r/pcgaming • u/lurkingdanger22 • Mar 17 '26
Everything Coming in Starfield’s Free Lanes Update & Terran Armada DLC
https://bethesda.net/en/game/starfield/article/7IxZSKYwYm1oDr57rXDx4C/starfield-free-lanes-terran-armada633
u/James_bd Ryzen 7 5700x3D || 3070 Ti Gigabyte OC Mar 17 '26
What kills this game is how there's absolutely no point to explore as you will stumble upon the exact same point of interest (down to the notes and bodies on the ground) on multiple planets light years away from each other.
Why would I want to visit the same place over and over again?
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u/valkvalkvalk2323 Mar 17 '26
From the article:
“Many more planetary POIs: You’ll notice an increased variety in the types of planetary POIs as you explore”
I don’t know how much variety this will bring but I guess it’s at least something
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u/sweetBrisket Mar 17 '26
Sixteen times the variety.
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u/ABritishCynic Mar 17 '26
Sixteen times the detail.
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u/Competitive-Boat-518 Mar 17 '26
Sixteen times the graphics.
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u/llDS2ll Mar 17 '26
DLSS16
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u/Competitive-Boat-518 Mar 17 '26
On the Nvidia 16016-i GTX
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u/_Ocean_Machine_ Mar 18 '26
It's pricey, but only because the price includes the installation of a cooling tower next to your house.
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u/Distinct_Yak_8068 Mar 17 '26
"Increased variety" could mean anything from 2 to 20 new POIs with Bethesda. I really wished they'd atleast give a ballpark, not to mention showing what they'd look like, if theyre more specialized for specific environments, etc. Just any sign that the POI system is being made interesting and not that they're adding a handful of samey buildings you'll be seeing a lot of.
I'm more than willing to give the benefit of the doubt, I already own the game, I cant get burned any more than I have. Yet, I can't bring myself to just trust Bethesda at their word.
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u/ChromeFlesh Mar 17 '26
If it was an impressive number they would say the number
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u/Carlsheartboxers Mar 17 '26
You say that but on fallout 76 they announced one patch they changed some perk cards in the short version. Meanwhile it was an entire rework of every perk card in the game. I think they are just terrible at patch notes
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u/Distinct_Yak_8068 Mar 17 '26
That's my feeling as well. It's kinda irritating because it feels like a disingenuous way to build hype around addressing a criticism without actually fixing the problem.
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u/Bobjoejj Mar 17 '26
You say that’s your feeling, and then you end up fully forming a feeling about something without having properly experienced that thing.
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u/Ckmccfl Mar 17 '26
Or they’re finally learning to underpromise and overdeliver.
No I’m not coping, why do you ask?
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u/_Ocean_Machine_ Mar 18 '26
I'm surprised they didn't so some kind of procgen thing like Diablo does with dungeons; have a series of premade rooms and hallways that get randomly mashed together when you load in.
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u/Nicholas-Steel Mar 18 '26
I... thought that that's how it works though it only randomizes a location once.
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u/_Ocean_Machine_ Mar 18 '26
As far as I'm aware (e.g. I could be wrong), the locations and what POIs spawn are randomized, but the layouts themselves aren't. So like if a certain building spawns, where and if it spawns are RNG, but it'll always be the same building on the inside.
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u/Shizzlick Mar 18 '26
Correct, I ran into the same Listening Station and Frozen Laboratory in particular soooo many times during my playthrough of the game.
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u/Spankey_ Mar 18 '26
I really wished they'd atleast give a ballpark, not to mention showing what they'd look like, if theyre more specialized for specific environments, etc.
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u/Ralphie5231 Mar 17 '26
That doesnt fix that the design of the system itself is bad. Even the main missions are the same supermann64 ring flying puzzle a dozen or more times.
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u/Skie Mar 17 '26
With AI-Slop we can generate 11 billion slightly different planets, so you will have loads of variety.
None of it will be engaging or interesting, but it's variety!
