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General Category => Off the Record => Gaming HQ => Topic started by: Syt on June 13, 2021, 12:11:24 PM

Title: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Syt on June 13, 2021, 12:11:24 PM
Trailer: https://youtu.be/B-LlfIXT8to
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: The Brain on June 13, 2021, 12:18:28 PM
Lasagna. :mmm:
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: 11B4V on June 13, 2021, 01:17:16 PM
So what is this? Not much off that vid.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Syt on June 13, 2021, 01:27:31 PM
Quote from: 11B4V on June 13, 2021, 01:17:16 PM
So what is this? Not much off that vid.

From their website:

QuoteStarfield is the first new universe in 25 years from Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. In this next generation role-playing game set amongst the stars, create any character you want and explore with unparalleled freedom as you embark on an epic journey to answer humanity's greatest mystery.

Not much more than that.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Josquius on June 13, 2021, 02:15:40 PM
Skyrim in space.
Colour me skeptical. It shall undoubtedly play up the worst parts of bethesda in being even bigger and with less depth and character.
Maybe this will be the time they finally push things forward and do something great and original?
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: jimmy olsen on June 14, 2021, 04:44:20 AM
Quote from: Syt on June 13, 2021, 01:27:31 PM
Quote from: 11B4V on June 13, 2021, 01:17:16 PM
So what is this? Not much off that vid.

From their website:

QuoteStarfield is the first new universe in 25 years from Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. In this next generation role-playing game set amongst the stars, create any character you want and explore with unparalleled freedom as you embark on an epic journey to answer humanity's greatest mystery.

Not much more than that.
The search for extraterrestrial life?
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: The Minsky Moment on June 14, 2021, 08:25:42 AM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on June 14, 2021, 04:44:20 AM
The search for extraterrestrial life?

No silly we already know that.  Space aliens exist and are pursuing their ultimate goal - competing for best practical joke played on US navy pilots.

I'm hoping the game will live up to its billing and resolve once and for all the question that torments humanity: why is that you can find every single kind of power cord except the one you actually need in the moment?
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: The Brain on June 14, 2021, 09:09:10 AM
You only need E.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Syt on June 14, 2021, 10:50:45 AM
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2021/06/13/starfield-bethesda/

Quote'Starfield': Todd Howard discusses Bethesda's new space-based RPG

The game is 'the Han Solo simulator,' says Bethesda Managing Director Ashley Cheng.

"It's like 'Skyrim' in space."

That's how Bethesda Game Studios Executive Producer Todd Howard described the upcoming game "Starfield" in an exclusive video interview with The Washington Post. "Starfield," in development since 2017, represents the first new IP in 25 years for Bethesda, the video game studio behind the critically acclaimed action role-playing series "The Elder Scrolls" and "Fallout." The new space-based role-playing game will be released Nov. 11 of 2022 for PC and Xbox Series X and S.

Because of major technological leaps since "Skyrim," the last Elder Scrolls installment from 2011, Howard said "Starfield" will be much more robust than that title, which won numerous game of the year awards. The first video footage of "Starfield," which kicked off the Microsoft/Bethesda joint presentation during the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) Sunday, shows a fraction of the breadth of this brand new universe. How big could it get? Bethesda Managing Director Ashley Cheng compares the game to "Star Wars."

"For me, 'Starfield' is the Han Solo simulator. Get in a ship, explore the galaxy, do fun stuff," said Cheng, who's been with the company for 21 years.

Like so many Bethesda trailers, there are hints at the studio's inspirations throughout the game's reveal video. The beat-up starship, Frontier, and the many control buttons within emit a "Fallout" vibe. Howard said the choppy black and white beginning is an homage to NASA's first moon landing on July 20, 1969, incidentally the same day Howard's brother was born.

Keen interest in NASA was always part of Howard's life, a fascination that inspired him and his family to visit Cape Canaveral during the height of the space program. "Then growing up in the '70s with 'Star Wars,' 'Star Trek,' 'Battlestar Galactica'... I took a great interest in it for a long time," Howard said.

According to Howard, in "Starfield" players will join an organization dubbed Constellation, the last group of space explorers. At the outset, players will choose their character's background, with many options for customization that will impact how some things in the game unfold.

Istvan Pely, the game's lead artist, dubbed the look of the game "NASA punk," Howard said.

"[Pely] knows what all the buttons do on the ships. Even though it's science fiction, your mind can sort of draw the line all the way back [to NASA]," Howard elaborated. "It all should feel lived in, even for a ship." The environment in the ship isn't fancy, as demonstrated by the curiously packaged Chunks, a kind of MRE, displayed in one of the trailer scenes. Howard said its contents were a "mix of processed space food," probably primarily potato.

In addition to being the next major RPG for Bethesda, the game figures to be one of the first major must-play games for Xbox since Microsoft acquired Bethesda's parent company, ZeniMax Media, for $7.5 billion earlier this year. In a wide-ranging, hour-long interview, Howard and Cheng spoke about the merger, how Bethesda's employees operated through the pandemic, the difficult-to-process death of ZeniMax founder Robert A. Altman, and whether the release date may still move for the company's first new game over a decade.

