Star Wars Galaxies
Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games have been around for about a decade now since the Internet started becoming more pervasive. I never really got it. I guess it was because most of the MMO games out there were based on fantasy/D&D genres which I really never could immerse myself into. The other thing was that the only people I knew who played MMO games were really (and I mean REALLY) into the game they were playing and I did not identify with them either.
About 3 years ago, Star Wars Galaxies appeared. I looked into it, but it seemed overly complex and complicated to get into and looked to be half chore and half entertainment. The reviews didn’t help either. That was too bad, because I love the whole Star Wars universe and environment and it is a genre I can definitely get into.
A few months ago I read that Sony Online Entertainment (the company that runs SWG) revamped the game to make it more accessible. They even had a 10 day free trial to try out the game before they asked for any money. I happily downloaded the trial, installed it and was about to play when I made a big mistake – I read the reviews of the new revamp.
Here’s what I learned from the reviews:
- SOE destroyed the game.
- It was bad before, but it is worse now.
- It is an insult to all things Star Wars.
- LucasArts should pull the license from SOE and start over.
- It’s too geared to new players.
I shelved the game and never tried it.
About a month ago, looking for a new challenge, I started up the trial. I wanted to see just how bad it was. Much to my surprise, I enjoyed the trial. I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much, I signed up for a month. I’m still enjoying it.
(Here’s where people will probably disagree with me)
I see this game as an extension of the wildly popular Knights of the Old Republic games. It is an open ended universe where you decide what you want to do and how you want to do it. There are nine different professions to choose from and each interacts with the universe in different ways. There are combat characters who gain experience via battle and non-combat characters who gain experience though building, selling trading, crafting or entertaining.
It’s set in the time period just after the first Star Wars movie (or episode IV) so there are plenty of Imperials and Rebels running around. You can choose to be one of these factions if you want, or you can stay freelance.
This is something I never expected from an MMO – I’m having fun.
If you are into the whole Star Wars universe and like RPG type games, I would recommend downloading the trial and giving the game a try.
Which just leaves me with one question – why do I like the game where the reviews are so, so, negative? It took me a while but I think I have some answers:
- Some of the most negative comments are coming from veteran players who immersed themselves in the original incarnation of the game. When it was revamped, a lot of things change and we all know many people who don’t like change. Instead of seeing it as a new playing environment with new challenges, they completely lost the point. Games should appeal to both the new and the veteran player. You can’t just keep making a game better for the veterans without appealing to new players as well.
- There are those who hold the original trilogy of movies sacred and nothing can top them. Nothing compares to the feeling they had as a 12 year old watching Star Wars the first time on the big screen. They are the people who felt they had to trash the changes made to the original movies in the 90s. And the second trilogy (episodes I, II, and III) were so inferior to the first. These people will never be pleased because nothing will match the awe and wonder the original movies inspired in a 12 year old in the late 1970s.
Forget trying to compare things that are not comparable. For me games are not about the authenticity, the adherence to the genre/universe/story, or how many widgets it takes to make a doodad. I measure games by how much entertainment and enjoyment I get out of them.
Based on that criteria, Star Wars Galaxies rates an 8.5 out of 10.
posted by Mike @ 9:04 PM
24 Comments:
lol
You dont have a clue do you?
lol again
I'm a veteran and the change is only a small percentage as why I dislike. The CU was change too, but I adapted to that. Reasons why I can't adapt to the NGE:
1) Spent 2 years working for Jedi, and played virtually every night, to achieve, then overnight everyone could become one. My main caharcter that was Jedi and actually spent time on ended up being a CL 46 Jedi in NGE. My entertainer char which I didn't play at all and AFK'd and respecced about to be a Master Enetratiner/ Master Dancer/ Master Musician and Master Entertainer become a CL 80 Jedi into the NGE. All that time I spent progressing to Jedi before these changes was a complete waste of time.
2. Combat is a joke, a CL 1 can kill a CL 90 char using a rifle with range of 75m. There is no challenge or snese of achievement. Its like the game has been injected with a cheat code to win.
