JayJ

It's kind of an odd dynamic background, as the cars are frozen in action while the sky moves. I think this would have worked a lot better with some image of cars parked.

So it's better looking than an Xbox One game released in 2017.

You know what I would think of as a pleasing upgrade? Being able to enjoy a game offline. Oh wait, Forza 7 did that.

@Kevw2006 Uhh no I am actually a fan of Starfield, and a "balanced review" should be impacted by things like live services and micro-transactions. It's hard for me to trust or relate to someone when they ignore elephants in the room like that.

@Sifi The fact that live services and microtransactions doesn't seem to effect critic scores negatively speaks volumes about the divide between critics and the audience.

Skipping premium this time, there's too many things I am unsure about with this release. I can easily wait a few more days anyways.

Critics also loved GT7 back before it launched. Just sayin.

Keep in mind this is the new "remaster" version.

Good reviews, but then again GT7 got a ton of good reviews before it launched, and I think we all know how that went over with fans.

I am ordering one of these so I can finally have a controller that perfectly matches my goldrush Xbox One X, so I couldn't care less about having the new upcoming features for this one.

@Spider-Kev Yeah I agree, it's odd how frustrating game design gets so heavily praised these days.

I used to always go for these upgrades. This will be the first time I'll be skipping it.

Who knows though, maybe I will love this game and will want the upgrade later, but I am skeptical enough to just play it off Gamepass.

I guess so considering how Forza Horizon is a part of the series, but I would rank Gran Turismo above it in terms of pure racing sims. That said Forza was undoubtedly the best franchise during the Xbox One era, PS4 had nothing that could compete with it.

So is this going to change anything about the product somehow?

Khan is a complete disgrace, what a joke.

I can't think of any of Jim's contributions that I would consider a good thing. Good riddance.

@AverageGamer Well look at Star Citizen. 10+ years into development and they are barely half-finished. I am glad we got to actually experience Starfield as opposed to it being one of those ambitious games that stays in development forever.

I like it like this. I have never been a fan of making things too difficult in a game. Sure, some people seem to derive satisfaction from that, but for me it simply makes the experience frustrating and off-putting. I want to be able to enjoy my games and relax at my own pace.

The more they try to raise prices, the more I just wait for games to go on sale.

I don't see the point in purchasing a live services game. If they want to make this game online-only they will have to deal with me not buying it, not like I will ever be able to properly own it anyways.

Corporations desperately want to push video game streaming, yet they refuse to spend the money on the necessary internet infrastructure upgrades to make that actually viable for the general public.

@MrList Not a problem if you buy the games digitally, so I don't really see the reason for concern if this is something that is available. That and good luck buying a physical copy for $4 or less.

@iplaygamesnstuff Yeah the physical-only dinosaurs are an interesting bunch, especially considering how useless most game discs are these days without an internet connection to download the rest of the game or updates. They became little more than a physical version of DRM that requires a working disc drive.

As for this, I got enough points to get a free $5 gift card so I guess I'll just get it for free with that.

@TJ81 Technically the Series X is more powerful than the PS5 so I find that highly doubtful.

@Nightcrawler71 Yeah leaving the motion blur on definitely helps a lot, I also got used to it after playing the game a while.

Figured they would fix the puddle glitch pretty quickly, I hit it up a few times just to give myself a nice early inventory boost, but trying to do it a lot just became too time consuming, and I didn't want to ruin the game progress for myself.

This is what happens when you chase after the online-only model, people experience issues and the fanbase becomes fractured.

@WoomyPearl Probably, but post-PS1 Spyro and Crash titles were awful for the most part.

Fine by me, I am not a fan of Capcom these days anyways.

@GeeForce Yeah, lol, true. I am also hoping they might change a few things like they did when they made unpopular decisions in the past. I guess we'll see how everyone reacts to this game.

Can't say I care the least about these games when Starfield just recently released, that appeals to me far more than these.

@GeeForce Okay well the fact remains that everything about the way they're presenting this game resembles the live services model regardless of how the studio director tries to sell it to the public.

He is probably just trying to save face considering the negative stigma that live services have these days, but that sure hasn't stopped them from pushing a grindy online-only game that will apparently have a lot of monetization.

Basically, I'm not buying it.

This has gotta be one of the worst subscriptions in gaming.

I'm all about Starfield right now.

@GeeForce Their previews and press features? They have been very vocal and up-front about the always-online requirement and plans to make it a live service game. Just because some marketing rep says something like that doesn't mean we should just completely forget about everything we have seen and been told so far about how the game actually works lol.

@CaptnDave Sounds like the typical PVP experience these days. Reminds me of why I would only play GTA Online when I could play on my own private server, you can't enjoy these games when you're being hassled by some griefers.