During the interview, Howard sat at home in front of cherry wood bookshelves bearing a figurine of "Fallout's" iconic Pip-Boy and an Indiana Jones idol and ark. (Bethesda and Lucasfilm announced they were working a new Indiana Jones game in January.) In his answers, Howard was thoughtful, descriptive and at times, effusive. But with the space exploration RPG still 18 months away, Howard didn't want to reveal all of the particulars. When asked about a plant growing in the background of a spaceship shown in the trailer, he demurred. "Obviously, today I don't want to spoil too many things."

The massive amount of "things" that are included in the game are stored in an internal Wiki at Bethesda, a library of all things "Starfield" to which many of the employees who work on the project have access. These include histories, backstories, starship architecture, pretty much anything a fan (or an employee) would geek out about.

The initial idea for "Starfield" may well have begun when Howard was a teen trying to make games on his Apple II computer. He got as far as creating characters and a title screen for his own interplanetary game when the computer ran out of memory.

Bethesda has created space-oriented fiction at various times during its existence, Howard recalled. "Believe it or not, Bethesda long ago had the rights to 'Traveler,' when I first started in [19]94. They quickly went away," he said. "There's a game we put out called 'Delta V' that was part of this 'Traveler' game. It ended up not really going anywhere. There was going to be a space game called 'The 10th Planet' in 1997. We actually had the 'Star Trek' rights at one point and made some games [in the 2000s]. I pitched a 'Star Trek' RPG at the time, which obviously we didn't do."

Howard remembered when "Morrowind" was popular and Bethesda was looking at next big things, he really wanted to do "post-apocalyptic, and that's when we were able to acquire 'Fallout' [from Interplay]." A purely science-fiction game like "Starfield" took longer to come about, Howard said, because of the technical resources it demanded.

"We've known for a while that if and when we do something else, it would be science fiction," Howard said.

"Starfield" effectively germinated a few years before the name was trademarked in September 2013. "There were no other names [we considered]," Howard said. "It had to be 'Starfield.'"

Cheng said the studio now has a renewed vitality due to "Starfield." "I love 'Fallout,'" he said. "But after seven years of 'Fallout,' it's a little nice to slip away to be working on something so new and fresh."

As the just-premiered trailer states, the game covers "the beginning of humanity's final journey."

"We struggled at first at finding 'Starfield's' identity," Howard said. "We knew the style of game we wanted. But there's so much science fiction, we didn't have this existing franchise feel. We had to create that from scratch. What do the spaceships look like? What's the tech level? What do people believe? What year is it really set in?"

A detailed timeline was created that included the history of "what happens every decade" and it was decided that the game would take place "300-ish years in the future," Howard said. "And now man is living amongst the stars: what does that mean?"

To help in the journey, there are a variety of robots. While there is nothing like Star Wars's C3PO, Howard said there is one named Vasco (a nod to explorer Vasco da Gama) who is admonished (via a crew member's wall scrawl) in the trailer because the robot forgot to procure a beverage called Tranquilitea. That name is yet another nod to NASA: Tranquility Base was the moon site on which the Apollo 11 astronauts first landed and walked.

A second "Starfield" video, narrated by Howard and premiered on The Washington Post, titled "Into the Starfield: The Journey Begins," features Bethesda's employees toiling away on the new title. While the production promotes the familiar idea of teams happily consumed in their novel work, it's also a showcase for creativity and artistry. In one scene, Mike Butkus, the well-known graphic artist who did posters for films "Ready Player One" and "Django Unchained," carefully airbrushes a character sketch by hand.

"It speaks to some romanticism about how ['Starfield'] feels," Howard said.

It has not been easy making a super expansive game during a pandemic.

"When covid hit, it literally didn't matter where you sat," Cheng said. "We sent everybody home, and we were 450 plus studios [with people working from home], not just four."

The past year-and-a-half was further marred when ZeniMax founder Robert A. Altman suddenly died in February of 2021. Sadness reverberated throughout the company, just like the shockwaves sent by one of Altman's final achievements. While talks had taken place on and off for years, Altman had been instrumental in the sale of ZeniMax and its subsidiaries to Microsoft for $7.5 billion. "He drove the deal," Howard said.

It's still difficult for Howard or Cheng to talk about Altman's passing, and both took a moment to collect their thoughts. After pausing, Howard said, "It's hard to express — I don't think I ever really will in a way people can appreciate — what he meant to everybody. He and I were very close for a long time."

Cheng recalled Altman's guiding presence. "He was a great role model and a great leader," Cheng said. "I was heartbroken that he wasn't there for the culmination [of the Microsoft deal]. He will be missed. He was a great man. I learned a lot from him — just about how to really trust your employees."

Despite the challenges Bethesda has faced — primarily the pandemic, which has delayed numerous highly-anticipated games over the past 15 months — Howard firmly believes "Starfield" will meet its just-announced release date of November 11, 2022.

"We're confident in the date," Howard said. "Otherwise, we wouldn't be announcing it."

What comes next? A companion mini-game like "Fallout Shelter" is "unlikely," according to Howard, but Bethesda is not ruling out a movie or TV series in the future. Bethesda is currently developing a "Fallout" TV show with "Westworld" producers Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy for Amazon Prime Video.

"It's a great world to put a show in," Howard said. "We took a good decade on 'Fallout', looking, listening to lots of takes and pitches. I think it's about finding the right creative team. A lot of people want to do 'The Elder Scrolls' as well, but that's not something we're doing right now."

