Starfield: The Mystery Of Meh

[Music] Starfield suffers the same social and consumer habits that followed cyber Punk until its eventual release obviously the disaster that was cyberp Punk is on a whole another level and while the games differ quite a bit what doesn't is the insurmountable hype that involved both of them well before launch like a moth to a flame I stood firm in my belief that Starfield would be everything thing people were saying it was going to be a massive sci-fi open world RPG with choices that affect the story an expansive meaningful exploration that it was going to reach New Heights and bring the power with it to Define this new generation while it doesn't do any of that in fact Starfield feels lacking in a lot of areas that previous Bethesda titles have perfected which I'm going to get into in this video but first I want to talk about hype and how it can damage these games now we as consumers can't really fault develop Vel opers and publishing companies for relying on a tactic that has worked since the dawn of time a slow drip feed of information and the lack of real Hands-On gameplay let's players and fans imaginations wrong and muck as to what the game could offer which in turn effectively sells the game itself unless you straight up lie about the content in the game which a lot of developers and Publishers actually do do that unfortunately but based on the information that's published in the small Snippets of gameplay and trailers we get players can catch a glimpse of the game game but also interpret this information for themselves and what they would like to see within the game now hype is a funny thing because no matter how good a game is hype will always have a one step forward two steps back after math because the hype becomes so strong that people firmly believe that the game is going to be the next best thing since sliced bread but of course after the game comes out there is upor and disappointment among many people sorry did you want to get immersed in our world yeah well guess what [ __ ] pronouns are you serious and the people that went in with reasonable expectations or no expectations at all are often either blown away or at least just generally happy I don't think anyone will argue against that the surge of content creators has a direct correlation to Hype culture because the people who actively follow and make content about these games pre-launch will make videos about every little detail [ __ ] now this in turn can obviously build false expectations among their viewers and this is exactly why I do not go to YouTube for my source of information anymore regardless though the hype still managed to get a hold of me from my friends that really wanted the game but also the various trailers and because the hype got a hold of me I like so many other eager Gamers through additional cash of Bethesda to get the game a week early one because I could but two because I wanted to jump in and get my hands on it before everyone else did because that's a position of power a position of power that Publishers and developers have been praying on for a long time now and it's clearly wor working for them also if you're a content creator like myself you want to get the game as early as possible and I can tell you that in my first 5 hours with the game it had my jaw on the floor pretty much the whole time wow I'm trying to be reasonable here can't believe I think I'm in love with you you give meet his friends no I couldn't believe that I could walk around in my own spaceship and then blast off into the Stars to find Adventure it was a dream come true for someone who loves sci-fi genre as much as I do however as the hours passed the game started to drain me and I couldn't quite put my finger on why the feeling of emptiness eluded me for a long time so much so that I decided to boot up Skyrim and Fallout 4 to see what was missing and this is what I found now past this point is going to be a lot of spoilers so anyone concerned for their playthrough remaining untainted now is your time to click off the video right off the Hop many review Outlets LED people to believe that Starfield is bethesda's best narrative achievement to date well that is purely subjective based on what you want out of your games the quality and storytelling and subtle World building is not and it's immediately noticeable as they step down from their previous work now let's take a look into why so starfields opening opens with miners Lin and are prepping for their shift as we tag along clearly a part of this crew we stand in one spot where a bunch of dialogue is spoken that holds no relevance to the plot or the world most dusties don't even make it this far I have a good feeling about you group hug now or at the end of the shift Lyn gets quite close to her face clearly Bethesda showcasing their improvements to their 20-year-old engine that they insist on keeping alive and guess what Bethesda the engine still doesn't look that great there is one consistent theme in this exchange and dialogue and and that's Lynn's insistence on ensuring her crew Works safely so that they can go home at the end of the day showing that she is an empathetic character go steady go safe go home with a pocket full of credits at the end of the day so we reach the bottom we follow her getting to know her a little bit do a little bit of mining for ourselves to