Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Classic Star Wars Games and TOR
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
MMORPG.com Community Manager Mike Bitton is on a quest to rekindle his love for Star Wars games in preparation for the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic. In today's column, Mike takes a look back at three classic Star Wars titles and talks a bit about each. See if your favorite Star Wars game made the list!
Rekindling my love for my favorite Star Wars games has reminded me why I enjoyed them as much as I did and in true grognard fashion also gave me some additional clarity as to why I find many modern games (especially Star Wars ones) unsatisfying. What it also did was get me thinking about some of the features or aspects of these games I’d have loved to see in The Old Republic. Let’s keep in mind that this is purely a “wishful thinking” exercise and isn’t about whether or not these are or aren’t at all realistic for the game. Below I’ll be sharing some of my favorite Star Wars games and what about them I’d have loved to see in The Old Republic and I hope you’ll join me and share some of your own!
Read more of Mike Bitton's Star Wars: The Old Republic: Classic Star Wars Games and TOR.
)
Comments
i just had to make an account to say that you are spot on with your choices.
I also agree that KOTOR II was better and an improved version of KOTOR, even with the bugs. The restoration mod does quite abit in rectifying that but if lucasarts had given obsidian atleast another 6-12 months, it would have made our brains explode in a good way. Then again it would have been an extra 6-12 months before seeing SWTOR :P
Jedi academy, always a favourite, countless hours no-lifing that sh*t.
never played x-wing but seen enough footage, looks like an awesome game. I just want guild ships with an added pve/pvp aspect added to em. That would be fantastic.
I will have you, oh SWTOR.
I agree with your first two choices, but since I've never been a flight/space sim fan, I would've made The Force Unleashed 2 my third choice. So I'm actually glad they didn't go the way you would have wanted them to with space combat. I wouldn't have liked being forced to play a space shooter just to advance my character story, in fact if that was a major part of the game, I wouldn't have continued waiting for it.
Sorry but KOTOR 2 was a substandard game in comparison to the original KOTOR. The story alone was just not that well written. This is actually the first time I've ever heard anyone say that it was THAT good. KOTOR 2 was enjoyable but pales in comparison to the first. It's apples and oranges. Because the game was incomplete it also made the story choppy in parts too. It's funny that in the storyline for The Old Republic that Kreia ends up being the one that helps rebuild the Jedi Council after the Exile follows after Revan into deep space. So much for her being all grey :P I do think that Jedi Academy was awesome. Although the story for Jedi Knight 2 was much better hand over foot. I did really love all the options in Jedi Academy. That right there made me play it, play it some more, and play it again. I've never played X Wing Alliance but I can see I'm going to have to change that now LOL.
Banegrivm
Leader of the 1st Fist of Light
www.1stfistoflight.com
If I was tasked with making a Jedi focused Star Wars game, I would look to Jedi Outcast / Academy.
The lightsaber system in that is simply the best. Online duels is one of the greatest hallmarks of online gaming IMO.
I really enjoyed the combat for Force Unleashed II - I'd love to see that in an MMO. Much more dynamic than your standard MMO.
KOTOR and KOTOR 2 were of an equal basis in my mind, story-wise. I didn't think one story was better than the other, per se - just different. I think the way good/evil was explored in KOTOR2 was done much better than in KOTOR, but the bugs did detract.
As with everyone else, I immensely enjoyed the Jedi Academy games, all of them. I should look at getting those on Steam sometime, if they are available... multiplayer was fun there, too.
I've always been a fan the SW Battlefrong games. My favorite bit was on some levels you can pilot ships and ground vehicles during a fight. Ground battles, dog fights and being able to strafe ground forces. Quite a ton of fun. I'd love to see that kind of mechanic in the big SWTOR battegrounds.
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
I'm going to get a lot of flak for this, but I really enjoyed "The Force Unleashed".
I know i'm going to hear a lot of "The force isn't like that" or "it doesn't follow story" or "lore blahblahblah", but you know what? I don't care.
I wanted a game where I went around using the force in extreme ways to demolish everything around me, and "The Force Unleashed" did exactly that and I enjoyed myself.
Probably why I am going to be a Sith Inquisitor when SWTOR launches.
While I enjoyed the series, I always felt the controls were far to inconsistent, saber swings always felt wild, and out of control. it may very well be one of the better attempts at creating a star wars game, featuring lightsaber combat. It was far from a great design though. Things such as flipping off walls that Mike B sited, were great when they worked, more often than not, it seemed an excercise in frustration trying to pull those tricks off. The shooting mechanics were a little week as well.
I think this just shows the issue with working with LA back then, with their deadlines are more important than good games philosophy. The same could be said for KOTOR 2. Great games ruined by impatient suits.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I’d love to see The Old Republic’s story explore these gray areas a bit deeper than the original KoTOR did and I’m hoping our companions are a bit more malleable this time around.
Impossible to know for certain how much of the grey area they will explore in the story, but gathreing that you can actually play as one (as in they actually said you can play as a grey jedi) i'd imagine they would at least explore this some. How much i don't know.
However...regarding the companion comment i have these as a counter
If you play a Force class you can get a companion as an Apprentice - Darth Hater
Sounds semi similer to handmadian
Quote: 'Companion Characters may act as your conscience, and try to influence your decisions. In turn, you will influence them, and change how they develop as the story progresses.' - IGN
Sounds kinda like molding them.
Quote James Ohlen: Players can change his companion's attitudes and sometimes even his moral leaning. - IGN
This really sounds like you can mould them
and of course the affection system, which can dictate which companion(s) like you the most.
