Wild Space: Immersion, “Digital Disappointment”, And Companion Gifts

It’s a big galaxy out there, and Wild Space can be a dangerous place. Worry not, explorer – each week we’ll navigate you safely through the lost hyperspace routes of the Deep Core and track down the great articles and entertainment from around the SW:TOR fan community, all in less than 12 parsecs, of course!

Over on Corellian Run Radio, they have posted an interesting column that deals with immersion in TOR with respect to pop-culture references. BioWare has mentioned in the past that they don’t want to include obvious pop-culture references in TOR because they feel it would break immersion. In contrast, World of Warcraft has made a living with all of the pop-culture references that can be found in their game. The author of the CRR article, Thom, describes a rather elaborate reference featuring the A-Team that can be found in World of Warcraft.

By now, you almost expect a new cultural reference in World of Warcraft whenever you play it, so much so that pop-culture references have become part of the experience of playing the game. It can almost be considered its own game feature. TOR, on the other hand, seems to be keeping references to a minimum. Thom has only seen pop-culture references appear as part of quests and they are often quite subtle. Personally, the only references I have found have been Star Wars related (check out Nem’ro’s cantina on Hutta, there are a few good ones in there) and those types of references only serve to enhance my immersion and pull on my nostalgic heartstrings.  What do you all think? Have you found any pop-culture references that are immersion breaking for you? Do you like or not like pop-culture or Star Wars references?

Be sure to make your opinion known on those questions below and check out the full article on Corellian Run Radio.

Mos Eisley Radio posted this week about the disappointment that the author, Leo Andrie, had with the digital items that came with the Collector’s Editions. I feel like he has a good point about some of the items (especially the HoloCam) so I thought it was world talking about. First he mentions, rightfully so, that the physical items in the Collector’s Edition were fantastic. For me, I give the nod for best item to the Darth Malgus statue, but the Journal of Gnost Dural is a close second. However, when a digital “bonus” item simply replaces a key on the keyboard, as the HoloCam does, I can see why the Leo would feel let down.

While I see his point that some digital items are a disappointment, the physical items more than make the $150 price tag worth it, to me. But I can also understand why people would not be satisfied with the HoloDancer, Flare Gun, or even the Collector’s Edition store, which currently doesn’t have too many items available for sale. Be sure to read the article over on Mos Eisley Radio and let us know what you think about the items in the Collector’s and Digital Deluxe editions below.

Last up this week, Darth Hater has compiled a very thorough guide to all of the companion gifts available. For those that don’t know, you can buy or acquire through crew skills, gifts for your companions that increase their affection toward you. So, if you are a complete <family-safe editing> jerk </family-safe editing> to your companions, you can “buy their love” by giving them gifts. The guide spells out which gift will yield the most affection points for your companion, which is quite handy when trying to improve your relationship with the companion that your morals don’t exactly align with. The list is a work in progress so if you find that something isn’t right with it, do let Darth Hater know so that they can keep the guide updated! You can find the guide on their website.