Star Wars: The Old Republic Officially Announced
It's officially official, Bioware has announced Star Wars: The Old Republic. Set three hundred years after the KOTOR games, and thirty-five hundred years before the movies, the game will focus on the conflict between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire.
From the site:
Choose to be a Jedi, a Sith, or from a variety of other classic Star Wars roles, and make decisions which define your personal story and determine your path down the light or dark side of the Force. Along the way you will befriend courageous companions who will fight at your side or possibly betray you based on your actions. Together, you will battle enemies in dynamic Star Wars combat and team up with other players to overcome incredible challenges.
That's right, companions. It sounds like you will actually control multiple characters, at least when soloing, which isn't a mechanic that gets used often in MMOs. Their handy FAQ also talks about their focus in gameplay.
Star Wars: The Old Republic will be similar to other MMOs but with several key innovations. Traditionally MMOs are built on three pillars; Exploration, Combat, and Progression. We at BioWare and LucasArts believe there is a fourth pillar: Story. Our mission is to create the best story-driven games in the world. We believe that the compelling, interactive storylines in Star Wars: The Old Republic are a significant innovation to MMOs and will offer an entertainment experience unlike any other.
Also of note... you start as one faction but apparently can switch sides through various actions. I'm definitely excited to hear more details about this as they get released.
Star Wars: The Old Republic [Lucasarts]
Sgt. Sausagepants
Posted to MMOs, Video Games on 21 October 2008
· Comments (6)
Other stuff like this: bioware, kotor, mmo, star wars
OMG I will give WoW away for htis. In a second. Made by bioware even better. Goodbye WoW
Hm, I was hoping for a direct sequel from the first two in the KOTOR series, but I imagine they'll still sum it up in STOR considering the mention of descendants and surviving droids.
Still, I'm excited about this. Might be the thing to get me back into MMOs.
Jedi & Sith NEED to have glaring and frustrating weaknesses or this game will die a horrible horrible death.
Agreed with Bear. Everyone's going to be a Jedi or a Sith because they're "kewler lololol" than everyone else. They've certainly made very little attempt to balance them against any other character archetype in any other star wars game or PnP product ever printed to date.
As much as I love Bioware and KOTR, I'll be reserving judgement until much much later.
Except that not every MMO has forgotten this: Final Fantasy XI online has a MASSIVE story and hundreds of cutscenes. But it never received the praise it so deserves.