Does anyone else feel like they are not playing Star Wars anymore?

[Warrgames]

Okay, I think I just figured it out. So, Revan has been dealt with. Vitiate is on his way out. The galaxy is in shambles. A rogue droid is pulling strings, based on some nebulous super power of old, but is being dealt with I assume soon. That leaves one more entity, the most devious and cunning of all; Leontyne Saresh. The true puppet master. We must deal with her, before she places a holostation on every world imploring us to Work together, together we can rebuild the galaxy. Let's get to work, together.

 

Revan will back.

Vitiate still has one big secret to share.

 

 

There is going to be a big fight between Revan and Vitiate. Where right before Revan deliver the finial blow to Vitiate. Vitiate says "Revan I am your father."

 

[TUXs]

Revan will back.

Vitiate still has one big secret to share.

 

 

There is going to be a big fight between Revan and Vitiate. Where right before Revan deliver the finial blow to Vitiate. Vitiate says "Revan I am your father."

I'm just hoping we get frozen in carbonite for 300 years next time...

[ikinai]

Revan will back.

Vitiate still has one big secret to share.

 

 

There is going to be a big fight between Revan and Vitiate. Where right before Revan deliver the finial blow to Vitiate. Vitiate says "Revan I am your father."

 

Well, I didn't want to spoil it too much but Saresh = Vitiate.

 

Sorry, I know, I just ruined it for everyone. My bad. Great, now they're going to have to rewrite the story.

[Tsillah]

Revan will back.

Vitiate still has one big secret to share.

 

 

There is going to be a big fight between Revan and Vitiate. Where right before Revan deliver the finial blow to Vitiate. Vitiate says "Revan I am your father."

 

You forgot Kephess.

 

 

As for the original post. Yes, it does feel decidedly less like Star Wars than before. But that's actually not my biggest problem. I am tired of npc's dying and magically reappearing. They've milked that gimmick way too much and it adds to the feeling that no matter what you do, it doesn't really make a difference. Also the great inconsistencies in the current story telling and the lack of depth to the story just make it a lot less rewarding than the original story. Too much Hollywood and attempts to divert you from poor writing with a variety of deus ex machina plot twists. I am not saying they can't do such twists ever, but certainly not as much as they do now. The integrity in the story telling is gone.

 

I still don't agree with their decision to abandon class stories, but if you then make it into one story then at least have a high integrity in your story telling. It's now almost on par with standard MMO story lines...but other games have more stuff to do in their games around the story line. So really, BW went back to story but the lack of integrity and depth in the story with these random plot twist shocks just really makes me question the people who write these stories.

 

It's not all bad. Some of the conversations are quite hilarious and there are some more subtle things in there left and right that are well done, but that doesn't change the plot holes and inconsistencies that are all over the KotFE story lines. I can ignore a couple of those, but not this many.

[Viraxis]

You can forget about the classic empire vs republic battles. It takes twice as much resources to build 2 stories than it does 1. They are all about the money and generic story telling now. There is virtually no difference between republic and empire now.

[GetPloughed]

I guess it depends on what you view "Star Wars" has. If you look at the original movies(and due to the new one being a straight copy of the original, that one as well) they're all about daddy issues and incestuous relationships. KotFE has that in spades.

 

So yes, KotFE is still a "star wars" story, now the question should be "Is it a good one?". My answer to that is that it's currently the best Star Wars story going right now, episode 7 was lawl, and Rebels seems to be getting better but I can guarantee a decent chunk of the next season will have a few of those "childrens" episodes. I put children in quotations just to be nice, they're so bad I don't even think children will like them but Disney seems to think they do and if it's one thing they know better than me, it's children.

[ikinai]

How does it feel

Not playing Star Wars no more

When you've played this game for years now

And told to use the force

 

I thought I was mistaken

I thought I heard your words

Tell me how to use the force

Tell me now how do I use the force

 

Those who came before me

Playing through their vocations

From the past until completion

I'm a smuggler no more

[Vorheece]

I couldnt have said it better than the OP. Spot on.

I just want to go back to "Star Wars". And like you said, Zakuul doesnt feel anything like it.

But maybe Zakuul will feel like a nice chapter if BioWare takes us back to the old Empire vs Republic story again.

I just want to go back...

[ImmortalLowlife]

Claiming it's not Star Wars unless it's Empire vs Republic, in the context of the very long timeline that covers Star Wars, is complete nostalgic nonsense IMO.

