PAX 2011: Sleep Your Way Out Of Trouble In The Old Republic

[Pedro The Hutt]

Does anyone know if this'll have monthly subscription fees?
I haven't seen any mention of it on their site's FAQ.

I do believe it will. So hey, keep $10 a month aside. =p

 

[Von Strimmer]

This is exactly how I get out of doing chores around the house.

You seduce a hutt?

This game looks awesome but alas I will never play it unless I upgrade my computer. Fat chance of that happening though its too expensive

 

[ionveau]

Keep overt sexuality out of the game.

Because we know Amidala and Anakin never had sex. Luke and Leia just appeared magically...

Seriously, if it is part of the story, then put it in the story. Almost every Bioware game since Jade Empire has acknowledged that people have sex, sometimes putting the player in the position to initiate it. It should not be super shocking that a game that plans to be a story-based MMORPG would have elements of sex in it.

In the movies, they were not over at all.
Goes to my motto: Violence is a public matter, Sex is a private matter.

Recheck the article. There's nothing saying that it will be explicit, and it will be, at best, implied just like Episode II/III.

Keep overt sexuality out of the game.

Because we know Amidala and Anakin never had sex. Luke and Leia just appeared magically...

Seriously, if it is part of the story, then put it in the story. Almost every Bioware game since Jade Empire has acknowledged that people have sex, sometimes putting the player in the position to initiate it. It should not be super shocking that a game that plans to be a story-based MMORPG would have elements of sex in it.

Soo i log in and i see 30 people having sex at the starting zone...amusing its a role play server, But ya I also have a strange feeling you guys are waiting for a WoW in space MMO when there is a fine space based MMO right here http://www.startrekonline.com/splash?redir=frontpage

Really? That's the one you're going to recommend? It is even still running?

Anyway this whole game really smells off, "I'm allowed to drop wow because people in media told me i should and it has a popular name attached to it"

Most have pointed to its stories as the most defining element, to the point of saying "Yeah, it's worth it." Go ahead, pop up one of the recent videos of the starting zone that run 15-20 minutes. It looks and feels like a KotOR game with MMO elements.

Anyway im not hating on the development team but star wars strikes me as a Solo MMO rather than a team based dungeon grinder, As in you should be able to wage war on siths etc, like a FPS with sabers and power guns, On the other hand building a game based on PVP would cost EA more bandwidth, oh well,

There has almost literally been a Star Wars game in every genre imaginable, some of which were quite good (Still would love to see a Podracer HD remake), others less so. SW: Galaxies showed it could be done as an MMO, but fell to the problems that caused what I'm terming "1st generation MMORPGs" (Everquest, SW: Galaxies, EVE) of being too complex and inaccessible to more mainstream audiences. WoW, the king of the 2nd generation MMORPG (Planetside, Matrix Online as well), focused on making the initial experience simple and accessible throughout the entire path of progression to max level. TOR is essentially taking that model and adding more story-elements to it in order to distinguish itself and provide what they believe is a better game experience.

Plus, there's this: EA is getting its ass kicked by Activision. They have the top shooter (CoD). They have the MMO instant water-to-cocaine machine (WoW). All of this is while they're creating a corporate mentality of creative paranoia and overhyped franchises. EA's throw-everything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-makes-money method is starting to run out. This will probably be the last big gamble by EA for a long time if it fails, which is looking less and less likely by the day.

I did indead play WoW but it was only for a span of around 5months and i stopped since the total money i spend didnt seem like it was worth it compared to normal games and if they expect people to be willing parting with their money well a man and his money are always apart.

Congrats, if you're worried about money, TOR isn't for you.

Anyway in the end i will say guild wars 2 seems to be the clear winner but i still think the game is alright at best (its an MMO what can i say?)

ToR will focus on game play to keep you sucked in for as long as they can keep you
GW2 will be about short bursts of gameplay...i mean they even give you a maxed out class if you say you want to pvp only...i assume this is to reduce bandwidth stress on servers considering that its free to play.

