Support NeoGAF

[ChoosableOne]

In Bethesda games, being able to handle quests for conflicting factions simultaneously, like managing both UC and the Crimson Fleet missions at once, felt extremely nonsensical to me. I was quite put off by this absurdity while playing Starfield. Similar situation existed in Fallout 3(or was it New Vegas?), where you could carry out tasks for rival factions simultaneously. In Fallout 1-2, an entire town could become your enemy based on your choices; I once had to wipe out an entire town because of that . What are your thoughts on this? Wouldn't it be better if certain quests were canceled based on our choices?(check poll question first before vote)

 

[R3TRODYCE]

It’s awful.

 

[Topher]

In Bethesda games, being able to handle quests for conflicting factions simultaneously, like managing both UC and the Crimson Fleet missions at once, felt extremely nonsensical to me. I was quite put off by this absurdity while playing Starfield. Similar situation existed in Fallout 3(or was it New Vegas?), where you could carry out tasks for rival factions simultaneously. In Fallout 1-2, an entire town could become your enemy based on your choices; I once had to wipe out an entire town because of that . What are your thoughts on this? Wouldn't it be better if certain quests were canceled based on our choices?(check poll question first before vote)

Are you talking about where you go on CF quests but are actually a spy for the UC? That made sense.

 

[Flabagast]

it's awful and breaks up all intention of narrative coherence

 

[ChoosableOne]

Are you talking about where you go on CF quests but are actually a spy for the UC? That made sense.

No, being able to do those questlines at the same time was sucked. The game allowed me to destroy Crimson Fleet ships(as side mission or part of a UC quest? I can't recall) while doing their questline too.

 

[Xion_Stellar]

Yeah I specially loved how I was able to side with Ceaser's Legion and the NCR at the same time and kill the intended targets of each faction without consequence......oh wait that didn't happen because it wouldn't make sense from both a narrative and mechanical standpoint never mind.

 

[RoboFu]

thats kinda of the point of it.. if you go too far onew or the other then you cannot finish them or you get attacked by faction. The whgole point to these type of games is you can play how you want. you can skirt the edge of having all factions not really liking you much.

 

[Games of Today]

I just don't like how the factions don't really seem to acknowledge each other or question your choices if you've joined another on first.

Like, even in Far Cry 2, though you can do missions for both factions at once, the rival factions will say, "I know you're working for our rival faction, but we don't care." That game is from 2007 lmao.

 

[Fess]

For me it feels wrong. I rather do another playthrough.

However, current playthrough I tried the hardest to just mind my own business as a settler building on my outpost and was really pissed off that I wasn’t allowed to do that. I wanted nothing to do with that war. But as soon as they picked me up for interrogation it was over. At that point I could only exit that dialogue as a future SysDef spy or as a Crimson Fleet sympathiser.
Not okay.
So I’ve spent about 100 hours making sure I never carry any illegal goods since that’s what triggers it.

 

[cormack12]

The only benefit is not having to do multiple playthroughs for achievements/trophies. I did think Starfield would be different tbh. I like the idea of joining a faction then having the map react dynamically with safe/unsafe regions and hostile/non hostile territories

 

[Punished Miku]

100% fine with it. I'm not looking to replay games over and over to see different choices. Its very convenient to just treat each faction as a self contained story and be able to play them all.

The alternative is basically playing 30% of the content. If you side with UC, Freestar or CF they're all mutually exclusive. I would feel like I got ripped off and barely got to explore the game if I was locked into just 1.

I've never played Bethesda games for complex, dynamic narrative choices. The appeal is usually just in exploring everything. This choice triples the amount of content.

 

[Salty Popsicle]

I see no problem with it. If you want to play like a hardcore role-player and only do quests for a single faction, then do that and ignore the other factions. You are not forced into any path.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

No, factions should also go back to requiring you to have some level of proficiency with the skills in question. You should almost have to re roll characters to engage in all the content IMO. The more it's streamlined, the lower quality they will end up being.

