Octopus Overlords

Max Peck wrote: Wed Aug 30, 2023 1:34 pm With the pre-load in hand, we're all set to complete the installation come launch time.

Max Peck wrote: Wed Aug 30, 2023 12:48 pm

jztemple2 wrote: Wed Aug 30, 2023 5:55 pm

Max Peck wrote: Wed Aug 30, 2023 12:48 pm

Well, this makes me nervous. Having a song commissioned for the release of your game brings back bad memories. Surely everyone remembers the Cyberpunk 2077 tie-in "My Body Fits Me Like A T" by Cold Play. Or perhaps ABBA's hit "My Skull Is Melting For You" released on the eve of Assassin's Creed Unity. Or a previous Bethesda game, Fallout 76, tied in with the song "Milk It Like A Cash Cow" by Aerosmith.

Kurth wrote: Wed Aug 30, 2023 5:59 pm Is that official? I thought that was fan work using an existing Imagine Dragons song. Did Bethesda actually commission that?

Imagine Dragons has released its official Starfield song, called Children of the Sky (a Starfield song).

It’s “inspired” by Bethesda’s space role-playing game which launches early September. Frontman Dan Reynolds said: "The song, like the game, asks some of the most difficult questions we face as humans trying to find our place in the universe. Bethesda created iconic games we've been playing for most of our lives, and we're honoured to have collaborated on this song for Starfield."

Children of the Sky (a Starfield song) is out NOW everywhere.

we’ve been playing @BethesdaStudios games for most of our lives, so we’re honored to have collaborated on this song.

listen to the song and watch the lyric video on our youtube.
— Imagine Dragons (@Imaginedragons) August 30, 2023

Starfield composer Inon Zur collaborated with Imagine Dragons on Children of the Sky. He said: “The band has created an amazing, emotional, and memorable song, and I joined them in crafting the Starfield motif into the song as well as iconic elements from the Main Theme and the Starfield orchestral treatment. The outcome is a massive celebration for Starfield and I hope that the group’s fans as well as gamers from all over the world will find it as exhilarating and magnificent as we all feel.”

jztemple2 wrote: Wed Aug 30, 2023 6:26 pm Original post updated to reflect that the song wasn't apparently commissioned for the game, although it does apparently have blessings from Bethesda. Seems the humor of the post rather missed the mark .

Also, not a single "And don't call me Shirley!"

Punisher wrote: Wed Aug 30, 2023 11:30 pm I thought it lifted today. Guess I was wrong.
Not sure why they are holding back a day before release and I wonder if that's a bad sign.

malchior wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 7:59 am My company gave us Friday off on top of labor day and the wife is off to a bachelorette outing for the weekend so plenty of time to dedicate to this.

malchior wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 7:59 am I'm looking forward to it too. Need to take a BG3 break anyway. The last unlock and update (for BG3!) took a good hour so I doubt I'll get much time in tonight but I've carved out some time nonetheless. My company gave us Friday off on top of labor day and the wife is off to a bachelorette outing for the weekend so plenty of time to dedicate to this.

The review embargo date for Starfield is Thursday, August 31 at 12 PM ET. This is uh, eight hours before the launch of Early Access release (ie. pay more to start early), which begins in various regions either on August 31 or September 1. Here in the US, that’s August 31 at 8 PM ET. So yeah, eight hours.

Because I’ve been around long enough, I know, I know people online are going to freak out about this and say it’s a “red flag” and all other manner of hand-wringing, especially console warrior types. However, without saying anything about the quality of Starfield, it’s important to remember that Bethesda essentially always does this.

It is beyond common practice, for some reason, for Bethesda to do day before or even day-of review embargoes, even on many games that were perfectly good or even really great. They’ve done this for installments more or less all their major series at one point or another. There was also a time when they decided they wouldn’t give out pre-launch review copies at all, though that immediately seemed pretty damaging when good games like Prey underperformed. But they are still doing the whole “very late review embargo” thing.

I’d say a more important date to note is when review copies went out, which was yesterday, August 17. That leaves two full weeks for critics to play and review the game, and as someone who has dealt with insanely short times between review copies going out and embargo deadlines dropping, two weeks is fantastic, as you really only see this with Nintendo games most of the time. Baldur’s Gate 3, for instance, had something like four days between review copies going out and launch, making it literally impossible to review except for outlets trying to rush out a number. Weeks later, scored reviews are still trickling in.

Blackhawk wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 11:51 am As a visual thinker, video reviews are a godsend. Seeing what they're talking about while they're talking about it gives me a lot of information and understanding that a written review does not.

It's Bethesda's biggest RPG by far, but nowhere near its best.

The weight of expectations on Starfield and in turn, Bethesda, has been crushing. It’s not just their first mainline single player game since 2015’s Fallout 4, but a recovery effort from the rocky launch of Fallout 76. Oh, and after being acquired for $7.5 billion, Bethesda now has to make Starfield Microsoft’s flagship franchise since Master Chief is on an indefinite vacation.

And they do it. They pull it off. Starfield is going to make a lot of people happy.

Max Peck wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 12:08 pm Speaking of PC Gamer...

Starfield review (75)

It's Bethesda's biggest RPG by far, but nowhere near its best.

And speaking of Forbes...

‘Starfield’ Review (PC): It Is What You Wanted It To Be

The weight of expectations on Starfield and in turn, Bethesda, has been crushing. It’s not just their first mainline single player game since 2015’s Fallout 4, but a recovery effort from the rocky launch of Fallout 76. Oh, and after being acquired for $7.5 billion, Bethesda now has to make Starfield Microsoft’s flagship franchise since Master Chief is on an indefinite vacation.

And they do it. They pull it off. Starfield is going to make a lot of people happy.

I don't love Starfield, but I'm happy to say that I do like it. Those first 90 hours I played were far from perfect, but I've got plenty of reasons to play 90 more.

Kurth wrote:It’s interesting to me how some of the reviews that are on the lower end seem to have played the game for far less time. For instance, the IGN reviewer played for a dozen hours. Does that seem kind of on the low side to give a review of a game as big as Starfield? Seems like that’s more a review of the intro . . .

Blackhawk wrote:Whatever the mean, IGN will be the score furthest from.

Max Peck wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 11:50 am And now you can read video game reviews from Forbes.

Kurth wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 12:08 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 11:51 am As a visual thinker, video reviews are a godsend. Seeing what they're talking about while they're talking about it gives me a lot of information and understanding that a written review does not.

It’s so interesting. I’m the exact opposite. If I’m watching a video review, I’m really just coming up with my own review in my head. I can’t really pay attention to what the reviewers are saying while watching them play. If I want to know how others have reviewed a game, I need to read the review.

It’s the same with me and just about all internet content. My kids are the exact opposite. Reading? That’s for suckers. Anything I send them, the response is, “Is there a video?”

baelthazar wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 1:00 pm

Kurth wrote:It’s interesting to me how some of the reviews that are on the lower end seem to have played the game for far less time. For instance, the IGN reviewer played for a dozen hours. Does that seem kind of on the low side to give a review of a game as big as Starfield? Seems like that’s more a review of the intro . . .

No, the IGN review said they played around 80 hours. They said the game doesn’t get GOOD until after about a dozen hours in.