Trailers: Star Wars: The Old Republic: Return

[Darkstrike_11]

Hahaha, I love the inherent difference in all the Old Republic videos I have seen.

All cinematics: Absolutely fucking brilliant, completely cinematic and awesome.
All gameplay videos: Classic boring MMO click on someone until they are dead gameplay.

When you factor in the really stupid "whoever you play with can make the plot decisions for you" mechanic, this game really won't be good at all.

A MMO like this suffers from a simple flaw: The fun of being a jedi is that you are awesome. You are a powerful lightsaber weilding asskicker. However, in an MMO, EVERYONE is a jedi (/sith) so I'm struggling to see how it will be quite as fun as everyone says.

Of course, my expected problems with the game won't stop these cinematics from being absolutely.fucking.brilliant!!!

(just don't expect the game to live up to them

 

[Latinidiot]

'I feel a great darkness'

Now that had me giggling.

Also, doesn't anyone think that this studio should make a movie? Like, an animated star wars movie?

 

[Scarim Coral]

Did anyone notice that the smuggler sound like Bender aka the voice actor John DiMaggio? The trailer is awesome as always although I'm not fully convince to buy the game just yet.

 

[Vrach]

Jedi have really gotten to the point where they ruin the "feel" of Star Wars. This trailer had me smiling in a few spots, but hardly ever when the Jedi were on screen. It can't even be thrown off as stupid lightsaber fights. The "I sense something" bullshit. Needlessly throwing your life away. A Sith killing his master just because. It doesn't feel like Star Wars and, even if it did, it's been overdone and I'm tired of it.

A freaking cowboy felt more Star Warsy than Jedi in this video (for me, at least). That's terribly sad.

2 Siths, no way the ship could have gotten away unless someone distracted them. The Jedi Master was the only one strong enough to make sure the rest got away.

The Sith Master was stabbed in the stomach. He was dieing, and even if he lived he would have been extremely weak. The apprentice's training would have stuttered without the masters strength, the master living would have made the Empire weak, and would deny the Emperor a powerful sith. From what I saw, it wasn't "just because".

To quote House:
"Thank you Rationalization Man! You have saved the village!"
Sorry, was super appropriate, I only wish there was a YouTube vid of that quote

All gameplay videos: Classic boring MMO click on someone until they are dead gameplay.

I don't get this argument. You don't click, you simply control a character via hotkeys. And frankly compared to all the bullshit broken combat systems we have seen in so called action games, hotkey controls are just fine. Besides, how come everyone sucks Blizzard's Johnson over the clickfest that is the Diablo franchise but whenever they see an MMO, those same people yell "omg, click until they die, boringz"?

When you factor in the really stupid "whoever you play with can make the plot decisions for you" mechanic, this game really won't be good at all.

Except for the fact that only functions in Flashpoints (instances/dungeons if you prefer) and it just adds another layer of fun. Those plot points don't have a huge impact on your storyline, you can do them over if you feel like it (who ever heard of running an instance once in your entire playthrough in an MMO?) and that's as much a curse as it is a blessing as it just makes the story more dynamic. Why wouldn't you want to not be the centre of the universe 100% of the time?

You are describing exactly what is wrong with this whole affair. It's poor story telling to assume that audience knows why things are going on. It appears to be "just because", but for you and I, it wasn't. When the apprentice is strong enough, it's the Sith way to strike down the master. No one should have to read extensive novels or source books to know this stuff if they don't want to. And a story or scene should never hinge on people having read said material.

You don't need to read extensive material to know some basics about the Star Wars universe, especially if this game even remotely interests you. Even if you don't, the game will be happy to explain them to you, these are just the trailers. You're just looking for excuses to hide your poor argument behind.

 

[Bat Vader]

'I feel a great darkness'

Now that had me giggling.

Also, doesn't anyone think that this studio should make a movie? Like, an animated star wars movie?

They are kind of like a film. Each trailer has been a prequel to the one released before. If they are viewed from newest to oldest they kind of make a short stars wars film.

I agree with you that it would be awesome to see the studio that made these trailers make a CGI star wars film.

 

[InevitableFate]

To all those asking for combat videos, there's an entire playthrough of part of one flashpoint quest on the TOR website.

I can't think of any way to cram in more combat than that.

 

[spacewalker]

they make nice movies, i really hope the clean up the gameplay animations they have been showing us.

 

[bliebblob]

Same; there are some combat videos but none that allow a good enough view to decide if the combat is fast or sluggish, if the controls are instant or delayed, and if its shit or good.

Exactly. I find "feel" to be a big part of combat, especially in MMOs where so many lack a good "feel" to them. Responses are slow, or poorly integrated, often making you feel like you're watching a character fight rather than controlling one in a fight.

That's not always transferable from a video alone, but to get any kind of notion of how a MMO is going to play we need to see some long, solid videos of a character fighting and interacting. Short little snippets of a second or two strung together just do not cut it in any way.

