By Smokey Go To Posttime to go backHold out for the full mod support, breh.
By HottestGrapes Go To PostHold out for the full mod support, breh.u waiting for the big booty bitches mods friend? those are true evil imho.
like, why would you even waste your time creating this 300 pound ass and the npc moves like a horse?
but the booties in cyberporn are already fine, why do you want to touch them? look at panam. look at judy. you can even create your own booty with V.
By Hentai Samurai Go To Postu waiting for the big booty bitches mods friend? those are true evil imho.I’m a man of culture, not a man of unpure desires.
like, why would you even waste your time creating this 300 pound ass and the npc moves like a horse?
I wanna see some mods remix the procedural generation aspects of the game and improve combat.
By HottestGrapes Go To PostHold out for the full mod support, breh.
Too late.
Installed the update and picked up my file from a few months ago. Spent a few minutes getting familiar with the binds and where i dropped off. Ended up playing 4 hours. Just started the Freestar quest line.
Is there a curated list of mods yet? Running the vanilla GP version. I assume the mods work across Steam and GP versions, but maybe I shouldn’t .
That Escape mission they put up on the Creation Club was quite good, better than most of the side quests in the main game.
I've only played a bit of Shattered Space so far and it seems ok I guess. Kind of suprised Andreja doesn't have more to say about going home given she never thought she would. There's only been one throwaway bit of dialogue from her so far about it but other than that she's stayed quiet while the Va'ruun herald me as the chosen one in typical Bethesda fashion.
I've only played a bit of Shattered Space so far and it seems ok I guess. Kind of suprised Andreja doesn't have more to say about going home given she never thought she would. There's only been one throwaway bit of dialogue from her so far about it but other than that she's stayed quiet while the Va'ruun herald me as the chosen one in typical Bethesda fashion.
You can go blue collar if you ignore the quests and just focus on space trucking missions or base/ship building 😁
Honestly, the thing I wanted the most in the base game was some repository or journal where my Xenobiologist could catalogue all the alien species 😢
I think there's a mod for it tho.
Honestly, the thing I wanted the most in the base game was some repository or journal where my Xenobiologist could catalogue all the alien species 😢
I think there's a mod for it tho.
Long fucking post that no one will read ahead.
Finished the Shattered Space expansion today. Took me a while because I made a new character with the Serpent's Embrace trait so I could see how it worked out. It ended up showing up on almost every quest, but it wasn't a dialogue option that opened up many new quest choices, it just allows your character to go faster through conversations and align yourself with NPCs, making them more accepting. It's good for role-playing a snek-zealot going along with all the madness of this society. It's nice when trait and skill dialogue choices show up (I saw a lot of them too, from Stealth, to Security, Medicine, Research, Theft, etc.) but they always only have minimal consequences.
I also played the Creation Club Mission: Escape, and it was very good. The kind of content the game desperately needed more of. It's on the vein of an escape room with a self-contained story and out of the box challenges that make you think. It's short, but well put together. The fact that they are charging $5 for it is asinine. If they add more of this stuff over time, for FREE, I could see some goodwill coming back. Fat chance now tho with the bounty hunting missions being so fucking underwhelming too. Anyways...
I took Andreja along, and it's nice to see that she reacts to almost everything you do, even smaller quests, but only a couple of times she imposes herself in a way that makes sense according to her background. The writing on her is also very non-committal and her responses are ambivalent, to the point of making no sense. This is a game where if you accidentally hit an innocent person, your companion will throw a hissy fit and leave you, but will accept an apology anyway and will never turn on you, no matter how big your disagreement is (toothless). Edit: just to clarify, I think companions can still leave you forever, but with a mini-game apology they won't no matter what you've done. So considering some of the stuff in this DLC Andreja is chill with, it just makes no sense... Your other companions rightly react to a specific ending decision because it's supposed to be a big deal... except Andreja. But ultimately, all of them can be swayed in a blink and something that feels like it should have lasting consequences... is hand-waved away too quickly. There's a lack of attention to detail that's always troubling.
