Starfield Omnibus Thread

[odessasteps]

That's funny, given how many people I've seen be down on TOTK. Admittedly, it's a lot of "it's not BOTW" but, as I said to someone today, I was surprised how quickly a lot of streamers (or ones I watch) just stopped playing it and either went back to their usual content or something new. 

[supremebve]

48 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Worst possible timing. It's probably either a shitty capacitor or a fried board. I would think it's a capacitor if the TV at least can turn on. It sounds like the issue my friend had. He found a capacitor in his TV that got fat, but wasn't oozing or leaking. He then called around, found someone in town who had the right replacement, bought himself a soldering iron, and then fixed it himself.  Hopefully that's what it is for you because that would be the cheapest fix.

So, the repairman, who needs a nobel prize for customer service, called me back and explained to me what the most common problems with this particular model are and the options that I had to move forward.  The two most likely issues are that it would be a fried board or a fried screen.  The fried board is the best-case scenario, except neither he nor his supplier have any in stock.  He said that he could order one, but it would be coming from Chicago and it being a holiday weekend the absolute fastest he could get it is the middle of next week.  If it is the screen, which he believes is the much more likely option, the TV is essentially a 65" paperweight.  If I decide to have him order the part he'd come out take a look at it, and if the board is the problem it will be something like $550 to fix.  If it is the screen he'd charge me shipping on the part and for the consultation and it would be $125.  Instead of waiting a week only to either pay $550 or have to buy a new TV any way, I decided to just buy a new TV.  This is actually the 2nd of these TVs I've bought because the first one's screen died after about 3 weeks.  I'm done with LGs, I'm not spending this kind of money on something that needs to be replaced twice in two and a half years.

This dude was awesome.  He listened to what my problem was, and then clearly went back to his shop and did some research on the most likely issues before he called me back.  He really broke down exactly what he believed the problem was, how he'd fix it, and how long I'd have to wait.  He then said something I don't expect from any business in 2023, "I just want you to know all of your options before you shell out any money."  

[RIPPA]

38 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

That's funny, given how many people I've seen be down on TOTK. Admittedly, it's a lot of "it's not BOTW" but, as I said to someone today, I was surprised how quickly a lot of streamers (or ones I watch) just stopped playing it and either went back to their usual content or something new. 

Baldur's Gate 3 showing up and providing a legit alternate contender also changed the narrative quick

I debated dropping the extra cash to play early but my kid has decided to come home from college for the holiday weekend so that made my choice for me.

[odessasteps]

You can live vicariously through me and JT and everyone else finding bugs and making wacky looking folks in the character generator.

[supremebve]

After watching some YouTube reviews, I think I'm going to like this game.  A lot of the criticisms, which seem valid, are that it doesn't feel like space and it's missing the sense of discovery that you expect from a Bethesda game where you can just wander from place to place and find interesting things to do.  Almost all of them say something about how a lot of it is empty, and instead of stumbling onto new things, you kind of have to do missions to find the interesting parts.  With that said, they say that the story is much better than they expected, but once you get deep into the story all of it feels much better.  I feel like that's what I need in games like this.  I have played hundreds of hours of Skyrim, but have never beaten the game nor have I done any of the civil war stuff.  I just wander around doing random shit until I get tired of playing.  I'll probably miss the exploration and wanderlust, but I think I'll probably actually get somewhere by having to work through the story first.  I haven't heard a single bad word about the story and how it plays out.  Matter of fact, all of the reviews seem to love the story and went out of the way to not show any video or mention any of the story beats from the main quest.  I don't think this is going to do anything for the internet discourse, but everything I've heard made me feel like I'm going to enjoy the game despite it not being 100% of what I wanted.

[Robert S]

39 minutes ago, supremebve said:

After watching some YouTube reviews, I think I'm going to like this game.  A lot of the criticisms, which seem valid, are that it doesn't feel like space and it's missing the sense of discovery that you expect from a Bethesda game where you can just wander from place to place and find interesting things to do.  Almost all of them say something about how a lot of it is empty, and instead of stumbling onto new things, you kind of have to do missions to find the interesting parts.  With that said, they say that the story is much better than they expected, but once you get deep into the story all of it feels much better.  I feel like that's what I need in games like this.  I have played hundreds of hours of Skyrim, but have never beaten the game nor have I done any of the civil war stuff.  I just wander around doing random shit until I get tired of playing.  I'll probably miss the exploration and wanderlust, but I think I'll probably actually get somewhere by having to work through the story first.  I haven't heard a single bad word about the story and how it plays out.  Matter of fact, all of the reviews seem to love the story and went out of the way to not show any video or mention any of the story beats from the main quest.  I don't think this is going to do anything for the internet discourse, but everything I've heard made me feel like I'm going to enjoy the game despite it not being 100% of what I wanted.

