Darth Hater

Many good changes went into patch 1.1, Rise of the Rakghouls. The patch added a new flashpoint, implemented anti-aliasing, and expanded Karagga’s Palace to a full-size Operation. However, as the title of this article implies, Ilum is still a hell of a mess.

On the outside, Star Wars: The Old Republic may seem like a traditional good versus evil conflict between the Republic and the Empire. But much like an office environment, there are many more factions, relationships, traditions and passive-aggressive memos involved in the grand scheme of things. Let’s take a look at some of the potential conflicts one may find during the Old Republic era.

When BioWare first announced Star Wars: The Old Republic, they released a video explaining the collaboration between LucasArts and BioWare as well as some of the key features of the game. One of these features was the lack of a save button. Traditionally in BioWare games, players could see the result of their choices in-game and then load up a prior save to see what happens when they make a different choice. However, in Star Wars: The Old Republic, there is no save button; the decisions you make are the decisions you live with. As more information about the game comes to the surface, the key feature of making decisions that last seems to have fallen by the wayside.

The massively multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG as you may know it, is a sub-genre of role-playing games. Set in a persistent virtual world, MMORPGs allow a large number of players to interact with one another simultaneously. Star Wars: The Old Republic, or SWTOR, is an upcoming MMORPG from BioWare, but you already knew that. What you may not know is that it took more than five years of development to get SWTOR to where it is today. SWTOR is part of a family tree of video games that traces its lineage back almost 40 years. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at all the games that paved the way for SWTOR, then take a quick glimpse at what is coming next.

In the early days of MMOs there were no "do overs" when it came to making choices. Your class was your class, and your abilities were your abilities. If you wanted to change those choices, that's just too bad. Over the years developers have softened their implementation of character advancement, gradually allowing more and more forgiveness for mistakes and experimentation in terms of talent trees, abilities and powers. Some of these systems have been much more outlandish than others. For example, Tabula Rasa allowed players to make complete copies of their characters at certain points in the leveling process to allow them to more easily experience the game's branching, and mutually exclusive, skill trees. Rift allows players to mix and match souls on the fly, combining to create a nearly limitless number of skill combinations.

Release dates are tricky things. Release your game at the wrong time and it wont be successful no matter how fun the game is; release your game at the right time and a mediocre game can become a cult favorite. MMOs, however, are entirely different beasts. Because of their audience and the way they make their money (through subscriptions or microtransactions rather than initial box sales), MMOs can release independent of the normal release schedule and still be successful. Nearly three years after its announcement, Star Wars: The Old Republic finally has a release date. On December 20 in North America and Europe, we will be able to log in and experience the Old Republic era. On the official forums in the announcement thread titled Launch Date for STAR WARS: The Old Republic, people share their views on the release date, and whether they think it is the right choice or not.

In recent months, BioWare developers finally began sharing information about their take on raids, which they call Operations. BioWare announced details about the different group sizes and the loot distribution system for normal-mode operations, both of which will have great impact on what raiding will be like in Star Wars: The Old Republic. What do these details mean for those of us who plan on raiding in TOR?

Romantic arcs are integral to BioWare's game design style. This is true all the way from Baldur's Gate II to Mass Effect 3, and Star Wars: The Old Republic is no different. By giving our companions gifts and picking the appropriate dialog choices, we may gain enough affection to pursue a romance with them. This process also leads to additional quests given by the companion and a richer understanding of who that companion is. However, this romance system isnt without its controversy, especially when it is concerning the romance arcs of the Jedi Knight and the Jedi Consular.

As gamers, we love to think we're in control of our own virtual destinies. Because of this, we appreciate the freedom many games, including Star Wars: The Old Republic, provide regarding individual freedom of choice. We are able to choose our race, class, advanced class, skills, mustaches, deformities, companions, guild mates, and how we use each. What many may not realize is just how much a game can manipulate our decisions. SWTOR expands this phenomenon quite a bit, with players becoming arguably more invested in their character's narrative and choices than any MMO before it. With these realizations in mind, it's hard not to consider the following when one first logs in to Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Everyone loves the holidays. Family coming together, putting up decorations, spending loads of money you do not have, and no one can forget the food. It is no wonder game developers try to emulate that in their MMORPGs, where millions of players all around the world come together to participate in the festivities. Holidays can be an important part of an MMO when implemented. It breaks up the monotony, brings people together to experience new content and with new, holiday themed loot. However, with no real holidays in a galaxy far, far away, besides a couple found in the depths of the Expanded Universe it could be a hard one to justify. With BioWare taking a stand against holidays outside Star Wars, what could this mean for them in Star Wars: The Old Republic? We invite you to follow the jump to find out.