Star Wars: The Old Republic

[ClockShot]

BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO Revealed
by Nick Breckon and Chris Faylor Oct 21, 2008 5:09pm CST

Ending years of silence and rumors, BioWare and LucasArts today revealed that they have joined forces to produce a Star Wars massively multiplayer online game set in the Knights of the Old Republic Universe.

Dubbed Star Wars: The Old Republic, the title will allow players to choose between Jedi and Sith Empire factions, with each having unique races and classes. Only a PC version was confirmed in today's announcement.

No release date was given, with BioWare stressing that the game has no release window, though a past report suggested it would launch in 2009. The studio is "definitely planning" an open beta, BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk confirmed.

The story-based MMO will be set roughly 300 years after BioWare's 2004 single-player RPG Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (PC, Xbox) and the Obsidian-developed sequel, or 3500 years before the beloved film series.

"We're making KOTOR 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and beyond--this game is that big, it's got that much content in it," explained BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka. "It's very innovative--it's story based."

The game has seen a team of 12 full-time writers producing content for the past few years, according to IGN, with each class getting its own story arc as "not everybody's fantasy was to be Luke [Skywalker]."

"You get to choose many things in the game--your faction, your class, good and evil, how your story unfolds," explained lead designer James Ohlen.

"We thought of a Howard the Duck MMO, we thought it was a little too crazy," Muzyka joked. He also noted that the game will feature a "full economy."

"The game is playable," asserted BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk, though a playable version was not shown today.

The Old Republic will allow players to choose a companion, as with the previous KOTOR games, and will have full PVP, PVE and RVR (realm vs. realm) combat along with raids. No classes have been revealed as of yet.

"[Companion characters] are something that we're bringing to this game, and really the way we've described how companion characters work is the same in this, they're the lens with which you see the world," Zeschuk elaborated.

A pre-rendered trailer was shown, highlighting fights between Jedi and Sith. In one scene, a Jedi was assembling a lightsaber, with the trailer asking "Which side will you choose?"

"A new Sith Empire has emerged from deep space and has gone to war against the Republic," furthered lead designer Ohlen.

"If you remember in the movies you had Han, Luke, and Leia," he continued. "But they also had their own personal stories...that's the dynamic we want to create in this game. For players to have their own personal stories, but to come together with other players and have their stories together."

"No one wants to be just a guy," added art director Jeff Dobson. "There's nothing special about that. So we spent a lot of time really thinking about how the characters are going to look."

When asked about subscriptions, BioWare claimed that it has no details at this time. When the topic of other consoles came up, the company stated that it is "only talking about PC today, that's all we have."

Though the company did not talk specific system requirements, lead designer Ohlen noted that "it's very reasonble. From the outset, and it was really a team-wide decision, from a design side we taked about framerate being a really important accessibility feature."

As for the effect this could have on Sony Entertainment's existing Star Wars MMO Galaxies, BioWare dodged the question, noting that "today we're just focusing on the Old Republic."

While the Star Wars setting was confirmed by BioWare owner EA in July, both the developer and license holder LucasArts have remained silent about the project until today. BioWare has been quietly tinkering away on its MMO since the 2006 formation of BioWare Austin, after which the studio licensed all sorts of middleware technology.
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[LoDownM]

I really really really really really really really really didn't want it to be an MMO.

[Funky Fly]

Shit, no confimation for consoles.

[Kalyx triaD]

Thank you God for this.

This BETTER come to 360, I'm more hyped for this than DC Universe Online and Champions Online combined.

[Kalyx triaD]

...The biggest and most ridiculous BioWare game ever made.

Each class will have its own story arc. Using Han and Luke's vastly different motivations in the Star Wars films as an example, your story arc will ofcourse cross over with other players. Essentially, this Knights of the Old Republic, Smugglers of the Old Republic, Bounty Hunters of the Old Republic, Sith of the Old Republic, and so on.

Too awesome.

[Nowhere Man]

I really really really really really really really really didn't want it to be an MMO.

Same. Now instead of all the awesome character development and plot, I get to pay a monthly fee to do endless fetch-quests while getting killed over and over by people 30 levels higher than me.

I still want to play this one, but goddammit, I really wanted to see how the actual Kotor story would have ended, not just snippets of it in between endless grinding.

[Requiem]

Thank you God for this.

This BETTER come to 360, I'm more hyped for this than DC Universe Online and Champions Online combined.

The Hero Engine doesn't work on consoles. So unless they're going to completely design a new engine for a console game, I wouldn't count on this.

[Requiem]

Also, I have no faith that this game is going to be worthwhile. In an interview before the game was announced as a SW game, the developers pretty much talked about how great WoW was and how they were taking notes from it. So.. fuck that. Star Wars needs to be a sandbox game.. not a linear piece of trash on easy mode.

[U-Warrior]

Yeah, too bad mercenaries isn't a Lucasarts property anymore. They could have taen that and applied it to the bounty hunters. WHile obviously expanding the gameplay.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

The Hero Engine doesn't work on consoles. So unless they're going to completely design a new engine for a console game, I wouldn't count on this.

They've said that they are considering it (http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/22/console-version-of-star-wars-the-old-republic-being-considered/)


Also, I have no faith that this game is going to be worthwhile. In an interview before the game was announced as a SW game, the developers pretty much talked about how great WoW was and how they were taking notes from it. So.. fuck that. Star Wars needs to be a sandbox game.. not a linear piece of trash on easy mode.

Yeah, it needs to be completely different to WoW otherwise why would people play it when they play WoW?

Star Wars galaxies started off great, it was different enough to Everquest to be worthwhile and they had a good thing going. It took about 3 months for the first Jedi to even appear and not everyone could be Jedis. Then they changed it all and now it looks like a WoW rip-off totally.

[Requiem]

DS (the poster) was a Hero's Journey programming GM for about 2 and a half years. He is the one who told me that the HeroEngine isn't made to work on consoles due to the way it works. So, unless EA plans on heavily modifying the way the Engine works, I still wouldn't count on it.

But.. it's EA, and they've got the money. On the other hand, Bioware is primarily a PC developer when it comes to RPGs. I'd like to see what they could pull off as far as a console MMO goes, but I think it would stifle the game's direction if they tried to split the platform it runs on.

[BigDaddyCool]

Hmmmm, a star wars mmo...pass. Fuck George Lucas.

[Kalyx triaD]

Lucas has little to do with BioWare's ST games. That's why they're so good.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Whats known so far

* The game is set 3,600 years prior to the events of the Star Wars movies, and 300 years after the events of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II.
* The plot centers on an impending war between the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic.
* BioWare claims the game contains enough dialog, plot, quests, and other content to comprise KOTOR 3, 4, and 5. It is larger than all previous BioWare games combined, according to the developer.
* There will be multiple classes for both the Sith and Republic factions, each with their own storylines that will carry players from the first level to the last. No dialog, quests, or content will be reused between classes.
* There will be no cross-over between the two factions.
* Jedi and Sith are the only classes revealed thus far; lead writer, Daniel Erickson, "loves Mandalorians."
* You will be able to interact and upgrade multiple companion characters, but only one can accompany you at a time.
* There are no "kill 10 rats" type quests. The most basic creature you will battle as a Sith at level one is a 20-foot-tall K'lor Slug.
* Space flight will factor into the game (for traveling from planet to planet), but BioWare isn't saying if it will include space combat.
* There will be a crafting system. No further details, other than implimenting it was "a toughie," according to the game's lead writer.
* The Old Republic will use a level system, but the level cap "can't be shared just yet."
* Combat will be faster-paced and "more epic" than in competing MMOs to "capture the Star Wars feel."
* Characters from the Star Wars expanded universe will cameo, as will ones from the KOTOR games.
* The designers have created a new mechanic in order to encourage players to choose classes other than Jedi and Sith, but it can't yet be talked about.
* There will be PvP in the game; it will factor in the Sith and Republic factions and "feel important in that context."
* BioWare intends to include a mentoring system allowing players of varying levels to adventure together, but hasn't decided if it will take the form of a sidekick or a downsizing system.
* Vehicles are "on the plate," but can't be talked about at this point.
* The game will include "a form of instancing," with the design team saying that, "being able to do storytelling, being able to do experiences that aren't disrupted in public areas," is a high priority.
* Finally, BioWare is only talking about the PC version at present, but is considering console versions.

[Kalyx triaD]

So awesome.