I might dive back in now that there have been a few "upgrades."

I was interested in your comments about Fallout 76. I do have it. Maybe I should give that a go. I've played thousands of hours of the Fallouts, so I might just like it.

Fallout 76 is an MMO-type game, so unless you like MMOs, you may not like Fallout 76. I bought and played it because I knew what I was getting info, having played another MMO that I liked, Elder Scrolls Online. MMOs typically have tons of grinding, monetization, and teamwork that are not everyone's cup of tea, and Fallout 76 is no exception. If you have played an MMO, you know what it is like.

If you are mainly into stories, Fallout 76 currently has a pretty full offering due to all the updates over the years. There are many memorable main quests and side quests, where you meet many colorful characters and factions. They should make you feel you got your money's worth when you finish them. What's more, all of the main quests and most side quests can be played solo (mostly), because the enemies aren't so tough.

But the leveling-up system is much more punishing than in single-player Fallout games. This is a typical characteristic of MMOs. They make it difficult for you to do anything in order to increase your play time, because you will need the extra time and effort to handle all the survival mechanics like hunger, thirst, improving weapons and armor, repairing them, farming for resources to do all of the above, etc.

There are also exceedingly tough enemies in Fallout 76 that are meant to be fought by multiple players. So you have to team up with other players even if you don't want to.

I played ESO for about four months non-stop and absolutely loved it, playing entirely solo. I stopped during a time when John's health was really bad and never got back into it. I still have my subscription renewing every year and I should get back in there. I'm still so familiar with some of the maps I could probably draw them.

I'm downloading Fallout 76 and I'll have a gander at it at least.

Starfield is still on my laptop so I can always fire it up again someday.


EDIT: well, Fallout 76 did NOT have an auspicious start. Black screen on launch, with music.

Fallout 76 will have a big update next Tuesday (March 26, 12 pm ET), so hopefully it will come with some bug fixes for your current situation. I may play it again too, because this update is supposed to have new stories and quests (involving Atlantic City), which is shocking at this point, because the game hasn't had new story-based content in almost three years.

This is still one of the buggiest games I've ever seen even after all the improvements over the years. Many of the bugs and glitches involve server stability, which is not the best and likely won't be improved any further. Fortunately, whenever the game crashes, your progress is still saved.

I managed to start it through my Nvidia GeForce menu, and now it starts normally. Looks great, runs beautifully on my laptop.

That is good news, hagatha!

The big update next Tuesday will likely bring a lot of players back into Fallout 76, as big updates usually do. That will likely lead to greater server instability, which often manifests itself in freezes, lags, crashes-to-desktop, and other scenarios. In this game, you only see 24 players at most on the map at any given time, yet the server can't even handle such a low number of players. Compare this to ESO, where you can see hundreds of players on the screen at once.

I've run into only about 3 other players today.

EDIT: It's fun. I might even invest some cash into the annual subscription.

I'm up to 400 hours in Starfield now. Most of the best moments are later in the game, while most of the game's most boring moments are in the early moments, which is sadly what killed the game for many players. Below is a list of my "reviews" of most of the quests I've played so far. Most of the faction quests are great. The companion quests are also enjoyable. Some of the miscellaneous quests are great, while some are forgettable (and the bad ones are sadly those in the early game). My reviews below have no spoilers.


FACTION QUEST LINES:

Constellation quest line -- My rating: ** out of *****. This quest line is the "face" of the game, but is sadly unexceptional and uninspired in the early going. It only gets exciting until much later in the quest. The premise involving alien artifacts is hardly original, and has been done much better in other space-themed games like Mass Effect, Dead Space, and No Man's Sky.

Crimson Fleet quest line -- My rating: *****. This is one of the two best quest lines in the game. It puts you in the game's main evil faction where you do its bidding while hiding your identity and serving yet another faction. The story takes you to memorable places such as a high-security prison and a luxurious spaceliner. Great fun.

