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12/3/09 4:08 AM -
Companion Characters 
by Dover
, posted December 3rd, 2009 at 4:08 AM
Over the years, MMOs have replicated many aspects of single player RPGs, and BioWare is continuing that trend with the addition of companion characters. A hallmark of BioWares previous titles, these characters are designed to develop story lines and assist in combat. During the presentation in San Francisco we were given two examples of the type of companions we will see in The Old Republic.
 
A Brief Warning: There are a few very minor spoilers in this article for the Sith Inquisitor. If you do not want to know anything about the Sith Inquisitors story or companions, you may want to skip to the bottom, after the interview.

This first companion we were told about is named Kim Vaal, a Dashade who can join up with the Sith Inquisitor. This companion is a melee focused fighter with the unique racial ability to soak up force power from enemy force users. His ability to neutralize force user abilities makes Kim Vaal the perfect companion for an Inquisitor who plans on hunting Jedi. This also allows the Inquisitor to take a less active melee role, for those who choose to stand away from combat.

Kim Vaal

The second example they showed us is Xalek, a Kaleesh force user who has been crafted in the image of Darth Maul. In an interesting story reveal, this character becomes the apprentice to the Sith Inquisitor at some time during the main story line. Unlike the more tank-ish abilities utilized by Kim Vaal, Xalek is pure DPS; his combat abilities greatly augment the Inquisitors damage output.

Xalek

These two companions allow a player to use different play styles with the Sith Inquisitor. Do you like being the the middle of combat and want extra DPS? There is a companion for you. Would you rather stand back and let a companion take the brunt of the damage? There is a companion for you too.

Jake Neri and Blaine Christine reassured us that players will encounter many different companion characters, allowing them to find the optimal compliment to their play style. They also pointed out that every class will have their own separate, unique companions; meaning that Kim Vaal and Xalek will only be available to Sith Inquisitors. Once the presentation was over we were able to talk with Jake Neri and we asked him to expand on the companions and what they mean to players.


Dover: Speaking of companions, we were able to see a couple examples of how companions can go along with a different class. One of the examples was a melee companion that went along with the Sith Inquisitor.

Sado: That sucked force powers away from the user.

Dover: Right, so it kinda supplies the frontline role so the Inquisitor can fall back. And then another example was a melee guy based off of Darth Maul. So, as we look at the rest of the classes, is there a feeling a companion is meant to supplement a specific class to make sure it is able solo throughout the entire game? How do companions work along with the classes?

Jake Neri: We have to make sure companions work and we have to make sure people that don't want to have companions have a fun experience. What we have to do is provide options for you as a player to make sure you can customize your play style the way you want. It is really simple. We talked about it a lot today, but we feel each one of these classes has things they are inherently strong at and the companion should provide a different variation on that game play style.

I think you saw Kim Vaal as the Dashade character for the Inquisitor that you were talking about. His main cool feature is that he is a big guy; he has a big giant sword, and he will keep the heat off you so to speak but he is also able to neutralize force power.

It can be very useful in a situation where you only got a couple of people, you're going in and damn, I cant get through this because that Jedi has insane force power Well, now you have a companion that might be able help you through that. And maybe you just like playing with him, he is fun, and he has a cool story as well.

That is the other thing about our companions: each one has a unique story. Each one allows you to betray or romance or all sorts of crazy things and he just one of those guys in your play experience.

The other one we were trying to show there was if you had a situation where you were wanting to play down a lighter healing tree or things that do not do as much damage, now you have a companion that can do a lot of damage quickly. Maybe he has some cooldowns associated with that. In a situation where hey, that's just the way I like to play now I have a companion to offset that.

When trying to work that into a group, if you're in a group on Friday night and you guys both want to play your Inquisitors, but damn, there are tons of giant beasts out there your trying to fight. Well, now you have a couple of companions you can use to customize the experience and you don't have to go looking for the right group. You have some extra tools at your disposal to get through the situation. That is what were trying to do with companions and I think that answers your question.


During the interview we realized that BioWare plans on using companion characters to solve the looking for tank/healer problem seen in other MMOs. This should come as good news to anyone who has had a gaming night ruined because of a missing class. This will also allow soloers and small teams to retain a level of autonomy if they wish to play by themselves.

Unfortunately we weren't able to learn many more concrete facts about companion characters. However, based off everything we saw, there are a few points we do feel comfortable speculating about. We got the feeling that you would be restricted to having a single active companion at any one point in time, however you will most likely have a larger pool to draw from. It was also implied that companions will be able to be active in all forms of PVE play, be it solo or grouped, in both open world and flashpoints; we don't feel comfortable speculating about PVP play.


