Story was a bad idea

[zrinking]

You talk like swtor doing well would upset for for some reason, but I assure you it does not. I've also probably leveled more players and seen more of the story then most on this thread.

 

Bull ......

[Galbatorrix]

Started saying it when they announced space combat. Until then, I hadn't realized just how much they gave up to craft this magnificent 1-50 story. And yes, the story is fantastic.

 

Reasons I think story was a bad idea;

 

1. It too much development time, leaving little time for extras like decent space combat and sitting in chairs.

 

2. It restricts too much. Leaving less player choice on class/race combos or playable races.

 

3. It ends, they cannot pump out story faster then players can consume it. Meaning the game feels more like and RPG then an mmorpg. While fun leveling, it ends.

 

4. NOT immersive. I know, alot of people will pick on this one. But it's not me playing, it's some other guy I am sorta guiding. He is saying things I wouldn't say. I pick something, he says something similar, but not what I picked. And sometimes you just have three ways to say yes when you really just want to say no. Accepting quest with a yes/no option is actually more immersive, because my reasons are my own at that point rather then one or two reasons laid out by Bioware for me to choose from.

 

 

 

Story is what this MMO is all about. There are plenty for you to go play if you don't like it.

[Roodys]

This thread was a bad idea.

[Terans]

Started saying it when they announced space combat. Until then, I hadn't realized just how much they gave up to craft this magnificent 1-50 story. And yes, the story is fantastic.

 

Reasons I think story was a bad idea;

 

1. It too much development time, leaving little time for extras like decent space combat and sitting in chairs.

 

2. It restricts too much. Leaving less player choice on class/race combos or playable races.

 

3. It ends, they cannot pump out story faster then players can consume it. Meaning the game feels more like and RPG then an mmorpg. While fun leveling, it ends.

 

4. NOT immersive. I know, alot of people will pick on this one. But it's not me playing, it's some other guy I am sorta guiding. He is saying things I wouldn't say. I pick something, he says something similar, but not what I picked. And sometimes you just have three ways to say yes when you really just want to say no. Accepting quest with a yes/no option is actually more immersive, because my reasons are my own at that point rather then one or two reasons laid out by Bioware for me to choose from.

 

 

 

Don't you mean voice acting?

 

That's what probably constrained both the world and character design.

[Ghaiana]

All MMORPG's have some kind of story, some very bland, some much better, but mostly I couldn't be bothered to read all the endless pages of quests and books. Here the story unfolds to you in an interactive way, I think it's a much more pleasant way. But that is just my opinion.

[DarthMavin]

Wow! Ever read a "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" novel?

 

Ever played "Mass Effect"?

 

The choices are for the game or book.

 

You aren't the author.

[Primalis]

The story with voice actors is...amazing.

 

I'm pretty sure there was a dedicated developer team just for it. It's the most immerse part of the game, now that it's finished, they can work on cosmetics and mechanics.

 

I really think if they introduced space combat PVP, it would make a lot of people happy until the next update.

[Paganini]

Agreed.

 

MMOs are about living in a persistent and dynamic world with other players in a community.

 

SWTOR is a singleplayer game with a 3d lobby once you get 50.

[LaManoNera]

Wow! Ever read a "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" novel?

 

Ever played "Mass Effect"?

 

The choices are for the game or book.

 

You aren't the author.

 

Sorry, but TOR doesn't compare to Mass Effect in any way shape or form, in terms of story and the player's ability to interact with it.

[SWaotc]

Agreed.

 

MMOs are about living in a persistent and dynamic world with other players in a community.

 

In your oppinion of course.

[Jedlosson]

I completely disagree with the OP...

 

1. It too much development time, leaving little time for extras like decent space combat and sitting in chairs.

 

Nonsence. The story developement is made by completely different people. You cannot switch story writers into code monkeys... Nor can you convert people who design conversation cinematics into people who design the way how space combat is handled etc.

 

2. It restricts too much. Leaving less player choice on class/race combos or playable races.

 

This argument is totally invalid. Legacy will enable you to unlock new race-class combinations. The race has practically no interference on your story anyways. Not to mention that 95% of players play Human/Twi'lek/Zabrak/Sith anyways...

 

3. It ends, they cannot pump out story faster then players can consume it. Meaning the game feels more like and RPG then an mmorpg. While fun leveling, it ends.

 

Well, look at the MMO content of other games. Hardcore players will run out of MMO content within a month anyways. And most of the casuals have not yet reached lvl 50 with their first character. It is the story, conversations and voice over that makes this game unique. I don't know about other players, but I never wanted SWToR to be a copy of WoW in SW universe and the ammount and depth of character story is one of the key components how to prevent it.

