Starfield's already the top seller

People will never learn to not preorder games. I have no hope for humanity at this point.

Queue the "internet people are a vocal minority" saying. Unfortunately, it really is true. How anyone can pre-order after fo76 is absolutely bonkers to me
well. yeah. i know people don't like to hear it, because it'd be really nice if games shipped actually finished or not incredibly bug-ridden Day 1, but for most people the protest of not preordering a game so it'll shipped finish just... doesn't register as a concern. unless the game is so broken it's actively unplayable (see the recent Gollum game) most people can hang with whatever happens Day 1 and it's not a super big deal to them, nor is the principle of a playable game on launch. this is a case of online sentiment being a vocal but clear minority.
- Yeah but Bethesda?! Release a big ridden game? Unthinkable.
  /s
- Its not a protest its common sense.
  I dont know the product. I wait for the review embargo to lift. Then i wait for AT LEAST release day to hear if its broken/servers are down (hello diablo 4) or its just shit.
  I can still literally buy, download and play it that same day if its amazing.
- Yep!!! A game forum is a subsection of a subsection of people who actually play video games on the regular. The biggest groups of “gamers” are people like my cousin who buy the new FIFA, NBA2k and COD that come out every year.
  On top of this Bethesda is one of the biggest game companies out there. It’s easy to forget because Skyrim was forever ago, but that game was so fucking huge that people I knew who didn’t care a single lick about video games asked me when “the dragon game” was coming out and if I was gonna get it and if they should get it too. I’m already getting messages from non-gaming friends asking me when starfield is coming out. The game’s gonna be explosive in popularity when it drops.
I hear ya. At the same time, I'm very happy to wait a year or more to buy the game with all DLCs are a discount.
I know that doesn't change the fact the studios are banking on pre-orders to finish funding the game, but I'm doing my part... As little as it is.
- I hear ya. At the same time, I'm very happy to wait a year or more to buy the game with all DLCs are a discount
  Exactly my thoughts. It makes no sense to me buying a Bethesda game, knowing there will be DLCs that usually do not go on sale. So you pay full price for everything or are forced to buy that base game twice with a GOTY release.
  I am years behind with Bethesda games, but once you are behind, you are not. I always have a good title in my stash to play :-)
I would never pre order this early, but I don’t see the big deal when you get close to release date. Sometimes you get early access or a few other perks, and there’s really no risk since you can get a refund if the game is totally broken at launch.
Lol I recall preordering Cyberpunk 2077

Stop. Preordering.

100%. I'm a diehard Bethesda RPG fan, but never ever preorder. I'll never understand the stupidity in doing this.
- I also got hyped and joined the launch day queues when i was a kid. But then we as a community got burned again and again.
  Like even the most casual gamer must get pissed off by broken servers.
Like at least find out if the planets are any good first and not just 2000 procedurally generated flavors of bear asses to collect.
Hopefully there's a whole RPG game in there and those are just side stuff to muck around and get some loot.
- I feel like mods would liven those planets up, but even then, I’m still expecting starfield to be very buggy.
The people that preorder clearly aren’t listening
- The people that preorder clearly aren’t listening
  Or they are listening and just don't care.
Why are people advising against pre-ordering? Is Bethesda known for not meeting expected release dates?
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf5Uj4XIT1Y
  Basically, preordering incentivizes companies to release games that are not finished. In general, companies will always maximize revenues while minimizing costs. If they can release a game that didn't cost them as much to produce (getting massive preorders through good marketing but pinching development and quality) then they absolutely will. look at any AAA released this year
- It's a digital good, there's no scarcity and a lot of them turn out buggy or just bad.
- Why are people buying products that they can't even have until release day?
- IMO it's generally not a great idea to pre-order anyway because it's not like they can ever run out, plus you never know what's going to happen on launch day. The game could be a big mess like Cyberpunk was, or the servers could go down because everyone's downloading at once so then there'd be no point paying to get it on day 1 anyway.
  And on top of that, Bethesda has a bit of a reputation for putting out games that are... let's say unpolished on release day. I usually find the best approach is to leave it for a day or two, see what people are saying about it online, and then pick it up if you really want to.
- I think one reason is that Bethesda's previous game's, Fallout 76's, release didn't go very smoothly. Not at all smoothly. Internet Historian has a good video about that: The Fall of 76
- That and preordering a digital product that literally can't run out has no benefits.
  You just put down money for something without any idea what you're getting.
  Preordering physical copies used to be a thing because shops would run out of them.
- It's literally pointless. You are getting no benefit. You can buy it when it releases.
I feel lucky. The only game I have ever pre-ordered was Battlefield 3 for PS3. Considering it's EA and Frostbite was relatively new, I really lucked out

They never learn do they ?

My tactic of waiting a year until a newly released game is fully patched and grabbing it with a discount has yet to fail me.
- Not like I have the time to play the games I already have anyway!
- /c/patientgamers
  (For visibility and sharing)
- Let's not kid ourselves, Bethesda depends on the unofficial patches and mods to really make their games working and shining. A year or two is mandatory for their games. 😅
Nope. And everybody will scream cause they payed 70 bucks for a broken game, just like Bethesda is known to produce.
Just keep looking at the list. Payday 3 is also there. A publisher known for maybe a worse dlc and microtransaction policy than EA with the Sims, but it seems that doesn't matter a bit.

