Star Wars: The Old Republic finally unvealed


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Set 300 years after the events in Knights of the Old Republic (and featuring some familiar faces), Star Wars: The Old Republic will put players on either side of a massive war between the Republic and the Empire. "It's not a day-in-the-life of Star Wars," Ray emphasizes; "It's about being a hero." They want the game to fit the scale and proportions of a conflict that spans the entire galaxy. The game will follow BioWare's emphasis on "choice with consequences" with room for players to be ambiguous or conflicted about their motives. In short, Greg says, it's what BioWare fans want: a perpetual RPG that delivers the full BioWare experience. The problem is that the success of the stories in Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire and Mass Effect relied on scripted interactions, a dramatic pace and a sense that the player's actions had a lasting impact on the game world. BioWare admits, "common sense says you can't approach story this way in an MMO." As they see it, the problem with most MMOs, even those that have large story arcs for their characters, is that they try to apply a single story to a wide range of classes and attitudes. In designing content that works equally well for both saints and scoundrels, many MMOs are left with rather generic stories where the only real roleplaying is whatever the player projects onto the action.

The solution is to give each class its own story arc. While it means the writers have to create a lot more content, it also pays tribute to the fact that "not everybody's fantasy was to be Luke." There's plenty of opportunity to tell equally interesting stories for other possible character types like smugglers, bounty hunters, politicians and moisture farmers. Okay, well, maybe not so much with the moisture farmers, but those other possibilities seem like they'd have experiences that are every bit as exciting as you'd get as a Jedi.

IGN Coverage

Press release:

LucasArts and BioWare, a division of Electronic Arts Inc., today announced the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic, a story-driven massively multiplayer online PC game set in the timeframe of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic franchise. Star Wars: The Old Republic, being developed and published by BioWare and LucasArts, represents an innovative approach to interactive entertainment, featuring immersive storytelling, dynamic combat and intelligent companion characters. In Star Wars: The Old Republic, players will explore an age thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader when war between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire divides the galaxy. Players can choose to play as Jedi, Sith, or a variety of other classic Star Wars roles, defining their personal story and determining their path down the light or dark side of the Force. Along the way, players will befriend courageous companions who will fight at their side or possibly betray them, based on the players' actions. Players can also choose to team up with friends to battle enemies and overcome incredible challenges using dynamic Star Wars combat.

"Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is the most critically acclaimed Star Wars game in LucasArts history and a preeminent example of our company's interactive storytelling heritage," said Darrell Rodriguez, President of LucasArts. "For a long time, we've long wanted to return to the franchise in a grand way, and we felt that the best setting for it was an online world that would allow millions of people to participate in the experience together. We knew that the developer capable of working with us to deliver an engrossing story with a fully-realized online world was BioWare."

"Traditionally, massively multiplayer online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars - combat, exploration and character progression," said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Co-Founder and General Manager/CEO of BioWare and General Manager/Vice President of Electronic Arts Inc., "In Star Wars: The Old Republic, we're fusing BioWare's heritage of critically-acclaimed storytelling with the amazing pedigree of Lucasfilm and LucasArts, and adding a brand-new fourth pillar to the equation ? story. At the same time, we will still deliver all the fun features and activities that fans have come to expect in a AAA massively multiplayer online game. To top it all off, Star Wars: The Old Republic is set in a very exciting, dynamic period in the Star Wars universe."

Added Dr. Greg Zeschuk, Co-Founder and Vice President Development Operations, BioWare and Vice President, Electronic Arts Inc., "Star Wars: The Old Republic is set roughly 300 years after the events of Knights of the Old Republic, a timeframe that is completely unexplored in the lore. BioWare has been able to add to the Star Wars history in developing the game's story and has created an overarching narrative that players can enjoy, regardless of their play style. Our goal is to offer players an emotionally rewarding experience that combines the traditional elements of MMO gameplay with innovations in story and character development."

A FAQ for the game:

FAQ Information

Giant story information thingie:

Story!

Screenshots and artwork:

Screens!

Enjoy everyone. Dunno if this should be called the "Official" thread or not. You guys can decid:):)

Gamespot coverage!

Added the giant Gamespot story also.

Edited by LOC
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Crap, I was hoping all those KotOR MMO rumors were false; I would much rather see a true sequel than another WoW clone; I've yet to see a MMORPG that didn't suck. Maybe this won't, but after seeing Star Wars Galaxies, I'm not exactly holding my breath.

I'll likely give it a try nevertheless, but I still hope we get a proper KotOR 3. :D

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I added the Gamespot story link to the first post now also.

I'm glad they're not tampering with the kotor 1+2 timeline, leaving that wide open for a follow up. What is obsidian up to now?

They are currently working on the Aliens RPG game, and Alpha Protocol.

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It'll probably be good... but ... dammit.

I want Star Wars in the modern age, preferably post episode 6. not this damn kotor universe, it's not proper Star Wars

Also they're not the first to use separate stories for each class. EQ2 did it, but actually had to pull back on it lot, 1: too much maintenance 2: users didn't care too much for it, especially since part of it coudln't be grouped with others and such.

