The Old Republic videos and misc info

[Raydeus]

Re: The Old Republic videos and misc info

Sad but true.

Hurray mass appeal vs proper graphics.

[Raydeus]

Re: The Old Republic videos and misc info

I don't think MMOGs are for me anymore. First SE kicks me out of XI, then CCP kills EVE, then Amazon loses my CE copy of XIV and probably wont reimburse it.

And now, now it seems I wont be able to play TOR because it's region locked and obviously not available in my region.

So I guess it's a pretty good time to clear my single player games queue and get my kanjis up to a decent level (maybe start studying Korean too.) Hopefully I'll be at least able to play GW2 and Blade&Soul eventually unless something happens to those games as well.


PS > F**k EA-Ware, I'll just skip their games from now on.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: The Old Republic videos and misc info

I think if DA2 shook people from the "Everything Bioware touches is gold" attitude, then TOR is going to show Bioware how "appreciated" SE and Blizzard are within the MMO community.

Sure, there's love ... on updates... but after that you can do no right in the eyes of players and are constantly verbally chastised by armchair developers.

And EA can't have anyone saying bad things about Bioware, we saw what happened last time with that - they used their mighty powers to prevent someone from playing a single player game. Apparently that's what the EULA allows EA to do, its not just EA playing Big Brother about DLC checks, but if you don't play by the rules (which apparently includes never saying anything negative about Bioware's owners) they can ban you from things you own.

What's even more hilarious about the preorders than the bullshit region lock is the fact there's a "limited edition" avilable only on pre-order and only so many people are actually getting it. EA will cut off the pre-order LEs at a certain point.

EA doesn't seem to understand digital distribution that well. LEs are for physical releases - when you make something digital everyone better be getting the same things.

But they did it for ME3, as well, so whatever.

[Raydeus]

Re: The Old Republic videos and misc info

And Origin is so sad people don't even bother making jokes about it.

[Taskmage]

Re: The Old Republic videos and misc info

I got into the beta this weekend.

[16:01] Taskmage : Did you play Dragon Age?
[16:02] Armando : Nope. Feel free to rant about it anyways.
[16:02] Taskmage : Well .. in DA and DA2 rather than having a black and white morality system, the members of your party judge your actions based on their own various set of values.
[16:03] Taskmage : The Old Republic has that too, but I'm really missing the ability to reload a recent save if I say something boneheaded (or a line doesn't turn out like I thought) and I piss off my companion
[16:04] Armando : Ouch
[16:30] Taskmage : Also, I've been screwing myself over trying to play dark side, because some options have been too evil for me to stomach even for pretend, and avoiding them has gotten me light side points which are partially cancelling my dark side ones.
[16:30] Armando : Can you give me an example?
[16:34] Taskmage : I was supposed to bring back news of some imperial soldiers who'd been captured my a mad scientist-ish dark lord. Turns out he was cutting out their brains and crudely implanting them into droids to give them "advanced cognition" or something. I met one who was clearly in psychological agony who asked me to go the the main control panel and terminate all of them. Mercifully killing them was the light side option. The other was to program them to report to the Empire to serve as they were for the rest of their existence.
[16:35] Armando : Eesh
[16:37] Taskmage : This is complicated by the fact that my companion right now (and the best mechanical choice) is a monster who devours force users. I was able to beat him when he was in a weakened state which obligates him to serve me, but he makes it clear that it's only until he can recover enough strength to kill me and eat my soul. The more I show mercy and deference, the weaker he percieves me.
[16:38] Taskmage : So any time I choose not to act cruelly, I do so at my own peril.
[16:38] Armando : Ok, that part is pretty cool
[16:39] Taskmage : tbh that tension is pretty neat
[16:41] Taskmage : But accidentally choosing a line in which I humbled myself to my master made me lose a huge chunk of approval with him. Thus the initial comment.
[16:42] Armando : Ah, the evil dilemma.
[16:42] Armando : Should you throw your other evil compadres under the bus because it's the evil thing to do, or are evil buddies supposed to stick together?
[16:43] Taskmage : Depends. If you succeed it was the right thing to do. If you fail it was very, very wrong.
[16:43] Armando : Haha.
[16:43] Armando : I guess that's a good answer.
[16:45] Taskmage : This guy often puts me between a rock and a hard place when I'm talking to people I know there's no way in hell I'm a match for. If I show any sign of accepting their authority or showing them respect he gets closer to eating me, but if I don't THEY get closer to murdering me.
[16:45] Taskmage : But in the latter case at least the monster has my back.

