I've always thought that SW:TOR is going to be nothing much more than a quality social RPG, personally being a fan of Bioware games and espicially KOTOR that sounds absolutely fine to me, I'd say I'm confident they are doing that right. I now know that there will be multiplayer content to expand on that social RPG with PvP, instances and Flashpoints as well as MMO staples such as crafting, albeit with a small twist.
SWTOR Managing Editor Alexander Freed on Flashpoints: "The flashpoints are very similar to world arcs in that they are focused on group story-telling experiences. But the flashpoints are set in their own instances, whereas the world arcs are going to take place across entire planets. The flashpoints are not designed to be soloable, and they are also designed to be repeatable. They are also much shorter than, say, a world arc, and certainly shorter than all your class quests. They are designed to be, I think, one- to two-hour experiences"
As has been discussed here and elsewhere this game will create its own audience, if you don't want a social RPG with group content then avoid it, for those of us that do it's going to be interesting stuff, there's still a lot we don't know about it.
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
Simple answer:
It's not Kotor
It's in a fantasy setting.
I didn't like Gw1.
I loved all the BW games whereas arena net way of doing things left me cold.
is it fair to the game? no. It's fair enough for me though.
Basically i know what i'm getting from BW, cause i know how they make games and they are making this like Kotor and i loved that.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
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).
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.
okay MMO standards are saying that it's a persistent world (are we really having this discussion..again.)
Theres groups, raids, worlds arcs, normal quests, chat boxes, maps, character screen, inventory, a persistent world with other players.
While i haven't seen the raids world arcs, i have seen the normal quests, chat boxes maps character screen, inventory and a world i can explore.
This i all saw in the 15 min demo at Pax. I can understand it's hard to see from the SS but it is indeed an MMO. About on par with most and better then a lot.
I'm not in the beta (dang wish i was, i think, not sure i want it spoiled) but i gathered all this form seeing the game in less then 5 mins.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
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
1. Bioware has a proven record for good stories over the course of many games, Areanet doesn't.
2. GW2 may have partial VO but it's not FULLY voiced over and TOR is.
3. GW2 companions are little more than glorified pets, TOR companions add a new dimension to this aspect of an MMO.
4. I have little interest in pvp so anything GW2 may add to pvp has little interest to me. I have no great expectations of anything particularly innovative or different in TOR pvp, but I do expect it'll be good enough to satisfy what little I wish to partake in it. TOR will have warzones and open world pvp zones. The warzones will have actual mission objectives rather than the standard capture the flag fare seen in other MMOs, which is a plus for me.
5. It's beginning to sound like TOR may be the largest MMO ever made in terms of explorable territory. I don't know if that's hype, but considering the investment they've put into it, I wouldn't be terribly surprised. Even with expansions I'm betting GW2 will not compete with the overall size of TOR's game world. This is of course pure speculation and it doesn't really matter. As long as the worlds are open and explorable, which we do know they will be, I'll be happy with it.
6. Last but not least, GW2 is fantasy and I'm getting tired of the fantasy genre in MMO's. TOR is sci-fi which will be a nice change of pace, and not just any sci-fi, but Star Wars.
"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."
Try reading SWTOR news somewhere other than MMORPG. This site is home to more hate and uneducated trolling on just about every game ever made than any other 15 sites combined.
You wanna know REAL information instead of a bunc of uninformed speculation and total bullshit lies? Try looking at this thread:
I personally have played twice now, and seen the game live 5 times.(Pax, GC, E3, GXP Germany, etc), and honestly, 99% of the shit people post here is so wrong and offbase it's like comparing Peter Griffen to Stephen Hawking. It's not even in LSCB yet and it already is the most polished engorssing game for a pre-release I have seen in over 5 years and 30odd beta test. By a HUGE margin. Hell, It played better at my very first outing than Aion did over 1 year after release. And was alot more fun.
Don't believe all the whiney bullshit on mmorpg. Just because the staff lets people ramble on about every little pet peeve people have with the games design (which the majority of the time breaks down to "I wanted X, but they are doing Y, so it sucks and will fail because I know everything about everything and if it's not exactly what I want it's trash) doesn't make it true. 90% of the people hating here actually know little to nothing beyond "fully voiced over". And thats a fuckin fact.
