The Official Merged JK4 Speculation Thread!

[Weiser_Cain]

I wouldn't mind first player as long as it's a togggle. I'd like some RPG elements. And I'd like to really buid a Lightsaber in-game. I want saber staffs to be very rare to the point that I could miss it after several times through SP. The game should be a lot more freeform and the missions more open. Totaly destructable-gigantic-make me upgrade my computer-enviroments. Better character customization. Flowing robes and capes. Dark armor.

[Kurgan]

Yeah, basically most of the stuff that they planned for Obi-Wan PC but never implemented in the final game...

 

have just about everything in the environment be interactive in some way (with realistic physics) and force powers that become more powerful based on how you use them in your game.

[_PerfectAgent_]

Originally posted by Weiser_Cain

I for one would like the game slowed down. It's insanely hyper now.

If you think Jedi Academy MP is fast, try Jedi Knight MP.

[StormHammer]

Originally posted by Tyler_Durden

whoever develops the next game (if any) i hope they implement a 1st person mode, dammit. You may now rebuke.

 

Of course they should retain first person mode - and I'd like to see a return to 1st person saber combat, personally. It should at least be an option. I like the ability to switch between perspectives as I go along.

 

As for interactivity with the environment, I have to agree. Due to the presence of the lightsaber, a Jedi Knight game should really be at the cutting edge (pun intended) of destructable and deformable terrain and objects. This is really where an improved implementation of the GeoMod system that Volition used in Red Faction would be appropriate - in tandem with very good physics implementation.

 

Far Cry has some very good physics - at one point there is a cargo container hanging from some chains - and if you shoot each chain in turn to break it, the container realistically reacts as the supports disappear. I'd love to be able to do something like that with a lightsaber. Cut through supports to bring something crashing down on the heads of my enemies. I'd also like the gravity gun effect showcased in Half-Life 2 - rip an object off the wall and then Force Throw it at someone.

 

The technology is there, and it's proven. So it's about time it was implemented in a Jedi Knight game, where it truly belongs.

 

The other thing that I would definitely like to see return is swimmable water. There were some greatly designed levels that included underwater sections in Jedi Knight and Mysteries of the Sith, and I really missed them in both JO and JA.

 

As far as level design itself goes, it would be cool to see a properly laid out town with houses that you can enter. If you look at the Tatooine Siege map, for example, you have the basic buildings dotted about - they just need people, furnishings, and some action for an SP level.

 

Regarding AI - it has to improve. We need NPCs and enemies that go about their virtual lives. Just go and play the Siberia mission of NOLF2, or spy on the grunts in Far Cry from afar, and they were constantly on the move, and doing something. Static spawning enemies should be a thing of the past, IMHO.

 

There is just so much more that could be done for a Jedi Knight game if the right tech is employed, and it would be a bit ridiculous not to implement it.

 

The only other thing I would want to see for the next game in the series is stealth that works. While it's great to go splicing and dicing the local population, a lone Jedi is not a tank, and should be able to sneak around if they want to. That means levels have to be designed with hidey holes, and things like Mind Trick have to be developed further to make them truly useful.

[Tinny]

Originally posted by StormHammer

Of course they should retain first person mode - and I'd like to see a return to 1st person saber combat, personally. It should at least be an option. I like the ability to switch between perspectives as I go along.

 

As for interactivity with the environment, I have to agree. Due to the presence of the lightsaber, a Jedi Knight game should really be at the cutting edge (pun intended) of destructable and deformable terrain and objects. This is really where an improved implementation of the GeoMod system that Volition used in Red Faction would be appropriate - in tandem with very good physics implementation.

 

Far Cry has some very good physics - at one point there is a cargo container hanging from some chains - and if you shoot each chain in turn to break it, the container realistically reacts as the supports disappear. I'd love to be able to do something like that with a lightsaber. Cut through supports to bring something crashing down on the heads of my enemies. I'd also like the gravity gun effect showcased in Half-Life 2 - rip an object off the wall and then Force Throw it at someone.

