Eyecandy: A Visual Tour of the Old Republic (part 2)

 

Alright, this week in Uncle Jara’s little goodie bag: part 2 of the Eyecandy tour.

For those who missed the first part, 7 worlds were represented, with screenshots, concept art, and videos to add flavor. Among these, we had one ecumenopolis (Coruscant), one desert world filled with delicious ruins (Korriban), a rotting cesspit of villainy (Hutta), and a winter wonderland rife with internal political turmoil & intrigue (Alderaan), among others. These first 7 worlds went a long way toward proving that The Old Republic already boasts a rich assortment of landscapes, climates, and local wildlife to compete with any MMO on the market right now.

Next up, we’re going to take a look at 5 more of the 17 total worlds in SWTOR.

Included among this group: a dark world with a lush jungle atmosphere, a once thriving ecumenopolis that looks to have a 2nd chance at life in The Old Republic, a world that is home to one of the galaxy’s most notorious prisons, and a world of high mountains and forests, where an ancient race uses their mystical knowledge to survive amidst a sea of violent enemies.

However, before we delve into the worlds mentioned above, the first world on this part of the tour is a world that needs no introduction—though out of respect, I will give it as fitting an introduction as I am able.

Star Wars fans rarely agree on many things.

-To some, Darth Vader is the epitome of a Sith, while to others, Emperor Palpatine holds that title.

-There are those that feel Luke Skywalker is the archetype of a Jedi in the Star Wars universe, while others still see Grand Master Yoda as that true icon of Jedi glory.

Whatever differences Star Wars fans may have in their opinions of most things, one thing remains universal to this day: only one planet deserves to be considered THE one true icon of Star Wars worlds.

That planet is, was, always will be:

Tatooine

Ok, seriously, those have only a passing connection with SWTOR (the fact that they are on/about Tatooine, itself), but they needed to be posted.

Tatooine transcends video games.

Now for the real stuff.



Though the desert is vast, you might want to watch your step at all times.

 

 

 

Explorers who find their way to Tatooine should always stock up at a local settlement before trekking into the desert.

 

In need of "reliable" droids? Shop Jawa.

In the Galaxy of The Old Republic, Tatooine is an arid desert world located in the Outer Rim. Its two suns feed an already broiling desert climate, making Tatooine a very inhospitable planet for would-be travelers.

With only pockets of civilized settlements present amidst the desert landscape, the major hubs of civilization tend to be the larger settlements, in particular, Anchorhead, the largest outpost on the planet. Once an outpost for employees of the Czerka Corporation who were stationed on Tatooine to mine for resources beneath the planet’s surface, Czerka has long since abandoned Anchorhead, leaving it to become a haven for Smugglers, Jawa traders, & any others who happened to dock on Tatooine and smelled opportunity—or those looking to “disappear under the radar”.

The name Czerka runs deep throughout Tatooine’s recent history. Five centuries ago, Czerka first showed up to mine resources from beneath the surface of the planet. When those plans fell through, Czerka shifted their focus to weapon development. Many secret Czerka weapon research & development laboratories were built, and alien technologies from all around the galaxy were brought to the planet for experimentation. Many of these experiments were deemed too “terrible” to be allowed on civilized worlds, though the full extent of Czerka’s machinations on Tatooine remain a mystery to this day. What is known, however, is that Czerka suddenly pulled all operations off of Tatooine, leaving behind their secret weapons laboratories & complexes to sink beneath the sand. Nobody is sure what prompted this swift withdrawal, though it is rumored some terrible secret beneath the sand holds the key.

Anchorhead has been something of a pit stop for Republic citizens who travel through the Outer Rim in The Old Republic. In recent years, under the nose of the Republic, Imperial forces have begun to carve out a foothold on the planet’s surface. The Empire has even gone so far as to send a small force to occupy a settlement called Mos Ila, via a spaceport rebuilt by Jawas hoping to encourage trade in the region, where they appear to have taken an interest in Anchorhead—and specifically, in the now-abandoned Czerka weapons facilities in the area.

　

Jara’s Thoughts: Tatooine is destined to be one of the first worlds I intend to explore the living hell out of, right along with Alderaan. There’s just so much about it that I find interesting. The terrain appeals to me, the size of the world appeals to me, and the people that live on this planet appeal to me (if this planet only had Jawas, I would still dig this world just as much). The fact that an Imperial presence is felt on the surface appeals to me, as well (I intend to roll Imp for my first 2 or 3 toons). But also, I love the lore associated with this place.

