I still have my OG Traveller books from the 1977 edition, along with a stack of supplements and a few issues of the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society. I probably spent as much time running through the character generation minigame as I did playing the game proper.
I think people might be reading a little too much into Todd Howard's Traveller call-out. IIRC, he simply mentioned in one video that he played the game back in the day, rather than actually saying that Traveller was influencing any particular aspect of Starfield's design aside from being a factor in why he's always wanted to make a game like Starfield.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2023 12:45 pm
by Tampa_Gamer
Max Peck wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 8:53 am
I still have my OG Traveller books from the 1977 edition, along with a stack of supplements and a few issues of the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society. I probably spent as much time running through the character generation minigame as I did playing the game proper.
Same here, I also still have my MegaTraveller I/II disks and manuals from the early 90s PC games (but couldn't deal with the graphics to go back and play it). Always loved that character generation system (and I do think that system shock borrowed it in spirit).
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2023 1:52 pm
by Daehawk
I wanted to play the Megatraveller games on PC in the very early 90s but didn't have a pC yet then. By the time I got one in 94 Id moved on. So never partook in them.
Space travel with overhead ground squads? Yes plz. Back in the day this was my thing so much.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2023 5:17 pm
by Freyland
Look into Stellar Tactics.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 10:27 am
by Hyena
Freyland wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 5:17 pm
Look into Stellar Tactics.
Really like that one. And the fact it's being done all by one guy is impressive. Not one company, one dude.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2023 2:58 pm
by Max Peck
The No Man's Skyrim Starfield Direct stream just ended. I did not see anything I didn't like.
I was blown away - it looked utterly amazing. So many new and improved systems, looks like that they attached some of Bethesda's weaknesses - animation, faces, gunplay, etc. I can't wait.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2023 3:17 pm
by Max Peck
I'm particularly interested by the very last scene in the combat montage near the end of the stream. Did they just low-key reveal that there is some sort of psionic system in the game?
Because if there is magic and not just guns, this is definitely No Man's Skyrim rather than No Man's Fallout.
I was getting an error when I initially tried to embed the link. I'd guess it was something weird on Youtube's end as the video transitioned from being a live stream to a regular VOD (or whatever normal Youtube videos are called).
The game is now available for pre-order on Steam, for those of us who aren't into Game Pass. There's a regular version and a digital premium edition.
The gameplay video has my hopes up that Bethesda will get this right. I imagine the game will be a buggy mess at launch, but that's the price we pay for an open world Bethesda game. My bet is some time around next Spring the game will be in good shape. My biggest worry with the game is the shear size of the game world. How the heck will they fill it with meaningful things to do and still manage to have a coherent storyline and side quests. The scale just seems too big for it not to be 95% empty space.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 10:30 am
by Blackhawk
Scraper wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 9:48 am
My biggest worry with the game is the shear size of the game world. How the heck will they fill it with meaningful things to do and still manage to have a coherent storyline and side quests.
It's Bethesda. The side quests will be less Witcher 3 and more 'Go kill the bandits pirates at Blood Wolf Cave Blood Wolf Nebula.' Bethesda creates fantastic sandboxes. They've never been able to write a coherent storyline. The closest they came was Morrowind, but you'd never know it just by playing the game unless you read all of the books they left lying around.
Scraper wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 9:48 am
My biggest worry with the game is the shear size of the game world. How the heck will they fill it with meaningful things to do and still manage to have a coherent storyline and side quests.
It's Bethesda. The side quests will be less Witcher 3 and more 'Go kill the bandits pirates at Blood Wolf Cave Blood Wolf Nebula.' Bethesda creates fantastic sandboxes. They've never been able to write a coherent storyline. The closest they came was Morrowind, but you'd never know it just by playing the game unless you read all of the books they left lying around.
