Starfield Pre-Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Ryzer]

Nobody narrowed the fact that apparently Starfield has around 150000+ lines of dialogues which is twice as many as FNV.

 

[Butter]

Nobody narrowed the fact that apparently Starfield has around 150000+ lines of dialogues which is twice as many as FNV.

Numanuma has over a million words.

 

[Ryzer]

Nobody narrowed the fact that apparently Starfield has around 150000+ lines of dialogues which is twice as many as FNV.

Numanuma has over a million words.

I mean for a Bethesda game, that's impressive.

 

[Caim]

Nobody narrowed the fact that apparently Starfield has around 150000+ lines of dialogues which is twice as many as FNV.

Numanuma has over a million words.

I mean for a Bethesda game, that's impressive.

It's just 50 different iterations of "I saw a space mudcrab the other day, horrible creatures."

 

[Immortal]

Plus can you even generate semi-interior /exterior with any fidelity. If it can't handle anything like that then barren planets are a possibility and YTers are right

You absolutely can.
Corridor and object placement are all solved with prefab fulfillment, Nodes vs Weighted Paths, yadda yadda.
They aren't even close to the first company to do this.. This technology is a dime-a-dozen.

What you can't do is fill those areas with anything meaningful besides Enemies and Loot.

I forsee lots of generic repeated audio, similar to Skyrim. Lotta "Took a laser to the knee" pirate enemies.
Also this procedural work is done upfront at their Studio, CK can't do it. That means that all this shit they are generating has to be packaged with the game - the worlds don't build out as you explore like Minecraft chunks worlds.. How big is this game gonna be? How big are savefiles gonna be when your dropping alien body parts all across every planet.. Are they gonna unload them when you leave?

(Building out the world state as you explore would also balloon your save state - I just can't picture 1000 planets in the creation engine though.. )

They either have some really cool tech, or this is gonna be a unmitigated shit show.

 

[Immortal]

Nobody narrowed the fact that apparently Starfield has around 150000+ lines of dialogues which is twice as many as FNV.

Lines of Dialogue

Skyrim: 60 000

Fallout New Vegas: 65 000

Fallout 4: 110 000
(13 000 belongs to the protagonist, both male and female)

Starfield: 200 000+
(Todd says this in IGN interview, not sure where the 150 number comes from?)


---

And yet.. Fallout 4 felt like it had almost none.. and New Vegas felt so full.
Quality over Quantity.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

We had Oblivion With Guns, now get ready for Skyrim With Guns 2.

Oblivion
Oblivion with Guns

Oblivion with Guns and Skill-Checks

Oblivion 2

Oblivion 2 with Guns

Oblivion 2 with Guns and Skill-Checks

 

[Camel]

Nobody narrowed the fact that apparently Starfield has around 150000+ lines of dialogues which is twice as many as FNV.

Lines of Dialogue

Skyrim: 60 000

Fallout New Vegas: 65 000

Fallout 4: 110 000
(13 000 belongs to the protagonist, both male and female)

Starfield: 200 000+
(Todd says this in IGN interview, not sure where the 150 number comes from?)


---

And yet.. Fallout 4 felt like it had almost none.. and New Vegas felt so full.
Quality over Quantity.

Precisely, sometimes less is more. Morrowind and Fallout 1-2 had great writing while Cringefinder: Wrath of the Trannies has verbal diarrhea which made me skip dialogue in an RPG first time in my life.
The Codex sometimes rightly preaches about decline.

 

[markec]

>Refuse to stop using the creation engine.

If the choice is the outdated creation engine that's easily moddable and a new engine that's better looking, more stable, offers more options to the developer but it's hard to mod I would still choose creation engine since I believe Bethesda no matter the tools can't make a good game. That way at least you have hope that modders will fix it.

 

[Perkel]

why they would stop to use it when it gives them free design ideas ?

I mean whole base building was just straight up ripped from Fallout mod.

Weapon crafting ? Also mod for FNV.

 

[Yosharian]

Yeah I'm sure Beth are laser-focused on making sure modders have a great experience with their new game

Definitely a priority for them

 

[Jarmaro]

Every single knowledgable person that I've seen writing about the Creation Engine agreed that they shouldn't drop it. THey already have documentation, expertise and knowledge how to use it, they just need to rewrite parts of it like they did for Starfield.

 

[wishbonetail]

Nobody narrowed the fact that apparently Starfield has around 150000+ lines of dialogues which is twice as many as FNV.

Numanuma has over a million words.

I mean for a Bethesda game, that's impressive.

