learned to live with it, plenty of backlog to keep me busy, plus its nice approaching games not as a "hype train" type of fun, but as a "hey I still love gaming man" type of fun.

 

[Frick]

Spoiler

Ohhh ok, I was gonna add that if he's resurrected I would have been pissed, but this is better.

 

[masterdeejay]

It is now playable. Bit still not very optimized. I need to update my mods. A770 16Gb.
I play with 1920x1080, 100% render, med-high, custom reshade, no dynamic res, upscaled to 2560x1600, frame gen set to 60.

 

[Frick]

"Teravolts" as technobabble is always funny.

 

[Launcestonian]

First play with this game today. I waited a bit for patches to catch up but still using 23.10.2 drivers for my RX 6800 XT.
Only an hour & a half done into it, reminds me a bit of the Outer Worlds.
Anyway playing with Ultra preset & FSA 3 is enabled by default with this @ 1440p
Here is what HWiNFO presents after the session. the 100% CPU usage at some stage during the game play on all 12 threads of my 7600X is a concern, but it is what it is. Ambients of 24C.
Also have a custom PBO tuning. I notice my power mate electricity consumption meter hanging around 430W avg, that's about 200W more than a modded Skyrim AE with 33+ mods does on avg for the whole system.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I've enjoyed Starfield, as a fan of Bethesda games in general. But the overwhelming feeling I got while playing the game is that it simply wasn't finished. It felt like I was playing with beta version of the game throughout.

i find it sad the community seems to be losing heart and enthusiasm on it. I think it deserves better. But it also needs to be finished. Bethesda really intended you to play lawful good alignment here. It needs to broaden its scope.

I purchased the Premium edition back then so I already am entitled to the first DLC piece and that's when I'll return. Hopefully the game will feel more complete by then. If my newly developed Genshin habit doesn't get in the way that is...

 

[Space Lynx]

First play with this game today. I waited a bit for patches to catch up but still using 23.10.2 drivers for my RX 6800 XT.
Only an hour & a half done into it, reminds me a bit of the Outer Worlds.
Anyway playing with Ultra preset & FSA 3 is enabled by default with this @ 1440p
Here is what HWiNFO presents after the session. the 100% CPU usage at some stage during the game play on all 12 threads of my 7600X is a concern, but it is what it is. Ambients of 24C.
Also have a custom PBO tuning. I notice my power mate electricity consumption meter hanging around 430W avg, that's about 200W more than a modded Skyrim AE with 33+ mods does on avg for the whole system.
View attachment 337077

You might want to update to the latest AMD chipset drivers (new ones just came out recently) just grab it from AMD website, and update to latest GPU drivers, maybe also a repaste on that CPU... I am not an expert on the Ryzen 7600x, but that seems really hot 89 Celsius. My 5600X3D never even broke 60 Celsius with a similar type cooler, and that thing is rocking x3d cache which historically is known to run hot. Maybe that is normal though since those chips auto boost high then downclock quickly, I never liked that design personally. meh, it is what it is.

edit: nm I just realized your ambient is 24 Celsius, that is pretty toasty. so yeah those temps make sense I guess. my CPU handles starfield fine though, so I don't know what the issue is for everyone else, or maybe its the x3d cache giving the boost, I don't know

 

[Easy Rhino]

Here is what HWiNFO presents after the session. the 100% CPU usage at some stage during the game play on all 12 threads of my 7600X is a concern, but it is what it is. Ambients of 24C.
Also have a custom PBO tuning. I notice my power mate electricity consumption meter hanging around 430W avg, that's about 200W more than a modded Skyrim AE with 33+ mods does on avg for the whole system.

The first time I played the game (day 1 release) it crashed my PC several times. Like complete power drop. I did some investigating and it was pinning all cores a 100% and the CPU hit the cut off heat level. I had to adjust the cooling flow of the PC and add an additional top vent fan. It was bad. The game is not optimized. Hopefully that will be fixed once they release the first DLC.

 

[Dragam1337]

The first time I played the game (day 1 release) it crashed my PC several times. Like complete power drop. I did some investigating and it was pinning all cores a 100% and the CPU hit the cut off heat level. I had to adjust the cooling flow of the PC and add an additional top vent fan. It was bad. The game is not optimized. Hopefully that will be fixed once they release the first DLC.

Well, would you rather that it only used 1 thread like fo4, and previous games based on gamebryo engine, with awful performance to match ?

I for one deffo prefer that it hammers your cpu and gives you better performance... 30 fps limited by a single thread in the city center in fo4 sucked.

People should honestly just have adequate cooling to begin with.