More than you ever wanted to know about Star Wars Galaxies
Written: Jul 11 '03 (Updated Sep 15 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Great graphics, new take on professions and skills, ability to solo or team easily
Cons: Single character servers (semi-plus, semi-con), can't be a Jedi without a LOT of grinding
The Bottom Line: Highly recommended for Star Wars and MMORPG fans. Lots to love if you're either, or both. If you're not sure, visit the SWG website for more info. http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/index.html
|
|
|
| lady_celestine's Full Review: Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided for Windows |
I have a confession to make.
I am not a huge Star Wars fan. I enjoyed the movies, don't get me wrong, but it is not a religion nor a lifestyle for me. Thus, I will not have tons of Star Wars info to put into this review.
In fact, when I first heard about Star Wars Galaxies (hereafter referred to as SWG) a year ago I was, "that sounds kind of cool". Naturally, this shocked and dismayed everyone around me, all of whom were trying desperately to get into Beta (to test the game before public release). On a whim, I applied for Beta, and was accepted.
Ok, so I now have almost a year's worth of experience "playing" this game. Granted things have changed quite a bit from when I started in Beta. But I've also put in a LOT of hours since the launch on June 26th. This review comes from hours and hours of playtime. So onward ho......
Computer Required - Very good machine. You definitely want lots (512mb or more) of RAM and/or a very good video card. Either one being substandard can cause you to lag a lot, as this is a lot of game. You'll also need a couple of gigs of free space on your hard drive. Bonus: once installed, no CD's needed to play and no annoying sounds of CD-ROMs spinning. (Warning thieves: your CD-key is tied to your account, so don't think you can share one copy amongst 10 people.)
Graphics -
9 out of 10 - the best to date, although barely an improvement over other MMORPG's, and maybe slightly under other non-online games. But if you've seen the between chapter movies on other single-player games, you're looking at the regular gameplay graphics of SWG. For a good example of actual gameplay graphics, check out the screenshots at http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/gallery.jsp.
Sound -
8 out of 10 - Decent, clear, customizable. Both combat sounds and music to let you know you're being attacked, as well as atmosphere enhancers.
Controls -
8 out of 10 - There are a LOT of things you can control in SWG. Movement, camera angles (plus), items, special moves. Don't forget the in-game help, e-mail, buddy list, character sheet, skill tree, inventory, options, maps and more, and you have a very full keyboard. Fortunately, this is very customizable. Don't like mouse-look? Don't use it. Prefer most things to be "point and click"? Already part of the HUD (Heads Up Display), which includes your stat (HAM - Health, Action, Mind) bar, F-key toolbars for quick-keying things, minimap, chat window and data screen buttons.
Gameplay -
STORY - 9 out of 10 - Fairly standard MMORPG fare set in the Star Wars universe. For anyone not familiar with the difference, single-player RPG's are story-driven. You have set quests to complete to beat the game. MMORPG's have quests, but these are totally independent and just give you a prize like money upon completion. There is no story to follow except what you make. Don't look for too much guidance, as this game is PLAYER-driven in most ways. Normally, I would rate a good MMORPG 7 or 8 for gameplay.
The reason it gets a 9, however, are the "theme parks". Similar to dungeons in other MMORPGs, in SWG you can go (for example) to Jabba the Hutt's palace on Tatooine, do odd jobs (missions) for his lackies, and work your way up the ranks to finally meet Jabba and Boba Fett (you also get a special prize for successfully completing all missions in the theme park). There are several theme parks on Tatooine, and I'm sure many on the other planets. There is a dungeon too, but it's only exciting if you're a Smuggler.
One note: NPC quests in general are still somewhat buggy and incomplete. This is not fully developed yet, but promises to be engaging and expansive once fully functional.
LEARNING CURVE - 9 out of 10 - Yes, there is a LOT to learn. Do you have to learn it all right away to play the game? Absolutely not. The novice player can go through the interactive (playable) tutorial, which introduces you to the basics of movement, chat, interaction, skills, cloning and insurance (so you can avoid a corpse run), missions, maps and combat. There is an online help (knowledge database) called the Holocron for more detailed info and learning about more advanced things like crafting (making things out of resources), surveying (finding resources), hotkeys and other advanced game options. There are also in-game "helpers" - experienced players who can answer new player's questions.