It's just 50 different iterations of "I saw a space mudcrab the other day, horrible creatures."

You all forgetting about 149999 of main characters names Not-Codsworth will call him.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Nobody narrowed the fact that apparently Starfield has around 150000+ lines of dialogues which is twice as many as FNV.

INB4 it's just 150000 variations of "I used to be a astronaut like you, but I took a laser to the knee"

 

[MichaelB]

Pandorum is one of my favorite films, I even enjoy average but mediocre stuff like Oblivion.

Fellow Pandorum enjoyer I was positively surprised when Callisto's director mentioned Pandorum as one of his inspirations. He mentioned a lot of good stuff, including mediocre horror stories like Life. That's a sign of a solid designer right there; a lesser man would only point to popular and proven movies, because they could not discern quality on their own. There's quite often a lot of value in otherwise mediocre titles. Especially if you're a sci-fi horror fan; it really helps to develop an attitude of actively looking for positives, without much expectations overall, since most space horror movies are B-type. It's a helpful attitude when applied to games as well; something that made me enjoy, say, DA:Inquisition, despite its glaring flaws. But back to Starfield...

The game's world and aesthetics do not really seem grounded or 'hard' at all, especially the space part. The combat looks like a fairly generic star wars-like close range dogfight, but since your ship looks like a piece of junk, I guess it's no longer space fantasy, it's NASA CORE. The aforementioned Oblivion(movie), while somewhat deserving of that 'mediocre' label, has shown a beautiful rendition of 'futuristic but believable' visual theme in its first half, without a trace of industrial, dusty, or ugly motives that, to me, appear to really dilute the atmosphere of this game.

Spoiler

I think the particular problem with space combat is that due to how insulated the space portion is - no seamless transitions between space and surface; quite likely no flying over the surface either - it's just going to be filler. I can easily see how people will want to mod space combat out of the game. Just like in No Man's Sky - all the interesting stuff is on land, so space combat, and the entire space section of the game becomes something you want to avoid, unless you're farming materials.

I do agree with many posters who have mentioned that the art style is unappealing. That is one thing; an even bigger problem is that it lacks a guiding principle: some parts of it look like star-wars tatooine, others like a generic star trek/mass effect slightly utopian future; and suddenly there's also the industrial and purposefully ugly part. This is not good in a creative work; one could always argue that this is somewhat realistic - I think it isn't either. If you saw various art assets from this next to each other, you'd not figure they come from the same game. On the other hand. the interface and weapon models I do like, with the exception of the silver bullet shotgun. Particularly that one gun that copied the distinctive curvy design of Death Stranding's assault rifle. You're a champ if you recognised this one.

Overall this is shaping up to be an enjoyable mediocre game. Since Oblivion came out I never finished a bethesda title, despite playing them all, often for dozens of hours. I just run around ignoring the plot, pretending to be an adventurer or roleplaying as different characters the game technically does not allow you to be. I think this is going to be exactly the same this time, that is - if there'll be any hype left in me once this releases. Which is debatable.

 

[ropetight]

Pandorum is one of my favorite films, I even enjoy average but mediocre stuff like Oblivion.

Fellow Pandorum enjoyer I was positively surprised when Callisto's director mentioned Pandorum as one of his inspirations. He mentioned a lot of good stuff, including mediocre horror stories like Life. That's a sign of a solid designer right there; a lesser man would only point to popular and proven movies, because they could not discern quality on their own. There's quite often a lot of value in otherwise mediocre titles. Especially if you're a sci-fi horror fan; it really helps to develop an attitude of actively looking for positives, without much expectations overall, since most space horror movies are B-type. It's a helpful attitude when applied to games as well; something that made me enjoy, say, DA:Inquisition, despite its glaring flaws. But back to Starfield...

The game's world and aesthetics do not really seem grounded or 'hard' at all, especially the space part. The combat looks like a fairly generic star wars-like close range dogfight, but since your ship looks like a piece of junk, I guess it's no longer space fantasy, it's NASA CORE. The aforementioned Oblivion(movie), while somewhat deserving of that 'mediocre' label, has shown a beautiful rendition of 'futuristic but believable' visual theme in its first half, without a trace of industrial, dusty, or ugly motives that, to me, appear to really dilute the atmosphere of this game.

Spoiler

I think the particular problem with space combat is that due to how insulated the space portion is - no seamless transitions between space and surface; quite likely no flying over the surface either - it's just going to be filler. I can easily see how people will want to mod space combat out of the game. Just like in No Man's Sky - all the interesting stuff is on land, so space combat, and the entire space section of the game becomes something you want to avoid, unless you're farming materials.

