Thing is Skyrim wasn't particularly handcrafted or lively either, the models for things like dungeons were repeated all the time and the NPC liveliness was lacklustre compared to eurojank games like Gothic.

The tech debt is just glaring at this point. They need an actual new engine instead of yet another gamebryo rework.

Maybe you should have told Todd to try making the game good as well as marketable?

But he "Plans to Release a 1st-Party Blockbuster or Highly Anticipated Title Every 3 Months"

There is no place for "when it's done" with this attitude.

I think somebody said something on those lines already but there's so much work to do to mod starfield into something good that the whole thing would be like 80% mods by the time you were finished. Unless there's an API it's just going to be mods interacting on top of other mods and the whole thing is going to be a nightmare.

I've looked into it and it's not exactly easy considering how clearly they need modding in order to make the game a success. You would think that it would be in their interest to make it simple but, nope.

They may just actually be that incompetent.

You're not necesarrily wrong, but modders currently have a more difficult time than with Skyrim.

As far as I'm aware, modding tools from Bethesda haven't been released yet, kinda limiting what people can do.

Not that it can't be done, its just more difficult and time consuming than using producer built tools. People were modding games before any one put out tools for that purpose. Notepad and a hex editor can get you a long way if you know what you're doing, at least back then.

I guess I should say this is from the perspective of a PC gamer, primarily. I've used consoles in the past, sure, but my last console was an Xbox 360 and before that a PS2.

Like the other comment says, it's empty, but I mean it in a different way. It has no soul. Skyrim you can feel the passion in the quests, the characters, and the world. Starfield is super bland, despite being a new IP they could have done anything with, and being sci-fi, which the purpose of sci-fi is to critique our current world. It's the most milque toast sci-fi I've seen. It doesn't question the current status-quo, despite corporations literally destroying Earth. You can rarely question authority. The characters all have identical views on everything, and that's the "good" view that doesn't really try to change anything for the better.

Also, the connecting fibers of the game just don't exist. No system really ties into another, besides making money but money is nearly worthless. Nothing seems to have been considered on how to make it function as a cohesive product.

Basically it fails emotionally and technically.

Because its empty. In skyrim you see NPCs having interesting interaction with each other and the PC. In starfield you just quick travel from empty city to empty planet

Does Todd Howard know how reviled he is?

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I didn't watch any trailers, didn't read any of the hype, had low expectations, and didn't have to buy it...and Starfield still managed to disappoint me.

I've only seen people stream it and it looks... like a Bethesda game. Like, to a fault.

I'm reading that's what a lot of people expected, and I'm honestly surprised.

I thought Bethesda would put their jankiness aside and give us something that's wide, deep, and polished. But it really feels like Bethesda has been releasing the same game ever since Daggerfall, just with different skins.

I guess better the devil you know? I'll probably play it at some point when it's finished.

I did the same and enjoy it. I think it’s embarrassing that a AAA can spend so long on a game and have it basically be fallout in space with very little in the way of innovation. But I also didn’t expect anything more, and it scratches the itch I was wanting it to scratch

It doesn’t get better either. The entire main story is just so contrived and boring.