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| The main game effect of the story-driven concept introduced in Star Wars: The Old Republic, is mostly about acquiring dark or light side Force points (read: evil/good points). The game is nice enough to inform the player of what effect his choice will have... Before the choice is made. |
By Jakob Fischer
On the official website, BioWare slam the label “story-driven massively multiplayer online game” on their newest MMO endeavor, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Furthermore, the game FAQ elaborates that we will be making decisions that will “define our personal story and determine our path down the light or dark side of the Force”. All in all, ambitious goals, and shipping a clone of WoW or Rift (with light sabers on top), without some kind of refreshment to the genre, would probably have been both silly and surprising.
However, when we take a closer look at what SW:TOR brings to the table, it is perhaps not as story-driven as one could have hoped. While leveling up your character in SW:TOR, every single quest and instance has attached NPC conversations, with attached choices; usually two to four to pick from.
During these conversations you sometimes get to choose whether people live or die – all of them NPCs though. Furthermore, some conversation choices will give you points towards either the light or dark side of the Force. Unfortunately, that’s about it. No matter what you chose, you will end up with the same spaceship, the same NPC companions, and ultimately the exact same character as all the other players running around in SW:TOR. Thus, you have just about zero impact on the world around you, and this does not feel very story-driven at all.
However, when we take a closer look at what SW:TOR brings to the table, it is perhaps not as story-driven as one could have hoped. While leveling up your character in SW:TOR, every single quest and instance has attached NPC conversations, with attached choices; usually two to four to pick from.
During these conversations you sometimes get to choose whether people live or die – all of them NPCs though. Furthermore, some conversation choices will give you points towards either the light or dark side of the Force. Unfortunately, that’s about it. No matter what you chose, you will end up with the same spaceship, the same NPC companions, and ultimately the exact same character as all the other players running around in SW:TOR. Thus, you have just about zero impact on the world around you, and this does not feel very story-driven at all.
Further issues with the story-driven aspect of SW:TOR arrives when you hit the maximum level, and start doing the high- level instances, which are called Flashpoints in SW:TOR. In these 4-man instances players team up, in order to gain all the standard MMO end-game rewards (gear, cash, rare crafting materials and so on).
However, in these Flashpoints, you are forced to watch the same conversations over and over each time you do them. Worse, most of the Flashpoints in the end-game are just beefed-up versions of the Flashpoints you did while leveling. Although you can pick different conversation options each time, it quickly gets very boring to watch the same cut scenes over and over.
In reality, the story-driven part of SW:TOR quickly becomes more of an annoyance, and one that you have to spam spacebar to skip through for the tenth time. And that’s the real problem. Current MMOs, SW:TOR included, are repetitive by nature.
And being forced through the same conversations over and over is not fun. Thus, the story-driven “innovation” in SW:TOR ends up being, unfortunately, nothing but a voice- acted, million-dollar-waste-of-money, which appears fine at first glance, but ultimately ends up being an annoyance that seems much more suited for the non-MMO market.
However, in these Flashpoints, you are forced to watch the same conversations over and over each time you do them. Worse, most of the Flashpoints in the end-game are just beefed-up versions of the Flashpoints you did while leveling. Although you can pick different conversation options each time, it quickly gets very boring to watch the same cut scenes over and over.
In reality, the story-driven part of SW:TOR quickly becomes more of an annoyance, and one that you have to spam spacebar to skip through for the tenth time. And that’s the real problem. Current MMOs, SW:TOR included, are repetitive by nature.
And being forced through the same conversations over and over is not fun. Thus, the story-driven “innovation” in SW:TOR ends up being, unfortunately, nothing but a voice- acted, million-dollar-waste-of-money, which appears fine at first glance, but ultimately ends up being an annoyance that seems much more suited for the non-MMO market.
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