Star Wars: The Old Republic

**Dinner** · June 13, 2011, 21:10

This game looks like it will be great but I confess to having a soft spot for all things Star Wars related. What do you folks think?

BTW you can watch the trailer here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/arti...-Games-of-E3.7

**Felch** · June 13, 2011, 23:48

I think I'm going to be playing the hell out of it when it comes out.

**DrSpike** · June 14, 2011, 08:15

It looks good but as with all MMOs give it at least a month after release before jumping in. With the arguable exception of Rift now, no new MMOs over the last few years have met initial promise.

**DaShi** · June 14, 2011, 18:24

Won't play it if it has monthly fees. I'll never be able to invest the time to make it worthwhile.

**OzzyKP** · June 14, 2011, 19:02

Maybe someone will set up free servers. What little I've played of WoW (outside the trial) was on a free server.

**DrSpike** · June 15, 2011, 07:38

Free servers for subscription based MMOs are pointless and in some cases dangerous. If people don't have time to justify a monthly fee (though personally I don't look for a lot of hours entertainment for £9, which is a cinema ticket or two drinks these days!) but want to play an online RPG then they are better off playing a game with a F2P model, like LotRO or DDO. Or Guild Wars, which is showing its age now but still full of super awesome.

**DaShi** · June 15, 2011, 23:29

I am very much looking forward to Guild Wars 2.

**DrSpike** · June 16, 2011, 05:17

Me too.

**OzzyKP** · June 16, 2011, 09:13

Originally Posted by DrSpike

Free servers for subscription based MMOs are pointless and in some cases dangerous.

Why?

**DrSpike** · June 16, 2011, 09:56

Because they are usually cracked versions of the game where you don't get new content (or get it with significant delays), the characters you have spent hours on might disappear overnight when the server does, and you're opening yourself up to viruses etc.

**Guynemer** · June 17, 2011, 18:53

My biggest problem with MMOs are all the other douchebags playing the game.

**OzzyKP** · June 18, 2011, 23:49

Originally Posted by DrSpike

Because they are usually cracked versions of the game where you don't get new content (or get it with significant delays), the characters you have spent hours on might disappear overnight when the server does, and you're opening yourself up to viruses etc.

Fine by me.

**Dinner** · September 10, 2011, 20:19

It's supposed to be released in December, they've started a supposedly massive beta testing phase which will last for two to three months, and they've released dozens of videos showing game play.

**conmcb25** · September 22, 2011, 13:55

:yawn:

**Dinner** · October 15, 2011, 15:56

What does it take to get you excited?

**Guynemer** · October 15, 2011, 18:30

boobies

**Dinner** · November 17, 2011, 18:42

http://www.gamespot.com/event/codes/...=topslot;img;1

Free beta keys are being given away for Star Wars: The Old Republic but only until tomorrow (Friday 11/18/11)

**Felch** · November 18, 2011, 10:19

I got a beta weekend invite. Looking at the info, I'm definitely excited about this. I think that having a companion character will be an awesome move towards customization. You can more easily broaden or emphasize your role. Plus the crew skills are supposed to automate crafting.

**Asher** · November 19, 2011, 13:27

I got a beta invite a couple months ago, then another invite a couple weeks ago just for a beta weekend. Never took them up on it. I'll wait til it's done.

**Guynemer** · November 19, 2011, 19:52

I just got a beta invite, but I had to use it by yesterday. :huh?:

Don't really care, anyway. Hell is other people.

**Felch** · November 28, 2011, 20:47

I did the beta weekend, and I definitely like this game.

Character creation is limited, with only four body shapes, but that's not something I care much about. The races don't seem to make much difference aside from throwaway bits of dialog and different emotes. I tried out all four starting planets, and they're all decent. It's a good four hours before you leave the starting planet, and another four hours before you actually get your ship. There were occasional laggy times, but I played maybe twenty hours since Friday, and only had four occasions where it got too bad to keep playing. Not bad for a stress test weekend. I noticed occasional clipping, and a couple other graphical glitches, but even as a beta it's better than most games on release.

Quest dialog is good, and it plays out just like Mass Effect. I like the immersion, since in WoW and LotRO I tended to miss huge chunks of content because I'm too lazy to read the text boxes. Having good and evil options give the quests a nice spin, since most of them are just "Go to these three locations, and push the buttons". Once you get there, there's usually some starving orphan who needs help, or some other gimmick. It's cliché, but it also makes the quest feel less rote. Quests have bonuses for killing mobs, and the bonuses sometimes chain to form extra side quests to kill minibosses.

The fights are fun, especially as a smuggler. I mostly played as a smuggler because Han Solo is my favorite SW character, and because guns > swords. Smugglers and their evil counterparts the Imperial Agents, have a cover mechanic similar to Gears of War. When you're behind permanent cover, you're immune to enemy fire, but you can crouch and set up a force field at any time to get a lesser bonus. Cover is necessary for many of the skills and it makes you immune to interruptions, which is very nice. It's not revolutionary, but it's a change of pace from the usual grind. Most fights involve packs of enemies, 2-4 mobs, and it's fun to have to prioritize healers or stronger enemies. It goes a long way towards breaking the monotony of MMOs.

I didn't play with anybody I know, but I had good luck with the folks I ran into. Most people are happy to team up, although groups are limited to 4 total, so 3 human players can only bring one companion, and 4 humans can't have any companions.

The companions are great. They've all got at least a couple roles, so you can switch their stances as needed. I only ever got the first companion, who you pick up around level 8, but they're a great addition. They make it much easier to level as a healer/support character.

My only beef is that it still retains some of the old annoying features of MMOs. Town areas are spread out, so it can take a while to handle all of the non-combat chores. I can't for the life of me understand why trainers exist. If they made you go on quests to learn new skills, that'd be cool, but instead they're just some ******* you have to throw money at every time you level up.

Overall the game is great, but not mind-blowingly revolutionary. They took the Bioware RPG model and smeared it all over WoW. Definitely going to play more when it's released.

**Felch** · November 28, 2011, 20:51

Sorry for the wall of text, the TLDR summary is "KotOR meets WoW, 9/10"

**Al B. Sure!** · November 28, 2011, 20:58

Can you play as a Klingon?

**Felch** · November 28, 2011, 21:04

You can. You can do anything you set your mind to, sweetheart.

**OzzyKP** · November 30, 2011, 19:43

Thanks for the review.

**Felch** · December 14, 2011, 11:45

I got my early access started. I'm on the Mind Tricks server, it's PvE. I've got a Smuggler named Johnsolo, and a Bounty Hunter named Bobafelch.

Getting it early is pretty sweet.

**Dinner** · December 15, 2011, 04:19

I want to play a monstrously obese jedi character who has a mullet, receeding hair line, looks like he hasn't shaved in three days, and who is short but mystically still do all the jedi jumps and acrobatics. Bonus points if he wears a shirt which is three sizes too small and exposes his giant beer belly.

**Felch** · December 15, 2011, 15:07

You can make a disgusting fat body, and the chicks you run into will still dig you.

**Al B. Sure!** · December 15, 2011, 18:19

Originally Posted by Dinner

I want to play a monstrously obese jedi character who has a mullet, receeding hair line, looks like he hasn't shaved in three days, and who is short but mystically still do all the jedi jumps and acrobatics. Bonus points if he wears a shirt which is three sizes too small and exposes his giant beer belly.

So someone who looks like you but with magic powers and agility?