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Tag: BioWare

July 20, 2009

The Old Republic’s Proof of Voice Concept

by Frank — Categories: Gaming, Star Wars: The Old Republic — Tags: , , , — 3 Comments
HK-47
Image via Wikipedia

Yes, yes – I know I’ve been posting lots of positive, sunny, optimistic things about voice work in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Perhaps some of my barely double-digit readership might be sick of it already. But trust me, this is a good one. Really!

A lot of people have seemed a bit skeptical of TOR’s voiceover focus, especially in light of the video documentary in which the full scope of the resources spent on this part of the game was shown. There’s plenty of argument about making sure the game works prior to making sure that it looks or in this case, sounds good. But I’ve always felt that the focus on voice, as much of a side benefit as it sounds, will probably bring more identity to TOR in a sea of MMOs that will be out by the time it releases.

Of course, actual proof will be in the pudding once things settle in with public beta as well as the release of the game. But until then, there is some proof out there as to the appeal of voiced characters – and its name is HK-47.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Knights of the Old Republic, HK-47 is a recruitable droid who joins your merry little band of misfits. While the various characters in KOTOR are pretty memorable for the most part, HK-47 stands head and shoulders above the others, for the simple reason of his sardonic wit and tireless devotion to his primary function. That function, by the way, is killing things. Assassination droids appear to be at a premium, making HK-47 an ideal and entertaining addition.

Really though, the thing that makes this character as iconic as a C3PO or R2-D2 is the voice and mannerisms. While the aforementioned droids from the Star Wars films were partly appealing due to their comic relief, HK-47 delivers this same background flavor to KOTOR. The difference is in the presentation, a mix of amoral and sarcastic tone that can only come out in the voice behind HK-47, starting with what he calls organic lifeforms:

“Retraction: Did I say that out loud? While it is true you are a meatbag, I should refrain from addressing you as such.

Explanation: It’s just that… you have all these squishy parts, master. And all that water! How the constant sloshing doesn’t drive you mad, I have no idea…”

Or perhaps how he treats his primary function:

“Translation: 98% probability that members of the miniature organic’s tribe are being held by Sand People, master. Doubtless he wishes assistance…

Translation: 2% probability that the miniature organic is simply looking for trouble and needs to be blasted. That may be wishful thinking on my part, master.”

Really, as funny as the words are when written on the screen, they don’t really do them justice. That can only come from a voice and something we can hear as well as see on the screen. It’s true that there are going to be many NPCs in TOR, and quite a few of them are going to be forgettable, voice or not. But if we can remember, just a little bit how a quest was more interesting or more engaging because it was voiced and heard, rather than seen, then that’s only good for Bioware. The immersion that results from being in TOR’s universe can only help get players more invested in the product as it is played.

But don’t take my word for it – just hear what HK-47 has to say:

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July 19, 2009

The Endless Old Republic Story

by Frank — Categories: Gaming, Star Wars: The Old Republic — Tags: , — 3 Comments
Star Wars book/toy in book store "NON-FIC...
Image by Chris Devers via Flickr

You know, Syp is right – with the fact that Bioware is teasing info about Star Wars: The Old Republic in chunks, there’s just plenty of room for speculation of all kinds on TOR. This is yet another one of those posts.

Bioware’s been releasing videos trying to document the timeline of The Old Republic. But of course, at some point, they’re going to come to an end, leaving us with the full scope of the atmosphere and setting under which the game will take place.

It’s logical to assume that with Bioware making a story that is attached to each character class, that the story might progress somewhat along a set timeline based upon all the flavor stuff we’ve been getting from them. Characters are going to experience a slice of The Old Republic’s timeline, perhaps going from being raw, untested newbies to hardened Star Wars veterans along the lines of the iconic characters we’ve all come to know and love.

But what about after that?

Endgame is a major component of any MMO, mostly because no viable endgame means you inevitably have trouble to retain the players that you have. While Bioware has already stated that they are going to avoid the extreme of the hardcore who will skip most of the story and rush to the end, they still have an obligation, at some point, to create a “now what?” scenario for players who reach the maximum level in their game. Whether it is a challenging and engaging dungeon with amazing gear rewards or a crown jewel engagement against the best of your enemy’s resources, the end has always been a great concern for any MMO out there.

