I now have two beta weekend test events for Star Wars: The Old Republic under my belt. I will now inform you why this MMO is different than others and why I will be telling everyone and thier mother to play it! So a couple things that make it stand out as different to me are that it's sci-fi, story, immersion and it's frakkin Star Wars.
Some people don't like sci-fi in an MMO. They would rather play with magic, sword N' Board, or bows n arrows. I get that. I feel like that some times. I like the sci-fi aspect though too. Blasters, blaster rifles, rockets, light sabers, lightning, and all that jazz. As well as cool looking space ships flying around and other mechincal walkers and such.
The story is well thought out for each of the classes. I only played a few though, so that could be untrue. The bounty hunter, Jedi Consular, Trooper, and Sith Inquisitor all had great stories. So much so that I now find myself thinking very hard about what I want to play when the game comes out. I love both the Bounty Hunter and Inquistor stories that much!
Immersion is something every other MMO lacks. For the most part at least. SWTOR really brings this aspect to light in the story telling and the instance play. The first instance you can run with a group is called Black Talon. So I went on a run through that place and let me tell you, that it is by far the most fun I have had in an instance in a very, very long time. As soon as you step in you are thrown into this story and it is amazing. You are on a small military vessel called Black Talon and a Moff has asked you to help them take a republic general on another ship captive or kill him. The captain of the ship has refused though and you get to go take care of the situation so that you can continue the mission. With that taken care of, you jump in to hyperspace after this other ship. When you exit hyperspace, you begin firing on the other vessel and they board you! So you repel the boarders and go get on a shuttle to fly over and board their vessel! Then you fight your way to the general and decide his fate! One of the cooler parts of this whole experience is when you talk to the story NPC's on the ships, it requires all party members to be within a certain distance and you all take part in the conversation. Who ever selects the correct message to respond with, thier character is the one who speaks up. Now I don't know what happens when everyone chooses the same thing though. Maybe the story happens differently if you do? Choosing light side options or dark side for instance. That's what makes it great, it's your story!
The last little bit I wanted to mention, is of course that is is star wars after all. Who doesn't like these kind of games and not like star wars!? Getting to play out a character who is a ruthless bounty hunter or a heroic Republic Trooper?! It's frakkin awesome is what it is!
You guys should pick this up and play it even if all you do is play solo.
Looks awesome :) I wish I could afford to spend the time on it. As it is, I just got a second job. Thanks for your review though, looks awesome.
ReplyDeleteI'm such a Star Wars fanboi, if you understood to what extent, you'd feel sad for me that I probably can't play it :-p