Star Wars Galaxies, out today! Options

[Dive]

Star Wars Galaxies comes out today, for those unfamiliar with it, it is an MMORPG based in the Star Wars universe.

Here is the pricing info:

PC Windows $49.95
PC Collectors Edition $79.95

1 month - $14.99
3 months - $41.99
6 months - $77.99
12 months - $143.99

I want to get this but I probably won't for a few months at least. It's pretty spendy, and I won't be able to give it the time it needs while I am still playing pso regularly.

For those of you interested, we should decide on a server to play on.

[DarkEpyon]

As if George Lucas isn't rich enough as it is... I don't think I'll be picking this one up. As un-American as it sounds, Star Wars in general never really interested me.

[Crushinator]

$15 a month?!?! WTF! TOO DAMN GREEDY GEORGIE BOY!

The part I rue the most is that there are tons of starwars fans ready to pay that much just so they can be a jedi wookie.

[DarkEpyon]

QUOTE (Crushinator @ Jun 26 2003, 03:29 PM)

The part I rue the most is that there are tons of starwars fans ready to pay that much just so they can be a jedi wookie.

Hmmm... Chubaka (however you spell his name) holding a lightsaber... no way could he be that agile to keep up with Vader. I'm sure the vast majority of players on this game will be the stereotyped 34-year-old males in their mom's basements.

[Retehi]

What are the system specs? From what I saw, this game looks like it needs a damn hefty comp.

But $14.99 - $143.99? wtf is Lucas smorking? (not a typo mind you)

[Mute]

Geez, this game is out already? o.O I was totally shocked when I read Dive's post. Anyways, $15 a month does seem quite steep. I'm definately gonna have to wait to hear some opinions on this title before I give it a try. I kinda dig MMORPG's though. They can get boring fast, but as long as you pace yourself on them, they can be alot of fun. I've actually been playing Dark Age of Camelot as of late (which is the reason for my recent PSO absence <.<) and I have to say I really enjoy the game so far. Only thing is, DAoC doesn't run so hot on my PC. I get ALOT of frameskipping in towns and about 60-70% smoothness when there are peeps around to battle with out in the overworld. I suppose if DAoC doesn't run quite so well, there's probably no hope for me and Galaxies. Tis a shame tho, I'm a really big Star Wars fan at heart and have kept my eyes on this title for a while now. I suppose Knights of the Old Republic may have to suffice for now... that is if I get an XBox. >.>

[Dive]

What server do you play DAoC on Mute? I played that for a short time and recently thought about getting back into it.

About the performance of Galaxies, do you have Jedi Knight 2? I heard that if you get at least 60 fps with that game, you will be fine for Galaxies. I get anywhere from 60-100 fps depending on what area I am in. Like I said though it may be a while before I get it, I don't really want to pay for two online games right now.

[Sheik]

I have never played Galaxies before...this is tempting me to try it out. What is it like? I am not quite sure about $15. That is more than PSO. Little steep if you ask me.

I have played StarCraft quite a bit, but I doubt it compares to this for some reason.

[HC82]

15 bucks is pretty steep, but so is the 8~9 bucks for PSO when you consider the difference in server matience and most importantly, bandwith. PSO isn't a MMORPG, so its cost to maintain the servers is far cheaper then an average mmorpg. EQ is only about 12 bucks a month; although they might be expecting star wars galaxies servers to be crowded. Well it's ovious the extra 3 bucks is there to milk the devoted fans.

If you notice the 12 month pricing plan is the similar to it being 12 bucks for an individual month(not exact). Its just a gimmick to get you to purchase the largest quantity of time. I have learned to NEVER buy more then a 3 month plan for any MMORPG. I usually become bored of them by them. I am more of an action-gamer myself. Turn based battles that lack intense strategy become massive snoozers.

I do enjoy the Star Wars movies, but Iam not much of a Star Wars fan. I'll pass on this.

[Crushinator]

QUOTE

15 bucks is pretty steep, but so is the 8~9 bucks for PSO when you consider the difference in server matience and most importantly, bandwith.

You're right. PSO is pretty damn expensive for how little we get as far as updates or benefits as players.