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
1. Bioware has a proven record for good stories over the course of many games, Areanet doesn't.
not a valid argument point in my book. more of a fanboyish argument cos as of now we know more about gw2 story than TOR and to me the setting for gw2 looks good enough.
2. GW2 may have partial VO but it's not FULLY voiced over and TOR is.
60 hour of full feature film worth of VO is enough for me thou i agree having full VO will add to the immersion factor
3. GW2 companions are little more than glorified pets, TOR companions add a new dimension to this aspect of an MMO.
Your right gw and gw2 companion is not as good as what TOR is showing by a long way
4. I have little interest in pvp so anything GW2 may add to pvp has little interest to me. I have no great expectations of anything particularly innovative or different in TOR pvp, but I do expect it'll be good enough to satisfy what little I wish to partake in it. TOR will have warzones and open world pvp zones. The warzones will have actual mission objectives rather than the standard capture the flag fare seen in other MMOs, which is a plus for me.
so you like TOR pvp but don't like any gw2 offering and why? because you don't like pvp. but why do you like TOR pvp? because you like TOR? zzz same respond with No. 1
ps. mission objective aka capture the flag aka king of the hill aka capture the point aka.......
5. It's beginning to sound like TOR may be the largest MMO ever made in terms of explorable territory. I don't know if that's hype, but considering the investment they've put into it, I wouldn't be terribly surprised. Even with expansions I'm betting GW2 will not compete with the overall size of TOR's game world. This is of course pure speculation and it doesn't really matter. As long as the worlds are open and explorable, which we do know they will be, I'll be happy with it.
I'm still not buying the idea of running into sand dune just for the fun of it. Plus they haven't showcase me how wonderful the landscape will be compare to gw2 game world. Put it simple, does giving you 10 miles of flat virtual land to run in makes you happy?
6. Last but not least, GW2 is fantasy and I'm getting tired of the fantasy genre in MMO's. TOR is sci-fi which will be a nice change of pace, and not just any sci-fi, but Star Wars.
All in all your just a burnout fanstasy gamer, so can you make good critic in this situation?
seriously guys i'm talking about original guild war and not the upcoming guild war 2.
And maybe i make a poor efford at getting my point across.
What i'm trying to say is the original guild war that came out around 2004 or 2005
During that time their story telling method is quite advance with voice over and in game cut scene to carry out their story telling magic. They came out around the same time with EQII and WoW. I know TOR will have better story telling system than original guild war but original guild war came out 5-6 years ago and during that time it's as advance and fanciful as TOR is going to be today.
And compare to standard MMO like WoW guild war still lag behind in term of playerbase and popularity by a huge margin even thou they received generally favourable review from critic. So in a sense i feel that most mmoer aren't really into the whole story thingy.
As for bioware story telling prowness i'm on the fence on it as i love bioware older game like baldur's gate series, kotor and even jade empire in term of story but kinda find mass effect 2 and dragon age story just acceptable. But i know that mass effect and dragon age is more complex due to bioware trying to deliver cinematic experience in line with story telling but somehow mass effect 2 feels to me like a fps+dating sim while dragon age feel like a....well you get my point.
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.
Congrats, you just described swtor. Bad arguement right there.
No, that is a perfect description of WoW. SWTOR at least has a closer semblance of realism. Still not quite right even in the newest game play videos I have seen, but so much better than WoW ever thought of being. I am actually surprised that the makers of WoW haven't done some major graphics updates yet, since I have seen some older MMOs do so, but I guess they figure that since they are making a bunch of cash on what they have now then why actually invest in improving that aspect of the game. Personally I have nothing against WoW and have even checked it out a few times now, but the graphics are so 10 year old cartoon-ish, I just could not see actually paying for the game.
"If half of what you tell me is a lie, how can I believe any of it?"
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
1. Bioware has a proven record for good stories over the course of many games, Areanet doesn't.
not a valid argument point in my book. more of a fanboyish argument cos as of now we know more about gw2 story than TOR and to me the setting for gw2 looks good enough.
