SebastianBlue
President, International Julian Alvarez Fan Club
- Joined
- 25 Jul 2009
- Messages
- 57,736
General consensus from skimming about 20 reviews since the embargo lifted 30 minutes ago:
Fun gunplay, very interesting side quests, shipbuilding is interesting and rewarding, the skills system is a novel hybrid of skills-use and challenge-based leveling, and the graphics are quite pretty when rendered on higher end systems. But the main story is disappointing (seemingly specifically compared to previous Bethesda titles), the game universe feels somewhat sterile, the first 10-15 hours are a real slog for various reasons, the inventory management is somehow the worst Bethesda has ever created, and exploration outside of smaller planet areas is basically nonexistence due to all travel in space (and from one planet area to another) essentially being fast travel via menu screens.
For me, if I was to grade it based on all of the reviews I have seen thus far, I would put at 6.5 out of 10, which is quite disappointing, especially from Bethesda, as most fans of their previous games loved them not for the novel game systems or groundbreaking mechanics, but for the worldbuilding, lore, social commentary, and dynamic interaction with NPCs. In fact, those strengths often lead to players overlooking serious technical issues with their previous games at launch. The worlds were so fleshed out, so well crafted, so alive (in the way a virtual world can be), that the bugs, glitches, and even game breaking issues could be tolerated until they were later fixed. So jettisoning (pardon the pun) that quality for merely quantity, as some reviewers have put it, makes the game feel less a Bethesda RPG and more something you would expect from other less story- and world-focused developers. It is seemingly both expansive and barren, full of infinite possibilities, but few probable moments of wonder that have been a hallmark of their previous RPGs. It seems when they said they would be leaning heavily on moders from launch, they meant to fill out the universe with interesting stories and characters, rather than to just fix some bugs, make minor improvements, and add new content for longevity.
I was considering pay the extra $35 to get the premium upgrade for Game Pass so I could start playing tonight and binge this holiday weekend here in the US, rather than wait until 6 September when it officially launches, but I am now thinking I may just save the money and jump in next week. My mind might change later today (as I was really looking forward to escaping in to the game) but it is just hard to get excited about it based on what I have read thus far from some reviewers I respect, especially as someone that has played and loved all of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series except their most recent entry Fallout 76 (which seems Starfield seems to have more in common with than Fallout 4 or Skyrim).
Quite deflating for someone that can't move much now and so looks to these types of experiences for literal escape.
----------------------------------------
Review roundup:
IGN - 7/10 :
Starfield has a lot of forces working against it, but eventually the allure of its expansive roleplaying quests and respectable combat make its gravitational pull difficult to resist.
Gamespot - 7/10 :
GameInformer - 8.5/10 :
It took me a long time to fall in love with Starfield, and even after I did, certain aspects didn’t work for me. But the things I didn’t enjoy are vastly outweighed by my enthusiasm for this new, original science fiction universe, the breadth of its adventures, and the appeal of its many interwoven stories. Go in with the expectation that it will take some time to find your footing in such a vast gameplay space, and there’s a universe well worth discovering here.
PC Gamer - 75/100 :
Starfield shares plenty of DNA with Skyrim and Fallout 4, but ultimately falls short of both.
Forbes - 9.5/10 : I really do love this game. Yes, Bethesda doesn’t match some of its peers in many places, but in part that’s because it’s trying to do everything, all at once. But if you wanted a giant Bethesda RPG set in space with better combat and a whole lot of time to level and build things and explore and find secrets, yeah, this is it. They did it. Enjoy.
GamesRadar - 5/5 :
Starfield isn't really a game you play to complete, it's more about living whatever sort of life you want in the literal universe Bethesda has created. Whatever you're thinking of doing, you almost certainly can do it, and the scale is almost a release in a way – you'll probably never see or do it all, so just enjoy the moment. There's months, if not years, of discoveries buried away in here, and even after 80 hours I can't wait to see more.
The Verge - N/A :
Put this all together, and you have a game that doesn’t fundamentally change the formula that Bethesda has built its reputation on. Starfield is another huge experience with an almost overwhelming amount of things to do and see, coupled with some great character development, role-playing features, and so-so action. But it also smooths over many of the rough edges that have defined past releases from the studio while introducing a new theme and narrative that match the grand ambitions that Bethesda has always strived for. War never changes — but it’s a lot more thrilling in space.
