A pretty good game that has me worried about the future in more ways than one. Starfield has the unenviable task of living up to a mountain of hype that I think really hurts this game more than the loading times and stale open world mechanics do.
The first 20 or so hours really had me worried because of these two major issues but once the main story starts to unwrap, as you upgrade things, get a new ship, and you start messing around with some of the deeper side quests, there's a lot to like from a writing standpoint.
This mixed with some creative end game design does a good job of hiding some of the flaws this game possesses.
There are other issues I find with this game of course. The maps are awful, the menus are not great, companions are aggravating a lot of the time, detrimental at other points. The game is definitely not for everyone and if these mechanics aren't fun, it's a tough ask to sit through 20+ hours to get to good story moments that makes sticking with it feel worth it.
The biggest issue with this game, really isn't even a problem with the game. It's just the realization after playing through this that the Bethesda style game is really feeling dated, and that's honestly a bigger bummer more than anything. Like I've said previously, there is a lot of story and side quests that make up for it.......this time. But without some changes to the mechanics, I'm not sure how another one of these kinds of Bethesda games will feel 8+ years from now, (or whenever the next open world game from the team actually sees the light of day) and if another well written game can make up for that datedness.
The first 20 or so hours really had me worried because of these two major issues but once the main story starts to unwrap, as you upgrade things, get a new ship, and you start messing around with some of the deeper side quests, there's a lot to like from a writing standpoint.
This mixed with some creative end game design does a good job of hiding some of the flaws this game possesses.
There are other issues I find with this game of course. The maps are awful, the menus are not great, companions are aggravating a lot of the time, detrimental at other points. The game is definitely not for everyone and if these mechanics aren't fun, it's a tough ask to sit through 20+ hours to get to good story moments that makes sticking with it feel worth it.
The biggest issue with this game, really isn't even a problem with the game. It's just the realization after playing through this that the Bethesda style game is really feeling dated, and that's honestly a bigger bummer more than anything. Like I've said previously, there is a lot of story and side quests that make up for it.......this time. But without some changes to the mechanics, I'm not sure how another one of these kinds of Bethesda games will feel 8+ years from now, (or whenever the next open world game from the team actually sees the light of day) and if another well written game can make up for that datedness.