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Brontez
VeteranXX
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Old
1 - 10-25-2008, 15:49
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Setting

The Old Republic takes place roughly 300 years after Knights of The Old Republic. Many of the same characters will be seen, but your character, Revan, and most of your companions from those games are long since dead. The Republic enjoyed a short time since then to rebuild after the Jedi Civil War, but now the Sith have returned from deep space. The Galaxy has been split in half and a truce exists between the Empire and Republic which is quickly crumbling.


Jedi, Jedi, Jedi

First off, yes, you too can be a Jedi. Jedi will be in the game as a playable "class". Jedi are a big part of the timeline and based on dev interviews, there will be nothing holding any player back from being one. Jedi will not be any more powerful than any other class, no you will not have to complete a quest that takes months if not years to complete to be a Jedi.
At this time it is assumed and all but confirmed that you will simply "choose" to be a Jedi at character creation, as you would "choose" to play a paladin in a traditional MMO. There is speculation that just like in KoTOR 1, you will start out as a non-Jedi class and your characters "story arc" will lead it to the choice to become a Jedi or simply stay with your current class.

Keep in mind the only truly confirmed details at this time are, Jedi are a playable class, they will basically be like all other classes.


Factions

In The Old Republic, the Sith (not the Dark Jedi, wannabe Sith from KoTOR, the real Sith who were defeated thousands of years earlier) have returned from exile. These aren't the Sith you're used to. There's no "there can only be 2 Sith" mumbo jumbo holding these guys back. These are the original badasses, they've returned in vast numbers and they're out for revenge against the Jedi in their campaign to control the entire galaxy.

The Galactic Republic has taken a hell of a beating and they've lost ground, even worse than they had by the beginning of KoTOR II. The Jedi have retreated from Coruscant to Tython, the original Jedi homeworld, while the Republic trains up a massive army of elite super soldiers as quickly as they can, preparing for the inevitable.

However not all "Dark Jedi" are Sith and not all Sith are even force users, just as not all Jedi agree with the ideals of the Republic. This is where things get a little fuzzy, allow me to explain.


Faction vs. Good or Evil

In TOR, the line between right and wrong, much like in the KoTOR games, is very blurred. Just like in real life, most of the time people don't commit certain acts for the sake of "being evil", they usually believe they're doing the wrong thing for the right reason. This is a big part of TOR and its story driven game play. Just because you join the Sith as a Jedi, doesn't mean you HAVE to be a Dark Jedi. In TOR cannon, many Jedi left the Republic and followed Revan because they believed it was the right thing to do, and even when fighting for Revan, they did not fall to the dark side because they believed what they did was right and they conducted themselves as "good" Jedi, not "evil" Dark Jedi.

And it's not just Jedi that are affected by their moral affinity, every character will be affected by "good" or "evil" choices they make in their own story. So just because you're working to further the goals of the Republic, doesn't mean you won't become ruthless and "evil" in the process, the same way that joining the Sith Empire doesn't mean you'll fall from the light. And just as in the single player games, your alignment to Good and Evil will vary based on your actions, you could easily remain "gray" throughout your characters entire life!

Good or Evil is affected by your characters story and your reaction to it. While it will have an affect on force powers for Jedi, and will affect your companion characters, it is more of a roleplaying tool.

Faction is determined upon character creation, and is primarily for PvP, and determines where you can travel safely.


PvP

The Old Republic will put you on one side or the other of the galactic conflict from the outset, forcing you to chose Galactic Republic or Sith Empire upon character creation (much like WoW). It is likely that the PvP flagging system will be similar to the one used in WoW as well. Ironically this flagging system was Star Wars Galaxies PvP system upon launch, when WoW was still in its conceptual stage. The exact details about the PvP flagging ruleset is unknown, but you can count on Sith Empire vs. Galactic Republic (Realm vs Realm) being the main focus. As well, the dream of Bounty Hunters and Smugglers alike would be some form of PvP bounty system, and I'll have all the details about that if/when it's announced.


Story Driven MMO Gaming

Sounds like the usual empty promise right? There have been many MMOs that promised a rich, deep story for your character to follow, and thus far none have really delivered. However one of the first departments to be built for the delevlopment of TOR was the writing department, and they***8217;ve been hard at work for over 2 years already.

For starters, each character you make will have his own story, based on your Faction alignment, and your class, among other factors. There may also be some random modifiers but that much is only speculation at this time. This story will take you on your journey from creation, to level cap and beyond. As well your companion character(s) will have stories that will start their own missions and goals, which introduce you to other NPCs that have missions and so on. But your central story will be the most important, and they promise every class will feel like their story pits them in an epic struggle to save the galaxy or conquer it.


Companion Character

As with the KoTOR RPGs, your story will introduce you to your first ***8220;Companion***8221;. This NPC is unlike anything previously seen in an MMO. Unlike the ***8220;pets***8221; in previous MMOs, your Companion Characters will make you care about them or hate them, their loyalty to you will scale based on how you treat them, and they can even save you or possibly betray you on the extreme ends of this scale. Every companion character has its own story which will lead to missions you can assist them with or ignore. Some companions may develop a romantic interest in you, that you can pursue or push away.

