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Character Development For Corso Please


Xo-Lara

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I'm one of those players that actually likes Corso, but even I have a complaint. At this point in time, I feel like Corso should get to mature and grow some. It's been like 17 years for him. When we get him back in the alliance alert, he comes off as happy puppy Corso. He's just following whoever and is just happy to see you when you come back.... nothing else.

 

I feel like his story stagnated and simplified super hard. Nonetheless, I believe that he can keep the core of his personality, idealized heroism; old fashioned values; and loyalty, but still have some character development.

 

For example, he can get to the point where he calls out and laughs about a romanced Smuggler flirting with other men just to make him jealous. He can attempt to give women a chance to walk away from a fight, then proceed to get on with the fight when they make it clear they have no intention of leaving. He can still advocate for saving those that can't save themselves and doing the right thing... most of the time. He can refuse to suppose the smuggler in choices that go against his own values. He can take the initiative to take on his own projects. Most of all, he can get to the point where he accepts that life is complex and he's just gonna have to think about everything before acting. :p

 

One way or another, I'd like to see more of Corso, but please don't just give us "Whatever you say cap'n." Corso. It's ok for him to have his own perspective. I'd like to see a less flat version of Corso.

 

As for places in the story he can fit in, he's still a weapon's expert and is willing to take several hits for a good cause. Any place where there are civilians to be rescued would be good for him. Figuring out how to upgrade weaponry to take out unique threats might work. Given his farming background, he might blend in well on Dantooine and other future farming worlds when it comes time to liaison with the locals. Not to mention, I'm willing to bet he still has a chip on his back about separatists.

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Yeah, it was unfortunate, but, to be fair, most of the original comps returning around that time got much the same treatment. Player patience with comps not returning was at a serious low and getting them back to people became a higher priority.

 

However, something I had not considered is that some people would just stop caring about some companions after that. I expected people to be annoyed, but apathy is actually worse. :( It's easier to fix annoyance than players totally disengaging with an aspect of the content.

 

I think it would be nice if all of the rushed back companions got a little more face time in stand alone stories later on, even those that weren't romanceable.

 

________________________________________________

 

  • What does everyone else feel about having optional, standalone story missions that are alliance-alert-sized?
    _________________________
  • What kind of influence gains would expect out of it? A level or two?
    _________________________
  • Would you want them to focus on the galactic big picture or on character development and personality reveals?
    _________________________
  • How do you feel about new companion stories where they have gotten to know other companions? For example, exploring Mako and Akaavi getting to know each other.
    _________________________
  • Would you like that over typical story content or is it a super low priority for you?
    _________________________
  • If you don't want it as a standalone mission, would you prefer it appear as a part of other kinds of missions? An optional detour in a story mission or planetary mission?
    _________________________
  • Do you prefer stories that are only about your character?
    _________________________
  • Do you only like story missions when they introduce new features or missions like flashpoints?
    _________________________
  • Would you be happy if companions just got an update to the location commentary like when taking comps to Coruscant and coming out of the spaceport?

 

My Thoughts

 

 

However it came, I think I would take some of those over bigger story beat flashpoints. To refine it even further, I would prefer story mission for original companions over a lot of the new ones. But please give more standalone stories to some of the sub reward companions.

 

We have a lot of characters that we only know a blurb's worth about. I would really like to see that focused on more than I would like to find out how the galaxy has made a mess of itself again. Not to mention, it could serve as a nice break from the endless war portion of the story without discarding the war portion of the larger story. The way I see it, even if you run the mission with a max influence character, you would still get story out of it. That would be awesome to me. I prefer interesting stories over all other parts of the game, even over stronghold decorations... and I love stronghold decorations.

 

For example, imagine Corso "loyalty" missions that took us back to a level 60+ instance of Ord Mantel? We could do various things which could appeal to different play styles. One mission could center around helping NPCs get villages back up and running after years of separatist damage and republic neglect. We could get to know more about Ord Mantell and how we affect it, maybe even win support for our underworld operation. Another could be a heroic 2+ and or a 4+.

