How Cyberpunk Humbles Starfield (Starfield Review)

hey everyone dorm here with a Starfield video a review of sworts I want to preface this video by saying that Starfield for me has been a very enjoyable experience and as a massive Skyrim Fanboy the game lived up to my expectations mostly it has repeatedly put a smile on my face I've enjoyed pretty much everything about it despite some obvious and expected flaws I modded the heck out of it pretty much from the Geto and I could make a video singing starfields praises and I would have if I made this video at launch but I won't because it's not made at launch and I don't feel as ecstatic about the game anymore instead I thought it might be more interesting to see how my opinion shifted over time as I was more enthusiastic about the game when it launched than I am now something you see happen across the board it seems people are more critical of Starfield a few months after launch that's not something you typically see if anything reviews TS to get better as time moves on so what happened I think you can view Starfield from two different angles one approach is looking at the vanilla game and criticize Bethesda for that vanilla game you will notice that starfields characters look off the UI is clunky and unresponsive enemies can be bullet spongy there's a lot of copy pasting going on in the universe enemy AI is just plain bad unintuitive ship building incredibly slow air locks to name a few things you could criticize the other approach is to see Starfield as a game that comes with a massive customization toolbox named modding which allows you to tweak and often fix the vanilla game to your heart's content creating a personalized experience tailored to your own preferences those foggy eyes of NPCs are brightened up with the eyes of beauty star UI and responsive UI mods are game changers enemies health and XP gains can be altered at will and even entire texture packs are already available although I feel the vanilla game at times looks astonishing I am of the opinion that the vanilla game offers plenty of value for the asking price but the game truly comes to life with mods the difference is rather massive and not modding Starfield on PC is really missing out that's both a pro and a con a pro because you can keep altering and improving the game for eternity pretty much which is what happened with Sky a con because you're kind of forced into using mods to have that amazing experience with the game all of the gam playay footage you see is fairly heavily modded because I would never play a Bethesda game without mods it's like having pie without whipped cream why would you ever do that we should also realize and acknowledge there are aspects of the game that cannot be fixed by mods probably not even when the creation kit is ready next year for example relation progression with your companions like forming a loving relationship with them it is possible and I've been romantically involved with Andrea in my current playthrough but the way the Romancing options are presented is very artificial companions also demand to talk to you at the weirdest times for example during a battle in the final mission of affection there's a lot of that going around and besth the characters have always been written like this it has a certain charm I suppose but it doesn't feel natural at all the outdated facial expressions aren't helping either and the dated creation engine really starts to fall apart in that regard something else modding isn't likely to fix are the loading screens holy moly while I don't mind that in most games I do mind it a lot in a game like Starfield loading screens literally pull you out of the world and in a game where World building and experiencing that universe is so vital to the enjoyment of the game although those loading screens are a pretty bad deal every elevator is a loading screen every planet Landing a loading screen every new area in a facility loading screen every shop in neon City loading screens it's pretty nuts games like cyberpunk understand it's better to have you sit in an elevator for 8 seconds and watch the city as you go up or down or make a phone call while you're waiting because of that immersion no man's Sky also takes a very different approach here allowing you to land and travel seamlessly Across the Universe somehow Bethesda couldn't manage to do something similar and it's a real shame another thing I'm not a fan of that modding likely won't fix anytime soon because this is a fundamental design thing is the disjointed world because nothing is related you can't land on a planet from space because loading screens the star map gives the impression that a star system is actually a star system but in game it's non-existent these planets may as well be randomly generated from a single UI and your experience wouldn't be all that different because you don't travel away from one planet and move towards another like you can in no man's Sky no you see an animation loading screen and then the next planet is right in front of you I don't feel like I'm traveling space at all there is the illusion of a universe but there're just a bunch of disjointed planets and star systems that there are no way connected or related to each other the immersion Bethesda is so famous for doesn't really manifest itself in Starfield some might argue that Skyrim wasn't all that different but I beg to differ the world in Skyrim was the province of Skyrim which you could walk across all the way from and to anywhere without a single loading screen you could walk from markar to the gray beards and not see a single loading screen while a bunch of random events would happen during that journey and with a mod called Open Cities entering a city would also not have a loading screen anymore your only loading screens would be entering buildings and caves and such Starfield has nothing like the province of Skyrim or night City and ultimately that is a big part of why it is just not as immersive as those titles another interesting dialogue to have or I guess monologue in my case is the context around Starfield again two viewpoints here one you'll look at Starfield in a vacuum and try to rate it without looking at previous Bethesda titles or more importantly without looking at similar games that recently released or released