After 2 years of EQ2, 4+ years of WoW, 2 years of Lotro, SWG up until the NGE and Vanguard for the last year I can safely say I'm looking forward to a SCI-FI based game. Tabula Rasa almost had something there, and EVE is as boring as watching paint dry. I am relieved with the IGN videos. Heres why:

Combat mechanics are the most important aspect of a MMO. If its not fun then the rest of the gameplay will suffer and ultimatly the game will suffer. LOTRO has a que system, which sux for melee classes, and EQ2 combat is not fluid. What I saw in those videos was FUN combat. Its so tough to get great melee & ranged combat but SWTOR looked to me to be succeful so far.

The enviroment looks great. When the bounty hunter walked out into the Hutta night it looked epic. What I mean is the draw distance was far, the immidieate enviroment was full of inadimate objects, and things seemed to be in thier proper place. The color palette was right on IMHO.

Dialogue will be hit or miss with people. The min/max crowd will hate it and everyone else will enjoy it, taking the time to read text. Escpecially if there is a point to it.

The fact that NPCS dropped loot is great. Most people like to colect better items to upgrade there toon.

With all that said the UI was not attractive, although im sure that will be fixed. Also the acutally toons seemed to me to be too OP. Not one situation did the toon drop below 90% health. Wheres the challenge?

The quality of the grphx were something on par with WoW. To be honest I understand it from a developers point of view. The more people that play the better it is from a business percepctive.

What I dont understand from the mmo community is the increased want of mmos that reinvent the wheel. Every mmo coming out has people saying "it doesnt do anything differerent". WHY MUST IT DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT?

With all that said I am very excited with how this game is coming. In September I will be playing AION and hopefully when SWTOR comes out i'll be playing that. WoW's recent expansion news has totally conviced me that it will be a stealth beta for there new mmo. Too much fundamental change for just an expansion.

This is all just my OP.

Originally posted by KissThaRing

Originally posted by Ilvaldyr

Looks great and all, but I'm still put off by the combat.

It was cool that there some actual dynamics there; the ranged characters hiding behind obstacles and the melee characters visually parrying the opponents attacks; but it just seemed to lack that sense of urgency and challenge. If I wasn't paying close enough attention to the healthbars to see it twitch once and a while, I'd swear that they were playing the game with godmode on.

At no point throughout any of that combat footage did you have any inclination that the player character might be in actual danger. I get that we're supposed to be the iconic heroes and everything, but I don't think that should mean being able to faceroll everything with utter complacency.

 

This is common when games are first shown off. The character IS in god mode, notice how he never healed or used any type of stim packs? When the game goes live, you will not be able to just plow through all that content we just saw without healing once. 

People have to remember that the gameplay footage you just saw is rigged and fixed - they are just showcasing mainly the game engine and the VO's, and giving you a sense of what to expect - A.I difficulity and all that stuff are never truely shown in game demos.

KOTOR presented a good mix of casual and yet challenging game play - in fact, all bioware games do, they do this very well. I don't think we have to worry about SWTOR being "too easy " or "too casual" - It's realistic to expect a good range of both casual and hardcore.

As far as open world content, there was an interview a few months back stating that there will be exploring and open world. How much is yet to be seen. It won't be SWG open-world like, as in, land on a planet and literally spend 45 min going from one end to the other, but thats abit excessive and unnecessary anyways. I believe it was the lead dev that said that if you wanted to take a break from the story and just find some mobs spread about and do leveling the old fasion way, you could. So there will be *some* open world content.

I don't believe the footage was to suppose to answer all the questions, like how mmo'ish will it really be? We saw 2 players together in 1 storyline arc, but can we have 4 or maybe even 8 players in a group? Will that be for more epic story arcs? Who knows. What about player housing, communities, crafting, economy, etc? None of these things have been addressed yet but we shouldn't assume its not gonna be in the game. They just haven't been addressed yet, thats all. They did state a few months that pvp would be in the game - so theres a whole new other element we haven't seen yet.

All in all im impressed with the direction SWTOR is going, how people are saying this is a WoW clone is beyond me - the fact that *each* class will have its own full story arc - fully voiced - is already as non-WoWish as you can get! - and we haven't even see the full games potential.

This game is what SWG shouldve been IMO. Hopefully they shut that POS down when this comes out.

Remember the waves of troopers in the Star Forge? Good stuff, that's what this demo reminded me of. I'm pretty sure getting thru this content will require plenty of healing like on the Star Forge.

