Star Wars: The Old Republic

Game Name	Star Wars: The Old Republic
Platform(s)	PC
Publisher(s)	LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC Electronic Arts
Developer(s)	BioWare Austin
Genres	MMORPG
Themes	Fantasy Sci-Fi
Original US Release	Dec. 20, 2011

Overview

Star Wars: The Old Republic is an MMORPG from famed developer BioWare based in large part on their highly acclaimed Knights of the Old Republic franchise. The Old Republic takes place approximately three hundred years after the events of the first two Knights of the Old Republic games. The Old Republic aims to maintain the core gameplay and principles of the previous Knights of the Old Republic games in a new large online environment.

You will be able to join either the Sith Empire or the Galactic Republic at the beginning of the game. The player can make choices throughout the game will influence and determine their alignment towards good or evil, otherwise known as the light and dark sides of the force. BioWare has mentioned that they hope The Old Republic will be structured in a more story driven fashion than most MMORPGs, allowing players to carve "their own epic stories" within the galactic turmoil of the game's setting. The Old Republic will feature many common MMO aspects such as crafting, guilds and PVP.

The art direction of The Old Republic will be a blend of realistic and more animated styles, without leaning to the extreme in either direction. The reasoning behind this choice is to give the game a unique appearance without making the system requirements too extreme, allowing it to run on as many computer systems as possible. It should also be noted that the lightsaber size in-game will be smaller than what current screenshots show, but the size decrease will be minimal.
Star Wars: The Old Republic was officially announced in a live press conference held at LucasArts headquarters in San Francisco, California, on October 21st 2008. The game is only confirmed to be in development for the PC. The game is set to be released on the 20th of December in North America and Europe.

The game features full voice acting including the player character, companions and other NPCs (Non-player characters). With notable voice actors such as Lance Henriksen who will voice the Jedi "Master Gnost-Dural", BioWare claims the amount of voice work is 10 times the size of KoToR or 40 novels worth of content. Currently its budget sits at an estimated 180 million dollars making The Old Republic not only BioWare's most expensive venture to date, but also the most expensive video game ever made.

E3 2010 Information

• Every player will get his or her own ship which acts as their base and hub for companions.
• There are Elite NPCs in the game.
• There is no Corpse Running. You will respawn at a medical center with all your gear.
• There will be PVP armour sets.
• The group limit at E3 was four players.
• You learn skills from class trainers.
• You can only talk to NPCs when near-by party members are not in combat.
• You can get some quests by using a HoloCom.
• Chat channels such as lobby and trade will be in the game,
• /dance will be featured. In the current demo both male and female dances were the same.
• Multiplayer dialog lets all players in the group pick a response and dice rolls to see which one will be chosen.
• Players can start dialog with NPCs without the other party members present, they will have 2 minutes to reach the destination to join in but the player who initiates the conversation has the option to skip the wait.
• Mobs have a leash radius (which means they will stop chasing you after determined distance and return to their original spot).
• Auto-run is in the game.
• There will be transport ships or other taxis to help you travel around the world(s), most notably speeder bikes.
• Similar character creation as Dragon Age: Origins.
• There are three levels of aggro. Blue, Yellow and Red. Blue is no aggro, Yellow is alerted of a player. Red means they are in combat.
• Quests give the same kind of rewards as other MMOs such as items, money and experience points.
• Will you gain Social Points while completing quests in a group. No other information was release about them.
• You enter instances through a green portal. If you aren't eligible, the portal is red.
• All classes will have the ability to revive other players and companions. It takes 5 seconds to use this power and has no cool down time. It is an out of combat only ability.
• You can inspect gear of another player in your group no matter where they are. Non-group members will only require that you can see them.
• Round Robin was the loot rules in the demo. Money was split equally,
• There will be a Dashade, Twi'Lek and Human companion, as well as others.
• Alderaan will feature a PVP battleground.
• The main story of the game will be World arcs. These are massive multi-quest party sized arcs that span a long time and give the players choices of how the war will be effected.
• Players will be able to develop and change the Republic vs Sith war.
• Players can influence where the war goes and how it changes over time.
• Players' actions will determine who controls a planet and who is allied with each side.

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