Yes, some part of my joy is connected to my nostalgia for anything to do with the original trilogy of Star Wars films. Even beyond that, the backstory with the secret Czerka weapons facilities, some mysterious force that caused them to suddenly retreat and leave it all behind, not to mention the Jawas, Tusken Raiders, the Banthas, even a Mandalorian settlement (shown in the PAX East Tatooine video)—it all looks like something I want to explore. Not just through travel, but also through quests.

Here’s a confession: I secretly hope that I’ll wander into an Anchorhead or Mos Ila cantina and hear a slightly similar version of the original Star Wars cantina music.

That would be the ultimate cherry on top of this sundae.

　

　

　

Dromund Kaas



Dromund Kaas, the capital of the Sith Empire, looms among the shaded landscape.

Dromund Kaas, the seat of the Empire. It is on this world where the Emperor sits atop his throne and schemes against the Galactic Republic. It is also on this world where the Dark Council, 2nd in power only to the Emperor, holds court from the Imperial Citadel in Kaas City, the capital city of the Sith Empire.

Dromund Kaas was the planet the Emperor led his people to following the Great Hyperspace War, after the Republic’s failed attempt to exterminate the Sith species. Immediately, the survivors of the Sith Empire went to work, building the great capital Kaas City, and also rebuilding their military might through the centuries. Due to the tireless work of such legendary Imperial figures as Odile Vaiken, the Sith Empire flourished and reloaded after their bloody conflict with the Jedi & Galactic Republic. Centuries later, the Sith Empire would strike out from Dromund Kaas, eventually forcing the Galactic Republic into a treaty, thereby achieving vengeance for their past defeat.

The landscape of Dromund Kaas outside of Kaas City is blanketed by lush jungles. The atmosphere of the planet, ravaged by centuries of the Emperor’s Force rituals, appears as if in a perpetual lightning storm. Rain is also common on the surface, and the planet itself seems to be in a never-ending dark haze. Other commonly seen features of the Dromund Kaas landscape are the ancient caverns, ruins, and statues depicting venerated former Sith Lords.

　

　

Jara’s Thoughts: Right out of a world that is already an icon of Star Wars history (Tatooine), directly to one that looks like it could very well turn into one of the most significant icons of SWTOR‘s history.

As a Sith Warrior, I can only imagine what this world will hold for me. Dromund Kaas IS the Sith Empire… Literally. This is the place where the Dark Council spreads their influence over the Empire. This is the place where Teneb Kel’s quest to hunt down Exal Kressh began. Though the Emperor appears to be involved in mysterious schemes outside of the Empire, I imagine he’ll still be in Dromund Kaas when I reach the city. At the very least, I’ll get to see the throne that Malak & Revan approached in one of the most awesome timeline videos revealed of the game, so far.

Seeing as how Dromund Kaas looks to be steeped in the history of the Empire, I know I’ll enjoy the quests there. I am curious to learn more about past events on Dromund Kaas, the ancient figures that shaped the Empire, and maybe even chat with a “Force ghost” or two in my time there. More than that, I dig jungle worlds.

While this doesn’t appear to be a “pure” jungle world—like your Kashyyyk’s or Yavin IV’s—it still has that jungle feel to it that I enjoy. If nothing else, it looks like a very dimly lit rainforest.lol

　

　

　

　

Taris



Vines canvas the ancient, ruined buildings of Taris' once vibrant city.

 

 

 

Though new settlements do exist, the spectre of Taris' tragic past always stands as a reminder in the background.

 

Taris, doomed to a perpetually ruinous future, or primed for rebirth?

Once a thriving ecumenopolis, Taris was razed in the year 3,956 BBY by the Sith Lord Darth Malak in his attempts to kill the Jedi Knight Bastila Shan.

More than three centuries have passed since that act of utter destruction left the city a smouldering ruin. Taris in present day, at least currently, is still in a state of ruin. Swamps are the most prevalent aspect of Taris’ terrain. The remainder of the landscape is covered in the ruined shells of buildings that once stood in a proud, prominent city. Though little remains of the once great city, perhaps its darkest aspect, the diseased Rakghouls, have managed to survive the destruction of their home. There are also rumors of an evolution of sorts happening to those afflicted by this disease—created by Sith alchemy—, including reports of “bizarre” powers.

Though only lightly inhabited in the centuries since its destruction, recently the Galactic Republic has begun stationing forces on the surface in order to rebuild the city. The Republic hopes that rebuilding this city, once a symbol of Sith atrocity, will boost the morale of a Republic in need of new hope. However, the Empire has also begun sending their military to the planet in an attempt to prevent such a move. In their eyes, Taris stands as a testament to the destructive might of the Sith—and they intend to keep it that way.

