Obviously Starfield has been out for a few months now and despite the online noise, it’s been a big success in terms of sales and number of players. You can argue critically as well but I know that’s something that’ll spark it’s own debate.
That said with everything Bethesda tried with Starfield be it the scale of the game, the systems or even the engine upgrades, etc. After playing the game has it left you feeling more excited about what they have up their sleeve for the Elder Scrolls (Or even Fallout 5 but that’s god knows how far away…)? I know they’re different settings but where there bits from Starfield that made you think “If they improve on this for ES6, that that’ll make the game amazing”. Or has it left you feeling a bit cold on Bethesda now? I didn’t really wanna touch on this but after Starfield’s alleged muted critical response, you just know that’s going to be used against Bethesda and the Elder Scrolls as proof that they’ve “Lost their way” and the PS5 isn’t missing much by it being Xbox/PC exclusive, etc.
Personally speaking, I’m more of a Fallout person than Elder Scrolls so things from Starfield (like the gun play and how impressive some of the environments looked) have probably got me more excited about Fallout 5 than ES6 I do think one area they could probably do with working on is the facial animation and how conversations are framed. They just felt a bit too rigid compared to a lot of modern games (or even Mass Effect games).
Pretty much the same really, I have my issues/things that could easily be improved in Starfield but many of them are things that aren’t likely to be an issue
One of the major things about Starfield that people might not jive with with the exploration/1000 planets, people feel it’s too big for it’s own good and it makes the content feel lacking, repetitive etc
ES6 is almost certainly going to be much smaller scale but denser, people want that feeling off walking from one end of a map to another and coming across constant dungeons/towns/POI’s and ES6 will likely give that as they no longer have to worry about endless planets
One thing they definitely do need to work on though is NPCs/interactions, the zoom in on the face thing just doesn’t work for me anymore, Skyrim felt so much more natural so I hope they go back to a greatly advanced version of that
Starfield was a step up in polish. But moreover, FO76 and Starfield were very experimental games for Bethesda, but absence makes the heart grow fonder. I miss the traditional Bethesda formula, and that makes ES6 even more exciting.
Very much so. Starfield is a new IP with a new idea. Elder Scrolls has its own foundation, so they know what they’re dealing with while with Starfield, it’s a new adventure in which if they make a sequel, you can bet it will be the AW2 of improvement. Note: using AW2 as it is the recent example.
With Elder Scrolls, they’re very much familiar with its universe. With knowledge and tech of today, it’s going to be revolutionary.
By the time it’s out they will have had time to use Creation Engine 2 to its full potential.
I know it’s a standard Bethesda trait but I would like to see things become a bit more ‘fluid’, it’s difficult to describe but there’s often things in Bethesda games which feel quite stiff/wooden, which was ok in the past but now just feels quite clunky in modern gaming.
I don’t have concerns about visuals, scale or missions.
I don’t disagree and I’m sure there are things they can do to make it more smooth and refined, but I just think BGS games will always be like this to some extent. If they weren’t, they likely wouldn’t have the level of interactivity and physics and AI and object tracking that makes them so special. I also think it’s likely that TES will return to NPCs have names and schedules which plays into the backend complexity.
Doesn’t mean they shouldn’t strive to make advances though.
The same. I don’t feel like my experience with Starfield has altered my expectation or perception of ES VI or Bethesda.
I was expecting to love Starfield, and love it I do. And I expect to love ES VI.
It seems to me that the only thing that could possibly make me not love it, is if Bethesda for some unfathomable reason decide to listen the Starfield detractors and change their approach accordingly.
I don’t expect that, but a CP2077-ified ES VI would definitely be a disappointment.
I’m more excited based on the previous TES games. Whilst there are some similar desgin philosiphies, given we’re “restricted” to one landmass in TES, compared to a universe in Starfield, that’s going to impact things more than Starfield.
I can imagine it must be so difficult for them to review how they can modernise their mechanics which are so unique to their games.
As @Astrakan said I think a Elder Scrolls with Cyberpunk / Deus Ex type controls would ruin what made it special. That said there is something there which just needs tweaking IMO I just can’t put my finger on it.
Deus Ex did some pretty interesting things with animations which I think helped that game.
Yeah, I don’t envy them. But I think making a Bethesda game for Bethesda fans is probably in the long run a safer decision than trying to upend everything, even if it gets them some eye-rolling from the wider industry. Especially for TES, you gotta keep the Skyrim fans happy.
Starfield’s concurrents are still very good for a singleplayer game and that’s only going to improve as they update it and put DLC out and add mod support.
I agree, I’m eagerly awaiting the DLC and Mods will breath new life into the game.
I think if they just update the NPC interaction it will help. The way the game almost feels like it pauses for a second when you go to interact and then the camera sort of pans around and centres the character takes you out of the environment for a moment.
Skyrim to this day still gets endless mod support and downloads, 12 years later, between Skyrim/Skyrim Special Edition, there’s been like 100-200m mod downloads in the last 2 months alone
The game currently has had over 5.2 BILLION mod downloads, that’s over half of the entire nexus mod downloads ever, that is just insanity to me
There are things that ES6 should absolutely improve on from both Starfield and past ES games but if people were tired of Bethesda’s design, they would have stopped playing long ago, losing that and turning it into a less reactive Cyberpunk design isn’t going to go over well
For me that’s not really something I care about or notice, but in the category of NPC interactions I would like to see an improvement to them reacting to the current circumstances.
In Starfield I picked the introvert trait, and as such has been mostly adventuring alone. For some reason I decided to bring Barrett with me to a temple, I figure since he also had a reaction to an artifact he might think that cool. But nope, no reaction whatsoever. Except right afterwards he gave me some chicken marsala. Funny, but not what I had in mind.
Going into Starfield, I never truly played a Bethesda Game Studios game but Starfield completely won me over in regards to BGS and am very much looking forward to seeing The Elder Scrolls VI and the advancements and improvements that they make within the game. Best of all, since it will be just a single open world, they should be able to make the game look up to what the standards will be going into next generation, giving 60FPS if not higher and all the bells and whistles while still being able to do what they want to do because I see this as a next generation only game which in all honesty, is what it should be. With 5 years of support for Starfield, I don’t need nor want The Elder Scrolls VI until next generation. While there’s a chance it could be a launch title, im guessing more like Fall 2029 which is perfectly fine by me. Let them cook me one hell of a full course meal and I’ll be very happy.
Haha I know what you mean, I have noticed that a few times where something is happening and there appears to be no reaction from my companion or the surrounding NPC’s.
I still believe TES VI will be at the very end of this generation, not a launch title for the next gen. It will be like TLOU Part 2 or GTA V or something, a massive bookend title to the gen. They need the largest install base possible for a game as big as TES.
If it was going to be a launch title, it would need to be cross-gen and BGS have never done that. I think it’s more likely that it launches a few months before next gen starts and then it very quickly gets a next gen update (Starfield too).
That’s assuming the game is ready before Fall 2028, but I don’t think it will take as long as Starfield so it’s certainly possible.
Edit: It’s also assuming that Xbox has other stuff ready for the launch, which SURELY they have to this time.
I do think one area they could probably do with working on is the facial animation and how conversations are framed. They just felt a bit too rigid compared to a lot of modern games (or even Mass Effect games).