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[Matt_Fox]

Since gaming began the 'forever game' has been this elusive holy grail. In 1984 a game called Elite was published by Dave Braben and Ian Bell. It presented a sci-fi universe seemingly without walls or limits, and back in those wireframe graphics days that feeling of a perpetual universe captured the imagination of so many players.

After just watching the showcase for Starfield I wonder if we've just - finally - found the successor. A game of such ambition, scope, and majesty that it fills the cup to overflowing, a 'forever game'. That you can immerse yourself in, and as a single player happily spend many hours losing yourself within.

I know that video game fans have a default setting of 'unimpressed'. We want to be wowed. We demand it, and if games fall short we register our disapproval. But every now and then a game comes along that just takes it to the next level - the ambition has to be applauded.

Maybe we will need a very high end graphics card to run this game at 4K 60. Particularly once mods are involved. Maybe we will need the XSX-Pro or whatever they are going to call it. But let's give credit where its due - Starfield looks like the closest thing to a forever game that we've had for a long time. This is a celebratory post, it doesn't happen often, but surely we can all agree that ambition on this scale within the video game hobby should be celebrated!

 

[SteelCurtain 59]

I don't know if the graphics or performance will impress anybody but the game just looked phenomenal as far as I'm concerned. I'm definitely impressed

 

[diffusionx]

Starfield looked phenomenal and could potentially have hundreds of hours of gameplay at least. Seems like a game you buy and hold onto instead of keeping a GamePass sub for $15 a month for.

 

[feynoob]

Bethesda and Rockstar are the only developers that can make a long lasting games these days.

 

[GHG]

It would be if not for the fact that there's no manual interplanetary traversal.

 

[killatopak]

I'm still playing Skyrim.

Maybe when it gets released 2 more gens and a VR update

 

[Ribi]

Lmao God no. It has landing zones and cutscene landing animations

 

[Kacho]

No game is a forever game but I get what you mean. It’s that rare tent pole game that makes waves.

 

[feynoob]

Starfield looked phenomenal and could potentially have hundreds of hours of gameplay at least. Seems like a game you buy and hold onto instead of keeping a GamePass sub for $15 a month for.

If you are a pc guy, it's day1 steam.
Bethesda games are best with mods, as you get the best experience.

I am gonna enjoy the star wars mods and other high quality mods in the future.

 

[Laieon]

Starfield definitely looks like the next Skyrim in the sense that we'll have ports of it for eons, but unfortunately, like I expected, I wasn't wowed by what I saw. Bethesda games are just not what I look for or want in games. I didn't like Skyrim either, and the only Bethesda game I've ever really enjoyed was Fallout 3.

Something like Cities Skylines II, which was also shown during the show, is a lot closer to what I picture a "forever game" being. Hell, more Age of Empires 2 content would have been too. You all can spend hundreds or thousands of hours in space, I'll spend hundreds or thousands of hours perfecting city grids and roundabouts.

 

[ToadMan]

It seemed very realistic…. No atmosphere (totally ripped off comment from below)





But anyway, it felt derivative to me - at one point the music sounded like the Star Trek theme even. But yeah bits of Elite, NMS, Mass Effect, maybe even star citizen.

But being derivative isn’t necessarily a bad thing if they manage to weave the disparate parts together well.

But boy…. that was a lot of talking. If the game is that dry and tiresome to play I won’t get far.

Still hope for the best - it certainly looked better than we’ve seen before.

 

[Batiman]

Yes

 

[Negotiator101]

Looks amazing to be honest, I don't see anything coming close to the scale and ambition of this the entire generation (maybe GTA6).

 

[L*][*N*K]

Bethesda and Rockstar are the only developers that can make a long lasting games these days.

Clearly you have not played Tears of the Kingdom

 

[RZero]

I don't want to be a party popper but how in the hell can some of you guys fell for the hype every single time?

Every new AAA game is the game of the year, the game of the geration, the best game of all time.
C'mon.

The game will (probably) be good and people will play it for dozens / hundreds of hours and then will move on, like with every other game.

 

[feynoob]

Clearly you have not played Tears of the Kingdom

It's stuck on switch.

