Star Wars: The Old Republic - Out Dec 20th WORLDWIDE

[Captain Untouchable]

Hmm. The "fast" travel system is interesting... cruising around on a speeder bike from place to place. Quicker than walking certainly. I guess as long as the worlds don't get too big, it shouldn't end up taking too long either.

Really liking how smoothly stuff flows from place to place. Being able to just walk into a building and suddenly be in an Agent-only quest area thingy is pretty cool.

And like Peter said earlier - the voice acting is fantastic, especially with the companions. It really feels like a KOTOR game, but with multiplayer team-up bits thrown in. And I gotta say... given that the servers are apparently full to capacity, I'm not tripping over other players too much. I've occasionally had to jog around to another spawn because there weren't quite enough mobs to go around, but all in all it's been pretty good.

Edit:

"Either you work with me... or I shoot you in the face."

[Katrin Laran]

Do we have a collective server that people are going to be rolling on when the full game comes out?

[Morgan Evanar]

I honestly wish that the actual combat felt a bit more KOTORish than the MMO system they have.

I am pretty much playing the game for the story, which is excellent.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Do we have a collective server that people are going to be rolling on when the full game comes out?

Whichever server our guild gets assigned to.

[Peter McCoy]

And I gotta say... given that the servers are apparently full to capacity, I'm not tripping over other players too much. I've occasionally had to jog around to another spawn because there weren't quite enough mobs to go around, but all in all it's been pretty good.

The servers are instanced. Meaning there are multiple copies of each area with a set maximum number of players allowed in it. Droo and I could be doing the same quest, grinding the same mob spawns and never run into each other because we're in a different instance to each other.

A lot of games do that now. I remember Guild Wars being one of the first, and more recently the awful Star Trek Online.

[Captain Untouchable]

^ Ahh, that makes a lot of sense. Does that not make meeting up with people difficult, though? Presumably you have to invite them to a party, and they'll switch onto the same instance or somesuch?

In other news... either I'm being completely moronic, or I'm experiencing a bug with the chat system. I keep typing stuff in the chat box, hitting Enter, and nothing happens. I've tried clicking the little button in the bottom-right of the chat box too, but the stuff just won't send. Have I missed something ridiculously obvious, or have things just gone squiffy for me?

[Jedi Master Carr]

The storylines are great. I really enjoy that part of the game so far. I have played most of the day and played a Jedi and Imperial Agent and both were great. I am curious about the different companions you can get. So far, I have found a droid and that was cool. I imagine there are multiple companions that you can find throughout the game.

[Captain Untouchable]

There are five companions per class, I think? The list got released on the interwebs a few months ago. They all become part of your crew, so you can mix and match between the melee tank, the ranged healer, and what not depending on the mission you're doing.

I just rolled a Republic Trooper to see what it's like. My character sounds like Carth Onasi. :3

[Katrin Laran]

Still rolling with a Sith Inquisitor (speced to be an assassin) and having a lot of fun. Weird as hell. I can DPS or tank with this sucker.

Lightning Charge increases my offense decently and has a DoT that does some pretty massive damage.

But holy crap Dark Charge is nuts. Nearly triples my armor.......I just tanked the second flashpoint........and Assassins only get light armor. Even a specific specialization can do a variety of things.

PvP I'm actually enjoying (except for Huttball). Gets you a boatload of experience and credits per run and the warzone commendation gear is nice. Lag is a bit annoying.

[Captain Untouchable]

I'm definately going to need alts for this. Almost to level 10 with by Republic Trooper, and the gameplay is so completely different. It's not just the skills and attacks that have changed, or even the tactics: the starting world and the quests are totally different too.

Ord Mantell is really linear - there are specific paths that you go down to reach specific locations, you do the quests that are there, and come back. Nal Hutta on the other hand is almost entirely open, and you're constantly going back and forth to get to your objectives. I may have to roll a Smuggler or a Bounty Hunter, just to see how different the experience is for a different class on the same starting world.

The Republic Trooper seems to be very noob friendly. There are a couple of cool abilities - there's an attack that does a ton of damage, but only when the target is status-affected - but for the most part it's a typical tank. The Imperial Agent on the other hand is much harder to manage - I'm having to be a lot more careful to pay attention to my health and energy/stamina/mana/whateveritis bar, and to where else there's a cover point so that I can move if someone lobs a fire grenade at me; stuff like that.

Is it the same with Knight/Warrior vs. Consular/Inquisitor - one is fairly straight forward, while the other requires a lot more power/skill/ability management?

[Jedi Master Carr]

There are five companions per class, I think? The list got released on the interwebs a few months ago. They all become part of your crew, so you can mix and match between the melee tank, the ranged healer, and what not depending on the mission you're doing.

