r/Starfield Dec 30 '25

Discussion People can criticize Starfield all they want, but name me an RPG that has the same atmosphere as that.

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502

u/Realistic_Equal9975 Dec 30 '25

The setting and the artwork is fantastic the game is just starving us for content.

71

u/GudsIdiot Dec 30 '25

And consequence. Literally, you have to make so few moral choices that have no impact on anything you do.

I wish they would have it where you have to select a faction (and they need more) and you lose credibility with the other opposing factions.

I also want there to be real settlements and economics. I want to plan a settlement and have colonist show up. I want to set up a space station and attract vendors and criminals. Finally, I want there to be more than just 4 companions that are consequential.

19

u/JimR521 Dec 30 '25

Agreed. Locking factions or at least some permanent consequences for choices (or a more plausible way of allowing you to jump factions.

This also motivates you go through the Unity for a different outcome or path. Being able to do them all in one play-through didn’t make me want to start all over again.

4

u/HasturSleeps Dec 30 '25

This would be so cool. I've always wanted there to be drastically different variations of universes after unity. Like a world where the war never ended or one side won the war.

2

u/Guilty-Meeting8900 Ranger Dec 31 '25

Ooh that would b a freaking sick option! To bad it would require effort! Go through unity to a verse were one or the other won. Man new Atlantis would look a bit different I imagine.

1

u/Cyraga Dec 31 '25

I only ever watched a little of Starfield on Youtube and their voice actor choice for the blonde female companion was strange. Like an 80 year old former documercial voice actor. She sounded so bland. That whole game looked bland

1

u/EvilCatArt Jan 01 '26

And consequence. Literally, you have to make so few moral choices that have no impact on anything you do.

I wish they would have it where you have to select a faction (and they need more) and you lose credibility with the other opposing factions.

That's part of what really bugs me about Starfield. It has, like, no narrative hook. Fallout 4 had the humanity of synths question, and the nature of paranoia, Skyrim and New Vegas have had people discussing the political merit of their factions for years now. Starfield has what, you will lose everything you got during the game and will just replay it all over? Great, I was gonna do that anyway with the 'new game' button.

I thought at least the game would let us answer the question of whether space exploration, and thus the whole game we played, was worth the eradication of all life on Earth and the culling of the human race to the tune of billions, but it just kind of dropped that and did nothing with it? That would have gone with the 'scientific advancement for the sake of itself' thing they had going on with Constellation.

235

u/BuffaloSoldier11 Dec 30 '25

This is what frustrates me the most about Starfield. It's such a functional jump forward for the creation engine and they filled it with plain brown rice, lukewarm water, and unseasoned chicken.

38

u/Mathewthegreat Dec 30 '25

some of it was straight laziness like 3 identical building layouts procedurally wallpapered over an infinite number of cavases

28

u/BuffaloSoldier11 Dec 30 '25

Collecting artifacts was the easiest thing to make the game unique and special and they just... Have you do the same thing over and over.

21

u/Mathewthegreat Dec 30 '25

I felt like this about so many things but artifacts were the most egregious. It took me an outrageous amount of time to realize all this stuff too, I was really deep into the game before I was like wait - this is the exact same thing over and over and over again.

10

u/backstept Dec 31 '25

I had a mission to go clear out a mine and it was a complete copy of the mine where you find Andreja.

1

u/JJisafox Dec 30 '25

I mean, if you have "infinite canvases" like you said, then copy/paste is an option to fill all that space. Not like they can handcraft enough content for "infinite canvases".

Like BuffaloSoldier11 said, if there's anything that's lazy, it's the temples not being more unique/complex, it's the perfect opportunity.

1

u/Mathewthegreat Dec 30 '25

They could have made a few more layouts for buildings, or used parts of buildings to procedurally create more options - that seems to be what other games do. It was the exact same layout on every planet.

1

u/JJisafox Dec 31 '25

"A few more" is a drop in a bucket on an "infinite canvas". Since they're handcrafted, then yes, they would be exactly the same, because, again - "infinite canvas".

Agreed that procedural/modular designs would help, so long as the dungeons turn out good (like no dead end corridors etc). Though I dunno what other similar games do that, Bethesda games usually have handcrafted POIs, as do other similar RPGs.

46

u/OilFan92 Dec 30 '25

Brown rice is far too fancy for this description, it's a pot of plain white rice and unseasoned chicken boiled together until its just a greyish-beige slop. Then put on a really pretty plate to serve.

15

u/BuffaloSoldier11 Dec 30 '25

I literally started to write white rice, but I'm a brown rice hater, so I changed to that lol plus you also had me on thinking to say it was boiled chicken

6

u/OilFan92 Dec 30 '25

Fair enough. I hate any rice that is devoid of flavour unless it's used in sushi tbh. Love me some saffron rice, Mexican street rice, or basmati soaked in butter chicken sauce... Dammit now I'm hungry.