understand how that mechanic works and then Lynn does a 180 personality wise throwing her concerns about safety out the window as she gets abnormal readings from within the mine sending us a new minor that she knows nothing about to retrieve it okay you you're up how about new this 7-minute intro does a little to capture anyone's attention because the player isn't given anything about this new world why do we care about lyen heler as characters and why do we care about their banter of their choice of career if they have nothing interesting to say so let's jump back all the way to 2011 with the release of Skyrim Everyone by this point knows this heavily memed introduction that was literally printed onto pillows and whoever did this is a [ __ ] genius if you played Skyrim and you liked it there's a good chance that you saw this bad boy at least two or three times it's a mere 4 minutes from the fade in of the black to the departure from the horse carriage and in that time the dialogue and voice acting managed to convey more important pieces of information to the player you learn about the Waring factions the political views and most importantly how you ended up in the situation the game starts you off in these characters talk organically with the horse thief talking about his despise for the commotion of the Rebellion Stormcloak Army has caused within Skyrim because the Imperial Army is now everywhere damn you Stormcloaks Skyrim was fine until you came along Empire was nice and lazy this is of course him insinuating that before the war he would have gotten away with his crimes it's not just the who the what the when where and why either there is added depth in that these doomed prisoners of War also lament and reminisce on their birthplaces and even call upon their gods to save them roric dead I'm I'm from roric dead keep in mind that these birth places that they mention are actual locations in the game world that you can later explore holy smokes this helps you feel interwoven and connected to a fictional place that seems grounded before you even step one foot onto its soil similarly Fallout 4 follow suit but unlike Skyrim's cold depressing opening Fallout 4 treats its opening like an everyday for the protagonist and their family residing in their Boston home stylized by its retrofuturism it showcases the game's main themes of unconditional love and the bond of family setting the narrative up with a strong intro this opening is first played before the bombs drob allowing the players to first see the world and what it was like before the apocalypse and the devastation that would follow as you stumble upon it years later Fallout 4 has a rather long introduction centering around a slow buildup to the inevitable it's here that the game establishes your character as a military vet or lawyer and a father or a mother depending on your role through details scattered around the house you can gain even more insight into the World by simply looking instead of exposition clouding these moments which helps the sense of realism as these characters go about their day in a natural way though you just started playing this house feels like a home because everything inside is unfolding organically like it would in a typical Suburban neighborhood it's once you get into the cry pods that your objective becomes clear when your spouse is shot while your son is taken it's a Jurassic turn of events as you watch helplessly only to be awoken sometime later to look upon this new world built off of Devastation so now we return to Starfield in 2023 and what happens in the opening well your hands meet a fore an object you have a vision of some kind which knocks you out cold when you come to your told someone is coming for the artifact and it's here that you are finally told one thing about your character and that is that you're recruit from Argos extractors hired by Lynn you know who you are new recruit for Argos extractors ring any bells the client Lynn speaks of is of course Barrett from the main faction constellation Pirates show up Barrett gets involved with them and then he gives you a ship to head to Constellation because of that one Vision that you've seen how about I stay and I send your dusty here in my place I know I know but she's not some minor anymore Lynn you can't even refuse to do this you have to follow this Quest there is next to no World building and this plot is forced upon the player in an inorganic way with a little incentive to do it Skyrim opens up the world and asks you to find your own way Fallout 4 has a direct objective which For Better or Worse forces flat urgency but once the Vault opens the world is yours to Journey off into and as Todd said that mountain is not just a backdrop you can walk all the way to the top of that mountain where a Starfield has tiny maps that require fast travel so you feel a lot more confined in your endeavors I don't think anyone who is a fan of bethesda's work would disagree with the sentiment that the studio isn't known for their intricate thought-provoking plot lines in depth player choice or jaw-dropping twist that have you standing in front of a mirr or asking yourself what the [ __ ] just happened like I did when Joel died in the last of its part [Music] two those accolades are best left to Studios that prioritize those aspects and Excel in that area while Bethesda has had incredible quests and