This Week in Gaming (Week 36)

[TheLostSwede]

This coming week, one of the most hyped AAA games of the year will launch and early previews of the game suggests it might just manage to mostly live up to the hype. However, the rest of this week is rather slow, maybe because all of the other publishers know most people will be busy playing their fancy new space game and won't be interested in what else might launch this week, although some appear to be riding on the wave of said space game. That said, there are still some minor releases this week, with at least a couple that might appeal to some of you.

Starfield / This week's AAA title / Wednesday 6 September
Starfield is the first new universe in over 25 years from Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. In this next generation role-playing game set amongst the stars, create any character you want and explore with unparalleled freedom as you embark on an epic journey to answer humanity's greatest mystery. In the year 2330, humanity has ventured beyond our solar system, settling new planets, and living as a spacefaring people. You will join Constellation - the last group of space explorers seeking rare artifacts throughout the galaxy - and navigate the vast expanse of space in Bethesda Game Studios' biggest and most ambitious game.




Kobold Castle / Monday 4 September
Kobold Castle is a 2D arena survival game that takes place on the wall of a besieged castle. As one of 4 kobold defenders, you must hold the line against dangerous waves of attackers, collect upgrades and powerups, and defeat a variety of enemies and bosses. Try to survive as long as you can!



Rune Factory 3 Special / Tuesday 5 September
Bridge the divide of an ancient schism between humans and monsters in Rune Factory 3 Special as half-human, half-wooly protagonist Micah. Farm, fight and fall in love as you revisit a classic in the series that perfected the blend of RPG & Life-sim genres.



Chants of Sennaar / Tuesday 5 September
Legend says that one day, a traveller will reunite the Peoples of the Tower who are unable to communicate with each other. Observe, listen, and decipher ancient languages in a fascinating universe inspired by the myth of Babel.



Wildstrive / Wednesday 6 September
Wildstrive - is an open-world first-person survival game. Craft tools, build a camp, harvest crops, explore the land, tame and fight wild animals. Challenge nature and solve the mystery of the lost island!



Void Crew/ Thursday 7 September
In space, no one can hear you scream … except your friends! Rally your crew, man your spaceship, and prepare for an epic adventure. Battle fearsome foes, salvage valuable loot, die repeatedly - while reclaiming humanity's lost territory together.



NBA 2K24 / Friday 8 September
Experience hoops culture in NBA 2K24. Enjoy loads of action and limitless personalized MyPLAYER options in MyCAREER. Build your perfect lineup in MyTEAM. Feel more responsive gameplay and polished visuals while playing with your favorite NBA and WNBA teams in PLAY NOW.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Chaitanya]

Looking at all the bugs and other quirks around Starfield, it looks like another messy release with beta testing being done by customers for next few months.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Looking at all the bugs and other quirks around Starfield, it looks like another messy release with beta testing being done by customers for next few months.

And that's despite being almost a year later...
Then again par for the course with Bethesda.

 

[ZoneDymo]

Looking at all the bugs and other quirks around Starfield, it looks like another messy release with beta testing being done by customers for next few months.

are there that many? I youtube'd it and what I saw was meh at best.

 

[Chaitanya]

are there that many? I youtube'd it and what I saw was meh at best.

There are whole host mods already for items(FoV slider, Dlss and Xess, etc...) that Bethesda should have put effort into while developing the game. Also there are whole host of bugs regarding dead, loading screens, in game maps and how overall game works regarding exploring the world. Also read complaints from PC gamers regarding over laggy gameplay and how game settings dont seem to change things.

 

[ZoneDymo]

There are whole host mods already for items(FoV slider, Dlss and Xess, etc...) that Bethesda should have put effort into while developing the game. Also there are whole host of bugs regarding dead, loading screens, in game maps and how overall game works regarding exploring the world. Also read complaints from PC gamers regarding over laggy gameplay and how game settings dont seem to change things.

Yeah I know of missing features and of settings not working, HardwareUnboxed showed that quite well in their video.
Was more referring to bugs, I went looking on youtube to some compilation videos and what I saw was just minor stuff, nothing truly crazy like some of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout (especially 76) stuff.