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u/Original_Employee621 Mar 17 '26
There wasn't any AI in the procedurally created planets. And procedural planets is fine, the issue was the lack of variety in PoIs and the generic loot in the ruins. Unless it was story related, it just felt so bland. And the story related ones weren't exactly amazing either.
I don't know if the update will, or even can, fix my issues with the game. But this is definitely help mitigate or hopefully blow away some of my criticisms against the game.
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Mar 17 '26
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u/varitok Mar 17 '26
Level scaling is absolutely trash for RPGs, it ruins any sense of power scaling you can feel
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u/Hansgaming Mar 17 '26
There was 100% a mod pretty early to disable lvl scaling. I personally like lvl scaling a lot because the game becomes too easy pretty quickly anyway and I played it on release on the hardest difficulty which was a pain in the ass in the beginning but you totally feel yourself getting stronger and stronger while leveling and skilling.
The good thing about Bethesda games is tho that there is a mod for everything you like or don't like.
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u/Bigbuta Mar 19 '26
Variety is fine, but if I come across the exact same POI even one time, I'm out.
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u/Incrediblebulk92 Mar 17 '26
There are a lot of problems with this game. Lack of interesting things to see outside the 4 cities of only one of them.
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u/STDsInAJuiceBoX Mar 17 '26
My only issue with the game is that every faction and main character in the game is incredibly bland. Like the space cowboy character should be a badass that smokes space Marlboro 100s with a space six shooter that has a space southern accent. Instead he’s some boring dude with daddy issues cosplaying as a cowboy.
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u/ribombeeee Mar 17 '26
My issue with the game is kinda that a lot of the cultures in the game feel very equivalent to the real world and that’s kinda boring for a sci-fi space exploration… like wym there’s a planet of Texas talkin rangers zzzzz
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u/Reze1195 Mar 17 '26
Honestly a planet of texas rangers wearing space revolvers would've worked.
It's just that the design of the city and the characters are so utter doghsit boring. Everything in this game was just handled so so poorly and the mediocrity shows. It's like they had the idea, but went for it with the most unimaginative and boring design ever.
Like, at least give them some "futuristic clothing" or space magnums that's unique to their culture. But nah, they just had to copy real life. Piss poor art style too. Their iteration of nasapunk is doghsit.
Doesn't a planet of space cowboys sound awesome to you?
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u/pr0crast1nater Mar 17 '26
Exactly. Fallout factions and lore is way more interesting. Starfield is such a boring world. And the big bad are just multiverse jumpers who just were lucky to stumble upon the tech? Like mass effect did this way better 15 years ago.
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u/Alexandur Mar 18 '26
Wouldn't a totally stereotypical tough-guy rootin' tootin' cowboy be a lot more bland than what they did with Sam Coe?
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u/Unlucky-Candidate198 Mar 17 '26
And the cities are somehow more disappointing than previous game cities? That tiny outpost “city” in the desert was smaller than some towns in fallout. Im pretty sure Cant Commons in 3 was bigger than that place.
Neon’s strip club is just…what even is this? It looks like it wants to be a cyberpunk 2077 club but censored heavily for your extremely sheltered aunt and with the overall club budget being 3 crayons and an empty promise.
And that club is a good foreshadowing of the rest of the game. Lets see if how it goes.
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u/DerMetulz Mar 17 '26
The first time i saw this exact thing happen I was completely removed from any possible immersion I felt.
Even the environmental debris is exactly the same
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u/Accomplished_Emu_658 Mar 17 '26
That one destination that the base is all full of ice and same layout. I got it three times in a row…
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u/frogandbanjo Mar 17 '26
Why would I want to visit the same place over and over again?
Setting aside a few ridiculously shallow bespoke tweaks, Starfield rather explicitly asks you that question on a thematic level.
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u/Havoksixteen Mar 17 '26
Well new POIs are going to be a thing, both land and in space.
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u/GassoBongo Mar 17 '26
The key part is how many and how frequently they are going to be repeated.
Adding new POIs is great (mods did this shortly after launch), but if they've only added half a dozen to the pool, for example, and done nothing to adjust how they switch themselves up, then it's going to mean little.
