One thing that I've noticed with BioWare and their progression of games is that even when they use a different team of developers in different areas of the world that the good stuff from their games, that which works and is well recieved tends to end up in future titles (such as the use of companion characters, multiple-choice "wheel-like" text interfaces that alter depending upon your "alignment") so I thought I'd run a bit of a sneaky.

As we all know, SW:TOR isn't finished, and there is no real indication of a release-date. That which we have seen in the way of moving footage and gameplay looks interesting, but is pretty limited.

So I thought I'd pull videos in from BioWare games that are almost ready for release so we can look at them and see if we can spot any similarities between them and what they are trying to do with TOR; perhaps get a 'sneak peek' at some things that might appear in TOR before they're announced.

I've chosen the two up-coming BioWare RPG titles, Dragon Age: Origins, and Mass Effect 2.

DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS



Companions:
I've gotta say, I'm impressed by the level of immersion they are going for with "party" members. Its similar to what they tried to do in Mass Effect but only had the story to play with. It seems that how you treat, equip and even act in front of your companions can actually effect their game development and therefore your own parties' strengths and weaknesses. Can we expect the same level of companion detail on SW:TOR? I suppose that depends on whether the companions are "throw away" or not. In previous experience, BioWare don't make many "cookie-cutter" companions, all the people who join your side in - for example - KOTOR have their own personalities. Similarly, they don't always get on. In Mass Effect, this went further and things you did with certain characters actually locked off options for others.

Combat:
This is looking pretty fluid and cinematic. If anything it looks somewhat reminiscent of the early Jedi vs Beastie Tyhon videos we were privvy to. Lots of leaping around and chaining special attacks. We've heard in different E3 interviews that attacks in TOR are meant to be fluid, so maybe this is a good sign?

Story Branching:
Again, this looks like a direct evolution of the sort of things they were doing with M.E. and I'm glad to see it back. Having you follow one storyline to aid one character but always giving you the option to change your mind right up until a pivotal moment has always been an awesome side of BioWare RPGs. The only thing that worries me slightly, is how will this fit in an MMO?

MASS EFFECT 2



Story:
It seems your actions from M.E. will directly effect the storyline in M.E.2, from who was left alive, to how much of a butt-hole your character was (or wasn't). This to me sounds like a LOT of coding has been done to ensure the different choices in game are viable. Hopefully we'll see this sort of mentality drop through into TOR, and - as much as I hate to say it - the fact they are bleating on about the "4th Pillar" (*Shudder*) seems to denote just that.

Combat:
According to BioWare, this is better, faster and more responsive. From the video I can't say it looks any differen to be honest but then, I never thought there was anything wrong with the combat in M.E. After all, its meant to be an RPG, not a FPS. The only real let-down (for me) was some of the A.I. of the enemies, which have allegedly been fixed in M.E.2.

So what do people think? how much of this stuff will make it into our "Star Wars Experience"?
If anyone has any further examples of different BW games to draw from, please bring it to the table.

What're your opinions?

Guess nobody has any opinions then