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Star Wars Galaxies Reviewed
Tark writes "Want the inside scoop of what SWG is like? Well, Warthog has written a review for all of you, entitled 'Warrior, Brawler, Hairdresser' with his insights on the game. Sort of. Let's just say you won't find a review anything like this one anywhere else."
This is the very same as Everquest, with the same disadvantages (repetitive actions, huge timesinks) it had at launch, the same kind of community handling (*we* decide what is in *our* game and how you should play it) -- only better graphics, and the swords are now laser enhanced. I lasted about 3 hours in the beta before uninstalling it. Those who coped with that in EQ will prolly love it though.
Its just everyquest with star wars races. Seriously! You have an admiral ackbar race running around in bone armor with an axe.
You want a quick idea of the game?
No spaceships (no ties, no x-wings, nuttin), no stars (all planetside), no wars (no open PvP servers).
So, the game doesn't have stars or wars. Its everquest with a star wars theme.
I'd rather play an MMORPG version of X-Wing vs Tie-Fighter before playing this piece of garbage.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Theme Parks
In beta I've been to several theme parks, and in the release I've been only to Jabbas Palace.
They exist, but their location is not on the map. The reason for this is to make you talk to other players to get you to find them.
I've met with Jabba. Boba Fett is also in the game. Olaa (Jabba's Dancer) is also there. All of Jabba's is very well laid out.
The Emperor's retreat on the other hand is a bit more skectchy. It was cool to meet with a Captain Thrawn and with Darth Vader himself. But all in all, most of the content there was bugged when I went to them in beta.
Jabba's was by far a lot more cooler.
Izzot on Corbantis
Fopack the Guppy in Beta.
Because new casinos attract new gamers. The new gamers are intimidated by the table games, so they play the easy slots. Slot machines have an incredible amount in common with MMORPGs...it's the same "skinner box" mentality that's being stroked.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
ooook.. this game has failed to inspire me AT ALL, I'm not a big MMORPG guy but I was excited for what this could have been.
everything I've seen is like nerf-herding... can you do that in the game?
I doubt it.
having a great game with a wonderful character creation system, and an amazing crafting variety... is what I call boring.
Pig is absoultly right, it needs content right now, but more then that, it needs to become star wars.
you MET thrawn and vader? and had tea and biskets with them? you know, I'm all FOR chilling with the dark ones, but... I doubt you were an 80th level imperial soldier when they let you in to the heart of the imperial palace...
did I mention that theres no space ships?
did I hear this was a star wars game?
thats right, NO space ships. no YT-3000 freighters, no XWINGS, no TIE fighters... nadda.
and, pig... you are fighting with a pole arm?
was this star wars, or jackie chans martial arts show?
RP games are great, and I've heard from my RP buddies that SWG is great. but, its STAR WARS!, Sure, RPing IN a star wars world is fine, but how about having some of the STAR WARS parts of the game.
I will admit I've never played SWG, but, I'm not going to either.
one more comment.
why hide the imperial palace? I mean... its on coruscant, and, its the seat of galactic power. you'd think you'd want to find it if you needed to pay a fine or something... not, that theres anything to screw up and get fined for, lacking any content.
jabbas palace, I can understand that one being hard to find... but, I have to ask.
did anyone at SOE ever see the movies ?
You want Eve
You can play any character you like based on the movies (the proper ones), but you just can't do anything - anything - that you saw those characters do? Dark Tailor of the Sith doesn't have quite the same ring to it, does it?
You know the Alliance grunts that got toasted at the start of Episode IV? Sounds to me like after paying this for a couple of weeks, you'll be wishing you could play one of them. Heck, you'll probably be wishing you could play the guy who maintains their blasters, rather than just making weapons for people to eradicate wildlife with.
"Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided" looks to me like it borders on deceptive advertising. It's not Star Wars, there are no Galaxies, and no Empire to be divided.
I note with interest the very careful wording of this advertising: "The chance to unlock the mysterious Force Sensitive character slot and attempt to master the most exhilarating and dangerous role in the galaxy...the Jedi"
I'll suggest that the "chance" here isn't the chance to become a Jedi, but the chance that they might get around to implementing it at some point. Don't hold your breath.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
I'm playing Eve-Online, and although I enjoy it, it's not exactly a content-fest, either. It's a good game with great graphics, but it needs more work.