 

One could be a puzzle where you have to figure out some mystery or get some device working again. Be a superhero without worrying that the whole galaxy dies if you fail. :p (I see that one as being more like Chapter 6 of KOTET where you find clickables and have to figure out the right order.) We could even have AREA missions for things like surveying/exploring the area or fending off rampaging Savrips. I wonder if anyone would want to do new eternal arena kind of missions where the mobs come in waves?

 

A benefit of doing something like this is that the framework could work for many companions. For example, there could be hunting missions for the Mandalorian companions (I bet they each have their own favorite creatures to hunt), pilgrimages for Force user Companions, Bar hoping for underworld companions, and so on. Basically, do things that the companions like to do in exchange for increased influence. It would make sense storywise, and it would be a lot less ridiculous than buying them 2,000 hand-painted Pazaak decks.

 

While I'm on that thought, I'm not sure how companion influence works, but, perhaps, the missions could be a more general thing. Maybe they wouldn't be companion-specific and you have to take comps that like those kinds of missions to get any influence.

 

For example, it could be a general wild animal hunt mission on Onderon instead of go to planet X and hunt mob Y with companion Z. Comps like Qyzen, Akaavi, and Torian would get influence from completing those mission (maybe even get bonuses for taking down certain mobs), but comps like Gault, Tharan, and Doc wouldn't get any. It seems to me like it could work something like the aid the resistance bonus missions on Star Fortresses. Once you complete the mission, influence is granted to the comp you took along.

 

Maybe this could become a different kind of daily mission. However, if we get a bar-hopping kind of daily, we should have to interact with an object that gives buffs like the Gambler's Bar and has the risk of doing damage or death if we do too much bar hopping. Drink responsibly, people. :D

 

 

_____________________________________________

 

For people that would like something like companion character development/hang out missions, how little story or unique dialogue do you think you could stomach?

 

My Thoughts

 

I would like it if we could get 3 to 5 comp-specific missions (each one focusing on a different class' companion) every few months until all of our original and Zakuul arc companions have at least 1. If they were more general missions (not a lot of comp-specific content), I would like to have 1 or 2 about every 1 or 2 months, if possible.

 

Side note: I really liked the drink mixing mission for Nico, that was fun and unexpected. :) I would love to be able to do more things like that.

 

As for story content, I think I could live with only a few companion-specific lines and a simple story if the missions are meant to be general and repeatable. For example, Qyzen commenting on getting a lot of points, or the Mandos commenting on who they wish they could brag about the hunt to. I think it could be as long as the tiny story beats that segue us into the flashpoint stories, like the Mission where Kira and Scourge tell us about the Emperor's ploy. Or that mission where we are addressing the Galaxy on a newscast. Or talking with Shae about dissension in the Mando ranks.

 

For missions that are general but cannot be done twice on any given companion, I can live with only having one story plot but you can run it again with different comps. For example, busting up gangs on Rishi and comps have their own thoughts about it. In that case, I would want more comp-specific dialogue than I would in a repeatable for every comp mission. I would also like comp-specific dialogue for when you take companions that don't like that kind of mission along. Let them complain. AKA, suit up Felix, we're going back to Hoth... you'll live. :p I imagine there is a market for irritating comps you don't like. *cough* Kaliyo *cough*

 

But if the missions are entirely comp-specific, I would want each story and the dialog to be unique, even if that means they are short like the missions we originally had to unlock for each comp. For those, I would want the stories to be just as tied to core details about the comp like their personalities, occupational skills, people in their past, etc. I would want it to center on things that make the companion who they are. For example, taking time to dig into how having sensation again is affecting Scourge, or Corso showing off the difference between good rifles and bad ones. I see that last one being like Arma Rassa where we are in a shooting range.

 

Side Note: I really liked Arma Rassa and 55 complaining whenever I told him to spare people. :D <3 HK-55.

