Bethesda's Starfield

[Scraper]

I preloaded it yesterday. Here's to hoping the day 1 patch is smaller than 80 gigs.

[jztemple2]

I preloaded it yesterday. Here's to hoping the day 1 patch is smaller than 80 gigs.

I'm waiting for GMG to release the key to me, which I hope will give me enough time to preload

Meanwhile, for those who feel that they are being dragged into the vortex of the hype train, here's an interesting video. I think it raises some valid issues and also addresses some unrealistic expectations.

And thankfully it is enjoyable to watch

[Carpet_pissr]

Great video. "I'm 27" LOL!

[jztemple2]

Starfield official bomber jacket:

[Hrdina]

And thankfully it is enjoyable to watch

He made some decent points, particularly about the character animation, but I found that video grating. In particular the random noises and multiple references to "The Starfield Direct".

I am definitely interested in Starfield, but not pre-order interested.

[Skinypupy]

I am definitely interested in Starfield, but not pre-order interested.

Same. I’m sure I’ll pick it up at some point after I finish BG3, which doesn’t look to be anytime soon.

[Kurth]

I preloaded it yesterday. Here's to hoping the day 1 patch is smaller than 80 gigs.

I'm waiting for GMG to release the key to me, which I hope will give me enough time to preload

Meanwhile, for those who feel that they are being dragged into the vortex of the hype train, here's an interesting video. I think it raises some valid issues and also addresses some unrealistic expectations.

And thankfully it is enjoyable to watch

Great video! He did make some good points, especially about the graphics. I’m not really a graphics guy - I just need things to look reasonably good, and I care much more about the general art style than how amazingly the game art is rendered.

That said, the distinctions between the graphics of Starfield and those of The Last of Us 2 or Red Dead Redemption were stark.

[Grifman]

I preloaded it yesterday. Here's to hoping the day 1 patch is smaller than 80 gigs.

I'm waiting for GMG to release the key to me, which I hope will give me enough time to preload

Meanwhile, for those who feel that they are being dragged into the vortex of the hype train, here's an interesting video. I think it raises some valid issues and also addresses some unrealistic expectations.

And thankfully it is enjoyable to watch

Sorry, I get a chuckle out of these videos, and I have seen a number of these posted online. These people haven’t played the game - of course (!!!) - have seen the same videos that everyone else has, seen the same interviews seen by everyone else, and really don’t know any more about the game than anyone else does. But they tell us what to expect, much of which is educated guesses or pure speculation on their part. I guess the rest of us are just idiots, unable to make set our own expectations on what we have seen. It’s a little condescending, IMO, but YMMV.

[Blackhawk]

If our own views were enough, why would we bother discussing? Reading? Different people, with different experiences and backgrounds, will have different insights.

[malchior]

If our own views were enough, why would we bother discussing? Reading? Different people, with different experiences and backgrounds, will have different insights.

+1. FWIW I thought he made a lot of good points. I have the same concerns. I think he even does a good job of explaining why he is a little jaded. I'm in the same headspace to be honest.

[Apollo]

I wish the characters looked better and the animation was smoother, but my only real concern is with the idea that you won't be able to fly through the atmosphere or use land vehicles. That's really going to limit the immersion factor for me since you can do that with most similar games from No Man's Sky to Empyrion. It's going to feel more like you've landed on a movie set than a planet.

[Carpet_pissr]

I preloaded it yesterday. Here's to hoping the day 1 patch is smaller than 80 gigs.

I'm waiting for GMG to release the key to me, which I hope will give me enough time to preload

Meanwhile, for those who feel that they are being dragged into the vortex of the hype train, here's an interesting video. I think it raises some valid issues and also addresses some unrealistic expectations.

And thankfully it is enjoyable to watch

Great video! He did make some good points, especially about the graphics. I’m not really a graphics guy - I just need things to look reasonably good, and I care much more about the general art style than how amazingly the game art is rendered.

That said, the distinctions between the graphics of Starfield and those of The Last of Us 2 or Red Dead Redemption were stark.

The Last of Us graphics being better, right? I can’t even imagine something looking “starkly” better than that game with current gen graphics hw.

[malchior]

Bethesda has generally had a very tough time with their engines. Both in performance and their look and feel. They're constantly years behind the competition. Will that make it a bad game? Not necessarily but they stretch what AAA means.

[Kurth]

The Last of Us being significantly better, and that’s honestly an understatement.

This doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm for Starfield at all, but I’m glad I’ll be going in knowing what to expect as far as graphics.