Originally posted by monarc333

 

With all that said the UI was not attractive, although im sure that will be fixed. Also the acutally toons seemed to me to be too OP. Not one situation did the toon drop below 90% health. Wheres the challenge?

The quality of the grphx were something on par with WoW. To be honest I understand it from a developers point of view. The more people that play the better it is from a business percepctive.

What I dont understand from the mmo community is the increased want of mmos that reinvent the wheel. Every mmo coming out has people saying "it doesnt do anything differerent". WHY MUST IT DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT?

With all that said I am very excited with how this game is coming. In September I will be playing AION and hopefully when SWTOR comes out i'll be playing that. WoW's recent expansion news has totally conviced me that it will be a stealth beta for there new mmo. Too much fundamental change for just an expansion.

This is all just my OP.

I couldn't help but notice that also.Even when the jedi knight appeared and the guy said "This is a bigger challenge" his health barely dropped. Another thing I noticed was him saying that you start out heroic by being able to take on multiple enemies at once. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. There should be at least a few levels for you to work your way up to that heroic status while learning how the game works. If the game's too easy then people will get bored real quick.

All that said I think the game looks promising.

The demo is keeping me interested in the game.   The combat looks interesting and the world/settings look very nice.   

We still only have limited details and everything we're seeing is alpha footage, so it could all change.  But it looks like Bioware has a good solid foundation and that's really critical for a good MMORPG. 

First off. Chill guys and girls.

2nd Name ONE bad bioware game!

3rd. It is impossible to satisfy everyone, unless they make 50+ different versions of the game.

4th it is still VERY early. Things can change very easily. ffs it is a mmo, things can even change very drastically AFTER launch. Imagine what can happen before launch.

Me personally, i am a big wow hata, but this game looks VERY promising! i really dont se any similarities besides the basic class system and weapons stats etc. BLIZZARD DIDENT INVENT THESE THINGS! and it is an insult to all mmo gamers claming that they did!
I love it looks. I love the voiceovers (tired of reading text when playing mmos), I love the combat, looks very entertaining.

Originally posted by Azernus

When something has such high expectations its bound to dissappoint a little bit.

 

Keeping that is mind, I was happy with what I saw and am very excited. What I was hoping to see that I didn't was: An explanation of any open world or how the social aspect of the game worked. If this is fact a fully instanced game with no open world, in my mind it will not be as successful of a game as it could be. Also curious about economy and skill progression, which I'm sure will be there.

 

Out of the 4 pillars we only saw: Combat, story and very little progression (loot/dialogue decision) no?
 

Yep. I feel the same way. I want to see the social aspect / systems in place in this game. I don't want to play another instanced treadmill. One of the reasons SWG rocked was because of the whole open atmosphere: the cantina's, everyone waiting up to 10 minutes for the shuttle/starport, seeing people dueling while waiting for the starship at coronet while some idiot put his big pet kimogila there and everyone is talking about it's name.

That little stuff that sparks more people-to-people interaction PROVIDES WAY MORE VALUE TO THE GAME than anything the devs will try to force upon players with storylined instanced type gameplay.

Originally posted by Baseline

Originally posted by Azernus

When something has such high expectations its bound to dissappoint a little bit.

 

Keeping that is mind, I was happy with what I saw and am very excited. What I was hoping to see that I didn't was: An explanation of any open world or how the social aspect of the game worked. If this is fact a fully instanced game with no open world, in my mind it will not be as successful of a game as it could be. Also curious about economy and skill progression, which I'm sure will be there.

 

Out of the 4 pillars we only saw: Combat, story and very little progression (loot/dialogue decision) no?
 

 

Yep. I feel the same way. I want to see the social aspect / systems in place in this game. I don't want to play another instanced treadmill. One of the reasons SWG rocked was because of the whole open atmosphere: the cantina's, everyone waiting up to 10 minutes for the shuttle/starport, seeing people dueling while waiting for the starship at coronet while some idiot put his big pet kimogila there and everyone is talking about it's name.

That little stuff that sparks more people-to-people interaction PROVIDES WAY MORE VALUE TO THE GAME than anything the devs will try to force upon players with storylined instanced type gameplay.

Well yeah, to YOU that is an important aspect of the game, and I am sure others feel just as strongly about it.  Some people love the story and only play MMO's because they can solo for years and not have to interact with other if they do not want to, and still others like to just power to max level and then start looking around.  At the end of the day, when the game releases not everyone is going to be happy, I won't like every aspect of the game, it's guaranteed, I still think it will be a great game.

And one thing all need to remember, this is Alpha footage, things will change, they alwasy do I suggest you just enjoy the ride to release, and see what happens.

