Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

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.

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 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.

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 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 forums and join in on the discussion, or if you’d prefer, 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!