The Sims is the biggest game franchise in history. All you do is customize, build, and craft. It is a casual game. I'd say casual players who want the ability to customize far outnumber everyone else. Sorry if that bursts everyones bubble.
And yet The SIms Online didn't work out? ever wondered why? it is because players who only want to customize do not outnumber everyone else.
Hmm, could it be because the players were unable to create custom content? I wonder. Get a clue. Yes, people want to build and create. For gods sakes, you couldn't even move items up and down in the game the way you can in Sims 3. People don't want limits on what they can build and create.
The Sims is the biggest game franchise in history. All you do is customize, build, and craft. It is a casual game. I'd say casual players who want the ability to customize far outnumber everyone else. Sorry if that bursts everyones bubble.
The Sims is the biggest game franchise in history. All you do is customize, build, and craft. It is a casual game. I'd say casual players who want the ability to customize far outnumber everyone else. Sorry if that bursts everyones bubble.
The Sims is the biggest game franchise in history. All you do is customize, build, and craft. It is a casual game. I'd say casual players who want the ability to customize far outnumber everyone else. Sorry if that bursts everyones bubble.
The Sims is the biggest game franchise in history. All you do is customize, build, and craft. It is a casual game. I'd say casual players who want the ability to customize far outnumber everyone else. Sorry if that bursts everyones bubble.
Crafting? Yeah we've decided to 'streamline' that factor. Housing? Well, you've got like... errrr... a ship. You can't customize it though. But despite it being rigid and 'uncustomizable' you can compare it to a house if you like, except it's not really a house ofcourse. It's a ship.
If I want story-driven stuff with loads of cinematics I'll play the Witcher or Dragon Age. If I want skill-based PvP I'll play League of Legends. If I want a true MMO feeling I'll play Lord of the Rings Online or Everquest. If I want voice-oved stuff I'll watch an actual movie instead thank you very much. I'd much rather see Natalie Portman doing the actual speech rather than some ugly cartoonesque figure performing a shameful display of lipsync.
Everything I've read in this editorial just screems casual, superficial and shallow. My dear God, it's Britney!
I think it'll be industry changing in that it will draw in slews of non-MMO gamers who don't have a clue what the genera is about and just lead to more crappy theme parks.
We were headed towards the metaverse people, wtf happened?
Every buzzword has to be there, everything you liked from old MMO’s. even if it is nonsense to pretend so:
‘Crafting’ in SWTOR is a new style of gameplay, so trying to make out it is alive and well is a joke. Anyone who points this out is going to be ‘hardcore’ it seems. ‘Crafting’ in SWTOR is part of their new totally solo orientated crew gameplay. You don’t have to be hardcore to see it is different, you just need a pair of eyes.
‘Housing’ in SWTOR is a spaceship, effectively a room which you cannot change. Once again if you think housing is something else or want something else, you are ‘hardcore’. I am not hardcore, I just know it’s not a bloody house! I don’t even want housing in the game, but we are not stupid, so don’t sugest housing of some kind is in SWTOR.
Every buzzword has to be there, everything you liked from old MMO’s. even if it is nonsense to pretend so:
‘Crafting’ in SWTOR is a new style of gameplay, so trying to make out it is alive and well is a joke. Anyone who points this out is going to be ‘hardcore’ it seems. ‘Crafting’ in SWTOR is part of their new totally solo orientated crew gameplay. You don’t have to be hardcore to see it is different, you just need a pair of eyes.
‘Housing’ in SWTOR is a spaceship, effectively a room which you cannot change. Once again if you think housing is something else or want something else, you are ‘hardcore’. I am not hardcore, I just know it’s not a bloody house! I don’t even want housing in the game, but we are not stupid, so don’t pretend housing is in SWTOR.
You might want to check your facts. The Q & A at comic con - Being able to decorate your house/ship, such as hang items on the wall, etc is "on the board for post launch".
Every buzzword has to be there, everything you liked from old MMO’s. even if it is nonsense to pretend so:
‘Crafting’ in SWTOR is a new style of gameplay, so trying to make out it is alive and well is a joke. Anyone who points this out is going to be ‘hardcore’ it seems. ‘Crafting’ in SWTOR is part of their new totally solo orientated crew gameplay. You don’t have to be hardcore to see it is different, you just need a pair of eyes.
‘Housing’ in SWTOR is a spaceship, effectively a room which you cannot change. Once again if you think housing is something else you are ‘hardcore’. I am not hardcore, I just know it’s not a bloody house! I don’t even want housing in the game, but we are not stupid, so don’t pretend housing is in SWTOR.
The housing is just a place to hang your hat, a place to call your own. Yeah it's not customizable (per the poster above i might be wrong on this last statement) but it's your own instance. I do wish it was more customizable, though you can customize the outside, but htese are more like upgrades.
However i completely disagree with the crafting end. To do crafting you'll need several people to outfit you. At most you could probably create the armor you need, but the trinkets and weapons at the very least would be out of your reach by yourself. You only get 3 places to put crew skills in. The best you could get is one gathering to support the crafting of the armor plus one gathering skill that you can use to trade with someone else to get your weapon and thats not including the other stuff like trinkets and weapon mods and such. Now you could create a second character but then you can do that in any game really.
As for the crafting itself. There are rare schematics (recipes) that you will have to gather and there are some as per devs that are so rare that only a handfull of people on a sever will ever have. Which means only a hanfull of people could churn out those items.
Second companions are no different then players when it comes to crafting. So you get to watch a bar go across for your companions instead of you. Now granted they could have made the crafting itself more complex ala EQ2 but you do have to weight in the items such as finding the schematics, social levels (how much the companions like you), crits and time.
They've just made it where if you want to craft a few items for yourself you can. But if you want to go all hardcore and really nail down into it. You can make some pretty great items and if your lucky to find them, some really rare ones to. Possibly be one of if not the only one with that ability to make those items.
To be completely frank, SW:TOR's crafting is the very last one i'd be worried about being done completely solo. As you would have to create a small crew of characters to outfit the one. Some do it but then some are really into the game to multibox as well.
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.
Every buzzword has to be there, everything you liked from old MMO’s. even if it is nonsense to pretend so:
‘Crafting’ in SWTOR is a new style of gameplay, so trying to make out it is alive and well is a joke. Anyone who points this out is going to be ‘hardcore’ it seems. ‘Crafting’ in SWTOR is part of their new totally solo orientated crew gameplay. You don’t have to be hardcore to see it is different, you just need a pair of eyes.
