Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Post-DLC Blues? What’s Next For Starfield?
696 Plays5 days ago
Duane and Michael talk about the post-game, post-DLC blues. We also talk about how the game rewards players for straying from the main path, and a magical feeling you get from Dazra’s unlockable player home. We also talk about doing a POI takeover!
Starfield Special Edition Seagate Hard Drive
https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-STMJ2000400-Starfield-Special-External/dp/B0CCDP8MPG?ref_=ast_sto_dp
Get the podcast ad-free and early by supporting our Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/NormalPeopleGaming
Chat with us and other fans in our discord:
Recommended
Transcript
Episode Introduction & Hosts
00:00:00
Speaker
Do you have the post-DLC blues? And what is next for Starfield?
Post-DLC Blues Discussion
00:00:15
Speaker
Welcome back to a brand new episode of Starfield with Normal People. My name is Dwayne and I am joined by my friend, Michael. Michael, how are you this week, sir? I'm doing great. I know what you mean. I know what you mean about the post-DLC blues and we're going to get into it. Do you? Yeah.
00:00:32
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. You know, also was noticing, Michael, in our Discord things were getting a ah little quiet in there. Yeah. At first, you know, there was a lot of excitement with ah the DLC, obviously, everybody jumped or a lot of people jumped in. We're checking out the new DLC from Bethesda, Shat Spa or Shattered
Bittersweet Game Completion
00:00:51
Speaker
Space. And then kind of the last, I'd say, week It's been very quiet. And so that kind of gave me the idea for the this episode, which is the the post DLC blues. Have you ever gotten that before in a video game? Have you ever kind of gone gone deep on a game and then? Yeah.
00:01:10
Speaker
Kind of maybe either completed it or just put in so many hours and then you just take a break and put it aside for a minute or there's been quite a few games where you hit the you hit the end credits that.
00:01:25
Speaker
So it's it's interesting because we're talking about the post DLC blues, which is definitely a real thing. But I am really reminded of a lot of times where I would play a really heavy story based game and then hit those credits. Some of the biggest ones definitely were ah like off the top of my head, Shadow of the Colossus, because you're sort of facing what you've done in this game.
Replayability & Branching Storylines
00:01:55
Speaker
And maybe it was not as good a thing as you thought. You know, I had a friend that he would, and and I feel this, he would play Final Fantasy, which are these sprawling stories. right And then the credits would roll. He would just say, you know, don't talk to me.
00:02:12
Speaker
because he would just sit, watch the credits and listen to the music and just let that feeling wash over him of completing that story. It's very bittersweet. I felt that many times and in a really good film. Sometimes you just want to sit there. yeah You're not necessarily reading the credits. Maybe you are kind of just zoning in and out, but you you need to decompress for a minute.
00:02:35
Speaker
and kind of take it all in and and feel what you've just been through. yeah And I think a really, it does depend on on the game to some degree, but a really great game, it's gonna instill this feeling in you that you're gonna wanna revisit. So even if the end credits do roll, you'll be back. yeah And does your friend still play Final Fantasy or is it kind of like this nostalgia bubble in the back of his brain where it's like, I remember that, it was so cool, but I put it on the shelf.
00:03:05
Speaker
I believe he is the the type to go back and revisit these old games and and even play the new ones, of course. Actually, this friend just reached out to me because he got an emulator on his computer and he was playing Metal Gear Solid 2, Sons of Liberty.
00:03:22
Speaker
nice Which was a game that he and I had played a lot. um We had that shared experience, like Metal Gear Solid was, that's another one. that's like Those games are so insane with their story and you kind of hit the credits and you're just like, okay, I gotta think about this. Yeah, I think for Half-Life 2 for me was was a big one because gameplay was so much fun in that game.
00:03:49
Speaker
that the the story while the story was great and the environment was amazing. i and i you know Obviously you get spoiled as you complete the game, but the gameplay and the action, the excitement of the game is still there.
00:04:04
Speaker
So you go back and you keep playing or you you play multiplayer or you play one of the offshoots like Counter Strike or whatever came out of Half-Life 2.
Community Interaction Post-DLC
00:04:14
Speaker
With Starfield and especially Shattered Space, pretty much any Bethesda game, you have this experience where I didn't know what to expect from Shatzba and now that I have played it and i've I know what's in it,
00:04:35
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like, oh, okay, well now I gotta play it again. because with Bethesda games, I always feel like I have to play them, I mean, I play them endlessly, but but I always have to play it at least twice because the first time you're sort of figuring it out, figuring out what's in it, I'm happy with how I progressed the story, but there's always a different way to
Future of Starfield & Expansions
00:05:00
Speaker
do it. So some people, I see this all the time with Bethesda games where some people say, oh, okay,
00:05:08
Speaker
I'm not really happy with the choices I made now that I've reached the end. It is a tree essentially with all these branches. And on your first playthrough, you are taking that one branch wherever it goes. And you've missed myriad other offshoots of story and and whatever else. So yeah, I think there's there's the opportunity to to replay quite a bit.