 

Yes.. the original Movie series was built around an epic civil war. So what. Lucas simply copied the long standing story format of good vs evil and put new labels and lore around it. If you read SW books over the last two decades, not to mention all the expanded timeline... it's not all about Empire VS Republic.

 

This game happens to run in a very old timeline WAY before the timeline of the movies, which leaves a lot of creative latitude to have story arcs and themes beyond just the classic E vs R.

 

So yeah.. it still feels like Star Wars to me, just not full on civil ware between E vs R.

 

I gotta agree with Andryah on this one. It's STILL feels like SW. This particular expansion (KotFE) reminds me of the book "The truce at Bakura" or even "The Vong War". Republic and Imperial forces united against a common foe. There have been many times in the "Legends EU" when it wasn't about Reps vs Imps and it STILL felt like SW. THIS still feels like SW imo.

 

As far as the way Zakul sees the force.... well..... I think my sig perfectly explains my feelings on that. And THAT'S been my sig since I first created my account waaaaaaay back when.

[AnisaBadgett]

Yep... Yet is still better than Zakuul... Which is one swamp, one junkyard and a set of corridors... All disjointed

 

Zakuul as gameplay is awful. And OP is spot on. The only thing Star Wars about KotFE is we're forced to sit through another Epic Family Fail Drama.

 

While I give the overall story a C+/B-, I give the Zakuul experience a D-. A few scenes in Art Decoville are OK, although that excludes the Trash Run that is Chapter 10.

[BenduKundalini]

Just a feeling I can not shake for a few month now: to me Star Wars is all about the Empire and Republic - "perfect army" and technical ingenious against human spirit and willingness to go as many extra miles as it takes to do the right thing.

It's about the Force and it's inherit duality and ethereal struggle for balance that will never resolve itself - the light and dark at constant opposites, pushing things to move, change and evolve.

It's about the Jedi and the Sith - both sides sacrificing in their own ways, paying the price to touch something grater than any single human.

It's although about the small stuff - the ships, the droids, the multitude of aliens - seeing the places that I love or heard about...

And lately there has been NON of that. Absolutely nothing - Zakuul is... Not Star Wars to me. I can't wrap my head around this "grand power with all new understanding of force" existing and not being mentioned or referenced anywhere else in Star Wars history ever again, it's like Bioware added an elephant in to a small tightly packed china shop!

There is no empire or republic now, and ideologically I'm not really sure if Zakuul stands for anything at all... Does it?

The force is some... Amorphous gray thing all of a sudden - everywhere in the Star Wars lore, including many thousand years later, it's polar, and here it... Not? Are they sure they are talking about the same Force thing? Or is it just some kind of "Zakuul magic" thing instead?

And finally the places, the ships, droids and aliens... Suddenly we have non of that - instead just.... Knight in armor, that does not even look much as anything SW to me... With gloving spears. And the same "sky troopers" that let's admit it - are boring. Nothing to make me thing of Star Wars lore what so ever.

What surprises me the most, is that they decided to stop doing SW environments and stories just when the movies came out - so many people who loved them would want to play a SW game... Except that the latest content does not invoke the SW vibe any longer. I sometimes feel that I could as well download a light saber mode for Skyrim and I'll get the same "Star Wars experience".

Sorry for the long post, maybe I'm just venting... But I can't shake the feeling and I find it frustrating. I just want the same feels that I got from riding over Tatooin dunes again, or seeing what Alderaan looked like before...

 

Totally!

[jimmorrisson]

I prefer SWTOR Star Wars over what Disney has put out so far includng the upcoming Rogue One.

[NigeldeJ]

Only thing I can hope for is that after the new expansion, the eternal empire thing will see its end, only for some epic battle to break out between the (former) Alliance forces. Like an old blood kinda thing you know. To me that would make sense, and also allow for really good storytelling (which is what BW seems to focus on anyways). How old enemies turned into friends to fight a common enemy, only to be going after each other now that they finally defeated said enemy.

