Starfield - The Ultimate Gameplay Preview

speed across the cosmos and embark on an epic space adventure 25 years in the making my name is Kodiak this is Legacy gaming and Welcome to our ultimate preview of Bethesda game studios upcoming single player RPG Starfield before we get into what you can clearly see is a Galaxy sized video I'm excited to announce that Legacy gaming is giving away copies of Starfield and you can edit right now for your chance to win to learn more head over to our website legacygaming.gg and click on the news tab up top follow the instructions enter for your chance to win and good luck unless you've been living under a rock then you've most likely heard of Starfield the Epic space game that promises to take players across the Stars to uncover the secrets of the universe by all accounts the game is massive and if you're just starting to wrap your head around what Starfield actually is then you need some place to start and I can think of no better beginning than understanding how you the player is transported into this new world create a character and come to find yourself at the center of the game's biggest mystery Starfield is a single player RPG built in the new creation engine 2. a lot of what makes Bethesda games great is woven into Starfield from the character creation to the dialogue interaction to the overall massive scale and ambition of the project Starfield is set 300 years into the future in the year 2330 and while you might think it's built in a universe far away that's actually not the case the game takes place within the Milky Way galaxy in an area that extends outwards 50 years from our solar system we know planets like Mars will play a big part in the Starfield experience as the team has already revealed it to be home of one of the largest mining operations in the Galaxy one look at Starfield and it's clear the game isn't your typical sci-fi adventure with pristine spaceships Sleek modern amenities and the futuristic aesthetic we've come to know and expect from modern science fiction in fact starfield's design is dubbed NASA Punk by the developers and it's based largely around the designs of the 60s and 70s also known as the era of the Space Race as an observer things look utilitarian and more realistic which fits bethesda's style established in games like Fallout that's not to say there won't be aspects of the game that feel more modern and futuristic but a vast majority of what we've seen fits into this much grittier design philosophy to understand Starfield we first need to travel back in time before our character arrives on the scene to the year 23-10 it's during this year that the United colonies and the Freestar Collective the two largest factions in the game engaged in what's known as The Colony War it was a bloody Affair and at this point that's all we really know but it's important context as our character enters The Fray 20 years later now in the year 2330 those two factions enjoy an uneasy piece you are the newest member of a group called constellation inspired by famous Navigators such as Ferdinand Magellan constellation is known as the last group of Space Explorers in the Galaxy alongside a small Posse of like-minded individuals you'll take to the stars as you attempt to unravel Mysteries that continue to perplex mankind constellation's leader is Sarah Morgan an ex-soldier and adventurer amongst its ranks are also Mateo a theologian that holds a firm belief that intelligent life is out there there's also Noel A Gifted scientist and Sarah Morgan's Prodigy as well as Walter a successful businessman within the settled systems and the group's financier constellation members also include Vasco a fully autonomous expeditionary model robot that aids you and the group whenever and wherever needed there's also Sam Coe a former Space Cowboy Vlad the X pirate and Barrett the Rough Around the Edges Explorer that's always good for a laugh if it's not clear this is an Eclectic group that shares one thing in common exploration and as the newest member you'll be at the very center of constellation's latest Adventure what's that you might ask well little is known of the game's overarching story but we do know that constellation has a keen interest in an alien artifact we've seen it multiple times throughout a number of trailers and as you might expect if some other intelligent being created those artifacts there's no finer group to unravel that mystery than constellation the artifacts themselves resemble gateways and in fact we see one used as such during the official story trailer this might be the penultimate beat to an otherwise long and complex story but how we get to that point is complete completely a mystery the best view of these gateways is in this shot here where three are clearly visible but there's also an important connection to a strange mineral the player will have to discover during the course of the game while we're racing around the Galaxy we can't forget about the uneasy piece between two space superpowers both the United Colonies and the free space Collective could play a major role in shaping the main Narrative of the story and they're not the only groups looking to influence the Galaxy and as you travel to distant planets like neon and the key you'll run into other key players within the universe the long and short of it is this Starfield is still largely a mystery when it comes to the game's story and that's okay because the team has said on countless occasions it's up to the player to determine their Starfield Adventure before ever setting foot on an alien planet we'll need to create a character and by all accounts Starfield is set to have one of the most in-depth character creators in modern gaming fun fact developers actually use the Creator to generate most of the NPCs in the game so almost everyone you see in me will have filtered through that system in typical Bethesda fashion the game will start with some sort of blackout and your character will awaken to a few friendly faces offering a new lease on life enter Argos extractors or the character creation system players will all start by selecting one of 40 biometric IDs and these will act as a foundation for the unique character you'll create there are a number of options that run the full spectrum from young to old male to female so on and so forth once you have your preset selected you'll move to the body Tab and here you'll first manipulate your character stature dynamically moving between thin heavy and muscular until you're happy with the look you'll also get to toggle between two preset body types and two distinct walking Styles it's all personal preference here as we're still not remotely done with our character finally on the body tab you'll choose a skin tone the face tab is where character customization really turns into an RPG Fan's Paradise the sheer number of options are overwhelming and within each