Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided Ships

TJPile writes "After months and months of beta testing and years of waiting, the Star Wars version of Ever-crack is now shipping. Order your copy today. There are already plans for an expansion pack in 2004 that will feature more character races, worlds, and even the ability to buy, fly, and fight in your own spaceship. The game will set you back $50, come on 3 CDs, require Internet access, and will cost around $10 a month (service subscription fee). Right now it's Windows only." Yep, I'm hoping to play as the Pit of Saarlac: The Ultimate Camper.

Comments

Evil that it's not working yet....

[MolGOLD]

So I went out and picked up the game yesterday at my local EB...they had apparently been selling it since the 24th, which came as a bit of a shock....was nice to see that I got one of the last copies as apparently all but 2 had been pre-purchased or reserverd (the guy next to me said his kid had asked for it for his birthday 2 YEARS AGO)...

Of course, imagine the utter disappointment of getting home and fniding that I could only create my station login and couldn't get a little jump on everyone :(

(Oh well)

I can't wait for this to go live today...should be really exciting (in a "i'm so lame, i have another life online which spends more time interacting with women than I do" kinda way)...again, disappointing that the addon won't come until 2004, but I imagine all the dedicated Star Wars nutters out there will find ways to keep busy until then...

Now I wonder how long until the Mac OS X port (now that EQ has finally arrived for Mac)

Better work harder on your character name

[1WingedAngel]

Heres the ugly rule list for naming conventions:

1. Vile, profane, rude, or racist names including common swear words, anatomical references, racial slurs, and homonyms of these words.
2. Combinations of words that produce an offensive result (e.g. Hugeaz, Tug Mcgroin).
3. Names of religious, occult, or significant historic origin (e.g. Jesus, Allah, Satan, Stalin, Angel, Devil, Demon).
4. Trademarked names of products, services, or concepts (e.g. , Marlboro, Sony, Band-Aid).
5. Non-fantasy or non-science fiction oriented names from popular fiction or non-fiction media either fictional or non-fictional (e.g. Bill Clinton, Austin Powers, Britneyspears, Harrypotter)
6.Common words and phrases that would not be found in the setting of the game (e.g. Television, Cellphone, Pickuptruck, Dude). This includes references to drug substances or drug related paraphernalia. (e.g. Ecstacy, Cannibis)
7. Proper names from the Star Wars universe, including the first or last name of any significant NPC in Star Wars Galaxies or the Star Wars universe (e.g. Skywalker, Greedo, Vader, Exar Kun, Xizor, Fett, Tuskien)
8. Names chosen with the intent, or possessed of the effect of harming the reputation of, or used to impersonate a customer or representative of Sony Online Entertainment, LucasArts, Lucasfilm Entertainment Company, or any of their partners or affiliates.
9. Names containing titles within them, such as, but not limited to: The, Lord, Lady, Master, King, Knight, Sir, Father (e.g. Sirtallon, Lordeagle, Mothermaggy, Darksister).
10. Fantasy-oriented names that are easily recognized from popular existing media (e.g. Gandalf, Pikachu, Drizzt, Godzilla, Aslan).
11. Names where the combination of the first and last name violate a previous rule (e.g. Harleeda Vidsonn, Clint Eastwood).

Re:Better work harder on your character name

[Josuah]

3. Names of religious, occult, or significant historic origin (e.g. Jesus, Allah, Satan, Stalin, Angel, Devil, Demon).

5. Non-fantasy or non-science fiction oriented names from popular fiction or non-fiction media either fictional or non-fictional (e.g. Bill Clinton, Austin Powers, Britneyspears, Harrypotter)

So, Bill Clinton and Britney Spears cannot play with their real name. And neither can a whole lot of people. Like people actually named Jesus. Or the entire Bin Laden family.

Erm... please do not believe the Hype.

[EvilNight]

Look, I'm all for a good star wars mmorpg... but this isn't it. I've played in the beta.

It looks and feels like Anarchy Online. It's actually a pretty boring game. So far, it's been plagued by the same kinds of problems Everquest had, including the same lack of customer support and generally shoddy game design. They've had several patches that were nothing but nerf-fests and introduced more bugs than they fixed. You've got about a one in one thousand chance of ending up with a force-sensitive character, so forget about ever playing a Jedi.

