It's been a while since I was pleasantly surprised by a AAA game. My expectations were low going into this, but after the first few hours I was completely hooked on this game.

Having played most Bethesda games, I am happy to report Starfield is much closer to The Elder Scrolls in presentation than Fallout. Aside from the dragon-shout like abilities, the amount of customization you have for your character's abilities and gear is reminiscent of Oblivion, where creativity with your kit can make you overpowered in the most fun ways imaginable. The faction sidequests and campaigns are some of the strongest Bethesda has created, with the Crimson Fleet quests a standout amongst them. The main story is also quite strong. While it is, naturally a series of fetch quests (as is most MSQ's in Bethesda games), the story as a whole has good twists that caught me off-guard, and some awesome stand-alone quests that can stand with some of the best Sci-Fi writings and films (the quest "Entagled" might just be my favorite in the game).

Like most AAA games coming out this year, it's not without it's technical problems. The game will (surprisingly) only work if installed on an SSD. With a 100gb+ install size, It's going to be painful on many smaller SSDs, especially on computer. Bugs, a staple of Bethesda games, tend to be less funny and more game-breaking this time around. I've noticed bugs will happen more frequently the longer your play session is, and they can range from your ship landing at funny angles, to straight on soft-locking you out of menus until you relaunch the game (I've only had one crash in my playthrough). The NPCs and creatures are coded and pathed shockingly well, there may be one or two instances of a guard getting the zoomies during a stealth mission, it's nowhere near as much of an issue compared to Bethesda's previous offerings.

I have several game recommendations if you enjoyed your time with Starfield! If you enjoyed the rpg elements of this game, I highly recommend The Elder Scrolls games, my favorite being IV: Oblivion (It's a very janky game in the most endearing way). If you wish there was a bit more depth to the spacefaring elements of this game, I highly recommend The Outer Wilds. If you were someone that spent hours building ships and bases, then Kerbal Space Program is my recommendation to you.

--There are no story spoilers in this review. Gameplay that was previously shown in trailers is discussed.--

During the development of The Elder Scrolls IV, Bethesda sent Patrick Stewart a massive booklet containing robust background history and motivations for the character he would be playing. Stewart was delighted by the sheer amount of character prep he was given, and was excited to be a part of the project. His character dies 10 minutes into the game.

To me, this little footnote for a completely unrelated game, perfectly sums up Final Fantasy XVI. A game that promises incredible depth to it's story and it's world building, and fails to deliver. The early game sets up the incredible realm of Valisthea, and it's clashing kingdoms and petty politics. Every character is introduced with a near-limitless amount of intrigue. As you approach the latter half, you realize how one-note the characters and their motivations are, and the limited interaction you have with Valisthea amounts to dipping your toes in a kiddie pool.

As you have probably heard, this game forgoes Final Fantasy's turn-based roots and grounds itself in the high-octane action genre, akin to Bayonetta and Devil May Cry. While this may be a welcome change to some, several important facets from both sides of the genre shift are lost in translation.

On the RPG side: the depth and complexity to combat is gone. There is no resource management, stat weights, or even classes. All spells are special attacks, and healing is done primarily through Souls-like flasks. This is also a solitary adventure, party members are nowhere to be seen. While some NPCs do follow you around from time to time, their dialogue during these excursions is non-existent and their combat damage numbers are in the two digits. While Dragon Age set a high bar with it's talkative cast in the world, a little more interaction outside of lengthy cutscenes would go a long way. I would go as far to say Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins does a better job of blending these two genre's together.

In regards to combat: While the game has flashy moves and agility akin to some of the better known brawlers on the market, it does not contain nowhere near the depth those games have. Sword swings end after four, and you can shoot a blast of magic for minor damage. Special abilities are on timers, similar to hero shooters, and it is near impossible to flow these abilities into a satisfying, air combo where the ground waits several minutes for your return. Vergil from DMC you are not. This issue is magnified by the non-existent enemy variety. You have small enemies, medium size enemies that have stagger gauges, and boss enemies, also with stagger gauges. You fight each time the same way; slash four times, use abilities off cooldown, use the bumper to dodge incoming attacks. rinse and repeat. Even the climactic Eikon battles fight and move in the same way, unless of course it's an Eikon battle that is entirely made up of quick time events (which are two buttons by the way). If you were purchasing this game with the hype of seeing massive monsters duke it out (like me), I promise you Asura's Wrath did it far better 11 years ago. If you are an old school RPG fan, or someone who enjoys building up their multiplier in combo action games, you can do better than this.

The world, as beautiful as it is, has hardly any interaction to it. If you don't like shopping for potions or killing goblins, you are out of luck. There are no minigames outside of time trials and combat challenges. This is a massive step back from XV, where cooking, fishing, and driving were fun ways to pass the time. Hell, even VII Remake had darts, exercising, and a strategy game attached to it. Even after finishing the game, I'm continuously baffled by how little "gameplay" there was.

I have written a lot of negative things about this game, but the silly part is I did enjoy myself, believe it or not. Square Enix once again shows their mastery over visual effects and sense of scale, and there are some parts of the story that did pluck at my heart strings. While the combat is very simple, hitting attacks of any variety is a lot of fun thanks to the excellent sound design.

While this game sits far below Final Fantasy XII (The best FF game ever made don't @ me), I would recommend it for newcomers to Final Fantasy or the action genre in general, and I reckon you would get much more mileage out of it than I did. If you're looking for games to play that are similar, I recommend -

Asura's Wrath
Bayonetta 1 and 2
Devil May Cry 3,4,5
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Nioh 1
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Final Fantasy XV