(bright 8-bit bloop) - [Falcon] A lot of people
are about to play "Starfield," and there is a ton of
stuff to do in this game, and there's no guarantee
you're gonna do it right. That's where today's video comes in. Hi, folks, it's Falcon,
and today on Gameranx, 10 mistakes you shouldn't
make in "Starfield." Starting off with number 10,
don't ignore the main story. So once you get past the prologue, the world of "Starfield" opens right up, and, oh man, is it
tempting to dive right in? And like most Bethesda
games, you absolutely can. You wanna completely
ignore the main story, there's nothing stopping you. This world is there, and
there's so much to do. However, I would argue that in this case, it's actually a mistake to just completely ignore the main story. Now, I'm not gonna give
spoilers and say why, but I will say that progressing the story up to a certain point should probably be the first thing you do. Work with the constellation through the mission into
the unknown at very least, and then feel free to
start doing other things. I can't tell you why it's
a good idea to do this, but I don't wanna spoil anything. All I can really say is that I did not progress the
main story for a long time, and I ended up regretting
it for various reasons. Play the game, and you will see why. Also, come back here and
leave a comment thanking me for this warning. Once you get past it, once
you get past into the unknown, I wanna see you come back to
this video and leave a comment and be like, "You know what, Falcon, "when you're right, you're right." At number nine, this is a big one, bringing a companion with
you on any stealth mission, it's always every time
without exception a mistake. There are a lot of missions that never outright require stealth. Like you don't fail if you get caught, but your rewards are much,
much worse if you're spotted. A lot of these missions also
punish you for killing enemies. So it's in your best
interest to complete them as stealthily as possible. (ominous music) - [Infinity Security] Sound the alarm. - [Falcon] Also, although in the end, it doesn't really matter. Nobody loves getting chewed
out for doing a mission wrong. So while perfect stealth
isn't exactly enforced, it's strongly encouraged. Companions, they can be helpful. Nobody's saying that they can't be, but when it comes to
sneaking, they are the worst. Do not bring them with you when you're asked to
do any kind of sneaking no matter how minor the sneaking is. Don't bring your buddy into the heavily patrolled
corporate headquarters 'cause you know what
your buddy's gonna do? Everything. Sneaking is about doing very
little, making no noise, making no brash actions
that cause detection. Oh, your friend ain't gonna act that way. If you're detected, that means
so if stealth goes wrong, and it's gonna, it's
gonna, if you bring a guy, but the incident goes wrong,
it becomes a, so anyway, I started blasting situation. It's no longer a stealth mission. It's a blood bath. Even if you choose to
have 'em wait outside, like make sure they're
really far away from you. I left a companion in the waiting area, and I got briefly spotted but not caught. And you know what happened? I come back and my guy is engaged in the matrix lobby scene with
the fricking receptionist. If stealth is asked of you,
leave the companions behind. They are much more of a
liability than anything else. At number eight, don't miss
out on this guy in Cydonia. Maybe this guy looks obvious to you, but to me he seemed like
any other random NPC with maybe a little bit more set dressing around him than usual. Don't be like me and walk past him 'cause that set dressing, it is a message from the developers that
you should talk to him. Why? Because the quest he gives
you the top of the list should be taken as early as
you possibly can take it. So you find this guy
in the bar on Cydonia, the mining colony on Mars, and one of the first major locations you visit in "Starfield." So finding him isn't
difficult or anything. It's just super easy to overlook him as just a generic NPC. He's smack dab in the middle of the bar. He's surrounded by paperwork. And I don't consider paperwork to be particularly
exciting or interesting. I see paperwork, I go the other way. That's all I'm saying, but apparently the paperwork is supposed to attract your eyes. - Out of the question. I do not do paperwork. - Unfortunately, this paperwork
is my responsibility only. As much as I'd appreciate help, (chuckles) I wouldn't make you do any. - [Falcon] That's not what happens anytime anybody puts papers on
a desk in front of me. But spotting him isn't super difficult. It's just recognizing that you're supposed to talk to him that counts. I didn't notice this guy
was worth even a second look until after I beat the game. I went through that bar multiple times. I never thought, you know what, I would like to talk to that man with the paperwork because no
one ever thinks that, right? I mean, I take that back. There's weird paperwork people out there. There's people that
love filling out forms. I don't. Let's just say there wasn't
really an allure factor. Nothing brought me in per se. So the earlier you take on
this guy's mission though, the easier it is. What he wants you to do is
survey hospitable worlds and recruit people as colonists, which as you can tell from
the enticing pile of paper around him isn't exactly
a James Bond level quest, but while the first part
can be completed any time, like after beating the game, I had a ton of planning
information to just sell him, but recruiting colonists means you actually need to talk to
people all around the world and convince them to join. It's an option that only shows
up after you get the mission. So now you have to go around to everywhere you've already been if you wanna find any of
the people to do this with. So it's better to just get the quest early and find people as you explore rather than the other way around. At number seven, don't forget, you can just run from a fight. At the start of the game, ship
combat can be pretty brutal. Your ship is kind of slow and weak. It's easy to get
