As is the tradition with RPGs, my time with Starfield is destined to begin with 60+ minutes of character creation time to carefully consider cheekbones and RPG features Starfield's character creators will go to great lengths to perfect such details. No doubt they can help me.During the Starfield Direct presentation, Bethesda explained how they reviewed character creation by 3D scanning "a wide range of faces from different age groups and ethnicities" as data for the highly customizable system.

We looked at how character creation actually begins. It's a very classic Bethesda-like setup, with other characters kindly explaining who you are and providing useful in-world items (your Argos Extractors employee data) to determine your face and status.

According to Bethesda, there are 40 presets to choose from, which are really a variety of skin colors, ages, and body types. There are the basics, such as hair, skin, scars, and facial hair, as well as details such as gait cycles. There is even a septal piercing. In just a few fleeting shots, you can see details of scaling features, overbite/underbite, and things like "shape blending". Yes, Starfield allows you to sink your teeth into the exact shape of your own jaw.

That said, no matter how deep and detailed the character creator is, there is always the possibility that you will be freaked out by your own face once you step out into the world. This is because even the best Bethesda character creator ever could spit out a face that is arguably unattractive. Some of the initial hairstyles in the presets look nice and soft when viewed head-on, but the hairstyles that are subsequently cycled through still have that eternal Bethesda quality of being oddly sharp when set against the background. Be careful which one you choose, or you may be sent back to the start screen. One wonders why they chose a character with facial hair to highlight character creation.

Perhaps the best news about character creation in today's presentation is that Bethesda used the same generation tool to create all NPCs. According to Bethesda, "Most of the characters you see are characters that you could create yourself. So I probably won't be subjected to the injustice of meeting someone with a much cooler hairstyle than I have available to me. Even that guy.

Bethesda had much more to say about all parts of "Starfield" in today's presentation, and you can watch the entire Starfield Direct on YouTube.