2. GW2 may have partial VO but it's not FULLY voiced over and TOR is.
60 hour of full feature film worth of VO is enough for me thou i agree having full VO will add to the immersion factor
3. GW2 companions are little more than glorified pets, TOR companions add a new dimension to this aspect of an MMO.
Your right gw and gw2 companion is not as good as what TOR is showing by a long way
4. I have little interest in pvp so anything GW2 may add to pvp has little interest to me. I have no great expectations of anything particularly innovative or different in TOR pvp, but I do expect it'll be good enough to satisfy what little I wish to partake in it. TOR will have warzones and open world pvp zones. The warzones will have actual mission objectives rather than the standard capture the flag fare seen in other MMOs, which is a plus for me.
so you like TOR pvp but don't like any gw2 offering and why? because you don't like pvp. but why do you like TOR pvp? because you like TOR? zzz same respond with No. 1
ps. mission objective aka capture the flag aka king of the hill aka capture the point aka.......
5. It's beginning to sound like TOR may be the largest MMO ever made in terms of explorable territory. I don't know if that's hype, but considering the investment they've put into it, I wouldn't be terribly surprised. Even with expansions I'm betting GW2 will not compete with the overall size of TOR's game world. This is of course pure speculation and it doesn't really matter. As long as the worlds are open and explorable, which we do know they will be, I'll be happy with it.
I'm still not buying the idea of running into sand dune just for the fun of it. Plus they haven't showcase me how wonderful the landscape will be compare to gw2 game world. Put it simple, does giving you 10 miles of flat virtual land to run in makes you happy?
6. Last but not least, GW2 is fantasy and I'm getting tired of the fantasy genre in MMO's. TOR is sci-fi which will be a nice change of pace, and not just any sci-fi, but Star Wars.
All in all your just a burnout fanstasy gamer, so can you make good critic in this situation?
seriously guys i'm talking about original guild war and not the upcoming guild war 2.
And maybe i make a poor efford at getting my point across.
What i'm trying to say is the original guild war that came out around 2004 or 2005
During that time their story telling method is quite advance with voice over and in game cut scene to carry out their story telling magic. They came out around the same time with EQII and WoW. I know TOR will have better story telling system than original guild war but original guild war came out 5-6 years ago and during that time it's as advance and fanciful as TOR is going to be today.
And compare to standard MMO like WoW guild war still lag behind in term of playerbase and popularity by a huge margin even thou they received generally favourable review from critic. So in a sense i feel that most mmoer aren't really into the whole story thingy.
As for bioware story telling prowness i'm on the fence on it as i love bioware older game like baldur's gate series, kotor and even jade empire in term of story but kinda find mass effect 2 and dragon age story just acceptable. But i know that mass effect and dragon age is more complex due to bioware trying to deliver cinematic experience in line with story telling but somehow mass effect 2 feels to me like a fps+dating sim while dragon age feel like a....well you get my point.
1. A game developers reputation is very much a valid argument. Bioware has consistently proven itself to me over years of gaming, Areanet has not. I have no reason to choose Areanet over Bioware. I would do the same if I were buying a cabinet and had a choice between a cabinet maker I trusted and one I didn't really know very well.
2. I believe so, yes.
3. Agreed.
4. You are misunderstanding me, I'm saying that pvp is a non-factor for me in my choice. That whatever pvp TOR offers will be good enough, not because it's TOR, but because pvp just doesn't interest me that much. For all I know TORs pvp may be the greatest thing ever, so could GW2's, but it doesn't really matter to me, it's not my thing. I wouldn't care if there were none at all.
5. If that 10 miles of virtual land were filled with interesting things then yes. If it were flat, empty, and uninspiring then no. But then I don't expect TOR to be flat, empty, and uninspiring; do you?
That would be true of any game, not just TOR. I like exploration. But that said you're not really understanding me again...I think. I'm not saying that TOR will be one whole continous world, but rather so far it has 16 worlds, the smallest of which takes an hour to run from one end to the other. I'm saying that if you added those all together it's going to be the largest MMO ever created in terms of physical terrain. Each world will be different with different sights to see and a lots to explore and I like to explore.
6. You didn't ask if I were a good critic, you asked what were my reasons for choosing one over the other and I answered you.
As for GW1, why would I choose an old game at this point? The game and all it's expansions would have to be selling very very cheap indeed in order for me to get it. I'd sooner buy GW2 than GW1 and might actually do so at one point or another since it's just buy to play, but it's far too late to get GW1. But if TOR is any good at all I'm sure it'll be my MMO home for years to come.
