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[Panajev2001a]

idk if you played it but the ability for the game to remember the specific actions you took on one of the planets you may visit once + 100 others is amazing.

It is, it really is, but it is not all in memory being tracked by the processor at once. Its attributes are stored in some database and retrieved when the cell they are part of is fetched from memory. With each big cell being segmented by loading screens they do have time to load and unload objects.

 

[Ozzie666]

At times it looks the part, but it doesn't 'feel' next generaiton, It feels like a Bethesda game with a different skin, held back by the exact same limitations of the past. That's not to say the game isn't ambitious. Too many loading screens and zones for example, load times. This doesn't mean it's not a fun game either.

 

[March Climber]

So, no, saying that there are other companies that are unique out there neither downplays the two you're praising nor limits anything. It simply curbs some hyperbole.

My original post wasn’t being hyperbolic. Read it again. It is literally the equivalent of “looks good for a Nintendo game” of compliments. Our entire conversation happened due to a misread?

 

[Jigsaah]

Its weird. In some spots I'm like "damn that looks good" in other spots I'm like "somebody needs to be fired".

I'm gonna vote yes because it's Bethesda we are talking about. Next gen for them means piling on the same engine over and over again.

That's being said there are some really nice looking scenery that I just don't think is possible on last gen hardware. But then again, it does run on a Series S. Which is damn near last gen IMO.

I guess I'm torn because I play on PC. So my experience might be a bit different from others.

 

[supernova8]

It's shameful the next BGS game is using the same engine, Phil can't seem to get his house in order. Seems like a nice guy who just throws money around at everyone and hopes.

Not trying to diss Starfield, but it's certainly proof it's time to move on from the engine. People paid for your mega teraflop machine to run new stuff, not brute force through your old habits.

To throw Phil a bone, seems like they started work on Starfield looooooooooooooooong before Microsoft bought them.

Maybe the next Elder Scrolls game will be different but as long as people just accept "Bethesda jank" as a feature, they probably won't bother. Exact same reason why Game Freak consistently puts out games with dogshit graphics and dogshit performance.

To answer OP's question. It looks next-gen for a Bethesda game. But no not if you remove the "for a Bethesda game" caveat.

 

[TonyK]

Yes, lighting is way better than, for example, Horizon Forbidden West, God of Wat Ragnarok or The Last of Us remake (games with insane graphics, no Microsoft exclusive has those graphics). And it's totally real time. It's very impressive to move objetcs and see how lighting affects them accordingly.

Main problem is characters during dialogs. I think there are people judging the graphics specially for that aspect.

For me, lighting is one of the main aspects for looking next gen. It's because that Callisto Protocol in quality mode looks next gen to me but Horizon Forbidden West or the new Spiderman looks cross gen. Detail has jumped but lighting still stay as in Ps4 era.

 

[artsi]

Starfield plays and feels like a relic, so no.

Even graphics are not on par with a game that came out years ago and yeah I'm talking about CP2077.

 

[SpokkX]

Not really on Xbox (30fps..)

… but it IS the best Xbox exclusive since Mass Effect 1 for me

It starts slow but it really grows and surprises.

 

[artsi]

I think the cpu limitations of last gen is more so why it wouldn't be able to run...idk if you played it but the ability for the game to remember the specific actions you took on one of the planets you may visit once + 100 others is amazing. I get lost exploring so often, its like exploring in fallout but the worlds you land on hide something interesting.

Morrowind did that in 2002.

Starfield NPC's can't even remember that you shot them 2 minutes ago, they're happy to give you a quest anyway.

 

[Roberts]

Does the fact that I have made million times more screenshots playing this than any other game answer the question? And mind you, it is not because I was bored and couldn't find better things to do other than to fiddle with photo mode.

But seriously, I don't really know what next gen really feels. There are games that technically might look better and games that don't have that many loading screens but there is something about Starfield that I have not experienced before and because of that I could say it feels next gen.

 

[GymWolf]

The opposite, it feels archaic for many things.

 

[ByWatterson]

In the same way Sam Worthington is a real movie star, yes.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Yes, in a sense I have never played anything quiet like it.

Will take huge balls for any high profile developers to even attempt something like this.

 

[timothet]

Did you ever played NMS or at least watched a trailer ?

recomend you to watch this video or at least Echoes trailer.

Seems like some people are stuck in 2016 and completely ignore years of content and improvements NMS received. It also explains why they are so content with Starfield and its archaic engine.

 

[Roufianos]

No. It feels horribly dated in terms of frame rate, the segmented levels and the janky animations.

 

[Freeman76]

While i think its their best game to date I voted no, but actually im not sure.