category the team has expanded nearly every option since the system was first revealed back in 2022 categories include skin tone head shape hair hair color facial hair facial hair color eyes eye color nose ears cheeks mouth teeth jaw chin neck jewelry dermastatic complexion complexion color temp complexion blemishes scars and facial forms and that's not all within some of those categories you can further customize in a more Dynamic way for example you can edit the head shape to be more square or round wide or thin the same can be said for the mouth which has a surprising amount of customization this is one category where you see the game shape blending system in full effect which allows you to make micro adjustment to get the desired look if you're someone that normally spends hours creating your character expect to spend the same if not more time here when Starfield does release what's really special about character customization are the two systems that will have an immediate impact on gameplay backgrounds and traits we're going to go over this in much more detail later on but for now I think it's important we touch on it at a high level backgrounds provide a little backstory on your character who you are in the world and what starting skills you enter the game with you can choose to be a combat medic skilled in pistols medicine and wellness or choose the life of a diplomat and start off with skills and persuasion Commerce and wellness your choice here isn't just about skills but also opening up new opportunities such as dialogue options that only your background is suited for it's an important decision and as far as we know a permanent one so you'll have to think carefully before making that choice traits are another system that impacts gameplay and this this one is a little more a la carte you'll get to choose up to three traits that all have varying impacts within the world one of the traits showcased ahead of launches called hero worship and with it comes the attention of an adoring fan that you might recognize from the Oblivion days that follows you around talks your ear off and gives you gifts the fan will also join you on your crew so you can see that there are gameplay implications based on what you pick again we'll go over these in more detail later on with our character created an important decisions made it's time to step off on our great space journey but we've only scratched the surface of what awaits Us in the great beyond foreign from the first few minutes of the first reveal we saw one question over and over again will Starfield support mods in a recent interview with Todd Howard Studio director at Bethesda he confirmed that the game will have full mod support this is welcome news to both modders and players because with a giant space sandbox to explore it opens up a world of possibilities for the community mods can solve a number of unique problems and fill content gaps in the game that the developers either couldn't or didn't want to create with that in mind I do think it's worth pointing out what star field isn't so new folks checking out the game for the first time really have a clear understanding of what's in scope and what's not first is understanding that Starfield is a true offline single player game just like most other Bethesda titles you'll be playing alone in the universe with no Co-op or massive multiplayer element to the game it's an experience with you squarely at the center another recently dispelled rumor is that sadly Starfield won't have any sort of ground transportation so no space Rovers or alien mounts I'll admit this one took us by surprise and it does seem a bit strange to force players to navigate over 1 000 planets all on foot with just the help of Jetpack boosters but that's what it is this is a clear problem that the mod Community can solve for and I'd imagine it's going to happen relatively quick not quite as serious the game also won't have any sort of traditional fishing Todd did confirm that fishing with a rod wasn't part of the game but did leave the door open for some sort of activity that resembles fishing but in space again easily solvable by some creative mods finally I wanted to point out something about aliens in Starfield according to Howard only 10 percent of the planets will have alien life the trailers and video clips we've seen leading up to launch paint a much different picture so I think it'll come as a shock to some folks when they land on planet after Planet only to discover a world devoid of Life at the end of the day most if not all Community Driven problems can and probably will have a Community Driven solution including the possibility of multiplayer functionality but we are far far away from that reality to understand Starfield is to understand the heavens themselves so let's next take a deep dive into outer space and everything that goes along with racing across the Galaxy if you didn't already know starfield's ambition is to create one of the most advanced and customizable shipbuilding systems ever and that's Apparent from the in-depth showcase by the developers everything starts at ship ports this is where players will be able to interact with an NPC known as a ship technician and a tier where you'll be able to repair modify buy sell and hire crew for Your Vessel it's an essential gateway to All Things ships because as you'll come to find out they come in all shapes and sizes and it's impossible to have just one within the port you'll notice that you can maintain a fleet of ships the number has fluctuated throughout the years so my best guess is that you'll be able to upgrade your Fleet size and that's good because as you build or commandeer ships you'll want to add them to your collection to either keep or sell ships themselves are complex educated and before we dive into customization I think we should start with a general overview of their capabilities each has a number of different systems to consider including lasers electromagnetics ballistics and missiles making up your offensive systems and Hull and shields making up your defensive systems then there are secondary systems like cargo and Max crew which determine how much loot you can haul and how many companions can help operate and maintain your ship in terms of flyability there are a number of other things to consider such as jump range Mobility hop speed and mass all of this is influenced by the individual Parts both quality and quantity you put on your ship and as far as we know there are 13 categories players will have access to cowling Shield generators Dockers fuel tanks grab drives weapons Habs engines cockpits cargo holds reactors bays and landing gear if you're someone that just wants to fire up the thrusters and head into space you can do that if you'd prefer a little more customization mainly just to upgrade your ship with the best parts you can do that too for players that want