Why couldn't you just use time dilation (ie a 10x 20x 100x button)? You don't need a lore reason for it, just do it. It's not like their world building currently makes much sense as it stands, so it's not gonna get any worse.So if Bethesda ever implement this themselves, they'd need to either retcon the lore a bit, or introduce it as a brand new tech breakthrough in DLC (which would still require updating various lines of dialogue and info in the game about FTL travel), or find a solution that involves the warp drive still.
I like having the option but I still prefer the zoom in. It's more intimate. I find the zoom out to be too far from the character.What do you think of the new camera view during conversations?
What do you think of the new camera view during conversations?
Yeah, I think people want a space RPG to be a space sim but it was never going to be that.
Exactly. And I know Starfield has some space sim gameplay elements (flying etc) but that still doesn't make it a space sim.True, I don't remember people throwing shade at Mass Effect because the journey between locations was effectively a load screen.
Yeah, I think people want a space RPG to be a space sim but it was never going to be that.
That's fair. I loved the game obviously but I don't think the Direct was misleading at all. People will have different takeaways from the Direct but I got everything I expected out of the game based on what they talked about and showed. We already knew it didn't have seamless ground to space travel before launch, for example.Problem is that Todd Howard was talking out his butt and hyped people up.
I am fine with what Starfield is now BUT I expected a different game from what I was shown and told.
And I am not the only one.
That's fair. I loved the game obviously but I don't think the Direct was misleading at all. People will have different takeaways from the Direct but I got everything I expected out of the game based on what they talked about and showed. We already knew it didn't have seamless ground to space travel before launch, for example.
Is that not just a loading screen that looks different?I am shocked that they even added a 60fps let alone a 40fps mode.
At this point I wouldn't be shocked of they do something about the loading screens, like adding transition cutscenes instead.
But it 'tricks' people. I do think it leads to a better ux ultimately.
I guess lol (also there is already some of this, like taking off and landing, traveling to another planet in the system etc)But it 'tricks' people. I do think it leads to a better ux ultimately.
I suppose but there may be situations where the loading screen would be shorter than the cutscene that plays.Yep pretty much but it can make the game feel a lot different.
It's like those crawl space and elevators loading screens, they could all just faded to black but giving the illusion that something is actually happening helps with the wait.
So goodWhat do you think of the new camera view during conversations?
Speaking of which I prefer the Fallout elevators and would prefer that over the black screen Starfield has.They did that for the elevators in Fallout 4, I don't see how they can't do an in cockpit loading transition that masks the feeling of a loading screen
As I said above, the game already has lots of these. Docking with space stations, traveling from one planet to another within the same system, jumping from one system to another, landing and taking off from a planet. They're all the immersive cutscenes that you describe. I'd argue that those cutscenes are actually more common in regular play than the traditional loading screens. I think it only plays a traditional loading screen if you fast travel directly to a location on another planet, so you're skipping take off, grav jump and landing, but also you're getting there much quicker.It helps a lot with the immersion and the cohesive experience.
I'd rather see some pretty and smooth cutscenes than a simple and boring loading screen.
I love it - I modded Fallout 4 recently on Xbox to essentially be this (silent protagonist, with free camera movement during dialogue, no zoom or cinematic angles)What do you think of the new camera view during conversations?
Sending to the ship's cargo, yes, but have they ever fixed the issue when switching between different ships of different cargo sizes? If they ever fixed that mess, then I am ecstatic.
It helps a lot with the immersion and the cohesive experience.
I'd rather see some pretty and smooth cutscenes than a simple and boring loading screen.
Granted, I probably hyped myself up more than Todd did. :DD
I'll give them that.
That being said, I'll definitely pick the game back up because the changes do look promising.
And if I want a full blown space sim, there are other games for that type of experience.
You fell entranced into Todd Howard's eyes and his leather jacket like we all did.
I loved the game honestly, if it wasn't for Alan Wake it would've been my personal GOTY last year, I hadn't realized the update was out on the steam beta branch, I'm downloading it now to see, does anyone know if you can transfer (manually of course) savefiles between the Microsoft Store version and the Steam one? Because I'd be curious to try it out.
Tbh, I'd really like for a crafting overhaul because right now it's clunky af
They just need to stop linking it to level ups and talent points already.I feel this way about all their games (cept maybe ESO since I haven't done any there yet). For some reason I really look forward to crafting in these games and they don't deliver well enough.
