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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Great Expectations
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
MMORPG.com Community Manager Michael Bitton continues his look at Star Wars: The Old Republic. In this week's column, Mike discusses expectations and the effect that recent announcements from Bioware have had on those expectations. Find out what Mike dreams about for SWTOR, the current state of those dreams based on new information and then add your own thoughts to the discussion on our forums.
That brings us to this week’s topic: expectations. There are many different camps of gamers who are very much looking forward to this game, but our expectations sometimes differ quite a bit. This difference could not be illustrated any better than the hoopla that has followed the recent announcement of space combat in Star Wars: The Old Republic, which has been a divisive issue in the community to say the least. Clear through the smoke and the real truth to be found here is something many of us have known for some time: no matter what Bioware does there are going to be many people disappointed or let down by the final result for all manner of reasons.
Read more SWTOR: Great Expectations.
Comments
I expect it to successfully combine a BioWare RPG with a modern MMO. That is what they set out to do and that is what I expect.
I don't expect much else.
Although that single expectation already comprises that there should be a high degree of persistance, of storytelling, that there should be ample opportunity to group and that there should be things like PvP present.
Furthermore, each of them should be meaningful in order to be successful.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
Being a long time Bioware fan, my expectation has always been that this would be a great Bioware game. I also consider the original Knights of the Old Republic to be one of my very favorite single-player RPGs of all time... if not my absolute favorite.
I have only ever wanted this game to be true to the Bioware RPG tradition and to the KOTOR universe. From everything I have seen and read so far, it looks like it will be. None of my beloved Bioware games ever included anything akin to a space sim like Jump To Light Speed, so I really don't care that it is absent from the game. As long as they stay true to KOTOR and make the game fun, I will be a happy camper come 2011.
I think I will only really be disappointed if Bioware somehow manages to screw up their own tried and true formula...
Looks like it will be pretty sweet. I do wish it was rated M with sexy chicks and gore but its cool. I never played SWG but from what my friends tell me about it I hope some elements make it into this game depth, crafting, housing, ect. 2011 is gona be hard for me with this Tera, GW2, Black Prophesy all lookin good. Still playin AOC but I need to limit myself to 2 subs so its gona be a hard choice.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can
be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard
I expect it to be a story heavy game and detailed since that is what Bioware does best i am sure it will be fun and i am glad that space combat is a mini game. Some one else pointed out that all the iconic starwars moments were an on rails type of action sequence most noteable the destruction of the deathstar. It is frusterating to me that any game that has starwars attached to it has to be drug down by the incessant whining of "SWG vets" that cant after this long get over it. Its a new and different game with a different development team that has a reputation of making really good RPG's with great storys and gameplay. If you expect anything less or different out of ToR you are going to be sorely dissapointed. In short stop crying about NGE and stop latching on to every starwars game and dragging it down with your emotional baggage.
Space combat seems to be a side issue taking on to much importance, and with out actually playing the game and rating the fun aspect of it, critiquing it seems like dissecting a frog with out the frog.
No matter what, you can't please everyone. Initially I would have said "if you touch a known IP.." but now I realize it doesn't matter.
If it's a known IP, there will always be those "Han Shot First"ers who see it how they see it. Lucas himself could write this game and there'd be loud complainers. People whine, it's a fact.
However, even games with no known IP (CoH, EQ, etc), people develop expectation in a vacuum and then are irked when these imaginary terms aren't met.
In the end, Bioware should pick it's vision, stay true to that vision, and make the game they want. Lots of people will buy and play it, some will complain, but cater to their target audience, their defined demographic, they'll be fine.
This game is pretty much a disappointment to me. When you remove the Star Wars theme from the game, it looks just like every other MMO that came before it being heralded as the next big thing. The combat videos look exactly like WoW, EQ2, WAR, AoC, LOTRO, Aion, etc. The space combat is on the rails, which is a completely botched opportunity to make something that could have set this game apart from other "AAA" disasters. There is little information about the end game which should frighten people.
After you played through the story, seen all the cutscenes, listened to all the voice acting, there will be nothing. You can reroll to relive the story over again as a different character, or you can quit. I love Bioware as much as the next guy with their single player games, but outside of the IP the gameplay looks recylced from the MMO graveyard. With one of the biggest budgets for a video game, it's amazing to me that they are doubling down on a failed formula that will have 70% of the players leaving by the 90 day mark. Considering they need to sustain a million people for an extended length of time to break even, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to see how this could be a recipe for disaster.
