No More Disney Star Wars References in this EU Game

[Ylliarus]

Disney could earn back some respect from EU fans by issuing a mea culpa, apologizing for the substandard content they've produced, admitting they were wrong, and that they never should've just erased the EU like they did. They won't though. They're going all in, as long as Eiger runs Disney. Maybe the next CEO will see things differently. I doubt it though.

 

I was planning to make a serious reply, until I read this bit. The entitlement is strong with you...

 

As a matter of fact, I have reached out to Charles Boyd - the creative director for SWTOR - over Twitter, to express my appreciation for the little nods to the Disney Canon in this game, like Gatalentan tea, and expressed simultaneously my hope that we will see more of such connections in future story content, like venturing to Jedha! Mr. Boyd was so kind enough as to like my Tweet and if I recall correctly, he had previously expressed the desire to indeed visit places that the Disney canon had introduced. So you can most definitely expect this game to feature more Disney canon content, which is absolutely a wonderful thing!

 

This is absolutely silly to the point of obsession.

This is not a refuge.

It's not some last bastion of a lost art.

It's a Star Wars video game.

Anything NEW added to the Star Wars mythos is fair game for any Star Wars game to pull upon, it's part of a shared universe.

 

I will raise my cup of tea to that, my friend, you're absolutely right!

Edited November 30, 2019 by Ylliarus

[Leklor]

I was planning to make a serious reply, until I read this bit. The entitlement is strong with you...

 

As a matter of fact, I have reached out to Charles Boyd - the creative director for SWTOR - over Twitter, to express my appreciation for the little nods to the Disney Canon in this game, like Gatalentan tea, and expressed simultaneously my hope that we will see more of such connections in future story content, like venturing to Jedha! Mr. Boyd was so kind enough as to like my Tweet and if I recall correctly, he had previously expressed the desire to indeed visit places that the Disney canon had introduced. So you can most definitely expect this game to feature more Disney canon content, which is absolutely a wonderful thing!

 

 

 

I will raise my cup of tea to that, my friend, you're absolutely right!

 

I couldn't help but poke at the guy.

Don't mention the mess that was the continuity of Legends, it's perfect. Most of the stories were good. Honest! Also it wasn't being done for money! The NJO was 20 books long because they really had 20 stories to tell, not to sell 20 novels in a special "STORY EVENT! BUY NOW! ALSO CHEWBACCA IS DEAD! BUY TO LEARN HOW!"

[Shayddow]

<<No, Disney just gutted the EU. If they started meddling with SWTOR, then they would be stifling creativity and the EU fans. So who threw out the EU then? Oh of course, it was Bugs Bunny! That wascally wabbit! >>

 

 

Ahem. Bugs Bunny is Warner Brothers, not Disney.

 

Continue....:p

[Ollmich]

IAs a matter of fact, I have reached out to Charles Boyd - the creative director for SWTOR - over Twitter, to express my appreciation for the little nods to the Disney Canon in this game, like Gatalentan tea, and expressed simultaneously my hope that we will see more of such connections in future story content, like venturing to Jedha! Mr. Boyd was so kind enough as to like my Tweet and if I recall correctly, he had previously expressed the desire to indeed visit places that the Disney canon had introduced. So you can most definitely expect this game to feature more Disney canon content, which is absolutely a wonderful thing!

I wouldn’t get my hopes up.

And I wouldn’t be as concerned about Disney stuff overwhelming SWTOR as OP is.

 

They obviously can’t add references to new canon events, characters and certain concepts that contradict EU and SWTOR lore (like notorious bleeding crystals) so it leaves us with geography, bestiary and tech.

 

Visual content produced since April 2014 (movies, TV shows, videogames, comics, youtube series) didn't feature a singe planet or location worth adding to SWTOR since most of them don’t have a distinctive look. Jakku is a mixture of Tatooine and starship graveyard on Hoth. Forest planets are depressively generic, and there are already Tython, Denova, Odessen and others in the game. It was already mentioned that Jehda has a lot in common with SWTOR version of Ossus. Scarif reminds of Rakata Prime. There’s simply nothing to explore on planets like Lothal or Crait. The list goes on, and I doubt Disney will produce a single location with a distinctive and creative aesthetics any time soon since they’re too obsessed with “shabby galaxy” concept.

