Starfield's First Expansion, Shattered Space, is Now Live, Watch the Launch Trailer | MMORPG.com

System · October 4

Starfield's First Expansion, Shattered Space, is Now Live, Watch the Launch Trailer | MMORPG.com

Starfield: Shattered Space is now live.

Ginaz · October 4

More like DOA.

harken33 · October 4

My purchase was the digital premium copy on sale. It’s been telling me I have Shattered Space, but I didn’t realize I would get it for free from my premium edition, I just assumed they thought many would not buy it so gave it away.

I have probably 80’ish hours playing Starfield casually over the last month and a half, (about level 70 of 100) and I tried forcing exploration on random planets / moons for close to the first 40 hours of my play-through (once you get far enough into the main quest / tutorial to strike out on your own which is what I normally do in any Bethesda game, returning to the main quest much later) and explored every *Map Location* which appeared on the planets / moons.

After a while you really get to know that every satellite relay station / every abandoned whatever has the same items, in the same area, with enemies in the same place. Between the multiple loading screens for travelling (which while fast, but sort of breaks immersion for me at least), space which is again designed for fast travel loading screens this Bethesda game is not really built for open exploration, at least not as their previous titles were.

I still think Starfield is a decent enough game, many of the usual Bethesda ingredients are there, fun shooter combat, tons of side quests with some of them cool (the UC quest series and the Free star quest series are enjoyable), lots of items to loot (although the basic *junk* isn’t as useful as Fallout), the skill tree is interesting, and even janky NPC heads when you talk to them at different angles.

It’s just for me the main ingredient they use, open exploration is missing. It’s like I went to my usual burger joint, ordered the burger, fries and a shake. Except now the shake is made from Kale and the burger patty is a beyond beef simulated burger patty, just not the same (taste buds may vary).

I have done some basic Starship building, made many an outpost and defended them, unlocked every item in the research station, found most if not all the magazines, maxed out many skills, and completed several side quest series. Definitely got my enjoyment from this game, even if it wasn’t exactly what I wanted / expected.

I don’t feel the need to play the Shattered Space DLC currently even though I have it for free. Going to finish the main quest series now, get to new game plus and then set Starfield aside, maybe I will play it again once all DLC is completed for Starfield in a year or 2, but I may not bother.

This will be the first Bethesda title I won’t have several hundred hours in before setting it down, may crack 90 hours which is decent for most RPG’s. Again, this is a fine enough game and if it was made by another developer maybe even a really good game but when I think about Elder Scrolls 6 / Fallout 5 both being 5-6 years later in the development cycle because of this title at least for me personally I don’t feel it was worth it.

Angrakhan · October 4

I just started the expansion last night because for some stupid reason I bought the expensive version of the game when it came out, so why not. I had literally just started NG+ when I quit so it's been a clean slate experience. So far kinda meh but I haven't gotten far. It's got pretty bad Steam reviews but I haven't played enough to form an opinion other than being reminded at how bad this engine is at open world content. Doing a space game with the Fallout engine was a bad move. Makes everything feel small. Makes Bethesda look amateur and cheap for not creating a better engine that could properly run a seamless simulation. I mean CIG did it years ago with Star Citizen and if you can't keep up with that development team you're pretty bad for a AAA studio.

MaxBacon · October 4

This expansion was an insanely massive L for Starfield and BGS, after all this time and the expectations they would address the weakest aspects of the game as widely discussed, they did nothing but "here's a few more hours of the same".

The most insane part is this

A major expansion that only managed to return 5k~ to the game decaying right after... That on itself very telling of how BGS messed up their formula with Starfield, and probably the game is done for at this point.

This also looks VERY concerning to me when it comes to TES 6, they sticking with this creation engine that already looks and plays dated in Starfield one has to worry that the next elder scrolls is gonna suffer because of this as well.

mitech616 · October 4

Why does everyone think player count = good? Because, it doesn't. We're talking about artwork here. Maybe YOU like it, and maybe not. But just because a game doesn't have the high player counts or massive DLC spikes of another game, doesn't mean it's bad.

