Finally!
— Alan
Star Wars: The Old Republic takes place more than 3,500 years before the rise of Darth Vader. The most powerful Sith Empire in history has emerged from deep space to attack the Republic and its legendary Jedi guardians. After decades of war, a tenuous truce has been established between the Sith Empire and the Republic, but events occurring in the game are leading the galaxy back to an all-out war.
Finally, a way we can all be Jedi or Sith without mucking up the EU!
Let’s hope this time there’s actually Stars and Wars though.
Those screenshots look atrocious (art-wise). What have they done to my beloved KOTOR :(
Just to help illuminate that rather sparse opening post for people who hate flash based sites:
Play Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ and forge your own Star Wars™ saga in a story-driven massively-multiplayer online game from BioWare and LucasArts. Explore an age thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader when war between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire divides the galaxy.
Wow, I just noticed there were actual screenshots already… they really do look horrible, did they hire some fresh out of college texturers or something?
On the bright side, this can only mean they’re devoting resources to actually making the gameplay fun… right?
Finally an MMO I might be able to get into. I was interested in SW:G until it got bad reviews. Hitting boars repeatedly might be more fun if they were space boars and I was hitting them with some sort of laser gun (really hope they make it hard to become a Jedi, I never experienced it but that feature sounded like such a good idea).
I did that in Tabula Rasa (they were called boargars). I’m not sure doing it as a Jedi or Sith would add much to the experience. :P
Cautiously hopeful here because a) I like the KOTOR setting b) Bioware is a solid dev and c) someone is bound to make a compelling SF MMO at some point (other than EVE, which is fine, just not my thang).
Star Wars is boring. It’s the most whored out license in all of gaming. It doesn’t work that well for an MMO. And the story is solidly mediocre IMO.
Just as with SWG, I’m still very interested to see what they do with it and will give it a go if it looks good, but I really wish they’d picked better IP or, better yet, created their own.
Star Wars Online 2: Hopefully This Time We’ll Make Lots of Money.
You mean like Mass Effect?
It’s a really good idea until everyone realizes that they’re not going to be one of the lucky (or catassing) few that gets to play one. Sure, sure, you SAY you don’t mind, but secretly the only reason you want it to be rare is so that you can have the only one.
Yes, I’d definitely prefer Mass Effect to Star Wars. Mass Effect was good, not great, but it’s still better than the tired old Star Wars universe IMO. And better suited for an MMO. MMO design requires a deft hand, especially in sci-fi worlds where it’s harder to just say, “uhh-- it’s magic!” The more specific the source material the more limitations on the design. Star Wars is a VERY specific and restrictive world.
Nerd macho?
Why are there storm/clone troopers in some of the artwork and screenshots?
Midichlorians!
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic…
Maybe, I dunno.
Star Wars has always been my least favorite of the popular sci-fi/fantasy universes. I don’t like the foundation of the Dark/Light dichotomy (repression is the key to not turning evil?), thought the stories were a bit weird (hey, this Darth Vader guy’s basically Hitler, but he’s also the hero’s dad, so we’ll feel sorry for him) and stereotypical (why is everyone so happy to call Star Wars “Cambellian” – to me that just means it doesn’t offer anything new).
I didn’t hold that against SWG and I like Bioware a lot. I managed to enjoy KotOR 1 just fine. However I would have been happier with just about any other universe or license they could have come up with. It’s not just that I don’t particularly care for Star Wars but also that it’s just so overdone. Can’t we get something new? Star Wars is the safe choice for them. They’ll sell a lot more copies because of it. They’re also just building Lucas Art’s brand for them and not giving us anything new. I’d rather see a new world to explore with the payoff for Bioware that they end up owning the IP.
Underwhelmed.
Not at all clear how this isn’t going to be Galaxies 2, or what exactly is supposed to be fun about this.
Hey cool! This might be my first mmo! I just might invite all you whippersnappers back onto my lawn.
"Set 300 years after the events in Knights of the Old Republic (and featuring some familiar faces), Star Wars: The Old Republic will put players on either side of a massive war between the Republic and the Empire. “It’s not a day-in-the-life of Star Wars,” Ray emphasizes; “It’s about being a hero.” They want the game to fit the scale and proportions of a conflict that spans the entire galaxy. The game will follow BioWare’s emphasis on “choice with consequences” with room for players to be ambiguous or conflicted about their motives. In short, Greg says, it’s what BioWare fans want: a perpetual RPG that delivers the full BioWare experience. "
I’m all for morally ambiguous and choices with consequences. will be interesting to see how they pull this off.
Wendelius