TOR Press Embargo Lifted -- Consesus is an Overwhelming MEH

[intheweeds]

The closest thing you could find to a good review was IGN? What about this one?

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/starwarsknightsoftor/review.html

I've heard a lot about it from a friend in the beta. It seems to have taken some of the good aspects of WoW (like badge earning) and fixed some of the issues (like finding a party at any time of day/night). I personally reserve judgement until I can play it myself.

Lots of people didn't like Singularity or Metro 2033 either and I liked them both.

 

[Simon Pettersson]

As expected from those who predict the second coming of MMO's.

But mark my words, TOR will be a slow-burner... and it will be successful, of that I have no doubt.


And I'm one of those that has been waiting for 6 years... and I know it's going to keep me hooked for a decent length of time.

This.
I usually don´t last long in MMOs because of the grinding and lack of story. But I have waited a long time for a new Old republic game and I will at least give it a try. And if this game is bad I will just have to switch to a another single player game, and hope for a Single player sequel to KOTOR 1&2.

The closest thing you could find to a good review was IGN? What about this one?

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/starwarsknightsoftor/review.html

I've heard a lot about it from a friend in the beta. It seems to have taken some of the good aspects of WoW (like badge earning) and fixed some of the issues (like finding a party at any time of day/night). I personally reserve judgement until I can play it myself.

Lots of people didn't like Singularity or Metro 2033 either and I liked them both.

Ehm looks like a review of KOTOR?

 

[ThaBenMan]

The closest thing you could find to a good review was IGN? What about this one?

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/starwarsknightsoftor/review.html

Uh, that's for KOTOR, the single player RPG that came out years ago.

I'm still excited - I love Star Wars, I love BioWare, and ever since quitting WoW earlier this year, I admit I have had an itch to play again from time to time. So even if TOR is similar, I think it'll be great.

 

[Irridium]

Sure the combat's pretty bleh, but that can be said with ANY hot-key MMO.

Why are they all like this?

Does anyone find nursing cooldowns to be fun? ANYONE? Serious question.

Latency reasons. You know how in a fast-paced game connection is everything? Well when you bring it down to the cooldown system, it's more friendly to people with slower connections. And with an MMO that takes SHITLOADS of money to make, you want to make it friendly to everyone you possibly can.

 

[Woodsey]

The majority of previews I've read have been positive. Now our statements are equally pointless.

 

[Sixcess]

I hate to say it but... good.

I've been following TOR's development for the last couple of years through more dedicated MMO news sites, and in that time I've went from being intrigued to impressed to apathetic and now outright hostile - mainly due to fans, and EA/Bioware's own marketing being insufferably smug and arrogant.

They had a great opportunity to do something new. They had a big name IP, lots of talent and lots of money. Instead they made a themepark with singleplayer rpg elements awkwardly forced in.

I can't work out if they're actively trying to redefine what MMOs are, or if they just do not understand what MMOs are. If it's the former then they will fail and if it's the latter then they deserve to fail.

Oh it'll still sell well to begin with, but in a year's time it's not going to look good.

 

[CJ1145]

I would've put money on this being the outcome. Aside from people always expecting a new release of an MMO to be as polished as something that's had the benefit of seven years of patches like WoW, MMO's are something of a gimmick.

I would agree with you if it weren't people in the MMO PRESS are saying this about TOR. You know, people whose sole job is to report on news IN THE MMO GENRE. These aren't just random assholes picked up off the street, but people whose passion and livelihood are MMOs.

It's not looking good for TOR.

The MMO press is... who, exactly? People who work at gaming sites. It's Gamespot's job to review games, does that make them respected? Fuck no, they're unreliable as shit. Same goes for IGN, and all the other big review sites and magazines. Anyone who really gives a damn about MMOs is going to do two things:

1. They are going to wait for the consumers' response. You are almost guaranteed to agree more with a guy who plays MMOs because he likes them than a guy who plays MMOs because he is paid to.

