The 3rd official video documentary titled “Voice of the Old Republic” was released today on the official site, featuring a couple of minutes worth of gameplay from what I assume is the flashpoint event shown at E3. It also gives us a good look at the user interface system of the game, as well as [...]

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Well, there was a lot in this video, and most of it flew past too fast to see :)

Force choke was shown, as was the "Force Persuade" dialogue option for the Sith character, shown here

http://www.starwarsmmo.net/cms/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/gp2.jpg)

Smuggler cover system shown

http://www.starwarsmmo.net/cms/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/cover2.jpg)

and a bounty hunter ability called "Electro dart"

http://www.starwarsmmo.net/cms/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/electro-dart.jpg)



The republic ship flying around inside the landing bay and firing looked pretty amazing :)


Absolute Confirmation from Video:

UI / Dialogue System

--Mass Effect -style dialog wheel with multiple dialog options.

--Mass Effect style response labels - what is written in the wheel is not necessarily what your character says verbatim, merely the 'gist' of it.

--Mass Effect style icons in the lower left of screen for group members.

--Complete UI screenshot available now, at much higher resolutions than previous hints of it. Radar confirmed, WoW-style icons for special abilities confirmed. Note what appears to be an experience bar in the bottom of the shot.


--Of particular note is the health system, which seems to be represented by blue and red bars for non-force-using classes, blue and yellow for force users. Red presumably being health, this would make blue an action bar of some sort, and yellow a Rogue-esque charging meter for special attacks.

--Existence of a KotOR-style "Persuade" dialog option confirmed (3:57). This provides strong evidence of a skill development system similar to KotOR, in my opinion.

--Existence of a combat log confirmed (3:38, upper left)

--Buff/debuff icons next to health bar confirmed for cover, being choked, etc.

--Existence of ability cooldowns confirmed, preventing multiple abilities from being spammed successively.

--Existence of a dice roll deciding who takes the lead in conversational choices confirmed (1:04). Unknown what factors influence it (Charisma? Level? Pure random?)

Classes / Abilities

--Existence of at least one Sith ability, "Channel Hatred", confirmed.

--Existence of at least one Bounty Hunter ability, "Electro Dart", confirmed (3:37).

--Dual wielding confirmed (even moreso, now, anyway).

--Sith lightsaber colors NOT restricted to red

--Existence of some sort of leaping ground smash ability confirmed for Sith (4:50)

--Existence of Force Choke (channeled) confirmed (officially, anyway) (5:14).

--Existence of "ranked" force powers confirmed (5:14), which would logically imply one receiving improved ranks of powers according to level and/or spec investment


Misc.

--Enemies appear to be divided into different tiers, undoubtedly describing their difficulty. Among those shown are "Grunt", "Fodder", and "Boss".


Let's talk video. What did YOU see!

The dialogue system seems alright. It's ripped straight out of Mass Effect, though, so that think what you will of that. The facial animations are quite nice, though, as well as most of the effects. The oddly proportionate limbs on the characters is still disconcerting

I do really hate them for advertising the morality of choice in dialogues as if its some newfangled, revolutionary concept in RPGs. Sure, it's new for MMOs, but since TOR is becoming more of a single-player RPG with online features, it's quite redundant. I have to say that a good deal of the dialogue is cringe-worthy, though. The Sith lackey's remark right after you slice the Sith captain in half with your lightsaber is lulzworthy: "The captain's dead!"

Seriously, I'm sigging that. :p

The dialogue system seems alright. It's ripped straight out of Mass Effect, though, so that think what you will of that.


I don't got any problems with that... it was realistic and immersive in ME. Shouldn't be any different here. Nice, short responses that give you the jist of what you're gonna say. Better than in KotOR where your character sits there staring while you analyze each dialogue choice for like 30 seconds.

It looks like most of the UI and gameplay owes more to Mass Effect than KotOR, and that isn't a bad thing. I'm playing ME for the first time now, and I like it. Putting some shooter into my RPG just shakes it up more, makes me feel more into the game than the semi-turn-based stuff in KotOR. BioWare continues to suck in my soul with these teases for TOR.

Sweet! We can have Gumby as a companion! lol

Seriously though it looks like it's off to a good start, though the ME interface is IMO, more designed for a console stick than keyboards. Good thing I'll be getting a new PC to run this on.

I hate the look of the humans so much.

I refuse to be a human.

You can be the Welsh Darth Maul that they confirmed as playable.

I don't got any problems with that... it was realistic and immersive in ME. Shouldn't be any different here. Nice, short responses that give you the jist of what you're gonna say. Better than in KotOR where your character sits there staring while you analyze each dialogue choice for like 30 seconds.Not exactly. There was nothing that "revolutionary" about the system; it gave you the same options as the traditional dialogue "box" in other RPGs, but only with the responses shortened for brevity, and the interfaced redesigned to be friendlier for consoles. Blue shading on an option was a visualization of the standard [Persuade] skill prefix, while red shading equated to [Intimidate]. Sure, the interface was different, but it included the same principles featured in any other dialogue system.

I'm not saying that it's a bad system, but to call it revolutionary compared to every other dialogue system would be a fallacy.

Looks pretty good, as expected. As I've said if the people who play when I'm playing arent too Obnoxious, and Bioware add just a bit more polish the the Characters looks etc.. Could well be awesome.

Well. I'm psyched. ..

I hate the look of the humans so much.

I refuse to be a human.

Same here. Hopefully the other species have better looking face models. I hope to wear a bounty hunter helmet though.

