• @esadatari@lemmy.world
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    2612 years ago

    bethesda announces game concept.

    people freak.

    bethesda announces game. 

    people hype.

    bethesda starts hyping the game.

    people go fucking nuts hyping the game as a result. their social media team plants those seeds to make it look organic.

    a year or more of speculation occurs.

    todd howard being his little schmuck self comes out and boasts about their new game.

    people lose their god damn minds.

    whispers of shitty gameplay start occurring closer to launch.

    the masses tell those people to fuck off how could they know, dishonest review etc etc.

    the big names in game reviews all review it and give it out of the park amazing reviews.

    people go batshit crazy. people are out in the streets killing their parents for a chance at the new bethesda god game.

    the game is released and is somewhat playable but jesus fuck is it lacking, it’s buggy, and every character looks like they’ve been updated from skyrim graphics of yore. the story sucks. the game play is empty but goddamn is there a lot to explore.

    everyone rushes in like a madman.

    everyone realizes the gameplay sucks.

    people start bitching.

    others say “oh don’t worry, DLC and user created mods will fill the game out nicely.”

    years pass.

    the unpaid modding community pours their heart and soul into making the game not fucking suck.

    after all the DLC has come out (all with mostly positive or mixed reviews on steam) the game will go dark for a year or so.

    todd howard wakes from his capitalist vampire coma needing fresh life force. the blood money of his unsuspecting idiot fans.

    todd howard makes it into the office and says we could make a new game or we can milk this game for the next decade and a half. quick come up with names to rerelease the game under. game of the year edition. complete edition. master edition. elite edition. remastered. remastered complete. anything works!

    over the course of the next three decades, todd howard is fed the blood of bethesda’s fan base.

    he is swollen, like a fat tick upon his harkonen throne, waiting to burst.

    “the people. they call for a NEW game”, he says, a devilish sneer contorts his face.

    and the cycle continues.

    and these fucking idiots. every goddamn time.

  • Hot Saucerman
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    2 years ago

    I don’t get it.

    People wanted another Bethesda game.

    They got what they wanted.

    I said in 2008, after playing the first Fallout game by Bethesda instead of Black Isle: “Only Bethesda could manage to make a post apocalyptic prostitute boring.

    They’ve always been boring, they’ve always had ugly character models, and the writing has always been bad. You get what you paid for. A Bethesda game.

    • Ertebolle
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      2 years ago

      I think the fundamental problem is that people had different expectations for a game set in space, both because Bethesda stoked them (all of that talk of having the idea decades ago / first new franchise in however many years / Microsoft bought the company just to get it as an exclusive / etc) and because after No Man’s Sky people kind of expected that with their budget / resources they would manage to fix that game’s problems and create something richer + more seamless.

      In retrospect, if they’d simply sold it as “Skyrim in Space,” admitted to the limitations up front - same underlying engine, limited amount of variety to procedurally-generated content, loading screens instead of seamless takeoff/landing, etc - and not pretended that it was something new, the response would have probably been much more uniformly positive.

      • @RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world
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        402 years ago

        But they kind of already did say most of that stuff.

        They said long before the game came out that there was no seamless takeoff/landing. They said they upgraded their Creation Engine for Starfield, AFAIK they never said it was entirely new.

        Either way, I like it. Its fun.

        • Ertebolle
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          72 years ago

          Hmm, I missed that about seamless takeoff/landing. But as @dingus mentions, you can use cutscenes and animations and other things to make that feel more immersive / continuous even if they are temporarily dropping you out of the engine.

        • Hot Saucerman
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          72 years ago

          Either way, I like it. Its fun.

          And that’s great! I think we’re mostly talking about the people who are whinging about it. People who are enjoying it, let em enjoy it.

      • Hot Saucerman
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        142 years ago

        I think you’re on the right track, but I think it’s also because recent games did better with similar ideas. People shat all over Mass Effect Andromeda, but it hid loading screens behind interplanetary and FTL travel that was actually visualized. In my brain, I know they’re cutscenes to cover for loading data, but it’s enough to take you out of it being a “game” and allowing you to suspend your disbelief. It’s hard to suspend disbelief when there’s a loading screen constantly in front of you.

