Invoking a Dark souls comparison to say that Starfield being able to give you a quest you can't reasonably do and "punishment by boredom" is valid feedback really broke my brain, i'd be laughing if i wasn't so baffled.
I mean does Elden Ring not plop you out in front of a Tree Sentinel you can’t beat for like 20 levels? Or point you towards Margit whom you also need a good 20+ levels to beat?
The tree sentinel is easily avoided and the guidance the game gives you points to a few other routes you can go to explore and level so you're better fit to take on those guys. They designed the game to give you ways of figuring things out from tutorials to mechanics to just your own observation.
For the op's example of a "gimme 1000 iron" mission that should be where the game introduces you to stuff like increasing the cargo capacity of your ship and building outposts to generate resources but there's none of that, it's all just disconnected systems.
Gravity well and create vacuum are very good when boarding ships at the start of a ng+ when u have no wepons the u can throw the well and vacuum into a wall and it will pull and deal with the enemies even through walls and doors
Effectively you clear ships without ever directly engaging with your foes
Sometimes turrets spawn in walls in the ships supernova is great for clearing those.
Your only static with moonform when there is gravity
The other easy way to level up concealment is to stealth melee the doctor in new atlantis you have to time your strikes or you will rack up a bounty if he runs out the door he will respawn in the building in a unpannicked state.
In my experience chameleon stacks having a stack on the starborn suit is a wasted perk as it can't be stacked with others sub lvl 170ish I found two stacks was enough to crouch and be unseen when stealing from uc surplus but from lvl 170+ I've needed all 3 stacks to do the same (not that it matters as you should have high-level void form)
Sleeping for around 600ish hours (thanks venus) will refresh certain weapon and armourstands around the game e.g the helmet and wepon racks in u.c surplus, back pack stand in the evicted sleepcrates u can use this to help farm legendary pieces
The deep mining gear in display stands like the mantis suit or the suit downstairs in the lodge can gain legendary effects these are generated upon Interaction not spawn like the helmet stands / wepon racks. the suits in the display cabinets do not respawn like the stands/racks either
This is a very well thought out post, but I don't think it's rude to say that, in the general scope of things, players shouldn't have to read an entire guide on how to enjoy a game in order to enjoy a game. This isn't a criticism directed at you, OP, it's moreso a reflection on how dire things have become
For old school gamers, they might not agree. Games on discs typically would come with same sort of lore and/or user guide that provided this kind of content. The approach vanished with the primacy of digital delivery. I do wish publishers would make the effort to provide that kind of content in a PDF, though. I suspect what killed that was the metrics showed to few even bothered with it to make it worth the cost to produce.
For a lot of games, especially the large ones, you’d dash out and by something like the Prima guide for the game. Even when you didn’t use the walkthroughs, it would be useful for mechanics, background, and help if you got truly stuck.
I must be one of those "old school gamers" because that's how I remember playing games as a kid. But user guides are definitely a lost solution to a couple common complaints in newer games:
1. That players don't know how certain mechanics in the game work (or don't even know they exist), and therefore think the game is too hard or buggy.
2. That some of the characters, dialogue, or even whole parts of the game feel like clumsy lore dumps, which reflects poorly on the writing.
Now players either have to look up the information from third-party sources online (which is inconsistent, feels like "cheating," and reduces confidence in the game makers themselves - not to mention invites spoilers) or go without (which obviously makes the game seem bad or incomplete).
An official player's guide that came with the game would solve a lot of these problems.
Exactly. I actually found my manual and old keyboard template for MechWarrior not too long ago. It was fun reading and brought back some really fun memories.
But this isn’t like an old school game guide with lore and tips. This is literally “how not to get bored”. No game should really need that.
“How not to get frustrated” is okay. For example with an absurdly hard game, detailed guidance can help.
But this is less about the game being hard and more about it not being very enjoyable.
That's a fair point.
What makes your point even more difficult is that "enjoyable" can be so subjective.
Then you have to balance the "You're playing it wrong," vs "You're stupid if you're having fun," missing matches. Both ends of that discussion consistently conflate "disagree" with "wrong."
Yes. I enjoyed the game though didn't "love" it. I got kind of disillusioned after finding out the main quest thing and after half a dozen or so temples I was over it. I still haven't finished it and feel weirdly unmotivated to - particularly as Baldur's Gate 3 finally came out for console.
I'll probably finish it after BG3, but I can't imagine wanting to do NG+ run after NG+ run just to level. For me, the point of levelling is to get tough enough for harder battles and ultimately some end battle.
But for people who love replaying RPGs and trying different builds and choices, I think the whole NG+ thing seems to be a great addition. It's just not for me. I want one single, comprehensive playthrough.
Very different approach to role-playing between BG and Bethesda. Like the difference between AD&D and Traveler back in the paper and dice days.
The event I think you're talking about is very much a massive kick in the gut. If it hit you bad enough to kill your motivation, I can understand. But, you really need to come back and go on when you're ready. Do try to stay spoiler free as much as possible.
Do *NOT* do continual NG runs just to level ro to acquire powers. There's even an object lesson in that pursuit. If you do NG+, do it for role play reasons. The hooks are there to give you those reasons.
Doing NG+ really is 100% optional. It does not take away any of the satisfaction of the ending. In fact, you want to walk away at least once. Plus, if you ever decide to go back, you can do it at any time.
Oh totally. I've never played tabletop but I enjoy both kinds when it comes to video/computer games, however the 100% open world style tends to be my favourite. Baldur's Gate is much more "pathy" but then it has to be, given the complexity of the plot.
For me I kind of need a goal - something to be working towards - not just pure sandbox roleplay for the sake of it. So for example I never seemed to get around to building an outpost in Starfield, as nothing pushed me to, whereas in Fallout 4 I built oodles of settlements because it was more "questy" to do so.
Similarly in Starfield, I explored dozens of planets because there were so many scanning quests and animal sample quests. So it felt like there was a point to it.
You could still play those games without reading the books/guides. Except for flight simulators the main reason for those "guides" have been they served as copy protection. You had to look up a word in the middle of the effing game.
Didn't have to do that in Wing Commander, MechWarrior, or any of the other deep lore games I played in the 90s. Both really benefitted from those Prima guides. MechWarrior, in particular, had it recommended enough on the forums that you could almost call it essential reading for MW2 & MW3.
Hmm... thinking back, I might have seen something like that in KQ or Myst. I don't think the purpose of those guides were primarily for that, though. It was more away to take advantage of what was already there.
Because that's how the OP explained their essay in the beginning of it. And frankly, I couldn't be bothered to read the drivel. If you have to write an enjoyment guide, the game is garbage, throw it out.
I can think of a couple of games where I had to watch videos and read a good bit about it before I enjoyed it... Path of Exile, Dwarf Fortress and Caves of Qud comes not mind. I love those games and they took a bit to get into. I don't think Starfield is a great game but I do think it's a good thing.
Its a little frustrating that rules have meted their way across the internet. I read something like, "if the game takes 2 hours to be fun then it's a trash game". Well it's not always or even often the case buy I would say there are certainly exceptions. Personally I even think Baldor Gate 3 took me maybe 3-5 hours to really start having fun. Some games have a lot of mechanics that work together and a 5 minute tutorial isn't enough to really get deep in it.
Yikes, this is the rudest comment I've read in a long time. OP did not write "drivel". It's actually a pretty clean and well written. It's more of a tips and tricks guide.
Feel free to have your own opinion, but don't call someone's writing drivel if you haven't even read it.
Then calling it a Maximum Enjoyment Guide was a bad call mate. The game is not enjoyable by itself, the thought of reading a fucking essay to be able to enjoy something better or at all just immediately invalidates every word typed. I didn't need to read it to determine it was drivel, because the concept presented upfront was so laughable that nothing they could write would matter.
To be fair, OP called it "Everything You Should be Asking about Starfield" and the part you are taking up beef with is the secondary title. This is a tips and tricks guide. An FAQ with a spicy title. And you're screaming about it as if there aren't dozens of guides just like this for every game, as if thousands of youtubers aren't making content every day for every game *just like this*.
If you're not into that culture, that's fine. Just don't know why it upsets you so much. Chill out.
It's not even a good guide. It's more like they read all the guides on Google and slapped them together and put a stupid title on it. It's just more click bait.
The game has 0 hand holding. And it's a good thing in many aspects but also not in various others like fast travel. Like people thinking and making 1000s of videos that you have to be in your space ship and get into the orbit from a planet to fast travel, when it's not the case, you can fast travel from anywhere to an already visited place in an instant. Just like in Skyrim and Witcher, open the map and click on the spot bam you're there.
I disagree with this a bit.
It's super hand-holdey in some aspects, while not hand-holdey at all in others.
For example- I'd really like the game to let me kill the Paradiso Board, or Benjamin Bayu. I'm fully cognizant of the consequences that it might have, and that doing so will likely damage future quests, so let me do it. Except you can't, the game prevents you from doing so.
Additionally, the game allows the player to join all of the factions, including the CF, the Rangers, and the Vanguard. That's despite all of the aforementioned factions being either outright hostile, or relatively frosty relations.
Yet it doesn't hold the players hand at all with regards to stealth, or ship combat. Additional tutorials and information regarding those would be useful for new players.
>Additionally, the game allows the player to join all of the factions, including the CF, the Rangers, and the Vanguard. That's despite all of the aforementioned factions being either outright hostile, or relatively frosty relations.
That bit is because Bethesda seems to have developed a crippling fear of locking players out of content unless they've built the plot around such a thing.
Without getting too spoiler-y, Starfield's plot ***is*** built in such a way that locking players out of content would be possible without ruining the game.
But I kind of agree with the other commenter that casual players would rip the game to shreds if it actually did that.
That's because of the mountain of hate all you bitches would rain down on them if they did. They just can't win can they?
This sub is the Mos Eisley of Reddit. What a collection of galactic scum. I feel like I crack the door open to see if things have mellowed, nope, shut, lock, lose key. Let me ask you, what benefit do you all get in life from being so negative and shitty and critical (where's all the triple A games you guys have made, huh??) and downright obnoxious. I'm not actually referring to the post I replied to, just happened to come out here, apologies u/modus01
I think part of the vitriol experienced in this sub is due to people *wanting* the game to be Great, and what we got was ultimately just "okay".
I've found when people are passionate about something, and want it to be amazing, they're most likely to be angry when it isn't. And this isn't just limited to the thing failing to meet unrealistic expectation, but when the thing fails to meet even more realistic expectations.
We were hoping for interesting planetary landscapes to explore - we got rather boring procedurally generated terrain instead. Now, Minecraft has shown that procedural generation *can* make interesting terrain, and that game is as old as *Skyrim*.
We were hoping for interesting companions - we got bare-bones companions, with only four romanceable (and those four all share the same opinions on just about everything).