‘Housing’ in SWTOR is a spaceship, effectively a room which you cannot change. Once again if you think housing is something else or want something else, you are ‘hardcore’. I am not hardcore, I just know it’s not a bloody house! I don’t even want housing in the game, but we are not stupid, so don’t pretend housing is in SWTOR.
You might want to check your facts. The Q & A at comic con - Being able to decorate your house/ship, such as hang items on the wall, etc is "on the board for post launch".
Really now? i must have missed that...i'll have to check that out.
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.
Having a 'house' - ship or whatever - that's instanced and vieweable only to yourself is no different then having a character sheet really.
In fact, I think you can run throught this entire game and never leave evidence that you were in the world at all.
The next revoultion in MMOs will be a player alterable world done up in AAA fashion from someone with Blizzard/Sony/EA money. You can see it around the fringes right now - Xsyon, Wurm.
We're not going to get this from F2P. The F2p model dictates the developer maintain control over crafting and the economy and encourages the development of easily replicable items, not new features.
We're not going to get this from a famous IP. Famous IPs dictate that you shoot for the middle of the market, make sure everything is easy and trade immersion for quick play sessions.
It's not surprising to me that TOR will be a watered down, quick to play easy MMO. It has to be because of the nature of the IP. The only thing revolutionary that I really see about it is that it will bring in even more non-gamers. It's great that they're all having fun, but it's bad for MMOs.
It'll mean less of a voice for those of us still waiting for the Metaverse as even more people without a clue about what the genera is flood in and start spouting non-sense like 'Team Fortress' is an MMO or this little icon based crap on Facebook is an MMO.
Nothing like a blind Star Wars fan to spew rhetoric.
Nothing like blind hatred for something because it doesn't fit into your "idea" of what something should be.
Reports from beta are that people are immersed? What reports? Seriously? BS. I polled a bunch of women and was amazed to find most of them reported having boobs. Lets hand pick a bunch of Bioware fanboys and ask them if they like the kind of game they have been playing for 10 years.
Go read a beta leak site. Seriously, they aren't hard to find.
I'm the minority? Source please. Stop talking out of your back side about things you can't possibly have the foggiest idea about.
Yes, the majority of people actually enjoy well presented storylines. I'm not making some sort of ridiculous stretch here.
Revolutionizing the leveling process?
So I won't be killing 10 mobs named "insert anonymous boring name here" and returning to a "?" which oh by the way has a voice over!!! REVOLUTIONARY!!!! Because no game has had voice overs, ever ... EVER!!!!
I wont gain 10 levels in the first hour, level 20 a day or so later, level 30 3-4 days later? etc etc? I won't be grinding levels on quests which oh by they way have a voice over!!! REVOLUTIONARY!!!!
I've played Bioware games. Story is great and all, decisions are a neat little twist, but MMOs are about community, not solo questing through story lines. Revolutionary alright ... just another chink in the MMO world as now there is even less of a reason to talk to anyone else because the game talks to you!!! SUPER!!!
Do you enjoy leveling in single player Bioware games more than MMOs? I'd be hard pressed to believe that you don't, and that's all there is to it. It no way is Bioware impeding community, in fact its quite the opposite. You're actually making people want to experience and influance eachothers storylines.
Consequences? What consequences? So by making bad choices I will have a crappy character at end game? You really think that is going to happen? You are dilusional if you think the choices are going to mean anything outside of altering the story a little. They'll lose most of their player base a month after release if thats the case.
You're delusional if you think anything you do in a videogame has real consequences. It's an illusion, the whole of it. So I'm not sure what your point is. The consequences of altering a storylines are entertaining for sheer curiousity.
You talk a lot of crap but you havent said anything about what makes all of this BS revolutionary. And if you didn't want Saurfang to shut up .. then you are in the minority (there .. there's some rhetoric for you so you don't have to focus on the rest of the post). I bet you liked the voice overs in Rift too ..
When you entire focus is to repeat content add naseum for loot, then yes. I've already conceded that. I'm unsure of TOR's endgame. However, this is hardly applicable to the leveling process.
Endgame might suck you say, but the leveling process is revolutionary so we will all have to come here 5 years from now and kiss your feet? Really? Ok you wait here and in 5 years i'll stop by and hang out and you can let me know the exact moment when I can see whatever it is you are talking about ... because so far you haven't said anything that seems like SWTOR will even remotely revolutionize leveling.
You seem to be making some base confusion that I think every game will be exactly like SWTOR 5 years from now, or that SWTOR will be smashingly successful on all accounts. No, that is not the case. I do think the cinematic and voiceover storyline aspect to leveling will creep into every AAA release that begins production after SWTOR has been out. Something can be revolutionary in part, the whole game doesn't have to be. SWTOR may well fall off spectacuarly once end-game sinks in and people run out of storyline content.... that is entirely irrelevant to my point.
It wont change the industry ... its warcraft in space with light sabers. I see very little that is revolutionary or industry changing if anything.
Actually, it already has. Do you think its a mere coincidence that almost every major MMO coming out in the next year has a heavy storyline basis?
Most people have grown to hate leveling via textbox popups. Most are extremely pleased w/ the "revolutionary" change of making it a storyline sequence with cinematics, voiceovers, and storyline choices.
I can pretty much guarentee you that I will never accept anything less from my MMOs after SWTOR.
You actually think TOR started the storyline craze? What are you smoking? Every game has had a storyline bent ever since the release of Lord of the Rings Online, and that game has been out since 2007. Its time to get in touch with modern MMO's. Just because TOR is new doesn't mean anything. Almost everything in TOR has been done before.
LOTRO is no different than WoW in storyline, its a bunch of pop up text boxes using a handful of voiceovers. As I said, storyline is worthless when you wrap it in the production value of a can of dogpoo
Having a 'house' - ship or whatever - that's instanced and vieweable only to yourself is no different then having a character sheet really.
In fact, I think you can run throught this entire game and never leave evidence that you were in the world at all.
The next revoultion in MMOs will be a player alterable world done up in AAA fashion from someone with Blizzard/Sony/EA money. You can see it around the fringes right now - Xsyon, Wurm.
We're not going to get this from F2P. The F2p model dictates the developer maintain control over crafting and the economy and encourages the development of easily replicable items, not new features.
