**** Starfield ****

"Their actions immediately birthed a host of conspiracy theories but, as ever, the simplest explanation was the correct one: they were trying to hide the fact that the game’s not very good."

That reads like a review to me and a bitter one at that.

Funny you talking about fairness after all the negative drivel you posted here.

Bethesda, and any publisher, are entitled to give review codes to whoever they like.

By most accounts/reviews, the game gets better once you've unlocked/upgraded different skills, and even finished the main story. A lot of reviews have said that's really when the game opens up, you have a lot of freedom and can really play the game however you want.

So yes, opinions can and have changed after first impressions. But as ever, your mileage may vary, and it's subjective.

I'm enjoying it, so far.

The map is terrible though (The one when you're on land), it may aswell not exist, gives no info. Also, really feel exploration has been kicked to the side. When I was in my ship and told to go to another planet you fast travel, was flying to the planet for about a min before I realised I wasn't even getting any closer.

When I get to a planet I can properly explore I hope you stumble across places. New Atlantis seemed to pop up all the landmark and I just went to them, maybe it's just different as it's a city.

I wonder by next Wednesday will the general consensus be to get through the story and then things open up etc, as some people are alluding to and the rest becomes more enjoyable?

It's Fallout 5 in space not Elite Dangerous. The space setting is just the theme and not a fleshed out mechanic. TBH I prefer it that way as if it was also trying to be a space sim you'd get easily overwhelmed and then bored at the amount of time and effort it took simply to move from A-B for a mission.

PC performance is ok. Not stellar ('scuse the pun) but not the worst either based on the visual quality, Immortals of Aveum for example is runs slower while looking like a decent last-gen title.

Has crashed 3 times for me so far on Xbox.. haven't been able to make it past the character creation yet! So much for the great stability reviews ha. Gonna try reinstall it and see if that helps

From reviews it does look like they have launched a reasonably stable game. Good on them and about time.

I'd imagine the injection of MS cash bought the time to polish the game. I wonder if MS had not bought them would they have got the extra development time, either way this is good for the consumer.

As for the game itself I think letting the dust settle and see how people are finding the game after a bit of time is a good idea.

From what I've read it sticks to the Bethesda formula, that will please fans of that formula no doubt. I like Bethesda RPGs so I reckon ill like it enough.

I'll be playing the game for sure anyway, I'll get gamepass for a month or two and see how it goes.

If I like it I'll pick it up down the line.

I mean people say that about all Bethesda games. As someone who's put thousands of hours into the various Fallout games, I've not really touched mods. I'm sure they add worthwhile features but the games work perfectly fine without them.

There are probably people less cautious about buying a house...

Right, so I'm 10 hours in, which is still tiny.

Advice: do the first 3 - 4 main game missions first to really open up the world. Then off ya go your own adventure.

I didn't get that wow factor I first got with Skyrim and Fallout 3.

Graphics are fine, but not superb.

Inventory is trash. -little or no explanation on things.

Lore seems lacking in parts.

Map and travel needs a redo

Space is more or less fast click fast travel

Seen very few bugs. One funny bug on Mars, where a ladder was walking around and falling over, floating up and walking again.

Loading screens are frequent but quick.

Dialogue is fine

Music and sound effects are fine

Cut scenes are fine

Combat is good

Exploring is good

Basically, not as good as Skyrim, but butter than Fallout 4.

It's a standard Bethsada game, which is fine for me.