SWTOR

[Sky]

Comparing things with SWG is never a bad idea, comparing things with SWG and posting humorous pictures of Darth Vader is the entire point of this website.

And it's 187 on a Jedi muthafucka.

[Sheepherder]

Lightning: About as lethal as a taser, going by episode 6.  Serious lack of capacitance.
Choke: Assumes they breath, meatbag.
Deflection: Explosives, incendiary weapons.

[Grimwell]

Man, developers don't actually care about forum bullshit.

I can't tell you how many times I've wished that was true.

[Typhon]

Lightning: About as lethal as a taser, going by episode 6.  Serious lack of capacitance.
Choke: Assumes they breath, meatbag.
Deflection: Explosives, incendiary weapons.

(lol, nerd SW slap fight!  This is SO on!)

Oh yeah!?  Well, since there's lightning, heat/cold seems equally probable so I'll just create a heat-gradient at your joints to cause them to freeze up (no, "I can survive the cold/heat of space!", doesn't save you here).  Then I'll leisurely break pieces off you.  Your head will be last.  My only regret is that you're just a robot and can't really feel anything.

If I'm in a hurry, I'll just make your weapon explode in your hands.

Edit: lightening?  WTF is lightening?  Maybe it's like whitening, for your teeth, but with electricity.  Typing (for me) has been particularly hard today.

[Sky]

The Sith Lord that trained me was Darth Lucas. I'll just edit your scene so I win.

[Ratman_tf]

YES. Everytime we have one of these discussions, some wiseass has to come along and be like "Oh you know, I don't care about Jedi and their silly glowsticks, what I'd really like to see is some unmarketable pile of shit about mining asteroids or being a Stormtrooper or whatever!"

But you know what? Fuck those people! GIEV ME MY GLOSTICK!!!1!

You gonna wind up farming womp rats with that glostick. Force choking mobs for 1d4 damage, and turning in droid parts for rep.

YOU KNOW IT!

[Zzulo]

[€dit] WELL, this response was supposed to go in another thread.

So I'll just uh, say here that I think Henriksen has a very neat voice and he fits really well for the timeline videos

[Shatter]

YES. Everytime we have one of these discussions, some wiseass has to come along and be like "Oh you know, I don't care about Jedi and their silly glowsticks, what I'd really like to see is some unmarketable pile of shit about mining asteroids or being a Stormtrooper or whatever!"

But you know what? Fuck those people! GIEV ME MY GLOSTICK!!!1!

You gonna wind up farming womp rats with that glostick. Force choking mobs for 1d4 damage, and turning in droid parts for rep.

YOU KNOW IT!

Sign me up!

[WindupAtheist]

I can't tell you how many times I've wished that was true.

If there's one thing SOE has a reputation for, it's being in touch with and receptive to what the community wants. Slaves to their fans, those guys. 

Lightning: About as lethal as a taser, going by episode 6.  Serious lack of capacitance.
Choke: Assumes they breath, meatbag.
Deflection: Explosives, incendiary weapons.

A regular guy can theoretically kill a Jedi one-on-one if he brings all the weapons in the world and is a total badass, but you'll have to rummage through the EU to find examples of it. The only guy to come close in the movies was Jango, and all he really did was inconvenience Obi-Wan long enough to run away, then get his head hacked off by Sam Jackson.

Still, he did well enough to make it seem less-than-silly when you balance your classes for PVP. As you must do, lore be fucked, or else you are a terrible game developer.

[Dtrain]

Show me on the doll where the SOE touched you.

(Protip: SWG is the butt.)

[AutomaticZen]

let you play as a force-wielding bad ass

YES. Everytime we have one of these discussions, some wiseass has to come along and be like "Oh you know, I don't care about Jedi and their silly glowsticks, what I'd really like to see is some unmarketable pile of shit about mining asteroids or being a Stormtrooper or whatever!"

I never understood the apparent problem in balancing blaster / detonator users against Jedi lore-wise.  One is a soldier with an automatic PPC, the other is a fucking monk with a sword.

The monk with the fucking sword can run faster, jump higher, deflect those blaster shots, and crush your throat with his mind.

That's the problem.

[Ingmar]

If the author lets him.

Which, let's not fool ourselves, is the real problem.

[pxib]

Indeed. Because, as Bioware never tires of telling us, this is THE FIRST MMO EVER TO HAVE AN AUTHOR! ACTUALLY, HUNDREDS OF AUTHORS! WRITING PERSONAL INTERACTIVE STORIES JUST FOR YOU WHERE YOU MAKE REAL CHOICES WITH REAL CONSEQUENCES!

