Posted by Shockum | 19 Comments

Blue Milk & Cereal: How Will You Choose Your Companion?

No day would be complete without the breakfast of Jedi: Blue Milk & Cereal.  Every morning, the team at Ask A Jedi will get Force-induced thoughts coursing through your head with delicious issues from around the galaxy! Join in the discussion below to make your voice heard!

If you look back into the history of BioWare, the idea of companions, or your “team,” has been a strong subplot for games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age and of course Knights of The Old Republic.

So it was a safe bet that when Star Wars: The Old Republic was announced, this idea would be integrated into the story here as well. One key difference here in TOR, however, is that we’ll be given the option of picking just one companion to take with us while we explore, and quest, on each planet we land on.

Currently, the official Companions page lists just one companion for each class. But it’s been stated and shown that each class will have a wide variety companions to choose from. However, only one of which we’ll be able to take with us at any given time (and the rest abolished to the crafting station!)

That raises the question: How will you choose your adventuring companion?

If you’re like me, you’ll go with the one for the sheer entertainment value. If you’ve read my articles, you know I’m going Sith Inquisitor. And if you’ve been following TOR at all, you know Inquisitor’s get Khem Val as a companion. He seems dark, loyal, and downright fearsome. I love it.

But what about you? Are you planning to use the companion that compliments you? Maybe like to tank or heal for you? Or, like me, look at the fun and entertainment factor various companions will bring?

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Posted by Lethality | 16 Comments

Same-Gender Romance Arcs Are A “Post-Launch” Feature

One of the particularly persistent topics of discussion on the official SW:TOR forums was that of same-gender romance arcs for characters to follow with their companion characters.

This has been a hallmark of previous BioWare games such as the Mass Effect series, but nothing specific had been said about the prospect in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Finally in an interview during San Diego Comic Con, Live Producer Cory Butler revealed that there in fact would not be same gender romance arcs available in the game. That announcement was, needless to say, met with mixed reaction.

Today, Senior Community Manager Stephen Reid posted an official statement on BioWare’s position on same gender romance arcs in TOR. While it may not be everything advocates were hoping for, it should make many players happy knowing that eventually, they’ll see them in the game:

Due to the design constraints of a fully voiced MMO of this scale and size, many choices had to be made as to the launch and post-launch feature set. Same gender romances with companion characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic will be a post-launch feature. Because The Old Republic is an MMO, the game will live on through content expansions which allow us to include content and features that could not be included at launch, including the addition of more companion characters who will have additional romance options.

So, players can rest assured that BioWare has not forgotten about some of the things that make them unique as storytellers. Head on over to the official forums to discuss it in full!

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Posted by ReDDoT | 14 Comments

Blue Milk & Cereal: Will You Customize Your Companion Characters?

No day would be complete without the breakfast of Jedi: Blue Milk & Cereal.  Every morning, the team at Ask A Jedi will get Force-induced thoughts coursing through your head with delicious issues from around the galaxy! Join in the discussion below to make your voice heard!

BioWare games have always allowed the player to fully customize their main character. From gender to race, body size to hair styles – not to mention the choices you make in the game – we’ve seen it all. However, the companions that followed our character around on their adventures and quests didn’t have any real customization available to us. Perhaps only changing their full armor sets, but that was the limit, even in the more recent creations like Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age 2.

But those are single player games. You’re never going to be standing next to another player with their very own Carth Onasi. In an MMO, that could be prove to be more than slightly immersion-breaking. Well, that’s all about to change.

From the official TOR panel at last month’s Comic-Con, as well as from the various Q&As held by BioWare, we learned that that companions in TOR will be fully customizable. Check out this quote from James Ohlen:

“… we’re obviously letting people dress them (companions) up, so they’d have different clothes on, but now with the full customization they’ll look different. We’ll have companions that look quite a bit different than others, so the immersion breaking will be a lot less.”

This will certainly solve some issues for some folks, but potentially create new ones for others. For example, which companion character look is canonically correct? We all know that in KoTOR, the light side story is canon, and that Revan was male. Does any of that matter to you with your companion in TOR? Or is it more important for them to be unique?

