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Star Wars Galaxies
Bastard0 writes "There are some new screen shots today from the new Star Wars Galaxies massively multi-player online game on " The pictures are looking really good. If the game is less boring the Everquest, then they may have a hit on their hands. Meanwhile I'm beta testing the diablo 2 expansion, and for the first time in like 3 years, I have 'CmdrTaco' as my nick in a sizable online system.
Graphics are purely client-side, it's not like each frame is streamed across the network. You could have a real-time raytraced scene or stick figures and they'd require the same bandwidth. The only time graphics and connection interact is when the computer is so overtaxed doing the rendering that you're dropping packets on the floor. In that case, a faster connection is better because you'll have a shorter wait before you get the next datagram.
Lucas Art's gaming division has matured a little too much for my taste. I'm all for exotic planets and stuff, but do you really want to encounter aliens with 4 breasts and a dick?
Well, I've heard this one before.
There is some truth to what you say, but not entirely. The game is but a set of rules under which the players operate and gather around: It is something they _all_ have in common and something that ties them together to do something.
...However, that is not to say that the game itself isn't important. Players will find ways to enjoy themselves even in a very poorly done game; but with time it will impede, wear down, and otherwise destroy the communities it has created. I have seen this happen many a time, and usually those once players find out they really don't have all that much in common afterwards. Oh well.
The thing is, a game encourages doing certain things over others, and it helps shape the community that way. It gives patterns, ideas, methods, things for the players to _do_ or ways for them to think about what they're in. Essentially, bringing form to this mass of players that has come forth to have fun.
It's kind of sad since the MUD community has known all this for some time now, and most of the MMORPG designers that were out for the first few generations did all the newbie mistakes. (Or, in some ways, were forced to by management. Sigh..) Only now are they starting to understand, but they're dragging all of us through the mud in the process.
UO was the best of the lot at the first point, but it was screwed up progressively more as time went on. Oh well..
On the Galaxies web page it announces that the first expansion pack WILL add a space fighting portion to the game.
-jay
Uhm, yes. Upwards of 500,000 extremely computer-savvy geeks just read about Diablo II. Their target audience. Blizzard could not buy that kind of publicity for millions of dollars.
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I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
"Meanwhile I'm beta testing the diablo 2 expansion, and for the first time in like 3 years, I have 'CmdrTaco' as my nick in a sizable online system. "
Quit whinning, how do you think I feel.
neo (since 1985)
I think they're wise to do that, good for them. It seems to me that the alternative, to even give the slightest suggestion that they are interested what their fanatical following sends them, would give a tremendous amount of false hope to the many people who are heavily invested emotionally in their intellectual property. It would also bury them in email. The Star Wars fanbase is in my opinion way, way past the point (in gross fanaticism) where there's the possibility of a healthy two-way relationship. Please don't take this personally; it's more a reflection on the most vocal and arrogant fans that I've bumped into, and it's certainly not a problem unique to Star Wars (see any MMORPG).
Fair point there. I was talking about Lucas's policy in general. I really haven't read much on the subject, but the challenge of defining a play experience in an MMORPG is awesome and I'm sure good feedback is essential. Of course, the structure and degree of that feedback is the question. There are interesting ideas out there like A Tale in the Desert, but who knows if they'll work out. Anyway, EQ's strange restrictions on naming etc. seem pretty silly to me, primarily because the time wasted imposing them could be spent on more useful pursuits.
I would assume the only reason it would matter to CT what his name was, would be so that he could get his character twinked with ewber l00t.
http://windows.scares.us
Here's something I didn't see in the FAQ. How do they plan to do ship to ship combat, or getting from planet to planet? One of the coolest things about running around the starwars universe is the ships. I don't particularly care to play a jedi, but getting into the rogue squadron or trying to out run/fast talk imperials as a smuggler, would be really cool.
--locust
I was pretty excited about this game, but those screenshots dont look all that great
-- "The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so.
well, you'll probably like SWG if you like UO, since the designer of UO is designing SWG.
The title sequence for Battle for Naboo (wait til it's $15) starts with Jar Jar walking onscreen, and being crushed by the title. His cry of pain even sounds like "I'm sorry". I'll have to see about some sort of screen capture.