        • @HelixTitan@beehaw.org
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          22 years ago

          Yeah, but you can do the same thing in Star Field, just takes a bit of learning. You get the exact same cut scenes for loading even, ala Mass Effect. The reality is the game offers fast travel, as essentially jumping 5 times and loading and seeing the cut scenes is the same thing as just loading to the end.

          This game feels more like a test, do you actually want to explore, or do you want to hop point to point for the quest. You can do either. It just seems to offer fast travel as the first option, but you can take the slow way around too

      • @Cornelius_Wangenheim@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        The setting lowered my expectations. Modern sci-fi has this weird obsession with being sterile and boring. Compared to the magical fantasy of Elder Scrolls and the zany retro-futurism of Fallout, it was guaranteed to be boring.

        • Hot Saucerman
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          2 years ago

          Everyone recalls, but they also recall Hello Games spending the next several years fixing the game and fleshing out to be closer to their original vision, which is what they were selling to people: their vision. They should have been selling the game, not the vision, but they took their fuckup on the chin and risked a lot. There was no gaurantee they would appease gamers and they essentially had no income except for continued sales of No Mans Sky.

          Also NMS was Hello Games’ first real big game ever, so you can give them a little slack for having no idea what they’re doing.

          Bethesda is a 30+ year old juggernaut who waits for modders to fix their games and has been re-releasing their last successful game for a full decade now.

          Hello Games made NMS better because they felt bad. Bethesda made Skyrim better to re-release it and get more money.

          Also, Hello Games is just 26 people and Bethesda is 420 people and owned by Microsoft.

            • Hot Saucerman
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              142 years ago

              I think the difference here is Hello Games took a big risk taking 2-3 years to fix it while asking for nothing more in exchange. What they did is basically unheard of because its hard to pay people without known future income.

              Do you think Bethesda will take 2-3 years to “fix” this? I don’t.

      • Hot Saucerman
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        212 years ago

        Skyrim is literally one of their worst-written games and only has a saving grace of a wide open world that is interesting to explore.

        Personal opinion, Morrowind was still boring, but had the best writing, best style, and required the most from the player. Morrowind was peak Bethesda and that was over 20 years ago.

        • @SwampYankee@mander.xyz
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          12 years ago

          Starfield at launch is more compelling than Fallout 4 or Skyrim, but falls short of Morrowind. It’s in the mix somewhere alongside Oblivion and Fallout 3, IMO.

          • Hot Saucerman
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            2 years ago

            Morrowind is a role-playing game, and in this role, you needed to be able to do things like research the world you’re in to figure out what to do, not have a rando who has a big fancy exclamation point above him telling you exactly where to go with a waypoint. It’s just different ways to approach the game. One is functionally role-playing within the world you exist in, and the other is “Fuck all this, I just want to play a game, I don’t want to think hard.”

              • ZephrC
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                162 years ago

                Really. You’re gonna pull the people like different things argument after telling this person that they’re just pretending to enjoy Morrowind? That’s some next level hypocrisy right there.

              • Remmock
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                112 years ago

                I don’t know why people pretend they actually enjoyed sitting there deciphering all the text/journals/notes/etc. to get directions and navigate the world and enjoyed it.

                This was you saying the way you don’t like is wrong.

              • Poggervania
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                82 years ago

                I don’t think the dude was insinuating that they thought people were “brain-dead” because they enjoyed Skyrim more than Morrowind - it’s literally just the way the games are.

                Like you said yourself, waypoints were added for a reason. Morrowind can be pretty bullshit at times with directions, and the game does straight-up lie to you a few times, but you also can’t deny that Skyrim is literally telling you to go that arrow on your compass for every single quest. One’s not better than the other, but with Morrowind, you do get the sense of being on an adventure since you have to figure stuff out and encounter weird people on the way, whereas with Skyrim it’s waaaaay easier to get into because you can legitimately turn your brain off and let it relax a bit.

                • Hot Saucerman
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                  72 years ago

                  One’s not better than the other,

                  No, but one is genuinely “role-playing” while another is… not.

          • Final Remix
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            92 years ago

            Can’t have rose-tinted glasses if you’re currently playing it as OpenMW.

          • @Espi@lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            I played Morrowind after playing Skyrim and I found it much better.

            It’s much less accessible, but the writing is actually good and it has the best ‘R’ in RPG of any game I have ever played. The character progression is amazing and there are so many fun ways to build a character.