That and the modding scene finally being allowed to take off should give the game new life. It's absurd that it's taken a year to get the creation kit considering how important it is to the game's long-term success.I was holding off until they did an update like this to finish the game. I knew they were going to do quality improvements in the future. I'm so excited for the dlc and land vehicles!
There's a mod that at least proves that the engine could do seamless space travel, at least on PC.
https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/3541?tab=description
Literally all it does is remove your ship's maximum speed limit so you can fly normally but at hundreds of times c. It proves that when you're in space, a basic model of every body in the system actually is modeled at 1:1 scale distances. If you watch this video, it shows the ship having to slow down to give the game time to load the stuff you normally see in orbit over a planet. That suggests to me that the game could have an Elite-like supercruise system where your top speed is affected by how much gravity is around you.
I imagine that if Bethesda did something like this, they would add more POIs and other encounters that could happen between planets, like pirate attacks, NPC ships you can meet, ships you can enter, or asteroids you could land on.
View: https://youtu.be/MtvOIBWFbt0
Indeed. People love to bring up that one modder that shit on Starfield and swore off modding for it as if Starfield's CC will be DOA. Mod creators / emulators / OSS people are great, but can also be incredibly fickle.That and the modding scene finally being allowed to take off should give the game new life. It's absurd that it's taken a year to get the creation kit considering how important it is to the game's long-term success.
Agree, that's one the reasons Starfield imo doesn't work, and it's baked into their entire game concept. If they had one solar system with half a dozen main planets and a scattering of smaller ones, with time dilation when you flew, even if there were loading screens for landing / docking, I think it would have worked.
Starfield doesn't work for me (among other reasons) because being spread over 100 planets forces you into a pattern of fast travel that disrupts the fundamental bethesda loop of "oh, what's over there?". Traveling from A to B but getting distracted by C through Z on the way. They have lost the carefully crafted connected space that felt immersive and realistic. POIs don't count, they are random and unauthored, and don't contribute to a feeling of discovery. Of course you're going to find POIs, the algorithm says so.
The Skyrim equivilent would be if, when leaving whiterun, they showed you an animation of the guards opening the door and you slipping through; loading screen; you're now in a 10x10m area outside whiterun; you pick your new city or bandit camp or whatever from a menu; loading screen; you're in a 10x10m area outside your destination; etc. No opportunities to bump into people on the road, no opportunities to use your eyes to see a temple up in the mountains, or a barrow in the distance. No choices about taking the road because it's safer or cutting through the wilderness because it's faster. Not even a choice about a mount vs not, varying your relationship between exploration and moving fast. Just endless fast travel.
What do you think of the new camera view during conversations?
This is how I feel too. Maybe they wanted to bring it back to the way they did things in Arena and Daggerfall, with 1:1 scale where walking to the next town actually would take you an entire day and you can just fast travel everywhere for convenience, but I think they should've recognized that the outer space element would give them more options.Starfield doesn't work for me (among other reasons) because being spread over 100 planets forces you into a pattern of fast travel that disrupts the fundamental bethesda loop of "oh, what's over there?". Traveling from A to B but getting distracted by C through Z on the way. They have lost the carefully crafted connected space that felt immersive and realistic. POIs don't count, they are random and unauthored, and don't contribute to a feeling of discovery. Of course you're going to find POIs, the algorithm says so.
I mentioned this earlier, but this is why I think Bethesda wrote themselves into a corner. They wanted the setting to feel somewhat grounded but the decision ended up holding them back more than helping, especially since Starfield is, at-heart, a AAA game for mainstream audiences that ultimately prioritizes fun over realism.. Elite still has a more "realistic" representation of space and flight physics and it still has a shortcut.There is an additional hurdle to overcome here though, in that these speeds break the game's lore. FTL travel is only possible with warp drives in the game. Cora muses about it on your ship if you take Sam with you (something like: "Do you think we'll ever figure out FTL travel? You know, without warp drive cheating.") So even if ships can travel as fast as the speed of light without warp drives (highly unlikely) then the travel time between Earth and Pluto would be around 4.5 hours.
So if Bethesda ever implement this themselves, they'd need to either retcon the lore a bit, or introduce it as a brand new tech breakthrough in DLC (which would still require updating various lines of dialogue and info in the game about FTL travel), or find a solution that involves the warp drive still. And I think the warp drive is most likely. You can travel from Earth to the moon in just over a second at light speed, so I can totally see a system where flying around planets and between their moons could be done manually at much higher speeds (still sub light speed), and piloting manually to other planets in a system still requires a warp jump (which bizarrely doesn't look like it happens in-game right now, and you just get a loading screen to mask the hours, if not days, spent travelling).