And Personally I'd prefer they didn't have classes,skill based(preferably using a skill system copied from the Shadowrun PnP RPG) is so much better than a class system.

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So can anybody help me out on this one. I only had time to briefly skim the article before I leave. This isn't KOTOR 3, but isn't it going to be along the same terms in gameplay?

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It'll probably be good... but ... dammit.

I want Star Wars in the modern age, preferably post episode 6. not this damn kotor universe, it's not proper Star Wars

The problem with the "modern" Star Wars era is that there's so much already out there about it. They'd either have to go along with what others have already done or just totally ignore it. Besides, isn't that what Star Wars Galaxies was?

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SWG was set inbetween the movies, and was supposed to advance. it they hadn't done the NGE and actually had advanced the story over time as they did in the start, it would have been the perfect MMORGP.

It's still the mot advanced MMORPG out there, with player housing, player cities, player vendors, tons of tools for players to set up "events" with event vendors selling all kinds of things you can use for it. and being a bounty hunter there's a few extra bonuses :)

Even with the NGE it's a generation or 2 beyond every other MMORPG. Heck the thing that ugged me most about the NGE wasn't the change to class based, it was the damn offset shoulder camera :p

and setting a SW MMORPG after the ovies,perhaps at the same time as the Zhan books is perfect, you have lots of EU books to base content on, at the same time it's a huge universe you can do paralell content in outside of the books, afterall the SW books aren't as epic as the actual SW saga, and you can easily have major eents happenign in the imeframe without messing with the books. during the actual movie time fram that's a lot harder.

Seriusly, update the SWG graphics engine, and animation, slap in Euphoria for awesome aimations :), move the story beyond the movies and add in new content. and preferably go back to skills rather than classes. and it'd be the perfect SW MMORPG

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Im fuming not happy about this what so ever, they just wanted a cash cow thats all they dont give a **** about the fans unlike what they have said in the video. Single player game would have been immense this on the other hand will just be a rip off of WOW. They talked about classes and stories again almost every other MMO has this so its nothing new. They may have it in a bigger quantity than other MMOs but still its the same thing.

For those like me waiting for KOTOR3 its not going to come, they said it in the video aswell. "The reason we went with The Old republic instead of KOTOR3 is ....." so thats pretty much settled we wont be getting a KOTOR3.

Its a shame that they wanted to go for MMO and not single player. They should have just brought out a Single player and MMO later. I know many people who will not buy this as they already have WOW subsriptions, WAR, LOTRO, AoC etc etc I really doubt they are going to buy another MMO.

As a hardcore fan of Star Wars i most likely will end up taking a dabble into this but i doubt i will get it on release date, probably just a trial or something, i dont like the idea of MMO and star wars game. SWG failed and if not handled right so will this.

After WC3 WOW came out theres some people still waiting for WC4 i doubt that will ever happen. Same will go for this KOTOR 3 will never come out now due to this. Thanks Bioware and Lucasarts for screwing up a great IP!

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there better be a KOTOR 3 following this!! With all the work on this game it should not be difficult to use what's already done to pump out a stand alone end to the trilogy.

If they don't they'd be passing up on a huge money maker.

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It's too bad KotOR 2 was as bad as it was... I don't think there's much hope for a KotOR 3 as a result.

*sigh* Bioware did not make KOTOR2.

I for one am pumped about this, I can't wait for it.

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I'm going to hold my judgement on this but I'm not happy it's an MMO, because I do not have the time to dedicate myself to really play a game that requires me to be online, not to mention my spotty internet connection that's half reliable as it is.

Scirwode

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bioware-mmo-project-untitled-20081021113738237.jpg

bioware-mmo-project-untitled-20081021113734269.jpg

Art direction looks like ass, hope this improves.

This shouldn't be pre-teen Star Wars meets Fisher Price with Guitar Hero thrown in :no:

And no KOTOR3 = :(

Complete fail for me so far.

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bioware-mmo-project-untitled-20081021113738237.jpg

bioware-mmo-project-untitled-20081021113734269.jpg

Art direction looks like ass, hope this improves.

This shouldn't be pre-teen Star Wars meets Fisher Price with Guitar Hero thrown in :no:

And no KOTOR3 = :(

Complete fail for me so far.

Cause pre-alpha/alpha is how its gonna look at launch amiright? Why are people so hard on a game we have "officialy" known about for less then a day.

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Historically MMORPGS usually look a lot better in the pre-alpha/alpha stage than the final product-

Man I remember how awesome the graphics in the alpha client of Horizons looked before tehy dumped everythign changed the whole game around and crapped on the graphics :)

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i dont expect this game to have great graphics anyway.

Mainly because it is a MMO and they want to tone everything down so it works on everyones PC. Would have had better graphics if it was SP. There was further confirmation aswell that we wont see KOTOR 3 as they mentioned there is enough content for the MMO that it could be refferred to as KOTOR 3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9 .... So again another nail in the coffin.

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