I think the expansion was good overall, but it's not gonna turn anyone around on the game. As usual, it "borrows" a lot from their other games. They tried to make exploring Va'ruun'kai more like traversing Morrowind than anything else this time around. A big open settlement with outposts and farms, temples and caves all dotted around the place. The terrain is craggy and mountainous (doesn't play well with the Rev-8 buggy) with much more dangerous fauna and little paths that converge in signposts and monuments, and the new enemies show up everywhere.
It took me around 17 hours to explore most of it, finish the main storyline and most of the side quests. The main story is probably around 4-5 hours long if yo do literally nothing else. The opening of the DLC was strong. They went back to Zero-G combat (one of the best things in the base game) with an Event Horizon-like boarding up a station and trying to put it back together while being attacked by inter-dimensional horrors mission. Then it's on to help the three main houses work together, do their chores and solve the mystery of the missing Va'ruun speaker who's showing up in ghost form here and there, and only you can understand him.
These quests were similar to the faction quests from the main game, more structured and usually each attached to a combat heavy dungeon or facility to infiltrate. By the time you hit the final mission, and depending on a particular choice you make, the final confrontation can be a chaotic combat arena (which was challenging enough for my infiltrator like character). This is where I think the expansion's shine wears off and doesn't feel transformative enough. It's atmospheric and there are sights to see and things to find, like in Fallout 4's Far Harbour, or Skyrim's Dragonborn expansions, but it doesn't quite leave a lasting impression akin to those DLCs.
But, there are other things I liked a lot. If you stick to the main quest, you won't even see 20% of the unique locations on this planet. It does feel, on a lesser scale, like a place worth exploring on your own. There are several points of interest and quests that won't be pointed out to you, and there are nice things to find in them. One of my favourite quests was a small one where you help an old man trying to overcome his loss. It was slower paced and relied on you to put things together. The game could've done with more quests like that. The DLC even bucks the "chosen one" thing a bit if you're paying attention, with the way it connects to the main storyline. People still treat you like one, but from a narrative standpoint it finally makes sense, and it's a smart subversion from Bethesda. Although ultimately, they don't develop it further which is a now all too common miss on their part, so hard to give them points for the self awareness either.
I liked seeking out the shrines by following hints, discovering a hidden tomb and spooky cave, and my favourite dungeon was one completely hidden underneath a farm. I think dungeon design is one of the things Bethesda has improved the most over the years. There are a ton of pathways allowing for sneaky approaches, and big arenas with cover and tons of verticality for boost-pack fights. The detail inside them is phenomenal too. It's definitely how they should've hand placed them in the base game, instead of repeating them using a proc gen system with no variation of the interior pathing or enemy placement, or not even decorated differently. Storming a robotics facility or abandoned pharma lab off the beaten path is a fine treat; putting an exact copy of it down to the same enemy placements and reawrd chests, etc, in every planet you visit is super disappointing and makes the game feel small.
Gladly, they avoided this here (on the main DLC planet, but there's a whole new system to explore that mostly plays by the old rules).
Another thing they've nailed is the new Gameplay Options. Being able to fine tune difficulty to such a degree makes the game 1000 times better. I like more challenging combat, and how ailments and the need to eat and sleep changes the pace of the game for the better (I mean, the reason I like these games is the downtime, I like to chill too). I never had a hoarding problem because I know not to pick everything up, so I still keep my inventory capacity nice and low, but it's still nice to have access to the ship's inventory everywhere for a minimal XP penalty. But it's nice the options are there for those who want them tailored to their tastes. I also like the car. It's useless in combat, but in low G planets it's amazing. Although it might slide a bit too much in icy planets.
...
Final thoughts:
I'm the audience for this game, so it's no surprise that I enjoyed it well enough. Heck, I think this character (my third overall) was the one I've enjoyed the most so far, and had no problem going to lvl 55 with it and will likely play further with it too. The additions of the customizable difficulty options and the vehicle have improved the experience a lot as well, making the negative space enjoyable to traverse and tailoring the challenge just right for each style. There is still nothing else like it out there for what I'm looking for. Being on a forest planet, seeing the star and moons and planets in orbit move and cast shadows realistically while day turns into night, knowing you can visit that moon and put an outpost there, seeing ships take off and land in the distance, knowing you can chase them, board them and even register them as yours. The chill moments I live for, are all still here. Aesthetically, it's still the best thing Bethesda has ever done (not a high bar, I know, blah blah blah).