 

 

 

Regardless of how comp stories are handled in the future, I ask that the devs don't leave lesser loved ones out, like Corso. ...Ok maybe Skadge and Vik. I can totally see leaving them out. :D

 

And for the person about to click reply to remind me that some companions can be killed, it seems to me that the simple solution is the only make the missions available to people who leave those comps alive. If you kill everyone around you, no comp stories for you. :p

 

Another question, does anyone have the link to that article where they explained how the interactables in the world work in the background? I think they called them Dyns or something like that?

 

I ask because a lot of the kinds of missions I like make heavy use of those and I think I remember them being a pain to set up. :(

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I agree. Corso and Risha's return was handled exceptionally poorly - they were doing literally nothing and had no excuse for not coming for the PC - and I haven't cared about the character since then.

Imagine the heist quest for that gas-giant gold deposit ship, but instead of one short quest it's a longer storyline where you gather a crew with old companions to succeed. Gault and Vette for example but also Risha and Mako would make sense, even Andronikos could have been included if you needed an experienced pilot and Koth wasn't available.

 

Not sure where Corso would have fit in but I always thought it was a pity that he didn't have a role to play with the Zakuulan seperatists, it would have been an interesting place to take him as he was very opposed to seperatism previously. Lump him in with the locals fighting Arcan/Vayling and some character development might actually occur.

Edited by JuventusAndFCK
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Yes please, can we have more romantic scenes with partners other than Lana and Theron?

 

Corso never did make good on his Ronto farm...

(I'm still hoping for ronto and other ranch decos to build that farm!)

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We've been asking for more significant content for vanilla companions for 6+ years now, maybe even longer. They started doing it with KotFE then stopped. I think if they were going to revisit it they would have done it by now :(.

Won't stop me asking but pretty much given up hope of ever having any decent Aric, Vector, Torian again and now even Theron is getting less and less. :(

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Yes please, can we have more romantic scenes with partners other than Lana and Theron?

 

Corso never did make good on his Ronto farm...

(I'm still hoping for ronto and other ranch decos to build that farm!)

 

Yeah, I totally forgot about that.

 

We've been asking for more significant content for vanilla companions for 6+ years now, maybe even longer.

 

What is significant content for you? Me personally, I'd be happy with arma rassa like one shot interactions with our companions. They don't have to be in the main story.

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Its been at most 6 years since you have been apart from companions. Although only for them. for you its technically been 1 since you were frozen in carbonite for 5 of those years. Since each new quest line is only about 2 weeks after the previous one it won't even by 7 years when Zenith finally returns.
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Yeah, it was unfortunate, but, to be fair, most of the original comps returning around that time got much the same treatment. Player patience with comps not returning was at a serious low and getting them back to people became a higher priority.

 

However, something I had not considered is that some people would just stop caring about some companions after that. I expected people to be annoyed, but apathy is actually worse. :( It's easier to fix annoyance than players totally disengaging with an aspect of the content.

 

 

 

I know personally, I don't care anymore. I did care at one point. The Theron traitor plot just about killed it for me. Actually, it started long before that. At the end of chapter 3 you have your final convos with your love interests and that is it. They fall silent and never speak to you again.

 

The alliance alerts for romanced companions were just awful. I didn't like a single one. The Corso/Risha one was absolutely the worst.

 

I think if they are going to do this and have it be half-baked stories then I would rather not romance anyone at all. Just keep the flirts in cause those are fun.

Edited by Swingkittie
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  • What does everyone else feel about having optional, standalone story missions that are alliance-alert-sized?
     
    The size is fine, I just hate the silent protagonist.
    _________________________
     
    _________________________
  • Would you want them to focus on the galactic big picture or on character development and personality reveals?
     
    I think companion stories should be about personal relationships. Good stories are always about people, something I think the current writers tend to forget.
     
    _________________________
  • How do you feel about new companion stories where they have gotten to know other companions? For example, exploring Mako and Akaavi getting to know each other.
     
