Microsoft Starfield - Information Thread, update (09/16): "Shattered Space" expansion deep-dive video

[Biggie]

19 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

Biggie turning on the game is an amusing plot twist 

Just giving impressions. I’m really having fun. I’ve played everyday so I do enjoy it. Some things kinda baffle me and piss me off. Overall it’s a good Bethesda game but damn it could have been epic with some tweaking. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

53 minutes ago, Biggie said:

You know for a futuristic space game I sure have to do a lot of running back and forth to talk to people or report stuff. No video or audio communication in the future huh? Fuck happened to smart phones? Shouldn’t things be light years more advanced than they are today? 

It’s the “NASA punk” style they were going for. Not just in art direction but world building too. It is closer to a sci-fi galaxy imagined circa the 1980s-early 2000s. If not for autonomous robots, jump drives, and a few laser weapons this galaxy would be less advanced than we were 15 years ago with the rise of smartphones. 
 

It’s silly, but I roll with it and laugh, not unlike when rewatching Star Trek TNG or Firefly. Shows that take place in the future, that are in many ways less advanced than we are now. 
 

there’s also the comical difference in 200 years of space colonization vs say American expansion from the years 1800 to 2000. New Atlantis and Anika are really the best we could do with 200 years? These places couldn’t house the population of a suburban American highschool. lol 

 

point is there are clear choices that require a bit of suspension of disbelief. And at least not yet always I haven’t run into a Destiny the game situation where I need to fly across a system to talk to somebody I could or was already talking to either in person or over a radio. 

[Best]

9 hours ago, Biggie said:

Just giving impressions. I’m really having fun. I’ve played everyday so I do enjoy it. Some things kinda baffle me and piss me off. Overall it’s a good Bethesda game but damn it could have been epic with some tweaking. 

 

You are being fair with your criticisms and I agree with you on everything except getting lost and your opinion on the flight controls and combat. Overall, if this was a bit more seamless it's basically exactly what I wanted from my expectations of this game. It's phenomenal overall. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

If and when I decide to get serious about space combat I might look into remapping controls to see if there is a better way to navigate power distribution. 
 

for the sake of immersion I’ve been staying in first person, but I might also try switching to third person. 

[Biggie]

1 hour ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

If and when I decide to get serious about space combat I might look into remapping controls to see if there is a better way to navigate power distribution. 
 

for the sake of immersion I’ve been staying in first person, but I might also try switching to third person. 

I’ve played in nothing else but first person. I like it. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

13 minutes ago, Biggie said:

I’ve played in nothing else but first person. I like it. 

I kind of wish ladder climbing would stay in first person. The switch is kind of jarring. 

[Keyser_Soze]

Shockingly I like using 3rd person when I'm out of combat or not looking for something.

 

I think it also helps ease the queasy feeling I had playing the game initially.

[brucoe]

2 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Shockingly I like using 3rd person when I'm out of combat or not looking for something.

 

I think it also helps ease the queasy feeling I had playing the game initially.

I switch back and forth and often don't even realize what person I'm playing in.

[Best]

3rd person is too touchy. I sometimes switch to it just to check out my character. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

11 minutes ago, best3444 said:

3rd person is too touchy. I sometimes switch to it just to check out my character. 

maybe you need to adjust the third person sensitivity settings? They had different ones for first and third person views, so you may be able to tweak it. 

[Best]

10 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

maybe you need to adjust the third person sensitivity settings? They had different ones for first and third person views, so you may be able to tweak it. 

 

I never even attempted that. I prefer 1st person anyway so it's all good.

[Biggie]

2 hours ago, best3444 said:

3rd person is too touchy. I sometimes switch to it just to check out my character. 

 

2 hours ago, best3444 said:

 

I never even attempted that. I prefer 1st person anyway so it's all good.

I do that too lol. I wanna see what I’m wearing sometimes. I also like playing in first person as it helps the immersion for me. 

