*S*T*A*R*F*I*E*L*D* / Starfield

All perks with a bit of Elder Scrolls “do the thing to level up the thing” thrown in

Edit- except that you don’t *just* have to do the thing, you have to do a certain amount of the thing, to then be allowed to spend the skill point you got from earning EXP from quests and random actions, on levelling up the thing.

Take a nap before starting a mission, you get a boost to earned XP.

Or have some special intimate time with someone for an even bigger boost. So I hear.

Your progress remains. It’s just not activated until you spend the point.
That said, I’m not sure it any further progress in that skill tree is valid. Like if you do the kill 25 goons with a pistol challenge but don’t spend a point, I’m not sure of any further kills go towards a 250 kill or whatever the next target is.

Think I’m now past the part that the reviews said it picked up and, while there’s definitely a little more intrigue in the story, I can’t say it’s all that exciting. I’m on the hunt for temples. None of the systems feel organic, it’s all so stunted by menus and loading screens (I know it’s boring to keep mentioning them but they don’t just bookend quests, they punctuate every bit of gameplay). Space travel is just a series of menu navigation and loading, I don’t understand how anyone can find that engaging. They make it all fairly frictionless to travel (get a mission, open the menu, press X to set course, go) but it’s just so rote.
Interestingly when you return to the mining planet you start on (Vecta?) and enter the two buildings there there’s no loading - the doors open and you traverse seamlessly - so it is possible! That’s the only planet I’ve encountered it though.

The general mission loop is fine, in the same way that scouring a map for collectibles in a Ubi title appeals to me - you just get in the groove of going through the motions and checking all the things off, but by the same token I’m not really immersed in anything. I read the subtitles and skip the audio because the writing is just a bit crap and, though VO delivery is generally good, all the characters speak like video game characters. It has that “just five more minutes” quality to it by being that comfortable brainless loop though, so I do find myself going back but then questioning why, and then playing more.

All the little Bethesda bugs are just getting in the way, from stupid enemy behaviour to companion AI constantly telling me they want to talk to me, over the actual narrative VO and dramatic sequences. I wish it had more polish because the core of it all is appealing. I’m curious if Fallout 3 was just a perfect timing experience and if I’d bounce off that now for the same reasons.

It’s sparked a desire for some sci-if, so I’ve installed Mass Effect as well. Never finished the first or played 2 and 3, so maybe this will push me into those properly next.

Yeah, the display options are oddly arrayed.

What I need is a frame rate cap, can't seem to get the NVIDIA one to work. It's all over the place for me, medium and high settings veer from over 100 down to the 50s.

Still perfectly playable though, and it looks lovely. Plenty of jank but I haven't encountered any noticeable bugs. Half-heartedly fired it up last night to have a gander and got sucked in for a few hours.

Ok so done the tutorial and the first mission, just landed in what I imagine is the first city area.

It is... not interesting in any way shape or form so far.

Performance is pretty bad too, totally playable but still crap compared with anything else I've played recently. The graphics are nothing special and there isn't anything that seems that new technologically. 60 FPS-ish on a 7600/7900XT, guessing it's CPU-limited as turning on or off FSR and the like make no difference.

Big fat meh (again, so far) but I will give it a few more hours.

The opening bit with Barrett is psychotic, it's like they couldn't be bothered to come up with an actual reason for you to join them.

neems

I did laugh at that. Mine this, dude arrived.

Shit, fight stuff. Ok, here's my ship.

🤣

Anyhoo, i am in the Bethesda rpg comfort zone, so that's fine.

Seems like a lot of systems to take in, so hope it all becomes routine/more easily understood in due course.

You’re a miner and you mined a thing. Oh fuck, pirates! Here, have a ship. Off you go!

The whole RPG part makes no sense. You’re a miner on your second job, but you have a background in piracy, or the military, or as a cyber hacker, or corporate business. And now you’re an explorer and your first job is to murder a group of pirates.

I don’t know why they don’t default you to a blank slate. It’s a really weird start. Their other franchises are a lot more consistent in the RPG narrative.

Sounds interesting. 😀

Edit: boo you editted it already. Anyhoo, quoted for posterity.

I knew someone would get that before I fixed it.

I am trying hard to like this, but this is so dated and uninteresting in every respect, I just can’t. I’ve played all this a million times before, and often better. Years ago. Every time I see my companion in her leather jacket happily stand in the line of fire of five marines, I have to switch it off.

"Hey I just met you
And this is crazy
But here's all my stuff
So fuck off maybe"

/not sorry