Starfield faction quests can be played independently, more akin to Skyrim than Fallout 4
And companions can talk on your behalf.
Starfield's lead quest designer Will Shen has divulged more about the upcoming game's faction quests and the players' companion side-kicks.
In a new video, Shen revealed Starfield's faction quests will be more similar to those from Bethesda's Skyrim, in the sense that players will be able to experience each faction independently. This will not be a Fallout 4 situation, which saw players being locked out of factions after joining another (something that was a bone of contention among some members of the community).
"One of the early things we decided on was making sure that the main quest actually kind of gives you a little bit of a tour of the settled systems and all of the major players there so that we can give you a taste of what they're going to be up to," Shen explained.
"We really want to make sure that you can play through all the faction lines independently of each other... We really want the stories to be a little more personal, right? You're influencing the direction of where this faction is going to go."
Shen stated players won't "necessarily end up as the head of every single faction of the game", but noted that "every faction questline will be reflecting on your choices" and those choices can have "far reaching consequences for what that faction is, [and] what it cares about."
Shen also offered up more details on Starfield's companions, such as VASCO, and it turns out these chaps will have "a lot of opinions" to share with the player during the game's main quest.
Additionally, there will be points in Starfield where players can ask their companion to speak on their behalf.
"You might have a companion with you and you'll be challenged or, someone will tell you, 'You can't get through here'... You can actually, turn to your companion and say, 'hey actually, could you handle this' and they'll actually speak on your behalf," Shen elaborated.
But tread with care, as Shen noted that, depending on what your companion says when it comes to it, this could lead to a less than desirable consequences for the player.
You can see the full interview with Shen in the video above.
Starfield is slated to release sometime next year, although a specific date is yet to be tied down.