Star Wars: The Old Republic

[Murbella]

I don’t mind a story, WoW has a story, history and all that as does Lotro but they don’t make you sit through a cut scene for every damn quest.

I should have made it more clear that its the cut scenes I have no use for, not for any type of story.

The vast majority of people automatically skipped the quest text in wow, so no, it did not really have a story unless you were some warcraft junkie who played every single warcraft and read the books.

If you actually read the text in the wow quests, it takes only a bit shorter than the swtor DIALOG. If you don’t read the text and don’t want to talk to characters giving you quests, this is not the game for you since these… “cutscenes” are kind of a large feature point for the game.

If you hated the dialog system in mass effect and dragon age, you’re going to hate it here too.

[walTer]

One other thing that I think will get real old is when a person wants to start a new char of the same class they will get to go through all the same exact cut scenes all over again. I know most of my friends in other MMOs have made additional characters of a class they had already played.

Every MMO does that…try leveling 10 characters in WoW…at some point getting to the cap is just a chore done as fast as possible but it takes a game a while to get there. In the past couple of years the entire leveling mechanic in WoW has changed from - holy smoke, that guy is level 60 to I can get to level 85 in a weekend.

That is just the nature of the game.

[instant0]

I’m continuing my lunch discussion here. So obviously this release will be spun as the #1 biggest western MMO launch, #2 in user base behind WOW but with pre-order pushing 1 million what is the expected top point of the initial user base, 2 million? 5 million?

-Tim

If the game is so limited in exploration possibilities as alluded to, I expect it to drop down to a few hundered thousand players very quickly. Possibly recreating what happened with Age of Conan.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

That is, however, SWTOR’s defining feature. Skipping it means you are missing a big chunk of the game (as I’m not sure you otherwise get all the dialog in WoW-style text form, for example).

That’s fine the first time through. I don’t want to see it every time I start a new character. I’ve seen all of WoW’s introductory stories, so I skip them immediately now.

This is the flaw in a story-based game. It doesn’t lend itself to long term play.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

I don’t mind a story, WoW has a story, history and all that as does Lotro but they don’t make you sit through a cut scene for every damn quest.

Aside from Uldum, a zone which I just finished with another alt. I’d forgotten how many cutscenes they had. I have to admit, it got old pretty fast and I was skipping them. If SWTOR depends on cutscenes, I don’t think it’s going to work very well. You can’t treat a MMOG in the same way as a solo game, after all.

[Murbella]

That’s fine the first time through. I don’t want to see it every time I start a new character. I’ve seen all of WoW’s introductory stories, so I skip them immediately now.

This is the flaw in a story-based game. It doesn’t lend itself to long term play.

The story in swtor is not the same as the race based intro cutscenes in wow. It is also different for different classes so if you start a new human sith warrior, you will not see the same stuff as a human bounty hunter.

Brettmcd is REALLY confusing things here by referring to “Mass Effect Style Dialog System” as “Cutscenes” repeatedly.

[Wallapuctus]

I recall there being a checkbox in the game settings to skip cutscenes.

[Ryslin]

The dialog … trees? Can be anticipated and answered easily enough. There are subtitles as well.

[wolfbane]

I’m continuing my lunch discussion here. So obviously this release will be spun as the #1 biggest western MMO launch, #2 in user base behind WOW but with pre-order pushing 1 million what is the expected top point of the initial user base, 2 million? 5 million?

-Tim

I’m thinking 3 million since VGCharts has it at 870K pre-ordered physical copies in US alone.

[MarchHare]

Cutscenes != Interactive Dialogue Selection

I’m not in the beta, but my understanding is that accepting and turning in quests in SWTOR uses a dialogue selection system (fully-voiced) where you can choose multiple different responses based on how you’re playing your character. This is just like all of Bioware’s single-player RPGs, Alpha Protocol, etc. as opposed to simply reading a text box and clicking “Accept” or “Complete Quest” like in most MMOs. SWTOR’s system is not at all the same as the non-interactive cutscenes in Uldum.

[Ryslin]

It really takes up no more time than force scrolling through quest text and clicking accept.
You will have to live with the choice you make, but if you paid attention wile doing whatever led you to this point you probably already know your answer.

[MSUSteve]

For those interested in this game and especially for fans of the first KOTOR I thought I’d give a heads up that the story of what Revan did after KOTOR is finally being told in The Old Republic: Revan, which released today.

