Star Wars: The Old Republic Updated Hands-On - The Jedi Consular and Multiplayer Flashpoints
We wield the mystical powers of the Jedi consular and take on an explosive group adventure in this upcoming massively multiplayer game that takes place in the same universe as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, role-playing game developer BioWare announced it would create a massively multiplayer online role-playing game--a game that would take place not in the well-known universe of the original Star Wars motion picture, but rather in the pre-Star Wars universe that the studio had crafted for its highly acclaimed 2003 game, Knights of the Old Republic. Over time, we've had the opportunity to play and see more of The Old Republic, and most recently, we had the opportunity to play as the game's Force-sensitive characters. Wielders of the dark side of the Force can play as the Sith Warrior or the Sith Inquisitor, which we've covered previously--but this time around, we had a chance to join the light side playing as a Jedi character.
The Old Republic will have two different Jedi classes, the knight (a profession that focuses primarily on fighting while wielding a lightsaber, much like the guardian profession in Knights of the Old Republic) and the consular (a profession that focuses more on using mystical Force powers--again, much like in Knights of the Old Republic). We were given the choice to play as one of the two Jedi professions, and after seeing the intriguing 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo trailer that shows the mystical powers of the consular, our choice was obvious. We hunkered down in front of a computer station at a recent press event and started playing as a brand-new Jedi apprentice--after sitting through a brief presentation on some of the other content planned for the game. Please be advised that we played a pre-alpha version of the game, so everything in this report is subject to change, and please also be advised that this story contains minor plot spoilers about the early experience.
The BioWare staff kicked off the presentation with a review of the recently revealed crew skills system, which lets you use your computer-controlled companion characters to more or less do your dirty work. This includes all the "go run around and do this for a while" activities you'd normally handle yourself in an online game, such as crafting (in this case, using the artifice or biochem skills), gathering crafting materials (in this case, bioanalysis and slicing--the game's term for computer hacking), and lower-level mission tasks (in the case of The Old Republic, this will mean diplomacy missions and treasure hunts). The idea is that your character is a true hero, and like any good hero, you have people who do that stuff for you. Since all characters in The Old Republic can have their own starship, which acts as a base of operations, your companions will hang out on your ship until you deploy them or put them to work on board at a crafting station. And you'll apparently be able to deploy as many as five different companion characters at once to do one thing or another for you, and they'll even continue working on their assigned projects after you log your character out of the game, meaning they'll continue toiling away and may have good news for you by the time you get back.
In addition to going over the crew skills system, BioWare staffers recapped the game's first warzone--a player-versus-player (PVP) area where Empire characters will be able to duel against Republic characters. (For the time being, BioWare has revealed PVP only for Empire versus Republic--there's no word on how or when players on the same factional side will be able to duel each other or if they ever will be able to.) Warzone PVP will take place via a handy queuing system you may have seen in other, similar games--you can reserve a spot in line and go on about your business taking on quests or fighting monsters, and once your number is up, you'll automatically be transported to the warzone for battle.
The warzone on display took place on the doomed planet of Alderaan (the development team intends for warzones to have story-based objectives that could have been "scenes out of one of the movies"). The Alderaan warzone pits one attacking team against a defending team that must prevent the enemy from destroying antiair turrets that will shoot down a gigantic airborne battleship. Should you fall in a warzone, you'll respawn in dramatic fashion, leaping onto a smaller ship and dodging through incoming flak while surveying the battlefield in real time to see how each team is doing before landing on terra firma--this brief scene will effectively be your character's "respawn timer" and is intended to be a lot more exciting and useful than just staring at a bar onscreen. Warzone PVP will earn you tokens--items that can be exchanged for special PVP-only gear. While you won't necessarily be able to join PVP battles right out of the gate, warzone PVP is intended to be a "viable alternative" to playing through the game's standard content, and just like the game's space exploration content (which has not yet been revealed), warzone PVP will net your character actual experience points that can be used to gain new levels.
384 comments
got that right Adidas32x and I would say that Wow is about to get blown up like Aldderan did in Episode Iv
These are all still pre alpha game samples so I don`t think we should get all worked up about the combat looking a bit weak just yet.
That is NOT how to take down a sith. That wasn't epic at all... The sith would've thrown her into a bus or something....
