Skip to main content

Can Star Wars: The Old Republic ever live up to the promise of its incredible trailers?

And the spectre of KOTOR 3?

Last week a wonderful Star Wars animation captured the imaginations of gaming audiences and beyond. It told the story of a mother trying to rescue her young daughter from the Dark Side of the Force. Innocence versus corruption. It was emotional, cinematic and had an impressive fight scene. Such production values wouldn't have looked out of place in a cinema. But this animation wasn't building excitement for the big screen. It was building excitement for a game. But could a game ever live up to it?

It's just an excuse to watch the trailer again, really. And also a place to point out that SWTOR isn't the only MMO that uses lavish cinematics to promote its game - World of Warcraft is renowned for it as well.Watch on YouTube

What the animation tapped into was a longing for a cinematic Star Wars game with a story. Perhaps Star Wars: Battlefront 2 will have a story in 2017. Amy Hennig's Star Wars action adventure, due out in 2018, definitely will. But will they be deep and winding and emotional enough? Let's cut to the chase: what the trailer tapped into was a longing for Knights of the Old Republic 3.

Imagine the fantastical sights and sounds of Star Wars brought to life with the razzmatazz of the Mass Effect series (which in a way I suppose was BioWare's KOTOR 3 - one it could creatively fully control). Imagine an emotional BioWare tale of Light and Dark, with all the characters and romances and betrayals the studio is famed for. The battles! The Lightsabers thrumming and clashing like cymbals, Force powers crackling and raging. I would like no game more! But I can't have it.

Instead, the animation tells me, I can have an expansion pack for Star Wars: The Old Republic - an online game that's five years old and was outdated before it even arrived. It's the answer BioWare and EA have tried to give fans braying for KOTOR 3 for nearly a decade now. BioWare's Greg Zeschuk even once said SWTOR "is like KOTOR 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 literally in this one game". But quantity of story and voice acting cannot hide one important truth: a Knights of the Old Republic adventure is about being someone special, not being one person in thousands. Fundamentally a massively-multiplayer game cannot make you feel like single-player game would. How can it?

But for better or worse, BioWare is trying. Knights of the Eternal Throne will be The Old Republic's second seriously-story expansion after Knights of the Fallen Empire last year. The easiest way to think of them is as single-player games played in an online world, and they're more directly trying to scratch the KOTOR itch than ever before. But can they, in any way, live up to the promise of that trailer, to the promise of a KOTOR 3?

Here's the equally impressive animation for Knights of the Fallen Empire.Watch on YouTube

I subscribed to SWTOR for a month (£8.99) to find out. It's a free-to-play game but for that fee I got a level 60 character to play all of the Fallen Empire storyline with, including the chapters released throughout the year (the final, 16th chapter was released in August 2016). I expected the reality of playing the game to be alarming, because I know from memory that SWTOR doesn't look anything like that cinematic, and I expected to be disappointed. But 15 hours later I felt differently.

Knights of the Fallen Empire had made me feel special. I'd seen a story from start to finish and I alone had defeated the bad guy, which is a simple-sounding feat for a video game but one that usually requires a group, or group of groups, in an online game. My adventure had had all of the BioWare beats. I'd recruited a team, built a base, kissed a companion but argued with others, built a Lightsaber - even had a training montage while on a mystical sojourn where philosophical mumbo jumbo about the Force was babbled at me. And I love that - I love it when a game raises your character above the rote class you picked and gives you unforeseen, fancy abilities. And Knights of the Fallen Empire does that.

Through story-focused buffs and temporary abilities (and personal companions who heal their socks off) you are able to take on overwhelming odds and bosses alone. The final fight in Knights of the Fallen Empire had Lightsabers twirling in a furious dance while powers erupted, filling the screen. It was genuinely exhilarating, and it capped a string of encounters where Knights of the Fallen Empire superseded my expectations of what this old Star Wars: The Old Republic game could be.

Conversely where Knights of the Fallen Empire fell down was in the moments SWTOR shone through. The bespoke cut-scenes and missions and story areas cast an admirable and convincing spell but they cannot not hide the creaky beast underneath. They cannot hide the staccato hotbar combat fussied by 60 character levels of abilities that all have to gel with a wider game. They cannot hide the limited toybox of things you can actually do on a mission, so enemies and tasks are reused over and over again. Nor can they hide dreary, lifeless environments. When it got to the point of traipsing back and forth across sprawling but empty zones designed for other players, the focused story spell of Knights of the Fallen Empire almost broke entirely. It's a game world that feels old, and looks it - more handsome than the decade-old KOTOR games, sure, but far, far away from what a new role-playing game by BioWare could be.