[TwinIon]

16 hours ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

It’s the “NASA punk” style they were going for. Not just in art direction but world building too. It is closer to a sci-fi galaxy imagined circa the 1980s-early 2000s. If not for autonomous robots, jump drives, and a few laser weapons this galaxy would be less advanced than we were 15 years ago with the rise of smartphones. 
 

It’s silly, but I roll with it and laugh, not unlike when rewatching Star Trek TNG or Firefly. Shows that take place in the future, that are in many ways less advanced than we are now. 
 

there’s also the comical difference in 200 years of space colonization vs say American expansion from the years 1800 to 2000. New Atlantis and Anika are really the best we could do with 200 years? These places couldn’t house the population of a suburban American highschool. lol 

 

point is there are clear choices that require a bit of suspension of disbelief. And at least not yet always I haven’t run into a Destiny the game situation where I need to fly across a system to talk to somebody I could or was already talking to either in person or over a radio. 

I think it's fine to not want to put smartphones into the game, but radios definitely exist and the game really doesn't want to acknowledge that when it's not ship to ship. I can't recall specifics, but there were absolutely a few times in my playtime where the existence of radios was completely ignored and I needed to show up in person just to communicate something simple.

 

I very much agree about the cities. I'm sympathetic that the devs don't have time to make Night City three times over plus everything else. So when it comes to New Atlantis and Neon, I feel like the size is their biggest sin. Akila is the one that bothers me. I think it's a fine city and a standard sci-fi setting. The whole "old west" Schick is put on a bit thick, but sure, whatever.

 

The problem is that it's existence feels very much at odds with the lore. It doesn't feel at all like a city that's been around for a 163 years and is the capital of one of the biggest multi-system governments. This is a government that built huge fleets, has bases all over known space, engineered giant mechs, and waged multiple wars in a hundred systems, but they never got around to paving the streets of their capital city? It really feels like they just built the cities in a couple different styles that seemed cool and then invented the lore afterwards, without much consideration as to how well they mesh.

 

Akila should have been a much more recently established city of some new government in the far reaches, and the Freestar Collective should have had another city as it's capital.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

10 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

I think it's fine to not want to put smartphones into the game, but radios definitely exist and the game really doesn't want to acknowledge that when it's not ship to ship. I can't recall specifics, but there were absolutely a few times in my playtime where the existence of radios was completely ignored and I needed to show up in person just to communicate something simple.

 

I very much agree about the cities. I'm sympathetic that the devs don't have time to make Night City three times over plus everything else. So when it comes to New Atlantis and Neon, I feel like the size is their biggest sin. Akila is the one that bothers me. I think it's a fine city and a standard sci-fi setting. The whole "old west" Schick is put on a bit thick, but sure, whatever.

 

The problem is that it's existence feels very much at odds with the lore. It doesn't feel at all like a city that's been around for a 163 years and is the capital of one of the biggest multi-system governments. This is a government that built huge fleets, has bases all over known space, engineered giant mechs, and waged multiple wars in a hundred systems, but they never got around to paving the streets of their capital city? It really feels like they just built the cities in a couple different styles that seemed cool and then invented the lore afterwards, without much consideration as to how well they mesh.

 

Akila should have been a much more recently established city of some new government in the far reaches, and the Freestar Collective should have had another city as it's capital.

not hell, maybe make the lore that Akila also got rather devastated in the last war and the current city is what they’ve been able to rebuild in the last 5-10 years or something. But the lore and history is that the city jeeps

expanding. They built a wall and by the time they finished the population was so large they started building outside that wall and needed to build another, and then it happened again. This is what people tell your character, but I just don’t see a city that’s been built up over decades or even 100+ years.
 

and yeah there seem to be many times in the game where it seemed like many groups were designing something, but not coordinating so it made sense. If it wasn’t a Bethesda title I’d say it doesn’t seem like a game that’s been in development as long as it has, as so much much feels thrown at the game, but the ideas weren’t polished. Like the team writing for the old west town and the team designing the look of the old west town never talked. When both teams were done with their first draft that was it. Nobody went back to make sure it all fit cohesively. At that’s what it feels like in places.  

