Starbound Vs Terraria

So, I really like both games, but which one do you think is better, and in what areas?
I think exploration wise, storywise, and combat wise starbound is better(Don't forget building)
But terraria is better event wise, boss wise, role play/ class wise.
I personally think starbound is a little better, but only because it was just released. In future I may say starbound is much better.

 

dont forget how easy it is to install mods and stuff

granted a bunch of them turn you into anthropneumatic rabbits with 12 arms and giant eyes

this game will get good in the next couple years

 

I like both about the same.

Terraria is literally like a sandbox; having borders with a lot of sand, when a lot of deserts generate in the world. I don't know if that changed much in the recent update or not, doing additions to deserts; however it is still just one world. The combat is more focused in the game, as that seems to be the rewards mostly. Well the majority of the grinding rewards. Yes there are funiture drops but few. You can craft most of it at some point and have quite a few sets to choose from. Materials to use are just as vast, however at the moment having only one type of pillar thing among that vastness seems a bit lacking. I am talking about the wooden beam you can make from the sawmill.

There are plenty of things to collect in the game, but mainly vanity, equipment, trophies, and critters. Furniture I don't consider it really collecting, unless you count the sets that can only be obtained through drops and world generation. Fishing yeah it is there, but not my kind of activity. I am a builder, and the one thing I do enjoy is the hammer tool that you can use in Terraria to mold blocks to shapes.

It is combat focused to the point where building does become tedious, as you are attacked all the time; during the day, during the night, during obviously the many events there are. It is not really a bad thing, but since there is a defined number of NPCs; building for some that is all there is. To build for the NPCs and only that. Once accomodated, that is finished. Well unless you get into building arenas and messing with the wiring system. Custom maps are a thing. I only enjoy building in this game when I am in the mood for constant struggle. No not with the building mechanic, but with the mobs.

Starbound is more on the exploring side of things with a lot of things one can do. It is like multiple sandboxes that you can hop to within the same game. The universe is pretty vast, but due to the amount of content you will probably see similar structures and the like. I could say the same of Terraria, as that is more noticeable, but done in a slightly different way. There is quite a bit of content but it is more spread upon various planets, instead of all on one small world. I enjoy hopping from one planet to another in search of something; whether that be a place to build, and item, or something else.

The building in starbound is far simpler in that it makes you only having to have 1 block to place foreground & background. Granted there is no hammer tool like terraria, so no molding of that sort. That is not a bad thing, since there are a lot of materials one could use. Furniture there are lots to mess around with. The colony system is the one thing I rather enjoy most in this game since I can finally build an empire with it; which means taxation to my colonies. Although I don't always collect rent constantly... I tend to build more than I collect rent. I love the questing system, even if it is simple in what there is, but complex in how it formulates. Terraria's fishing quests don't compare to that, and that was the only actual quests in that game.

Just like Terraria there is a wiring system, but is again done differently. I also have not messed much with it yet, but know it is there if I want to do so. There is a lot more to collect in starbound, or well types of things to collect. I mean you can collect, musical instruments, vanity, equipment, trophies, critters, mobs(of certain ones), furniture (because that is an actual reward), seeds, saplings, food, and a few other things. The game as hinted at, has more reward types then mostly equipment. Just about anything can be a reward from those bags. So I play starbound when I want to build in a relaxing environment that won't bother me with events or mobs that always know where you are and gun for you. Only mob I see during building is ones that pay no heed to you unless you have line of sight of you, or were snitched to from one of their companions(NPCs).

So on end it really is based on which mood I am in, to determine which I will play. I like both for what they are and I probably could compare and contrast the two games quite a bit, as each have their pros & cons.

 

since starbound released I thought about why I enjoy terraria so much more than starbound, and a few of the reasons why
(ive said this a lot comparing the games) terraria has better progression, you start by fighting enemies that are pretty much ignoble (slimes) then go up to enemies that are really scary (zombies and demon eyes) and stay with these enemies for a little while. then even tougher enemies are thrown in (underground) but you keep fighting these enemies for a long time, they start out stronger than you and extremely likely to kill you but as you get stronger you get closer to them and eventually pass them. then that whole process starts again (hardmode)
in starbound you start by fighting enemies a little stronger than you, and when you get the armor set they are a little weaker. thats it. once you reach the next level of planets the enemies are slightly stronger again.
in terraria you are also gaining new ways to move around and new weapon types to use, while with starbound you basically stay the same (none of the techs are terribly practical) while in terraria a single item changes the way you play the game (grappling hook)

in terraria building is fairly practical because it attracts NPCs who unlock functions not otherwise obtainable, as well as a way to keep enemies away from you for a time (then the blood moon happens)
in starbound building doesnt serve much practical use, as rent is a really poor way to progress

while starbound is the exploration focused game I find exploring in terraria to be more enjoyable. I think its because if I mine in a random direction I will probably find something useful (ores or maybe a chest) while in starbound I know I will probably find something... something I probably dont care about.

building in starbound is much better than building in terraria is, its just a shame it isnt as useful


I like that terraria is more focused on combat rather than anything else, though it mixes the combat with building well. my biggest issue with terraria is that it becomes to focused on combat in the late game. half way through hardmode (if that) you lose most if not all reason to build more stuff as the only progress is achieved through killing the next boss



currently when I look at terraria, I see a game that has lived up to its potential. theres really not much more you can add to empower the player further (infinite flight mounts specifically)
while with starbound I see the potential to add so much (or re-add so much...) that it could pass terraria in how good a game it is

and thats something ive always felt with starbound, is that it has the potential to be amazing, more amazing than terraria has the potential for. (though I see less potential in starbound now than in its earlier versions)

 

Oh great Cthulu's brother, not this again.
Yes, they have some similarities. Yes, both do some things better. Yes, everyone has their preference. Stop comparing the two, please.

