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What has this game got right?
thorppes
Member Posts: 452
Please read first, this excludes the voice acting and personal story lines. If I wanted a single player with an indepth story line I would pick up many existing single player console games.
In MMO standards what do you reckon the Old Republic has got right? What features make this game stand out from the other competitors that are releasing soon(tm)?
Myself I don't know an entire lot about the game but I'm not hyped. The graphics seems slightly off and I've read too much negativity surrounding it. I'm hoping there's something they've done right however because I'm a fan of the StarWars genre.
1. ) Combat animations look good.
Comments
I think your post indicates they've gotten just about everything right.
They spent 100 million plus dollars. They need a bunch of subs to make that money back. They are making a game that will be popular.
Stand out features are what make a game NOT popular. Conan had stand out features, Darkfall had stand out features.
They can't afford stand out features, they are trying to make a game that millions of players will think is fun.
Ok, I can understand this point of view. Such a large investment means a large risk. So we havn't seen any innovation here then? (I honestly don't know).
The features we're been given, have they managed to out-do the current competitors with these features? Raised the bench mark? I'm interested to know.
Millions of dollars spent does not guarantee a good game. As far as I'm concerned, the marjority of that money has been spent on the wrong things, ie, voice overs and cut scenes. This game is going to be nothing more than a glorified single player game. Once people play through all the single player cut scenes a few times, they'l be nothing left other than a hollow shell of a game. Why? Because they spent most of their money on fluff!
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
What key features does this game promise? Is it your standard quests, instanced dungeons, battlegrounds ?
Innovation is that the story line !!
The none excisting innovation is fed ex mission type (but that wont be changed anymore for years to come)
The other re- excisting innovation is something rift and swtor tries to do again , is giving characters toons more meaningfull progressions in talents choices .
The most important innovation !!! = none FANTASY finally !!
Sorry i need a change of envoirement after all the fantasy fed ex , and no i dont need a fantasy kill X sandbox .
What is more important , the animations are motion capture !!
They are the first to really start to use hollywood industry to create real combat animations .
fluff graphics ? man go look at wow , go look at all the other games being released !!
Whats the most time you spend looking at in a MMO , not the surrounding nope its the COMBAT !!!
You going to be looking at that in one way or another , unless you choose not to level , and stay in the AH / TRADE HOUSE / INN bedrooms.
Then yeah i can imagine the animation dont look hot enough for you .
First and foremost, they are catering to KOTOR and casual players. This alone will help with retention and will also increase the number of initial subscribers. Catering to hardcores would have been catering to the least common denominator, destroying any hope of competing with WoW, which they have stated they intend to do.
Main line and side questing that has some meaning, allowing choices and consequences for those choices.
Open world with open exploration and mulitple planets with a space mini game.
Phasing for special engagements to ensure you are not interrupted at crucial parts of the game, but not enough to wall you away from the public for the majority of your game play.
Companions who not only help you in combat, but in crafting and as part of your character's story line with whom you can have different kinds of realtionships with depending on your responses in dialog.
Typical MMO fare, so if you want a change of pace, you can camp mobs, explore, join guilds, decorate ships, socialize in cantinas, craft / gather materials, raid, group, solo and so forth just like any other game.
Interesting and fun classes with the ability to specialize in talents that can help differentiate yourself from others of the same class / subclass.
Combat where mobs actually make defensive moves and take cover and where players can do the same.
A development team that is known for working hard at making games that are fun and engaging and whose track record has shown that they care about what their target audience wants and as a result, make a nice profit.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
Actually, motion capture was more widely used in video games before Hollywood got involved with it, especially for games involving sports (football, basketball, etc). If you look at old preview/behind-the-scenes videos you can see motion capture applied to the actors who were behind the characters in Mortal Kombat, specifically MK3. So no, there's nothing innovative there.
The storyline is good but also not innovative. A good storyline isn't something that's new, there are other games with good storyline. True, most of them are single-player, but not all of them. A good storyline is impressive and appreciated, but that's not innovation.
The graphics have already been established to have less than global appeal, but that's a choice they made and wanted to stick with. I can respect that they had a vision and wanted to keep to it. It could be worse; they could look like the characters from Clone Wars. Ugh...
So far to those who have played, the combat as you mentioned in the last part, is nothing particularly stellar either. Fun and playable though, which is more than some recent MMO's have gotten right.
