SW: The Old Republic, Will you Buy it?

[Zay-el]

snip

KotOR did not end on a cliffhanger, or at least, not an absurdly blatant one. KotOR 2 did introduce the idea of something happening in the background, but that's it. You analogy is also bull, as Old Republic's story starts out LONG after either of the two games, which followed each other by only a couple, if I recall. The real outrage in that case would be an MMO set after every major Half-Life character is DEAD. Everyone you knew from those games, with the possible exception of HK-47 are DEAD, their stories have long since ENDED.

Neither of the KotOR games necessarily needed a sequel. They had closure, but not in a way that warranted a sequel no matter what. Wanna revisit the ending of the games?

KotOR 1: Star Forge destroyed/kept, heroes celebrated/I'll be evil hurr-durr. End.

KotOR 2: You either become the new Dark Lord, or head out to look for Revan. This isn't necessarily a story that needs to be elaborated upon any further. Millions of stories ends up on such a note. You have closure for your companions, which makes the whole game a sense of curtains dropping as well.

Now technically, you COULD have a KotOR 3, since the world and events can still be fleshed out a lot, but in this regard, I don't mind the idea of turning it into an MMO. The story of the two games is OVER, or rather, ends with the very intro of TOR. I guess these are the "true Sith" Revan went to fight and they arrive, after a huge time gap.

No one's forcing you to play this and if you fear that you will not get the whole story, well, there's a crapload of supplemental material left for you to dive through. Comics, novels, whatever you wish and if you want to see the closure to the actual story of the two games, look up the new book that will finally reveal the end of Revan. That's it. The two games are centered around the actions and the consequences of Revan and as such their story arcs end once he's dead.

It's no more of an outrage that there's no movie of the Thrawn books, actually.

 

[Hoplon]

It's basically WoW with a Star Wars skin and voice-over, and I am so done with MMO's of that kind. Eagerly awaiting Guild Wars 2 though.

If your expecting something radically different from GW2... oh dear. Certainly the Eurogamer Expo demo that was playable wasn't that special or different.

To the people bitching about SW:tOR needing Origin... only if you buy it from Origin...

I dare you to prove that GW2 will be really similar to WoW. Otherwise don't attack people for being excited for a certain game.

I said not to go expecting a radical departure from the formula that was laid down well before wow. Since I have played it i am offering anecdotal evidence in the form of personal experience of both games.

 

[AlotFirst]

It's basically WoW with a Star Wars skin and voice-over, and I am so done with MMO's of that kind. Eagerly awaiting Guild Wars 2 though.

If your expecting something radically different from GW2... oh dear. Certainly the Eurogamer Expo demo that was playable wasn't that special or different.

To the people bitching about SW:tOR needing Origin... only if you buy it from Origin...

I dare you to prove that GW2 will be really similar to WoW. Otherwise don't attack people for being excited for a certain game.

I said not to go expecting a radical departure from the formula that was laid down well before wow. Since I have played it i am offering anecdotal evidence in the form of personal experience of both games.

Well sir, you are one of the few people I've encountered who believe it isn't radically different in its design.

PS: Would you mind elaborating on your impressions (as I am quite interested in those) of the game through PMs, so that we do not de-rail the thread?

 

[Quiet Stranger]

No cause I can't really get into MMOs I find it so hard to do and I don't feel like paying a monthly subscription.

 

[Inithra]

No. Frankly, it looks like a bad mixture of WoW and KOTOR2. Graphics and "Innovative Conversation Options" from KOTOR, Interface and Gameplay from WoW. Wish this wasn't the case, but it is.

 

[Whispering Cynic]

No. It's an MMO and that by itself makes it unacceptable for me. And there is no way in hell I'm paying monthly fees. I'd never be able to get enough of playtime each month to justify the investment.

Give me a way to play it by myself, in some crippled form of single player and some subscription plan where I can pay for connection time and I might consider buying it. But since that's not happening, I stand by my firm and definite No.

 

[romanator0]

Nope.

It's made by Bioware so I know the story will be mediocre and the combat will be crap.

It has a subscription fee so I know the devs are only trying to scam the playerbase.

It has several archaic mechanics in place that only server to drive players away from each other rather than towards each other.

 

[thelonewolf266]

After playing the beta during the weekend stress test I would love to buy it but I just don't have the money to pay a monthly fee.

 

[DustyDrB]

Maybe if they go F2P. I've never played games on a subcription basis. Yeah, I get that there is probably enough content to justify it, but it still doesn't seem like a worthwhile investment. And the series really should have stayed single-player. No one played KotOR I and II and then thought it would be so much better to do it with other people.

Unlike other KotOR I and II fans, I don't really think there was a massive cliffhanger. KotOR II ended poorly because LucasArts had unrealistic development time expectations for Obsidian, not because the plot for a third game was well set up. Kreia speaks some about what Revan did after the events of the first game, and it does sound intriguing. But there's not much more to it than that.

Still, I would probably play the game if they did away with the subscription.

 

[cdstephens]

To everyone who says it should have been KOTOR 3: KOTOR 3 was in development for a little while but cancelled by LucasArts due to money issues. Since the game wasn't even being developed by Bioware and LucasArts is....well....LucasArts, there was likely no chance that KOTOR 3 would ever, ever be developed and released with or without TOR.

To blame TOR for the lack of KOTOR 3 is ignorant at best.

On topic, yes I will be playing TOR, because I like MMOs, I like Bioware, and I like Star Wars.

 

[AdmiralCheez]

No, most likely not.

First, I don't have enough hard drive space for an MMO.

Second, I don't have enough money for an MMO, or a new hard drive.