SWTOR has a long history of impressive animated trailers, stretching right back to 2009, way before the game was released.Watch on YouTube

It's a bit of a paradox. Knights of the Fallen Empire would be better without Star Wars: The Old Republic, but without SWTOR it would not exist - and I'm happy it does. Whether or not the upcoming Knights of the Eternal Throne expansion can do much about those underlying issues, bend the rules even further, I don't know. I hope so, because I enjoyed Knights of the Fallen Empire in spite of my preconceptions. It almost itched the scratch, and for £8.99 it's one hell of a generous package (especially considering there's a whole MMO of story content underneath if you want to keep playing). It's not KOTOR 3, nor will Knights of the Eternal Throne be, nor will SWTOR ever be, because KOTOR 3 must be something completely new, something single-player, and something that looks cutting edge, shallow as that is to say. But SWTOR does feel a lot like KOTOR 2.5, and with Knights of the Eternal Throne on the horizon will only get better.

Read this next

seductrice.net
universo-virtual.com
buytrendz.net
thisforall.net
benchpressgains.com
qthzb.com
mindhunter9.com
dwjqp1.com
secure-signup.net
ahaayy.com
tressesindia.com
puresybian.com
krpano-chs.com
cre8workshop.com
hdkino.org
peixun021.com
qz786.com
utahperformingartscenter.org
worldqrmconference.com
shangyuwh.com
eejssdfsdfdfjsd.com
playminecraftfreeonline.com
trekvietnamtour.com
your-business-articles.com
essaywritingservice10.com
hindusamaaj.com
joggingvideo.com
wandercoups.com
wormblaster.net
tongchengchuyange0004.com
internetknowing.com
breachurch.com
peachesnginburlesque.com
dataarchitectoo.com
clientfunnelformula.com
30pps.com
cherylroll.com
ks2252.com
prowp.net
webmanicura.com
sofietsshotel.com
facetorch.com
nylawyerreview.com
apapromotions.com
shareparelli.com
goeaglepointe.com
thegreenmanpubphuket.com
karotorossian.com
publicsensor.com
taiwandefence.com
epcsur.com
mfhoudan.com
southstills.com
tvtv98.com
thewellington-hotel.com
bccaipiao.com
colectoresindustrialesgs.com
shenanddcg.com
capriartfilmfestival.com
replicabreitlingsale.com
thaiamarinnewtoncorner.com
gkmcww.com
mbnkbj.com
andrewbrennandesign.com
cod54.com
luobinzhang.com
faithfirst.net
zjyc28.com
tongchengjinyeyouyue0004.com
nhuan6.com
kftz5k.com
oldgardensflowers.com
lightupthefloor.com
bahamamamas-stjohns.com
ly2818.com
905onthebay.com
fonemenu.com
notanothermovie.com
ukrainehighclassescort.com
meincmagazine.com
av-5858.com
yallerdawg.com
donkeythemovie.com
corporatehospitalitygroup.com
boboyy88.com
miteinander-lernen.com
dannayconsulting.com
officialtomsshoesoutletstore.com
forsale-amoxil-amoxicillin.net
generictadalafil-canada.net
guitarlessonseastlondon.com
lesliesrestaurants.com
mattyno9.com
nri-homeloans.com
rtgvisas-qatar.com
salbutamolventolinonline.net
sportsinjuries.info
wedsna.com
rgkntk.com
bkkmarketplace.com
zxqcwx.com
breakupprogram.com
boxcardc.com
unblockyoutubeindonesia.com
fabulousbookmark.com
beat-the.com
guatemala-sailfishing-vacations-charters.com
magie-marketing.com
kingstonliteracy.com
guitaraffinity.com
eurelookinggoodapparel.com
howtolosecheekfat.net
marioncma.org
oliviadavismusic.com
shantelcampbellrealestate.com
shopleborn13.com
topindiafree.com
v-visitors.net
djjky.com
053hh.com
originbluei.com
baucishotel.com
33kkn.com
intrinsiqresearch.com
mariaescort-kiev.com
mymaguk.com
sponsored4u.com
crimsonclass.com
bataillenavale.com
searchtile.com
ze-stribrnych-struh.com
zenithalhype.com
modalpkv.com
bouisset-lafforgue.com
useupload.com
37r.net
autoankauf-muenster.com
bantinbongda.net
bilgius.com
brabustermagazine.com
indigrow.org
miicrosofts.net
mysmiletravel.com
