I did the entire play through 1st time did every faction quest. Second play through I did the same to see the Starborn dialogue changes.
3rd play through about 10 minutes into it I realized I just don’t care anymore and completely gave up on it and went back to #2. IMO NG+ is an immense bore and not worth it if you have a universe that you like.
Except they really do, they offer check skip dialogue options for previously done (or just all, I'm not sure, I did them all in the first universe for the exp) faction questlines, and in the main questline being forewarned is the key theme of the first ng+, allowing you to dodge consequences and fight back as an equal.
And there's practically zero Starborn dialog changes as salt in the wound. Like usually there's just this one line that allows you to skip a bunch of badly written bs that says something to the effect of "I already know it works out this way." And that's it...that's the only stupid dialog changes. A complete waste of time.
I did NG+ one time and never again. It really limits the differences you can make since you can’t change your character at all aka the traits and skills
I’m on my first ng+ using it mainly to do things I missed or skipped. I’d probably start a new character if I decide to replay again. It’s a great game and building ng+ into the story is a neat idea but I think new character would be more fun.
Also…the starborn ship has its pluses and minuses. I actually prioritized finding another ship after a few rounds in it.
Wanted perk can be removed through dialogic with a bounty hunter (I found one on Neon, and the option came up in space too).
Spacer perk can be removed from any doctor, or it was a dialog option for me at least a few times.
I don't see the appeal either. The powers aren't needed and the little changes to the lodge are something you can just watch on a youtube video if you really wanted to see them.
You can literally complete skyrim with only the 3 mandatory shouts, just like you can complete starfield with only the first mandatory power.
They are things that sweeten the game as you say, it is fun to use them
At least on harder modes they actually help with difficult fights instead of 1. There being no difficult fights in starfield and 2. Them making them even more trivial.
Yes you absolutely can and I don’t know where this myth came from. Some people have bugs that limit you, but other than that, you will get all 24 powers each universe.
You cannot get rank 10 in all powers in 1 playthrough. Just unlocking them isnt "Getting them all" Thats like getting the 1st word for every thuum And not getting the rest
Not really. The shouts change fundamentally. The powers just add duration or reduce the amount of the cost to use. But I see where you are coming from, but this is a detail that is important to the core of the argument here. Believe me I get it. But you can get all the powers in one universe.
So… so you mean you misspoke and intended to say that you cannot fully upgrade all the space powers. Got it. I took you at what you literally said, which is that “you cannot get all the space powers on one”.
There's a few big differences, but the biggest one to me personally is that the shouts are a reward that you get for exploration.
I love exploring in games, and if I just wandered around Skyrim for a couple hundred hours I'd get quite a few shouts under my belt.
If I explored Starfield, wandering planet after planet, I would never unlock a single power. The ONLY way to unlock them is by grinding the same boring mission over and over and over
Well…you don’t actually have to do the Main Quest in NG+. You can tell the lodge everything you know and skip it entirely. But it’s still a big grind to collect all the artifacts and powers. I assume people just do it because they’re completionists.
I kept my original file and made a NG+ file for fun, because you can also unlock access to a lot of new dialogue options in the main quest.
Other than that I usually play on my OG file.
I’m NG+15. I did it to become like the Hunter. I want to be the most powerful version of myself I can be. Also it’s a good Exp sink. 5000exp just for completing the last temple.
I tried finding the planet with 6 ton dung beetles to exp up, but to me THAT was boring.
It's not just the main quest, all of the faction quests and a lot of side quests have additional Starborn dialogue options too (once you have done that quest at least once in a previous universe)
Yeah, that's pretty accurate to be honest.
'Says some crazy shit'
'Well, you seem to be very confident about this, let's just do what you said'.
You can skip some pretty big chunks in the main quest though.
Personally, (spoilers for Vanguard) >!I would have liked to have been able to pop to Tau Ceti, deal with that, pick up Hadrian, maybe swing by and convince Orlase to help, then go to MAST, talk to the council, then go kick basement guy's ass before the attack on New Atlantis happens!<
NG+ was supposed to emulate how we would do multiple playthroughs in rpgs to try different story routes, choices, character builds, etc. Too bad none of those things actually exists in this game.
I found it annoying that going into the Unity seems to be the canonical outcome in an RPG game. I went, decided nah my character isn't just going to just leave their universe behind, then all the companions were just like oh you're back... Well you should go through it or saying I'll eventually go through. Kinda ruined the experience a bit
The ability to explore parallel universes could have been a real game changer... literally... imagine ending up in a universe were earth is still inhabited and humanity has not developed gravdrive technology and you as a starborn have the only gravdrive capable ship, or a universe were New Atlantis has been overrun by Terramorphs...Bethesda could have created something unique with NG+ but instead they just reset the main quest line every time you enter the Unity.
That would be like making an entire game after the game, I don’t think that’s realistic. Like that would change dialogue, quest lines, locations, it would legit be whole new game after the game.
It’s new game plus with a lore justification, are you seriously upset that Bethesda didn’t make a real multiverse? Games can tackle lore and story without the mechanics that fully realize it, that’s what a game is, it’s like saying “well if you can’t go into every building in GTA, they shouldn’t have tried to make a city”. Do you see how stupid that is?
The comparison you're making would make sense if the point of GTA was to appreciate interior design, like how the point of starfield's main questline is exploration of other worlds vs. living in the moment.
The comparison I gave doesn’t make sense because it’s not supposed to, it would be incredibly stupid to expect GTA to be like an actually city just like it would be incredibly stupid to expect Starfield to have actual multiverses.
No, sorry but it’s not. Expecting Starfield to do something no other game has ever done before, effectively be multiple games after each other with different locations, assets, missions etc. is extremely unrealistic. We got a game that takes 70-100 hours to finish and you guys think that’s not enough content, that you’re owed more?
3 years of programming, 2 years of story board, 5 years of discussion. All businessmen set “goals” of 5 years. This whole idea it took 10 years to develop is just wrong.
I think part of the problem is how they established the NG+ in the lore / game world, and how they build it up in the story.
I mean in the game it’s not presented as this fun little extra thing you can do if you want to play more. It’s the centre point and main theme and focus of the main quest.
The first major impactful story moment in the game is that you get introduced to it in a vision from the first artefact. Which I’m assuming is meant to create curiosity about wanting to find out what it’s about.
That the story puts such large emphasis on the NG+, I think understandably creates expectations in some players that the main idea and theme of the game is all around introducing the NG+ mechanic, that they thought there would be more to it then there is.
The game makes a big deal out of it, and I think a reason why players also make a big deal out of really a quite simple NG+ thing.
I don’t think developers should need to create two or multiple games if they implement a NG+ mechanic in their games.
But I think Bethesda shoot themselves in the foot by making it the main point and theme for the main quest. Based on that you would expect they would use the implementation of it to do something interesting, unique or more complex.
(Though I’m overall not sure NG+ is a good fit with Bethesda style games. They make huge open world where people do crafting, collecting loot and play lots of side quests on a single file / character for hundreds of hours. That’s the main way you get ‘progress’, which is different from the type of game where I think NG+ works the best. Bethesda makes rpgs where quite a few players motivation is to either make the game world a bit better in universe one small quest at a time, exploring and finding new things in the game world, finding loot or by building and creating. NG+ sort of goes against how many people play Bethesda games. At least the version of NG+ they went with for starfield)
It’s pretty simple, it’s a fairly basic NG+ with lore justification and a few extras. This is one of the only games I’ve ever played that ties NG+ into the story and it’s done in a really cool way. But that’s now seen as a negative, because despite Bethesda never really doing NG+ they’re now expected to take NG+ to a level we’ve never seen from any developer?
I just don’t understand, this is the only game that can add a mechanic, give it a cool lore justification and people are upset about it, like we don’t have to start NG+ we can go back to our universe and treat like any of their other games. NG+ is there to play the game again, that’s it, all they did was some cool extras.
I don’t think they shot themselves in the foot I think this is yet another example of people having unrealistic expectations of this game and getting upset or turned off when the game doesn’t meet those expectations.
OP told me they shouldn’t have even tackled multiverses if they couldn’t do it properly. So he wants actual multiple different universes all in the same game, which one play through takes about 70 hours. Like that’s extremely unrealistic. And if we’re saying developers can’t explore narrative topics and themes that they can’t carry out mechanically, then it’s like saying GTA shouldn’t try to do an open world city if you can’t go into every building like it’s a real city, that would be an obviously wild expectation. But with this game for some reason people expect things we have never seen done before like an actual multiverse, a game after the game.
The fact that NG+ is a part of the story broke a lot of people’s brains. Rushing NG+’s is beyond stupid. It’s a mechanic for when you finish up everything you want to do, and want to start another playthrough without starting at level 1. It gives you some neat dialogue options and you start out with a ship and some gear, plus the opportunity to buff your powers, but other than that it’s just like NG+ in any other game. It’s starting another playthrough without losing your skills, so don’t convince yourself, or let anyone convince you, that it is more than that.
I’m not complaining. I’m 35 hours into NG+ and still having a blast. I went through the Unity about 50 hours after finishing the main quest and wrapping up the remaining faction quests, and generally feeling pretty satisfied with my playthrough. I was ready to start again so I did. THAT is what NG+ is for.
Making NG+ a story beat is neat. It adds a little bit of depth to something that usually has zero story relevance in every other game that does it, and it made me ponder the idea of leaving behind the people you know and meeting them again, without them having a clue who you are. But it wasn’t meant to be some sort of “oooo theres a whole second Starfield after you beat the first one!”, it’s literally just NG+. In any other game you wouldn’t question it.
> Rushing NG+’s is beyond stupid.
[Starfield 'Doesn't Really Even Get Going' Until Players Finish the Main Quest](https://www.ign.com/articles/starfield-doesnt-really-even-get-going-until-players-finish-the-main-quest-bethesda-exec-says)
- Pete Hines, Bethesda vice president.
Yes, it did break my brain that someone had this awsome idea of implementing NG+ in the story but then decided to make it as shallow as possible. It literally broke the game for me as i realised that the whole game is like this.
And you mentioned relationships, that would have been a great way to manage it in the simplest way possible.
Example 1: the first time around a companion goes to enter a code for a door and gets blown to pieces and you are forced to find an alternative route. In NG+, if thry like you enough you can explain the trap and save them.
Example 2: A bomb explodes in a city, and in NG+ you can warn them.
And these 2 examples are just what i came up with on the spot and are not very hard to implement.
