Recent reviews by Etthos

Honestly an amazing game! Couldn't wait for the next episodes. The story and the voice acting were top notch! I knew of most of them yet I was so lost in the story I never even realized til I saw the credits. Definitely recommend the game to anyone interested in the Telltale style, TTRPGs, or Invincible!

Tis the eve of the glorious 69th hour with Starfield. In this celebratory time I think it fitting to leave my reminiscence on the experience.

First and foremost, the criticisms.

Starfield is a Bethesda game, nothing more and nothing less. It is certainly disappointing that they took the time to implement a rudimentary flight model with 8 degrees of freedom (you can strafe your starship by holding the space bar), pirating/ docking mechanics, exploration, and ship customization yet failed to bring their existing systems to modern standards.

Followers still get in your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ way (particularly noticeable in the tight corridors that make up the majority of the game's level design). Bethesda Jank (TM) is still very much present (though I find that is part of the charm of Bethesda games). You will certainly see NPCs on tables or phasing through the ceiling, or in the case of the Ship Technician at Neon, just not being there at all.

The inventory system is a nightmare, and the lack of QoL shows a disregard for user experience that I can barely fathom from a company that has been a staple of the industry for decades and constantly preaches "how lucky they are to have the fans" (looking at you Todd).

There is no local map at all, why you can even open the "local map" (which is nothing more than an aerial view of the information your HUD already tells you) is beyond me. I get that you couldn't make one for every planet, but what about the cities? You get the sense that they got to the point in the dev process where they were talking about the local map and realized that it would be difficult to allocate the proper manpower. Then somebody suggested forgetting about it entirely to "allow the player to discover it themselves and get lost in the world" or some such. Yet if that was really the goal, the best way to achieve that would be to put a map in the world, not one you pull up, but one you have to go to. Instead we got half-assed terminal that contains a text document that lists the places you could go... if you can find them yourself.

You see these kind of choices all over, railings and ceilings that are just at the right height to prevent you from clambering over them. Boxing you in, preventing free traversal for seemingly no reason when instead they should revel in the freedom the boost pack can provide. Skills that should be foundational (like research, crafting, and building) are locked deep within the skill trees. The intention is to give you something to work towards but the implementation makes it feel like a frustrating bar to entry you must overcome.

You can feel a disconnect between what the devs think players want and what they actually want. A disconnect I expect of college-level artists, not a studio as tenured as Bethesda. Yet if you can get over its many flaws and outdated mechanics, there is a lot to like about the game.

Combat:

The combat feels good whether in ship or on foot. The ship combat is a bit simple, but there is something satisfying about a perfect vector merge that puts you right on a bogey's tail. That combined with the ship customization, power management, boarding, and targeting makes for a really enjoyable experience.

On foot combat has outdated base movement, its floaty and there is no momentum like you get from something like Apex, or snappy cover to cover like Gears or Cyberpunk. Yet the sandboxy aspects of Bethesda games really shine through as your character progresses through the game. Just don't expect a challenge (even on hard), this is an RPG, you will be getting damaged often and your victory will be determined less by craftiness, aim, and skill (though it certainly matters), and more by having enough meds and ammo to get through the fight.

Resource Management:

Yes the inventory system is trash but the resource scarcity is on point. Even at this point in the game I find myself needing to drop a ton of money on ammo, running out of digipicks, medkits, and ship parts. I'm sure there will be a breaking point where I just have f*** you money, but even with the many hours I have put in I still find myself without all the things I ultimately want to possess.

I'm sure people will find all the ways to exploit the economy through outposts and whatnot (just like Fallout 4 with purified water) but if you run what I believe to be the typical play-through (less outposts, less crafting, more dungeoneering, more questing) you will find the economic progression to be very satisfying. Though once again, I chose to play on hard so this may be something that you only get on the higher difficulties.

