Starfieldtakes a long time to show its true colours. While itsopening hours throw you into a vast universe with little guidance, as you’re immediately labelled the most important person in all existence, the actual act of embracing its 1,000 planets and making your mark upon them is a bit more challenging. It takes a while to feel like you aren’t aimlessly flailing all over the place. Because of this, a lot of critics and fans suggested blitzing through the main quest to access New Game+ where the ‘real game begins’.
Your level and perks carry over, while your inventory is wiped in to maintain some form of narrative sense. However, you also skip the
mining mission and are thrust straight into the arms of Constellation with both a new ship and suit of armour inspired by the futuristic-looking characters you meet during your first playthrough. I’ve only just stumbled across them myself, so I can’t say I’m especially tempted to grind through the entire campaign merely to do it all over again with additional perks and other bonuses. There’s obviously some value to this approach, but for me, it defeats the object of a game like this.
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Across two playthroughs, I’ve put roughly 50 hours into Starfield so far, and I’m yet to beat the main quest in either of them. I’ve joined different factions and grown closer to a new companion or two, but not once have I felt like I’m missing out or need to rush ahead to keep up.
BethesdaRPGs are made to be played at a pace which doesn’t judge the player, and wants them to soak up every new quest, character, and location with equal parts curiosity and patience. To skip ahead of that merely to try and do it all again doesn’t sit right with me, even if some of my fellow adventurers have embraced it.
Kinda Funny’s Greg Miller has told his followers that you don’t need to hurl yourself into New Game+ right away, but it does come with obvious benefits. I imagine the first relates to your character, who will no longer be hamstrung by a lack of essential skills and abilities because all of them carry over. Knowing this, you can spec in a different direction with more freedom or not feel like grinding is required to gain access to master locks or certain ship mechanics.
I can see that newfound freedom being liberating, and when I finally have an opportunity to embrace it I want it to feel earned, not because I blitzed through my first playthrough failing to savour a story whichmight be the best Bethesda has ever told. Besides, I know a bunch of great games which are arguably better on a second run with all the New Game+ boons at their disposal. Dead Space,Dark Souls, The Witcher 3, and Nier Automata are just a few that come to mind.
Starfield is in the same boat, and having great replay value shouldn’t justify the desire to run through it with reckless abandon the first time around. But some people are, and I hope they don’t come to regret it. You’ll only be running through the same quests again with additional bells and whistles that you won’t be able to savour because you never took the time to play around with what came before in the first place.
Maybe I’ll eat my hat once I come to sample New Game+ for myself, but right now I’m having enough fun taking my time darting across the universe.