Yea i guess i can agree with you on your point of view. I really hope bioware will showcase some good landscape that populate their game world. As for the the original gw reference, i was trying to point out that story driven mmo may not sell that well and i was not asking you to go play gw 1 now *facepalm*. Thou personally i like story driven mmo like guild war for it's epic plot.
But so that you know there is actually great story rpg out there other than ones produce by bioware (witcher,drakensang, divinity 2 dks, risen). Some bioware fans remind me of WoW fans....they're stuck to their "perfect" game to be able to see beauty around the world.
PS. when i buy cabinet i'll look for material used, craftmanship and design as oppose to blindly support a maker :P
Yeah there are great developers that make great stories, no denying that. I guess what we are really trying to say is that we don't believe BW is the only maker of great stories, more so to the fact that BW makes great stories.
In that fact we believe unless proven otherwise that BW can make games we will enjoy and from what we have seen here, they haven't really done anything that would steer us away (this is more for myself then for others but i think this is generally how people feel)
To use the cabinet anology. You have two cabinets. Made of the same wood and by-products. One is from a really well know company that has brought out products that you've also bought and they were of great quality. Then you have the other which is a company that has made cabinets. They are good but they don't do things the exact same way and therefore maybe the doors don't open quite the way you want them to.
Theres no problems with either cabinets. However you know the first company has made products you have enjoyed a lot. So you tend to stick with that one.
I guess it's a little bit of blind following. However if you've enjoyed everything in the past and see no reason to stop then you'll continue. You like what you like and we like what BW likes to make. Granted you should always be on the look out for better products but as of now this is what we like.
Granted if this comes out to be a bad game, clunky interface and horrible gameplay then i'll be right there with the rest of them saying BW shouldn't make these types of games because they frankly don't do them well. However until i see that happen i'm more then likely to keep following the game.
Edit: The way i see BW is as such. When a game has a Bw title i'm instantly more interested in the game then if it had another companies title on it. Merely by the fact that i've enjoyed their other games. However it's the game itself that will have to sell me, features have to be what i like to see in a game and have to have gamplay i'd be interested in. So far with the branching story arc. The crafting system. The ships you can decorate. The morphing system. All of these are features i'm interested in seeing in game. Thus i follow the game. Naturally if they start making mistakes left and right then i'll be reserved and wait for reviews. As of right now i'm going to buy the game at release and maybe pre-order to show BW that these are the types of games i'd like to see more of.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
Well i just hope that for the sake of discussion and the objectivity of it, brand name will not play into the argument as thats how the hater vs fanbois style argument started. And if mmorpg.com forumer can't critic objectively and just wants show support for their fav game company i would suggest they go else where.
Back to topic, i'm very interested in the crafting in TOR, integrating companion into crafting is a brilliant idea and add to the immersiveness of the game imo.
Having a big gameworld is definitely a plus...if anyone got any interesting video showcasing beautiful game world in TOR please do share it with me.
Imo the biggest draw of TOR to me now is that different class and faction have different storyline. But i hope the "story" doesn't just equate into VO standard mmo quest. So far i haven't seen much demonstration of how interesting the story will be in TOR.
Marketing and info release wise, imo TOR is doing a poor job for such a anticipated game, compare to it's competitor. From gameplay video from gamescom i find it not so interesting compare to it's competitor. PvP wise their trailer attempt also fail to impress me. One thing they could do to convince mmo community imo is release an example of a interesting story arch and give us a taste of how good the story telling potential could be cos as of now i would rate it as a VO better than average standard mmo quest which is very far off from what it's competitor is claiming to offer.
Oh i agree that BW is not doing a good job advertising their product. They need to show us in game footage of the things they are offering. It's really frustrating to try and convince people what you think will be great when you can't show them.
I hope that as we get closer to release we will see more of what is in game. Just my speculation but they may be waiting till a couple of months before release then really show everything. I have no proof of this myself but seems like a wise idea. That way you get a lot of people hooked on the features and they are more likely to impulse buy the product.
As for the BW argument, the brand name itself doesn't play a role in this game so much for me as just gets me interested in the game. I personally like BW games. so it has a higher chance of me liking it to.
