MMOGamer.com has posted a 4 page interview with the lead designer and lead writer on SW:TOR. The interview goes into a little detail about class-specific questing and the overall story arcs of the game. Well worth a read!

Here’s some tasty tidbits.

Not just a completely different story, but when you switch between factions, every class has their own story, but when you switch between factions there is not one piece of repeated content. Period.

Not one line of VO, not one character, not one quest. Totally different from front to back.

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The MMO Gamer: If you have five friends, and they’re all playing different classes, do four have to follow around one while they do the Smuggler quest, and then the Smuggler has to help the other four while they do their quests in turn?

And would those other party member just be standing idle by the sidelines? Or, can you become actively involved in the storylines of other characters?

Daniel Erickson: If you want to let Han go try to pay off Jabba by himself, there he goes.

James Ohlen: Or you can go with him.

Daniel Erickson: If you want to go with him, and be part of his story ……. there’s activities to do like for example, if you’re going to help the Smuggler, and you’re a Jedi, there’ll be activities for that Jedi to do while the Smuggler is doing his quest, that will help him out.

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James Ohlen: MMOs are very slow-paced, it’s you versus one enemy, and you hit him fifteen times until he dies. That’s something we’ve consciously moved away from in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

You’re fighting against multiple enemies, the action is fast-paced, there’s a lot more animations going on.

Read the rest of the interview here!

IncGamers has released the second part of their interview with the lead designer of The Old Republic, James Ohlen. He reaffirms BioWare’s committment to making the storyline of TOR a big part of the game and also gives us some insight into what companion characters will be like. “Taking part in your companions’ stories will unlock new opportunities to interact with them, so whether your interactions are friendly or cruel, it’s definitely a great part of the game to explore,” he says. This feature is a staple of BioWare games and it looks like TOR will be no different in this regard, which is sure to make a lot of fans happy.

Read the rest of the interview here.

IncGamers has recently gotten a chance to speak with James Ohlen, the lead designer at BioWare on The Old Republic. He talks about working at the Austin studio, working with ILM and George Lucas, and in particular, hints at the games’ playable classes. When asked about whether the mentioned elite troopers of the Republic would be a playable class, he responded, “We want you to experience your Star Wars fantasy. That fantasy may not be to become a Jedi or Sith, but there will be a role in this game for you, whether Han Solo is your idol or Boba Fett.” For now it is left up to the imagination what kind of classes they would be.

Read part one of the interview here, and look forward for part two to be published soon.

While everyone has been begging for more info on Star Wars: The Old Republic, PC Gamer magazine got a look themselves as they had a visit to the Bioware Austin studio to have the first look at the upcoming MMO. Unfortunately the info is not available online, but you can pick up the holiday copy of PC Gamer to check it out. This includes new content developments, screenshots, and interviews with Creative Director James Ohlen, Principal Lead Writer Daniel Erickson, and BioWare Co-Founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk.

You can read a snippet of the article below: Read more»