What is the problem with Star Wars?

[Sixcess]

I've just started playing Knights of the Old Republic, so I've been thinking about Star Wars, and more specifically about the track record of Star Wars video games. Yes, there have been good ones (I'm told KotOR is very very good) but it occurs to me that there's been an awful lot of mistakes made.

KOTOR 2, so I read, was pushed out unfinished; KOTOR 3 was cancelled; The Force Unleashed ramped up the power of the Force to ridiculous levels in the name of God of War style spectacle; TFU II got terrible reviews and had an awful, half done story that feels like about 1/3 of the game was missing (like most of what was seen in the teaser trailers); and I read somewhere that the third TFU has been cancelled.

Then of course there's Star Wars Galaxies, which will forever stand as a monument to how not to handle gameplay changes in an MMO.

It's tempting, particularly in the light of the prequel trilogy, to blame it all on George Lucas, but I'm not familiar enough with the ins and outs of development of the games I've mentioned to know if it's LucasArts meddling or that they just have terrible luck with who they licence the franchise out to.

So, my question is - why does Star Wars keep screwing up, and in the light of EA stating that they want 10 years plus out of SWTOR, should they be worried that LucasArts will interfere and disaster will come crashing down on a Star Wars MMO for a second time?

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

George Lucas himself i reserve my blame for fucking up the Star Wars movies..as for the games that bear the name it's both blamed at Lucas for whoring out his franchise and the various dev teams that make the games with the exception of Bioware and KOTOR.

 

[Anarchemitis]

I think Mr Lucas realizes that no matter how much he tries to destroy the original product people will still eat it up. At this point the dude is so rich it really doesn't matter how hard they flop because I'm sure he's still pocketing a good amount of cash. I have never played a star wars game past the demo or just tooling around with it over a friends house. I like the first 3 and revenge of the sith but I'm not heads over tails about it.

I beleive the fact of the matter is not that Lucas ever intended on staying as a story teller once the numbers corrupted him beyond the first movie; ever since, he was and is a Buisnessman first, and story teller second.

You may want to notice that Episode V and VI were not directed by him.

 

[Daffy F]

The Star Wars Battlefront series was quite enjoyable I thought... Maybe others don't agree, but Battlefront II was quite replayable.

 

[Nimcha]

Because people expect too much.

And they hate George Lucas.

 

[MrhalfAwake]

And they hate George Lucas.

Only because he's mad man so blinded by power and greed that he threatens to destroy the very universe he himself created

 

[scyrin]

The Star Wars Battlefront series was quite enjoyable I thought... Maybe others don't agree, but Battlefront II was quite replayable.

god don't remind me, i can't even remeber how many hours i've clocked on that game

 

[Valkyrie101]

The Star Wars Battlefront series was quite enjoyable I thought... Maybe others don't agree, but Battlefront II was quite replayable.

Really? I've never heard anything but fawning praise for it. And rightly so.

 

[Matrixbeast]

The Star Wars Battlefront series was quite enjoyable I thought... Maybe others don't agree, but Battlefront II was quite replayable.

god don't remind me, i can't even remeber how many hours i've clocked on that game

I almost forgot about the Battlefront games. II was enjoyable.

 

[Stryc9]

Dark Forces, Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy were all good games too, and from what I've heard the X-Wing and TIE Fighter games were all quite well done.

 

[KSarty]

KOTOR 3 was never being made, it was Battlefront 3 that was cancelled. Even then it might live, I'm not sure what is going on with it.

As for Star Wars games in general, I'll gladly wade through the crap if it means that we get some gems once in a while. The TIE Fighter/X-Wing series were stellar, the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series was great, Battlefront series was good, KOTOR series was great, and I personally love Empire at War. Force Unleashed was ambitious but ultimately failed due to it's repetitiveness, and FU2 did little to fix that problem.

 

[Ascarus]

Because people expect too much.

And they hate George Lucas.

I would agree to an extent that people do expect too much -- I am one of those people. People who grew up with the series (like myself) have try to remember that the magic and wonder you felt as a kid is hard to recapture when you have lived and breathed the Star Wars universe for you entire life and have strongly preformed expectations and standards.

that being said, i also have to wonder what lucas was thinking sometimes when among the first lines you here vader say as a kid is an ear splitting YIPPEEE!! and he follows it up with scenes where vader is rolling around in the grass. it makes you wonder if he actually knows the characters half as well as many of his fans.

bottom line: he developed a fetishistic devotion to technology that obliterates any concern for character, plot or story. james cameron fell victim to that as well with avatar, another film that was a technological phenomenon, on top of an absolutely atrocious movie.

 

[Nimcha]

Because people expect too much.

And they hate George Lucas.

I would agree to an extent that people do expect too much -- I am one of those people. People who grew up with the series (like myself) have try to remember that the magic and wonder you felt as a kid is hard to recapture when you have lived and breathed the Star Wars universe for you entire life and have strongly preformed expectations and standards.

