Starfield - September 6th 2023 - XBox Series X/S

[RW99]

And plenty of Canadian food in the game. Found a Halifax donair and something from Edmonton.

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I don't want to spoil anything but that side mission is a must when you are in the early hours of the game.

Spoiler for this specific mission below!

Spoiler!

It's funny, I was like level 5 when I first tried to complete this mission. But I was so low on ammo and heath supplies. When I got to the window to see the ship in that large hanger, I just assumed I would have some 'big bad boss' to fight to get the ship. So I gave up and left. Came back at level 12 and realized I could just walk on in

[Toast_Man]

I finished my first playthrough last night at about 25 hours and started up NG+. Only complaints so far would be the local maps (non existent for cities) and not having a vehicle on the planets to help explore. The game is VERY Bethesda and I love it. I still don't understand the reviews that gave this game a 7.

[FormerPresJamesTaylor]

What exactly is New Game +? How does it work?

Taking my time with this game though, no rush whatsoever.

[Toast_Man]

Originally Posted by FormerPresJamesTaylor

What exactly is New Game +? How does it work?

Taking my time with this game though, no rush whatsoever.

Once you finish the game, you can either continue playing in that game world or start a New Game +.

New Game +:

Spoiler!

You start the game right before entering the lodge for the first time (story reasons) with all your character upgrades from the previous play through. No ships, money, or progress is carried over.

[Huntingwhale]

I heard that the IGN Gamespot review was a bit of an anomaly by a jaded reviewer. I'll take it with a grain of salt, as pretty much all other major publications said it has lived up to the hype. As have plenty of gamers world wide.

Still have quite a few games in my queue to get through before this, and by then hopefully a few updates will have come along to clear things up.

[DownInFlames]

I've been a big fan of Dan Stapleton since he was at PC Gamer. He's introduced me to some of my favourite games. I trust that he really feels it deserves a 7 and maybe it does. I've seen reviewers turn a blind eye to Starfield's shortcomings by calling them "a Bethesda thing". The inventory system sucks; there's no proper map; the faces look weird. These are all criticisms that we've heard before, and if you're honest they deserve to be considered when deciding on a score.

There's also the fact that game review scores are kinda ####ed anyway. A 7 is a solid B and should mean that it's a really good game, but in fact it's seen as a kiss of death in this industry, hence why we're talking about it. No game should get over a 9 except absolute masterpieces like TOTK and BG3.

Anyway, I haven't had much time to play, but I've enjoyed the time I've spent with it and look forward to getting really deep into it this winter.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

I've been a big fan of Dan Stapleton since he was at PC Gamer. He's introduced me to some of my favourite games. I trust that he really feels it deserves a 7 and maybe it does. I've seen reviewers turn a blind eye to Starfield's shortcomings by calling them "a Bethesda thing". The inventory system sucks; there's no proper map; the faces look weird. These are all criticisms that we've heard before, and if you're honest they deserve to be considered when deciding on a score.

There's also the fact that game review scores are kinda ####ed anyway. A 7 is a solid B and should mean that it's a really good game, but in fact it's seen as a kiss of death in this industry, hence why we're talking about it. No game should get over a 9 except absolute masterpieces like TOTK and BG3.

Anyway, I haven't had much time to play, but I've enjoyed the time I've spent with it and look forward to getting really deep into it this winter.

I'm with you. I see a 7/10, and to me that means "pretty good". I'm not sure when it became the case, but it seems like if something isn't epic or awesome, it means that it isn't good. Not just with games, but it is like that with everything that used review scales (movies, restaurants, apps, hotels, other random businesses, etc...).

Maybe it is a byproduct of the Yelp and Google Reviews culture, but the scales seems have an implied steep drop offs at the top.

[FormerPresJamesTaylor]

Experiencing all kinds of performance issues tonight. Game hangs endlessly on the loading screen when entering a room, and when autosaving it completely froze

Edit
Seems to be an issue with The Empty Nest mission as I attempt to "talk to David" ended up going in and out of another building to avoid it, then that house worked.

[Erick Estrada]

Game reviews are no different than movie reviews in that it's just a single person's opinion that may be an outlier. You need to look at the aggregate and not focus overly one a small handful of reviews.

[2Stonedbirds]

The game has also been hyped endlessly and everyone and their dog has been waiting for it to come out. Expectations are high and so I'm not surprised reviews are critical.

Got my character set up last night and been tweaking settings a bit. Other than that just need time to dig into the game, which I never have.

[FormerPresJamesTaylor]

Just getting into ship building; I'm basically a giant cargo ship. Haven't found a habitable planet yet to set up shop

[btimbit]

Haven't gotten into it much, but it's surprisingly smooth for a Bethesda game

[Inferno]

One thing I noticed is it can push a 4090. There were parts I was getting 75-80 fps. That's still good and not laggy but the last game that I wasn't getting 130-144 fps on max settings was CyberPunk and that was about 100-110 fps. And that jumped to 132 when frame regeneration was patched in.

[DownInFlames]

Originally Posted by Inferno

One thing I noticed is it can push a 4090. There were parts I was getting 75-80 fps. That's still good and not laggy but the last game that I wasn't getting 130-144 fps on max settings was CyberPunk and that was about 100-110 fps. And that jumped to 132 when frame regeneration was patched in.

It performs better with AMD GPUs. The 7900xtx is faster than the 4090 which, intentional or not, is pretty insane.

[BlAcKNoVa]

On Ultra settings my 3080 TI was dropping to 48 FPS in the first big city in certain locations. I do play at 1440p also. Maybe I need that DLSS mod lol

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I'm with you. I see a 7/10, and to me that means "pretty good". I'm not sure when it became the case, but it seems like if something isn't epic or awesome, it means that it isn't good. Not just with games, but it is like that with everything that used review scales (movies, restaurants, apps, hotels, other random businesses, etc...).

Maybe it is a byproduct of the Yelp and Google Reviews culture, but the scales seems have an implied steep drop offs at the top.

Definitely. I remember the first time games started getting 10/10 ratings and it was a huge deal (I think, like, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Uncharted 2 were some of the first?)

Nowadays anything under 9 and people freak out like that means it's crap

[codynw]

Originally Posted by Inferno

One thing I noticed is it can push a 4090. There were parts I was getting 75-80 fps. That's still good and not laggy but the last game that I wasn't getting 130-144 fps on max settings was CyberPunk and that was about 100-110 fps. And that jumped to 132 when frame regeneration was patched in.

Wait can it run above 60fps without breaking the game like Fallout 4/Skyrim?

[DownInFlames]

Originally Posted by codynw

Wait can it run above 60fps without breaking the game like Fallout 4/Skyrim?

Yes. I heard it was locked to 60fps but they figured out how to do it somehow.

[Erick Estrada]

My only complaint so far is the lack of tutorials as you are largely on your own and there's so many things like space travel, etc that take some time to figure out on your own. Why not a proper tutorial on ship building? It took me a while to catch on to how it works but I could see that being a big time sink for some people.

[calumniate]

the menus and hotkeys are very xbox lol. on pc it can be maddening.. the problem is the hotkeys change depending on the menu. i don't know how many times i've been in inventory management and mess up and have to re-enter and do everything again