BioWare/Lucas Arts game unveiled Oct 21

[Dark Wastl]

...you fat greedy wierd looking chin bastard (GL).

 

Does he control LucasArts? I thought someone else was in charge.

 

Yes, someone else is head of LucasArts, he's got hardly anything to do with LucasArts apart from allowing or nixing some story-details now and then.

 

 

Quite frankly, the story sounds stupid. It's the 684th rehash of the people turning against the Jedi for no particular reason at all. There is zero closure on KOTOR II, just yet another Sith Empire which never was supposed to take over Coruscant. The only somewhat interesting part of the story is the "Emperor" missing since the treaty was signed and all the Sith fighting over power.

 

The design looks nothing like KOTOR, instead it's somwhere between the Clone Wars, Empire and Legacy. If they absolutely needed to make an MMO in that timeline, the least they could have done was to keep it somewhat in line with the KOTOR-games, both in story and design. It's bad enough that they ruined this series by going for an MMO anyway.

 

Oh well, LucasArts pretty much screwed up their games in the recent past anyway. So did Del Rey with the books. Only Dark Horse and the comics are left now...

Edited October 21, 2008 by Dark Wastl

[Kelverin]

Great another new game I won't be buying. The wife will be thrilled!

[Strix]

EDIT: And wth is up with the HUGE lightsaber hilts?

 

The cartoonish look is what they're going for, so I guess it's part of that.

[jaguars4ever]

Not only are the lighsaber hilts and blaster barrels now disgusting, but look what they did to the once feared and legendary Terentatek:

 

 

He's now Sonic the Hedgehog!

 

DO NOT WANT!!!!!!1111

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

EDIT: And wth is up with the HUGE lightsaber hilts?

 

The cartoonish look is what they're going for, so I guess it's part of that.

 

Why do MMOs have to be cartoony? Gritty can totally work as well.

[LostStraw]

EDIT: And wth is up with the HUGE lightsaber hilts?

 

The cartoonish look is what they're going for, so I guess it's part of that.

 

Why do MMOs have to be cartoony? Gritty can totally work as well.

I can't speak for the KotOR MMO but WoW went with stylized graphics for performance reasons and lasting/broad appeal. Realistic/gritty graphics tend to not have the same appeal and get dated faster as well as require more processing power to achieve good results (according to Blizzard). Other MMOs have probably done the same for similar reasons.

[Strix]

...WoW went with stylized graphics for performance reasons and lasting/broad appeal.

 

Appealing to who though? So far I've only heard from people who do not like the style.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Warcraft's always been rather cartoony.

 

But KotOR wasn't. It wasn't gritty either, but it was sure as hell not cartoony like this.

[Meshugger]

Star Wars: The Old Republic takes place approximately three hundred years after the events of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR). At the conclusion of the Jedi Civil War in KOTOR, Revan disappeared into unknown space in search of a great threat to the Republic, an expanding Sith Empire led by a mysterious Emperor who planned vengeance for his ancient Jedi enemies. Revan never returned from unknown space, but the Sith Empire did, kicking off a war with the Republic that lasted for decades. Now, despite the uneasy truce created by the Treaty of Coruscant, the tension among the divided star systems is threatening to once again tear the galaxy apart.

 

Wait, did they just skip the story of KotOR II entirely?

 

Now i understand why Fearghus and MCA never got the answer regarding KotOR III from Lucasarts. This statement above pretty much tells Obsidian to GO F*** themselves.

 

Nevermind that KotOR II sold 1.3 million copies in USA alone, oh wait:

 

While the cash-minting potential of The Old Republic has executives salivating, many BioWare fans were disappointed the series didn't return to its single-player RPG roots. "There are a lot of reasons why we decided not to do KOTOR 3, and why we decided to do this as an MMO instead," said Nichols. "The unique aspect of storytelling, which is really differentiated for this game, is something the KOTOR franchise did very well, and we felt that just doing a single-player experience with a new KOTOR really misses the opportunity to take this out to a much wider audience."

[Purkake]

...WoW went with stylized graphics for performance reasons and lasting/broad appeal.