 

[Denver]

Looking at all the bugs and other quirks around Starfield, it looks like another messy release with beta testing being done by customers for next few months.

Nah, Apart from the problem with intel GPUs and the super high requirements, I found nothing. GOTY.

 

[Tahagomizer]

Looking at all the bugs and other quirks around Starfield, it looks like another messy release with beta testing being done by customers for next few months.

To be fair, most of what I saw online in terms of bugs is just a few people whining about trivial things which happen in every game. Some interaction scripts misfiring, occasional missing texture, collision detection being wonky, nothing game breaking. Intel GPUs don't work but that is an Intel problem, not a Starfield one. The game seems to be very easy to mod, you can mod in support for DLSS which is slightly faster and some consider it to be better quality than FSR. This might be a great game in a few months when I finally buy it.

Sadly, in attention economy childish whining sells, so there's always a lot of it coming from social media "influenzas"

 

[mechtech]

Anxiously waiting for the Terraria 1.4.5 update...............not going to lie

 

[ZoneDymo]

Nah, Apart from the problem with intel GPUs and the super high requirements, I found nothing. GOTY.

as if GOTY means anything, its like the Oscars, all bought and paid for.

 

[JoeTheDestroyer]

From what I've seen so far, worth giving a try.. but not for $70, too rich for my blood. Call me when it's under $50...

 

[Drash]

The wife got Starfield with a 7900XT for £699, so far she's quite a few hours in and enjoying it. Everything on ultra no res scaling or FSR2 or any other shenanigans. "Rocking" an i7-6700k oc to 4.5GHz, masssively CPU limited but getting (up to, ymmv)120 fps (1080p). Enjoying the over-the-shoulder viewing *but* I dont want too many spoilers. I spent over 1000 hours in Skyrim and a *lot* in Oblivion so I could get hooked. I remember the original experience - couldnt afford a gfx to run too much, then played through again years later with all the mods and it was sweet., and a lot of hours. So - will build new PC, will run mods, prollly buy GotY to get all the mods I had anyway, will sink hours. That's gaming really. Nice to see AMD doing so well against 4090 in HUB review. You wont see NV for dust if they can get more £££ with AI - that's their true colours. AMD not too far behind unfortunately.

 

[Denver]

as if GOTY means anything, its like the Oscars, all bought and paid for.

This is a false equivalence. Most games that receive the GOTY title are usually very good*, I can't say the same for actors that receive Oscars.

**Disregarding the annoying minority who find issues with everything

 

[kapone32]

The wife got Starfield with a 7900XT for £699, so far she's quite a few hours in and enjoying it. Everything on ultra no res scaling or FSR2 or any other shenanigans. "Rocking" an i7-6700k oc to 4.5GHz, masssively CPU limited but getting (up to, ymmv)120 fps (1080p). Enjoying the over-the-shoulder viewing *but* I dont want too many spoilers. I spent over 1000 hours in Skyrim and a *lot* in Oblivion so I could get hooked. I remember the original experience - couldnt afford a gfx to run too much, then played through again years later with all the mods and it was sweet., and a lot of hours. So - will build new PC, will run mods, prollly buy GotY to get all the mods I had anyway, will sink hours. That's gaming really. Nice to see AMD doing so well against 4090 in HUB review. You wont see NV for dust if they can get more £££ with AI - that's their true colours. AMD not too far behind unfortunately.

Thank you for this post confirming that once you have a 7900XT you are Golden for just plain Gaming.

 

[ZoneDymo]

This is a false equivalence. Most games that receive the GOTY title are usually very good*, I can't say the same for actors that receive Oscars.

**Disregarding the annoying minority who find issues with everything

Your opinion on actors or games is not relevant, a game can be good but its still bought and paid for to get the GOTY award.

 

[TheLostSwede]

From what I've seen so far, worth giving a try.. but not for $70, too rich for my blood. Call me when it's under $50...