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But see , you are doing the same thing others are doing .. making assumptions. How do you know that there is no Content after the Story is over ?!? Do you have some magic insight into the Game that the rest of us dont have ?!? People need to chill and stop assuming this and that. We know very little about the actual game and its full blown Content , so why go around throwing fiction ?!?
I`ll guarantee you this game will do well and will bring in loads of Bioware Fans that never even touched an MMO in their life. They will play it and they`ll love it.
Just like the People above , I expect a good Bioware RPG and nothing more.
Expectations for me usually lead to disapointment, I think to long and hard (thats what she said) about it.
I'm trying not to have high expectations, I do know Bioware never has disapointed me (although I didn't really get in to Dragon Age, like some).
Yea on rails is rather disapointing, I loved SWG space where I could park and sit, go where I wanted, or chill out in my Yacht 'club' with my friends.
As well as being the best Starfighter in the Galaxy, I hope to have that opportunity again in TOR.
I expect it to be a fun, lasting adventure. Nothing more. Nothing less.
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
Truthfully people need to chill out about this. This isnt a SWG and truthfully 50% think its gonna be...its not. Thank god its not SOE. Basically what they have here is instanced space combat which I think is a great idea. why? well lets look a SWG since everybody is expecting a SWTOR to be that game even though its made by different publishers SWG space combat was dull! dull as crap! and grinding in space was fricking lame to! NOW! there just letting us hope in and blow up crap and maybe even pvp! instead of ok well I gotta grind on land but NOW i have to grind in space! with the care bear people around they wouldnt be happy. You will hope in break the grind and have tons of fun blowing up crap....its a great idea. Also its 2 different companys making the game...if u were making a game would u want it the same as that same game before you that failed? If you dont remeber back in the day with SWG the INCREDIBLE whining about space combat and blah blah blah. Truthfully with your article poeple are gonna start even whining even more about it BUT im sure everyone that is whinning about it will still play but they looked at this game with expectations that is gonna be SWG its not! they didnt even have to add space combat and if its that bother some just remove it. Personally i think everybodys expectations are getting little to high FOR what a company can do for example(everybody likes to compare SWG) swg didnt release space combat until the expansion came out then why ur expecting it now? i will repeat THIS ISNT SWG MADE BY SOE! THIS IS SWTOR BY BIOWARE! If SWG didnt exist i gurantee u guys wouldnt have a prob about the space combat. Think about it!
P.S. Chill out fan boys this is my thoughts and facts. Please dont attack my grammar and spelling im hungarian i can speak 3 languages. can u?
Well as a X-Wing, Tie-Fighter and SWG veteran I am disappointed too. But after the disappointing StarTrek Online my expectations for all new mmos are very low.
Besides the space combat I have the feeling that SWG somehow spoiled me for all other mmos. Especialy the lack of crafting complexity and housing in most of them. I have the feeling the MMOs are all aiming very low. In Ultima and a few of the following mmos I realy had the feeling that they devs aim for a "living and breathing world" - for more then an ordinary solo RPG. But most of the new games just aim for beeing not much more then a (very bad) Diablo clone where you meet in a city instead of a chatroom. And even a lot of the gamejournalists don't expect much. I remember an interview with the SWTOR devs where someone ask if there are Badges like the ones in the Tie-Figther games or if this is asking for too much. In my opinion an mmo should always deliver much more then a solo game - I mean you pay the equivalent of a game all 3 months.
Sometimes I realy have the feeling that the MMO marked is degrading, no wonder that no one beats WoW. Most times I read about mmos and expansions and then remember the resource gathering and crafting in SWG or how you could spend 20+h decorating a single house or the space combat and wonder if there will ever be such a game again. When friends tell me how the enjoy the dances in WoW or playing with the auction house I always start to tell stories about how much better dancing and business where SWG
well i went back and tried the swg 14 day trial and I have to sya they've cleaned the game up some. bugs are still there and graphics glitches but the whole open world is really still captivating and fun to explore. I doubt biowares game is going to have the same feel.
so say we all
Another whiny article about space combat?! COME ON!