So yes, it may prove to be a very good, enjoyable game, but calling it innovative isn't really justified. I think Imhotep got it most right, they're not trying for something new, they're following a proven formula.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
Meh, reading this thread I realise again how so much lacking/lazy people are in their research about the games they're interested in. Or maybe they're not interested, that's probably more the case: I know that MMO's I'm not interested in I usually just glance over the highlights of it, and games that draw my attention I always start to dig deeper and research more extensively. But maybe that's just me.
Ok, here it goes, based upon the available info, footage and reports, what the game got right:
- huge, massive open worlds, SWTOR will be far, far larger than most other MMORPG's were at launch
- a large variety of scenery and atmosphere in more planets than the planets or continents seen in other MMORPG's
- intriguing and distinct Crafting system
- fleshing out your Companions in a way not before seen in other MMO's: they participate in fights and quests with you and help you with your crafting, gathering and doing missions.
- massive amount of content, Class Quests alone already contain 1600+ hours of gameplay, Story Arcs (planetary campaigns) are dozens of hours of gameplay per Arc, and the regular quests dwarf even the amount of Class Quest content.
- the opportunity of that sense of exploration and a vast world again that earlier MMO's like EQ and AC had. Exploration will be more possible and encouraged than other current and upcoming MMO's.
- possibly the game that will be closest to most players to that Star Wars feel than any other SW game has been, after all, this is coming from the makers of KOTOR, and all signs seem to indicate that this will be a KOTOR MMO, an MMORPG with the atmosphere and immersion that a game like KOTOR had, but then in an MMORPG setting with the regular MMO features added to it.
Of course, that's based upon what we know so far, that can change or have added/subtracted points in a progression of insight in the road to launch, but hey, everyone is speculating at this point. I think those points I mentioned are fairly common with the info that's out there right now, more so than the viewpoints of other posters I've read (the research thing again).
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
The problem with this post is you're blending existing information with a subjective point of view on it. First off, wasn't SWTOR supposed to take advantage of the phasing mechanic to a fairly large-scale degree? This is information I came across a long time ago, so I don't know how relevant it is now. But if that's the case, the world could be the size of our existing one and it wouldn't matter if the only people I could see and play with were those that followed the storyline exactly the way I did, when I did it.
Exploration doesn't appeal to everyone, especially in this market. I enjoy running around looking at things, but more often than not I'm the only one. Most people just seem to want to teleport to their destination, finish their quest, then turn in. Exploration is at best a side mechanic, it's not something to base a game off of unless the game is removed so largely from a typical MMO experience, such as Second Life or Entropia. The same thing goes for crafting, although in that particular case I can speak as one of those people who absolutely despises it.
Companions sound like fun, they make me think of DA:O. But I've seen plenty of people complaining about that same system, specifically because you will be required to bring specific ones for missions or something to that regard? So once again, a mechanic that appeals to one does not necessarily appeal to all. Companions have also been done in other games, such as the previously mentioned DA: O and the Heroes in Guild Wars, which function almost exactly the same except that you have more freedom in who you bring and they don't help you craft as, thankfully, crafting doesn't really exist in GW.
The 1600+ hours of content is something nearly every MMO in the history of ever can claim. I don't usually buy into the marketing ploy of 'content' because the term is extremely vague. What does one consider content, specifically? Plenty of people consider those "kill XXX of z for achievement y" quests in LOTRO "content". I do not.
It feeling more like Star Wars? From the videos, I think I can agree with that. It definitely looks like it's held to the mold pretty well. If anything, I think THIS is what will make the game successful. It's going to be the story, and the world people get to play in. The stuff mentioned above is just filler. It's the part that makes the game interactive and nothing more.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
Following a proven formula and doing whats right on time are two different concepts
Having a player base who is very supportive of the product helps , especially when that player base is miles and ahead of any other MMO playerbase , cause of maturity and sincerity .
You know whats the difference with people here and other people out there , that some people dont see a sign of weakness in admiting being wrong , but a strength of character .
Here lets see , somebody proofs you wrong , no comments nothing , just derail and move onto small fries .
Sorry some people are tired of it , and want to move on to REAL LIFE MMO , not just small fish fry stuff that has no responsibility no real life consequnces .
That comes with the community , so currently well basing on that premises WOW is the best in community (cause its the largest even without world wide figures) but sadly ALSO the WORST community .
