KotOR 3 - To be MMO

[woges]

Portfolio.com (http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/the-tech-observer/2008/07/17/ea-to-play-in-knights-of-the-old-republic) is reporting that the next KotOR is to be an MMO.
N. Evan Van Zelfden in Los Angeles warns, watch out World of Warcraft. In an interview at E3 this week, Electronic Arts chief executive John Riccitiello said that EA is working on the next version of Star Wars game Knights of the Old Republic, and it will most certainly have a massively multiplayer online component to it.

"We've got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development," said Riccitiello. The first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon. "And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about -- in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it."

Does Riccitiello mean the oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online? "Yes," he said.
More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=9644)

[Ionstormsucks]

OMG the end of days is near. Hehehe, this will be EXTREMLY funny...

Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war!

[woges]

Looks like it's going to be called The Old Republic.

I wonder how they will handle Jedi in this one (if this slip is real ofc).

[Moriendor]

I wonder how they will handle Jedi in this one (if this slip is real ofc).

Probably like any old, regular character class. Unlike SWG (SWG in the early days that is), it's not like they need any restrictions because of the setting. Old Republic means it's no problem at all to have thousands of Jedi in the game. Just like thousands of Sith (since at that time they don't need to worry about the "only ever two, Master and Apprentice" rule either).

If there is one lesson to be learnt from SWG, it's that Jedi as an alpha class with special restrictions or requirements does not work at all. Not even remotely.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Jedi or Sith would turn out to be the only classes in KotORO and if you would then have to pick a specialized branch during character development to become e.g. a Jedi priest (healer), Jedi warrior (melee specialist), Jedi hunter (ranged specialist), Jedi warlock, Jedi rogue, well, you get the idea... just check out the WoW classes and add "Jedi" or "Sith" as a prefix ;) .

[JDR13]

The title of this thread is sort of misleading. Bioware is indeed working on an MMO that will be based on the KotOR franchise, but it's not KotOR 3.

[woges]

Well we've (I've) been covering the other KotOR MMO news in here. I'll update it when there's an official web-site and what not.

[woges]

With regards to the Jedi and Sith classes Moriendor, I was thinking if the game would have a dynamic structure to it as in the previous games where your playing and questing would decide your fate with regards to this.

[doctor_kaz]

I'm not surprised that they are trying another Star Wars MMO but I don't see how it's going to work since the Jedi are by far the most powerful characters in this universe. Thus, anyone who doesn't want a gimped character will want to be a Jedi.

And I really hope this isn't truly Kotor 3. People who want a conclusion to the story aren't going to play an MMORPG.

[Ionstormsucks]

They could do it like in Lotro where you can't really play a wizrad because those are way too powerful. So they could just tell players that they will only be able to play a Jedi apprentice... so to speak a Jedi in training - you know with some of the powers of a full-fledged Jedi, but not all of them... like Luke in the second movie. In my opinion that would be more interesting anyway than to play an Uber-class.

[hishadow]

If I understood correctly, this will be kept away from consoles?

[kalniel]

If I understood correctly, this will be kept away from consoles?

Why would you want to do that?

[elikal]

First I thought I jump out of my chair in joy! But then... what does it mean the game will have MMO "component"?? Is it a MMO or is it a single player game with Online features?? ?__?

[Avantenor]

Fake News?

http://theforce.net/latestnews/story/Has_A_KOTOR_MMO_Been_Confirmed_116148.asp

[Steel_Wind]

And I really hope this isn't truly Kotor 3. People who want a conclusion to the story aren't going to play an MMORPG.

I think what you mean to say is that *you* don't want an MMORPG to continue or resolve that story.

You != "people"

I predict there will be several million "people" who will demonstrably prove you wrong. They will purchase this game by the millions and will subscribe to it monthly. And the money shall begin to roll in.

Whether that rolling in of money will justify EAs $800 million puchase of Elevation remains to be seen. What is clear is that John Riccitello believes in this game - and he believes in it deeply.

He was the guy who through Elevation Partners coupled BioWare and Pandemic to leverage Pandemic's Star Wars experience for BioWare's MMO.