I was attempting to see if the text the characters are speaking also shows up in readable format on the screen somewhere - I thought I saw it at one point but most of the clips went by too fast to really tell. I prefer having the subtitles there as some of the dialogue is hard to understand at times.

Other than that this video just got me even more excited for the game. Can't wait!

You can be the Welsh Darth Maul that they confirmed as playable.

wah wah wah?

Same here. Hopefully the other species have better looking face models. I hope to wear a bounty hunter helmet though.

Good plan. I say we enslave the humans!

Good plan. I say we enslave the humans!

Too much effort, KILL ALL HUMANS!

Same here. Hopefully the other species have better looking face models. I hope to wear a bounty hunter helmet though.
I'm gonna guess that these faces/models are older models that they're still working on because they have square noses. It'd be weird if K1 somehow had better faces, animation and lipsynching and came out at least 6 years before TOR. :P

Remember that we're still pre-alpha, so the graphics and gameplay are subject to much change and improvement. I think the only thing currently set in stone is the User Interface(since it seems to be very functional and aesthetically pleasing), though even that will probably undergo tweaks once it hits Open Beta and becomes playable by thousands of varying types of players.

Remember that we're still pre-alpha, so the graphics and gameplay are subject to much change and improvement. I think the only thing currently set in stone is the User Interface(since it seems to be very functional and aesthetically pleasing), though even that will probably undergo tweaks once it hits Open Beta and becomes playable by thousands of varying types of players.

Doubtful.

Most likely, the player models you see now are the player models.

The Sith should also look more Sith-like. Some yellow eyes and dark hooded cloaks could fix that right up. Maybe a scar or two and some veins protruding from, the base of the neck?

The Sith should also look more Sith-like. Some yellow eyes and dark hooded cloaks could fix that right up. Maybe a scar or two and some veins protruding from, the base of the neck?

These are low level sith we're seeing so far, remember. Hopefully theyll implement some sort of "the more evil you get, the more ugly and scarred you look" system.

Awesome vid

I just hope the VO dialog doesn't wind up repetitive.

Sweet! We can have Gumby as a companion! lol

Seriously though it looks like it's off to a good start, though the ME interface is IMO, more designed for a console stick than keyboards. Good thing I'll be getting a new PC to run this on.

That was the cover system hence they green figures.

That was the cover system hence they green figures.

I realized it was cover, but the Gumby thing looks weird, hopefully it's just part of alpha. When I heard about the cover system, I was thinking of yellow dots on the ground, or maybe a hologram of your character like in Star Wars: Republic Commando. A translucent character model hologram "double" in place of the Gumby figures would work better I think, if they can do that with the engine.

That was the cover system hence they green figures.

Yes I know that, however the thought of having Gumby as a companion was too great to resist. Which is also sort of a *wink-wink, nudge-nudge* for a KOTOR mod.

I noticed 2 Sith abilities in the video, I typed up what I could read off them:

Smash - Action Points: 5, Instant , Cooldown: 15 sec, Range: 5m. You leap into the air and smash into the ground, stunning up to 3 nearby enemies for 5 seconds and dealing moderate damage to them.

Force Choke (Rank 1), Channeled: 6 sec, Cooldown: 30 sec, Range: 15m, Chokes a target, leaving them suspended in the air while you channel the ability. The target takes high damage spread over 8 seconds, and you regain 1 action point per second.


Sounds cool, action points aren't quite like the Rogue combo points in WoW I guess.

Ive decided on being a smuggler hands down. Dialogue looks great to me, my only question is when does beta come out. xD

I thought the "or what?" line was really good, probably one of the best acted 2 word lines in the industry...

To me, the interface looks pleasing, but it reminds me a lot about WoW's interface. And I liked the way Mass Effect had its dialog.

These are low level sith we're seeing so far, remember. Hopefully theyll implement some sort of "the more evil you get, the more ugly and scarred you look" system.

I doubt that they are going to go with what they did for K1 for the Sith appearances, since back in the time of K1 (and its development), a Dark Jedi/Sith' main feature is a red lightsaber. Bioware wanted them to be more... unique. After Episode 3, there is a more distinquishing feature that was introduced officially into canon: yellow/orange and red eyes that emanate evil.

I found a good analysis of the video if y'all care:
http://darthhater.com/2009/07/18/dissected-videodoc3/)

I found a good analysis of the video if y'all care:
http://darthhater.com/2009/07/18/dissected-videodoc3/) Interesting read. Dice rolls to decide who's choice is going to be picked during dialog? I don't know, I think I'd be pissed if dialog doesn't go the way I want because of someone else. Another element why I'd prefer to play this mostly singleplayer.

Interesting read. Dice rolls to decide who's choice is going to be picked during dialog? I don't know, I think I'd be pissed if dialog doesn't go the way I want because of someone else. Another element why I'd prefer to play this mostly singleplayer.

I guess it's better than nothing, taking turns like that. Maybe for bigger decisions that will greatly impact your Karma, they can let each player pick a different choice. Like killing the Captain from the E3 demo. The guy in control wants to kill him, but you want to spare him. So the Captain is killed, but your character mentions "For the record, I wanted to spare him. It's this guy over here's fault he's dead, not mine." Different opinions could work for story I would think. Otherwise it would suck if your friend is particularly callous and kills everything, ruining your Good Karma.

I'm sure BioWare's got something in the plans for party members with differing opinions(or at least I hope they do).

Interesting read. Dice rolls to decide who's choice is going to be picked during dialog? I don't know, I think I'd be pissed if dialog doesn't go the way I want because of someone else. Another element why I'd prefer to play this mostly singleplayer.
Or play with friends who you'd trust with your alignment. o_Q