Since the day BioWare Austin launched Star Wars: The Old Republic, the developer has had some high expectations. It had become a victim of its own success, creating a fanbase that had been crying out for story content to match the quality of the classic Knights of the Old Republic games. As the years passed, The Old Republic has gradually grown to encompass more of the classic storytelling that BioWare was capable of producing. With the upcoming Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion, BioWare Austin may finally be ready to hit that point.
Knights of the Fallen Empire promises to be The Old Republic's biggest endeavor to date. While it will include an increased level cap and quality of life improvements, BioWare Austin wants to make it clear. The biggest feature is the story itself, one that the studio is adamantly stating will harken back to its roots. Shacknews went hands-on with the opening chapter of the game to find out whether that bold claim can be backed up.
The story starts off with the opening cinematic revealed at E3 2015, revealing the background of the expansion's main villains. This is the Empire of Zakuul. It is led by an all-powerful ruler known as Valkorion, the immortal Emperor. Flanked by his scarred warrior son Prince Arcann, his powerful granddaughter Vaylin, and a vast army of Skytroopers, the Emperor quickly establishes himself as an omnipotent threat. He proves so powerful that the Republic and the Empire must make a tenuous alliance to stop him.
After crafting a Level 60 Sith Sorcerer, the story opened aboard a Sith Star Destroyer. The opening minutes allows players to establish their character by speaking to various officers aboard the vessel, as well as the ship's captain, the helmeted Sith lord, Darth Marr. After discussing the threat of Valkorion, the Star Destroyer is quickly penetrated by a slew of probes, creating an opening for a Skytrooper ambush.
This offered up a chance to try out some of the Sith Sorcerer toys. Only three attacks were available at the outset, but after defeating a few enemies, the attack pool opened up to surpass over a dozen available abilities. The combat improvements from the Shadow of Revan expansion also made an appearance, with the Discipline system still present and allowing for further customization. My Sith Sorcerer was quickly able to cut through the Skytroopers with a mix of Force Lightning attacks (including the always-handy Chain Lightning that could cut down multiple foes) and defensive abilities that allowed him to absorb enemy attacks.
There were some notable choices to be made over the course of the mission. A Republic trooper was downed near a blast door and the choice came up to either save him or close the doors and leave him to fend for himself. Another choice saw the Star Destroyer on the verge of destruction, so the choice was present to either evacuate the vessel or turn up the speed and take as many enemy forces down with it as possible. These choices will affect both personal character development, as well as how other NPC characters perceive the main character, as has often been tradition in a BioWare effort.
After the Star Destroyer was taken down, the scene would shift to a Zakuul prison. Both the player character and Darth Marr would be greeted by Prince Arcann (the scarred warrior and surviving twin from the E3 trailer), who would escort them both to meet Emperor Valkorion face-to-face. Along the way, they are intercepted by a soothsayer named Heskal, who pleaded with Arcann to stop his path, as he and the other Scions had foretold catastrophe. Arcann dismissed him outright, but Heskal and his prophecies will more than likely be a main plot element in future chapters.
Then came the confrontation with Valkorion himself. Without spoiling the main plot twist, the player was presented with one crucial choice. The immortal Emperor had been observing the player character throughout the Old Republic story, noting that only he could match his power. So the choice was presented to rule alongside him, which is where the demo came to an end.
With limited knowledge of the story prior to this expansion, it does appear that Knights of the Fallen Empire will represent a starting point for new players or those impatient ones that are looking to jump straight into the new content without playing anything previous. However, the aforementioned, unrevealed spoiler does allude to previous story content, so those flying in blind may miss a critical plot point that relates to this new tale.
So perhaps diving into the previous content will prove worthwhile, but is it critical to the overall experience? This question, among others, was presented to Star Wars: The Old Republic producer Bruce Maclean. Come back to Shacknews later today to get the full interview. Star Wars: The Old Republic's Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion is set to release on October 27, with all subscribers set to receive it at no extra charge. And it won't take too much longer to get additional story content, with BioWare revealing that new episodes would be released on a monthly basis after the holiday season and after the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
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replyOzzie Mejia posted a new article, Star Wars: The Old Republic - hands-on with the first minutes of Knights of the Fallen Empire