Maybe this product does one thing all other project failed , in establishing a mature healthy community cause of backbone of bioware .
That i have to see yet in all other games released so far .
You are so wrong and this whole thought process is annoying. "Cut scenes and voice overs" are not as expensive as people think. What is expensive is have 8, yes 8, full length BioWare story experiences along with everything every other successful MMO has had ever.
As far as I am concerned you know nothing. Have you played the game?
Playing: Tera, BF3, ME3
Waiting on: Guild Wars 2
yep, but the whole is larger than the sum of its parts, as they say. It doesn't mean that those parts are unimportant, they all play a role in a diverse gameplay experience.
Besides that, I merely answered the OP's question.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Well the whole dark-side/light-side mechanic strikes me as an interesting system, depends on how they impliment it though...hopefully there will be some point to being somewhere in the middle too...so people aren't short-changed by "gaming" thier answers and min/maxing.
Honestly though...I think the real time to ask the "What has this game got right?" question comes after release. There are alot of things that sound good in theory that don't neccesarly work out when implemented.
Be alot more interesting to see your question and the answers to it 3-6 months after release.
I'm pretty skeptical about the game...but I may end up checking it out.
Oh boy another "prove me wrong why this game sucks" thread.
No risk they will make their money back on the single player storyline , even before you consider all the other elements.
Interesting how you dont want to discuss two of the key features that will make the game great.
Content and depth and sheer scale and size and opportunity to do what you like on top of all the class drien storylines will make the game appealing to many many people. Balance and game play is whats key and Bioware are masters of this thought time and effort all make for better gameplay all around.
So what is key here is that the game is fun ... remember that fun .
________________________________________________________
Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
If you really get down to it, that is the basic dialogue an RPG gives to players. The popular ones anyway.
From Dragon Age to BG1/2 to NWN1/2 to The Witcher. Not seeing why that's a problem?
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
'You cannot teach a man to pay better attention if he refuses to open his eyes and see'.
There has been a massive multitude of statements and commentary reports about how SW:TOR has easily all the features you expect from an MMORPG from these days and more, but if people are driven to blatantly keep ignoring those, then they keep making the same flawed and ignorant arguments they have been making for months after months.
I think that's what a definition of bias could be, categorically ignoring all material and facts that doesn't fit someone's perception or prejudice.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Havne't they already addressed this several times? I don't understand why this keeps being ignored.
Now, whether or not they do it in a way that players want/or expect is another thing. But they have said that their worlds will be open and that players will be able to grab their fellows and explore. That they will have things that "mmo's have".
Of course, I imagine that it will take the players themselves to break off from questing and actually go and do this exploring on their own volition. But we will see.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
hmm ya but these are not "MMO standards" as the OP pointed out.
most of these are suited for a single player game.
just make kotor larger and these points are exactly what you get.
I think you missed one thing here Ciphers. PvP. I am NOT a PvPer, but the style they have shown so far has me interested. Very interested. On top of that, they have said they are making a variety of PvP options to include open world pvp. It may not be exactly "innovative" but, it is just enough new to get my blood flowing.
Personally the more recent graphics we have seen are exciting too. Certainly much better than a lot of the MMO's I have seen lately and enough better than WoW that I actually feel bad for WoW players. I mean, we spend most of the game having to watch what our character does so I really don't want to watch a "Smurfs" quality cartoon character running around all the time in a "Pinky and the Brain" quality cartoon environment. Granted, SWTOR may not be "Avatar" quality (really what game is?), but it is certainly better than most MMOs being released lately.
"If half of what you tell me is a lie, how can I believe any of it?"
Both of you guys are spot on. I'm trying not to be a fanboy but everything about TOR looks to be wicked FUN, fun never seen in a mmo before, a level of immersion only seen in single player games. Granted I would have liked more realistic graphics style, but it works, kinda like Team Fortress. Space was a little let down, but I understand why they chose that way. I'm a tad worried it will be too easy, but we'll see. All in all, the vast amount of positives far, far outweigh the few negatives.
Congrats, you just described swtor. Bad arguement right there.
Isn't the question you are asking best answered once the game releases or at the earliest once the NDA is lifted from Beta?
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
i wonder why none of you guys are hype with a game call guild war cos they have story, voice over, companion, pvp, big game world if include expansion.
GW release with heavy focus on story and pvp, guess how to mmo community like it compare to WoW