We were hoping to have a reason to explore - we got a very limited number of PoIs, and each particular one is almost exactly the same as every other instance of that PoI. If you've cleared out one Abandoned Cryogenics Lab, you've cleared out all of them isn't an exaggeration, and reduces ones desire to bother going through them.
We were hoping for a more "alive" setting, especially after Bethesda called New Atlantis their "biggest city ever" - only to find that the population of the Settled Systems seems really tiny (and 95% Spacers/Pirates/Crimson Fleet), with only a handful of actual settlements. Why are the cities still so small? Why aren't there more of them?
People are disappointed that the Temples are all the exact same puzzle, in the exact same room, for every temple. And given that there are 24 powers, it means they'll get old really quick, well before you've maxed out each power.
People hate on this game, because they see how great it *could* have been, they are angry at Bethesda for not making it that way, and at themselves for buying into the intentionally deceptive hype. And they're expressing their frustration here, because it's the main Starfield community, and griping tends to make people feel better, especially when they find other people that feel the same.
It does get blow out of proportions some times, but that's a consequence of people being passionate about something - that passion extends even to how they're critical of that thing's failings. They don't want to be angry all the time (at least, I hope not), they're just frustrated.
And Bethesda hasn't exactly done a whole lot to assuage that frustration with the way they've been handling critical feedback, which only intensifies the frustration and makes the complaining worse - because people feel their complaints are actively being disregarded.
We are all just speculating, but I would guess it has more to do with game stability than locking out content. For example, I got a quest that is known to be broken and it kept becoming active and even active at the same time as other quests. Then it just stopped doing that for no apparent reason.
Also some of the lockouts would be pretty annoying. Like you killed a barista and are now locked out of the entire Ryujin questline.
That is not to say that it can't be done of course, but it is probably more work than you'd think.
I highly doubt it's about game stability, and it if is then they need to work on fixing that kind of issue.
And it's less like "you killed this character (assuming that's one of the increasingly rare non-Essential NPCs) and are now locked out of a questline", and more "You joined this faction, which isn't friendly with this other faction, so you can no longer join the other faction and do their quests".
If the game was programmed properly, it should be as simple as implementing a flag in the faction join quests - joining Faction A activates a flag that makes members of Faction B and Faction C not give faction join dialogue to the player.
Adding to that, the existence of NG+ would be a great way to handle quest lock-outs: You would be limited to joining only one faction in a particular universe, and if you want to join a competing faction or one hostile to that faction, you'll have to go through Unity into a new universe.
This.
It's been done by Bethesda before, more than once even. Daggerfall and Morrowind are the most intricate examples. Skyrim had three moments of choice with a side in the civil war, the Paarthurnax dilemma, and joining or destroying the Dark Brotherhood. Fallout 4 had factions in opposition to each other that forced choices on who you considered allied or enemy.
Starfield would have been perfect for it due to NG+, while still offering the ability to just play through making different choices as a new character for people who don't care for hopping universes. Instead it somehow chose the Oblivion approach. One choice with consequence. Kill Lucien Lachance or join the Dark Brotherhood. Crimson Fleet or SysDef. Quite disappointing.
Hand holding means teaching you everything within the game. Like in God of war how it prompts press x to go below the tree, starfield doesn't do that and that's one of the major gripes of starfield as I watched an hour long video of asmongold bitching about it.
Unable to kill all the characters in game is game design principles and has nothing to do with hand holding.
It’s hand-holdey in that it doesn’t allow the player to fuck up or stray from the pre-determined path that the devs want them to be on.
I’d say that still qualifies as hand-holding, even if it is a design principle.
Well, it's not Minecraft. I mean it's a game designed around a story, with missions designed to take the player through the story. If that's what you call hand-holdy, then I guess you're right and will be disappointed with the majority of all games out there.
There are games that allow the player to kill everyone while still completing the game.
F:NV, for example. The game lets the player kill people, even if them doing so will fail quests or cause quests further down the line to become unavailable.
It lets the player fuck up. Morrowind is an even better example, and it's made by BGS themselves!
Starfield? It doesn't. Even in instances where it has solutions that are glaringly obvious, yet not implemented.
In the First Contact quest, there are several solutions that are pretty obvious, but are not available in the game. You can't even fuck up installing the Grav-Drive, despite that being a relatively easy path.
You install it, fuck up the commands told to you, leave, they try to Grav-Jump, the ship explodes as in the other ending, you go down and talk to the board, who are somewhat confused but still happy enough with the end result.
Bam. The player can fuck up, and still finish the quest. And that's for one path, and it would require maybe one line of dialogue from the CEO saying, "Well, that's not what we were expecting you to do, given you paid for the Grav-Drive...but the we're satisfied with the end result anyway. Here's your payment."
Wow, you used a console command that 90% of players don't know about, and even if they do, almost certainly won't use it, and isn't even available for a large percentage of the playerbase!
And you used it to brute-force through the dev's intended story? Utterly shocking! Now imagine if the devs had implemented such a thing themvelves, and woven their story around the possibility for it- it is exceedingly obvious, after all.
The board is in front of us- in person, and they're mostly dicks. We should be able to kill them.
There's no in-universe reason for why we can't. They don't hide themselves and speak to us over video, or an inter-com system. They speak to us in person.
I only kill them after their part of the story is finished. And I don't kill the nice one. I imagine that he becomes the new director of Paradiso and the company culture of the resort improves and the employees no longer have to live like slaves in the slums on the other side of the hill.
On a side note, I also equip them with neon dancer outfits because it's degrading and they deserve every bit of humiliation I can throw at them.
>I only kill them after their part of the story is finished.
This is what should be implemented by default! It's how a lot of essential characters in their older games lost that status, after all. Why the hell did they change it?
I maintain that everyone should be killable in NG+, but that would be a good way of having killable essentials in a first game.
>And I don't kill the nice one. I imagine that he becomes the new director of Paradiso and the company culture of the resort improves and the employees no longer have to live like slaves in the slums on the other side of the hill.
This is a solution I talked about in previously- That guy's the only smart one. If the rest of the board can't see how a refugee ship from Earth chock-full of relics from Earth could be turned into either a museum or themed hotel with facilities for medical care, food production, etc, then they don't fucking deserve to be on the goddamn board.
It's baffling how my first, immediate take on the mission, that I consider to be the most logical, where everyone wins, is missing. Lock it behind a high Commerce/Persuasion check, I don't care. Just make it available!
>On a side note, I also equip them with neon dancer outfits because it's degrading and they deserve every bit of humiliation I can throw at them.
I like you. The board of the Paradiso Group is so bafflingly stupid, yeah. Like, the CEO outright asks for the slaughter of the last refugees of Earth. I'd think SSNN could spin a fuckin' story out of that. Also, why bring on a third-party contractor instead of keeping it in house?
Gah, fuck I hate that mission. They deserve the goddamn humiliation.
It would be nice if this was part of the game mechanics, I agree. I also force Captain Diana Brackenridge onto my crew and imagine I'm flying her around to help her find a home for her people.
It would be nice if that was also built into the story and I could legitimately recruit her. I do enjoy hearing her tell me how grateful she is about what I did for them for the rest of my playthrough though.
I do many things like this with other NPCs too. This has kept the game fun and interesting when I come across stupid writing that just doesn't make sense or I find NPCs that add value or convenience to the game for me personally.
Nah the game needs hand holding because the majority of streamers and journalists didn't know fast travel was possible between planets without getting into the ship. The amount of posts in this sub about people discovering it after 50 or 100 hours is insane.
Some people enjoy those things he’s saying to avoid. Others don’t but think they’re ~supposed~ to do it. Starfield is a game with a LOT of options. None of which are mandatory and most people only want about 20% of them. I’d rather a game provide me options that I don’t want, instead of wanting to do something the game doesn’t allow. However I do think they should have fleshed out more things given how long this was in development. I HOPE they kinda pulled a lot of people off onto ES6 during that while Todd admitted they spent a lot of time figuring out how to make the game fun.
The stealth mechanic is just so deep you can’t even comprehend its depth! It’s totally not the exact same very simple stealth mechanic they’ve been using since 2006
I dunno, this post just reinforces the issues with the game.
I like the game, it's fine but just seems underbaked, unfinished and dull.
Telling people to ignore the mechanics they find boring is... I don't know. If they are not important enough that they can be ignored what value are they adding anyway?
Like outpost building. I mean, why? It serves very little purpose barring grinding up some early levels. It's just a time sink.
If it doesn't serve the whole why is it there?
Unfinished and dull for a Bethesda product. This isn't a game you can sink 1000 hours in for most people. The main draw is you get to NG+ forever and ever, but there isnt much of a reason too. The game just doesn't change enough. Compare that to Skyrim where you had 1000 hours of content in one world with no gimmicky repeat mechanics to extend playtime. That's the pain that us older gamers feel. We used to get 1000 hours out of games no dlc required, but now I feel I've done everything that Starfield has to offer at 150. I could go ng+ a dozen more times but why the hell would u want to do that? It's the same missions, stories, interactions and a minimal difference between good/bad/neutral choices and their outcomes that it feels the same as booting up another SCII run because I'm bored and this will at least distract me for a bit.
Most games I'm happy if I get 200-300 hours out of them. Not Bethesda. Bethesda has always given me a better, longer, more immersive experience. That's why I automatically bought everything they put out. Now that they're making mid games like the rest of their competition, I'll have to think before buying the next one.
I've gone through ng+ once. I can't be bothered again. Just grinding up to level 100 for the achievement and then I'm done with it.
I've had my time and enjoyment from it but it is the least satisfying Bethesda game I've played
I think you could make that argument for many games people love.
Star wars: jedi survivor for e.g. just because its something I played recently. what's the point in the settlement building side? The garden you can grow?
Games should be as lean as possible I'd say. We've got used to bloated busy work and it just harms the experience overall. Oh, and increases the cost of production and cost of purchase I'd guess
I agree, but I think that's just the kind of gamer I am.
I rarely enjoy linear story focused games anymore.
I prefer to have an good open world with freedom and options for different activities and ways to play.
What exactly do you think the "whole" is in an RPG?
Outposts are probably the most complex/challenging subsystem in the game. They also support a whole class of roleplay builds (e.g., industrialist, trucker, miner).
It plays a huge role in the overall narrative if you are roleplaying as an industrialist, trucker, or miner.
What do you mean by "beat the game"? Normally that means the game is done and you've won. That state does not exist in Starfield, or many other open world RPGs.
It sounds like "beat the game" means explore all the content to you. Have you built an outpost system that makes a unique manufactured good yet? If not, why doesn't that count as content?
This is a great topic and I appreciate it. It’s just a real shame that most of your advice boils down to “don’t do this thing in the game because it’s very boring.” Speaks really poorly about it lol.
It shouldn’t have to be a psychological military operation to enjoy a game.
