this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

60 hours in, either I'm playing it or thinking about it. Hell, I'm taking a break from just wiping out the Crimson Fleet to post this.

Yeah yeah puddle deep and all but I like Bethesda RPGs, there isn't anyone else making sandbox RPGs to compare to and it runs good enough on Xbox. My PC was never gonna play it well.

No matter how much you hate it tho you have to admit the dialog system is the best of the atudios' games by far. There are so many Persuade options and the mini game for it is done well enough. So many skills and traits get brought up in dialog like stealth, security, wanted, faction, etc. It's like an upgrade on New Vegas's system. Combat is great too and impactful . Hell I shot a guy in the shoulder and he grabbed it and yelled "OW HE HIT ME IN THE SHOULDER!" which surprised me. Space combat is fun too.

Wish UI and inventory management was better. Wish I could fly off the beaten path and find shit outside the "space box" you warp into. But whatever, once I realized it's Fallout, not Freelancer I adjusted accordingly. Games better than the haters make it out to be, and that's without any mods.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s a shame you’re being so heavily downvoted for simply having your own opinion. I actually agree with you. It’s certainly not GOTY material but it’s also not a bad game.

Especially given the modding tools that will be coming. It seems quite a few people don’t wish to give credit to Bethesda for this feature yet there are single digit AAA developers that release tools. And I can’t think of any other developers, perhaps bar Valve, that offer such a great modding experience.

It’s not about “fixing the game” (although that has proven to be one benefit over the years); it’s about enabling players to add to the world, make their mark, and share it with anyone. And Starfield feels like a marvellous playground with a firm foundation that will afford countless developers and gamers to build upon it. Heck, the mods that are already out are awesome. I’m thankful that Bethesda still puts in the effort for PC gamers to have that opportunity.

What I’ve enjoyed most about the game so far was actually messing around and restarting a few times with different builds and a seeing how things change.

There’s a lot of stuff hidden from the player if you don’t have the skill or the right level or whatever but, oh man have I been enjoying the dialogue. I went all in on all the social stuff and it’s honestly been a really great ride for someone like me that loves space and loves getting to know characters.

This is certainly the first Bethesda game (ignoring New Vegas since they didn’t make that masterpiece) where characters are interesting, have back stories, and feel fleshed out / developed (especially over time).

Morrowind, while with deeper conversation options, felt like everyone was basically the same person and the reuse of dialogue between NPCs was a bit of a let down. Oblivion and Skyrim felt like there were only 5 people in the entire game (the same voice actors everywhere didn’t help). The Fallouts were better but still shallow or too brief.

The Constellation NPCs l, for instance, have been really interesting to get to know over the game; there’s so much dialogue for every quest, I kind of wish I could take more of them on a mission than just one, especially how you can often let them talk in a conversation with another NPC rather than just sit around while you do everything. I’m not doing “romance” as that’s not something I’m into role playing but it certainly feels like I’ve some interesting friends coming along for the ride.

Alas, Bethesda can’t win when their audience is basically “all gamers” and there will always be a lot of people who aren’t satisfied - and that’s totally fine. Thankfully there’s plenty of amazing games out right now that there’s no need to waste energy complaining about Starfield.

As I pitched to my patient gamer friends: Starfield isn’t Elite, Star Citizen, or No Man’s Sky. It’s a Bethesda game that launches with jank, has plenty of good moments and bad, but (given a few years) will be one of the richest gaming playgrounds like all of the Bethesda games before it (and I’m guessing it’ll be possibly the richest of them all).

I wonder if someone will make Starwind where you can land on planet Nirn? Haha.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I'm playing a social character too and it's so damn viable for a Bethesda game I'm impressed. I've talked my way out of so many situations and if you get the Ryujin chip you can Jedi Mind Trick others too.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

A lot of people forget that there's different kinds of RPGs. Or just games in general. To them, every RPG has to be Baldurs Gate 3 now. Just like previously, every open world now had to be Elden Ring or else it sucks. Sandbox RPG? Never heard of it. Like, can you fuck off to the wilderness and start producing drugs in BG3? Can you build a spaceship that looks like a massive cock? That's the sort of freedom you get in a Bethesda RPG, where doing random shit in the world is a viable way to play. Are you gonna finish the main story by making drugs? No, but you're gonna level up and make money.

I think Bethesda games are like the remnants of a genre that has become rarer and rarer. I mean, how many games released these days are actual sandboxes, and not just regular open world games pretending to be sandboxes? Zelda is one that comes to mind, but not really many more outside of Bethesda. Sandbox games are a dying breed in the AAA space, and for some reason some people really just want to deliver the killing blow to it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Totally. People are too busy noticing the bigger issues and completely skip over the good aspects. They are there, else I'd not keep playing it for so many hours. It's sad that we can't talk positive about the game without getting hated at.

It's the same as it was with Cyberpunk2077, I could play it really well on my then new PC with little bugs. Even when you named the positive things, no one was listening. It was an amazing game then, I wonder how it's with DLC and 2.0 update, which I've yet to play.

That said. There are a ton of bugs in Starfield and if that's what values most to you, then it's justified to not like the game.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yep about Cyberpunk as well. I played on XSX where it was already 60fps and I played it like a Immersive Sim instead of a GTA RPG and enjoyed the hell outta it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

There are so many Persuade options and the mini game for it is done well enough

...what?

There's flavor text options I guess but NPCs don't even acknowledge what you say. They always respond with a canned "I didn't think about it that way", or "oh, interesting"

The "minigame" is just rolling three dice instead of one dice roll like in the past.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Which is an improvement over Fallout 4 and Skyrim.

Name a better way without invoking ChatGPT Go:

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Games that NPCs actually respond appropriately something you say to persuade them?

Off the top of my head:

  • Mass Effect series
  • Any Obsidian game
  • Any Larian Studios game
  • The Wasteland series
[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Persuation in Mass Effect was literally a karma check. What are you talking about?

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago