We were honored to gain more insight regarding class design, group sizes, character progression, and other topics from James Ohlen, Creative Director and Lead Designer of Star Wars: The Old Republic. As the game is still under development, we must warn you that some specifics mentioned about particular systems are subject to change after undergoing significant testing. An example of this is the combat systems for the Trooper changing to become something more fitting to the class in almost three months between our hands-on game play sessions, and the mysterious disappearance of double bladed lightsabers in the Sith Warrior HoloNet outfitting screenshots.
For the reason behind the latter and more, read on.
Design is a big focus, and today we learned a lot about combat and how it works with the player classes in group combat. We saw an example of the four Republic classes working together: the Jedi Knight, the Jedi Consular, the Smuggler, and the Trooper. Would you like to go a little more in-depth about how these classes can interact in a group setting?Ohlen: We gave every single one of the classes different roles; much like the classic roles that you see in the MMO genre. That wasn't how we initially concepted the classes. The initial concept for the classes was that we wanted to get all the iconic characters from the movies into our game. We have the Bounty Hunter who is Boba Fett, we have the Smuggler Han Solo, Darth Vader's the Sith Warrior, etc. But once we had those archetypes, we wanted to make sure they also fit within the MMO norms. We wanted to have the DPS -- the damager dealer. We wanted to have the tank -- the guy who absorbs all the damage. We wanted to have the ranged DPS. So we looked at the classes.
For example, on the Republic side, the Jedi Knight is more of a DPS class. Though he can also -- depending on which Advanced Class he chooses -- go into more of a tank role. The Trooper is more of a tank role, but he is also a ranged DPS. The Smuggler is a ranged DPS and the Consular is more of a control character.
But you'll notice that I was saying that each of those classes could fill two different roles and that is because of our Advanced Class system. The Advanced Class system actually allows you -- once you reach level 10 -- to choose between two different roles.
So as the Jedi Knight, you can decide to go down more of a heavily-armored path where you have a single lightsaber, you have heavy armor, and you're more of a tank character who goes in there and absorbs damage. Or you can go down a path where you're much more of a DPS guy; where you're wielding double lightsabers and it is much more about dealing out damage fast. And each of the classes has that choice. It kind of allows us to give more class choice later on in the game.
We have a basic idea from what you just said about the Republic classes. We were only able to play two of the Sith classes today but we are Darth Hater, and we have a lot of Sith following us. In regards to the Sith classes, how does the Advanced Class choice shake up each one of those classes?Ohlen: So on the Sith side we have the four classes: The Sith Inquisitor, the Sith Warrior, the Bounty Hunter, and the Imperial Agent. And the Imperial Agent is a ranged DPS character. He's actually quite unique because he uses cover; he is kind of our sniper character. He plays a lot different from any other class from any other MMO that I've seen. The Bounty Hunter is more heavily armored, and he can be a tank role though he can also do ranged DPS. The Sith Warrior is very much a tank character and the Sith Inquisitor is a control, or ranged DPS as well.
Now, the way they can change: the Sith Warrior can diverge, and he can go to the classic Darth Vader route which is wear really heavy armor, single lightsaber. If you're a Darth Vader fan, then that is who you want to be. And you're going to be the tank character: you're going to be able to take a lot of damage. Darth Vader deflects Han Solo's blaster bolts in the Empire Strikes Back. He is able to take a lot of damage. Or if you want to be more of a DPS guy, you can go more the dual lightsaber route and be much more of an aggressive character. And that's more like an Anakin Skywalker from Episode 2.
With the Inquisitor, you really get to choose between the Darth Maul route and the Emperor Palpatine route. So you know the Darth Maul route is you're very agile-wielding the saber staff and the Palpatine route is you're all about lightning and control powers, and you're more of a sorcerer than you are a lightsaber-wielder. You operate at range. If you're a fan of mages and sorcerers and all of that, then that is probably what you want to be.
So that is an interesting combination you have. We know about the Sith Marauder, the DPS Sith Warrior, then you've got the Maul route on the Inquisitor which is another light armored DPS. What's the difference between these two that makes them so distinct beyond the fact that they have unique stories?Ohlen: There are a lot of visual differences obviously in the types of armor they wear. The Inquisitor is always in the light armor; the Warrior is always going to be in the heavier armor.
The types of lightsabers they use: the staff saber is restricted to the Inquisitor, while the dual lightsabers are for the Warrior. Also because of the core powers, the Inquisitor is always going to be more of a sorcerer type. He has things like the Dark Gift healing ability, the lightning powers. These are things that the Sith Warrior doesn't have. The Sith Warrior is very much our Darth Vader class. He has the telekinetic kill -- the choke -- that the Inquisitor doesn't. So they're always going to feel different. Sith Warrior is going to be about armor, much more lightsaber abilities, and more telekinetic powers like the Force Choke while the Sith Inquisitor has lighter armor, lightning powers, and feels more like a sorcerer.
So you mentioned the saber staff being for the Inquisitor, and the dual wield being the Warrior. You have kind of a distinction between how the Juggernaut has single wield and the Marauder has dual wield. Is that weapon split indicative of most of the Advanced Classes? We heard that the Smuggler has single guns or dual wield. Is that something we'll see for all the classes?Ohlen: Yes. So in trying to make sure that all the classes are distinct when they go the Advanced Class route there were different ways we could do it visually. We didn't want it to just be about statistics. We wanted it to be something that when you saw these characters in action you could immediately tell that is a Juggernaut, and that is a Marauder. So every single class when they choose it changes the kind of gear they equip, the kind of weapons they use, and their powers as well.
