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Hi! I'm Dallas Dickinson, Director of Production on Star Wars The Old Republic,
the new story-driven MMO from BioWare and LucasArts.
Today I'll be guiding you through The Esseles, an early level Flashpoint that you'll be able
to experience after you leave your Origin World, around level 9.
The story starts out simple: while on route to Coruscant
your transport comes under fire from an Imperial Battlecruiser.
You and your friends must fight your way to the bridge of the transport
to find out what's really going on. And that's where we start...
We begin from the perspective of the Jedi Knight. Our heroes have fought their way to the bridge,
where they find that the Esseles Captain has been killed, leaving a panicked First Officer in command.
In group conversations, each player can select their own response.
When a dialog option is selected a number is randomly generated for the player.
The player with the highest number not only speaks on behalf of the party,
but also receives a social point bonus.
This will be easier if you control your emotions.
Who asked you? We are in the middle of a situation here!
The bridge is off-limits!
Sir, we need all the help we can get! If we don't keep it together here we are finished.
Keep what together?
The imperials have us by the throat! We are as good as dead already.
What's wrong with you?
Are you really going to let your ship fall to the imperials so easily?
That ship behind us is one of the biggest in the Imperial Fleet. We didn't stand a chance!
Sir, incoming message. The Imperial ship is hailing us!
Republic Transport Esseles, this is Grand Moff Rykus Kilran.
Your defenses are entirely disabled. Attemp no resistance.
We'll fight you and your imperial lackeys to the bitter end, Kilron!
I'm not here to negotiate.
Your ship is transporting a known anti-imperial terrorist seditionist, so called Ambassador Vin Asara.
My agents aboard your ship have confirmed the Ambassador is there.
You have spies aboard our ship?
I have eyes everywhere.
Imperial soldiers are preparing to board your ship through it's primary airlock.
My agents will ensure that you don't interfere with them.
If you attempt to stop my men from arresting Ambassador Asara, I will have every living thing aboard the Esseles killed.
Where's the primary airlock? I'll stop the Imperials as they try to board.
I'll have our security team meet you by the primary airlock.
They haven't seen much action, but Commander Narlock knows his stuff.
Good luck. We are all counting on you.
We switch to the Smuggler as our heroes, along with Captain Narlock's men,
prepare themselves to confront the imperial boarding party.
The Smuggler drops down behind his Portable Cover and inmediately let's off a Flurry of Bolts
on Lieutenant Isric, the leader of the imperial boarding party.
From behind cover, the smuggler throws a Sabotage Charge followed up by another Flurry of Bolts,
which detonates the Sabotage Charge and inflicts considerable damage on the Imperial Boarding Droid.
Switching to the Jedi Consular
we see that she just eliminated one of the Imperial Boarding Troopers,
just as the Smuggler let's off a Charged Burst, which bombards the enemy with powerful blasts of energy.
Throughout the fight with the imperial boarding party, Lieutenant Isric will summon a series of plasma probes
which engulf the area around them in a momentary burst of flames.
The players can avoid this by staying clear of the blue targetting reticles on the floor that surrounds them.
Here we see her use her Project ability to hurl a large piece of debris at Lieutenant Isric
before rushing in and striking him with her lightsaber. Nicely played!
Ha! Victory! We've done it, men! We've done it! Our ship is saved!
I'm sorry, Commander, but that... That isn't the case.
That imperial said you are the one that they were sent to capture.
Listen, that's not important right now. We have a serious problem.
The attack on this airlock was a ruse. After Hawkins sent you here, Imperial Commandos snuck aboard.
They were led by a mandalorian mercenary called Ironfist.
We defeated the first group of boarders. There's no reason we can't defeat this group too.
It gets worse, I'm afraid. Ironfist and his Imperial Commandos stormed the bridge.
The longer we leave the imperials in control, the harder it will be to remove them!
I've already told you, Ironfist has the bridge locked down. There's no way in or out.
Security lockdown... That is bad.
Chief Engineer Salem may know of a workaround.
Hopefully we can get to Salem before the imperials. Do you know where he is?
He and his team will be down in the engineering section.
I'm sure they will be able to help us.
We need a diversion.
If the imperials notice the hatches to engineering opening, they'll flood the area with soldiers.
My men and I can handle that. Form up, men! We're gonna start some trouble!
Let's get that bridge open!
We'll give those Imps something to think about, won't we boys?
I'll go along with Commander Narlock.
Once you cleared a path to Engineering, I'll double back and join up with you there.
Moving over to the Trooper, our heroes make their way toward the engineering section of the Esseles.
An imperial pod smashes through the hull and a group of Sabotage Drones emerge.
As the Jedi Knight Force Leaps at one of the drones,
the Trooper fires an Explosive Round before finishing it off with a Hammer Shot.
Targetting another of the imperial Sabotage Droids,
the Trooper let's loose with Full Auto, making quick work of the droid.
Another pod with more Imperial droids breaches the hull.
The Trooper wisely takes a few steps back and throws a Cryo Grenade,
which freezes the target in place long enough to launch another Explosive Round.
The Knight initiates Saber Ward to increase his defensive atribute
while the rest of the group dispatches the final droid.
As the Knight runs into combat with a couple of Sabotage Drones,
an Imperial Slicer Droid emerges from the nearby airlock.
