General Discussion
5 Reasons Why SWTOR Will Appeal to Old-School Star Wars Fans
jeffprime SWTORHUB:
Star Wars has been a cultural phenomenon for almost 35 years and The Old Republic looks to add to that legacy. While the game may focus on players who weren’t even born when the original trilogy was released, there are a few things in The Old Republic that will appeal to us old-school Star Wars fans.
Before I launch into the various reasons why The Old Republic will appeal to old-school Star Wars fans, I would like to present my first generation Star Wars fan and geezer credentials. I saw Star Wars when it was first released in 1977 at the tender age of 7. Younger people cannot fully appreciate the impact that Star Wars had on popular culture; you truly had to have been there.
Curse you, Lucas, for my lifelong Star Wars addiction!
Star Wars played in theaters for over a year….yes, a year! I got to see the movie twice, once when it first came out and then again a year later before its theatrical run ended. My father was one of those people who only saw a movie once in a theater, ever. It was sheer torture to only see the movie twice while most of my classmates and friends had seen it twenty or more times. I got the various toys (except I didn’t get the Millennium Falcon as that I had a rare attack of conscience when I could have guilted my father into buying it for me), read every comic and magazine article on Star Wars, waited with baited breath for the sequels to come out, and…to show my level of devotion…I even saw the Star Wars Holiday Special.
As you can see, I’ve been a lifelong Star Wars fan and, despite Lucas’ best efforts, continue to be one. I’ve been playing the beta for The Old Republic and there are a few features that appear that I believe will appeal to other old-school fans like myself.
Action
In the original trilogy, there is a ton of action. In the vast majority of scenes, there is always something going on or the stage is being set for some later action. Look at Star Wars (my personal favorite) and look at how quickly the story progresses from one action-filled segment to another (the attack on Leia’s ship, blasting out of Mos Eisley, rescuing Leia on the Death Star, fighting off the Tie Fighters during their escape on the Millennium Falcon, and the final battle of the Death Star).
You want action? You got action!
In The Old Republic, action abounds. As you run around doing various quests, you’ll have to face a multitude of foes. There are very few quests like “kill x of some creature” or “gather y of some herb.” Most quests have a much more robust reason for it and you know that you’ll have to kick the crap out of a ton of guys to finish it. The combat system is pretty fluid and whether you prefer a blaster or a lightsaber, you’ll be using them constantly. Action is dynamic and fun and the game delivers a lot of it.
Storylines
Another aspect of the original trilogy that grabbed people was the various storylines. You had the Rebellion fighting the Empire, Luke learning the ways of the Force, the revelation of Vader being Luke’s father, the romance between Leia and Han Solo, and so on. Fans became emotionally involved in what was happening onscreen (or in the books or comics) and we would debate and argue over what was happening, what could happen, and what we thought should happen for years. (Remember this is before the internet so rampant speculation took a long time to disseminate.)
In The Old Republic, the differing storylines in the game hook us and immerse us more fully into the virtual world. The class quests give you people to root for and people to hate. Some quests can fill you with sadness and others can bring a smile to your face. The quests provide an emotional connection to the game by having strong stories to tell. Having an Imperial talk scathingly to my character just because I’m playing an alien makes me want to wipe the smug look off that character’s face.
Choices
The original Star Wars trilogy was always about choice: Luke chose to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi, Han chose to follow his conscience and not his bank account, and Vader chose at the end to make sure that his son did not fall into the same hellish existence that he had.
You can choose to be a ruthless bastard of a bounty hunter (and it's the right choice!)
The Old Republic gives us choice as well. Besides the standard Sith or Republic choice, the various quests have a great deal of moral flexibility in them. As a Bounty Hunter, you can play as a ruthless, cold-hearted bastard or you can choose to play as a professional-for-hire that adheres to a code. As a Jedi, you can pursue justice or you can seek to enforce order at the expense of liberty and justice. The choices given to us in the MMO help us reflect upon our actions the same way we did when we were kids. Would we have left the Rebellion like Han Solo did right before the attack on the Death Star? Would we have come back? Would we have resisted Vader and the Emperor or would we have decided to go for power? Would we have forgiven Lando for his betrayal or would we have chucked him out the airlock? Would we have joined the Empire just to kill those damn ewoks? (I know I would have!) Choices add layers of depth to the story being played out on the screen or on our monitors.