We're not going to get this from a famous IP. Famous IPs dictate that you shoot for the middle of the market, make sure everything is easy and trade immersion for quick play sessions.
It's not surprising to me that TOR will be a watered down, quick to play easy MMO. It has to be because of the nature of the IP. The only thing revolutionary that I really see about it is that it will bring in even more non-gamers. It's great that they're all having fun, but it's bad for MMOs.
It'll mean less of a voice for those of us still waiting for the Metaverse as even more people without a clue about what the genera is flood in and start spouting non-sense like 'Team Fortress' is an MMO or this little icon based crap on Facebook is an MMO.
I think you're taking this post a little too seriously, it was in the end a devils advocate article.
Arche Age is coming soon, if you're looking for something of the Sandbox variety.
The genre is better served by being diversified, TSW, GW2, AA, Zombie Labs MMO, PS2, Dust 514,World of darkness and TOR are all doing something different. The future right now to me looks to be far more diverse than has been the case since 2004.
My problem is, It seems to me many are asking for an end to this staganation, with the goal of replacing this stagnation of TP's with a stagantion of SB's. They want and expect every title to be a sandbox, that would be just as bad as the current problem.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
@Draemos - The game is nothing revolutionary. It just has voiced quests and stuff... If you want to play a game without text boxes you should wait for GW2 since it's fully voiced and has 0 text box quests since it's all about DE.
@aesperus - What makes you think the next mmo blizzard makes will take over market and be the most subscribed game of it's time? You put all your hopes in blizzard and think no other company can make a better game ? :P
GW2 is NOT fully voiced. From a Arena.net employee:
"Eric Flannum: The game isn’t fullyvoiced. We’ve tried to use it in situations that seemed most advantageous to us. For example, if a cut-scene is playing that only you’re seeing at the time we fully voice that to provide more immersion. Every time a character says something out loud in the persistent world that multiple people can hear it’s always fullyvoiced; if there are two NPCs having a conversation or a character yelling instructions or asking for help, for example.
The place where we don’t voice things are the in-depth conversations between the player and dialogue-heavy NPCs. We tend not to voice those since we find that most people will read faster than the dialogue is spoken and will want to skip ahead."
I also doubt its NPCs are fully animated in facial expressions and the variety of motion capture body movements the way they are in SWTOR. So although GW2 has some voice over, and there is some story, I don't think that's going to be their focus. GW2's main draw is probably going to be PvP.
Ahhh so that's why we have ZERO info about PvP.. nice logic you got going there;)
This is the sole purpose of why there's so much PvE info out. GW1 was indeed a more PvP oriented game in the beginning and Anet wants to change that. So they said numerous times, that the PvE and PVP focus is going to be the same. GW1 is not GW2. When will you people learn..
We have learned but doesn't change the fact that many try to spread wrong information regarding GW2 on forums and 'GW2 is fully voiced over" is just one example. As far as PVP is concerned i wouldn't say there is zero information avilable. Yes it is lacking in comparison to PVE but still players got a very good idea regarding how PVP is going to work. And only because ANET is delaying on PVP aspect doesn't mean that later on GW2's main draw won't be PVP.
It might not be "fully voiced" in a way SWTOR maybe is but main part of the game where you join to DE or personal stories is...
Regarding PvP as being main aspect of the game... don't you guys think that after all this DE and with the way they're trying to change the way we do QUESTS/EVENTS they are kinda going for PvE aspect here? Why go trough all this trouble with personal stories, events scaling and what not if in the end it's not gonna be an important part of the game... Doesn't sound logic...
"Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life." -------------------------------
I dont blindly hate the game. I have stated many times that I will be playing it. I just don't blindly swollow this BS that it is revolutionary. Stop making up crap.
Beta leak site? Do you even read posts? What do I care what a bunch of people in love with Bioware games think about an MMO? The majority of beta testers for games are people that kiss butt and have played and probably tested many of a companies other games. Of course they like be hand held through a story. That's what they have been playing.
Yea show me the poll where it was definied for everyone that the majority of people that play MMOs love story. I'm sure story is what got Blizzard 12 million subs. The people playing WoW are obviously the minority. Or better yet go look at the current best story driven game LOTR and tell me how thats working out for them.
I don't enjoy soloing in an MMO, so no. I don't enjoy leveling through story. I enjoy leveling in a group in dungeons ... or heaven forbid someone brings back elite mobs that aren't instanced. If I wanted to solo through some great story I would'nt be playing an MMO. The fact is this game is going to force story on you. You will have to sit around watching 5 mins of movie every 10 mins .. how is that even possibly considered a good thing?
Thanks for the psychology lesson. Games have had consequences pertaining to the game mostly in the way of death penalties. Good job ducking the fact that Star Wars will have no real consequences despite that being hyped as having just that, as having a story where your choices actually matter.
We're only talking about leveling? Did you actually read the initial article?
Wait .. you actually thought I was going to be here in 5 years to pretend to care whether you were right or not? You sir, win the internet.
....
and in conclusion .. you have once again not mentioned one thing that is revolutionary about anything, not even the leveling process. The leveling process will be revolutionary why? Because it has story? Sorry, but all games have some story and quite a few have quite good stories. Because it is voice-overed? Sorry but a lot of games have voice over .. because it is fully voice overed? Well if that is what you are hanging your hat on then ... once again ... it would benefit real MMO players if this whole discussion was about a LAN based SW game not another MMO full of solo players screaming in general chat for a group the second they get a group quest and ignoring everyone else asking for help the other 95% of the time.
LFD tools are great for cramming people into content, but quality > quantity. I am, usually on the sandbox .. more "hardcore" side of things, but I also do just want to have fun. So lighten up already
It wont change the industry ... its warcraft in space with light sabers. I see very little that is revolutionary or industry changing if anything.
Actually, it already has. Do you think its a mere coincidence that almost every major MMO coming out in the next year has a heavy storyline basis?
Most people have grown to hate leveling via textbox popups. Most are extremely pleased w/ the "revolutionary" change of making it a storyline sequence with cinematics, voiceovers, and storyline choices.
I can pretty much guarentee you that I will never accept anything less from my MMOs after SWTOR.
You actually think TOR started the storyline craze? What are you smoking? Every game has had a storyline bent ever since the release of Lord of the Rings Online, and that game has been out since 2007. Its time to get in touch with modern MMO's. Just because TOR is new doesn't mean anything. Almost everything in TOR has been done before.