I do agree with many posters who have mentioned that the art style is unappealing. That is one thing; an even bigger problem is that it lacks a guiding principle: some parts of it look like star-wars tatooine, others like a generic star trek/mass effect slightly utopian future; and suddenly there's also the industrial and purposefully ugly part. This is not good in a creative work; one could always argue that this is somewhat realistic - I think it isn't either. If you saw various art assets from this next to each other, you'd not figure they come from the same game. On the other hand. the interface and weapon models I do like, with the exception of the silver bullet shotgun. Particularly that one gun that copied the distinctive curvy design of Death Stranding's assault rifle. You're a champ if you recognised this one.

Overall this is shaping up to be an enjoyable mediocre game. Since Oblivion came out I never finished a bethesda title, despite playing them all, often for dozens of hours. I just run around ignoring the plot, pretending to be an adventurer or roleplaying as different characters the game technically does not allow you to be. I think this is going to be exactly the same this time, that is - if there'll be any hype left in me once this releases. Which is debatable.

You have to collect all the pants, screw the main quest!

 

[Red7]

Some designs just don't need to change. The AK should be one of those, I'm pretty sure we'll still be using those in 300 years.

Gun Jesus of Forgotten Weapons actually commented on this. He said that gunpowder-based firearms have reached the apex of their evolution in terms of mechanics - all possible concepts have been explored and all that's left now is mixing and matching the various features, and unless some revolutionary new invention comes along that's pretty much it.

However, what he did also say is that ergonomics is where the focus is now: optics on every rifle, advanced scopes that calculate a firing solution for the user, red dot sights on every pistol, captive pins, springs and much less complex disassembly to make maintenance easier etc.

Also, new trends with ammo, as has recently been popularized by the US military's adoption of a new cartridge specifically designed to combat modern body armor.

ofc u r free to think that but thats retarded. there is no evidence new round can penetrate 4th lvl
plates and neither china or russia uses armor extensively on their troops, neither they will have that capacity any time soon. body armor is most widely used by american private citizens and usa mil. which may seem like they targeting own citizens here but im not so sure (at least not in that way);

in my humble but almost always right opinion main reasons for new rifle and round are these, with hierarchy of importance starting from most important;

1- part of disarming us citizens mostly by cost inhibition of ammunition; most abudnant ammo is always mil adopted ammo, as banking cartel hoards 5,56 to spike prices and limit access they will nail it by introducing new round that citizens dont have rifles too; even in case of intercepting supplies your weaponry wont be comptaible

2- reducing hit probability and overall combat effectiveness by uncontrollable recoil, especially in auto, as well as reducing ammo carring capacity by increased weight

3 -horrible reduction life span of rifle; reason why ak is so good it uses large caliber bullet that not only makes bigger wound channel but also carries weight in less lenght aka less friction surface with barrel. especially with higher velocities the new rifle will require often barrel change that may be not feasible, not to mention costs.

4- both point 2 and 3 account for drastic increase in dead soldiers which is main goal along with other depopulation programs (if they manage to pull ww3 to cover current debt market implosion that is). also forcing vagina into army despite it reducing combat ability as part of it.

gun jesus as likable as he may be, is just low t normie thats even kuked/married.


back to fallout weaponry; its obvious that main held weapon should be supplemented by semi ai operated non wielded weaponry aka shoulder cannon(s).
but more important is how well and fast modders will tackle problem of space suit that will show enough cleavage for space fuckmeats.

 

[gerey]

Fellow Pandorum enjoyer I was positively surprised when Callisto's director mentioned Pandorum as one of his inspirations. He mentioned a lot of good stuff, including mediocre horror stories like Life. That's a sign of a solid designer right there; a lesser man would only point to popular and proven movies, because they could not discern quality on their own.

Man, I'm not the only one that liked Pandorum? It's one of the few movies that genuinely had me when at one point the characters look out one of the few windows on the ship and don't see any starts - genuine WTF moment.

Life was kinda meh, it's one of those horror movies that can only work if every single character behaves in the most retarded way imaginable to drive the plot forward. Also, the monster is boring because it literally has no flaws, it's a Mary Sue destined to win.

I think the particular problem with space combat is that due to how insulated the space portion is - no seamless transitions between space and surface; quite likely no flying over the surface either

I think it's been confirmed there will be no flying in atmosphere and that the planet and space are completely separate from one another. I hope the subhuman Bethesda fans enjoy loading screens, because there's gonna be a lot of them.

