Only players of the same class have access to the same companions.
BioWare has not spoken about what will happen when two players group with the same companion.
Companions have not been confirmed or seen in the outside (open) world.
A perfect example of not explaining a feature then, but just a mistifying it...
Just for your laziness, quote from the official site, Key word is companions will join you :
In Star Wars™: The Old Republic™, a variety of these Companion Characters will join your cause. Some will join you for adventure, some for greed, and some for motivations that will remain hidden until much further along in your adventure.
And a link which describe pretty much that these guys join you for quests if these are instanced you will not see millions of them running around.
Anyone who is an avid believer in logic and thinks with logic in mind would know this way before the new Companion feature article over at SWTOR.com
They have stated since the start that you will pick up various companions who have their own personallities and motives and storylines. It is virtually impossible to impliment something in an MMORPG with thousands of people playing at a time on any given server and make it so that each one has a unique companion to themselves with thier own unique story and so forth.
The entire idea behind the companion system is to add a way to not only enhance the storytellinge element of the game but also so that solo-play is just as viable as group-play as well as just as dynamic. How is this any different than the Hunter pet system in WoW? Every hunter basically has a wolf at 80 now... The difference is the Companion is much more important to every aspect of the game rather than just combat, unlike the pets in WoW. Which has been their mission statement since they announced the game. They have maintained that they are not reinventing the wheel with SWTOR, they are just trying to put their name on the genre and make everything a little bit better while adding their own original features and flavor to it here and there. They improve apon the pet system with the Companion system...
I agree with Lobotomist. If this is supposed to be an MMO version of Bioware games they need to have some kind of random name generator and a way to customize your companions. If everyone of the same class runs around with the same companions, and i'm sure there are cross class companions then that is pretty lame. Not enough info now though, and honestly nothing about this game has me excited so my 2 cents is prob worth nothing.
Well if you are sure there are cross class companions you are absolutely 100% wrong as it has been consistently stated this is not the case. Go troll else where.
So you actually say that only one class will have the Chewbacca Companion? read : tank.
I think some may be unique (in the beginning quests) to be unlocked, but it would surprise me that all the others and later acquired party companions would be this unique.
.
But to me, this problem (and the way they are handling it "we are thinking of ways to make sure you can customize them, so you don'tget the Chewbacca's mixed up..." ) shows lack of insight.
SW:TOR very much started out as KOTOR 3 but somehere somehow someone decided to transfer it into an mmorpg (probably around 2006/07).
.
The sky was the limit back then for new mmorpgs. AoC, TR, War all would hit the multi million subs space. So why not make an mmorpg out of KOTOR3 with the newest technique of "companions" already introduced in GW1 that year.
They are making an online version out of single player adventure game (with exactly the same techniques like huge recorded dialogues, AI NPC's, in game videos etc).
Take a look at this sentence I now come to stumble upon ..." It has already more recorded dialogue than all Mass Effect games combined"....
What do you think is more challeging and time consuming: an actor that reads (and acts) a script or a team of 6 programmers that still need to begin on pvp, end game, professions that "still are discussed in the designer stage".
Very telling to me.
Its embarrassing when an NPC compliments you in an MMo, the only relevant, cool and epic things come from players whispering you Grtz, mate, we did it. copyright Pilnkplonk
I agree with Lobotomist. If this is supposed to be an MMO version of Bioware games they need to have some kind of random name generator and a way to customize your companions. If everyone of the same class runs around with the same companions, and i'm sure there are cross class companions then that is pretty lame. Not enough info now though, and honestly nothing about this game has me excited so my 2 cents is prob worth nothing.
Well if you are sure there are cross class companions you are absolutely 100% wrong as it has been consistently stated this is not the case. Go troll else where.
So you actually say that only one class will have the Chewbacca Companion? read : tank.
I think some may be unique (in the beginning quests) to be unlocked, but it would surprise me that all the others and later acquired party companions would be this unique.
.
But to me, this problem (and the way they are handling it "we are thinking of ways to make sure you can customize them, so you don'tget the Chewbacca's mixed up..." ) shows lack of insight.
SW:TOR very much started out as KOTOR 3 but somehere somehow someone decided to transfer it into an mmorpg (probably around 2006/07).
.
The sky was the limit back then for new mmorpgs. AoC, TR, War all would hit the multi million subs space. So why not make an mmorpg out of KOTOR3 with the newest technique of "companions" already introduced in GW1 that year.
They are making an online version out of single player adventure game (with exactly the same techniques like huge recorded dialogues, AI NPC's, in game videos etc).
Take a look at this sentence I now come to stumble upon ..." It has already more recorded dialogue than all Mass Effect games combined"....
What do you think is more challeging and time consuming: an actor that reads (and acts) a script or a team of 6 programmers that still need to begin on pvp, end game, professions that "still are discussed in the designer stage".
Very telling to me.
Sounds like a whole lot of speculation to me.
With the keyword being development. At what stage of development do the developers stop trying to make the game better in every way? In terms of the MMORPG genre, they are still doing this well past launch. The idea that it is a bad sign that they are still developing the game in the early stages of development is kind of ridiculous. Rumor has it the game won't be coming out until after March of 2011...