I really hope the games are canon.
Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951
If the game is less boring the Everquest, then they may have a hit on their hands.
Gee, sounds like Rob is having a bad day/week/month. First he's advocating WinCE over PalmOS, using windows to play Diablo (Okay, maybe its wine/vmware), and now Everquest is boring. What Mr. Malda obviously needs is a quick shot of Prozac, provided free of charge thanks to Big Government and Big Business.
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Insert Witty Sig Here
That was a problem with the old Star Wars MUDs that I used to play. Everyone wanted to be a Jedi
I don't know about MUDs, but with the tabletop RPG, there were some popular alternatives, such as bounty hunters.
Although in my case, I played a psychotic shaved Ewok with brain damage. Yubyub!
It just seems like such a copout... They rule the Star Wars story with an iron fist--many people I've known have gotten cease-and-desist orders from them for making add-ons. While they're certainly within their rights to control their intellectual property, it's very discouraging when they try to control something that's obviously become larger than just a story. It's part of our culture now, and like any popular myth, it has a tendency to expand.
George Lucas himself has applauded several groups that create parodies or derivative short films based on Star Wars. Why can't they extend the same courtesy to gamers who just want to have fun?
They've been petitioned countless times, to no avail...and their attempts to show that they listen to their customers turned out to be nothing but back-patting sessions for themselves.
And if I sound bitter, it's because I am. +)
Neocron is a cyberpunk/postholocaust first-person shooter MMORPG that's been in development for over two years and built up quite a huge fandom, even with no playable demos during that time. All indications are, it's gonna rock. :)
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Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Since when did lucasarts.com become starwars.com? Lucasarts is good in spite of this starwars crap they constantly churn out. The Maniac Mansion games were great, Monkey Island is God-like, Grim fandango kicked ass, and let's not forget Sam n Max.. *sigh* Where's the creative ORIGINAL stuff anymore?
Lowmag.net
Well that was your problem, you quit in a matter of hours. If you gave up so quickly what did you expect? After a few hoursyou'd have seen about 0.0001% of the game
Sig is taking a break!
That's incorrect. Diablo II can be played on a Mac.
It'd be great to have a push for a linux/unix port of this game NOW, instead of 6 months after it's been released. When it comes it'd be very very cool to have windows and linux on the same disc, so people don't have to buy a separate version.
This insightful reply points up the counterpoint to the obviously overreaching observations that I made -- in part, to make the point. I agree that a sucky game (in some measures) will ultimately kill a community. But the "game" I was referring to as unimportant deals with issues like "way-cool graphics," "size of the world," "presentation of plot and story," and "detailed physics." These things don't matter.
What matters is that the game be "deep" enough to sustain a long-lasting relationship with the players. Chess is a deep enough game. Tic-tac-toe is not. War in the East was a deep enough game, but way too complex to permit decent interaction. Moving from board games to story-telling, I note that the biggest, most important traits of a game design be this:
1) It not impede player-player interaction, and affirmatively encourages and rewards it;
2) It's mechanics are simple and malleable, so to permit evolution with the needs of the community;
3) It's game balance, particularly the issue of clarity v. depth, be as close to perfect as possible, and that the game evolve in accordance with (2) driven by this concern over all. No additions to the game should be made without focusing on this point.
The archetypal best repeatable multi-player game, combining Depth and Clarity, is a game akin to Diplomacy. The archetypal games for role-playing are the real-time, real-space games, such as those outlined at larpa's web site.
These games focus on the interaction and gaming experience more than on the game itself. Technology *IS* a serious impediment -- it gets in the way of the people-people communications. THIS is the key technological challenge of a networked multi-player computer game, not the game design or the prettiness of the screen. It gets even trickier for a massively multi-player game, however technology provides some WONDERFUL solutions to that problem -- I just have yet to see that done, let alone done well.
Anyway -- it is this challenge that makes the differences at the end of the day, not the packaging. Packaging gets folks in the door, but it isn't enough, not by a far cry. Gaming does require a game, but I will tell you this: a solid, interesting multiplayer variant of "rock, paper scissors," will entertain far longer than an on-line version of War in the East. FAR, FAR longer.