LOTRO is no different than WoW in storyline, its a bunch of pop up text boxes using a handful of voiceovers. As I said, storyline is worthless when you wrap it in the production value of a can of dogpoo
So you would rather have millions of dollars worth of voice overs instead of actual space combat ... is a star wars game?
You think millions of dollars for voiceovers people are going to watch once is more important than swimming, actual player housing, Next Gen graphics, zones that scale so you don't run through tatooine once and then never go back, day/night cycles, a guild leveling system .. etc etc etc?
This revolutionary thing that is going to more than likely annoy the hell out of me at least for the most part ... but then I actually read books unlike a lot of the twitch based/LFD spamming folks ... could have paid for all of that and more. It better be revoutionary beyond the worthless drivel they are promoting on Youtube that contains 10 seconds of useful information wrapped around 3 minutes of meaningless banter.
LFD tools are great for cramming people into content, but quality > quantity. I am, usually on the sandbox .. more "hardcore" side of things, but I also do just want to have fun. So lighten up already
I dont blindly hate the game. I have stated many times that I will be playing it. I just don't blindly swollow this BS that it is revolutionary. Stop making up crap.
So thats why you are bashing it mercilessly, cause you don't hate it...
Beta leak site? Do you even read posts? What do I care what a bunch of people in love with Bioware games think about an MMO? The majority of beta testers for games are people that kiss butt and have played and probably tested many of a companies other games. Of course they like be hand held through a story. That's what they have been playing.
You just sound pathetic at this point.
Yea show me the poll where it was definied for everyone that the majority of people that play MMOs love story. I'm sure story is what got Blizzard 12 million subs. The people playing WoW are obviously the minority. Or better yet go look at the current best story driven game LOTR and tell me how thats working out for them.
And maybe tomorrow you'll make me show you a poll where it shows the majority of people like chocolate, cause obviously its controversial. LOTRO doesn't have the subs WoW does because its a substandard game compared to WoW, not because the writing in its pop-up text boxes (that 90% of the population skips because its a trash format for delivering story) is better/worse.
I don't enjoy soloing in an MMO, so no. I don't enjoy leveling through story. I enjoy leveling in a group in dungeons ... or heaven forbid someone brings back elite mobs that aren't instanced. If I wanted to solo through some great story I would'nt be playing an MMO. The fact is this game is going to force story on you. You will have to sit around watching 5 mins of movie every 10 mins .. how is that even possibly considered a good thing?
So your an old-school gamer bitching about new-age games. I'm so surprised... Again, you might be pleasantly surprised on your group content if you were do some research on it.
I'm assuming by this remark, you are meaning to say you don't like any single player RPG games at all? Cause thats specifically what a single player RPG game consists of. It's unsuprising that you are railing against SWTORs storylines, but its also ridiculous to think that your taste in games is an indication of the masses, especially when you look at sales numbers for games like Mass Effect, Dragonage, and Witcher.
There is a reason games like Mass Effect are so popular, and pushing that style of content into an MMO (to replace pop up text boxes) does absolutely no harm. You want it your way and you somehow think that because you want it that way... that everyone else must as well... regardless of the evidence all to the contrary. There is a reason games have moved away from that style of play, and its not just because someone wants to piss in your cheerios.
Thanks for the psychology lesson. Games have had consequences pertaining to the game mostly in the way of death penalties. Good job ducking the fact that Star Wars will have no real consequences despite that being hyped as having just that, as having a story where your choices actually matter.
We're only talking about leveling? Did you actually read the initial article?
Don't really care, I was specifically talking about leveling... as I've mentioned several times. Keep beating that drum if it makes you feel better.
Wait .. you actually thought I was going to be here in 5 years to pretend to care whether you were right or not? You sir, win the internet.
You will, in fact you'll probably still be right here on these forums bitching about the cinematics and voiceovers being in all the MMOs being released.
....
and in conclusion .. you have once again not mentioned one thing that is revolutionary about anything, not even the leveling process. The leveling process will be revolutionary why? Because it has story? Sorry, but all games have some story and quite a few have quite good stories. Because it is voice-overed? Sorry but a lot of games have voice over .. because it is fully voice overed? Well if that is what you are hanging your hat on then ... once again ... it would benefit real MMO players if this whole discussion was about a LAN based SW game not another MMO full of solo players screaming in general chat for a group the second they get a group quest and ignoring everyone else asking for help the other 95% of the time.
It's obvious that the revolutionary step is a fully voice, cinematic, personal storylines w/ dark/light choices that affect how your storyline develops, along w/ romance plotlines, multiple companions w/ their own unique stories, and a conversation system that allows for multiple people to collectively effect conversation and plotlines. That's what I'm hanging my hat on.
"Fact: While well respected amongst the industry, niche players such as yourself make up a small population and, therefore (and here's the sad truth of it) a small percentage of the income rolling in."
Really? I'm going to go ahead and agree with StormwindX above; the quality and tone of MMORPG.com articles has been steadily devolving into condescending, trite nonsense. Do you have some sort of reference for this totally ridiculous statement you made in your article, or did you just pull it out of your arse because you felt like it?
In reality, what real damage is done if modern MMO's allow things like customizable housing? Just like most modern MMO's allow you to ignore PvP if you don't wish to participate, nobody is FORCING you to buy a house and decorate it.
Some of us like the additional layer of immersion having a "home" of our own affords us.
But things for basically giving us all the finger and calling us the minority. If the majority are the kind of people keeping World of Warcraft alive, I'll proudly stick a label on myself as "Niche gamer."
This site has really gone to garbage.
You sort of defeated your own argument "Some of us enjoy that" and yes you are right some people do, my self included enjoy the base building, deep crafting gameplay. But he is right that this kind of gameplay is CURRENTLY seen as the minority interest and a game thats going after mass appeal will go for feature sets that appeal to the most people.
Succeed or fail ToR will be the biggest impact on the MMO Scene since wow (Sorry Guild wars 2, I love you with my heart but the truth is we are a cult, not a religion). If it succeeds it will ensure Story based game play High levels of polish and massive scale are the foundations of triple A MMos of the future.
