Star Wars: The Old Republic E3 Preview

Gamasutra managed to sneak their way into a Star Wars: The Old Republic demonstration at E3, and took the time to tell us a bit about it.

Players control their dialog choices in a way similar to Mass Effect dialog wheel. As in past BioWare single-player RPGs, the developer wants to have choice have real meaning, and with The Old Republic, BioWare appears to be trying to make choices blurrier — less cut and dry. In one case, players are given the choice to cut down a captain with a lightsaber after he fails to follow orders, which will build up fear and loyalty amongst surrounding NPCs — or let him live, which will allow players to speak with him and feed off of his knowledge in the future. By making sure there are clear benefits and drawbacks for either choice, choices can have more meaning.

The bloodthirsty attendees of this particular demo voted to kill the captain, which irreversibly changes both the story and the gameplay scenarios for the player. “There are mid-term and long-term impacts” from decisions, Dickenson said. “…Every NPC involved in [a] conversation… is going to react to you differently depending on what decision you make.”

He also briefly mentioned an intriguing multiplayer conversation system, in which players in the same party will be able to take turns responding and initiating conversations with NPCs. It’s a concept that could add a new dimension to MMOs, but Dickenson said that BioWare is still keeping details of the feature under wraps.