Oh hell naw, if anybody has to buy For - Better than Redfall according to Meta - Spoken it’s @Spade coz he trolled that game harder than any of us.

I really don't understand why they don't do this. Especially when you see the best games of 2023 are (for now) Resident Evil 4 Remake, Metroid Prime Remastered and Dead Space Remake

Heard Redfall is a real short game and …. That’s completely fine. Sick of every game being a 50hr+ chore or in Ubisofts case a copy paste 200+hr bukkake of mediocrity.

Phil Spencer is like Lebron James on the 2009 Cavaliers. What do people expect him to do with the talent they're surrounding him with right now.

Instead of pushing for Microsoft to aquire more studios, how about they actually recruit some competent people to properly handle the studios and IPs they're currently allowing to stagnate and decline. The 343 cleanout is a perfect example of something that was long overdue.

Long-Rant.

I'm legit a little concerned for Starfield right now, not because of any quality expectations but because of the ridiculous hyperbole and narrative around Xbox at the moment, the expectations which will be placed upon Starfield will be insane, it may be one of the most closely examined titles in history, the smallest bugs will blow up.

My worry is a lot of reviewers (and clickbait YouTubers) will look at Starfield from the angle of "Wow, Microsoft hasn't released a major exclusive in almost 2 years so Starfield better be flawless, 11/10, zero bugs, created by God himself" and if it's even the slightest bit buggy it's going to be "Wow, Xbox's next major exclusive in almost 2 years has some bugs, unacceptable, is the Xbox brand doomed?"

Basically what I'm saying is Starfield needs to be reviewed on its own merits, as an actual videogame, not on some silly arbitrary timeline between Starfield and the last major Xbox release. There are so many outrage and clickbait artists on Twitter and YouTube right now who are already coming to the determination that Xbox is screwed, that Starfield needs to be perfect with no flaws and that it's already in danger, Lmao.

It's only in danger because of clickbait and rage fuelled content creators who will find any fault they can to create rage fuelled Xbox doomed opinion pieces and get them clicks. Now Starfield has to be an absolute flawless masterpiece, has to be the game of the decade, can't be anything less than a 10/10 😄

If it's high 80s I bet we'll see even some "Wow, is Xbox doomed? If Starfield can't crack 90s then nothing can, is Xbox in trouble? Starfield isn't the saviour that Xbox hoped it would be". Some people also acting like Sony/Nintendo have never released 60s, even some reviewers who gave them those 60s, Lmao.

Like, I understand it's frustrating the first AAA since Halo Infinite turned out to be a dud and it hasn't resonated with the majority. Yes, Xbox and Bethesda share some blame here and they can be held to account and questioned on the issue, it is unacceptable to release in this state but where is the perspective? Redfall was in development before Xbox even acquired Zenimax, it wasn't greenlit by Xbox and what more could they have done?

These people know full well that it isn't just the graphics and bugs that people are taking issue with but the entire core of the game itself, alongside the AI and content, Arkane had 5 years and a year delay, to fix the major complaints of the reviewers it would have probably needed another 2 years at least, are people seriously going to pretend they wouldn't be ripping Xbox a new asshole if they delayed Redfall again by over a year to soft reboot it? Lol.

It's a title which wasn't in Arkane's wheelhouse, they tried something different and they failed, it happens. It means absolutely fuck all in relation to Starfield and Starfield's expectations shouldn't be increased simply because Xbox hasn't had a major exclusive in a while, why would I think that would or should change the quality in a title?

If Starfield is an amazing title then it's an amazing title and it doesn't mean fuck all when the last Xbox exclusive released, I'm not going to write up my own review with the mind frame of "this better be perfect because Xbox's last major release was two years ago, if I find a single issue then I'm going to be mad because Xbox last major release was two years ago" because that's stupid and not what reviews should be about.

Some will say this looks like an excuse but it's not, it's simply the facts of the matter, Starfield isn't going to be perfect, it will have bugs, I also expect it to have an amazing amount of content, a brilliantly versatile engine, a great and engaging story, and I don't expect it to have any game breaking bugs or major performance issues, however it won't be perfect because no game is perfect.

People also acting like or purposely ignoring that Xbox studios haven't released multiple high quality releases since 2020 and how consistent they've been since now, this is Xbox's first 60s since 2020. Before that, between Minecraft Dungeons in 2020 - Minecraft Legends in 2023, they didn't release a single title below ~75 IIRC.

