Star Wars: The Old Republic Interview

Following the Jedi Knight announcement, GameSpot has whipped up a quick interview with BioWare’s director of production Dallas Dickinson and senior game designer William Wallace about the newly revealed character class.

GS: The Jedi knight class seems to closely resemble the guardian profession from the Knights of the Old Republic games, possessing such powers as Force push and saber throw. Is it fair to make the comparison between the professions? What kind of player will want to play as a Jedi knight?

William Wallace: It’s fair to make that comparison. Besides Force push and saber throw, the Jedi Knight gets some abilities similar to the guardian’s “Force valor” that give various benefits to both Jedi knights and their entire party, as well as the ability to wield two lightsabers at once. The guardian profession was definitely a major influence on the concept and design of the Jedi knight.

At its core, the Jedi knight is about getting into battle as quickly as possible, dominating the fight and protecting allies. Players who enjoy fast melee combat will identify with this class–there’s no passive auto-attack combat here. The Jedi knight has a smorgasbord of lightsaber abilities to choose from as the situation dictates and must continue to evaluate the battle to see whether he should strike hard at one or two targets or swing widely to keep a whole cluster of enemies at bay. Sometimes it’s more advantageous to simply push them all back with the Force, take a second to breathe, and then leap back into the fray with both lightsabers drawn. Players who enjoy that kind of tactical decision making in combat will find a lot to like in the Jedi knight.