14 DAY TRIAL // BioWare has again talked about the cinematic quality of the upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, saying that the studio is aiming to use camera movement and dramatic effects as another way, in addition to the actual recorded dialogue, of showing the player the impact that his choices and his action are having on the game world.
Paul Marino has said that, “These choices are gameplay, presented in cinematic form. Sure, they could be made through the use of simple point-and-click, text-only interface, but the reward of our choices would be passed over and the player would never fully experience the impact of those decisions.”
The idea seems pretty close to what BioWare has done in their most cinematic game yet, Mass Effect 2, but presumably with more actual movement and more cuts than the long dialogue sequences in the space-based role playing and action hybrid, which could sometimes feel a bit static.
Traditionally, MMO titles have not played up the cinematic element very much, relying on the player to bring in the emotional involvement even as the game worlds remained more interested in fluency of quests and in efficiency of player actions.
BioWare has already played up the fact that Star Wars: The Old Republic will have fully voiced dialog with all the significant NPCs that appear in the game, in order to give them more character and make it easier for the player to relate to them.
BioWare, who is best known for their work on complex game worlds and layered choices, has also said that all player actions in The Old Republic will have an impact and that large groups will have special mechanics to deal with significant plot points.
BioWare, the developer, and Electronic Arts, the publisher, have not talked about an actual launch date for Star Wars: The Old Republic, but the game should arrive at some point late in 2011, with a beta stage possible during the summer.