Little Time Wasting
One aspect of The Old Republic that I love is that it cuts down on the time wasting in a number of ways. I hate spending my precious time doing boring, mundane things in a time-sink. I’m not getting any younger and I want to focus my time on doing fun and exciting things. This aspect dovetails a bit with the action cited above, but it goes deeper than that. In the original movies, there wasn’t a great deal of time wasted on boring stuff or mind-numbing introspection that lasts forever. When Luke finds out that he has a sister and that Vader is actually his father, those scenes only take a few minutes to play out. He doesn’t wail and whine for half an hour, tearing out his hair in angst. Instead, he accepts the truth and then focuses on how to deal with the situation. Bang! No wasted time.
The Old Republic cuts down on wasting time as well. For starters, I love how you can use quick travel to go to any binding point that you’ve discovered. No more of that lame crap of binding your hearthstone to Goldwater, but you realize that you want to go to Booty Bay next but can’t as you can only hearth back to Goldwater. Also, the ability to rez any of your teammates after a battle is stupendous. No more corpse runs or waiting for your companions to run back to you. Every player can rez their comrades. Lastly, having your companions go sell your junk or resource gather for you frees up your time immensely. The less time you spend doing boring, menial tasks gives you that much more time to do fun and exciting things, such as killing Jedi if you’re a Bounty Hunter. Us old-school geezers want to do great things, whether they are noble or villainous. We don’t want to be virtual accountants or basket weavers. Besides, Cracker Barrel starts serving dinner at 3pm and Matlock is on tonight. We don’t have time to waste!
It’s Star Wars!
The last reason is the simplest one of all…it’s Star Wars! We old farts love Star Wars and anything that immerses us into that universe is something we’ll gladly join. Hell, I even saw the prequels because I was so stoked that it was more Star Wars and the prequels sucked bad. Those of us who dreamed of being a Jedi can play one interacting with countless fans around the world or we can follow the path of Han Solo, the smuggler with a heart of gold. For those of us who loved the Empire (why do fascists always have the best uniforms?), we can now serve the Sith and listen to English-accented Imperials the way we’ve always dreamed of doing. Getting to see more of the Star Wars universe crafted in incredible detail is intoxicating. Plus, we get full voice acting so we can really feel like we’re in the movies listening to all the alien dialogue going on. You’re in Star Wars, baby!
All in all, the design and the execution of The Old Republic will have old-school fans such as myself forking money over every month to adventure amongst the virtual stars. With tons of action, intriguing storylines, nuanced choices, and having little time wasted in a Star Wars MMO really gets us Star Wars geezers excited and ready to play. You’ll know who we are by our slower PvP reflexes and outstanding English skills in general chat. May the Force (of the original trilogy) be with you!
Star Wars has been a cultural phenomenon for almost 35 years and The Old Republic looks to add to that legacy. While the game may focus on players who weren’t even born when the original trilogy was released, there are a few things in The Old Republic that will appeal to us old-school Star Wars fans.
Before I launch into the various reasons why The Old Republic will appeal to old-school Star Wars fans, I would like to present my first generation Star Wars fan and geezer credentials. I saw Star Wars when it was first released in 1977 at the tender age of 7. Younger people cannot fully appreciate the impact that Star Wars had on popular culture; you truly had to have been there.
Curse you, Lucas, for my lifelong Star Wars addiction!
Star Wars played in theaters for over a year….yes, a year! I got to see the movie twice, once when it first came out and then again a year later before its theatrical run ended. My father was one of those people who only saw a movie once in a theater, ever. It was sheer torture to only see the movie twice while most of my classmates and friends had seen it twenty or more times. I got the various toys (except I didn’t get the Millennium Falcon as that I had a rare attack of conscience when I could have guilted my father into buying it for me), read every comic and magazine article on Star Wars, waited with baited breath for the sequels to come out, and…to show my level of devotion…I even saw the Star Wars Holiday Special.
As you can see, I’ve been a lifelong Star Wars fan and, despite Lucas’ best efforts, continue to be one. I’ve been playing the beta for The Old Republic and there are a few features that appear that I believe will appeal to other old-school fans like myself.
Action
In the original trilogy, there is a ton of action. In the vast majority of scenes, there is always something going on or the stage is being set for some later action. Look at Star Wars (my personal favorite) and look at how quickly the story progresses from one action-filled segment to another (the attack on Leia’s ship, blasting out of Mos Eisley, rescuing Leia on the Death Star, fighting off the Tie Fighters during their escape on the Millennium Falcon, and the final battle of the Death Star).
You want action? You got action!
In The Old Republic, action abounds. As you run around doing various quests, you’ll have to face a multitude of foes. There are very few quests like “kill x of some creature” or “gather y of some herb.” Most quests have a much more robust reason for it and you know that you’ll have to kick the crap out of a ton of guys to finish it. The combat system is pretty fluid and whether you prefer a blaster or a lightsaber, you’ll be using them constantly. Action is dynamic and fun and the game delivers a lot of it.