If the game is less boring the Everquest, then they may have a hit on their hands.
Don't you get it? The game doesn't matter at all! If you get 100 people together with the idea that they are going to have fun, guess what? They will have fun to the extent that the game DOESN'T GET IN THE WAY.
This is the lesson of the real-time, real-space role-playing business; of the entire fantasy-role playing game business; indeed, of the entire entertainment business as a whole. People do not have fun because you have MADE THEM to have fun, but because you have found a way to facilitate their own pleasures and enjoyment.
The biggest problem of most multi-player games is this: the computer gets in the way. The network gets in the way. And if there is TOO MUCH GAME, the game gets in the way.
The problem with most massively multi-player games is this: the community gets in the way. Unless you naturally break out the community into solid sub-communities with which people can interact, all you have is a complex game with really good AI's. Not bad for a complex game, but nothing like the potential of an interactive game.
People-people games are fun, exciting and interesting. When I used to gamemaster large real-space games at conventions, the lesson we learned was that the most important thing to do, both in game design and moderation, is to get out of the way. Let players interact, and interact well. Control them subtly only, and let their minds entertain one another.
That's the real deal: the game doesn't matter. It's important to some extent, of course -- in that it is the putative reason a community comes together to game. But the game itself isn't the thing -- the people are.
Turbine Entertainment has been pretty hush-hush about it, but it sounds as though they have a big chunk of the project completed.
There is a blurb about AC 2 being demoed here.
From other reports I have read, it appears they are looking at supporting both Windows and the X-Box. Sorry, probably no Linux clients.
In this interview, they do discuss some of the cooler improvements they have in the works, such as having clouds form over a period of weeks into thunderstorms.
A radio maverick jumps to internet only. The Future of Rock n Roll
I wish I could find that great article by a well-known hard SF writer who slammed EpI for this (and other) reasons. One of the great things about the original movies, he said, was that anyone could aspire to become a Jedi. Old Ben even offered to teach Han Solo (who just scoffed).
Suddenly, with Episode I, you have to be born with the ability to {become a Jedi, inherit the throne, lead your people}. No fair studying and meditating; it's either the true blue blood or nothing at all.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
This is standard practice in the film industry. They get so many unrequested manuscripts that they have to state that they ignore them, or they'll get sued when they release something similar to something that was submitted to them.
Acording to the SWG boards that is basicly how it will work, but with a very large element of chance when it comes to who can be a Jedi and is also tied closely to how your char behaves from the moment he/she enters the game. The idea is to not put a hard limit on how many jedi there are in the game and at the same time keep them VERY rare.
How did CmdrTaco manage to get both the Diablo II and the Diablo II Expansion betas? Does Blizzard give out betas to people who run geek websites so that they get free advertising? Or is he just incredibly lucky?
I had an old ISA SB16 in my dual celerons 2 years ago. I upgrade to the PCI SB Live and my framerate jumped 2x ! Why? Because the PCI bus runs at 33 Mhz compared to 8 Mhz ISA. (SB Live was using just a fraction of the CPU)
So while the orginal poster is incorrect about ping = frame rate, older hardware using less efficient protocols vs new hardware can make a difference.
Courtesy of Fargo at Gamespy (who is a very, very funny man).
Preparing for Star Wars Galaxies
Personally, I'm waiting for Neverwinter Nights
Moller
What kind of ass could C-3PO possibly kick? What's his special weapon--bitching at people till they die?
Not to be picky or anything, because the game does look great, but... hey! nice gouraud shaded sand back there!
More likely they just took a bunch of shots from whatever FMVs they use. This seems to be the universially agreed upon method of marketing your games. The actual graphics you see for 99% of your game play will probably be slightly better than the original space invaders.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I certainly won't rate something over something else just because "everyone else does it". Hell, thousands of newbies and immature people (whatever age) is a reason NOT to play EQ anymore. Just the same reason I don't watch much TV either now.
Soon the marketeers will discover a crash in the curve and wonder what the hell went wrong.
