Starfield (Skyrim in space game)

[Inspector Norse]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H26Dtgbsfzw&ab_channel=IGN

Is this going to be good then?

Not sure how they will really transfer that Bethesda open-world magic to a game with lots of different planets to explore. Probably the main planets are big open worlds where you can wander round and discover stuff in that classic Bethesda way, but all this about there being over a thousand planets makes me suspect a lot of them will be dull empty places you just go for fetch quests or resources.

Shipbuilding looks fun though I couldn't tell whether the changes you make to your ship's structure and shape are reflected when you're inside it, ie do you get to actually move around and explore the ship you've made or do you just get the basic set of rooms?

Hair looks shit but character models otherwise decent even if the eyes look a bit dead. Mind you Alan Nanes, Lead Companions Designer is really uncomfortable in front of the camera, so perhaps they just take after their creator. Space cowboy companion looks ridiculous. Are they going for more focus on relationships and dialogue? Never strong points in Bethesda games but if they just go with the same basic style as their older games it might feel a bit quaint and limited by modern standards. Stuff like the return of the Adoring Fan feels a bit cringey, indeed all the voice acting in the preview clips sounded a bit hammy.

I feel a bit like as good as Skyrim and things were, major new standards have been set for these open-world games so they need to have made big strides. Not sure that just taking a classic-style Bethesda experience and putting it in space with souped-up graphics will cut the mustard now people have played through games with the depth and detail of RDR2 etc.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Took a laser to the knee

[Chairman Yang]

Space cowboy companion looks ridiculous.

They almost almost had me. The game looked reassuringly crap in that way you know that they're showing you actual footage, but then they showed the vast alien worlds and it was: Chinese World, Westworld World, City World... and like, I know you can't make a whole sci-fi universe but could you at least start from something less insipid?

[shoulders]

Looks alright, but the lead design is a bit blocky and boring looking as though they took their cues from the last few Hollywood sci-fi films... and the alien creatures they showed look very last-gen, (maybe even the generation before that). Probably the big let-down was seeing those crappy things.

I bet it's still pretty good.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Netflix the game

[Alberon]

I suspect I'll get drawn in and play it for a year, but I'm going to avoid pre-ordering it and see what the opinions are at launch.

[Inspector Norse]

Looks alright, but the lead design is a bit blocky and boring looking as though they took their cues from the last few Hollywood sci-fi films... and the alien creatures they showed look very last-gen, (maybe even the generation before that). Probably the big let-down was seeing those crappy things.

I bet it's still pretty good.

Don't mind the art style grabbing from Hollywood sci-fi, I think there's a nice retro SF vibe to it, but like @Chairman Yang says the cities seemed to be a bit too tropey and I hope the planets aren't just desert planet, ice planet, jungle planet, etc etc. Ice planets in particular can fuck off.

[oggyraiding]

In the showcase, one of the designers described the aesthetic as "NASApunk" which was a bit cringe. It releases day one on Game Pass so it's not like I have to weigh up dropping £70 on it. Probably worth a play in that case.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Makes that cyberpunk game look artistically interesting

[Timothy]

30fps for a first person RPG with shooter elements? Not bothered.

[Roxy Robinson]

Space is boring as fuck.

[Lemming]

The warm reception that the trailer and gameplay demonstration have gotten online is a bit baffling to me, it literally looks like Fallout 4, and Fallout 4 was shit.

I have a lot of time for most of Bethesda's stuff (even if nothing since Daggerfall has really been as good as Daggerfall) but Fallout 4 was just awful, not even reaching the level of simple "walk around and have a bit of a laugh twatting people over the head" fun that Skyrim achieved.

The space cowboy companion did put me off too, like, what the fuck. "25 years in the making, a whole new setting!!" and everything they show about it makes it look like the most generic shit ever. Which is even more of a problem because The Elder Scrolls is a very interesting and unique setting, both visually and thematically, which is part of what makes it appealing to spend 100 hours walking around in circles in each of those games. I'm not sure if I want to spend that long walking around Space Cowboy world.