If ToR fails it will likely set MMOs back years, and not in a good way, think how stagnant this genre would be if there had been no wow, yes wow is responsible for mainstreaming MMOs and bringing that culture. But blizzard are also responsible for raising the bar in terms of quality and polish, (something that Funcom, Sony, Square and other companies have yet to show they can live up to, since Wow only Rift has launched with anything like a launch ready game) Big investments in MMOS wont happen on the same scale, projects will be culled and gaming will move towards a different direction.
ToR is a crossroads for the industry in many ways maybe not the emotive ones of the minority hardcore gamer but in ways that affect us in more practical levels, ToR will influence if money is available for ambitious projects going forward.
Digital Deluxe Edition Pre-ordered, cant wait personally.
It wont change the industry ... its warcraft in space with light sabers. I see very little that is revolutionary or industry changing if anything.
Actually, it already has. Do you think its a mere coincidence that almost every major MMO coming out in the next year has a heavy storyline basis?
Most people have grown to hate leveling via textbox popups. Most are extremely pleased w/ the "revolutionary" change of making it a storyline sequence with cinematics, voiceovers, and storyline choices.
I can pretty much guarentee you that I will never accept anything less from my MMOs after SWTOR.
You actually think TOR started the storyline craze? What are you smoking? Every game has had a storyline bent ever since the release of Lord of the Rings Online, and that game has been out since 2007. Its time to get in touch with modern MMO's. Just because TOR is new doesn't mean anything. Almost everything in TOR has been done before.
LOTRO is no different than WoW in storyline, its a bunch of pop up text boxes using a handful of voiceovers. As I said, storyline is worthless when you wrap it in the production value of a can of dogpoo
So you would rather have millions of dollars worth of voice overs instead of actual space combat ... is a star wars game?
You think millions of dollars for voiceovers people are going to watch once is more important than swimming, actual player housing, Next Gen graphics, zones that scale so you don't run through tatooine once and then never go back, day/night cycles, a guild leveling system .. etc etc etc?
This revolutionary thing that is going to more than likely annoy the hell out of me at least for the most part ... but then I actually read books unlike a lot of the twitch based/LFD spamming folks ... could have paid for all of that and more. It better be revoutionary beyond the worthless drivel they are promoting on Youtube that contains 10 seconds of useful information wrapped around 3 minutes of meaningless banter.
If I wanted Space Combat, I'd play a game engine dedicated to space combat. Not a bastardized engine that does one or the other poorly. Personally I'd have rather they left space combat out entirely, and introduced it as a full blown expansion at a later date.
I don't give a rat's ass about swimming. It's a waste of animation resources in my opinion, I'd rather those resources be used on more combat animations.
The spaceships are perfectly adequate player housing, and uniquely done... although I do hope they have more customization options in the future. In-game non-instanced housing never works out well, if thats what you are pushing at.
Next Gen Graphics would be great, but you alienate too large of your customer base. It's not practical from a business standpoint, and thus has no relevance.
Scaling Zones is completely dependant on how they develope the game from a day 1 standpoint. They chose not to go in that direction, and funding or voice-acting has nothing to do with it.
Day/Night cycles are good for sandbox games that have meaning attached to them, and basically meaningless, or even intrusive (see Aion), for themeparks.
Guild leveling systems will make there way into the game in time, just as they do every AAA game thats been released. I certainly wouldn't place guild leveling over voice-acting... or any meaningful system really.
Twitch based combat was never going to make its way into a game of this magnitude. Bioware/EA have too much money riding on it for action based combat systems (that have traditionally bombed in other MMOs).
If you like Mass Effect or KOTOR, you'll like SWTOR. If you don't, I'm completely at a loss why you are even following this game. You will be disappointed.
I'm coming at this game from a different point of view then what I think most people are. I didn't like KOTOR. I never tried KOTOR2. I don't like RPGs in general. My initial fear for TOR that it was going to be a multiplayer KOTOR3. With recent news I have laid that fear to rest.
I've played SWG since it's beta. SWG was my first MMO. Over the years I've tried others and they've all failed to hold my attention for largely the same reason, which is that as far as character creation goes, and character movement, SWG has spoiled me with the motion capture system they used. The other games look too "fake" for me. WOW, and TOR (from what I've seen) are exceptions because they are meant to look "cartoony" and I can live with that.
Part of the reason I pre-ordered this game because I expect it to be, at the very least, a Star Wars "version" of WOW. Sounds kinda crazy, but that is all that it will take for me to play and enjoy the game. That isn't to say that I don't WANT more out of it, because I do. Some things I want out of it (a completely open free to roam space environment to match SWG's JTL) I know I'm not going to get at launch, or if at all.
A COMPLEX crafting system, again referencing SWG, I know it's not going to happen. (I actually like the "get my hands dirty" crafting system.)
The other part of the reason I pre-ordered the game is because of it's potential. With Bioware making it, it has potential to grow far beyond what it will be at launch. It's that potential that I'm very curious about, and will cause me to be a subscriber for the game.
Yep, I love star wars, and I hate single player mmos. Funny how these days things have to be a contradiction to work.
Im pathetic because you tried to make the point that it is proven that people love story lines but haven't actually given any proof of it? Nice bubble you live in there.
90% Nice name drop! Is it sore yet? And TOR will not be as good as wow out of the box either and will ikely suffere a similar fate, just like every other wow clone with 1/2 of a "revolutionary" thing tacked on and 2/3s the actual meat behind it. I hope it doesn't I like the game play of KOTOR and I like the old star wars and some of the new .. but this is a big money grab with a big "story" smoke screen on top of it from what I can see.
Assume away, but some people play different types of games. Just because I like to play MMOs with other people doesn't mean I don't play RPGs, Civ, NCAA, etc etc. Maybe you only play movies?
I am not the one trying to force single player game content onto the mmo community as if it is the freakin savior. Stop spewing this rhetorical crap and actually make a point instead of baseless telling me I want things my way. I'm simply stating that this isn't revolutionary. Story isn't revolutionary.
People don't skip quests because text is a bad format they skip quests because story doesn't matter. The whole genre evolved from text and the ability to write your own story, not follow along some pre-written path.
I don't and wont care much what you say now or in ten years from now and if mmos all become single player games with chat boxes where people bitch for help when they need it and ignore everyone else when they don't .. I wont be playing them. What the purpose of paying a subscription for a single player game?
SWG had space combat in an MMO. Bioware has done space combat. If they had put 1/2 as much effort into space combat as they did in voice overs we wouldn't be having this conversation ..
