Various people seem to be misrepresenting or misunderstanding why quite a few Elder Scrolls/Fallout fans were unhappy with Starfield.
Let's start with the idea that the flak the game has received is mostly due to it being an exclusive. I was in the Starfield subreddit months before release and bought the game at launch--something I only do with Bethesda games because I generally know what I'm getting. I know when the criticism is real. I've read many, many long and detailed posts from PC gamers and Bethesda fans expressing their disappointment and pinpointing real issues and problems, most of which I've encountered as well.
These are people who were incredibly excited for Starfield, fans who are forgiving of bugs, fans who are used to the quirks of the engine. They wanted Fallout in space, Skyrim in space, they weren't asking for it to 'advance the genre' at all.
However, a significant number of them were not happy with the final product.
Let's take a look at Steam--
Fallout 4 -- ALL REVIEWS: Very Positive (240,175)
Fallout 76 -- ALL REVIEWS: Mostly Positive (57,658)
Starfield -- ALL REVIEWS: Mixed (98,311)
Now people are pointing to the fact that users are suddenly LESS forgiving of Starfield when historically they've been MORE forgiving of the problems inherent in Bethesda games as proof that there is some kind of agenda undermining it.
That's not what's happening. The disconnect between the critics and the fans is something very simple.
The truth is, Starfield has a big problem baked into the design that games like Skyrim and Fallout 4 didn't have. The baseline enjoyment of someone who plays those games is essentially static. If you loved the first hour of exploring Boston in Fallout 4 then you're probably going to feel basically the same way after 20 hours. If you loved the first 20 hours then you'll probably love it after 40 hours, and so on. The same with Skyrim. The experience doesn't change that much as you move from one side of the map to the next.
On the other hand, for many people, especially those who love exploration, Starfield gets ACTIVELY WORSE the MORE YOU PLAY. Critics who push through the game quickly are much less likely to experience this but the players who are looking to take their time and immerse themselves in all facets of the game have a better chance to discovering this for themselves.
Why? Because Starfield has a very small number of unique 'Points of Interest' and instead copy-pastes the same non-unique POI over and over and over. Understand that when I say copy-paste, that's exactly what I mean--the Robotics Lab POI on one planet is going to be EXACTLY the same as the Robotics Lab on another planet, right down to the same knick-knacks laying around and the same notes laying on desks, written by the same people.
Run into the same POI 10 times and you start feeling kind of annoyed. Run into the same exact POI 20+ times and you start looking at the game differently. It's not just the POI, either. The "puzzles" that you need to do to get your space magic are the EXACT SAME at every temple--even Skyrim had that beat. There are only 3 enemy factions in the game but they're really just people wearing different space suits.
Starfield is much, much bigger than the playable areas in Fallout 4 and Skyrim but I found it to be way less interesting.
To be clear, I'm not saying that there aren't positives about the game. It does plenty of stuff quite well. The problem is that some of the things it fails at are things that Bethesda fans REALLY, REALLY LIKE.
Last edited by pokoko - on 29 May 2024