- Steeltoe
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/
I'm not interested in this because its Star Wars or a MMORPG. Thats fine and dandy but what really makes me happy is that they are not using a D&D based 4-6 attribute level advancement system. Woo Hoo! Finally online roleplaying might get out of the dark ages that pen and paper left years ago. I am so hoping that this will set a trend towards good points based roleplaying systems in future RPG computer games. Not that 3rd edition rules aren't a big step forward from the 2nd, but you're still stuck with character classes and the like.
As for the whole what will keep everyone from becoming a Jedi question, I believe the limiting factor is the cost. Anyone can become a Jedi, but to get to the point where it becomes practical and survivable is tough. Its a very costly character advancement path. Hence being a bounty hunter or a smuggler may be a much better choice.
So far I've gotten all my Karma from telling people they are wrong... :)
Everquest is the most popular online game, with Diablo coming in a close second.
-Jon
this is my sig.
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I like to watch.
I did the beta test of EQ, and quit in a matter of hours...it was the most boring game I have ever played. I played UO for like 8 months and that was the best game, with fairly simple graphics. I think companies now are more concerned with graphics than gameplay. UO was more concerned with gameplay than graphics, and it was a huge it and still is.
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"don't smoke, don't drink, don't fuck
at least i can fucking think"
Minor Threat
and jewish people aren't allowed to eat pork
I remember helping a friend tape it back together so we could take it back to Wal-Mart for cash, then we burned copies of starcraft and has fun all summer long.
This Wiki Feeds You TV and Anime - vidwiki.org
A game that I think looks really sweet is Dawn. You can check it out at:
http://www.glitchless.com/dawn
Anyway, it is very disappointing to me that it hasn't gotten better publicity. It's the first MMORPG that I've seen that's going to (attempt at least) stress the roleplaying, and not the hack'n'slash zoning 1337 a0l d00d sell your gear on eBay crap. When you die, you die, sort of like Hardcore Diablo 2. You get experience for doing stuff in general, not just killing stuff. The world is bigger. If you don't behave in character gods might smack you down.
Don't get me wrong, Star Wars is sweet, and I have the highest hopes for this Galaxies Online thing. But think about the market Lucas is aiming at with his movies (9-13 year oldish).... those will be the ones that will likely dominate this community. It's easy to make a good game, but it's so hard to make a good community. Diablo 2 is a perfect example: I love the game, but god I can't stand the community. Korean flaming, yada yada yada... oh well, save that rant for another day.
No, the real reason for camping is because of poor game design by Verant. EQ relies far too heavily on making items rare by putting them on infrequent spawns where you could wait hours or days and not see them. Spawn rates should be increased significantly or there should be alternative ways to obtain most items such as via quests. Unfortunately Verant doesn't want to work for its money - it's easy to edit the spawn rate field on some monster than develop a quest.
Anyone ever notice how games like Everquest or Star Wars Galaxies are just a bunch of endless expanses marked by a few buildings? They have such an ugly landscape.
I/O Error G-17: Aborting Installation
Nope, I'm not. I'm actually looking forward to be a Jawa. Killing rednecks in Tatoonie with my ion-gun, stealing thir droids and bringing them to my massive Sandcrwaler for trade. Utinni!
But you forgot Ritule is making Jedi Knight 2 (aka Dark Forces III) with the Quake 3 Engine. Yeah!!!
-jason m
Actually those are in-game screenshots, as the developers and media at E3 were able to confirm. Do your research..
-- b0rk.
before i get flamed, in "rebellion", you play as someone of Mon Mothma's position, directing fleets, planetary seiges, diplomatic talks, espionage, kidnapping and assasination missions throughout the galaxy, developing new technologies and ships along the way. This new game should remove the galaxy-wide stratigy and put you more in the shoes of someone like Han Solo, an individual changing his own path in small steps and bounds. More personalized, in a sense
moox. for a new generation.
i remember way back in the day when lucas arts put out an old game, "Rebellion", which, although at first, was a crappy game, once playing it in about 20 minutes, was maddeningly addictive. I remember borrowing it from my friend for "a night"....6 months later he had to pry it from my hands. I'd suggest picking up a copy and playing it to tide you over.
