VideoGame_Discussion

Topic Starfield (September 6, 2023 on PC and Xbox Series)

Yoshi

* 12-Aug-2023(#1)

I was surprised to not find an existing thread for this one (though if I missed one, feel free to merge).

I've been on media blackout on this other than the definitely-not-E3 showcase back in June. Time flies when you're having fun old, so the imminent release date snuck up on me a bit.

This was probably going to be the game that would be a significantly suboptimal experience on my aging PC, so I remedied that today with a large parts order. In fact, I'm going to wind up with two "free" codes for the Steam version if anyone is interested and has an AMD 7000 series CPU or GPU to register the extra. Ironically, given that I pulled the trigger for a first-party Microsoft game, I went with an AMD CPU and GPU for the first time in a couple builds because of the better Linux compatibility. I'm definitely going to dual boot now that Valve has significantly accelerated Linux gaming with the Steam Deck.

Who else is looking forward to this and plans to drop everything to play it in less than a month?

brian9824

12-Aug-2023(#2)

I have a new PC built for it, and the premium version pre-ordered and the day off on Sept 1st to play it

Bleed_DukeBlue

12-Aug-2023(#3)

I’m definitely going to give it a shot. I loved the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games, and it’s hard to beat “free” on Game Pass. I probably won’t drop everything, though, as I suspect I’ll still be playing Baldur’s Gate 3 too.

Kommie

12-Aug-2023(#4)

Gonna wait the year plus so it's playable and no save game corruption, etc

Damian254

13-Aug-2023(#5)

Soooo pumped for this game. I made the jump and got a 4K TV and the Xbox Series X just for this title! Also, picked up the Starfield controller the day after the direct over the summer -- had to go to four different websites before I found one that had it in stock.

Feeb

* 13-Aug-2023(#6)

I’m going to feel it out a bit. Not a fan of space stuff TBH and I’d have to play it on steam / handheld right now. Loved Skyrim and everything prior but fallout 4 was super disappointing for me. I did 100% and all DLC trying to convince myself it was good. Meh. I hope they get this back on track.

thatfootballguy

14-Aug-2023(#7)

As a Series S gamer, I'm excited to have access to play, but my expectations are low on performance haha

sa330206

15-Aug-2023(#8)

Kommie wrote:

> Gonna wait the year plus so it's playable and no save game corruption, etc

Great idea, these games are never ready for prime time day 1. Might as well save a huge headache and some cash and just wait a year. There's plenty of other stuff out there to play in the meantime.

Kommie

15-Aug-2023(#9)

Given the recent track record of Microsoft first party releases of "release it now, fix later. No one actually buys our crap with Gamepass" it's a good strategy to wait it out.

Feeb

15-Aug-2023(#10)

They almost always do a “complete / GotY” version with all the shoulda been included dlc etc too.

brian9824

15-Aug-2023(#11)

I mean I played Fallout 4 at launch and never had any issues. Think the worst i had was a quest get borked and used console to fix it.

I mean i'm sure bugs happen, but its not as bad as many people make it out to be.

nonamesleft

15-Aug-2023(#12)

For the sake of a friend of mine who's been looking forward to Starfield for a long, long time, I hope they release it well polished, not need any major fixes. In general, better for a studio to take longer to develop a game and have a great final product.

Bleed_DukeBlue

15-Aug-2023(#13)

I loved Fallout 4, but, when I played it, there were a ton of glitches with trophies (one of which made a quest objective unobtainable and required me to replay like 10 hours of progress). Fortunately for me, I don’t actually care about achievements on the Xbox side, so I’ll probably just play Starfield on day one anyway.

brian9824 wrote:

> I mean I played Fallout 4 at launch and never had any issues. Think the worst i

> had was a quest get borked and used console to fix it.

> I mean i'm sure bugs happen, but its not as bad as many people make it out to be.

bumsplikity

15-Aug-2023(#14)

I plan on getting this on day one unless the reviews scare me away. I got a new PC in anticipation of Baldurs Gate 3 so I hope I can brute force my way through any performance issues. I'll probably buy on steam but if reviews aren't great I'll just play on gamepass instead.

brian9824

15-Aug-2023(#15)

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

> I loved Fallout 4, but, when I played it, there were a ton of glitches with trophies

> (one of which made a quest objective unobtainable and required me to replay like

> 10 hours of progress). Fortunately for me, I don’t actually care about achievements

> on the Xbox side, so I’ll probably just play Starfield on day one anyway.