00:05:34
Speaker
Also, regarding the how quiet it's been, not just it's not just our Discord, it's it's the the subreddits, it's everywhere. You and I have talked about how Starfield is a single player game. So, single player DLC comes out and we all get excited and we we hit that DLC and then and then it's it's done. Now,
00:06:03
Speaker
We've known about Shattered Space, at least just in title only, from the beginning. of and And now, this post-DLC blues, as as you call it, we're kind of like, okay, so what's next? We don't know. We have no idea. And it's very exciting, but it's also like,
00:06:26
Speaker
I'm just dying to know something. It does feel like just the beginning still. This was a major DLC. I feel like it's still early in the grand scheme of this game, just knowing how, yeah, Fallout 4 played out with multiple expansions and the longevity that that game has had and other Bethesda titles as well.
00:06:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's early in Starfield. Starfield has a lot of life left in it. And you're right. It's a single player game. And that means you can put it on the shelf for for a while. Like Elf on a shelf.
00:07:07
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. And by the way, I found the ah the replacement for Elf on a Shelf is now ah Snoop Doggy Dog, so it's Snoop on the Snoop. Yes, i just saw i just we were at we were in a store and I saw Snoop on the Snoop and I was like, wow.
00:07:25
Speaker
this He knows how to market himself, doesn't it he? He's so good at at marketing himself. Wow. Yep. Yeah. I mean, you're you're going to put Starfield potentially. Maybe you're still playing it. I am. But I think some people could put it away for a little while and then come back. And I saw something fascinating, which you have said many times ah in the past about Starfield, which is it is a game for explorers. Yeah. Right.
00:07:56
Speaker
it fulfills this niche for people who love exploring. And I think that's why there has been some criticism from, well, I don't know, YouTubers and and people trying to get clicks
Starfield vs. No Man's Sky
00:08:11
Speaker
about yeah the type of game that it is. In terms of a space exploration game, I mean, I think it's Obviously I'm biased, but I think it's the best out there. I've played a little bit of No Man's Sky. It's great for what it is, but it doesn't have the lore. It doesn't have the story that Starfield has. It has other things. and it doesn't yeah Yeah, it's a great sandbox. It's super fun, but it does it doesn't have cities full of characters that all yeah have their own history and backstory. like Yeah, you can't compare.
00:08:50
Speaker
like it just I don't know. Starfield, I just think it's funny when someone comes along and says, oh, but I don't like how some of the 150 plus POIs, I don't like that sometimes they repeat, and I would rather play No Man's Sky. Okay, well that's fine, but you know No Man's Sky has like five POIs.
00:09:14
Speaker
like instead of 150. I don't know. It's silly. I don't know. Yeah, but it's seamless space to plan it. Yeah, which is cool. There's that. Yeah, it's cool. It's super cool. It's super cool. But Starfield is more realistic in in its time. Like they've shown how if you can travel from here to that planet, and it will take like nine hours, and they just realize that it's, yeah, you just, it's like a movie. Cut to next scene, we're there. Yeah, yeah and i know I know some people are like, oh, don't focus on the negativity, but it it is important, it's ah it's a part of the whole experience. To be a Starfield fan,
00:10:00
Speaker
dealing with people saying these things is part of the experience. Unfortunately. Yeah, I mean, listen, everything that you like has a hater out there somewhere.
Seagate Starfield-themed Hard Drives
00:10:12
Speaker
I went to a Violent Femmes concert. Loved them in high school. Yeah, they're great. Yeah. Always wanted to see them. They came to Vegas, so I went to one of their shows. There was some random dude who just didn't get the music. And it was a concert where there was multiple acts playing. Yeah.
00:10:30
Speaker
Yeah, that's always... That that person is always you know figuratively standing behind you, yeah you know saying stupid things but about something that you love. Saying, stop having fun. And you just have to kind of...
00:10:45
Speaker
realize that you love it for the reasons that you love it and that's it doesn't matter what other people think or say if you like it and if you're grounded and in your confidence of liking what you like, then all is well in the universe. So Michael, we both received our Seagate external hard drives and I was able to hook mine up. Did you hook yours up?
00:11:10
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. First off, we want to just say thank you for Seagate sending these to us. Really appreciate that. This is definitely one of those things where when I first saw it a year ago, I definitely wanted one.
00:11:26
Speaker
i like I love the the little lights on it, first off. like yeah You know what was nice is it immediately brought up the storage window on my desktop. Sometimes you plug in a hard drive and nothing happens.
00:11:41
Speaker
I don't know if that's due to does you whatever format. and Yeah, there's like something they don't quite have the software that's built in on the hard drive ready or who knows what. But this was immediately available. Of course, like you said earlier, the RGB lights lit up and looked fantastic. Also, I got to say it's it's slim. It's very slim.
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah. It's the size of an SSD drive. While it's not an SSD drive and you probably wouldn't put actual starfield on this because they do recommend an SSD drive. It's amazing for if you're capturing in-game video or if you're just doing general storage, this is a nice addition. I think it's important, gamers, especially PC gamers, are very familiar with RGB colors. These are not the classic RGB, like, basic colors. These are colors that match Constellations branding and the Starfield branding. It's a really cool collection of, you know, red, blue, and and gold, not
00:12:41
Speaker
you know, not the classic RGB colors, that just the basic rainbow that you usually get. yeah So I do like that attention to detail. This hard drive actually changed my video workflow. So in the past, the Series X, I would actually record clips and then it would just automatically go to OneDrive. So I would wait for it to upload and then download on my computer. I did that for convenience. And then when Seagate sent these hard drives, I was actually like, wait a minute. Now, ah so dar I make a lot of Starfield videos. A Starfield hard drive would be a great place to store all that footage. I don't know. it's Yeah, it's cool to have a Starfield themed hard drive where I keep all my Starfield
Starfield's New Fan Base
00:13:28
Speaker
footage. So that's that's what I'm doing now.