    • DreamButt
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      92 years ago

      As an enjoyer of both Oblivion and Morrowind I’m going to say that I think it’s more likely that the people at Bethesda who were key at making their past games good have either been promoted beyond their positions of expertise or simply left for greener pastures. Bethesda hasn’t always been trash, and people are quick to forget transgressions from nearly a decade ago (yes! It’s been that long!)

      • Hot Saucerman
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        2 years ago

        It’s been 21 years since Morrowind, and 17 years since Oblivion. Been longer than a decade. Two in Morrowind’s case. I would put Morrowind down as “peak Bethesda,” and their games have been slowly turning to crap since. I agree, I think they lost a lot of key players who worked for them, and they’ve never been able to regain their footing.

    • @uwe@lemmy.world
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      32 years ago

      I’m fine with their writing and their overall gameplay. It’s just that they managed to make space feel boring and tiny. All those little areas in-between the loading screens really don’t feel like a vast space opera at all.

      Also I wish they would just invest into some new game mechanics. Proc gen planets look great and exploring them could have been so much fun 🥲

      • @FMT99@lemmy.world
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        22 years ago

        Yeah one of the best parts of the game, the planets look great. There’s just not much to do on them.

  • @Bluefold@sh.itjust.works
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    2 years ago

    There’s a trait you can pick that exactly explains my problems.with the game. The trait is ‘Dream Home’. It is described as

    ‘You own a luxurious, customizable house on a peaceful planet! Unfortunately it comes with a 125,000 credit mortgage with GalBank that has to be paid weekly.’…

    I thought this was a cool way of adding increased difficulty for myself. I tend not to play at the hardest setting because I don’t have much time to play. But having to plan ahead and work around this limitation sounded like it would add an interesting wrinkle to the strategy I’d have in the game.

    However, when you start the game you discover that the loan has to be paid off in full… And you have unlimited time to pay it off. The only way to be foreclosed upon is if you actively go tell the bank to foreclose on you. It’s like they had the idea, but couldn’t be bothered to implement it.

    What’s worse is 120k is nothing in the game. You can easily get there within a few hours of play. This is just one example, but it speaks to the game’s complete unwillingness to give the player anything negative or push them any way from their ‘freedom’. The sheer fact you are not locked out of any faction or faction mission is another example. There are 0 stakes in the game and you feel 0 connection to the people you meet or places you visit. Not helped by Sarah potentially being one of the most annoying judgemental characters in any Bethesda game I’ve ever encountered.

    Update: I eventually visited this ‘Dream House’. It kinda sucked. The planet it is on is kinda ugly. There is more to this mechanic than I originally thought, however. When you visit you can pay 500 credits for 1 week of access as a ‘payment’ towards the principal. Still very deceptive of the original description.

    • @abbotsbury@lemmy.world
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      312 years ago

      The only way to be foreclosed upon is if you actively go tell the bank to foreclose on you

      Bethesda once again being so scared of the player making a choice, so they lock down anything that actually changes the game behind a giant 🚨 ARE YOU SURE??? 🚨

      • @funktion@lemm.ee
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        322 years ago

        I mean there are a whole bunch of players that seem to have a problem with actually dealing with consequences. Just look at the bg3 players who are so pissed about “missing content” when they murderhobo their way through the game. Like no shit you killed the people who give you quests, of course you’re going to miss out on their stories.

    • @UnverifiedAPK@lemmy.ml
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      292 years ago

      The sheer fact you are not locked out of any faction or faction mission is another example.

      Ah, so Skyrim in space

    • @Katana314@lemmy.world
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      132 years ago

      Someday I’m interested in making an open world game (short on features because I’ll never have giant budgets) that embraces the friction of inconvenience, but finds enjoyable ways for people to circumvent them.

      Eg: You can’t easily locate yourself on the map, but you can use a radio to ping towers and triangulate, which gives a breezy interface - or just ask locals. You can’t fast travel, but train stations get you where you’re going - and you might get an interesting conversation or even a whole questline on board.

      • 🔍🦘🛎
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        32 years ago

        There’s a little open world game called Miasmata with that triangulation system! It’s an open world survival horror. It’s pretty short though, and I bet you could get it for just a few bucks on sale. I really enjoyed my time in it, and the world is the perfect mix of dreary and serene.