 

[BouncyFrag]

Different builds with different factions. I still haven’t done all of the Morrowind factions. Whelp, might just start another playthrough.

 

[Punished Miku]

Different builds with different factions. I still haven’t done all of the Morrowind factions. Whelp, might just start another playthrough.

I always did everything in one playthrough in Morrowind pretty easily unless my mind is playing tricks on me.

 

[MAX PAYMENT]

You're an independent contractor/gun for hire. What does it matter?

 

[ChoosableOne]

You're an independent contractor/gun for hire. What does it matter?

I'm not like that, I have a heart and soul. I always give my best to my faction so it does matter. It kills the immersion for me.

 

[Laptop1991]

I liked being able to side with most factions in New Vegas up until a certain point in the game, so its a yes from me although i can see the no viewpoint as well

 

[Gameplay Gods Bless]

In Bethesda games, being able to handle quests for conflicting factions simultaneously, like managing both UC and the Crimson Fleet missions at once, felt extremely nonsensical to me. I was quite put off by this absurdity while playing Starfield. Similar situation existed in Fallout 3(or was it New Vegas?), where you could carry out tasks for rival factions simultaneously. In Fallout 1-2, an entire town could become your enemy based on your choices; I once had to wipe out an entire town because of that . What are your thoughts on this? Wouldn't it be better if certain quests were canceled based on our choices?(check poll question first before vote)

Being a double agent is cool.

 

[Denton]

Gothic 1 did this the best, back in 2001.

You have three factions, you pick one and that's it. You get satisfying experience there and the world makes sense.

Then if you want, you can replay and get slightly different experience with different faction.

 

[Jigsaah]

So you don't specifically mention Starfield, but factions in say, Skyrim...you would join the college of mages but would also join the Fighter's guild...then join the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild. I had no problem with this because they all included skills or perks that I wanted my character to have.

I mean what's the story here...you join the mages guild to learn and improve your magic and get access to alchemy ingredients, thieves guild to improve stealth and acquire multiple streams of income, Dark Brotherhood to learn how to assassinate and if I'm not mistaken it's how you become a vampire.

The best thing about a Skyrim is that if you wanted your character to avoid any form of...I guess hypocrisy by joining the Dark Brotherhood after the Fighter's Guild, you could just ignore the Dark Brotherhood.

I think I'd rather have the freedom to choose one or the other...or BOTH, rather than to be pigeonholed into one or the other for the sake of story.

 

[MAX PAYMENT]

I'm not like that, I have a heart and soul. I always give my best to my faction so it does matter. It kills the immersion for me.

Then align with 1 per save.

Modern problems require Modern Solutions.


I'll honestly never understand complaints for options in games THAT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE.

 

[ChoosableOne]

So you don't specifically mention Starfield, but factions in say, Skyrim...you would join the college of mages but would also join the Fighter's guild...then join the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild. I had no problem with this because they all included skills or perks that I wanted my character to have.

I mean what's the story here...you join the mages guild to learn and improve your magic and get access to alchemy ingredients, thieves guild to improve stealth and acquire multiple streams of income, Dark Brotherhood to learn how to assassinate and if I'm not mistaken it's how you become a vampire.

The best thing about a Skyrim is that if you wanted your character to avoid any form of...I guess hypocrisy by joining the Dark Brotherhood after the Fighter's Guild, you could just ignore the Dark Brotherhood.

I think I'd rather have the freedom to choose one or the other...or BOTH, rather than to be pigeonholed into one or the other for the sake of story.

You can be a mage, a fighter, a thief, a vampire, and an assassin at the same time and it's ok. It might not be "ethical" or "realistic" for a fantasy setting, but they aren't contradictory things. I was talking about joining factions that are enemies with each other. It's like working for Usa and Russia at the same time without consequences. You're not just doing the grunt work for these factions; you're going on missions with top-ranking members, yet no one in the opposing faction becomes aware of your actions. Supposedly, it's a world where you can't even sneak in with a $5 item; it's a world where everyone knows everything. Bounty hunters can track people across the galaxy. But yet, you can ride along with all the enemy factions in the universe at the same time.

Then align with 1 per save.

Modern problems require Modern Solutions.


I'll honestly never understand complaints for options in games THAT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE.

You really do love your capslock, MAX PAYMENT.

 

[Jigsaah]

You can be a mage, a fighter, a thief, a vampire, and an assassin at the same time and it's ok. It might not be "ethical" or "realistic" for a fantasy setting, but they aren't contradictory things. I was talking about joining factions that are enemies with each other. It's like working for Usa and Russia at the same time without consequences. You're not just doing the grunt work for these factions; you're going on missions with top-ranking members, yet no one in the opposing faction becomes aware of your actions. Supposedly, it's a world where you can't even sneak in with a $5 item; it's a world where everyone knows everything. Bounty hunters can track people across the galaxy. But yet, you can ride along with all the enemy factions in the universe at the same time.



You really do love your capslock, MAX PAYMENT.

Maybe my memory is failing me then, but maybe you're referring to something in Fallout? I've only played through Starfield once...and I guess you got the 3 factions there...UC, the Rangers and the Snake folks. While there was war between them before I swear they had formed a fragile alliance in the current day of the game. In the missions for each faction you're moreso just helping each faction with their individual concerns and dealing with the Crimson Fleet and Eclipse guys. Again, first and only playthrough. Other factions I worked for was Ryujin...but they kinda sit outside of all this far as I could tell.

I could imagine like going straight for the Crimson Fleet and joining them but honestly I don't even know if it's possible. Ryujin is introduced pretty early and I don't even know if the Snake God guys have faction missions. Just never came up for me in my playthrough.

Are there other factions I'm not aware of?

 

[SpokkX]

If you could lie and pretend like in BG3 it would be fine

As it is though - it just gets stupid

 

[ChoosableOne]

Maybe my memory is failing me then, but maybe you're referring to something in Fallout? I've only played through Starfield once...and I guess you got the 3 factions there...UC, the Rangers and the Snake folks. While there was war between them before I swear they had formed a fragile alliance in the current day of the game. In the missions for each faction you're moreso just helping each faction with their individual concerns and dealing with the Crimson Fleet and Eclipse guys. Again, first and only playthrough. Other factions I worked for was Ryujin...but they kinda sit outside of all this far as I could tell.

I could imagine like going straight for the Crimson Fleet and joining them but honestly I don't even know if it's possible. Ryujin is introduced pretty early and I don't even know if the Snake God guys have faction missions. Just never came up for me in my playthrough.

Are there other factions I'm not aware of?

There are 5 factions; Constellation, UC, freestar, crimson, ryujin. You just don't help them, you are joining their rank as a "rookie".

 

[bigdad2007]

I’m ok with being able to be in the lower ranks of any faction simultaneously. However there should be a point where you have to make a choice. It doesn’t really make sense for you to be leading rival factions using skills that don’t even fit the particular factions lore.

 

[balls of snow]

Yep kills the immersion. I guess thats why new game + exist for those that roleplay.

 

[MAX PAYMENT]

You can be a mage, a fighter, a thief, a vampire, and an assassin at the same time and it's ok. It might not be "ethical" or "realistic" for a fantasy setting, but they aren't contradictory things. I was talking about joining factions that are enemies with each other. It's like working for Usa and Russia at the same time without consequences. You're not just doing the grunt work for these factions; you're going on missions with top-ranking members, yet no one in the opposing faction becomes aware of your actions. Supposedly, it's a world where you can't even sneak in with a $5 item; it's a world where everyone knows everything. Bounty hunters can track people across the galaxy. But yet, you can ride along with all the enemy factions in the universe at the same time.



You really do love your capslock, MAX PAYMENT.

Thank you for noticing.

 

[Shubh_C63]

I can only speak for Starfield and the faction routes are not good enough to overhaul your entire playthrough.

Choosing a faction needs to be way waaay more fleshed out for player to require a second playthrough. Should feel like an extended arm from the Main story line, not its separate thing with one line by one NPC saying Your choice mattered.