The story based gameplay is flawed and might kill the game.

[PjPablo]

My concern isn't so much with the quality of the story, but with what BW is going to have to do to keep people engaged with that story. By making the focus of the game the 'story', BW has set up a system in which they are going to have to add content at a blistering pace to keep people engaged. If the focus is on the story and I get to the end of that story, then what?

 

I don't buy the idea that the majority of people are going to want to roll alt after alt just to see different stories. MMOs are typically about dedication to A character. Sure people roll alts but that is typically an afterthought, something to do when bored. People typically like to grow and develop a character over time. It becomes an alter ego, if you will. In order to do that they will need an ever expanding story to remain engaged. That, or endgame needs to improve dramatically.

[Galbatorrix]

When did I say alts are not story driven?

 

You have this really weird habit of arguing with me over things I never said.

 

Clicked the wrong quote button there. I fixed the post. Happy?

[Malphas]

1. Sharding isn't a bad thing since it is only partial sharding. You are free to move between "shards" as you see fit if your area is too crowded, or if noone is participating in world PvP (hah) at your location.

 

2. Rockstar's GTA/Read Dead series hasn't moved an inch in years. It is still the same old boring "rags to riches" story being told in such a predictive manner that by the end of the tutorial you already know exactly where you'll end up by the end of the game.

 

Bioware IS evolving both genres by bringing them together - showing that MMO's can actually have real stories besides 700 pages of quest logs you'll skip because they don't have any bearing on your feelings towards a faction or individual.

 

3. I will agree though that some of the planets seem vague and unscripted compared to the early ones. Some streamlining and more "consistensy" is welcomed by me.

 

4. You've clearly missed the big fat label on the packaging saying "Rated T for Teen" - you can't have "adult/unsafe" situations in a game marketed at teenagers, as long as parent guidance organisations cry bloody murder the second you see a piece of naked skin, or a scene with REAL emotions in them.

 

Even if they wanted to go darker, they could not because of these limitations. Why market it at teens you ask? Because anything higher than that isn't globally acceptable (see Australia) and isn't as profitable (more subscribers, more content). As for the "Good Vs. Evil" argument - did you watch the movies? The entire universe is built around the eternal Good Vs. Evil struggle. In the end evil always fails, and the empire of this age is no different if you follow the story.

 

Baseline: If you want darker, more realistic stories play a singleplayer RPG such as the Witcher series. Never expect such themes in an MMO in this day and age.

 

PS: Some of the things mentioned in (4) do happen - you may want to explore some other classes for those particular events.

 

 

I don't agree with the original comment that Rockstar evolves their story in GTA or Red Dead, but you clearly have not played Red Dead Redemption. It is not even remotely a "rags to riches" story. But yes, all the GTA games are. (I still love them)

[Matte_Black]

I think BioWare pretty much nailed the type of game alot dissatisfied MMO players wanted to exist. An MMO is allowed to be many things and they do not all have to follow the same format. They have made a game that has brought me and other long time gamers and former MMOers back to the genre. It's very much because they chose not to totally remake WoW or other games and take some steps in the direction of what we have been looking for.

 

*

 

 

 

As far the mature themes go, I think that is something for down the road in subsequent games if SWTOR and this style of MMO end up panning out as a product. Heck, they could even do an expansion with a higher rating that would not get bundled and needed to be purchased separately with an age verified payment form if there was really a call for more mature content.

[Halofax]

They probably expected a revolutionary MMORPG, which is what the hype was promising. Not a single player action/adventure game with a WoW style endgame.

 

You are going to see a lot of dissapointed people. Trust me.

 

I have a level 50 Republic vanguard in full champion gear, im not disappointed.

 

The HYPE called this a revolutionary game.

 

Hype called Avatar the best movie ever.

 

Hype said Superman Returns would revolutionize superman.

 

Just because a bunch of fanboys say a game will "do this" and "do that" doesnt mean it has to in order to be fun.

[Vermuten]

Everyone keeps hanging on to the story as the one huge redeeming factor in the game. The story won't even be talked about in 6 months. Most of you will be completely done with it and done leveling alts for a while. In fact, you can only even get 4 unique stories. If you decide to play the other 4 classes, you'll get the same story.

 

The voice acting is sub par. The story line itself, is sub par, even compared to some of Bioware's other games.

 

People are just enamored by the fact that it exists in an MMO, so they're obsessed with it.

 

All MMO's have story, I don't think it's an issue of people being enamored by it's existence in Swtor. I personally have lost ALL interest in the Swtor story, to the point where I just space bar through it now as it's more a pain to sit through than anything. I was captivated during Tython and even most of Coruscant but Taris brought it to a crashing halt. The quest on rails, punishment for exploration is just too much for me to handle.

 

Couple that with the fact that RP is non-existent on my server and the mandatory quest tracker, my immersion is basically nil. I can barely bring myself to log anymore. I'm still subbed for one more month and I still have a couple friends that play but after this month it's going to take a miracle for me to continue. I think they just played it too safe for my liking and I'm a themepark fan! I was just hoping for a little more depth and challenge, and not just in the combat department.

