My problem is that I need a new CPU and GPU. I could get a new GPU but it will bottleneck with my CPU. And I can’t get a new CPU because my mobo will not accept a newer ones. Oh and I’d need new RAM. So, yeah, I’d basically have to build a new PC minus a few parts that i can actually use in the new build.

Sure thing, I don't mind the question. I'm on an HP 17 Omen Laptop that has an i7-13700HX with 16.0 GB of RAM. Game works like a dream (though I did encounter my first couple of bugs tonight, albeit not at all gamebreaking). Got the computer a couple months ago because I needed something new in general, but of course Starfield factored into the equation. All my laptops have been for both work and gaming (though they haven't always been "gaming" computers), so they have and will continue to see a ton of usage.

I'll never say you should buy a new computer solely to play a new game (unless perhaps you just have that much money to blow that it won't really hurt your pocketbook). I don't care how good the game is; computers are a lot of money. But if you have another good reason or two to buy a new computer, be it desktop or laptop, it makes it a great investment to also include Starfield as a reason. Put it this way: So far, I'm very glad that Starfield was a major factor in me buying a new computer. I'm having a great time with it. And despite being a vet of Bethesda games, this is my first time I've played a Bethesda game at release.




They had 16 GB of RAM in 2011? That would've been mindblowing to me then. My computer has 16 GB of RAM now and it makes a world of difference. My Omen 17 Laptop was certainly not cheap, but it was surprisingly cheaper than I thought it would be even accounting for the fact it was on sale at the time.




Also, just had my first battle in low gravity tonight! That was really neat. I was jumping to one star system so that I could make the jump to the actual star system I needed to get to. But in this intermediate location, I found a neat-looking space station called The Almagest and tried to hail it. (When you are in space, you can hail other ships, space stations, etc. to talk to them) I didn't get an answer even after hailing it a couple more times in case it was just bugging out or something. Clearly, that's suspicious, so I docked and entered the station with my companion, Sarah Morgan, the head of Constellation. We soon found ourselves in a fight with Spacers, who are basically a group of violent scavengers.

Of course, we took them out, and a note on one of them told me about a secret outpost somewhere that other Spacers are trying to break into. I'm hoping to go there in tomorrow's gaming session.

The PC I built in 2011 has a motherboard that can take up to 32 GB of Ram. At that time I figured 16 would be more than enough. And then it was. But that was then, and this is now, as the saying goes. I spent about 3k to build that computer. But it has lasted me 12 years so far, so it was a good investment.

I’m asking everyone for Amazon gift cards this year. My hope is that I will get a good amount for my bday and Xmas to take a massive chunk out of the cost of upgrading.

Well, I jumped on the hype train from the start with this one and have been pretty psyched for this game for a while. I can say for certain that I love this game. I have played for over 30 hours already since getting early access on the Xbox series X. A short breakdown:

Pros:
Polished, for a Bethsoft game. (You guys probably already guessed, sometimes the NPC’s still do weird crap.)
Slightly more fluid shooting than Fallout.
Infinite number of procedurally generated maps.
Crazy detailed ship building mechanics.
Excellent base building mechanics.
Great trait/perk system with unique rewards.
Lots of options for named and generic followers.
No crashes/lockups so far, making this the most stable Bethesda game I’ve ever played on console.

Cons:
The UI seems like a step backwards in numerous ways. You can’t trade items using two windows, you have to switch menus every time you want to buy/sell or add/take anything, which is frustrating because their previous system worked so well.
Worlds aren’t completely open, each area you select is procedurally generated but is a set distance and then you hit the dreaded invisible walls.
Some shooter mechanics seem like a regression. I know this is contradictory but in Fallout you could hide behind and lean over cover by aiming, that is gone here.

Mostly, the negatives are easy to bear. The game is worth it IMO.

Awesome, thanks for your impressions!

Thanks Kiln. Always better to get some reviews folks we know.



The gaming computer I got in 2014 (pre-built) came with 16 gigs! Funny thing is I've never had a game or situation which uses anywhere near this.

I made sure to have 16gb in my pc, but that was back in 2015-16

Starfield is fantastic, if demanding. My PC barely makes the cut, but I got it running pretty smoothly - I definitely plan to buy more RAM though, since I'm at 16gm right now.

And it's fun! Barely scratched the surface though, and I've more or less stuck to the story. Just about to depart from a derelict Luna station in pursuit of a soldier.

After this mission I plan on doing some planetary exploring.

Like I said, I'll eventually get it for whichever Xbox is latest IF it looks like I'll enjoy the game. Skip all the requirements stuff. Bam.

I find it really interesting they aren't offering this up for Playstation this time. Probably a great idea. Beth is sick of dealing with Playstation and their disagreeable hardware.

It’s not being offered to PS because Micro$oft wants it to be exclusive to their machines and pc.

They might eventually release it on PS years later. Like how Sony released Horizon Zero Dawn on PC 5 years after they did on Playstation. When it is no longer selling big on the original platform, and they have a sequel coming out, companies often start looking for ways to squeeze every last penny out of their products.

