Playable Npcs in mmo?

knight 12167 · 10-28-2008, 02:24 AM

Should there be playable Npcs that can join your party and fight with you.You could dismiss them as you wish and each would have a quest related too them.

Do you reckon this will happen in this new Kotor MMo?

Endorenna · 10-28-2008, 02:33 AM

I'm pretty sure this is confirmed somewhere.

(Don't ask me where I read it. I never remember where I read things.

)

knight 12167 · 10-28-2008, 03:16 AM

Pikmin · 10-28-2008, 07:04 AM

They said there will be Companion NPCs that join your party. But like JE and ME their not playable.

True_Avery · 10-28-2008, 05:39 PM

http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=193212

This log will answer many questions you have. Feel free to post thoughts on the forum.

jawathehutt · 10-28-2008, 10:43 PM

playable NPCs sounds kinda oxymoronic

logan23 · 10-29-2008, 07:30 PM

These companions will allow you to make use of influence and have an apprentice maybe. I think it will be great to have a companion since it can help balance your character out by having a powerful fighter with a companion who might be good at healing or any other weakness your personal character has. The trick will be keep the companion interesting and have plenty of conversation threads so you don't run out of conversations with your buddy or you will be thinking maybe I should trade you in.......

Will you be able to kill you companion if your evil, just turn on them and say that's it I had enough of your Jar Jar behavior....

Logan

Da_Man_2423 · 10-29-2008, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by logan23

Will you be able to kill you companion if your evil, just turn on them and say that's it I had enough of your Jar Jar behavior....

Logan

Dunno, but you just gotta ignore them or something for a long time, I think, and they will just leave you. Killing them? Don't know if you can.

AJL · 10-30-2008, 09:13 AM

Playeble NPC ?? What the hell is that ?? Somekind of character you can play with even though it is not possible to play with it ??

Ctrl Alt Del · 10-30-2008, 01:53 PM

It actually feels kind of silly to have those on a MMO on which you were supposed to interact with real people. Makes me think they simply chosen the MMO on a financial point of view.

SW01 · 10-30-2008, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by logan23

Will you be able to kill you companion if your evil, just turn on them and say that's it I had enough of your Jar Jar behavior....

I seem to remeber hearing (or rather, reading) a reference to killing your companions - in the context that you would not be able to reboot and undo it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ctrl Alt Del

It actually feels kind of silly to have those on a MMO on which you were supposed to interact with real people

I was glad to hear of it - one of my grievances was that I would have to wait for others to be onlne to get that party dynamic.

~~Corinthian~~ · 10-30-2008, 02:41 PM

There's an oxymoron here.

mattig89ch · 10-30-2008, 05:12 PM

Kinda like Mercs? That'd be cool.

TSi21 · 10-30-2008, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ctrl Alt Del

It actually feels kind of silly to have those on a MMO on which you were supposed to interact with real people. Makes me think they simply chosen the MMO on a financial point of view.

I'm not trying to draw parallels or anything, but Guild Wars did it. They have henchmen you can take with you exploring or on missions. In the second expansion, they created heroes, which like in KotOR and TSL, you can level up and customize their abilities.

Of course the original and the first expansion didn't have heroes and you could only take 3 henchmen with you at a time. This meant that towards the end of the storyline you would need to party up with real people to complete missions and quests.

I think TOR should have "henchmen" you can party up with, but make it so you can only take 1 or 2 at a time (out of a party of 4 or 5) so that when it comes to accomplishing some task, you either struggle through it, or you find a real person to help out. I think this would help solidify the community.

Haroth · 10-30-2008, 06:54 PM

I never liked the Henchmen idea. It just didn't stick with me. It seemed to encourage solo'ing and discourage group work, which I just didn't approve of. Not to mention, I don't think I should be responsible for controlling some sort of NPC, whether it be a pet or a "henchman," when playing an MMO. I feel that I should be obligated to the character I chose when I began, not the character that I chose and the 3 underlings that support him the best.

mattig89ch · 10-31-2008, 01:33 PM

I agree. This is an MMO, there needs to be player interaction. If they keep it to 1 or two, then thats one thing. But we should not just rely on NPC's for party members.

SW01 · 10-31-2008, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattig89ch

I agree. This is an MMO, there needs to be player interaction. If they keep it to 1 or two, then thats one thing. But we should not just rely on NPC's for party members.

Of course, the whole purpose is to interact, and it probably won't be very enjoyable without any interaction, but I like the concept of NPC companions (as you say, one or two to make a party), as it will give us at least some of that party dynamic from K1 and TSL, rather than making us totally reliant on the presence of other players in order to either have some story or make it less likely to be killed inside a few seconds.

Darca Lar · 10-31-2008, 10:47 PM

I say no b/c it isn't the type I would call a 'control over everyone in your party' game. I'm not even sure if there should be an initial party, though I can kind of see a sub storyline-based party that you don't have control of.

Ctrl Alt Del · 11-01-2008, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SW01

Of course, the whole purpose is to interact, and it probably won't be very enjoyable without any interaction, but I like the concept of NPC companions (as you say, one or two to make a party), as it will give us at least some of that party dynamic from K1 and TSL, rather than making us totally reliant on the presence of other players in order to either have some story or make it less likely to be killed inside a few seconds.

See, that's the problem. Why not make it a SP game instead if they're going on that direction? It surely may be difficulty to find the right party, as probably 50% of the players you'll bump onare more interested on harming than helping you, but that's the whole main point of any MMO. And please, I would avoid getting too excited with the companions idea. If you think they can accurately - or even give us the feel - replace the characters of K1 and TSL, you might get sorely disappointed.

Haroth · 11-01-2008, 03:11 PM

The argument for "oh, I don't want to have to fight in a party. NPC's will make it more possible to solo," is, essentially, void. If Bioware wanted to make the game so that you didn't have to completely rely on playing with a party, they could modify characters classes and mobs so that it would be possible. You can solo 1-70 in WoW and there aren't any controllable NPC's. Want more party play, but don't want to be dependent on it? Yeah, they can edit characters and mobs for that, too.

I don't see how NPC's would present much of a fun-factor, either. As I've said before, I'm hesitant to believe that Bioware can properly pull off half the features that they claim to incorporate in TOR. Do you honestly think that Bioware is going to be able to make NPC-based stories as deep as K1 and K2 and somehow place them in an MMO? Yeah, it'd be cool, but as Ctrl, etc. says, you'll be sorely disappointed if you're expecting that. Maybe the NPC's will have some depth, but lets be honest: If they're anything like Guild Wars NPC's you'll be more likely to find deep back-stories between yourself and characters on a roleplaying server, where the plot between characters will be your choice.