It's not that Starfield is terrible, it's that it's a step back from every Bethesda game in almost all facets.

Where do we begin? How about base building? -- Introduced in Fallout 4, base building offered a pretty rewarding experience by allowing us to construct outposts and populate them with NPCs. Starfield's iteration feels like a significant regression. The system is not only buggier and more restrictive, but the incentives for engaging in outpost construction are minimal at best. The generic characters, like "Outpost Manager" and "Mining Captain," lack purpose, and the limited capacity for settlers further detracts from the experience. This aspect of the game feels like cut content -- unfinished and underwhelming. Additionally, the introduction of ship building, while cool on paper, fails to compensate for the base building's deficiencies; specific bays like the med bay are damn near non-functional, unable to produce medicines or offer healing services, lol.

Starfield's approach to faction quests is perhaps one of its most glaring and egregious missteps. A collection of series of faction quests that feel short and superficial, reminiscent of a "theme park haunted house" where players move through set pieces only to exit feeling underwhelmed. The ability to join conflicting factions without significant repercussions dilutes the impact of choice -- these decisions become weightless. The quests themselves feeling like mere box-ticking exercises.

Starfield's companions continue the tradition of FO4, which is to say, generic and forgettable as a whole. The game also restricts major companions to a single faction and homogenizes their moral compasses, leading to predictable interactions and a lack of genuine connection. Notable companions like Sam and Sara are burdened with unengaging personal narratives and repetitive dialogues; they just can't shut up.

Exploration -- something key of Bethesda's titles -- feels lackluster in Starfield, particularly when set against the backdrop of an expansive universe. It is completely broken up behind dozens of load screens and vast spaces of nothing, instead of one, mostly continuous, experience of previous games.

Progression systems. The skill trees have become overly simplified and laden with uninspired percentage-based upgrades, hiding some basic game features behind skill points (a terrible Ubisoft practice of game design).

Coffee Talk 2 offers an experience that is as cozy, relaxing and enjoyable as the first game. We see many of the characters we are familiar with from the first game in the second game and once again witness the stories they went through and the developments in their lives after years passed. The newly added characters to the story also have very nice stories. The game is basically the same in terms of gameplay, only as the name of the game suggests, there are 2 new tea types named hibiscus and blue butterfly and brand new tea combinations that we can make with these teas. There is also a new system where we have to return or forward some dropped or forwarded items to the correct customers. It was added as an important detail in order to complete some hidden parts of the story and the stories of the characters. Although it does not promise much innovation in terms of gameplay, since the game is a visual novel game, the gameplay is usually the last thing I look at. In terms of game music, it also contains many new, relaxing songs. I expected to see some of the characters much more, and I can say that I was a little disappointed in this regard. Without going into spoilers, it was sad to see that a very important character from the first game was seen very little, and after all these years, I saw almost nothing about the character whose story I was most curious about. But in any case, seeing some characters have happy endings and some characters setting off on new journeys made me leave the game satisfied. The game very successfully allows the player to connect with the characters, it is impossible not to get emotional at some points. As for the conclusion, Coffee Talk 2 is as good as the first game, longer in terms of gameplay and with much more recipes and stories, it definitely provides a satisfying experience. If you played the first game and like visual novel games, I definitely recommend you try the second game.

the banality of being trapped and limited by age, experience, knowledge, wisdom, location, and love. alongside it, the joy that shines through and within the flawed limited scope of an adolescent regardless. again and again, you try to please others and become your best self. things will surely work out differently next time. they have to! a quiet life burning through seasons until there's nothing left but the sound of the ocean lapping on the shore.

has the quintessential classic point and click adventure experience (for better or for worse! i had to look up a guide to progress at one point) but its short length and homage to the genre lends well to itself. seeing the dev stream made me realize how much there was to discover in this game.