Tag: video-games

Is Starfield essentially too big?

There have been many complaints that have been lobbied against Starfield in the days leading up to the release of the game and also after the release. One of these criticisms is that the game is simply too big for players to have any attachment to the setting or the characters. I disagree with this.

Starfield is a very challenging game to make. It is a game that took thousands of hours to complete and in spite of this, people are still attacking this game. It is easy to criticize but it is much harder to create anything. Todd Howard had always stated that Starfield was a dream project for him and they managed to accomplish it. Unlike Cyberpunk 2077, which was a buggy mess upon launch, Starfield was largely free from any truly memable moments except for some of the NPCS on New Atlantis and other cities in the game. Todd Howard successfully managed his team to create this incredible game, but no game is without its warts.

Starfield size is an important part of the narrative that surrounds the main story of Starfield. You are going out into the cosmos to discover the mysteries of the artifacts in the game. This is really a story of discovery. Of course, players are fully able to choose their own adventure outside of the main quest, but the size of the game is featuring not a misguided attempt to stuff as much content into the game. 

There are limits to having developers work on every aspect of the game. Some of the handcrafted content can be great but it is also limiting the developers in being able to create an environment that is truly epic in scale. Sometimes you have to use the power of the computer to realize these worlds.

Starfield’s great size is what attracts me to the game. Handcrafted content can only go so far in getting a game done on time. Unless you are Rockstar Games, it is clear that you are going to need some procedural generation in order to get the job done.  People have a tendency to think that all that needs to get done is that the developers have handcraft content, and everything will just be ready for launch. However, it just doesn’t work in that way. Bethesda has always been known for the procedural generated content, even in 1994 when it released the first Elder Scrolls game. People should be used to this style at this point. However, even at this point in time, people are still complaining about procedural generation.

There are valid criticisms that can be levied against the creation of environments by AI. We have seen with ChatGPT that there are limitations to what AI is capable of accomplishing. We still do not have a HAL-like intelligence like that was seen in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The AI that we have today is literally just scraping the internet. AI in video game development is more specific than that of generative AI tools like ChatGPT. Procedural generation was used in the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and people did not complain back then.

However, procedural generation has it limitations when it comes up to scale. It is clear that Bethesda tried very hard to make the planets as interesting as possible. However, with the case with procedural generation, the software still has flaws. Many players have expectations that the game will provide worlds that are on the same level as something done by a human. There is also the issue of repetition in the buildings and landmarks that appear in the game. 

These concerns are valid but one has to consider the great accomplishment that Bethesda has achieved with this game. We are able to land on any planet in the game that is not a gas giant and start exploring. When gamers first started hearing about this game, many were skeptical about the planets. Some thought they would be barren wastelands with nothing on them. Instead, what we got were full-realized worlds that ran the gamut from barren moons to planets teeming with animals and flora. 

Making this game as big as it is was a necessary step towards making the technology better. I wish people would remember that Bethesda has always been about pushing technology. Starfield succeeds at its mission at making wonder about the beauty of the cosmos. 

A response to the common complaint about Starfield: The Intro

There have been some near 40,000 reviews for the Starfield video game and one of the most common complaints that I have seen about the game is that the intro of the game is not of the quality that we saw in Skyrim and Oblivion. 

This criticism is understandable. People have gotten used to overblown, epic plots that involve having to save the world from some incredible danger. In Oblivion, this danger was the Daedric Gates that had been opened by cultists; these same gates had to be closed one by one by an incredible hero. In Skyrim, the player is saved from an execution to become one of the greatest heros to fight back the reemergence of the Dragons that are ravaging the province of Skyrim. These stories follow the traditional hero’s journey that was explained by Joseph Campbell. This is easy to understand and universal in many cultures around the globe. However, it may not be the most unique or thought-provoking story out there. 

This is where Starfield differs from its predecessors. You start the game in a mine, simply just another tool in Argos Extractors toolbox. However, when you touch a mysterious rock, your entire life has changed and become something completely altered than from when you entered the mines. The game doesn’t start off with having a great responsibility that requires to slay some dragon or close some demonic gates. There is a more nuanced tale here that requires some degree of actual buildup. 

That is what truly makes Starfield different from all the other games. 

It’s a slow burn of a game. This isn’t meant to be some game where you rush through it and you are done with it. It is meant to bring you in and make you appreciate it. The game’s main quest line is all about mystery and discovery. This is a more realistic plot and players should try to appreciate it rather than complaining about it. 

Starfield’s intro isn’t prefect but its still an great introduction to a new universe which is not familiar to the players. I believe that anyone who is complaining about this game should give it another chance and realize that this is a slow burn of a game. 

The interactivity of NPCS in Starfield vs other Bethesda titles

The release of Starfield has come and went and we gamers are having much fun with it. It has become one of the highly anticipated games of the year and I am itching to get my hands on it. This is going to be a game that everyone is going to be talking about for many years just like Skyrim. One of the aspects of the game that really interests me is the Artificial Intelligence in the game. While ChatGPT came too close to release for it to have any real impact on Starfield’s development, I am very interested to see what type of interactions we can have with the many NPCs in the game. 

The interactions between NPCs are one of those things that I love to see in other games. I will just spend time just walking around, taking a look at the people and machines interacting with each other. It is a true delight to see such technology in action, especially in games such as this.

NPCS in Starfield: Mixed results

While the Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind was well known for having very static NPCs that really did not really contribute to a living and breathing environment. However, within a span of a couple of years, Bethesda released the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and showed what AI can do in video games. 

The NPCS in Oblivion all had their own times they woke up and then when to sleep. They had routines and would do certain things in the game like reading books and performing magic spells. I would just love spending time just watching NPCs walking around and acting out the illusion that they had a greater role in the game than just being set dressing for the environment or a resource for the player.

Skyrim would continue the trend of giving NPCS something to do than just being set dressing for the environment. The game would tone down the level of conversations but emphasize the jobs that people had in the world of Skyrim. This was one of my most favorite parts of the game because it showed how the NPCS had something to do other than being window dressing like in the Morrowind games. These were people with lives outside of the player.

Starfield is a massive game that cost some 200 million dollars to make. Of course, Starfield can’t be everything to everyone. However, Bethesda has tried very hard to accomplish this. As I have played the game, Starfield has this jack of all trades vibe to it. It is a jack of all trades and a master of none.

This is okay, considering that Starfield has modding support and can be turned inton whatever the player wishes.

What I wish the game had been more interactive npcs. It is somewhat disappointing that they do not seem to have schedules but I eventually came to the conclusion that Starfield is more about the game not necessarily the experimental simulations that we saw in Oblivion. 

Starfield is a great game and these issues with the NPCs will be resolved with modding. The developers should be applauded for giving us players and prospective programmers a great canvas to build our own adventures in the game. This will provide the game with a great amount of longevity and replayability in the years to come.