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[SW:TOR] SPACE COMBAT CONFIRMED
Melkster
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
"Hope"
Star Wars: The Old Republic is an epic MMO with an amazing story. BioWare: Austin, a studio satellite created specifically for this project alone in 2005, is developing the game for a Spring 2011 release. Oh by the way, this game has the largest budget of any EA production in history. (Source)
When I said that this game is epic, I'm not kidding. BioWare has gone on record saying that this game has more content than "Mass Effect one and two, Dragon Age and Knights of the Old Republic put together, and throw in Baldur's Gate, too." That adds up to about 40 novels worth of dialogue. Oh, and everything will be voice acted. (Source)
Of course, this is an MMORPG. Which means there are heavy MMO concepts at play here. There will be grouping, raiding, PvP, instances, player crafting and economy, and all the rest of that MMO good stuff. Details on that stuff is sketchy, and BioWare isn't willing to talk much about any of it.
So what have they revealed?
STORY
CLASSES
Republic Classes include...
Sith Empire Classes include...
VIDEOS
EVERYTHING ELSE
=====================
LATEST TOR NEWS
July 16, 2010
MUSIC UPDATE
- 5 and a half hours of original music created just for the game. But you really need to watch and listen carefully to this video.
http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/music-old-republic
July 23, 2010
SPACE COMBAT REVEALED
We know almost nothing right now. But PC Gamer will break the full story in it's October issue.
8/16/10 -- Update on space combat. It won't be multiplayer and will be a rail shooter.
http://i.massively.com/2010/08/09/the-old-republics-space-combat-detailed-in-pc-gamer/
STAR WARS
THE OLD REPUBLIC
THE OLD REPUBLIC
"Hope"
Star Wars: The Old Republic is an epic MMO with an amazing story. BioWare: Austin, a studio satellite created specifically for this project alone in 2005, is developing the game for a Spring 2011 release. Oh by the way, this game has the largest budget of any EA production in history. (Source)
When I said that this game is epic, I'm not kidding. BioWare has gone on record saying that this game has more content than "Mass Effect one and two, Dragon Age and Knights of the Old Republic put together, and throw in Baldur's Gate, too." That adds up to about 40 novels worth of dialogue. Oh, and everything will be voice acted. (Source)
Of course, this is an MMORPG. Which means there are heavy MMO concepts at play here. There will be grouping, raiding, PvP, instances, player crafting and economy, and all the rest of that MMO good stuff. Details on that stuff is sketchy, and BioWare isn't willing to talk much about any of it.
So what have they revealed?
STORY
- 100% Voice acted. Over 4,000 hours of recording time. 40 novels worth of content. (Source) *Note, there is reason to believe that the "4000" hours of recording time was an inaccurately reported or exaggerated feature, see page 1.
- More content than every Bioware RPG put together. (Source)
- The game is set around 3500 years before the events of the original trilogy, when the Sith Empire and the Republic are in a cold war.
- Each of the eight classes have their own unique, compelling story, complete with companion characters, romance, and long-term consequences.
- You could play through the game as a Sith Inquisitor and then go back and play a Jedi Knight and not repeat a single quest. (Source)
- "World Arcs" are galactic, epic quests for you and your party. They advance the essential Empire vs. Republic storyline and shape the course of the conflict. (Source)
- 13 planets have been released so far. 4 are smaller "starter" planets. The rest are vast worlds, which according to BioWare are gigantic.
CLASSES
- Each class will have a unique story
- Eight classes, two per faction.
- Upon reaching level 10, you will be able to pick from two "advanced classes" with two distinct playstyles associated with a basic archetype. For example, a Sith Warrior will have the choice between a Marauder and Juggernaut at level 10. The Marauder dual-wields and focuses on doing lots of damage. The Juggernaut, or Darth Vader archetype, wields a single lightsaber and focuses on absorbing damage like a typical MMO "tank." (Source, Source)
Republic Classes include...
- The Trooper. Think of a clone trooper, but way more badass. Ranged tank and DPS. Advanced classes include "walking turret" and "more maneuverable super soldier" (Source)
- Jedi Consular. Think of Yoda. Advanced classes include healer and ranged stuns in the form of telekinetics. No names for these advanced class choices yet. (Source: November 09 issue of Total PC Gaming)
- Jedi Knight. Think of Luke Skywalker. Melee. No advanced class info so far to my knowledge.
