Starfield may provide Xbox players with a big old world to explore across multiple planets and zones, but it still contains a bunch of loading screens as players move through different areas of the game world - something that "surprised" ex-Starfield developer Nate Purkeypile.
The Bethesda vet — who worked at the company from 2007 through to 2021 — says that a lot of these loading zones "were not there when I had been working on it [Starfield]", adding that their frequent appearance "was a surprise to me" when the final product shipped in 2023.
"It could have existed without those [loading zones].
Like, some of those were not there when I had been working on it and so it was a surprise to me that there was as many as there were."
The developer went on to say that a big reason for load screens in Starfield (and other Bethesda Game Studios titles) is down to "gating stuff off for performance", but the sheer amount of them still seemed to surprise the ex-Starfield developer given how the game was looking earlier on in development.
If you're thinking of jumping back into Bethesda's sci-fi RPG sometime soon, the team recently released a chunky Starfield update that reintroduces the game's uncapped frame rate option on Xbox Series X - alongside a bunch of other fixes and changes to the Game Pass title.
What do you make of these comments from someone who once worked on Starfield? Talk to us about 'em down below!
[source videogamer.com, via ign.com]
Comments 16
I was surprised how much RPG there was in my loading screen simulator.
This game has some good bones but I've realized its just not for me. I personally find that it takes too long for the game to open-up and the many many loading screens also just pull me out of the immersion of it all. It's not a big deal for many, but I've tried to get into this game so many times and I keep bouncing off and I think I'm done trying.
One of the biggest disappointments of this gen for me is the lack of disappearance of the load screen.
Admittedly this was more pushed by Cerny and Sony but game design was going to change forever... but then nothing could have been cross gen and so the load screen remains...
@user0 That got a hearty guffaw. You win my internet prize today 🎂
‘Number’ of load screens.
Love Starfield
Put 60 hours in total.
Did seem to much loading and systems themselves from the Skyrim 360 era.
Really hope they modernise the systems for future games.
Next to no loading, more organisation in the GUI, generally more snappy systems like a next generation game should be.
It did feel from an operational point of view extremely slow and old.
Purkeypile is a great Pokémon name.
I'm reminded of some XBOX One games, like The Witcher, shortly after the XBOX Series released, that had the game effectively still be rendering the landscape as the loading screen vanished.
It's why Mass Effect had it's not very well hidden loading screens run at a static speed, ensuring that all versions loaded properly.
I still play a little Starfield almost daily. Sure the loading screens and bobble-head NPCs aren't good, but like I've said before on here it's the only kinda-realistic space sim on Xbox like Star Citizen (less sim than that is good also). I've been doing UC Vanguard, TMD Sample, and Mission Board missions, going to various planets and seeing the sights. It's cool!, until a newer better single-player space sim comes around.
@IGN_Commenter
You and me both. But it's more 'enjoy' than 'love' for me. And my mums out of hospital so I'm back playing a little daily (see above comment).
@TheGiraffe glad your mom is doing better. I enjoyed more than loved starfield myself
I had a great time in Star Field, loved the ship building. I wish leveling up skills was slightly faster & I hope they add big epic boss fight missions that required usage of your powers (don't wanna spoil) a la Mega Man style weaknesses. Beautiful game.
I saw the comparisons of Cyberpunk to Star Field after I beat the game and yeah, Bethesda needs to make their NPCs move more naturally like in Cyberpunk because those movements of characters look like they're straight out of Morrowind on the OG Xbox.
@Medic_alert man if Sony gets Star Field and use their SSD architecture to get minimal loading screens I'm sure it'll be a much better experience. I had a great time out in space & would've liked to be able to actually fly to places like in No Man's Sky.
TheGiraffe wrote:
Have you watched the Squadron 42 intro mission 👀
I backed Star Citizen in 2012 on Kickstarter. I remember thinking "I'm not sure if my 550ti is going to be able to handle this" LOL.
Starfield has always been a mashup of other great games. Pips, ship modules, spaceflight in general: Elite Dangerous. Scanning stuff and stumbling across the same 10 random encounters: No Man's Sky. The interaction with NPC's: every fallout/elder scrolls. Etc. Even the main storyline isn't exactly new in the sci-fi world which has been about multiverse since 2017. So.... Putting in more loading screens suits it fine, makes it all the more a jack of all trade and a master of none. Would've been nice to see seamless loading, but I guess that was too hard to copy from other games.
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