That said, I'm not blind to the hundreds of issues this game has and they hold the game back again and again. This post is long enough already, but fuck it, here I go anyway. The writing is still unremarkable, and downright bad too many times. It sometimes tries, but never goes anywhere, and big picture, it's ultimately another DLC where you end up in front of a terminal having to decide the fates of hundreds by literally hitting a YES or NO button. A lot of dialogue and voice acting budget wasted on nonsense, straightforward quests and empty words. It's a miracle finding an NPC that acts like a human being, with likes, dislikes and needs that don't point straight down to whatever quest they give you, while you find tons that have hundreds of lines with no real depth, originality, surprise or anything anchoring you or them to the world.
No new companion is dumb, and I expected more form Andreja's involvement at least. There's still no equivalent to Serana or Nick Valentine, there might be a few Preston Garveys :P, or someone with any three-dimensional personality to make you care. This was billed as a narrative-first DLC, so it was the place to do it, but of course not. And that also means no new cool Va'rrun ship, or ship habitats or ship weapons (there are new weapons, and suits/outfits) or unique robbits, pets, anything! which is disappointing too. The rarity loot system is still crap. The game NEEDS really unique, handcrafted unique items and rewards that support specific builds. I like some of the new outfits and items aesthetically, but it's a bummer that more often than not, it's something you'd never wear for stats, due to the luck of the draw for item traits and not being able to modify or craft outfits, despite a bunch of skills dedicated to crafting. There are no ship missions either, as far as I can tell.
The world and structures still don't feel like real, habitable places on the whole. While interiors are detailed and look lived in, as soon as you step outside, these places stop making sense. Completely artificial with no regard for scale or the human and wildlife activity they are simulating around them. Not even placed to take advantage of vistas or environmental storytelling. The stepping out of the cave moments from Oblivion and Fallout and Skyrim ARE what Bethesda is all about, and they don't even know how to do them anymore, with the best looking universe they've ever built. It's infuriating.
Not that buggy a game I have to concede. It's here in the negatives because as they've really cut back on them bugs, heck, even some of that irreverent, unexpected fun is gone with little else in its place.
TL;DR: Feels too much like a 5th faction questline that was cut from the main game and polished up a bit, and as such, it's not so much of a grand new adventure as it is a detour from the other stuff you were sick of doing already with nothing reaching for new and fresh experiences. It blends almost too well with the base game and ironically, that's what prevents it from standing out more. Overall, it contains a decent spread of good quests, bad quests, fetch quests, good locations and empty structures, improved combat and obnoxious traversal that will make your vehicle feel useless, and ultimately interesting, yet completely unsatisfying story that sometimes makes no sense or isn't memorable and doesn't stick the landing; gives the illusion of choice but consequences don't really connect to the outer world or the characters you already maybe didn't care for.
I love this game. But it's hard sometimes.
Finished the Shattered Space expansion today. Took me a while because I made a new character with the Serpent's Embrace trait so I could see how it worked out. It ended up showing up on almost every quest, but it wasn't a dialogue option that opened up many new quest choices, it just allows your character to go faster through conversations and align yourself with NPCs, making them more accepting. It's good for role-playing a snek-zealot going along with all the madness of this society. It's nice when trait and skill dialogue choices show up (I saw a lot of them too, from Stealth, to Security, Medicine, Research, Theft, etc.) but they always only have minimal consequences.
I also played the Creation Club Mission: Escape, and it was very good. The kind of content the game desperately needed more of. It's on the vein of an escape room with a self-contained story and out of the box challenges that make you think. It's short, but well put together. The fact that they are charging $5 for it is asinine. If they add more of this stuff over time, for FREE, I could see some goodwill coming back. Fat chance now tho with the bounty hunting missions being so fucking underwhelming too. Anyways...
