Starfield was in the works for a long time over at Bethesda Game Studios — long before Xbox bought the company — and it seems the game's protracted development period wasn't always easy to deal with.
In a recent Twitter thread, BGS Design Director Emil Pagliarulo reflected on Starfield's development, and what the whole process meant to him as a fan of the studio before anything else. In the end, Pagliarulo was "proud of what we achieved" - but he doesn't shy away from the struggles of being part of such a huge project.
"Having now had time to properly reflect on Starfield, goddamn am I proud of what we achieved. A new world to live in. A brand new IP. The beginning of a new dream. We pulled it off! A lot of it still feels surreal, to be honest. God, I was stressed for 2 years straight."
Despite the heightened stress levels, Pagliarulo seems ready to go again. In a reply to the above quote, the developer said he is "reinvigorated" and wants to create even more worlds with Bethesda Game Studios.
Sometimes, we do underestimate just how much goes into making modern AAA video games - especially huge open world role playing games like Starfield. We hope the team gets the rest it needs before going again and delighting fans with another BGS world - this time under the wing of Team Xbox!
Are you at all surprised by this Twitter thread? Tell us what you make of it down below.
[source x.com, via gamesradar.com]
Comments 38
I'm glad the games come to gamepass and I appreciate the game developers hard work and how many hours they have to work as well thank you. I'm sorry but I woudnt be proud of the way they released this game the gmaes full of bugs crashes a the time and is a mess samey environments as well the game isn't as good as skyrim or fallout 4 neither not something be proud of at all
My current playtime is 3d 1h 55m, I have finished almost all the factions quests and nearly finished the main campaign. I am lvl 41.
I think I'm going to settle on an 8.5/10 for this game. Room for improvement if they ever make a sequeal, but a really enjoyable game. Around about where the metacritic landed.
I must give a shout out to the devs as is easily the least buggy game Bethesda has ever made. Only 1 crash in all 3days playtime and the worst bug I had was a airlock stuck in the sky and I had to reload. Pretty amazing when you consider some of their previous releases. They deserve the praise they got from Digital Foundry for that achievement
Now the long wait for ES
@Sakai I'm a little lower than you, about an 8, though I flip-flop up and down. But perhaps that is because I had a lot more bugs than you, including quests being completely blocked, and things that required loading much earlier manual saves to fix.
It honestly felt like I was playing a different game to what everyone else was reporting as I had many more bugs and mine kept crashing at the end. But then I played much longer than you, 200+ hours.
I give a clear 10/10. 130 hours in, I’ve barely touched any main missions and still my overall missions to play list is growing and growing. Usually I’d be long bored by a game after so many hours, but I still feel I’m only starting to discover all the facets of the game yet. Right now I’m learning how to upgrade my ships, but I feel like I’m a long way from building one myself.
I wonder if I’m even going to complete the game in 2023.
PS. My only complaint are the many hard crashes and freezes. Lately I’m having around two of them per session.
@themightyant my experience has been great from a technical point of view. I have to agree with Digital Foundry who said that the level of polish and consistency is well above their previous efforts. It really has been night and day for me
My main complaint with the game is some of the quest structures are a bit uninspired. A bit to much talk to A, then B, than A again, then B etc etc.
The only thing I have not done is build a base or built my own spaceship, so I cannot comment on those systems. Not really interested enough to try it
I'm sure it's nice to finally have it released, but it's painfully incomplete.
I've got over 100 hours into it and I enjoy it but I don't think it's anymore than a 7 personally.
There is just so so so much missing basic QOL, really bare bones menus, procedural generated poi's. Embarrassingly stilted writing and I'm a little bit sick of being sick invisible.......
I adore this game, it comes just shy of Skyrim which is my all time favorite game. I can't wait for the expansions. I think they knocked it out of the park.
@Sakai As I said it just feels like I was playing a different game to everyone else. I got frustrated with hearing so many people saying it's "the least buggy game Bethesda has ever made" because that just wasn't my experience at all.
Like you didn't like much of the quest structure either.
My biggest complaint is just that they made exploration awful. This is one of my favourite things in BGS games and something I was particularly excited for in Starfield. But there was little point going to any of the planets that weren't on the main quest lines as they were just minutes and minutes of nothingness, not broken up with interesting things to see, and when you finally got to the destination it was the EXACT same "Abandoned UC Outpost" or similar as on another planet. That's a poor, uncompelling gameplay loop.
