Star Wars: The Old Republic Companions

IGN wrote:

Star Wars: The Old Republic Companions
From Chewie to Artoo, we've got new details on the game's companion characters.


Today BioWare's giving us an advance look at the first details on the companion characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic. BioWare's provided us with an intriguing write-up that's going up on The Old Republic website tomorrow. To make things even sweeter, BioWare's creative director and lead designer James Ohlen consented to answer some of our questions.

Every Star Wars hero needs a companion. Han had Chewie, Luke had R2-D2 -- even Jabba had the cackling monkey lizard Salacious B. Crumb. These characters compliment a player's strengths or weaknesses, and provide company for the epic journey you will inevitably undertake. Whether they're combative, friendly, flirtatious, or even just good for a laugh, companions always contribute to your adventure.

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. The Companions run the gamut from intelligent droids to bizarre aliens, from an honorable princess to a roguish pirate, and each class has a completely unique set to of Companions.

While traveling the galaxy, your Companion Characters will provide commentary, information on plots and directions to points of interest-- all from their own unique perspectives. Companion Characters may act as your conscience, and try to influence your decisions. In turn, you will influence them, and change how they develop as the story progresses. Based on your choices, some Companions will become your closest friends, others may become your lovers, and a few may even become your enemies!


Each companion fits an archetype from the Star Wars universe.
You will be introduced to your first Companion Character early in your adventure. But as you become more seasoned, more will rally to your cause. As you travel with your Companions and get to know them better, they will not only become more powerful but they will also introduce you to a unique series of quests and rewards. Furthermore, you will be able to enhance your companions by equipping them with various gear.

As your team grows and develops, new options, strategies, and tactics will become available. When you're headed to "The Tomb" on Belsavis, who will you bring to watch your back and help out the rest of your group? Do you bring the hard-as-nails soldier who will help keep your enemies' attention off of your group, the gifted battlefield medic who can help keep everyone alive, or do you bring your ever-faithful Astromech whose computer skills may be the only hope for completing the mission? These are just some of the choices you will make while you and your Companions roam the galaxy in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

-- BioWare


IGNPC: Companions have been part of BioWare games from Mincs to Liara. How has the role or design of companions evolved over the years? How will The Old Republic improve on the existing companion systems? What have you learned about players' expectations for the companions?

James Ohlen: Companions have evolved a lot since the days of Minsc and Baldur's Gate. In Baldur's Gate the companion characters we created were limited to voice over barks and a little bit of story. In Baldur's Gate 2 we expanded that significantly, adding the ability for players to get to know his companion through intricate conversation trees, companion centered quest lines and romances. Occasionally we wouldn't have companions as part of our initial design (Neverwinter Nights and Jade Empire were examples of that), but we'd always add them back because companions had become such a staple of our games. In fact, Mass Effect 2 has a storyline that is focused primarily on the collection of companion characters.

With Star Wars: The Old Republic we had to solve for the fact that this is the first Bioware (MMO)RPG that is entirely real time. All of our previous RPGs allow the player to pause the game. We have had to approach how a player controls his companion much differently than before.

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: How flexible are the companions' story arcs? Are they merely scripted to provide a solid context for the player's own moral choices or will the player have an opportunity to change a companion's goals and attitudes?

James Ohlen: Players can change his companion's attitudes and sometimes even his moral leaning. It is dependant on who the companion is and what kind of person the player is role-playing as. Some companions can be twisted to the darkside of the Force and others can be redeemed. Some companions can become stronger and more independent or be beaten down until they are subservient. This is done through a system that we are tentatively calling the Affection system. It's loosely based on the Dragon Age affection system and allows the player to change his companion's attitude through his actions, words and even through gifts.

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.


All companions will have appropriate combat options.
IGNPC: How do you determine which types of companions work best for each class and each story arc? Will the different classes have the same range of companions? Will Troopers have fewer or more combat companions than, say, imperial agents? Can you tell us how different character types might work with the same companion type?

James Ohlen: Each character class gets his own stable of unique companion characters. All of the companions available to a class are useful in combat. The companions have been built to complement a class, so a class with tank options like the Sith Warrior isn't going to have a bunch of tank companions as it would be redundant.

