Starfield’s amount of dialogue is over quadruple that of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Bethesda has dropped an interview with its director Todd Howard, addressing some of the questions fans had about the upcoming space-set RPG — specifically, the dialogue system. Howard revealed that Starfield had passed 250,000 lines of dialogue, with NPCs emoting as per the tone. In comparison, the critically-acclaimed Skyrim boasts 60,000 lines of dialogue. Howard also hinted at the return of Persuasion, a common conversational tool seen in the classic Fallout and The Elder Scrolls titles. Starfield is slated to launch in early 2023 across PC and Xbox Series S/X.
Bethesda games are regarded for their dialogue system, letting you pick between choices, in turn, affecting an NPCs outlook on your character. Fallout 3, for instance, makes use of your Charisma and Luck traits, to determine whether you succeed in a speech event. Higher the charisma, the higher the chances of you being able to smooth talk out of situations. With Starfield, Howard claims that a similar Persuasion feature will be the crux of conversations. Players will have to spend points to gain an edge, and persuade NPCs for some kind of favours.
The Starfield dialogue choices are laid out in a similar format to Fallout 3, where you cycle through a list — only this time, there’s a points system attached to it. The now-unlisted interview features a speech challenge, with the +1 option being passive, and +5 leaning towards an aggressive approach. With Starfield, Howard notes that he’s going for a classic Bethesda approach, where you can judge the characters’ facial expressions in first-person, and pick apt dialogues. “The scope of the game, the amount of content we’re making is a bit more than we’ve done before, in terms of quest and things like that,” Howard explained in the video. As stated before, Starfield has passed 250,000 lines of dialogue, double that of Fallout 4 (111,000) and 4x that of Skyrim (60,000).
Howard also briefly mentioned the Starfield character traits system, which could be altered throughout the game. Every trait comes with a negative effect, which can be eliminated by completing quests. This allows Starfield players to grow and experiment with their avatar, instead of restarting their journey. “Each of them are something like that — you can solve, that removes the entire trait for the rest of your playthrough,” he added.
Starfield marks the first new universe from Bethesda in 25 years, taking players on a futuristic journey, as they explore 2330 outer space, its planets, and inhabitants. From humble beginnings as a space miner, the player will join Constellation — the last group of space explorers seeking rare artefacts throughout the galaxy.
A Starfield gameplay trailer from June revealed that Starfield would feature over a thousand explorable planets, from barren lands to places that inhabit peculiar wildlife. It draws heavy parallels to No Man’s Sky, in a sense, letting you upgrade spacecraft, mine resources, and travel the far reaches of the galaxy.
Starfield is scheduled to launch in early 2023, on PC and Xbox Series S/X. No PlayStation release since Microsoft acquired Bethesda last year, in a $7.5 billion (about Rs. 61,791 crore) deal, making it a console exclusive.