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

What would be ideal would be Ratchet’s fast travel boots… that should have been top unlock of booster. Just fly forward.

To infinity and the next meteor crater!

No they have unlimited ammo so give them something really good. I've seen a video of Sarah blowing the shit out of everything that moves.

It took some time to come to terms with playing the Bethesda RPG template in a game that isn't open world but after 4 hours, Starfield finally clicked for me last night.

I thought Mars was fantastically well done. Straddles realism and Total Recall perfectly. Beautiful in places too. Need to get back there actually.

I've been drawn into a odd power detection investigation side quest and I know it's just running from points a-b-c etc. but I'm enjoying the dialogue on the way. Was expecting a formulaic end but it goes on and not where I thought.

In my journey from one of the points to the other I picked a locked door not realising it was an apartment. Interesting little side story with Topher and his robo-dog.

Now I've worked out how to get the suits inside locked cabinets it does look a bit deliberate .... then I saw a shotgun sticking out of a cabinet 🤣

I've paused the UC Vanguard questline for a bit and gone back to the Constellation set, might start going to Freestar Collective now with Sam. Only about level 15 and still got the Razorlight, skills points are a bit stingy. Wish there were three sort of trees - space, land, social - that you got points in each tree on a level up. Although meeting activity quota before being able to level up is good.

Just realised there is an achievement for reaching level 100! I think I'm something like level 22 after about 35 hours. I'm quite glad it's possible/expected to get that high as there are loads of skills I still want to unlock. I just hope there's enough actual good handcrafted mission content to gather all that XP without having to resort to the procedurally generated busy work.

hah, I had one of these last night. It was a 3 or 4 level station nestled between 2 large cliffs. I could enter both from the lower section or a door at the top. Somehow I accidentally aggro'd them and one was hitting me through a closed door. I killed him and could hear more inside who were also shooting me through the inner door so I threw a load of mines in the airlock and then jumped the barrier to float down and flank them from below.

I love the kegendary coachman shotgun. Feels good to use!

oooh nice, I found that one in the shop in The Well, which coincidentally I also discovered today. Contemplated nicking it, half thought Andreja would lift it herself, she seems light fingered

So this is now clicking with me and I have a new hot take on it.

Did they not have enough playtesting from from people unfamiliar with the game towards the end? You know, like when you're involved with any long term project you start getting blind to certain issues and it helps to get a new perspective sometimes.

Specifically, the intro to game and first couple of hours just doesn't feel right, and rushes you in to things. I can see how it seems alright if you're already familiar with the game, but coming to it afresh like...well everybody who is playing it just makes it feel shit.

I normally have no patients for the "you need to play X number of hours for it to click" but I am having fun with this now.

About 4 hours in, the game is exactly what I expected, but still a bit disappointing. I'm going to play a bit more to see if it clicks, but it's not that exciting really... Not seeing anything of substance it does that Fallout 4 didn't do just as well, except for having a bit more variety in the environments.

The level of AI and the janky-ass combat definitely hasn't changed at all. I definitely found Skyrim more fun and that came out over 10 years ago.

The usual flow of gamedev is to start in the middle. Typically the introductory bits are the things you make last, because it means you have maximum familiarity with your tools, to end of the story is set, nothing much is in flux, the tech is stable (hahahahahaaaaa), you can reel in the reviewers and players with a solid opening, etc. etc.

So maybe there is something to them having smelled their own farts for so long in the back 200 hours that they just couldn't wait to rush you through the first half dozen when they came to make them. There's 100% going to be a mod that remixes it into something truly epic though.

I'm somewhere around the 20 hour mark now and it's definitely more interesting than it was at the start, but still not especially engaging. It's worth it for when you emerge from a cavern or building complex and it's sunrise and the music swells just so and a bad guy rounds the corner and you bullseye them right between the eyes and they're carrying some sweet loot.

I realised why I liked the energy weapons so much, even the basic Equinox and Orion. They remind me of the MIDA Multi Tool in Destiny.

That's the problem with most Bethesda Games. They are just good enough to sink 100 hours in, but you constantly feel like it could be much better if they only did this or that.

At least Oblivion, Skyrim and Fallout 3 were like this for me. Morrowind was better and FO4 I haven't played.

Skyrim was good enough that I carried on, the rest I have abandoned as they have annoyed me or i got bored. This one will probably hold my attention though as the combat is a step up from their usual effort.