Is it just me or is the "not positive" hands-on you speak of actually quite positive?
Looks to me like they're hitting what they set out to do.
I find it weird that he thinks a ranged class like the smuggler plays like a rogue, other hands-ons said differently, but ok.
That getting shot in cover is also strange, not mentioned in other articles, I hope that gets changed; I also don't like the way medpacks are automatically consumed.
But generally it seems positive to me.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
I thought the article was honest and balanced - one of the most objective hands-on reviews I've read.
Objectivity != negativity, just because she wasn't frothing at the mouth doesn't mean she didn't have fun, she clearly stated she did, and the gold plating comment at the end was pretty unambiguous.
To be honest, from my point of view SW:TOR would only benefit if more hands-on reviews were like this, it's a good way of mananging expectations.
(edited to fix gender pronouns...can't believe I missed who wrote it!)
The cover issue is just graphics thing, they just have to portray you being shot in cover in believable way. It is also very clever way to restrict mobility of ranged attacker.
Auto potions? Bit strange, why not just have a bit more hp and do away with med packs at all. Not sure I like the idea of a fairly simple mechanism being done for you, more dumbing down just isn't required.
----- The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species.
Auto potions? Bit strange, why not just have a bit more hp and do away with med packs at all. Not sure I like the idea of a fairly simple mechanism being done for you, more dumbing down just isn't required.
I agree. I can understand if you have some magical healing potions in your pocket and you sip some medicine in between the shots but using a medkit should take a reasonable amount of time. I'm guessing this is one of the 'movie-factors' in TOR to keep action fast paced. Nonetheless, this feature feels kinda akward to me.
What I got from the review was "Like WoW... but better!" and "less of a learning curve if you've played WoW."
Whoopie-do!
Don't see a problem with that.
I don't want to play WoW in space, i played WoW for awhile, it was ok.
I may be in the minority, and thats fine, thats why theres choices out there, but how much longer can "they" keep pumping out the "like WoW... but better!"?
I'll keep my eye on the game for certain,but i feel like i have already been down this road.
So what if the game isn't a genre changer as long as good . Warcraft was'nt a genre changer either . Most game genres evolve and build on whats come before . You get some good titles within a genre and some bad .
I'm betting this will be popular fun and playable . I'm just hoping the community is better than WoWs is now .
Two things spring to mind when I read this review (good find by the way) the first is that this is feeling a lot like WAR. It was going to be a WoW style game that did RvR better and was going to be the gold plate wheel as it was. A lot of comments were made about RvR and it was going to be adding this to MMO's. Well we all have seen how well that went. Now if you take out RvR and add Story I wonder if ToR is going to go the same way. Everyone that plays it wont be able to shake the feeling this all feels very similar to stuff they were doing 5 years ago. And in that way a little tired so may fill in till something more innovotive comes along.
The second thing that springs to mind is how little information theSWTOR web site seems to offer and yet how much is out if you check the web pages and reviews of other sites. So I wonder if there isn't some reason that you could basically learn everything you could want about cover from smuggler reviews yet the official web site has yet to go into how it works. How much of this is going to be open to change and how much was set up as a demo as it were which will have little relevence to the game play. Will we find things much slower and more akin to the RSI enducing button mashing and less of the fast paced action that appears to be displayed.
Well first of all let me say that I agree with a lot of the other posters. This didn't seem like a negative review as much as it felt like a realistic review of the game in its current state.
That being said, I can see how someone could say this isn't a possitive article. I say that only because so many of the articles we have seen have seemed to ignore any negative features and keep pushing how this game will change everything. Personally, I thought this article gave me a lot of real insight into how the game is doing now and I enjoyed that.
So, in short, don't get yourself super hyped about this game. It's not amazingly innovative or a complete genre changer. It's not re-inventing the wheel, but it is taking that wheel and giving it the gold plating it needs.
The title of this thread is misleading, as is your "summary."
If you actually read the article, he was rather impressed over all but had some glaring concerns shine through though admits it's still an early form. As far as I know, we pretty much knew they wouldn't be reinventing the MMO but merely adding a deeper story element to an existing play style format (see: copy and paste Warcraft).
