UPDATE! RUMOR: The Old Republic – Future, Sequel, Possible Canonization?
Though Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game Star Wars: The Old Republic was one of the biggest projects that game developer BioWare ever tackled, both in the scope of lore and the variety of gameplay content, it was put aside into the Star Wars Legends banner along with virtually everything else released before 2014 – even though the era the game took place in would have had little impact on the movies themselves. However, word on the street is that there are plans to not only refit the game snugly into the new continuity, but to possibly create a sequel. Possible plot spoilers for the MMORPG inside.
While BioWare’s MMORPG did not meet their expectations in terms of sales – they were hoping the title would be popular enough to dethrone the ever-popular World Of Warcraft as top MMORPG – the game was still a success, and sits comfortably in the top five most profitable MMORPGs. Nonetheless, Disney decided it would work better as a Legends title, but they still allowed BioWare to make additional content for the game (such as the recent Tatooine Homestead feature), contrary to what was happening with previous Expanded Universe works that were in development. That alone would raise suspicion of any Legends fan, but even stranger was the credits for the Galactic Starfighter expansion – the entire Lucasfilm Story Group, the people responsible for the new canon, was credited as creative consultants (shown below). Some began to wonder about this; why would LSG work on a game that was decidedly non-canon?
That’s where the rumors kick in. A reader of ours by the name of Rory Lustermans brought our attention to a Reddit post detailing an outline of a possible sequel and what BioWare allegedly wants to implement. A user named swtorthr0w claimed to be an inside source working on the game, and that BioWare wanted to stay quiet for a while before revealing new information on the title. Believing this to be counterproductive, swtorthr0w, revealed information under the guise of a Reddit account (which will be detailed in due time). While this is all innocuous by itself (as supposed “insider” information leaks are common), one note of interest from fellow user swtor_miner mentioned that Manaan, which appeared in the original Knights Of The Old Republic, would be in a future expansion.
Major spoilers from the upcoming Manaan Flashpoint. How does the Infinite Army, that’s being created on by Manaan by Revanites: Colonel Darok and Darth Arkous, factor into this “future content”?
At this point, a number of users expressed disbelief at both swtor_miner’s speculation and swtorthr0w’s original post. Then along came a post from someone in the dev team, talking about – you guessed it – Manaan (albiet through an in-character lore post). Because of this, both swtor_miner and swtorthr0w’s posts both became that much more likely. Further confirmation that Manaan would be in the game was found in yet another Reddit thread, which saw evidence of a “Manaan Flashpoint” during a stream (click the picture below for a close-up on this info).
With the potential confirmation that swtorthr0w’s post is legitimate, an outline of what’s to come is as follows (wall of text alert):
Gameplay/Marketing:
- The story of the game is expected to go on for another three and half years, though servers are still expected to stay up as long as the game has an active audience. Focus will gradually shift to the sequel (which is already in early development) as time goes on. In the meantime, funding for the game is expected to go up once following the new expansion, and continue to stay at a higher rate.
- A “New Game Plus” feature will be added to The Old Republic once the story has been completed. The mode will tweak the leveling function and alter the experience of early planets. Certain characters introduced later in the story will appear earlier in the campaign if certain requirements are met. An abundance of items that will make certain aspects of gameplay less repetitive are to be added.
- A console port of the game will eventually hit the market.
- The Togruta species will join the list of playable races, along with “some ugly thing” that the writer didn’t recognize.
- Same-sex romantic options will be implemented into the game.
- Cross-faction cooperation can occur on some planets, usually justified by story reasons.
- An engine-revamp will occur over time through the expansions. Controls will be slightly modified in the process.
- The “Sith Inquisitor” class/character will return for the sequel.
- The Frostbite Engine 3 – which publisher Electronic Arts is using for several of its titles (including Star Wars Battlefront) – will be used for the sequel.
- Player characters from The Old Republic will reappear in the sequel; that is to say, a player’s character from the original game will appear in the specific story arc of the player’s new character in the next game (albeit in the form of Holocron messages or something to that effect). A similar feature was included in the sequels to BioWare’s Mass Effect, where moral choices from previous installments would carry over in the sequels.
Story:
- The forthcoming Galactic Stronghold expansion will have ties to (you guessed it) Episode VII, and that a plot-important planet from the movie will make their way into the game. Presumably, said planet will also be important in-story. The primary antagonist of the game, the Sith Emperor Vitiate, will also be an influential figure to the antagonist of the Episode VII, although he may not be mentioned by name.
- The “Forged Alliances” quest will feature a plot point that will be crucial to the ending of the overarching story arc of the game.
- The story arcs of player characters will (of course) be continued and concluded with the coming expansions.
- The final arc of the story will revolve around Vitiate’s power being completely restored, and all eight of the classes (Sith included) play some part in defeating him once and for all. The story will end with a cataclysm that shakes the foundations of both the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire, setting the stage for the sequel.
Again, keep in mind that this is all of this is still just coming from a rumor, albeit a very extensive and detailed one. Nonetheless, it appears that if you believed that Disney was just going to forget about the biggest ongoing video game project being published under their name, then – as Darth Malgus said – you were deceived.
UPDATE!
While this rumor about the game is still up in the air, another reader (Jason Hamilton from Far Far Away Radio, a fellow Star Wars fansite) sent us another interesting bit of information. He apparently got into contact with Jennifer Heddle, the Senior Editor of LucasBooks, and apparently certain pieces of the canon are still being discussed – most notably, the Old Republic Era. Of particular interest is a Tweet that she wrote (that has since then disappeared mysteriously).
@drunknleprechan I honestly don’t know b/c that wouldn’t be my decision, but I would guess anything is possible. EU is a valued resource. – @JenHeddle
While this is still not a direct confirmation on whether or not the game will be canonized, the fact that there seems to be uncertainty at Lucasfilm Licensing on whether or not the game can work as a canon part of the Star Wars universe at least de-confirms the notion that the game absolutely cannot and will not become canon at all.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
Phew, I was wondering when this would get posted! Thanks, Viral Hide.
Imagine SWTOR with immersion as the focus like star citizen is doing.Cross server play,actual jedi outfits and wide open planets witout copy paste mobs all over.No exhaust zones, night day cycle etc etc.Amaing right but not we got something else
SWTOR could have been the greatest game ever had it not been run by arrogant morons that refuse to listen to feedback, i know was even a game tester for like 7 builds before the game came out. Not to mention the shit communioty managers the game have had since late 2011 ! And now the ponly point of the game is to bleed players with gambling packs.
I sure loved KOTOR 1. I hope we get a true third one some day.
I kind of think Kotor2 and Swtor ruined the Revan story. And the novelization. But the plot of Kotor 1 is a wonderful story of redemption, love, good vs evil, mystery and adventure. I wish I could share it with those I love who don’t play video games.
KotOR 2 made Revan’s story a thousand fold deeper and more mysterious. SWTOR deleted everything that was intelligent and mysterious about it and replaced it with the lowest common demonanator, marketed at the dumbest 11 year Olds on the planet. Then to top it off how much they ruined everything KotOR 2 attempted they made Revan into Jesus, Exile into a moronic fan girl on obsessed with a married man, killed off the exile (in a way that not only contributed force ghosts as explained by Lucas in the clone wars (one reason SWTOR can never actually be canonized) but also killed her in a manner that totally ignored her unique abilities in KotOR 2, and further named hee possibly the dumbest EU name since Luuke Skywalker (Luke’s clone)).