to customize absolutely everything there's the ship Builder mode I'm already worried I'll never actually leave the Spaceport because I'll be too busy messing around with the customization for hours on end in this mode you'll have near Endless Options for how you design your ship from the individual parts to the variants of that part giving you the exact look and functionality that you want similar to systems in other games there are also distinct manufacturers of ship parts and they each have their own unique aesthetic ranging from top of the line futuristic to sloppy jalopy really your only limitation is your creativity keep in mind that the parts you place on your ship go beyond stats it's about in-game functionality as well for example your Hab directly impacts how many crew members can be assigned to operate the ship other things like crafting workstations and the armory are also tied to specific parts so while it is all about stats it's also about how you'll use your ship when adventuring across the Galaxy shipbuilder Mode not only lets you see statistics on individual Parts but also real-time information about your ship as a whole as it's being built so you know exactly what you get with each part you put on or take off players will also have near unlimited color control based on the June Starfield direct footage it's clear that each individual part can be colored based on a player's preference and that makes four it's a pretty hilarious builds when your build is complete it's time to take to the stars and while we haven't seen a ton of uncut footage from inside the ship once we have liftoff we have seen some exciting space combat and that's worth talking about each cockpit has its own unique Vibe and viewport and while functionally they're most likely the same there's a certain Flair to each design that will absolutely speak to players on an individual level once your butt is squarely in the captain's chair the controls are at your fingertips and here again we see some familiar UI elements that are pulled directly from the shipbuilder interface in the bottom left hand corner you'll see your ship's systems and this will vary depending on what weapons your ship has on board in this case we see Las for lasers Val for ballistics and EM for electromagnetic on the right side of that panel we see Eng for engines shd for Shields and grv for grab Drive during space flight you can actually divert power to various subsystems to increase their effectiveness for example if you're trying to escape a pirate Ambush you can allocate power to your engines making you faster likewise if you allocate points to your grab Drive the time it takes to make a jump will be significantly reduced it's a powerful dynamic system that will allow you more control when it matters the most moving to the right side of the screen we see a readout of the ship's Whole Health and shield strength both important pieces of information we'll need at a glance finally in the center of the screen is an important HUD that displays information about your weapons systems speed and boost readouts and details about enemy ships that are within your sight picture as you can see in this brief clip as the player is firing both the lasers and Ballistic weapons are being used and the number is going down much like an FPS game your weapons will need a period to cool down or reload before they can be used again emphasizing the importance of having the right weapons to potentially crew on your ship as far as the actual combat is concerned I think it's safe to say the gameplay leans more towards arcadey and less towards simulation I'm sure there will be a fair number of joystick flyers and Star Citizen enjoyers out there but the developers have said time and time again their goal for the game from exploration to space combat is fun and that's exactly what it looks like here players will have the ability to Target lock enemy ships with the right weapons of course and their standard ordinance will be guided by a simple tracking system that will anticipate an enemy ship's movement so you can aim with relative ease if you have the targeting control system skill in the tech tree you'll even be able to a lock onto individual enemy subsystems giving you more flexibility with how you approach a space fight if you choose to take out a ship that's great and you can loot the cargo right from the cockpit of your ship but if you prefer to keep your fighting skills sharp then you can choose to board an enemy ship and take the fight right to them once cleared not only is the enemy cargo yours but the ship is too and you can take it to any Spaceport and claim it as your own if you want to keep and upgrade any of your newly acquired ships you'll need to register them which costs credit a system recently discussed by Todd Howard in a recent interview with kind of funny games you could choose to Simply sell the ship but based on what we've seen in the various trailers there's bound to be a flashy spaceship worth claiming as your own if you're someone that prefers a more peaceful approach to their RPGs then you'll be happy to know you can hail other ships chat about ongoing events exchange rumors and even engage in trade there's no underselling it space exploration is one of the major draws for Starfield the idea of exploring new worlds becoming a ruthless pirate and creating your own spaceship is just something no game has ever been able to fully achieve that's a huge fan of the space combat and Star Wars Battlefront 2 I'm really excited to experience that aspect of Starfield it's a clear step up from Battlefront but a much needed step down from Star Wars squadrants which leaned a bit too much on the simulation side of things at least for me even someone like livid who is a huge fan of Star Citizen finds the more casual approach to space combat to be enticing [Music] Now dog fighting in space is all well and good but to truly Master the Stars you need to actually you know travel them and this is where your navigation console comes into play on each ship is a terminal that will help you plot a course across the heavens and this is where all that tweaking of your ship's components comes into play for now we're going to focus on traveling between Stars the most macro view of space travel in the game from your star map you'll be able to see each of the systems in the region at a glance you'll know what the name of the Central Star is and some basic statistics about that star including spectral Class catalog ID temperature and mass just to name a few more importantly you'll be able to see how many planets and moons are in that system as well as outposts from your current location you can plot a course for distant planets so long as your ship is up to the task in order for you to make a grab jump your ship will need to have optimal cargo that is not over the maximum threshold as well as enough fuel to