[Kal-El814]

6 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

I think it's fine to not want to put smartphones into the game, but radios definitely exist and the game really doesn't want to acknowledge that when it's not ship to ship. I can't recall specifics, but there were absolutely a few times in my playtime where the existence of radios was completely ignored and I needed to show up in person just to communicate something simple.

 

I very much agree about the cities. I'm sympathetic that the devs don't have time to make Night City three times over plus everything else. So when it comes to New Atlantis and Neon, I feel like the size is their biggest sin. Akila is the one that bothers me. I think it's a fine city and a standard sci-fi setting. The whole "old west" Schick is put on a bit thick, but sure, whatever.

 

The problem is that it's existence feels very much at odds with the lore. It doesn't feel at all like a city that's been around for a 163 years and is the capital of one of the biggest multi-system governments. This is a government that built huge fleets, has bases all over known space, engineered giant mechs, and waged multiple wars in a hundred systems, but they never got around to paving the streets of their capital city? It really feels like they just built the cities in a couple different styles that seemed cool and then invented the lore afterwards, without much consideration as to how well they mesh.

 

Akila should have been a much more recently established city of some new government in the far reaches, and the Freestar Collective should have had another city as it's capital.

 

Also they say that there are a dozen Rangers at most. Small towns have that many cops, it's insane  

 

I've played some more, not super far in, but enough to have a decent feel for things.

 

The ship combat isn't arcade enough to be a good arcade space shooter, and it's not simmy enough to be a more serious space combat sim. It's not BAD it's just not interesting.

 

1 minute ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

not hell, maybe make the lore that Akila also got rather devastated in the last war and the current city is what they’ve been able to rebuild in the last 5-10 years or something. But the lore and history is that the city jeeps

expanding. They built a wall and by the time they finished the population was so large they started building outside that wall and needed to build another, and then it happened again. This is what people tell your character, but I just don’t see a city that’s been built up over decades or even 100+ years.
 

and yeah there seem to be many times in the game where it seemed like many groups were designing something, but not coordinating so it made sense. If it wasn’t a Bethesda title I’d say it doesn’t seem like a game that’s been in development as long as it has, as so much much feels thrown at the game, but the ideas weren’t polished. Like the team writing for the old west town and the team designing the look of the old west town never talked. When both teams were done with their first draft that was it. Nobody went back to make sure it all fit cohesively. At that’s what it feels like in places.  

 

Doing stuff in this game is generally pretty good. The overall aesthetics are generally very good. But the way this game is laid out IS very bad. There are too many zones, too much loading, everything's disconnected, stuff is procedurally generated to an unfortunate degree, and nothing ever really feels cohesive. For all the warts that BGS games have always had, I feel like most of them ending up being more than the sum of their parts. Starfield feels like it's the sum of its parts as a best case scenario, or slightly less than that. I actively dislike a lot about Fallout 4 but at its core it's still an open world game and you can still wander around, look for stuff, and vibe. You can't really do that in Starfield. There are a ton of planets and almost nothing in between the points of interest. You can't walk to the fun, you're always several loading screens away from it. 

[Best]

I absolutely LOVE this game but these are the major, major issues I have:

 

1) The world seems disconnected and not seamless due to a ton of loading screens. Its bad. I wasn't expecting it to be this isolated.

 

2) Encumbrance is off the wall bad. I have started putting points to weight lifting but it's going to take a lot of time to notice a difference. I'm constantly running out of oxygen just exploring cities let alone in dog fights. I fucking hate this shit.

 

Other than that, it's such a cool game. If I had to score it right now after putting in 30+ hours I'd give it an 8.5 because of the issues I mentioned. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

To me this game falls in line with any other Bethesda game I’ve loved playing, except it feels more outdated than they did. Oblivion felt closer to bar set by other games of its time. Model quality feels like it saw the biggest leap forward, and it is probably the thing we’d forgive the most if every other aspect of the game was several tiers better crafted than it is. 
 

