Darth Hater

GameSpot posted an interview with Game Director James Ohlen about the role and function of companions in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Mr. Ohlen reveals that companions will function similar to other classes in the game, leveling up alongside the player and unlocking skills as they progress. Additionally, he talks about a new system that will allow players to set up companion behaviors in combat beforehand, managing which abilities they do and do not use.

Along with the exclusive interview comes a second one in the form of a Developer Dispatch video on companions with the team from BioWare. Lead Writer Daniel Erickson talks about hitting the cornerstones of Star Wars with companions such as droids and aliens. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller shows how companions level-up and unlock new abilities just like players. These features along with their unique storyline makes them effectively more than just pets. Art Director Jeff Dobson explains how the team carefully crafted each companion to evoke some element of their story and how those stories can change. Those changes are based upon the affection system, where gifts can be given to companions opening up new conversations and quests.

Dissection of the developer dispatch is in the media gallery below. As with all of our dissections, we do not note things mentioned in prior dissections. If you find something, feel free to let us know if the comments section below and if we decide to use it - we will credit you.

This week's Friday Update kicks off with 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.

At the same time, choice is at the heart of The Old Republic and Players can also explore many other ways they can take their Jedi characters. Whether that means walking the path of the Dark Side like Anakin Skywalker or simply adopting a unique combination of fighting styles, a variety of options will be available.

Watch Developer Dispatch: Designing the Light Side, and learn about the process involved in creating the Jedi classes for Star Wars: The Old Republic.

As well as Designing the Light Side there is a Fan Friday which includes Fan Art, Avatars, Developer Corner, and new polls.

For those looking for a Dissection of the new Smuggler video, we have one available. On another note, earlier this morning we posted our 'General Information Learned' from PAX Prime 2010 which rounds out the last of our PAX related content. It contains a plethora of information about Star Wars: The Old Republic from the PAX Prime 2010 demo that fans should find interesting.

Working dissection of the Designing the Light Side video after the jump.

Last Updated: September 17 @ 12:56 PM EST

Here is Darth Hater's dissection of the latest Developer Dispatch from Star Wars: The Old Republic, which focuses largely on the recently revealed Taris. As in our prior dissections, we will add new content in as we find it, so keep checking back. Feel free to let us know if you notice something we missed, and we will be happy to add it to our dissection with credit. Note: if something is mentioned in a prior dissection, then we do not reiterate it again here. Low bandwidth users should note there are numerous images contained in this article.

Its that time of the week again. Time to see what treats the developers have left for us. First up is a nice Developer Dispatch on Taris:

Once home to a sprawling planet-wide city, Taris was razed long ago by the Sith Lord Darth Malak while seeking to eliminate the Jedi Knight Bastila Shan. Now, a post-apocalyptic Taris is being realized in Star Wars: The Old Republic. After 300 years, Republic and Jedi leaders are moving forward with the efforts at colonization.

Along with the video on Taris is issue #27 of the Threat of Peace.

Today is quite a Holiday Present We get another Developer Dispatch showing how BioWare came up with the Sith Warrior and Sith Inquisitor, and we also get to see some PvP

Sean posted:

Inspired by notorious characters such as Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, the Sith Inquisitor and Sith Warrior take different approaches to their rise to power. The Sith Warrior achieves victory through pure aggression and might while the Sith Inquisitor excels by cunning ambition and Force manipulation.

From storyline, to art style, to combat tactics, each design decision was made to support the dark side themes of power, domination, and destruction.

Watch Developer Dispatch: Designing the Dark Side, and learn how Star Wars: The Old Republic developers created this dominating force.

Happy Holidays everyone

Update after the jump

It's a bit too early to tell on this but it is quite interesting the way that this NPC seen in the Coruscant developer dispatch video seems to have control over this creature:



This is obviously pure speculation right now but this is the first time that we have seen a creature in close proximity to an NPC or player without them fighting it at the time almost as if it were the person's creature. I can't wait to get my hands on the high-res version of the video to get a better look at this in the future.

One reason BioWare is setting Star Wars: The Old Republic 3ooo years before the movies is that it allows more flexibility with the lore. They can change certain elements of history as they see fit and it is necessary to address what alterations they may have decided upon. The most recent of these possible changes comes to us in the The Making of Coruscant. I will list certain quotes that I found relevant to the lore story arch and how they might effect game play, as well as my interpretation. It is important to note that everything written about the lore is purely speculative unless expressly stated otherwise by Bioware.

The developer dispatch is now out and it is about Coruscant. Sean was nice enough to post it up today:

From the majestic skyline to the dark and seedy underground levels, a large team of The Old Republic developers worked together to construct the dynamic city-world of Coruscant. Watch our latest Developer Dispatch, The Making of Coruscant, to hear developers discuss the creation of the Republics capital from the deepest basement to the tallest skyscraper.

Threat of Peace 17 was also released today.

UPDATE: A Downloadable HD version of the video will be available on monday:

These will be available on Monday. And for anyone having a problem loading the video, that should be fixed momentarily.

Its that time of week again. Sean has given us a sneak peek of what will be happening tomorrow at the website:

Since this is a "Friday's Update" thread, I gather I should clue you into what this week's update is. Well, of course, we have Threat of Peace #17 going out tomorrow. Also, we have a special announce about Threat of Peace going out next week (more info then).

In addition, we have our next installment of the Developer Dispatch series. I am sure some of you can already guess the subject matter but if you're not sure, make sure to check back tomorrow

[Link] to the original thread. Sounds like the Dispatch will be nice, because the previous ones have offered quite a bit of insight (as well as new video clips). For all the Threat of Peace fans, it looks like a big reveal is next week.