The Old Republic

[Alessa Gillespie]

A couple of things. First a page talking just a bit about a couple of things the bounty hunter can have.

http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20110304

Second, Bioware has psoted their schedule for PAX East.

http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20110304-0

TOR mako is hotter than tls mako

hmmmm

 

[Hisako]

I like the concept for a flashpoint. I mean, it's really nothing more than just giving central plots an overarching term to define creating it, but it's an interesting mindset in which to write the story into distinct set pieces, especially in the context of an MMO.

 

[Lord Noctis]

http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/fate-galaxy

New trailer from PAX East. Looks fairly good. We should be getting more updates over the next couple of days as well.

 

[Hisako]

i lol'd at 0:56


YOU LAUNCHED A JAWA WITH YOUR LIGHTSABER

WHY U DO DIS

 

[Lord Noctis]

i lol'd at 0:56


YOU LAUNCHED A JAWA WITH YOUR LIGHTSABER

WHY U DO DIS

Isn't it obvious? He was playing Jawa Golf. Its all the rage on Tatooine.

 

[Lord Noctis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itlOcEZLpN0

Somebody at PAX recorded some gameplay. Looks a bit smoother than it did in earlier demos.

EDIT: Ok so theres actually a crap ton of gameplay videos coming in so I'm gonna start putting them all in this post starting with some space combat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf36KlvhmKI

Showing us a bit of hoth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ2hTwqD5U0

Haven't scene all of this one yet so I don't know what all it shows aside from being a part of the Taal V flashpoint.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COM5SDJUNbw

 

[Lord Noctis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WqV3a4s9jc

Video showing the first several moments of the sith warrior.

 

[Cthulhu]

That space battle thing looks pretty fun, actually, shame it's pretty much 'on rails' instead of fully free-flight, and there don't seem to be any other players there. Nothing wrong with good single-player action in an MMO, though. I probably would enjoy Eve Online a lot more of the flying was less 'static', but I guess that's difficult to do in an MMO with hundreds of players in a single area.

(Notably, that's why most, if not all, MMO games are 'turn-based' under the hood - you select a target and fire spells at him, which uses up much less bandwidth and (server) processing capacity than, say, an FPS where a server only has to handle 32 players tops, usually a lot less.)

But gameplay looks pretty smooth. I remain unimpressed with that sith warrior video though - only clicked through it quickly, but it seems to follow the standard MMO opener to the letter - create a character, end up in a world with a guy with a yellow ! above his head who tells you to go out and kill ten rats.

Fuck's sake. Dear people that make MMO's, please try something new.

 

[Alessa Gillespie]

I am looking forward to this tbh

 

[Lord Noctis]

This morning Bioware released a new video walking us through the Taral V flashpoint.

http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/taral-v-developer-walkthrough

 

[Hisako]

That space battle thing looks pretty fun, actually, shame it's pretty much 'on rails' instead of fully free-flight, and there don't seem to be any other players there.

The last Star Wars game that I know of that definitively offered enjoyable space combat was Battlefront II, and look how much memory that game needed

Fuck's sake. Dear people that make MMO's, please try something new.

It is a pity, yeah, but fetch quests are pretty much the dustbin liners of the MMO. Or any RPG, for that matter.

 

[Lord Noctis]

Ok, I want to do a quick survey thing right now. Based only off of the information we have right now, barring future information and reveals, who all thinks they will get this game?

 

[Hisako]

I honestly don't know.

It most likely depends on what else is out at the time.

 

[Cthulhu]

I'm not going to buy it until I know it's a new take on MMO's, i.e. not grind and not consisting for 90% of gameplay of 'kill X rats'-like quests. I'd have to play a demo first.

Really, when I first started that LotR MMO, I was pleasantly surprised in that you first got an intro mission, with scripted events and an actual progressing story. It disappointed me once that was over though, as from then on it progressed just as expected - guy with yellow ! above his head telling me to go kill ten rats. It might've been wolves though, but the point still stands.