 

The technology is there, and it's proven. So it's about time it was implemented in a Jedi Knight game, where it truly belongs.

 

The other thing that I would definitely like to see return is swimmable water. There were some greatly designed levels that included underwater sections in Jedi Knight and Mysteries of the Sith, and I really missed them in both JO and JA.

 

As far as level design itself goes, it would be cool to see a properly laid out town with houses that you can enter. If you look at the Tatooine Siege map, for example, you have the basic buildings dotted about - they just need people, furnishings, and some action for an SP level.

 

Regarding AI - it has to improve. We need NPCs and enemies that go about their virtual lives. Just go and play the Siberia mission of NOLF2, or spy on the grunts in Far Cry from afar, and they were constantly on the move, and doing something. Static spawning enemies should be a thing of the past, IMHO.

 

There is just so much more that could be done for a Jedi Knight game if the right tech is employed, and it would be a bit ridiculous not to implement it.

 

The only other thing I would want to see for the next game in the series is stealth that works. While it's great to go splicing and dicing the local population, a lone Jedi is not a tank, and should be able to sneak around if they want to. That means levels have to be designed with hidey holes, and things like Mind Trick have to be developed further to make them truly useful.

 

 

 

mann, that is everything i want. but it'll take huge $$ for Lucasarts to implement all that. also i want to see lightsaber duels that are more swing based and only when you knock a persons saber back would kicking or doing a combo be useful, or a combo could be used to knock a persons saber back so that you can go in for a stab rather than relying soley on combos to kill any saber weilding dude.

[MuRaSaMuNe]

Originally posted by Tyler_Durden

Last i heard, there was supposedly development going into a third person game starring vader. Third person....... rrrrr

 

I saw this on ign I think it was a while go as well. Probably EP3 vader...

 

They need to track down the old Kyle actor and sexy Jan actress and put em back on the screen, the JK1 cutscenes were awesome. It'd also be nice to have some civilians wandering around again so you have someone to fight for instead of wandering around aimlessly with a lightsaber and cutting up endless hoards of baddies. Some stealth elements would be pretty nice, I remember a level in JK2 that had some when you were in an Imperial embassy of some sort and you had to sneak by all the stormies although mind trick made it really easy. I'd also like to see some interaction with the environment using force powers, picking up chunks of stone with the force and launching it at someone would be very cool

[Tyler_Durden]

For me the biggest thing is having choices, be it a cosmetic feature or ingame features, such as deus ex or kotor as in what you say reflects on how the game progess. Luca$art$ has a lot of money, i mean cmon if any company should put out an innovative game it should be luca$art$. In otherwords spending $4-6 mill on game development should be nothing in terms of how much revenue Luca$'s multiple companies make in a year. Even more so, they have the option of having more people to help with development of new games, even those outside the star wars universe. The original trilogy dvd preorders alone could more than fund a new JK game. They can save money by hiring outside contractors but why? It's not like they're gonna go bankrupt, there's too many fans that would not allow that to happen. I'm sure they will, though and that's ok. I just really want a kick ass experience with the next game if i'm gonna put down 50 bucks for it.

[StormHammer]

Originally posted by Tyler_Durden

Luca$art$ has a lot of money, i mean cmon if any company should put out an innovative game it should be luca$art$. In otherwords spending $4-6 mill on game development should be nothing in terms of how much revenue Luca$'s multiple companies make in a year. Even more so, they have the option of having more people to help with development of new games, even those outside the star wars universe. The original trilogy dvd preorders alone could more than fund a new JK game.

 

Well, I would assume that Lucasarts has to look after it's own pot of money. Whatever money it makes from game sales can go back into developing new titles (while leaving an appropriate profit margin) - but I doubt that cash is simply transferred around the Lucas empire. That's not good business practice. The idea of setting up any company is for it to stand on it's own two feet and pay it's own way (and produce a profit) - otherwise it becomes a drain on other financial resources.