 

4. NOT immersive. I know, alot of people will pick on this one. But it's not me playing, it's some other guy I am sorta guiding. He is saying things I wouldn't say. I pick something, he says something similar, but not what I picked. And sometimes you just have three ways to say yes when you really just want to say no. Accepting quest with a yes/no option is actually more immersive, because my reasons are my own at that point rather then one or two reasons laid out by Bioware for me to choose from.

 

That is just your opinion. I play my Sniper and Juggernaut the way how I would act in their situation. That is an incredible immersion for me. Most of my characters are Neutral or Light I alignment even on lvl 50 and they cannot equip some of the gear because of it. It does not bother me though, since I could grind alignment (if I truly wanted to) in FPs or by diplomacy.

 

And about that yes/no options being better... I hope that was a joke... I love that when you select some options, you get completely different quest goal and result... Here are just a few of many examples:

 

 

On Tatooine you can ask militia to fight with you against the Geonosians. That way you only have to kill 10 instead of 18 monsters, but many people will die and you will be blamed for your wrong leadership.

 

 

 

On Taris you can choose between quests to disarm the Cathar milita or killing them. One quest is about sabotage, the other is a simple kill fest.

 

 

 

While doing companion quest with your Sniper. You can let Kaliyo's friend escape or you can turn her over to a Bounty Hunter. Both will affect your future conversations with Kaliyo.

 

Edited February 7, 2012 by Jedlosson

[GellonSW]

In your oppinion of course.

 

That is the very core of an MMO. Otherwise you're playing Skyrim with online chat.

[DJJAZZY]

Agreed.

 

MMOs are about living in a persistent and dynamic world with other players in a community.

 

SWTOR is a singleplayer game with a 3d lobby once you get 50.

 

I'd like to play in this dynamic world you speak of. Every mmo I've played feels exactly the same as SWTOR (without the voice acting).

 

Maybe Second Life is that living world.

[darkrom]

IMO the story was a bad idea because now I have to role a class for every storyline 1-50. I hate being entertained and replay value is so 1990s.

[Waypoc]

Started saying it when they announced space combat. Until then, I hadn't realized just how much they gave up to craft this magnificent 1-50 story. And yes, the story is fantastic.

 

Reasons I think story was a bad idea;

 

1. It too much development time, leaving little time for extras like decent space combat and sitting in chairs.

 

2. It restricts too much. Leaving less player choice on class/race combos or playable races.

 

3. It ends, they cannot pump out story faster then players can consume it. Meaning the game feels more like and RPG then an mmorpg. While fun leveling, it ends.

 

4. NOT immersive. I know, alot of people will pick on this one. But it's not me playing, it's some other guy I am sorta guiding. He is saying things I wouldn't say. I pick something, he says something similar, but not what I picked. And sometimes you just have three ways to say yes when you really just want to say no. Accepting quest with a yes/no option is actually more immersive, because my reasons are my own at that point rather then one or two reasons laid out by Bioware for me to choose from.

 

You are dead on my friend.

 

I've posted this same line of thought many a time. All the same points above.

 

I identify with especially, is the part in bold above. I never really feel like "The Guy". I feel like I'm watching a cartoon to see how the story plays out. The VO and Story have, to me and MMO players like myself, the effect of alienation rather then one of immersion.

[Tewnam]

And it's really working out well for it eh?

 

Edit - I would also like to point out how LITTLE the story has to do with even this game as far as the playerbase is concerned. Look on the first page of these general forums. There is ONE topic talking about the story, it's this thread. The rest are talking about Ilum, animations, LFD tools and whatever else.

 

You mean besides the entire forum devoted to story?

[SWaotc]

That is the very core of an MMO. Otherwise you're playing Skyrim with online chat.

 

No that is what the MMO genre has been up until now, Things have to change or they will stagnate. This is Kotor 3 with heavy co-op options, deal with it. IMO they never went far enough with the story, cross faction storylines for example (even basic communication).

[Icebaron]

Y

I identify with especially, is the part in bold above. I never really feel like "The Guy". I feel like I'm watching a cartoon to see how the story plays out. The VO and Story have, to me and MMO players like myself, the effect of alienation rather then one of immersion.

 

Exactly my line of thinking here. It's not me in star wars fighting sith, it's this other guy I am controlling. In every other mmo it's me playing.

[Icebaron]

You mean besides the entire forum devoted to story?

 

I'll admit I completely forgot about that section of the forums. Which kinda invalidates my point. Good catch.

