A/V Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series

I heard the sword was in another castle.

 

One problem, he lacks the obligatory silly hat.

 

I mean, wearing a cloth over your head is a kind of hat

 

Clearly there is only one true answer.
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He is Snoke ;p

 

nah, that's spooky, not silly.

 

Unless your Cobra Commander.

 

It is possible he is a hat. He could be a Tholothian. (I'm still sort of weirded out that was retconned)

 

So the special sword from Secrets of the Empire and the first VR Darth Vader story is that Bright star sword ? Has there been any news on when the second part comes out?

 

https://www.starwars.com/news/sdcc-2019-vader-immortal-episode-ii-concept-art-and-details-revealed

No release date yet.

 

Is it me or do the Black Bishop’s hands look a bit more Mustafarian than standard humanoid (Snoke) in that concept art?

 

The Black Bishop absolutely looks Mustafarian. Compare these two. He's far more likely to be Mustafarian (and, y'know, part of the actual plot of the game, which revolves around Mustafarian history) than Snoke just because they're bald and have deep voices.

 

https://d23.com/d23-expo-2019-additional-presentations/

Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series—Episode II First Look
Friday, August 23, 2 p.m., Stage 28

Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series lets you become the hero of your own personal adventure as you step into the role of a Force-sensitive smuggler recruited by Darth Vader himself. Director Ben Snow, Senior Experience Designer Jose Perez III, and Lucasfilm Story Group Creative Executive Matt Martin take the stage for an in-depth discussion about the upcoming second episode, including an exclusive sneak peek that will be available only to those at D23 Expo.

 

Yeahhhhh I love it.

 

https://www.starwars.com/news/d23-expo-2019-vader-immortal-episode-ii

Spoiler

When you meet Darth Vader and he offers to train you in the Force, it’s an intense moment. The Dark Lord himself intends to send you on a journey deep within the winding catacombs of Mustafar, and it’s almost as if you can feel the heat from the molten lava surface and the ferocity of Vader’s presence in the room.

On Friday, fans at D23 Expo got their first look at the next chapter in the immersive virtual reality experience, Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series, including new concept art featuring a frightening never-before-seen creature, the Darkghast, and the Corvax Fortress, where the monstrous beast lurks, during an exclusive panel from ILMxLAB. In the room, ILMxLAB revealed a few minutes of cinematic real-time footage — an intriguing preview of things to come when the next installment is released later this year. In Episode II, you’ll get the chance to train in the ways of the Force with Darth Vader and practice in the lightsaber dojo, which will now include using the Force to lift objects and even throw an ignited lightsaber at an enemy.

Before taking the stage, director Ben Snow, supervisor of creative direction and experience design Jose Perez III, and Lucasfilm Story Group creative executive Matt Martin sat down with StarWars.com to share some of their insights on the bold new chapter in the hyper-realistic world of Vader Immortal.

Learning the Force from…Vader?

In Episode I, we were pulled out of hyperspace over Mustafar, engaging briefly with Vader, who had brought players to the lava planet for a quest to find an ancient object. As we enter Episode II, we’ll become even more immersed in the action, learning how to harness the power of the Force and navigating the dark tunnels beneath the Corvax Fortress. The goal: delivering the so-called Bright Star to the Dark Lord of the Sith.

The sacred Mustafarian artifact contains a powerful and mysterious energy. Like the kyber crystals used to power lightsabers, “in Episode II we discover that Mustafar has its own powerful crystals that powered their technology,” Snow says. “The Bright Star is one of those, but so exceptionally powerful that it was revered as a holy relic by the Mustafarian tribe we meet in Vader Immortal. Its power had attracted the attention of Lady Corvax, with disastrous results, and legend has it that she locked it away deep in the fortress.”



In some ways, Vader is the perfect teacher to prepare one for such a quest, although fans entering the realm should recognize that Vader isn’t a very patient tutor, more apt to lob objects at his students than to counsel them on the virtues of patience. “It’s funny to call Vader the ‘perfect teacher’ because it’s probably the last thing Vader wants to be doing,” Martin notes. “He needs you, so he’s sort of had to take you under his wing…or under his cape?” You can expect the same level of patience we’ve seen Vader exhibit on screen. “He’s not patient,” Martin confirms. “But you definitely don’t want to fail him.”

“As a part of the story, we have a connection with the history of the ancient fortress we’re exploring,” Snow adds. “This gives us special abilities that Vader needs, so it’s in his interest that we have some understanding of the Force.” It’s also probably why he decides to keep his new charge alive. “Vader is one of the most powerful practitioners of the Force. In some ways, who better to teach us? He’s approaching it from the dark side — the training is a little different than we would have gotten with Master Yoda.”



Once Vader is satisfied with your abilities, you’ll begin your journey to the Corvax Fortress. Deep under Mustafar’s fiery surface, directly below Vader’s own castle, the aliens who call the lava planet home have survived for years, a thriving culture that has its own history and ancient architecture. “The fortress contains what may be the key to something Vader has been searching for for almost two decades,” Martin says. “Something that his master, Palpatine, promised him but never delivered on.”

The story provides a glimpse at a previously unexplored era in Star Wars storytelling, on a planet that plays a pivotal role in the Skywalker saga. “Mustafar was once a verdant and green world, and this fortress harkens back to that time — thousands of years before the films we know,” Martin says. Fans inside the experience will learn more about the lore surrounding the Bright Star and its place in the planet’s history, but Martin hints that the object itself, once worshipped by the Mustafarian people, is to blame for the world’s current state. “The Bright Star is, in part, responsible for turning Mustafar from the lush green world of the ancient past into the fiery hellscape we first saw in Revenge of the Sith and later in Rogue One.”

As for the fortress, deep underground, “the castle belonged to Lady Corvax, a former ruler of Mustafar,” Snow adds. In this new chapter, “we learn a bit more about her story, run into some old friends from Episode I who have been searching for us, and encounter a mysterious character we’d seen talking to Vader in his private chambers whom we’ve nicknamed the Black Bishop.” You’ll have to explore for yourself to learn more.

Enter the Darkghast

Along the way, expect to be faced with perils including the ghastly Darkghast, a new creature that bears a striking resemblance to the ravenous rancor kept below Jabba the Hutt’s palace on Tatooine. “It is definitely related, and is certainly as dangerous,” Snow says. “It’s been lurking in the ruins, crawling around the fortress and surviving on other creatures. But food is scarce, and it’s hungry.”

“The design definitely harkens back to that classic Return of the Jedi look, but with a twist,” adds Martin. “This is the first time that we really get to experience a large-scale Star Wars creature in VR, so I think we all wanted it to have a familiar feel while still being unique to Vader Immortal.”



Unlike its desert-dwelling cousin, the Darkghast has extra limbs to help it agilely traverse the underground terrain. “Jung Yoon Choi, our lead modeler, gave the creature sections of hardened flesh, like the plating on a rhino, and added angry red markings like a black widow,” Snow says of the design process. “One of our play testers ripped her headset off when she first encountered it, and scolded us for not warning her it was coming.” Once you meet the beast, you may just spend the rest of the experience, and the day, looking over your shoulder. “Having that massive creature right in your face can be a pretty terrifying experience, and something you can only get while fully immersed in this way,” Martin agrees.

Snow says the creature is female, “and if you look carefully you’ll see some of her eggs as you explore.” And in an upcoming chapter, Episode III, Snow says designers are incorporating more of the creature’s own backstory. “You might even stumble across some graffiti that gives a little bit of the creature’s history if you choose to examine it.”

New abilities

Beyond the immersive storytelling, the VR story also gives fans the deeply satisfying experience of wielding a lightsaber and, now, using the Force. Outside the regular gameplay, the Lightsaber Dojo gives fans the chance to work on their skills. In Episode I, that meant swinging a lightsaber. But now, new abilities bring new training into play.

“Lightsaber Dojo II is all about using the Force and a lightsaber at the same time,” Perez says. “Lightsaber Dojo I was just a glimpse at the possibilities of lightsaber combat training. In the second installment, you get to build off that training with your lightsaber and the Force in VR for the first time.”

Among the new abilities are a lightsaber toss, which allows users to hurl a fully ignited lightsaber at a training droid in the midst of attack, impaling larger droids and cleaving remotes in half.

The power of the Force is, after all, about more than lifting rocks. Activate traps to crush and electrocute enemies from afar. With Force stun, you can freeze your enemies in place. Force grip allows you to lift not only rocks but also droids and other creatures, lobbing whatever’s in your grip at your opponents. And with Force pull, enemies can be yanked even closer to execute a final, fatal attack, Perez says. “I cannot wait for people to get their hands on this part of the experience.”

 

https://www.newyorkcomiccon.com/Exp...force-to-vader-immortal-a-star-wars-vr-series
Thursday, October 3
1:30 pm- 2:30 pm
Room 1A06 - Javits Center

From the depths of Darth Vader’s castle to the ancient mysteries of Mustafar, Vader Immortal lets fans explore the world of Star Wars as the hero of their own personal adventure. Join the creative team to learn how they created this canonical VR series that puts a lightsaber and the Force into your hands — and get an early glimpse of what’s to come.

 

If anybody finds a full walkthrough vid of Episode 2 out right now please post it and tag me!

 

Here we go, 30 minutes, full uncommented walkthrough, enjoy!

 

Very cool.

 

so basically, can you really talk to the dead in this one? What about that mystery sword is it in this one?

 

I assume this is the lightsaber from Secrets of the Empire, right?

 

Well, I guess that answers our Black Bishop mystery. I wonder if...

Spoiler

... this focus on the afterlife and different ways of surviving death is all meant to parallel, or at least "rhyme," with the return of Sidious in Rise of Skywalker. I would hope so, because such a big feat is unlikely to be explored in depth in the films, and so it would be good to have some other material already out there that helps us understand it better.

For example, did the Bishop (Lord Corvax?) appear in the clothes he was buried in? The statue on his tomb makes him look rather different, though his actual look could be his actual funerary garb versus the image they chose to use to memorialize him. I bring up the costume because that could hint at a more "physical" aspect to these undead states. Not in the sense that these spirits are actually acquiring physical clothes, but just in terms of their metaphysical existence still being a sort of embodied, human-like life in a different plane. A different appearance would hint at their being not just echoes of their living selves but actual "living" beings who can adapt and change in that other state to some degree.

Also, is the Bishop's particular in-between state due more to the manipulation of time than with anything related to physical life and death? This would fit well with Lord Momin's resurrection, as well as with what we've seen from the World between Worlds. Momin died manipulating time with the Force, and presumably he was able to extract himself from a point in the timeline between when the Jedi attacked him and when all that was left was his burning helmet. This would also fit with how Ezra "resurrected" Ahsoka, and also with how he tried to save Kanan. So perhaps Sidious was also able to somehow extract himself in time during his fall down the Death Star shaft? He could've ended in a similarly in-between state.

 

Spoiler

If you want to compare this to force ghosts, Obi-Wan's body disappeared at the moment of his death but not his clothes, which means his spirit should probably be naked. Anakin died in his Vader outfit but appears in a typical Jedi robe that he never actually wore in life.