Still, Starfield is also like every other Bethesda game in that it’s proof you can love a game that is so far from being a masterpiece. This game might even be a 6 or a 6.5 and I love it and want to play more of it. And I’d recommend it to anyone who might enjoy a fun space themed adventure. 
 

It doesn’t do planet hopping better than No Man’s sky, but I’m playing it way more than NMS. 
 

it doesn’t do combat better than Halo Infinite and I had played this more than Infinite by end of day Friday. 
 

this doesn’t have the branching mission structure and carefully constructed writing as a CDPR game like Witcher or CP2077, and yet I keep talking to people, keep doing missions, and have played SF more than I’ve played every CDPR game combined. 
 

I get lost in this game. I hop in intending to play for an hour 2 so I can go to bed by 10, and the next time I look at the clock it’s midnight. I’ll start playing it on the weekend about 9 or 10 am, start to get hungry and think I should take a break for lunch as it should be about noon, but actually it’s nearly 5pm. A very rare thing for game, no matter how much I’m enjoying it. 

[Paperclyp]

18 hours ago, best3444 said:

I absolutely LOVE this game but these are the major, major issues I have:

 

1) The world seems disconnected and not seamless due to a ton of loading screens. Its bad. I wasn't expecting it to be this isolated.

 

2) Encumbrance is off the wall bad. I have started putting points to weight lifting but it's going to take a lot of time to notice a difference. I'm constantly running out of oxygen just exploring cities let alone in dog fights. I fucking hate this shit.

 

Other than that, it's such a cool game. If I had to score it right now after putting in 30+ hours I'd give it an 8.5 because of the issues I mentioned. 

What are you picking up and why? 

[Best]

30 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

What are you picking up and why? 

 

I litteraly only have the basics. I evaluated my inventory and only kept the absolute essential items and got rid of the heavy stuff. I'm STILL 284 in mass and it's infuriating. I stored a lot of shit away and I'm a basic character with only one outfit etc. I'm still too heavy.

[Mr.Vic20]

6 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I litteraly only have the basics. I evaluated my inventory and only kept the absolute essential items and got rid of the heavy stuff. I'm STILL 284 in mass and it's infuriating. I stored a lot of shit away and I'm a basic character with only one outfit etc. I'm still too heavy.

Are you dropping off your resources at you ship regularly? I found those to be 50% of my encumbrance on my play through.  

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

14 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I litteraly only have the basics. I evaluated my inventory and only kept the absolute essential items and got rid of the heavy stuff. I'm STILL 284 in mass and it's infuriating. I stored a lot of shit away and I'm a basic character with only one outfit etc. I'm still too heavy.

be sure you’re not carrying around ship

parts. To use them to repair your hull they just need to be in the ship’s cargo. They’re like 10 Mass each. So unload them into the ship. They’re under “Aid” if you’ve never seen them. 
 

I couldn’t seemingly drop my weight down either, but then noticed I had ship parts in my pockets for some reason. 

[Paperclyp]

23 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I litteraly only have the basics. I evaluated my inventory and only kept the absolute essential items and got rid of the heavy stuff. I'm STILL 284 in mass and it's infuriating. I stored a lot of shit away and I'm a basic character with only one outfit etc. I'm still too heavy.

What specifically do you consider the basics haha. All you need is some med packs and a couple guns if you want the basics on ya. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

I know for me I have possibly a few too many weapons. Generally 1 for each ammo type, with 11 mapped to the favorite locations. 
 

I have a handful of aid stuff, mostly for healing or curing issues. And that bottle pills for upping my persuasion. But other than med packs and trauma packs I limit it to 1 per item. I just restock as I take things or when I get back to the ship. 
 

I only have 1 suit, 1 helmet, but 2 boost packs. One balanced boost for general traversal and one power boost if I need to get somewhere that is out of reach of a normal boost. 
 

I also keep a few outfits on me. 

[Best]

1 hour ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Are you dropping off your resources at you ship regularly? I found those to be 50% of my encumbrance on my play through.  