I've got mixed feelings about this game still, having loved Bioware's story telling but hated the combat in ME and DA:O.
So, in short, don't get yourself super hyped about this game. It's not amazingly innovative or a complete genre changer. It's not re-inventing the wheel, but it is taking that wheel and giving it the gold plating it needs.
Anyone who expected SWTOR to be a genre changer or massively (excuse the pun) innovative were only setting themselves up for a fall. As someone said earlier, industries evolve and SWTOR is certainly shaping up to be yet another stepping stone in the evolution of the industry, whilst keeping within the realms of its two predecessors. SWTOR was never going to be SWG Pre-CU and anyone who thought different was deluding themselves.
The industry doesn't necessarily need massive innovation, what it DOES need are MMO's that have polish, a little difference and a solid foundation on which the devs are committed to building upon. To much lately have we seen poorly founded products which attempt to hide their flaws behind gimmicks and "innovative features", only to be called out by the player base after launch.
Get the foundation right and include all of the standard features that the playerbase expects and only THEN build on top of that the special features for the game. Of course, this is just my own opinion
People seem to forget that this is a business, they aren't here to please the hardcore gamer like myself cause it only sells to a few. If they are gonna please the masses they are gonna appease those who wanna play at an easier level, like the ones who have pured their cash into blizzards coffers forever.
hardcore/Gamers who want a challenge/FFA Pvp'rs and the like, like myself are gonna have to get over the crying and stick to poorly made niche games.
No longer are we going to be able to prey on the timid gamers, pk them and steal their gear. 1997 is over, no more UO.
It sucks, i hate it, i know and i'm dealing with it. Thats why i no longer play MMO's. Nothing in the last 7 years has peaked my interest, too easy, no challenge, no consequence. (except maybe u game like DF, but ive been working. Earthrise may be one to look at though)
That's one of the key issues of the indusry.
Do you make more money aiming for the mass-casual player market that has a very high churn rate - or more money focusing on the smaller hardcore market that has greater loyalty but a slower growth rate?
The review was interesting. I am glad the reviewer wasn't overwhelmed by the fact that the game was Star Wars; from Bioware; and cost a ton of money as other reviewers seemed to be.
However, we must acknowledge that she encountered a number of things that were, for her, not positive, some of which were quite serious.
This suggests two things:
- If she was finding ganeplay issues that she found severe in just the limited starter zones, was she likely to find a proportionately larger number of gameplay issues in the proportionately larger higher level planets?
- And, if so, does Bioware have the commitment to fix those so late in the development cycle? Even to the extent of delaying launch rather than rolling out the product with flawed features?
I ask these questions because both EA and LA have a fearsome reputation for demanding their partner software houses, let alone software houses they own, release products on long preset launch dates whether they are ready or not - KOTOR II is a horrible example of that.
Pretty good article. It focused on actual impressions how the game played and what they got to do.
And did not focus on wishy-washy ideas of what the game should have been in their opinion or how Bioware did not show features they were expecting.
Recommend read for everyone - level-headed first impressions of the game. It is also pretty much how expected a Bioware game to be, but others have already dwelled on that.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
People seem to forget that this is a business, they aren't here to please the hardcore gamer like myself cause it only sells to a few. If they are gonna please the masses they are gonna appease those who wanna play at an easier level, like the ones who have pured their cash into blizzards coffers forever.
hardcore/Gamers who want a challenge/FFA Pvp'rs and the like, like myself are gonna have to get over the crying and stick to poorly made niche games.
No longer are we going to be able to prey on the timid gamers, pk them and steal their gear. 1997 is over, no more UO.
It sucks, i hate it, i know and i'm dealing with it. Thats why i no longer play MMO's. Nothing in the last 7 years has peaked my interest, too easy, no challenge, no consequence. (except maybe u game like DF, but ive been working. Earthrise may be one to look at though)
That's one of the key issues of the indusry.
Do you make more money aiming for the mass-casual player market that has a very high churn rate - or more money focusing on the smaller hardcore market that has greater loyalty but a slower growth rate?
I agree, but how long do you think they can keep producing the "same game, in a new skin", and remain money-aiming?