DON'T PREORDER SHIT YOU STUPID

Well this is sad.

insert here the definition of insanity lol
Every year it's the same thing with pre orders
- especially from a Bethesda game

Rule 1 of Bethesda. Don't pre order Rule 1 if space games. Don't pre order

did no one learn from No Man's Sky at launch like??

$70 for a Bethesda game that will come out broken is just insane to me. I'll pick it up a year or so after release at a discount when the game is actually decent

IDK about a year for me personally, as when it doesn’t massively disappoint when it comes out I will likely get it as soon as I have anything resembling a free day. Nothing like cracking into a new game after you know it won’t disappoint and you have post of time to loose yourself.
- Nah Bethesda games are best left alone until the modders get a solid crack at it to shore up bugs and add features that probably should've been in the base game. Give that shit at least half a year imo

It'd be bad enough if this were just another AAA over hyped deal.

This is literally Bethesda. What are these people smoking?

They probably don't care about the issues. Unless it's Cyberpunk levels of bad, I'll probably play it on day one
- Cyberpunk wasn't even that bad to be honest, except on last gen consoles and the reviews said as much. (When the reviews came out the day before release day. Nice embargo from CDprojekt.)
  I played on PC day one and never had any gamebreaking bugs, just a few hilarious NPC clipping incidents.
People don't care about Bethesda games being janky and buggy at launch. Its part of their charm honestly.
- Such charm when i cant play the game I paid hard earned money for 🥰

Have some decency and crop out the ifunny logo!

If this gets us another Internet Historian video on the fallout, then this is worth it.

Pun unintended.

His video was great. Not sure if anyone noticed when they were showcasing the game they were showing console games and cut off right before they fully showed F76 LMAO
- I noticed that as well, made me laugh lol

Preordering is dumb, preordering in 2023 when it's 50/50 whether any given PC port is going to be a total mess is dumb

At least they can refund?
- Really depends on the platform I suppose. Steam does a good job at that. Xbox or 3rd party key sellers? Not as much.

People still preorder games at full price even after all the controversies... Ngl the game looks sexy and may be a big hit but the price is a big no

Yea I mean, no wonder the companies have no incentive to avoid a broken day one release. The internet never learns.
I won't lie I only preordered because I wanted the 5 day early play. My excuse though is that I literally have not preordered a game since we still needed to get them from Gamestop and I've been waiting for Starfield for like 5 years now.
- You've been waiting 5 years and can't wait another 5 days?
- I almost bought the early play version of diablo 4, took a lot for me not to buckle. Im going to wait before buying starfield, see how the release goes, hoping the game is a huge success because the latest gameplay sure got my attention

Another proof for publishers that they only need big promises and nice trailers to sell their game, nevermind the state they ship it in

I'm going to feel absolutely no sympathy and simply laugh at anyone who bought the game and gets upset about how shitty it is.

It looks good in the marketing (it always does) but we should all remember that it’s Bethesda making this. Then again, I can’t even name a developer that I would say “hell yeah, this is gonna be awesome!” at this point. The very sad state of the industry.

On the producer side, Annapurna is a strong quality guarantee for me.
- They seem to have a good track record with releasing good games, but they're a still like any other publisher at heart. The rights and mental health of devs seem to be a second thought, but that's pretty much any publisher these days.
  However if you're looking for quality, they seem to be of positive indication.
  PC Gamer - Two reports paint a troubling picture of workplace abuses at acclaimed indie studios
Cdpr used to be the one for me even with Witcher 3 release, but with 2077 it was another whole level, specially the way they robbed the devs of the bonuses.
- CDPR was probably everyone's go to of a AAA dev that hadn't yet been corrupted by money. Unfortunately with Cyberpunk 2077 we found out the hard way that yes, they had indeed been corrupted by said money. They single-handily managed to annihilate any sort of reputation they had gained over the many years of their studio, then managed to squander all of that in less than a few days. As the saying goes, slow to rise, quick to fall.
The team behind the Yakuza / Like a Dragon-games never disappointed me before. That’s one of the few developers / game series that I’m happy to support in advance.
Naughty Dog
I would say Rockstar Games ist one of the few thats left here. I was never disappointed by new Games they produced.
- By saying "new" and "produced", you are deliberately excluding the GTA Trilogy remaster I assume, because that is definitely a Rockstar Games mess.
FromSoftware and Nintendo? As far as I know, their games are both successful and polished. You might not like their games, of course, but if you do it seems like a safe bet.

I genuinely can't believe people preorder games but especially Bethesda games, which are notoriously buggy at launch and have tons of issues.

I won't even consider buying until it's been out for at least a year or two. By then the major bugs will have been fixed and all the content added.

!patientgamers@lemmy.ml
- I'm so glad this community exists here!

Why are people preordering a DIGITAL, BETHESDA game?! It's still the Creation Engine (Creation Engine 2 so hopefully they fixed it!) so it's probably gonna be a buggy mess at release.

