Starfield - Massive Game Preview (Details, Gameplay, & More!)

Starfield is an upcoming single player action RPG from Bethesda and their first new IP in over 25 years Starfield will put you into the world of the settled systems a location approximately 50 light years away from our Earth if you've ever wanted to live out your own space Explorer fantasy then Starfield is likely the perfect game for you I've researched numerous sources and watched all the Starfield content that I could find to put together this video for you we'll answer questions such as what will the game's story and characters be like how much of the game's Universe can we explore how in-depth is starfield's character and ship customization and what will combat look like in game all these questions and more will be answered in this video so prepare to launch as we take a tour of the settled systems and we discuss all you need to know about Starfield [Music] thank you Starfield is set for release on September 6th for Xbox series snx and PC and it will be releasing on day one for Game Pass Starfield will take place in the year 2330. approximately 20 years after a bloody Colonial conflict between the game's two largest factions the United Colonies and the Freestar Collective who fought in what came to be known as The Colony War when the game begins These two factions seemingly maintain a peaceful relationship however it is said that that piece is very uneasy you will play as a space Miner who joins a group known as constellation who are described as the last group of true Space Explorers and a group that most aren't even aware exist anymore constellation or hunting for what are known as old Earth artifacts which have been scattered throughout the Galaxy you will be tasked with helping search for and find these artifacts that are supposedly the key to unlocking the secrets of the universe the discovery of these mysterious artifacts will provide you with visions and the leader of constellation actually mentioned the artifact reaching out in speed speaking with your character Howard has said that the game's main story Quest will last between 30 and 40 hours with additional side missions and content still remaining outside of that as well according to Howard that would make the game's main story content approximately 20 percent larger than Skyrim or Fallout 4. with a story that big and a world so wide open it's going to be hard not to lose yourself in the Starfield universe but that's exactly what Bethesda is hoping to make happen exploration and immersion will be a massive part of Starfield both in space and on the ground with a main story of around 30 to 40 hours there will be a huge variety of places to visit characters to interact with and quests to get lost in Starfield is looking to immerse you into the world of the settled systems and allow you to live out your space Explorer dreams to do what you want to do and be who you want to be even if that's bringing your goldfish to the beach Todd Howard has said that Starfield will have two of those classic Bethesda step out moments throughout the game one of these will be a handcrafted moment at the beginning of the game think of other memorable moments from previous Bethesda games like leaving the vault in Fallout or Awakening for the first time in Skyrim hey you finally awake Starfield and the settled systems will feature around 100 star systems and 1 000 different planets and moons that can be visited and explored while Todd Howard has confirmed how many of those planets will actually contain life in Starfield with him saying that about 10 of the planets in Starfield will have life which mimics the Goldilocks zone or habitable zones for planets which are planets within that range of distance with the right temperatures for water to remain liquid and sustain life so these planets are not too hot they're not too cold and they're just right for liquid water this would mean that around 100 planets out of the 1000 planets that are in Starfield would contain life that being plants and different Wildlife Starfield will look to accomplish this using procedural generation similar to what is used in no man's sky but more on that later because of the scale of this game Planetary Exploration will be a make or break component for Starfield while you will be able to manually fly your spaceship at times you won't be able to just fly down from space and land on a planet or or take off straight from that planet as jumping from system to system or planet to planet will be a bit more structured than just flying down and Landing with Todd Howard saying quote we decided early on in the project that the on surface is one reality and when in space is another reality he said that the team wanted to ensure that their focus was on making both experiences the best that they could be so they decided that the in-between was just not an area that they would focus their resources on so when taking off from or landing on a planet or Moon you will see a cinematic of your ship doing so instead of manually doing that yourself to explore the game's different systems and planets you will open up your star map select the system you want and choose the subsequent planet or Moon you would like to visit within the star map you can view the number of planets and moons a system has the number of outposts or any other notable structures that you have discovered you can then navigate the system and zoom in to see an overview of the location you'd like to visit including what type of Planet it is the gravity of that planet the temperature atmosphere magnet edosphere fauna and Flora water type and the resources that a planet has you'll also notice a survey percentage for the different systems indicating the progress you have made in discovering new things in that system and you'll be able to monitor your survey progress as you explore different planets from the star map you can also scan planets and view missions on those planets and moons as well you will see what level each location is to know whether or not you are the appropriate level to take on that location or if you want to decide to wait and come back when you're a higher level he also discussed that once you survey these different planets and resources and you fully survey the planet you can actually sell that data for credits as it's very valuable in game adding another layer to starfield's exciting economy system when you're ready to land on a planet or Moon you just need to select your Landing Target and then initiate the landing or if you see an already known location you can go ahead and fast travel to that location if you choose if you're wanting to travel long distances that will require you to grab jump then you'll need to plot out your path amongst the Stars your ships grab drop system works by folding space allowing you to travel long distances to places that are light years away the distance that you can travel will depend on your ship's grav Drive the stronger your grav Drive the further you can grab jump so if you want to jump to the most distant ones then you'll need to upgrade your ship and skills which we'll discuss a little bit later when grab jumping you will see how many jumps it will take your jump range the distance in light years and how much fuel the jump will consume some planets like the planet jemisin will have large Capital Cities like new Atlantis when entering patrolled locations like new Atlantis your ship will be scanned for Contraband we've seen a scan happen in the gameplay Deep dive however the consequences for this have not yet been seen if you have Contraband on your ship but I thought the ship scanning was a cool little detail however Howard has said that you will not be limited to these cities and can land and explore anywhere on the planet in a system stating quote you can land in new Atlantis but you can also land and explore anywhere on the planet and it's not just this planet it's all the planets on the system from Barren resource heavy the ice balls to Goldilocks planets with life when exploring space on your ship there will be a variety of things you can do and experience you can hail the ships that cross your path in space and you can engage with the passengers of those ships in conversation you can attempt to trade with them discuss various info or you can just outright attack them some NPCs in space may even invite you onto their ship for different activities such as a nice meal or even a fancy party in space who knows what all might come your way there will also be different smuggling missions that you can engage in that will require you to haul illegal cargo without getting caught and there will be legal cargo missions as well and while doing so you'll