[Halofax]

Also the mature themes is laughable, in one quest on empire i killed a kid in front of his mother, then choked her to death and slammed her into the wall.

 

Real Cartoon Network style plotline it was.

[Siorac]

All MMO's have story, I don't think it's an issue of people being enamored by it's existence in Swtor. I personally have lost ALL interest in the Swtor story, to the point where I just space bar through it now as it's more a pain to sit through than anything. I was captivated during Tython and even most of Coruscant but Taris brought it to a crashing halt. The quest on rails, punishment for exploration is just too much for me to handle.

 

Couple that with the fact that RP is non-existent on my server and the mandatory quest tracker, my immersion is basically nil. I can barely bring myself to log anymore. I'm still subbed for one more month and I still have a couple friends that play but after this month it's going to take a miracle for me to continue. I think they just played it too safe for my liking and I'm a themepark fan! I was just hoping for a little more depth and challenge, and not just in the combat department.

 

Mandatory quest tracker? You can untrack quests, you know that?

[Goretzu]

The story is great.

 

 

However the story without being on rail track so much would be much, much, much better.

 

 

You could have the story and get rid of the linearity.

[warpriestX]

I don't agree with anything you said. This thread sucks:/

[JeremyDale]

So, you preferred games like Everquest where you couldn't solo something 5 levels below your level? Also, if you died, you had to lose like 4 hours of work due to losing massive amounts of experience with each death?

 

 

If you haven't noticed, WOW's formula pretty much murdered all others. It drew people in and kept them there for 7 years now. It is the better formula because it works for a wide variety of gamers. If you want to quest solo, you can. If you want to quest in a group, you can. If you want to stop questing for a while, you can do dungeons or PVP. You're not FORCED to group just to level up. This was the best thing WOW did for the genre, IMO.

 

Yes, I preferred MMORPGs when they were actually multiplayer games that required you to actually play with other people to level up.

 

As I've stated countless times I think the current mold that WoW engineered where everyone just rapidly solos to the end so they can reach the so called "endgame" and spam the same instance over and over till they get bored is a crappy system and not what I'm looking for when I play a MMORPG.

 

SWTOR was a dissapointment because of this. I was hoping they were going to offer something different than WoW, but sadly they didn't. It's basically very similiar just with better graphics, combat, and voices. I'll stay because of friends - but so far it's been dissapointing. I hate what WoW has done to the MMO market.

Edited January 25, 2012 by JeremyDale

[Karai]

"So far (lvl 20 JK)"

Stoped reading right there.

[JeremyDale]

I have a level 50 Republic vanguard in full champion gear, im not disappointed.

 

The HYPE called this a revolutionary game.

 

Hype called Avatar the best movie ever.

 

Hype said Superman Returns would revolutionize superman.

 

Just because a bunch of fanboys say a game will "do this" and "do that" doesnt mean it has to in order to be fun.

 

Hype isn't always wrong. It often is, but not alawys - and sometimes things do deliver. That being said i'm glad you aren't dissapointed. I am though, and was expecting more.

 

This game is easy to look at and fun - but far too linear and quick-paced. It also basically copied WoW's endgame design which I'm not too crazy about. I'll stick aroudn till march and see what the legacy additions are though.

Edited January 25, 2012 by JeremyDale

[Vydor_HC]

Yes, I agree with the OP. I like the story, but it's going to end for me in a few days, with that the rest of the game is really lackluster. So if the story is the emphasis, and I can be done with it in a very short time...it makes me wonder if Bioware will be able to continue to develop enough story driven content, with the acting and cut scenes quickly enough to keep people like me entertained.

 

PvP is a dead end and going no where, and Raiding...well, I'll do a op once to beat it, but farming instances is regression for MMO's as far as I'm concerned.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Vydor_HC

[Scar]

Your opinion is wrong.

 

What's with the necro?

 

You necro'd a post that was long since dead, with NO replies, to say that?

 

This isn't the first necro of the day I've seen today, either. Is this some sort of necro thread day?

Edited January 25, 2012 by Scar

[Halofax]

Yes, I agree with the OP. I like the story, but it's going to end for me in a few days, with that the rest of the game is really lackluster. So if the story is the emphasis, and I can be done with it in a very short time...it makes me wonder if Bioware will be able to continue to develop enough story driven content, with the acting and cut scenes quickly enough to keep people like me entertained.

 

PvP is a dead end and going no where, and Raiding...well, I'll do a op once to beat it, but farming instances is regression for MMO's as far as I'm concerned.

 

Lol pvp dead. Wrong

 

Lol there are 8 stories, the idea of the game was to play alts.

 

This guy comes in, and says "Bioware you cant make me roll an alt."

 

They cant, so just move along i guess.

[Vydor_HC]

Lol pvp dead. Wrong

 

Lol there are 8 stories, the idea of the game was to play alts.

 

This guy comes in, and says "Bioware you cant make me roll an alt."

 

They cant, so just move along i guess.