 

[Tek-Check]

Yeah I know of missing features and of settings not working, HardwareUnboxed showed that quite well in their video.
Was more referring to bugs, I went looking on youtube to some compilation videos and what I saw was just minor stuff, nothing truly crazy like some of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout (especially 76) stuff.

Exactly. People need to appreciate that it's a gigantic world, so it's never going to be perfect. Let's not allow the perfect be the enemy of the good.
"Beta-testing" argument also does not apply. It is necessary to collect data from vastly diverse systems globally in order to craft further optimizations and discover any new bugs.
As they say, practice to perfect.

 

[Denver]

Your opinion on actors or games is not relevant, a game can be good but its still bought and paid for to get the GOTY award.

Like which one? Opinion is always a subjective concept, but from what I follow the games that receive GOTY, in most cases it has a positive perception for the vast majority of the public, many are iconic games to this day.

 

[KLMR]

But is the game fun?

 

[Divide Overflow]

I've had a dozen hours in so far and have been enjoying it immensely. Sure the interface is clunky and non-intuitive, but you get used to it. I haven't encountered a game breaking bug yet, but the shitposters will continue to whine.

 

[Tomgang]

Meh starfield seems to be this years Cyperpunk 2077. Way to demanding on hardware, bugs and crap optimized.

Game releases these days are more about milk people for money, before they realize they have board another pile of hot mess of a game.

This is exactly why i droppet preorders, a long time a go and read reviews before even thinking on buying a game. They never change. Earn my trust, before you earn my money douchebags.

Me playing Cyperpunk for the first time

Also me in a near future playing Starfield for the first time

 

[trsttte]

Meh starfield seems to be this years Cyperpunk 2077. Way to demanding on hardware, bugs and crap optimized.

Game releases these days are more about milk people for money, before they realize they have board another pile of hot mess of a game.

This is exactly why i droppet preorders, a long time a go and read reviews before even thinking on buying a game. They never change. Earn my trust, before you earn my money douchebags.

Me playing Cyperpunk for the first time

Also me in a near future playing Starfield for the first time

Nah, Cyberpunk was hyped to hell and was released in such a poor state that both Sony and Microsoft pulled them from their stores and CDPR had to implement a refund program for everyone interested

Starfield seems to be quite a different situation, just the sad beta state games are released in now.

 

[MarsM4N]

No competition to STARFIELD this week. But I added Void Crew to my watch list. The trailer looks very trippy, lol.

Nah, Cyberpunk was hyped to hell and was released in such a poor state that both Sony and Microsoft pulled them from their stores and CDPR had to implement a refund program for everyone interested

Starfield seems to be quite a different situation, just the sad beta state games are released in now.

Aside from the broken release state of Cyberpunk 2077 the biggest gripe I had was that they teased a multiplayer mode and cancelled it! Such a bummer, but I guess they came to the realization that they just didn't have the skills to achieve their goals and refocused on single player games. No wonder there are only a handful of studios out there who can master multiplayer games on such a scale.

Why Cyberpunk 2077 Multiplayer Was Canceled

There's an explanation for this massive letdown.

screenrant.com

The dev's of STARFIELD on the other hand created the illusion that it's the ultimate space sim you where dreaming of since ages. Turns out the spacecraft is just a teleporting machine, only a handful of planets have hand crafted cities and the rest of the 1000 planets is just AI generated wasteland. Also what is up with the combat system, is there actually any challenge? From what I've seen it's dead boring, like shooting drunken bots. Do they even shoot back? I wish it had a combat system like f.e. Tom Clancy’s The Division® 2 where you have to use cover and move more tactical:

 

[AusWolf]

I'll get Starfield eventually, when it's on discount, but Void Crew looks interesting, too.

 

[Outback Bronze]

Meh starfield seems to be this years Cyperpunk 2077. Way to demanding on hardware, bugs and crap optimized.

Game releases these days are more about milk people for money, before they realize they have board another pile of hot mess of a game.

This is exactly why i droppet preorders, a long time a go and read reviews before even thinking on buying a game. They never change. Earn my trust, before you earn my money douchebags.

Me playing Cyperpunk for the first time

Also me in a near future playing Starfield for the first time

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