I haven't had a chance to play much recently. Had family in town last weekend and it's been a busy week. I'm hoping to get back to my playthrough this weekend. I'm about 15 hours in at this point and just kinda jumping around to random things that interest me.
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Got to get down on Friday: Best Black Friday 2024 Deals!
Logged off with 26 hours on the save file. Recently I’ve been trying to grind for credits. My method right now is to pick up a job from a mission board that tasks me to kill a gang leader or such, as I know there will be lots of stuff for me to loot there. I travel to the planet, kill everyone, loot all guns, suits and helmets, then fly back to sell everything. I take the Adoring Fan with me as he has tons of carry weight. It’s also a good way to pick up lots of crafting materials. Plus you get paid a little from the job so I find it to be a decent way to make some money easily. I also leveled up a few times just doing this, I’m level 17 right now.
I also took on a mission to survey a whole planet 100%. I haven’t really done much surveying apart from using the scanner to find loot in cramped areas or mine materials. It was a nice change of pace because I haven’t done much planetary exploration so far in this game. I got the hang of fast traveling around to different biomes and looking for all the fauna and flora. It took me a long time to find the very last fauna I needed to 100% the survey, and it wasn’t explained very well that amongst all the kinds of biomes, there is also a sub biome that will show as (Coast) next to the biomes name. It’s obviously on the coast of water, but it’s pretty hard to get that sub-biome type to show up even though you keep clicking on a coast. Eventually I found a giant fish species that was the missing fauna. As for the job, it didn’t pay that well compared to how much work I had to put in. 6000 credits for about 30 minutes of running around this gigantic planet. I could make more money wiping out an enemy territory and looting everyone.
With all my newfound credits I went about modifying the Frontier. I haven’t found a different ship that I like yet, and I kind of regret spending so much on the first ship in the game when I should be getting a new one from my parents soon (from what I’ve read online). However, I increased the engines, shields, grav drive, and crew from 2 to 4 people. I added two new floors, a new cockpit, and colored it all. I don’t think it looks the best but I like how much bigger it is, and I love having more crew with me.
I also took on a mission to survey a whole planet 100%. I haven’t really done much surveying apart from using the scanner to find loot in cramped areas or mine materials. It was a nice change of pace because I haven’t done much planetary exploration so far in this game. I got the hang of fast traveling around to different biomes and looking for all the fauna and flora. It took me a long time to find the very last fauna I needed to 100% the survey, and it wasn’t explained very well that amongst all the kinds of biomes, there is also a sub biome that will show as (Coast) next to the biomes name. It’s obviously on the coast of water, but it’s pretty hard to get that sub-biome type to show up even though you keep clicking on a coast. Eventually I found a giant fish species that was the missing fauna. As for the job, it didn’t pay that well compared to how much work I had to put in. 6000 credits for about 30 minutes of running around this gigantic planet. I could make more money wiping out an enemy territory and looting everyone.
With all my newfound credits I went about modifying the Frontier. I haven’t found a different ship that I like yet, and I kind of regret spending so much on the first ship in the game when I should be getting a new one from my parents soon (from what I’ve read online). However, I increased the engines, shields, grav drive, and crew from 2 to 4 people. I added two new floors, a new cockpit, and colored it all. I don’t think it looks the best but I like how much bigger it is, and I love having more crew with me.
World record of Starfield is 49 minutes. Thats a new game, from character creation.
You can get under the map in some areas, and the shops have bags under them full of their stock... and money... easy pickings.
One thing that I really appreciate about this game:
I really love how they use your photos as loading screens. Bethesda did this with Fallout 76 and it’s AWESOME for anyone who enjoys using photo mode in games. Instead of seeing the same few old screens, take some pretty screenshots! You need to make sure to snap the photo to your archive by pressing Spacebar, and you can go back and delete photos you don’t like. More games that feature photo mode definitely need this feature. It showcases your art, even though just to yourself, it’s great to see the photos you’ve taken because you’re probably not going to spend too much time in the photo archive. When you see a photo you took 40+ game hours earlier on your load screen, it’s like looking back at a distant memory. “I remember going there!!”