The Trooper hits him with an Explosive Round and quickly follows it up with a Hammer Shot.
As the Trooper draws the Slicer Droid's attention, the rest of the party attacks unopposed.
Good teamwork makes a pretty scary looking enemy out to be little more than a mild nuisance.
Leaping into combat against a group of imperial droids,
the Jedi Knight draws their attention while the rest of the party runs in.
The Consular rushes into the fight, using her telekinetic Throw ability to chip away at the droid's health.
As she fights, the Smuggler throws a Sabotage Charge from behind his portable cover.
Keeping his distance,
the Trooper lets off an Explosive Round at one of the Imperial Seeker Droids,
then follows it up with a couple Hammer Shots, before finishing the droid off with Full Auto.
A) Port Wing B) Engineering Deck
Hey, hey Chief, come here! Come here, look!
There's someone out there on the other side of the door!
You must be crazy coming all the way down here with the imps everywhere!
Imperials have the bridge locked down. You are getting us in there.
The Imps pulled the lockdown? You've got to be kidding me!
You really cleared this place out. I didn't run into a single imperial on my way down here.
Commander Narlock and his men are being overrun, we have to get the bridge unlocked now.
So I've heard. I'd invite you in, but the lockdown has our doors sealed too.
Can you get the bridge open from there?
Depends on how we go about it. Just let me think a minute.
What about a reactor reset? That would disengage the security locks, wouldn't it sir?
Yeah, but a reactor reset vents the engineering compartment.
We would be blown into space! Besides, controls are on the other side of that door.
What else could we do to open up the bridge?
The secondary conduits. They're spread around a bit, but if you shut them all down
the security will go down too! Them we will be in business!
I'm not convinced that this plan will succeed...
Hey, who's the chief engineer here? Shutting down all of the secondary conduits
will get the bridge open, no doubt about it!
There's no time go running all over the ship. If we don't act now the imperials will overwhelm us.
I'm sorry Salem, we need to unlock the bridge while we have the chance.
We have to reset the reactor. You and your men will be remembered.
All of our heroes have chosen to follow the Dark Side option.
While all the party members received the same amount of Dark Side points,
the person who wins the conversation also receives a small amount of experience points.
- ... for the greater good.
We better get going. We need to attack Ironfist now before he has time to recover.
Where there's a will, there's a way. I will not fail.
Just be careful. Mandalorians always have a few tricks up their sleeves.
Our heroes now have to make their way to the bridge.
Seeing a group of Ironfist's Mandalorian Warriors ahead of him, our Smuggler drops into Portable Cover
and inmediately throws a Sabotage Charge. Notice how the Trooper's weapons fire is green.
This is because he switched to his Armor Piercing Cell,
which let's his carbine punch through the enemy armour, dealing more damage.
While the Trooper is typically a ranged class, he is not entirely defenseless in close quarters
and he shows this by laying down a firm Stock Strike on the Mandalorian Warrior,
before finishing him of with an Explosive Round and a quick Hammer Shot.
Switching to the Jedi Knight we see him Force Leap into combat against a Mandalorian Commando, following it up with a Slash.
The Consular uses her Project ability to draw the Mandalorian Warrior away from the knight.
While this is happening, the Smuggler focuses his attention on the Mandalorian Marksman,
taking him out of the action with relative ease.
Weakened after the last fight, the Jedi Knight uses Introspection,
an ability that allows him to regenerate health between battles.
We see the Jedi Consular use her Force Lift ability on a Mandalorian Warrior.
Rushing across the room, the Consular makes quick work of the Marksman.
Now this lone Mandalorian Commando is all that stands between our heroes and the bridge.
(Ironfist applauds)
Well, well. I was wondering when you'd finally show up.
This is it? There aren't more of you?
Just give up, Ironfist. I don't want to have to hurt you or your men.
Strange view of the situation. Guess you'd have to be a little crazy to put up the fight you have.
Let's fight this worthless *** and get back to work!
Ironfist charges at the Smuggler using his jetpack
to propel himself across the bridge and strikes the Smuggler with an Uppercut.
The Smuggler knows his role in the fight and instead targets one of the Mandalorian Privateers,
while the Trooper focuses on Ironfist. As he runs to take cover behind a barrier,
points in the environment where the Smuggler can take cover will be marked with a green silhouette.
The Trooper throws a Sticky Grenade on Ironfist while both the Jedi Knight and Jedi Consular chip away
at it's heavy armour with their lightsabers. Just as our Trooper launches an Explosive Round,
Ironfist uses the exhaust from his Jetpack to knock both the Trooper and Consular back several feet,
giving him enough breathing room to fire rockets at the Smuggler.
We switch to the Jedi Consular just as she uses Force Lift to suspend one of Ironfist's men.
She then turns her attention to the mandalorian fighting the Smuggler and uses her Project ability to finish him off.
From a distance, the Trooper hits Ironfist with a Cryo Grenade.
With no one to help him and nowhere to run, Ironfist's fate is all but sealed.
Good job, team!
- We did it!
What you just watched is only a small section of a much larger story.
Although our heroes have retaken the Esseles, there's still an Imperial Battlecruiser out there
and the heroes have more to do before this scenario is complete.
We hope you've enjoyed what you've seen so far.
Thanks for watching and we look forward to seeing you in The Old Republic.