Several major gaming magazines and web sites have participated in a special event held by Bioware, where they were able to sit down and play Star Wars The Old Republic for 5+ hours and experience the game the way MMO is supposed to be experienced (not 15-60 minute gameplay sessions we heard about so far). Reviews are generally favorable and most of the reviewers finally confirm what Bioware has been emphasizing for so long – story does bring a new dimension into the gaming experience and it does make this game stick out.
Things to note from all the articles I’ve read so far is that you get to forge your own lightsaber at level 10 and are faced with a mini boss encounter at that point (like we saw in that PAX video). Some of the reviewers even managed to leave Tython and get to Coruscant. There is a flashpoint while traveling to Coruscant where you are faced with a moral dilemma to save some engineers and take a harder route in order to save the attacked ship, or flush the engineers into space but repair the ship faster. All of the flashpoints can be played with a group and the content scales with the group’s size.
Here are some quotes and links to articles I found more interesting out of the bunch:
I often find myself concerned with being “hooked” by early starting experiences after the Age of Conan debacle in which 1-20 was amazing and then the rest of the game lackluster, but Tython felt like a small sampling of an even greater experience. It easily rivals the Goblin and Worgen starting experiences found in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and in some ways tops them thanks to the questing system.
I’m told by one Jedi trainer to keep an eye on a young couple. It seems they might be in love, an emotional bond considered dangerous amongst Light Side saber-wielders. I track them down, learn their love to be true and am faced with a decision. If I turn them in, I get the standard quest reward and Light Side points. But if I decide to keep their relationship a secret, I get the bonus of a lightsaber crystal. Since there’s no reloading the game in an MMO, these decisions are permanent, and I find I’m actually spending time thinking about how I want to treat these characters instead of blindly focusing on amassing money and experience.
It was not an easy fight, and it really proved to me that they can make the one on one battles feel heroic too. At one point I charged towards him and used my “Force Wave” ability in the hopes of pushing him back and down to the ground, but at the same time he stomped on the ground! The result was my companion, him, and I, all hurling back in opposite directions just like Obi-Wan and Anakin in their duel on Mustafar. I eventually took him out, but not before getting down to around five percent health even after using a stim pack during the fight.
Bioware fans pay attention RT @geoffkeighley VGA rumors…We’ll share two world premiere announcements on Wednesday with many more to come.
Some assumed that this might be related to some Dragon Age or Mass Effect announcements, but the following tweet hints that it will be about The Old Republic:
I’m at BioWare Austin in Austin, TX http://gowal.la/c/2UCma
Two world premier announcements … here’s my speculation – Release date and Beta related announcements (just writing that down gives me a fangasm). So, what do you think will be announced in the next couple of hours?
(Cheers to Ask A Jedi for first spotting the tweets).
Apparently, The Old Republic team is in Europe and they just announced through their Twitter accounts that they will be announcing new details about the game soon. Whether this will be this Friday as part of the regular Friday updates or today remains unclear. Ask a Jedi reports that:
.. one of our sources spoke of another “special unannounced event” that would provide TOR fans with some new information before the end of the year
The special event is supposedly EA Winter Showcase in London. We all know that European players are hoping for announcement of EU Game Testing start, but we better hold back see what happens in the neext few hours. We’ll keep you posted as soon as we get more information.
Despite what was expected, this Friday update was not the Smuggler trailer video released earlier yesterday by Machinima.com. Instead we got a huge update containing a great “Designing the Light Side” Developer Dispatch video and a huge Fan Friday article containing a huge amount of fan created content.
The video is full of information on what decisions were made during the design process of the Jedi classes. We find out that you can choose to be a heroic type of Jedi like Luke or darker, more avenging Jedi like Anakin. There is a bunch of video footage of Tython (still one of the most serene environments I’ve seen in any game so far) along with discussion on why choosing earth tones for Jedi and “robed monk” look. Jedi Knight is all about action and adventure. Consular’s story will be more about diplomacy and you will be able to play a sneaky (stealth) role, or a more supportive (healing) role or even do some force damage (magic dps). The problem I have with each of these videos is that every time they release a new one I have to rethink what class I’m going to play as my main. I just have a need to live through all these stories and not miss out and that is going to be hard with 8 classes available. Anyone with a cloning machine wanna help me out? You can find the official video page here or just watch it below.
Along with the Developer Dispatch article we were also presented with this month’s Fan Friday. I recommend everyone visits the official news post, because it has loads of great Fan made art along with some great looking capital ship concept art presented in another Developer Corner. New wallpapers and official forum avatars are presented as well.
Comments Off on Light Side Dev Dispatch and Fan Friday
Guys at Machinima.com just released a Smuggler class trailer video as part of their new show called Machinima Realm. They got the privilege to release this video a day ahead of everyone else, which probably means that this video was going to be this Friday’s update. The question is: now that the Friday update has been released on a Thursday, what news will I post tomorrow? Despite my editorial troubles, you should enjoy the video. the video shows some smuggler gameplay and I think first shots of how stealth will work and what it will look like. Oh, and there’s a Wookie involved (do I smell a companion character for our Han Solo prototype?). There is a nice dissection of the video over at JediArchiveOnline.com for all you detail loving fans out there. One more thing before the video, there seems to be no “kick in the groin” action in the smuggler trailer, which kind of sucks. We all know its the best move by a video game character, like, EVAR!!!!1one11eleven!
