More precisely, is it ok for the game to introduce technology and conflict that does not exist in the star wars universe.

 

Many star wars fan seems so opposed to the star trek's transporter (Enterprise, 3 to beam up!), because that is not star wars technology. Ok with that but some game mechanics could definitly be improved with the mechanic (bypassing orbital station). Beside, haven't the eshka discover the teleport anyway?

 

Let's talk about weapon. We have light saber, we have blaster.

How about a light bow or crossbow?

How about a light whip?

How about lightdagger (as opposed to light saber)

How about curved lightsaber.

 

Let's talk about enemies.

Can the dev create a whole new lore, with all news alian species.

Something synthetics like the borgs or the cylons.

Something inspired from mythology (zeus, hades, thor, odin...)

 

Or would it be betraying star wars to do so?

question for the RP and lore specialist i suppose.

Edited June 4, 2012 by Vankris

I do wish my offhand saber had the shorter blade style ala kotor 2 Edited June 4, 2012 by Crawelc

There's certainly new things added to the lore by the game already, the Esh-kah for example is new. Also Voss is a completely new addition.

More precisely, is it ok for the game to introduce technology and conflict that does not exist in the star wars universe.

 

Many star wars fan seems so opposed to the star trek's transporter (Enterprise, 3 to beam up!), because that is not star wars technology. Ok with that but some game mechanics could definitly be improved with the mechanic (bypassing orbital station). Beside, haven't the eshka discover the teleport anyway? You mean like the quick travel and fleet pass that are already in the game?

 

Let's talk about weapon. We have light saber, we have blaster.

How about a light bow or crossbow? Don't Wookiees already use something similar?

How about a light whip? That sounds even more dangerous than a laser sword, for little gain, other than novelty

How about lightdagger (as opposed to light saber) For what purpose? What benefit does a dagger have over a sword. They would both fit into the same size pocket.

How about curved lightsaber. Again, novelty?

 

Let's talk about enemies.

Can the dev create a whole new lore, with all news alian species. There are already SO many species in existing lore to use.

Something synthetics like the borgs or the cylons. You mean like the cyborgs or the robots already in the game? And that whole flashpoint where they try to take over the universe?

Something inspired from mythology (zeus, hades, thor, odin...) uh....

 

Or would it be betraying star wars to do so?

question for the RP and lore specialist i suppose.

 

Most of it just seems unnecessary. Especially if you want to keep the feel of Star Wars.

Is it ok? It already does in many ways O.o However, should they add stuff just for the sake of adding stuff? No. It's the main reason why I can't stand most of the EU books. Every author is trying to outdo the last one instead of focusing on making a good book, it's pathetic and becomes tiresome when author A does a long book about something, then the next author renders the last book completely meaningless.

More precisely, is it ok for the game to introduce technology and conflict that does not exist in the star wars universe.

 

Many star wars fan seems so opposed to the star trek's transporter (Enterprise, 3 to beam up!), because that is not star wars technology. Ok with that but some game mechanics could definitly be improved with the mechanic (bypassing orbital station). Beside, haven't the eshka discover the teleport anyway?

 

Let's talk about weapon. We have light saber, we have blaster.

How about a light bow or crossbow?

How about a light whip?

How about lightdagger (as opposed to light saber)

How about curved lightsaber.

 

Let's talk about enemies.

Can the dev create a whole new lore, with all news alian species.

Something synthetics like the borgs or the cylons.

Something inspired from mythology (zeus, hades, thor, odin...)

 

Or would it be betraying star wars to do so?

question for the RP and lore specialist i suppose.

 

We have arc casters, thats pretty close to the "Light crossbow" you speak of. But if you understood the technology behind lightsabers, it doesn't make sense to have any related ranged weapons. Teleportation is a no. It would change so many things, so many aspects of star wars that are important. Boarding, tractor beams, invasions, troop transports... It would shake the Star wars universe so terribly that its just impossible to justify to the fan base. Time lapses in travel are already prelavent in-game, and you can already bypass the station. Simply pretend its a few minutes later. No teleporters. As far as curved lightsabers go, the beam does not bend. Though there are curved hilted lightsabers that function in much the same fashion when it comes to technique.

 

And there are light whips and daggers, though I'm not sure why you would want a light dagger. A good vibro-knife would usually suffice.

 

SWTOR has added several new races, including the Ancient Rataka and the fascinating new race of the Voss. I think they might have invented Selkath too, but I'm not sure. If you read more about the Kilick, they might fit into your borg archetype pretty well. As far as mythology goes, there probably already is some mythology inspired elements, but Star Wars tends to lean more towards references to Christian and especially Asian philosophy.

Let's talk about weapon. We have light saber, we have blaster.

How about a light bow or crossbow?

 

Already exist.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Bowcaster

 

How about curved lightsaber.