make the complete jump if your ship doesn't have an advanced enough grab drive then you won't be able to make the jump and you'll have to Hopscotch your way to your destination or upgrade your ship until you can make the desired jump once you find a location that's within range of your ship's capabilities it's time to punch in from the comfort of your cockpit you'll enter a few coordinates watch the timer count down and off you go from one system to another it's also worth pointing out that when you arrive in populated areas like space operated by the United Colonies your ship will get scanned for contrapand we don't know much about smuggling in Starfield but shoot if I can steal a whole bunch of Loot and offloaded PlanetSide that sounds like a great way to make some credits hopefully we'll learn more about this system before launch now we've alluded to it already but one important aspect of navigating the stars is having a crew of companions alongside you to help with the heavy lifting it's unclear at this time exactly how much influence each companion will have while in space but we do know their valuable allies in the search to unravel the secrets of the Galaxy we've already been introduced to some of the companions you'll meet along the way like Sarah Morgan the head of constellation but every member of the group can be recruited and they each bring with them an important set of skills much like the skills you develop as a player each of the companions you recruit also come with proficiencies in a set of skills for example Sam Coe another member of constellation has four points in piloting three points in Rifle certification two points in payloads and one point in geology it's clear based on this that companions like Sam will impact both space travel and combat as well as augment your skill set when on a planet's surface or when they're assigned to an outpost more on that later sadly right now the true extent of their gameplay impact is unknown but it's something I'm most eager to learn more about as is typical in a Bethesda game key companions the one that you could consider major players in the game have a lot more depth to them than some of the Lesser companions throughout your travels the four main constellation companions will offer unique quest lines and if you're someone that longs for a little space companionship those same four NPCs can be romanced if that's your thing if you're looking to expand your crew you can find additional companions at Spaceport and they can be hired to help maintain your ship or one of your outposts the decision is yours if you choose to let them accompany you or waste away in the deepest regions of space your entire roster of companions can be maintained from one simple menu which is a great quality of life feature that will hopefully make managing dozens of NPCs a breeze here you can see their skills where they're assigned and make any changes necessary as Captain and Commander of your crew one Hallmark of any Bethesda game are the incredible cities and colorful factions players will run across during their Adventures Starfield is no different as we've talked about previously our part in this Grand Space Opera takes place 30 years after a bloody civil war between the United Colonies and the free space Collective the two largest factions in the game but they are far from the only forces vying for power in this massive Universe the United colony's base of operations is called New Atlantis and according to the developers it's the largest city the Bethesda team has ever created not just in sheer size but in density of artwork crowds and quests needless to say I imagine we'll be spending many hours traveling back to the Alpha Centauri system or new Atlantis resides as we crisscross the stars from a design perspective this is the most futuristic city we've seen in the game up until this point but there is still a very real 60s flare that keeps everything from the buildings to the people grounded in the overall aesthetic of the game one thing notable about the city is its use of verticality so far it's the only location in Starfield where you can see buildings towering over the people below and the curvature and heavy use of cool colors specifically whites and Grays really give you a sense that this is a space City the people of new Atlantis value law discipline and the legacy of humanity and believe they are the true children of Earth this is where our story with constellation begins and part of the reason why we'll most likely be back here so often as it'll be the crossroads to the overarching story within the game also tied to the United Colonies is the UC vigilance a massive military ship that players can visit and while not a major city I thought it was worth pointing out as there's a lot of hype around this particular location online it's a massive military ship and it appears it'll have some significance to the UC faction but it does beg the question why did the United Colonies still need a massive Armada of battleships especially decades after after a conflict that is seemingly over something to think about within the Cheyenne system is Aquila City the largest settlement controlled by the Freestar Collective keep in mind the Freestar Collective is a loose collection of three star systems and much less structure than that of the United Colonies at least as far as we know right now as you no doubt can tell there is a much different vibe to this city seemingly inspired by the old west back on Earth there's also a clear connection to one of bethesda's other games here Fallout you can see the inspiration pretty much everywhere from the dilapidated buildings to the signage to the Interiors of buildings Filled from wall to wall with knickknacks and baubles one interesting thing about Aquila city is that it's actually built on a relatively hostile planet and while it is surrounded by a defensive wall outside the city limits are feral aliens the developers lovingly describe as a cross between a wolf and Velociraptor terrifying another city well-frequented is called neon in the volley system originally in intended as a phishing platform constructed by the xenofresh corporation it's now a pleasure City with all the trappings of a place like Las Vegas just in space neon has a really interesting backstory and that will no doubt be a part of its narrative arc when it comes to questing during its original fishing Venture the corporation discovered that one type of fish had psychotropic effects allowing for the creation of a new drug called Aurora which is only legal on neon but obviously Drugs sell better than fish and the rest is kind of History neon doubled down on Aurora and thus thrived as far as its aesthetic goes it's a city clearly inspired by Shinjuku Japan one of the busiest most vibrant cities in that country and while we've only seen a small fraction of neon there's a strong East Asian