pieces of content in their games perhaps their strongest ingredient is one that actively works against the enjoyment of the rest of the meal that is this starfaring adventure it's feasible that I am a mere product of my time but I grew up playing Skyrim maybe playing is an understatement Skyrim became my life for two straight years after its release and honestly I didn't know why at the time something about that game was just so enthralling that the thought of putting the controller down and moving on to other games never really arose some years years later Fallout 4 would release and it's here that I again was entranced in its gameplay Loop but this time something changed I understood why which makes the lack of it in Starfield incredibly jarring I amassed hundreds of hours in the games prior not because of their sprawling story lines and choices no it was the organic exploration of a cohesive World Bethesda intentionally creates their games with an open-ended approach allowing players to have total freedom in how they go about the world effectively making their own story with their own character in fact fall 4's narrative was so panned because it forced urgency into the plot so people felt like they had to complete it when all they really wanted to do was go exploring and find what lied off the beaten path it's here that the True Heart and Soul of their Adventures Thrive your character can truly become who you want them to be without any narrative constraints Skyrim is exactly the same way with many gamers not even touching the main story until the late game because seamlessly exploring the wide expans of land was incredibly alluring and rewards were a plenty for doing so they simply walked one way found Quest Loot and interesting locations through traversing the enriched World there would always be some point of interest you were making your way to but each track across the dangerous War tour and land would be derailed because there was no shortage of new sites enemies and locations which housed Rich environmental storytelling even when there was nothing actively happening no two locations would be the same because these locations were all handcrafted and it's because of this that going into yet another cave never got old simply due to the fact that you never knew what you were going to find exploration in gaming is an element that Bethesda might as well have defined on their own because their games have had an unmatched level of interactivity my mind was just somewhere else do you need a room drink Random Encounters in places to see that has something of intrinsic value to the player whether it's loot quests or simple World building and then there's Starfield a product of the nextg era that has shockingly broken the cycle that gives these titles the personality and satisfaction that they ooze even if it is more polished Bethesda took a big risk developing a game with this immeasurable scope housing 1,000 planets and dozens of galaxies to explore is no small feat it's an incredibly ambitious project one that required the studio to make use of everyone's favorite play thing now ai and and that helped them build out the planets and make each one traversible the game would be enormous in stord size without it and crafting each planet would take a decade it would take forever while it works in terms of the scope of the game it hinders the natural exploration procedural generation in itself isn't inherently bad there are plenty of games that use it effectively for their purposes Minecraft no man's sky and deep rock Galactic have procedural generation that is used to provide a different experience in the play spaces every time but these out forementioned titles also don't put a heavy emphasis on written quests story lines and World building but instead exploration or in the case of Deep Rock Galactic combat procedural generation was used in the creation of Sky's map based on certain seeds that the developers wanted but they used it as a basis to later go in and handcraft every inch of the map starfields procedural generation is entirely random every time you go somewhere because it wasn't used as a temp play but rather a way of forming the game world with points of interest and Landscapes that would keep players engag when landing on one of the 1,000 planets however many of the game's locations are devoid of small details environmental storytelling quests and interesting sites to see there is a one-off line in Skyrim's opening as you're passing by the in where the Stormcloak remarks on if a girl he knows from Helgen still makes the me he likes with junifer berries this is Helgen I used to be sweet on a girl from here wonder if elod is still making that me with juniper berries mixed in no one in the right mind would think from this one line that this very beverage can be found in the burnt down Inn if you return to Helgen I [ __ ] love it this is the type of detail in World building Bethesda is known for so what the hell happened here ultimately what you will find in many of starfields locations are randomly generated points of interest that quite frequently mirror the same locations you just saw these points of interest are always situated far enough from The Landing point to become a bother when walking across the game's many plan is 3 hours later yay another pointless landmark and because there's no Rover or vehicles to