Bethesda's first big DLC pack for Starfield arrived at the tail end of last month, and in the wake of some mixed reviews, the studio's design director has responded to some of the criticism levelled at the Shattered Space expansion.
In a lengthy exchange over on Twitter, Bethesda's Emil Pagliarulo replied to a fan who's beginning to question some of the studios' choices - both with Starfield and the Shattered Space add-on. The fan's questions seem fairly level-headed, which prompted a more healthy discussion on the topic than you'd usually see on the social media platform.
To sum things up, the Bethesda fan thought a recent developer interview was "very tone deaf" with the reviews that are now out there, and they felt the studio was "making the same mistakes" in Shattered Space that it had with previous releases. We'll throw Emil's responses down below so you view everything that he had to say:
"Twitter/X has never been a place for polite discourse, but I'd like to address what I can. I donāt like leaving fans hanging. In fact, I generally say more than I should. We have a Community team for a reason. But I think a bridge to the devs is important.
First, the interview. As the design director, sometimes Iām asked or instructed to do interviews. I was happy to do that, to represent the designers and the studio. Seeing how hard and passionately they worked on Shattered Space, they deserved nothing less.
Optimism and excitement are pretty standard for interviews. And I'm generally pretty optimistic and excitable (about games) by nature. That said, my optimism is in no way meant to be mud in the eye of any dissatisfied fan. That's not how it works.
Iām also very proud of Shattered Space. We all are. Most of the quests and levels were done by designers who have worked on previous Bethesda games and DLCs, going all the way back to Morrowind. Theyāre good at what they do, and it shows.
If folks havenāt played Shattered Space, and they like Starfield, I think theyāre missing out. If folks have played Shattered Space and still donāt like it, that makes me sad, honestly. Just know that weāve also been hearing from plenty of people who love it.
Maybe itās a game of expectations. Fans want a lot, and we do all we can to accommodate them. Hereās what I can tell you ā nobody, and I mean nobody, at Bethesda is patting themselves on the back while ignoring our players.
In addition to Shattered Space, weāve also spent a lot of time this year addressing community concerns and making fixes. Weāll continue to do so, and will be listening to our fans every step of the way. We make these games for all of you.
Starfield is a massive game, and it takes time for us to address things. We move as fast as we can, as safely as we can. Game development is always tricky, but with a game as big as Starfield, every fix could potentially break something else.
To close, let me just sayā¦ I love games. I love Bethesdaās games. Iāve been playing them since the Terminator days. All I or anyone here wants to do is make those gamesā¦ and then make them better. No ego. No arrogance. Just a lot of hard work, and appreciation of our fans."
If you'd like to get a better idea of how the two-way exchange went down, feel free to head on over to Twitter and have a look. As you can see, Emil sums up that all Bethesda wants to do is make the sort of games it's known for - "No ego. No arrogance. Just a lot of hard work, and appreciation of our fans".
Here at Pure Xbox, we've made no secret of the fact that we didn't really take to Starfield: Shattered Space; you can read all about why in our full review. We also asked you folks if you still plan to buy the DLC after these mixed reviews, so if you want to make your voice heard with that, click on the link down below.
What do you think of this exchange? Tell us your thoughts on the DLC and this developer response down in the comments.
[source x.com]
Comments 28
By the sounds of it anytime anyone at Bethesda uses the toilet they feel proud!
Starfield's a weird one. When I started playing it last year I agreed with the general 7 and 8 review scores. But the more I played, the more I realised that the whole point of the game is to just get lost in it's universe, pull on whatever threads you like and leave the ones that don't grab you. Now, I don't think there's a game this gen that rivals it for pure freedom, and I'll be playing it all gen on and off.
With Shattered Space specifically though, there was clearly an expectation from fans to push the boundaries and try new things out, but I don't think they needed to do that yet. They've already improved the experience so much (for free) already, that this probably just needed to have a much lower price to temper expectations.
They didn't need to offend billions of people on earth with a Fake Religion based around Satan/The Great Serpent and joining it in a space-sim.
The game and dlc are garbage
Shattered space is great. Bugs are being cleaned up quickly. The main game is superb and I still believe that the wider media stopped Starfield being a GOTY contender. For me it was up there and is still one of the best space based games I ever played.
Itās like space - huge, vast. Sometimes it looks bland but then we know space can look bland as well!
Too many jumped on the anti Xbox bandwagon with this game and DLC - I am not referring to PXB here - and itās such a shame because Starfield is brilliant and should have been lauded much more.
But then itās all about opinions and it would be dull if we all agreed all of the time.
Of course he's proud. He just worked on it and it just came out. He's not going to say "this is the new project I just finished working on and it's absolute crap." lol. Reminds me of when a band comes out with a new album and they say "this is the best album we've ever done." I mean, duh.
Honestly enjoying it myself.
With Concord there was mention of
" positive toxicity culture", where despite some obvious issues no one in house was speaking up.
I can't help but wonder if that's an issue at Bethesda right now. š¤
I didn't hate the game at release, and had it downloaded again hoping this 1 year DLC would be a must play.
I tried playing yesterday, and ran into the same POI I've seen on almost every planet, gods the exact same again š
I'd love to offer my opinion, but I cant play it because the update broke my saves, so I deleted it and will never play this broken crap again.
