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Star Wars: The Old Republic News - Possible Playable Races, Part Three
Posted by Jon Wood on May 28, 2010 | 50 comments in our forums
Based on the recent announcement of The Old Republic's first non-human race, MMORPG.com's Michael Bitton kicks off a series that examines what some of the other possibilities might be.
Zabrak
From the planet of Iridonia, the Zabrak, or Iridonians, were a near –human race that featured vestigial horns atop their heads arranged in a wide variety of patterns, and were easily distinguishable by their unique facial tattoos. Even more interesting than their outward appearance was their personality. Zabrak are an extremely determined, confident, even borderline arrogant race who did not often accept the idea that something could not be accomplished. The Zabrak were also renowned for their fierce combat prowess and exceptional constitution, as they were able to withstand a great deal of pain. Their combat prowess came as a result of their war-like culture, which required all Zabrak to learn a specific form of martial arts native to their species at a young age.
Why we like them: While many view the character of Darth Maul as one-dimensional, despite his badass combat moves, Darth Maul’s relentless pursuit of revenge against the Jedi is a great example of the unique personality of the Zabrak race. Maul wasn’t about the Machiavellian machinations of Palpatine and many other Sith Lords, he was singularly focused on taking out the Jedi, and he was anything but subtle about it. Intense and determined, the Zabrak are easily one of the most interesting races in all of Star Wars.
Likelihood of making it in: Shoe-in. Face it, they are iconic, loved by many (due in part to the popularity of Darth Maul, of course), are featured as many notable characters in the Expanded Universe and Star Wars games (Bao Dur, Darth Maul, Eeth Koth), and most important of all, they are much easier to implement than many other races given their significant similarities to basic Humans. Add some horns, some differing eye and skin color variations, facial tattoos, and a few unique hairstyles and you’ve essentially got a Zabrak in apperance. Expect to be able to live out your Darth Maul fantasies in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Much better picks in the third instance, I think we'll see quite a few of those.
Was Duros ever mentioned in any of these? Couldn't find the first one, might not be looking hard enough.
I also think BioWare is going to show us the races usually not playable in other Star Wars games then move on to the usuals.
It sure was!
Trandoshan Dark Jedi... yes please.
Nice, doubt they'll be a playable race though. I could imagine encountering a Duros companion. Companions may be where the races that aren't playable come into play.
Has anyone done a summary count of these various articles? It seems like there's a lot of "locks" - enough probably to fill the game. I would guess that Bioware is going to have a race selection leaning more towards WoW's standard than Star-Trek's.
WoW has 10 races, and soon to be 12. There are a total of 21 races examined over the three articles, I doubt even 10-12 of those were "locks", but even if they are they would fit your WoW standard. :)
There were a lot of negatives in the first, a good deal of maybes in the second, and a lot more "locks" in the third.
Just an fyi, you did Zabrak twice in your list.
Rodian? OMG please noooooooooooooo, lmao.
No Bothans, Ithorians, or Selkath? Is there going to be a part four? Theres still a lot of races out there :)
What about the Miriluka.
I wouldn't expect them to do any of the races from SWG except humans, and i wouldn't expect to see anything too non-human either, think they will stick to maybe 4 races tops.
I'm not very sure about Trandoshans, I'm always thought those were best as enemy mobs and the Republic does not take kindly to races that are in the slavery business. It is a shame that George Lucas has banned Wookiees from using the force and they don't wear much anyway which makes gear customization a bit of a mess. But since the game will allow every class to have a companion, I'm very sure Wookiees will most likely be a companion for the Smuggler class so all you Han and Chewbacca fans out there will not go out in vain to be put in the darkness, your dream of playing a character like Han and having a Wookiee sidekick will come true, I know it will come true. =)
How do you figure? I only see Zabrak once.
Ithorian's are pacifists and don't really fit in here. Selkath rarely leave their homeworlds, and there simply isn't much interesting about them in my opinion. Bothans simply didn't make the cut early on, though they are certainly a desired race.
I would refer you to part two!
I guess he's confused by the use of two zabraks, Maul in the header for the forum post, and the female within the actual article, I guess he didn't notice both contain the same snippet of the article.
Very good points though there was the ithorian jedi. I just didn't know if you were going to address ...well I guess not all, but, most of the races in the universe or not. I see gungans weren't in there :)
Why not just give a link to the Wookieepedia races page?
Because wookieepedia isn't going to speculate on what races may be in ToR.
Some reasonable choices and I understand that MMORPG.com needs advertisement money (really, I do). It's apparent that you show your support this way, like you do noticably with Age of Conan. That's all ok, but I think you could be more open about it, just like your staff wants developers be more open about their motives and reasons.
Yuuzhan Vong anyone?
Ok before I jump into my uber rant.
Rodian - Agreed, you would think they will be in.
Shistavanen - Agreed, doubt it
Torguta - Think it will be in, especially after webcomic
Trandoshan - I think will be companion only as more likely then playable
Twi'lek - Agreed, second most populace race in the galaxy. I love this race, my favorite race in scifi. Especially after Vette announcement today, the character models are in, I expect to see them as playable as well.
Wookiee - considering they said all playable races will speak basic, I doubt we will see wookiee as playable. But as Trandos will be in somewhere, I expect to see Wookiees floating around as companions and NPCs.
Zabrak - Not my favoirte race, but played as one in SWG. They are interesting and wouldn't be overly suprised to see them in.
Good article, I am all excited again. ^_^ While I don't agree with all your calls across these articles I must say you argued your case very well and very logically and I found myself agreeing with you. Now final cut is all up to BW and LA, but I expect to see alot of the races you presented in, along with a few others that weren't mentioned.
One additional note... I hope Zeltron is playable.
You might want to up likelihood of Togruta. Not only have they been prominent in the lore, but one of the earliest screenshots was a human with a blue glowbat fighting a Togruta with a red glowbat.
Another great article, and one most of us appreciate. I really do not mind what is in or out as long as they padd out the universe and what is in is immersive. Keep up the good work.
Nice, but for a speculation post, you should imo take into account more of what we can see in screenshots and videos...
Togruta characters for example, have been seen in many videos and screenshots behaving (imo) like players.
Also, some races might be in as companions, but not as player characters; wookiees are in as companions for example, but not as a playable species (you can see a wookiee in the header of the newly released companion page today).
I did say that under normal circumstances would be a definite for this game, however, if Bioware has to decide between Twi'lek and Togruta, they would definitely end up picking the Twi'lek. They have announced a significant amount of planets thus far, and I wouldn't be surprised if they also announce a significant amount of races, but I wanted to err on the side of caution here.
All but the "left-over prop werewolf from the 30's" are top candidates!
would be funny after these three updates if Bioware had decided only to make humans the playables. Would be a lot of hats to eat..
A lot of these possible races live in Republic territory. Most of the Star Wars story takes place in Republic space and thus most of the people in it are from those races. I wonder what sort of Sith Empire races we'll see.
Personally I have always hated Bossk. Other than him was there another dosh? I could see sa a slave pet for a sith but other than that? blech. Wookiees are far cooler than dosh!!!!!!!
Bothans...hehe, not really sure...but I liked my Imperial Bothan in SWG.
I would agree with you if their first announced playable species (the correct term, by the way, since races are variations within a species and those are all clearly not classifications of humans) was one of the popular ones from the beginnings of Star Wars, but since its the Rattataki, I feel like BioWare is going to go a little off the beaten path for this. Shame they decided to retcon the Rattaki from being isolated until Ventress to being out and about in the galaxy instead of just using a more interesting one, though.
Err...just wait to E3 and lets see?
And if there are no big reveals at E3?
Wheres the Bothans
Bring on the Bothans
BOTHANS BOTHANS :P
Do these articles?
Most of them almost definitely can't make it into the game because they'd require unique voice actors. Simply not going to happen. These articles just seem intended to remind people of the author's favorite Star Wars races.
What - no elves !!! NO ELVES ;op
Not just no but hell no. Its far too early for them to be on the scene, Secondly at this time period they pretty much hate all non Yuuzhan Vong, they exist outside the force too so they couldn't be force users. They hate technology too. They would practically have to be their own faction. Lastly, they are simply just stupid. They dont' really fit in Star Wars. They sound more like a Babylon 5 or Star Trek refugee that somehow snuck into Star Wars.
The Twi'lek's are sort of the elves of the Star Wars world. Beautiful, graceful and they have tinted skin (sort of like Night Elves).
Actually the Nagai are essentially Star Wars Elves.
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Nagai
loldark elves.
However, I must say these lists need less Lizardmen and Less Furries** (I would have lost all respect for this site if Lepi were suggested)
** Unless its Kushiban.
One word:
Jawas.
WOOKIES :D ¨!!! RULE .. ;)
I so hope we get the Togruta. If it isn't a definite, and i understand if they don't want those and twi'lek in, i'll be disappointed.
What about Droids?? Where are the Assasin Droids? There are lots of Assasin Droids going around during that time, like the HK-47 from KOTOR, the HK-50s, and I was going to metion the IG-88 but that is from a more modern star wars time
We wait till E4?
Java jedi plz
I'd love to be an Amorphiian. Seriously. People always love the unique chance to meet an Amorphiian.
Glad to see Shistavenen eventually made it on the list. They're my favorite species and I would love to see them become playable in TOR.
Out of all the races I simply request Togruta and Twi'lek. Though I would love to see Deveronian, Trandoshan, Rodian, and maybe even Ithorians. Honestly, keep the humanoid looking races to a minimum...we really need human AND zabrak?
Oh and Han shot first!