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The easiest way to think of them is as single-player games played in an online world, and they're more directly trying to scratch the KOTOR itch than ever before. Knights of the Eternal Throne will be The Old Republic's second seriously-story expansion after Knights of the Fallen Empire last year. How can it?īut for better or worse, BioWare is trying. Fundamentally a massively-multiplayer game cannot make you feel like single-player game would. But quantity of story and voice acting cannot hide one important truth: a Knights of the Old Republic adventure is about being some one special, not being one person in thousands. BioWare's Greg Zeschuk even once said SWTOR "is like KOTOR 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 literally in this one game". It's the answer BioWare and EA have tried to give fans braying for KOTOR 3 for nearly a decade now. Instead, the animation tells me, I can have an expansion pack for Star Wars: The Old Republic - an online game that's five years old and was outdated before it even arrived.
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I would like no game more! But I can't have it. The battles! The Lightsabers thrumming and clashing like cymbals, Force powers crackling and raging.
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Imagine an emotional BioWare tale of Light and Dark, with all the characters and romances and betrayals the studio is famed for. Imagine the fantastical sights and sounds of Star Wars brought to life with the razzmatazz of the Mass Effect series (which in a way I suppose was BioWare's KOTOR 3 - one it could creatively fully control). But will they be deep and winding and emotional enough? Let's cut to the chase: what the trailer tapped into was a longing for Knights of the Old Republic 3. Amy Hennig's Star Wars action adventure, due out in 2018, definitely will. Perhaps Star Wars: Battlefront 2 will have a story in 2017. What the animation tapped into was a longing for a cinematic Star Wars game with a story.
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