Overly Positive

With a few small details leaking out of the various Q&A’s and videos from PAX, Star Wars: The Old Republic has had quite a bit more to speculate about lately, which is a good thing for bloggers like me who need fodder to opine about. Perhaps one of the more curious things to come out of the show was a little bit more of a reveal about the morality and choice system in the game. One of the Q&A’s had someone talking about what kind of tone the choices were going to take, to which Bioware answered that choices would be “difficult” to make to entice players to take the path of variety instead of the path of safety. On SWTORCore, there’s a developer’s interview in which Tim Temmermann and Dallas Dickinson talk about how the traditional Light and Dark Side point system from KOTOR will create variations in player’s choices. Ayane from Moon Over Endor even has a bit of a mini-rant about her feelings regarding the Sith Warrior‘s apparent inability to choose Light Side powers.

All of this points to a system in which the choices are, at least at first, not going to be terribly clear-cut, which I frankly can only see as a good thing. While min-maxers will inevitably write the leveling and gear guides to create the most efficient way to get through SWTOR’s story, the fact that there will be quest chains that have these “shades of grey” will mean that if Bioware pulls it off, it won’t matter which way the player chooses – they’ll still get the gear/levels/experience needed to advance. The variety in rewards depending on what choices you make will also add another layer of complexity, making the player ponder which choices will lead to the best rewards – both in an immediate or long-term sense.

Light-side slanting vs. Dark-side slanting will seem to also add to the story element of SWTOR, while at the same time creating a level of character customization. The SWTORCore interview has Dallas and Tim stating that your leaning and the number of points you have towards that leaning will land you exclusive powers along that path. It’s killing two birds with one stone – advancing story (a game design goal) and giving players customization choices (a gameplay goal). Not bad, if I can say so myself. Admittedly, it’s small consolation to Ayane that, because of the iconic “good vs. evil” nature of the main Star Wars universe, Light Sith Warriors may not use Light Side powers. But, because the game isn’t out yet, and more importantly, that we don’t know many specifics, things could change. So keep up some of that healthy hope, Ayane!

Overall, it seems that in this case, grey is a good thing, and while endgame and even the mid-to-high level progression is yet to be fleshed out, it’s a prospective beginning to a story that only Bioware can craft. Here’s to seeing more grey in the future of SWTOR!