have to navigate through asteroid fields that are trying to smash your ship to bits there will also be space ports that you can visit here you can store ships as well as buy and sell them and there are also ship technicians to repair your ship and allow you to customize it and you'll also be able to find and hire new crew members for your ship at spaceports throughout the Galaxy similar to spaceports there are also star yards located throughout the Galaxy here you can stop and chat with other NPC citizenship captains as well as purchase ships here as well very early in the game's main questline we will also be returning to our own Earth Solar System in Starfield lore the Earth's solar system is referred to as the old neighborhood lead Quest designer will Shin had this to say about returning back to the old soul system you'll be sent there on a mission from constellation to discover the mysteries of the artifacts and you'll get in contact with the question of what happened to Earth but also you'll go to Mars and there's actually a settlement one of the early settlements that Humanity created after they left Earth it's called cedonia and there's a whole city with its own problems and people to meet and as we learned in the Deep dive cydonia is actually part of the United Colonies faction which we'll talk about here in a minute and serves as their largest Mining facility while you'll be able to freely explore planets and their ecosystems Starfield will also feature four main cities that will serve as hubs for the main questline of the game we've already learned about cydonia located on Mars but let's discuss the other large cities will see and explore the first city we'll discuss is new Atlantis located on the planet jemisin in the Alpha Centauri system new Atlantis is the capital of the United Colonies faction one of the largest factions in the game according to Bethesda the United Colonies are quote the most powerful established military and political faction in the game the people of new Atlantis value law discipline and the legacy of humanity and they view themselves as the true children of Earth new Atlantis is the largest of the four main cities in Starfield and according to Howard is actually the largest city area for a Bethesda game thus far with him saying quote new Atlantis is easily the biggest city in the game and the biggest city we've ever built kind of the capital here in the game and it has all the services you would expect Bethesda has poured a lot of detail into the cities to help them feel real and believable from the detailed buildings and art to the people engaging in different activities throughout the cities and even a colonial war memorial that we saw in new Atlantis another really crazy thing about new Atlantis is apparently it actually has its own subway system as well which just adds to the awesome complexity and scale of this city Bethesda wants the characters in these cities to feel as though they're just going about their everyday lives one thing I noticed in the gameplay Deep dive was that the scale of new Atlantis is just so very impressive as you walk on the ground you feel surrounded by high-rise buildings as you would a true large city and when you're high up you can truly appreciate its Grand Design new Atlantis will be home to the constellation headquarters and will provide you a location that you can repair and work on your ship design director Emil pagliarulo described the city as a Melting Pot where residents of the city come from every race Creed and ethnicity so expect this to be a location that you're going to visit frequently and get to know very well next let's discuss Aquila City the capital of the Freestar Collective which is located in the Cheyenne star system Aquila City and its residents Pride themselves on freedom and individuality and one interesting fact is that the city is surrounded by a wall to help protect its citizens from an alien threat on the planet known as the ashta which is a type of alien Predator described as a cross between a wolf and a velociraptor however the Freestar Collective is less formally established and is quote a loose Confederation of three distinct star systems Bethesda has described the Freestar collective in Aquila city as the true space Western fantasy as we saw in the Deep dive it has all the feel of Red Dead 2 if it was set in space from a saloon known as the stone root end to the city's law enforcement the Freestar Rangers I mean we even saw some Gunslingers have a good old-fashioned duel it doesn't really get much more Western than that the final City we know about is the pleasure City known as neon located in the volley star system neon Falls within Freestar space and the city is very unique it's located on an aquatic planet and originally served the purpose of being a fishing vessel owned and operated by the xenofresh corporation however it's been transformed over time into the bright and flashy City that we see today the reason for the transformation is that the xenofresh Corp discovered a type of fish caught on the planet that has psychotropic properties so instead of fishing they decided to make even more money by producing and selling the drug known as Aurora and neon is the only city where the drug is legal now based on the ESRB description for the game the Aurora drug will feature prominently throughout the game and there will also be an entire section of the game that revolves around breaking into a drug manufacturing facility which will likely be based on neon from the gameplay Deep dive we've seen alien dance club Shady back alley locations and crime around every corner so neon definitely sounds like the place where the Shady business of the game will go down we have also seen some other locations throughout different gameplay footage reveals one of those is the Moon called Crete which in the first gameplay showcase we saw our character have a run-in at a Crete research lab with some pirates in the Deep dive we also saw another look at a location known as red mile located in the purima star system and we saw a look at the key the Crimson Fleet headquarters located in the Kirks system as I mentioned previous obviously Starfield will Implement procedural generation for different planets and Landscapes throughout the game and Todd Howard has addressed this some stating that this technique has been used on Bethesda games for a while even for Skyrim with him stating quote we do a lot of procedural generation but I would keep in mind that we've always done that and it's a big part of Skyrim in terms of quests and some other things we do we generate Landscapes using procedural generation systems and so we've always kind of worked on it however it seems clear that Starfield will likely take the use of procedural generation to the next level especially to help fill in those 1000 planets the game will supposedly have the game's lead technical director also discussed the procedural generation in the game explaining that Starfield generates the planet as procedural content as you approach putting together blocks of terrain then places interesting handcrafted locations creatures and plants free to find and interact with meaning that if two people visit the same Planet they can have very different gameplay experiences which is something I think can really increase the replayability of the game because Bethesda has entire populations to fail on these planets they are using new technology to help them take entire locations they built and place them on the planets this also takes the Random Encounters that you get in a Bethesda game to an entirely new level as you can experience Random Encounters nearly anywhere and it now involves groups of people instead of just one individual character will Shin described this random encounter system by saying quote say maybe you're going to an outpost and you actually discover there's a whole group of people there with a particular problem whereas before it might have just been a person coming up to you along the road now it's an actual whole location that can be put there and maybe there they have a problem like one of our members was kidnapped they've been kidnapped by some Pirates we think they're over there we are actually placed in a whole other location with that person in it and enemies around it so it is a dynamically placed settlement that is taking you to a dynamically placed dungeon as you're walking through the planet so here's the hoping the Bethesda have been perfecting that technique and the improvements in this technology to help make the game feel full of life and to help improve that immersion I feel like the dynamically placed settlement and dynamically placed dungeon elements could really take