At least from a lore and story perspective, The Old Republic, unlike something like World of Warcraft, will probably not struggle to find something that is believeable for its players to do. While the Warcraft 3 universe had its limits, the world of TOR is a well-known and established period of time helped along by Bioware’s Knights of The Old Republic. Having taken place thousands of years prior to the Star Wars films, there’s a ton of ready-made ideas to explore, from Coruscant, to perhaps the origins of ships like the Millennium Falcon, and more. Whatever box Bioware is constructing to put its players in, there is an endgame that can potentially expand it regardless of whether that is a PvE or PvP experience. This, I think, was Star Wars Galaxies’ biggest challenges – taking place during the course of the films meant that the inevitable approach beyond Return of the Jedi would be daunting, to say the least.

Even though there are those out there who are spurning TOR right now because they don’t know the details, there is still something to be said about the actual game experience as it relates to the story and lore your characters follow. If story and lore were not important, whether that is starting from level 1 to raiding the most epic of encounters, then I would hazard that some MMOs would not have as many subscribers as they thought. TOR, with the pillar it’s building for story, needs to have this more in mind than any other title out there.

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July 18, 2009

What Lurked Behind Star Wars: The Old Republic’s Voices

by Frank — Categories: Gaming, Star Wars: The Old Republic — Tags: , — 2 Comments
LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 01: Characters wearing...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

So yesterday we were treated to another update on Bioware‘s Star Wars: The Old Republic – this time focusing in on the full voiceover, why they made this decision, and how they feel that the fully voiced NPCs and characterization in the game is an essential and necessary part of their intended game experience. It’s definitely worth a watch to go through the 5:38 it’ll take you, because there’s a lot to take in.

If you want to check out some of the breakdown, you can check out Moon Over Endor’s thoughts on the voice video, or SWTORBlog’s addition to a great official forum thread on the video.

This forum thread found what I thought was curious and noticeable about the documentary, taking away all the talk about voice acting – and that’s the inclusion of actual in-game footage and action. Here we have a subtle side bonus for the people who have been looking at this game, following it, and are skeptical about its look, feel, and overall presentation in mechanics. While the details are a bit sketchy – and the forum thread I linked pretty much does the obsessive breakdown better than I could (actual cooldown on abilities noted? Nice work, Ibliss) – it does show a couple of interesting things about Bioware’s marketing strategy.

The first is that the incremental reveal and tease regarding the nuts and bolts of the game continues. We haven’t heard much, but what we have seen and heard and read appears to give us just enough detail to whet the appetite but not enough for people to start coming to horrid and premature conclusions about how the game works. Though Bioware has never done an MMO before, they’re clearly aware of the sins of the past in terms of revealing certain things prior to them being ready to reveal. This is a shrewd strategy, as it teases and excites the people who are positive about the game while it holds back critics with a “wait and see” attitude. Either way, people are following the game. Well played, Bioware.

The second, which at first seems to run counter to that, is that Bioware isn’t afraid to show us what they have that is polished. From the dialogue and look, it looked like the quest with the Imperial star destroyer captain and its subsequent choices was what we were showed. This was material that Bioware has already released to the media for public consumption (see coverage from E3 for that), which means it is polished enough for them to feel confident to be put through the inevitable community blender of speculation and analysis. That we already have this kind of in-game footage is heartening for the development of the game, which means that it’s on pace and moving forward fairly well. By doing this, they’re also controlling the pace at which the aforementioned speculation is happening, allowing them to gather some subtle feedback from the impressions of the stuff that they deem fit to be seen.

So while it was great to hear about the voiceover mechanic and the talent that is to appear in it (those of you who are really geeky might have noticed the appearance of one Jennifer Hale, she of the voice of Naomi Hunter in Metal Gear Solid and Bastilla in KOTOR), I see what you did there, Bioware. Subtle, well-played, and most of all, intriguing.

