Starfield - Over 150k Lines of Dialogue

Redglyph · September 30, 2021

GamesRadar has spotted a statement of Todd Howard during his presentation at Tokyo Game Show 2021, according to which Starfield would have over 300 actors and 150000 lines of dialogue.

Starfield has more than twice as many dialogue lines as Skyrim

Starfield boasts more dialog lines than Bethesda's previous games

Starfield has over 150,000 line of dialog, according to game director Todd Howard.

Earlier today, Xbox held a special Tokyo Game Show 2021 presentation, a showcase that was chiefly dedicated to its Japanese audience. During the presentation, Starfield creative director Todd Howard briefly appeared to reveal that the RPG would have a full Japanese voiceover, while also mentioning that Starfield boasts well over 150,000 lines of dialog (thanks, Nibel).

This puts Starfield's voice line count well above both Fallout 4 and Skyrim. The former game reportedly had 110,000 lines of dialog in total, while Skyrim had just over half that amount at 60,000 dialog lines. This is a pretty good indicator of just how big and dense Starfield actually is, although since it's a Bethesda RPG, it was never exactly going to be a small game.

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Here is the (short) presentation, found on Xbox's website:

More information.

JFarrell71 · September 30, 2021

Little mismatch between headline and story (105,000 vs 150,000)

I'm happier to see the "300 actors" part. I didn't really want to play another Bethesda game with 20 voice actors. "Hey Quatloo, didn't I just see you halfway across the galaxy? And weren't you green?"

Redglyph · September 30, 2021

Yes, it was a bit awkward. And half of them coming from an easily recognizable country where they still speak English.

Not sure what's with the 105k, I had to fix it in a special way or it would get back to that string. Maybe another case of the Northwind syndrome. Or I'm just that tired.

Nereida · September 30, 2021

I'm getting quite warmed up to the idea of Starfield. Hopefully, it will be ready within a reasonable timeframe.

Kos · September 30, 2021

JFarrell71 said:
Little mismatch between headline and story (105,000 vs 150,000)

I'm happier to see the "300 actors" part. I didn't really want to play another Bethesda game with 20 voice actors. "Hey Quatloo, didn't I just see you halfway across the galaxy? And weren't you green?"

I was, I was but did I ever tell you about the time I got an arrow in the knee?

JDR13 · September 30, 2021

Cool...I guess? I mean, I never had any issues with the amount of dialogue in their games. The quality on the other hand...

Couchpotato · September 30, 2021

Nereida said:
I'm getting quite warmed up to the idea of Starfield. Hopefully, it will be ready within a reasonable timeframe.

November 11, 2022 is the release date. It's in homage to the Skyrim 11/11/11 release date. Though you never know with release dates it can always be delayed even more.

Carnifex · September 30, 2021

That's fine with me, I quite enjoy a bit of reading while I game.

rune_74 · September 30, 2021

I'm really excited for this...I expect another 200+ hours in one of their games.

danutz_plusplus · September 30, 2021

Too bad none of the TES are anything remarcable when it comes to writing, from what I remember. And it's the same for Fallout 3 and 4. I kept hearing Emil Pagliarulo's name mentioned across most Bethesda games, so I'm not sure if he's the lone cause of this. I imagine he couldn't be writing all of that by himself. But he's definitely responsible since he's likely in the leadership of the writing teams. So, I wonder if they're gonna change that.

Compare the writing between Witcher 2/3 and any Bethesda game, and they just get blown out of the water. I hope there will be a difference, since Starfield does sound like a reboot on some levels. I hope writing is one of those.

JDR13 · September 30, 2021

danutz_plusplus said:
Compare the writing between Witcher 2/3 and any Bethesda game, and they just get blown out of the water. I hope there will be a difference, since Starfield does sound like a reboot on some levels. I hope writing is one of those.

To be fair, the narration has never been the focal point of Bethesda's games.

But yeah, their writing and dialogue has always been pretty bad.

crpgnut · September 30, 2021

300 actors sounds great. Maybe they can avoid everyone sounding the same this time. 150,000 lines of dialog, so 500 lines for each actor.

JFarrell71 · October 1, 2021

crpgnut said:
300 actors sounds great. Maybe they can avoid everyone sounding the same this time. 150,000 lines of dialog, so 500 lines for each actor.

That would be the average, yes, but it won't be anything like that in the actual game. Probably at least half those actors will be minor NPCs with far fewer lines.

SirJames · October 1, 2021

In space, no one can hear 300 voice actors.

JFarrell71 · October 1, 2021

danutz_plusplus said:
Too bad none of the TES are anything remarcable when it comes to writing, from what I remember. And it's the same for Fallout 3 and 4. I kept hearing Emil Pagliarulo's name mentioned across most Bethesda games, so I'm not sure if he's the lone cause of this. I imagine he couldn't be writing all of that by himself. But he's definitely responsible since he's likely in the leadership of the writing teams. So, I wonder if they're gonna change that.

I remember a time when his name was associated with some of the better writing and design in BGS games, mostly on the strength of him heading up the Dark Brotherhood quests in Oblivion.

Silver · October 1, 2021

Interesting stuff. There will probably be a fairly robust RPG here.

danutz_plusplus · October 1, 2021

JFarrell71 said:
I remember a time when his name was associated with some of the better writing and design in BGS games, mostly on the strength of him heading up the Dark Brotherhood quests in Oblivion.

Could be. I never managed to put in significant time into Oblivion. It bored me to tears, with the generic setting. In my book Bethesda has not yet made a game that's as good as Morrowind. And the writing in that was nothing to write home about either. But I guess it fit the whole setting pretty well.

mercy · October 1, 2021

Nereida said:
I'm getting quite warmed up to the idea of Starfield. Hopefully, it will be ready within a reasonable timeframe.

We should get religious and fervently pray for a better future in which this would be possible.

largh · October 1, 2021

300 voice actors…in Japanese…No wonder that AAA games take forever to develop. Will it be 30 actors saying "I've been hunting and fishing in these parts for years" instead of two?

I would appreciate if they focused on the quality of dialogue and story instead of making voice-overs in, perhaps, >10 languages.

crpgnut · October 1, 2021

One good thing, Bethesda never misses their release date.
One bad thing, they just ignore any bugs that don't kill the main quest :biggrin:

Starfield - Over 150k Lines of Dialogue

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