Thoughts for Bethsoft (Starfield actually looks promising)

[melvinius]

Starfield's release was rough.  I pre-ordered only to be unable to play due to performance issues.  I shelved the game for a while.  Then I played it for a while, but then shelved it again because it felt empty and lifeless and incomplete.  Then I modded it to the max, and it's becoming tolerable.  Probably years and years away from full potential, but tolerable.  There's still hope for you, Bethsoft, despite your seeming lack of ability to adapt, improvise, or truly innovate.

As a gamer and game developer myself, I wanted to lay out some thoughts about what makes a game fun and how Bethsoft can improve the Starfield experience going forward.  Hopefully some of these ideas can be utilized for future Starfield expansions and bugfixes.

- Bethsoft, grinding isn't fun.  Grinding for materials so you can build a sofa in your base isn't fun.  Trying to sit down for a couple hours and build a base only to find you need 666 more bonemeal to finish the final tower isn't fun.  You need to transition this style of gameplay to something more streamlined.  I would recommend having ONE resource (programmable matter) which can be used for everything from basebuilding to weaponsmithing, and which can be purchased or gotten by reducing any item into that resource.  Then, use UNLOCKS to determine WHAT you are able to build, unlocks in the form of blueprints or 3D-printer models or something like that.  Realistic, streamlined, much more fun, much less grindy.  Thank goodness for mods that eliminate build costs, Starfield is currently horrific without them.

- Ship boarding action needs an overhaul.  The "last enemy" requirement is a bit arbitrary.  Think about it, if a single ship goes up against a squadron and docks with one of the squadron, the others will stop firing on the coupled ships lest they damage their ally as well.  I'd love to see a mechanic where there are "airlocks" that NPC ships can summon reinforcements through or through which the player can exit their ship to board another vessel stealthily.  Maybe the player can disable airlocks with the captain's passkey or something to lock out enemy reinforcements while boarding an enemy NPC ship.  But if the player wants to go through a fight by systematically boarding and disabling ALL the ships in the opposing squadron, this should be an option.

- Ship bay doors are still a mess.  I would like to see a control panel inside and outside each one so they can be manually opened/closed/hacked.  There are some GREAT mods that allow entry into INACCESSIBLE ships... this should be a standard feature with all ships crewed and accessible.  No set dressing ships that serve no purpose, which ruins immersion.

- The lockpick minigame is awful.  There should be a menu option to turn it off completely.  I have a mod that simply removed a digipick and opens the lock if the required perk is owned.  It's quick, easy, smooth, satisfying.

- Crimson Fleet questline needs fleshing out.  Options to betray both sides and make off with the loot.  I don't think all CF ships and pirates should become friendlies either.  These guys are cutthroats, distrustful and always looking for a mark.  They would prey on each other as well as others.  Survival of the fittest.  If you attack a member of a crew out on some planet, of course they'll all attack you.  At the Key, however, it makes sense that fights and skirmishes might break out between crews, even murders, as we saw in the intro, without the entire Key becoming hostile.

- Hostility is awful in this game.  Everyone, even civilians, aggro en masse and gang up on the player.  Seriously, Bethsoft, is this what you call fun?  I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume this was laziness and not intentional game design.

- The base building system is awful.  Key things are missing like doors, fixtures, etc.  Fallout 4 was much better fleshed out.  I'm hoping Bethsoft will fix this with an eventual expansion.

- I loved the Terrormorph questline because it tapped into those old sci-fi movie vibes like the Alien or Predator franchises.  This gave a real thrill during some of those quests.  DO MORE OF THIS.  The plot of "some horrible alien is loose on our ship killing the crew" never gets old.  Starfield could benefit from more mature elements.  Dismemberment should be implemented, but maybe have it as a toggle in the settings for those who don't want it.  Stuff can easily be toned down from "R-rated horror" to "PG-13 family friendly" pretty easily with some basic settings and content tweaks, allowing the game to appeal to a broader base of players.

- The Red Mile was pretty lame.  There is so much potential here for basically an arena-type questline.  There could even be Hunger Games type competitions at the Red Mile, with real gambling, different quests, scavenger hunt in the crater, last man standing, etc.

- Ship building is the main draw of the game for me.  It's great (with mods) but needs work.  There need to be parts that allow blocking the placement of doors and ladders.  These can be simple flush fitting plates that attach to doorways and hatches but still allow other modules to be clicked into place.  But players need more control over the ship building, the random pathing isn't cutting it.

- I'd love to see large-scale factional fleet battles with objectives during the battle.  Maybe this could be done as part of an expansion where a hostile sentient alien race wants human space for themselves.  Again, tap into those existing sci-fi plots, lots of inspiration to draw from.

- A lot of city hubs simply need to be more fleshed out.  Paradiso (I think that was the name) was simply a joke.  No clubs?  No casinos?  Just a beach in the middle of nowhere?  How many people live in the Settled Systems, anyways?  About 1,500?

- I'd love to see more hellworlds ALA the Riddick franchise.  (My only base ingame is actually called "Riddick Base.")  Basically you build a base on these places, and the local wildlife makes it their life mission to devour you and/or tear your base to the ground.

- There needs to be the possibility of YOUR ship being disabled and boarded.  Example: the Crimson Fleet wants the Frontier.  They aren't going to want to blow it up, just kill the crew and take it for themselves.  There should be some fights where the player can be disabled (through fair mechanics or sometimes via plot device as needed) and an enemy party boards the vessel and tries to take it over.

Implement just SOME of these suggestions, Bethsoft, and I guarantee the game will be way better experience.  Implement them all and you'll have the core of something legendary.

[HeyYou]

I don't agree with a fair bit of what you have to say.... but, I DO agree with some of it..... There are also mods available that address a fair few of the issues you bring up here. Doors and ladders in ships, for instance. There is a mod that blocks ANY automatic placement, and the player is REQUIRED to install doors/ladders where necessary. (except for cockpits, dockers, and landing bays, those doors are already hard placed on the models....)

Base building.... Yeah.... that needs a LOT of work. I don't quite get why the system got so horribly nerfed from FO4... It is a major step backwards from the previous game.... Modders are filling in the gaps though... (as always....) I would like to think that we will see some dlc that adds significantly to base building... As it stands now, There is no reason for you to build anything, unless you enjoy that kind of thing, given its limitations.