Thegalaticstruggle.com offered up some interesting news concerning the work Lucas Arts and and Bioware have been doing on their upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. With so much riding on player expectation, especially after the problems their previous MMO, Star Wars Galaxies faced, Star Wars: The Old Republic has a lot to live up to.
After a hands on experience, it seems that different alien species will be available to play in the game as evidenced by the playable Ratattaki character used in their limited released demo.
Character customization was another topic of converstion as Senior Producer at Lucas Arts Jake Neri answered some questions saying that it won’t be as indepth as Star Wars Galaxies but, their will be variety for players.
Thegalaticstruggle.com’s demo included play in a Spaceport, talking with a few vendors and getting a chance to check out a Bazaar, the games form of an auction house. They also got a chance to play for the first time with other players and had a fun adventure saving some other players who were pinned down by some “vile gangsters” who constantly roam around where the demo took place, the planet Hutta.
The most noticeable aspect of the combat so far is the cover system. It seems to add a depth of play beyond the traditional button mashing of your average MMO causing you to have to think and plan out attacks more strategically rather than just running in and facing your enemies head on.
Next, thegalaticstruggle.com covered the story elements of Star Wars: The Old Republic siting that the story revolves more closely to the player as NPC’s respond to how you handle threats and the like during the story, causing them to react differently to you. Much like the RPG’s for the XBOX, Star Wars: The Old Republic seems to implore a checks and balances system with regards to how you deal with certain story lines and the NPC’s and world around you will adjust accordingly to your actions.
Much like the flight masters in WoW, “Speeder Vendors” were located in the demo and offered quick trips to different locations the same as a taxi service. Added to this, there was a shuttle system in place that moved you from planet to planet.
All these impliments in the demo aren’t set in stone, so you’ll have to wait for a beta to be certain of all these claims. Tomorrow, Friday, May 14th, thegalaticstruggle.com will host a podcast with Senior Producer Jake Neri in hopes to get him to release even more details about the upcoming MMO.
The originating article basically took 9 paragraphs to talk about nothing new and made sure to mention the one thing that is differing from WoW (cover system/combat). Seems to me that this is an indirect response to GW2’s talk about their quest system. Really feels like a “Don’t forget about me” type thing.
You’ve got a good point there Qix. I kept waiting for something better as I sifted through the interview, but despite being very positive about the new game, Neri didn’t give away a whole lot or offer up much in terms of major differences between their game and traditional MMO’s. GW 2’s producer definitely had more to stay about the new quest system – a fresh and interesting, newly idealized game mechanic.
On the other side of the coin, it’s Star Wars, since they have such an ingrained audience perhaps they choose to remain tip-lipped and have more to offer than they are letting on just yet.