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Star Wars: The Old Republic News, Interviews, Media & Podcast

Friday Update Preview: Companions

Head over to IGN for a preview of tomorrow's Star Wars: The Old Republic update and an interview with BioWare's James Ohlen on Companions.

IGNPC: Can you give us a few specific examples of how companions might impact a particular player's experience?

James Ohlen: Companion characters have a significant impact on the player's experience. They are integral to the player's storyline. They interject during conversation to give the player their view on things. They give commentary as the player explores the world. They are an important part of combat, providing extra DPS, healing, tanking abilities or even crowd control.

IGNPC: Companions play an important part in the story, but they also impact the player's gameplay options. What types of tactical contributions will companions be able to make?

James Ohlen: Companions add a lot to a player's combat capabilities. Each companion has a specific role, whether it be additional DPS, tanking, healing or crowd control. Companions also have special abilities that can be activated to significantly change what's going on during a battle. One companion might lay down suppressing fire, giving the player some breathing room to escape or turn the tide of the battle. Another companion might trap a tough enemy in an energy bubble, allowing the player to use a divide and conquer strategy in a battle. Players can also equip items to his companion character. This includes standard gear such as armor and weapons. Additionally, what a player equips to his companion can change the companion's behavior.

The screenshots included in the article feature a Trandoshan paired with what appears to be a Jedi Consular and a Jedi Knight paired with a Republic T-7 Astromech.

UPDATE: Earlier today Gamespot published another quick look at the Sith Warrior. The video included in the article reveals minor story spoilers and also shows multiple Sith Warrior abilities in action, all while enjoying the classic "Duel of Fates" music. We also appear to see the Sith Warrior operating a speeder bike at 1:14.



In addition to the new video, the article appears to reveal a few game play facts including a companion character name Vette who is a Twi'lek pirate, and possibly that Nar Shaddaa will be an included location. Highlights below.

One of the Sith Warrior's companions will be Vette, a wisecracking pirate of the Twi'lek race (the humanoids with those crazy tentacles growing out of their heads, like Bib Fortuna from Return of the Jedi) with a dark past.


...the young pirate found a new lease on life on the smuggler planet of Nar Shaddaa, where she meets your character and comes across as a character who has both a cynical side as well as a lighter side that comes out when people around her take themselves too seriously...


Sean Dahlberg on all of the 'Sith Love':
Both the Allegiance and Class polls have shown things to be pretty even at this point. Granted, this is only a segment of the community but it's a good sampling.

We also plan on giving the Republic their moment to shine. I can't get into the exact reasons as to why some things are released before others (and there is a variety of reasons for different assets) but we also have a lot of "Republic" people on the team, too.

So, while the proof will be in the pudding (an expression, we're not actually giving out pudding. Sorry.), the Republic will definitely get their due. And Soon(TM)

Working Dissection after the jump.
Working Dissection
















Comments

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  • Lugano's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 110
    #155 Lugano Posted 5/30/2010 10:46:23 PM
    Yep, going to play Sith warrior for sure. We get to launch people off cliffs and get a sweet companion. Win-win.

    Do you think that the Sith Lord might be a "super-class" something you can get at the highest level? That would be pretty awesome if there was an additional tier that we haven't seen yet, that is only achievable endgame.
  • John_Roy's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 60
    #148 John_Roy Posted 5/30/2010 5:58:24 AM
    Ok. First of all, Hi all. New to the site. Great site, btw. Really gets into the guts of the game intelligently with no one posting things like, "Ha Ha. The Republic believe this will aid them, but we will crush their pathetic forces!"

    Anyway, this update raises some questions. First, if Twi' leks are companions, there is a possibility that they are not playable. I wonder if they don't count as humanoid looking enough, the dev's standard for PC inclusion. I wonder if the Devs really mean it. The Rattataki are almost identical to humans. If this is so, what other races would be fill the bill? Darth Maul's race seems like the only one I can think of. I imagine Twi Leks will be playable though.

    Also, are the devs on record that companions will be customizable BEYOND dressing them in different gear? I don't think naming my Vette Smurfette or Mystique would propose much of a VO problem. The NPC's won't be using my name, either. They'll call me Sith, or some identity name, like in WOW. Could this not work for companions. Call Vette Pirate or something? The Devs can't want a million clones with the same name running around. It's silly and extremely immersion breaking.

