Jump to content

Next two playable races


Lyrinna

Recommended Posts

And I take it you think our characters are really customizable now? Pretty sure a little fluff game like gw2 has gotten you beat on that statement. I don't ever want to see your whiney statements about how it's a lot of work to make these races. We pay you a boat load of money for what you do. Now quit your bellyaching, and get it done!

 

Best post ever.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 373
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

And I take it you think our characters are really customizable now? Pretty sure a little fluff game like gw2 has gotten you beat on that statement. I don't ever want to see your whiney statements about how it's a lot of work to make these races. We pay you a boat load of money for what you do. Now quit your bellyaching, and get it done!

 

exactly!

if some people try a little bit to take the "star wars fan" off the topic and analyse the game as one MMO, and especially when we compare to other games like guild wars 2 (THAT HAVE NO SUBSCRIPTION FEE), you would see that a large number of customization choices are the LEAST they could do. Don't get me wrong, i enjoy SWTOR a lot, i'm just trying to give my honest opinion. :cool:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Making an alien race fully human playable is a huge amount of work, at least if you want to give players the level of customization options that they have come to expect. It takes a lot of work to make all of the customization options work together and look good, while still ensuring people still can find looks that are unique to each other.

 

The Togruta provide a unique problem in this regard, in regards to the tentacles. Yes, the Twi'leks have tentacles too, but they are typically behind the player, whereas the Togruta's canonically drape across the front of the character. This means that they struggle to work with the existing animations and gear without clipping -- indeed, the first screenshot you see for Ashara if you google her is one with her chin ridiculously clipping through her tentacle. While this may be acceptable for a companion who is frequently offscreen while fighting, or NPCs who we can dress and pose carefully, its much more problematic for player characters who need to be able to wear anything and perform any animation and still look good. (The Twi'leks clip somewhat as well, but much art was tweaked to make this a lot less prevalent than it otherwise would have been)

 

I'm not trying to pour cold water in the species discussion. Quite the opposite - if the Cathar do well, I hope to expand your options even more, and we should know the answer to that 'soonish'. I just don't want anyone to think that just because an alien is currently in the game as an NPC, that it is trivial to turn it into player art -- it's a TON of work to do that, and do it well.

 

This is a fantastic response, and a great explanation as to why we're mostly seeing "humanoid" aliens. Although the concept of completely 'alien' aliens is exciting and enticing, the amount of work that has to go into everything from cinematics to gear to weapons to animations just makes it exceedingly difficult.

 

Tie that with the expectation of hearing alien gibberish for 50+ levels of play, and I understand full-well why our characters speak Basic and look human.

 

Video games are not Hollywood movies. There will be some differences. Fine with me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The levels of Dev communication on this topic as well as many others is sadly really bad. We have been waiting since last year for news of Cathar (a species there was no discussion in the forums on if it should be the first and possible only addition).

 

There appears to be no discussion on what species are possible only on what they wont do cause of the language problem or clipping and no two way communication on something as massive as aliens in star wars. Its one of the things that made Star Wars so Iconic, it wasn't just Humans in Space it was a Galaxy far far away with countless alien races and galaxies.

 

It really gives a feeling that the dev team has been shrunk so much it is in little more than maintenace mode, very very little seems to be happening in game or on the forums and where other MMO's are moving forward BW appear to have given up. It sad to think that for many people more time was spent waiting on ToR than playing it and within a year its game over. Can the devs please start to communicate with the community and respond with feed back from what is posted and discus the future of the game with the community in a mature honest way.

 

A good start would be what is the realistic chance of seeing more alien species, what species can we realistically hope to see and just what goes into the creation of new species and how many man hours this really takes. Is the game engine in such a bad state that to add a new species is vastly more difficult than a new operation or heroic space missions. Why has there been such a delay in getting Cathar out so we can start discussion an alien that doesn't look like a human with face paint and a bad hair cut. And perhaps off topic of Species what is happening at BW Austin that the game looks like it is in Maintenace mode and this impression is it good or bad for customer confidence?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are 3 things which bother me about the lack of alien species

 

1) Is just how much this matters to me, I can't seem to connect to any of my 7 current characters because they all feel like all I did was pick a random species and roll a generic hero, none of them seem like the character I would create if I had a choice and so I feel no real affection for any of them they all feel like alts.

2) The fact that even after 13 months we still seem to have got so little feed back from development as to when Cathar will come out, what the species after Cathar will be if they sell and if we are likely to ever see an actual alien species like Kel'dor, Gran, Mon'cal or Trandoshan and why it is taking so long to get Cathar which are really just a human with tiger tatoos to be playable.

3) Given how little we have seen done, if and when some alien species are release will I still be here or will I have moved on as I feel no connection to my characters and so only play because this is star wars and because of in game friends.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

God forbid the devs have to work for their salary, eh......:rolleyes:

 

I want new species a great deal more than your average player. I communicate that want in constructive ways, not by belittling developers and their efforts. Am I satisfied with the current selection? With communication on the subject? Of course not. But I'm not going to actively discourage that dialogue from being established, as many of the schoolyard posts around here are doing.