The Gamespot review was pretty down on the main quest, FWIW. I have tried to remove anything that could be remotely considered as spoiler from the relevant passages of the review, still I put it into a spoiler field:

Spoiler

Starfield's main quest is the most emblematic of the game's shortcomings. Despite romanticizing the idea of taking to the stars to explore the great unknown, these narrative ambitions fall into shallow stories that undersell the spacefaring premise. (...) Starfield tries to instill personality into its story, but consistently weak writing and generic dialogue means these characters--who do have a few interesting moments along the way--largely fall flat.

(...) There's very little weight or impact given to what characters often describe as great discoveries that could change the course of history, and it's missing an earnest examination on the nature of humanity's place in space, even when it tries to be self-reflective. I was never asking Starfield to lecture me on quantum physics, but I hoped for a story that wants to pay reverence to the scientific philosophies that make the genre intriguing to give those concepts their necessary respect.

The wild goose chase that is the main quest lacks strong motivations from a narrative perspective, and the mission structure mostly relies on a predictable formula. (...) Or you're (...) to fetch clues on the next objective, follow laughably nonsensical riddles, or have conversations that could've been an email. There are occasional breaks in this process that lead to notable moments (...)

These kinds of moments highlight the illusion of choice, where supposed moral quandaries boil down to vague differences in philosophy, and this extends across the story (...)

(...)

(...) When you strip Starfield down to its essentials, it relies on a tried-and-true, but well-tread formula while missing some of the depth of the games that came before it. Starfield is a game more concerned with quantity than quality, and leaves the experience at the surface level.

Edited August 31, 2023 by Robert S

[Craig H]

Jeff Gerstmann was initially feeling like he wasn’t into the main story and then said he hit a point in it where he was like, yeah, this is what I want. Overall he sounds like he likes it a lot, which says a lot from him because he wasn’t a fan of Fallout 4 and typically can’t stand the Bethesda RPGs.

Nextlander also sounded like they liked it a lot except for some issues here and there. All three guys were playing it differently and that sounded cool.

My body is ready.

[odessasteps]

There’s a Bethesda pre launch stream at 1900 ET, before unlocking time

[Shadow]

I thought about it today and I am always a good guy in games that have morality. I think it’s time to switch it up and be a right prick. Also, kaizokuō ni ore wa naru!

[Casey]

I forget who said it, I saw it on the Starfield subreddit, but someone who had gotten a code has already put 120 hours into it and claimed that they could go back to any previous Bethesda game and find more bugs in those than he has in his entire playthrough of Starfield (so far).

[odessasteps]

First half hour was cool. Kind of zipped thru character generation. 
 

here’s the stream for the curious who aren’t playing it. 
 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited September 1, 2023 by odessasteps

[Casey]

This is just delightful.

The combat feels fucking awesome, too.

[odessasteps]

I made a hash of the first fight, since I ran past the gun you’re supposed to pick up. 

[Kevin Wilson]

It took me about ten minutes to even get in once the early access went live and the Microsoft Store crashed. The sales numbers will be hurt by the fact it is on GamePass but people were really really excited to play this game.

[Death From Above]

It stutters like crazy for me but seems cool.

The Steam forums are alight with butthurt white trash scum angry the game has pronouns, so for that reason alone, easy thumbs up game.

[Casey]

I’m thinking they use voice AI or something for Vasco, since you don’t choose a preset name from a list. You literally just type your name in, and Vasco calls you that. I wonder about the limitations of that, if any (I’m sure there is).

I played for about 5 hours, found a good stopping point for the night until Saturday. I cannot adequately describe just how enjoyable the gunplay is. It’s really fantastic. Weapons feel different and like they have “weight” to them.

I also don’t mind the limitations of the space travel. It’s what I expected, and I’m fine with it.

[Craig H]

I fucking love this game. I had to finally stop myself from exploring the first planet I went to. Found a terrormorph and it was already nearly dead after fighting with some stalkers.

Moved on to anew Atlantis, joined up with the Vanguard, and now I have a bunch of missions to do. This rules.

Also, not one single bug so far. Everything has been silky smooth. Granted, this is on my Series X. I didn’t bother trying it on my computer tonight.

[Death From Above]

Yeah the performance issues on PC don't even shock me to be honest, and I could just play through them if I wanted to. But I'll probably wait for the inevitable early performance patch before really digging in.

[Casey]

So, random question: will the Xbox Series code for the Constellation edition work for PC as well since this is a Play Anywhere game? At worst, if it doesn’t, my friend won’t get the code and I’ll just give it away on here or something to someone with an Xbox.

I just want the watch because now I’m obsessed with this game.

(Amazon has the Xbox Constellation Edition in stock right now FYI)

[odessasteps]

It should since I’m playing on PC via Game Pass, not Steam.

[Craig H]

You just can't use the code twice. I bought the Premium edition and entered the code in on my Xbox. Then when I went on my PC Xbox app, I tried entering the code for Starfield there as well and said I already redeemed it. I went to the game in my library in the app and it just let me install it to my PC from there.

