Summary
WhileStarfieldhas a comprehensive progression system tied to its leveling, some players wish that interacting with the game’s features wasn’t so strictly locked behind its perks. From choosing traits toselecting a background inStarfield, players can define their playthrough from the very beginning, hearkening back to previous Bethesda titles such asMorrowind– or to an even bigger extent –Fallout 3. However, whereas players could still attempt to engage with gameplay features such as Enchanting or Lockpicking less efficiently, theStarfieldequivalent remains hard-locked behind certain perk levels.
Using adigipick inStarfieldon an Expert level chest is a futile endeavor if players don’t have the appropriate perk tier for Security, and while this rewards characters for investing in certain skill trees, some fans believe that the slower leveling inStarfieldclashes against this design choice. Ship building, outpost building, ship combat, weapon crafting, armor crafting – the systems begin to add up, and placing points into them effectively punishesStarfieldplayers by not letting them invest in combat skills.
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This concern was presented by Lavish-Greed on the officialStarfieldsubreddit, and based on community response, it would seem that many players agree with Lavish-Greed’s take. As pointed out in the comments, having to invest so many points into gun skills just to change its firing mode doesn’t feel satisfying. A proposed way to fix this problem is to have more benefits from completing perk challenges inStarfield, such as increasing the number of experience points awarded to players for doing so.
Some players have pointed out that compared to the powerful benefits ofoutpost management inStarfield, or being able to craft the highest tiers of weapons, armor, and spaceship parts, weapon skills feel almost like an afterthought. Characters can still clear most combat situations without any invested combat perks, and the Stealth skill can eventually be replaced with the Void Form power.
Given that the perk system inSkyrimeventually got expanded through mods, it seems thatStarfieldis bound to follow a similar trajectory. Thoughofficial modding tools forStarfieldare only coming in early 2024, they are bound to open up the game’s potential, and allow players to tailor-fit their gameplay, whether through a completely redone perk system, or through an experience overhaul mod, or something else altogether. Despite the pet peeves levied against the vanilla perks inStarfield, the game itself continues to be fun for the majority of players and seems to deliver on the traditional Bethesda experience.
Starfieldis available now on PC and Xbox Series X/S.
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