Starfield [Xbox|Bethesda, Sept 6, 2023]

[Kiltman]

Gameplay reveal

- Exploration xp, cataloguing xp like No Man’s Sky

- Looks like survival mechanics like oxygen on planets where it’s needed. Probably will be a difficultly slider with those. Gravity will be taken into account, can jump higher and some zero g gunfights . Starfield’s version of the lock pick mini-game. Rocket booster for your suits.

- Various weapon types show, as well as encounter mechanics.

- Facial animation took a seismic leap forward from their previous games

- Factions shown off briefly.

- Character creator shown. Far more depth for each section. Add a background choice that seems like it will affect a lot more things, and 3 minor traits that will flavor who you are 

- Custom outposts, base building. Can add people to maintain them and gather resources.

- Fully custom ships, can also add a crew. Can fly them and there is space content.

- Over a thousand fully explorable planets. Various full cities throughout.

 

very Bethesda game in space, as expected 

[Heimdallr]

Soooo it is literally No Man's Sky? 

[Kiltman]

24 minutes ago, Heimdallr said:

Soooo it is literally No Man's Sky? 

Seems like a tailored lighter no man’s sky as a base layer under a more roleplayee Bethesda RPG.

I’m interested to see what systems they made to handle the procedural generation. Seems like they went in and crafted the cities and a lot of other points. But for everything else that engine will populate what happens when you land on random points of those thousand+ planets.

Like I’m sure there will outpost and dungeon tech, as well as random encounters. Probably weather/world events too. I remember they talked about how they want you to have unique story moments in the world to your play through.

[Jakuvious]

2 hours ago, Heimdallr said:

Soooo it is literally No Man's Sky? 

Didn't No Man's Sky have no combat and no like cities and stuff?

I see it as No Man's Sky as a Bethesda game, which sounds amazing. But it was always going to just be a Bethesda game in space. And that's going to either be amazing or boring pending someone's opinion of Bethesda's game structure.

[Kiltman]

16 minutes ago, Jakuvious said:

Didn't No Man's Sky have no combat and no like cities and stuff?

I see it as No Man's Sky as a Bethesda game, which sounds amazing. But it was always going to just be a Bethesda game in space. And that's going to either be amazing or boring pending someone's opinion of Bethesda's game structure.

They have light combat, but it was fairly simple last I played. like a laser, think it’s expanded on by now tho. I think they added more structures over time to NMS. But not like cities. 

I really enjoyed the time I played that when it kinda relaunched.

But yeah if I can get that but with some base structure and stakes, all of Bethesda’s quests, with more developed role playing and progression systems…. I’m so down.
 

going around meeting Actually other people, some of which you can bring with you and not just various aliens with simple dialogue make it feel way different too.

[rob_shadows]

I mean the trailer made it look exactly how Todd described it a while ago... It's Fallout 4 in space.

(And I'm completely fine with that btw)

Edited June 13, 2022 by rob_shadows

[Heimdallr]

1 hour ago, Jakuvious said:

Didn't No Man's Sky have no combat and no like cities and stuff?

I see it as No Man's Sky as a Bethesda game, which sounds amazing. But it was always going to just be a Bethesda game in space. And that's going to either be amazing or boring pending someone's opinion of Bethesda's game structure.

I'm not saying it is a bad thing, but the amount of things that are blatantly ripped straight from NMS (including UI features) is pretty astounding. 

The big problems NMS has are the lack of strong story to drive things along (that isn't what they wanted or were trying to do), and engaging NPC's that make the world feel deep. Those are two things Bethesda are good at.

With that said, Bethesda is also known for tons of bugs and janky combat, so we'll see how this turns out.

[Kiltman]

Rest of the Gameplay is optional 1st or 3rd person like we saw. 

[Scalamania]

Looks like NMS mixed with Destiny to me. Very excited for more gameplay/info. 

[Spartacus]

On 6/12/2022 at 8:50 PM, Heimdallr said:

strong story to drive things along (that isn't what they wanted or were trying to do), and engaging NPC's that make the world feel deep. Those are two things Bethesda are good at.

*Was good at. Bethesda hasn't done a strong story with engaging NPCs since 2011. Hell the best game in both mainline franchises that they are known for both story and NPCs Bethesda didn't even make. 

I have huge doubts that they can pull something compelling out of procedurally generated planets besides there usual radiant quest crap. That said if they have 5 to 10 well thought out planets that would be enough to make for a great experience with all the other crap just being extra if you want to RP as an explorer or something. 

