Game Discussions Bethesda Softworks Starfield Space RPG

[Dooguk]

No not really.. a few years ago i received a samsung smart watch which i use as a normal watch with fancy faces.. its not connected to anything.

Am i missing anything?

... Is there a reason to consider getting it?

As an example, Omega produced a series of plastic watches based on the famous Speedmaster Moon watch (as used by the Apollo astronauts) they named it the MoonSwatch.
It cost less than £250 at launch. Within weeks they were selling for about £800. They have settled back down now, but it has taken months, but they still sell for above RRP. I'm lucky enough to own an Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch so they never interested me. I have a couple of other space related watches, so this is why I went for this. The presentation box adds to the collectability.

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

As an example, Omega produced a series of plastic watches based on the famous Speedmaster Moon watch (as used by the Apollo astronauts) they named it the MoonSwatch.
It cost less than £250 at launch. Within weeks they were selling for about £800. They have settled back down now, but it has taken months, but they still sell for above RRP. I'm lucky enough to own an Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch so they never interested me. I have a couple of other space related watches, so this is why I went for this. The presentation box adds to the collectability.

Thats Omega though. Even i've heard of people investing in those. Game collectors editions do go up.. but whether there is a market for them where the price has significantly appreciated depends on the game.. and can fluctuate greatly.

Id be more inclined to invest in lego...

Hey if you get one, i hope you enjoy it though. My gut tells me the case costs more for them to produce than the watch itself. Its a nice case (and even then, it only comes with a strap and patch). See the diablo 4 collectors box.. its insanely good.. my standards have temporarily risen.

Look i'll concede. There's no way these will preorder out given the price vs stuff received, so after launch will see what the unboxers say.

 

[Dooguk]

I might wear the Moonwatch and this one on each wrist and channel my inner Chris Roberts jet setter self.

 

[LanceLord]

Meh, I've been a star citizen dumpster fire backer since 2015...what do I care about a few measly Bethesda day one release bugs? If I get as far as the character creation screen without the game vomiting me back to desktop... or heavens forbid... actually get into a ship without it exploding, it's a bonus

Or blowing away from a puff of wind while you're standing outside it

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

So captain, now that we have you tied to this chair we will be asking you a number of questions. Failure to answer correctly and honestly will result in several red hot tongs going on to your body, resulting in many screams of agony and begging us to stop.



Guards, take him back to the cell. There's nothing more we can do here. He is in a worse situation than being married.

I believe he's married too.

 

[LanceLord]

Well imagine playing this stunning Space Adventure game, with 20 FPS. Forcing your self to downgrade detail level just to play it. It ain't going to be very fun for sure.
And it's not just because Bethesda has a track record of terrible launches, or that they delayed the game for almost a year, which clearly shows they already struck massive problems.
Its just there are a lot of game released this year that to everyone surprise had suffered first few weeks of game performance issues, until developers tuckled the problem. They will fix it eventually should there be any launch issue, but that first time experience would be ruined for sure.

Just a heads up. XBox will be locked in at 30fps. This is likely the reason why the 2022 reveal footage was so jank. And PC will be locked in at 60fps

Also TES 7 will likely be the last TES game Howard will ever make. That came from the mouth of Todd himself in this post Direct follow up:

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gs22Sn2VMU

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Just a heads up. XBox will be locked in at 30fps. This is likely the reason why the 2022 reveal footage was so jank. And PC will be locked in at 60fps

Also TES 7 will likely be the last TES game Howard will ever make. That came from the mouth of Todd himself in this post Direct follow up:

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gs22Sn2VMU

Howard doesn't make games - he just promotes them I think. Or is that Hines?

 

[LanceLord]

I heard that someone did a mod for Skyrim but I've never played it. Co-op would be awesome. My play-style doesn't suit MMORPGs or whatever they're called. I get the feeling - may be wrong - Starfield will reach a massive audience. The bigger the audience, the bigger the mod developers involved (here's hoping...)

It's called Skyrim Together Reborn. One of the best mods the community has come up with to date. The planetary side CoOp should be a cakewalk based on its predecessor success in Skyirm. But the space side segment may pose a challenge. Especially since the space segment is literally a different game. Isolated from planet side by load screen and so has a completley different core game play mechanic.

