In an interview today at Gamespot, BioWare game director James Ohlen answered some questions about the Star Wars: The Old Republic companion system and reveals some new details. Below I’ve listed all the juicy details for you and after the jump you can watch a new developers video talking more about companions.
- Companions can be customized in two ways, by either changing the gear they wear or from a companion customization screen where they can change skin color, hair and facial features.
- Companions can level up, be assigned a class and gain a full set of abilities, however advanced classes will not be available.
- Players will be able to modify the artificial intelligence of their companion on the fly. A high AI level means the companions will micromanage themselves.
- Companions will not be able to participate in warzones or operations.
When asked about the progress of SWTOR, Ohlen had this to say.
We’re getting really close. You can play the game from start to finish. You can play the end game content, including flashpoints and operations. All the core game systems are in. Right now, we’re making some balance changes to the space game, to the itemization progression, and to the leveling curve. We’re improving enemy AI across the game. We’re polishing late-game quests. But mostly we’re focused on bugs. We want the game to hit the high standards set by previous BioWare games, and that means providing our fans with a polished experience.
Hopefully that means we’ll be hearing about a release date soon. The SWTOR developers video is below.
I love how they say they’re not like pets, but if you leave out the whole story part (which admittedly is pretty huge) and focus on the actual gameplay, they are exactly like pets. Pets that can craft.
And the guy that says he has never seen in a MMO the ability to customize which skills the companions use and which they don’t, has obviously never played MMOs. :D Take WoW for example… you can turn on and off the auto-casting of any pet skill so basically he’ll never use it unless you press it yourself. How is this different?
Anyway, the crafting part has potential and it is indeed a nice addition. The same goes for the apparently very complex storyline built around each companion, although this should be more like an extra goodie and not a main game feature in my opinion.
If anything, the romance option will slow down the trend of people playing characters of different gender than them. Unless some straight guys out there enjoy having a huge brute following them around and flirting with them. :P
Crap game unless it goes F2P otherwise it has nothing new to offer.
Wanted to point out… You said interview with Gamestop, but is this an interview with “Gamespot”?
Just a friendly correction. Aside from that, a great game, and it sounds like it’s coming along great! Hope to keep seeing great progress with this game.
Thanks Alex :)
Pets in wow all have the same abilities depending on the type of pet….So ya they are not like wow pets at all. That is the difference abilities may vary and the same pet will not be exactly like the others like wow.