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.
With the presentation out of the way, we were free to dive into our hands-on time with the consular, which begins its career on the planet of Tython, a planet that will, in the grand scheme of The Old Republic's story, act as the first Republic "flashpoint"--an action-packed area that will be a stage for events that drive your character's primary story arc forward. Our consular character began her career at the Jedi sanctuary, reporting to a worried Jedi attendant who pointed out that our character's master wasn't currently available--she had apparently gone to a dig site. Tython is a planet that contains many ancient Jedi relics, including data-containing holocrons that may or may not house equally ancient Jedi secrets.
Unfortunately, the Jedi camp had come under attack by flesh raiders--bulgy, angry, cannibalistic humanoids who have not only looted holocrons, but have taken padawans from the academy as prisoners. We should point out that, as we've mentioned in our previous coverage, The Old Republic has plenty of different conversations with key characters that can go in different ways depending on how you decide to respond. In this session, we decided to play as a nice, good, good, nice, really nice Jedi who gave the kindest, gentlest, and possibly wimpiest dialogue answers possible in the hopes of earning as many light side points as possible. Like Knights of the Old Republic, The Old Republic has an alignment system that shifts your character between light side and dark side depending on your choices.
Our first official act as a Jedi consular was to hop onto a speeder--the game's terrestrial fast-travel system, which lifts you up in the air on a state-of-the-art speeder bike and whisks you away to your destination (not unlike a certain other eagle-headed bird that does something similar in a certain other online game). We headed out to the next outpost in the wilderness to rendezvous with our master and to rescue some holocrons and/or fellow padawans. We met with our master, a liberal sort who, surprisingly, associated with a hunter of the savage Trandoshan race (the same reptilian race as the bounty hunter Bossk from The Empire Strikes Back), and we received our first mission: to retrieve a missing set of ancient holocrons that belonged to some of the earliest Jedi--one of which belonged to the very first fallen Jedi who went on to found the evil Sith order. We wasted no time heading out into the field to seek the holocrons from the lush, arboreal forest clearing where they were last seen, and in the process, we did battle with a great many flesh raiders, who live a tribal lifestyle and use crude firearms and melee weapons in battle. Fortunately, in addition to our lightsaber, our consular wielded many powerful abilities to aid her in battle.
As we've reported previously, The Old Republic organizes your character's abilities in a hotkey bank tied to the number keys on your keyboard. Since the consular focuses less on melee attacks and more on Force power, the character seems to rely more strongly on its Force power meter, which becomes spent with each Force power used, similar to the mana bar in other fantasy-themed online games you may have played. Your most basic attack as a consular is the "saber strike," a melee attack that causes your character to strike the enemy with his or her melee weapon three times (Jedi characters don't start their careers with lightsabers--that comes later). Brand-new characters also start with the "project" ability--the power to telekinetically lift a chunk of rock from the earth below and hurl it at an enemy, dealing damage and potentially stunning the enemy briefly--and the "Force valor" ability, which, just like in Knights of the Old Republic, increases the target's resistance to various types of damage for the duration of the ability. New Jedi characters also have the "meditation" ability, which lets your character quickly regenerate lost health and spent Force power.
Once characters reach higher levels, they unlock new powers and abilities that must be purchased from a trainer character (the current version of the game also requires a small payment of credits, The Old Republic's in-game currency). At level 2, consulars may learn the "telekinetic throw" power, which lets the character mystically raise shards of earth and pelt the enemy with a continuous stream, dealing damage over time until the power runs out. At level 3, consulars can learn the "Force wave" ability, a powerful skill that takes place in a circular area of effect around the character and deals damage to any enemies in range and also knocks them clean off their feet. At level 5, our character was able to learn the more-powerful "rank 2" version of the project skill, as well as the "stasis field" ability, which--just like in Knights of the Old Republic--temporarily paralyzes an enemy, removing it from battle as a way to control crowds of foes. Interestingly, any enemy trapped in a stasis field in The Old Republic also takes double damage from the project ability. At level 6, your consular can learn the more-powerful "rank 2" version of the telekinetic throw power, as well as the new "Force potency" skill, a passive improvement that, until it expires, gives your consular the chance for any other Force power you use to have a "critical" effect, such that any damage-based abilities deal an extra 60 percent damage, and any healing abilities grant an additional 60 percent healing. (Again, we played an early version of the game, and all this information is subject to change.)
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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