Starfield, Bethesda Game Studios Upcoming Title Options

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

My problem is that I need a new CPU and GPU. I could get a new GPU but it will bottleneck with my CPU. And I can’t get a new CPU because my mobo will not accept a newer ones. Oh and I’d need new RAM. So, yeah, I’d basically have to build a new PC minus a few parts that i can actually use in the new build.

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: Sep 2 2023, 03:38 AM

[RaderOfTheLostArk]

Thanks for this. It’s good to have first hand impressions from someone we “know”, you know?

What are you playing it on, if you don’t mind me asking.

Sure thing, I don't mind the question. I'm on an HP 17 Omen Laptop that has an i7-13700HX with 16.0 GB of RAM. Game works like a dream (though I did encounter my first couple of bugs tonight, albeit not at all gamebreaking). Got the computer a couple months ago because I needed something new in general, but of course Starfield factored into the equation. All my laptops have been for both work and gaming (though they haven't always been "gaming" computers), so they have and will continue to see a ton of usage.

I'll never say you should buy a new computer solely to play a new game (unless perhaps you just have that much money to blow that it won't really hurt your pocketbook). I don't care how good the game is; computers are a lot of money. But if you have another good reason or two to buy a new computer, be it desktop or laptop, it makes it a great investment to also include Starfield as a reason. Put it this way: So far, I'm very glad that Starfield was a major factor in me buying a new computer. I'm having a great time with it. And despite being a vet of Bethesda games, this is my first time I've played a Bethesda game at release.

I guess it is time to update my PC. I built it back in 2011 with 16gb of RAM, as that was plenty to play Skyrim, the most demanding game I had. My motherboard has room for another 16gb. So I just went to NewEgg and bought it. It will be a few weeks before it shows up though.

What a difference in price though. I think I spent like $200 for that 16gb of Ram a decade ago. Now it cost me $30.

Granted, it is DDR3, so it is old now. Far from the fastest or furiousest.

Maybe now Fallout 4 and BG3 will load a little too, I hope.

They had 16 GB of RAM in 2011? That would've been mindblowing to me then. My computer has 16 GB of RAM now and it makes a world of difference. My Omen 17 Laptop was certainly not cheap, but it was surprisingly cheaper than I thought it would be even accounting for the fact it was on sale at the time.




Also, just had my first battle in low gravity tonight! That was really neat. I was jumping to one star system so that I could make the jump to the actual star system I needed to get to. But in this intermediate location, I found a neat-looking space station called The Almagest and tried to hail it. (When you are in space, you can hail other ships, space stations, etc. to talk to them) I didn't get an answer even after hailing it a couple more times in case it was just bugging out or something. Clearly, that's suspicious, so I docked and entered the station with my companion, Sarah Morgan, the head of Constellation. We soon found ourselves in a fight with Spacers, who are basically a group of violent scavengers.

Of course, we took them out, and a note on one of them told me about a secret outpost somewhere that other Spacers are trying to break into. I'm hoping to go there in tomorrow's gaming session.

This post has been edited by RaderOfTheLostArk: Sep 2 2023, 06:17 AM

[SubRosa]

The PC I built in 2011 has a motherboard that can take up to 32 GB of Ram. At that time I figured 16 would be more than enough. And then it was. But that was then, and this is now, as the saying goes. I spent about 3k to build that computer. But it has lasted me 12 years so far, so it was a good investment.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Thanks for this. It’s good to have first hand impressions from someone we “know”, you know?

What are you playing it on, if you don’t mind me asking.

Sure thing, I don't mind the question. I'm on an HP 17 Omen Laptop that has an i7-13700HX with 16.0 GB of RAM. Game works like a dream (though I did encounter my first couple of bugs tonight, albeit not at all gamebreaking). Got the computer a couple months ago because I needed something new in general, but of course Starfield factored into the equation. All my laptops have been for both work and gaming (though they haven't always been "gaming" computers), so they have and will continue to see a ton of usage.

I'll never say you should buy a new computer solely to play a new game (unless perhaps you just have that much money to blow that it won't really hurt your pocketbook). I don't care how good the game is; computers are a lot of money. But if you have another good reason or two to buy a new computer, be it desktop or laptop, it makes it a great investment to also include Starfield as a reason. Put it this way: So far, I'm very glad that Starfield was a major factor in me buying a new computer. I'm having a great time with it. And despite being a vet of Bethesda games, this is my first time I've played a Bethesda game at release.

I’m asking everyone for Amazon gift cards this year. My hope is that I will get a good amount for my bday and Xmas to take a massive chunk out of the cost of upgrading.

[Kiln]

Well, I jumped on the hype train from the start with this one and have been pretty psyched for this game for a while. I can say for certain that I love this game. I have played for over 30 hours already since getting early access on the Xbox series X. A short breakdown:

Pros:
Polished, for a Bethsoft game. (You guys probably already guessed, sometimes the NPC’s still do weird crap.)
Slightly more fluid shooting than Fallout.
Infinite number of procedurally generated maps.
Crazy detailed ship building mechanics.
Excellent base building mechanics.
Great trait/perk system with unique rewards.
Lots of options for named and generic followers.
No crashes/lockups so far, making this the most stable Bethesda game I’ve ever played on console.

Cons:
The UI seems like a step backwards in numerous ways. You can’t trade items using two windows, you have to switch menus every time you want to buy/sell or add/take anything, which is frustrating because their previous system worked so well.
Worlds aren’t completely open, each area you select is procedurally generated but is a set distance and then you hit the dreaded invisible walls.
Some shooter mechanics seem like a regression. I know this is contradictory but in Fallout you could hide behind and lean over cover by aiming, that is gone here.