UC Vanguard quest line -- My rating: *****. The exciting quest line from the game's "good" faction has plot twists galore. It starts with a seemingly routine fetch quest, then it spirals and snowballs into a huge story involving xenowarfare and space politics. Players of Fallout 4 may find some of the elements familiar, however. It is not terribly original, but it's exciting questing nonetheless.

Freestar Collective quest line -- My rating: ****. This is also a nice quest line from UC's political rival, FC. You travel to FC territories, start with a small job involving a bank robbery, then stumbles into bigger and bigger challenges and intrigue. Like most of the faction quests, this is above the rest of the game in quality. Faction quests always come with memorable lore and world-building that are usually the heart of any RPG and the main appeal to RPG fans.

Ryujin Industries quest line -- My rating: ****. This is one of several quest lines in the game that have you join a company and do its bidding (or be its hench person). As you complete tasks and climb the corporate ladder, you are given increasingly more challenging (and interesting) tasks. My problem with the Ryujin quest line is that the earlier tasks are often not very interesting.

Strikers (Neon faction) -- My rating: ****. You join a gang in Neon, help them fight a rival gang, and decide their fate at the end. This is a minor faction quest that is fairly enjoyable as well. The seedy, Cyberpunk-like environment adds much flavor and fun.


COMPANION QUEST LINES:

Sarah -- My rating: ***. Sarah tells you her heart-felt past history, but her quest line is a fairly routine mission to find her long-lost _________. Haven't we seen that before.

Barrett -- My rating: ****. Barrett engages you with his past history, and offers much intrigue about a forgotten lawsuit he was once involved in.

Sam -- My rating: ****. Sam's quest deals with reconciling with his estranged wife. His young daughter, Cora, accompanies you on the mission and adds much colorful personality. You also learn about the historical lore that involves Sam's family.

Andreja -- My rating: ***. Andreja's mission involves one of the major factions of the game, and it provides much needed lore about the faction that may be lacking from the rest of the game.

Vasco -- My rating: **. Vasco accompanies you in the game's early moments. His mission is basically a tutorial for various gameplay mechanics like flying and combat. The mission serves its purpose, but doesn't wow, and it is one reason for Starfield's negative reception. Players hate a ruined first impression when they start playing a game.


MISC QUESTS (in descending order of my ratings, and ignoring generic fetch quests and radiant quests):

Groundpounder -- My rating: **** out of *****. This is a rescue mission with nice storytelling on loyalty, morality, and faction politics. Besides exciting combat, this is also a nice "human" mission that gives a better understanding of the people in the world.

First Contact -- My rating: ****. This dialog-driven quest gives you a huge area to explore, has a nice premise about "early explorers," but doesn't offer satisfying options at the end. This is still a memorable experience to the player, one that involves many of the core themes of Starfield: daring exploration, wonderful discoveries, and heart-breaking disappointments.

Defensive Measures -- My rating: ****. This is a nice side quest in Akila City where two NPCs debate how to best deal with the dangerous wild life in the area. Combat, persuasion, stealing, etc. are at your disposal. Some nice commentaries on human nature and compromising are offered as well.

Juno's Gambit -- My rating: ****. This is an interesting short little quest where you interact with an AI onboard a spaceship and help "it" make certain moral and philosophical decisions. The premise intrigues me greatly and makes me think about this kind of topics in our real world.

Failure to Communicate -- My rating: ****. This quest offers ship combat, interesting lore about space settlers, and interesting dialog choices to settle conflicts. It's an all-around well-designed quest that immerses you into the world. Ship combat can be tough if you haven't put enough skill points into it, however.

Loose Ends; Fishy Business -- My rating: ****. This mini-questline is given when you first arrive Neon, and it involves informants, contrabands, gang fights, and a fish factory where you get to work a day. This is an eventful and fun excursion that offers a grab bag of interesting activities.

The Crucible -- My rating: ****. You stumble upon an isolated outpost occupied by...historical figures. This seems most promising at the start, but leaves you wanting at the end. It is still a memorable, thought-provoking experience that gives you a "cosmic perspective" and a feeling of grandeur.