Exploring various possibilities brings Howard and Cheng back to their upcoming sci-fi RPG.

"This is going to sound cliche, but I mean it," Howard said. "When you look up in the sky, there is this drive to know, what is out there? Are we alone? What are the origins of space and time and all of those things? What role does religion play in some of that as well? So, we do get into some big questions. I think a game like this is a good place to do that.

"There are movies and books that have done it as well, but we haven't seen a game do it in this way. And we'll see how successful we'll be."
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Habbaku on June 14, 2021, 10:57:18 AM
I have nearly zero confidence this will be good. Maybe in 10 years.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: garbon on June 14, 2021, 11:34:58 AM
Quote from: Habbaku on June 14, 2021, 10:57:18 AM
I have nearly zero confidence this will be good. Maybe in 10 years.

It strikes me as not a good thing if the EP is on record as saying it is Skyrim in space.

Not that Skyrim is bad but such a reductive statement is hardly awe inspiring.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Barrister on June 14, 2021, 11:36:22 AM
Quote from: garbon on June 14, 2021, 11:34:58 AM
Quote from: Habbaku on June 14, 2021, 10:57:18 AM
I have nearly zero confidence this will be good. Maybe in 10 years.

It strikes me as not a good thing if the EP is on record as saying it is Skyrim in space.

Not that Skyrim is bad but such a reductive statement is hardly awe inspiring.

Meh - it's the elevator pitch summary of the game.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: garbon on June 14, 2021, 11:39:24 AM
Quote from: Barrister on June 14, 2021, 11:36:22 AM
Quote from: garbon on June 14, 2021, 11:34:58 AM
Quote from: Habbaku on June 14, 2021, 10:57:18 AM
I have nearly zero confidence this will be good. Maybe in 10 years.

It strikes me as not a good thing if the EP is on record as saying it is Skyrim in space.

Not that Skyrim is bad but such a reductive statement is hardly awe inspiring.

Meh - it's the elevator pitch summary of the game.

And again not a particularly inspiring one. At best that's like initial pitch decision talk.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Solmyr on June 14, 2021, 11:51:54 AM
I just hope it's as moddable as Skyrim.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Habbaku on June 14, 2021, 12:31:06 PM
Quote from: garbon on June 14, 2021, 11:39:24 AM
Quote from: Barrister on June 14, 2021, 11:36:22 AM
Quote from: garbon on June 14, 2021, 11:34:58 AM
Quote from: Habbaku on June 14, 2021, 10:57:18 AM
I have nearly zero confidence this will be good. Maybe in 10 years.

It strikes me as not a good thing if the EP is on record as saying it is Skyrim in space.

Not that Skyrim is bad but such a reductive statement is hardly awe inspiring.

Meh - it's the elevator pitch summary of the game.

And again not a particularly inspiring one. At best that's like initial pitch decision talk.

Yeah, exactly. I don't want an elevator pitch as a consumer.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Josquius on June 14, 2021, 01:16:00 PM
Skyrim in space does not appettise me.
Witcher 3 in Space. Now that I'd want to see.
Tall not broad, this is the way games should be.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Monoriu on June 14, 2021, 10:42:57 PM
Excellent news.  Skyrim in space in exactly what I want.  I am going to buy a new video card so that my computer will be Starfield ready by November next year. 
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Eddie Teach on June 15, 2021, 12:16:29 AM
Robert A. Altman, like Michael B. Jordan?  :hmm:
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Caliga on June 15, 2021, 02:40:01 PM
parents are a diary factory
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Jacob on June 15, 2021, 05:06:18 PM
Quote from: Caliga on June 15, 2021, 02:40:01 PM
parents are a diary factory

That would make you milk?
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Eddie Teach on June 15, 2021, 07:39:30 PM
Or Gothic novels.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Caliga on June 17, 2021, 09:09:48 PM
tomato, tomahto.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: The Brain on June 18, 2021, 03:41:15 AM
We broke Cal. :(
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: katmai on June 25, 2021, 02:38:19 AM
Quote from: The Brain on June 18, 2021, 03:41:15 AM
We broke Cal. :(
he was broken long before we came on the scene
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Caliga on June 25, 2021, 12:04:04 PM
My second wife has fixed me.  At least, that's what she tells me. :)
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Eddie Teach on June 25, 2021, 08:03:22 PM
A moment of silence for Cal's missing parts.  :(
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Monoriu on June 28, 2021, 08:36:45 AM
This timetable also means Elder Scroll 6 won't be released until probably 2026. 
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Syt on June 12, 2022, 11:22:26 PM
So, this basically looks like Fallout 4 mixed with No Man's Sky.

Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on June 13, 2022, 05:25:18 AM
Meh.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: celedhring on June 13, 2022, 05:29:32 AM
Looks like Bethesda doing the usual Bethesda thing.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Syt on June 13, 2022, 06:58:54 AM
I'm wary of the "1000 planets, land anywhere" thing. I wonder how much procedural generation is in this. And how many planet are actually worth checking out or are just lifeless rocks of various shades of grey to brown. I also assume that "civilized" planets will be a hub you visit, but without the rest of the world to explore.