You know, compared to Taylor Swift album sales, A Perfect Circle has only a fraction. I guess "no one likes that music" and it's "bad". Their last album sold nowhere near hers! Well, I guess they should just buck up and give the masses what they want. Just start sounding like Taylor Swift, because clearly "everyone" wants that.

Why do so many people have to hate on things, call them dead, or call them bad just because THEY didn't like it? Not every game made has YOU in mind. In fact, unless you made it yourself, I highly doubt any of them did.

MaxBacon · October 4

mitech616 said:

Why does everyone think player count = good? Because, it doesn't. We're talking about artwork here. Maybe YOU like it, and maybe not. But just because a game doesn't have the high player counts or massive DLC spikes of another game, doesn't mean it's bad.

You know, compared to Taylor Swift album sales, A Perfect Circle has only a fraction. I guess "no one likes that music" and it's "bad". Their last album sold nowhere near hers! Well, I guess they should just buck up and give the masses what they want. Just start sounding like Taylor Swift, because clearly "everyone" wants that.

Why do so many people have to hate on things, call them dead, or call them bad just because THEY didn't like it? Not every game made has YOU in mind. In fact, unless you made it yourself, I highly doubt any of them did.

Starfield problems are not about artwork, is about flawed game on the design level that did a major expansion that addressed none of the major complaints people hoped would be improved on and did just a few more hours of the same content-wise.

On top of that, those who bought, aren't happy either:

It's not about "you don't like it", on top of visibly weak interest reflected by the player stats, the expansion is also facing a bad reception.

harken33 · October 4

mitech616 said:

Why does everyone think player count = good? Because, it doesn't. We're talking about artwork here. Maybe YOU like it, and maybe not. But just because a game doesn't have the high player counts or massive DLC spikes of another game, doesn't mean it's bad.

You know, compared to Taylor Swift album sales, A Perfect Circle has only a fraction. I guess "no one likes that music" and it's "bad". Their last album sold nowhere near hers! Well, I guess they should just buck up and give the masses what they want. Just start sounding like Taylor Swift, because clearly "everyone" wants that.

Why do so many people have to hate on things, call them dead, or call them bad just because THEY didn't like it? Not every game made has YOU in mind. In fact, unless you made it yourself, I highly doubt any of them did.

It’s a video game forum discussion board, specifically in a news article about said game, where people are going to discuss the game in question. Seems the proper place to discuss your likes and dislikes about the game does it not?

Sure, player count doesn’t equal if a game is good or not, but it can be a good outlier for Studios.

Player count can equal what is most important to many gaming studios – Profit. If the game is selling well, expansions are selling well, reviews are good, many people are playing it, and the money is coming in, the gaming studio can somewhat infer they are on the right track with development strategies and they get to continue developing.

Sovrath · October 4

MaxBacon said:

This expansion was an insanely massive L for Starfield and BGS, after all this time and the expectations they would address the weakest aspects of the game as widely discussed, they did nothing but "here's a few more hours of the same".

The most insane part is this

A major expansion that only managed to return 5k~ to the game decaying right after... That on itself very telling of how BGS messed up their formula with Starfield, and probably the game is done for at this point.

This also looks VERY concerning to me when it comes to TES 6, they sticking with this creation engine that already looks and plays dated in Starfield one has to worry that the next elder scrolls is gonna suffer because of this as well.

I wouldn't be worried about Elder Scrolls 6 as long as you are ok with the format of the Elder Scrolls games (Morrowind onward).

From what it seems, for those who aren't sold on Star Field, is that their design for the Elder Scrolls/Fallout games just doesn't work for a large space game with many planets.

That's the crux of it all. But for one continent/world, it's fine.

I imagine there will be some "steps up" such as larger cities/towns.

JeroKane · October 5

I tried the expansion and logged off again after 2-3 hours. Couldn't stand it anymore.

What a huge letdown and terrible story and writing overall. Like they moved most people to ES6 and FO5 and put some interns on this expansion!

This was supposed to be some dark horror story.... instead it's just terrible comedy! Those Va'Ruun faces and expressions.... my god. My late grandma (may she rest in peace) could put up better clown make-up.
The whole writing and dialog is just utter garbage. Like I said... probably written by some poor interns.

