Gamers may be clamoring for Knights of the Old Republic 3, but they're going to have to face the fact that that particular game isn't going to be coming to consoles any time soon. On the other hand, Bioware has revealed that further entires in the KOTOR franchise aren't being worked on right now because the upcoming MMORPG The Old Republic is going to contain enough narrative content for a slew of sequels to the series that Bioware established. Having spent some time behind closed doors with a demo of the game, it's understandable why Bioware believes this to be true: the game's writing is superb and will provide its players with a truly epic play experience that is much deeper than anything currently on the market.

The Old Republic is unlike any MMORPG I've ever seen, mainly because it feels so very much like a single-player game in terms of its gameplay. While it was confirmed that MMO staples like PvP combat, crafting, and guilds would all appear in the title, it was also revealed that no two character classes will ever encounter the exact same mission. On top of that, every character in the game is voiced, which means that when missions are assigned, a player is treated to a small cutscene that allows them to receive the details of an assignment; during these sequences, players will utilize the dialogue tree (as seen in Mass Effect) to respond to the assigned quests, which will dictate, in turn, how NPCs behave towards one's character.

We were also shown how the game starts players off with characters who actually feel heroic. During the demo, a bounty-hunter character was sent out into a town, whereupon he immediately started laying waste to the local police force. As it was explained, "we want you to feel like the hero from the start; it's going to be hard to expect to be the toughest bounty hunter in the universe if you start off shooting rats in an alley." As a result, this detail certainly carried a much more epic feeling than so many other MMORPGs.

Ethical choices also affect a player's play experience: this was shown during the demo when a moral fork in the road appeared. While playing as a Sith warrior, the player was ordered to execute an imperial captain who had disobeyed orders to hunt down a member of the Jedi Order on a nearby space vessel. After cutting through a swath of security officers and making his way to the bridge, the character was presented with the choice to either execute the captain or work with him to find a better solution to his orders. Everyone in the room voted to cut the man down, which immediately changed the story path of the game; not only were certain events set in motion, but the ship's officers reacted towards the character with a noticeable amount of terror.

Ultimately, The Old Republic looks like it's going to be the perfect MMO for the Star Wars universe, because it will combine, in the words of the developers, "ridiculous action combat and compelling story." The story seems compelling largely because of the quality of Bioware's writing and the cinematic feeling provided by the voice acting and cutscenes; and the action that was on display managed to feel rather fast-paced and fluid.