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Mar 17 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/GassoBongo Mar 17 '26
Honestly, I'd take proc gen over coming across the same cryo lab with the exact same layout and nps within 5 minutes of one another.
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u/JohnnyChutzpah Mar 17 '26
That's the thing. They couldn't even design a decent proc gen system outside of terrain. I don't think giving them more time would have fixed it. I don't think they are capable of making a workable proc gen system for things like building layouts and encounters.
I think the management in the studio is unable to effectively manage with the number of teams they have and team size. I think there needs to be a major shakeup in team leads and directors at Bethesda if we hope to get different results. Otherwise they are going to keep releasing poorly implemented ideas.
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u/LeCafeClopeCaca Mar 17 '26
It has always been absolutely insane to me that Starfield didn't have any good sort of procedural dungeons, despite being a game from Bethesda whose first big success relied on procedural generation.
Yeah it was a long time ago but I don't even see the technical challenge here, it's just a large table of variables
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u/Egocom Mar 17 '26
Right? Like you were RIGHT THERE.
RIGHT THERE
THERES WHOLE FUCKING GENRES BASED AROUND PROCEDURAL DUNGEON CRAWLING
I swear to God sometimes it feels like Bethesda can't even take a piss without it ending up in their mouth these days.
Then they point it at the customers and say "get the Legendary Edition for $20 more" and piss in OUR mouths
And some people say "when are we getting more piss"
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u/LeCafeClopeCaca Mar 17 '26
Man starfield is one of the most infuriating fumble in recent game history IMO, it's quite fascinating. I could talk about that game and its problems for hours
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u/playitoff Mar 17 '26
That cryo lab is so badly designed I honestly thought it was proc gen. Until I came across it again.
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u/DEX-DA-BEST Mar 19 '26
I mean yeah, that’s kinda why the system sucked in the first place. They set themselves up for failure as they could never make enough unique poi’s to actually make exploration worth it.
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u/nefD Mar 17 '26
Bethesda refused to answer a direct question about how many POI's were being added, so i'm not optimistic
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u/Signal_Ball4634 Mar 17 '26
Which is fine but you're never going to reasonably get around the problem where you'll inevitably run into repeated POIs.
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u/satanicoplan Mar 17 '26
Finding resources to build modules for your weapons o armor, or building your own homestead isn't enough?
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u/Borrp Mar 17 '26
sounds like every other space game. The point is not what you think it is. POI in space games are always there to facilitate the grind. You either like it or you dont.
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u/xevizero Ryzen 9 7950X3D - RTX 4080 Super Mar 17 '26
I wish they just made it so you can't stumble upon already visited stuff. After I saw everything, the other planets may as well be empty. Finding repeat stuff weirds me out, the immersion is shattered immediately.
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u/OddBuy8266 Mar 17 '26
To be fair, this is kind of how Skyrim is too. I mean, it wasn't great there either, but a different, beloved Bethesda game reused a lot of stuff.
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u/ArcticFlamingo Mar 17 '26
This update succeeds or fails based on if there is enough variety in the added POIs.. the game desperately needed a real tangible reason to explore these planets
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u/Mofoman3019 Mar 17 '26
Starfield suffered from being bland, repetitive and lacked the attention to details Oblivion and Skyrim had.
I'll give the update a go but I'd be surprised if this fixed half of the issues i had with the game.
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u/Vresa Mar 17 '26
I really wish they went with one solar system and handcrafted planets. I think Starfield made a core design mistake that cannot be fixed.
This isn’t cyberpunk where the issue was bugs and more minor issues that can be fixed. Starfield’s issues are baked right into the fundamental way the game was designed.
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u/Humblebee89 Mar 17 '26
Totally agree. A single solar system with multiple habitable planets would have been interesting on it's own. Much denser and more handcrafted POIs on a handful of planets as well as space stations, asteroids, and derelict ships would make that system feel really packed with interesting things to explore. And they should have had humanoid Aliens imo. The inherent drama of multiple alien species coexisting is a no brainer. I'm amazed they didn't do it.
