Starfield Gamers Identify Issues with In-Game Food Items

Article Key Points

Players have criticized Starfield's consumables, including food items, stating that they are redundant compared to previous Bethesda games. These items primarily restore a small amount of health and lack unique buffs.

The Gastronomy skill in Starfield is often overlooked and not fully utilized because food has limited healing properties in the game. Players mainly rely on Med Packs and Trauma Packs for restoring health. However, an upcoming update for Starfield aims to address this issue by introducing an eat/drink button. Additionally, mods could potentially enhance the gaming experience for players in this aspect.

Starfield offers a diverse range of consumables that are beautifully designed. However, players have noticed that these items are somewhat redundant compared to Bethesda's previous titles. In games like Skyrim, certain food items provided various buffs, especially those introduced in the Hearthfire expansion. In contrast, food items in Starfield mostly only restore a small amount of health. There are a few exceptions, such as the Jemison Wellington, which increases Carry Capacity when consumed. Despite these exceptions, Starfield players primarily rely on Med Packs and Trauma Packs when their health is low.

While it wouldn't be realistic to rely solely on food for healing in a game, this diminishes the importance of Gastronomy as a skill and underutilizes it. Players already have concerns with Starfield's perk system, as many essential game mechanics like ship building and lock picking are only accessible by spending skill points. This detracts from the ability to specialize in combat perks such as Marksman. The community is divided on how the system could be improved, but one suggestion involves categorizing perks into two separate groups.

However, food items in Starfield are currently raising concerns among players, as noted by OldCorkonian on the official Starfield subreddit. The inability to consume them before picking them up, combined with their minimal average restoration of 5 hit points, renders them largely useless except for decorative purposes.

Fortunately, Bethesda has announced their plans to address this issue by introducing an eat/drink button in an upcoming Starfield update. Additionally, some Starfield mods have already attempted to solve this problem for PC players. Another potential improvement for food items in Starfield would be to make them percentage-based, similar to Med Packs and Trauma Packs. This adjustment would enable them to scale according to the player's level, ensuring their usefulness even in endgame scenarios.

Another way to enhance Gastronomy and food items would be by including a Survival Mode in Starfield. This mode would not only introduce gameplay elements like hydration, sleeping, and eating, but also reintroduce the emphasis on planetary hazards that Starfield originally had during its development. While we wait to see how Shattered Space will enhance Starfield in the coming days, it is highly likely that the modding community will be very active once the Creation Kit is released for the game in early 2024.

Starfield

Platform(s) PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series SReleased September 6, 2023Developer(s) BethesdaPublisher(s) Bethesda

Editor's P/S

As a hard fan of Bethesda games, I am quite disappointed with the food items in Starfield. They are beautifully designed, but they are redundant and lack the unique buffs that were present in previous games like Skyrim. The Gastronomy skill is also not very useful, as food items only restore a small amount of health. I would like to see an update that adds more variety to food items and makes them more useful, either through unique buffs or by making them percentage-based so that they scale with the player's level.

I am also concerned about the perk system in Starfield. Many essential game mechanics, such as ship building and lock picking, are only accessible by spending skill points. This detracts from the ability to specialize in combat perks such as Marksman. I would like to see the perk system reworked so that players can more easily access the skills they need.

Overall, I am enjoying Starfield, but I believe that it has some room for improvement. I am hopeful that Bethesda will address these issues in future updates.