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July 14, 2009

The Old Republic’s Faction Attraction

by Frank — Categories: Gaming, Star Wars: The Old Republic — Tags: , — 1 Comment
Jedi Master
Image by rageforst via Flickr

In an effort to hopefully bring together the TOR community, I’ve been adding sites and blogs to my blogroll to encourage cross promotion, so when looking at sites like Forums of the Old Republic, the inevitable question of balance in terms of the community came to mind.

In any game that has some sort of basis in a conflict between sides, there’s always the inevitable question of population – which side will be more popular? How will the developers craft things to make a relative balance between sides? What’s going to be the “sexy” that you see on either side to make them appealing?

Bioware‘s Star Wars: The Old Republic will be no different in this vein. Whether people pick the Galactic Republic or the Sith Empire, it’s going to be Bioware’s responsibility to make sure that no one faction can dominate the other in terms of overall, sheer numbers. I’m not sure if TOR is considered a PvE game or a PvP game (it probably is the former, given the focus on story and the player’s experiences), but even PvE focused games have to worry a little bit about where their populations lie.

Thankfully, though, I think that Bioware already has a marked advantage in that the iconic nature of the Star Wars universe has already drawn fans fairly equally to either banner. The fact that at its core, Star Wars is essentially a template for the good vs. evil archetype means there are (mostly) clear lines drawn between the various characters, and appeal for each. If you want to be a swashbuckler like Han Solo, there’s a side for you. If you want to be an amoral bounty hunter like Boba Fett, there’s a side for you, too. Of course, you obviously can’t forget the Jedi and the Sith themselves – basically two sides of the same coin, with the various games about them building on the movies’ depiction of them by giving the Force different tendencies depending on your leanings.

As of this writing, in the official TOR forums, there are 439 Republic recruiting guilds and 419 Sith. There’s a slight shift in favor of the Republic but if the current guild count is any indication, things are fairly even. This goes to show that as much as the Star Wars universe tells a story of not only good vs. evil but good triumphing over evil, that there are plenty of people out there who are attracted to the Dark Side as well.

We really don’t know if on an individual server basis we will see Republic’s blue lightsabers dominating the battlefield or if it’ll be the bright red of the Sith that win the day. But we can at least take solace in the fact that regardless of your leanings, TOR will probably have a healthy incentive to join either side in the fight.

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July 10, 2009

The TOR Blogging Buzz

by Frank — Categories: Gaming, Star Wars: The Old Republic — Tags: , — 1 Comment
The Daily Buzz
Image via Wikipedia

So Werit over at Werit’s Blog dropped an entry about whether or not the Star Wars: The Old Republic blogging craze that’s been taking over some corners of the Net is a bad thing. He cites spoilers, the idea of extensive guides and questlines actually serving to hurt those who are looking for more of a surprise in terms of experiencing the content.

First off, the way things are going, Aion is the current darling of the MMO world, and when the MMO Love Affair inevitably wears off on it, it’ll be Star Wars: The Old Republic next on the chopping block, as it were. Personally, I think buzz is a good thing as long as it doesn’t turn into hype. That may sound strange coming from a blog like mine, which is perpetually dependent on being positive on the developments of the MMO jungle, but it’s true. Hype has a way of making things beyond just a positive experience to more of an experience that moves mountains, solves the world peace issue, and toasts your english muffins. It also has a way of setting expectations as high as Mt. Everest, especially when it comes to explanation of story elements and questing.

There are blogs that talk about TOR that will put up the comprehensive guides, the info, and the story for all to see prior to release. But there are plenty of others, like mine, that will simply opine on the things that are coming out of the TOR news front, which won’t necessarily reveal details. It’s safe to say that either way, the saying “there’s no such thing as bad press” will probably apply to Star Wars: The Old Republic, because of this distinct variety.

MMO’s, more often these days than before, depend on the blogosphere to create good feeling about the game. If the blogs are feeling bad about something, or worse yet, they’re quitting, then that has more of an impact than developers realize. If blogs are soldiering on despite problems, and there are a few that stand out, then that is good for a game as well. Bioware‘s new MMO will probably be no different in this respect.

