carcer
Grizzled Warrior
Posts: 84 
Likes: 331
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Post by carcer on Sept 16, 2023 14:22:11 GMT
I wanted to write down some impressions of the game, now that I've played for 80+ hours. Not that I'm done, I don't think I've even seen half of what the game has to offer yet. It's massive, even outside the procedurally generated stuff. But I really like what I've seen so far and I can see myself playing this game for a long time, especially with an "alternate start" mod like the one for Skyrim. I mean, even Fallout 4 had one, and that was way harder to make, so I have no doubt that once all the tools are out, someone will make one. Starfield is very much a BGS game, and I love BGS games, because they allow me to make my own fun in a way no other games do. And once the Creation Kit is out, that's when the real fun begins.
* I like that the main quest and the faction quests are independet from each other, the way they were in Skyrim. That allows one to make characters that only engage with specific questlines and content, which is where a good alternate start mod should come in. The beginning of Starfield is a lot more open than Follout 4 - at least they don't saddle you with a hetero relationship, a dead spouse and a dumb baby - but it's still a lot more constricting (is this the right word? I don't really know xD) than Skyrim.
* I like the procedurally generated content. I think it was the right call for this game. I don't want to engage with it every time I play, I don't run to every POI on my scanner, but this stuff just existing makes the galaxy feel big. Of course, if all you do is travel from planet to planet, running from POI to POI, you will see duplicates and burn yourself out. But in the 80 hours I've played I've only seen the same dungeon twice (it was a mining platform).
* I like ships and ship building. Space battles I'm ambivalent on. Despite having the right perks, I feel less like a competent pilot and more like a headless chicken. But that's probably a me (= skill) problem.
* I'm not sure I like outpost building. I tried to build an outpost to store all my crafting stuff, which is when I found out that the storage containers you can build without putting any points in outpost related perks can't even hold half of what I can carry... I quess outposts are supposed to function as automated mining sites? But at 80 hours I don't feel like I need them. And I don't want to put any points in outpost related stuff this time around, so that's that I guess.
* I like the skill system. I like that you have to invest skill points if you want to be competent at anything, even cooking.
* The romances in Starfield aren't better or worse than the ones in Fallout 4. Flirting with Sam was awkward, because a lot of the time the flirt options felt kind of innapropriate for the conversations we were having. Starting a romance with him also felt quite abrupt. Next time, I'll stick to friendship...
* I miss a character like Hancock or even Cait as companion xD
Ramble over.
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Post by Davrin's boobs on Sept 16, 2023 16:19:45 GMT
Happy to see you posting carcer! thanks for your impressions :3
Glad Starfield is the same as its bigger siblings and you can do quests in the order you want, I dont like to feel urgency when I'm playing something. And big phew and bye bye to heterospouse/baby forced plot from Fallout 4.
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Post by mediocreogre on Sept 16, 2023 20:58:34 GMT
Yeah I was thinking about this game and modding. I’ve made a bunch of mods for Skyrim, right now I am working on orc armors and clothes distinct for each stronghold and orc magic.
Fallout 4 was always said to be less modded than Skyrim because it was younger. But now that Fallout 4 is getting closer to 10 years old it’s definitely more complicated.
From my experience modding FO4 is slightly more limited because of the voiced protagonist, the way the open world works so you can’t just combine overhaul mods with out conflicts or even crashes. And the FPS gameplay was a factor.
Starfield looks like the silent protagonist factor is solved. I also believe that adding new areas won’t be that hard because there’s not a true open world like Skyrim or FO4. I also think since no one has that much experience with the setting you’ll get a lot of fun mods like force powers, Star Trek ships, etc. I don’t know if the lack of good 3rd person combat will be solved as it’s still not as good in FO4 as like Skyrim with all the incredible 3rd person stuff, but hey, Starfield had modders getting the script extender very fast and even frankensteining .esps before the creation kit drops.