Exploration:

The exploration gameplay loop is surprisingly fun. Its a lot like No Man's Sky but it feels more intentional, less empty. It strikes a good balance between curated content and procedural generation. Where No Man's Sky often feels pointless, you can feel an artist's touch in Starfield. There is no lack of content to explore and often the games best moments come from stumbling across a distress call or a dungeon with an awesome story to investigate. The scanning feature while brain dead and simple has often served as motivation for me to continue to explore landing sites. The completionist in me looks for that last rock so I can see that 100% and that has often led me to find some cool dungeon or POI that I would have otherwise missed.

Story:

Since this is a Bethesda game, when I talk about story I mean all the longer quest chains. This is the most volatile factor of the game, presumably because of how vast the world is. Some of the dialogue is fantastic, it really brings you into the fantasy and builds to stunning conclusions, while other examples are true indictments of the skill and experience of the writers. For some of the quest chains you will really have to slog through some generic, phoned in crap to get to the good stuff. There are also moments when you will feel like a quest is putting you mostly on rails. Sure you get to choose how you do it, but you still have to do it. If the game wants you to steal from law-abiding citizens, you will be stealing from law-abiding citizens, they will know, and will not be happy about it.

Graphics and Sound Design:

The game can be insanely gorgeous at times, particularly as you sweep your gaze over a vast desolate plain in sunset, stand amidst a lightning storm while the roar of the heavens embraces you, or speed through the scorching wreckage of your latest prey. Yet a lot of that majesty is lost when you interact with the NPCs. The way Bethesda animates their characters has not changed appreciably from the days of Skyrim, still the same, mostly expressionless robots that try to convince you they are charismatic. If you liked that campy aspect of Morrowind, you will see it here, if to a lesser degree. Some won't mind it, others will hate it.

All in all, Starfield is a game I will continue to play for years despite it's many, many flaws. If you can get over the lack of QoL, loading screens, bad animation, awful inventory management, etc. you will really enjoy the experience.

The wealth of content and the way they approach NG+ really provides repeatability. I find myself roleplaying my character more than I do in most games, giving them head canon and getting sucked into the world. Often the game rewards you for that approach, and I wholeheartedly recommend choosing a lane in the game and sticking with it. The variety of mechanics is great to see, you don't have to do everything but there is always some gameplay loop for you no matter what kind of rpg gamer you are.

This is not a game for everyone, but if you are a sci-fi nerd this game will scratch that itch. It has been awhile since we have had a well executed and sprawling space game like Starfield and I hope that the success of the game will pave the way for more companies to try their hand at the genre.

Ninety-nine hours in the game and I have yet to finish the campaign, that should tell you all you need to know. The Witcher 3 is a masterpiece, rich in content with an endlessly enjoyable gameplay loop. The soundtrack, graphics, and story are all incredible, in fact, almost every aspect of this game is incredible. However, when compared to newer rpgs, there are a few quality of life things that I miss, such as the lack of a sell all junk button. Furthermore the controls can be a bit convoluted at times and the "skill tree" leaves much to be desired. As expected of such a content heavy game, I have noticed quite a few glitches, but as of yet nothing remotely game breaking. The worst I had was a glitch that removed the health potion from the alchemy tab, but there is a skill that allows you to craft this potion automatically when you meditate, and for cheaper too, basically completely circumventing the issue. Additionally, the modding community has been active for so long, many of these problems can be mitigated. I would recommend this game to almost anyone, but I think those who have played a lot of video games will appreciate this product the most. Even in 2019, more than 4 years later, the Witcher 3 manages to stand apart amongst RPGs.

A great open-ended tactical fps game. The modding potential is insane and the community has definitely taken advantage. One downside would be the complexity of controls, there are a lot of different controls and it takes a bit to get used to. But once you've learned them, you don't even notice. I would recommend this to any gamer who likes the outdoors, military simulation, or realism.

Really fun gmae, I enjoyed it through and through. I love the dev team who seem to genuinley care about their community rather than just the money. I was slightly dissapointed in the fact that the new dlc were not included in the season pass but that is something I can live with.