 

Beasts and tech are mostly generic and unoriginal as well. You also need to be careful with tech, droid design and such since there’s a 3k years gap. Most of new species (aka rubbery muzzles) look horrible and no one in their right mind will work with that garbage.

 

Now there’re planets and other stuff mentioned or featured in books. Thanks to Timothy Zahn we know that everything added to SWTOR goes through Lucasfilm story group fist. I doubt it will allow a game that exists in some sort of canon limbo to visualize one of the planets, species, etc developed in their precious new canon.

 

To sum it up, I find it unrealistic that SWTOR will absorb anything from Disney Wars that won’t be a small reference once in a blue moon. Story team and CM team can play with little thingies like Crait salt or technician Matt’s outfit if they want but I believe Mr. Boyd is smart enough to realize that pre-Disney SW and Disney SW contradict each other on too many levels, from lore itself to the general approach to the creation of new content. And there’s also story group lurking somewhere and deciding what can be added and what can’t.

 

I don't know about OP, but I can live with that. It's also reassuring that new SWTOR content keeps strong ties with old EU stuff (see Copero, Ossus, Dantooine, Onderon, Dxun), and devs still come up with their own ideas (Iokath, Mek-sha) or develop them further (Nathema).

Edited December 1, 2019 by Ollmich

[Ollmich]

And there’s one more thing.

According to source we’re not allowed to mention on these forums, Adegan crystals from Crisis on Umbara FP were supposed to be Kyber crystals at first. It was changed. We don’t know why, we probably won’t know, and it was years ago. But it was changed.

Edited December 1, 2019 by Ollmich

[FlameYOL]

I don't know about OP, but I can live with that. It's also reassuring that new SWTOR content keeps strong ties with old EU stuff (see Copero, Ossus, Dantooine, Onderon, Dxun), and devs still come up with their own ideas (Iokath, Mek-sha) or develop them further (Nathema).

I sincerely love the Dark Empire and Tales of the Jedi references within Ossus, Dantooine and Onderon. It is great to see SWTOR acknowledge parts of the continuity like that and I sincerely hope they keep doing it while exploring their own new additions like Mek-Sha.

[AlrikFassbauer]

The Luggerwhale / Luggerwal (or how it is spelled) is from Disney - but the decoration "vehicle energizer" was a toy in the 80s !

 

And there’s one more thing.

According to source we’re not allowed to mention on these forums, Adegan crystals from Crisis on Umbara FP were supposed to be Kyber crystals at first. It was changed. We don’t know why, we probably won’t know, and it was years ago. But it was changed.

 

Agedan crystals are in the game for a very, very long tim. Does anyone still remember that crystal on Ilum ?

Edited December 1, 2019 by AlrikFassbauer

[Tofu_Shark]

As a matter of fact, I have reached out to Charles Boyd - the creative director for SWTOR - over Twitter, to express my appreciation for the little nods to the Disney Canon in this game, like Gatalentan tea, and expressed simultaneously my hope that we will see more of such connections in future story content, like venturing to Jedha! Mr. Boyd was so kind enough as to like my Tweet and if I recall correctly, he had previously expressed the desire to indeed visit places that the Disney canon had introduced. So you can most definitely expect this game to feature more Disney canon content, which is absolutely a wonderful thing!

Let's see some proof.

 

<<No, Disney just gutted the EU. If they started meddling with SWTOR, then they would be stifling creativity and the EU fans. So who threw out the EU then? Oh of course, it was Bugs Bunny! That wascally wabbit! >>

 

 

Ahem. Bugs Bunny is Warner Brothers, not Disney.

 

Continue....:p

It was sarcasm. The answer is obvious: It was the Mouse. And I never asked for your permission, nor do I need it.

 

I wouldn’t get my hopes up.