- Smuggler. Think of Han Solo. Advanced classes include dual-wielding, upfront "Gunslinger" and stealthy "Scoundrel" (Source: November 09 issue of Total PC Gaming, also confirmed at E3)
Sith Empire Classes include...
- The Bounty Hunter. Think of Boba Fett. Ranged damage and CC. Described as not very subtle. Likes to blow things up. No advanced class info yet. (Source)
- Sith Inquisitor. Think of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Maul. Advanced classes include controlling, lightning-wielding Force sorcerer and lightly armored staff-lightsaber wielding melee damager. (Source)
- Sith Warrior. Think of Darth Vader. Advanced classes include armored, single saber-wielding Juggernaut as a tank, and dual wielding Marauder as DPS. (Source)
- Imperial Agent. Think of a infiltrator/sniper type character. Specially hailed has having a particularly unique playstyle for an MMO. No advanced class information yet.
VIDEOS
Cinematic Trailers include...
Gameplay Trailers include...
Gameplay Trailers include...
There are a number of TOR gameplay videos out there. I'll just pick a couple of my favorites:
Featured at E3 in 2009
- A Sith Warrior and a Bounty Hunter battle aboard an Imperial Starship in this Flashpoint:
Featured at E3 in 2009
EVERYTHING ELSE
A substantial amount of info has been released about this game, and I only listed what I thought were the most pertinent highlights. If you want to learn more about the game, check out Bioware's official page. It has more information on:
- Awesome backstory videos that are a ton of fun to watch (look for the "Timeline" section)
- Tons of information on each of the planets that have been revealed so far, and there are about a dozen with more expected to come.
- New information is released from the website every Thursday or Friday!
Now, if you're more hardcore and think you know everything like me, then check out Darth Hater. It's basically the MMO-Champion equivalent from WoW. Everything that gets released about the game goes up there, and they get in to the tiniest of TOR nerd minutiae. It's awesome.
- Awesome backstory videos that are a ton of fun to watch (look for the "Timeline" section)
- Tons of information on each of the planets that have been revealed so far, and there are about a dozen with more expected to come.
- New information is released from the website every Thursday or Friday!
Now, if you're more hardcore and think you know everything like me, then check out Darth Hater. It's basically the MMO-Champion equivalent from WoW. Everything that gets released about the game goes up there, and they get in to the tiniest of TOR nerd minutiae. It's awesome.
=====================
LATEST TOR NEWS
6/17/10 -- E3 included the following big reveals:
- Each player gets their own ship! This functions as your home and companion characters can be found there. Your ship represents a major step in your progression and unlocks the galaxy.
- PvP Battlegrounds! Alderaan is yet another TOR planet, and you'll be able to fight there. These battles will be instanced, like WoW's battlegrounds. Unfortunately, no other data about this or any other PvP was revealed (Group size, objectives, etc, have not been determined).
- Amazing new cinematic trailer, linked at the top.
- Gear progression video that shows you going from newbie level 1 in rags to a Boba Fett tricked out in the latest amazing gear. See Darth Hater's YouTube channel.
- Early gameplay demos featuring the Sith Inquisitor and the Republic Trooper going about early quests. See Darth Hater's YouTube channel.
- A really interesting gameplay video featuring 4 republic players representing their specific class. NOTE ABOUT THE CONSULAR: He's providing a "camera" for people to see the gameplay happen. Click here for a full explanation.
- Darth Hater did a hour long play through at level 2 and came up with a ton of information. They also interviewed Daniel Erickson, BioWare Austin's lead writer (here) and James Ohlen, Creative Director and Lead Designer (here).
6/17/10
- Chiss are a new species and they are Empire only! (Source)
- WORLD ARCS
(Source)
6/22/10
Lots of fan sites are giving their personal take on their personal TOR playthrough from a player's perspective.