Change/innovation doesnt have to be FFA PvP.. Nor does the sandbox setting.
I'm not a game developer, nor do i get paid as one, but i am smart enough to know, if people want to play WoW, they play WoW. I'm not saying this game is the dreaded "WoW clone", i'm not sure if i know enough about it, but from the general feel of this thread.. I'm going with it.
We've seen enough of them, and we've see where they end up..
Do you make more money aiming for the mass-casual player market that has a very high churn rate - or more money focusing on the smaller hardcore market that has greater loyalty but a slower growth rate?
From a business perspective, there's a lot more advantage and less risk with aiming your product at a larger popular market than a tiny one. For one thing, the "slower growth rate" of a particular niche may be considered a little *too* slow for todays market. I'm not talking about being "greedy", I'm talking about what investors would deem as "acceptable" in terms of a return on their investment. The time required to get an acceptable return on your investment can be dependant on many things, including the amount of cost required to develop the product in the first place.
Also, the likes of Eve are examples of a small product with a very small team competing in a very small niche and with no competitors. Some could argue that this is a good example whereby the risk is relatively low and therefore should be justification for companies to be "innovative". And they'd be right to a degree, but, times have changed. The MMO market is no longer considered a relatively small industry with few players. The competition has grown and along with it, so have peoples expectations. And when expectations grow, the industry needs to grow to meet them. Which increases costs of developing more sophisticated products. It was inevitable that this would happen as it happens in all industries.
The strings on the money bags are shut tight and costs have risen dramatically over the last 10 years. Therefore, one cannot just use games which have survived in a niche market as proof that other companies should do the same. The point is that what worked back then, may not work now. Investors are being less risky with their money these days for a variety of reasons, therefore its going to be more difficult than ever to convince people that your "innovative" product is going to win over enough people to be considered a success.
As for loyalty, well that hasn't existed in MMOs for years. Economies change, which means that businesses have to change as well. And like all customerbases, the MMO customerbase has come to accept the fact that its possible that their fave product may change / be scrapped in the future. And therefore they feel less compelled to stay loyal to a product. Its how the world works.
What does this mean? Well unforunately it means that investors and development companies have to focus their efforts on more mainstream products than they could 10 years ago. This is nothing new. Just look at the variety in games during the 80's when the pc market was first taking off. The quantity of "innovative" themes for games was quite astounding. Costs for developing and publishing games back then were much different to now. So now companies focus more on particular popular niches like racing games, first person shooters in order to be reasonably sure of some measure of success for their product.
Think right now this is the best hands-on preview you can probably find about this game. The guys at Lucasarts, Electronic Arts could learn lots from this review because their cockiness sucks like hell.
Personally I'm expecting an incredible easy handholding game with story telling and ultra fast paced combat style.
We need a MMORPG Cataclysm asap, finish the dark age of MMORPGS now!
"Everything you're bitching about is wrong. People don't have the time to invest in corpse runs, impossible zones, or long winded quests. Sometimes, they just want to pop on and play." "Then maybe MMORPGs aren't for you."
People seem to forget that this is a business, they aren't here to please the hardcore gamer like myself cause it only sells to a few. If they are gonna please the masses they are gonna appease those who wanna play at an easier level, like the ones who have pured their cash into blizzards coffers forever.
hardcore/Gamers who want a challenge/FFA Pvp'rs and the like, like myself are gonna have to get over the crying and stick to poorly made niche games.
No longer are we going to be able to prey on the timid gamers, pk them and steal their gear. 1997 is over, no more UO.
It sucks, i hate it, i know and i'm dealing with it. Thats why i no longer play MMO's. Nothing in the last 7 years has peaked my interest, too easy, no challenge, no consequence. (except maybe u game like DF, but ive been working. Earthrise may be one to look at though)
That's one of the key issues of the indusry.
Do you make more money aiming for the mass-casual player market that has a very high churn rate - or more money focusing on the smaller hardcore market that has greater loyalty but a slower growth rate?
I agree, but how long do you think they can keep producing the "same game, in a new skin", and remain money-aiming?
Change/innovation doesnt have to be FFA PvP.. Nor does the sandbox setting.