 

Resources as in what?

 

1 hour ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

be sure you’re not carrying around ship

parts. To use them to repair your hull they just need to be in the ship’s cargo. They’re like 10 Mass each. So unload them into the ship. They’re under “Aid” if you’ve never seen them. 
 

I couldn’t seemingly drop my weight down either, but then noticed I had ship parts in my pockets for some reason. 

 

Hmm, I really analyzed my inventory for anything heavy. I'll check tonight that would be awesome if that were the issue. 

 

1 hour ago, Paperclyp said:

What specifically do you consider the basics haha. All you need is some med packs and a couple guns if you want the basics on ya. 

 

The basics is two guns, one outfit, and some healing items. I have nothing lol 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

14 minutes ago, best3444 said:

Resources as in what?

crafting items that would be under the resources category of your inventory. 
 

also, make sure you don’t have a bunch of miscellaneous stuff. Digipicks is all you need there. 
 

that’s another thing. Any time you make a modification to your ship it takes all the loose nicknacks and puts them in miscellaneous in your ship’s inventory big when clearing your ship’s inventory you just took everything you might have a bunch of crap there.
 

also, check that your “notes” section is full of books.  

[Biggie]

I mean the game is like…..here buy all these cool looking outfits for your character. Lots of helmets and booster packs. Don’t forget about all the different type of weapons and guns. Oh yeah too bad you can’t carry shit and actually enjoy them.  

[Mr.Vic20]

29 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

Resources as in what?

 

One category of your inventory is resources and it covers everything you mine or pick up from plants and animals and it gets heavy!

[TwinIon]

Resources are also the only category of stuff that is relatively easy to deal with since you can deposit it all on your ship pretty quick. If you're on or near your ship, you can open up your ship's cargo hold in the menu, then you can go to your inventory (it's Q on PC) and then go to the resources category and there should be a shortcut to deposit all your resources in your ship (it's T on PC I think).

 

Resources are a good case study for why the UI should show a total weight for each line item and probably each category. It's easy to scroll through there and see small masses of .25, .4, .6, 1.5, etc. and not see that you have 20 of each thing and that's 55 extra mass you're carrying.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Resources also have a “take all” option so it’s possible to accidentally take everything in resources if you maybe thought it was just one less button press to take all 12 of some material. Did that once. 

[Paperclyp]

I totally get complaints of the encumbrance of you’re heavily into crafting or base building, especially early game and especially because the game is bad at explaining those systems. But if you’re not I feel like the encumbrance is fine and it is more of a poor management issue. 

[Biggie]

I feel like starting over. @best3444

[Best]

17 minutes ago, Biggie said:

I feel like starting over. @best3444

 

If you feel things will be easier in terms of planning gameplay and choosing different starting perks, go for it.

 

I FINALLY am not encumbered because I took everyone's advice and got rid of my ship parts and resources. Jfc is it nice to run around and not worrying about losing oxygen! I'm now 19 hours in my second playthrough so I'm further than I was. I made good progress today. 

[Biggie]

2 hours ago, best3444 said:

 

If you feel things will be easier in terms of planning gameplay and choosing different starting perks, go for it.

 

I FINALLY am not encumbered because I took everyone's advice and got rid of my ship parts and resources. Jfc is it nice to run around and not worrying about losing oxygen! I'm now 19 hours in my second playthrough so I'm further than I was. I made good progress today. 

I decided to just keep pushing forward. I’m level 14 and I couldn’t go through that slow beginning of the game again. 

[Best]

47 minutes ago, Biggie said:

I decided to just keep pushing forward. I’m level 14 and I couldn’t go through that slow beginning of the game again. 

 

I'm level 17 and putting points towards weight lifting so I can carry more items.

 

What did you want to accomplish by starting over?

[Biggie]

6 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I'm level 17 and putting points towards weight lifting so I can carry more items.

 

What did you want to accomplish by starting over?

Not much lol. Which is why I’m just going forward. It’s not worth starting over.