Perhaps, but I’d like to point out that with your Horizon example, Sony still didn’t port it to XBox.

Hmm, I don't know about that, Khajiit. I just think Beth is sick of dealing with Playstation. It's always the platform which has the most problems, because its architecture is not as close as Microsoft's.

It is possible Starfield'll get ported over by some other company later on. 4J ported Oblivion for instance (pretty sure it was 4J studios, I always forget), which ran the game better than it did on Xbox 360, all except the Vampire Cure quest.

My guess? It may be available much later on other systems. Microsoft paid big money to bet on Bethesda and ultimately, Starfield. I think most of the reason for the game being exclusive is because Microsoft legitimately believes that Bethsoft games will sell well enough to justify the cost of purchasing the company. That doesn’t mean that eventually they won’t release it on other systems like No Man’s Sky but I’ll bet that if it ever comes out on other systems, it’ll be much later on.

After more than two straight days of game time I experienced my first (very) major bug. My ship disappeared randomly and left me stranded, forcing me to reload my game. The ship was still gone. I couldn’t fast travel either. Ended up going indoors, fast traveling to a shipyard, and changing modules on my ship so it would reappear.

While the ship was invisible/missing the game locked up numerous times when trying to travel. Very frustrating because aside from that it has been pretty stable.

Oof! That’s a bad one!

Well, I’m glad to say that there aren’t a huge number of bugs so far aside from usual slightly comical happenings that Beth games are known for.

Once at Paradiso there was a guy clipping into the floor with only his head and shoulders visible. His generic sigh that normally would seem dismissive was hilarious because it was almost like he was sighing about being trapped in the floor in typical Bethsoft fashion.

Lol

Does the spaceship actually travel in real-time? Or is it like Mass Effect; essentially fast-travel?

Sadly, it is exclusively fast travel between planets . You can land on an infinite number of (large) procedurally generated zones but there are invisible borders.

As far as exploration goes, No Man’s Sky has it beat for seamless experience and base building. As far as equipment/story/factions/style points though, Starfield hands down.

DANGIT!!! I really want to fly a spaceship!!!

Even in Starmaster, for the Atari 2600, could we fly a spaceship. Take that Bethesda, that's from 1983!

I mean, is there any space-battling at all? Like X-wings versus Tie Fighters?

Yeah there’s space battles, the ships are heavily modular (many good upgrades are locked behind skills) and you can target specific parts of enemy ships to disable them. I think the most fun way is to hit the engines and board them though. Shooting your way through the corridors of larger ships after taking out their wingmates is pretty satisfying.

You can buy, upgrade, capture, and keep quite a few ships.

Personally I think the game is pretty great.

I had to switch to Xbox, lol. My PC needs some upgrades.

That's what I'm sayin', Kane. I'll get it for Xbox as well, if it looks like I'll enjoy the game. And then hopefully, ES6 will still be on the current console generation and not the next one.

I'm kinda thinking I should finish the Mass Effect series first, though.

This game is amazing and it's going to take me forever to finish the main quest. I can't stop myself from surveying every planet or moon I land on. I've barely scratched the surface of outpost building, but I have been tinkering more with Starship construction. My next goal is to look for a hab piece with a workshop.

The ships are basically mobile bases, so outposts can wait, lol.

Nice!

Glad you're enjoying Starfield, Kane!

It's the "take me forever to finish" that has me worried.

It’ll take me forever just to get my pc good enough to run it, so I guess I’m going to miss out on this one for quite a while.

That's probably just a Kane thing. I have a full time job and a three year old, so play time is limited. I also have been taking long breaks every so often during the main quest to explore worlds, do side quests, and check out factions.

I also am always on the hunt for resources to improve my gear or upgrade ships.

I think I'm getting closed to the end of the main quest and venturing into the Unity. I'm curious to see what a new universe has in store for Indira!

I love designing ships but haven't gotten super invested in it yet (ship building is expensive). I have a couple ships I liberated from Pirates, and one or two from quests. So far I've only made one from scratch - I wanted something small, and compared to most ships in the game it's basically a very well armed shuttle with a grav jump range of 30 light years. Perfect for going from mission to mission, but useless for resource gathering (cargo space is minute). I'll post some pictures of the two ships I bounce between.


I did experience one nasty bug, but it really only affected stuff I probably wouldn't use again. You can get a penthouse apartment in New Atlantis by completing one of the faction quest lines, and I had begun to decorate it an store/display belongings there. But New Atlantis gets attacked during the main quest, and apparently the entire city is reset afterwards, including the Penthouse (I think it affects it because the Penthouse doesn't have it's own worldspace). Annoying, but after a few minutes of frustration, I figured it was stuff I'd never use again anyway.

Outposts continue to be something I'm not super interested in, especially since ships can basically be mobile bases. I think when I unlock some of the perks for outposts, I'll take a closer look at it. Finding a good planet to set up a home on is a feat in and of itself. Too many options!

Indira has completed the main quest and traveled through the Unity (huge spoilers in the next part)

Okay, so you got the game in September and it took you three months. That sounds pretty decent, Kane. Because I'm sure you did other things (side missions, etc.) as well as crafting your perfect space ship. 🚀 Would you say you rushed through the Main mission(s) or took your time?

