A/V The Old Republic MMO: The New Official Thread

Good to see that finally receiving some attention. I remember hearing about the cantina tour on reddit awhile ago.

I've always found it interesting that Vitiate was born with black eyes, with animals avoiding him, and at just the right time to rise to power.

 

Five new companions? I wonder who they will be. Most probably Lana Beniko, Vaylin, Koth Vortena, Senya and HK-55.

Concept arts for first three:

Spoiler

To sum up Vitiate = Valkorian.
- According to BioWare Vitiate is the most powerful (the Old Republic) era force user (with Revan being the second BTW) and is able to change bodies.
- Valkorion is shown aging and is definetely a force user too (he had "Sith eyes" after Arcann slayed his brother).
- Devs hinted that Sith pureblood might not be Vitiate original body.
- Vitate wanted to experience all life in the galaxy (be a farmer, artist etc.). Mother of his Sith pureblood body was a farmer.
- Both are known for their "immortality" (Vitiate immortality does not mean that he do not age - he simply can change bodies).
- Vitiate considers Sith Empire to be a failure.
- Valkorion created the Empire of Zakuul to surmount all of his previous works
- According to Marr Vitiate was mostly MIA/AFK even before JK struck him down on Dromund Kaas.
- Vitiate no longer want to eat the galaxy.
- Valkorian is in command of the fleet that "will reshape the galaxy".
- Vitiate probed Revan's mind who knew that Star Forges can create matter, life and even galaxies.
- Zakuul Empire was "forged" and it was most probably created in Rishi Maze - dwarf satellite galaxy orbiting player's galaxy.
- VItiate: You discern a fraction of reality. Beyond these stars exist other galaxies, other worlds, other beings.

 

I'll resub if this empire is from the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy

 

I'm dumb.

I hadn't factored in the fact its called the Rishi Maze and we went to the planet Rishi.

If that turns out to be correct, then it implies this isn't some sudden u-turn and change of plans, but probably the plan right back when SoR came out... curious, most curious.

If they do this like most MMOs have, then the lovely thing about a satellite galaxy is they can give us a new galaxy map to play in, like Outland or Draenor in WoW, or Balaurea in Aion, etc, etc, which is something that would feel much more refreshing than just "adding new planets to the Unknown Regions", even if for all practical terms the gameplay is the same, whether Outland is on its own map or not.

 

I wonder what we'll discover in this satellite galaxy. Sith purebloods? Rakata? Vong?

 

I would absolutely love another galaxy to explore, there's so much potential there.

 

Zorrixor It was easy to miss

 

I remember seeing that in the sky!!

And thinking "Wow? What's going on...? Did they forget we're in the galaxy, and that seeing the galaxy in the sky is dumb? Even if it's pretty? Silly BioWare artists..."

Now I realise I am the silly one.

Or maybe that was the goal? To wipe out both the Republic and the Sith, so that he could rebuild from the ashes his own dominion, the Empire of Zakuul?

Because if Valkorion is indeed Vitiate, then this isn't the empire of the Exiles or the Sith, but the Empire of Valokorian and Valkorian alone, which would be the kind of kingdom that I can see somebody like that wanting to live in. (Made in his image, and all that jazz..)

Well, if the Sith Inquisitor quest is any tie-in, it'd be Pureblood Sith, Rakata and Gree?

So maybe more like the Unknown Regions the way the Unknown Regions should be, with the Terrors that are meant to make it such an inhospitable place, and not somewhere that you just go to visit Chiss and hang out on remote, largely desolate worlds?

 

Why did Vitiate propose the Treaty of Coruscant? Why did he leave ruling to the Dark Council? Because the Sith Empire was never his goal. He left to work on his true goal: the Eternal Empire. Why did Vitiate want to destroy the galaxy? To fuel the Eternal Empire.

 

"There are a hundred different threats out there that would freeze your blood if you knew about them."

I hope for some powerful Sith purebloods, Rakata, and Gree.

I also wonder if there will be a Celestial tie-in of some sort.

 

So, I just watched the full 4 minute trailer (instead of the trailer of the trailer).

It reminds me of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, and Xehanort's goal of creating two warriors of perfect Darkness and perfect Light to force the Keyblade, but with Valkorian doing the same thing with his two sons, the Dark Prince (I assume), and maybe the other was the Light Prince.

Which would fit with Vitiate concluding on Ziost that his previous agenda had been a failure, and that his new goal had developed into something deeper...

Balance. The unification of Light and Dark into something greater. The Empire of Zakuul.

(Sure, its Potentium rhetoric that doesn't hold up to Star Wars metaphysics, but it's the sort of mutual antagonist that I could definitely see them having Vitiate develop into.)

 

Since DOTJ was written as a TOR tie-in, I wonder if the Je'daii were based on info that the TOR team gave to Ostrander.

 

I've sometimes pondered that, as it was odd that DOTJ got announced when the Timeline videos ended, and I always wondered if they just decided:

"Hey, why do this for free on the TOR website? We can sell some comics and earn some money!"

 

I sort of got the sense that the Inquisitor quest on Rishi was implying that the reason the Maze aliens were communicating with a mixture of Sith, Rakata, and Gree words wasn't that they were members of those species, it was that they were so ancient that the last time they'd communicated with the main galaxy was during the heyday of those civilizations.

Though honestly, I'm feeling kind of skeptical now about that quest actually being foreshadowing after all.

 

Well, the only Rishi class quests I have any familiarity with are the Inquisitor and Warrior.

The Warrior was clearly setting up stuff with the Emperor, so... it's what led me to assume all of them would have more to them than just a random side quests. I don't know what happens in the other classes' quests though...?

The interesting thing with the Inquisitor one is how it extends your lifespan, and... Eternal Throne, Immortal Emperor... they sound like they'd have that knowledge.

 

NEGATIVE NANCY TIME

Am I the only one that found the trailer to be silly? I mean what I pieced together here, and correct me if I'm wrong, is these two guys are the sons of the Emperor, and he sent them out to kick Republic and Empire butt, mission accomplished. But in a perpetuation of Star Wars' discrimination against the disfigured, the guy whose face got kind of messed up gets really mad and decides now is the time to take down daddy, and the other guy is like "nope" and gets sort of disemboweled for it.

I mean it's basically the Qel-Droma family tragedy replayed, but it's also a massive amount of storytelling to put in a four minute trailer just in terms of shifting the status quo. I mean I feel like I should call out Bioware here for collapsing two galactic powers in a four minute trailer. And it's rebooting the setting.

But then I'm predisposed against massive shifts happening outside the scope of actual storytelling.

 

A millenium before the Hundred-Year Darkness...

This is one of the most interesting theories that I've heard in a long time. It makes so much sense.

The Eternal Empire has to have learned about The Force and lightsabers from somewhere, so where better to learn all that than from the Je'daii?

 

You're not alone, but I'm preferring to focus on the positives for now. (I'd add that we don't know for sure how much of this will take place offscreen - but the past cinematic trailers suggest it'll be a lot, so that's a fair point).

 

Wasn't his goal about consuming all lives? Even on Ziost storyline, he didn't change.

 

I think it was more like "good brother" (Thexan) was also stronger, and consistenly favored by his father. You can see this from the beginning, in the training sequence, when he has to save the "bad brother" (Arcann) from the guards training them, and also in the fact that Arcann is the one who's injured in combat; he's not as skilled as Thexan. Thexan's favor in his father's eyes is seen when, as mentioned before, as he saves Arcann during training, Valkorion turns away in disgust at Arcann's failure. It's also seen when, after Valkorion speaks to them via hologram on Hoth, Arcann angrily Force-shoves the hologram projector away (presumably because of something his father said).

When the brothers bring back the lightsabers to present to their father, when Valkorion shows no interest whatsoever, it's the last straw for Arcann and he tries to kill his father in anger because Daddy never showed him any interest. Thexan, good son that he is, can't bear to see his father struck down, so he valiantly tries to save Valkorion from Arcann. Arcann's anger then gives him the upper hand in the duel as he draws on the dark side and kills Thexan.

I mean, I'm sure there'll be more explanation in the game itself, right? They'll tell exactly how the Empire and Republic fall, or give more specifics to why Arcann was so angry, even if we don't see it firsthand. I think the trailer is more about introducing Valkorion and Arcann than anything else. I mean, the older trailers showed the fall of Coruscant, and introduced Malgus, Satele, Shae Vizla, and Jace Malcom, but it's not like the stories in the trailers weren't explained as backstory in-game.

 

I'm sure Arcann will die prematurely in a flashpoint.