00:13:31
Speaker
Well, very cool. I'm happy to hear that it changed your workflow. That's interesting. And I also have a lot more storage space now on my computer, which is awesome. If you are interested in the Seagate Starfield Special Edition game drive, check out the link that we will provide to Amazon in our description and you can buy your very own hard drive. It's available in a two terabyte, five terabyte and even is this right, an eight terabyte.
00:14:01
Speaker
hard drive? Wow, I didn't realize it had that big of ah an option, but I'm looking at it now and it's it's just like the other ones. Like you said, it's very well done with the design of the device itself, both in regard to the RGB color scheme and just the overall Aztecs of it. So thanks again to see gate. Yeah, you know you said starfield is a game for people that like exploring and I love ah That number one they've been saying that since the beginning look at their slogan Isn't it like made for wanderers? Yes, you know something like that and it's just like dude. I am a wanderer I am the person that spent 300 hours in no man's sky loving
00:14:47
Speaker
just going from planet to planet. and And then that was before I had Starfield. And now in Starfield, I love just...
00:14:59
Speaker
running around and driving the Rev-8 and finding new things. and and and ah And I want to say that I'm so happy that Starfield like or Bethesda, they're sort of like acknowledging something that i'm i'm they I feel like they took a while to acknowledge and I'm glad they're saying it. they they Someone from Bethesda came out and said,
00:15:27
Speaker
Starfield is building a brand new fan base. I thought you were going to say, it just works. So that was not that thing. Yeah. No, but but they're building a a fan base. You're right. They're building a new fan base. And I'm glad they finally said that because it's not for Fallout fans. It's not for Skyrim fans, Elder Scrolls fans.
00:15:54
Speaker
don't get Don't get me wrong, a lot of us are fans of all of that. It can be. But I'm glad they're finally acknowledging this is for a different group. Yeah. And Todd saying that it's Skyrim in space has come back to haunt him so many times because it really isn't.
00:16:14
Speaker
Right. I mean, it's yeah, uses the creation engine. So it kind of has this ah little brother aspect to it where it feels yeah kind of like in the same universe. But gameplay is entirely different and kind of the design concepts of the game are our worlds apart.
00:16:36
Speaker
And I'm not even a hundred percent sure, like, did he say that? Or did people say he said that? Cause like, that's, it gets real muddy. It gets real muddy. I honestly don't know. Maybe we should fact check ourselves. Tell you what, if you guys know, leave a comment on our YouTube page and tell us the definitive truth. Or if you know Todd, please do. Yeah.
00:17:03
Speaker
Tell them to call me. Yeah. Also, yeah, I only wanted to bring that up in case, yeah, someone's like, well, you know, Todd didn't actually say that. We've talked about game design in the past and the thing about good game design is that it encourages you to stray from the path and then rewards you with something usually. I think Starfield is so good at that because there's no You know, set path necessarily there's guidelines like here's the story. Let's go to Sarah's planet and figure out her storyline or whatever. So there that exists, but the structure of the game itself is.
00:17:41
Speaker
endless branches in every direction. That's a good point because i was I was thinking about how there's certain armors and weapons in the game that are that are very cool, that are unique to missions.
Shattered Space DLC Features
00:17:55
Speaker
And so I like how, number one, you can, like I know that when I do the UC mission, I'm gonna get this really cool set of armor. And so there's that, but then if you're thinking,
00:18:11
Speaker
How am I gonna find legendary items safes coming out there in the world? Yeah, saves coming with Stash, or it's just exploring. So that's how you get rewarded. Like if you really wanna find legendaries and kit yourself out with with those, you're gonna find it by strain from the path, as you said.
00:18:33
Speaker
exploring this payoff. Absolutely. Speaking of being rewarded, this is a very, very light spoiler for anyone who is still playing Shattered Space. As per usual with Bethesda games, when you help people of a certain town, they usually say, hey,
00:18:52
Speaker
Why don't you live here? the Probably the if you've ever played a Bethesda game, that's the lightest spoiler ever. So yes, there is a place, um there's there's a little home or an apartment that you can get in Dazra. Now, I really wanted to talk about this because they did something kind of brand new, sort of. I haven't gotten that far, so I'm curious.
00:19:21
Speaker
Actually, now that I think about it, okay, now that I think about it, they kind of did the same thing in the UC storyline. But anyway, okay I digress. i just um Basically, the first thing I noticed when you are given this apartment, it's like any other time, here's a home, you can decorate it by going to this panel. We've seen this before. But,
00:19:51
Speaker
I was sort of blown away. I guess I should have known having done the UC storyline, but I don't know. I was blown away by the fact that there is no loading screen. You have your ah apartment, your home, and then you open the door and there's the city plaza. just It's right there.
00:20:18
Speaker
Nice. Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing because I always think of my apartment, if you will, in Diamond City in in Fallout 4. Yeah. And man, oh man, I don't know why, but that one always seemed to take a long time to load.
