Star Wars: The Old Republic

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 03 Jun 2009, 21:52

I've been very anxiously awaiting this game since the rumors of a new Star Wars MMORPG began to surface a couple years ago. Now, the first trailer has been released. I came all over this.

:sith:

[youtube]2BjJaAA5A7w[/youtube]

shadowalk · Post by **shadowalk** » 04 Jun 2009, 03:25

djonni greazo · Post by **djonni greazo** » 04 Jun 2009, 03:27

i think this'll suck 'cause it'll be your typical bioware crap

so much potential... wasted

baron von blondle · Post by **baron von blondle** » 04 Jun 2009, 04:23

[quote name="i am the pink lizard"]i think this'll suck 'cause it'll be your typical bioware crap

so much potential... wasted

[/quote]

who gives a fuck its STAR WARS!!!!!

djonni greazo · Post by **djonni greazo** » 04 Jun 2009, 04:33

[quote name="baron von blondle"]
[quote name="i am the pink lizard"]i think this'll suck 'cause it'll be your typical bioware crap

so much potential... wasted

[/quote]

who gives a fuck its STAR WARS!!!!![/quote]

oh, don't get me wrong. i love the star wars universe. KOTOR2 is one of my favourite games ever. but let's face it, every bioware game is the same: the dark/evil side consists of dialogue options (very badly written dialogue, if i might add) "give me your money or i'll kill/stab/electrify/choke/maim you", while the light/good side is the angels-on-earth approach "yes i'll help you, here's some money". in the SW universe the Sith are master manipulators, they are fucking evil. in bioware games if you choose the dark side you're just a thug. pathetic. plus, point-and-click RPGs have really begun to annoy me. let's move past this archaic control scheme already

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 05 Jun 2009, 01:33

[quote name="i am the pink lizard"]
[quote name="baron von blondle"]
[quote name="i am the pink lizard"]i think this'll suck 'cause it'll be your typical bioware crap

so much potential... wasted

[/quote]

who gives a fuck its STAR WARS!!!!![/quote]

oh, don't get me wrong. i love the star wars universe. KOTOR2 is one of my favourite games ever. but let's face it, every bioware game is the same: the dark/evil side consists of dialogue options (very badly written dialogue, if i might add) "give me your money or i'll kill/stab/electrify/choke/maim you", while the light/good side is the angels-on-earth approach "yes i'll help you, here's some money". in the SW universe the Sith are master manipulators, they are fucking evil. in bioware games if you choose the dark side you're just a thug. pathetic. plus, point-and-click RPGs have really begun to annoy me. let's move past this archaic control scheme already

[/quote]

This doesn't look to be the usual sterile Bioware schlepp. You should check out some of the developer blogs and information being released on the game mechanics. KOTOR 2 is also one of my favorites

I'm going through it for the third time right now, in the rare moments I have spare time that is.

Darth Nihilus cutscenes are

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 05 Jun 2009, 01:37

Darth Nihilus was

as fuck.

[youtube]2Wt4fwDx1lE[/youtube]

djonni greazo · Post by **djonni greazo** » 05 Jun 2009, 02:36

yeah, kotor2 is awesome but that was another developer (the same that hopefully can manage to save that steaming pile of crap that was fallout3 with a decent, if bug-ridden sequel, just like they did with kotor). but bioware doesn't really have any good writers, so i'm not holding my breath.

you know, if i get the urge to playing a good rpg with a click-click-click interface i'll load up a good rpg (with good writing, interesting characters, an involved plot. the other stuff doesn't matter for me 'cause the clickety-click interface is retarded by default and, if you ask me, kinda oxymoronic in a role playing game), like arcanum, planescape torment, kotor2 or mask of the betrayer (i still have to try the witcher and the gothic trilogy)

Haunty · Post by **Haunty** » 06 Jun 2009, 11:26

You didn't like Fallout 3? Seriously? Every single person I've ever talked to (who's played it) has said that it is unequivocally the best game ever created.

jawn galliano · Post by **jawn galliano** » 06 Jun 2009, 11:51

i really enjoyed fallout 3, but i'll offer the caveat that i never played the originals. i had extremely low expectations for it, as i really can't stand the elder scrolls games, i think because it just felt like such a dull and generic setting, combined with equally dull combat/mechanics which ultimately amounted to a slug-paced FPS in a world that i can't fathom how anyone could possibly care about. for whatever reason, i ended up enjoying the pseudo-turn-based mechanics, and coupling that with the fallout world/atmosphere was apparently enough to win me over.

