Posted by Lethality | 11 Comments

Off-TORpic: Book Of Sith: Secrets From The Dark Side

Off-TORpic is our occasional peek outside the world of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Sometimes it’ll be Star Wars. Sometimes it’ll be games. Sometimes, something else all together. But all the time it will be Off-TORpic.

This piece might be a little closer to on-TORpic than off, but it didn’t seem to fit anywhere else. And it’s something I suspect at least half of AAJ readers might be interested in… so here it is!

Last year, a book entitled The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force was released to rave reviews from Star Wars fans. It contains an ancient manual, written in the hand of the great Jedi Masters, sealed inside of a vault for safe-keeping. It’s really  must-have if your a fan of the Jedi.

But those that walk on the darker side felt left out. Well, that’s about to change with the upcoming release of The Book Of Sith: Secrets From The Dark Side.

Much like the original Jedi Path, this book comes in packaging and offers a presentation worthy of the subject matter. The actual book is housed inside of a Sith Holocron, which of course is where Sith stored information securely, typically only activated by use of the Dark side of the Force.

Also similar to the Jedi Path is the journal that has been written and put together by powerful Sith from ancient history. Of particular note, one of the ancient texts Darth Sidious recovered is from none other than Darth Malgus, a character as players of Star Wars: The Old Republic we’re about to become intimately familiar with.

Recovered Dark side texts:

• A chronicle by Sorzus Syn of her encounters with Sith Purebloods, explorations in alchemy, and the foundations of the Sith Order.
• A war journal kept by Darth Malgus during the Great Galactic War, describing methods of war and the campaigns of the Sith army.
• A source book by Darth Bane that details the idea and the philosophy behind the Rule of Two as well as the training required for a Sith.
• An instructional manual by Mother Talzin exploring the Nightsisters’ use of the dark side and their role as dark side mercenaries in the galaxy.
• A scientific journal by Darth Plagueis with notes about his experimentation with and manipulation of the Force.
• Darth Sidious’s manifesto about the philosophy and political manipulation that marked his rise to power and established his Empire.

With this inclusion of Malgus in this definitive chronicle of Sith history, one has to wonder. His in The Old Republic is already large, but perhaps even larger than we think? Ascension to Emperor? Only time will tell!

The Book of Sith: Secrets From the Dark Side won’t be available until February, but you can pre-order it from Amazon right now. And while you’re at it, pick up the Jedi Path to complete your set. I did!

 

 

Read More

Posted by Agent Smashing | 11 Comments

Officially Speaking: Alignment And Effects On Characters

Welcome to Officially Speaking, a regular column focused on the most hotly debated topics ever to grace the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forums. Do you have something to add? Feel like it gets lost in the shuffle over there? Join in the extended discussion right here on Ask A Jedi.

A Jedi Force-choking someone out?  A Sith telling you to keep following your dreams?  Doesn’t really seem to jive with our expectations of those Force users, but those expectations may soon change.

One of the biggest innovations coming to the MMORPG by way of Star Wars: The Old Republic is the alignment system. Granted, we have seen these alignment systems in both Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect, but this time we’re told things are getting a bit more complex.

As a Jedi you can be as evil as you want to be.  To quote Lead Writer Daniel Erickson: “Anakin Skywalker: very dark side, but still hangs around in the Jedi temple.”  This also is mirrored by the Empire, in that Sith players can be as goodie two-shoes as they prefer.

The dev team has been working hard to get the message across that faction choice does not necessarily reflect the alignment of each player; however the factions do lean towards dark and light.  That being said, many players are wondering what affect their alignment will have on their character as far as game-play goes.  To no-one’s surprise, the forums were rife with discussion on this topic. Read on!

Read More

Posted by Lethality | 2 Comments

Join Ask A Jedi In Our In-Game Guild!

Wanna join a guild?

Last week, BioWare gave fans of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ a fairly meaty surprise. They launched Guild Headquarters, which includes the ability to create guilds now that will actually move in-game once TOR launches on ******** (Hmmm that’s weird. I keep typing a date, but somehow it keeps getting replaced with those things (Disclaimer: I don’t actually know the release date.))

At any rate, we always had plans to run an Ask A Jedi in-game guild for fans, readers and the community in general once TOR launched. The new Guild Headquarters gave us the opportunity to get that going sooner rather than later!

So what will the guild be about? Basically, we just want to create a true Outpost for Citizens of The Old Republic!

While this probably won’t be your progression guild, it will be a great place to park an alt to connect with friends, fans and other community members! It’s going to be a social, friendly place that you can feel comfortable hanging out in when you’re not out saving the galaxy on your main :)

Everyone is welcome to join, and we’ll accept all invitations of allied guilds as well as adversarial guilds. We don’t exactly know what that means yet, but we like the idea :) So even if you’ve already joined a guild, make sure to ask your guild leader to align with us either as an ally or an adversary once that system becomes available.

Wait.. what’s that? You want to hang out but don’t want to associate with a bunch of Republic scum? We’ve got you covered there too with our sister guild – Ask A Sith :)

We’d be honored to have you join either guild, and look forward to meeting you all in-game!

Ask A Jedi: http://www.swtor.com/guilds/4340/ask-jedi

Ask A Sith: http://www.swtor.com/guilds/10424/ask-sith

Read More

Posted by Lethality | 2 Comments

Friday Update: EA Winter Showcase: Jedi Wizard Rename

A few months back when all of the advanced classes were revealed at Gamescom, there was perhaps one which stuck out like a sore thumb: the Jedi Wizard.

No one could figure out the reasoning behind the name. There didn’t seem to be any lore to support it, and worse than that, it seemed to conjure up all sorts of mental images about Jedi with pointy hats named Harry.

All of the commotion did not fall on deaf ears at BioWare however, and teased a while back that we may be seeing an announcement about that name soon.

Well, today is that day! And BioWare really upped the ante – They are letting fans vote on the final class name!

We’re offering you the chance to rename the Jedi Wizard Advanced Class. Cast your votes now!

The available choices for the name change are: Jedi Sage, Jedi Seer and Jedi Adept. All of which are I think unequivocally cooler for a Star Wars game than Jedi Wizard. And Jedi Seer has some precedent in KoTOR.

So don’t waste any time, head on over to the official TOR site and vote to make your voice heard!

Read More

Posted by Lethality | 1 Comment

Friday Update: Designing the Light Side + Fan Friday

Today’s Friday Update consists of something fans of the Galactic Republic have long waited for – a Developer Diary on Designing the Light Side:

Guided by the Light Side of the Force, the Jedi are the ultimate defenders of peace, justice, and the Galactic Republic. The developers of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ are taking great care to ensure that Players can experience the classical Jedi fantasy represented in the films by such iconic characters as Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, and Yoda.

This contrasts Designing the Dark Side we saw all the way back in December of 2009.

We’re also treated to a new Fan Friday, and the developer’s corner has an excellent breakdown of the creation of a Republic Capital ship by Senior Concept Artist Ryan Dening:

The Republic Capitol ship shown in this concept art was originally going to be smaller, but we realized in the sketch phase that we needed something that could go up against our Star Destroyers. We already had a design for the Sith Empire’s Capitol ship so we wanted something that contrasted it in silhouette and design language.

Looks awesome to us!

Read More