Species & Character Creation

To be honest when I first saw these my first reaction was that they were fake. Whats the deal with the backgrounds anyway? I hope they aren't pre-determined 'cause that would be really lame.

probably predetermined like backgrounds in ME so the story is a little more personal

Sureshot wrote:

To be honest when I first saw these my first reaction was that they were fake. Whats the deal with the backgrounds anyway? I hope they aren't pre-determined 'cause that would be really lame.

Well the main point about this game is thats its so story driven for an MMO so I think they're going to produce multiple backstories to avoid the problem of everyone coming from the same place and at least differentiate them a bit. I dont think your ever going to get a story driven MMO like this that allows you to fully customize your players background it would be impossible to integrate into the story

Aye but I see it as a bit of a slap in the face for roleplayers who have already worked out their own backstories. So now we're all going to have the same companions AND the same backstories? Flippin' stupid if you ask me.

Sureshot wrote:

Aye but I see it as a bit of a slap in the face for roleplayers who have already worked out their own backstories. So now we're all going to have the same companions AND the same backstories? Flippin' stupid if you ask me.

My point for 6 months... I'm so fearing we'll get a Multiplayer RPG and not an MMO...

You could you know just pretend

Its just a trade off for a Bioware story though isn't it, they could have done it without the character having their own story but it wouldn'y be as immersive.

Well they could've just given the background of the mission or an NPC's story without filling in the gaps for our characters. I don't personally see the need for them filling in our characters story. Sure if it was classed based I can completely see that element of story from that perspective.

Sureshot wrote:

Well they could've just given the background of the mission or an NPC's story without filling in the gaps for our characters. I don't personally see the need for them filling in our characters story. Sure if it was classed based I can completely see that element of story from that perspective.

Exactly my point...

Every MMO has a "backstory" to it, even if its very minimal (like "you're a member of this race so this has happened in your past"), so its not unreasonable for BioWare to follow that trend and put their own spin on it. We already know that it SW:TOR follows many other MMO traditions (like 'training' or 'creche' areas) and this is just their way of doing it.

Also its likely that much of their style is going to follow on from what they have done in the past; right back to games like Baldurs gate and Neverwinter Nights they've had a choice of pre-determined back-histories to choose from, the real story comes in when the player takes over and starts the game.

As Priory has said, we are able to just 'pretend' as we have to do with any other MMO we RP in.

For example, I know that a Sith Inquisitor starts as a virtual slave on Korriban so I've left a space at the end of my Wiki so that I can tag in that Aleina will be on 'a mission to Korriban for the Falleen to infiltrate the Sith Order and collect data'. She'll arrive on the planet and pretend to be a nobody, acting like she's never been there and go along with what BioWare has in store as part of her own story.

Voila! one 'lvl 1' Sith Inquisitor in SW:TOR.

As Roleplayers and Gamers sure its an inconvienience, but little more than that - In all honesty this new information doesn't (personally) bother me at all - I was expecting them to run with it like this after playing ME, Dragon Age and ME2 recently.

I've actually been reading through some of them and most of them are pretty generic.

The Merc

You fought in wars across the Outer Rim, but the rules and regulations of a soldiers life never agreed with you.The only code you follow is your own.

Chiss Secret Police

On your conquered homeworld you quashed rebellions, fought terrorists and maintained order for the Empire. Now Imperial Intelligence wants you.

Outlaw

Never knew your parents (bit annoying that one as its a bit specific). Raised in the streets. Learned your skills from gang warfare. It's all about survival.

Rattataki Gladiator

Take as a prisoner in the clan wars of your homeworld, you were sold to the Hutts but survived the arena to escape and become your own boss.

I quite honestly don't care about game's story and background. My fear is that there will be no place left for OUR stories.

Indeed, Sureshot! Sound familiar?

MASS EFFECT 2

Spacer
'Both of your parents were in the Alliance military. Your childhood was spent on ships and stations as they transferred from posting to posting, never staying in one location for more than a few years. Following in your parents; footsteps, you enlisted at the age of eighteen.'

Selecting the Spacer Pre-service History for your character gives him or her a point bonus when receiving Paragon morality points.