IGNPC: Who have been your favorite companions from past BioWare games?

James Ohlen: I could give the standard answer of Minsc, Boo and HK-47, but I'll go with something different. From way back I would say my favorite companion was Viconia. She had a long and convoluted development history, and the fact that she became the most popular romance in Baldur's Gate 2 was a relief.

My favorite recent companion is Alistair from Dragon Age. The concept for Alistair is a little bland and unoriginal. He's also competing against the player to be the 'hero' of the story (and players hate that). But Dave Gaider (lead writer of Dragon Age) created a personality for Alistair that worked really well. The voice acting was also phenomenal, so I found myself liking Alistair more than I ever thought I would.

IGN

Jokoro will be glad to hear that we will have droids as companions, at least. There's not a lot of information on whether we'll be able to have more than one on the field at a time, though it's suggested. Good shout, Nord.

Yeah good find

Excellent find Nord! I've been looking forward to a decent article on how Companions work. Let's hope we get a FULL lowdown on what type of companions are available for each class and what they bring to the table.

EDIT:

Never thought I'd see a Jedi and a Trandoshan working together....

I hope it will not be a MUST-HAVE but a possibility... Because I don't see the point of companion when you can group up with real folks ^^'

Soude wrote:

I hope it will not be a MUST-HAVE but a possibility... Because I don't see the point of companion when you can group up with real folks ^^'

I think part of the point of the companion is as a storytelling tool and a mechanic to give you info on locs; a kind of tour-guide.

The Article wrote:

While traveling the galaxy, your Companion Characters will provide commentary, information on plots and directions to points of interest...

Ohlen mentions also that companions will fill particular roles in the party, such as tank, healer and DPS. As I understand it, they will be used to fill in the gaps where player characters are unavailable.

The Partisan wrote:

Ohlen mentions also that companions will fill particular roles in the party, such as tank, healer and DPS. As I understand it, they will be used to fill in the gaps where player characters are unavailable.

A similar system was in place for Guild Wars, though these are much better - they're actual characters, not just bots. (Pray the AI is better than in Guild Wars, as well.)

I've been really excited about the companions since their reveal. Even though they're not actually considered "Pets" i'd bet my bottom dollar that they have a similar game mechanic whilst actually playing, which to me is a plus as I absolutely love pet classes (Lore-Master & Captain from LotRO spring to mind). I think having the addition of them guide you through your storyline is a fantastic touch on BioWare's part. I just hope that they're ALL individual with their own names. otherwise it'll break immersion for a lot of us RPers. I can't think of anything worse than bumping into Tando for example and saying "Hey, whos your friend? She looks just like my good pal Vette here!" and him responding with "Hang on a sec, my friends called Vette too....wow how uncanny?"

Yeah that could be a big problem, imagine 5 players with 5 exact copies of the same person hmmm

PrioryJK wrote:

Yeah that could be a big problem, imagine 5 players with 5 exact copies of the same person hmmm

Aye if that were the case then I think I'd vote against companions being included in the game.

If they don't have a randomised collection of features/hairdos/(ehem)measurements then they're not giving us enough credit (geddit?). And featured named companions work in single player games, but they'll surely have random name generators for companions in an MMO.

I have faith...

I would agree but as everthing is voice acted they would have to make every bit of diologue nameless?

Or have a computer synth making the name and jarringly inserting it in to conversation

They might just randomise the look or make them unequipable in certain areas ie cites towns etc so that only the your companions are shown, or make them invisible just to the player everywhere so you will see yours but not anyones elses or replace everyone elses with random models......

I think we're getting the wrong idea here. In all of the explanations of in-game companions, they talk of a certain character. Their name, though, must just be the name presented to them in their gameplay experience. I'm certain that the stories will be the same, though the models and names will change. I remember that in Kotor, the player character's name was never mentioned, except for when a non-basic speaking character (i.e. Zaalbar) would do so through subtitles.

Aye, have a look back at the previous BioWare games and how they handled "Companions"

Mass Effect 2

Miranda Lawson.
Jack (Subject Zero).
Mordin Solus.
Thane Krios.