I've always enjoyed the Elder Scrolls storylines. Especially the expansions, they're usually tighter and much more story driven. But yeah I'm not expecting Witcher 3 levels of story telling, just normal Bethesda levels will be good enough for me.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 12:08 pm
by Max Peck
It was amusing to me that they are nerding out about little things, like detailed food (sandwiches are clearly going to be the new sweetrolls). It reminds me a little of the nonsense going on with Star Citizen, except that Bethesda is actually delivering a product instead of burning through hundreds of millions of dollars with no end in sight.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 12:20 pm
by Max Peck
Scraper wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 9:48 am
The gameplay video has my hopes up that Bethesda will get this right. I imagine the game will be a buggy mess at launch, but that's the price we pay for an open world Bethesda game. My bet is some time around next Spring the game will be in good shape. My biggest worry with the game is the shear size of the game world. How the heck will they fill it with meaningful things to do and still manage to have a coherent storyline and side quests. The scale just seems too big for it not to be 95% empty space.
They did say that most of the planets are essentially empty. You can go to them and do things like harvest resources and (presumably) build bases, but there isn't going to be anything there (aside from, possibly, procedurally generated random encounters). I'd expect that, for the most part, the narrative-driven content will allow you to ignore that the empty planets/systems even exist, so aside from the development resources that went into creating them, their existence shouldn't really impact the quality of the story.
All that empty space will get put to good use once a modding community gets up to speed, or for future content released by Bethesda.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 12:43 pm
by Blackhawk
Max Peck wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 12:20 pm
All that empty space will get put to good use once a modding community gets up to speed
That was my thought. I wouldn't be surprised to see the modding community create a few themed 'shared' planets, where different modders are given different plots on which to build within a specific theme.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 12:50 pm
by Isgrimnur
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 1:07 pm
by Smoove_B
System requirements were lower than I anticipated. Sure you need an SSD and 125GB of space, but the video card doesn't seem to crazy. I'm not sure if I'm Day 1 interested, but maybe for the later fall and winter after they iron out the inevitable issues.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 2:26 pm
by jztemple2
Smoove_B wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 1:07 pm
I'm not sure if I'm Day 1 interested, but maybe for the later fall and winter after they iron out the inevitable issues.
+1. I'll be waiting for impressions here as I'm more of a nuts and bolts Fallout guy rather than fantasy and spells type.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 2:32 pm
by coopasonic
I'll be there day one enjoying it while everyone is whining about it. I am not saying their whining won't be justified, I am just the most forgiving gamer ever for games of types I generally appreciate, like open world exploration ARPGs that don't have Zelda in the name.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 2:52 pm
by Max Peck
Moi aussi. They may not be perfect, but I've never regretted playing a Bethesda Elder Scrolls or Fallout game on day 1. Not even Fallout 76.
Well, maybe Redguard... But that wasn't a real Elder Scrolls game. Right? Right...
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2023 12:25 am
by naednek
was about to pre-order but saw it's coming on game pass. Sold
According to Microsoft Game Studios head Matt Booty, a man who presumably doesn't mind being haunted by his words, Starfield currently has fewer bugs than any previous Bethesda game has had at launch.
"We have an awful lot of people internally playing [Starfield]," Booty said on a Giant Bomb stream this week (via VGC). "Working with Todd and the team, I see bug counts and, just by the numbers, if it shipped today, this would have the fewest bugs any Bethesda game ever shipped with."
I love a statement like that. Booty's just talking about "the numbers," so even if turning your spaceship left erases your C: drive, he might technically be correct. But even if the statement is true in spirit, and Starfield has a relatively bug-free launch, Booty has set himself up to be quoted whenever so much as one inch of an object clips through another object.
According to Microsoft Game Studios head Matt Booty, a man who presumably doesn't mind being haunted by his words, Starfield currently has fewer bugs than any previous Bethesda game has had at launch.
"We have an awful lot of people internally playing [Starfield]," Booty said on a Giant Bomb stream this week (via VGC). "Working with Todd and the team, I see bug counts and, just by the numbers, if it shipped today, this would have the fewest bugs any Bethesda game ever shipped with."