i will say though, the game really suffered from a homogeneous color palette. the visuals were well done through and through, but there was very little variety from area to area. it was consistent to a fault, the only break you get from the general aesthetic they establish in the first hour or two of the game, is if/when you actually venture all the way out to the oasis, and even then, once you have to go underground it turns into more of the same. you've basically got vaults, scorched earth landscapes, decaying urban structures, and that's more or less it. lots of gray and lots of brown, with a smattering of yellow for the super-mutants you run across.

i understand why this is from a practical standpoint, because they had so much space to fill and a budget to stay within, so they have to end up re-using a lot of assets. aesthetically, i think the game could have been a lot better if they didn't have the pressure of needing to get it ready for a Q4 release -- i think we'd have a much different product if it had been released last month rather than october/november.

djonni greazo · Post by **djonni greazo** » 06 Jun 2009, 19:18

F3 is a really bad game. However, i downloaded a shitload of mods that supposedly make it better, so i'll try it with those some time in the future.

But, let's see: like Stormy said, the landscape is really dull and monotonous. Plus, unlike the original Fallouts (which i didn't play, although i tried multiple times, 'cause of my hatred for turn-based games. but my cousin has given me quite thorough reports and i've read countless reviews, opinions, forums so it feels like i did play it

) the landscape doesn't seem functional, i.e. it doesn't look like a landscape that could support life of any form or shape. You don't ever see something whose purpose is to produce food or similar stuff. The character models are so bad (in typical Bethesda fashion with really ridiculous animations and facial models) they're almost funny. Almost. And, just like Morrowind and Oblivion before it, the "cities" (with less inhabitants than your average building) feel boring and lifeless because nothing ever happens. Ever since Morrowind they hyped ther AI as being advanced with really life schedules and reactions to events that feels like real people and what not, but in truth every character has 2-3 scripted actions and that's it: go to sleep, wake up, go to your designated place, roam around for 1-2 minutes every now and then. Rinse, repeat. Dull.

And then the writing. Oh, the writing... I think that in this game Bethesda probably surpassed themselves. The really few good quests are probably among the best quests they've ever done, but the rest is by far their worst. It's so incredibly stupidly written that they should've hired a monkey with no knowledge of english to write it instead. It would've been better. And the story is so incredibly stupid that whoever came up with it should receive a Darwin award. Seriously, you go on a quest to "save the world" by doing something that every other robot in your gameworld ca do on a regular basis (is really easy and trivial IRL). And bad writing=bad RPG by default.

And let's not forget the "cheating" system that is V.A.T.S. I really liked the idea, their heart was in the right place, but the execution left a lot to be desired. When you're in V.A.T.S. you're basically invincible, get loads of "free shots" before your enemies, increased damage and accuracy... but no negative effects. Crappy balancing. And if you don't use V.A.T.S. you're left with a shooter in an engine that was never intended for FPS, resulting in an experience that is less satisfactory than Wolfenstein 3D (yes, the first FPS ever

) would be if you played it now. It's Oblivion with guns (there's even a mod that puts a lot of plants and stuff around the gameworld, and judging by the screenshots it really looks like a mod for Oblivion that introduces guns).

To sum up: here we have a game with bad writing, shallow gameplay, dull world and graphics, and people think this game is good?! Why? Seriously, why? I wanted to like it. I really did. I was very pleased when the announcement was made that this game would be in real-time. "Finally, a Fallout game i can enjoy" i thought to myself, never stopping to consider that they might fuck up every element that made the originals good games.

Still, I have hopes for Fallout 4 'cause it's developed by Obsidian (dudes of KOTOR2) and they have some good writers and designers and quite a few people that worked on the original Fallouts and the scrapped 3rd sequel.

vO)))id · Post by **vO)))id** » 07 Jun 2009, 03:15

holy shit wookie

Teignub · Post by **Teignub** » 07 Jun 2009, 10:23

i was incredibly disappointed in fallout 3. as a huge fan of fallout 1 and 2, that game just didnt live up to any expectations. its really just elder scrolls 4: fallout 3

Haunty · Post by **Haunty** » 08 Jun 2009, 06:11

I'll tell you what's overhyped: Killzone 2. It had great graphics, but the story and gameplay blew nuts. The controls are kind of like Gears of War, except even more sluggish, and are especially poorly suited to a game that's laid out more like Halo.