Doesnt look next gen, but the scooe of it does feel so immense i doubt they could have pulled this off on an Xbox one

 

[SodaZA]

It's about as next gen as Fallout 4
I'm still enjoying the game however

But Bethesda really needs to take the M$ moola and work on an actual engine upgrade
"16x the detail" upgrades aren't really cutting it

 

[b0uncyfr0]

In screenshots, sure. But moving around the world, NPC's, questing - ofc not.

 

[balls of snow]

Not with this amount of loading lol. Take me back to last gen if this is next gen.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Yes, lighting is way better than, for example, Horizon Forbidden West, God of Wat Ragnarok or The Last of Us remake

This thread is perfect for sorting fanboys from normal people. HFW along with Cyberpunk 2077 on PC are Light Years ahead of Starfield in literally everything.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

It's very last-gen when it comes to game design. Shame Bethesda seems unable to make a revolutionary game like Morrowind again, but maybe it's because the stakes are too high right now, I remember reading Polygon article they were close to going under and Zenimax just gave them a free reign what they wanted to do.

 

[Hudo]

From what I have played at a friend and from what I have seen, I can say: Hell no.

I've been one of the people who kept explaining to people that an engine is not a monolithic thing and that Bethesda's Creation Engine right now has not that much to do anymore with the version they've used in Skyrim.
But this game has made it blatantly obvious that there are hard limitations in their technology stack that they apparently can't remove. So my advice to Bethesda would be to start from scratch. It's so obvious that their shit is holding back what Starfield could've been. There's too much fucking loading, too much fucking segmentation of spaces, too little development in terms of NPC behavior/AI, too little development in terms of the world simulation and player reactivity and too little development in terms of overall quest design/quest structure.

You can say about Star Citizen what you want but at least they fulfill their premise of having whole planets that you can fly towards and land on their surface seemlessly, while also having massive space ships/space stations that you can move around in seemlessly. I expected this kind of level of development for all the hype Bethesda created. All I can say is that Starfield seems embarrassing to me for Bethesda, a company that prides itself on creating these simulated worlds and whatnot.

 

[FunkMiller]

Good grief, no.

Nothing has really, with a very, very few exceptions.

The industry has reached the point where everything has to be safe because of the budgets concerned. Nobody is pushing the envelope anymore, and all devs are hamstrung by greedy console manufacturers who want to maximise profits across as many platforms as possible.

We’ve reached the ‘modern Hollywood’ stage of AAA games production. Endless safe, sanitised products made available to as many people as possible, at the lowest common denominator.

Starfield is a good game, but it suffers from all of these issues, the same way most of the other games of this generation do.

 

[mrmustard]

The only thing that feels next gen game to me is FS2020.

 

[HL3.exe]

Visually it looks good, sure. It's a nice leap in rendering fidelity compared to FO4.

But from a game-logic perspective, combined with the segmented loading, makes it feel dated. Still having those mannequin NPC's, robotic animation cycles, not reacting to gun fire in a open crowd. Just this binary state of neutral or agro NPC types is more then 20 years old, we should expect more by now. Their 'core simulation' just feels old at this point, and need a rethink.

But, the number of physics on screen without tanking the framerate is a step up though:

 

[Fredrik]

Sometimes you just roll the dice and you have the perfect planet with atmospheric effects, planetary features in the sky, beautiful lighting and suddenly i can't help but feel its a super beautiful game.

Then sometimes... not so much. Not consistent. They have an interesting lighting system i feel like, interiors are very good looking, almost a CGI look to them.

Yeah, occasionally it’s up there among the best looking games I’ve played, this is on PC maxed out, but then there is New Atlantis where it looks like it’s a PS3 game. I think it’s the lighting, it’s not consistent, flat sometimes and great sometimes.
Regarding it being ”next gen”. No idea what that is since I play on PC. It’s not UE5 level detailed. But the physics engine is great.

 

[Bernoulli]

Visually it looks good, sure.
But from a game-logic perspective, combined with the segmented loading, makes it feel old. Still having those mannequin NPC's, not reacting to gun fire in a open crowd. Their core simulation just feels old at this point, and need a rethink.

But, the number of physics on screen without tanking the framerate is a step up though:

welcome to 2013

 

[winjer]

 

[BootsLoader]

Of course it is, what do you mean?

 

[blastprocessor]

Yes it does feel "current" gen, fast loading, real time GI and lack of object pop-in. Interior can look amazing. Exteriors less so though but Neon is an exception.

 

[Virex]

If you want next-gen falling physics, then you might want to upgrade your PC.

On a serious note. RDR2 is still very impressive till this day. While I am enjoy Starfield a lot there are many things that need work. The interface, the constant loading for everyting(it's short load times but still) and traveling from planet to planet and landing could have been done better. I still like the game. A solid 7/10 for me.

 

[NEbeast]

And it’s boring af.

At least you can fly on a planet in NMS, you're stuck walking across barren planets in Starfield.

 

[Virex]

based!

 

[PanzerCute]

I just know that I am tired AF of these stupid threads and I dont want to play the game anymore.