help you with this traversal you soon realize that none of these planets or locations are worth exploring because you won't really find anything remotely interesting on them the problem with this is that the game has a pool of 30 points of interest that will be random L selected each time you make landfall let's say on average there are five of these locations every time you land that means there is a high probability that the player will be hit with the same looking locations over and over I know this because I've seen it I've seen the same space or base eight times in the same bioluminescent cave with dead miners laying in scripted areas it's not only that these locations look the same but the loot and clutter will be the same as well I knew exactly where to look for credits every time I ran into this space Sur base the Lively and detailed sections are all save for the games hubs and cities that were handcrafted by the team and that becomes blatantly obvious though they are handcrafted they lack a sense of a simulation of life because shops don't close at night and most named NPCs don't walk around the game World interacting with others like this the legion taught us loyalty and we're loyal to daar this isn't over I catch you sending one letter to General Tellus I'll have you both executed it's completely jarring jumping to and from these areas because at times it seems like these planets were cut content not even meant to be in the game That's how little interest they have generated in me sure it's cool to land on a funnyl looking planet and see what weird alien life it has but after looking around for a couple of minutes it's on to the next one this was no doubt intentional to mimic the vastness and emptiness of space but there is no incentive to actually land on any of these planets so they might as well not even be here at all why not just have one solar system with a couple of Uncharted planets to explore that would have afforded developers time to handcraft all of these locations Mass Effect did this years ago and excelled in having a universe that felt truly alive without having to land on a planet to mine for resources also Mass Effect had aliens and a strong sense of immersion which Starfield doesn't speaking of immersion it's practically synonymous with the infamous developer because despite their tendency to release games with prolific bugs hey you finally awake stiff animations and otherwise outdated mechanics their game worlds of the past managed to capture the attention of millions Fallout fors Boston and Skyrim's Nordic Tundra captivated many by making you feel less like an observer and more of an occupant it felt like you belonged in a digital world that would continue long after you shut it off honestly it's a lot like Red Dead Redemption too in this regard this is bolstered by the fact that these Landscapes and the respective landmarks all had something interesting to say often times referencing the game World in a context that would make sense to that setting while also giving information to the player now I'm not saying that Starfield doesn't do this because there were plenty of times where I would be walking around and an NPC would make a one-off comment in passing that would give me a quest but as I mentioned before about the world it's a lot more confined and honestly a lot less interesting in Skyrim the player could take this information they were just given make a visual goal on the map and then Trek into the unknown ironically knowing that they would stumble upon something that would be inevitably a lot more interesting than the quest they were actively chasing you never knew what lied within your path of Adventure a man might be hunting with his dog maybe members of the common Ravel or deep in the wilderness partaking in The Breakfast of Champions only to then offer you one out of generosity although that item doesn't actually have any value to you other than to make this place feel authentic ah but you look tired come share a bottle of hunting Brew mead with me for sanity's sake it made undertaking even the most uninteresting quest of the typical talk to me walk 800 miles to find it and then come back and talk to me again Quest worth accepting because each Expedition into the world would lead you to something else much to my dissatisfaction Starfield carves its own path with how the player interacts and goes about its open world quote unquote in a contrived manner let me ask you a few questions if I told you that a game was built around fast travel being a foundation of how the player traverses these play spaces in consistent manner would that worry you what if an open world RPG heavily relied on menus and uis to the point that a substantial amount of time was spent Within These menus instead of actually playing the game would that worry you well Starfield leans into both of these categories to an uncomfortable degree now the typical criticism for using fast travel in games especially open world games if you need to rely on it to get around the world the game isn't respecting your time by failing to offer anything of value that or you're just one of the Unlucky ones too busy with their life to actually spend time roaming around a digital world I can't quite say I've ever played a open world title that requires fast travel as frequently as Starfield does or that the game requires you to