Buzz, news, and teasers for the upcoming MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) Star Wars: The Old Republic has been circulating for years, dubbed even in the beginning as the long-awaited ‘WoW killer’ by sources like G4’s Casey Schreiner, host of The MMO Report. Finally, The Old Republic is available for pre-order, though a set release date has not yet been given other than the promise of seeing the game in player stockings for the holiday season.
Video game developer BioWare and LucasArts are a dynamic and familiar team, also acclaimed for the popular RPG Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic that came out for Xbox and PC in 2003. The game was known for its rich storyline that allowed for players to take on the role of a drifter with no memory who had powerful untapped Jedi abilities, playing as either male or female, and with specific traits depending on the player’s choices. Throughout the story, decisions made by the player determined whether this character followed the Light or turned to the Dark side of the Force.
Hype for The Old Republic stems mostly from the belief that this new MMO will be a reflection of everything that worked so well in Knights of the Old Republic, but with more choices for who the player’s character can be and become, and the opportunity to play their personal epic Star-Warsian tale with friends online.
The Old Republic boasts fully-voiced characters for even the most insignificant NPC (non-player character) and a similarly rich world and story to Knights of the Old Republic. With almost endless possibilities and options, every player’s experience is promised to be exciting and unique, blowing away all expectations set by its predecessors.
Players can choose to either fight for the Light or Dark side when creating their characters, with options for gender, race, and class, choosing from fan favorite identities like a Jedi or Sith, or even a Smuggler or Bounty Hunter like Han Solo and Boba Fett.
More recently, BioWare has been known for its successful Mass Effect and Dragon Age series, following similar themes of players creating their own version of a character and playing through important decisions to determine how the story is told and how it ends. This combination of a true RPG format with an MMO has never really been done before, as even faithful fans of World of Warcraft, the dominating force of all MMO games, complain about lack of story and incessant grinding to level their characters.
If done correctly, as trailers and the constantly building excitement for The Old Republic suggests, this new breed of MMORPG could spell the slow death of World of Warcraft. Though after nearly two decades of Warcraft games, and seven successful years of WoW, anyone would be hard-pressed to say that competing developer, Blizzard Entertainment, is shaking in their boots.
Only time will tell if The Old Republic can really live up to the very high expectations it has set for itself, but at least fans can be pleased that the chance to finally prove naysayers wrong is on the horizon.
Amanda Meuwissen - My passion will always lie with fiction but expressing that devotion through non-fiction helps feed the creative beast.
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