With the keyword being development. At what stage of development do the developers stop trying to make the game better in every way? In terms of the MMORPG genre, they are still doing this well past launch. The idea that it is a bad sign that they are still developing the game in the early stages of development is kind of ridiculous. Rumor has it the game won't be coming out until after March of 2011...
That's less than a year away, which is not early development.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I agree with Lobotomist. If this is supposed to be an MMO version of Bioware games they need to have some kind of random name generator and a way to customize your companions. If everyone of the same class runs around with the same companions, and i'm sure there are cross class companions then that is pretty lame. Not enough info now though, and honestly nothing about this game has me excited so my 2 cents is prob worth nothing.
Well if you are sure there are cross class companions you are absolutely 100% wrong as it has been consistently stated this is not the case. Go troll else where.
So you actually say that only one class will have the Chewbacca Companion? read : tank.
I think some may be unique (in the beginning quests) to be unlocked, but it would surprise me that all the others and later acquired party companions would be this unique.
.
But to me, this problem (and the way they are handling it "we are thinking of ways to make sure you can customize them, so you don'tget the Chewbacca's mixed up..." ) shows lack of insight.
SW:TOR very much started out as KOTOR 3 but somehere somehow someone decided to transfer it into an mmorpg (probably around 2006/07).
.
The sky was the limit back then for new mmorpgs. AoC, TR, War all would hit the multi million subs space. So why not make an mmorpg out of KOTOR3 with the newest technique of "companions" already introduced in GW1 that year.
They are making an online version out of single player adventure game (with exactly the same techniques like huge recorded dialogues, AI NPC's, in game videos etc).
Take a look at this sentence I now come to stumble upon ..." It has already more recorded dialogue than all Mass Effect games combined"....
What do you think is more challeging and time consuming: an actor that reads (and acts) a script or a team of 6 programmers that still need to begin on pvp, end game, professions that "still are discussed in the designer stage".
Very telling to me.
Sounds like a whole lot of speculation to me.
With the keyword being development. At what stage of development do the developers stop trying to make the game better in every way? In terms of the MMORPG genre, they are still doing this well past launch. The idea that it is a bad sign that they are still developing the game in the early stages development is kind of ridiculous. Rumor has it the game won't be coming out until after March of 2011.
First you design, develop and program things: the voice over acting is the last instalment (and the least important in any video game) wouldn't you agree?
With already more recorded dialogue than ME1+2 at this very moment, it is very odd to hear about professions and pvp 'looked into".
Bioware is now on ground they never set foot in : on line gameplay with and without player interaction in both PVE and PVP.
And the confusion in pet mixed ups shows it painfully.
I agree: the game will not be published in 2011 if they want to avoid a collapse after 3 months.
Its embarrassing when an NPC compliments you in an MMo, the only relevant, cool and epic things come from players whispering you Grtz, mate, we did it. copyright Pilnkplonk
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3 (cancelled)
In 2003, LucasArts cancelled the Proteus console MMOG project during its design phase (the game was intended to be an in-house sibling to Star Wars: Galaxies).[5] Upon its cancellation, the Proteus project's team and elements of its designs were applied to developing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3. According to designer John Stafford, the team "wrote a story, designed most of the environments/worlds, and many of the quests, characters, and items."[6] The game was cancelled as part of cuts initiated in 2004 aimed at positioning LucasArts for future success.[7] Concept art from the cancelled Knights of the Old Republic 3 project was published in the book Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts (2008); the artwork includes depictions of Taloraan, Rodia, and a Mandalore city, as well as a Coruscant vehicle and a new character named Naresha.[8]
That game was going to be a completely different beast, canceled due to cuts at LA and is not related to this project.
Thing is, whether or not you can give other names to companions, they stay the same deal for everyone, they're there for your story; to help you out and to make it easier to fill in group roles.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
are there male companions? Vette is not appealing to me. Renaming/customization options would be great.
Their answer was: "We're thinking of ways to make sure you can customize them so you don't get confused...".
Still thinking (probably that's the reason why they are a no show in the open world at the moment).
Its embarrassing when an NPC compliments you in an MMo, the only relevant, cool and epic things come from players whispering you Grtz, mate, we did it. copyright Pilnkplonk
I think it's short-sighted to take a sentence like, "Looking into ways..." as anything but what it is. To think that they haven't already implimented some ways as of right now. I mean it's been known before that you would be able to equip your companions to some extent anyway. To me when I read it, it says they are brainstorming MORE ways to do this on top of whatever equipment changes and so forth they already have.
I think people forget that we are talking about Bioware here. Same as we were talking about Blizzard before they launched World of Warcraft. They are a largely amazing developer who has put out nothing but amazing games and have continued to push their titles with each installment. The idea that they would cut corners or not know how to develop and MMORPG despite the fact that they brought in a ton of people experienced in the field to enhance their team, is silly to me. Don't sell Bioware short. They've done this all long enough to know what a good game is or isn't.
I dont know. This still does not sound like real MMO to me:
A game where every player is individual and have his own story.
This sounds like single player rpg:
Preset story , with preset characters.
Dont get me wrong. I will play SWTOR. Its a Bioware game , and will probably be superb RPG experience.