　

Jara’s Thoughts: Anyone who has played Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic should be intimately familiar with this world and the events that brought about its eventual downfall.

This planet was the scene of one of the most gut-wrenching—but oh so damn effective—plot twists in video game history. It isn’t often that you’ll find developers willing to, literally, blow up to Hell a whole world they worked on. Yet, that’s just what happened here. BioWare allowed you to explore Taris in KotOR, let you get to know its people, and then made you watch as Darth Malak unloaded the clip on it. In many ways, this planet might have been the home of the hardest hitting BioWare plot point at the time—surpassed only by the twist when you learned about Revan later (I won’t spoil the surprise for anyone who hasn’t played it).

Getting to go back to this world (and hopefully rebuild it, via BioWare’s “phasing” technology) is going to be one of the sweetest aspects of SWTOR. Just knowing a little about the history of this place, then being allowed to go back, is very cool. I expect quests there to focus on the Rakghoul situation, and on the Republic side, I imagine the quests will gear more toward rebuilding the place. (That’s probably the one downside I see with playing Empire—they are trying to keep it destroyed. I’ll probably have to roll ‘pub to see the rebuilding stuff [though I hope Drew Karpyshyn is hinting in that first video that the Empire might just start building their own stuff to counteract the Republic.)

　

　

　

　

Belsavis



Though known for its cold climate, Belsavis' vibrant vegetation thrives.

The history of Belsavis precedes the Galactic Republic or the Sith Empire. Indeed, its origins and history reach all the way back to the “Infinite Empire” of the Rakatans, who used the planet as a prison for captured beings—beasts and intelligent beings. Many of those beings are said to still be locked away deep inside the planet’s massive prison.

In the timeline of The Old Republic, Belsavis has been used by the Republic as a prison for dangerous Sith lords and war criminals. Having discovered its true nature as an ancient prison in past centuries, the Republic attempted, unsuccessfully, to fully overtake the massive prison complex. Deep within its structure, the Republic learned that the Rakatans had contained many hideously dangerous prisoners. With this knowledge in-hand, the Republic has begun sending increasing numbers of military personnel to the planet to attempt to maintain the defenses of the prison. On the other hand, the Empire, having learned of the prison’s existence through its vast network of Imperial spies, has also dispatched its own military forces to Belsavis in an attempt to liberate its numerous Sith prisoners.

The presence of both the Republic & Jedi has transformed the labyrinthine prison complex into a bloody battleground. While the Sith attempt to retrieve their captured brethren, and the Jedi attempt to keep the prison intact, a dark evil waits in the depths of the facility, ready to break free of its centuries old prison.

　

　

Jara’s Thoughts: As a known lover of “winter worlds”, I can see myself enjoying the terrain & climate of Belsavis. That said, the presence of a massive galactic prison certainly raises my eyebrow.

I think I could enjoy all aspects of this world—as long as the quests are engaging.

If I am going to spend a lot of time in prison complexes, I hope the quests are involved, with a very ever-present sense of danger. I also hope that both Empire & Republic will get to delve deeper into the mystery of this place. Just knowing that the Rakatans actually used this prison millenia before the Republic or Empire makes me curious to see what exactly they have contained deep inside it. I am kind of hoping it’ll be something akin to At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft—though unlike Dyer & Danforth, I actually want to SEE the evil contained within.

Sadly, if I had to guess, I bet the Republic will come out ahead on the intriguing quests for the prison. I think the Sith will become aware of the evil as they are attempting to free their captured people, while the Republic will most likely get the “We must not let this evil escape” awesome storyline.

However, until we get into the game, this is merely a guess (I could be completely wrong).

　

　

　

Voss



Voss-ka, capital of the Voss species, boasts very ornate, detailed architecture.

 

 

 

Anti-aircraft guns stand ready to shoot down enemy ships---a testament to the culture of conflict present on the planet.

 

The pagoda-like design of this Voss structure suggests skilled craftsmanship---though its true purpose remains a mystery.

Voss, home to the tech-savvy, aggressive species called the “Gormak”, as well as a peaceful race of mystics who refer to themselves by the same name as the planet, was found by accident not long after the signing of the Treaty of Coruscant.