If a company is known for continously bring out well made games then it has a greater chance of it doing that as well.
But i agree a brand name should not determine in and of itself if the game will be good. The features itself should.
I guess stating the BW name gives credences to show that BW takes the time to make good games therefore we don't see a reason they won't take the time to make a good game here (seeing as thats their trend). Whether BW does so or not here is another question all together.
Edit: in closing we are basically trying to say, hey this isn't some fly by night company that doesn't know how to make games that are both fun and win awards. This is Bw which has done both. Lets give them the benefit of the doubt before we start bashing the game in for whatever reason. They just might make a game you will enjoy.
STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC
Released on the Xbox in July 2003 and on PC in November 2003 and published by LucasArts, this was the fastest-selling Xbox game in history at the time of its release
The game has sold over 2.5 million copies to date (Xbox and PC) and spawned a successful sequel which was launched in Xmas 2004
The first Star Wars role-playing game, takes place 4000 years before the time of the films
Epic roleplaying storyline in the BioWare tradition, where the player gets to become a Jedi, following either the light or dark side of the force
Advanced, state-of-the-art graphics which pushed the envelope on both Xbox and PC
Ranked 17th best game of all time, and 3rd best Xbox game of all time at Gamerankings.com
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has won nearly 50 Game of the Year awards and over 30 RPG of the Year awards
In total the game has accumulated over 100 awards including acknowledgements for its excellence in storytelling, technology, sound and more
Thats a brief overview (i picked that one because they are trying to copy the same general idea from the Kotor games, they've made more games yeah and that doesn't tell us anything about ToR, but it's just to show in evidence they're are at least at that point a competent company that doesn't just make games on the fly to make money like so many F2P games do. Thats the only point of bringing up BW, it's to show that they have the tools and ability to make a really good game. It's not to say or should not say that ToR will be the best ever by this point alone.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
I've always thought that SW:TOR is going to be nothing much more than a quality social RPG, personally being a fan of Bioware games and espicially KOTOR that sounds absolutely fine to me, I'd say I'm confident they are doing that right. I now know that there will be multiplayer content to expand on that social RPG with PvP, instances and Flashpoints as well as MMO staples such as crafting, albeit with a small twist.
SWTOR Managing Editor Alexander Freed on Flashpoints:
"The flashpoints are very similar to world arcs in that they are focused on group story-telling experiences. But the flashpoints are set in their own instances, whereas the world arcs are going to take place across entire planets. The flashpoints are not designed to be soloable, and they are also designed to be repeatable. They are also much shorter than, say, a world arc, and certainly shorter than all your class quests. They are designed to be, I think, one- to two-hour experiences"
As has been discussed here and elsewhere this game will create its own audience, if you don't want a social RPG with group content then avoid it, for those of us that do it's going to be interesting stuff, there's still a lot we don't know about it.
I don't understand why anyone playing a MMORPG wouldn't want a social RPG with group content. Wasn't that kind of the whole point of MMORPGs in the first place; To play online with other people in a vast world? You got to love the skeptics for this game: First the game was nothing more than a single player game on rails and now that that has been pretty much debunked they still won't touch it.
@ the OP, there is no way that your question can be answered until the game is released.
Comments
I've always thought that SW:TOR is going to be nothing much more than a quality social RPG, personally being a fan of Bioware games and espicially KOTOR that sounds absolutely fine to me, I'd say I'm confident they are doing that right. I now know that there will be multiplayer content to expand on that social RPG with PvP, instances and Flashpoints as well as MMO staples such as crafting, albeit with a small twist.
SWTOR Managing Editor Alexander Freed on Flashpoints:
"The flashpoints are very similar to world arcs in that they are focused on group story-telling experiences. But the flashpoints are set in their own instances, whereas the world arcs are going to take place across entire planets. The flashpoints are not designed to be soloable, and they are also designed to be repeatable. They are also much shorter than, say, a world arc, and certainly shorter than all your class quests. They are designed to be, I think, one- to two-hour experiences"
As has been discussed here and elsewhere this game will create its own audience, if you don't want a social RPG with group content then avoid it, for those of us that do it's going to be interesting stuff, there's still a lot we don't know about it.
