For the first 3 or 4 months after the release of an MMO, there exists what is called the "honeymoon" period, where every subscriber of said MMO almost unequvically loves it. It's something new, regardless of innovation or lack there of. So when the most anticipated MMO, star wars the old republic, hit the market, there were armies of gamers who dropped there MMO of choice for the next big thing.
But how has the old republic stood up compared to other MMOs? And will it really pass the test of time?
1) Gameplay and functionality:
Unles you've been under a rock since the annoucement of The Old Republic, you should realize that SWTORs gameplay was never touted as innovative. This is perfectly fair from an economic standpoint, as publishers don't wish to take really big risks. Not to mention that there are many people who still enjoy hoykey game play, and that's fine.
Where the old republic fails at gameplay is not the fact that the game is a hotkey MMO, but rather it fails at functionality. During the first month, as a small example, the game was plague with an "ability delay" bug. Speculation was abound at the root cause of this, ranging from bad computer hardware to under performing servers, some even speculated that the root of the problem was inbeded in the Hero engine that SWTOR is built with.
Regardless of cause, this was an issue that bioware dragged there feet on. Although it was fixed within the first month, one has to wonder how such a significant issue left beta in the first place. Some players are still reporting that, while improved, there is still a slight combat delay persisting to this day.
Regardless of preference, you would be hard pressed to defend some of the oversights and decisions when it comes the mechanics of the game. Especially considering Bioware is invested in people rerolling new characters, and yet for all intents and purposes, there are only 4 classes in the game, with 4 mirrors of those classes on the other faction.
The gameplay itself is an average 5/10 which... isn't bad, but not good either. however, some of the issues that were in beta and persist to this day can not be overlooked.
SWTORs gameplay and functionality gets a
4/10
2) Story and plot:
Proclaimed as the old republics strong point, story and plot seem to be an automatic 10/10 considering that spent 6 years and many millions developing a game that promised to bring story to the MMO space.
While this is true for a lot of the classes, there are several reasons why story in the old republic falls short of greatness.
Throughout the game you are guided on a series of quests depending on your characters classes; AKA class story. While some class stories in the old republic are better than others, many times these stories are trumped and buried under an ocean of side quest stories that no one really cares about.
No, seriously, I'm a sith lord, why am i collecting 10 wampa toes?
Yes, some of the stories are good, in fact I would say most are above average, however, for a game that tries to immerse you in the world, elements such as the good/neutral/bad click-me-and-recieve-darkside-points dialog wheel, coupled with the fact that many of the quests themselves are not heroic in the least, the story of the old republic is a jarring experiance at best, at worst, meaning if you're a jedi consular, the story is absolute tripe with a few kill/collect quests mixed in.
While there are negatives, you still have to appreciate some of the stories and at least the effort of the developers to attempt at making the leveling experiance better. However, sub-par game play and a dialog system that kicks immersion in the teeth hinder the story considerably
And lets not forget, the story in the old republic ends at level 50
Story and Plot in the old republic gets a
7/10
3) Dialog and script:
In many ways, the dialog in the old republic is in the same situation as the story, but not in the sense that it is hindered by gameplay.
The dialog in SWTOR is hindered in that you understand what the story and characters are trying to convey, but many instances of outright fan-fic level script writting punch you in the nuts and steal your candy.
One thing I will give bioware credit for is the fact that their games have some of the most interesting characters created in any video game. Granted, nearly all, if not all of bioware characters fill a certain cliche role. Wrex and ogrim are the "crazy" warriors, zevran and thane are the regretful assassins and so on. That said, these characters still manage to be interesting enough to invest emotion into.
With that in mind, a lot of time, awkward dialog will take the authenticity out of an honest scene.
I mean seriously, payment in kisses?
Dialog and script in the old republic gets a
7/10
4) Technical graphics
If you've been following the old republic at all, you've probably caught wind of Biowares insane decision to use the hero engine to build SWTOR.
The hero engine.
You want to know how bad the hero engine is? Name some well-known games that were built on the hero engine.
Let's see there's SWTOR, obviously, and... well I guess that's gonna be it huh?