The monk with the fucking sword can run faster, jump higher, deflect those blaster shots, and crush your throat with his mind.

Well sure, but all Jedis ever do is debate philosophy, plot subtle government manipulation, and negotiate trade disputes. You're all assuming that people will choose their character class based on which is the most powerful. That's so 2004! In a Bioware MMO people will choose their character based on which has the deepest potential for exciting and complex, fully-voiced storytelling...

...

[Grimwell]

I can't tell you how many times I've wished that was true.

If there's one thing SOE has a reputation for, it's being in touch with and receptive to what the community wants. Slaves to their fans, those guys. 

While I grant the validity of your point from your perspective, I don't think that changes the validity of my point in any way, shape, or form.

[Lantyssa]

I hope they have language skills you have to put a little effort/skill points/character development to.  Is that too much to ask?

[UnSub]

This guy*  

*Whose name is apparently Tion Medon, which isn't mentioned once in the movie.

Ahh, Bruce Spence, who managed to be in the Mad Max, The Matrix, Star Wars, LOTRO movies (plus loads besides).

[UnSub]

A combat video to help pass the time.

I watched it and still thought ChampO. I may be broken, but that's what it reminded me of.

[Musashi]

Hmm.  It doesn't look great.  But it looks passable.  ChampO is probably a little harsh.  The animations looks like they were jerky.  Like dudes were spinning around in 2x speed.  I just can't put too much stock in this video until I see combat on live servers.

[Fabricated]

In what world do people think this game isn't going to be just as bad as everything else.

[Lantyssa]

If it has actual story then it wins even if the rest of it is crap.  The field is that bad.

I'm not hoping so much as allowing the possibility of it being as good as KoTOR 1 & 2.

[Malakili]

A combat video to help pass the time.

I watched it and still thought ChampO. I may be broken, but that's what it reminded me of.

I guess its still early but that looked TERRIBLE.   Like, not remotely good.  Hell, Champions Online combat looked BETTER than that, (though not drastically).   Its like the words that were coming out of the devs mouths were the exact opposite of what was in the video:

"We want combat to be exciting"
*Cut to a video of 3 sets of guys kicking each other in the shins...BUT HOLDING LIGHTSABERS!*

It looks incredibly generic and I think they are hoping that the Star Wars skin is going to make it seem more exciting than it actually is.  All of the standard MMO talking points were there "Exciting combat" "You'll be doing things in the first few minutes you don't expect to be doing that soon in an MMO" "You'll be fighting multiple enemies at a time"

Ok, I wasn't looking forward to this game for reasons that could amount to the "its not an MMO argument" (regardless of if you agree, that isn't the point though lets not go down that path again), but I thought it might at least have decent mechanics.  This just looked plain bad to me.

[Musashi]

In what world do people think this game isn't going to be just as bad as everything else.

Oh, I have no illusion about it not being crap.  But you know.  Relative terms.

If I play this, and that's like a huge, gargantuan, monolithic if with a monkey at its base swinging a bone around, it will likely be for the minute it takes me to quash any lingering vestige of doubt.

[Margalis]

In what world do people think this game isn't going to be just as bad as everything else.

Probably the same world where everything Star Wars is still totally awesome.

Edit: Ok I'm watching the video - check out the shadows at 3:25. It's like someone is projecting an Atari game onto the ground.

[pxib]

They had me right from the beginning:

Combat is an integral part of the Star Wars experience... along with a whole bunch of other things like The Hero's Journey. [CUT TO MINDLESS GUNFIRE]

Within minutes of starting the game you're doing things you wouldn't expect to do in other MMOs. [CUT TO SCENES OF CHARACTERS USING A FEW BASIC STARTING ABILITIES TO DEFEAT LOW LEVEL MOBS.]

Then right at the end of the video: "We wanted to make the player feel like they had all the gadgets and tools at their disposal that they saw in the movies" ... followed by clips of a flamethrower and some sort of taser beam. Then Jake Neri says something about how a "ranged class" needs to have ways to escape a "melee class", followed by a clip of a guy dressed like Boba Fett using his instant-cast stun on some guy with a light sabre, jogging a few paces away from the helpless jedi, and then shooting about six completely harmless bolts from his blaster followed by an equally useless missile while some friendly Sith uses his own light sabre to massage the Jedi's back as he runs off.

It was like I was watching Empire Strikes Back again for the first time.