 

[Snake29]

While i'm going to play Starfield. StarCitizen is more like the "forever" game for me. Yes very long in development but that's the only Scifi game with complete freedom and were all objects are physical. I love the look of some of the space ship designs in Starfield, but the fact that quatumtravel, entering and exiting atmo and not able to free fly in atmo breaks it a bit for me. Love the interior design of the ships tho.

 

[Fredrik]

Yeah I think it’ll take over TOTK as the game I need to use a timer for so I remember to go to sleep or my work days will be ruined.
Absolutely blown away by the scope of it all with a graphical fidelity that rival almost everything (as long as you don’t look at the beard).

 

[SJRB]

The scope seems almost overwhelming.

How much of it is smoke and mirrors, we'll find out soon enough.

 

[Sybrix]

The scope seems almost overwhelming.

How much of it is smoke and mirrors, we'll find out soon enough.

This is my hesitation as well.

It was presented as game of the decade, if it delivers on all that’s presented I can see myself playing this for a very long time.

Tbh it looks GTA teir

 

[Negotiator101]

Clearly you have not played Tears of the Kingdom

Surely you're not saying that Zelda has the scale, size and scope of what Starfield brings to the table?

 

[Killer8]

Nothing is forever but when you add in the modding community then it absolutely has the potential to be a game that lasts decades.

 

[Sybrix]

the modding community

This & this 100%

Look at the Skyrim mods.

Can you imagine the modding on Starfield…….

 

[killatopak]

I don't want to be a party popper but how in the hell can some of you guys fell for the hype every single time?

Every new AAA game is the game of the year, the game of the geration, the best game of all time.
C'mon.

The game will (probably) be good and people will play it for dozens / hundreds of hours and then will move on, like with every other game.

I simply asked for Fallout in space and they seem to deliver aside from VATS. It doesn't have to be amazing for everybody. It just have to be amazing to me.

Mods make you come back and it's one thing Bethesda games have in spades. That and rereleasing the game again and again.

 

[Marvel14]

Clearly you have not played Tears of the Kingdom

Nor do they want to because grafix.

 

[Fbh]

On PC with mods, maybe.

But the base game definitely not. The game looks amazing but all the empty procedural content is the part I'm least interested or excited about. I want to explore and interact with the locations, quests, characters, cities, settlements, etc that they've actually designed. Not go to 1000 empty planets to gather resources.

 

[nemiroff]

On PC with mods, maybe.

But the base game definitely not. The game looks amazing but all the empty procedural content is the part I'm least interested or excited about. I want to explore and interact with the locations, quests, characters, cities, settlements, etc that they've actually designed. Not go to 1000 empty planets to gather resources.

I know what you mean but I doubt they're going to make the game all about going to empty places. The game is mostly just a procedural hybrid with focus on hand made locations.

 

[Matt_Fox]

Bethesda and Rockstar are the only developers that can make a long lasting games these days.

Yes. Both combine 'organised' story elements with 'chaotic' systemic elements, and it makes for a very fun real world experience!

 

[killatopak]

Gonna be interesting to see if Starfield will be bigger than Daggerfall.

 

[AJUMP23]

Nothing is Forever.

 

[Fredrik]

The scope seems almost overwhelming.

How much of it is smoke and mirrors, we'll find out soon enough.

I don’t think it’ll be smoke and mirrors but the planets are procedurally generated and that’s easy to do but difficult to master, I fully expect some weird clipping and less exciting exploration like in No Man’s Sky. They have handcrafted locations as well and I assume that’s where the really good stuff will be found.

 

[Marvel14]

Surely you're not saying that Zelda has the scale, size and scope of what Starfield brings to the table?

Maybe not in terms of sheer volume of content.

But in terms of fun emergent gameplay, freedom and player agency and diversity of gameplay content, jury is out until we can actually play it...

 

[Sygma]

I'm not even sure about the "purpose" of all the systems. I think that focusing on actually playing a character through space with such a degree of freedom is obviously amazing for folks looking for immersion, but on my end I was hoping for something "new". There's nothing that you can't already do in No Man's Sky nowadays you know ?

