Could this be the greatest game of all-time?

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away BioWare started building a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) to rival Blizzard’s market leader World of Warcraft. Enter its potential successor, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

This article looks into the reasons that suggest this could be the greatest game of all-time.

[Wizziokid]

for me it could be in the top 10 but not the greatest game of all time.
It has
potential to be the number #1 MMo on the market though it they sell it right and give it enough content for players to enjoy.

I cannot wait for it to be released how ever it will surely be the mmo of 2011 for me, day 1 purchase.

[ThanatosDMC]

If it's half as good as how it was on the CG trailers then maybe.

[Conloles]

Clearly not for everyone on this site because its not made by Sony or limited to the 'power' of consoles.

[Lightsaber]

I love star wars and no makes better rpg's then Bioware. So I cant wait to play this game spring 2011 cant get here fast enough.

[2Negative]

Looks like it's going to be a good game but it has to show me a whole lot more before I think it is in the same group as my favorite games of all time.

Xcom- ufo defense
Xcom - terror from the deep
X - wing
Tie Fighter

[deanobi]

Im sure it will come pretty close :]

Cant wait!

[Donny]

dont know about the greatest of all time...

i can give examples though, demons souls, uncharted 2, this game, diablo 2, legend of zelda ocarina of time, portal, metal gear solid, gran turismo 2, littlebigplanet, mass effect 2, mario brothers, grand theft auto 3, god of war 2, sid meyers pirates! ico, shadow of the collosus, heavy rain.

[bobcostus]

It's all relative in the end. My best game is probably Demon's Souls. It was extremely innovative and just completely immersed me in its world.

See, that's my opinion. Someone else could have played it, had a totally different experience, and came away hating it. We all perceive things differently. That's the beauty of life.

[UnSelf]

so true.

i believe the best games of all time are Marvel vs Capcom 2, Crackdown and Prototype

[Omegasyde]

I would love if they made a demon souls that was a MMO.

[dawgsfan117]

Never will understand the short memories of some gamers. I loved Uncharted 2. It was fun, beautiful, and had a great script. That said it probably wouldn't crack my Top 10. Games like Half-Life 2, Deus Ex, Star Craft, Metal Gear Solid series, Golden Eye, and even Halo 2 (first amazing console online multi-player) were so much better in every area other than Graphics. Where as Uncharted was a fun game with little skill required these other games were challenging and innovative. I just think in 5 years Uncharted 2 will be remembered as a pretty game worth a run through while these others will still be thought of in much higher regard.

[Donny]

so if people do not agree with you they have short term memory? XD

[T9X69]

I agree U2 was a good game but in terms of actual gameplay, I don't think it qualifies for being greatest game of all time. Then again it really boils down to the actual gamer, there cant be a greatest game of all time because someone will always disagree. My personal greatest game of all time would be SOCOM 2 because what Sony and Zipper did back in 2003 was just mind blowing, and I played that game for 6 years and still would play it if my PS3 slim was backwards compatible. I've played hundreds and hundreds of games, but no game I played could come close to what SOCOM 2 did for me from 2003-2009.

[dawgsfan117]

I like the disagrees I got. Donny originally had this statement "I think Uncharted 2 is the greatest game of all time." Thats why I posted my response. Then he changed it after others questioned his selection which means even he didn't agree with his initial post.

[darthkai]

Don't mistake nostalgia for quality. We all have our favorite games from the past, those games that were so awesome for their time that we will remember them forever. But that doesn't mean they stand up to current games in terms of quality. The first Need for Speed was certainly more revolutionary than Forza 3, but given the choice today I would rather play the later. Same goes for DOOM and Crysis, Star Craft and Dawn of War 2, Deus Ex and Mass Effect, Ocarina of Time and Demon's Souls (granted, Demon's Souls is not for everyone)... If those old games were really as good as we remember them, than Sony and Microsoft would be mass producing the NES...

[Raider69]

indeed some of the games you mention are among the best ever made but reference to HALF LIFE 2 and HALO 2 without mention the first of the two ( HALF LIFE and HALO ) is the major error on your sentence!After 27 years of gaming there are truly some gems that stay forever in every gamer for me Super metroid , Contra,Shenmue, Panzer dragon Orta saga,Devil my Cry,Onimusha,Pong,Deux Ex...

[Sarevok]

My best games of all time are Baldur's Gate 1&2.

[beardpapa]

it's a bioware game so .... judging by their track record I'd say the media automatically assumes AAA with any game associated with bioware

[smilydude13]

@beardpapa

Yeah, seems like a lot of people are writing it off as great, even though it's a Bioware Austin production, and they don't have a track record that I'm aware of at this point.

