What you've got here is basically Mass Effect, set in a Star Wars universe and massively multiplayer-enabled. So when you're not talking to a human-controlled player, you get fully-voiced cutscenes and interactions, with the same conversation system that Mass Effect uses so convincingly. This applies to every non-player character, making this the first fully-voiced MMO. Fact.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Official trailer
5:38Voice overs have never been done so well
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Official trailer
5:38Voice overs have never been done so well
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As if that wasn't enough, the choice structure in conversations has permanent effects on the story. We see a demonstration of the player killing the captain of a ship (and got a pinbadge saying 'I killed the captain' to prove it) and, sure enough, he really does die. Irreversibly so, considering there's no possibility of reloading a previous save. Later, in our hands-on time with the game, we let him live - and the story and action branches accordingly.
Story's all well and good, but how does it play? The answer is very well, right from the off. Your attacks are mapped to the number keys so, if you're playing as a Sith character (as we did), 1 is your standard lightsaber strike, 2 is a harder melee strike, 3 can be used to jump in from above or from a fair distance away, 4 impales your target, 5 hits many foes all around you and 6 is the famous Force Choke, which is time limited, but leaves your foe clutching at their throat, ready to be impaled.
Crucially, there's no auto-attack. Some moves build up your attack points to allow other moves to charge, ready for use. During all of this, you can still move around with WASD, making for essentially real-time combat, even if it does have an RPG-slant.
It's smooth, fast-paced, and very rarely degenerates into protracted melee exchanges as you wait for moves to charge. There are also some neat touches in combat, such as your avatar automatically blocking attacks from behind with his lightsaber.
You can raid the bodies of fallen enemies, which allowed us to pick up a second lightsaber from a defeated Jedi Knight, allowing for some impressive (wait, scrub that - try 'awesome') dual-wielding action. The sense of power as you carve through Imperial Troopers in a blur of coloured light is superb.
There is a basic cover system in place, with translucent green 3D representations of your character which appear whenever you're near a cover object, showing you the positions of cover that are open to you. There's also a healthy mix of weapons, ranging from Star Wars favourites like the blaster and lightsaber through to some rather unsubtle flamethrowers.
While the draw-distance and misting are superb and the characters look good in combat, the environments and character models currently look a tad basic and low-res, especially if you're used to the sheen of Mass Effect. While this could well change before release, the art style itself won't - and that's where the controversy may lie.
It sits somewhere between the stylised look of The Clone Wars CGi film and the realism of Mass Effect. Characters' proportions are realistic, but their skin and eyes in particular are noticeably cartoony. It works as a cohesive style, but we're a bit disappointed they haven't taken the ultra-realistic approach as it looks a bit 'kiddy' in places. And we've already got Lego Star Wars for that.
All that said, BioWare has done a great job in bringing the Star Wars universe to an MMO. And when you consider the entire game is different for each of the four player classes (Sith Warrior, Bounty Hunter, Smuggler and Trooper) with zero repetition of quests between them, you're looking at a doubly massive MMO.
Fans may have been put out that they're not getting a true sequel to Knights of the Old Republic 2. But with the story-telling elements of this MMO so comparable to dedicated single-player experiences, BioWare had an easy answer for them at the end of the Gamescom presentation:
"This is Knights of the Old Republic 3. And 4. And 5. And 6. And 7..."
boy this game looks outdated and its not even released yet, the graphics are truly last gen, look at those character models, reminds me of PS2. The gameplay doesn't look exciting either, I remember KOTOR on xbox and PC looking much better than this, what a letdown.
Judging a game by screenshots alone is retarded, go watch the 20min demo on ign before deciding if your interested or not.
Personally i cannot wait for this game, after watching the 20min video i want this game more than ever, its true the artstyle isnt the best but they also explain their choice in style in the video.
I had watched the IGN movie before making that post. It's what inspired me to make it. I think the game is trying to squeeze a single player and an mmo experience into the same game and I don't think I'll like it. Plus I don't like the art style.
was funny since most of us probably want something that looked like that sweet CGI stuff we watched but instead am getting a slightly realistic look. I'm ok with it especially since World of Warcraft is wayyyyyy too cartoony and you would say "kiddy". I'm on the fence with this one.
Fans may have been put out that they're not getting a true sequel to Knights of the Old Republic 2. But with the story-telling elements of this MMO so comparable to dedicated single-player experiences, BioWare had an easy answer for them at the end of the Gamescom presentation:
"This is Knights of the Old Republic 3. And 4. And 5. And 6. And 7..."
In which case I won't be buying "Knights of the Old Republic 3. And 4. And 5. And 6. And 7..." ad infinitum. I would have bought a single-player "KoTOR 3" without blinking. I simply refuse to go along with subscription based MMOs.
I agree with the bad quality of player models. I would have liked to also see a release on 360 and the best thing before release would be to make the lightsaber hilt about 300x smaller and make the gear on the players a bit more smaller.
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