An even longer time ago in a galaxy far, far away, an Eternal Empire is claiming power.
The player is the Outlander, a veteran of the war between the Jedi and the Sith.
Frozen in carbonite, he/she wakes up in a world where the Eternal Empire has decimated both factions.
Now, the player faces the Emperor Valkorion and his son Arcann.
You talked about creating a classicStar Warsstory.
How does the story of the Outlander fit with the themes ofStar Wars?
Charles Boyd:Its very much a classicStar Warscharacter.
What does this third faction allow when it comes to storytelling?
Theres the potential of a Jedi and a Sith teaming up against this dangerous new enemy.
One of the new characters is the Emperor Valkorion himself.
What can you tell me about his development?
CB:[laughs] I wish I had more personal experiences with galactic emperors!
I feel like Ive made some bad decisions in my life so far that I havent gotten to.
We looked at some very dynamic characters in other fiction.
Out of the companion characters introduced in the new expansion, do you have a favorite?
CB:I have been trying not to play favorites!
Bruce, you answer first.
Bruce Maclean:Thats easy for me.
My favorite companion is Lana Beniko.
Shes already a fan favorite.
She returns in theKnights of the Fallen Empirein a big way.
Early on, youre captured and frozen in carbonite.
I love somebody who rescues me from carbonite!
DebySue Wolfcale, marketing director:Its Lana, shes badass!
BM:She is badass!
You do not mess with Lana.
And she is ruthless, but in a very practical way.
Theyre ruthless, they use the dark side.
But is it cartoonishly villainous?
But its not evil for evils sake.
She has a goal shes pursuing, and shes willing to do a lot to get there.
CB:HK-55 is definitely one of my favorites companions this time around.
Heres sort of another model of HK droid.
Of course, everyone loves HK-47.
BM:Hes programmed to protect meatbags!
CB:He was really fun.
Hes actually a bodyguard droid.
Hes obsessed with protecting the…the meatbags that hes assigned to protect.
Ruthlessly hell murder anyone who comes anywhere near you!
But hes all about keeping you safe.
Hes a good friend to have.
It was fun to venture to twist on those characters and see what else you could do with them.
Theres another character who we havent talked about much yet called Senya.
She definitely has a big part in the storyline.
She has some very cool backstory that I just love.
Which I know is really vague, so I apologize!
BM:When you get to the scene in chapter six your jaw will drop and youll know.
CB:Shes a ruthless pursuer of justice.
DW:A little bitGame of Thrones-ish.
Not quite, but a little bit.
You mentioned before how Lana has been a part of players lives for a while.
What was it like to write her as she grew and changed?
Its actually funny to watch the players.
A lot of times theyll forget that shes dark side.
[laughs] Which, I mean, is very reasonable minute to minute.
Shes very organized, shes pragmatic.
Theyre like, Lana, great, I can count on her and everything.
But shell go much further than you might be comfortable.
And players forget that sometimes.
They think, Oh, Lanas just my friend, and they forget that shes kind of ruthless.
So its fun to look for opportunities to remind them of that element of her character.
The ends justify the means.
The tale of the Outlander is described as a personal story.
BioWare has done so well making really personal stories for player characters in the past.
How did you ramp that up forTOR?
CB:With the storyline itself.
And players will feel terrible if they make a choice thats even remotely challenging in the story.
BM:Knights of the Fallen Empirereally is an evolution of the throw in of stories that were telling.
Its definitely more tense.
Theres a lot more impactful decisions to make, and there are more cliffhangers.
We started early access yesterday and our players have been pouring in.
Good problem to have.
CB:Its an evolution of the way we tell stories in that its an episodic design.
So what this release is is the first nine chapters.
Theres this movie coming out, I think?
BM:We are madly excited for that movie.
CB:Then in the new year well start releasing more chapters month-to-month.
And thats a really cool chance for us to show the effects of your players decisions long term.
There are so many choices in these first nine chapters.
Players are already excited about these.
They dont even know yet whats going to happen.
Well have great payoff even in the later chapters.
BM:From the pure development perspective we really leaned into that thematic storytelling.
We really wanted to wrap our expansion around really improving the bang out of story we tell.
CB:This is really going beyond and above what we were capable of before.
Drew Karpyshyn recently returned to BioWare to work onTOR.
How much of this is his influence, if any of it?
Hell be heavily, heavily involved as we move into our future storylines.
Next year is where youll be able to see the Karpyshyn fruit!
BM:We are so excited to have him back.
CB:I worked with him the whole time he was here before launch, and hes brilliant.
Hes already contributed so much to our storytelling.
BM:Not only does he tell great stories, he is a pure joy to work with.
Hes just an all-around fantastic guy.
Youre the only group still tellingStar Warsstories in the Legends universe.
How do you feel about that?
CB:Our work is exactly as it always has been.
BM:Lucasfilm has been great.
This whole year, theyve been very excited and supportive of what were doing.
Theyre as excited as we are aboutKnights of the Fallen Empire.
BM:If our stuff was recanonized we would be absolutely titillated.
We dont have much direct involvement in that.
As I see it, our job is to tell awesomeStar Warsstories, and everything else doesnt matter.
BM:Were quite happy with what were doing.
We actually couldnt be happier.
The list goes on and on.
Individually these seem small.
However, added up its the biggest, craziest thing weve ever done.
Weve changed the entire experience of leveling a character up.
Your origin story is now a much faster and more focused and directed experience.
And now if youre one of those players thats completed all eight origin stories you get a legendary portrait.
We put them on a rotating weekly basis so that theres a fresh operation to do every week.
They really understand that this expansion is a love letter to them.
This is our love letter to them, and they really feel it.
Whats next forTORin terms of long-term plans?
Where do you seeTORin five years?
BM:Were so excited forThe Force Awakens.
I have kids and I just let them see the Original Trilogy for the first time.
One thing we know for certain, were going to listen to our players.
That is why we are where we are right now.
And they told us they want deep and personal stories, and thats whyKnights of the Fallen Empireis here.
Were going to continue to lean on deep and personal stories as long as thats what our players want.
Well be happy to develop and tell greatStar Warsstories for them.
Charles Boyd and Bruce Maclean, thank you so much!
Megan Crouse is a staff writer.