00:20:34
Speaker
And it got to the point where I was just like, I'm not, I don't care anymore. I'm not going in there. It wasn't that big of a deal, but in my mind, I was like, you know, I'm just going to go somewhere else. So I did like the initial decorations and then nothing else. It remained that way for like the last five years.
00:20:54
Speaker
Yeah. So this this is actually really cool. I mean, it sounds like such a small thing, but you're right. If you're walking out to the the city square of Dazra, oh, hey, I wanted to grab something out of my apartment, walk right back in, open the chest, whatever it is, grab your your gun that you wanted, and right back out with no loading. I mean, that's cool. it's And to me, here's the thing is like,
00:21:21
Speaker
It's not just about the not having a loading screen. There is a feeling I got. it It sort of unlocked a feeling and this is so, it might sound funny to some, but I was reminded of past family vacations, where you're in a new place. So Daz was this new place. I had done all the missions and everything, but Daz was this new place. And then you get your key to the the hotel or the motel room or whatever. And it's like, here you go. Here's where you're staying. And that feeling of like,
00:22:03
Speaker
It's so funny, I almost imagined my character had a coffee mug in his hand, because it's that whole, like, you step out of your, you open the door from, like, let's say you're going to Disneyland, you know. And your towel. Yeah. and you put your hand on your hip and you hold your coffee mug up and you're just taking the sights. You just take it in. yeah That's how I felt. I felt like I was taking it in. Even though I had already played the game, and this's that's that's why this game is for Wanderers, is because I wasn't trying to beat it. I had already beat the story of the DLC. I was now just, I exited this apartment and I was taking it in.
00:22:48
Speaker
I was just like, that's that's the magic of no loading screen right between where you live and the city. Yeah, it's it doesn't break the immersion whatsoever. And I think you were gonna say this, but you go to Disneyland and you stay on property. Yeah, yes. Our East Coast people are gonna be like, yeah, we stay we stay at one of the resorts right on Disneyland.
00:23:13
Speaker
or Disney World. ye But Disney Land in California is like you got two choices, I think. You have the Disney California, which is like you got to be Bill Gates to stay there because it costs like two thousand a night. And then there's I think there's another one that's a little further away, but it's still kind of.
00:23:31
Speaker
sorta on property. It's a short ride away. We took the kids to Legoland last year. Oh, you build your own hotel there. yeah They're like, okay, here's your bucket of 20 million blocks. Go ahead and build your room out. Get started. Yeah. Get going.
00:23:49
Speaker
ah Yeah, it's a little drafty. I'll say that. The windows. The wind the wind just whistles right right through those walls. Oh, I built mine out of Technic pieces and so there was holes and everything. Yeah.
00:24:04
Speaker
You don't have to be Bill Gates to stay like right on property there. It makes such a difference. Yeah, it's like it's the difference between staying somewhere and then every morning getting on a shuttle like for half an hour to get to the park. That's the real life loading screen is that freaking shuttle. Oh, my God. like Yeah, we're pretty we're we're frugal kind of in some cases. And so we'll stay at the I think it's the Marriott or, I don't know, one of these corporate hotels that's, it's probably about three miles away, but it takes 40 minutes two it takes a while to get to Disneyland. That's probably what we would do for Disneyland. But yeah, with Legoland, it's ah it's a little more
Player Housing & Immersion
00:24:49
Speaker
affordable. And it was like, yeah, it's like talking about Dazras. I promise it's related. But yeah, like you come out of the hotel room,
00:24:59
Speaker
and it's like the park is right there. Yep. And that's that's nice. There you go. They have early entry too. Yes. Yeah, that's it. Yep. So there you go. That's what that's what shattered space. The apartment felt like because I saw you maybe thought earlier that they had the same apartment style somewhere else is the one in Akula City. There's two available there, right? There's a small one and a Larger one is the small one no loading see now. I'm curious because I don't I don't know I don't remember I know I've saved money in my original first playthrough to get the apartment in neon mm-hmm and now I'm honestly struggling to remember if there's like a loading screen or not because I i felt there was the apartment you get at the end of the UC storyline and
00:25:50
Speaker
Please, if you're listening, you can confirm or deny in the comments. But as I recall, I think it's a loading screen to get in, but they have a balcony that overlooks New Atlantis. Oh, interesting. Okay. So in know in a way it's sort of seamless because you you can jet pack off of these balconies and just be down and in New Atlantis. It's not like they stop you from jumping off the balcony.
00:26:23
Speaker
because it's yeah a separate world you know in the code in the code, so to say. And that's what's kind of fascinating about the loading screens in Bethesda games, is they've shown that they don't necessarily need them. But I really think, it's like you said, it's not a separate world. I think the loading screens are sort of just like physics placement devices because like the physics can get crazy. We've all we've all played Skyrim where we walked out of town and a friggin mammoth gets sent flying through the sky just from the loading screen. I really think that's the purpose of the loading screens. It kind of makes sense because the logic is that you're going to take a bunch of stuff
00:27:14
Speaker
coffee mugs or little stuff. What are they called? The stuffed animal things that you can collect. Plushies. Plushies. Thank you. You have those sitting around your apartment and they the engine needs to know if there's physics objects that need to be rendered and might be able to be bouncing around the apartment, I guess.