Companion Affection Points are added or subtracted during cutscenes depending on your choices. Notification pops up in a small blue box on the bottom of the screen. - Darth Hater
so it appears at least the depth of the companion system from Kotor 2 was used.
I'll just say i prefer kotor 1's story over 2's but i liked the companion system in 2's better, which atm seems like i'd just got both in one game. As for the others, i'm not big on space sims or any sims for that matter. But i would have liked to be able to control my ship more then in the current version. As for Jedi academy i'm not sure if that much of an active combat would have made the game feel too..un kotorish, sometime even changing the combat can make it feel far too different. This is after all suppose to be a sequel to the game so changing gameplay could cause more problems then solve. Some people had a problem with DA going from pretty much standard old time combat to that fast paced combat we saw in DA:2, so maybe it might not be a good idea to change up the combat too much from Kotor 1 and 2 to ToR? who knows. However i will note i'm not always in favor of fast paced combat all the time. all the time dodging moving around recticle shooting, i was never heavly into FPS/TPS or the like and always favored the slower (not really FF7/14 slow) combat.
Beyond that i enjoyed your list. Kotor 2 feature at least your wish seems to have already been granted in ToR at least as far as i can tell.
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.
This.
I loved the battlefront games more than any other star wars title I've ever played. It would have been number 1 on my list, with the KOTOR games being probably second (cause if you count 2 games in a series separately then SWBF 1 and 2 already took up the first two spots.)
My third would be... well... likely SWG pre-nge, though if that doesn't count, I'd probably pick the jedi knight games.
I love Battlefront too -- in fact we've also been playing that lately, however, the article was getting a bit long already. Perhaps a part two is in the cards!
Sigh. xwing vs tie fighter. Those were the days. Put a new skin on it and Id buy that.
KOTOR 1 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> KOTOR 2
That is all
I miss the old school combat flight sims. X-Wing was my very first computer game ever and I loved all the games in the series. Top-notch.
However, my favortie Star Wars game of all time was Star Wars: Rebellion (Or supremacy outside of the US) I feel this game gets consistantly looked over, and yes, I know why. The games interface was clunky as all hell, and if you didn't know what was going on, you have to micro manage so much. However, this game did SO MUCH right.
It is akin to the Total War series of today, where the main map (Consisting of many systems and Hundred and hundreds of planets) was managed in an over all, god-like, turn-based gameplay. But when fleets met in battle, it went down to 3D real time strategy battle. It was so unique at the time.
The galaxy is just huge, where you will literally have fleets of 30 plus Star Destroyers to patrol a system, because the distance is to great to only have 1 or 2 massive fleets patrolling everything. You have to manage resources and send your agents and special charecters to assassinate people, sabatoge planetary defences, capture other main charecters or be a diplomat to a nuetral nation.
If you have tried it, see if you can find a copy. It is pretty rare now a days, so while I hate to promote piracy, it may be the only way to enjoy this game, and it deserves some more loving then what it gets.
Ahh if only the combat in TOR would have been like TERA. I will play heartily anyway, but oh if only...
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
I enjoyed KOTOR which I did finish far more than KOTOR2 which in the end I didn not finish.
Jedi Academy was and is an excellent game.
Xwing alliance is good as well, thought I spent more time with Xwing Vs Tie Fighter.
I also enjoyed starwars Battlefront & feel those games just missed their mark a tiny bit, trying to be too much battlefield wanabee and not quite enough star wars. SWBF2 could have been great but it was just ok.
No doubt, while I think Tie Figher was the best of the space sims, I did love Xwingvstie and xwing alliance and all that.
KoTOR 2 was so much better until the end. The end was just thbbbbbbbbbbb. I think I still put JK: JO above JA. The mulitplayer for JO was just the best.
Super Star Wars
Super Empire Strikes Back
Super Return of the Jedi
Awesome games that are hard as hell.
For me it was Jedi academy, x-wing, and battlefront. Of those I'm not sure which one was my fav....I liked them all.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
Originally posted by Ratfunk:
However, my favortie Star Wars game of all time was Star Wars: Rebellion (Or supremacy outside of the US) I feel this game gets consistantly looked over, and yes, I know why. The games interface was clunky as all hell, and if you didn't know what was going on, you have to micro manage so much. However, this game did SO MUCH right.
Oh man, that brings back memories... I totally forgot I used to play that one too
Yeah, I also really liked that game and the same with its modern counterparts Star Wars: Empire at War and FOC.
I would probably choose the Jedi Knight series, KOTOR I & II and SWG since they were some of the most fun times I have had playing video games, and any space features they can add is just a bonus in my mind.
Obsidian and CD Projekt red both tell better Stories than Bioware do, though Biowares feel more polished and fluid and part of that is because Bioware make their stories with the intent of them being easier to follow.
However biowares games are infinately more polished than Obsidians and their combat systems are more evolved than CD projekt reds at this moment in time.
Kotor 2 however remains a fantastic game if you get one of the community fix packs like TSR or some such.
Playing X-Wing Alliance will only set you up for diappointment. XWA is what Bioware SHOULD have done. Instead they took the absolute antithese of what makes XWA a great game.
You seriously should have loaded up Rebel Assault so you have adequate and more accurate expectations. And you should have promoted that instead of protentially confusing people about what exactly the SWTOR rail shooter is. Not everyone here is old enough to remember how awesome the X-Wing series was and how sh** awful the Rebel Assault series was.
what!!! no mention of rogue sqaudron.. and you call your selves starwars fans lol
now this is how your space flight and combat should be,, none of this rail shooter crap