[druss]

I loved Fallout 4, wasn't really a Fallout game but probably my favourite Bethesda game. Gameplay was easily the best of any of their games.

[Capt.Midnight]

Makes that cyberpunk game look artistically interesting

To be fair, Cyberpunk's art direction was very good. We seem to be in a period of absolutely shite looking games with zero attention paid to aesthetic. By this I mean colour pallettes, tone, tasteful use of graphics and 3D asset design.

Starfield doesn't look too bad, but it's certainly not developed its own idiosyncratic style or bothered to cultivate a unique take on the genre. A huge missed opportunity really.

[shoulders]

But they fully overhauled the ________ system!

[Chairman Yang]

I laughed out loud when it showed that guy punching a Space Giraffe in order to earn XP for his pickpocketing skill. Truly nothing has changed.

[Mobius]

I see they've got that shit basebuilding from Fallout 4 in there.

Honestly it looks a bit crap and they haven't made a good game in ages, but you've got to give it a go I suppose.

[WesterlyWinds]

The funniest thing about their marketing for this was calling it "Nasapunk".

Nasapunk.

Nasa.

Punk.

[PlanktonSideburns]

What would be the best punk aesthetic with an American national agency preceding it

FBI Punk
Hunting Shooting Fishing Commission Punk
Border Patrol Punk

[Roxy Robinson]

Skyrim still got the best sense of place in pretty much any game (for me). Can't see 'space' being quite as good. How much of the planets can you explore? Probably not a lot. Probably that's the best chance of creating interesting spaces to explore but space by its very nature is not that interesting to explore.

[Timothy]

Skyrim still got the best sense of place in pretty much any game (for me). Can't see 'space' being quite as good. How much of the planets can you explore? Probably not a lot. Probably that's the best chance of creating interesting spaces to explore but space by its very nature is not that interesting to explore.

Over 1000 apparently.

www.polygon.com/platform/amp/23162952/starfield-gameplay-ship-combat-trailer-xbox-bethesda-summer-game-fest

In a presentation livestreamed on Sunday, game director Todd Howard lifted the cover off the highly anticipated game to reveal flyable, customizable starships as well as 100 star systems and more than 1,000 different worlds to explore.

[shoulders]

Guessing a good 950 of them are skippable or just planetoids for mining.

[oggyraiding]

Is it going to be another Mass Effect "twat about in a rover and find 4 points of interest spread widely apart on every planet"?

[The Crumb]

Is it going to be another Mass Effect "twat about in a rover and find 4 points of interest spread widely apart on every planet"?

Except no rovers. Hope you like walking.

[shoulders]

Bethesda must just be pathologically addicted to making as much space as possible that you can do a limited amount of things in.

Ask them to do the inverse and create a single fully working city with a million characters that takes genuinely hours to go from one side to the other and they'd shit their pants. The pants that they wear, fully shitted, more shit than pants, pants all gone.

[Ferris]

Also who has fucking time to play a game involving a thousand planets? I'd rather they made a dozen good ones.

The idea of doing 99 planets and realizing there's still 90+% of the game to go... fuuuck off.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Guessing a good 950 of them are skippable or just planetoids for mining.

Just like most villages in North wales

[The Crumb]

Ask them to do the inverse and create a single fully working city with a million characters that takes genuinely hours to go from one side to the other and they'd shit their pants. The pants that they wear, fully shitted, more shit than pants, pants all gone.

And yet slightly less shitted duds than CD Projekt Red

[WesterlyWinds]

ship building looked cool though. hope it is shit so i don't have to buy an xbox just to play this stupid game

[shoulders]

Also who has fucking time to play a game involving a thousand planets? I'd rather they made a dozen good ones.

The idea of doing 99 planets and realizing there's still 90+% of the game to go... fuuuck off.

That is something that does genuinely excite me. The concept of a new 'draw distance' where as you travel the game is intelligent enough or has the ability to draw upon processor power to make entire bespoke galaxies up, asteroid belts, black holes etc and storylines.