selinasims.com
spellcubesapp.com
usa-faction.com
hypoallergenicdogsnames.com
dailyupdatez.com
foodphotographyreviews.com
cricutcom-setup.com
chprowebdesign.com
katyrealty-kanepa.com
tasramar.com
bilgipinari.org
four-am.com
indiarepublicday.com
inquick-enbooks.com
iracmpi.com
kakaschoenen.com
lsm99flash.com
nana1255.com
ngen-niagara.com
technwzs.com
virtualonlinecasino1345.com
wallpapertop.net
casino-natali.com
iprofit-internet.com
denochemexicana.com
eventhalfkg.com
medcon-taiwan.com
life-himawari.com
myriamshomes.com
nightmarevue.com
healthandfitnesslives.com
androidnews-jp.com
allstarsru.com
bestofthebuckeyestate.com
bestofthefirststate.com
bestwireless7.com
britsmile.com
declarationintermittent.com
findhereall.com
jingyou888.com
lsm99deal.com
lsm99galaxy.com
moozatech.com
nuagh.com
patliyo.com
philomenamagikz.net
rckouba.net
saturnunipessoallda.com
tallahasseefrolics.com
thematurehardcore.net
totalenvironment-inthatquietearth.com
velislavakaymakanova.com
vermontenergetic.com
kakakpintar.com
jerusalemdispatch.com
begorgeouslady.com
1800birks4u.com
2wheelstogo.com
6strip4you.com
bigdata-world.net
emailandco.net
gacapal.com
jharpost.com
krishnaastro.com
lsm99credit.com
mascalzonicampani.com
sitemapxml.org
thecityslums.net
topagh.com
flairnetwebdesign.com
rajasthancarservices.com
bangkaeair.com
beneventocoupon.com
noternet.org
oqtive.com
smilebrightrx.com
decollage-etiquette.com
1millionbestdownloads.com
7658.info
bidbass.com
devlopworldtech.com
digitalmarketingrajkot.com
fluginfo.net
naqlafshk.com
passion-decouverte.com
playsirius.com
spacceleratorintl.com
stikyballs.com
top10way.com
yokidsyogurt.com
zszyhl.com
16firthcrescent.com
abogadolaboralistamd.com
apk2wap.com
aromacremeria.com
banparacard.com
bosmanraws.com
businessproviderblog.com
caltonosa.com
calvaryrevivalchurch.org
chastenedsoulwithabrokenheart.com
cheminotsgardcevennes.com
cooksspot.com
cqxzpt.com
deesywig.com
deltacartoonmaps.com
despixelsetdeshommes.com
duocoracaobrasileiro.com
fareshopbd.com
goodpainspills.com
hemendekor.com
kobisitecdn.com
makaigoods.com
mgs1454.com
piccadillyresidences.com
radiolaondafresca.com
rubendorf.com
searchengineimprov.com
sellmyhrvahome.com
shugahouseessentials.com
sonihullquad.com
subtractkilos.com
valeriekelmansky.com
vipasdigitalmarketing.com
voolivrerj.com
worldhealthstory.com
zeelonggroup.com
1015southrockhill.com
10x10b.com
111-online-casinos.com
191cb.com
3665arpentunitd.com
aitesonics.com
bag-shokunin.com
brightotech.com
communication-digitale-services.com
covoakland.org
dariaprimapack.com
freefortniteaccountss.com
gatebizglobal.com
global1entertainmentnews.com
greatytene.com
hiroshiwakita.com
iktodaypk.com
jahatsakong.com
meadowbrookgolfgroup.com
newsbharati.net
platinumstudiosdesign.com
slotxogamesplay.com
strikestaruk.com
techguroh.com
trucosdefortnite.com
ufabetrune.com
weddedtowhitmore.com
12940brycecanyonunitb.com
1311dietrichoaks.com
2monarchtraceunit303.com
601legendhill.com
850elaine.com
adieusolasomade.com
andora-ke.com
bestslotxogames.com
cannagomcallen.com
endlesslyhot.com
iestpjva.com
ouqprint.com
pwmaplefest.com
qtylmr.com
rb88betting.com
buscadogues.com
1007macfm.com
born-wild.com
growthinvests.com
promocode-casino.com
proyectogalgoargentina.com
wbthompson-art.com
whitemountainwheels.com
7thavehvl.com
developmethis.com
funkydogbowties.com
travelodgegrandjunction.com
gao-town.com
globalmarketsuite.com
blogshippo.com
hdbka.com
proboards67.com
outletonline-michaelkors.com
kalkis-research.com
thuthuatit.net
buckcash.com
hollistercanada.com
docterror.com
asadart.com
vmayke.org
erwincomputers.com
dirimart.org
okkii.com
loteriasdecehegin.com
mountanalog.com
healingtaobritain.com
ttxmonitor.com
nwordpress.com
11bolabonanza.com