While the entire point of KotOR 2 involving Revan was to build a mystery so huge as to Revan’s agenda and how masterfully laid his plans might have been. It further tied into the Tales of the Jedi comics in a brilliant way beyond just the nomi and exar kun tie ins KotOR 1 had. However from the point of view of both being canon and working together, yes both ruined Revan back story but it was solely due to SWTOR Derping KotOR 2 to no end making everything it attempted totally moronic. That said KotOR 2 by itself truly went beyond KotOR 1 just telling us Revan was a brilliant military commander to showing us (ten years after the fact no less). Rewatch kreia Goto and HK 47 on Revan if you want proof, some of the things they said he did and his motives rivaled Thrawn as star wars most brilliant military mastermind.
That closing line was a great touch!
Thank you. I did my best to sneak a reference in there, even though I have yet to play the game personally.
Do it, game is fantastic!
No don’t do it. The plot is sub part except in a few very spread out parts.
Let it run on, it’s fans deserve to keep playing… but keep it uncanon. No one wants it limiting the plot of any future movie spinoff set in this timeperiod. I know I speak for most of us when I say we want a movie based off KotOR 1 and we don’t want SWTOR spoiling how it will end up.
Certainly try it, I’ve love this game!…
I think Tython will be in Episode VII. Look at Skellig Michael and concept arts/screenshots for this planet…
Anyway, SWTOR is really amazing. I love this game, and I really hope the story will be considered as canon, and that we will get more expansions. And the sequel? Hell yeah, I hope so! New movies are coming, so epic MMORPG is necessary to carry on this universe.
I just hope they drop the subscription model entirely whenever they make another Star Wars MMO. A one-time payment to pay should be good enough, and of course you could always put in a few premium options and game expansions to help dedicated players take their game further.
FYI, SWTOR_Miner, a legitimate dataminer who shows evidence for what he mines, post was posted first. This other guy just used it in his post of pure speculation without any backing. This has a very low chance of happening.
SWTOR_Miner’s post on 10/29/2013: http://www.reddit.com/r/swtor/comments/1pi6m1/swtormined_242_10292013/
The speculation post linked in the article wasn’t made until 2 months ago.
Star Wars: episod VII working titel was also “The ancient fear” so it could be true this rumor.
They found Chewbacca’s old costume..the Ancient Fur
So, you’ll take ANYTHING as a real story? Well, I have proof that LucasFilm is buying the film rights to the Mass Effect series!
Ironically, as times grow more and more secular, it may be the Christians (and adherents to other spiritual disciplines) that become modern day Jedi,….sad devotees of an ancient religion people no longer believe in,…..or really want to.
That turns out to be legit… 😉
Not particularly. Contrary to what a lot of anti-theists would have you believe, Religion is still growing throughout the world – America included. Just because people aren’t as open about faith as they were in previous years doesn’t mean that it’s disappearing.
I think we’re slowly but surely moving away fom a time when the average person accpepts being ruled by Hokey Religions. I can see why in the past it was much more relevant when the Church was at the centre of everything in the community but times have changed…I don’t know anyone that is particlarly religous…except the Sikhs / Muslims Etc at work…they seem well into it.
You’ve got some research to do.
And you’ve got some evidence to present. The fact that religious people in the Middle East or the Southern US are more noisy in the media, does not equate to religion in general being more popular. It’s been a downward trend for decades, at least in the Western part of the world.
“Even the greatest multitude cannot shake the foundation of faith.”
In you’re own words “And you’ve got some evidence to present”?
What does this really have to do with the subject at hand? A bit random, wouldn’t ya say?
No! Don’t be manipulated by EA! LFL only canonize KotOR I and II, keep SWTOR as non-canon and force EA to finally give use KotOR III as canon instead (and higher better writers at Bioware, since they’very gone insanely down hill these past 3 years)! And if they fail that tell them Obsidian gets the incense when there’s expires!
You aren’t getting KotOR 3. Time to accept that. If you want it so bad, play the Jedi Knight story in TOR.