This looks to be almost an extension of the game, except that you (i'm assuming, if it's inline with everquest) play as one charicter and you play the part of a single thread in the intracate tapestry of the star wars universe, influencing it in your own miniscule way. The graphics look amazing, I sure hope those are actual ingame graphics....I've been dissapointed by previous releases of games. B&W had some amazing "screenshots", and almost delivered with that kind of detail. I'm just afraid that the sys req.'s of this game will prevent too many people from playing it.
I'm hoping to see this ported to the X box and PS2 in the future, that would definatly help the initial bit of having enough human players to make the world interesting and not boring.
moox. for a new generation.
Perhaps by "godly connection" he meant it would take some sort of divine intervention to help get a half-decent framerate on your average computer system...
-- Judas96
"...don't take a nerf bat to a knife fight." - Joe Rogan, said on News Radio
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Does anyone actually have a Java program designed to control air traffic, or for the operation of a nuclear facility?
to late, you can train to be a jedi, I read the FAQ and they make it sound like it will take a long time. Just as long as it's not to unbalanced, I don't want to walk in to a bar and ten jedi jump me for my boots, Jede can be cool if they make it really hard to get too, bottem line? no newbie jedi
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Does anyone actually have a Java program designed to control air traffic, or for the operation of a nuclear facility?
Maybe they will at least let you maim him a bit, or kick him around... even if you cant kill him. He can always 'recover' from a solid beating, thus keeping the continuity of the universe. Maybe they could have jar jar wrestling as a mini game or something even. Of course, then you would have an empty universe because everyone would be camping the jar jar wrestling facility....
Time for some tasty Shiner Bock!
BOTH Diablo 2 and Star Wars Galaxies REQUIRE Windows.
I guess Slashdot doesn't count, then?
Friends don't let friends use multiple inheritance.
Besides the fact that we owe our existance to a several ideas everyone here espouses to, it's a lot of fun (and even more so once it's up and running) for any RPers out there.
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I object to Intellect without Discipline.
That limitation probably won't work, because people will just keep creating & deleting characters until the random generator gives them one that is well-suited to be a jedi. I bet with in a month the game will be crammed with 12-year old kids playing jedi knights.
Let's face it, a lot of people are bound to say "f* this. If I can't be a jedi, what's the point in playing it?"
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Well, he's at least right on the "precise" part. Precision doesn't necessarily imply accuracy. The fact that the stormtroopers consistenly miss implies there's a degree of precision going on. However, since precision generally requires skill, it's obvious that stormtroopers are, in fact, expert marksmen, but that the suffer from all having their gun sights misaligned.
As soon as I saw this, my girlfriend knew it too -I can never buy this, or my life is over!
I have Unix underpants.
haha - only "precise" due to the fact that they are shooting at something the size of a small city, and it moves at 5 MPH! :)
5.06 Will I be able to set my blaster to stun and kill, and change the color of its blasts?
This Question should have read:
5.06 If we get to shoot blasters in the game - will they be a *lot* more accurate than they are in the movies?
"CHEWY! Lock in that auxillary power!"
Spaceship stuff is due in an expansion about 6 months after launch (so 2003) and even less details are available for it than the base game at present. I believe before this comes out transport between planets will be instantaneous but can only be done from the planets starport (and I expect you will have to pay for it too)
....but all they found there was a man who repeatedly said that nothing was true, but was later found to be lying.
Bad news then bud - Jawa isnt one of the player classes, so you only get to beat up on NPC ones :-)
"Gee look at this cute little guy .... ZZAAAPPP ...... OTINEEEEE!, Hey! you shot my brother Billi-bob, I'm gonna smack your ass now ... (sound of flying furniture) ..... got me one of them sand crawlers now, I'm gonna drive through a gas station!"
(That last part will only be funny to people who remember the film Convoy)
....but all they found there was a man who repeatedly said that nothing was true, but was later found to be lying.