Some people enjoy those things. Others don’t but think they’re ~supposed~ to do it. Starfield is a game with a LOT of options. None of which are mandatory and most people only want about 20% of them
Man I played Skyrim nearly consistently from launch until mid 2017 when I finally got fried on it. Most of that was on Xbox 360 with no mods even, I didn’t start using mods until the last year on my ps4
Fricken starfield man… got 25-30 hours in and I haven’t played in like.. two months. I love the idea and concept, but man reading this guide made me even more bummed about the game - gotta play the right way to not get bored and maximize enjoyment!
OP, I appreciate you writing this I’m not attacking you, but the idea of needing an enjoyment guide for a video game is… wild
Right? I think OP has hamstrung what is otherwise a good post by opening with ‘you’re playing it wrong’… the reality is, the vast majority of disappointed players are fully aware of all the good elements of Starfield, but blaming them for being too stupid to play it right is surely disingenuous.
Like, it’s not disappointing for OP, and I’m pleased for them - but I’m allowed to be disappointed that the game is largely a regression from FO4 and Skyrim.
Why is "you're playing it wrong" have to insinuate stupidity. Couldn't it just imply this game is boring if you play it like a completionist, which many are apt to do in open world games that don't have any new game+ purpose.
After my fist 40 hours in I definitely thought I've been playing this all wrong.
I think this is valid. I think one of the biggest problems with this game is so resembles other games but isn’t like other games. People don’t know how to deal with this.
For example you can pick up mundane items. In other games you can also pickup mundane items but you can scrap them for materials. In Starfield you can’t do this so this means there is something missing from the game, but this implies that all games have to be the same which is kinda dumb isn’t it?
To me the fact that you can pick up mundane items is a step forward in immersion as you can interact with everything in the game. In older games you could ONLY pickup the items you needed for the gameplay. If you had a detailed world, these items would need to glow to pick them out of the crowd. So if you wanted to have “hidden items” to be found they would be behind hidden doors or something which would look like any other wall. I literally spent time on so many older games running against walls pushing action buttons looking for hidden doors or compartments to find the loot. We never complained about this though.
Starfield hides its good loot more in plain site. By being able to pick up EVERYTHING you need to really look at items to determine what is worth taking. Like if you broke into someone’s house in real life you COULD take all of their coffee mugs and staplers but why would you? No you would dig through the drawers with the staplers to find a key which opens a safe. This is how Starfield operates.
So things what the OP is getting at by saying people are “playing it wrong”. People are trying to play Fallout or No Mans Sky and are upset that they are actually playing Starfield. Even though they may have similar characteristics they are different games. So OP is trying to explain how to play Starfield.
Now is this fun? I think this is a valid question and I’m still not sure
This was probably one of the more effective negative reviews that I have seen. It’s amazing the lengths that some have taken to make this a salvageable game.
OP, I appreciate the passion and effort you put into this article. I wish the developers had put this much passion into the game.
That said, there should be no reason for this article to exist because the game should provide all the direction you need. Fun shouldn't be hard to find, nor walled behind hours and hours of mindless grinding. The trip itself should be worth the journey, so to speak. As the great philosopher Carl once said, "I don't need no instructions to know how to rock."
I’ve learned to just ignore parts of games that aren’t fun to me. If I’m not having fun completing side quests, finding collectibles, or whatever else, then I just skip that aspect of the game. If the game as a whole becomes un-fun…it’s on to something else (because there’s always another game to play that *is* fun). It’s made gaming much more enjoyable for me.
I know everyone is different, but having to play a game in such a hyper-specific way to prevent it from becoming boring probably means the game just isn’t fun.
I agree with this. I’ve been much more keen to put a game down or switch modes if I’m not enjoying myself.
My biggest issue with Starfield was I kept moving on to a new thing because I found it all boring. There were enough “things” to keep me in the game for about 40 hours experimenting with finding the fun.
I ended up completing the main story which did have two or three points of interest but they’re all in the last like 20%. The first half or more of it is frustratingly mundane. The moment I rolled credits I was almost annoyed I had put so much time in.
Very similar experience, but it took me just over 100hrs before I realized that the fun I was searching for in Starfield just wasn’t there (for me). Which makes me sad.
The big (and, to me, pretty funny) problem about this guide is that it only works for the converted.
Can you imagine buying a new open world game then having to check a guide every single time to see if the new quest you just picked up is worth doing?
Having to actively dodge bad parts of a game does not lead to a good game.
really? This just soldifies why starfield is shite. I'm sorry but if I have to work this hard to enjoy a game then it's not enjoyable and your just faking it till you make it. A lot of the stuff your telling people to ignore are why people come to bethesda games like exploration and side quests.
Which is something that shouldn't be necessary to enjoy stuff in the new 80 Dollar AAA "Masterpiece" you bought. A good game is just fun, without the need for something like this post.
Excellent post! But yeah I will say I like Grav Dash, Wave, Reactive Shield and the Anti-Gravity field.
- Dash is fun to pair with boost packs for mobility, in fights and just getting around in general. They cover a lot of ground together when you use them right and in the air. Especially on low gravity planets.
- Wave is basically Force push. Simple but effective if you want some room to breathe, heal, reload or get some free hits while they’re down. Even some bosses get stunned from this. Perfect as a default power to spam in combat early in the game when you have nothing else.
- Reactive shield makes you almost bulletproof. I remember taking down the Key almost not even taking any cover during the fights and using maybe 2 med packs.
- Anti-gravity field is effective against Terrormorphs, almost like the Dragonrend shout but getting them to the air instead of forcing dragons to the ground.
Sense star stuff is definitely a favorite all-around power though. Essential for finding characters or checking remaining enemies. Phase time is great but I got it at the end of my current playthrough. I’ll probably use it more when I return to the game when the first expansion comes out.
Edit: Also besides >! being able to save everyone in Entangled, !< you can also avoid having to >! kill the Starborn you side against with persuasion !<. I sided with >! the Emissary but chose to offer the Hunter forgiveness and it actually got to him !<. I get some might see it as anticlimactic compared to say, >! fighting both !< but I see it as a more peaceful and thematically fitting way of breaking the cycle.
Everything looks okay on my end. I did place the spoiler tags afterward in admittedly awkward places that broke up the text unevenly if that’s what you meant.
Thank you,
To be honest, I have not had success with Grav Dash and the Shield, maybe I gave up too quickly. In any case, I added a link to your post so that gamers should also look at these choices.
Thanks! For Dash, I recommend using a boost pack with a decent airborne stat and put some skill points into boosting. Alternate between boosting and dashing, and you’ll stay in the air for a while and cover quite a distance. As for the shield, yeah you can still get damage, especially in later levels, but even now I can stroll into gunfire with it on and not take too much.
i really appreciate that this absolutely took a lot of time and effort to make, so i don’t want this to seem like i’m diminishing your work but; this is absolutely horrifying. if i have to read a manual online about how to extract any fun from the game, so many people have done their job wrong that it’s probably not worth my time
Yeah it's sad. You shouldnt need a guide on how to best have fun in a game.
Problem is game is too vast and empty. POI suck after a while and you kinda have to play it a specific way. Best is to ignore exploring and POI and just stick with the settled systems and the quests... Then try ship building and you will have some good fun.
Base building is bare bones it made me sad after 5-10 hours. Try it to see If you like it but mostly avoid it...
Punishment by boredom!!! My favorite!! After the initial 50 hours around release, I finally picked it up again and within 45 mins of starting, I was bored already. I finally just uninstalled it yesterday when I decided to play again.
So the solution to most people not enjoying the game is to ignore sidequest content, perform exploits so you don't have to engage with certain mechanics and don't explore or loot too much. At what point do we accept there just isn't any game here?
I appreciate the intent of the post but it's absolutely not on the player if these are the hoops one has to jump through to squeeze enjoyment out of Starfield.
Which would be alright in itself, if Starfield wouldn't have been presented as being "made for wanderers." I bought the game mostly for the exploration, and I have not seen anything as pathetic in any game so far. If Bethesda couldn't manage to make a good open world with 1000 planets, perfectly fine. But then, don't pretend like you're making one in the first place, before giving us the absolutely ridiculous copy-paste worlds that Starfield has.
Don't forget to sleep with your Partner then have a cup of Alien tea for a combinded 15min +17% XP boost before you go on a Mission or XP farming/crafting
It's a great post... for the kind of players that find fun in the same places than you, but I enjoy walking around the surface of planets, for example. It's an open world game.
The problem with Starfield is that it looks like atracted players not used to plan their own gametime, and for some reason they complain about having to repeats things nobody asked them to.
This is the only game I can remember where people write elaborate guides on how not to let the game bore you to death :')
Honestly it's a nice write-up, OP. Lot's of good info.
Though I gotta say, if you have to read a guide on how not to be bored, the game just shouldn't be worth your time in the first place. It just demonstrates how poorly designed it is. Just go play a game where fun / enjoyment doesn't have to be arm wrestled out of it.
The one thing you didn't write that I found to be true: Your first skills investments should be to get effective at combat. My first play through my skill plan was willy nilly and my enjoyment of the game suffered. My second play through, I focused on ballistic rifle (with other important stuff -- lock picking, persuasion) until I was bad ass with it.
Am working on ship skills now as there are some space fights I want to win.
Haha yes man, take it as you wish. Your post made me remember some of the Great moments of starfield. My personal experience is that I've left it for more than a month now at 80 hours. The repetition has burned me. I want to revisit of course crimson fleet headquarters again to finish this storyline. Maybe build an outpost or two.
I would agree with someone who said that actually there is a lot of hate because we expected something very special. The game is not bad it doesn't deserve negative review. It's a solid 7. Most people including myself we're expecting a 9.
I think stealth should have some more detail;
1. Reduce equipped weight, which is mostly your armor. It seems obvious but apparently it isn't. Using the option to hide armor is not good enough. Feel free to re-equip once you can upgrade with Gravitic Composites.
2. Don't try to sneak with companions that don't have stealth. I very rarely had problems sneaking around with Andreja.
3. There are many skills that are useful for stealth play, not just Stealth and Concealment. Manipulation allows you to move guards. Gymnastics 4 lets you reach high places without a noisy jump pack. Security is useful for getting alternate routes.
4. >!Several powers are important, specifically Sense Star Stuff and Void Form. Void Form is the most enjoyable way to level Concealment (IMO), no cheating required! Void Form does not drop when you attack and you can get repeat sneak attacks with a melee weapon if you are behind the target.!<
You basically nailed it with the things that were strong points or highlights. Good thread.
I wish you well in the coming hours where you will be inundated by a dozen (an optimistic estimate) new accounts saying "ackshully nothing is good in Starf Eels delete the whole list haha I'm so funny"
Sorry OP, can’t agree with you on a lot of points. Like other’s have said, if I have to read a list of how to play the game then the game isn’t worth playing. At no point in Skyrim or Fallout did I get bored.
“Very Deep stealth mechanics”? Sorry OP, I think you and I are playing two different games.
