SW: The Old Republic Part 3

[Hurlshort]

I agree leveling up takes way too long, and at times more than I have patience and time for, but I see it's like that for the long term value I suppose

 

The whole point of an MMO is that it is a long term game, so hitting the level cap in a month is actually a problem. TOR is actually really fast compared to many other MMO's.

 

Most MMO's speed the curve up over time, so if you have played other MMO's a year or two after they've been out, you aren't actually leveling at the same rate as people who play at release.

[Raithe]

Apparently, I've spent 7 days, 22 hours playing my Sith Inquisitor since early access...

[HoonDing]

SWTOR post-mortem

 

Here's some numbers:

 

It may be the largest entertainment production in history. More than 800 people on four continents have spent six years and nearly $200 million creating it. The story runs 1,600 hours, with hundreds of additional hours still being written. Nearly 1,000 actors have recorded dialogue for 4,000 characters in three languages.

 

At the Austin home office of game developer BioWare, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts, more than 400 designers, programmers, writers and artists have immersed themselves in the imagined Star Wars universe, surrounded by maps of the ice planet Hoth, armor designs for bounty hunters and even a five-day weather forecast for Princess Leia

[Oner]

http://www.lo-ping.org/2012/01/20/the-swto...sode-iii-and-v/

[Guest Slinky]

I was playing a bit and took a look at my mission list.

 

 

Really, I like the game, but I've honestly started to wonder why.

[Malcador]

Well, MMORPGs always involve a lot of killing.

[Hurlshort]

Huh...I feel like most of my 'kill this many of this' lists are bonus quests attached to a 'investigate this place' quest.

 

But yeah, there's a lot of killing.

[Raithe]

I do have to say, as a Smuggler, it is damn satisfying to finally get your ship back.... They certainly manage to give you a story that provides a solid sense of accomplishment at that point.

[Calax]

I do have to say, as a Smuggler, it is damn satisfying to finally get your ship back.... They certainly manage to give you a story that provides a solid sense of accomplishment at that point.

The build up to SOME of the lightsaber retrievals is good.... but not em all.

[Hurlshort]

I do have to say, as a Smuggler, it is damn satisfying to finally get your ship back.... They certainly manage to give you a story that provides a solid sense of accomplishment at that point.

The build up to SOME of the lightsaber retrievals is good.... but not em all.

 

Yeah, the stories are definitely uneven.

[Giantevilhead]

Bioware was foolish, they should have used what they did not like about MMORPG mechanics to make TOR.

 

Edited January 22, 2012 by Giantevilhead

[Calax]

Probably the weakest was the Inquistor story, where basically the big "point" is getting your companion, while the lightsaber is sort of "Oh hay, you are the winner! Here! Have my old saber!"

 

The ships don't seem to be a big thing... most of them are just kind of "Well, your big task on <insert capital planet> is done and you must chase your targets offworld, have a ship!"

 

 

Did run into something REALLY annoying just now. Doing my Guardian questline and they take me to Qesh (I'm 37) which is fine... but instead of having a full contained questline, I get a single short quest and then am booted over to Hoth.

 

SERIOUSLY?

 

Probably one of the biggest issues I've been having with most of my characters is that there's SO much re-treading of the same style of quests at the lower levels for your story. The first four planets that get you to 30 are basically "re-do the same quest each planet with slightly different specifics". The inquisitor is finding artifacts on each planet, the Guardian is shutting down superweapons, the Agent takes out rebel/republic cells etc.

 

.... [begin Calax Review brain]

Basically, the class storylines could use an overhaul. They're great for tales, but the thing is that they're disjointed as you reach act two... admittedly I've only hit one act two (my guardian) but I'm getting the feeling that all of the classes are turning out to be effectively the same in terms of structure. If I were to re-do this I'd shorten the Act 1 so that it fits within the first "half" of the game, and then make the actions of that be the kick off to the larger plot that takes up Act 2 and 3.

 

The Prologue => Act 1 transition is perfect for this. You start out as just a newbie, and earn a bit of notoriety by your actions on one of the four planets, and there's a twist that leads you to be drawn to the capital. At the end of the Capital there's an event that draws you directly into the primary conflict of the first act (well, either the end of the captial or the end of the starter planet). But Once that act ends... it just kinda stops. You literally get a quest on the guardian that's "Go back to the fleet and take a load off sport!". And then you get a phone call that brings up the second Act.

 

The second act seems to have jack to do with the first, beyond the first just having been sort of "This is why you're being chosen!" Beyond that is just minor references to before. Again, I can only speak from the reference point of the one class I've made it past the Act 1 finale on, but it seems like some of Act 2 is being driven by Act 1 (there's a reference to the enemy of the second/third acts considering me his mortal enemy, I think for act 1) but it's not specifically mentioned.