 

Appealing to who though? So far I've only heard from people who do not like the style.

 

Psst, it's the "casual" people, the ones that only play WoW and no other video games.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Maybe they'll get the story, right. we can't know right now.

 

But I think Bioware has been infected with LucasArts syndrome.

[Strix]

Wait, did they just skip the story of KotOR II entirely?

 

Yep.

[Guard Dog]

Nope, not buying it or playing it. Oh well.

[Meshugger]

Maybe they'll get the story, right. we can't know right now.

 

But I think Bioware has been infected with LucasArts syndrome.

 

Maybe i need to re-emphasize from my previous post: They completely scrapped the story from KotOR II.

 

"The wait is over!", it's over alright.

 

Christ, i am behaving like a 40-year old feminist, being high on PMS. I need a smoke.

[Niten_Ryu]

Low polygon models are must for any modern MMoG that want to get million+ subscriber numbers. Most powerful GPUs are over ten times faster then some integraded graphics chips, so it's only natural that low polygon is only real option. MMoGs also have potentially huge number of characters and NPCs in the same area.

 

WoW's graphics are some of the best I've seen with amount of polygons they use. Aesthetics of WoW are among the best I've seen in any game or other media. It's unlikely that Bioware can do as good as Blizzard did, but I hope they can come close at least.

 

300 years after events of KotOR feel like bit too long time (wasn't it only 50 years from Exar Kun in KotOR2 ? ) but most important thing is still there. There are no big heroes or villains and every character can potentially be that person who defines that era. Every player can be Jedi or Sith and it doesn't mess up continuity.

 

If Bioware get game mechanics right, I'll probably play this game for a long time.

[Tigranes]

Geez, what's wrong with the graphics? It's an MMO. If it looks like 'crap', all the better, people like me can play it.

 

Besides, I'm glad they didn't go down the bloom-bucket route.

[Bokishi]

Star Wars: The Old Republic takes place approximately three hundred years after the events of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR). At the conclusion of the Jedi Civil War in KOTOR, Revan disappeared into unknown space in search of a great threat to the Republic, an expanding Sith Empire led by a mysterious Emperor who planned vengeance for his ancient Jedi enemies. Revan never returned from unknown space, but the Sith Empire did, kicking off a war with the Republic that lasted for decades. Now, despite the uneasy truce created by the Treaty of Coruscant, the tension among the divided star systems is threatening to once again tear the galaxy apart.

 

So Revan never returned! That's what happened!

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Besides, I'm glad they didn't go down the bloom-bucket route.

 

Bloom is awesome.

 

Unless you overuse it, but I've yet to see that. Also, it makes PC games look decent on my crap computer.

Edited October 22, 2008 by WILL THE ALMIGHTY

[Dark_Raven]

It sucks so far. Thoes graphics are ****. WTF is wrong with Bioware? No K3, well up yours Bioware and LA.

 

My game playing days are over. Nothing out there I want.

[Volourn]

"My game playing days are over."

 

YES! PARTY TIME!!

[Strix]

Nothing out there I want.

 

[Dark_Raven]

"My game playing days are over."

 

YES! PARTY TIME!!

Volo! Volo!

 

This will be your new favorite game, even surpassing that mighty NWN. Eh?

[Wrath of Dagon]

Graphics look good, I don't know what you guys are complaining about. Very much a next-gen KOTOR feel, something photorealistic wouldn't work as well. Character models do look too cartoony, but hopefully that can be refined if there're enough complaints.

[Azure79]

Its a shame if they disregard the entire K2 plotline. I like it a lot better now than the K1 plotline.

 

I'm still miffed that they went with a MMO but what can you do? I'm interested in how this game will turn out. I think it could be an opportunity for something unique.

[Strix]

Graphics look good, I don't know what you guys are complaining about. Very much a next-gen KOTOR feel, something photorealistic wouldn't work as well.

 

I do not recall anyone asking for photorealizem Dagon, nor was anyone suggesting that it would be a good idea to use cutting-edge technology. However, I would like to know what exactly you find "good" about the graphics and why you think they are a step forward rather than a leap backwards for KotOR.