During a recent interview, Todd Howard gave some details about theStarfielddialogue system that points towards the return of persuasion, a common conversation tool ofFalloutandThe Elder Scrollsgames.The Elder ScrollsandFalloutfans continue to benefit from dialogue systems in their respective franchises, butStarfieldlooks to evolve the formula in a key way.
Conversations have played a prominent role in many Bethesda Softworks games over the years, with Luck andCharisma attributesoften playing a role in getting more beneficial results. Based on someStarfieldscreenshots shared alongside an internal Todd Howard interview, this may continue to be the case with the big next-gen Bethesda RPG. In a YouTube video posted to the Bethesda Softworks channel, Howard went further in-depth on multipleStarfieldfeatures, including the aforementioned dialogue system.
RELATED:Ex-Bethesda Dev Says Starfield Development Team is More Than Double That of Fallout 76
Taking some questions from Reddit, Discord, and Twitter, Bethesda Softworks Community Director Jess Finster sat down with Howard to reveal some details about the anticipatedStarfield. When asked about speech checks in prior Bethesda games and the dialogue options, Howard took a moment to focus on the return of persuasion, which has been changed to use points in a mini-game to dictate the success of convincing an NPC of something. Like inSkyrimorFallout, players will walk up to aStarfieldNPC to initiate a chat sequence with them, selecting one of 3 or 4 options in a menu that looksmore likeFalloutNew Vegasthan the controversialFallout 4system.
According to Todd Howard,Starfieldis going “back to a classic Bethesda-style dialogue,” with emotive characters speaking a few of over 250,000 lines of dialogue which dwarf that of the other major franchises. The video interview continues with a graph that highlights a comparison withSkyrimwhich only had 60,000 lines of dialogue andFallout 4at a heftier 111,000. This means that combining theconversations fromSkyrimandFallout 4would still pale in comparison to the available options in the latest RPG from Bethesda.
Although many Bethesda fans anticipating the next big RPG from the studio are enthusiastic about the dialogue teaser and the hint at a changed persuasion system, others on social media remain skeptical of how it will turn out after the adjustments. The majority of responses to the Bethesda Softworks YouTube video are overwhelmingly positive and point to big moments inFalloutandThe Elder Scrolls, but it remains to be seen what thebig step-out moments ofStarfieldwill be.
Starfieldreleases for PC and Xbox Series X/S in 2023.
MORE:Starfield is the Perfect Game for Bethesda’s Brand of Cosmic Horror