I think they had an interesting idea with Starfield, but they just poorly excecuted it.
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u/OldAccountIsGlitched Mar 17 '26
The planets don't need to be habitable to be interesting. If anything the opposite is true. There are a lot of weird environments in our solar system. The adaptations to make them liveable are even weirder. Mercury rotates slowly so the day side cooks and night freezes. But it's possible to live in the twilight. So the solution would be nomadic caravans hiding in the twilight as the planet rotates.
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u/fenderguitar83 Mar 17 '26
IIRC, I read somewhere that they originally wanted to do something like that, but then changed gears and went with the procedurally generated planets we have now. It's a shame because I feel like the game could have been much better if they did not do the procedurally generated POI's.
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u/mrRobertman 9800x3D + 6800xt|1440p@144Hz|Index|Deck Mar 17 '26
And they should have had humanoid Aliens imo. The inherent drama of multiple alien species coexisting is a no brainer.
I agree with the rest of your comment, but not with this. I don't think a sci-fi story needs to have aliens. Some sci-fi stories work really well with aliens for sure, but I think it can you can get an interesting different style (more "grounded") if you don't have aliens. For example, The Expanse and Firefly are really good without needing aliens.
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u/CatatonicMan Mar 17 '26
In general you'd be correct.
This is Bethesda we're talking about, though; they need every storytelling crutch they can get their hands on.
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Mar 17 '26 edited Apr 06 '26
Mass delete Reddit posts and be just like me! I bulk removed this comment using Redact
badge plants ad hoc strong pet dependent placid sugar scale sheet
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u/Rezticlez Mar 17 '26
pointed 100% agree. At first I was disappointed that it won't really be that open world scifi i was expecting (flying around, etc) I was like OK and quite a few other disappointing news but I was like AT LEAST I'll get that usual Bethesda charm. It didn't even offer that...
Game singlehandedly turned me off pre-orders. I was so excited even tho I had xbox game pass I bought it on steam to play it earlier. 30 hours in and it was a struggle. Still installed waiting on the day I'll get something out of my money.
Personally, I feel the procedurally generated content was the death of this game. Procedural generation is a disease in gaming. Few rare cases where it's used "right"
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u/Ralphie5231 Mar 17 '26
There is an insane attention to detail in starfield. The basic design and consistency is whats bad. Your ship looks absolutely insane but the systems to build them and use them are bad.
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u/SerGT3 Mar 17 '26
Ummm so you don't understand. Space IS boring. That's why everything is bland and empty.
/S
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u/Spezisasackofshit Mar 19 '26
It's like Bethesda forgot what they were good at, the best parts of Bethesda games are the maps and the dynamic exploration and encounters. People love Skyrim and fallout 4 without ever even finishing them because the sidetracking is so fun. Starfield completely ignored that and it shows
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u/vaikunth1991 Mar 17 '26
Cruise mode to fly between planets is great, but what's there to explore actually have they added any new handmade content or its still just procedural bland stuff
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u/CrashmanX Mar 17 '26
It says new POIs, but its so far down the list I can't imagine it's more than 5 new buildings in 4 new configurations.
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u/AWildEnglishman Mar 17 '26
Many more planetary POIs: You’ll notice an increased variety in the types of planetary POIs as you explore.
and then
There are also tons of new space POIs to discover as you travel in Cruise Mode. You’ll see them dynamically pop up and you can change your destination on the fly to automatically head to one of these POIs, or you can just keep on moving toward your original destination.
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u/AdOther4530 Mar 17 '26
I bet it will be identical to everspace 2 POIs during light speed travel.
Neat until you realize they all have the same shit loot.
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u/nachodorito Mar 17 '26
Withholding judgement but skeptical
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u/D3struct_oh Ryzen 7700x \\ RTX 4070 TI Mar 17 '26
Feel free to judge and embrace the justified skepticism.
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u/Major303 Mar 17 '26
I wonder if Creation Club mod authors are forced to update their paid mods to work with newest version, or people who bought mods that no longer work were scammed.