The Voss species, who make their home in a city on a tall mountain peak, have survived centuries of constant assault by their mortal enemies the Gormak by virtue of their city’s natural defenses, and due to the guidance of their Voss Mystics. Though Sith & Jedi outside of Voss would instantly recognize the Mystics’ power as coming directly from the “Force”, the Voss have no term for it, nor do they care for outside opinion. Yet it has saved their civilization from certain extinction from the Gormak, who see the Voss as an affront to nature, itself.

The Sith Empire attempted to conquer the planet after discovering its existence, while the Republic attempted to prevent its capture by taking the planet, themselves. The powerful Voss Mystics were able to see through these attempts, however. Guided by their mystical knowledge, the Voss were able to prevent the Republic from taking the planet, then defeat the invading Sith fleet, causing it to vanish. Afterward, both the Sith Empire & the Galactic Republic established embassies in Voss-ka, the Voss’ home, in an attempt to try and gain favor with them.

　

Jara’s Thoughts: Of all the planets BioWare has released for The Old Republic, I feel confident in saying Voss has been the hardest to read for me.

I have no friggin idea yet if I’m going to like this planet or not.

I will say, there are things about this world I find very intriguing. The Nightmare Lands, which is supposed to be an area tainted by some dark energy that is inhabited by twisted Gormak & Voss Mystics who have gone insane, sounds like a blast to me. The Voss, themselves, sound interesting, as well—though I have to admit, the Voss, named after the planet Voss, which resides in the Voss System, just makes me think of the Marklar from South Park.

I have no idea what to expect as far as quests on this world. You would think that some of them will be your superiors attempting to get in the good graces of the Voss, though if you are Empire, there’s no doubt that some ulterior motives will come into play. The Gormaks view you as an enemy simply because you don’t hate the Voss and they see them as abominations. Therefore, I doubt they will be welcoming quest givers (though any experienced MMO player knows, love and hate by a faction for you in an MMO only lasts as long as it takes you to grind rep with them, or do some quest that changes your allegiance).

If I had to make one suggestion that I hoped to see in the game, I hope at some point you, as a Sith player, can do something heinous and then point the finger at a Jedi or something in a Voss quest. I get that these guys are kind of psychic, but it would still be fun to do since you’re both basically trying to suck up better than the opposite faction.

　

　

　

Closing Thoughts: Thus concludes part 2 of our three part adventure (there were only ten worlds left, so I decided to split them in half).

In this part, there were definitely a lot of worlds that I look forward to experiencing in-game. Not even just Tatooine or Taris, I see fun questing possibilities on all of these planets. Most of them, save Tatooine, seem to have a single recurring theme: political intrigue. Voss, Belsavis & Taris just look like political warzones, with two sides fighting over them for different reasons, and with different agendas; Dromund Kaas, though an Empire-only planet, is no doubt steeped in political games, also (this is the home of the Emperor & the Dark Council, after all). Tatooine, while not specifically stated to be a grand political battleground for the Republic & Empire, still has some juicy secrets to spill. They all raise their own questions.

-What caused the Czerka Corporation to very suddenly pull up stakes on Tatooine and hit the road without so much as packing? I doubt they would have incurred such losses over anything small.

-What sort of prisoners did the Rakatans imprison underground on Belsavis—and what exactly about them had the Jedi order moving so quickly to keep them contained?

-What exactly is the Emperor up to, and will he have the full support of the Dark Council when the time comes to implement his plans? The final chapter of the Blood of the Empire webcomic would suggest not (Teneb Kel made it very clear that they would want to know what the Emperor was truly planning—enough to spare his life and even elevate him to a full Sith lord).

-If the Empire wants to keep Taris in ruins, and the Republic wants to rebuild, which side is going to win out in the end? Also, what part will the “evolving” Rakghoul disease play in the grand scheme of things?

-Though the Sith Empire & Galactic Republic seem set on trying to curry favor with the Voss, what sort of ulterior motives are going on underneath? The Jedi Order may stick to their friendship policy with the Voss, but I imagine both the Imperial & Republic politicians have other ideas for what an alliance with the Voss could mean.

Overall, these worlds look poised to provide some exciting quests for people who choose to camp out on them. It’s difficult for me to say which one I think is going to be my favorite. All of them have great story potential; I think it’ll come down to how well the stories of these worlds engage me. (If there is a cantina on Tatooine with some rendition of the original Cantina Theme, however, all bets are off.)

Well, here are worlds 8-12 on our tour of the 17 worlds BioWare has unveiled for The Old Republic.