I just rolled a Republic Trooper to see what it's like. My character sounds like Carth Onasi. :3

Cool, I hope the companion system is like other Bioware games.

[Yog]

I only played the beta a little bit, enough to see it is an enjoyable, smooth and polished experience. So I am going to pre-order.

[Katrin Laran]

Is it the same with Knight/Warrior vs. Consular/Inquisitor - one is fairly straight forward, while the other requires a lot more power/skill/ability management?

Not quite sure about the jedi classes or the sith warrior. But the Inquisitor is weird....especially the Assassin. You have some tank abilities (I can get well above the armor value of some mercs/heavy troopers.....but don't have near the HP to match), you have some control abilities (extended stuns that heal the target and break when the target is attacked or even cause an ally to generate less threat) and you have some DPS abilities (Stealth + Maul and a ton of electrical based attacks).

But it doesn't excel at any of the three. In groups I usually start in DPS 'mode' and switch over to tank 'mode'

[Figrin D'an]

Managed to get through Coruscant and get my ship, so I got to try out space combat. Was an okay change of pace, but it's not very involved or interesting really. Experience gain was decent for the character level. Each space combat scenario is also repeatable it seems, but not sure if there's an experience drop off beyond the first completion.

Not sure what I'm going to play at launch though.

[Captain Untouchable]

I tried out Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior (briefly) yesterday. In terms of abilities it seems to be very like-for-like with those two: they both have a basic attack that builds rage/focus, then a powerful attack, a jumping attack, a PBAOE attack, and so on. The animations are very different though: the Jedi moves seemed very graceful, whereas the Sith ones were much more brutal. The Jedi has some ellegant twirling leap; the Sith is much more Hulk Smash.

In terms of the starting worlds and quests though, they're totally different. Korriban feels pretty much like it did in the earlier KOTOR games. You've got your "go into a tomb and get something" quest like you had in KOTOR, and the Light Side / Dark Side choices are thrown in as a quest where you decide the fate of some prisoners; stuff like that.

While Korriban makes you feel like you're part of some big, grandious organisation, Tython makes you feel like you're part of something small. You're one of the few grown-up Padawans, and you're instantly saving the day. It seems to follow the same path-style layout as Ord Mantell did - there are mountains and valleys that guide you to the next quest activity, and all the quests you pick up seem fairly local, without many "travel to the other side of the map" type requirements. Maybe it's just me, but it reminded me of Jedi Academy, only instead of being on Yavin IV you're in Yosemite National Park. (pretty sure Captain Kirk was climbing one of the mountains in the background)

I'll definately be playing an Imperial Agent and a Republic Trooper at launch. I honestly can't choose between the two in terms of which one I enjoyed more, especially once I'd become a Sniper and a Commando (Repeating Blaster ). I really felt like the character that I was when I played those games: Hutta made me feel like an awesome super-spy, whereas Ord Mantell made me feel like a big damn hero.

Knowing me though, I'll definately end up with at least one Jedi and one Sith at some point. And now I think about it, I may have to give a Smuggler or a Bounty Hunter a go, given how class-specific a lot of the story elements were. While the side quests are presumably shared, it'll be interesting to see how different the main story is between classes on the same planet.

[Katrin Laran]

The Republic Trooper storyline is just great! Love it!


Also, is it just me or is the female republic trooper voiced by Jennifer Hale.....because I am seriously getting a femeshep vibe off of her.

[Peter McCoy]

I really enjoyed my Bounty Hunter experience on Hutta. After doing some quests to build on the reputation my companions had fabricated about me, I met with Nem'ro the Hutt and started working for him to prove myself worthy of sponsorship into the Great Hunt. Several quests, brawls and blaster bolts later, I find myself on the Sith Fleet and choosing a specialisation. Powertech for the tanky win!

That's as far as I got in the Beta what with working on Saturday and spending time with the missus. It saw me to Level 10 and I really really enjoyed the content. The best thing was that it allowed me to play a complete bastard, screwing people over and refusing to help if the money wasn't good enough or it was too inconvenient. Selfish and greedy - that's how a Bounty Hunter should be played in my opinion and that's exactly how I'll behave when the full game is released.

[Captain Untouchable]

I tested the Smuggler and the Jedi Consular today.

- Repeating Ord Mantell was surprisingly not boring. I went to the same places, and did (most of) the same side quests, but the main storyline was massively different. Rather than feeling I was repeating the same story as a different character, it felt more like I was playing through a different story that was happening at the exact same time. While my smuggler was sneaking around in the basement, my Trooper could easily have been responsible for the gunfire I kept hearing overhead!

