Game News KotOR Lightsabres

[Ausir]

Tags: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

<a target=_blank href=http://www.rpgvault.net>RPGVault</a> has posted the second part of the <a target=_blank href=http://www.bioware.com>Bioware's</a> KotOR item feature, which this time is about the lightsabres.
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I would comment about lightsabres being the same for thousands years, and yet a peasant from Tatooine managed to <b>improve</b> a design of one, but i won't, since Saint already pointed that out countless times.
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Spotted this at <a target=_blank href=http://www.rpgdot.com>RPGDot</a>.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

That was actually Rosh that mentioned that.

 

[Azael]

Double-bladed Lightsaber
Designed to inspire both fear and terror, many Jedi feel only those susceptible to the dark side would ever use such a devastating weapon. However, some Jedi who walk the path of the light do choose to wield the double-bladed lightsaber, feeling its intimidating appearance is a powerful deterrent that helps to avoid violent confrontations altogether.

The fact that a double-bladed lightsaber would be as dangerous to the wielder as to the opponent is something that has escaped both Lucas and Bioware.

 

[Zetor]

2 bottlecaps say that the 2-bladed lightsaber will use the model / animations of the 2-bladed sword from NWN.

*sigh* Bioware... never ceases to amaze.

-- Z.

 

[triCritical]

100 caps says KotOR will suck donkey balls.

 

[Sol Invictus]

$50 US says I'll never buy KOTOR.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

The fact that a double-bladed lightsaber would be as dangerous to the wielder as to the opponent is something that has escaped both Lucas and Bioware.

I'd still like to know how the hell they're going to balance the double lightsabre and the dual wielding of light sabers with the guy who's just using one lightsabre.

 

[Vault Dweller]

They will probably use D&D approach: double saber = spear, double wielding = penalties for the off hand, etc. In BG2 a dual wileding character was no more powerful then a character with 2-handed weapon or a single weapon, unless of course he used this ridiculous hammer of uber strength in the off hand

 

[Spazmo]

Double-bladed Lightsaber
Designed to inspire both fear and terror, many Jedi feel only those susceptible to the dark side would ever use such a devastating weapon. However, some Jedi who walk the path of the light do choose to wield the double-bladed lightsaber, feeling its intimidating appearance is a powerful deterrent that helps to avoid violent confrontations altogether.

Erm, how exactly is someone supposed to know that the lightsaber is a double one if it's not actually on?

Oh, right, bad writers.

 

[chrisbeddoes]

Can a jedi wear a thong ?

And while the Jedi is wearing thong can he doublewield ?

That is the big question.

 

[Jed]

Can a jedi wear a thong ?

And while the Jedi is wearing thong can he doublewield ?

That is the big question.

Possibly the funniest Chris Beddoes post EVAR!

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

They will probably use D&D approach: double saber = spear, double wielding = penalties for the off hand, etc. In BG2 a dual wileding character was no more powerful then a character with 2-handed weapon or a single weapon, unless of course he used this ridiculous hammer of uber strength in the off hand

Double sabre = double sword in D&D, which hit twice per round.

 

[Rosh]

Yeah, good chance they will use the D&D method for dual wield.

It will be remarkable if they refrain from putting in a popular character into the game, despite the setting. Oh...oh...I get it now. There will be teh Drizzet, he just Jedi, but was from teh Drak Side and went back to teh Lite! Jedi Drizet!

 

[EEVIAC]

I've always thought of lightsabre battles being akin to Kendo, the Obi Wan vs Vader fight attests to this. Lightsabres are inherrently deadly and don't really need a lot of force to inflict damage. Its more in the quickness and precision of motion, much like I imagine wild west gun-fighting. I've seen very few kendo matches (unfortunately) but the action always seemed to take place in a very brief space of time. Little parrying, one swift motion making the kill, much like a lightsabre would. Furthermore, I've never seen a kendo comatant do a cartwheel flip over his opponent, nor, I assume, would he want to.

And how does one perform a simple forward lunge attack with a double-bladed sabre without accidentally cutting off their testicles in the process? Try it with a broom and you'll see what I mean.

