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Star Wars: The Old Republic [Releasing Date: Dec 20 NA/EU - NDA Lifted]
- Thread starter Blackface
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MaddenNFL64
Member
Giolon said:
Most of the "no beta
" QQ is just for fun man. I think people know shit is random.ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
Giolon said:
I thought random was fair? At least that's what The Dark Knight told me.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
Cipherr said:
So is it night or did the skybox just decide not to load?
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
If the journey is interesting and engaging then this shouldnt be a problem. i find it hard to care about things when a game has standard MMO quests and presentation. "Zug zug! Kill x of y! *Accept* Strength!" x 5000bengraven said:
ElectricBlue187
Member
In SWTOR it's like "hey person I don't know! You're famous or something or at least you look totally cool bro. Anywayz. I have this deeply personal matter I need resolved and I am in the mood to trust a complete stranger with it! So go kill x of y and when you get back I'll probably give you something useless for your companion. Everybody wins!!!"water_wendi said:
BattleMonkey
Member
ElectricBlue187 said:
Usually not really, and the ones like that are the throw away generic fetch quests. Majority are tied to you being of someone important.
HarryDemeanor
Member
There's only 2 servers but it's far from finished.sangreal said:
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
Thats funny. The videos ive seen dont come across like this at all.ElectricBlue187 said:
WonkyPanda
Member
You've gotta draw the line somewhere and it's completely reasonable to have completely generic, non-storied quests. Hey, at least they're voiced which can't be said for much anything else.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
WonkyPanda said:
There's absolutely no reason for TOR to have stopped at Generic MMO/WoW Clone.
You don't draw the line at Good Enough.
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
From what ive seen Biowares completely shallow dialogue and gameplay is about 5000 times deeper than the best current MMO questing experience. i can actually watch a video of TOR and be interested in the quest. i cannot do such a thing with Wow, for example.HP_Wuvcraft said:
bengraven
Member
Ugh, carebears.
It's going to get so much worse when this goes live.
We're playing Sith, doing "Black Talon" (which you might have seen during the year before's E3 event, so no spoilers) and my Sith Warrior kills one of the quest characters.
"what?! Why'd you kill him?"
"Because I'm a Sith..."
"So what? OMG don't kill the characters, you can play a decent person. Poor old fat guy needed help. THIS DOESN'T REFLECT MY DECISION AND THUS DOESN'T AFFECT MY CHARACTER'S STORY."
I bet she draws pics of her Chiss on a space ship hugging kittens and puts them up on DeviantArt.
It's going to get so much worse when this goes live.
We're playing Sith, doing "Black Talon" (which you might have seen during the year before's E3 event, so no spoilers) and my Sith Warrior kills one of the quest characters.
"what?! Why'd you kill him?"
"Because I'm a Sith..."
"So what? OMG don't kill the characters, you can play a decent person. Poor old fat guy needed help. THIS DOESN'T REFLECT MY DECISION AND THUS DOESN'T AFFECT MY CHARACTER'S STORY."
I bet she draws pics of her Chiss on a space ship hugging kittens and puts them up on DeviantArt.
cartoon_soldier
Member
After having played and for the most part enjoyed the beta, here are my experiences, the good, the bad and why I think the game is good.
For some background, I am NOT a veteran MMO player. I skipped the EQ and launch WOW generation and started with Guild Wars then LOTRO then WoW and then well almost evey major release.
To Date I have played - GW (all expansions too), WoW, LOTRO, AoC, Aion, Warhammer, RIFT. WoW is the one I played longest starting with TBC Launch up to a 5 months ago when I stopped.
What SWTOR is not is a re-imagination of the MMORPG game (GW2 is probably more like that). But it is a highly polished (It is beta though) MMORPG game that DOES have innovative ideas. It is also the BEST marriage of MMO & RPG I have seen till date.
And that is the point that is important to me. While WoW has taken steps forward towards this with latest expansions I don't think any MMORPG has till now made me actually feel the RPG element like SWTOR. Now granted, this feeling could be related to the fact that I am playing the game for the first time and it probably won't feel this way if I roll an alt that goes through the same class story line but the beauty is I can roll other classes and go through a different story line.
I have gone from having to read walls of text for questing to listening to a conversation and making choices (I don't just decline a quest when I refuse, I can tell the guy to shove it while declining the quest). This is another place where paying somewhat attention to the conversation is necessary - the alignment does matter. You get gear that depends on your alignment level so the game is asking you and rewarding you for being either light side or dark side. It's not that the light side-dark side choices are difficult, it's that the choices have this little effect on your character. Oh, these choices also affect your standing towards your companions which is important as your companions are awesome.
