Gaming Starfield - XB / PC

Returned to Starfield, did some random stuff, including successfully disabling a Spacer vessel, boarding and taking it over. Thought that was it but nope, you have to fly it to a port for it stay yours. Next time...

On the other hand, I finished the Freestar Rangers quest which was very satisfying. And I got a very cool starship as a result.

 

Did a major chunk of the main quest.

It also showed the game at its best and worst. The best is when you're free to move from place to place, dock with ststions, do quests, take on starships etc. The worst is when it railroads you - like requiring theft, or quest choice that feels forced, or an outpost building system that does not align at all to what you've been told to do.

And there was a lot of that. In one bit I'm trying to escape an unkillable super-bastard and, with shots and grenades flying everything, these people do not move! So I shoot one of them in the arse to get them to move. Or, the quest choice determines which companion dies, with that being set by who you've spent the most time with, which feels underhanded and nasty. Oh and not to forget, unclear, not very fun "puzzles".

And yet despite all that, once it got back to the business of telling its main story, it recovered fast. And that story takes a very meta twist. One that really works for me.

Does feel like it has suddenly gone into is endgame, which I'll likely spin out a bit longer due to getting certain skills and ship parts.

 

I'm waiting to return to Starfield (probably starting from scratch) when they do their first major update in February.

One minor aspect I greatly appreciated was that each star system is an actual nearby star system; I like seeing the relationship of near-Earth systems in sci-fi (notably the Star Trek and Alien universes).

Spoiler

While it isn't obvious from the name, but the homeworld the xenomorph analogues is in the Alpha Centauri system - not great for humanity!

 

Nope, and terrormorphs do not mess around.

 

How do you like it compared to No Man’s Sky? I know they’re very different games. Just curious about the comparison. Particularly as it relates to world-building on planets, etc, which can naturally feel a bit think in NMS, given the procedural generation.

 

If you want space exploration in a much more space opera universe, NMS does that better. Outposts are far more straight forward in NMS too.

Factions and story and characters Starfield does better, along with ground combat in intricate enemy bases.

Traversal terms, NMS has vehicles, Starfield does not yet, probably going to get them.

For ship combat, the two are about tied, but Starfield allowing disabling and boarding of enemy vessels is pretty unique. For pure space / aerial combat Everspace 2 is better than both.

The biggest difference is space feels more hostile in Starfield. It's an emptier, more barren, more realistic galaxy, which is what they were going for.

 

Returned to this. Did a couple of the main quest, raided a temple, nabbed an artifact over numerous pirate corpses, then did the Entangled quest.

If you want a new definition of a gaming tragedy, it is that, out of Starfield's millions of players, just over 12% have done this quest. The tragedy? The quest is superb. Sure, it's very Bethesda, as you can see the choice at the end coming from miles away, but it is still very, very good.

You warp back and forth between two quantum realities, both existing until the end where you choose one of them. The apocalyptic reality has a plague of scorpions, lovely things where the kids are so ugly you don't want to meet the parents, but know you are going to.

The level has been talked of as being similar to Titanfall's Cause and Effect. That's a fair link to make, but I found Entangled less demanding, but every bit as smart.

Other stuff - Got the starship design fully upgraded, which was not cheap, so likely to be doing side stuff for a bit.

 

Yeah, I'm back at it as well, now that the first major update was released. As I often do (especially with Bethesda games), I take the time to investigate every nook and cranny. Starfield also has the added fun of using real star systems, so I will jot down the designation and then search for the more common name. (The Freestar Collective's Narion system where you start, for instance, is 70 Ophiuchi A).
I have not done the quest you are referring to, but I did not finish Starfield the first time around so that isn't surprising. Something to look forward to!
While I kept the Kid Stuff trait when I started over, I also took having the expensive home.

 

Already found a minor quest in New Atlantis I missed before - "An Invitation", where a member of the Space Church asks you to follow up on three people who once attended but stopped.

 

I haven't found that one!

 

Sigh, I want to like this game more than I do. The name of my pain? Outposts.

It's so unclear how the resources work, where they should be stored to be able to use, with the result that I never have what I need.

Placement is less than great, no grid system, no help in linking stuff up. As for power, that was weird too.

Never mind finding a good spot for an outpost. Or worse, you want build for inside.