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 09 Jun 2009, 00:25

I think the developers are very aware that KOTOR 2 was too rushed. There has been a major point in the hype around this release that it is by no means rushed. It will be done when it is done. I believe it will be in closed beta toward this fall.

djonni greazo · Post by **djonni greazo** » 09 Jun 2009, 01:06

[quote name="abzu"]I think the developers are very aware that KOTOR 2 was too rushed. There has been a major point in the hype around this release that it is by no means rushed. It will be done when it is done. I believe it will be in closed beta toward this fall.[/quote]

kotor2 devs =/= bioware (afaik, nobody that was on the kotor2 team is in biobore now). it was developed by obsidian, the guys behind the soon to be released Alpha protocol, the next Fallout, and many of them were in Black Isle studios (both Fallouts, the Icewind Dale series, Planescape: Torment (one of THE best RPGs ever!))

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 09 Jun 2009, 23:36

Yeah I never said the developers were the same. I just said the developers are aware that KOTOR2 was rushed to production and are taking care to ensure TOR is not.

djonni greazo · Post by **djonni greazo** » 10 Jun 2009, 00:04

[quote name="abzu"]Yeah I never said the developers were the same. I just said the developers are aware that KOTOR2 was rushed to production and are taking care to ensure TOR is not.[/quote]

sorry about that. i was a bit tired and it looks like i extrapolated information that wasn't there

my apologies. anyway, i seriously doubt the non-rushing of TOR is in any way related to the rushing of KOTOR2

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 10 Jun 2009, 07:26

S'all good.

But it is. Some of the early developer interviews said just that.

This is going to be my Warcrack. I've been all over the news since it was a little rumor haha

No one will ever see me again when it is released

zim · Post by **zim** » 10 Jun 2009, 07:31

I'll check this out when it's released, hopefully it will be fun. Nothing has been able to break my wow addiction though.. so unless this is amazing I won't be purchasing a subscription.

vO)))id · Post by **vO)))id** » 10 Jun 2009, 12:50

I hate killzone... it's fucking lame

shadowalk · Post by **shadowalk** » 26 Jun 2009, 12:57

[quote name="baron von blondle"]
[quote name="i am the pink lizard"]i think this'll suck 'cause it'll be your typical bioware crap

so much potential... wasted

[/quote]

who gives a fuck its STAR WARS!!!!![/quote]

Rob · Post by **Rob** » 26 Jun 2009, 16:14

[quote name="Void"]I hate killzone... it's fucking lame[/quote]

i think killzone 2 is best looking game out

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 17 Aug 2009, 19:29

TamPron · Post by **TamPron** » 18 Aug 2009, 04:52

[quote name="Void"]I hate killzone... it's fucking lame[/quote]

first, how is this relevant, second, fucking WRONG

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 07 Oct 2009, 07:53

I just signed up for The Old Republic beta testing at http://swtor.com

I hope I get!

zim · Post by **zim** » 07 Oct 2009, 08:01

signing up atm

...I've never gotten into a beta of any game

Do you have high-end specs abzula?

Mesarthim · Post by **Mesarthim** » 07 Oct 2009, 08:07

only beta i ever did was WoW. fun for a while. got bored after paying for it after a couple of months.

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 07 Oct 2009, 08:13

[quote name="zim"]signing up atm

...I've never gotten into a beta of any game

Do you have high-end specs abzula?[/quote]

No but I have decent. No video card though.

My notebook is

Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2GHz

4GB DDR3-SDRAM

on-board video

Vista Home SP2 x64

zim · Post by **zim** » 07 Oct 2009, 08:24

i'm running

Intel Core2 Duo E8500 @ 3.16GHz

4gb Ram

NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+

Vista Ultimate x64 SP1

I'd like some more ram though..

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 07 Oct 2009, 08:25

Duder, get SP2.

I cannot fucking wait for the 22d.

Windows 7 will hit me in the mail.

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 07 Oct 2009, 08:29

Oh, my display name on swtor is LordDagn

zim · Post by **zim** » 07 Oct 2009, 08:30

[quote name="abzu"]Duder, get SP2.

I cannot fucking wait for the 22d.

Windows 7 will hit me in the mail.

[/quote]

Do existing Windows users get a discount for upgrading?

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 07 Oct 2009, 08:45

[quote name="zim"]
[quote name="abzu"]Duder, get SP2.

I cannot fucking wait for the 22d.

Windows 7 will hit me in the mail.

