Star Wars: The Old Republic Preview

This game can arguably be considered the most exciting game of E3 last year. In 2010 it seems to be repeating its glory.

Overview

TOR is at its core an MMO. It has all of the elements of classic MMOs. You will see leveling progression, gear drops, group dungeons, PVP, talent trees, and most of the other staples of successful multiplayer RPGs. What will set this game apart is its claim to bring a new aspect to the genre; story. The Old Republic has a team of over 15 writers working though countless missions that will be unique for each of the 8 classes. Immersion is often key to making a great MMO and TOR claims to be bringing it like no other.

TOR at E3 kicked off with another amazing cinematic trailer from the studios of Blur

E3 Debuts

  • Player housing in the form of ships for every playable character
  • New confirmed playable races (Twi’lek, Rattataki, Chiss)
  • “Hope” cinematic trailer
  • Playable demos for PVE and PVP

A Sith Warrior and Inquisitor team up through an early level dungeon

Player Housing

Among all of the new information from E3 we received the news about player ships seems the most impressive. Ever since the forums for the game launched one of the biggest topics of debate was what they would be doing about player housing. Many argued for and against the housing areas of Galaxies. I personally fell into the crowd that hoped for some sort of instanced housing. I’m not sure if player ships will be instanced but the concept for them seems amazing. For those of you who played KOTOR or KOTOR II you will remember that having the Ebon Hawk as your base of operations was immensely helpful and refreshing. I can’t wait to bring you all aboard my personal ship for some drinks.

Bottom Line

This game has been on my radar since its announcement late summer of 2008. Information about it though scarce has painted an amazing picture of the future of MMO gaming. From full voiceover acting to extreme character and ship customization it promises to truly deliver where many recent MMOs have been lacking. Perhaps the most amazing thing about this game is that it will be set in the Star Wars universe. Lets be honest, if you love video games, you love Star Wars.

VGL_Andy

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3 Responses

  1. VGL_Justin says:

    I also couldn’t agree with you both more. The one thing that I’m looking forward to about the non-force classes (even though I’m looking to play as a jedi) is that their tactics are focused on “survival”. I truly love how they implement use of state of the art technology and weaponry for their class, where the jedi usually only use a lightsaber and force powers. Just like Boba and Jango Fett from the movie series, we’ll all enjoy the use of some sweet grenades, guns, and plenty of tech-based shields / armor. I’m excited to see how normal jedi (not epic ones like Obi-Wan or Luke Skywalker) or nub jedi survive in a world of chaos. Bioware has some awesome and unlimited potential here, lets hope they do it the right way.

  2. VGL_Andy says:

    I completely agree. When the game was first announced I was extremely worried that they wouldn’t be able to make the other classes BA enough to draw players from the force wielders. They have done a few things to combat this. One, they created two force user classes per faction. This way, even if people do overload on Jedi and Sith there will still be diversity. Two, they have balanced the game so that the other classes are on equal footing with the force users.

    This is talked about at the beginning of this video from E3

    http://e3.g4tv.com/videos/46524/E3-2010-Live-Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic-MMO-Overview/?quality=hd

  3. ACStone says:

    One of the things that really made Star Wars Galaxies stand out, was the initial system they had in place for Jedi. It gave them a feel of actually being epic, as opposed to just another player class. If Old Republic doesn’t downplay the Jedi class, they’ll find that they have the same issue as Galaxies did after the revamp. Everyone will want to be a Jedi, and they’ll be disappointed when other classes can still stand up to them.

    I like the direction of the first cinematic, although I would have preferred that the Jedi not show up at all. It implied that one of the commandos could, potentially, stand toe-to-toe with a Sith and come out on top. To distance themselves from the previous games, they’ll really need to put some effort into making all of the other classes seem just as bad ass as the force sensitive, lightsaber wielding classes. It’s definitely possible, and if anyone can pull it off, it’s Bioware.

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