Starfield to the next level I'm sure that we're all very used to having random people come up to us in the Fallout series or the Elder Scrolls series and have some type of problem well Starfield is saying that they're going to take this to the next level with not just one person coming up to you but an entire group of people having an issue in the random encounter system I just think that makes it sound way more incredible Bethesda has placed a real focus on making starfield's Universe feel real and immersing you in the game from the many planets that you're going to visit to the random encounter system even down to the culture of different groups of people with Todd Howard describing the team focusing down to even the smallest cultural details even considering things like what do they people eat what toys do their children play with what type of bedtime stories might they tell what would their art be what about their history as well as their entertainment he discussed that they were looking at the game as an entire universe and not just a game by itself we like to be able to touch everything those moments make the whole thing believable being able to watch the sun set in the nighttime come and just sit there and watch the world go by seems like it's not gameplay but it's vital to how you feel through the rest of it and when he says touch everything in Starfield it truly feels like they mean it from the deep dive we were able to see that you can pick up various items move them in store seemingly as many as you want even if you want 100 sandwiches then you can go right ahead and collect 100 sandwiches to help push this immersion Starfield will use a Next Generation lighting model to help light the world based on the type of star that's in the system and the makeup of the planet's atmosphere bethesdev said they wanted the lighting in Starfield to feel cinematic the Landscapes and biomes that appear on land are also realistically placed based on their distance from that system's Sun from the gameplay deep dive we have seen some of the examples of the different types of biomes that are in the game such as mountains swamps Frozen planes coniferous forests and savannas when designing these planets and placing biomes Bethesda is looking at things like temperature and radiation when deciding where these biomes will be placed and Todd described that you can actually get certain ailments if you're not well prepared or protected to go on that planet from the deep dive we actually saw some of those ailments which included things like joint pain soreness and a cough we have also seen that we will get to discover and interact with a huge variety of wildlife in Starfield there will be numerous fauna and Flora to see scan to fight and to harvest scanning these creatures will provide you with valuable information such as temperament the resource they provide the biomes they roam their health and their abilities you'll also want to pay attention to their status as it appears they can be either healthy or diseased which could result in you getting an infection or the resource not being useful from that creature so far I've loved the variety and uniqueness of the creatures what we have seen from small insect-like creatures to Giant dinosaur looking ones I've been very impressed Bethesda have worked to make the creatures fit the biomes and environments they have been placed in as well to try and make them feel as though they are native to that location so as I've discussed immersion is going to be a key for Bethesda in Starfield and it sounds like we are just going to be absolutely immersed in the world of the settled systems and I just cannot wait foreign epic action RPG like an Elder Scrolls or a Fallout is the ability to immerse yourself in that world and part of what makes those games so immersive is the ability to create your own character and tell your character's story within that world Todd Howard has described starfield's character creator as the quote most flexible yet he also discussed that the Character Creator will help Elevate Starfield in the RPG genre so let's discuss all the character creation options that we know about so far your character will begin with a few basic options including something known as a biometric ID as well as face and body customizations there will also be more playstyle defining options known as backgrounds and traits which have helped to provide a lot of insights into starfield's gameplay and mechanics thus far so let's start with the basics and then we'll discuss and dive into the more extensive aspects of character creation the biometric ID provides you with a base model to design your character with each model having a personal record and there will be 40 starting presets to choose from you can customize your body shape and size defining the body between three points of muscular thin and heavy you can also adjust the body type walk style and your character's skin tone regarding face customization we have seen that you can use a variety of elements to get the exact look that you want even down to Derm aesthetic changes scars piercings and even your teeth which is more than I expected and one nice thing about physical appearance customization is that it appears this can be later Changed by visiting what is known as a genetics facility in-game you'll also be able to begin the game with a background story for your character the background that you choose along with the traits that we'll discuss next will have an impact on your gameplay experience backgrounds affect the way NPCs see and interact with your character throughout the world some NPCs and factions may appear friendly to you while others may be apprehensive based on your background I'll start by going over the list of backgrounds that we know more in-depth information about then I'll list off the others that we have seen and one thing I noticed from the first gameplay showcased to the more recent deep dive was that some of the background starting skills have been changed as I go through the skills I'm going to list off the skills that the background has but we're actually going to discuss the skills a little bit more in depth in the gameplay and combat section of the video first up is the chef with starting skills of gastronomy dueling and Scavenging next up is the combat medic with skills of pistol certification medicine and wellness we also saw the Cyber Runner with starting skills of stealth security and theft we also saw the cyberneticist who has skills of medicine security and lasers and we saw the Diplomat which has skills of persuasion Commerce and wellness and as we'll discuss a little bit more later Starfield actually has what is known as a persuasion minigame which happens throughout the dialogue and takes inspiration from the old Oblivion system and we also got a look at a new background known as the Explorer which has starting skills of lasers astrodynamics and surveying so those are the backgrounds we got to see the starting skills of let's go through the other ones that we know so far those being the Beast Hunter The Bouncer and the Bounty Hunter as well as the gangster Homesteader and industrialist and finally the long taller Pilgrim professor and the Ronin now traits are another interesting part of your character creation traits will provide your character with different advantages and disadvantages depending on what you select you'll be able to choose three traits from A list of different traits however they are completely optional whether or not you want them and there are ways to remove them later on if you want we've been able to learn some of the details about some of these traits and there's others that we can kind of figure out based on the information we've been given so let's go through the ones that we know about first and then we'll go through the list of the others that we haven't really got a lot of details on so far first up is the Freestar Collective settler now this is what is known as a faction Allegiance trait and there are three of those in the game now the Freestar Collective settler says that you likely grew up a member of the Freestar Collective so you'll be able to provide access to special dialogue options and better rewards from some missions in Aquila city which is home of the Freestar Collective Now if you choose a faction Allegiance trait similar to religious traits that we're also going to discuss this will block you from choosing another faction or a religious trait now the other two faction Allegiance traits are the neon Street rat and the United Colonies native so similar to the Freestar Collective this would mean that you grew up on the streets of neon or you grew up a member of the United Colonies