Fallout 76 PTSD intensifies
Why are people preordering a DIGITAL, BETHESDA game?! It’s still the Creation Engine (Creation Engine 2 so hopefully they fixed it!) so it’s probably gonna be a buggy mess at release.
Unlike most online gaming communities, there are many people in the world that enjoy playing video games. So, when they see a game that looks fun to play, they buy it or pre-order it.
- Buying is different to preordering.
  I would not buy a broken mess. Why would I preorder it
- I love how you imply people here don't enjoy playing videogames, when in reality we do, we just expect a 70 dollar product to fucking work.
  What you're describing is called being a "consumer whore" and is the #1 reason unregulated capitalism will always lead to our demise. Consumers are morons and will willingly pay full price for some broken loot box addled bullshit because they didn't learn from the last fifteen times they got burned when preordering.
I was going to buy it anyways, even if it's a mess. If I spend the money now, the game feels free later.
I actually haven't preordered it and might not, but this is how I felt about Mass Effect Legendary Edition, and Bethesda games are at the same tier for me. I have hundreds of hours in every game since Morrowind; I'll eventually get my money's worth.
- If I spend the money now, the game feels free later.
  "If I pay full price for a sub par product now, it feels like a free upgrade when they finally give me what they told me I'd get six months ago!"
  Do you also punch yourself in the nutsack because when it feels so good when you stop?

Imagine putting your trust in bethesda of all things.

Pre-ordering Bethesda games is like proposing to an abusive ex

I can't wait for the launch day bug compilations Either way, can't wait to pick up the game in two years at 30-40$ with all the dlc

I'm here for the shortcomings on the Collector's Edition headphones and watch.
This is the way.

i will say, one of my favorite parts about bethesda games is that basically everybody agrees going in that this game is not gonna be anywhere close to done. we're all gonna see a fuckton of bugs and it'll be the subject of ridicule for years. but, still, we will all unflinchingly call it one of the best games ever.

Because it will be. For as much shit as Bethesda receives from "gamers", there is literally no game that scratches the itch the same way Elder Scrolls and Fallout does. No one even comes close.
- Unfortunately true. I've been waiting for a game like starfield for decades now, i've been hyped and disappointed by star citizen, elite dangerous, dual universe, NMS and probably many other smaller games, trying to chase down that freelancer spark once more. I won't buy it at full price for sure, but at this point I'm desperate enough to give even Todd a new chance. I really want it to be at least adequate.
- It's honestly so weird to me how the narrative has changed. IDK why people are so angry about them all the time. Gamers are fueled by rage now.
I have a strong feeling that Starfield is gonna be a shit game, to be honest. I’ve just got a vibe that it’ll be a shitty boring open world anthem/Ubisoft game

Nobody has ever been burned by preordering, so I'm not seeing the downside here.

And it's a good thing that Bethesda has never released a game that was unplayably janky at launch, otherwise I'd be worried for everyone.
- But it I don't have it pre-loaded on launch day, might miss some of those magical Bethesda Bugs™ that get patched out after release! What is all the planets are just hats worn by NPCs and they forget to hide the legs? What if the spaceships get spontaneously replaced with Skyrim horses if you go in and out of building just right? I could miss some of the best moments of the game if I don't get that unpatched Day 1 experience!

Thats is pretty gross. Why is that the greater community continues to pre-order everything!

Because for the most part we know we are going to be buying it before it goes on sale anyways and preordering it generally lets us preload it and gives you some extras (that generally are not worth anything in game but still cool to have). The big thing for me, especially with this game, is that preordering it gets me a Sept1 release which is right before the weekend and I can proload it with the leftover data to help prevent a datacap in September.
I have not preordered it yet... but I will.
- I would bet they are releasing on the Wednesday after Labor Day specifically so that the premium early-access date is right before most people with a salaried job are having a long weekend. Which is scummy of MS/Bethesda but I guess I'm the sucker cause I'm taking that whole week off and ofc I want to start playing right after I get off work on Friday. 🤷
If releasing broken games wasn't profitable, then it wouldn't happen. The vast majority of people don't read reviews or keep up with scummy industry practices etc.
A cousin of mine bought sonic boom on release and was super happy with it. They never finished it or were aware of the controversy whatsoever.
- Fair enough I guess. Still just... Frustrated.

Damn it, what ever happened to no pre-orders. People never learn, do they?

Or they just don't care what niche communities think about pre-ordering and they just play their games and enjoy them?
People never agreed to that. It's not like a lot of these people hang out in communities where we drill this again and again.
I've preordered because GMG has a 20% off offer that I reckon is unlikely to be beaten before launch and I want to play on launch day, not some months later when there might or might not be a sale. Yeah, I'm impatient with games that vaguely resemble my dream game I've been thinking of since the original Elite on my Speccy :) But I'm also prepared for bugs and jank and needing mods to round out the game.

The funniest thing is seeing the rage from Star Citizen fanboys about all this. They keep saying "it'll be buggy and awful on release" like SC isn't already. I know with Bethesda, they'll fix it up and the modders will go wild with patches and add ins, delivering all the stuff Chris Roberts said they would. Meanwhile, I try and play Star Citizen and i've died or failed a mission due to glitches any time i've tried to play this past week.