      • @Happenchance@lemmy.world
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        32 years ago

        When ARMA Reforger released it was chaos, with 95% of the people hopelessly lost at all times. It’s because the game gave you a map, a compass, and nothing else for navigation. Best. Immersion. Ever.

        Always on instant GPS with augmented reality waypoints between abstract objectives is what kills player immersion (and developer creativity). If I can just follow an arrow from point to point and complete a game: it wasn’t worth making the game.

        • @Dubious_Fart@lemmy.ml
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          12 years ago

          Yep. Theres no exploring, theres just “run to waypoint. grab thing waypoint is on, run to waypoint, hand over waypointed item, find next waypoint source, repeat”

          Cause devs want to dumb games down so any mouth breathing reject can conquer it without any effort, to bring in that sweet sweet idiot money.

    • @XanXic@lemmy.world
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      32 years ago

      Why didn’t you pick any of the more negative traits? Like your example is the most basic harmless one. There’s ones with way more downsides. Did you pick the ‘2 loving parents’ trait and are mad they don’t kill you on sight? lmao. Like I picked wanted where I always have a bounty and it’s cool. I’ve had a bounty hunter show up in the middle of a boss fight before. Both in space and on ground. Added a decent complication. A few of the others are pretty long term negatives like weakening aids and food.

      I also don’t know if you explored much because the game has a pretty robust ailments system. Like if you pre-plan sure you can have all the expensive cures on hand, but you can get quite a few ailments at once from fucking around. I had a cough for like 4 hours because I couldn’t find an aid for it. I eventually had to go to a doctor to get rid of it.

      • @Bluefold@sh.itjust.works
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        32 years ago

        I did pick other negative traits. My problem with this one is it straight up lies to you in the description. You think it is going to be negative but instead it is the most basic boring version of what that trait could be. I’ve explored many hostile environments where conditions are common and haven’t had a situation where I didn’t already have the sure on hand but I tend to loot a lot.

        You can’t change your traits after starting. For my play style, this one should have been perfect. Instead it just sucked all fun out of the potential mechanic.

        • @Dubious_Fart@lemmy.ml
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          2 years ago

          its like the trait that gives you living parents.

          makes a big deal out of having to send them money every week.

          Its little more than a rounding error on your accounts, the amount you end up sending.

          And they end up giving you several amazing things or free.

          spoiler

          ___ A big honkin awesome ship, Thats got amazing cargo capacity for as early as you get it: Just gotta visit them a few times to get it and a pretty fuckin awesome pistol that, when i got it, was outdamaging everything i had except shotguns by at least a factor of 2.

          Seriously, money in this game is a joke. Getting to be a rich removed is easier than building water purifier settlements in Fallout 4.

  • Eochaid
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    652 years ago

    My wife, a couple friends, and I have all put a ton of hours into this game and absolutely love it. I put several hours into the shipbuilder alone. Every hand built sidequest I run into feels like a TNG episode. And I love the kinda Becky Chambers / Star Trek-style utopia with mystery and drama theme they’ve got.

    This is the most Bethesda game they’ve ever made, for better of worse. It doesn’t hand hold you. There are plenty of times where I’ve looked at my quest log, found nothing i could do except the main quest, and then decided just to jump to a random system - only to get pulled into some crazy new adventure for a couple hours. You’re supposed to be an explorer, if you put even the smallest effort into exploring, you will be rewarded.

    A lot of people complaining were never going to like this game or any Bethesda game and I don’t know what to do with those people. The amount of constant negativity on the internet makes me really appreciate stories like TNG and writers like Becky Chambers and Cory Doctorow, because they’re so positive and affirming and optimistic and when they criticise, they also offer solutions. And this game really scratches that itch for me.

    And after almost 40 years of life dealing with the constsnt cycle of negativity and hatred and anger and frustration and drama, on the internet, a global scale, and in my own life…I’m just tired. I can’t play games with “edgy dark stories” anymore. I can’t go back to New Vegas because its bummer after bummer. And i know a lot of people thrive on that “scortched earth” bullshit but I just can’t anymore.

    I just…wanna sit down and play a game. And maybe one where everything is okay for once. And this is that game for me.