play it by tediously not playing the game surfing through menus that's not even including the fact that the menu navigation is terrible what I'm saying sounds a bit exaggerated but I I can assure you it's really not to tie this in it gives you a lot less incentive to do minial quests like that in Starfield because it simply isn't worth going into the menus fast traveling to another planet only to be given a lackluster reward which more often than not turns out to be credits or ship parts if you help someone in space I miss the days when menial Quest would reward you with some of the best loot just because I spent enough time in Skyrim looting money and I never really needed it from NPC so it was nice to get physical rewards every so often whereas starfields economy and fundamental gameplay elements revolve around the procurement of money or credits because of how the game was built why would I do this deck collection Quest where I get 5,000 credits when I can just do a better written faction or main quest to get Triple that permission and rewards that make them worth doing it's apparent that Bethesda was focused on its scope rather than putting in the time to nail aspects they have been doing well for the better part of a decade Todd himself stated that the game wasn't even fun until like the last year of development and honestly a lot of the time it's pretty apparent despite my seemingly endless grievances with most of the game's building blocks it doesn't falter in every area the game's abundance of factions and their subsequent quest lines are where Starfield gains its slick momentum its wide array of independent narratives offer some of the best storytelling and Mission structure found within this world all of which delve deep into themes like corporate Espionage crime and biological warfare that may or may not derive from May highly Acclaim Beast of fiction what am I saying of course it does part of a livestock tracking system should let you keep tabs on how close the terramorph is the Crimson flea is a particular standout to me having to go undercover within their ranks and doing so you learn about their way of life and if that's something that suits you which I don't know why it would because they're pretty terrible characters all right here is the plan so shut up and listen a player can opt to betray their handlers by going rogue and help helping the Crimson Fleet find their long lost Legacy and Fortune a quest by the way that took me about 5 hours to get through and in that time I got entangled into an affair aboard a luxury Cruise liner acquired a prototype Ship by infiltrating a highly fortified space station and boarded a long lost ship drifting in an electromagnetic storm the ensuing space battle as the quest finale is also really excellent the factions put the game's many systems at the Forefront and much like Skyrim there was a faction for everybody if you main step rogian Industries is the place for you the freest star Collective offers a detective story while the UC Vanguard takes the typical alien threat Trope and runs with it and that was probably my favorite one all of these in some way shape or forward make use of bethesda's improved combat ship combat new persuasion system and of course stealth between the four factions on their quest lines who were easily looking at around 20 hours of content outside of the main story alone my main gripe with these stories and yeah I you saw this coming it was going to get into more bad it's the lack of any real meaningful choices that have actual repercussions within the world now I know Skyrim and Fallout 4 follow this and that their choices remain mostly inconsequential to how the world around them reacts outside of a few lines of dialogue here or there which I get but there are strange instances of choice being teased when in fact there is never a choice at all because of the outcome of that particular thread already has a predetermined outcome outside of your actions the perfect example of this lies within the recruitment mission for the Crimson Fleet the leader of this Rough and Tumble pirate Legion requests that you accompany him to a planet that could hold valuable information to a long lost rumor of the fleet's old leader that apparently secured millions of dollars aboard a ship before it went missing a certain pirate by the name of matthys joins us as well while searching the complex you get separated from Delgado the leader and is here that matthys tries to induct you into his master plan to kill Delgato and take his place at the head of the fleet we Ed the opportunity to take out Delgato and at the same time make some serious credits for ourselves that's a pretty interesting proposal on the first mission and one that immediately had me wondering how it would pan out is I intended to just sell him out to Delgato in the moment we met back up with him but this doesn't happen in fact there is absolutely no dialogue option that allows you to rat out maias which in the context of the story made no sense because you're an active undercover mole so ratting maias out would help build rapport with your new allies during the freest star Collective Quest a player has task with linking members of an old war Battalion to a conspiracy to Drive Farmers from their land this investigation eventually leads you to an ex-military vet Maya Cruz you first go to find her on an