Despite all the issues, I still liked the game, I just didn't love it. Which as a BGS fan was a disappointment.
@Darude84 have you tried deleting your saves and clearing your xbox cache ,its always an issue with the engine they use ,same problem with all of there games ,the longer you play the more crashes and freezes you suffer ,it works for me anyway,hopefully they're not using the same engine for elder scrolls 6,its dreadful and far to old for what they want to achieve ,I have a feeling its why there's so much loading in the game,and the reason why they couldn't load the planets all in one go.
@Darude84 YES! found the more and more the longer I played. Crashes, freezes, etc. I was almost getting one an hour by the end.
@Mephisto2869 I tried this (restoring saves from the cloud) but it didn't work for me. But yes it's an old engine issue. One of many reasons I want them to start fresh for ESVI. I'm getting the exact same bugs and issues I did in Skyrim.
@Mephisto2869 Doesn’t that erase my progress altogether? (Sorry if this is a stupid question, I’m new to the world of Xbox.)
Considering what came before from Bethesda, how they 'released' at launch and what they have achieved with the Engine, realising their Ambition, I think they should be 'proud' of Starfield.
There aren't many games with this 'complexity' or 'ambition' - keeping track of so many items etc, so much of 'Space' to explore (and yes, like Space, a Lot of it is quite empty - but never stopped people wanting to go to the moon or Mars for example) etc. I get that its not the same as exploring a 'single' area and being able to traverse that entire area with minimal loading - but that doesn't help when areas are separated by the vast expanse of Space.
As for bugs and/or playability, this has to be the best state a Bethesda game has launched in and the Level of Detail too a step-up. Its not 'perfect' - but its certainly something to be 'Proud' of.
Not saying he shouldn't be proud, but I wouldn't be personally. Aside from the spaceship building the gameplay feels significantly less deep than Fallout 4, which was the Starfield prototype. Even the whole Milky Way feels smaller than a section of Boston.
Presser released timed with the today's financials no doubt. The X post tone is one of disappointment or fear.
@IPAddresses even if the financial results of Microsoft's gaming division in the last quarter turn out to have been disappointing, don't forget that in the next quarter it will include the sales of Call of Duty and Candy Crush. That ought to be one the highest growths quarter-to-quarter a company will have reported ever...
@themightyant Pretty fair appraisal and one I agree with. I'm a little over 100 hours in and I've had few bugs. Def 8/10 from my perspective.
So many little things that let the game down, keep it from being a true classic, which is a shame.
You can tell the quest design loop was kept exactly the same from previous games. Travelling the land to talk to people can work in a fantasy setting. But repeatedly having to travel to talk to people face to face as if phones haven't been invented in starfield's universe, is just one of the many disconnects from reality that spoil the immersion, as is the whole travel system that's quite simply broken and make the universe feel smaller than Skyrim.
Its still an enjoyable experience though, I wouldn't waste my time with it otherwise, but I cant help thinking what it might have been with some better design choices. Its not even close to being my fave Bethesda title and its left me worried for ES6. I hope to god they learn how to make people that don't look like mannequins and animate like living beings instead of a students first showreel.
But I also hope they never lose their ability to tell a decent story - some of the side quests on this were very well written, even if the main quest was a little less so.
@Titntin @Titntin exactly spot on assessment of the game there it's not that great of a game it deserves an 8 but no more than that I'm afraid it had the potential be amazing and didn't live up to it I'm afraid oh well hopefully hellblade 2 and avowed will be amazing
@RazputinAquato I think you are forgetting the $68.7 billion they have to pay to get those COD and Candy Crush sales in an all-cash-deal. Will comfortably be the biggest decline in net-revenue seen in gaming
@Titntin Agree with all you said. The quests design felt archaic as you say. I wanted to scream: "Do you not have phones" Also worried about ESVI. As much as I want it asap, I'd rather it was delayed so they can fundamentally fix the engine, as it seems they aren't going to change it, and make a truly ground breaking game. Bethesda used to push boundaries.
@themightyant When a 10 billion dollar company buys a 1 billion dollar company, it becomes an 11 billion dollar company, not a 9 billion one The world works differently for the very very rich...
Bethesda should be proud. It’s a great game. My game of 2023 so far (although Spidey will have something to say about that over Thanksgiving).
