SW: The Old Republic - Episode VII (J.J. Strikes Back)

[Chaz]

 

I see DA:O as similar to say the alien movies, the Darkspawn are like the xenomorphs in being the antagonist, a implacable force of parasitic and alien horror, that can't be talked, reasoned with or fully understood, they aren't relatable but pure horrific and destructive threat (particularly with the alien being a rape metaphor adding to it's horror). 

 

 

Yeah, this comparison would totally work if only the darkspawn weren't essentially orcs by any other name.

 

As-is, though, they're anything but "an implacable force of parasitic and alien horror". They're mooks to be slaughtered.

 

 

Orcs in most settings are often inspired by Barbarian Tribes, in some settings they are more civilized and even diplomatic, like in WoW, in other settings they are completely destructive like in Warhammer.

 

I think the Dark Spawn are neither of them, if anything they are much more comparable to an undead army, especially since neither of them seem to have any individuality or personality, they just follow the Archdemon, at least as far as Origins is concerned, after that they started to build more lore around them.

 

Leaving that aside, I think it's funny some people think The Sith are whatever the author wants them to be, you see that's not how working for an established franchise works, especially if you were just hired to write and are not the one that actually owns the IP.

Edited August 11, 2015 by Chaz

[213374U]

Leaving that aside, I think it's funny some people think The Sith are whatever the author wants them to be, you see that's not how working for an established franchise works, especially if you were just hired to write and are not the one that actually owns the IP.

 

Funny perhaps, but no less true for it. Darth Bane, Nihilus, Marka Ragnos, Traya, the Dread Masters, Malgus etc. They are all supposedly "Sith" when all they have in common is that they are threats for the good guys to rally against, and they use "the Force". You don't think that's how expanding a franchise should work? Take it up with Lucasfilm, they vetted the character concepts before greenlighting the projects they were a part of.

 

The sort of "my villain is more cool than your villain" one-upmanship that has been going on in the SW EU for years is only partly to blame — the fact that a lot of terrible authors have been allowed to work on SW is no less a factor, I think, as their inability to write distinct, interesting characters in their own right without giving them some new and cool power to separate them from generic villain #654714 has resulted in the Sith zoo we had before Disney wiped the slate clean. Ironically, Obs is also guilty of this: they came up with Nihilus for whatever reasons, and they effectively set a new standard for galactic threat that was immediately copied and expanded upon by Bioware ("no one's villains are more epic than our own" seems to be their motto these days). Kreia was an infinitely more interesting character, but she didn't have any particularly revolutionary gimmicks, so **** that lol, right?

Edited August 12, 2015 by 213374U

[Augusta Corvina]

As I said before, I think my wording was wrong when I said they were necessary, but they work well in fantasy, at least looking at Bioware and Obsidian trackrecord you have Mephistopheles and The King of Shadows in NWN The Blight from Dragon Age you can even say Darth Nihilus from Kotor 2.

 

As long as you have more down to earth, nuanced antagonists such as Loghain or Ammon Jerro they can keep the story interesting, but having monsters to slay in fantasy it's just more fun, I mean, who didn't got tired of killing hordes and hordes of human bandits in Kirkwall when playing Dragon Age 2?

 

 

 

 

I'm not done with the Consular story yet, but I've seen her lift a huge wreckage that was trapping a dude's leg and then send that wreckage flying until it disappeared from the screen.

 

I've seen her twice smash huge durasteel blastdoors with the force until she blew them open, not sure if you remember the opening scene from Episode 1, where they close those big blast doors and Qui-Gon tries to melt them with his saber but then gives up? Well, the consular just blew them open with Telekinetics.

 

But even if we disregard that, the developers have said even before launch that they are designing your characters to be badasses from the start, it plays into the narrative too, the Knight says she was able to beat all her instructors and Yuon Par or Syo Bakarn say that force users as powerful as the consular are rare and come along once every several decades, and they're saying this when she is a Padawan.

 

They only work well with a very good writer onboard. The genre they're in may make it harder or easier perhaps, but it can't escape that.

 

I wouldn't call Mephy and Shady forces of nature either given they are established as perfectly sentient with their own goals and motivces. All of which they follow through on. Even Nihilus is still a person albeit one thats being consumed by his own hunger.

 

Fighting monsters is fun, but they're just animals in the end. If thats all the opposition I have then thats a tad boring in the long run.

 

Lets leave the DA2 debacle out of this thread. It won't go anywhere good.