    • @guriinii@lemmy.world
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      152 years ago

      I don’t get the hate, fuck 'em. I’m absolutely loving the game, it’s exactly what I wanted and more. In fact, I get the same feeling I did playing Skyrim, you’re doing some side mission, then you see something absolutely stunning. Earlier I was on some grey barren moon looking for resources, I look to the right, see the red planet, it’s ice caps, and other two moons with the milky way behind them.

      I like the TNG comparison. The side missions are so much better than in other Bethesda games I’ve played. Even little interactions with the NPCs or little events and conversations that just happen as a part of the world and not some quest. Love it.

    • @SwampYankee@mander.xyz
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      32 years ago

      Man that last quest for Sarah was a such a TNG moment. Overall the writing in this game is a cut above most - that quest was sort of an obvious twist, but it was executed really well. I find myself wishing the animations could keep up with the writing and voice actors sometimes, but we can’t have it all.

      • Sentient Loom
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        12 years ago

        Are you hoping for cut scenes with specially rendered segments? Because I hate that stuff and would rather see animations built within the game world, like we have in most of these Bethesda games.

        Cut scenes ruin games for me. It’s why I never finished a Mass Effect game.

        • @SwampYankee@mander.xyz
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          22 years ago

          No, just more emotion in the animations. You know how real people will sort of look up & to the left or something, maybe put their finger or hand up if they’re trying to remember something? Or they’ll look around and move their head a little, scratch their chin, etc. if they’re thinking. Or they’ll scrunch their eyebrows up and look at the ground if they’re sad?

          That kind of thing.

          • Sentient Loom
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            12 years ago

            Okay yeah, those would certainly be improvements. And… we have the technology.

        • R0cket_M00se
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          12 years ago

          Strange, I hate the Bethesda POV and would rather have a cinematic view that helps sell the acting and narrative. Nothing kills my Interest quicker than a boring me looking at you view of things.

    • @googlrr@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      People are weird when it comes to Bethesda. If you like Bethesda games, you’ll probably like this one. I haven’t gotten to play myself yet but watching friends who have it it looks fun. Does it look 10/10 GOTY? Not really. But it looks full* of fun stuff.

      I think in some way all Bethesda games can feel ‘boring’, but kinda in a good way? Like sometimes you’re just wandering a city with no real goal. It isn’t thrilling or adrenaline pumping, but it’s cool and immersive. Some people find that kind of slower pace boring. I think it’s cool. Not everything gotta be full throttle all the time.

      *edit

      • @CryptoRoberto@sh.itjust.works
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        112 years ago

        I think they’ve been putting out very similar games since like fallout 3. If that’s what you are looking for, it’s fun. People for some reason seem to put unrealistic expectations on things. I assume this game is just improved graphics fallout 3 in space. Which isn’t a bad thing, but if you expect a revolutionary game you are in for disappointment.

    • @abbotsbury@lemmy.world
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      112 years ago

      Bethesda hasn’t really changed their formula, so if you’ve played Skyrim or Fallout 4 you quickly fall into the ‘quest marker->dungeon->vendor->crafting’ loop and the game stops being stimulating

      • @iheartneopets@lemm.ee
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        22 years ago

        Except you’ve left out a huge bullet point from that loop that has always kept me enjoying their games: quest marker->EXPLORATION->dungeon->vendor->crafting.

        The procedural generation of this game immediately told me I wouldn’t enjoy it (even though I hoped they knew what they were doing), because walking around Bethesda worlds has always been one of the best parts of the exoerience, and they went and optimized it out so that it’s mostly a series of menus. And damn if that’s not been their game design strategy for the past decade-plus—‘optimize’ out all the fun parts, make the game as simplified as possible, even if it means cutting out core features fans love.

  • ForbiddenRoot
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    412 years ago

    I somehow entirely missed the hype around this game and came across it again only accidentally on early release day when looking at some other sale on Steam. Been playing it and it seems fine to me in a vague Skyrim-in-space sort of way, which is all what I was expecting from a Bethesda RPG.

    The world seems alive enough and there are plenty of side-quests and amusing / interesting things to discover. Now suddenly I have been coming across a bunch of posts everywhere where the game is supposed to be terrible or something. Still seems fine to me, but maybe I have lower standards after decades of gaming. shrug.

  • @Sniatch@lemmy.world
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    372 years ago

    I don’t understand why is it popular to shit on Bethesda games? Just don’t play it if you don’t like it. At least it has no microtransacrions or Battle Pass nonsense.