Simple answer:
It's not Kotor
It's in a fantasy setting.
I didn't like Gw1.
I loved all the BW games whereas arena net way of doing things left me cold.
is it fair to the game? no. It's fair enough for me though.
Basically i know what i'm getting from BW, cause i know how they make games and they are making this like Kotor and i loved that.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
okay MMO standards are saying that it's a persistent world (are we really having this discussion..again.)
Theres groups, raids, worlds arcs, normal quests, chat boxes, maps, character screen, inventory, a persistent world with other players.
While i haven't seen the raids world arcs, i have seen the normal quests, chat boxes maps character screen, inventory and a world i can explore.
This i all saw in the 15 min demo at Pax. I can understand it's hard to see from the SS but it is indeed an MMO. About on par with most and better then a lot.
I'm not in the beta (dang wish i was, i think, not sure i want it spoiled) but i gathered all this form seeing the game in less then 5 mins.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
1. Bioware has a proven record for good stories over the course of many games, Areanet doesn't.
2. GW2 may have partial VO but it's not FULLY voiced over and TOR is.
3. GW2 companions are little more than glorified pets, TOR companions add a new dimension to this aspect of an MMO.
4. I have little interest in pvp so anything GW2 may add to pvp has little interest to me. I have no great expectations of anything particularly innovative or different in TOR pvp, but I do expect it'll be good enough to satisfy what little I wish to partake in it. TOR will have warzones and open world pvp zones. The warzones will have actual mission objectives rather than the standard capture the flag fare seen in other MMOs, which is a plus for me.
5. It's beginning to sound like TOR may be the largest MMO ever made in terms of explorable territory. I don't know if that's hype, but considering the investment they've put into it, I wouldn't be terribly surprised. Even with expansions I'm betting GW2 will not compete with the overall size of TOR's game world. This is of course pure speculation and it doesn't really matter. As long as the worlds are open and explorable, which we do know they will be, I'll be happy with it.
6. Last but not least, GW2 is fantasy and I'm getting tired of the fantasy genre in MMO's. TOR is sci-fi which will be a nice change of pace, and not just any sci-fi, but Star Wars.
OP.
"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."
Try reading SWTOR news somewhere other than MMORPG. This site is home to more hate and uneducated trolling on just about every game ever made than any other 15 sites combined.
You wanna know REAL information instead of a bunc of uninformed speculation and total bullshit lies? Try looking at this thread:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/296279/Handson-play-session-reviews-from-SWTOR-players-compilation-.html
I personally have played twice now, and seen the game live 5 times.(Pax, GC, E3, GXP Germany, etc), and honestly, 99% of the shit people post here is so wrong and offbase it's like comparing Peter Griffen to Stephen Hawking. It's not even in LSCB yet and it already is the most polished engorssing game for a pre-release I have seen in over 5 years and 30odd beta test. By a HUGE margin. Hell, It played better at my very first outing than Aion did over 1 year after release. And was alot more fun.
Don't believe all the whiney bullshit on mmorpg. Just because the staff lets people ramble on about every little pet peeve people have with the games design (which the majority of the time breaks down to "I wanted X, but they are doing Y, so it sucks and will fail because I know everything about everything and if it's not exactly what I want it's trash) doesn't make it true. 90% of the people hating here actually know little to nothing beyond "fully voiced over". And thats a fuckin fact.
seriously guys i'm talking about original guild war and not the upcoming guild war 2.
And maybe i make a poor efford at getting my point across.
What i'm trying to say is the original guild war that came out around 2004 or 2005
During that time their story telling method is quite advance with voice over and in game cut scene to carry out their story telling magic. They came out around the same time with EQII and WoW. I know TOR will have better story telling system than original guild war but original guild war came out 5-6 years ago and during that time it's as advance and fanciful as TOR is going to be today.
And compare to standard MMO like WoW guild war still lag behind in term of playerbase and popularity by a huge margin even thou they received generally favourable review from critic. So in a sense i feel that most mmoer aren't really into the whole story thingy.
As for bioware story telling prowness i'm on the fence on it as i love bioware older game like baldur's gate series, kotor and even jade empire in term of story but kinda find mass effect 2 and dragon age story just acceptable. But i know that mass effect and dragon age is more complex due to bioware trying to deliver cinematic experience in line with story telling but somehow mass effect 2 feels to me like a fps+dating sim while dragon age feel like a....well you get my point.