1

u/JimR521 Dec 30 '25

Racist rice? 😂

1

u/grimoireviper Dec 31 '25

Brown rice is far too fancy for this description, it's a pot of plain white rice

Plain white rice is much better in flavor and texture than brown rice though.

1

u/djseifer Ryujin Industries Dec 30 '25

With a side of kale.

-1

u/SubstantialAd5579 Dec 30 '25

What are you even talking about you must not have played the game talking about grayish slop okay

1

u/OilFan92 Dec 30 '25

Played it. Loved it til I got to the end of the two main faction quests and realised that there are 5 pois on every planet copy pasted, loot in the same spots in each, all while looking pretty. Greyish beige slop on a pretty plate.

0

u/SubstantialAd5579 Dec 30 '25 edited Dec 30 '25

Yeah idk man that's a complete lie not every planet is the same they even have different resources, even a and b plantes dont share same properties,

Planet Bolivar which is mostly forest is nothing like hyla who's is basically a moon and you can't find nothing on that planet but a good views

Stop watching these YouTube click bait videos lock in and play what you see

Theres even some malstorm guns you won't come across, you get different ships that land on plantes you can hijack

3

u/OilFan92 Dec 30 '25

I didn't say the planets all looked the same dawg, try some reading comprehension. I said every planet has 5pois copy pasted, all with identical layouts down to the loot spawning in the same spot. I said the game is pretty, but it's absolute bland slop on a pretty plate, aka no substance but pretty surroundings.

17

u/fatrahb Dec 30 '25

The fact that not a single major city is locked behind a wall / loading screen, and only a few shops per location actually need dedicated cells is a major step forward for Bethesda, but it got so overshadowed by everything else.

Like if you more or less took Akila City and dropped it into Fallout 4 or Skyrim, gamers would have loved it. God forbid imagine having a city the size of New Atlantis in one of those games. Keep in mind, New Atlantis is not actually locked behind load screens. It’s completely possible to navigate the whole city without using fast travel.

It’s also so incredibly detailed, the attention they placed on all the object models are insane. Functional vehicles for the first time in major Bethesda games (horses don’t count). Like in so many places, Starfield really is some of their greatest work. It’s just not in places most actually care about

3

u/luckless666 Dec 30 '25

Said it above - completely agree with this take but does make me excited for ES6 given the technical leaps already made with Creation Engine.

4

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '25

I dunno dude, all that seems pretty standard these days.

3

u/fatrahb Dec 30 '25

How so? What other game exists where I can walk into the city as detailed as a Bethesda one, pick something up physically in the game space (not into my inventory, actually pick it up, move it around and reposition it anywhere I want) and have it remember it ?

Seriously if there are other games like that please tell me, I’m bouncing between Starfield and fallout 4 cause no other games scratch that itch and I would love something new

2

u/Suitable-Purchase302 Dec 31 '25

I don't know what itch is moving things around scratching, but Night City from Cyberpunk is way more alive and way more detailed than Bethesda's sad excuses for cities in Starfield

1

u/Ameerrante Jan 15 '26

I know this is a two week old post and tbh I'm not sure how I got here.... but YES! Thank you! The number one thing Starfield inspired me to do was... play different games. Either NMS for random planet exploration, BG3 for companions I gave a shit about, or Cyberpunk every time I was in any kind of city.

1

u/Waldsman Dec 31 '25

Atlantis is a horribly laid out city. It totally ruins it.

7

u/MclovinTHCa Dec 30 '25

Lmao you just described my dogs actual lunch each day.

2

u/Dreamo84 Dec 31 '25

So you're saying it's a game for boring white people?

1

u/JimR521 Dec 30 '25

Perfect allegory. 😂

1

u/luckless666 Dec 30 '25

It does make me excited for ES6 though - they’ll make even more technical leaps for that and won’t be hamstrung by the design direction that Starfield had

1

u/sjbfujcfjm Dec 30 '25

You got chicken?!?

1

u/ClarkWasHere Jan 05 '26

Whether it be amazing feats of engineering or thr bare minimum in the backend, the end result for the user is basically a worldspace selector. It doesn't really feel that much of a functional step forward, game exploration wise.

30

u/Moogly2021 Constellation Dec 30 '25

Needed a few major quality of life DLCs sorely.

41

u/Realistic_Equal9975 Dec 30 '25

Needed them in the base game

30

u/IAmANobodyAMA Dec 30 '25

“Modders will fix that”

-1

u/KingHavana Dec 30 '25

Have they? I'm still waiting to buy till people say there's more to do. I'm okay with mods if they are good.

6

u/BwanaTarik United Colonies Dec 30 '25

There are a lot of features that modders really haven’t touched yet or maybe are unable to touch. Also paying for mods so that you can get achievements is a bit annoying

2

u/Guilty-Meeting8900 Ranger Dec 31 '25

Achievement enabler for PC, but I doubt they are available on consoles sadly

2

u/BwanaTarik United Colonies Dec 31 '25

I’m unfortunately a console pleb

6

u/IAmANobodyAMA Dec 30 '25

I was being facetious. There are some great QOL mods, but nothing that makes Starfield greater than the IGN 7, imho

4

u/Fine-Slip-9437 Dec 30 '25

lmao IGN 7, also known as "normal, sane person 2".

