Starfield is an interesting case study in gaming. When it launched in September 2023, you barely heard a negative opinion about it! Sure, they existed, but by and large, Bethesda’s latest grand-scale RPG was universally adored! …For about six months. Then, people seemed to sober up, and the groundswell of negative attention began in earnest.
Bugs, glitches, off-kilter quest designs — Starfield went from being the cream of the crop to the disgraced court jester. Now, a year later, someone from Bethesda quietly admitted perhaps players were justified in their criticisms. Per VideoGamer, a former Bethesda designer, Bruce Nesmith, spoke about the perils of crafting a new IP.
“When we built Skyrim, we had the tremendous advantage of Oblivion, which had the tremendous advantage of Morrowind. All that stuff was there for us,” Nesmith stated. “All we had to do was continue to improve and add new stuff in. We didn’t have to start from the ground up. If we’d had to start from the ground up, that would have been another two or three years of development time.”
former bethesda dev talks about ‘starfield’ and its future
“All we had to do was continue to improve and add new stuff in. We didn’t have to start from the ground up. If we’d had to start from the ground up, that would have been another two or three years of development time,” Nesmith said. So, to be fair, I guess Bethesda doesn’t have much to apologize for. Starfield enjoyed its run at the top of the mountain!
Remember when the consensus on Bioshock Infinite shifted in the years after its release? It made for some fun think pieces, sure! But ultimately, the house won on that one. All things considered, it’s admirable anyone from Bethesda — past or present — would say, “Yeah, maybe that wasn’t our best foot forward.”
The question becomes: “Now what?” Well, it’ll be exciting to see what Starfield 2 inevitably turns out to be! For all you can say about Bethesda, the company typically makes great comebacks! (See: Fallout 76.) As it stands? I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt!
The post Former Bethesda Dev Softly Admits ‘Starfield’ Was Flawed — Promises a Better Sequel appeared first on VICE.
The post Former Bethesda Dev Softly Admits ‘Starfield’ Was Flawed — Promises a Better Sequel appeared first on VICE.