I'm not a game developer, nor do i get paid as one, but i am smart enough to know, if people want to play WoW, they play WoW. I'm not saying this game is the dreaded "WoW clone", i'm not sure if i know enough about it, but from the general feel of this thread.. I'm going with it.
We've seen enough of them, and we've see where they end up..
They can be producing games like this for a long time, would be my estimation. However, the MMO genre has progressed slowly, but steadily. Just like FPS or RTS or typical RPG genres have.
It would be rather short-sighted for a developer like Bioware to suddenly create an AAA title without looking a the current stage of the market and understanding what works and what doesn't. It would also be very risky to create a completely new experience that nobody is familiar with and forgetting the core Bioware and KOTOR fans in the process.
I think fully voiced acted game is already a huge step for MMO genre and adds a level of immerision that have been missing until now. Perhaps, story told this way is not a huge innovation in itself, but the scale of it's implementation certain will add to your overall experience of the game.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
They can be producing games like this for a long time, would be my estimation. However, the MMO genre has progressed slowly, but steadily. Just like FPS or RTS or typical RPG genres have.
It would be rather short-sighted for a developer like Bioware to suddenly create an AAA title without looking a the current stage of the market and understanding what works and what doesn't. It would also be very risky to create a completely new experience that nobody is familiar with and forgetting the core Bioware and KOTOR fans in the process.
I think fully voiced acted game is already a huge step for MMO genre and adds a level of immerision that have been missing until now. Perhaps, story told this way is not a huge innovation in itself, but the scale of it's implementation certain will add to your overall experience of the game.
Completely agree. SWTOR was never going to be innovative. And its reasonable to assume that Bioware (or any MMO developer for that matter) would take tried and tested concepts and refine them. Which they have done so whilst adding something that they consider different to the mix. To ignore such concepts would be financial suicide.
SWTOR should be considered another stepping stone in the evolution of the industry. Not exactly ground breaking in all that it provides the player, but nevertheless a noticable point in the evolution of MMO products. Just like WoW took previously created concepts and refined them, so SWTOR takes the same concepts that WoW and refines them further by adding a level of depth to storytelling. Something that indeed has been missing in the industry.
To me personally, creating more depth in the storyline experience is less risky than what AOC tried to do with creating a more in-depth melee combat experience that applies to only some classes in a game that failed to get the foundation right.
They can be producing games like this for a long time, would be my estimation. However, the MMO genre has progressed slowly, but steadily. Just like FPS or RTS or typical RPG genres have.
It would be rather short-sighted for a developer like Bioware to suddenly create an AAA title without looking a the current stage of the market and understanding what works and what doesn't. It would also be very risky to create a completely new experience that nobody is familiar with and forgetting the core Bioware and KOTOR fans in the process.
I think fully voiced acted game is already a huge step for MMO genre and adds a level of immerision that have been missing until now. Perhaps, story told this way is not a huge innovation in itself, but the scale of it's implementation certain will add to your overall experience of the game.
I agree, I dont expect KOTOR to bring a whole lot new to the table, and as i said in my post, i don't know enough about it yet to even make that call.
I just get a lil pessimistic when i see see a reviewer use statements like So we herd u leik World of Warcraft
I'm not expecting the industry to change by leaps and bounds with the drop of a single game, but i also would like a new game that shows a little creativity. Yes voice acting is probably a nice addition, but its hardly a reason for me personally to run out and plop down $50.
As i said, i have my eye on the game for certain, and i thinks its too early for anyone to judge it.. And i typically don't go by game reviews either ; )
Let's just keep making retarded threads every day feeding the hype/anti-hype engine until we all have such unrealistic expectations NO game will ever be good enough for us.
At the moment SWTOR is looking in better shape than Cryptics rape of a good IP.
well comparing to cryptic is not that good idea
I also dont think it is SUCH a waste (sure it is, but about that in another thread maybe)
I am really looking for the story part (tho Im kinda upset that instead of story driven content biggest P2P MMOgame they dindt make Kotor 3 AND apart from that a SW MMO with lots of space combat etc..). I am really interest in the story of sith inquisitor - I think it will be very political and dark story...I get quite psycked about it;) and since it seems like all testers said that the combat is fun I think I will buy the game and get the most of it during the free month (my goal is to finish at least one class storyline)..then I'll see but I have few hopes that it would made me play more...we had WoW been there done that...
and hey! its not end of the world! clone wars have some cool features!:D
I think I actually spent way more time reading and theorycrafting about MMOs than playing them
Comments
Is it just me or is the "not positive" hands-on you speak of actually quite positive?