Among the worlds we have yet to cover:

-a world where an enveloping, warm Tauntaun coat could save your life;

-a “moon” where “fair play” is just a bunch of four letter words;

-the “Detroit” motor vehicle (starship) capital of SWTOR;

-a world with diamonds that you wouldn’t want to make teeth grills out of;

-and finally, a world where the Hutts figured: poisonous atmosphere + dangerous plants + chemistry = profit.

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The War of the Narratives: Insular vs. Grand

As I recover from searing back pain, I feel compelled to revisit a little debate I had with someone awhile back.

The debate: which narrative form tells the best story: “insular narratives”, driven by colorful characters in relatively small settings, or “grand narratives”, which focus on large-scale events, sometimes at the expense of intimate character descriptions?

As with anything, narrative preference is a matter of personal taste. Also, there are seemingly as many narrative forms as there are bones in my body. For that reason, we—a fellow writer & I—tried to simplify the subject to the two separate categories in the title.

For the record, I come down on the side of insular narratives.

In my opinion, insular narratives, be they in video games, films, books, what have you, offer the best chance for complex character development. Because the story doesn’t focus on some grand, cosmic (or even non-cosmic) event, the story has to focus on bright, colorful, layered characters in order to be satisfying. More than that, a book with an insular narrative can’t survive unless the characters within are engaging and endearing. (If the terminology in this article gets too pretentious, I’ll provide a cliff notes response at the end of the program.)

In a good book/film/video game with an insular narrative, you won’t find many Bella Swan’s or Kantorek’s (or if you do, they exist merely as punching bags for the textured insular characters to rip on for their one-dimensional personalities). In a good piece of work with an insular narrative, you tend to explore your characters more deeply than you do the setting—and that means your characters have to live with some damn color.

I’m talking interesting, intriguing personalities, not characters that have no dreams or ambitions outside of one person/place/thing. If you have a character like that in an insular narrative, at some point you have to see what brought them there, and at some point either a change must come, or you get what you asked for and people finally leave you alone to brood and bitch in a quiet, dank room (not celebrate it, like some books).

Either that, or they’ll just tell you off.

Edward: “What’s your favorite food?” Bella: “Whatever kind of food you like.”

“You guys suck!”

I prefer stories that focus on character development, because, I’ll be honest, I’m a little bit of a man slut when it comes to complex characters in stories: I can’t get enough of them.

My “opponent”, on the other hand, believes the adage “people are shaped by their environment”—and as an extension to this, the more grand the environment, the more complex the characters will become. I can sort of agree on this point. After all, doesn’t it often take some kind of catastrophe to show us who we really are? The same thing happens in any form of creative fiction/non-fiction. Just toss a little bloody war into the mix and you’ll find out very quickly what your characters are made of, and of what they are capable.

A “grand” narrative is — the true definition of which is simplified for this article — a style of narrative in which some greater event drives the story forward, not simply the characters. The characters grow with the event, transform with it, and ultimately find themselves through it. Think Lord of the Rings; yes, there were aspects of an insular narrative in it (Frodo & Sam spend most of the trilogy away from the others, as do Merry & Pip), but they are always driven by a grand goal (stopping Sauron from jacking up the world by destroying the One Ring before he can recapture it).

You could call this a debate over character driven plots & event driven plots, but that sort of minimizes the discussion a bit. Stories driven by a great event don’t always do so at the expense of meaningful character development (All Quiet on the Western Front), and conversely, not all stories with an intimate setting automatically have superior characters.

Funny enough, this debate eventually spilled over the literature line, right into video games and, especially, films.

I stood my ground as she reeled off titles like Ran, The Ten Commandments, Saving Private Ryan and, of course, The Lord of the Rings trilogy—all films that I love—to support her argument, to which I countered with Rashomon, Citizen Kane, Eat Drink Man Woman, and Die Hard (which got a nice big LOL in an otherwise concentrated discussion).

“Was always kinda partial to Roy Rogers actually. I really like those sequined shirts.”

Just think about it for a minute; does Die Hard ever take place anywhere other than inside the Nakatomi building? Yes, there are scenes that show people outside of the building, but everything is centralized on that location, and the situation within.

The entire movie takes place in one near-constant setting, with the story driven by the complexity of the characters. You learn all about John McClane, his struggling marriage, his job as a New York cop, his wife’s ambitions, his kids, Hans’ goals (and later his REAL goals), Al Powell’s internal struggle with the aftermath of having accidentally shot a kid, that long-haired blonde guy’s thirst for revenge after John killed his little brother in the stairwell, that one douchebag reporter’s attempts to get the story before anyone else, etc.