So. Demo first, rest comes later. This goes for all upcoming MMO's, btw. Although I must say this one peaked my interest initially, being both from Bioware and promising a story-driven game experience. I liked those other Bioware Star Wars games.

 

[Lord Noctis]

http://www.g4tv.com/videos/51785/star-wars-the-old-republic-space-combat-preview/

Adam Sessler doing an interview on TOR. The dev has confirmed as a fact that this game will be out this year. I perssonaly estimate sometime in the first half of the year, but we'll see.

Along with the interview are more gameplay segments. Most interesting of which for me was a very brief segment, I don't think we've seen it before, where a jedi catches a blast of force lightning on her lightsaber. I find this interesting because it suggests that this may be an actual ability in game, which is something I've perssonaly been hoping for.

 

[Cthulhu]

I do like the confirmation (also again with the space battle portion) that it doesn't rely fully on the multiplayer business, and that it should be fun to play on your own as well.

Yes, social isolation also happens in MMO's, . Especially if you're like me - too cheap to spend money on expansions and time to reach the upper levels where 90% of the population is at.

 

[Hisako]

Whenever I go through an MMO I tend to just hook up with a few RL friends and we go through all the stories and quests as a team.

 

[Joe]

Whenever I go through an MMO I tend to just hook up with a few RL friends and we go through all the stories and quests as a team.

Pretty much the same. Whenever I have played WoW in the past, I stop playing around the time I stop playing with my RL friends.

 

[Hisako]

If what I've heard from this game is true, this is also essentially the best way to experience the main plot of The Old Republic.

 

[Lord Noctis]

The tie-in novel "Decieved" is out. I have had the chance to read it and am very impressed.



The author, one Paul S. Kemp, entered the star wars arena with Crosscurrent, a novel which expanded upon the lead character of Jedi Academy, Jaden Korr. The interesting thing about that novel was the emphasis on the story and character, something other star wars novels at the time seemed to lack.

Thankfully this trend continues in Decieved. About a half of the book follows the Sith Lord Darth Malgus (The guys who fucked up the jedi temple in the Decieved Trailer) in the events immediately following the sacking of Courascant. The other half follows Aryn Leneer, a Jedi Knight whose master was killed by Malgus during the attack on the temple, and Zeerid Korr, a former marine forced into becoming a smuggler in order to provide for his daughter.

The book goes back and forth between these characters well, making you care about each of them. Even Malgus, who is unquestionably evil, is relatable at times.

While the emphasis is on the story and characters, the action scenes have also been taken good care of. They are fun and exciting to read, and have a sense of actual tension to them.

The only flaw in the book is its length. 255 pages. Granted those 255 pages are more than worth the money I paid, but it still seems a wee bit short.

Still well worth checking out. Its certainly better than most other Star Wars books coming out these days.

 

[Hisako]

a novel which expanded upon the lead character of Jedi Academy, Jaden Korr.

HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS EXISTED.

 

[Lord Noctis]

HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS EXISTED.

I have no idea. You should go get it, its fairly good. A bit wierd in places, but good.

 

[Hisako]

I mean as a story I always preferred Kyle Katarn as the protag, but this book means that JADEN KORR HAS A CANON APPEARANCE?

blows my mind











Anyway, back on topic, might as well check out the other book too.

 

[Lord Noctis]

I mean as a story I always preferred Kyle Katarn as the protag, but this book means that JADEN KORR HAS A CANON APPEARANCE?

blows my mind











Anyway, back on topic, might as well check out the other book too.

Kyle is awesome, but I like them both the same. Anyway, Jaden's first appearance outside of Jedi Academy was it Fate Of The jedi Abyss, though his role was basicly lmited to telling Leia "You can;'t go in there," and smacking some madolorians around.

Also pretty sure jedi Academyis Canon.

 

[Hisako]

No as in the Jedi Academy game never had a single one art of a Jaden Korr since there were Zabraks and Twi'leks and Rodians all over the boxart

Gotta find this.