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Showing posts from August, 2023

Starfield: Early Impressions of the Game

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  The day has come and Starfield is available for those that pre-ordered it and I have to say that I highly impressed with the game. I was a little apprehensive with the system requirements but the game works perfectly. There is some lag when entering dialogue with characters but everything else is fine. I guess that System Requirements Lab was incorrect in saying that this game couldn't run on my computer! My graphics card only has 6 GB of VRAM but I feel like my trust GTX 4050 is doing the job of rendering the game properly and efficiently. I have no complaints about the game's performance. Starfield as a game is something that has to be enjoyed over a long period of time. I understand that there are some negative reviews of the game which criticize the game for being too ambitious. Honestly, I like seeing too much ambition. The video game industry has been playing it safe for too long and I am glad to see that Bethesda decided to make the crucial choice in making this game a

Report on Starfield Mods on August 31, 2023

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  The release date has arrived for Starfield and we can take a look at the first couple of mods that have been released in the couple hours after the beginning of early access.  The most popular mod currently is a Bethesda Archive Extractor by hexabit . Essentially this is for extracting files from the Starfield game files. Something rather technical and mostly for the geeks out there. The second most popular mod at the moment is the Starfield Upscaler by PureDark , which is a mod that works with graphical settings by replacing FSR2 with DLSS or XeSS.  One of my favorites right now is moving the XP bar on the interface by Johnny3TearsUxA . While I am not bothered by the sight of the XP bar being at the center of the screen, I am happy that people are trying to already improve this game's quality of life settings for a variety of players. Another mention is the Quantum Reshade by HelloImCrimson , which is another graphics mod that enhances the game. Most importantly, there is a mod

Why I am attracted to the city of Neon

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 I was really looking forward to the release of Cyberpunk 2077 a couple years ago and I was very disappointed how mediocre the game was. You can understand my excitement for the city of Neon in Starfield. It has very much the same vibes as Night City in Cyberpunk 2077 but in a different setting. I expect that it is going to be a great experience that will make Night City look really like it was rushed to sell copies instead of being a statement on the future of urban design in the United States. Neon just looks like it has tons of care and thought put into it. I really hope that it outshines all the rest of the other cities in the game.  Night City, when it was released to the public in December of 2020, was a character as much as a place. It is unfortunate that the developers were not truly able to create a city that was interactive and interesting. While they had the vision, it seems that the developers were more interested in getting celebrities into the game rather than focusing on

There was going to be Voiced protagonist in Starfield in the beginning?

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The release of Starfield is approaching and we are getting even more details about the development of this amazing game. According to IGN, Bethesda was planning on having a voiced protagonist for Starfield in the earlier stages of development. This is quite a revelation that is important to reveal to the players this late right before the release of the game on September 1st. I believe that the release of this information shows that Bethesda is confident in showing that their video game will surpass all expectations. However, onto the substance of the information that has been shown to IGN. Was it the right decision to not have a voiced protagonist? Voiced Protagonist in Starfield: Pros and Cons I am 50/50 on this decision by Bethesda. I appreciate that the game has many lines of dialogue, allowing for a greater variety of responses by NPCs, However, there is a part of me that enjoyed the voice acting of the protagonist in Fallout 4. Both of the voice actors in that game did a wonderfu

My thoughts on Ryujin Industries: Corporate Overlord or Pragmatic Capitalists?

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  It seems that Ryujin industries is probably going to be one of the most mysterious factions in the Starfield timeline and universe. Unlike the United Colonies and the Freestar Collective, I do not see any sign of what their true intentions are compared to other factions. We know that the United Colonies likes order while the Freestar Collective likes freedom. But what does Ryujin industries like? My thoughts are that Ryujin Industries are as follows in this list that I have complied of my thoughts. Thoughts on Ryujin Industries Ryujin Industries is not your typical evil mega corporation. I think that Bethesda is going to not to play the easy game here. They are known for sometimes being slapstick with their characters and factions but I believe that Ryujin Industries will be more nuanced that people probably think.          2. Their role on the planet of Neon. The planet seems to be their own personal kingdom. What shall we see on Neon that will challenge the way we look at the inter

The Density of NPCS in Starfield vs Older Bethesda titles

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  How alive will the NPCS be in Bethesda's Starfield? The greatest space RPG to come out in the video game industry is almost upon us and I have been replaying some of Bethesda's older classics to see how the density of NPCS was done. I have haven't played any Elder Scrolls titles before Oblivion, but I am aware that Morrowind's NPC density was about the same as that game. Towns were reasonable in size, but they were not overcrowded at all.  When we look at a game like Oblivion, we can clearly see that the developers were interested in making the cities as realistic as possible for a game that was running on the Xbox 360 and later the PS3. It is important to remember that this generation of video games had games such the introduction of the Assassin's Creed franchise, which had tons and tons of npcs walking around. Its cities were dense and filled with life. These weren't really NPCS that you could interact with, but these games were incredibly realistic compare

Who is the Red Mile in the Starfield game?

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 Starfield is quickly approaching its launch and anticipation is building quickly across the many internet message boards and communities. It is not surprising to me that this game is so incredibly popular among people on the internet. People have been hungry for a game of this caliber for many years and I am happy to be among the generation to experience this game. There are many questions that floating around as we eagerly await this game. One of the questions about this game is the Red Mile faction in Starfield and their purpose within the game. Who is the Red Mile? The Red Mile faction is mysterious at this point and we still don't know what exactly this faction is about. According to what a character said about the Red Mile in the Starfield Direct video, I believe that the Red Mile must be the equivalent of the Oblivion Arena. In the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, there is a faction that deals with the fighting in the Arena in the Imperial city. This is one of the best newbie fac

My hopes for Starfield Modding

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  Astronaut on the Moon 1969. Made using Bing AI generator.  Starfield and the Modding Community Starfield is getting closer and closer to release, and I expect that it will be making a splash on the video game scene for years to come. Much like other Bethesda titles, modding of this game will be paramount to this game's longevity.  Modding is something that I love to see in video games. Gamers take a corporate product and make it their own. There is beauty in that.  We have seen with other games in the Bethesda catalog that the modding community is vital to helping a game continue to thrive for years. For example, when Oblivion was released in 2006, many intrepid modders were vital in the process of making a mod called Oldlivion, which allowed for the game to run on older machines. Modders provide an important community resource for gamers that act as a supplement to the developers that produce the games.  However, modding in Bethesda games really took off with the release of Skyr

Thoughts on the Starfield Pre-Release Marketing Campaign

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  Starfield is coming out in the next couple of days, and I am very excited but there is one area of concern for me: the marketing. While some may say that the game's marketing may not really matter in the large scheme of things, I believe that it is very important. Starfield's success will allow for greater amounts of DLC and content to be released and I think that Bethesda should probably step up their game with the marketing. Starfield is very important game for me. It isn't just another game that I can enjoy; its a game that will make space sims popular among a general audience. I am aware that games like Mass Effect have laid the groundwork for games such as this, but Starfield has a potential for being even greater than those games.  Many games that came before Starfield had great ambitions. Freelancer in 2003 was one of the antecedents to this type of game. However, they were limited in technology somehow. Every game since the mid 80s has tried to create the ultimate