Rumor: The Old Republic's Space Combat Lacks Freedom [UPDATED]
- Thread starter Tom Goldman
- Start date
Damn.
I've been waiting for a game to come around in which I can CREATE a character in the Star Wars universe, OWN a house or starship, explore, customize, and otherwise engage the gameworld in a variety of ways OTHER than combat quests and "storylines."
First, they gave this game to BioWare. There go any chances of really creating your OWN character. You'll just be slapping a couple coats of paint on a character you're BORROWING from BioWare... the storyline will dictate your personality and limit your choices to, what, three options? (Aggressive, Passive, or Defensive) Even your character's VOICE is forced on you as the game crams words in your character's mouth.
But then BioWare makes a comeback--there will be player-owned ships! The principle feature of an MMO that warrants long-term subscriptions is giving players ownership over a persistent piece of the gameworld... and while these ships aren't persistent, it's at least a workable imitation. You get SOMETHING to work with.
But then... we're shown that you don't really get to FLY your ship. You get to wiggle it around and make the lasers go. Your "piloting" choices are limited to "follow this path" or "don't play it." Not only does this destroy the sense of ownership over the ship, it's also a piss-poor way to do space combat in this game.
The original Star Wars trilogy (meaning the one that DIDN'T royally suck by cramming itself full of empty but highly-marketable action figures and playsets) captivated millions. And it wasn't strictly about the Jedi. That was a major subplot, absolutely, but mostly it was about STAR WARS.
KOTOR, and all the other offshoots, were LucasArts way of cashing in on the "oooooh" factor of lightsabers. It took a kingly sci-fi franchise and turned it into "fantasy RPG in space." By downplaying the purpose of space combat, TOR is driving another nail in that coffin.
Watch the original trilogy. How often are you on board the Falcon? Or an X-Wing? A ton. Space combat was just as important as the "ground game."
They're really driving a wedge between "Star Wars fans" and "Lightsaber Fans." And if you think "Antilles" when I say "wedge," you should be hating on this space combat abortion, too.
I've been waiting for a game to come around in which I can CREATE a character in the Star Wars universe, OWN a house or starship, explore, customize, and otherwise engage the gameworld in a variety of ways OTHER than combat quests and "storylines."
First, they gave this game to BioWare. There go any chances of really creating your OWN character. You'll just be slapping a couple coats of paint on a character you're BORROWING from BioWare... the storyline will dictate your personality and limit your choices to, what, three options? (Aggressive, Passive, or Defensive) Even your character's VOICE is forced on you as the game crams words in your character's mouth.
But then BioWare makes a comeback--there will be player-owned ships! The principle feature of an MMO that warrants long-term subscriptions is giving players ownership over a persistent piece of the gameworld... and while these ships aren't persistent, it's at least a workable imitation. You get SOMETHING to work with.
But then... we're shown that you don't really get to FLY your ship. You get to wiggle it around and make the lasers go. Your "piloting" choices are limited to "follow this path" or "don't play it." Not only does this destroy the sense of ownership over the ship, it's also a piss-poor way to do space combat in this game.
The original Star Wars trilogy (meaning the one that DIDN'T royally suck by cramming itself full of empty but highly-marketable action figures and playsets) captivated millions. And it wasn't strictly about the Jedi. That was a major subplot, absolutely, but mostly it was about STAR WARS.
KOTOR, and all the other offshoots, were LucasArts way of cashing in on the "oooooh" factor of lightsabers. It took a kingly sci-fi franchise and turned it into "fantasy RPG in space." By downplaying the purpose of space combat, TOR is driving another nail in that coffin.
Watch the original trilogy. How often are you on board the Falcon? Or an X-Wing? A ton. Space combat was just as important as the "ground game."
They're really driving a wedge between "Star Wars fans" and "Lightsaber Fans." And if you think "Antilles" when I say "wedge," you should be hating on this space combat abortion, too.