Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a thing, apparently!

Everyone knows that Star Wars is a giant amongst multimedia franchises, And everyone knows that Star Wars fans are biologically incapable of agreeing on anything (myself included). But the one thing that Star Wars fans can agree on is that the series lends itself well to some pretty awesome video games. Seriously, we got Star Wars: Republic Commando, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and the highlight of the bunch, the Knights of the Old Republic trilogy. But unfortunately, EA made some very controversial design choices with Star Wars Battlefront II (namely, locking three-quarters of the game's content behind a loot box paywall). Seriously, EA's loot boxes sparked a massive debate on the moral ethics of including microtransactions in games that not only come with a full price tag, but are intentionally marketed to kids, who (usually) have very poor impulse control when it comes to handling currency. Now, personally speaking, I don't mind DLC or things being sold post-launch. But I find loot boxes to be scummy, for not only do they cost real money, but given their random nature, you might not get what you wanted to begin with, or worse, get more of what you already have. I'm not sure about you, but I like to know what I'm getting before I place down any cash. But EA seems to be doing deliberate course correction for their excessively greedy business practices with the newest Star Wars game, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

But why am I blogging about a game that isn't coming out until November? Because this game has the potential to be really good. I say potential because EA is publishing, which means they are going to find a way to force Respawn (the dev team for this game) to include some way of making additional profit beyond the initial purchase. But, assuming that the hypothetical microtransactions are ethical or even generous, it might be possible that this game can be really good. And frankly it's looking better than Pokemon Sword & Shield, and the fact that they share the exact same release date (November 15) means that a EA game might be more worthwhile than a Game Freak game, which is weird because usually it's the other way around.

Unlike Battlefront II, which was a multiplayer shooter, Jedi: Fallen Order is a story-driven action-RPG, similar to Knights of the Old Republic. Ironically, EA admitted to cancelling a similar action-RPG starring Boba Fett a few years ago (the reason it was cancelled was because, at the time, EA believed that single-player games are simply not profitable), and I have a sneaking suspicion that the cancelled game's assets were recycled for this game. The basic premise follows Cal Kestis, a Jedi Padawan that (somehow) survived Order 66, and is doing his best to not die a horrific death at the hands of the Sith Empire. Before I continue, I have to ask. What is with spin-off material fixating on all of the survivors of Order 66? Force Unleashed did it. Rebels did it. The Star Wars comics did it. Seriously, wasn't the whole point of Order 66 that almost every Jedi ever was executed? The spin-offs are starting to make it look like Order 66 wasn't effective in killing off the Jedi. At least the Knights of the Old Republic trilogy had the novelty of taking place in a never before seen time period. So I will automatically dock a point for an overused premise, at least amongst the spin-offs.

Anyway, the gameplay seems to be similar to Uncharted, with Cal linearly moving from area to area, using a combination of Lightsaber swordsmanship and Force powers to defeat enemies along the way. Although Respawn has claimed that the final game will be a straight-up Metroidvania and will allow for a whole lot more freedom. Of course, I'm taking that with a grain of salt, because all of the footage publicly available seems to draw more inspiration from Uncharted than anything else (not that there's anything wrong with that, as I personally adore the Uncharted series). But who knows? Maybe it will be a Metroidvania. 

But anyways, the combat itself is by no means a hack-and-slash like literally every Star Wars game ever, and Respawn openly admitted to drawing inspiration from, of all things, Dark Souls. We've now reached a new pinnacle of the "All difficult video games are just like Dark Souls" meme. Now, even the developers are using the comparison. Granted, the comparison was made because of the grounded, methodical gameplay requiring the player to pay close attention to enemy attack patterns (basically the opposite of Force Unleashed, which was an over-the-top action game that surprisingly WASN'T co-developed by Platinum Games). But still, there's no way a video game company in 2019 ISN'T aware of the meme (unless the devs live under a rock), so to make the comparison unironically is hilarious to me.