Mantis -- My rating: ***. This takes place in a high-level location where you investigate the "opportunity of a lifetime." The sinister atmosphere is interesting, but the storytelling is a bit slight. And the reward at the end may not be worthwhile if you are already at a high level.

Tapping the Grid -- My rating: ***. This is a slightly more interesting "tourism" quest -- one of the early quests in New Atlantis that show you the lay of the land. You help a technician locate and fix various electronic panels in The Well, while discovering some suspicious goings-on along the way.

Starsap Tours -- My rating: ***. This quest actually takes you on a tour. You pay an NPC to give you a walking tour of an isolated outpost called New Homestead. You get a glimpse of what life is like at the outskirts of the Settled Systems. The place has several interesting features (to a new player at least, if you take this quest early), such as hydroponics, wind farms, and a museum of vintage Earth items.

Red Tape Blues -- My rating: ***. This is one of several missions in the game where you apply for a job and go through the corporate ladder and various hassles. This one has you apply for a fake job in Cydonia as a fake assistant and get the approval for a fake request. The real interesting part is at the end, where you meet yet another schemer who has you scheme some more. (To Bethesda fans, this kind of quests are nothing new, because they show up frequently in their games. My favorite of this kind of quests is actually in Fallout 76, the one where you are given a big runaround when you apply for an ID card at the department of motor vehicles.)

Start-Up Stopped -- My rating: ***. This early mission from Cydonia introduces the ability to board enemy ships and interact with the enemies. The quest has several interesting bargaining options with the enemies that lead to different outcomes.

The Great Laredo Caper -- My rating: ***. Colorful personality from a child NPC is the appeal of this light-hearted quest in Akila, where you play detective with a mischievous kid.

Last Will and Testament -- My rating: ***. You find the will of a diseased person in Akila, learn the truth in it, and make moral decisions about your discovery. This is a brief but engaging little side quest in Akila about what is "justice."

Unjustified -- My rating: ***. This is another short side quest about "justice," in which you help a woman in Neon's Underbelly find her missing husband and make moral decisions about the ensuing discoveries.

Runaway -- My rating: ***. You help a young woman in Cydonia look for her estranged father, while using your stealth and persuasion skills along the way. The story is a bit melodramatic for my taste. But at least it tries to engage you by telling an interesting story, unlike many of the early quests.

Rough Landings -- My rating: ***. This quest involves ship combat and persuasion while you help someone gain legal passage into Akila City after she has been banned from the city. Different outcomes are possible depending on your persuasion and choices.

Beer Run -- My rating: ***. This is another interesting side quest from Akila that has you sabotage someone's beer-brewing. You can sabotage it correctly, do it wrongly, or be a moral person and not do it.

A Tree Grows in New Atlantis -- My rating: **. This early quest in New Atlantis has you run around and locate various devices for a scientist. This is another of the early "tourism" quests that serve mainly to show you the lay of the land. This one has an interesting premise about plants that emit audio waves, which is a true phenomenon in our world. But the actual gameplay is fairly routine.

The Kindness of Strangers -- My rating: **. This is another "tourism quest" in The Well. You escort a sick patient back to his home while making a few stops along the way. The quest serves to familiarize you even more with the area and the plight of the less fortunate people in Starfield.

Top of the L.I.S.T. -- My rating: **. This quest tasks you with surveying habitable planets and moons and selling the survey data back to the quest giver. Surveying is a time-consuming job, and this quest doesn't make it worthwhile to do it. In fact, you can sell survey data at higher prices to someone else and skip this quest altogether.

Charity of the Wolf -- My rating: **. This quest in Akila city has you ask for donations from rich people on behalf of the poor people. This is a "human" quest that gives you some understanding of the social environment, but it just doesn't have interesting gameplay.

Space Frog From Outer Space; Winning Hearts and Minds; UC Wants You! -- My rating: **. These are 3 quests that have you run around and put up posters in various places to help the quest-givers spread their messages. Very mundane and by-the-number routines that are just Bethesda's way to introduce you to the areas and people of the game.