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Review from longtime beta tester for Old Republic


I’ve been playing in beta since mid summer and have played quite a bit.


 


Here is my review:


 


Classes:


 


Lightsaber classes (yes, all of them) – I was really anticipating all the lightsaber classes, especially the tank oriented ones, but found that, although the concept is great, the final outcome wasn’t.  The most unfortunate part about these classes is that all 1h lightsabers look the same and all 2h lightsabers look the same.  You’ll never get a shiny new cool looking weapon…ever…just another lightsaber.  After realizing this, I quickly switched to the Trooper class where I stayed for the rest of beta.


 


Trooper class – The most enjoyable class for me.  A lot of fun skills like the sticky grenade and good solo ability.


 


I cannot comment on the other classes, didn’t play them.


 


Gameplay:


 


The gameplay is pretty linear and about as cookie cutter as it gets.   Kill x of y quests, fetch quests….it’s just the way MMO’s are made.  As for the linear part, not my style…Rift had the same thing going and quickly got old. Old Republic isn’t an exception.  Questing got old fast especially since the leveling gets pretty slow once you hit about level 12 or so. 


 


Skills are pretty nice, but there is a definite rotation and it starts to become obvious sooner than later.  This can add redundancy to killing mobs. 


 


The mobs can also do this, since the AI for the mobs is wayyyy below par.  They are dumb and all you to do is kill them before they kill you.  It even felt this way in the Flashpoints (that’s the name of the instanced team areas, right) with the main bosses.  (sorry forget the actual name of them…haven’t played for about a month). 


 


There is a great part of the flashpoints and that is the conversations you’ll have where you choose a dialogue option and whoever lands the highest roll has their dialogue option chosen.  I always chose dark side so at times Id get to decide to kill some people, even though I didn’t have to…good times.


 


Graphics – they are good and get the job done well.  It’s very much like the new animated star wars cartoons with slightly more realism involved.  Monsters look awesome and the background area is also nice eye candy.  I did notice that the sky appeared to be a static image which was kinda cheesy.


 


Sound – It’s Star Wars…always great sound…


 


Skill tree system – it is what it is….there is only so much a designer can do with a skill tree.   Rift went wayyyyy overboard and pretty complicated something it didn’t need to since cookie cutter builds were prevalent in that game, so Star Wars kept it simple and didn’t go way out there.


 


PVP – Imma care bear…nuff said.


 


Overall – If you want an MMO that’s just good enough to keep the blood flowing, go for it, but Republic is nothing new, nothing overly exciting and you won’t be refreshed or blown away.  It’s like any other main stream, theme park MMO and if that’s what you are looking for, but with a Star Wars theme, it’s all you.  I’d recommend that if you don’t want that, don’t waste your time buying the game.  Lately, I just stick to FTP MMO’s…they hold my attention just as long/little as PTP MMO’s do and I do spend a dime.

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Comments

  • PoufPouf Member Posts: 341

    I do not wanna troll , but that doesnt say a lot for a longtime beta tester...

     

    I did not find leveling long past level 12.. I didnt even see that much of a difference ( i was 17 at the end of the weekend ) 

     

    Bioware said it was taking around 200 hours to get to level 50 ( 9 days /played ) wich is okay.. Not too long not too fast. And this is probably by watching all the cutscenes... So i do not find leveling long at all

     

    I loved so far lightsabers more than trooper because i just love how this game is fun at melee ( sooo many mmo sucks at melee fights).

    I did play trooper too and l love how you can easily move while fighting..

    I didnt like the smuggler principle that you almost always need to cover to attack 

  • mmoguy43mmoguy43 Member UncommonPosts: 2,770

    I reject your "review" because you don't even mention character story.

  • IsawaIsawa Member UncommonPosts: 1,051

    Originally posted by chaod1984



    nothing overly exciting and you won’t be refreshed or blown away.

    Don't have much against it, other than the part where you speak for others. Oh, and alll of the kill this and that quests, which I did, did not involve talking to npcs nor did they require me turning them in. Definitely a nice change there.