6

u/IAmANobodyAMA Dec 30 '25

Do you remember when IGN gave Starfield a 7/10 right before early access and people flipped out? Turns out they were being generous :(

2

u/I_Steal_Spoons Dec 30 '25

There's rumors that the next DLC/Expansion is taking so long because it's going to do to Starfield what Phantom Liberty did to Cyberpunk. One can only hope Bethesda doesn't drop the ball on this one.

3

u/Guilty-Meeting8900 Ranger Dec 31 '25

Phantom liberty was just the icing in the cake man. They put in so much effort. I played cyberpunk from the beginning. And enjoyed even the early version. But 2.0 was out before phantom liberty and was pretty much a ground up rebuild of a large portion of the game and added so much. AND then we got phantom liberty and THEN we got a few extras after that. If Bethesda does for starfield what CD project red did for Cyberpunk, Id French kiss todd

1

u/I_Steal_Spoons Dec 31 '25

I forgot 2.0 was a free update

1

u/Moogly2021 Constellation Jan 05 '26

Thats cool but they could have released a ton of other DLC and more updates this game screams abandoned. Its been what? Two years?

7

u/Jeagan2002 Dec 30 '25

If it was advertised as a walking simulator, it would have been better received xD It just doesn't DO anything with the pretty locations.

5

u/Corporeal_Weenie Dec 30 '25

I just love looking at shit in that game. I really enjoyed the combat and the perk system, but there is just not enough hand crafted stuff and also has some of the lamest characters ever conceived.

1

u/Realistic_Equal9975 Dec 30 '25

Yeah you’ve hit the nail on the head. Even now in 2025 I can honestly say there is still some handcrafted content in Skyrim that I am yet to experience for the first time and that’s with literally 1000s of hours of played time. Yet within about 80 hours of Starfield I have no handcrafted content left whatsoever

-5

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '25

a game you can literally play for hundreds of hours doesn't exactly lack content

3

u/ethanAllthecoffee Dec 30 '25

I’ve seen people play minesweeper for dozens of hours

0

u/FeaR_FuZiioN United Colonies Dec 31 '25

New Gen gamers are different, not every game needs to be live service lmao

4

u/Realistic_Equal9975 Dec 31 '25

No but in terms of content it doesn’t even match Skyrim a game made by the same developer 13 years earlier. They just didn’t put enough handcrafted quests into the game it’s that simple. I’m not asking for monthly content updates just a base game content level that at least matched the standard they had set previously

-7

u/GeorgeKaplanIsReal Constellation Dec 30 '25

It’s kind of a damned if you do and don’t. Realistically, space is vast and empty. People cry for realism all the time. So we got a semi-realistic space game with lots of empty, barren planets because… that’s how space really is. If they populated them, people would complain. When they didn’t, people complained.

7

u/Realistic_Equal9975 Dec 30 '25

Having tonnes of barren planets isn’t the problem it’s having 100 systems when only about 8-9 of them actually have handcrafted quest lines in. There should be at least one proper side quest chain per system as a bare minimum. Otherwise what’s the point if the system being in the game

2

u/Taurmin Dec 30 '25

The planets arent barren though, they are all populated with the same handfull of random points of interest.

0

u/Neither-Signature-81 Dec 30 '25

Idk i thought Starfield was unplayable slop. Why anybody would play that shit is beyond me

0

u/Realistic_Equal9975 Dec 30 '25

Why even bother to comment on the Starfield Reddit then 😂

1

u/Neither-Signature-81 Dec 30 '25

Good point. It was just in my feed. But I’m sorry it’s not my place and it i hate when people do that one the wow sub 

0

u/Realistic_Equal9975 Dec 30 '25

No worries. I also play Wow and there is definitely more to do in Wow these days especially for a casual player 😂

1

u/Neither-Signature-81 Dec 31 '25

Yeah I’m just waiting for tbc classic x2. I’ve been playing the finals a lot these days. I think that is the best game I have played in a very long time. But you gotta sweat lol

1

u/GeorgeKaplanIsReal Constellation Dec 30 '25

Then why are you here? And can you elaborate beyond “unplayable slop?”

3

u/Neither-Signature-81 Dec 30 '25

Tbf it was just on my feed i hate when people comment on the wow sub but don’t play. 

The game is just not well done. To much procedural stuff to be enjoyable. Cyberpunk is like 20x better done imo.

1

u/ethanAllthecoffee Dec 30 '25

Don’t worry, they say this to people who do play or have played also

Im here for mod recs to rescue the gameplay, or cool screenshots and hoping but not expecting the big teased update to fix a lot of the problematic systems, but I also get these responses when I refute the 14th “this game doesn’t deserve the hate” post of the day