3. Theres loads more bugs in game and a lot of things don't work.
4. Professions like Creature Handler would removed, which I was looking forward to doing with my 2nd slot from my Jedi character. By the time I got there and ready to do it, the profession is gone
The NGE changes just makes you wonder why you bother with an MMO at all. You pay $14.99 per month for 2.5 years and working your arse off and it all goes poof within a week. Why bother?
I would have accepted the NGE more if they gave us more notice than 1 week! 1 week?? Still makes me annoyed, a few months would have given me time to tie up loose ends and do stuff I never got around to do, like play the Creature Handler porfession which I was looking forward to.
Doubt SOE or any company will make such a fast sweeping change again, although SOE are still changing game now, like the combat system, if you like the current system, then you may not like the new system, but it has lost my faith and interest in any MMO for life.
SWG has had 2 combat downgrades in the last year... and guess what, its about to happen again. So, 3 combat changes in 1.5 years....
The thing that really pissed me off at SOE is that i ordered the last expansion ($30.00) Then 3 days after the expansion came out.... guess what..... NGE....
This game is a POS and SOE cant be trusted.
you enjoyed this mmo and not others, strange, this is the most incomplete and bugged mmo out there at this time'
As for people not liking change, have to disagree, change CAN be good, cu wasnt too bad, didnt upset so many people, but this change created so many bugs, and left the game even further from finished status than it has ever been, they stated when nge was introduced it was 6 months from being complete, now at the 6 month point they are saying another 6 months, so anyone looking at trying this game is wait 6months from now, hopefully it will be finished, but knowing SOE's handling of this game they will probably either say a further 6 months is required or totally revamp it again
When SOE's president Smedley plays WOW. That should give you an idea of how bad this game really is.
Starwars USED to be AWESOME in concept and utter design (sandbox, flexible, diverse, inspiring)...they had bugs to fix and content to add...
Instead...
revamp 1 - "swing and a miss"
revamp 2 - "assault and battery"
Unbelievable mismanagement
I enjoy playing this game. I've only ever played NGE, so I never really lost anything in the change.
The WORST part of this game is the constant... contant... whining and crying from veteran players.
I wish SOE would sell the old version to another company and let these guys go away.
I think a new audience would have a lot of fun playing without those who have spend the past 9 months crying in their soup!
I guess we played the same game, but I have a completely different view of it. Like you, I measure a game on its entertainment value. Pointing and clicking at an enemy as it runs at me and then it falls over was no fun to me whatsoever. I have played more complex flash games on the internet.
My 2 cents..
This game is total crap and IMHO SOE is running a con game. They simply cannot be trusted in the least. I can not tell you how many time the devs have posted on the forums about things that were going to happen and then would do the EXACT opposite. The NGE farce was the last straw. Star Wars or not I will never again SOE my money. The game has little do with it, I will not give my money and time to someone who lies to me on a regular basis. It is a shame to, this game had SO much potential.
lmao
you are so naive.
Even for someone never having played SWG before NGE... the game is full of bugs and quests that don't work... worst MMORPG ever made, period!
I tried out the game after the NGE came out.. I am a veteran player and have been playing since day 1. SOE has done nothing to fix the game.. They have taken advantage of their paying customers and have no clue how to listen to what they are trying to tell them.
I would have to agree with an eralier post. I wish LA would yank the rights and give them to another company so I can go back to playing an immersive game where people actually had to earn stuff instead of having it handed to them (NGE).
The sooner Sony and all the 12 years olds are out of the picture the better off this game will be.
The info is there if anyone wants it. I don't feel like rehashing it yet again but to the author, wow... just, wow. I mean, wow.
wow.
So how much SOE pay you to write up this POS review. IMO this game was done once NGE hit the servers and its been going down since. You say you enjoy and having fun, well then i didnt think i would find someone who likes and enjoys garbage .
I see a small minority likes to play garbage , bet they also like to be fed garbage to. Enjoy!