I just see it as it is. Single player RPG with innovative cooperative multiplayer option.
Well of course its not a true MMO but then most of the MMOs of today are not proper ones either. They all insist on guiding you through a pre-scripted story just like a single player game. EQ2, WoW, AoC etc = online single player games with co-op features and seperate PvP sections enabled. SWTOR is simply pushing the single player game design to a new extreme as it's single player games and story telling that they have a lot of experience with. They are covering the single player area of mmos while AreneNet and Trion are focusing on dynamic content which is what real MMOs should be all about.
I agree with Lobotomist. If this is supposed to be an MMO version of Bioware games they need to have some kind of random name generator and a way to customize your companions. If everyone of the same class runs around with the same companions, and i'm sure there are cross class companions then that is pretty lame. Not enough info now though, and honestly nothing about this game has me excited so my 2 cents is prob worth nothing.
Well if you are sure there are cross class companions you are absolutely 100% wrong as it has been consistently stated this is not the case. Go troll else where.
So you actually say that only one class will have the Chewbacca Companion? read : tank.
I think some may be unique (in the beginning quests) to be unlocked, but it would surprise me that all the others and later acquired party companions would be this unique.
.
But to me, this problem (and the way they are handling it "we are thinking of ways to make sure you can customize them, so you don'tget the Chewbacca's mixed up..." ) shows lack of insight.
SW:TOR very much started out as KOTOR 3 but somehere somehow someone decided to transfer it into an mmorpg (probably around 2006/07).
.
The sky was the limit back then for new mmorpgs. AoC, TR, War all would hit the multi million subs space. So why not make an mmorpg out of KOTOR3 with the newest technique of "companions" already introduced in GW1 that year.
They are making an online version out of single player adventure game (with exactly the same techniques like huge recorded dialogues, AI NPC's, in game videos etc).
Take a look at this sentence I now come to stumble upon ..." It has already more recorded dialogue than all Mass Effect games combined"....
What do you think is more challeging and time consuming: an actor that reads (and acts) a script or a team of 6 programmers that still need to begin on pvp, end game, professions that "still are discussed in the designer stage".
Very telling to me.
This began as, and always was going to be an mmo, not kotor 3, might want to research more. Every story is completely different, all companion characters are completely different for every class. This isn't speculation, it is confirmed fact. Just because it has recorded dialogue makes it a single player game, gotcha. Different people work on different things, voice actors are working seperately from programmers, that's common sense, bud. The game has a budget of 150 million dollars, plenty to do everything in an mmo plus voice overs. PvP has been shown in numerous videos, raids are already confirmed in-game. There is still a year in development. It has been confirmed all the core mechanics are already working, the next year is just adding more to the game. [Mod Edit]
well, i guess we'll be seeing lots of light sided jedi with twilek sidekicks, or smugglers with wookie sidekicks... most likely there will be a 'random name' generated at sidekick acquisition, the only issue really will be how good the AI is, and npc pathing, same as any other game really. Bit of a none issue if you ask me, my own concerns about the game really lay in other areas.
I think people forget that we are talking about Bioware here. Same as we were talking about Blizzard before they launched World of Warcraft. They are a largely amazing developer who has put out nothing but amazing games and have continued to push their titles with each installment. The idea that they would cut corners or not know how to develop and MMORPG despite the fact that they brought in a ton of people experienced in the field to enhance their team, is silly to me. Don't sell Bioware short. They've done this all long enough to know what a good game is or isn't.
There is one huge difference between Bioware and Blizzard though.
The first never made multiplayer games with a PvP theme and extensive multi player PVE missions. While the latter published all kind of games in different sectors prior to their mmo. They also took ex MMORPG players as lead designers into their staff.
Bioware is RPG/Adventure. They never published RTS or huge on line game PvP mechanics or e-sports (like D2 - SC1).
That's not saying I don't like Bioware games (BG 1 -2 is an all time favorite and I dislike SC).
But I am not placing Bioware in the same technical league as Blizzard, because their focus was almost never outside the rpg/adventure experience.
It may seam odd, but games like DA or ME are further from MMORPG play (from a technical point of view) then you think. D2 stands a lot closer to mmorpg's on a technical view.
Its embarrassing when an NPC compliments you in an MMo, the only relevant, cool and epic things come from players whispering you Grtz, mate, we did it. copyright Pilnkplonk
I think people forget that we are talking about Bioware here. Same as we were talking about Blizzard before they launched World of Warcraft. They are a largely amazing developer who has put out nothing but amazing games and have continued to push their titles with each installment. The idea that they would cut corners or not know how to develop and MMORPG despite the fact that they brought in a ton of people experienced in the field to enhance their team, is silly to me. Don't sell Bioware short. They've done this all long enough to know what a good game is or isn't.
There is one huge difference between Bioware and Blizzard though.
The first never made multiplayer games with a PvP theme and extensive multi player PVE missions. While the latter published all kind of games in different sectors prior to their mmo. They also took ex MMORPG players as lead designers into their staff.
Bioware is RPG/Adventure. They never published RTS or huge on line game PvP mechanics or e-sports (like D2 - SC1).
