Topic: The everything Xbox thread

Yeah, I remember they mentioned that going from space to planet would not be seamless back around 'E3 time', and that was disappointing for the immersion levels, but ultimately doesn't change the game mechanics too much.

I've read that Outpost building is available pretty early, which is great news. I didn't want to have to rush through the main campaign to unlock all that stuff.

The Constellation Edition has been available on Amazon again for the past couple days.

I thought about it for a hot minute, part of me does want that watch.

But the idea of replacing the battery for a smart watch every few years doesn't appeal to me.

Edit: Unavailable once again.

From what I can see from let’s plays Starfield is very much fallout in space. Fallout doesn’t hook me like skyrim (world is too desolate and blocked off because of all the ruins to me) but I shouldn’t get 2-3 years out of it before I wander back to skyrim. Thanks to GP I can rent it until the mods get released. Hopefully by then it will be cheap on pc.

Edit: time to wait a week this to install.

50 hours into Starfield now. Making a b-line through the achievements. Finished UC faction, finished Ryujin faction. Halfway through Freestar and Crimson Fleet. Currently 400/1000.

Unfortunately the usual Bethesda jank has surfaced. My game is having severe texture issues. Some ground-level walkways and ramps in New Atlantis are gone. It's a good thing fast travelling is so prevalent, I wouldn't be able to get around otherwise.

And, like Wonder Woman, I fly an invisible ship.

All of the exterior textures are gone sans the entry / exit hatch.

@Magician dang man, you really put some time in! Im impressed! I'm about 8 or so hours in, haven't noticed much of an issue on my S. No stuttering on my s either. You shelled out for the X yes?

@NintendoByNature

Yup, that's correct, I went with an XSX. So far I've had the game only crash to dashboard once, along with a couple extended frame stutters. Nothing serious; sort of par-for-the-course for a Bethesda game.

@Magician
How do you like the game so far?

@Jhena Enjoying my time thus far. I like it as much as the Elder Scrolls and Fallout games.

@Magician
This is good to hear, thanks. Sounds like a great game. I loved my time with Fallout 4. Hopefully this will be the best Bethesda game yet.

@Magician I am about 40 hours in. That UC Vanguard quest is something else. I don’t usually get moral dilemmas as I am very much neutral Good as a person and try to always play as such. But war adds a bump that I loathe. I hate war. Humans go to war because we are greedy and some people are evil but when you get into the trenches much of that goes away. A soldier is doing what they are told, usually under the assumption that the things they do protect those the love but war is ultimately political. Soldiers even great strategists are often tools, but they are monstrous tools at that. Vae Victus isn’t wrong. Especially if you think that perhaps he didn’t decide to create his progeny but instead did as ordered to ruthlessly train them. And when they were of no use they were discarded. I think he has a right to feel betrayed. However he is still a monstrous tool who even if you remove the reason you can punish him was a harbinger of death. But he honestly seems to want to stop unrepentantly evil people. He’s a sociopath and perhaps my empathy for his daughter (seriously I would romance Hadrian if I could. She is such a nerdy killing machine with a gentle (and somewhat naive) heart) is clouding my judgement. But at the same time I want the elder sanon to fall into an acid bath. I’m literally stuck on the last mission here.

I haven’t seen many issues so far. But I play in short bursts. Bethesda games eat memory and degrade the longer you play them and add to the cache.

I need a new companion. Andreja's eastern Europe accent isn't as seductive to me as Sarah's British accent. But hey, I work with what I'm given.

Aside from that, I finished up the Freestar and Crimson Fleet factions. If I were to rank the four factions in terms of enjoyment I would say Crimson Fleet > UC > Freestar > Ryujin. Crimson Fleet (supporting them from start to finish) has been a highlight for the game, really great finish on that quest line. The Aliens-inspired UC quest line was good, with some interesting characters. The Freestar quest was...fine, although the antagonist here was plain as day. And the Ryujin quest line could be annoying if your character doesn't have the stealth and security skills.

Over 60 hours deep now, 540/1000 for achievements. Just the main quest and miscellaneous checkboxes remain. Kill X number of enemies, mine X number of minerals, visit X number of systems, etc. I'll probably have 1000/1000 inside another twenty hours or so.

I think a score of 8/10 is reasonable. I've really enjoyed my time, no question. But it boggles my mind that Bethesda considered releasing this a year ago. The usual Bethesda bugs are prevalent. The lack of a map while you're in a city tile set is a shocking omission. The frequent load screens pale in comparison to the seamless transitions and traversal system you'll find in No Man's Sky. And the best aspect of Starfield, being a shlooter, doesn't compare to the Borderlands series.