Thousand of posts, hundreds of pages on this single topic alone, the decision to use the hero engine is widely considered Biowares biggest mistake in the development of the old republic. Countless system has sputtered out, crashed and burned dispite having cutting edge video cards and processors while some low end system don't even bat an eyelash at it. Although I'm sure every one can agree, ilum and a damn nice slide show.
Bad optimization coupled with the fact that the old republic doesn't even have a real high res option, makes the hero engine a giant blemish that continues to consume the face of the old republic, and taking as many computers down with it as possible
Technical graphics of the old republic gets a
2/10
5) Art style and direction
You have to ask yourself a few quesions when judging the art style of a game, and one of the most importent ones is "does it fit the setting". I think many would agree that the art style of SWTOR, while fitting for some other games, is a terrible choice for a star wars title.
The only star wars game i can think of that this style would fit is lego star wars. Not because it's star wars but because it's legos.
As I said, however, stylization can be a good path to take. The execution of stylization in SWTOR, however, is very unsightly and, when contrasted with some of the "dark" toned stories, makes the game look comical.
Art syle and direction gets a
5/10
6) Sound design
Now we arrive at last at what is hands down SWTORs best quality. The sound.
I really have to give credit to the composers of the game. They were inspired by john williams and honored his name with a great sound track.
The sound designers really made the game sound like star wars, and not just because they nailed the sound of a lightsaber. Blasters sound like blaster, the sound of running is authentic, and the voice acting is very good.
That said, something that has always bothered me about Bioware games is that there is no flow or fluidness to the dialog. Every time an NPC gets qoute unqoute interupted, they don't really get interupted. Instead they pause for half a second and another voice acter starts talking. Biowares dialog scenes always feel like 2 actors just sorting of talking at each other rather than having an actual conversation.
Sound design in the old republic get a
8/10
7) Level design
Another big issue that has sweeped the forums is the level design, or world design for each planet.
Planets in the old republic aren't so much planets, but rather different colored zones. The paths are incredibly linear and feels like they might
as well has bilboards on the way that say "this is the direction you will go in your main quest"
And lets not forget, having an "exaustion" zone 20 feet from the god damn town. You can't even walk outside of anchor head without the game punishing you for wanting to explore.
That said, the environments are very nice to look at and some of the planets do feel like star wars, and credit should be given where it's due
Level design gets a
6/10
8) User interface
Unfortunately for the old republic, the situation doesn't get any better. The user interface is perhaps the 2nd largest issue.
SWTORs interface is clunky, bland, uninspired, and can't be customized. Yes, a solution is coming in 1.2. But what good is being able to move the tool bar, if the toolbar itself is trash?
Bioware seems to be allergic to addons as they're not allowing any addons to be used, including UI addons.
The old republic doesn't even have a combat log...
I mean for god sakes, even the withcer 2, a single player game, had a combat log.
The user interface gets a barely functional
3/10
9) Production value
Aside from the larger features missing, there are also a lot of quality of life neccessities left out of the old republic.
When you walk through a supposidly bustling city, you never hear chatter and the only ambient noise you hear is looped sounds of speeders andmusic
There is no day/night cycle
No swimming
Really, there are so many small things that SWTOR is missing that it just feels half baked, even compared to a relativley low bugdet MMO like Rift.
The production value of SWTOR gets a
4/10
10) Overall elements
Like a story, it is manditory for all the elements of a game to resonate with each other, connecting A B and C to create a well-made experiance that flows.
The story, the game play, all these elements must come together to be considered a worthy game.
This is the most troubling about the old republic to me is that it tried to be so many thing.
It tried to be KOTOR
It tried to be WoW
It tried to be a single player game and an MMO
Unfortunately, the story and decisions aren't as good as KOTOR
The MMO aspects aren't as good as WoW
The gameplay isn't as good as a single player game
And the social interaction and multiplayer features aren't as good as other MMOs
The overall elements of SWTOR get a:
5/10
So we come to the conclusion and all that can be said at this point is that at best SWTOR is disappointing. At worst, it's an MMO that will either fail and cause massive harm to Biowares reputation, or succeed and plunge the MMO genre back into a gauntlet of WoWclones being released every 2 months.
The final scores of The Old Republic are:
Personal score:
6/10
Technical score
51/100
For all intents are purposes, The Old Republic is awesomely average.
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