Comment on Starfield - Review Thread (87/100 OpenCritic)

• EnglishMobster@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  This is the core issue with all procgen games, IMO.

  You are promised "infinite exploration", but in truth there are countable variants of the procgen algorithm. Once you see all those variants, you've effectively seen everything. Sure, you'll see small variations, or new ways to combine the existing variants... but when you see all the "tricks" the veil falls.

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  • iHUNTcriminals@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    variants of the procgen algorithm. Once you see all those variants, you’ve effectively seen everything. Sure, you’ll see small variations, or new ways to combine the existing variants… but when you see all the “tricks” the veil falls.

    So it’s like using mainstream social media entertainment, and politics.

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  • theterrasque@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I firmly believe procgen can be good, but the games featuring it heavily are very bland. The potential is there though, I’m sure of it.

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• tkohldesac@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I felt similarly. Exploring is just another thing to "do" to get credits/nanites. It was cool to see genuinely new things like the huge Dune-styled worms but once you see one you've seen them all.

  That extends to base building too. I have no reason to build a base anywhere else in the galaxy once I have a capital ship that does all my crafting for me. Except resource collecting, I guess. But meh, different strokes for different folks. I don't think there's been a non-MMO continually-updated game that I've come back to as often as NMS but coming back is usually pretty short-lived.

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• saucyloggins@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  That’s what makes this even more of an issue. The game isn’t procedural. They used procedural tooling but everything is set in stone now. They could’ve gone through and cleaned up and tweaked everything so it didn’t feel bland. Doesn’t sound like they did.

  I knew the writing/rpg aspect was going to be shallow like all of Bethesda games but, they always had fun exploration so this is unfortunate to me. It sounds like they reuse assets a lot, even in the main quest line. Like same buildings with the same enemy placement just on a different planet.

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  • c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    It sounds like they reuse assets a lot, even in the main quest line. Like same buildings with the same enemy placement just on a different planet.

    Damn they’re gonna pull a Mass Effect 1.

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