r/XboxSeriesX • u/Turbostrider27 • Dec 04 '23

Xbox wants Starfield to have the 12-year staying power of Skyrim Discussion

https://www.pcgamesn.com/starfield/popular-like-skyrim
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220

u/Algorhythm74 Dec 04 '23

There are some fundamental issues they likely can’t change.

  • The core characters are uninteresting, bordering on unlikeable.
  • There are no real stakes that drive the narrative, thus very little emotional motivation outside of living your space fantasy.
  • Living a “space fantasy” is wasted by being a load screens simulator.
  • No real choices, you can join any faction, and Sarah Morgan is going to dislike 90% of what you do no matter what.
  • The game and graphics are dated for a 12 year life cycle (sure some vistas a pretty, but the faces and eyes…)

More content can give you more to do in the gameplay loop, but it doesn’t solve for some fundamental design decisions they made early on - which I’m not sure can be changed or undone.

55

u/donkdonkdo Dec 04 '23

It always blows my mind looking back at constellation and its awful characters. The whole premise easily allowed for a number of characters to be straight up evil, or at the very least neutral (we’ll do whatever it takes in the name of science and discovery!) yet apparently they’re modeled after the magic school bus.

They’re all such insanely bland goodie two shoes we might as well have teamed up with the Boy Scouts.

18

u/BusyFriend Master Chief Dec 04 '23

Even the so called “bad girl” Andreja is a goody two shoes.

It got old and annoying being scolded by everyone as well.

16

u/connor24_22 Dec 04 '23

It feels so “safe” and cookie-cutter. Like the whole game was made for people who have never played a video game before. It’s so disappointing given they had so long to work with it, surely they could have done something better.

I’ll compare it to the sense I got playing Fallout 3. There were people and creatures that were downright evil, taking advantage of the world they inhabited and its lack of a society. Then you had characters that were trying to grasp onto some semblance of hope for humanity, even if it meant they’d have to give their life.

It’s hard to understand how both games were made by the same studio.

9

u/Banjo-Oz Dec 04 '23

That is what killed it for me.

Everyone is so BLAND, too. Not just moralistic, but blandly moralistic. A religious fanatic with high morals would at least be interesting.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '23

I feel like in real life if you joined a gang of rich scientists, they would behave the same way. Somehow, I doubt they would be ok with blowing people’s heads off for the sake of discovery.

1

u/donkdonkdo Dec 04 '23

They weren’t a gang of rich scientists though

1

u/[deleted] Dec 04 '23

Which one isn’t?

1

u/Mando177 Dec 04 '23

I remember Sarah telling me how in constellation they don’t judge what you do as long as you keep it from interfering in their work, and I was like sweet that sounds great. Then I stole a fan from a UC facility and she immediately got mad at that