It's vague and clunky.

So opted for a different solution: Killing Ecliptics.

That worked and it was far more fun.

 

I will make a confession - the first time around, I never built an outpost. And I haven't so far either.

 

Sadly, hit one of the bugs that I managed to evade the first time around. One of the quests - "The Heart of Mars" - is bugged so that sometimes the quest object can't be taken. I managed to avoid it the first time, but not now. Being on the PC, I could use console commands (tediously) to eventually get it - despite that would disable achievements. However, it's a simple fetch quest with nothing else involved, so I'm inclined to ignore it.

 

Another thing I missed first time around - after giving the journalist in New Atlantis a story, she'll ask if you'll interview business owners in the Well. That, in turn, leads to a few missions with the business owners.
Also got a new mission from the Tracker Alliance agent on Mars, which led to climbing the old Mars Launchpad. I was disappointed that there wasn't any historical data there, but it's not surprising that the place was thoroughly abandoned.

 

Many hours in and I finally work out where I should be keeping the resources, work out how to increase ship cargo space and find the Constellation mission board. Yep, it is that kind of game.

Together these are quite a game changer, as the Constellation missions pay well and I've my place in The Well looking far better. Next is outfitting the penthouse and the Akila apartment.

Other than this, been exploring, jumping from system to system, getting in the odd dogfight and blowing up ships. One very smart planet was an arctic hellhole, went south and found a totally different biome, which was cool.

 

Found another quest I missed on New Atlantis - a shop owner wanting you to get rid of a pair of cursed boots!

"Did you try jettisoning them into space?"

"I did. A captain found it in space, and it ended up back at my store"

 

Returned to this and practically spent a few hours running around the place being Judge Dredd. Clearing out Ecliptic, Spacer and Pirate bases, blowing the crap out of Spacer and Va'Ruun vessels, then flogging stuff to merchants, mostly guns.

Along the way I had a couple of Starborn fights. Found a landing pad which had a load of Ecliptic on it! Cue firefight, shot one of them on the landing ramp, realising too late it was their ship. If I had been faster I could have boarded and taken it. Next time... And indeed there was - shot a load of Spacers, who did not alert the ship, boarded it, killed everyone, warped to a port and registered it to me.

All of this was just exploring the galaxy, encountering random stuff. Did a Constellation mission and have started running around with Andreja.

 

The game really downplays the post-apocalyptic nature of the Starfield universe, but... man the Colony War really wrecked humanity. The UC and the Freestar Collective had places all over the Settled Systems, and not only pulled back from all of them, but managed to lose two major colony worlds because of the war.

Doing the Crimson Fleet storyline right now - and it's great. Shame I didn't finish it last time (I just did the open sequence). Barrett, as I suspected, is the best choice to bring along. Heading to the cruise liner heist right now...

 

Finished the game, insofar as it is possible to. Do still have some things to do in it, like cracking ship building.

Can't say the final missions for it worked that well for me. The first is your usual end-of-game slaughterthon. One good surprise was talking down both the Hunter and Emissary, having previously told them both to get stuffed.

The final "choice" isn't much of one as the quest only completes when you go through the Unity. Return to your ship? It doesn't complete.

When I went through? New ship, new suit and everything else is gone which does not really work for me, especially given how other NG+ work in other games. The story twist at Constellation is interesting but I'm not sure it outweighs the loss of everything else.

The final bit at the Unity was funny, "part of you will explode". Er, yeah, not really selling me this other-me. The bits with what happens to Constellation and the other factions were good, got a positive set of outcomes, though I was also wondering if the budget ran out.

Guess the story is that it's about the journey, not the destination.

 

Well, the "Shattered Space" announcement left me happy. It really looks like a 'cosmic horror' style expansion, which is my jam.

 

Yeah, I'm liking the look of it.

Though, a bigger change that has been done, I haven't tested it yet, is companions knowing where your line of fire is!

 

Starfield gets a vehicle update tonight.

Shattered Space expansion is out 30 Sept, not sure how much it'll be

 

Vehicle! Now I might play it lol

 

Well, I'm in the middle of a Starfield game right now, so that should be interesting - especially since I haven't left New Atlantis so I can get the full appreciation of the vehicles.

 

Did they announce the PS5 release date yet or…?