TOR Is the Old Republic going to be a bust?

Well it is longer than The Force Unleashed II....therefore it is impossible it will be a bust.

 

I was just watching Attack Of The Show which said someone who worked on the game the entire time, I did nto catch their name, said the game would be the biggest MMO failure.

There was also a release date given for Sept of 2011.

I hope this is nonsense, I want SW to succeed.

 

I've been following TOR since it was announced all that time back. From release date changes, to hiccups, to praise, to bashing...through it all, this game will blow our minds.

I'd type out a giant reply, but I'll just direct you to this:

This video, and the others on that account like it, are enough to convince me that this game isn't going to be a bust in any sense of the word. The video is a little lengthy but it's worth the watch; a nice comparison is given to other MMO's and it's pretty mind blowing.

I'm planning to build a new PC just to play it. I then plan to kiss my life goodbye as I sink weeks into it.

 

At this point, I think the hype alone is enough to carry this game.

 

I do unfortunately believe this will be a bust for Bioware.

There are already many MMOs out there, many of which are either free or well established MMOs that take up much of this market.

The only people who will buy this game are of course Star Wars fans. The question is, are there enough of these fans that are not only fans of video games, but are also willing to shell out at least $15 a month? I don't think there are enough to make up for the $300+ million they've already spent on it.

I do hope I'm wrong as I plan on getting this whenever it's finally released.

 

I think you'll know within the first few months after launch whether or not it will survive on a level like other AAA titles.

 

I honestly am not at all excited for this game. I wish they could just start on a new KOTOR for the 360..

 

If this game is a bust I seriously doubt you'd see another KOTOR any time soon.

 

Actually I trust Bioware, but I haven´t seen anything that makes this one outstanding. The whole "Clone Wars"-look might actually be a bit overused. And SW fanbase is not as loyal as it was a few years back. Bioware fans probably don´t do MMO. Of course it will have an awesome start, giving away one to three month and a ticket for guests to do a free week with the purchase of the game and all these tricks. But how long will people keep on paying?

What makes me concerned is the writing. Now everybody wants to jump at my throat and scream it´s bioware? Yeah, but I wonder who it will be? I mean not "Bioware" is doing great writing, but their writers? And the ME guys work on ME3. Dragon Agers will probably prepare DLC for their new game. The Arrival is also in works. Sure, most KOTOR writers might work here for TOR (if they haven´t become ME writers), but this mass of content? I mean this script? They need a team and I am afraid it´s not the guys who write Bioware usually. That doesn´t mean they are bad. It just means . . . they make me nervous. I hope they can keep up the quality of storytelling we love Bioware for.

And I still wonder how they will deal with many aspects of the game. PvP. Jedi and Sith in "common areas" and so on. How many Bugs will there be? For it´s size it is done pretty fast. How engaging will it be?

I don´t pay MMO money for a single player experience and I don´t pay KOTOR money for an average MMO. It needs to be something in between. But would that be what the market wants?

 

My biggest concern with the game is something that came up while I was playing KOTOR recently. I love the storytelling and all the dialogue trees but I have my doubts about that in the MMO space because of how much time it can take to go through all the options. After playing WoW and LOTRO for the past 4 years, I've noticed how a big portion of the playerbase doesn't care about the story. They're constantly in a GO GO GO mindset. The storytelling style of Bioware will bog those players down big time, especially if they're in groups with people who actually want to go through the dialogue trees.

I don't think the importance of a Stress Test or Open Beta can be overstated. A lot of people are going to want to see how much the dialogue bogs the game down.

 

Actually i would respectfully disagree, i've played MMO's only for their stories. now you add in Bioware who are great storytellers. this is perfect, wow's story was kinda bad then you take a game like ffxi who's story was very cool. i'm a mmo gamer who plays for the story, i level along the way as the story goes.

swtor is a perfect marriage for me because i love SW's universe and then you add Bioware. honestly this probably will be the greatest game i ever play.

and i will be going sith.

 

Videogame writers grow on every tree, and there are a LOT of good ones. Companies like Bioware and Blizzard don't hire just anyone - they hire the best. You just can't get a job at those companies if you're a lousy writer. I'm not so concerned about that part.

As for the size/fast part, they've taken way more time than most mmo's take to create. I don't actually believe that it's larger than WoW - it honestly sounds like it's about the same size (which is still HUGE). They've spent too much time on this game, I highly doubt that there will be a horrifying amount of bugs. Even with games like WoW, when they release an expansion, there are a crazy number of bugs. But people don't care because they know the monthly subscription is going toawrds fixing the bugs as fast as possible. It just comes with those kind of games.

As far as what other people have been saying about playing for the stories and whatnot in MMO's - I've played warcraft since the beginning. But only when Lich King and Cata were released did I actually start PLAYING like a real WoW person. Why? The stories were amazing, and the gameplay catered slightly more towards solo players. Then when you did have to play with others, it was way cooler because you knew what was going on and you were all like OOO YEA THIS IS WHEN ARTHAS CHASES US LIKE A FEEBLE CRIPPLED OLD MAN DOWN THE MOUNTAIN AND WE CAN SHARE THIS EXPERIENCE TOGETHER LIKE IT'S REALLY HAPPENIN.

 

There are probably enough SW fans and BW fans to make this game a success but I still see the dialogue getting hammered because it bogs the game down for people who want to move fast.

