I had the chance to watch some videos and behind the scenes footage of the upcoming SWTOR game from Bioware. Fans of Star Wars galaxies will gobble this game up. Fans of Star Wars anything will gobble this game up. The question everyone is asking themselves is will someone who doesn’t eat, sleep and breathe Star Wars like this game? The question you should ask yourself is: “Do you like a game with a strong narrative and compelling story?”
Story is paramount - Bioware is doing what they can to bring their particular touch to the MMORPG genre. According to them, MMORPGs have four critical elements: Exploration, Progression, Combat and Story. So far, also according to Bioware, the first three have been done excellently in previous MMORPGs. Exploration is easy to accomplish – just create a huge world with many zones and lots of bad guys and bosses. Progression might be the simplest of all – just give rewards for playing the game and have diverse options to level up with. Combat might be complicated but many games have done it well – but most games turn into mindless click fests. Story is where all MMORPGs fall short in Bioware’s opinion, until now. A compelling story makes players care about their character, beyond how shiny their sword or armor is.
The narrative can’t be boring - When is the last time anyone actually read the quest stories in your favorite MMORPG? Don’t you just click through to find the end goal of collecting five trinkets or killing ten bad guys or being a courier for a price? Story is Bioware’s focus with SWTOR, and that narrative is where the game should set itself apart in their eyes. Set several thousand years before Knights of the Old Republic, the universe of SWTOR is on the brink of war. Each of the 8 character classes lives out a unique story through this universe. Playing a bounty hunter will have a drastically different storyline than a jedi. Beyond their own story, each class has their own completely unique quests and NPCs they interact with. Bioware promises several hundred hours per story, per class.
anything will gobble this game up. The question everyone is asking themselves is will someone who doesn’t eat, sleep and breathe Star Wars like this game? The question you should ask yourself is: “Do you like a game with a strong narrative and compelling story?”