Now Moon Lord vs. Ruin on the other hand... Well, the Moon Lord is actually a difficult boss (sans cheesing methods), even if it relies mostly on spamming hard-to-dodge attacks and a whack of HP.

 

If you seek shallow width: Starbound.
If you seek meaty depth: Terraria.

 

Yeah, this is basically where we stand now. On the other hand, you have to compare Terraria right after release, when it didn't have nearly its current depth of content. I expect Starbound will be looking pretty "Meaty" after a few years of continuing development, too.

 

Terraria is more "game". Starbound is more "sandbox". That's how I would compare the two. In Terraria, you have a set way of progression, to the point that all my games basically follow the same exact script. While in Starbound, I just do stuff. This time I'm building an Avali housing complex on a Darkness planet. Before that I was just traveling the universe and being a sci-fi wizard (because it was an ancient version which still had that magic mod).

 

Couldn't summarize it better. I own both Terraria and Starbound. I've played the former for just 4 hours, and Starbound for +55 hours and counting. Terraria is tailored as a platform action game with building elements (not my thing), Starbound is a building/exploration game with adventure elements. Two completely different games, in my humble opinion.

Most people who dislike Starbound seem to fail to see this. Many of them thought that Starbound was StarTerraria, which is obviously not the case.

I bought Terraria thinking I could play it like a planewalker, hopping into different planes of existence collecting resources to build a world in my image. But every planet is just the same (different sizes with the same planet generation algorithm), with the same challenges, the same progression line. Really not my thing.

In Starbound, I'm creating a human colony on a Lush world to house my fellow men and women from our beloved, lost homeworld. Meanwhile, I like exploring Floran Ruins on Jungle Worlds, although I find them too unique to rob them from their furniture and stuff. That's a feeling I couldn't get in Terraria.

Starbound may lack some challenges to keep players entertained, but I don't play it for the challenge: I play it for the escapism it provides. I can chill out while playing Starbound. I need to be always alert when playing Terraria.

 

I just started Starbound, after playing Terraria since Prerelease. I have to say, I like Starbound, but IMO, Terraria is better

 

I prefer starbound, for a number of reasons:

Firstly I'll focus on why I disliked Terraria:
1: Progression is munch-kin focused, that is, it's all about power and stats for the most part. Ask yourself, without using cheats or getting the ultimate mining vehicle and spelunker potions, when was the last time you spent time building something out of ore brick materials and mostly made wood/stone items? You likely did so after you already beat the moon lord, because he was where you had the "uber" items and you likely needed his luminite bars for that awesome mining vehicle.
2: Building is often interupted with frequent combat, and you have to build elaborate arenas for the sole purposes of fighting bosses. To me, thats kind of silly: Reality and lore whatnot: You fight with what your given, not the perfect spot. Terraria's bosses made to punish those who didn't build arenas on expert turns me off some, which actually makes building things feel more like a chore rather than a proper difference in kind or thing to do.
3: It takes a lot of time to make all those mining shafts/hellivators to stop crimson/corruption/hallow spread and it makes subsequent playthroughs more tedious for non-speed runners.

Now for what I liked about Starbound and what it did better then the things I liked about Terraria:

1: Exploration: Your never discouraged from looking for chests and opening them up in Starbound, each new planet may have a ship upgrade module, matter manipulator module, or even just a tier 5-6 weapon. You have the reasons to look for these things.
2: Building is done better. It's easier to build a large structure when the game actually makes having the materials necessary to build reasonable. And you don't HAVE to build huge fancy things if you don't want to, plus bosses are fought with there own arena in a way which makes sense for a platformer. Because building is less mandatory, it becomes a lot funner to get creative.
3: Wiring has more potential as it allows wired devices to communicate directly with one another. It's also cheaper and practical to use once it's unlocked. Not to mention how well it works with things like flowing liquids, crops, and mods(such as frackin universe).

In terraria you stop exploring for things after a point, and mechanics even discourage time taken exploring. Hunting for a frozen turtle shell isn't exploration; your just hunting for a mob. And the game on expert is kind of punishing/artificially difficult when you first enter hardmode, so your likely to grind for crates for the hardmode ores ahead of time for very understandable reasons unless again, your speed running. I enjoyed terraria at first when exploration mattered, after I got past a point in the game, it felt less about exploring, and more grinding and building mandatory arenas.
*After finding all the chest-only items in terraria your certainly less likely to keep exploring because why?
As I said, building can be tedious and enemies can interupt you, it becomes manditory to build things, which actually hurts it.
Wiring only got logic gates recently and you have to use ultra-expensive, grindy to set up purchased wires to place everywhere and on expert mode, is even locked behind a "THAT ONE OVERPOWERED BOSS!".