influence that permeates everything from the buildings and artwork to the culture other cities that we know of include Sedonia which is more of a Mining facility than anything else controlled by the United Colonies and located on Mars of all places it's clear this is a place of in industry with very little in the way of personal amenities it's unclear just how big cedonia actually is in the game but we do know it's a location we'll have the opportunity to visit another interesting location is called the Red Mile in the perima system based on everything we know of this strange location it's centered around some extravagant and most likely deadly race where players enter some sort of space obstacle course and compete for their life it's unclear who heads up the operation here and what exactly its occupants are doing across the internet speculation abounds about it being a casino surveillance operation others a Death Race but one thing is for certain it'll sure be exciting when we eventually do find out finally I wanted to mention the key and the Crick system home to the Crimson Fleet the faction are essentially space pirates and while I'm sure they're motivated by credits they're not quite the mercenaries of another faction the ecliptic once a United Colony star yard the Crimson Fleet clearly have a desire to overthrow the established order no matter what it takes it's a ruthless group of thugs and while I'm sure you can align with them you better watch your back cities and established locations will no doubt be the center of questing and interesting interactions but it's the great beyond that I'm sure will entice a great many of you excited to check out Starfield as you no doubt have heard Starfield will have over 1 000 planets for players to explore each will challenge players with unique obstacles as well as entice them with potential opportunities but it's up to each individual to navigate the stars and explore every planet previously we've discussed how players will move between stars using their ship's grav drive to jump between systems but now I think we need to drill down a bit deeper to the system and Planet View and talk about what to expect before landing your ship on the surface of an alien world within the system view you can see all of the planets in a star system and at a glance blame important information necessary before touching down in a recent interview with kind of funny games Todd Howard confirmed that only about 10 percent of planets will have life on them and in this view you're actually able to see if a planet has flora fauna and water you'll also get a sense for what resources are on the planet which could help inform where you set up your Outpost if we zoom in a layer we can see even more about a specific Planet including any points of interest that might entice you to visit the surface it's here where you can choose your landing spot or fast travel to a known location planetary view also allows you to toggle on a resource overlay which shows you exactly where a planet's resources are located so you don't end up wandering the entire planet searching for something specific you might need if a planet does have life that is flora and fauna it presents a unique opportunity for you as the player to survey the planet by surveying an entire planet you'll receive a healthy chunk of credits that you can then use for any number of things the planets themselves are procedurally generated so no two experiences On Any Given Planet will be exactly the same that being said not everything is procedurally generated in all of the major set pieces and of course main story elements are hand crafted it's hard to nail down exactly how the procedural generation works and that goes for the Flora and Fauna as well the team has said that there are a set of rules that dictate how and what generates on each planet but from game to game players May encounter different things this is also true for the buildings you may experience a set of points of interest on one planet but someone else may encounter those same points of interest somewhere else again there is a set of complicated rules that dictate this aspect of exploration and truly it's the secret sauce that could make the Starfield Experience One of a Kind truthfully though we don't know how deep this system goes or how it's dictated that's a secret only the developers know and at this point it's unlikely they'll share the inner workings of something so monumentally important to the game what was showcased was a player fully exploring and clearing a point of interest and by all accounts this looks like an incredible way to score some important gear on your adventure there's no way you'd ever want to miss out on exploring a deserted robotic slap but the risk does have to be worth the reward and the developers showcased in this instance what the player was able to obtain a legendary every piece of loot an incendiary calibrated deep mining space helmet now if combat isn't your thing and you prefer a more peaceful approach to your Planetary Exploration then there's always surveying as I mentioned before by completely surveying a planet you'll gain credits but there's also a benefit to surveying flora and fauna to better understand their nature where else you can find them in the galaxy and most importantly what resource they'll yield when harvested surveying isn't a challenging task you simply pull out your viewfinder aim and scan it's a simple system that I imagine some will find tedious others incredibly satisfying and rewarding there is certainly no shortage of things to survey from points of interest and abundant flora and fauna that will feel natural to the Exotic worlds players will soon visit while surveying there's a good chance you'll become enamored by a specific planet and that's okay too because starfield's Outpost system allows you to set down roots on nearly every world you visit again this is a Bethesda Hallmark at this point with base Building Systems becoming a constant in their last few games this time around things are a bit different as we're creating futuristic habitat modules not slapping up ramshackled walls and calling it home from a gameplay perspective the most interesting aspect of outposts are the extractors which allow you to passively harvest resources natural to the planet if you find the right location and set up the base in the right way I imagine this will be incredibly lucrative once your Outpost Beacon is established the sky is really the limit and one of the new features introduced by the developers into Starfield is a fly Cam that allows players to build from a top-down perspective you can still build in first or third person mode but this is a new vantage point for players to explore as you can see there are at least 12 categories of outpost buildings and decorations that player will have access to and while on the macro level habitats or