Colonist
'You were born and raised on Mindoir, a small border colony in the Attican Traverse. When you were sixteen slavers raided Mindoir, slaughtering your family and friends. You were saved by a passing Alliance patrol, and you enlisted with the military a few years later.'

Selecting the Colonist Pre-service History for your character gives him or her partial point bonus when receiving Paragon or Renegade morality points.

Earthborn
'You were an orphan raised on the streets of the great megatropolises covering Earth. You escaped the life of petty crime and underworld gangs by enlisting with the Alliance military when you turned eighteen.'

DRAGON AGE:

* Human Noble: All human rogues and warriors belong to the noble house Cousland. This is one of the most powerful families in the land. However, even a privileged life can crumble in the face of betrayal.

* Magi: Human and elven mages are respectively from the Amell and Surana families. They spend all their childhoods studying the magic arts until it is time to undertake the Harrowing. This is a secret ritual where an apprentice spellcaster will either become a mage or disappear forever.

* City Elf: Elven rogues and warriors of the city are members of the Tabris family who are confined to the poorest quarter of the city of Denerim. When a local lord claims it his "right" to take a bride from this sector, racial tensions fuel a massacre.

* Dalish Elf: Elven rogues and warriors who life a proud but trying life of isolation. This Mahariel clan of the Dalish elves prefer to stay clear of humankind and their corruption. However, an encounter with and old relic of the Delish elves' past threatens to change their way of life.

* Dwarf Commoner: Dwarven rogues and warriors of the Brosca family are considered "casteless," this is the lowest rung in the dwarven society. Working for the local crime lord has always been the surest way to stay alive.

* Dwarf Noble: Dwarven rogues and warriors born into the royal family of Orzammar do not have it so easy. Dwarven politics are as ruthless as their battles and dwarven nobles witness first hand how cutthroat family greed can get.


You can see where I'm going with this....

I've added another one to my list as well: Rattataki Gladiator.

Don't really see how a little bit of flavour in a conversation every now and then will be a problem for Roleplayers. Since everyone is doing the same quests and following the same storyline (1 out of 8 anyway for the class stories) you're going to have to pretend you've never done that quest, had sex with that NPC or killed Revan anyway, so pretending what NPC Jimbob said about your home life in that one line of dialogue shouldn't be much of an issue.

Actually, Skursir's bio fits perfectly (well, more or less) in with The Merc's description. As Lunar said, they are pretty generic and so it shouldn't be hard fitting them into our backstories.

I don't give a Frisbee about the generic back story of my character. I'll just pick the most accurate scheme fitting his/her real RP past. Think how hard it would be to play strictly with in-game story and E.P.O.C.H. freelancers neutral story. I don't think it can be smoothly merged in every place, so (as I always do) I'll just stick to the RP supremation above BioWare scenario.

On the other hand that's one of the reasons why Leta is still active Imperial Agent. It just makes things go easy.

I used to ignore much of the game story in MMO since Ultima Online and Lineage 2 so it won't be a problem for me. I'm just wandering how much impact the back story will have on the actual character story. It would be nice to see something like Dwarf commoner/noble diversity from Dragon Age.

reguardless of how they handle it, it shouldn't really play that much into rp. Its not like you need to tell everyone your background; since most people you meet will just be randoms out in the galaxy that realisticly you probably wouldn't tell your past to. Then again since Rin's past is bad maybe i just see it as something too personal =x

Oh i just realised, the body types are preset (atm at least) what will happen to my short stumpy Jylan!!

I bet they stay as well becuase they have such intricate animations that actually interact so they'll need to be the same height :/

So whats everyones take on the next lot of species to be revealed? Now that we know they're heading down the near-human route I think all of these are possibilities:

Cathar
Togruta (these are bound to be playable)
Ubese (possible Bounty Hunter species?)
Zeltron
Falleen (they're actually more possible than Wookiees now, who would've thunk it?)
Chagrian (possible Sith class?)
Cerean (Republic aligned species?)

Don't know if you've seen this yet but it appears that the Rattataki is now a playable option for Sith Inquisitors: