Starfield and comparison to Baldur's Gate 3

 

There have been many comments made on the Starfield subreddit recently that I generally find rather interesting to see. People have been saying that the game is barren and lacks content. I am not surprised that people are still constantly complaining about this game. With YouTube and Reddit being the way that they are, there two approaches that they take to talking about a game. One, they decide to attack the game even if the game has positive attributes to it. This happens often with games that have a lot of hype built into them. Cyberpunk 2077 was heavily hyped up on social media in the many years leading up to its release. There were even some YouTubers who were making money off the hype. However, as soon as the game came out, the negative publicity and the many bugs and glitches allowed for people to start making money off the negativity. This happens with almost every triple A game that is released by a big studio. 

The other approach is the nostalgia approach to video game criticism. There are alot of channels on YouTube that have audiences due to the fact that they talk about obscure or even mainstream games in ways that the tingle the hearts of many people who are reaching their late 20s and their thirties. This is a very powerful way of gaining views as people in this day and age want to relive their childhoods through these video games.

This is the way how video game criticism tends to happen on social media platforms. There are other types, but these are the two main types. There are subcategories in here but that is the not the point of this post. Currently, Starfield right now is suffering from the constant criticism one. 

It seems that with every Triple AAA release, there is going to be some criticism, no matter how great that game is.

Baldur's Gate 3 has gotten criticism as well, but it is more muted than usual. So, we are looking at a gaming community that is highly biased towards a certain type of video game.

What people miss about Baldur's Gate 3 is that the game was in early access a couple years ago, allowing for the developers to make tweaks according to the ever-increasing demands of gamers. The developers of Baldur's Gate 3 were well aware of the game series' reputation among gamers of a certain generation. They made sure to look over their creation and ensure that it was best possible game when it was released into the public's hands. 

Baldur's Gate 3 is definitely one of the best games that came out this year and is a game filled with content. However, I feel that people have to understand that Baldur's Gate 3 is a gamer's game. It is a game that checks all the boxes with gamers. People say that Starfield is outdated while give Baldur's Gate 3's obvious 1980s tabletop roots a pass because the IP has such an outsized influence on the gaming community. However, if you were asking the average person on the street which games they care about, they would name Mario many times over this game. Starfield may be behind Baldur's Gate 3 on Steam, but I bet more people have heard about Starfield than Baldur's Gate 3. 

Baldur's Gate 3 is a great game and an example of how a game series can still turn out amazing many years later. It should be an encouragement to aging gamers that some of their most favorite games of all time are still in the hands of people who care about the games industry. 

However, we need to have fair criticism of Starfield and understand that it is not a game that is going to please everyone. That is what is important here. 

Starfield is Bethesda's first attempt at a space game. There is a whole cottage industry that is interested in only criticizing games. Even when one tries to be positive about a game, people say that you are being paid by the company. 

The reason why I talk about Starfield on here and on this blog is get a different type of perspective out there so that people know that it isn't all just criticism. That's important for this game and more importantly the video gaming industry and its ability to make games.