I also bought the strategy guide. I was a beta tester, so by launch I was very familiar with all the controls and gameplay. So why did I buy it? Strictly for the city maps, honestly. There is an online city map, but the labeling can be a little tough to read. However I found the guide very useful for the creature tables, which tell me how what I'm about to attack is going to react. :-) It also outlines in complete detail all of the available skill trees, showing what each level gives you in bonuses and gained skills.
Replayability -
9 out of 10 - Tons and tons of different species to play or professions to work on. The only downside being that starting characters tend to be the same and have to do the same sort of thing for a while. Once you get a little higher up and can start to specialize though, it more than makes up for the lower levels of tedium. I've been playing/beta testing for a year now and still haven't *begun* to try everything. The only drawback is that you pretty much need to start all characters on Tatooine. The other planets are just a little too hard for new players and characters.
Interaction -
CHARACTER TO CHARACTER - 7 out of 10 - For both PC's and NPC's, you can click and hold on them to get a radial menu of options for interactions. The biggest drawback is the waiting for all of the radial options to appear (some take an extra second or two). Also, the default (double-click) option can change, causing you to accidentally attack someone you just wanted to talk to. (So be careful about double-clicking.) But get the radial menu options, and you can frequently highlight a particular one for even more choices. For example, Scouts can harvest organic resources (used in crafting things) off creatures they kill. Pull up the radial menu, wait for "harvest" to appear, highlight harvest, and then choose the type of resource (bone, hide or meat commonly) you wish to harvest.
PLAYER TO PLAYER - 9 out of 10 - Given the player-driven economy and the difficulty of some of the missions, making friends and grouping is recommended (but not required). There is a player preference/interest page and a searchable database that can help you find people of similar interests or skills. Experienced players (former Beta Testers usually) can mark themselves with "Helper". You can keep a list of your friend's names and know when they are online. If you run into people too foul or mean for you to deal with, put them under the "Ignore" list and never have to listen to them again. (Ahhhh, blissful silence. Really obnoxious or undesirable types can be /report-ed so that the CSR's will discuss their unacceptable behavior with them.) The only reason I did not give this a rating of 10 is the inability to add notes next to a friend's name. Some friends you only list because they owe you money. :-)
CHAT WINDOWS - 9 out of 10 - You start with 3 default chat windows: spatial (nearby), combat, and group. You can customize these or make new ones that chat with exactly whomever you would like. Chat commands enable you to be in one chat (i.e. Spatial), but talking in another (like Group).
Characters-
8 out of 10 - I like the solid variety. I'm still hoping for particular species, as I'm sure many fans are. Perhaps in the expansion....
There are 8 playable species in SWG. This means that you, the player, can only be one of eight different species. There are, however, NPC's (Non-Player Characters) of vastly more diverse species throughout the galaxy adding color and diversity to what you will see. No, you can't play a Jawa. You can play:
Human - With bonuses to leadership and artisan experimentation, humans have no real outstanding benefits except being great Squad Leaders and good well-rounded characters. Hopefully we all know what Humans look like.
Rodian - Rodians are small vaguely humanoid beings that excel in weapons arts. Hard to believe, since they are so tiny. Perhaps this is why they are frequently the race of choice for Bounty Hunters. Han Solo shot a Rodian in Star Wars. He was the guy with the narrow snout, big, solid eyes and antenna.
Mon Calamari - The "fish guys". Mon Calamari are among the most intelligent of the species. They excel at Artisan skills or anything requiring a lot of mind (like Medic). Admiral Akbar was a Mon Calamari.
Bothan - Bothans are very animal-like, vaguely resembling a dog or horse. Bothans are natural spies and frequently become Smugglers. There are no Bothans in the movies, so the artists took their cues from the book and comic art.
Wookie - Tall, strong and (to quote Han Solo) "walking carpets". Wookies are probably one of the strongest, most well-rounded species, adept at being anything but gifted Creature Handlers. Wookies have the distinct DISadvantages of being unable to wear armor (made up for by very high stats) and being unable to speak any language but their native Shyriiwook. However, you can group with other players and teach them to understand (not speak) Shyriiwook, thus bypassing that particular barrier. Chewabacca was a wookie. If you think of the way he understood everything, but could only make animal-like sounds, while Han understood him but spoke Basic back, you get an idea of the language system.
Twi'lek - The Jabba dancing girl with two long "tails" on her head was a Twi'lek. This race makes for very gifted Entertainers.