 

Yeah, I'm not an alt guy. I'm a role player, and play a single character based on a role I've played throughout the years. So, no alts are not the thing.

 

And yeah, PvP is dead and going no where. The two faction limitation will doom it to WZ's which will get further watered down with crying to make them solo or grouped based fights. World PvP will not flourish with the population imbalances.

[JHoltJHolt]

Why all of the sudden are there threads popping up slamming the story? Does this seem odd to anyone else?

[JeremyDale]

Lol pvp dead. Wrong

 

Lol there are 8 stories, the idea of the game was to play alts.

 

This guy comes in, and says "Bioware you cant make me roll an alt."

 

They cant, so just move along i guess.

 

Not everyone likes to make "alts". Just the fact so many people are having to reroll alts and go through the same basic content to keep themselves enertained just goes to show how weak and un-interesting the rest of the game is outside of it's story-telling narrative.

 

So to be honest you only bolster the OP's point when you suggest that people roll alts.

Edited January 25, 2012 by JeremyDale

[JeremyDale]

Yeah, I'm not an alt guy. I'm a role player, and play a single character based on a role I've played throughout the years. So, no alts are not the thing.

 

.

 

I'm the same way. Not a big "alt" guy. Never have been.

Edited January 25, 2012 by JeremyDale

[Vermuten]

Why all of the sudden are there threads popping up slamming the story? Does this seem odd to anyone else?

 

I don't think it's odd. I think a chunk of people are probably approaching mid-30's and realizing it's not as good as they were made to believe it is. I don't really look at the people who hit 50 in the first month true representatives in regards to how the story or flow was. They rushed it. The people in their 30's now are the people I value and if they are anything like me it's become a burden more than a selling point.

[Pvtcarnage]

While I don't think the game will fail (at least not soon) The story is kinda lame for what i played on the republic side, a 5yr old could follow it. This game is based off star wars which is from books that had deep story.... and you can keep it teen and still write a good story. PvP is the only thing keeping me from de-subing.

[Iskareot]

In my opinion, SWTOR is highly flawed and will fail without a major overhaul for the following reasons.

 

1. MMO's are fun and addictive because of the unique gameplay they offer over single player and other multiplayer games. It seems that weak elements being complained about on this forum are legitimate. New games should be better, not weaker than existing games. Heavy sharding and lack of endgame are just two examples. We will play for a while because its BW and Star Wars but will we stay? I doubt it.

 

So we need a good story. But!!!

 

2. Many gamers came to this game because we like Bioware's RPGs and we like MMOs. Yet BW did not do anything to progress or evolve their art of story telling over KOTOR/Mass Effect. In short - we've played this game already. This is not good. Games need to refresh and evolve. Rockstar's GTA and Red Dead Redemption have progressed the format really well - BW have stayed still. So far (lvl 20 JK) I found both KOTOR and ME1 to be way better stories than SWTOR.

 

3. A story based game will require atmosphere and immersion to create an effect called 'transportation' whereby the player is sucked into the story. SWTOR does not do this effectively. Their are some great immersive moments eg Coruscant and Tython but got to Taris and or other 'on rails' worlds and the atmosphere is weak. Why they made people wait till later levels to get to the big worlds I don't know. I loved the fact that SWG, EVE and LOTRO all had these massive worlds from the start. It made me feel like I was in something massive and that was was exciting and unique. SWTOR starts with the opposite and so I don't feel the same.

 

4. The story is too safe. I need to care about the story. Why can't we have some more adult themes? Maybe my character is tortured or mutilated. Maybe my family is slaughtered in front of my eyes. How about a star exploding destroying a solar system. Where is the epicness? Its all a bit ploddy and run of the mill. Where is the complexity? Why dumb it down? The overarching story itself is unoriginal. A war, two sides, evil vs good, Star Wars. Come on. Not all players are in their teens. Average gamer age is 30. Lucasarts keeping them too close the license here?

 

Just my opinions of course.

 

 

 

 

ASK SOE and Smedley how that overhaul worked out as a business move...

 

Yeah... that was funny...

[Darkhosis]

Last night I started playing my Bouny Hunter after leveling a JK to 50.

 

First I left a dude's brother to rot with slavers, wasted some kids dad to get him into the Sith academy, and then chopped off a guys head and delivered it to his wife in a bar...

 

Seems fairly adult oriented to me...

 

Even on my JK there were many times I had to make very adult decisions...

[formulaic]

"Because alts/the end-game can't be story driven."

 

How are alts not story driven? Each class has it's only class story line. Yes, the side quests are the same, but you can go the opposite alignment and even those can feel really different a couple times through.

 

- the class story line makes up a tiny fraction of the quests you tend to complete.

 

- the side quests don't tend to have a lot of 'real' choices (it seems that normally you have a conversation - and either pick "do quest" or "don't do quest"... after the quest you get to decide whether to shoot him the back or not).

 

I just don't find it works that well with a second playthrough... although I will confess that the class storyline is still an interesting element - but it feels like a film with loads of adverts in it.