Do you wish to join via holoprojector?

Coming via the Ancient Gaming Noob, there’s an interesting piece about SWTOR from Penny Arcade.

This talk about the quest system in SWTOR has me intrigued. It’s been awhile since I’ve been excited about a game coming. There was STO but only because it was Star Trek. There have been some single player games (Civ 5) but I’m actually now starting to remember what I was feeling before SWG came out. I’m a huge Star Wars geek and the idea of being able to run around with other people is exciting.

The idea of joining with a friend via holoprojector while they get a quest I think should bridge that issue of quests just being xp delivery methods. I never read quest text in LOTRO and only sometimes in STO. I always listen to dialogue in single player games. Since the game is making using of the technology of the world, there’s no reason not to participate. At the same time, this should actually increase the immersion.

Instead of just clicking “share quest” and having no idea what the quest is about, you’re character is out doing whatever, your buddy calls and you’re then communicating via holoprojector both learning WHY the quest is important.  How cool is that?

It remains to be seen how much choice will really matter. That I think will be the deciding factor. If your choices in these dialogues are meaningless, then they will quickly become old. But if I can get the same quest with different characters, have the conversation go different ways, and then either the quest or a future quest is different, then we’ll have something amazing.