Skyrim Together Reborn

Play Skyrim in co-op with your friends or strangers, complete quests, fight, explore the world.

www.nexusmods.com

ESO diid a great job in the mod walkthrough here. I'm still gobsmacked at the professional level of quality that went into this content:

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DABabn0OF7k

Spoiler: Quick tutorial on how to install etc. by the Skyrim Together mod team

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ogIhWUxPyE

A potential pitfall where future modding concerned for SF. Mod monetization which incited the infamous TES/Fallout PCMR civil war around the web:

Spoiler: Skyrim Together mod literally made $35K in it's first month of beta testing on Paetreon. Hoping Bethesda does NOT opt to return to this sort of monetization with SF

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZIvNo1YMvU


This is going to KILL SF's budding PC and console fanbase communities.The Skyrim Together mod nearly decimated the PC modding community . The mod team was forced to take it down off their Paetreon site. This was in response to the bloody civil war that erupted in theTES gaming community over paid v. historically free fan base mods. While Bethesda officially opted out of engaging in this fan boi scat storm, they were unfortunately the agent of instigation. Unfortunately Howard's ambitious goal to make the TES/Fallout franchise mods available to the PS/Xbox communities, unwittingly triggered a civil war within the PCMR community. Which up to that point, had enjoyed exclusive free access to mod content (by default of the PC's superior hardware CPU/GPU/HD/RAM etc. tech utilization capability v. console). So the PC community has always been the source of mod content for the last 25+ human years of TES/Fallout franchise existence.

Howard's eglatarian campaign to share PCMR mod content --- all while blatantly exercising Bethesda's right to monetize it--- did NOT go over well with many in the PCMR. A good majority of the fan base felt speculative of Howard's motives. The most radical of these finally declared war when Howard publicly announced TES 6 delay with SF. So Howard's dynastic ambitions for Bethesda inadvertly caused a split in the PC community player base with his remake of Skyrim SE. Nexusmods was the leading mod hub before this split. So suffered greatly from many talented and gifted modders quitting Nexus forums and/or modding TES/Fallout games for good. Which unfortunately caused both PC and console fan base communities to suffer as a result.

Bethesda has since sunset their monetized Fallout franchise forums. But the resulting schism has left the PC community scared and bitterly divided to this day. Also doesn't help that a large number of PC players (who've devolved into rabid Starfield & F76 haters) remain unconvinced Howard's intentions were ever altruistic in sharing mods with the hungry console masses. They're most likely going to be those "disatissfied SF players" who review bomb SF on IGN, Steam and around the web on release day. Because they're too set in their cynical belief Howard's (very successful) venture was about proof of concept for Betheda's profitiablity to M$. Which quite coincidentally, rewarded Howard with its later historic billlion dollar acquisition of Bethesda....

So I'm somewhat concerned for Bethesda's (and ultimately M$) intentions for SF mods. Especially the more complex, high professional quality, DLC sized mods like Skyrim Together Reborn. The last thing this newly burgeoning SF community needs, is another blatant monetization scheme by Bethesda and/or M$. Monetization will likely re-trigger civil war hostilities within the PC gaming community. And create an unwanted schism between console and PC gaming communities.

But all drama aside, it's ingenious mods like these which give players confidence the same will be possible with SF. Since Creation Kit (CK) 2.0 is the advanced wunderkin progeny of Skyrim's CK.

 

[alexzk]

But that's the thing, BGS or power play if you aren't into that is just ?? It doesn't really do much to effect the individuals game . And in all honesty could be just be NPC action for most people. So take away BGS and power play or even PMF it doesn't affect Elite as a game . But again these are my musings.
And just to add I've pre-ordered SF ( my first preorder ever ( I tend to wait til it goes on sale ) but at least I can play it on console and expect many fixes and improvements .,

MMO means your actions affect other players. This is done over BGS.
Not important if you own minor faction or play solo, or play with somebody - any killed pirate, any robbery of the trader, any sold cargo will turn BGS and through that other players will be affected - they will see famine in system because you pirated food deliveries.
And as for my taste this is much better then clear dungeons in parties in "traditional" way.

 

[alexzk]

And just imagine how many interesting expansion packs they could have added to ED in some of those already locked areas that we can't explore.