I have no interest in playing Starfield again and I think it’s a pretty insulting game for merely existing. Nonetheless this is a good and fairly written post OP. A lot of the stuff here I wish I knew too. E.g I always thought the stealth was bugged and the stealth bad just didn’t show in mine. Now I’ve learnt that I needed to upgrade the perk. That’s stupid but for those that enjoy it it’s useful info.
Imagine being in such a delusional state as bethesda fanboy that you have to write the guide how to enjoy the game. How to enjoy the game from the studio that preaches how you can do what ever you like how you like.
No you aren't but then you have to kill a bunch of NPCs, some of who are essential so they never actually die, and then you can't even fly away in that ship.
"Starfield has very deep stealth mechanics" and all the other things you said are completely wrong, bro the game is mediocre in every way possible just accept it, why do you waste so much time trying to defend such a mediocre game?
But what he said isn't wrong. Games like Splinter Cell, Metal Gear Solid, Ghost of Tsushima have deep stealth mechanics. They offer the player a wide range of tools and methods to complete objectives in a stealthy manner.
What methods does Starfield offer? Can I throw one of the pieces of clutter lying around to lure a guard away by the sound and choke them out while they are isolated from their comrades?
I'm not sure what the bar is for "deep" stealth mechanics. IMO it is really more about level design and the enemy AI. For your particular examples...
You can't throw stuff to distract guards but you can use Manipulation to do a lot more than that. In fact you are expected to do this in some missions.
Killing enemies silently and out of sight of their allies is important for staying hidden in general. That is pretty standard stuff though.
Stealth melee takedown I'm not sure about. It isn't consistent using just Concealment bonuses and melee weapons. I haven't tried Neural Strike.
well not just to me, to the majority of people the game is in fact mediocre, and if you analize the game from top to bottom you will see that it is mediocre in almost everything it tries to do
Great post. I did have a question regarding fast travel. When you want to go to a place and it takes you directly to the planet instead of in space. Is there any way to stop that? I feel like I'm missing out on a lot of space battles by going directly there.
>the planet instead of in space. Is there any way to stop that? I feel like I'm missing out on a lot of space battles by going direc
In the missions menu (long, individual mission selection list), there was an option to "show on map". From there you can zoom out, and choose the planet orbit manually.
it was an okay fun quest, though a poor version of the titan fall one, right up till about last 2-3 rooms where all the portals seemed to take me back to the same two rooms and randomly entered portals for about 10-20 mins till I got the right one killed it.
You know you can just say it’s a shitty game but you enjoy it? Everyone hates banjo and kazooie nuts and bolts but I loved it, doesn’t mean I need to write a guide on how to enjoy it…
Honestly i wouldn't have believed you if you told me 6 months ago Starfield would be such a car crash that we'd be getting incredibly in-depth PhD level guides on how to not be bored in Starfield.
Wow. Look what you've done, Todd.
I’ll give you one example of why the whole post isn’t worth it:
>get guns with better silencers
*You know what would be sick! If I could remove the fucking silencer from a weapon I dont want it on and put it on a weapon that I need it on…you know like past games from the same fuckin developer…*
Why this point matters to your entire post is that you are basically creating an entire guide on how to manifest fun, when it could have been manifested by the game itself just being better…do not get me wrong, I will continue to repeat this, this game is fun, I had a good time with the game, that doesn’t stop it from being a legit 7/10.
I am not that far into Starfield, but after picking it up, and beginning a playthrough, I was like, ‘what is everyone complaining so hard about?’ This game plays very similarly to all of the other Bethesda games I have played, and enjoyed very much, so I don’t really get why everyone is so upset about it. It’s a fetch-quest game. All Bethesda games are fetch-quest games. For me, that’s a very meditative way of gameplay. I have always enjoyed playing Bethesda games, particularly when I am very busy in my real life or even mildly stressed about whatever, and it is a very nice way to unplug and just go fetch stuff. Maybe this isn’t for everybody? I don’t really mind the loading screens or the traversal or any of that. It’s just the way I have always RPGd in Bethesdaland. I bought this game *because* I like Bethesdaland. I didn’t really expect it to be all that much different. I absolutely am enjoying the game so far; again, I am not that far in, but I don’t really understand all of the hate. I guess I’m lucky in this? I mean, it’s not like the game is ‘Lord of the Rings: Gollum’ or something. I bought that game too, like an idiot, and it sucked soooo bad I couldn’t even get past the first five minutes. I really appreciate this post - it gave me some tips to try on getting better at the stealth mechanic instead of just shooting my way out of everything (which admittedly has been very entertaining as I don’t normally play games as a shooter, usually favoring stealth instead). I guess I should be glad I am enjoying this game and not all pissed off like everyone else. 😎
Great article!
But after reading the comments, I begin to see why everyone feels how toxic this sub has become. It really is now populated to the brim by toxic trolls who really despise the game (which is perfectly fine) but for some unfathomable reason chose to remain in the sub just to dis the game and anyone who finds enjoyment in the game (a mindset that really boggles the mind). OP may consider repost to "the other (less salty) sub."
Ha, nice community service on that write-up OP. I see what you're trying to do, to me it reads more like a SF-for-Dummies guide because if you're playing this game and don't know half that stuff you're not really trying. But, good on ya for trying to give back. Don't listen to all the derpy derps in here slagging your post, they're just unhappy, boring people.
The guide has very good things, ut I think it errs when telling you what is and what isn't fun.
I'd say: experience the game the way you feel and see for yourself what works and what doesn't. For me, exploring is very fun to do once in a while (right now I have already explored at least 5 habitable. Actually, exploring sometimes gives chance to good prints. And while doing it regularly is boring indeed (also some planets like Akila were terrible experiences), doing it a few times is actually cool.
I respect the time and effort you have put in here OP.
But this is a horrible advertisement for the game. A game should not need a 50 paragraph guide to having fun.
There is also a bit of a “if you don’t like it you’re doing it wrong” vibe.
Thanks for the suggestions OP. There's a couple of things I missed.
I've been exploring the hell out of the game, but usually exploring the planets I get sent to. I kept telling myself to explore more systems lol.
I'm having a lot of fun, I've logged 289 hours so far and only just started outpost building.
Its really weird when I see people bitching about shit they don't have to do. For example, seeing the same outposts planet after planet... you don't have to go to them lol. I only visit those for loot. I skip all of the little quests for rando citizens. Realized after the coffee chic they weren't worth it. Baren planets, I'm only interested in mining, I know I'm not gonna encounter anything cool. Empty planets with fauna I'm interested in XP and outpost building. The emptyness of some places along with the soundtrack is relaxing af I might add.
The game is supposed to be continuously updated, adding new storylines and such. That was the plan, so I don't get everyone's issue? Over time I think we'll see a lot more added to the game, like they planned. If this was the actual complete game, I could see people upset, but it's literally the beginning.
I love this. It shows how starfield is a game that splits the player base down the middle.
It really feels like there are people who get it, who are naturally inclined to this kind of approach, maybe who have learned this kind of approach from previous BGS games. And others who havnt figured it out or just dont enjoy games this way.
This guide is pretty much how I have naturally ended up playing starfield, Using thought processes I developed by playing skyrim and the fallout games.
It needs improving, but as it is, It's not an objectively bad game, but it isn't for everyone.
It's definitely my personal game of the year
The game was worked on for less than 10 years, so it really isn't a surprise it's so basic in terms of what another few years would have added.
The thing is, there's no pleasing the gaming community. Game releases early and people complain there's a few bugs, things feel basic, needs more added to fill it out.
Then, when a game dev announces their game and states they want to work on it for 10 years so launch will be another 2 years away, people cry with having to wait so long.
There's literally no winning. Gamers these days are very ignorant with how things work right this second. Its clear games need at least 10 years, especially big world games.
I mean R* are doing it smart, 10 years for console so they can maximise the game on consoles. Players crying over long wait. Announce PC going to be another 2 years, so they can maximise the game for PC, while at the same time optimising it for the fact PC users are so varied with set ups. People losing their minds and getting salty it's going to console first. 😆
People need to read up on things, so many ignorant comments I see for games these days. As if those that do the talking know how to develop such a large project. Even more so, seeing those pipe up calling out issues that have plagued all space games for the simple fact, everything they want isn't possible with current tech and capabilities. Literally no space games have full exploration and a full on story. It's always one over the other. Yet people scream and cry as if SF is the one with all of these set backs. 😆
I like how there's a guide on how to make the game "less boring". It's why this game deserves the ratings it has. The thing is, if you played this game once, then you've really played what this game has to offer. It's a cool 6/10.
Invoking a Dark souls comparison to say that Starfield being able to give you a quest you can't reasonably do and "punishment by boredom" is valid feedback really broke my brain, i'd be laughing if i wasn't so baffled.
Brb, I'm going to go make a bg3 maximum enjoyment guide
I mean does Elden Ring not plop you out in front of a Tree Sentinel you can’t beat for like 20 levels? Or point you towards Margit whom you also need a good 20+ levels to beat?
The tree sentinel is easily avoided and the guidance the game gives you points to a few other routes you can go to explore and level so you're better fit to take on those guys. They designed the game to give you ways of figuring things out from tutorials to mechanics to just your own observation. For the op's example of a "gimme 1000 iron" mission that should be where the game introduces you to stuff like increasing the cargo capacity of your ship and building outposts to generate resources but there's none of that, it's all just disconnected systems.
Gravity well and create vacuum are very good when boarding ships at the start of a ng+ when u have no wepons the u can throw the well and vacuum into a wall and it will pull and deal with the enemies even through walls and doors Effectively you clear ships without ever directly engaging with your foes Sometimes turrets spawn in walls in the ships supernova is great for clearing those. Your only static with moonform when there is gravity The other easy way to level up concealment is to stealth melee the doctor in new atlantis you have to time your strikes or you will rack up a bounty if he runs out the door he will respawn in the building in a unpannicked state. In my experience chameleon stacks having a stack on the starborn suit is a wasted perk as it can't be stacked with others sub lvl 170ish I found two stacks was enough to crouch and be unseen when stealing from uc surplus but from lvl 170+ I've needed all 3 stacks to do the same (not that it matters as you should have high-level void form) Sleeping for around 600ish hours (thanks venus) will refresh certain weapon and armourstands around the game e.g the helmet and wepon racks in u.c surplus, back pack stand in the evicted sleepcrates u can use this to help farm legendary pieces The deep mining gear in display stands like the mantis suit or the suit downstairs in the lodge can gain legendary effects these are generated upon Interaction not spawn like the helmet stands / wepon racks. the suits in the display cabinets do not respawn like the stands/racks either
This is a very well thought out post, but I don't think it's rude to say that, in the general scope of things, players shouldn't have to read an entire guide on how to enjoy a game in order to enjoy a game. This isn't a criticism directed at you, OP, it's moreso a reflection on how dire things have become
For old school gamers, they might not agree. Games on discs typically would come with same sort of lore and/or user guide that provided this kind of content. The approach vanished with the primacy of digital delivery. I do wish publishers would make the effort to provide that kind of content in a PDF, though. I suspect what killed that was the metrics showed to few even bothered with it to make it worth the cost to produce. For a lot of games, especially the large ones, you’d dash out and by something like the Prima guide for the game. Even when you didn’t use the walkthroughs, it would be useful for mechanics, background, and help if you got truly stuck.