 

So it doesn't matter how well the DVD collection sells - because Lucasarts probably cannot tap into that money.

 

I have no idea what Lucasarts is worth, but I would assume they're doing pretty well selling their games. After all, they have a good few titles in production every year across multiple platforms.

 

As for $4-6 million on game development, these days that's more like small change.

[Andre Belnap]

As far as the engine is concerned, I don't really care provided that it's at least as good as JA and JO.

 

What I really want to see is some change in the action. First of all, I want to start with some big time force powers. I do get tired of thinking "this would be so much easier if I had force jump three" to myself. Another thing i'd like to see is a change in the sith battles. I do like fighting with sabers, but it would be nice if the sith weren't so invincible to conventional weaponry.

 

I think it would be interesting to have a game where you fight against the Yuuzahn Vong. According to the novels, all Vong warriors carry amphistaffs, so any enemy you fought you'd have the option of using guns, or an almost endless series of saber duels.

 

BTW StormHammer, that's an awesome sig. It had me rolling with laughter, it's so true.

[Kurgan]

Originally posted by _PerfectAgent_

If you think Jedi Academy MP is fast, try Jedi Knight MP.

 

Amen to that, JK1 and MotS were maybe twice as fast (or faster, it's been awhile, so I'd have to do a side by side comparison to know for sure) as JA or JK2.

 

After you play JK1/MotS MP for awhile you feel like you're moving in slow motion with JK2/JA!

 

Trust me it doesn't need to be any slower. ; )

[TheLiberator34]

I think what really needs to show up in the next Jk game is a more interactive saber combat. Blocking your opponents strikes should be your main defense, not jumping all over the place like a ping pong ball on crack. That and you should have to charge your jump a bit like in JK 1, that makes more sense since normally people have to bend their knees and get ready to leap before they do it. And make the special moves look somewhat practicle. It's silly to see someone killed from that butterfly move of the staff. Just my two cents.

[Weiser_Cain]

Absolutely and while we're at it lets have fatigue and force drain from all that nonsense. One of the things I've noticed is the horrible collision detection. I've lost a lot of duels where I clearly saw my saber go through both the neck and torso of my opponent.

I don't know how hard this will make the game but I'd like to actually have dismembernent be more common(like always) in the next game and for it to happen durring the fight instead of at the end.

And it should go without saying that I want the option to get a replacement for any dismembered limbs...

While lucas probably doesn't shift money around like that they did use capabilities for diffrent parts of the business when they made bounty hunter, and they could again...

[Khier]

Boy, some people in here have hit the nail on the head with most of those ideas, it seems as though Lucasarts should look into another JK game right this second.

 

The flowing robes and capes would be tres stylish, and I also thought of the levitation idea, in Obi Wan (only played it on xbox), you could send miscellaneous objects flying into your enemies in a force push type maneuver but it homed automatically towards your enemy. It would be really nifty to see something like that using the same physics and idea as the gravity gun in HL2.

 

I'm looking at this thread and thinking that it would be a damn shame and very disappointing if JA was the last Jedi Knight game.

[Master_Keralys]

Quotes Stormhammer verbatim

 

Other than that, I just want some really good hit detection and more interactive action with the saber (actually having to block and whatnot). Also, there have to be massive levels that you can explore, not just walk through linearly. And your actions determine your Force powers: the ones you use the most are the ones that build up the most and the fastest (so you start at lvl 1 with all of them, but if you never use a particular power, it stays insanely weak). Thus, you can have lvl 3 jump in no time b/c you use it all the time, etc. And definitely have civilian types and people who actually surrender, and then your actions regarding them determine your placement in the Force (along with what powers you use).

[Weiser_Cain]

I'd just like to add I don't want to be forced into learning any powers. For instance I don't like 'force throw'(I still insist vader was just really good when he threw his saber), I'd hate to be forced to learn this in order to compleat some puzzel...