Looks like if KofTOR hasnt evolved since back then, dull movements and simple graphics, I think this its a NO.
kiddies are discussing whether the graphics are good or not again, the most shallow and pointless discussion ever. the game obviously has a tough competitor in WoW and it isn't a definite "WoW-killer" as its gameplay is looking choppy as hell, it is not bringing anything original to the MMO genre. The only definitive good side to it is the Star Wars lore / universe, and Bioware are very good at creating compelling and immersive storylines.
All of blizzard's games are cartoonish, always have been. But those cartoonish graphicss are great at max settings, if your little pc can handle it.
Bioware has always impressed me story and dialog wise not so much in the gameplay department. So i have my doubts when it comes to this game dethroning WoW.
This is the next king of online games ,i love KOTOR 1-2 and i wait to play this one next 10 years if i live long enough :)
I think the graphics look fine, but the combat looks weak and the animations are far from smooth. I want this game to be great because i like KOTOR. But those have always been issues with the series. Lets hope they spend lots of time on polish and streamlining.
...that iconic music starts playing and the goosebumps happen AGAIN!!! ...who won't be playing this game on release day?
and i will conquer this game just like every other starwars game starting from the gameboy to the ps3
Cartoonish graphics you say? :) It's no secret that this game has a high chance of kicking WoW in the arse... Have you guys ever noticed that wow has "cartoonish" graphics aswell and that's the best MMO out at the moment? The reason for the graphics is that lots of players have low-end PCs and they want to play these games too. Seriously I don't care about cartoonish graphics as long as I can decide to murder people when I want to xD
internet speeds are not fast enuff to handle real time combat among 1000's of players in a persistant open world mmorpg like WOW most are like PSU. so how is hack n' slash dated? all mmorpgs atm are click and wait. i want to see public raiding. 100's jump into a area to fight a single boss or event at once
Visually I have nothing against it. It looks really good for an MMO. What bothers me though, is the gameplay... it sounds just like another generic MMO. But I do hope that I will be pleasantly surprised by the game, and will not regret that they aren't making KoTOR 3.
May I ask where people are getting the dated graphics from? All of the screenshots and videos I've seen look quite nice.
What the hell has happened to Lucas Arts ? they used to make awesome films and great games , now they make toy films and arcadey cartoon games. Pack it in before you bring down the name even further .... if that's possible.
theres gonna be so many jedi and sith for the first month going to have to pick an unusual class to start with
I sure hope the dialogue competition thing doesn't become a problem. I can see a lot of players whining about their dialogue decision not winning out because of course THEIR dialogue choice should always be the right one because they're so leet and know everything about the game and everyone else sucks.
@SniperFire17 Nice phone, I forget is that the Samsung one? I got the Droid 2. Android OS is sick nasty. I got a PSX emulator running so I can play Final Fantasy VII on the go.
@WafflePrime no word on the price yet, but most likely 60 for the game, then 15 a month. @shadowroy64 oh itll be possible :)
Jedi Knight? Or Smuggler? Mace Windu? Or Han Solo? Maybe both, if possible. I hope they add a screen before cutting the droids up to create multiple Characters, like they do in alot of MMOs. P.S This is a Videogame website, not a flame war. USE THE FORCE, Young GRASSHOPPERS!
@McBoogerballz so, u must be paying A LOT for the janitor's phone, i'm glad he has such wonderful job,,,
@McBoogerballz "your life is going pretty colorful for you to" know what phone your janitor has...lol
WOW has already implemented phasing attempting a unique player story driven xperience. bioware is going to have to step it up and go beyond what blizzard can do with WOW. for right now its meh its still in production and the game combat is dated. i want a persistant world hack n slash game. maybe dc universe.
Man... this game does look pretty good... Though I still want them to make another KOTOR! Those games were awesome! (for 360)
@SniperFire17 iPhone..Droid 2 or X? Pokemon is awesome! Played from Blue to Emerald. Loved them. This game is gonna be awesome. Im so stoked!
@McBoogerballz You don't like my icon? it's the end of the world for me! -_- You be trollin? lol My life is going pretty good actually. I just bought a $300 phone. wtf have you done lately?
@aibrar Story is usually the main reason for the love of RPG's, more character development(internal and external) than most games. Thats just a couple of reasons you should try playing some good ones before not liking them entirely.
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Star Wars: The Old Republic
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- Publisher(s): Electronic Arts
- Developer(s): BioWare
- Genre: Role-Playing
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- ESRB: T
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