I really love how they use your photos as loading screens. Bethesda did this with Fallout 76 and it’s AWESOME for anyone who enjoys using photo mode in games. Instead of seeing the same few old screens, take some pretty screenshots! You need to make sure to snap the photo to your archive by pressing Spacebar, and you can go back and delete photos you don’t like. More games that feature photo mode definitely need this feature. It showcases your art, even though just to yourself, it’s great to see the photos you’ve taken because you’re probably not going to spend too much time in the photo archive. When you see a photo you took 40+ game hours earlier on your load screen, it’s like looking back at a distant memory. “I remember going there!!”
Starfield mod lets you zip between planets seamlessly
You can fly between planets in outer space with this mod, with no cinematics or loading screens.
www.pcgamer.com
Thought I would put this here. More likely that people actually playing Starfield will see it.
There shouldn't be any real spoilers below at this point. Everyone is farther along than I am:
I started over and am having more fun this time. I must have spent over an hour at that first place where you fight the pirates before going to New Atlantis.
After running around scanning things and collecting resources, I finally went into the building and picked up nearly every damn thing. After talking my way out of the final fight, I turned to teleport back to the ship, but the game wouldn't let me due to being encumbered, so I had to walk back to my ship and almost died due to using more oxygen when drastically over weight.
Now I've been goofing around in New Atlantis. There are a ton of side quests....
Classic Bethesda move. “You can’t magically teleport because you may be a little too heavy”…
I want to talk about a chain of side quests in Neon that I found particularly interesting. Total spoilers for this quest line but it’s nothing major, just a slightly charming side story.
There is a gang in the Ebbside district of Neon called the Strikers, and you can join them by completing a side quest called The Audition. They hang out on the top floor of Madam Sauvage’s club, because of a favor the Strikers have done for her she offers them a place to stay, but if they step one foot outside the club, their rival gang the Disciples will get them. They want to end the Disciples once and for all and take over the city.
The gang is full of very well voice acted characters full of charm. The Strikers pride their sense of family and brotherhood, they look out for each other. I really enjoyed talking to each member, learning their backstories and how they got involved with the gang. The leader, Briggs, was the most charming, seeming like a guy who really wants best for his crew and willing to do whatever it takes. His sidekick Vogel was more trigger happy, but funny nonetheless. Hatcher, the merchant, is tough at first, but shows mercy when she learns how much you help the Strikers.
All of the great characters aside, the main quest line has a great premise, but it falls short on delivery. The first mission has you go to a warehouse to steal something from the Disciples. There are a couple enemies inside but nothing too hard. You then return to Briggs. He will either be angry for causing a bloodbath or commend your stealth skills. I choose to shoot everyone. Pretty standard fetch quest.
The second mission has you going around Neon hacking electric billboard to display Strikers propaganda. I think if they would have added a digipick minigame when hacking the modules, it would have been more immersive. Instead you just walk up to the boxes and press E. Pretty lame. The last box has a few enemies but they are so easy they are not a threat at all. I should increase my difficulty maybe.
The last mission has you take out three clusters of Disciples across Neon. Super small groups, super easy, I need more challenge (don’t know why I didn’t just change difficulty to Hard yesterday). After clearing the three hideouts, you meet up with Briggs and co. to enter the final warehouse to kill the last remaining Disciples. I went in guns blazing, and it was insanely easy. The Magshot is INSANE.
Surprise surprise, the whole thing was kinda set up and being monitored by Neon security. They used the Strikers to clear out the Disciples, and as reconciliation kinda, the security chief offers everyone in the Strikers a chance to join the security force. What about me??? That would be cool!! But no, you just talk to Briggs and that’s the end of that. Pretty lame delivery on a great storyline and premise. I really wish there was more to this little gang, but it ends as quickly as it starts. You could finish all three quests in 30 minutes tops. However you do make well over 10k credits by completing them so it is worth it to grind through.
I really wish the gang was more fleshed out, more quests and more drama to the situation. As soon as you join them, they dissolve into security guards. I wonder if I will see them walking the streets in security gear later.
The gang is full of very well voice acted characters full of charm. The Strikers pride their sense of family and brotherhood, they look out for each other. I really enjoyed talking to each member, learning their backstories and how they got involved with the gang. The leader, Briggs, was the most charming, seeming like a guy who really wants best for his crew and willing to do whatever it takes. His sidekick Vogel was more trigger happy, but funny nonetheless. Hatcher, the merchant, is tough at first, but shows mercy when she learns how much you help the Strikers.
