Here's over 7 minutes of new footage all about the companions for the different classes. This game needs to be released as soon as possible because it looks like the perfect MMO for me.

BioWare usually does this aspect of their games really well. Looking good!

HYPE

HYPE

HYPE

HYPE

Fine... I guess I'll get it, then...

FUCK... REALLY?

Nothing really new in that video, but I'm still as exited as I was before. The characters are what I love about Bioware games and with so many in TOR, if even a few of them are as amazing as the characters in ME and DA then I'll love the game. I'm also really exited about being able to customize the companions since I like customizing and in previous Bioware games you could only customize the player character.

This is my far and beyond my favourite piece of media related to TOR. This makes me so happy!

Ahhhh

I've said it a million times before but here it goes again:

In a genre that is literally defined by the fact that you can interact with hundreds of players that are controlled by actual human beings, why the fuck would you want to put a focus on AI companions.

It just seems insane to me.

ooh fuck a jawa sidekick!
Damn I wish I could play this.

@Brodehouse: Then why make it an MMO with a monthly fee?

@coakroach:

By that logic pets and minions shouldn't exist ether. Companions are just pets or minions that are available to every class, have some actual story, and just more in depth in general.

@UnrealDP: I beg to differ.

Minions and pets are tools used by specific classes for combat, they have little to no impact on story and are more about class function.

The companions on the other hand dont improve the players class, they reduce the need for players to interact with other players by fulfilling class roles completely (as well as an AI is capable of doing I suppose).

Which is great for a single player RPG but just seems ridiculous in an MMO where your team members, friends, trading partners and bizarre sexual partners are all fulfilled by actual people.

@coakroach said:

@UnrealDP: I beg to differ.

Minions and pets are tools used by specific classes for combat, they have little to no impact on story and are more about class function.

The companions on the other hand dont improve the players class, they reduce the need for players to interact with other players by fulfilling class roles completely (as well as an AI is capable of doing I suppose).

Which is great for a single player RPG but just seems ridiculous in an MMO where your team members, friends, trading partners and bizarre sexual partners are all fulfilled by actual people.

You're being incredibly assumptive eh? I haven't read up on every single class and their skill trees, but i'm almost positive that mmo's are made to have all their classes made and shaped to play off each other, so i'm pretty sure KOTR isn't any different yeah? Saying that a companion character is simply not a tool makes no sense since that is entirely what they are, also saying that companions are just a way of not interacting with other player is incredibly close minded and saying such a statement is really under cutting Bioware and their incredible amounts of talent. Are you saying that you have so little faith in Bioware that they can't handle something like this and they'll simply keep it as shallow as you're suggesting?

By your logic shooters shouldn't have bots or a single player simply because they're known for being social experiences. From your perspective there shouldn't even be AI in games if their role could be played by another player. How can a genre progress with your kind of thinking?

@coakroach said:

@UnrealDP: I beg to differ.

Minions and pets are tools used by specific classes for combat, they have little to no impact on story and are more about class function.

The companions on the other hand dont improve the players class, they reduce the need for players to interact with other players by fulfilling class roles completely (as well as an AI is capable of doing I suppose).

Which is great for a single player RPG but just seems ridiculous in an MMO where your team members, friends, trading partners and bizarre sexual partners are all fulfilled by actual people.

Yeah. no...I've tried doing group quests with just my companion and it went horribly.

@UnrealDP: Shooters dont have the words 'Massively multiplayer' attached to their name.

And while a comp stomp in a shooter or any other multiplayer game can be fun, its usually a lot more interesting to put resources into creating things like horde mode or zombie mode as opposed to swapping real players with less engaging bot counterparts.

I dont see the companion system as a concept as being necessarily poor from a gameplay and story perspective, that will only happen if Bioware majorly cock up the dialogue and story lines (which considering their pedigree, is fairly unlikely). I just think they're putting their focus in the wrong area for creating a compelling MMORPG as opposed to a regular RPG.

While the game looks far from perfect (heck i'm not gonna play it), Tera looks like its going to introduce some really interesting concepts into the MMORPG genre.

The player politics system looks like something that treats the game as a society as opposed to a game, Now THAT is something I can get behind.

A single player RPG is about you and your choices and your decisions, A co op shooter is about you and your friends choices and decisions.