[Mute]

QUOTE (Dive @ Jun 27 2003, 02:19 AM)

What server do you play DAoC on Mute? I played that for a short time and recently thought about getting back into it. About the performance of Galaxies, do you have Jedi Knight 2? I heard that if you get at least 60 fps with that game, you will be fine for Galaxies. I get anywhere from 60-100 fps depending on what area I am in. Like I said though it may be a while before I get it, I don't really want to pay for two online games right now.

I play on Mordred. >=) My buddy says I can have his second account if I wanna reactivate it. He's got a level 47 Shadow Blade on there, so I could really reek some havoc in some PvP battles. Anyways, Jedi Knight 2 didn't run so hot on my PC. It was playable but not too smooth. My system specs aren't the greatest either, since I've had this PC for a while now (specs listed below). I'd love to try out Galaxies, but I may have to wait until Christmas when I can get some extra ca$h to upgrade my PC. ;-)

500 MHz
320 Megs of RAM
TNT 2 Video Card (32 megs) with latest nVidia detonator drivers

[Crushinator]

Ok, my friend just got SWG today, so I got a chance to play it for about 3 hours while I was visiting.

I rescind all bad comments I have made about this game previously, it is just too cool. I am not much of a starwars fan (though I like the original 3 movies), and I generally abhore SW games, but this one seems to be doing everything right. It doesn't throw the "look at me i'm starwars" stuff in your face like most other games...it just feels like you are playing in a cool futuristic setting (not unlike pso!).

Right off the bat, the character creation is excellent. You get to choose from 10 or so races, male or female. Then after that, you get to change the body height (ala PSO), and muscle and weight build, separately. So you can have a fat guy with some muscle, a skinny dude with a pot-belly, or anywhere in between. Each race has different crazy appearance features, as would be expected of a starwars cast, so you can modify these features separately for each race...such as head-tentacles, spikes, ridges, hair, etc. For skin color, you get a HUGE selection of colors to choose from (16+, depends on race), same amount of selections for eye color. Then you can actually change the shape of the face, nose, cheekbones, eye sockets, and other stuff (dependant on race again) to make your character look completely unique. Not just preset faces like on FFXI, or PSO, but you actually use sliders for each feature, infinite possiblities. You can give him an evil look, or wide innocent eyes, super-model chiseled jawline, a n y t h i n g.

After you create your character, you choose your starting planet. There are 5 planets in the game, and you can travel freely among them, provided you can afford a transport . I recognized 2 of the planets names, Tattooine and Naboo, but I'm sure you SW fans could tell me the population and GDP of the other 3. So anyways, after you choose your planet (I chose Tatooine) then you get to choose a starting city. I don't know if the cities listed are the only cities on the planet, or just the biggest ones. I chose Mos Eisley, since its where the first movie starts IIRC.

As for the controls, right mouse button moves you forward, and you rotate the mouse to move the camera/change your heading. You can alternatively use the arrow keys to move your guy in any direction, regardless of the direction of the camera, or just go for the first-person view and then it controls like any FPS or RPG. Object interaction is handled pretty well...for every object there is a default action (such as attack, talk, open, etc) which is activated by double-clicking on it. But there is also a menu of other usable commands which is accessible by holding the mouse button down, which causes a ring of options to appear around it (kinda reminds me of secret of manas menus). The menus are entirely context sensitive, so theres never any options that you can't use.

Character develpment is really cool, and of course the best part of the game. You progress in your selected job by gaining experience in skills related to that job. I think this is what makes me like it so much. So you're a medic? Then you gain levels by healing people and crafting medicines. Entertainer? Gain exp by playing music and dancing! But you are not just limited to your original carreer...after you become adept at certain skills you can move on to more specialized jobs, such as Bio-engineer, Armorsmith, or Smuggler. There are also hybrid job classes, which you gain by getting experienced in other fields...this is how you get a job such as Bounty Hunter or Combat Medic.

You can recieve training in your skills once you level them up enough from NPCs, just like every other MMORPG. However, in SWG once you learn a skill, you are able to teach it to any other player, either for a price, barter, or out of the kindness of your heart This is real advantage to joining a guild or a good party, becuse your teammates can share the wealth with learned skills, and you can save up your money to buy that shiny new laser blaster.