Yeah, I get that. I saw Episode One when I was a 12 years old and absolutely loved it. I still do. What I don't get is why all the hate for the prequels, mainly from people who grew up with the old movies. I love all of the movies, and the contrast between the original trilogy and the new one.

I guess what I'm saying is Star Wars is spread across different generations and they all have different viewpoints.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

People really do expect too much out of the series, I think. They have it in their head that every piece of Star Wars media has to meet or exceed the first 3 movies, or their favorite piece of the EU, or whatever other invisible expectation they set for themselves. Also, people tend to get blinded by reviews, sales figures, or their own personal distaste for George Lucas and just assume every game is bad unless proven otherwise.

Take TFU, for example. Despite somewhat lukewarm reviews, the game sold very well and I personally consider it to be one of the better Star Wars games, despite the meh storyline. TFU2 is simply more of the same, but since it didn't meet this magical expectation that people had for it, its considered terrible despite not really being all that much different than the original.

Basically, its not the games that fail or that the setting is bad, its simply that its so popular. Think of Star Trek. There hasn't been a good Star Trek game made in years, possibly decades, but it doesn't get nearly as much heat as Star Wars, which honestly gets a good game every few years (a fact which many people seem to overlook). But since Star Trek's popularity has waned considerably since its golden days, many people simply don't care and are willing to overlook its faults. Lower expectations, in other words, despite having a MUCH worse track record than Star Wars.

Its also a matter of genre permeation. Name nearly any video game genre, and there is a probably a Star Wars game in it. And many of the less-popular genre games are really good, such as the X-Wing/TIE Fighter flight sims and the podracing game. They've had successful forays into FPS with the Clone Trooper and Dark Forces games, RPGs with KOTOR, and more action/adventure games than you can shake a lightsaber at. I can probably name 10 super successful Star Wars games right off the top of my head, and more if given time to think about it. How many other franchises can you think of that can do the same?

But Star Wars fans are notoriously hard to please, and quick to attack and demonize, loudly, anything that doesn't meet their expectations. Heck, many of them are probably just complaining for the sake of complaining, angry at the series as a whole for not rigidly following whatever path they had in mind and cursing Lucas for trying to make his franchise successful, rather than pandering to his increasing obtuse fanbase.

 

[LogicNProportion]

The Star Wars Battlefront series was quite enjoyable I thought... Maybe others don't agree, but Battlefront II was quite replayable.

Agreed, as was Bounty Hunter.

SWG is still my favorite MMO.

I think the problem is that we have Jedi spam lately. The best Star Wars games tend to have less Jedi...go figure.

 

[LordXel]

What is wrong with Star Wars? A lot. The original movies were great, to me the prequels were hit and miss but I like them. Aside from the six movies, the original Knights of the Old Republic, Republic Commando and the orginal Battlefront, Star Wars has become rubbish to me.

I blame everything on the expanded universe. The worst thing about the expanded universe is any story that takes place after Episode 6. The death of Chewbacca, the shame of Boba Fett falling into the Sarlacc two more times, a second galactic civil war, but worst of all, the return of the sith.
In the prequels Anakin was meant to be the chosen one who would destroy the sith completely. Think about it, Palpatine came back three times from the dead, the child of Han and Leia became a sith and Jedi A'Sharad Hett who fought in the clone wars became Darth Krayt and created the order of the one sith a hundred years after episode 6. Now, with the sith alive and well, doesn't that mean that Anakin died in vain? Doesn't that mean he was not the chosen one and balance can't be brought to the force? Doesn't that make the six movies utterly pointless then?!

What happened? What happened to telling a good story? What happened to the magic of Star Wars?

Star Wars needs to end and exist only as memories.

 

[Icarion (aka Stockholm)]

The Star Wars Battlefront series was quite enjoyable I thought... Maybe others don't agree, but Battlefront II was quite replayable.

I agree. I logged quite a few hours in that game And good for the OP KOTOR was awesome. KOTOR two wasn't bad, nor was it stellar.
OT:I blame both Lucas and the developers and publishers for the royal screwing the Franchise has recieved

 

[Terminal Blue]

I disagree that KOTOR 2 wasn't great. It developed an awful lot of the concepts of the first game, had an interesting storyline and universally great characters.

The one consistent criticism is that it has a story which is quite hard to understand, and which seems to start and end quite abruptly, but in terms of the ideas covered within that story it's incredibly developed. The anti-climatic ending really wasn't so bad when you dig into it..

Spoiler

Think about it, you save the force itself from being destroyed and uncover the machinations of the actual Sith Empire who were clearly meant to be the big bad of the entire series.

But really, go back and play KOTOR 2's middle sections. It's bigger, deeper and more polished than the original in almost every way. All it really needed was a third game to tie up the loose ends.