I don't think they're totally screwed though. If space flight is fast enough to allow for piloting around a planet, and to reach its moons in real time, taking up to a few minutes of travel between those sort of distances at most, then that's still a lot of opportunity for emergent encounters and POIs, and in locations close enough to celestial bodies that you'd realistically expect to find them. POIs and encounters in the vaaaaaastly empty space between planets are going to be less likely realistically, and so not as much of an issue to warp jump between (provided warping is a little more immersive and doesn't require opening the star map each time...)I mentioned this earlier, but this is why I think Bethesda wrote themselves into a corner. They wanted the setting to feel somewhat grounded but the decision ended up holding them back more than helping, especially since Starfield is, at-heart, a AAA game for mainstream audiences that ultimately prioritizes fun over realism.. Elite still has a more "realistic" representation of space and flight physics and it still has a shortcut.
Indeed. People love to bring up that one modder that shit on Starfield and swore off modding for it as if Starfield's CC will be DOA. Mod creators / emulators / OSS people are great, but can also be incredibly fickle.
I think Starfield will be a very open slate for mods and there's gonna be huge opportunity to be "that mod" that transforms the game and makes waves. Like someone's already done a pretty massive mod without any special tools.
Mass Effect 1 was actually properly designed around having loading screens, Starfield was not. Yeah sure, Mass Effect 1 had lots of loading screens (as do many other games, including Skyrim), but it was a consistent and cohesive experience.Yes, of course, does have natural exploration, it's just Starfield's exploration is more city focused. It's less, "ooohh, cool rock formation. I wonder what's over there." And more, "alright, what's going on in this back alley part of the city."
Starfield pushes you more into landing at central hubs and walking around finding things to do as opposed to naturally exploring the "wilderness" to find new stuff. In this way, there is some slight resemblance to Cyberpunk style of exploration; which is less natural and more targeted and centralized. That said, the lack of a seamless transition from ground to space, really hurts the experience; even if you need to later load to travel to another system.
I do have to say that the idea that load screens makes the idea of the feeling of exploration impossible is nonsense. After all, so many people love Mass Effect 1 for its exploration and that consisted of tons load screens and then being plopped onto a 5x5m area on a map. But the reasons Mass Effect was good was because 1) how quick the loading was and 2) how immediate the ability to find stuff was. You picked an interesting looking spot in the galaxy map, you arrived, and you pretty much would immediately get a message over your communications systems pointing you to some dispute in the area that needed your assistance or some distress call.
In Starfield, you will jump to a new system and have no idea (unless brought there from some quest you overheard) what system even has life. You'll then scan around until you find a place with some POIs, land, fuck about as you try to determine whether there is anything of value in that space or just procedural content, and then leave. It's the actual lack of curation that hurts Starfield's exploration. You can go ANYWHERE, problem is the majority of places have nothing of actual value to do.
People said the same about Fallout 4 back then, that it was so bad that modders will just stick with Skyrim. Way smaller games than Starfield have big modding scenes, that concern is just weird fear mongering
Indeed. People love to bring up that one modder that shit on Starfield and swore off modding for it as if Starfield's CC will be DOA. Mod creators / emulators / OSS people are great, but can also be incredibly fickle.
I think Starfield will be a very open slate for mods and there's gonna be huge opportunity to be "that mod" that transforms the game and makes waves. Like someone's already done a pretty massive mod without any special tools.
Mass Effect 1 was actually properly designed around having loading screens, Starfield was not. Yeah sure, Mass Effect 1 had lots of loading screens (as do many other games, including Skyrim), but it was a consistent and cohesive experience.
With Starfield we have a big RPG, procedurally generated planets to "explore", and....well whatever space is supposed to be. It almost feels like playing 3 different games in one session.
They tried to shove a Bethesda RPG into some VERY limited proc gen tech, and stitched it all together with fast travel and basic loading screens.
You say you don't believe load screens can make the feeling of exploration impossible, but take a moment to imagine what it would be like if, let's say Skyrim, could not dynamically load in new chunks of the world as you move around and the ONLY way to travel to that mountain you see off in the distance was for you to open up your map to fast travel and load in to it.
edit: I do want to say I'm really happy that they actually are making ground vehicles, I really didn't believe they would ever do that.
I want a less loading screen patch. Cut them in half at least.