Starfield on PC is the best way to play - but the game still requires a lot of work
Starfield on PC is the best way to play - but the game still requires a lot of work
The Digital Foundry tech review - including those all-important optimised settings.
I'm looking forward to playing it. I'm going to wait for 6 months for the game to stabilize. Because that's my Bethesda tradition
The tech issues are blown way out of proportion, especially with scaling dialed in at 80%. Runs like a dream on my system.
On steamdeck it chugs in the cities but it's still playable at medium settings.
Yeah, I'm playing 'free' now in (PC) Gamepass. I'll buy it for steam on sale and go full hog later
Really? I've seen lots of people complaining about loading screens. I'm playing on Xbox and haven't had an issue with it. I'm 82 hours in and only really noticed there's a few 2 second loading screens going from orbit to walking off the ship.
I've had at times 4 loading screens consecutively in the space of seconds. They are quick but they do take me out of the experience. I think the engine is just showing its age in a way that a nice new coat of paint can't really hide for a game like this.
Fortunately I saw reviews before buying so I knew what to expect and it's not a huge deal for me after lowered my expectations for the game but I can understand people's disappointment.
It's not really an engine issue. It's a design issue. Things have to load when there's no way to predict what will be needed soon. There are lots of ways to hide loading zones when you're walking in connected spaces. Assets can be streamed in when and where they're needed. When you're fast traveling between totally disconnected spaces, there's really no way to avoid some kind of loading screen.
The best way to handle this for a space game is to hide loading the planet surface behind your ship coming down from space. You can stream them in while keeping the player and ship loaded in so it's seemless. There's no way to do it when you're just teleporting to a location though. However, it could be done better in a lot of places. For example, why does it teleport you right outside the door of the lodge. Just teleport inside and save an extra loading transition after we just had at least one to get there.
All the ways to handle making transitions better can be done in the CE I'm pretty confident. It's constantly streaming in chunks of landscape as you travel around. They have full control over the engine source anyway, so if it can't handle it they could spend some resources to build that functionality. There's no reason landing on a planet should require a loading screen. Entering structures also are usually through an airlock style door. There's no reason that couldn't be used to mask a loading transition.
Very tired of the number of people actively trying to police people playing this. It's fun. It's no Mass Effect or Baldur's Gate, and it's certainly not a GOTY, but it's good.
Let people enjoy things.