 

It would be nice if, during the finale of act 1, something happened that triggered the new conflict, or made what was sort of the background conflict more personal. That way you felt you actually progressed into a larger fight, rather than feeling like you'd just finished "The Old Republic" and are now starting on "The Old Republic: Shadow Ops!" or whatever. Lets say you're fighting a dark lord, and the villain for the next two acts shows up and gives a serious demonstration of power. Then, instead of (after you win against the Lord) just going to the fleet, getting drunk, collapsing, and waking up next to a Twi'lek girl and a droid with strange attachments, you were badly wounded and your companions all show up and rescue you (one dragging you away, while the other fends off your attackers and escapes themselves) and you recouperate while your mentor/boss comes in and discusses what happened and what the plan for the future is.

 

[end Calax Review mind]

 

sorry... I am way to loquacious.

 

TL;DR version is that they needed to make the story move a tad faster and tie it together much better.

[Raithe]

Hm, let me trace through the Sith Inquisitor from memory, so it might be a little rough in areas..

 

- Spoiler Heavy -

 

 

Prologue

 

 

Kicks off with you entering Korriban to be trained as a Sith and you get put with an Overseer that hates ex-slaves and does his best to encourage you to fail.

Turns out he's winnowing Acolytes for a Sith Lord searching for her apprentice (which turns out to be you). In the process of becoming her apprentice, you get involved in tracking down some links to a long dead Sith Lords tomb, and find one of his servants in stasis (Khem Val). That nets you your first companion, gets you out of training and into the Sith Lord's apprenticeship, and as an aside, handed a lightsaber.

 

Onto Dromund Kaas, you get threatened by a rival of the Sith Lord (aka; Cyborg Darth), and the whole line revolves further around the Tomb and Treasures she wants to find and finding methods dealing with this rival. So quests dealing with finding his weaknesses and appropriating the right weapons/techniques/knowledge to take advantage of them.

This culminates in the Sith Lord putting herself at an obvious party as an alibi, and you using all that to kill the rival - which no-one will believe a mere apprentice could do.

Resulting in your Master becoming a full Darth, and gaining access to further knowledge that she uses to send you off to the Dark Temple.

Once there, you find a Sith Ghost who lets you know he's actually your great, great grandpappy, and was a rival of the dead Sith Lord that had all the loot and relics you're trying to find for your Master. Sith Ghost wants to help you restore the family name and get back power.

Then you get the Starship so you can be sent off around the universe to find more relics and stuff from the dead Sith Lord to perform some big powerful ritual.

 

 

End of Prologue.

 

Act I

 

 

This leads to bouncing around more planets, basically doing assorted investigation/fetch/kill quests to gain access to ruined areas and recover the info. - Including the fun of building/taking over a cult - Throw in some brief appearances of Ghost Grandpappy Sith giving cryptic warnings and a few other hints.

You return to Dromund Kaas with everything, and get drawn into performing the ritual with your Master - where it turns out she's not cute, and reallly, really old and withered, and is planning on taking over your body in the ritual. Small backfire, she ends up inside Khem Val (where they share the body rather then any one in total control), and everyone assumes you've actually killed her in a rather blatant manner.

You get raised to Sith Lord.

 

 

End of Act I

 

 

Act II

 

 

Basically kicks off from there with your freshly minted Sith Lord trying to establish a power base - although getting a few token grouches from Darth Thanaton who was your old masters immediate superior in the Sith hierarchy. You get set up to be killed, and with the help of Great Grandaddy Ghost survive. So bounce into several arcs of figuring out the lost art of Ghost-Binding to survive that immediate challenge. It comes out that Thanatos thought your previous Master was corrupt, and desires to wipe all traces of her (and thus you) from the face of the universe. One small face off with Thanatos, you surprise him with your power, but he still apparently "kills you" and staggers off to recover. You get revived properly, not being able to outrightly die with the force ghosts you've bound.

 

To survive, you need more power, so you head off into the wild blue yonder to find force-ghosts to bind so you can have some serious thwack in your force-stick. Again, more pseudo-investigation archaeology while you make friends, enemies and kill things. Throw in a little political shennanigans into the storyline and a little in the dialogue. During which is also the "corrupt a jedi padawan" which does net you a new companion/apprentice, but eh, doesn't really corrupt her to the dark side or anything.

This leads to another short rumble with Thanaton , which you start to win, and then all that force power and bound ghosts turn a wee bit uncontrollable. Thanaton flees the area, and you find out you have a small problem.