That's not saying I don't like Bioware games (BG 1 -2 is an all time favorite and I dislike SC).
But I am not placing Bioware in the same technical league as Blizzard, because their focus was almost never outside the rpg/adventure experience.
It may seam odd, but games like DA or ME are further from MMORPG play (from a technical point of view) then you think. D2 stands a lot closer to mmorpg's on a technical view.
Dude, just because a game has pvp in it does not mean that company has more experience making mmo's. Bioware also has numerous people working on the game from past mmo's. I'd say an rpg is closer to an mmo than a rts. And diablo 2 is much less close to an mmo than Dragon Age, seriously are you kidding me??? Even the combat in DA felt a bit mmo ish. (Not in a bad way) And from a technical point of view DA was more dice rolling numbers than D2 so you, again, are so very very wrong. And to say D2 had pvp mechanics is moronic. Unless just the act of being able to pvp is considered a mechanic. >.>
There is one huge difference between Bioware and Blizzard though.
The first never made multiplayer games with a PvP theme and extensive multi player PVE missions. While the latter published all kind of games in different sectors prior to their mmo. They also took ex MMORPG players as lead designers into their staff.
Bioware is RPG/Adventure. They never published RTS or huge on line game PvP mechanics or e-sports (like D2 - SC1).
That's not saying I don't like Bioware games (BG 1 -2 is an all time favorite and I dislike SC).
But I am not placing Bioware in the same technical league as Blizzard, because their focus was almost never outside the rpg/adventure experience.
It may seam odd, but games like DA or ME are further from MMORPG play (from a technical point of view) then you think. D2 stands a lot closer to mmorpg's on a technical view.
Dude, just because a game has pvp in it does not mean that company has more experience making mmo's. Bioware also has numerous people working on the game from past mmo's. I'd say an rpg is closer to an mmo than a rts. And diablo 2 is much less close to an mmo than Dragon Age, seriously are you kidding me??? Even the combat in DA felt a bit mmo ish. (Not in a bad way)
Read my post: from a technical point of view.
Servers? Coms? Responsive controls (in PvP)? Class balancing? Co-op modes? E-sports?
All things not needed in single player RPG's. You could chew out dozens of RPG games with simply one engine.
Its embarrassing when an NPC compliments you in an MMo, the only relevant, cool and epic things come from players whispering you Grtz, mate, we did it. copyright Pilnkplonk
There is one huge difference between Bioware and Blizzard though.
The first never made multiplayer games with a PvP theme and extensive multi player PVE missions. While the latter published all kind of games in different sectors prior to their mmo. They also took ex MMORPG players as lead designers into their staff.
Bioware is RPG/Adventure. They never published RTS or huge on line game PvP mechanics or e-sports (like D2 - SC1).
That's not saying I don't like Bioware games (BG 1 -2 is an all time favorite and I dislike SC).
But I am not placing Bioware in the same technical league as Blizzard, because their focus was almost never outside the rpg/adventure experience.
It may seam odd, but games like DA or ME are further from MMORPG play (from a technical point of view) then you think. D2 stands a lot closer to mmorpg's on a technical view.
Dude, just because a game has pvp in it does not mean that company has more experience making mmo's. Bioware also has numerous people working on the game from past mmo's. I'd say an rpg is closer to an mmo than a rts. And diablo 2 is much less close to an mmo than Dragon Age, seriously are you kidding me??? Even the combat in DA felt a bit mmo ish. (Not in a bad way)
Read my post: from a technical point of view.
Servers? Coms? Responsive controls (in PvP)? Class balancing? Co-op modes? E-sports?
All things not needed in single player RPG's.
May want to reread my edited post. And anyone can do servers and coms, again, just stupid. Responsive controls, well, mass effect was sure responsive, just because you aren't attacking another player means nothing. D2 "co-op" consisted of people acting seperately to attack different targets. Almost everything but standard rts battles in SC were player created. Yeah and Blizzard really shows they know what they are doing with class balancing o.O
The new SWTOR page details NPC "Vette" as one of the player companions.
This comes as a big shock to me , because it can mean only one thing : thousands of players running around with character named Vette following them !
Is Vette a clone ?
How immersion breaking will be to play a rpg where 100 characters named Vette stand around you on a town square ?
Honestly it is something only seen (and demed worthy) in a low budged asian F2P MMOs
Dont take it wrong. Its perfectly fine for a single player RPG. But MMORPG ? This must be the very new low.
I think that with all due respect Bioware must categorise SWTOR as SORPG (single player online rpg)
Aaaah so we have another "king of the hill" here to tell us what can and cannot be called an mmo and he has some 2k posts to his credit so you'd best all believe thathe knows best, if he doesn't think of it as an mmo then you had all better fall right in line this is a SORPG (though I've never heard of that) maybe Bioware will see this post and realize the error they made and reclassify the game as such.......
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
There is one huge difference between Bioware and Blizzard though.
The first never made multiplayer games with a PvP theme and extensive multi player PVE missions. While the latter published all kind of games in different sectors prior to their mmo. They also took ex MMORPG players as lead designers into their staff.
Bioware is RPG/Adventure. They never published RTS or huge on line game PvP mechanics or e-sports (like D2 - SC1).