He was the guy who caused Elevation to completely fund this game from the beginning. And he is the guy who caused EA to purchase Elevation (and thereby BioWare and Pandemic) because that was the bet he made; he's the guy who slapped the farm down on the table and has spun the wheel.

In the end, KotOR online has been announced by the guy who DESERVES to be the one to announce it. KotOR MMO really is John Riccitello's game. He's the guy who has paid the bills on this one. His career in the industry will live or die by its success.

If it flops - this guy will be out of a job.

It's all a matter of risk and unknowns of course. All game development is. But I happen to think he is right; if there is a WoW killer, it will be KotOR online. That does not mean it will be one - simply that of all MMOs in development - it has the best chance.

[JDR13]

I predict there will be several million "people" who will demonstrably prove you wrong. They will purchase this game by the millions and will subscribe to it monthly. And the money shall begin to roll in..


How exactly would that prove him wrong?

Of course several million people would indeed purchase a MMO based on that material, hell you could stamp "Star Wars" on a bag of dog sh*t and it would sell several million. That doesn't have anything to do with KotOR 3.

[Hedek]

Chances of Bioware developing 2 different KoTOR games, one being a SP KoTOR 3 and the other a MMO, are low. But that would definitely be my favorite option. I'd buy both. Or better yet, 2 in 1 : that MMO could start out as a regular SP game, and once you finish the SP story of KoTOR 3 you enter the MMO world with a new destiny/story to write: "yours" (sounds already like PR talk doesn't it). Kind of like AoC was supposed to be at first.

[Maylander]

As previously mentioned - KotOR Online is certainly not KotOR3. Indeed, it is to KotOR what WoW is to Warcraft.

I personally believe we'll see a 3rd KotOR game, as LucasArts usually want to make as much money as possible. Maybe the secret project by Obsidian? Maybe a future game by BioWare?

All in all, I feel this is good news, as I'm getting tired of fantasy MMOs, and Star Wars: Galaxies is a tad too old by now. This might just become my new time-filler between good SP RPGs.

[Moriendor]

With regards to the Jedi and Sith classes Moriendor, I was thinking if the game would have a dynamic structure to it as in the previous games where your playing and questing would decide your fate with regards to this.

While that would be sort of interesting, I don't think that it would really work too well in an MMORPG.
I think that it would be lame if you could (by questing) fall to the dark side or to the light side as you wish. Vader falling from the dark side back to the light side was supposed to be an exception (the fulfillment of a prophecy). It would be strange if thousands of Jedi or Sith could switch sides all the time by doing certain quests to gain either light side or dark side points.

And if you would make it so that you can only one-way fall from the light side to the dark side via certain actions but not the other way around then those quests and actions had better be designed completely n00b- and idiot-proof because otherwise you're going to end up facing a whinefest of epic proportions (*randomn00b1337 kills a bunch of peaceful/allied NPCs with an AOE attack and that kill tips him over the edge into the dark side* ... "I didn't mean to kill those NPCs. It was an accident caused by lag. Subtract those dark side points right now or I'm cancelling my account!" etc)

The only way I see how all this could actually work is if the introduction to the game (the starter planet or whatever) would be instanced and if you would get to pick your side while questing from level 1 to 10 or 1 to 20 or something like that. The side should then IMHO stick after you leave the newbie area though. People should really have to make a choice about light or dark (or neutral if that'd be possible). Players would then also be more passionate about working in favor of or defending their side than if the other side would always just be a few quests away.

[Vestige]

This game will make diablo III look like another gauntlet.

www.kotor3mmo.com

[danutz_plusplus]

This game will make diablo III look like another gauntlet.

www.kotor3mmo.com

First of all Diablo 3 is not going to be an mmo.
Second, if it were an mmo, it would probably be the other way around.:)

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Yers, but D3 will most certainly have an online component.

The exact same words were used for KOTOR 3, by the way.

[Dez]

No. No. That's not true. That's impossible!
Search your feelings, you know it to be true!
No! No!