Sure, they'll iron this thing out eventually. Once a lot of people start playing it and player communities take hold, it'll probably be fun. Once they get the 100 or so feautres they left out of the initial release added, it'll be a better game. Once the playerbase beats them into submission and forces them to make a few obvious, common sense design changes that should have been in from the beginning, it'll be a better game. It'll also probably be 2007.

If this game ends up being fun, it will be in spite of Sony, not because of Sony. Just like Everquest. Remember that this is not truly a LucasArts game.

Honestly I'd hold out for Worlds of Warcraft. Blizzard will treat its customers far better than Sony does.

Re:Linux

[cnelzie]

The answer is... Nope. There won't be a Linux client. There also won't likely be a MacOSX either.
This game is put out by Sony Online Entertainment and for all intents and purposes Sony doesn't appear to believe in the existence of anything but Microsoft Windows and the PS2 in regards to producing games.

It could potentially hurt their bottom line to produce anything but a Windows or PS2 version of SWG or EQ. Since it forces someone wanting play such a game to buy a Windows PC or PS2, which increases the chances of Sony selling a PS2 or Vaio Computer System.

Hey, I wish it wasn't so, but that is the nature of the beast.

Of course, I am fairly certain that if you were to gather close to 100,000 close friends to not only sign a petition, but to also kick in a $50.00 "donation", you could likely persuade Sony to build a Linux client with the condition that you would be providing them with the big pile of money that you would then have.

Then again, there is likely a larger chance of Microsoft freely, with no strings attached, seeing the error of their ways and providind EVERY spot of source code ever produced as Open Source.

Re:Agreed

[Anonymous Coward]

Gabe of Penny Arcade posted his thoughts, as well as a comic.

Nail in the Coffin

[LordYUK]

For what its worth, about 3-5 weeks ago Q-3PO one of the lead developers (I think I forget all their positions) had to come up with a list of "whats the point of the game" because so many people complained that there was nothing to do.

The list included....

learn the game so as to not look like a newbie.
master your class
visit all the planets
do a theme park on every planet (theme park = mission generated by someone like "jabba")

there were others, but (and this is quote from the Beta boards)

"in a product designed for my amusement, I shouldnt have to go looking for fun."

I see the Beta posting trolls have migrated

[RembrandtX]

I can see that the Beta posting trolls, being denied access to the SWG:Beta boards, have migrated over here now.

I was in beta pretty much from the beginning, and while there were naysayers from the get go .. it was all constructive. It wasn't until the last phase of beta when they let all the shitheads in.

The people you hear griping about this game, while allowed their opinion, are also the people who were more intent on *PLAYING* the game in beta instead of testing, were the ones who would complain *BITTERLY* about the constant character wipes, and the folks who would *WHINE* on the development boards about how the Developers were hell-bent-out-to-get-them-by-ignoring-this-issue-w ith-(their character class)[dozens of !'s].

In the last 4 weeks of beta I saw *SO* many posts along the lines of 'if you don't do X, I'm not buying the game.' This was from the folks who when discovering a flaw in the game, would say 'hmm ..ill just tuck *THIS* one away for later.'

In all honesty, SWG has the feel of Ultima Online more than EverQuest. Its open ended, there is no defined way to 'WIN' the game. It, like the theory behind ANY MMORPG exists so its fun to *play*.

Saddly, many folks were taught that level based games like EverQuest were the mold. And unless you have 'SuperSword, AwesomeArmour, and UberSkillX' your simply a looser.

Does SWG have bugs ? yes. Will they be fixed ? yes. Will new ones pop up ? yes. However the developers for this game have been more open and upfront about Star Wars Galaxies than in *ANY* other beta I have participated in. [And I have been in almost every MMORPG beta except Meridian59] They care about this project, most of them are HUGE fans of the films themselves, and they have been pulling 24 hour days ever since Sony Online Entertainment announced 'You have no more time .. finish it.'

All these sour grape X-Beta posts you are reading, are people who lost track of what they were supposed to be *DOING* in beta. Something im shocked to see people admitting on /. *TESTING*
How can you form an opinion of a game thats not finished ?

