ZAM Previews The Old Republic: Part I
ZAM Editor-in-Chief Chris Tom has sunk more hours than he'd like to say into Star Wars: The Old Republic to bring you this in-depth preview of BioWare's ambitious new MMORPG.
There will be no poignant introduction to this article because this is an in-depth preview of Star Wars: The Old Republic and I have a lot to preview. I also don't have a lot of your attention span to work with, so let's hope you haven't already nodded off. For those who are yawning in anticipation of having to read words instead of having them read to you by a British voice actor, I'll start by addressing the two big questions many of you have been asking: is SWTOR a good MMORPG? And, more importantly, is it the MMORPG for me? The former question can be answered with an unequivocal yes. Star Wars: The Old Republic is one of the most engaging MMORPGs to come in a long time, and if you like modern MMOs, you will have a lot of fun here. But is it the MMORPG for you?
You'll have to read on to find out.
Read Part II of our in-depth preview here!
The Beginning of the Story
Doubtless you've read the numerous "class preview" articles written by thousands of beta testers and journalists alike, so I'll try not to bore you with early game story spoilers. From the moment I got the chance to dig into the media beta, I made a direct bee-line for the Bounty Hunter; a decision I had cemented two years ago when I saw "Deceived," the first cinematic trailer for SWTOR. Sure, Darth Malgus stole the show with his Sith swagger, but while everyone was lining up to get lightsabers of their own, I figured a flamethrower would suffice.
Character customization has come under a lot of fire in The Old Republic, and once I cycled through all the different human-ish races to create "Centurion Pwyff Pwyff" (as I am currently known, thanks to SWTOR's legacy system), it was easy to see why. Given that BioWare wants everything to be voice acted, if a player can alter his/her physical appearance too much, then the class's pre-set voice acting just won't match up and the experience is ruined. I'm not saying that this is a good reason for SWTOR's limited character creation, but this was definitely a sacrifice for the greater good. If you're so happy with voice acting, you should realize that it comes with drawbacks.
Speaking of voice acting, this wouldn't be a BioWare game if it didn't have some of the best voice acting in the industry. This is obviously a topic that's been the focus of many discussions, but I would still like to pay my respects: launching an MMORPG that is fully voice acted is incredible, and a lot of characters are brought to life simply because they can speak with real emotion.
Unfortunately - and I realize I'm treading in dangerous waters here - when it comes to SWTOR's other long-touted feature, its writing and story, I was less than pleased. BioWare has the tendency to create main characters that are pretty much savants at everything, but one can only tolerate so much success before it becomes wearying. In BioWare's single-player experiences, like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic or Dragon Age: Origins, while your main character was still obnoxiously talented, it was at least possible to feel failure through the loss of your companions or through consequences that built up over the course of the game. At no point during my 42 levels of playing SWTOR, however, did I feel like I could go wrong. Each flashpoint presents you with a clear light side / dark side choice, but after you run the same flashpoint a dozen separate times and you see the same crew being saved or killed a dozen separate times, the trivialities of your actions become all too apparent.
At this point, you might be wondering why I initially said that SWTOR is one of the most engaging MMORPGs to come when I hold the above opinion, and I'll tell you why: because, at the end of the day, I'm still emotionally invested in spite of SWTOR's "everybody wins!" attitude. I know that I can maximize my gains with no repercussions if I kill this Republic General, because I can take the companion affection loss and then just buy her a dozen gifts with the bonus credits. But I don't do that. Instead, I let the general live, because I know that my companion will chew me out. And while it doesn't matter at all in the overall progression of the game, I just don't like hearing sad voice actors. That makes me a bit sappy, but there you have it. If you play SWTOR, can I guarantee that you'll be engaged? Probably not, but I will say that this MMO has the most tools of any to make you care.
