The Old Republic

[Letho]

So, I was just wondering, is anyone jumping into The Old Republic in about two weeks time?

Personally, The Old Republic is the first game ever that I pre-ordered. And it's not because I'm a huge MMO fan. I'm really not. The only other MMORPG I've played was Lord of the Rings Online, and I got fed up with it after a solid six months. Call me dense, but it took me that much to understand just how tedious that game really is. So after I saw Bioware (probably my all-time favorite game developer) is making a MMO, in the KotOR world which I thoroughly enjoyed no less, I said to myself that that's the MMO I'll try. And if it blows chucks, I'm writing off the entire genre.

Well, I participated in the final two beta tests of The Old Republic and frankly I was pretty happy with it. There seems to be much more story to the whole game, the voiceovers are better than in most single-player games and I'm loving the entire world in which the game takes place. The gameplay is... satisfactory, I guess. It still feels like the usual clunky, MMO, shitload-of-buttons-on-the-screen, stuff, but I still found it enjoyable and classes that I got to play interesting enough. And frankly, that was enough for me to decide to buy it. I am yet to be disappointed by Bioware and if there's anyone I want robbing me of my money on monthly basis, I'd prefer it to be them.

So, anyone here polishing their lightsaber already? My trooper is ready and waiting to fight for the Republic. :D

[SirArtemis]

I played a bit of the beta as well, and I don't think it's for me. I'm a well rounded MMO player and I've been around the block more times than I care to admit. Needless to say, no, I will not be playing.

Based on my brief time playing beta (I got to about 11 before I lost motivation), I didn't much enjoy the graphics and art style, The gameplay itself felt rigid and clunky at times. The nice part was the Mass Effect style cutscenes which I enjoyed, but it does bog down gameplay a bit when multiple players have to experience the same cutscene. The combat itself felt more redundant than usual, but perhaps that was just my sour mood while testing, given that most MMO's, you push the same series of buttons while grinding enemies.

The quests were a bit varied which was nice and there was at least a storyline, and the fact that you had to watch the cutscenes did force you to immerse yourself into it more so than something like WoW where you have a quest, you click accept and don't bother reading anything but your objective.

Perhaps I just didn't get far enough in, but I didn't experience anything like professions or gathering or the sort. Not sure how you make money later on. I had just gotten to the part where I got my first companion and then I quit.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just burnt out with all MMO's but this one just didn't tickle the bean for me. Hopefully you enjoy it more though.

[Elrundir]

I do want to play. Really I do. But the fates are not aligning properly in any way.

1) I finally got an invite to the beta test after months and months of waiting. It was the same god damn weekend Skyrim came out. Since I also had to work, and had some major school presentations to work on, I skipped out on that.

2) I also got invited to the "open" beta test weekend a couple of weekends ago. But that's when I discovered that the client download was like 30 freaking GB or something like that. This is North America, the Land of the Data Cap! There was no way I could justify downloading that for what would essentially be one day of playing (again, I had to work on the Saturday).

3) Now that the game itself is coming out, I just don't have the money to pay for a monthly fee. Maybe a little later down the road when my finances are more in order, but I have to pay for school myself this time around so money is very tight. :( Plus, with having missed out on the betas, it's even harder to justify buying the full game when I don't even know how much I'll like it (and nevermind whether I'll have enough time to actually do anything in-game; if it's one of those MMOs that requires tons of time and group work to get anywhere, I'll have to skip out on it.)

[Atzar]

I loved Knights of the Old Republic, so it was a game that I followed with some interest through its development.

In the end, however, my aversion to MMO's won out over my interest in the KotOR franchise and my faith in BioWare in general. I'm sure it will be fun, and fans of both the genre and the Star Wars franchise are understandably thrilled. But it's just not my thing.

[Letho]

Based on my brief time playing beta (I got to about 11 before I lost motivation), I didn't much enjoy the graphics and art style, The gameplay itself felt rigid and clunky at times. The nice part was the Mass Effect style cutscenes which I enjoyed, but it does bog down gameplay a bit when multiple players have to experience the same cutscene. The combat itself felt more redundant than usual, but perhaps that was just my sour mood while testing, given that most MMO's, you push the same series of buttons while grinding enemies.

The quests were a bit varied which was nice and there was at least a storyline, and the fact that you had to watch the cutscenes did force you to immerse yourself into it more so than something like WoW where you have a quest, you click accept and don't bother reading anything but your objective.I actually enjoyed the whole group cutscenes deal. From what I could gather, if people choose different responses, the player that wins the invisible roll gets to make the decision. Which makes it very unpredictable in groups with differently oriented players. I played a jedi consular and got in a group with a smuggler, a commando and another consular and the dialogue sequences turned out very interesting. And while random quests aren't all unique and great, at least I get more then a speech bubble in which someone tells me to go kill 20 wolves or something. LotRO was horrible in this aspect. Three out of four quests were just going killing or gathering a certain number of somethings in a specific region.

