Summary
Not everyStarfieldplayer is enamored with its perk system, as Ship Command in particular has been a source of frustration for many from the game’s community. Though the gunplay inStarfieldis widely considered an upgrade overFallout 4, player reception to the underlying perk system has been far less uniform by comparison.Perks inStarfieldhave an issuein that they lock primary game mechanics to a greater degree than past Bethesda titles. Instead of becoming more efficient, players inStarfieldhave to spend points to become proficient in non-combat situations, wasting precious skill points that they would have otherwise spent in refining their build.
While theship builder inStarfieldis praised for the amount of options it provides, it is also subjected to arbitrary gatekeeping through the perk system. No matter their character level or manufacturer they visit, players have to invest in Ship Design and Piloting in order to have access to the best ships in the game. To a certain degree, it makes sense to lock ships behind a progression system, but given the fact that Piloting and Ship Design are considered mandatory perks, it has done more to annoyStarfieldplayers than provide a sense of growth.
Ship Command is especially an egregious example, and a player named Sear0n opened up a thread on the mainStarfieldsubreddit to discuss the topic further. By maxing out the perk, players are able to have eight crew members on board their vessel, but given how ambitious some of the ship designs inStarfieldcan be, eight seems a low number. Furthermore, by placing Ship Command at the very bottom of the Social tree,Starfieldplayers are restricted to having just four crew members for a long time.
As the community eagerly awaits therelease ofStarfield’s official modding tools, it’s likely that one of the first overhauls will deal with the perk system. A suggestion that is frequently floated around the community is splitting the skill points into a separate tab for non-combat perks and combat perks. Progressing through combat perks,Starfieldplayers would be able to define their build based on playstyle, while still having the freedom to choose what feature to unlock next.
While players can get around these limitations byusing console commands inStarfield, it does somewhat defeat the purpose of having an enjoyable and rewarding progressing system. Hopefully, Bethesda will consider taking another look at some of the perks as it continues its post-launch support of the game.
