Once More (Sigh), Into The Starfield

Last night, after having spent an enjoyable hour or two playing Shattered Space, the newly released DLC for Bethesda’s 2023 outer-space RPG Starfield, I went on the game’s main Reddit community at r/Starfield and — not for the first or even fiftieth time — a bunch of posts about how shitty the game and DLC are from people who’ve clearly spent time exploring this thing they hate so much. And I dunno, I had that dawg in me or something, so I posted on the sub for the first time. My post is copied below in its entirety because, at some point between when I submitted it Wednesday night and the following afternoon, it started a huge fight and got pulled down by the mods. Here it is for posterity:

A lot of folks sure seem to enjoy hating this game

I have about 800 hours in Starfield between some playthroughs last year and getting back into it this month for the REV-8 and DLC.

Yeah, the writing and voice acting are often not great. (In the DLC, I’m torn between finding the accents and other-ness of House Va’ruun problematic, and finding it more problematic when you meet a Va’ruun with a Midwestern or California accent.)

Sure, the non-variety of ship parts, clothing options, spacesuits, etc are disappointing. (They added *one* new ship part via official mods, the Ancient Mariner, and it’s a super awkward 2×2 shape. Wouldn’t a 2×1 boat theme have been awesome? I think so!)

OK, the procedurally generated planets/POIs are repetitive, and no matter what y’all say about “best” places to put outposts I cannot for the life of me find these magical places where you can mine both aluminum and iron at one outpost.

You know what? I still really enjoy Starfield. When it hits, it scratches a 1990s TV sci-fi RPG itch I didn’t know I had until playing the base game. When (e.g.) the acting or writing or bad, I like to imagine it’s a B or C tier syndicated sci-fi show from 20 years ago, with a killer premise but not enough budget, and the best actors they could find in Vancouver who weren’t already booked on better shows

On one hand, short main questlines can feel like low effort or poor value for money. On the other hand, sometimes it’s _nice_ to play a game that’s not 40-60 hours long, but rather short with decent replay appeal. I’ve probably been through the Crimson Fleet questline 8 times already and I still enjoy it; I think I’ll feel the same the most action/horror-ish parts of Shattered Space.

And the game is gorgeous. Visually, it’s the opposite of the interesting-but-low-effort cable sci-fi shows — it’s a massive-budget spectacle where all the money went to amazing, sometimes iconic visuals.

Within that, sure, there are disappointing bits. Neon is a swing and a miss — it’s not just that it’s too small and dinky to live up to how characters talk about it, but it’s easily the most frustrating map in the whole game to navigate. (If I had a penny for every time I had to walk back up to the main area just to cross it and go back down to the lower area because the designers didn’t bother adding tunnels or walkways, I could buy another copy of Shattered Space! HEYO!)

Maybe it’s hard to understand the hate if (like me) one hasn’t played other, better Bethesda games. I can’t relate to the pain of expecting “Skyrim in space” and getting seaQuest DSV but In Space – The Game. But there’s also a lot to be said for a game that’s a solid B, a shaggy dog of a game where you learn to just not do the things that are silly (like the colony that’s all clones of historical figures or the questline where the most powerful people in Freestar turn out to be the most corrupt and there’s zero follow-up or Barrett’s companion quest that somehow involves legal drama and fetch quests within a single tiny map ) and focus instead on the other hundred better things to do.

Anyway, it makes me sad, annoyed, and whiplash-ed to see folks who (like me) have a lot of fun playing this game, and others who are just so mad it’s not better and yet can’t be at peace about it?

OK, preparing to run away from thrown tomatoes downvotes in 3… 2… 1…

Some thoughts on why the game’s fandom can’t just step away and touch grass

Starfield is my first Bethesda RPG. The studio is best known for the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series, including Skyrim, one of the most-loved, best-reviewed RPGs of all time. Ahead of Starfield‘s release, the studio laid on plenty of hype, including invoking Skyrim early and often, going so far as to call the new game “Skyrim in space.”

One reason why the reaction has been so surprising is that, well, Bethesda’s games are often full of things that are poorly written, buggy, or just plain weird. I never managed to get into Skyrim (which, in fairness, I tried to play on the Switch with my toddler next to me) because its first hour or so felt like a slog. Maybe if I gave that game an honest chance, I’d understand why Starfield feels “mid” to so many gamers?

In the comments on my post (which are still visible even though my post… is not?), one person answered my question about all the hate saying, “we were sold a lie.” The “Skyrim in space” thing is one such lie, but also, the developers talked up game elements or customization features that didn’t make the release, and some of those were what got people excited about the game.

So it’s fair to be disappointed. Like I say, the game is at best a B or B+ — which in my mind means it’s good, not great. There’s plenty of room in one’s life for things that are solid Bs. Some of my favorite coffee places in the world are not the ones that serve the best, most expertly crafted drinks, but rather have decent drinks and a great vibe or great snacks.

In my mind, Starfield averages a B — meaning many parts of it are great, some parts are straight bad, and to enjoy the game one has to spend more time doing the former than the latter. Some of the greatest games of all time have annoying bits I try to avoid. Starfield has more than its fair share, which is why it’s a B. It also has incredible visuals, fun space combat, and ship- and outpost-building modes that I have spent entire days playing with.

For some reason, the Bethesda fandom feels wronged by this game not being better than it is… yet cannot turn away, because they’re part of a community that expected to make this game their new home, and did so, but nonetheless aren’t happy or open-minded about it. Complaining about the game not being an A+ is how this community bonds; the fact that toxicity has to share space with lots (and lots!) of people who enjoy playing that same game is just (sigh) the nature of the internet in 2024.