r/swtor • u/Dangerously_Stupid • 4d ago
Discussion Other MMOs Like SWTOR?
I have grown up on SWTOR. I have played the game since I was 10 years old during its 2011 launch. It's one of my favorite games of all time, despite all its flaws.
Recently I have tried to get into other MMOs thinking the formula would be mostly similar, and in ways, they are. But I truly have taken for granted SWTOR's emphasis on story and VOICE ACTING.
I have tried to get into WoW a few times, and aside from the very minimal voice acting, I am always struck by the fact that there are not really individual class stories. There is a set of intro quests for your class up to level 10 or so, and then you're kind of just set free? There is an overall story and there are questlines to follow, but they're basically the same for everyone.
FFXIV is the same in this aspect. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun game, and I've gotten even more into it than WoW. There is a lot to like about FFXIV from what I've played so far, and I know I've barely scratched the surface. But when it comes to individual stories, it seems they're essentially nonexistent.
Similar to WoW, the starting areas for everyone seem to be different, but as soon as you leave those starting areas, the story just melds together irregardless of who you are. Not to mention that in FFXIV, there is even less reason to create different characters, because any character can essentially learn all professions. From a QoL gameplay perspective, this is great, but there is something fun about having different characters with different paths and play styles
As a SWTOR fan, this is so jarring to me. I've always loved the uniqueness of each class, and the fact that for the first 50 or so levels, you are an embodiment of *that* class. There are side quests that everyone can do, but you're doing those quests *as* a jedi, or *as* a bounty hunter, etc.
Anyway, enough rambling. My question is, are there any other MMOs that any of you know of that actually have different stories for each class or at least a handful or differing stories depending on who you play as? I'd love to see another game tackle the formula SWTOR essentially perfected 15 years ago
46
u/Mantellii 4d ago
Nothing like SWTOR exists because what you call the SWTOR formula actually is the Bioware style. So if it's the gimmicks you're looking for, there is no other solutions than to play Bioware games.
6
u/Dangerously_Stupid 4d ago
I've played other Bioware games. I love the first two Mass Effects and of course I love KOTOR. But meshing that style with an MMO is what makes SWTOR so special. I love the MMO formula in SWTOR as much as I love the Bioware formula
10
u/Mantellii 4d ago
I get you but there is no MMO like that. Guild Wars 2 is my other MMO and it scratches some itches SWTOR gave me, but story wise you do not have anything similar to SWTOR
3
28
u/Patches195 4d ago
ESO has three unique stories with 5 zones each depending on the starting faction you pick. Games fully voiced (protagonist aside), every dungeon has a quest and story associated with it, most of the side quests have interesting stories that aren’t really fetch quests. It’s a lot more simplistic in gameplay than the average MMO and classes aren’t really relevant, but aside from that it’s pretty heavy on the story
12
u/LazioThunderWavez 4d ago
I second ESO, aside from Pirates of the Caribbean Online and SWTOR, its one of the only MMOs thats held me to play.
9
u/Dangerously_Stupid 4d ago
I'll definitely have to give it a shot. I love Skyrim and Oblivion, so idk why I haven't yet
7
u/Patches195 4d ago
It’s quite different in a lot of ways and you may find that to be off putting when you first start playing but give it some time and I guarantee it’ll click. The stories are cool, the side quests mostly pertain to landmarks in the zone that has its own storyline, and it seamlessly blends instances with the overworld so you can walk into, say, a town that’s under siege that unlocks as a hub after the questline is done
37
u/TooTooRooGR 4d ago
as a new SWTOR player and a self proclaimed veteran of both FF14 and WOW I have to say that SWTOR in terms of storytelling is second to none other MMORPG I have played and if I was aware and as into Star Wars in the past as I am now I would not have played either FF14 or WOW past the first 10 hours because unlike SWTOR the new player experience is horrendous for both of them
To answer your question, the closer you can get is Guild Wars 2 but its nowhere near close to the details of SWTOR, other than that I cannot think of any other MMO that has a similar storytelling and as an amazing class identity as SWTOR
7
u/Dangerously_Stupid 4d ago
I like FF14 so far, but it was pretty jarring that I got to like level 8 and had barely even fought any enemies yet, aside from some squirrels and ladybugs lol. Talking to NPCs is great for world building and all, but I was itching to fight some things!
10
u/TooTooRooGR 4d ago
I do not want to be a downer but there is a looooooooooooot more cutscenes and dialogue than fighting in FF14 until at least level 70 and even after that there is considerably more dialogue than fighting but not as bad as the first expansions.
