Reflecting on SWTOR and XIV

[Abriael]

And I guess this is a given that the thread will derail into "No it's not like wow!" fine.. tell me how it's different. What new and uncharted territory did SWTOR take? The controls are exactly the same, the game play is exactly the same, the leveling with class trainers is exactly the same, oh look it's got skill trees like.. umm.. wow. The differences between the two you could write on the back of a business card.

SWTOR has its main feature in the storytelling, branching dialogue, companion interaction and everything that is peculiar of BioWare RPGs.

WoW does not.

It's a radical difference, and one must be completely blind not to notice it since it's slapped in your face at every corner that you turn.

Saying that SWTOR is a clone of WoW is like saying that Battlefield is a clone of Call of Duty because they're the same genre and have similar controls.

It pretty obvious that it doesn't make the slightest sense. Everyone into racing will tell you that a tire doesn't need to be square in order to be different.

[Jadi]

I think we are very lucky with XIV, and hopefully we will see something that isn't a clone of typical A class mmo's out there, but is easy enough for those who are accustomed to those to be able to pickup quickly.

SWTOR has its main feature in the storytelling, branching dialogue, companion interaction and everything that is peculiar of BioWare RPGs.

WoW does not.

It's a radical difference, and one must be completely blind not to notice it since it's slapped in your face at every corner that you turn.

Saying that SWTOR is a clone of WoW is like saying that Battlefield is a clone of Call of Duty because they're the same genre and have similar controls.

It pretty obvious that it doesn't make the slightest sense. Everyone into racing will tell you that a tire doesn't need to be square in order to be different.

I don't view content as making it different. Of *course* the content is different, that’s a no brainier. I'm talking about it's structure and the way it operates.. if you remove all artwork and content from both games and add stick figures in... do you think you could tell what game you were playing in the first 30 minutes? The really nice part about XIV 1.x is that it was without a doubt NOT WoW, so I'm hopeful that SE continues to break new ground adding fallbacks to common mmo conventions if and when they make sense to do so.

As if controls should be different in every game... There is no need to try and reinvent the wheel. (Also it's not like WoW was the first game to be controlled this way.)

I don't mean in that sense.. you are correct, and there are common conventions but what I mean is for example XIV uses a different type of control than most other MMO's being controller friendly, the way the camera moves and locks.. that sort of stuff.

Partly I'm fearful now that SE is copying SWTOR with the companions in their ideas of the Chocoboos !!! NO SE! don't do it.. we don't all need to be running around questing with our Chocoboo!

[Abriael]

I don't view content as making it different. Of *course* the content is different, that’s a no brainier. I'm talking about it's structure and the way it operates.. if you remove all artwork and content from both games and add stick figures in... do you think you could tell what game you were playing in the first 30 minutes? The really nice part about XIV 1.x is that it was without a doubt NOT WoW, so I'm hopeful that SE continues to break new ground adding fallbacks to common mmo conventions if and when they make sense to do so.

Too bad that the heavy focus on storyline, the branching dialogue, the companion interaction et cetera aren't just "content". They're integral part of what you call "the structure of the game and the way it operates".

[Jadi]

Too bad that the heavy focus on storyline, the branching dialogue, the companion interaction et cetera aren't just "content". They're integral part of what you call "the structure of the game and the way it operates".

Ok dude, sure. :: roll eyes :: it's not content, whatever.

[Abriael]

Ok dude, sure. :: roll eyes :: it's not content, whatever.

It's fun when people pretend not to understand points that demolish their misguided arguments...

It's not *just* content. It's also integral part of the structure of the game. It doesn't take a degree in rocket science (nor in English literature) to understand it.

[Jadi]

It's fun when people pretend not to understand points that demolish their misguided arguments...

It's not *just* content. It's also integral part of the structure of the game. It doesn't take a degree in rocket science (nor in English literature) to understand it.

Unhun.. Yes, I absolutely agree with you. Your point was well put and you are a genius. (to think you actually review games.. man this explains a lot to me now..)

[Abriael]

Unhun.. Yes, I absolutely agree with you. Your point was well put and you are a genius. (to think you actually review games.. man this explains a lot to me now..)

Ah, the little petty art of the personal attack when one has no arguments to counter what someone says...

The fact that the story of the game varies depending on your choices and actions, that you have companions that are basically characters on their own merit, that you can equip, fight at your side, change their behavior depending on your choices and are designed to make solo gameplay more viable, the fact that even playing as a group you have ways to influence the storyline in favor or against what the other members decide and so forth...

They're all *gameplay mechanics*, not just content. I really am not sure on how to explain it in a simpler way than this.