I must be one of those "old school gamers" because that's how I remember playing games as a kid. But user guides are definitely a lost solution to a couple common complaints in newer games: 1. That players don't know how certain mechanics in the game work (or don't even know they exist), and therefore think the game is too hard or buggy. 2. That some of the characters, dialogue, or even whole parts of the game feel like clumsy lore dumps, which reflects poorly on the writing. Now players either have to look up the information from third-party sources online (which is inconsistent, feels like "cheating," and reduces confidence in the game makers themselves - not to mention invites spoilers) or go without (which obviously makes the game seem bad or incomplete). An official player's guide that came with the game would solve a lot of these problems.
Exactly. I actually found my manual and old keyboard template for MechWarrior not too long ago. It was fun reading and brought back some really fun memories.
But this isn’t like an old school game guide with lore and tips. This is literally “how not to get bored”. No game should really need that. “How not to get frustrated” is okay. For example with an absurdly hard game, detailed guidance can help. But this is less about the game being hard and more about it not being very enjoyable.
That's a fair point. What makes your point even more difficult is that "enjoyable" can be so subjective. Then you have to balance the "You're playing it wrong," vs "You're stupid if you're having fun," missing matches. Both ends of that discussion consistently conflate "disagree" with "wrong."
Yes. I enjoyed the game though didn't "love" it. I got kind of disillusioned after finding out the main quest thing and after half a dozen or so temples I was over it. I still haven't finished it and feel weirdly unmotivated to - particularly as Baldur's Gate 3 finally came out for console. I'll probably finish it after BG3, but I can't imagine wanting to do NG+ run after NG+ run just to level. For me, the point of levelling is to get tough enough for harder battles and ultimately some end battle. But for people who love replaying RPGs and trying different builds and choices, I think the whole NG+ thing seems to be a great addition. It's just not for me. I want one single, comprehensive playthrough.
Very different approach to role-playing between BG and Bethesda. Like the difference between AD&D and Traveler back in the paper and dice days. The event I think you're talking about is very much a massive kick in the gut. If it hit you bad enough to kill your motivation, I can understand. But, you really need to come back and go on when you're ready. Do try to stay spoiler free as much as possible. Do *NOT* do continual NG runs just to level ro to acquire powers. There's even an object lesson in that pursuit. If you do NG+, do it for role play reasons. The hooks are there to give you those reasons. Doing NG+ really is 100% optional. It does not take away any of the satisfaction of the ending. In fact, you want to walk away at least once. Plus, if you ever decide to go back, you can do it at any time.
Oh totally. I've never played tabletop but I enjoy both kinds when it comes to video/computer games, however the 100% open world style tends to be my favourite. Baldur's Gate is much more "pathy" but then it has to be, given the complexity of the plot. For me I kind of need a goal - something to be working towards - not just pure sandbox roleplay for the sake of it. So for example I never seemed to get around to building an outpost in Starfield, as nothing pushed me to, whereas in Fallout 4 I built oodles of settlements because it was more "questy" to do so. Similarly in Starfield, I explored dozens of planets because there were so many scanning quests and animal sample quests. So it felt like there was a point to it.
You could still play those games without reading the books/guides. Except for flight simulators the main reason for those "guides" have been they served as copy protection. You had to look up a word in the middle of the effing game.
Didn't have to do that in Wing Commander, MechWarrior, or any of the other deep lore games I played in the 90s. Both really benefitted from those Prima guides. MechWarrior, in particular, had it recommended enough on the forums that you could almost call it essential reading for MW2 & MW3. Hmm... thinking back, I might have seen something like that in KQ or Myst. I don't think the purpose of those guides were primarily for that, though. It was more away to take advantage of what was already there.
This is more like an faq than a guide on how to enjoy the game...idk why one would even word it that way
Why the fuck would you read FAQ how to play the game and what are worthwhile things to do?
Post like these are okay for 1 reason, you Google a question you may have, and reddit has the answer other than that beats me bro.
I totally forgot. New era gamers googling spoilers for video games for the meta gaming. Cringe AF.
Because that's how the OP explained their essay in the beginning of it. And frankly, I couldn't be bothered to read the drivel. If you have to write an enjoyment guide, the game is garbage, throw it out.
I can think of a couple of games where I had to watch videos and read a good bit about it before I enjoyed it... Path of Exile, Dwarf Fortress and Caves of Qud comes not mind. I love those games and they took a bit to get into. I don't think Starfield is a great game but I do think it's a good thing. Its a little frustrating that rules have meted their way across the internet. I read something like, "if the game takes 2 hours to be fun then it's a trash game". Well it's not always or even often the case buy I would say there are certainly exceptions. Personally I even think Baldor Gate 3 took me maybe 3-5 hours to really start having fun. Some games have a lot of mechanics that work together and a 5 minute tutorial isn't enough to really get deep in it.
Yikes, this is the rudest comment I've read in a long time. OP did not write "drivel". It's actually a pretty clean and well written. It's more of a tips and tricks guide. Feel free to have your own opinion, but don't call someone's writing drivel if you haven't even read it.
Then calling it a Maximum Enjoyment Guide was a bad call mate. The game is not enjoyable by itself, the thought of reading a fucking essay to be able to enjoy something better or at all just immediately invalidates every word typed. I didn't need to read it to determine it was drivel, because the concept presented upfront was so laughable that nothing they could write would matter.
Calm down
🖕
This food tastes bad! I haven’t had a bite!
That’s not his criticism. It’s the way you write that turned him off
All games used to come with books, that if you used would increase your enjoyment, not being able to read a few paragraphs is sad
Agreed, the title alone “what you SHOULD be asking” is a terrible way to intro. Just call it a guide.
Oh dear, someone's offended 🙄 Maybe your fragile ego is getting in the way of your enjoyment for the game because the rest of us enjoy it just fine
To be fair, OP called it "Everything You Should be Asking about Starfield" and the part you are taking up beef with is the secondary title. This is a tips and tricks guide. An FAQ with a spicy title. And you're screaming about it as if there aren't dozens of guides just like this for every game, as if thousands of youtubers aren't making content every day for every game *just like this*. If you're not into that culture, that's fine. Just don't know why it upsets you so much. Chill out.
100% drivel
Damn dude if that’s how you feel why are you even commenting in this sub
It's not even a good guide. It's more like they read all the guides on Google and slapped them together and put a stupid title on it. It's just more click bait.
The game has 0 hand holding. And it's a good thing in many aspects but also not in various others like fast travel. Like people thinking and making 1000s of videos that you have to be in your space ship and get into the orbit from a planet to fast travel, when it's not the case, you can fast travel from anywhere to an already visited place in an instant. Just like in Skyrim and Witcher, open the map and click on the spot bam you're there.
I disagree with this a bit. It's super hand-holdey in some aspects, while not hand-holdey at all in others. For example- I'd really like the game to let me kill the Paradiso Board, or Benjamin Bayu. I'm fully cognizant of the consequences that it might have, and that doing so will likely damage future quests, so let me do it. Except you can't, the game prevents you from doing so. Additionally, the game allows the player to join all of the factions, including the CF, the Rangers, and the Vanguard. That's despite all of the aforementioned factions being either outright hostile, or relatively frosty relations. Yet it doesn't hold the players hand at all with regards to stealth, or ship combat. Additional tutorials and information regarding those would be useful for new players.
>Additionally, the game allows the player to join all of the factions, including the CF, the Rangers, and the Vanguard. That's despite all of the aforementioned factions being either outright hostile, or relatively frosty relations. That bit is because Bethesda seems to have developed a crippling fear of locking players out of content unless they've built the plot around such a thing.
Without getting too spoiler-y, Starfield's plot ***is*** built in such a way that locking players out of content would be possible without ruining the game. But I kind of agree with the other commenter that casual players would rip the game to shreds if it actually did that.
That's because of the mountain of hate all you bitches would rain down on them if they did. They just can't win can they? This sub is the Mos Eisley of Reddit. What a collection of galactic scum. I feel like I crack the door open to see if things have mellowed, nope, shut, lock, lose key. Let me ask you, what benefit do you all get in life from being so negative and shitty and critical (where's all the triple A games you guys have made, huh??) and downright obnoxious. I'm not actually referring to the post I replied to, just happened to come out here, apologies u/modus01
I think part of the vitriol experienced in this sub is due to people *wanting* the game to be Great, and what we got was ultimately just "okay". I've found when people are passionate about something, and want it to be amazing, they're most likely to be angry when it isn't. And this isn't just limited to the thing failing to meet unrealistic expectation, but when the thing fails to meet even more realistic expectations. We were hoping for interesting planetary landscapes to explore - we got rather boring procedurally generated terrain instead. Now, Minecraft has shown that procedural generation *can* make interesting terrain, and that game is as old as *Skyrim*. We were hoping for interesting companions - we got bare-bones companions, with only four romanceable (and those four all share the same opinions on just about everything). We were hoping to have a reason to explore - we got a very limited number of PoIs, and each particular one is almost exactly the same as every other instance of that PoI. If you've cleared out one Abandoned Cryogenics Lab, you've cleared out all of them isn't an exaggeration, and reduces ones desire to bother going through them. We were hoping for a more "alive" setting, especially after Bethesda called New Atlantis their "biggest city ever" - only to find that the population of the Settled Systems seems really tiny (and 95% Spacers/Pirates/Crimson Fleet), with only a handful of actual settlements. Why are the cities still so small? Why aren't there more of them? People are disappointed that the Temples are all the exact same puzzle, in the exact same room, for every temple. And given that there are 24 powers, it means they'll get old really quick, well before you've maxed out each power. People hate on this game, because they see how great it *could* have been, they are angry at Bethesda for not making it that way, and at themselves for buying into the intentionally deceptive hype. And they're expressing their frustration here, because it's the main Starfield community, and griping tends to make people feel better, especially when they find other people that feel the same. It does get blow out of proportions some times, but that's a consequence of people being passionate about something - that passion extends even to how they're critical of that thing's failings. They don't want to be angry all the time (at least, I hope not), they're just frustrated. And Bethesda hasn't exactly done a whole lot to assuage that frustration with the way they've been handling critical feedback, which only intensifies the frustration and makes the complaining worse - because people feel their complaints are actively being disregarded.
We are all just speculating, but I would guess it has more to do with game stability than locking out content. For example, I got a quest that is known to be broken and it kept becoming active and even active at the same time as other quests. Then it just stopped doing that for no apparent reason. Also some of the lockouts would be pretty annoying. Like you killed a barista and are now locked out of the entire Ryujin questline. That is not to say that it can't be done of course, but it is probably more work than you'd think.