2. They will try it themselves. The press is useless determining whether you, personally, will enjoy a game. I, for one, will actually try it before I decide to go off on the internet and practice my doomsday preacher routine.

Yes, because games like Guild Wars 2 and to much lesser extents, games like Tera, Secret Worlds, Blades and Souls don't stand to do something totally different and new in MMOs. Nope. It's nothing but a genre of regurgitated shit.

I'm going to be honest, my opinion of you dropped like a balloon suddenly filled with rocks here. I have seen Guild Wars 2, and anyone who says it's anything but a generic MMO with some distracting shiny paint is living in denial. And the story and interaction within it is an absolute joke.

 

[Zhukov]

Care to provide some links? I'd be interested in reading these previews.

Everything I've seen so far has been mildly positive. Not gushing with praise, but far from what you describe.

EDIT: Also, I get the distinct impression that the OP has an axe to grind.

 

[Jeralt2100]

Having been in 2 beta weekends over the past 2 months, I totally disagree that TOR is a 'meh' experience. In fact it's the most fun I've had with an MMO in a long time. It is a little more casual than something like WoW, but having spent 2 3-day weekends leveling alts in as many classes as I could, I found the stories to be for the most part, good to very good and the gameplay is what you'd expect from an MMO. Is it revolutionary? No, but to me it didn't feel like the grind-fest that most MMOs do. Make no mistake, you are still grinding, to me it just didn't feel as though I was.

I could say a lot of good things about it, and even point out some things I didn't like, but honestly most folks have already decided whether they're buying this game or whether they aren't and unless you know me personally and trust my opinion, what I say isn't going to amount to anything for you. I'll say that after being in the beta twice, my decision to pre-order the game was only reinforced by the experience.

 

[Robert Ewing]

Hmmm, I think it's going to be a slow burner actually. It'll be popular on release, don't get me wrong. But I doubt the popularity will explode like WoW's.

It will increase and decrease, but never expand to the extent of WoW's. That's my prediction anyway.

 

[Nimcha]

I don't think anyone who has followed the development of this game is surprised at this outcome. And I'm actually looking forward even more to this game, because I used to love WoW before its community took all the fun out of it.

I don't even want this game to go and destroy WoW, I'd be more than happy if the game got just a little niche of its own, with enough people to make it succesful but not so many that there is no sense of community at all anymore (á la WoW).

 

[Tohuvabohu]

I wanna see links too.

I'm going to be honest, my opinion of you dropped like a balloon suddenly filled with rocks here. I have seen Guild Wars 2, and anyone who says it's anything but a generic MMO with some distracting shiny paint is living in denial. And the story and interaction within it is an absolute joke.

Honestly. I see it the exact same way. I've seen plenty from GW2. It looks good, it really does. But different from any other generic MMO? Nope, not at all. For all the knee-jerk reactions I hear against TOR, most of them immediately compare it to GW2. It's fine that people are excited over GW2, looks like it will be fun. But I do not see how it's significantly different from any other generic MMO.

 

[Dejanus]

So the TOR press embargo got lifted, meaning that sites are able to review and discuss the game.

So far, there hasn't been much positive said about the game. The closest there's been to something nice was from IGN, and they basically said that it's "solid" but incredibly safe (which basically translates to "WoW with lightsabers"). Other sites have said that the single player story elements and MMO elements all clash, fuck up the immersion something fierce, and just feels awkward. Worse yet, I've read one or two impressions that have called the story elements outright unnecessary and distracting.

So, TOR is basically going to be a dud. It will probably keep the really desperate and really naive happy for a few months, but most have been saying there isn't much there. I feel bad for all the people who have been following this game for the last 5 years... must be hard to see all these mediocre and unimpressed reviews of the game.

Funny, the five or so previews I read were all varying shades of positive. Sure you are not just reading what you want to read, friend?

 

[sir.rutthed]

You know, I actually did take the time to read some of these press previews. That's not the impression I got.