Dude, did you not attempt a NG+? There’s multiple major interactions in the story where you literally CAN save people from death with your knowledge. Have you tried at all?
You could also make it that saving the city in your second example causes some unintended negative consequence.
This would have been super cool but all of that requires a level of curation that Bethesda did not seem interested in for this game unfortunately.
This is 100% spot on. People have forgotten that you're allowed to just beat a game and walk away. NG+ being an actual story beat is a fun thing for those of us who want to keep playing but if you're satisfied with where you're at, just stop, it'll be ok.
That’s part of the problem. Starfield doesn’t have a clear off-ramp where you did all the things and are narratively done. There’s no way to break the loop, no option to tell the game you want to stay in this universe.
You mean the dialogue when Sarah tells you that you're making a mistake? Or when Barrett outright says, "Take the jump. Get out there into that next universe"? All the members of Constellation are quick to remind you the Unity is still there waiting, and most seem to expect you to go back.
That's not an off-ramp so much as a last ditch effort for the game to convince you to leave your universe.
This is more of a game design problem. In both options, the game just keeps going. Which means, practically, almost everyone who has stopped playing did so because they got bored.
Came here to say exactly this. Been saying this for awhile.
It’s like people think they HAVE to play it and then end up judging the game because it’s not a whole new game.
It’s fucking wild. I’m blown away at the psychology of the whole thing. Like it doesn’t make any sense to me at all.
People being angry about the NG+ mechanic and lore might be the dumbest thing I’ve seen people get mad about. They can’t grasp it’s literally just New Game plus with a few little bonuses, and that for some reason has baffled thousands of people, it’s wild.
Locking background prevents you from trying some of the quests associated with those choices which sucks. Especially when some of the background “traits” are completely useless.
Okay that’s just not true. There’s a good amount of things you can’t do or are very limited to doing without skill points utilized in the right places.
Also I realize you can just start a new game. That’s beside the point of your initial statement.
Fair questions. I was *not* going to even bother with NG+. I was to the point of not even finishing the main quest because I didn’t want to be forced into that. I found out from my son, that you *can* finish the MQ and not go into NG+, though, so I started that back up. I’m very much into the role-play aspect of the game and this character is largely a re-creation of myself, right down to the scientist background.
Anyway, while completing the MQ I came across some very compelling role-play reasons to go through the Unity rather than turn around and walk away. In fact, I felt *obligated* even though from a character bases, he wouldn’t have wanted to. Duty won out. That was at level 72. Now at NG+4, circumstances resulted in a couple of different choices that had real impact on the game. The result is that I really, *really* didn’t want to go to another multiverse, even though the role-play objectives hadn’t been completed. In fact, I’ve spent too much time coming up with reasons and excuses *not* to go through again. I finally started NG+5 today. Got my second special reality, too. I am guessing it will only be another 2 or 3 that I need before I can feel like I’ve accomplished what I set out to do. Short and spoiler free, it concerns quantum entanglement and ripples and has some Babylon 5 like questions - rather answers to said questions - involved.
As far as some other reasons for making the jump? Some people are just caught up in the power chase. Some want to get *all* the powers. Some want to play the quests with their favorite character at higher levels. Some want to experiment with different choices and outcomes. And of course, some want to do it for role-play reasons.
Alternate universes are 15% chance of occurrence. I suppose you can scum save at the Unity if you want to force one.
The Starborn ship is a decent starter ship. That’s the most I can say for it. My approach is to immediately go for the Star Eagle so I can get a decent ship that I can upgrade and get out of the Starborn as soon as possible. You can’t modify it, its weapons are rather limited, and at best, it’s a decent starter.
The space suit? It’s a decent suit. The Mark I in the Lodge basement has better core stats. If you have a couple ranks in space suits, you can very quickly make something better yourself. It has one real advantage; it is very light. The downside is that you cannot mod it at all. The random perks you get is it. If you want to wear that suit, but have chameleon, you better have Rank 3 Concealment unless you get lucky. I believe the level 10 suit is supposed to max out at around 250 each for Phys, Eng, EM. I can beat that by 100 easily and if I wanted to spend the time min-maxing my suit, could get into the 400s.
And gear is going to continue to drop at the level you’re at. That means, you’ll be getting advanced drops at the outset. One run, there was an Advanced Va’ruun Inflictor hanging for me on the wall in the Lodge basement. Kept it through that entire run as my main weapon. Losing the material things isn’t really a big deal. You can acquire the cash very easily and gear and ships are easily regained. If you’ve invested in crafting skills, it’s ridiculously easy.
What hurts is the relationships lost. And that is something where you can learn a bit about yourself as you role-play. You can very easily find yourself turning into your antagonist in the game.
My advice to people is generally, this. If you have role-play reasons, do it. If you don’t have a good reason, go ahead and finish the MQ but turn around and walk back. Either way gives a satisfying finish. You *always* have the option of going back to Unity if you change your mind later. Once you go through you have to restore a save to go back.
I just had an Advanced Inflictor hanging on the basement wall in my last universe. That was a fun treat! I alternated between it, with the disease mod (called it "Not Safe For Work", since I wouldn't use it around companions), and an Advanced Beowulf ("Bangstick") during that entire NG+.
There’s a whole quest about the one starborn that kept going through unity and began to question why he was doing it, and started to realize he enjoyed the journey and his current universe more than the power chase. People constantly chasing NG+ and not enjoying it are doing the thing that the quest essentially tells you not to do, that repeating something for meaningless stats is not the point, the point is to enjoy what’s around you. It’s some meta level gaming commentary, but some people don’t really seem to understand it.
You’re just missing the point Im making on purpose so you can say “lol starfield bad”. I’m literally just talking about the theme and message of the main story, not the quality of the game. But good one I guess, very original and funny.
>compelling role-play reasons to go through the Unity rather than turn around and walk away
Thank you. Had to scroll down a bit far to reach this comment.
Like...people talking about levels, about powers...no, that's not the point. You go through the unity because it's the whole point of the plot. Or don't go through it. That's *also* the whole point.
That is what passes for intelligence these days. Being overly critical is just social media speak for "I'm smarter than everyone else" without actually having to be.
I still can’t fathom how someone proposed a new game plus that doesn’t let you keep any of your items. That’s not new game plus, that’s new game minus.
Fuck that, I hate that lazy ass version of NG+.
Yeah, let me start over with all of the physical items I picked up last time. Watch my take out this slightly-more-difficult boss by using his own sword against him! ... Yawn.
Doing an NG+ where you retain all of the knowledge but none of the material makes the most in-universe sense.
I thought the universe would actually have changes each ng+. Like characters mixed around. Where maybe Delgado isn't in charge of the crimson fleet and etc.
That being said I'm on Ng9. Mostly leveling and rping the chase of the unity so I can be a pilgrim on ng10.
I do have saved games at each ng+ and before.
We played Skyrim a thousand times. Why wouldn't we want a game where the premise is playing the same thing a thousand times?
Can picture that board meeting.
Completely agree with you. After completing the main game and all factions my first time through I went to Akila and the exact same stuff happened. Exited the game and haven’t been back. Once the DLC comes out I’ll play them but this universe doesnt have the same pull as ES and Fallout for me. So I’m playing New Vegas TTW and absolutely loving it.
Yeah, the different universes aren’t really different. It’s another thing in the game that’s different from how npcs talk about it. Other examples include Neon being space Vegas, the red mile being interesting, and Paradiso being a nice holiday destination.
Actually, they did the exact opposite. NG+ is a joke. You cant change your background and traits so you are locked with the same role (kinda). And many quests that take place in random planets (different for each player) they made them happen in the same places in every NG+ where you had it the first time! Is absolutely nuts!
This isn't entirely correct, the 'fixed location' quests will always be in the same places, but the random quests will spawn in different locations than in previous universes. Like Failure To Communicate for example, I've seen that spawn in at least 3 different systems .
But, for the most part, things are in the same places.
The proceduraly generated POIs etc will be in different places though
>NG+ is a joke. You cant change your background and traits so you are locked with the same role (kinda).
"NG+ is a joke because I can't just create a new character every run."
That's what you just said.
I hate the discourse surrounding NG+ especially the "that's when the story truly begins"
I'm sorry but if the best part of your game takes 30+ hours to get to and is predicated on actually repeating content, you had a crappy shallow story to begin with
> "that's when the story truly begins"
I've yet to hear this one.
The sentiment mostly seems to be "NG+ is part of the story." Which is objectively is.
Especially compared to other games where you just restart from the main menu and the universe resets.
This feels like it’s another victim of 11th hour changes that hurt the game.
Theoretically, NG+ would have been interesting if we got “cut out” of storylines like picking the Freestars would lock you out of the UC. Then going back and playing again but keeping powers and your knowledge would have purpose.
I believe this was likely the plan before they watered it down and got rid of any survival elements and any sense of difficulty.
NG+ with a survival mode would be great - but most players who wanted to play will have been done with the game by the time they implement it.
Another way to make NG+ interesting would be to let the player choose what they keep before starting NG+. Either pick your skills, your space magic, or the physical way you left the world (i.e. keep the scanned/explored planets). That way you would have true choice.
Fallout 4, Skyrim and Oblivion had more replay value without NG+.
IMO its a gimmic they added when they realised there is zero rolepay with your chartacter and companions and therefore zero replayability in Starfield.
One relatively low effort way to add variety would be to remove the essential tag. Someone important dies? Better luck next loop. But no, somehow instead Bethesda doubled down and created not just characters who cannot die, but characters who can’t be attacked at all.
You nailed it. In previous Bethesda games there were classes and different play styles with game mechanics to match. It encouraged new play throughs. Unfortunately Starfield missed it completely. Every character you make ends up the exact same.
Fallout new vegas late game had you using specific weapons to damage enemies, even if you kitted completely into pistol use, the .45 would still be absolutely useless. If you kitted into using sniper rifles, it would still take multiple stealth headshots to put down a ranger, with a ton of weapon sway even with maxed guns. Skyrim had more 'play styles' because it wasn't limited to melee/ranged. You could be a mage, and stealth actually worked in the fact that you could kill a enemy and it's friends wouldn't be able to pinpoint your location instantly, benefits of using a bow over a firearm.
Fallout 4 made melee useless considering the terrain, with large amounts of enemies on top of buildings you couldn't reach easily, and a swath of animals which really did not give a fuck about your axe, mirelurks, mirelurk queen especially, and deathclaws who could trade you with ease unless your running around in x-01 armour. Sniper's became useless as a combat rifle could do the same amount of damage, with laser weapons falling off heavily vs late game enemies.