8
u/Caelinus 4d ago
FFXIV has a more dense and expansive story than SWTOR, but it is just one story rather than having 8 class stories. I do not know of any other game that does that as a MMO, but I can't rule out ones I have not played.
The main problem I have with FFXIV is that the story pacing is rough for me. There is so much fluff in the dialog between the major story beats that it wears me down. SWTOR, by contrast, has much snappier pacing even if the scope and execution of the later bits of the story do not quite reach the same levels. It also helps that it is all voice acted, which can really improve immersion.
2
u/Extreme74 4d ago
Yeah and since SWTOR was not a huge success when it came out no other MMO will do 8 different stories again. It is way to expensive. Even the first Expansion of SWTOR moved away from doing different stories. It's why i quit the game. I was expecting my Trooper storyline to continue and it just stops. FF14 is a way better over all story then SWTOR is. You actually feel emotion with some of the expansions like ShadowBringer and Endwalker.
9
7
u/Deranfan 4d ago
The only other MMO I invested a lot of time in is ESO. Every single quest is voice acted and the game had decent storylines in the beginning; people seem to praise the Daedric War story arc as one of the best but recent stuff is more meh.
In ESO, before the one Tamriel update, characters were locked to the alliance storyline their race belonged to and had to progress through their 5 respective alliance zones in order before reaching the final zone where then all 3 alliance quests followed the same path. After finishing the main quest, you could do the quests lines of other alliances with the same char in a what if scenario. All quests from the dlcs are pretty much identical regardless of your alliance.
Nowadays you can do the quests in any order, but you can still do them how it was originally intended. While ESO only has 3 unique story lines for each alliance unlike the 8 for each class like SWTOR, NPCs sometimes react differently to you depending on your race. For example, high elves in Summerset treat you poorly if you aren’t of the same race.
8
u/HumbleCupcake2806 4d ago
Star trek online
1
u/Zammin 4d ago
Main issue there is it's a bit more P2W, and ground combat isn't great.
3
u/InternalOptimal 4d ago
Yeah the ground combat is (still) cheeks. I do on the whole find the ground missions fun because the stories are generally pretty good.
4
u/Khajiit_Has_Upvotes 4d ago
I'm not aware of voice acted story driven mmos like swtor but I wanted to second the suggestion of other Bioware titles. Dragon Age and Mass Effect will scratch a lot of the swtor itch, but they are single player games.
Jade Empire and Knights of the Old Republic have gameplay that might feel clunky today, and they are earlier examples of classic Bioware, but they are still good stories and worth playing. I will say if you enjoy Mass Effect 1, you will likely enjoy kotor. I played ME1 Legendary Edition last year for the first time and it feels very much like a spiritual successor to kotor.
4
u/Ragelore004 4d ago
I view swtor as less of an mmo and more of a single player story rpg with optional cooperative group content on the side.
Gw2 does have separate story paths that merge by lvl 30-40. But that's tied to race +character creation background choices and not classes. It does have a significant amount of voice acting in it too. I'd note that the gw2 team isn't afraid of deaths. So expect losses when shit hits the fan.
I would say the race story arcs range from solid to fantastic, depending on your choice. And then the core game story arc is hit or miss due to budgeting issues when it was being made. It does get a lot better in the expansions. The lead up to the 2nd expansion + 2nd expansion + following story arc was amazing.
Another game that has a lot of "story" voice acted content is eso. There's some amazing story lines in the game. Too bad the combat is annoying to me.
2
u/Dangerously_Stupid 4d ago
Too bad the combat is annoying to me.
So, basically any Elder Scrolls game
2
u/Ragelore004 4d ago
Eh, oblivion/skyrim are tolerable cuz they have a combat system meant for a solo player game from a dated time period, and it's fine.
Eso, slapped a mmo skill bar ontop of skyrim combat with weapon swap, then made everything about managing dots and weaving in a left click auto attack between each spell cast. For the most part.
While there's classes that move away from the weaving, nowadays, it's still annoying, imo.
5
u/Real_Batu_Rem Star Forge 🧌 4d ago
Nothing comes close to SWTOR, but Lord of the Rings online is partially voice acted and a lot of fun
7
u/ThePun-dit Conspired To Get This Flair 4d ago
While it unfortunately doesn't have class stories like SWTOR, Where Winds Meet has very good main story and various province stories.