[Radd]

I agree that level design has been an issue with the past two Jedi Knight games. They're not neccessarily bad level designs, they're just not great, either.

 

I like the direction a lot of games are taking with bussling, lively level designs that seem to be a part of a larger, lifelike environment. I must admit that I'm more partial to games that favour exploration as a major part of the game and I'd like to see that incorporated more into the JK series. Instead of a linear level with a beginning and an end I'd like to see things like winding up on a Star Destroyer, filled with troopers and crewmen, and being able to sneak around to all sorts of areas, regardless of whether or not they're a part of your objectives...or at least try and make it look that way, like fighting your way through a crew barracks and then finding yourself in the cafeteria or something. Or better yet, imagine a level where you're on a ship that's been disabled by a Star Destroyer, fighting your way from your ship to the tractor beam controls on the Star Destroyer, or something like that, while being able to wander through lots of unimportant rooms on either ship, and possibly being rewarded for your curiosity with little secrets, hidden scripted sequences, or even just loads of ammo or weapons.

 

How about some crowds and bystanders in the city sequences? Or even allies? Even in the heart of a crimelord's abode, there's going to be servents, droids, waiters, cleaners, and many others that aren't going to pick up a blaster and start shooting at you. They might want to run and sound the alarm, though, if you don't keep an eye on them.

 

Maybe a level where you're on Tatooine with Kyle, or another Jedi character, looking for some secret hideout and you wander into a cantina...the cantina is not essential to finding the hideout, but if you mindtrick one of the patrons they will tell you where it is, cutting down your effort and impressing whoever is with you (who otherwise would have scolded you for wasting time in a cantina while on the job).

 

Stuff like that to make the environments seem more alive, make you seem more like you're in a living, breathing world (which you can also shoot all to heck and have it effect the course of the story and your dark/lightside leanings).

 

On a more personal note, I'd actually like to see them drop the post-Endor time period. It's getting stale. I'd rather see something either set in the prequel era, or even during the original trilogy time period while the Empire is still large and in charge. I also like the JA addition of personalizing your Jedi. I'd like to see more of that, even to the point of making it more modder-friendly for adding races, vehicles, and whatnot. Maybe instead of just dumping everything in the base folder, have seperate folders for lightsabers, maps, vehicles, playermodels, races, etcetera, to make it easier to keep track of what you have.

[Radd]

And now that I think about it, if the game is going to offer you a choice of missions, how about having your performance on those missions, and what order you take them affect the others?

 

Like, say, one mission is taking out the hideout mentioned earlier, this mission opens up once you discover the location. Perhaps there's multiple locations you can enter the hideout from? Maybe the one you learn from the guy in the cantina is a different entrance than what you would have discovered through a more obvious route?

 

Maybe another mission opens up, shutting down the town's power supply, and you have to do that to accomplish something else, but if you do that mission before the hideout mission, then the hideout is mostly lacking power, accept for backup power in some places. There's no security devices on in the blacked out areas, but more bad buys patrolling than there otherwise would have been?

 

Things like that. It's been done in other games.

[jadenkorr]

Thats a good point. What i would like to see is an option of stealth. Being able to take different routes in the level, being stealthy and creeping past your enemy or charging in or even carefully going behind them and attacking from the back.

 

I feel that one of the main problems was the levels. JUst having one route just was boring, all the levels seemed the same just differnt boring puzzels. The fighting was ok but there wasnt much point with guns. In my opinion the levels werent sutable for guns. As soon as you came upon a sith you had to draw your saber. This may sound silly but i have always thought that a sheild with a sort of light saber kind of thing on the front would be good. This would give a gunner a much better chance of killing a sith

 

As someone has already said a jedi isnt a tank, maybe another jedi or two to accomany you would be a good option. Then this would mean a co-op mode could be introduced. Consoles get it on loads of games, why cant we?