Exactly; can't say for sure "Oh that's good stuff" but it can give you a basic understanding of how it might be. Like watching a video of WAR or LoTRO the combat looks a bit faster than it is.

http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/taral-v-developer-walkthrough
here you go, the (as far as I know) only official gameplay footage to date. The best testdrive you will get besides being in beta.

And yes, it's pretty much just wow. Animations seem to be a little better though (naturally moving capes etc.) Shame about the usual awkward bioware movements, especially by the ghost.

What really worries me here though is that you will probably do these instances again and again. So do you do the conversation again and again too? If you do your choices in the conversation become pretty pointless.
Also bioware is really proud about how lightsabers actually connect during fights, instead of just swinging near or through the other guy like is customary in mmo's. But looking at the monsters attacks shown here it looks like it's just lightsabers that do this.

 

[Jumwa]

Well there was this whole video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvVxIVs8Ntc#t=05m10s. Maybe not the most visually impressive combat yet, but I mean... there it is. I like everything for the most part, but if it's not quite doing it for ya, I'm not sure what more you're expecting to see.

For what it's worth, most player feedback from events like PAX East have said the combat "feels" really good, better than you'd think from just watching it, but I'm hoping to find out for myself tomorrow!

I'd never seen this before, thanks. Watching the clicking of the ability buttons and then the actions from it, it often seems a bit delayed. But it's hard to tell, might just be certain abilities.

One thing that always bugs me is hearing people talk about highly popular game mechanics as if they're new, in this case hearing the guy talk about painfully WoW-like boss and group mechanics. I know not everyone is aware of exactly how such MMOs work so they probably feel a need to explain, but it's just irksome.

 

[Deus mortuus est]

That was cool. If the game looked like this I'd buy it.

 

[Dastardly]

Yeah I got to agree with you there, its incredibly sad that the addition of a freaking cowboy was the only thing that made this video distinguishable from the prequel trilogy. The clone troopers really threw me for a loop, I mean in KOTOR and its sequel there were no clone troopers. The sith troops had their silver armor and the republic troops had the Orange/Yellow uniforms with helmet. They already had everything they needed, it's not like they had to worry about the cost of designing new uniforms, all they had to do was put them in the CGI.

But no, clone troops it is.

In these instances, I usually put the blame on LucasArts, and their overly-rigorous and counterproductive branding regimen. It's exactly what ruined Star Wars Galaxies--dropping everything good about the game in order to make it more "iconic" and "Star Wars" (those were the terms thrown around like confetti). Also, to push more lightsabers.

In reading a recent novel, Death Troopers, I ran into another instance of this problem:

Spoiler

The book was going so well. It was interesting--a zombie-infested prison ship and Star Destroyer out in the middle of nowhere, set before the original trilogy. And then, right in the middle of the action? Han Solo and Chewbacca. I'm not kidding. They just happened to be on this prison ship.

The galaxy just seems so much smaller when, everywhere you go, you keep running into the same nine things.

 

[Baresark]

You don't need to read extensive material to know some basics about the Star Wars universe, especially if this game even remotely interests you. Even if you don't, the game will be happy to explain them to you, these are just the trailers. You're just looking for excuses to hide your poor argument behind.

I was only explaining the situation. My argument is actually right on par if you have ever written anything. It's basic fiction writing 101 that I just explained. You are correct, they are just trailers, but the person who said it just looked like him cutting down his master for no good reason is not in the wrong. To the layman, that is all it will look like. The trailer would have been just as effective if they had not put that part in there.

Also, your argument is much worse than mine. The game that no one has played will explain it later. Or, perhaps you are saying the poster should read more about the Sith mechanic. Either way, don't try to say my argument is poor just because you already know the basics. This is the the difference between a good writer and someone who writes fan fiction. They are independent from one another, but fan fiction only appeals to fans, and a good writer can make anything appeal to just about anyone.

 

[Saltyk]

You don't need to read extensive material to know some basics about the Star Wars universe, especially if this game even remotely interests you. Even if you don't, the game will be happy to explain them to you, these are just the trailers. You're just looking for excuses to hide your poor argument behind.

I was only explaining the situation. My argument is actually right on par if you have ever written anything. It's basic fiction writing 101 that I just explained. You are correct, they are just trailers, but the person who said it just looked like him cutting down his master for no good reason is not in the wrong. To the layman, that is all it will look like. The trailer would have been just as effective if they had not put that part in there.

Also, your argument is much worse than mine. The game that no one has played will explain it later. Or, perhaps you are saying the poster should read more about the Sith mechanic. Either way, don't try to say my argument is poor just because you already know the basics. This is the the difference between a good writer and someone who writes fan fiction. They are independent from one another, but fan fiction only appeals to fans, and a good writer can make anything appeal to just about anyone.