00:27:36
Speaker
Yeah. So, i mean that's I mean, that's my take on it. But but yeah, so so the UC, like you've got that balcony, but you're so high up ah in in New Atlantis that it's not the same as the whole, the DASRA opening the door and like just being in the plaza. Like it's got me really like I've already I did it and then I took my character. I'm already new game plus so I'm already like starting again. So I i could go to Dazara right now and but I would have to redo the whole story but
00:28:12
Speaker
it It does make me want to try like committing to a that apartment, like because that's that's always the toughest thing about Bethesda games. It's like your apartment in New Diamond City. You're like, cool, I've got it. Now I'm going to, OK, bye. And you go wander the game.
00:28:30
Speaker
I'd rather build a really cool outpost somewhere on a planet that I love. Yeah. And make that home base. Now I will still buy the apart or get the apartment in the quest line. Right. So sure. I'll have a place in the expansion. You'll have it. And I've bought like the little tiny one that's a neon and there there is always going to be that one that you want to have feel like you're your actual home base where you put yeah your mannequins with the cool outfit or armor set that you got. or So where's that for you? Do you have your... Because you have the cool... I don't know. You have quite a few armor sets, right? Well, I did. I did before I went new game. Yes. um That's the conundrum. i just So the ones from the video, the red and red and yellow set from the video, that's on that character?
00:29:26
Speaker
Oh, those are gone. Oh, buddy. i just Wow, yeah no way. That surprises me. Everyone needs to know there is no limit to my ability to move on and declutter my game. I'm shocked by this. Wow. On one hand, as a completionist, I feel you're very dedicated.
00:29:50
Speaker
so I guess it's the joy of completing it, getting the achievement or whatever, and then yeah you're not worried about it. God, I bet your closet is amazing in real life. Is your closet like?
00:30:06
Speaker
minimal it's um no it's it's okay it's it's not i'll tell you what it's not like like our i don't know about your the your previous generation my my parents definitely like they've got an attic right it's full of stuff yes i i don't have as much stuff as my parents thank god our parents all have so much useless crap yeah They keep everything, right? yeah They just keep everything.
Minimalism & Collectibles
00:30:33
Speaker
But I'm not to the point where I want to be, minimalist, i'm i'm but I'm working on it. Definitely trying to get rid of stuff. Yeah, I always think about this. Every time we go like with the family, a lot of times you go out on a Saturday or Sunday, whatever it is, and you come back with all these bags, like bags from Target or shoe shopping, whatever it is.
00:30:59
Speaker
all this stuff accumulates and fills your house. And unless you make a concerted effort to really and get rid of stuff. Here's the thing. like i There's things that I definitely don't regret. like For instance, um ah yeah, we bought the $150 beautiful Vasco statue. It's like a foot tall.
00:31:23
Speaker
I like that kind of thing because it's it's big and it's really well done. It looks amazing and it's it's a statement piece for your house. During the time that I'm playing Lots of Starfield, it belongs here.
00:31:41
Speaker
it's Great. But then, like, there's this other game. So there's this game, very different game called Bellatro. It's a card. It's a deck building. Oh, cool. Poker solitaire RPG. Oh, those are fun. It's so crazy. I didn't think I would like those. But yeah, they're absolutely fun.
00:32:01
Speaker
I can, this is a Starfield podcast, but I can highly recommend Bellato to anyone. I love this game. That's not on my radar. I'm gonna have to check that out. there Yeah, yeah. So it's it's free on Apple Arcade Plus. So like I have it on my phone, but they just released a special edition physical copy for Xbox. Now I usually buy games digitally,
00:32:29
Speaker
But one of the appeals of this is that it came with the special edition, it was like 30 bucks, comes with the game, and then it came with 15 little Joker cards, because the game you collect like, you can find up to 150 different types of Jokers, like this is, they all have special abilities. Anyway, my point, my point is like that was really appealing to me at first,
00:32:55
Speaker
I was like, oh man, that's so cool, the little Joker cards. But then i i there's this part of my brain, it's that minimalist part of my brain that says, where would these go? right In a drawer? There's literally no more room in my house. There's no more drawers. There's no more shelves. There's no more boxes. well What would I do with this? like that's so yeah I'm very conscious about those things. Now, a little mini Vasco statue to go on my desk.
00:33:25
Speaker
Absolutely, because I know where it's going. It's going on my desk. If there's gaming swag or anything else that appeals to me, I always ask myself, what am I going to do with this after I get it? And if the answer is it's going to go in a drawer somewhere, I do not buy that thing. Well, I got you the Todd Howard bobblehead for Christmas. So I hope you have space for it. Well, that's perfect.
00:33:54
Speaker
he's just bobbing all the time when you're when you're playing your game because you know you know about my shrine you know about my todd howard shrine so uh yep there's always blood and the feathers and the candles in there candles yeah it looks it looks just like shattered space it's got all the candles and the statues and Yeah, I bet there's a gravity anomaly in there.
Role-playing & Player Home Options
00:34:22
Speaker
ah Yeah, but I mean, you know, talking about this.
00:34:27
Speaker
apartment, you were talking about settling down. I did want to mention that there are tutorials out there on how to take over POIs. Did you know about this? Take over, like live in one? Yeah. So essentially, you know how the game blocks you from setting an outpost like too close to a POI?