I took Andreja along, and it's nice to see that she reacts to almost everything you do, even smaller quests, but only a couple of times she imposes herself in a way that makes sense according to her background. The writing on her is also very non-committal and her responses are ambivalent, to the point of making no sense. This is a game where if you accidentally hit an innocent person, your companion will throw a hissy fit and leave you, but will accept an apology anyway and will never turn on you, no matter how big your disagreement is (toothless). Edit: just to clarify, I think companions can still leave you forever, but with a mini-game apology they won't no matter what you've done. So considering some of the stuff in this DLC Andreja is chill with, it just makes no sense... Your other companions rightly react to a specific ending decision because it's supposed to be a big deal... except Andreja. But ultimately, all of them can be swayed in a blink and something that feels like it should have lasting consequences... is hand-waved away too quickly. There's a lack of attention to detail that's always troubling.
I think the expansion was good overall, but it's not gonna turn anyone around on the game. As usual, it "borrows" a lot from their other games. They tried to make exploring Va'ruun'kai more like traversing Morrowind than anything else this time around. A big open settlement with outposts and farms, temples and caves all dotted around the place. The terrain is craggy and mountainous (doesn't play well with the Rev-8 buggy) with much more dangerous fauna and little paths that converge in signposts and monuments, and the new enemies show up everywhere.
It took me around 17 hours to explore most of it, finish the main storyline and most of the side quests. The main story is probably around 4-5 hours long if yo do literally nothing else. The opening of the DLC was strong. They went back to Zero-G combat (one of the best things in the base game) with an Event Horizon-like boarding up a station and trying to put it back together while being attacked by inter-dimensional horrors mission. Then it's on to help the three main houses work together, do their chores and solve the mystery of the missing Va'ruun speaker who's showing up in ghost form here and there, and only you can understand him.
These quests were similar to the faction quests from the main game, more structured and usually each attached to a combat heavy dungeon or facility to infiltrate. By the time you hit the final mission, and depending on a particular choice you make, the final confrontation can be a chaotic combat arena (which was challenging enough for my infiltrator like character). This is where I think the expansion's shine wears off and doesn't feel transformative enough. It's atmospheric and there are sights to see and things to find, like in Fallout 4's Far Harbour, or Skyrim's Dragonborn expansions, but it doesn't quite leave a lasting impression akin to those DLCs.
But, there are other things I liked a lot. If you stick to the main quest, you won't even see 20% of the unique locations on this planet. It does feel, on a lesser scale, like a place worth exploring on your own. There are several points of interest and quests that won't be pointed out to you, and there are nice things to find in them. One of my favourite quests was a small one where you help an old man trying to overcome his loss. It was slower paced and relied on you to put things together. The game could've done with more quests like that. The DLC even bucks the "chosen one" thing a bit if you're paying attention, with the way it connects to the main storyline. People still treat you like one, but from a narrative standpoint it finally makes sense, and it's a smart subversion from Bethesda. Although ultimately, they don't develop it further which is a now all too common miss on their part, so hard to give them points for the self awareness either.
I liked seeking out the shrines by following hints, discovering a hidden tomb and spooky cave, and my favourite dungeon was one completely hidden underneath a farm. I think dungeon design is one of the things Bethesda has improved the most over the years. There are a ton of pathways allowing for sneaky approaches, and big arenas with cover and tons of verticality for boost-pack fights. The detail inside them is phenomenal too. It's definitely how they should've hand placed them in the base game, instead of repeating them using a proc gen system with no variation of the interior pathing or enemy placement, or not even decorated differently. Storming a robotics facility or abandoned pharma lab off the beaten path is a fine treat; putting an exact copy of it down to the same enemy placements and reawrd chests, etc, in every planet you visit is super disappointing and makes the game feel small.
Gladly, they avoided this here (on the main DLC planet, but there's a whole new system to explore that mostly plays by the old rules).
Another thing they've nailed is the new Gameplay Options. Being able to fine tune difficulty to such a degree makes the game 1000 times better. I like more challenging combat, and how ailments and the need to eat and sleep changes the pace of the game for the better (I mean, the reason I like these games is the downtime, I like to chill too). I never had a hoarding problem because I know not to pick everything up, so I still keep my inventory capacity nice and low, but it's still nice to have access to the ship's inventory everywhere for a minimal XP penalty. But it's nice the options are there for those who want them tailored to their tastes. I also like the car. It's useless in combat, but in low G planets it's amazing. Although it might slide a bit too much in icy planets.