    • @MindSkipperBro12@lemmy.world
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      312 years ago

      Bethesda games tend to have awful writing, released with an unacceptable amount of bugs, and not having micro transactions and a battle pass shouldn’t be praised, it must be the standard.

        • R0cket_M00se
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          22 years ago

          When will you learn the only thing that gets results is buying or not buying them? Fucks sake. It’s capitalism, if you buy shitty product more shitty product gets made.

        • @Dubious_Fart@lemmy.ml
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          02 years ago

          It is the standard, idiot fucking gamergoblins dumping their wallets out saying “GIVE ME ADVANTAGES” are the assholes thats are trying to change the standard.

      • @Redredme@lemmy.world
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        142 years ago

        So it should be praised as it currently isn’t the standard in the gaming industry. But hey, let’s shit on it so we can totally tell the industry that this is the wrong path and micro transactions are the way to go!

      • @Oka@lemmy.ml
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        92 years ago

        I expected it to be buggy. I have not yet encountered a bug in my first few hours.

        That being said, there’s lots im not liking about it so far.

        • @XanXic@lemmy.world
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          22 years ago

          I had Vasco become a part of the door to the cockpit. I couldn’t enter. I had to leave the ship and hit the specific ‘to cockpit’ button for a few hours because reloading didn’t save him from his torment. Only bug I’ve had but was weird lol.

          • ForbiddenRoot
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            22 years ago

            Vasco quite frequently blocks the door everywhere for me, but at least I have been able to push my way through so far. He’s like my Golden Retriever in that respect so I am used to it from real life.

            • @Dubious_Fart@lemmy.ml
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              22 years ago

              Real sad that Vasco isnt a full companion. Had so much potential there, instead, all he is is a glorified tutorial escort for the start of the game, and graduates to annoying barricade for the rest of it.

    • @iheartneopets@lemm.ee
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      2 years ago

      I don’t understand why it’s so popular NOT to shit on them. Remember when Andromeda came out with many of the same issues, and people fucking REAMED it (rightly)? Now Bethesda is finally getting SOME criticism for their shitty business and game development practices and we have lots of people out here suckling at their teat defending them for some reason. “Leave them alone, it’s just a Bethesda game, why do people love to hate them, wahhhh.”

      As if Bethesda isn’t one of the most beloved companies of all time, and most everyone started from a place of WANTING to love this game. But they’ve been making shitty decisions for years, hiding behind the nostalgia of their past titles, and they are overdue some criticism. It doesn’t mean everyone hates them.

        • That isnt clear either. I wonder if some people are just routinely negative about major releases? I usually don’t have wide expectations and get into games for niche reasons, for settlement and ship building in this case. I’m not really invested in what the more negative gamers have to say because it doesn’t have much to do with why I want to play the game. Also I feel like too many are just outrage poisoned so their opinion is just guaranteed to be ridiculous.

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    2 years ago

    I think it’s fun, but I’m a run and gun kind of guy. So I’m having a blast shooting dudes in the face. The shooting is much better than Fallout. I LOVE fighting in the zero gravity arenas. It’s so cool like floating between pillars and headshotting a guy off in the distance and his body is now bopping around. Those are so rare though. Idk how I can find more.

    But overall I find the game frustrating outside battles. It’s like death by a thousand cuts though. There’s no one thing that’s egregious but there’s just stacking outdated design choices that continually build up. The games indecision around flying your ship being an easy catch all for the multiple failures in making your ship mean anything outside of battles and the map system. For the love of God fix the slide, you slide like 2inches. There’s also a constant battle with backing out of menus. Idk.

    But then I find some spacer trap house and have a good time blasting away. Excited for when I can actually can craft bespoke weapons.

    • @Zeth0s@lemmy.world
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      132 years ago

      Apparently id software helped with the shooting part. They are the best in town for it, I am not surprised that it’s improved compared to fallout games, that have pretty bad shootings

    • @Frozengyro@lemmy.world
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      92 years ago

      Yea menu navigation is terrible, lack of explanation on how to do anything is confusing, basically no map isn’t great. I’m about 10 hours in and enjoying it, but could have been a lot better.

      Also, maybe it’s just me but I can never tell if I’m buying or selling to a vendor and end up totally messing it up and needing to reload multiple times.