Anyway, to look at the good parts about the game play experience:
1. As explained above - Class Story line is great thing and while some people find the conversations part annoying for me that makes the world more immersive and alive. Similarly to that, if you have loved KOTOR, ME and seen how Bioware builds those worlds you will love SWTOR worlds. They feel alive, people are chatting around you, forces are defending parts, speaker announcements, drunk dudes, holo dancers, Ships/transports flying. It's not SP category but probably the most immersive and visually stunning worlds I have seen till date in an MMO.
2. Companions - Before I played beta I had no idea we got companions. So I had no idea what they do. Now, Companions are a INNOVATION of SWTOR. Sure, other games have NPCs that can fight with you but SWTOR Companions can fight with you (and their AI is pretty good) and also do your crafting and sell your gray items when inventory is full. It's a lot of good stuff and you will come to love this feature. I only have two right now and one is fighting with me while another is going on missions to find me treasure or crystals or crafting modifications.
3. Questing - This will be the controversial thing. No, SWTOR doesn't have innovative quests. What it does do well is it gives you some quests to generally help out an area and then when you are completing them you get these Bonus quests to kill X. So your real objectives in any area is to do something (retrieve supplies, turn of stuff, destroy stuff, etc) and the Kill X quests are just Bonus missions and bounties that get completed as you do those things. Till now at least I haven't found the game just hit me with 20 quests as you go to an area and there is a natural flow to these. It isn't innovative but the experience is smooth.
The Heroic quests are fun too (and we actually did a 4 person one without a healer and lots of deaths). The game encourages grouping at various points to complete these but you can skip them too if you want.
4. Leveling is paced well - I know some people might find it slow, some people might want it to be even slower. For me, I started at 6:30pm and by the time it was 4am I was still only level 10. That was different from other MMOs and now I am level 20 and it feels great. It doesn't feel slow, it doesn't feel fast. I feel like I am leveling as my quests call for. Leveling isn't hard and it doesn't feel like a grind, it just feels fine. And you get commendations for questing in an area that can be exchanged for gear that level or for higher level commendations. It's good stuff.
From the bad/things that need to be improved stuff:
1. UI needs work. UI itself is good, UI options are very limited. It needs UI Scaling, drag-able windows, improved chat features, etc.
2 Quest directions/Advancement sometimes confusing - Classic example if how many players get lost when it comes to choosing their advanced class.
3. Graphical issues - assuming fixes are happening with everything people report related to these.
And that's what I got.
If you have questions, ask away.
For some background, I am NOT a veteran MMO player. I skipped the EQ and launch WOW generation and started with Guild Wars then LOTRO then WoW and then well almost evey major release.
To Date I have played - GW (all expansions too), WoW, LOTRO, AoC, Aion, Warhammer, RIFT. WoW is the one I played longest starting with TBC Launch up to a 5 months ago when I stopped.
What SWTOR is not is a re-imagination of the MMORPG game (GW2 is probably more like that). But it is a highly polished (It is beta though) MMORPG game that DOES have innovative ideas. It is also the BEST marriage of MMO & RPG I have seen till date.
And that is the point that is important to me. While WoW has taken steps forward towards this with latest expansions I don't think any MMORPG has till now made me actually feel the RPG element like SWTOR. Now granted, this feeling could be related to the fact that I am playing the game for the first time and it probably won't feel this way if I roll an alt that goes through the same class story line but the beauty is I can roll other classes and go through a different story line.
I have gone from having to read walls of text for questing to listening to a conversation and making choices (I don't just decline a quest when I refuse, I can tell the guy to shove it while declining the quest). This is another place where paying somewhat attention to the conversation is necessary - the alignment does matter. You get gear that depends on your alignment level so the game is asking you and rewarding you for being either light side or dark side. It's not that the light side-dark side choices are difficult, it's that the choices have this little effect on your character. Oh, these choices also affect your standing towards your companions which is important as your companions are awesome.
Anyway, to look at the good parts about the game play experience:
1. As explained above - Class Story line is great thing and while some people find the conversations part annoying for me that makes the world more immersive and alive. Similarly to that, if you have loved KOTOR, ME and seen how Bioware builds those worlds you will love SWTOR worlds. They feel alive, people are chatting around you, forces are defending parts, speaker announcements, drunk dudes, holo dancers, Ships/transports flying. It's not SP category but probably the most immersive and visually stunning worlds I have seen till date in an MMO.
2. Companions - Before I played beta I had no idea we got companions. So I had no idea what they do. Now, Companions are a INNOVATION of SWTOR. Sure, other games have NPCs that can fight with you but SWTOR Companions can fight with you (and their AI is pretty good) and also do your crafting and sell your gray items when inventory is full. It's a lot of good stuff and you will come to love this feature. I only have two right now and one is fighting with me while another is going on missions to find me treasure or crystals or crafting modifications.