Everything else in the list of things that don't matter is going to be a complete departure from standard MMO content except twitch. Revolutionary alright .. in the wrong direction. Most other game coming out already has guild systems in it ... but of course you knew that cuz you have played something besides single player story based games before.
SWG also had a much better crafting system, as do most popular MMOs ... yet another corner cut in the name of the revolution!!!
Im more and more convinced this game is not going to hold my attention past 1 play through. Same complaint I and many had about AoC's starter area .. boring story driven garbage.
And I am interested in it / following it because most of the people I play games with are going to play it for a while, and that is why I play MMOs. To play with friends. Plus, light sabers will be fun for a little while.
LFD tools are great for cramming people into content, but quality > quantity. I am, usually on the sandbox .. more "hardcore" side of things, but I also do just want to have fun. So lighten up already
I agree that SW TOR will change the industry. The rest of the article is poorly written and poorly edited. The writer also gets some facts wrong. Obsidian did the NWN series and KOTOR II.
How SW TOR will change the industry, exactly, remains to be seen. I suspect that devs will start thinking "people want space MMOs now" and focus on that. The reality is though, people are getting tired of less-than-perfect MMO presentation.
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Also, the reason WoW was sucessful was a combination of luck in the timing, popular IP (if the harry potter mmo came out it would have been the same), the fact that young kids have always been able to play the game farily easily (easy control/UI), and the ability to play the game on junk computers. Take away any of these apsects and the game would fail now.
Mass Effect 2 felt like a ripple in the industry of 3d games. The only way to explain it is that if felt like I was a character in a movie, playing a role in a movie. Everything felt so dramatic. It did not feel at all like I was just spectating and watching a movie. No, I felt like I was actually a character involved in a huge epic story, and it was a movie. lol Is that enough to change the industry?
I'm expecting SWTOR to be similar to that in an MMO form. MMOs have tried to be more "movie-like" where the player feels like they are inside of a movie, not sitting back watching a movie. But no one as achieved it. If SWTOR can pull it off this will probably be a ripple in the MMO industry. Traditional cinema actors, directors, producers will be much more insterested in MMOs.
In the long run it's easy to see onling games and movies merging to create hybrids. The same way that PDAs and mobile phones merged into smartphones. It's rare to see a phone that isn't a pda or a pda that isn't a phone these days.
Comments
Hmm, could it be because the players were unable to create custom content? I wonder. Get a clue. Yes, people want to build and create. For gods sakes, you couldn't even move items up and down in the game the way you can in Sims 3. People don't want limits on what they can build and create.
Its more successful than both Mario and Pokemon.
Nope you're wrong on Mario.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_(series)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-9920327-52.html
Mario sold 200 million copies total of all its games.
Sims sold half of that at 100 million.
Actually its the fourth best selling game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_game_franchises
Oy. *rolls eyes*
So it's basically a watered-down themepark-MMO?
Crafting? Yeah we've decided to 'streamline' that factor. Housing? Well, you've got like... errrr... a ship. You can't customize it though. But despite it being rigid and 'uncustomizable' you can compare it to a house if you like, except it's not really a house ofcourse. It's a ship.
If I want story-driven stuff with loads of cinematics I'll play the Witcher or Dragon Age. If I want skill-based PvP I'll play League of Legends. If I want a true MMO feeling I'll play Lord of the Rings Online or Everquest. If I want voice-oved stuff I'll watch an actual movie instead thank you very much. I'd much rather see Natalie Portman doing the actual speech rather than some ugly cartoonesque figure performing a shameful display of lipsync.
Everything I've read in this editorial just screems casual, superficial and shallow. My dear God, it's Britney!
I think it'll be industry changing in that it will draw in slews of non-MMO gamers who don't have a clue what the genera is about and just lead to more crappy theme parks.
We were headed towards the metaverse people, wtf happened?
Every buzzword has to be there, everything you liked from old MMO’s. even if it is nonsense to pretend so:
‘Crafting’ in SWTOR is a new style of gameplay, so trying to make out it is alive and well is a joke. Anyone who points this out is going to be ‘hardcore’ it seems. ‘Crafting’ in SWTOR is part of their new totally solo orientated crew gameplay. You don’t have to be hardcore to see it is different, you just need a pair of eyes.
‘Housing’ in SWTOR is a spaceship, effectively a room which you cannot change. Once again if you think housing is something else or want something else, you are ‘hardcore’. I am not hardcore, I just know it’s not a bloody house! I don’t even want housing in the game, but we are not stupid, so don’t sugest housing of some kind is in SWTOR.
You might want to check your facts. The Q & A at comic con - Being able to decorate your house/ship, such as hang items on the wall, etc is "on the board for post launch".
The housing is just a place to hang your hat, a place to call your own. Yeah it's not customizable (per the poster above i might be wrong on this last statement) but it's your own instance. I do wish it was more customizable, though you can customize the outside, but htese are more like upgrades.
However i completely disagree with the crafting end. To do crafting you'll need several people to outfit you. At most you could probably create the armor you need, but the trinkets and weapons at the very least would be out of your reach by yourself. You only get 3 places to put crew skills in. The best you could get is one gathering to support the crafting of the armor plus one gathering skill that you can use to trade with someone else to get your weapon and thats not including the other stuff like trinkets and weapon mods and such. Now you could create a second character but then you can do that in any game really.
As for the crafting itself. There are rare schematics (recipes) that you will have to gather and there are some as per devs that are so rare that only a handfull of people on a sever will ever have. Which means only a hanfull of people could churn out those items.
Second companions are no different then players when it comes to crafting. So you get to watch a bar go across for your companions instead of you. Now granted they could have made the crafting itself more complex ala EQ2 but you do have to weight in the items such as finding the schematics, social levels (how much the companions like you), crits and time.
They've just made it where if you want to craft a few items for yourself you can. But if you want to go all hardcore and really nail down into it. You can make some pretty great items and if your lucky to find them, some really rare ones to. Possibly be one of if not the only one with that ability to make those items.
To be completely frank, SW:TOR's crafting is the very last one i'd be worried about being done completely solo. As you would have to create a small crew of characters to outfit the one. Some do it but then some are really into the game to multibox as well.
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.
Really now? i must have missed that...i'll have to check that out.
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.
