Bethesda Introduces Its 'Isolated, Handcrafted World' In New Starfield: Shattered Space Deep Dive

I don’t like it, but I get this model of adding premium additions to GP games for DLC. It was successful clearly if they’re doing it again with Indy. But I can’t help but be peeved. It’s like Netflix letting you watch the first season of a show but forcing you to buy the rest that is locked into their platform. It’s starting to diminish the value and - key to me - ease of GP to me. I’m at the age (and income) in life that I value service and would just rather have a more expensive truly all-in-one service than nickel and diming add-ons.

In fact, I would genuinely rather pay more for like a Game Pass Ultimate Premium sub and not need to worry about purchases.

I'm really looking forward to it. Loved Starfield when it came out and I keep coming back to it still.

Like we should be grateful it’s hand crafted.
Most game worlds should be hand crafted not that crap that is full world procedural generation.

Have this already included in my GPU early access from when Starfield was released.
I know, paid for early access, was a bit more of an Xbox nut then.

I bought the Starfield premium with reward points … will do the same with Indy… seems like a no brainer for me…

@OldGamer999 Smart man back then. Now you're going to pay $700 for a base PS5 Pro, then you're going to get all the addons, and you're going to be quiet and like it.

@HeavyHoggJP
Maybe, maybe not.
But trusting Microsoft with Xbox is like trusting Chucky with a bread knife 🤣

In a serious note, if Xbox had their games to Xbox console exclusive then the whole PS5 being my main console would have never happened.
But that’s the outcome of letting your big exclusive games go in a rivals console.

No Xbox won’t even get the 30% revenue from the third party games I was going to buy for my series x.
They crossed the line putting games on PS5 and now maybe the best versions with PS5 Pro.
Next Indy and Doom for a start.

Looks fantastic and is exactly what the game needs. I bought the premium version at launch so i was getting this no matter but now i'm really excited for it.

@Secryt I mean its not exclusive to GP its a premium full price game that is also part of a sub to Gamepass. Yeah shocker Bethesda do big expansions for their games.

@OldGamer999 I totally get where you're coming from, but I have to say I love having an Xbox, especially because of Game Pass. I managed to snag 3 years for under $120 a few months ago, and it’s been perfect for a casual gamer like me. Plus, I can share it with my kids, so it’s really a win-win!

If I wanted to worry about exclusives, I’d just go to PC anyway since PlayStation games seem to end up there sooner or later! It’s great to have so many options.

@HeavyHoggJP
Always good to have options and take which one, anyone prefers.

I'm very excited about this, can't wait to play it but the whole "decide the fate" thing feels... off.

Because barring any amazing plot twists, that fate will only last until my next jump through the unity. Spent the last week sorta rebuilding my first playthrough ATM.

Note: I like the whole NG+ is part of the narrative thing, do wish they'd add more universes and some kind of randomiser (even if it's just gear) but, as I suspect the point is, my connection to the world of Starfield is lessened with each jump.

I went for the Premium Upgrade via Game Pass for 'early' access and played quite a bit but never finished. I even started again recently just because I had lost track of where and what I had seen/done etc and hadn't played since they added a performance option. I didn't have a VRR display when that was introduced but do now.

Therefore I have this to look forward to. It's not just Microsoft, Activision were doing it with Call of Duty for years (premium versions got access to Beta early and pre-ordering got early access) - but I get it, they want to incentivise you buying it Day 1 when the game is at its most 'costly' and also least known quantity.

Over Time more and more people will have had access and will have their opinion on it's 'worth' - but others will still wait months, if not years for the price to drop below a certain threshold. There are 90% off sales and if released physically, Black Friday and then the after Christmas Sales maybe will be a better time to buy.

A few days early isn't costing them anything in essence and something you have to 'pre-order' to take advantage of. Therefore an 'incentive' - DLC and/or Season Passes with the Premium edition is just payment for everything up-front rather than give them a bit now, a bit later, and maybe some more after that.

@OldGamer999, You know procedural generation has an extensive history in gaming, right. Daggerfall, Elite, Minecraft, No Man's Sky, Fuel, Civilization IV, Dark Chronicle, Dark Cloud, Diablo, Far Cry 2, Minesweeper, Just Cause, Mount & Blade, Spelunky, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

There's plenty more too. As for the fanboyism regarding PS. I wouldn't waste my money on a console that charges for cloud saves.