The impression I got was "It's a WoW clone. But it's the best damn WoW clone you'll ever play and if you loved KoTOR, you'll love this too."

That's pretty much what I got. I think the OP was going mostly on the IGN opinion, and we all know how reliable IGN is. I've said it before and I'll say it again: If Bioware can mix their storytelling skill with Blizzard style/quality mechanics that would be a fantastic game and I'd play the shit out of it. Looks like I won't be disappointed.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Yes, because games like Guild Wars 2 and to much lesser extents, games like Tera, Secret Worlds, Blades and Souls don't stand to do something totally different and new in MMOs. Nope. It's nothing but a genre of regurgitated shit.

See you're over reacting, I didn't say shit, just said middle of the road, average, 5/10, nothing to write home about, alot of games do it better, ...

The best one is still Guild Wars 1, because they let you play locally and with it you get the precision game aspects that you need, none of the persistent connection options can ever match that so they just average everything out into a big fluffy cloud of soulless grind.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

You know, I actually did take the time to read some of these press previews. That's not the impression I got.

The impression I got was "It's a WoW clone. But it's the best damn WoW clone you'll ever play and if you loved KoTOR, you'll love this too."

That's pretty much what I got. I think the OP was going mostly on the IGN opinion, and we all know how reliable IGN is. I've said it before and I'll say it again: If Bioware can mix their storytelling skill with Blizzard style/quality mechanics that would be a fantastic game and I'd play the shit out of it. Looks like I won't be disappointed.

Indeed, that's what I have read into this so far as well. Bioware may have never been in the business of MMO's before, but from the looks of things so far, I have come to believe they are doing the very best they can at learning how to play the field. And if the story portion of the game ends up being anywhere near as great and immersive as the original KotOR (KotOR 2 not so much, as that one is a purposeful deconstruction, not an emphasis on the Jedi/Sith War), then I am going to enjoy it the very same.

The OP sounds like someone who was geared to despise the game from the start, on sole basis that it was an MMO..

 

[Alrocsmash]

One other thing I have not seen discussed, is the pvp.

I was a duelist, and arena master in WoW on two different characters. Highest around 2380. I LOVE killing kids in pvp. I like the fact that pvp tanks have a place. I like the fact every god damn class does NOT have a ranged stun/immo. Who cares about the story? Realy, it's all the same to me. I want a good pvp game with a quality set of mechanics. I watched a 14 minute video of one of the trooper classes completely stomping kids. I saw low CC, even less ranged CC, quality kiting, and looked like great fun. Im already sold.

 

[Stall]

The OP sounds like someone who was geared to despise the game from the start, on sole basis that it was an MMO..

My profile:
Interests: Statistics, Mathematics, MMOs
Interests: MMOs

Yes. I hate the game on the sole purpose of it being an MMO. Makes perfect sense really.

There are more than enough sites besides IGN that gave it bad press. I guess you can just pretend there are a lot of positive ones to keep up your denial that the game is a dud, but whatever.

Anyways, like I said, it has all been mediocre. The parts about the story clashing with the actual game were from Massively, and I cannot recall who said that the story and MMO combination was really distracting for your immersion. But it made sense. Basically, the reviewer was explaining about how jarring it is to be surrounded by tons of "heroes" before a cut scene, have them all vanish during the actual cut scene, and magically reappear. The game, frankly put, isn't going to satisfy people who want a single player RPG, and won't satisfy people who want an MMO, which is something I've been saying about TOR since more details came out on it.

The game has been hyped for the last 5 years, so I expect that a lot of the criticisms it is getting is going to be totally ignored by the consumers, because they desperately want the game to be good. I suppose the denial will slowly start to chip away once the game actually comes out, and people realize that it isn't good.

 

[Monsterfurby]

As soon as a game manages to procedurally build quests to develop around your character, it will achieve what TOR promised. Until then, I'm afraid we'll have to live with WoW clones.