Very vocal minorities can have a major impact on how a game is viewed.

 

The game in itself is as flawless as a MMO can be, from my perspective.

The sheer fanboys and fangirls alone will be enough to have a solid player-base. You will have people playing this game, just because it's a new Star Wars game. then, you will have others playing, simply because it's an extenuation of the KOTOR timeline. Then, you have the people playing, because they actually enjoy playing it.

This game will not be a bust, by any standard. Will it take WoW out of the picture on Launch Day? No. And it probably will not unseat WoW as the MMO King. At least, not until its second year, if ever.

Still, it will not be a failure.

 

^^THIS. And thank the stars I only played the trial. Wow that was the worst so-called game EVAR.

Now, as for SW:TOR and all Star Wars games of any scope, for that matter, I think there is a fundamental challenge that has to be overcome: the sheer scale of the property. Their is an overwhelming abundance of material spread across so many different mediums. How on earth do you even begin to include all of that into a single entity, like a game? You will want to have a bit of everything, but you can't afford to leave out even that small, niche-type stuff b/c some Star Wars fanboy (or girl!) will totally eat you alive if you do. And everything better be represented in spot-on fashion. No mistakes. And the graphics must be *ahead* of their time, just to ensure they won't fall *back* as the years tick by while the game is being designed and tested.
To some, sound is also a very important component...and a whole new headache. How much should be reiterated from classic sources? How much should be that, but reinterpreted? How much should be all new compositions, and who should do them? And then you have a major concern with what I call *ambition*. The clearest example of this in SW:TOR is unquestionably the voice-acting aspect. Seriously? You are really going to try to voice-act the *entire* game?? Wow. Has that ever even been done before, and on such a scale?
There are so many pitfalls, deadends, critical decisions, and mechanical constructs in play coupled with keeping them all *aunthentically* Star Wars, I for one can't imagine how any mortal could pull this off. Yet, Bioware is going to give it a go. Soooooo, if it sucks, don't scream too loudly; just stop and think about it.

And P.S. it took a woman to figure all this out.

 

I have never played an MMO but I might pick this up just because I am such big star wars fan and I want to see what happen to Revan.

I am worried about this game though. I don't think there will be much middle ground, it will either be good or really bad by MMO standards. I like RPG's like the Knights of the Old Republic because it has a good story. But how good will an MMO story be when you have other live people in game? It will be interesting to watch.

I do think it will be a fun game for me.

 

SW:TOR's ability to be dreadful is limited by it's inability to ever be as awful as SW Galaxies. So it has that going for it!

 

Because it was Star Wars. And you can never have too much Star Wars.

 

While the story will surely be great, especially for us SW and EU fans, in my experience only a part of the MMO player base actually cares about story. Many people I've encountered in various MMOs just click through dialogues as quick as possible to continue with the action.

And after I read an article about TOR in one of the last issues of GameStar (biggest German gaming mag), I'm not so sure that it will be a really great game, gameplay-wise. They got to play the first few Jedi missions and seemed to be somewhat disappointed. The gameplay and mission design is described as lackluster and unimaginative: mostly just "go to location X" where creatures of type Y are wandering around aimlessly waiting to be slaughtered (and then spawn again for the next player). Kill 10 enemies of type Y, come back and get credits and XP, then go out and kill more of those creatures for the next mission. The instances on Tython are described as somewhat boring as well. And enemy AI doesn't seem to be any good. Seems like a pretty standard MMORPG with a good story and great voice overs. But if story and Star Wars license are the only things that are substantially better than WoW, LotR, etc.. then I don't see it being a major success (at least not for long).

But maybe it's not as bad as it sounds and I'll be positively surprised by the game when it comes out.

 

I don't think most MMO companies are in a position to deviate too much from the WoW model. Shareholders and publishers won't stand for it unless they make their money back and more. You'll see a few innovations here and there but not radical changes.

 

SWG PreNGE was the best experience I have ever had playing a game. Ever. Me and my friend were TKM/Commando's and could duo Ancient Krayt Dragons.

SWG PostNGE was the worst experience I have ever had playing a game. Ever.

Ontopic:
Highly doubt TOR will bomb, and the boost from it's SW/KOTOR/Bioware history will make it profitable short term regardless.

 

This game is for sure going to be a genre changer and people will remember it's launch and the impact it had on the industry. As we all perfectly know by now, Bioware is focusing on story side of the genre(which no one has done before). Yet with all of it's perks and differences, here is how I believe things are going to go down.

The game is going to live up to it's hype (story based, Star Wars, etc) for the first six months and then it will become a niche mmo within a year. People will experience their stories quickly and from the looks of things PVP has a long way to go before it is considered good end game content. Ultimately ToR will be a place where Star Wars fans and Bioware fans get together and run around a big galaxy together (which is going to be a great time). Granted there are a lot of us fans but not enough to really to keep server populations up say like WoW does.

Then again I have been wrong in the past with MMO launches. So for non Star Wars/Bioware fans I hope it lives up to the hype and that they are going to stay with the game for a long time. Though for us fans we will love it no matter what and will stick with it till the servers shutdown.

 

well, considering they supposedly need 500,000 subscribers to break even and have triple that on a standby list to beta the game, I think they're going to be ok