[mcslick101]

WII Super Mario Galaxy 2
Nintendo, 2010 97.56%
44 Reviews
N64 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Nintendo, 1998 97.48%
25 Reviews
WII Super Mario Galaxy
Nintendo, 2007 97.46%
77 Reviews
PS3 Grand Theft Auto IV
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games, 2008 97.01%
60 Reviews
DC SoulCalibur
Namco, 1999 96.94%
24 Reviews
PS3 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Naughty Dog/SCEA, 2009 96.41%
78 Reviews
GC Metroid Prime
Retro Studios/Nintendo, 2002 96.30%
83 Reviews
PS Tekken 3
Namco, 1998 96.30%
22 Reviews
X360 The Orange Box
Valve Software/EA Games, 2007 96.19%
57 Reviews
X360 Grand Theft Auto IV
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games, 2008 96.17%
83 Reviews
GC The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Nintendo, 2006 96.00%
15 Reviews
N64 Super Mario 64
Nintendo, 1996 95.95%
19 Reviews
GBC Metal Gear Solid
Konami, 2000 95.92%
18 Reviews
PC The Orange Box
Valve Software/EA Games, 2007 95.82%
31 Reviews
SNES Super Metroid
Intelligent Systems/Nintendo, 1994 95.79%
7 Reviews
PS2 Resident Evil 4
Capcom, 2005 95.77%
53 Reviews
GC Resident Evil 4
Capcom, 2005 95.75%
97 Reviews
X360 Mass Effect 2
BioWare/Electronic Arts, 2010

[SilverSlug]

is, is a matter of opinion.

Personally, I don't see what is amazing about Galaxy 2. Its solid, but nothing to cream my pants about. Others will disagree and that is fine too.

[dredgewalker]

@Silver
Very true, just about anything greatest is a matter of point of view. I won't force anyone to play a game they won't like knowing they won't enjoy it.

[R0me]

This list is bullshit.
Where is Diablo 2, where is Final Fantasy 7,8, where is Monkey Island, where are all the old games? So many games are missing.

You cannot call this list "Game Rankings All Time Best Games"...

[mcslick101]

It is. Wanna link?

[Neo Nugget]

Maybe one of the most hyped games of all time.

[FiftyFourPointTwo]

Finally, I've been waiting for someone to say that. :-)

[JAMurida]

It will be a good game, but I have yet to see any game top The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which I still to this day hold as the best game of all time, IMO.

[Anon7349]

were better zelda games, so Zelda OoT can't be the best game of all time.

[Awookie]

Please mmo gameplay is just button spamming, its revolutionary for a mmo to have full dialogue but thats all i see as unique for it. The graphics are worse than Old republic 2 and that games like 5 years old, and how good can a mmo story be seeing hundreds of people doing the same quests ruins the significance of it

[Akagi]

The Graphics tend to be worse so it will appeal to those who have older PCs, thus reaching a wider audience.

[chrisjc]

The devs told me at E3 that the max players to party with in total (in an instance, dungeon, raid, or party) at launch is looking to be 4 players - so no, not the greatest game of all time, but still a DAMN good MMO from what I played.

It's a shame that with such a low player instance count that this game may fade into obscurity - in order to actually rival WoW, it needs hardcore content right out of the gate. I feel like they're gimping themselves pretty darn early.

[ThanatosDMC]

Only 4?! Damn, CG trailer lied to us again!

[chrisjc]

They said possibly 6, but most likely 4.

When I asked them about 10 mans, they outright said "no way".

[ThanatosDMC]

That sucks. It's not gonna be the epic battle we saw on the CG trailer. It wont even come close.

[smilydude13]

Lol, no. Not even close. They completely missed the point with this game. They keep preaching on and on about how they're using this game as a huge leap forward for storytelling and character development, and while they may have 12 writers and hundreds of voice actors that doesn't change the fact that they've completely ruined any sense of immersion or caring you could have for the universe and its shallow underdeveloped 'characters' because they made this an MMO. As if that wasn't bad enough they decided to further butcher the Star Wars universe beyond recognition by taking obvious visual cues from the recent Clone Wars art style Georgey boy has been shoving down our throats. I'm going to have a harder time caring about these plastic exaggerated heroically proportioned action figures than I did with the jock roided out behemoths from Gears of War.

What's more as another kick in the face to anybody hoping for a real sequel to Kotor 3 they constantly proclaim that we should be grateful for this unapologetic trash heap because 'this is like kotor 3-12! YEAAAAAAH'. Not to mention most of the fanbase looking forward to the game are a bunch of rollplaying 12 year old tits constantly regurgitating the same trite and cliche motto of 'in bioware we trust!' Screw this game and screw bioware Austin.

