And with this the game is afoot! After months of unending nothing out of Bethesda regarding what it is they intend to do about their much maligned recent game- Starfield has finally got some details regarding their first update due out later May. With the main team already pivoting to hard work on the Elder Scrolls 6 there was some question about whether anything would be left over for Starfield's development, regarding the several years worth of 'support' that Bethesda apparently have planned for the thing. I can't exactly speak for the future but I can say this: we're at least getting competent responses to Starfield's issues. Now whether or not you call this an appropriate enough time frame for such issues to be addressed, why that's really up to you- now isn't it?
Firstly and most significantly for me- we're going to get the ability to run Starfield at 60 frames per second on Xbox. Which is surprising given that the team made it very clear such was simply impossible for how much went into making Starfield work- but then that always seems to be the way of the technical team- isn't it? Such and such can't possibly work there, and then it can after a few months of working on it. Makes you wonder if perhaps the game was pushed out a little before it's time? Quality and performance modes don't really feel like they should be tough asks in the modern generation of gaming, but maybe that's my constructive inexperience talking and they're actually such substantial leaps in development that an entire extra half year was needed to figure them out for every product. However... I mean the PC version launched with graphics settings, right? (The bigger the company, the slower the developments, it would seem.)
Of course the 'biggest' addition, though we use that term liberally, is going to be the new maps that are coming to Starfield which I find... questionable. At a glance the 3D map generation, like a more zoomed in version of Skyrim's map, seems very appealing to look at- and I'm sure we'll get a lot out of our bird's eye glimpses of the world spaces we trudge around in- but does this really improve city navigation? I mean, giving us a 3D model that is cluttered with icons and locations isn't much better than a 2d map with the same issues, which is why I was expecting something more along the lines of a district-to-district style map like out of Skyrim. But hey- I've not had a chance to deal with the thing yet- maybe it solves the clutter issue more than I could imagine. We'll just have to see, won't we?
Additionally, Bethesda apparently want to work on making their over-the-top building mechanics somewhat useful. Settlements require so many blasted resources I would be amazed if anyone seriously managed to get around to dedicating themselves to that game mode, what with all the time spent travelling for basic building resources of the several hundred different types of materials- dealing with carry space- parsing the unfortunately convoluted storage systems- it was a giant mess. But now we'll be allow to put these talents to use within the actual ships we travel around in through inner ship customisation- and finally we're seeing sense prevail as this mode is put to task. I'm not overly excited about this mind, because I've already exhausted my fun with the builder system just decorating my apartments. I doubt this will make these systems suddenly more dynamic and interesting.
What we also got was a glimpse at the future of Starfield once they've actually reached the point of putting out real content. The first vehicle was teased, putting to bed all those rumours that Starfield actually couldn't handle land vehicles whilst raising the concern of why they were never shipped with the title from the get-go. I mean- surely they had to know their play areas were so sparse that there's literally no reason to go exploring on foot. Also, if they really wanted to improve exploration they would turn up the extreme angles of the world generation so we'd see more valleys and gorges over flat wetlands literally everywhere. That's what Minecraft did, it worked for them.
And beyond that we have the Shattered Space DLC which still remains as a mysterious object on the horizon of questionable value. Much to my chagrin the teaser image we were shown appears to be a slightly corrupted version of the monuments from the base game, arguably their least interesting content vertical- which likely means we're looking at a DLC that expands on the whole 'Starborn' aspect of the story instead of one that expands on the rather damp and boring world they've already built. I was really hoping this would delve into House Va'ruun and provide a little bit of ammunition to those who blindly declare it the game's most interesting faction despite the fact they have no presence in the main game whatsoever and are characterised by their lack of detail.
Seriously, if Bethesda could hire an actual writer to slap together an interesting character or two that would be fantastic. It would really wake up those people who call 'Andreja' one of the best companions Bethesda have ever written for merit of her eye-wateringly basic secret-agent narrative which touches practically nothing on her character growth whatsoever. Not that any of the other companions are any better but good god- if Andreja is your gold standard than for sake of everyone you need to pick up 'Like a Dragon' or 'Infinite Wealth' or 'Persona 3 Reload' or anything with real characters in it! There's a gulf of wasted potential just sitting on the sidelines!
I sit in hope, vain though it may be, that I end up being proven wrong and Shattered Space totally transforms the Starfield experience. I would actually love for that to be the case because I would supremely enjoy playing this game a hell of a lot more- but Bethesda have had a bit of a problem with even meeting expectations these days, let alone surpassing them. And my expectations aren't exactly through the roof as it is. Starfield will have had 12 months worth of feedback by the time of it's first expansion, and if their team is reactive enough to be able to address all of that, maybe we might get a No Man's Sky style comeback, rather than a 'Suicide Squad' style drowning.
No comments:
Post a Comment