More Star Wars in The Old Republic please

[xorcist]

What can Bioware learn from Star Wars 1313 & the Force Unleashed 2, to make TOR look and feel more like a Star Wars game. I have no intentions of leaving TOR, but I also feel the Star Wars element isn't at its full potential in SWTOR. Is it the designs? the Lighting? Could it be some of the sounds are not convincing enough to be part of a Star Wars universe? Closer collaboration with Lucas film/arts? Its missing something that these other games mentioned seemed to have nailed perfectly. Others may have their own opinions on this subject of course. Regardless, that is my opinion.

[NateJB]

Well considering Star Wars 1313 hasn't even come out yet, they can't learn anything from it.

[xorcist]

actually they can. Lighting being one possibility.

[Kubernetic]

What can Bioware learn from Star Wars 1313 & the Force Unleashed 2, to make TOR look and feel more like a Star Wars game. I have no intentions of leaving TOR, but I also feel the Star Wars element isn't at its full potential in SWTOR. Is it the designs? the Lighting? Could it be some of the sounds are not convincing enough to be part of a Star Wars universe? Closer collaboration with Lucas film/arts? Its missing something that these other games mentioned seemed to have nailed perfectly. Others may have their own opinions on this subject of course. Regardless, that is my opinion.

 

I'll bite. What doesn't seem like Star Wars? Let's be specific.

 

And how can you say that a game you've never played "nailed something perfectly", seeing as how 1313 isn't out yet, and only barely hinted at?

 

But let's stick to the focused topic. Let's hear what doesn't seem like Star Wars.

[federdr]

I'll bite. What doesn't seem like Star Wars? Let's be specific.

And how can you say that a game you've never played "nailed something perfectly", seeing as how 1313 isn't out yet, and only barely hinted at?

But let's stick to the focused topic. Let's hear what doesn't seem like Star Wars.

 

well to tell you the truth I agree with the op, there are many things that are very far from star wars. Don't get me wrong, I like the game, I'm playing it and I'll keep on playing it for the time being, but that does not mean I must turn a blind eye to some aspects of the game.

 

A couple of things that come to mind at the moment are:

• we can holocall an npc for a quest but we have to go to a mailbox to read a mail?(I agree about going to collect items though) furthermore, I can't holocall friends? that's one of the most iconic things of starwars.
  
• many jedis hitting one mob,the epicless thing ever. Star wars is all about DUELS, 1 vs 1 or 2 vs 1. Also a hero vs 50 - 100 enemies not the other way around.
  
• my jedi suffers damage from falling 10 feets?
  
• my jedi can jump only a couple of feets high?
  
• fights in star wars are agile, with jumps, acrobatics and most of the time they take place in different levels not in a plane field, for example Obi Wan and Qui Gon fight vs Darth Maul.
  

 

I agree that we have to have in mind it's an mmo but I think that the MMO mold was followed way too much. I also agree that this things are even miscelaneous for some people and I respect that as well, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

[thief_of_words]

well to tell you the truth I agree with the op, there are many things that are very far from star wars. Don't get me wrong, I like the game, I'm playing it and I'll keep on playing it for the time being, but that does not mean I must turn a blind eye to some aspects of the game.

 

A couple of things that come to mind at the moment are:

• we can holocall an npc for a quest but we have to go to a mailbox to read a mail?(I agree about going to collect items though) furthermore, I can't holocall friends? that's one of the most iconic things of starwars.
  
• many jedis hitting one mob,the epicless thing ever. Star wars is all about DUELS, 1 vs 1 or 2 vs 1. Also a hero vs 50 - 100 enemies not the other way around.
  
• my jedi suffers damage from falling 10 feets?
  
• my jedi can jump only a couple of feets high?
  
• fights in star wars are agile, with jumps, acrobatics and most of the time they take place in different levels not in a plane field, for example Obi Wan and Qui Gon fight vs Darth Maul.
  

 

I agree that we have to have in mind it's an mmo but I think that the MMO mold was followed way too much. I also agree that this things are even miscelaneous for some people and I respect that as well, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

 

1. How would you holocall your friends? How would the game be able to have your character speak with his or her own voice, complete with animation, without the devs knowing precisely what you are going to say? That's extremely adaptive tech and I doubt any game has it at all.

 

2. Yes, it would be awesome to have our Jedi be virtually unstoppable to just about everything, taking down entire armies without any help at all. I would find that boring and feel unchallenged. Also, it ruins group play. If you can kill everything all on your own, why bother with a group. Might be cool, but this is an MMO, not a Jedi-centric single player run.