Just really perplexed overall

 

[justiceiro]

I heard this before:

 

[Kilau]

A forever game won’t score 6s, which I’ve been told this game will.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Gonna be interesting to see if Starfield will be bigger than Daggerfall.

Daggerfall is about the size of the UK so safe to say yes, it will be.

 

[Drizzlehell]

I'm fine with Elite Dangerous scratching that kind of an itch for me. But with Starfield I expect something more on a narrative level, so I don't really want it to be a "forever" game. The story needs its definitive conclusion.

I'm fine with the game's open world being huge and epic and with lots of stuff to do in it, but it has to be finite, otherwise it will be just like Elite: wide as an ocean but shallow as a puddle.

Okay, maybe Elite isn't as shallow as it used to be, but when you have a game that you can play for literally thousands of hours - like Elite - then sooner or later the repetition will set in and there will be nothing more that you can discover about it, but it will just keep going forever. It's ultimately an empty experience unless you band together with a group of friends and forge your own stories. What I expect from Starfield is different because I want it to actually tell me a story through its world and quests.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

By the mod community, as Skyrim and Fallout 3/NV, yes.

 

[killatopak]

Daggerfall is about the size of the UK so safe to say yes, it will be.

And Skyrim and Cyrodil are bigger than Daggerfall lore wise.

A planet can still be called a planet without an actual planet size game space just like exploring planets on a Mako on Mass Effect isn't really collecting resources on a planet sized game space.

 

[RickMasters]

This was much better than the initial reveal. I’m stunned. I want it. Can’t wait till sept. Already a GPU subscriber so I’m ready! The ship and base building is gonna suck up a lot of my time. As will manaaging my crew. And there there is all the exploration and the adventure and the gunfights and the side quests that lead you down a rabbit for a few hours. Skyrim sucked up a lot of my time back in the day on X360. I feel like this is gonna be that game again for me. I’m all for it!

 

[nikos]

I'll definitely play it but I didn't even make it through the entire presentation so I'm not sure about it being a forever game.

 

[Matt_Fox]

I'm fine with Elite Dangerous scratching that kind of an itch for me. But with Starfield I expect something more on a narrative level, so I don't really want it to be a "forever" game. The story needs its definitive conclusion.

I have the feeling that Starfield will be one of those games that you can put 100 hours into and still have a.... but you haven't seen this moment. It doesn't end with the final story mission.

Factor in mods, and hopefully it's going to be a playground for creativity that will be the proverbial gift that keeps on giving. Let's reconvene in 2033 for the Starfield 10 year Anniversary Edition . You know its gonna happen!

 

[Max_Po]

definitely, it will take Bethesda forever to fix the bugs

 

[sendit]

OP, are you new to this? Todd Howard games are forever games.

 

[Laptop1991]

Gotta admit, i'm hyped for Starfield now, still wondering about the 1000 planets though lol. i enjoyed that Starfield direct deep dive vid.

 

[ChoosableOne]

It seems like it will be, if they can populate the planets they created. That's precisely why I realized once again that this game is not for me. Endless gameplay is exactly what I don't want in games, except for some rogue-likes. After a while, I get bored and want to finish the game and continue with my life.

 

[Fbh]

I know what you mean but I doubt they're going to make the game all about going to empty places. The game is mostly just a procedural hybrid with focus on hand made locations.

Oh I'm not saying they'll make the game about going to empty planets.
I think Bethesda will focus on the probably 100-150 hours worth of content they've actually created. And that's the content I'm looking forward to: The main story, the non procedural side quests, the cities, the outposts, building my ship, interacting with the characters, building my character, etc.

The hundreds of mostly empty planets where you can gather resources or engage in procedurally generated missions, or create bases are just going to be the backdrop that's going to offer thousands of hours for those want to engage with it, and I'm sure many people will love it-

 

[Jinzo Prime]

If this game has the longevity and modability of Skyrim, it very well could be.

 

[LaughingStock]

Can you seamlessly travel from ground to space? Can you park your ship next to an asteroid and go for a space walk? I need to know.

 

[Laptop1991]

I laughed at the Abandoned Mine discovery, i thought, i've been there before!.