I think it depends on when you last enjoyed one. I suspect folks who disliked FO4 and Skyrim won’t like this one either.
I enjoyed both so I expect I’ll enjoy this.
I am excited enough to pre-order it. I have never finished a single Bethesda game but nothing’s stopping me from pouring 200 hours into it anyway. I’ve played Oblivion, Skyrim, and a few hours of Fallout 4, which I found prohibitively hard, so I’m not sure how I’ll fare with this one. But I’m here for it. I love science fiction, so Skyrim in Space definitely appeals.
Skyrim was weird for me. I loved it, right up until the point it became an alchemy / enchantment grinding game, at which point I hated it and bailed. But this was like last year; I came to it a decade late.
I liked both, but loved neither, at least, not compared to, say F:NV, and only slightly more than I liked F3 (of course I know that NV isn’t technically Bethesda, but NV proved it wasn’t just problems with the engine, that F3 was uninspired in their storytelling, which was even more true in F4).
I can say I love both games thanks to the modding community however, who let you tweak a game far past it’s more humble origins. So if Starfield is even a solid ‘B’ effort, as long as the modding community is robust and microtransactions don’t ruin it, I’ll likely enjoy it as well. But I’ll still be waiting until the first big (25-50% discount depending on how good it is by default) or GOTY version.
My PC ran Elden Ring beautifully. I have no idea since I did not fiddle with the settings, but it looked identical to all the Youtube videos I’ve seen of it running on PS4, PS5, other PC’s, etc.
Starfield seems more CPU intense than most games based on the frame rate limits of the Xbox Series X/S versions. The lack of a performance mode implies an XSX doesn’t have the CPU to run it at 60 fps, which is a bit concerning since the CPU in that thing isn’t exactly a dog like the previous generation. You can get away with an older CPU + decent GPU in a lot of games, but Starfield probably isn’t one of those.
Or maybe the PC version is configurable and they figured console players will accept 30 fps so there’s no reason to bother figuring out of a performance mode for it. I dunno.
I think it’ll be worth every penny!
(I have Game Pass so I’ll get to play it for free.)
The minimum specs are no joke. i7 6800 and 1070 TI, which seems to translate to roughly an i5 10400 and 3060. That seems excessive.
Same here (also 2020 PC). To be fair, I built a nice one in 2020 precisely so it would have legs for five or more years. So far it has.
It gets easier. Partly better gear and whatnot and partly you learn how to manage the game. I think it is well worth a playthrough. Just my $0.02
I think Fallout 4 (and many other games, and very likely Starfield) is one where especially if you play on normal or harder by default, is rough when you just start out (Fallout with it’s PA scarcity settings especially in 1-2) and once you get past the first few levels and the lacking gear becomes far, Far easier. Especially on your second+ playthroughs, you know what builds you like, where the early caches of gear/ammo are, and what/where to get companions.
Fallout 4 especially had the issue in that it quickly gives you a “where” to go, but if you mainline it and don’t do side quests / crafting / grinding early you can get overwhelmed fast just exploring.
In F1-3, NV, The Outerworlds, and who knows how many others you can just run out of ammo and be forced into what feels like a dead end early on.
Or if you go in a direction they don’t expect/don’t want you too and the enemies turn deadly crossing a single cell. Especially if you’re experienced at similar games, and turn the difficulty up even a notch.
We’ll have to see if Starfield operates the same way.
I’m pretty excited, I love space sims with planets and I love Fallout/Elder Scrolls. I wish it was more of a sim and less of an RPG, but still looks good.
I did find Fallout 4 very difficult at the start. I actually turned on an invincibility cheat at the start until I got a bit further in.
One exciting thing is that the game has vast tracts of open space for modders to play with. So long as Bethesda/Microsoft don’t hamstring the modding scene, I expect to see a ton of simulation added very quickly.
My plan is to play it once on game pass, then (assuming it’s been mod friendly) buy it on Steam when the GOTY edition comes out.
I found a build for a melee-focused character using the Pickman’s Blade and traits like blitz to turn you into a knife-wielding ninja. I snuck to the house where you get the knife early on, dying a lot on the way, then used it for the rest of the game. It changed FO4 for me completely. It was pretty fun!
Using the knife, and a sniper rifle for things I couldn’t otherwise reach, that was a pretty satisfying playstyle.
Very early in the game when they give you your first mech suit and you have to kill this Godzilla looking creature, I think from a rooftop, my damned suit kept running out of battery, and I had trouble finding more. I could never get the damned thing running long enough to figure out how to use it, and when I walked up to engage the creature in combat, I got stomped. As far into the game as I got, everything seemed pretty cool. I loved the aesthetics and was really into the baby-snatching story. But I was too frustrated with the mechanics. Maybe I could have come back later for that quest.
Ah! Yes, the deathclaw battle. That one is a notorious newbie killer. IMHO, it’s a couple of things.
- They never tell you ingame that using VATS burns the core faster.
- They don’t really tell you that the minigun does crap damage (high dps, but low base damage) and is thus weaksauce against the high armor and health deathclaw.
This is the part where I said doing the ‘main story’ in a quick, linear fashion tends to kill you. You’re infinitely better getting to level 4+ and a few perks under your belt before bothering. I frankly normally don’t bother until I’ve got the basics I need (and occasionally bypass it altogether until late game, especially if I’m using a modded start where I’m not a vault dweller).
And it’s often easier to use a bolt .308 (that you find in town) to slowly whittle the deathclaw down from range, after all, he can’t get up to you. 
Honestly though, my feeling is very similar to the MLP (My Little Pony) F4 parody, Two Best Sisters Play Fallout 4.
Or for an even more WTF animated (and hilarious although -spoiler- prone) take on Fallout 4,
When you’re bored with D4 (or frustrated, as the solo Sorc has been head-poundingly frustrating and Act 5 boring and tedious for me), give it a spin.
Video links spoiled as NSFW.
Thank you! You’ve given me hope.
Despite my efforts at spoiler-vision, I didn’t explicitly state those videos are NSFW. I apologize!
AGAIN the earlier videos are NSFW, I will mention this to mods ASAP.
Seriously? I’ve always just jumped down and unloaded the minigun into the deathclaw (no VATS, never VATS a minigun, ever) at close range. It’s never struck me as a hard fight, though I think I might have died once or twice when the deathclaw got close enough to grab me.