After all these years the best we can do is .1 atmospheric pressure and a different variety of plants. Considering the fact that they have Jurassic world and planet zoo under their belt they could have very easily put some kind of crawly things all over the place on certain planets.

Even gas giants which don't need land mass could have had space whales.

Don't get me wrong, I love exploring 400 billion stars. I take a vacation from The daily grind every year and go someplace interesting just because I can. But I would like to see more than just rocks and plants, maybe have an exciting vacation.

Possibly we're too silent. I guess people who wanted fights were most loud.
Yes, I would like to have more things to do out there too.

About this: " atmospheric pressure and a different variety of plants. "
Elite is simulator. I don't think it is really possibly now to simulate such complex things on home computer. Current super-computers are not able to predict Earth's weather for more then 1-3 days. Furthermore, all players must see the same weather, and weather itself is chaotic process, i.e. it cannot be "procedural generated" by definition.
So I see this as very non-trivial task.
But if you want just any fake sky - you have numerous other games to try, including this new one.

 

[angusmadmac1]

MMO means your actions affect other players. This is done over BGS.
Not important if you own minor faction or play solo, or play with somebody - any killed pirate, any robbery of the trader, any sold cargo will turn BGS and through that other players will be affected - they will see famine in system because you pirated food deliveries.
And as for my taste this is much better then clear dungeons in parties in "traditional" way.

This is where we disagree .
Doing Bgs in one or a couple of systems doesn't affect any other system ( unless expansion) . Even power play doesn't really affect other systems . It's just a name and numbers game.
Did The Dark wheel BGS affect the bubble? Nope? It was just a change of names in some systems.
If we got rid of BGS and Power play would the many miss it or even notice ?
Look at the war ? Does it affect those who have no interest in AX ? Nope.
My actions have no affect on your game and vice versa . But this is in my own opinion

 

[LanceLord]

Howard doesn't make games - he just promotes them I think. Or is that Hines?

Not directly. But his leadership and game design influence has been-- and IS as of today--the complete driving force behind the TES/Fallout franchises. Emil P. might be lead creative writer. But Todd calls all the shots. TBH, he really doesn't deserve that shallow, superficial front man rep. Which many non Bethesda gamers seem to think because they've only associated him with likes of E3.

This claim is based on his grandfather legacy of working at Bethesda. Ever since he was a newly graduated College student 3 decades ago. Bethesda has been the ONLY company Howard has ever worked at. Lol. Also by default of that, Howard came to specialize in developing only TES/Fallout projects since the Daggerfall days. Where he had minor dev responsibilities as a n00b College grad apprentice to THE great Julian Le Fay. aka the founding father of The Elder Scrolls franchise. After whom the Aedric diety Julianos is named btw. La Fey left Bethesda shortly after Daggerfall release. So Howard learned a LOT about the TES universe from the founding father himself.

Howard is also repsonsible for making the Fallout franchise a true open world game environment. This was evident with the radical design change he made to Black Isle/Obsidian former closed world game environment begining with FO3 release. He also received increasing project dev responsibilities in producing the Fallout franchise. When Black Isle Studios (now Obsidian) went bankrupt 20+ years ago and was forced to surrender their beloved Fallout franchise to Bethesda. So despite all his professional (glaring Redgaurd, F76, recent Redfall failures) and/or personal faults (yes he can be an arrogant SOB), Howard DOES possess a sterling software dev pedigree. As verified by his personal success (multi millionaire) and industry leader who grew Bethesda into the global household name it has become to date.

 

[alexzk]

This is where we disagree .
Doing Bgs in one or a couple of systems doesn't affect any other system ( unless expansion) . Even power play doesn't really affect other systems . It's just a name and numbers game.
Did The Dark wheel BGS affect the bubble? Nope? It was just a change of names in some systems.
If we got rid of BGS and Power play would the many miss it or even notice ?
Look at the war ? Does it affect those who have no interest in AX ? Nope.
My actions have no affect on your game and vice versa . But this is in my own opinion

Everyday changing prices everywhere is direct consequences of peopele doing something and this is made by BGS.
I think you confuse terms, I mean "BGS" as code on server. I think you mean "BGS" is what people do - like do hundreds of missions for the own faction.
So my words should be read "code on server called BGS makes this game to be MMO".

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Everyday changing prices everywhere is direct consequences of peopele doing something and this is made by BGS.
I think you confuse terms, I mean "BGS" as code on server. I think you mean "BGS" is what people do - like do hundreds of missions for the own faction.
So my words should be read "code on server called BGS makes this game to be MMO".

That doesnt really make sense. BGS manipulates price. BGS is code. ED is MMO. These statememts have no logic connection.

 

[alexzk]

That doesnt really make sense. BGS manipulates price. BGS is code. ED is MMO. These statememts have no logic connection.

BGS is server code = back ground simulation (term 1 original in meaning "code").
People started to manipulate it for own reasons like rising own factions, and called it "play BGS", then shortened to "BGS" (term 2 most people think of in meaning "manipulation").
So I say "Because this game has back ground simulation (in meaning code) it is MMO even if you play solo".

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

BGS is server code = back ground simulation (term 1 original in meaning "code").
People started to manipulate it for own reasons like rising own factions, and called it "play BGS", then shortened to "BGS" (term 2 most people think of in meaning "manipulation").
So I say "Because this game has back ground simulation (in meaning code) it is MMO even if you play solo".

The BGS is a tool to generate dynamic environment. Nothing of it has any dedicated MP purpose.

 

[SergMx]

BGS is server code = back ground simulation (term 1 original in meaning "code").
People started to manipulate it for own reasons like rising own factions, and called it "play BGS", then shortened to "BGS" (term 2 most people think of in meaning "manipulation").
So I say "Because this game has back ground simulation (in meaning code) it is MMO even if you play solo".

As far as I know the creation of factions turned off.

That's interesting, I know people who have played Skyrim and Fallout many times. I passed them once and do not want to play anymore. I still play Elite, since 2015.

 

[Fizzatron]

Possibly we're too silent. I guess people who wanted fights were most loud.
Yes, I would like to have more things to do out there too.

About this: " atmospheric pressure and a different variety of plants. "
Elite is simulator. I don't think it is really possibly now to simulate such complex things on home computer. Current super-computers are not able to predict Earth's weather for more then 1-3 days. Furthermore, all players must see the same weather, and weather itself is chaotic process, i.e. it cannot be "procedural generated" by definition.
So I see this as very non-trivial task.
But if you want just any fake sky - you have numerous other games to try, including this new one.

If you consider that the above is being heralded as a massive breakthrough that it's taken only Unreal 5 to make happen, and I'm not arguing against it btw, then it's clear that the plans for full blown atmospheric planets or waterworlds are still technically a major challenge. Having read the wishlist of how some vocal posters are demanding the quality of them to be, I can also see why Frontier might decide to keep them on the backburner. Games like Empyrion do a pretty good job with atmospheric worlds but the planets in that game are 'just' flat maps and aren't true spheres. Frontier would get roasted for them, Space Engineers does a better job in some ways but that developer isn't doing fluid dynamics at all - Frontier probably would get roasted to hell and back if they took that approach.

It's all smoke and mirrors when it comes to a lot of atmospheric effects in other games that do well to simulate weather etc, but we're mostly talking about small maps and limited scenes. That stuff wouldn't work for Elite. I'm sure it's a huge undertaking and you correctly point out that it's a modern day supercomputer task to model these sorts of things to the level that some would take for granted as being necessary for it to work in Elite.

Personally, and I'm sure my take is quite superficial compared some others who have dived deeper into it, but the way I could see it work is to combine some fractal generation for actual weather patterns with multiple LODs going from global to local, derived from atmospheric composition data to generate something that would resemble a weather system. But, even if that was the way, I can't imagine how taxing that would be in addition to the rest of the game on top, and that's before you even get into the global sea level / river flowing / water currents / gravitational tides etc. that would accompany it for a planet with a liquid ocean.

 

[robbyp]

Does this mean I have to watch Edward Lewis again if I buy this...

 

[alexzk]

That's interesting, I know people who have played Skyrim and Fallout many times. I passed them once and do not want to play anymore. I still play Elite, since 2015.

I just finished new installation, took me about 3 weeks to collect 250+ mods .
I still play Skyrim, or better to say - live there sort of. Each time something goes different. For example, I couldn't recall when I was not vampire and this run - I'm still not. So different experience.