After just over two months, many have developed a love-hate relationship with one of the biggest titles of 2023. And, as with many successful games, Bethesda's Starfield video game has been the subject of much praise and criticism. Before its release and its reviews, the excitement and impatience of fans to get their hands on the game was palpable.
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While Starfield remained extremely popular for a few weeks after its release, many abandoned it due to boredom, repetitiveness, or the perceived lack of content in an expansive universe that you have to navigate. The number of active players has therefore decreased significantly, at least if Steam statistics are to be believed. While opening week saw a peak, averaging 250,000 to 300,000 concurrent sessions, the number of active players dropped to just under 30,000 over the past week. However, these figures do not give the complete picture of the situation, since they are for simultaneous players and do not take into account those who use Game Pass on PC or Xbox. After the first two weeks of gaming, I too switched from PC to the Xbox Series X, which offers a much better gaming experience overall.
Despite this decline, as is often the case in the gaming industry, I, like many other people active on Reddit's community spaces, continued to move forward, accumulating many hours in the process. of experience. As many already know, New Game Plus (or NG+) is at the heart of Starfield's main plot.
However, beyond this point we enter the realm of spoilers. If you read the following, it is at your own risk if you still have the desire to explore space in the near future.
***Spoilers Ahead***
The plot is a lie – or is it?
During the first few hours I spent playing Starfield, I only spent 20% of my time on the main story. That's not to say it didn't matter, but part of the game's charm was that no two players followed the same path to enlightenment. This is what made our game group so charming, because each person gave their opinion on their progress, their missions and the loot they had collected.
Given the size of the Starfield universe, there was little chance that we would all have experienced the same progression with the options available to us. Additionally, with the different factions in play, the way you traverse maps while jumping from one galaxy to another will also be very different, as there are specific systems that you cannot enter without risking damage. being arrested while working for less than honest entities.
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As I blissfully continued my adventures through the stars for 40-50 hours, I decided it was time to finish the main campaign to see where the journey would take me. Having avoided most online discussions during the first week of play, I wasn't yet aware of the consequences of this decision. Getting to the end of this journey was a roller coaster ride for me. While dealing with the consequences of losing one of your most beloved companions, your journey takes you in search of Unity.
Having already passed the spoiler alert, I assume that most readers know what it is about and the path taken to get there. In short, after collecting all but one of the artifacts scattered throughout the universe, you meet two characters known as Starborn: the Hunter and the Emissary. As you will soon discover, the Starborn are your companions from The Constellation, but in a different universe. Enter the implications of the multiverse.
At this point, there is only one artifact left, and it is the one that the other Starborn are also searching for to end this universe's quest and achieve Unity. Several options are available to you: choose a path by joining forces with those of the Hunter or the Emissary, or choose your path and have to face both. You are then thrown into a battle against these two powerful Starborn, as well as a few less powerful versions. Playing this game for the first time, you'll get a unique view of what's at stake, jumping between multiverses with a view of how each different timeline plays out in the quest to reach Unity in each of these universes.
Achieving Enlightenment – Unity
After successfully fighting the Starborns and achieving Unity, you find yourself – or, at least, an alternate version of yourself. You then learn what it means to enter and move through Oneness to become a Starborn. Going through The Unity gives you access to a Starborn suit and Starborn's spaceship, known as the Guardian.
However, what many players don't realize at this point is that this triggers NG+. In short, this means that most elements of Starfield have been reset. This means that all side quests, credits, collected ships, and more are removed from your inventory. By going through The Unity, you have unlocked a new timeline of events, which resets the main story progression to the beginning.
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Aside from your new suit and spaceship, as well as your skill tree, you have no credits or weapons. In addition to resetting missions, the explored universe is also reset. All outlying galaxies will need to be explored again to unlock the specific perks and side quests they offer.
Although the main story is reset, you can choose to play the entire mission from the beginning or skip most of the story to progress faster in NG+. Unless you plan to stay in this universe, there's no reason to redo the entire story. And knowing some of the outcomes of the story, like death and fallout within the Constellation, it's best to move on. What remains to do here is collect the artifacts again while having the opportunity to discover all the temples to advance your powers.
The main reason to keep completing NG+ over and over again is to keep upgrading your powers, Starborn's spacesuit, as well as the Guardian's spaceship. Considering each of these, the Guardian maxes out its upgrades at NG+ 6. The Spacesuit maxes out at NG+ 10. While each power also maxes out at level 10, it's unlikely you'll be able to find the all 24 powers each time you pass through NG+. Having passed level 10 last week, I only managed to max 10 of the 24 powers, with the others ranging from level 5 to level 9 at various stages of progression.
However, a key aspect added to the main story becomes evident after passing NG+ 2 or 3. While many players have fought the Hunter and his ideals of seeking Unity countless times to become the Starborn the more powerful, you must stop it in each of the NG+ progressions. However, in doing so, you will be faced with many other Starborns, whether searching for artifacts or obtaining your next power upgrade at temples. Very quickly, you realize that you have become the very thing you were fighting against.
As Harvey Dent said in the Dark Knight franchise, “You either die a hero or live to become the villain.” This is an analogy that fits well with the difficult situation you find yourself in. However, while it's technically just a game and you're striving to gain ultimate power and all that comes with it, the way things played out is sobering, which also reveals throughout your journey, especially when you meet other, friendlier Starborn who have made the same decision as you and decided not to seek more power.
