SWTOR Weekly: 3/16/2016 (Plus 2 Days)

In this edition of SWTOR Weekly, I’ll look at why Lucasfilm shouldn’t distance itself from The Old Republic, Knights of the Old Republic, and all the stories that go with them.

Back when LucasArts was still a thing (how long ago was that now?), they’d hit a period during which they’d sort of let themselves go, the same way a high school athlete lets himself go when he realizes he won’t be playing professional football or basketball. Throughout the 90’s, they’d managed to put out a staggering number of in-house developed and in-house published games that were not just okay, but lauded. Sure, there were some duds (Rebel Assault), but overall, LucasArts made games, of all varieties, that could be fun for many different types of players. Once we got into the Prequel era, however, they started doing more outsourcing for their game development, though they still, for the most part, published themselves. While a number of those outsourced titles were also duds (The Clone Wars), there was one game that defined all other modern Star Wars titles. Of course, I’m talking about Knights of the Old Republic.

Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) became the highest rated Star Wars game of all time, though not the best selling (that would be Battlefront in 2004). Developed by BioWare, before they were purchased by Electronic Arts, KOTOR managed to take some esoteric Star Wars comics, combined them with the D20 RPG system as had previously been seen in BioWare’s Neverwinter Nights, itself lifted straight from the Wizards of the Coast RPG books, added a fantastic writing team, and delivered one of the most memorable SW stories with one of the biggest twists since The Empire Strikes Back. The game carried home several Game of the Year awards, and quickly spurred the development of a sequel, which would be helmed by Obsidian Entertainment, another studio created by former BioWare team members. While the sequel would not be nearly as lauded as its predecessor, it is fondly remembered in its own right. The one-year turnaround time for KOTOR 2: The Sith Lords is largely blamed for the game’s lackluster performance. Despite that bump in the road, the stage had already been set for a whole new chapter of Star Wars to be written.

Since the release of the original KOTOR, that era has garnered for itself its own niche following within the greater Star Wars fanbase. Some fans that enjoyed the KOTOR stories became more interested in that era than the eras in which the movies and their sequel novels took place. Dark Horse Comics, then-publisher of all Star Wars comics, released a 50-issue series of comics that lead up to the events of the original game. This highly-praised series eventually had its own, again, less appreciated sequel. Another product that has seen its value only rise from this time was the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide for the Star Wars Saga Edition Roleplaying Game. As the name states, this was an expansion book for the Saga Edition RPG core rules for both GM’s and players. Launching at $40, it’s been seen on ebay and amazon at nearly $500.

The KOTOR brand had such a passionate fanbase which constantly questioned if they’d ever see a third game in the series such that the announcement of a new “Old Republic” game, developed by BioWare, produced by LucasArts, and published by EA, had excitement for that era at an all time high. Throughout the years of production, but particularly from 2009 up to its release in December 2011, BioWare-EA managed to create even more SWTOR mania with a series of comics from Dark Horse and stand-alone hardcover novels from DelRey. The only people that seemed disinterested in this upcoming game were the folks at LucasArts and LucasFilm. The official Star Wars website and the Star Wars game hub for LucasArts had little to no information on the game. Even when the KOTOR/SWTOR era was definitely considered c-canon (one step below the movies and The Clone Wars TV show), they did not seem to care. How much of that attitude was George-driven we don’t really know, but considering that he had no idea what was going on in the books or comics that were published up until 2013, it’s not hard to guess that all he was interested in pushing on the official SW sites were re-releases of the Original Trilogy and, later, The Saga.

These days, even beloved titles like Heir to the Empire and the X-Wing series of novels are no longer canon. In fact, no more stories have been published in what is now called the Legends line. That being said, there is still a source of new Legends-level stories: The Old Republic. Say what you may about the game as a whole, it should be considered the torch-bearer for the old Star Wars universe.

