Pre-Release Starfield articles and discussion

[Pifanjr]

One of the traits is "Alien DNA" - so there must be some sort of aliens.

The Alien DNA trait just boosts your health, but makes healing items less effective. Which to me implies you get the DNA of some random tough alien creature, not an intelligent one.

I thought I heard that there are a lot of humanoid races, as in descended from humans but of course taking their own future evolutionary course. But not at all sure…

I don't remember anything like that. I think there were some hints that there's a faction with a focus on cybernetics, but I haven't seen anything about there being different human (sub)species.

Edit: Todd Howard did an interview with the Telegraph where he confirmed there would be alien races:

There are alien races too – although Howard won’t disclose how they tie in to the game’s realistic grounding (“There is a way we approach it, I will say that”)

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gaming/...-reveal-exclusive-todd-howard-spent-25-years/

 

[Zloth]

The Alien DNA trait just boosts your health, but makes healing items less effective. Which to me implies you get the DNA of some random tough alien creature, not an intelligent one.

That makes sense.

Oooo, so my character could have alien DNA and specialize in mind controlling aliens.... and be helpless against humans and robots. Sounds more like what you would set a companion up to do, then only bring that companion along for certain missions. Or maybe I could train pets... Ah well, we'll see what shows up - from Bethesda and modders.

"...a way we approach it?" Interesting!

 

[mainer]

One of the traits is "Alien DNA" - so there must be some sort of aliens.

Speaking of traits, here's a PCG article on all the currently known traits and what they do. I doubt that's all of them, but it gives a bit more information. The adoring fan from Oblivion is back too.

Every Starfield trait we've seen so far, from having parents to worshipping space serpents

Each trait adds a positive and negative attribute to your character. Here's what we know about them.

www.pcgamer.com

Just saw this article, posted about half an hour ago:

Microsoft exec says Starfield has 'the fewest bugs any Bethesda game ever shipped with'

A bold statement that the head of Xbox Studios will probably hear repeated back to him once or twice.

www.pcgamer.com

Like that author, I don't expect Starfield to be anywhere near bug free on release, but at least it looks like it won't launch as a complete broken mess.

I think this is going to be a huge boom for Bethesda, having access to every QA tester at Microsoft to help playtest Starfield. Bethesda has never had this before for any of their open world RPGs, and to have that many people playtest a game, who have never worked on it, is going to catch a lot more bugs.

I still expect some graphical glitches and various quest bugs, but it's very encouraging to see Microsoft actually working & helping with one of their developers. Now if only EA would do the same with Bioware.

 

[Zloth]

From the first article,

... but health and endurance are lowered if you don't continue jumping regularly - like an addiction.

Like bunny hopping in Morrowind!! That's how I got into trouble the first time I played it! Too much bunny hopping and other such things gave me a whole bunch of skill levels, which raised my average level, which made the monsters outside the first town (once I finally left) well beyond my still-meager combat skills.

'Fewest bugs' is a safe bet. If you want to prove otherwise, you need to count all the bugs in the other games at release. Good luck with that.

It is a brave statement but, I mean, his last name is Booty, and he hangs around us dweeby types. The Buckaroo Banzai jokes alone.... this man must have Panzer-level skin.

 

[Pifanjr]

Hopes are high: Starfield rockets to second place in Steam's global bestsellers list

A lot of people expect Bethesda to deliver this September.

www.pcgamer.com

Starfield is now the number 2 best selling game on Steam, just below Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (it's ranked by revenue, not game sales).

It seems there are plenty of people who don't care about how buggy the game might be at launch.

 

[Brian Boru]

Starfield is now the number 2 best selling game on Steam

Oh dear, oh dear—and at least $70 a pop too!

I declare Sep 6, 2023 a worldwide Patient Gamer weep day. All PGs are to turn off their gaming device and go out in the country to find some restful green to contemplate.

We'll call it Stare Field.

 

[Zloth]

OUTSIDE? Are you mad? There's, like, ultraviolet rays all over the place! Here:

Save that, set the image as your wallpaper, and set the wallpaper to tiled.

P.S. They should team up with Larian and offer an RPG bundle with Starfield and BG3 for the first half of September.

 

[Colif]

resists correcting typo in games name.

 

[mainer]

Todd Howard says Starfield's 1000+ planets won't be all boring procgen globes and contain more handcrafted work 'than Skyrim and Fallout 4 combined'

Bethesda's spacey opus will be chock-full of authored stuff, promises Todd.

www.pcgamer.com

It's good to know that at least some of these 1000+ planets will have handcrafted work and not just procgen, but with that many planets, there's bound to be some repetition. One of the good things using procgen for planets, is that individual planets should be different for each new game. And if I remember correctly, at least some of those planets will allow you to set up settlements.