 

Seeing the way KotFE turned out I'm not holding my breath, but it would be kinda neat if they did this. And add some new PvP and Ops. Wishful thinking I know

[commanderwar]

Star Wars story is not Jedi vs sith but I guess it depends on you pov. To me Star Wars story is that it includes the force even a different view of the force like chapter 12, that why I like chapter 12. rogue one is not Star Wars type movie to me because it is a war movie no Jedi no force, But I will have to see it first. But to me Swtor is still star wars Edited August 20, 2016 by commanderwar

[Costello]

Perhaps its too vague a concept to say Star Wars. What people take to be Star Wars is subjective, for many people it could be the first time they saw the trillogy. For those old enough the special effects were mind blowing (today they likely seem dated). For others it was that Han Shot first or Jedi and lightsabers and Dark Lords of the Sith.

 

I suspect that many people expected that Episode One would capture the magic and they would be taken back to the first time they ever saw Star Wars. Obviously this couldn't happen, its a movie not a time machine. But this does show there is something that was Star Wars and why people loved the Original Movies and maybe weren't such a fan of the prequels.

 

That said Kotfe does feel like its trying to tell a different story than one that might easily fit into the 'Star Wars' mythology. Now Rogue One may likewise be a departure from the normal star wars formula, I've only seen the trailers and I like the concept, that there aren't any Jedi, it is a war/spy movie. I'm not sure if it is being done well, from the trailers stormtroopers are still awful shots and some street kid is going to be the best operative the rebel alliance has is quickly becoming dull. But at least from the trailers the look and feel of the movie is classic star wars. There is no reason that taking the essential building blocks of the star wars universe its not possible to tell new star wars adventures. Where as Kofte feels like its discarding much that makes a classic star wars story and then trying to retell the Empire Strikes Back story. Which is why it comes off as a non Star Wars movie trying to do Star Wars without being done for copyright.

[Theradonh]

I prefer SWTOR Star Wars over what Disney has put out so far includng the upcoming Rogue One.

 

Thats bullsh.it ..

 

SW 7 was way better than 1-3 and in my opinion better than 4 & 6.

 

 

We'll see how good Rogue One will be but I think It will be really good.

[Deewe]

Seen a lot of great input here.

 

I'd say it all goes down to budget and server population.

In a way they had to regroup the players and focus on single player experience. At least it's their take at trying to salvage the game and instill some life in it without having their hands on a big enough budget.

 

Having a common enemy for both factions make it so they don't need anymore to double the content.

 

That being said, it's interesting to see that character voice over are lacking in the last chapter and that's what delayed the game that much and inflated the budget. So we are back to an Age of Conan type of MMO experience. I mean the first 20 levels.

[Rolodome]

That will all depend on what they expect from a Star Wars story.

 

The biggest problem right now with the Star Wars franchise as a whole is that the folks responsible for creating content are so fixated with having all the familiar tropes from past stories that they've forgotten they NEED A GOOD STORY TO START WITH.

 

Developers and filmmakers think that if they have all the "elements" that fans are expecting, that it will be a success.

 

That's like mixing ingredients without having the recipe/instructions and expecting it to turn out right.

 

The most recent movie, The Force Awakens, was a prime example. People generally gave it a free pass on the criticism either because they were so happy to have something Star Wars after so many years, or because they felt that the politically correct elements were so pleasing to them. Only weeks after it's release did people start popping up and saying negative things about it.

 

KotFE feels much the same way in that as long as all the familiar things were there (evil empire, family drama, force user fights, superweapons, etc) that it would be an epic story. Unfortunately, it's even more disjointed than TFA. It's almost as if someone sat down and said: "We want the PC to end up in x, y, and z situations. Writers, make it happen." Then the writers had to finagle and contrive their way through the plot, destroy character quality, and leave gaping plot holes to make them happen.

 

Add into this mess the financial pressure of corporate stink eye and you end up with stories that have pointlessly repetitive confrontations and battles (i.e. the cgi Clone Wars series) between marquee characters just so they could perpetuate the series/money. This is the pattern KotFE has fallen into as well.

 

I am curious to see how some of the other SW projects do, and I sincerely do hope the creators realize that the Brand will not save them from shoddy product quality or the backlash from it. Marvel and DC can vouch for that.

I thoroughly enjoyed TFA and my opinion on it has not changed. However, I agree with you that there's a lot of fear in sticking to the formula. Companies only seem to be increasingly afraid of telling a SW story that diverges at all. I think some of the class stories in vanilla SWTOR did significantly diverge and that makes them memorable in their own way.

