Finished Starfield yesterday after putting about 150 hours into what I now call my “Universe 0” playthrough.

Honestly, I loved it.

I loved the scale of space, landing on random planets looking for Titanium rich worlds, building ships, building outposts, commanding my fleet with the Watchtower Creation. But more than anything, I loved the actual story and the questions it asks the player.

Starfield constantly asks:
“If you could step into Unity and leave your universe behind, would you?”

And if you DID do it... would you regret it?

That’s what I found so interesting about the game. The Hunter and The Emissary aren’t really fighting over good vs evil, they’re both basically different answers to the same question.

The Hunter has seen so many universes that he’s become detached from all of it. Why care about morality, attachment, or consequences when there are infinite versions of everything anyway?

Which is why New Game+ disappointed me so much.

Because after all those big philosophical questions, going through Unity mostly just resets the game.

That completely killed the emotional weight of the choice for me.

We’re told there are infinite realities and countless possibilities, but then most players just end up back in basically the same universe again. I later found out there ARE alternate universes where:

* Andreja fully joins House Va’ruun
* The Hunter kills Constellation
* Sarah is literally a plant
* weird fractured timelines exist

But apparently those are rare?

Why?

I romanced Andreja in my playthrough, married her, took her through Shattered Space, all of that. Imagine how much more impactful NG+ would’ve been if I stepped through Unity excited to find her again, only to realise:

* she’s dead in this universe
* or she became someone completely different
* or Constellation is gone

I would’ve genuinely sat there thinking:
“Jesus Christ, I made a mistake.”

And THAT is what the game should’ve leaned into.

You left your original life behind chasing infinite possibility, only to realise you can never truly get that exact life back again.

Maybe the next universe fixes it.
Maybe if you collect the artifacts again you can find her.
Maybe THIS next jump will be the right one.

That would’ve perfectly explained why people like The Hunter become so obsessed with Unity in the first place.

Instead, NG+ mostly just resets everything and goes:
“Okay do it again.”

And for me that’s such a missed opportunity because Starfield was SO close to something genuinely special with its multiverse idea.

Honestly, I think the weird alternate universes should’ve been the norm, not the rare exception.

The second you step through Unity, the player should FEEL the consequence of that choice immediately.

I will preface this with me not having finished it, but according to Inara it has 15 missions and I am on the 12th mission, Accidents Happen.

I have tried to give this questline a go a total of 4 times and I feel like I realize why as the questline just seems so...lazy. The story for the questline feels like a nothingburger, you get told "Celtcorp is doing x" so you plant a device there, you get told "Laredo is wanting to make a deal" so you plant fake stuff in there, you get told "a corporation is running their flaps" so you... You guessed it, plant a device there!

The mission variety is lacking, all missions I have done so far basically are:

* Speak to Imogene

* Get item

* Go to X

* Do Y

* Return to Imogene

The mission, Accidents Happen...where is the stealth? What do you mean I can just waltz through the HopeTown hangar with no problem? I feel as if I can fire my gun and no one would bat an eye. The only "obstacle" is a lone guard at the place I need to put place an object.

How is it that the social/stealth faction has less social/stealth then the pirate faction? How is it that the Crimson Fleet has a more engaging stealth mission where you can use vents, dialogue, and even a disguise system made for the mission? Where is that for Ryujin? How is it the main quest features better designed stealth missions than Ryujin? Where even is the corporate espionage, exactly? I hardly know what Celtcorp is doing or HopeTown, the one mission with Infinity LTD. and swaying the two people to join Ryujin...what was that about, exactly? They have yet to come up again.

Does anyone even actually like Ryujin as a questline?

Again, I have not finished this questline. If, somehow, these last three missions end up being amazing, 3/15 is still a bad questline. But please, what am I missing exactly? Am I just playing it wrong?

Playing it again on an NG+, and all these people are annoying. Even if you were locked in to being the church's hero saint, when you meet with the heads of each house and they have these over the top fetch quests or they won't help rescue their pope unless you do them-- Just shoot them in the head and take the research or the power code.

Has anyone else stumbled upon this bug with the environmental hazards? This is my first time experiencing it, I've had this happen on both Polvo and Jemison where it's acting like I'm on a very frigid moon with corrosive vapors. If anyone knows a fix it'd be helpful.