How exactly this will work is unknown at this time, each class may have a pre-determined set of possible characters, or maybe the characters will be randomly generated, but this much is only speculation.

What is known is that your companions will skill up with you, much the way they do in KoTOR, you will be able to select their equipment and customize their skills, and will have a certain amount of control over them in combat. However it has been stated that the companion combat system will give you the option to put your companion on full auto, so you can concentrate on your own character and leave the little stuff to your NPC buddy.

Based on the descriptions about the companion system so far, you will ***8220;collect***8221; an undisclosed number of characters, (the number is hinted at around a dozen at a time) but you can only adventure with 1. Where the others go when they are not in use is a mystery right now, but details will be updated when more info is out.


Vehicles and Space Flight

There***8217;s a large and vocal ex-SWG community of pilots pushing for space flight, though no details have been released yet. Dev interviews have hinted that space flight is in their plan.

Ground Vehicles are a big part of Star Wars, and will be included. Details on this have not been announced yet.


Classes

No confirmed info other than the obvious Jedi/Dark Jedi, though it***8217;s easy to hypothesize based on KoTOR that there would be 4 general classes (Jedi, Soldier, Scoundrel, Scout) which would branch out to sub-classes. If they take the WoW route and determine the overall class at creation, it***8217;s easy to assume that ***8220;iconic***8221; classes like Smugglers and Bounty Hunters would be in there.

More info when something is confirmed.


Character Progression

Much like WoW and EQ2, progression will be level/point based and points will be earned for killing monsters and/or completing tasks. Exploration is a big part of SWTOR as well, so expect to get points for discovering new things.

Your character also progresses in their story, and here***8217;s where things get interesting. In KoTOR you could save a game, make a choice and if you didn***8217;t like the story outcome, you could load up and try again. In the TOR MMO, every choice you make matters. If you piss off a companion, it could betray you and return later as a nemesis. If you kill a character asking for assistance, you***8217;ll lose out on future quests. Every answer you give to an NPC has the potential to have a lasting impact on your character, its story, and its ability to interact with other characters. Completing a mission for one character or faction could have such an impact on another character that it could lock you out of doing missions for that character or even its entire faction! In TOR, your choices are permanent and far reaching, and there***8217;s no going back.


The Look of The Old Republic

There***8217;s a bit of complaining about current screenshots, some say it***8217;s too ***8220;cartoony and WoW-ish***8221;. Actually if you go back and look at KoTOR the art direction is very similar. Love it or Hate it, giving a game it***8217;s own individual art style gives it longevity, unlike games like SW:G and EQ2 which at the time set the new standard for graphics quality, but already look dated compared to current games. In the opinion of the TOR development team, it***8217;s better to use a style that is individual to the franchise, rather than try for a photorealism that will age as better graphics are developed.

Hopefully there will be some better screenshots coming out soon to really show off what they intend the finished product to look like, because based on the concept art the game should not only have a unique look, but also a very cool look.


PvE combat

As for the general combat rules, it***8217;s safe to assume (for now) that they will use the same general rules used in the previous KoTOR games. It has been stated you will not be fighting bunnies and rats, in fact the first things you will be fighting at level one will be (in some cases) twice your size. They never want you to feel like you***8217;re grouping up a dozen people to go beat up on one single NPC, so expect the norm to be ***8220;fighting superior numbers, fighting against the odds***8221;. The intention here is that every encounter, whether you***8217;re playing solo or in a group, should feel epic, even if it only appears more difficult than it really is. Don***8217;t forget you***8217;ll always have at the very least, your trusty companion to help out!


Planets and Starting Areas

Not much is known about this, but what has been hinted at is there will be multiple starting cities, and your starting city will be determined by a mixture of your selected species and class.

For instance it***8217;s all but confirmed that all Republic Jedi no matter what species will begin on Tython, home of the first force users, far from the front lines of the Empire/Republic conflict. Imperial Jedi will start on Korriban, where the original Dark Jedi trained thousands of years earlier, before being driven into deep space and becoming the Sith. The intention currently is to have large planets and dozens of them, but at this time there are no details.


Crafting and Trade

No details yet, though they have stated they are working on something much broader than WoW, but less complicated than SWG. More info as it comes in.



More info when it***8217;s announced.
 
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Last edited by Brontez; 10-25-2008 at 15:54..
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GreenDookie
VeteranXV
Old
2 - 10-26-2008, 02:30
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good and evil being seperate from faction sounds interesting
 
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Atreides
VeteranXV
Old
3 - 11-03-2008, 09:00
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenDookie View Post
good and evil being seperate from faction sounds interesting
It's the one thing holding this game back from an immediate fail.


When it comes to a two faction MMORPG (especially where PvP is concerned) there is always one major oversight by the devs: population imbalance. It doesn't take an ounce of foresight to realise that across every server, a considerable percent of players would roll sith over republic. So having said that, good/evil in both factions gives me optimism towards population balance (but not much).
 
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