If you'll excuse me, I have to go joygasm now...

Originally posted by Fortenc

 Conversation system is good in that you don't have to read; you can listen.  From what it looks like it very rarely says what you want it to say and what you say doesn't matter except for when it comes to two-choice critical decisions.. and besides the next few seconds of video what does that really change?  It hasn't been proven.

 Well, as for the video if you let the captain live yea he shoots the pods and there are fewer enemies to kill. Yes, that doesn't seem like a big difference. However, if you have ever played a Bioware game you would share the confidence that I do that there are going to be many decisions with more of an impact. Hell, go read the article about the Dragon Age decision on this site, you will agree with me that if they deliver the same repurcutions from decisions than your decisions actually mean something. 

Graphics look slightly better than N64 graphics.  You can see the square polygons on the characters' noses; that hasn't happened since like 2002.  Hutta looked sorta neat (by being a beautiful skybox) but the world otherwise appears very flat, line-ride-ey and boring.

I agree with you there, Bioware missed the mark with the graphics. Its grown enough on me over the past year of looking at the game that it doesn't affect me much. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess. 

 

Gameplay is where everything matters, though, right?  Looks like it has the same old gameplay as most MMOs, which is fine.  They shouldn't try to plug it as something unique, though.  Cover is just a system of randomly finding places where you decrease your damage taken and damage done.

Honestly, no they are not trying to reivent combat. But for level 5's it looked pretty good (at level 5 how many games do you not just spam fireball?). There is no autoattack, sometimes you can't attack (in the jedi duel whenever the jedi attacked the Sith had to block the attack, thus couldn't attack back), and cover works somewhat like you described. But, the enemies take cover too, making the player have to move to get a better shot. Yes, it is not revolutionary but it did look better (at level 5) than WoW, AoC, Warhammer, Aion, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, and SWG (all I have played). 

 

Continuing gameplay - fighting multiple enemies is neat but doesn't really make you feel epic, just like some invincible behemoth who, when hit by a blaster, says 'NUH-UH, DIDN'T HIT ME, SEE MY LIFE?  I'M NOT DEAD!'.  Melee is very simple with very little graphical effect.  Force choke is OP.

 Yea, it did look easy. However, they were 5 levels above the targets, with god mode on. And dude seriously, play an FPS if you want to die after one hit. You can get hit with a 200 pound axe bigger than your body in WoW and only lose 5% of your health, yea thats realistic. If you want an RPG you have to make exceptions. Again, both people were level 10 and the mobs were level 5-I don't know what you want out of melee combat. The Jedi Knight used moves and stuff, when he wasn't stunned. As for the graphical effect, I thought there was much more than melee in other games. In no other game is there remotely choreographed combat-its all we both hit eachother at the same time with the same motion no matter who we face. Seriously, I've seen games (WoW) where as melee I have swung at 5 feet of air and hit the dragon. We also saw some things like impale that make deliberate contact with the opponent-albeit it doesn't look as nice as the fatalities in AoC. Futhermore, the Sith Warrior we saw is a raw brute. The Jedi is the class that you may see doing flips and rolls with the lightsaber-more like Darth Maul or Yoda.

Want to feel awesome and heroic in a Star Wars game? How about dodging blaster fire instead of absorbing it like a sponge and only finally getting hit when your 'hp' is low (of course your HP goes down from dodging too, it just makes you feel epic until then). Deflect more than 1/10 blaster bolts with a light saber. Slice droids in half 10 at a time. A flamethrower should do more than make enemies cower for 2 seconds. Bounty Hunters should eventually learn to fly around for short periods of time instead of just jump to do special blaster attacks for iconic effect. 

 Again, if you want to play an RPG expect to get shot or hit multiple times without dying. Slice droids in half 10 at a time? You've got your sights too high, go play the force unleashed, your not seeing that kind of action in an MMO any time soon-at least this isn't FFXIV where you only attack every 10 seconds. 

Oh, and customization.. I hope everyone isn't a brown-haired, square-nosed grump standing exactly the same height and barely looking different even armor-wise.  So far, though...

Yea so far, both characters looked the same-understandable spend 100 hours making a truly unique character for a demo? They have stated customization is one of the main components of the game and is held close to their hearts-BW are RPG gurus and what is an RPG with no customization. Coupled with the HeroEngines customization and more species, the character customization should be quite good. As for NPC's, most are probably placeholders (which is a good thing since it would be easier to go back and make the character models better). Its in alpha, in some games I have beta tested you see green blocks for buildings, icons, npc's etc. 

 

This game could be good, but it would need to be re-worked heavily before 'deployment' to be little more than a pick-your-own-adventure story book with blurry letters and cream cheese spilled over all of the action parts.

Agreed, I personally think this game holds a lot of promise if you can get past the graphics. Its a wait and see, we have not learned anything about 75% of the game. If they add good (not just a sidejob feature) PvP, RvR (capturable worlds, world PvP, etc), housing/space ships, space combat, customization, PvE end-game, crafting, and social games (such as pazaak, gambling, swoop racing, arena duels, sabaac, djerik, etc) this game could be very good. 