And I wouldn’t be as concerned about Disney stuff overwhelming SWTOR as OP is.

 

They obviously can’t add references to new canon events, characters and certain concepts that contradict EU and SWTOR lore (like notorious bleeding crystals) so it leaves us with geography, bestiary and tech.

 

Visual content produced since April 2014 (movies, TV shows, videogames, comics, youtube series) didn't feature a singe planet or location worth adding to SWTOR since most of them don’t have a distinctive look. Jakku is a mixture of Tatooine and starship graveyard on Hoth. Forest planets are depressively generic, and there are already Tython, Denova, Odessen and others in the game. It was already mentioned that Jehda has a lot in common with SWTOR version of Ossus. Scarif reminds of Rakata Prime. There’s simply nothing to explore on planets like Lothal or Crait. The list goes on, and I doubt Disney will produce a single location with a distinctive and creative aesthetics any time soon since they’re too obsessed with “shabby galaxy” concept.

 

Beasts and tech are mostly generic and unoriginal as well. You also need to be careful with tech, droid design and such since there’s a 3k years gap. Most of new species (aka rubbery muzzles) look horrible and no one in their right mind will work with that garbage.

 

Now there’re planets and other stuff mentioned or featured in books. Thanks to Timothy Zahn we know that everything added to SWTOR goes through Lucasfilm story group fist. I doubt it will allow a game that exists in some sort of canon limbo to visualize one of the planets, species, etc developed in their precious new canon.

 

To sum it up, I find it unrealistic that SWTOR will absorb anything from Disney Wars that won’t be a small reference once in a blue moon. Story team and CM team can play with little thingies like Crait salt or technician Matt’s outfit if they want but I believe Mr. Boyd is smart enough to realize that pre-Disney SW and Disney SW contradict each other on too many levels, from lore itself to the general approach to the creation of new content. And there’s also story group lurking somewhere and deciding what can be added and what can’t.

 

I don't know about OP, but I can live with that. It's also reassuring that new SWTOR content keeps strong ties with old EU stuff (see Copero, Ossus, Dantooine, Onderon, Dxun), and devs still come up with their own ideas (Iokath, Mek-sha) or develop them further (Nathema).

Thank you for your well thought-out response. You've laid out a very good argument for why they can't or won't, but these little things they've added seem like they are working their way up to something big even though everything has to be approved by the Lucasfilm story group. Of course, the story group also approved the sequels, standalones, and animations, so...they are not known for quality control.

 

And there’s one more thing.

According to source we’re not allowed to mention on these forums, Adegan crystals from Crisis on Umbara FP were supposed to be Kyber crystals at first. It was changed. We don’t know why, we probably won’t know, and it was years ago. But it was changed.

You know, you could've edited your previous post to add this in. There was no reason to double-post to add this.

 

That sounds like the story group didn't want them mentioned for some reason, probably because their usage in the EU is just one type of crystal that can be used for lightsabers not the only crystal that can be (vs the Kaiburr crystal which was a single, giant crystal that a shard of could be used in lightsabers). But if the EU is irrelevant to Disney's Universe, why would it even matter if it was mentioned in an ongoing EU source?

[Ollmich]

I sincerely love the Dark Empire and Tales of the Jedi references within Ossus, Dantooine and Onderon. It is great to see SWTOR acknowledge parts of the continuity like that and I sincerely hope they keep doing it while exploring their own new additions like Mek-Sha.

I think they handled those references really well and I definitely hope for more. Stuff that expands EU and SW lore in general is also welcomed. Imo Mek-sha is the most interesting and creative area added to the game over the last years; it manages not to be a Nar Shaddaa clone and looks distinctive and fresh.

 

Agedan crystals are in the game for a very, very long tim. Does anyone still remember that crystal on Ilum?

Yeah, I do, and I think it’s great that they chose to put a reference to vanilla content instead.

 

Thank you for your well thought-out response. You've laid out a very good argument for why they can't or won't, but these little things they've added seem like they are working their way up to something big even though everything has to be approved by the Lucasfilm story group. Of course, the story group also approved the sequels, standalones, and animations, so...they are not known for quality control.