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Post by Beefy Titans on Sept 18, 2023 4:13:33 GMT
I have finally locked in Barrett, which took me longer than I've expected. I like his romance. But boy, I will admit I save-scummed a lot because his quest had lots of talking and persuation. I am not going to marry him yet though, since I will start hanging out with Sam. Gotta explore my options.  I neglect him and the main quest for so long. Seriously, the main quest line is simply less interesting than side quests. I guess I am going to complain a bit about romance. While I appreciate the depth an the plot-revelancy of the current romance, I feel that - 2 LIs for each gender are limited. I would love romance with more edges or in different factions. - In addition to that, there are many good looking NPCs in various factions that players will interact with. My short list for male NPCs: I wanted to write down some impressions of the game, now that I've played for 80+ hours. Not that I'm done, I don't think I've even seen half of what the game has to offer yet. It's massive, even outside the procedurally generated stuff. But I really like what I've seen so far and I can see myself playing this game for a long time, especially with an "alternate start" mod like the one for Skyrim... Looks like Alternate start mod is out  |
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Post by Scottphoto on Sept 18, 2023 17:10:56 GMT
I have finally locked in Barrett, which took me longer than I've expected. I like his romance. But boy, I will admit I save-scummed a lot because his quest had lots of talking and persuation. I am not going to marry him yet though, since I will start hanging out with Sam. Gotta explore my options.   I neglect him and the main quest for so long. Seriously, the main quest line is simply less interesting than side quests. I guess I am going to complain a bit about romance. While I appreciate the depth an the plot-revelancy of the current romance, I feel that - 2 LIs for each gender are limited. I would love romance with more edges or in different factions. - In addition to that, there are many good looking NPCs in various factions that players will interact with. My short list for male NPCs: I wanted to write down some impressions of the game, now that I've played for 80+ hours. Not that I'm done, I don't think I've even seen half of what the game has to offer yet. It's massive, even outside the procedurally generated stuff. But I really like what I've seen so far and I can see myself playing this game for a long time, especially with an "alternate start" mod like the one for Skyrim... Looks like Alternate start mod is out Ooooh those are hot, I think a 3rd option would make sense, even if it was not as plot relevant or a companion, and just a romance in one planet with enough content would be interesting. Like one thing I like about DA2 and reyes andromeda (but needed the content) is the idea of a romance you can go visit rather than you both are travelling everywhere with no real place to call home yet. Has for those options I think I would romance all but space Dorian because I can’t unsee Dorian XD The other thing is that they are counting on you to replay the hell out of the game so more option wouldn’t hurt. |
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Post by Lee on Sept 25, 2023 5:17:13 GMT
Since I can't finish BG3 till there's another update...I started this. I haven't got far enough to have any opinions on the game yet, but I do have a character shot to share. I know...I keep making the same character more or less in every game.   |
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Post by Scottphoto on Sept 25, 2023 6:03:46 GMT
Since I can't finish BG3 till there's another update...I started this. I haven't got far enough to have any opinions on the game yet, but I do have a character shot to share. I know...I keep making the same character more or less in every game. Oh Lee don't worry, I feel I end up doing the same type of chars all the time too. A friend bullies me I just make Nathan Drake rip off on every game. XD Looking forward to your thoughts on this one and hope you enjoy it! |
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Post by Lee on Sept 25, 2023 8:18:16 GMT
This game not having city/local maps is probably a choice forced because of the randomly generated areas of the game I assume...either way I hate it a lot! I really foresee myself never finding stores I want to revisit again unless I get lucky (or play far too many playthroughs). I read it was best to stick with the main quest till you get to a certain point. (which I'm thankfully almost there) Well...the first constellation mission had me fighting a lvl 15 boss and several level-8 enemies. Good times...I think next time I'm going to do side-questing first!  |
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Post by Beefy Titans on Sept 26, 2023 4:37:20 GMT
I slowly made some progresses, because I looted too many items lol. A few things I want to say: - A warning: there is currently a game breaking bug that can easily happen. After you hijack an enemy ship and take it as your own, avoid parking it, making it a homeship or modifying it on a starstation. Only do it on a planet. Otherwise, you will find textures/items/buildings missing in New Atlantis that can hard lock various quests. I also recommend saving (not quick-saving) after you hijack a ship, just to be sure. - Barrett is actually upset when I flirt with Sam Coe. If you want to keep everyone happy as long as possible, don't commit to an LI before flirting with others. - United Colonies and Freestar Collectives are actually bad government, but I hate FC more. UC is pretty much a proto-facist state, where your citizenship is only given if you work for the goverment for a long time. There are teirs of citizenship. A redeemable quality is that UC still somewhat cares about its citizens, like subsiziding healthcare and proactively destroying threats to its citizens.
FC is simply an anarcho-capitalist hell hole, ruled by a few billionaires. Poverty is even worse than UC. The corruption in FC leadership is just so evident, especially in Neon. While FC rangers are good people, they are still under the control of "Board of Governers" i.e. the ruling billionaires. So, FC rangers can't really do anything much to corruption committed by large companies.