 

This runs pretty much along, Thanaton does his best to swipe at your power base and disrupt it (and becomes a full member of the Dark Council), while you find that there are side-effects to the Force binding of multiple ghosts. So you end up on another hunt to find out if there are cures for the physical/spiritual/mental effects. With various distractions, you end up on Balsavvis and getting a medical physical from an ancient rakatan super computer designed to create life that gives you a thorough makeover - but that only cures the physical side, not the mental and spiritual issues. For that, you end up on the planet Voss for the mystics to understand. Intertwine planetary politics and the fun of meditation and learning forbidden force rituals...

 

In the midst of all that, is the whole level of running back and forth to Korriban to keep an eye out for a "proper" Korriban trained Sith Apprentice, and helping a Moff develop a super-weapon to use against the Republic as another way of building up your own power base....

 

 

End of Act II around there

 

Act III

 

 

The short and sweet of it, Thantos challenges you to a Kaggath - some ancient Sith Duel, and pretty much does so galactic wide, and names the planet Corellia as the site of the duel. Some back and forth, co-opting his followers, finding out what he's up to, saving your fleet from his plots, then an actual fight with Thanaton where he ends up running away despite his stout belief in "tradition".

Finally an appearance of the Dark Council where you chase after Thanaton and in another big duel sequence.. you finally manage to defeat him.

Since you defeated a Council member, you get awarded the Darth title (Darth Occlus), given a seat on the council and are now basically in charge of recovering force knowledge and keeping them secret and all... Some basic tying up of loose ends, choosing whether to release the ghosts or keep them bound - deciding whether to kill all of Thanatons old followers - pretty much the expected.

Then it points the way to the Imperial Fleet and Illum.

 

 

End of Act III, and from here on it just shows "Interlude"

[Malcador]

That Colicoid War Games instance is pretty freaking bad. Why put us in turrets and in that fashion too, very strange. I did like the puzzle with the gates though.

[kirottu]

http://www.destructoid.com/bioware-is-clue...me-220094.phtml

 

Kinda funny.

[Morgoth]

http://www.destructoid.com/bioware-is-clue...me-220094.phtml

 

Kinda funny.

Fascists...

[Hurlshort]

http://www.destructoid.com/bioware-is-clue...me-220094.phtml

 

Kinda funny.

Fascists...

 

What a moron. I don't really have sympathy for him. He made a stupid post on the official forums, there are repercussions to your actions, whoopie

[Bos_hybrid]

Enjoying my BH play through from a gameplay prospective more then the Sith Warrior, however the SW story and companions were better. BH is also so much easier it's not funny, after the SW playthrough I chose biochem crafting to avoid spending so much on medpacks, only to find that as a BH you don't need them.

[Calax]

I am now a Founder... apparently

[Ice9]

Well, I hit 50 on my inquisitor and started some of the end game stuff. Did that last patch nerf all the Heroics? It seemed like The False Emperor just became so much easier. Unfortunately I'm having the worst luck with bugs. The last boss on Eternity Vault bugged out on my raid group every time we tried last week.

[Guest Slinky]

What a moron. I don't really have sympathy for him. He made a stupid post on the official forums, there are repercussions to your actions, whoopie

You would have been a great judge in nazi germany.

[Gromnir]

What a moron. I don't really have sympathy for him. He made a stupid post on the official forums, there are repercussions to your actions, whoopie

You would have been a great judge in nazi germany.

 

silliness.

 

question: why have an age restriction?

 

question: what other kinds o' media has age restrictions?

 

question: what are the possible repercussions if bioware/ea knowing/willful ignores their posted age restrictions?

 

 

etc.

 

*shrug*

 

and even when a reasonable explanation for actions seems lacking, (not the case in the present circumstance) incompetence or mistake is far more likely a cause than is malice.

 

am always surprised by how quick people rush to clear misguided reasonings. rather than consider plausible explanations for behavior, kids jump to a conclusion that bestest supports their own insta-assumptions. one can avoid looking foolish simply by asking questions and searching for answers before messily ejaculating nonsense.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited January 24, 2012 by Gromnir

[Guest Slinky]

(The usual gromnir third person weird mumblejumble that I have ALWAYS have to read atleast twice before understanding the message)

 

HA! Good Fun!

I am 12 and what is this.

[Gromnir]

(The usual gromnir third person weird mumblejumble that I have ALWAYS have to read atleast twice before understanding the message)

 

HA! Good Fun!

I am 12 and what is this.

 

*chuckle*

 

identify the parts that confuse you. clarification will be provided. your continued ignorance is unnecessary. anything before the word "malice"? let us hope that is not the case, otherwise you have an uphill battle in front of you.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Malcador]

Joy of not being able to use discretion. Oh well.