[Kiltman]

2 hours ago, Spartacus said:

*Was good at. Bethesda hasn't done a strong story with engaging NPCs since 2011. Hell the best game in both mainline franchises that they are known for both story and NPCs Bethesda didn't even make. 

I have huge doubts that they can pull something compelling out of procedurally generated planets besides there usual radiant quest crap. That said if they have 5 to 10 well thought out planets that would be enough to make for a great experience with all the other crap just being extra if you want to RP as an explorer or something. 

I’m hoping what they did with procedural generation is use it early in the process so there is a set universe everyone has in terms of what the planets are. Then they could go in and add onto them with specific things. Then for us playing there will be some heftier random encounter mechanics for the various systems. Like pirate encounters, downed ships, aggressive/big megafauna, space events, etc.

1000+ planets and all that space will be sweet for the modding community. Will give this a long live. Especially with our character not being voiced, they can seamlessly add on new stories.

[Spartacus]

1 hour ago, Kiltman said:

I’m hoping what they did with procedural generation is use it early in the process so there is a set universe everyone has in terms of what the planets are. Then they could go in and add onto them with specific things. Then for us playing there will be some heftier random encounter mechanics for the various systems. Like pirate encounters, downed ships, aggressive/big megafauna, space events, etc.

1000+ planets and all that space will be sweet for the modding community. Will give this a long live. Especially with our character not being voiced, they can seamlessly add on new stories.

I agree with the modding community but as far as Bethesda themselves I have no faith that they will deliver. That being said I was also a guy that defended CPR before Cyberpunk 2077 as a developer that cares about its community so i've been really wrong before. 

[Kiltman]

Some new tidbits

Pete Hines at the Extended Showcase

• Fully explorable sandbox with over 1000 planets reiterated.
• Choice like: Can walk into a store and there's a bunch of weapons, etc. You could pick those up. You could steal them and create chaos. (Or learn to craft them as you upgrade those skills)
• Ship building very robust.
• Fully exploring planets an option, but sounds like some will intentionally be left open.
• Want to allow people to just play the main story, people who say "I want a  kind of experience that I'm guided through so I kinda get to see the cool stuff." Some folks want a little bit of a guided path to understand where the fun is. 
• Branching quests (or different paths in finishing a quest at least). You could talk to everybody about what you did and you were like "wait I did that quest, but I did this completely different thing." You start to appreciate all of the choices you could've made you didn't even realize were an option.
• Can steal a ship, shoot all the crew members, and take off.
• Different skills that determine how good you are in combat, different weapons, and ship combat all paint the picture of just how deep the rabbit hole (of combat mechanics) goes.
• Every ship is customizable to the nth degree. Not just cosmetically, it goes much deeper than that. You could change what kind of shields you have and what kind of weapons you have. What do you want your ship to be good at? What trade-offs are you willing to make?
• Ship upgrades can be obtained through getting resources and levelling up certain skills. Parts could also be bought from people with money.

 

[NYRaider]

I was in downtown on Sunday and everyone from the conference was out at lunch, lol.

[Kiltman]

Starfield: Everything New We Learned in IGN's Todd Howard Interview

https://www.ign.com/articles/starfield-new-details-todd-howard-interview

IGN was lucky enough to speak to Bethesda Game Studios' Todd Howard today and, in the process learned a lot more about Starfield – not to mention heard a mention of Fallout's future.

In conversation with Ryan McCaffrey, Howard followed up on a number of elements we learned about for first time during Starfield's gameplay reveal at the Xbox-Bethesda showcase last weekend. We have full news stories and quotes for every topic mentioned, linked below, but here's a quick rundown of everything new we learned.

Todd Howard Confirms Fallout 5 Is Coming After Elder Scrolls 6

Todd Howard has confirmed to IGN that Fallout 5 will be Bethesda Game Studios' next game after The Elder Scrolls 6, which itself will follow on from 2023's Starfield.

"Yes, Elder Scrolls 6 is in pre-production," he said, "and, you know, we’re going to be doing Fallout 5 after that, so our slate’s pretty full going forward for a while. We have some other projects that we look at from time to time as well."

Starfield Includes More Handcrafted Content Than Any Bethesda Game, Alongside Its Procedural Galaxy

Amid a huge amount of new information on Starfield from the Xbox-Bethesda showcase, likely the most-discussed detail was Todd Howard's announcement that the upcoming sci-fi RPG will include 1,000 fully explorable planets. Howard told us more about the game's approach to procedural generation, what it offers, and assured us that players can ignore them in favour of a huge amount of fully handcrafted content, if they want to.

