Let’s just go ahead and get this out of the way right now: No, there is still no official release date for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Not even a general time frame. You can now pre-order the game, but it hasn’t even been confirmed for a 2011 release. Just had to get that out of the way first.
Last week was Comic-Con, and what would a Comic-Con be without a Star Wars presence? It would be a sad day, and one that would live in fanboy infamy. On that day, you might even be able to see a single tear running down the face of a full grown man dressed like an ewok, and nobody should have to see that. Ever. Thankfully that was not an issue this year, as Star Wars continues to breed and grow.
Among the several things on display for the franchise was a new trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic. In the trailer below a few clips of gameplay were shown, as well as a brief introduction of the classes you can play. Eight have been announced, and each will have their own storyline within the overall arc. The classes will be aligned with either the Galactic Republic or the Sith Empire, and they are: Trooper, Smuggler, Jedi Knight and Jedi Consular on the Republic side; Bounty Hunter, Imperial Agent, Sith Warrior and Sith Inquisitor for the Empire.
Each class will have their own skills and abilities, and each will be able to follow their own upgrade tree, but the eight classes or actually more like four as each class will have a mirror opposite on the other faction—i.e. a jedi knight and a sith warrior are very similar, but will each have a few tricks unique to them. The choices you make will also affect the storyline, so each player’s experience should be somewhat different.
So far the game looks great. There will be plenty to do, the story will be appealing to fans new and old, and the cinematic trailers look amazing. Now if only we knew when the game were going to actually come out. Early indicators point to later this year, and the acceptance of pre-orders seems to support that, but it is still unconfirmed.
Star Wars: The Old Republic will be a PC exclusive when it is released…whenever.
