Star Wars: The Old Republic Updated Q&A - The Sith Warrior

Star Wars: The Old Republic will attempt to combine persistent online play with the story-rich, role-playing gameplay of BioWare's award-winning Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. To accomplish this goal, the game is being built to offer an entirely different experience for every single playable character class. This time around, we're taking the wraps off the Sith Warrior, a powerful wielder of the Force who made an appearance at this year's impressive E3 demo. For more details, we spoke with creative director James Ohlen and associate lead designer Emmanuel Lusinchi.

GameSpot: Our next profession to discuss is the Sith Warrior, which we believe was shown at this year's E3. Give us an overview of this class.

James Ohlen: At E3, we did show off a Sith, and today, we are revealing that the Sith that was shown at E3 was specifically the Sith Warrior. Darth Vader was the primary inspiration for the this character class. The Sith Warrior is a heavily armored Force user driven by darkness and rage. He depends more on overpowering his opponents with martial skills than Force powers but often uses iconic powers, such as [the] Force choke. His story revolves around hunting down and crushing the enemies of the Empire, though sometimes, he is given the task of corrupting--rather than destroying--an enemy.

GS: The Sith Warrior is clearly intended to be a combat class. Tell us about this character's role in battle. For instance, of all the characters we've seen revealed so far, this seems to be the closest to a playable character from the offline Knights of the Old Republic games, specifically, a dark-side-specialized Force-sensitive fighter.

Emmanuel Lusinchi: The Sith Warrior is a frontline fighter who aggressively uses the Force to augment his destructive power. As such, the character does have elements in common with melee-centric classes from the two Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games. Depending on whether players develop their characters toward pure damage or toward a balanced offense and defense, a warrior can go toe-to-toe against the strongest enemy in the room or take apart a whole mob of lesser foes.

GS: Aside from using the weapon to slice through droids and enemy soldiers, what other lightsaber-based abilities will this character have?

EL: While Jedi use flowing and elegant lightsaber forms, the Sith Warrior's attacks are all about uncontrollable rage and the overwhelming use of force. Impale, a gratuitously brutal and generally downright lethal attack, is a good example of the Sith Warrior's powers. The ability is what we call a "spender." The character can use it only once he has whipped himself into a fine rage, typically in the middle of a fight. Since such devastating power would be wasted on an already-wounded enemy, the smart warrior prefers to unleash it on a fresh attacker for, under the right circumstances, an instant kill. Also, I find that impale is a very satisfying way to finish a long fight against a powerful foe.

GS: We understand that the character will be able to dual-wield lightsabers (as shown at E3). How will that affect the character's performance in battle? Will there be different skill trees for different weapon styles (one weapon, two weapon, and so on) like in the KOTOR games?

EL: While we are not quite ready to talk about the specifics of the progression system at this time, I can say that dual-wielding both increases the character's offensive power and opens up certain dual-wielding-only abilities. However, dual-wielding comes with a trade-off, and those who do not go down that path excel in other ways.

GS: Even though traditional Star Wars imagery places both Jedi and Sith in long, flowing robes, it sounds like the Sith Warrior isn't afraid to don heavy armor--even experimental stuff. How does the concept of a Sith wearing heavy armor fit into the universe proper? Can you give some examples of established Sith characters who kit themselves out this way?

JO: Darth Vader is the most famous example of a Sith wearing armor. While Vader's armor was really a life support suit, we felt that wearing armor was an iconic part of the class, especially if we were going to [emulate] Vader. There are other examples of Sith wearing armor in Star Wars fiction (Exar Kun, Darth Krayt, Darth Bane). Even Obi-Wan from Clone Wars wears armor.

GS: In addition to using combat-focused Force powers and being a ferocious fighter, it sounds like this profession has other abilities that make it a natural leader in battle. Do these take the form of party-based "buff" abilities that strengthen the whole group? How do these powers work?

EL: Well, I might have to disappoint you here, but the way the Sith Warrior leads is by physically hurling himself ahead of his group and into the fray, not by sprinkling around touchy-feely buffs for his buddies. That's just not his style. Although, if his refrains from Force choking his groupmates, does that count as a buff?

GS: Given the heavy armor, lightsaber abilities, and Force powers, how would you characterize the class in the parlance of what people expect from massively multiplayer characters? What kind of player will be most attracted to playing this profession?

JO: Players who enjoy being in front of the fight and deflecting enemy attacks will enjoy the Sith Warrior, as well as those who prefer dishing out loads of damage. I know those are two very different roles, but there are certain choices that a Sith Warrior can make that will specialize him in one form of combat over the other. We'll be talking more about that in the future.

GS: At E3, we saw the Sith Warrior take part in the game's multiplayer dialogue system. Given that the profession is basically a ruthless, power-hungry sort--yet the game will have heavy story elements, including branching dialogue--how will the game account for different choices made by different players? How will players be encouraged to role-play as this sort of character without feeling hedged in by limited choices?

JO: Star Wars: The Old Republic allows players to make moral choices, whether they are a Jedi serving the Republic or a Sith Warrior serving the Empire. The story of this character is written with the assumption that players will faithfully serve the Empire and perform their missions ruthlessly. However, there are many choices where players can choose to resist the temptations of the dark side and try to minimize the suffering that their missions might cause. Because the Sith Warrior is a servant of the Empire, he must perform his acts of compassion carefully. He might tell someone he was ordered to kill to get off-world and never return, thus completing his mission in the eyes of his master but without murdering someone who didn't particularly deserve it.

GS: Finally, is there anything else you'd like to add about the Sith Warrior or about Star Wars: The Old Republic?

EL: This was the first character we built, and in many ways, he is still our yardstick for all the other classes. I would not say playing this character is good clean fun because neither "good" nor "clean" is an appropriate term, but he delivers a visceral and satisfying experience. To quote a line from another venerable story: If you think that what's best in life is to crush your enemies and see them driven before you, you should definitely consider playing a Sith Warrior.

JO: Star Wars: The Old Republic will be the first game that allows players to live the fantasy of being someone like Darth Vader. Whether you like engaging in epic lightsaber duels, choking subordinates who fail to do your bidding, or hunting down and corrupting the best and brightest of the Jedi Order, Star Wars: The Old Republic will let you do it.