Habs as they're called will provide the overall structure flow and functionality of your Outpost you can still add and tweak more decorative things like couches and statues so that your Outpost feels like the space home you've always dreamed of while not entirely known there are serious gameplay implications for having an outpost established and as you can see in the build menu certain halves will have limitations on how many you can deploy at a single Outpost I imagine anything that allows for research or resource regeneration will have upper limits as it would be a bit broken to create the world's largest space Farm on some distant Moon hilarious but a bit broken previously we talked a bit about Companions and they can be assigned to your Outpost to help maintain your remote base when you're not around we don't know exactly what gameplay bonuses having companions work outposts will achieve but we do know that Outpost engineering is a skill companions can have and if I were to guess I would imagine it increases the overall speed or for output of various stations around your base and I want to point out while not said out loud anywhere that I can find based on the various menus we've seen leading up to launch it's clear players will be able to have multiple outposts scattered across multiple planets perfect for the entrepreneurial space farmer in all of us no good RPG is complete without a deep and interconnected progression system and to understand that we have to take things all the way back to character customization and really explore how backgrounds and traits can influence our character right from the beginning of the game as we've discussed previously backgrounds provide some details about who you are in Starfield each option comes with a little story so the RP element of the game is Alive and Well when and where this background will matter in the world is still largely a mystery as the developers have pointed out before you'll never know when your background will come into play but they will the team has even gone so far as to showcase the Beast Hunter background having a unique dialogue option when conversing with someone in the middle of a luxury restaurant it's those sorts of curveball moments the team is hoping to set up but until players have dozens of hours with the game it'll be hard to know when and where all of these backgrounds will come into play what's more potent is the starting skills that come along with choosing a background now it's important to understand that your selection here is as far as we know permanent so what you choose as your background can't be undone that being said skills are a rather flexible system and just because you start with a skill doesn't mean you need to fully invest in it if your desire to play a different way be means foregoing one skill that's tied to your background that being said let's take a look at some of the backgrounds we've already seen to give you a sense of what options you'll have at the start of the game we've seen the details of at least six backgrounds so check these out there's Chef which has the starting skills Gastronomy dueling and Scavenging combat medic which has the starting skills pistol certification medicine and wellness cyber Runner which has the starting skills stealth security and theft cyberneticist which has the starting skills medicine security and lasers Diplomat which has the starting skills persuasion Commerce and wellness and finally Explorer which has the starting skills lasers astrodynamics and surveying honestly I recommend you pause the video and read the text blurbs under each skill because while not entirely clear from this menu you can get a sense for how the skill will impact your gameplay we'll talk about some of the known skills and their enhancements in just a bit but we do still have more to talk about before we can move Vaughn well we haven't seen all of the backgrounds we do know the names of some other options including Beast Hunter bouncer Bounty Hunter gangster Homesteader industrialist long hauler Pilgrim professor and dronet one of the benefits of a futuristic space game is that the team can really stretch their wings in terms of creative freedom things like Bounty Hunter feel right at home next to something like Professor because the spectrum of what's believable is so wide considering the content of the game what that really boils down to is options for players and options are a great thing [Music] things don't stop there and I want to take a second to revisit the second system tied to character customization traits well not something that can be leveled up or enhanced throughout the course of the game traits are an important building block that have gameplay impact much like your background players will have the option to choose up to three of these during the character creation process you can choose to allocate a trait to all three slots or choose any number from zero to three depending on the character you're hoping to create nonetheless we've seen a good number of these traits already so I wanted to run through what they are and their impact in the game because I think they're pretty interesting hero warship will trigger an adoring fan to show up randomly throughout your adventures he'll join your ship's crew and even give you some gifts you might remember this character from The Elder Scrolls Oblivion days a little throwback to something of a fan favorite moment from nearly two decades ago another trait is introvert allowing you to use less O2 when adventuring alone but using moro2 when adventuring with companions this trait can't be combined with extrovert which I assume will have the opposite effects kids stuff is an interesting trait when you assign this trait you'll be able to visit your parents somewhere in the game world but you'll have to send back two percent of your total credits every week honestly I have no idea what the positive effect of this trade is but I'd imagine they'll give you some sort of gift or experience boost something of that nature the neon Street rat trait grants you access to special dialogue options and better rewards for submissions on neon however your crime Bounty by other factions is greatly increased this trait can't be combined with any other faction Allegiance trait an interesting trait is raised enlightened which gives you access to a special chest full of items in the house of enlightened in new Atlantis however you can no longer access the sanctum universum chest and this can't be combined with any other religious trait on the flip side you have raised Universal which grants you access to a special chest full of items in sanctum universum in new Atlantis if you choose this you can no longer access the house of enlightened chest and this can't be combined with any other religious trait another trait is Serpent's Embrace while grab jumping you'll gain a temporary boost health