3. Questing - This will be the controversial thing. No, SWTOR doesn't have innovative quests. What it does do well is it gives you some quests to generally help out an area and then when you are completing them you get these Bonus quests to kill X. So your real objectives in any area is to do something (retrieve supplies, turn of stuff, destroy stuff, etc) and the Kill X quests are just Bonus missions and bounties that get completed as you do those things. Till now at least I haven't found the game just hit me with 20 quests as you go to an area and there is a natural flow to these. It isn't innovative but the experience is smooth.
The Heroic quests are fun too (and we actually did a 4 person one without a healer and lots of deaths). The game encourages grouping at various points to complete these but you can skip them too if you want.
4. Leveling is paced well - I know some people might find it slow, some people might want it to be even slower. For me, I started at 6:30pm and by the time it was 4am I was still only level 10. That was different from other MMOs and now I am level 20 and it feels great. It doesn't feel slow, it doesn't feel fast. I feel like I am leveling as my quests call for. Leveling isn't hard and it doesn't feel like a grind, it just feels fine. And you get commendations for questing in an area that can be exchanged for gear that level or for higher level commendations. It's good stuff.
From the bad/things that need to be improved stuff:
1. UI needs work. UI itself is good, UI options are very limited. It needs UI Scaling, drag-able windows, improved chat features, etc.
2 Quest directions/Advancement sometimes confusing - Classic example if how many players get lost when it comes to choosing their advanced class.
3. Graphical issues - assuming fixes are happening with everything people report related to these.
And that's what I got.
If you have questions, ask away.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
cartoon_soldier said:
Agreed for the most part, especially companion AI and the leveling pacing. You hit the nail on the head with those, and I feel the same way. As you also said, the SWTOR world feels very alive and engrossing, with good attention to detail. I can only imagine what the game will be like in a few years, if they add night/day, other planets, more areas to existing planets, etc. If the game is as strong as it is now, then in a few years it'll be a juggernaut.
RaySpencer
Member
I need a DVI to HDMI adapter to play this on my big tv, but its nearly 3am, and thats impossible :'(
ElectricBlue187
Member
The problem is that it doesn't hold up after doing hundreds of these quests. Once I was level 36 I had done so many voiced side quests that I could plainly see they were all variations of the same theme that had no impact on either your character or the overall story whatsoever. The voice acting was merely superfluous window dressing of what was in actuality the same WoW quest you've done 5000 times. It's not that Bioware didn't do a good job writing the script and voice acting it, it's that the underlying game mechanics plainly tell you what you're doing is a meaningless XP grab and maybe grab a commendation or the rare useful armor piece.water_wendi said:
Um that's why they didn't.HP_Wuvcraft said:
ElectricBlue187 said:
This line of thinking confuses me. Practically every game in existanve can be broken down like this. Its a simple gameplay mechanic. Do you honestly expect every mission to be riveting, story line altering material? Im sure jedi and sith etc all had mundane missions they had to do. Seems perfectly acceptable to me.
rukland
Member
Really enjoying the beta and have been for some time. My biggest issue is trying to figure out what class to play come launch. The guild I am with seems to have a mix of everything so I am really torn between Trooper or Smuggler.
I know for sure I am staying away from the force users to start with. 12/20 can not come soon enough at this point.
I know for sure I am staying away from the force users to start with. 12/20 can not come soon enough at this point.
BattleMonkey
Member
ElectricBlue187 said:
Well it's a MMO, they got to stuff it with this stuff and like others have said, yea it is padding, but without it the game goes by too quickly. Being a MMO you get stuck with the trappings of them extending the game through these generic quests.
And as been said many times, if the voice stuff bothers you or you get tired of it, you always can just skip through it instead of sitting through it all.
For those who like it, it helps break up the monotony of these quests by having some story behind them unlike most other games, but if you got sick of it, you have the choice to skip it.
rukland
Member
BattleMonkey said:
I fall into the love it category after all the MMO's with almost zero VO for quests this is such a nice change of pace. I get so tired reading quests in most games and end up just scanning it for the important bits which means I end up with zero story. At least now with TOR I get something out of the quests.
BattleMonkey
Member
rukland said:
Lot of the side quests have some interesting stories attached to them to make them seem more interesting, or at least amusing dialogue options. But there are some that sometimes pop up that I have just skipped right through because of how straight forward they are, especially if it's something like a simple delivery quest.
rukland
Member
BattleMonkey said:
And just be making them seem more interesting it really does help the whole over all experience. I had grown so tired of tried and true text only method.
I can agree with you on the some of the simple stuff it's still skip worth but at least it's not as bad as past MMOs.
BattleMonkey
Member
rukland said:
Of course, I enjoy it but it wont be for everyone and obviously from other feedback here especially. My GF for example when playing in the beta will often be like "blah blah blah" and just skip through the dialogues. Shes loving the game ironically but is often not caring at all about the dialogues.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
So you're RPing an evil dude in PVE and you're calling her a Deviantart carebear?bengraven said:
I get your point, just giving you a hard time.
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