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TheHavior's avatar
TheHavior
6 years ago

Lightsaber Shadow

Hello everyone!

I was watching a gameplay video of Fallen Order by the youtube channel "Star Wars explained" and the gameplay looks very good, but I noticed something weird.

It seems like Cal´s lightsaber throws a shadow as if it was a pole of some kind, and though we can see similar things in the prequels (Episode III Obi-Wan and Anakin vs. Darth Tyranus on board the Invisible Hand), that was just due to the way the lightsabers were created in the film.

My question is if the shadow of the lightsaber is there intentionally or if this is some kind of "bug" caused by the blade being a model that reacts to the lighting of the game. I personally would be taken out of the immersion if it stayed that way, since light can´t really throw shadows as far as I know.

Thank you and have a great day!

Edit:
here´s the link to the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckZNUSXU9w
The shadow is visible very well at around 0:40 to 1:05

4 Replies

  • OsirisTheVile's avatar
    OsirisTheVile
    6 years ago
    @TheHavior My guess is that they used same mechanic of saber throw as EA BF2. So yes the light saber is it’s own thing. As it is the part that is the hit scan.

    Not sure if it’s supposed to cast a shadow thou. That would seem to be cool thou since they added it
  • TheHavior's avatar
    TheHavior
    6 years ago

    @OsirisTheVileyou miss the point of my question, it shouldn´t throw a shadow (as far as I know) and I understand that the blade is a model in the game.
    But for in-universe it either depends on the blade being plasma, thus matter that can throw shadows in theory, or it being laser, which is more plausible in canon since it has been frequently adressed as such, not only in different translations of Star Wars e.g. "Laserschwert" in german or "sabre laser" in french, but also in english.
    And since laser is basicly light, it cannot throw a shadow.

    If the devs said that this was implemented intentionally, that would be totally fine by me, I only want to know.

  • obliviondoll's avatar
    obliviondoll
    6 years ago

    There are canon sources indicating that lightsaber blades have weight to them, which implies mass, something else light doesn't have. There has also been testing of laser-plasma interactions which could allow a laser to act as an aid to the containment of plasma and essentially keep the blade "flowing" (which would help to explain some of the pulsing and other effects in unstable blades in TFU and other Star Wars games). This also ties into the lore about Kylo Ren's saber needing the crossguard due to cracks in the kyber crystal, requiring heat to be vented through side channels. The secondary "venting" blades could plausibly be shorter because the plasma they're releasing isn't being accelerated by a "guide" laser like the primary blade is.

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