I'm not even least intrested of MMOs. I'd love to see kotor 3 as a sp rpg with a strong storyline. Mmos are just same old exp hunting without substance. Wake up me when this nightmare is over.

[zakhal]

I'm not even least intrested of MMOs. I'd love to see kotor 3 as a sp rpg with a strong storyline. Mmos are just same old exp hunting without substance. Wake up me when this nightmare is over.

I bet ten million wow players might disagree with that. Social enviroment mixed with exp hunting without substance makes the best game ever. EA wants piece of the pie:
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i45/Jaesun999/Subscriptions_8846_image001.png

Wow fans have argued that its the social aspect that makes the game so fun. I wonder if mmos are more like social networks than real games. Halfway between a facebook and a real game. Allthough inferior to what wow offers facebook has lots of games too. You have levels and other status things in them, you can gather exp and other stuff and you have guilds and pvp.

If mmos are more like social networks than games then it wont be easy to introduce new ones into the market. Most people are more than happy to use single facebook. I doubt many people see the need to constantly switch to new ones. If its true mmo market would have only limited space. We might never see more than one or two big names. Rest of the games would be doomed to niche forever.

[wolfgrimdark]

Its Wowbook or MyWow :) That is a cool way of looking at it. Pretty much sums up while I play. I don't get into the raiding. But I will often login just to chat - often not even moving my character. Course I also enjoy playing but its like weekend softball - its often just an excuse to do something with friends.

[Maylander]

I have to admit, I've spent way too many hours sitting around in Ironforge just chatting with friends in guilds/parties/whispers.

[Dez]

I spent 2 hours chatting in irc today, so I can't claim I'm any better!! :)

Though when i play rpgs I just want to get sucked into a gamerworld and have no distractions. Follow a storyline and enjoy the gameworld, live an other life in an other world or something like that. I haven't played much mmos so can't tell what it is really like. My limited experience however tells me that people are mosly chatting or hunting experience. Nothing wrong there really, people like different things. My online gaming is mostly focused on fps games. since they are easy to jump in and hard to master..its the competative side of me that begs satisfaction! :)

[JemyM]

There are so many reasons why I do not like this at all and actually felt a feeling of loss already.

First, there are enough MMO's on the market already. KOTOR is a "young world", not as popular as the original Star Wars, Lord of the Rings or WarCraft. It have nothing interesting about it except for being made by a known developer and might be an option for SWG. MMO's that do not have something that draws people to it (except for great reviews) will fail.

Second, Bioware's strength are singleplayer storydriven RPG's. MMO's are something different entirely. MMO's are generally built on grinding, grinding and repeating the same task over and over again. There's nothing to suggest that Bioware could produce a good MMO. It's like hoping for a great airplane simulator from Blizzard. An MMO and a storydriven RPG are that different.

Third, chances are great that this will fail, and when it fails it will be a stab in the gut for Bioware, one of the few companies that actually suceed in making great RPG's popular.

Fourth, even if it does not outright fail, this will definitely halt their production of good singleplayer RPG's and I cannot say there's enough of them on the market atm.

Personally, the idea of a KOTOR MMO excite me as much as a pokemon game for gameboy... not at all. I have already wasted several irreplaceable years on SWG and it almost completely ruined my love for the Star Wars saga. I felt abused as a customer, and it made pretty much everything there was about Star Wars wrong. It also had an insane philosophy that MMO's should be about "work hard and get rewarded", and playing the game was a constant pain. You work to buy games, you do not buy games to work. I still feel like a looser for spending money on that product because the hours I spent grinding for nothing in that game I could have spent grinding for everything in my real life.

[Maylander]

I don't really think it's a "KotOR" game in that way. It's just an MMO set in the Old Republic, which is a certain time in the Star Wars universe, where there were loads and loads of Jedi and Sith.

This doesn't mean KotOR3 is not getting made. Personally, I hope Obsidian will make it after their next title is done. :)

[woges]

I think Priestly said Bioware aren't working on KotOR 3 (single player) so if it is coming it'll be Obsidian or a new dev team. Of course they have been know to fib a little from time-to-time.