00:34:54
Speaker
Well, ah we we won't go in how to do it here on on the podcast because there's a lot of ins and outs. Is it kind of like a hack or is it like a role playing or is it an actual thing? OK, it's a hack. It's doable in vanilla. You don't need, you know, so for for people that don't want to download mods, there is a way to trick the game essentially into letting you sort of set down like a base.
00:35:22
Speaker
and start building around a POI. Now some POIs, eh, you wouldn't want to take over, but there's like the satellite array. I've always like thought that was really cool because it's like, it's a small building, very manageable, but but yes, I thought I would bring that up because there's been so many times where I've landed at ah ah like a nice little POI and I've thought,
00:35:49
Speaker
I would love to just make this, like let us start a bass this way because you have to build so much, build, decorate. It's nice to incorporate existing, strip I mean, because that's also what you would do in real life, talk about role-playing. I mean, if you rolled into a planet,
00:36:07
Speaker
and you either took over or became friendly with whoever was there and you would incorporate that into your outpost. I would love to see this incorporated into the main game and maybe they'll they'll never do it but... But you're right. like It fits the lore. There's all these abandoned buildings. Why wouldn't there be a precedent for taking it over? and i just I love how they're already decorated with like the clutter and stuff. so like you you know The magazines and the food and whatever. That's a lot of time to place all that stuff, right? Yeah. It'd be nice to be able to save a little time and just kind of
00:36:49
Speaker
add your own stuff to something that was already out there. It does feel feels like it could be that that they're planning that in the future. I don't know. like we that That could be an option for the future. Have you added any new creations Creation Club content?
00:37:09
Speaker
I get this very difficult thing that I deal with where ah that's what I was thinking. I was like, yeah, now I'm going to mod the hell out of my game. I like i got all the achievements from Shatsba and I'm like, here we go. Mod time. And I get in there.
00:37:29
Speaker
And I just don't know what to to get. because i like I start to think, oh, I want survival stuff. right Or I want more realistic space travel. What's that term where there's like too much stuff and it it it makes you indecisive?
00:37:48
Speaker
and it rhymes. It's like ah indecision paralysis, analysis paralysis or something like that maybe. Oh yeah, it could be that because it it's definitely similar to like when you when you try to figure out what to watch on Netflix. That's it. That's what I'm thinking. Yeah.
00:38:04
Speaker
I have the same experience like I went into creation club and i'm like yeah black blacked out weapon pack that's cool keep scrolling what else is there and you get on that scroll yeah and nothing is nothing's speaking to me in a big way there's cool stuff but yeah yeah this is where i find the discord very helpful like we have our our discord and i i I think it's just better when somebody pops in and recommends a mod that they tried out. They're like, this mod's really cool. It does this. Honestly, i I don't know. I feel like I'm not getting it from browsing Creation Club. I feel like I have to go to our Discord and see what people are playing and enjoying.
Starfield as a Comfort Game
00:38:56
Speaker
mom Those recommendations from the community are so helpful. that's that I feel like that's the only way I'm gonna really know what to download. I mean, it's not just, when you think about it, it's not just Creation Club where you get that kind of like, what do I do? What do I do? That's what's cool about the Starfield Adventure Club but is, hey, we're all going to this planet. And it gives you a sense of something to do in the game.
00:39:25
Speaker
and shout out to Cherry Bomb for running the Starfield Adventure Club. Thank you. Absolutely. yep it's it's sort It's like when you go to Costco and they only have one option for tortilla chips. They don't have 10 different options. They got this. this is You want tortilla chips, this is the one brand.
00:39:49
Speaker
And they they've proven. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I don't follow. and Are you saying that Costco only has one brand of tortilla chip? I'm saying that Costco will often only have one or two brands of any particular thing personal so that you're not Yeah. Isn't it isn't it like Kirkland brand ships or something? So Kirkland is there their brand, but sometimes they'll have, I don't know, Tostitos or whatever, but but they they do that so you're not sitting there forever trying to figure out which brand is better. yeah They're just like, no, no, we figured it out for you.
00:40:34
Speaker
It's the in and out menu. It's like hamburger, cheeseburger. Yes. Yep. Cheeseburger. Vanilla shake. Chocolate shake. Vanilla shake. yeah Yeah, that's exactly yeah that exactly what Starfield Adventure Club is. cost Costco does have a ah secret menu, just like in and out though. and you You go down into the basement and there's $300 prime rib instead of the $1.50 hot dogs. You can actually go to the real restaurant that's underneath Costco right the hated yeah for the discerning Costco member.
00:41:09
Speaker
It's like a speakeasy. yeahs It's like there's this ah there's this big palette of toilet paper and it's in it just like the washing machine and breaking bad. yeah You press a button like and it lifts up. Yeah. It's toilet paper. Yeah. 100% it's the toilet paper wall that moves aside. Yep.
00:41:36
Speaker
Yeah, you got to have the you gotta have the the diamond level card for that. Yeah, super duper diamond level. With Starfield, I'm i've definitely in that mode where it's my comfort game, so I still will pop into it more than any other game. Right now, I'm trying to play Alan Wake 2, finally. So I finally installed Alan Wake. I haven't actually pressed start yet, and I'm going to play hopefully this weekend when I get some time.
