Old interview from Dec. 21, 2011.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/12/21/star-wars-the-old-republic-could-have-been-a-game-of-thrones-mmo/

“We had backup plans,” said Ohlen. “In all the design team was like three of us at that point, in total. So we were looking at doing a Lord of the Rings MMO, a Silmarillion MMO, a kind of a Gunslinger-esque Dark Tower MMO, a Game of Thrones MMO."

Originally posted by observer

Old interview from Dec. 21, 2011.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/12/21/star-wars-the-old-republic-could-have-been-a-game-of-thrones-mmo/

“We had backup plans,” said Ohlen. “In all the design team was like three of us at that point, in total. So we were looking at doing a Lord of the Rings MMO, a Silmarillion MMO, a kind of a Gunslinger-esque Dark Tower MMO, a Game of Thrones MMO."

 

 “When we were first were deciding on what kind of game we were going to build, I really wanted to do a story-based massively multiplayer game because hey, it hadn’t been done before,” Ohlen said. “I thought: hey, good way to innovate – that’s what Bioware stands for and that’s what we’re good at."

 

 

It's too bad they focused too much on the "story-based massively multiplayer game", because swtor had potential.  It was just missing essential features from standard MMO's.

"had potential" was used so many times before that it does no longer bear any meaning. I believe that SWTOR had no potential whatsoever ever since they decided to make it story-based MMO. 

Originally posted by Thillian

Originally posted by observer

Old interview from Dec. 21, 2011.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/12/21/star-wars-the-old-republic-could-have-been-a-game-of-thrones-mmo/

“We had backup plans,” said Ohlen. “In all the design team was like three of us at that point, in total. So we were looking at doing a Lord of the Rings MMO, a Silmarillion MMO, a kind of a Gunslinger-esque Dark Tower MMO, a Game of Thrones MMO."

 

 “When we were first were deciding on what kind of game we were going to build, I really wanted to do a story-based massively multiplayer game because hey, it hadn’t been done before,” Ohlen said. “I thought: hey, good way to innovate – that’s what Bioware stands for and that’s what we’re good at."

 

 

It's too bad they focused too much on the "story-based massively multiplayer game", because swtor had potential.  It was just missing essential features from standard MMO's.

"had potential" was used so many times before that it does no longer bear any meaning. I believe that SWTOR had no potential whatsoever ever since they decided to make it story-based MMO. 

I disagree.  The story driven elements are immersive to me.  The Light Side & Dark Side choices were good, but could have been improved to impact the story even more.  The other standard systems, such as,  grouping, chat, traveling, UI customization, etc.  needed a lot of improvement.  That's why i said it had potential to be great, but they fell short on these design systems.

That was the order 66 for SWG and the MMO use of the IP

Originally posted by observer

 

I disagree.  The story driven elements are immersive to me.  The Light Side & Dark Side choices were good, but could have been improved to impact the story even more.  The other standard systems, such as,  grouping, chat, traveling, UI customization, etc.  needed a lot of improvement.  That's why i said it had potential to be great, but they fell short on these design systems.

I agree with you. I think they got all the story elements "right". Quite frankly the game plays exactly how I thought it would play based on what they said.

I'll add that the planets are, unfortunatley, quest hubs and not much else. this was one of the issues I indicated when I filled out their survey.

Damn, a Dark Tower MMO or Silmarillion MMO... someone should really, REALLY make one of those!!

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Originally posted by cutthecrap
Damn, a Dark Tower MMO or Silmarillion MMO... someone should really, REALLY make one of those!!

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I enjoyed the story presentation. I also like the chosen artstyle. That's also not why I stopped playing within a month. Anyway, the story driven experience is just personal taste and whether you like it or not, I think that the problem with SWTOR lies in other things. Apart from the story presentation, the rest of the MMO mechanics were just copied from other mainstream MMO's. Which I see as the main problem.

Bioware might think they were innovative, but after experiencing the gameplay my lasting impression was 'nice story experience, too bad that the gameplay was so boringly familiar'. Their nooby UI mistakes didn't help there either. So I don't see the potential in SWTOR at all.

The class story quests were entertaining and i enjoyed them.  All the other junk cutscene quests made leveling an alt a complete chore for me.  I had to force myself to get a second class to 50 because 80% of the quests are exactly the same.

Basically, i enjoyed 20% of the game.  That's not worth a monthly fee and has no longevity to me.

When the dust settles the only story EA/Biofail are going to have is how badly this game tanked.