It's been a while since Starfield released and as we're all slowly getting to grips with the fact that we might have picked up one of the most-feature complete early access games in history. (At least 5 years of support? What does that even mean? The hell are they planning for this game that's going to take about the average development time of your standard AA game?) Personally I've slightly put the game down with my horrendous amount of hours behind it and my main character who is currently as a disgusting level considering how levelling slows down as you go further along, and I've been able to expand my horizons playing different games once again. A bit of 'Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty' here, a touch of 'Baldur's Gate 3' there, and a whole heaping of Yakuza 5 and 6 dumped atop both of them because you know I'm a weeb, and it's not that deep down. And through it all one aspect that has rung really loudly whenever I come back to Starfield is how shockingly basic the writing is.
Now as something of a writer myself, (cue the Norman Osborn meme) of course that's going to be something that I focus on. Of course there's plenty of problems with Starfield that Bethesda are insane not to have fixed, chief among them probably being the fact they somehow didn't borrow Elite Dangerous' in-cockpit navigation menu so players can travel from solar system to solar system without entering the ingame menu and feeling like they're fast travelling. (Seriously, it's embarrassing that Elite figured that out in 2014 and Bethesda couldn't cut it nearly 9 years later.) But if I'm going to be honest with the aspect that keeps me scratching my head at the insane missed opportunities, it's going to be the quality of the writing and how that effects the maturity of the world we're playing through and the complexity of the relationships we interact with.
When it comes to Bethesda, I've always considered them the 'Kings of Worldbuilding' and that does not change with Starfield. Even with a fresh IP devoid of all the ancillary materials to feed off, there's so much rich history in the Settled systems and the various colonies and scattered on dead worlds, enough to make Starfield feel like a new Bethesda universe. My issue is more terrestrial with the character writing of those that we personally meet and interact with, because in an industry that has progressed leaps and bounds with creating nuanced and fascinating virtual interactions with great characters, Bethesda have floundered behind in an honestly pathetic fashion, to the point where I seriously have to wonder what is actually going on there. You can't tell me that the writing team isn't talented enough to be complex and interesting, because I know the thirst of a hunger well- we just can't function without challenging ourselves- so is this perhaps a decision of policy?
If we compare some of the key character figures and interactions from Starfield with the likes of, say, Cyberpunk 2077- then you'll probably groan and shake your heads about how utterly unfair that is- but here me out. These are both role playing games that take shot at depicting a technologically advanced future within the confines of wider Sci-fi: I think there's a comparison to be made there. Also, Starfield goes out of it's way to define all of it's companions as key parts of the core narrative increasing their screentime and opportunities for interaction more than any other Bethesda game before, and the results? Mediocrity. Lets drag two characters to the forefront, Sarah Morgan and Johnny Silverhand- both heavily prevalent characters (more so Johnny, but it's best I can do) how do they match up?
Johnny Silverhand is a complex web of a human wrapped in the image of the 'fight the system' rockerboy with piss in his veins and a gun practically stapled to his hand and pointed at Arasaka. That is the spine of who he is, but it's nowhere near the full spread. Johnny shines in his vast moralistic ideology that often collapses into contradiction and hypocrisy based on whatever direction the wind blows, Johnny's belief in 'personal freedom' almost overrides his ability to define it, but his scorn towards the perceived societal chains focuses his rhetoric in the moments that count. Wrapping up all that Johnny is into a single paragraph is a nigh impossible task. Sarah Morgan is an ex-military navigator with a passion for exploration. Her burning desire to explore flares above her sense of duty and responsibility sometimes as a foil she needs to suppress. And she's haunted by her military career, but in the way that any veteran would, not in a 'deep dark secret' kind of way. That's about the spread of her entire person, and it's shocking plain for who is herself a 'front cover' character!
And that is pretty much the entire cast in a nutshell! Andreja is your proto-typical 'extremist ideological split from her cult and immediately turns native', compare that with the unending more complex and gut-wrenching narrative of Shar-worshipping Shadowheart from 'Baldur's Gate 3' and we're in an entirely different stratosphere! Sam Coe is a horrendously stale 'I have a dark past that I'm trying to make amends for/ I have to be a father now', who's 'dark past' only amounts to some light smuggling he stumbled into and accidently got out of years ago. (How could the Dark Urge compare to such a horrifically terrible part?) Oh, and Barret is just annoying. He's got this aggressive 'Like me, I'm funny' attitude and his personality is... well... you see... at his core... he's lucky? I don't know, I really didn't connect with him emotionally on any level. The most humanly complex character is Sarah by a country mile and she's just... fine, she's not great.
Of course, I'm just comparing the characters we get to spend the most time around- there's actually a shockingly basic approach to pretty much every character throughout the game and the interactions we have with them. Some heated debates against figures as grand as the President of the Colonies goes about as deep as a speech check and then she just says "Oh, I hadn't thought of that" and her opinion changes on a dime. Put that in Cyberpunk and you'd be talking about several checks, hard evidence, feeling the mood of the argument shift and probably leaving on a half-agree whilst she retires to consider what you affirmed in private. You know, like a more interesting human might. But I guess Bethesda isn't interested in interesting people.
I think character writing is some of the most important work that goes into worldbuilding, because that alone is how you make the people that inhabit the spaces feel alive. Right now the most interesting people in the Starfield lore is just about everyone we haven't met yet, such as the man who split off from the colonies with who would become the Va'Ruun in order to chase his celestial snake god- I wonder what his beliefs and thoughts were! Good thing we haven't met him to have the illusion shattered as it's revealed that he's simply a lover of astrology that was really into the Serpens Constellation, and that's the entire depth of who he is. There's a rank disservice that Bethesda actively practises that would be most familiar to the standard observer with how bizarrely prudish they've always been about romance. They've always shied away from conveying RPG romance and only seem to have relent under the trend of the industry and fan pressure. Even now in Starfield, Romance is just stretched out, it's not really remotely deep or interesting in the slightest. At least in Baldur's Gate there was a recognition on what 'attraction' is beyond basic 'agreeability', Starfield seems several grades below even that.
Bethesda are often seen as a company behind the curve in a lot of how they choose to design their games, the tools they work with and the art they create. A lot of the time that is the haze of modern day equivalence and graphic superiority clouding Bethesda's unique and lovable take on the games they make, but to be frank there's no excuse for that on the writing side- they're just slacking on that front. And it's such a shame, because when I think about the prospect of an Elder Scrolls games with Baldur's Gate level character moments I get a little emotional dreaming about how genuinely ground breaking that would be! Imagine a cast of genuinely incredible characters brought along the journey of the main cast but pulling this way and that on their personal journeys that run counter to each other and maybe to you. Bringing them together under your leadership or watching them drift away as the story plays out, watching a good friend turn into a reluctant enemy, or an early-game enemy turn into a late game lover. Imagine the breadth of opportunity that would open up for players, the emotions that would spark, the creativity it would engender from inspired modders who come to the game next! God, sometimes I just want to slap Bethesda in the face and remind them about what matters! But I would never... because that would be assault. Seriously though, just picture the dream.
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