overpowered and outnumbered. Even in the settled systems,
supposedly the safest place in the galaxy, you can still get jumped by raiders and pirates
as you're exploring. And if it's three on one
against the starting ship, you're probably gonna die. Like you're not gonna
get outta there alive. So don't try to painfully
brute force your way through every single encounter. If you're outmatched, tactical
retreat, just forget it. Exit stage right, post-haste even. I don't know if anybody's gonna
get a Snagglepuss reference, but I had to do it. But there's nothing stopping you from just making a grav jump out, takes a few seconds to
wind up and you're free, done, over with, not
dealing with the combat that you can't possibly win. Like ship combat in general,
it can be frustrating until you get the hang of it, but if it feels like you're outmatched, it's probably a good idea to, you know, consider the idea that you're probably outmatched. Not a lot you can do to get around that. Better to just run away,
get a stronger ship, and then come back and clean house. At number six, don't wander too far away from your ship and then get encumbered 'cause it's gonna be a really
long annoying walk back. Inventory limits can be a big problem, especially when you're out exploring. If you constantly overload on stuff, you're gonna slowly, painfully walk back to the ship in order to unload it. Don't do it. It's never worth it. I've accidentally done it a few times, and it's never worth it. Being able to fast travel
directly to your ship when you're on a planet is one of my favorite things about "Starfield." It cuts out a ton of tedious overtime, but if you go over your weight limit, your oxygen will continuously
drain when you run, and you won't be able to fast travel. If your ship is just parked
right outside of base or you're walking from a
trade authority terminal to your ship, who cares,
not that big of a deal. But if you're thousands of meters away from your ship in the middle of nowhere, having to slowly march all
the way back to your ship 'cause you're overburdened,
it's miserable. Do not be like me. Put some points into weightlifting. Increase your inventory
size, or better yet, just dump all the junk into
your companion's inventory and take it back when you get in the ship. While we're on this point, be careful not to give your
companions too much stuff because if you do make the mistake of giving them something
you wanna hold onto like better armor or a gun, they're a lot more likely to get lost either because the companion can disappear or die or just you forget about it. At number five, don't leave
ship parts in your inventory. Don't be a dope. I've done this too many times,
and I feel stupid every time. Don't do this. Don't leave ship parts in your inventory. Get these things in your
cargo as soon as possible because they're some of the worst inventory space hogs in the game. These things cost 10 mass a piece. So even if you only got a few of 'em, it dramatically increases your weight. And because they're stored
away in miscellaneous, it's super easy to forget you got 'em. I spent half the game with a bunch of these
things in my inventory. I barely had any space to pick stuff up. And because of that, I was
constantly over encumbered. And just it's really frustrating. You're like, what the
hell is going on here? I could have avoided that too if I'd have just put the
ship parts in the cargo hold where they belong. I wasn't exactly trained at housekeeping, however, as a child. I am a bird. It's shocking I play video
games enough as it is. And let's not even get into the whole speaking English thing and the Snagglepuss references. (laughs) It might sound obvious, but
like in "Fallout" and "Skyrim," "Starfield: is filled
with stuff to pick up. So it doesn't take too long
to have a lot of random crap in your inventory that
mostly just takes up space. It's just that among all that stuff, like there's an item that takes up way more
space than anything else. And unless you're
specifically looking for it, it's easy to assume
that it's armor or guns, and you forget that you got a fricking ship part hanging around. Like in real life you
wouldn't be like, well I've got that auxiliary
booster in my pocket. I could probably get rid of that. Like, you're gonna notice
the auxiliary booster. It's gonna be an option immediately. Is that an auxiliary
booster in your pocket, or are you having to see me? Ah! In "Starfield," it's super
easy to just forget about it. So, if you're really
wondering why the hell your inventory is all filled
up, think to yourself, am I carrying around any
parts of a spaceship? (laughs) At number four, it feels wrong, but in "Starfield" you want to get caught. It's gonna go against the
every instant you have from playing prior Bethesda games like "Skyrim" or "Fallout 4, but in :Starfield," you're
gonna wanna get caught at least once. Normally in their games, getting caught stealing is a bad thing. You get locked up in jail, you eat a fine, or the victim just goes aggro on you. None of them, none of these
things, desirable outcomes. When it comes to stealing, the whole point is to not get caught. However, if you want to
join the Crimson Fleet, the pirate faction with
one of the best quest lines in the game, you have to. You gotta get captured. You gotta walk right up to that cop and pickpocket him badly and be like, "Oh, Officer, did I just
steal this from you?" I'm joking, it doesn't really
matter what crime you commit. Just that people see you
and that you get approached by a cop and get locked up. Your first instinct is
gonna reload your last save, but don't make that mistake. Stick with it, and you'll get taken to a United Colonies ship, and then press ganged into
infiltrating the Crimson Fleet. You're not locked in at any point either. Once they give you your orders, you're free to ignore 'em. You can hold off on joining
the fleet as long as you want. It's worth coming back
to eventually though. All the faction quests in