    So you felt the game was linear, but do you have any comments on the story? Light side / dark side etc?

  • chaod1984chaod1984 Member Posts: 271

    Originally posted by eluldor

     but do you have any comments on the story? Light side / dark side etc?

    Sorry, I'm not much for story, just a fun game.  I don't really get into the story much.  I guess it was good...Waiting for the npc to stop talking so I could go kill stuff got pretty old.

    As for leveling becoming slow...it probably felt slow because I play alot of FTP MMO's and leveling til about mid-way through the level scale is typically lightning fast....so this felt very slow compared to that.   I might just not be used to that.

  • MardukkMardukk Member RarePosts: 2,222

    Not so sure about your review.  It seemed to miss some key points of the game. 

     

    From what I've seen it appears to be a solid foundation for a good themepark style MMO.  It's especially refreshing for those of us tired of evles and dwarves and the fantasy setting.  Not to mention I personally find Star Wars lore considerably more interesting than any of these other MMO's outside of maybe Lord of the Rings.

     

    I think many people are too used to MMO's that have been out for 5+ years and expect this game to lauch with more content than is possible.  I have big hopes for the direction they could take this game,  hopefully expanding the space combat portion of the game to a more TIE Fighter/X Wing style and making space exploration eventually viable.

     

    I thought almost every child of the late 70's and 80's wanted a chance to be a character in the Star Wars universe (althought I'm suprised at the amount of Star Wars haters out there).  I did play SWG back in the day but it didn't feel like Star Wars at all...great housing though, every game should model it.

  • Biggus99Biggus99 Member Posts: 916

    You played beta far longer than I did, so I'll respect your opinion, but there are a few  points I definitely disagree with that I feel confident bringing up:

    1.  "Kill X amount of Y quest"---these aren't forced on you.  They are simply bonus quest you get while doing your primary quest, and you don't have to go out of your way to complete them.  Most of the time, you complete them while doing your primary quest.  You don't get these types of quest from npcs, and completing these bonus quests don't grant you anything other than xp.  This is a great system they have, and a nice change from other MMOs.

    2.  Mob AI:  They tuned up the mobs in the build for the last beta weekend, and added specific unique mechanics to the tougher mobs.  It is no longer a stroll in the park, and you can get killed by regular mobs now if you aren't paying attention to what you are doing.  

    3.  PvP---Open world pvp objectives on Ilum + a new FFA PvP zone on Tatooine where you can attack anyone, even your own faction, is not my definition of "carebear."  

    4.  You didn't comment on the best feature of the game:  The story.  It makes questing better, it makes flashpoints better, it improves the entire game.  Kind of a big deal to not comment on.  If you aren't big on story, and find yourself just waiting for the npc to stop talking or skipping the dialogue completely, then you simply wont' enjoy this game like you should.  Which is fine, because not everyone is big on story elements.  But I would definitely recommend that if you find yourself wanting to power level and don't care about the story, this won't be the game for you.

  • goblagobla Member UncommonPosts: 1,412

    Originally posted by chaod1984

    Originally posted by eluldor

     but do you have any comments on the story? Light side / dark side etc?

    Sorry, I'm not much for story, just a fun game.  I don't really get into the story much.  I guess it was good...Waiting for the npc to stop talking so I could go kill stuff got pretty old.

    As for leveling becoming slow...it probably felt slow because I play alot of FTP MMO's and leveling til about mid-way through the level scale is typically lightning fast....so this felt very slow compared to that.   I might just not be used to that.

    Seems to match with most other things we've heard.

    If you don't like story and wish to rush to max level you shouldn't be playing a story-based MMO.

    We are the bunny.
    Resistance is futile.
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  • SlybaconSlybacon Member Posts: 48

    You do raise a good point about lightsabers all being the same,  I guess there is not much they can really do with them except change the color, different glow effects will only offer so much variaty but if you are not a "must look the most awesomest ever" person i guess any standard lightsaber is pretty great in itself.