 

3. Yes, it would be awesome if our Jedi and Sith could jump all over the place at will. It would also be game breaking. Jedi jumping all over the place is only iconic for Eps I, II and III. I think Luke jumps once in Empire and once in Return. The lack of constantly leaping Jedi isn't a really good example of what doesn't make this Star Warsy.

 

4. Fights with either my Warrior or Knight are always jumpy affairs. Yes, there are level playing fields, but there are also complex ones in this game, where it is possible to do all sorts of things with jumping.

 

All of your complaints seem to be with the Jedi and Sith classes and not with the game.

[Jett-Rinn]

I would like to see Courscant become a bit darker and grittier....after all that is what we were told it was suppose to be like.

[FourTwent]

What can Bioware learn from Star Wars 1313 & the Force Unleashed 2, to make TOR look and feel more like a Star Wars game. I have no intentions of leaving TOR, but I also feel the Star Wars element isn't at its full potential in SWTOR. Is it the designs? the Lighting? Could it be some of the sounds are not convincing enough to be part of a Star Wars universe? Closer collaboration with Lucas film/arts? Its missing something that these other games mentioned seemed to have nailed perfectly. Others may have their own opinions on this subject of course. Regardless, that is my opinion.

 

Force Unleashed 2 sucked i mean there's a lot of eye-candy of course. but those insane powers pulled me out of the star wars universe more often than not

 

1313 is gonna be developed in-house with 'some help' from other companies. so im not holding my breath for it

 

i dont really see how you could think there's not enough star wars in tor

[Zannis]

I'd have to agree.

 

Force users in this game seem like impotent versions of the Jedi and Sith we've experienced in other games and the movies themselves.

 

You can blame it on MMO balancing, but you can take it a step further and blame Bioware. They're the ones who decided to ground us, and limit our mobility.

 

It would've been more difficult to come up with their own MMO balance around force mechanics, but they instead chose the easier route of copycatting the trinity MMO mechanics developed by EQ, WoW, Rift, etc.

[mattgyver]

1) Use more music from the movies

2) Use more costume designs from the movies (understated uniforms + pants that are not all nuthuggers)

3) Make equipment look more like the movies (Ships, Droids, Machinery)

4) Jedis need to be more exciting (flips, jumps, etc.)

5) More exotic races that don't have human bodies with an alien head

6) Starfighters

7) Use sound effects from the movies. The blasters in this game sound flat and non-iconic.

 

Though its milennia before the movies, the tech is really the same, so just make it look more like the Ralph McQuarrie stuff. The old-style look is not consistent through the game. The Agent ship looks like its from the GCW era, but the smuggler ship just looks like crap. Almost all of the speeders in SWTOR look newer than luke's XP-34 (which I don't think was supposed to be 3000 years old). The movie art design, music, and feel could help a lot to deliver more epic atmosphere.

[USMCjv]

1) Use more music from the movies

2) Use more costume designs from the movies (understated uniforms + pants that are not all nuthuggers)

3) Make equipment look more like the movies (Ships, Droids, Machinery)

4) Jedis need to be more exciting (flips, jumps, etc.)

5) More exotic races that don't have human bodies with an alien head

6) Starfighters

7) Use sound effects from the movies. The blasters in this game sound flat and non-iconic.

 

Though its milennia before the movies, the tech is really the same, so just make it look more like the Ralph McQuarrie stuff. The old-style look is not consistent through the game. The Agent ship looks like its from the GCW era, but the smuggler ship just looks like crap. Almost all of the speeders in SWTOR look newer than luke's XP-34 (which I don't think was supposed to be 3000 years old). The movie art design, music, and feel could help a lot to deliver more epic atmosphere.

Love this agre 100% and I lol'ed at the pants comment.

[Lord_Karsk]

Well the one thing in this game that has nothhing to do with star wars are most of the lvl 50 armors,they

look like garbage ! what ever star wars game lucasarts make they atleast give you the star wars feeling.

I mean the armors and cut scenes in Force Unleashed 2 was amazing.And i think you will see this carry

over to 1313

Edited June 2, 2012 by Lord_Karsk

[Driveinns]

OP there is another option, one they went with at the start of SWG. No Jedi at all. What you want them to be means that they would never have been playable in any sense. Also whenever one showed up in game it would instant kill your Agent, Bounty hunter or Smuggler and run off into the night. Sound like a fun game? Not to me.

[xorcist]

1) Use more music from the movies

2) Use more costume designs from the movies (understated uniforms + pants that are not all nuthuggers)

3) Make equipment look more like the movies (Ships, Droids, Machinery)

4) Jedis need to be more exciting (flips, jumps, etc.)