That's what I'm hoping - that with oversight, Bethesda will break away from some of their worst habits and weaknesses and really take advantage of their strengths.
naednek wrote: Tue Jun 13, 2023 12:25 am
was about to pre-order but saw it's coming on game pass. Sold
Fair warning for people who use mods - the Game Pass version is likely to be very difficult, if not impossible to mod.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2023 1:05 am
by Max Peck
Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jun 13, 2023 12:35 am
Fair warning for people who use mods - the Game Pass version is likely to be very difficult, if not impossible to mod.
Even if that turns out to be true, the worst case scenario is that someone can try the vanilla game "for free" on Game Pass (assuming they already have a Game Pass subscription) and buy it on Steam or whatever if they like it and want to mod it up. IIRC, the game will also have something akin to the Creation Kit, and I'd expect that will work with the Game Pass version even if more advanced mods with script extenders and such are problematic.
Scraper wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 9:48 am
My biggest worry with the game is the shear size of the game world. How the heck will they fill it with meaningful things to do and still manage to have a coherent storyline and side quests.
It's Bethesda. The side quests will be less Witcher 3 and more 'Go kill the bandits pirates at Blood Wolf Cave Blood Wolf Nebula.' Bethesda creates fantastic sandboxes. They've never been able to write a coherent storyline. The closest they came was Morrowind, but you'd never know it just by playing the game unless you read all of the books they left lying around.
Starfield has over four times the lines of dialogue than Skyrim and over twice the lives of dialogue that Fallout 4 had so there’s that.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2023 7:12 am
by Grifman
Pre-orders are 20% off at Green Man Gamibg, best price I’ve seen so far.
Max Peck wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 12:20 pm
All that empty space will get put to good use once a modding community gets up to speed
That was my thought. I wouldn't be surprised to see the modding community create a few themed 'shared' planets, where different modders are given different plots on which to build within a specific theme.
I can’t wait to see what modders are able to do - My Little Pony worlds, nude planets, giant breasted women worlds, etc, it’s going to be great!
Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jun 13, 2023 12:35 am
Fair warning for people who use mods - the Game Pass version is likely to be very difficult, if not impossible to mod.
Even if that turns out to be true, the worst case scenario is that someone can try the vanilla game "for free" on Game Pass (assuming they already have a Game Pass subscription) and buy it on Steam or whatever if they like it and want to mod it up. IIRC, the game will also have something akin to the Creation Kit, and I'd expect that will work with the Game Pass version even if more advanced mods with script extenders and such are problematic.
I haven't played Skyrim on Gamepass. Does that version not support mods?
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2023 10:20 am
by Apollo
coopasonic wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 2:32 pm
I'll be there day one enjoying it while everyone is whining about it. I am not saying their whining won't be justified, I am just the most forgiving gamer ever for games of types I generally appreciate...
Amen, brother!
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2023 10:29 am
by Brian
Grifman wrote: Tue Jun 13, 2023 7:15 am
I can’t wait to see what modders are able to do - My Little Pony worlds, nude planets, giant breasted women worlds, etc, it’s going to be great!
Welcome to Planet Waifu. Here we have a selection of large breasted anime girls, large breasted anime cat girls, large breasted anime fem-boys, large breasted little ponies, and Stephanie.
Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jun 13, 2023 12:35 am
Fair warning for people who use mods - the Game Pass version is likely to be very difficult, if not impossible to mod.
Even if that turns out to be true, the worst case scenario is that someone can try the vanilla game "for free" on Game Pass (assuming they already have a Game Pass subscription) and buy it on Steam or whatever if they like it and want to mod it up. IIRC, the game will also have something akin to the Creation Kit, and I'd expect that will work with the Game Pass version even if more advanced mods with script extenders and such are problematic.
I haven't played Skyrim on Gamepass. Does that version not support mods?
Does it support mods? Yes. Does it support most of the 'important' must-have mods, the big mods (like Legacy of the Dragonborn), or the most popular mods? Not at all.
Gamepass games, much like Microsoft Store apps, are locked down. Microsoft doesn't want you fiddling with things, and so they block important access, use special executable files, etc. Ever try to access the install folder for a Store app? Or delete an empty Store app folder? This may allow simple modding, but prevents using the utilities that make many of the more significant mods possible. So yeah, you can probably add in basic house mods, or simple texture updates, but you're not going to be able to do much that goes beyond that.
Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jun 13, 2023 12:35 am
Fair warning for people who use mods - the Game Pass version is likely to be very difficult, if not impossible to mod.
Even if that turns out to be true, the worst case scenario is that someone can try the vanilla game "for free" on Game Pass (assuming they already have a Game Pass subscription) and buy it on Steam or whatever if they like it and want to mod it up. IIRC, the game will also have something akin to the Creation Kit, and I'd expect that will work with the Game Pass version even if more advanced mods with script extenders and such are problematic.
I haven't played Skyrim on Gamepass. Does that version not support mods?
From what I've read, it does support plug-in mods made with Creation Kit, but not third party mods that completely replace files or patch binaries. As Blackhawk said, Microsoft is protecting key files.
For Starfield, it's probably a moot issue for anyone that wants to play "on Game Pass on Day One" given that those types of mods won't exist at launch.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2023 1:14 pm
by Blackhawk
Even though the kinds of mods in questions won't be available until much later, it's also entirely likely that some of the early fixes/tweaks may require access to files that Microsoft locks. It's also possible likely that simple replacers (IE - texture replacers) will require some form of archive invalidation that may not be possible depending on how MS handles the files. I know most people don't follow Bethesda modding, but with both Oblivion and Skyrim it took quite a while for the current simple method to be figured out. The first few months a lot of the basic mods worked by manually unpacking the archives and overriding the files directly. It wasn't complicated, but it did require access to the archived files.
Seriously, though, I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade. There's no need to defend anything here. Do what you want - I'm just pointing out an issue that some people may care about. If that isn't you, don't worry about it.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2023 1:54 pm
by coopasonic
Easy enough to play as is on GamePass and then buy it on Steam when its cheaper and go mod crazy. Of course that only works if "as is" is ok for you.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2023 1:55 pm
by Max Peck
I'm not defending anyone. I'm simply pointing out that playing the game on Game Pass is zero-risk in terms of future-proofing. If I played on Game Pass initially and eventually wanted to use a mod that won't work with that version of the game, I could simply buy the Steam version and carry on with that. From what I've read, previous Bethesda titles are save-file compatible between Game Pass and other platforms, so I wouldn't expect anything different in this case.
Personally, I'm buying it on Steam. Not because of modding options (I've never modded Skyrim -- in fact, the only time I've installed a 3rd party mod on a Bethesda title was with Fallout New Vegas, because that was the only way to keep the game from constantly crashing), but simply because it feels less spendy to buy the game outright than it would be to rent it on a monthly basis for the next 10 years (I'm estimating the game's shelf life for me based on Skyrim and Fallout 4). There just aren't enough different games on Game Pass that I actually want to play for the subscription model to feel like a good fit, so subscribing to play one game for a long time doesn't make a lot of sense for me. However, for someone who already has a Game Pass subscription, Starfield is essentially free until they feel the need to get into modding it, if they ever do.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2023 2:03 pm
by Grifman
You just play vanilla on Gamepass for "free", than buy it on sale much later, and then play it with mods. Best of both worlds.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2023 2:16 pm
by Smoove_B
Kinda weird how the GMG pre-order deal is timed? Maybe that was a term of being able to sell keys - that they couldn't keep it on discount until August or something? Maybe that's common for other games too but I honestly don't remember seeing that - pretty much right up until it's released they have a pre-order discount.
Re: Bethesda's Starfield
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2023 2:27 pm
by jztemple2
Smoove_B wrote: Tue Jun 13, 2023 2:16 pm
Kinda weird how the GMG pre-order deal is timed? Maybe that was a term of being able to sell keys - that they couldn't keep it on discount until August or something? Maybe that's common for other games too but I honestly don't remember seeing that - pretty much right up until it's released they have a pre-order discount.
I concur, I've never seen a GMG timed deal, although I haven't bought that many games from them lately. Really makes me want to think about it . Is this a "rush out and order it before it's too late" gimmick?
. Is this a "rush out and order it before it's too late" gimmick?