Another question: Does this game borrow any ideas from Starcraft (assuming you ever played that game).

I also made a new character and started over before the third act, so there was technically two runs in there. But I did not rush. At. All. In fact I took my sweet time - I can't help but survey each planet/moon I landed on and it can take an hour or two just to do that. I also played a couple faction questlines and did plenty of side and misc quests


The main quest is plenty long and there are four other major factions. Plenty to do! And the main quest doesn't rush you, which is a nice change of pace. You can kick it off, and then tell Constellation you've got some personal things to do and skive off into the galaxy.


And there a a ton of misc and radiant quests.


I've not played Starcraft - isn't it an RTS series?

Ah, so you rolled a second! How come you hardly post any character pictures? Kidding. If I (when I...) get Starfield I'll definitely dazzle y'all with my guys & gals.

That's good. Yeh, I'd find myself not rushing either.

I guess SF could be considered RTS. I never played it myself, but a friend of mine loves Starfield. In that game we also build our own spacecraft though, that much I know. Why I asked.

I had to switch to Xbox (PC couldn't cut it) and it's a cumbersome to get screenshots off of it.



There are more spoilers behind the second spoiler box below, major to gameplay and the story.

So Santa Claws got Khajiit an Xbox Series X as a bit of an after Christmas present! I signed up for the GamePass thing to try out Starfield, so I’ll be posting more impressions after I spend a bit more time with it.

Santa Claws!

Wanna see some pics, for sure.

Cool, I am looking forward to hearing more about it.

Ok, so I’m rolling a version of my Fallout character, Désirée Devreaux. I picked the “Space Scoundrel� for her background, which gives her 3 starting skills: pistol certification, piloting, and persuasion. She would much rather have a rifle certification (it shouldn’t be hard to grab it very soon though), but otherwise the background suits her to a tee!

Had a pretty funny incident occur while wandering around New Atlantis (basically Starfield’s Imperial City). Dez was walking around at night seeing the sites and noticed a coffee mug laying on the ground in a shop. She walked over and picked it up (using the “grab� function, not sending it to her inventory) and set it down on the shop’s counter. The shopkeeper flipped out and called the law on us! Got a 27 credit bounty which I would have lived with, but something else happened around that same time that I wasn’t happy about so I reloaded a save from before picking up the cup.

This game has a climb mechanic! If there is a ledge or crate that is just a bit too high for you to jump onto, your character will grab the edge and pull themselves up as long as it’s not too high! I thought that was neat for a BGS game.

So it is just like every other Bethesda game when it comes to touching an option in a shop. The merchants go insane and instantly call the cops on you.

Do they freak out in other BGS games for using the physics engine to move items? I’ve either never noticed this since Oblivion came out, or just forgot.

I learned from Oblivion not to try, or even get anywhere near things like countertops for fear of accidentally nudging an item laying on top of them.

Nice! Too bad Lopov's not around. Lopov means Scoundrel in his language.

Wow, a CLIMBING mechanic, very cool. Daggerfall fans will be pleased, I bet. Wonder if we can scale certain walls, Lara Croft style...

Edit; Yes the Grab function counts as stealing if the object belongs to someone else, or another faction.

Maybe calling it “climbing� was a bit generous. It’s more like your character will grab a ledge that you jump at then pull themselves up. No wall climbing, at least, not that I’ve seen.

Still, that's a start. Better than walking in place!

After reading some debate online about the RPG aspects of this game, I will be interested to hear people's experiences. From what I read, it sounds like the story elements don't change depending on how the player completes quests, so from a story point of view, player decisions don't matter too much. But I have also read that from a game mechanics perspective they did a good job with skills and traits (aka attributes) and the game supports a wide variety of play styles and the ability to create diverse characters with varying strengths and weaknesses that approach problems quite differently. That sounds quite interesting to me.

The minimum specs are somewhat concerning. My current PC is i5 9600k with a GTX 1070ti, 16 GB of RAM and a 1 terabyte SSD. But reading the posted minimum specs, it sounds like that might not quite be enough to get decent performance since I have a fast i5 but not an i7 and everything else is just minimum spec? I got the i5 because prior Bethesda games never used more cores so there was no point in an i7. I have read Starfield is a CPU rather than a GPU intensive game. Is Bethesda finally making games that use multiple cores/hyperthreading?

I’ve heard and read that people with fairly high end rigs weren’t getting the performance expected for the game citing low framerates while running at graphics settings their machines should be able to handle no sweat. This makes me wonder if the game just wasn’t well optimized for PC’s. And of course, it may just be people trying to find a reason to join in crapping on Starfield just because it’s trendy. *shrugs*

In any case, spending $1000+ to build a new computer that would last me another 7-8 years just wasn’t an option right now, so I opted on getting an Xbox Series X as a compromise. Signed up for the Gamepass thing for $16, and immediately installed Starfield. I’m enjoying it so far. Is it groundbreaking? Not really, but I feel it does improve on the usual BGS formula, by a good margin.