The opening it with the shooting was a bt ... weird as gameplay selection. That looked generic as heck shooting. Not a good way to sell me on this. :D
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: garbon on June 13, 2022, 07:04:30 AM
I don't get why they would highlight such a high number of worlds. Clearly many/most have to be procedurally generated which will make them less captivating.

edit: Just saw your latest comment, Syt. :)
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on June 13, 2022, 09:42:26 AM
Quote from: Syt on June 13, 2022, 06:58:54 AMI'm wary of the "1000 planets, land anywhere" thing. I wonder how much procedural generation is in this. And how many planet are actually worth checking out or are just lifeless rocks of various shades of grey to brown. I also assume that "civilized" planets will be a hub you visit, but without the rest of the world to explore.

The opening it with the shooting was a bt ... weird as gameplay selection. That looked generic as heck shooting. Not a good way to sell me on this. :D

Yeah pretty much. I am probably going to check it out no matter what because  it's Bethesda, but it looked like a Mass Effect mod made in the Fallout 4 engine (just better graphics maybe)
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: FunkMonk on June 13, 2022, 11:13:44 AM
I'll play it when it goes on MS Game Pass. Not paying 60 bucks for it.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: CountDeMoney on June 14, 2022, 08:46:49 AM
After reading Kokatu's piece last week on how Fallout 76 turned Bethesda into the Killing Fields, I for one look forward to seeing the bodies pile up in the ZeniMax parking lot.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: viper37 on June 14, 2022, 12:00:56 PM
Quote from: Syt on June 14, 2021, 10:50:45 AM
Quote"It's like 'Skyrim' in space."

That's how Bethesda Game Studios Executive Producer Todd Howard described the upcoming game "Starfield" in an exclusive video interview with The Washington Post. 
It means it is filled with buggy and incomplete quests, but highly moddable so unpaid volunteers can finish the work of Bethesde as it runs out of money to complete it before it releases some special edition?

Or does he mean you randomly roam everywhere on the map doing some stuff that does not seem to impact what you believe is the true finale of the game, the civil war between two similar factions, but instead simply prepares for the final fight with some flying beasts?

Hmm.  Not sure I'm buying this on release.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Syt on June 15, 2022, 08:42:03 AM
Quote from: Syt on June 13, 2022, 06:58:54 AMI'm wary of the "1000 planets, land anywhere" thing. I wonder how much procedural generation is in this. And how many planet are actually worth checking out or are just lifeless rocks of various shades of grey to brown.

RPS has a similar take. :D

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/bethesda-could-have-shown-us-anything-with-starfield-and-they-chose-grey-rocks-again

Quote[...]

Now, keep in mind that this game is set in outer space, the vast expanse and wonders of which we cannot ken. You could do any cool, awe-inspiring thing you want with space. Crystal waterfalls that flow backwards into the sky. Aurora borealis-like lights but so low down they whip along at ground level. Deserts of hot-pink dust sprouting deep blue rock spires. Destiny 2 has some cool planets, for example. Imagine my confusion, then, when the footage of Bethesda's brand new IP made it look like they've accidentally done Fallout or Elder Scrolls again.

[...]

At the end of the video Howard says that you can land on and explore the planets in Starfield wherever on the surface you want, and that there are over a thousand of them. In a brief montage of other planet vistas there were some more interesting ones - some different coloured rocks, some big crystals, a few palm trees. It's not like each one of those thousand planets is going to be meticulously authored by a team - at least, I hope they're not.

So being honest, watching that video, and listening to the dark voice of experience that lurks in your brain... How many of those 1000 planets do you reckon are mostly grey rocks?
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Solmyr on June 15, 2022, 09:17:39 AM
Gopher talked about the gameplay reveal too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upE6O70ehOo
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Syt on June 15, 2022, 09:29:06 AM
PC Gamer's reaction in their "Biggest Disappointments of E3" was that it's "No Man's Sky, but ugly." Hard to argue with that. When I saw the bit where the demo player was mining ore with a laser early on, I was immediately reminded of that game and kept seeing parallels after my mind was primed accordingly. :P
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Syt on August 31, 2023, 12:15:46 PM
After giving BG3 97% (the highest score in their magazine's history), PC Gamer give Starfield 75%:

https://www.pcgamer.com/starfield-review/

QuoteIt's Bethesda's biggest RPG by far, but nowhere near its best.

[...]

What's really missing in Starfield's planetary exploration is what happens in other Bethesda RPGs: You head out toward your destination and get completely distracted along the way: meeting an NPC, hearing a nearby dispute, stumbling onto a new quest, and never quite getting the place you intended to without finding in a half-dozen new things to add to your to-do list. You get some of that in Starfield's cities, and occasionally you'll pick up a signal or be hailed by another ship when entering the orbit of a planet, but not while exploring the surface of a planet itself.

One saving grace to the act of cutsceneing across the galaxy is that Starfield's spaceships are cool, stylish inside and out, and often surprisingly huge. I only wish I had more reason to spend real time inside my ship. When crossing the galaxy just takes a few clicks of a mouse, it doesn't make sense to hang out in my ship's interior, with all its compartments and modules and ladders (yes, Bethesda finally got ladders working).

The only really good use of my ship—and one of the best parts of Starfield altogether—is disabling an enemy ship in orbit without destroying it completely, and then boarding it. Then you get to stalk through the enemy ship, compartment by compartment, level by level, engaging in close-quarters combat with scores of enemies and sometimes even automated defenses. It's a rush, with each ship feeling like a deadly, tightly-designed maze, with the bonus being that if you like the ship you've raided you can add it to your fleet.