Get over it and write some interesting stuff. I'm just about getting sick of all the whining and nagging on this particular subject. It's not important in this mmorpg. If you want to fly a ship, go play EVE. End of. SW:TOR is not a space flight game. It's not. NOT.
OKAY?! Ok.
Just a side comment on Bioware in general - if they pump out content as fast as they did with Dragon Age, they could save face. Now Dragon Age II is slated to launch in March of next year. They just might want to stick with the single player COPRG style like Guild Wars and pump out expansions to keep us wanting more.
Dunno what will happen, but just posting another what if..
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you can speak 3 languages but can you type coherently in any of them up there?
so say we all
This is actually kinda funny. I LOL'D hard when u said...
When you remove the Star Wars theme from the game, it looks just like every other MMO that came before it being heralded as the next big thing. The combat videos look exactly like WoW, EQ2, WAR, AoC, LOTRO, Aion, etc.
...this is why. I could see why you say that and in some ways ur right and many ways u are very wrong. Heres the thing all those games are mmorpgs and what are mmorpgs its a genre of game. so guess what?! HA! They are gonna be the same as in the way of a mmorpg! Just like i could say starcract is just like command and conquer and warcraft. whhhy??? because there both RTS. I can say CoD 1,2,3,4, Battlefield BC, BC2, Wolfteam, Crossfire etc are the same even though there different why??? cuz there both FPS!!! HA! So if u think that an mmorpg wont be like WoW, EQ2, WAR, AoC, LOTRO, Aion, etc. then stop playing fricking mmorpgs if ur sick of playing the same thing or genre go play Starcraft or Dragon Age. Those are the worst assumptions ive seen truthfully and u know what ass- u- mptions do right???
and those statics? LOL what did u do pull it out of a hat? and the whole fail gameplay or u said its like WoWs im pretty sure that WoW is the most succesfull mmorpg out and has been people have been playing for years. fail? maybe in ur opnion
yes 1 of the 3 would be hungarian which is my native language so yes it would be much easier for me to type in that.
I still would have, due to Tie-Figther beeing a much better game then Rebel Assault
You should of titled the article "Lowered Expectations"
bioware is king of single player rpg's, yes we know! and........ THIS ISNT A FUCKING SINGLE PLAYER RPG!
this is a mmorpg they are trying to create and all you blind bioware fanatics are just going around "i dont care about this or that, i just want a fun bioware game!" well good job, cause thats what were gonna get. a nice fun single player bioware rpg and you get the joy of paying for this fun single player game every month! oh and you can group with a few buddies too, if you have any. if your a wandering mmo vet like me all your oldschool mmo friends are all scattered out across the board.
i was hyped up out the ass when BW announced SWTOR. and ive watched the downward spiral the entire time. from the interviews, videos, articles, every piece of media this game has released all ive seen is bland linear crap that ive been playing for the last 10 years.
I remember one of the first interviews about swtor the dude answering the questions stated they wanted to blend the world of linear and sandbox together in creating SWTOR. where the fuck is the sandbox part?! sure as fuck aint in space, sure as fuck aint on systems. all ive seen is talk to guy, have long epic conversations, go kill mob, rinse repeat.
a lot of us old time mmo'ers are explorers. we got into this genre because we were tired of console games putting us on a track from start to finish. we wanted the restrictions removed. UO and EQ1 took off the rails. You could wander anywhere anytime you wanted and do anything. Players drove the world, and now gaming companies have successfully been mashing linear console gameplay into what is suppsed to be a vast open ended virtual world.
all you people and your sandbox is fuckin boring arguement can go take a flying leap. no, no it wasnt. what makes it boring for you is you are so dependent on the producing company to hold your hand and pat you on the head regularly going GOOD BOY! YOU DID A QUEST! HERES SOME CANDY! that when a game comes out that gives you total freedom of choice your like DUR.....
and i was hoping with SWTOR that the sandbox elements they were supposedly implementing was gonna be the freedom of exploration. i mean its fuckin star wars for fucks sake. An entire universe to see and experience. And yeah, the space combat looks real fun, how can it not be? console games are real fun for a while, star fox.
but... this is supposed to be a MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER ONLINE game. and sometimes in star wars people went into space for other reasons then to "blow shit up".
bioware makes great single player games, they should of stayed where they belong. blizzard made great single player games too, but those games had a multiplayer element with them that taught them how to incorporate their style into the mmo world.
im gonna buy the game myself when it launches because im bored with the whole mmo scene. all the games are the same with a different name. so ill settle with the fun bioware kotor sequel online because nothing I or any of you say will change the product were gonna get handed in 2011.
