GamesMMOStar Wars: The Old RepublicStar Wars: The Old Republic’s modernisation update has turned some players' characters into corpses, flattened abs and introduced other quirks: ‘Look how they massacred my boy’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesMMOStar Wars: The Old RepublicStar Wars: The Old Republic’s modernisation update has turned some players’ characters into corpses, flattened abs and introduced other quirks: ‘Look how they massacred my boy’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: EA)
Yesterday saw Star Wars: The Old Republic developer Broadsword release thefirst part of its modernisation plan, boosting the fidelity of several planets and tweaking player character models with new textures and ocular specularity (eyeball highlights), as well as lighting and shader improvements. The effect was meant to be subtle, so as to not dramatically change the appearance of characters which some players have been rolling with for over a decade. The reaction has been… mixed.
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The same goes for my Trooper. She has smile lines now, but other than that the differences are too subtle to really stand out. There’s just a broad sense, to me, that she looks a little bit more like a believable human being now. That’s it.
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But there’s certainly a more noticeable difference when it comes to the aliens and their more varied skin colours. My blue chiss, for example, had flawless skin before (sadly I don’t have a screenshot), whereas now he looks incredibly patchy. Like he’s had an allergic reaction to some space nibbles, or maybe just skipped his shower after running around on Tattooine.
(Image credit: EA)
It’s even more obvious on characters that flaunt a bit of skin, and in combination with lighter, non-human skin tones, the result is something prettycorpse-like. That might be a good look for a corrupted Sith Sorcerer, but those sorts of decisions should really be left up to the individual players.
Over on the SWTOR subreddit, the response to the update runs the gamut from folks whobarely notice the changes, to people who feel liketheir characters have been ruined. It’s a particularly rough time for players who’ve been roleplaying beefcakes. “Look how they massacred my boy,” says one of them mourning the loss of theirbig lad’s well-defined abs.
With a lot of the changes, I can see what Broadsword was going for, and broadly approve of them making the characters look a bit more like the newer NPC character models. Faces are more textured and realistic now, shedding some of their former uncanniness. But not every player wants their characters to look textured and realistic. If you’ve spent a decade running around as a Sith Assassin with completely flawless skin, and suddenly you’re getting forehead wrinkles and smile lines, then yeah, you’re probably not going to be pleased.
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In some cases, we’re absolutely seeing the effects of stuff not working as intended. Like, I cannot imagine the patchy, dirty look was what Broadsword was aiming for. Similarly, there’s no reason I can imagine for the developer to give charactersextra makeup.
A broad change like this was always going to spit out some issues, and while few of my characters have been impacted (especially since most of them are usually decked out head-to-toe in armour), the frustration among those whose roster of heroes and villains have undergone an unwanted transformation is understandable.
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