14 DAY TRIAL // No, Star Wars: The Old Republic does not yet have a launch date yet, but this has not stopped the developers working on the MMO to talk about the choices they have made during the development process, this time focusing on how the graphics style was chosen.
Speaking to Metro about how the development team created the look of the game, Emmanuel Lusinchi, an associate lead designer at BioWare, has said, “We do that on purpose because a realistic looking game will look great the first year, will look okay the second year, and look terrible three years later when people make fun of it.”
The teams at BioWare and Electronic Arts have long term plans for The Old Republic and they do not want to be forced to do graphical updates every few years so they made a number of choices that offer longevity.
He added, “So we picked an art style and we had a lot of people thinking that it was terrible in principle. But when you play the game, because the game look so different when it moves compared to a screenshot, I don’t think I remember anyone who after they played it for weeks, or even days, complaining about it.”
The developer also addressed the issue of Light and Dark Side choices, saying that players will have quite a few choices on how they behave and pledging allegiance to the Republic or the Sith will not place significant restrictions on their decisions.
The Old Republic MMO will get a beta stage during the fall of the year, which will allow BioWare and Electronic Arts to test the infrastructure linked to the game.
The publisher has also confirmed that they are limiting the availability of copies of the game in order to ensure a smooth launch experience for those who pre-order.