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[JOEVIAL]

What are your realistic expectations for Starfield? The 40+ minute deep-dive video gave us a good look at what to expect; they actually communicated very clearly what Starfield is, the overall story arc, factions, gameplay, how planets and exploration will work, etc. Fallout 4 was handled a similar way before release... they actually showed what to expect and they delivered on those expectations.

With that said I will mainly be focusing on what was shown so far but I will also infer a little bit with some anecdotal evidence.

I will keep it short, everything below is inferred from their deep dive:

Positive Expectations:

• A classic Bethesda Softworks Game more akin to Oblivion and Fallout 3.
• More engaging gunplay and weapons.
• Story arc hook, unraveling the mysteries of the universe... and what is out there.

Realistic Expectations:

• Less agency for exploration and less of a hand crafted feel to the galaxy/planets.
• Less motivation for exploration because locations can be automatically populated at the press of a button (scan) and also there are no land vehicles.
• Barren planets that are not worth exploring as they are completely procedurally generated and only for resource gathering.
  
• Anecdotal: Looks like chats and dialogue options with random NPC's may be reduced or removed. In previous Bethesda Softworks games, you could "talk" with anyone. Sure... not everyone had worthwhile dialogue options, but I would always talk with everyone just in case some random NPC had a quest or unique dialogue options. They didn't really show that in the deep-dive... plus the cities look like they have an incredible amount of NPC's... which tells me that some of them are "dead" NPC's that you cannot talk with. We will see.

I sound a bit negative with some of my realistic expectations above... but even with all that said, I have not been this excited for a games release in years.

 

[RagnarokIV]

Groundbreaking

 

[MidGenRefresh]

GOTG.

 

[Pelta88]

My gaming due diligence is hands on gameplay.

In this case, it has to be outside of the XBOX influencer bubble who came back from the Redfall gameplay showcase singing its praises. Let the community get hands on and get back to us. I'll set my expectations from there.

 

[German Hops]

The game that will break ground.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Best game ever. People will ignore the framerate it'll be so good.

 

[thatsafakewebsitebro]

Honestly, I think it’s gonna be okay. Not as groundbreaking as Mass Effect 1 and 2, but okay.

 

[Mattdaddy]

I think overall it’ll be a special game, a very unique experience… but hindered by significant bugs/technical setbacks.

PC experience 6 months after launch could be truly special. But Im sweating for the console versions.

 

[Sethbacca]

I think it's gonna be typical Bethesda, i.e big and fun despite numerous bugs and jank.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

My only expectation is heavy and deep exploration, I want to feel again the Mass Effect 1 planet exploration with the Mako, not asking much ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[The Infectious Paradox]

Positives
● Seems like it may get back to the quality of a Skyrim or Fallout 3. Those games were so engaging and deep. Everything after those felt shallow to me
● So much gun variety and uniqueness. I am a huge stickler when it comes to weapons, but every one I saw in the deep dive looked awesome to me. I just hope they each have a good sound and punch from the controller
● VARIED ENVIRONMENTS. I was so stoked when Fallout 4 was announced, but I ended up hating the environments. I did not like how everything was dilapidated. Even if that was the point. Everything looks unique and clean.

Realistic
● Im thinking gunplay wont feel much better than Fallout 4. Which wasn't terrible but it could have been better
● Feels mostly like the only enemy is humans. I like boss battles, but I don't see how they do this like they did with death claws, dragons, etc.
● Too much emptiness

 

[danklord]

It needs to be the best thing they've ever done.

 

[R3TRODYCE]

GOTG...But tbh this gen hasn't been that great so I guess that isn't outlandish.

 

[T4keD0wN]

Space Khajiits, it has to have space Khajiits, i want it to have space Khajiits. It will have a planet with space Khajiits and i will spend half of my playtime there.

 

[Riky]

Defining moment of the generation, no other console game is going to be near this depth and size.

 

[mansoor1980]

will keep gamers busy for a long time

 

[Pagusas]

I think it will be Skyrim/Fallout in space and I'll be happy with that. Anything else is extra and will make me love it more.

Realisitcally I think:

1. People are going to find the planets boring/cookie cutter and say there is a very stark and obvious difference between the small amount of hand crafted content vs the procedural. I think there will be tons of hand crafted content, but people will complain its too spread out between all the procedual stuff.

2. I'm worried "collecting materials" will be the most boring thing ever. It sure is in No Man Sky.

3. I think the story will be fun and good, but nothing spectacular (I mean non of the fallouts or elder scrolls have had outstanding stories, all were just ok)

4. I think the mod community will make this game amazing in a few year (just like skyrim)

5. I think shipbuilding will become the main draw of the game and be the main driver for most players.

 

[Robochobo]

It's fun.

 

[JOEVIAL]

My only expectation is heavy and deep exploration, I want to feel again the Mass Effect 1 planet exploration with the Mako, not asking much ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Unfortunately they did not show any land vehicles, so any type of Mako exploration is out of the picture.

This type of game screams for a squishy suspension moon buggy. Bethesda are going for that "NASA-PUNK" atmosphere... so a moon buggy would be a megaton addition.

They have never done land vehicles though, so this would be extremely difficult for them to add in their engine.

 

[kaizenkko]

I hope it'll be good enough to dispute the GOTY against Redfall.

 

[winjer]

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Just expecting a good game. 85+ Meta

 

[killatopak]

I’ve said it countless times. Just give me fallout in space and I’ll be satisfied. It’s not a high hurdle to do.