Personally, I am going to try and experiment with the looks as much as I can – I am extremely excited about this particular feature as the whole notion of “clone companions” running around the game world was one of the big issues in my mind.  Not anymore!

So with that in mind, will you try to customize your companions as much as you can? Or will you try to stick to the most default, or “canonical” look? Let us know below!

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Posted by Lethality | 15 Comments

Lethal Injection: Companions Find Their Place

If you’ve been following Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ for any length of time, you’re aware that companion characters have been heralded as one of the key features of the game. As a matter of fact, they were first talked about way back on October 21, 2008 – the day The Old Republic was formally announced.

And It made sense. Companion characters had always been a big part of BioWare single player games. However, earlier this month at PAX East, a bit of news emerged that put may put a small footnote on the idea.

During the Developer Meet & Greet held at the Westin Hotel, Game Director James Ohlen revealed that they are currently intending to disallow companions inside of raids or Warzones – basically any area where player skill should be the determining factor:

“Right now, we’re aiming to not allow companions into end game raids and Flashpoints. We’re also currently not allowing them into Warzones. One of the big reasons is that these kinds of activities, raids, Flashpoints and Warzones, they’re all very much about player skill. And the difference between losing and victory is so slim that when something goes wrong you want it to be the player’s fault, not the fact that the companion character’s AI is two seconds too slow.”

It sounds like companions have found their place. And I couldn’t be happier.

Don’t get me wrong – I think companions in an MMO are a great idea for extending the solo portions of the game. Having a companion along while you’re out questing can add adventure, drama, comedy relief and even romance to your experience – all of the things that make BioWare stories great.

But when it comes to the bread-and-butter of MMORPG’s – multi-player gameplay – companions just don’t make sense. There are other real, live players available to fill the role of complementing your character in a group.

And it really does come down to letting those players pass or fail, as James Ohlen mentioned. Group content is not only about the individual fulfilling their role, but also about the group coming together and executing at a high level of coordination. Sure… BioWare could certainly create artificial intelligence (AI) that beats their own content every time… but why? It’s much more interesting when you introduce the human factor into the mix. It’s the unique selling point of the genre.

Be it cooperative, competitive or anywhere in between, the future of MMO gameplay will be in the evolution of multiplayer content between real players. That’s where the opportunity for innovation is. The focus should be on ideas that bring people together and work to break down whatever barriers might be preventing folks from participating in group content.

Damion Schubert, BioWare Lead Systems Designer on Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ may have said it best during his recent GDC talk about solo players in MMOs (PowerPoint download):

“One of the things we have to acknowledge as MMO designers is that our magic — our secret sauce, this stuff, the raids — this is hardcore stuff. This is hardcore gameplay. Even a basic raid is incredibly hard for players to grasp and get comfortable with. This is hardcore gameplay, and we have to figure out how to get the solo player in a position where they want to take part in this, where they feel comfortable with the social circles, where they feel like they can be contributors.”

So, if you’re really looking for a group of computer controlled buddies who show up on time and don’t stand in the fire, I heard Dragon Age 2 just came out.

Do you disagree? Is your perspective on the topic a little different? I’d love to hear about it below!

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Posted by Lethality | 25 Comments

PAX: Blaine Christine and Daniel Erickson Audio Q&A

Well, day 1 of PAX 2010 has come to an end! But we don’t want to let it go out too quietly… so we’re pleased to present our Audio Q&A with Blaine Christine and Daniel Erickson! Blaine and Daniel were nice enough to take some time out of what can only be described as total mayhem at the LucasArts booth and try to answer some questions for the Ask A Jedi readers, and fans of TOR everywhere.

The audio editing may be a little rough in places, but I think it’s fairly clear and listenable. It is in 2 parts due to YouTube’s 15 minute time limit. You can also find a text transcription below!

This is but a mere appetizer for tomorrow, where we’ll be treated to a special presentation by BioWare and LucasArts that promises to reveal some all-new information about Star Wars: The Old Republic!

Enjoy!

Ask A Jedi: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, and what you do on the project?

Blaine Christine: Sure, I’m a Senior Producer at BioWare based out of Austin, and my primary duty is Live Producer, which basically means I am helping to make sure the game is ready for launch. So I’m in charge of testing efforts, basically anything customer-facing goes through me.

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