SWTOR's "the dream game" for BioWare fans, says Erickson

BioWare lead designer and story writer Daniel Erickson has said the firm is going after both MMO players and BioWare RPG fans with Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Speaking with CVG, Erickson said if players are a hardcore fan of either, SWTOR is "the dream game".

"If you're someone that loves everything an MMO brings to the table, loves the community aspect, loves being able to see other people and say: 'I have better shoulder pads than you do,' everything you loved about MMOs is there for you," said Erickson.

"But if the idea of story and context really turns you off, if what you want is the just complete Disneyland experience, where you run on the rides and repeat the stuff, this probably isn't your favourite MMO.

"If you are a hardcore, traditional Bioware fan - a Mass Effect or especially Dragon Quest fan - this is the dream game. It is an RPG forever. It is an RPG that at the speed and pace that I play RPGs as a gamer, five ten hours a week, I could never finish this game.

"One of the things people don't ever get around is the class stories, which go through the whole game. They don't stop. There's other content as well, which is more built towards multiplayer with your friends. But there is no crossover between the factions.

"If you play as a Bounty Hunter from the first level to the last level, and then rolled up as a smuggler, you would not see one repeated piece of content. It would be an entirely new Bioware game from start to finish - that is multiple times bigger than a Mass Effect".

Erickson also told the site SWTOR was "bigger than every Bioware game we've done put together", echoing similar comments he made to VG247 during E3.

The first round of Beta testing for SWTOR was announced today, and the game's slated for spring 2011.