Omg me too. Wasn’t there a marketing term for person that buys only failed products and based on them liking a product they could predict whether it would fail or not? Always thought I’m one of those. Mafia 3 - loved it, but hated mafia 2. Love AC 1,3 and syndicate but didn’t vibe with 2 or black flag. Loved Borderlands 1, hated all the sequels etc. Still, I feel the hate against starfield is way overblown.
58008@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I liked Starfield (I even 100%ed the achievements on Steam). I also loved No Man’s Sky long before the shift in pubic sentiment towards it, so maybe I’m just weird. But if you’re reading this and thinking “this guy wouldn’t know a good game if it shat a voxel-based turd onto his chest”, you’re WRONG. I also loved MindsEye. So there.
absquatulate@lemmy.world 1 day ago
GalacticHero@lemmy.world 1 day ago
“Harbinger of failure” is the term you’re looking for. Not sure it applies here, though; I think most of these games were commercially successful.
And because I can’t resist sticking my own opinion everywhere, I personally thought Starfield had a ton of potential and squandered it with some highly questionable design choices and poor execution. Some of that may be fixed now, but some of it is baked in. There’s genuinely a lot to like, but as a whole I thought it was really dragged down by some of those bad decisions.
I also liked AC1, though, and was a little disappointed with 2. The first one was imperfect but bold and new and interesting. The second got rid of most of what made the first one unique in an effort to appeal to broader audiences. I still liked it, but it wasn’t special.
absquatulate@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yeah, no amount of mods will fix some of Starfield’s faults, but it foes have some of that old bethesda coziness, so it’s not all bad.
mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Starfield’s main issue is that it isn’t fleshed out as much as the other Bethesda games. And there’s a lot of mods to do that for Elder Scrolls and Fallout. The issue is that it didn’t capture enough attention to get as much TLC from the mod community
zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
A game can be either great or awful, with no more room for meh games.
I think it’s more just that expectations are much higher for a AAA studio like Bethesda. They built so much hype and asked for nearly $100 at launch for a game that didn’t live up. There’s plenty of meh games out there, they’re just priced accordingly. There’s also a ton of really great games out there priced way lower than what AAA studios are asking. I think it’s very fair to hold those studios to a standard that reflects the prices they’re charging.
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
Actually this makes perfect sense.
Starfield… is a bad cinematic RPG. It’s trying to be part Mass Effect with big-budget cutscenes, and it’s truly awful at it.
I’d argue it’s a bad “Bethesda RPG,” without the quirky, charming side areas Oblivion or even Fallout 76 have.
But it’s an alright No Man’s Sky-like. You want some crafting? A vast amount of chill exploration area? Reasonable “I’m in space” fidelity and some tasks to follow? Starfield’s got it in droves. BGS games scratched this “sandbox” itch for some, when there was no good alternative back then, and I think Starfield leans into it more.
Hence my experience is that gamers who love No Man’s Sky like Starfield, those who are looking more for “Mass Effect 2” loathe Starfield. And you seem to be another datapoint supporting that.
The problem is Starfield’s expectation for most us internet dwellers was “Skyrim in space.” And it’s… not great at that. And it’s kind of Bethesda’/ fault for setting that expectation instead of leaning into Starfield’s real niche.