"Starfield" are super strong, but Crimson fleet's probably my favorite. At number three, don't leave
contraband in your inventory. Probably sounds obvious,
but it's an easier mistake to make than you might expect, especially if you're just picking up stuff and not thinking about it too much. Again, easy to forget about
that auxiliary booster in your pocket, but in "Starfield," there's items that are
considered contraband. Obviously they can be
sold for a high price, but if you're scanned with 'em
at at planetary checkpoints, you're gonna get the
contraband confiscated along with any items you've stolen, and also you have to pay a hefty fine. I don't need to belabor
this point too much, but if you don't want that, especially if you're a
kleptomaniac like me, just constantly picking everything up as though it's the main goal of the game, like I'm a bird of prey, but you could easily mistake me as a scavenger playing these games. The laws of contraband,
it can be annoying, but losing all the stolen
loot, oof, that sucks. There's a few options for
dealing with contraband, but one thing you really don't wanna do is just pick it up and
then forget about it 'cause you're gonna get caught eventually. So be smart. Either dump this stuff immediately because it's honestly not that much money for the kind of heat
it brings you at least, or get some shielded
cargo holds to hide it from scans or sell it
off the second you get it like in the Red Mile or other settlements that don't scan your ship. There's not a lot of
'em, but there's enough. Oh, and don't get smart and
try to dump your contraband on the floor of your ship or something. It's not actually in the
cargo or your inventory. Oh, that means it won't
get scanned, right? Oh, it gets scanned. - [Freestar Sec Dolphin] This
is Freestar Collective space. Hold while we scan your ship. (scanner beeps) (rockets whoosh) Our scan detected contraband. Halt and prepared to be boarded. All illegal and stolen
goods will be confiscated. - [Falcon] At number two,
don't ignore this note. Randomly you might find
this note on dead enemies simply entitled secret outpost. If you're not paying attention,
you might pass the thing without really looking at
it and assume it's a joke, or just a little bit of lore of find, but it's a lot more than that. To say what it is exactly
would spoil the surprise, and I would say that it's
worth not spoiling actually, but don't make the mistake I did and ignore this note for most of the game. Go to Denebola I-b like the note describes and complete the quest there. Seriously, this will lead you towards some of the best
rewards in the game. It includes an entire ship
that you get for free. Most questions give you money, maybe a new suit or a special gun, but this one does all that
and (indistinct) spaceship. That's, might I add, a lot
better than your starter ship. (gun shoots) (bomb explodes) (player laughs) And finally at number
one, don't get burnt out trying to explore every single
inch of the damn universe. The universe of "Starfield"
is very, very big. It's got over 1,000 planets
across 100 star systems, and that's a lot of ground to cover that might be tempting to start exploring the second you get out of the prologue. It's a mistake. There are a lot of planets, and there are interesting
things to find out there, but the actual good stuff,
mainly found in the cities. It's time to pull this
particular bandaid off. Planets in "Starfield" are not limitless. They're not exciting places to explore. And like in, you know, real life, although you can't jump
around and explore planets, the planets that you would
be able to are kind of empty. How planet exploration works is you select the landing
site on the planet, your park your ship anywhere
as long as it's not on water, and from there, the game
generates a landscape depending on a few factors. One is planetary traits, so what it looks like,
what materials it has. And then the other is type of terrain, which it'll tell you before landing. So if you select a mountain to land, the game generates a mountainous region. If you land near the
sea, you'll get a beach, but it's all procedurally generated, all the little bases, caves, and whatever else you might find. They're just random
generic points on a map. There's nothing special about any of 'em. And if you try to explore 'em all, you'll pretty quickly
start seeing repeats. It's not continuous landscape. No matter how close you land
to a previous landing spot, you're never gonna actually
connect the two things. The planets are not actually big maps that you're selecting a point on. They're just collections of separate, randomly generated little
maps for the most part, at least when you're
talking about landing spots. There are planets where
things are custom built. Like the areas around
any cities or colonies are definitely worth checking out, but if you're picking a
random spot on the map, you're gonna look at a
lot of boring expanse and possibly repeated buildings. Planets can be fun to build bases on, but for exploration,
they're pretty boring. And if that's all you're
doing in the game, it's not gonna be a lot of fun. For me personally, the much better content is found elsewhere like the faction quests, the side quests, the ship building, the base building. The game really shows its promises there. It's easy to get caught up in the massive scale of the universe, but it all starts to feel
kind of small after a while. Don't make my mistake and
waste hours of your time trying to find new stuff
on these empty planets. There's so much more
that you can be doing. There's so much in this game. And that's all for today. Leave us a comment, let
us know what you think. If you like this video, click Like. if you're not subscribed,
it's a great time to do so. We upload brand new videos
every day of the week. Best way to see them first
is, of course, a subscription, so click Subscribe. Don't forget to enable notifications. And as always, we thank you very much for watching this video. I'm Falcon. You can follow me on
Twitter, @FalconTheHero. We'll see you next time
right here on Gameranx.
