I’ve been enjoying the new content in the Lord of the Rings Online but I’ve also been poking around for something different.  I’ve spent a lot of time playing game in the fantasy genre (WoW, EQ2 and LotRO) and wanted to see what things were like in some of the Science Fiction games I hadn’t picked up.  I had an unused fourteen day trial of Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) sitting around so I thought I’d give it a go.

Once the software was all set up, I logged in; created a character on the first server recommended to me and away I went.  The first character I made was a smuggler.  Smuggler at first seemed like a really cool choice.  I could do a decent amount of damage (both ranged and melee).  The intro quests had me helping out Han Solo and Chewbacca.  I shot down TIE fighters, got parts for the Millennium Falcon and did a bunch of standard MMO-type quests (kill ten x, get parts by killing, click-the-glowy, etc.).

Once I made it to Tatooine, I decided I didn’t like my smuggler.  I rolled him as a squid-looking guy and didn’t really feel like looking at him the whole time.  While I was in town I also noticed that there was basically no one else there.  There were a couple of lowbies like me, but running into people was a rarity.

I made a bounty hunter on a different server.  Bounty hunters also seemed pretty cool.  They have lots of ranged damage and snares.  Their armor also looked cool and the fact that I chose a human this go-around also improved my disposition towards the character.  Away I went, blasting the snot out of stuff for Han and Chewie and also getting to interact with Boba Fett this time.  This time I also started running the space missions right in the tutorial.  Very cool!  One of the things that keep me from trying out Eve Online is the lack (as far as I know) of personal avatars.  You are your ship, it would seem.  SWG allows characters to play as a normal walking-around toon or to be in their spaceships.  I like it.

Once out of the tutorial as my bounty hunter, I was again greeted by a low population world.  As I did more quests without seeing another living soul, I decided that, while the bounty hunter was interesting, it wasn’t going to be my thing.  So I rerolled again.

This time, I ignored the recommended server thing and went to the server list.  All the servers had “light” or “very light” loads except one which was marked “medium.”  That’s the one I picked.  When I arrived in Mos Eisely, it was packed with players doing your typical MMO stuff (dancing, dueling, etc).  I was in a world again.  *GLEE*

Also this time, I created a Jedi (LINK).  He’s now level fifteen.  I find it odd that in a science fiction game I’m sticking with a character that plays mostly like a fantasy character.  He has melee attacks and an electricity-looking attack too.  He’s got a couple of different stances but I’m not sure yet what they do.  One has an icon that looks like a guy in a mask; the other has an icon that looks like a smiling jelly fish.  Since I like guys in masks better than jelly fish (Even though it’s smiling, can you really trust a jelly fish?), I went with the guy in the mask.  I got to use my awesome Jedi powers to kill ten of a number of things, find many parts and even click on a few things that were glowing.

Stuff I like:
Thus far, I’m enjoying the Jedi class.  The game also has an appearance slot system available right at character creation so I’ve been working on getting him a look that suggests powerful Jedi master even though he’s a lowbie.  Another thing I really liked was access to transportation.  My very first quest out of the tutorial was to build myself a landspeeder.  It’s good that a game-maker realizes that players like their mounts and extras.  The world(s) themselves are also impressive.  Tatooine is HUGE.  I’ve completed a dozen or more quests and ranged all over the place and still haven’t seen but a quarter of the planet yet.

Another thing I really like is the spaceship system they have.  Each character has access to a little fighter spaceship.  You can use the fighter to complete pilot missions (available at first from the freelance pilot trainer in Mos Eisley) to get ranked in space combat.  For some reason, I was also given a luxury space yacht.  Once I’m in space with my yacht, I can actually step away from the fight console and walk around in my spaceship with my toon!  It’s pretty sweet.  As I change the altitude and trajectory of the ship, the view outside changes.  One time I located a fellow yacht owner and parked along side him in space.  I could look over his ship though the windows in my ship and I walked around inside it.  Also, as a ship owner, I visited other planets (Dantooine, and a couple I can’t recall the names of).  It was a lot of fun, though exploring the other planets usually meant me driving out from town a ways and then fleeing back inside as some purple-con mob decided to eat me.

Stuff I’m lukewarm about:
The graphics are dated.  The character models don’t interest me that much and the animations are a bit clunky.  They’re not horrible, but at the same time, it’s easy to tell the game is five or more years old.

Most of the quests are kill-ten-x or click the glowy types.  I’m not sure I can get into another game like this.  Were it not for the lore, I likely wouldn’t be playing LotRO either.  I like the Star Wars lore but I’m not sure I like it enough to commit to a generic play MMO about it even if I can be a space-flying, landspeeder-driving Jedi.

Like EQ2, another SoE game, SWG is a tad light on player help.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it forced me to think about where I could find things (like the pilot mission guy or to figure out which selections to make when I had profession points to spend.  I don’t like relying on external info when playing games so some of the information lack may get on my nerves a bit over time.  There’s no information about what zone or area might interest me next.  Given the size of the planet, it could take a LOT of exploring to find things to do from one area to the next.  Again, it’s not necessarily bad to push players to explore and think things though and, as someone who enjoys exploring, I may actually come to like it.  It’s just that there are some times when I really want to advance the character over anything else and lack information about where to go next to gain XP can be a substantial roadblock.

Stuff I dislike:
Nothing really jumped out at me screaming “this sucks.”  Other than its generic MMO-ishness, I thought it seemed like a good game.

 
SWG seems like it would be fun but I’m not sure I’ll be paying for it once it comes time to fork over cash or get out.  Space flight and having a walking-around toon seem neat and the combat was fun in both avatar and spaceship form.  I found the people on the medium population server to be friendly and helpful so, if I do stay, I will have picked a good place to play.  The downside is that more time for SWG means less time for LotRO – although as a lifetime member in LotRO, I don’t have a monthly subscription so picking up SWG to play occasionally wouldn’t be a bad thing as long as there’s stuff I enjoy about the game.  I’ll just have to wait and see what happens.  Next I’m due to pick a faction to fight for.  Hrm … perhaps I’ll try to be the first Sith lord to join the rebellion.

*dreamfade*

Rebel captain: “The Empire is breaking through!”

Darth Khan: “Curse those handsome devils and their highly-charismatic leadership!!”

*awkward silence*

Rebels (all): “Get him!!”

Darth Khan: “Aieeeeee!”  *flees*

*end dreamfade*