Star Wars has had some quality RPGs over the years with shining examples Knights of the Old Republic and The Old Republic, among others. However, they have never really had a true open world game in the style of say Skyrim, Dark Souls, or Witcher III (that this writer has played at any rate – feel free to correct my ignorance in the comments). For this gaming wish, let’s explore what a true Star Wars Open World(s) RPG might consist of.
WHAT WE'RE KEEPING
There are a lot of Star Wars games out there doing a lot of different things. In terms of RPG elements, however, the best and most well known are the two mentioned above. Having a singular narrative that takes you many different planets is the adventure aspect that really draws one in to the galaxy far, far away. This is a major part of the Old Republic games and should be kept for this hypothetical creation.
Another thing to keep from the Old Republic games is the companions/party mechanics (somewhat – more so from KOTOR than SWTOR). Having them all on your ship and selecting the few to come exploring with you ads a personal dynamic that makes each player’s experience unique. Of course the characters would have conflicting codes, morals, and backgrounds would provide the heart of the game (more on this later).
And… that’s about it. The strengths of KOTOR and SWTOR are the stories, characters, and timeframe, not so much the gameplay (the Old Republic is the best era of Star Wars!) For the rest of this article, we’ll explore other ideas from successful games that could be merged together to form the hypothetical, super Star Wars Open World RPG.
STORY
I am not here to tell the professionally trained writers who spend hours crafting these games and get paid a lot of money to do it how to do their jobs, but do we have to be a Jedi? Again? We’re always Jedi (or almost always at least). Can’t we have the OPTION to be a Jedi instead of being forced to be one (pun intended?)?
Dark Souls has a set story. No matter what you play as, a knight, a mage, or Giant Dad, you will have to go through the same events to get to the end of the game. Why couldn’t Star Wars do something similar? You could play through it as a Jedi, Bounty Hunter, Smuggler, Pilot, Sith, Stormtrooper, etc. However, playing as different classes might unlock different ways to complete the game, providing much desired replayability.
Unlike Dark Souls, picking a certain class at the start in this theoretical game would lock you into that class throughout the rest of the game, limiting what you can and cannot. This would mainly be to set up the type of experience you will be playing through. Certain shops may be closed to you if you’re a Jedi but open if you’re a Bounty Hunter. Approaches to situations will vary as well. This will be based off of class and ability sets. Separate starts for the different classes could add an interesting and little explored dynamic. However, the story would still be streamlined.
- First, you will be presented with this choice: force user or non-force user.
- Second, you will be given sub classes to pick from based off of the first that you picked with some overlap (force sensitive bounty hunters!)
- Third, you pick your race
THEN YOU’RE GOOD TO GO!
All of these things are important as they will set up not only how you can interact with the explorable galaxy, but how the explorable galaxy interacts with you.
GAME SIZE
Four or five planets, like in KOTOR, with descent sized open worlds and bountiful quests would be plenty to keep a player entertained for 60+ hours at minimum. There should also be a free flying space option over each planet, making a grand total of eight to ten areas. The only downside would be that the whole thing might not be true open world as these area may have to be broken up with loading screens to accommodate the sheer size of the game (think Dragon Age: Inquisition or Witcher III). Now if the game could somehow allow you to fly in a planets atmosphere and then transition into space seamlessly, that would be impressive. That could open the door for planetary air battles like on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back or on Scarif in Rogue One. Basically, the size would have to support rich open worlds foot exploration and wide-open skies to fly around, with some potentially creative obstacles. Seems reasonable, right?
COMBAT
The combat would need to be more free-flowing. While KOTOR’s and SWTOR’s combat is enjoyable in those respective games, it can get dull and repetitive at times. A suggested substitute might be something that would be a combination of the following: Battlefront 2 (the old one, not the micro transaction one), Witcher III, Dark Souls, and Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Anyone who has played those four games is probably thinking, “WTF? None of those games play anything like one another?” True, but there is a method to this madness. The goal is to pull aspects from all those games to create a new combat system (or a combat system that does exist but this writer is terribly unaware of) and, hopefully, a new type of gaming experience.
Battlefront 2 has an easy to master combat system and could be used as the basis for the fighting in this theoretical RPG. With that as the foundation, adding some of the intricacies of the Witcher III’s combat would give it variety. For non-force users, energy shields or using grenades could be abilities for these secondary combat options. For force users, well, that’s obvious.
The Dark Souls influence is not so much the beat based system that is its combat (unless that could somehow get implemented into the other two influences), but rather the combat variety as a result of the weapon variety. The idea would be that lightsabers, blaster rifles, blaster pistols, chain guns, or whatever else you have that buzzes or goes ‘pew-pew’ should all feel distinctly different. Weapons should also not be defined by the class picked at the beginning of the game either. You could have blaster wielding force users or a crazed forceless bounty hunter who uses a lightsaber that he claimed off of a killed Jedi (just a random backstory).
The Dragon Age: Inquisition influence would come from the party combat. Each party member can be upgraded in their predetermined way (less freedom here because those characters are their own people) and can therefore fight using their own distinct style and abilities. The standard group RPG roles of melee damage, range damage, tank, and support would all be there as well for these characters.
Seems like a good time to transition too…
PARTY CHARACTERS
As mentioned above, another thing to keep from KOTOR is the party system. Party members would function as they do in some of the more well-known Bioware games, with their relationships and stats developing by your interactions with them and how you address their particular goals and story arcs. But that is all that would be kept from the KOTOR model.
The major difference would be the number of potential available companions. There would be many scattered across the galaxy with the idea that you cannot get all of them in a single play through. Certain characters would only become available as companions if certain requirements are met. This could start as early as the character creation, where some characters immediately get struck from the list of potential companions because you chose a certain character class, subclass, or race. Beyond that, one could only acquire new companions based on their in game decisions, which includes other companions you surround yourself with. This is meant to add layers to the game, encouraging multiple playthroughs and play styles.
LEVELING
The leveling system would draw from multiple sources with the idea being an immersive leveling experience as well as a fair one. The base system used would be from KOTOR but expanded upon with two outside influences: Dark Souls and Skyrim.
The Dark Souls influence would be that certain weapons, armor, or items cannot be used by the player until the prerequisite stats to use them are met. This goes for party characters as well as they will be leveled up in a similar manner to the player character.
The Skyrim influence would be that characters become better at skills the more they use them. They can then unlock sub perks in these skill categories to improve upon the base skills. Perhaps you want to be very good at using a lightsaber or you’re more of a force person or you prefer a blaster to those hokey religions. No matter the choice, if you practice it, you’ll become good at it. But don’t forget to get the prerequisite stats to use your weapon of choice first.
IN CONCLUSION...
I have too much time on my hands. Story was purposely left out as this was meant to focus more on mechanics. The professionals who get paid the big bucks can come up with that part. This was just a bare bones piece to get a conversation going. So…, that’s the gaming wish. What are your thoughts and ideas?