Saltorius Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 When I throw a pokeball and pikachu pops out it says its name. And if that pikachu has its brains bashed in it also says its name on death. So, yes pets in other games talk. They even have little heart symbols to tell you how much they love you after you feed them. You feed the pets in ToR with 'companion gifts', you might as well call those 'treats'. My pet hurrton in SWG had just as much going for it as the pets here.. and it didn't get in the way of my mouse. okay i just had to jump in and laugh at this one. Pokemon only say their name in the cartoon because its a children cartoon. My guildmates are obsessed with pokemon and this is why i know for a fact that in every other pokemon instance whether it be games or manga. that they do not say there names. They make awckward sometimes metallic sounds that would make me not want to ever have a pokemon out of fear that my eardrums would burst. So there you are wrong. Pokemon do NOT speak XD that is all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eegorr Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 They are absolutely pets. Glorified pets. Nothing more. The silly thing here is that this discussion is completely irrelevant. Some will call them pets, some will call them companions, and both are right. Noone will ever convince the other side, and I'm not even going to try anymore because people on this thread have already stated all reason why I believe they are nothing but glorified pets. I still like them. Vette is my pet. I shock her when she doesn't behave. Then she gets mad at me. Then I give her diamonds and she is happy again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RomanovX Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 How about slaves? I call them that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dianoia Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 I love semantics. My character loves LT. Pierce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitharen Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Companions are pets, nothing more. Provide them treats and they like you better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EternalFinality Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Same thing happens in Mass Effect. Does that make the Normandy crew "pets"? Different genre. We *are* using the MMO definition of pet, right? Right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scratcha Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 (edited) Hmmm ... maybe my mind is a bit whacked ... or maybe I just have a fertile imagination ... but but but ... I've played Perfect World International (PWI) for over four years; most of that time my main was a Venomancer (the only class with the ability to tame and use pets). So, you'd think I'd migrate to SWTOR and habitually refer to my companion as a "pet." But no! The thought of calling my droid (I'm a level-14 JK as of this writing) a "pet" has never crossed my mind. I like pets in MMORPGs -- I also have a couple of high-level hunters in WoW. For me, pets are fun and they suit my particular play style very well. Yet, I cannot bring myself to think of my droid-companion as a pet. Through back story; his admittedly elementary reactions to my *moral* ingame decisions; and his limited list of commentaries, he's more than just a pet -- he's companionable to a limited degree, and because he's done a nice job for me in combat I owe him the respect of referring to him as a companion -- perhaps even a friend. In both WoW and Perfect World, Hunters and Venomancers can heal their pets during combat. Not so in SWTOR; once committed to the fight our companions are largely on their own insofar as survivability is concerned. Moreover, in WoW and PW hunters and venomancers can tame just about anything that walks, swims, slithers, or flies. There, if we get tired of a pet we simply tame/capture another. Indeed, we usuallly have pets that are dedicated to specific kinds of mobs; vis a vis ranged physical, ranged magic, melee, and combo mobs. Also, the pet's basic battle stats in WoW and PW can't be changed. So, yeah, maybe "pet" versus "companion" is largely a mindset based on personal perception and experience; still, I'll be hard-pressed to compare my droid and later companions to the one-dimensional pets in the other MMORPGs I've played. Each to their own though. I could care less what anyone else wants to call their companion. Edited January 9, 2012 by scratcha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EternalFinality Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 (edited) We're using pet as MMO terminology. There is no emotional attachment to it. Just because your companion talks doesn't mean they're a person and not a pet. Edited January 9, 2012 by EternalFinality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ageNtreachery Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Stop calling companions pets. Doing so implies that Companions are a feature carried over from pet classes in other MMO's. This is false. Companions are a feature brought in from single player Bioware games. Though they do have combat capabilities similar to pets, their prrimary purpose has always been to provide the player with a strong sense of companionship (hence the name, obviously). This is especially important in a star wars game, as star wars traditionally revolves around a group of heroes brought together under unusual circumstances. If I was a bioware dev, I would probably a bit insulted when someone says something about how "it's stupid that all classes are pet classes", and as a long time Bioware fan who is already put off by MMO cultures' obsession with stats and competition over immersing themselves in an artistic experience, It really annoys me when someone refers to my Kaliyo as a "pet". She's a complex, beautifully constructed character and deserves do be recognized as such. That is all you are perfectly right and you wouldn't me to offend them by not rolling need for the gear they want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aisar Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 They really are just pets. You can call them whatever you want ^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nague Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 call them annoying pets that wont shut up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greyfeld Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Stop calling companions pets. Doing so implies that Companions are a feature carried over from pet classes in other MMO's. This is false. Companions are a feature brought in from single player Bioware games. Though they do have combat capabilities similar to pets, their prrimary purpose has always been to provide the player with a strong sense of companionship (hence the name, obviously). This is especially important in a star wars game, as star wars traditionally revolves around a group of heroes brought together under unusual circumstances. If I was a bioware dev, I would probably a bit insulted when someone says something about how "it's stupid that all classes are pet classes", and as a long time Bioware fan who is already put off by MMO cultures' obsession with stats and competition over immersing themselves in an artistic experience, It really annoys me when someone refers to my Kaliyo as a "pet". She's a complex, beautifully constructed character and deserves do be recognized as such. That is all While I'm a proponent of not devaluing companions into mere "pets," I have to admit that they are a bit underwhelming. After gems like Tali, Garrus, Wrex, Alistair, Morrigan, Anders, HK-47, Mission, Visas Marr, and Kreia... well, I was sort of hoping for companions with a bit more interactivity. As it stands, the limit of how much I interact with my companions is telling them to attack, listening to their 3-4 recycled combat lines, and checking my ship for mission markers after finishing a planet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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