Starfield's lead quest designer had 'absolutely no time' and had to hit the 'panic button' so the game would have a satisfying final quest
www.pcgamer.com
"It became very clear that we were missing the large final location that was going to tie the story together," says former lead quest designer Will Shen.

““We were finally at a state in the project where we could play through the whole [game]. And it became very clear that we were missing the large final location that was going to tie the story together and have a satisfying action-filled payoff,” Shen said. “I was both implementing the main quest and leading the quest design team, so I had absolutely no time. The entire quest design team was already overbooked.””

The quest design team being overbooked and not having time certainly explains a lot.

  • GrymEdm@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    8 months ago

    Starfield was in development for 7 years, which seems like a fair bit of time to figure out main storylines etc. Baldur’s Gate 3 is said to have taken 6 years to make. Did Bethesda only hire the quest design team in the last year or something?

    • adam_y@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      8 months ago

      That’s, oddly, a common feature of modern production. Narrative still plays second fiddle to mechanics.

      Which, in this case is doubly weird since the mechanics have existed since the age of Skyrim.

      • Shiggles@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        8 months ago

        That argument makes sense for games with enjoyable mechanics. You can’t make an incredibly dull game and then use that excuse.