intensive Medical Care Station called the clinic even though you are a Freestar Deputy you have to find a way to sneak into the VIP area to talk with her only to find that everybody is dead and Maya Cruz is gone that seemed pretty bad so rationally I went to talk to the the administrator of the station or the law enforcement there to let them know that there was a literal murder down the hall but there was no way to warn them that part of their space station was deed in contaminants while we're on the topic of the Freestar Collective quest line the end result and the choice has no effect at all the conspiracy lands on the guy who prompted the investigation in the first place a guy by the name of Ron hope a man responsible for the prospering nature of his town it said several times that without Ron hope the people of hob toown would be doomed do you really want to put all these people out of work and make their families suffer but if you choose to kill him absolutely nothing changes the plant will still be there and so will the people it wouldn't even have been that hard to show some sems of your actions having consequences have hope toown become a ghost town from the time you leave until you come back have an option to straight up rat Mias out then see his body strung up in their base every time you go in because they're making an example out of them I honestly don't think I'm asking for much here and I know a lot of people feel the same way it does little to convince me to return to New Game Plus because there aren't enough deviations in choices or gameplay mechanics in a recent interview the man the myth the legend himself Todd Howard made a statement regarding Starfield and how it was designed to facilitate a player base that would last for the foreseeable future 5 years to be exact that's how long the team plans to support it can't see that being the reality but we'll see even before uncovering this information the emphasis on repeat runs was blatantly obvious for anyone that saw the main quest to completion because there is no real conclusion if there's one cliche Bethesda is known for it's their all powerful one in a million protagonists that are the only one capable or able to undertake a task at hand because they were the chosen one for a purpose outside of anyone's understanding blah blah blah Skyrim does it with his dragon born story on the contrary Fallout forward doesn't bestow an unnatural power upon the player per se but it tasks you with going up against insurmountable odds for the sake of family helped by the fact that the leader of the Institute literally sets you up for Success because of the relation to their leader Starfield definitely plays directly off of this Trope with the character being the only one that can uncover the meaning and purpose of strange alien artifacts despite a whole group of people working to understand them before you even join them these artifacts bestow a vision upon organic life when they are pulled from embedded rocks it just so happens that the same thing happens to you which sets you on the path with constellation however to no one's surprise not even mine you're the only one able to have seen multiple Visions members of Constellation Are entranced by finding these pieces to a puzzle because they believe it holds Secrets or at least some kind of divine power these Visions in their entirety don't really elicit any information to the player about what it could possibly be it's only once the starborn faction shows up to prevent you from finding more pieces that becomes a little bit interesting the starborn and their ships are visually striking and I was I was honestly really intrigued by them but that's until you're hit with the [ __ ] twist that they're just constellation members from another galaxy that were reborn when they enter the unity a Multiverse that opens once the artifact is complete allowing the player to re be reborn from a star hence the name starborn not a relatively Expendable Dusty any more are you look at where you've ended up that's it I've had it with this dump you come to the realization that the main quest and his conclusion are literally simply a vessel to get you to enter the unity and restart the game a new game plus where the outcome of quests and the game structure remain mostly the same outside of a few deviations to the roles of NPCs and uh you get more dialog options that don't present new outcomes at all these changes are not derivative of the player's action and choices in their previous run though so it's just not impactful when you take into consideration how little the choices affect the end result of the quest and the combat doesn't have much variation you wonder if their emphasis on new game plus was justified at all it makes sense in a game like The Witcher 3 where quests and their choices carry consequences and changes which carry forward that not only affect the characters around you but also impact the world in some really shocking ways kiram's quest line is of a secondary nature yet what you choose Within These missions can affect the outcome of her fate and if she dies she's gone forever now I know that these games are different in that regard but my point is that branching nature warrants repeat playthroughs while Starfield doesn't because you can see everything the game has to offer in one save file to make matters worse the combat