 

Lifting wreckage and tossing it away isn't really much of a feat either to be honest. Can't really compare something set thousands of years apart either when I don't know what the technological disparity is so I'll assume you're not wrong with the durasteel door. I still wouldn't put it next to Yoda for the simple reason that I've never been given the impression that telekinetics was his big thing(while the consulars offensive capabilities revolve around it). Though its a different story at the point she's at her last chapters end.

 

Btw didn't the old EU say something about force users in the past being overall stronger or some such?

 

So basically they went with Rule Of Cool. Pretty much the impression I got from the game. The stronger than most comments is probably meant to be the excuse for all the crazy stuff the players can get up to.

[Chaz]

 

Funny perhaps, but no less true for it. Darth Bane, Nihilus, Marka Ragnos, Traya, the Dread Masters, Malgus etc. They are all supposedly "Sith" when all they have in common is that they are threats for the good guys to rally against, and they use "the Force". You don't think that's how expanding a franchise should work? Take it up with Lucasfilm, they vetted the character concepts before greenlighting the projects they were a part of.

 

I have a question for you then, tell me the difference between a Sith and a Rakata without bringing up their appearance, what kind of weaponry and technology they used and the fact that they lived pretty much in different eras.

 

Since you say Sith are just bad guys who use the force then you probably can't find any difference between them.

 

Leaving that aside, I think you can get away with having different interpretation of Sith characters, especially when you compare characters from different eras or when you compare different mediums such as movies vs video games or books, since they are intended for different audiences.

 

But when I compare KOTOR 2 Sith to KOTOR Sith, we're talking about the same era, we're talking about the same franchise since it's a damn sequel, hell they even use the same engine. Also I was already proven right when someone else brought up that there actually was a power struggle between the 2 main Sith bad guys but it was cut from the game, it always stood out for me that one never really tried to establish control over the other and that they just let each other do their own thing, but since so much content was cut that explains it.

 

 

 

They only work well with a very good writer onboard. The genre they're in may make it harder or easier perhaps, but it can't escape that.

 

 

I have to kinda disagree, what you say may work for a book or movie or a telltale game, but in an classic RPG, combat is paramount you need interesting enemies with great variety and design, as much as good dialogue.

 

 

 

I wouldn't call Mephy and Shady forces of nature either given they are established as perfectly sentient with their own goals and motivces. All of which they follow through on. Even Nihilus is still a person albeit one thats being consumed by his own hunger.

 

 

Forces of Nature has more to do with the fact that they characters are nigh unstoppable (in games and fantasy is due to their immense power) and not so much to do with the lack of personality or individuality (but that can be part of the theme too) that's why I said before that in a more realistic setting a force of nature would actually be something like bad weather, which is an actual force of nature. A zombie horde or Dragon Age's Blight can be considered a Force of Nature too but not characters, in a Fantasy setting the protagonists or playable characters are the only ones that are in a position to stop these forces of nature.

 

Mephistopheles as a ruler of the 8 layer of hell is one of the most powerful beings in the planes, same with King of Shadows which is some sort of ancient magical construct powered by the weave itself, so yeah I think force of nature is a fit description for them.

 

 

 

So basically they went with Rule Of Cool. Pretty much the impression I got from the game. The stronger than most comments is probably meant to be the excuse for all the crazy stuff the players can get up to. 

 

I'll just leave the whole discussion about the Jedi Cosular power aside, since I don't find it that important, but the way I interpret these comments made by NPCs is to lay the narrative that the designers even before launch said they wanted, their design was for the characters to be already capable to be heroes from lvl 1.

Edited August 12, 2015 by Chaz

[Augusta Corvina]

I have to kinda disagree, what you say may work for a book or movie or a telltale game, but in an classic RPG, combat is paramount you need interesting enemies with great variety and design, as much as good dialogue.

 

Good thing I didn't say combat was unimportant then.

 

Videogames rely on more factors that books and movies to do. If one suffers then it'll drag the whole thing down, but sometimes one aspect can manage to carry a game through to the end for some.

 

Forces of Nature has more to do with the fact that they characters are nigh unstoppable (in games and fantasy is due to their immense power) and not so much to do with the lack of personality or individuality (but that can be part of the theme too) that's why I said before that in a more realistic setting a force of nature would actually be something like bad weather, which is an actual force of nature. A zombie horde or Dragon Age's Blight can be considered a Force of Nature too but not characters, in a Fantasy setting the protagonists or playable characters are the only ones that are in a position to stop these forces of nature.