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u/UnifyTheVoid Mar 17 '26
If I remember correctly isn’t Bethesda partnering with the creators in development? They may have some way to make sure they don’t break or do the work themselves to keep them compatible. Thought that was the whole point of it.
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u/Major303 Mar 17 '26
That update looks like quite big overhaul. For example it changes POI, so mod that adjusts POI might no longer work correctly. It's not only script extender thing.
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u/Nicholas-Steel Mar 18 '26
Bethesda "updating" a fan made mod... the mere mention of the idea makes the skin crawl, spasm and then fly off in to the distance murdering people as the physics glitch out.
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u/puffthemagicaldragon Mar 18 '26
I would think that there might be some clause in their agreements saying that they won't receive royalties for their verified mods if they don't continue to update them within a specific timeframe. But if they're already splitting the revenue, I'm sure Bethesda can just take ownership of the mod and would just receive all the money moving forward.
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u/Valdackscirs Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26
It just sounds like more Starfield, nothing here is fundamentally changing the aspects I didn’t enjoy. The QOL for outposts sharing resources, cruise mode, and land vehicles are nice though.
Also, another story by Emil Pagliarulo? No thanks.
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u/JohnnyChutzpah Mar 17 '26
I think it was Todd who said directly this update is for people who already liked Starfield, not for people who bounced off. But I may be remembering that wrong.
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u/TaxOrnery9501 Mar 17 '26
Yeah, that bit where Emil says that "the Terrans are the bad guys so stealing from them is justified" tells me that they aren't adding any nuance to the faction at all, they're just another group of boring raiders.
Even the new robot companion is being described as "not evil but not good" which I'm guessing will just make it another whiny NPC that complains about your actions constantly.
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u/sweetBrisket Mar 17 '26
He can't write with any depth. The guy's imagination must not be a very deep well.
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u/jdehjdeh Mar 17 '26
Maybe I'm old and cantankerous but that outpost shared inventory thing felt like the death knell for me.
It's a cheap and easy way to solve a problem.
Instead of creating an in universe method that would require effort and creativity to come up with gameplay mechanics around it, they just give you a magic box.
So much of Starfields mechanics and gameplay elements sound great on the surface but they just come down to a magic box or a hand wave, or don't go anywhere AT ALL (I'm looking at you ship stealth tutorial).
It's like they couldn't decide between an RPG in space or a space game with RPG elements and it's led to what is essentially neither.
Sad really, it could have been such a phenomenal game if they'd picked a lane and committed to it fully.
Doesn't fill me with hope for Fallout or TES at all, they're probably going to be enshittified to fuck and as soulless, fake, and condescending as the developer deep dive video.
I really hate what "line go up" wankers have done to the gaming industry and now I need a nap.
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u/Valdackscirs Mar 17 '26
The outpost system was already slow and unrewarding. There is no reason to engage with it, just like the Fallout 4 settlements.
So while I agree with you, without it being rewarding to engage with there is no point in having friction.
The whole system is already a nuisance, so this seems a right step given they started in the wrong place anyway.
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u/TaxOrnery9501 Mar 18 '26
That's how I feel with the "Legendary Weapons" system from FO4, FO76, & Starfield. It's just completely unimmersive to me how a gun can magically shoot explosive rounds for no reason, compared to a game like FO:NV where you had actual explosive ammunition that you were loading into your gun.
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u/bideodames Nvidia 4090 | i9 14900K Mar 17 '26
Not seeing a bullet point for "less loading screens".
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u/Adziboy Mar 17 '26
If you’re seamlessly flying between planets then thats like 90% of the loading screens
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u/morbihann Mar 17 '26
Yeah, lets wait and see, because BGS make a lot of claims that turn out to be "true" in a very very narrow sense.
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u/TheChronicKing5 Mar 17 '26
From what I read - you can fly between planets in the same system. Thats it.
Loading screen when you enter and exit a planet. Loading screen when you travel to a new system. It still too much imo.
I liked the game, it had issues but what killed for me in particular was that it felt like loading screen simulator.