will always boil down to shooting people with guns Skyrim's combat while floaty and outdated for its time had a multitude of ways to go about it tackling its many encounters there were so many deviations from from The Sword combat alone one-handed two-handed and even a one-handed weapon with a shield all of these played slightly differently While others could focus on a stealth build allowing them to sneak through Shadows roll use daggers to strike their enemies from the back if you felt like being someone who deals damage from a far the classic bow and arrow setup and its respective abilities were a lot of fun in my personal go-to and then there was the wide expanse of magic that could be cast from both hands there were a staggering amount of spells to learn that included something as simple as healing to more Sinister applications like necromancy to summon the dead around you to fight on your behalf not to mention Skyrim had a lot of awesome looking cinematic takedown animations so while Skyrim's lack of real choices somewhat aligns with Starfield this wide range of player freedom and how the player built their character is what kept many people coming back to it even picking your race at the start of the game would affect how the world interacted with you in small inconsequential ways if you chose an orc per se you would be welcomed into one of the many Orcs strongholds scattered around the map but if you stumble upon these as any other race there would be a quest requiring you to gain access to it dark elves or elves in general are somewhat under the oppression of racism throughout many of the strongholds of Skyrim and while it never hindered the player's progress NPCs in certain cities would make racist remarks towards you lumping you in with the oppression as well they're parasites what do you think you're doing follow for gameplay Loop and how it uses guns around its combat can be lumped in with Starfield and that a lot of the game boils down to just shooting things sneaking or talking your way out of a situation where Fallout 4 differs though is Vats an in-game slow motion targeting system that allows you some strategic advantages in combat as you pick your targets choose their respective limbs to deal the most damage to and activate it to watch satisfying animations play out while a Raider's head gracefully departs it's meat Mech it added personality and circumvented the game gameplay from grinding to a repetitive halt yet the inducement to visit Fallout 4's post-apocalyptic surface a second time lied within the four unique factions that all had their own branching story lines regarding the conclusion of the main Institute narrative they were all distinct in their morals values Loot and missions and because these four factions all played a direct role in the main story choosing one and completing enough of their missions would align you with them going forward essentially locking you out of content it wouldn't just be that you couldn't do their missions anymore factions have a role in the story even if you aren't their Ally for instance siding with the militarized Brotherhood of Steel sees you wiping out the railroad on the contrary if you s with the railroad you attack the Brotherhood it gives you the freedom of choice and those choices come with consequences by locking you out of content so if you want to see everything you naturally have to replay it if you want to experience just about everything in one run in Starfield like I said you can definitely do that there is only one main faction that ties into it overarching story meaning that there are no options for taking sides the four secondary factions have no reference or pull regarding the Multiverse that's why I can join the space pirates betray my handlers kill hundreds of innocent people and then turn around join the very people I just made an enemy of because of the excuse of they don't look into people's backgrounds a person can draw a lot of conclusions from an outcome like that you being one of the few who walked away from that battle but in the Vanguard we're serious about our take allomer policy regardless of their past hell if we turn down every former pirate are you [ __ ] dumb NPC's in faction Quest will remark on your past Discretions but none of them see it as a red flag and honestly it's completely immersion breaking if bethesda's intentions were to entice people to keep playing the game over and over why didn't they consider logging faction quest line so that people returning would have more to chase than upgrading Powers which really at the end of the the day just facilitates a grind sure there is a lot of depth in the ship Builder and that's literally good enough to be its own game and the Outpost management centered around the steady procurement of resources to research and craft with but none of this is strong enough to carry the game into New Game Plus slapping a ship together allows you to spread your creativity and it allows you to make something that is personal and unique to you making it something that no one else has and I believe that do something we need more of in games not [ __ ] calling cards and armor sets that everyone can unlock but pieces of content that you yourself can create with your own Ingenuity it doesn't stop there either after it's built you can walk around in it and [ __ ] fly the thing I mean how cool is