this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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240 times. It took me two minutes to finish the "minigame" last time I did it. That's 8 hours of grinding to max out every skill. Not 8 hours of fun gameplay and visually interesting dragon fights and dungeon crawls, 8 hours (that's eight hours) of flying from one shiny spot to the next. Eight. 8. Hours. Of slow-ass zero G floating.
Last time I booted the game up, I fast traveled to my ship, took off, and heard Sarah say she has something for me. Something about that same line played for the millionth time absolutely killed my motivation to play, and I haven't started the game up in like a week. The romance system is too much too fast. I went from "flirting" with Sarah to married in like 4 hours. We've known each other for all of one in-game month. Maybe I'm just a broken person, but the way we talk sounds so disingenuously infatuated.
I think about the concept of playing, and it sounds fun in theory, but realistically what am I gonna get done in the next 8 hours? I'll talk to people that I don't care about to move through a story that I'm fundamentally disinterested in because I know that >!in order to max out the dragon shou–I mean, Starborn powers, I'll need to jump through and abandon alternate universes like Rick Sanchez but not as an ironic critique of internet nihilism. Hours and hours and hours wasted on >!timelines I don't care about just to get to the end game where I... have strong powers and a good ship, and can't connect with any of the characters because they'll be the tenth iteration of the same ones that I could never convince myself to care about before.!<
Maybe in a year or two after the game has been updated, I'll check it out again. Maybe I can shut my brain off for a minute and pretend I'm not >!grinding through universes!< if it doesn't take me eight hours to max out all the powers. Or maybe I'll just play BG3 when it comes to Xbox and forget that Starfield ever existed in the first place
The fact BG3 came out just before Starfield made me dislike the game even more than I probably would have I think. I went from playing probably the best RPG ever to Starfield, which doesn't even try to make you think you're playing any role except the chosen one. The fact that you join Constellation and almost instantly become not just a full member, but the person who everyone else takes orders from is rediculous.
The story sucks, the gameplay is bland, and there are so many friction points that constantly make you think about the fact you're playing a game. It's honestly sad. I love sci-fi so I was reasonably excited for the game, even knowing it'd be a modern Bethesda game, and it still let me down. The sci-fi concepts in the game aren't even done well.
The release timing is unfortunate.
It really does show that Bethesda are running about 10 years behind everyone else.
It cost them twice as much to make as BG3 did. How? Just compare any BG3 character and how animated they are thanks to full motion capture, to the same Bethesda animatronics they've used since forever.
It is not unfortunate, it is a strategic win by Larian. BG3 was actually supposed to come very late, but Larian released it early after learning about Starfield's release date.
They needn't have worried. At all.
People are even talking about Cyberpunk 2077 favourably again. That's how much shit Starfield is getting.
Cyberpunk 2077 was good (on PC) when It came out, and now it's great. It has earned that favourable talk.
The feeling I got playing BG3 or even skyrim was one of "I can't wait to try this again with X group/build/decision". With starfield I don't know if I'll ever even get to the point of fucking off on a random adventure, let alone finish the story.
Part of my problem with Starfield is that the builds are basically pointless. Your background only gives you perk points in a few skills, and the only background worth using is Bounty Hunter since those three skills are absolute necessities for playing the game. Your traits matter more, but you can get absolute duds. I thought I had some strong role playing potential with a Freestar Enlightened whose parents are still alive... but those traits suck and don't work together in the slightest. As an Enlightened Atheist, I have access to a chest with some hot garbage in a location on Jemeson that I had no reason to visit until past level 30. As a Freestar, I have some "unique" dialogue options that boil down to "I'm also from Akila! There are Ashtas!" My parents were really cool to have around... until I found out that giving me an ass garbage ship is the last thing they ever do. They're also UC, so I have no idea how my character is from Akila. My grandma was a UC marine in the war, and I'm wearing her Freestar-killing duds now. I couldn't even invite them to my wedding. My wife's big character quest has to do with her Freestar-killing ship crashing on a planet, and I don't recall there even being a dialogue option about those being my people she was killing back then.
Why are my parents UC if I'm Freestar? Why can't I invite them to my wedding? Why aren't they enlightened? Surely Bethesda could have spent some of the last decade making 16 sets of parents to account for the 4x4 possible combinations of religion and background. Nah, they spent all that time making an absolute assload of crewmates you can and never will hire.
Uhh have you played any other Bethesda title. If anything, the most common seniment is that game starts off very slow because its reletively speaking, the least ridiculous start conpared to most of the 3d bethesda games.
The opening sequence is slow, but no other game do you become essentially the faction leader so quickly. I guess maybe the blades in Skyrim, except you aren't really the leader, just the person it's supposed to protect, it's one person, and it's much further into the game.
Sarah is considered the leader of constellation, ad the game talks about how she got into her position and previous leaders of constellation.
Sure. That doesn't explain why I can tell constellation members to go work for me in my outpost. Them being companions is fine. Then being crew mates is alright (though don't they have other things they need to do?). Them being sweatshop workers is dumb. You're not technically the leader, but you are more than anyone else is. Sarah is in name only, but she takes orders from you. Everything that happens revolves around you, despite the other Starborn seeming to have had their own agency in other loops. Maybe we're only successful this loop because they decided to stop doing anything on their own?
Disco Elysium would like a word.
I love both. A lot.
Minish Cap master race 😞
There are dozens of us.
I really don't understand how they green lit that design choice.
It was like Ubisoft towers on crack.
"Let's take the least interesting gameplay mechanic possible, and then gate one of the only interesting mechanics behind it. And then let's also make it take a few minutes of jetpacking around a barren planet to get there beforehand, to really jazz it up."
Todd: "Yes, exactly! See that temple over there? Your can go there. And go there. And go there again. And again. And again. And again. Again. Again. Again."
Devs look at each other...
"Is Toddbot broken or is this good gameplay design? Kenny, are you writing this shit down?"
I can believe that one of them played the little temple minigame once and thought it was cool, but unless they're literal space aliens, I cannot imagine the thought of doing that for eight hours even crossed their mind.
Those temples are so weak. Getting the dragon powers felt somewhat primal. But floating through a bit of space dust, not so much
If you are trying to grind an RPG, you are playing it wrong.
This isn't Dark Souls. Nor would I want it to be.