you would get access to special dialogue options and you would have different things in those cities that you would be able to access compared to the other two cities in which you did not grow up in one of the really cool new ones is the hero worshiped trait which says that you've earned the attention of an annoying adoring fan who will show up randomly and jabber at you incessantly on the plus side he'll join your ship's crew and give you gifts now if you're familiar this is a fun Easter egg that we saw in the Deep dive where you can have your own adoring fan which is a nod back to Oblivion and remember if you no longer want a trait or an adoring fan in this case you can always do something to remove them I mean the trait we also saw the introvert trait which talked about you needing your time alone it provides you with more endurance when you're adventuring alone but less when you are with other human companion Canyons now introvert actually has an opposite trait which is extrovert and even though we didn't get to see the actual description of that we can sort of just deduce that it's going to be the opposite of that introvert trait we also saw kid stuff which has been slightly changed from the first gameplay showcase it says that your parents are alive and well and you can visit them at their home but you automatically send two percent of your credits home to them every week which has been reduced from 10 in the first gameplay showcase some of the religious traits have also been changed from the first gameplay showcase those being the raised enlightened and the raised Universal which now provides you with access to a special chest full of items in that religious group's place in New Atlantis now the most interesting one there is probably the Serpent's Embrace which says that you grew up worshiping the Great Serpent and grab jumping provides you with a temporary boost to health and endurance but health and endurance are lowered if you don't continue jumping regularly like an addiction so that one could be interesting but it could also be kind of annoying if you sit there and have to jump over and over and over but hey to each of their own spaced is another one that we saw that that has your body being acclimated to space giving you more health and endurance when in space but decreased on the surface and why we didn't actually see the description of it Terra Firma is likely the opposite of spaced giving you more health and endurance on the surface but not as much in space we also saw a really interesting one called starter home which says that you own a small house on a peaceful little moon but it comes with a 50 000 credit mortgage with the gal bank so does this confirm that we're able to purchase homes in the game I'm not totally sure it'll be interesting to see what advantages having a home would be compared to not having one maybe you're just able to store more things there I also wonder if you'll be able to have the option to try and avoid paying the debt and if they'll send mercenaries to try and collect it I think that would be a pretty awesome gameplay mechanic or maybe you'll even get arrested you have to escape I don't know I think there's a lot of things that could be fun with that if they decided to include something about it we also saw one additional trait in the gameplay deep dive which was called wanted wanted was described as giving you a damage Buff when your health is low but mercenaries will randomly show up and try and kill you some of the other traits we saw but did not see the descriptions for include alien DNA empath Taskmaster and unwanted hero backgrounds and traits are a way for Bethesda to help make Starfield feel more real and immersive foreign like any good Bethesda RPG factions quests and the characters throughout the game will play an interesting role throughout the world as we've discussed your character will be a member of the constellation group known as the last group of true Space Explorers the two main factions in the game will be the United Colonies and the Freestar Collective who has mentioned maintain an unsteady peace after the previous bloody Colonial Civil War during a Dev diary we learned about another faction known as ryujin Industries they're more of a corporate based entity who operates throughout the Galaxy within the dev diary they discussed that their questline Begins by applying for a job within the company and then having to prove yourself to actually earn that job and position and Lead Quest designer will shin has said that it's one of the most interesting starts to a questline in the game Bethesda has also shown us another really interesting faction known as the Crimson Fleet they are a group you can refer to as the game Space Pirates Who feel that the Galaxy belongs to them and they'll use whatever means necessary to take what they feel is theirs during the first gameplay showcase we saw our character do battle with them on the moon of Crete at the Crete research lab however the Crimson Fleet doesn't have to be your enemy in game as you'll actually have the option to join the Crimson Fleet if you so choose however it should be known that the group is very hardcore and they require a lifelong Commitment if you decide to join the Crimson Fleet you are a member for life and we've even heard one of the NPCs say you sign up with a crimson Fleet no one quits the only way out death even if you want to join the Crimson Fleet but don't necessarily see yourself as a bad guy you can also do some really cool undercover work with starfield's design director Emil pagliarulo stating quote the cool thing about the Crimson Fleet what if you're a good person and you want to be a good player and you don't want to play as a bad guy you can side with the Pirates or you can report back to your superiors and be this space cop type of thing so it lets you be a good person and still play with the bad guys we also know that the game will contain some religious groups such as the enlightened and the sanctum universum but also the other interesting group that Worship the Great Serpent while you can have a religious trait that will affect your gameplay experience it's unclear whether or not these religions will present you with different Quest opportunities and there are also a few other groups in Starfield that you will encounter that have just been mentioned briefly one of those are the ecliptic mercenaries which as their name suggests is a mercenary group throughout the Galaxy another are the spacers described as a violent group as well as a group that we haven't seen yet known as house baroon which have been described as a group of of religious zealots in an interview lead Quest designer will Shin discussed how faction Quest will work in Starfield he discussed that the main quest will give you a tour of the settled systems to help you understand the major factions of the game faction quest lines can be completed independently of each other so doing one faction questline won't lock you out of doing others however you will be able to influence the direction a faction may go and the decisions that they make with Will giving the example of the Freestar Rangers with you helping them decide quote what's more important is it justice or industry where are you going to try to nudge them in this direction or the other with him then expanding to discuss factions as a whole saying quote so you don't necessarily end up as the head of every single faction of the game but you know obviously all the major characters in every faction questline will be reflecting you on your choices it can have far-reaching consequences for what the faction is and what it cares about Todd Howard has said that Starfield will include a massive amount of handcrafted Quest and dialogue to engage with with Howard stating quote we have done more handcrafting in Starfield like content-wise than any game we've done Starfield will contain over 250 000 lines of dialogue for perspective Fallout 4 contained around 110 000 lines of dialogue while Skyrim had around sixty thousand in Starfield similar to previous Bethesda games your character will be a silent protagonist as you will choose dialogue options throughout the game and NPC characters will react and respond to those choices one interesting aspect of dialogue is that Starfield will include speech or persuasion challenges these challenges will follow the natural flow of dialogue but they can have a real impact on gameplay and your MPC interactions with Todd Howard saying quote it feels like it's part of the dialogue but you're spending points to persuade them feels natural I'm not doing regular dialogue I'm in this mode of persuading you to get what I want will Shin described that the