I may be wrong of course, and they may be planning something big. It would be a controversial decision to say the least since SW fandom’s attitude to Disney stuff is controversial as well. BW made plenty of such decisions over the years though.

 

And yet I hope for the best.

 

You know, you could've edited your previous post to add this in. There was no reason to double-post to add this.

 

That sounds like the story group didn't want them mentioned for some reason, probably because their usage in the EU is just one type of crystal that can be used for lightsabers not the only crystal that can be (vs the Kaiburr crystal which was a single, giant crystal that a shard of could be used in lightsabers). But if the EU is irrelevant to Disney's Universe, why would it even matter if it was mentioned in an ongoing EU source?

My post got deleted once because I mentioned that source so I took precautions and separated that part.

 

It also seems to me that it was changed due to some internal reasons rather than story group’s directions.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Ollmich

[DarthVitrial]

Agreed. A large portion of my love for SWTOR is because it's a last remnant of the true EU before Disney started butchering everything of the franchise I used to love. Whenever SWTOR references the leprous clown that is Disney SW it just makes me sad.

[Jesira]

I don't see the problem if I am being honest. Sure, some of you for whatever reason think Disney is doing a terrible thing with Star Wars, I on the other hand feel very differently and enjoy most of what they've been doing, and I have been a Star Wars fan my whole life. I'm glad to actually be getting a lot more Star Wars content than we've ever gotten before.

 

The future of Star Wars is what it is now, I see no real reason to cling to a previous era. Sorry if you don't like the Disney stuff creeping into the game, but other people do and since that is the future of the franchise I am afraid that's going to be what wins out in the end, and I doubt that even if BioWare WANTED to, they wouldn't be able to prevent it.

Edited December 4, 2019 by Jesira

[UltraFlashStar]

OK.. OK... It was a fun obsession before but now it’s getting sad and pathetic.

[Ylliarus]

OK.. OK... It was a fun obsession before but now it’s getting sad and pathetic.

 

Basically this. Seriously, there are more important issues to fret over than Gatalentan tea being mentioned in SWTOR. There's the state of crafting, all the little bugs brought in with Onslaught or previous updates and so on, and so forth. If Bioware had the impression putting in references to the Disney canon would be damaging, then they wouldn't have done it or wouldn't have received permission from Lucasfilm to put it in. It's such a small and insignificant thing to worry about that frankly I'd say to the OP "stop and find something more important to worry about". I mean, come on, what does it matter if something is on the artificial divide of Legends or Disney canon. It's all Star Wars either way.

[NateCrazy]

It's all Star Wars either way.

 

I for one am happy disney acquired star wars, at least they are doing something with it instead of it dying off and being a genre for the old guard. I can share it with my kids, thank you disney!

[Ylliarus]

I for one am happy disney acquired star wars, at least they are doing something with it instead of it dying off and being a genre for the old guard. I can share it with my kids, thank you disney!

 

Exactly this, glad to see we share similar opinions

[boosterexo]

I for one agree with everything Tofu_Shark has said. This is the only Star Wars game I've played in years just because Disney hasn't been able to touch it. It makes me sick that people are calling what Disney is doing "Star Wars" when it's clearly not. I have played this game since 2012 and if I see a single Disney planet or species in this game I'm leaving.

[Wolfninjajedi]

I for one am happy disney acquired star wars, at least they are doing something with it instead of it dying off and being a genre for the old guard. I can share it with my kids, thank you disney!

 

Exactly how was it dying? The only thing we weren't getting were new movies. Which frankly 6 were enough.

 

Otherwise we were still getting games, books, comics and so on. Not exactly what I would call dying.

Edited December 9, 2019 by Wolfninjajedi

[SirSmite]

I for one am happy disney acquired star wars, at least they are doing something with it instead of it dying off and being a genre for the old guard. I can share it with my kids, thank you disney!

 

Are you implying that the original movies, games, books, etc. were things you couldn't share with your kids?

