The launch of a new single player Bethesda Game Studios RPG is always nothing short of an industry-wide event. From the early days of The Elder Scrolls to the studio taking the reins of Fallout to now, when it’s ready to boldly go where no BGS game has gone before with Starfield, this is a developer whose name, when attached to a single player RPG, has brought with it a guarantee of quality.
Even so, as good as so many of BGS’ games have been, they haven’t been perfect- games rarely are. Even if you look at some of their more recent releases, from the modern masterpiece that is Skyrim to the fun post-apocalyptic ride that Fallout 4 delivers, there are flaws that you can point to in both games, for all of their strengths. Our hope, of course, is that Starfield will address some (or even all) of these issues, and here, we’re going to identify a few such areas that we’d most like to see improvements in.
FEWER TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
It makes sense to begin with the obvious pick, right? That BGS games are full of bugs and technical issues is a effectively a universal rule without exceptions at this point. Even when the studio has put out genre-defining gems like Morrowind, Fallout 3, and Skyrim, those games have been plagued with a flood of technical problems. And while that may have been more palatable to audiences when those games released, we’re now in a time where hyper-polished open world productions like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Tears of the Kingdom exist. Starfield will find it much harder to seek ignorance or forgiveness for major technical issues from is playerbase, especially given the fact that it’s a first party Xbox exclusive game now.
DEEPER RPG SYSTEMS
Something that Skyrim and Fallout 4 have in common (among many other things) is that they both delivered a more streamlined role playing experience than their immediate predecessors, with Skyrim trimming some of the fat compared to BGS’ previous releases, and Fallout 4 doing the same afterward. Collectively, they definitely went a little further than they should have. Hopefully, Starfield will be the game to pull it back, and based on what’s been shown of the game so far, it may very well be. From character backgrounds and traits to multilayered progression systems, it seems like Starfield is going to deliver a treasure trove of options in its RPG systems.
BETTER DIALOGUE OPTIONS THAN FALLOUT 4
The one area where Fallout 4 differed most from BGS’ previous offerings was its dialogue options. Instead of having a voiceless protagonist and presenting players lists of choices like traditional cRPGs do, Fallout 4 gave its protagonist a voice, and in doing so, significantly cut down the breadth of options available to players during conversations, thanks to its limited (and poorly executed) dialogue wheel-esque system. Starfield needs to do better than that- and again, by the looks of it, it will. It’s returning to a silent protagonist, and dialogue choices will be presented through old-school lists once again (which, to be fair, we already have seen BGS go back to in Fallout 76).
BETTER COMBAT
This, too, is a bit of an obvious pick, because BGS games not having the best combat is about as common of a criticism as their technical problems. Obviously, their are always redeeming qualities to consider, like the amount of options Skyrim provides in combat for how to deal with enemies, or, of course, Fallout 4’s incredible VATS system. But by and large, combat in BGS’ titles tends to feel clunky and unsatisfying. The developer is promising major improvements in this area with Starfield, and the gameplay that we’ve seen thus far has certainly been flattering. We just hope it feels as good to play as it does to watch, if not even better.
BETTER FEELING THIRD PERSON GAMEPLAY
Skyrim, Fallout 4, and of course, most of BGS’ previous RPGs have provided players the option to play either in first person or third person (which, by the way, is something that probably deserves more credit than it gets) and Starfield is naturally going to have that option available as well. But as most who’ve played the studio’s games will tell you, these are very much first person experiences by design, because even though you can play them entirely in third person, that option doesn’t feel as great to play, whether that’s because of sluggish movement or even clunkier combat. Hopefully Starfield will look to make improvements in this area, and hopfully they’ll be significant ones.
BETTER FACIAL ANIMATIONS
Coming back to the traditional technical deficiences of BGS games, another area where they’ve often received criticisms is the way characters and NPCs’ faces look, and how unnaturally they animate during conversations. More often than not, it’s hard to take them seriously as actual people (and even harder to connect with them as characters on any meaningful level). Can we expect Starfield to make a significant jump on this front? Based on the footage we’ve seen of the game so far, it certainly does look like improvements have been made, if not as significant as many would have hoped for. But then again, maybe there’s a limit to the level of fidelity that each NPC’s face and facial animations can boast in a game that’s as massive as this one.
BETTER ENEMY AND NPC AI
Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Bethesda’s previous RPGs have boasted incredibly organic worlds that are teeming with gameplay opportunities, a lot of which is down to what’s been dubbed the Radian AI system. But though it obviously deserves a ton of credit for what it does accomplish, AI in these games is often far from perfect. Sure, the inane, random conversations between NPCs have gotten better over the years, but from causing their own deaths in the most hilarious fashion to getting stuck in places or the environment’s geometry to providing little to no challenge during the majority of combat encounters, enemy and NPC AI still needs a lot of work. This is an area that Starfield should ideally target with extreme prejudice, because there’s a lot of room (and need) for improvement here.
BETTER ENVIRONMENTAL VARIETY
The massive open worlds of Skyrim and Fallout 4 are incredible maps, given how many endless hours of dynamic content they provide, but if there’s one area where they can make improements, it’s the environmental variety they have on offer. As a game set across a massive galaxy with literally over a thousand planets to discover, we’re hoping for radical improvements on this front in Starfield. This is a game that needs to show us the most diverse and wondrous sights as we travel through its expanses, and it’s be a huge disappointment if it didn’t deliver in this area, especially given its setting and premise.
MORE REWARDING SIDE QUEST LOOT
Side quests are obviously the bread and butter of any BGS game, and if Starfield is anything like its predecessors, some of the best content in the game will be found in its side quests. But though that is very much true for BGS’ past efforts, the tangible rewards they tend to dole out isn’t always up to scratch. Sure, this is a nitpick, especially since BGS’ RPGs don’t tend to be as focused on something like loot as a great many other games in the genre do, but given the expanded role playing options in Starfield, one would hope a deeper gear system would be on the docket- and, in turn, more interesting tangible rewards being tied to optional content.
MORE ENGAGING MAIN STORY
You an spend literally dozens (if not hundreds) of hours with a BGS game without ever engaging with its main story, at least in any maningful way. And yes, that’s partly down to just how engaging the optional and emergent content tends to be. But by that same token, it’s also down to the fact that the main story content on offer just isn’t able to match up to the rest of the game’s quality. That’s not to say the main stories in the likes of Skyrim or Fallout 4 are awful, but our hope is that BGS will be aiming for a higher standard than that where Starfield’s main quest is concerned.
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