As far as story-focused elements go, if it’s pre-release info that Werit is worried about, there are a couple of things to sweeten the pot back up. The first would be, obviously, that things change. The way something is explained, and the way that things are outlined can certainly change prior to release, based upon beta feedback and adjustments in the developer cycle. The story-based quest we keep hearing about regarding the ship captain may very well change, making any spoilers out of date.

Second is that in the grand scheme of things, despite Bioware’s focus, that mechanics and skills and nuts and bolts will probably make up the majority of “most written” footage or coverage. I think that many people are chomping at the bit to find out how something works rather than reveals, so this has caused a lot of cautious optimism on the part of many MMO veterans, including myself, who have been burned by previous titles overpromising and underdelivering. I’d say TOR, right now, is in a stage of working behind the scenes and dropping little hints here and there, so the blogs out there are hungry for any bit of info. But as the game gets closer to release, I think we’ll see less spoiler story and more “Jedi and Sith are going to ride elephants, OMG” type posting.

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July 7, 2009

The Old Republic’s Healing Force

by Frank — Categories: Gaming, Star Wars: The Old Republic — Tags: , , — 4 Comments
Yoda
Image via Wikipedia

Of particular note in the forums for Bioware‘s Star Wars: The Old Republic is speculation of classes, most notably of what will be the healer and support role in TOR’s universe. There’s a great link on the SWTORBlog that has a couple of threads about it.

Bioware has been fairly mum on this issue, although there are quotes out there that simply state that we should expect to see things we see in other MMOs. This certainly means that healers are incoming, but as to what form they’ll take is anyone’s guess. Some are even afraid that they might not make it in, leading to a bunch of speculation on how the role can be played.

As someone who traditionally plays healer or support classes, this certainly hits home for me as well, but I’m not too overly concerned. Actually, the prospect of not knowing what the healer class could be in TOR is quite interesting to me, because the potential to create something that fits within the Star Wars IP and KOTOR timeline that is new and fresh is high. Here’s some thoughts from the forums and from my own thoughts on how healing and support could be addressed:

-Alternate Jedi/Sith support skill trees: We already know that Jedi and Sith have an action point and finishing move setup reminiscent of rogues in other games. But PC Gamer UK‘s article also sets them up as magic users as well, opening a whole path to speculate whether Bioware can defray the Jedi and Sith melee button-mashfest with a path to heal via the Force. The outcome would be more of a Yoda-like Jedi, who uses Force first and lightsaber last, rather than a Luke-type, who might be more on the frontlines. While this doesn’t do anything for the potential overpopulation of Jedi and Sith (and in fact this would make the problem worse), the idea of skill trees to create lightsaber-wielders of a different kind could create a great deal of variance among TOR denizens.

-Star Wars races in support roles: The KOTOR games and Star Wars universe doesn’t seem to leave much room for medics and healers – most of the mechanics involve characters on the offensive or defensive. But certain races or groups might naturally fall into a support role – droids, for example, are among the most thought of for this, mostly because by their very nature, they’re utility tools. There’s also the idea of using a race not normally accustomed to fighting in a utility or support role – the Jawa, for example, or even the Ewoks. Less likely? Perhaps. But the advantage of Bioware’s Old Republic universe is the freedom IP exploration.

-Something completely new: There’s always the possibility that something new and worthwhile can come from Bioware, although new additions to the universe would obviously have to travel through Lucasarts. But new characters, such as KOTOR’s Darth Revan, or new powers, such as Bastila’s Battle Meditation, aren’t far from the realm of possibility. if new mechanics that fit within Star Wars can be crafted, why not something that will allow support and healing to play a role? Maybe even something more radical, like not having a support class at all and using a crafting system or healing system to do the work, freeing up healer players to play classes that might be more exciting than watching health bars.

All in all, class reveals have always been part of the fun of following MMO development, and the nebulous nature of the support classes in TOR is a bit scary but also exciting at the same time. One can only hope that in an iconic archetype, Bioware can hit a home run.