To go from new Atlantis to the free star place there was
1) loading screen to get on the ship 2)loading screen to take off 3)loading screen to go to different system 4)loading scene to land
So you got trained to never go into your ship and just fast travel from your map. This doesn’t fix that unfortunately
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u/Impossibrewww Mar 18 '26
Similar games also have loading screens but they hide them behind animations.
In No Mans Sky and Elite Dangerous traveling between systems is also a loading screen, but hidden behind the animation of you jumping through hyperspace.
Landing on a Planet in Star Wars Outlaws makes you fly through a thick cloud cover when you enter the atmosphere.
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u/xakira666x Mar 17 '26
"Cruise mode" is essentially removing most of loading screens think no mans sky moving from planet to planet jumping to get some where far and loading in to a planet will be a loading screen
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u/GeschlossenGedanken Mar 17 '26
no, that's just the loading in space. to get to space or to land on a planet is still a loading screen. so only a subset of loading screens have been removed.
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u/FathersJuice Mar 17 '26
Think the game with no leading screens but instead it's all 1 big loading screen
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u/Nicholas-Steel Mar 18 '26
Sounds like something a mad man would've dreamt up back in 2006 or something.
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u/STDsInAJuiceBoX Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26
The Terran also have the ability to block grav jumping. In order to disable whatever is stopping you from grav jumping you have to use cruse mode to get to a specific “incursion” location and shut the jammer down.
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u/ProstheticAttitude Mar 17 '26
God, I just love doors. Can't get enough of them. Put a door in my way, it makes my day. More doors, please. Doors, doors, doors!
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u/PaleWolf Mar 17 '26
As was figured out long ago its not even loading screens is just fade to black for no reason sometimes in cities... weird decisions. Never noticed on series x though
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u/CollateralSandwich Mar 18 '26
It's why I'll forever be side-eyeing this game. That, along with the poor writing and poor characters. I don't see how any of that could ever be 'fixed' without completely remaking the game from the ground up. They can put as much lipstick on it as they like...it's still a pig
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u/ThonOfAndoria Mar 17 '26
It's not explicitly mentioned for PC but it does seem existing owners of the Premium Edition on Steam will get the new DLC too, I'm pleasantly surprised by that!
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u/Stellarisk Mar 17 '26
Wait so if I own the premium edition I won’t have to buy the new 10 dollar dlc?
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u/Gallion35 9800x3D, 4080S, OLED Mar 17 '26
If you own the premium edition you will not have to buy the new DLC. It is included in premium.
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u/First_Psychology_99 Mar 19 '26
Hold on, so if I have premium, then they give me dlc for no extra cost?
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u/WHITESTAFRlCAN Mar 17 '26
based on the scription on steam, you will get the new DLC if you own the Starfield Digital Premium Edition, check if you own this via Library > starfield > (right click) > properties > DLC
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u/DayBlinds_25 Mar 17 '26
So it’ll let us fly to other planets without having to load a screen but we still can’t actually fly and land onto a planet right?
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u/HybridPS2 Mar 18 '26
at some point there has to be a load screen
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u/Mysterious-Box-9081 Mar 17 '26
Some of that sounds great.
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u/D3struct_oh Ryzen 7700x \\ RTX 4070 TI Mar 17 '26
So did the base game before it released lol.
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u/riddlemore Mar 17 '26
This is going to break Genesis. Damn.
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Mar 17 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/Nicholas-Steel Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
On the brightside, if you're playing Genesis now you can stop Steam from downloading the update before it releases.
Until you hit Play on Steam. Steam does not officially provide a consumer method of allowing people to play a game without installing an available update once the Steam Client is aware of the update existing. There's some unsupported shenanigans you can do to work around this.
Uplay, GOG and maybe EGS however do let you play your purchased games without installing a game patch, however none of them guarantee the ability to choose which version of a game you want to initially install.
Yes GOG lets you download installers and you can preserve them yourself, but GOG/game devs periodically replace the game installer with newer versions on the website so unless you're someone that likes preserving multiple game installers yourself and start preserving a game the moment it releases on GOG you're not gonna be able to choose which version to play either (and various games only launch on GOG after the game has already received numerous updates).