[...]

After all the hype and hope and anticipation, I'm disappointed to say I don't love Starfield the way I love other Bethesda RPGs. It's similar in a lot of ways, but Starfield never feels as instantly engrossing and transporting as Oblivion or Skyrim or as wild and weird as the Fallout games.

It comes close on occasion: one settlement on a far-flung planet is right up there with the most entertaining Vault-Tec experiments of all time. But more often the promising premises I found in remote bases or mysterious space stations tended to fizzle out. Starfield's alien bugs, even the truly monstrous ones, don't hold a candle to Skyrim's menagerie of beasts, faction quests never match the intrigue and brilliance of Oblivion's guild quests, and though Starfield's "spacers" and Fallout's raiders probably share the same basic code (attack player on sight) they just don't have as much personality.

So, I don't love Starfield, but I'm happy to say that I do like it. Those first 90 hours I played were far from perfect, but I've got plenty of reasons to play 90 more.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: garbon on August 31, 2023, 12:17:13 PM
If modders can go wild...
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: FunkMonk on August 31, 2023, 03:47:37 PM

Seems like Bethesda has actually nailed it. I'm surprised.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Caliga on August 31, 2023, 04:10:44 PM
I'll definitely get it eventually, but will have to be after I beat BG3.  Plus by then Bethesda will have fixed many of the bugs.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Grey Fox on August 31, 2023, 09:07:57 PM
I think in the end I might play it. Probably when I buy a Series X for Christmas.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Josquius on September 01, 2023, 01:50:56 AM
I've got a big list of RPGs before I get onto this.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 01, 2023, 06:00:47 PM
Expanded/rebuilt the starting ship "slightly". It's a hoot that you can then walk inside it.

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1017914032159739934/1147300202307387402/image.png)

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1017914032159739934/1147299680808611954/image.png)

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1017914032159739934/1147299743630889030/image.png)
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Solmyr on September 02, 2023, 03:07:07 AM
I am: enjoying this game and played for many hours yesterday. That's the main criteria for it being good. :D
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 02, 2023, 05:23:45 AM
Ok so pro tip do not run too recklessly ahead in the main storyline, without spoilers I am in a situation at level 10 where level 30-ish nemesis people can randomly find me on ground or in space and make short work of me.

Otherwise I am enjoying it the more I play it. The ship upgrade above took all my savings so I have started making a living according to my character's background: exploring. Doing a random mission of surveying Tau Ceti II for decent credits.

Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 02, 2023, 07:16:26 AM
It's one of those games where you can walk (or fast travel) right past a lot of the content. Like in the first capital city you visit, I saw "The Well" referenced, I thought it was referring to this kind of public square with a pond with like a couple of shops. Turns out no it's the subterranean level of the city with a whole bunch of locations. Neat.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 03, 2023, 03:27:20 AM
So I was Googling a quest I think it might be bugged and two Youtube reviews came up on the results right on top of each other.

One was titled: "Starfield's Bethesda's BEST game"
The other: "This game is a DISASTER"

 :lol:

I am leaning much much more toward the first one, however it cannot be the best Bethesda game because it's not as revolutionary as some previous titles.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: FunkMonk on September 03, 2023, 08:34:02 PM
The thing I really like about Bethesda games is the sense of wonder and discovery you get from just walking around. What could be over the next hill? But from what I'm seeing in reviews and videos, that isn't really here in Starfield? Space travel is basically loading screens and planetary exploration is severely constrained by procedural generation of a 1000 planets.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 04, 2023, 02:56:50 AM
Quote from: FunkMonk on September 03, 2023, 08:34:02 PMThe thing I really like about Bethesda games is the sense of wonder and discovery you get from just walking around. What could be over the next hill? But from what I'm seeing in reviews and videos, that isn't really here in Starfield? Space travel is basically loading screens and planetary exploration is severely constrained by procedural generation of a 1000 planets.

To some degree it is a problem yes, but I think most of it comes from the setting. The cities of the game seem massive, wherever you go in space you see stuff you could check out, planets have different biomes etc. But of course you cannot just look up to the sky on Planet 1 and see an interesting landmark on Planet 2, 3, 4, 5 and 12, the way you could see landmarks in the background in Skyrim.

Between quests I am making money surveying planets, which to me is fun (but I enjoyed that in Elite as well where planets are considerably more dull). These survey missions have kept me close to the starting systems and wherever I land (you click anywhere on a planet it tells you the biome and if you land it generates a pretty large area (I don't think I've gotten close to the edge of any of them) there is almost always some mob-populated landmark like an abandoned factory and such. I do wonder if these go away when I land on a planet further away from settled space. By the way they did try to explain these lore-wise, the galaxy is just after a long war that ended in a draw and devastated both sides.

Once you accept/get used to the fact that the game is not hiding its loading screens from you, it's fine. As I said I am enjoying both the random-generated content and the prepared one as well - just finished a questline where I was a double agent between the UC navy and the pirate faction. Fun.