It does appears that BioWare intends for your choice in companion, or lack there of, to be an integral part of building your character; possibly as important as your own characters skill path. When coupled with the possibility of romance and betrayal story lines, its easy to see exactly how complex this system will be in The Old Republic. We cant wait to learn more about companions, because if any team can pull off this RPG aspect in an MMO, we are fairly certain BioWare can.
 
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30 Comments
Comment by Darth Hater Episode 15 &# made on December 16th, 2009 at 3:10pm
[...] - Impressions of class design (class paths related trees) - Possible Planets - Impact of Companions on grouping - Things that must not be repeated from WoW (questing, achievements, PVE, PVP) - Things [...]
 
Comment by roscoe1 made on December 13th, 2009 at 9:48pm
a wookie companion character for the smuggler would be so awesome
 
Comment by Deidare made on December 12th, 2009 at 3:38pm
It’s a good sign when you guys said that kim Vaal has a "racial" ability, that could mean player races would too. I just love choosing between races and seeing all the racial abilities.
 
Comment by dalak made on December 7th, 2009 at 1:07pm
DDO implemented this to a much lesser degree. It actually works remarkably well. However, it definitely pulls the community in a different direction when you don't force them to group out of necessity. It hasn't bothered me because I have a community to play with most times. However, I'm sure there will be times when grouping is a necessity and some classes may become left out because companions already fill their roles. I look forward to seeing how they implement it.
 
Comment by Deidare made on December 5th, 2009 at 10:33pm
That’s interesting, different Campion characters for every class, now that’s cool. And it appears that each character has their own stories behind themselves as well. A sign that BW is doing a great job! I wonder at what level, or areas, you'd meet a champion character. Whether their spread throughout all different levels or not.

I'm predicting however that once you get a companion you'd keep it in a "stable" so to speak (like Wow’s hunter's pets). Obvious as it may be, I never considered it til now. However how switching your companions that you’d want to have out for another is beyond me, and where would they stay? Certainly couldn't be a stable (well I think that Kim Vaal dude would have a fine time there ;) ) Maybe a bar or something on Nal Hutt, maybe different things on different planets. We’ll see.
 
Comment by chronium made on December 6th, 2009 at 11:57am
They will be stored in your personal freighter that you use to travel to each planet. Like the Ebon Hawk in the Kotor games but I wonder if they'll give us different models of ships in the character creation section to give players more unique options.
 
Comment by Deidare made on December 7th, 2009 at 7:54pm
Hmm, I wonder whether this can be accessed at any time (in a non RPG sense) of if youll have to visit it at a certain area. And if this area would be closed off from other players such as an instance to where only you and your party members will see your ships. So many questions.
 
Comment by Kevin made on December 5th, 2009 at 9:00am
Well sure there might be plenty of Sith inquisitors with tank companions, but so what. Its like getting upset every time you run into another human. Just think of it as there being plenty of Kaleesh or whatever. Not to mention from the way it sounds, customization will be a huge part of this game. So you're probably going to be seeing lots of companions, but dressed differently, or maybe with tattoos.. etc.
 
Comment by LiTo made on December 4th, 2009 at 8:56pm
MMO? Companions? wtf?
Sorry but in my opinion MMO is all about playing with other players not NPC's. Companies suck. If I have to spend time learning about my companies. Learn how to use their skills. Learn how to level them. Blah. I don't care. I want to focus on my character and play together with other people. I don't want to have "Heroes" likes in Guild Wars.
 
Comment by RogueJedi86 made on December 4th, 2009 at 9:12pm
LiTo didn't you play both KotOR games? The companions are like the party members in them, not that bad. I'm open to it. You see people wanting Innovation in the MMO industry, but when an MMO innovates, people still complain, like you're doing LiTo. Just give BioWare the benefit of a doubt here. They know what they're doing.
 
Comment by Deidare made on December 5th, 2009 at 10:03pm
I agree with Rogue, but BW has also said (this is not an exact quote) "Hey, you don't have to use your companion characters, but when you need another person for your flashpoint, or need help getting you quest done, you can choose to get your companion out." So you will have companions, but you never really need one out at any time.
 
DH Team
Comment by sado made on December 4th, 2009 at 9:07pm
Well from what Sean has said in the past, you will have that option of playing without them. We just don't exactly know it what capacity he was referencing.
 