team wanted to create dialogue choices that weren't necessarily right or wrong with Will stating quote you have to think about what's my risk gear which one do I want to choose we didn't want it to be a system where there was definitely the right thing to say and with Howard adding quote it feels like you're having a conversation where you're actually trying to persuade somebody of something as far as new systems and dialogue I think it's definitely one of the most successful ones that we've had according to what we've seen so far it appears to be a system where you have a certain amount of turns where you can try and convince somebody of something and it may change based on your skill level you can use points on safer and more risky options just depending on what you want to choose and how aggressive that you want to be and there are other typical interactions if you don't want to do the persuasion system such as just attack the person or leave the conversation entirely however the MPC dialogue options and this persuasion system just seem like another way to really engage us into the gameplay and really just immerse Us in the world of Starfield which I think is awesome Starfield will also feature various NPC companions to join you in your journey throughout the Galaxy there will be a mix of human and robot companions to join you on your adventure and Bethesda is taking steps to make them more realistic and believable as allies by giving them actions and voice lines that reflect your situation more accurately companions will be most important during the main quest line where they will have many opinions and thoughts about the decisions that you're making lead Quest designer will Shin said that in some instances companions may be able to speak on your behalf to other NPC characters he used the example that maybe you need to gain access or entry to a location and you could have a companion speak for you which could have either positive or negative outcomes some other things that companions will do is follow you into danger you can trade equipment with them and they can crew your ship companions also have their own skills so choosing which companions to join you both on the ground and on your ship will depend on your play Style and what skills you value in your companions throughout different developer interviews we also know that NPCs will react differently depending on how you complete a quest major characters will react to your decisions throughout quest lines and your decisions on the main questline will determine who is with you at the end with lead artist EST Von Paley stating quote that's probably my favorite part like when you're exploring it and your companion makes some comment off the cuff about something that you're checking out or something that just happened that feels so perfect for immersion it's just so believable you think it's a real person with Will Shin adding quote there you'll be determining the fates sometimes whether someone lives or dies or whether someone's still in the faction or decides to leave the faction there's a lot of different things that'll happen so far we have seen a robot companion named Vasco Vasco is constellation's expeditionary robot and according to Estevan Peli Vasco is a quote utilitarian heavy industrial machine well suited to the rigors of space travel Vasco will have a variety of benefits as a companion he is mainly peaceful but does have some defensive capabilities if he needs to use them he can load up on items to travel long distances while hauling cargo even across rough terrain another awesome thing about Vasco that we learned in the Deep dive is that he can even say your name welcome back Captain Howard in the gameplay deep dive we were also able to meet a variety of new constellation members that will join us during our journey and play a key part in the main story these members will also be available to help crew our ship some of those members were constellation leader Sarah Morgan Mateo the Theologian Noel the scientist and Walter the businessman who actually funds constellation there's also Vlad the ex-pirate Sam Coe the former Space Cowboy and possibly Freestar Ranger and Barrett as I mentioned constellation members will join you on your ship and various missions and you can use their various skill sets to your advantage over time your companions can eventually blossom into friendships and if you're really Keen even romantic relationships from what we've learned the romance moments will follow a similar theme to The Fallout games where there won't be an explicit romance scene obviously but there will include a short post-romance cut scene with dialogue and they'll usually end in something humorous like a one-liner between the characters companions can be assigned various roles in the companion menu where you can assign them to your ship and different outposts which we'll talk about a little bit later NPC characters are a crucial Focus for Bethesda to get right in Starfield Bethesda scanned numerous faces from a wide range of age groups and ethnicities and mix and match all that data to help create highly detailed and diverse NPC care characters with lead artist EST van pelly discussing how they've really stepped up their efforts to increase the realism of these characters stating quote we've always allowed the player to create really interesting unique characters this game we've definitely severely leveled up the tech is based on scanning of real world models similar to the photogrammetry we do in our Landscapes we're kind of applying the same thing to our people as well because it's not just the appearance of your player and all that but we want all the personal interactions with NPCs other characters in the game to be as impactful as possible and for that you have to believe these are real people you're a real person and you're interacting with real people while Bethesda did their research and homework when it comes to NPC realism you'll have the opportunity to do your own research as well with research crafting and outpost development [Music] by using the research lab you'll be able to conduct research projects in the areas of pharmacology food and drink Outpost development equipment and weaponry by Mining and collecting valuable resources throughout the Galaxy you will be able to conduct these research projects to craft things from weapons to different spacesuit equipment and even items to develop your own Outpost and like I mentioned these materials will be able to be mined using your cutter tool which we saw in that first gameplay reveal but I'm sure you'll also be able to purchase them at different places throughout the Galaxy as well pharmacology and food and drink will require you to find and collect different plants or fauna as well as different planetary Wildlife or Flora to create things like food and Medicine Bethesda has even worked to make the food in Starfield feel very real and detailed from Alien jerky to orange juice to sandwiches oh so many sandwiches equipment will likely require many raw materials that you have to mine so far within the Weaponry category we've seen different research projects ranging from Barrel grip and muzzle mods ads to Optics and larger magazines as well as suppressors which I'll definitely need with my stealth build with these research projects requiring different materials such as iron nickel and sealant probably the most interesting and exciting research and crafting component is Outpost development which will allow you to build your very own bases on the planets and moons that you discover throughout the settled systems and you can build your outposts almost anywhere on any Planet according to Todd Howard outposts will serve as your quote home away from home for survival and resource generation outposts can be custom built and designed to your liking they can have various structural components such as air locks walls and hallways hydroponic science and Military Habs watchtowers and more when designing your outposts you can use a top-down isometric camera allowing you to see the overall layout as you build you can also do other things while on the ground as well such as decorating and placing items inside your Outpost to truly make it feel like a home your Outpost will run differently based on the skills your selected crew members have your crew can then run extractors to help collect resources while you're even away it sounds like Bethesda is truly trying to make outposts a really fun and engaging element in Starfield as Todd Howard has said quote you want to go and land on that weird planet and check it out and build an outpost and live your life there and watch the sunset because you like the view of the moons there go for