@Wisegamer
I have always had a PS5 and Xbox series x day one.
It’s about the future, if I had any trust in Xbox releasing a normal under the tv Xbox console then it would be sort of ok.

But I have no faith in them doing so, so I have to think about my future digital games and eco system.

@AliceInChains
As for the cloud saves, totally agree Sony are taking the piss with that and it annoys me.

But the uncertainty of Xbox console future annoys me more.

@Wisegamer
Correct I did love Xbox games all the time been with them since day one original Xbox.
But a duck up they have made of the potential of some big AAA games they could have had, apart from FH5.
Redfall, Forza and Starfield, hardly critically acclaimed games up there with GOWR or TOTK to name two.
Indy will follow and so will Avowed. Average plus slightly games.
Duck me even Astro Bot has walked over anything Xbox studios have produced since the series x released, that’s a ducking joke of company Xbox really are. Four years and nothing that special.

Why do you think outside the USA where Xbox is still third, Xbox is almost dead. Console wise and game pass wise.
Because over the years they haven’t produced any games that the general public really want.

They haven’t advertised and also give the impression they don’t care about the Xbox consoles.

@AllAroundGamer I havn't purchased a single 3rd party game for Xbox in 2 years because I don't understand what they are doing over there. Stalker 2 might change that, we'll see....
Playstation has at least made an effort, even if they are price gouging every single thing they do. Raising controller prices was absolutely taking the piss

It's okay to love Xbox and be pissed at em too

I'll give the expansion a shot, but the more I play the base game and read about the expansion, the more I realize the game should have centered on a single star system with six to seven extremely well-crafted, Earth-like planets (and their moons), along with a few space stations and a few colonies in unusual environments, such as on a so-called "ice giant".

Not watching this. Going in blind just like the main game. No expectations, just fun. Love Starfield.

I am looking forward to the expansion but I really hope that it impacts the themes of the base game and the settled systems as a whole. Not to mention the Unity cycle.

@OldGamer999 Fair. I understand the dislike. You've played Xbox since the early naughties, me too. It does suck not seeing them in the limelight as they once were. I saved and bought the Xbox for DOOM 3, Fable, Half-Life 2 and randomly, Blood Wake (Never seen water like it). When it came to 360, Dead Rising, Saints Row, Crackdown. All amazing titles. Yes they have had plenty of errors. But who hasn't. The Wii-U, Virtual Boy, PS Vita. Right now, Xbox has got the more interesting line up of titles on the horizon, even if some are multiplatform.

@Wisegamer But PC gaming sucks for many of us. I got bored of PC gaming 25 years ago and all the issues then are still issues now. It's absolutely the worst way to consume games for me and many others. I'm typing this on a 4K 3090 PC rig with its own 48 inch oled as its monitor, But I've never even completed a game on it. PC users typically get distracted by all sorts of things on their PC, have to deal with several store fronts, multiple driver updates, have to research best settings to try and get a performant game and work in an all digital environment which many despise (not me though).
Typically I'd only spend %50 of my gaming time actually playing games, and as soon as I do the GPU spins up to silly speed and gets hot and noisy.
No matter which console I play, I'm playing silently in less than a minute, on the sofa with a 65 inch telly with no distractions, safe in the knowledge I'm playing the best settings as the target platform is the same for all users. Its infinitely better for me and I could buy a new Series X AND a PS5 pro and a decent holiday for less than the price of my GPU alone.

I'm glad you like your PC gaming, but when it comes to gaming, one size does definitely not fit all.

I hope the new Starfield stuff is good. Too late for me, but I'd like to see Bethesda getting some of their spark back!

@Secryt I'm fine with it (the $30 upgrades). It is a smart way to augment Game Pass which Xbox has been doing for years. For games that I would buy anyway and am eager to play, I buy the premium upgrade for Game Pass.

Yes, there is one for Indy. They've annoyed me a bit with how they've handled Indy and not even trying to hold exclusivity for another year or two, so I don't think I will buy that one. If I like the game and want to play the DLC, I'll buy it went the add-on releases.