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July 4, 2009

PC Gamer Voyages Into Star Wars: The Old Republic

by Frank — Categories: Star Wars: The Old Republic — Tags: , , — 8 Comments
Jedi vs.
Image via Wikipedia

Those of you who are following Star Wars: The Old Republic definitely have to check out Moon Over Endor’s awesome breakdown of PC Gamer UK’s Hands-on look at Star Wars: The Old Republic. Ayane takes a peek at the salient points in the article, along with links to a a scan of the full text. She’s done her own analysis, but here’s some points I’ve seen that give a new hope (see what I did there) to the upcoming details. Let’s take a peek and the juicy details:

-The Jedi and Sith are “action-point based” classes that “earn points by swiping and smashing” which can be spent on “finishing moves”.
Well, this sort of pre-empted an article I planned on writing on how Jedi and Sith could be crafted into the healer and support class, as many on the official forums had speculated. From what was described, the class behaves more like a traditional rogue, using magic and melee to deal damage.

While many MMOs beforehand, most notably WAR, have made attempts at creating melee users that can also employ magic-like attacks, they’ve always had challenges. The challenge being, finding a good role for them that isn’t overpowering to other classes. Perfect place for that Bioware-Mythic group to collaborate so that Bioware knows what Mythic’s gone through, right?

Jedi and Sith combined with MMO’s arguably most popular class type (Rogue)? We’ll have to see how it pans out or if that means Bioware will see an upsurge of Jedi/Sith and nothing else in the live game, but descriptions like this build excitement for the class for sure:

“My Sith character is deflecting their blaster fire with his lightsaber while I get to grips with his abilities…I Force-choke one foe, hanging him by his neck, watching his legs writhe in pain. As he drops to the floor, trying to catch his breath, I turn away and slide a lightsaber into his ribs.”

-Unique, story-based quests for each of the classes have dialogue-driven choices leading to different outcomes.
We’d heard from E3 that there was a particular quest that involved killing or sparing a ship captain that had different consequences on the quest to ambush a freighter. But we didn’t have the full details that showed how The Old Republic’s quest choices panned out. PC Gamer, however, outlined them for us. According to the quest, sparing the captain meant that the attack on the freighter went smoothly, as the captain’s expertise meant that ambushing pods carrying invading troops and having medical bay help out meant the ensuring battle went much more smoothly. But killing the captain and having his more inexperienced, brash first officer take over meant that the quest took a rather rocky turn, forcing you to face a Jedi at the end of the engagement.

The idea that there are two (or perhaps more) outcomes to certain quests sure does things for replay value alone, since there aren’t any savegames as in Bioware’s non-MMO offerings. There’s also a curious bit of data to think about in terms of how you could make a choice that might mean a more difficult quest but which could yield a better reward or more experience. Either way, making the choices in the quests, which involve the whole party potentially, lead to a more engaging quest experience beyond “kill 10 rats”, which we should all probably know will be in The Old Republic too. Minimizing the grind, and making questing engaging and exciting depending on choices is just one way that I think the game will end up being interesting even through a re-roll.

-A blend of experience and new, unique experts comprise the Bioware Austin staff.
One of the main concerns people have about Bioware is that they haven’t ever made an MMO before. Anyone who reads this blog, or who reads anyone else following the game, knows that an MMO community is a rather, well, “unique” experience for developers to handle.

The article talks a bit about hiring the over 100 staff that have been recruited for The Old Republic, and how the talent pool spans story writers and authors responsible for TOR’s questlines, to designers with proven RPG track records like James Ohlen (Neverwinter Nights, Elder Scrolls, and the like), to what they call “hardcore MMO multiplayer” guys who are used to designing, developing, and implementing online RPG elements. The design process has thus taken on an element of back-and-forth between flavor and mechanics people that are out to create an experience that is unique but which also takes into account the mistakes of MMOs past:

“You’re playing this game live, in a hostile environment, on a buggy connection, and it works because we got the best-in-industry people from all over. We have a huge amount of programming experience from different MMOs, all of whom are terrified of launch day. They have every horror story, everything to prepare for going into the launch.”

Is this enough to allay people’s fears? Maybe, maybe not. But the fact that there does exist a dynamic between people who want to make the marketable features of the game (story-based gaming, choices, lore) strong and those who want to make the game actually work from a mechanics standpoint is heartening to hear.

