Gaming Star Wars: The Old Republic Preview

Refreshing to have a non-biased preview of a game. Loads of games get ultra-hyped previews, and the games end up bombing because that's all it was... hype. With this game if you take away the Star Wars license, remove the Bioware name what have you got... an MMORPG with a load of voice acting. That's it, nothing new, nothing revolutionary, it's barely even evolutionary.

I think Joe was rightly expecting something different from a developer as major as Bioware. Instead it's a stereotypical MMO with voice acting and a Star Wars theme.

 

The preview videos actually manage to make the game look boring. The combat looks theory static (like there is not much for the player to do). Your preview seems to confirm this.

I hope it improves and meets it's sales targets for biowares sake!

 

Preview gives the impression that the writer liked parts of the game but was intentionally avoiding bringing them up.

For example: "Even fierce combat feels painfully static and uninvolving unless you play as a melee or cover class, such as a Jedi or agent, respectively."

Perhaps I am looking too far into this but it makes me think he enjoyed the two Sith classes and the Imperial agent but just disliked the BH class.

 

I think one area that makes this MMO a challenge to develop is the fact there is so much content in the universe that we expect, not all of which lends itself to having so many players. Take force push as an example - everyone likes the idea of being able to push people/objects around, and it is an integral part of the jedi's abilities, but if you give it to 40 gamers and put them in a cantina it is going to get hectic...

 

I can already see that NONE of you have very much experience playing MMORPG's. Although Joe is entitled to his opinion about the game. He clearly doesn't understand how MMORPG's work, and neither do any of you. He only tried the origin worlds where the experience is to get the user used to the pace of the game. They are the introduction, and as such a tool to help you learn before you get into the heavier stuff after you leave those worlds. I can't help but notice a focal point of hate, and negativity in this poor review centered around MMORPG's in general. Ergo, someone with more experience and knowledge in the field would've been preferable to do a reveiew. Honestly, one shot with a lightsaber?! really?! really?! You do know that this is an MMO right? As I've said. A poor review, by a poor reviewer... *rolls eyes*

 

This is where you would pull the big power = big responsibility bit. If 40 people want to go crazy in a cantina with force push that's perfectly alright, just make sure there is a large consequence to flippant use like that.

Such as perhaps have your force powers degrade, or something similar. It doesn't have to be exactly that consequence, but the more powerful ability a person is given the more dire the results should be if they mis-use it.

This definitely would hamper everyone "fun" aspect as they cant just go all-out and annihilate everything in sight. Perhaps have an alternate server where everyone is allowed to go hog-wild to get it out of their system. But no information is changed on the server.

 

If you don't like it don't play it you ****ing idiots! Who the hell is making you play the game!? And don't ****ing dare to ****ing say things about something like your ****ing opinion matters ****ed up turds! Get a life idiots! If you want to do something that ****ing matters don't do it in a game...get out, get a ****ing life and start doing something with it YOU RETARDED ****S!!!! And for the record...Bioware never said they would create something out of scratch and everything will be never before seen you cock juggling *****!! They said that they are gonna take the mmo to the next lvl with SOME unique stuff in it you monster cock swallowing retarded bitch ass whiney lifleless moronic **** eaters!! And guess the **** what!?!?! They have MANY unique stuff in the game YOU RETARDED ********* MUD MONKEYS!!!!!!!!

 

yikes...

 

LMFAO, looks like we've brought the SWTOR forum mob here.

As you can see here a fine example of fanboy-ism at its best and the reason why i stay away from those forums (and the whole "Let's make it more like WoW/SW:G" threads/opinions).

You'd have thought they'd be so blinded by their love that they'd only be able read the positives in Joe's piece.

 

bit-tech.net
my opinion

Ok…he…we…go.


Quote: Our opinion of The Old Republic, formed over two solid days of playing, is that it’s one of the most boring titles we’ve ever had to endure?

