Those who have visited my sites or seen my work probably know how I feel about the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. I’ve written a few big ass blog entries discussing it in various points of the game’s evolution. They called me at home for the game I wanted (at least, the initial release). The story telling elements and choices were fantastic.
 
They gave us eight games we could play with our friends. Each of those eight has a light and dark path. Gender and species plays a part in your experience and there are enough nuances to give you MANY hours of entertainment. I’ll provide some crazy examples below of my time playing the game before diving into the latest expansion: Knights of the Eternal Throne.

I’ve gone back to visit some old MMOs, the ones I really loved but needed a break from for whatever reason. The three titles I’m referring to are: The Elder Scrolls Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic and The Secret World. Each of these I played a LOT (with SWTOR being the one I played the most). This is part 3 of the series and I’m moving into Elder Scrolls Online.
 
I’ve always been a rabid fan of the Elder Scrolls series, all the way back to Arena. I spent entirely too much time on Daggerfall but finally ‘completed’ my first game when Oblivion came out (I played Morrowind but never got far into the story for whatever reason). Skyrim sucked a lot of time from me so when ESO came out, skeptical as I was that an MMO could do it justice, I tentatively gave it a shot through the open beta.
 
I was not disappointed.

​I’ve gone back to visit some old MMOs, the ones I really loved but needed a break from for whatever reason. The three titles I’m referring to are: The Elder Scrolls Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic and The Secret World. Each of these I played a LOT (with SWTOR being the one I played the most). This is part 2 of the series and I’m moving into Star Wars: The Old Republic.
 
I will never forget playing the open beta for SWTOR. I loaded up my Jedi Knight and instantly fell in love. Tython was a joy. The story telling, the voices, the choices…my friend and I busted out the first planet but I refused to go on because I knew I’d be playing the hell out of the game when it released. I pre-ordered and waited anxiously. When it came out, as I predicted, my addiction hit hard and strong. It rapidly became my all-time favorite MMO.

I’ve gone back to visit some old MMOs, the ones I really loved but needed a break from for whatever reason. The three titles I’m referring to are: The Elder Scrolls Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic and The Secret World. Each of these I played a LOT (with SWTOR being the one I played the most). I thought I’d talk about each a little bit, starting with The Secret World.

​The selling point of TSW is the setting. You’re in a modern world full of horror movie references, myths and conspiracies. Belonging to one of three factions, you forward their agenda while trying to save the world from a new threat. Technically speaking, we’re talking end of days stuff. Your character becomes mute when one of the life tree bees flies down your throat and awakens your powers.
 

​Star Wars: The Old Republic proved to be my favorite MMO of all time. I’ve enjoyed many and put some serious hours into them but with TOR, I actually finished the primary story line for each of the classes. I admit the last two required the 12x experience but I went through several of the classes pretty far with different choices. That’s what I loved about this title: the fact you could play through multiple times and receive different STORY elements.
 
This is not to say there aren’t weaknesses. The fact you have to go through the same path for quests is tough. If you get stuck on a planet, there aren’t any questing recourses (you could PvP or do ship combat to push past but you couldn’t just go to another zone). This is where games like WoW win and my wife recently proved that out by powering through the first 70 levels. Bored or stuck? Go to another zone. 

This contains spoilers for Jurassic World, Assassin's Creed games, Arkham Knight, Thor 2, Avengers 2 and Kingsman.

Movies and video games are big business. They have a lot of dollars thrown at them to create a captivating experience. Big budget titles show off top of the line special effects and big name actors. They even go so far to capture high quality intellectual properties like comics, novels and biopic material. Many of the huge game franchises were spawned from when they could still make something unique and not give the investors an ulcer. 

Despite all this money tossed around, story seems to get the shaft, especially when it comes to sequels. Now, we rely on charming actors and their characters to carry weak plots and it works great. Products which have no business finding success are runaway hits and it seems like people are either not discerning or simply don’t care.