I'm not going into the very serious problems with the FTP model. That's a whole new thread topic. But, as noted earlier, if money is the issue, major MMOs are not going to be your thing, at least not at the moment.

I am thankful that homosexual acts are removed i never want my mother walking in on that on my screen

Again, the existence of sex in the game is probably hyperbole of our imaginations. Even then, the actual cutscenes take place mainly in designated areas where the character is isolated from other characters (except party members)

All your points seem to be very weak and not very well thought out.
E.G asking if star treck online is even running, I assume you would bite my head off if it had Star wars as the brand, Or they would pay websites like the escapist to advertise the game for them everyday.

 

[Shjade]

This option isn't tied to any stats, but if you choose to seduce a companion you need to gain approval rating with those companions first. Also, leaving this guy alive may have unforeseen consequences. Especially if you slept with him.

1 - An NPC blackmailing you doesn't sound like a companion to me.

2 - I have difficulty seeing a faction grind as being much of an RPG element. It's an alternative sort of money grind - that being one of your other options for passing this quest benchmark in the form of paying him off - or experience grind - which you'd presumably need enough of to be strong enough to kill him (the third option). End result? Regardless of your method of passing this "test," you end up doing more or less the same grind and then pick your flavor text for the winnar screen. Not much roleplaying going on there, unless you take a friend along to spice up the required murder mill hours.

3 - Future consequences could happen. Indeed, I'd hope they would happen regardless of how you deal with the situation: murder tends to have consequences as well, you might have heard.

Point being, I don't see an offscreen sex option as infusing RPG-ness into the game. It seems more like something thrown in for press, a la Mass Effect's "ZOMGOSH BUY DIS GAEM YOU CAN SEX IN IT" scandal. Cheap bait. That's the only reason I can see for them choosing to have that be your character's persuasion method rather than, say, philosophical persuasion, or intimidation, or conning the blackmailer into believing what he thinks he has on you is worthless or would get HIM killed along with you, or any number of less salacious options that rely on an agent's wit and persuasive talents but don't appeal to teenage hormones.

 

[DeathWyrmNexus]

This is pretty fucking cool, actually. Part of the human experience is sex and its near infinite nuances. Sad that I won't be getting this game since I don't play MMOs... However, I chuckle at the idea that I would be looking over my wife's shoulder and finding that she would sleep her way through every mission she could for lulz. Ah, my little pervert, she is.

 

[toughguyjoe]

I'd be happier if TOR weren't leashed to Origin, but that's just me talking. I'll reserve judgment for when the game comes out.

Tor is in fact not "Leashed" to Origin. On the SWTOR Forums, Stephen Reid confirmed last week that you can Pre-Order, Download, Patch and Play SWTOR without ever installing the Origin Software on your computer.

Thank the maker.

 

[martin's a madman]

I like it, it's as good of an option as any. Still, there should be an option for actually participating in the act itself, with the ability to fail and its consequences. That way it'd be a choice of what sort of challenge you want, story (shoot), financial (bribe) and gameplay (sex).
Also, if they include this option but no option for homosexuality there's a shitstorm coming their way. I'd love for there to be an option to choose your sexuality in the beginning.

No way! Everyone should have their sexuality randomly chosen at the beginning.

It's not a choice man!

Just kidding.

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

That said, I do hope that trying to seduce someone for a quest will depend on at least some sort of chance or statistic so that it might fail and have to think of another solution, or heck, have it be dependent on race in some cases. Like one person could say "That could have been a tempting offer, but sadly for you, Twi'leks don't do it for me, you'll have to think of something better~"

I think what troubles Shjade is that the article insinuates that you can just seduce someone without any challenge, that just choosing to seducing the contact of the pirate you're posing as will do the job.

I don't see it as a way of pandering to hormonal teenagers though, considering, y'know, you see them leaving together and the screen fades to black. So you don't see anything even remotely sexual on screen as it's all insinuated.

 

[Dr. wonderful]

Am I the only one not surprised by this? I mean it's Bioware I'd be shocked if you couldn't sleep with someone!

Sonic: Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood came didn't havesex but they DID have Romance.