HK-51 Comes To The Old Republic

[Andy Chalk]

HK-51 Comes To The Old Republic

​

The baddest droid in the galaxy is ready to get to work.

The psychotic murder machine HK-47 is easily the most memorable character to come out of BioWare's 2003 Star Wars RPG Knights of the Old Republic [http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Knights-Old-Republic-Pc/dp/B00006IR62/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1342537752&sr=8-2&keywords=Knights+of+the+Old+Republic], as evidenced by his appearance in virtually every Star Wars RPG since. He was loyal, dedicated, hard-working, unfailingly polite and unflinchingly homicidal. He wasn't just willing to kill for you, he wanted to kill for you. Badly.

HK-47 has already turned up in Star Wars: The Old Republic, thereby eliminating him as a companion, but the ever-creative gang at BioWare has come up with an imaginative way around that sticking point: HK-51!

"Buried deep beneath the icy surface of Belsavis rests an army of the deadliest, most feared machines in the known galaxy. Thought to have been lost when an Imperial freighter was destroyed, they have recently been rediscovered by a group of renegade Sith Lords," The Old Republic website explains [http://www.swtor.com/info/news/news-article/20120716]. "Now both the Sith Empire and Galactic Republic seek to control these dangerous weapons for themselves. Those who are brave enough to venture into the wreckage will emerge with a powerful new ally."

The trailer doesn't actually show the new Slayer of Meatbags in action but it's a safe assumption that HK-51 will share more than a few behavioral traits with his older cousin. Any droid can pull a trigger, after all, but that uniquely endearing way with words is what made ol' 47 special. Without that, what's the point?

HK-51 will be available for recruitment "in the very near future."


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[hazabaza1]

And cue no other companions ever being used.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

good times. I expect we'll see a TON of people using him.

 

[Samurai Rabbit]

Time to retire my apprentice in favour of HK-51!

 

[Absolutionis]

Bioware: This MMO that we made isn't doing so well.
EA: Quick, rush out some fanservice and charge people for it!
Bioware: Yes, my lord.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Hmm, I'm a sniper in TOR. Sniper + Assassin droid. Match made in heaven?

 

[BrotherRool]

Were they HK-50's or HK-51's (or both, I seem to remember HK-47 could take control of a faction) in KotoR2? I hope the HK factory bit that's only noew been restored is canon because it's too funny to be a lie

 

[Irridium]

Wait, but I destroyed all the HK-51's in Kotor 2 as HK-47, along with the HK-50's which helped HK-47 get over his rage of losing his individuality after figuring out he'd been copied and that these copies have been running around the galaxy, which ended up growing him as a character and making him more sympathetic and philosophical and-

Oh, right. Non-cannon. Never mind.

*sigh*

 

[Saviordd1]

Wait, but I destroyed all the HK-51's in Kotor 2 as HK-47, along with the HK-50's which helped HK-47 get over his rage of losing his individuality after figuring out he'd been copied and that these copies have been running around the galaxy, which ended up growing him as a character and making him more sympathetic and philosophical and-

Oh, right. Non-cannon. Never mind.

*sigh*

Maybe not? They were never fully clear on how KOTOR 2 fit in, the exile is still around as well as some other references so maybe it'll all tie in.

OT: I wonder how they're gonna make the excuse for him to be available to everyone? Either way I still plan on killing crap with Dorne.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

You know, it doesn't seem worth it. They threw HK-47 under a bus just to give players one more boss fight. I'd rather they just left the entire idea alone.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

If they make HK-51 refer to people as 'organics' rather than 'meatbags', I will personally hunt down whoever at BioWare/EA suggested this idea and show them HK's definition of 'Love.'

 

[grigjd3]

Desperate ploy to retain players is desperate.

 

[chaos order]

Were they HK-50's or HK-51's (or both, I seem to remember HK-47 could take control of a faction) in KotoR2? I hope the HK factory bit that's only noew been restored is canon because it's too funny to be a lie

The silver units that continuously attack you throughout the game are HK-50s. The HK-51's are the dark steel units that you can turn into your own personal at the end of the HK-factory sidequest.

Wait, but I destroyed all the HK-51's in Kotor 2 as HK-47, along with the HK-50's which helped HK-47 get over his rage of losing his individuality after figuring out he'd been copied and that these copies have been running around the galaxy, which ended up growing him as a character and making him more sympathetic and philosophical and-

Oh, right. Non-cannon. Never mind.

*sigh*

Maybe not? They were never fully clear on how KOTOR 2 fit in, the exile is still around as well as some other references so maybe it'll all tie in.

If by 'references' you mean

Spoiler

Killing off the characters from KOTOR 2 in the most trollish manner possible, and completely rewriting the entire backstory and narrative so that all the moral ambiguity was replaced with ham-fisted black-and-white preaching and retcons

then yeah. I'm just waiting for Bioware to announce that HK-47 never had a private army at all, and that the HK-51 units were commissioned by some hitherto unknown Sith Lord with a crappy name.

YA im probably gonna go with Darth Meatbag as the name of the sithlord

 

[ThaBenMan]

He'll probably be a pretty cool companion, but as I understand it, there's a bit of a catch - you'll need a level 50 character from both the Republic and the Empire to get him. Now this won't be a problem for a lot of people, but I only have two characters, both Imperial, one at 50 and the other at 32. Guess I've got a whole bunch more leveling to do :/ At least when you unlock him once, he's pretty much unlocked for any character on your Legacy, though.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

And so Bioware continues to dismantle everything that Obsidian did to make KOTOR 2 brilliant.

The HK-51s were supposed to be the successor line to GOTO's HK-50 Army, until HK-47 discovered the plant and obliterated his copies. He then activated the HK-51s to create his own droid army, answering to no Meatbag and making a droid nation.

So, of course, the obvious solution is to ditch all that so you can have your own HK-47 ripoff that shits over that entire plotline.

Go fuck yourself Bioware. Try coming up with an original idea instead of cribbing Obsidian's work.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

and of course here come the usual mean-spirited, strawman arguments whining about Bioware. I've seen binary code with less consistency

Were they HK-50's or HK-51's (or both, I seem to remember HK-47 could take control of a faction) in KotoR2? I hope the HK factory bit that's only noew been restored is canon because it's too funny to be a lie

47 could take control of the 51 production line which he used to destroy the 50s and then G0-T0. My guess is that this COULD be canon. However, the factory in KOTOR 2 was on a different planet than the one in TOR.

 

[DaWaffledude]

Wait, when did HK-47 take control of the droid army? Ugh... This is my problem with KOTOR 2. None of it makes any sense by the end. And not in the philosophical "what is real" Inception kind of way. In the ridiculous, unfinished mess kind of way.

And YES, I got the damned restored content mod.