[Blackhawk]

Bethesda has generally had a very tough time with their engines. Both in performance and their look and feel. They're constantly years behind the competition. Will that make it a bad game? Not necessarily but they stretch what AAA means.

Partially because they're a decade overdue for a new engine. They just keep patching the engine that they made for Morrowind, and while constantly updating and old engine isn't unheard of, they haven't ever addressed a few of the very, very troublesome limitations of the engine, like the way it handles memory, loading/unloading of areas, the way it handles scripts, and so on. Those few things are the cause of a huge number of their issues. In fact, most people would be surprised at how many major Fallout/Elder Scrolls issues simply come down to the scripts, from guaranteed crashes to corrupted saves.

For example, it is prone to stuck scripts. Simply put, each time there is a frame drawn, the engine gets a set amount of time to execute each script, in milliseconds. If it runs out of time, it doesn't skip to the next one - it pushes it to the next frame and keeps going. Meanwhile, the other scripts start to line up behind it, waiting their turn. And more line up. And more. Some rely on other scripts that also can't run. Now your system is bogged down trying to run gazillions of scripts and performance drops. And now you're out of RAM and crash. And I hope you didn't quick-save when all of the scripts were running. Or that you don't have a location that always causes that many scripts to run (like the bridge in Sanctuary in Fallout 4 if you built all three nearby settlements.)

And remember, they run the scripts per-frame. That's why there are major issues with some games if you play them above 60FPS. The physics at 120FPS are being calculated at double the rate, which results in crazy behavior, plus things not triggering correctly and all sorts of other issues. Not only that, if you are at 60 frames per second, you have ~16ms during each frame (to run scripts and do everything else related to that frame.) But if you have a 144Hz monitor and run it at that rate, you're down to 6ms. That means that at high frame rates, the scripts end up with less and less time to run before they start to break and result in crashes.

Or like what happens when scripts get orphaned - when whatever is supposed to tell them to stop running doesn't do so and they end up in your saves. As time goes by, those start to add up and you're running more and more and more scripts the further you get in the game, until, for some people, they reach a point at which the crashing (from stuck scripts) becomes constant. This is, by the way, why it's strongly suggested that you don't remove mods mid-playthrough. If the mods you remove added scripts and you remove them, they're not there anymore to turn them off.

They keep putting patches over the flaws and adding new bells and whistles in order to keep using the engine, but some of the deeper, core issues with the engine seem to be baked in and show up as major problems in game after game after game. And in an era in which seamless open world games are the rule, an engine that requires loading in chunks is going to start to stand out as antiquated. For example, not being able to fly from space to planets without going through a loading screen (probably disguised as a landing cinematic - lots of game cinematics are used as cover for loading.)

[Carpet_pissr]

The Last of Us being significantly better, and that’s honestly an understatement.

OK, whew. I got that game for free when I bought a new GPU not too long ago, and it was the first game I fired up to see what all the kids were on about these days with their fancy "shading" and "textures" and whatnot (my last card launched in 2013).

Was/am simply blown away by the graphics and detail in that game. It's gorgeous.

Wouldn't be surprised if I shed an involuntary, single tear upon seeing it being rendered on my home computer.

[Max Peck]

It'll be interesting to see if Bethesda's Microsoft overlords will lean on them to collaborate with other MS developers in order to move to better engine going forward, similar to how they used id to spiffy up Starfield's combat.

[DOS=HIGH]

It'll be interesting to see if Bethesda's Microsoft overlords will lean on them to collaborate with other MS developers in order to move to better engine going forward, similar to how they used id to spiffy up Starfield's combat.

I wish MS would pass the Fallout franchise to Obsidian so it might actually be released prior to 2077. Wouldn't hurt that it would probably be better too.

[Blackhawk]

It'll be interesting to see if Bethesda's Microsoft overlords will lean on them to collaborate with other MS developers in order to move to better engine going forward, similar to how they used id to spiffy up Starfield's combat.

Based on what I've read, I have high hopes.

I know I'm critical. But I'm looking forward to Starfield, quite a bit. It's just that after getting burned on the last three Bethesda games I've bought in a row, and after having dealt with their customer 'service', I've become a critic of the company. They've lost my respect, and they've lost my trust. I truly hope that they've turned things around this time (especially with MS looking over their shoulders), but I am watching and waiting - I'll see how the post-release reviews are (pre-release reviews are often tainted by the developer-reviewer relationship required to get the early access, and Bethesda already has a reputation for black-balling sites who don't play ball.)