it we love that stuff foreign the game's user interface or UI we have seen some of the basics like a health bar and weapon inventory as well as a map compass containing status items like your oxygen and carbon dioxide levels the area's temperature and the planet's gravity and from the UI options we've seen we also know that the game will feature a photo mode where you can pause gameplay to take some sweet in-game shots Starfield will allow you to play in both first and third person viewpoints just like previous Bethesda titles additionally Todd Howard has gone on record stating that the first person Viewpoint is really their intended way for players to experience Starfield but I always appreciate them including both options Starfield also has a new animation system for gameplay to help make movement and combat feel more smooth you also have a scanner that you will use while walking around various planets and moons to help identify the flora fauna resources and structures of that location there's also a surface map that will seemingly allow you to get an overview of the nearby landscape the data menu will give you an overview of all the current things about your character you can view things such as your current level you your health and the in-game time you can also check in on other information such as your ship status as well as the planet and system that you're on you can also view your skills and their current ranks as well as unlock new skills check your inventory and check in on your current quests as you progress through the game the skills that you choose to unlock for your character will affect your gameplay style these skill trees will include combat physical Social Science and Tech skills each skill also appears to have four ranks that can be leveled as you complete different challenges to increase their gameplay benefit for example within the combat skills that we saw these challenges could be something such as reloading a specific number of empty mags or killing a certain number of enemies with a heavy weapon each skill begins at level 0 but their benefit increases as you go from Level 0 to 1 2 3 and then finally level four we have seen various skills across both the first gameplay reveal and the new gameplay deep dive for each category I'll discuss the skills that we actually have some details on then I'll mention the ones that we've just seen the name of and possibly give my guess as to what they may mean let's start with the combat skills category we have seen sniper certification which helps to steady scoped weapons rapid reloading which gives you the chance to reload twice as fast heavy weapon certification which increases your damage resistance when using heavy weapons demolitions which increases explosive weapon range and damage we also have ballistics which increases ballistic weapon damage and range dueling which increases melee weapon damage pistol certification increasing pistol damage Marksmanship which I would guess gives you more accuracy there's also targeting which increases hip fire range and accuracy there's also shotgun certification lasers and rifle certification maxing out or ranking skills to the highest level will provide a large gameplay boost that will allow you to specialize your play style for example with the ballistic skill by reaching the max rank of 4 you will increase ballistic weapon range and damage by 30 percent within the physical category we've seen neuro strikes which gives you an incredibly strong punching ability we've also seen decontamination which allows you to better recover from infections naturally as well as stealth which increases your ability to stay on detected Wellness which increases your max Health martial arts which I would guess would be another melee hand-to-hand combat skill and weightlifting which increases your carrying capacity so similar to Skyrim you won't be able to carry 20 swords or in this case weapons without being weighed down and over-encumbered as you're going to have a Max carrying capacity number within the social skills category we've seen intimidation which allows you to strike fear into your opponent causing them to flee we've also seen leadership which allows companions to gain Affinity faster for you which is the amount that they like you xenosociology which allows you to mind control alien creatures you can cause them to pacify to flee frenzy or control them for a short time and it looks like there's a percentage chance of your success based on your level there's also Gastronomy which is the ability to craft specialty food and drink at research Labs persuasion which increases your success on speech challenges which could be a really strong one because that is a big part of Starfield is those persuasion and speech challenges diplomacy which forces an NPC at or below your level to stop by fighting for a while Commerce which allows you to be better able to open and run a successful business so does that mean in Starfield we're going to get to own and operate our own business I'm not totally sure maybe it only relates to outposts is that what they mean not 100 sure but it sounds really interesting there's bargaining which allows you to buy items for cheaper and sell them for more Scavenging which is likely to give you better items or more credits from looting and chest as well as theft which allows you to better be able to pickpocket someone and it's definitely one that I'm going to choose because in Skyrim I was a Khajiit who snuck around just stealing everything from everyone's house and their pockets and then there was instigation which I'm not totally sure what that one may be it could be that you can anger NPCs and allow them to fight each other within the science skill we saw astrophysics which means you can scan the moons of your current Planet increasing the chance of discovering a trait when scanning as well there was also chemistry allowing you to create improved Kims and research additional Kims at the research lab medicine which gives you increased healing from Med packs astrodynamics which increases your ship's grab driver ability which is the ability to jump from one system to another and then surveying increased ability to survey an area when on land there was also Outpost engineering botany and geology within the tech skill tree we saw security which allows you to better be able to hack locks and hack Advanced locks now this relates to the lock picking minigame in Starfield in which you'll use what is known as a digipick allowing you to try and unlock different levels of security during the minigame you'll need to correctly line up digital lines on a circle with the missing gaps in another Circle and as you rank up your security skill you'll be able to hack more difficult locks as well as have more Auto attempts so you don't have to try and solve them all on your own there's also the robotic skill which gives you increased damage to Robotics and autonomous turrets there's also payloads which likely increases your cargo space on your ship for carrying more there's boost pack training which increases your Boost pack or jetpack abilities to probably allow them to last longer missile weapon systems which likely increases the damage or effectiveness of the missiles on your ship and particle beam weapons systems which likely does the same for those targeting Control Systems which allows you to Target specific system components on enemy ships we also saw it just briefly but in the Deep dive we saw the Starship design skill which appears to be a required skill to add certain components to your ship for example to add a certain laser to the ship the footage showed that Starship design rank 1 was required to do that and for a certain engine Rank 2 of that skill was needed there's also piloting and Starship engineering combat will be a huge part of Starfield with a variety of Weaponry available to use starfield's combat looks like it's going to be a lot of fun however you won't be just limited to fighting on the ground as we also know that spaceship combat or dog fighting will also be present in Starfield so let's discuss both starting with the ground combat foreign we've seen a variety of different alien creatures that we will face off against while exploring different planets some of these creatures will likely be docile until provoked however we've seen numerous aggressive creatures that we'll have to contend with throughout the Galaxy we've also gotten some information about the gear and equipment in Starfield some equipment such as helmets can be toggled on or off in breathable atmosphere and other gears such as your spacesuit can actually be hidden while in large city areas gear can have resistances or weaknesses to different types