Gaming Starfield | Metacritic (Series X): 83, OpenCritic: 86

It's decent, but it takes like 4 hours to actually get to a point where it's decent. Such a slow starter.
 
I'm actually really loving the combat! Surprised to say that for a Bethesda title.

Love is a strong word so far, but it's not half bad! Very surprising.


For a developer thats built its reputation around making open living breathing worlds, my disappointment at load screens for take offs, landings and travel to other planets is immeasurable. I really thought this was going to be no mans sky but with an elder scrolls style story and side quests. Kinda glad I haven't paid for this.

Yeah, it does make the universe seem very small and the ship building a bit pointless to say the least. Very poor decision from them, and there's no real reason it couldn't be done even on the Xbox systems.


It's decent, but it takes like 4 hours to actually get to a point where it's decent. Such a slow starter.

I'm 5 hours in and I've not even left the first mission planet yet. I'm a nightmare, my ocd won't let me move on until I've scanned everything and then I spot a spaceship landing and I'm off again :lol:
 
I played a few hours as well...and got nauseous. What a weird thing, I've never had any motion sickness playing games. Or in real life for that matter. But running around in the first big city, trying to find crap for dumb side quests in an area called "The Well" made me want to vomit at some point.

Is it the framerate? I was trying ULTRA, 1440p on a rtx 2080 super and got around 40fps with drops to 30. Dropped quality down to HIGH and the framerate increased, slightly. About 60 in "The well" and in the 40s outside.

I'll try again later but if it's the game, I don't know what to think.
As for the game itself - it's Bethesda quality writing so far. It's shit, as suspected.
 
I think that's the biggest point on the ship travel for me. I personally didn't care about landing or taking off. That becomes a novelty fast. But I can imagine it takes what's supposed to be a huge game with infinite planets feel compartmentalised and much smaller.

I wonder if the game was originally destined for last gen. They were originally aiming to release in 2018/2019 I believe. And there's no way a MS-less Bethesda doesn't cater for PS4/XONE owners.
 
I played a few hours as well...and got nauseous. What a weird thing, I've never had any motion sickness playing games. Or in real life for that matter. But running around in the first big city, trying to find crap for dumb side quests in an area called "The Well" made me want to vomit at some point.

Is it the framerate? I was trying ULTRA, 1440p on a rtx 2080 super and got around 40fps with drops to 30. Dropped quality down to HIGH and the framerate increased, slightly. About 60 in "The well" and in the 40s outside.

I'll try again later but if it's the game, I don't know what to think.
As for the game itself - it's Bethesda quality writing so far. It's shit, as suspected.

There are some post processing things going on to fudge the fps on the consoles that you can't turn off on PC, which with the lack of an FOV slider makes it weird. Definitely turn motion blur off though, that's not going to help.

Try running around and scrolling the mouse wheel to zoom the character out (into 3rd person then at a distance) and see if that helps too.

As for the fps, I can't remember off the top of my head which settings, but there are some that you can drop to bump that fps with barely any visual difference. Every engine has it's quirks, when I relaunch I'll not what I changed and you can try them. Depending on your CPU, that 2080 should creep up even higher.

Also FSR (with variable resolution set to 75% at most) is mildly helpful, but when the DLSS mod drops that will help a lot too.


I think that's the biggest point on the ship travel for me. I personally didn't care about landing or taking off. That becomes a novelty fast. But I can imagine it takes what's supposed to be a huge game with infinite planets feel compartmentalised and much smaller.

I wonder if the game was originally destined for last gen. They were originally aiming to release in 2018/2019 I believe. And there's no way a MS-less Bethesda doesn't cater for PS4/XONE owners.

Fair point. But then even the space combat itself is well beneath what those consoles can do. For example, you can change around the power usage of things like weapons/shields/engines which is par for the course for most space sims with dogfights, but in this it's just there without any meaning. Everything about the ships is in place, just not used to any real effect.