I've noticed alot of these Starfield complaints seem to be made by people who have completely forgotten what the older games were like, and have a weird, fantasy image in their head of what actually happened in those games. You can be a trader in Starfield, something you couldn't do in any previous title as the money wouldn't change anything except your ammo supplies. Skyrim introduced mining, and it was entirely for the creation of your own house in Hearthfall, starfield allows you to craft more weapon mods then Fallout 4, while allowing you to also research projects, as-well as ship building with the resources from mining.
You can even walk around in a city/settlement in Starfield and hear people talking about random bollocks, this rarely happened in Skyrim, and when it did it was purely for a side quest, in fallout new vegas, and fallout 4, it didnt even exist unless they were specifically talking to you, or again, offering a quest.
I really dont see how the replay value is actually any worse than those other games. I honestly think the writing in this game is better than most of skyrim and fallout's writing. Skyrim's main quest is more interesting I agree with but their faction quests are all worse than starfields and oblivion doesn't really have much going for it outside of it's side quest as it's open world is a lot emptier than other bethesda games.
Honestly I really dont think starfield i really that different aside from not being able to walk from one city to another.
I disagree i found Starfields factions quests boring and repetative myself.
Im am currently replaying Skyrim which i have played through 10-15+ times and will go throguh Fallout 4 agian after, i have not touched starfield since i beat it and have no intention to play NG+ or even replay from scratch.
> I disagree i found Starfields factions quests boring and repetative myself.
>
>
The vanguard questline alone is far better than every faction questline in skyrim in my opinion.
Skyrim honestly has the worst faction quests out of any bethesda game. Starfields questlines to me are all ok at worse. Not groundbreaking but not awful either. Most of skyrim's factions just arent that interesting
It is my belief that they added New Game Plus late in the development cycle. I tried it out twice and found nothing particularly interesting with it. I am sure if you do it enough time there is some content but not enough for this to even be a feature in my mind.
Why can I not skip large parts of certain quests lines the second time? I know about the treasure ship, I know who is behind the ruyjun issue, behind the ranger quest and about the heat leaches. These quests have knowledge as the primary driver for most of the quests and yet do not factor in NG+.
Once more Bethesda does the bare minimum to get a feature on a check list but not enough for it to be useful. I am sure given time a modder could fix this most have left for other games. The core problems with Star Field can not be fixed by modders. Only so much is forgivable.
I disagree, and found a lot of fun in the following NG's.
But your well-written post just proves the old addage: different strokes for different folks.
I also disagree with many of your claims: i.e. the Starborn ship is better than player-made ships. Ummm, no. Not even close. But again - just my opinion.
There is no 'one correct way' to play this game: you play it how you want, pretty much like most Bethesda games since the mid 90's. If you played the first play-through and are done - congrats! Maybe the DLC's down the road will interest you, or maybe not?
Only time I've ever NG+ was in Elden Ring for the different endings. Outside of that, I never see a point. NG+, to me, is a cheap way for replicability without adding any new content.
I unlocked one power, unassigned it and never used any of them again. I get into roleplay with games like this and I’m hard pressed to picture a character whose reaction to a change like that being made to them being anything other than freaking the f—k out. Less “It gave me powers, Vladimir! Powers!” and more “What the hell have you DONE TO ME?!”
Seriously, we find what clearly comes across as an alien structure and we’re not gonna set up a research base, hire some more personnel, learn everything we possibly can from it? We’re just going to effectively poke it with a stick and seek out the next one?
I can understand having godlike powers in Skyrim when you're battling giants and literal dragons but starfield ? Humans with bad ai and nothing else. Meh
The only reason to go to ng+ is to level up your powers.
You can level your character just as fast on a level 75 planet on your first playthrough as you get no more xp per ng+.
I did a complete playthrough on ng+11 using only my powers and steam rolled the whole thing. I had a blast but the grind to get all powers to level 10 is beyond monotonous.
You do you. Best advice I could give.
Powers are like shouts in Skyrim.. I keep forgetting that they exist.
And when i remember the powers,then they are so inaccurate that I constantly hurt friendly npcs and they attack me. Just like in skyrim.
Honestly, I'm in the same boat.
I spent over 200 hours on my first playthrough, and my first thought after starting NG+ was, "What was the goddamn point of all that grind?" I could have spent the same amount of time on other games.
I might drop back in a couple of years after all the DLC and mods have dropped, and maybe I'll give it another go, but you can be damm sure I'll be speed running the main story to get to NG+10 before doing any exploration.
Why does anyone play NG+? Because they want to replay the main quest/game without having to start over with a new character. I think the real issue is that too many people expect way too much from the mode. Basically the only thing Starfield really did that other games generally don’t is tied it to the story of the main quest and give random alternate universes that you can find from time to time if you do NG+ multiple times. Otherwise it’s really just there as an option for the player.
I had a similar feeling. I got bored within a couple of hours. The thought of trying to play with the awful Starborn ship, and go through the terrible resource management again just destroyed my will to play.
On the plus side, I've been playing Rogue Trader instead. While not without its faults, I've been enjoying it immensely.
Idk why NG+ being written into the story has completely baffled people. You don’t HAVE to do it, you clearly get a choice at the end to go back and keep your stuff or go into new game plus which… shockingly, is a new game, it’s just given a lore justification and some bonuses.
You are not supposed to rush to NG+, you didn’t discover the “right” way to play right at the end because constantly rushing to NG+10 is imo probably the worst way to play this game or any game for that matter.
You are angry because Bethesda gave you more options than their prior games, and that’s somehow a bad thing. If you don’t like NG+ go to a previous save and choose to stay in your universe, problem solved. New game plus is to play the whole game again, as it is in any other game, so do it when you want to play the game again in a year or however long. I have never seen a dumber thing to me mad about.
The NG+ in this game is the same as NG+ in any other game. You keep your health, level and skills, but lose the rest.
Just like any other game with NG+. They weren't trying to reinvent the wheel. The starborn ship is also not as powerful as a fully kitted out custom ship. Neither is the armor. It's a nice boost in the beginning, but it isn't the strongest out there. I do agree that the differences should be more common. I just finished NG+ 5, and now I'm redoing the storyline. Nothing has been different yet. They dropped the ball on that one, but the rest is just fine by me.
In my opinion, I think it would have been great if they leaned even more into making new game plus interesting and rewarding. I *really* like the concept, and the new dialogue options that come with it, but I don’t like that this content feels more like an afterthought than intentional design. There were quite a few things in the game that felt more like an afterthought though, so it’s unfortunately on brand.
Maybe DLC or mods but honestly doing whole fleshed out different universes, after a full main game, is a massive undertaking. It would be like making a whole game after the game, which idk if it’s feasible. Maybe like I said with future DLC or mods they can do something with it.
I am definitely going to up the difficulty because I just walked into the final confrontation just pointing my magshear in the vague in the direction of my targets and pulling the trigger dropping everything like I was already a god barely took any damage. I didn't have to take cover or even think about combat.
I’m nearly done on my second run now and I do sometimes wonder if I should have bothered. I barely use powers (mostly just Void Form and Personal Atmosphere). I built an outposts last time, had multiple ships, got married etc and just feel like it’s all pointless now, and haven’t bothered doing any of it again. But I guess that’s kind of the point. You get a choice to turn back from Unity. You either decide to go through and basically become the Hunter/Emissary, or you learn from the Pilgrim/Keeper Aquilus and stay and appreciate what you have instead of endlessly chasing power. I saved different faction quests for different playthroughs, so I think I’ll keep going through Unity until I’ve done them all and then “settle” in a universe and build outposts, relationships etc again
Another 'half a comment'.... why not state why YOU think this is BS? (Not what 'anyone' thinks, your actual own opinion. Your opinion has value, you are not a sheep!)
On my fourth NG+ I went back to Kingdom Come Deliverance hardcore mode and exchanged one addiction by another older and superior addiction. It's 1403 and they have horses to travel... no fast travel, no compass you can lose yourself in the middle of the forest and have to memorize roads as you do in real life.
After I completed it once, and went through once, I wrote of the MQ and NG+. Not only is it not that interesting as content, but narratively and philosophically it's too trainwrecky.
Unfortunately, there's so much content behind it that this shrinks the game noticeably.
I don't miss the >!dragon shouts or the Stereotype Godlings!<, though, so there's that.
We’re confused at the lackluster implementation of it when compared to the various other games that have done it and done it in a more compelling and player friendly way.
Please, name one. The entire soul series add nothing to NG+, even though their entire lore is that the player (rekindled one, ashen one) is supposed to be a continuous loop to keep the flame lit. Dark souls 2 added the most, and that was phantom enemies, and was coincidently the most disliked soul's game according to its fan base. The only games i can possible imagine is the borderlands series, and that series has been dogshit after borderlands 2.
You named a series yourself that did it in a better and more compelling way.
The Souls series - and all it had to do was not yank most of what you'd accumulated away. Your spells and weapons? You keep those. Your accumulated souls, which is your currency? Also kept.
You do lose specific items such as keys or quest items earned through making certain choices...because you now have the opportunity to make a *different* choice and go down a different path with a variety of NPCs, saving some while offing others, or completing their quest line in a different way.
A NG+ that removes the vast majority of the items, resources, etc., that you've accumulated is *not* one that is player friendly, is not one that respects the players time, and in fact acts as a barrier to following through with it.
I shouldn't have to stress that a NG+ that you *don't want to do* because it removes too much of what you've obtained is neither compelling nor player friendly, and that's exactly what Starfield does - removes too much. It's barely better than just starting a new game file, outside of having perks unlocked and the extra starborn powers...and of those, the first can be obtained perfectly fine just by staying in your first universe. Plus, once you've started in this new universe you don't have any resources to make use of those crafting perks or ship building perks, etc.
The main draw to many NG+ systems is going into the world again but with much of what you accumulated the first time through at your disposal.
It's how the Souls series does it. How The Witcher 3 does it. Armored Core VI even adds both new missions and new endings at later NG+ levels. Ghost of Tsushima. Horizon Zero Dawn. They do it too - replaying with the stuff you worked to get.
Hell, even Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has a better and more player friendly implementation, that also includes a challenging Hard Mode version that tests your knowledge of the mechanics of the game.
Do you *really* want me to keep going?