...
Final thoughts:
I'm the audience for this game, so it's no surprise that I enjoyed it well enough. Heck, I think this character (my third overall) was the one I've enjoyed the most so far, and had no problem going to lvl 55 with it and will likely play further with it too. The additions of the customizable difficulty options and the vehicle have improved the experience a lot as well, making the negative space enjoyable to traverse and tailoring the challenge just right for each style. There is still nothing else like it out there for what I'm looking for. Being on a forest planet, seeing the star and moons and planets in orbit move and cast shadows realistically while day turns into night, knowing you can visit that moon and put an outpost there, seeing ships take off and land in the distance, knowing you can chase them, board them and even register them as yours. The chill moments I live for, are all still here. Aesthetically, it's still the best thing Bethesda has ever done (not a high bar, I know, blah blah blah).
That said, I'm not blind to the hundreds of issues this game has and they hold the game back again and again. This post is long enough already, but fuck it, here I go anyway. The writing is still unremarkable, and downright bad too many times. It sometimes tries, but never goes anywhere, and big picture, it's ultimately another DLC where you end up in front of a terminal having to decide the fates of hundreds by literally hitting a YES or NO button. A lot of dialogue and voice acting budget wasted on nonsense, straightforward quests and empty words. It's a miracle finding an NPC that acts like a human being, with likes, dislikes and needs that don't point straight down to whatever quest they give you, while you find tons that have hundreds of lines with no real depth, originality, surprise or anything anchoring you or them to the world.
No new companion is dumb, and I expected more form Andreja's involvement at least. There's still no equivalent to Serana or Nick Valentine, there might be a few Preston Garveys :P, or someone with any three-dimensional personality to make you care. This was billed as a narrative-first DLC, so it was the place to do it, but of course not. And that also means no new cool Va'rrun ship, or ship habitats or ship weapons (there are new weapons, and suits/outfits) or unique robbits, pets, anything! which is disappointing too. The rarity loot system is still crap. The game NEEDS really unique, handcrafted unique items and rewards that support specific builds. I like some of the new outfits and items aesthetically, but it's a bummer that more often than not, it's something you'd never wear for stats, due to the luck of the draw for item traits and not being able to modify or craft outfits, despite a bunch of skills dedicated to crafting. There are no ship missions either, as far as I can tell.
The world and structures still don't feel like real, habitable places on the whole. While interiors are detailed and look lived in, as soon as you step outside, these places stop making sense. Completely artificial with no regard for scale or the human and wildlife activity they are simulating around them. Not even placed to take advantage of vistas or environmental storytelling. The stepping out of the cave moments from Oblivion and Fallout and Skyrim ARE what Bethesda is all about, and they don't even know how to do them anymore, with the best looking universe they've ever built. It's infuriating.
Not that buggy a game I have to concede. It's here in the negatives because as they've really cut back on them bugs, heck, even some of that irreverent, unexpected fun is gone with little else in its place.
TL;DR: Feels too much like a 5th faction questline that was cut from the main game and polished up a bit, and as such, it's not so much of a grand new adventure as it is a detour from the other stuff you were sick of doing already with nothing reaching for new and fresh experiences. It blends almost too well with the base game and ironically, that's what prevents it from standing out more. Overall, it contains a decent spread of good quests, bad quests, fetch quests, good locations and empty structures, improved combat and obnoxious traversal that will make your vehicle feel useless, and ultimately interesting, yet completely unsatisfying story that sometimes makes no sense or isn't memorable and doesn't stick the landing; gives the illusion of choice but consequences don't really connect to the outer world or the characters you already maybe didn't care for.
I love this game. But it's hard sometimes.
I read all that.
It sounds like what I’d expect of it honestly, maybe a tad more disappointing that I would like it to be in regards to Andreja's interactions and the new companion.
Otherwise a fairly well made DLC just not very exciting.
It sounds like what I’d expect of it honestly, maybe a tad more disappointing that I would like it to be in regards to Andreja's interactions and the new companion.
Otherwise a fairly well made DLC just not very exciting.
I read it all, inko. What a wordsmith.