 

Mephistopheles as a ruler of the 8 layer of hell is one of the most powerful beings in the planes, same with King of Shadows which is some sort of ancient magical construct powered by the weave itself, so yeah I think force of nature is a fit description for them.

Not sure I entirely agree, but now we're going in circles as far as I can tell. We'll just agree to disagree.

 

I'll just leave the whole discussion about the Jedi Cosular power aside, since I don't find it that important, but the way I interpret these comments made by NPCs is to lay the narrative that the designers even before launch said they wanted, their design was for the characters to be already capable to be heroes from lvl 1.

Fair enough.

[Chaz]

 Good thing I didn't say combat was unimportant then.

Not sure I entirely agree, but now we're going in circles as far as I can tell. We'll just agree to disagree.

Fair enough.

Ok, with all the being said I think the discussion on these topics has run its course, I guess we can discuss the upcoming expansion, Knight of the Fallen Empire.

Edited August 12, 2015 by Chaz

[Augusta Corvina]

 

Good thing I didn't say combat was unimportant then.

 

Not sure I entirely agree, but now we're going in circles as far as I can tell. We'll just agree to disagree.

 

Fair enough.

Ok, with all the being said I think the discussion on these topics has run its course, I guess we can discuss the upcoming expansion, Knight of the Fallen Empire.

 

I'm surprised it took them this long to put in that smuggler guy given he was in one of the promo trailers way back. Aside from him I wonder what other companions we'll be getting and hopefully they'll give me a chance to 'accidentally' shove Lord Scourge out the nearest airlock...

 

That and I still don't get how we end up frozen in carbonite.

[Spider]

I'm still baffled that they thought no new raids at expansion launch was a good thing to do. I stopped playing last spring except for a brief stint when SoR came out, but always had an interest in going back. But not now for sure.

 

And people that stuck with it in my guild are now leaving as well being fed up with it. Maybe they've decided that the raiding community isn't worth it anymore and that more single player style is the way to go. I just know they're killing interest completely for me.

[Chaz]

I'm surprised it took them this long to put in that smuggler guy given he was in one of the promo trailers way back. 

 

You know with him ALL the characters from the trailers will be in the game now, so you could say that the circle is now complete.

 

Satele, Malgus, Shae Vizla, Jace Malcom, hell even T7 was on the trailers. The ones we'll probably never see are the ones that died in the trailers or before the game came out like Vindican, Ven Zallow, Eleena Daru, etc.

 

Why wasn't the dude on the game before? I hear the actor that played in on the trailers is actually very high profile for them to give him a role, I wonder who will be voicing him now, the someone else.

[Augusta Corvina]

 

I'm surprised it took them this long to put in that smuggler guy given he was in one of the promo trailers way back. 

 

You know with him ALL the characters from the trailers will be in the game now, so you could say that the circle is now complete.

 

Satele, Malgus, Shae Vizla, Jace Malcom, hell even T7 was on the trailers. The ones we'll probably never see are the ones that died in the trailers or before the game came out like Vindican, Ven Zallow, Eleena Daru, etc.

 

Why wasn't the dude on the game before? I hear the actor that played in on the trailers is actually very high profile for them to give him a role, I wonder who will be voicing him now, the someone else.

 

That could explain it. We'll probably find out sometime around when he's put into the game.

[Gromnir]

I'm still baffled that they thought no new raids at expansion launch was a good thing to do. I stopped playing last spring except for a brief stint when SoR came out, but always had an interest in going back. But not now for sure.

 

And people that stuck with it in my guild are now leaving as well being fed up with it. Maybe they've decided that the raiding community isn't worth it anymore and that more single player style is the way to go. I just know they're killing interest completely for me.

am thinking that some o' the reasoning for not adding new operations is that the current operations is busted. bioware admitted that they has disadvantaged melee (as 'posed to ranged) in no small way.  this were, inexplicably, an accident-- nobody at bio noticed the trend o' favoring ranged dps.  so, bio has recognized the problem and will be doing some considerable overhauling.  between all the new story content AND overhauling the operations, inordinate developer effort is being required.

 

in any event, our 1-month experiment ended with us having a second server with all classes in the 50-60 range.  some minor effort will be required to get those characters from 52/53 to 60 by october, but we will now will have harbinger as a genuine backup.  have heard that legacy datacrons is being considered for the expansion, which would be welcome.  am not looking forward to doing a datacron run on 6 characters.  am also wondering how much effort we should expend on maxing crafting (am already maxed on resource gathering) as companions are also being altered in major, but as yet unannounced, ways.  

