Master Your Gameplay: Todd Howard's Essential Tips to Beat Encumbrance Woes in Starfield

Highlights

Todd Howard advises players against hoarding unnecessary items like pencils and notepads.

The hoarding mechanics in Bethesda games, including Starfield, persist in burdening numerous players with excessive weight, leading to consistent mobility difficulties.

Although the significance of hoarding everything in Starfield is a subject of contention among players, PC users have found solace in utilizing mods to alleviate these concerns. On the other hand, console players will need to exercise patience until the arrival of the Creation Club in 2024.

Starfield, like other Bethesda games, offers a plethora of items, resources, and objects for players to collect. To address the issue of players frequently becoming burdened, Todd Howard shares his advice. The Bethesda franchise, including The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, delves deep into RPG mechanics, allowing players to choose their preferred playstyle, whether that be a noble protector or a less scrupulous character engaging in activities like stealing or assassinations from the shadows.

In line with recent Bethesda games like Fallout 4, Starfield emphasizes crafting and base building, which often require substantial amounts of resources. Additionally, the game incorporates the concept of establishing Outposts on different planets throughout the galaxy. Consequently, players find themselves constantly collecting not only crafting materials but also mundane items like pencils, notepads, and other basic objects with limited value. Unfortunately, this overwhelming accumulation has caused many players to constantly struggle with the weight they are carrying.

The hoarding behavior has become so severe that Todd Howard, director and executive producer of Bethesda Game Studios, addressed the issue on a recent episode of the AIAS Game Maker's Notebook Podcast hosted by Ted Price from Insomniac Games. When asked about the studio's emphasis in their open world RPG style games, Howard discussed the importance of player freedom and the ability to explore different locations and engage in various activities, a key aspect that has made Starfield a popular game. However, Howard also acknowledged a common trend of hoarding in their games, where players have a tendency to pick up and carry unnecessary items, causing them to become encumbered. Despite this, Howard mentioned that Bethesda developers appreciate the ability for players to interact with objects like trays and pencils in games like Starfield, even though they may not be essential to gameplay.

Although there are numerous items and objects in Starfield that lack significant value, players continue to debate the idea of hoarding everything as a precautionary measure. However, PC players have found solutions to challenges like over encumbrance by utilizing mods. Unfortunately, console players of Starfield will have to wait until early 2024 for the release of the Creation Club, which will enable them to experiment with mods. Starfield is currently accessible for PC and Xbox Series X/S.