Impressions: Star Wars - The Old Republic at PAX

At PAX this past weekend, there was a very large showing of the upcoming Bioware MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, with a brand-new trailer released (featured above) showing both story and gameplay elements extensively, and a hands-on/playable demo of several parts of the game, including the Old Republic's equivalent of an instance, called a "Flashpoint". While I admit, I was positively drooling over the footage, I did have several qualms that I am hoping they address and iron out before the release of the game, whenever that is; Bioware has yet to set a specific date for release, as it is unknown to them that the wait will kill me. Just kidding. Or am I?

I am.

The Good:
Gameplay - It looks fun (important for an MMO) and very reminiscent of World of Warcraft, and if that's any indication of how the final game is going to play (WOW meets Mass Effect), my school grades are doomed.

Graphics - While not stellar, given the semi-cartoon-y art style of the game, they do accomplish one important thing that some MMOs tend to overlook: it makes the game an equal-opportunity employer for all gaming rigs and computers. As cool as ultra-realistic Jedi would look in an MMO, there would be ten computers that could run that game. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but one of the things that makes World of Warcraft so successful is that it runs on every computer, even terrible ones.

Story - Yes, there is story in this MMO; not only is there a fully-fleshed out story in this game, but each class has their own storyline, different from other classes. Which means I'll have to play this game eight times. I may need to take a leave of absence from school...

The Bad:
Graphics - While also listed as a good, the problem with the graphics is the same - they are not leaps and bounds forward. So yes, this game can sell and will be able to be played on all computers, but a realistic-looking Star Wars MMO would be awesome. Not a great loss, but still, a negative aspect.

Bugs - Throughout the gameplay demos I've seen from PAX, all of which I will be posting later this week, I have seen a bunch of gameplay bugs, from shaky scene cuts, buggy image appearances, and delayed reactions on the part of both the player and the NPCs to attacks. It's not unheard of in an MMO, but wishful thinking is that they will iron it all out before release.

The "Why?"
Voice Acting - While I am ecstatic that this game will be fully-voiced, an MMO first as others in the past just used text for both speech and for missions, I would like it a lot more if there was a lot more variance between character voice actors (as they all sound like they have the same accent). Maybe it's just me, but if I'm talking to a Sith Lord, I would like him to sound appropriately menacing, such as a gravelly voice, not like he's going to offer me crumpets and a spot of tea.