 

in any event, it had been a long time since we had done any o' the pre-50 stuff and re-exploring virtual all the story material were less painful than we believed it would be.  one thing that did surprise us were how much we disliked most o' the imperial agent companions.  kaliyo were a rabid dog needing the old yeller treatment. vector never ceased to be creepy... and we wished to shiv him every time he said "mambrosia." raina were a broken toy that couldn't be fixed.  am knowing that some folks liked the imperial agent story a great deal, but Gromnir were kinda ambivalent... and we hated the companions.  

 

am mild curious about the new expansion.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited August 15, 2015 by Gromnir

[213374U]

I actually liked Kaliyo. And SCORPIO even more. Must have a thing for bat**** insane ladies. That would explain a few things...

 

The IA story was ok, but I kinda expected more after hearing how great it was from everyone.

[Gorth]

I actually liked Kaliyo. And SCORPIO even more. Must have a thing for bat**** insane ladies. That would explain a few things...

 

The IA story was ok, but I kinda expected more after hearing how great it was from everyone.

Heh, SCORPIO is probably one of my favourite companions of the entire bunch in the game. What's not to like about a psychotic killer robot dedicating her existence to breaking her controlling software and kill you??? So over the top its hard not to smile. It's like a mechanical Thana Vesh

 

Problem with companions in general is the limited number of "barks" they have when summoned. engaging enemies etc. Eventually even your favourites becomes a bit tiresome to listen to when the class story is over.

 

Apart from the never ending hassle with timezones, I should now have well geared level 60 healers and tanks on both Harbinger and Shadowlands and working on getting the few remamining ones moved from Begeren to Jedi Covenement. So if anyone is interested in running a few group activities, just give me a shout. Would probably only work weekends though. Also got two handfuls of leveling toons on all 3 servers as I don't expect the 12x xp to last forever, so they get a bit of priority at the moment.

[Spider]

am thinking that some o' the reasoning for not adding new operations is that the current operations is busted. bioware admitted that they has disadvantaged melee (as 'posed to ranged) in no small way.  this were, inexplicably, an accident-- nobody at bio noticed the trend o' favoring ranged dps.  so, bio has recognized the problem and will be doing some considerable overhauling.  between all the new story content AND overhauling the operations, inordinate developer effort is being required.

 

 

You're thinking they'll change the existing operations to be more melee friendly? I haven't ready too much about it, but I would assume they'd be more careful moving forward, but leave what's there as is.

 

From what I've learned from the WoW devs communications, designing an operation isn't that taxing on man hours, biggest chunk of time goes to making the art. So I don't think adjusting whatever they have planned would be doable, I'd instead speculate they don't have enough artists to both make interesting story content and operations at the same time. But I hope I'm wrong and they'll get something out quickly.

 

Also not sure how I feel about all operations being scaled to max level. I think it's great to have the story mode versions in rotation for the raid finder, but the heroics just feel weird for me.

[Chaz]

The companions for KotFE have already been datamined, so the information is out there if you want look for it.

For those that don't want to be spoiled I can give some non-spoilery information, remember this is work in progress.


-You lose your old companions, probably early in the expansion

-There is a new cast of "universal companions" meaning everyone gets them regardless of class, I wont say who but if you pay attention to the characters Bioware has been introducing in the past year I think you can make a pretty educated guess.

-Some (not all) of the old companions will be able to be re-recruited and will play a part in the story, in this case Bioware went mostly with the cheaper companions that don't have a Voice Actor (expect a lot of aliens and droids to come back)

-Some of these old companions will be available for every class, even the ones from the other faction, I guess that could lead to interesting dialogues

-I believe these old companions will be coming back after Chapter 9, what does this mean? That we probably won't see them at launch, and most likely will appear in new chapters, on early 2016, but don't quote me on this.

-A character mentioned in the galactic timeline videos that never made it into the game will appear, not as companion, most likely as adviser.

-A character from the first expansion (RotHC) will be coming back, probably as adviser too.

-If you don't like anyone there will be animal and generic droid companions, like probes or akk dogs, yes they will be combat capable and not pets.

-I think all or most of the companions will be able to tank, heal or dps now, so you take the one you like based on personality, not role.

Edited August 17, 2015 by Chaz

[majestic]

 

I actually liked Kaliyo. And SCORPIO even more. Must have a thing for bat**** insane ladies. That would explain a few things...