But one studio making a title in a genre they're completely new to and screwing up and we're fucking doomed and nothing Xbox did in the past three years counts and all their future titles need to be 10/10 with absolutely no faults at all, totally the same standard we hold to all over titles, now how about that Jedi Survivor sitting at 86 OpenCritic despite being a technical mess.

Some are acting like Xbox just came into their home and snapped their dogs neck in front of them and took a shit in their kitchen.

This rant is mainly directed towards YouTubers and Twitter Personalities...I actively try to avoid the former though. Cause that is a large portion of YouTubers, clickbait outrage videos because that is what sells, negativity. Large part of this rant is aimed at YouTubers like DreamcastGuy. A lot of these YouTubers drag down the Gaming industry because they exist solely to complain and rile up fanboys.

"If Halo were coming out now, it would need to be a 10/10"

Give me a break, now a 9/10 is suddenly not good enough, Lol.  Then the other guy saying basically Starfield being a 10/10 won't matter, it needs to be "transformative" Lol. Transformative 10/10 is now the floor and anything less is doom. Xbox discourse is getting so f*cking dumb.

Feeling bad for the developers at Bethesda Game Studios with this rhetoric, coming from gaming media no less, in the final months of development which are usually full with crunch the developers are now being told that Xbox's existence rests on their shoulders and if the game isn't a perfect, transformative 11/10 then it's not good enough. Must feel horrible to work at BGS right now.

This isn't a defensive of Redfall but the new rhetoric around Xbox and now Starfield, feels like Xbox never gains any "straws" and only loses them from certain folk. And yes I understand that AAAs move consoles and Xbox needs more quality AAAs. No doubt they'll get them, they won't get them though if they're set up to fail from the start and every title now needs to be transformative, perfect, 10/10.

But the thing is, Starfield only has this spotlight now because it is Xbox exclusive, if they were still multiplatform and Redfall released like this it wouldn't be getting anywhere near as much attention and Starfield certainly wouldn't be suddenly doomed because of it, nobody gave a shit about Wolfenstein Youngblood which is also in the 60s and jointly made by Arkane, Lol.

Nobody said Starfield is doomed because of Youngblood and it now needs to be a 11/10, everyone was still wildly excited for Starfield. Because it's silly to doom a title made by a completely different developer in their actual wheelhouse, versus one who tried something completely new to them and failed, it's telling that the only Bethesda projects which have failed have been multiplayer projects, use logic.

@Ryuu96 some comments on your rant:
- The main issue is that we're in the Series' third year, and there is still no killer app. And console sales trends are starting to look like the end of a generation, which isn't supposed to be this early. And it's not like "oh I don't agree, this game is very good" type of thing. The PS5 has God of War as its killer app, the Switch had BOTW, SMO and soon TOTK.
- Everybody gets its "this game isn't good, the company is doomed". Remember 6 months ago with Pokémon Scarlet/Violet, launched in a terrible state, and everybody was like "the Switch is garbabe, Nintendo needs to release a new console right now" (at the end, it was actually fine).
- The "yeah the game started developping before the purchase so don't blame MS" argument is kind of ugh, cause that's not the point, the game still released as an Xbox Game Studios exclusive game at the end. MS bought Double Fine just before the launch of Psychonauts 2 but nobody said "yeah the game started developping before the MS purchase", everybody was like "this game is pure Xbox Studios".

It's not exactly surprising the gaming media has turned on MS even more this gen. Gamepass makes their reviews and content even more irrelevant as anyone with a sub can try the games out for themselves.

Wonder if Forza Motorsport should try to launch first, Xbox needs to figure out a way to take some pressure off Starfield because there's absolutely no way some of these reviewers and media personalities don't end up disappointed with the ridiculous expectations they're placing on it, their floor is "perfect" and "transformative 10/10" and anything less will be bad. Maybe a couple quality titles beforehand will chill them the F out

Thinking if they should even delay Starfield to November and try to get Hellblade II, Forza Motorsport and Wondering Tower out before it but maybe E3 will chill them out, I think it'll be important to show some of their major projects to take some pressure off Starfield, things like Avowed, Hellblade, Fable, etc.

- Agreed. Series needs more quality AAAs to sell the consoles. I think they're coming because of the pedigree of the studios making them.