One thought I had? Can the community interest be sustained at its current (fanatical - dont believe me? check out the discussion boards) level for over 12 months? Sure when the thing goes public beta and/or some concrete details are released there will probably be reason to whoop and hollow (because the public hasnt seen the multiplayer demo the gaming press got invited too), but given the few screenshots and vague detail thats been released thus far (lots of 'we plan to' and 'hopefully's) I wonder if people wont get burned out and loose interest until almost launch date (especially with Galactic Command Online and Online Universe comming out before it (probably!)). Dont get me wrong I'm excited, but 12 months (at least) is a long time. In that time we'll see Battlecruiser Millennium (its coming along nicely ;-) ), then we'll have GCO and OU (read X-tension goes big!) admittedly the core audiences are different but there is alot of crossover in all 3 online titles (especially with GCO). I just wonder if they 'let the cat out of the bag' a bit early (probably to get user feelings and wish list stuff in right from the word go - having said that they've been going for some time now)
....but all they found there was a man who repeatedly said that nothing was true, but was later found to be lying.
I'm betting you'll need a godly connection to be able to get those kinds of graphics.
Yep, I'm sure you'll also need a pretty good video-card to get the full audio experience. And I'm sure anyone with a cheap soundcard will get terrible pings.
Number one - No ingame jedi bullshit, you were born a jedi you die a jedi no getting there inbetween. Maybe there should be a lottery for newbies, every 1000 get a slightly higher amount of jedi skills.
Number two - you should be able to in the least; pick your skills, your trade, and your secret society. There should also be a control panel of sorts to show you your personal possesions your greater posessions and the lot.
Number three - No getting promoted from XP UNLESS you pass tests. Nuthin hard just get quized from a master level character or greater (possibly AI) in the area that you want to advance. That makes for greater game play since this forces you to know what you are talking about. (especially good if you are a travelling merchant)
Number four - xp should be given out for a number of situations, not just conquest in battle... Sell a hijacked star destroyer get a million xp and the chance to become a rebel admiral.
Number five - and most important try to remember to always stay in character, this game is going to be very popular and alot of people will be playing that just dont know how to act in a rpg let alone one with alot of other people around.
rrdejay
Gone but not... ummm
There is a FAQ that covers some (but not all) of those questions. Perhaps the message boards could help you with the rest.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Not much of a concern on my part as I'll have a good connection... but I want to be able to play with my friends on their modems.
I look forward to being able to test this out... It looks to be a blast. When you look back, It's increadible how far gaming has come in the last 20 years. This will be great!
--CTH
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--Got Lists? | Top 95 Star Wars Line
If it lets me kill Jar-Jar-Binks at 1280x1024 resolution with GeForce 3 enhanced lightsaber effects, I'll be happy.
...is the MMORPG I'm looking forward to at the moment. They even have a Linux client planned, yay. (Although the initial release will be Win32 only. I guess I'll have to stick with dual boot for a little while longer..)
-- If no truths are spoken then no lies can hide --
Can Joe Blow go and buy this at Walmart, and still be able to play against the computer with no net connection?
How much is this going to cost? or is it one of those servers that it costs to connect to?
The graphics look kick @SS, but, how will it look on my P2 400 with Voodoo3?
Do you have to play an actual character from Starwars, or can you create your own (ex. Slartibartfast, or something)
Is every character in it played by someone, including Shop keepers, Drunks, etc?
How expansive of a universe comes on the cd?
Everytime you go to a new planet, do you have to download maps?
Then, every turret on the capital ships, every tie fighter, every x-wing, jedi knight, sith lord, etc would all be crewed by real people, with the computer to fill in if there aren't enough.
Take WW2Online, add some Allegiance and Tie Fighter, and set it in the starwars universe. That would be my perfect game.
As it is, I doubt if I will even try this one. It's EQ+SW.
If the game is less boring the Everquest, then they may have a hit on their hands.
EverQuest isn't boring! Even during the endless hours of downtime waiting for a group, the endless hours of waiting for something to kill after getting in the group, and the endless hours of dividing up the loot of what you just killed, and the endless hours of arguing about how unfairly the loot was divided, it's not boring! Really! Right?
First, there aren't any "levels" or "maps", or perhaps I should say the world is one huge level. There are things to attack and kill all over the world, there are things to pick up and use just like in an FPS. The world is persistent, and you can enter and leave the world, but it doesn't stop just because you leave.
The main difference is that you keep your character. When you log in and do stuff, you become better at using certain skills...like for example from an FPS, maybe aiming would be a skill, fast loading, resistance to damage. Every time you get into combat, you use skills, so you get better at them over time. So, an old experienced character with mediocre equipment could destroy a newbie with the best player in the world with the best reflexes and hardware and client cheat upgrades. What it does is make it less of a "player skill" game and more of a "character skill" game by letting you build up your character over a long time.