This doesn't really fit with anything... all instances of bolts and lightsabres are straight. and would be more dangerous and probably get the user killed anyway.

 

How about lightdagger (as opposed to light saber)

already excist, yoda uses something slightly longer than a dagger and offhand parrying blades are in KOTOR and some other games.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Yoda%27s_lightsaber

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Shoto

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Guard_shoto

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lightsaber_pike

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lightwhip

 

ANy number of these would be welcome additions.

 

Let's talk about enemies.

Can the dev create a whole new lore, with all news alian species.

Something synthetics like the borgs or the cylons.

you can play as these already....

 

Edit: Post above brought up the Voss, so yes they can create races.

 

Something inspired from mythology (zeus, hades, thor, odin...)

many ideas are pulled from things already, I'm sure if you looked you could find these refrences.

 

Or would it be betraying star wars to do so?

question for the RP and lore specialist i suppose.

 

90% of stuff you're asking for exists in the game, or at the very least the universe lore.

Edited June 4, 2012 by Lithy

the way the original movies time period is perceive, it gives the idea of a galaxy that is recovering from the wars but yet has started another and with that is the lack of technology that was around in the times of the clone wars and as well even farther back in TOR.

 

Civilizations in the movies mostly looked more, war induced poverty type environments. Star Fleets look more like the oldest models around instead of new ones, not like the high tech appearance of the ships and star fleets of TOR or even the CW.

 

So whom is to say what kind or how high tech things were in TOR or Just how advance was the high tech before the war compared too hundreds and even thousands of years after war, just imagine how much tech was lost to war, in STAR WARS history.

 

So any thing is possible.

the way the original movies time period is perceive, it gives the idea of a galaxy that is recovering from the wars but yet has started another and with that is the lack of technology that was around in the times of the clone wars and as well even farther back in TOR.

 

Civilizations in the movies mostly looked more, war induced poverty type environments. Star Fleets look more like the oldest models around instead of new ones, not like the high tech appearance of the ships and star fleets of TOR or even the CW.

 

So whom is to say what kind or how high tech things were in TOR or Just how advance was the high tech before the war compared too hundreds and even thousands of years after war, just imagine how much tech was lost to war, in STAR WARS history.

 

So any thing is possible.

 

 

Except teleporters.

More precisely, is it ok for the game to introduce technology and conflict that does not exist in the star wars universe.

 

Yes and no.

 

The problem with the introduction of technology has nothing to do with the game doing it, it has to do with the time frame that the game takes place in. You see this game is a prequel and thus any technology introduced we have to explain why it has never existed since. This is the same issue many die-hard fans had with Havoc Squad in pre-release as if there was a way to train non-Sensitives to match fully trained Jedi Knights in a small fraction of the time there would be no Jedi Knights in Star Wars at a later time. (This was fixed by the game straight up telling you that the members of Havoc Squad, with the sole exception of the single member represented by the Trooper class cannot do that.)

 

Many star wars fan seems so opposed to the star trek's transporter (Enterprise, 3 to beam up!), because that is not star wars technology. Ok with that but some game mechanics could definitly be improved with the mechanic (bypassing orbital station). Beside, haven't the eshka discover the teleport anyway?

 

The only members of Star Wars that have "teleporters" were the Rakata (as shown on Belsavis) and a special Force Techniques by the Aiing-Tii monks. Nobody else has them.

 

Let's talk about weapon. We have light saber, we have blaster.

 

Okay...

 

How about a light bow or crossbow?

 

The wookiee bowcaster is basically a crossbow that fires a solid projectile wrapped in an energy sheath. So it is basically a "light crossbow" as to why they don't have a "real" bow that shoots light arrows... That is a little too fantasy.

 

How about a light whip?

 

Already exists in canon. It is much hated.

 

How about lightdagger (as opposed to light saber)

 

Short lightsabers already exist in canon.

 

How about curved lightsaber.

 

Not possible to do by the physics of Star Wars. Energy doesn't bend that way. We don't need a "light katana" anyway.

 

Let's talk about enemies.

Can the dev create a whole new lore, with all news alian species.

Something synthetics like the borgs or the cylons.

Something inspired from mythology (zeus, hades, thor, odin...)

 

Alien Species, yes, the Voss. Though they are limited by approval from Lucas Arts on such things.

 

There are Synthetics in Star Wars. They are known as HRD's or Human Replica Droids. They aren't a race. They are banned technology prominently featured in the Shadows of the Empire novels. There are also Cyborgs in Star Wars, they can be seen in such things as The Old Republic and are an available race for Trooper characters.

 

Mythology: No.

 

Star Wars has no connection to Earth so it is impossible for them to have something based on something from Earth. The Star Wars Galaxy is an artificial Galaxy that is encapsulated by black holes. Nothing gets in, nothing gets out.

