Star Wars: The Old Republic

[Valigarmander]

Star Wars: The Old Republic Preview for the PC from 1UP.com

I've been waiting a long time to go hands-on with Star Wars: The Old Republic, the upcoming Star Wars MMORPG set during, well, the Old Republic. At a recent LucasArts event, I finally had my chance. In addition to that, this is the first time I've had a chance to write extensively about the game (outside of my nerd rage over the first screenshots). We (myself, David, and Scooter) were treated to the reveal of the final two character classes, the importance of companions, class customization, and saw the Imperial Agent class in action. I don't currently play MMOs -- the last one being the ill-fated Star Wars Galaxies -- but since Old Republic plays more like a single-player RPG set in an online world (and I'm more than familiar with Star Wars), nothing felt that alien to me once the presentation started up.

The first things shown were the combat aspects of the Imperial Agent as it infiltrated a Hutt base. The game still looks early, but the core mechanics are in place. The character is designed to use stealth to sneak up on enemies in zones that have little to no cover. For those areas where cover options are plentiful, holographic versions of the Agent display on boxes and walls, similar to that of Republic Commando's cover mechanic. A simple click immediately puts the Agent into cover, and out of the guard's sight lines. Once in cover, the Agent's abilities activate, like the use of toxic or tranquilizing darts to dispatch guards, and to make sure the first strike on an enemy is as effective as possible. The weapons and abilities are designed to work in tandem with the core component of the character class, which is designed to show the player the seedy underbelly of the Empire -- kind of like James Bond or Jason Bourne, including the high tech gear and subterfuge.

Then it was time to look at the final two character classes: Jedi Consular and Sith Inquisitor. The Sith Inquistor was described as an Emperor Palpatine-type of character who is straight up wicked evil, shooting lightning left and right, whereas the Jedi Consular is akin to Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon Jinn. The developers then demonstrated how the Consular would work in the battlefield -- their strength resting in their telekinetic Force abilities like the Force pull or push, rather than running into the middle of the battle swinging a lightsaber around. Using special attacks to weaken the enemies, deflecting laser blasts, and using Force pull to bring enemies in in the manner of a ranged-combat class seems to be the best way to play the Consular.

But what if one Jedi isn't enough to help you attack enemies? Another reveal during the presentation were how Companions will be used in the game. Citing the "can't find enough people for a raid on a Friday night" excuse, the ability to summon Companions will not only help boost your party during quests, but also provide some story aspects as well -- think Mission and Zaalbar from KOTOR. The two companions mentioned during the presentation will be associated only with the Inquisitor class: Khem Val, a Dashade who works like a tank, who has the ability to soak up Force powers during battle, and Xalek, a Kaleesh who is designed like a DPS and will be your character's apprentice during the story portions of the game. We're told that all character classes will have options in regards to companions to help balance your style of play while customizing your character.

Speaking of customization, this was also a topic that was briefly touched upon, where the team used the Smuggler class as an example. By design, the Smuggler will have traits such as "take cover," "dirty kick," "headshot," and stealth. Of course, depending on what type of Smuggler you play will yield different bonus abilities. "Gunsligner" carries with it the ability to dual-wield pistols and a "smooth talker" trait to help influence NPCs during quests. "Scoundrel" lets you be proficient in stealth-based damage, much like that of the Imperial Agent, and medicine (think Han Solo slicing up the Tauntaun from Empire Strikes Back). There will be more customization options announced later, but the ethos for the team in regards to these abilities stems from honoring the "truthfulness" of Star Wars rather than filling MMO archetypes.

Then came time to go hands-on with the Sith Inquisitor. And while we were told to embark on a quest to retrieve scrolls for one Lord Vash, like all new kids when they're told to go do something important, we didn't. Instead, we ran ran down different hallways, admiring the art design, architecture, and the absurd bust sizes on all females, including our Inquisitor -- it's pretty laughable (or distracting, depending), and it is something I would personally like to see addressed. Regardless, the rest of the hands-on with the game felt very "BioWare." Dialogue options and interactions with NPCs retained what you would find in the likes of Mass Effect and the recently released Dragon Age (fantastic voice acting included). I choose to be as brash as possible during my interactions, which actually opened up some funny interactions between my character and some elder Sith. At one point during a long-winded story the NPC was telling, I simply asked "Are you finished?" to which the response was, "Tired of hearing about this? Good, I'll continue." Even though I was pressed for time during this limited hands-on, I appreciated how the NPC responded when I tried to speed up a process that isn't designed to be.

Then, as soon as we got out of the Temple, our Lord Vash fetch quest finally began, along with some combat basics. Using the map overlay was great for showing where the primary objective and secondary objectives were located, and they were color coded to help with the differentiation. As for the attacks, I noted Saber Strike, Shock, Electrocute, Overload, Lightning Drain, Whirlwind, and Dark Gift (heal).

Throughout the demo I was mainly using Saber Strikes, Shock, and Lightning Drain -- all of which would do what you would expect: striking with a lightsaber, use lightning to temporarily "shock" an opponent, whereas Lightning Drain was a heavy lightning attack that replenishes Force points during attack. One aspect that I'll have to get used to is that you are in complete control of your character during battle. Meaning that dispatching the weird crablike lizard things that like to hang around the objectives involved manually bring my character in range to attack rather than simply right-clicking on an enemy and sitting back pressing function keys to execute special attacks. Having to constantly press the right mouse button for Saber Strike upon Saber Strike made the combat more inclusive, sure, but it doesn't feel like a good fit for this genre. I'm not sure if the same holds true for ranged weapons, but this is an aspect where I'd like an option for automation.

No release dates were announced from the event, but by looking at the current state of Old Republic, I think we'd be lucky to see it before 2010 comes to a close. Still, having my first chance to play the game -- if only for a brief 30 minutes -- was a treat in unto of itself for this Star Wars geek.

Looks pretty sweet. If only I had a halfway decent computer to run a game like this on.

Check the link for pics.

[Panfan]

really wish i had time for mmos