BioWare considered MMOs of Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones
Star Wars: The Old Republic hit this week, but for a time BioWare considered other franchises in case the Star Wars license didn't work out.
Are you enjoying your time in Star Wars: The Old Republic, or waiting in line as the case may be? Apparently you could have been waiting in line to enter Gondor or Westeros, among a handful of other worlds BioWare considered MMO-ifying.
"We had backup plans," game director James Ohlen told PC Gamer. "In all the design team was like three of us at that point, in total. So we were looking at doing a Lord of the Rings MMO, a Silmarillion MMO, a kind of a Gunslinger-esque Dark Tower MMO, a Game of Thrones MMO." Negotiations with LucasArts were long, and the team spent off-time looking into the other series for inspiration.
Star Wars won out for BioWare, and Lucasarts came back with an agreeable deal. The appeal of the franchise for BioWare was its reams of existing canon, the ability to make various kinds of heroes, and the in-born duality of the world's morality. Of course, the massive fan-base didn't hurt. "When you ask our fans 'what kind of MMO would you like us to build' they almost always say 'how about Knights of the Old Republic masssively multiplayer game?'"
And then they made it. Star Wars: The Old Republic is available now. Meanwhile, an RPG modeled after A Game of Thrones is in the works from Cyanide.
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replySteve Watts posted a new article, BioWare considered MMOs of Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones.
Star Wars: The Old Republic hit this week, but for a time BioWare considered other franchises in case the Star Wars license didn't work out.-
I'm glad we got lightsabers and blasters instead of swords and bows
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Same. LOTR and GOT are great properties, but we've got more than enough traditional fantasy-themed MMOs.
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I'd have preferred a Mass Effect MMO, honestly.
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ditto
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I don't want one for now. Maybe in a decade after a few big leaps in hardware.
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Just for fun...
Horselord (almost a cross between archer/thief archetypes)
- light & leather armor
- bow & sword proficiency
- riding proficiency
- can't swim
- fast
Pyromancer
- alchemist
- cloth armor
- napalm / bombs
- low constitution
Servant of R'hllor (mage)
- fire magic
- limited healing magic
- cloth armor
- bonus vs undead
- low charisma
Knight
- heavy armor
- sword & lance proficiency
- riding proficiency
- higher repair costs to maintain equipment
- slow on foot
Undying (necromancer)
- self-healing ability
- low constitution & charisma
- ??? the Undying dudes weren't fleshed out very well but there's potential
Shapeshifter / Skinwalker
- multiple animal forms (bear, wolf, elk, crow)
- high constitution
- leather armor
- jack of all most trades (like a druid in wow)
Nights Watchman
- resilience vs cold
- bonus vs undead
- weapon proficiency (able to use any physical damage weapon in game)
- bonus to monster drops (scavenge)
- low charisma
- medium armor (chain)
Lots of potential for classes if you just dig, generalize, and maybe stretch a little.
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Make sense, the argument could be made that the armor was more expensive to deflect a light saber but in a time of war justified. Fast forward to the time of the movies, why make that armor when predominantly the users of light sabers are protectors. Conversely during the rule of the Empire only two guys have a saber.
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It's this
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and good luck providing that information as the website is being destroyed. I understand why they require it now because many probably wouldn't bother when their account expired. But it is BS that my month that was included with the game started ticking away and I played for a couple days, and now I can't access it. what if I only want to play for a month. and even if I do want to subscribe I can't now because the site is overloaded.
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Game of Thrones MMO could be good if they focus on the story as much as they do SW:TOR.
Everyone could have a unique adventure, and by level 50 everyone is dead-
A Game of Thrones RPG wouldn't seem right without permadeath.
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Know The Face Of Your Father : +1 to shooting faces off
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