Octopus Overlords

I'm fine with Skyrim in Space. I didn't really expect this to be a galaxy simulator with real-time space flight between worlds, etc.

Honestly, I'm just happy to get a new AAA science fiction RPG. There are too few.

Hamlet3145 wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 1:49 pm I'm fine with Skyrim in Space. I didn't really expect this to be a galaxy simulator with real-time space flight between worlds, etc.

Honestly, I'm just happy to get a new AAA science fiction RPG. There are too few.

But are you gonna pull yourself away from BG3???

This sounds exactly like I was expecting it to be and I'm happy with that. Add in the always stellar mod community and this game will be good to great in the beginning and mind blowing in a few years. The biggest thing for me about playing right away is that I don't have a mountain of mods to get in my way of just enjoying the game. I was going to wait until next week, but apparently you can pay 30 bucks and play tonight if you do it through Microsoft? That's what I was reading at least. If that's the case I'm in. I'm in a shit mood and need a distraction.

rittchard wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 1:53 pm

Hamlet3145 wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 1:49 pm I'm fine with Skyrim in Space. I didn't really expect this to be a galaxy simulator with real-time space flight between worlds, etc.

Honestly, I'm just happy to get a new AAA science fiction RPG. There are too few.

But are you gonna pull yourself away from BG3???

I'm honestly considering making "Shadowheart" for my Starfield character: prickly emo doctor-type with a heart of gold (and bangs).

As suspected, they withheld DLSS support.

Was looking forward to thus a lot, now not so much.
Nothing to do with the game, just woke up feeling awful.
Everything hurts, i have a small fever, and a massive headache.
Even had to cancel OT & PT today.
Might feel better later, might not but it's not looking good.

The reviews are about what I thought they would be. Skyrim in space is more than good enough for me. Every review I've read says the opening hours are a slog, but then after that it gets good. So knowing that going in should make it more tolerable. The other big disappointment seems to be the fact that you can't freely roam around space, instead it seems like fast travel from one planet to the next is your only option, which seems lame, but I can get over that as well.

Scraper wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 2:34 pm The reviews are about what I thought they would be. Skyrim in space is more than good enough for me. Every review I've read says the opening hours are a slog, but then after that it gets good. So knowing that going in should make it more tolerable. The other big disappointment seems to be the fact that you can't freely roam around space, instead it seems like fast travel from one planet to the next is your only option, which seems lame, but I can get over that as well.

Yep. This is where I’m at as well. I’m eager enough that I just bought the premium upgrade (I have base game through Game Pass) using my wife’s MS discount. Seemed like a no brained to get the expansion plus early access for $17.50!

I'm going to stick with my basic purchase and wait to play next week. We'll probably be one or two patches in by that point anyway.

Looking forward to early performance reports!

The latest review numbers between BG3 and Starfield are a bit perplexing. Like PC Gamer gave BG3 a 97 and Starfield a 75, but when you read the review the PCG guy sounded like he liked the game a lot. I forgot which place gave BG3 a perfect score, but inside the review they specifically mention the UI, camera and inventory system are all kind of janky. Not that I give much credence to some of these numeric values, but sometimes I wonder why they even bother if they aren't going to have some sort of consistency.

I watched a few videos and it's a Bethesda game... If you liked Fallout 4 and Skyrim and you like the theme you will be fine. Most of the scores seem to be much higher and then we'll get mods to fix what people don't like.

It's sitting at 87 on Metacritic. I think people were wayyyy overhyping this game and I just ignored pretty much all the press on it. I'm going to pony up the 30 bucks when I get home, because I have zero impulse control.

88 Metacritic.

Can’t complain about that!

Edit: oops, bammed

Punisher wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 2:32 pm Was looking forward to thus a lot, now not so much.
Nothing to do with the game, just woke up feeling awful.
Everything hurts, i have a small fever, and a massive headache.
Even had to cancel OT & PT today.
Might feel better later, might not but it's not looking good.

Sorry, get better soon!

