I've figured out why I like this game and have close to 140 hours in it, as opposed to Fallout 3*, Fallout 4** and Skyrim***, despite it not being much better****: The planets, and the fast travel, and the space ship.
Starfield is a click fest when it comes to actual travel. It's not a space-game. You go to places by pressing at least six buttons. M for map, Tab for Zoom out, Tab for Zoom out, Left Click to pick system, Left Click to select which system (in case there's two), Left click to choose planet, Left click to confirm. Sometimes you can land directly on the body you're travelling to, sometimes you can only Jump, which means you'll have an encounter, which can be either pirates or law enforcement. And to me, it works. Because the worlds aren't connected. It makes sense. I've realized fast travel is something that has always bothered me about open world games, even in the good ones (Fallout New Vegas). So there is this big and open world and I can go wherever I want ... but in reality what you get is many different Locations, and a whole lot of filler between those locations. It makes sense, not every bit of everything can be interesting, and it doesn't have to be, but it also means if I have to go from A-C again I'm just going to use fast travel and ... it makes for a disjointed experience. The main reason I like the Lords of the Rings trilogy (the books that is) is the sense of travel. Going into the unknown, and the strange. I've always loved that feeling, driving on unseen roads, walking where I've never set foot before, even if it means I'm just taking a different way home from work. Fast travel is like a portal (from the game). I'm trudging through this wasteland, I've just fought off raiders and I'm terribly hurt and [Click-Click] I'm home safe (not that there is a home). I have actually played at least Fallout 4 and Skyrim with No Fast Travel mods and guess what? It doesn't work, because the games aren't made for it. There are games like that, and they're called walking simulators, and The Long Dark.
Enter Starfield, which handily bypasses all of this by setting all the locations on different planets. It makes sense to travel. It even makes sense that it requires many clicks. It's four lightyears, not four miles. Also enter the Starship, which is an RV, or a home away from home. Your spaceship is your base. I can buy homes wherever, but the game demands that I spend more time in the spaceship and so it makes sense to have at least the basics in it, right? (the basics being crafting stations, and as many couches as there are crew members, Vasco not included) Oh I've done this stuff on this planet? SUCKS TO BE YOU, off I go. I'm in a space ship that can jump wherever I want, I can just leave. Whenever, whatever, if I get to the ship I can just piss off into eternity. (this doesn't always makes sense, but it makes more sense to me than say Skyrim)
The game obviously could be a whole lot better, but yeah I genuinely think it's a best case scenario for what a Bethesda game can be. They are maxed out. Todd is at full mast, this is all there is. The good thing is that they've finally made a game I genuinely like, the downside is that I'm seemingly the only one.
*played maybe 10 hours, hated it
**hate-played for 60 hours to explore the depth of the stupidity, the last 20 hours a modded survival game and HEY an update and everything is borked I hate mods and it didn't make the game better, just different, I still sort of want to get lost in it and write 10k words on how dumb it is, but that is a project for future, better, me
***probably something like 50 hours, the first run I maxed out my crafting and then stopped playing and the second run, survival-modded, lasted until an update broke everything and have I told you how I hate mods? and again the game didn't get better, just different
****better as in writing and design and shit, I do genuinely think of Starfield as a Bethesda game but polished
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