Star Wars: The Old Republic - Story Driven MMO Gaming.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is an MMORPG being developed by Bioware. So what does that mean? lets break it down into three segments.

The Setting:

The Old Republic is an era in Star Wars history. This game takes place in a period of The Old Republic roughly 3,500 years before Luke Skywalker kissed his sister. For those of you who played Knights of The Old Republic, this game is set a few hundred years after Darth Malak tried his whole "galactic domination" thing.

So where we step into the Star Wars story this time is about ten years after the Great Galactic War has ended. The Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic are locked in a cold war that has small border skirmishes and "proxy wars" that are on the verge of sending the galaxy back into full scale conflict. This is an interesting time in the Star Wars IP, and an especially good time to set an MMORPG.

MMORPG's:

What is an MMORPG? Well, this jumble of letters is an acronym for Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. In this game specifically the "MMO" part is a persistent online galaxy that contains various planets and moons and species of life. Someone who purchases the game can create a character and "log in" to this persistent galaxy.

The "RPG" part relates to the character you make. This isn't quite "Dungeons and Dragons" role playing, but the concepts are the same. As you complete missions your character gains experience, gets stronger and levels up. You gain new abilities and new gear as you progress, pick up companions and even get your own starship. What differentiates this game from most other MMORPG's is that it is heavily story driven. Every quest or mission or whatever you want to call them is fully voice acted. Bioware have really put a lot of effort in here.

Bioware:

So who is Bioware? For a start, they are the company that is making this game. They have a long and well respected history with RPG's that dates back to the late 90's. If you have heard of titles such as Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Knights of The Old Republic, Mass Effect or Dragon Age then you have heard of Bioware.

They know what they are doing when it comes to RPG construction, as they have proved over and over throughout the years.And as I just listed, they made Knights of The Old Republic which (in my mind) makes them the perfect company to take on the challenge of making this game.

Bioware appear to be making a pretty strong game straight out of the gate here. The game will be released on the 20th of December this year and launch with 8 player classes split between 2 factions. 16 planets and one moon to explore. 15 Flashpoints, 2 Operations and 3 Warzones.

8 Classes, 4 in the Galactic Republic and 4 in the Sith Empire. Each class has 2 advanced classes that they choose at level 10. The Maximum character level is 50. The main outstanding feature to me with the character classes though, is easily the fact that each class has an estimated 200 hours of fully voiced story quest lines.

There will be 16 vastly different planets and a moon covered in city which you will be able to travel between once you obtain your own spaceship. You will move through various planets as you level up characters in this game. Each planet you go to following your personal class story could also engage you in quest lines that are shared between all the classes. The scope here is quite impressive.

Flashpoints and Operations might be better known to some of you as Dungeons/Instances and Raids. You will be able to experience the Flashpoints with up to 3 other people as you level a character or you could save them until you get to max level, as each of the 15 Flashpoints has an endgame mode. The Operations can be played in either 8 or 16 player versions and there has also been talk of both normal and hard modes.

The 3 Warzones are called Voidstar, Huttball and Alderaan. The Voidstar is an assault map. One team fights through control points to reach an objective while the other defends the control points and objective from them. Huttball is set in a hazardous arena full of traps. Each team is chasing down a ball and trying to cross the enemies line with it. The Alderaan Warzone is all about holding control of three ground defense turrets to destroy the enemies drop ship.

My 2 cents.

I believe that Star Wars: The Old Republic will have a lasting impact on the MMO scene. It bears elements that are common within the MMO genre, but the level of work that has been put into the immersion aspect of this game is phenomenal. Beautifully stylized characters and creatures. Epic landscapes and environments. And of course, the sheer quantity of voice acting. I am hoping that this specifically influences future MMO's. Single player games often deliver a story by telling it through cut scenes and in game scripted events. Traditionally MMO's deliver story through walls of text.

I have created a site to share my research and thoughts for this game. Please follow the link and check it out. - Gavsguide

Thank you for your time and I hope to see you in the game when it launches.

-Gav.