kotor3: mmorpg

[UrbanReflex]

uk.gamespot.com/news/6194664.html

Hmm. I was going to say I’d prefer another single player KOTOR but really I don’t think the series has anywhere else to go (though I haven’t played KOTOR2, I’ve heard a lot about it).

This has to be more popular than Galaxies though.

[dragoon_lover]

I see potential for Jedi vs Sith combat and emphasis on party forming. There may be some PvP duels if people wish. Maybe we’ll even get training cycles. Start out young and learn how to develop your skills in a classroom setting.

[Parn]

I’m just curious as to whether Bioware will try to take a more story-centric approach like Square did with Final Fantasy XI. Square’s mistake with Final Fantasy XI was making you go through the digital incarnation of running the gauntlet, AKA levels 1-74. Level 75 was when the game “started” and you started experiencing all the storytelling, missions, etc.

Hopefully Bioware will bring their talented writing to the table and deliver story scripts that beat out Square… but also NOT make the same mistake Square did and make the game accessible to everyone.

[Solo_Wing]

From Bioware’s website:

BioWare has recruited some of the top talent in MMO and RPG development, both to manage the development efforts at BioWare Austin and to collaborate with the experienced team at BioWare Edmonton, to develop a game that combines the best of BioWare’s great past games with a compelling persistent online experience.

Here’s hoping that Bioware put a lot of emphasis into interactive story telling, as they have with their past games. If anyone can find a way of telling a compelling story through a MMO game, it’s Bioware.

Hmm. I was going to say I’d prefer another single player KOTOR but really I don’t think the series has anywhere else to go (though I haven’t played KOTOR2, I’ve heard a lot about it).

KOTOR2 spoiler below:

Maybe we’ll finally find out what happened to Revan after Revan travelled beyond the Outer Rim. KOTOR2 hinted at a continuation of that storyline in a future KOTOR game.

[Solo_Wing]

Here’s a link to an interview with Bioware Austin regarding their MMORPG. It’s from 2006, but I think the content should more or less still be relevant to the confirmed KOTOR MMORPG.

1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3155486

I especially like the following quotes:

One of the things we want to do is create more story content than in any other BioWare game before, and we started a writing team earlier than in any other BioWare project – more than twice as big, nine total, and they’ll be on the project twice as long. The reason is that the world is huge and has tons of paths and options.

The key points that we’re gonna do that no one’s done before in an MMOG are bring story, character, and emotion to it. Decisions matter, and NPCs aren’t pez dispensers, and you’re not in a grind. You’re really compelled to get on and play what’s happening to day … kind of like watching a series like Lost on TV … putting page-turning in an MMO. It’s going to be extremely challenging thing to do, believe me.

You can do it, Bioware!

[dragoon_lover]

I wonder what they’ll do to prevent a flood of Jedi and Sith characters. Randomly determine Force sensitivity upon character creation?

[Solo_Wing]

That’s not a bad idea at all, dragoon lover. I imagine some people would abandon their characters if they found out that they weren’t going to be Jedi, so perhaps you could only start discovering your Jedi powers part way through the game (when you’re already committed).

I think that the other classes will need to be just as compelling a playing as a Jedi (or Sith). People should be given a reason to want to play those classes, even if the Jedi are more powerful.

Or, perhaps they’ll explain the numerous Jedi and Sith by making the game take place in a time when the True Sith were a prominent force in the Galaxy.

[dragoon_lover]

Mandalorians seem to be very popular thanks to KOTOR and the prequel movies. Anybody who would want to be a bad guy and not be Force sensitive could certainly play as a Mandalorian and still be awesome about it. Not sure about the good guys. Somehow being a technician, hacker, rifleman, pilot, what-have-you seems nowhere near as cool as being a Jedi.

[Al3xand3r]

It’s up to the gameplay to make those clsases cool then…

Also, their story, as deep as it may be, I think the game will still end up just being a WoW-esque do everything, and it could be cool once, but then you have to repeat it a billion times to get the good gear. It’d be nice if they could make the story have more impact, at least to you and your party, than just being a repeatable quest line or whatever else. I don’t know how they’d do it, but it’d just be nice. I mean, WoW itself has quite a lot of lore if you want to get into it, it just doesn’t really affect the game or gameplay, it’s just a background for the killing so after a while you mostly ignore it, and I don’t know how Bioware plan to change that, just saying they put more emphasis to story isn’t enough to me.

I guess the main issue is that nothing you do has a lasting impact in MMORPGs and that’s not very immersive, but it would be very hard to overcome.

Perhaps your actions and decisions through a non repeatable story could impact how the world appears to you. So while you basically wander on the same world as everyone else, it looks different and has some different functions available for you. For example in one quest line you’d help the sith locate and destroy some rebel city, then that city would look all ruined to you, or maybe appear to be under martial law with storm troopers all over, while for others who saved it, it appears to be, well, saved, with some battle marks and different NPCs and quests opened up.

Instances could be affected in a similar way, with everyone seeing either their own version, so long as enemies battled remained the same (though different skins could also be included), but perhaps some included special NPCs and loot for them, or they’d see the version of the party leader’s quest line.

[Renton_the_5th_rider]

Do you think HK-47 will make an apperance?

[StrikerX3]

[quote=“Al3xand3r”]Perhaps your actions and decisions through a non repeatable story could impact how the world appears to you. So while you basically wander on the same world as everyone else, it looks different and has some different functions available for you. For example in one quest line you’d help the sith locate and destroy some rebel city, then that city would look all ruined to you, or maybe appear to be under martial law with storm troopers all over, while for others who saved it, it appears to be, well, saved, with some battle marks and different NPCs and quests opened up.

Instances could be affected in a similar way, with everyone seeing either their own version, so long as enemies battled remained the same (though different skins could also be included), but perhaps some included special NPCs and loot for them, or they’d see the version of the party leader’s quest line.[/quote]

WoW has something like that with its “phasing” technology, available since Wrath of the Lich King. You complete a few quests, and the world actually “changes” (for your character). You even get to see other enemies, and you can’t see players who aren’t on the same part of the quest as you in that area. Try playing the Death Knight starter quests, it’s pretty much the best example of phasing in the game.

[Al3xand3r]

That wasn’t out when I posted that. But yeah I’ve heard of it. Doubt it makes much of a difference of the rest of the game’s setup is the same but nice.