Every big release is now plagued with 40yo teenagers who dont want other people to have fun and do billions threads on why the game they dont play is bad.

 

[RavionUHD]

It does absolutely feel next gen to me, Im playing it on PC in 5K Ultrawide with Reshade and 2 mods and it looks absolutely fantastic.

 

[TonyK]

This thread is perfect for sorting fanboys from normal people. HFW along with Cyberpunk 2077 on PC are Light Years ahead of Starfield in literally everything.

I have both consoles. And obviously Cyberpunk in PC is light years ahead of everything in console, but I thought we were speaking about console games. And yes, lighting in Starfield, specially in inner scenarios is way way better than Horizon, or at least more accurate (Horizon lighting is very pleasant but weird and inaccurate). In the same way that NPCs in Horizon are way way (WAY) better than NPCs in Starfield.

There is nothing bad on seeing the strong points in different games.

For example: individual objetcs physics in Starfield are better than in Horizon... but vegetation in Starfield doesn't have physics! So vegetation physics and terrain deformation is clearly better in Horizon. There is no perfect game, simply one focus on some aspects and other in another's.

In my case, I give a great importance to accurate representation of lighting, so global illumination like the one in Starfield contributes to my perception of next gen feeling.

Edit: ah, for example, Ratchet and Clank in quality mode feels totally next gen to me. More than Horizon or God of War. Even if I prefer those games and the realistic art style over Ratchet. I'm talking only about the next gen feeling.

 

[SenkiDala]

I won't vote because for me "next gen" doesn't exist anymore.
SNES > N64 : huge gap
Megadrive > Saturn : huge gap
PS1 -> PS2 : considerable gap
PS2 -> PS3 : good gap but becomes less relevant.
PS3 -> PS4 : quite a few games are cross gen, showing how much the generational gap has diminished (MGSV, Evil Within, etc)
PS4 -> PS5 : it becomes almost negligible, Forbidden West on PS4 (Pro) and PS5 are almost the same games, same goes for GT7, Spider-Man, and so on.

So... Starfield looks very good, many things look "new", but "next gen" no, not in my definition of next gen, but nothing looks next gen anyways.

 

[supernova8]

Of course it is, what do you mean?

You're actually spot on comparing it to RDR2 (as opposed to NMS) precisely because it had a large development team and budget, just like Starfield.

One could absolutely make the argument that Bethesda had no excuse to not make a game as polished as RDR2, especially so after they got bought out by Microsoft and presumably had even more financial freedom.

You could also fairly argue that NMS sort of "had no business" being as complete (albeit dead and barren) as it was when it released considering the size of the team.

 

[Hugare]

In terms of visuals? Wouldnt say next gen, but they are pretty good

In design? Skyrim is more next gen than Starfield

 

[Lucifers Beard]

Not at all, it feels very last gen.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

My original post wasn’t being hyperbolic. Read it again. It is literally the equivalent of “looks good for a Nintendo game” of compliments. Our entire conversation happened due to a misread?

You said Bethesda and Nintendo ‘were on their own track’, followed it up with a "limited scope of gaming" because I said others were also unique, and now claim there was a misunderstanding... "On their own track" is hard to misinterpret and the subsequent replies tell me I was on the right track.

In any event, this is a pointless drag on. Agree → disagree. Works for me.

 

[BlackTron]

To throw Phil a bone, seems like they started work on Starfield looooooooooooooooong before Microsoft bought them.

Maybe the next Elder Scrolls game will be different but

That's the thing, people are already saying it's confirmed next BGS game will use Creation engine. That's why I said it is shameful and not would be shameful.

 

[Holdfing]

Felt like playing my first Bethesda game, which was Oblivion.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Felt like playing my first Bethesda game, which was Oblivion.

That's probably because the Creation Engine hasn't changed all that much since Oblivion

 

[Boss Mog]

The only console games that have felt "next gen" to me so far from a technical standpoint are Horizon: Forbidden West and Cyberpunk 2077 (current gen versions).

 

[IDKFA]

I've enjoyed what I've played so far, but I don't see why this couldn't run on the previous gen. Nothing so far has really blown my dick off.

 

[Aion002]

Graphics wise? Yes

Gameplay? Nope.


Same thing can be said to every triple A game in this gen.

So yes.... It's a next gen game alright.

 

[Winter John]

Naw. It's pretty enough and I'm having fun with it, but them loading screens, Jesus Christ, that shit is maddening. I went into Neon and it was nothing but load into building, dialogue, load out, dialogue, load into elevator, dialogue, load out, dialogue, load into building, dialogue, load out. Unacceptable.

 

[scarlet0pimp]

Doesn't feel next gen, havn't played anything that does though for a long time.
Still good game though.

 

[Kilau]

Far larger scope than one map.

Yes, it’s certainly a lot of maps.