SWTOR: GC Walkthrough vids

So BioWare had a demo of Star Wars: The Old Republic at GamesCon. Darth Hater has already dissected the videos to point out various features and abilities.









Here's how I see The Old Republic right now: it's an exciting and innovative game for many reasons. The classes so far look amazing and I really want to try all of them. The Smuggler and Bounty Hunter have really stolen my attention away from any of the force users. I can't wait to see what other classes they announce.

I haven't blogged much since the announcement that TOR was going to be the first fully-voiced MMO. I think this is a great step forward for the genre. Currently World of Warcraft saves their voice-overs for certain content such as bosses and epic moments in the storyline. It looks like TOR is going to take this to the next level.

And the cutscenes with the dialogue options? Wow! I'd really like to see and understand fully how it works, especially with another group member. What decides who says what? And how does that radial menu function exactly? We only saw one limited conversation for the Sith Empire and the Bounty Hunter class. How exactly will these decisions affect my character? Killing someone gives darkside points but to what extent? And they say that it changes the types of enemies you will encounter, how so? Will they be more powerful? Less powerful? Different mobs entirely? Obviously there is more that we need to learn about this game and there is tons of time. When does beta start?

Speaking of beta, I think BioWare should do something unique. Like not hold their testers to an NDA. Champions and WAR held their testers to this until fairly close til release and it leaves the public misinformed. Or uninformed. I would rather see beta diaries from various bloggers that I trust than depend on only the information that BioWare gives me. (Sorry BioWare, you have a good track record, but it's your first go-round in an MMO.)

Thanks to br3ntbr0 over at Wall of Text for keeping me up on the development of this game. I've been following his blog since shortly before the release of WAR and he always has some good finds.