3) Now that the game itself is coming out, I just don't have the money to pay for a monthly fee. Maybe a little later down the road when my finances are more in order, but I have to pay for school myself this time around so money is very tight. Plus, with having missed out on the betas, it's even harder to justify buying the full game when I don't even know how much I'll like it (and nevermind whether I'll have enough time to actually do anything in-game; if it's one of those MMOs that requires tons of time and group work to get anywhere, I'll have to skip out on it.)From what I could gather so far, most of the game can actually be soloed. I ran into a number of quests that required a party, but those were all optional and I'm pretty sure you can play you character's story at your own pace. I got to about level 17 on my Imperial Agent, 15 on Jedi Consular, and never had to get in a group. Though it can definitely be a lot of fun to do so. And so far nobody minded me being a noob. :P

I loved Knights of the Old Republic, so it was a game that I followed with some interest through its development.Yeah, I fucking love KotOR as well. In fact, when I saw they were making a MMO instead of three, I was pissed for like a year or two. And while I still believe it would've been better if they did that instead of The Old Republic, I'll take what I can get, you know? ;)

[Atzar]

Yeah, I fucking love KotOR as well. In fact, when I saw they were making a MMO instead of three, I was pissed for like a year or two. And while I still believe it would've been better if they did that instead of The Old Republic, I'll take what I can get, you know? ;)

I hear you. Hopefully a '3' isn't entirely out of the question for the future now. I may never end up playing this one, but I'd definitely pick up a KotOR 3 if it ever happens.

[Elrundir]

I always feel like MMOs basically kill any possibility of future entries to that franchise. I mean, anything else they want to do with it from this point forward is probably going to be an expansion. Just like Warcraft; I highly doubt we're ever going to see a Warcraft IV unless maybe World of Warcraft one day goes totally under and shuts down. Which will be long after we're dead and rotted.

[Vigil]

No. George Lucas and company have gotten enough of my money. His Indiana Jones movies were better.

I've seen every star wars movie, played a few of the games, but at this point its getting ridiculous. One of my favorite animators who made Samurai Jack was behind the whole cartoonization of Stars Wars: Clone Wars, and it was at that moment that I realized that Lucas Arts will do anything and everything to rape my childhood as long as a profit can be reaped from it. No thanks.

And for posterity, Brian Posehn on Star Wars;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IzTV8VoB9Q

[Grimoire]

Decided to kick up a dead thread:

Is anyone still playing this? I've had the game for a little over a month now, but I've been pretty busy the last few weeks. So I'm still just a level 24 x_x. From what I've played, though, the game is amazing: meaning it's pretty solid by most conventional standards; amazing by MMO standards. Sure, there are still a few faults with it, but the majority of them are ironing themselves out. Plus, there's more than enough to make up for the downfalls such as the cutscenes, immersive story, and unique Star Wars touch (taxi speeder system ftw; F-U WoW for making people hoof it for miles upon monotonous miles). I'm a bit surprised that I like the game so much considering my track record with MMORPG's. I've tried a handful here and there but never for more than a couple of months (WoW only lasted as long as my free trial), but I have a feeling I'll be keeping this one on my computer for at least as long as it takes to finish both sides of the story with a couple different characters.

If people are still playing, what server(s) are you on?

Me - Daragon Trail

[Letho]

I got a Guardian at level 45, a Commando at 20, an Operative at 20-something, a couple of others in teens I think, all on Ludo Kressh. Also a Vanguard at level 25 on Frostclaw.

And frankly I got bored. I racked all that up in about a month and half, but I can't do it anymore. The cutscenes are very nice, yes, much better than the dialogue boxes that are common for MMORPGs, and the stories are interesting enough for each class. And yes, the Star Wars feeling is there. It's just that everything else is the same old shit. I mean, 90% of the game still consists of the quests like: "I'm incapable of going to point A to pick up/kill/turn on object B, go do it for me". On top of that, if you're not in a Guild, once you reach higher levels you can scarcely find enough people to do the Heriocs, not to mention Flashpoints. Yes, you don't have to do them, but that's where the phat lewt is. On planets like Hoth or Balmora or even Alderaan, there was seldom more then 30-40 people on the server at the time.

So I'm currently on a hiatus as far as SWTOR goes. Once I get the MMO fever, I might go back to it again, but right now I can't really stand killing another X number of something for an Y item. I really hoped that The Old Republic will be an MMO that will change the genre, but in truth it's just like most MMOs, only it does it a bit better than them. Well, at most aspects anyways.

[Sagequeen]

I passed on TOR; I read several reviews and heard it was very lacking in a number of areas, especially content at max level. Actually, I've been waiting for an MMO called Tera Online. (I've played a number of MMO's over the years, but have been out of them for... I suppose about a year or more now.)

I won a comic caption contest and played in their community event last year, and in the first closed beta last weekend. They've got 4 more CB and one open before launch, and I'm rather satisfied with the game. (In fact, after playing the community event, trying to go back to other MMO's was impossible, hence the time away.) It's not a click your target and hit the rotation of buttons; you actually have to aim like in a first person shooter - and you can dodge; it's fun. The graphics are nice as well. I don't think there's an MMO out there that has found an alternative to kill x amount of y monster; however, Tera manages to make combat different.

Think Vindicus with several different skills. I've pre-ordered it. :)