 

[Astromarine]

So YOU'RE Star Wars Kid

 

[Sol Invictus]

Swing the staff diagonally. You won't hit yourself in the nuts. Let it fold under your left arm.

 

[Rosh]

A better style for that double-ended lightsabre would be somewhat similar to how that Star Wars Kid did, and how some staff fighters fight.

Have a longer mid-hilt and use the ends to do the parry and attacks. There's really no way someone can use a small hilt in the middle of two full-sized beams and keep their strength and any finesse on it.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I'm pretty sure Darth Maul's lightsaber had a longer hilt than the normal ones.

 

[Astromarine]

I'd find it a lot more interesting then dual-sabers to see a long-hilt version, like a light-Naginata.

 

[Section8]

Interesting will never be prioritised in favour of t3h r0x0r.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I've always thought of lightsabre battles being akin to Kendo, the Obi Wan vs Vader fight attests to this. Lightsabres are inherrently deadly and don't really need a lot of force to inflict damage. Its more in the quickness and precision of motion.

I agree with you, Kendo fighting styles should have been used as a basis and the fight between Obi Wan and Vader does look like Kendo.
One of the reasons I'm not interested in KotOR is that lightsaber fighting would probably be modeled after D&D swordfighting, i.e. fighters hit each other like crazy till there is 1 hit point left, it just would not make sense with lightsabers, in my opinion.

 

[Sol Invictus]

It's possible to make use D20 to make Kendo style combat in KoTOR but all the weapons would have to have high damage ratios (think 4d16). Characters would have to have tons of agility in order to roll a saving throw against being struck. 1d8 would definitely not work for lightsabers. In Star Wars, you either miss, hit, or injure someone really badly. Of course, if the person's lucky, he might just get grazed, but that doesn't happen very often in Kendo, or Star Wars for that matter.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Lightsabres are inherrently deadly and don't really need a lot of force to inflict damage. Its more in the quickness and precision of motion, much like I imagine wild west gun-fighting. I've seen very few kendo matches (unfortunately) but the action always seemed to take place in a very brief space of time. Little parrying, one swift motion making the kill, much like a lightsabre would. Furthermore, I've never seen a kendo comatant do a cartwheel flip over his opponent, nor, I assume, would he want to.

This is why I wonder if they'll keep the D&D style combat, because lightsabres are much, much more deadly than swords are. There's a little suspension of belief that someone can get glancing blows from a sword several times and survive.. But a lightsabre? Those things don't bounce off surfaces like a sword will if you angle it wrong, they'll slice.

Really, the only way I can see making a sytem with lightsabre combat that is close to what we've seen in the movies is ditching the idea of peeling off hitpoints and going with some kind of fatique system, with yielding to an opponent, because getting smacked with one is pretty fatal. Getting a limb struck with one means that limb is gone. We're talking about something more severe than a vorpal blade here.

 

[Storn]

If I remember correctly - and I will have to open up my old manuals later to verify - the old First Edition D&D rules had pretty obscure definitions of hit-points (and battle in general). A round was one minute - that a player only got one attack-per-round was explained such that during the course of that one minute, among the flurry of parries and thrusts, each person only had one real 'moment-of-opportunity' to land a solid blow. Hit points, I believe were covered sort of the same way; it wasn't necessarily a representation of - literally - each wound inflicted, but the ability of the PC to avoid getting whalloped and succumbing to deadly blows.

3rd Edition rules sort of threw that implementation out - making a round 6 seconds, and attacks actual attacks, hit-points actual wounds. Using the d20 system will be very difficult, I think, with something like light sabres .... I'm kind of curious, though; how do other PnP systems (like the old Star Wars RPG and the upcoming MMORPG Star Wars: An Empire Divided) handle light sabres?



Storn

 

[Jed]

Lightsabers themselves are pretty hard to suspend disbelief for: let's say, for the sake of argument, that, yes, it is possible to take a laser and bend it back upon itself in a tight and continuous arc through the use of a powerful magnetic field. That accepted, what is the "substance" that keeps two opposing lightsabers from passing through each other? Is it supposed to be the magnetic fields? If they were strong enough to do that, then they should prevent the two weapons from coming anywhere near one another, or they should interfere with one another in what I can only visualize as a "loss of containment" type fashion, with hilarious results.