Having a 'house' - ship or whatever - that's instanced and vieweable only to yourself is no different then having a character sheet really.
In fact, I think you can run throught this entire game and never leave evidence that you were in the world at all.
The next revoultion in MMOs will be a player alterable world done up in AAA fashion from someone with Blizzard/Sony/EA money. You can see it around the fringes right now - Xsyon, Wurm.
We're not going to get this from F2P. The F2p model dictates the developer maintain control over crafting and the economy and encourages the development of easily replicable items, not new features.
We're not going to get this from a famous IP. Famous IPs dictate that you shoot for the middle of the market, make sure everything is easy and trade immersion for quick play sessions.
It's not surprising to me that TOR will be a watered down, quick to play easy MMO. It has to be because of the nature of the IP. The only thing revolutionary that I really see about it is that it will bring in even more non-gamers. It's great that they're all having fun, but it's bad for MMOs.
It'll mean less of a voice for those of us still waiting for the Metaverse as even more people without a clue about what the genera is flood in and start spouting non-sense like 'Team Fortress' is an MMO or this little icon based crap on Facebook is an MMO.
LOTRO is no different than WoW in storyline, its a bunch of pop up text boxes using a handful of voiceovers. As I said, storyline is worthless when you wrap it in the production value of a can of dogpoo
I think you're taking this post a little too seriously, it was in the end a devils advocate article.
Arche Age is coming soon, if you're looking for something of the Sandbox variety.
The genre is better served by being diversified, TSW, GW2, AA, Zombie Labs MMO, PS2, Dust 514,World of darkness and TOR are all doing something different. The future right now to me looks to be far more diverse than has been the case since 2004.
My problem is, It seems to me many are asking for an end to this staganation, with the goal of replacing this stagnation of TP's with a stagantion of SB's. They want and expect every title to be a sandbox, that would be just as bad as the current problem.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
It might not be "fully voiced" in a way SWTOR maybe is but main part of the game where you join to DE or personal stories is...
Regarding PvP as being main aspect of the game... don't you guys think that after all this DE and with the way they're trying to change the way we do QUESTS/EVENTS they are kinda going for PvE aspect here? Why go trough all this trouble with personal stories, events scaling and what not if in the end it's not gonna be an important part of the game... Doesn't sound logic...
"Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life."
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I dont blindly hate the game. I have stated many times that I will be playing it. I just don't blindly swollow this BS that it is revolutionary. Stop making up crap.
Beta leak site? Do you even read posts? What do I care what a bunch of people in love with Bioware games think about an MMO? The majority of beta testers for games are people that kiss butt and have played and probably tested many of a companies other games. Of course they like be hand held through a story. That's what they have been playing.
Yea show me the poll where it was definied for everyone that the majority of people that play MMOs love story. I'm sure story is what got Blizzard 12 million subs. The people playing WoW are obviously the minority. Or better yet go look at the current best story driven game LOTR and tell me how thats working out for them.
I don't enjoy soloing in an MMO, so no. I don't enjoy leveling through story. I enjoy leveling in a group in dungeons ... or heaven forbid someone brings back elite mobs that aren't instanced. If I wanted to solo through some great story I would'nt be playing an MMO. The fact is this game is going to force story on you. You will have to sit around watching 5 mins of movie every 10 mins .. how is that even possibly considered a good thing?
Thanks for the psychology lesson. Games have had consequences pertaining to the game mostly in the way of death penalties. Good job ducking the fact that Star Wars will have no real consequences despite that being hyped as having just that, as having a story where your choices actually matter.
We're only talking about leveling? Did you actually read the initial article?
Wait .. you actually thought I was going to be here in 5 years to pretend to care whether you were right or not? You sir, win the internet.
....
and in conclusion .. you have once again not mentioned one thing that is revolutionary about anything, not even the leveling process. The leveling process will be revolutionary why? Because it has story? Sorry, but all games have some story and quite a few have quite good stories. Because it is voice-overed? Sorry but a lot of games have voice over .. because it is fully voice overed? Well if that is what you are hanging your hat on then ... once again ... it would benefit real MMO players if this whole discussion was about a LAN based SW game not another MMO full of solo players screaming in general chat for a group the second they get a group quest and ignoring everyone else asking for help the other 95% of the time.
LFD tools are great for cramming people into content, but quality > quantity.
I am, usually on the sandbox .. more "hardcore" side of things, but I also do just want to have fun. So lighten up already
So you would rather have millions of dollars worth of voice overs instead of actual space combat ... is a star wars game?
You think millions of dollars for voiceovers people are going to watch once is more important than swimming, actual player housing, Next Gen graphics, zones that scale so you don't run through tatooine once and then never go back, day/night cycles, a guild leveling system .. etc etc etc?
This revolutionary thing that is going to more than likely annoy the hell out of me at least for the most part ... but then I actually read books unlike a lot of the twitch based/LFD spamming folks ... could have paid for all of that and more. It better be revoutionary beyond the worthless drivel they are promoting on Youtube that contains 10 seconds of useful information wrapped around 3 minutes of meaningless banter.
LFD tools are great for cramming people into content, but quality > quantity.
I am, usually on the sandbox .. more "hardcore" side of things, but I also do just want to have fun. So lighten up already
You sort of defeated your own argument "Some of us enjoy that" and yes you are right some people do, my self included enjoy the base building, deep crafting gameplay. But he is right that this kind of gameplay is CURRENTLY seen as the minority interest and a game thats going after mass appeal will go for feature sets that appeal to the most people.
Succeed or fail ToR will be the biggest impact on the MMO Scene since wow (Sorry Guild wars 2, I love you with my heart but the truth is we are a cult, not a religion). If it succeeds it will ensure Story based game play High levels of polish and massive scale are the foundations of triple A MMos of the future.
If ToR fails it will likely set MMOs back years, and not in a good way, think how stagnant this genre would be if there had been no wow, yes wow is responsible for mainstreaming MMOs and bringing that culture. But blizzard are also responsible for raising the bar in terms of quality and polish, (something that Funcom, Sony, Square and other companies have yet to show they can live up to, since Wow only Rift has launched with anything like a launch ready game) Big investments in MMOS wont happen on the same scale, projects will be culled and gaming will move towards a different direction.
ToR is a crossroads for the industry in many ways maybe not the emotive ones of the minority hardcore gamer but in ways that affect us in more practical levels, ToR will influence if money is available for ambitious projects going forward.