I mean seriously, what good is a spaceship vs. spaceship fighting game where you can't actually steer or maneuver your ship? You choices are 1) Point your ship in a direction by double clicking in space and adjusting your throttle, or 2) Right-click on a target and either select Approach or Orbit - although with Orbit you do get to control the distance at which you orbit...
Tie-Fighter vs. X-Wing it is not.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips
Thats not that strange a concept to me. You see, I played this great game by Simutronics for years, it was called Dragonrealms. They also made Gemstone III btw. Anyways, there was an empath guild in town, which was the hospital. People would go out, fight, and come back to get patched up unless they could find an empath somewhere else in town. The empaths could not fight, they'd lose their abilities if they hurt a creature. Only rarely did you see an empath in the wilderness, and only then they were in a very high level party, and VERY well guarded. Think about it.....if all you had was a bag of bandages and a needle, would YOU want to be out fighting monsters?
This system works fine in practice, and it just means that instead of staying out till you level, you need to come back to town every now and then. It gives a much more normal flow to the game.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
I keep seeing that people forget to mention these. These are areas designated on certain planets where anyone, I mean ANYONE can walk in, choose a side (imperial or rebel) and just go at it. Of course, if you've already joined the Rebel/Imperial faction, you'd be assigned to it. You can even place things like turrets and such. I guess they're not in the retail now? (I played all through beta).
Also, nobody ever mentions that they have a team put together who's sole responsibility is to write up content for the game. As long as the game exists, they will go in to their jobs and just write out content.
I just don't see much credibility in his review, since he's only a Master Polearm, yet considers himself "hardcore". If he were say a Master Bounty Hunter/Droid Engineer, then I would listen more. (You would have to master 4 entire skill trees to get that, whereas he only has 1)... hence his experience is limited at best.
I was in the Planetside beta...I haven't played SWG, but from what I've seen of it (I've read the manual and a few reviews), it looks very similar (not coincidentally, since they are both Sony Station MMORPG games). For example, it seems based on the same type of infrastructure (many servers, each a seperate "universe" such that one character can only be used on one server), and the same (or a very similar) game engine (localized battle zones, "certifications" that can be acquired or released, similar graphics and terrain). I haven't seen any official (or unofficial) statements saying that they use the same technology...does anyone know if they do?
The crafts aspect is what is seriously lacking in other games. It's nice that there's finally a game out there where you can "make a name for yourself." If you look at the stories in AD&D, Tolkien, Jordan, and others, you notice that very few things just spawn from thin air, those that do are usually created in super-ancient times (opposite of evolution, eh?) or created by some type of God figure.
Since there is very little mention of God-headed religion in the SW movies, I wouldn't expect much in the game to have to do with God. This leaves that problem of ancientness, which is resolved by the fact that SW *is* that ancient technology.
This leaves the good stuff to come from the characters themselves. What would be great is a set of quests that would allow a craftsman (women included) to create a super-item of some sort. What would also be cool would be to allow some in-game editing of item models, so that craftsmen can create things with their own distinctive style.
You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button.
I read another review over on UO Stratics (http://boards.stratics.com/php-bin/uo/showflat.ph p?Cat=3&Board=uochesapeake&Number=4094063&page=0&v iew=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&what2=postlist&fpar t=)
(Warning, Stratics ain't stable on the best days, let alone a slashdot barrage). Basically it said that the game was lacking depth, like many of the other MMORPGS out there. In terms of visual appeal, most other games of this genre beats the pants off of UO, but UO is the oldest one, and most people who quit UO eventually come back to it for the depth. I quit myself recently after three years of suffering many changes that older players were not happy with. Many reports from older players say that they try other MMORPGS and then come back to UO. Problem is that UO is losing its older fan base due to its changes. I keep looking around looking for the next great game, but haven't found it yet. It's sure to come due to advances in technology and lots of information on what players want in a persistent world. Part of the problem seems to be that companies rush to bring out the next big thing and suffer a devestating cash (Sims Online comes to mind). For my money, the best hope that online role players have is the D&D online game coming out in 2005. They are taking their time to develop it (http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/press/press.5593. html) has some info on it - its an Atari/Turbine production. I don't care if I am swinging an axe, a lightsaber, or a chicken at enemies. What I want to see is a game that will hold my interest for years (like UO did) and listen to its player base (which UO didn't). One of these days that game will come, and that will be the next great online game.