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In games, you often have to fight your way through enemies and anyone who crosses your path to progress and level up. Adding this dynamic into Starfield with NG+ is a great take on the overall story and how you envision that progression. Whether or not that stops you is a whole other discussion.
It's a bit laborious
While I made the decision early on – around NG+ 3 – to push to NG+ 10 before starting the rest of the exploration and side quests, building outposts and more, which is went from happily completing the story as a whole to a real struggle trying to progress, although the main quests to reach the point of the final battle with the Hunter can be completed quite easily in each NG+ (around two to three hours), searching all the temples was my biggest frustration.
When you begin each NG+, part of the initial progression involves meeting Vladimir on the Eye orbiting Jemison. It will provide you with information on your search for temples. However, the frustration comes from the fact that it will only be able to give you one location at a time. This means you will have to leave the Eye, Grav, jump to a new planet, land, search for it using your scanner, complete the temple combination, defeat the Starborn, and jump back to Vladimir to repeat the process . Although the full list of 24 powers to upgrade is not presented in each NG+ run, going from 15 to 20 still takes two to three hours. There's very little sense of accomplishment here, and it feels more like a chore than a part of the story.
As I went through NG+ 8 and beyond, I became disassociated from the game. The later parts of the campaign were painful and I lost interest for a few days before returning to the game to get the results over with. In fact, just five or six runs would have been much more favorable and would not have reduced the progress of the game, especially if you know that you lose everything you worked hard to acquire each time. that we go through The Unity.
Alternative timelines
As it stands, ten alternate timelines are available upon reaching each NG+. If you don't follow the forums or haven't bothered to go beyond NG+, you'll have little insight into the Starfield multiverse. I didn't discover this until NG+ 4. When you reach The Lodge, the first destination after reaching The Unity, you meet a few members of the Constellation crew. Unlike the vanilla story, this is where you will first encounter the different timelines.
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There's a lot to love about these different timelines. Variations add a different dynamic to the routine, as you want to reach NG+ 10 to make it less monotonous. However, in my ten runs through The Unity, I have only encountered two variations: 20% yield. According to the forums, however, the average is often lower, with many having encountered an alternate timeline only once and a few not having encountered it in ten or more runs. It can be boring for those who want to experience it. Players can save before activating their Grav Engine in Unity if they are looking for an easier way to trigger an alternate timeline. When you reach The Lodge, if you aren't presented with a new timeline, you can simply reload at the save point to attempt another random assignment. The only thing that will annoy most players is having to watch part of the credits each time before they can move on to the next step.
Here are some examples of the different timelines: Sarah Morgan as a plant, meeting this universe's version of you, vengeful Cora Coe, the Constellation full of children, an evil version of yourself, the Hunter after killing all members of the Constellation, and many more to complete an exciting list. While the vanilla timeline allows you to choose to replay the entire story mode or skip to collecting artifacts, the alternate timelines do not have this option, as you only have one opportunity to play .
Although it would have been better if all players had a greater chance of reaching these alternate timelines to avoid the feeling of repetitiveness, it is a good thing to add these timelines to NG+.
Better progression options
As you progress in your adventure, you have several elements of progression. The first of these is your skill tree. There are benefits to completing each of the different skill sets, but some are important to your early game progression by making life easier, while others have late game benefits. Most of these skills will be best used outside of the main storyline and completing NG+, but there is an ideal path to maximize early game progression.
The best skills to unlock will be based on preference, but be sure to choose wisely. I won't tell you which are the best skills to improve first, because there are many recommendations on this subject. However, there is consensus on which skills should be prioritized for improvement. These include skills like Boost Pack Training, Weapon (based on the type of your preferred weapon), Research Methods (essential for the upgrades you can make to your weapons and spacesuit), as well as skills like as Security (for collecting the different loot crates) and Targeting Control Systems (for space battles).
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From there, you can decide which build you prefer for later benefits. The skills I chose early on are weightlifting (to carry extra inventory), fitness, and gymnastics. It's your playstyle that will dictate which options you upgrade.
Final thoughts on Starfield after NG+ 10
While there are still many aspects to explore in the game, there is a lot to learn from completing NG+ 10. As we said, every player has their preferences on how to play at Starfield, and so every experience is different.
There are still plenty of side quests to explore that contribute just as much to the game as the main missions. Some of these side quests sometimes take a few hours, five to ten hours. This changes the meaning of a “side quest”, as it too requires a bit of planning and time to complete.
I understand why some people give up after an hour of playing, because the game is not for everyone. In addition, this game has many bugs, which has discouraged many. That said, for those who stick around, this is one of the most in-depth and discussed games online in the last couple of months, with players still discovering new, previously hidden aspects of the game. Players have sometimes stumbled upon a new skill or revelation after 200 hours of gameplay.
It's been a long time since I've engaged in a game to this extent. Part of the reason I dove into the game was to get past 10 NG+, with Bethesda effectively forcing my hand on my decisions to finish Starfield. Now, after 120 hours of gameplay, I can finally enjoy the other aspects of the game, including building ships and outposts and exploring many other side quests and faction allegiances.