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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u/Canucks-1989 Dec 04 '23

I think (I could definitely be wrong) Bethesda’s weakness is they’re banking too much on nostalgia and gameplay familiarity. Their games were absolutely some of the best 10-15yrs ago, but the way those games play are meant for those older instalments. You can go back and have a fun time playing Oblivion or Skyrim, but in the back of your head you know it’s mechanics are dated (doesn’t mean you still can’t have a good time!).

The industry has evolved because players are starting to expect new baselines for their games whether it’s mechanics, gameplay, frame rates etc., and Bethesda has whiffed of all their games after Skyrim.

TLDR: Bethesda used to make some of the best games, but hasn’t evolved/grown since Fallout3/Skyrim.

21

u/nerdlygames Dec 04 '23

I’m not sure ES6 will be any different unfortunately. Maybe it’s time Obsidian took over

14

u/Wolferine1988 Dec 04 '23

I wish they would let obsidian make a fallout 4 spinoff like they did with new Vegas

2

u/Keylathein Dec 05 '23

Lets check back in once avowed is out and see if you still want that.

1

u/AdeptnessAble1992 Dec 12 '23

You got it. Let's check back when ES6 is released to.

2

u/Sexyvette07 Dec 04 '23

I'd be really surprised if TES6 ends up being as good as Skyrim. Though, I think if it's not, Bethesda is gonna lose all credibility and fade from existence, so they're gonna have to come up with something good.

Or maybe I'm wrong and they'll ride the coattails of all the people who pre-ordered Starfield. I mean, they probably made a massive amount of money on this mediocre game.

2

u/nerdlygames Dec 04 '23

I guess I’m saying it needs to be better than that. Skyrim was great for its time but Bethesda have been beating that horse for too long now and need to innovate like everyone else has

1

u/TobiasKM Dec 04 '23

I’m staying positive about TES6, mostly because I think their tech just fits a game of that kind better. I don’t mind most of their gameplay mechanics, even if some of them are slightly outdated compared to other games. For me they just completely overextended with Starfield, aiming for something without realizing that they’d probably have to build everything from the ground up, instead of just sort of adjusting their tech to be Skyrim/Fallout in space.

1

u/misterfluffykitty Dec 05 '23

People will always keep buying it no matter what, Microsoft has the advertising power to at least make sure of that.

1

u/Sexyvette07 Dec 05 '23

You're not wrong. I want to say people are starting to wake up to pre-ordering games, but looking at Starfield, it doesn't look like the case.

1

u/misterfluffykitty Dec 05 '23

It might look like people are waking up to it in bubbles like a gaming subreddit but the vast majority of people don’t care and a large portion of people on reddit don’t even comment and probably don’t even look at the comments.

1

u/CdrShprd Dec 10 '23

Yeah let’s make every studio that Microsoft buys just make Halo and BGS games forever

2

u/cutememe Dec 05 '23

Arguably Starfield has regressed from some of their older games. I mean shit, at least cities in Morrowind was relatively open. That was like over 20 years ago. Starfield is just nonstop loading screens.

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u/Commercial_Onions Dec 05 '23

You’re right. But I love their style. The old creation engine.

1

u/bajaxx Dec 05 '23

that’s the difference between Bethesda and rockstar, rockstar completely revolutionizes their game each iteration

1

u/WhatsIsMyName Dec 05 '23

Starfield definitely felt dated in areas. Particularly the conversation systems. Didn't help that Baldur's Gate 3 came out at the same time and is exceptional in that area. Made the disparity really clear.

I am one of the few that loved Starfield and is still playing it religiously. But it does have faults.

But I do think it has a ton of potential. If they want a decade+ of staying power they are going to need a couple rounds of free updates to improve things and flesh out some of these systems IMO. Mods alone will never supplant real upgrades. 99% of Skyrim players never install a mod.

Outside of revamping the conversational system (which I don't actually anticipate because that is a huge undertaking since the entire questing system is bound to it), the biggest change they could make IMO is like 10xing the types of POIs you can discover on random planets. If POIs were more meaningful or fun I think it goes a long way toward improving replayability and staying power.

But those kind of large post-launch upgrades aren't how Bethesda has operated historically so I'm fully skeptical.

1

u/GreatQuantum Dec 05 '23

How many buttons does your controller have????