 

I wouldn't say so much one is a game and another is sandbox, they are both that.

Terraria is more linear with mandatory tasks in it that must be done for certain points. It makes you build a base at the center of the world, forces you to fight the eye of cthulhu(in fact the game railroads it), forces you to fight the eater or worlds/brain of cthulhu, forces you to go through skeletron and wall of flesh ect. Bosses are used as a means to force players to do things in a specific order.

Starbound has multiple paths of progression, be building colonies, exploring, progressing a main quest, making farms ect. It's more focused on a variety of playstyles rather than forcing a single playstyle. The only forced encounter is the first boss. The rest of the main quests and bosses are optional, and the player can even choose to progress to tier 5-6 armor before finishing the rest of the bosses if they desire.

They are both games, just one is less linear than the other(and I like it more for that).

 

1. I do most of my building in terraria early, and a little more later when materials are more available
2. terraria really has no lore, and one of the things you are given is the ability to manipulate the terrain. if you need that to beat a boss then you are able to. but none of the bosses absolutely REQUIRE an arena (though it helps massively)

and while starbound has more to explore, I find terrarias exploration better because I know there is something useful out there. in starbound most of the stuff I find is uninteresting and fairly useless. I maxed out my tech and MM before the second to last boss

 

Terraria is for when I want to build medieval things.

Starbound is for when I want to build futuristic or steampunk things.

I also like the fact that Starbound has got so many more decorative things. When I set up furniture in Terraria, like a bed, dresser, fireplace, a bookshelf and all that I can barely find anything fitting to put there so it ends up pretty empty.

Terraria also have got a better landscape all in all. Starbound may have many more biomes, but it's pretty much like one planet entirely covered in forest or an ocean planet. It's never a mix between sea to beach to forest to mountain or anything like that.

 

It's a matter of personal preference, IMHO. Terraria has one world, so logically it must have a little of everything to keep things interesting. Starbound has many planets, which are then more "monochromatic" because they weren't created to be the single world of the game.

Despite that, Starbound planets still feature microbiomes. On my Lush homeworld, you can find a Mushroom Forest and a swamp, complete with Frog people. I would like to see some small oceans on Lush worlds, though. Or even a deep lake, whatever. But it is not so monochromatic as it first appears.

Terraria features a very complex biome composition because there is only one world that matters.

Starbound features simple biome composition because there are many worlds that matter.

Again, in this regard, I think that it all boils down to personal preference.

 

Indeed old bean

 

Hard to say, Starbound is a haphazard form of sci-fi for which I've seen at least 3 reviewers tell their audience to suspend your disbelief (For a sci-fi game, that's bad news) while Terraria is a fantasy game so doesn't have to focus on such issues.
Starbound is far bigger, but Terraria is neater.
Starbound is more like an action shooter when Terraria is more like an RPG when it comes to stat terms. This is because Starbound's approach is "more armour = more gooder. Get EPP to go to more planets with gooder stuff 4 armours" until about end game when they finally give you variation. while Terraria is more like "Armour gives you more defensive properties while health increase and mana increase require altering your character. Some armours are intended for different character classes, but there is also equipment to focus on attack power, which can be utilized." In layman's terms, Starbound uses a cheap system of defining your statistics by shoving them all into a single piece of armour to try and get you to mine more stuff. Terraria may also use mining, but allows for alternate routes to improve your statistics. Starbound basically tries to get it out of the way so they can focus on showing you down their cheap narrative-I mean allow you to explore the universe. Terraria too does have linearity, but sequences can be skipped if the player is adept at evasive maneuvers.
Terraria actually takes longer to advance in however.

 

STARBOUND ALL THE WAY! Even better than Minecraft I say. (My Opinion).

 

Didn't Terraria completely copy its character sprite from Final Fantasy 5? That game seems to do a lot of...*ahem* borrowing.

Starbound has a lot of original content which I really appreciate and enjoy, and as a sci fi enthusiast (as opposed to being a necromancer, as that's what Terraria seems to want to make the player emulate,) I say Starbound is better hands down. Does Terraria let you battle in giant mechs? No. Does Terraria let you catch legendary fish? No. It has some pig boss from fishing. Does Terraria have in-depth explorable oceans? No. Its biomes are very small and it treads in a lot of darker places I'm happier with Starbound for staying out of.

Does Terraria have thousands of placeable objects? No. Does Terraria let you explore other planets? No. Does Terraria have a very expansive story? No. There just...doesn't really seem to be a plot to Terraria? You're a guy on some island inhabited by zombies because there's a skeleton dude. Does it ever elaborate on the skeleton dude? No. It just gives you an NPC that has a funny hat. Terraria could have been so much more, and believe me I was sitting there suggesting ideas to them before I switched over to Starbound to suggest all of my better ideas.

Chucklefish really listens to its community, whereas the creators of Terraria did not.