> brian9824 wrote:

>> I mean I played Fallout 4 at launch and never had any issues. Think the worst

> i

>> had was a quest get borked and used console to fix it.

>> I mean i'm sure bugs happen, but its not as bad as many people make it out to

> be.

Ah I played it on PC and TBH I wouldn't have even noticed if any achievements were bugged, although to be fair that is a pretty small issue. I've had worse bugs playing games with years of support.

Kommie

23-Aug-2023(#16)

FYI, this is gonna be 30 FPS on console.

brian9824

25-Aug-2023(#17)

Less then 1 week to go for Premium users

Yoshi

26-Aug-2023(#18)

I kicked off the preload for my wife on the Series X last night, but I have to wait until the 30th for my Premium version on Steam.

Shane12m

26-Aug-2023(#19)

Yoshi wrote:

> I kicked off the preload for my wife on the Series X last night, but I have to wait

> until the 30th for my Premium version on Steam.

You can preload it now on steam no?

brian9824

26-Aug-2023(#20)

Shane12m wrote:

> Yoshi wrote:

>> I kicked off the preload for my wife on the Series X last night, but I have to

> wait

>> until the 30th for my Premium version on Steam.

> You can preload it now on steam no?

No, not to the 30th

jgrant78

27-Aug-2023(#21)

I'm a huge Bethesda fan boy and even though I said I wasn't going to do the premium upgrade just to get to play it early, I'm probably going to end up doing it anyway. My wife and daughter are going to be busy all of Labor Day weekend, so that's some prime playing time and I think they've forced my hand.

brian9824

31-Aug-2023(#22)

So far a 88 on metacritic which is pretty damn good

Archer

* 31-Aug-2023(#23)

Anyone here pay extra to play tonight? Early access for premium members unlocks in just over 90 minutes I think.

Yoshi

* 31-Aug-2023(#24)

Mine is installing as I type, but I won't be able to play until after work tomorrow. Looking forward to the holiday weekend though!

Well, I might play with settings a bit tonight if that counts...

thenadz

31-Aug-2023(#25)

Big Bethesda fan here but I think I’ll wait until launch day before playing. Very tempted to get the premium edition for early access but I don’t think I’ll have enough time this weekend/backlog

Feeb

31-Aug-2023(#26)

Wait… you have to buy the premium to play over holiday weekend? Nasty.

Yoshi

* 31-Aug-2023(#27)

It defaulted to Ultra. I turned off V-Sync, so it won't screw up Variable Refresh, and Motion Blur, because it's awful. Here. We. Go.

edit: Film Grain Intensity needed to go too.

Shane12m

31-Aug-2023(#28)

Kinda lame that it’s a space sci fi game and you can make only a human. Pretty boring in that regard

sinnie

* 1-Sep-2023(#29)

This kind of sci fi isn't really my bag... and given Bethesda's history of late I am holding off on it. I am still quite consumed with Baulders Gate 3 and still tons to do after over 200 hours. Still I love a good action RPG so interested in seeing how it turns out!

Frank

1-Sep-2023(#30)

I played a little yesterday and today. 5 hours in, at least 2 hours were spent creating my character.

image

I'm enjoying it so far. A bit overwhelmed, but will probably be okay once I learn everything new.

Yoshi

1-Sep-2023(#31)

Kommie wrote:

> FYI, this is gonna be 30 FPS on console.

How quaint. I'm averaging 126.4 thus far.

Stepping out onto the surface for the first time wasn't quite like witnessing the bombs go off in Fallout 4 in VR, but it definitely was impressive, and I suspect that's a pretty lame environment relatively speaking.

Kommie

1-Sep-2023(#32)

Yoshi wrote:

> Kommie wrote:

>> FYI, this is gonna be 30 FPS on console.

> How quaint. I'm averaging 126.4 thus far.

> Stepping out onto the surface for the first time wasn't quite like witnessing the

> bombs go off in Fallout 4 in VR, but it definitely was impressive, and I suspect

> that's a pretty lame environment relatively speaking.