of weapon damage as well as environmental damage those environmental resistances or weaknesses include thermal corrosive radiation and Airborne the jetpack or boost pack as it's called will play an important role in combat providing you with mobility and flexibility in your combat approach one thing that Todd confirmed that I know will definitely be a disappointment to some is that there are no Rovers or other land vehicles in Starfield and he said that the jetpack or the Boost pack will allow you to get around quickly and can be upgraded through your skills like we've seen there will be a variety of weapons to add to your Arsenal in Starfield when swapping weapons gameplay will slow for a short time time as you choose between weapon slots on a weapon wheel it appears that you'll be able to slot in pistols rifles heavy weapons shotguns snipers and melee weapons into your inventory as well as explosives such as grenades and landmines I won't go over each and every weapon that we've seen because after the gameplay Deep dive we have seen a lot weapons in Starfield fall into a few different categories depending on their ammunition type those being ballistic weapons which do physical damage energy weapons which are your laser weapons and your cutter tool and mag or em weapons which are electromagnetic weapons that fire high-powered electromagnetic induction ballistic arrays man that is a mouthful said each em weapon Barrel will have a targeting laser mounted on the end which I think is just really cool touch Starfield will also include a variety of just fun and crazy weapons to use such as Rocket and grenade launchers to railguns Bethesda have said that when designing the weapons for Starfield they wanted to balance realism and fun with Starfield leaning towards what would be the most fun for the player as we saw in the research and crafting section weapons can be customized in great detail and we've seen weapons that can hold anywhere from six to eight different modifications which will allow for a variety of different play styles from a run and Gun approach to a more stealthy build the options are there for you there are also a variety of melee weapons we have seen from knives to axes to katanas or even your bare fists bethesdev said that Starfield has more weapons and weapon modifications than any game they've created thus far we've also seen some fun animations while in combat like when our character shoots an enemy jetpack causing them to launch into the air and we've seen some examples of low grav fighting meaning that the planet or Moon you're on and its attributes will affect your approach to combat and in the gameplay deep dive you may also want to alter your weapon of choice depending on the attributes of a planet for example in Low Gravity settings ballistic weapons will push you back as you fire while energy weapons are much more stable our character can use their jet back in combat to add some verticality to the fighting which I assume will also have some usefulness for getting to different locations throughout the game regarding some of the other combat or gameplay mechanics we've also seen that stealth will be a viable option in Starfield which I'm really happy to see there will be a stealth meter to show whether we are hidden or being seen we have also seen that we'll be able to pickpocket and loot NPCs as well which is one of my favorite things I think in Skyrim I played as a Khajiit who just went around looting and pickpocketing and stealing everything from everyone you can also use the environment to your advantage one example was in the Deep dive when the player shot a tank freezing the enemy instantly another example was when the player went through an air vent to try and sneak attack an enemy so far I haven't seen any takedown animations I think that would be a really cool touch but since we haven't seen it yet I'm going to assume that takedown and nations are not there there was also a tease at some potential other abilities our character May acquire at some point what this clip shows and what those abilities may be I guess we'll just have to wait and find out some have speculated that this may be some form of psionics that our character May acquire through those ancient artifacts that we find it'll be interesting to see what role they play in both combat and Starfield story as a whole and when it's time to jump back in your ship you'll be able to walk back hop in or fast travel back to your ship and crew to take off into the skies foreign while it won't be the majority at least some of the game's combat will take place on your ship as we have seen footage of dog fighting between your ship and other enemy ships while flying and fighting in your ship you'll be able to switch between first and third person perspectives just like on the ground Todd Howard himself has said that ship combat will be quite slower than ground combat and from the footage it appears to be more measured and methodical while fighting you will have weapons that you can fire while manually aiming your ship as well as weapons that use auto lock to lock onto enemies certain skills will make space combat more effective for example the targeting control system skill will allow you to Target specific system components on enemy ships to get an advantage while fighting so say you want to work down their Shield then destroy their grab drive so they can't jump away then this skill will allow you to do that you'll be able to focus in on those components and then take down their ship piece by piece after destroying an enemy ship you'll be able to loot that ship without ever having to leave your own your ship's Power Systems will also play a big role in combat as Starfield has looked to the game faster than light also known as FTL for inspiration during the first gameplay reveal we saw some of these components when our character was in the first person perspective we saw those three weapon systems of lasers ballistics and missiles as well as the engine Shields and grab systems I imagine as you level up your ship and its components that you'll be able to allocate increasing amounts to these systems if you increase power to your engines your ship will be faster while increasing your grab drive system will decrease the amount of time it takes to make a jump so if you find yourself in trouble you may want to try and jump away quickly moving power over to your weapons and shields allows you to engage in combat more effectively in Space the combat doesn't lock you within your ship as you'll have the opportunity to be the space pirate you've always wanted you'll be able to disable and dock onto other ships to then board them you can eliminate the enemies on board and then steal their ship if you really want to these ships can then be stored in a Spaceport to access or sell later one thing I noticed during the gameplay deep dive was that ships can be either registered or unregistered likely based on if you purchase them or stole them this could have implications when hauling Goods or trying to get into locations where you need to be scanned it may also have some implications as well if you stole them from a certain faction and that faction sees you in space you know flying around in that stolen ship we have also seen that faction bounties will be present in Starfield which could mean that if you do steal a ship from a faction then you'll need to deal with that Bounty or risk being attacked if seen Todd said that even stolen unregistered ships can be customized but they have to first be registered so if you acquire a ship in a less than legal way then you're gonna have to spend some credits to get your ship registered so you can then customize it however even if you stole it and you can't customize it just yet you'll still be able to fly it around and store it and things like that Todd has said that this is to try and keep the game's economy from being broken by you know people just stealing ships and then going and selling them right away or customizing them right away with both space and ground combat there's just so much in Starfield to engage with and I for one just cannot wait to experience it all since operating a spaceship will be a big part of Starfield it's important that Bethesda provides an in-depth system them for creating and customizing your own spaceship and it looks like they've done just that Bethesda has described your ship as your home for you and your crew so let's discuss the options you'll have when it comes to spaceship customization and the crew that will help you operate it you will have full customization over the look and components of your ship to a very intricate detail as Bethesda has described your ship as essentially another