Star Citizen still has fanboys?
- yup, sunk cost fallacy I suppose.
- Star Citizen delivers just enough to keep people super invested, their recent server rework is actually a really cool addition but every time I consider trying to play it again I realize how shallow and broken it is as a videogame.
Modders shouldn't have to fix Bethesda's mess. And I don't trust Bethesda.
Pff it's fine. I will fly my Cutlass when I am retired.

Preordering is just giving a multimillion dollar company a free loan of your own money.

It's not really a loan if they don't give it back.
- Whats it called when you give money away with no return? In this case, the loan is re-payed when they allow you to download the game you bought months prior.
But I have to preorder only to be wildly disappointed so that I get the full NMS clone experience.

I'm really excited as well, but man... Don't think I've preordered anything in... Like ten years?

On reddit, there was a sub I sometimes frequented called /r/patientgamers. Was good to have some compatriots in either waiting for sales or just enjoying old games because they're still fun.

Only two times did I relent and buy games at full price over the last few years. BOTW and Spider-Man PS4 (which I actually just got bundled with my late entry into owning a PS4).

Considering this is Bethesda, as much as I like them, I might just renew my Game Pass subscription for this, rather than pay full price. (Side note: I'm 100% expecting the Game Pass price to jump just before Starfield is released.)

Once it's on sale, I'll get it on Steam because I can guarantee the modding scene is going to have way more freedom there than they'll have with the Windows Store version.

So maybe play it near release on GP, buy it a few months later on Steam.

It'll take a few months for major mods to start hitting the scene anyway because they won't release the Creation Kit immediately. Of course, a lot of mods will be out there within a few days, but I'm expecting it to be mostly unofficial patches (thank fuck the community has agreed on ignoring Arthmoor and doing it with open permissions this time) and silly nonsense like replacing models or whatever, plus a few cheaty things here and there.

That community exists on Lemmy. ~~I think Lemmy.ml.~~ On sh.itjust.works.
- Not related at all, but it's a funny feeling having signed up to one of the smaller servers and seeing it mentioned, being like "that's where I'm from" insert Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme
  I honestly mostly picked that one because of the name: shit just works
- !patientgamers@sh.itjust.works
  also https://browse.feddit.de/ for a good community search thing. found this on another post and found patient gamers from it.
I still remember the last game I pre-ordered. Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Game straight up didn't work for like 6 months. And they promised all this free shit to us who bought it day one, but those of us who got it digitally didn't qualify, so we didn't get it. Even though I asked a Microsoft store rep if we qualified and they said yes. They later said no.
Never again for me.
- Welcome to Microsoft. I'm convinced that they have people on their staff whose job it is to make the customer experience worse just because that's part of their brand identity.
At least if you pre-order with steam, you can get a refund according to their normal policies if the game doesn't meet your expectations.
Though the only advantage tends to be preloading the game plus whatever bullshit bonus games tend to come with when you pre-order.

Pre-ordering digitally distributed games is so pointless, but even more so right now. At least wait for the review embargo to end.

But it's even worse with a Bethesda game.

Exactly my thoughts. If nothing else, this year specifically should hint everyone that triple A doesn't mean finished release. And being among the first to beta test something for mega corp? No thanks. I'll wait and see.

The game looks promising, from what i have seen.

Few questions remain: Will it dethrone Jedi Survivor as worst performing game? Will it surpass Redfall in it's emptyness? Does it have a chance fighting LOTR Gollum in "Most 2023ish game of the year"? Or will it truly be a Masterpiece? (Hint: Masterpieces don't get released in 2023).

We will find out at release. Together with those that preorderd.

… Tears of the Kingdom released this year. That game is 100% a masterpiece.
- ...with sub 30fps performance reported after release.
Pizza Tower released this year right?

Same price as Gollum, decisions decisions

Do not preorder ffs...

I don't get the appeal of preordering a game months before it comes out when there isn't even a discount for doing so. At least Steam has 2 hour returns, but why money upfront so far away from release?

It really feels like people never learn with these pre-orders.

The issue, I imagine, is that there’s a community online who pays attention and cares about it, and we’re almost completely separate on the Venn diagram from a huge swathe of gamers out there who do all the preordering. 😩

It's an extremely common take here that preordering a game is ridiculous! I agree. I wonder if that attitude can be correlated with whatever tendency it is to use tech like the fediverse.

Oh come on people, can't even wait to the release date?

No idea why you'd pre-order this. The sensible route is to get a trial of Game Pass (or a free month doing Microsoft Rewards) and try it out. If you like it, either buy it or continue with your Game Pass subscription.

No way am I going to pre-order a game in this era of half baked releases and especially not a game from Bethesda which is as well known for their rampant bugs as their compelling gameplay

$70, I guess this is the world we live in now. Can't wait for the next price hike!