That's not saying I don't like Bioware games (BG 1 -2 is an all time favorite and I dislike SC).
But I am not placing Bioware in the same technical league as Blizzard, because their focus was almost never outside the rpg/adventure experience.
It may seam odd, but games like DA or ME are further from MMORPG play (from a technical point of view) then you think. D2 stands a lot closer to mmorpg's on a technical view.
Dude, just because a game has pvp in it does not mean that company has more experience making mmo's. Bioware also has numerous people working on the game from past mmo's. I'd say an rpg is closer to an mmo than a rts. And diablo 2 is much less close to an mmo than Dragon Age, seriously are you kidding me??? Even the combat in DA felt a bit mmo ish. (Not in a bad way)
Read my post: from a technical point of view.
Servers? Coms? Responsive controls (in PvP)? Class balancing? Co-op modes? E-sports?
All things not needed in single player RPG's.
May want to reread my edited post. And anyone can do servers, again, just stupid. Responsive controls, well, mass effect was sure responsive, just because you aren't attacking another player means nothing. D2 "co-op" consisted of people acting seperately to attack different targets. Almost everything but standard rts battles in SC were player created.
So anyone who can do "servers" can create MMO's then... I could think about a billion features not included in standard single player games (ranging from player interaction tools to PvP timers, from critical CDT to an economy, from class balancing to coordinated group play, etc, ...)
The discussion was that Bioware covers one corner and did this pretty well. MMORPGs are a complete different mechanic though and they did not cover on line play - like Blizzard did - in their respective previous games.
And it shows by the different techniques they come up with (solo enhancing NPC's and personal "immersive" videos and voice overs).
Hardly important in an on line competitve and cooperative game of "players-on line" (which is 90% of mmorpg play).
Its embarrassing when an NPC compliments you in an MMo, the only relevant, cool and epic things come from players whispering you Grtz, mate, we did it. copyright Pilnkplonk
There is one huge difference between Bioware and Blizzard though.
The first never made multiplayer games with a PvP theme and extensive multi player PVE missions. While the latter published all kind of games in different sectors prior to their mmo. They also took ex MMORPG players as lead designers into their staff.
Bioware is RPG/Adventure. They never published RTS or huge on line game PvP mechanics or e-sports (like D2 - SC1).
That's not saying I don't like Bioware games (BG 1 -2 is an all time favorite and I dislike SC).
But I am not placing Bioware in the same technical league as Blizzard, because their focus was almost never outside the rpg/adventure experience.
It may seam odd, but games like DA or ME are further from MMORPG play (from a technical point of view) then you think. D2 stands a lot closer to mmorpg's on a technical view.
Dude, just because a game has pvp in it does not mean that company has more experience making mmo's. Bioware also has numerous people working on the game from past mmo's. I'd say an rpg is closer to an mmo than a rts. And diablo 2 is much less close to an mmo than Dragon Age, seriously are you kidding me??? Even the combat in DA felt a bit mmo ish. (Not in a bad way)
Read my post: from a technical point of view.
Servers? Coms? Responsive controls (in PvP)? Class balancing? Co-op modes? E-sports?
All things not needed in single player RPG's.
May want to reread my edited post. And anyone can do servers, again, just stupid. Responsive controls, well, mass effect was sure responsive, just because you aren't attacking another player means nothing. D2 "co-op" consisted of people acting seperately to attack different targets. Almost everything but standard rts battles in SC were player created.
So anyone who can do "servers" can create MMO's then... I could think about a billion features not included in standard single player games (ranging from player interaction tools to PvP timers, from critical CDT to an economy, from class balancing to coordinated group play, etc, ...)
The discussion was that Bioware covers one corner and did this pretty well. MMORPGs are a complete different mechanic though and they did not cover on line play - like Blizzard did - in their respective previous games.
And it shows by the different techniques they come up with (solo enhancing NPC's and personal "immersive" videos and voice overs).
Hardly important in an on line competitve and cooperative game of "players-on line" (which is 90% of mmorpg play).
Nice job taking 1 of my 20 or so answers and disregarding the rest. Blizzard did not have experience in CDT or economy, or class balancing (Even now they can't do this) or coordinated group play... The companions are no different from wow hunter or warlock pets. Try again, this time use your brain plz.
I think people forget that we are talking about Bioware here. Same as we were talking about Blizzard before they launched World of Warcraft. They are a largely amazing developer who has put out nothing but amazing games and have continued to push their titles with each installment. The idea that they would cut corners or not know how to develop and MMORPG despite the fact that they brought in a ton of people experienced in the field to enhance their team, is silly to me. Don't sell Bioware short. They've done this all long enough to know what a good game is or isn't.
There is one huge difference between Bioware and Blizzard though.
The first never made multiplayer games with a PvP theme and extensive multi player PVE missions. While the latter published all kind of games in different sectors prior to their mmo. They also took ex MMORPG players as lead designers into their staff.
Bioware is RPG/Adventure. They never published RTS or huge on line game PvP mechanics or e-sports (like D2 - SC1).
That's not saying I don't like Bioware games (BG 1 -2 is an all time favorite and I dislike SC).
But I am not placing Bioware in the same technical league as Blizzard, because their focus was almost never outside the rpg/adventure experience.
