Earlier today, Shacknews had the opportunity to try out the upcoming 'Knights of the Fallen Empire' expansion for Star Wars: The Old Republic. This is said to be the biggest expansion to date for the nearly four-year-old MMORPG. It's also a crucial release for developer BioWare Austin, as it is aiming to re-establish itself as one of the most premier storytellers in the video game world.
BioWare Austin is very serious about engaging players, both old and new, with this latest expansion. In fact, the studio is taking this opportunity to go back and streamline the previous story arcs featured in The Old Republic. So what else can players expect from the upcoming Knights of the Fallen Empire? Shacknews took some time to speak with producer Bruce Maclean about The Old Republic's next big story, its new characters, how much of an entry point this new content truly marks, and how long it will take to run through the full back catalog of content before reaching the new content.
Shacknews: Before we even discuss the expansion proper, this is the kind of content that will aim to bring in both new players and players that have been away from The Old Republic for a long time. About how long will it take to catch up with all of the previous content released to this point?
Bruce Maclean, Producer: Our game has eight amazing Star Wars fantasies already in it: the origin stories for each of the main classes. If you really want to catch up, you should play all eight of them. In fact, we've even added on the character creation screen, once you've completed one of those origin stories, it lights up showing you which one you've completed. If you complete all eight, you get a Legendary portrait that is visible to other players when they select you in-game.
In addition to playing through those stories -- and they are so much more emotionally engaging than they've ever been -- they have been streamlined. Their progression is very smooth. It's very focused on bringing up your core storyline, so they're very fun to play. In addition those, you've got Knights of the Fallen Empire itself. So because it's your personal storyline and your choices are so impactful, having more than one character ready to go through is not a bad thing.
Shacknews: Can you explain some of the new features included in the expansion?
Maclean: Absolutely! One of the coolest features is a free Level 60 character. That allows you to have the choice of seeing your origin story or jumping right into this new story that we are telling. Another big feature is the story itself. This story is more epic, more personal, it has bigger twists and plot reveals, it's definitely a feature in itself.
And there's all the standard stuff you'd expect of a BioWare RPG. When you increase the story, you also add to the level cap. Each class has an exciting, powerful, unique new ability that goes along with the level cap increase. There's the entire core game -- we've looked at so many different ways to improve the core game experience. There's been UI improvements all over the place, we've improved performance, there's been a lot of work done on our art fidelity and character models. There's a lot to it.
There's also new companions. The companions are so much part of this whole thing. We didn't really get into it in Chapter 1. We did, sort of, with Darth Marr. Recruiting new companions, meeting new companions, and finding out what they're about. There are so many great moments, where there are surprise twists.
What's really cool is, our plan for our episodic story. Once Knights of the Fallen Empire launches on October 27 and you play these nine new chapters, you're then building your alliance and we start releasing additional episodic chapters every month after the holiday break and the new movie. These new chapters showcase new companions and bring back old favorites. Each [episode] is like an HBO show, full of intense moments, hard decisions with consequences, and plot twists.
Shacknews: What can you tell us about our new villains in the Zakuul Empire? I noticed that in the Sith storyline, in particular, they all seemed to recognize the Emperor. What can you tell us about the Emperor and Prince Arcann?
Maclean: Caution! Huge spoilers!
(Editor's note: You heard the man! Spoilers for Star Wars: The Old Republic story content is coming up. If you plan to play through the old story content at any point, move along to the next question.)
A lot of players have been wondering what happened to the immortal Emperor and I don't want to spoil the whole story, but the key villains are characters that were partially introduced in the Blur cinematic, which we launched this June. And they are the Imperial family. You have Emperor Valkorion, you have Prince Arcann, and you just met in Chapter 1, Vaylin, who is Arcann's daughter. But you haven't met their mother, who is a very important character, as well.
This family have their internal politics and struggle and then, the important people of Zakuul, this new faction, are all embroiled in this power struggle over the Eternal Throne. It is the most powerful seat in the galaxy. Whoever sits there controls the Eternal Fleet, which is an unstoppable fleet. So there's politics, intrigue, and betrayal all tied around this family and it all starts with Emperor Valkorion. And Emperor Valkorion has a deep interest in you as the Outlander. You quickly realize that you are a part of this. You are at the center of all of this.
Shacknews: What can you tell us about some of the other characters we'll be meeting over the course of this story?
Maclean: There are some great new characters and there are some great new scenes with returning characters, as well. One of my favorite new characters is Koth Vortena. He is a former general of Zakuul. He is incredibly protective of the people of Zakuul, but he's also one of the good guys. If you make the right choices, he'll end up on your side and maybe even recruited into your alliance. He could be a very important character for you to make friends with, or romance, or betray.
Shacknews: This one might be a little trickier to answer, because I know you're wary of revealing specific plot points. But we've seen some of the major choices that players will have to make. Here, we choose whether to kneel before Valkorion. At E3, we saw the situation with the unstable Sun Generator. Can you offer another example of one of the more gut-wrenching choices that players will have to make over the course of this story?
Maclean: That isn't a huge spoiler? How about this. We stopped you just before this happened. You learn a powerful secret and much later in the storyline, you have the choice to reveal that secret to your friends, your trusted allies and comapanions... or keep it secret.
Shacknews: You've been kind of quiet about Level 65 abilities, but can you at least offer an idea of what's to come?
Maclean: Each class gets a unique ability. In addition to the normal power growth and utilities and everything, each class gets a unique new power. If there's a theme to the powers and the new abilities, it's mobility. It's increased mobility, it's freedom of movement in combat.
For more on Star Wars: The Old Republic's upcoming Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion, be sure to catch up with our preview from earlier today.
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replyOzzie Mejia posted a new article, SW:TOR producer discusses bringing personal story back with Knights of the Fallen Empire