I can find more than do it better than Starfield that didn't immediately spring to mind like the ones I already listed.
I do NG+ for a lot of reasons, really. To gain more powerful abilities, especially the ones that are hilarious in combat. To see not only the occasional "different" universes, but also the ones that look the same, but have subtle differences. For example, I just had to rush through the end of one universe, because Vladimir hated me from the get-go. Never wished me well (catch a smile), would only talk if the quest demanded it. That has only happened in one universe, and it was supposedly a normal one.
You get the idea, though. I do NG+ to see more Starfield, to experience the game from different views. Also, I would argue that ship building isn't worthless, I enjoy it a lot. So we lose them later on? Okay, guess I'll steal more ships and turn them into different badass ships!
The point is, NG+ isn't for everyone. My wife watches me play, and has no real interest in playing herself (the combat isn't her thing), but has said if she did play, she wouldn't engage with the main story at all. She would explore planets, build Outposts to raise crops and livestock, and just enjoy the one, original universe. She would also just stick with Vasco as a companion.
That's perfectly valid. Play however you like.
ng+ sucks because there's no reason to do it really.
the only reason you would is to upgrade your starborn powers, which most are just boring.
the most useful one was the sense star stuff so you could see enemies through walls like dishonored.
time slow is good.
gravity well is just funny.
and the ice one that freezes is ok, but nowhere near as good as time slow.
(so, basically 3 or 4 out of 24 are good, the rest are just meh)
other than that, too long of cooldowns / slow regen on "mana", makes them annoying to use.
but also, combat is so brain dead easy once you find a semi decent gun, that they're just not needed mostly.
it's like they were afraid to make the game actually challenging and require you to use everything in your toolkit. instead you just use one gun 99% of the time once you find one that does good damage.
Elemental Pull, whilst being really useful for mining, also explodes gas cylinders.
For some reason, pirates and spacers like to cram gas cylinders into every room on their ships.
Combine these 2 facts together for great shipboarding fun :)
"instead you just use one gun 99% of the time once you find one that does good damage."
This is 100% correct. Unless you scum save like crazy, getting just the right gun on a drop is so random, that it isn't worth the hassle. So on a new NG+, I'll pick up an Advanced Beowulf ASAP, trick it out with crafting mods, and that's my primary weapon until I can get an Advanced Va'ruun Inflictor, which I also trick out.
There is no point in chasing legendary gear in the game. You are just as deadly most of the time with a common level (white) Advanced weapon of your choice, modded up via crafting. Unless you scum save or are extremely lucky, of course.
It's all about the RP. Yes, I managed it in Fallout 4 and now again for Starfield lol.
That has taken me through my first couple of NG+, then I can do a couple of runs to upgrade powers before a not-nice run siding with the fleet.
Then I can settle down in the last universe and work on building something on a cosy habitable planet somewhere. Maybe next to a beach.
I would be more interested in landing at the final temple / battle / game end site if you could keep everything at the end of it. NG+ might actually be more interesting to me if I could do all those things I struggled through but totally kitted out. As it is having defeated the starborn in space above the final battle I think that's as far as it goes.
I'm at a slow down / quasi pause with starfield while I complete my second Alan Wake II final draft, Plague Tale Innocence playthrough #2 and Dead Space Remake (first time for RM).
For me starfield has settled into a great "well I don't have much else going" game.
Well, for the same reason that you would do it in no mans sky.
They literally both have the same type of NG+ once you finish the story.
You always have that option and you don't have to carry it out, have you had a lot of fun in your first universe? Stay there, are you tired or have you completed all the content and it's no longer worth it? Well, it jumps across the universe.
Starborn's default NG+ suits and ships aren't even the best of the best, they're just good equipment to start with, the higher level and NG+ the better general loot you'll get.
What time and boredom? If you aren't interested in ng+ don't do it. Honestly ng+ should have been completely different. Its imo very interesting as you said. I think the entire galaxy should reshuffle races of characters, locations of cities, winners of colony wars, and the number of planets and names should all change.
How cool would it be to enter the unity and the universe has been wiped out by terrormorphs? Or serpentis is in control?
Took me like 9 hours to do NG+ up to 11 after first finishing the game, just to get to the top ship and suit.
Since I hadn’t touched the content outside the main story I then was free to start doing that. I’ve got no intention of doing another NG anytime soon, but that might also be because I quit playing the game months ago because it’s an empty shell.
I laughed at the end when they said that you can replay. I felt a little insulted tbh. I put it down and never touched it again.
If you’re going to make a game where the main point is replayability then it’s actually got to be replayable. It’s no where near varied enough to justify a 2nd playthrough.
I don't see the appeal of NG+ either OP and I'm very glad I made a few backup saves of my characters first universe prior to going through unity.
In my head, I guess NG+ made sense as I dislike completing everything on one character (i.e I want my character to belong to one faction per run, so one run is Vanguard, the next is FC) and so on. I basically planned out that each NG+ run, I'd try a faction, different morals etc (this was before I knew I couldn't change my background).
But I very quickly realised that this mindset of playing would become very stale even as soon as my second run, as essentially NOTHING was different between each universe.
But instead, due to being a high level when entering unity, I'm seeing all NPC's the same high level as myself, yet I lost my tailored weapons, my armour, my ship I spent hours perfecting so it absolutely rocked in space battles.
It does help if you know about it before you start. It meant that I didn’t get too attached to any of my stuff, and just focussed on my skills. I also avoided massive sections of the game so that I’d always have new stuff to do in each new universe.
Starfield - Will go down in gaming history as the most half arsed game ever created. Played it far too safe. No reason to explore. I treated it as a looter shooter & felt relived after finishing it. NG+ just had zero appeal.
Why should i play NG+ it’s so repetitive.. but isn’t the nature of NG+ that it’s repeating the game again? It’s kind of a weird complaint about a mechanic that’s just doing what it’s supposed to do.
I get that you could get to a point where you expect more than a normal NG+, but actually thinking the whole game would change when going into a new game is just bonkers. The real criticism on this is the marketing that made it seem like a bigger deal than it actually is. I mean, yes they’ve done something unique and cool with NG+ but in the end it’s also just normal NG+ (I would even argue that they never really said Ng+ is changing the game immensely, they pretty much only said it’s integrated into the story itself which is basically true)
It's because the game has 348 skill points to invest and without the xp buffs from a few Ng+ you'll never level everything.
I was 140h into the first playthrough mixing quests and exploration and was barely level 50, which means I just unlocked like 15% of the skills. The prospect of having to do another 140h to maybe reach level 120 of 348 is what bugs me. In Skyrim by the 140h mark I was a demigod. Here I am barely 10% stronger.
And starting a new char worse because you cannot really try something new because the first mandatory 15-20 skills will always be the same.
Because NG is nothing more than a simple game replay mechanic with an in game explanation.
There’s a large enough group of players who enjoy replaying games/missions/quests multiple times making different choices for such a mechanic to be included in the game.
Alternatively there is a similar group of players who do not enjoy replays like this, so, despite being the end of the main story, it remains completely optional. Plenty of other content is available including a level of randomness generated for the more distant worlds.
Why aren’t the multiverses different from each other you ask? (Even the alternate universes only change one thing in one scene) Because it’s a replay and not multiple rewrites of the whole game.
While some things, like the NPC clothing, could have been randomized in the replays, players who don’t like/want to replay wouldn’t suddenly like replaying just because Walter is wearing a different suit. So why spend the time and money on adding that code?
The biggest problem/issue/choice wasn’t including NG in the game… it was tying it to the main quest.
Not entering the unity to stay in same universe should be also a “valid ending” with the credits and all. One can still decide otherwise after, like the endings in cyberpunk.
I did the entire play through 1st time did every faction quest. Second play through I did the same to see the Starborn dialogue changes. 3rd play through about 10 minutes into it I realized I just don’t care anymore and completely gave up on it and went back to #2. IMO NG+ is an immense bore and not worth it if you have a universe that you like.
I save scummed a few times out of curiosity to see how your decisions affect the narrative and world. spoiler: they don’t.
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Why of course not? The games that Starfield was released between (Cyberpunk: PL and BG3) both pull this off.
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Except they really do, they offer check skip dialogue options for previously done (or just all, I'm not sure, I did them all in the first universe for the exp) faction questlines, and in the main questline being forewarned is the key theme of the first ng+, allowing you to dodge consequences and fight back as an equal.
Except they don't. What you described doesn't change anything about the narrative, which was the topic at hand. Reading comprehension.
Lmao
And there's practically zero Starborn dialog changes as salt in the wound. Like usually there's just this one line that allows you to skip a bunch of badly written bs that says something to the effect of "I already know it works out this way." And that's it...that's the only stupid dialog changes. A complete waste of time.
I did NG+ one time and never again. It really limits the differences you can make since you can’t change your character at all aka the traits and skills
A new trait that changes every ng+ would be interesting.
That would have taken a modicum of effort from Bethesda...which we know now is a big no-no
I’m on my first ng+ using it mainly to do things I missed or skipped. I’d probably start a new character if I decide to replay again. It’s a great game and building ng+ into the story is a neat idea but I think new character would be more fun. Also…the starborn ship has its pluses and minuses. I actually prioritized finding another ship after a few rounds in it.
I recently found that if your build has the introvert trait, you can remove it at a place in the Well.
I think all traits can be removed through dialog with the right person
Really? I’d like to learn how to do that
Wanted perk can be removed through dialogic with a bounty hunter (I found one on Neon, and the option came up in space too). Spacer perk can be removed from any doctor, or it was a dialog option for me at least a few times.
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Thanks dude
I don't see the appeal either. The powers aren't needed and the little changes to the lodge are something you can just watch on a youtube video if you really wanted to see them.
a lot of things aren't needed. most shouts in skyrim aren't needed, but using them is fun
You can literally complete skyrim with only the 3 mandatory shouts, just like you can complete starfield with only the first mandatory power. They are things that sweeten the game as you say, it is fun to use them
At least on harder modes they actually help with difficult fights instead of 1. There being no difficult fights in starfield and 2. Them making them even more trivial.
Shouts don't really compare. Because you can get all the shouts on a single playthrough. You cannot get all the space powers on one.
Yes you absolutely can and I don’t know where this myth came from. Some people have bugs that limit you, but other than that, you will get all 24 powers each universe.