00:42:05
Speaker
That is one of my favorites. That's one of my favorites. The original, and then, yeah. When did the Shattered Space come out? About a month ago, right? Yeah, I think it's been about a month. You've had one complete playthrough. When we first started our podcast, we rated the vanilla game. I think we both gave it eight out of 10. Eight out of 10, right?
00:42:30
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's where we were at. What's your score? What's your Shat
Shattered Space DLC Critiques
00:42:34
Speaker
Spa score, having gone through it once? I would say, I mean, it's it's tough for me to give anything a 10 out of 10. I would definitely say like,
00:42:45
Speaker
probably a nine out of 10. And i okay i read I rate it that high just because. So you loved it, like nine out of 10. I loved every second of it. I love the monster design. I love the world. I love the city, the outfits, the story.
00:43:04
Speaker
If I were to think about there was a just like very minor things, but every once in a while there was a minor thing that I'm like, huh, that was a weird choice. Maybe I would go add out of 10 only because yes, I absolutely loved it. I loved how they put all unique POIs in this one big land area. And I don't even dislike how the original game has handled the POIs. i don't i'm like i might be Our group might be some of the few people that are like fine with it, um apparently, but I love it. But I love how they did this. I loved exploring. The only thing that I would, my two criticisms maybe are optimization
00:43:53
Speaker
i I don't drive the Rev-8 in chat spot because it feels a little rough. Yeah. it Put this into context. It's a Series S at 60 frames per second, right? X. X. i' I'm playing on the Series X, which is the better. But you you are playing the 60 FPS. 60, yeah. Performance mode, 60 FPS.
00:44:17
Speaker
Mm-hmm. They could still improve that they they're improving the game constantly So if they can just work on performance we have have we had a patch since I don't think so Well, we have noticed a very small patch but what it maybe it was a hotfix there wasn't even enough for them to give patch notes or anything so my only other thing that that i was This is tiny, tiny disappointment. So there's an armory that you can't access at first because they don't trust you. They're like, whatever, whatever. Then they're they're like, okay, we trust you. you can now You can now buy from our armory. And I was like, oh, cool. And then I go and they don't even have DLC weapons or maybe they have one or two. but
00:45:10
Speaker
It's a bunch of the same weapons that you get out there in the other game. So I don't know if this is like a roleplay thing where it's like Oh, now you can access outsider weapons? And it's like, dude, I already have outsider weapons. Yeah, they built up the expectation of there is something special in here. We're not going to allow you in quite yet. And then, yeah, surprise. It's the same old, same old. Yeah, I think that's that was weird to me.
Praise for Shattered Space DLC
00:45:40
Speaker
Yeah, it probably has special stuff that they
00:45:45
Speaker
ran into a bug. They had to roll back maybe when they launched the DLC. Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully they will update that because that seems like an oversight. I thought that was really strange. I was like, you guys were hyping up this armory. There's like nothing here. like So I don't know. It's like like the guy who had to use like master lock picking to open up the box and there's nothing inside. There was a lock pick. A lock pick, yeah. Like, wow, I used two lock picks to get into this. um yeah i so But other than that, yes, I i loved the DLC.
00:46:22
Speaker
I thought I had a great mix of just story and gameplay and it was fun. My God, not spoiling anything, but when you finally get to the last area, it has some of the coolest, most gorgeous locations in the entire game. And so that's, I think that's one of the reasons I loved it so much was this feeling of
00:46:56
Speaker
Wow, I'm actually seeing something very new and this location is unique to the DLC. It's unique to that mission. The only way to see it again is to play the story again, play that mission again.
Exploration of Varun Kai System
00:47:15
Speaker
Interesting.
00:47:15
Speaker
Yeah. You'll know what I'm talking about when you get to it. But I was just like, you the whole time I'm running around just going, I love this. All of this is amazing. I loved it.
00:47:28
Speaker
Yeah, the Varun Kai system, did you end up exploring more? Like the surrounding? I did. Okay. Yeah. Just kind of typical planets. It's okay. Yeah, yeah. the The additional planets, I think that's kind of was what I was expecting. I kind of was expecting that they were going to put their heart and soul into Dazra and then outside of it on that same planet. It's still interesting like to go. That's what I like. There are different biomes on Varun the planet of Varun Kai. So that's cool. Then then there's like a couple other planets with some animals. ah But they're the same. There's creatures that we've seen elsewhere. Right. I do want to say regarding the Varun people. House Varun. Yes. I went through this
00:48:23
Speaker
interesting passage of of feeling towards them where, before the DLC. Well, two weeks ago you said that you were all in. Yes, yes, yes. Has that changed? So it's funny because, but yeah, to follow up on that beforehand, I'm just like, oh, Varun, I don't know, they believe some pretty wacky stuff.
