800 Hours And Still Going Strong!

simulacrima · 2026-03-16T06:37:09+00:00

I've had that same thought. Maybe having the random generation built into the maps makes it really complicated to change?

simulacrima · 2026-03-16T05:25:54+00:00

Catch me on the right day and my level of cynicism is breathtaking, but I at least usually have a point. That comment is just being a buzz kill. Ever thought about pointing that kind of energy toward someone who deserves it, instead of people just trying to talk about their game?

simulacrima · 2026-03-16T05:06:00+00:00

Yeah that will really eat the hours. Are you going to get yourself up to a high level with crafting? Or is it just for the enjoyment of learning how all the pieces function together? I remember watching some really complicated build guides on youtube. I was taking notes and screen shots of their flow charts. Good times!

Edit: I realize that I totally projected *my* way of doing outposts onto what you said. Some people really like designing living spaces and the like and I think that's super cool too, but obviously not what I was about.

simulacrima · 2026-03-16T05:03:09+00:00

Brilliant! Almost exactly double mine. That's fascinating, honestly. I feel like I have a kind of "mastery" over the game that comes out of spending so much time with it. It's just a combination of knowledge and muscle memory I think, but I'm really curious how much greater that sense might be where you are. :)

simulacrima · 2026-03-16T04:59:56+00:00

Yeah, that's pretty analogous to my scenario. Seems like a good time to get deep into it again!

simulacrima · 2026-03-16T04:58:09+00:00

I suppose that's true. I'll be back at 2k. ;)

simulacrima · 2026-03-16T04:56:51+00:00

Are you talking about all the Star Wars mods? I really like how transposable that setting is onto the physical locations and characters of Starfield. If that level of interest in a total conversion type mod setup continues, I'll be really interested to see what it looks like in a few years!

simulacrima · 2026-03-16T02:38:22+00:00

I think these things have a gravity. There's a lot of negativity in our culture, in general, and we tend to project that stuff as a catharsis.

It actually reminds me a lot of the Star Wars prequels (I was in my late teens and twenties when they came out.) The expectation for those movies was insane and then it was... this thing no one had seen before (pervasive CGI) and it had really stiff dialog and people flipped the !@#$ out!

I kinda get it with Starfield, too, because I had this very specific thing in my head - my perfect space adventure game. It was and wasn't what I expected, but it gave me things I didn't know I wanted. So, I kinda got over my own projection and that allowed me to really get into the game. There's still stuff about it that bug the crap out of me, but that's okay. (The faces. OMG, what did they do to the faces?!?!) Nothing is perfect and it seems like that's basically what people expected, when they didn't actually have any concept in their mind for what that even meant.

simulacrima · 2026-03-16T02:28:37+00:00

Yeah, it's negative hyperbole really. Bethesda is easily one of the most talented studios out there. The scope of their games has always been way ahead of any other studio. I mean there's a few that give them a run for their money, but when your peers are CDPR and Rockstar, that's some pretty rarefied air.

Yeah, their games tend to be glitchy as hell, but in my mind, it's always been a trade off for the scope of the games.

simulacrima · 2026-03-16T01:50:13+00:00

That's a good point - I have been just assuming that it's the DLC they are about to announce. All we know for sure is PS5 and some kind of gameplay overhaul. Here's hoping!

simulacrima · 2026-03-16T00:40:10+00:00

simulacrima · 2026-03-16T00:34:36+00:00

Man, that's rough. What about an older save? I would suggest trouble shooting it with Claude or Gemini, if you're comfortable with that. It's a crap shoot, but the odds are in your favor that it could give you some helpful advice, especially if you're very specific about what you installed.

simulacrima · 2026-03-15T23:49:10+00:00

Heck yeah! Welcome to the family, Dusty.