 

Or would it be betraying star wars to do so?

question for the RP and lore specialist i suppose.

 

In some cases, yes, it would be.

The biggest problem with expanding technology (as I touched on in my initial reply) has to do with the time that SWToR takes place in.

 

I need only look as far as the "Alternate Reality Reboot" of Star Trek to explain this. The universe that movie took place in will never match up with the universe of TNG and not just for the destruction of Vulcan. In that movie, in one fell swoop, they had Scotty completely outmod the Warp Drive.

 

One of the big flaws of transporters was that they were short ranged. They could barely reach a planet from a low orbit. They were decent and saved on budget when they made the series.

 

In the reboot film Scotty modifies a Transporter to teleport from a planet onto a ship that had been traveling at a high warp for hours if not over a day. This one use of technology largely outmods the Warp Drive. The Warp Drive is slower, more costly, and ultimately useless for anything that isn't extremely long distance. This means that travel between close planets could easily be handled by Transporter relay stations thus changing the fundamental foundation for Star Trek travel.

 

In the Old Republic and in Star Wars they have to be very careful whenever they "add" something to the lore. They especially have to be careful to include a caveat to explain why something never appears again. A prime example would be if they added Transporters.

 

If Transporters were common on military ships (or even rare) 3,000+ years before the movie series it begs the question "Where did all of these go?" for example. This is especially daunting because due to things like "cryogenic suspended animation" (featured in the EU) there are all kinds of characters who lived in this time period and several of them were techs.

 

So this is why adding tech can be really bad. One incident of added tech can completely destroy the credibility of an IP if it is added "in the past" as it were.

The biggest problem with expanding technology (as I touched on in my initial reply) has to do with the time that SWToR takes place in.

 

I need only look as far as the "Alternate Reality Reboot" of Star Trek to explain this. The universe that movie took place in will never match up with the universe of TNG and not just for the destruction of Vulcan. In that movie, in one fell swoop, they had Scotty completely outmod the Warp Drive.

 

One of the big flaws of transporters was that they were short ranged. They could barely reach a planet from a low orbit. They were decent and saved on budget when they made the series.

 

In the reboot film Scotty modifies a Transporter to teleport from a planet onto a ship that had been traveling at a high warp for hours if not over a day. This one use of technology largely outmods the Warp Drive. The Warp Drive is slower, more costly, and ultimately useless for anything that isn't extremely long distance. This means that travel between close planets could easily be handled by Transporter relay stations thus changing the fundamental foundation for Star Trek travel.

 

In the Old Republic and in Star Wars they have to be very careful whenever they "add" something to the lore. They especially have to be careful to include a caveat to explain why something never appears again. A prime example would be if they added Transporters.

 

If Transporters were common on military ships (or even rare) 3,000+ years before the movie series it begs the question "Where did all of these go?" for example. This is especially daunting because due to things like "cryogenic suspended animation" (featured in the EU) there are all kinds of characters who lived in this time period and several of them were techs.

 

So this is why adding tech can be really bad. One incident of added tech can completely destroy the credibility of an IP if it is added "in the past" as it were.

 

Also, a lot of tech advances that are here in this time frame of TOR could be explained as "lost technology" by the time of the prequels. Personal stealth fields, for example. Something may happen between now and then that causes the technology to no longer exist. Could be anything from it being outlawed by the Republic to the central location being destroyed along with every known stealth device. Same could be said with personal shield generators.

 

In ESB, the Millenium Falcon was "too small" to fit a cloaking device (Another Roddenberry "invention"), yet in TOR some rather small ships have cloaking tech on board. Tech loss is about the only way to explain that, imo. I'm of course referring to Harron Tavus's ship in the Shadow Fist interlude mission between Nar Shaddaa and Tatooine.

 

Everyone just has to remember, this game is set about 3600 years before the prequels. Stuff happens.

Tech wise, what you have to remember is that Star Wars never was and never really will be Sci-Fi more than it is Space Fantasy.

It is Space Wizards and Knights fighting with space magic. The focus has always been on this. And not on the tech, or human advancement as a result.

The overall tech level has remained the same/stagnated more as a result of this setting, but it is one Lucas wanted/loves.

There is not an overall loss of tech from this era to the standard setting, it is just one level stagnation(which is impossible and silly...but is the way it is).

The Rakata essentially become the Roman Empire, and us and the settings the knights/players in the Dark Ages. As far as we know the Roman Empire was the height of power and tech. Everything we do since is patterned off them, and whatever we can learn from them.

Its all one big technological time sink in between such sporadic developments like slightly better hyperdrives, etc.

 

I was all set to argue the scotty COMPLETELY outmoding Warp Travel in the case of the movie, but i figure one nerd setting is enough eh.