Frequent points I'm seeing:

• Less buggy than any previous Bethesda game, and no mention of game-breaking bugs, but still full of lots of minor (clipping, physics, NPCs walking away while you're locked in dialogue mode, NPCs walking through the person you're talking to and scrambling the camera, etc.)
• All the weird, awkward design choices you expect in a Bethesda game
• Amazing audio, great voice work
• The combat is either great or poor (note: I've noticed that the people who consistently played in first person enjoyed the combat, while those who played third person were more likely to criticize it. That's in keeping with Bethesda - they do first person games with first person mechanics, but with an optional third person camera.)
• Extremely slow start, and takes hours to get going (one place suggested pushing the main quest until you get to 'Neon.')
• Generally good to great environmental graphics with some annoyances (they've embraced the 'everything is hazy' aesthetic - that'll be the first thing I mod out.)
• Character graphics are a very mixed bag, with 'major' NPCs looking good, but other NPCs looking awful
• More planets than content, meaning that a lot of them are pointless (which is, to be honest, great for modding. I fully expect to see large mod projects 'claiming' planets.)
• Cities are huge, but don't always justify that with meaningful locations.
• Lots of graphics options (good for Bethesda), but no DLSS (because Bethesda are still dipshits.)
• Mediocre to poor interface, especially the inventory.
• Main quest apparently has some actual surprises and twists that got a lot of praise, something Bethesda normally doesn't do.
• Exploring and traveling results in lots of menus and interface interactions, and lots of 'loading screens' (even if they're disguised as mini-cutscenes), a limitation of the outdated engine.
• Tons of loot, good weapon modding system, armor crafting system, other crafting, but limited inventory
• You can build linked outposts to generate resources, feels a lot like Fallout 4
• Ship design is easy and fun, and changing the exterior also changes the interior. Lots of praise landing on this aspect of the game.
• Ship combat is... typical for this sort of game, which is to say that it's fun, but not much depth, and gets old.
• Stealth is viable, but not as strong as in previous Beth titles (this is a good thing, as it ended up being way too powerful before.)
• Overall, it looks like it's a somewhat more polished Bethesda game, with tons of content (some of which is pointless or repetitive), but doesn't really bring much of anything new to the gameplay that we haven't seen in Skyrim and Fallout 4. This leads it to feeling a bit dated. If you want more Elder Scrolls/Fallout gameplay, get it. If that doesn't appeal, skip it.

Well, there we are. The last three games Bethesda released were completely and totally broken at launch, two of which they abandoned still broken because they weren't profitable enough. It's why I have avoided buying into the hype and preordering Starfield. I just don't trust them enough, having been burned three times in a row, and wanted to see reviews first.

It seems like the game is both functional and fun, although flawed. Given that I want to wait a little while longer before I start BG3, I'll probably see if I can swing a regular copy by the time it releases (I can't get the early access version for sure, but I have a few dollars put back for something else I was saving for that I may just divert.)

Hamlet3145 wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 1:49 pm I'm fine with Skyrim in Space. I didn't really expect this to be a galaxy simulator with real-time space flight between worlds, etc.

Honestly, I'm just happy to get a new AAA science fiction RPG. There are too few.

This, I love sci-fi much more than fantasy,

“Ship design is easy and fun, and changing the exterior also changes the interior.”

Interest? Piqued.

rittchard wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 4:06 pm The latest review numbers between BG3 and Starfield are a bit perplexing. Like PC Gamer gave BG3 a 97 and Starfield a 75, but when you read the review the PCG guy sounded like he liked the game a lot. I forgot which place gave BG3 a perfect score, but inside the review they specifically mention the UI, camera and inventory system are all kind of janky. Not that I give much credence to some of these numeric values, but sometimes I wonder why they even bother if they aren't going to have some sort of consistency.

I have read/watched/heard discussion on this before. The general idea is that a perfect score doesn't require a perfect game, just like earning an 4.0 in school doesn't mean that you couldn't have done a little better, or that you never missed a single question. It's that sometimes the whole is more than the sum of the parts, and it just works. A perfect score should be a fantastic game where everything hums, and the flaws that are there (and there are always a few) don't have a major negative impact.

One of the few sites I read regularly (through Feedly) is Gaming Nexus, and they gave it a 9.5, "Exquisite". So that's fine with me

Grifman wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 4:26 pm

Hamlet3145 wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 1:49 pm I'm fine with Skyrim in Space. I didn't really expect this to be a galaxy simulator with real-time space flight between worlds, etc.