    I think those are fun, but not at the expense of time with the PC. A little goes a long way.
     
    _________________________
  • Would you like that over typical story content or is it a super low priority for you?
     
    I haven't cared for the main story for years now, so I'd much rather have a lot of fun little quests with companions.
     
    _________________________
  • If you don't want it as a standalone mission, would you prefer it appear as a part of other kinds of missions? An optional detour in a story mission or planetary mission?
     
    I'd be happy either way.
     
    _________________________
  • Do you prefer stories that are only about your character?
     
    I prefer stories where my character interacts with people they care about.
     
    _________________________
  • Do you only like story missions when they introduce new features or missions like flashpoints?
     
    I think story flashpoints are an awkward mashup. Leave flashpoints as side stories and keep them out of the main story.
     
    _________________________
  • Would you be happy if companions just got an update to the location commentary like when taking comps to Coruscant and coming out of the spaceport?
     
    Getting updated comments would be better than nothing. I enjoy the comments on Makeb. It'd be great if they could up date the pokes too, maybe actually recognize romances that way. Still, if we are dreaming, I'd rather have actual story snippets.

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I've felt that female players had very few good options for romance. Most of them are trash -- love 'em and leave 'em, abusive, dismissive, condescending, or just lackluster.

 

Until Theron. The Theron romance was absolutely amazing.

 

Until the bug, when all but one of my characters were unflagged for romance, stopped getting any romance scenes with Theron for no apparent reason, and customer support said there's nothing they can do to help.

 

I hope they'll add more character development for all the forgotten companions, plus a way to rekindle romance options with any of them, at least going forward. I love the new content, but there will always be a special place in my heart for the old content.

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I agree. Corso and Risha's return was handled exceptionally poorly - they were doing literally nothing and had no excuse for not coming for the PC - and I haven't cared about the character since then.

 

I feel the same way. I adored Corso, but after the complete DISASTER of his character's return, I haven't really cared that much anymore. It was evident to me that the writers' idea of who Corso was just didn't correspond with mine. To say I was disappointed was the understatement of the decade. I'd love to see something done with him that would somewhat repair that "happy puppy" version, which is awful. Not holding my breath for it to happen though :(

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I hate to break it to you, but the devs don't care about the original companions. Companions have become incredibly diluted as a concept, since now there's probably over 50 available to any player.

 

When Bioware abandoned individual class stories, they did it in order to streamline new content creation and to reduce costs. Creating in-depth individual interactions with the old class companions run contrary to their model of "fight [iNSERT NAME OF LATEST FORCE BADDIE HERE]" as a substitute for storylines.

 

This is also why we'll never get a new class. EAware isn't going to spend the resources to make new starter worlds, integrate the new class into the planet storylines, hire new voice actors, etc. We might, and I emphasize might (though after almost 10 years, I doubt it) at some point get a new advanced class. But we will never get a new class in the same manner as the original classes. There's a slight hope of doing something like WoW did with the original DK's, where they have their own starter and don't really participate with older content, but even then I doubt it.

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I don't know when the devs will come to understand we don't need more weird fly-faced aliens to run around with. They are not interesting, and to me, they aren't welcome anymore. I don't give two banthas about this latest new one. I would like a companion that is nice to look at and speak with, that actually TALKS basic and not jibberish.

 

I would much prefer interactions with my golden oldies like Malavai, Theron, Vector, Scourge, Doc, and yes, farmboy Corso too.

 

The two-minute companion returns were the biggest flip-off and bad joke the players could've been given after having taken the companions away for so long. This is what happens when temps who are barely acquainted with companion characters are hired to write things that matter to the players. Then if that's not enough, the 'temp writer' thinks its fun to torture the player by not giving them a happy reunion, or one that is satisfying when you have a companion that willfully defies you every second they breathe (I'm looking at you Ashara). You get trite, meaningless returns and then nothing after.