[Ollie]

A combat video to help pass the time.

Muzyka's comments at the very end of the video made me giggle. Was it just me, or did he sound a bit desperate? "Please don't ever leave us, we'll be good to you, I promise!"

As far as the rest of the footage goes, lump me in with the people who were left wondering whether all their faculties are intact. Overall, the combat looked more or less like a carbon (or in this case, carbonite) copy of KotOR, yet the devs kept insisting this isn't the case.

Perhaps I'm just suffering from a cognitive disability of some sort, and the combat is in fact so awesome that it transcends my puny comprehension. 

[Ratman_tf]

I can't tell you how many times I've wished that was true.

If there's one thing SOE has a reputation for, it's being in touch with and receptive to what the community wants. Slaves to their fans, those guys.  

Lightning: About as lethal as a taser, going by episode 6.  Serious lack of capacitance.
Choke: Assumes they breath, meatbag.
Deflection: Explosives, incendiary weapons.

A regular guy can theoretically kill a Jedi one-on-one if he brings all the weapons in the world and is a total badass, but you'll have to rummage through the EU to find examples of it. The only guy to come close in the movies was Jango, and all he really did was inconvenience Obi-Wan long enough to run away, then get his head hacked off by Sam Jackson.

Still, he did well enough to make it seem less-than-silly when you balance your classes for PVP. As you must do, lore be fucked, or else you are a terrible game developer.

Two named Jedi Masters. Know what killed the no-name Jedi?



The comedy relief of bad guy robots.

Know what killed the survivors?



The worst goddamn shots in the galaxy.

Being a Jedi doesn't count for shit. Being a main character does.

[Velorath]

In what world do people think this game isn't going to be just as bad as everything else.

The world where there's a number of talented people working on this game who have done a lot of stuff in the past that I've really liked.

I'd rather be the guy that's optimistic about a game that ends up being complete shit than the cynical fuck that pops into a topic to say "hey guys, this game's gonna suck" just so he can say "I told you so" later on.

[Fordel]

How about the guy that wants it to not suck, but knows it probably will?

[Stabs]

Probably the same world where everything Star Wars is still totally awesome.

Well I thought the combat looked awesome. Lots of bangs and bright lights plus it's Star Wars.

Was interested to hear the jibe about WoW style raiding "lots of people against one monster - that's not heroic". Does that suggest an end game where it's pve against armies or mass pvp. Or does that suggest they haven't got as far as end game yet but when they do it'll probably be 25 people against a space dragon (but heroic).

[ajax34i]

To me, it looks like that video has camera work and cuts to give it a "cinematic" feel, but from a player's point of view the combat will be standing a couple feet from your opponent waving your stick around in the air as he does the same, each character going about their various animations independently.  

Look at their feet.  The animations seem to be:  you plant your feet in place and then only move your upper body some.  That's what looks and feels wrong; swordplay involves a lot of side-stepping around.  You can't just stand in place.

I wish someone would design "melee" to have the same range as "ranged" combat.  You target someone far away and press a melee attack, and your character runs/rolls/force-jumps his way to the target first.  Then if you target someone back where you previously were and press another attack, your character runs/rolls/jumps back.  Give range to the melee abilities, where if you're not next to your target, each ability will include some sort of movement to get to the target, fluidly animated.  I shouldn't have to use my movement keys during a sword fight; I should just be able to pick any of the targets in the combat area and press my attack keys, and the computer can move / jump / pirouette me around the battle zone, and animate me properly so it looks like I'm attacking with my sword like a martial arts pro.

Cause let me tell you, circle-strafing with a melee-weapon doesn't look kick-ass and isn't really all that much fun.  And that's what PVP will be.

[Ironwood]

Senior Games Developer.

He looked 12.

 

[ajax34i]

Don't diss.  As a counter-point, how old does Serek Dmart look?

[Stabs]

He has grey hair now. The photo that keeps getting used is a few years old.

[Ollie]

Senior Games Developer.

He looked 12.

 

Glad I wasn't the only one slightly taken aback by that. Not that my reaction in any way reflects the man's credentials or competence, of which I know absolutely nothing about. He might be a design god, and I'd be none the wiser. It's just that he made me feel so very... old.

[Hawkbit]

The movie they released yesterday made me realize how awesome Blizzard's character animation designers are compared to, well, just about any other company.  The SWTOR animations seem to be missing frames, all jerky like.  It bothered me so much that I'm not 100% sure I'd buy this.