Dragon Age Origins
Morrigan, witch of the wilds.
Alistair, the grey warden.
Leliana, the bard.
Shale, the golem.

Jade Empire
Dawn Star.
Sagacious Zu.
Kang the Mad.
Black Whirlwind.

Mass Effect
Tali'Zorah nar Rayya.
Garrus Vakarian.
Jeff "Joker" Moreau.
Liara T'Soni.

Not forgetting KOTOR of course!

BioWare are all about the individual, memorable companions. OK, so they'll probably be a 'bit' less individual seeing as they will have to make thousands of them, but to that end I think Hare's suggestion of a generator is most likely. I can't see them being exactly "cookie cutter" companions.

The Partisan wrote:

I'm certain that the stories will be the same, though the models and names will change.

That's my take on how companions will work too.

I'm going to disagree with Harewood , looking at her model and her image in the Holonet here they look very similar and she's named. She could be referred to as the Vette companion and the name change but I dont think so, I think they just employ a way to make other players companions invisible to you or replace their models with others so you can still see the companion just instead of being a hot Twe'lik it'll be a wookie or sand person



Woot look a Devaronian

I see where you're coming from PJK, and it's a good point. I didn't think the characters in the Holonet Bio section would be companions, but rather the more prominent NPCs. You could be right though, esp reading the Sith Warrior update page...

Anyone else a little concerned that all the popular non-human (or non-near-human) races we wanted to play seem to be companions?

Trandoshans, Twi'leks, Wookies....

To quote a certain smuggler...

"I've got a bad feeling about this..."

Harewood wrote:

I see where you're coming from PJK, and it's a good point. I didn't think the characters in the Holonet Bio section would be companions, but rather the more prominent NPCs. You could be right though, esp reading the Sith Warrior update page...

I dunno to me this looks as if Vette is a companion (look at the bottom of the page). All I can hope is that there are literally thousands of them but it's starting to look unlikely.

Lunarwolf wrote:

To quote a certain smuggler...

"I've got a bad feeling about this..."

You and me both, brah!

Yeah, I think people's fears about races and companions may be well founded after seeing those new pages. My unshakeable faith in BioWare's expertise is beginning to become a little shakey...

Lunarwolf wrote:

Anyone else a little concerned that all the popular non-human (or non-near-human) races we wanted to play seem to be companions?

Trandoshans, Twi'leks, Wookies....

To quote a certain smuggler...

"I've got a bad feeling about this..."

I think I mentioned this a while ago

We still might get them, the Twel'iks look very similar to the humans so they could be done and that emotion and voice sync vid showed other aliens, but I'm seceptical about Trandoshans or any species with a big speech difference to basic, also I think modelling of armour is going to factor in as well, Lekku will not fit in helmets (PJK is aware he's repeating himself)

I also notice that the Jedi's Trandoshan Companion also has a name (Qyzen Fess) as does the Astromech Droid (T7).

I can't help but feel a little duped by BioWare in all fairness although I do see how they've got around it when questioned. First off they told us that all companions would be "unique" but what they failed to state was that they were customizable only by gear. Things like naming our own companion and having our own personal buddy with us on our journey look highly unlikely now. A real kick in the groin for RPers I'd say.

All fair points.

One thing to consider though; we've been waiting for this game for some time and have pretty high expectations, but we have to remember its an MMO, not a standard RPG.

What we get at launch is not trully representitive of the game as a whole; its just a starting block. For fear of over-quoting WoW, that game is pretty different than when it came out of beta in 2005. With their next expansion (Cataclysm) they're even going to re-create a lot of the Core game world.

The point being that MMORPGs aren't static; just because we can't play that Wookie Jedi Knight at launch, doesn't mean we never will - just that we might have to wait for an expansion.
Considering the huge amount of work BW/LA are putting into the Core release, I get the feeling we'll have plenty to keep us occupied until we're scrabbling for TOR: EP2 or whatever.

That is, assuming they don't destroy the game with an expansion, SWG-style...

Yes, but I still agree with SS. They're seemingly shoehorning their tried and tested single player companion system into the vastly different MMO world and I for one am not impressed.