No, that is a perfect description of WoW. SWTOR at least has a closer semblance of realism. Still not quite right even in the newest game play videos I have seen, but so much better than WoW ever thought of being. I am actually surprised that the makers of WoW haven't done some major graphics updates yet, since I have seen some older MMOs do so, but I guess they figure that since they are making a bunch of cash on what they have now then why actually invest in improving that aspect of the game. Personally I have nothing against WoW and have even checked it out a few times now, but the graphics are so 10 year old cartoon-ish, I just could not see actually paying for the game.
"If half of what you tell me is a lie, how can I believe any of it?"
1. A game developers reputation is very much a valid argument. Bioware has consistently proven itself to me over years of gaming, Areanet has not. I have no reason to choose Areanet over Bioware. I would do the same if I were buying a cabinet and had a choice between a cabinet maker I trusted and one I didn't really know very well.
2. I believe so, yes.
3. Agreed.
4. You are misunderstanding me, I'm saying that pvp is a non-factor for me in my choice. That whatever pvp TOR offers will be good enough, not because it's TOR, but because pvp just doesn't interest me that much. For all I know TORs pvp may be the greatest thing ever, so could GW2's, but it doesn't really matter to me, it's not my thing. I wouldn't care if there were none at all.
5. If that 10 miles of virtual land were filled with interesting things then yes. If it were flat, empty, and uninspiring then no. But then I don't expect TOR to be flat, empty, and uninspiring; do you?
That would be true of any game, not just TOR. I like exploration. But that said you're not really understanding me again...I think. I'm not saying that TOR will be one whole continous world, but rather so far it has 16 worlds, the smallest of which takes an hour to run from one end to the other. I'm saying that if you added those all together it's going to be the largest MMO ever created in terms of physical terrain. Each world will be different with different sights to see and a lots to explore and I like to explore.
6. You didn't ask if I were a good critic, you asked what were my reasons for choosing one over the other and I answered you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As for GW1, why would I choose an old game at this point? The game and all it's expansions would have to be selling very very cheap indeed in order for me to get it. I'd sooner buy GW2 than GW1 and might actually do so at one point or another since it's just buy to play, but it's far too late to get GW1. But if TOR is any good at all I'm sure it'll be my MMO home for years to come.
@BarakIII
Yea i guess i can agree with you on your point of view. I really hope bioware will showcase some good landscape that populate their game world. As for the the original gw reference, i was trying to point out that story driven mmo may not sell that well and i was not asking you to go play gw 1 now *facepalm*. Thou personally i like story driven mmo like guild war for it's epic plot.
But so that you know there is actually great story rpg out there other than ones produce by bioware (witcher,drakensang, divinity 2 dks, risen). Some bioware fans remind me of WoW fans....they're stuck to their "perfect" game to be able to see beauty around the world.
PS. when i buy cabinet i'll look for material used, craftmanship and design as oppose to blindly support a maker :P
Yeah there are great developers that make great stories, no denying that. I guess what we are really trying to say is that we don't believe BW is the only maker of great stories, more so to the fact that BW makes great stories.
In that fact we believe unless proven otherwise that BW can make games we will enjoy and from what we have seen here, they haven't really done anything that would steer us away (this is more for myself then for others but i think this is generally how people feel)
To use the cabinet anology. You have two cabinets. Made of the same wood and by-products. One is from a really well know company that has brought out products that you've also bought and they were of great quality. Then you have the other which is a company that has made cabinets. They are good but they don't do things the exact same way and therefore maybe the doors don't open quite the way you want them to.
Theres no problems with either cabinets. However you know the first company has made products you have enjoyed a lot. So you tend to stick with that one.
I guess it's a little bit of blind following. However if you've enjoyed everything in the past and see no reason to stop then you'll continue. You like what you like and we like what BW likes to make. Granted you should always be on the look out for better products but as of now this is what we like.
Granted if this comes out to be a bad game, clunky interface and horrible gameplay then i'll be right there with the rest of them saying BW shouldn't make these types of games because they frankly don't do them well. However until i see that happen i'm more then likely to keep following the game.