Originally posted by Baseline

Originally posted by Azernus

When something has such high expectations its bound to dissappoint a little bit.

 

Keeping that is mind, I was happy with what I saw and am very excited. What I was hoping to see that I didn't was: An explanation of any open world or how the social aspect of the game worked. If this is fact a fully instanced game with no open world, in my mind it will not be as successful of a game as it could be. Also curious about economy and skill progression, which I'm sure will be there.

 

Out of the 4 pillars we only saw: Combat, story and very little progression (loot/dialogue decision) no?
 

 

Yep. I feel the same way. I want to see the social aspect / systems in place in this game. I don't want to play another instanced treadmill. One of the reasons SWG rocked was because of the whole open atmosphere: the cantina's, everyone waiting up to 10 minutes for the shuttle/starport, seeing people dueling while waiting for the starship at coronet while some idiot put his big pet kimogila there and everyone is talking about it's name.

That little stuff that sparks more people-to-people interaction PROVIDES WAY MORE VALUE TO THE GAME than anything the devs will try to force upon players with storylined instanced type gameplay.

Originally posted by BioNut

 

If you want to RP a Twi' lek stripper then more power to you but the devs don't need to cater to your needs. Thats why its called RP use your imagination.

Well, we could imagine all of it, and save the box and sub cost.

I thought that gameplay looked fantastic! I cannot wait to play this game...

The only negative I saw was the apparent ease in combat. I was watching the characters' health bars the whole time and there wasn't a single moment where it looked like they were in any danger at all... even when fighting the supposedly badass Jedi.

This is something I definitely think needs to be changed before release. No matter how good the story is, it will not hold my interest if the entire game is too easy...

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by tillamook

xD I don't remember any blasters or Lightsabers in wow. And all I remember about VO in WoW were disembodied voices coming from the direction of a particular character from time to time.

 

Those aren't lightsabers.

Lightsabers don't have damage ranges. If they hit you, you die, or at least lose a limb.

Voice overs? WHO THE HELL CARES? If it was the setting of the films and the original cast doing them, I would care. It's going to be strangers voicing strangers. Voice overs are not gameplay.

Well if that is your logic then any weapon in any RPG isn't what they say they are either.  If I take a Katana and strike at someones arm it will chop it off.

I care about voice overs, Im excited about the whole game being voice overs that means less reading and more immersion for me. I get to pick what I say to the NPC's instead of just reading and accepting quests.

Originally posted by cukimunga

Well if that is your logic then any weapon in any RPG isn't what they say they are either.  If I take a Katana and strike at someones arm it will chop it off.

 If you swung it hard enough and with the proper technique AND they had no armour on, yes. That's a long way from a weapon that can be used to cut through metal doors and walls. The point is that the weapons don't match what their own IP shows them to be. Even Jedi were dying to single blaster bolts. The gameplay shows characters taking many shots and surviving.

I care about voice overs, Im excited about the whole game being voice overs that means less reading and more immersion for me. I get to pick what I say to the NPC's instead of just reading and accepting quests.

It's a lot of money that would be better spent in other areas.

 Looks fun!

For me story/immersion trumps everything.  I don't care if the game doesn't center around 30 people doing epic button mashing on a tank and spank boss.  Immerse me in a story and I'm sold.

MMO_Doubter

Voice overs are VERY important for me for immersion. Every time I have to read what a char says instead of I can hear it, I loose my "immersion".

Btw about your 1 blaster shot HIT should kill, and lightsabers should cut though flesh like butter. This wouldent work. It would just be a shitload of one kills. No fun and it would make the classes VERY imbalanced.. EVERY starwars game i have played it has ALWAYS been the way SW:TOR is.

Originally posted by Hyanmen

 I hope they'll realize soon that SW: TOR won't be the first fully voice acted MMO and stop talking like it is- just makes Bioware seem silly =P

Which one is then?

Originally posted by ktanner3

Originally posted by monarc333

 

With all that said the UI was not attractive, although im sure that will be fixed. Also the acutally toons seemed to me to be too OP. Not one situation did the toon drop below 90% health. Wheres the challenge?

The quality of the grphx were something on par with WoW. To be honest I understand it from a developers point of view. The more people that play the better it is from a business percepctive.

What I dont understand from the mmo community is the increased want of mmos that reinvent the wheel. Every mmo coming out has people saying "it doesnt do anything differerent". WHY MUST IT DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT?

