14 DAY TRIAL // Maybe the best Star Wars-themed videogames were Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2, one made directly by BioWare and the other put together by Obsidian, and it seems the upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic will be working hard to make sure that the storylines in these two titles are fully integrated in the new narrative.
As part of a Questions & Answers session at E3, Daniel Erickson, who is the writing director at BioWare working on The Old Republic, said, “There are going to be a great deal of questions answered from KOTOR 1 and KOTOR 2 in our game,” adding, “The thing with KOTOR 2 is that it was a very Jedi-specific plot. The Jedi were very much ravaged by it, and we talk about that in the timeline – trying to rebuild the Jedi. But it was not as large a galactic piece. So there are a lot of factions and things that aren’t actually affected by it.”
Erickson refused to say whether The Exile or Revan were still alive and whether they were set to make an appearance in The Old Republic, which could mean players of Knights of the Old Republic 2 might have an extra reason to look forward to the MMO.
BioWare has repeatedly claimed that they aim to make Star Wars: The Old Republic a more story-driven experience than most MMOs. The game will allow for branching narrative depending on the choices that the gamer makes as they go through the game and the company aims to deliver complex situations for all the character classes.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is the most expensive project for Electronic Arts at the moment and the company has high hopes that the MMO, set to arrive in 2011, will challenge World of Warcraft from Blizzard for the position of most successful subscription-based online game.