Really, 2 solid days? Two? Two whole days? Are you sure this is what you meant? So, 48hours of solid gameplay? That’s what you’re saying right? Is this not a lie? Because I think it is. In fact I know it is. You did not play for TWO SOLID days. So, right away, the preview starts with a lie.

Quote: It’s both exactly the same as every other MMO we've played, but at the same time so much worse because it promises so much more.

You know I played a FPS the other day and guess what? It was just like every other FPS I’ve ever played. SHOCK….HORROR.

Quote : The first problem is that none of the story mechanics that Bioware is so keen to talk about genuinely change the shape of the game away from the now-standard MMO template.

I just played through COD 8 times, and guess what? The ending was the same every time - no matter what I did. I want my money back please.

Quote : All in all, it hardly paints a convincing picture of a galaxy in turmoil and…

From two SOLID days playing you got to end game content? WOW, I bow to you Sir, for you surely are a master.

Quote : from what we’ve seen, the stories aren’t interesting on an individual basis either. That’s partly because you know that there aren’t any real individuals.

No ****…? They’re not really? I’m astounded!!! I thought I was going to talk with really life NPCs.

Quote : The Old Republic is clearly a game of two parts right from the off. The first part involves talking to real humans, the other part involves talking to fake humans.

Wait, so there are real human NPCs playing? I’m confused, you just said there isn’t any?

Quote : Even fierce combat feels painfully static and uninvolving unless you play as a melee or cover class, such as a Jedi or agent, respectively. These were the only classes we saw that required more than just standing still and shooting non-stop…

Have you played a hunter or a mage / warlock in WOW at low level? Dear God, dude, it’s an MMO. Some people like playing like that some don’t. The ‘don’t’ play melee, the ‘do’ play range.

Quote: Why bounty hunters can’t reap the benefits of crouching behind a crate to avoid bullets is as big a mystery as why lightsabers can’t even cut through un-armoured enemies on a single strike.

This one cracked me up… True, a lightsabers should one shot kill someone/thing. Wait… a… second, this preview guy might be on to something here, I’m almost 99.9% sure that if I shoot some one in the head with a gun, they will die… in one shot. Sooooo, lets remove all gun wielding classes from the game BW… done? Cheers, thanks. -Wait a second… I just thought about something: if I swing an axe at someone and it hits their torso… yup, yeah, dead too… lets remove all axes from the game.

etc…etc…etc

Get real, how dull would an MMO be if you could just one shot everything?!!! Go play an FPS if you want to do that.

Quote: We found ourselves wading through an almost obscene amount of combat too, usually against the type of wild beasties and bandits that typify every RPG, ever – but in greater quantity and in an area which felt far smaller.

It’s what BW are calling ‘Heroic’ gameplay, or did you not do your job and do a little research first before making your written claim for the world to read? Oh, sorry my bad, you prefer WOW or LOTRO starting zones? – kill one bear – kill another bear – kill another bear, etc etc etc, turn around…. OMG, more bears just spawn behind me. What exactly do you want dude?

Quote: Once or twice we even saw foes respawning over their own corpses as conversations distracted us – very, very anti-fun.

This sounds like a bug to me. tweaking the game may fix these sort of issues… good job the game is still under development.

Quote: What’s most disappointing of all is how empty and lacking in personality the worlds of The Old Republic felt.

Are you joking? Can you elaborate on this statement please? What are you actually compareing it to? What a pointless, self-righteous, egotistical claim. Unless you are actually Vincent van Gogh… you are? Then I bow Sir to your astute and scrupulously eye. LOL, idiot, why don’t you compare it to wow starting zones or warhammer or lotro and tell me its worse? At least substantiate your empty claims.

Quote: There was none of the hustle or bustle you’d expect of a thriving interstellar universe, merely same-faced folk standing in an under-populated shell of a world. Only in an MMO is it possible to feel so alone.

From what I hear there were only around 50 people online when you played!? No ****, you felt alone, wait… my bad, he then says: (Quote: The group of 50 we played in was enough to provide an impression of activity, but still left too much room to breathe.)
It’s a MMO for crying out loud, do you even know what MMO means? It’s a game for thousands, nay… millions, so untill then its going to be a tad empty, don’t you think? All in all. yet another pointless comment by the writer on the game.

