Normally
I wake to the soft, cool glow of blue light emitting from the
control panel beside me. Or perhaps a gentle rumbling might stir me
from my slumber should my ship’s onboard sensors fail to
detect a field of micro-meteorites in its path and charge boldly though
the center. Personally I think the latter is just my R2
unit’s awful sense of humor, but that’s beside the
point.
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Story
should be as important as combat in a "perfect" Star Wars game.
Today was much different though. The shrill sound of sirens came
bleeding through the thin metal walls of my stasis chamber, causing me
to smack my forehead against the door with a dull thud. “This
had better not be another false alarm”, I remember thinking,
as I blearily punched in the code to release the locks on small pod I
called my bed of late. My ship is getting old; systems have a habit of
failing, and with an R2 unit that’s prone to playing pranks
rather than fixing anything as my only companion, it was easy to assume
that I’d be searching for a safe place to land for emergency
repairs for the third time this month.
Shambling down the narrow corridor on legs that refused to respond to
what my brain was telling them, I eventually made my way to the forward
control center. I can honestly say that I was not prepared for what was
waiting there on the holographic display. Could this be it? The thing
I’ve been searching for these past ten years? Have I finally
found…
The
Perfect Star Wars Game
Over the past 14 years, BioWare has built a solid reputation among
gamers and critics alike as one of the preeminent RPG makers of our
time. For some, the announcement that
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1422"
target="_blank">
style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars: The Old
Republic
was being developed by BioWare was the MMO equivalent of finding the
Holy Grail. In spite of being one of the worst kept secrets in the
industry over the past few years, it was hard to avoid getting swept up
in the surging excitement once the project became official last fall,
and with good reason.
Blizzard Entertainment, a company many consider to be masters of
real-time strategy, paved the way for the MMO explosion that brought a
young, growing industry into the realm of pop culture and beyond. The
similarities between the birth of a world obsessed with Warcraft
earlier this decade and the hype surrounding The Old Republic are too
great to ignore. Both Blizzard and BioWare have been hailed as masters
of their respective genres, and perhaps just as importantly, both have
created best-selling single player games in the settings and worlds in
which their MMOs take place.
Yet doubt still lingers amongst a more mature MMO audience that The Old
Republic has the potential to be the dreaded “Next Big
Thing.” I’ll admit that it’s hard to
avoid a certain amount of skepticism, but a part of me simply
won’t let go of the notion that The Old Republic is going to
be the first true blockbuster MMO released since WoW. While
Blizzard’s rampaging beast of a game could be considered a
culmination of the best elements drawn from the first generation of
MMOs, BioWare has the same opportunity to look back on the past five
years, and could quite possibly usher in a third era for the industry.
Unlike Blizzard though, BioWare needs to truly innovate in the MMO
space while ultimately remaining true to the monolithic Star Wars IP. A
daunting task to be sure, but I think BioWare is up to the challenge.
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The
Old Republic certainly has the potential for greatness.
To me, it’s more a matter of thinking “How would
BioWare approach an MMO project?” rather than trying to
imagine Generic MMO X with a Star Wars logo slapped haphazardly on the
box. Were it any other studio behind the project I might remain
skeptical because, let’s face it, there’s been a
ton of crappy Star Wars games made over the years. For example, and
I’m sure this will incite all sorts of nerd rage, but to me
the grind in Star Wars Galaxies isn’t a very big step forward
from the Empire Strikes Back game on the Atari 2600. But I’m
not here to talk about the “fail” button some of
you might already be reaching for. Instead, I’d like to take
a look at what elements would make the perfect Star Wars MMO, and why I
believe BioWare can deliver on them.
The
Impact of Story
Story has typically taken a back seat to action in MMOs, kept primarily
in the realm of lore that helps flesh out a particular setting, only
ever inching forward with content updates that ultimately have no
direct impact on the static game world already in place. NPCs dole out
the same quests no matter how many characters you run through their
backyard; most often never bothering to react to any individual trait
that may help define your place in the world.
At the same time I couldn’t imagine a BioWare game that
doesn’t have a strong narrative as the driving force behind
character development, and I suspect that will also be the case in The
Old Republic. In fact, the developer has placed great emphasis on
back-story at the character level as well as the overall lore for each
of its titles, something that features prominently in the upcoming
style="font-style: italic;">Dragon Age: Origins.
That title in particular will be one to watch closely, as BioWare has
stated that your entire experience will change depending on where you
come from and the choices you make along your journey.
