00:26Star Wars The Knights of the Old Republic
00:58Star Wars The Old Republic
00:59Star Wars The Old Republic is really a chance for us to create the ultimate Star Wars game.
01:03It's a game that allows you to live in the Star Wars universe.
01:06We've wanted to build a massively multiplayer game at Bioware for probably over a decade now.
01:10And of course, our experience working with LucasArts on the Knights of the Old Republic franchise is a natural combination.
01:16It's something we think is just a perfect fusion to build an MMO in the Star Wars Knights of the
01:21Old Republic space.
01:22And what we're doing is we're taking some of the best-of-breed features from other MMOs, exploration and combat
01:27progression, and we're not losing any of those.
01:29Instead, what we're doing is we're adding a fourth pillar, the pillar of story and character.
01:33This game takes place in the period of the Old Republic, thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader.
01:39This is a rich period in the Star Wars lore where Sith and Jedi are constantly at one another, and
01:45there's constant conflict.
01:46So what you're about to see is some early pre-production footage.
01:49It's very exclusive for you, the fans.
01:50We haven't shown it to anyone else yet, and we're very excited about it.
02:13The MMO industry in general has been trying to solve story in our games for a long time.
02:19And I think with Tor, what we're doing is we're putting story at the forefront of your experience, where every
02:24one of your decisions is impactful to your end goal and your character progression.
02:29And part of the story thing that's very interesting from our perspective is adding choice.
02:33Typically, online games don't have a lot of choice. You do whatever is in front of you.
02:36But in this game, you get to choose to do things.
02:42A huge, dramatic choice comes up.
02:44You're sitting there looking at it and realizing you can't save it and reload it and say,
02:48Hey, I wonder what would have happened the other direction.
02:51These are real choices that are going to make real impact on the story and where your narrative goes that
02:56you have to live with forever.
02:58For the first time in an MMO, every one of your choices is going to matter.
03:02All your decisions will guide your path towards a light or the dark side.
03:09Companion characters have always been a huge part of Bioware games, and they're also a big part of the Star
03:14Wars mythos.
03:15And so we felt that they were going to be very important to our game.
03:18And what the companion character is going to allow for is it's going to allow us to tell stories in
03:23a different manner,
03:24to allow for a player to have another voice before he makes a decision.
03:28His companion character will actually be his moral compass.
03:30There's a lot of things that the companion characters also have their own stories, their own interests,
03:35and things that you can help them pursue.
03:36Or, depending on which side of the force you sit on, you can help them and support them, or you
03:40can manipulate them.
03:44Rather than approach the game, Star Wars The Old Republic, from a harsh realism perspective,
03:49we wanted to create what we call stylized realism.
03:51We went with stylized realism because we kind of want to have a timeless quality to our art.
03:55We want it to essentially be something that could fit into any era.
03:59We also want it to be very heroic.
04:01We didn't want to look like anything else that was out there.
04:03It was a time where the next-gen games were all hitting, and as great as they look, they all
04:08start to look alike,
04:09because they all look like reality.
04:11So it was really about choosing something that was going to be our own.
04:19It's going to be real exciting to be part of the online community for this game, because this game is
04:24so huge.
04:25It's got such a giant scope.
04:27This game has got more content than every Bioware game that we've created, put together.
04:33We're really focused on fast-paced, action-oriented combat, and we're working very hard to make sure that everybody,
04:40no matter your play style, will have something to do in the Old Republic.
04:44We have a lot of great stuff that's still in the kite.
04:46We haven't shown yet.
04:47We've kind of alluded to it, teased a bit, but when we get to show it,
04:51I think you'll understand why we're so excited about the Old Republic at Bioware, LucasArts, and EA.
04:55I think it's going to be the best thing Bioware's ever done.
04:57It's our biggest project, and we're really excited about it.