I'm enjoying Shattered Space in places, but also it feels like a massive missed opportunity in many others. But the fact I haven't actually played that much this week is probably the most telling thing. Instead I finished Case of the Golden Idol and was playing The Plucky Squire, both pulled me back more than this DLC.
The most divisive game in years.
This constant excusing of hard work=quality entertainment from Developer's and publishers is just embarrassing. Concord was worked on for 8 years. No one ever questioned the work ethic of the devs. Skull n Bones was a 10 year project. The hard work=great entertainment argument is like saying we worked really hard hauling up this giant load of shrimp, even tho you wanted salmon. But you are deathly allergic to shellfish.
Get your heads out of your asses. No one is saying you are not working hard.
Disappointed again. Starfield is the most disappointing game I've ever purchased. I've played hundreds of hours looking for the fun. With the exception of the Terrormorph quest line, it's all been forgettable. Not so much as an engaging and memorable character like Moira in Megaton. No lines stuck in my head like "arrow to the knee". Much like Andromeda compared to other Mass Effect titles, Starfield is somehow less than all the BGS games before it. If you've never played a Mass Effect game to compare it with, Andromeda is an excellent game. Same for Starfield.
I bought premium, so I feel obligated to play Shattered Space, but I keep turning it on, putzing around for a bit, then playing something else. My crappy phone game, Watcher of Realms, holds my interest better.
Personally I enjoyed Shattered Space. I dont agree with most of the negatives I've read about it tbh.
Bless him. He does seem defensive and I get that, when you slaved away on a labour of love like they have.
But it cant be the players who are wrong, so mixed feelings mean they have to take the critical viewpoints on board and continue to develop the game in a direction where it will appeal to more of us.
Im unlikely to be tempted back in. My 90 odd hours was enough for me to ascertain it was not what I was after, but I really wish them luck. Bethusda are one of the all time great studios and any real gamer should want them to achieve universal acclaim again..
@MALEBRIGNON
Why did you keep playing for hundreds of hours if you find it disappointing? Why also buy the expansion if the base game was not to your liking.
I don't get the idea of disappointed/hate watching/playing. It leaves the viewer/player drained or filled with negativity. Time is also a commodity more important than already sunk cost.
It pains me to write that most of the new Star Trek is not for me anymore. I paid for a monthly sub and was thankful to find out that almost all of the post 2005 shows are not for me. It's disappointing to walk away from something you're a fan of, but hate/disappointed watching (or playing) leads to a dark path.
Iāve grown to really dislike these sort of devs. Social media has given them a voice and itās become apparent theyāre not likeable people for the most part and some even have distain for gamers and any criticism. Not saying thatās the case here but it is elsewhere.
IMO Starfield is just dull and uninteresting, which is amazing for a game set in space with endless possibilities.
I've just finished Shattered Space. At least I think I have. It seemed to end quite abruptly.
For the most part I enjoyed it, but there were a couple of big bugs that I encountered that needed me to load a previous save: one when I couldn't talk to a character I had to talk to, and one when it autosaved as I was dying and reloaded just for me to die again.
The frame rate also seemed awful at times.
But it was certainly fun enough to keep me playing.
@cardcrusher29 I was trying to find the joy. It's kinda like when you get weak weed and keep smoking it because you already paid for it and you're certain you'll catch a buzz eventually. I'd already spent my game budget on this instead of Baldurs Gate 3, so I literally had nothing better to play. I remembered how long it took me to warm up to Fallout 4, which eventually became my go-to game over Skyrim. I desperately wanted to love Starfield. I bought a Series X just for it, I was that hyped to play. Emil makes me worried they'll continue with this homogenized games-by-committee formula.
Starfield was very disappointing for me. Hope they donāt mess up Elder Scrolls when it comes out in 20 years.
@CallMeDuraSouka exactly what I came here to comment.
These people have to stop saying "but we are proud of it, we worked hard!". Of course you do, but that doesn't automatically make the game any good.
You can work hands to your bones, but if you have no direction, no design doc, and the single most uninspired "sci fi" setting ever (if we can even call it that), well, the result is not going to be good, and of course it wasn't.
I enjoyed the game like many other I know, and I don't think there is an issues with devs who have worked on something for years, being proud of their contribution.
@Darylb88 But when them years of work was on something mediocre that was meant to be amazing the game is very dull
@MALEBRIGNON
I hope you can find other fun games on Xbox that will not leave you disappointed in buying a Series X. Buying one just for Starfield puts a lot of additional pressure for the game to live up to expectations.
I go by the old school of asking if there are 5 to 10 games I would pay with cash right now before buying a console/pc. Yet I still can't pull the trigger on a $700 graphics card that I estimate as "acceptable" and would outlive the PS6/Xbox Next. ;(
@Ricky-Spanish Medicore in your subjective opinion
@Darylb88 Exactly and many others the game for it's setting is very dull but more power to you if you like it š
@Ricky-Spanish Yes there are many who both like and dislike it so it's not objectively good or bad. Yes I've enjoyed my time with the game overall, it's definitely not perfect though.
@Darylb88 Hello kitty islands adventure is the only game so far that is widely known as perfection here's hoping for a sequel šš„“š
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