Trandoshan - I don't recall seeing these guys either, but Trandoshans are large, reptilian beings very reminiscent of The Land Of The Lost's Sleestak race. They are fierce fighters with natural bonuses to melee (including claws) and innate Regeneration (speeded up stat recovery). (I believe there was one in the group of bounty hunters with Boba Fett when Darth Vader told him, "No disintegrations this time.")
Zabrak - Remember Darth Maul? He was a Zabrak with black skin and red tattoos. The tattoos are a personal preference, while the pattern of horns can identify the sub-species. Zabraks are also good well-rounded characters with natural defense bonuses and some nifty racial abilities like Equilibrium (to balance out all the stat pools through willpower) and Vitalize (to buff stat pools temporarily through willpower).
All characters have incredibly detailed options for individualization. You can generally change skin color, marking style and color, hair color and style, height, weight, build and individual facial features (including cosmetics for the females). The number of possibilities for character individualization is staggering and a vast improvement over other MMORPG's. Even if you end up with a look you're not thrilled with, you can always visit an Entertainer or Image Designer to have it changed.
Your character has three stat pools: Health, Action and Mind. These affect how you do what you do in game. Each is supported by two sub-stats (such as Strength and Constitution for Health). These affect how much it costs you do do something like a special move and how quickly you regenerate any lost stat points. Stat migration (to adjust the stats you were given upon character creation) can be done before character creation is finished or even during game. You are never stuck with the stats you start with, if you don't want to be.
Professions -
10 out of 10 - hands down the best selection of professions I've seen to date. No, you can't pick "Jedi" as a profession. But the variety and flexibility go FAR beyond the typical "ranged, melee, healer, cleric or spellcaster" choices of most RPG's.
There are three types of profession in SWG: Basic, Elite and Hybrid, for a total of 32 possible professions to explore. Each has its own specialty and bonuses. Even though the Fencer and Swordsman are similar and share some special combat moves, each has an advantage the other does not. This is true of all professions.
The basic professions are: Scout (good at exploring rough terrain), Medic (healer), Marksman (ranged weapons), Entertainer (dancer/musician), Brawler (melee weapons), and Artisan.
It is important to note that ALL professions are necessary in SWG. Medics can heal wounds (temporary losses to your stat pools) or damage (quasi-permanent losses to your stat pools). However, characters in battle also suffer from Battle Fatigue and Mind wounds. These can *only* be healed by a skilled entertainer. Artisans are the ones making the armor and clothing you wear, the weapons you use and the food you eat. (Note: food is ONLY a stat buff in SWG, and not necessary.) The game economy is 100% player-driven (discussed later), which makes Artisans very necessary. If you're not the "hack and slash" type, there is still a very important place for you in SWG.
From the Basic professions, a character can advance and specialize in one of the Elite professions: Architect (who build and decorate the buildings), Armorsmith (making better armor), Carbineer (the carbine (a gun) specialist), Chef (Artisan specializing in making food to help improve your stats), Creature Handler (taming wild creatures), Dancer or Musician (better Battle Fatigue healing than the basic Entertainer), Doctor (better damage healing than the basic Medic), Droid Engineer (making the droids that make your life better), Fencer (one-hand weapon specialist), Merchant (an Artisan who specialized in selling his/her wares), Pikeman (polearm specialist), Pistoleer (pistol specialist), Ranger (beyond Master Scout), Rifleman (rifle specialist), Tailor (Artisan specializing in clothes-making), Teras Kasi Artist (the hand-to-hand Martial Artist), Swordsman (two-hand weapon specialist), Weaponsmith (making the weapons you use), and Image Designer (changing your character's look).
Finally, the Hybrid professions available are: Bio-Engineer (cloning creatures), Bounty Hunter (hunting people...usually NPC's), Combat Medic (healing out on the battle field), Commando (heavy weapons and demolitions), Smuggler (trafficking in both legal and illegal business), and Squad Leader (helping to organize battle).
Enough choices for you? Elite professions require mastery of their related Basic profession (you can't be a Ranger before you become a Master Scout). Hybrid professions have varying requirements, some tougher than others. Each profession has four "specialty" areas under Master with four levels within each specialty. Thus, to become a Master Marksman, you must first gain four levels EACH in Rifle, Pistol, Carbine and Ranged Weapon Support, with the final level being Master Marksman.
You have 250 skill points to spend on your profession's related skills. That's enough to master 3 professions with a few left over. No one character can ever be God, because you just don't have the skill points. This aids the player-driven economy, because the best Brawler on the planet is still going to get his butt kicked by a Marksman (assuming he can run really fast) with a really good rifle, which only a good Artisan or Weaponsmith can make.