One bigger problem I think is that the start of the game really doesn't try to walk you through the game in a way to help realise the size of it and the options available. Instead the starting couple of missions of the main quest line involve you zipping across systems so the first impression you are getting is fast-travel loading screens every 3 minutes. Quite a misrepresentation of how the rest of the game looks. I think what they wanted you to do is focus on these Activities that keep popping up, sort of side-missions about mundane stuff like craft an item etc but these are easy to ignore.

As I mentioned I was very lukewarm on it for the first few hours and it was because of the above I think. Once the scope (size of and options available in the sandbox, really) became apparent it really clicked.

BTW after having a better understanding of what I want in my ship and which modules have those, I have managed to streamline a whole deck off of the 3-deck setup of the Frontier B. Behold, the Frontier C:

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1017914032159739934/1148020310919106580/Photo_2023-09-03-230850.png)
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 04, 2023, 03:54:42 AM
Pretty good guide on ships which will save you fron having to figure out a whole bunch of stuff on your own that I had to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkwN3PtOTiE
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 04, 2023, 08:07:05 AM
Trying a "no filters" mod, the graphics are more colourful but also somehow looking more, I don't know, dated? Will see if I keep it.

Here are a couple of examples, I am surveying Eta Cassiopeia I at the moment, quite a lush planet with much more aggressive animals than in the more harsh planets I visited before. I wonder if that comes just from the fact there are more species here.

The pics are from the Plateau biome of the planet, have already been to a rainforest and a corni.. regular forest/savannah area, need to travel around a bit to catch all them species. You won't be able to see but there's a couple of weird ones hiding among the rocks (helped by being rock-coloured) on the left edge of the first picture.

The second picture shows a random landmark plucked down by the game for me to go and loot / kill baddies at if I am so inclined.

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/693829119661572150/1148241548958515251/Photo_2023-09-04-140043.png)

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/693829119661572150/1148241548325158992/Photo_2023-09-04-140053.png)

Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 04, 2023, 08:52:01 AM
Sorry for the screenshot spam but I am quite taken by this random planet sent to by a randomly generated mission-board mission.

Here I left the scan-UI on to show that's not just an inaccessible background, there's a point of interest at the far edge of my view distance (and the icon shows it to be 3rd planet unique POI type that I must scan). Ocean is slightly visible on the left:

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/693829119661572150/1148252634256523314/image.png)

And that was already taken about 500ms from the ship, from where the view was like this:

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/693829119661572150/1148253352241680415/Photo_2023-09-04-143343.png)

It really has a Death Planet thing going on though with big predators with a lot of armour soaking up my bullets. Previous planets were definitely much more laid back.

EDIT: same planet, different zone:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/693829119661572150/1148257091782447195/Photo_2023-09-04-150319.png)
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: celedhring on September 04, 2023, 10:05:01 AM
Tamas talking so much about his ship makes the game look like The Sims for geeks  :P
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Crazy_Ivan80 on September 04, 2023, 11:52:44 AM
Quote from: celedhring on September 04, 2023, 10:05:01 AMTamas talking so much about his ship makes the game look like The Sims for geeks  :P

Well, people have been building ships from other franchises already...
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Syt on September 04, 2023, 03:02:46 PM
How's performance for you, Tamas? Hearing some mixed stuff in that regard on PC.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 04, 2023, 04:00:36 PM
Quote from: Syt on September 04, 2023, 03:02:46 PMHow's performance for you, Tamas? Hearing some mixed stuff in that regard on PC.


Graphics-wise its acceptable.

I have a 10600K CPU with Geforce 1660 Super (or something) and 24GB RAM, with the game installed on my m.2 SSD. Using 1080p resolution (I think, that's my screen's resolution and the game I think uses the screen's resolution, it doesn't really tell you), I switched down from Ultra to High as it was sometimes slowing down. BUT I did deactivate dynamic resolution changes to avoid it dumbing down graphics. It is working perfectly fine now, except there was one quite big space battle in some sort of a nebula which slowed down the frame rate.

Overall I am content with the performance but my rig can definitely run prettier things without issues, so I am hoping for some optimisation down the line.

In terms of loading times and such, -thanks to the SSD I suspect- it's pretty great. New zones load very fast.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: FunkMonk on September 05, 2023, 09:00:29 AM
Thanks Tamas. That looks pretty cool, actually. Keep posting screenshots  :ccr
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Syt on September 05, 2023, 09:06:24 AM
Quote from: Tamas on September 04, 2023, 04:00:36 PM
Quote from: Syt on September 04, 2023, 03:02:46 PMHow's performance for you, Tamas? Hearing some mixed stuff in that regard on PC.


Graphics-wise its acceptable.

I have a 10600K CPU with Geforce 1660 Super (or something) and 24GB RAM, with the game installed on my m.2 SSD. Using 1080p resolution (I think, that's my screen's resolution and the game I think uses the screen's resolution, it doesn't really tell you), I switched down from Ultra to High as it was sometimes slowing down. BUT I did deactivate dynamic resolution changes to avoid it dumbing down graphics. It is working perfectly fine now, except there was one quite big space battle in some sort of a nebula which slowed down the frame rate.

Overall I am content with the performance but my rig can definitely run prettier things without issues, so I am hoping for some optimisation down the line.

In terms of loading times and such, -thanks to the SSD I suspect- it's pretty great. New zones load very fast.

