Tara's Blog of Inanity

I haven’t had this much fun with a game since WoW’s first release/BETAs almost 8 years ago (of which I’ve been a faithful subscriber ever since.)  SW:TOR has brought so many things to the table that, if it came down to only purchasing a sub for only one of my three MMOs (including Rift), that this is the one I would purchase - making my first departure from WoW ever.

With TOR…There is a lot of angst with this game since its release:  none of us can really tell if the complaints are coming from bitter gamers, people unfamiliar with the genre/gameplay or just general complainers.  From my standpoint, for a game that was rushed into its December 20th release date, this is the smoothest launch I’ve ever seen.  The glitches for myself are minor and few in number.

The graphics are top notch.  This game will look gorgeous when playing in “low quality” and will look phenomenal in ‘High Quality.”  Everytime you start a conversation mission with an NPC, the in-game graphics are extremely good.  There are a few times when you can see where the game was rushed (I know of two instances up to level 40 where your character was speaking, but no lips were moving.  Simple stuff like that.)  Whatever gear your character is wearing will also be shown during these conversation dialogues.   Each NPC is blessed with a different voice actor, resulting in very few “Oblivion  Moments” as I like to call them.  (Anyone familiar with the Elder Scrolls games knows exactly what I’m talking about.)

The direct relationship between your conversations and how it affects your overall story are immediately clear…and if you’re a little bit dense, that point is reinforced when some of the NPCs will send you updates via your Mail box saying how you affected their lives/duties/missions/planet, etc.

You gain companions through the game who aid your on your missions, journey, story and even your crafting.  You are able to gain “Affection Points” with your companion by saying or doing things that agree with him/her or giving them gifts found either at vendors or during missions.  The happier they are with you, the more exclusive missions you can unlock and run with.  It’s a very cool system.

Another system similar to that is the Light Side / Dark Side system.  If you’re a Sith who really can’t stand the sight of unnecessary blood, you might have a few more points in the Light Side.   This will give you exclusive access to Relics and gear unavailable to those dirty, badass Sith who torture anyone on a whim.   At any moment, though, you are able to make choices in your conversations that could benefit either side…If you’re unsure of which is which, go under the Preferences - Interface menu and check “Show Conversation Alignment Gain.”  Then you get symbols to help you along in your goal for ultimate Goodness/Badassery.

On the game itself….The storylines vary.  I find Jedi Consular stories to be very…bleh.  Some folk like them a lot.   The best storylines in the game, in my opinion, are the Smugglers and Sith Inquisitors.  Every story varies.

The Talent trees are a bridge between WoW and Rift.  Each class has two Advanced Classes to choose from (be careful choosing - you can never change them again)…And from there, you have 3 trees you can choose to branch out on (there are changeable at any time in the game…for a cost.)  These trees are set up in a way where, even though someone will probably do it, there is no “ideal” build.  It’s all about your play style and which ability you use the most.  The effectiveness of every build is, of course, dependent wholly on the quality of your gear.

The gear is this game is unique.  Yes, you have the Common/Uncommon/Epic/Legendary.  But there is no reforging here.   You can, however, make changes to a lot of gear at Item Modification Stations.  There, you can add your own Mods, Enhancements, Color Crystals (for lightsabers and some blasters), and Armoring…So even if your lightsaber itself may be a bit undergeared for your level, the things you enhance it with could make it better than someone else’s well-geared lightsaber 20 levels ahead of you.  It’s a nice change compared to the list of “Must Have Gears” in other games.

The PvP is LOADS of fun.  Some people love it, others hate it…But after nearly a decade of killing my fellow players, I can definitely say that I’ve had the most fun with it in TOR.   Huttball (a game that sounds exactly like what it is) is especially engaging, pitting you against the enemy in a mad dash to score the most goals…despite the fiery exhausts, poisonous slime and…of course…Sith Sorcerers.

Which is a note to PvPing Republic players:  Team up and eliminate the Sith Sorcerers the fastest.  They will completely DECIMATE your team, one by one.  They’re currently the most OP PvP class in the game, hands down.

