BioWare posted a video yesterday featuring Charles Boyd and Alexander Freed. The video go over the story in Knight of the fallen empire, and upcoming content we can expect with chapter 10.
KoTFE Recap
- Storytelling in games has the unique of challenging of having players able to see and know the villain without placing players in the same room as them as they would be dispatched quickly by the player.You need to get the villains upclose to the players to be a significant presence in their life. It would be hard to imagine Star Wars Ep4 told from only Luke’s perspective. Vader would just be a random Tie Fighter pilot.
- Vaylin is an unpredictable villain. She is difficult to pin down, you never know what she is going to do next. You got lots of serious figures like Arcann being very stoic. So seeing her and Arcann act entirely different despite being raised by the same family that is really interesting to explore. Family in general is a cool theme in Star Wars in general. KoTFE give us an opportunity to explore that we havn’t been able to in the core game. Their family is not united by any means, but they do have a shared foundational beliefs and goals, even though each of them have a different way of pursuing them. This is in contrast to the Luke/Vader family who are polar opposites.
- Both Vaylin and Arcann almost don’t you see you as a player, they see Valkorian in you. It presents an interesting dynamic in the hero-villain relationship. This brings up an interesting potential drama as the player begin to show them that the player has something to bring to the table as well. We will explore this more in the later chapters.
- Koth is a fun character to write. He is a normal person in an universe of space wizards with laser swords. He is a veteran, fighter, and pilot but he is never going to be this force user, general commanding a grand fleet or an emperor. He is just a normal guy trying to mix in.
- Theron was originally a character created by Alexander in Old Republic The Lost Suns comic. He was taught and raised by a Jedi but has no Jedi powers himself. This left him with some personal issues. He eventually joined Republic and became a SiS spy. Drew then picked up the story and presented it in the Annihilation book. He still incorporate some Jedi things into his life even as a galactic superspy.
- Scorpio – You feel she can kill you in your sleep anytime but she never really tip that way. She is is a centuries old A.I. She starts off as a villain in the agent story and then works along with the player. She is not a droid or mad computer that isn’t interested in organics. She finds organic life form interesting like scientists finds lab rats interesting. She is interested in interacting with players in a charismatic way, making her seems almost human. We have some cool plans for her going forward.
Chapter 10
- Kaliyo is a violent con-artist. She is your most exciting friend you ever had. She is a manipulative people user. In terms of loyalty she is incredibly independent and she also have a background as an anarchist. This provide an interesting contrast to the the imperial agent who start off as a very loyal subject.
- A lot of players have a love-hate relation with Kaliyo. A lot of players would go I would never romance this woman but she provides a strong emotion and make her stand out.
- In KoTFE we see Kaliyo in a darker, lower place than in the agent story. That changed her way of looking at the world and give her some personal goals. She is also now armed with techniques learned from spending with the galaxy’s greatest spy.
- Having lost everything, she is quite vengeful and playing the role of an anarchist in Zakuul. This provide an interesting play with the player, who also lost everything. This can provide a feedback loop between the player and Kaliyo.
- In Chapter 10, she is introduced to us as a terrorist on Zakuul who has been doing it for a long time. That in a tightly controlled utopian society like Zakuul is quite a feat and can bring something to the roster.
- She brings an dilemma for light side characters like Jedi Knight on how to deal with her. Imperial agents have a different dilemma with her. At the same time Kaliyo is trying to feel you out as she isn’t the type of character to join the first alliance that comes along.
Q&A
- Will we see more of Empire and Republic in the current state as chapters release in the future?
- We will see more as the chapters release. Chapter 11 will give a peak at some of the Republic stuff. It is not the central storyline as we go through these chapters. The player alliance havn’t come to the full attention of the Empire/Republic in major way. They are still very much weighing their options and hanging back. They are not ready to commit yet. They won’t be interacting deeply with the player just yet but we have big planned that is going to be a major part of the story as we move forward.
- Will Theron Shan play a key role?
- Yes he will be an introducer for chapter 10 and later chapters. He is a busy man, he won’t be there for every event.
- Mandalorians, will we see more of them?
- Yes we have a future chapter planned where you can see what they are up to. Alexander wrote the Mandalorian chapter.
- Will there be any conflict with previous romance love and new one?
- For example if I am an agent and I have been romancing Theron Shan in KoTFE. Now I meet back with Kaliyo who I had a romance relationship pre-carbonite. Can I resume that relationship as we jump to Chapter X?
- Really depends on the particulars of the character and where they stand. Kaliyo’s relationship with you has a substantial impact on your relationship with her. You are welcome to try and rekindle that. Whether she is in a place where she is interested to rekindle that is something you have to play and find out.
- Will other characters know that I am resuming a relationship if I am able to do so with Kaliyo
- Yes, it is a big alliance but people are still going to know if you are doing two romances at once. Other characters will notice if you resume your romantic relations with partners pre-carbonite and they may not react well.
- Will Chapter 10 uses the classic cutscene style seen with Alliance Specialists.
- No, our Chapters will always use the new cinematic storytelling cutscene style. There will be new classic story content and our alliance characters will still use that classic style when we reintroduce them. The character we are bringing back in Chapter 10 is Blizz.
- How long is it going to take to get our original companions back?
- It is tough to say. We want to be sure when we bring a character back, they get given their due. You get the kinds of interactions and the kind of continuation of relationship you would expect from a major character like Kira or Jorgan. You want to continue certain storyline or reference past actions with those characters . It is a big investment to bring one of them back. Another key factor of If we are bringing a character back is that we need to make sure they are tied deeply to what is happening so when you meet them you see why they are important or cool. We are not throwing a character back in for the sake of doing it. We want to be sure that it is very much tied to the storyline and feels appropriate.
- When you meet them again, you want to learn something new about them. Bringing back a character after 5 years and revealing nothing new about the character is not satisfying.
- The short answer is it will take time, but if when we do bring them back, you feel it is worth it.
- Scorpio Romance?
- It is really a question if Scorpio would romance you. Going back to the lab scientist and lab rat picture, it is kinda tricky. Scorpio did flirt with players before, but that was more an act of manipulation.