I do agree with many posters who have mentioned that the art style is unappealing.

I happen to like the artstyle, and it's about the only thing about the game that I like. It's basically NASApunk, and while I agree that it seems there's a lot of hodge-podge assets strewn through the trailer, I'm going to reserve my judgement until I see more of the game.

 

[thelegend]

 

[Pink Eye]

The game isn't even out and Bethseda is already shilling out dosh for influencers to promote the game.

 

[Quillon]

The game isn't even out and Bethseda is already shilling out dosh for influencers to promote the game.

that video is old, had a different title: "procedural something something...", he's just into procedural stuff I guess and switched to a clickbait title later apparently

 

[ropetight]

Some designs just don't need to change. The AK should be one of those, I'm pretty sure we'll still be using those in 300 years.

Gun Jesus of Forgotten Weapons actually commented on this. He said that gunpowder-based firearms have reached the apex of their evolution in terms of mechanics - all possible concepts have been explored and all that's left now is mixing and matching the various features, and unless some revolutionary new invention comes along that's pretty much it.

However, what he did also say is that ergonomics is where the focus is now: optics on every rifle, advanced scopes that calculate a firing solution for the user, red dot sights on every pistol, captive pins, springs and much less complex disassembly to make maintenance easier etc.

Also, new trends with ammo, as has recently been popularized by the US military's adoption of a new cartridge specifically designed to combat modern body armor.

ofc u r free to think that but thats retarded. there is no evidence new round can penetrate 4th lvl
plates and neither china or russia uses armor extensively on their troops, neither they will have that capacity any time soon. body armor is most widely used by american private citizens and usa mil. which may seem like they targeting own citizens here but im not so sure (at least not in that way);

in my humble but almost always right opinion main reasons for new rifle and round are these, with hierarchy of importance starting from most important;

1- part of disarming us citizens mostly by cost inhibition of ammunition; most abudnant ammo is always mil adopted ammo, as banking cartel hoards 5,56 to spike prices and limit access they will nail it by introducing new round that citizens dont have rifles too; even in case of intercepting supplies your weaponry wont be comptaible

2- reducing hit probability and overall combat effectiveness by uncontrollable recoil, especially in auto, as well as reducing ammo carring capacity by increased weight

3 -horrible reduction life span of rifle; reason why ak is so good it uses large caliber bullet that not only makes bigger wound channel but also carries weight in less lenght aka less friction surface with barrel. especially with higher velocities the new rifle will require often barrel change that may be not feasible, not to mention costs.

4- both point 2 and 3 account for drastic increase in dead soldiers which is main goal along with other depopulation programs (if they manage to pull ww3 to cover current debt market implosion that is). also forcing vagina into army despite it reducing combat ability as part of it.

gun jesus as likable as he may be, is just low t normie thats even kuked/married.


back to fallout weaponry; its obvious that main held weapon should be supplemented by semi ai operated non wielded weaponry aka shoulder cannon(s).
but more important is how well and fast modders will tackle problem of space suit that will show enough cleavage for space fuckmeats.

New types of ammo for pros will not make other ammo types pricier. Market will regulate itself - if there is demand for 5.56, there will be competition between manufacturers and mass produced 5.56 on lowest prices possible. Most of people use cheap, low-powered ammo, and that will not change.

If government imposes tax on it or prohibit it, they will just revive black market. Don't know if they are stupid enough to make old mistake with booze again with firearms. Just this time southern border will be the smuggling place.

 

[Gargaune]

The One Way Starfield is Different From No Man's Sky: it'll actually be worth a AAA price tag.

The game isn't even out and Bethseda is already shilling out dosh for influencers to promote the game.

Duh? Business as usual, that's how you get all those sweet, sweet day-one purchases.

 

[MichaelB]

I think it's been confirmed there will be no flying in atmosphere and that the planet and space are completely separate from one another.

To me that's a soft confirmation that the planets are indeed instanced, as in: Planet A = X points of interest, each being a separate area that can be picked as a landing zone from the galaxy view. I know it directly contradicts that one Todd statement, but I really don't see how it could be otherwise. I would only change my mind in case vehicles were announced, and thats not gonna happen.

Life was kinda meh, it's one of those horror movies that can only work if every single character behaves in the most retarded way imaginable to drive the plot forward. Also, the monster is boring because it literally has no flaws, it's a Mary Sue destined to win.