Looks to me like they're hitting what they set out to do.
I find it weird that he thinks a ranged class like the smuggler plays like a rogue, other hands-ons said differently, but ok.
That getting shot in cover is also strange, not mentioned in other articles, I hope that gets changed; I also don't like the way medpacks are automatically consumed.
But generally it seems positive to me.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
I thought the article was honest and balanced - one of the most objective hands-on reviews I've read.
Objectivity != negativity, just because she wasn't frothing at the mouth doesn't mean she didn't have fun, she clearly stated she did, and the gold plating comment at the end was pretty unambiguous.
To be honest, from my point of view SW:TOR would only benefit if more hands-on reviews were like this, it's a good way of mananging expectations.
(edited to fix gender pronouns...can't believe I missed who wrote it!)
Nice review, seems to be rather positive.
The cover issue is just graphics thing, they just have to portray you being shot in cover in believable way. It is also very clever way to restrict mobility of ranged attacker.
Auto potions? Bit strange, why not just have a bit more hp and do away with med packs at all. Not sure I like the idea of a fairly simple mechanism being done for you, more dumbing down just isn't required.
-----
The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species.
I agree. I can understand if you have some magical healing potions in your pocket and you sip some medicine in between the shots but using a medkit should take a reasonable amount of time. I'm guessing this is one of the 'movie-factors' in TOR to keep action fast paced. Nonetheless, this feature feels kinda akward to me.
I don't want to play WoW in space, i played WoW for awhile, it was ok.
I may be in the minority, and thats fine, thats why theres choices out there, but how much longer can "they" keep pumping out the "like WoW... but better!"?
I'll keep my eye on the game for certain,but i feel like i have already been down this road.
So what if the game isn't a genre changer as long as good . Warcraft was'nt a genre changer either . Most game genres evolve and build on whats come before . You get some good titles within a genre and some bad .
I'm betting this will be popular fun and playable . I'm just hoping the community is better than WoWs is now .
Two things spring to mind when I read this review (good find by the way) the first is that this is feeling a lot like WAR. It was going to be a WoW style game that did RvR better and was going to be the gold plate wheel as it was. A lot of comments were made about RvR and it was going to be adding this to MMO's. Well we all have seen how well that went. Now if you take out RvR and add Story I wonder if ToR is going to go the same way. Everyone that plays it wont be able to shake the feeling this all feels very similar to stuff they were doing 5 years ago. And in that way a little tired so may fill in till something more innovotive comes along.
The second thing that springs to mind is how little information theSWTOR web site seems to offer and yet how much is out if you check the web pages and reviews of other sites. So I wonder if there isn't some reason that you could basically learn everything you could want about cover from smuggler reviews yet the official web site has yet to go into how it works. How much of this is going to be open to change and how much was set up as a demo as it were which will have little relevence to the game play. Will we find things much slower and more akin to the RSI enducing button mashing and less of the fast paced action that appears to be displayed.
Well first of all let me say that I agree with a lot of the other posters. This didn't seem like a negative review as much as it felt like a realistic review of the game in its current state.
That being said, I can see how someone could say this isn't a possitive article. I say that only because so many of the articles we have seen have seemed to ignore any negative features and keep pushing how this game will change everything. Personally, I thought this article gave me a lot of real insight into how the game is doing now and I enjoyed that.
The title of this thread is misleading, as is your "summary."
If you actually read the article, he was rather impressed over all but had some glaring concerns shine through though admits it's still an early form. As far as I know, we pretty much knew they wouldn't be reinventing the MMO but merely adding a deeper story element to an existing play style format (see: copy and paste Warcraft).
I've got mixed feelings about this game still, having loved Bioware's story telling but hated the combat in ME and DA:O.