Not on console though

thenadz

1-Sep-2023(#33)

Playing through just the wee beginning right now and love it, minus one big glaring negative : the maps when you land on a planet. Holy crap this is the worst ‘map’ system I’ve ever seen in a video game and can’t believe it’s really there by design. I wonder if they’ll patch it due to fan request or leave it as is. Once you land on a planet, the local map is pretty useless and devoid of markers, the markers it does have are…directionless. Very hard to get around and know if I’m going the right way

Yoshi

* 1-Sep-2023(#34)

From a mission standpoint, turn on your scanner, and there will be arrows on the floor to tell you where to go.

Bleed_DukeBlue

2-Sep-2023(#35)

Yikes. That sounds like what I hated about Star Wars: Fallen Order.

thenadz wrote:

> Playing through just the wee beginning right now and love it, minus one big glaring

> negative : the maps when you land on a planet. Holy crap this is the worst ‘map’

> system I’ve ever seen in a video game and can’t believe it’s really there by

> design. I wonder if they’ll patch it due to fan request or leave it as is. Once

> you land on a planet, the local map is pretty useless and devoid of markers, the

> markers it does have are…directionless. Very hard to get around and know if I’m

> going the right way

thenadz

2-Sep-2023(#36)

I hated Star Wars Jedi: fallen order’s map with a passion, and maybe I overreacted with Starfield. It’s not really explained how the map works but I figured out that fast travel is the name of the game in Starfield when navigating certain planets and waypoints.

Bleed_DukeBlue

2-Sep-2023(#37)

I’m glad it’s not as bad as it initially seemed.

thenadz wrote:

> I hated Star Wars Jedi: fallen order’s map with a passion, and maybe I overreacted

> with Starfield. It’s not really explained how the map works but I figured out that

> fast travel is the name of the game in Starfield when navigating certain planets

> and waypoints.

Frank

2-Sep-2023(#38)

It's not as bad, but it is definitely still bad by design. Hopefully, Bethesda does take the constructive criticism and modify it.

Considering they overhauled Fallout 76 for years after launch, I would think they are likely actively working on patches.

Shane12m

6-Sep-2023(#39)

So far my impression:

The land combat early on (level 5) feels like a generic shooter with nothing interesting about it. At least with the VATS there was something unique there and with Skyrim you had a shield to block or magic to heal. Maybe it’s meant to be this way to create major sense of growth?

Ship combat is frenetic and frustrating but I have not spent time doing any modifying or upgrading yet so I can see the potential for it to get better especially when I improve turn speed

Kommie

6-Sep-2023(#40)

A Bethesda game with generic combat? Blasphemy! They've never had generic combat!

Archer

6-Sep-2023(#41)

Shane12m wrote:

> So far my impression:

> The land combat early on (level 5) feels like a generic shooter with nothing interesting

> about it. At least with the VATS there was something unique there and with Skyrim

> you had a shield to block or magic to heal. Maybe it’s meant to be this way to

> create major sense of growth?

> Ship combat is frenetic and frustrating but I have not spent time doing any modifying

> or upgrading yet so I can see the potential for it to get better especially when

> I improve turn speed

The starting ship is a piece of crap. Ship combat gets way better when you have a decent ship. You can get some good free ones early. I completed a quest a line for one of the factions (rangers), and they give you a top tier ship. Its ridiculous how powerful it is and that you can get it so early.

But yeah, the gun combat feels very generic Ubi shooter (watch dogs, any of the tom clancy trash) and little like Cyberpunk 2077. Just generic open world shooter combat. The jump pack does nothing for combat at all. It does get somewhat better when you get better guns after you go to higher level areas. And there is a story thing that happens fairly early on in the main story line that opens up other options for combat. I haven't tried melee yet, but I can't image its very good. Trying to rush close enough to enemies who are shooting you is probably not good for staying alive.

Shane12m

6-Sep-2023(#42)

Archer wrote:

> Shane12m wrote:

>> So far my impression:

>> The land combat early on (level 5) feels like a generic shooter with nothing interesting

>> about it. At least with the VATS there was something unique there and with Skyrim

>> you had a shield to block or magic to heal. Maybe it’s meant to be this way

> to

>> create major sense of growth?