Re:I see the Beta posting trolls have migrated

[netgee]

So basically what you're saying is, all the people who have given the game bad reviews and who have presented bullet pointed lists of what's wrong with it, specifically, are all wrong because they didn't "test" the way you "test".

All those posts people made on the SWG Beta boards where they complained about something not working are examples of what you say they weren't doing: providing feedback. The problem is, their feedback would often get deleted by the board admins because they don't want anyone to talk bad (or, "be unconstructive") about their product.

I have 2 friends who were in Beta, and they both were absolutely shocked when they heard that it was coming out so soon. I went to visit them last weekend and saw it for myself: the game is not at all fun, outside of the cities there is almost zero content, classes aren't close to being finished, and it's buggy as all get out (nothing spells "immersive StarWars universe" like running for 5 minutes towards a large city and suddenly warping back out into the field where you started - repeatedly). Neither of them will be buying the game and nor will I - we just expect better from "professional" developers.

Re:I see the Beta posting trolls have migrated

[jafuser]

Though your post is quite anti-negative, if we distill it down, most of it is true.

There were a lot of unconstructive negative posts in the Beta forums. And many of them were quite insignificant gripes in the larger context of beta testing.

I think one large issue that many people are missing with SWG is that it's balance in bartle spectrum is much better than most other MMO games. This means the socializers and explorers will enjoy this game a lot more than most games, since that aspect of MMO games is usually left at the very end of the priority list.

I think a lot of the frustration many MMO veterans have with SWG is that the bartle-defined killer type players do not get an overwhelming portion of the attention of the developers. In this game they do get a fair share of attention, but this game is certianly not going to cater to the FFA PvP type of crowd.

People who enjoy socializing, crafting, exploring, and the non-hardcore PvP types will probably find this game enjoyable, since a lot more time has been invested in these kinds of activities than most other MMO games.

I do, however, I share the disclaimer with many other beta testers, that new players who have little patience for bugs should probably not jump right into the game in the first month or two...

Sounds like any other MMORPG, then

[Moraelin]

After trying some 5 MMORPGs or so, including AC, I really can't understand what's the big deal about them.

The _only_ thing to do in a MMORPG is to run around beating rats with a stick (or goblins with a sword, or whatever), to hopefully level up in the next 6 months. Lather, rinse, repeat ad nauseam. Only the next level-up will require even more hours of beating bigger rats with a bigger stick.

It's repetitive, it's boring... and generally it's not a game, it's _work_. Only I'm supposed to pay for the privilege of doing boring repetitive stuff each day, instead of being paid for that.

What's the point? Do my actions advance the plot? No, because there's no plot and no story. Does it exercise my gray cells by requiring some cunning and strategy? Well, no, because you only need to click on enemies. Repeatedly. That's the only strategy involved. Ever. Does it require reflexes, accuracy or some other skill? Well, no, because the "skills" are just a bunch of numbers on your character. As long as you can click on a rat, that's all the skill you'll ever need. Etc.

The _only_ MMORPG so far which I could somewhate enjoy was Ultima Online. And you know why? Because I could ignore the MMORPG part. The UO interface makes it wonderfully easy to communicate with people, even in the middle of combat.

So basically you can treat it like a glorified chat room with graphics. And predictably it had attracted a lot of social people, who actually used it as a glorified chat room with graphics. It was fun.

That is, until I realized that I could just go back to IRC and save the 10 bucks a month fee.

So here's my proposal. You want some online life having to do with Star Wars? Well, go find an IRC channel about Star Wars. It's free, it's got a less lot bugs than a MMORPG, and generally a far more rewarding online social experience. And it doesn't make you hit rats 50 times with a stick, either.

Top Ten Why YOU Don't Want to Play SWG

[beldraen]

There is commentary at the bottom, but here is the important part:

Top Ten Reasons:
Why YOU donâ(TM)t want to be playing SWG.