Starfield’s Main Quest Is About 20% Bigger than Previous Bethesda Games, Around 30-40 Hours Long

Starfield's main quest is about 20% bigger than previous Bethesda games such as Skyrim and Fallout 4, with Todd Howard saying that means it should take around 30 to 40 hours to complete – without stepping away to do side content.

Howard said the game's main story is longer than normal due to the sheer number of quests: "This one’s ending up a little bit longer [than our previous games] and we may tune that some still," he said. "It’s more quests, so it might be 20% more than our previous ones."

Starfield - Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase 2022

Yes, Starfield Will Begin With a Classic Bethesda 'Step-Out Moment'

Bethesda's open world RPGs may vary wildly in setting and tone, but they very often share one thing – what Bethesda calls the 'step-out moment', the scene in which your character steps into the world properly, and sees its sheer scale. Starfield won't be bucking that trend.

Howard was asked if Starfield had a step-out moment, and how it would create a grand reveal of its world considering it includes 1,000 different planets: "There is. Look, the way the game starts is pretty set for everybody, so we definitely have what we call the 'step-out moment'. And we probably have a few of them given the scale of the game."

Starfield Has 4 Main Cities, and New Atlantis Is the Biggest City Bethesda’s Ever Made

Starfield will have four major cities for players to explore, including New Atlantis, which is the biggest that developer Bethesda has ever made. Howard said that New Atlantis, capital city of the United Colonies, is not just the biggest in this game but bigger than anything in Skyrim, Fallout 4, or any of the developer's previous games.

"It has all the services you would expect, and you can work on your ship there, the factions touch that," Howard said. "But that’s also the headquarters for Constellation, which is the faction that you join that is the last group of space explorers – kind of this NASA-meets-Indiana Jones-meets-The League of Extraordinary Gentleman [group]."

Starfield Doesn’t Let You Fly Seamlessly from Space to Planet: ‘That’s Really Just Not that Important’

Todd Howard has said that Starfield won't allow you to fly seamlessly from space to its 1,000 explorable planets, saying the feature is "really just not that important to the player" to justify the engineering work involved.

"People have asked, ‘Can you fly the ship straight down to the planet?’ No. We decided early in the project that the on-surface is one reality, and then when you’re in space it’s another reality."

Starfield’s Space Combat Is ‘Unique’, and Inspired By FTL and MechWarrior

Todd Howard said Starfield features a unique take on space combat, and that was partly inspired by FTL and MechWarrior. And yes, you can steal ships that you board.

Howard said "there's been a lot space sims that we're fans of, and space shooters from the '90s," but the team wanted Starfield "to feel [like] something unique". He went on to explain how both indie darling FTL and classic shooter MechWarrior were unlikely touchstones for the game.

During the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, Howard revealed the game will have more than one thousand planets for players to explore, what feels like just as many customisation options, and Star Wars-esque dogfighting in space.

Players are also speculating whether our own Solar System will be a plot point in the game but Bethesda has at least confirmed some story details thanks to a new trailer, though fans will no doubt continue analysing and speculating about Starfield until it is finally released in 2023.

Breakdown

• 200k lines of dialogue
• Some quests involve docking and boarding ships.
• Constellation is NASA + Indiana Jones + League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
• Constellation is looking for Old Earth Artifacts. They've also now found mysterious artifacts whose origin isn't known.
• 30-40 hours for Main Quests. Doesn't include side quests?!
• Loves their modding community. Thinks it'll be a dream for them.
• Quests take a lot of time to make for Starfield.
• Can't fly ship straight down to the planet! (Damn!)
• To add to previous point, Starfield Doesn’t Let You Fly Seamlessly from Space to Planet because Howard says it's "Really Just Not that Important". (Debatable).
• Handcrafted worlds and procedurally generated ones will be distinct and separate, with it being made clear to the player which is which.
• To add to previous point, Starfield Includes More Handcrafted Content Than Any Bethesda Game, Alongside Its Procedural Galaxy.
• Seemed to confirm that everyone will have the same beginning to the game via the 'step out moments' question, which was a topic of some debate.
• Starfield Has 4 Main Cities, and New Atlantis Is the Biggest City Bethesda’s Ever Made
• Starfield’s Space Combat Is ‘Unique’, and Inspired By FTL and MechWarrior
• Elder Scrolls 6 is in Pre-Production!
• Fallout 5 is after that!
• Mentioned that BGS might work on other projects.