Game Starfield

[jenji120]

Umm so about the price of the premium edition - $99?! Starfield will probably be worth $69 or $99 dollars (I think it's gonna be that good and something you can get 1000 hours out of) but the price hike we're seeing on games in general is nuts. Most games are unremarkable throwaways worth about $25 dollars if the truth is told and yet most charge far more. There are a handful worth full price and that was before they decided $70 dollars for a single fucking game was ok.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Probably a bunch of extras and developer mods. They did that for Skyrim as well.

 

[ED-209]

It’ll have bugs and issues than Gollum

 

[Amaris]

Umm so about the price of the premium edition - $99?! Starfield will probably be worth $69 or $99 dollars (I think it's gonna be that good and something you can get 1000 hours out of) but the price hike we're seeing on games in general is nuts. Most games are unremarkable throwaways worth about $25 dollars if the truth is told and yet most charge far more. There are a handful worth full price and that was before they decided $70 dollars for a single fucking game was ok.

Definitely an issue I have with the price of games today. Some folks like to say games have generally been about the same price (accounting for inflation) since the 1980s, but that doesn't change the fact that video games still cost too much now, regardless of the fact that they cost too much then.

That doesn't include the DLC, either, or the cash shops, which so many games have. At least in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, when you bought a game you got the whole game. Now they give you parts of a game, and charge you more for the other pieces. The game developers don't see that money, either. It goes right into the pockets of the publishers and their investors.

I usually wait for a AAA game to drop below the $30 mark before purchasing, but so many game publishers aren't doing that anymore. Hell, GTA V only recently dropped below $30 and it's been out for 10 years. It's so commonplace that I tend to fall back on third parties like ENEBA to get my games cheaper, or a Steam sale, at least when the publisher isn't raising the $20 price tag to $60 the week before a major sale so they can "discount" it to $30.

We need better practices from publishers for everyone, from programmers being "crunched" to death as they try to get a game shoved out the door by a deadline, to end users being milked for every last dime over a decade.

 

[BillJ]

It’ll have bugs and issues than Gollum

It's Bethesda. Great storytellers, but technically limited. I'll be playing day one.

 

[BillJ]

I usually wait for a AAA game to drop below the $30 mark before purchasing, but so many game publishers aren't doing that anymore.

That is because the price of producing an AAA-game runs in the hundreds of millions of dollars now. Apparently, Cyberpunk 2077 cost $331 million to make. No longer is it 12 guys crammed in an office for the majority of development, you have hundreds of employees spread out, sometimes around the world.

I don't like it, but I understand it.

 

[Amaris]

It’ll have bugs and issues than Gollum

Pfft. I play Star Citizen. I've exploded while drinking water. I'm not afraid of bugs.

That is because the price of producing an AAA-game runs in the hundreds of millions of dollars now. Apparently, Cyberpunk 2077 cost $331 million to make. No longer is it 12 guys crammed in an office for the majority of development, you have hundreds of employees spread out, sometimes around the world.

I don't like it, but I understand it.

True, but like I said, the actual game devs don't see that increase, it all goes into the pockets of the higher ups and their investors. I'm a firm believer in unions, and I think it would behoove the industry to fully unionize.

 

[BillJ]

True, but like I said, the actual game devs don't see that increase, it all goes into the pockets of the higher ups and their investors. I'm a firm believer in unions, and I think it would behoove the industry to fully unionize.

Not sure you would see a single change, honestly. Like many current employers, they would simply tie bonus structures to getting the game out on time. My Dad was part of a union for twenty years and mandatory overtime was always built into the contracts. What will end up changing the current landscape is when one too many of these games crash-and-burn, making investors leery of investing in these companies, but that definitely won't be good news for the plethora of programmers out there either.

 

[jenji120]

It's Bethesda. Great storytellers, but technically limited. I'll be playing day one.

Honestly they aren't technically limited in the sense that they can't do it. What I mean by that is that Bethesda has made a conscious choice to stick with Creation Engine despite its limitations because all of us modders know how to use Creation Kit and can do some amazing things with it. There will be day 1 mods and some will probably be ridiculous in scope because we get a giant head start. And what I mean by that is that if you know how to write mods for Morrowind or Fallout or Skyrim then you know how to write mods for Starfield.

