Visitors of Penny Arcade Expo have been busy recording various gameplay sessions all throughout day 1 of the convention and we have gathered all the relevant videos in this one post. There is some more footage of Taral V flashpoint as well as some starting planets gameplay. We also have Daniel Erickson giving a few more presentation of various planets and I suspect we will be seeing all of these videos as downloadable content from the official site. Until then enjoy.
Taral V Jedi Knight group gameplay
Video shows full in-game cinematic for the instance telling us the background story of why are we fighting this hard fight. Flashpoint footage is from the first third of the instance and the person playing is a clicker (you have been warned). Quality is Full HD and the video is worth your bandwidth.
Taral V Jedi Knight group gameplay – Last Boss
Video shows the last third of Taral V instance including the fight (and wipe) with the last boss. *spoiler alert* Last boss seems to have an add so it requires some coordination and unfortunately the Trooper died and Jedi Knight was not able to take aggro from the healers quickly enough (not his fault). The person playing seems to be a veteran MMO player and you can see just how smooth the gameplay is when played by a knowledgeable player. The video is HD and gets 5 stars from me.
Taral V Jedi Sage group gameplay
Jungle part of Taral V from the Jedi Sage perspective. Video is HD with detailed shot of the UI in the end
Bounty Hunter Hutta gameplay
We see the starting zone for Bounty Hunter with some great cutscenes and a chubby BH as our protagonist. HD quality is available and I recommend watching it this way because it brings out the best out of the game footage.
Hoth – presented by Daniel Erickson
We see some areas of Hoth with surprising volcanic activity and future questing grounds set inside ice caves and ship graveyards. Available in HD quality as well. Thanks to Engrey for the footage.
Tatooine – presented by Daniel Erickson
Official trailer showing in-game footage of Tatooine vistas.
Sith Warrior – 14 minutes on Korriban
The video shows all cutscenes and footage from questing inside a cave on Korriban. This is footage similar to the one we’ve see at Gamescom last year, but nice to see it again.
Only a few days are left before Boston hosts the 2011 Penny Arcade Expo – East coast edition. This is a big deal in the SWTOR community because Bioware seems to love PAX and always does something special at these events. This event is also special because for the first time there will be an organized gathering of SWTOR fansites and fans at two community events. Here’s a list of important things you can expect from PAX East this year.
The Old Republic booth is 912 and that is where visitors will be able to sit down and play the game. For the first time the general public will be able to experience flashpoint content. Taral V, the flashpoint we’ve seen footage of several weeks ago, is what people will be able to play through at the show. Those that lean towards the dark side can avoid playing this Republic only instance and choose to play one of the Sith Empire classes and their starting planets. Never fear my Jedi friends, you get a treat as well because for the first time the general public will be able to play on Tython and try Jedi Knight and Jedi Consular. Just to make things even more awesome James Ohlen (Lead Designer) and Daniel Erickson (Lead Writer) will be hanging at the booth all throughout the event and will be available for Q&A sessions.
The things I hate missing out on are two community gatherings that will happen at PAX. There is the Star Wars: The Old Republic Community Cantina organized by SWTOR fansites (I think the main sponsor is Darth Hater). Here are the details: Date & Time: Friday March 11th, 2011, 7PM Location: The Times Irish Pub & Restaurant, 112 Broad St. (Between High st & Wendell St.) Boston, MA 02110 Confirmed Participants: Ask A Jedi Corellian Run Radio Curse Darth Hater Massively Mos Eisley Radio TORSyndicate
The second event is officially organized by Bioware and it is by invitation only. You can get your invitations at the SWTOR booth and if you do you will be able to attend the Community Meet and Greet hosted by SWTOR community team. The details are as follows:
Date & Time: March 12th, 2011 Location: Westin Boston Waterfront hotel Confirmed Participants:
SWTOR Community team (meaning Stephen Reid, David Bass and Allison Berryman to name a few)
Developers (depending on how tired they are we might see James Ohlen and Daniel Erickson)
Remember that you can queue for the event up to an hour early so make sure you arrive there on time because the capacity is limited!
Past two official Friday updates concentrated on the group content in the Old Republic. Bioware decided to call its small group content Flashpoints, but if you hear people saying instances or dungeons they are talking about the same thing. Here is all the information I could gather up about this game mechanic so you, our readers, can know what to expect.
We first were introduced to flashpoint content back in 2009 at E3 and Gamescom. The next big group content was revealed last year as a multiplayer demo that was played by Bioware staff (at E3) and fansite members at Pax. At Pax 2010 we also saw a video called “Mysteries of Knights of the Old Republic” showcasing a late game flashpoint/dungeon that hints at an old enemy – Darth Malak – known as the villain in the KOTOR game. With the addition of the two Friday updates solely dedicated to the flashpoint mechanic we now have enough information on what to expect from small group content in SWTOR.
Important Flashpoint Information
Maximum number of players that can enter is four (plus companions).
Flashpoints are repeatable.
Flashpoints are much more challenging than single-player missions, but they offer valuable loot and rewards.
There might be choices associated with a flashpoint (save the captain/kill the captain). When running multiple runs of a flashpoint it is still not 100% clear whether the last choice you made counts, or the first choice you made counts. This feature is being fine tuned in the game testing.
Based on your dialog choices and bonus objectives you perform, the flashpoint can change so that you get access to more bosses or more ways of beating the dungeon.
Types of enemies, AI and mob abilities are connected to the story the flashpoint is trying to tell.
You will be able to take companions into the flashpoint, which means that if your group has no healer you can have 4 healing companions to compensate.
There will be heroic versions of Flashpoints
Flashpoints that are known to be in the game so far
The Esseles – Republic Only, early level
The Black Talon – Empire Only, early level
Taral V – Republic Only, mid game, ~90 to 120mins for completion, Level 32+
