The game isn’t hard to level up, there are numerous no-issue, fast grinding spots. It doesn’t take hours to level, it takes going to a quick position, swinging your weapon a few times, and then leveling up.
The lack of a difficulty option is a good thing, it prevents elitism and allows the game to be properly balanced without resorting to artificial difficulty increases like blanket damage changes.
All in all, I don’t see what your issue is. Are you arguing that ER shouldn’t have leveling at the pace the player chooses, and instead increases in level based on what area you have unlocked, or something?
Exactly, that’s why people can set their own difficulty by leveling as they please. I’m not insinuating that choice is bad, I’m stating that the flexible system in ER accounts for player preference.
On the contrary, it’s precisely because you can level at your own needed pace, ie go off and grind if you can’t beat a part of the game, or keep going if you over-level, that makes it more enjoyable for more people.
I think it’s fully possible to criticize Bethesda’s incomplete and highly flawed game design and praise their willingness to support the modding community with great tools at the same time.
100% I actually think Starfield has the best bones, even if it has the worst meat, so to speak, so adding meat gives it a much higher ceiling in a few years time.
Oh I’m anti-Bethesda and Bethesda practices, I’m just sure it will eventually be a great game once the community steps in and fixes it. It isn’t an excuse for Bethesda, but rather admiration for the modding community, and an example of why FOSS and a rejection of the profit motive is so good.
I would agree with you if Bethesda games haven’t always been saved by modders, rather than Beth themselves. If we had to depend on Beth to fix their own game, Skyrim would’ve been abandoned long, long, long ago, same with Fallout 4.
Starfield frustrates me, because in many ways its a major step in the right direction. It has much better roleplaying mechanics than Skyrim or Fallout 4, but at the same time the lore is half-baked and the skill system is fairly weak. It has great potential, but a lot of it feels toned down and less “real” because of it. Space exploration has a lot of potential as well, but setting every objective so far apart on planets ruins exploration by filling it with monotonous procgen.
That’s why I’m fairly confident that once properly patched, and mods/DLCs are in full swing, it will probably be remembered very fondly despite the release state. It’ll pull a Cyberpunk.
It’s a kind of hopeful nihilism, a sort of sense that no matter how far apart you are in space or time, everyone and everything is ultimately connected, and looking up at the same stars.
I don’t actually disagree with moving from the 60/70 USD standard, but instead I think big budget blockbuster studios should die off, and focus on making optimized, shorter, and more creative games.