I was also excited to choose Andreja as my companion (since she is Va'Ruun) and ...... nothing! Zip! Nada! No unique Va'Ruun dialogue whatsoever. We could have just as well been on a completely different planet. She didn't even notice she was back on Va'Ruun. WTF? Just lazy and zero effort! Total insult to Andreja's character and her background story.

Seriously! What an cluster F-up this expansion is! One whole year and this is what they managed to deliver? ROFLMAO!

It deserves all the negative Steam reviews it got and then some!

And like the above poster also mentioned. They didn't even include any QoL either.

It's like they (secretly) already have thrown the towel in the ring for this game and just released this Expansion, just because they had to (as people have paid up front for it a year ago).

cheyane · October 5

Waiting for a deep discount before I buy the base game.

Theocritus · October 5

MaxBacon said:

mitech616 said:

Why does everyone think player count = good? Because, it doesn't. We're talking about artwork here. Maybe YOU like it, and maybe not. But just because a game doesn't have the high player counts or massive DLC spikes of another game, doesn't mean it's bad.

You know, compared to Taylor Swift album sales, A Perfect Circle has only a fraction. I guess "no one likes that music" and it's "bad". Their last album sold nowhere near hers! Well, I guess they should just buck up and give the masses what they want. Just start sounding like Taylor Swift, because clearly "everyone" wants that.

Why do so many people have to hate on things, call them dead, or call them bad just because THEY didn't like it? Not every game made has YOU in mind. In fact, unless you made it yourself, I highly doubt any of them did.

Starfield problems are not about artwork, is about flawed game on the design level that did a major expansion that addressed none of the major complaints people hoped would be improved on and did just a few more hours of the same content-wise.

On top of that, those who bought, aren't happy either:

It's not about "you don't like it", on top of visibly weak interest reflected by the player stats, the expansion is also facing a bad reception.

On the mostly negative reviews, is it really that bad or is it that it doesnt measure up to people's expectations? Also my page shows Mixed reviews, not negative....but for a game asking for a $70 price tag, that isnt good.

JeroKane · October 5

Theocritus said:

On the mostly negative reviews, is it really that bad or is it that it doesnt measure up to people's expectations? Also my page shows Mixed reviews, not negative....but for a game asking for a $70 price tag, that isnt good.

See my more detailed response above.

TDLR;
The only real impression I have gotten from this DLC, is that Bethesda has officially given up on Starfield and moved on. This DLC was nothing but an absolute minimum effort to fulfill a legal obligation to their customers who paid for it upfront a year ago.

cheyane · October 6

This expansion is being excoriated on youtube.

Angrakhan · October 7

So I just completed the main story in the expansion. I guess my short feedback without any spoilers is it's more of the same. It's not even particularly long depending on if you chase down all the side quests or just push through. I largely did the latter because I was already on NG+ meaning I wasn't really chasing down skills or levels. Since mobs spawn based on your level even though I was at the very beginning of NG+ it didn't take me long to gear up to the point I was ready to take on the expac given you have your OP starborn space suit and you starborn spaceship (not that you need it for the expac) which lets you bypass a big chunk of why you'd bother with the side quests to begin with, namely money.

Short version it's blah blah blah, go kill some guys and maybe get a thing and return it, then blah blah blah, go find someone and escort them back, then blah blah blah, oh complete stranger we need you to settle this dispute in our family. All typical Starfield fare. You know the drill if you've played this or Fallout or TES games.

You do get a behind the scenes look at House Va'ruun which I don't recall being very fleshed out in the base game. If lore is your thing then maybe this would be worth it to you for that.

I will say the little offroad rock crawler is a welcome addition and makes exploration far more enjoyable. It's quite mobile and quite indestructible from what I can tell. It seems kinda meh until you realize it has both forward and vertical thrusters meaning you can make it literally leapfrog up the sides of hills or across chasms. It's not limited to out in the open either. Drive it wherever although I always park it outside heavily populated areas. It has a gun too with unlimited ammo. Granted this thing was added prior to the expac if I recall and isn't actually a part of it. That being said I did find myself actually exploring a little bit because getting to that next unexplored location just over the horizon becomes much faster and easier to get to with the buggy than on foot.