What am I missing?  OH YES.  Space Combat.

Back in BETA, Space Combat was painful.  And I don’t mean boring - I mean physically painful.  You had to keep your finger down on the right mouse button the entire time to move and do some kind of weird yoga-pose to fire your missiles while flying in the right directions and…oh, it was just awful.

Now, your movement lines up with simple mouse movements.  Left mouse button is lasers.  Right mouse button is missiles.  YES, it is on rails.  NO, you can leave the battle whenever you want.  You’re on a timer to complete your objectives, and the rails give you ample opportunity to complete them within the given time.  You have objectives missions, escort missions and bonus missions to complete.  And it is a helluva lot of fun, I think.  It won’t satisfy hardcore flight simulation players, but it’s a nice reprieve from the standard MMO fair.  I always end a bloodshot night of record gameplay with this, because I think it’s relaxing to mercilessly shoot Interceptors and Destroyers out of the sky.

BONUS MISSIONS in the game…Remember those stupid, stupid missions that force you to “Collect xx amount of ears from ____ animal?”  Then you spend hours trying to collect those ears because, apparently, less than one percent of that population has ANY ears at all?  Yeah.  These don’t really happen in TOR…and when they do, they’re entirely OPTIONAL.   These Bonus Missions usually consist of “Kill xx of this mob.”  Once you’ve done that, there is NO mission drop off - a little updater droid flies out to you and updates it to Bonus Mission Stage 2, which is usually to kill double the amount of that mob that you just did.  The real payoff, though, comes from the Final Stage of the bonus mission:  you get to kill Big Bad of the mob, who usually drops a mission item and some kick-ass gear.  You get a lot of experience points for doing these missions, so I wholeheartedly recommend NOT skipping them.

The community…is wonderful.  Every now and then, you can see a real WoW player come in and screw up chat.  They’re pretty obvious.  There are elitists who RACE to endgame, which is **NOT** something you can, nor should do in this game.  The Legacy system (your endgame basis) is not fully implemented yet, so you will not get as much out of this if you don’t take your time with it for now.  It’s not a race.

Trolls, flamers, OT-ers and spammers are immediately taken care of.  Especially on the forums.  When I say immediately?  Someone posts something like so:

“THIS GAME SUCKS.  I’m going back to WoW and you’re not getting another cent from me, BioTARD.”

Within five minutes, a rep will show up, close the conversation and reply with something along the lines of, “While we appreciate every opinion, we prefer to keep the forums open for people who have constructive and helpful criticism in order to make this game the best we can provide to you.  Please submit a complaint or suggestion to xxx@whatever.com.”

Trolls and other malignant tumors of the MMO world are taken care of just as swiftly, both in in-game chat and the forums.   It helps keep the peace and everyone is on their toes and more respectable in chat.  I. Love. It.

Last, but not least….Immersion.  This point is up for a lot of debate.  Many players say they can’t get into it.  (One person even said that being able to use personal speeders -TOR’s version of mounts- inside the Republic/Imperial Fleet station takes away from it being ‘real.’  Personally, I think that’s retarded.)  For me, though…I find myself yelling, “NO!  NOT T7!!!!” whenever my droid dies…I get mad at the injustices happening all over Taris.  I get dismayed by the lack of morals in some of my superiors.  I really, really, really, want to torture that idiot scientist (so I do.)  I really get into this game and it’s easy to believe I’m there.

Then again, this is coming from a rabid Star Wars fans who has owned more action figures from Empire that she’s owned bras in her lifetime.  That, and I have a massive imagination.  So it really comes down to YOU, the player, about immersion.  Not the game.  Don’t take it out on Bioware if you find yourself NOT believe you’re traveling between worlds, hoisting a dual-bladed lightsaber, and thwarting your mentors at every cost.   At the end of the day, this is a sci-fi/fantasy  MMORPG.  They pulled out all the stops and continue to do so…With more patches and content on the horizon.  Have fun!