 

The IA story was ok, but I kinda expected more after hearing how great it was from everyone.

Heh, SCORPIO is probably one of my favourite companions of the entire bunch in the game. What's not to like about a psychotic killer robot dedicating her existence to breaking her controlling software and kill you??? So over the top its hard not to smile. It's like a mechanical Thana Vesh

 

Problem with companions in general is the limited number of "barks" they have when summoned. engaging enemies etc. Eventually even your favourites becomes a bit tiresome to listen to when the class story is over.

 

Apart from the never ending hassle with timezones, I should now have well geared level 60 healers and tanks on both Harbinger and Shadowlands and working on getting the few remamining ones moved from Begeren to Jedi Covenement. So if anyone is interested in running a few group activities, just give me a shout. Would probably only work weekends though. Also got two handfuls of leveling toons on all 3 servers as I don't expect the 12x xp to last forever, so they get a bit of priority at the moment.

 

 

All of the IA's companions are bat**** insane. Even the most normal of the bunch casually kills her father because he saved her life (and broke Imperial law in the process of doing so). The rest... uh, a psychotic terrorist, a rakghoul, a killer robot and a Killik joiner, riiiiiiigh guys, I'm totally trusting any of you with my life.   

[Gromnir]

 

 

I actually liked Kaliyo. And SCORPIO even more. Must have a thing for bat**** insane ladies. That would explain a few things...

 

The IA story was ok, but I kinda expected more after hearing how great it was from everyone.

Heh, SCORPIO is probably one of my favourite companions of the entire bunch in the game. What's not to like about a psychotic killer robot dedicating her existence to breaking her controlling software and kill you??? So over the top its hard not to smile. It's like a mechanical Thana Vesh

 

Problem with companions in general is the limited number of "barks" they have when summoned. engaging enemies etc. Eventually even your favourites becomes a bit tiresome to listen to when the class story is over.

 

Apart from the never ending hassle with timezones, I should now have well geared level 60 healers and tanks on both Harbinger and Shadowlands and working on getting the few remamining ones moved from Begeren to Jedi Covenement. So if anyone is interested in running a few group activities, just give me a shout. Would probably only work weekends though. Also got two handfuls of leveling toons on all 3 servers as I don't expect the 12x xp to last forever, so they get a bit of priority at the moment.

 

 

All of the IA's companions are bat**** insane. Even the most normal of the bunch casually kills her father because he saved her life (and broke Imperial law in the process of doing so). The rest... uh, a psychotic terrorist, a rakghoul, a killer robot and a Killik joiner, riiiiiiigh guys, I'm totally trusting any of you with my life. 

 

you hit on the root o' the problem.  kaliyo is a rabid dog who makes very clear that she has betrayed just about everybody she has ever worked with in the past.  old yeller had to be put down 'cause he were diseased and dangerous.  kaliyo don't have old yeller's redeeming qualities.  shodan were a fun antagonist in system shock, but we sure don't want here in our party, and we sure as well wouldn't give her access to any kinda imperial-wide computer network.  

 

am having fewer trust issues with vector, but the joiner as a more friendly borg don't work for us.  

 

also, as we noted already, raina is broken.  is likely that raina were our least favorite ia companion, which is saying something.  raina is a zealot.  the fact that she is a zealous believer in the organization that has been victimizing her makes matters worse.  our willingness to play fast and loose with imperial orders made raina a liability in addition to being a horrible character with zero growth. trade her for cipher agent 3?  

 

didn't like the ia companions... and other than the minister of intelligence, we weren't a particular great fan o' ia story.  even so, ia were better than trooper.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Hurlshort]

Some of the trooper companions are entertaining.  The doctor lady and the big robot are fun.  I enjoyed the first act, but it got pretty dull after that.  

[Gromnir]

 

Yeah, my trooper is at 45 and the storyline really stalled out.  I guess there isn't much reason to finish.  I have a Jedi Knight near 60 and that storyline was fun.

a number o' the swtor storylines have a similar flaw: they collapse after the chapter 1 conclusions.  for the better part o' the game, you are chasing down X or puzzling through Y... and  then chapter 1 concludes.  now there is a new threat and we are informed that we must deal with a new problem that threatens the galaxy and us personal? 

 

quote self is gauche, but...

 

in any event. we also liked forex, or however it were spelled.  am thinking the writers overdid the imp lady medic's by-the-book schtick-- her bun were wound too tight.  

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Hurlshort]

Hey, we are getting old.  We've earned the right to repeat the same conversations.  