Anyone who expected SWTOR to be a genre changer or massively (excuse the pun) innovative were only setting themselves up for a fall. As someone said earlier, industries evolve and SWTOR is certainly shaping up to be yet another stepping stone in the evolution of the industry, whilst keeping within the realms of its two predecessors. SWTOR was never going to be SWG Pre-CU and anyone who thought different was deluding themselves.
The industry doesn't necessarily need massive innovation, what it DOES need are MMO's that have polish, a little difference and a solid foundation on which the devs are committed to building upon. To much lately have we seen poorly founded products which attempt to hide their flaws behind gimmicks and "innovative features", only to be called out by the player base after launch.
Get the foundation right and include all of the standard features that the playerbase expects and only THEN build on top of that the special features for the game. Of course, this is just my own opinion
Top 10 Most Misused Words in MMO's
That's one of the key issues of the indusry.
Do you make more money aiming for the mass-casual player market that has a very high churn rate - or more money focusing on the smaller hardcore market that has greater loyalty but a slower growth rate?
The review was interesting. I am glad the reviewer wasn't overwhelmed by the fact that the game was Star Wars; from Bioware; and cost a ton of money as other reviewers seemed to be.
However, we must acknowledge that she encountered a number of things that were, for her, not positive, some of which were quite serious.
This suggests two things:
- If she was finding ganeplay issues that she found severe in just the limited starter zones, was she likely to find a proportionately larger number of gameplay issues in the proportionately larger higher level planets?
- And, if so, does Bioware have the commitment to fix those so late in the development cycle? Even to the extent of delaying launch rather than rolling out the product with flawed features?
I ask these questions because both EA and LA have a fearsome reputation for demanding their partner software houses, let alone software houses they own, release products on long preset launch dates whether they are ready or not - KOTOR II is a horrible example of that.
Pretty good article. It focused on actual impressions how the game played and what they got to do.
And did not focus on wishy-washy ideas of what the game should have been in their opinion or how Bioware did not show features they were expecting.
Recommend read for everyone - level-headed first impressions of the game. It is also pretty much how expected a Bioware game to be, but others have already dwelled on that.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
I agree, but how long do you think they can keep producing the "same game, in a new skin", and remain money-aiming?
Change/innovation doesnt have to be FFA PvP.. Nor does the sandbox setting.
I'm not a game developer, nor do i get paid as one, but i am smart enough to know, if people want to play WoW, they play WoW. I'm not saying this game is the dreaded "WoW clone", i'm not sure if i know enough about it, but from the general feel of this thread.. I'm going with it.
We've seen enough of them, and we've see where they end up..
From a business perspective, there's a lot more advantage and less risk with aiming your product at a larger popular market than a tiny one. For one thing, the "slower growth rate" of a particular niche may be considered a little *too* slow for todays market. I'm not talking about being "greedy", I'm talking about what investors would deem as "acceptable" in terms of a return on their investment. The time required to get an acceptable return on your investment can be dependant on many things, including the amount of cost required to develop the product in the first place.
Also, the likes of Eve are examples of a small product with a very small team competing in a very small niche and with no competitors. Some could argue that this is a good example whereby the risk is relatively low and therefore should be justification for companies to be "innovative". And they'd be right to a degree, but, times have changed. The MMO market is no longer considered a relatively small industry with few players. The competition has grown and along with it, so have peoples expectations. And when expectations grow, the industry needs to grow to meet them. Which increases costs of developing more sophisticated products. It was inevitable that this would happen as it happens in all industries.
The strings on the money bags are shut tight and costs have risen dramatically over the last 10 years. Therefore, one cannot just use games which have survived in a niche market as proof that other companies should do the same. The point is that what worked back then, may not work now. Investors are being less risky with their money these days for a variety of reasons, therefore its going to be more difficult than ever to convince people that your "innovative" product is going to win over enough people to be considered a success.
As for loyalty, well that hasn't existed in MMOs for years. Economies change, which means that businesses have to change as well. And like all customerbases, the MMO customerbase has come to accept the fact that its possible that their fave product may change / be scrapped in the future. And therefore they feel less compelled to stay loyal to a product. Its how the world works.