Still haven’t touched the game since like… two weeks after it was released. Biggest disappointment of my LIFE. Unfortunately reading your review did not make me want to try again.
Still haven’t touched the game since like… two weeks after it was released. Biggest disappointment of my LIFE. Unfortunately reading your review did not make me want to try again.
Good review, inko. And the real reason I probably won't go back to the game is because you simply cannot fix writing, characters and a world this dull with mods. I just fundamentally am not interested spending time in this world they've built. It is so boring and artificial. There are so many places you can go, and I have no interested in going there because you know there will be nothing interesting and no surprises.
I mean you can fix it with mods, but it would take a total conversion + quest mods.
Like Enderal for Skyrim or London for Fallout 4.
Like Enderal for Skyrim or London for Fallout 4.
I feel you, horse.
Most I can see is fixing the pacing and going through locations made more exciting. There's a mod that rebuilds/redresses POIs so they aren't so repetitive and it's more judicious about where they appear. There's another that gets rid of all the temples (except the first) and gives you theshouts powers when you find each artifact. Kinda fixes two obvious issues there. Why are there dozens of massive unexplored ancient temples everywhere? and Why is my power reward on another planet?
Could probably make Jemison, Akila, and Mars more in the vein of Va'ruun'kai and Dazra, packing them up with close unique locations, maybe even extending the metro system in New Atlantis outside the city to these settlements. But new quests like the DLC Escape one (which is gud) and NPCs you want to hang out with... would take a serious effort. There is one mod for Fallout 4 called Sim Settlements 2 that's a whole voiced acted, new campaign. It's impressive and blends almost seamlessly with the base game. Doubt people fuck with Starfield that much to do something like that, which is sad.
...
I'm a sicko, so finding cool skyboxes and vistas is its own reward for me, or going with my Xenobiologist character, and scanning all sorts of alien life, or building and decorating new ships, but I know it's not enough for everyone. The main faction quests are good, even great fun at times imo, but they always have minor annoyances that become major because they are flimsily put and held together, and most fall apart in the end or don't leave a lasting impression.
Not to go all fanfic here, but the setup of the universe is all wrong, and it all cascades from there. I get Bethesda were probably trying to avoid the "let's put together a team"* cliche, but what they came up with wasn't any better in the end. They were too satisfied with their fiction that they essentially made it all backstory.
If the game opens with all factions still at war, you finding the artifact by chance instead of by commission (subtle but key difference to the opening thrust imo), and Constellation being a sorry ass two man team (Sarah and Barrett) with the Lodge being a sorry ass HQ that grows over time** you actually have room for connecting with these people as you find them. How you gonna have two factions, one that pioneered xenowarfare, the other who built giant ass mechs, and not let you loose in the middle of that mess? What a tease. There's more of an inherent danger to exploring settled and undiscovered space this way, and your role as a leader makes more sense, choices of who to recruit and which faction to side with more significant, instead of being the newcomer that suddenly has all the questions and all the answers to please everybody.
*I do want to give them some points for not going there?... but if you want a settled crew of characters, a more logical and measured Star Trek like take on discovery and exploration, you gotta make sure that they work together (emphasis on work, not just hang out and get along) and contribute in visible ways beyond "it's now turn for my mission", which is the staple of putting together a crew without the fun of putting together a crew. You also gotta make sure that it's worth going out there, finding unique phenomena and situations that are not available anywhere else, disconnected from the other threads.
Ultimately, it's a game that feels made by separate teams that don't quite communicate with each other and didn't want to step on any toes. There's incredible attention to detail in some areas, and none in others. Weird ass compromises (why isn't every store/office/room decorated and furnished? Why are single room, empty locations behind a loading zone, and big ass unique ones on the open floor tucked away?) and a lack of bite.
**I know people previously hated settlement building in F4, but man, Bethesda are actually kinda good at it. Fuck your whiny audience and commit to your strengths. Like I said, there is a whole ass voiced, 40 hour mod that elaborates on building settlements that's got hundreds of thousands of downloads. Some people like that. And you can just automate it for those who don't. The outpost building in Starfield is another missed opportunity, along with not being able to build or modify robots. These are systems you already had built up!