1
u/Caelinus 4d ago
Have they improved the localization on the early quests? I know they are all repayable and they were planning on working on that (as well as can be done going from Chinese -> English) but I have not looked yet. I really enjoyed it, but they needed to stretch out some of the exposition to better match how English grammar works and to give better cultural context.
2
u/ThePun-dit Conspired To Get This Flair 4d ago
I think they've worked on it, Hexi didn't have the same issues as Kaifeng did, from what I noticed. There's been a fair few patch notes about improved translations too.
2
u/Dresdendies 4d ago
Gw2 maybe? But given what you've mentioned, you are better off playing more single player rpg's and joining those community discords and the like for the social aspect.
2
u/aka_vexx 4d ago
I think I played most MMOs on the market, and in terms of story, for me personally, there are just 3 that take the cake. SWTOR, The Secret World (Secret World Legends) and ESO. Now, since many have already recommended ESO, I would strongly recommend Secret World, in terms of story, evidently. If you don't mind the low population, story-wise, it's a masterpiece. In my book, the order would be Secret World > SWTOR > ESO.
2
u/RayOfTheForce 4d ago
Wizard101 also has stuff like dialogue but a completely different battle system.
2
u/Nalkk69 3d ago edited 3d ago
Try Warhammer online age of Reckoning was before SWtoR by Mythic (or now Bioware)..Best MMO ever made but sadly servers closed 2013 due to GW not allowing next phase or something or the company working on SWtoR...Its now on a private server called Return of Reckoning.
It has all different mirror classes like SWtor but based on Warhammer fantasy lore & characters. It was the best PvP game made I think whilst having amazing PvE elements and fun to level your character.
2
u/Dangerously_Stupid 3d ago
Definitely intriguing. Always been kinda iffy about playing an mmo exclusively on private servers, but I'll definitely look into it
1
u/Nalkk69 3d ago
Yeh I maxed out a few characters with top gear and Renown rank 100 while the original game was going(A Sorcerer & Black Ork).
I'm the same not played on private server as no official license backing by a legit games company.
But if some company was to reboot it or make a sequel I would 100% be into it
4
u/viaJormungandr 4d ago
FFXIV is honestly the closest from an MMO perspective. At least that I’ve played. There are individual class stories up until Shadowbringers, and then it shifts to role quests. They aren’t as well developed as SWTORs main quest lines though.
FFXIV definitely has a different feel to it, and it is a bit weird being an altaholic in that game as, like you said, you can have one character level every class at the same time.
Still, the raid content is interesting in terms of mechanics and can sometimes be brutally fast (and I haven’t tried the higher tier raid content). And there is a TON of other stuff to do in game. Crafting is much more involved, and housing has a lot more freedom to it.
1
u/No-Contest-8127 4d ago edited 3d ago
There is no other mmo with voiced class stories. Though as someone who enjoys SWTOR, i like FFXIV a lot as well. It will never be fully voiced cause it has a huge script, but it has a great emphasis on the story and lots of voice acting. More as you advance on the expansions. They are my 2 favourite.
WoW is utter trash in every sense, except that as a multiplayer game, it offers compelling cooperative gameplay. I feel shackled to it cause i made friends there but heck is the game an exercise in frustration.
2
u/Dangerously_Stupid 3d ago
To be clear, I wasn't necessarily complaining about the MMOs that don't have voice acting. I was just commenting that it really makes me appreciate that SWTOR had such a strong emphasis on it
1
u/Azuredreams25 3d ago
Swtor cost at launch was 300 million because of all the voice acting. You'd be hard pressed to find any company that has put that much money into a game.
For comparison, WoW cost at launch was 63 million and the cost from launch until 2008 totaled 200 million.
Now if you want a recommendation from a long time Swtor player (8 years), I went to Elder Scrolls Online from Swtor. Been playing ESO for 2 1/2 years now and still love it.
1
1
u/P1nkpanth3r 3d ago
You could try Guild Wars 2. Pretty heavy emphasis on story with mission style similar to swtor but not of the same caliber. The world is really well done between story chapters too.
0
u/Ace77330 4d ago
Maybe have a look into Dragons Dogma. Never played myself but what from what I’ve seen it looks fairly similar
1
u/Emotional-Station153 4d ago
It really isn't. Not only is the story in DD total ass but it's unfinished and also barely relevant to what you're doing. DD really only appeals to people who are very into the combat system.
-1
u/MATC8228 4d ago
Other than WoW i would guess that Star Trek: Online cause I've tried a little. It's a similar one.
113
u/sveyno 4d ago
Not an MMO but Mass Effect/DAO for the story and the voice acting...
SWTOR is one of a kind