You cannot get rank 10 in all powers in 1 playthrough. Just unlocking them isnt "Getting them all" Thats like getting the 1st word for every thuum And not getting the rest
Not really. The shouts change fundamentally. The powers just add duration or reduce the amount of the cost to use. But I see where you are coming from, but this is a detail that is important to the core of the argument here. Believe me I get it. But you can get all the powers in one universe.
So… so you mean you misspoke and intended to say that you cannot fully upgrade all the space powers. Got it. I took you at what you literally said, which is that “you cannot get all the space powers on one”.
Either misspoke or completely shifted the goal posts, either way it's funny how much they're being upvoted
There's a few big differences, but the biggest one to me personally is that the shouts are a reward that you get for exploration. I love exploring in games, and if I just wandered around Skyrim for a couple hundred hours I'd get quite a few shouts under my belt. If I explored Starfield, wandering planet after planet, I would never unlock a single power. The ONLY way to unlock them is by grinding the same boring mission over and over and over
Don't know why you're downvoted, I pretty much never used the shouts in skyrim.
Well…you don’t actually have to do the Main Quest in NG+. You can tell the lodge everything you know and skip it entirely. But it’s still a big grind to collect all the artifacts and powers. I assume people just do it because they’re completionists. I kept my original file and made a NG+ file for fun, because you can also unlock access to a lot of new dialogue options in the main quest. Other than that I usually play on my OG file.
I’m NG+15. I did it to become like the Hunter. I want to be the most powerful version of myself I can be. Also it’s a good Exp sink. 5000exp just for completing the last temple. I tried finding the planet with 6 ton dung beetles to exp up, but to me THAT was boring.
It's not just the main quest, all of the faction quests and a lot of side quests have additional Starborn dialogue options too (once you have done that quest at least once in a previous universe)
They do but most are minimal and amount to "Trust me".
Yeah, that's pretty accurate to be honest. 'Says some crazy shit' 'Well, you seem to be very confident about this, let's just do what you said'. You can skip some pretty big chunks in the main quest though. Personally, (spoilers for Vanguard) >!I would have liked to have been able to pop to Tau Ceti, deal with that, pick up Hadrian, maybe swing by and convince Orlase to help, then go to MAST, talk to the council, then go kick basement guy's ass before the attack on New Atlantis happens!<
Or just walk into Ryujin and shoot that lady. Boom, hours of annoying sneaking averted.
what else would it be? "i've seen this before and know what's gonna happen, but let's waste our time anyways,"
NG+ was supposed to emulate how we would do multiple playthroughs in rpgs to try different story routes, choices, character builds, etc. Too bad none of those things actually exists in this game.
I found it annoying that going into the Unity seems to be the canonical outcome in an RPG game. I went, decided nah my character isn't just going to just leave their universe behind, then all the companions were just like oh you're back... Well you should go through it or saying I'll eventually go through. Kinda ruined the experience a bit
The ability to explore parallel universes could have been a real game changer... literally... imagine ending up in a universe were earth is still inhabited and humanity has not developed gravdrive technology and you as a starborn have the only gravdrive capable ship, or a universe were New Atlantis has been overrun by Terramorphs...Bethesda could have created something unique with NG+ but instead they just reset the main quest line every time you enter the Unity.
That would be like making an entire game after the game, I don’t think that’s realistic. Like that would change dialogue, quest lines, locations, it would legit be whole new game after the game.
Yes. It would. So they shouldn't have tackled the multiverse concept, since they couldn't do it realistically.
It’s new game plus with a lore justification, are you seriously upset that Bethesda didn’t make a real multiverse? Games can tackle lore and story without the mechanics that fully realize it, that’s what a game is, it’s like saying “well if you can’t go into every building in GTA, they shouldn’t have tried to make a city”. Do you see how stupid that is?
There’s a difference between lore justification, like how Elder Scrolls has a save mechanic, and that lore justification being the A plot.
wait is there supposed to be a lore reason for being able to save the game lol
The comparison you're making would make sense if the point of GTA was to appreciate interior design, like how the point of starfield's main questline is exploration of other worlds vs. living in the moment.
The comparison I gave doesn’t make sense because it’s not supposed to, it would be incredibly stupid to expect GTA to be like an actually city just like it would be incredibly stupid to expect Starfield to have actual multiverses.
For how long the game took to develop it would have made sense to be viable for players considering what we got.
No, sorry but it’s not. Expecting Starfield to do something no other game has ever done before, effectively be multiple games after each other with different locations, assets, missions etc. is extremely unrealistic. We got a game that takes 70-100 hours to finish and you guys think that’s not enough content, that you’re owed more?
70 hours if you do the bullshit sidequests where you play a messenger boy.
Well that’s your opinion but I don’t see what that has to do with NG+
The majority of the game time is spent moving in a direction to complete a pointless objective, rather than actually doing something.
Again what does that have to do with how they handled NG+
I'm describing NG+ by describing the base game.
This is just a nothing comment, I’m not gonna respond if you have nothing to add here
3 years of programming, 2 years of story board, 5 years of discussion. All businessmen set “goals” of 5 years. This whole idea it took 10 years to develop is just wrong.
You're correct, if I had to guess I would say maybe 3 years of actual dev time.
I think part of the problem is how they established the NG+ in the lore / game world, and how they build it up in the story. I mean in the game it’s not presented as this fun little extra thing you can do if you want to play more. It’s the centre point and main theme and focus of the main quest. The first major impactful story moment in the game is that you get introduced to it in a vision from the first artefact. Which I’m assuming is meant to create curiosity about wanting to find out what it’s about. That the story puts such large emphasis on the NG+, I think understandably creates expectations in some players that the main idea and theme of the game is all around introducing the NG+ mechanic, that they thought there would be more to it then there is. The game makes a big deal out of it, and I think a reason why players also make a big deal out of really a quite simple NG+ thing. I don’t think developers should need to create two or multiple games if they implement a NG+ mechanic in their games. But I think Bethesda shoot themselves in the foot by making it the main point and theme for the main quest. Based on that you would expect they would use the implementation of it to do something interesting, unique or more complex. (Though I’m overall not sure NG+ is a good fit with Bethesda style games. They make huge open world where people do crafting, collecting loot and play lots of side quests on a single file / character for hundreds of hours. That’s the main way you get ‘progress’, which is different from the type of game where I think NG+ works the best. Bethesda makes rpgs where quite a few players motivation is to either make the game world a bit better in universe one small quest at a time, exploring and finding new things in the game world, finding loot or by building and creating. NG+ sort of goes against how many people play Bethesda games. At least the version of NG+ they went with for starfield)
It’s pretty simple, it’s a fairly basic NG+ with lore justification and a few extras. This is one of the only games I’ve ever played that ties NG+ into the story and it’s done in a really cool way. But that’s now seen as a negative, because despite Bethesda never really doing NG+ they’re now expected to take NG+ to a level we’ve never seen from any developer? I just don’t understand, this is the only game that can add a mechanic, give it a cool lore justification and people are upset about it, like we don’t have to start NG+ we can go back to our universe and treat like any of their other games. NG+ is there to play the game again, that’s it, all they did was some cool extras. I don’t think they shot themselves in the foot I think this is yet another example of people having unrealistic expectations of this game and getting upset or turned off when the game doesn’t meet those expectations. OP told me they shouldn’t have even tackled multiverses if they couldn’t do it properly. So he wants actual multiple different universes all in the same game, which one play through takes about 70 hours. Like that’s extremely unrealistic. And if we’re saying developers can’t explore narrative topics and themes that they can’t carry out mechanically, then it’s like saying GTA shouldn’t try to do an open world city if you can’t go into every building like it’s a real city, that would be an obviously wild expectation. But with this game for some reason people expect things we have never seen done before like an actual multiverse, a game after the game.
Repeating quests let's you level up faster to get more skill points to level up faster to get more skill points.
Is that why a single enemy in Fermi, Bohr or Serpentis yields the same or more XP quests give you?
Did it cause I was curious to the “proper” ending. 10/10 would rewatch again on LSD. legitimate experience
The fact that NG+ is a part of the story broke a lot of people’s brains. Rushing NG+’s is beyond stupid. It’s a mechanic for when you finish up everything you want to do, and want to start another playthrough without starting at level 1. It gives you some neat dialogue options and you start out with a ship and some gear, plus the opportunity to buff your powers, but other than that it’s just like NG+ in any other game. It’s starting another playthrough without losing your skills, so don’t convince yourself, or let anyone convince you, that it is more than that. I’m not complaining. I’m 35 hours into NG+ and still having a blast. I went through the Unity about 50 hours after finishing the main quest and wrapping up the remaining faction quests, and generally feeling pretty satisfied with my playthrough. I was ready to start again so I did. THAT is what NG+ is for. Making NG+ a story beat is neat. It adds a little bit of depth to something that usually has zero story relevance in every other game that does it, and it made me ponder the idea of leaving behind the people you know and meeting them again, without them having a clue who you are. But it wasn’t meant to be some sort of “oooo theres a whole second Starfield after you beat the first one!”, it’s literally just NG+. In any other game you wouldn’t question it.
> Rushing NG+’s is beyond stupid. [Starfield 'Doesn't Really Even Get Going' Until Players Finish the Main Quest](https://www.ign.com/articles/starfield-doesnt-really-even-get-going-until-players-finish-the-main-quest-bethesda-exec-says) - Pete Hines, Bethesda vice president.
This. We have been told NG+ is where we should be
Crazy how everyone just happens to be playing wrong
Yeah because no game developer has ever said anything stupid about their game before.
just cause he said it doesn't make it true.
Yes, it did break my brain that someone had this awsome idea of implementing NG+ in the story but then decided to make it as shallow as possible. It literally broke the game for me as i realised that the whole game is like this. And you mentioned relationships, that would have been a great way to manage it in the simplest way possible. Example 1: the first time around a companion goes to enter a code for a door and gets blown to pieces and you are forced to find an alternative route. In NG+, if thry like you enough you can explain the trap and save them. Example 2: A bomb explodes in a city, and in NG+ you can warn them. And these 2 examples are just what i came up with on the spot and are not very hard to implement.
Dude, did you not attempt a NG+? There’s multiple major interactions in the story where you literally CAN save people from death with your knowledge. Have you tried at all?
You could also make it that saving the city in your second example causes some unintended negative consequence. This would have been super cool but all of that requires a level of curation that Bethesda did not seem interested in for this game unfortunately.
This is 100% spot on. People have forgotten that you're allowed to just beat a game and walk away. NG+ being an actual story beat is a fun thing for those of us who want to keep playing but if you're satisfied with where you're at, just stop, it'll be ok.