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Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The force shall free me.
-the Sith code
i doubt it
It is OK to admit you don't get it.
But then this all speaks to something about SWTOR in particular. It is like picking a Pope. Lots of people with serious interest in what comes next. Most all of them are dissapointed their specific view isn't run-up the flag poll and made the next big thing.
SWTOR is a Star Wars IP. Some of us have lusted for a game we can't name or totally describe since the late 70s. MMOs are quickly evolving into second lives for many gamers, and thus, we want that other life to be as cool as it can be. No harm in that, no sin here. Space combat is hand-and-foot the Star Wars universe. There is one MMO with great space combat. There wasn't any reason NOT to expect the same here, if not at launch, then later. We may yet get something better than we are being given. But history does not favor that.
This game is a cross-roads of many coming at it from different angles. The SWG exiles waiting for a new home. The Bio-bois who would accept anything Bioware pumps out, even if it were a bag of dung with the logo on it. And there are the general MMO fans, WoWfugees, and Star Wars fans for whom this is a new adventure.
So we have a lot more folks that don't "get it" from any one of many points of view, than we see with most MMOs.
I wanted more from Space Combat, I will hope for better later, but not expect it. It is still a great looking game, and though it WILL be flawed, until or unless is proves lousy, I'll look forward to it anyway. Should be a fun adventure, even for the casual folks!
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Founder, Leader, www.SonsOfNumenor.com LOTRO - SW.ToR (Yes, we are recruiting)
Bottom line - when you strip the starwars theme , and Bioware name -
what is SWTOR having to show for ?
Positive:
1. Completely voiced content
2. CRPG style quests
3. Dialogue choices
Negative
1. Old fashion MMO combat
2. Toony graphic ( not in spirit of Star Wars for grown ups )
3. Heavy focus on soloing
4. Same (Named) companions following every player
5. Game uses the same principles behind single player RPGs having same story for each player
6. Space combat is singleplayer only
7. It feels like Bioware is trying to copy their single player game and slap multiplayer brand on it.
On the end negative heavily outweight the positive aspects.
And its hurting the game now, and it will hurt it in a long run.
Its also very obvious that SWTOR is nothing else but rehash of same ol' formula Bioware is pushing in all its recent games.
But this time they added possibility to play with friends. This does not feel like MMO. And in no way it feels like MMO 2011.
Bugger! I agree completely with the writer of this article so now I have nothing to critisize in it
Dont do that again please
I really don't understand how people can hate on this game so much. I've been following this game alot, and especially recently, I've been stumbling on Leaked Beta footage of questing, and combat. Looking up more videos from the recent Gamescom, and I have to say that the game is really shaping up nicely. The fact alone that each time you re-roll an alt, the game is going to be COMPLETELY different, in and of itself if incredible enough. As Paragus was complaining about "You'll maybe play through it twice". You really need to do a little more investigating on the game before you make acinine assumptions like that. There are other means of finding out info on the game other than this web-site, which doesn't really do a great job on that.
As far as I'm concerned, while playing WoW, I roll alts all the time, I just enjoy leveling a new toon to the cap. In this game, everytime I do that, the game is going to be completely different, I get to be good or evil within my faction AND on top of that I get a choice on how to pick up a quest AND turn it in?! Sign me up! I know this because of watching some of the Beta on top of it being announced in their different Panels throughout the years. And no, the captain of the ship will still be alive after you leave if you choose to kill him, but at least for my own personal storyline it'll seem as if my choice made an impact. What else can you ask for from an MMO? They have to have content intact for the next player to come across, but this game is the next best thing to a world that reacts to your decisions.
So while all the haters are hating on the game, I'll be enjoying the game for MYSELF and the group of friends/family that are going to be playing it. One more side note: if the Mass Effect Series has pulled me into it as incredibly as it did, then I can't imagine what this game will do since I'll be able to share it with friends and it'll be in the SW universe. This was my expectation... for it to be as involved as ME but to have MMO stuff in it as well and experiencing it with friends. And EVERYTHING I've seen has met my expectation. So if you're a SWTOR hater, then just stay away from it.... far away.