 

[Punished Miku]

My expectations have been pretty low for years, basically just expecting Fallout in space - which is fine. The latest preview showed a lot of depth though in the settings and potential places you can explore. It will still be Fallout in space, but I was perhaps underselling the "in space" part. Getting Bethesda style quests on abandoned ships, giant space stations, futuristic mega-cities, and countless types of planets ranging from pleasure city to space western all sounds pretty great. I think people at this point should be expecting a good Bethesda style game. But we'll see. Still wish it had more tactical depth in combat, but it seems some of it is being kept hidden. The minor tweaking you can do with the ships during combat sounds fun.

 

[Team Andromeda]

It will only sell 9 million in its 1st year

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

My most anticipated game in a very long time

Likely to be a mess on launch but modders will straighten it out

 

[JOEVIAL]

I think it will be Skyrim/Fallout in space and I'll be happy with that. Anything else is extra and will make me love it more.

Realisitcally I think:

1. People are going to find the planets boring/cookie cutter and say there is a very stark and obvious difference between the small amount of hand crafted content vs the procedural. I think there will be tons of hand crafted content, but people will complain its too spread out between all the procedual stuff.

2. I'm worried "collecting materials" will be the most boring thing ever. It sure is in No Man Sky.

3. I think the story will be fun and good, but nothing spectacular (I mean non of the fallouts or elder scrolls have had outstanding stories, all were just ok)

4. I think the mod community will make this game amazing in a few year (just like skyrim)

5. I think shipbuilding will become the main draw of the game and be the main driver for most players.

This is great... I completely agree with all points.

I too am expecting Fallout but in space, and so far it looks like they have achieved that and then some.

 

[mrmustard]

My expectations:

- Fallout in space
- hundreds of hours to spend
- endless modding potential
- Metacriic 84-88
- I will love it as all Bethesda games
- many people who don't play it will hate it

 

[Pop]

Play on PC to avoid that 30fps crap

 

[Ansphn]

Think Fallout 76. That's the current Bethesda base.

 

[Romulus]

I think it'll be a 6/10 game at launch with 9/10 ambitions that we'll see in late 2024-2025.

 

[Drizzlehell]

 

[Pagusas]

- many people who don't play it will hate it

100000% this. The number of people who will have never played it but claiming it over rated and hating it will be at an alllll time high.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

At worst it will be as bad as Fallout 4. Which is still enjoyable.

 

[Del_X]

There's like 4x the dialogue of Skyrim. I'm expecting a typical playthrough that tries to get to most side content as you go through the main quest to be about 250 hours

 

[fatmarco]

It's framerate is almost guaranteed to be in that 20-30 FPS range.

And that will be annoying, but alright.

 

[Topher]

I expect to be playing this game for many years just like Oblivion and Skyrim

 

[Wooxsvan]

will run like crap on consoles and be a buggy stuttering mess on PC even w/ $700 graphic cards

 

[Labadal]

What I expect? Lots of fun exploration. Mediocre writing. Serviceable combat. I will spend around 90-110 hours with the game.

That's what I have done with their previous open world rpgs.

 

[Days like these...]

I expect my eyeballs to melt and to splooge myself everyrime I fire up the game. Nothing less

 

[Daneel Elijah]

One of Bethesda strengths was/is the first hour of their games. Fallout 3 and Skyrim both have a really good intro in my opinion. So I hope for the same in Starfield. From there it will be a question of will they have enough goodwill from it to hide what they lack conpared to others games or not. Depending on your hype levels and the games you have played before it can go to this is shit, there is no this No man sky/ Star Citizen/ Eve Online feature that is essential to fun. Or some even more stupid shit like this does not look like Horizon or this is not stable like older games are. I think that the marketing will have to be really good because after Redfall any mistake from them can become a meme and it would be a shame for that to happen to Starfield as this is a new IP with considerable ambition.

For me I am pretty much hyped and have a good idea of what I will want to do in it. I know now that I will be a diplomat, will limit myself to pistols, will try to go for a full robotic crew and use my ship like FTL. So full missiles. I hope that the game will be like Death Stranding. What I mean by that is that if you liked Death Stranding, you often really loved it, but if it does not click with you, then the game feels average at best. As I loved DS, I want the same from Starfield. Sadly with Armored Core 6 out just before Starfield, and Spider Man 2 a few weeks later, I will probably wait until end of 2023, or even January 2024 before buying the game, as I do not play a lot and those two games will take months to finish.

 

[German Hops]

I expect to splooge myself every time I fire up the game.

 

[bender]

It will be big.

 

[SirKicksalot]

Daggerfall in space

 

[JOEVIAL]

I expect my eyeballs to melt and to splooge myself everyrime I fire up the game. Nothing less

 

[Robb]

I don’t really have any specific expectations for it outside of thinking it’s going to be a good/great game.

They seem to have a clear vision of what they want it to be, which excites me.

 

[cinnamonandgravy]

havent seen the latest builds, but early previews were bleh.
currently doesnt have residency in my mind palace.

will try it on pc and hope im 100% wrong.

 

[Bartski]

Realistic Expectations:

• jank
• bugs
• trainwreck at launch
• 25 fps on XsX
• game so good it won't matter

 

[Husky]

I've played very few games for over 100 hours, but Bethesda always manages to get me. I expect at least 100 hours in Starfield.

 

[GermanZepp]

10/10