I guess I'll become a PatientGamer™

Back when I was young, most games cost around $50. But back then they were 1/100th the size and complexity they are now, had absolutely no post-launch support whatsoever, and and even “AAA” titles used pixel art. They didn’t even have voice acting.
If I adjust for inflation alone, no other factors, a $50 game from back then would be $91 today.
I’m not happy about the price increase, but I certainly understand it and can’t really blame anyone for it. Frankly, I’m surprised this didn’t happen many years ago.
Personally, I’ve been a patient gamer for a while - welcome! It’s great here.
- I've thought about this before, and you're definitely right that games are technically cheaper when you factor in inflation. However, they sell to a much larger audience now, so it's not like the major studios are starving. Even so, I would probably be fine with it, if it weren't for the tendency to:
  include microtransactions, rather than achievements
  sell dlc that should have just been part of the game
  Release the same uninspired crap every year (call of duty, sports ball 2023, etc.)
  sell broken games
  I'm guessing this one will be #4. Hoping to be wrong.
Welcome to the PatientGamer™ club! Nobody can really claim to be starved of good games. Play a few year old acclaimed games then come back! Starfield will be baked (optimised and modded) to perfection.
- Add in emulators and I really have more games to play than I have time for them.
I'm fine with price hike, inflation is a thing.
The problem is the lack of quality and polish you'd expect from such games. Not to mention other forms of monetization they try to shoehorn in at the cost of user experience.
Not that it matters much to me, I'm patient and can wait until it's much cheaper and hopefully polished.
- Inflation is a thing, sure. But we should keep in mind that over the past decade some costs have universally disappeared for video games.
  Publishers no longer have to factor in media production costs, shipping and handling to retailers, or (sometimes) giving retailers a cut.
  Some publishers (like Nintendo and Sony [on PlayStation]) sell direct to the consumer. So there are no retail costs. If you sell on Steam, they take a 30% cut.

Why would anyone pre order a digital game?

I officially hate everyone who preorders digital games. There is absolutely no justification for it. If you preorder, youre the reason modern gaming sucks.

I literally don't get it either. "BuT It lEtS me DOwNlOaD iT iN AdVanCE" but like are you really that impatient you need it the second it's released? And before seeing if it's actually a good game or not?? It's like people have learned nothing from the constant shitty releases time and time again

the first rule of the Biscuit: do not Proeorder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf5Uj4XIT1Y
for anyone OOTL
- ahh, good times, good times

TFW you're broke and $70 is the norm for AAA games now. As much as I want to get this on Steam so I can have all the games in one account, it's looking like I have no choice but just play it on the XBOX game pass when it comes out. Living the PH, it's 3 USD a month here.

- Typical Crimson Fleet geezer right here.
  I'm on the same page as you are, though.
  @dear_faye@halubilo.social you should probably do the same if the price tag is too much for you. If you really do feel wrong about it, you could first get the game, keep playing it all you want, and then just pay later; or, if the experience turns out to be disappointing, never pay for it as a result.
  Either is better than pre-ordering. Even if Starfield is worth every penny on launch, i.e. no bugs, no issues that cannot justify the price tag, not a single argument against the very practice of pre-ordering games, giving companies money before they deliver anything at all is giving them much more than just the money - it's giving them an idea that it's okay to ask for money before any of the paying customers ever get anything, and this kind of appeasement has to stop.

pre-ordering is bad mmmkay

Fellas! Why are games today so buggy! Why are they incomplete? I just don’t understand!!!!‽‽???

Because people keep buying them no matter what

This is the way. GamePass for Bethesda games. If it sucks, I’ll just play something else that month.
- The problem with gamepass is that it locks down the files so modding that version is difficult.
Yeah honestly I have my hopes that it'll be fun. I normally play indie games these days but planning to check Starfield out unless it's super broken on release. But either way I'm not gonna pre-order it!
Is it gonna be on gamepass?

I don't really care that people throw away their money like this. Because I am now always looking forward to the always very entertaining youtube clips of how much off a disaster the lastet AAA videogame release is.

This have looks fabulous to me, but there's no way I'm preordering. I don't have a lot of experience with Bethesda, but I thought the overall picture painted was a pretty gorgeous one. Hopefully they can deliver. That being said, I just started playing Fallout76 about two weeks ago, so I don't mind waiting until they work sone things out. Overall though, what they are promising looks incredible. Probably too good to be true :)

SkillUp said it quite nicely; Never preorder, never ever preorder. And finally, never preorder.
- I learned that from TotalBiscuit a long time ago.
- Yes, but I'd also like to add that you should never pre-order, and also that you shouldn't preorder.

Preodering a Bethesda title... 😬 Whatever, it doesn't affect me in the end.

Preordering is bad. Preordering a Bethesda game is worse.

It’s even stupider when it’s on game pass. I’ve never paid full price for game pass, and I’ll hold on to whatever deal I get until a big game comes out. Everyone on steam is paying $70, and I’m going to pay $3 for 3 months (which is longer than my attention span lasts for these kinds of games).

I don't really get the pre-order game market. Tired it once and turned out to be a complete disaster. The game was Batman Arkham Knight. That game should have been a crime to sell in that condition.