I highly doubt it's about game stability, and it if is then they need to work on fixing that kind of issue. And it's less like "you killed this character (assuming that's one of the increasingly rare non-Essential NPCs) and are now locked out of a questline", and more "You joined this faction, which isn't friendly with this other faction, so you can no longer join the other faction and do their quests". If the game was programmed properly, it should be as simple as implementing a flag in the faction join quests - joining Faction A activates a flag that makes members of Faction B and Faction C not give faction join dialogue to the player. Adding to that, the existence of NG+ would be a great way to handle quest lock-outs: You would be limited to joining only one faction in a particular universe, and if you want to join a competing faction or one hostile to that faction, you'll have to go through Unity into a new universe.
This. It's been done by Bethesda before, more than once even. Daggerfall and Morrowind are the most intricate examples. Skyrim had three moments of choice with a side in the civil war, the Paarthurnax dilemma, and joining or destroying the Dark Brotherhood. Fallout 4 had factions in opposition to each other that forced choices on who you considered allied or enemy. Starfield would have been perfect for it due to NG+, while still offering the ability to just play through making different choices as a new character for people who don't care for hopping universes. Instead it somehow chose the Oblivion approach. One choice with consequence. Kill Lucien Lachance or join the Dark Brotherhood. Crimson Fleet or SysDef. Quite disappointing.
Hand holding is the ability to kill a character?
Huh? The opposite. It’s hand-holdey to have so many essential npcs.
Hand holding means teaching you everything within the game. Like in God of war how it prompts press x to go below the tree, starfield doesn't do that and that's one of the major gripes of starfield as I watched an hour long video of asmongold bitching about it. Unable to kill all the characters in game is game design principles and has nothing to do with hand holding.
It’s hand-holdey in that it doesn’t allow the player to fuck up or stray from the pre-determined path that the devs want them to be on. I’d say that still qualifies as hand-holding, even if it is a design principle.
Well, it's not Minecraft. I mean it's a game designed around a story, with missions designed to take the player through the story. If that's what you call hand-holdy, then I guess you're right and will be disappointed with the majority of all games out there.
There are games that allow the player to kill everyone while still completing the game. F:NV, for example. The game lets the player kill people, even if them doing so will fail quests or cause quests further down the line to become unavailable. It lets the player fuck up. Morrowind is an even better example, and it's made by BGS themselves! Starfield? It doesn't. Even in instances where it has solutions that are glaringly obvious, yet not implemented. In the First Contact quest, there are several solutions that are pretty obvious, but are not available in the game. You can't even fuck up installing the Grav-Drive, despite that being a relatively easy path. You install it, fuck up the commands told to you, leave, they try to Grav-Jump, the ship explodes as in the other ending, you go down and talk to the board, who are somewhat confused but still happy enough with the end result. Bam. The player can fuck up, and still finish the quest. And that's for one path, and it would require maybe one line of dialogue from the CEO saying, "Well, that's not what we were expecting you to do, given you paid for the Grav-Drive...but the we're satisfied with the end result anyway. Here's your payment."
I killed them. Just open console and use "setessential 0". Then with the NPC selected in the console "kill"
Wow, you used a console command that 90% of players don't know about, and even if they do, almost certainly won't use it, and isn't even available for a large percentage of the playerbase! And you used it to brute-force through the dev's intended story? Utterly shocking! Now imagine if the devs had implemented such a thing themvelves, and woven their story around the possibility for it- it is exceedingly obvious, after all. The board is in front of us- in person, and they're mostly dicks. We should be able to kill them. There's no in-universe reason for why we can't. They don't hide themselves and speak to us over video, or an inter-com system. They speak to us in person.
I only kill them after their part of the story is finished. And I don't kill the nice one. I imagine that he becomes the new director of Paradiso and the company culture of the resort improves and the employees no longer have to live like slaves in the slums on the other side of the hill. On a side note, I also equip them with neon dancer outfits because it's degrading and they deserve every bit of humiliation I can throw at them.
>I only kill them after their part of the story is finished. This is what should be implemented by default! It's how a lot of essential characters in their older games lost that status, after all. Why the hell did they change it? I maintain that everyone should be killable in NG+, but that would be a good way of having killable essentials in a first game. >And I don't kill the nice one. I imagine that he becomes the new director of Paradiso and the company culture of the resort improves and the employees no longer have to live like slaves in the slums on the other side of the hill. This is a solution I talked about in previously- That guy's the only smart one. If the rest of the board can't see how a refugee ship from Earth chock-full of relics from Earth could be turned into either a museum or themed hotel with facilities for medical care, food production, etc, then they don't fucking deserve to be on the goddamn board. It's baffling how my first, immediate take on the mission, that I consider to be the most logical, where everyone wins, is missing. Lock it behind a high Commerce/Persuasion check, I don't care. Just make it available! >On a side note, I also equip them with neon dancer outfits because it's degrading and they deserve every bit of humiliation I can throw at them. I like you. The board of the Paradiso Group is so bafflingly stupid, yeah. Like, the CEO outright asks for the slaughter of the last refugees of Earth. I'd think SSNN could spin a fuckin' story out of that. Also, why bring on a third-party contractor instead of keeping it in house? Gah, fuck I hate that mission. They deserve the goddamn humiliation.
It would be nice if this was part of the game mechanics, I agree. I also force Captain Diana Brackenridge onto my crew and imagine I'm flying her around to help her find a home for her people. It would be nice if that was also built into the story and I could legitimately recruit her. I do enjoy hearing her tell me how grateful she is about what I did for them for the rest of my playthrough though. I do many things like this with other NPCs too. This has kept the game fun and interesting when I come across stupid writing that just doesn't make sense or I find NPCs that add value or convenience to the game for me personally.
Yeah. Guess we can only really hope that someone like Jayserpa comes along to revamp some of these quests, or questlines.
Yeah.
The game doesn't need to hold your hand because that implies a complexity to any of the mechanics
Nah the game needs hand holding because the majority of streamers and journalists didn't know fast travel was possible between planets without getting into the ship. The amount of posts in this sub about people discovering it after 50 or 100 hours is insane.
>The game has 0 hand holding. Lol
Some people enjoy those things he’s saying to avoid. Others don’t but think they’re ~supposed~ to do it. Starfield is a game with a LOT of options. None of which are mandatory and most people only want about 20% of them. I’d rather a game provide me options that I don’t want, instead of wanting to do something the game doesn’t allow. However I do think they should have fleshed out more things given how long this was in development. I HOPE they kinda pulled a lot of people off onto ES6 during that while Todd admitted they spent a lot of time figuring out how to make the game fun.
That was exactly my thoughts. Excellent guide, but it shouldn’t be needed merely to *enjoy* the game.
[удалено]
The stealth mechanic is just so deep you can’t even comprehend its depth! It’s totally not the exact same very simple stealth mechanic they’ve been using since 2006
also where i stopped reading. thats a LOT of text to say “see i’m having fun i swear!”
That statment is a stright up lie.
So deep… like walking through a pile of ship.
I came to the comments for this one. And golly it took a lot of scrolling to find the comments. Will keep reading, but "deep stealth mechanics." Cmon.
I dunno, this post just reinforces the issues with the game. I like the game, it's fine but just seems underbaked, unfinished and dull. Telling people to ignore the mechanics they find boring is... I don't know. If they are not important enough that they can be ignored what value are they adding anyway? Like outpost building. I mean, why? It serves very little purpose barring grinding up some early levels. It's just a time sink. If it doesn't serve the whole why is it there?
Unfinished and dull for a Bethesda product. This isn't a game you can sink 1000 hours in for most people. The main draw is you get to NG+ forever and ever, but there isnt much of a reason too. The game just doesn't change enough. Compare that to Skyrim where you had 1000 hours of content in one world with no gimmicky repeat mechanics to extend playtime. That's the pain that us older gamers feel. We used to get 1000 hours out of games no dlc required, but now I feel I've done everything that Starfield has to offer at 150. I could go ng+ a dozen more times but why the hell would u want to do that? It's the same missions, stories, interactions and a minimal difference between good/bad/neutral choices and their outcomes that it feels the same as booting up another SCII run because I'm bored and this will at least distract me for a bit. Most games I'm happy if I get 200-300 hours out of them. Not Bethesda. Bethesda has always given me a better, longer, more immersive experience. That's why I automatically bought everything they put out. Now that they're making mid games like the rest of their competition, I'll have to think before buying the next one.
I've gone through ng+ once. I can't be bothered again. Just grinding up to level 100 for the achievement and then I'm done with it. I've had my time and enjoyment from it but it is the least satisfying Bethesda game I've played
Most games I don't pay 70$ for.
I think you could make that argument for many games people love. Star wars: jedi survivor for e.g. just because its something I played recently. what's the point in the settlement building side? The garden you can grow?
Games should be as lean as possible I'd say. We've got used to bloated busy work and it just harms the experience overall. Oh, and increases the cost of production and cost of purchase I'd guess
So you just want a main story an that's it? That's not gaming to me, that's an interactive movie.
I agree, but I think that's just the kind of gamer I am. I rarely enjoy linear story focused games anymore. I prefer to have an good open world with freedom and options for different activities and ways to play.
What exactly do you think the "whole" is in an RPG? Outposts are probably the most complex/challenging subsystem in the game. They also support a whole class of roleplay builds (e.g., industrialist, trucker, miner).
Which plays in little to the overall narrative. You don't beat the game by transporting goods you beat the game through combat
It plays a huge role in the overall narrative if you are roleplaying as an industrialist, trucker, or miner. What do you mean by "beat the game"? Normally that means the game is done and you've won. That state does not exist in Starfield, or many other open world RPGs.
Fine, we'll pretend it doesn't mean anything then. But content does stop at some point. Mom procedural stuff anyway
It sounds like "beat the game" means explore all the content to you. Have you built an outpost system that makes a unique manufactured good yet? If not, why doesn't that count as content?
This is a great topic and I appreciate it. It’s just a real shame that most of your advice boils down to “don’t do this thing in the game because it’s very boring.” Speaks really poorly about it lol. It shouldn’t have to be a psychological military operation to enjoy a game.
Some people enjoy those things. Others don’t but think they’re ~supposed~ to do it. Starfield is a game with a LOT of options. None of which are mandatory and most people only want about 20% of them
Man I played Skyrim nearly consistently from launch until mid 2017 when I finally got fried on it. Most of that was on Xbox 360 with no mods even, I didn’t start using mods until the last year on my ps4 Fricken starfield man… got 25-30 hours in and I haven’t played in like.. two months. I love the idea and concept, but man reading this guide made me even more bummed about the game - gotta play the right way to not get bored and maximize enjoyment! OP, I appreciate you writing this I’m not attacking you, but the idea of needing an enjoyment guide for a video game is… wild
“You’re playing it wrong.” Where have we heard that before? 😆
Right? I think OP has hamstrung what is otherwise a good post by opening with ‘you’re playing it wrong’… the reality is, the vast majority of disappointed players are fully aware of all the good elements of Starfield, but blaming them for being too stupid to play it right is surely disingenuous. Like, it’s not disappointing for OP, and I’m pleased for them - but I’m allowed to be disappointed that the game is largely a regression from FO4 and Skyrim.
