Starfield Vs Baldur's Gate 3: A comparison of apples and oranges

 

Astronaut looking at a planet with rings


Starfield vs Baldur's Gate 3

The RPG, Baldur's Gate 3 remains incredibly popular after about 3 months after it release. This game has been successful in way that is stunning for a game whose predecessor came out in 2000, the year of the release of the PlayStation 2. 

It is a great thing for the Gaming industry that this game is having so much success, but people have to stop comparing Baldur's Gate 3 with Starfield, especially when it comes to the gameplay. Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the best turn-based games out there, but that what it is. It is a game based on turns, which comes from an era when computers had less memory to process things. This is one of the reasons why Real-Time-Strategy was so important in the evolution of video games. Rather than holding back the action due to the lack of memory, the growth of computing power meant that the computer could process the movements of units in real-time. This was a big deal and one of the reasons why RTS were so popular. Turn based games are generally speaking more of a stylistic choice these days though one could argue that in certain games like the Civilization games. they are a necessary part of dividing time in a video game into manageable chunks.  

Baldur's Gate 3 has no reason for it be to be turn-based except that it goes back to the roots of tabletop rpgs of the 1970s and 80s, which developed alongside the video game industry. Baldur's Gate 3 is paying homage to those roots by being turn-based. Some players even prefer Turn-based strategy because it has greater strategic depth in comparison to Real Time Strategy games. However, that is not a reason to use Baldur's Gate 3 to attack Starfield, which is an entirely different game in comparison. 

Starfield and Baldur's Gate 3 are totally different games and I feel that people should accept that.

Starfield is a game about exploring the mystery behind magical objects and it is also having a very important element of trying to explore the cosmos. All too often, players want the game to encompass everything and not have any limitations. This is one of the reasons that I am really annoyed with the criticisms of this game. People are not willing to give Starfield a chance soley based on the idea that the game is not trying to emulate GTA by Rockstar Games, who has a team of thousands trying to make everything look like it was realistic and up to par. 

Starfield vs Cyberpunk 2077

However, unlike Cyberpunk 2077, Starfield largely met my expectations. The game came out as advertised. Unlike the developers for Cyberpunk 2077, Bethesda did not lie about the game. While Starfield may not be the most immersive game ever made but it is definitely more immersive than previous games. People are just looking for something to criticize and they will get it with this game. Immersion in video games has come a long way and, in some way, it has stagnated since the release of Oblivion. 

Cyberpunk 2077 is also not better because of the release of Update 2.0. Many people are still complaining about the crashes and glitches and the general lack of content in the game. The developers have seemingly been trying to censor anyone who tries to criticize them. 

The biggest problem with anyone trying to tell me that Cyberpunk 2077 is better than Starfield is that the traits in Starfield provide a great amount of flexibility in gameplay. There is literally nothing in Cyberpunk 2077 that comes close to traits. You are able to pick traits and while they may not be prefect. They are better than anything that Cyberpunk 2077 has to offer. The game's lifepaths are literally useless and provide nothing to the game. 

I think it's safe to say that Starfield is a great game and that people need to stop comparing it to Baldur's Gate 3. We should be glad that the game was finished on time and we have something in our hands. 

That is why I am going to keep talking about this game. I feel obligated to get this game the respect that it deserves. No more wasting time trying to make nice with bashers who only want to attack this game. Time to construct something rather than criticizing it all time. 



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