To add to other comments, Bethesda NPCs haven't aged well. Especially when they're right next to Baldur's Gate 3 NPCs. Starfield left a lot to be desired. Can't believe we've been lacking ES for this
I stopped playing BG3 to try Starfield when it came out. I got through the intro, landed at that first populated world, and stopped to talk to a janitor at the train station. She said something like, "Boy, I sure would like a cappuccino from TeraBrew!" and a quest tracker popped up for me to go buy her a cup of coffee. I delivered it to her and she gave me a bag of apple slices that healed 1 HP or some shit.
Its fucking jarring. Same story here. Stopped my BG3 cause my friend begged me. I said nah and he let me remote play it to try it out. I instantly recognized the same bullshit from all the way back to Oblivion out of the NPCs. They just feel dated now. Especially next to BG3 who probably put a ton of work into their NPCs.
I've no faith in Bethesda anymore. I played about 25 hours in Starfield and had finished the ranger questline and felt that is so shallow. Then I started thinking about all the quests that I did and how they didn't change or lead to anything. If Bethesda don't change how they structure quests then I won't play any of their future RPGs.
The name of the game has changed. Its no longer about shoving stuff in a big world. Players of the genre want their choices to matter in an adaptive world. Bethesda didn't get the memo they were so caught up in their empty dream sandbox.
Edit: I should also add expected AI behavior is evolving. After Rain World, I notice bland AI.
According to the article, Starfield was still nominated for best RPG… so, not really ghosted. More like they got the participation award for the unfinished, under-baked game they put out.
It would have been insulting to the other devs if they were nominated for GOTY, because Starfield isn’t even in the same league as the other nominees and Bethesda should play those to see what an actual polished game feels like.
It's just not an exceptional game... I get that some like it, it has some great bits like the ship builder and the improved gunplay since Fallout4, but overall it falls short. Starfield's greatest flaw isn't the constant loading screens, the limited role playing mechanics, the dated engine, the empty planets, or the 10 other things people were dunking on it when it came out. You can definitely feel the death by a 1000 cuts, but it's major flaw for me is that the game is just bland, boring, and safe which in 2023 (especially for this type of story driven game) is unforgivable.
I think it could be a massive playground for modders if they release the creation kit. But it used to be that modders fixed Bethesda games. Now they have to create all the content as well because Starfield is empty.
Likewise, I'm enjoying it but it just doesn't deserve any awards in a year when other games that are simply better came out. It's a firmly mid tier game and it was (not) awarded accordingly.
Man, I wish Todd would invite himself just like EA did with their starwars battlefront 2 ads in the middle of the event. It would be fun to see everyone deflecting questions such as "what did you like about starfield?"