I played SWG for quite a while and was fortunate enough to be in beta for a year or so. I left before JTL hit because of the holocron/jedi grind.
I really think old SWG vet's vision is skewed when we look back at the game. Call it a sandbox, call it whatever. Instead of getting quests from an NPC, you got missions from a kiosk. The skill based system seemed awesome and different but it was just a leveling mechanism in disguise. Everyone just played the same 'class' and everyone had access to the same skill trees. You grind, you quest/mission, you kill and get experience. You put points in your little skill boxes and go to the next box. How is this really any different than leveling up, and putting points in a skill tree? You had your little 'theme park' areas: Jabba's Palace, Emporer's Retreat, etc. And you had places people sat and camped mobs.
The amount of skills available WAS extremely impressive (even though many <cough>squad leader</cough> never did function correctly). The creature taming was incredibly fun and the crafting was unmatched (Horizons doesn't even come close). The user created cities and the politics that went with them were nice. But at this point we don't know anything about most of TOR's features. We just have a pretty small FAQ and a few screen prints.
In my way of looking at it, all of these games offer equal opportunity to do whatever you want to do. You just have to do it. I am eagerly awaiting this game. I loved the KOTOR and most of Bioware's titles. I do think it will have a much different feeling than old SWG and I feel bad for those who want nothing more than to get that feeling back. I like the graphics direction and hope to see it polished up a bit.
As someone who played SWG until the NGE, I'm deeply dissapointed, though not surprised by any means, by the direction Bioware seems to be taking this game. To me, it looks like a single player MMO with a few instances that will require grouping with other people. Thus I have to ask: "Should we really consider this game an MMO?" I'm pretty cynical anymore when it comes to MMOs, particularly since I seem to be one of the few people who can recognize the rehashing of the same concept with a different skin that has repeatedly dogged the MMO experience for me. So it looks to me like Bioware is just trying to cash in on the whole MMORPG market using their previous successes as a foundation. It's like someone suggested one day: "Lets make our next KOTOR game an MMORPG so we have a continuous flow of cash" When I look at SWTOR's website, I see no mention of guild content, PVP, player cities, or anything that should drive people to play an MMO. Why, after all, should someone pay a monthly fee to play what is basically a single player game? I must confess that I didn't like any of the KOTOR games because to me, the time spent on developing a character and taking them through the game world amounted to nothing because all the time you put into the character ultimately meant nothing. The advent of the MMO allows people to continuously develop their character, and lets be honest, show off our achievements. Most important is the comradery and competition between guilds. How many stories and experiences do we best recall from our MMOs that stem only from single player content? Probably not too many. As an SWG vet, I'm not going to hold my breath on this one. I'm done with the cookie cutter hand holding that companies are using to attract their market. I don't want someone to tell me a story, I want to tell other people MY story.
As someone who played SWG until the NGE, I'm deeply dissapointed, though not surprised by any means, by the direction Bioware seems to be taking this game. To me, it looks like a single player MMO with a few instances that will require grouping with other people. Thus I have to ask:
I don't want someone to tell me a story, I want to tell other people MY story.
What is wrong with that? It would be good entertainment. I don't want to entertain other people, i want to be entertained.
And bioware is going in the RIGHT direction. It is an innovation (a story-centric MMO) which is never been done before.
Sure, you don't like it .. but i predict many will. In fact, just look at how popular bioware's games are. I think KOTOR, Jade Empire & Mass Effects are some of the BEST RPG. Sure, this new game may not fit the traditional MMO mold, but if it is a good game, who cares?
Comments
I played SWG for quite a while and was fortunate enough to be in beta for a year or so. I left before JTL hit because of the holocron/jedi grind.
I really think old SWG vet's vision is skewed when we look back at the game. Call it a sandbox, call it whatever. Instead of getting quests from an NPC, you got missions from a kiosk. The skill based system seemed awesome and different but it was just a leveling mechanism in disguise. Everyone just played the same 'class' and everyone had access to the same skill trees. You grind, you quest/mission, you kill and get experience. You put points in your little skill boxes and go to the next box. How is this really any different than leveling up, and putting points in a skill tree? You had your little 'theme park' areas: Jabba's Palace, Emporer's Retreat, etc. And you had places people sat and camped mobs.
The amount of skills available WAS extremely impressive (even though many <cough>squad leader</cough> never did function correctly). The creature taming was incredibly fun and the crafting was unmatched (Horizons doesn't even come close). The user created cities and the politics that went with them were nice. But at this point we don't know anything about most of TOR's features. We just have a pretty small FAQ and a few screen prints.
In my way of looking at it, all of these games offer equal opportunity to do whatever you want to do. You just have to do it. I am eagerly awaiting this game. I loved the KOTOR and most of Bioware's titles. I do think it will have a much different feeling than old SWG and I feel bad for those who want nothing more than to get that feeling back. I like the graphics direction and hope to see it polished up a bit.
"As an SWG vet, I'm not going to hold my breath on this one."
That's a shame...
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
Yay! good shot!
What is wrong with that? It would be good entertainment. I don't want to entertain other people, i want to be entertained.
And bioware is going in the RIGHT direction. It is an innovation (a story-centric MMO) which is never been done before.
Sure, you don't like it .. but i predict many will. In fact, just look at how popular bioware's games are. I think KOTOR, Jade Empire & Mass Effects are some of the BEST RPG. Sure, this new game may not fit the traditional MMO mold, but if it is a good game, who cares?