Kudos to Starfield's composer, Inon Zur. His soundtrack is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this game.

68 hours (2 Days and 20 hours according to the time tracker on Xbox) and I've rolled the credits. Talk about a long scroll, I think there was about twenty minutes crediting the voice actors alone. I was not expecting Starfield's ending to be a riff of Jet Li's The One. Didn't see that coming. But it looks like there's a gear incentive to new game plus / replay the game multiple times.

I'm far enough into the main story that I wouldn't call it "The one" as the one is focused on condensing the energy (in the purest sense of the term) into one person, with yourself as the villain. This is connecting yourself to each of those multiverses (hence all the Hunters and Spaceborn) and causality ad infinitum. The tech that started this was developed because an alternate universe being shared the tech (and the exact fate, which suggests that being was Starborn as they would have to have lived for a very long time to know what they know) and because that tech was shared Starborns were allowed to be born. I don't think it is an accident that the Starborn are all human, and that multiuniverse theory is a shock to the residents (when it while not proven is at this point is popular culture normally) of said universe.

My issue is the impact. The identities of the Starborn didn't have the emotional hit they were supposed to. I never liked/cared about one of them and never spoke to the other. What I feel would have made more sense is if the hunter was the other choice (or just Barrett for obvious reasons). I do suspect that the "alien" civilization is still humanity (but that gets back into the causality loop of the game). This game has essentially made it so that intelligent life like the terrormorphs (I would argue that they are sentient) have no need for societies and were originally kept in check naturally so the only idiots running around building star ships are humans. I will say it makes the logo make way more sense now.

I'm not gonna new game plus for a while though for roleplaying reasons. My character married Sarah and while she is compelled to complete unity she wants to remain "normal" for as long as she can. I suspect that those that are changed stop aging as they begin to step out of space-time so she will have to leave eventually. It's not a bad story but if you aren't invested in the identities of the Starborn it can hit a bit like wet spaghetti. Granted I have heard NG+ changes things if you pay attention so it may have more story beats. Plus we know DLC is on the way.

@Ryu_Niiyama I draw the comparison to The One because...

...spoilers for one of the many surprise restarts ties more closely to The One.

Ok I take it back. This is a standard bethesda game...my house glitched out and I lost everything in it. Including my marriage gift from Sarah. The only benefit is I will buy this for PC when TES6 comes out (as I will be redoing my PC) so the bugs will be squashed by then. I'm still gonna beat a few more faction quests, get all the temples and get gud at outposts so i can go to the next life a mining mogul but yeah...I'm bitter now. I tend to "live" in Bethesda games so having my house full of lots of unique treasures (including my Mantis armor dangit!!!!) glitch out sorta ruins things. But I want to experience the base playthough as much as possible. Hoping that it feeds the world state reroll.

84 hours into Starfield. Now at 900/1000 for achievements. Saving the best achievement for last, level 100. Here at level 56 it takes around 4600 xp to level up and since the xp gains from crafting were nerfed with the previous update, at 1 xp a pop...I'll be spending the next several hours at my industrial workbench churning out thousands of adaptive frames.

I'll be as happy as that guy loading the plane.

@Magician why not just kill enemies and scan planets with xp boosts (emotional comfort and food)? Is manufacturing better?

@Ryu_Niiyama At 108 xp every ten seconds, I feel manufacturing would be quicker.

I am like 50ish hours into Starfield myself. It has a very addictive gameplay loop, just because there is always a new discovery just a few steps (or loading screens / menus) away, so I find myself losing a lot of time to it... but I also don't like think its all that great either somehow?

I think Baldur's Gate 3 has just ruined gaming for me, so much of what Starfield does is fine and serviceable and there is nothing wrong with that, but in a world where BG3 exists, playing an RPG that is at its best is just kinda... okay, doesn't quite feel like enough.

I will say for a Bethesda game combat can be pretty fun, with some really cool guns / abilities, and there are some side story quest chains that could have easily been their own game they are so strong, so I will give them credit there.

It is going to be interesting to see how I feel about Cyberpunk when I go back to that in a few days, whether BG3 spoils that for me too, or whether Starfield acts as an ironic come back to Earth recalibrater to enjoy what Cyberpunk has to offer.

@Magician Fair enough. I still haven’t gotten decent outposts and keep getting sidetracked by quests. Just finished Groundpounder.

I gotta say even though it is human nature it bothers me that after barely escaping extinction (lore stares humanity lots billions of lives during the exodus) humans are at each other’s throats so quickly. If there were spacefaring aliens in game (not counting terrormorphs) humanity would be dead already. Good thing the one higher tech group is also disorganized for obvious reasons.