I'd like to hear from beta testers who are big KOTOR, Dragon Age  or Mass Effect fans. How does TOR compare to Bioware's excellent single player games? Is the story equally engrossing, or is it really watered-down? How are the companion quests compared to say Mass Effect?

Finally, do you feel the dark vs light side choices actually make a difference in your gameplay experience, or is it just a gimick?

If you go to http://www.twitch.tv/  And search for SWTOR, there are multiple streams up.

Originally posted by BattleFelon

I'd like to hear from beta testers who are big KOTOR, Dragon Age  or Mass Effect fans. How does TOR compare to Bioware's excellent single player games? Is the story equally engrossing, or is it really watered-down? How are the companion quests compared to say Mass Effect?

Finally, do you feel the dark vs light side choices actually make a difference in your gameplay experience, or is it just a gimick?

How does it compare to single player games?

I'd say it's about on level, better seeing as you get multiplayer dialog, i got a real kick out of that.

Are the story equally as engrossing?

Duh it's Bioware...okay no seriously yes and sometimes was far more, i really got into the story of the sith warrior. I actually changed my choice of first alt to sith warrior.

How are companion quests?

I didn't get to play any of the actual companion quests, but Vette was amazing, i actually felt sorry for her when she became my servant uh i mean companion.

Light side/dark side choices. As for actual game world not yet, but the stories do differ, especially if you do something like (spioler, kill a whole bunch of tribal people, my jedi master didn't take kindly to that)

Right now kinda hard to tell on the choice system as i'm so low so difficult to tell, but other areas they did great.

The stories are hit or miss depending on class.  You pretty much have 3 separate but somewhat intertwined stories per class.  

Of those I only went through all three with 1 class and that was the Consular,  which to me, was a very boring story in the first "act"  but started to liven up towards the end of the 1st and got better in the 2nd,  but overall it paled in comparison to the IA and the Sith Warrior.

I didn't play too many different classes, I pretty much skipped all classes that I planned to play on launch,  but I heard a lot of people liked the Smuggler story and to a lesser extent the trooper,  but to each their own.  Its not just the story itself its also how you act in your story.  I played neutral for the most part in my consular,  but ended up lightside more times than not.  It did make for a boring story.

I think thats why people should really pay attention to the stories too,  if you plan to always pick the lightside choice or the darkside choice, you could really miss out on a lot of interesting options that could net you some good rewards, or change the way you complete missions.  

I would say its pretty on par with KOTOR or ME in the sense of where you choices land you.. maybe compounded a little bit as they cascade through the rest of your stories.  Think of it like ME 1, 2 and 3...  the choices you ended with in 1 can revisit you in 2 or 3.  

Originally posted by dubyahite
The companion quests are not that good. Usuay it's just a conversation. Does give you some insight into your companions personality and back story though. The companion quests are not like what you would see in ME as far as I have seen.
 

Yeah, but, if you are trying to bang your companion, these are important quests.  Every time Mako would tell me about her life, I would make eye contact with her, nod, and act like I was interested, even though technically I wasn't listening to  a thing she told me.  :)

I would say yes, the stories are well done. But not every story will fit every player. Some players may connect with some classes more than others.

I played the IA up to level 17 and loved the story. The SW wasn't as good IMO, but I did enjoy being the evil sith full of ambition. Only made it to about lvl 12. The smuggler was a story I could get into, but only made it to lvl eight and ran out of time. The Jedi Consular wasn't as bad IMO as others have said. But I want to play Jedi at launch to live my childhood fantasy (saw the movie in the theater at 8).

My only concern will be running a third or forth alt through the same open world quests on your home world. The way the NPCs interact with you is still unique based on your class. For example, the reaction to a SW is very different than the reaction to an IA. So even though the story is the same, it felt a bit different. Once you get past the home world and onto the bigger planets, it should be better. With all the planets to level on, you can get around it past level 15 or so. I guess you could always PvP and run flashpoints instead along with your class story until you get your ship.

I haven't played, therefore my experiences are fairly weak.

I was in one of the closed beta test a couple months ago. I'm not trying to create shit or a flame war over this post, it's 100% my feedback and how i felt.

To be honest completely the story is pretty good. That's about as far as i'd go 

You get the essential usual starting points which vary abit, followed by a strong opening. You're left with a weaker mid point and a bunch of shitty follow up quest. I had my most fun defending the space ship because it felt like a new and different experience. Sadly this was quicky ended when i ended back on another planet doing the same old quest again....

Most of the story per planet/stations consist of "Evil bob has taken over/is going to take over" do a bunch of fetch quest and kill 100 guys to stop him.

