SWTOR

[ashrik]

Oh, that reminds me.  Another reason PVP in this game would be an asinine decision.. 5:1 Sith ratio.

This.

I so dread being overrun by wanna-be evil asshats spamming the sith mantra over and over.

haha

<Darth Sid> Can I has a green litesaber?
<Sith Happens> Hit alt-f4 to change the color of ur beam
<Darf Thrall> stfu
<Meesa Meesa> halp where iz mankirks wife?!?!?
<Jedi Mindtrixx> WoW leads to the darkside
<Busta Skywalka> you sith biches about to get ponzord
<Peace IsALie> There is only passion!
<Han FiredFirst> LF4M defense of coruscant!

[Falwell]

Asinine or not, it appears to be there in some form...

http://e3.gamespot.com/story/6210545/star-wars-the-old-republic-exclusive-qanda-the-smuggler-profession-and-e3-2009?tag=topslot;img;1

When it comes to weaponry, the smugglers know that hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at their side. Now, in terms of armor, smugglers like to stay lightly equipped--as much to complement their combat techniques as to not cramp their style. You see, many smugglers are real charmers and like a little class with their appearance--think Lando in Cloud City. In fact, when discussing gear, we affectionately refer to one of the high-end smuggler player-versus-player reward sets as the "Bling" outfit

[Triforcer]

That at least debunks the "duels only" rumor, although it leaves open the possibility we have badge-grinding BGs.

They are in a tough spot with this one.  You can go the DAoC route, with the core "starter" worlds of the other side offlimits and a couple RvR planets, or you can have a game where Jedi and Sith quest 10 feet away with no power to attack the other side (which goes against the "Galactic War" concept).  I'm betting they go with a hybrid WAR/DAoC solution, where certain planets are offlimits to the opposite faction and the others have RvR lakes.  For some reason I think its exceedingly unlike they will say "screw it" and have Jedi and Sith always seeing each other everywhere but unable to attack. 

[ashrik]

I'd wager that the amount of times they talk about Sith and Republic players having a totally different gaming experience would support the theory that we won't be rubbing shoulders at a lot of quest hubs.

[Ingmar]

Have they said that PVE won't be fully instanced?

[Triforcer]

I'm too lazy to find it, but one of the first October 2008 interviews (released on the day of announcement or close to it) had a comment by the devs that they are cognizant of the dangers of too much instancing (that it takes away from the "world" feeling).  Of course its been eight months, who knows if that still holds true. 

[Venkman]

I'd wager that the amount of times they talk about Sith and Republic players having a totally different gaming experience would support the theory that we won't be rubbing shoulders at a lot of quest hubs.

This.

Sith and Jedi will have completely different tracks, sub-divided among their classes. It really sounds like every class gets their own unique AoC Tortage.

Eventually the players will converge. Easy to see how on the PvE side, harder to see on the PvP. Could be Scenarios/BGs or BG/RvR, as I very much doubt open nor lakes-like PvP though. They're in a lose/lose here for the vocal critics, so their best hope is to hit as broad an audience as possible. And that means compartmentalizing by playstyle as much as possible.

Doesn't need to mean instancing in the way we know it today. I'd go with Tri's thoughts of playstyle bracketed by planet.

[Falwell]

I find it ironic that Bioware did more good with the SW license in their last four minutes of footage then Lucas did with his last seven hours.

[Cyrrex]

I haven't been able to keep up with any of the E3 stuff, but is it safe to assume that they still haven't talked release date for this? 

[Falwell]

I haven't been able to keep up with any of the E3 stuff, but is it safe to assume that they still haven't talked release date for this? 

Nah, and they won't for quite some time I'd wager.

[Sky]

That trailer is so nice, and really drives home how badly Lucas fucked up his own franchise with the lame prequels. Once again Bioware is doing better with his IP.

[Murgos]

Whatever, at some point a Sith Master is going to Force hold an Ewok so that a Jedi Padawan can power level.  And then they'll both go camp the Jedi Council spawn.