I would love to see an MMO thats about everybody's decisions.

@coakroach said:

@UnrealDP: Shooters dont have the words 'Massively multiplayer' attached to their name.

And while a comp stomp in a shooter or any other multiplayer game can be fun, its usually a lot more interesting to put resources into creating things like horde mode or zombie mode as opposed to swapping real players with less engaging bot counterparts.

I dont see the companion system as a concept as being necessarily poor from a gameplay and story perspective, that will only happen if Bioware majorly cock up the dialogue and story lines (which considering their pedigree, is fairly unlikely). I just think they're putting their focus in the wrong area for creating a compelling MMORPG as opposed to a regular RPG.

While the game looks far from perfect (heck i'm not gonna play it), Tera looks like its going to introduce some really interesting concepts into the MMORPG genre.

The player politics system looks like something that treats the game as a society as opposed to a game, Now THAT is something I can get behind.

A single player RPG is about you and your choices and your decisions, A co op shooter is about you and your friends choices and decisions.

I would love to see an MMO thats about everybody's decisions.

Tell me to my face that FPS shooters aren't synonyms with multiplayer and i'll laugh in your face. You also pretending that because Black ops has bots it doesn't have spec ops mode or something more interesting which is incredibly off the money. I'm not saying bots don't take any resources i'm just saying having bots is like having subtitles, adding them will take a bit of work, but its not like having subtitles means you can't have a German version of the dialogue.

You're judging a concept in a video game that has looked nothing but interesting and inoffensive and yet the game only now got a solid release date. It is very early to judge and be as critical and narrow minded as you're being. The MMORPG genre is made up of mechanics and ideas from RPGs, so taking in a new and widely successful gameplay mechanic is bad? Again this game hasn't been released and your already acting like an angry villager with your burning torch heading after Frankenstein simply because he is something different that you've never seen before or at least never seen in this town.

@CL60 said:

@coakroach said:

@UnrealDP: I beg to differ.

Minions and pets are tools used by specific classes for combat, they have little to no impact on story and are more about class function.

The companions on the other hand dont improve the players class, they reduce the need for players to interact with other players by fulfilling class roles completely (as well as an AI is capable of doing I suppose).

Which is great for a single player RPG but just seems ridiculous in an MMO where your team members, friends, trading partners and bizarre sexual partners are all fulfilled by actual people.

Yeah. no...I've tried doing group quests with just my companion and it went horribly.

CL60 here has even tried the mechanic and from his post you can tell that the companion functions differently from the regular player character and everyone has one, so they are simply the equivalent of more helpful pets. Also your opinions on choice are rather off topic from this companion discussion, but let me just say that KOTR incorporates everyones choice and your choice. It's not like you can't have both in this case, but like i said that is off topic, so i won't go any further into details.

@UnrealDP:

Yes I fully admit to being skeptical about a game's quality before its release. I know i'm a regular Mao Zedong.

I'm skeptical because I personally think the focus on NPC dialogue and interaction isn't a good direction for an MMO.

I'm also skeptical for a whole host of other reasons but they're mainly based off of the footage and feedback of an incomplete game, so they aren't necessarily valid.

Are you ok with this?

@coakroach said:

@UnrealDP:

Yes I fully admit to being skeptical about a game's quality before its release. I know i'm a regular Mao Zedong.

I'm skeptical because I personally think the focus on NPC dialogue and interaction isn't a good direction for an MMO.

I'm also skeptical for a whole host of other reasons but they're mainly based off of the footage and feedback of an incomplete game, so they aren't necessarily valid.

Are you ok with this?

Of course i'm fine with it for it is an opinion, be it one with a shaky premise. People are supposed to be skeptical of a game before its release, in fact that's the basis of this site, but your entire argument is "Ahhh it's new and different!" which is just not an opinion i can get behind. From what i can gather you just don't like story in MMOs or something, which is fine, but don't assume simply because there is story there isn't good gameplay/whatever you are looking for. I have faith in Bioware and its ability to have a good game with good story and good gameplay. Simply saying "I'm not used to companions in my MMOs, so obviously they're a bad thing that will subtract from social interaction and gameplay even though there has been nothing to make me think this way other than assumptions" is a very negative way of looking at things.

Lets just agree to disagree eh? This coversation/argument is going no where.