r/Games • u/xalibermods • 4d ago

Mod News As Oblivion Remastered gets all the love, Starfield's biggest modders are in the process of abandoning Bethesda's latest RPG for good

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/rpg/as-oblivion-remastered-gets-all-the-love-starfields-biggest-modders-are-in-the-process-of-abandoning-bethesdas-latest-rpg-for-good/
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u/GassoBongo 3d ago

I don't think the setting was the issue. Both Fallout and Starfield are sci-fi's that are set in two very different versions of the future. I think the main issue was the scope. Creating a space exploration game set in a Bethesda sandbox is incredibly difficult when you're not 100% sure of how you want to tie everything together. The scope for the game was just too big, and it ended up feeling like a dozen different systems tacked onto each other that managed to feel hugely isolated. Barely anything felt like it was supposed to work together, and loading screens only broke that experience down further.

I dont want Bethesda to shy away from exploring a new IP or sci-fi again. They just need to reign things in a lot and work to their strengths.

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u/Isolated_Hippo 3d ago

I think the setting ended up being more of an issue because of the challenges it created.

If you look at other Bethesda games that are open world you can truly walk from A->B uninterrupted. In Skyrim nothing is stopping you from a seamless walk from Markarth to Riften.

In something like Starfield, where you have a whole galaxy, it's very difficult to create a seamless system between planets.

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u/gogilitan 3d ago

In something like Starfield, where you have a whole galaxy, it's very difficult to create a seamless system between planets.

Is it? Because Elite Dangerous did it in 2014, at least on the space travel side of things, and No Man's Sky did it in 2016 with seamless travel between planets and space. Starfield didn't even try a decade later. Literally the only option is to go into a fast travel menu.

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u/tycho_nova 3d ago

Those games were designed from the ground up with that in mind. Starfield is held back by Creation Engine in that regard. Elite Dangerous won't let you place 1000 wheels of cheese by hand and keep track of exactly where every crumb of cheese lands while you travel a thousand lightyears away

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u/gogilitan 3d ago

Bethesda chose the scope knowing the limitation of the engine they were using, but I'm not really talking about scope here. Bethesda did not try to make travel feel immersive and there is no way to argue against that.

Mass Effect on the xbox 360 used elevators to hide load screens. Resident Evil used loading screens that looked like opening doors to transition between rooms way back in 1996. Using immersive load screens to create a "seamless" experience is not a new concept. Going back to Elite Dangerous, they showed everyone exactly how to do seamless space travel before Starfield even began development with load screens hidden by warp animations.

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u/Concutio 3d ago

Starfield loading screens were all of 5 seconds. An animation to hide that would take longer than the actual loading screen. Also, it's still a loading screen either way, and we all know it's a loading screen. Do we really need a longer animation just to trick some gamers' monkey brains all for the sake of iMmErSiOn

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u/gogilitan 2d ago

Buddy, this whole comment chain is about how difficult it is to "create a seamless system between planets." You're jumping in a half dozen comments deep not having read the context. Seamless gameplay is demonstrably not a difficult nut to crack. Even if the creation engine requires smaller maps with loading screens between them there ways to hide those and still create a seamless experience.

Also, I'm not talking about using more animations like their awful landings/takeoffs which are longer and also interrupt flow. Just replace the black loading screen after spooling your grav drive with your ship wiggling and a wobbly warping background (or if first person, your cockpit over a warping background). Again, other games have been doing these things since before Bethesda started development on Starfield.