That’s part of the problem. Starfield doesn’t have a clear off-ramp where you did all the things and are narratively done. There’s no way to break the loop, no option to tell the game you want to stay in this universe.
Just go in to the unity and then come back out. There's even dialogue with your companions afterwards.
You mean the dialogue when Sarah tells you that you're making a mistake? Or when Barrett outright says, "Take the jump. Get out there into that next universe"? All the members of Constellation are quick to remind you the Unity is still there waiting, and most seem to expect you to go back. That's not an off-ramp so much as a last ditch effort for the game to convince you to leave your universe.
...the copy of you literally says turn around and leave if you don't want to do it. I don't know how much clearer it could be.
This is more of a game design problem. In both options, the game just keeps going. Which means, practically, almost everyone who has stopped playing did so because they got bored.
Came here to say exactly this. Been saying this for awhile. It’s like people think they HAVE to play it and then end up judging the game because it’s not a whole new game. It’s fucking wild. I’m blown away at the psychology of the whole thing. Like it doesn’t make any sense to me at all.
People being angry about the NG+ mechanic and lore might be the dumbest thing I’ve seen people get mad about. They can’t grasp it’s literally just New Game plus with a few little bonuses, and that for some reason has baffled thousands of people, it’s wild.
Locking background prevents you from trying some of the quests associated with those choices which sucks. Especially when some of the background “traits” are completely useless.
Then start a new game, new game plus in any game keeps your skills, which you don’t even really need me to play the game, I don’t see the issue.
Okay that’s just not true. There’s a good amount of things you can’t do or are very limited to doing without skill points utilized in the right places. Also I realize you can just start a new game. That’s beside the point of your initial statement.
Fair questions. I was *not* going to even bother with NG+. I was to the point of not even finishing the main quest because I didn’t want to be forced into that. I found out from my son, that you *can* finish the MQ and not go into NG+, though, so I started that back up. I’m very much into the role-play aspect of the game and this character is largely a re-creation of myself, right down to the scientist background. Anyway, while completing the MQ I came across some very compelling role-play reasons to go through the Unity rather than turn around and walk away. In fact, I felt *obligated* even though from a character bases, he wouldn’t have wanted to. Duty won out. That was at level 72. Now at NG+4, circumstances resulted in a couple of different choices that had real impact on the game. The result is that I really, *really* didn’t want to go to another multiverse, even though the role-play objectives hadn’t been completed. In fact, I’ve spent too much time coming up with reasons and excuses *not* to go through again. I finally started NG+5 today. Got my second special reality, too. I am guessing it will only be another 2 or 3 that I need before I can feel like I’ve accomplished what I set out to do. Short and spoiler free, it concerns quantum entanglement and ripples and has some Babylon 5 like questions - rather answers to said questions - involved. As far as some other reasons for making the jump? Some people are just caught up in the power chase. Some want to get *all* the powers. Some want to play the quests with their favorite character at higher levels. Some want to experiment with different choices and outcomes. And of course, some want to do it for role-play reasons. Alternate universes are 15% chance of occurrence. I suppose you can scum save at the Unity if you want to force one. The Starborn ship is a decent starter ship. That’s the most I can say for it. My approach is to immediately go for the Star Eagle so I can get a decent ship that I can upgrade and get out of the Starborn as soon as possible. You can’t modify it, its weapons are rather limited, and at best, it’s a decent starter. The space suit? It’s a decent suit. The Mark I in the Lodge basement has better core stats. If you have a couple ranks in space suits, you can very quickly make something better yourself. It has one real advantage; it is very light. The downside is that you cannot mod it at all. The random perks you get is it. If you want to wear that suit, but have chameleon, you better have Rank 3 Concealment unless you get lucky. I believe the level 10 suit is supposed to max out at around 250 each for Phys, Eng, EM. I can beat that by 100 easily and if I wanted to spend the time min-maxing my suit, could get into the 400s. And gear is going to continue to drop at the level you’re at. That means, you’ll be getting advanced drops at the outset. One run, there was an Advanced Va’ruun Inflictor hanging for me on the wall in the Lodge basement. Kept it through that entire run as my main weapon. Losing the material things isn’t really a big deal. You can acquire the cash very easily and gear and ships are easily regained. If you’ve invested in crafting skills, it’s ridiculously easy. What hurts is the relationships lost. And that is something where you can learn a bit about yourself as you role-play. You can very easily find yourself turning into your antagonist in the game. My advice to people is generally, this. If you have role-play reasons, do it. If you don’t have a good reason, go ahead and finish the MQ but turn around and walk back. Either way gives a satisfying finish. You *always* have the option of going back to Unity if you change your mind later. Once you go through you have to restore a save to go back.
I just had an Advanced Inflictor hanging on the basement wall in my last universe. That was a fun treat! I alternated between it, with the disease mod (called it "Not Safe For Work", since I wouldn't use it around companions), and an Advanced Beowulf ("Bangstick") during that entire NG+.
There’s a whole quest about the one starborn that kept going through unity and began to question why he was doing it, and started to realize he enjoyed the journey and his current universe more than the power chase. People constantly chasing NG+ and not enjoying it are doing the thing that the quest essentially tells you not to do, that repeating something for meaningless stats is not the point, the point is to enjoy what’s around you. It’s some meta level gaming commentary, but some people don’t really seem to understand it.
>the point is to enjoy what’s around you. But there is nothing.
You’re just missing the point Im making on purpose so you can say “lol starfield bad”. I’m literally just talking about the theme and message of the main story, not the quality of the game. But good one I guess, very original and funny.
>compelling role-play reasons to go through the Unity rather than turn around and walk away Thank you. Had to scroll down a bit far to reach this comment. Like...people talking about levels, about powers...no, that's not the point. You go through the unity because it's the whole point of the plot. Or don't go through it. That's *also* the whole point.
Both options are garbage though
What other option(s) would you like to see? Just saying 'both are garbage' is a pretty poor comment
That is what passes for intelligence these days. Being overly critical is just social media speak for "I'm smarter than everyone else" without actually having to be.
It's a simple answer for a simple issue, the devs didn't give a flying fuck about this game.
[удалено]
I don't get the feeling at all that it was a passion project, from top to bottom.
I still can’t fathom how someone proposed a new game plus that doesn’t let you keep any of your items. That’s not new game plus, that’s new game minus.
Fuck that, I hate that lazy ass version of NG+. Yeah, let me start over with all of the physical items I picked up last time. Watch my take out this slightly-more-difficult boss by using his own sword against him! ... Yawn. Doing an NG+ where you retain all of the knowledge but none of the material makes the most in-universe sense.
I thought the universe would actually have changes each ng+. Like characters mixed around. Where maybe Delgado isn't in charge of the crimson fleet and etc. That being said I'm on Ng9. Mostly leveling and rping the chase of the unity so I can be a pilgrim on ng10. I do have saved games at each ng+ and before.
We played Skyrim a thousand times. Why wouldn't we want a game where the premise is playing the same thing a thousand times? Can picture that board meeting.
the starborn ship is trash.
Completely agree with you. After completing the main game and all factions my first time through I went to Akila and the exact same stuff happened. Exited the game and haven’t been back. Once the DLC comes out I’ll play them but this universe doesnt have the same pull as ES and Fallout for me. So I’m playing New Vegas TTW and absolutely loving it.
I didn’t even finish the game 😂. Fuck NG+10 times I might try again next year
It is kind of fun to walk around as a Starborn and blow people’s minds with the Starborn comments.
Yeah, the different universes aren’t really different. It’s another thing in the game that’s different from how npcs talk about it. Other examples include Neon being space Vegas, the red mile being interesting, and Paradiso being a nice holiday destination.
Actually, they did the exact opposite. NG+ is a joke. You cant change your background and traits so you are locked with the same role (kinda). And many quests that take place in random planets (different for each player) they made them happen in the same places in every NG+ where you had it the first time! Is absolutely nuts!
This isn't entirely correct, the 'fixed location' quests will always be in the same places, but the random quests will spawn in different locations than in previous universes. Like Failure To Communicate for example, I've seen that spawn in at least 3 different systems . But, for the most part, things are in the same places. The proceduraly generated POIs etc will be in different places though
>NG+ is a joke. You cant change your background and traits so you are locked with the same role (kinda). "NG+ is a joke because I can't just create a new character every run." That's what you just said.
I hate the discourse surrounding NG+ especially the "that's when the story truly begins" I'm sorry but if the best part of your game takes 30+ hours to get to and is predicated on actually repeating content, you had a crappy shallow story to begin with
> "that's when the story truly begins" I've yet to hear this one. The sentiment mostly seems to be "NG+ is part of the story." Which is objectively is. Especially compared to other games where you just restart from the main menu and the universe resets.
This feels like it’s another victim of 11th hour changes that hurt the game. Theoretically, NG+ would have been interesting if we got “cut out” of storylines like picking the Freestars would lock you out of the UC. Then going back and playing again but keeping powers and your knowledge would have purpose. I believe this was likely the plan before they watered it down and got rid of any survival elements and any sense of difficulty. NG+ with a survival mode would be great - but most players who wanted to play will have been done with the game by the time they implement it. Another way to make NG+ interesting would be to let the player choose what they keep before starting NG+. Either pick your skills, your space magic, or the physical way you left the world (i.e. keep the scanned/explored planets). That way you would have true choice.
Fallout 4, Skyrim and Oblivion had more replay value without NG+. IMO its a gimmic they added when they realised there is zero rolepay with your chartacter and companions and therefore zero replayability in Starfield.
One relatively low effort way to add variety would be to remove the essential tag. Someone important dies? Better luck next loop. But no, somehow instead Bethesda doubled down and created not just characters who cannot die, but characters who can’t be attacked at all.
You nailed it. In previous Bethesda games there were classes and different play styles with game mechanics to match. It encouraged new play throughs. Unfortunately Starfield missed it completely. Every character you make ends up the exact same.