It may seam odd, but games like DA or ME are further from MMORPG play (from a technical point of view) then you think. D2 stands a lot closer to mmorpg's on a technical view.
Non-issue, there's people from all over the mmo genre working on the game, usually veterans of the genre.
Lots of SWG people and others.
Example: Damion Schubert (lead combat designer): Meridian 59, UO, Shadowbane...
And a lot of the original Kotor team as well + people who worked on other BW projects.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
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Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
The game will succeed, for no other reason it HAS got innovations) even tho some refute that. Plus all the debates that go on and on about the unproven tidbits they give out show the interest everyone has in it.
While there are several game mechanics that I don't care for in this MMO, this issue isn't one of them.
I'm not chasing the holy grail of immersion and it won't bother me whether other folks have the same pet (companion, whatever) as I do.
I mean seriously, what does immersion matter when I'm standing around with 100 other Sith warriors or Jedi's with light sabers?
I agree with you completely, except the end part. Even in books taking place in this time period there are TONS of jedi and sith, just not a lot of masters.
I think you people need to look at the history of Bioware, because while I agree BG was amazing, you're forgetting about NWN. You're also forgetting about the amazing server architecture that allowed so many other people to make custom servers/client and founded one of the best communities mmos had ever seen. Yeah lets all forget about NWN and how amazing the online server play was for that game, yeah its nice to have selective memory when it comes to talking points of experience.
Either way every game is an SRPG under the logic of solo, UO was a solo game because I could technically just do nothing but crafting and become successful, I didn't need other people to level. So yeah UO is a solo game, Sandbox games are solo games by the very defenition. The nature of sandbox is that you choose what you want to do, so I choose to solo Bam SRPG. Every mmo to date under said logic is an SRPG, there isn't a game around that isn't under said assumptions.
And who cares if you can't rename your companion, how many of you people actually RP on a hardcore basis to have so much concern over a name? Is it that important to your roleplaying that you need it renamed? Or is it an epeen thing about being unique? Who cares if there are other people with your companion from your class, how does that affect you, unless of course your rping?
You guys cry for some new features, and the story aspect and companion thing is new given that GW's didn't have a huge storyline with companions. If they made everyone unique, that would be too massive of scope, I think there was an article on here about why games fail, and one of the reasons was scope, so you want a game to have every person unique? Do you realize just how impossible that would be to make? Espescially with VA.
Also when quality voice acting, which adds to immersion is a problem for you, you need to grow a pair.
Comments
Just for your laziness, quote from the official site, Key word is companions will join you :
In Star Wars™: The Old Republic™, a variety of these Companion Characters will join your cause. Some will join you for adventure, some for greed, and some for motivations that will remain hidden until much further along in your adventure.
And a link which describe pretty much that these guys join you for quests if these are instanced you will not see millions of them running around.
http://www.swtor.com/info/systems/companions
(I see three companion types pictured here and theres a write up on Vette)
________________________________________________________
Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
Anyone who is an avid believer in logic and thinks with logic in mind would know this way before the new Companion feature article over at SWTOR.com
They have stated since the start that you will pick up various companions who have their own personallities and motives and storylines. It is virtually impossible to impliment something in an MMORPG with thousands of people playing at a time on any given server and make it so that each one has a unique companion to themselves with thier own unique story and so forth.
The entire idea behind the companion system is to add a way to not only enhance the storytellinge element of the game but also so that solo-play is just as viable as group-play as well as just as dynamic. How is this any different than the Hunter pet system in WoW? Every hunter basically has a wolf at 80 now... The difference is the Companion is much more important to every aspect of the game rather than just combat, unlike the pets in WoW. Which has been their mission statement since they announced the game. They have maintained that they are not reinventing the wheel with SWTOR, they are just trying to put their name on the genre and make everything a little bit better while adding their own original features and flavor to it here and there. They improve apon the pet system with the Companion system...
It's nothing to act appalled about.
So you actually say that only one class will have the Chewbacca Companion? read : tank.
I think some may be unique (in the beginning quests) to be unlocked, but it would surprise me that all the others and later acquired party companions would be this unique.
.
But to me, this problem (and the way they are handling it "we are thinking of ways to make sure you can customize them, so you don'tget the Chewbacca's mixed up..." ) shows lack of insight.
SW:TOR very much started out as KOTOR 3 but somehere somehow someone decided to transfer it into an mmorpg (probably around 2006/07).
.
The sky was the limit back then for new mmorpgs. AoC, TR, War all would hit the multi million subs space. So why not make an mmorpg out of KOTOR3 with the newest technique of "companions" already introduced in GW1 that year.
They are making an online version out of single player adventure game (with exactly the same techniques like huge recorded dialogues, AI NPC's, in game videos etc).
Take a look at this sentence I now come to stumble upon ..." It has already more recorded dialogue than all Mass Effect games combined"....
What do you think is more challeging and time consuming: an actor that reads (and acts) a script or a team of 6 programmers that still need to begin on pvp, end game, professions that "still are discussed in the designer stage".
Very telling to me.
