Comlink is the Star Wars text messaging equivalent to talking on the phone via Holocall. There is no voice or bespoke character animation, only text.
Unrelated to the delay of Galactic Threads storyline, SWTOR is getting a new storytelling system called Comlink that will be integrated into missions going forward and potentially backward to some extent.
Comlink is a text-based communication system in SWTOR that will act as a main alternative to KOTOR cutscenes and more complicated mission interactions that would otherwise use that system. It’s story-only and has no connection to game chat (MMO element).
Below is an example of using the Comlink to interact with a terminal as part of a mission, but it is a portable communication device, so it will be used in other ways as well.
While explaining the feature, SWTOR’s Game Director, Eric Musco, did everything short of yelling at the audience to emphasize that this system is not meant to replace normal cutscenes, but rather expand their storytelling capabilities.
Musco felt the need to be so emphatic because we all see how this feature could be used to supplant the good stuff, and it’s reasonable for us to be skeptical about it at first.
But there is truly no cause for alarm. They’ve already added KOTOR cutscenes to the main storyline (AKA crit path) even without this glow-up, so we’ve already experienced a worse version of the fullest possible extent of this problem everyone is worried about.
To be clear, when I say “by fullest possible extent”, I am referring to the time before the game falls off the proverbial cliff, before cutscenes stop being fully voiced and animated altogether.
If the funding for voiced and animated story content dries up, I believe the devs would rather give it all at once, to something real. I don’t think they’d choke us so slowly we’d start not to notice.
I see 3 main reasons behind the introduction of the Comlink system:
- The KOTOR cutscene interface looks hideous, hacky, dated, limiting, and quite frankly, unprofessional
- Cell phone communication is commonplace in modern, story-driven open world RPGs
- SWTOR can make ample use of this repackaging
Having not been able to endure more than a couple hours of KOTOR, I was apalled the moment I saw the interface back when it was introduced with 4.0.
I get what the devs were trying to do, but it always looked bad, and the UI has not aged well as games, including this one, have gotten prettier.
I know there are a small fraction of you out there who like the current look (not usage frequency) of the KOTOR cutscenes, but it genuinely looks so bad that that it isn’t subjective anymore.
This sort of feature exists in just about any other modern open world game where the setting can justify it. Cyberpunk 2077 is an excellent example, featuring text conversations and video calls with the characters you meet, and even a radio for listening to in-game muisic!
Since they can be used to exchange currencies, it’s possible that you might be able to use Comlink terminals as a sort of generic mission dropbox, meaning the possibility that you don’t have to go to a specific one anymore. I’d say there’s a decent chance you could turn in Alliance Crates this way as well.
One of the dailies at Kessan’s Landing, “Everything Must Go”, where you have to collect supplies, drop them off, and choose where to send them to, will likely be retrofitted to make use of this feature.
Comlinks should allow devs to better allocate their animation and cinematics resources so we don’t have a bunch of half-animated, half-voiced bits littering the storyline.
They could turn into video calls, like a fancier version of the voice speaking through your earpiece, or be scrapped going forward in favor of allocating more resources to full-quality cutscenes.
The boring bits where everyone is standing around talking, coordinating, or planning could be relegated communication via Comlink while simultaneously offering more expansive decision trees, allowing for more nuanced RP. However, this is just speculation on my part.
It’s much cheaper to write stories when you don’t have to voice or animate them, so the devs could use this as an opportunity to expand the depth and breadth of the story in a natural way while allowing the critical moments get the attention they deserve.
It’s easiest to see the Comlink system as an expansion of the letters you get in the mail from NPCs after missions, or something analogous to the holorecordings from Bengel Morr to the Jedi Knight.
Those sorts of things could easily be expanded into conversations instead. I don’t know if they’d go back and add to those conversations to old content, but it’s an option that’s not outside the realm of possibility.
Most likely, they’d use this feature to expand player interactions with companions, but they could do more. The Comlink communications channel reinforces a clear dividing line between the major, fully-voiced companions and secondary characters we can use as companions after KotFE.
Broadsword could use the Comlink to justify giving us more companions from the Origin stories. I’m talking about major characters like Sergeant Jaxo, Watcher Two, members of The Hand, Ivory, Hadrik, Corrin and Kaal, etc.
If you recruit a companion via Comlink and they don’t show up on your ship, it’s a clear indication that they don’t have any story missions or dependencies associated with them. Perhaps they could use this system to let you evict stowaways from your ship too, like the GS companions or Skadge, but I digress.
Though I can’t deny that I had ulterior motives with my digression. I really, really need Broadsword to know how much my Sith Inquisitor wants PH4-LNX to stop being an eyesore floating on the curb.
We don’t know if the Comlink system will replace KOTOR-style cutscenes altogether, or to what degree they will be implemented within previously released content, but the sky’s the limit, and I know many of you can’t wait to slide into NPC DMs.
We will have a guide on the new Comlink system after we get to test it on PTS and later on live servers.