Digital Deluxe Edition Pre-ordered, cant wait personally.
If I wanted Space Combat, I'd play a game engine dedicated to space combat. Not a bastardized engine that does one or the other poorly. Personally I'd have rather they left space combat out entirely, and introduced it as a full blown expansion at a later date.
I don't give a rat's ass about swimming. It's a waste of animation resources in my opinion, I'd rather those resources be used on more combat animations.
The spaceships are perfectly adequate player housing, and uniquely done... although I do hope they have more customization options in the future. In-game non-instanced housing never works out well, if thats what you are pushing at.
Next Gen Graphics would be great, but you alienate too large of your customer base. It's not practical from a business standpoint, and thus has no relevance.
Scaling Zones is completely dependant on how they develope the game from a day 1 standpoint. They chose not to go in that direction, and funding or voice-acting has nothing to do with it.
Day/Night cycles are good for sandbox games that have meaning attached to them, and basically meaningless, or even intrusive (see Aion), for themeparks.
Guild leveling systems will make there way into the game in time, just as they do every AAA game thats been released. I certainly wouldn't place guild leveling over voice-acting... or any meaningful system really.
Twitch based combat was never going to make its way into a game of this magnitude. Bioware/EA have too much money riding on it for action based combat systems (that have traditionally bombed in other MMOs).
If you like Mass Effect or KOTOR, you'll like SWTOR. If you don't, I'm completely at a loss why you are even following this game. You will be disappointed.
I'm coming at this game from a different point of view then what I think most people are. I didn't like KOTOR. I never tried KOTOR2. I don't like RPGs in general. My initial fear for TOR that it was going to be a multiplayer KOTOR3. With recent news I have laid that fear to rest.
I've played SWG since it's beta. SWG was my first MMO. Over the years I've tried others and they've all failed to hold my attention for largely the same reason, which is that as far as character creation goes, and character movement, SWG has spoiled me with the motion capture system they used. The other games look too "fake" for me. WOW, and TOR (from what I've seen) are exceptions because they are meant to look "cartoony" and I can live with that.
Part of the reason I pre-ordered this game because I expect it to be, at the very least, a Star Wars "version" of WOW. Sounds kinda crazy, but that is all that it will take for me to play and enjoy the game. That isn't to say that I don't WANT more out of it, because I do. Some things I want out of it (a completely open free to roam space environment to match SWG's JTL) I know I'm not going to get at launch, or if at all.
A COMPLEX crafting system, again referencing SWG, I know it's not going to happen. (I actually like the "get my hands dirty" crafting system.)
The other part of the reason I pre-ordered the game is because of it's potential. With Bioware making it, it has potential to grow far beyond what it will be at launch. It's that potential that I'm very curious about, and will cause me to be a subscriber for the game.
Yep, I love star wars, and I hate single player mmos. Funny how these days things have to be a contradiction to work.
Im pathetic because you tried to make the point that it is proven that people love story lines but haven't actually given any proof of it? Nice bubble you live in there.
90% Nice name drop! Is it sore yet? And TOR will not be as good as wow out of the box either and will ikely suffere a similar fate, just like every other wow clone with 1/2 of a "revolutionary" thing tacked on and 2/3s the actual meat behind it. I hope it doesn't I like the game play of KOTOR and I like the old star wars and some of the new .. but this is a big money grab with a big "story" smoke screen on top of it from what I can see.
Assume away, but some people play different types of games. Just because I like to play MMOs with other people doesn't mean I don't play RPGs, Civ, NCAA, etc etc. Maybe you only play movies?
I am not the one trying to force single player game content onto the mmo community as if it is the freakin savior. Stop spewing this rhetorical crap and actually make a point instead of baseless telling me I want things my way. I'm simply stating that this isn't revolutionary. Story isn't revolutionary.
People don't skip quests because text is a bad format they skip quests because story doesn't matter. The whole genre evolved from text and the ability to write your own story, not follow along some pre-written path.
I don't and wont care much what you say now or in ten years from now and if mmos all become single player games with chat boxes where people bitch for help when they need it and ignore everyone else when they don't .. I wont be playing them. What the purpose of paying a subscription for a single player game?
SWG had space combat in an MMO. Bioware has done space combat. If they had put 1/2 as much effort into space combat as they did in voice overs we wouldn't be having this conversation ..
Everything else in the list of things that don't matter is going to be a complete departure from standard MMO content except twitch. Revolutionary alright .. in the wrong direction. Most other game coming out already has guild systems in it ... but of course you knew that cuz you have played something besides single player story based games before.
SWG also had a much better crafting system, as do most popular MMOs ... yet another corner cut in the name of the revolution!!!
Im more and more convinced this game is not going to hold my attention past 1 play through. Same complaint I and many had about AoC's starter area .. boring story driven garbage.
And I am interested in it / following it because most of the people I play games with are going to play it for a while, and that is why I play MMOs. To play with friends. Plus, light sabers will be fun for a little while.
LFD tools are great for cramming people into content, but quality > quantity.
I am, usually on the sandbox .. more "hardcore" side of things, but I also do just want to have fun. So lighten up already
I agree that SW TOR will change the industry. The rest of the article is poorly written and poorly edited. The writer also gets some facts wrong. Obsidian did the NWN series and KOTOR II.
How SW TOR will change the industry, exactly, remains to be seen. I suspect that devs will start thinking "people want space MMOs now" and focus on that. The reality is though, people are getting tired of less-than-perfect MMO presentation.
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Mass Effect 2 felt like a ripple in the industry of 3d games. The only way to explain it is that if felt like I was a character in a movie, playing a role in a movie. Everything felt so dramatic. It did not feel at all like I was just spectating and watching a movie. No, I felt like I was actually a character involved in a huge epic story, and it was a movie. lol Is that enough to change the industry?
I'm expecting SWTOR to be similar to that in an MMO form. MMOs have tried to be more "movie-like" where the player feels like they are inside of a movie, not sitting back watching a movie. But no one as achieved it. If SWTOR can pull it off this will probably be a ripple in the MMO industry. Traditional cinema actors, directors, producers will be much more insterested in MMOs.
In the long run it's easy to see onling games and movies merging to create hybrids. The same way that PDAs and mobile phones merged into smartphones. It's rare to see a phone that isn't a pda or a pda that isn't a phone these days.