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The “single-player experience” of Star Wars: The Old Republic is going to blow the minds of users, according to the game’s senior environment artist Mike Harnisch.
Speaking to VideoGamer.com, Harnisch stated he felt the game had overcome the cynical “single-player MMO” label that sceptics had given the narrative-heavy MMO. Pointing to the PvP zones, group quests, and Operations as examples he explained:
“…a lot of the multiplayer aspects of the game – especially the multiplayer conversation, which is essentially a dice roll as far as who gets to say certain things and how it affects your dark side and light side points – is going to be really different for fans, but it’s going to be very interactive and not just single-player.
“This is multiplayer stuff. And I think the PvP zones and the Operations are going to be really exciting for hardcore MMO fans. I think that people are going to go into the deeper content of the game once they go through the story.”
He added, however, that he did not want to downplay the importance of the single player narrative of the game.
“I don’t want to discredit the single-player experience in the game. The single-player experience is so massive, and so is Star Wars.”
The game, he says, appeals to the BioWare fanbase who enjoy the role-playing aspects of the genre.
“I think the single-player experience is going to blow away people’s minds, especially fans of Mass Effect and other role-playing games. And then to come to the MMO space with that, I think that is really interesting.”
Star Wars: The Old Republic is currently in beta and is set to launch in North America and Europe on December 20.
Read the Star Wars: The Old Republic interview in full for more from Mike Harnisch.
Having played the beta for The Old Republic, I will say that rather than distancing themselves from their single-player RPG tendencies, celebrating them as Harnisch has here isn’t a bad tactic. The traditionalists might not think narrative-heavy MMOs work but it’s easily the best part of the game.