I did. It was horrible, poorly written, a bunch of bad star wars tropes used endlessly before, no great plot twist like 1 or even a tenth as intelligent as II (not even half as intelligent as 1 either for that matter), and a bunch of fallacy lies that claim it’s KotOR III even though it’s 300 years later and next to no tie in with the previous two KotOR games. I’m proud to admit I gave SWTOR (and the books and comics) a honest chance but games like that are why the star wars EU deserved to be uncanonized. It made a nice attempt at being KotOR 3-11 but it failed spectacularly with the plot in the end and now that it’s uncanon now is a great opportunity to take the good bits out of it and insert them into KotOR 3 or future movies.
Edit: it’s me again, Ryus… tried to hit enter name but my cell thought I hit send.
I downloaded this game and gave it a spin as a hawt smuggler lady, but…are people actually enjoying this game? It feels like a ten year old MMO, lots of handholding, incredibly linear.
STAR WARS needs a MMO where you immerse yourself, where you feel like you’re living the dream – “Galaxies” tried and failed, but this “The Old Republic” doesn’t even try.
If the rumor is true then I will be rolling my old characters in the game for a good spin to see how the entire thing ends.
But seriously, an MMO using Frostbite? Cannot see that happening just yet, especially for such a detailed world as the SW universe. It took Bioware almost 4 years to make SWTOR and now they are willing to abandon it after only 2 years for a “sequel”?
Skeptical here….
Again, I hope this is true but it seems far fetched. I think Bio is super busy atm trying to publish Mass Effect 4.
The rumor says that the new game still has about about 3.5 years’ worth of life in it, but they’re developing another game concurrently.
Before the announcement, i was predicting the all EU material after episode 6 (or alternatively, episode 3…) was going to be made non canon (or legends). i was a little suprised that everything bar the movies/shows were thrown out… especially with my perceived lack of interest by disney/lucasfilm in revisiting anything prequelish.
Since they were planning on moving forward with new material, it kind of made sense to de-canonise post E3 or E6. I wouldnt be suprised if a future announcement classifies almost everything pre-ROTS as canon anyways.
Doubtful, imho. Disney is more like to want to use KotOR as a basis for a multi billion dollar movie franchise after eps 7-9 are over with. Way more profit doing it that way and a huge fan base who would pay through the nose to see it. Plus movies generate more toy sales than video games do… so after movie profits would increase even further.
These facts stand in the way of them canonizing pre-OT stories. Simply put if they’re even considering making a movie in this time periods odds are they’ll keep EU stories here uncanon. Simply put they’d limit the creativity of the movie writers just like the post RotJ EU did, so it had to go.
Of course they’d canonize my least favorite thing from the Legends universe.
TOR was never canon to begin with.
The Phantom Menace came out long before TOR and established in the novelization that the Sith were only 2000 years old.
I know a lot of people may disagree with me but I put TOR right up there with the Holiday Special in terms of quality…
Sorry but I call BS on this: “At this point, a number of users expressed disbelief at both swtor_miner’s speculation and swtorthr0w’s original post. Then along came a post from someone in the dev team, talking about – you guessed it – Manaan (albiet through an in-character lore post). Because of this, both swtor_miner and swtorthr0w’s posts both became that much more likely”
This is simply not true. Swtor_miner is an accomplished data miner who has always proven the validity of his information with raw data extracted directly from the game’s source code. His predictions, while not 100% accurate, were overwhelmingly correct and nobody ever doubted the fact that Manaan would come as an FP. (Especially after the quest giver droid itself had given that information away on LIVE SERVERS due to a bug.)
The fact that swtor_miner was right (again, as he always is) DOES NOT validate the post of swtorthr0w, who has provided NO PROOF WHATSOEVER of his claims. Please stop proliferating his nonsensical BS until he provides adequate proof.
Totally agreed. Complete bunch of bunk here.
Well I heard a podcast, ootinicast, and apparently a SWTOR dev confirmed that something that will be added to the game soon will be mentioned in episode 7.
It is episode 147 at the 00:39:15 mark- so yah there is certainly truth in saying that this game will tie into the star wars films somehow…
http://ootinicast.com/page/3/