character in game in the Deep dive we learned that the game's starting ship is known as the frontier however there are also a variety of other ships that we can purchase and then customize to do so you'll begin with your base ship that you purchase and then you'll be able to customize and choose various components for it from the deep dive some of those examples we saw were the Celestial Dragon Fire slipstream Voyager and the marathon we also saw some stolen faction ships such as the spacer coyote a Freestar narcissus an ecliptic Claymore and an ecliptic stiletto the different ship manufacturers also have their own unique style which will affect the inside of your ship as well such as your living quarters cargo holds control rooms and more during the Deep dive we were able to get a look at all the components that you'll have to choose from when designing your ship you'll be able to customize the cowling The Shield generator Docker fuel tanks grav Drive weapon systems Hab engines cockpit cargo hold reactor Bay and landing gears these components will affect the system's strength and capacity of your ship this will include things such as your lasers ballistics and missile systems your Hull and shield strength cargo carrying capacity number of crew members it can hold jump range Mobility top speed and ship mass and you can imagine that as you add or remove ship components the way that your ship will operate will change if you want to faster more maneuverable ship you need to reduce the mass if you want to be able to carry more people and cargo then you'll need a bigger likely more sturdy ship but you'll decrease your speed and Mobility however ship components also determine what you can do inside the ship as well there are various module options for crafting for storing weapons and more there are two methods of ship customization one method is a quick upgrade method where you'll quickly upgrade your system such as Weapons or Shields however if you really want to get into building your ship and customizing it to your liking you can go into the more detailed ship Builder mode where you can customize basically everything from the different systems your ship has to its look and layout and this is where the shipbuilding part of Starfield really gets fun and creative and where I know we'll see some incredible builds just as we saw in the Deep dive if you want to build your ship to look like an animal then go right ahead if you want it to look like a giant Mech then go right ahead the options are seriously wide open and the possible sizes of ships you can create are absolutely massive the inside of ships in Starfield will have what Bethesda describe as a retro and analog feel it's where you'll find your crew navigation table inventory storage and any other things you may need your ship screw will play an important part in Star field depending on the size of your ship in a tab will affect how many crew members you can actually bring on board your crew skills will help to influence your gameplay Style and what you can actually do on the ship their skills may increase your combat abilities or they may actually help you to to get more research and crafting materials that you can use so based on how you want to play the game and based on the skills that you find valuable it will be important to sort of look at your crew members and decide how you want to assign them and their roles there are just so many possibilities when it comes to Companions and your ship and your crew it's just all very exciting [Music] Starfield is being built on a new version of the engine that was used to create some of the classic Fallout games and Skyrim The Creation engine 2. Todd Howard described the engine update with this quote the creation engine overhaul is the largest we probably ever had maybe larger than Morrowind to Oblivion there are things we do that we still like the way we build our worlds the way people can mod it these are things that are fundamentally good about our Tech stack but from rendering to animation to pathing to procedural generation I don't want to say everything but it's a significant significant overhaul since Howard mentioned votting let's discuss it Bethesda have said that the modding Community is a big part of what they do and they would like that Community to continue with Starfield in an interview with IGN Todd Howard said quote we love our modding Community we actually think this game for our modding Community is going to be a dream because there's so much they could do so we think that's a great thing I can imagine all the Fantastic mods that will come to this game and help the game be enjoyable for years to come here's to hoping that Bethesda stays good on that promise and that modding will be be able to add a lot to the game and its longevity and regarding that longevity Todd Howard and art director Matt carafano discussed the potential for starfield's longevity something that mods will definitely be a big part of with Howard stating quote I think we underestimate how long people are going to play it you look at Skyrim we're sitting here 10 years later and it keeps having this life and it changes the way you want to create something with math then adding quote Yeah I feel like our games sort of have two lives we create this game and we put everything we can possibly put into it and tell the stories we want to tell and build this world that's sort of a setup that when we hand it off to the players they play it but then they take it and make it their own they tell their own stories and then they make their own stories with our tools starfield's PC requirements have also been released which I'll put up on the screen now the biggest standout for most will likely be the 125 gigabytes of required SSD space that's needed to run the game I know many people have ssds now but there may still be some of you that are out there rocking traditional hard drives to store your massive game libraries and if that's you then Starfield may need to be the exception to that or it may require you adding an additional drive to your PC and the game will require a pretty decent PC to run with Fidelity but that was to be expected one thing that has been met with some controversy was the game's console specs where Todd Howard has said that Starfield will run at 30 FPS on consoles with him stating quote it's 4k on the X it's 1440p on the S we lock it at 30 because we want that Fidelity we don't want to sacrifice any of it he mentioned that the game runs well and often above 60 but they prefer consistency on the console so they will be locking it at 30 FPS which I know will be disappointing to many console players as mentioned Starfield would release on September 6 2023 and will have three versions of the game available for purchase a standard premium and constellation or collector's edition the standard edition will come in at around 70 US Dollars and comes with the base game as well as some pre-order bonuses if you choose to do so those including a laser cutter and deep mining helmet and pack the Premium Edition will come in at around 100 US dollars and will include the base game five days of our Early Access the game's first story expansions shattered space a constellation skin pack and a digital soundtrack and art book the final Edition the constellation Edition comes in at around 300 US Dollars and includes all the previous items as well as a Chrono Mark watch and case steelbook display case and a constellation patch and as of mentioning this video the constellation Edition appears to be sold out so it sounds like Starfield is going to be the next great installment from Bethesda and I for one cannot wait to play it to be able to dive into the settled systems and tell my own story as well as have you all tell your own story as well be sure to let me know what you are most excited for when it comes to Starfield also be sure and subscribe to the channel if you enjoyed the video it would be very appreciated I put a lot of time into it and hope that it was helpful and got you prepared for Starfield also be sure and check out one of the two videos on your screen

Channel: JoshLevelsUp

Views: 281,082

Keywords: starfield, starfield gameplay, starfield new gameplay, starfield news, starfield trailer, starfield bethesda, freestar collective, new atlantis, neon, zoofet, xbox, bethesda, xbox series x, gaming, xbox game pass, starfield character skills, starfield release date, starfield combat, starfield direct, starfield space combat, starfield breakdown, starfield info, starfield spaceships, starfield deep dive, starfield preview, starfield everything we know

Id: FiYEHnRH6Tk

Length: 58min 39sec (3519 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 30 2023