Star Wars: The Old Republic...

[Thespeckledkiwi]

I don't understand how this is an MMO. It hurts my head trying to figure out...essentially how you can play this with other players online. Unless they are breaking the mold for MMOs and doing something completely different.

You got two factions and a few different classes. But then you get companions (not other players). Is there PvP content or is that the entire game, PvP?

I mean I can't get the basic concepts of this game in relation to an MMO unless they haven't revealed the online parts of the game yet.

 

[kalysto]

This is only a guess, but I think it might work similar to how WoW does phasing/instancing in zones now? You will have so many people in one zone, but all at different stages of the story, once you have completed quests new areas open up, while still being unchanged for others not up to that yet. Some things (such as mining nodes) are able to be seen by everyone, but other stuff you interact with can be different for everyone.

(I probably explained this terribly!)

 

[firehawk12]

I think story-wise, they're making it possible to solo the game, but limiting access to various areas by class - so you'll want to party up with a bounty hunter if you want access to some bounty hunter area.

Honestly, the story stuff is the only thing that interests me so I haven't really been paying attention to the game stuff. Still, if the end of the Matrix Online is any indication... when this MMO dies - and they all will - it will be a morose and depressing time with no real conclusion. It's almost antithetical for a MMO designer to write the end game since the idea is to keep the thing going forever, but for something as lore based as the Matrix to shut down without any real... event? I almost wonder what will happen when they kill Star Wars Galaxies when they launch this game.

 

[Rii]

I've been following the preview clips as they've been released, and when I'm not being told for the fiftieth time that the game is fully voiced or listening to some corporate drone from Lucasarts it does look rather interesting in many respects. I'm surprised at how ugly it is, though.

 

[firehawk12]

I guess they tried for the style used in the new cartoon...

 

[Arrqh]

I guess they tried for the style used in the new cartoon...

No, it's different from the cartoon, though it is still "cartoony." But it's distinct enough that one doesn't get the two confused.

Still, if the end of the Matrix Online is any indication... when this MMO dies - and they all will - it will be a morose and depressing time with no real conclusion. It's almost antithetical for a MMO designer to write the end game since the idea is to keep the thing going forever, but for something as lore based as the Matrix to shut down without any real... event?

I can think of a few ways around that... using MXO as the only valid model for storytelling in an MMO doesn't seem all that great of an idea, personally.

You got two factions and a few different classes. But then you get companions (not other players).

Er... why do you think you don't play with other players? Just because you have NPC companions doesn't mean you can't have PC party members too. I'm pretty sure it's been explicitly stated that you do, and that during things like conversations and the like all the other players in your party participate somehow.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

I am wondering if it is not going to be similar to Guild Wars.

 

[TheBrew]

I think story-wise, they're making it possible to solo the game, but limiting access to various areas by class - so you'll want to party up with a bounty hunter if you want access to some bounty hunter area.

Honestly, the story stuff is the only thing that interests me so I haven't really been paying attention to the game stuff. Still, if the end of the Matrix Online is any indication... when this MMO dies - and they all will - it will be a morose and depressing time with no real conclusion. It's almost antithetical for a MMO designer to write the end game since the idea is to keep the thing going forever, but for something as lore based as the Matrix to shut down without any real... event? I almost wonder what will happen when they kill Star Wars Galaxies when they launch this game.

I imagine it will be like WoW where each XPac is a story in of itself, but furthers the overall continuity. So there are threads that will continue, but each one will be a self contained arc.

 

[firehawk12]

Sure, but what about the actual end game? I forgot where Galaxies fits in in terms of the continuity, but if an MMO is actually going to have an ending - one that is as meaningful as one in a singleplayer game - it'd be that one, right?

I suppose with WoW they can just roll your characters into WoW2 or whatever they're working on next and just continue the world... but eventually even WoW will "end". I imagine that some people will be disappointed if it just ended with some dude flipping off a switch at the server farm.

 

[The Doctor]

I'm still pissed we're not getting KotOR 3.

 

[firehawk12]

You and me both, brother.

But according to them, we're getting KoTOR 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 99, 434143!!!!!

 

[Skywalker]

You and me both, brother.

But according to them, we're getting KoTOR 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 99, 434143!!!!!

They can say it all they want, that doesn't make it true.

 

[firehawk12]

In my fantasy world, Fallout 3: Vegas is actually KoTOR3 and we'll get to see Obsidian close out one of the more interesting Star Wars EU trilogies in a long time.

I think in this fantasy world, racism and sexism don't exist either.

 

[JonathonWally]

As much as I would love to play this game, I know I can't, I get way to addicted to MMOs and they suck my life.

 

[nx1701g]

Sure, but what about the actual end game? I forgot where Galaxies fits in in terms of the continuity, but if an MMO is actually going to have an ending - one that is as meaningful as one in a singleplayer game - it'd be that one, right?

Galaxies is weird in terms of canon. The story is considered canon, but anything player created is automatically considered noncanon.

 

[Rii]

I suppose with WoW they can just roll your characters into WoW2 or whatever they're working on next and just continue the world... but eventually even WoW will "end".

Blizzard's upcoming MMO (and I notice they've been careful to avoid the "-RPG" suffix) is based on a new IP. I expect Warcraft will continue in RTS form, but as an MMO it's a one-shot deal. Historically sequels haven't worked out too well in the MMO space in any case.

 

[firehawk12]

Are there still people running Galaxies? Or has SOE left it to die like MxO? I imagine it'd be disappointing for someone who cares about that universe if the game just ended with a somewhat meaningless public gathering leading up to a server shutdown.

And if WoW is just going to shut down... what would that even mean? I have to imagine that the majority of WoW players don't want to play RTSes, so telling them to play Warcraft 4 isn't going to help anyone. Maybe they can cliffhanger into the movie.

 

[CorporalClegg]

You and me both, brother.

But according to them, we're getting KoTOR 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 99, 434143!!!!!

I just don't understand why they can't do both.

I have doubts how much of the KOTOR story will impact this game. So why not just complete the trilogy?

Of course, to play this game I'm probably going to have to buy a new computer and I don't really want to, so...

 

[firehawk12]

I guess BioWare doesn't consider KoTOR2 to be "canon". I think even their FAQ only mentions Revan (he won't be involved)... so from their point of view KoTOR is already "complete".

Even then, I'd want Obsidian to do it anyway. They took a good concept set up by BioWare and just ran with it.

It's just weird that they're abandoning some of the core franchises so willingly. I guess they wanted to break away from Jedi Knight, but I wasn't sure if I actually got anything meaningful out of The Force Unleashed.

Oh well. KoTOR is dead, I guess.

 

[IDIC]

I do not know how you can say that KOTOR is dead when the biggest thing to happen to that universe is on the horizon.

As far as Revan and the Outcast, the game setting is many many years after the events of KotOR 1 & 2. I havent seen them say anything about KotOR 2 not being canon.

Obsidan didnt do a good job with KotOR 2, it felt very rushed and shorter than KotOR 1.

The game takes place approximately three hundred years after the original game so Atton Rand and most of the characters we encountered will be long dead.