If you compare Red Engine (Witcher 3) to Creation Engine (every Bethesda Game runs a version of it) within 5 mins of tinkering you'll understand why there are countless mods for Skyrim (and in all versions of Skyrim) and a relatively small number of Witcher Mods and most Witcher mods are simple mesh replacements. Red Engine simply isn't made for modding and is a nightmare to work with. Creation Kit crashes a ton on mid range PCs but is easy peasy. You don't need any real programming knowledge to figure it out. Open up someone else's mod and look and you'll see how it all works.

And for what modding brings it's totally worth it. Especially now that every game is a buggy mess. Bethesda isn't even special there anymore. lol.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Game pass just paid for itself again with Starfield and Forza MS, can't wait, although i am hoping the lekky tarrifs in October drop down so i can at last dig out the Series X, but if not the old S will serive me well a while longer. Ha

 

[jenji120]

Game pass just paid for itself again with Starfield and Forza MS, can't wait, although i am hoping the lekky tarrifs in October drop down so i can at last dig out the Series X, but if not the old S will serive me well a while longer. Ha

I think all the subs pay for themselves with the new prices. I have gotten a ton of mileage out of Sony's pass. I thought about buying the PC game pass but other than Starfield I didn't see much that I don't already have access to. TBH, I think these prices are exactly what Microsoft wanted (Sony too) because it's gonna sell more subs.

 

[Amaris]

Not sure you would see a single change, honestly. Like many current employers, they would simply tie bonus structures to getting the game out on time. My Dad was part of a union for twenty years and mandatory overtime was always built into the contracts. What will end up changing the current landscape is when one too many of these games crash-and-burn, making investors leery of investing in these companies, but that definitely won't be good news for the plethora of programmers out there either.

I'm sincerely hoping it doesn't come to that. It shouldn't take that kind of disaster for these companies to see the light. Game developers are terribly underpaid, yet they're the ones that turn lines of code into reality. If they're going to do the bulk of the work, then they should get a bigger share of the wealth, IMO.

 

[jenji120]

That is because the price of producing an AAA-game runs in the hundreds of millions of dollars now. Apparently, Cyberpunk 2077 cost $331 million to make. No longer is it 12 guys crammed in an office for the majority of development, you have hundreds of employees spread out, sometimes around the world.

I don't like it, but I understand it.

They've cost that much for eons. The difference now is they shop out the programming to the lowest bidder and pretend we don't know it. Rockstar hasn't put out a game in eons because GTAV still makes them money hand over fist. Red Dead Redemption 2 which would be the gem of any other house is treated like a bad IP and its online is absolutely neglected because GTA is on another planet profit wise and Rockstar just doesn't have time for anything beyond GTA online.

The ones charging these prices are by and large not hurting even a little bit. But my issue isn't with a game like Starfield that's going to deliver. It's with all the games that are going to be absolutely unmemorable charging premium prices. Starfield, Red Dead, Ghost of Tsushima, TES games, Fallout, Jedi Survivor - those games can name their price and it'll be worth it but 99 percent of games aren't worth the OLD price. EA will treat a shitty Madden retread or a shitty no name game they put out the same as Jedi Survivor.

(Ironically, Jedi Fallen Order was super cheap because EA put nothing behind the title but it turned out to be a great game).

 

[SPCTRE]

 

[ED-209]

I don't get all the fuss about 60 FPS. I've played Deathloop at both 30 FPS and 60 FPS - and while the difference is definitely noticeable it's hardly the be all and end all.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Rockstar make a shit ton of cash on shark cards and similar items

 

[Jedi Marso]

I am very looking forward to this, almost dreading it, in fact, because I know how much time I've sunk into Skyrim over the past decade and this has the potential to be as good or better. (Worse.) I know that when I load this thing up, normal life is going to end for me for a good long while.

Knowing how much I've played Skyrim (I'm too embarrassed to even post my hour-count here), I would almost certainly be willing to shell out $100 for this game if I feel like it'll live up to its potential.

Knowing Bethesda as well as I do, I'll let this one percolate a bit before I pull the trigger- a couple patches, and let the mod community start working its magic before I jump in with both feet.

Between this and the two Microprose naval games that are coming, I sense a great disturbance in the gaming force. I've managed to lay off my game addiction for several months now, but I fear it won't be long until my wife is once more bitching about being a 'gaming widow' and threatening dire consequences if I don't throttle it back.

 

[ED-209]

Time enjoyed is never time wasted.

It's quite well polished according to early reviews, and in the version control it's a higher version number than games usually release at.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Tell that to my wife.

 

[Jedi Marso]

Tell that to my wife.

Testify!