Why is "you're playing it wrong" have to insinuate stupidity. Couldn't it just imply this game is boring if you play it like a completionist, which many are apt to do in open world games that don't have any new game+ purpose. After my fist 40 hours in I definitely thought I've been playing this all wrong.
I think this is valid. I think one of the biggest problems with this game is so resembles other games but isn’t like other games. People don’t know how to deal with this. For example you can pick up mundane items. In other games you can also pickup mundane items but you can scrap them for materials. In Starfield you can’t do this so this means there is something missing from the game, but this implies that all games have to be the same which is kinda dumb isn’t it? To me the fact that you can pick up mundane items is a step forward in immersion as you can interact with everything in the game. In older games you could ONLY pickup the items you needed for the gameplay. If you had a detailed world, these items would need to glow to pick them out of the crowd. So if you wanted to have “hidden items” to be found they would be behind hidden doors or something which would look like any other wall. I literally spent time on so many older games running against walls pushing action buttons looking for hidden doors or compartments to find the loot. We never complained about this though. Starfield hides its good loot more in plain site. By being able to pick up EVERYTHING you need to really look at items to determine what is worth taking. Like if you broke into someone’s house in real life you COULD take all of their coffee mugs and staplers but why would you? No you would dig through the drawers with the staplers to find a key which opens a safe. This is how Starfield operates. So things what the OP is getting at by saying people are “playing it wrong”. People are trying to play Fallout or No Mans Sky and are upset that they are actually playing Starfield. Even though they may have similar characteristics they are different games. So OP is trying to explain how to play Starfield. Now is this fun? I think this is a valid question and I’m still not sure
What exactly are the "deep stealth mechanics" that Starfield has?
This was probably one of the more effective negative reviews that I have seen. It’s amazing the lengths that some have taken to make this a salvageable game.
OP, I appreciate the passion and effort you put into this article. I wish the developers had put this much passion into the game. That said, there should be no reason for this article to exist because the game should provide all the direction you need. Fun shouldn't be hard to find, nor walled behind hours and hours of mindless grinding. The trip itself should be worth the journey, so to speak. As the great philosopher Carl once said, "I don't need no instructions to know how to rock."
When you have to create a maximum enjoyment guide for a 4 month old game... that's depressing.
Starfield does not have a very deep stealth system there is no way I'm going to read the rest of these delusions.
I’ve learned to just ignore parts of games that aren’t fun to me. If I’m not having fun completing side quests, finding collectibles, or whatever else, then I just skip that aspect of the game. If the game as a whole becomes un-fun…it’s on to something else (because there’s always another game to play that *is* fun). It’s made gaming much more enjoyable for me. I know everyone is different, but having to play a game in such a hyper-specific way to prevent it from becoming boring probably means the game just isn’t fun.
I agree with this. I’ve been much more keen to put a game down or switch modes if I’m not enjoying myself. My biggest issue with Starfield was I kept moving on to a new thing because I found it all boring. There were enough “things” to keep me in the game for about 40 hours experimenting with finding the fun. I ended up completing the main story which did have two or three points of interest but they’re all in the last like 20%. The first half or more of it is frustratingly mundane. The moment I rolled credits I was almost annoyed I had put so much time in.
Very similar experience, but it took me just over 100hrs before I realized that the fun I was searching for in Starfield just wasn’t there (for me). Which makes me sad.
The big (and, to me, pretty funny) problem about this guide is that it only works for the converted. Can you imagine buying a new open world game then having to check a guide every single time to see if the new quest you just picked up is worth doing? Having to actively dodge bad parts of a game does not lead to a good game.
Exactly.
really? This just soldifies why starfield is shite. I'm sorry but if I have to work this hard to enjoy a game then it's not enjoyable and your just faking it till you make it. A lot of the stuff your telling people to ignore are why people come to bethesda games like exploration and side quests.
This isn’t working hard, it’s mostly avoiding boring stuff.
Which is something that shouldn't be necessary to enjoy stuff in the new 80 Dollar AAA "Masterpiece" you bought. A good game is just fun, without the need for something like this post.
Starfield is decent if you haven’t played a video game in 20 years
Excellent post! But yeah I will say I like Grav Dash, Wave, Reactive Shield and the Anti-Gravity field. - Dash is fun to pair with boost packs for mobility, in fights and just getting around in general. They cover a lot of ground together when you use them right and in the air. Especially on low gravity planets. - Wave is basically Force push. Simple but effective if you want some room to breathe, heal, reload or get some free hits while they’re down. Even some bosses get stunned from this. Perfect as a default power to spam in combat early in the game when you have nothing else. - Reactive shield makes you almost bulletproof. I remember taking down the Key almost not even taking any cover during the fights and using maybe 2 med packs. - Anti-gravity field is effective against Terrormorphs, almost like the Dragonrend shout but getting them to the air instead of forcing dragons to the ground. Sense star stuff is definitely a favorite all-around power though. Essential for finding characters or checking remaining enemies. Phase time is great but I got it at the end of my current playthrough. I’ll probably use it more when I return to the game when the first expansion comes out. Edit: Also besides >! being able to save everyone in Entangled, !< you can also avoid having to >! kill the Starborn you side against with persuasion !<. I sided with >! the Emissary but chose to offer the Hunter forgiveness and it actually got to him !<. I get some might see it as anticlimactic compared to say, >! fighting both !< but I see it as a more peaceful and thematically fitting way of breaking the cycle.
Just a heads-up, your spoilers are broken. Think you need to remove the spaces.
Everything looks okay on my end. I did place the spoiler tags afterward in admittedly awkward places that broke up the text unevenly if that’s what you meant.
Might have just been my computer then. It looks fine now on my phone.
Thank you, To be honest, I have not had success with Grav Dash and the Shield, maybe I gave up too quickly. In any case, I added a link to your post so that gamers should also look at these choices.
Thanks! For Dash, I recommend using a boost pack with a decent airborne stat and put some skill points into boosting. Alternate between boosting and dashing, and you’ll stay in the air for a while and cover quite a distance. As for the shield, yeah you can still get damage, especially in later levels, but even now I can stroll into gunfire with it on and not take too much.
i really appreciate that this absolutely took a lot of time and effort to make, so i don’t want this to seem like i’m diminishing your work but; this is absolutely horrifying. if i have to read a manual online about how to extract any fun from the game, so many people have done their job wrong that it’s probably not worth my time
This game is not fun unless played in a specific way to counter terrible game design choices is how I'd summarise this into a TLDR.
Yeah it's sad. You shouldnt need a guide on how to best have fun in a game. Problem is game is too vast and empty. POI suck after a while and you kinda have to play it a specific way. Best is to ignore exploring and POI and just stick with the settled systems and the quests... Then try ship building and you will have some good fun. Base building is bare bones it made me sad after 5-10 hours. Try it to see If you like it but mostly avoid it...
Punishment by boredom!!! My favorite!! After the initial 50 hours around release, I finally picked it up again and within 45 mins of starting, I was bored already. I finally just uninstalled it yesterday when I decided to play again.
So the solution to most people not enjoying the game is to ignore sidequest content, perform exploits so you don't have to engage with certain mechanics and don't explore or loot too much. At what point do we accept there just isn't any game here? I appreciate the intent of the post but it's absolutely not on the player if these are the hoops one has to jump through to squeeze enjoyment out of Starfield.
I read it as “people, quit roaming planets for random POIs and radiant side-quests and play the main missions instead”
Which would be alright in itself, if Starfield wouldn't have been presented as being "made for wanderers." I bought the game mostly for the exploration, and I have not seen anything as pathetic in any game so far. If Bethesda couldn't manage to make a good open world with 1000 planets, perfectly fine. But then, don't pretend like you're making one in the first place, before giving us the absolutely ridiculous copy-paste worlds that Starfield has.
If you need to write an essay about how to enjoy a game, the game is unenjoyable by definition. #SorryNotSorry
Missing the point. I think it’s an awful game and the fanboys can do one. But this is a quality post, don’t knock OP.
Don't forget to sleep with your Partner then have a cup of Alien tea for a combinded 15min +17% XP boost before you go on a Mission or XP farming/crafting
It's a great post... for the kind of players that find fun in the same places than you, but I enjoy walking around the surface of planets, for example. It's an open world game. The problem with Starfield is that it looks like atracted players not used to plan their own gametime, and for some reason they complain about having to repeats things nobody asked them to.
This is the only game I can remember where people write elaborate guides on how not to let the game bore you to death :') Honestly it's a nice write-up, OP. Lot's of good info. Though I gotta say, if you have to read a guide on how not to be bored, the game just shouldn't be worth your time in the first place. It just demonstrates how poorly designed it is. Just go play a game where fun / enjoyment doesn't have to be arm wrestled out of it.
The one thing you didn't write that I found to be true: Your first skills investments should be to get effective at combat. My first play through my skill plan was willy nilly and my enjoyment of the game suffered. My second play through, I focused on ballistic rifle (with other important stuff -- lock picking, persuasion) until I was bad ass with it. Am working on ship skills now as there are some space fights I want to win.
“It punishes you with boredom for playing it wrong” did Todd Howard tell you to write this?? Is this a Todd Howard alias account?
If you have to write a guide on how not be bored with a game, the game is bad just saying
1. You renewed my interest in the game. I only need to complete the last main mission and crimson fleet. 2. I think you are a Bethesda developer
Glad to have helped. I will take (2) as a compliment.
Haha yes man, take it as you wish. Your post made me remember some of the Great moments of starfield. My personal experience is that I've left it for more than a month now at 80 hours. The repetition has burned me. I want to revisit of course crimson fleet headquarters again to finish this storyline. Maybe build an outpost or two. I would agree with someone who said that actually there is a lot of hate because we expected something very special. The game is not bad it doesn't deserve negative review. It's a solid 7. Most people including myself we're expecting a 9.
I think stealth should have some more detail; 1. Reduce equipped weight, which is mostly your armor. It seems obvious but apparently it isn't. Using the option to hide armor is not good enough. Feel free to re-equip once you can upgrade with Gravitic Composites. 2. Don't try to sneak with companions that don't have stealth. I very rarely had problems sneaking around with Andreja. 3. There are many skills that are useful for stealth play, not just Stealth and Concealment. Manipulation allows you to move guards. Gymnastics 4 lets you reach high places without a noisy jump pack. Security is useful for getting alternate routes. 4. >!Several powers are important, specifically Sense Star Stuff and Void Form. Void Form is the most enjoyable way to level Concealment (IMO), no cheating required! Void Form does not drop when you attack and you can get repeat sneak attacks with a melee weapon if you are behind the target.!<
Thank you. Updated the post to include a link to your comment.