I will reiterate choosing to do this game with the Fallout engine was a mistake and nothing about this expac fixes that. Everything feels small, and the way they allow you to just fast travel literally anywhere instantly makes it even smaller. Even if you forget the fast travel part, major capital cities are laughable small. Maybe 2KM wide? They house maybe a couple hundred residents if that. Honestly it just really feels mailed in. Like they sat down at the start of the project and asked the question of if they want to do a proper space sim game or if they just want to hit the easy button and basically reskin Fallout 4 to look like a space game. Everyone in the room held up their hand for the easy button option.

It's such a wasted opportunity and now absolutely impossible to patch in because it's the core engine framework we're talking about here. If they had done a proper engine like No Man's Sky or Elite Dangerous, or heck even Star Citizen then I think this game would go from the mostly negative reviews it gets and deserves to mostly positive. If you could get in your ship and actually fly it out of the atmosphere, and around a planet, land at some discovered outpost, and get out all without loading screens I think people would be absolutely in love with the game. The developers can't tell me it can't be done either because so many other development teams have already done it. It just reeks of lazy. They mailed in a minimal effort to earn a buck.

Congratulations I guess?

JeroKane · October 7

cheyane said:

This expansion is being excoriated on youtube.

And rightfully so.

All their bragging about Starfield is here to stay, being a live service game and them being full committed to this game.

This expansion/DLC was nothing but a big FU! to the player base and saying "Just kidding, we already moved on and working on ES6 and FO5 now! Bye!".

And you can be 100% assured ES6 and FO5 will be made on the exact same 25+ year old shitty game engine!

It's really time for Microsoft to step in and boot top management and get some new fresh blood in.

These overinflated ego's at Bethesda are just choking the company to death! Especially Todd Howard. It's past time for him to take some much needed self-reflection and retire.

Ginaz · October 12

Sovrath said:

MaxBacon said:

This expansion was an insanely massive L for Starfield and BGS, after all this time and the expectations they would address the weakest aspects of the game as widely discussed, they did nothing but "here's a few more hours of the same".

The most insane part is this

A major expansion that only managed to return 5k~ to the game decaying right after... That on itself very telling of how BGS messed up their formula with Starfield, and probably the game is done for at this point.

This also looks VERY concerning to me when it comes to TES 6, they sticking with this creation engine that already looks and plays dated in Starfield one has to worry that the next elder scrolls is gonna suffer because of this as well.

I wouldn't be worried about Elder Scrolls 6 as long as you are ok with the format of the Elder Scrolls games (Morrowind onward).

From what it seems, for those who aren't sold on Star Field, is that their design for the Elder Scrolls/Fallout games just doesn't work for a large space game with many planets.

That's the crux of it all. But for one continent/world, it's fine.

I imagine there will be some "steps up" such as larger cities/towns.

Bethesda seems to have mostly un-fucked Fallout 76 from it's horrendous start so there might be some truth to what you're saying. Time will tell.

Sovrath · October 12

Ginaz said:

Bethesda seems to have mostly un-fucked Fallout 76 from its horrendous start so there might be some truth to what you're saying. Time will tell.

Fallout 76 was definitely its own matzoh ball.

If one looks at the elder scrolls games from morrowind onward one can see definite design decisions throughout all of them.

It really seems like they applied much of that to Starfield but some of the caveats they made to planets, i.e. not having interesting things on every planet, using procedural generation to populate any number of planet events and of course having a lot of planets to explore, didn’t really work on a grand scale.

people like to talk up the hand made dungeons in Skyrim but I’ve looked at many in the creation kit and there are quite a few that are not very inspired.

However there are many great places and that sort of obscures the lackluster ones.

As it should be.

But put all of that on an immense scale and there are suddenly many more encounters that are rather dull.

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Starfield's First Expansion, Shattered Space, is Now Live, Watch the Launch Trailer | MMORPG.com

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