Unforced: The Old Republic Timeline Trailer

Thanks to Bioware's original brilliant idea to set Knights Of The Old Republic safely 4,000 years before the Lucas films, the forthcoming MMO, The Old Republic, can distance itself from the events of KotOR and KotOR II, without having to worry about nibbling at the heels of the movie story. But it still gets confusing, so Bioware have put out a video explaining the timeline of events that led from the KotOR games to the events at the beginning of SW:TOR. Or at least we think Bioware have. It's made with unanimated artwork, which makes it all look like the illustration from a Bible story you were shown in primary school. Ignore the pictures, and focus on the voice over.

Hosted by Master Nos'tril (I think that's what he said), he rather awkwardly statically sits on screen for slightly too long, not even offering the chin movement from Moorkus Rex that made Lost Eden's animation the best of any game ever. He explains to us that things begin three hundred years after the death of Darth Malek, and then talks through the events between the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic, their brutal wars, and the eventual retreat of the Jedi.

It's smart. Stalemate in the galaxy, split down the middle, sets up things nicely for an MMO. And setting the events 300 years after anything in the KotOR games means new players won't be alienated, but there will be a detailed history in place for those who want to link it all together. It's a bit of a shame a little bit more effort wasn't put into the video, especially when there were glimpses of in-game footage in last month's release. It's important to note that the video isn't mentioned on the official site at the time of writing. Still, SWTOR! Properly excited.