In the game, you will interact with two of these CEOs. I guarantee that you will hate them lol. You will get to "deal with" one of them. - UC Vanguard quest line has the best quests so far. It starts off slowly but will eventually involve many factions, history of the Settle Systems, and a few major decisions. - I'll have to agree with carcer. Sam Coe romance is a bit awkward at times. I really don't like bringing his kid around, especially to a place like Neon or a crime scene with a dead body. The kid herself is not bad or annoying. But she should have stayed somewhere safe until near the end of Sam's quest line. And imagine flirting with him while his kid was complaining about missing his ex wife. |
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Post by Lee on Sept 26, 2023 6:55:18 GMT
I've had several friendship talks with Sarah. I actually like her a lot, but I don't have it in me at the moment to try to friend max anyone else before I even get a romance. So my plan next is to start carrying around Sam. I will probably romance him, but if not I guess I'll save him either way and let Sarah go to her final reward...Ugh I hate having to decide who dies in games! I really don't want to try too many of them out since I might lock in the wrong 2 people to pick from. Just glad new game plus lets you save them all...that is assuming I make it through even one run. Honestly, the game crashes semi-frequently when trying to load into areas (or the initial load into the game sometimes). I've played less than 10 hours and already had 4 crashes.  |
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carcer
Grizzled Warrior
Posts: 84
Likes: 331
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Post by carcer on Sept 28, 2023 16:51:55 GMT
That's just save files I mean something like Alternate Start for Skyrim and Start Me Up for Fallout 4. But a mod like that can only be made once the CK is out. Honestly, the game crashes semi-frequently when trying to load into areas (or the initial load into the game sometimes). I've played less than 10 hours and already had 4 crashes. I must have won the Bethesda lottery because I'm almost 100 hours in and I haven't had a single crash or even serious bug. Visual glitches yes, but that was it  I'm in awe at how stable the game is. But I seem to be one of the lucky ones. |
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Post by Lee on Sept 28, 2023 18:25:05 GMT
I must have won the Bethesda lottery because I'm almost 100 hours in and I haven't had a single crash or even serious bug. Visual glitches yes, but that was it I'm in awe at how stable the game is. But I seem to be one of the lucky ones. I've had a little better luck lately too. I realized the reason it was crashing in my initial start-up was I was hitting continue too fast before the game had time to connect to my xbox account. Now that I have slowed down I haven't had a start-up crash again. |
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Post by Lee on Sept 30, 2023 6:37:48 GMT
Well. I completed all of the UC faction quest line. It was pretty neat, but the planet with the xenomorphs kept giving me frostbite, so that was a bit of a bad time.
I also started the Free star rangers questline...
But that was put aside cause I was finally able to do Sam's quest and I'm now fully locked into his romance. The wedding ceremony was sweat, even if a bit awkward since you only see sam and the Mayor during the ceremony. I was worried about trying to pick out a nice outfit...and then I was never shown. I would share a romance video of it all, but sadly Xbox only lets me share to the feed. But if you are so inclined to look I could always post a link to my gamertag: link as to why Xbox has so few decent share options...it's anyone's guess at this point! |
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carcer
Grizzled Warrior
Posts: 84
Likes: 331
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Post by carcer on Sept 30, 2023 9:48:53 GMT
I've had a little better luck lately too. I realized the reason it was crashing in my initial start-up was I was hitting continue too fast before the game had time to connect to my xbox account. Now that I have slowed down I haven't had a start-up crash again. That's good to hear Dealing with game instability can be so incredibly frustrating. I've played around with the ship builder some more and made this monstrosity and found out that the best place to access most of the ship parts is... your outpost. So, if I want to mess around with ship building without having to fly from city to city in search for parts, I'll have to mess around with at least basic outpost building. Now to find a planet to build one on. I wish there was a journal or a codex or something that keeps track of planets you've been on, where they are and what resources can be found on them. With so many systems and planets, I feel like this is something the game needs... But that was put aside cause I was finally able to do Sam's quest and I'm now fully locked into his romance. The wedding ceremony was sweat, even if a bit awkward since you only see sam and the Mayor during the ceremony. I was worried about trying to pick out a nice outfit...and then I was never shown. I did that too yesterday and I have to admit, the romances in Starfield are definitely more involved that in Fallout 4. I wonder if you have to pick every flirt option to be able to romance someone, or if high affinity is enough, because I still don't like most of the flirt options... Something to test in a future playthrough. |