 :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 05, 2023, 11:10:46 AM
Here it is one to show where I am right now. :) Not very dramatic since its a bit of an extreme moon with the fog I believe trying to show the snowstorm. The faint glow in the back is the red gas giant this moon orbits.

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/693829119661572150/1148650750193438782/Photo_2023-09-05-170637.png)


What I am hiding is a facility to the west down in the valley. I kinda' wish there were fewer POIs generated when you land at a random spot. I mean, as I mentioned they tried to explain them lore-wise, and the "world" is called Settled Space, but it just feels a bit too much. Luckily, of course you are free to ignore them and pretend they are not there. I guess its nice that whenever I want to break up exploring with some shooting there are spots readily available to do that at.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 05, 2023, 01:26:30 PM
I've decided to fully survey the system I am in see if it gives any substantial bonus/rewards (there's a main story NPC to whom you can sell survey data to). Perhaps I should have chosen a smaller system. :P

This was taken on an ice moon of a gas giant:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/693829119661572150/1148685203036967054/Photo_2023-09-05-192436.png)
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 06, 2023, 03:16:44 PM
BEHOLD, the Frontier D, now with B class engines and weapons plus an excellent shield generator I unlocked via a mission:

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/693829119661572150/1149075489646981120/Photo_2023-09-06-211518.png)
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: HVC on September 06, 2023, 03:28:57 PM
Fancy space tardigrade you have there :P
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 06, 2023, 05:46:38 PM
Lol yeah not a very stylish design, but it's mine.  :P

I am closing in on the finale of the main story line so reserving a complete redesign for new game plus or my next character.

By the way I am far enough in the story to see how new game plus is going to be weaved into it, and it's quite neat, but won't spoil it.

Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: grumbler on September 06, 2023, 06:04:17 PM
Quote from: Tamas on September 06, 2023, 03:16:44 PMBEHOLD, the Frontier D, now with B class engines and weapons plus an excellent shield generator I unlocked via a mission:

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/693829119661572150/1149075489646981120/Photo_2023-09-06-211518.png)

No scribes allowed!
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 07, 2023, 07:45:49 AM
So, I ran out of cargo space and instead of selling resources I may very well never use, I constructed a bigger ship. I flew to Titan to the HQ of the company making the components I have been using to get access to a larger selection of modules.

Might not keep it as it is considerably less maneuverable than the previous version. Also it was a major pain to have semi-acceptable doorways generated for this new single-deck approach. Still, BEHOLD the Frontier E, the Frog:

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/693829119661572150/1149323722184986735/Photo_2023-09-07-133953.png)

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/693829119661572150/1149323723036426280/Photo_2023-09-07-134039.png)

Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 08, 2023, 07:59:55 AM
It's a minor point but I was happy to see that when I travelled near what I think was the edge of the gameworld (systems with 50-60 level markings, went there just to see how they are), far from the well-populated systems, the random generated landing zones had FAR fewer civilised POIs put down. There were a couple of planets where I couldn't find any despite landing in different biomes, and the others had very scattered ones. Neat.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 08, 2023, 11:39:57 AM
New character, going for a bounty hunter-ish play with him. New ship designed from scratch basically:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/693829119661572150/1149745215603753090/Photo_2023-09-08-173613.png)


Ship customisation aside, the game is great IMHO. Huge amount of custom locations surrounded by insane amount of decent generated content. It'd be better if it wasn't so obviously an update of FO4/Skyrim (like if we didn't have to walk everywhere on ground) but if you managed to stomach the glitches and annoyances of Skyrim and liked it, you should definitely give this one a try.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: grumbler on September 08, 2023, 03:10:08 PM
I'm about 4 hours in and my biggest complaint so far is that the game leans way too heavily on gunfights to generate gameplay.  Combat is not a plus feature of this title and I'd really prefer much less combat and more story.

It's a good game but I'm not yet convinced that it's great.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 09, 2023, 07:37:23 AM
Quote from: grumbler on September 08, 2023, 03:10:08 PMI'm about 4 hours in and my biggest complaint so far is that the game leans way too heavily on gunfights to generate gameplay.  Combat is not a plus feature of this title and I'd really prefer much less combat and more story.

It's a good game but I'm not yet convinced that it's great.

Yeah no arguments there although I guess not that different from previous games, just more apparent in this one due to the setting (then again as I mentioned they tried to establish lore reasons for the violence and abundant rogue elements etc).

Meanwhile, some guy at Reddit managed to stumble upon a solar eclipse:

(https://i.redd.it/bih6a8oni5nb1.jpg)
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: grumbler on September 09, 2023, 10:58:31 AM
For those interested, the latest version of Mod Organizer supports Starfield, and the SFSE has been released.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 09, 2023, 11:07:50 AM
I: cannot wait for a Star Wars mod.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: grumbler on September 09, 2023, 01:52:00 PM
I'm indifferent to a Star Wars mod, but think that this would be a great system for a Firefly mod.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Jacob on September 09, 2023, 01:55:20 PM
I'm pretty sure I'll play this game eventually, but I'm going to wait until the mod-scene is strong :)
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: grumbler on September 09, 2023, 08:42:43 PM
Quote from: Jacob on September 09, 2023, 01:55:20 PMI'm pretty sure I'll play this game eventually, but I'm going to wait until the mod-scene is strong :)

Probably not a bad idea.  The clothes and NPCs are pretty hideous looking, though not as hideous as the Oblivion ones.