On the plus side, you aren't stuck in a profession. Unlike other RPG's (where you choose a profession and are stuck until you make a new character), you can "sell back" skill points you have spent. You lose all associated skills, XP and time spent, but if you try Medic and hate it, you don't lose those skill points forever. I highly recommend branching out in the beginning. It makes soloing (playing by yourself) easier and allows you to try the different professions. You might be surprised to discover that brawling isn't as much fun to play as artisan.
If you know what you want to be, you can go under the All Professions tab under Skills to see what is required. Bounty Hunter requires Master Marksman and Master Scout, with quick links to both of those skill trees so you can see what you need and what you can learn along the way.
Summary - (I know, I know. FINALLY!)
9 out of 10 -
There are minor things I would change in SWG if I were a developer, but none significant enough to detract from my enjoyment of a very good game. As time goes by and the developers keep fixing the problems that players bring to their attention, the game will only become that much better.
Yes, there have been some issues due to the incredibly large influx of new players at launch. They were fixed within a day. Yes, they are still patching minor bugs all the time, but patching doesn't take 30 seconds. No MMORPG launched without some kind of problems, and I guarantee EverQuest wasn't this well developed at its launch. (Remember, comparing EQ to SWG is comparing a brand new launch to a game that's been out forever and has undergone TONS of patching, expanding and reworking. At this point the only real reason to stick with EQ is because you really, really want to play a fairy.) Is it totally revolutionary? No, not really. But it has a lot of new directions and has built upon the hard-learned lessons of other MMORPG's.
No, you don't have to be a huge Star Wars fan to enjoy SWG. Does it help? Sure. Fans will get more out of discovering the Sarlacc Pit or the escape pod that R2-D2 and C3PO used to crash land on Tatooine than non-fans, who may not even know what they're looking at. But it's certainly not required to enjoy the game itself. It's a well-done MMORPG. Real pretty graphics, some ground-breaking areas in combat, professions and skills, and 10 different planets to explore all make SWG a powerful MMORPG at launch. The much-touted Space Expansion will add that many more levels to the gameplay.
In my personal experience, the biggest critics of SWG are those players who can't do the types of things they got spoiled with in other MMORPG's. There is no player-killing. (You have to get the other player's permission in order to attack him or her, unless you are obviously declared Rebel or Imperial faction.) Griefing (hanging around an incapacitated player until they get up, then incapacitating them again) can be taken up with the developers, and/or you just don't duel other players. With only one character allowed on each server, players can't make strictly "grief" characters, then hide from their dastardly deeds under another name. Spammers and annoying players can be Ignored, so you never have to listen to them again.
The people that find this sort of thing a bother because it "spoils their fun" are NOT the sort of people I want to play with anyway. Most of the players in SWG are very cool people. They will train you in skills for free (while NPC trainers can cost a lot of credits) and when I lost all my stuff, total strangers stopped to ask me what happened then contributed items or money to getting me back on my feet. SWG is intended to be a social game, and the vast majority of the people playing it are decent folk who are fun to waste a few hours here and there with in a very pretty, intriguing, multi-layered game.
One final note: if you really want to play a Jedi, buy Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (out soon). Yes, there will be Jedi in SWG. But maybe a total of 5% of the players will have the opportunity to play one. It's not a profession you can choose and work toward. Like true Jedi, you must be "born" Force Sensitive. The only way this happens is some totally random, unknown algorithm programmed by the developers. If you successfully complete the algorithm, you unlock a Force Sensitive slot on that server. (One slot per account. Period.) There is no way of knowing what you need to do to unlock that slot, as it is totally random for every character generated. And what works for one character won't work for another, even if you cold identify exactly what your algorithm was. So don't hold your breath on that one. Sorry.
UPDATE- (11/21/03) They now have the first Jedi running around! I am disappointed to say that the developers did "fudge" the truth a little on how to open a force sensitive slot. It is not true that you have to master 5 random professions in the main trees. It *IS* true that you have to master 4 random ELITE professions. There! I said it publicly! The secret is out!
Opening a force-sensitive slot is indeed geared toward the power gamer, despite the promises we heard in Beta. And now the power gamers are camping the holocron drop spots so now one can get a holo without having over a million credits to their name. I still say don't hold your breath on getting a Jedi character. Mastering 5 Elite professions is a *LOT* of time, energy and grinding. Still, I'm having a blast playing the same character I started with 5 months ago. I've made good friends and have a successful business selling and training pets. I still highly recommend this game.