You have the Smuggler with the dual blasters, and the Smuggler with the single blaster and the kind of a shotgun blaster he has as a backup. For the Sith and Jedi, it is all about the different kinds of lightsaber configurations they have: the single lightsaber, the saber staff, and the dual lightsabers. With the Trooper class, for example on the Republic side, he can go the huge -- you saw the trailer -- with the massive guns. He can go that route where he is much more of a walking turret. Or he can be more of a super-soldier with a very powerful blaster rifle, but he is more maneuverable and he is not just about walking down laying down fire. Personally, I'm probably always going to pick the Trooper with the huge gun.
These Advanced Classes are showing that they have a great amount of distinction. You want people to know this is a Gunslinger this is a Scoundrel. Are these class choices permanent?Ohlen: That is something we have design discussions about; it is something we probably won't make a decision about until later on in the game. Because it isn't something we have to rush a decision on. We're going to see how playtesting goes, and then we're going to make the call then. And also because massively multiplayer games are constantly evolving, we might decide to go one way, and once our population gets a little more experience and we have more people leveled, we might reverse that decision. So we haven't decided that yet.
So the book is open for a lot of flexibility depending on how the players want it to go?Ohlen: Whatever direction we go, the Advanced Class choice does have to be a serious choice. It can't be something you can just change back and forth over the course of your career. If we do let the player choose to reverse it, it would definitely be something that is expensive.
We saw today in our hands-on that there are a lot of social systems already built into the game. We were talking about PvP and how the groups are the working. How do you guys feel about PvP combat? Is it more intimate battles or is it more about large scale?Ohlen: Because every single person has his own companion character, they do get pretty hectic. If you have an entire party against another entire party, it is almost double the number of characters because of all the companion characters running around. The way it feels it feels like a pretty massive battle because you have so many effects going off.
You have the Bounty Hunter with the flamethrower and rocket launchers, rocketing up into the air and raining death down. You see Jedis flipping through the air, the Smuggler rolling behind cover and using his dual blasters. Companions are running around and using their abilities. So I wouldn't really call it intimate. It's pretty chaotic. There's a lot of stuff going on.
As to the scale of the battles, like how many characters are going to be involved? Right now we're experimenting with different group sizes. We're experimenting with 4 vs. 4, 8 vs. 8 and what we end up with at the end is really going to be dependent on how playtesting goes and how it all works out. It is not set in stone yet.
We heard a lot about the look of your character being indicative of the power of your character. Can you expand on that a bit more?
Ohlen: We have a huge selection of gear in the game. Gear is a very big important part of RPGs and MMORPGs of course as well. So the number of uniforms we have in the game is huge. We have hundreds of different appearances you can be. And we have appearances that are kind of tailored to your class, then we have appearances that are more generic where any class can wear it.
At the end of the day, we're going to have thousands of different appearances of people running around the game. Because we want to make sure that everyone looks different. We don't want to be the game of clones where every player looks the same. As you saw in the video of the Bounty Hunter, that was just one single advancement path. The Bounty Hunter has like ten times that number of appearances. We go all the way from low level appearance sets to the highest level appearance sets that you have to do the high level activities such as battlegrounds and raid-like activities to earn.
We spoke last fall with LucasArts' audio team. We spoke with Darragh O'Farrell about how sounds are going to become more impactful as your abilities get stronger. Force lightning at level X is going to sound a little weaker than Force lightning at level X + 20. Is that reflected visually as well? Are the animations going to alter as things become more powerful?
Ohlen: We're going to give players new abilities as they gain levels, and some of our most impressive and most powerful abilities are at the higher levels. In that way, you're going to be able to do things that are really impressive at level 40 as opposed to what you can do at level 10. So watching a high level Sith Warrior go into battle is going to be a lot different than watching a low level Sith Warrior go into battle, for sure.
The visuals along with the companions like you mentioned, you'd have 8 characters on screen at one time, and you're high level and you've got really beautiful things going on. We've been able to see the game quite a bit and it is stunning. When you're looking at this many people doing this many things, how is that chaos metered out in your playtesting?
Ohlen: You mean in terms of how do you track what is going on? Interface is something we're going to be working on until the very end of the game. You probably saw one of the things we added was the damage numbers over the head. That was something that wasn't in several months ago that is now in the game. That really allows you to see what is going on in combat. But in terms of battlegrounds we're still playtesting. If we're finding players aren't able to track things we'll make adjustments.
You spoke a little bit more about getting from place to place with the Player Ships reveal. Can you expand on how that is going to work with multiple people in them?Ohlen: I can't go into complete detail on how players are going to travel together on their ships. But our philosophy is always to keep groups together. If you want to keep the group together traveling from planet to planet, then we don't want to split you up. We kept that as our overarching goal whenever we're thinking about systems such as the player ship.
Thank you very much for your time, we really appreciate you talking with us today. We cannot wait to let everyone in the community get their hands on the game.
Ohlen: I can't wait until they get to see the game because it is really fun to play. Out of all the BioWare games I've worked on, this is the most fun to play in this stage of game development.
One last question that we ask of everyone we talk to: do you have a favorite class?Ohlen: My favorite movie is Empire Strikes Back, and that is the Darth Vader movie, so I love the Sith Warrior.
Kaynak;
http://darthhater.com/2010/06/17/e3-interview-with-james-ohlen/