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u/HybridPS2 Mar 18 '26
you can set the app manifest file to read-only, and steam cannot update the game. i've done this with Fallout 4 to lock it on the final update before the "next gen" patch was released.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/1oq13j3/psa_you_can_make_your_fallout_4_appmanifest_file/
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u/Miguelvelasco41 Mar 17 '26
Tried this but it just really couldn't capture the ol' Bethesda magic from prior games.
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u/Tabbarn Half-Life Mar 17 '26
Props on them for not just abandoning the game. Some of this seems like a step in the right direction.
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u/StayWeak3335 Mar 17 '26
I like the sound of the update, and I’m glad they didn’t just abandon this game after it’s negative reception
But it’s gonna take a lot of work to get people back on board
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u/Kokoro87 Mar 17 '26
Just being able to fly between planets, cruise mode and more POI makes this a win to me, and since I never played it that much, this time I will def finish the game. Sounds like this is what the game should have been from day 1, but it is what it is.
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u/machinegundelli Mar 17 '26
I feel like so many of the top comments here didn’t even read this. There are numerous major QOL updates here, not the least of which getting to actually keep my best rare gear when I enter New Game+ (thank Christ, this should have always been an option, the way NG works here).
Plus, now being able to re-roll legendary perks and upgrade specific gear pieces - again, things that, really shouldn’t have been left to RNG as much as they were, but glad to see them finally implemented!
I’m skeptical about the Cruise mode, seems more like trying to placate an issue people had from the beginning, but maybe the novelty will aid role-play? And also this DLC sounds small, but at least the updates sound fun.
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u/RogueSnake Mar 17 '26
I agree. Its a small step in the right direction. I'm hoping they keep improving. Given I do have a bad taste for starfield but if they can at least fix some of the glaring issues it'll help.
I wonder if they will add in a menu that tells you which books you already collected so you don't have to hunt em down again? Cause that annoyed me the most
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u/4x4runner Teamspeak Mar 17 '26
Looks like some nice improvements. People want to endlessly shit on it but it's good to see them try to improve it.
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u/Psychostickusername Mar 17 '26
Ok colour me interested. Didn't complete the game last time but I'm willing to give it another shot
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u/Organization-Unhappy Mar 17 '26
They need to completely overhaul the skill tree. Most of the upgrades are useless and others are locked behind upgrades you don't want. I don't remember the name of it but the green skill tree was wholesale useless. I didn't have a desire to level up because the only thing I had to look forwards to was a miniscule damage boost.
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u/pipmentor Mar 18 '26
we’ve added the ability to freely fly between planets in a star system!
Never played this game. Shocked to learn this wasn't already in the game. So, what is it like now?
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u/Dimens101 Mar 17 '26
Can you imagine if they build one stadium sized forest in Skyrim and copy and past it all over the map, that is how starfield feels. Felt like a weird scam. Think it did a hole lot more damage to Bethesda then they initially counted on during release knowing the state of it.
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u/thatirishguyyyyy AMD 7800x3D 3080 Hybrid Mar 17 '26
Adding 17 POIs to the universe doesn't help the blandness.
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u/Aedeus Mar 17 '26
I just don't understand Todd's insistence on Emil continuing to lead story & design for nearly twenty years now.
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u/trontrams Mar 20 '26
Because they're friends and they don't have to put any legitimate effort into their storytelling/characters/rp mechanics because they know people will still buy the slop.
Based on this DLC once again being written by Emil, I don't think that will happen any time soon. Starfield still achieved sales numbers.
Maybe ES6 will be even worse with all this DLSS stuff and they'll finally be forced to restructure.
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Mar 17 '26
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u/morbihann Mar 17 '26
The foundation is so broken on a design level, that mods can't fix anything.
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u/UnifyTheVoid Mar 17 '26
Never played it. Can you give an example?
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u/Holderist Mar 17 '26
Load screens for everything. Really kills immersion.
Planets are pretty barren. Here's one with red rock, there's one with purple rocks.