Die Hard is about the characters, while the situation in the Nakatomi building is really just a backdrop (and not even a terribly important one—it’s not as if the writers mentioned every 10 seconds that this was a Japanese corporate building. This story could have, realistically, taken place in any powerful corporation’s highrise and not skipped a beat).

I also mentioned other titles like Seven Samurai, which nearly led into an entirely new debate. That was until I mentioned that, while the story does take place in the Warring States Period of Japanese history, the story itself isn’t at all focused on a grand picture. It’s just a film about 7 ronin who are hired to defend a farming village from bandits.

(On the other side, I eventually had to grudgingly concede The Godfather, because even though the film focused quite a bit of attention on the people within the Corleone crime family, it was driven by a grand event: Virgil Sollozzo’s attempts to set up a Heroin trade business in New York, as well as a simmering feud between the other 4 crime families who are all vying for power with the Corleones).

This debate really does come down to a personal taste issue, in the end. It’s like asking two people who love pizza to name their favorite topping—just because one prefers pepperoni & the other prefers sausage doesn’t mean that neither will ever eat a pizza that contains one or the other topping. Sometimes variety in your pizza topping is good; the same principle holds true for creative media.

I enjoy books with grand plots; I enjoy films with grand plots; I enjoy video games with grand plots; It’s just that if I have to choose one or the other, I’ll always go with stories that have complex characters, even if a grand setting has to be omitted to make it all work.

In fact, some of my favorite stories are ones that feature dialogue between two or more characters, with little or no action. It might sound a bit dull, but if it is done right—and the dialogue is crisp enough—the results are beautiful.

Case in point (the way I eventually “won” the ”insular-only-is-a-relevant-form-of-storytelling” part of our debate):

Now granted, you could put Samuel L. Jackson in a room with a tape recorder and tell him to give his opinion on newspaper articles—it’d be the most entertaining shit you ever heard. But seriously, what you have here is one of several instances in Pulp Fiction of no action, but plenty of character interaction, and it works like clockwork.

This isn’t a deep conversation here. Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) & Vincent (John Travolta) are talking about a foot massage, ffs. Still, it works because of the little instances of humor, intentional or otherwise, and because at some point both characters get serious about what they’re talking about, and what they think about it (a dude getting tossed out a window for giving a foot massage to the boss’s wife).

Could you see a conversation like this taking place in 300?

“Have you given a lot of foot massages, Xerxes?” “Shit yeah, got my technique down and everything.”

Yeah, no.

I love grand narratives, but sometimes I feel like your characters have to be a certain way in order to function within them.

It would just get ludicrous if Leonidas got together with Artemis to get drunk and talk about how fucked up Xerxes looks with all his weird piercings—or to ask how their armorer ever got paid for designing loincloths that wouldn’t stop a throwing dart, much less a Persian sword.

Grand events dictate your characters act in different ways, I understand this to a degree. But when you think about it, is that really true, or are writers just not trying hard enough to make it work?

In a lot of ways, it looks like writers are hiding behind grand events to evade the work of actually having to create complex characters.

To illustrate this point, we’re going into the next topic we stumbled into in this debate: role playing games.

Some of the best stories in video games are from role playing games.

When our discussion moved into the video game territory, I was met with an immediate “all role playing games have ‘grand narratives’; it’s always about saving the world, not just a town.” I conceded on this point (it’s so true). However, I fired back that ”The setting may be ‘grand’, but the interaction of the characters is ‘insular’—which makes it at least 50% an insular narrative, if not more.”

By this, I mean that role playing games almost always revolve around a half-a-dozen-to-a-dozen characters, their motivations, their goals, with only token mentions that anyone of note exists in the rest of the world other than the villains & heroes. Hell, if you weren’t paying much attention, you probably could be convinced that you’re playing the ONLY interesting characters in the entire world, and the rest of the world’s population are just amorphous blobs. (Kind of makes you wonder why they’re really worth saving, doesn’t it…?)

Because the focus on the characters you play in an rpg is so insular, often you get better character development than you would if you just let the setting drive the story. When you put an insular focus on rpg characters, often you find out that your heroes are flawed. Not in a tragic, melodramatic emo way, but in more of a complex, “human” way. Having said that, you also get to see other sides of a character’s personality besides the dark and mysterious exterior. You get to see the humor, as well.

Because you choose to focus on the heroes on their journey, as opposed to focusing on the world as the heroes are on their journey, the environment feels more intimate, and you care more about these people you’re following. You get to see more sides to them than you would normally get to in a story with an overarching “grand narrative”.

R.I.P. You awesome, awesome old bastard.