/angry pointless rant

[games4fun]

a legit KOTOR sequal should be an sp game, but frankly creating the world required for a game of KOTOR level type for current gen, can be seen in their Mass Effect games. people still feel ME 2 is limited in corridors and exploration (i share this view) and Bioware probably feels as if the only way to make enough content to satisfy peoples needs of a fully functioning universe, is through an MMO.

[smilydude13]

I understand that. I'm all for making a Star Wars MMO. As long as it maintains a sense of integrity towards the source material and doesn't jerk off all over it. But even then I could get over it, if it wasn't for a couple of things, such as them being a bunch of cock teases and constantly talking about how grateful the kotor fandom should be that this is being made instead of kotor 3 'becuase it's just like kotor 3-12!'. If they didn't call this game The Old Republic, and didn't draw so many comparisons between this and Kotor. Then whatever, I could just write this off as another Star Wars game to ignore. But they took my two most enjoyed games and cut it up into an unapologetic bastard child. Also I keep hearing rumours about Revan making an appearance. Christ I'll rage if that happens.

Hell, I don't even know what I'm writing anymore, when I'm going over this my posts seems awfully melodramatic. So cool.

/rant

[games4fun]

yea i kind have given up on KOTOR 3 myself (avoids dissapointment), i'm not the type of fan who can be won over with a cameo or some half assed attempt. (i dont even like MMO's)

Also the other reason we will never see kotor 3 is royalties. The only way to make it profitable for Bioware as a company compared to their own ip ME is to make an MMO version of star wars so they can rake in the money.

and dont get me started on how ARROGANT BIOWARE is recently with this and the whole treatment of the JRPG Genre.

[Letros]

So even with you being an avid KOTOR fan, and with this game taking place in the same timeline as KOTOR, you are refusing to play this? Why I must ask? It doesn't add up to me, because most SW and KOTOR fans could not be more excited for this game, like myself.

I will admit I was a bit disappointed when they announced their MMO as SW:TOR(but only because I wanted them to do a NWN MMO) and after seeing what they have done with the game and their plans, this experience would absolutely blow away anything that KOTOR 3 could have provided. This isn't a watered down MMO like WoW, its best described as a single player experience MMO, story driven, I guess it brings back memories of playing BG online.

I don't think there should be no KOTOR 3 and so on, it's something I saw done with another favorite series Warcraft, how I would love to have WC4 sometime after D3 is released, but I know that will never happen.

[the-show-stopper]

i cant play this because a) my internet sucks a$$
and b)i dont have the money to pay a subscription

[Nac]

Okay, first it would be "and with this game taking place in the same TIME FRAME as KOTOR" instead of timeline,and second, it doesn't.

[games4fun]

i just finished Mass Effect 2 again ($20 at kmart, sale last week.) Edit: i did beat it a while ago but it was only a rent, so i decided i'd go buy it when the sale came up.

Anyway i also recently played KOTOR 1 and realized how narrow the ME series was in comparison. In fact i am almost tempted to go play kotor instead of ME and its such an old game and i only have it on my old xbox. so yeah KOTOR is awesome mainly because bioware actually takes the time to make you at least feel you can roam around more. Also they created an actual RPG ability for hacking instead of making it a mini game anyone can do in ME 2.

Sorry i'm about go off on a tangent about everything ME 2 could do to be better. (main thing is they need to make it a 4 disc game, 1 for mp and 3 discs for sp.) Bioware should just do it even if the fanboys will rage on about it. Because frankly ME is a great trilogy and i've only played 2 of the 3. Three needs to go out in a huge flourish of awesome with a 3 disc sp that'll make everyone say the series only got better with each one making you want to keep replaying a save character from the beginning ME1 to ending in ME3 over and over.

also more variety in enemies would be nice as well as more rpg elements. Maybe randmizer for planets so the gameplay never gets old with a loot system :)

carrying over save game files is awesome even if things are mostly the same situation with different people/back story i at least feel like i'm contributing to my game progression in some way.

[HarryM]

But don't forget the Star Wars fan base. Last time I checked they're quite a big one and are all for Star Wars games. So a Star Wars MMORPG would defiantly sell.

[HarryM]

I hardly believe it'll be "the biggest of all time".

[Apolloeye]

No.

[BinkyStalls]

it wont be

[Letros]

It's going to be good that's for sure, sucks for those without gaming PC's they will miss out on it, but it won't be too demanding of a game.

[Nihilism]

I'm still pissed they didn't make kotor 3.