[Gorth]

The benefits of not trying to view the game as some kind of profound story telling

 

Because, I would never be able to give a rational explanation for why Bizz is my favorite companion. As a ranged tank, he's not the most useful, his voice acting is... questionable etc. Maybe it's just the absurdity of picking up a Jawa on an ice world and a bazooka toting Jawa no less, Maybe it helps if you are a Monty Python fan

 

As for trooper companions, I took a liking to Tanno vik when playing through the trooper story first time. His no nonsense approach had its own appeal. No problem is so big that more explosives can't fix it. Second time I played through it, I actually sort of warmed up to Aric Jorgans character (even though I hated him passionately the first time, just goes to show how fickle I can be).

 

Decided to to give the new Togruta race a spin and instantly disliking the look of the male togrutas, rolled a female jedi guardian tank. What a bunch of space hippies. Since they seem to all have vivid colours, face paint and run around barefoot to be in touch with mother nature (according to the background lore), I dressed her accordingly. The kind of looks that can make your optical nerves bleed. I guess I need to post a pic a bit later today or it didn't happen.

[Gromnir]

The benefits of not trying to view the game as some kind of profound story telling

 

Because, I would never be able to give a rational explanation for why Bizz is my favorite companion. As a ranged tank, he's not the most useful, his voice acting is... questionable etc. Maybe it's just the absurdity of picking up a Jawa on an ice world and a bazooka toting Jawa no less, Maybe it helps if you are a Monty Python fan

 

As for trooper companions, I took a liking to Tanno vik when playing through the trooper story first time. His no nonsense approach had its own appeal. No problem is so big that more explosives can't fix it. Second time I played through it, I actually sort of warmed up to Aric Jorgans character (even though I hated him passionately the first time, just goes to show how fickle I can be).

 

Decided to to give the new Togruta race a spin and instantly disliking the look of the male togrutas, rolled a female jedi guardian tank. What a bunch of space hippies. Since they seem to all have vivid colours, face paint and run around barefoot to be in touch with mother nature (according to the background lore), I dressed her accordingly. The kind of looks that can make your optical nerves bleed. I guess I need to post a pic a bit later today or it didn't happen.

the most annoying aspect o' the new togruta is that there is 'bout 1000 ahsoka variations running 'round. a'hsoka. ahsóka. ashooka.  how many ways can you spell ahsoka?  

 

we will concede that one o' our harbinger characters did require an alt code for the name spelling, but that ain't 'cause we took a name that were unavailable 'cause o' usage.  oddly enough, many product names appear to be verboten.  our bright yellow trooper's nom de guerre was intended to be Tonka, but that were deemed inappropriate by ea.  go figure. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Gorth]

our bright yellow trooper's nom de guerre was intended to be Tonka, but that were deemed inappropriate by ea.  go figure.

 

Yeah, strange things with those names. I had a Medb for years on Jedi Covenant (a level 1 toon). Rather than spending a lot of CC's on appearance change, I just deleted her and wanted to recreate her with a new race (aforementioned Togruta). Guess what, I couldn't, the name I've had for almost 2 years was "restricted".

 

Anyway, she remains deleted and I created my new tank girl on Harbinger instead, named Springflower. I dare anyone to find that offensive (I'm usually better at making up guy names and I have a lot of those)

[213374U]

we will concede that one o' our harbinger characters did require an alt code for the name spelling, but that ain't 'cause we took a name that were unavailable 'cause o' usage.  oddly enough, many product names appear to be verboten.  our bright yellow trooper's nom de guerre was intended to be Tonka, but that were deemed inappropriate by ea.  go figure.

 

What the hell. You can't name your character after an obscure toy line? I had to look it up. Maybe it's big in the US but not so much elsewhere?

 

In DDO I named one of my characters after a somewhat famous footballer. Two years later, I was forced to change names, as apparently someone had reported it as offensive (Reds fan?) and the GMs agreed. Pfft.

 

All my characters save for 1 or 2 have variations of the same name. Which was a bit of trouble back then before the legacy bank, or when I have to mail money to an alt. Yeah...

[Gorth]

The kind of looks that can make your optical nerves bleed. I guess I need to post a pic a bit later today or it didn't happen.

Unfortunately I suck as an "in game photographer", as the back lit image doesn't show the bright green eyes nor how vividly, almost glow in the dark orange the outfit is.

 

Ah well, introducing the barefoot jedis. All she needs now is her pet tree.