Wild Space: TORMag, Endgame, and “T for Teen”

It’s a big galaxy our there, and Wild Space can be a dangerous place. Worry not, explorer – each week we’ll navigate you safely through the lost hyperspace routes of the Deep Core and track down the great articles and entertainment from around the SW:TOR fan community, all in less than 12 parsecs, of course!

Convention season has come to a close with PAX. Everyone seems to still be recovering from the whirlwind that was SDCC, gamescom, and PAX but the SW:TOR’s fansite community did not rest on it’s laurels and has come out with some great stuff in the past week.

First up, TORMag released their September issue chock full of great articles, chief among them is a write-up of the planet Korriban. I’m a Star Wars lore nut and this is a great article if you want to get down the the nitty gritty about the planet and it’s almost symbiotic relationship with the ancient Sith Lords. Some of the other articles to check out are a detailed write-up of the companion system in SW:TOR, BioWare’s concept of “Heroic Combat”, voice actors in SW:TOR, as well as class write-ups and other goodies (comics!). Download the full issue on their website and support this great fansite effort.

Should the devs devote the majority of their time making the endgame great, or should they focus on improving the game as a whole? That is the question posed by Banath in an editorial over on Torocast. I think all of us have heard the screaming from the hardcore players that the endgame should be the devs top priority. It’s what will keep people playing the game long after they have completed leveling their primary character. However, SW:TOR is a different game than other MMOs out there. Every class has different content during the leveling process; the replayability of this game is going to be huge. 200 hours times eight classes is a whole lot of playtime without even touching the endgame.

I think that both Banath and I believe that the endgame is very important for SW:TOR to succeed, but is it the only factor that will determines the games success? Not a chance. All parts of SW:TOR, the beginning, middle, and end, need to be great in order for the game to succeed. I think this is something that SW:TOR has going for it over other MMOs, the beginning and middle seem to be more polished, accessible, and there is a lot more engaging and interesting content there. All of the parts working in tandem is what will keep players playing for many years to come, not just one or the other. Checkout Torocast for the full editorial.

By now, you have probably seen the Friday update video, which was a recap of gamescom. What you may not have seen was the four-second section at the beginning of the video giving the official ESRB rating for SW:TOR: T for Teen. Thankfully, our friends over at Yufmelt.com did notice this and produced a nice write-up of what a “T” rating means for SW:TOR. The first part of the write up struck me:

Blood and Gore. Interesting. I wonder if this relates to the piles of bones to be found in the Sarlacc pit? They’ve said no decapitations from lightsaber strikes, but there is a certain horror to be had from electrocuting defenseless animals and poor Jawas. Backstabbing is also a key element in the game. – Austen, Yufmelt.com

He’s quite right. I don’t think we’ve seen anything that directly shows “blood and gore” in the game yet other than lightening blasts (please correct me if I’m wrong). Perhaps some classes will have their own forced amputation moment a la Luke Skywalker at the end of “The Empire Strikes Back”? Tough to say at this point, all I know is that from the footage that we have seen no enemy mob gets eviscerated by lightsabers, they just sort of fall over (albeit gracefully) when killed. Check out the full write-up here.

Let us know what you guys think about a “T for Teen” rating, which is pretty standard for MMOs it seems, in the comments. Personally, I think that to reach as wide of an audience as possible, “T for Teen” is the appropriate rating. BioWare may have to sacrifice some of the more intense story moments and gameplay abilities, but it’s probably worth it for the longevity of the game. Besides, it’s doubtful that Lucasarts would allow a “M for Mature” Star Wars game to be made given their traditionally younger target audience. What do you guys think?