Starfield [XBSX|S, PC, XGP]

[Tkumpathenurpahl]

A full creation kit for modding. Extend the value of the game for years by providing the community with the tools and open structure we need.

Is that likely to be present on XBox or only PC in your opinion? I've no idea what the modding situation is on XBox beyond knowing that Skyrim and Fallout have more mods available than on PS5.

I'd like the Mass Effectiness to be visiting locations with distinct look/cultures/main stories and then a chunk of Bethesda procedural open world RPGness slapped on top of that.

Definitely. That would lovely. This is the sort of game that lends itself quite well to DLC locations down the line. Like the place in The Witcher 3's Blood and Wine DLC. But ideally more of them.

Off topic: how much better would CDPR have fared if they had released some additional Blood and Wine scale DLC to buy more time before CP2077?

It doesn’t look like that type of game honestly. Seems really grounded I think.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I picked Skyrim because I think it's the king of open world level design. Everywhere you go, there's something to explore, something in the distance to catch your attention, something to do.

As for Mass Effect powers, I don't really mind how something like those are implemented in the overall aesthetic of the game. It doesn't have to be psychic, it can be pure technology. I just want some cool particle effects followed by a room full of fleshy pulp. Why are you looking at me like that?

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I picked Skyrim because I think it's the king of open world level design. Everywhere you go, there's something to explore, something in the distance to catch your attention, something to do.

Bethesda are masters of making what can be quite small environments and making them feel massive and yet having you feel isolated and alone while actually having lots of things hidden everywhere - with everything being connected. This is a magic they've deployed well since Oblivion so I'm keen to see how this will translate to planet-hopping.

I'm gradually coming round to the idea that Bethesda may just be tossing out all of their traditional Elder Scrolls and Fallout mechanics and doing something completely different with Starfield.

 

[Malo]

Is that likely to be present on XBox or only PC in your opinion? I've no idea what the modding situation is on XBox beyond knowing that Skyrim and Fallout have more mods available than on PS5.

Mods themselves will be available on Xbox, they are now for Skyrim. The creation kit however will be PC only, it's not something you can sit on the couch with a controller and do something with

 

[cheapchips]

Mods themselves will be available on Xbox, they are now for Skyrim. The creation kit however will be PC only, it's not something you can sit on the couch with a controller and do something with

It doesn't mean they couldn't build a controller friendly creation kit of some sort. There's plenty of good console user generated content tools.

(But they probably won't)

 

[Kugai Calo]

Is this the reason why you can't play an Xbox game that is downloading an update? So everybody with not-great internet can be blocked from playing a game for hours. I must admit I didn't know this was even a thing and I'm not a fan. My internet is crap and there is nothing I can do about it.

On the downside you can have tens of gigabytes of reserved storage just for updates, plus for online games you need to wait for the update to complete anyway.

The two-stage game update process is gone with PS5, updates still happen in the background but applying them is pretty much instant. What took time on PS3 and PS4 with HDDs was that sometimes, depending on how fragmented a game install was after an update, the PS3 and PS4 would do some defragging and write a new contiguous game install to the HDD. I/O was slow enough without extra seeks!

I still remember the horror of waiting half an hour for an 400 MB Apex Legends update to copy. I think this still happens when your game is installed on an external drive.

 

[Tkumpathenurpahl]

I still remember the horror of waiting half an hour for an 400 MB Apex Legends update to copy. I think this still happens when your game is installed on an external drive.

I don't know why that happened to you. I've had several TB's of games installed on an external HDD from about a month after the relevant PS4 firmware update. I don't recall any patching taking that long. That's more akin to the nightmare that was the PS3.

Anyway, Starfield!

 

[Kugai Calo]

I don't know why that happened to you. I've had several TB's of games installed on an external HDD from about a month after the relevant PS4 firmware update. I don't recall any patching taking that long. That's more akin to the nightmare that was the PS3.

Anyway, Starfield!

Probably due to fragmentation, but I was not exaggerating.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

On the downside you can have tens of gigabytes of reserved storage just for updates, plus for online games you need to wait for the update to complete anyway.

True, I don't play mutli-player games. I'm just thinking of how little Cyberpunk I could have played when they were deploying multiple 20Gb patches early after released.

HDD/SSD space is something I can solve, currently my internet is not something I can solve.

 

[Kugai Calo]

True, I don't play mutli-player games. I'm just thinking of how little Cyberpunk I could have played when they were deploying multiple 20Gb patches early after released.

HDD/SSD space is something I can solve, currently my internet is not something I can solve.