 

[Pifanjr]

Todd Howard says Starfield's 1000+ planets won't be all boring procgen globes and contain more handcrafted work 'than Skyrim and Fallout 4 combined'

Bethesda's spacey opus will be chock-full of authored stuff, promises Todd.

www.pcgamer.com

It's good to know that at least some of these 1000+ planets will have handcrafted work and not just procgen, but with that many planets, there's bound to be some repetition. One of the good things using procgen for planets, is that individual planets should be different for each new game. And if I remember correctly, at least some of those planets will allow you to set up settlements.

I think a lot of planets will just feel like resource nodes. There's probably a hundred balls of dirt that all look alike whose only function is to mine some resources from. The main point is that just seeing more planets you can land on adds to the sense of scale, even if a lot of them are just boring resource nodes.

 

[Zloth]

Mine resources AND screenshots! The sun rises and sets on every world, and it always looks cool at some altitude.

 

[Pifanjr]

There's a new interview with Todd Howard here:

View: https://youtu.be/AIbnDyv6g1c


The first 5-6 minutes are just introduction and can be skipped.

EDIT: adding the PCGamer article about the interview:

'About 10%' of Starfield's 1000+ planets have life on them as the game tries to capture 'the magnificent desolation' of space, says Todd Howard

Starfield's director says the game's exploration is "different than we've had" in Bethesda's previous games.

www.pcgamer.com

If you don't want to watch the entire thing, this reddit thread made a list of highlights:

- 10% of planets have any life on them.

- Some planets have one biome, some have a LOT of biomes per planet.

- Need to prepare suits for weather rolling in, things change.

- Fully surveying planets and systems gives a lot of money.

- Creatures can fight each other, you will see it - one of the development problems has been aggressive high level creatures killing off all other creatures on a planet.

- No mounts. You explore on foot. You cannot ride creatures. You explore 'around' your ship.

- There is a trait and skills for playing solo, so you can play without companions.

- You can assign companions to ships you're not using (or dismiss them). It sounds like your fleet can have other companions flying them.

- There are multiple robot companions. You could technically entirely crew your ship with just robots. Todd doesn't want to oversell it, though.

- There is radio, but it's local to one location.

- If you steal a ship, they're all upgradable.

- You have to register a ship after stealing it.

- All the ships in the game are built using the built in ship editor - anything you see, you can build too.

- Ship building is a late game activity. Needs skills and costs a LOT of credits.

- Very happy with Creation Engine 2. Have really pushed the tech. Things not shown include volumetric fog which interacts with GI lighting, and physics and gravity changes under the hood which they lean in on.

- Todd thinks Digital Foundry did an incredible job on the 30fps Starfield coverage. Their vision is 30fps for the game on console, they are focused on making it feel great.

- "Starfield is a modders paradise". Mods are supported, and we plan to participating in modding community.

- Outposts is a deep system. Requires resources, character skills, you can connect outposts between planets with your ships and crews. Not meant as an early player system.

- Outposts can be an economy generator.

- Bethesda love the game, they're humbled by the excitement, the excitement is fuel over the last two months until release.

- You can romance 4 companions in the game.

- Pass on answering if there's black holes in the game.

- Vasco cannot wear a hat yet (hi modders).

 

[Brian Boru]

There is a trait and skills for playing solo, so you can play without companions

Woohoo!

You have to register a ship after stealing it

What?

"Starfield is a modders paradise"

Yes!

You can romance 4 companions in the game

Gulp. You sure the other 3 won't find out?

Pass on answering if there's black holes in the game

Makes sense, after all they're invisible—so not in Bethesda's vision.

I do hope they eventually get this game to where they want it to be—I applaud the ambition loud and long.

 

[Pifanjr]

I just finished watching it. One thing they mentioned which might be of particular interest to the people of this forum, considering the average age of users here, is that there is a large font option.

What?

When you acquire a ship through more violent means, you can immediately fly in it, but you'll have to pay a fee if you want to modify it at a shipyard. It's supposedly just a way to keep the in-game economy a bit more balanced.

 

[Zloth]

- Very happy with Creation Engine 2. Have really pushed the tech. Things not shown include volumetric fog which interacts with GI lighting, and physics and gravity changes under the hood which they lean in on.

I know in X4:Foundations that volumetric fog + anti-aliasing = horrible framerate. I'll be interested to see what happens in this game.

I will NOT be interested in gastro-intestinal lighting. I really hope we can turn that off!!

 

[mainer]

@Pifanjr - Thanks for the breakdown of that video, I didn't have time to watch it, but you picked out a lot of useful information.

- "Starfield is a modders paradise". Mods are supported, and we plan to participating in modding community.

That's the best news of all I think. PCG just did another article on modding Starfield:

Players salivate as Todd Howard confirms Starfield will be a 'modder's paradise' that Bethesda will 'participate' in

Todd talked mods with some Kinda Funny bods.

www.pcgamer.com

There will be Creation Club type mods of course, but the really good stuff will eventually evolve on the Nexus and I can't wait to see some of the mods they create. Those other 90% of planets that aren't populated, will soon have unique creatures, people, locations & quests.