- Yeah, Pokemon is one of the 6/10 from reviewers that I was talking about, I know everyone was trashing Gamefreak but Gamefreak is pretty consistent in this, like Pokemon is their DNA and they keep screwing it up but Arkane tried something completely new to them, nevertheless I still buy Pokemon day one and just quietly grown about Gamefreak, Lol. But I "forgive" Arkane more than I do Gamefreak.

Those Switch comments were dumb too, Pokemon's issues weren't Switch's power but Gamefreak's ability. But was anyone really saying that Zelda BOTW 2 needs to be a transformative 10/10 as the floor because Pokemon was bad? That's my issue, I know the difference is that Nintendo has had multiple major high quality titles but it's still unfair to Starfield.

These people are going to be disappointed when their floor is a 10/10 Perfection + Transformative...I'm expecting an amazing title, but one still with flaws, as I don't consider any title to be perfect, I can forgive minor bugs due to how massive the title will be and the seriously impressive things that Creation Engine does as an engine, as long as it doesn't have any major performance issues or game breaking bugs.

What it feels like people are asking for now is that Starfield needs to be a flawless 10/10 in Gameplay, Story, Writing, Graphics, Performance, etc. as the absolute minimum, it's becoming an insane level of expectations, their floor is now feeling like it has to be "one of the greatest titles of all time" at a minimum otherwise Xbox is doomed and Starfield won't be good enough.

I feel awful for the developers and they wouldn't have this expectation placed upon them if they weren't owned by Xbox because it makes no sense when judging the quality of a title. Bethesda has never achieved such feats, they make amazing titles but there's clearly flaws in every single one, and every single videogame in existence, for example, Elder Scrolls are amazing in lore, side content, world building but their core stories are often nothing special.

- Nah, Microsoft shares blame for being too hands off. My point is more that I don't think if Arkane was under Xbox before Redfall that this project would have even existed, it was clearly a push from the "multiplayer" chasing of old Bethesda and I don't think it is representative of what Arkane's future will be like or even Xbox's future which has been consistent in quality releases recently, I've said they need to get the AAAs out already.

My other thing would be though, could they have even done anything at this stage? It sounds like it was Bethesda's decision to push it out and I'm not sure if I necessarily disagree with it, it sounds like with all the issues it has it would have needed at least another 2 years in the oven, it likely would have had to be soft-rebooted into something entirely different than what was shown.

At this stage I think it's better to just cut your losses and move onto better things, sunk costs and all that. Take this as a learning experience that Arkane shouldn't be doing open-world multiplayer focused titles. It would be so much work to soft-reboot it and change it into a traditional Arkane IP that you might as well just make a new traditional Arkane IP, Lol.

It reminds me a little of the Rocksteady/Suicide Squad situation...They're delaying that so long and not changing anything about it, a year delay for polish, I can't help but wonder if it won't be better to just get it out now and move onto better things because it's the core idea that people hate about that game.

I'm not sure there is any way that Redfall "could" have been saved. Some things just don't come together, can be argued they should have delayed it to fix tech issues at least but I still think that only increased it from a low-mid 60s title to a high 60s title and it still gets ripped apart by media because we've seen that technical issues are forgiven if the core game is enjoyed.

Should Xbox have cancelled it too? I disagree here, I think despite everything, Arkane has been working on it for years and that blood, sweat and tears, some of them are clearly still proud of the work they put in and for Microsoft to come in and cancel their project will probably piss off more Arkane employees than actually giving them a chance.

Xbox needs to be more hands on with Bethesda and make sure this never happens again and yeah, Redfall is a disaster, I agree with all of that, everyone shares their blame, I don't disagree with that. Xbox should have been involved earlier and got Arkane some help at least to fix the tech issues (I.E. The Coalition).

My core complaint isn't really about Redfall but the narrative surrounding Starfield now.

Some journalists and media folks bare minimum now is that Starfield has to be one of the greatest titles of all time, Lol. And Ryan's silly "a 9/10 for Halo Infinite wouldn't be good enough today" We've already gone from "anything below 8 is trash" and now "anything below 9 isn't good enough" to now with Starfield "anything below 10 isn't good enough"

May as well just cancel Starfield, that way the game and it's devs never have to worry about disappointing performance. It can just live on in legend as the greatest game that never was, and we'll blame gaming media for setting such unfair expectations. Xbox owners will understand who's truly at fault for their lack of killer apps.