That’s fair. Usually if you leave the machine in instant-on mode It’ll keep everything up-to-date.

 

[see colon]

True, I don't play mutli-player games. I'm just thinking of how little Cyberpunk I could have played when they were deploying multiple 20Gb patches early after released.

HDD/SSD space is something I can solve, currently my internet is not something I can solve.

Cyberpunks multi GB patches on console were multi MB patches on PC. It's a problem with how consoles handle updates, or how the game is packaged. Both consoles require complete downloads of any file that has been altered. On PC they use delta updates, so only the portions that are changed are downloaded. So if developers either need to package their games using smaller files, or the consoles have to allow the use of delta updates. Because, yeah, it's getting out of hand.

 

[Malo]

How are delta patches not solved after this many generations of consoles?

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Cyberpunks multi GB patches on console were multi MB patches on PC. It's a problem with how consoles handle updates, or how the game is packaged. Both consoles require complete downloads of any file that has been altered. On PC they use delta updates, so only the portions that are changed are downloaded. So if developers either need to package their games using smaller files, or the consoles have to allow the use of delta updates. Because, yeah, it's getting out of hand.

How are delta patches not solved after this many generations of consoles?

It's not a PC vs console thing it's a game developer thing. When Sony patched a bunch of PS4 games to allow running at 60fps om PS5, all the patches were small.

Most of Sony's patches for first party games are small, you tend to only get massive patches in scenarios like Days Gone where they basically repackaged most of the assets to halve the install size.

 

[BRiT]

How are delta patches not solved after this many generations of consoles?

It's already solved for consoles, both consoles have had delta patches generations ago.

 

[see colon]

It's already solved for consoles, both consoles have had delta patches generations ago.

Maybe. There's probably mechanisms in place for games to use delta updates on consoles, but not every game takes advantage of it. Kingdom Come Deliverance famously had a day 1 patch that was essentially the whole game because they didn't use delta updates, and had to update most of the game's files.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Kingdom Come Deliverance famously had a day 1 patch that was essentially the whole game because they didn't use delta updates, and had to update most of the game's files.

That's on the developers, not the platform.

 

[PSman1700]

That's on the developers, not the platform.

Its still a problem on the platform for the users, no matter where the problem originates from.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Its still a problem on the platform for the users, no matter where the problem originates from.

Yes, in the same way if I don't manually update Steam almost none of the games on my two gaming PCs will update - which requires I regularly use both machines and manually initiate Steam client updates so that games downloads can happen at all.

This impacts every game on PC, the larger updates one console only seem to impact some developers.

 

[PSman1700]

Yes, in the same way if I don't manually update Steam almost none of the games on my two gaming PCs will update - which requires I regularly use both machines and manually initiate Steam client updates so that games downloads can happen at all.

This impacts every game on PC, the larger updates one console only seem to impact some developers.

Ive never had to manually update any games on Steam. With a fast internet connection, there are no concerns or complaints really. Nowadays, ive a better and more convienent time using the pc then the PS, a system update is something that interupts on console, while on pc its not.
Steam automatically updates games in its library, quick and easy. A huge difference pre-steam/win10 days.

Playstation on the other hand has gone from never having to worry about firmware updates, large day one patches or having the console requiring me to update the system before being able to play.
Things have gotten more convinient on the PC side, whilest on PS things have went the other way.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Steam automatically updates games in its library, quick and easy.

Not if, as I wrote, the Steam client itself has not been manually updated.

Playstation on the other hand has gone from never having to worry about firmware updates, large day one patches or having the console requiring me to update the system before being able to play.

Which PlayStation did you never have to worry about firmware updates, PS2? You can ignore PS4/PS5 updates if the games you are playing are not online because it's only online games that care that you have the latest firmware and latest game client version. The publisher insists on this.

 

[PSman1700]

Not if, as I wrote, the Steam client itself has not been manually updated.

My Steam client updates automatically, i only have to press restart after it has downloaded/installed it. Steam starts together with W10 (on my system), updates to both client and its games are a non-issue.

Which PlayStation did you never have to worry about firmware updates, PS2?

And thats my point, in older/previous generations, consoles had none of this firmware/system updates, day one game patches etc, it was just plug and play. The difference in convinience was rather huge back then, with the PC not having things like Steam/W10 etc. The PC has sure gotten more convinient, whilest the console has grown to being less-so.

For me, both aint an issue, but if your going to discuss patches, installs and firmware/game updates, yeah, those exist on consoles aswell nowadays. The automatic updates aint an issue on PC atleast, no more so then they are on console.