Most I can see is fixing the pacing and going through locations made more exciting. There's a mod that rebuilds/redresses POIs so they aren't so repetitive and it's more judicious about where they appear. There's another that gets rid of all the temples (except the first) and gives you the
Could probably make Jemison, Akila, and Mars more in the vein of Va'ruun'kai and Dazra, packing them up with close unique locations, maybe even extending the metro system in New Atlantis outside the city to these settlements. But new quests like the DLC Escape one (which is gud) and NPCs you want to hang out with... would take a serious effort. There is one mod for Fallout 4 called Sim Settlements 2 that's a whole voiced acted, new campaign. It's impressive and blends almost seamlessly with the base game. Doubt people fuck with Starfield that much to do something like that, which is sad.
...
I'm a sicko, so finding cool skyboxes and vistas is its own reward for me, or going with my Xenobiologist character, and scanning all sorts of alien life, or building and decorating new ships, but I know it's not enough for everyone. The main faction quests are good, even great fun at times imo, but they always have minor annoyances that become major because they are flimsily put and held together, and most fall apart in the end or don't leave a lasting impression.
Not to go all fanfic here, but the setup of the universe is all wrong, and it all cascades from there. I get Bethesda were probably trying to avoid the "let's put together a team"* cliche, but what they came up with wasn't any better in the end. They were too satisfied with their fiction that they essentially made it all backstory.
If the game opens with all factions still at war, you finding the artifact by chance instead of by commission (subtle but key difference to the opening thrust imo), and Constellation being a sorry ass two man team (Sarah and Barrett) with the Lodge being a sorry ass HQ that grows over time** you actually have room for connecting with these people as you find them. How you gonna have two factions, one that pioneered xenowarfare, the other who built giant ass mechs, and not let you loose in the middle of that mess? What a tease. There's more of an inherent danger to exploring settled and undiscovered space this way, and your role as a leader makes more sense, choices of who to recruit and which faction to side with more significant, instead of being the newcomer that suddenly has all the questions and all the answers to please everybody.
*I do want to give them some points for not going there?... but if you want a settled crew of characters, a more logical and measured Star Trek like take on discovery and exploration, you gotta make sure that they work together (emphasis on work, not just hang out and get along) and contribute in visible ways beyond "it's now turn for my mission", which is the staple of putting together a crew without the fun of putting together a crew. You also gotta make sure that it's worth going out there, finding unique phenomena and situations that are not available anywhere else, disconnected from the other threads.
Ultimately, it's a game that feels made by separate teams that don't quite communicate with each other and didn't want to step on any toes. There's incredible attention to detail in some areas, and none in others. Weird ass compromises (why isn't every store/office/room decorated and furnished? Why are single room, empty locations behind a loading zone, and big ass unique ones on the open floor tucked away?) and a lack of bite.
**I know people previously hated settlement building in F4, but man, Bethesda are actually kinda good at it. Fuck your whiny audience and commit to your strengths. Like I said, there is a whole ass voiced, 40 hour mod that elaborates on building settlements that's got hundreds of thousands of downloads. Some people like that. And you can just automate it for those who don't. The outpost building in Starfield is another missed opportunity, along with not being able to build or modify robots. These are systems you already had built up!
I'm really hoping the Starborn expansion is better but at the same time I'm not even sure what I want at this point.
Top of my list are more story companions that aren't all goody two shoes but I just can’t see them going back and inserting them into the main quest lines.
I really had to push myself to finish Shattered Space because I didn't think it was that great. I agree with Inky that it feels like a cut faction questline but if that was the case I can see why it was cut for the main release because it's the weakest one.
Top of my list are more story companions that aren't all goody two shoes but I just can’t see them going back and inserting them into the main quest lines.
I really had to push myself to finish Shattered Space because I didn't think it was that great. I agree with Inky that it feels like a cut faction questline but if that was the case I can see why it was cut for the main release because it's the weakest one.
FWIW, the faction quest lines in the base game were my favourite part of the game. Followed by the one off quests that were actually fleshed out with unique locations and such.
Yeah, it's hard to come up with something really transformative for another yearly expansion without going into pipe-dream territory. At the very least, an engaging story is a given. Just something that doesn't end up in a binary "moral" dilemma for starters. Game's filled with those already.