All of the great characters aside, the main quest line has a great premise, but it falls short on delivery. The first mission has you go to a warehouse to steal something from the Disciples. There are a couple enemies inside but nothing too hard. You then return to Briggs. He will either be angry for causing a bloodbath or commend your stealth skills. I choose to shoot everyone. Pretty standard fetch quest.
The second mission has you going around Neon hacking electric billboard to display Strikers propaganda. I think if they would have added a digipick minigame when hacking the modules, it would have been more immersive. Instead you just walk up to the boxes and press E. Pretty lame. The last box has a few enemies but they are so easy they are not a threat at all. I should increase my difficulty maybe.
The last mission has you take out three clusters of Disciples across Neon. Super small groups, super easy, I need more challenge (don’t know why I didn’t just change difficulty to Hard yesterday). After clearing the three hideouts, you meet up with Briggs and co. to enter the final warehouse to kill the last remaining Disciples. I went in guns blazing, and it was insanely easy. The Magshot is INSANE.
Surprise surprise, the whole thing was kinda set up and being monitored by Neon security. They used the Strikers to clear out the Disciples, and as reconciliation kinda, the security chief offers everyone in the Strikers a chance to join the security force. What about me??? That would be cool!! But no, you just talk to Briggs and that’s the end of that. Pretty lame delivery on a great storyline and premise. I really wish there was more to this little gang, but it ends as quickly as it starts. You could finish all three quests in 30 minutes tops. However you do make well over 10k credits by completing them so it is worth it to grind through.
I really wish the gang was more fleshed out, more quests and more drama to the situation. As soon as you join them, they dissolve into security guards. I wonder if I will see them walking the streets in security gear later.
Todd Howard says Starfield's planetary survival systems were originally 'very punitive' but 'we just nerfed the hell out of it'
Dealing with afflictions and hostile planetary conditions used to be "a pretty complex" system but it was heavily scaled back.
To me this seems like something they could have retooled into a Survival difficulty like the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games. You find so many different kinds of meds that treat all the ailments this game throws at you, so a survival mode would work perfectly in Starfield. I would definitely try it out once going into NG+.
I bet they put it in eventually. I would probably do it. Surviving on planets in No Man's Sky can be pretty complex and no one seemed to mind.Todd Howard says Starfield's planetary survival systems were originally 'very punitive' but 'we just nerfed the hell out of it'
Dealing with afflictions and hostile planetary conditions used to be "a pretty complex" system but it was heavily scaled back.www.pcgamer.com
To me this seems like something they could have retooled into a Survival difficulty like the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games. You find so many different kinds of meds that treat all the ailments this game throws at you, so a survival mode would work perfectly in Starfield. I would definitely try it out once going into NG+.
With everything I've read about Starfield so far I've completely lost the FOMO of playing it from day 1. Not to say that I think I wouldn't enjoy it if I started playing now, but it seems there's quite a few mechanics that can use some polish.Todd Howard says Starfield's planetary survival systems were originally 'very punitive' but 'we just nerfed the hell out of it'
Dealing with afflictions and hostile planetary conditions used to be "a pretty complex" system but it was heavily scaled back.
To me this seems like something they could have retooled into a Survival difficulty like the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games. You find so many different kinds of meds that treat all the ailments this game throws at you, so a survival mode would work perfectly in Starfield. I would definitely try it out once going into NG+.
One of those things is how there's apparently a significant amount of stuff that is locked behind perks which should just be available from the start. Kind of like how Fallout 4 settlement management is a lot more bothersome if you don't have supply lines, but you need the Local Leader perk to use those.
You’re right about the skills being locked. I think it’s a massive waste of perk points to have to unlock basic skills that were given to you in other Bethesda games like lock-picking, stealth or pickpocketing. You level up pretty slowly as it is. These seem to be the only three that are like that, but then you also get other annoying perks. For example, you have to unlock basic weapon/spacesuit modification crafting through perk points, and when I say basic I really mean basic. You can make only a very small handful of modifications at level 1 and they barely have any impact. You must level them up to be able to craft better mods for your gear.