5) More exotic races that don't have human bodies with an alien head

6) Starfighters

7) Use sound effects from the movies. The blasters in this game sound flat and non-iconic.

 

Though its milennia before the movies, the tech is really the same, so just make it look more like the Ralph McQuarrie stuff. The old-style look is not consistent through the game. The Agent ship looks like its from the GCW era, but the smuggler ship just looks like crap. Almost all of the speeders in SWTOR look newer than luke's XP-34 (which I don't think was supposed to be 3000 years old). The movie art design, music, and feel could help a lot to deliver more epic atmosphere.

 

This is the type of answer I'm looking for. For the sake of time I believe they made all the Space ports to be the same design on every planet. That simply doesn't work on a planet such as Tatooine. It makes it look like there was hardly any effort to make us feel like we truly are on Tatooine and I can see the heat waves. The Docking bays and ports look so much better than in the movie. That's not right. I also feel that the use of light and shade in the game is not dramatic enough. Not awful, but poor. They may have done this on purpose so older machines could run easier during the game play. Also, it could be that the engine used was not capable of a more appealing environment. The sounds are another beef i have. Droids. Why do I hear the Power Rangers tune coming from the droids every now and then?

On a side note: My Characters jump animation is generic every time. While idle, the back is straight, arms to the side like a machine. There is an animation but it is very minor. Character doesn't feel organic enough. The game is a lot of fun, but there are many, what seems like not so minor issues that need to be corrected or changed to get more of a Star Wars feeling or immersion in game.

[Zataos]

All Star Wars characters in TOR are limited by what their mirror WOW characters can do.

[mattgyver]

All Star Wars characters in TOR are limited by what their mirror WOW characters can do.

 

how do you type the sound of the air leaving a ballon rapidly? Not the squealy sound but the flatulent one. I want to type that right <here>

 

QFT, and yet it's so bad

[LilSaihah]

All Star Wars characters in TOR are limited by what their mirror WOW characters can do.

 

Hey! There are plenty of distinct and unique mechanics in TOR that aren't copied from WoW!

 

Like, um. Uh...

 

Cover?

[Caspian_Rho]

1) Use more music from the movies

2) Use more costume designs from the movies (understated uniforms + pants that are not all nuthuggers)

3) Make equipment look more like the movies (Ships, Droids, Machinery)

4) Jedis need to be more exciting (flips, jumps, etc.)

5) More exotic races that don't have human bodies with an alien head

6) Starfighters

7) Use sound effects from the movies. The blasters in this game sound flat and non-iconic.

 

Though its milennia before the movies, the tech is really the same, so just make it look more like the Ralph McQuarrie stuff. The old-style look is not consistent through the game. The Agent ship looks like its from the GCW era, but the smuggler ship just looks like crap. Almost all of the speeders in SWTOR look newer than luke's XP-34 (which I don't think was supposed to be 3000 years old). The movie art design, music, and feel could help a lot to deliver more epic atmosphere.

 

Plus 1 here. Although you missed out loads of things.

 

• Where's the dense forest type world??
  
• Cyborg as a species?? definitely the biggest non-Star Wars feature put in the game.
  
• No single man fighters?
  
• There are more people on Hoth and Tatooine than Coruscant
  
• Tatooine is meant to be an inhospitable world as is Hoth, where's all the atmospere and ambience
  
• Earthly taxi designs?? really?? are you kidding me?
  
• The Imperials may have british accents, but they aren't the space Cray brothers.. Snatch in space Star wars was never.
  
• Star Wars, people had conversations on the ship without having to take off
  
• Bounty Hunters do not all look like Boba Fett and they use any weapon tool that the job requires.
  
• Classic Star Wars is black and white between the good and bad. Not the sadistic, swindling, corrupted way the Republic is portrayed in game.
  

 

There are way too many things that don't make this feel like Star Wars. And just because they're so effing bad... but the PvP/PvE gear is effing hideous, it would look like **** in any game. For the fact they're selling this turd as Star Wars makes me want to rip their hands off and never design Star Wars again.... themepark is meant to have themes, where's the themes?? where's the Smug Tatooine themed costume?? or the Jedi Hoth themed costume?? Themeparks have different rides not the same ride the whole way through the park.

 

[TLDR] Bioware need to go back to Star Wars school.

Edited June 2, 2012 by Caspian_Rho

[Lord_Ravenhurst]

Most epic Star Wars lightsaber combat was in "Force Unleashed I".