Which makes me think they've cut those corners to get the game out. And it definitely hurts the game, there's no question about that, and goes against what Howard and everyone else said they want for it. They wanted Skyrim in a space sim, but they've cut a huge part of that out.

It's not fair to compare it to Cyberpunk in the stakes of grandiose claims and fecking it all up though, because the stuff Howard promised is actually in there somewhere. It's definitely more akin to Bioshock:Infinite where they simply had to scale back the mechanics to get the thing out in the end.

Which gives me hope that a dlc might eventually unlock it all. As I've said previously, that's what it would take...there's not much chance of mods doing it (though someone will likely try to at least broaden it).
 
It’s definitely the game, I’m feeling much better. I’ll try everything @Redlambs recommended, see if it fixes it.
I’ll even play it third person, if needed. What a weird thing. Never thought I’d be affected by something like motion sickness from a game.
 
BTW I was 100% right about saying those shadows and all that "real-time global lighting" nonsense they were spouting, I called it as bull even when DF wanted to try to suck up (that didn't work though did it, going by the lack of a review copy for Eurogamer :lol:). Also about that "reworked skills" crap they came out with.


To balance though, I was wrong about it being a "buggy mess" for a year. I have spotted a couple of things, but all in all it's actually impressive so far how unfecked it is!



It’s definitely the game, I’m feeling much better. I’ll try everything @Redlambs recommended, see if it fixes it.
I’ll even play it third person, if needed. What a weird thing. Never thought I’d be affected by something like motion sickness from a game.

Like I say try the third person, definitely turn off motion blur and even DOF. There's some other smoothing techniques which are ok on a big tv, but won't help on a smaller much better monitor. Especially if it's a 60hz one.

I'll post my settings later when I'm back at my comp, remind me if I forget!
 
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Must have taken me half hour to take down that first ship. :nervous:
 
They confirmed in June after the Direct that you couldn't land and take off from planets. It was known.
No, I mean that you can't fly between planets. I knew that take off and landing was automated.

Pete Heinze was asked if you could fly between planets in one of the pressers he did before release, and he said, I don't know I've never tried.

It's not a big deal for me, but if they had set the record straight from the beginning people wouldn't have been expecting it.
 
Love is a strong word so far, but it's not half bad! Very surprising.

Love is perhaps too strong, just caught me off guard I guess! Game is fun so far though and that's what matters. The more I go the more it actually reminds me of Mass Effect. Going from planet to planet doing missions, owning a ship, major City used as a hub for quests. Not necessarily a bad thing mind you, but seems different to what Bethesda were pitching.
 
Ran around Kreet for about 3hrs, walked into a ship I discovered and ended up in a battle - I then confiscated said ship. Then left my robot companion for dust after going to an abandoned outpost riddled with pirates - think he got damaged.

he eventually appears out of nowhere as I’m looking for poxy flowers to scan (it’s like Red Dead all over again) scaring the shit out of me as I had my headphones up full whack - I found every medicine bar one for a poxy fever I contracted somewhere that made me have to walk for ages due to the fever eating my oxygen levels, couldn’t fast travel as I’m a hoarder and collected everything in mine and the robot’s inventory space. back to the story mission after I gave up wandering around the place.

Completed Kreet mission, but will need to go back to survey the final 10% I missed from the list.

it’s good fun so far. 10/10 - will play again
 
It’s definitely the game, I’m feeling much better. I’ll try everything @Redlambs recommended, see if it fixes it.
I’ll even play it third person, if needed. What a weird thing. Never thought I’d be affected by something like motion sickness from a game.