Polygon - N/A :
Starfield exists in the push and pull between a carefully crafted world and the vastness of procedurally generated planets. Bethesda embraced the idea of more, and in turn, watered down the parts of space exploration and discovery that are most compelling to me: how humans relate to it. The expanse of Starfield’s world leaves gaps unfilled, and Bethesda has opted instead to simply spread further, rather than flesh out what’s already there. With Starfield, Bethesda has put all of its efforts into exploring the dark, vast corners of outer space. In the process, it has drained a lot of the humanity I was hoping to find in its wake. In trying to do everything, Starfield obfuscates its most compelling mysteries.
GameInformer - 8.5/10 :
It took me a long time to fall in love with Starfield, and even after I did, certain aspects didn’t work for me. But the things I didn’t enjoy are vastly outweighed by my enthusiasm for this new, original science fiction universe, the breadth of its adventures, and the appeal of its many interwoven stories. Go in with the expectation that it will take some time to find your footing in such a vast gameplay space, and there’s a universe well worth discovering here.
Wired - N/A :
Those who found themselves lost for hundreds of hours in past Bethesda Game Studios releases like Fallout 4 or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will, if they’re at all interested in Starfield’s sci-fi setting, find more than enough diversions in the game to ignore its considerable flaws and concentrate instead on its nearly as apparent successes. It will suck up hours of free time with regular doses of positive feedback, for completing tasks of varying quality; popping experience-point notifications; and new items, rewarded for diligently wandering the stars and mapping the expanse. As an expression of a dominant video game design philosophy—one that presents players with more to see and do than seems possible to ever experience—Starfield is impressive. As a workable to guide audiences to what’s truly worthwhile within itself, it falls short in direct proportion to the enormity of its universe.
Fun gunplay, very interesting side quests, shipbuilding is interesting and rewarding, the skills system is a novel hybrid of skills-use and challenge-based leveling, and the graphics are quite pretty when rendered on higher end systems. But the main story is disappointing (seemingly specifically compared to previous Bethesda titles), the game universe feels somewhat sterile, the first 10-15 hours are a real slog for various reasons, the inventory management is somehow the worst Bethesda has ever created, and exploration outside of smaller planet areas is basically nonexistence due to all travel in space (and from one planet area to another) essentially being fast travel via menu screens.
For me, if I was to grade it based on all of the reviews I have seen thus far, I would put at 6.5 out of 10, which is quite disappointing, especially from Bethesda, as most fans of their previous games loved them not for the novel game systems or groundbreaking mechanics, but for the worldbuilding, lore, social commentary, and dynamic interaction with NPCs. In fact, those strengths often lead to players overlooking serious technical issues with their previous games at launch. The worlds were so fleshed out, so well crafted, so alive (in the way a virtual world can be), that the bugs, glitches, and even game breaking issues could be tolerated until they were later fixed. So jettisoning (pardon the pun) that quality for merely quantity, as some reviewers have put it, makes the game feel less a Bethesda RPG and more something you would expect from other less story- and world-focused developers. It is seemingly both expansive and barren, full of infinite possibilities, but few probable moments of wonder that have been a hallmark of their previous RPGs. It seems when they said they would be leaning heavily on moders from launch, they meant to fill out the universe with interesting stories and characters, rather than to just fix some bugs, make minor improvements, and add new content for longevity.
I was considering pay the extra $35 to get the premium upgrade for Game Pass so I could start playing tonight and binge this holiday weekend here in the US, rather than wait until 6 September when it officially launches, but I am now thinking I may just save the money and jump in next week. My mind might change later today (as I was really looking forward to escaping in to the game) but it is just hard to get excited about it based on what I have read thus far from some reviewers I respect, especially as someone that has played and loved all of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series except their most recent entry Fallout 76 (which seems Starfield seems to have more in common with than Fallout 4 or Skyrim).
Quite deflating for someone that can't move much now and so looks to these types of experiences for literal escape.
