Storytelling
I'm on record as agreeing with Yahtzee--Bioware doesn't get points for good writing anymore. I might be convinced to make an exception this time for their sheer audacity to not only insist that story is a necessary and missing part of modern MMOs, but to also bet the bank on it. Given that almost no one bothers to read the text in most quest pop-ups, this can't have been an easy sell. I think it works out OK for the most part barring some interface issues, and I think they've done a good job of weaving a tale worth watching. I'm especially appreciative of how they've taken many of the same elements and woven them together across classes--pretty cool. Their story implementation is, like most things, a double-edged sword and we'll revisit this topic in a later post.
Voiceovers
I was pretty skeptical of the "every line spoken" thing, but in practice it works out pretty well. Overall the voice acting is pretty good, but this is expected for a game from the studio that brought you KOTOR, the Mass Effects, and the Dragon Ages. As with all voice acting, there's no real accounting for taste. I, for instance, couldn't stand the female Jedi Knight voice--I didn't think it fit. On the other hand, I couldn't consider playing a male Trooper since the female trooper is voiced by Jennifer Hale (of Commander Shepard fame, among other fantastic roles). I think this helps bring the player closer to the game which while I personally didn't find terribly useful, I can appreciate what they were going for.
Reasonably Meets Expectations
Like it has for the last bajillion Internet Years(TM), WoW sets the standard for what we expect on the whole for an MMO. SW:TOR does a pretty good job of meeting these, if in an extremely unpolished way. I thought Rift did a tremendously better job of this and I will probably still hold that up as the gold standard of launches until The Industry(TM)(R)(esq) proves me wrong. SW:TOR meets expectations, I suppose, if you're old and crotchety like I am and don't really expect much. You've got a crafting system which we'll delve into in the next section, your typical healer/tank/dps trinity, and a UI that most of the time delivers what you need even if it does so without any gusto or panache.
A New Take on Crafting
Crafting in SW:TOR is in the form of crew skills. You basically get three picks, only one of which can be a "maker" skill with the other two typically support gathering skills. Of these two gathering skills, only one of them provides things that can be found in the world. The other requires skilling up while sometimes producing resources. Naturally, those resources are the ones you need to make interesting items. The mechanic is also pretty intersting. As your crew grows (more or less as you gain levels) you get more and more companions that you can send off on crafting missions. These can either be gathering missions where they (potentially) return with something useful, or "build things" missions where they (again potentially) return a crafted item. As the levels get higher, the wait gets longer but it's generally OK because you can only really have one companion with you at a time and most people roll exclusively with one companion for a long period of time.
What I like about this system is that it takes away one of the worst things about crafting: not being able to adventure while you're doing so. I can be out in the field sending my companions off to make a cool thing which is then delivered to my inventory when it's completed. That's pretty useful. It's still gated on time but, generally speaking, it's not all that difficult to keep crafting levels up with your adventuring levels so long as you're not completely broke. It's all still gated on time, but I'm not forced to watch the (very slow) bar move like a lot of games. I like that.
Stylized Characters
Love it or hate it, WoW is very stylized which has worked tremendously in their favor. SW:TOR too is stylized though I suspect for different reasons. You can, if you're patient, come up with some very attractive characters and that's time well-spent because you'll see a lot of yourself in cutscenes. I wouldn't mind having some reasonable hairstyles (44 choices and nothing really that great) and maybe more than four body types, but I can see why they might have done that. The downside is that a lot of the characters look a lot a like. It's weird seeing your doppleganger in any game (Rift for all of its good points was terrible for this), but it's especially glaring when not only do they look the same, but they also sound the same in an up-close cutscene delivering some of the dialog.
There's also a point to be made about the gear visualizations. We rather expect a Jedi Knight to look a lot like Ben Kenobi roaming the desert in his brown robe and hooded face. Likewise we expect our troopers to look a lot like the guys from the Clone Wars; good or bad. The game delivers pretty well on these looks. This, like most of their decisions is also a double-edged sword since if you don't like the look the designers have pre-ordained for your choice of class, then you're kind of out of luck. This is especially true about the hats which we'll discuss in more detail later.
...And That's Kind of It
I like that they tried different stuff--I really do, but I also think that they could have done much, much better with a nine digit budget. This goes doubly so considering how many of my former MMO-vet co-workers worked on that project.