I don't know why they couldn't have made an 80hr star wars RPG...

I think the execs would consider that 'too much value'... ala Starcraft 2...apparently 3 campaigns in 1 game was a burden on our fickle minds and we instead need to be told how a game like this could only be done in an MMO settings and SC2 over 3 games...B.S

@ThanatosDMC

I too would like to play it, but I have vowed to never play an MMO that has a subscription free...

There's just something about paying the full price for the game + yearly expansions that have content they could have patched in for free as a reward to their subscribers + monthly fee that makes it seem like a tremendous waste of money and time.

ME2= 40hr playthroughs, 4 playthroughs so far, not a cent paid over the purchase price...good value.

[ThanatosDMC]

They just want more of our money. I know, it's a BS excuse and sadly most of us will buy it, including me.

[games4fun]

dont worry i'll be angered enough that you can feel riteous too, because i wont be buying it, MMO's suck, the games going to lack so much focus you'll never get the closure or cool plot twists you crave from KOTOR in sp. You'll get some feed the masses their Star Wars filler and level up system, never getting the proper presentation you only get from a single player experience.

At some point there will be a NPC needs/or need you to kill 10 X's and 5 Y's to give you generic hyperdrive piece as you run around the surface of some planet. This is when you know you've entered hell.

[darksector26]

I cant believe they taken my love for two great star wars rpgs that i still play and are making an MMO instead of a KOTOR 3
Now tell me if i'm wrong as i've not looked but i assume this game will be on a monthly subscription and i just cant bring myself to pay it i have enough trouble justifying £40+ for a 8hr game let alone a monthly fee for a game that is filled with 12yr olds that ruin my experience. (Memories of Star wars Galaxies which i've just discovered still exists)
Also my poor old computer has enough trouble playing spider solitaire let alone an actual game so unfortunately i'm going to have to wait for youtube walkthroughs to appear so that i can find out what happens in what is possibly my favourite star wars timeline

/end rant

possibly not good to start my first post with a rant but oh well i love star wars too much to not moan about an MMO i can never play

[Nihilism]

"possibly not good to start my first post with a rant"

No by all means continue, you will fit in well here, pull up a stool next to apathetic Adam and procrastination Pete...we can muse on what is wrong with everyone but ourselves....

/ drenched in sarcasm yet i'm 100% serious.

The MMO move is nothing but a grab for money, can't blame them...but I sure don't have to like it.

We are consumers, we do not have to empathise with them. As a consumer my needs come first...but sadly it will not stop them from milking this to death.

It' only a matter of time until console's have DRM and all games are subscription based...enjoy these last few gaming years because as the MMO, DLC and yearly I.P trend has shown...we are all going to hell.

[iceman2885]

I feel like making it an MMORPG is the one way they could justify the budget I am sure they are dropping on this game. 12 full time writers, voice overs for every character, big time production value, etc...

I'm sure this game cost them metric buttloads of money, and someone realized if they can tap into the WoW market by targeting the players of WoW using Star Wars, they could find their cash cow.

I myself would rather they do a proper single player experience because it allows for a better story and gameplay (I have when I have to rely on other people to play games).

[iceman2885]

But I'm skeptical because it is MMO. If this was a straight up single player like KOTOR, Mass Effect or Dragon Age I would all aboard riding the hype train.

But as an MMO where I have to pay subscription fees, schedule playing with other people if I want to complete harder missions and watch the story suffer (how can you have a good story with a beginning middle and end if the game itself never ends?).

Regardless, I'll wait and see, and pick it up if it is well received and I can find some friends that play.

[Anon7349]

I enjoyed starwars but I don't have a biased towards it.

This game is not even close to the best game ever, it's not much more than a WoW clone at it's core. Out of the best upcoming MMOs I wouldn't even rank it in the top 3 because those positions belong to games like...

Guildwars 2

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Blade and Soul

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Tera Online

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

If this new starwars MMO made by Bioware isn't even in the top 3 upcomming MMOs, I can already say this "This game isn't even in the same league of the best games ever."

[led1090]

Sadly for them theres another game called TERA which plans to reinvent the MMO genre. So they're gonna have some stiff competition at launch

[DJKGBYF]

lol it will be a lot better than SWG is, well not including pre-cu.

[Senden]

I think it could end up being one of the greatest games of all time but from what i've seen, the combat looks a bit crap, the animations clearly need work done on them for some classes.

[Veneno]

a star wars game? reAlly ? geez you SW geeks really need to fu cking stop hyping everything star wars so much cause guess whaf? to normal ppl everything after the original trilogy with the name star wars has been complete crap. wake up nerds, star wars has been washed up for decades.