-The TOR team’s design philosophy – ignore the hardcore, and the label of WoW-killer, and make a good game focused on core design elements.
A couple of curious things came out of the PC Gamer article about Bioware’s mode of thinking in terms of their development philosophy. Of particular note is how they plan on handling their very discerning player audience:

“”We have to ignore the top of the hardcore,” says Walton, talking about those players who will simply ignore the story and min-max their way to the top end of the game. “We need to make a game that is accessible to the Star Wars fan, and the BioWare fan. Because really BioWare is a company that is about making a great RPG experience, not about making games for a hardcore MMO audience.”

Anyone who’s followed any MMO knows that every so often, there are developer quotes which make it into the archive of quotes which people will pull out and hold to the light as the core ideas and promises that a developer will bring to their game. Some of them are mechanics ideas and some are philosophical ones. This is one of those.

As much as it may piss off the hardcore MMO audience, and evoke cries of concern that we’re looking at “yet another MMO looking to appeal to a casual audience”, it is good to hear that A)we are seeing this now, instead of near release, as a commitment to their style of development and B)that they have an idea of the big picture. The real challenge that other MMOs have shown, is that they confuse themselves and the players on which target audience they are aiming for, resulting in a “jack of all trades, master of none” design that ends up being lukewarm to everyone.

Bioware’s idea seems to be, if the the game is fun, then it’ll attract the hardcore min-maxers no matter what, but by no means are they the audience that butters the bread. The audience of “Star Wars and Bioware fans” is a good place to start, because they are most likely to be excited about the elements of the game that Bioware is marketing on. The idea of sticking to your guns means that you may attract less subscribers initially, but that you will eventually make people come around to your ideas with a blend of fun design and solid bugfixing. Time will tell.

The other interesting and good thing to hear is the idea that this game will be a “WoW-killer”. While the article gushes about how this potentially is credible enough to bring down the king of MMOs in terms of subscriptions, the Bioware team doesn’t share their thoughts. While confident that there is a ton of “WoW fatigue” out there and that the game itself can’t be appealing forever, Bioware says that competing with them is perhaps not the way to go, citing previous recent MMO releases as examples:

“Walton is simply upbeat: “If I was doing a fantasy RPG on the same plane as World of Warcraft, well, you better spend a shitload of money.” But he doesn’t see taking WoW on at its own game as a realistic, or even desirable, goal. He argues that new MMOs need to create their own template. “I thought Age of Conan would have been more differentiated. We were betting that both Age of Conan and WAR would have been bigger than they are, but that’s down to their execution, not the market…”

While I’m not surprisingly optimistic about the game’s prospects, to set expectations as high as bringing down WoW is a bit misguided, and it is great to hear that Bioware shares the same ideas. Learning from the mistakes of the past is huge enough, but knowing that Bioware is committed to making something that is good, unique, and sound to them, rather than good and sound to the typical WoW player, is a even better. It points to a confidence in the appeal of their own design, and a more realistic idea that they’ll be making a game that won’t be millions-strong to begin with, but which could potentially get their on its own.

All in all, thanks to Moon Over Endor for the great article analysis, and to PC Gamer for the details. It’s looking to be a great summer if we’ll be seeing more detail from development like this. Here’s to hoping some nuts and bolts mechanics will be in the next info reveal.

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July 3, 2009

Mandalorians Return in The Old Republic

by Frank — Categories: Gaming, Star Wars: The Old Republic — Tags: , , , — 1 Comment
Mandalorian Motto
Image by hunterseakerhk via Flickr

Bioware‘s Community guy, Sean Dahlberg, promised Star Wars: The Old Republic followers like myself a brand new “Galactic Timeline” video today, and they delivered, with an account of the return of the Mandalorians, allied with the Sith to battle the Galactic Republic and the Jedi. For those who don’t know, the Galactic Timeline videos are historical lore teasers about the setting of Star Wars: The Old Republic, voiced by a Jedi master tasked with tracing the roots of the conflict between the Sith and Jedi.

This video talked about the rise of the Mandalorians, a race with a philosophy steeped in conflict, and now it serves to nurture and bring out stronger traits. This, combined witha  healthy thirst for conquest and war, make the Mandalorians both tough and dangerous.