What does this mean? Well unforunately it means that investors and development companies have to focus their efforts on more mainstream products than they could 10 years ago. This is nothing new. Just look at the variety in games during the 80's when the pc market was first taking off. The quantity of "innovative" themes for games was quite astounding. Costs for developing and publishing games back then were much different to now. So now companies focus more on particular popular niches like racing games, first person shooters in order to be reasonably sure of some measure of success for their product.
Top 10 Most Misused Words in MMO's
Think right now this is the best hands-on preview you can probably find about this game. The guys at Lucasarts, Electronic Arts could learn lots from this review because their cockiness sucks like hell.
Personally I'm expecting an incredible easy handholding game with story telling and ultra fast paced combat style.
We need a MMORPG Cataclysm asap, finish the dark age of MMORPGS now!
"Everything you're bitching about is wrong. People don't have the time to invest in corpse runs, impossible zones, or long winded quests. Sometimes, they just want to pop on and play."
"Then maybe MMORPGs aren't for you."
They can be producing games like this for a long time, would be my estimation. However, the MMO genre has progressed slowly, but steadily. Just like FPS or RTS or typical RPG genres have.
It would be rather short-sighted for a developer like Bioware to suddenly create an AAA title without looking a the current stage of the market and understanding what works and what doesn't. It would also be very risky to create a completely new experience that nobody is familiar with and forgetting the core Bioware and KOTOR fans in the process.
I think fully voiced acted game is already a huge step for MMO genre and adds a level of immerision that have been missing until now. Perhaps, story told this way is not a huge innovation in itself, but the scale of it's implementation certain will add to your overall experience of the game.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
Completely agree. SWTOR was never going to be innovative. And its reasonable to assume that Bioware (or any MMO developer for that matter) would take tried and tested concepts and refine them. Which they have done so whilst adding something that they consider different to the mix. To ignore such concepts would be financial suicide.
SWTOR should be considered another stepping stone in the evolution of the industry. Not exactly ground breaking in all that it provides the player, but nevertheless a noticable point in the evolution of MMO products. Just like WoW took previously created concepts and refined them, so SWTOR takes the same concepts that WoW and refines them further by adding a level of depth to storytelling. Something that indeed has been missing in the industry.
To me personally, creating more depth in the storyline experience is less risky than what AOC tried to do with creating a more in-depth melee combat experience that applies to only some classes in a game that failed to get the foundation right.
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I agree, I dont expect KOTOR to bring a whole lot new to the table, and as i said in my post, i don't know enough about it yet to even make that call.
I just get a lil pessimistic when i see see a reviewer use statements like So we herd u leik World of Warcraft
I'm not expecting the industry to change by leaps and bounds with the drop of a single game, but i also would like a new game that shows a little creativity. Yes voice acting is probably a nice addition, but its hardly a reason for me personally to run out and plop down $50.
As i said, i have my eye on the game for certain, and i thinks its too early for anyone to judge it.. And i typically don't go by game reviews either ; )
Yes, realistic expectations are horrible!
Let's just keep making retarded threads every day feeding the hype/anti-hype engine until we all have such unrealistic expectations NO game will ever be good enough for us.
Oh wait...
Such a waste of Star Wars IP....
Why?
At the moment SWTOR is looking in better shape than Cryptics rape of a good IP.
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yeah atm swtor looks better than any other game that came out after WoW.
well comparing to cryptic is not that good idea
I also dont think it is SUCH a waste (sure it is, but about that in another thread maybe)
I am really looking for the story part (tho Im kinda upset that instead of story driven content biggest P2P MMOgame they dindt make Kotor 3 AND apart from that a SW MMO with lots of space combat etc..). I am really interest in the story of sith inquisitor - I think it will be very political and dark story...I get quite psycked about it;) and since it seems like all testers said that the combat is fun I think I will buy the game and get the most of it during the free month (my goal is to finish at least one class storyline)..then I'll see but I have few hopes that it would made me play more...we had WoW been there done that...
and hey! its not end of the world! clone wars have some cool features!:D
I think I actually spent way more time reading and theorycrafting about MMOs than playing them