Starfield by Bethesda -- PC and Xbox exclusive -- 2023...?

Games
#943

It might be wishful thinking on my part but I was actually hopeful when I heard that this game was described as Skyrim in space because I took it as a signal that Bethesda was going to stick to fundamentals and create a journey based roleplaying game on their own terms. Bethesda has been around for a long time and they have always taken heat for not keeping up with current popular gaming trends. Up until Fallout 4, I think they did a good job of ignoring the noise and building on their own ideas. I think they blinked with Fallout 4 with the settlement dynamic, bowing to the Minecraft -like building game trend. I’ve been worried that they would blink again.

Bethesda did something right with their model because over ten years in, people are still playing Skyrim. It will interesting to see if people will still be be playing Elden Ring in 10 years.

#944

They won’t be, they will be playing Elden Ring 2 - or 3 - because From will probably continue to slowly improve their formula. Just like Bethesda kept doing up to Skyrim’s release. Something happened afterwards, it changed them and, from my experience, once a developer goes on a certain path they are most likely staying on it. They doubled down on the Fallout 4 shitty mechanics with Fallout 76. And now they are releasing/postponing a sci-fi game. I don’t know, I hope I’m wrong but I’m getting Cyberpunk vibes, particularly considering the curious lack of gameplay footage.

#945

I think a ‘Skyrim in space, but slightly improved’ will still get most people playing and addicted.

#946

Let he who has not bought Skyrim multiple times be the first to say they won’t buy Skyrim in space.

#947

Just heard this was delayed, watch for a overloaded 2023 now.

#948

The idea that RPGs have improved by leaps and bounds since Skyrim is news to me. There are lots of open world ubi games but they are not elder scrolls. As for Elder Ring, glad it’s good, but that is one game.

#949

Alright, this post inspired me look up a list of well regarded RPGs in 2011 and later:

Skyrim
Dark Souls
Diablo 3
Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
Mass Effect 3
Grim Dawn
Gone Home
Bloodborne
Dragon Age: Inquisition
The Witcher 3
Yakuza 0
Dishonored 2
Firewatch
Persona 5
Dark Souls 3
Divinity: Original Sin II
Dragon Quest XI
Nier: Automata
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Monster Hunter: World
Disco Elysium
Fallout 4
Pillars of Eternity 1 & 2
Elden Ring

Erm, and fit in there somewhere Final Fantasy XIII-2, Final Fantasy Lightning Returns, Final Fantasy XV, Bravely Default, Shin Tensei something, Tales games and other JRPGs I might be forgetting.

#950

Relevant to this thread:

I really do need an excuse to finally start Outer Wilds one of these days.

#951

But, i don’t think games like The Witcher 3, Elden Ring, Divinity Sin 2, Yakuza or Disco Elysium scratch the itch of a Bethesda style game. They are different types of RPG.
(and some of the games like Dishonored, Firewatch or Gone Home are rpgs, where the hell did you get that list)

#952

True, but they might be relevant anyway to the notion being challenged, that Bethesda probably hasn’t learned anything in the intervening years from other RPGs that came out since Skyrim.

I think Witcher 3 is probably the most relevant game to that notion, since it shows you can do really detailed sidequests with interesting characters in an open world game, and Elden Ring, which shows that you can have a million dungeons and stuff to find in an open world game, and you can make nearly all loot you find interesting. I haven’t played a lot of games on the list, so they might have an interesting lesson that Bethesda might or might not have learned from.

#953

Me too, but the time-loop mechanic keeps giving me pause. Like, would be be losing all progress once the Universe does its reset thingy?

#954

Now I want Elden Ring in space. I guess that’s what Armored Core will be.

#955

You learn to roll with it - seriously you don’t lose anything you don’t need at the reset, because you keep the most valuable thing: knowledge. I won’t belabor the point because we have a whole thread about it, but Outer Wilds is seriously one of my favorite games of all time. Possibly my very favorite.

#956

Damn, I got Outer Wilds & Worlds mixed up again!

Wilds is the timeloop one & Worlds is Fallout in Space, right?

#957

Correct.

#958

Yeah, Outer Worlds is the forgettable “Fallout in space” that should serve as a cautionary tale for Starfield.

Outer Wilds is one of the best games ever made.

#959

I threw Worlds in today because I wanted a break from Skyrim and i haven’t done the DLCs yet. I guess I wasn’t in the right mood because I bounced right off. The humor was falling flat and the looting is just inconsequential, I’ve come to realize.

#960

This was my exact experience with OW trying to play it again late last year.

#961

I used to do the Kajit run in 12 parsecs until I took a laser blast to the knee.

IMO memes, often driven by jank, got Skyrim it’s initial appeal and mods have kept it chugging.

#962

Remember, Fallout 3 is “Oblivion with guns.”

But I have a hard time imagining “Skyrim in Space” unless it’s similar to The Outer Worlds…which I suppose is “Oblivion with guns in space” only with much less time / budget and mostly small segmented maps.

Starfield would be better if it was actually Outer Wilds but an RPG. A seamless single galaxy with multiple large planet bodies to explore with quests and stuff. (no time loop obviously)