The story of the game is a feud between the empire and the rebels, I think it takes place after the first movie (the good ones). As you do missions, you will encounter agents of different factions (jabba the hutt, sand people, imperial, rebels, etc.) and depending on your actions towards them (helping them, or killing them basically) your rating with those factions rises or falls. Once you get a high enough rating with the imperial or rebel faction, you are aligned to their team, and there are large battles in which you can (and probably should) participate in between the teams, to improve your rating with them. I am not sure of all the benefits of being with either team, but while i was kicking it in the cantina I heard rumblings from a wookie about being able to get stormtrooper armor if you are high enough ranking with the imperials.

The only downsides I can see to this game are, as previously discussed, the steep monthly cost...but also the steep PC reqs. My friends PC that I was playing on was a 2.2 ghz, 512 ram system with a GeForce 4, on DSL, and in the city and especially the cantina, the framerate chugged like hell on the default graphic options. The game looks beautiful, but you need a godly computer to get a solid framerate in even mildly populated areas.

Anyways, I will be playing this game more at his house...my computer is FAR to shitty to run it at all though...maybe some time in the future I will get into it for myself, but I would definetly recommend it to online rpg fans.

[HC82]

The ability to teach players your own skills can be pretty cool. Have you tried out the battling? Also those jobs you can do...what do you actually do as that job? I am refering to the actual gameplay element(ie. In the case of PSO, Comboing attacks together is the basics of attacking an enemy).

I've played many an online mmrpg and despite how many cool features it has, if those features just aren't deep enough in terms of what your actually doing gameplay wise, it becomes stale over time. An example is EQ, being able to create an item is nice...yet all you do is click a button and hope you get lucky and create an item. Despite what you can do(create 100s of unique items), what your really doing is just messing around with menus. I guess iam asking for some more technical info on the gameplay and how fun it actually is interms of a long terms purchase(6+ months playing time).

Not trying to put the game down, iam just curious how SWG did it.

[Crushinator]

Combat is kinda cheesy, MMORPG standard fare I suppose. You click on an enemy to select it, and then use the ring-menu to pick attack (or just double click on the monster) and you character will automatically start shooting/meleeing the enemy with your current weapon. You can move around freely while your char keeps shooting, but it doesn't seem to help much, since you have trouble hitting when you move. Depending on your training in that type of weaponry, you have choices of different attacks which you can que up in the battle command list. I was trained in intermediate Pistol, so I was able to use such skills as "point blank shot", "overcharge blaster shot", and a few other simple moves. You can also que up item uses (like healing items, traps, grenades, etc.) Your class/race/skill level determines how fast you attack, so there is a time delay between each command on the battle que. I think this is similar to how FFXI battle work...turn-based and automatic, but you can "toss in" commands while the battle goes on.

As for the jobs, the 6 base jobs are:

Artisan - This is the job where you build stuff. Weapons, Armor, Droids, Items...even buildings. You can actually build your own store and sell stuff that you make. You gain exp by building stuff, and you can make easy money once you are able to make good things players want to buy (lightsabers? R2D2?) This is the career that I think I will do once I actually get into the game.

Entertainer - I don't know a lot about this job, but you play music and dance to gain exp. Watching entertainers is important because in SWG the only way to heal mental energy and battle fatigue is to relax with music an dance. To make money, other players tip you for your services. I think you get a bonus to quickness and mental strength for choosing this job as well...

Brawler - Melee warrior...pretty obvious. You kill stuff with your bare hands or weapons, and you get exp. You can become a martial artist, swordsman, and some other crazy star wars weapons as well.

Marksman - Range warrior...every character is probably a little bid of a marksman, since your first weapon is a basic blaster. Get exp by killing stuff with guns.

Scout - You gain exp by using "scouting skills" such as animal trapping and resource gathering (taking animal skins, bones, stuff like that). You can also trap animals and keep them as "pets"...the higher level you are, the stronger animals you can capture and control. Of course you can also get rare animals and sell them for cash. You can also build camps and stuff.

Medic - Healing....get exp for helping other players and making healing items. You can demand money for healing as well.

As far as the item crafting goes...It is simply menu based...the quality of the item depends on your skill level in that crafting area, but every time you do it, you gain exp so you get better and better all the time. As far as I played (which isn't much mind you) I could not try to create my own "recipes" I could only choose stuff that I had learned from the trainers and other players.

I didn't get to play it againt oday But hopefully I will get another chance on Sunday or Monday.