Granted, there is still a link on www.starwars.com in their games section that will take you to www.swtor.com, but there is clearly no interest in pushing the game on any official platform. And why should they? Their interest right now clearly lies in bringing the old crew back in the public eye since we’ve had mostly Prequel events since 1999. The newest movie definitely brought the films back to a place of prominence, but for me, the extra material, the new books and comics, and the one new game so far, Battlefront, have failed to live up to what we had expected from the old universe. It’s not even that the old characters aren’t around and old established events won’t ever happen, but the level and quality of storytelling seems weak overall. Two authors that I feel have very strongly contributed to the new material are John Jackson Miller and Paul S. Kemp. It’s ironic to point out that Miller, author of the first new universe book, wrote the KOTOR comics and helped pen the KOTOR campaign guide! Paul Kemp had written two novels involving characters from Dark Forces (one of those grand old LucasArts games from the 90’s), but also contributed to the SWTOR novels in the form of SWTOR: Deceived.

At this point, we have to ask again, why should LucasFilm care about the Old Republic era? Firstly, it’s too big to ignore. When Hasbro had a poll to find what character (or, I suppose characters) people wanted to see published in the Black Series toy line, the clear winner was Revan, the central character of the KOTOR/SWTOR stories. Second place belonged to Sabine from Rebels, and it pretty clearly seemed as though they had wanted Sabine to win because they were quick to announce that they’d make both Revan and Sabine. It should also be noted that Dave Filoni, show-runner for both The Clone Wars and Rebels, was planning to insert Revan into a major story arc of TCW season three! That move was only stopped because of George Lucas. Additionally, one of the other book series that is usually held up with a similar degree of love as the Thrawn trilogy is the Darth Bane trilogy, which takes place 1,000 years before The Phantom Menace, that shows, essentially, the end of the era of unending conflict between Jedi and Sith, leading into the Rule of Two era for the dark Jedi. That series was penned by Drew Karpyshyn, one of the key writers for the original KOTOR and much of SWTOR’s core story.

Secondly, it’s a money-maker. If nothing else, they cannot ignore the fact that fans are willing to pay for more Old Republic, whether that’s in the form of subscriptions to the MMO or even the slightest hint of a potential new Star Wars game from BioWare. It had already been stated that with EA having exclusive rights to new Star Wars games, each of their sub-studios would tackle a specific genre, with BioWare, of course, handling RPG’s. Looking at past products again, the original Revan action figure, either individually or in a multi-pack, goes for nearly $200. Even the less popular Darth Malak will still set you back $60 or more. The KOTOR comics by John Jackson Miller, were some of the first Dark Horse Star Wars comics to be reprinted by Marvel Comics in a new collected format. In other words, these stories are not being swept under the carpet by anyone except for LucasFilm.

Another question has to be asked: if LucasFilm decided that the Old Republic as we’ve known it should be given full canonical status, would that hurt their current products? Would their original trilogy and sequel stories be hurt by having an era of stories that do not feature Luke, Leia, Han, and Darth Vader? I’m inclined towards no. I know there might be some that could argue that their current releases are all very synergistic and are all pointing in the same general direction, and that having releases that exist outside of the current paradigm would be confusing. Now, I’m not saying that the Legends line itself should continue to see new development. I can definitely see how having new Legends titles that follow after New Jedi Order, Legacy of the Force, and Fate of the Jedi standing next to Aftermath and Before the Awakening could be a misstep. Rather, I think that since Star Wars: The Old Republic is continuing to tell new stories, that series should be embraced. There are no direct ties from the old republic era to the now-extinct post-Return of the Jedi Legends stories. Instead, they’d have a solid, established history to play with and make money off of. If they didn’t already think they could make something from having these stories still in the wild they wouldn’t have kept the game going past the dissolution of LucasArts, nor would they have publicly said that the story folks on the SWTOR team are doing great work and they have no intention of stepping on their toes.

Let me know in the comments below if you think the stories from SWTOR and KOTOR should be integrated into the current canon or if you think they are better off doing their own thing!