Edit: The way i see BW is as such. When a game has a Bw title i'm instantly more interested in the game then if it had another companies title on it. Merely by the fact that i've enjoyed their other games. However it's the game itself that will have to sell me, features have to be what i like to see in a game and have to have gamplay i'd be interested in. So far with the branching story arc. The crafting system. The ships you can decorate. The morphing system. All of these are features i'm interested in seeing in game. Thus i follow the game. Naturally if they start making mistakes left and right then i'll be reserved and wait for reviews. As of right now i'm going to buy the game at release and maybe pre-order to show BW that these are the types of games i'd like to see more of.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
Well i just hope that for the sake of discussion and the objectivity of it, brand name will not play into the argument as thats how the hater vs fanbois style argument started. And if mmorpg.com forumer can't critic objectively and just wants show support for their fav game company i would suggest they go else where.
Back to topic, i'm very interested in the crafting in TOR, integrating companion into crafting is a brilliant idea and add to the immersiveness of the game imo.
Having a big gameworld is definitely a plus...if anyone got any interesting video showcasing beautiful game world in TOR please do share it with me.
Imo the biggest draw of TOR to me now is that different class and faction have different storyline. But i hope the "story" doesn't just equate into VO standard mmo quest. So far i haven't seen much demonstration of how interesting the story will be in TOR.
Marketing and info release wise, imo TOR is doing a poor job for such a anticipated game, compare to it's competitor. From gameplay video from gamescom i find it not so interesting compare to it's competitor. PvP wise their trailer attempt also fail to impress me. One thing they could do to convince mmo community imo is release an example of a interesting story arch and give us a taste of how good the story telling potential could be cos as of now i would rate it as a VO better than average standard mmo quest which is very far off from what it's competitor is claiming to offer.
Oh i agree that BW is not doing a good job advertising their product. They need to show us in game footage of the things they are offering. It's really frustrating to try and convince people what you think will be great when you can't show them.
I hope that as we get closer to release we will see more of what is in game. Just my speculation but they may be waiting till a couple of months before release then really show everything. I have no proof of this myself but seems like a wise idea. That way you get a lot of people hooked on the features and they are more likely to impulse buy the product.
As for the BW argument, the brand name itself doesn't play a role in this game so much for me as just gets me interested in the game. I personally like BW games. so it has a higher chance of me liking it to.
If a company is known for continously bring out well made games then it has a greater chance of it doing that as well.
But i agree a brand name should not determine in and of itself if the game will be good. The features itself should.
I guess stating the BW name gives credences to show that BW takes the time to make good games therefore we don't see a reason they won't take the time to make a good game here (seeing as thats their trend). Whether BW does so or not here is another question all together.
Edit: in closing we are basically trying to say, hey this isn't some fly by night company that doesn't know how to make games that are both fun and win awards. This is Bw which has done both. Lets give them the benefit of the doubt before we start bashing the game in for whatever reason. They just might make a game you will enjoy.
STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC
Released on the Xbox in July 2003 and on PC in November 2003 and published by LucasArts, this was the fastest-selling Xbox game in history at the time of its release
The game has sold over 2.5 million copies to date (Xbox and PC) and spawned a successful sequel which was launched in Xmas 2004
The first Star Wars role-playing game, takes place 4000 years before the time of the films
Epic roleplaying storyline in the BioWare tradition, where the player gets to become a Jedi, following either the light or dark side of the force
Advanced, state-of-the-art graphics which pushed the envelope on both Xbox and PC
Ranked 17th best game of all time, and 3rd best Xbox game of all time at Gamerankings.com
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has won nearly 50 Game of the Year awards and over 30 RPG of the Year awards
In total the game has accumulated over 100 awards including acknowledgements for its excellence in storytelling, technology, sound and more
Thats a brief overview (i picked that one because they are trying to copy the same general idea from the Kotor games, they've made more games yeah and that doesn't tell us anything about ToR, but it's just to show in evidence they're are at least at that point a competent company that doesn't just make games on the fly to make money like so many F2P games do. Thats the only point of bringing up BW, it's to show that they have the tools and ability to make a really good game. It's not to say or should not say that ToR will be the best ever by this point alone.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft