THE Voice over = skip anyway

[Wynnyelle]

Who said there's nothing to do at max level? There's almost as much to do as in modern WoW, and definitely much more to do than in WoW at launch.

There's nothing stopping a game from combining both RPG and MMO. Why are people stuck in the mindset that it's either one or the other...

I'm just going by what somebody in this thread said in response to me. I don't know enough about the game to state that I was fact. I was responding to him saying that if you rushed to max level in three days and expected to have things to do, then you would be disappointed. I'm guessing that's probably wrong.

It's not because everthing else is crap, it's because Bioware spent 13 years perfecting storytelling and it just exceeds anything other developers present.

Doesn't mean there's nothing else in the game. I really liked Arena and BGs in WoW and raided only for the social aspect, because I loved my guild and the feeling of achieving something with them. Otherwise I was never wet in the panties for PvE. I also never gave a shit about the minor features of WoW, the distractions like Darkmoon Faire, Holiday events, achievement hunting and the upcoming pet battles.

Does that mean that I consider everything in WoW except Arena and BGs utter crap? No.

I wasn't saying that it was crap or anything like that. I didn't find any problems with the game when I played it when it came to gameplay or anything like that. It ran fine, and there were plenty of things to do besides the storyline, but what I was trying to get at was that after a while when the excitement over the story starts to die down and people see what there is to see, will the game still provide enough innovation to keep people playing? Will it be considered just an average game once it reaches that point? I'm not sure what Bioware's plan is when it comes to adding more story content, but will they keep adding more ways to advance your story so that the diehard RPG fans will have stuff to look forward to?

[NatePsy]

I listen to every bit of it, it's impressive.

[Tore]

Listened to it all on my first character on each faction. Now that I've made several characters on either side I listen to the class quests and group conversations but skip through most of the side quest conversations.

[Flaks]

How can you possibly stand playing Skyrim without delving into the story. THE STORY'S MORE THAN HALF THE GAME MAN. Its not like WoW where 50% of the game is lootz 45% is skillz and the last 5% is shitty story.

[zealous]

I'm just going by what somebody in this thread said in response to me. I don't know enough about the game to state that I was fact. I was responding to him saying that if you rushed to max level in three days and expected to have things to do, then you would be disappointed. I'm guessing that's probably wrong.

I wasn't saying that it was crap or anything like that. I didn't find any problems with the game when I played it when it came to gameplay or anything like that. It ran fine, and there were plenty of things to do besides the storyline, but what I was trying to get at was that after a while when the excitement over the story starts to die down and people see what there is to see, will the game still provide enough innovation to keep people playing? Will it be considered just an average game once it reaches that point? I'm not sure what Bioware's plan is when it comes to adding more story content, but will they keep adding more ways to advance your story so that the diehard RPG fans will have stuff to look forward to?

I think for many people the amount of endgame will be similar to what WoW is right now, if you discount stuff like DM Faire, achievement hunting etc.

The key to the future of endgame in general will be how efficient BW is with content patches. I hope they are.

As to adding more story content - I'm pretty sure they will, since all class stories currently have a cliffhanger ending.

---------- Post added 2011-12-02 at 09:44 AM ----------

How can you possibly stand playing Skyrim without delving into the story. THE STORY'S MORE THAN HALF THE GAME MAN. Its not like WoW where 50% of the game is lootz 45% is skillz and the last 5% is shitty story.

Skyrim story is decent if you look at from bird's eye view, considering all of it, the general plot. It just irks me sometimes that most non-main-plot dialogues (and many main plot ones too) are very short and care a lot more about you being the Dovahkiin than about anything else.

It's logical but I kind of lose any feeling about the characters accompanying me on the quests. They're very shallow so far.

"This guy is an old scholar and expert on dragons. He's paranoid."

"This chick is from the dragon hunter order. Been running from elves that want to kill her."

And it's cut off there, even though there's great potential to develop those characters - they never are.

I think I'm just spoiled by Bioware. When I found the dossier on the dragon hunter chick and Ulfric Greycloak in the elven embassy that contained information that would probably be very interesting to them, I was almost completely sure I could talk to them about it since it seems logical (that's the kind of thing that would start an NPC related quest in a Bioware game).

I mean, goddamn the dossier on Ulfric mentioned he was manipulated by the elves w/o knowing it. I fully expected to be able to come up to him and say - "hey dude, look what I found, I think you should know about this". But no, all the options I had were "join Greycloaks" and "gtfo I'm busy".

Similar situation with the dragon slayer gal, forgot her name.

I personally don't discount Skyrim's story I just find it a little distant sometimes. Beyond being reminded every 3 minutes you're the Dragonborn, there's not much to immerse you into the overall plot while you're running around the world and nothing to show that the depth of the characters accompanying you.

Don't get me wrong Skyrim is a very good game imo, it just lacks some of the RPG features I'm used. And I confess I might be very subjective here since I've been playing BW RPGs since Baldur's Gate.

[Eurhetemec]

I disagree, but to each his own. In my eyes, after playing WoW for almost 5 years, TOR's gameplay is more enjoyable.

Runs better? Perhaps in the sense it's graphics engine is older and requires less resources from your PC. I had no problems however even with my mediocre gfx card and I loved the art style and graphics of the game, tons more than WoW's.

TOR's gameplay is virtually identical to WoW's gameplay from 2-3 years ago, with a side of Warhammer (in the energy-based healing design and monsters with more varied HP than WoW). I'm talking about the second-to-second combat gameplay and the stuff that supports it (i.e. spec, levelling) here. Seriously if you gave them a generic graphics engine/textures and generic names for all the skills, I don't think most people could tell them apart unless they realized to look at the resource bars. It's some Pepsi/Coke stuff right here. It's even more similar than RIFT.

I'm not saying SWTOR isn't a more enjoyable game. It's massively more enjoyable. It's just that it plays like an old-fashioned WoW. For some people that's great. For me, it's just "okay", and not really as good as it playing like a more modern WoW. Stuff like having to buy all my skill ranks individually as I levelled, and filling in largely-pointless talent trees seemed very retro, as did combat where I couldn't even do the role I was supposed to fill properly until 20+ (which is really worse in a game with only 50 levels).

Runs better is a matter of fact. It's not a "sense". WoW's engine isn't significantly older, you're mistaken to assert that. The licensed engine that BioWare bought is very close to as old as WoW (I believe it's from 2005 or early 2006, rather than late 2004), and clearly nowhere near as well-optimized as WoW's engine.

Is the SWTOR art style better? Yep. Does SWTOR have cooler visual effects? Yep. But those have very little, arguably even nothing to do with the engine. As for having no problems with a mediocre graphics card, well, define mediocre, and note that SWTOR is processor-hungry rather than graphics-card-hungry.

Some of that might be the beta - they have the client running debug mode, which can impair performance - but at three-ish weeks from release? Yeah not going to see a big improvement.

[Zarasthura]

I listened to everything. I only spammed spacebar once to get through Black Talon asap before a server reset happened

[Derpdederp]

I read much faster than these guys talk, so read it, then skip. I'm a fan of story, just not waiting for people to finish speaking. (In game, not irl. But if real life had subtitles i could read and skip through a conversation, definitly.)

[Deleted]

I never skipped once, and doubt I ever will.

Sounds like you couldn't immerse yourself in the story, that's cool too, just don't complain about it.

[Alex86el]

on every mmo that i try to level through pve, it feels like a drag, a boring routine, a second job, where i constantly check my xp bar.
in SWTOR leveling is actually fun. you dont even have your mind on the xp bar. and i love it for this, cause i generally hate leveling, except in this game.
and thats because of the storylines, voice overs, and dialogues.

must admit though that the questing itself is not the most unique and fun i've seen. plain old kill/gather/use, quests.
but you dont notice it, cause u always fight groups of mobs that u take down quickly.

[Souma]

I only skipped it when they wern't speaking english and even then only for the annoying sounding ones most of the time.

This totally, one of the smaller races that kind of look like pigs make the most horrible sounds. I skipped their dialog.

[smokii]

i seriously dont get the people who want to play SW:TOR but dont want to actually take part in the storyline and then complain about it.

seriously, you might as well just carry on playing wow, you're presumably already max level and raiding in wow, so why stop?

the whole process of 1-50 in SW:TOR is story driven, it's the story that makes the collection of 10 wamp rats bearable, why the hell would you want to skip the story and just kill 10 wamp rats? thats illogical captain, why bother playing a game with massive amounts of RPG storyline in it just to skip the story (skyrim included).

you might as well just go play CoD or BF3, i really dont get it, the whole point of an RPG (mmo or not) is that it's story driven to immerse you into the lore of the game, to explain to you why you are doing what you are doing and to elaborate the fiction behind the characters you are killing or saving.

it's like going to the movies and spending the entire film listening to your ipod and playing angry birds on your phone, only to occasionally look up and watch the action scenes

TLR - the point, you missed it. rpg's are story driven, like movies, miss the story, miss the point, become disenfranchised and then call it shit because you dont understand the plot.

[Sephiracle]

it's like going to the movies and spending the entire film listening to your ipod and playing angry birds on your phone, only to occasionally look up and watch the action scenes

That's pretty much all that needed to be said. It's sort of the equivalent of us watching action movies like the Matrix or Bond movies, and him watching movies like Transformers or some Steven Seagal trash.

In the end their all action movies, but ones with story most people enjoy a bit more because they can root for someone because there's a connection to that character.

[Deleted]

Nice biased poll there, as if someone listening to the painstakingly recorded dialogue is somehow shocking, abnormal behaviour.

This is what the Modern Warfare generation are doing to the gaming industry.

[Vallin]

In a STORY DRIVEN MMO, it is not wise to skip any of the dialogue, mainly due to the fact that you will be missing an insane amount of story and probably wont understand your class stories as they advance through the chapters.

[leetsushi]

This totally, one of the smaller races that kind of look like pigs make the most horrible sounds. I skipped their dialog.

KotOR probably had it the worst.
The Alien species kept talking gibberish for soo long every sentence, not skipping would be insane.

[Fiddlesnarf]

There is a reason its called a MMORPG, don't complain about a story-driven MMO that has too much story in it. There are plenty of games out there that have no story or take no thought, those countless modern shooters come to mind.
My first time through with each class I will not skip one second of dialogue, its just how I play, I need to enjoy the story of a game to be able to enjoy it.

[zealous]

Runs better is a matter of fact. It's not a "sense". WoW's engine isn't significantly older, you're mistaken to assert that. The licensed engine that BioWare bought is very close to as old as WoW (I believe it's from 2005 or early 2006, rather than late 2004), and clearly nowhere near as well-optimized as WoW's engine.

I'm very sorry and I don't mean to be spiteful but how can we lead a serious discussion when you simply pull facts out of a specific place in your body w/o bothering to do even a quick internet search on what you're saying?

WoW uses an updated and enhanced engine from WC3, finalized in 2004.

SWTOR uses the Hero Engine, first announced in 2010 and the first stable release done in September of 2011.

SWTOR is very well optimized for the level of gfx it offers. Processor hungry, no, not even close - it consumed around 25-30% more CPU power than WoW did for me, which is absolutely fine for a game that's 6 years newer.

My mediocre gfx card handled the "high" settings very decently, sitting at 50+ FPS most of the time. Today I bought a GeForce gtx 570 AMP edition and expect to be able to run the ultra settings once they're enabled.

As to things not changing in beta, preliminary reports from permanent testers already say that this new build is tons better than the one from last week. So things are quite possibly changing rapidly.

We can't say for sure (well I will be able in 4 hours when my weekend beta starts) yet, so let's not speculate.

I was in WotLK beta and even in the week before last there was a shit-ton of issues that were mostly gone on launch.

[Sephiracle]

WoW uses a heavily modified engine made for WC3, and TOR uses HeroEngine, and you think the WoW one is more optimized.

Ok. That's like saying the Hummer has better fuel efficiency than a Leaf.

[Puremallace]

In a STORY DRIVEN MMO, it is not wise to skip any of the dialogue, mainly due to the fact that you will be missing an insane amount of story and probably wont understand your class stories as they advance through the chapters.

Not sure people are getting this. There is no story. You story is the same as the Sith Inquisitor next to you. In the end the minor difference between people like dark and light side points will end up getting nerfed into oblivion. Noone wants actual consequences for their decisions in MMO's and when you get to end game this will become more apparent why I am saying this.

I simply do not get what is the difference between playing this game and jumping on youtube and watching a compilation of the cut scenes?

"There is no story"...
Don't troll.