SWTOR : The Power of Voice Over : Latest Video - DROOOOOL!

Ok, let me get the actual purpose of this latest video from Star Wars the Old Republic out the way first. Though it's awesome that everything is going to be voiced, what really has me now at frenzy point is the game play demonstrated in the video which I'll drool about in a moment!

It's truly wonderful that they're taking immersion so seriously at BioWare and I think having everything voiced will really make the player experience so much more authentic and real. We're all so familiar with the current MMO way of presenting quests, i.e. Click on NPC, Text, Text, Text, Text, Text, Click 'ok' then you read the quest summary from the journal as you're traveling to the first waypoint. That's what I used to do until I decided one day that I wanted to 'get into' the quests. I decided to start actually reading what the NPC was given in an attempt to feel like I was actually doing something worthwhile, being part of the story, rather than just trying to get to the end as fast as possible ot get my grubby little fingers on the phat loot! Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, reading text from an NPC was about as immersive as running with my pvp guild. I am referring to Star Wars Galaxies, but the same quest system lives in most of the popular MMO's.

So the new video shows that quests, if you can call them that, are going to be much more immersive and similar to the experience found in cinematic single player RPG's such as the fantastic KOTOR series. Of course, even KOTOR I & II didn't have 100% voice over interactions, so for them to do it in an MMO really gives you an idea of how ground breaking this is!

"We see games as an art form. we want to create story that rivals cinema and novels" Dr Ray Muzyka, CEO BioWare

This leads me nicely on to the game play footage that was used to demonstrate the voice over stuff. OMG! WOW! OMG! WOW! As I mentioned, I am now truly at frenzy point and to say I can't wait for SWTOR is an understatement. These guys know how to dangle the carrot and I for one, like a true little fanboy, am biting like a parana in a swimming pool at a teenage pool party!

The choreographed combat and lightsaber battles look amazing and although it's still a little too cartoony for my taste, I'm already starting to overlook that.

Sorry

Sorry guys, I have not been updating my blog as of late. I was made redundant in Feb09 and it's not so easy to blog in your own time :D

I will however continue!

After being hassled by some friends I decided to check out SWG again to see what has changed and I'll report on that soon.

I've also got a lot of art work to share with you so watch this space.

Finally, I'm sorry to the people who made comments that I've only just accepted. I wish I didnt have to mod comments but so much spam happens if I don't.

Regards

SWFB!

SWTOR: The Making of Tython - New Video Released

A brand new 'Star Wars The Old Republic' video has just been released by Bioware which talks us through the making of Tython, an exiting but relatively unexplored planet within the Star Wars universe.  

This provided the developers with an opportunity to create new material and we learn in the video that Tython becomes the planet where the first force sensitive beings went to learn about this new found power, the force.  Set to become known as the origin planet of the Jedi Order, it sounds as though Tython will become a content rich planet with players given the opportunity to learn through a series of quests, all about the formation of the order and some of the mysteries that surround it.

 I have to say the in game graphics shown in the video look awesome and I'm now getting VERY exited about this game.  Ok some of it looks quite similar to other MMO's in terms of landscape but come on! It's Star Wars!!

There's a little lightsaber battle in there which had the same kind of feel as KOTOR II but with much more fluidity and motion. It looked freaking awesome!

More importantly, Clint Young, Senior Concept Artist explains that he wants the player to experience being a Jedi saying:

"The feeling I want the player to walk away with, when they play Tython is essentially, I want you to be that Jedi. What do the Jedi feel? What do they feel like when they're training? When they're at the Academy, when they're going on missions, when they're out on their vision quests, when they're forging their lightsabers, everything that a Jedi would go through is what I want the player to take away from this"

This is music to my ears as it sounds as though they're really going for immersion, something SWG sadly threw out the window with the NGE.  It sounds as though the player will really get a chance to imagine what it would feel like to be a Jedi, Sith, or general force sensitive if the Star Wars universe was real.

Fan-bloody-tastic!

View the video for yourself

Star Wars Out-takes

Since work is keeping me from SWFB blogging as much I'd like, I thought I'd post a selection of my favorite Star Wars out-takes.  Some of these I hadn't seen until recently so all hail the wonders of you-tube! Check our the vids.

Prequel out-takes

4, 5 & 6 out-takes

SWTOR: Choreographed Combat

Ok firstly I'm sorry for the lack of SWFB blogs over the past few weeks but the Christmas holiday season really sapped my time, not to mention the PC ban that was impossed on me by Mrs Star Wars Fanboy! Forget the past, it's a new year and time to start blogging again!

You're going to have to forgive me regarding todays blog subject as I'm unable to provide quotes, references or names.  This isnt because I'm lazy, it's down to tha fact that I got this info from an epesode of Playr (Shown on Bravo TV) which just happened to be on whilst we were entertaining some guests.  Unfortuntely even though I managed to record the show on Sky+, Mrs Star Wars Fanboy subsequently deleted it in error (or so she tells me!).

So enough about my epic failness!  Let me talk about the choreographed combat in Star Wars The Old Republic which was confirmed in that, um, epiosode of Playr.  What's the big deal you might ask?

Well let me explain briefly.  When I unlocked my Jedi Character in Star Wars Galaxies before the abhorrent NGE, the combat and lightsaber animations were motion captured and great for their time.  Dueling with other Jedi was a truly immersive experience and, well I was happy.  

Pre NGE Jedi Combat

Then came the NGE (see my NGE blog here) which stripped out the lovely animations and replaced them with what became widely known as poke poke, slash slash.  This wasn't an exaduration either, it leiterally was two pokes with the saber followed by two swings. The pretty saber trails were removed and movement was so fast your character looked like he was on drugs.

The Pathetic NGE Poke Poke, Swing Swing animations that followed

Ok before I go all anti NGE on you again, I'll point out that even post NGE combat animations in SWG had their flaws.  Though more apparent with the NGE, pre NGE animations also suffered from what I call the 'Thin Air Effect'.  This is were characters fight each other, inflict damage but dont actually make any phisical contact.  I guess this is a problem with melee combat in all MMO's and down to many factors including latency.  Having two accounts running on seperate machines, it was clear that the position of a character on one screen was always different on the other so getting melee combat to look real is always going to be a challenge in MMOs.

Of course this isnt a problem in single player games becase lag's not a factor and you're not having to represent the same environment on multiple computers.  KOTOR I & II had some lovely lightsaber annimations albeit a little limited. The question is, how are Bioware going to pull this off in SWTOR?

What was confirmed in that episiode of playr is that lightsaber combat is indeed going to be choreographed.  This means that attacts, counterattacks and general movements will be syncronised in such a way that it should look like a proper fight. Lightsabers will make contact with each other realistically and there'd be no 'Thin Air Effect'.  This can be seen in biorwares latest gameplay video released last month.  Personally I don't know how they'll manage this during player vs player combat, but I assume players will not see the exact same movements as each other on their screens in sync. I'm guessing that although damage / heals etc. will be syncronised, animations and movment won't. I really cant say.

Regardless, I'm really happy they're going down this road. Lightsaber combat to me should be realistic unlike the poke poke slash slash shit SWG rammed down our unwilling necks.  Now if only they'd sort ot the spandex.......

Star Wars The Old Republic 1st Gameplay Video

I'm far too drunk to post about it at the moment, but that wont stop me giving you guys a link to the video!

SWTOR GAME PLAY VIDEO

Nerdgasm Nerdgasm Nerdgasm Nerdgasm!

Star Wars : The Force Unleashed Jedi Temple DLC review

PS3 Version reviewed:

For £8.99 ($13.21) I was certainly expecting more bang for my buck, with the latest downloadable content (DLC) from LucasArts, 'The Jedi' temple. Sadly it left me feeling disappointed to say the least and in reality, I'd have had just as much fun re-playing through any of the missions from the original game.

The description by LA for this mission states:

"The Apprentice Mission Pack contains an entirely new single-player mission set in the Jedi Temple on the planet Coruscant.  In this mission Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice turns to the Jedi Temple to learn more about his father, and while searching through the rubble of the destroyed building he must confront his inner demons..."

Sounds exciting doesn't it? I mean you'd think this would be a fantastic fanboy experience getting to explore the iconic Jedi Temple in Courscant and have an opportunity to match up the various rooms with those seen in the film.. WRONG.

As beautiful as the art work is, in short, it's a saber slashing romp through a few chambers in the temple combined with moments of frustration as you attempt to complete  some annoying puzzles. I say puzzles but in reality it's simply a case of using your force grip to move objects along a few lines similar to the game 'Buzz off', that incredibly annoying game were you have to move a metal hoop along a wavy metal pole trying not to touch it. 

The combat as usual is fun and seemed a lot more difficult than before. This factor is the only thing that prevented me from completing this DLC in less than 10 minutes and I can't help wondering if that was their plan.  Another thing that lengthened the experience was actually figuring out how to access the mission once installed. Eventually I gave up and hit the forums for the answer!

As for the story..... well..... what story?  

I thought I was going to find out more about our Secret Apprentice, aka Galem Marek, aka Starkiller, or indeed his father as the description states but sadly neither materialised.  Instead, **spoiler alert start** we were graced by a holographic image of the his father who told Starkiller that although the dark side was strong in him (Starkiller), it wasn't too late for him to be saved by completing the Jedi trials.  The Jedi trials if you can call them that were the aforementioned game of BuzzOff and moving some broken bridges into position so you could jump across them.

Then of course there was the confronting of ones 'inner demons' which turned out to be a fight with, um.... Starkiller....  Granted this fight was difficult, but given the fact you re-spawned with full health each time he kicked your ass, it was just a matter of time before you worked out his rather large weakness so it became a simple matter of holding down a button at a specific time to take him out with ease. **spoiler alert end**

Just as I was getting into it, BAM, end of mission with no answers, not interesting facts revealed just 30 minutes of hack and slash for £8.99, and fundamentally that's what the problem boils down to.  You see had this content been free or even £3.99, I'd not be moaning about it so much, but given the fact you get longer entertainment from a dvd rental for much less, the new DLC just screams of rip off.  It's sad because I think it will put the majority of fans off paying for future DLC releases. Me included.

I should however point out that included in this DLC are some new character skins and I'm happy to say that unlike in the original game, your character doesn't miraculously switch back into his default outfit during the cut scene.  The other good news is you can use these new outfits / characters in the original game which for some might be a good reason to play through the game again.

The new costume / characters are:

• Temple Exploration Gear - A kind of republic style outfit
• Cybernetic Reconstruction - An extreme version of the Sith Stalker Armor. Looks a bit like Darth Sion - I love it!
  
• Darth Maul Character Skin - Nuff said really
• Mace Windu - Nuff said really
• Qui-Gon Jinn - Nuff said really
• Dark Stalker - I love this one too. It's basically the Sith Stalker armor but without the helmet and shows Starkiller all dark and evil looking
• Sith Training Gear - Cute
• Light Saber Training Droid (like proxy) - Yawn
• Combat Training Droid (Same as above but with different colours)
  

And there you have it.  I should point out that the character skins are just that, skins. They all hold the lightsaber like Starkiller and Starkiller remains the character you play in the story so they're nothing more than some eye candy for the fanboys.  The Sith Stalker armors however still allow you to play as Starkiller for immersion purposes.

So in conclusion, the Jedi Temple DLC fails to hit the mark even with me, a fanboy who normally sees the greatness in most things Star Wars.  The price of this DLC is what has me so negative and I honestly feel I've been taken for a ride.... 

Come on guys, I know anything branded with Star Wars will sell but really! You have to do better than this! Show us some respect!