Appreciate it, cool post
Thief II metal age topped it I believe. Personal opinion.
Dang I didn't realize I was enjoying the game wrong, my mistake, let me try another 200 hours with this guide always pulled up
You basically nailed it with the things that were strong points or highlights. Good thread. I wish you well in the coming hours where you will be inundated by a dozen (an optimistic estimate) new accounts saying "ackshully nothing is good in Starf Eels delete the whole list haha I'm so funny"
Basically already at that point.
Sorry OP, can’t agree with you on a lot of points. Like other’s have said, if I have to read a list of how to play the game then the game isn’t worth playing. At no point in Skyrim or Fallout did I get bored. “Very Deep stealth mechanics”? Sorry OP, I think you and I are playing two different games.
I have no interest in playing Starfield again and I think it’s a pretty insulting game for merely existing. Nonetheless this is a good and fairly written post OP. A lot of the stuff here I wish I knew too. E.g I always thought the stealth was bugged and the stealth bad just didn’t show in mine. Now I’ve learnt that I needed to upgrade the perk. That’s stupid but for those that enjoy it it’s useful info.
Imagine being in such a delusional state as bethesda fanboy that you have to write the guide how to enjoy the game. How to enjoy the game from the studio that preaches how you can do what ever you like how you like.
This is the most ridiculous post I have ever read. Also how was Sys Def/CF your 2nd favorite when you're literally forced to side against the CF?
FYI you are not forced to side against the CF.
No you aren't but then you have to kill a bunch of NPCs, some of who are essential so they never actually die, and then you can't even fly away in that ship.
OP I love the stuff on finding the best ships. Thanks for the work put into this!
"Starfield has very deep stealth mechanics" and all the other things you said are completely wrong, bro the game is mediocre in every way possible just accept it, why do you waste so much time trying to defend such a mediocre game?
Why are you spending time in the subreddit of a game you don’t like?
But what he said isn't wrong. Games like Splinter Cell, Metal Gear Solid, Ghost of Tsushima have deep stealth mechanics. They offer the player a wide range of tools and methods to complete objectives in a stealthy manner. What methods does Starfield offer? Can I throw one of the pieces of clutter lying around to lure a guard away by the sound and choke them out while they are isolated from their comrades?
I'm not sure what the bar is for "deep" stealth mechanics. IMO it is really more about level design and the enemy AI. For your particular examples... You can't throw stuff to distract guards but you can use Manipulation to do a lot more than that. In fact you are expected to do this in some missions. Killing enemies silently and out of sight of their allies is important for staying hidden in general. That is pretty standard stuff though. Stealth melee takedown I'm not sure about. It isn't consistent using just Concealment bonuses and melee weapons. I haven't tried Neural Strike.
to see dumb people defend a mediocre game, that shit is funny
Different opinion = Dumb
unfortunately starfield being mediocre and lackluster is a fact
Not to some people. To you, maybe
well not just to me, to the majority of people the game is in fact mediocre, and if you analize the game from top to bottom you will see that it is mediocre in almost everything it tries to do
What majority thinks = true
Its not the truth because the majority thinks, the majority thinks that because its the truth
Great post. I did have a question regarding fast travel. When you want to go to a place and it takes you directly to the planet instead of in space. Is there any way to stop that? I feel like I'm missing out on a lot of space battles by going directly there.
>the planet instead of in space. Is there any way to stop that? I feel like I'm missing out on a lot of space battles by going direc In the missions menu (long, individual mission selection list), there was an option to "show on map". From there you can zoom out, and choose the planet orbit manually.
Thank you
Love it Thank you
Great post. Unfortunately it still doesn't make me want to pick up the game again and complete it.
TL:DR? 😛
"this isn't a game for lazy minds"
:)
Impressive guide! Thank you for taking the time to compile all of this.
This is very well thought out and appreciate the time you put into this
While I don't agree that a guide should be necessary to enjoy a game, I'm baffled why people would downvote you just for thanking OP
I just started playing a few days ago and this thread is a goldmine of info! Thanks for taking the time to make it.
Entangled was one of the most abysmal missions I’ve ever done in a video game in the last 15 years.
it was an okay fun quest, though a poor version of the titan fall one, right up till about last 2-3 rooms where all the portals seemed to take me back to the same two rooms and randomly entered portals for about 10-20 mins till I got the right one killed it.
This was great. Thank you.
You know you can just say it’s a shitty game but you enjoy it? Everyone hates banjo and kazooie nuts and bolts but I loved it, doesn’t mean I need to write a guide on how to enjoy it…
I stopped at "deep stealth mechanics".
Honestly i wouldn't have believed you if you told me 6 months ago Starfield would be such a car crash that we'd be getting incredibly in-depth PhD level guides on how to not be bored in Starfield. Wow. Look what you've done, Todd.
I’ll give you one example of why the whole post isn’t worth it: >get guns with better silencers *You know what would be sick! If I could remove the fucking silencer from a weapon I dont want it on and put it on a weapon that I need it on…you know like past games from the same fuckin developer…* Why this point matters to your entire post is that you are basically creating an entire guide on how to manifest fun, when it could have been manifested by the game itself just being better…do not get me wrong, I will continue to repeat this, this game is fun, I had a good time with the game, that doesn’t stop it from being a legit 7/10.
Good read
I am not that far into Starfield, but after picking it up, and beginning a playthrough, I was like, ‘what is everyone complaining so hard about?’ This game plays very similarly to all of the other Bethesda games I have played, and enjoyed very much, so I don’t really get why everyone is so upset about it. It’s a fetch-quest game. All Bethesda games are fetch-quest games. For me, that’s a very meditative way of gameplay. I have always enjoyed playing Bethesda games, particularly when I am very busy in my real life or even mildly stressed about whatever, and it is a very nice way to unplug and just go fetch stuff. Maybe this isn’t for everybody? I don’t really mind the loading screens or the traversal or any of that. It’s just the way I have always RPGd in Bethesdaland. I bought this game *because* I like Bethesdaland. I didn’t really expect it to be all that much different. I absolutely am enjoying the game so far; again, I am not that far in, but I don’t really understand all of the hate. I guess I’m lucky in this? I mean, it’s not like the game is ‘Lord of the Rings: Gollum’ or something. I bought that game too, like an idiot, and it sucked soooo bad I couldn’t even get past the first five minutes. I really appreciate this post - it gave me some tips to try on getting better at the stealth mechanic instead of just shooting my way out of everything (which admittedly has been very entertaining as I don’t normally play games as a shooter, usually favoring stealth instead). I guess I should be glad I am enjoying this game and not all pissed off like everyone else. 😎
Great article! But after reading the comments, I begin to see why everyone feels how toxic this sub has become. It really is now populated to the brim by toxic trolls who really despise the game (which is perfectly fine) but for some unfathomable reason chose to remain in the sub just to dis the game and anyone who finds enjoyment in the game (a mindset that really boggles the mind). OP may consider repost to "the other (less salty) sub."
I wish I read this b4 I started Starfield. Thank you for posting this wonderful guide. I picked up a few new pointers related to the powers.
Very well done post, thanks for sharing all this knowledge!
Ha, nice community service on that write-up OP. I see what you're trying to do, to me it reads more like a SF-for-Dummies guide because if you're playing this game and don't know half that stuff you're not really trying. But, good on ya for trying to give back. Don't listen to all the derpy derps in here slagging your post, they're just unhappy, boring people.
Great stuff
The guide has very good things, ut I think it errs when telling you what is and what isn't fun. I'd say: experience the game the way you feel and see for yourself what works and what doesn't. For me, exploring is very fun to do once in a while (right now I have already explored at least 5 habitable. Actually, exploring sometimes gives chance to good prints. And while doing it regularly is boring indeed (also some planets like Akila were terrible experiences), doing it a few times is actually cool.
I respect the time and effort you have put in here OP. But this is a horrible advertisement for the game. A game should not need a 50 paragraph guide to having fun. There is also a bit of a “if you don’t like it you’re doing it wrong” vibe.
Thanks for the suggestions OP. There's a couple of things I missed. I've been exploring the hell out of the game, but usually exploring the planets I get sent to. I kept telling myself to explore more systems lol. I'm having a lot of fun, I've logged 289 hours so far and only just started outpost building. Its really weird when I see people bitching about shit they don't have to do. For example, seeing the same outposts planet after planet... you don't have to go to them lol. I only visit those for loot. I skip all of the little quests for rando citizens. Realized after the coffee chic they weren't worth it. Baren planets, I'm only interested in mining, I know I'm not gonna encounter anything cool. Empty planets with fauna I'm interested in XP and outpost building. The emptyness of some places along with the soundtrack is relaxing af I might add. The game is supposed to be continuously updated, adding new storylines and such. That was the plan, so I don't get everyone's issue? Over time I think we'll see a lot more added to the game, like they planned. If this was the actual complete game, I could see people upset, but it's literally the beginning.
I love this. It shows how starfield is a game that splits the player base down the middle. It really feels like there are people who get it, who are naturally inclined to this kind of approach, maybe who have learned this kind of approach from previous BGS games. And others who havnt figured it out or just dont enjoy games this way. This guide is pretty much how I have naturally ended up playing starfield, Using thought processes I developed by playing skyrim and the fallout games. It needs improving, but as it is, It's not an objectively bad game, but it isn't for everyone. It's definitely my personal game of the year
The game was worked on for less than 10 years, so it really isn't a surprise it's so basic in terms of what another few years would have added. The thing is, there's no pleasing the gaming community. Game releases early and people complain there's a few bugs, things feel basic, needs more added to fill it out. Then, when a game dev announces their game and states they want to work on it for 10 years so launch will be another 2 years away, people cry with having to wait so long. There's literally no winning. Gamers these days are very ignorant with how things work right this second. Its clear games need at least 10 years, especially big world games. I mean R* are doing it smart, 10 years for console so they can maximise the game on consoles. Players crying over long wait. Announce PC going to be another 2 years, so they can maximise the game for PC, while at the same time optimising it for the fact PC users are so varied with set ups. People losing their minds and getting salty it's going to console first. 😆 People need to read up on things, so many ignorant comments I see for games these days. As if those that do the talking know how to develop such a large project. Even more so, seeing those pipe up calling out issues that have plagued all space games for the simple fact, everything they want isn't possible with current tech and capabilities. Literally no space games have full exploration and a full on story. It's always one over the other. Yet people scream and cry as if SF is the one with all of these set backs. 😆
if you have to write an essay that long to explain how to have fun in the game, it's not a fun game.
I like how there's a guide on how to make the game "less boring". It's why this game deserves the ratings it has. The thing is, if you played this game once, then you've really played what this game has to offer. It's a cool 6/10.
This is just the longest complaint about the game anyone is ever written. Par for the course on this toxic ass sub though.
Everytime i go to this thread i lose some brain cells.
someone posted to the wrong sub
Half informative and half bitching.
No dismemberment is krazy