 

I think its sadly a statement about how this game is doing, it seems they can't afford to hire the good voice talent anymore, so interactions with amazing characters like Theron and our original companions are few and far between. If that's not the case, it's certainly how it appears.

 

I would like to suggest to Charles, who is the main writer to please write adventures where we can use our original companion love interests and or Theron. Include some romance, it won't kill you. Star Wars has always had some romantic elements to it. Write some companion quests for them, include a small interlude for romance, or a dramatic moment when we can express our feelings to each other (like when the reactor was going to blow on Taris and Quinn and SW exchanged their true feelings for each other, something like THAT).

 

Sell them on the market even as modules, I'd happily buy it, if it meant more time with Quinn, Theron, Vector, Corso etc.

 

Give us our originals. Give us some sexy new Sith/Jedi to deal with (preferably ones who aren't on their way to becoming BORG). NO MORE BUGGY FACED, SNORKING, BUZZING, not basic speaking alien bugizoids.

 

Edit: Also more letters would be nice. Letters from people WHO MATTER! Like our loved ones.

Edited by Lunafox
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So what I am seeing generally is:

 

  • Pretty widespread agreement that the return of romanceable companions wasn't what people hoped for.
  • There's interest in having more bitesized stories centered on LI companions if not longer stories.
  • Some have lost interest in formerly loved or at least liked characters due to how their stories have been handled so far.
  • Lana and Theron's romance arcs might be a better model for LI companion stories.
  • There's support for Corso growing as a character.

 

I wonder if they can make the stories so they can squeeze in having people's LI take the place of Lana/Theron or whoever the main driver on the player character's side is?

 

One other thing I'm definitely noticing is that it seems like people don't care about the non-LI companions as much, not even the original ones which is sad. I want to see more of the others too, especially if they happen to be a cross-class companion. But, with limited resources, it seems like focusing on LIs will have a better return on invested time.

 

Also, it seems like some would like a wider field of LIs for female character, but a bit more mundane and human than the current fare. Me personally, I don't mind the alien companions and what not as long as they are written well, but I can agree on not having abusive, dismissive, condescending companions.

 

Corso would actually be a good option with some character development for people in the above category. Although I admit that some people might be beyond done with him by now.

 

______________________________________________

 

I hope they'll add more character development for all the forgotten companions, plus a way to rekindle romance options with any of them, at least going forward. I love the new content, but there will always be a special place in my heart for the old content.

 

For those of you that were put off by the way companions returned, would Xina_La's suggestion make it easier for you to care again?

 

Me personally, I just need a compelling story and a chance to see our comps shine. "Rule the galaxy" was the beginning of me disengaging from much of the main story. I knew from before the story dropped that that was not a direction I wanted to go in and I lost immersion pretty hard. Even though I can enjoy the game at times, I've never gotten that level of emotional investment in the story back. :(

 

Now that our commanders have been knocked down some pegs, it would be nice to have smaller chunks of stories around companions to build back up to reinvesting emotionally in the big picture. But in my case, they don't have to be LIs. I just need them interesting. I need a reason to care. Also, it would be nice to have story conflict that doesn't only rely on physical/violent conflict. There's a lot of things that could drive story conflict happening.

 

However, I am curious to see where the Mando civil war is going. Hopefully, we can start to get more smaller chunk stories with Jekiah and Rass that don't involve running a flashpoint that is too buggy, too hard, or too long. I liked those two. :D

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So much could be done with our old companions that isn't. I was sad playing through the new flashpoint and here was a plucky Reclamation Services Officer holding off three Jedi. I wish I had MY plucky Reclamation Services Officer with me there too. Talos would have loved exploring those ruins! If they would open him up for a romance, I'd be all over that! What's not to love? He's sweet, caring and innocent. Just what our battered character needs.

 

The companion return that bothers me the most is Elara's. She was my trooper's best friend, but Elara was too busy with her new boss to send an e-mail? Really? That was her excuse?