      • @XanXic@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        “not a failure” I called it frustrating and death by a thousand cuts. Just because I don’t screech failure and send Todd Howard death threats doesn’t mean I’m not being critical of the game. Get some reading comprehension and don’t set the bar at hyperbole. Saying the thing you do 75% of the time is fun isn’t calling it a rousing success either by any means.

  • GreenBottles
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    222 years ago

    I literally spent my entire Labor Day weekend playing this game so anybody that says it’s boring I’d really don’t understand what they’re talking about

  • Poggervania
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    2 years ago

    I’m not surprised. I haven’t seen vids or played Starfield, but just judging by how Fallout 4 and Skyrim play, I was gonna expect the game to get old and boring really quick between the bland gameplay and milquetoast writing of those two games.

    Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Morrowind were probably their last good games, with Morrowind being Bethesda at their absolute best imo.

    • GigglyBobble
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      282 years ago

      I’m quite sure you’re in the minority judging Skyrim as boring.

      • I can get the sentiment about the combat being uninspired and a bit bland, and things being formulaic but… There is still something that draws me in. I really have no words for what it is, but somehow these games suck me in despite their problems and “boring” mechanics.

      • Poggervania
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        2 years ago

        Probably. I haven’t played any of the DLCs, but I just can’t get into Skyrim nowadays because I get quickly bored of it all. The only time I managed to complete all of the quests and the main quest was back at release, but now whenever I play it feels like a slog to go through a painfully bland world and setting. I usually give up after a few hours of playtime, and now I just haven’t played in years.

        Meanwhile, I was around 30-40 hours into my latest Morrowind playthrough before BG3 dropped, and was putting a fair whack of time into Battlespire, so maybe I’m finally becoming old lol.

      • @Kuma@lemmy.world
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        32 years ago

        It depends, I think as unmoded would many say it is boring. The whole game is kinda of a meme even tho it wasn’t supposed to be. like killing a chicken and hell breaks loose, and how sweet rolls are an addiction to all the guards, how they keep saying the same thing and seem to live the same life. All of them could just have been one person (or two because there are female guards too). Some npcs are a bit interesting the first few times but it gets old quick.

        I have played skyrim a lot but it is heavily moded. Every new playthrough do I throw in new quests and places, try a different mix of combat mods and Ai mods to make my enemies actually enemies and not just obstacles, everything to make it less monotone. I tried to play it again last month but my motivation just fell and I never felt like playing again.

    • Ser Salty
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      32 years ago

      I’d say Starfield is in a lot of ways a return to form. So far, none of the actual quests I got from NPCs were as simple as “Go there and kill bandits”, like the majority of quests in Fallout 4. Those proc-gen quests have been relegated to Mission Boards for various factions (and there’s also more variety of them. Beyond killing, you have smuggling missions, cargo transport, passenger transport, surveying and some other stuff). Most of the quests I’ve done so far have also been very interesting, I’ve talked my way out of multiple confrontations/bossfight and I’ve robbed a valuable trophy and bank credentials from a luxury cruise ship with not a single shot fired, just using my cunning, persuasion and a little bit of blackmail and bribery. I keep thinking that I am going to get those “please kill those raiders” quests, like when I got a distress call from somebody having trouble with spacers (this games version of generic raiders or bandits), but instead I had to repair communication satellites and negotiate a mutual defense pact with the settlers of that system. Like, I’m 50+ hours in (yes, genuinely) and the game keeps surprising me with new and interesting content. I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of the content available.

      Sure, you can’t completely fuck everything up and go murder everyone in the game like in BG3 or FNV or something, but it is actually a really solid RPG. The writing isn’t as deep, philosophical and politically charged as New Vegas, but it’s good. Way better than Fallout 4s main story (and better than Fallout 3s main story, which secretly sucks.) I actually had some interesting conversations in the game and chuckled quite a few times at some of the responses I could choose. My background and traits actually do come up in conversation, even had one of my traits help me win a persuasion minigame (which is actually quite interesting in this as well). Skills like Persuasion, Intimidation and Bribery actually matter and allow you to finish quests in different ways. I get a little bit angry everytime somebody calls it Fallout 4 in space, because unlike Fallout 4 Starfield is actually a roleplaying game, even if it doesn’t live up to the heights of Baldurs Gate 3. If you’re gonna call it anything in space, Oblivion would probably be the most apt comparison.