this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2023
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Starfield
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The New Game + was one of the most innovative mechanic that came out this year.
It isn't the Game of the Year award.
*New for Bethesda
Other games have had similar features for years.
Other games just replay the story with the same stats.
Starfield has (or at least tries) to depict different universes.
Example (Spoiler for Starfield):
spoiler
The Constelation is different each time you run a New Game +
You meet the non-starborn version of yourself. You can convince yourself to join your crew, and thus you mentor yourself. All other Constellation members are missing/dont exist.
Same as Above but all the other members are alive and well.
Multiple version of yourself hang out at Constellation, like a sort of Citadel in Rick and Morty
Andreja has gone evil, has taken over the Lodge, and wants to take down Constellation.
Walter Stroud is not benevolent with his money but instead uses it to control Constellation and sells you the artifacts for 100k each.
You meet the Hunter who has already killed all of Constellation. He gives you the artifacts.
Cora Coe has returned as a Starborn and wants to avenge her father's death.
Evil You is there trying to kill everyone, a wounded Sarah fills you in.
Only kids are at Constellation, all the members are gone and there are kids in their place.
Another kid one where all the members are retired and slight changes to the one above.
Everyone is dead and only Vasco remains.
It is pretty innovative I think, although it could have been better executed.
It also leaves a door open for future innovation as well.
An "update to quest dialog and option flow for some players" patch notes can hide entirely new quest iterations from people.
Everything done and repeatable can be adjusted, expanded, or added and the lore is already there to back it.
IMHO they're gonna have a tricky time trying to balance things since they clearly also want "the classic BGS" experience to remain valid, but it doesn't have to be for lack of innovation.
How is ng+ innovative? Have you played many other games this year? Dave the diver, boneraiser Minions or Astrea have shown me more innovation in gameplay than any AAA game in years.
Thanks for bringing Boneraiser to my awareness!
NG+ isn't new, but NG+ as part of the normal play through was kinda different.
Can you explain how new game+ works? I got bored and stopped playing before reaching the endgame.
You have the option to get reincarnated at the end of the story. It starts you off with a neat ship and some nice gear, which gets a little better every time you restart. You keep all your powers, so you can re-run quests with opposite options to get whichever powers you missed. IIRC, it takes three or four playthroughs to actually get all the powers. It also gives you new dialogue options, which allow you to skip huge swaths of the story missions.
But it’s not anything super new or innovative. It’s new to Bethesda games but it’s not new.
That's cute and interesting. As you said, not new but nice to have at the very least.
Thank you for taking the time to answer. :)
Almost every skill provides new dialog skill checks ranging from merely funny to altering your options for quest resolution.
As you progress in new or other skills, you reveal new parts of quests that every BGS and similar game before would require new games for.
The set pieces for the Main Quest and Factions are rife with alternate paths and options to also make use of new skills.
The Ryujin one for example, I'm up to 6 runs and still enjoying variating. Mind control guy to hack computer and blow up door? Which of the three vents is best, the one that requires Gymnastics and space magic? The one behind the security computer?
Alternate "timelines" switching up the Main Quest/replacing it entirely.
A system emulating the idea of endless possibilities for a discrete purpose; You can easily add more of all of this to the mix with as much or as little fanfare as you want, and it'll fit right in.
I for one, hope individual devs start getting lee way to remix quest lines the same way they were allowed to do new environmental stories for future DLCs like they did for Skyrim's DLC tenure.
I can keep going. Seriously. There's plenty of game and innovation alongside the rest of what makes a human released software product a jank mess of an attempt to deny the Universe's entropic march.
Just gotta be willing to trade a smirk for a smile for a lot of people reading this.
The main story let's you choose if you want to become starborn so you can basically go to a new universe get a cool ship and armor and keep your stats. Each time you have a chance that the universe is different in some ways
Thank you for taking the time to explain. :)