Top 7 improvements

[Guest Muren_ilm]

Obi-Wan is in trouble. The screen captures look messy and the 2001 E3 footage left a lot to be desired.

 

If you could 7 major improvements to Obi-Wan, what would those improvements be?

 

What Star Wars characters are you dying to meet in the game? What concepts from the classic trilogy and episode I would you incorporate into the game? What other console and PC games do you think Obi-Wan should challenge for best adventure? Bottom Line: what would you do to make Obi-Wan an experience that would knock you over, light your heart on fire, and deliver the true Star Wars experiences?

 

Think about your answer before you write. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of just being amused by SW adventure games. Obi-Wan needs to kick the industry in the tail and jump straight over the Metal Gear Solid 2 quality-bar. What do you think?

 

muren_ilm@hotmail.com

[Guest Boba Rhett]

You just figured out Obi-Wan was in trouble?

 

300A.D.---600A.D.---1492A.D.---1984A.D.---Now

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**You are here**

 

Obi wan will not be breaking any quality bars. Not by a long shot. It has plummeted down to the depths of mediocrity, never to emerge again.

[Guest Muren_ilm]

I know Obi-Wan has been in trouble. What do you think it would take to get Obi-Wan out of neglect and into the epic stratosphere of adventure where the character Obi-Wan deserves to be?

 

LucasArts spends all its strongest resources on made-up characters, when the most classic Star Wars hero is basically thrown to the sarlac pit, to discover a new meaning of gaming agony as it is digested for over a thousand years! Where is the love?

[Guest Boba Rhett]

To get it back in it's glory lucasarts would have to,

 

1. Bring it back to pc.

 

2. Have some people, who know what they're doing, get the saber/mouse system working.

 

3. By this time they would most likely have to upgrade the engine so the graphics aren't laughable.

 

4. Do everything else to it that Raven is doing with JK2.

[Guest Muren_ilm]

Good comments. Here are some of mine:

 

1. Make Obi-Wan more of a dramatic console adventure: Battlegrounds covers RTS, Galaxies covers MMO, Rogue Leader covers Flight Sim, Jedi Oucast covers FPS/PC Adventure. Obi-Wan needs to be more like Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill with a lot of tension and dramatic scripted events.

 

2. Give Obi-Wan to innovative console adventure company like Oddworld Inhabitants or Konami: Bond hired Rare for Goldeneye, Matrix hired Shiny. LucasArts hired other companies for Galaxies, Battlegrounds, Rouge Leader, Outcast, and Racer's Revenge. It's time to hire someone for Obi-Wan.

 

3. Develop Obi-Wan the character: Right now Obi-Wan looks like a guy running around with a glowing stick. If you look at game footage of Interplay's Galleon you'll see the character's personality is described in great detail just by the character's movement. Obi-Wan needs that attention to detail.

 

4. Give John Williams and Ben Burtt a break: Williams music and Burtt's sound effects are essential staples that instantly pull you into the Star Wars lore. However, LucasArts should utilize other talents like Ralph McQuarrie and Doug Chiang designs. Maybe Lawrence Kasdan could be persuaded to write a script. Or possibly convincing Ewan McGregor to do the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the game.

 

That's the improvements I have for now.

[Wilhuf]

You're being way to hard on the Obi-Juan team, Muren_ilm.

 

I don't think handing Obi-Wan over to some other development team will improve gameplay screenshots and footage.

 

Moreover the game design for Obi-Wan is by definition inspired by the likes of McQuarrie and Chiang.

 

Although I agree LEC should be aiming way over the head of the Metal Gear Solid titles.

 

What specifically was messy and left to be desired in the E3 Obi-Wan demos?

[Guest Muren_ilm]

I'm tough on the Obi-Wan team because the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi deserves more attention than Galaxies, Racer's Revenge, or (dare I say it) Jedi Outcast. Ol' Ben is etched into the minds and hearts not just on hardcore gamers or Star Wars devotees, but on hearts and minds of the world.

 

When you think of Obi-Wan you picture epic adventure and wisdom. The name Kenobi conjures up other names like Sire Alec Guiness and Ewan McGregor. An interactive adventure starring the character of Obi-Wan should not merely do justice to this beloved character, but also expand on the mystery of Obi-Wan.

 

Take just the in-game character model of Obi-Wan. Does it really look like Obi-Wan? When you see him move in game footage do you feel the weight of the life that he has lived and the his life yet to come? Can you sit the in-game character model next to pictures of Guiness and McGregor and take him seriously as Obi-Wan?