Storylines
Another aspect of the original trilogy that grabbed people was the various storylines. You had the Rebellion fighting the Empire, Luke learning the ways of the Force, the revelation of Vader being Luke’s father, the romance between Leia and Han Solo, and so on. Fans became emotionally involved in what was happening onscreen (or in the books or comics) and we would debate and argue over what was happening, what could happen, and what we thought should happen for years. (Remember this is before the internet so rampant speculation took a long time to disseminate.)
In The Old Republic, the differing storylines in the game hook us and immerse us more fully into the virtual world. The class quests give you people to root for and people to hate. Some quests can fill you with sadness and others can bring a smile to your face. The quests provide an emotional connection to the game by having strong stories to tell. Having an Imperial talk scathingly to my character just because I’m playing an alien makes me want to wipe the smug look off that character’s face.
Choices
The original Star Wars trilogy was always about choice: Luke chose to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi, Han chose to follow his conscience and not his bank account, and Vader chose at the end to make sure that his son did not fall into the same hellish existence that he had.
You can choose to be a ruthless bastard of a bounty hunter (and it's the right choice!)
The Old Republic gives us choice as well. Besides the standard Sith or Republic choice, the various quests have a great deal of moral flexibility in them. As a Bounty Hunter, you can play as a ruthless, cold-hearted bastard or you can choose to play as a professional-for-hire that adheres to a code. As a Jedi, you can pursue justice or you can seek to enforce order at the expense of liberty and justice. The choices given to us in the MMO help us reflect upon our actions the same way we did when we were kids. Would we have left the Rebellion like Han Solo did right before the attack on the Death Star? Would we have come back? Would we have resisted Vader and the Emperor or would we have decided to go for power? Would we have forgiven Lando for his betrayal or would we have chucked him out the airlock? Would we have joined the Empire just to kill those damn ewoks? (I know I would have!) Choices add layers of depth to the story being played out on the screen or on our monitors.
Little Time Wasting
One aspect of The Old Republic that I love is that it cuts down on the time wasting in a number of ways. I hate spending my precious time doing boring, mundane things in a time-sink. I’m not getting any younger and I want to focus my time on doing fun and exciting things. This aspect dovetails a bit with the action cited above, but it goes deeper than that. In the original movies, there wasn’t a great deal of time wasted on boring stuff or mind-numbing introspection that lasts forever. When Luke finds out that he has a sister and that Vader is actually his father, those scenes only take a few minutes to play out. He doesn’t wail and whine for half an hour, tearing out his hair in angst. Instead, he accepts the truth and then focuses on how to deal with the situation. Bang! No wasted time.
The Old Republic cuts down on wasting time as well. For starters, I love how you can use quick travel to go to any binding point that you’ve discovered. No more of that lame crap of binding your hearthstone to Goldwater, but you realize that you want to go to Booty Bay next but can’t as you can only hearth back to Goldwater. Also, the ability to rez any of your teammates after a battle is stupendous. No more corpse runs or waiting for your companions to run back to you. Every player can rez their comrades. Lastly, having your companions go sell your junk or resource gather for you frees up your time immensely. The less time you spend doing boring, menial tasks gives you that much more time to do fun and exciting things, such as killing Jedi if you’re a Bounty Hunter. Us old-school geezers want to do great things, whether they are noble or villainous. We don’t want to be virtual accountants or basket weavers. Besides, Cracker Barrel starts serving dinner at 3pm and Matlock is on tonight. We don’t have time to waste!
It’s Star Wars!
The last reason is the simplest one of all…it’s Star Wars! We old farts love Star Wars and anything that immerses us into that universe is something we’ll gladly join. Hell, I even saw the prequels because I was so stoked that it was more Star Wars and the prequels sucked bad. Those of us who dreamed of being a Jedi can play one interacting with countless fans around the world or we can follow the path of Han Solo, the smuggler with a heart of gold. For those of us who loved the Empire (why do fascists always have the best uniforms?), we can now serve the Sith and listen to English-accented Imperials the way we’ve always dreamed of doing. Getting to see more of the Star Wars universe crafted in incredible detail is intoxicating. Plus, we get full voice acting so we can really feel like we’re in the movies listening to all the alien dialogue going on. You’re in Star Wars, baby!
All in all, the design and the execution of The Old Republic will have old-school fans such as myself forking money over every month to adventure amongst the virtual stars. With tons of action, intriguing storylines, nuanced choices, and having little time wasted in a Star Wars MMO really gets us Star Wars geezers excited and ready to play. You’ll know who we are by our slower PvP reflexes and outstanding English skills in general chat. May the Force (of the original trilogy) be with you!