Here's Darth Hater's Ventrilo Q&A from Monday
Here's TOR-AID's playthrough reflection #1, painting in rather broad strokes
Here's TOR-AID's playthrough reflection #2, focusing on the more nerdy, interesting details
A few interesting notes from these comments:
- WORLD SIZE: "We began to split up a little bit and explore the world. It was much larger than I thought it would be, and the rumour on the street is that this is one of the smallest of the planets. It took a little under an hour to roam from one end of Hutta to the next, but that was on pretty much a straight line with only a couple little side ventures. To cover every inch of the map, would take a pretty good chunk of time, and that's if you stayed outside and didn't go into any of the massive interior sections." Okay, let's take this with a grain of salt. I know Bioware are magicians, but either he was questing from one edge to the other, or he has no sense of time. Why do I say that? Because if he really was just running from one end to the other without stopping, Hutta would be as large as Azeroth. (It takes ~20 minutes to run East to West across Kalimdor, and about 4 times that to run North to South.)
- OPEN WORLD more or less confirmed, with small quest 'instances' covering the world area. One example: We "approached a small hut that had someone who I was supposed to talk to in it for my main quest. Initially it had a big red barrier in front of it for Samm, but a green one for myself. After I walked into it however it then became blue for Samm, allowing him to come in behind me." These quest instances seem to advance the story of the game, and they seem to be the EXCEPTION to the open world "rule." MOST of the world is wide open, WoW style, with smaller huts, hangars, buildings, etc, that are instanced and story-driven. RED portals to these instances mean you can't go in yet (you're not at the proper stage, or perhaps not the proper class). GREEN portals mean you can go in to advance an active quest. BLUE portals mean it's not your quest that's being advanced, but your party member's whom you can help. Also, ZERO loading times on these "instances" help retain that open world experience.
- NO LOADING TIMES ON INSTANCES - at least the open world instances.
- SPEEDER TAXI. Yep, just like the Gryphons. 100% confirmed. You aren't able to control the Speeder at all, and it works exactly like WoW's Gryphons.
- POSSIBLE LEVEL CAP OF 50? The elite higher level friendly NPCs in the newbie area of the game were level 50.
For a complete recap of everything learned at E3, check out this E3 Round-Up
6/23/10
- Rumors of a closed Beta are spreading like wildfire throughout the TOR community.
- From the developers in response to certain deleted posts:
- Each player gets their own ship! This functions as your home and companion characters can be found there. Your ship represents a major step in your progression and unlocks the galaxy.
- PvP Battlegrounds! Alderaan is yet another TOR planet, and you'll be able to fight there. These battles will be instanced, like WoW's battlegrounds. Unfortunately, no other data about this or any other PvP was revealed (Group size, objectives, etc, have not been determined).
- Amazing new cinematic trailer, linked at the top.
- Gear progression video that shows you going from newbie level 1 in rags to a Boba Fett tricked out in the latest amazing gear. See Darth Hater's YouTube channel.
- Early gameplay demos featuring the Sith Inquisitor and the Republic Trooper going about early quests. See Darth Hater's YouTube channel.
- A really interesting gameplay video featuring 4 republic players representing their specific class. NOTE ABOUT THE CONSULAR: He's providing a "camera" for people to see the gameplay happen. Click here for a full explanation.
- Darth Hater did a hour long play through at level 2 and came up with a ton of information. They also interviewed Daniel Erickson, BioWare Austin's lead writer (here) and James Ohlen, Creative Director and Lead Designer (here).
6/17/10
- Chiss are a new species and they are Empire only! (Source)
- WORLD ARCS
- World arcs are giant party sized quests which are multi-tiered, long, awesome adventures with choices to make and everything to do as a party
- Players get to develop the story of the Republic vs the Empire
- Players get to influence where the war grows and where the war changes
- These player influenced events will determine who dominates a planet, pulls in new allies, etc.
(Source)
6/22/10
Lots of fan sites are giving their personal take on their personal TOR playthrough from a player's perspective.
Here's Darth Hater's Ventrilo Q&A from Monday
Here's TOR-AID's playthrough reflection #1, painting in rather broad strokes
Here's TOR-AID's playthrough reflection #2, focusing on the more nerdy, interesting details
A few interesting notes from these comments:
- WORLD SIZE: "We began to split up a little bit and explore the world. It was much larger than I thought it would be, and the rumour on the street is that this is one of the smallest of the planets. It took a little under an hour to roam from one end of Hutta to the next, but that was on pretty much a straight line with only a couple little side ventures. To cover every inch of the map, would take a pretty good chunk of time, and that's if you stayed outside and didn't go into any of the massive interior sections." Okay, let's take this with a grain of salt. I know Bioware are magicians, but either he was questing from one edge to the other, or he has no sense of time. Why do I say that? Because if he really was just running from one end to the other without stopping, Hutta would be as large as Azeroth. (It takes ~20 minutes to run East to West across Kalimdor, and about 4 times that to run North to South.)
