Starfield fans can celebrate knowing that Bethesda has just released a new video hosted by community director Jess Finster where the community gets to ask questions about Starfield. The first video for the Constellation Question series features game director Todd Howard as he answers some of the questions from the Starfield community. The Q&A video started by asking Howard what inspired the creation of Starfield. He claims that the game was inspired by classic RPGs like Traveller and Sundog. Traveller, a tabletop RPG, came out in 1977 while Sundog was a space trading and combat simulator for Apple II. Howard also shares that the studio thinks Starfield is a hard science fiction video game. He goes on to share his fascination for the gravity drive propulsion system used in the ships in Starfield. Howard mentions studying several quantum physics papers to apply its principles to the game. Howard explains that something was amiss in their gravity drive mechanic causing spaceships to run out of fuel and getting players stuck. They changed the mechanics so that the distance a spaceship can travel is limited and players can’t run out of fuel. The video also discusses the character traits of the player’s avatar. Starfield has an extensive list of traits that players can choose. Each trait has positive and negative aspects for players to change by doing certain quests. Howard also discussed the dialogue interaction in Starfield describing it as a “classic Bethesda-style dialogue system.” The system is immersive as the player faces the NPC and sees their expressions during interactions. He also shares that Starfield has more dialogue than games like Skyrim and Fallout 4. The amount of dialogue contained in the game adds more depth to the interaction between the player and NPCs. The video also highlights the Persuasion system in dialogues. When players encounter NPCs they are given choices during certain interactions. Howard reveals the persuasion selection feels natural and it’s a part of the interaction instead of feeling like a separate game mechanic. When interacting with NPCs, players can “Persuade” them to do something else. Players can also spend points to choose specific dialogue, which takes inspiration from a mini-game in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. At the end of the video, Todd Howard encourages the community to submit their questions and assures fans that they are reading each one. Unfortunately, Bethesda still hasn’t given Starfield a release date. According to our most recent report, the space RPG is coming in the first half of 2023.