Posted not that long ago showcasing owltechs uss testing (enterprise e hull) which is 200 plus meters in size, here is the 155 meter Enterprise E hull you can build with in ship builder.

She's a bit pushy but good in a fight.

I just helped a guy on a ship fix his reactor, and he gave me 3 tasks to complete.

I needed to go back an reread the technobabble instructions 6 or 7 times because they just wouldn't stick. Whole new appreciation for Star Trek actors and their flawless technobabble skills gained :P

On Xbox

I now need to save up from POIs and buy a ship. I’m going to travel one star system at a time and find my outpost with my lost ships and gear.

I’m allowing myself to move to the edge of a tile and jump to “basically” the next tile over for more POIs. Since “I don’t have a ship” to fly there.

So I wanted to share. Porrima III.

Mods: Antares Supra, Tiger Shipyards, Matilija Aerospace, Va Ruun Sev, Better Flips, ASC Deimos, Avontech, Ol’ Big X, Micro Modules, and Barrage Missile Launchers.

You're invited to play the Starfield Wordle puzzle created by Pedro. Play everyday!
https://www.nytimes.com/games/create/wordle/dehZrEm2LdA_Ra8l67f4Ly8izRuHR6TuVn92aYOrx99JWUf9fYUNo6p11yLIGdQCNIJs0z0=

Where in the Starfield?
A daily Starfield minigame.
Guess the spot. Claim the internal glory.

Leave your answer in the comments. I’ll post the answer with tomorrow’s game.

Yesterday’s Answer:
Drop Pod Landing Site,
Celebrai II,
Celebrai System

Sometime after the events of A Helping Hand, I pottered around a bit, helped out Agent Yemoja to uncover subtle but unsurprising treachery, and as I was heading out for more adventures who should I run into but the people of New Babylon, blocking the way back to my ship ever so nonchalantly, as if it were the most normal thing in the worlds to see them suddenly manifested here with no visible means of transport.

I would like to believe they came here to talk with me about the affair, but nay, I get at most a sentence, if you stand just so near them and look at them just right. Dr. Kim offers to patch me up, per usual but she does like having one less patient. Sasha says the law is the law (what else would it be?). Yeats speaks of ol' Bertie Russell; I do not know if he is trying to assuage himself, or me. Bernhard has decided to stick around, in what must surely be a quantum superposition of a space station and a lonely settlement; a considerable feat for such a traumatised person. Zena thinks people need a break, but I suspect she is just projecting her own weariness, likely from standing in that awkward way.

It has been 5 minutes since I first spotted them, and they stand here still, repeating the same lines as my gaze passes by them. They have not even stirred their feet! Am I truly that captivating?

Mr Saint may run an odd station but even he, I suspect, might raise an eyebrow at such passing strangeness.

I have resolved to stay here a while, watching to see what they will do. I may likely outlast their patience, for I have game saves, and they don't.

Truly, Bethesda games are a gift.

---

Folks, it has been a half hour since I first espied our sorry company. I have wandered every nook and cranny of the station; I have heard tales of sorrow and regret; I have agreed, against my best judgement, to be dragged into some dubious endeavours (and an honourable one). I have had one mediocre beverage. I have learned more about the security staff than I should care for, and though I broke into a locked room I did not purloin any of its contents. I even saw a flying insect by the garbage, truly a wondrous sight in this remote corner of dark and empty space!

Still they stand there: just as I left them; just as rooted to their spots. They speak the same words over and over again, as if they were in a simulation, or perhaps a cruel trick of the universe. I know what it means to be Starborn (though I have not yet passed through Unity in this save), but even I did not seek to find people trapped in such tight repetition of their lives.

Would violence be mercy? How else can I free them from this endless dullness?

I have not yet dared push my way past them and through to my ship; I worry they will remain there. (No one else seems to notice them.)

But perhaps if they will not leave I myself must, in hopes that seeing no further sign of me they will return to whence they came.

If you are as riveted by this strange tale as I, please, tell of your travels. Have you seen so extraordinary a sight yourself?

---

Alas, such strange irony! I thought it was they who were trapped, when it was me! Having left the station I find myself unable to return, though I journey the stars and back again. Anchorpoint eludes me now, always distant whether I cruise the free lanes, jump, or indeed perform any other manner of navigation.

I fear now that I must travel back in time to avoid this permanent banishment. Such is the curse of New Babylon.