Megan FoxSep 1, 2023

I'm finding ways to enjoy Starfield but

this is gonna get torn apart hahahahahah

Outer Worlds was um, better. It looked better too. This is higher polish, but looks, worse? It's so odd.

Try turning upscaling off for a trip. The game looks WORSE at full res. The FSR2 blurry mess makes their assets look more cohesive than they are, your brain takes it as ground/contact shadow.

Show threadMegan FoxSep 1, 2023

Had a think, and the stuff in Starfield I'm reacting negatively to is almost entirely stuff that mods fixed in previous games. It's just been ages since I played one of these de-modded.

"Huh, these environments look like someone just kitbashed random plants down, and they don't even change when you harvest": mod-fixed

"Huh, the way they did fast travel completely undercuts any sense of adventure": mod-fixed

"Huh, this UI is catastrophically poorly put together": mod-fixed

"Huh, the way they've chosen to further limit armor/gear options really undercuts what choices you can actually make": mod-fixed

"Huh, this is all just random loot that doesn't seem well thought out, which gives everything this vague sense of being proc-gen": mod-fixed

Never play a naked Bethesda game. This is no exception. Heh. Whatever, I'm still having fun, and good news, this feels EXACTLY like their Skyrim engine++, meaning all the mod tools should still work and be as powerful as they were before.

Show threadJeff WardSep 1, 2023
@glassbottommeg So, some things in there I can understand from a technical or effort perspective, but I do not understand why BGS has still not been able to hire a good UX designer.
Show threadMegan FoxSep 1, 2023

@fuzzybinary It's intensely confusing, my best guess is that they're such a Designer (like game not UX) heavy studio that their power structure doesn't allow for the designers being told No, on the UX stuff.

Because there are so many outright accessibility failures that I want to scream.

Show threadJeff WardSep 1, 2023

@glassbottommeg My knowledge is approx 15 years old now, but when I was there they had 1 artist dedicated to UI, who was hamstrung by a really bad UI framework, and 1 programmer only semi-dedicated to it, with no tools and no tools programmers to assist making it any better.

My guess is that it is likely still that way.

Show threadJeff Ward
@glassbottommeg Also no UX designers. The UI person was an artist I think mostly just arting whatever they were told by whoever.
Sep 1, 2023 at 3:29pmWeb
Show threadMegan FoxSep 1, 2023

@fuzzybinary That matches exactly what the game feels like, yep.

So it's designers telling the artist what to do, and there's too much for that artist to really keep up or be empowered to make it cohesive, so each designer (who is often fucking terrible at UX design) just dictates their own little shit sandwich UI for their own little principality

Show threadJeff WardSep 1, 2023
@glassbottommeg Mostly yes, but "designer" here is weird because "designers" at Bethesda are writers mostly. Most systems I felt were design by the committee of people working on a feature, with Todd having final say.
Show threadJeff WardSep 1, 2023
@glassbottommeg TL;DR -- BGS should hire a UX designer and give them a good toolset.