I suggest divorcing yourself mentally from any connections to things like Canon or Motives or Story or etc..., now so that you can just accept the game as it is when released and enjoy it on it's merits.

[Ghambit]

I'd wager that the amount of times they talk about Sith and Republic players having a totally different gaming experience would support the theory that we won't be rubbing shoulders at a lot of quest hubs.

This.

Sith and Jedi will have completely different tracks, sub-divided among their classes. It really sounds like every class gets their own unique AoC Tortage.

Eventually the players will converge. Easy to see how on the PvE side, harder to see on the PvP. Could be Scenarios/BGs or BG/RvR, as I very much doubt open nor lakes-like PvP though. They're in a lose/lose here for the vocal critics, so their best hope is to hit as broad an audience as possible. And that means compartmentalizing by playstyle as much as possible.

Doesn't need to mean instancing in the way we know it today. I'd go with Tri's thoughts of playstyle bracketed by planet.

I thought they'd said that your character's factional relevence is determined mostly by the choices you make in-game (i.e. rep. grinds and story decisions.)  Therefore, it's conceivable you're not ever really locked out of places, only disallowed temporarily.  Also, these "moral grey areas" would allow one to travel to many different zones w/o being killed (like a Lando or Haan). 

[Draegan]

That trailer is so nice, and really drives home how badly Lucas fucked up his own franchise with the lame prequels. Once again Bioware is doing better with his IP.

I'm crying on the inside because this is so true.

[Ratman_tf]

Hay guise, this trailer waz bettur than the prequels, amirite? 

[SnakeCharmer]

Hell, it was better than all 6 movies combined.

[Rasix]

Hay guise, this trailer waz bettur than the prequels, amirite? 

 

Hell, it was better than all 6 movies combined.

Nah, Empire is still better.

[Lum]

The trailer was done by Blur, I've heard, and is probably the best work they've ever done.

[Zzulo]

and all of their work is pretty god damn good already

[Malakili]

It would be cool if that cinematic had anything to do with the actual game.

[Yegolev]

I think the Jedi can retake that palace if they just gain enough Gungan faction.

[Nebu]

Every time I see a cinematic, I am reminded of the trailers for DAoC, WAR, and AoC.  The trailer may have been the best part of all three of those titles. 

I want to see actual gameplay.  Granted, I'm excited about the potential here, but I've all but given up hope for MMO's.   

[Ingmar]

Whatever, at some point a Sith Master is going to Force hold an Ewok so that a Jedi Padawan can power level.  And then they'll both go camp the Jedi Council spawn.

I dunno, I really get the impression that PVE zones will be completely separate for the 2 sides.

[SnakeCharmer]

I want to see actual gameplay

Tomorrow at 1pm, I believe.

[WindupAtheist]

Nice promo cartoon. Almost makes you forget that the combat was the worst thing in KOTOR. Almost.

Also, the entire "Hay maybe we can trust the Sith to make peace! OH NOES WE CAN'T! HOW UNEXPECTED!" premise is pretty retarded. At least Palpatine had to get himself elected to office and subvert the Republic from the inside. Apparently this version of the Republic can be bamboozled by a ploy on the order of "Let's take turns punching each other, I'll go first!"

[Fordel]

Mass Effect combat was pretty fun on the other hand, we can always hope its more like that, or they learned from it, or <insert dreamers fantasy>.



Maybe they should just give up on the game, and just give all the dev money to Blur to make a full length movie instead. 

[gryeyes]

Its superior to that CGI clone wars series by a HUGE margin.

[Fordel]

I pretend the CGI Clone Wars series doesn't exist. The Cartoon CloneWars though, that was awesome 

[gryeyes]

Everything Tartavosky (bet i mangled that name) is golden. Unrelated but did you notice the Sith boss cuts off the jedi's pony tail!

[eldaec]

I can't decide if more than 5 minutes of that cgi or any kind of dialog would take us into the uncanny alley.