Its embarrassing when an NPC compliments you in an MMo, the only relevant, cool and epic things come from players whispering you Grtz, mate, we did it. copyright Pilnkplonk
Sounds like a whole lot of speculation to me.
With the keyword being development. At what stage of development do the developers stop trying to make the game better in every way? In terms of the MMORPG genre, they are still doing this well past launch. The idea that it is a bad sign that they are still developing the game in the early stages of development is kind of ridiculous. Rumor has it the game won't be coming out until after March of 2011...
That's less than a year away, which is not early development.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
First you design, develop and program things: the voice over acting is the last instalment (and the least important in any video game) wouldn't you agree?
With already more recorded dialogue than ME1+2 at this very moment, it is very odd to hear about professions and pvp 'looked into".
Bioware is now on ground they never set foot in : on line gameplay with and without player interaction in both PVE and PVP.
And the confusion in pet mixed ups shows it painfully.
I agree: the game will not be published in 2011 if they want to avoid a collapse after 3 months.
Its embarrassing when an NPC compliments you in an MMo, the only relevant, cool and epic things come from players whispering you Grtz, mate, we did it. copyright Pilnkplonk
are there male companions? Vette is not appealing to me. Renaming/customization options would be great.
You're pulling that out of thin air + it is completely untrue.
From wikipedia (link)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3 (cancelled)
In 2003, LucasArts cancelled the Proteus console MMOG project during its design phase (the game was intended to be an in-house sibling to Star Wars: Galaxies).[5] Upon its cancellation, the Proteus project's team and elements of its designs were applied to developing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3. According to designer John Stafford, the team "wrote a story, designed most of the environments/worlds, and many of the quests, characters, and items."[6] The game was cancelled as part of cuts initiated in 2004 aimed at positioning LucasArts for future success.[7] Concept art from the cancelled Knights of the Old Republic 3 project was published in the book Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts (2008); the artwork includes depictions of Taloraan, Rodia, and a Mandalore city, as well as a Coruscant vehicle and a new character named Naresha.[8]
That game was going to be a completely different beast, canceled due to cuts at LA and is not related to this project.
Thing is, whether or not you can give other names to companions, they stay the same deal for everyone, they're there for your story; to help you out and to make it easier to fill in group roles.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
Their answer was: "We're thinking of ways to make sure you can customize them so you don't get confused...".
Still thinking (probably that's the reason why they are a no show in the open world at the moment).
Its embarrassing when an NPC compliments you in an MMo, the only relevant, cool and epic things come from players whispering you Grtz, mate, we did it. copyright Pilnkplonk
I think it's short-sighted to take a sentence like, "Looking into ways..." as anything but what it is. To think that they haven't already implimented some ways as of right now. I mean it's been known before that you would be able to equip your companions to some extent anyway. To me when I read it, it says they are brainstorming MORE ways to do this on top of whatever equipment changes and so forth they already have.
I think people forget that we are talking about Bioware here. Same as we were talking about Blizzard before they launched World of Warcraft. They are a largely amazing developer who has put out nothing but amazing games and have continued to push their titles with each installment. The idea that they would cut corners or not know how to develop and MMORPG despite the fact that they brought in a ton of people experienced in the field to enhance their team, is silly to me. Don't sell Bioware short. They've done this all long enough to know what a good game is or isn't.
Well of course its not a true MMO but then most of the MMOs of today are not proper ones either. They all insist on guiding you through a pre-scripted story just like a single player game. EQ2, WoW, AoC etc = online single player games with co-op features and seperate PvP sections enabled. SWTOR is simply pushing the single player game design to a new extreme as it's single player games and story telling that they have a lot of experience with. They are covering the single player area of mmos while AreneNet and Trion are focusing on dynamic content which is what real MMOs should be all about.
This began as, and always was going to be an mmo, not kotor 3, might want to research more. Every story is completely different, all companion characters are completely different for every class. This isn't speculation, it is confirmed fact. Just because it has recorded dialogue makes it a single player game, gotcha. Different people work on different things, voice actors are working seperately from programmers, that's common sense, bud. The game has a budget of 150 million dollars, plenty to do everything in an mmo plus voice overs. PvP has been shown in numerous videos, raids are already confirmed in-game. There is still a year in development. It has been confirmed all the core mechanics are already working, the next year is just adding more to the game. [Mod Edit]
well, i guess we'll be seeing lots of light sided jedi with twilek sidekicks, or smugglers with wookie sidekicks... most likely there will be a 'random name' generated at sidekick acquisition, the only issue really will be how good the AI is, and npc pathing, same as any other game really. Bit of a none issue if you ask me, my own concerns about the game really lay in other areas.
There is one huge difference between Bioware and Blizzard though.
The first never made multiplayer games with a PvP theme and extensive multi player PVE missions. While the latter published all kind of games in different sectors prior to their mmo. They also took ex MMORPG players as lead designers into their staff.
Bioware is RPG/Adventure. They never published RTS or huge on line game PvP mechanics or e-sports (like D2 - SC1).
That's not saying I don't like Bioware games (BG 1 -2 is an all time favorite and I dislike SC).
But I am not placing Bioware in the same technical league as Blizzard, because their focus was almost never outside the rpg/adventure experience.