It has been speculated for some time that Corellia is going to be one of the planets players will be able to play through and this Friday’s update confirmed those suspicions. In the first Friday update that was not posted by long time community manager Sean Dahlberg (he left Bioware a few days ago) we get a brand new Corellia Holonet page with all the basic information about the planet we could want. Things you should know about the planet:
A founding member of the Galactic Republic
Symbol of personal and economic freedom
Birthplace of Han Solo (3000 years in the future from TOR)
Main Starship production planet
Contact has been lost with the planet. Some images show destruction from bombardment but no solid info is available.
Check out the official news item here and you can see the screenshots and concept art of the new planet in our galleries below..
Corellia Screenshots
Corellia Concept Art
Comments Off on Corellia is the Latest Playable Planet
Doors of the Penny Arcade Expo have officially opened and North American gamers can finally sink their teeth into Star Wars: The Old Republic. Covering the event are several SWTOR fansites. Darth Hater continues with their excellent coverage where they update their PAX dedicated page constantly throughout the day with new info. These are some of the more interesting things they noticed with their hands on experience:
All classes except the two Jedi ones are playable to the public at low level for approximately 15m.
The line to play is at least an hour.
Sith Warrior was a human female with cybernetics on face.
Ask a Jedi is also covering the event live with a constantly updated page. They had a chance to do a quick Q&A with Senior Producer Blaine Christine and Lead Writer Daniel Erickson. They covered advanced classes, companions, “is it an MMO?” and more. We’ll let you know as soon as they post this on their site. In the meantime you can read some highlights here. The same page also holds some hands on impressions and good screenshots. Also, they tweeted that:
Nothing new revealed today, but the inside word is that tomorrow will bring some GREAT news.
Today’s Friday update is not among the most informative ones. It, basically, told us about the special page on the official site that is dedicated to the space combat feature. The page contains the space combat trailer and a few screenshots, along with a description of what we can expect from this feature. There has also been an update to the screenshot and concept art sections of the site including new images for player ships. You can find the space combat page here and here’s the excerpt from the official news item:
Blast your way through asteroid fields, enemy fighters, and a variety of other obstacles as you encounter fast-paced Space Combat missions in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. In these occurrences, you’ll fly your personal starship to various “hot spots” on the galaxy map and experience gameplay that will evoke memories of some of the great Star Wars™ space battles …
… Also check out the media section to see screenshots, concept art, and wallpapers portraying these heroic battles in space.
In the midst of all the GamesCom madness people of Bioware managed to release a new Fan Friday as part of their continuous Friday SWTOR updates. First up is the update to Holonet with a new starships page. Although we saw all the other ships in the recently released space combat trailer, only two previously announced ships are in the starships holonet page, the Fury and the Defender. There are some new screenshots if you go onto the individual ship pages so make sure you check it out.
Fan Friday wouldn’t be complete without some awesome fan created art. Two of the most impressive fan created sketches I’ve seen have been made by Kromnz adn have been posted on the official SWTOR forums. “Jedi reading” sketch and “Three Deadly Siths” are surely worth seeing. You can find the rest of the mentioned art at the Fan Friday page on the official site.
The best is, as always, left for last. In the developer corner we get a full list of the advanced classes and some details on them. The list is very close to the one we provided from our GamesCom exclusive coverage, but with more details on some of the advanced classes we didn’t manage to write down.
Today marks the beginning of another convention dedicated entirely to Star Wars – Celebration V. It is being held in ‘Lando, Florida from August 12-15. There will be George Lucas and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and Mark Hammil (Luke Skywalker) himself will be appearing as well. Darth Vader, on the other hand, seems to have been slain by the corporate forces and will not be permitted on the premises. The Old Republic, being Star Wars themed and all, will make its appearance as well. Darth Sean Dahlberg posted about it on the official forums and here’s the excerpt:
Check out The Art and Writing of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ panel on Friday, August 13th from 2PM to 3PM, and Saturday, August 14th from 4PM to 5PM at the Digital Stage (Valencia A). Drew Karpyshyn (Principal Writer, BioWare), Hall Hood (Senior Writer, BioWare), Arnie Jorgensen (Lead Concept Artist, BioWare) and Clint Young (Senior Concept Artist (Environments), BioWare) will be discussing what goes into creating the art and story in Star Wars: The Old Republic, the upcoming story-driven massively-multiplayer online role-playing game in development by BioWare and LucasArts.
As an added bonus, Clint and Arnie will be creating an entirely original piece of concept art live during the panel, giving attendees a rare and exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the creative process. Don’t miss your chance to hear first-hand from the developers!
Also, to relax from all the craziness, we’re putting together a community event to celebrate our love of Star Wars with you. Meet The Old Republic developers Friday, August 13th and Saturday, August 14th from 5PM to 7PM at the Hoth Bar inside the convention center!
Friday 13th is the SWTOR panel day. Hope none of them are superstitious.
