LogIn"You can fly, you can shoot, you can mine, you can loot!"
Image Credit: Bethesda, Starfield
Image Credit: Bethesda, Starfield
It appears, however, that Bethesda's defense strategy has not changed since then, with even more responses from the studio's developers coming to light in recent days. One review that Bethesda chose to respond to comes from Steam user UptownMermaid, who, in their write-up, emphasized one particular issue that many other players criticized as well – loading screens.
In response, a verified Steam user, "Bethesda_FalcoYamaoka", whom you might remember as the author of the previously mentioned "When the astronauts went to the Moon, there was nothing there" reply, said that although there might be an abundance of loading screens during fast travel, they are completely justifiable due to the substantial data needed for the procedurally generated and expansive gameplay.
"Thank you for taking the time to provide your review and we are sorry to hear that you were disappointed with encountering many loading screens while playing," reads the reply. "While there may be loading screens in between fast traveling, just consider the amount of data for the expansive gameplay that is procedurally generated to load flawlessly in under 3 seconds. We believe that shortcoming will not hinder our players from getting lost in the world we created."
Image Credit: Bethesda, Starfield
Another response was shared earlier this week by a developer known as "Bethesda_Kraken", who defended Starfield's gameplay loop and exploration. These aspects, criticized for being tedious, repetitive, and soulless, were addressed by recommending players not to roleplay as their character of choice but rather to create different characters with backgrounds and characteristics that clash or are opposite to their previous characters. Additionally, Kraken shared a short rhyme describing Starfield as a game where "You can fly, you can shoot, you can mine, you can loot!"
"You can fly, you can shoot, you can mine, you can loot!" Kraken wrote. "Starfield is an RPG with hundreds of hours of quests to complete and characters to meet. Most quests will also vary on your character's skills and decisions, massively changing the outcome of your playthrough. Try creating different characters with backgrounds and characteristics that clash or are oppositive of your previous character. You will feel like you are playing a totally different game. Put points in different skills from a character you've previously created, and you are now faced with completely different decisions to make and difficulties to encounter."
As you may have already guessed, the community wasn't particularly fond of the replies, with many finding Bethesda's attempts to mitigate the damage by sharing the same corporate-like responses over and over again to be futile.
The majority's opinion regarding Bethesda and their latest game is now perfectly reflected in Starfield's status on Steam, which recently shifted to Mixed, signifying that its rating has fallen below 70%. The community's sentiments toward Starfield were also evident in The Game Awards 2023's Game of the Year nominees list, where the game Bethesda devoted eight years to developing did not even make the cut.
Image Credit: Bethesda, Starfield
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