There are also other things possible. You could go out and mine for ore and take that ore and make items out of it. You could chop down trees and make furniture, if this has been coded. So, there are other kinds of things you can do if that's what interests you. If the game is set up correctly, you should be able to play without engaging in combat much at all, if you so choose.
The pace IS slower than an FPS, but when things do happen, like fighting a big monster, or seeing 10 people walking up to you to pkill you, you get the same kind of rush. The big difference is that if you die, you lose your equipment, maybe some of your skills, but you can work on those skills and get that equipment back, and your character isn't set back to absolute nothing. The learning curve is pretty shallow to start, but generally there's lots of depth and you can't possibly explore all the things to do in only a few hours. If they have it set up correctly, you should be able to get tutorials and introductory maps to starting shops and simple places to learn skills, but if not it can be difficult.
So, there you go...it's kind of like an FPS where there's one huge map representing the whole world, and people can enter and leave the map when they want, and as you kill things on the map, or do things, you get skills that improve that make your CHARACTER better, so that you aren't so reliant on your PLAYER clicking/aiming skill over time.
Best. Comment. Ever. Enjoy!
I dunno...it could be almost an entirely different game. If you figure that they'll probably release the original with all the planets and allow you to travel between them via spaceports (just no in-space sequences), then you still get most of the functionality in the initial package. But then beyond that you could create a game where the space travel part of the game becomes a primary activity, allowing you to play a smuggler, or rebel/imperial pilot, pirate, mercenary, etc.
You could almost work in an entirely new game like X-wing vs. Tie-Fighter, only opened up to allow more players simultaneously and allow for a wider variety of ships. Imagine, you've managed to get a ship to transport you from Tatooine to Coruscant. On the way you pass by a dogfight where a merchant cruiser is being attacked by a band of pirates. You could jump in on whichever side you favor and be the heroic rescuer. Or you could just keep going and not worry about it. Or perhaps you could save the merchant ship and then be offered a reward or future employment with the merchant company (perhaps only to be swayed in the future by a pirate gang).
Or perhaps you could make a career as a pirate-hunter, bounty hunter, or even repo man who specializes in hunting down starships. You could have an opportunity to take out PK's and other (even high-level) characters/NPC's without having to worry about him having twice the XP and mana points that you do, because it would all come down to your ability to actually dogfight in a sim-like environment. No worries about whether you've got enough skill points to take someone on.
You really could make an entire other game with a MMO space combat sim that integrates into SWG. That would be sweet!
Let's face it, a lot of people are bound to say "f* this. If I can't be a jedi, what's the point in playing it?"
This is true. Game developers always have to delicately balance fairness, gameplay balance, and player interests. Hopefully they will design a lot of other equally interesting professions. Otherwise we'll be stuck with 100,000 Jedis complaining about how there's too many Jedis in the game.
Of course, the Jedi is just pretty much like the mage class in most fantasy-based MMORPGs. I rarely play the mages, I like being the brute warrior type myself. And there are plenty of other people who don't play mages because they find elements of other professions more interesting. So hopefully this will be the same with the Jedi class. If you look at a game like Ultima Online, people play non-mages (or non-warriors or whatever) because EA has made it similarly rewarding to play other classes. As long as they can do that with SWG, they ought to be OK.
That was a problem with the old Star Wars MUDs that I used to play. Everyone wanted to be a Jedi, which isn't exactly true to the image of the series. One solution I saw was that everyone had a class (like figher or trader) but could also become a Jedi. I didn't think it was a good solution, but I can't think of any good solution.
The games they are involved with that are looking good are actually being developed by 3rd parties. Verant/Sony (makers of EQ) is developing Galaxies. And the new Star Wars RTS is being developed by Ensemble (using the Age of Empires engine).
Which canon? They'll be no more canon as the system allows, and only as canon as the players want them to be. They're already got Everquestish naming conventions; you can't play as a named canon character (not one that the moderators know about, anyway), and you can't play with a name that could corrupt (ha) the 8 year old Phantom Menace market. No C-3PO, and no 4-SK1n either.