In a game that is lauded as being 200+ hours long, it seems like they REALLY want you to get to NG+. I really dislike that because I would love to play the entirety of the game, skills included, on my first playthrough of the game. You barely get XP and leveling is so slow. As you get higher level, of course the amount of XP required increases, making it even more slower. I’m currently 38 hours in, taking my time not doing any major grinding or exploits, and I’m only level 25 or 26. This is pretty slow, and I make sure to sleep every time I can (+10% xp for 24 minutes) and eat xp boosting foods like Shepards Pie (+2% xp for an hour) or Xenoyaki (+2% xp for 30 minutes). This stacks to a total 12% xp boost for only 24 minutes of playtime, and that counter goes down while you are in your Tab menus or in dialogue with someone. It gets kind of annoying having to check so constantly to make sure you xp boost is still active before turning in a quest, even more so annoying when you accidentally turn in a quest without it on. I finished the Freestar Rangers final mission without the xp boost and got something like 150xp which could have been 168xp instead with boosts active. Small, but the boosts go a long way.
I’m really just nitpicking and wish you could level up even if only slightly faster. You can sleep with your spouse to get a 15% boost, so 17% with the food, but that takes a long time to get into romantic relationship with one of the companions. I have barely touched the main missions anyways past where you get the Fus Ro Dah powers.
You could always install this mod:
Get MAX Level and All Perks
A simple script file modification that will grant you all the perks in the game and set your character's level to 328.
www.nexusmods.com
There is also this mod:
Perk Up - Better Experience
Faster leveling, remove skill challenges, perk tweaks for quality of life.
www.nexusmods.com
Those are close but not quite what I want in a mod of that kind. Skyrim has a great mod where it would give you two perk points every even-numbered level you gained. This helped not totally break and max out your character as easily, but provided a nice little boost along you playthrough. I need a Starfield mod exactly like that.You could always install this mod:
Get MAX Level and All Perks
A simple script file modification that will grant you all the perks in the game and set your character's level to 328.
There is also this mod:
Perk Up - Better Experience
Faster leveling, remove skill challenges, perk tweaks for quality of life.
Yeah, I like mods like that. Craftopia had one before the latest update. Now it doesn't work, and getting skills seems terrible.
Gotta hand it to Todd Howard, he really understands the RPG player base.
www.pcgamer.com
Todd Howard says that Starfield's ship AI sucks on purpose so players can actually hit stuff: 'You have to make the AI really stupid'
Not everyone can make the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.
I’m not even mad about it, I still have to keep quick saving before ship battles and occasionally lower the difficulty. It could be because I haven’t spent too much time increasing my ships firepower, I mainly just put in new habs and extra cargo space.Gotta hand it to Todd Howard, he really understands the RPG player base.
Todd Howard says that Starfield's ship AI sucks on purpose so players can actually hit stuff: 'You have to make the AI really stupid'
Not everyone can make the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.
It would be a weird thing to get mad about. A lot of games have dumbed down AI in some way, otherwise the AI would wipe the floor with the player.
I think headlines like the one in the article and others I’ve seen about the topic can make trolls think the game is dumbed down for dumb players, giving them more fuel to hate on the game. However I do wish that we could have smarter ground enemy AI in most FPS games I play.
I always remember what Valve said about their AI in CSGO being significantly dumbed down, otherwise people would vote to kick the other humans in their group so they could get an advantage by having an AI on their squad.
I can't wait to play Forza Motorsport 8 because of the generative learning AI drivers. They'll have to be dumbed down too, of course. Probably make the cars just very slightly slower than the human driven cars. A human can't defeat a driver that is always perfectly calculating acceleration and g-forces and never makes mistakes. The reason for the generative learning AI was so they could race each other better, not the human. They've learned new ways to get around the tracks better depending on other traffic. It should be fun to watch.
It's coming. They are already better than people. They just don't move around as well as humans, but they can be perfect skill wise and would win most battles if not dumbed down. Soon they'll start letting the AI learn about movement, and they will be nigh unstoppable and have to be dumbed down some more. But all you really have to do is make their aiming somewhat unreliable and put in a delay (which is already done) in their reaction times.
Stop dumbing down damage to player and you don't need smarter AI. 2 guys LMGing me and it only drops 2 of my 5 health bars? Uhuh.
AI technology is advancing rapidly, and while they excel in skills, they still lag behind in mobility.
Well, that's hard to say since no one actually uses generative AI in their games.
I thought that even though he just rephrased something that there was at least a small chance he was human since he had 5 posts and hadn't been bannedUnlike for forums, where they seem to be used quite often
Very true. I have never died from a gunfight in this game, only when stumbling upon much higher level enemy monsters. I’ve said it a million times on this thread before, but I really need to increase my difficulty higher than Normal.
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