Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22

[Syt]

I've installed Starfield again. I went into it with the attitude to treat it as a dip in and out kind of game. Spend an hour on a random planet, shoot/build stuff, move on. Not for story or quests or anything like that. Just as "I want to do some mindless stuff in space." The randomized/boring planets doesn't push me away too much - I was one of the weirdos who actually explored every planet in ME1 with the Mako and had a decent time with it and even didn't mind the copy/paste buildings too much. Loading screen - eh whatever as long as they're short.

Positive so far: really love the look and design of the environments and technology. Fairly grounded, somewhat futuristic, a bit like an updated version of the "working joes in space" vibe you get from the original Alien, or from Outland.

To test the game's narrative etc. I spent way too much time in New Atlantis - exploring the city and people, getting some lore etc. I like the lore and background in general, all good.

The NPCs feel jank, even by Bethesda standards. The random "citizens" mill about aimlessly and have creepy vacant faces. NPCs you can engage with have good voice acting (and way more diverse than the Elder Scrolls familiar voices), but the facial animations seem off. They're not trying to "lifelike" but are also not very stylized and occupy an uncomfortable middle ground. Also, if you don't approach them "head on" to start a convo, they crane their necks at you uncomfortably. Some sitting characters, when you talk to them laboriously get up before responding (not sure why some get up and some don't, but whatever). And there's the usual Bethesda jank. Like me talking to a person and another stopping to frown at me over that person's shoulder. Or me talking to a guy and a no-name NPC walking into him for the whole discussion.

People in town are way too quick to give you sensitive jobs. Lady, I literally just stepped onto this planet first time, and the second thing you do is ask me to get something out of secure storage at customs? All quests are combat-less which makes them very perfunctory and honestly not very original. Worst was following a breadcrumb trail to uncover that someone had hacked a thing to syphon money - which was a direct copy/paste from ME1 when you explore the Citadel. Only ME1 did it better, presenting you with an ethic choice - eliminate the AI that was behind it or let it get off planet? (IIRC) Starfield's choice is between giving the info to the working class "I want to help the people with their infrastructure" government worker or the chair of a seemingly shady commercial corporation.

I thought the shops and districts of New Atlantis looked too slick and empty. Stepping into any store felt like entering an empty Apple store. I was starting to think that was deliberate to hammer home the fake/empty facade of the UC, and stepping into The Well (essentially the Undercity from Taris in KotOR) seems to confirm that. Things are a lot more detailed/cluttered and feel distinctly more alive (the dead-eyed NPCs not withstanding).

However, there's some serious immersion breakers. Like walking into the UC Security Offices, past their "authorized personnel only" counter, opening their "Restricted Access" doors with all of them watching and not giving a damn. Ok, guys I get it's just a job, but show some dedication (that may be directed at the guards or Bethesda, take your pick).

Constellation seem all right so far. Sure, there's the (again) ME1 thing of you touching an artifact and getting visions, but ok, why not. I kinda like their 19th century explorer society vibe. I've more than had my fill of New Atlantis, though, and will do the next main story mission, I guess, if it means I get off the planet again.

Side note: during the tutorial bits where you have to go to the pirate outpost, I thought I had landed at their site and didn't realize I had landed on a "random" piece of estate. So I traversed the landscape to a structure, only to find it full of hostiles notably higher level than me. I could have taken them, but I kept running out of ammo, because of their HP pools. After a dozen or so attempts I rechecked, and noticed I must have clicked slightly off the actual destination. That base was a fun little dungeon - I like the shooting, and while the place's story was cliche^10 (trying to breed alien creatures for combat which goes - surprise - horribly wrong) it was a fun place to explore.

I will keep plinging away at this, but yeah. I hope once the game opens up I can do what I originally planned - i.e. just doing random stuff and building/exploring/shooting things. As said, really like the general look/design, and spent way too much examining objects and computer consoles, but anything NPC related feels quite off.

Honorary mention: I like the lockpicking mini game. Not too hard, not too finicky, but still requiring some attention (Oblivion was still the worst minigame IMO). Also, persuasion is a bit more interesting, though it seems a bit random with its dice rolls - more transparency on the chances/results would be quite useful.)

Overall: not completely horrible, but also not exactly setting the world on fire.