Starfield Thread - now with Shattered Space horror expansion

[DeepOcean]

Mini spoiler review from me. 7.5/10.

How is the level and quest design? Closer to Fallout 3 or Fallout 4? On Fallout 3, you at least did some non linear quests on some sprawling locations, the writing was never anything good but at least there was a few interesting locations, I feel level and quest design got a big downgrade on Fallout 4.

 

[Tehdagah]

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

I think the setting is the weakest part of the game as it's just "humans in space"

Other franchises did the same concept with more imagination.

But it's hard to create a truly diverse landscape when your only concept of "Diversity" is making everyone varying shades of brown, and every culture in every part of known space the same mix of skin colors.

You would have thought going to meet "Vladimir Sall" would get you to Russian space, where you would be surrounded by a bunch of Russian characters, who would at least appear white on the outside. But no.

 

[Ben Zyklon]

Trees: 2018 vs 2023

 

[SmartCheetah]

tl;dw - Dialogue choices totally don't matter in this game. Outcome is always the same. Totally linear experience.

 

[ind33d]

I think the setting is the weakest part of the game as it's just "humans in space"

Other franchises did the same concept with more imagination.

But it's hard to create a truly diverse landscape when your only concept of "Diversity" is making everyone varying shades of brown, and every culture in every part of known space the same mix of skin colors.

You would have thought going to meet "Vladimir Sall" would get you to Russian space, where you would be surrounded by a bunch of Russian characters, who would at least appear white on the outside. But no.

america was a 247 year-long ponzi scheme by blacked.com

 

[Vic]

Other franchises did the same concept with more imagination.

idk there just is no setting at all. It's literally humans went into space and took all their leftist moral values with them and then stopped progressing/developing and just stayed like that for 300 years.

last sci-fi that I remember reading was Asimov's caves of steel and that's "humans in space" too but it's 10x more interesting, they really dropped the ball on this one

 

[Vic]

tl;dw - Dialogue choices totally don't matter in this game. Outcome is always the same. Totally linear experience.

i think most dialogue choices don't matter but many quests have multiple outcomes. you can decide to spare or kill somebody, or have multiple ways to solve a quest for example.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

Most of modern culture is cargo cult. Media is no exception. Writers don't seem to have a story they want to tell, they just have boxes to tick.

☑ space game
☑ philosophy stuff
☑ RPG stuff
☑ gays
☑ eat ze bugs
☑ black people everywhere
☑ vitiligo

 

[Vic]

Trees: 2018 vs 2023

TREES IN 2023 (IN STARFIELD)

 

[SmartCheetah]

tl;dw - Dialogue choices totally don't matter in this game. Outcome is always the same. Totally linear experience.

i think most dialogue choices don't matter but many quests have multiple outcomes. you can decide to spare or kill somebody, or have multiple ways to solve a quest for example.

Quake I is an RPG then. I could have left the level without killing all of the enemies or I could have killed them. MULTIPLE OUTCOMES!

Thing is - those multiple outcomes you are talking about mean absolutely nothing for the game world. It's like, your "outcome" is just another two lines of voice acting and nothing else.

 

[Vic]

Thing is - those multiple outcomes you are talking about mean absolutely nothing for the game world. It's like, your "outcome" is just another two lines of voice acting and nothing else.

did you play the fucking game?

there is a lot of negative propaganda going on. I'll just tell you that it has real choice and consequence for a change, also unique dialogue options based on traits, perks, and active companions. It's still a Bethesda game but they sprinkled some of that shit in there for sure

 

[Lemming42]

There appear to be pretty decisive consequences in terms of quest lines that force you to make a binary decision at the end (microbes vs dinosaurs to deal with the terrormorphs, crimson fleet vs sysdef, etc). Characters then keep talking about your decision long after you've made it, with specific reference to what you chose. There's also been a couple random events that appear to only trigger as a result of your decision on a previous quest, as in Fo3.

There aren't any world-changing effects, but there's definitely proper concrete C&C in the faction questlines in terms of letting you make a decision and then the game remembering it. I now have access to the sysdef mission board for siding with them and the Crimson Fleet characters have been removed from the game, plus hostile CF ships now spawn as a random event; I can only assume the inverse is true if you side with CF.

Most quests also have nice minor C&C - being able to consistently avoid combat through dialogue being the most obvious example.

 

[HammyTheFat]

Airlocks that take over a dozen seconds to cycle put in random bases everywhere on the open map.

Thank you Todd, very cool game design.

 

[Silverfish]

idk there just is no setting at all. It's literally humans went into space and took all their leftist moral values with them and then stopped progressing/developing and just stayed like that for 300 years.