Videos like these don’t really shed any light on gameplay, specifics, or mechanics. In some respects, they might lack value to those following the game. But I think they’re great, for a variety of reasons. First, they generate fodder for discussions and speculation about aforementioned specifics and mechanics. From the Mandalorian video, for example, we can see that we obviously have a new people that will probably occupy at least one class on the side of the Sith, more than likely a warrior-like archetype. Even if this isn’t the case, if Mandalorians are able to be chosen as a race with the appropriate bonuses, that might be interesting as well.

Another reason why the Timeline videos are a good thing is because of the overall philosophy and vision of the game, of one that focuses on story as an equally important pillar in an MMO. By having a history and a story behind each race, the game itself becomes more rich, more alive, and for those among you who are role-players, more expansive to draw upon. As much as people who are gearheads like to talk about how the skills and specs and balance are most important, atmosphere still factors into their choices somewhat. Anyone who chooses a character to play inevitably imagines themselves in the role of that player, and understanding their tendancies makes it easier to understand how skills and tactics were developed.

Lastly, what Star Wars: The Old Republic seems to be trying to do here is to generate more factors for players to choose a certain race. All too often, MMO players choose a race because of the type of class that you can be with that race, or how they look, or how many others they think will pick them. Background, or lore, or story doesn’t figure much into it. Even in the most populated MMO right now, World of Warcraft, there is somewhat of a story behind each of the races, but it is mostly fleshed out in the RTS Warcraft series and not really in the MMO itself. Bioware has the opportunity to make players choose a race not because the min-maxing works out for them to be the best race to pick, but because they want people to have a greater investment in their character through their race choice. If the blend of Spartan and Klingon that the Mandalorians occupy is appealing to some people, Bioware wants to make sure that when you are stepping into a character and logging them in, that you understand the embodiment of what the Mandalorians are. The result, ideally, would be a greater appreciation of the story-based quests that you, as a Mandalorian, would go through. In the midst of getting that quest xp or gaining that new skill, if Bioware can make the quest journey that much more enjoyable to make the inevitable grind better, why wouldn’t they?

I would probably never play a Mandalorian – but seeing the video makes me want to see the world that Bioware has created that has these people and more making their way in it.

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June 28, 2009

Meanwhile, in Another Star Wars Galaxy Far, Far Away…

by Frank — Categories: Gaming, Star Wars: The Old Republic — Tags: , , , — 1 Comment
Star Wars Galaxies box art.
Image via Wikipedia

Moon Over Endor has a little sidepost on Star Wars Galaxies (you know, that OTHER Star Wars MMO) and, via Massively, what one of the developers has in mind for the game in the face of the Bioware hype machine that is Star Wars: The Old Republic. According to this SWG producer, plans to support Galaxies are in the works, although there was a curious deflection about commentary on SW:TOR.

Star Wars Galaxies turned six, according to the article, which, despite everything it’s gone through, is pretty impressive as far as MMOs go. Sony Online Entertainment has been known to keep MMOs going for quite some time, so obviously, there must be some money-making opportunity here. Considering that there is currently zero competition for Star Wars-based online RPG play, it’s no surprise Galaxies is still around and kicking.

My memories of Star Wars: Galaxies are a bit middling these days, but what I do remember, I remember with fondness. Being in an actual cantina and being able to entertain players, blasting things with my trusty rifle, traveling planets with my own ship, trying, and ultimately deciding to not bother with, becoming a Jedi, and more. One particular story of note was being around for an in-game wedding, filled with as much touchy-feely fuzzy as you could get for an Internet ceremony, only to have chaos and drama ensue as one Imperial decided to torch the Jedi presider in question when he PvP-flagged. Talk about “all those opposed” needing to “speak now”, right?