They have also added mounts! Six breeds of ridable creatures! (Previously existing breeds, but Creature Handlers now have the "train to mount" capability, allowing players to ride the beasts.) This can be faster than just running around, especially if you do not have the Explore skill. We hope to see metal transportation soon.
(Update 9/15/04) Jedi Revamp!
There were too many Jedi, so they made the number of random professions 8. Still didn't work, as people would grind out all 32 professions in order to get a Jedi. So now, we have a new system: The Aurilian Village quests.
Here's the new way to get a Jedi:
There are different levels of your connection with the Force. None, barely different, slightly connected, strong, surging and glowing. In order to raise your connection with the Force you have to aquire some particular badges. (Badges were introduced a bit back to record your accomplishments in your character bio. They include places visited, professions mastered, and quests completed.) You need to visit the 3 Jedi POI's (point of interest=place), 2 hard POI's (likely to damage you) and 5 easy POI's. You also need 5 content badges (from completing theme parks or dungeons) and possibly 1 profession mastery. At this point you should be "glowing with the Force".
Some time after you get to "glowy", you will be standing around doing nothing and an Old Man will walk up to you out of nowhere. He will ask you to help him and will give you a Force Crystal. (This is a different crystal from the ones the Jedi's use to make lightsabers. This one is a permanent item that keeps the log of your quest to become a Jedi.) Your first task is to defend the crystal from some Shadow Sith Thugs who will try to steal it from you. (This whole process from glowy to visit to theft seems to take a minimum of several hours between stages up to days. There isn't much you can do to speed it up.)
Once the thugs are dead, you will loot a datadisk with a waypoint to a camp of them. Kill the camp and loot another datadisk. This will give you the waypoint to the Aurilian Village on Dathomir. (Everyone knows where the village is, but if you have not done this part, it will not let you in past the wall of mist.) The village is where you will learn to become in tune with the Force by doing various quests.
The quests in the village give you access to different Force enhancements. The nice thing about the enhancements is that they work for any character, Jedi or not. So you could be a Bounty Hunter and do the quests to increase your ranged accuracy and gain defensive bonuses. Or you could just be a medic and do the quests to increase your healing skills. There is something for everyone in the village, even the non-combatants. Medics do healing quests, and crafters make things. It's all tied into the story line very well, and is overall one of the best new things the developers have come up with in a long time.
There are 4 basics "trees" of Force enhancements: Crafting Mastery, Combat Prowess, Enhanced Reflexes, and Heightened Senses. Each tree has 4 "branches" within it. Each branch consists of 4 levels (for a total of 64 possible skill bonuses). To become a Jedi Initiate, you only need 6 completed branches, from any combination of trees.
Crafting Mastery gives bonuses to the various parts of crafting. Enhanced Reflexes gives bonuses to both ranged and melee defense, vehicular control and general survival skills (tracking, harvesting, etc.). Combat Prowess gives to the speed and accuracy of ranged and melee attacks. Heightened Senses gives bonuses to injury treatment speed, surveying (used by artisans to find materials for crafting), persuasion (reducing the cost of buying from NPC's) and luck (generally incresing the luck of loot drops).
Any of these can be beneficial to the average, non-Jedi player. Each only costs 1 skillpoint so it won't rob you too much. However, to become an actual Jedi, you will be forced to drop other skills the higher up the Jedi skill tree you progress. They do not want Master Jedi/Master Bounty Hunter combos running around.
Once you have completed your 6 full branches, you can begin your Padawan Trials. This is a series of quests (some of them really, really hard) in order to become a full-fledged Jedi Padawan.
The village itself is pretty cool, and the storyline is well done. The only downside is that you have to do the quests to unlock the branches and you can only do one quest per village phase. A phase lasts 3 weeks. Some quests are only offered during certain phases, of which there are 4 total. To complete 6 branches will take a minimum of 18 weeks. Some of the holo-grinders (people who ground out professions looking to unlock Jedi) will receive credit for their effort in the form of a "free branch", i.e. an automatic unlock and all the xp needed to complete any branch of your choice. It's based entirely on how many of the random professions you ground out, bare minimum of 3 professions in order to receive one free branch. The upside is that the village and the quests are fun and that you can get some pretty cool rewards for going "above and beyond" (i.e. doing extra quests).
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
lady_celestine
|
|
Location: Atlanta, GA
Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
I am an IT project manager, gamer and wanna-be computer geek.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.