[hellraiserpop]

Little kid, go play a game called Knights of the Old Republic. Maybe you were too young to know about it when it came out.

Just watching the movies doesn't make you a SW expert.

[Veneno]

i played it but wasn't impressed so i quit. i know its still popular for a small group, but its an infinitesmal mark on the countless pieces o f licensed crap with the name. just cause you sleep in your princess leya outfit (the skimpy one) doesn't make you an expert either. infact that kind of blind following makes your point of view distorted and delusional because only the sensible ppl know that the name star wars carries about 1/16th the amount of quality that it started out with.

[QenTox]

Is this going to be released on PS3 as it is listed in PS3 section?

[Tdmd]

That's it? I was expecting to be convinced. Nothing to do with the game - I didn't read a single word about it since it was announced, so I don't really know what to expect. I don't know if it will be a great mmorpg or the greatest game of all-time. So when I started to read the article, I was hoping to find out what was so amazingly great or revolutionary about the game so it could be considered the greatest game of all-time even before it's release. Is it's gameplay? It's scale? How it controls or interacts? Is it doing something really new and unexpected? How will it blow my mind away? Well, who knows, right? Not the writer, that's for sure, since he defended his claims and speculations with a three or four paragraph article going on about how great the story will gonna be and... well, was there anything else? Anyway, I'm back with the first question: That's it? Really? Is that how you will convince your readers that this might be the greatest game of all-time? It's an Star Wars mmo and it probably will have a great story.
Pff... what a bad piece of writing.

[Samus HD]

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the greatest Game of all time ( until the next smash bros )

[8thnightvolley]

anyting that bioware has their name is is AUTO gold.. so this game.. i believe they will do justic .. i am not really a big MMORPG fan but i have been waiting to get into it.. and this will be the title i will take taht big dive in... and get some sweet new pc.

[Ironfungus]

The world desperately needs a Star Wars MMORPG. A good one. One that is World of Warcraft quality.

I would so love to play with the thoughts in my head like The Old Republic would rival WoW, but it just won't happen. The only thing that ever got close to rivaling World of Warcraft was Guild Wars. Nothing else. So in essence, the only thing to stand up to WoW now is either WoW itself or Guild Wars 2.

[McLuvn]

Just like Star Wars is the greatest movie of all time/s.

[SephireX]

I want KOTOR 3! This game does have potential but everbody wants another single player KOTOR like the first two. They should have made KOTOR 3 before The Old Republic. Then again, Mass Effect does quench some of the thirst but certainly not all of it. KOTOR 1 = masterpiece and best game Bioware have made period.

[MrBuffalo]

I've yet to play an MMO so can't really imagine this being a must buy for me. Greatest game of all time? I can't put my finger on what I consider to be the greatest game of all time but here are some games that I remember playing obsessively for a long time to get as much from them as possible,in chronological order. Mario World, Zelda 3, Wipeout 2097 (finest Wipeout there is), Wave Race 64(amazing racing game), Zelda Oot and Majoras Mask, Gran Turismo, GP Legends(makes GT and Forza look softcore) Geoff Crammonds GP4(astounding F1 game) , Virtua Fighter 3tb, Soul Caliber, DMC, Halo CE, RE4, Virtua Fighter 5,GTA 4. Those are some of the games that I've spent alot of time on and had alot of replayability which I think is something a 'best game of all time' candidate should have. Depth and playability whether it be a fine racing game mechanic that makes you want to better your laptimes, Amazing play mechanics or worlds with alot of depth that gives up more the more you put in. I think alot of todays games lack this. There are too many fantastic thrill a minute games on my shelf from this generation. 8-10 hours of play in beautifully detailed worlds but lacking that vital ingredient that makes me comeback again and again once ive seen the credits.

[Cryptech]

I am not that into MMOs. I tried WoW and thought it was incredibly dumb. I also tried Hellgate: London and that was a waste. I just never feel like I need to play one. That is until SW:TOR. I am very excited to see what they do with this game. I love Star Wars and think this will be a D1B. I have a computer to run it. I hope its good!

[R_aVe_N]

I actually think it will fail to capture a lot of the MMO crowd. Star Wars and MMO do not mix well at all. When people play Star Wars they are looking for the single player aspect of the game(unless you are playing Battlefront). From watching them play it at E3 it looked REALLY boring to me.

[john master lee]

I'm still not convinced this will be a WOW killer. While this is Star Wars, it isn't the Star Wars most people know, so it's still got an uphill battle when it comes to convincing people that they want to just into a world without Luke, Vadar, and Solo.