this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2023
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Like the other comment says, it's empty, but I mean it in a different way. It has no soul. Skyrim you can feel the passion in the quests, the characters, and the world. Starfield is super bland, despite being a new IP they could have done anything with, and being sci-fi, which the purpose of sci-fi is to critique our current world. It's the most milque toast sci-fi I've seen. It doesn't question the current status-quo, despite corporations literally destroying Earth. You can rarely question authority. The characters all have identical views on everything, and that's the "good" view that doesn't really try to change anything for the better.
Also, the connecting fibers of the game just don't exist. No system really ties into another, besides making money but money is nearly worthless. Nothing seems to have been considered on how to make it function as a cohesive product.
Basically it fails emotionally and technically.
This is probably my favorite explanation for it.
It tries to be emotional, at least the main story. But it fucking fails miserably. I think the only part that actually got me feeling dread or interest was going to visit NASA on Earth. That shit was amazing it pisses me off we only spend ONE FUCKING MISSION on that planet and never go back for anything else.
Yeah, the NASA mission was by far the best part of the game for me.
I think a lot of this stems from doing less with more and vice-versa.
The passion people put into their creations shows in the tiniest things we don't notice but still affect us. It's why I think some movies can hold up for decades and others feel more like a fad, even if the former has fewer resources to work with and the latter technically 'does more.'
To your point about small movies, I'd say it's true of many indie games too. It isn't about "doing less with more" more than doing more with more is their issue here. They tried to do everything, and didn't do anything well and didn't try to connect the pieces together to make a solid product.
Factorio, for example, knows exactly what it is and it does it perfectly. Every system in the game ties into the core system of building your factory. Skyrim doesn't know what it is and the pieces are scattered everywhere. Your ship is totally disconnected from everything else (except as a money and skill point sink). Outposts are disconnected from everything else (again, except for those two things). They just had too many resources to spend and didn't set up the foundations to make it all work together.