Starfield - Bethesda's new space IP: will probably be full of fun and easily trackable bugs

[xXx: State of the Union]

TES and Fallout have tons of pre Bethesda lore written by talented people that they can draw on.

Starfield is what happens when Emil doesn't have the settings and background lore of much more talented writers than himself to steal and leech off of.

In Elder Scrolls case, it wasn't just that the lore was already written but they actually had one of the major guys who wrote it out during Morrowind still working there up until about 9 months ago.

Hell, Kirkbride basically did contract AND pro bono writing work for them. IIRC, Mankar Camorans whole final speech in Paradise was just a single email he wrote to Todd or Kurt and he didn't even realize they were going to use it in the game, let alone get Terrence Stamp to voice it. He would stay in constant communication with Kurt even during Skyrims writing I believe.
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Replaying the game has made me realize just how awful Constellation is established and developed in the setting. It's obvious to me at this point that they either never ran anything past a first draft or there was a heavy rewrite at some point (probably when they ditched voice protag and introduced Sam Coe and Andreja for their actors), possibly even both things.

I would never say that Emil is good at anything, but it's very clear he is not the kind of guy you should have establishing a universe or even a faction for your new IP.

 

[Mega Black]

doesn't help that none of the factions seem to have reach that level of development to be considered a space faring civilization.

Yeah the technology and genre stylings are all over the fucking place. It's like they wanted to make the ultimate sci-fi game so they just mashed every kind of sci-fi into one setting. You have the weird hard NASApunk aesthetic lazily smeared or mashed into, like, five very visually distinct genres of future.

Then with the Nasapunk shit it really doesn't befit how action heavy the game is. Astronaut stuff is about the furthest thing from badass I can imagine. I feel like I should be sitting in a boardroom discussing the ethics of space journalism when I play this game, not flying around capping people in their face.

but it's very clear he is not the kind of guy you should have establishing a universe or even a faction for your new IP.

Funnily enough House Va-Run was apparently his favorite faction, so much he got a tattoo of their symbol, only for them to wind up cut.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

Funnily enough House Va-Run was apparently his favorite faction, so much he got a tattoo of their symbol, only for them to wind up cut.

I've seen some schizo sounding theories that the little bits of House Varun that is there is cribbing shit from Elder Scrolls lore, but I'm not willing to do a deep dive into the more obscure Elder Scrolls shit to see if there is anything to it.

But it would be really funny if he ended up ripping off Elder Scrolls shit for the Starfield Expansion.

 

[Super Hans v2]

But it would be really funny if he ended up ripping off Elder Scrolls shit for the Starfield Expansion.

You know what would be really funny? If Emil was hubristic enough to allow Va'Run to be cut from the main game because he thought Starfield was going to be getting a Shivering Isles - sized expansion which he could focus entirely on them, just for Bethesda to shit out a barebones product to fulfill their legal obligations and move on to ES6.

Enjoy your ugly and pointless tattoo, retahd.

 

[Miller]

But it would be really funny if he ended up ripping off Elder Scrolls shit for the Starfield Expansion.

Not just the Elders Scrolls. There's a quest about a colony lead by several people from different periods in human history. The whole thing reminded me of the Institute from Fallout. It was so out of place.

 

[Sniperwoof]

The Akila City wild west in space thing should have been the entire design.

Yes it's generic and been done before most famously in anime but it's a lot more visually interesting than the NASA punk shit.

 

[Miller]

The Akila City wild west in space thing should have been the entire design.

Yes it's generic and been done before most famously in anime but it's a lot more visually interesting than the NASA punk shit.

Yeah, it would have interesting if you could see Akila City grow throughout the game, people building houses (instead of tents), better roads, create new civilian outposts outside of the walls, etc.
Stuff that Fallout 4 could never show.

 

[Mega Black]

Yes it's generic and been done before most famously in anime but it's a lot more visually interesting than the NASA punk shit.

The thing Bethesda doesn't seem to understand any more is that their games are at their best when you are in a fascinating over the top and fantastical world. "Grounded" is a sentence that should be faaaar away from their playbook.

They very easily could have crafted a fun science fantasy Star Wars style setting with goofy aliens and robots. Starfield feels like the kind of setting old obsidian would have done, warring human factions, complex moral issues, a destined hero with a main quest that is one part chosen one and one part meta commentary on the nature of genre conventions.

It's hilarious to see, all these years later and Bethesda really still has no idea why people liked their games in the first place.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

They very easily could have crafted a fun science fantasy Star Wars style setting with goofy aliens and robots.

Wasn't the earliest rumor that Starfield was supposed to *literally* be a Fallout spinoff?

The bones of everything certainly feel like it, which makes me think a science fantasy like Star Wars was always off the table. (then again, there *are* aliens in Fallout I guess so what the fuck am I talking about?)

 

[Sniperwoof]

Wasn't the earliest rumor that Starfield was supposed to *literally* be a Fallout spinoff?

The bones of everything certainly feel like it, which makes me think a science fantasy like Star Wars was always off the table. (then again, there *are* aliens in Fallout I guess so what the fuck am I talking about?)

I don't believe it was ever supposed to be a Fallout spinoff.

Under the hood it's a heavily modified Fallout 4 so it certainly resembles it.

 

[Super Hans v2]

It's hilarious to see, all these years later and Bethesda really still has no idea why people liked their games in the first place.

