Starfield

[DFF]

It's out now!

[Lint]

Played it for about an hour.

It turned my PC into a space heater...

I made (what I think) is a fairly non-binary character with they/them pronouns (love they included that!)

The brief space combat tutorial made me feel seasick...

[Maxx]

That took somewhere north of 5 hours to download.    Then it downloaded onto my external hard drive, rather than the Xbox's internal.  So now I have to move it over before I can play it.

[DFF]

Played about an hour so far (got as far as the first space battle). The Series S handled it well enough so far. 

Mechanically, it feels a mix of Outer Worlds and Mass Effect, which I guess feels about right. I've made a diplomat with a big blue beard and garrish blue hair. 

I made a hilarious mistake in my first ground combat fight - picked up a gun but forgot to pick up the ammo, so had to resort to running around twatting pirates in the face with a fire axe 

[Toe]

I forgot to install it overnight, so I'll probably be waiting until tomorrow to give it a try.

[jrhodes]

Ended up getting this instead of BG3 because Game Pass was $1 for the month on PC. Can't beat that.

Played about an hour of Starfield so far and it's not really gripping me, to be honest. Visually it's a huge step up for a Bethesda game but it feels big and empty - which is a problem I have with space games in general. Maybe it's just not for me. I'll play some more though and see how I go.

On the plus side, it's been remarkably bug-less and jank-free so far.

[Ruki]

The 'Fast Travel Directly From The Missions Menu' alert isn't going away for me, which is annoying. 

[FLiam]

Ok so the game itself is what I expected - I think I’ll enjoy it.

However, the interface and navigation is all atrocious to be honest. None of it is user friendly and I’m constantly getting confused as to what I need to click on to get to where. No city maps is a bit of a joke too.

[Ruki]

2 hours ago, FLiam said:

Ok so the game itself is what I expected - I think I’ll enjoy it.

However, the interface and navigation is all atrocious to be honest. None of it is user friendly and I’m constantly getting confused as to what I need to click on to get to where. No city maps is a bit of a joke too.

This is how I'm feeling so far with about 5 hours of playtime. I'm enjoying it, not being blown away.

 

But the menus and (lack of) maps are just so dumb. 

[FLiam]

I found out that if you have a quest marked in the menu, bringing up the scanner maps out a path to the waypoint - which is helpful for navigation.

[Lint]

I totally stole someones ship and now its mine

[FLiam]

I’m a snob - the 30fps cap on Series X is really naff.

The Series X was sold as the ultimate next-gen gaming machine that could truly handle next-gen games. Obviously not.

[Bobfoc]

It's largely down to how Bethesda designs its games. Every item's position is permanently tracked in the game world, which is a big drain on processing power. Even the most expensive PC builds are struggling to maintain a constant 60fps with the game.

I suspect we're going to be seeing a lot more 30fps games on Series X and PS5 moving forward. A Plague Tale: Requiem and Gotham Knights didn't have 60fps performance modes on either system, while Final Fantasy XVI really struggles to keep a stable 60fps on PS5.

Big studios are always likely to prioritise graphical quality over frame rate because it looks good in promotional material. The more they focus on features like ray tracing, the harder it is for the Series X and PS5 processors to cope. I'm always of the opinion that a 60fps option should be offered if possible, but it's sadly going to reach a point where it becomes less and less common this generation.

My expectation is that the inevitable mid-generation "Pro" versions of each console will become the 60fps machines, while the current ones settle for 30fps.

[apsham]

I'm usually one who leans heavily towards 60 frames these days - I'll always do the performance mode, and if two platforms have a game I'll lean towards the one I can play at a better framerate. But Starfield has been pretty fine for me - it's not a situation where the game wasn't designed to run below a certain threshold, so it looks wrong - it at least has the benefit of knowing that it was going to be 30 the entire time (outside of a few jumps in the bigger cities, mind you).

[Regia]

I've played about an hour or so, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'll probably enjoy it more as it opens up, but I hate how the inventory isn't linked to just a button (unless I've missed it), and I'm not a fan of the flying.

[apsham]

25 minutes ago, Regia said:

I've played about an hour or so, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'll probably enjoy it more as it opens up, but I hate how the inventory isn't linked to just a button (unless I've missed it), and I'm not a fan of the flying.

If you're playing on PC - pressing I will open the inventory directly - but if you're playing on console the best you can do to save going to the menu and then down to the inventory is to use the quick mappings on the d-pad in order to access stuff like weapons, healing, etc.

[Regia]

Yeah I've got all my weapons quick mapped, but it just feels like a slog Everytime I want to check all the loot I've picked up, especially after a shootout, because I don't know what anything is yet.

[apsham]

My loot goblin status is currently being challenged even after hours and hours into this. Walking through a facility carrying 750/150 weight while my companion begs me to get help for hoarding has been a common thing.

[Ruki]

Looks like I get to go under cover to infiltrate the pirates! Jokes on the UC, I'm going to JOIN the pirates!

[apsham]

17 minutes ago, Ruki said:

Looks like I get to go under cover to infiltrate the pirates! Jokes on the UC, I'm going to JOIN the pirates!

I joined the Rangers! Dressed myself in the outfit they give you and made Andreja my deputy by putting a poncho on her. We've been using this cover to steal UC Econohaul ships for me to sell so I can upgrade the Va'ruun ship that I stole with better parts.