With the upcoming addon “Knights of the Fallen Empire” (KotFE), much is set to change in Star Wars: The Old Republic. It is promised that the expansion will follow in the footsteps of the legendary “Knights of the Old Republic” series (KOTOR) – with all the positive aspects that fans love to reminisce about.
The decisions of our story so far …
So far, we have been able to make some decisions during the 8 different class stories. Only very few of them had significant, long-term consequences; often a single letter was the result of our actions. “Thank you for helping me, take all my credits!” or “I hate you for what you did to me! I hope you fall into a Sarlacc pit!” summarize, perhaps somewhat exaggeratedly, the results of many decisions well.
The ultimate outcome of the main storyline changed very little, no matter what we did. The game was even very good at giving us the illusion of choice – but anyone who plays the same story more than once will notice that different decisions rarely lead to different situations.
… and the future
In the expansion Knights of the Fallen Empire (KotFE), this is set to change fundamentally. Many decisions will have far-reaching, interwoven consequences. While certain characters are friendly towards my Sith, different choices can lead to friendly players killing my beloved vassals in their own storyline.
For this reason, it will also not be possible to shape the main story of KotFE with multiple players. While friends can accompany, help, and watch their decisions, they cannot influence. So, anyone wanting to experience the story as a “group” will have to take turns completing the tasks and may experience some passages very often.
However, a dream comes true for solo players, as multiple playthroughs with different characters will remain exciting each time new choices are made – a draw that has already characterized the KOTOR series and continues through all BioWare titles.
Just the beginning?
KotFE has now been referred to as “Season 1”, which logically means: There is more to come. Even if all chapters of the current story are completed, work is already being done behind the scenes on sequels to provide more content with even more story. It seems that the MMO elements are being somewhat neglected in the process.