[DarthVitrial]

Exactly how was it dying? The only thing we weren't getting were new movies. Which frankly 6 were enough.

 

Otherwise we were still getting games, books, comics and so on. Not exactly what I would call dying.

 

Exactly.

We got books, games, comics, and even tv shows constantly prior to Disney butchering the franchise and cutting off all the ongoing plots, never to be resolved.

Rest in peace, Sword of the Jedi. Even if you'd been just the word "jedi" copy-pasted for three books with no other text you'd be a better story than Force Awakens.

[Ylliarus]

Let's see some proof.

 

Here you go:

 

You can see Charles Boyd's like on the post. It's very easy to check such things, so lying about it would have been foolish. But as you can see, I told the truth.

 

I for one agree with everything Tofu_Shark has said. This is the only Star Wars game I've played in years just because Disney hasn't been able to touch it. It makes me sick that people are calling what Disney is doing "Star Wars" when it's clearly not. I have played this game since 2012 and if I see a single Disney planet or species in this game I'm leaving.

 

Bye bye then! Can I have your stuff when you go? On a more serious note though, seriously, what's the difference. It's all Star Wars and any form of divide is completely arbitrary and artificial. You're limiting and ruining your enjoyment of Star Wars yourself. Disney is not doing that, Bioware is not doing that, no one is doing that except you yourself.

Edited December 10, 2019 by Ylliarus

[jedimasterjac]

Please do not make any more references to Disney's Star Wars. Disney has no place in an EU game. Keep their stuff out of an EU game. You are playing with fire by putting the streams dangerously close together, to mix metaphors.

 

 

dude, are you okay

Edited December 10, 2019 by jedimasterjac

[gavinclar]

what can they even reference? lol

 

i feel there isn't a whole lot to reference that is all that interesting?... other than that first lightsaber thing that jj had in some Book for the force awakens

[Ylliarus]

what can they even reference? lol

 

i feel there isn't a whole lot to reference that is all that interesting?... other than that first lightsaber thing that jj had in some Book for the force awakens

 

Small things that have absolutely no major consequences for the entirety of the game or the lore of it, but because OP has an obsession on this subject, it's a problem. This wouldn't even have been a problem if the OP didn't make one out of it, which again proves and shows that the entire divide between the Legends EU and Disney canon is completely and utterly artificial. It's a problem because people make a problem out of it where there was none before. The Legends EU and Disney canon can quietly exist side by side and even merrily intertwine, but no, a few butthurts have to make an issue out of it because they don't like it. What's next? People who are on a diet will forbid others from eating cookies and chocolate?

Edited December 11, 2019 by Ylliarus

[boosterexo]

On a more serious note though, seriously, what's the difference. It's all Star Wars and any form of divide is completely arbitrary and artificial. You're limiting and ruining your enjoyment of Star Wars yourself. Disney is not doing that, Bioware is not doing that, no one is doing that except you yourself.

 

Disney has no understanding of the Force, lightsabers, and especially not superweapons. You cannot turn a whole planet into a weapon and destroy an entire system on the other side of the galaxy. As for the Force, Disney is just making it up as they go along. Grabbing and holding a blaster bolt in midair? Lifting up your hand and reading someone's mind? Come on! So no, it's not all Star Wars.

Edited December 11, 2019 by boosterexo

[Wolfninjajedi]

Disney has no understanding of the Force, lightsabers, and especially not superweapons. You cannot turn a whole planet into a weapon and destroy an entire system on the other side of the galaxy. As for the Force, Disney is just making it up as they go along. Grabbing and holding a blaster bolt in midair? Lifting up your hand and reading someone's mind? Come on! So no, it's not all Star Wars.

 

I mean grabbing a blaster bolt isn't that crazy compared to other Force powers we have seen in SW History, it's basically just an application of TK, it's just impractical really.

 

Also reading someone's mind like that was a thing previously, Drain Knowledge it's called. Although more powerful Force Users could do it without the hand gesture.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Wolfninjajedi