Chances are The Force won't be with you..
Written: Jun 24 '03 (Updated Jun 25 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Variety in the character creation and career ladders.
Cons: Players MUST be reliant on the rest of the game community.
The Bottom Line: Patience will be necessary at release time, but look to an almost perfect game down the road.
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| kellogg5's Full Review: Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided for Windows |
Ahhh.. now the NDA is lifted and we can speak! The game is still in Beta today, but on the 26th it will be a whole new world for a lot of people.
As a beta tester, it was my job to test the game for flaws and bugs plus give some input into how the game could improve. Considering that I stepped in during Beta 3, there were thousands of other beta testers with their own ideas as well. I do give an A+ to the developers for their patience and endurance during the whole Beta endeavor.
Now for the game.
Once you purchase your game and sign up, you login, download your patches and go straight to character creation. And what a character creation masterpiece they have created. There are 1000's of different combinations to make your character unique and interesting. I even managed to make a character that looked pretty close to my own likeness. I was impressed. After you finish your character creation, you select your initial profession. Your choices include Artisan, Marksman, Brawler, Medic and Entertainer. Each branching off into more careers paths as you advance. Do not concern yourself about choosing the right one. You can always change your mind later. I based mine simply on the style of clothes you start out with, believe it or not.
The tutorial was very confusing for me which is quite opposite to what a tutorial should be. The movement controls are very difficult at first. Extremely mouse reliant and until you are halfway through the tutorial, are you able to implement your keyboard for movement.
Editing your keyboard controls is almost a must. Their default setup is very difficult. You must be a piano player with really big hands to stretch across your keyboard and reach the proper keys simultaneously.
Once you've got your movement controls under control, then the tutorial is brief and you can get to the job at hand. Playing the game!
I was on a low-end PC, while my husband was on a higher end PC. Meaning his graphics was a lot greater than mine, but even with my low-end PC, I was very impressed with the artwork and 3D graphics. It was beautiful. My only disappointment was that the makers of the game will not support anti-aliasing, which smooths out the edges/lines of the game, so it was a bit 'gritty'.
Sound quality of the game is excellent. Be sure when you load the game for the first time, you don't skip through the splash screens. The opening movie for the game is excellent fun and all Star Wars. I never heard the sound of a lightsaber in the game because they didn't allow player Jedis in the beta version, but the weapon sounds were great and really felt Star Warsy. Some of the background noise can be annoying. Especially within the cities. Within cities you get the essence of many people around you talking. I tend to turn down the background sounds when I'm in a city for that reason. You can hear shuttles and transports flying overhead and in real time. Real time meaning if you see a vehicle overhead you're hearing it at the same time, with the sound dissipating as the vehicle disappears. Very cool.
Once you enter your selected starting city/planet, its time to choose a career. Go to your Skills selection screen to decide on where to begin. Go through all your options to see what Master level you want to end up at. You get several options and you can combine professions if you don't use up too many points. Then you need to use your overhead city map and find the particular trainer to help you begin in your endeavor. During beta I was able to fly through my professions, although I never reached Master status, because I tried out so many. But getting through the novice portions of the careers was easy, once you knew what you needed to do.
This is where the community comes in. You become very reliant on advice from the other players. Its best to do it in forums or chat outside the game so you don't bother their game time, but if you don't group up or join a Player Association, you will find it difficult to know exactly what you should do next or progress. It takes a lot of mistakes and learning before you figure out, or feel less of a newbie, and those mistakes can cost you. Credits and more. Certain careers depend on players purchasing your wares. There will be no NPC (non-player character) merchants, so the entire economy is based on the players. This can be both a pro and a con in my book.
I can't really voice an opinion on the stability of the game. Since the game is not officially 'live' yet, the downtime for the game is unknown, but I'm sure it will be a heck of alot better than beta! It will be buggy at release time. There were 1000s of bugs I can't imagine they have gotten to them all. But the majority of those bugs will not hinder your gameplay and will be fixed over time. This is a devoted bunch of developers and they are intent on creating the best MMORPG game ever.
Last, but not least, don't expect to become a Jedi in the game. It CAN happen, but the chances are so slim you may find your luck to be better playing the lottery. I look forward to meeting a Jedi character in the game to ask how they 'think' they got so lucky, but according to developers, that will be several months down the road.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
kellogg5
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Member: Jamie Williams
Location: Kentucky, USA
Reviews written: 45
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
Favorites are comic book movies, American football, genealogy, web design, history and sooo much more.
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