 

 Actually these videos turned me off from the game. It could get better with later levels and it could change as development proceeds but I rather not speculate on what "could be" and rather what was shown. Graphics aren't a huge deal as long as the art direction is there. I really like the way the landscapes looked but the character models seem disjointed for the rest of the world and looked out of place in my eyes. The character looks too cartoon like compared to the rest of the world and for me personally is not pleasing. Like I said not a huge deal but a bit disappointing. What is a big deal though is the combat. Looks extremely bland and cookie cutter to me. Now I'm know I am by no means in the majority here so my opinion as far as combat goes likely isn't the norm but I love AOC combat. I still play that game on and off because I love the dueling system for their melee character. I like how you cannot be a competent dueler by clicking or turning with the keyboard and many of the intricacies that come along with it. So far in my eyes the combat and gameplay looks pretty lacking and future videos presenting this will be my deciding factor on whether I purchase the game. There is no reason to believe that the story won't be top notch and some extremely memorable moments to be had in this game judging from the company in charge and this being the star wars universe. Personally though I cannot deal with a another WOW, WAR click button to do every attack scenario. Pvp is my main focus and I want to be able to duel individuals, minis, and larger scale battles. I hope this game can deliver for those with similar interests to myself.

I want a game to be entertaining.  I want some parts of the game to be challenging, but most of it just needs to be fun.  Being able to take on 5 or 6 foes strikes me as fun and entertaining as are the flashy cinematic feel to the combat and the cutscenes and the story arc.  This is the kind of relaxing, time killing content I enjoy.  I'm sure this game will have it's share of challenges, but for those challenge junkies, it may not be enough and that's fine, there are plenty of games out there that focus a lot more on challenge and grinding and raiding and time sinks and so forth.

This is suppose to be a very casual friendly game, much more so than most and it's the reason why they are willing to compete with WoW, head on.  If you're looking for hardcore, complicated combat with constant challenge, go somewhere else.  Their previous games were more about having fun with the story than about challenging combat.  The boss battles were always challenging, but the battles leading up to them were all about fun and mayhem and feeling powerful.

You know all this voice acting and story stuff is cool.   Now what about the MMO part?   Can we please see the lay of the land?  Is it heavily zoned?  Is it instanced?  Is it theme parked?   What about it makes it an MMO because right now all I see is a game that plays like an advancced version of KoToR.   Will we have space travel ala SWG's Lightspeed?   What about crafting?  What about open world exploration(will this even be an option)?   What about character custamization(looks and how it plays) is one smuggler going to be every other smuggler in game?   So many questions and no answers.

Is this a single player game with MMO tacked on?

 Like many of you said already. I am leaning towards the Guild Wars Design for this game just so they can call it MMO.

Now - will they make the pay model the same as Guild Wars? if so, You won me over.

Somehow I seriously doubt that after spending 100+ Million dollars developing a game they are not going to charge monthly to play it. 

I'll pay the fee, as long as its worth it.  If im done the "story" after 2 months and there is nothing left to do I may not stay for long, but i'll pay it while im having fun. 

WOW, incredible, cannot wait to get my blaster in on this!!!

Originally posted by Teala

You know all this voice acting and story stuff is cool.   Now what about the MMO part?   Can we please see the lay of the land?  Is it heavily zoned?  Is it instanced?  Is it theme parked?   What about it makes it an MMO because right now all I see is a game that plays like an advancced version of KoToR.   Will we have space travel ala SWG's Lightspeed?   What about crafting?  What about open world exploration(will this even be an option)?   What about character custamization(looks and how it plays) is one smuggler going to be every other smuggler in game?   So many questions and no answers.

Is this a single player game with MMO tacked on?

Soon as there are 2 players within the same area it's a Multiplayer game, forget the Group bit thats just a feature and a choice you have to make, it also isn't part of the acronym MMORPG = Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game.

As for the rest of your questions head over to the SWTOR website, it's full of goodies.

Originally posted by Teala

You know all this voice acting and story stuff is cool.   Now what about the MMO part?   Can we please see the lay of the land?  Is it heavily zoned?  Is it instanced?  Is it theme parked?   What about it makes it an MMO because right now all I see is a game that plays like an advancced version of KoToR.   Will we have space travel ala SWG's Lightspeed?   What about crafting?  What about open world exploration(will this even be an option)?   What about character custamization(looks and how it plays) is one smuggler going to be every other smuggler in game?   So many questions and no answers.

Is this a single player game with MMO tacked on?

The questions you are asking is what a lot of folks are curious about.  Bioware isnt releasing much information until they are ready to.  If you watch some of the video interviews with the Dev's, lots of these questions have come up before and they are just not spilling the beans.  They probably dont want to give out too many details this early on since a lot can change in a year and im sure they want to keep they hype up over the following months by releasing bits and pieces of information to keep people's interest levels high.