Mod tools are coming and the aesthetics of the game will improve vastly.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Caliga on September 12, 2023, 04:10:09 PM
Quote from: grumbler on September 09, 2023, 01:52:00 PMI'm indifferent to a Star Wars mod, but think that this would be a great system for a Firefly mod.
:cheers:  :mmm:
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: FunkMonk on September 14, 2023, 07:48:35 AM
I've been playing this over xCloud and now GeforceNow on my Steam Deck and it looks and plays wonderfully.

The gameplay itself is actually pretty compelling. Just about 12 or 13 hours in. I think the sci-fi setting for Bethesda games scratches an itch for me that nothing else has yet. 

I'll probably keep playing until my month sub to Microsoft Game Pass ends and then I'll buy it on Steam later this year on sale so I can restart the game properly with mods.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Jacob on September 14, 2023, 02:39:15 PM
So how does that work? The steam deck is not powerful enough to run it, I suppose... so you pay a subscription to xCloud or GeforceNow (how much is that) and stream it?

Could you use mods?

I know Starfield mods are in their infancy yet, but still. A lot of my PC gaming is modded, but I continue being tempted to buy a Steam deck...
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: FunkMonk on September 14, 2023, 04:38:40 PM
Quote from: Jacob on September 14, 2023, 02:39:15 PMSo how does that work? The steam deck is not powerful enough to run it, I suppose... so you pay a subscription to xCloud or GeforceNow (how much is that) and stream it?

Could you use mods?

I know Starfield mods are in their infancy yet, but still. A lot of my PC gaming is modded, but I continue being tempted to buy a Steam deck...

I bought Game Pass for a month and I have an existing GeForce Now founder's subscription ($5 a month) that I use for random games, very useful for Steam Deck. And apparently now you can play Game Pass games over GeForce Now.

Unsure over mods but I don't think you can use them with the Game Pass (xCloud) version. I intend to buy the Steam version of the game on sale later in the year of next year and use all the mods then.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 14, 2023, 05:04:27 PM
I have been using a grephics and a ui mód with the game pass version. Mod files go to Documents so game pass isn't a barrier.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Jacob on September 14, 2023, 06:22:08 PM
That's cool.

Personally I'm not going to use game pass, I'm more curious about using mods and getting good performance on the Steam Deck.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: The Minsky Moment on September 15, 2023, 08:54:40 AM
I tried out geforcenow and had good experiences with it. Great service for the games it supports. But I don't think it supports big mod list games - i.e. the base game works but you can't permanently install mods.  I thought gamepass had the same issue for streaming (as opposed to installs which use your machine specs to run).     I've gone back to using Shadow which is hideously expensive (and a bit slower than the top geforce tier) but works on lots of platforms including a chrome brower, and does save some money in never having to upgrade my laptop specs.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: grumbler on September 16, 2023, 06:49:48 PM
I do have to say, now that I've played a bit more (my toon is level 12 now) that the quests in this game are much better, and the NPCs much more interesting and deep, than anything I've played to date. 

Maybe it is verging on great in my estimation.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Tamas on September 17, 2023, 02:42:46 AM
My favourute one I think have been the research station phasing back and forth between two alternative realities.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: celedhring on September 17, 2023, 04:38:50 AM
Between this and BG3 I wish I had time for games right now :(
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Josquius on September 17, 2023, 02:31:25 PM
How performance for people?
I heard a lot of stuff how it was specially made for one of the big two graphics cards and would be crap on the other.

QuoteI tried out geforcenow and had good experiences with it. Great service for the games it supports. But I don't think it supports big mod list games - i.e. the base game works but you can't permanently install mods.  I thought gamepass had the same issue for streaming (as opposed to installs which use your machine specs to run).     I've gone back to using Shadow which is hideously expensive (and a bit slower than the top geforce tier) but works on lots of platforms including a chrome brower, and does save some money in never having to upgrade my laptop specs.
Never subscribed but I've tried geforce now for streaming my games between my PC and android box.
It works better than steam link but still not perfect.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Solmyr on September 18, 2023, 03:26:13 AM
Quote from: Josquius on September 17, 2023, 02:31:25 PMHow performance for people?
I heard a lot of stuff how it was specially made for one of the big two graphics cards and would be crap on the other.

Works totally fine on max settings on my 3060Ti.
Title: Re: Starfield from Bethesda - coming 11/11/22
Post by: Syt on September 27, 2023, 12:36:37 AM
Fired this up yesterday (after a party wipe in BG3 - fuck phase spiders :D ) and played to the point where you are to board the starship (i.e. half an hour or so?).

Was surprised that the game recommended to run at max detail at 2160p on "only" a 3080 nVidia card (thought it would require a 40xx card), and it runs quite well. But man, that's both a very concise intro so far and simultaneously the most "down to Earth" (as a lowly miner, at least not a prisoner this time) but still rushed "you're special!!" intro of any Bethesday game I've played, I think. :D

Confused by the character creator. Ridiculously detailed face modeling but very basic body morphing.

(BG3 was also weird - I can pick between several types of vagina or penis for my character, but only 4 different body models ... it doesn't have to go as detailed as some Skyrim mods that let you craft the exact desired shape of your labia/glans/anus, but there must be some middle ground somewhere? :lol: )