Honestly, I'm just happy to get a new AAA science fiction RPG. There are too few.

This, I love sci-fi much more than fantasy,

I'm the opposite, but I also can't resist open world games. We'll have to see how this performs on my PC. The Xbox is limited to 30 FPS which is super lame. Next Gen my arse.

Heads up . . .

I’ve read that it is better to beeline the main quest to get to new game plus because afterwards, everything resets and there is additional content locked behind it. I’ve just read this in one place as most reviewers say SF new game plus is “different” but for some reason don’t want to talk about it, which seems strange to me. It is said that new game plus makes sense “within the story”, whatever that means. I think it is tied to the games ending which is why everyone is so cryptic.

I got the impression that some new element (New species? New tech? New mechanic?) gets introduced partway through the campaign that changes things up considerably. Maybe NG+ includes that element from the beginning.

Grifman wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 6:23 pm Heads up . . .

I’ve read that it is better to beeline the main quest to get to new game plus because afterwards, everything resets and there is additional content locked behind it. I’ve just read this in one place as most reviewers say SF new game plus is “different” but for some reason don’t want to talk about it, which seems strange to me. It is said that new game plus makes sense “within the story”, whatever that means. I think it is tied to the games ending which is why everyone is so cryptic.

hoping the new game plus stuff will be kept secret. Spoiler it with a label would be best. Would love to be able to interact in this thread as much as possible but if we are starting to post spoilers I'll jump. Part of the excitement for me is to talk with others who are playing.

I'm not even sure I'll finish one play through let alone trying it twice.
Spoilers are probably the only way I'll find anything out.

naednek wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 6:52 pmhoping the new game plus stuff will be kept secret. Spoiler it with a label would be best. Would love to be able to interact in this thread as much as possible but if we are starting to post spoilers I'll jump. Part of the excitement for me is to talk with others who are playing.

(I agree!)

Less than half an hour to wait.

Of course, that would be the case if I didn’t have work to finish up and kids to take to practices and dinner to cook.

Stupid real life!

Kurth wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 7:40 pm Less than half an hour to wait.

Of course, that would be the case if I didn’t have work to finish up and kids to take to practices and dinner to cook.

Stupid real life!

I just came back from shopping with the wife at Walmart, something she normally does by herself but with the busted wing I have to help her out. She has now officially released me to go play

Unpacking now, 2.4GB of... 116GB

Right there with you. See in you space!

IT'S LIVE!

jztemple2 wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 8:01 pm Unpacking now, 2.4GB of... 116GB

Half way there now... I guess there's still an unlock? Well, I'll found out soon!

90/116

jztemple2 wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 8:12 pm

jztemple2 wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 8:12 pm

How?!?!

I'm at 45gb out of 116 unlocking.
I'm wondering if it would have been faster to install after live.

Me, after building my character look. I won't post background information as it might be spoilers.

I was going to wait and download after it went live, but then I remembered the Steam server congestion I experienced when BG3 went live, so I chickened out and opted for the pre-load. It took about 16 minutes to unpack, so it was probably faster than the download would have been.

Now on to the decision paralysis that is character creation in a Bethesda RPG...

wonderpug wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 7:28 pm

naednek wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 6:52 pmhoping the new game plus stuff will be kept secret. Spoiler it with a label would be best. Would love to be able to interact in this thread as much as possible but if we are starting to post spoilers I'll jump. Part of the excitement for me is to talk with others who are playing.

(I agree!)

As do I. And, please, label your damned spoiler tags for context! A tag with no hint as to who can safely read it is the most counterproductive thing on the forum - either nobody reads it (making it pointless), or everybody reads it (making it pointless.)

Spoiler free content - initial impressions are it runs well and looks...ok. It doesn't feel like they are pushing boundaries but I don't think that is a surprise to anyone. The beginning feels...like the beginning of a Bethesda game. The "worst" part for me so far is that it's the usual Bethesda look and feel. The voice acting at the beginning feels like it was read by bad summer stock actors and the dialogue is as wooden as we expect from Bethesda. It could be worse but with their cash you expect more. Hopefully it'll pick up when we get to the big name actors.

I used to be a venturer like you...

Well it was a cool 1.5 hours of play and I managed to encumber myself in the first 30 minutes by picking up anything that wasn't behind a master lock...just like always.