I'm still playing through BG3 (currently 180 hours in, almost at the end of Act 2). Just had to mention that Starfield got released in "Early Access" before the main release tomorrow. Initially, the game started at 88 on Metacritic, and dropped to 86 as of now. I don't have the game and don't plan to play it, and what I read after the game release contributed to my previous negative feelings towards it. Your mileage might vary, depending on the expectations you've had though.
From what I've read, Starfield is more like Fallout 4 than Skyrim, and I'm definitely more of a Skyrim person myself. If you enjoyed F4, there is a good chance you'd enjoy Starfield. However, if you enjoyed and loved Skyrim for what it was, there is a chance Starfield would disappoint you.
Here is a video by Cohh Carnage after ~7 hours in the game showing the game followed his expectations and he seems to be enjoying it:
However, what affected me personally were 3 big reviews from "big" media outlets which I usually follow:
PC Gamer,
IGN, and
Gamespot (75, 70, and 70 review scores appropriately), and also Emil Pagliarulo's interview about Starfield:
Asking big questions of a team asking big questions
www.polygon.com
Here are snippets from the Gamespot's review that talk to me on a deep level:
"Starfield's main quest is the most emblematic of the game's shortcomings. Despite romanticizing the idea of taking to the stars to explore the great unknown, these narrative ambitions fall into shallow stories that undersell the spacefaring premise. You start as a lowly miner extracting resources for a faceless corporation and within minutes, come in contact with an "Artifact" that activates mysterious visions of something bigger out in the galaxy--a sort of leaving-the-vault moment like in Fallout. You're then shuffled into the ranks of a small organization called Constellation, whose sole purpose is to chase these Artifacts and uncover their purpose. With the handful of characters who make up the group, Starfield tries to instill personality into its story, but consistently weak writing and generic dialogue means these characters--who do have a few interesting moments along the way--largely fall flat. It's especially tough to buy into the Artifact-collecting scenario when the game's story extolls the virtues of science, yet undermines them by haphazardly throwing around scientific concepts in dialogue and then resorting to inexplicable supernatural forces that everyone in-game seems to just accept at face value. There's very little weight or impact given to what characters often describe as great discoveries that could change the course of history, and it's missing an earnest examination on the nature of humanity's place in space, even when it tries to be self-reflective. I was never asking Starfield to lecture me on quantum physics, but I hoped for a story that wants to pay reverence to the scientific philosophies that make the genre intriguing to give those concepts their necessary respect."
"Accounting for all its ups and downs, the main thing I wrestle with is that Starfield is missing an overall sense of purpose. My favorite RPGs have their fair share of shortcomings and limitations, but the best ones always leave a lasting impact that comes through having a clear purpose. Even my favorite Bethesda RPGs do this well. Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim have intricate magic systems, cultures to familiarize yourself with, and rewards for exploration in whichever direction you wander in. Obsidian's Fallout: New Vegas drops you in a barren desert wasteland as a nobody, yet is so full of personality, humor, and sobering examinations of the human condition in the wake of a societal collapse. I can't help but feel Starfield banked on the intrigue of space exploration and the vastness of the cosmos, and forgot to create an identity beyond that. Despite the nigh-limitless possibilities the final frontier offers, Starfield's version of humanity remains largely homogeneous--300 or so years into the future across the galaxy, and the game's imagination rarely extends beyond the sci-fi archetypes we've seen many a time. It doesn't have much to say about humanity leaving Earth behind and doesn't really reckon with the realities that dictate the world--our world--that inspires its very premise. In the periphery, you can learn about how life is sustainable across the galaxy or tease out lore on how governments and religions evolved, but Starfield struggles to integrate that into its core ethos. I didn't come in expecting something poetic like the Carl Sagan books I read growing up, awe-inspiring like The Outer Wilds, or as intricate as the sci-fi lore built over the course of the Mass Effect trilogy. But I did want something more than the pared-down Bethesda template transposed over a space setting."
"The Bad
Uninspired main story with weak writing and characterization
Underwhelming vision of space exploration and humanity's spacefaring future
Shallow RPG mechanics with regard to dialogue, quest solutions, and influencing outcome
Terrible map system makes key locations tough to navigate"
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