Throughout the course of our debate, I started to realize that strong focus on the characters is more important to me than a narrative with grand ambitions. In fact, my favorite movies tend not to be your 300‘s, with its special effects & over-the-top fight scenes, or your Star Trek‘s with its massive interstellar ship battles. I prefer films like The Fifth Element, which does have its own action sequences and grand “I-must-save-the-universe” narrative. But beneath that “grand narrative”, the writers found a way to also include humor and diversity to its cast of characters.

Seriously, tell me what business that has in a movie where the plot has an entire universe on the line? It doesn’t…Unless you find a way to make it fit (which the writers of the movie did brilliantly).

The rest of the movie was just as random. It had its serious moments, but it also had some flavor to it.

-This movie didn’t just have flying cars, it also had McDonald’s drive-thru windows to service them;

-It didn’t just have apartments that were high up in the sky, it also had flying Chinese restaurants to bring people their dimsum;

-It didn’t just have a decorated war hero who goes off to save the universe, he was an out-of-work cab driver with an overbearing mother, who falls in love with a character who literally falls into his lap…er, into the back of his cab.

But I digress.

The point is, stories should always put ample focus on characters, in my opinion, even if it means sacrificing a grand narrative. This is the area in which we ended up in a stalemate.

She conceded that character development is important, but, in her opinion, grand events make for the best settings & story drivers. It was a little hard to argue with her because some of my favorite movies/films/books feature grand narrative events to which the characters must adapt.

That said,  many of my favorite stories are ones where the characters are doing the driving, and what matters is the characters, and what their concerns are, while the event that brings them together is just kind of ancillary. Like Before Sunrise, a movie that takes place over the course of one night, in one setting (Vienna), where the narrative—if you could even say it really has one—is minimalist, at best, and driven entirely by the characters.

Like I said at the beginning, so much of this has to do with a person’s own tastes. I love stories with grand narratives, and I love stories with insular narratives—I just choose insular if I’m asked point blank.

I feel like the best stories are the ones where the characters are looked at closely, where you are given a window into how they got to be who they are, where they are going, what they are going to do if things don’t go their way, and so on. I love when two characters just shoot the breeze long enough to talk about what’s about to happen. Hell, you could stretch that out and make a two hour movie about soldiers talking the night before a huge world-changing battle and I would enjoy it if the dialogue is engaging.

To me, the players are more important than the game.

What about you? If you managed to get all the way through this tl;dr article, which side of the divide do you come down on?

Is it more important for you that there is some great objective the characters must face to make a good story, or some event that changes the world based on the participation of the main characters?

Do you find that stories that put more focus on characters tend to be superior to stories that have great objectives, but don’t really let you see the different aspects of its characters?

Does a story have to have both in order for you to be interested, or to stay interested?

Michael Bay or Martin Scorcese? (Ok seriously, don’t answer that.)

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Eyecandy: Space (area) in the Old Republic

Instead of putting together the 2nd part of the Eyecandy tour, I decided some special attention needed to be put on something that was revealed during this past March 11th-13th’s PAX East convention: BioWare’s reveal, and guided tour, of the planets Hoth & Tatooine.

* * *

First up, a tour given by SWTOR’s Lead Writer Daniel Erickson of one of the most iconic planets in the history of Star Wars lore.

The ice jewel, the playpen of the Wampa’s, the place where Luke very nearly froze his nuts off—until Han found a creative use for his buddy’s deceased Tauntaun.

The one, the only…

 

Hoth

I’m going to refrain from going into any details about Hoth, itself (Daniel Erickson does a much better job of getting across how wicked the planet is), so I’ll just post some arbitrary thoughts that I had upon seeing this video for the first time—and I’ll do the same with the next video.

First off—FUCK ME! I had no idea the planets in this game would be so damn huge…

I was honestly not prepared to take in the full scope of what I was seeing. In my head, more often than I can even accurately recall, I have tried to visualize what the worlds might be like, as far as area, in SWTOR. Before I really knew it, I was beginning to make comparisons based on the MMO’s I’ve played in the past (LOTRO, WoW, Perfect World, etc). Of those games, WoW was definitely my biggest measuring stick.

I had a blast playing WoW. I had my reasons for leaving the game, but I’m not afraid to admit that I enjoyed my time in the game, thoroughly. One of the main reasons for this was the environment I had to run around in.