I have yet to play an MMO that gives the impression that the NPC
inhabitants acknowledge my character as an individual. At the end of
the day, I’m simply another cog in the game world machine
that keeps the servers running. Everywhere you travel,
there’s already someone stronger, more powerful and more
capable of doing the various tasks they offer. Then, once you surpass
their abilities, they never seem to acknowledge that you even exist, or
when they do it’s simply to let you know that you need to be
somewhere else.
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Two
players walk into a cantina, and the NPC bartender tells them...
Having stated that story will be a main pillar of gameplay in The Old
Republic, I for one am hoping for an MMO where NPCs will finally
acknowledge my character’s place in the world, going so far
as to react differently to the next person who wanders their way.
I’m not just talking the usual, “Oh, your faction
bar is only half full, so I can’t offer you Quest X
yet” either. I want to have an NPC say, “Hey man,
you were an asshat to my friends so if you want to help me all
I’m going to offer you is the chance to clean the mud out of
my boots” or conversely, “That thing you did on
Planet X was pretty awesome… here, take these boots!
They’re a bit muddy though; let me have the asshat standing
over there clean ‘em off for you first.”
But a good story extends beyond the mundane, everyday interactions you
might have with random NPCs you come across. There needs to be plenty
of intrigue and unexpected twists in the plot to keep players
entertained, or perhaps more importantly, get them accustomed to the
concept of bothering to read quest text rather than automatically
pushing the “accept” button. Dialog, as well as
player actions, needs to have consequence for this to work. Based on my
past experience with BioWare RPGs, I’m pretty confident that
this is one area in which the developer will advance the MMO industry
by leaps and bounds.
Character
and the Impact of Choice
Ever since The Old Republic was announced, our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=37495"
target="_blank">forums
have been buzzing with discussions about the types of character classes
players hope will be available at launch. While we know that players
will choose to side with either the Sith Empire or the Galactic
Republic, so far there hasn’t been a complete list of
specific class options. There seems to be a general concern that this
initial factional choice might be too limiting straight out of the
gate, as it doesn’t account for those types of players who
prefer to be a “gray hat”, remaining neutral rather
than boldly declaring allegiance one of two polar extremes.
If choice is going to have any true impact on gameplay in TOR, the
concept of faction will need to remain entirely dynamic throughout
character progression, which in some ways should also extend to how
classes are defined as well. Being Force sensitive for example,
shouldn’t exclude players from picking up a blaster if it
suits the situation.
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Hopefully
the Hutts aren't big on bread-crumbing quests either.
I’d happily see bread-crumbing quests go the way of the
dinosaur here as well. Otherwise, how can choice truly matter if an NPC
is simply going to shuttle you off to Generic Outpost #10 along with
everyone else at your level? I have no doubts that the end game of TOR
will eventually see players take part in some truly epic battles that
will help determine the fate of the galaxy – this is Star
Wars we’re talking about after all. But for this to be the
“perfect” Star Wars game, each step along the way
needs to matter on an individual level. Not only that, but I should be
able to start out as the most loyal member of the Republic the galaxy
has ever seen, destined for greatness etc. Then in the last act
(roughly 5 levels before hitting the cap) something might happen that
causes me to betray everyone around me, ultimately leading me down a
path of utter darkness so completely that I become the final Sith
dagger in the Republic’s back.
Captain’s
Log: Stardate 3090.9
To me, the perfect Star Wars game will ultimately bear more in common
with the original
style="font-style: italic;">Knights of the Old
Republic than it does with
any current MMO. There’s been so much talk over the past few
years that there’s no room in the market for another game
that can compete directly with WoW, which I still call BS on. The
reason being, people continue to imagine an MMO that’s
borrows WoW’s gameplay but slaps some better graphics on it.
If all BioWare manages to do is create a Star Wars MMO that’s
completely paint-by-numbers, I for one will be pretty shocked. It can
be hard to imagine what the ‘next big thing’ will
be like simply because no one has experienced it yet. The gaming
industry has very few true innovators, but thankfully The Old Republic
is in the hands of one of the best.
While my own perfect Star Wars MMO would be all about story and
characters that have an actual place in the world, I’m sure
that many of you have vastly different ideas. I’d love to
hear what you think, so by all means drop by our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=545"
target="_blank">forums
and join in on the discussion, or if you’d prefer,
href="mailto:[email protected]">my inbox
is always open for any virtual carrier pigeons you feel like sending my
way!
Until next time dear readers, this is Captain Sardu, signing off!
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Star Wars: The Old Republic Game Page.
