Forum > Gaming Discussion > The Starfield thread of boldly hitting fast travel like no one has before.
The Starfield thread of boldly hitting fast travel like no one has before.
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Mon, 04 Sep 2023 06:45:30
+2

Starfield is out and the reviews aren't exactly GOTY level. So why is the most bug free Bethesda game getting lower than usual Bethesda game score, well it seems that sense of exploration isn't working so well in space.

I got early access so only played a few hours, very early impressions but I got a sense of how the game works. Unless I'm missing something there is a key aspect of all Bethesda games missing in Starfield, the idea of picking a direction and just walking through a world and having events unfold. Starfield created land spaces that are large but kind of pre generated with points of interests that are marked on the map. This kind of square shaped area is all you can explore when you land a ship somewhere, normally a preset point of interest on a planet. So you click on a icon, you auto land the ship, no in planet flying of your ship like NMS. You step out of your ship and you have usually an ugly barren section of a planet to explore. There is a local map which is just the square area and again everything is marked, so you can walk your ass to that mark and discover that it's a BIG ROCK (yes one of the POI for me was a rock I could scan). I found a cave with practically nothing inside. I found a base with generic pirates. While walking there was nothing, just rocks and the occasional bug creature. I really hope other planets are way more interesting. But there is no reason to pick a direction and go cause the planet is empty and you will hit an invisible wall.

So when finished you can fast travel to your ship, press lift off which sends you to space which is just a small area of space near the planet you are at. You can fly toward the planet, you land by clicking it on a menu. If I want to jump to another planet I enter the map and hit fast travel to that planet. Eventually as you unlock fast travels you can bypass the ship and just fast travel instantly from one planet to another. The ease of use is great but where is the sense of exploring. I don't know maybe it's there later.

I did explore the main major city. This was pure Bethesda RPG with loads of NPCs, I had quests up the ass. Some cool things I found that are totally optional. I got arrested for stealing and was whisked away to a huge capital ship and given a choice to join the army as a spy and infiltrate the crimson fleet of space pirates or go to jail. So now I'm a spy and I have to act like a pirate but not kill people as I'm an informant. There is just cool stories like this happening so it's still got the story part down.

Combat is very fast and fluid, by far the best feeling shooting Bethesda ever did. But as of now it's very basic guns and really feels like any other shooter. At least fallout had VATS to feel unique. I'm sure it gets better. Space combat seems fun, nothing too complicated.

So I heard it starts off slow, we shall see if it hits me like pats BGS games have.

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Mon, 04 Sep 2023 07:14:41
+1

Are there a lot of bugs?

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Mon, 04 Sep 2023 08:15:55
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Reportedly less than the usual for a Bethesda games. No game breaking ones at least,

My interest is piqued definately. Issue is if I get it on PC, I won't get around to playing it.

Is it on Steamdeck? (That I can't buy in Australia). Happy

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Mon, 04 Sep 2023 10:56:44
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I read the DF tech review.  I guess having this huge space game where space itself is non existent doesn't really cut it in 2023 anymore.  I'd probably prefer if it was just one big planet where I could walk from one location to the next then.  But hey, I ain't complainin', cuz I won't be playin'.  I don't have anything that'll run it and am swamped in games I've yet to play anyway.

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Mon, 04 Sep 2023 17:16:55
+1
travo said:

Are there a lot of bugs?

I have not encountered one.

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Mon, 04 Sep 2023 17:29:52
+1

I’m pretty hyped to start playing this when it officially launches on Wednesday.

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Mon, 04 Sep 2023 17:40:00
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Archangel3371 said:

I’m pretty hyped to start playing this when it officially launches on Wednesday.

I'll probably wait until next month then resubscribe to Game Pass.

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Tue, 05 Sep 2023 03:30:40
+1

The fast travel doesn't sound any different to Oblivion.

Edited: Tue, 05 Sep 2023 04:44:17

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Wed, 06 Sep 2023 12:22:34
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I thought it was boring and generic at first, but I think I just wasn't in the right mood. Had a break and returned to it, which improved things. Now I'm just helping people around the city. I hope I'll be able to go to Earth.


By Miu Watanabe.

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Wed, 06 Sep 2023 12:53:54
As this is a game I too will never play, I do look forward to reading updates from those of you who do play it. Sounds very interesting, but I just don't quite have it in me to play these massive exploration games. Hell, I think that's why I still haven't shown much interest in tears of the kingdom.
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Wed, 06 Sep 2023 17:58:53

Played for a few hours last night and am enjoying my time with it so far. Game world and environments look quite good. Characters are of varying quality. Main characters look ok, lesser characters not so much. To be fair this is just par for the course with big open world games like this with tons of characters milling about. Gunplay feels quite solid.

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Fri, 08 Sep 2023 06:39:06

I haven't put that much time into it but so far... well I heard it starts slow. It's just so repetitive with the combat. Every place I go there are pirates, just random enemies in space suits shooting at me. It doesn't matter if I land on mars, on a moon, on some deserted spacecraft, I will run into pirates. Same enemies and over and over and over and over. The level design isn't that great in these I guess generic bases. Exploration seems bad so far.

