I’m a very easy-going consumer. I rarely hang my hat on any specific game or genre in part because I know that my psyche values The New over anything else, which makes sticking with a game or even a genre something that I can no longer do. It used to be MMOs all the way down, which is why I had originally had a site called “Levelcapped.com” (despite having rarely gotten to the cap in any MMO). In my old age my capricious consumption of video games is more pronounced. With one exception: space simulation games.

It should come as no surprise that I deviate from my norm and have designated Star Citizen as my “Holy Grail” game. It’s got online-ness. it’s got space ships. It’s got simulation in spades. On paper, it’s a complete “futuristic life simulator” set in a world I won’t live long enough to see in reality. In truth, I might not even live long enough to see this game in a reliably playable state. The disconnect between what I want and what I’ve got is a wellspring of discord that has driven me to create many a post, and my future relationship with Star Citizen is looking mighty grim.

That’s why I’m revving the engines for Starfield right now. I had originally planned to just save the money and re-sub to Xbox Gamepass for PC and play the game that way, a pot which was sweetened when GeForce Now announced that certain Gamepass games were coming to their live streaming service. Sadly, there’s no info on whether or not Starfield will be included there (no other Bethesda games are available, so the chances are slim). This was important because I’m not sure my ageing PC can do this game justice, and I had been hoping that the powerful servers running GeForce Now could make up for what I am lacking. So rather than take a chance, I decided to consider maybe thinking about the possibility of buying the game outright. This presented another obstacle: the standard edition is $70USD. This isn’t some bespoke choice on account of the magnitude of the title, I fear, but a harbinger of things to come for AAA titles. This standard edition drops on September 5, which is fine, but because marketing departments are stocked with Satan’s Little Assholes, the Premium edition — priced at $99USD — gets in one week early…meaning tonight at 8PM EDT.

I am at a crossroads here. After throwing-down with my last Star Citizen post, and with the pending decision on how I wanted to acquire Starfield, I felt like I was in limbo. Two massive space simulation games, one disappointing and one with promise, but both with pros and cons — what do I do?

In a fit of uneven justification, I went to Fanatical.com and, thanks to a 17% off coupon (why 17%?), I went for the jugular and purchased the Premium edition of Starfield, redeemed through Steam. It was one part consolation purchase based on my current feelings about Star Citizen, one part justified because of my love of space simulation games, and one part because of that weird 17% discount. I also got a free Steam game through Fanatical, too (which ended up being a game I had never heard of and will most likely never play).

Now I sit here with a few meetings ahead of me as the clock slows to a crawl on its approach to 8PM EDT tonight. More importantly, I am hoping that my machine will be able to run the game (although if it bursts into flames I’d be OK since it would mean I’d get to replace it earlier than expected) or barring that, that GeForce Now actually makes it available.