Quote: Players would team up to take on epic missions, but then drift silently apart, leaving us uncertain if this was down to the game failing to inspire cohesion among players or simply that 48 hours isn’t long enough to make guilds either fun or necessary.

Well we know already that you didn’t really play for 48hrs ‘SOLID’ did you? You little fibber, but yeah… lol at least you had the brains to almost conceave that even 48 hours is not enough time to make guilds fun / necessary – LOL yet another pointless comment by the writer.

Quote: What we saw in our time with the game wasn’t always terrible – the combat may be staid and static, but Bioware has at least done a good job at balancing the wide variety of classes against each other.

Yes, yes, yes, we know, 48 hours of SOILD game testing… you were at least being positive here, and in a sea of crap that you have spouted, I must take you at your word, the balancing of classes must be amazing. Then again, is '48' hours of 'solid' testing enough to see if classes are balanced? I don't think so, so why say this in your preview report? If you don't 100% know it to be true... dont say it.

Quote: Instead, the issue that plagues The Old Republic is one of predictability.

Substanciate this please otherwise it’s pointless saying it!!!!!

Quote: All we’re sure of now is that what we played didn't offer the breakthrough experience that Star Wars fans should hope for and that we’d happily let The Old Republic stay in a galaxy far, far away.

What breakthrough experience do you talk off? Please elaborate … but, all I can say to this bit is, go play the first 10 levels of WOW or any other MMO for that matter and tell me what you think then, I’d LOVE to read your pearls of wisdom on them too.



Finally I will say this to the writer of that preview: It’s so easy to destroy, yet so hard to create – Thumbs up for being honest about what you thought, but at least be reasonable and logical and substantiate you claims, because from what I can gather, your not a MMO player with that much experience of playing MMOs, either that, or you are and you still don’t understand them.


Anyways, I’m off to review/preview a racing car game and then ***** about the fact I can’t fly in a yellow, hot air balloon over New York drinking tea…

 

LOL! Aww bless, I don't think he liked the preview Joe!

I was rather interested in TOR - it looked like an interesting alternative to WoW, which I found frankly quite awful when I tried it (I recorded my thoughts here: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?p=2088325). Sadly it looks like Bioware have not done anything different other than stick a Star Wars theme over it, as cool as that is. I'm pretty confident that Joe's preview is probably very much the experience I imagine I would have with the game, so for that, I thank you Mr. Martin.

But please, more SWTOR forum hatred please. That really cheered me up.

 

Imo they screwed up, when they tried to make star wars something happy and funny looking.. imo star wars is to be more of a dark cruel universe. those wow like graphics make me wanna puke.. fu bioware for disappointing me.

 

I can't belive you buy this crapp. This "reviewer" apparently has no Idea what MMORPG is all about. Or for some reason he's pissed at bioware... maybe he had no invite and made this story up who knows. I dont know why even Bioware invited him on the event. I know that all things can't be positive but the things he's QQ about is all that makes a game MMORPG. World seems dead? 50 ppl online? Damn you really have no idea do you. This is testing, when servers are up you'll have thousands of players. And you cant expect to see all aspects of the game for 12 hours. I say 12 cuz I dont see you playing 48h non stop can you? And since the event is two days only... well I presume you played only 6h a day.
Anyways this is the only or maybe second negative review I've seen so far and by far the worse, since the reviwer had no idea what he was talking about with no back up points.
Well this review can affect some1 who haven't played any MMORPG yet, but those who know what it is wont be affected at all.
Some of you may think I'm trolling but the biggest troll here is the reviewer. Go see other reviews before judging the game on this 1.

 

Oh my god, best nerd rage ever. I'm sure he was typing this whilst dressed as Boba Fett and masturbating at a photo of George Lucas.

