Article: Star Wars Space Combat and The Old Republic
Written By: Adam Babloyan
Date: 2 Apr 2010

A Certain Point of View #1: Star Wars Space Combat and The Old Republic

  • “…many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our point of view” – Ben Kenobi

Hello and welcome fellow Nerf Herders (scruffy or otherwise) to issue #1 of A Certain Point of View, a newly launched – and with any luck monthly – editorial column dedicated to BioWare’s latest project Star Wars: The Old Republic. Each month we’ll take an in-depth and hopefully interesting look at some of the design decisions and development philosophies BioWare is bringing to TOR and more importantly how such things will affect our gaming experience as players.

I’ll be taking certain liberties occasionally and diving off the deep end of the pool and into speculative waters, but I hope our more discerning readers will appreciate the fact that when and if I interject my own subjective views into this article I’ll do so with the full intention of supporting my opinion. Besides, how interesting would it really be to read an entire column whose sole purpose is to highlight previously known information? It certainly wouldn’t make my Saturday morning I can tell you that.

With that said, I have to admit that when the task of kicking off this piece was first set to me I found myself at something of a loss. I’d like to think it wasn’t from any personal failing on my part but instead a natural reaction to the sheer scope of The Old Republic itself – an absolutely massive undertaking in its own right – an undertaking that is described by Electronic Art’s Chief Financial officer Eric Brown as the...

Rating:
[Complain about this item]
http://www.swtor.com/



Leave a Comment

View Comments (5)

Dude, I totally agree with the statements you have made and I am sure that he has to know that people left swg not because of jtl but because of the reason you stated above and many had been looking for something else ever since the combat change they had forced on us many who kept their accounts as long as they did (me for 1) did so (for another 2 yrs) because of jtl.... many of my friends kept their accounts even longer then I just for the jtl dogfighting and ect,... I will sign any piece of paper with blood if need be to get a jtl type experience in this game too.... after all how can it be a Star Wars game truly without such ??? tks for listening lol
Posted by wesley waller on 20 April 2010 17:55
A Star Wars online game without space would be something that I wouldnt play...I play Galaxies and Galaxies is where Ill stay.
Posted by doug adams on 10 April 2010 20:59
I played Star Wars Galaxies (i.e. SWG) very faithfully from mid 2005 until just a few months ago, and I can honestly say the main thing keeping me in the game for the past year or more WAS the spaceflight (JtL) aspect. Without that, the ground based interaction was all but played out and spaceflight and combat was my "main escape" into the Star Wars universe.

As an aside, the "NGE" stood for "New Game 'Enhancement' " (subquotes mine), not "New Game Experience," (a trivial difference, I concede,) but many of us referred to it as the "New Galactic Edict" for the way it was ram-rodded down the players' throats. SWG was one of the best MMO's running until that little jewel of a "patch" landed like a flaming bag of poo on the doorsteps of all its players. Most of my friends and almost our entire (50+ member) guild left within the next 6 months, very few ever to return for any length of time. It still saddens me when I think about it.

One of the things I am MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO is some thrilling spaceflight and space combat withing SWTOR! Don't let us down, Bioware, give us the ships! Star Wars without spaceflight is like filming an entire pirate movie inside a tavern, it just doesn't fit. The whole Death Star trench scene would have had a much less-thrilling impact if all we saw of it was from inside the Rebel Command Center. Star Wars NEEDS space! Without it, it just isn't Star Wars at all. It's Ground Wars. I do NOT want to play Ground Wars, at least not for very long.

I'm currently playing Star Trek Online, where almost inarguably the very best aspect is the space combat. The rest of the game is (and I say this as a fully-fledged Lifetime Subcription buyer) rather take-it-or-leave it, but the space combat really shines for the most part. The rest of the game IS improving, but if the space combat weren't there, the game would probably already be shuttered.

Go, go, GO Bioware! Just give us space, please.
Posted by Eryxx on 9 April 2010 23:00
JTL was a great expansion. The only problem it caused was that people were forced to congregate less waiting for shuttles etc. which detracted from the social aspect of the game. Gordon Walton imho is talking utter bollocks.
Posted by bluemeanie on 9 April 2010 20:30
Star Wars Galaxies fell apart because of that stupid ass New Game Experience. They took and erased basically everything players had worked for, all their character development, cheapened the achievement people felt for getting to be Jedi.

My dad was a Creature Handler in the game, had a collection of like every creature, spent so many hours maxing his stats, and then the New Game Experience came out and suddenly Creature Handler wasn't a class anymore, and suddenly he lost all his pets, and all the hundreds of hours he spent in the game. Of course he left. Of course so many other people left. If you screw with people like that, they leave. Jump to Lightspeed had nothing to do with it, in fact Jump to Lightspeed was the best thing about Galaxies IMO. I wish I had explored it more before the game became so shitty.
Posted by Andrew Geczy on 6 April 2010 16:24

Advertise with us
Advertise with us