I still have a fairly clear picture in my head of the scope of WoW’s zones. I feel confident I could accurately describe almost all of Westfall, a large section of Stonetalon Mountains (I still remember that creepy as fuck Sishyr Canyon with the giant tarantulas), almost all of Ashenvale, and probably more than 75% of every other zone in the game (apart from Alliance areas. I never did run Alliance—I was always more of a Horde guy, as is my best bud). Even a good while after I left the game, I still have a pretty good grasp on how big a WoW zone can be.

That said, I was absolutely amazed by the videos BioWare unveiled at PAX East of the worlds Hoth & Tatooine.

Hoth looks exactly like I imagined it would: perpetual “oppressive” winter (for those who actually read the previous article, wink wink).

Funny enough, however, it doesn’t look nearly as oppressive as I thought it would be originally—more importantly, the thing is MUCH more massive than I ever thought possible.

When I imagined a “ship graveyard”, I thought it would be similar to certain areas of WoW where downed airships in Northrend littered the ground, forming the covering for a small hut with some people inside. I wasn’t thinking an ACTUAL ship graveyard—with a ship so massive you could actually go inside and explore it like it was an actual building. It’s not even the only one, either. As Daniel E says in the video, it is only one of the ships in the ship graveyard. Who knows how many will be ripe for exploration in SWTOR?

Color me very impressed with Hoth. I cannot wait to get off my ship and just wander out into the wintery expanse. I may even try to jump off a cliff, or hit a lava fissure in a canyon by jumping at just the right angle. This planet definitely has me excited to see what BioWare has in store for the planets not yet released—including worlds like Alderaan & Taris, which are both worlds BioWare has described as “massive”.

* * *

Hoth was not the only world BioWare dropped on the mass of SWTOR-starved fans who descended on PAX East like hungry little bastard piranhas. I figured I would save the best for last, just like BioWare did on the day.

I can’t just begin this with BioWare’s version of Tatooine. First, I have to go back to where it all began.

Luke, two setting suns, and the immortal score by the great John Williams:

 

Tatooine

Now for Family Guy’s version:

Finally, BioWare’s version :

Ok, Hoth actually got a reaction out of me. I can clearly recall seeing the Hoth video and saying “damn” about 50 times.

Tatooine, on the other hand… I was speechless.

I’m not sure exactly what it was about the video that hit me so hard. Maybe it was the Sand Crawler, towering over the landscape like some monolithic obelisk (you can actually see it from a great distance away if you pay close attention). It could be the large canyons, or the Bantha stumbling along looking for food or water. It might even be the damn Jawas hanging around Anchorhead standing by the droid while a speeder coasts by. Whatever it was, this video just completely smashed my preconceived notion of what Tatooine would actually be like in SWTOR.

Like I said about Hoth, I had no idea the worlds in SWTOR would be so fucking expansive. I know better now (the devs have confirmed some worlds can be as large as 7-8 Wow zones), but at the time I first watched this video I had no warning.

I can already imagine myself getting lost on Tatooine—on purpose. I can’t wait to get a speeder and just go explore the whole damn place.

I don’t know what materials will be abundant on Tatooine for the exploring crafter at this time, but if it turns out to be a good place for an Artificer to get some materials (my SW is going to need his upgraded glowstick), I could see myself spending a crap ton of time on Tatooine. The Crew Skills video released by BioWare several months ago shows the Bounty Hunter character collecting salvageable metals, then directing his companion to salvage while he went back to killing. At the very least, Tatooine looks to be a good place to scavenge up droid parts or maybe metals that can be used to create blasters (being that this is the home of the Jawas, that sounds about right).  

In any case, Tatooine looks like a very awesome world for the MMO explorer. Since I am an MMO explorer, I can see myself just wandering this landscape to see what’s around a mountain or something; for that reason, I am very pleased that BioWare seems hellbent on giving me as much room to roam as possible.

* * *

I figure this is a good place to stop. There isn’t much left to say about these two worlds that Daniel Erickson didn’t point out in the videos.

Let me say again, I am very impressed with what BioWare is giving us in terms of space (area) in SWTOR. While something can be said about small areas with content bound up tight like a mummy, I find I prefer area where I can stretch my (metaphorical) legs out.

It wasn’t the cramped areas I liked most in WoW (Eversong Woods, Darkshore, Elwynn Forest), I preferred the more open, vast areas (Tanarus, The Barrens [minus the inane chat from the past], and WotLK zones like Storm Peaks, Borean Tundra & Howling Fjord).

In LOTRO, one of my favorite zones to explore was The Shire—in part because of the ambience, and in part because of the wide open fields waiting for you everywhere you looked.

Based on the videos above, I’d say BioWare is coming along great in terms of creating interesting space for their future MMO audience to traverse.

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