a DLC I guess you know what I'm getting at and viewed in that way if such a thing is even possible Starfield is a pretty good game certainly it's not a bad game like not in the slightest if you would draw a comparison with the hack and/ arpg genre you could see Starfield like you could see the 4 in a vacuum great game when compared to predecessors or peers not so much and let's be honest it's very difficult to see games in a vacuum as you simply cannot unsee or unplay other games therefore I feel it's more realistic to look at similar games like Starfield and make that comparison because likely you will do that anyway and interestingly I think this is what happened with the reviews out there and the public opinion on Starfield the game was well received from the start and rightfully so because of a smooth launch and the content available in the game but the public opinion has shifted a bit over time no doubt fueled by that other similar futuristic game that made a massive comeback and I'm talking of course about cyberp Punk 2077 with the Phantom Liberty DLC and to some extent similar comeback but it was a while ago no man's Sky cyber Punk made the Starfield flaws obvious sometimes painfully obvious it's better in pretty much all As aspects in my opinion characters story lines quests progression World building sound visuals just the sheer content available and freedom in how you execute your playthrough the only thing it doesn't have is a massive modding Community compared to Starfield at least although you can mod the game but honestly cyber Punk doesn't need many mods anymore the game is close to being perfect in my opinion and I really mean that cyber Punk these days is simply an absolute Joy to play and there are very few games that come close to what CG bu red is offering comparing Starfield to cyber punk you quickly realize Starfield is you know just not as good sure cyber Punk was a total disaster at launch while Starfield wasn't but cyber Punk has evolved a lot Starfield NPCs are interesting and well voice sector typically but you cannot beat Ben M or Johnny silverhand the main storyline in Starfield I thought was pretty good and the artifacts collection thing cool until it becomes a little repetitive and tedious but you can't beat taking down corporates and rescuing the president while being accompanied by Kiana Reeves and Idis Elba side quests in Starfield are somewhat enjoyable but it doesn't come close to crucifying someone on live TV which is what I did the other night in night City the planets and exploration in Starfield at first seem endless but at some points fairly quickly actually you realize most ice planets look the same and an abandoned robotics facility on Mars is literally a copy from one in another star system light years away meanwhile you drive around night City and after over 160 hours spent in that City I still discover new locations Easter eggs are cool little items lying around Starfield looks and sounds great definitely AAA quality in my opinion but it Bleak in comparison to cyber Punk's raate tracing and HDR walking through dark town at night neon everywhere where and this comparison I think is fair and on point between the two as they are in many ways very similar games made by very similar Studios and it puts Starfield in a certain perspective into what it could have been had it been made in perhaps another engine how character progression and loving relationships could have evolved much more sensibly and naturally like they do in cyberp Punk instead of Simply unlocking the romance option after 15 likes which ultimately makes you wonder Starfield is a good game with mods even great but it could have been so much better still it's hard for me these days to play Starfield and not think about that now that the honeymoon period is over I don't want to give the impression that I feel Starfield isn't a big accomplishment for betesda because I think it is I've enjoyed my time Among the Stars I have finished the main quest dabbled around in New Game Plus I'm sort of appreciating that clever narrative for that new game plus and it's some Matrix [ __ ] right there with parallel universes put them into that stuff and I feel they're making it just concrete and tangible enough so it makes sense but I suppose your mileage may vary I've completed all faction quests too which I feel are well written and boast interesting characters along the way whether you're hunting an old treasure from the Crimson Fleet or dealing with teram morphs for the United Colony it's all very interesting stuff and you will easily spend hours on those Quest change to get them all completed while being rewarded with great gear and cool companions I love the ship building in the game although you definitely should install a few mods to remove some of the weird limitation the game imposes on you you can create outposts which I haven't seriously done but I watched some videos on it and if you're into that stuff you can set up an entire trading Network Across the Universe to make boat loads of cash for the completionists there are tons of planets and moons to explore although I felt it was a bit repetitive at some point and there's honestly much more going on even modding itself can be part of the experience that is fun too but in the end whenever I'm playing Starfield I mostly feel like I'm playing a video game whereas in night City I am V I am part of that world I slice and dice and shoot my way through dark toown and I get lost in that world Skyrim did that too for me in its own way Starfield in its current state not so much and that is perhaps the biggest flaw in the game right now and a step back compared to previous titles in pretty much all other aspects Starfield is a big step forwards for Bethesda no doubt about that this was my review of Starfield if you can call it that I hope you enjoyed this take on the game and I'd be interested to hear yours don't forget to subscribe for more arpg content and reviews and I'll see you in the next one love you all [Music] bye-bye

Channel: Thyworm

Views: 15,611

Keywords: thyworm, action rpg, arpg, gaming, games, indie game, indie dev, How Cyberpunk Schools Starfield on Immersion, starfield review

Id: _YIaIOpP51c

Length: 12min 56sec (776 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 14 2023