Elder Scrolls 6 must bring back one Oblivion feature to avoid Starfield’s major flaw

NPCs should have even more life yet again.

Image of Skyrim's city Solitude with the player on the main street. The Blue Palace building is visible in the background with an NPC approaching the player. It is a blue sky sunny day.
Screenshot by Dot Esports

The Elder Scrolls 6 continues to have fans speculating on what features could make their way to the game. However, there is one key subject I believe hasn’t been getting talked about enough: Radiant AI.

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The inclusion of Radiant AI in Oblivion is a standout feature and if Bethesda is looking to add a fountain of extra flair to how truly alive a world can feel, Radiant AI is certainly one way to go about it. Radiant AI itself was developed by Bethesda and simply is when NPCs effectively feel like they have their very own lives due to the choices they can make, reactions they have to certain things around them, and the background systems in play. A great comparison to this is how The Sims series has its AI running and interacting with the world.

Around Oblivion’s release, the feature was extremely ahead of its time and as with any innovation, flaws appeared aplenty. Those flaws made themselves known and as The Escapist writer Chris McMullen pointed out, Radiant AI “had to be dialed back” due to just how unexpected some of the NPC behavior was at points. Otherwise, there could be NPCs going on a rampage one too many times. To this day, I still witness NPCs starting to steal from each other in taverns before getting into a brutal fistfight as a guard sits idly by happily drinking out of their tankard—none the wiser to the chaos unfolding in the tavern.

Superb Radiant AI dialogue in action | Video via Bacon on YouTube

Starfield, on the other hand, doesn’t feel quite as alive with its characters, and on Oct. 16, 2023, users on Reddit voiced this themselves. The lack of a continuous custom-feeling lifelike AI is apparent, and it means cities don’t feel just as bustling as they could be. There is, of course, humor to be found in NPCs, like the Adoring Fan replica in Starfield. But genuinely unexpected AI moments are extremely difficult to encounter.

Skyrim also had Radiant AI, but because of the way it was (rightly) toned down from Oblivion‘s take on the technology, the absurdly interesting and strange encounters were not as common. Skyrim, however, still felt highly lifelike because there was still a great array of effective AI systems in place. It felt as though risks were taken that paid off in the long run.

Elder Scrolls 6 will easily benefit from re-introducing Radiant AI with the lessons learned from Oblivion, Skyrim, and other BGS titles such as Fallout 3, which had a form of the true Radiant AI system. I know that the mere thought of running around in the next Elder Scrolls game and noticing NPCs starting to steal from one another again with plenty of tomfoolery at hand has me enlivened already. The chance to create a groundbreaking NPC system is now, and Elder Scrolls 6 should take the reigns.

Author
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Gordon Bicker
Gordon is a contributing writer for Dot Esports, Attack of the Fanboy, a Games Design (BA) Honours student, and a Video Game Ambassador. He has been writing at AOTF for two years, with four years of games writing experience for outlets like Green Man Gaming. When he's not busy, he'll no doubt be experiencing games, writing poetry, adventuring, or happily starting a new Skyrim playthrough! Gordon's favorite genres include action RPGs, MMORPG's, and First Person Shooters but is always experimenting with many other types of games.