Where as this works great in singleplayer esq games that bioware has put out it's alot less appealing when you know you are in an MMO world. The other downfall is the labeling you as a super amazing warrior/marksman/social king whatever. This works fine in single player games but when it's thrown in the MMO world you can't help but look around and see 100 other guys doing the same quest and getting the same feedback.

I personally don't like it TOR. Not because of technical issues or what not.. just the whole general appeal of "ive done this before". I hate to mention it but it's a modernized up to date WoW. You'll run through dungeons and the same old quest you did 5 years ago on other games.

Besides for a good story that you won't actually blow threw unlike in other MMO's you're left feeling like you've done this all in the past.

Quick edit: Forgot to mention my view on companion quest. Oh lordy... you'd think this was a cool addition but it's merely an extra guy that follows you around. I can't say i ever strived to get any companions. I just quested along till i was given one of the companion they assigned me. Major downfall to this is having everyone else have the same companion as you.

As for the actual beta? It was fine technically wise. I never crashed and it felt like a release really. Balance issues where insane though, especially for PvP.

In conclusion.... If you've played any other MMO's for the past 10 years this is basicly you're up to date better polished Star Wars MMO. The story is the selling point but you'll run through the entire game thinking to yourself "shit i've done this before".

Is WoW + Mass Effect.

I didn't enjoy the story in mass effect. the first was ok but the second just a rehash of the same.

from the rpg aspect i would say kotor has some value.

In TOR, your choices are just minor things, like killing an NPC. If you decide to let him live, he will help you in the end. That kind of choices I have experienced as a jedi knight. It's all instanced anyway. In the end everything is, like it was in the begining. I really can't remember more choices. 

The darkside/lightside options seem to only affect the influence on your companions.

A real choice to me would be something like rescue someone before the planet explodes! Or make it explode! 

But there is nothing dramatic in TOR. 

It feels very much like an interactive movie, where you have a reader for the quest text.

A note on the companions - later on, once you've built up enough affection with them (through your choices in the world, and your private chats on board your ship), your companions begin to develop their own storylines. They basically have their own quest arc, which means you'll need to travel with them and help them out every now and then.

How soon you see this depends on how much attention you pay to what they like, in terms of choices and companion gifts etc.

I only pursued a romance option on one of my characters, just to see how it would work, and it was amusing, but as I didn't play that character all the way through I didn't get to see a lot of progression from it, but I bet it's there. 

I think initially (sub level 20-ish) it's all about getting to grips with how things work and getting a flavour through the conversations for your companions' likes and dislikes. Later on, it opens up. On my trooper ( I was used to the affection system by the time I rolled her) there were times when I'd go to my ship and all of my companions wanted a chat about something. It really does make you feel like you're managing a team.

Managing affection gets easier later on too, with more of your personal story taking place on your ship where your choices can affect the affection levels of ALL your companions.

One thing, with every class I played I had a favourite companion, and they were usually streets ahead of the others in terms of affection - because they were with me almost all the time. You get your first companion very early on, your second with your ship, and after that when you get them depends on when you get to the planet they're found on. If you do planet b before planet a, for example, you'll get your next companion sooner than if you did it the other way round.

Tl;dr - companion quests change as you get deeper into the game, just like in any BioWare game. The system doesn't seem all that interesting early on, but that changes.

Originally posted by Hopscotch73

A note on the companions - later on, once you've built up enough affection with them (through your choices in the world, and your private chats on board your ship), your companions begin to develop their own storylines. They basically have their own quest arc, which means you'll need to travel with them and help them out every now and then.

How soon you see this depends on how much attention you pay to what they like, in terms of choices and companion gifts etc.

I only pursued a romance option on one of my characters, just to see how it would work, and it was amusing, but as I didn't play that character all the way through I didn't get to see a lot of progression from it, but I bet it's there. 

I think initially (sub level 20-ish) it's all about getting to grips with how things work and getting a flavour through the conversations for your companions' likes and dislikes. Later on, it opens up. On my trooper ( I was used to the affection system by the time I rolled her) there were times when I'd go to my ship and all of my companions wanted a chat about something. It really does make you feel like you're managing a team.

Managing affection gets easier later on too, with more of your personal story taking place on your ship where your choices can affect the affection levels of ALL your companions.

One thing, with every class I played I had a favourite companion, and they were usually streets ahead of the others in terms of affection - because they were with me almost all the time. You get your first companion very early on, your second with your ship, and after that when you get them depends on when you get to the planet they're found on. If you do planet b before planet a, for example, you'll get your next companion sooner than if you did it the other way round.

Tl;dr - companion quests change as you get deeper into the game, just like in any BioWare game. The system doesn't seem all that interesting early on, but that changes.

 

 

Excellent, glad to hear that. I have played much of the game, but honestly haven't paid much attention to my companions.