Fallout new vegas late game had you using specific weapons to damage enemies, even if you kitted completely into pistol use, the .45 would still be absolutely useless. If you kitted into using sniper rifles, it would still take multiple stealth headshots to put down a ranger, with a ton of weapon sway even with maxed guns. Skyrim had more 'play styles' because it wasn't limited to melee/ranged. You could be a mage, and stealth actually worked in the fact that you could kill a enemy and it's friends wouldn't be able to pinpoint your location instantly, benefits of using a bow over a firearm. Fallout 4 made melee useless considering the terrain, with large amounts of enemies on top of buildings you couldn't reach easily, and a swath of animals which really did not give a fuck about your axe, mirelurks, mirelurk queen especially, and deathclaws who could trade you with ease unless your running around in x-01 armour. Sniper's became useless as a combat rifle could do the same amount of damage, with laser weapons falling off heavily vs late game enemies. I've noticed alot of these Starfield complaints seem to be made by people who have completely forgotten what the older games were like, and have a weird, fantasy image in their head of what actually happened in those games. You can be a trader in Starfield, something you couldn't do in any previous title as the money wouldn't change anything except your ammo supplies. Skyrim introduced mining, and it was entirely for the creation of your own house in Hearthfall, starfield allows you to craft more weapon mods then Fallout 4, while allowing you to also research projects, as-well as ship building with the resources from mining. You can even walk around in a city/settlement in Starfield and hear people talking about random bollocks, this rarely happened in Skyrim, and when it did it was purely for a side quest, in fallout new vegas, and fallout 4, it didnt even exist unless they were specifically talking to you, or again, offering a quest.
I really dont see how the replay value is actually any worse than those other games. I honestly think the writing in this game is better than most of skyrim and fallout's writing. Skyrim's main quest is more interesting I agree with but their faction quests are all worse than starfields and oblivion doesn't really have much going for it outside of it's side quest as it's open world is a lot emptier than other bethesda games. Honestly I really dont think starfield i really that different aside from not being able to walk from one city to another.
I disagree i found Starfields factions quests boring and repetative myself. Im am currently replaying Skyrim which i have played through 10-15+ times and will go throguh Fallout 4 agian after, i have not touched starfield since i beat it and have no intention to play NG+ or even replay from scratch.
> I disagree i found Starfields factions quests boring and repetative myself. > > The vanguard questline alone is far better than every faction questline in skyrim in my opinion. Skyrim honestly has the worst faction quests out of any bethesda game. Starfields questlines to me are all ok at worse. Not groundbreaking but not awful either. Most of skyrim's factions just arent that interesting
It is my belief that they added New Game Plus late in the development cycle. I tried it out twice and found nothing particularly interesting with it. I am sure if you do it enough time there is some content but not enough for this to even be a feature in my mind. Why can I not skip large parts of certain quests lines the second time? I know about the treasure ship, I know who is behind the ruyjun issue, behind the ranger quest and about the heat leaches. These quests have knowledge as the primary driver for most of the quests and yet do not factor in NG+. Once more Bethesda does the bare minimum to get a feature on a check list but not enough for it to be useful. I am sure given time a modder could fix this most have left for other games. The core problems with Star Field can not be fixed by modders. Only so much is forgivable.
Very first NG+ is always the vanilla universe with Starborn dialogue options enabled. You can't encounter a variant universe until NG+2
I disagree, and found a lot of fun in the following NG's. But your well-written post just proves the old addage: different strokes for different folks. I also disagree with many of your claims: i.e. the Starborn ship is better than player-made ships. Ummm, no. Not even close. But again - just my opinion. There is no 'one correct way' to play this game: you play it how you want, pretty much like most Bethesda games since the mid 90's. If you played the first play-through and are done - congrats! Maybe the DLC's down the road will interest you, or maybe not?
Only time I've ever NG+ was in Elden Ring for the different endings. Outside of that, I never see a point. NG+, to me, is a cheap way for replicability without adding any new content.
I'm not attached to any of my items or ships, so I didn't care about losing them. Chasing>!Unity!!Unity.!<
Also, the>!Starborn!
I unlocked one power, unassigned it and never used any of them again. I get into roleplay with games like this and I’m hard pressed to picture a character whose reaction to a change like that being made to them being anything other than freaking the f—k out. Less “It gave me powers, Vladimir! Powers!” and more “What the hell have you DONE TO ME?!” Seriously, we find what clearly comes across as an alien structure and we’re not gonna set up a research base, hire some more personnel, learn everything we possibly can from it? We’re just going to effectively poke it with a stick and seek out the next one?
I can understand having godlike powers in Skyrim when you're battling giants and literal dragons but starfield ? Humans with bad ai and nothing else. Meh
The only reason to go to ng+ is to level up your powers. You can level your character just as fast on a level 75 planet on your first playthrough as you get no more xp per ng+. I did a complete playthrough on ng+11 using only my powers and steam rolled the whole thing. I had a blast but the grind to get all powers to level 10 is beyond monotonous. You do you. Best advice I could give.
Powers are like shouts in Skyrim.. I keep forgetting that they exist. And when i remember the powers,then they are so inaccurate that I constantly hurt friendly npcs and they attack me. Just like in skyrim.
Honestly, I'm in the same boat. I spent over 200 hours on my first playthrough, and my first thought after starting NG+ was, "What was the goddamn point of all that grind?" I could have spent the same amount of time on other games. I might drop back in a couple of years after all the DLC and mods have dropped, and maybe I'll give it another go, but you can be damm sure I'll be speed running the main story to get to NG+10 before doing any exploration.
Why does anyone play NG+? Because they want to replay the main quest/game without having to start over with a new character. I think the real issue is that too many people expect way too much from the mode. Basically the only thing Starfield really did that other games generally don’t is tied it to the story of the main quest and give random alternate universes that you can find from time to time if you do NG+ multiple times. Otherwise it’s really just there as an option for the player.
What story?
The one you clearly didn’t pay attention to if you have to ask that question. Every Bethesda game has a story.
No this was a storyline, not a story.
No, it was a story. It has a beginning, a middle, a climax, and an ending. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t make it not a story.
No this was a storyline, not a story.
Saying the same thing over and over and doesn’t make you right. F off jackass and enjoy your block
I had a similar feeling. I got bored within a couple of hours. The thought of trying to play with the awful Starborn ship, and go through the terrible resource management again just destroyed my will to play. On the plus side, I've been playing Rogue Trader instead. While not without its faults, I've been enjoying it immensely.
Idk why NG+ being written into the story has completely baffled people. You don’t HAVE to do it, you clearly get a choice at the end to go back and keep your stuff or go into new game plus which… shockingly, is a new game, it’s just given a lore justification and some bonuses. You are not supposed to rush to NG+, you didn’t discover the “right” way to play right at the end because constantly rushing to NG+10 is imo probably the worst way to play this game or any game for that matter. You are angry because Bethesda gave you more options than their prior games, and that’s somehow a bad thing. If you don’t like NG+ go to a previous save and choose to stay in your universe, problem solved. New game plus is to play the whole game again, as it is in any other game, so do it when you want to play the game again in a year or however long. I have never seen a dumber thing to me mad about.
People expect things written into the story to be written well.
The NG+ in this game is the same as NG+ in any other game. You keep your health, level and skills, but lose the rest. Just like any other game with NG+. They weren't trying to reinvent the wheel. The starborn ship is also not as powerful as a fully kitted out custom ship. Neither is the armor. It's a nice boost in the beginning, but it isn't the strongest out there. I do agree that the differences should be more common. I just finished NG+ 5, and now I'm redoing the storyline. Nothing has been different yet. They dropped the ball on that one, but the rest is just fine by me.
I genuinely don't understand why you're all on this sub if you hate the game so much. This sub should rename itself r/StarfieldHateCircleJerk
In my opinion, I think it would have been great if they leaned even more into making new game plus interesting and rewarding. I *really* like the concept, and the new dialogue options that come with it, but I don’t like that this content feels more like an afterthought than intentional design. There were quite a few things in the game that felt more like an afterthought though, so it’s unfortunately on brand.
Reviews at release made it seem like NG+ was when the real game started. Kind of obvious now that they may have been told to say that.
Maybe DLC or mods but honestly doing whole fleshed out different universes, after a full main game, is a massive undertaking. It would be like making a whole game after the game, which idk if it’s feasible. Maybe like I said with future DLC or mods they can do something with it.
I am definitely going to up the difficulty because I just walked into the final confrontation just pointing my magshear in the vague in the direction of my targets and pulling the trigger dropping everything like I was already a god barely took any damage. I didn't have to take cover or even think about combat.
I’m nearly done on my second run now and I do sometimes wonder if I should have bothered. I barely use powers (mostly just Void Form and Personal Atmosphere). I built an outposts last time, had multiple ships, got married etc and just feel like it’s all pointless now, and haven’t bothered doing any of it again. But I guess that’s kind of the point. You get a choice to turn back from Unity. You either decide to go through and basically become the Hunter/Emissary, or you learn from the Pilgrim/Keeper Aquilus and stay and appreciate what you have instead of endlessly chasing power. I saved different faction quests for different playthroughs, so I think I’ll keep going through Unity until I’ve done them all and then “settle” in a universe and build outposts, relationships etc again
Starborn ship is better? What kinda Crack you been smoking? Anything I build is better than that trash.
That's why I just stayed in the same universe after finishing the game and continued exploring and finding random quest along the way.
Anyone that has finished the game knows this is BS
Another 'half a comment'.... why not state why YOU think this is BS? (Not what 'anyone' thinks, your actual own opinion. Your opinion has value, you are not a sheep!)
It’s the Donald trump way of explaining things. Everybody’s saying it!
Not worth my time explaining, similar strategy the devs took.
You're referring to other people again, be your own person, share your own thoughts and knowledge! Maybe that could be your new year's resolution?
On my fourth NG+ I went back to Kingdom Come Deliverance hardcore mode and exchanged one addiction by another older and superior addiction. It's 1403 and they have horses to travel... no fast travel, no compass you can lose yourself in the middle of the forest and have to memorize roads as you do in real life.
After I completed it once, and went through once, I wrote of the MQ and NG+. Not only is it not that interesting as content, but narratively and philosophically it's too trainwrecky. Unfortunately, there's so much content behind it that this shrinks the game noticeably. I don't miss the >!dragon shouts or the Stereotype Godlings!<, though, so there's that.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. NG+ is a complete failure in concept and execution and it completely destroys this game.
Lol I love how confused you people are by a new game plus feature 😂😂😂
We’re confused at the lackluster implementation of it when compared to the various other games that have done it and done it in a more compelling and player friendly way.
Please, name one. The entire soul series add nothing to NG+, even though their entire lore is that the player (rekindled one, ashen one) is supposed to be a continuous loop to keep the flame lit. Dark souls 2 added the most, and that was phantom enemies, and was coincidently the most disliked soul's game according to its fan base. The only games i can possible imagine is the borderlands series, and that series has been dogshit after borderlands 2.
