Custom Search

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Introduction

 With E3 2011 just around the corner, there is a very good possibility that Bioware will finally give us a release date for its insanely anticipated MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic. So starting today, I will be running a week long series on The Old Republic that will cover everything I can learn from the official site. If my hunch is correct, the last post of this series will include the release date for the game. If Bioware doesn’t reveal a release date though, I’m afraid we’re all out of luck. So cross your fingers, and join me in this week long preview of Star Wars: The Old Republic.

What is Star Wars: The Old Republic?

For those who don’t actively follow the gaming industry, or live under a rock, The Old Republic is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) that was announced on October 20, 2008, and has been in development for who knows how long before that. It is being developed by Bioware and is being published by Electronic Arts. If you read my reviews for any length of time, you’ll quickly learn that Bioware is one of my two all-time favorite game developers. They have given us masterpieces such as Knights of the Old Republic as well as the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises. Their greatest strength is the ability to tell rich and dramatic stories while giving the player choices that not only effect their character, but everyone around them and even the world itself. In The Old Republic, Bioware hopes to bring its strong storytelling heritage to the MMO genre in a way never seen before.

Background

The Old Republic is set thousands of years before the events of the Star Wars films we all know and love (we can debate your love or hate for the prequel trilogy another time), and 300 years after the events of the Knights of the Old Republic game. If you haven’t played Knights of the Old Republic yet, it’s pretty cheap on Steam, so you have no excuse. Also, you may want to skip the rest of this post if you plan on playing Knights of the Old Republic for the first time and want to avoid spoilers.

At this point in galactic history, the last major threats to the galaxy were from Darth Malak, Darth Nihilus, and Darth Traya. Malak was defeated by the redeemed Darth Revan with the help of the Jedi prodigy, Bastila Shan. After that fateful battle, Revan departed for the Unknown Regions alone, save for his T3-M4 astromech droid, in search of something that he would speak to no one of. Soon after, a Jedi Exile embarks on a quest that ends in the fall of Darth Nihilus and Darth Traya. After that, the galaxy rested in relative peace for roughly 300 years.



The Sith Empire returned at the end of those 300 years. They caught the Galactic Republic completely by surprise and overcame many worlds while the Republic scrambled to react. The assault was so massive and relentless that when the Sith Empire offered the Republic a peace treaty, officials from both sides convened on Alderaan for peace talks. To assure that the Republic would sign the treaty regardless of all unfavorable terms, the Sith sacked the Republic’s capital world of Coruscant while the planet's most powerful defenders were taking part in the peace talks.



Once the Republic officials learned of the sacking of Coruscant, they had no choice but sign the peace treaty that is now known as the Treaty of Coruscant. This mock peace is already beginning to unravel at the seams, as Republic and Sith forces struggle to control key worlds. Events are in motion that will break the Treaty of Coruscant and ignite an all-out war between the two factions. It is here that you enter the game. You must take a stand for either the Galactic Republic or the Sith Empire. Who will you choose?

4 comments:

  1. This is going to be the best game in the history of gaming, no doubt about it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You got that right man! Thanks for the comments too. You're the first person, of I hope many to come, to comment on this blog. I look forward to seeing you here in the future! :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks like a good blog, comrade. Keep it up.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you friend! I hope you enjoy the things I have planned after these Old Republic articles are finished :D

    ReplyDelete