Edited by CelCawdro
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I want new species a great deal more than your average player. I communicate that want in constructive ways, not by belittling developers and their efforts. Am I satisfied with the current selection? With communication on the subject? Of course not. But I'm not going to actively discourage that dialogue from being established, as many of the schoolyard posts around here are doing.

 

This is kinda how I feel but doesn't stop me getting angry at the lack of info, replies and decent info and taking out my fustration on the forums. Its a good job the Dev's dont read these forums or they would probably be upset with all the angry posts. We are not all this angry all the time honest.

Edited by Izorii
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A Rodian would perhaps have less trouble becoming playable:

*Their body shape is the same as a Humans and near-humans so all gear would be able to appear normally.

*Rodians can wear the same size helmets as humans as they can tuck their ears and antennae under and their snouts are flexible.

*Rodians are able to speak basic as shown here:

**https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=BweotHZBYlg#t=296s

**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouUaSpLV7IA&feature=player_detailpage#t=11s

The devs can simply transform the current recorded dialogue so it echoes, similar to when wearing a mask or helmet.

*With romaces, it's possible that maybe some companions are affectionate towards Rodians, but otherwise they can simply restrict who they can romance with or have the player make a move and automatically fail.

 

As you can see, Rodians would appear to be less difficult to implement than compared to Wookiees or Trandoshans.

Edited by Vitas
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is kinda how I feel but doesn't stop me getting angry at the lack of info, replies and decent info and taking out my fustration on the forums. Its a good job the Dev's dont read these forums or they would probably be upset with all the angry posts. We are not all this angry all the time honest.

 

I used to get mad at video games, but then I grew up. I don't mean that as patronizing or anything, but in the grand scheme of things, no game is worth getting worked up over. It's a hobby. It's a game. It's intended for pleasure. And once a game stops serving that purpose, that is the moment you should move on. No game is worth additional stress. Life has enough of it as is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to get mad at video games, but then I grew up. I don't mean that as patronizing or anything, but in the grand scheme of things, no game is worth getting worked up over. It's a hobby. It's a game. It's intended for pleasure. And once a game stops serving that purpose, that is the moment you should move on. No game is worth additional stress. Life has enough of it as is.

 

What I believe where most of the frustration from players stems from is the fact that this an MMO based on a popular IP featuring a wide universe to explore. With MMOs based on an existing IP, many see this as an oppertunity to be in their favourite universe and feel as if they're really there. This leads to players wanting to visit the world they know about, the species which they desire to become because of previous franchise media. Unlike Planetside, Everquest or Maple Story where because it's an original IP, what they offer is unique gameplay and story, which if any, is what compliments it. But in the case of Star Wars which has been around since 1977, 76 if you count the novelization, it's where story and lore take the main focus and gameplay is what helps provide the means of allowing us to explore that universe but still following the traditional MMO mechanics.

 

You may not see the game in this light but this how most, especially Star Wars fans, see it and it's through this that we see the potential it can bring to allow us to play as our desired species and explore our favourite worlds from a franchise which has existed for decades.

Edited by Vitas
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I believe where most of the frustration from players stems from is the fact that this an MMO based on a popular IP featuring a wide universe to explore. With MMOs based on an existing IP, many see this as an oppertunity to be in their favourite universe and feel as if they're really there. This leads to players wanting to visit the world they know about, the species which they desire to become because of previous franchise media. Unlike Planetside, Everquest or Maple Story where because it's an original IP, what they offer is unique gameplay and story, which if any, is what compliments it. But in the case of Star Wars which has been around since 1977, 76 if you count the novelization, it's where story and lore take the main focus and gameplay is what helps provide the means of allowing us to explore that universe but still following the traditional MMO mechanics.

 

You may not see the game in this light but this how most, especially Star Wars fans, see it and it's through this that we see the potential it can bring to allow us to play as our desired species and explore our favourite worlds from a franchise which has existed for decades.

 

That's all well and good, but it still doesn't warrant anger, directed at the developers or otherwise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One diminutive species which fits the criteria that BioWare claims will allow a species to become playable, and which I believe would be perfect, is the Lannik:

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

 

Lannik speak basic fluently and would be able to romance. The only issue would be the size of the armor and their ears clipping but I don't think that'd be difficult to handle. Other than that, they're what the devs claim to be a possible species to implement and they're close to looking alien. One concern players might have is the camera height in cutscenes but that's something you wouldn't have to worry about because it automatically aligns with the player's height as shown a while back with the tiny player bug:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfSO6f2_l9Y

Edited by Vitas
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One diminutive species which fits the criteria that BioWare claims will allow a species to become playable, and which I believe would be perfect, is the Lannik:

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

 

Lannik speak basic fluently and would be able to romance. The only issue would be the size of the armor and their ears clipping but I don't think that'd be difficult to handle. Other than that, they're what the devs claim to be a possible species to implement and they're close to looking alien. One concern players might have is the camera height in cutscenes but that's something you wouldn't have to worry about because it automatically aligns with the player's height as shown a while back with the tiny player bug:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfSO6f2_l9Y

 

 

You'll never see a race that isn't a re-coloured human, or a human body with an "alien" head, too much developement work. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You'll never see a race that isn't a re-coloured human, or a human body with an "alien" head, too much developement work. :(

 

Fortunately nearly all of the aliens in the SW films were actually played by real live human beings wearing masks over their faces !!!

