For many gamers, modding is the best way to make a game feel like their own. Customizing different gameplay systems to your liking and adding and removing things that you don’t like can make the experience infinitely better.
This is especially true for Bethesda games like Fallout, Skyrim, and now Starfield, thanks to their modding potential. But there’s a big drawback that often goes unnoticed: the more time spent on modding, the less time is spent playing the game.
The Modding Trap in Bethesda games
One Reddit user recently shared their experience with mods on the subreddit of the game. They shared that they spent weeks adding, testing, and organizing mods. With 68 mods installed, they still had more they wanted to add.
The real danger of modding Starfield: it *becomes* the game
byu/Celebril63 inStarfield
The problem with this was that they hardly played the game itself. Modding became the game for them, and they spent way too much time on it. This is a common issue among modders.
The excitement of finding new mods and tweaking settings can overshadow the actual gameplay, and you end up spending several hours fixing stuff and experimenting with the different mods, leaving little time to actually play the final product.
According to the OP, an old saying in the modding community goes, “You mod it until it breaks, then back off until it works.” Many players, even those experienced with modding, are dealing with a game that isn’t as established in the modding scene yet due to its relatively recent release. This makes the process of currently modding the game both challenging and time-consuming.
Starfield’s modding community is still growing. The studio’s games may not be the best in their vanilla state, but the freedom offered by mods is unmatched. No other games allow for 600+ mods that add new questlines, factions, and more, according to the fans. Skyrim is incredible with mods, and the newer game has the potential to be just as amazing eventually.
Game Stability in Modded Starfield
Another Reddit user pointed out that Bethesda’s latest, compared to Skyrim and Fallout, is harder to break with mods. However, the players are often “greedy“, wanting to download every mod they can find.
Unfortunately, the game tends to break for most of them after adding too many plugins, usually between 90 and 130. This problem might be reduced if flagged plugins allowed for more mods without causing issues.
Some players, like the one who spent 30 hours on their third playthrough of the game, manage to balance modding and playing. But many others get caught in the cycle of modding, testing, and troubleshooting without actually enjoying the game.
This was also an issue with previous Bethesda games for some players. They eventually realized they weren’t enjoying the games because of the constant modding. Now, they only use mods that enhance the game without changing it too much, still having it be more of that vanilla experience.
Mods for the game started coming to Xbox consoles in June of this year. Console players can now enjoy almost the same level of customization that PC players have had for years. Here’s to hoping that the publisher expands on it even further.
What do you think of the game’s current modding capabilities? Let us know in the comments.
