Revealing the Character's Ghost | Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

0:01 the explosive opening to star wars jedi fallen order quickly establishes

0:05 important elements of the game it introduces the world the basic mechanics

0:11 of traversal and combat the crew the player will be traveling

0:15 with the antagonist and of course the protagonist calcus but in between

0:21 exciting scenes of action one brief quiet moment stands out a dream

0:26 sequence in which cal is following his friend prof on a train

0:32 wait up cal turns to find himself suddenly in the hallway

0:34 of a star destroyer where he's confronted by his former master giaro

0:39 de paul apprentice mark well and listen master trust only

0:45 in the force [Music] this vision is the player's first indication that cal

0:52 is being haunted by something the kind of traumatic event that's often

0:57 buried deep in a particular element of character design backstory so today

1:02 i want to examine the overall design of the game's central

1:06 protagonist cal kestis to demonstrate how

1:08 his backstory is used to recontextualize

1:11 the game's tutorials and create a game-long mystery and explore how

1:16 the game takes one of the most important events in the star wars

1:19 saga and uses it to build the foundation of cal's character

1:27 welcome to story mode star wars jedi fall in order when we

1:35 spoke to aaron contreras the narrative lead on jedi fallen order he

1:40 described the game as the story of calcus but padawan he survived

1:44 the courage who then kind of picks himself back up a few

1:47 years later and goes on to complete his training go through

1:50 a hero's journey and and go on this quest to rebuild

1:52 the jedi order the game tries to ask the question of the player

1:56 and of the audience you know what does it mean to be

1:58 a jedi now that the jedi are fallen when we first

2:00 meet cal he's been in hiding for 10 years in order

2:05 to evade imperial inquisitors he has partially closed himself off to the force

2:09 his character arc in the game is all about allowing himself

2:12 to once again fully open up to the force but there's something

2:18 holding him back every time i open myself up i see

2:21 master depaul this implied traumatic event in his backstory is the reason

2:27 cal is so afraid of reconnecting to the force in story

2:31 terms this type of event is sometimes called the character's ghost

2:35 in its book the anatomy of story john truby defines a character's

2:39 ghost as an event from the past that still haunts the hero

2:44 in the present the ghost is an open wound that is

2:46 often the source of the hero's psychological and moral weakness you can

2:51 also think of this as the hero's internal opponent it is

2:55 the great fear that is holding him back from action the hero's desire

3:00 drives him forward his ghost holds him back but while many stories

3:05 establish the character's ghosts right away jedi fallen order chooses to turn

3:08 it into a mystery the details surrounding what happened to cal

3:13 are slowly revealed throughout the game and as we've already discussed are

3:17 first hinted at in the opening sequence this mystery deepens when

3:22 the player next sees gyro to paul during the game's tutorials try

3:28 again it's difficult master at certain points in jedi fallen order cal

3:33 can only traverse an area by recalling an ability triggering a tutorial

3:38 for the player but instead of simply telling players which buttons

3:42 to press the narrative team uses these tutorials as opportunities to explore

3:48 cal's backstory you're going to acquire certain abilities at certain locations

3:52 to move through certain fiscal gates in the game world and then

3:55 kind of fell on narrative to contextualize that and make it

3:59 fit into his hero's journey in the story each time cal recalls

4:02 an ability the player flashes back to a training session between cal

4:06 and his former jedi master these flashbacks allow us to experience some

4:12 of jaro to paul's teachings with persistence and the force

4:15 as your ally you will overcome any obstacle as well as the close

4:19 friendship he had with cal perhaps i chose the wrong padawan pastor

4:27 i'm only choking cow by juxtaposing these positive memories of gero de

4:30 paul with the intense vision cal experienced and the opening the game

4:35 keeps the player intrigued by continuing to develop the mystery around

4:39 the protagonist's ghost what would jaro to paul say you have no

4:42 right to mention his name i wonder what would he think if he

4:46 could see his padawan now why is cal so haunted

4:50 by this former relationship with his jedi master the player receives the answer

4:56 during the final flashback once the player is several hours

5:01 into the game the tutorial sections

5:03 become familiar so when this flashback doesn't

5:06 begin in the training room a first for these tutorials the game

5:09 is signaling that something about this one is different cal roams

5:14 the halls on its way to training giving the player a chance

5:17 to interact with his friends the clone troopers along the way you're

5:21 in a rush master depaul's called me for training you got

5:26 this kid as the training session begins it feels like a normal

5:30 if more challenging training session but when cal reaches jaro to paul

5:39 something isn't right are you okay i don't wanna something terrible is

5:56 happening the clones have betrayed us we need to get off

6:00 this ship quickly get to the escape pods go as cal begins

6:04 his escape we realize we are no longer playing a simple tutorial

6:09 we are experiencing first hand one of the most consequential moments in star

6:13 wars history and also the most crucial moment of cal's backstory

6:24 the origin of his ghosts that whole sequence is probably the heart

6:41 of the game i think the power of video games and interactivity

6:44 is that you become young cal in that moment and that really

6:48 allows a certain different experience through it for you to sort

6:50 of feel like it's happening to you and it makes it very

6:54 personal immediately following the order

6:56 66 sequence the player experiences another

6:59 vision of jaro de paul but now we understand why cal is

7:04 so terrified by his image padawan it is time for instruction

7:17 because he's overwhelmed by the guilt of not being able to save

7:20 his master's life cal's emotional ghost has manifested into the literal ghost

7:26 of jaro to paul your fear cost me my life and by literalizing

7:30 this narrative device the writers create a unique gameplay opportunity i

7:35 would have survived had you not been so weak as the player

7:39 must battle the embodiment of the protagonist's inner turmoil yes my blood

7:44 is on your hands apprentice you are a failure a weakling

7:54 a traitor you are no jedi and the player just like

8:01 cal must learn that this ghost cannot be defeated through pure aggression

8:07 discovering the fear that has been holding cal back is only

8:11 part of the journey overcoming it will be a whole new challenge

8:15 i saw him bastard paul i saw the day he died

8:19 i saw what i did now it's destroyed i couldn't save him

8:27 we will always struggle but that is the test it's the choice

8:31 to keep fighting that makes us who we are i guess it's

8:37 about time i find out who i am star wars jedi

8:50 fallen order is a great example of how to use a character's

8:54 backstory to create an ongoing mystery that keeps the player curious it

8:59 demonstrates how a necessary game mechanic like a tutorial can be used

9:03 for a strong narrative purpose and it allows us to experience one

9:06 of the most important moments in star wars history from an intimate

9:11 character-based perspective preparing us for the thrilling finale of star wars

9:20 jedi hey guys michael here hope you enjoyed our video on star

9:25 wars jedi fallen order if you want to listen to the full

9:28 conversation with aaron contreras you can on our podcast be

9:30 on the screen play the link to that episode is in the description

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10:14 see you next time and always remember the cake is a lie