[Brettmcd]

It really takes up no more time than force scrolling through quest text and clicking accept.
You will have to live with the choice you make, but if you paid attention wile doing whatever led you to this point you probably already know your answer.

You must not have played the beta at all if you think that it takes no more time then a text quest system would. For one example in the bounty hunter opening area I would go see someone in the cantina, go through a 2 minute dialog scene and walk 20 feet to another person for yet another one.

That is fine for a single player RPG but I don’t see it being at all workable long term for an online game.

[walTer]

Wow seriously you don’t want a story? So does that mean that you just wait a month then buy a level capped toon off someone? How much fun is that? I seriously don’t get the hate for the story…and as it was said before, your choices actually do have some effect on your later perceptions.

I mean after 5 years of WoW, I am kinda over the 1-80 grind but it took a while. But with different starting zones, races and stories, even that grind kept my interest for I dunno, 6 or 8 toons?

I assume you are not buying this?

[flem1]

If the game is so limited in exploration possibilities as alluded to, I expect it to drop down to a few hundered thousand players very quickly. Possibly recreating what happened with Age of Conan.

Gotta love people who believe anything a NDA breaker says regardless of the fact that he played basically just the tutorial area.

[Ed_Solomon]

Still waiting to play a robot.

[Brettmcd]

Wow seriously you don’t want a story? So does that mean that you just wait a month then buy a level capped toon off someone? How much fun is that? I seriously don’t get the hate for the story…and as it was said before, your choices actually do have some effect on your later perceptions.

I mean after 5 years of WoW, I am kinda over the 1-80 grind but it took a while. But with different starting zones, races and stories, even that grind kept my interest for I dunno, 6 or 8 toons?

I assume you are not buying this?

No you should actually read anything I have posted, I have no problem with a story, I just think they way they are doing it here wont work for a online game where people may want to replay things.

[John_Doyle]

I thought that I’d hate the cut scenes and voice acting for nearly every NPC interaction. It turned out to be quite the opposite. The story adds a ton of immersion to the game mostly due to the fact that, unlike most MMOs, it is really, really well written and voice acted.

[gurugeorge]

You must not have played the beta at all if you think that it takes no more time then a text quest system would. For one example in the bounty hunter opening area I would go see someone in the cantina, go through a 2 minute dialog scene and walk 20 feet to another person for yet another one.

That is fine for a single player RPG but I don’t see it being at all workable long term for an online game.

If it’s workable for a single player game like KOTOR or ME, why’s it not workable for an online game?

People are used to rushing, you say? Well, maybe they should slow down and enjoy the stories more, just like they would do in a single player game - only with other people?

Also, it could be considered that the usual “MMO mentality” is precisely what puts lots of gamers who hate MMOs off MMOs. Maybe if this MMO has more immersion, lots of people who wouldn’t even touch an MMO might get into it?

Not saying this is definite, but from my little stint a while ago, I’d say it’s a distinct possibility. You do indeed slow down quite a bit while playing SWTOR - stop and smell the roses, so to speak, feel a bit more immersed, a bit more like you’re there. (And although I’m normally more of an immersioneer and explorer myself, I’m familiar with the rushing mentality because I’ve been in enough MMOs where you make your 4th alt and just click through everything - but what if each class has an equally rich story sustained through all the levels of the game?)

Think of it not so much as trying to appeal to the “usual” MMO crowd but trying to attract a new audience to MMOs - it might just work like that.

[Brettmcd]

If it’s workable for a single player game like KOTOR or ME, why’s it not workable for an online game?

People are used to rushing, you say? Well, maybe they should slow down and enjoy the stories more, just like they would do in a single player game - only with other people?

Also, it could be considered that the usual “MMO mentality” is precisely what puts lots of gamers who hate MMOs off MMOs. Maybe if this MMO has more immersion, lots of people who wouldn’t even touch an MMO might get into it?

Not saying this is definite, but from my little stint a while ago, I’d say it’s a distinct possibility. You do indeed slow down quite a bit while playing SWTOR - stop and smell the roses, so to speak, feel a bit more immersed, a bit more like you’re there. (And although I’m normally more of an immersioneer and explorer myself, I’m familiar with the rushing mentality because I’ve been in enough MMOs where you make your 4th alt and just click through everything - but what if each class has an equally rich story sustained through all the levels of the game?)

Think of it not so much as trying to appeal to the “usual” MMO crowd but trying to attract a new audience to MMOs - it might just work like that.

So the cutscenes and story are basically a different form of time sink so we have to play the game longer and therefore pay more money?