But still more awesome than $100 million of George Lucas Star Wars.

[Venkman]

The trailer was done by Blur, I've heard, and is probably the best work they've ever done.

Yea, that's what I thought, from looking at it. Blur's site is really out of date Their work is awesome (EQ2 and WAR prior to this one, plus a bunch of other things of course). They definitely have a "Style" though, erring more on the side of realism and camera work more than fantastical like Blizzard.

It does highlight the difference between cinematic and game play though. Here's hoping it's not as wide a gulf as WAR's was 

I thought they'd said that your character's factional relevence is determined mostly by the choices you make in-game (i.e. rep. grinds and story decisions.)  Therefore, it's conceivable you're not ever really locked out of places, only disallowed temporarily.  Also, these "moral grey areas" would allow one to travel to many different zones w/o being killed (like a Lando or Haan).

First I've heard that. Was that part of their last-year announcement? From everything I've read since, this game is shaping up to be multiple Tortages with a Fallout 3+DLC business model.

Now, I wouldn't mind being wrong. Or maybe they'll do both, where the first 10 levels are spent choosing your path and then the next 10 paths are deepening your allegiance or something.

Actually, that makes sense. Or maybe just because I hope that's what they do.

[Delmania]

I thought they'd said that your character's factional relevence is determined mostly by the choices you make in-game (i.e. rep. grinds and story decisions.)  Therefore, it's conceivable you're not ever really locked out of places, only disallowed temporarily.  Also, these "moral grey areas" would allow one to travel to many different zones w/o being killed (like a Lando or Haan).

Dear god, I hope they polished that up since the 2 single player games.
NPC:  "I need your help!"
Choices:
a.) I'll save you!
b.) I'll kill you!
c.) Pie?

(Upon choosing (b)) Party members: you big meanie.  I hate you but I will keep following you anyways.

[koro]

I didn't see it mentioned, but Gamespot, in addition to the Q&A posted above, gave impressions of the hands-on play they had. Some of the notable bits of it include:

[The Smuggler] will have a unique cover system that will, when you acquire a target enemy, immediately place a stick-figure silhouette in the world, which provides the best cover. It's best to first head to that cover area and then start firing. In fact, cover is so important to this profession that some of its abilities may only be used while crouching behind cover.

Our party confronted the captain and engaged in "multiplayer dialogue," which is another one of Star Wars: TOR's unique features. During the conversation, our bounty hunter and our Sith team members were each given a dialogue option during the conversation, which ended with the group decision of either killing the captain as punishment or sparing his life. Decisions like this will apparently give you and your party members a few moments to cast your votes before the game locks in the party's decision. In this case, we chose to kill the captain, which was an evil act that earned our characters dark side points, and according to BioWare, changed the course of the game (the following sequence of events we're about to describe apparently wouldn't have happened had we spared him).

And finally

Finally, the Jedi made his appearance and seemed to pose a real challenge because he had force powers of his own, but using the bounty hunter's and Sith's abilities together, such as having the bounty hunter trigger his jetpack to dive-bomb the Jedi while the Sith character dueled on foot, eventually brought the mighty Jedi knight down.

I'm hoping to see an actual video of the gameplay tomorrow. Abusable as it may be, I do find the idea of the mechanically-integrated "group vote" on a path to take for a party quest pretty interesting.

[Triforcer]

If choices made in "group dialogue" have any (permanent) effect whatsover on subsequently available quests, items, companions, etc., then the system simply won't work.  Picture all the PUG mouthbreathers you've ever grouped with and ask yourself whether you want your goal of getting that one really cool companion character to depend on THEM.  I can hear schild's head exploding already. 

[squirrel]

The trailer was done by Blur, I've heard, and is probably the best work they've ever done.

Agreed, although given how cool some of the trailers they've done for other games are I'm not sure it's relevant to the product. That said, it is Bioware. Well, kind of. Here's hoping.

But yeah - great trailer. Then again I thought the Blur Warhammer trailers were awesome too.