00:48:47
Speaker
And then, yes, I get there and I'm like, these are wonderful people, which they are, they're wonderful people. And then it's it's funny, they're not they're not even real, but I'm like, do just in my experience, um they're they're wonderful people. And then I was like all in and I got the tatt the neck tattoo and I was like, I was like, yeah, i I'm joining. And then, um yeah That's a serious commitment. i mean Especially when you find out that the the neck tattoo is actually Hello Kitty. so right to mean and That's a big commitment. but so Then as you play the story, and I don't think this is really spoiler. As you play the story, you're sort of reminded that they have some extreme views on
00:49:36
Speaker
people that apostatize, for example, people who fall away from believing in the Great Serpent. And they have some pretty harsh punishments and and you can kind of see how like some of these beliefs drive a wedge between family members and so like you're walking around dasra and you're wondering why why is everybody missing their left hand you're just kind of thought it was a you know a thing on the planet but it turns out they were all getting their hands chopped off or it's going against the great serpent
00:50:12
Speaker
It's really, that's kind of the feeling is in the discord we were talking about it. And I said, I was reminded of the movie, the interview where James Franco goes and starts hanging out with um Kim Jong Un. And Kim Jong Un is showing him a great time. And he's just like, he's like, yeah, this is not not so bad. And then there's this moment where ki in the film where Kim Jong Un starts giving a speech, ah like an angry speech about death to his enemies. And there's that moment where James Franco is like, oh, right.
00:50:52
Speaker
Yeah, this is an extreme place. And I so felt that way. I was just like, oh, right. I forgot you guys are really strict. I don't know. It just seems like, you know, pop culture parallels real life in so many ways. I really I have to hand it to Bethesda. Like, thank you for not. um they They didn't water down house for room and I and I'm grateful because I feel like there's always um they they still made them a complicated group. That's what's good. There's still good people there. There's good people that believe in the Great Serpent.
00:51:36
Speaker
But I love that they didn't try to go, oh, see, they're all, they're at you misunderstood them, they're all good.
Complex Storytelling in Starfield DLC
00:51:44
Speaker
Well, no, there're there's good people with very extreme views and beliefs. So thank you, Bethesda, for not watering them down, trying to make it more palatable.
00:52:00
Speaker
it's It's just exactly where it needs to be. Where you go in, you like some people, you're afraid of other people. Great. I say we take off and nuke them from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. The only way to be sure.
00:52:16
Speaker
That sounds fascinating. I am excited to get back in. I've played maybe an hour into the expansion. So lot a lot to discover on my end. And as you said, you're excited to go back and actually do it a second time. Yeah.
00:52:33
Speaker
yep Well, should we talk about our Patreon? Yeah, absolutely. For anyone that doesn't know, we have a Patreon. It helps us support things that we're doing for the podcast and for our YouTube channel, and just to keep that star field content coming out.
00:52:52
Speaker
we appreciate all the patrons yeah and essentially what that gets you is early access it gives you ad free content it gets you access to the adfree podcast in addition to that there's some hey you know we don't like curse a lot we're not like throw in fbos and stuff but sometimes the game does I got to tell you, it's just not worth it on YouTube to not censor it. So that's another benefit is on YouTube, these videos get censored. We bleep out the curse words from the game. But on Patreon, we don't. So if you like that sweet, sweet uncensored starfield content, that's where you get it. It's a veritable sailors den of iniquity.
00:53:34
Speaker
Yeah, depending on ah depending on what mission you're playing. And actually, you know what? You can also join for free.
Community Engagement & Shoutouts
00:53:43
Speaker
We have a few free things that we pop out into the Patreon and you can kind of hang out and talk to people. And we've got a couple people that joined for free this month, Magica Addict and Dan Harner. Thank you so much for popping in and seeing what we're doing. Yes, indeed.
00:54:01
Speaker
Well, I want to thank our legendary supporters who are ChimChim, The Great Serpent, Bergenstock, Space Cadet 829, Kidahara, Rampage, AmericanX, CherrybombRN, Griffin, and ZegreRox.
00:54:16
Speaker
Yes, huge thanks to our legendary supporters and thanks to everyone that listens on Spotify, Apple, or anywhere else that you can get our podcast. And thanks to those watching on YouTube. All of our links are provided in the show notes below. Extra special thanks for comments and feedback if you have a comment, suggestion, or an in-game story to share.
00:54:38
Speaker
You can leave a comment on our YouTube page. You know what, Michael? I want to read one because it's ah ah good it's actually to me. I was talking about how hard the final battle is and the Crimson Fleet quest line. Deelis86 responded that, the last pirate mission was tough. I found alternating power to engines as much as possible to get out of range so you only engage one ship at a time helps heaps.
00:55:01
Speaker
Yeah. Yes. i I did actually try that a little bit and somehow I'm so bad at space battle that I went directly to their flagship and it immediately obliterated me. But yeah, I think that's a great tip. Also, I wanted to read a comment from nonstop Ram who said, I completed the main story of Shattered Space and did some side content. I enjoyed it overall and I'm looking forward to seeing what else can be found in this DLC.
00:55:31
Speaker
ah Most importantly, they said, it is best experienced by taking it a little slow and not try to rush through everything. Embrace what the great serpent has to offer. All must serve. So yes, absolutely. So we've we've got a ah very dedicated House of Baroon member here. Yeah, he's missing his left hand, by the way.
00:55:55
Speaker
Yeah, but definitely agree. That's what I tried to do when the DLC came out. I just didn't want to rush it. I absolutely agree. So if you like the show, consider dropping a five star review on your favorite podcast app. That would really help us out. Thanks for traveling the star field with us. Make sure you subscribe because we'll be back for more. We'll see you then.