I don't feel like writing a report, but if anyone has questions, I'd be happy to answer. To cover the main points, as an MMO, yes it is very similar in many ways to other existing MMOs, but the heavy story integration and personalized narrative set it apart more than you might think, and I'm having a pretty good time with it.

[Wise Donkey]

Re: The Old Republic videos and misc info

I, too, am enjoying the beta thus far. I really like the group conversations and variable answers.

[Etra]

Re: The Old Republic videos and misc info

Taskmage - If you piss off your companion, you can hit ESC and the cutscene will end. You can start it from the beginning again and select the option that gives you the outcome you want. It's how I've been avoiding, um, "Dark points" and getting Light instead.

I'm finding the game to be like this (in terms of WoW-esque MMOs):

WoW - MMO ver. 1.0b
Rift - MMO ver. 1.5
SWTOR - MMO ver. 1.8a

If that makes any sense to you guys.

[Murphie]

Re: The Old Republic videos and misc info

Are they going to wipe the beta characters when the game launches? I assume they will. Maybe I can pick up a copy for launch and play with some folks from here.

[Etra]

Re: The Old Republic videos and misc info

Are they going to wipe the beta characters when the game launches? I assume they will. Maybe I can pick up a copy for launch and play with some folks from here.

Yeah. This weekend is a stress test. All characters are getting wiped. If you're looking to buy the game, I think your best bet is to get it from Origin.

By the way, graphics are terribad. Like, BAD. But it's still fun to lightning people to death as a Sith or crouch behind something and lob all sorts of bombs at people as a Smuggler

[Murphie]

Re: The Old Republic videos and misc info

I thought the graphics looked pretty terribad. I guess they are taking the "low requirements so as to pull in a larger player base" route.

I asked about the character wiping, because in LOTRO, the open beta characters were allowed to be kept, thus allowing people who were in the last beta to get a 15 level adventuring/tradeskilling head start.

[Taskmage]

Re: The Old Republic videos and misc info

Preorders are getting an up to 5 day head start. I doubt anyone's getting more than that.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: The Old Republic videos and misc info

So basically what I'm getting from this is:

Like WoW, but with lots of babbling and light/dark decisions forced on classes where it shouldn't matter.

Jedi and Sith I understand, but it really shouldn't be so rigidly applied to everyone else. I get so tired of these scored/weighted morality systems.

[Raydeus]

Re: The Old Republic videos and misc info

Does the game still look like this?

If it does, and looking at the combat system then I'd probably be better off playing DCUO again if I want to retry MMOGs after Skyrim. o_O;

---------- Post added at 05:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:59 PM ----------

And I think this Beta testimony is worth posting now:

Click

[Etra]

Re: The Old Republic videos and misc info

Does the game still look like this?

Yes.

---------- Post added at 06:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:23 PM ----------

So basically what I'm getting from this is:

Like WoW, but with lots of babbling and light/dark decisions forced on classes where it shouldn't matter.

Jedi and Sith I understand, but it really shouldn't be so rigidly applied to everyone else. I get so tired of these scored/weighted morality systems.

As bad as it sounds, I tend to randomly space off during NPC conversations, but I do that when talking to people in real life, too. The morality system applies to what gear you can use, though. It's just an added RP element. Personally, I'm thoroughly enjoying developing my character as a Light side Smuggler.

---------- Post added at 06:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:24 PM ----------

Preorders are getting an up to 5 day head start. I doubt anyone's getting more than that.

They are doing what they did with the stress test for early access. Depending on when you pre-ordered and entered your code, that's when you'll have access to the early access.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: The Old Republic videos and misc info

Wow... those combat animations are just... ugh.

I think this one needs a little more time in the oven.

Even as jerky as DCUO is, the combat at least feels a bit more visceral.