Eat recycled food - it's good for the environment, and OK for you.
I loooved UO for it's simplicity and the fact that it didn't 'lock' you into any single profession. My first, main and more or less only character started out as a plain ole swordsman.
In time, he morphed into what I dubbed a "Battle Bard", he would travel the dangerous regions where the undead dwelled and aggro Liches and other vile undead to attack him, in order to help others that weren't doing so well. He also knew enough magic and was skilled enough to pull a few quick spells off, if something terrible happened and he was suddenly attacked by a force of evil doing PK'ers. It was a serious blast.
I had more fun in that game then any other game ever. I left it for one reason... One long weekend out of town and my house went poof. I spent two weeks attempting to place another one and could NEVER find a single place and I walked all over the friggin' map. So, I cancelled my account and advised them why...
I missed the Great Lakes server immensely, but I had to take and keep my stand. If I had been able to place a new house, then I would likely still be playing that today and probably wouldn't have given other MMORPG's a go.
I played a little Anarcy Online, but found the constant hunt for leveling up more then trying on the patience, the difference in power between a "Newb" and a guy that simply put in the time, since there was NOTHING to lose by dying, was absolutely the most silly of all things I have ever witnessed.
The crafting system was TERRIBLE, the vehicle system, while cool was so unforgiving in terms of stat requirements, just to be able to drive and then the early vehicles were no better then walking slightly faster...
The personal dungeons, while a nice touch became SOOOO Boring overtime. The "official" Static group dungeons were no better either. Everything cost to many credits to buy or had such of the wall requirements that the only way to buy something slightly better was to buy it and then level two or three times and adjust your stats to be able to make use of this or that weapon. (You had to buy it if you could afford it, because if you came back twenty to thirty minutes later, you might never see that weapon, armor or other equipment ever again. It was a randomly generated and regenerated shop system...)
Sure, the graphics were great, sure there were some very interesting story elements, but something big was lost in the translation and casual gamers as well as RP'ers were left in the dust of the Power levelers that just walked around chatting about American Idol and how '733t' their character was now that there were cresting level 150... Talk about boring...
SWG brings to life a greatness that could have existed in UO, if they evolved the engine enough, had a science fiction bend and opened up enough servers to make it possible for everyone to be able to place at least one house, no matter the sice, SOMEWHERE...
The RP'ing aspect of SWG is also far greater, especially with the prominent nudging to make people interact with one another. I can honestly say that the very basic role-playing I have been able to do in SWG far outsteps the RP'ing opportunities that existed in Anarchy Online and at least equals the RP opportunities that existed in UO. (When not near the bank chatting next to "naked" characters screaming about all the 733t and p4at 700t they had for sale...)
SWG has brought me back to the fold of MMORPGs and will likely keep me for SEVERAL years, depending upon how it all unfolds.
If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
Repeat after me...
Luke is a Jedi... A lightsaber is an awesome weapon in the hands of a Jedi that can be used to deflect blaster shots... Few Jedi are struck with blaster bolts, unless there are overwhelming numbers of blaster bolts aimed at them...
Storm Troopers are exceptional shots trained in an accelerated fashion to utilize their Storm Trooper Armor and Blasters at the utmost efficiency...
(Stop repeating... Just read from this point on...)
In the movies, the main characters kinda had to survive, otherwise the whole point of moving the story forward, having the audience fall in love with the characters and character continuity would kind of be lost, right? (Yes)
Remember that first scene in Episode IV? You remember... When the Rebel Troops were lining up in the corridor and the Imperial troops blasted a whole in the Tantive IV Blockade Runner? Remember what happened? The Storm Troopers came out a blasting and more Rebel Troops fell then Storm Troopers. Why is that? The Storm Troopers were better trained and equipped. (Plus it kinda moved the story forward.)
Role-Playing games are always meant to capture the essence of a genre or franchise like Star Wars and add some realism to it. That has most always been the case in all RPGs, from the classic Pencile, Paper and Dice games to the modern computer based systems. Without that 'realistic' chance that your character could bite the dust, then the whole challenge of the game is taken away and fun is then had by none... It just becomes a boring excersise in futility...
(Okay, so the bad guy cleaved me in two and I reform? Okay, I blast him into atoms with my atom blaster... Okay so he reforms instantly... Okay, so he cleaves me in two and I reform? Okay, so I blast... You get the picture...)
If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?