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Post by Lee on Sept 30, 2023 21:20:39 GMT
I did that too yesterday and I have to admit, the romances in Starfield are definitely more involved that in Fallout 4. I wonder if you have to pick every flirt option to be able to romance someone, or if high affinity is enough, because I still don't like most of the flirt options... Something to test in a future playthrough. I am tempted to start running around with Sarah some more to see what options I get when I friend-max her. If I assign sam to my ship I'd still be able to get the full benefit of sleeping anyway. So I might do that. |
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Post by Davrin's boobs on Oct 3, 2023 8:49:00 GMT
to make the definitive poll can you guys confirm if all those factions are right? hahaha so far how are you feeling the game? I got spoiled purposely and I know theres no aliens BUMMER! and ng+ runs make sense cause the game dive into multiverse territory, kind meh but oh well, this one is the first game, hopefully there will be aliens in future games  are romances a little bit deeper? |
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Post by Lee on Oct 3, 2023 9:33:31 GMT
are romances a little bit deeper? So far I'm enjoying the game. I don't much care for how the perk system having you do X many things before you can unlock the next level of said perk...but I guess they wanted to make it a little Fallout and a little Elder Scrolls. Um...yes and no. I mean the commitment ceremony with Sam was nice and made it feel deeper for a moment...but then it feels very like Fallout 4 in the sense that now that it's done it's mostly just one-liners here and there mostly. Though I haven't done the main quest much so there is possibly more romance baked in there somewhere for all I know. One can dream. |
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carcer
Grizzled Warrior
Posts: 84
Likes: 331
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Post by carcer on Oct 3, 2023 9:57:42 GMT
I am tempted to start running around with Sarah some more to see what options I get when I friend-max her. If I assign sam to my ship I'd still be able to get the full benefit of sleeping anyway. So I might do that. Yeah, I'm doing that too, with all companions, because I want to see their personal quests. So, Further Into the Unknown is some sort of turning point for the story?
You lose your follower - your whole crew if you use companions as crew, which I do. Also, the game puts an emphasis on Sam staying on the Eye, even though all companions do, except the one Vladimir assigns to you for the next quest - for me it was Barrett. I'm pretty sure that these two are the ones I have the highest affinity with? And I've consumed enough games, books and TV to know that a CHOICE is coming So I reloaded and will put off turning in that quest until I feel like I want to put up with whatever is supposed to happen. I still have so much to do, I have done none of the faction quests, I haven't seen Barrett's personal quest yet... to make the definitive poll can you guys confirm if all those factions are right? hahaha I'm pretty sure you can't join Eclipse? But the other factions are a thing |
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Post by Lee on Oct 4, 2023 8:10:23 GMT
I made some more progress. Over the past few days I finished the rangers quest line, and I'm about halfway through the Crimson Fleet questline. I am not really enjoying that particular questline-mainly cause I know I'm going to betray them sooner or later and it sort of takes the fun out of it. I'm level 25 (almost 26). I can't help but feel like I'm leveling up far too slow, but also like the levels in the game don't mean much in a way. I mean I'm sure leveling up is a good thing, but I feel like the combat always feels the same no matter if you are under or over-leveled. (which is to say kind of bad). Even with good gear, it's very much like you are a glass canon which is a typical Bethesda game though-so no big shocker there. I am starting to get ahead of the curve when it comes to healing items though, but I almost ran out of digipicks. On that matter, I have to say I really dislike the new lock mini-game. I have pretty good luck with it, but those times they give me sets that can't be cleared just to waste my pick are infuriating. I have finally given in to the save scum method (which I should have done sooner to save a lot of picks). |
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Post by Beefy Titans on Oct 4, 2023 15:44:41 GMT
I have finally finished Ryujin Industries quest line. I enjoy it because the quests remind me of playing Deus Ex games. I guess I could go gun blazing on those covert missions, but I enjoy the challenge of not being detected. I also like their reward, since now I can go all black on my apparel.
I spent a long time to find an island where I can build my outpost, until I discover Codos, a moon of Akila.
I have also fully surveyed the sol system. I really like how on some moon I get to see the planet being so large in the sky.
Now I need to do more quests and stop exploring lol.
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I neglect him and the main quest for so long. Seriously, the main quest line is simply less interesting than side quests. 
I'm in awe at how stable the game is. But I seem to be one of the lucky ones.