[Samuel Dravis]

What I would like to see is everyone elses posts and being able to cut chunks out of walls, boxes, floor, etc with your saber and chuck them at the enemy. Also, if you cut the boxes open, and they had water in them it would splash out. Something like that would be very, very nice. You could pull a lot of tricks like Luke and Mara do in Vision of the Future.

[Doomie]

All sounds cool. Especially the force throw thing. And yeah, wearing a cape or a cloak would be really cool. What i would like to see is RPG stuff. Not as much as KOTOR, it must remain a shooter, but when you complete a mission, you get a number of points depending on how well you did and you assign them to force powers. And bring back the innocents and hiding places from JK. And more weapons, not only guns you'll almost never use, but some cool stuff like vibroknifes and stuff, and that you won't begin with your lightsaber like in JK adn JO. And it would be cool to be able to give your friends orders, like 'hold your fire.'

 

All wishful thinking, but it would be cool to see in a starwars game.

[Radd]

I believe part of what Doomgiver mentioned was also brought up in another, similar thread. Have you ever played games like System Shock? I believe Deus Ex had a similar setup, you get something similar to experience points, and can put them into certain skills. Expand on that idea to things like force powers and you it could really streamline their current way of distributing force points.

 

I'd also like to see a more gradual, believable approach to your character's light and dark side leanings. In JA it's simply a point in the game where you it says, "Do this to remain lightside, do this to go darkside', at which point everyone I know has groaned, shaking their head.

 

And no, I would not like it to depend on the force powers you choose. Even in the movies we see so-called 'good' jedi using powers that the RPGs and videogames have referred to as 'darkside' powers. I like the Kyle approach to it, the powers are not inherently good or evil, it's how you use them.

 

I'd like it to depend on your actions throughout the game. Killing civilians, shooting live enemies in the back (though for droids and mechanicle gun emplacements and other automatum, it probably shouldnm't affect you, since they're not living beings).

 

It should depend on how you treat others in the game, if you muscle information out of someone, it could count towards darkside, but if you use midntrick or just talking the person into telling you what you need, it counts towards lightside. Maybe you could even perform tasks to get people to help you out.

 

If you kill enemies that have dropped their weapons and ran off, darkside. If you show mercy, maybe knocking people unconcious instead of killing them, it counts lightside. Things like that.

 

I still like the idea of multiple mission objectives. Some required by the Republic, the Jedi order, or whatever. Some asked by evil types such as Sith, evil warlords, or whatever tempting you with personal gain. Then personal mission objectives. Have some of these objectives directly conflicting, and which missions you tend to place a priority on will count towards your light/darkside ratings.

 

Of course, if your darkside rating was really high, that still wouldn't neccessarily mean you were Sith and fighting the Jedi, it might just mean you would get less and less important missions, or other Jedi sent to keep an eye on you, with your superiors warning you of the dangers of the darkside.

 

How you progressed through the game towards either a 'good' ending or a 'bad' ending would still depend on your actions in the game. What choices you make, out of a variety of choices.

[Lord Sokar]

Here's a suggestion...

 

DO NOT EVER AGAIN HIRE THE ASSCLOWNS AT RAVEN TO TOUCH A JEDI KNIGHT GAME... *EVER*.

 

They have proven twice now that they are woefully inept at operating a multi-player game. You can't put out a MP game and change the game dynamics massively after only a month. You can't put out a game and have a fraction of the servers show up and still expect people to give a crap.

 

Please, for the love of God, give this game to someone worth a crap.

[Lord Sokar]

^ Oh yeah, and this server hasn't existed for a long, long time because Raven was so lame that it never appeared in the freaking browser list.

[Samuel Dravis]

Well, they did fix it as soon as they got approval from LA. I don't think you should be so hard on them.

[Tyler_Durden]

Truthfully, guys i don't think the current devs would implement all that stuff that we would like to see. They are more action oriented as opposed to a more experienced dev like ion storm. Even the guys who developed far cry would be a good choice. Maybe raven could do the things posted here but truthfully i don't think they have the experience or know how to come up with a system similar to what was posted here. Then again they could surprise me.