And third, the Old Republic era of Star Wars lore just never interested me. I played KOTOR 1, and it was a fun experience, but everything in it just looked kinda ridiculous. All the armor either had unnecessary doodads attached everywhere or had goofy-looking design. Blasters and lightsabers were exactly the same. The fact that Jedi and Sith were everywhere kinda ruined their whole "mystical nature" for me.

I just prefer the original era, where the rebels fight the Empire, Jedi are few and mysterious, and things look like they were designed with practicality in mind. But that's just me.

 

[MightyRabbit]

Maybe, if I upgrade to a laptop that'll run it. The story mechanics intruiged me enough to give it a look.

 

[VladG]

I don't see this game going f2p anytime soon, especially with the decline of WoW, I bet they smell big subscriptions (though to judge by this thread, very few are actually excited about it)

 

[VanityGirl]

I can happily wait a while before I pick it up. Why? I'll wait for all the fans to complain about the broken dungeons, pvp bugs, ect. Then, once that's all fine and fixed, I'll pick it up.
Plus I really don't want to be sucked into an MMO right now.

 

[R3dF41c0n]

I'm in the beta weekend and I must say it met all my expectations. It's a solid MMO and BW did a good job combining their trade mark story elements. I was surprised they were able to pull it off.

I will not be buying it though. Not because I feel its a bad game but because it's an MMO and I just can't fit an MMO into my life right now. For now I'm sticking with single player but I might pick it up in the future.

 

[kidd25]

try it out once month, and if i like it then i'll stick with it. the same with secret world.

 

[Candidus]

No. The subscription model is desperately unattractive with Guild Wars 2 on the horizon to begin with, but when the MMO in question is as formulaic and by-the-numbers (literally) as SW:TOR... Well, I've only been a part of one beta weekend, and I've had my fill. Put it that way.

 

[cdstephens]

snip

KotOR did not end on a cliffhanger, or at least, not an absurdly blatant one. KotOR 2 did introduce the idea of something happening in the background, but that's it. You analogy is also bull, as Old Republic's story starts out LONG after either of the two games, which followed each other by only a couple, if I recall. The real outrage in that case would be an MMO set after every major Half-Life character is DEAD. Everyone you knew from those games, with the possible exception of HK-47 are DEAD, their stories have long since ENDED.

Neither of the KotOR games necessarily needed a sequel. They had closure, but not in a way that warranted a sequel no matter what. Wanna revisit the ending of the games?

KotOR 1: Star Forge destroyed/kept, heroes celebrated/I'll be evil hurr-durr. End.

KotOR 2: You either become the new Dark Lord, or head out to look for Revan. This isn't necessarily a story that needs to be elaborated upon any further. Millions of stories ends up on such a note. You have closure for your companions, which makes the whole game a sense of curtains dropping as well.

Now technically, you COULD have a KotOR 3, since the world and events can still be fleshed out a lot, but in this regard, I don't mind the idea of turning it into an MMO. The story of the two games is OVER, or rather, ends with the very intro of TOR. I guess these are the "true Sith" Revan went to fight and they arrive, after a huge time gap.

No one's forcing you to play this and if you fear that you will not get the whole story, well, there's a crapload of supplemental material left for you to dive through. Comics, novels, whatever you wish and if you want to see the closure to the actual story of the two games, look up the new book that will finally reveal the end of Revan. That's it. The two games are centered around the actions and the consequences of Revan and as such their story arcs end once he's dead.

It's no more of an outrage that there's no movie of the Thrawn books, actually.

Though I'm a TOR supporter, I need to be fair by stating that the Revan book published does *not* provide any closure as to what happens to Revan and the Exile.

MAJOR SPOILERS as to why this is true:

Spoiler

The book sets up the two characters in such a way that they will appear in TOR, along with HK-47. Basically, the Exile turns into a Force Ghost and Revan gets put in stasis by the Emperor so that he can feed off the Jedi's life force (or something). They appear in flashpoints in TOR. Oh, and Bastila Shan and Revan's descendent, Satele, shows up in TOR.

Despite Bioware's general awesomeness regarding story, this is one of their stupidest moves yet. Imo they should have stayed away from relying on Revan and focused on delivering an original story with brand new characters.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

Wow, I'm quite surprised at the number of negative responses, I'd have thought more people would get on the whole "wowkiller/starwars" bandwagon.... or you know, play it because it's good or something

I do think the Star Wars part of it will win some people over, but most people I know who've played WoW burnt out on it and MMOs in general a few years ago and have no interest in any new ones. Most of my friends who've expressed interest in it are either new to MMOs or haven't played any in a very, very long time (but most of them have discovered during the beta that it runs poorly on their crappy computers).

As for me, I've always passionately hated that particular style of MMO, which has worked out well for me because I also hate paying monthly fees for games. It's a little disappointing to miss out on more (potentially) KotOR-related stuff, as a big fan of the series, but I hate WoW-style MMOs even more than I like KotOR. I'll be on DCUO if anyone needs me, actually having fun, despite SOE's best efforts to screw it up.

 

[AnotherAvatar]

I'm not traditionally a fan of MMO's, but I'm a huge fan of Bioware's single player RPGs, and this game feels like the perfect blend. There is something more addicting about advancing my characters story than leveling my character up and making sure they are equipped with the best shit.

That said, I do wish they wouldn't have left out some MMO bits, like trainers and armor decay. Don't get me wrong, it makes sense, but it also feels like it's just an extra pointless trip. I would like it if at level up we got to pick between a few different epic powers and then trainers could teach us what we pass on along with other skills for a price. That way I wouldn't feel like my leveling depending on running all the way back to a usually tucked away trainer.

Other than that though, it's looking like a brilliant game, an MMO for the single-player RPG crowd, the only thing I might call into question is where they're going to go with end-game content, I'm worried that much like every MMO I'll end up feeling like all my actions are really just small scratches at the surface because you can't end the war as it would leave nothing for new players to do.