[Guest Muren_ilm]

Side Note: Galaxies, Battlegrounds, Rogue Leader, Racer's Revenge, and Jedi Outcast are all going to be great games. You can tell just by looking at them. Each game is being developed in conjunction with LucasArts by an out side studio. Obi-Wan however may slip through the cracks as the "oh-well,-better-luck-next-time,-let's-get-this-game-out-becasue-we've-spent-enough-time-on-it" game in LucasArts current library. It will be right up there with The Phantom Menace game as a fairly enjoyable game that does not kick the tail of the industry and inspires few.

[MadPoster]

My improvments would be made with a sledgehamer!

[Guest Muren_ilm]

Ouch. That's just mean man.

"Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. Yes, I sense much fear in you."

[Guest Boba Rhett]

Don't take MadPoster seriously. He's just saying that because he's a post whore.

 

[ June 06, 2001: Message edited by: Boba Rhett ]

[Zanzibar]

First and foremost, Obi-Wan needs to start taking advantage of the Xbox as more than just a polygon-pushing machine. Yes, it pushes polys better than any other machine, but it also lets you do AMAZING things with textures/bump mapping/ reflectivity/ specularity that the Obi-Wan team hasn't even STARTED to look at. I went to Xfest yesterday, and I didn't see ANYONE from Lucasarts, and believe me I was looking. There is a WEALTH of Xbox technology that the art director needs to implement in order to make it MORE than a 'port' of 2-year-old PC code to a fast console. This is strictly on the graphical end, by the way.

 

As for the rest of the game, it needs to be a lot busier. Large vistas are nice, but we need to see a lot more interaction with Obi-Wan and people. Despite SW's action roots, there's a lot of character there, and the character comes through with INTERaction, not action alone. I'd like to see QUITE a bit more side-characters and civilians.

[StormHammer]

Well, I'm going to make a thoroughly radical statement and say I don't think Obi-Wan looks that bad, especially after seeing the Videogamegal footage.

 

There were some very nice reflections in evidence - at least comparable to those in JKII.

 

Some of the lighting/texture/bump effects that have been talked about above are scheduled to be in there, along with projected shadows - according to a recent interview (not this vid) about the game. I think they said that Obi-Wan is about 70 per cent complete, so there is still quite a bit of work to do before release.

 

In terms of gameplay, the guy interviewed by Videogamegal actually gave us some useful info...

 

He said there will be a minimum of 15 levels (possibly 19). Each level is a mission. Now, cast your mind back a bit. The Tanis engine, which is being used to develop Obi-Wan, was going to be able to handle large levels - some probably larger than those in Jedi Knight. I don't know if this may have been paired down to get it all to fit on the X-Box, but I would imagine the levels would still be quite large, if each has a different objective.

 

You can choose to just go through a level without stopping or exploring, and it might take you 20 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the level. Let's say you have around 10 hours of gameplay by rushing through the game.

 

He went on to say that if you undertake the mini-quests in each level - such as saving people, escorting people to safety, getting people to help you - and if you look for all of the secrets etc, you might end up with around 50 hours of gameplay. Now, that seems like a pretty good game length to me.

 

He also said that there will be a scoring system to determine how good a Jedi you are. So you could go back to try and get a higher Jedi score - which also helps to extend the playability of the game.

 

The slo-mo moves don't look too bad in motion (though they should ditch that circular lighting effect - it's just annoying).

 

I'm not sure I like the effects used for the Force powers either - but the powers themsevles seem to be working quite well. The saber throw at least looks fairly good (though not as accomplished as JKII's).

 

It also looks like you can lock on and off of your target at will (the little ring on the floor appears and disappears during the battles). This could work in a similar way to Severance: Blade of Darkness - which wasn't too bad.

 

I liked the acrobatic flips etc, that were shown. I don't like the saber trails at all - but the ability to use the analog joystick to move the saber exactly where you want is a nice feature.

 

The thing that would really concern me is the storyline of the game. Is it really any good - or would you just be playing 15 totally different missions that have nothing to do with each other? Personally I would prefer a cohesive story that binds the whole together - and shows the development of Obi-Wan as a person.

 

I think we have to keep in mind that what has been shown in the vids is a very limited demo. It shows practically nothing of the story, or the character interaction that I too would like to see. You can pretty much only judge the game in motion (and captured on a handycam, at that), and in those terms it looks better than many other titles that have been released recently.

