Great episode guys!

another great podcast! :) "Enchantment? Enchantment?" lol best part.

great podcast. straight and to the point.

I still haven't had a chance to play DA, but from the sound of it the companion characters in the game have a much larger role than I would expect in an MMO. I have mentioned this before in another post, but I feel it bears bringing up again with the new experience people have had in DA.

Why have TOR as an MMO if you can accomplish the majority of tasks individually with your party? Why not then have it be an offline game with online content (instancing and marketplace) What value do companion characters bring to MMO game-play and vice versa. Isn't the point of an MMO to have companion characters that aren't simply an ai script?

(My answer below)

What I see companion characters bringing more than anything else is the Story that has been harped throughout their development trailers. I see them as an anchor for the game world that is created. Although the other live players in the game may RP to various degrees, it can be awkward when the disbelief is no longer suspended and you realize your in front of a screen with 20 other people sitting, rather than actually using a flame thrower or otherwise wielding power only imagined. That simply can't happen with the companion characters. Their only purpose is in the TOR universe, scripted though it may be.

That said I don't see them functioning well in mmo-gameplay tactics why bother grouping with live players then? Let them be an integral part of the single player experience but do not let them take away from the MMO environment. Or let them and have it be beautiful and I can be wrong. I just can't imagine that game play at the moment.

[...] those of you who may not listen to the podcast, but should, EA had their Q2 2010 earnings conference call on November 9th. The vast majority of the conference [...]

I’m only probably a 3rd through DA and loving the story (I've restarted several alts now though lol!). I honestly don’t mind the dialogue – most of the time it’s like a good book to me and I sit there with my tea/beer and enjoy the well written and nicely acted script. However, I feel I’m not using my main as much as I want with all the management of my team (plus the dilemma of utilising the characters I like to play alongside with vs the ones that far better compliment my character skill/role). Sometimes the AI and tactic ‘bugs’ (like you mentioned) makes me have to keep jumping to each character way more than I’d like (so lose the flow)…

I hope BW can refine the Companion system even further in TOR. Having one Companion out at a time is definitely going to make for easier control, so if they can really perfect a comprehensive TOR Companion tactics system = awesome. I wonder how loot gift hungry TOR Companions will be (will you have to extensively micromanage and gear them all?).

Good longer show guys /salute

PS Is there DA tactics/scripts to make your party say guard or attack certain targets eg character B assist my main, character A whilst character C fight from range but if character D is attack, assist D etc? Or is it all space pause and switch targets per party member? Yeah, TOR needs to hopefully be refined me thinks considering they don't want to put people off Companions at all...

good podcast miss the long ones , well i think fact that its long due to tons of news :P

Enchantments? Enchantments!

Whehe, sorry couldn't resist. Good cast :)

Like the game alot.....I feel there's way way to much talking and cutscenes though.. Completely overboard IMO........Like the dialog...think that will be great in TOR....hoping that its scaled down ALOT.....and no So "Movieish" I'd rather play than watch.......

This has probably been asked, but what is the music you use in the podcast from? It sounds interesting.

One piece of trivia I picked up on recently was the notion that each Class has it's own notion of "Light" and "Dark". A "Light Stih Warrior" isn't going to be the same kinda of "Buddha" character that we've come to expect a Jedi in previous KoTOR games.

I'm playing Mass Effect now and it's a little liberating to be able to play someone who can be a badass but not a total jerk. Which were basically your two options in KoTOR and Jade Empire. You were encouraged to be all one thing or the other with no middle ground or no real bonuses for the middle ground.

Just wondering why you guys never made the comparison of the linearity of Dragon Age in terms of the environment (closed and in-explorable) as well as the pacing of the game.

Most bio-ware games tend to do this anyway so I can see why it was overlooked. Nonetheless, great site and podcast, keep it up.

Nice as always, a bit to much Dragon Age imo..."/cast flameshield"

Love the new Hater as usual. Keep up the good work guys!

/Cheers
/Flagg