I don't think it's a vision issue, it's that they're staffed with retards top to bottom that don't know how to execute properly. I can only speak for myself, but I just want a first person RPG (check) with solid writing (Emil couldn't write a shopping list properly), solid combat (the most generous I can describe Starfield's is 'passable'), and in a world that's reactive to my mostly goody-two shoes morality playstyle (their most instanced yet). A bunch of drunks from some post-communist shithole ate their lunch with Kingdom Come, as their freshman title, and the people in charge and in management roles at Besthesda have been there for decades. Even not considering that they're a video game studio, Bethesda has absurdly low churn.

a destined hero with a main quest that is one part chosen one and one part meta commentary on the nature of genre conventions.

Morrowind.

 

[anustart76]

The thing Bethesda doesn't seem to understand any more is that their games are at their best when you are in a fascinating over the top and fantastical world. "Grounded" is a sentence that should be faaaar away from their playbook.

They very easily could have crafted a fun science fantasy Star Wars style setting with goofy aliens and robots. Starfield feels like the kind of setting old obsidian would have done, warring human factions, complex moral issues, a destined hero with a main quest that is one part chosen one and one part meta commentary on the nature of genre conventions.

It's hilarious to see, all these years later and Bethesda really still has no idea why people liked their games in the first place.

I think that's basically what I was saying before, just do New Vegas in space

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

Under the hood

I'm not talking under the hood, I mean the bones of the aesthetic.

The weird "Nasa Punk" thing being retro futurism, the robot designs, the score, etc etc

Everything *feels* a bit too much like (Bethesda) Fallout to me, which I guess you could just argue is a lack of creativity or something but yeah.

 

[Mega Black]

it's that they're staffed with retards top to bottom

This, and worse, they're LAZY retards too.

 

[Mega Black]

I'm not talking under the hood, I mean the bones of the aesthetic.

I remember reading this somewhere too. Starfield began as a far future spinoff of Fallout but got retrofit into its own thing at some point but I can't tell you how reputable that info is.

It feels like Fallout 4 specifically I think. BIG and UGLY are like the core design principles for everything Nu-Fallout and Bethesda in general. Everything is so busy and ugly looking, and it's made worse by the fact that the characters are so disgusting to look at. Fallout 4's NPCs and character customization wasn't phenomenal but it was a hell of a lot better than this shit.

Sorry for the double post.

 

[Fully Eshay Skits Bruh V4]

Since we're getting drivable cars in this DLC, just from that small glimpse of gameplay from it, it looks like its using the same code that the modders created for "The Frontier" FNV.

 

[scathefire]

I remember reading this somewhere too. Starfield began as a far future spinoff of Fallout but got retrofit into its own thing at some point but I can't tell you how reputable that info is.

Is this why all the drugs in Starfield are inexplicably also called "chems"? That's such a specific Fallout thing that I was kinda surprised to see it in Starfield.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

Is this why all the drugs in Starfield are inexplicably also called "chems"? That's such a specific Fallout thing that I was kinda surprised to see it in Starfield.

This is another weird setting thing for me on this latest playthrough.

Everything is a "chem", and yet the only one that seems to be contraband is Aurora. Squall is straight up "rumored" to be produced by Crimson Fleet, which itself means that nobody knows where it comes from. This should be contraband but...it's just not. You can sell it to anyone, you can carry it with no problems.

Then you have all the various "experimental" chems which are produced by just mixing shit together like a meth chemist. As far as I can tell, none of these are contraband either.

If it's meant to be some commentary on corruption because the only one that's illegal to own is the one drug the corporations control on Neon, it still falls flat IMO.

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I'm starting to think that if they had released the creation kit back in say January, we'd have a working (if janky) land vehicle by now and it would have really embarrassed Bethesda. Even without the kit, someone made a mod that retools the POI's to make a shit ton more sense, and apparently the issues it does have the creator believes can be fixed the second the creation kit comes out.

 

[Super Hans v2]

If it's meant to be some commentary on corruption because the only one that's illegal to own is the one drug the corporations control on Neon, it still falls flat IMO.

The only commentary that I can think of that Emil was trying to get across in making the two supreme laws of the galaxy being 1) mechs are banned, and 2) that guy's IP control of a random drug is absolute, was him saying that his intelligence can only be improved by taking a sledge to the forehead. Nobody gives a shit that not-meth, not-heroin, and not-LSD are openly traded, but not-weed? Banned everywhere but this one planet, and banned for everyone not given explicit permission by this one guy.

 

[BoomerSperg1922]

In Elder Scrolls case, it wasn't just that the lore was already written but they actually had one of the major guys who wrote it out during Morrowind still working there up until about 9 months ago.

Hell, Kirkbride basically did contract AND pro bono writing work for them. IIRC, Mankar Camorans whole final speech in Paradise was just a single email he wrote to Todd or Kurt and he didn't even realize they were going to use it in the game, let alone get Terrence Stamp to voice it. He would stay in constant communication with Kurt even during Skyrims writing I believe.
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It's too bad that kirkbride has really fallen off. Did you play Immortals of Aveum (the answer is probably no because NO ONE did)? Generic, shit writing. Absolutely embarassing. They also use that same generic ugly black woman that has been forced into literally every EA game in the last 2 years, no idea what her name is.

Your spells are red - shotgun, green - machine gun, and blue - normal gun.

But I was actually expecting something from the writing given Kirkbride was involved. It was a call of duty tier non-existent plot.