[Grifman]

Starfield has gone gold. XBox preloads begin August 17, PC August 30.

https://x.com/bethesdastudios/status/16 ... NcXCfN8s1g

[jztemple2]

Starfield has gone gold. XBox preloads begin August 17, PC August 30.

https://x.com/bethesdastudios/status/16 ... NcXCfN8s1g

And hopefully Green Man Gaming gets keys out soon enough for the preload.

Anyone want to guess on how big the release day patch will be?

[Smoove_B]

I am still wondering if it's just easier to download after it's been officially released rather than pre-load and let it do the decrypting - as Max noted above. I forget what game I'd pre-loaded recently be the decrypting took forever.

[stimpy]

Just bought a new computer and it came with a code for the Premium Edition of Starfield.
It also comes with a 30 day code for Game Pass, so I'm wondering if I should try it there to see if I like it before using the code.

Computer is being delivered Friday and so I think I get 5 days early access.

[jztemple2]

Just bought a new computer and it came with a code for the Premium Edition of Starfield.
It also comes with a 30 day code for Game Pass, so I'm wondering if I should try it there to see if I like it before using the code.

Computer is being delivered Friday and so I think I get 5 days early access.

Well, if it comes with the code for a free copy of the game, is it somehow tied to you? Or can you give away/sell the code? If it isn't transferable, then it's a no-brainer

And yes, the Premium Edition will be available five days early.

[stimpy]

Just bought a new computer and it came with a code for the Premium Edition of Starfield.
It also comes with a 30 day code for Game Pass, so I'm wondering if I should try it there to see if I like it before using the code.

Computer is being delivered Friday and so I think I get 5 days early access.

Well, if it comes with the code for a free copy of the game, is it somehow tied to you? Or can you give away/sell the code? If it isn't transferable, then it's a no-brainer

And yes, the Premium Edition will be available five days early.

I believe it just does a system check to ensure a required AMD processor/video card is installed.
Not tied to any particular system.

[Carpet_pissr]

If it’s like the giveaway for The Last of Us, you have to download an app that checks your hardware.

Wasn’t crazy about that.

[jztemple2]

Article, with the info as mentioned above, Starfield has gone gold, preloads are coming

However, the reason for linking is that the devs also held a Q&A session on reddit and some of the answers are listed in the article. Some interesting stuff there.

Update. listed, not listened

[rf2000]

I cancelled my gamespass while ago. I think I'll renew it. $1 for 2 weeks then $10/month. 6 weeks of Starfield for $11 sounds better than $70.

[Grifman]

I cancelled my gamespass while ago. I think I'll renew it. $1 for 2 weeks then $10/month. 6 weeks of Starfield for $11 sounds better than $70.

That’s assuming you can get through it, or see all you want to see in 6 weeks.

[Madmarcus]

I have BG3 and JA3. It's easy to wait a bit and get Starfield after I see reviews.

[Max Peck]

[GreenGoo]

The Last of Us being significantly better, and that’s honestly an understatement.

This doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm for Starfield at all, but I’m glad I’ll be going in knowing what to expect as far as graphics.

I think managing expectations can go a long way to whether you personally enjoy something or not. I know it does for me.

[Kurth]

The Last of Us being significantly better, and that’s honestly an understatement.

This doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm for Starfield at all, but I’m glad I’ll be going in knowing what to expect as far as graphics.

I think managing expectations can go a long way to whether you personally enjoy something or not. I know it does for me.

100%

[Grifman]

Reviewers already have their copies, embargoed until August 31.

[Moliere]

I cancelled my gamespass while ago. I think I'll renew it. $1 for 2 weeks then $10/month. 6 weeks of Starfield for $11 sounds better than $70.

At $10 a month the Xbox Gamepass has been a great service to play a lot of games. I am easily 12 months ahead of my monthly fees in saved costs from not having to buy the games.

[Grifman]

Hah, whatever you do, don’t google “ Starfield spoilers”

[jztemple2]

I got this from Green Man Gaming this morning:

We have great news about your Starfield Premium Edition PC key. So you have the best possible pre-purchase experience, we would like to share some information on the pre-load process and when you can expect to receive your key.

Distribution for Premium Edition keys will begin on Monday 21st August from 00:10 am BST, and you will be able to begin pre-loading from Wednesday 30th August. This will give you time to pre-load ready to play your Premium Edition which grants you an early access period starting on Friday 1st September. Any bonus content from your qualifying pre-purchase will also be included.

So no cutting it to the last moment to get my key

And it's the first time I can recall that GMG sent me news about key release times.

[Carpet_pissr]

Not sure if already mentioned: coming 9/6/23 to PC Gamepass

[Daehawk]

whoops

[Blackhawk]

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