Summary
Starfieldseems to have had a voiced protagonist during its development, as the voice actor for Sam Coe revealed that his original role was to voice the main character. Whereas Bethesda protagonists had originally been voiceless,Fallout 4decided to break away from the mold by giving the Sole Survivor a voice, and though it was an interesting change at first, its implementation left a lot to be desired. Dialogue choices inFallout 4were criticized for being misleading or stripped of any role-playing aspects, which ultimately caused Bethesda to go with asilent protagonist forStarfield.
Another way thatStarfieldexpanded on the role-playing side of a Bethesda title was by introducing background and traits to character creation. This decision was positively received by the community, who were now able to further diversify their playthrough by being a United Colonies citizen, having parents, or even being on the wanted list. A player’schoice of background inStarfieldalso unlocked a few dialogue options throughout the game, which was a step up from the more basic choices thatFallout 4’s dialogue wheel became known for.
However, based on Elias Toufexis' recent statement on Twitter, it would seem that Bethesda was still interested in having a voiced protagonist forStarfielduntil eventually pivoting back to its roots. Namely, the voice actor for Sam Coe stated that Bethesda initially hired him and Cissy Jones to play the male and female protagonists respectively, before hiring them back for the roles of Sam and Andreja, two members of Constellation who come from outside the United Colonies.
While theConstellation companions inStarfieldhave had a mixed reception from the community, many players have praised the performance of Toufexis and Jones. Had Bethesda taken a different path, they would certainly have been a worthy choice to play the Spacefarer inStarfield, and some of the sarcastic remarks that players can pick in dialogue would have been especially amusing if they came from the voice of Adam Jensen.
Ultimately, Bethesda’s choice to hire Jones and Toufexis back for Andreja and Sam provided players with two companions that expanded on theStarfieldsetting by lending more context to the enigmatic House Va’ruun and the Freestar Collective. Though it remains to be seenwhatShattered Spacewill bring toStarfield, many fans are hoping that Andreja’s homeworld will make its debut, as House Va’ruun remains woefully unexplored as a faction, despite being one of the three major powers in the Settled Systems.