Funnily enough I'm dissapointed by what I've read about SWTOR so far. I gave up on WOW a long time ago but still miss the social aspect of chatting to friends I wouldnt normally otherwise do so. I was hoping this MMO would re-ignite that. I even wondered (as I did when AOC came out) with this, BF3 and Skyrim if I'd be forced into a PC upgrade this year. Hmmm, maybe not.

 

=/ My careful reply to some comments in this thread didn't pass moderation, but that vitriolic sling of curse words did? I feel insulted.

Regardless, shortening it significantly, I think Joe may be asking a lot of an unfinished MMO, certainly a lot more than anyone asks of WoW now, 6 years after its launch. It doesn't quite sound like he really wants to play an MMO, to be honest. That's just the impression I got from his preview.

I think most people jumped on the 'yeah, this game will be horrible' bandwagon way too quickly here, and only a few people decided they'd try it for themselves first. Seems a little ... pessimistic. But then, it is the internet.

 

Guild Wars 2.

 

Well I'll jump on the, everyone else is raving about it bandwagon, but I'll also add in my thoughts as well about the write up. One, it's an rpg, all rpg's have health bars and take more than one swing or shot to kill someone. Simple fact. Two, there needs to be a lot more meet behind your negative comments there Joe. Did they quest guy actually say kill five snipers, or did he say something like "There are snipers on the approach and you need to clear them out so we can move forward." Then the quest was kill the five snipers so you can assult/secure the compound? Wording is very important in an mmo. Honest fact here, the summit was only two days long, with Q&A's, food, tours, and other crap, so you didn't get 48 hours of continous gaming unless you had a time machine.

 

Oddly enough, this is the one and only negative review I have read from the Fan Site Summit. Honestly it makes me wonder what it wrong with the bit-tech guys if they had such a negative review.

Perhaps they should also post something about A) What they expected the game to be like, and B) What they enjoyed about the game.

Lets be realistic here, they got to play all of what, 10 maybe 12 levels of the game in a preview? So that means what, that the rest of the game will be horrible?

I'm sorry you didn't like the paltry dozen or so quests that you got to play, I'm sorry that you didn't like the voice acting. Perhaps you should take that high horse you're on and ride back to WoW. Where there is no real voice acting, the quests are absolutely dismal and the collective population's age is barely in the double digits.

I am giving this review a negative review. And Hakuren, a lot of people gave the game a lot of good reviews that wont make crap off of the game. So who cares if GameStop gave it a good review when the reviews have in general been very positive.

For those WoW fanboys that think this is WoW with a Star Wars skin on top, maybe they should get out of their parents basement for a day or two, look up at that bright ball in the sky, you know, the sun, and come up with something original to say about SW:TOR. Seriously, they think that every game that has hotbars and is 3rd person is a WoW clone.

 

I did prefer the other classes, yes, but embargoes prevent me talking about them at the moment. Which is kind of stupid, obviously. To be clear, I can't talk about any PvP content either.

As for the fact that other previews liked the game, good for them. A lot of the previews I read either differ from the impression those writers gave me at the event, or just come from a different viewpoint. Either way, I can only present my opinion of the game - and, if I'm in the minority of people who didn't like the game then, m'eh, that's just further proof that previewing isn't an objective science.

To address a few other points (the lightsaber comment has already been addressed): 48 hours was a casual expression and I apologise if it was misleading. It was a 2 day event during which we played the game solidly, 9-6. I didn't play for 48 hours, obviously. As for the 50 player limit, the tarting area was certainly populated - in that there were always people running around - but, yes, it was emptier than it would be in the final game. Obviously. I acknowledge that. However, I can only report on what I saw at the event and how Bioware chose to present it to me.

I'm not sure what summit you're talking about, by the way - this was based on a press event in London that I attended a few weeks ago. There weren't any tours. There were interviews, but I didn't do one (as I wanted to play) and the only break I took for food was to walk across the room, grab coffee and sandwichs, and walk back to my desk. This event was also journalists only, so I think you may be talking about a different event.

 

The SWTOR Senior Online Community Managers response to Bit-Techs preview: