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Drew Karpyshyn Details Revan Novel

Drew Karpyshyn, Senior Writer on Star Wars: The Old Republic took time out to detail some of the points fans will be reading in the upcoming Revan novel. Among several points that were elaborated on were the differences between the players version of Revan in Knights of the Old Republic and Revan's importance.

To put it bluntly, Revan in the book will not be the uber-powered death machine you controlled at the end of the video game. You might have min-maxed your character to smack Darth Malak down in seconds without breaking a sweat, but in a book that battle would have been a brutal, hard fought affair spread over multiple pages. In a video game it's fun to kill hundreds of Sith Masters, but in a book that would just be boring. It would suck out any drama or conflict or tension, and as an author I have no interest in writing that.

Now, I suspect some of you are already getting worked up about how Im ruining SW canon by nerfing the Revan from the game. Well, tough. The game was a game the powers and abilities you had in it were ways to make the game fun. They were representative of Revans power level versus enemies faced in the game, but they weren't a blueprint of his abilities in the persistent fiction of the Star Wars universe.

That doesn't mean Im going to ignore Revans accomplishments as detailed in the game. The high level events and history are canon. Revan did defeat Mandalore and Darth Malak. He was an incredibly powerful Jedi. But a powerful Jedi in story terms (films, TV, books) is very different from a powerful Jedi in game terms.

To catch more of the article, make sure to visit Drew's blog. Pre-orders are also available via Amazon should you be interested in picking up the novel later this year.

Update: According to Del Ray, the Revan novel release date was shifted to November 15th.

STAR WARS: CHOICES OF ONE moves back to July 19, 2011
STAR WARS: HEIR TO THE EMPIRE 20th Anniversary Edition moves to September 6, 2011
STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC: REVAN moves to November 15, 2011

Hat tip to DarthNii on the heads up on the change.

Update 2: Drew Karpyshyn confirmed the shifted release date as the official one via Twitter just moments ago.

Website updated. I'm a day late with the Tweet, so I figure I owe you something else: the official release date for Revan is Nov 15!

Comments

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  • Invader Mig's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #30 Invader Mig Posted 5/24/2011 7:49:51 AM
    Well looking at any writer, or entertainer for that matter, I'm not looking to have something in common with him, or look up to him. I'm looking to be entertained. People seem to offended by his bluntness. Does his attitude take away from the skill, no it doesn't. A person could very well be a douchebag if they want, as long as they are skilled at what they do. If I based my taste in music off of the artists character, I'd have a very short playlist.
  • CornbreadChrist's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #23 CornbreadChrist Posted 5/20/2011 8:02:30 PM
    Thank you Drew. Revan was always Drew's brain child, and he is absolutely right. A book about how the main character wrecks everyone without breaking a sweat is terrible character development.

    I think he's just preparing the fan boys for the possibility that Revan may not have been as uber as they saw him in their mind's eye. He's just trying to temper expectations.
  • EnexEra's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #22 EnexEra Posted 5/20/2011 2:53:58 PM
    Imperial arrogance knows no bounds.
  • Froststab's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #19 Froststab Posted 5/20/2011 7:14:52 AM
    I agree with what Drew is saying but his attitude toward fans sucks, "tough".. really? is that something you should be saying to fans/customers?
  • blackfx's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #18 blackfx Posted 5/20/2011 5:47:53 AM
    Hey, great thing is.. his fans can tell him to kiss their ass too!
  • cRab_bAttLe's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #15 cRab_bAttLe Posted 5/20/2011 3:47:26 AM
    From Drew K's personal site: "(By the way, the publication date listed on Amazon and the Barnes & Noble website is UNOFFICIAL. Dont believe any date until you hear it from Random House, BioWare or me.)"
  • DarthVictus's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #14 DarthVictus Posted 5/20/2011 3:27:48 AM
    "The game was a game the powers and abilities you had in it were ways to make the game fun. They were representative of Revans power level versus enemies faced in the game, but they weren't a blueprint of his abilities in the persistent fiction of the Star Wars universe"

    LoL who told him that? how did he come up with that and who backed him up with that? seeing as he is writing a tie in book to a game,. Lets say Revan is in the game, is he just going to be an above average jedi? or would he be the juggernaut we know him to be?
  • abner_ford's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 656
    #27 abner_ford Posted 5/23/2011 2:37:39 AM
    You didn't comprehend anything that he was saying.
  • DarthShnooky's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #25 DarthShnooky Posted 5/20/2011 10:36:03 PM
    I think you may have missed the point. He's saying that Revan in a game is not the same as Revan in a book. Games are interactive and if you play as a character you need to have certain abilities or what have you to make that experience more interesting and enjoyable. As you read about a character in a book, however, those powers and abilities are something you are experiencing passively and do not need to be at the same level.

    He's writing a tie-in book to a game about a character he created. I would take his word over ours regarding how Revan should be written. I don't want to see Revan as some ultra powerful character on page one, because what's the point? It's called character development and it's the heart of a work of fiction.
  • Jonneh's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 379
    #8 Jonneh Posted 5/19/2011 9:51:39 PM
    November?! I kinda hope the game comes out before that, I am so bored :D

    My youtube channel - SW:TOR content

  • ClubAirdu's avatar
    Gamorrean Thug
    • Posts: 30
    #10 ClubAirdu Posted 5/19/2011 10:21:56 PM
    This was my first thought too. Worse than that, they've been quite coy about the emperor's identity; though, I seem to remember it being said that it's revealed in the Revan book. Seems to me that it's a secret they might want to save for the game. I've always thought the two would come out around the same time. November seems likely. With any luck we'll find out June 3. edit: (Or, you know, June 7 for those of us who are into that whole fact-checking thing.)
  • Xavier's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 497
    #21 Xavier Posted 5/20/2011 2:02:04 PM
    ClubAirdu,
    It could be that the book is actually being released after the game, thereby giving people a chance to discover the Emperor's identity through game play.
  • alodestone's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #29 alodestone Posted 5/23/2011 6:22:53 PM
    That makes a lot of sense to me as well. It would make very little sense to release something that important in a novel before the release of a game with a multi million dollar investment .
  • ClubAirdu's avatar
    Gamorrean Thug
    • Posts: 30
    #24 ClubAirdu Posted 5/20/2011 9:56:35 PM
    I absolutely think that is going to be the case, but I do find it suspicious that the book date moves right before a big event. I guess we'll have to wait until the 3rd... err 7th. ;-)
  • shadowfyre's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 78
    #11 shadowfyre Posted 5/19/2011 11:02:19 PM
    What happens on June 3?
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