[Waypoc]

I completely disagree with the OP...

 

 

 

Nonsence. The story developement is made by completely different people. You cannot switch story writers into code monkeys... Nor can you convert people who design conversation cinematics into people who design the way how space combat is handled etc.

 

His point makes Perfect Sense. They missed most the of the MMO part of the game due to the VO and Story.

 

This argument is totally invalid. Legacy will enable you to unlock new race-class combinations. The race has practically no interference on your story anyways. Not to mention that 95% of players play Human/Twi'lek/Zabrak/Sith anyways...

 

His argument is completely valid. Legacy is an after-thought. Also you're missing the point. The entire game is too gated and constrictive. You, the player, want to be able to to what you want to advance a storyline. Sandbox is missing.

 

Well, look at the MMO content of other games. Hardcore players will run out of MMO content within a month anyways. And most of the casuals have not yet reached lvl 50 with their first character. It is the story, conversations and voice over that makes this game unique. I don't know about other players, but I never wanted SWToR to be a copy of WoW in SW universe and the ammount and depth of character story is one of the key components how to prevent it.

 

The VO and Story definitely make SWTOR unique. But it ends there. It doesn't make it great. It's interesting and fun for the first or second go around. But after that, then what? Also there is no depth of you character story in TOR. It's not your character. You're just renting it. You never feel like it's you making the decisions or affecting anything really.

Again Sandbox is missing.

 

That is just your opinion. I play my Sniper and Juggernaut the way how I would act in their situation. That is an incredible immersion for me. Most of my characters are Neutral or Light I alignment even on lvl 50 and they cannot equip some of the gear because of it. It does not bother me though, since I could grind alignment (if I truly wanted to) in FPs or by diplomacy.

 

Immersion must be in the eye of the beholder because when I play SWTOR I rarely feel immersed. I'm too busy watching the SWTOR movie of some guy that I hang out with that's a JK Guardian. I press the keys and stuff but he is doing most of the heavy lifting. I mostly just observe.

 

SWTOR is a great themepark RPG. It's a terrible MMO.

[Chromiie]

What I find terrible is how bad a lot of the writing is. If story is so important why is there so much crap? I can deal with a bad sidequest but my Consular, Trooper well Republic classes felt boring and generic. Empire were great and I say this as someone who prefers playing with my Smuggler.

 

The Sith Inqisitors get a personal questline that has them becoming really strong. Imperial Agents (just starting out) feel more like an Agent with me trying to discover who killed the big Dark Lord. While my Smuggler I had to spend the prologue getting my ship back yea real smooth.

 

I'm not arguing it's a good/bad idea just that if it's so important why are some of the more important quests not so very good obviously this is all my opinion so no ******** response like "in your opinion ofcourse".

[Revanmug]

You talk like swtor doing well would upset for for some reason, but I assure you it does not. I've also probably leveled more players and seen more of the story then most on this thread.

 

Yeah Yeah, you completly convince me on that! Fully! Entirely! Completly!

 

But guess what! I doesn't mather! I'm just happy you help bioware by buying the game! More money in their pocket EVEN if you dislike most of the game is good right?

 

Of course it is right! You did the right choice there!

[GnatB]

You may say that you prefer the story now, but lets see how long you wind up playing swtor compared to how long you played wow.

 

I played wow for six years, done now. Bores me to death now. But six years is just plain awesome for retention.

 

Story is the only reason to play. I didn't play WoW at all. No point. Just endless grind.

 

Next!

[BigBadEdward]

Yet ur still here?????

 

Is there a point? Is it a requirement that, in order to continue to play the game, I have to love everything about it?

 

The fact that I'm still playing has nothing whatsoever to do with anything I said.

 

If you would like to refute something I said, feel free. If you just want to do drive-by snarky comments, go somewhere else.

[stivius]

You might want to learn how to count.

 

1,700,000 active subscribers.

 

This game has a higher retention rate than any other MMO ever.

 

Give it 6 months, take into account that Origin, high steet retailers and eshops will let you buy the game useing certain debit/credit cards and the game refuses to accept them for payment, in so forcing people to "buy" and use Timecards to play the 30 free days. Once that time runs out and the next quarters report is out feel free to gloat if the numbers stay the same or grow.

 

I have to agree with Icebaron the story has had a detrimental effect on the gameplay, story's nice but gameplay is the reason i play games, if i want story i'll read a book or watch a movie.

 

{[Disclaimer:-This is my opinion some people may have the opposite opinion, good on ya!! your entitled to it just as i'm entitled to mine.]}

Edited February 7, 2012 by stivius