----------------------------------------
Review roundup:
IGN - 7/10 :
Starfield has a lot of forces working against it, but eventually the allure of its expansive roleplaying quests and respectable combat make its gravitational pull difficult to resist.
Gamespot - 7/10 :
The Good
- Intriguing side quests that lead you down some wild paths
- Solid gunplay and fun arsenal of weapons make for thrilling firefights
- Impressive breadth of content and interconnected gameplay systems
- Trekking the galaxy and discovering planets is novel
The Bad
- Uninspired main story with weak writing and characterizations
- Underwhelming vision of space exploration and humanity's spacefaring future
- Shallow RPG mechanics with regard to dialogue, quest solutions, and influencing outcomes
- Terrible map system makes key locations tough to navigate
GameInformer - 8.5/10 :
It took me a long time to fall in love with Starfield, and even after I did, certain aspects didn’t work for me. But the things I didn’t enjoy are vastly outweighed by my enthusiasm for this new, original science fiction universe, the breadth of its adventures, and the appeal of its many interwoven stories. Go in with the expectation that it will take some time to find your footing in such a vast gameplay space, and there’s a universe well worth discovering here.
PC Gamer - 75/100 :
Starfield shares plenty of DNA with Skyrim and Fallout 4, but ultimately falls short of both.
Forbes - 9.5/10 : I really do love this game. Yes, Bethesda doesn’t match some of its peers in many places, but in part that’s because it’s trying to do everything, all at once. But if you wanted a giant Bethesda RPG set in space with better combat and a whole lot of time to level and build things and explore and find secrets, yeah, this is it. They did it. Enjoy.
GamesRadar - 5/5 :
Starfield isn't really a game you play to complete, it's more about living whatever sort of life you want in the literal universe Bethesda has created. Whatever you're thinking of doing, you almost certainly can do it, and the scale is almost a release in a way – you'll probably never see or do it all, so just enjoy the moment. There's months, if not years, of discoveries buried away in here, and even after 80 hours I can't wait to see more.
The Verge - N/A :
Put this all together, and you have a game that doesn’t fundamentally change the formula that Bethesda has built its reputation on. Starfield is another huge experience with an almost overwhelming amount of things to do and see, coupled with some great character development, role-playing features, and so-so action. But it also smooths over many of the rough edges that have defined past releases from the studio while introducing a new theme and narrative that match the grand ambitions that Bethesda has always strived for. War never changes — but it’s a lot more thrilling in space.
Polygon - N/A :
Starfield exists in the push and pull between a carefully crafted world and the vastness of procedurally generated planets. Bethesda embraced the idea of more, and in turn, watered down the parts of space exploration and discovery that are most compelling to me: how humans relate to it. The expanse of Starfield’s world leaves gaps unfilled, and Bethesda has opted instead to simply spread further, rather than flesh out what’s already there. With Starfield, Bethesda has put all of its efforts into exploring the dark, vast corners of outer space. In the process, it has drained a lot of the humanity I was hoping to find in its wake. In trying to do everything, Starfield obfuscates its most compelling mysteries.
GameInformer - 8.5/10 :
It took me a long time to fall in love with Starfield, and even after I did, certain aspects didn’t work for me. But the things I didn’t enjoy are vastly outweighed by my enthusiasm for this new, original science fiction universe, the breadth of its adventures, and the appeal of its many interwoven stories. Go in with the expectation that it will take some time to find your footing in such a vast gameplay space, and there’s a universe well worth discovering here.
Wired - N/A :
Those who found themselves lost for hundreds of hours in past Bethesda Game Studios releases like Fallout 4 or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will, if they’re at all interested in Starfield’s sci-fi setting, find more than enough diversions in the game to ignore its considerable flaws and concentrate instead on its nearly as apparent successes. It will suck up hours of free time with regular doses of positive feedback, for completing tasks of varying quality; popping experience-point notifications; and new items, rewarded for diligently wandering the stars and mapping the expanse. As an expression of a dominant video game design philosophy—one that presents players with more to see and do than seems possible to ever experience—Starfield is impressive. As a workable to guide audiences to what’s truly worthwhile within itself, it falls short in direct proportion to the enormity of its universe.
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