I didn't feel like editing all my notes so this one's coming in hot

the menus, ui/ux, and maps are nothing short of awful and the emphasis on fast travel, witcher vision, and waypoint markers make starfield one of the least convincing game worlds in recent memory. an endless sequence of vacuum sealed content boxes strung together by constant menus, loading screens, and teleporting, and bolstered on all sides by hundreds of procgen wastelands full of crafting junk

it's frustrating that there's something here I think I could like, but it's completely obstructed by design decisions that only make sense if your first and last priority is scale. aside from some dungeons and sidequests it feels like your only options are to be led by the nose like a dog or left to wander nothing areas for the rest of your life. a critical bug had me chasing my tail for over an hour on one of the essential planets and I was bored out of my brain so I can't imagine how sterile the non-essential ones must be

can't weigh in much on the RPG side of things cos I barely saw it in 10+ hours. it's like a cryptid where people keep swearing it exists but I'm still not convinced. can say that the dialogue options I've seen aren't too far off from the YES / YES (SARCASTIC) / NO (YES) we know and love from FO4 tho. writing doesn't go full head trauma this time around as quickly but everyone's a Quip Bastard or a block of wood so it's kinda six of one half a dozen of the other. the most memorable moment was when heller went chris dorner on the new atlantis police department unprovoked, but somehow I don't think that was what bethesda intended

perks/skills are as lifeless as expected. 10% more damage with shotguns or 10% damage with pistols or 10% damage with energy weapons or 10% damage with rifles or carry 10 more pounds or have 10% more health or..... zzzz

less I say about space and ship combat the better. everyone knows it wouldn't be better handled through a menu, but what this review presupposes is... maybe it would?

all in all it's a mess. bethesda's signature open world fractured and dashed across the stars; a marriage of some of the worst aspects of both pre and post morrowind eras with a slew of new unforced errors added to the mix. modders will fix what's fixable, I'll keep drinking that garbage, and the world will keep on turning

can't wait for skyrim 2

They really took that AMD partnership seriously with how shitty the performance on Nvidia is, huh.

Anyway, literally in the first minutes of the game:

You meet nonchalant Barrett, who's just arrived and is going to give you his ship. But he doesn't tell that space pirates were actually following him

Yara yara dialogue, and then the pirates ship appear

Barrett: "I REALLY thought I lost them..."
Supervisor Lin: (angry) Barrett!

Pirate ship start landing

Supervisor Lin: "Weapons! Everybody get ready!"

A gunfight starts between your people and the pirates

You kill them, they kill a few of yours

Supervisor Lin: "Of course Barrett was being followed... Every. Time."
Barrett: (all happy and smiling) "Now that was some fine work under pressure."

Barrett goes on being cheeky and cracking jokes like nothing happened

...

I guess he doesn't care that he just got a bunch of people killed? LMAO.

I know I'm being a little bit of a cunt, but come on... it's the very first minutes. Bethesda writing, baby!

Game's feeling really boring atm. Doesn't do anything better than the games they're trying to copy. What's the point of the spaceship if I'm going to fast travel everywhere I go? And what the FUCK is that map? It actually does a disservice to the player by existing. How come Skyrim, a game that came out in 2011(!), has a better map? This doesn't feel like a game that's been in development 8 years.

I'm going to try it again in a year or so... or whenever the modders finish its development.

Yep, this is a classic awful Bethesda game. Janky, poor performance, terrible gameplay, nonstop garbage collecting. Stupid story. Ugly, horrible graphics. Music is nondescript. One of the worst intros I've ever seen in a game, wow I'm shooting rocks and jumping around pointlessly while NPCs talk! Every character is horrible and lifeless. If you like eating garbage like a sewer ape that doesn't deserve to live, you'll love this. If you are a human being with a divine soul, you will hate this game. I only played it because it came with my GPU.