Starfield lead quest designer Will Shen says that players will not be able to easily play through the game by always making the best choices in quests. During a late interview, Shen mentioned some details about the quest design system they used in Starfield.

Bethesda games used to have a quest and dialogue system that keeps the old-school feeling. Many dialogue choices that refers to player’s skills and/or background, some choices regarding combat, and giving hints to players that helps them picking the experience they want to go through. This time, they are taking a slightly different approach to quest design. According to Shen, NPCs and the world will also make choices according to players’ choices in the game. They are working on covering all ends and possibilities to create a world that “responds” to the player. When you add random encounters that involve totally procedural mini-quests, it makes better sense.

With the recent details around faction system of Starfield, this information brings a bigger portion of the role-playing infrastructure into light.