In fairness, this is the same dev who thinks that nukes going off means 200 years straight of Mad Max. Weirdly, their medieval fantasy series is the one where time seems to pass.

 

[Vic]

Airlocks that take over a dozen seconds to cycle put in random bases everywhere on the open map.

that's not even for loading screen purposes, that's just to waste your time

 

[Ben Zyklon]

Trees: 2018 vs 2023

TREES IN 2023 (IN STARFIELD)

Unironically that tree looks better than the ones in New Atlantis

 

[Vic]

they might still be able to salvage their setting with DLCs

 

[Lemming42]

The big issue with the setting IMO is that it's very inconsistent in both tone and details. Some of the technology looks very 1970s, but there's no indication as far as I can tell that the game takes place in an alternate timeline or whatever. The cities fitting into neat genres (solarpunk, western, cyberpunk) also doesn't help, making it feel less cohesive and making the technology level of the setting even harder to pinpoint.

The aesthetics of the ships and suits make it feel somewhat grounded in reality (albeit a 1970s sort of view of the future), but then shit like the cyberpunk city makes it feel like it's not even slightly rooted in an extrapolation of real world tech.

It also doesn't help that the Freestar vs United Colonies stuff doesn't really gel. There's no reason not to join both, the ideological or philosophical difference between them isn't really all that clear, and you very rarely feel like there's actually any kind of tension between them. The game is theoretically set in a post-war world which is something I always find interesting, but it rarely feels like it.

 

[DeepOcean]

Airlocks that take over a dozen seconds to cycle put in random bases everywhere on the open map.

Thank you Todd, very cool game design.

Have to prop up that Gamepass play time some way.

 

[ind33d]

they might still be able to salvage their setting with DLCs

it had to be generic or mods wouldn't make sense

 

[Darkwind]

So as far as I'm understanding it, there are two ways to find things to do in unexplored space.

One is to look for these white diamonds, which are some kind of event going on in orbit of the planet.

The other is to look for this symbol, which represents the presence of a settlement.

Is that it? I'm seeing the "..." marks on some planets, but the content there seems to be near-universally pretty bad - usually just some pirate outpost or warehouse with no real story or quest or dialogue, just a trash mob of enemies and some crap loot. I've also tried landing on procgen planets and exploring their caves and such, but again the content is simply not worth bothering with for someone who isn't interested in the resource gathering and outpost building aspects.

Procgen stuff is horrendous. I did it twice and gave up. Even those "points of interest" you are referencing ain't all that interesting. I'll do some if I'm in that system and in the mood, but I'm basically sticking to main/faction/scripted questlines at this point. This game is generic AF even by Bethesda standards.

I'm sure there are some good sidequests but I can't be bothered sifting through the shit to get to them. Maybe someone will make a list somewhere of sidequests worth bothering with.

 

[Vic]

they might still be able to salvage their setting with DLCs

it had to be generic or mods wouldn't make sense

you mean they planned ahead so that modders would mod in alien races from popular franchises and they wouldn't have to come up with their own concepts?

 

[Vic]

Even those "points of interest" you are referencing ain't all that interesting.

yes, reposting again because the threads got merged:

Starfield procedural generation FAQ​

Q: Which parts of Starfield are created using procedural generation?
A: Most content on planets outside of named cities or quest locations is procedurally generated. This includes generic areas such as Abandoned Mining Platforms, Outposts, and other similar places. When you land on a planet, the game produces a tile with various procedurally generated points of interest, but these tiles don’t interact with each other.

Q: How can I identify hand-crafted content in Starfield?
A: All named locations in Starfield are either partially or entirely hand-crafted. If a location contains narrative content or named NPCs, it’s likely hand-made. Examples of such places are Akila City, Cydonia, and Neon.

Q: Is there a noticeable quality difference between the procedurally generated and hand-crafted content?
A: Yes, while the procedurally-generated content offers variety and exploration, there is a distinct difference in quality and narrative depth compared to hand-crafted locations. The hand-crafted sites typically contain richer stories and narratives, whereas the procedurally generated areas exist without any deeper narrative context.

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Basically don't bother with all those points of interest, there's nothing there.

And regardless of all the proc-gen stuff, Starfield still has more hand-crafted content and voiced dialogue lines than any previous bethesda game, so there's lots to discover, if you don't waste time with the proc-gen stuff.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

I went to a system and got involved in a multi-quest chain to rid the area of spacers and help a network of settlers. It had a bunch of dialogue, some skill checks, space combat and ground combat. Then in the end they gave me some money and I got some XP, and that was it.

Picking up random missions from kiosks gives you the same content, same rewards, and none of the running around or tedious dialogue.