The problem is that SOE is geared towards attracking people like you, people who didn't have the patients to play the OLD SWG. Old veterans hate it because the game that they play, made friends in, and payed $15 a month for was forced upon them (them includes myself). SOE didn't call it SWG2 and put it in a new box, they are looking for the easiest way to make money. Unfortuantely, that included completely disregarding their current fan base. It is like if the NFL decided that they were going to change their rules to Arena Football rules, so they took a season off, fixed all the stadiums and made them arena football stadiums, then opened their gates. sure, it atracked new fans, but their loyalest fans no longer came to games or watched them on TV. But there were people who never would see each other again if they no longer came to football games, so they stayed and pleaded with the "NFL" to fix it.
I have played SWG since pre-cu. On an overall basis I liked pre-cu, and cu. I was a master brawler, master tk, and master fencer. I took about a 3 month vacation from the game to pursue work and school, I come back and the NGE has been released.
I log in for my first time to find out that the 10 months I spent becoming a CL 80 melee tank, was wasted. brawler, tk, and fencer don't even exist anymore. I don't even get to finish the villiage.
So I respect to a full fledged jedi. Not too bad..hate the UI..hate the fact that i can't have 2 rows of commands..Hate the targetting...and most importantly, hate that except for my clothing, physical looks, and size...i'm exactly like every character.
SOE keeps taking stuff out..and never add anything back in. Least they could do is balance between vets and noobs, give me something to do.
Idiot.
If the game was not accessible to new players before the revamps, how were people playing it?
Do you know of any other games which have changed so much just for the sake of attracting new players?
Have fun with your crap easy game, you'll be bored in a month or two.
"It is an open ended universe where you decide what you want to do and how you want to do it. There are nine different professions to choose from and each interacts with the universe in different ways. There are combat characters who gain experience via battle and non-combat characters who gain experience though building, selling trading, crafting or entertaining. "
You really are an idiot, aren't you? Nine professions? If you'd ever played pre-NGE you would have been able to play dozens of professions.
It's not fear of change that pissed off veterans. It's dumbing down the game in a vain attempt to snag younger, twitch-style players.
The whole thing has been a disaster.
i've tried this thing for 7 months and yes there has been slight improvements, but the game hasn't gotten better overall. the previous 2 combat/game systems were superior. they had tons of character diversity and development, which made up for the game not having a lot of replayable content. now there is absolutely none of that, they've added some content, but not enough.
the NGE basically removed the strongest feature of the game.
Iv'e been playing this game since it was originaly released and I still enjoy it to this day, sure the combat changes were kind of..."different" from what the players had grown used to but it's still a great game in my eyes and I'll continue playing untill my guild stops playing, and it doesn't seem like that will happen any time soon.
Rubedo' Vilmos, Intrepid , MasterSmuggler/MasterPistoleer.
Lol I love this part:It is an open ended universe where you decide what you want to do and how you want to do it.....
Lol they removed the part where you decide what you want to do.. Now you pick your class and do what they want you to do and have what skills they want you to have!
You MUST level with quests because there is no othere way to do it.. once you have done these quests once.... you one want to do them again...
I wish $OE would sell the old version to some one else for the vets to play... because I would be willing to bet the NGE version would not be around for long!
One aspect of this game, besides the contant whining for more-more-more on the forums... is the fact that some (not all) veterans are so angry about the NGE changes that.. no matter what, they can never be satisfied.
Fine, for those of you who are that upset, start a class-action lawsuit or leave for good. Bitching on forums just wastes your time, and I for one am tired of hearing about what you lost.
I am sure sooner or later this game will either get past this phase or get dropped.
If it gets dropped, so be it. I'll just do something else instead of whining about it like others.
But, till then, I want to enjoy the community of players who are left... so everyone else, just go away!
8.5
So, one of those non-combat professions, trader... you know, the crafting folks? Who used to be over a third of the player base?
The people who have had all reason for playing removed, because one dev thought that combat types should not have to buy anything from a non-combatant player... when one half of the stuff the trader can make is geared towards combat?
ANd, our dear friends the smugglers: they haven't been able to be smugglers who smuggle since....
well, never.
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