The missions and amount of places to visit and people to meet is impressive. I need to get more focused on the main quest as I'm sure more gameplay systems would open up. I really miss that sense of just picking a direction and going and having random amazing things happen.

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Sat, 09 Sep 2023 10:46:18

I've been spending most of my time in cities and currently going through gang members with a sword. It feels a lot like Cyberpunk 2077, as fighting gangs with a sword amidst neon lighting was a frequent occurrence.


By Miu Watanabe.

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Thu, 14 Sep 2023 05:05:19
+3

Ok, well I can say this isn't the space game of my dreams and that's ok. I think I can say this might be my least liked Bethesda RPG, now I generally really love those games so this game is still really good but it's a different lower tier. When I'm questing (which is most of what I do now) the game is still a load of fun. There are interesting scenarios that play out, fun locations to discover, the level of detail in the world is stunning. That part still has all the great Bethesda stuff BUT past Bethesda games had all that tied together with a remarkable open world that allowed full player freedom to explore. The world exploration was the base that held the game together and this game feels like that base is all messed up.

I feel like something happened in development and they had this better idea for a space exploring game, probably with more survival elements as there are some really odd status effects and properties on planets that seem totally pointless now but probably had a point in some stage of development. Seems like the questing part worked well and at some point they were like "ok let's just focus on the quests and narratives, we can put fast travel everywhere to get players to this content quicker and call it a day". When I decide to explore a solar system and land my ship on a planet with no set icons, it's done by a menu, you click where you want to land, then the game generates a random landscape and it's the same shit over and over again. It's probably a bland looking place, if it supports life you will have like 5 random plants and 6 random aliens to scan. It will have some trees and rocks and you just walk around scanning shit for no real reason. You might see a point of interest but it's either a base with pirates or some rock formation to scan. You won't stumble onto a new location or a big quest line exploring, it's not happening.

And then do you want to explore "space", space is just the area around each planet. yeah you might warp into a space battle and fight off some pirates, or have bounty hunters appear and chase you but that's about it. Every space station or ship that's a point of interest is marked on the map already. It's a game of clicking on marks and traveling to it, then it becomes the standard walking around talking to people bethesda game. But I loved picking a direction in a world and exploring. Ohh what's that in the distance and boom now I discover a whole new place. That magic is gone. This is Bethesda's biggest game ever and it feels like their smallest.

Then there is the combat which is mixed. Oh one hand it plays great, feeling wise by far the most responsive Bethesda game ever. It could be a quality shooter except quality shooters have good level design, pacing, and ENEMY VARIETY. How does a game about a galaxy have just the same space pirates everywhere. Ok there are different factions, so they wear different armor, big whoop, it's all the same shit. Every fight is the same and I rarely see a challenge. The best battles involve some alien monsters, one is like this games deathclaw, that's cool, it needs a lot more of that. Fallout had the zombie people, the mutant overs, guys in mech suits, crazy giant mutant animals, how does that game have so much better enemy variety. also it helps when the combat system tries something unique, VATS isn't the greatest thing but it's a FO thing unique to FO, Starfield feels like any generic shooter with a jet pack.

There is a lot to pick apart with this game. Spaceship design has its whole set of issues too, especially switching between them could result in crew members auto being fired cause they don't fit, you can't tell a crew or have cargo stay on one ship when you switch to another. I have hardly dabbled in base building but that's explained very poorly. And why should I build a base, to make money, ok to do what? Sure I can build a huge shipping empire and make loads of money and no one will care or react to that. I now have more money to buy a fleet of ships... where switching between them is fucked!  I can't build a company, I can't become a famous bounty hunter, nothing you do impacts the story outside the scripted story choices in the quests.

so I just quest and questing is GREAT! Again I have visited some awesome locations. I met really cool characters. I love the history and backstory to this games universe. It's grade A Bethesda storytelling, the rest seems like a bad first attempt at a space game that somewhere along the development cycle got simplified.

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Thu, 12 Oct 2023 09:50:31

Still going through the motions. Major quest lines are fun in the same way faction quest lines were fun in past Bethesda games. It is what it is, still engrossing, still has enjoyable storylines but man is the core gameplay dated at this point. I don't think I'll finish it before spider man hits.

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Thu, 12 Oct 2023 13:06:49

Going through the motions? I started yesterday and felt like that, sort of like I've seen all of this already. Thats not necessarily a bad thing, just don't expect anything revolutionary. It feels like Mass Effect with Elder Scrolls type combat. I got a laugh at how quickly I got on a ship. Barret was like "Here, take my ship and have fun. I don't give a shit."

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Fri, 13 Oct 2023 02:56:45
travo said:

Going through the motions? I started yesterday and felt like that, sort of like I've seen all of this already. Thats not necessarily a bad thing, just don't expect anything revolutionary. It feels like Mass Effect with Elder Scrolls type combat. I got a laugh at how quickly I got on a ship. Barret was like "Here, take my ship and have fun. I don't give a shit."

This game could have been a big evolution for Bethesda RPGs, a big step to a new kind of game. Instead it feels like their most formulaic with some half assed new gameplay mechanics on top. It still has the quality Bethesda formula in there, it's enjoy to play for hours but it isn't ambitious like I thought it would be.

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