DH Team
Comment by Zoidberg made on December 4th, 2009 at 9:55pm
To bounce off of what sado is saying, think of Jade Empire companions. They can be fun and provide some benefits, but it is entirely possible to play the game without ever grouping with one.
 
Comment by Raithnor made on December 3rd, 2009 at 1:51pm
*throws pokeball* Xalek! I choose you! XD

Now that's out of my system. I like the idea. Even *if* the companion had no customization I could see a group of Sith Inquisitors switching to different companions to fill the various party gaps. I like the fact that BioWare is putting a priority on customization to keep the game fresh looking.

Playing City of Heroes I've seen the difference in a team when a character drops. Sometimes it doesn't amount to much, sometimes it makes the game twice as difficult to play without reducing the difficulty. What annoys me is the second case happens more often with people I play with regularly as opposed to random PuGs.
 
Comment by aj made on December 3rd, 2009 at 9:57am
That companion standing next to the Sith Inquisitor he looks like General Grevious in the face area.
 
Comment by Fedaykin made on December 3rd, 2009 at 11:22am
"Grievous, born as Qymaen jai Sheelal, was the cyborg Supreme Commander of the Droid Army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems for most of the Clone Wars. Grievous was originally a Kaleesh from the planet Kalee"

Have a look AJ: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Grievous

Basically what you're looking at is an un-pimped Grievous. Rather well spotted in my opinion!
 
Comment by aj made on December 3rd, 2009 at 12:28pm
Thats awsome thank you makes me wanna play the Sith Inquisitor even more now that we get our own Grievous.☺
 
Comment by Deidare made on December 5th, 2009 at 9:41pm
Why own grievous, when you could play as him!? I hope kaleesh become a playable race, but still I take a grievous partner!
 
DH Team
Comment by Dover made on December 3rd, 2009 at 10:00am
they are the same species ;-)
 
Comment by Zed made on December 3rd, 2009 at 8:08am
I have one question.

How the heck these companions can be "unique", if there will be dozens of them? Pf, what I'm saying. Hundreds of them. Hundreds of Xalexs running with their masters and what - they supposed to be indivuduals and unique? Inquisitor meets Inquisitor and they have the same companion, with the same name, same story, same character... That's... Stupid?
 
Comment by chronium made on December 3rd, 2009 at 9:40am
The name (but won't be if they say the name in the dialogue) and character model can be randomized so that everyone does have a unique character. However it would be way to much work to make the stories unique but they are also apart of the main story so making them unique would be pointless as well.
 
Comment by Roflmywaffles made on December 3rd, 2009 at 8:59am
Each companion has there own powers,story lines and beliefs.I you get a soft compaion for example and then you go kill a town full of people he will view you less as a friend and more of master , he probly wont like you as much either.
 
Comment by Raptor made on December 3rd, 2009 at 6:23am
Any info on the last picture, Hutta Group? It looks like a Sith Warrior choking a NPC, with a Jedi Knight or Consular and a Trooper in the background. Of course, they probably just put random characters together for a picture and there isn't any information to be had.
 
Comment by Deidare made on December 5th, 2009 at 4:18pm
Yeah it looks like open world pvp Raptor, a good sign for things to come if you ask me!
 
Comment by smugglerfrtyto made on December 4th, 2009 at 7:33am
That looks more like a Sith Warrior and a Bounty Hunter to me. The Jedi is probaly an NPC attacking the Warrior.
 
Comment by Deidare made on December 5th, 2009 at 4:18pm
Nah Smuggler that’s a trooper, and a Jedi knight. It looks more like a screen shot of open world pvp to me, rather than a bunch of npc's (now the guy who’s gettin coked is an npc). But it looks like the sith is about to get ganked, and doesn’t even know it ;)
 
Comment by Baghwan made on December 3rd, 2009 at 6:19am
In typically Bioware fashion companion parting will have to be horrible, I would expect no less!
 
Comment by desj16 made on December 3rd, 2009 at 4:46am
Love all the updates. Great work! Glad to see so much thought being put into companion characters, since they always played a huge role in previous BW games.

Were you able to learn anything about any companion customization (i.e. name, appearance, abilities, etc.) or will all Sith Inquisitors be running around with clone Kim Vaal companions?
 
Comment by Team made on December 3rd, 2009 at 4:23am
awesome. no need to get stuck on a group quest because you can't find anyone to do it with
 
Comment by Deidare made on December 5th, 2009 at 9:34pm
Couldn’t agree more. BW shall destroy the accursed "LF more..." spam! That’s a good thing, although, sometimes you’ll still need players.