    If the ship is seen in both Sith Warrior and IA videos, then maybe there aren't different Ebon Hawks/Normandies for each class. Perhaps there are only two? One for each faction? Or maybe they are differentiated by level and not faction. Boring ships to start. Awesome ones later.

    I know starship personal HQ's have not been confirmed at all, but the idea of mutliple companions that you swap out per mission leads me to believe the rejected ones have to stay somewhere, and that's how BW has always done it before. And the alternative, constantly leaving them at an Inn at the spaceport at the start of each zone seems much worse.
  • AgentOP's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 409
    #151 AgentOP Posted 5/30/2010 8:53:50 AM
    1. Not really. I'm sure there will be Human companions as well. But I don't think whatever races Bioware allows players to chose from...they'll all be able to talk basic. For the simple fact that the game is entirely VO.

    2. We still don't know enough about the companion system...gotta wait until E3. I don't think companions will be playable during PvP.

    3. It's possible it's just a random Imperial ship. I'm expecting this game to be structured like other Bioware RPGs (mostly Mass Effect and KOTOR), players will likely have some sort of personal ship to travel in and it will work as a base of operations.
  • adipokerface's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #147 adipokerface Posted 5/29/2010 11:20:08 PM
    Don't know if this has been mentioned already but the new sith warrior video may confirm there'll be at least 2 voices per gender per class as it is a new voice for the SW after the kill the captain video.
  • Posiden's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #149 Posiden Posted 5/30/2010 6:53:24 AM
    Its the same voice, but a deeper pitch.
  • adipokerface's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #152 adipokerface Posted 5/30/2010 4:30:38 PM
    Sounds different to me. Besides if you lowered the pitch that much you'd be able to tell. It'd sound kinda digitised. Just because they both use English accents it doesn't make them the same voice.
  • Posiden's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #154 Posiden Posted 5/30/2010 5:50:42 PM
    Go back and listen to the dev walthrough and then re-watch the newest video. Its the same voice actor.
  • adipokerface's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #156 adipokerface Posted 5/31/2010 9:24:35 AM
    I already did and i still think the same. I'm not getting into this argument anyway.
  • Zodiark's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #158 Zodiark Posted 6/3/2010 3:16:36 AM
    Posiden is correct here adipokerface...but i do hope there may be different voices for a class in game :)
  • Moldy's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #145 Moldy Posted 5/29/2010 4:02:29 PM
    I was looking at the Sith Warrior vid again, and I noticed a trooper at 1:03 had a squad of soldiers behind him. Again. This has reinforced my thoughts on their companion character possibly being a small squad of soldiers, rather then a single person. They're just grunts though. Alone they wouldn't be as strong as another classes single companion character, but together they'd make a decent dps addition. Again, I think this is a squad mechanic tied into the troopers story. It makes sense for you to be the captain of a military squad. Still speculation, but you can expect a "told you so" when it gets released. :P
  • AgentOP's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 409
    #150 AgentOP Posted 5/30/2010 8:45:34 AM
    No you're right. But if anything I think this will be an ability. Bioware wouldn't give players random soldiers as companions. Companions are part of your class story and are important. I've been hoping the Imperial Agent had an ability like this since I first saw Orbital Bombardment.
  • adipokerface's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #153 adipokerface Posted 5/30/2010 4:55:39 PM
    I agree. may be like the DK ability in WoW when he/she spawns all the zombies.
  • Zeveron's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #142 Zeveron Posted 5/28/2010 7:58:34 PM

    Also, the Aurebesh on the smokey rock says "Fear in Power" :|
  • PercMerc's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #141 PercMerc Posted 5/28/2010 5:07:58 PM
    Hey DH, have we ever seen the "Leia style" hair on the jedi in the pickle farm picture before?
  • sado's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 1623
    #143 sado Posted 5/29/2010 2:20:46 PM
    Yes, a couple times.

    Protip: Emlaeh says she'll totally be wearing that hairstyle in-game.

    Note: There may or may not be sarcasm there.
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