The TOR Elephant in the Corner

After a comment on my post earlier today (yeah, 2 posts in one day... shocking) I decided to push out a few more thoughts on the limits of the story system in TOR.

As I mentioned in my last post,  there are limits to the ability of a player to "shape" the story in TOR.  It is "on rails" to a large extent.  This is most obvious in your class quest.  You complete one part of the class quest and it... sends you to the next piece.   You can make choices in the quest, and they can affect how your companions relate to you or the like, but the story continues.  A Bounty Hunter stays on the Great Hunt (or the equivalents for the other classes).

Now, I can hear you say, your choices can do something else... they can give you... Light/Darkside points.  Yep, they can, but so what?  That's the elephant in the corner of TOR.  What exactly do Light/Darkside points get you?  A few different options in gear. In terms of story? Very little (outside of how  you relate to companions). 

What makes this such a big deal is that it sidesteps the most profound element of character development the game has to offer.  A Sith gaining meaningful lightside points? That's important!  A Jedi piling up darkside points?  You might remember this guy named Anakin Skywalker.   The Fall of a Jedi or the "rise" of a Sith (what *is* a Sith who goes lightside anyway? A fallen Jedi is a "Dark Jedi" but what, a Light Sith?)  Your entire story should start to change!  Every character should relate to you differently, and frankly, you should get different missions.  There is no more profound piece of character development in the SW universe, and the game turns it into a matter of what kind of equipment you get to pack.  That's a severe failing and lacking.

My level 33 Bounty Hunter currently is sitting around 3000 Light Side points, but is still employed by a very satisfied Empire.  Now, of course, the non-Force User classes are going to be considerably different in how LS/DS works for them.  However, it's still led me to a great deal of reflection on why a Bounty Hunter makes the choices they do.  I may or may not write it, but I've got a fair backstory sketched out. 

Now, for all those limitations I just mentioned, just imagine the amount of work involved in developing the core stories so that they react fully to player choices (even if it's only in terms of LS/DS, and not to specific choices). 

Ok, so yeah, that's the elephant.