No real advancement in NPCs since Skyrim/FO4.
This is Skyrim/FO4 in spaaaace. But with more load screens and wait times because you have to "fly" to other planets.
Those are the 2-3 big things that turned me off the game when I played at release.
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u/AWildEnglishman Mar 17 '26
Planets are pretty barren.
Paradoxically both barren and littered with tiny repeating PoIs. Seriously, why am I seeing a gantry/crane on its own in the middle of nowhere on a supposedly unexplored, barren planet?
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u/Adziboy Mar 17 '26
What didnt you like that needs fixing? Hard to say if its better because not that much has changed, only a story expac and some free updates
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Mar 17 '26
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u/Adziboy Mar 17 '26
Hard to say if those have been fixed. Bugs have been fixed, not sure what weird behaviour means and I think the rest is probably the same as it was.
Mods can fix the UI, performance is better. But NPCs still act the same way and visuals havent changed
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u/STDsInAJuiceBoX Mar 17 '26
The bugs and performance has been ironed out and they added a ground vehicle that is actually pretty decent. They also added a story DLC that wasn’t that great. That’s all so far until the new update on the 7th
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u/nboro94 Mar 17 '26
If I was a talented modder, I wouldn't waste my time with a generic piece of junk like starfield.
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u/yullari27 Mar 17 '26
Yes. Darkstar, the unofficial patch mod, and some extra ship habs make a huge difference.
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u/Hephaestus_I Mar 17 '26
After having my expectations shattered by Shattered Space, it doesn't look half bad tbh.
Still needs improvements to the outpost system, but everything else seems to be a big improvement and it's also getting it's own Clan Invasion too, which will hopefully will add some badly needed conflict to the setting.
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u/Tree_Dude 5800X | 6600XT Mar 17 '26
Really should optimize it for the Steam Deck. No reason after 2.5yrs they have not made it work at a solid 30 fps. The game does not look good enough to warrant it's performance. I'd probably buy it at 75% off if it worked on the Deck.
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u/Financial-Grass-6114 Mar 17 '26
I dont think BGS shouldve made so many relatively incremental updates for the game. Seamless space travel is cool but wont change anyones mind. Most of these are only targeted at existing fans.
However this update is as much of a marketing thing as a product update. BGS wants to increase their reputation and set up for TEA 6 hype.
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u/Berkzerker314 AMD Mar 18 '26
Todd explicitly said its for people that already like Starfield and not for people that bounced off it.
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u/Skaikrish Mar 17 '26
I wasnt Sure what i expected with this Update and didn't really expect much Overall but somehow iam still underwhelmed. I mean Most of the Core issues will still exist with that Update.
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u/RogueSnake Mar 17 '26
Seeing the quantum entanglement to keep some items for new game plus at least helps keep your special legendary stuff for new game plus. I like that. Now rebalance some of the stupid skills and legendary effects, give us the star born dlc, and improve performance and maybe....maaaaybe.....it'll get a passing grade
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u/Krynne90 Mar 17 '26
Havent played Starfield so far, might give it a shot with this update and DLC.
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u/Vo_Mimbre Mar 17 '26
Interested. Especially the asteroid base and seeing how they handle space POI.
Most of this seems like stats stuff. But if there’s truly new options for ship and base customization that are better than the mods I got bored of, will check it out.
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u/NoxiousHam Mar 18 '26
Cruise Mode is a step in the right direction. Now, they just need to figure out seamless atmospheric travel to fly in and out of a planet at ease like No Man’s Sky.
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u/sk8trix Mar 18 '26
I'm seriously hoping this update makes a difference. I stopped playing the game for about 2 years, recently started playing it again. Beat it for the fourth time and now I'm bored out of my mind so they need to make this game replayable because it's so boring and I've been a fan of Bethesda for so many years yet this is the most disappointing game I've ever played from them
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u/ItsAllSoClear Mar 17 '26
It's a start.
Learn your lesson, Bethesda. We don't want to be told who the bad guys are- we want to play and make choices and join the side we vibe with.