and endurance however health and endurance are lowered if you don't jump regularly this trait can't be combined with other religious traits there's also the spaced trait which grants increased health and endurance when in space however health and endurance are decreased when on the planet's surface this trait can't be combined with Terra Firma which again I imagine has the opposite effects one trait that wasn't on the list in the June Starfield direct but might still pop up at some point is called starter home which allows you to own a small house on a peaceful Moon sadly this comes with a 50 000 credit mortgage from GAO Bank my thinking here is that this was in place before The Outpost system was really fleshed out but now that you can create an outpost on nearly every planet this seems almost unnecessary finally we have wanted which gives you a damage Buff when your health is low but you will have to deal with random mercenaries that show up to try and hunt you down we also saw a number of Trades without any details including alien DNA Dream Home empath extrovert Freestar Collective settler Taskmaster Terra Firma and United Colonies native it's amazing to think you'll have to make so many important decisions before ever stepping off on your Grand Adventure but the Bethesda team has said they're excited to reintroduce these sorts of impactful game systems back into the starting point of the game because it helps establish character identity for those that are curious they did leave the door open to remove traits if that's something you feel so inclined to do if backgrounds and traits are the first step to building a character then the second step is understanding skills and this is really a central aspect of your character's progression within Starfield the team was rather candid that this approach to skills combines what's worked in the past in previous Bethesda games with some new ideas as you level up you'll gain skill points that's pretty standard fare but once you unlock a skill you'll then have to complete challenges to gain access to the next rank of that skill for example when you unlock security you'll also unlock the first challenge to pick five locks once you do that you'll have access to Rank 2 of that skill this is true of every skill across the five major categories physical social combat Science and Tech while not specifically stated my guess is that once you gain access to a new rank of the skill you'll then use a skill point to lock in the upgrade you'll also need those skill points to unlock the initial skills so as you can see its progression hide to gameplay hide back to progression we've only seen a few skill details in full but these are the skills that we know of at this point in the physical tree we know of decontamination and neurostrites in a social tree we know of intimidation leadership and xenos sociology in the combat tree we know of ballistics demolition heavy weapon certification Marksmanship rapid reloading sniper certification and targeting in the science tree we know of astrophysics chemistry and outpost engineering finally in the tech tree we know of boost pack training missile weapon systems particle beam weapon systems robotics payloads targeting control system and security the final traditional progression system is one we've come to know and love across a number of different genres and that is research previously we talked about building an outpost and one of the things that you can do on that Outpost is conduct research at a research lab keep in mind we've seen very little of this system but there's a lot we can infer from the menus we have seen within the research lab are five major categories pharmacology food and drink Outpost development equipment and weaponry I think based on those categories it's fairly safe to take a guess at what sort of things we'll be researching within pharmacology I imagine we'll be able to research better recipes for consumable items that primarily enhance our abilities in combat but I wouldn't rule out any sort of temporary enhancement consumable that aids across any aspect of the game pharmacology projects we've seen so far are medical treatment 1 and performance enhancement two I believe food and drink will allow us to create better quality items that have better regen over time effects whether that be Health stamina or something else entirely as with most games I think food will have longer duration Buffs but less impactful effects Outpost development is where things start to get interesting much like an RTS or even mobile game you'll need to research Advanced versions and new components for your Outpost this will enhance and potentially unlock new aspects of outpost management either yielding more resources or making your outposts more efficient Outpost projects we've seen so far are resource extraction one the final two categories I think are pretty straightforward equipment will allow the player to research and unlock new and better sets of armor and armor mods while weapons will allow players to unlock and create new weapons and weapon mods equipment and weaponry projects we've seen so far are helmet mods and Barrel mods one and two while rather straightforward I'm curious to see how deep how impactful and how grindy this system really is you'll notice next to each category the total number of available projects it's nearly a dozen or more per section which if you add them all up could be a huge grind it'll all depend on how easy it is to collect the various required materials needed to start a research project our ultimate preview ends with a deep dive into combat and I don't think there'll be a lot of surprises here because what the Bethesda team has shown off is a rather straightforward combat system and more or less what we've come to expect from their games that being said we have to start by stating what the developers made clear in the June 2023 Starfield direct that combat was built from the ground up so it should keyword should feel like a much different experience and you can actually see a good deal of that in the gameplay footage things like ads feel snappier and there is a lot of that crispness that we often associate with modern shooters that being said there are only a handful of people that have gone Hands-On with the game so until we actually get to test out the action we're just speculating based on what we've seen if we look at Starfield as a modern shooter that's already a step in the right direction because games like Fallout were built on an old engine and the combat felt outdated if you factor in the few things that make Starfield its own unique game well then things start to get that interesting what I'm talking about are three known systems the team has revealed or teased already the first is jetboost or the ability to use a jetpack to hover above the battlefield we've seen this shown off on multiple occasions and