 

[Craig H]

Played some more and ran into a pretty scary scenario. It was a side quest and it's something you pick up in New Atlantis. The assignment and what you wind up doing are not even close. It turns into something out of a horror movie.

EDIT: Also ran into my first bit of stuttering. I'm not sure if it's because I'm using Quick Resume, which doesn't Quick Resume the game, or what, but last night everything was running smooth. Today, every train in New Atlantis would have some stuttering, I had some stuttering or frame rate drops using a boost pack, and there were a couple times where I had to click on someone more than once to get them to talk. I'm going to try just completely closing out of the game on the Xbox and see if that helps going forward since Quick Resume is pointless on it anyway.

Edited September 1, 2023 by Craig H

[Casey]

I used Quick Resume once, on AC Valhalla, and had a lot of the same issues. Stuttering, frame rate drops, etc. It’s a cool idea in theory but I much prefer Sony’s thing where it shows an activity in game and it quick loads into the game to that quest or whatever. Same idea in theory, but onSony’s end you aren’t leaving the game open indefinitely like you are on Xbox.

I had character pop-in at the train terminals last night. Never seen that before, it’s usually always texture pop-in.

But, hey. Bethesda.

[Craig H]

AC6 is the only game I actually didn't have an issue with Quick Resume on. Everything else, like MLB the Show, Guardians of the Galaxy, WWE 2K23, etc. I always ran into issues to the point where I would have to back all the way out of the game and then re-start it. It's cool when it works and I think it's smoother than the PS5 when it works, but the frequent issue that comes up has to do with connecting to an online server, not being able to connect, and then potentially running into issues with your saves.

And yeah, the more I've played, and it's been about 6 or 7 hours now, the more Bethesda-ness has crept through, but it still isn't anything game breaking.

My biggest complaints with the game is that after all of these fucking years, FUCKING DECADES, NPCs you talk to stare dead into the middle of the screen. It's so damn creepy and I've gotten used to it over all this time, but I still hate it. The other issue is that this maybe the worst Bethesda game ever when it comes to encumbrance and inventory management. I think some mods should make this better, but it's so bad. Everything just has so much more weight to it in this game compared to previous Bethesda games and how much you can carry is less. It's getting to the point where I may just drop a point into Weight Lifting, which sucks, because I want to continue putting points into Tech. So you're essentially wasting an entire level just to be able to carry more. 

The workaround to this is that I'm noticing that there's no point in picking up multiple spacesuits, helmets, booster packs, and weapons. They sell for barely nothing considering you're getting thousands for completing the simplest of quests. There's just almost no point in carrying multiple weapons or suits unless there's something in the game that allows you to break them down into materials, but I'm not aware if that exists in this game. Once I stopped doing that, it let me stop filling up my inventory and, fuck it, I'm just going to call my robot TARS because it's basically TARS from Interstellar, but you can stop filling up TARS inventory space. That still doesn't completely solve the problem that crafting components like wire, relays, batteries, and more weigh so much and this doesn't even take into account that you're eventually going to need to mine for materials. There just isn't enough room for all of this stuff. It's one area where a mod would be nice to just quickly move stuff to your ship if you're close enough to your ship like in No Man's Sky.

Other than that, I'm enjoying this way more than Skyrim and Fallout 4, but both of those are games that I wound up nearly hating after playing them for long enough. This is still very polished. I'm honestly not even bothered by all of the cutscenes and fast travel. I thought I would miss being able to fly right into a planet like in No Man's Sky, but really, I enjoy this streamlined experience much more. That's probably the best word to describe travel in this game - streamlined. It's like there's a lot of care for people playing it and understanding that the majority of people are going to want to space truck for nearly an hour to get from one place to another and then find the best landing spot. Or if you're in a city, just being able to hit your left bumper and fast travel to an area combined with the snappy loading times makes it much more appealing. I'm spending less time doing that shit and then I'm freed up to spend more time exploring planets. And then when I'm on those planets, it's so nice to just quickly fast travel back to anywhere I can view through my scanner. That is awesome. In No Man's Sky, it sucked to venture out for 15, 30, 45 minutes and then have to jet pack all the way back to my ship. Just a total waste of time. So streamlining travel has been a huge plus. For me anyway.

[J.T.]

Metacritic scores are in the high 80's so the threatened review bomb campaign from angry PS streamers seems to have failed.

I have SE so I'll see you lads next Wednesday.  I am sure I will spend at least five hours in Character Generator.

23 hours ago, RIPPA said:

I debated dropping the extra cash to play early but my kid has decided to come home from college for the holiday weekend so that made my choice for me

Personal property taxes made my decision for me as far as getting the PE goes.  That and CashApping my kid some weekend loot so that she could go see Equalizer 3 and hit the local pizza joint with her friends.

Edited September 1, 2023 by J.T.