So should a trailer for a game have a 3 page background crawl before the trailer? One that explains that you are watching a Star Wars game trailer and THIS is the background? Being a Star Wars cinematic, they could probably do the classic Star Wars crawl and get away with it. Or they could just show a whole trailer and assume that if you're watching it, you have at least heard of Star Wars. Sorry, but your argument is terribly flawed. And frankly, your bias is showing.

And why would they leave the part of the Sith killing his master out? If the person viewing this trailer knows anything about Star Wars and the Sith, they would call BS on that. That's just part of the Sith culture. They kill the weak or pathetic. And an apprentice is almost always looking to surpass his master. Read/watch some of the game's background information on the site. A recent background story explains how the Sith Empire almost conquered the Republic, but failed largely due to the Sith Emperor's apprentice trying to kill him during a huge battle. At the very least, it shows the layman that the Sith are the "evil" ones.

Personally, I'm convinced that no matter what was in this trailer, you'd complain. If they supplied us with background information, you'd say there was no need for it, and it was boring. If the Sith didn't kill the wounded master, you'd say they don't understand how the Sith actually operate. The truth is, this was an awesome video. The Jedi Master kicked ass. The "space cowboy" (smuggler) kicked ass. And the Sith kicked ass.

 

[vivster]

as someone who fell asleep with mass effect and who enjoyed dragon age 2 i'm cautiously optimistic
the trailer showed a lot of light saber action so i'm in good hope that it won't be a shooter fest like "sleep effect"

 

[Vrach]

You don't need to read extensive material to know some basics about the Star Wars universe, especially if this game even remotely interests you. Even if you don't, the game will be happy to explain them to you, these are just the trailers. You're just looking for excuses to hide your poor argument behind.

I was only explaining the situation. My argument is actually right on par if you have ever written anything. It's basic fiction writing 101 that I just explained. You are correct, they are just trailers, but the person who said it just looked like him cutting down his master for no good reason is not in the wrong. To the layman, that is all it will look like. The trailer would have been just as effective if they had not put that part in there.

Also, your argument is much worse than mine. The game that no one has played will explain it later. Or, perhaps you are saying the poster should read more about the Sith mechanic. Either way, don't try to say my argument is poor just because you already know the basics. This is the the difference between a good writer and someone who writes fan fiction. They are independent from one another, but fan fiction only appeals to fans, and a good writer can make anything appeal to just about anyone.

He tells him "you've failed Master" before he cuts him down. With him being previously stabbed, you don't need to know anything about the Sith Empire and how it works to learn at that very point "ok - these guys don't tolerate failure". When Darth Vader started choking people left and right every time they failed him, no one demanded an explanation as none was needed. Same goes here. It doesn't need any previous storytelling to make someone understand that and if you don't, it's your own shortcoming, not the trailer's.

Besides, a trailer can leave a lot to the imagination. Even if it was unclear as to why he cuts him down, that should incite a potential player to think "hmm, why just kill him like that? I should look into this". And then you find it the rest in the game. This trailer is not the story. It's a teaser to the story. The same way an excerpt from the book can be found on the back outside it's context, the same way a trailer works for the game. It's there to whet your appetite and lure you into the game so you can find out more. It doesn't need to explain everything that's happening from it's start to it's end, it needs to incite you to look further into it.

Oh and fan fiction isn't the only thing made for fans alone. Fan fiction is fiction written by fans, not for fans. A lot of fiction is written for fans alone and it's good fiction. Not everything needs to appeal to everyone. That's not universally good storytelling.

 

[teebeeohh]

this trailer is awesome.
But why do i get the feeling that it's not made to pull people new to star wars but appeal to hardcore fans?
or maybe i just will never get used to the fact that star wars technology and design seems to have plateaued sometime prior to KOTOR.

and why do we need to 1-up lightsaber fighting? i was game with using two lightsabers and a staff but why would the master be proficient in this weird ass fighting style without slicing himself in half. AND will we see darth maligus as a baby next time? he seems to be getting younger from trailer to trailer.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

I really wish this was just going to be the KOTOR 2 that should of been and not an MMO.

 

[Geamo]

I honestly don't care about the game anymore, these trailers are superb in thier own right.

 

[A Curious Fellow]

Ew. Is it simply no longer possible to write Jedi dialogue that isn't low caliber generic bullshit? My 10 year old brother could do better than that.

"I sense a great darkness" Yawn.

"You must walk a different path" I actually laughed.

Trying too fucking hard. Yoda and Obi-Wan weren't cryptic and mystical for its own sake. It fucking meant something. Where's the guy who wrote Kreia's dialogue? Did they fire him or something?

I'm not into this game for lightsaber porn. Save it. Gimme some substance.

 

[370999]

Pretty but largely irrelevant. Of course leaving alone the problem of it basiclly being the prequels