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Yeah, I feel like the problem is that they didn't fit well in the much larger story so they were left out. We don't know what details may be coming that will leave us glad that it wasn't our comps' necks on the chopping block. But I feel like telling a bunch of smaller standalone stories could help with that.

 

They don't have to be interconnected. They don't have to take on every major story beat. The circumstances of the story don't have to last beyond that little mission chain. And so on.

 

We could go gambling with gault and save him from getting killed after swindling someone. We can go tech hunting with Tharan and maybe help him acquire an interesting bit or tech or attend a Lunatus Club meeting with him. We can go harass some pirate rivals with Andronikos... mini adventures with less consequence on the galactic stage.

 

Some things I'd like to see:

  • Slicing practice with Lana and Theron.
  • Nico finally telling the story of how he saved Theron's mom... with embellishments. :D
  • Help Qyzen train some younger Trandoshan hunters and helping him become a better leader
  • See how far Nadia has come in her training and asking her what she did with the consular's holocron *if you are playing a consular*
  • Talk with HK-51 and HK-55 and watch them bicker over which is the better HK
  • Catch up with Felix and let him talk through his frustration with the Republic.
  • See how being a politician treated Zenith.

 

 

I also need to do C2's mission more often. I wish I could trade him companion gifts sometimes instead. I don't run crew skill missions often.

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OK, you like Corso,

............. I'm not keen.

 

However I'm not oposed to haveing more meaningful delelopment for companions. It should be companion(s ) however not just the single companion, that you happen to like

Edited by SavantDreadtech
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That's cool, but it's better to make threads for specific topics. "Make more for everybody", "make character development better", and "do something" are not helpful for the people writing these stories because they have no idea what others want.

 

Given that it wouldn't be good to try to make all characters grow in the same way, making character-specific threads lets us focus on what can be done to improve that character's story in a way that fits their existing story. For example, I wouldn't go into the Theron or Quinn threads and start asking for better scenes for Corso there. That's not the topic of those threads and Corso's character development and scenes have very different issues than Quinn and Theron's.

 

...Ok less so after KOTFE. Many characters that returned have super short returns with questionable reasons for not getting in contact in common. :D

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That's cool, but it's better to make threads for specific topics. "Make more for everybody", "make character development better", and "do something" are not helpful for the people writing these stories because they have no idea what others want.

 

Given that it wouldn't be good to try to make all characters grow in the same way, making character-specific threads lets us focus on what can be done to improve that character's story in a way that fits their existing story. For example, I wouldn't go into the Theron or Quinn threads and start asking for better scenes for Corso there. That's not the topic of those threads and Corso's character development and scenes have very different issues than Quinn and Theron's.

 

...Ok less so after KOTFE. Many characters that returned have super short returns with questionable reasons for not getting in contact in common. :D

 

I can see what you are saying.....but do we really want a thread for every single companion , what is it now 40+ odd compnation. That would get old and just annoying very fast

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I can see what you are saying.....but do we really want a thread for every single companion , what is it now 40+ odd compnation. That would get old and just annoying very fast

 

Given that anyone can choose to not read a thread they don't have interest in, I'd say yes. To illustrate, for any topic you find interesting, someone on the forums wishes it would just stop coming up. Would you want people to stop discussing issues that are important or of interest to you just because a random person on the forum doesn't know how to keep scrolling? We wouldn't have any thread at that rate. Everything here is irritating to someone.

 

In this specific case, my current observations point to the actual tally for companion threads--even if there were a rush to create them--being much lower. It looks like most people only care about flirts, love interests, and potential love interests. So, as much as I like Hemdil Tre and would like a story telling us more about how he came to be a chronicler with freakishly good reflexes, I wouldn't bother making a thread for him. My instincts say it would attract even fewer like-minded people than this thread.

 

Not to mention, when the "Thanks for X. <3 <3 <3 This is a love thread, haters make your own lol." threads started being made, some people complained bitterly. To my observation, it was not the end of the world and the forum keep going. People lived.

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