@BAMozzy Yeah that is basically the problem I have with so many other "GotY" titles people have brought up around here, none of them really appeal to me, or they're just a remake of a game that appealed to me in a bygone era.

Starfield is easily one of the few big hyped up titles that actually appeals to me, and I have been thoroughly enjoying it. It's the same deal with me as well, there is a lot of big epic open world RPG's these days, but right now this is the only one I keep wanting to play more of. So many others felt like interesting games to check out but they never really kept me wanting more.

This is easily my game of the year. Played it yesterday for the first time and it's one of those times where I ended up playing it all night because I was so into it, and I barely scratched the surface of what I can do.

It's like some people go crazy over whatever the latest soulslike game is, but this is what I absolutely enjoy. There is just something about a Bethesda RPG where they're the best exploration games around. So many other developers rely upon generated content for this kind of size and scale, but here you can tell how everything has been carefully crafted. It is truly a big open galaxy you can just explore at your own pace. This is the type of game that keeps me interested in video games.

@KillerBoy Same, and I have been a loyal Forza fan since the series launched on the original Xbox. I just don't have time for these live-service games, and they already confirmed how it's going to be that. To top it off the car leveling system they have been talking about sounds awful, it's like they're trying to make this game as grindy as possible.

Well the graphics are looking good, big improvement over the old WRC games.

@Pikachuuuu Yup, you can actually make a case for the CMA, while the FTC has been blatantly acting corruptly.

As bad as the CMA is, they are looking far more professional than the FTC right now. Say what you want about them, at least they don't leak confidential information from companies they create conflict with and try to blame it on them.

@Tomato_Goose Yeah I would have to agree with that to be honest. I am really sick and tired of all the remakes and remasters, especially considering how great old Xbox console games tend to play on Series X anyways. That and as someone who has had a gaming PC for a long time, I never really had a need for that, so many old games can look great on modern setups.

Like when it comes to what gets me excited about the prospect of buying a new video game, it's gotta be something new these days.

I've got the warning symbol for the only game I have installed that needs a disc, not exactly the disc warning symbol. So yeah, it needs some work lol.

I figured those two Yakuza games would hit Gamepass one day, looking forward to them.

@Maccish Remember the PSP Go? The ONLY portable console that couldn't use physical media the generation before that?

Yeah, Sony jumped on that all-digital bandwagon before everyone else, heck they are pioneers of that direction.

Sony could have easily made the PS5 with only a disc drive, like the Series X, but they decided to push out an all-digital version because that is the direction they want to go in.

Face it, your beloved Sony is just as anti-physical as anyone else.

Sounds like we should have an Elite 3 before long, that's the one I'll get.

A Call of Duty game with a zombie mode?! No way!

@IOI PS5, the console that started the digital only alternative? Sony has been VERY keen to get rid of physical media for this entire generation lol.

Nintendo is probably the only console maker that is truly physical friendly.

From what I have heard the Series S has been a massive hit in countries like Brazil where the more expensive consoles are supposedly crazy expensive for them.

@ZYDIO Yeah that's a good approach IMO. Luckily I was really into collecting video games for a while back when you could buy tons of 90's era stuff for relatively cheap. It's crazy how much of that stuff has skyrocketed in price since I bought it. Similar deal with PS2/GC/Xbox era games, I remember buying up a bunch of original Xbox games where I only paid a few dollars for each game, where I could get them bundled in a bulk shipping delivery making everything dirt cheap. Now a days those games are probably a lot more expensive. Gamecube games have really skyrocketed in price, and even a lot of the collector stuff I got on PS2 has become somewhat rare and expensive.

Thing is, it's just great having a collection of classic physical games. Like no matter what is going on with the gaming industry or online services, I will always be able to enjoy those games. I guess the only thing is I might want to start collecting some extra consoles for backup, at least the more common disc based consoles that are known to get problematic over time with use.

But yeah, what you said about modern games is true. Games have become massive in scale, but it feels like all of the developers are constantly trying to play it as safe as possible, which makes everything as boring as possible. It's true how you can just boot up some old 360 or PS2 title, and be amazed by how much better they are by comparison. Yeah, the graphics and physics might not be as good, but you realize how much that doesn't matter when you see how much better everything else can be. It's almost like comparing some classic movies to modern day movies. Sure, the picture quality and special effects might not be nearly as good, but that really doesn't matter when you see how much better some of those classic movies were.

I'm the same way when it comes to buying modern games as well. I hardly ever buy anything at full price anymore, and I no longer really care about buying new games when they release as they are rarely in a finished state anymore anyways. So I just stick to sales.