- OPEN WORLD more or less confirmed, with small quest 'instances' covering the world area. One example: We "approached a small hut that had someone who I was supposed to talk to in it for my main quest. Initially it had a big red barrier in front of it for Samm, but a green one for myself. After I walked into it however it then became blue for Samm, allowing him to come in behind me." These quest instances seem to advance the story of the game, and they seem to be the EXCEPTION to the open world "rule." MOST of the world is wide open, WoW style, with smaller huts, hangars, buildings, etc, that are instanced and story-driven. RED portals to these instances mean you can't go in yet (you're not at the proper stage, or perhaps not the proper class). GREEN portals mean you can go in to advance an active quest. BLUE portals mean it's not your quest that's being advanced, but your party member's whom you can help. Also, ZERO loading times on these "instances" help retain that open world experience.
- NO LOADING TIMES ON INSTANCES - at least the open world instances.
- SPEEDER TAXI. Yep, just like the Gryphons. 100% confirmed. You aren't able to control the Speeder at all, and it works exactly like WoW's Gryphons.
- POSSIBLE LEVEL CAP OF 50? The elite higher level friendly NPCs in the newbie area of the game were level 50.
For a complete recap of everything learned at E3, check out this E3 Round-Up
6/23/10
- Rumors of a closed Beta are spreading like wildfire throughout the TOR community.
- From the developers in response to certain deleted posts:
SeanDahlberg wrote:The Game Testing Agreement that was agreed upon (when signing up for game testing) states:
PERMITTED DISCLOSURES
1. The fact that there is a Game Program.
2. The fact that you are a member of the Game Program.
Outside of that, it is a violation of the agreement to do anything more such as posting images or screen captures of anything related to Game Testing that is private and confidential and not already publicly revealed by The Old Republic team.
July 16, 2010
MUSIC UPDATE
- 5 and a half hours of original music created just for the game. But you really need to watch and listen carefully to this video.
http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/music-old-republic
July 23, 2010
SPACE COMBAT REVEALED
We know almost nothing right now. But PC Gamer will break the full story in it's October issue.
If you’ve been following the news coming out of the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ panel at Comic-Con International, you’ve heard the announcement that we will indeed have Space Combat as part of the TOR experience! But what does that mean? Space combat is an alternative gameplay experience to the primary game of storytelling, questing, and ground-based combat. In space combat, you fly your personal ship to various “hot spots” on your galaxy map. From there, you will blast your way through asteroid fields, enemy fighters, frigates, destroyers, and a variety of other obstacles that will evoke memories of some of the great Star Wars™ space battles.
To learn more, pick up the October 2010 edition of PC Gamer which hits newsstands starting August 17th for screenshots and an exclusive interview or check back with us in the weeks to come.
8/16/10 -- Update on space combat. It won't be multiplayer and will be a rail shooter.
http://i.massively.com/2010/08/09/the-old-republics-space-combat-detailed-in-pc-gamer/
Melkster on
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This discussion has been closed.
Posts
Four thousand.
If you took a full time job and your ONLY task was to sit there and listen to TOR voiceover footage all day, it would take you almost 2 years to listen to it all.
If it was an 8-hour job, yeah. If you went 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, you would be done in time for (American) Thanksgiving :P
It does make me think, though, that they are probably right about the scope of the game. I played WoW for around 4500 hours in total. That includes hardcore raiding for months and months and months.
And there's 4000 hours of voiceovers in this game. That's alot of quests.
Not that I think they aren't accurate or anything, just kind of wow.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Well, except I know I won't do Bounty Hunter right away, or Agent either actually. So I'll have to have 6 level "10" characters.
The only flaw in that is that you might lag behind your friends in getting to higher content with a developed main character.
