Star Wars Galaxies - Jedi, Vehicles, Speeder Bike Racing

Thanks to GameSpy for their interview with Lucasarts staff about playing as a Jedi in Star Wars Galaxies. The article discusses the powers granted to the newly-unlocked Jedi in this PC MMORPG ("There are over fifty Force powers, ranging from Force Lightning, Force Weaken, and Force Throw, to Jedi Mind Trick, and a variety of lightsaber moves"), and the possibility your Jedi character could be lost forever ("We have partial permadeath for a Jedi. Basically, a Jedi is allotted a certain number of deaths before they lose all progress that character has made.") Elsewhere, player-owned vehicles were enabled in the game earlier this week, and the official SWG page has information on the types, including the X34 Landspeeder, Swoop bike, and Speeder bike, and even documents player-hosted races that are being attempted, showcasing an in-game reproduction of the Mos Espa Circuit from Star Wars: Episode 1.

Comments

Re:The Grind

[kherr]

I don't understand why people feel a burning desire to max out at each profession by countless hours of grinding. That's why the game loses fun for them. If you just do stuff with your character (run missions, sell goods, whatever) eventually you get the experience to level up. But to make becoming a master your objective would get very old, very fast. No wonder people stop playing.

With the player cities there are more places to go and the vehicles now make it easier to travel. These player communities are where the interesting interactions in the game are. They've also (thankfully) nerfed the creature handler stuff so the game is not so much "creature wars".

Jedi crap

[Drunken_Jackass]

If you don't know how the developers decided to allow you to unlock a force-sensitive (FS) character - let me give you the lowdown. The "top secret, dynamic, non-random, biological..." method they chose:

You have to master 5 random professions that are assigned at the time of your character creation. That's 5 out of 32. Sound like long odds? Don't worry, the developers thought sooooo hard on this, they figured out a way to give people a leg up. That's right, they placed Holocrons across the game as loot drops on uber characters (well, uber to casual gamers, not really to hardcore grinders) that will tell you 4 out of the 5 proffesions your character must master in order for you to unlock the FS slot.

What does that mean? Well, if you wish to unlock a FS (force-sensitive) slot, you have to grind up to a combat profession so you can solo these holocron dropping MOBS. Then you have to get a holocron (the drops are pretty rare). Then, you have to listen to the holocron on what profession you should next master.

Soooooo, imagine you become a great pistoleer. What happens if your first holocron tells you to be a master weaponsmith? Well, you start the mindless grind to a profession that you are mastering for the sole purpose of filling a randomly assigned profession, so you can be 20% closer to unlocking a FS slot.

Great.

They've basically removed the ability for anyone wanting to be a Jedi on creating a character that they've invested a lot of time personalizing and leveling, because now you have to spend your limited profession points to master wild goose hunt professions.

That's not even mentioning the fact that after you've completed four of the five professions, the holocrons you manage to pick up as loot stop giving hints and you're left blindingly hunting for the one last profession.

It totally sucks. It ruined the game for many players that thought the dev's would be a litle more caring and have a little more thought behind the end-game. It completely de-values the intent and any sense of caring that you may have thought the dev's had for the game.

Bottom line, the Jedi path is bullshit.

Re:Jedi crap

[Mike Hawk]

Thanks for the info. Now based on what you said, there are a couple counter-points.

#1 YOU DON'T HAVE TO BECOME A JEDI. Using your great pistoleer example: Be happy as a pistoleer. If you enjoyed the steps it took you to get there and the game as a pistoleer in general, stay that way. The grass isn't always greener, in life or fake life. Its worth repeating, if you aren't willing to bust arse to become a Jedi, don't worry about becoming a Jedi. I imagine it would be pretty hard to become a Jedi in Ultima Online, yet noone there is complaining how hard it is. This brings me to point #2...

#2 Becoming a Jedi should be hard as hell and generally not a good time. Though I am not a hardcore fan of the movies, most of the characters seem pretty unhappy with the situation when they decide to follow the Jedi. They leave their families and loved ones forever. They just pick up and go. This is very similar to the profession issue. You stop what you liked doing and give it up for a tough road to hoe. Great sacrifice = great rewards.

#3 Not everyone should become a Jedi. If it was easy or fun to become a Jedi, everyone would do it. The game would cease to function. It would just be stupid. Now 2 and 3 lead me to #4...

#4 All of this is very consistent with the movie portrayals of Jedi. Other game inconsistencies aside, in the time of the movies (this is the time the game is set in, correct?) Jedi are rare. Being a Jedi in general seems to be pretty miserable. One guy lives in a cave or something, another lives in some swamp. Yeah, woo, being a Jedi rocks!

Here's the deal, anything positive or desirable about being a Jedi is assigned by the individual. I do not play this game but a few guys at work do. They enjoy the game very much and have no desire to become Jedi. Turns out, the Star Wars universe can be just a pretty fun place to run around if one knows where to look.

I'd also like to thank you for perpetuating the stereotype of gamer as whiny baby who wants everything handed to them and considers themself a game design god. You should reevaluate your own priorities in the game if you think the Jedi path is too hard, and maybe in real life if this is how you present yourself in general.