that it's just how they are utilized for gameplay that is disappointing to me a lot of the time they just honestly boil down to highly customizable fast travel and storage options when the combat hits it's really fun but trying to find enemies in space is grueling I mean I made it a point to fast travel and fly around in systems hoping ships would be there to fight but I'd say maybe one in every 10 systems had two ships to kill the game affords you the ability to become a freelance Bounty Hunter by accepting contracts and Terminals and I saw that you can install a brri so naturally I figured if you can install a Brak into your ship you can bring bounties and dead or alive for a difference and reward but now you you can't it's merely a cosmetic option it that's it boarding enemy ships is a cool mechanic that is awesome for the first three times you do it but then you realize that you have to watch an animation of the docking procedure and then you have to go into a loading screen to kill two people and score lackluster loot I mean why can't Pirates board my ship making me drive them off before they can steal my precious cargo that would have been such a cool natural encounter it just seems like the ship Builder was such a huge part of the development process and a lot of it feels unfulfilling at launch I'm not even going to actually get into the regression and outpost building that somehow makes Fallout Forest seem revolutionary it's honestly not fun the last thing I'll touch on because I know this video by this point is getting really long but it's the lore its lore surrounding the colony war that was laid to rest by an Armistice paints a gripping picture of a story that could have been throughout the game various quests will have you visit landmarks and previous battlefields Left Behind from the war that all look so awesome seeing the Towering Max warart torn surfaces and color palette gave me a taste of what could have been what I wanted I mean does piloting a Mech will aliens scatter the battlefield not sound way better than collect XYZ and then do it again what were they thinking imagine having to choose between the space ehars and the colonial Marines and decide the fate of the war by having to juggle the moral and ethical intricacies of War and the unsanctioned practices like Xeno Warfare it feels like such a big wasted opportunity oh and also side note but Fallout Force NPCs animations are better don't know don't I don't know how that's possible but just watch this comparison they're just better everyone who's anyone in the Commonwealth is from here settled here got kicked out of here a big wall some power working Plumbing schools and some security goons are what make diamond City the big monster it is love it or hate it I appreciate that this is going to be hard to get some sleep tonight after all this but the fact that I'm doing something about it might be enough to help okay now now I'm done it's time to wrap this up so Starfield is a massive game that has a lot going for it its strongest aspects are found within it sheer amount of customization faction Quest and the improved Gunplay I can see why people are enjoying it as much as they are there are plenty of ships to build outposts to manage quests to complete skill trees to upgrade Apartments to furnish and interesting characters to meet I put about 75 hours into my first run because I wanted to do everything I could before making this video and 75 hours is a lot of Play Time Honestly though after the first like 20 to 25 hours the game really struggled to keep my attention off and on I had pretty much felt by then that I had seen everything the game had to offer and the heavy emphasis on resource collection and micromanagement did not do it for me it was made so simple and Fallout forward just grabbed tons of junk and loaded into your workbenches but it's just made so complicated here for reasons I can't explain regardless of what people are saying in the massive uproar of hype around this game it is nowhere near their best achievement to date in terms of pure scope sure but it foro some of the heart and soul that made their other games Classics that will Outlast us all if you find intrinsic value in seamlessly exploring worlds rooted in Rich lore replay value and pure immersion this is likely going to disappoint you like it did me I did have fun with it and it's 100% a good game I don't want that to be understated by how negative this video has been and I hope honestly it's not even that negative I just wanted to make an informative video showing the stance I believe and that is that Starfield does not reach the standards Bethesda have set for themselves with questionable Quest choices making it a game that I am IND different about jumping back into so that's it if you liked this video or thought I at least made some good points I'd appreciate any kind of support whether it's a like a sub or a comment I know you guys don't really care but this video in these like long form videos take a [ __ ] long ass time to make and personally I'd like to make more long form content like this so if you made it this far and you liked it let me know and peace out

Channel: CentriFewgi

Views: 10,820

Keywords: starfield, starfield review, starfield gameplay, game review

Id: Ch3oaT9BqJ8

Length: 40min 45sec (2445 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 19 2023