Especially with starfield. It is day one on gamepass so the only reason to pre-purchase is for early access and special editions. The game looks like it could be good or fall flat but I can spend $1 for a month of gamepass to find out for myself.
- Hell if it's what they promised and isn't broken as fuck a couple weeks after launch, I'll pay full price.
  I'm definitely gonna let the beta testers speed run it first so I can find out if they've just massively lied to us (only 200 worlds or some shit, space isn't fully open but just a bunch of pre-chosen "instances" you warp to and can't leave, etc.) Before I even give it a thought, though.
  Day one reviews are worthless too, even the non-corporate shill YouTubers still haven't really gotten to play enough to be making assessments on day 1 and we all know it. They speed through the tutorial and then declare it a 7/10 cause they have to beat IGN to the front page.
  Two weeks, see if it's worth the price, go from there.

Pre-ordering is silly. Please stop.

It's gonna be on gamepass there is 0 reason to preorder. People be tripping

Not everyone has gamepass.
- I'm gonna buy it for a month, $9.99 to play Starfield and a bunch of other games is a good deal. I just don't want to keep paying it month after month.

I don't know if they can reasonably judge the game within the 2 hours frame for refund. (Some game now do a very long shader compilation that can eat 30 minutes of your time.) The tutorial/beginning stage of the game are usually the most polished, but the latter part of the game could become very hollow.

They are going to get themselves cyberpunk'd.

Yeah. I'd put a tonne of time into Skyrim before I realized it was crap. The game was very good at convincing you that maybe the next quest-chain would be better, or maybe it would be better with a different character build. Spoiler: It wasn't.
This is why it should be closer to 10 hours for $60 MSRP games. It should really be proportional to the list price on Steam.
- Is it not 70 dollars?

I'm kinda the opposite of you. I love Bethesda games, but the fantasy element doesn't do it for me. I never liked Skyrim or the elder scrolls series but loved the fallout series, as well as games like outer worlds. I am not going to preorder the game but I am very excited to see their take on a space rpg, because I love fallout and I love space exploration so if combined well it should become an instant favorite of mine.

Stuff like this is the reason game companies continue to release unfinished games, they're breaking even before they even release. Stop pre-ordering games people!

When will they learn that their actions have consequences? Star field is going to be a fucking disaster lol.

Red Fall or Gollum disaster?
- Yes

I'm holding out for some youtube play footage.

As hyped as I am - never preorder!

We're building a Starfield community over at !starfield@lemmy.zip if anyone wants to join.

Freelancer is one of my all time favorites along with Privateer…

If only the guy who made both was doing something worthwhile.

I don't see any reason to pre-order a digital game with infinite supply, but at the same time you could always refund it if turns out terrible. Personally I'd wait awhile if not years before purchasing new games so I can get a feel for how they turned out. 2 hours is not really enough time to grasp a game like this. You would really only determine if it is incapable of running on your computer.

After getting burned by the Oblivion AI "trailer" I won't ever trust Bethesda advertising again. Straight lies.

Todd's Sweet Little Lies

I don't really get how people's problem with Bethesda is bugs and glitches, which are completely solvable, and not the writing that makes you want to remove some brain tissue from your skull so it doesn't bother you that much

Their quest/story writing has definitely fallen off a cliff but I think it's done to serve their bad game design. Or it goes hand in hand. Frankly I just don't think Skyrim or FO4 were particularly good examples of the genre and probably won't buy more Bethesda RPGs, but we'll see.
- I guess I'm biased as someone who started on Skyrim, but that's my point of comparison for games anymore. Fallout 3 was awesome, but honestly when FO4 came out, going back to play FO3 was hard due to how clunky it was in comparison. I know FO4 fell flat with it's character decisions and voiced protagonist but it really didn't ruin the game like it did for lots of people.
  Disclosure: I never finished the earlier TES games, because Skyrim coddled me I guess. lol
You can patch bugs but a buggy game will never be like Factorio. Also, fanmade fixes tend to introduce some wonkyness.
Id guess that 76 was a big catalyst in that.
Since it was an online game you couldn't load community patches,
so people where kinda forced to stare it in the face.
In addition to that, the perception of AAA games kinda shifted in general.
From Blockbusters with incredible production value, to overhyped and unfinished bug ridden messes.
So Bethesda gets lot more flak now for having so many bugs, even tho almost none are game breaking

I guess there isn't much risk because with Bethesda you always know exactly what a broken mess you're preordering?

But don't go cry to YouTube if it's even worse than you thought.

Obligatory 70 bucks is too much for a game comment

It's 90$ in Canada plus tax, so a little over 100$. It's crazy how expensive games have become in the last several years.

I found out payday 3 was announced from this post, so thanks I guess.

As much as I enjoyed PD2, even bought the Ultimate Edition when it included all future DLC, the developer keeps claiming they will go bankrupt if they don't do each unethical consumer practice.
After them needing to reneg on the already sold Ultimate Edition's to fund the second half of development of PD3, now that I have seen it and its just an update to PD2 with dated graphics, I don't think I can do it again.
My friend bought PD2 on console and was burnt as well, that version didn't get updated and the playerbase tanked.
- Honestly, what overkill is doing is much better than the subscription and gambling bullshit we get nowadays. You can see what you buy before doing so and if you choose not to, you can still play the game and none of what you bought will ever be taken away.
  I paid about 40€ for 250 hours of fun with PD2, that's much better than any season pass game.