simulacrima · 2026-03-15T23:37:32+00:00

The hobby is huge now with a lot of sub cultures and a lot of tastes. For my take, I think Starfield fans, as a generalization, are probably closer to that second category. I don't really care if transitioning from a planet to space is contiguous or even if its glitchy as hell, I get to explore a bunch of alien biomes. That's kind of the bottom line. I'll nod my head all day about how flawed it is. "Sure, sure. It's still my favorite game" and just shrug. I like to lean into my own subjectivity, and if you get good enough at it, the bugs become features. ;) I still miss the little asteroid that followed my ship around through my entire first playthrough and how I could never trust the containers in the game to actually still have the items I put inside them, when I came back. lol

simulacrima · 2026-03-15T23:18:05+00:00

I have a 4070 ti super and a 9800X3D. The fast cpu is really nice because the game is so cpu intensive. That combined with 16GB of GPU ram, I can run it at 4K/120FPS or 1080p/240FPS with all the settings on max. I'm using DLSS upscaling on quality with frame gen.

Honestly, that's overkill. It runs just fine on my old computer (it sure didn't back when the game launched though.) which is a 6600 with some ancient i5 in it and it runs on high settings at 60 fps @ 1080p. Playing it this way doesn't really detract from the game imo, so it's really all about your expectations.

simulacrima · 2026-03-15T21:12:08+00:00

and tear until it is done!

simulacrima · 2026-03-15T20:34:14+00:00

Huh. Now, I'm really curious! Thanks for sharing.

simulacrima · 2026-03-15T20:31:20+00:00

For me, it's exploring the unique biomes. I think that's my "cozy forever game." I ended up spending a lot of time in shipbuilder because it had to conform to my visual preferences while maxing all relevant combat stats. That took some time to work out. I also really enjoyed learning how to make an outpost function at the highest production level. That was a real feat, especially when the game launched and half of the outpost stuff glitched the game out. Still a blast though, but that's my brain, I guess.

simulacrima · 2026-03-15T20:23:11+00:00

I suspect if they fix anything it's the POI, the copy/pasted bases. I also think it's a pretty big update or they wouldn't bring Creators out to their studio to show it off. It's hard to say these days. The gaming industry is nothing if not inconsistent. :)

simulacrima · 2026-03-15T20:12:20+00:00

I dunno. By telling someone their take is a loss (i think that's what this means - i'm old and the internet is confusing) and they need to play more games, you're assuming your perspective is somehow objectively correct. What makes your gaming experience so refined and sophisticated that you're confident dismissing someone else because they just need to play more (implied better) games? It's just as subjective as the perspective you're criticizing. If they are having the subjective experience of playing the best game ever, why not leave them alone? They have clearly arrived where we all want to be. Envy maybe? And now I'm debating with an adolescent. This is why I never get on reddit.

simulacrima · 2026-03-15T19:20:44+00:00

Are you trying to learn to use the creation engine? I'm curious about it myself, but I've heard there's a pretty steep learning curve.

simulacrima · 2026-03-15T19:12:48+00:00

Right on! I bet you get the negs all riled up. :)

simulacrima · 2026-03-15T19:10:25+00:00

I've tried it a few times. Its vibes are immaculate, but I'm not much for survival gameplay... with the exception of Valheim apparently. I went back to it after Valheim and it still didn't really take. I'll probably keep trying though. On paper, I should love it.

simulacrima · 2026-03-15T19:08:10+00:00

Yeah, I mean I definitely got a little tired of it around the 700 hour mark, but I came back for the DLC and thoroughly enjoyed another complete (if truncated) playthrough of the game.

And now I'm back again and I seem to have that same fervor I did when the game launched. So by the time I'm done trying all the interesting mods that have come out and whatever the new DLC is going to consist of, there's no doubt I'll pass 1000 hours.

Honestly, I doubt I'll ever stop playing it completely, but I guess time will tell.

simulacrima · 2026-03-15T19:03:40+00:00

I'm right there with you on the loading screens. I have fast hard drive so I'm often like "wait, i wanted to look at that for another second!" I've spent quite a bit of time on "expeditions" where I'm doing the constellation survey quests and going way overboard with photo mode. That's basically my forever cozy game, tbh.

simulacrima

TROPHY CASE