I liked the faction storylines too. I think they all have at least one excellent mission and one really unique location in them, but they need to be supplemented with self-contained, unique location quests like vapes said, and less of the repetitive, hack a terminal here or planet jumping there busywork.
I'd love a more exploration focused DLC with more hand-built locations, aliens, flora, space phenomena including orbital and deep space, but if the Starborn rumors are true, probably means a big baddie similar to the Dragonborn, and a bunch of new powers along with it, and maybe a "precursor" system to visit.
I could write up a list of things (companions: human/mechanical/pets, different vehicles, skills, space station building, QoL), etc, but it would boil down to essentially wishing for more "start another save" content. All things they probably hope mods are better off addressing, which is a shame.
I want more things to do, for sure. But what I really want are places and missions that really do good on 'go out there into the unknown' dream. I've had my fill of clear 'abandoned facility' 500m away from 'small civilian outpost with a generic shop and a fetch quest inside'. Give me a mission where I can tackle astral phenomena, build a stellar engine, some mystery inside a big ass asteroid, recruit scientists and procure parts to build a unique machine to explore a deep ocean planet. Let me go on a space walk mission.
(It's funny, I think they "tried" with the mourning device in Shattered Space, but that was another version of building the teleporter, or putting Liberty Prime together in F4). They know how to have ideas, but they always come up with most straightforward, half-assed approach to them. Give me the path of most-resistance for once.
I liked the faction storylines too. I think they all have at least one excellent mission and one really unique location in them, but they need to be supplemented with self-contained, unique location quests like vapes said, and less of the repetitive, hack a terminal here or planet jumping there busywork.
I'd love a more exploration focused DLC with more hand-built locations, aliens, flora, space phenomena including orbital and deep space, but if the Starborn rumors are true, probably means a big baddie similar to the Dragonborn, and a bunch of new powers along with it, and maybe a "precursor" system to visit.
I could write up a list of things (companions: human/mechanical/pets, different vehicles, skills, space station building, QoL), etc, but it would boil down to essentially wishing for more "start another save" content. All things they probably hope mods are better off addressing, which is a shame.
I want more things to do, for sure. But what I really want are places and missions that really do good on 'go out there into the unknown' dream. I've had my fill of clear 'abandoned facility' 500m away from 'small civilian outpost with a generic shop and a fetch quest inside'. Give me a mission where I can tackle astral phenomena, build a stellar engine, some mystery inside a big ass asteroid, recruit scientists and procure parts to build a unique machine to explore a deep ocean planet. Let me go on a space walk mission.
(It's funny, I think they "tried" with the mourning device in Shattered Space, but that was another version of building the teleporter, or putting Liberty Prime together in F4). They know how to have ideas, but they always come up with most straightforward, half-assed approach to them. Give me the path of most-resistance for once.
Got a new update with a couple of small pieces of content:
https://bethesda.net/en/article/38q2uff5qyS82wZoiPtvOA/starfield-update-1-14-74-november-19-2024
https://bethesda.net/en/article/38q2uff5qyS82wZoiPtvOA/starfield-update-1-14-74-november-19-2024
Deimog Land Vehicle
As a special gift to our players for our 15 million player landmark, get ready to conquer the terrain of unexplored planets with the all-new Deimog, the latest addition to Starfield’s lineup of high-performance land vehicles. Built for speed and endurance, the Deimog features a fully enclosed cabin to keep you protected as you race through rugged landscapes. Its exceptional handling allows you to navigate even the trickiest terrain with ease, while a powerful rocket launcher ensures you’re prepared for any threats—be it hostile wildlife or clusters of enemies.
The Perfect Recipe
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, The Perfect Recipe invites you on a heartwarming journey through Akila City, where the past and present collide in the hands of an unlikely dreamer. This character-driven questline introduces you to Harbhajan, a gifted mechanic with a hidden passion for the culinary arts. When you stumble upon a dusty recipe book during your travels, you learn it belongs to Harbhajan—a once-hopeful chef whose ambitions were set aside for a more practical life. Returning the recipes ignites a spark, rekindling old dreams of becoming a galaxy-renowned chef. But could it be too late for a second chance?neat