It'll be intesting to see how this pans out, and whether they try and enforce something as pathetic as Everquest's "You must have a genre name, but not a trademarked one". Considering that (as with swords and sorcery fantasy) the Star Wars genre naming is defined by the character names, that means we might end up with a lot of "Han Skywalker" and "Luke Solo" type bastardisations.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
You failed to mention BioWare is developing a single player RPG called Knights of the Old Republic. That game looks sweet! It was being shown in a private meeting at E3.
LucasArts is doing a very good job of realizing that they can't make games anymore, but there are others who can make them (and make them good!)
Greg
Are massive multiplayer online games not inherantly slow-paced? High learning curve?
Again, I'm not trying to downplay these kinds of games, it's just that I would like to hear a bit more about them... There might be a lot of us fps-fanatics who might enjoy a new kind of game..
karma capped
Tnx! I really regret not having the moderator points to mod you up. This is exactly what I was trying to find out.
karma capped
I'd rather have a life than have ridiculous Star Wars fantasies. Face it, fat Linux geeks who sit in front of their computer eating Doritos all day do not have the Force.
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P.S. Bite! You've been bitten by the Original AIDS Monkey! You have AIDS now!
Granted, it's not with GF3 enhanced lightsaber effects, and it makes the game harder to finish with the karma system in place, but man, talk about satisfaction.
moron.
"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog!" - a dog
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return new GenericUser();
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Shameless advertising but a main point seems to be people being able to interact in groups and as sub-groups. As Dr Fro Mentioned above the Star Wars Combine {http://www.swcombine.com) is a free MUD-type game with a custom interface that users can interact in. It's not as pretty as EverQuest yet but the level of interaction is high, as a result of the Member Groups System. The Galactic Empire for example is divided into Navy/Army/Intel and has a complete command structure for coordinated attacks against rebel outposts.
Well I will admit that the major downfall of EQ is releaseing a roleplaying game to the general public - only to have it wrecked by the general populace who introduce massive farming and such. Still, as the guy above me posted, it is just bad design. Even Verant seems to know that now, and it gets to be rediculas that you have to camp things just in order to get decent items. I've heard that shadowbane is going to be much like EQ but with a better interface, and RANDOM spawning and such. It would certainly help things out.
Don't get me wrong, I used to play EQ a lot, but when you think about ATTACKING something... somehow clicking "auto-attack" once and sort of standing there seems fairly lame. Oooh, ahh, I'm a caster, I can also click some more buttons... seems like they could have come up with something better than that.
I have been fan of Star Wars well before I can remember, the 1st movie came out when I was two. I have have been waiting for something like this game for a terribly long time. Of course I have also been wating for a MMORPG with a Super Hero Theme as well, but hey who cares about that?
Anyway, the only issue that I have with the game is that it is not planned on being like Neverwinter Nights in the aspect that everyone can create their own stories and run their own servers. Of course I understand that the game is grander in scope than just about other MMORPG that is currently in existence and it would more than likely tax the heck out of anyone's home built server.
Regardless I would still like to be able to put into existence some of the grand stories that I put together when my friends and I were younger and had the time to spend the entire weekend playing the Star Wars Role-Playing Game.
Even though there are a few things that I dislike about the game, I will more than likely still be one of the first to line up to buy a copy, like I did when the original movies were rereleased with the extra footage.
One more gripe than I am gone. What the heck is with releasing the interstellar travel portion as a dang expansion? Don't they think that they will make enough money with releasing the whole game for 59.99 and then charging 10 bucks or whatever a month? This greed thang is just a little to much for me.
If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
I am sooo THERE! Just pray no-one nabs Snootch before the Linux client comes out... ;-)
43rd Law of Computing:
Snootch is me! =)
43rd Law of Computing:
I was going to get CmdrTaco in the diablo 2 expansion... it's not fair...
Ack, the game will be fun only if not created by another Everquest's game engine. I was excited when read article about it. But as I read, is another exp or skill system as EQ or similar to it. I said DUH. Star War is going to be runined by Sony, if the game is based on EQ engine, or even has a "shadow" of EQ game engine.