 

I think KOTFE was intended to be more of a callback to KOTOR than Star Wars itself (which is perhaps where this thread comes from). But again, like you said, the practice of borrowing elements, without understanding what made them work. The elements alone will satisfy some fans, but it's satiation and little else. You aren't going to make a "new" story that is classic in its own way by simply trying to copy what was done before. It's why, for me, TFA is "good," but not "great." Same with the two Star Trek movies I watched. Strong reboots, but not great movies if you take away the fandom of their IP.

 

Without the IP/fan support, they would be considered about average, maybe a 50-60 critic % on rotten tomatoes. But like with KOTFE, fan blinders are a powerful thing and it's easy for people to overlook an incredibly average job because they're just happy to mire themselves in nostalgia. And the companies, to be fair, are trying to go for whatever is the closest to a guarantee of profit. So naturally, they'll err on the side of formula over trying something new.

 

Frankly, when people say they feel they aren't playing Star Wars with KOTFE, I suspect they didn't come to this game from being KOTOR fans. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I have a feeling that it's what's going on.

[HuaRya]

Thats bullsh.it ..

 

SW 7 was way better than 1-3 and in my opinion better than 4 & 6.

 

 

We'll see how good Rogue One will be but I think It will be really good.

 

I feel the opposite of this. Episode 7 was just a fan remake of ANH.

[Vhaegrant]

Lightsabres... check.

Wookiees... check.

 

Feels like Star Wars to me

[Transcendent]

An Alliance commander who never makes any decisions and 15 chapters in which nothing happens (Chapter 1 a lot happened).

 

Well, you've just summed up my experience of KotFE in one sentence.

 

These forums so desperately need some form of "like" button.

[omaan]

I like idea of war between reps and imps too! And that alliance is one of the reasons why i didn't liked kotfee much.I feel like iam playing star trek rather than star wars. Even though i don't know what is star trek Edited August 19, 2016 by omaan

[xordevoreaux]

It's star-warsy enough for me. I'm not a fanatic about every last part of the story. Part of the reason for setting SWTOR 3000 years prior to any of the movies/books was to give the content developers and story writers some leeway for variation.

[Sentinel-Jordal]

I support this 100%. I want to destroy the sith, not being in an alliance with them. Really hope that the Republic vs Empire war will come back onne day.

[OlBuzzard]

Just a feeling I can not shake for a few month now: to me Star Wars is all about the Empire and Republic - "perfect army" and technical ingenious against human spirit and willingness to go as many extra miles as it takes to do the right thing.

It's about the Force and it's inherit duality and ethereal struggle for balance that will never resolve itself - the light and dark at constant opposites, pushing things to move, change and evolve.

It's about the Jedi and the Sith - both sides sacrificing in their own ways, paying the price to touch something grater than any single human.

It's although about the small stuff - the ships, the droids, the multitude of aliens - seeing the places that I love or heard about...

And lately there has been NON of that. Absolutely nothing - Zakuul is... Not Star Wars to me. I can't wrap my head around this "grand power with all new understanding of force" existing and not being mentioned or referenced anywhere else in Star Wars history ever again, it's like Bioware added an elephant in to a small tightly packed china shop!

There is no empire or republic now, and ideologically I'm not really sure if Zakuul stands for anything at all... Does it?

The force is some... Amorphous gray thing all of a sudden - everywhere in the Star Wars lore, including many thousand years later, it's polar, and here it... Not? Are they sure they are talking about the same Force thing? Or is it just some kind of "Zakuul magic" thing instead?

And finally the places, the ships, droids and aliens... Suddenly we have non of that - instead just.... Knight in armor, that does not even look much as anything SW to me... With gloving spears. And the same "sky troopers" that let's admit it - are boring. Nothing to make me thing of Star Wars lore what so ever.

What surprises me the most, is that they decided to stop doing SW environments and stories just when the movies came out - so many people who loved them would want to play a SW game... Except that the latest content does not invoke the SW vibe any longer. I sometimes feel that I could as well download a light saber mode for Skyrim and I'll get the same "Star Wars experience".

Sorry for the long post, maybe I'm just venting... But I can't shake the feeling and I find it frustrating. I just want the same feels that I got from riding over Tatooin dunes again, or seeing what Alderaan looked like before...

 

In a word: (respectfully) ... NOPE ! I kind of like the new twist ... It's a bit off the beaten path but better than Taris !

Actually that is what I see as so much fun. So many worlds .. so many different things we have yet to explore !

I wouldn't count this out just yet!

Although: I would like to see more than just the swamps of Zakuul !!