Star Wars: The Old Republic review part 2

Last time I explained some of the ground work that The Old Republic does before letting you out into the big wide galaxy. It lays down the basic “rule set” for you chosen class and introduces the story beats you will be following for the next hundred or so hours. With a fairly firm grasp of the game under my belt I set myself to exploring the “massive” part of the game and discovered that sometimes people are nice on the internet.

I started a new character in a move that is apparently known as “re-rolling”. I did this with the intention of doing some of the lower level group content lest I jump into something way out of my league with my main character who was hovering around something like level thirty. This involved doing some of the first heroic quests in the game and spending around twenty minutes spamming “LFG (looking for group) quest name”. It took a surpringly long time to round up a posse of four people; this is probably the most severe problem I’ve encountered with the game so far. I think it’s down to the instancing of the game since the server activity list is always constantly going between heavy and “very heavy”. This problem became far less severe when I met up with a solid group that I continued to hang around with.

The group dynamic is really pretty fun with each character playing a different role. Some “tank” which means they have high health and are designed to draw the attention of enemies. My character filled the role of DPS which meant I hit hard but couldn’t take punishment myself which meant I relied on a healer to their job and a tank to keep enemies away. It’s a time tested formula but one that works and really comes into it’s own when you are joining up with a group and seeing snippets of their own class stories. It began to feel like we were a Star Wars team made up from Sith, bounty hunters and a duplicitous agent. I would love to see some kind of group storyline be implemented somewhere down the road to extenuate this feeling even further.

Next up we rolled into some of the games “Flashpoints” which are big, marquee quests that throw your group into a crazy situation. The first of these on the Sith side is called the “Black Talon” flashpoint and sees your group fighting their way through a stricken starship. Along the way you get to decide whether to flush someone out an airlock amongst other decisions. I knew I was with a good group when we constantly unanimously decided to do the dark side option. If you are in a more morally diverse group a random roll decides on what player gets to decide the outcome of a conversation. The flashpoints I’ve played decline in quality right around the middle of the game but have since started picking up again.

The technology and designs in the game are just reminiscent enough of tech and designs from classic Star Wars.

Aside from tooling around with my group I have also turned into an starship ace while also maintaining a life as a kind of intergalactic Delboy on the side. The space combat plays like Star Fox or perhaps more relevantly the space sections of Rebel Assault. You are given a few objectives, usually stuff like shoot down X number of enemy fighters or disable systems on an enemy capital ship. I found these sections fun and a nice way of changing the pace but there is no denying that they are nothing more than pretty shooting galleries with a Star Wars theme but for being side-content in an MMO that’s still incredibly impressive. They can be accessed anytime and helpfully tell you what level of upgrade your ship should be carrying before taking them on.

They were especially welcome when I felt bored with the planet I was on, which would usually happen towards the end of my time there which usually took around fifteen or so hours. There’s no doubt that things can become a bit of a slog, especially when you return to the space port eager to to continue your story only to be told more quests are available in what is termed a planet’s “bonus series”. Thankfully, the game has enough to do on the side so you can detox before jumping back into these additional missions, like selling all your stuff to other players!

When I wasn’t in space I was at the Galactic Trade Network selling stuff my droid companion had collected on his crafting missions. I quickly found that raw materials sold for a far higher price than actual items so took to selling massive stacks of the various materials for gigantic profits. Few things are as satisfying as seeing your in-game mail indicator light up and knowing that it’s going to contain 20,000 credits. Consequently I have access to excellent gear and, more importantly, gear that can be modified. It’s good to be powerful but even better to be powerful because of changes you have made to your own gear.

A Sith Assassin always cuts a deadly figure but it's even better when it's something you have made and upgraded yourself.

I really hope that Star Wars: The Old Republic is a success. I have deeply enjoyed the time I have spent within the game and will continue playing until I am bored of it. Before I jumped in I was massively opposed to the idea of a monthly subscription but can see that the huge amount of content on offer in The Old Republic really justifies it. The player count is still strong and everyone talking on chat seems happy with the game, just don’t mention World of Warcraft in a positive light unless you want to start a flame war in the chat. I’ll say again that I really think Star Wars: The Old Republic is the furthest the genre has come in it’s modern form. It offers a stable, fun and good-looking experience set in one of the most enduringly popular fictional universe ever created and I think that is at least worth a look for a month or two. We’ll be checking back in with the game in Summer to see how it’s doing but for right now I’m giving it a definite thumbs up.