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More Playable Species!


Dran_Ketra

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So, I've been playing this game since launch, coming back sporadically for a few months every year, and I think the one thing that's most lacking is PLAYER SPECIES OPTIONS.

 

The additions of Cathar, Togruta, and Nautolan, while fantastic, don't feel like enough for a game that's been running for almost a decade, won't be adding any new classes, and is supposed to take place in an expansive universe filled with a colorful cast of aliens and otherworldly creatures. I thought they might capitalize on this when KOTFE came out, especially in light of changing the companion system. The purpose of many of the expansion's changes, as I understand them, was to maximize player choice in both playstyle and story. Unfortunately, new player species wasn't really included in that ideology.

 

Arkanian, Bith, Bothan, Chagrian, Devaronian, Duros, Kel Dor, Mon Calamari, Nikto, Rodians, Selkath, Sullustans, Trandoshans, Weequay and more! Even more difficult races like Ithorians and Wookiees with little to no armor choices would be welcome! Of course the process isn't as simple as all that, but much more effort should be put into making this a reality. Even something like, and I can't believe I'm saying this, cosmetic alien armor sets in the CM would be great. There's a whole galaxy of recognizable alien species in Star Wars, many of which already exist in the game, that are just waiting to become playable! Not to mention that there is undoubtedly a great deal of praise, and reward, waiting for the studio and developers if they take action on this!

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I'll leave Weequay, Nikto, Chagrian and Devaronian to one side for a moment, because the next part doesn't apply to them, especially Chagrian and Devaronian.

 

I'm going to dismiss very tall and very small right off. No Gormaks, no Trandoshans, no Wookiees, no TTYITNKWIICs(0), no Jawas, no Ewoks. There are many cutscenes that would work badly with especially the small ones (walking *hidden* behind a desk instead of partially obscured by a desk, that sort of thing).

 

What about the others? Some might work (Arkanians, Zeltrons, etc.) because they really belong in the same category as Weequays etc., so I'll come back to them.

 

Let's look at the weirdos, though. I'll take a simple example: Selkath. (For members of the audience who don't follow the lore, Selkath are the ones you find on Manaan - with a few scattered around other places - with long flat cat-fish heads and a voice that sounds like sloshy water.)

 

So, you make a Selkath trooper. Your helmet is hidden, and so are chest-armour hoods. You eventually reach a scene in your companion stories where you get a [Flirt] option. What does the game do? (There is no species-specific programming in the current version of this conversation.) Who knows, maybe Aric's up for a bit of catboy-meets-catfishgirl action... Later in the romance part, of course, the (human-like) trooperette kisses Aric, and now the fun starts. (Note: in some companion stories, including e.g. Lana, there is an option "[Kiss her]" or "[Kiss him]") That kissing scene needs to be rescripted for your Selkath, and if it's tagged [Kiss him] or [Kiss her], the wording on the tag needs to be rescripted. The only *sane* rescript is to remove these options entirely, or at least to change them to be just [Flirt] with words. (That one's sane because it gives just one rescript that suits all sorts of weirdos, including Kel Dor, whose mouth isn't even visible.)

 

And they would need to record new words...

 

That means studio time for the voice actors (which isn't a problem as such, except for the instances where the species doesn't speak "normal" Basic, e.g. Selkath(1), except that it costs money), changing the old story code, etc. Is it really a good idea to go back and spend significant time changing code and recording lines in *old* content *just* to support a new species?

 

OK, so what about the Weequays etc.? Well, they all have sufficiently human-like faces and human size and proportions that they would work in the existing romances and existing armour sets (Chagrians wearing armour would hide helmets, of course), so no code/voice changes would be required. Recommendation: dig in that list for the next species.

 

(0) Thing That Yoda Is That Nobody Knows What It Is Called. There are also contractual reasons why playable TTYITNKWIICs aren't allowed to be playable.

 

(1) The very restricted range of Selkath-language spoken lines would become aggressively apparent if Selkath were playable.

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I'm not saying there wouldn't be a lot of work involved. I wouldn't expect it to be done all at once, nor would I expect it to be perfect. But my point is, why not put in the effort and reap the rewards? Making these species playable is not outside of the realm of possibilities, whatever you may believe or have been told. It'd certainly be a large and costly task, but one that would be worth the effort for significant returns in player appreciation and payout. With the changes that have been made to the game since KOTFE, most consistent players, subscribed or F2P, have gone through the same class and expansion stories at least twice and still keep coming back for more. Those players would absolutely eat up any new species that are added, as they already have with the Cathar, Togruta, and Nautolan. Not to mention it'll draw the attention of new players and bring back old players.
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I wouldn't mind more voice actor option on creation, to get player more unique feel.

Let's say they add *one* new voice per class story per language (English, French, German)(1). (Well, OK, two - male and female.)

 

If they choose to just "shuffle" the existing voice actors, they might be able to reuse some lines in "shared" content, but it's going to sound weird if, say, Jennifer Hale (Trooper) plays the Inquisitor, and they won't be able to reuse everything. The F!Trooper *never* says "Murder and mayhem await!" nor "Just ... show me where the fun is." nor "Scream, weakling!"

 

But most likely, they'd just re-record everything to be sure of how it sounds, and that means doubling the size of the "player character voices" part of the download for *every* patch. It would probably add a gigabyte or more for each additional set of sixteen voices they recorded.

 

(1) Per-localisation assets (voices, text, graphics) are downloaded separately.

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