Downhill from there? Which games aren't you liking because if I recall their last major release was Bioshock which won critical acclaim throughout the console community. While I agree I would like to see the size of the lightsaber trimmed down as well I explicitly trust their Star Wars work more than I ever would SOE; now and forever.
The fact they seem to be aiming for a story driven and atmosphere ridden environment is a step forward from the traditional MMO criteria.
As for pricing, no information has been released to date so that's up in the air, the possibility remains for this to be a Guild Wars styled endeavour resulting in a one time fee of sorts. Don't dismiss the possibility, Bioware has long been a standard for excellence in games.
Then again, throw Sony into the mix and you could very well be expecting price gauging. I for one as a fan of both the expanded universe, and Bioware and Obsidian's portrayals of the era in question make me in a word, giddy.
I read about this on another site and tried to look for that page but couldnt find it.
Things to add.
1. The sabers wil be shrunk down. The images are from pre alpha and it was confirmed that they will shrink down the sabres.
2. The game is currently playable (as per the reporter)...darn where is that site. Though it will require a lot of work for it to even qualify as beta.
3. This is a more intricate story line than the original KOTOR series. Meaning there may be hundreds of endings.
The point of MMORPG's is that they are meant to be an evolving experience with people actively influencing the future. The only MMORPG that I know of (That is even somewhat popular) that achieves that is EVE.
It seems the true goal of MMORPGs are lost among the endless requests for quests and levelling and the + 8 shield. Screw the other MMORPGs, start from scratch and go with it.
True innovation can only be achieved from turning off the main road and going cross country. Who knows, maybe you'll find something brilliant along the way.
that's one reason i liked SWG so much pre-CU. The entire game was player-driven.
Players made houses, even cities - no two servers were ever the same in layout. Players made all of the gear, and that lead to reknowned crafters on each server; people who made high quality gear and who EVERYONE knew about. You could completely customize your house or building interiors, meaning even though the layout was the same, no two houses were alike. You could even customize the interior of the larger spaceships you acquired.
There were no quests; only missions on each planet to let people get money easier without crafting. There was no overall 'storyline' - it was completely determined by the players on the server. The game was open and had little to no developer influence on what took place; that kind of freedom makes players much happier.
Almost all other MMORPG's seem to be taking the "quest/level/cash/gear grind" route, and that's really no fun for the players.
Ever notice we do the same in Disco? We are merely playing roles, not driving things forward or evolving.
Perhaps not even we escaped the usual grind system.