this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2023
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[–] barrbaric@hexbear.net 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I think the real problem is that they wanted to have both a well-established space-faring society but also an american frontier settler-brainworm aesthetic, when the two are clearly mismatched. The FC makes sense if the grav drive has only been around for a single generation or something, not the 200+ years as depicted in-game.

maybe the reform Serpent cult might have a not-dogshit ideology [...], but we don't know anything about them because they're almost completely absent from the story as it is

:todd: had to remove any content involving House Varuun so that it could be made into a $30 DLC later.

[–] FortifiedAttack@hexbear.net 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The FC makes sense if the grave drive has only been around for a single generation or something, not the 200+ years as depicted in-game.

Having watched a bunch of Bethesda game analysis essays, this is a problem that is consistent with their writers. Bethesda doesn't really seem to understand time spans.

Aside from the obvious issue of Fallout 3 where 200 years later everything is still a wasteland and unlooted, the same problem is present in Skyrim. For instance, Esbern, one of the last remnants of the Blades, somehow manages to live in hiding for 25 years in a sewer, without any way to earn money and buy food, and while avoiding detection.

[–] Orannis62@hexbear.net 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The Thieves Guild questline is also made substantially worse by a 25 year gap in the backstory.

Like DAMN Karliah, you were working on this revenge plan for 25 years and this is all you have? A stupid mead business scheme and one single dose of the poison everything hinges on?

Of course, the fact that the writers keep patting themselves on the back by having every other character comment on how genius her plan is doesn't help

[–] holygon@hexbear.net 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you're interested in something fun, there's an old blog post about how terrible the Thieves Guild questline is:

https://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=14422

It's a bit long, but I think it's very entertaining. Deep dive into every single plot hole, and nonsensical story beat.

[–] Orannis62@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago

Lmao I haven't read Shamus Young in forever

[–] KobaCumTribute@hexbear.net 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

if the grave drive

I'm imagining a setting where Starfield's early designers made that same typo and just rolled with it instead of admitting their mistake to tod, and how much more interesting of a setting it would be if their FTL tech was some weird necromantic bullshit.

[–] barrbaric@hexbear.net 10 points 1 year ago

Lol, woops. But hey, space magic is already in the game, so why not?

[–] invo_rt@hexbear.net 11 points 1 year ago

they wanted to have both a well-established space-faring society but also an american frontier settler-brainworm aesthetic

I'm glad I'm not the only one that picked up on that. In that "making of" video, Bethesda made a huge deal about wanting to capture "the wonder of space flight and exploration", but at the same time having space travel be routine. It'd be like getting excited by driving down the highway.