[/quote]

Do existing Windows users get a discount for upgrading?[/quote]

That would be the Upgrade version, yeah. It's cheaper than the full version. It's about 100, I think. I got it on this 11 day pre-order sale back in August for $50. Check NewEgg and Amazon for rates.

zim · Post by **zim** » 07 Oct 2009, 08:47

Have you had any problems with Windows Update not showing specific updates? I went to check but SP2 isn't showing up. I'm looking on the Microsoft site right now for a solution.

baron von blondle · Post by **baron von blondle** » 07 Oct 2009, 17:44

[quote name="abzu"]I just signed up for The Old Republic beta testing at http://swtor.com

I hope I get![/quote]

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 07 Oct 2009, 18:43

[quote name="zim"]Have you had any problems with Windows Update not showing specific updates? I went to check but SP2 isn't showing up. I'm looking on the Microsoft site right now for a solution.

[/quote]

That's... strange. You could just download the update and run it manually.

jawn galliano · Post by **jawn galliano** » 08 Oct 2009, 01:20

[quote name="zim"]signing up atm

...I've never gotten into a beta of any game

[/quote]

i hope it's better than the beta for star wars galaxies, which i had the misfortune of wasting bandwidth on many years ago. that game was so horrifically broken when i tried it, and that was right before retail release too. from what i've gathered, that's been a pretty common theme throughout the game's history

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 08 Oct 2009, 01:39

[quote name="Famous Mortimer"]
[quote name="zim"]signing up atm

...I've never gotten into a beta of any game

[/quote]

i hope it's better than the beta for star wars galaxies, which i had the misfortune of wasting bandwidth on many years ago. that game was so horrifically broken when i tried it, and that was right before retail release too. from what i've gathered, that's been a pretty common theme throughout the game's history

[/quote]

KotOR 2 had an unfinished release issue too which led to the developers, being told they have to hit the deadline, chopping the ending up a bit. There are projects and mods that restore the original endings (pieces of which were shipped on the cd/dvd of the game!)

The Old Republic on the other hand has had the opportunity to take their time and do this right.

djonni greazo · Post by **djonni greazo** » 08 Oct 2009, 02:51

[quote name="abzu"]

The Old Republic on the other hand has had the opportunity to take their time and do this right.[/quote]

it's biowhore; shitloads of money (thus no or lenient time limits) and 0 talent. and if by "right" you mean "assraping an awesome franchise and doing and "RPG" that will be WoW with lightsabers" then yes, they most certainly did it "right"

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 08 Oct 2009, 07:17

[quote name="i am the pink lizard"]
[quote name="abzu"]

The Old Republic on the other hand has had the opportunity to take their time and do this right.[/quote]

it's biowhore; shitloads of money (thus no or lenient time limits) and 0 talent. and if by "right" you mean "assraping an awesome franchise and doing and "RPG" that will be WoW with lightsabers" then yes, they most certainly did it "right"

[/quote]

By right I mean doing what an MMO of KOTOR should be. By all accounts so far, that's what they've done.

Methuselah Honeysuckle · Post by **Methuselah Honeysuckle** » 08 Oct 2009, 22:07

our lord and master wants to play this here game

Rob · Post by **Rob** » 08 Oct 2009, 23:50

i want this and witcher 2, but ill need to take the pc to the man in the shop and demand he make it good enough.

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 12 Jun 2011, 21:45

[youtube]MfNhs6sh3_Q[/youtube]

new Intro Cinematic

jawn galliano · Post by **jawn galliano** » 13 Jun 2011, 00:02

two years later and i do not find fault with pinky's assessment of bioware or their games

Abzu · Post by **Abzu** » 13 Jun 2011, 03:16

All of the gameplay footage of TOR looks good and solid. It looks like what I expected and what people have been waiting for: an MMO KotOR. I give fuck all about other Bioware games when talking about this game.

jawn galliano · Post by **jawn galliano** » 13 Jun 2011, 05:33

yeah but KOTOR is just a basic bioware game with a star wars colored coat of paint. taking that format and plugging it into an MMO where the central design philosophy is to drag things out for as long as possible so players continually pay subscription fees... that's just a big old 'no' from me. even if the publisher committed to delivering sexual favors to me on a daily basis in exchange for my playing the game, i don't think that would be enough to get me interested in this.

zim · Post by **zim** » 13 Jun 2011, 05:46

my thoughts exactly. i feel like it's going to basically feel like mass effect as an mmo

^_____________^ · Post by **^_____________^** » 13 Jun 2011, 05:51

MMORPG

deckard · Post by **deckard** » 14 Jun 2011, 02:07

fuck mmo's, why couldnt they have just made kotor 3