- The Smuggler didn't feel like a rehash of the Imperial Agent either. The pistol versus rifle gave a lot more scope than the Knight/Warrior's shared lightsaber, so there was plenty of different in the names/concepts/animations of attacks. Combat felt different too though - I don't know if it was the animations, the missions, the opponents, the music, or what: but while combat with my Agent felt very calculated and methodical, fighting as my Smuggler felt very fast-paced and scrappy.

- The Consular was a lot better than I expected. To clarify: I expected it to be a bit rubbish, and it was actually awesome. Ripping boulders out of the ground and throwing them at people was great: especially since you can do some of those attacks on the move (I may have walked casually forward throwing giant rocks at people for a while ). There was a big difference from the Jedi Knight too - while the Knight built focus/mana with it's basic attack that was then spent on advanced attacks, the Consular had a more typical pool of Force points that was depleated by force powers, while the basic lightsaber attack was free. That's a much bigger difference between Knight and Consular than I was expected - and I'm very pleased.

- It seems like the Agent and Smuggler got their first companion earlier than the other classes: before the final mission on the starting world, rather than after. Do any of the other classes get their companion before the final mission, and is it different from the other class on that planet, or is it just willy-nilly as fits best with the story? It worked out quite well story-wise in any case; it meant I was plesantly surprised when one of the NPCs I'd been dealing with as a Trooper wound up following me to Coruscant.


I didn't get to test a Bounty Hunter or a Sith Inquisitor, unfortunately. As it stands, I will probably end up playing five of the six classes I did test, though with a bias towards my Imperial Agent and my Republic Trooper. I had too much fun with my bloodthirsty Sith Warrior, my Jedi Consular with near-Vulcan emotional restraint, and my Smuggler who'll do anything for money () to not dabble with them from time to time.

And yeah, while it's not exactly difficult to make me want multiple characters, Bioware did a damned good job of it!

[Karl Valten]

I tested the Smuggler and the Jedi Consular today.

- Repeating Ord Mantell was surprisingly not boring. I went to the same places, and did (most of) the same side quests, but the main storyline was massively different. Rather than feeling I was repeating the same story as a different character, it felt more like I was playing through a different story that was happening at the exact same time. While my smuggler was sneaking around in the basement, my Trooper could easily have been responsible for the gunfire I kept hearing overhead!

Nice! I've been enjoying the experience as a trooper and teamed up with a smuggler to do the heroic area at the start. Was kind jealous of his cover-hugging ability and silly shenanigans. I like the smuggler's idle animation of flipping a coin about then shooting it with a blaster.

- It seems like the Agent and Smuggler got their first companion earlier than the other classes: before the final mission on the starting world, rather than after. Do any of the other classes get their companion before the final mission, and is it different from the other class on that planet, or is it just willy-nilly as fits best with the story? It worked out quite well story-wise in any case; it meant I was plesantly surprised when one of the NPCs I'd been dealing with as a Trooper wound up following me to Coruscant.

The companion for the Inquisitor is done well before the final mission at the starting area. The companion is woven into the story quite well and you actually have an entire series of quests to get the companion. It's impossible to try and please this companion, though.

Sometimes he like you doing darkside stuff, sometime lightside stuff.....the affection gain not being limited to the light/dark route is kinda cool. The Inquisitor companion doesn't like it when you humble yourself to others (even the your Master) or if you appear to lack resolve. But on the other hand like you being a general arrogant douche and lording you position as a Sith......but also likes when you uphold the Sith code over the scheming of other Sith. Kinda cool


Question here for those of you who run the Sith characters. Is anyone really, really annoyed by how many 'Lords' and 'Darths' are out there? I mean I swear I've run by well over two dozen lords......some of them doing relatively menial tasks. Hell I've even killed a few of them as well as a Darth.......solo......as an apprentice.

Doesn't that just seem wrong?

Granted I like being a coniving, manipulative bastard.......though my companion prefers the blunt route.


P.S. Fig, please, please tell me that the Trooper companion is Lt. Jorgan.....I like that guy.

And yeah, while it's not exactly difficult to make me want multiple characters, Bioware did a damned good job of it!

Hellz yeah. There are still a lot of glitches and bugs.....plus some of the voice acting is choppy (though excellent in the most part) and you can tell the recordings were made in completely different sessions.

For example Lord Zash alternating the pernounciation of 'Darth Skotia' over several sentences with some noticable breaks in tone.

[Captain Untouchable]

Turns out the Beta is still going. Yay.

I has a Bounty Hunter now. Two words: Missile Blast.

Looks like I've got six characters now.


Oh, and you're 50% right about Lieutenant Jorgan... (cue mysterious music)


Edit:

I just looted someone's head.