Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order players are leaping into a game-breaking bug
UPDATE: Patch tackles pesky Dathomir bugs.
UPDATE 26/11/19: After several players became stranded on a rocky bridge in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Respawn has come to the rescue and rolled out a patch to let players leave the Dathomir tomb - and block off the route to prevent others entering too early.
In the patch notes on Reddit, there are several fixes to address the Dathomir problems - specifically “an issue preventing players from leaving the tomb on Dathomir has been addressed” and “players can no longer bypass a specific area on Dathomir that requires double jump”. Other players who experienced a disappearing bridge have also been catered for, as this “has been located, no longer blocking game progress”.
BD-1 had also been causing issues, as talking to the cheeky droid during the AT-AT scene on Kashyyyk would halt player progress. This, too, has been fixed - along with BD-1's unplanned stealth abilities, which previously allowed the droid to turn invisible after completing Bogano. Now that does sound like an overpowered cloaking device.
ORIGINAL STORY 20/11/19: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is all about Metroidvania-style levels and unlocking new paths after acquiring abilities - but what happens when the player accidentally leapfrogs this process, and there's no backup save option or fast travel?
Nothing good, apparently, as a number of players have become so stuck on Dathomir they've been forced to restart their entire game.
As experienced by Kotaku's Kirk Hamilton and others (seemingly across all platforms), while you're not supposed to jump the bridge gap on Dathomir until late game, it's actually possible to do so before acquiring the double jump ability. Players who tested the limits (and succeeded) have found themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place: unable to progress further through Dathomir, where locked Force abilities are required, and unable to return across the gap without double jump.
Unfortunately, Fallen Order has no fast travel and saves are linked to your last meditation point. Those who saved on the other side of the bridge are now locked into the area. Until the bug is fixed, the only option left for players is to restart the game from scratch.
An EA rep told Kotaku it was aware of the glitch and working on a fix. In the meantime, if you're exploring Dathomir in the early stages, don't hurl yourself over that ledge until you unlock the double jump ability. It's hugely frustrating for players currently stuck in this situation, however, and Hamilton lost a whopping 10 hours of gameplay time.
Along with the Dathomir problem, some have reported another severe bug in the AT-AT on Kashyyyk, which is similarly forcing players to restart. Instead of distracting the pilots, pushing down on the D-Pad can result in a conversation with BD-1 - which breaks the scripted scene and returns the player to gameplay inside the cockpit, unable to continue the story. As of yet, there's no word on a workaround for this problem.
Fallen Order's launch hasn't been entirely smooth on the tech front, with plenty of players (including me) experiencing frame rate drops, freezing and crashes - particularly on base consoles. Digital Foundry took a more in-depth look at how Fallen Order runs across all consoles, concluding it could have done with a little more polish before launch.
Respawn, meanwhile, has started introducing patches to fix some of the problems - including one which is rolling out this week to fix texture flicker issues and slow loading times (starting with PC). Let's hope the next one includes something to save the poor souls stuck in Dathomir limbo.