Comments on: Not Dragon Age: SWTOR Reveals

By: wryterra

wryterra — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 20:34:55 +0000

Persistance of vision. AKA motion blur. As a blade moves it leaves a trail.

Check out some screenshots of KOTOR which did the same thing. You’ll see the way a moving lightsaber makes a fan shape as it rotates around the wrist.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:11:46 +0000

Yeah, but she was one of maybe two cool characters of the entire prequel trilogy. The other was that droid with the grievously bad name.

By: Hmm-Hmm.

Hmm-Hmm. — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:48:22 +0000

*rolls magic 8-ball*: This will not end well.

By: Harlequin

Harlequin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:24:02 +0000

I love the blatant assumptions regarding the use of the “unholy trinity” of MMO combat being applied to the classes in this game. It’s fairly obvious from looking at gameplay vids and reading developer diaries that they are looking to shy away from this tried and tired mechanic. Inherently, there are going to be shadows of it, but I’m not getting the vibe at all that this game is going to be “tank and spank.”

Also, how is an Agent like a Storm Trooper again? I must have missed those sniper rifles and skin suits in all of the movies. Someone looks like a Storm Trooper in this game. And that someone, rather ominously has a name that starts with “T”.

By: Pantsman

Pantsman — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:26:02 +0000

Those aren’t RPGs exactly either. They’re action RPGs. There’s a reason a lot of purists are unfriendly to them, and it has a lot to do with what you just mentioned.

It doesn’t mean that they’re not good, but they aren’t, strictly speaking, RPGs.

By: hitnrun

hitnrun — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:10:48 +0000

manveruppd: If I had a significant net worth, I would bet on option A.

Every big MMO suggests they things like this, going back 12 years now. It never happens. (With the exception of EVE, which isn’t really the same thing.)

Actions do not have consequences in a massively multiplayer environment. Ever. Bioware has made it pretty clear, albeit indirectly, that they’re going to end-around the problem by relying heavily on single player, “instanced” experiences.

By: yutt

yutt — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:48:27 +0000

Because every Star Wars game should be based around the dozen characters people who have only watched the original trilogy know! That’ll never get old, nossir.

By: Adam Whitehead

Adam Whitehead — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:31:45 +0000

Battle meditation comes from the novels, where it was retconned to explain that the Emperor was doing it at the Battle of Endor, explaining why the Imperial Fleet was doing so well against the rebels to start off with and then things went a bit crap and their biggest warship was taken out by a single A-Wing.

I guess ‘dramatic licence’ wasn’t good enough and they needed some Force-related reason why it happened. Sigh.

By: Weylund

Weylund — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:54:30 +0000

Player skill comes into play in plenty of modern RPGs. Fallout 3 or Oblivion, for instance? Just because the system involves player skill doesn’t mean it can’t be influenced by character stats.

By: Pantsman

Pantsman — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:32:23 +0000

Except then success in combat would depend on the player’s skill, rather than that of his character, which would rather defeat the purpose of an RPG.

By: Weylund

Weylund — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:22:52 +0000

It involved more than that – the way you fought, the strikes and parries, were all keyed into your movements.

My hatred of various RPG tropes and the crap role-playing games being touted as good these days doesn’t mean I don’t know good lightsaber (Academy) from shit lightsaber (KOTOR… Galaxies…). They’re freaking laser swords. They don’t do “damage.” They dismember, maim, and kill.

If KOTOR (or Galaxies) had stuck with a “parry strategically and first one lands a blow wins”, I’d have been happy. Smacking M1 as a stormtrooper shoots me in the face and little numbers fly in the air is a crap representation of a very fun weapon.

By: shiggz

shiggz — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:51:37 +0000

I’m burnt out the MMO formula. Very unlikely ill buy this.