Star Wars: The Old Republic
 

Is anyone else looking forward to TOR? Its been in production for three years and has missed every targeted release date in that time, but I'm feeling hopeful it will be out this year. Bioware's current target is "second half 2011" from what I've heard. Maybe we'll get a definite release date (or, dare I say, an open beta) at E3 next month.
So yeah, just curious if anyone else is wanting to play it. Those of you who are, any particular aspects you're looking forward to or specific class you want to play as?

No, actually, I'm firmly in the camp of "royally annoyed that this is an MMO". Every time I watch those promo videos, I become positively wroth. The game looks amazing, I just have no interest in MMOs at all. I loved the first two, but this one is getting a pass from me, I'm afraid to say.

Bioware has stated it will be possible to run through the game as a "single player" sort of thing, though my bet is you would miss out on some content that way. I was/am a huge kotor fan so I'm glad this game is within the same settings. Being bioware's first attempt at an mmo, I'm curious to see how it goes. I believe it will be a very good game overall, and hopefully it maintains a dedicated player base.

Oh, I hadn't heard that. Hmm. We'll see what comes of it, come the release.

I still hold KotOR 2 up as one of the best video game stories I've ever experienced. I think it was the same writer who did Neverwinter Nights: Mask of the Betrayer, which was, again, amazing.

Kotor II was probably my favorite of the two. Its kind of funny considering the majority of people believe it was rushed and wasn't a very good game. It was good enough to hold my attention for a few playthroughs

I think the prevailing opinion is more along the lines of "oh, what could have been..." There were a lot of really great ideas in there, and they made for a great gaming experience, but that game could have set a standard that nothing since has approached if they'd had the time to finish it properly.

Yeah, you make a valid point there. I'm hoping TOR can excel given the time they've taken to perfect it. It has potential to be the next big revelation in mmos, though I don't foresee it knocking WoW off its throne (as much as i'd love for that happen). I have high hopes for it though, given Bioware's success in the rpg market

That actually raises a salient point. One of Bioware's biggest strengths is in story and dialogue. I'll be interested to see how they pull that off in the MMO medium, even if I don't end up getting the game.

Oh, and you said second-half of 2011? That means it's going to be competing with Skyrim (not the same genre, technically, but still, big name release in the RPG world). Maybe they're going to do a Christmas launch.

The current guess is july/august at the earliest, september the most likely. Bioware is wanting to put 3-4 months between tor and mass effect 3 which has been delayed to january/february 2012.

Oh, forgot about Mass Effect. I still have the second sitting on my shelf unopened. I should get around to that one of these days.

Also, I seriously think Bioware should make efforts to get permission from Lucas to make a CGI Star Wars movie. It would be awesome. Which is why Lucas would probably say no.

Yeah, I second that. Bioware's storytelling abilities are hard to beat. I'm a bit of a star wars nerd myself and love the movies, but the new movies are essentially the original trilogy with different characters. The stories are too similar. I find the expanded universe more entertaining. Everything is fleshed out better

Mm, yeah, can't say I share your like of the movies, beyond acknowledging what the original trilogy did for the film industry.

Have you ever seen Red Letter Media's video reviews of the prequel trilogy? They're rather hilarious, though if you're a passionate fan, they might come off as offensive. He does a really good job of outlining what's wrong the episodes 1-3 as a story.

I almost feel like Bioware's Star Wars is a different franchise, honestly. The stories just feel so different.

Bioware delves deeper into the EU, which in my opinion is where all the good stories are. I was expecting tor to be set during the jedi civil war. I'm pretty sure that was before kotor though, and tor is 300 years after kotor 2

Hmm, yeah, I'm familiar with the expanded universe to degree. Never read any of the books (maybe a couple when I was really young, but I can't remember.)

So, if this is set that far ahead, they could still make a sequel to KotOR 2, yeah? Or is Revan and the Exile's further story already written somewhere?

There is a book coming out that will tell Revan's story. There is also a mission in tor involving revan. Of course he's dead and gone by then, but I have hopes hk-47 will be there :D

Ah, see, that reminded me of something else annoying about it being an MMO. Coming from a DnD background, I always enjoyed customizing each character in the party into a killing machine. Only having one character to control would definitely dampen my enjoyment.

And, seriously, having HK-47 as only an NPC would just be unbearable.

Indeed. HK-47 will be making an appearance in the game, but it is unknown as to whether or not he will be available as a companion character. That's disappointing, I liked his random commentary

He was brilliant. Shale in Dragon Age was almost as entertaining, but she was obviously inspire by HK-47, so the character felt kind of recycled.

I need to go back and play dragon age. I started it, but at the time I didn't really get into it

Shale's DLC anyway (which is stupid) but she came for free with my copy, maybe you have her, too.

It's a good game, but it was obviously meant to be played on the PC. I played it on the PS3 and found the combat really difficult to control.

On the other hand, it has the most fleshed-out characters I've ever seen in a game, and the voice acting is likewise the best I've ever heard. My favorite part of the game was just conversing with my party members.

i got a chance to play the beta this past weekend i have to say its good and ill be playing it since i loved the Xbox games and i have to agree with the majority of gamers dispite the fact that kotor2 was a good game it was rushed with alot of missing content like the ending of the HK47 quests

Eh, the HK quests were kinda rushed, and would have liked to have been able to find out who was making the HK-50s...especially since HK-47 was built by Revan in the first game.

In fact, it was all a bit rushed, and I wish they had filled in a few more gaps concerning what Revan did after the end of the first game.