Fallout 76 was a killer for me also.
I was fine with Fallout 4, but I guess just getting older doesn't help :lol:

I'm playing on a 65" and after an hour or so, I was starting to feel a bit off.
FOV definitely helped on 76, but I'm currently playing this on xbox just so I can chill on the sofa.... If it continues though, I'll have to play it on the PC
 
Ran around Kreet for about 3hrs, walked into a ship I discovered and ended up in a battle - I then confiscated said ship. Then left my robot companion for dust after going to an abandoned outpost riddled with pirates - think he got damaged.

he eventually appears out of nowhere as I’m looking for poxy flowers to scan (it’s like Red Dead all over again) scaring the shit out of me as I had my headphones up full whack - I found every medicine bar one for a poxy fever I contracted somewhere that made me have to walk for ages due to the fever eating my oxygen levels, couldn’t fast travel as I’m a hoarder and collected everything in mine and the robot’s inventory space. back to the story mission after I gave up wandering around the place.

Completed Kreet mission, but will need to go back to survey the final 10% I missed from the list.

it’s good fun so far. 10/10 - will play again
Sounds similar to how I’m playing :)

I was on Kreet for ages too. I surprised myself how quickly I descended into exploring and scanning. Zero rush.
 
So I just started playing there tonight and I'm mighty impressed so far. So much fun, and loads of exploring to do which I love. Have a feeling this is going to be one of my all time favourites.
 
Isnt there seriously a way to speed up sleep/wait?
 
So I just started playing there tonight and I'm mighty impressed so far. So much fun, and loads of exploring to do which I love. Have a feeling this is going to be one of my all time favourites.
I’m about 16 hours in and have done next to nothing so far in terms of story. Been walking around Kreet, New Atlantis and Cydonia just exploring and looking around, talking to folk and enjoying the lore that’s all around. It’s so rich and subtle when taken in at a snails pace.
 
I hooked it up to the telly from my pc. Is there a way to make it recognize my ps5 controller buttons. Even though steam says a ps5 controller is connected im still seeing xbox controller buttons in game.
 
I’m about 16 hours in and have done next to nothing so far in terms of story. Been walking around Kreet, New Atlantis and Cydonia just exploring and looking around, talking to folk and enjoying the lore that’s all around. It’s so rich and subtle when taken in at a snails pace.
Yep I completely agree, that's pretty much all I've been doing aswell!
 
I hooked it up to the telly from my pc. Is there a way to make it recognize my ps5 controller buttons. Even though steam says a ps5 controller is connected im still seeing xbox controller buttons in game.

Not usually, no. Someone will likely mod it though.

I've never found it an issue, just get a picture of an xbox controller on your phone if you are confused, you'll soon see it as second nature.


No mate :)

I always play as the good guy with morals. Hate doing bad things even in RPGs.:lol:

Well you don't want to know what I did when I landed at the first hub and an npc gave me random attitude :lol:
 
Not usually, no. Someone will likely mod it though.

I've never found it an issue, just get a picture of an xbox controller on your phone if you are confused, you'll soon see it as second nature.




Well you don't want to know what I did when I landed at the first hub and an npc gave me random attitude :lol:

Found a mod that works.
 
I've just started but already the gunplay is miles better than Cyberpunk. There's weight to it and charging around gun-butting everyone reminds me of OG halo.

Yeah I'm not going to like the space travel aspect at all, very shite. But so far so good in performance and the basic stuff.
Btw have you played Cyberpunk with dual sense’s adaptive triggers? There’s a lovely of weight to the gunplay - smart guns that have a high rate of fire feel completely different to the tech weapons / shotguns that you have to charge up.
 
Agreed @Redlambs, the gunplay is surprisingly good. First Bethesda game I’ve played where can almost run and gun COD style.

Assumed the combat would be weak in line with Skyrim and FO. Not so, genuinely enjoyable even with the off the shelf NPC AI.

Trying to utilise my Ronin skill set is fun too.
 
Found a mod that works.

Excellent.


Btw have you played Cyberpunk with dual sense’s adaptive triggers? There’s a lovely of weight to the gunplay - smart guns that have a high rate of fire feel completely different to the tech weapons / shotguns that you have to charge up.

No, but the Missus has and is still not enthused and she is waaaay more easy going with games than I am. Besides there's no bullet weight to hits either, you never feel like you are shooting anything other than paper targets. Not to mention the god awful AI.

Don't get me wrong, I had some moments with the swords, but it gets boring pretty quickly imo. I'm hoping this DLC update at least fixes the encounters to a less all round generic state.


Agreed @Redlambs, the gunplay is surprisingly good. First Bethesda game I’ve played where can almost run and gun COD style.

Assumed the combat would be weak in line with Skyrim and FO. Not so, genuinely enjoyable even with the off the shelf NPC AI.

Trying to utilise my Ronin skill set is fun too.

It isn't perfect, largely due to more god awful AI, but at least the guns feel decent. I nearly went Ronin but ended up going Scoundrel. Probably a mistake really as I nearly always main stealth and sneak attacks with melee in these games :lol:
 
I think it's maybe impossible to reach 60fps in Atlantis with my video card in 1440p, even on low. I've tried playing it in third person though and so far I think it's better, haven't been sick yet. Thanks for the tips @Redlambs. My cpu is i9 9900k 5ghz OC on all cores but I think the 2080 super just can't cut it. It's weird because the game doesn't look that impressive.
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Good to hear about the gunplay. Never really got into Skyrim because I thought the combat a bit clunky (also not a fan of swords in FPS) but broadly speaking having „Skyrim in Space“ sounds great to me.

Is the base building rather obligatory? Also not really into that :D

Seems like I need a new video card.
 
Good to hear about the gunplay. Never really got into Skyrim because I thought the combat a bit clunky (also not a fan of swords in FPS) but broadly speaking having „Skyrim in Space“ sounds great to me.

Is the base building rather obligatory? Also not really into that :D

Seems like I need a new video card.

I've not got to the building yet, messed around a little with the spaceship stuff.

I can honestly say, going by the feel of the game so far, I doubt any of that stuff is actually worth doing past the basics unless you are really into it. I might be wrong about that, hopefully I am as I like that stuff, but already it seems like that just like most of these types of games all the added bits don't really do a whole lot.
 
No, but the Missus has and is still not enthused and she is waaaay more easy going with games than I am. Besides there's no bullet weight to hits either, you never feel like you are shooting anything other than paper targets. Not to mention the god awful AI.
Doesn’t count. I do absolutely love adaptive triggers through. They are the most “next gen” feature in this supposedly next gen of gaming and Cyberpunk was one of the games where for me it felt the best. Ghost of Tsushima does is so well as well - just adds a whole new layer to the experiences.
 
Doesn’t count. I do absolutely love adaptive triggers through. They are the most “next gen” feature in this supposedly next gen of gaming and Cyberpunk was one of the games where for me it felt the best. Ghost of Tsushima does is so well as well - just adds a whole new layer to the experiences.

I'm not sure what your point is, but if it's that adaptive triggers are cool then I agree. But a game shouldn't need them to make the gameplay bearable, it should enhance the already good stuff. Starfield on the PS5 (imagine!) would still feel a lot better than Cyberpunk with those triggers.

Actually it would be an interesting mod for PC. It's been done on other games, so maybe someone will do it for this and I'll get the best of both worlds. Although I would mostly use it in space, as that's how I'm currently playing this...kb/m for the planet stuff, controller for flying.
 
I think it's maybe impossible to reach 60fps in Atlantis with my video card in 1440p, even on low. I've tried playing it in third person though and so far I think it's better, haven't been sick yet. Thanks for the tips @Redlambs. My cpu is i9 9900k 5ghz OC on all cores but I think the 2080 super just can't cut it. It's weird because the game doesn't look that impressive.
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Yeah after I hooked it up to my 4k Tv, I had to adjust some settings to keep the framerates steady, but the game in some respects looks more like a PS4 game rather than next gen. I mean parts of it looks great, but compared to say Cyberpunk(fully patched, high end PC, PS5 etc) it doesnt really look all that great. Especially the textures in the cities and the random character models.
 
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As someone who read game reviews in the 90s and early 00s, this is largely nonsense. A 3-4 has never been considered anything but a garbage game. The scale might have contracted a bit further, but this is certainly not a modern phenomenon. It's mostly true for the top, where there's inflation in 9s and 10s.
 
I think it's maybe impossible to reach 60fps in Atlantis with my video card in 1440p, even on low. I've tried playing it in third person though and so far I think it's better, haven't been sick yet. Thanks for the tips @Redlambs. My cpu is i9 9900k 5ghz OC on all cores but I think the 2080 super just can't cut it. It's weird because the game doesn't look that impressive.
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Older Intel CPUs tank in that game (while their current gen reigns supreme): https://www.pcgameshardware.de/Star...benchmark-requirements-anforderungen-1428119/
Your 9900K can't manage 60 FPS no matter what GPU you pair it with.
And yeah, the ratio of looks to performance isn't great either, but that's Bethesda and their engine for you since forever.
 
Older Intel CPUs tank in that game (while their current gen reigns supreme): https://www.pcgameshardware.de/Star...benchmark-requirements-anforderungen-1428119/
Your 9900K can't manage 60 FPS no matter what GPU you pair it with.
And yeah, the ratio of looks to performance isn't great either, but that's Bethesda and their engine for you since forever.
Yeah my 13700k and 4070ti are doing pretty well in this, I can run without FSR on and still not drop below 60 which is good. I'm glad I was finally able to build a new pc this summer, I don't think my old 4790k and GTX 1070 would have even made it to the start screen :lol:
 
Older Intel CPUs tank in that game (while their current gen reigns supreme): https://www.pcgameshardware.de/Star...benchmark-requirements-anforderungen-1428119/
Your 9900K can't manage 60 FPS no matter what GPU you pair it with.
And yeah, the ratio of looks to performance isn't great either, but that's Bethesda and their engine for you since forever.
Wow, indeed. I've been used to the notion that modern CPUs are all the same, with only a slight increase in performance every new gen. I had 2600k for almost 10 years and it served me great. But looking at that graph, the high end intel cpu is triple the performance of mine :eek: I guess this is a game that uses the CPU to its fullest.
 


DLSS3 has already been modded into the game. Stuck behind the modders patreon though :mad: (though I sure someone will share it eventually)
 
Wow, indeed. I've been used to the notion that modern CPUs are all the same, with only a slight increase in performance every new gen. I had 2600k for almost 10 years and it served me great. But looking at that graph, the high end intel cpu is triple the performance of mine :eek: I guess this is a game that uses the CPU to its fullest.
CPU usage in Starfield in one word is weird. Raptor Lake (13th gen) is stronger than basically in any real world or synthetic benchmark out there, but scaling with core count is complete shit, i.e., CPUs are not really utilized well beyond very few cores. Has to be a combination of single core percormance and RAM access speed to see such an advantage even over AMD's Zen 4 X3D offerings, which are usually equally fast or faster in games.
 
CPU usage in Starfield in one word is weird. Raptor Lake (13th gen) is stronger than basically in any real world or synthetic benchmark out there, but scaling with core count is complete shit, i.e., CPUs are not really utilized well beyond very few cores. Has to be a combination of single core percormance and RAM access speed to see such an advantage even over AMD's Zen 4 X3D offerings, which are usually equally fast or faster in games.

Also, unlike the Unity engine say, you can't turn graphics settings up and force the GPU to do more. I wouldn't mind if the physics were as impressive as they claimed originally (30fps lol!), but they so far most definitely are not.

The more I play, the less like those videos it is and the more unfinished it becomes.

Though I will say, I am liking it still. It definitely is just Skyrim in space (with not so much space) so I think it will be very decent especially when the mods hit. But it's most definitely not the game old Todd has been pushing it as, it's just not as broken and unfinished as Cyberpunk was/is so it's getting away with it.