Ground combat: "Battlefront II"

Space Combat: "X-Wing vs. Tiefighter" and "Battlefront II"

[Stephenjdoug]

the old republic should not take to much from the movies...this game takes place over a 1000 years before...the old republic is doing all it can to be like star wars and a mmorpg....you cant really ask for more

 

also it does bother me every bounty hunter is a boba fett clone, that and i agree with the poster above about the cyborg species, wish it wasn't in there.

 

 

also please dont make this game like forced unleashed not all lightsaber fights are epic (plus kotor was a much better game and look at its combat)

 

and ground combat is already amazing for a mmo so why complain

Edited June 2, 2012 by Stephenjdoug

[Caspian_Rho]

the old republic should not take to much from the movies...this game takes place over a 1000 years before...the old republic is doing all it can to be like star wars and a mmorpg....you cant really ask for more

 

also it does bother me every bounty hunter is a boba fett clone, that and i agree with the poster above about the cyborg species, wish it wasn't in there.

 

 

also please dont make this game like forced unleashed not all lightsaber fights are epic (plus kotor was a much better game and look at its combat)

 

and ground combat is already amazing for a mmo so why complain

 

no... no they aren't doing everything they can to make it look and feel like Star Wars.

The Star Wars soundtrack is severely underused for one and in the wrong places.

e.g. John Williams always created themed motifs for the soundtracks weaving them in an dout as they appeared and disappeared.

BIOWARE uses the Droid military theme more often for the imperials than they do the actual proper Imperial themes. That's completely NOOB. That's just bad. They show no insight or knoweledge on any level as far as I can determine.

 

And doing everything it can to be an MMORPG?? lol don't even start on that one

Edited June 2, 2012 by Caspian_Rho

[xorcist]

This wasn't a thread based on suggestions. It was a discussion on what makes this game not feel like it belongs in a Star Wars universe enough. So why did you move it in Suggestions? Kindly move it back please.

[mattgyver]

I would like to see Courscant become a bit darker and grittier....after all that is what we were told it was suppose to be like.

 

agree

[mattgyver]

the old republic should not take to much from the movies...this game takes place over a 1000 years before...the old republic is doing all it can to be like star wars and a mmorpg....you cant really ask for more

 

also it does bother me every bounty hunter is a boba fett clone, that and i agree with the poster above about the cyborg species, wish it wasn't in there.

 

 

also please dont make this game like forced unleashed not all lightsaber fights are epic (plus kotor was a much better game and look at its combat)

 

and ground combat is already amazing for a mmo so why complain

 

go listen to the track "The Asteroid Field" from the Empire Strikes Back soundtrack on youtube. If you're unmoved and don't see a contrast between what that evokes versus what you hear in SWTOR, then it's a moot point.

[Bielduwyn]

no... no they aren't doing everything they can to make it look and feel like Star Wars.

The Star Wars soundtrack is severely underused for one and in the wrong places.

e.g. John Williams always created themed motifs for the soundtracks weaving them in an dout as they appeared and disappeared.

BIOWARE uses the Droid military theme more often for the imperials than they do the actual proper Imperial themes. That's completely NOOB. That's just bad. They show no insight or knoweledge on any level as far as I can determine.

 

And doing everything it can to be an MMORPG?? lol don't even start on that one

 

You have no understanding of how the TOR soundtrack works. This Empire is NOT Palpatine's Empire, thus, they don't use Palpatine's Imperial March, and instead they went and wrote their own motifs and and themes resulting in a soundtrack with over eight hours of original music rather than most Star Wars games which lazily rip their music straight from the Star Wars soundtrack discs.

 

And in my opinion, this helps make it feel like you're in the Star Wars galaxy over three and a half thousand years before the era of the films. It's Star Wars, but different. In my opinion the new music does its job more than adequately, invoking the sense of familiar themes without actually using them (such as music used on Hutta frequently using the same instruments heard in Jabba The Hutt's theme without actually using the theme).

 

On topic: The less used from The Force Unleashed 2 the better, the TFU duology is in my opinion some of the worst Star Wars games ever put out there, to the point I'd rather play Force Commander.

And really, I'm not sure what you mean with more Star Wars in TOR, topic creator, as in my experience, TOR simply oozes Star Wars.

 

Edit: And please, dark and gritty is so overused these days, let's keep Coruscant as is, shall we? If you want dark and gritty go play Warhammer or something. (Not to mention, how do you want to mix dark and gritty with Star Wars if ESB is Star Wars at its grittiest? This shouldn't drift into Blade Runner territory)

Edited June 2, 2012 by Bielduwyn