 

Redaction ~ nearly all in the GOOD SW films.

Edited by Cleet_Xia
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to get mad at video games, but then I grew up. I don't mean that as patronizing or anything, but in the grand scheme of things, no game is worth getting worked up over. It's a hobby. It's a game. It's intended for pleasure. And once a game stops serving that purpose, that is the moment you should move on. No game is worth additional stress. Life has enough of it as is.

 

Agree with you.Have those thoughts.If game has stress you than you really need stop playing for some time, cause it lost positive association for you.I already made 2 breaks from tor and when i coming back i start enjoying this game cagain.So people don't worry, be happy as Bob Marley sings.:rod_wink_g:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I believe where most of the frustration from players stems from is the fact that this an MMO based on a popular IP featuring a wide universe to explore. With MMOs based on an existing IP, many see this as an oppertunity to be in their favourite universe and feel as if they're really there. This leads to players wanting to visit the world they know about, the species which they desire to become because of previous franchise media. Unlike Planetside, Everquest or Maple Story where because it's an original IP, what they offer is unique gameplay and story, which if any, is what compliments it. But in the case of Star Wars which has been around since 1977, 76 if you count the novelization, it's where story and lore take the main focus and gameplay is what helps provide the means of allowing us to explore that universe but still following the traditional MMO mechanics.

 

You may not see the game in this light but this how most, especially Star Wars fans, see it and it's through this that we see the potential it can bring to allow us to play as our desired species and explore our favourite worlds from a franchise which has existed for decades.

 

Also agree with this point of view.:i_angel:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Making an alien race fully human playable is a huge amount of work, at least if you want to give players the level of customization options that they have come to expect. It takes a lot of work to make all of the customization options work together and look good, while still ensuring people still can find looks that are unique to each other.

 

The Togruta provide a unique problem in this regard, in regards to the tentacles. Yes, the Twi'leks have tentacles too, but they are typically behind the player, whereas the Togruta's canonically drape across the front of the character. This means that they struggle to work with the existing animations and gear without clipping -- indeed, the first screenshot you see for Ashara if you google her is one with her chin ridiculously clipping through her tentacle. While this may be acceptable for a companion who is frequently offscreen while fighting, or NPCs who we can dress and pose carefully, its much more problematic for player characters who need to be able to wear anything and perform any animation and still look good. (The Twi'leks clip somewhat as well, but much art was tweaked to make this a lot less prevalent than it otherwise would have been)

 

I'm not trying to pour cold water in the species discussion. Quite the opposite - if the Cathar do well, I hope to expand your options even more, and we should know the answer to that 'soonish'. I just don't want anyone to think that just because an alien is currently in the game as an NPC, that it is trivial to turn it into player art -- it's a TON of work to do that, and do it well.

Many want the Togruta, many want aliens which look a little more different from the humans and very human-like species in the game. So, make the Togruta as a first step in open up to more exotic species. SWTOR needs them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's all well and good, but it still doesn't warrant anger, directed at the developers or otherwise.

 

Anger? Probably not in the "vein-popping out of my forehead" kind, but I definitely think that, as a consumer, it is one's duty to voice product displeasure to the people directly responsible for that displeasure. Insults, while not exactly mature, are certainly a way to do that. If they responded to mature and well thought-out criticism, that's what everyone would use all the time. However, since it's blatantly obvious that they are willing to ignore the problem until it just goes away, I think it's okay to be a little testy. It makes the person posting it feel better, and hey - the devs probably aren't even going to read it anyway.

 

I confess myself disappointed. Damion pretty much said "You're getting Cathar, maybe, and that's it." Well, I've voiced my opinion in numerous different ways, since EARLY beta (December 2010,) and there's just not much point for me to voice it any more. I play this game because it's Star Wars, but they just keep telling us, through inaction, that the fans don't matter. Like I said, disappointing. I was hoping to take some of my characters past Makeb, but over the past month I've realized that I'm gonna be a "play each class to 50 then uninstall" kinda guy. Such a waste. It's ironic to know that up until two years ago, BioWare was the exclusive recipient of my gaming cash. All games. All DLC. Tons of merch. Now, this is the last BioWare title I play, I probably won't be around for the second anniversary, and then no more BioWare for me.

 

That said - TESO looks like they want my money pretty bad. Hmmm... what will I do with all this money I could have happily spent on extra races in SWTOR???

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
:mon_trap:I would love to play Cathar when they release the update! I would also love to play as a Kaleesh-with different bone masks and tattoos on them,Togrutas would be great to play,Nautolans too!I understand there is some problem getting helmets to fit on some of the more unusual species heads,but if you just stated that Helmets are invisible for those races I think people would be cool with that as long as they could just have the oppurtunity to play one.I know it would'nt bother me if I rolled a Cerean and I already knew the helmet wouldnt fit on my giant coneish head.Tykan was one cool *** jedi!!
Link to comment
Share on other sites


×
×
  • Create New...