I'm going o make an assumption... probably incorrect... that ToR's storyline arc will be similar to LotRO's with instanced parts similar to the books and chapters in LotRO. I'm hoping there will be other quests/missions that are outside this arc along with crafting, etc..

If there aren't any of these elements it will be a Single Player RPG with co-operative aspects.

As Bioware have not shown us anything outside we are all making positive or negative assumptions about gameplay we know nothing about.

Originally posted by mbd1968

I'm going o make an assumption... probably incorrect... that ToR's storyline arc will be similar to LotRO's with instanced parts similar to the books and chapters in LotRO. I'm hoping there will be other quests/missions that are outside this arc along with crafting, etc..

If there aren't any of these elements it will be a Single Player RPG with co-operative aspects.

As Bioware have not shown us anything outside we are all making positive or negative assumptions about gameplay we know nothing about.

In the walkthrough demo we saw 2 players grp'd who where interacting with the captain of that ship before one of the players killed him, so that would mean those story arcs are open not just to the solo player but to grp members aswell, it was pointed out by the devs aswell in the video.

Amazing, can't wait. After many years of missing a SW MMO (former SWG player) I am very excited for this release. It has a similar setup to the old school SWG (i think) with imporved graphics. I can only imgaine how many SITH you will run across being able to dual wield light sabers. Hopefully the bring back a good crafting structure like they had in SWG!

Other thought: Thank god its not made by SOE!

You had me at "The Defenestrator."

This really does look amazing, but I get the feeling it's going to be the same thing in the theme park sense. All bounty hunters can't be the best shot that guy has ever seen.

It's easy to see what they were saying about not catering the game toward the hardcore player.  Those cinematics would drive that type of person crazy, as you can't click through them.  It's very much more an interactive story than an MMO, at least from this chunk we've been allowed (which is admittedly small), but I'm sure they'll throw in some heavy grouping scenarios to justify the monthly fee.  Either that, or content additions will have to continue your epic story somehow.

To everyone saying the "art" is "stylized": You do realize this is nothing more than a justification for low-end graphics, right?  As great as this game seems like it's going to be, I threw up a little in my mouth when Dallas talked about "avoiding photorealism".  What a complete cop-out.  Yes it makes the game playable on low-end systems with the graphics turned up to max.  So would photorealistic graphics with many different settings, and the default being the minimum setting.  Maybe it's the fact that so many companies are trying their hands at Star Wars - they all feel they have to put their own little stamp on it, so they "stylize" it.  The stories told in the comics are great, right?  And that art is stylized, right?  Bah.

Probably the only other gripe I have about the game is that, minus the story, this is what they wanted SWG NGE to become.  The combat does look very vanilla (to their credit, they did admit they were not reinventing MMO combat at all) with the exception of the smuggler's Cover System, and it appears to contain all directed content as you would expect a game with an epic storyline to have.  SWG had faults, but nothing that required turning it into this - the original vision for SWG was much better than what I've seen of SW:TOR.  But that's just my opinion, as is the rest of this blather. :)  I am curious, though, what other systems will exist in this game - crafting, PvP, housing, space, all the same questions 99% of us have after watching that.

As much as there is to complain about, this should be a great game in its own right.  I know I'll be playing it.  Personally, I want my single-player games to be stories and my MMOs to be sandboxes, but this MMO is enough of a single-player game that it looks like I can just treat it that way.

I don't know if I can wait. That was just amazing. I am a huge fan of KotOR and Bioware. Can't WAIT!

Originally posted by Kylrathin

Probably the only other gripe I have about the game is that, minus the story, this is what they wanted SWG NGE to become.  The combat does look very vanilla (to their credit, they did admit they were not reinventing MMO combat at all) with the exception of the smuggler's Cover System, and it appears to contain all directed content as you would expect a game with an epic storyline to have.  SWG had faults, but nothing that required turning it into this - the original vision for SWG was much better than what I've seen of SW:TOR.  But that's just my opinion, as is the rest of this blather. :)  I am curious, though, what other systems will exist in this game - crafting, PvP, housing, space, all the same questions 99% of us have after watching that.

As much as there is to complain about, this should be a great game in its own right.  I know I'll be playing it.  Personally, I want my single-player games to be stories and my MMOs to be sandboxes, but this MMO is enough of a single-player game that it looks like I can just treat it that way.

I agree one of the things I have been waiting to hear about is crafting, PvP, housing, space and social classes as without these the game really isn't in my opinion an MMO.

One of the other aspects that people I think over look is that after the first few weeks have gone by and people reach cap all of the story line will go out the window as common knowledge will dictate what classes and choice peoples need to make to have the best toon which means that any long term story line to character development is relatively pointless when most players will be following "Joe Blows guide to the uber Jedi" from www.l33tjedi.com.