Mostly, the negatives are easy to bear. The game is worth it IMO.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Well, I jumped on the hype train from the start with this one and have been pretty psyched for this game for a while. I can say for certain that I love this game. I have played for over 30 hours already since getting early access on the Xbox series X. A short breakdown:

Pros:
Polished, for a Bethsoft game. (You guys probably already guessed, sometimes the NPC’s still do weird crap.)
Slightly more fluid shooting than Fallout.
Infinite number of procedurally generated maps.
Crazy detailed ship building mechanics.
Excellent base building mechanics.
Great trait/perk system with unique rewards.
Lots of options for named and generic followers.
No crashes/lockups so far, making this the most stable Bethesda game I’ve ever played on console.

Cons:
The UI seems like a step backwards in numerous ways. You can’t trade items using two windows, you have to switch menus every time you want to buy/sell or add/take anything, which is frustrating because their previous system worked so well.
Worlds aren’t completely open, each area you select is procedurally generated but is a set distance and then you hit the dreaded invisible walls.
Some shooter mechanics seem like a regression. I know this is contradictory but in Fallout you could hide behind and lean over cover by aiming, that is gone here.

Mostly, the negatives are easy to bear. The game is worth it IMO.

Awesome, thanks for your impressions!

[Renee]

Thanks Kiln. Always better to get some reviews folks we know.

They had 16 GB of RAM in 2011?

The gaming computer I got in 2014 (pre-built) came with 16 gigs! Funny thing is I've never had a game or situation which uses anywhere near this.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

I made sure to have 16gb in my pc, but that was back in 2015-16

[Kane]

Starfield is fantastic, if demanding. My PC barely makes the cut, but I got it running pretty smoothly - I definitely plan to buy more RAM though, since I'm at 16gm right now.

And it's fun! Barely scratched the surface though, and I've more or less stuck to the story. Just about to depart from a derelict Luna station in pursuit of a soldier.

After this mission I plan on doing some planetary exploring.

[Renee]

Like I said, I'll eventually get it for whichever Xbox is latest IF it looks like I'll enjoy the game. Skip all the requirements stuff. Bam.

I find it really interesting they aren't offering this up for Playstation this time. Probably a great idea. Beth is sick of dealing with Playstation and their disagreeable hardware.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Like I said, I'll eventually get it for whichever Xbox is latest IF it looks like I'll enjoy the game. Skip all the requirements stuff. Bam.

I find it really interesting they aren't offering this up for Playstation this time. Probably a great idea. Beth is sick of dealing with Playstation and their disagreeable hardware.

It’s not being offered to PS because Micro$oft wants it to be exclusive to their machines and pc.

[SubRosa]

They might eventually release it on PS years later. Like how Sony released Horizon Zero Dawn on PC 5 years after they did on Playstation. When it is no longer selling big on the original platform, and they have a sequel coming out, companies often start looking for ways to squeeze every last penny out of their products.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

They might eventually release it on PS years later. Like how Sony released Horizon Zero Dawn on PC 5 years after they did on Playstation. When it is no longer selling big on the original platform, and they have a sequel coming out, companies often start looking for ways to squeeze every last penny out of their products.

Perhaps, but I’d like to point out that with your Horizon example, Sony still didn’t port it to XBox.

[Renee]

Hmm, I don't know about that, Khajiit. I just think Beth is sick of dealing with Playstation. It's always the platform which has the most problems, because its architecture is not as close as Microsoft's.

It is possible Starfield'll get ported over by some other company later on. 4J ported Oblivion for instance (pretty sure it was 4J studios, I always forget), which ran the game better than it did on Xbox 360, all except the Vampire Cure quest.

This post has been edited by Renee: Sep 9 2023, 12:58 AM

[Kiln]

My guess? It may be available much later on other systems. Microsoft paid big money to bet on Bethesda and ultimately, Starfield. I think most of the reason for the game being exclusive is because Microsoft legitimately believes that Bethsoft games will sell well enough to justify the cost of purchasing the company. That doesn’t mean that eventually they won’t release it on other systems like No Man’s Sky but I’ll bet that if it ever comes out on other systems, it’ll be much later on.

[Kiln]

After more than two straight days of game time I experienced my first (very) major bug. My ship disappeared randomly and left me stranded, forcing me to reload my game. The ship was still gone. I couldn’t fast travel either. Ended up going indoors, fast traveling to a shipyard, and changing modules on my ship so it would reappear.

While the ship was invisible/missing the game locked up numerous times when trying to travel. Very frustrating because aside from that it has been pretty stable.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

After more than two straight days of game time I experienced my first (very) major bug. My ship disappeared randomly and left me stranded, forcing me to reload my game. The ship was still gone. I couldn’t fast travel either. Ended up going indoors, fast traveling to a shipyard, and changing modules on my ship so it would reappear.

While the ship was invisible/missing the game locked up numerous times when trying to travel. Very frustrating because aside from that it has been pretty stable.

Oof! That’s a bad one!

[Kiln]

Well, I’m glad to say that there aren’t a huge number of bugs so far aside from usual slightly comical happenings that Beth games are known for.

Once at Paradiso there was a guy clipping into the floor with only his head and shoulders visible. His generic sigh that normally would seem dismissive was hilarious because it was almost like he was sighing about being trapped in the floor in typical Bethsoft fashion.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Well, I’m glad to say that there aren’t a huge number of bugs so far aside from usual slightly comical happenings that Beth games are known for.

Once at Paradiso there was a guy clipping into the floor with only his head and shoulders visible. His generic sigh that normally would seem dismissive was hilarious because it was almost like he was sighing about being trapped in the floor in typical Bethsoft fashion.

Lol

[Renee]

Does the spaceship actually travel in real-time? Or is it like Mass Effect; essentially fast-travel?