The Nexus is also prepping for Starfield content (the article is a year old, but it lists some of the things they're doing for Starfield's release):

Preparing for Starfield

Starfield, the first game in a brand new series from Bethesda Game Studios, is coming to PC and Xbox in November and while that may seem to be a long way off yet, we're already excitedly preparing for...

www.nexusmods.com

 

[Zloth]

The angst is starting.

View: https://youtu.be/h3ZnF6MHm1o

 

[Brian Boru]

OutsideXbox 13m vid:

STARFIELD: 13 Details You Probably Missed

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g3PU-_klLA


Via a comment:
00:50 - Earth has been destroyed
02:16 - You can own a fleet of ships
03:04 - You can hide your spacesuit
04:06 - You can run a business
04:37 - Multiple biomes
05:32 - Nirnroot confirmed
06:00 - You have a body
06:38 - The origins of the Adoring Fan
08:21 - Smuggling confirmed
09:00 - Vasco says your name
10:03 - Sam Coe's ties to Akila City
11:02 - Persuasion is now a mini game
12:15 - They announced story DLC

 

[ZedClampet]

OutsideXbox 13m vid:

STARFIELD: 13 Details You Probably Missed

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g3PU-_klLA

Might want to Spoiler Alert that for those of us who like to go into games knowing as little as possible.

 

[Brian Boru]

Might want to Spoiler Alert that for those of us who like to go into games knowing as little as possible.

No need, such people wouldn't be reading this thread.

But next time I'll put something like "STARFIELD: 13 Details You Probably Missed" at the beginning of the post. Might even do it twice, since one good turn deserves another—or at least, that's what my dog told me about his lying down preamble

 

[ZedClampet]

No need, such people wouldn't be reading this thread.

But next time I'll put something like "STARFIELD: 13 Details You Probably Missed" at the beginning of the post. Might even do it twice, since one good turn deserves another—or at least, that's what my dog told me about his lying down preamble

Well, I was glancing through the thread to see if there were any generic stories I'd missed, like on modding. and accidentally saw your "the earth has been destroyed" line, which I would have rather not known. There are plenty of generic "you get to build outposts, etc." type articles that don't impact the story. Telling parts of the story is something else entirely. But I will avoid this thread in the future.

 

[mainer]

Telling parts of the story is something else entirely.

Everything in that video I already knew about from other videos & articles, which is mostly about gameplay features. All except the one you mentioned, which is definitely spoiler material. I've had my suspicions since the "deep dive" Starfield video aired. Mainly from that image of what appears to be the St Louis Arch, and because everyone seemed to skirt around mentioning anything about Earth.

It could be that it was meant to be one of those dramatic moments that you only experience on your initial playthrough when you discover it. All Bethesda single player open world RPGs have those moments, where an event is the most dramatic the first time you play the game.

In fairness to @Brian Boru , he doesn't play many RPGs, and only briefly played the beginning of Fallout 4, so that event that you mentioned may not have registered as a major story spoiler.

I do think that we should be wary of that type of video or article in the coming months, as there's going to be a lot of information coming out (maybe even misinformation). I'm going to be doing a "Playing Starfield" thread once it releases, and even then I'll try to emphasize the "no spoilers" for myself and anyone that posts.

 

[Zloth]

While it seems likely, it may not be true. If that's the St. Louis Arch, what happened to the Mississippi river and all of St. Louis?? That's a strange thing to stay standing. (Wait, don't tell me.... it has monumental plot armor?)

 

[Brian Boru]

that event that you mentioned may not have registered as a major story spoiler.

No, clearly it's a spoiler, altho I had already picked up on it from the 3 clues in the original video, plus the as you say the whole "skirt around mentioning anything about Earth" thing.

I have a much different idea of a spoiler, I guess. To me, someone reading a thread titled "articles and discussion" isn't thinking about avoiding spoilers. Same for someone reading a post which starts out very clearly—ie twice—headed "Details You Probably Missed".

Don't both those titles/headings scream SPOLERS AHEAD, or am I missing a nuance here?

 

[mainer]

Starfield partners with AMD and oh boy, the internet is not happy

Some folk are mourning the perceived lack of DLSS support, some expecting more classic Bethesda launch jank, some fear Jedi: Survivor level issues, and some just straight out call for a boycott of AMD.

www.pcgamer.com

It feels like, to me, that a lot of those "internet" people are overreacting a bit just because they won't be able to use DLSS, and instead only have access to FSR2. How big a performance difference will that actually make?

My one single experience with DLSS and FSR2 was with The Witcher 3 Next Gen. I got noticeably smoother performance with FSR2. So I just don't see it mattering that much. Admittedly, I was more surprised that Bethesda partnered with AMD over Nvidia, until I read that the Xbox series X/S is powered by AMD hardware, and with Starfield only available on PC & Xbox, I can see their reasoning behind that move.