 

I would have to see the game up close and personal to make a proper judgement - ie, controlling the character on the screen, interacting with the environment, trying out the moves. That would take a demo - and a demo for the X-Box at that. The only way I'm likely to see one of those is in a game store after the game has been released.

 

Having said all of that, I don't think Obi-Wan is going to be anywhere near as compelling for me as JKII.

[Guest Tie Guy]

First of all, let me clear something up. The gliph system in which you could control the lightsaber is impossible, that's why they ditched it. Think about it, say you wanted to execute a side swing by moving the mouse sideways and then up. The game would have to know what you were going to do next before you did it. Since it doesn't, you end up with a huge delay that makes the saber impracticle to use.

 

Second, the joystick swing is the perfect, and i'd like to see it on the PC, with a big joystick. Do you remember the add for JK, the one with the white page and the lightsaber saying, "This is your Joystick." or something like that. I remember thinking that that would be awesome.

 

However, on the X-Box, you have no other buttons on the joystick. So, you couldn't jump or duck while swing, you could only move around. What are they going to do about that?

 

Third, how are they possibly going to have enough buttons on the X-box. They need: jump, crouch, switch force power, use force power, cartwheel, target, fire, fire secondary, switch item, use item, as well as others. That is why these type of games are best on the PC.

 

Obi-Wan will never be a truly great game unless they bring it back to the PC.

 

[ June 14, 2001: Message edited by: Tie Guy ]

[Gabrobot1587246497]

They may still bring it back to the pc. the xbox is supposed to use directx right? directx is a windows API also! so the xbox probably uses a windows like opperating system! and besides it sounds like the xbox uses mainly pc like hardware. and why don't they want to make the connections between the xbox and the pc?(i.e. not going to release mouse and keyboard addons.) and i think obi wan would be better if they took out the saber trails... but i guess i won't get it any way unless they release it for the pc again.

[Guest Tie Guy]

I think that JK looks horrible without trails. It loooks so unrealistic.

 

They should, however, make them more transparent and shorter. I think that the ones in TPM were a good combination.

[Guest Boba Rhett]

Do your self a favor and go download glowsaber 3.

[Guest Tie Guy]

Does it work for MOTS?

 

I'm playing that right now

[Guest Boba Rhett]

I don't think it does right now. JK uses gobs and mots uses goos.

[Guest Wolverine]

I say you people are too hard on Obi-wan, especially for a game thats still a few months away from being released. I mean the only real reason you guys dont seem its good enough because its on the X-Box. People just want too much out of life and saying JKII is better is not really going to mean anything since it comes out in about a year and Obi-wan by about Fall. One little mistake is a big mistake it seems, they are doing theyre best and at least you guys are getting another game.

[Guest Tie Guy]

Actually, it is because this game would be best on the PC and it would be hard to make it good on anything else.

[Guest Boba Rhett]

Wolverine, Do you know how long obi wan has been in production? A LONG time. Do you know how long jk2 has been in production? Barely four months. The times the games are being released has nothing to do with it. And it's sad when a game has to fall back on that excuse.

 

It's a shame when a game thats been in developement for 4 months, "jk2" already looks better than obi wan.

 

Were being so hard on it because on top of everything else Lucasarts did it was ripped away from us and sent to xbox as a final insult. Even if Obi Wan returned to pc right now, it would be in no condition to be a great game. Not even a good game. And in all likelyhood, would be made fun of as being a low quality game.

 

I've seen what Raven has done with jk2 already and I think to myself, "Jee, they seem to be able to put together a good game, I wonder why Lucasarts can barely squeeze out crap games anymore." Obi Wan will be looked upon as a fiasco of greedyness, lack of skill and embaressment and will be completely blown out of the water when JK2 comes out. /End Rant

[Guest Tie Guy]

I agree.

[Guest Wolverine]

It doesnt matter wether you guys are right or not, which you surely most definately are on one part. Still, its not finished. Yet, Obi-wan for the production on this X-Box title has only been in production since about Jan or something like that. Doesnt matter anyway, people have their own opinions and I'm still gonna get it and enjoy it anyway. Still I feel that moving it to the Game Cube would have been a better move. Gaming is like movies though, you cant compare it to something thats related or its gonna take the value down. AKA Sequals/Prequals like TPM or Ghostbusters II.

 

[ June 17, 2001: Message edited by: Wolverine ]