Anyway, Galaxies changed core design at least 2 or 3 times that I can count over the years, and the move towards making becoming a Jedi easier, and not harder, led to me eventually seeking new opportunities elsewhere. Re-learning skills and tactics in an MMORPG is definitely something that could grate on players, but those who have stuck with it in Star Wars Galaxies are probably among those I’d say are even more optimistic than me (an that’s saying something) about the long-term viability of SWG

Galaxies being around is a good thing, ultimately, for Star Wars: The Old Republic and Bioware. It’s clear that MMO developers look to the past to see how best to approach the future, and Bioware’s association with anything regarding the Star Wars IP (and LucasArts in particular) guarantee information sharing. Ultimately, when SW:TOR comes out, it will ship keeping in mind the mistakes of the past. We wouldn’t really be in that kind of position without Star Wars Galaxies taking that first bold move “a long time ago” to make a Star Wars MMO. I agree with Moon Over Endor’s Ayane – it is likely that many will flock to the banner of SW:TOR from Galaxies, but even if SWG ends up closing shop, it will have had nothing to be ashamed of due to how far it’s come already.

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June 26, 2009

Lightsabers – A Dime-a-Dozen in The Old Republic

by Frank — Categories: Gaming, Star Wars: The Old Republic — Tags: , , — 4 Comments
Lightsaber unboxing, part 6: glowing!
Image by Stevie BM via Flickr

Classes are yet to be revealed in Bioware‘s Star Wars: The Old Republic, but one thing that we haven’t seen a lot about, on anywhere official, is stuff about the Jedi and the Sith. Sure, we’ve seen gameplay videos with glimpses of front-flipping Force masters taking down monsters or the obvious pants-wetter that was the “Deceived” trailer from E3, but we really haven’t seen much else about how people are going to be waving around the iconic light-up swords they know and love.

One such obvious fear is the idea that Jedi and Sith, if they are introduced as classes in and of themselves in the game, will become all too common. To be honest, even I remember being impatient as I fast-tracked my way through clumsy weapons like blaster pistols and rifles in the KOTOR games to get to that glowy goodness that is the lightsaber. It’s no secret that any Star Wars fan, unless they liked a totally niche part of the franchise (don’t worry, we still love you, JarJar fanclub), has had some kind of mental fantasy about being a Jedi or a Sith. Logically, this means that every other person you might see in SW:TOR is going to have a lightsaber at their side, ready at a moment’s notice to re-enact that scene from Mos Eisley that cost people limbs.

Don’t get so worried folks – tons of lightsabering Star Wars kid-wannabes won’t be the end of the world for Bioware’s new MMO. For one thing, the old Republic’s lore and story follows a time when those who wielded lightsabers were all too common, making the history built-in for the many people looking to be the next Luke Skywalker. Lightsabers are not just going to be a dime-a-dozen, they’ll be welcome to be so.

Looking at Bioware’s KOTOR games, you also have to see that lightsabers aren’t always the end all-be all, either. In the games, waving around your lightsaber is not necessarily the way to get around, kill everything, and generally come out unscathed. No, your party members and your other abilities had to come into play as well, allowing you to close the distance for some limb-severing goodness. In an MMO, the analog is clearly being careful not to make melee DPS so powerful that they mash up everything they swing at. Lightsabers, even if they are everywhere, will probably be balanced in the same way they were in the Knights games, requiring precision, timing, and smarts to pull off. Don’t be surprised if elements are introduced that create better results for being more elegant with your lightsaber than pressing “111111111112″ on your keyboard over and over.

At the very least, everyone can count on one of the great truisms of MMOs – everyone wants to make sure they are unique from everyone else, in some form or fashion. This almost always guarantees that there will be someone out there who will play a non-Jedi or non-Sith class just to show they can play such a class. There will be plenty of room for Smugglers, Troopers, Bounty Hunters, and whatever else Bioware has in store for us, and many people will be more than happy to take up the call to arms – even if it’s to be like the Stormtrooper guy who gets killed by a reflected laser shot from a lightsaber. It is, after all, a role-playing game too, right?

Assuage your fears with a bit of Star Wars movie goodness (I personally like the Luke-Darth duel from Empire Strikes Back), and relax – the Jedi and the Sith will most certainly be popular in The Old Republic, but I don’t think Bioware, or anyone else for that matter, would have it any other way. Because of that, expect some interesting balancing that will more than likely make the lightsaber-free experience a good one.  It works for vegetarians and dieters, and it’ll work for you, too.

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