Star Wars: The Old Republic: First Impressions by a Non-MMO Player

So I’ve recently begun playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, even as I replay my old favorite, Knights of the Old Republic. Is the now free-to-play MMO strong enough a storytelling engine to hold my interest? Let’s find out…

Spoiler alert: yes. Yes it is.

Well, that was easy, looks like you lot can go on home.

Oh… oh, you expect me to actually write about this, don’t you. Fiiiiiiiine.

Okay. I’m gonna go ahead and break down what I see as the good, the bad, and the annoying reality of dealing with a F2P game. Then I’m going to answer the most important question of all: is it enjoyable enough that it leaves me wanting to play it when alternatives exist?

The Good

So I started out on a PVE server running a Sith Inquisitor, because if there’s two things I like it’s primary casters and lightning. I was immediately grabbed by the story, which is something that literally has never come up in any conversation about World of Warcraft I’ve ever had. Probably because, well, it doesn’t have one. At least not one that’s visibly meaningful to the player. And certainly not one that’s different. Point is, I seriously cannot wait to find out what happens next in my apprenticeship with Lord Zash, so yeah, only good things to say. I’m often at the edge of my seat.

I run my Inquisitor with my GFs Warrior, which quickly got me intrigued by the possibility afforded for eavesdropping on someone else’s story as well. With at least 8 stories to get through, (one for each class) plus some unique twists and variations based on your species and gender, there’s a lot to like here, and there’s a solid amount of replayability. Which I like.

Combat plays much like I remembered from the beta, and it’s still surprisingly satisfying for MMO point and click + hotbar action. Maybe it’s because I just came off of KoTOR again, but it’s easier to enjoy than it was when I tried WoW.

The game also added a number of new twists since I last looked at it, like the Legacy system that lets you unlock perks and define relationships between all your characters on a server. This jumped out at me as being a really freaking cool idea; that all your characters contribute to the Legacy.

Another thing I liked? I’d planned to solo a LOT of the game, but group XP, social points, and guild XP bonuses all give you incentive to group up with people and play together without being terribly annoying. In fact, the flashpoints are some of the most fun I’ve had. I freaking LOVE the social rolls, getting a glimpse of everyone meaningfully participating in a conversation, helping to steer it to a conclusion… BioWare outdid themselves with this. And the dialog wheel here is at its best.

Companions that fill roles you don’t want to occupy and do all the otherwise boring grinding crap for you with a few mouseclicks help solidify the unique offering of this particular game over the long time behemoth in the room, WoW. I’ve often said that you can’t beat a competitor by merely imitating them; you have to offer something they don’t and aim for a niche, or do what they do so much better than they did it that their customer base flocks to you. SWTOR is smart enough to have included features that actually target annoyances that turned me away from WoW the only time I ever took a chance on playing the darn thing. Plus, companions have always been one of the best things about a BioWare game. Good job on a developer playing to their strengths.

Bonus points also go for convincing me to try the PvP modes; I normally freaking hate PvP in almost any game ever, but the war zones here are honestly pretty fun. Once you figure out what is happening. I accidentally jumped into a Huttball match without knowing how to throw the darn thing… whoops.

Have I mentioned that the environments are gorgeous?

The Bad

… you know, I actually don’t have anything to say here yet. I’ve played the now infamous Scarlet Blade. This game would have to fall a LONG way before anything in it qualified as genuinely BAD.

I know how much the Internet loves hyperbole, but I don’t really have any for you here. Sorry.

The Annoying

Look I’m just gonna be straight with you. There’s a lot of stuff hiding behind the pay wall. Nothing I’d call a deal breaker by any means, but there’s a good chunk of stuff in there and by far the biggest annoyances for me, so far, are the inability to use artifact level equipment out of the box and the low number of Galactic Trade Network slots. Between that and a lot of the unlocks showing the default (slightly misleading) per-character price rather than the per-account price in the cartel market, you have a recipe for annoyance.

It’s not all bad, though. You earn Cartel coins (the currency you normally buy with actual cash) as a F2P player for certain achievements and the like. This is already more than I can say for the one other F2P MMO I’ve tried. So hypothetically you can overcome a lot of those annoyances with time and effort.

Alternately, you can do what I did and resolve to throw a few bucks into the market from time to time and aim for sales and whatnot, a process I like to call “thanking the developers for opening up their game in a way that doesn’t ask me to commit to a monthly fee I don’t want to pay.” The first purchase in the market gives you four more character slots immediately (per server), so that’s a useful incentive. Lord knows with 8 stories to work through at LEAST once each, there’s plenty of reason to use a few extra slots.

And hey, the 2.1 update just landed. So now there’s even more stuff to check out. Apparently. I haven’t actually had the chance to play yet in the newly patched reality.

The Just Plain Weird Stuff I’ve Started To Notice About Every MMO Ever

So is it just me, or is the sense of scale in MMO environments almost universally off? I can’t quite put my finger on it but almost everything feels like it was designed for and by people who are bigger than the actual characters that occupy the world. Chairs feel oversized; bottles for drinks are the size of my head; hallways are massive; rooms are cavernous.

I don’t even know how to react to this but it feels that same way in every MMO I’ve so much as glanced at, and it’s definitely present here.

The Conclusion

There’s no reason left NOT to TRY this game. It’s free to start, you can explore all of the story without paying if you like, and it’s possible to solo much of PVE and to do MOST of the social missions with a mere two people. The busywork of grinding professions has been offloaded to companion characters, leaving you more time for actually playing the game and shopping or selling in the markets. This already cuts out 90% of what I hate about other MMOs. The stories are really well done and captivating, the voice acting is really excellent, the NPCs feel like people — BioWare at its finest. And it’s Star Wars. STAR WARS. FREAKING STAR WARS, MAN.

Granted, I may be a little obsessed. But I’m always going to be a little obsessed with the old republic.

KoTOR was the game of my youth, guys. It was the Star Wars that would never be ruined by midicholoroans or gungans or whatever. When SWTOR first launched, I was mad. I was upset because a subscription MMO meant the stories I wanted would never be told in a place I could reach. But that barrier is gone, now. Now the only thing between me and the stories is time.

I’ll check out Neverwinter eventually, guys, I promise. But right now, my people need my strength. The mysteries of the ancients call out to me. And so, I rise from humble origins to seize my destiny. The dark side is my ally; I fear nothing. EMPIRE FOREVER.