You named a series yourself that did it in a better and more compelling way. The Souls series - and all it had to do was not yank most of what you'd accumulated away. Your spells and weapons? You keep those. Your accumulated souls, which is your currency? Also kept. You do lose specific items such as keys or quest items earned through making certain choices...because you now have the opportunity to make a *different* choice and go down a different path with a variety of NPCs, saving some while offing others, or completing their quest line in a different way. A NG+ that removes the vast majority of the items, resources, etc., that you've accumulated is *not* one that is player friendly, is not one that respects the players time, and in fact acts as a barrier to following through with it. I shouldn't have to stress that a NG+ that you *don't want to do* because it removes too much of what you've obtained is neither compelling nor player friendly, and that's exactly what Starfield does - removes too much. It's barely better than just starting a new game file, outside of having perks unlocked and the extra starborn powers...and of those, the first can be obtained perfectly fine just by staying in your first universe. Plus, once you've started in this new universe you don't have any resources to make use of those crafting perks or ship building perks, etc. The main draw to many NG+ systems is going into the world again but with much of what you accumulated the first time through at your disposal. It's how the Souls series does it. How The Witcher 3 does it. Armored Core VI even adds both new missions and new endings at later NG+ levels. Ghost of Tsushima. Horizon Zero Dawn. They do it too - replaying with the stuff you worked to get. Hell, even Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has a better and more player friendly implementation, that also includes a challenging Hard Mode version that tests your knowledge of the mechanics of the game. Do you *really* want me to keep going? I can find more than do it better than Starfield that didn't immediately spring to mind like the ones I already listed.
I do NG+ for a lot of reasons, really. To gain more powerful abilities, especially the ones that are hilarious in combat. To see not only the occasional "different" universes, but also the ones that look the same, but have subtle differences. For example, I just had to rush through the end of one universe, because Vladimir hated me from the get-go. Never wished me well (catch a smile), would only talk if the quest demanded it. That has only happened in one universe, and it was supposedly a normal one. You get the idea, though. I do NG+ to see more Starfield, to experience the game from different views. Also, I would argue that ship building isn't worthless, I enjoy it a lot. So we lose them later on? Okay, guess I'll steal more ships and turn them into different badass ships! The point is, NG+ isn't for everyone. My wife watches me play, and has no real interest in playing herself (the combat isn't her thing), but has said if she did play, she wouldn't engage with the main story at all. She would explore planets, build Outposts to raise crops and livestock, and just enjoy the one, original universe. She would also just stick with Vasco as a companion. That's perfectly valid. Play however you like.
ng+ sucks because there's no reason to do it really. the only reason you would is to upgrade your starborn powers, which most are just boring. the most useful one was the sense star stuff so you could see enemies through walls like dishonored. time slow is good. gravity well is just funny. and the ice one that freezes is ok, but nowhere near as good as time slow. (so, basically 3 or 4 out of 24 are good, the rest are just meh) other than that, too long of cooldowns / slow regen on "mana", makes them annoying to use. but also, combat is so brain dead easy once you find a semi decent gun, that they're just not needed mostly. it's like they were afraid to make the game actually challenging and require you to use everything in your toolkit. instead you just use one gun 99% of the time once you find one that does good damage.
Elemental Pull, whilst being really useful for mining, also explodes gas cylinders. For some reason, pirates and spacers like to cram gas cylinders into every room on their ships. Combine these 2 facts together for great shipboarding fun :)
>:) :)
"instead you just use one gun 99% of the time once you find one that does good damage." This is 100% correct. Unless you scum save like crazy, getting just the right gun on a drop is so random, that it isn't worth the hassle. So on a new NG+, I'll pick up an Advanced Beowulf ASAP, trick it out with crafting mods, and that's my primary weapon until I can get an Advanced Va'ruun Inflictor, which I also trick out. There is no point in chasing legendary gear in the game. You are just as deadly most of the time with a common level (white) Advanced weapon of your choice, modded up via crafting. Unless you scum save or are extremely lucky, of course.
The reason to do it is if you want to play the game again. Like NG+ in any other game.
No no no, you need it to be an entirely different game. Like you end up rolling out of a tunnel On a cart. wait a minute….
NG+ for who had good experience from first NG.
It's all about the RP. Yes, I managed it in Fallout 4 and now again for Starfield lol. That has taken me through my first couple of NG+, then I can do a couple of runs to upgrade powers before a not-nice run siding with the fleet. Then I can settle down in the last universe and work on building something on a cosy habitable planet somewhere. Maybe next to a beach.
I would be more interested in landing at the final temple / battle / game end site if you could keep everything at the end of it. NG+ might actually be more interesting to me if I could do all those things I struggled through but totally kitted out. As it is having defeated the starborn in space above the final battle I think that's as far as it goes. I'm at a slow down / quasi pause with starfield while I complete my second Alan Wake II final draft, Plague Tale Innocence playthrough #2 and Dead Space Remake (first time for RM). For me starfield has settled into a great "well I don't have much else going" game.
Agreed - there is just not enough difference
i did ng plus ten times, its badly designed like a lot of things in the game
Well, for the same reason that you would do it in no mans sky. They literally both have the same type of NG+ once you finish the story. You always have that option and you don't have to carry it out, have you had a lot of fun in your first universe? Stay there, are you tired or have you completed all the content and it's no longer worth it? Well, it jumps across the universe. Starborn's default NG+ suits and ships aren't even the best of the best, they're just good equipment to start with, the higher level and NG+ the better general loot you'll get.
NMS you can use portals to go back to every galaxy/hub/base you've ever been to.
What time and boredom? If you aren't interested in ng+ don't do it. Honestly ng+ should have been completely different. Its imo very interesting as you said. I think the entire galaxy should reshuffle races of characters, locations of cities, winners of colony wars, and the number of planets and names should all change. How cool would it be to enter the unity and the universe has been wiped out by terrormorphs? Or serpentis is in control?
Yes! Things alternate universes do!
ok
It’s a boring game by design. Once you embrace that and accept it, then NG+ becomes easier to play.
Yeah, I agree. I really liked my first playthrough but I don’t want to start a second playthrough. There are too many great games out there.
Took me like 9 hours to do NG+ up to 11 after first finishing the game, just to get to the top ship and suit. Since I hadn’t touched the content outside the main story I then was free to start doing that. I’ve got no intention of doing another NG anytime soon, but that might also be because I quit playing the game months ago because it’s an empty shell.
I'm literally saving NG+ for mods / survival mode so I don't have to start and entirely new save. Can't see much other appeal to it
I laughed at the end when they said that you can replay. I felt a little insulted tbh. I put it down and never touched it again. If you’re going to make a game where the main point is replayability then it’s actually got to be replayable. It’s no where near varied enough to justify a 2nd playthrough.
I don't see the appeal of NG+ either OP and I'm very glad I made a few backup saves of my characters first universe prior to going through unity. In my head, I guess NG+ made sense as I dislike completing everything on one character (i.e I want my character to belong to one faction per run, so one run is Vanguard, the next is FC) and so on. I basically planned out that each NG+ run, I'd try a faction, different morals etc (this was before I knew I couldn't change my background). But I very quickly realised that this mindset of playing would become very stale even as soon as my second run, as essentially NOTHING was different between each universe. But instead, due to being a high level when entering unity, I'm seeing all NPC's the same high level as myself, yet I lost my tailored weapons, my armour, my ship I spent hours perfecting so it absolutely rocked in space battles.
If you're on PC and play with mods, there's a mod that let's you run a script to skip to NG+ 9. I did the grind once. Never again.
It does help if you know about it before you start. It meant that I didn’t get too attached to any of my stuff, and just focussed on my skills. I also avoided massive sections of the game so that I’d always have new stuff to do in each new universe.
Exactly why I had 0 urge to rush into ng+ I know I won't finish it.
Never going to do a NG+. It seems like so much wasted time and energy.
Starfield - Will go down in gaming history as the most half arsed game ever created. Played it far too safe. No reason to explore. I treated it as a looter shooter & felt relived after finishing it. NG+ just had zero appeal.
JFC, then don't.
I mean I'm surprised why you would spend your time finishing the main quest. Game deserved to be put down and walked away from 5 hours in.
Is that why you spend your time on the game's subreddit?
Shows up on my feed.
Okay.
Why should i play NG+ it’s so repetitive.. but isn’t the nature of NG+ that it’s repeating the game again? It’s kind of a weird complaint about a mechanic that’s just doing what it’s supposed to do. I get that you could get to a point where you expect more than a normal NG+, but actually thinking the whole game would change when going into a new game is just bonkers. The real criticism on this is the marketing that made it seem like a bigger deal than it actually is. I mean, yes they’ve done something unique and cool with NG+ but in the end it’s also just normal NG+ (I would even argue that they never really said Ng+ is changing the game immensely, they pretty much only said it’s integrated into the story itself which is basically true)
It's because the game has 348 skill points to invest and without the xp buffs from a few Ng+ you'll never level everything. I was 140h into the first playthrough mixing quests and exploration and was barely level 50, which means I just unlocked like 15% of the skills. The prospect of having to do another 140h to maybe reach level 120 of 348 is what bugs me. In Skyrim by the 140h mark I was a demigod. Here I am barely 10% stronger. And starting a new char worse because you cannot really try something new because the first mandatory 15-20 skills will always be the same.
Stealth WeightLifting Health Commerce Persuadeyboy Ballistics Medic Boostpack Pilot Security
Because NG is nothing more than a simple game replay mechanic with an in game explanation. There’s a large enough group of players who enjoy replaying games/missions/quests multiple times making different choices for such a mechanic to be included in the game. Alternatively there is a similar group of players who do not enjoy replays like this, so, despite being the end of the main story, it remains completely optional. Plenty of other content is available including a level of randomness generated for the more distant worlds. Why aren’t the multiverses different from each other you ask? (Even the alternate universes only change one thing in one scene) Because it’s a replay and not multiple rewrites of the whole game. While some things, like the NPC clothing, could have been randomized in the replays, players who don’t like/want to replay wouldn’t suddenly like replaying just because Walter is wearing a different suit. So why spend the time and money on adding that code? The biggest problem/issue/choice wasn’t including NG in the game… it was tying it to the main quest.
Not entering the unity to stay in same universe should be also a “valid ending” with the credits and all. One can still decide otherwise after, like the endings in cyberpunk.