I don’t think anyone would dispute the idea that the Jedi would be protagonists in some pretty awful playable video games. They have lightsabers, they have Force powers, they are quick and they can jump very high. All the great innate attributes of an action game set in the Star Wars universe. One challenge with having Jedi protagonists, however, is that they’re only known to actually wield lightsabers. This is a bit of a problem as you have multiple weapons to help you. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order found a solution to this problem by giving Cal he two different lightsaber stances. Each with its own combat focus and movesets, and in his Jedi sequel: Survivor, Respawn, we’re looking at a total of five lightsaber stances. Different stances that Cal can use during his journey.
To learn more about each of these stances, we spoke with Senior Design Director Jason de Heras and Director Stig Asmussen to explain the design philosophy behind each stance and their unique approach to combat. .
Evolving Cal
One of the big focuses in the development of Jedi: Survivor was this “Jedi 2.0” concept, how to take Cal out of Jedi: Fallen Order’s place. A young and relatively inexperienced Padawan trying to find his place and identity. , where he is currently in Jedi: Survivor: A much more confident and capable Jedi Knight, and five years smarter. He said he wanted to reflect this in battle as well.As a result, Cal many Jedi: A more capable fighter from the start of Survivor, with three saber stances available from the start of the game: Single Blade, Double Blade, and Dual Blade.
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“We felt it was important to give players a big arsenal right away, two stances that were fully realized in the first game and a stance with twin blades that we wanted to be fully realized in the first game. There was, but we basically ran out of time and in the end it was a special move,” Asmussen said.
He went on to say that the moment he got dual sabers in Fallen Order was a really cool moment, but it never really got the kind of focus they wanted. Then, on day one, they decided to end their Dual Blade Stance.
Dual, Single, Double Blade Stance
De Heras said the team actually used the dual blade stance as a starting point. Because they already knew the role that single and double blade stances play in combat, so we wanted to start with the dual blade feel. Individual.
“And that’s where we started thinking. Let’s make Twin a little more technical. It’s still approachable and anyone can pick it up and play it, but I think it has more nuances of combat than that.” he said.
That combat nuance takes several forms. For one thing, you’re a bit of a glass cannon. You take more damage, but your attacks are faster and you have a wider range of unique combos.Some require you to pause the beat before continuing the combo. Animations can only be evaded or guard canceled in dual blade stances.In other stances, you have to focus on attacking, similar to games like Dark Souls where you have to wait for the attack animation to finish when you press the attack button. is needed. However, in Twinblade’s stance, he can rely on his reflexes and is free to escape when danger is imminent.
“Twin allows you to walk the line between recklessness and aggression, but if you make a mistake you pay the price,” says de Heras.
The Single Blade Stance is Jedi: Survivor’s all-rounder stance. Medium range, moderate damage, and a jack-of-all-trades approach to skills that utilize it. Since it’s relatively fast, it doesn’t have the same commitment to each attack compared to the slow stance. It can throw a lightsaber for medium-range attacks, and its special ability is a powerful thrusting attack that can be charged to deal massive stamina damage to a single enemy.
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Like Fallen Order, Double Blade Stance is Crowd Control’s go-to stance. If a large group of weak B1 droids are swarming an area, it’s never a bad idea to pull out that Double Blade and start dancing through the crowd. It mainly focuses on close-range damage and spreads around Cal. Its downside is its long attack start time, making it a weapon that requires caution when used against faster enemies.
Crossguard and Blaster Stance
There are also two new stances available for Jedi, Survivor. Respawn wanted to keep a number of cards related to these two stances close to his chest, one of which was called Crossguard Stance, similar to what Kylo Ren uses. Uses a hilted lightsaber. The other is called Blaster Stance, a fighting style that incorporates both lightsabers and blasters.
De Heras described the cross guard stance as being the riskiest stance that deals the most damage, but also the slowest and shortest range.
“We wanted the player to feel really powerful, but it also comes with a big risk, probably bigger than the Twin. No. It’s like a fighting game stance.”
Regarding the blaster stance, the team wanted something with a longer range, but thought a Jedi using blasters would be a great opportunity from a story perspective.
“We wanted it to be unconventional, something that would normally be frowned upon for a Jedi, and something that would put Cal in this situation where he would do whatever was necessary in the situation. I thought it would be a reflection of the journey you go through. Much like the blaster is designed, I wanted something that pushes and pulls, encouraging the use of sabers to refill ammo and guns. And it’s mostly this rubber band that encourages players to stay close.”
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Just to be clear, this is still a melee combat game. Blaster Stance will not snipe Stormtroopers from a distance. de Heras said: It’s like a close-range cannon, and there’s a limit to how far you can shoot it. We always give feedback on that thoughtful combat, but still want you to hit with your saber. ”
Stance skill tree
One of the most exciting aspects of these five stances is that they each come with their own skill tree, so each stance has its own set of upgradable skills to help you develop it further. .
“We throw away ideas and throw out anything that doesn’t fit the personality of our stance,” says de Heras. “Single is jack of all trades, twin is aggressive and technical, staff crowd control and commitment.
Stances aren’t the only ones that have their own skill tree. There is a tree for force powers and a tree for survival skills that flatly increase health, force meters, etc. It all comes down to providing a very flexible combat system in how you build your own version of Cal Kestis. You can adjust your loadout accordingly. This is exciting, and we’ll have more to say when the full Star Wars Jedi Survivor preview comes out later this month.
[Editor’s Note:] Please note that the combat exhibit seen in the video feature room is a test environment clearly created for the purpose of showing off combat stances, and is not something that players can load into the game itself.
Mitchell Saltzman is IGN’s Editorial Producer.you can find him on twitter @jurassic rabbit
