20 Hours With Starfield: My Thoughts
I'm a bad ass space lesbian, y'all!
Starfield was announced at E3 in 2018. When I saw that one of my favorite game companies was developing an “open-world” type game set in space, I was, ahem, over the moon.
Bethesda and I have a long, personal history together. In 2002 (I was 14), I purchased The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind for my Xbox. Along with the strategy guide that was about 500 pages, I would sit and play the immersive RPG for hours/days at a time with the book in my lap. Morrowind changed my brain chemistry of what RPGs could be because I had been in love with the Final Fantasy model of turn based combat and structured storytelling. Morrowind dropped you off from a boat into the world and just let you figure it all out yourself. It was overwhelming as it was rewarding. A year later I purchased the Game of the Year Edition with the add ons included and spent another year in my favorite world.
Of course as the years passed, we would eventually get Fallout 3, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and they would all eat away my free time. Skyrim in particular recaptured the same magic for me that Morrowind did with fighting dragons, beautiful landscapes, enjoyable combat, and just the overall production. I still listen to the score today when I write or I’ll put it on in my bookstore while clients shop.
I love the Bethesda format of games. I love their storytelling and I love the way they get their gamers to interact with their worlds. At this point, I revisit Bethesda games as comfort food in the same way I play old Halo titles or Mass Effect. It reminds me of a time when video games were only for my enjoyment. I could ignore all of their imperfections and just lose myself in what the game wanted to offer me.
Booting up Starfield for the first time came with plenty of expectations on my end. I waited 5 years to play a new IP from the company that changed how I perceived video games. It only took 5 minutes of me playing to realize that this was a Bethesda game through and through. For some, that was all they needed to know that they were not interested and for me, it was all it took for me to know this game was going to consume me for a year.
Starfield does what Bethesda games do - drops the player into the world, holds their hand for a couple of hours then sets you off to explore. While the hand holding is a little more generous this time around given the amount of systems at work between exploration, space travel and base building, the game fails to tell you about all the helpful details that you just have to figure out on your own. The menus can be counterintuitive at times and it took me a while to realize that I could just fast travel from planet to planet just from the starmap.
The story, which I have yet to complete, is structured around joining a company called Constellation and looking for these mystical artifacts throughout the galaxy. As the story progresses you obtain powers like the Dragonborn in Skyrim and face game altering choices. As far as stories in Bethesda games go, it’s not bad. Main storylines in Bethesda games usually just serve as a vehicle to get you around the world(s) to explore and the real action happens with the side quests. That still applies.
One side quest had me unite 3 factions against pirates that were taking over their solar system. I had to get everyone together and convince them to put aside their differences to fight the common enemy. At the end of it, which took about 2 hours, I felt like I truly accomplished something rather than just gain exp to level up my character.
I think that’s why I still love Bethesda games. The quest writing is well done and even camouflaged fetch quests have weight to them and not just checking off quest boxes to get to the next thing. Replaying Dragon Age: Inquisition recently, I was struck by how bloated that game is with pointless map wandering and item hunting. Studios have filled open world games with things to do but without the substance. Starfield feels full of “stuff” and importance. Mileage may vary depending on how you view Bethesda but that’s another conversation.
Starfield has created an interesting discourse. On one side people like myself are praising the game for creating an experience that they find fun even if full of bugs or outdated mechanics. On the other side, people are criticizing the game for not having the No Man’s Sky approach to its systems and allowing the gamer to go wherever they want. One player spent 7 hours flying towards Pluto only to discover that it’s just a flat model you can’t land on. If that is what you want to spend your time doing and then complaining about just to prove the developers wrong, then go for it! But I’m happy to play the game as it’s presented to me.
The thing is, both sides are right. The game excels at what it does well and is problematic in other ways. If you can’t see past those negatives, the game is certainly not for you. You can absolutely get hung up on the inventory management in the game and be like “fuck this.” You could get hung up on the fact that the Bethesda game engine, no matter what year it is, still feels like it did 20 years ago.
Starfield rewards you for your time. Once you pass about 10 hours of gameplay, the game opens up and presents to you all the wonderful things you can do or get lost in. Basebuidling and resource hunting on random planets which was not a big sell for me initially, is in a way, cathartic. Faction quests, companion romancing, and ship building take up your time in a satisfying way. The combat is terrific and controller gripping. Shooting guns in space, hijacking ships, and blowing shit up is FUN. Fallout 3 and 4 had gunplay but this is the first time Bethesda made guns a big part of the game in the sense that guns are modern or futuristic.
I am “reviewing” this game more on my feelings than a full critique of the mechanics because you can read any other review out there to get that. I’m writing this as a fan of the company and of Starfield. I love this game and love it/accept it for what it is. Will you enjoy it? Well, depends on where you stand on the Bethesda formula and if you have GamePass then it’s a low investment for you. Give it a shot. Make a cool spaceship. Become a space cowboy.
I’ll end by saying that it’s been several years since a game ate away at the hours in my day as quickly as Starfield does and I love that. I love losing myself, turning off my brain and taking to the stars. It’s what Bethesda set out to do and for me, it works.