I've finally made my way to The Old Republic and let me tell you, I was surprised. I didn't expect the narrative depth to be akin to the KOTOR series I loved so much. I didn't expect many of the characters to be memorable and fun to return to. This wasn't mindless grinding, it was changing a world. Or at least that's how I took it. In all honesty it amounts to mindless grinding. But the variety of missions! From ritual rites to investigations, you feel like you're actually accomplishing things in TOR. As opposed to WoW where you were just told to kill 10 of this, then 15 of this, then bring me 8 of this after escorting x. There I just gave you every WoW mission ever made. TOR is fun. So what's the downside? Why isn't everyone rushing to TOR? I think the combat system is overly simplistic. It's never clear whether I actually need my teammates in flashpoints. Perhaps I'm too low of a level to see it, which if that's the case then that's fine. But one critical tension I saw popping up stems from what's excellent about the game.
I didn't want to play with other people. Why share my quests with other people? I want to make decisions. I want to convince others of my valor. I want to decide things for my world. Sharing it with other people who may disagree with me or worse, who may be on the darkside, seemed just wrong. It may be my natural narcissism when it comes to stories, but I honestly just wished the game was single player. However, that changed when I did a flashpoint.
Flashpoints give you a unique social opportunity. Though the one I did was clearly made from the KOTOR mold, the multi conversational aspect of the flashpoint allows me to interact with my fellow republic troops in ways I couldn't even imagine. Now RolePlaying is a thing in TOR. For the first time I get a tiny glimpse into how my teammates view their character in this world. Are you brash? Are you defiant? Are you an evil asshole. All of these traits can be revealed about your character through a flashpoint. Couple that with the intense difficulty of going through a two hour to three hour ordeal and you have the recipe for incredibly meaningful gameplay. I'm still a low level in TOR, so if anything new and interesting pops up, then I'll definitely keep you posted. But the verdict is out. TOR is fun. I am super biased as I love Star Wars, so there's that.
I didn't want to play with other people. Why share my quests with other people? I want to make decisions. I want to convince others of my valor. I want to decide things for my world. Sharing it with other people who may disagree with me or worse, who may be on the darkside, seemed just wrong. It may be my natural narcissism when it comes to stories, but I honestly just wished the game was single player. However, that changed when I did a flashpoint.
Flashpoints give you a unique social opportunity. Though the one I did was clearly made from the KOTOR mold, the multi conversational aspect of the flashpoint allows me to interact with my fellow republic troops in ways I couldn't even imagine. Now RolePlaying is a thing in TOR. For the first time I get a tiny glimpse into how my teammates view their character in this world. Are you brash? Are you defiant? Are you an evil asshole. All of these traits can be revealed about your character through a flashpoint. Couple that with the intense difficulty of going through a two hour to three hour ordeal and you have the recipe for incredibly meaningful gameplay. I'm still a low level in TOR, so if anything new and interesting pops up, then I'll definitely keep you posted. But the verdict is out. TOR is fun. I am super biased as I love Star Wars, so there's that.