>> Ship combat is frenetic and frustrating but I have not spent time doing any modifying

>> or upgrading yet so I can see the potential for it to get better especially when

>> I improve turn speed

> The starting ship is a piece of crap. Ship combat gets way better when you have a

> decent ship. You can get some good free ones early. I completed a quest a line for

> one of the factions (rangers), and they give you a top tier ship. Its ridiculous

> how powerful it is and that you can get it so early.

> But yeah, the gun combat feels very generic Ubi shooter (watch dogs, any of the tom

> clancy trash) and little like Cyberpunk 2077. Just generic open world shooter combat.

> The jump pack does nothing for combat at all. It does get somewhat better when you

> get better guns after you go to higher level areas. And there is a story thing that

> happens fairly early on in the main story line that opens up other options for combat.

> I haven't tried melee yet, but I can't image its very good. Trying to rush close

> enough to enemies who are shooting you is probably not good for staying alive.

Cool cool, I’ll give it a bit more time. Is it pretty natural/easy to find the different factions? The first one was super natural and the main story led you to it

Archer

6-Sep-2023(#43)

Shane12m wrote:

> Cool cool, I’ll give it a bit more time. Is it pretty natural/easy to find the

> different factions? The first one was super natural and the main story led you to

> it

Without spoiling anything or giving you too much info. Not sure how you feel about that stuff. Yes. The main story missions will lead you to all four major factions just by doing main story missions. There are also a bunch of side quests on New Atlantis that will lead you to them as well.

Shane12m

6-Sep-2023(#44)

Archer wrote:

> Shane12m wrote:

>> Cool cool, I’ll give it a bit more time. Is it pretty natural/easy to find the

>> different factions? The first one was super natural and the main story led you

> to

>> it

> Without spoiling anything or giving you too much info. Not sure how you feel about

> that stuff. Yes. The main story missions will lead you to all four major factions

> just by doing main story missions. There are also a bunch of side quests on New Atlantis

> that will lead you to them as well.

I’m weird about spoilers so thanks that was perfect :)

Yoshi

* 16-Sep-2023(#45)

I'm at 48 hours and 14/50 achievements. I know that's not a great measure of progress, but it's the most objective thing I have. I've finished one faction's quests and started a couple others but have barely scratched the main story.

I finally put my finger on what is holding the game back for me. It's Fallout without Power Armor, so inventory management is a near constant pain in my ass. The fact that crafting and research only checks your and your ship's inventory and not any storage in your housing compounds this. I will say that when I upgrade my ship this will relieve it a bit, but I prioritized some other skills over Piloting, so I'm not there yet.

brian9824

17-Sep-2023(#46)

Yoshi wrote:

> I'm at 48 hours and 14/50 achievements. I know that's not a great measure of progress,

> but it's the most objective thing I have. I've finished one faction's quests and

> started a couple others but have barely scratched the main story.

> I finally put my finger on what is holding the game back for me. It's Fallout without

> Power Armor, so inventory management is a near constant pain in my ass. The fact

> that crafting and research only checks your and your ship's inventory and not any

> storage in your housing compounds this. I will say that when I upgrade my ship this

> will relieve it a bit, but I prioritized some other skills over Piloting, so I'm

> not there yet.

Outposts let you create near infinite storage, and crafting/research works with outpost storage as well.

Yoshi

18-Sep-2023(#47)

brian9824 wrote:

> Yoshi wrote:

>> I'm at 48 hours and 14/50 achievements. I know that's not a great measure of

> progress,

>> but it's the most objective thing I have. I've finished one faction's quests

> and

>> started a couple others but have barely scratched the main story.

>> I finally put my finger on what is holding the game back for me. It's Fallout

> without

>> Power Armor, so inventory management is a near constant pain in my ass. The fact

>> that crafting and research only checks your and your ship's inventory and not

> any

>> storage in your housing compounds this. I will say that when I upgrade my ship

> this

>> will relieve it a bit, but I prioritized some other skills over Piloting, so I'm

>> not there yet.

> Outposts let you create near infinite storage, and crafting/research works with outpost

> storage as well.

D'oh! Well, that's what I get for trying to ignore those for this long. I also got a ship that has 2,000+ storage, so that made a huge difference.