It may seam odd, but games like DA or ME are further from MMORPG play (from a technical point of view) then you think. D2 stands a lot closer to mmorpg's on a technical view.
Its embarrassing when an NPC compliments you in an MMo, the only relevant, cool and epic things come from players whispering you Grtz, mate, we did it. copyright Pilnkplonk
Dude, just because a game has pvp in it does not mean that company has more experience making mmo's. Bioware also has numerous people working on the game from past mmo's. I'd say an rpg is closer to an mmo than a rts. And diablo 2 is much less close to an mmo than Dragon Age, seriously are you kidding me??? Even the combat in DA felt a bit mmo ish. (Not in a bad way) And from a technical point of view DA was more dice rolling numbers than D2 so you, again, are so very very wrong. And to say D2 had pvp mechanics is moronic. Unless just the act of being able to pvp is considered a mechanic. >.>
Read my post: from a technical point of view.
Servers? Coms? Responsive controls (in PvP)? Class balancing? Co-op modes? E-sports?
All things not needed in single player RPG's. You could chew out dozens of RPG games with simply one engine.
Its embarrassing when an NPC compliments you in an MMo, the only relevant, cool and epic things come from players whispering you Grtz, mate, we did it. copyright Pilnkplonk
May want to reread my edited post. And anyone can do servers and coms, again, just stupid. Responsive controls, well, mass effect was sure responsive, just because you aren't attacking another player means nothing. D2 "co-op" consisted of people acting seperately to attack different targets. Almost everything but standard rts battles in SC were player created. Yeah and Blizzard really shows they know what they are doing with class balancing o.O
Aaaah so we have another "king of the hill" here to tell us what can and cannot be called an mmo and he has some 2k posts to his credit so you'd best all believe thathe knows best, if he doesn't think of it as an mmo then you had all better fall right in line this is a SORPG (though I've never heard of that) maybe Bioware will see this post and realize the error they made and reclassify the game as such.......
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
So anyone who can do "servers" can create MMO's then... I could think about a billion features not included in standard single player games (ranging from player interaction tools to PvP timers, from critical CDT to an economy, from class balancing to coordinated group play, etc, ...)
The discussion was that Bioware covers one corner and did this pretty well. MMORPGs are a complete different mechanic though and they did not cover on line play - like Blizzard did - in their respective previous games.
And it shows by the different techniques they come up with (solo enhancing NPC's and personal "immersive" videos and voice overs).
Hardly important in an on line competitve and cooperative game of "players-on line" (which is 90% of mmorpg play).
Its embarrassing when an NPC compliments you in an MMo, the only relevant, cool and epic things come from players whispering you Grtz, mate, we did it. copyright Pilnkplonk
Nice job taking 1 of my 20 or so answers and disregarding the rest. Blizzard did not have experience in CDT or economy, or class balancing (Even now they can't do this) or coordinated group play... The companions are no different from wow hunter or warlock pets. Try again, this time use your brain plz.
Non-issue, there's people from all over the mmo genre working on the game, usually veterans of the genre.
Lots of SWG people and others.
Example: Damion Schubert (lead combat designer): Meridian 59, UO, Shadowbane...
And a lot of the original Kotor team as well + people who worked on other BW projects.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
While there are several game mechanics that I don't care for in this MMO, this issue isn't one of them.
I'm not chasing the holy grail of immersion and it won't bother me whether other folks have the same pet (companion, whatever) as I do.
I mean seriously, what does immersion matter when I'm standing around with 100 other Sith warriors or Jedi's with light sabers?
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
The game will succeed, for no other reason it HAS got innovations) even tho some refute that. Plus all the debates that go on and on about the unproven tidbits they give out show the interest everyone has in it.
I agree with you completely, except the end part. Even in books taking place in this time period there are TONS of jedi and sith, just not a lot of masters.
I think you people need to look at the history of Bioware, because while I agree BG was amazing, you're forgetting about NWN. You're also forgetting about the amazing server architecture that allowed so many other people to make custom servers/client and founded one of the best communities mmos had ever seen. Yeah lets all forget about NWN and how amazing the online server play was for that game, yeah its nice to have selective memory when it comes to talking points of experience.
Either way every game is an SRPG under the logic of solo, UO was a solo game because I could technically just do nothing but crafting and become successful, I didn't need other people to level. So yeah UO is a solo game, Sandbox games are solo games by the very defenition. The nature of sandbox is that you choose what you want to do, so I choose to solo Bam SRPG. Every mmo to date under said logic is an SRPG, there isn't a game around that isn't under said assumptions.
And who cares if you can't rename your companion, how many of you people actually RP on a hardcore basis to have so much concern over a name? Is it that important to your roleplaying that you need it renamed? Or is it an epeen thing about being unique? Who cares if there are other people with your companion from your class, how does that affect you, unless of course your rping?
You guys cry for some new features, and the story aspect and companion thing is new given that GW's didn't have a huge storyline with companions. If they made everyone unique, that would be too massive of scope, I think there was an article on here about why games fail, and one of the reasons was scope, so you want a game to have every person unique? Do you realize just how impossible that would be to make? Espescially with VA.
Also when quality voice acting, which adds to immersion is a problem for you, you need to grow a pair.