While listening to the recent
Developer Dispatch, we noticed a couple of interesting statements hidden within the broad generalizations and marketing lingo. In this article we are going to go over a few of the things said during the video, while we wait for a more high quality version to be available for visual analysis. As a note of caution, everything mentioned during this dissection is purely conjecture and speculation and should be treated as such.
"The stories that take place on Coruscant really introduce the player to the greater galaxy. They introduce the player to the roll of the Jedi in the greater galaxy, the roll of the Republic in the greater galaxy, the state of the Republic in the greater galaxy." 3:10-3:20
This particular quote sounds as though they are saying that Coruscant will be a hub that may separate two broad sections of the game. The first part of the game would be dealing with more internal planetary issues, such as what is happening on Ord Mantell or Tython, then, upon reaching Coruscant, you are introduced to the next part of the game that deals with the rest of the galaxy. Possibly being the dividing line between where you could start interacting with players from the other faction.
"You might be at the top of the planet where you see the skyline its very pretty, you see sun sets." 3:30-3:35
This particular quote may be revealing that there will be a day/night cycle, which could clear up an on going discussion on the official forums.
"As you travel further below the city, you might go down the first level down and it's a little bit dirtier. There's going to be a little bit more everyday travel." 3:35-3:45
Here we see a description of the area that could be where we will spend the majority of our time in while on Coruscant. This could end up being the area of the city world that will be equivalent to the cities in current MMOs. That is, a place where you spend your time shopping, crafting and interacting without fear of mobs or combat.
"You might be at the top of the planet where you see the skyline its very pretty, you see sun sets. As you travel further below the city, you might go down the first level down and it's a little bit dirtier. There's going to be a little bit more everyday travel. The next step might be where you are ending up in a say mob ruled area where patential at one time this planet was bombed, we all know that. Further down there's going to be complete gang warfare." 3:30-3:59
Here we have a much longer quote that includes the two previously stated. When taken as a whole, it's easy to speculate that Coruscant will be separated into 4 distinct levels, each with fully unique qualities, architecture, NPCs and enemies.
"One of the great things about Coruscant is that there is something for everybody. The socializers can hang out in the spaceport and the Galactic Senate and meet people as they come and go." 5:20-5:27
The big one that stands out here is how the spaceport and Galactic Senate are being referenced as social buildings. Looking into the MMOs past, and thinking of what locations are normally considered social hubs, we could make a reasonable guess as to what function these areas could have. The spaceport, being a location where goods enter and leave the planet, could very well be the auction house. While the Galactic Senate, being a focus of NPCs and Republic business, could be a heavy quest zone or possibly even a PVP quest area similar to the original battleground set up in
World of Warcraft.
Additionally, a
forum member named zechio noticed a few possible zones which could be areas visited within the levels of Coruscant and a slightly different take on what we might find in the areas.
They also mention 4 of the areas specifically.
The Works: Probably referring to water works. This is where all the power, water, sewage, etc. is handled. Probably some long lost stuff, mutants, crazy weird stuff.
Black Sun District: This is a gang area. I wonder if this mean all the area that the Black Sun claims, or if it's specifically their base or what not.
Senate District: Think this mostly speaks for itself.
Space Port: Interesting. A whole area for the space port. Somewhere for socializers to meet people as they come and go...interesting. I would imagine a bar, possibly an arena, maybe bounty hunter post. - zechio
Just as a reminder, everything covered in this post is pure speculation based off of information contained within the "Developer Dispatch - The Making of Coruscant". Nothing stated above should be considered anything more then conjecture.