This time it will have 64 times the details!

I really don’t understand the point of preordering a…. digital release…. The game will literally still be available whether one person buys it or one million…

I think pre-ordering lets you play 5 days early, iirc.
Likely just to install it before release and play at midnight.

I've been buying Bethesda RPGs without waiting for reviews since 2007. They've all had their rough spots but not a single one has disappointed me. Despite their issues I put hundreds of hours into each one and enjoyed them all. I see no reason to think this won't be the same, and have no problem betting $70 on it. I pre-ordered last night on Xbox.

Preordering has literally zero advantages.
Sometimes artificial ones like preload but thats negligible in our modern tech era.
- Preordering has advantages. When you live in a shithole country like me, you know that release prices can be a double or even triple of preorder price, because of your currency losing its worth so much, nearly everyday. So you are going to have to take that risk.
Despite their issues I put hundreds of hours into each one and enjoyed them all. I see no reason to think this won’t be the same, and have no problem betting $70 on it.
Really the issue here is that there are very few reasons to hand a company your money before they are prepared to deliver you a product. There are even fewer reasons when the product is most likely going to be purchased and delivered digitally, since there is zero chance the product will be sold out. When a game is being developed by Microsoft-owned Bethesda, they don't need preorder money to finish the game.
- But I see no reason not to hand the money over since I've already made up my mind to buy the product. If they don't deliver the product, then I should get a refund. If they deliver a product so terrible I regret buying it, well, that's on me and I won't be so quick to do it again. But based on past history I have faith the game will be a little rough but I will still enjoy it, so why not spend the money now?
So you have an Xbox but not gamepass? May I ask why?
yeah, I played both FO4 and Cyberpunk on release; had no game-breaking bugs in FO4 and no game-breaking bugs in Cyberpunk (only a couple immersion-breaking ones, and one of those was more hilarious than anything else). I played Skyrim on PS3 in December 2011, so possibly after a patch or two, but don't remember anything other than having fun – certainly nothing game-breaking.
I understand it's a little different for Cyberpunk since launch experience really varied based on platform, but the narrative around Bethesda games being buggy messes baffles me. This game has been cookin' longer than usual for Bethesda games and now Microsoft is relying on it being fantastic since it's basically their only big AAA game in 2023. I'm betting (with my preorder) that it will be nothing like the Jedi: Survivor launch or the Redfall launch.

Is this game going to be free on PC Game Pass?

I wish you all luck on your pre order

The bugs might as well be features at this point for those that preorder lmao

speaking of space games, how's Everspace 2? I enjoyed the first one and I know the second is not the same at all, but I have an itch and perhaps Everspace 2 could scratch it

I loved Everspace 2. I think if you enjoyed the gameplay of the first one, it's a good bet you'll enjoy it.
Everspace 2 is great, I'm happy to be an early adopter and backer of it. The story is great, the gameplay is perfect and there's like +80 hours of content. The combat is as good as the first, but a bit more varied with the builds you can create. I highly recommend it! :D
Try it for yourself, there is a demo out https://store.steampowered.com/app/1128920/EVERSPACE_2/ It's definitely more of a looter shooter.
Everspace 2 is great. I used to play freelancer and everspace 2 certainly scratched that itch for me. There's not so much of an endgame (playing through rifts) but the way there (30+ hours) was highly enjoyable. All the dialogue is voiced and the cut scenes are sort of a graphic novel style. The NPCs are all quite distinctive and memorable, some dorky humour here and there.. I loved it! The demo is free on steam, if you're on the fence certainly give that a shot.

Just because Diablo 4 isn't in this statistic :P

No Man's Todd

won't preorder, but i so do hope that it's gonna be good and worth the wait ...

Wish people would wait to see what the game is actually like rather than blindly trusting a corporation.. Consumerism sucks

I'm starting to get excited about this one now. Although I don't trust Bethesda enough to actually pull the trigger on a preorder. And I still have no man's sky to keep me happy for now.

Any game where you can be a space trucker is always gonna get a try from me.

I am looking forward to giving this a god... But after it releases and on discount. I can wait but hope everyone on day 1 enjoys it!

Am I the only one not excited for this game? It looks boring

I want it to be good but my hopes aren't super high. "1000 procedurally generated planets" is a MASSIVE red flag to me, and unless Bethesda pulls off a miracle there's no way that the core gameplay elements won't be spread just as thin as the world is. It's the fundamental issue with "do everything!" games, what motivation is there to play the game with ok space combat, exploration, gunaplay and character writing when I can pick the elements interests me and find games where those are the core focus.
- Exactly. It looks like it’s just a mesh of multiple things without a single focus
Most of Bethesda's games become much better with mods. This will probably be pretty good in a few years.
Honestly. It looked vaguely like space fallout. People seem to forget the role mods played and lack of other exciting games at the time older titles released. Todds got mad late-stage George Lucas energy and i dont fall for it for a second.
Thats fair - everyone has their own view and idea of fun.
I’m sincerely asking, what looks boring to you?
- I just do not think it’s going to be everything people are making it out to be. It looks like a pretty basic space game and nothing more. You explore planets and collect items and go on missions. There was nothing original/new that hadn’t been done before

I'm not surprised after that in-depth direct. The game looks massive.

But it's Bethesda, so I'm definitely going to wait for reviews.

I just wait and play with the game pass subscription when it's came out.

I hope it does. Was this announced?
- Yes. All microsoft games are day one on gamepass
I will do the same...

I wasn't that hyped until the latest showcase but all I could think watching it was that I can't wait to see what modders do with it now.

Me debating if Deus Ex will go lower than $6.99

Not surprised at all. People can't wait to get their hands on the game.

I will totally buy this the second it's released just to say I didn't preorder.

This game looked like trash from the announcement trailer, anyone lining up to pre-order a Bethesda game though, what can you do? Some people want to get their pockets picked.

What about it did you not like? Was there things you thought were bad decisions or was it just not your thing?

Was there even a release date announced?

September 6th!

Can my space horse walk vertically up a space mountain? If not, I’m out.

Tbh I would do the same but I'm just going to play with Gamepass. Todd has never disappointed me. You could tell 76 was a cash grab from the B team from miles away. This isn't. I will be playing this shit for years to come. I also played Cyberpunk 2077 on day one and it was a fantastic game, doomposters just love to rant about games they have not played.

Glad to see that the game has plenty of unpaid beta testers. I'll still wait for a sale (if it's any good)

Glad to see that the game has plenty of ~~unpaid~~ paying beta testers.
ftfy

This is proof that no matter how much internet uproar there is over pre orders and games being unfinished etc, the general public just does not care in the way it might appear online. Shame..

I can see why after how many features and gameplay footage they showed off in the deep dive. If its not a buggy mess at launch they can have my 70$, but i refuse to pre order any modern games.

I pre-ordered, but really only for the really cool watch and case. I forgot the game comes with it, although I like what I see so far. Fallout in space(ish).

Don't ever preorder anything. If people didn't buy broken unfinished games witgout seeing them, devs wouldn't release them like that.
- I get it and totally agree. I haven't preordered anything since the first watch dogs. Even still, companies release broken games. I did it this time because I've always wanted a special edition of a game and I like watches. I think the game will eventually be good so it seemed like the perfect time for me to cross that off the list
Don't you only get the watch and case when you get the like, $300 version? The watch was super cool but I can't reason with myself to spend that kinda money on the game gear if I don't end up liking the game itself in the end. I do really love the watch, though...
Never actually pre-ordered anything, anyway.
- Yeah, I've always wanted a special edition of a game and the watch was so cool. It's a lot of money, sure, but it's a dream I've had since I saw how cool the Halo 3 special edition looked. Everything kinda lined up for this one. The game might not be the best out the gate, but I'm sure it will improve in time. I've enjoyed every Bethesda game I've played so far and they have some of the best mods out there because of the great community around their games.

This makes me sad.

Like watching moths to a flame. Bug-thesda is going to do what it always does; Ship a quarter of a product and fix it over years. I'd call it No Mans Sky syndrome but Elder Scrolls / Fallout has dealt with it longer.

Cannot think of one Bethesda game with a smooth launch. You couldn't pay me to preorder it when I can just play something else and come back to it when everything's been patched/modded in a year

Right? I honestly think I'll wait for the first sale, whenever that is, and hope there's a fun little modding scene by that point. Someone will make the big unofficial patch mod and fix 1000 bugs for us by then.

Stop preordering omg

To be fair, I haven't watched the new trailer yet, but I'd never pre-order a Bethesda game. I don't know if I'm even interested in it on release, might wait for mods etc.

I also feel like I remember some of the devs saying they "needed more time because they didn't want to be the next cyberpunk" which honestly doesn't feel like the devs have full faith in their own project? I don't know. Either way, I'm happy to wait and see.

I can see an apolgy letter incoming already

Yeah, and it also costs 70. Not gonna buy it at that price that's for sure.

I remember seeing that you get a few days early access if you pre-order. Dear lord, playing a PRE-day one Bethesda RPG? Forget buggy, it'll be a pile of writhing polygons on the floor.

pirate it 1st -and if its good buy it later -im gonna bet the bugs are gonna be their on launch . its bethesda we are talking about .we shure as hell dont want another fallout 76 .be smart and dont pre order a game on day one

Honestly, from what I've seen of the trailers and gameplay I'm not surprised. It looks absolutely spectacular and I can't wait to play the game!

Cities Skylines 2 is already available??

Oh boy i haven't even played tears of the kingdom yet, 2023 is a great year for gaming!

Edit: just notice that's the pre order

Cities Skylines 2 isn't 60 euros? LETSGOOOOOOOOO

Microsoft exec says Starfield has 'the fewest bugs any Bethesda game ever shipped with

That's not a high bar!
- Given that it's still 3 months away at this stage, I do have hope that it will launch in a state similar to a few months of patches for previous Bethesda titles.

God I hope this game is good 🤞

The only way I could ever even think of running that is through GeForce Now. Smh. (It's totally my fault though, #laptopgamer)

It's Bethesda. It'll be a buggy mess that will make Cyberpunk 2077 on release day a polished experience by comparison.

Im surprised to see payday on this list