The game itself looks decent so far. Not amazing, mind you, but decent. I really want the game to be good. I really do. But the fact that EA is publishing makes me more than a little skeptical. So let's list off all the ways this game can be really bad, because why not!

1. The protagonist, Cal Kestis, looks like a shameless rip-off of Starkiller from Force Unleashed. Seriously, his design is really forgettable, at least in my opinion. Like, I know that the story is supposed to be character driven and that this is Cal's story, but it's really telling that as an aficionado for storytelling, I am not interested in his story at all. I just have a morbid fascination with this game to see if a dev team working for EA can make a solid single-player with no immediate monetization schemes. Speaking of...
2. EA is publishing Jedi: Fallen Order. EA, the same company who thought that having Bioware, a dev team that's most well known for making single-player RPGs, make a co-op shooter with a game engine intended for sports games was a good idea. EA, the same company that killed off MySims ON THE 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE SERIES, and never offered an explanation as to why. EA, the same company that started the trend of Western AAA game companies releasing broken, barely functioning video games, patching out the issues post-launch, and praying that the gaming community will give the game in question a second chance. I do not like EA, in case it wasn't obvious. Now, I understand that companies need to make a profit from their works, the word "company" literally means "a group of people working together for a monetary gain". But EA is without a doubt one of the sleaziest game companies out there. Frankly the fact they have any involvement with a Star Wars game's development at all is the biggest turn-off.
3. This game is competing with both Force Unleashed and Knights of the Old Republic for best gameplay and best story in a Star Wars game, respectively. While those games are not perfect, Force Unleashed has by far the most awe-inspiring combat out of all the games, with flashy lightsaber combos and the most insane Force Powers imaginable. Knights of the Old Republic has by far the best story, partly because of the choice of having the trilogy take place in a radically different time period, and partly because it was made back when Bioware were in their prime.

That's not to say that I expect the game to be terrible. It has the potential to be terrible, purely based on who's in charge of development. However, the entire selling point of Fallen Order is basically EA trying to course correct and salvage their reputation in the gaming industry. Between the loot box debacle in Battlefront II and the fact that Anthem, which was planned to be a long-lasting co-op shooter to entertain gamers for years to come, was dead-on-arrival and was declared the biggest gaming disaster of the decade just a mere four months after releasing, EA has become a total joke in the gaming community. But the Star Wars fan in me keeps telling me that Jedi: Fallen Order has a chance to be a masterpiece. But I don't know, the fact that most of the hype comes from things Respawn (and EA) said about the game, rather than shown reminds me a bit too much of the deceptive marketing for No Man's Sky. They said it will have Metroidvania style exploration, but the gameplay footage is way too linear to be anything remotely similar to any decent Metroidvania game. They admitted to using Dark Souls as an inspiration and unironically compared the game to Dark Souls either out of ignorance of the "comparing things to Dark Souls" meme or simply not caring about the meme. And I will admit, the idea of a Soulsian, story-driven, Metroidvania Star Wars game sounds positively awesome. But I can't shake the feeling that EA and Respawn are only making the comparison to garner positive hype about the game. I'm optimistic for it, but cautiously so.

But the ultimate question remains. How good will the game be? We have no way of until November 15, but based off of pre-release footage, the game has potential to be amazing. But I can't shake the feeling that potential will be wasted because of my instinctual distrust of EA as a company. But the more I talk about the game, the more I want there to be a new Knights of the Old Republic game, or at least a new game using a similar style to that series. But hey, if Jedi: Fallen Order turns out to be a broken mess, we still have LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga coming out next Spring!

But those are just my thoughts. Are you excited for this game? Or are you in the same boat as me, being morbidly curious to see if EA can actually publish a decent single player video game with no strings attached? Or are you like "NOPE" and have declared this game a lost cause before it even releases? Let me know with a comment.

P.S. I apologize if I seem more negative in this post. I want to be excited for the game, I really do, but EA's reputation has set my expectations rather low.