I really enjoyed the aesthetics and was simping for Rebecca Ferguson's character. As to the plot - it's worse than you imagine. Not only is the crew retarded, but the alien itself breaks several laws of physics. It literally could not exist; not accidentally, but essentially. Which is bad because the movie tries to maintain its somewhat grounded sci-fi theme. Regardless of that, it scared the shit out of juvenile me, so much that I'd probably refuse to watch it for the second time. Thats just due to how bleak it is. And the action is very dynamic, so that it kind of maintains plausibility in front of the viewer due to sheer speed.

The coolest moment ofc is the one when schoolkids from earth get to name the alien: you very well know it would be something like FAT CHUNGUS or HITLER 2. Which would be hilarious if they were to stick to it. >>HE'S IN THE VENTS!! SPACEBOI IS IN THE VENTS!!<<

But as it's been said, a competent crew would end this in seconds, even against this godmode reality-defying antagonist. That served as an inspiration for me to make an oc space setting filled with biothreats and space terrors, that do not really pose that much of an existential risk, since every major faction is an extremely competent authoritarian meritocracy; the central vector of conflict was between these groups and various outside contenders that unleash some horrific stuff regularly because they lack discipline, skills or structure not to pop open the alien eggs, accidentally or on purpose.

Man, I'm not the only one that liked Pandorum? It's one of the few movies that genuinely had me when at one point the characters look out one of the few windows on the ship and don't see any starts - genuine WTF moment.

It very much impressed me as well. I watched it in a chain of various sci-fi minor/B-type releases and it really stood out. What's very notable is that it is a competent, coherent adventure story, that develops its intrigue and expands/intensifies when it should. For some reason this is very rare in film. What you usually see is that the first part of the movie sets up an intriguing adventure, but then the second one ruins it by suddenly attempting to be something else and changing the genre; possibly because the creator behind it does not want it to be 'just' a captivating story, it has to be something more- which is ironic since it leaves a situation in which it's that straightforward adventure story that becomes this rare, demanding thing to make.

Take Tenet - in its first half it's a breathtaking, intelligent espionage adventure kino, but in the second one it switches to a time-travel movie. Sure it's better than most, and intellectually satisfying, but that's still a disappointment. Or Ad Astra - that one goes from cool space adventure to low energy below-mediocre psychological drama. That's something that makes me appreciate that Pandorum just stuck to it. I recommend you watch Europa Report - it's not breathtaking sci-fi, but still really cool. Has a very nice cast of underappreciated actors.

That's one thing that keeps reoccurring in various discussions around media - that culture cannot stand solely on its greatest works. I can appreciate a brilliant piece of story or drama more than anyone, but that still needs a corpus of accompanying works that are just solid - not incredible or genre-defining, but simply solid - to kind of populate the environment in which those great works can really shine. I think it applies to people as well.

 

[gerey]

To me that's a soft confirmation that the planets are indeed instanced

It's actually a hard confirmation, Todd said that the surface and space are wholly separate and won't interact, and that you can't fly down to the surface of the planet controlling the ship, but a cutscene will play when deciding to land or take off (to mask the fact the game is loading in a new map).

But as it's been said, a competent crew would end this in seconds, even against this godmode reality-defying antagonist. That served as an inspiration for me to make an oc space setting filled with biothreats and space terrors, that do not really pose that much of an existential risk, since every major faction is an extremely competent authoritarian meritocracy; the central vector of conflict was between these groups and various outside contenders that unleash some horrific stuff regularly because they lack discipline, skills or structure not to pop open the alien eggs, accidentally or on purpose.

I liked that movie about the Moon rock spiders, Apollo 18, where both the US and Soviet governments tell the astronauts that if they attempt to land they'll get shot down, no ifs or buts, as a measure to prevent the Moon organisms from getting down to Earth - though if that's the case it then begs the question of why they even bother sending manned missions to the Moon surface when they know very well what's up there.

That being said, I can't really imagine a scenario where any belligerent would resort to using alien space egg WMDs - we already have plenty of terrifying bioweapons IRL, yet no side really seems that keen to use them. Granted, if things were getting really dire in war they may just decide to deploy them out of sheer desperation, but unless the results of defeat were pretty horrific I can't imagine them doing it even then, not unless they want to get pummeled into submissions by the other side retaliating with the same.

I recommend you watch Europa Report - it's not breathtaking sci-fi, but still really cool. Has a very nice cast of underappreciated actors.

Already watched it. Liked it for the slow burn tension-building.

not incredible or genre-defining

Problem is that every hack out there wants to be the next (((Steven Spielberg))) and to reinvent the wheel, when movies like Extraction or Dredd show you can make a very fun and enthralling movie that delivers a tightly woven plot with great action choreography.