while not a totally new idea it's fresh for Bethesda and it's a unique enough spin on traditional FPS combat that many will find it enjoyable second is the impact of gravity in the game and how weapons factor into that equation for example in zero G's ballistic weapons will push the player back whereas energy weapons won't with over 1 000 planets to explore and an insane number of points of interest to clear out how could you not expect a fight in zero G's again this is a unique enough experience that it's definitely part of the fun Factor here finally we have to talk about Powers what they are how we obtain them and how often we actually get to use them well we know none of the answers to those questions but the team teased something big and as we all know Bethesda is no stranger to supernatural abilities all three systems will come to differentiate Starfield from other modern RPGs but that's really the icing on the cake to better understand the ins and outs of combat we have to really look deeper at what is arguably the most important aspect of the action weapons where I think we gain the most Insight is actually the combat skill tree and while we don't know what each skill is or does we can get a sense for how it'll shape combat just based on the icons if we only look at gun related icons we can see that pistols melee weapons shotguns launchers assault rifles bull weapons snipers and revolvers are all shown in some capacity it might not correlate to a direct damage increase with each type of weapon but there's a good chance if the team is showing off the type of gun it's going to be usable what we do know for certain is that weapons will all fall into one of three classifications ballistic energy or electromagnetic and I think it's pretty safe to assume those types will be a factor when considering how effective a weapon is against a certain type of enemy an example being unarmored armored or even possibly alien what I am truly worried hasn't been improved too much is melee combat we've only seen the combat knife and rescue acts in action but by all accounts things seem rather basic with a simple blocking system and an attack chain that strings together just a few varying animations I'll Reserve full judgment until I go Hands-On but I think the writing's on the wall that the clear Focus From the developers was on the gun play with that in mind let's take a look at some of the interesting weapons already revealed by the team and we are going to focus on special named weapons those that we believe are either the Baseline weapon or a unique pickup that players can get either through special points of interest or crafting as always I encourage you to pause the video and check out the stats for yourself as I'm not going to read everything on the screen first is Beowulf a common ballistics rifle there's also Brawler's Equinox and electromagnetic laser rifle this gun also features a unique effect dealing double damage when gun bashing we also have Coachman a common ballistic shotgun there's also drumbeat another common ballistics rifle and Ember an interesting energy-based laser pistol then there's eternity's gate a rare ballistics and energy particle beam rifle this weapon has a lot of really interesting things to call out including the double classification ballistics and energy as well as its unique effect hand loading volatile rounds are designed to pack a bigger punch but aren't as stable and can fail on occasion it's a pretty interesting effect with a potentially deadly downside finally experiment A7 a rare ballistic shotgun this weapon has a solid unique effect granting it plus 30 percent more damage against aliens we have seen a few other weapons that fall more in line with traditional Bethesda naming like the modified calibrated Razorback which gives you an idea of the quality and pre-existing mods on the weapon now speaking of mods what is a good space RPG without the ability to finally tune your weapons to be the ultimate alien killing tools of Destruction from the menu you'll notice that each gun has the potential for mods these are attachments that can be purchased crafted or looted and then applied to the appropriate weapon in the one instance we've seen of this user interface we saw a player manipulating the drum beat rifle here we're able to see five of the seven moddable components the receiver internals Optics magazine and battery and muzzle as we've come to expect from this type of system by changing components the properties of the weapons change with variations happening across the board depending on the mod you attach two of the more interesting modifications we've seen are thermal optics and explosive routes the optic mod completely changes the sight picture something that actually will be relevant especially for snipers given the nature of weather and lighting across the various planets as the name suggests the ammo mod changes the ammo type and in the June Starfield direct we got to see what an explosive round weapon looks like in action all of these mods will require components to craft and while there are sure to be dozens of crafting reagents we did get a peek at a few such as adhesive tetrafluoride lead tungsten and sealant I should also point out that some of those required reagents are elements that you collect via your Outpost or by harvesting them directly from deposits found on specific planets so you see how things all are starting to come full circle portions deserves an equally epic ultimate preview I can't tell you all how many dozens of hours it took to put this video together so if you appreciate the research recording and editing that goes into every one of our videos do me a solid hit that thumbs up and please consider subscribing it goes without saying that Legacy gaming will be covering Starfield top to bottom so if you want this level of detail in every video you watch then stick with us because myself livid and schmel will be taking him to the stars and bringing you all sorts of guides fun videos and much more once the game comes out thanks to all of you who hung in there and watched this whole video to the very end your support means the absolute world to us my name is Kodiak and from everyone here at Legacy gaming thanks for watching and play on [Music] thank you

Channel: Legacy Gaming

Views: 453,444

Keywords: Legacy Gaming, starfield, starfield gameplay, starfield news, starfield info, starfield information, starfield story, starfield constellation, starfield mods, starfield pc, starfield xbox, starfield direct, starfield breakdown, starfield launch, is starfield, starfield preview, starfield release date, starfield showcase, starfield game, starfield new gameplay, starfield new, bethesda, starfield trailer, starfield details, starfield ship building, starfield reaction, news

Id: jGgD492N09Y

Length: 52min 2sec (3122 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 05 2023