With all that said I am very excited with how this game is coming. In September I will be playing AION and hopefully when SWTOR comes out i'll be playing that. WoW's recent expansion news has totally conviced me that it will be a stealth beta for there new mmo. Too much fundamental change for just an expansion.

This is all just my OP.

 

I couldn't help but notice that also.Even when the jedi knight appeared and the guy said "This is a bigger challenge" his health barely dropped. Another thing I noticed was him saying that you start out heroic by being able to take on multiple enemies at once. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. There should be at least a few levels for you to work your way up to that heroic status while learning how the game works. If the game's too easy then people will get bored real quick.

 

All that said I think the game looks promising.

Obviously this is early gameplay footage to let people see how it plays. It is silly to expect whatever health/stat numbers will be final in this version and difficulties in a MMO is tweaked all the time.

I, for one, am sick of taking on 1 boar at a time. It is GOOD to feel heroic and take on an army at a time. Plus, you would expect a Sith to be able to take on multiple troopers.

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by BioNut

 

If you want to RP a Twi' lek stripper then more power to you but the devs don't need to cater to your needs. Thats why its called RP use your imagination.

Well, we could imagine all of it, and save the box and sub cost.

Exactly, that's why I enjoy writing and why I am learning the game development process.

Some of us just bitch about games, some of us are actually going to do something about it.

www.gamesradar.com/pc/star-wars-the-old-republic/preview/gc-09-star-wars-the-old-republic-hands-on/a-20090824121832220024/g-20081021163120143024  good article

Originally posted by tillamook

www.gamesradar.com/pc/star-wars-the-old-republic/preview/gc-09-star-wars-the-old-republic-hands-on/a-20090824121832220024/g-20081021163120143024  good article

Good review, seemed to be very unbiased. He disagreed with the art direction. but, "BioWare has done a great job in bringing the Star Wars universe to an MMO" is more then what I wanted to see.

yeah, not everyone is gonna like the art. Hell I hated the art in more than a few games I've played, I still played them though.

Overall I wasn't impressed with this preview. The melee combat looked passable, and the graphics looked acceptable (I know there's some better-looking areas in the screenshots also), but the ranged combat was just awful, particularly when the player was just standing there while being bombared with shots. Much better when he was making use of the cover system. I also really disliked the part where the bounty hunter decides to use his jetpack so he can float in the air in a stationary manner, becoming a perfect target.

It's great that there's voice overs and that you can make choices, but the combat gameplay has to be good. It simply has to be, as combat is such an integral part of the experience.

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by cukimunga

Well if that is your logic then any weapon in any RPG isn't what they say they are either.  If I take a Katana and strike at someones arm it will chop it off.

 If you swung it hard enough and with the proper technique AND they had no armour on, yes. That's a long way from a weapon that can be used to cut through metal doors and walls. The point is that the weapons don't match what their own IP shows them to be. Even Jedi were dying to single blaster bolts. The gameplay shows characters taking many shots and surviving.

I care about voice overs, Im excited about the whole game being voice overs that means less reading and more immersion for me. I get to pick what I say to the NPC's instead of just reading and accepting quests.

It's a lot of money that would be better spent in other areas.

You have absolutely no idea how MMO balance works and it fills me with joy to know you will never be in a position to inflict your concept of it on others.

Originally posted by Darth_Pete

So as it turns out this is just another copy of WoW?

I'll give it a try when it comes out but these clips left a bad taste in my mouth :(

And WoW was a reproduction of other MMOs, the point is? BTW I have not seen cover in WoW before nor full voice overs.

Originally posted by Vagrant_Zero

You have absolutely no idea how MMO balance works and it fills me with joy to know you will never be in a position to inflict your concept of it on others.

Not all IPs will make for a good MMORPG. I have doubts about Star Wars, and have already said that Star Trek is a terrible property for an MMO.

If you have to greatly alter the IP to make an MMO out of it, then it's a bad idea.

How will you reconcile seeing a light sabre cut open a wall, then seeing that same weapon hit an enemy several times without killing him?

When telling a story you create your universe. Bioware is creating a SW universe where lightsabers arent so crazy ass powerfulas lukases, but if you want them to be in the same universe then ok here is 2 reasons.
1. This is before what you saw in the movies! maby lightsaber technology wasn't that advanced.
2. There are materials that are lightsaber resistant or lightsaber disrupting in the universe. Cortosis is just one example. Maby they where wearing that. it would make sense to have lightsaber resistant armour when attacking a sith warship.
Cortosis starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cortosis
 
 
The game would SUCK for anyone that isent a jedi/sith, if jedis/siths sabres where as powerful as you want!