I'm sticking to my plan of going for Jedi Knight first and seeing how that goes. Hopefully a beta can help us decide some more on class choices.
My more important concern is what faction the majority of PAers will roll on, and what server, when we get closer to release. I'd like to stick to the community this time rather then do like I did in WoW and constantly migrate servers every few months with some friends looking for a good guild. So far I hear talk of Smugglers and Troopers so I'm thinking Republic maybe?
Although, the imperial sniper does sound kind of interesting.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
He contrasted that with the Bounty Hunter's story, which was pretty much run and blow everything up.
Though if they surprise us with playable droid characters, hell yes.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
I want more advance class info dangit.
The way I heard it was the game had 6 to 7 times more recorded dialogue than all dialogue of all the seasons of the Sopranos put together.
Since there were about 70-80 hours of the Sopranos, that comes out to 400-500 hours of recorded dialogue.
I find 4000 impossible to believe.
Well, perhaps the following reporting was incorrect, which is where I got that quote from.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/37971/Old-Republic-is-BioWares-biggest
I think 30-40 is probably more likely.
So ten times that would be 300-400. I think it might have been a typo.
Black Jedi Knight... with SPACE CORNROWS!
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/
I write about video games and stuff. It is fun. Sometimes.
Shit thing is that the game looks extremely boring to watch right now compared to my fifth play through of KOTOR 1 I'm doing right now. Especially pistol shooter guys. Add some pizzaz to normal attacks please.
Voice acting in KOTOR:
Source
I'm not sure how large 15,000 lines of speech is, or how many hours 5 weeks of recording for "all day and night" is, but it does strike me as a stretch that they could fit in 400 hours there. That would be 80 hour weeks, which is pretty insane by any stretch of the imagination.
Also, we all played KOTOR, there is NO WAY that game has 400 hours of dialogue.
A walking turret? more maneuverable super soldier? So you get more metaphysical then Jon Dunn?
I'll be there for the pre-beta, beta, 24 hour preorder early access... everything!
Skip to about 1:10 for the info.
Added to the breaking news in the OP.
Good find.
Also of note are the "World Arcs" - as in story arcs. I have not heard of that one before.
He said they were "giant multi-quest huge long awesome adventures with choices to make as a party." That's there huge events happen. That's where you develop the story of the Republic vs. the Empire.
Yeah I didn't really get what he meant by that either, which is why I quoted it directly. My feeling is that one of them is more like the Heavy from TF2. He's huge, slow, and has a giant gun that dishes out tons of damage. The other wields just a blaster, but is very maneuverable and able to cruise through a battle in an epic suit of armor - think more like the protagonist of the Crysis games.
You mean World Arcs, right?
Edit:
Yeah.. edited it, but you were too quick for me!
I'm pretty sure he said "World Arcs", as in encompassing the world.
EDIT:
Late to the party.
EDIT 2:
And you'd already edited it. They don't call me "The Quickdraw Forumer" for a reason.
Does it say the "super soldier" carries just a blaster specifically? I took it to mean as being generally well equipped and well rounded still, only more physically fit in general.
The "walking turret" thing just says to me you'll specialize in only the utmost devastating ground assault weapons that can be carried.
Edit: Okay, here we go.
Source
James Ohlen, Creative Director and Lead Designer of TOR
You're right in that he doesn't technically say he ONLY wields a blaster. However, given the entire context, he juxtaposes the "Trooper with the huge gun; a walking turret" with the "more maneuverable super-soldier with a very powerful blaster rifle" who "is not just about walking down laying down fire."
I took that to mean that one Trooper wields a massive weapon like the Heavy from TF2, and the other is a maneuverable super soldier with an assault rifle like the protagonist of Crysis.
You are completely right in that it could be read differently - perhaps he was just using blaster as an example.
I believe the Trooper specializing in rocket-launching would like a word with you.
Is it available elsewhere yet?
So it sounded like it was a special agent thing when he said blaster.
Blaster, Han Solo style. I can see Bounty Hunters, Smugglers and Agents using these, primarily Smugglers.
Blaster Rifle, also known as that thing Stormtroopers can't aim to save their life.
The Trooper Blaster Rifle, which is both huge and a rifle. And not the biggest gun they got ethier, which is awesome.
Cheers for the decent OP Melkster. :^:
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