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Fallout 3 artist Istvan Pely says the game's awkward DLC integration was something Bethesda wanted to make sure it got right when it came to expanding Starfield.
If you've played Fallout 3 or Fallout New Vegas after purchasing the Game of the Year edition of either, you'll be familiar with the DLC wave. In New Vegas, once you leave Doc Mitchell's hut and gaze upon Goodsprings – and by extension, the wasteland – for the first time, it's an impactful moment. Or rather, it would be, but instead you're treated to a number of pop-up notices informing you of the DLC content you own and the various radio signals you can follow to find them. The same went for Fallout 3, and while not the end of the world, it may have taken you out of the role-playing a bit.
Pely, in an interview with GamesRadar+, explains, "One of the things we learned, more than a decade ago, when you look at the Game of the Year Edition of Fallout 3 – we would make these DLCs, and then we put out a Game of the Year Edition – and the Game of the Year Edition would start with all of these messages [telling you] the DLCs had unlocked. We've gotten better at that."
So over a decade and a half later, with Starfield, "The beginning of Terran Armada is much more organically woven into the world." Pely explains, "You'll stumble upon that content. So it's entirely possible that you'll start the game, you'll learn about this, it tells you you probably shouldn't do that now, but there's nothing stopping you from trying."