10. If youâ(TM)re mad that you cannot fight Darth Vader so you can show youâ(TM)re l337, then you donâ(TM)t want to be playing SWG.
9. If youâ(TM)re mad that you cannot play a Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker or some other SW character, then you donâ(TM)t want to be playing SWG.
8. If youâ(TM)re mad that you cannot jump âoefor real,â then you donâ(TM)t want to be playing SWG.
7. If you ordered the game âoeagainst your better judgment,â then you donâ(TM)t want to be playing SWG.
6. If youâ(TM)re mad because you are choosing to pay $15 a month, but you live paycheck to paycheck and cannot afford to spend $144 for $12 a month, then you donâ(TM)t want to be playing SWG.
5. If youâ(TM)re mad because you have to give up lower skills to attain higher ones thus preventing you from having your uber-ultra-hella-mule-bounty-hunter-survey-medic character, then you donâ(TM)t want to be playing SWG.
4. If youâ(TM)re mad because you may or may not get your game on the 26th because of limited quantities, then you donâ(TM)t want to be playing SWG.
3. If youâ(TM)re mad because you did not like something in the beta, vented on the board, but refused to saying anything âoebecause of the NDA,â then you donâ(TM)t want to be playing SWG.
2. If youâ(TM)re mad because the server you decided to join will not be up in first batch of galaxies and all your friends are dumping you to join other servers (hence really arenâ(TM)t your friends), then you donâ(TM)t want to be playing SWG.

And, the top reason why you shouldnâ(TM)t be playing SWGâ¦

1. If youâ(TM)re so mad over a frickinâ(TM) videogame, because you have so little perspective on life, that you have to vent your rage on a web page, you donâ(TM)t want to be playing SWG.

Two friends of mine were in the beta and I wish I had been. I'd go over one of their houses and watch, play and talk about the mechanics of the game. The one thing we all always walked away thinking was how refined the game mechanics are compared to UO. Here are some important points:

1. Combat is "real-time, turn based." Having the fastest connection with a machine at 270 fps is no better than one with 15 fps. If you're smart, though, you'll use the MULTITUDE of combat moves to appropriately shift your stance for range, weapon, defense, etc. You don't have to be fast, you have to be smart about your combat and you will have to interact as teams to take down big creatures or goals.
2. You cannot have an uber-character. Another cool thing is that you have to give up lower skills to continue to gain higher ones. The days of all the characters you have making you self-sufficient and having no reason to interact with lower characters is gone. You will have to interact with lower characters to continue your trade.
3. The skills are interwoven such there isnâ(TM)t an unimportant trade. You can heal yourself, you can learn new skills and you can get things you need yourself, but to do it well and fast requires other people. Dancers to remove battle fatigue, combat medics to support you in combat, artisans to make better weapons (there are no lootables on creatures as far as weapons, shields, etc), leaders group squads and, of course, combat specialists in hand-to-hand, pistols, rifles and carabineers. You will have to interact with other characters to get things done.
4. There are NO NPCs that can sell goods. Players must craft all goods and there are taxes on various things. The rampant inflation that is common on other MMOGS, in theory, should not happen because it will based on the actions of the players. It will not be forced up people using tricks in the game to force up generation of money, plus the richer you are the more you have to do to support tha

Re:Not the worst, but...

[Lightwarrior]

You'll like Planetside. The only reason I haven't made my way there is because I'm stuck on Shadowbane. You aim, you shoot, you run, you jump, you drive vehicles and fly aircraft.

Maybe, one day, I'll pick you up in a galaxy and fly you to the front lines.

The reasons you've listed are exactly why this game is not Star Wars - it is EQ with a Star Wars skin.

The Dark Forces series are the *heart* of Star Wars. The X-Wing series are the *soul* of Star Wars.

Galactic Battlegrounds is what happens when you implant the heart and soul of Star Wars into a game format that doesn't like Star Wars. Neat, but could have been much better.

I really, really wanted this to be the heart, soul, and body of Star Wars - the grim outlook that Dark Forces had, the freedom of space flight, and the persistance and interaction of a MMORPG.

Instead, I'm attacking outcast citizens near Coruscant, watching Wookies dance to relax, and taking samples of strangely-named gases and metals when I'm sick of the other two.

It is the "Star Wars:Christmas Special" of Star Wars games. Hey, the gangs all here... disturbing me... ack.

Today is a dark day for the Rebellion.

-lw