I am deleting some saves because I have started getting a crash to dashboard or two each play session. Otherwise mostly bug free (amazing for such a vast world), with interesting quests in a cool space setting.
Starfield was everything I hoped it would be.
I delete all saves then make another ,just make sure its not mid battle or a part where the game won't let you save ,to clear your cache ,turn off your xbox a proper shutdown,then unplug ,leave for 30 seconds then plug it back in,that will clear your cache.
@Mephisto2869 I think @Darude84 meant, will they be able to recover their save, they obviously don't' want to start again!
@Darude84 The answer is if you have backed up to the cloud then you can restore it from there. Although this didn't work for me. My understanding is this is less to do with cache and more to do with the way creation engine save files get larger and larger as the game goes on. Especially if you loot and move a lot of things.
@RazputinAquato Indeed, they bought an asset that makes money and will add to their market cap... but that doesn't show up on the revenue sheet.
@themightyant I got the same as you a lot of bugs. But because it’s Bethesda, they get away with it, because it’s their ‘least’ buggiest. Compare that to 2023 standards and that’s a lot of bugs.
As I’ve said to you elsewhere, I’ve flipped with the score a lot too. Probably settled around an 8. I enjoyed my 70hrs but there was so much that could have been better. But it just lacked that spark. Had I bought it and not through GP I would have felt I got my money’s worth.
The biggest thing that probably surprised me was that upon finishing and uninstalling I haven’t actually missed playing it, not felt the urge to download it again or anything. Maybe some interesting console mods will change that.
@themightyant Thanks! I’m not going to risk anything messing with my saves then, if it probably won’t help. Let’s hope they fix the dealing with large save files in a future update.
I ended up with a 7.5 to and 8.5 depending what I was experiencing in the game at the time.
My only gripe is it should have been a classic a TOTK etc and had far more modern and intuitive systems in place.
I’ve never had so much in and out of building and even the caves etc loading and wait time.
From that perspective it was more like a ten year old game.
I've had a lot of crashes, glitches, sound issues but not too bad as I quick save every minute or so. Bit annoying but it's always the case with Bethesda games. I'm experienced enough to know that's how you have to play it.
Also every time I die from being shot I shoot up about 20 feet into the air like a rag doll. Every time?!?
I do hope they make a sequel and I desperately hope they use a new engine. It feels so dated in so many ways. They need to improve character movement, game design, NPC movement and dialogue, loading times.
Positives are the music, the volume of missions and Im finding the FPS mechanics enjoyable.
I'd probably go either 7 or 8/10 at this point so far.
i had to stop using companions, most of the time they move right in front of my gun when in combat. outer worlds companions are great and i can order them where to go and they are nice to me unlike most of them in sf.
@themightyant I dont understand ,why would they need to start again, when you've made a fresh new singular save.
This game is fantastic, everything I wanted from them. And it plays even better when one is away from the twitter / media bubble & echochamber, when you don't have angry fanboys telling you how crappy the game is because it didn't come to their favourite platform or didn't include a specific feature. It's my personal GOTY, only rivaled by with Super Mario Bros Wonder.
@Darude84 @Mephisto2869 ah I think I understand now.
I think you are suggesting: Make sure you are somewhere safe like New Atlantis. While there delete all your existing saves and then make ONE new save ingame. Shut down the game console, unplug and wait 30 secs to clear cache, plug back in, reboot and problem solved.
Even if that does solve the problem it is ridiculous that we’d have to go through those steps just to stop the game crashing. Not least Starfield has a lot of bugs that often require loading an earlier save to fix, if we’ve just deleted all our earlier saves that doesn’t help.
They really need to fix this before DLC.
@themightyant exactly right 😁 yeah it is ridiculous, but its bethesda so expected,I had the same trouble with oblivion and skyrim.
@Mephisto2869 same. It’s all the old bugs. I might consider deleting them but I like keeping my old saves. Often made at pivotal moments and seeing the alternative outcomes.
@Mephisto2869 Is there a (small) risk that way that you lose all your progress? I mean if the game crashes right between deleting the existing save games and creating a new one?
@Darude84 hmm I wouldn't think so ,make your new save first and then delete all the old ones if you're worried
@Mephisto2869 Ah, does that work as well. Thanks!
@Darude84 certainly does 😁
@Mephisto2869 It certainly feels a lot more stable so far. Thanks!
@Darude84 you're welcome 😁
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