    Im still 50/50 if i will pick this up as its only something to hold me over until Diablo 3 comes out hmm

     

    slybacongaming.blogspot.com

  • FaidianFaidian Member UncommonPosts: 20

    I think your review is a little sub-par, you didn't go over a whole lot or in detail about what you did go over.  Also, the fact that you're not "into story" and Bioware is selling this game as a "Story-driven MMO" means that this game isn't for you already and therefore makes your review a little on the bias side.  

  • chaod1984chaod1984 Member Posts: 271

    Originally posted by Biggus99

    You played beta far longer than I did, so I'll respect your opinion, but there are a few  points I definitely disagree with that I feel confident bringing up:

    1.  "Kill X amount of Y quest"---these aren't forced on you.  They are simply bonus quest you get while doing your primary quest, and you don't have to go out of your way to complete them.  Most of the time, you complete them while doing your primary quest.  You don't get these types of quest from npcs, and completing these bonus quests don't grant you anything other than xp.  This is a great system they have, and a nice change from other MMOs.

    You are still going out and killing monsters over an over again to gain quest experience...tell me where I am wrong with that???  Sure receiving a quest is different, but the actual quests are standard fair man.

    2.  Mob AI:  They tuned up the mobs in the build for the last beta weekend, and added specific unique mechanics to the tougher mobs.  It is no longer a stroll in the park, and you can get killed by regular mobs now if you aren't paying attention to what you are doing.  

    That's good to hear...But you can admit that mobs were dopes back in beta?

    3.  PvP---Open world pvp objectives on Ilum + a new FFA PvP zone on Tatooine where you can attack anyone, even your own faction, is not my definition of "carebear."  

    Imma carebear man....not the game :P....I don't ever PVP...sorry if I didnt make that clear enough

    4.  You didn't comment on the best feature of the game:  The story.  It makes questing better, it makes flashpoints better, it improves the entire game.  Kind of a big deal to not comment on.  

    Sorry, story has NEVER been my thing....I like a visual story, not a written or told story...I like the game setting to tell a story....I'd say that Anarchy Online was best at doing that with their Dungeons.  hard to explain....just not much of a story person.

     

  • chaod1984chaod1984 Member Posts: 271

    Originally posted by Faidian

    I think your review is a little sub-par, you didn't go over a whole lot or in detail about what you did go over.  Also, the fact that you're not "into story" and Bioware is selling this game as a "Story-driven MMO" means that this game isn't for you already and therefore makes your review a little on the bias side.  

    If you want a story, read a book...A good story does not make an MMO worth playing.  The game itself minus the story, doesnt lack, but it also doesn't at all excel.  As for details, Im not a detail oriented person....I have chest hair and dig chicks.

  • pierthpierth Member UncommonPosts: 1,494

    Originally posted by chaod1984

    Originally posted by Faidian

    I think your review is a little sub-par, you didn't go over a whole lot or in detail about what you did go over.  Also, the fact that you're not "into story" and Bioware is selling this game as a "Story-driven MMO" means that this game isn't for you already and therefore makes your review a little on the bias side.  

    If you want a story, read a book...A good story does not make an MMO worth playing.  The game itself minus the story, doesnt lack, but it also doesn't at all excel.  As for details, Im not a detail oriented person....I have chest hair and dig chicks.

    I think this falls into the category of "not all games are intended for all players." One of the biggest hooks hyped regarding TOR is the stories and how much more intricate they are than other cookie-cutter themepark MMOs- that is a selling point. If you aren't interested in story then of course this wouldn't be a game that stands out for you.

     

    I agree that a good story doesn't make a MMO worth playing. There should definitely be a good amount of lore/backstory for the environment and that lore should be held to- the stories should by and large be something that comes from the players. There are currently zero quest arcs from any MMO that are memorable to me, whereas events and things that happened to me, my guild, and friends are the truly memorable "stories."

     

    I found your review to be accurate from what you posted, though. I played a beta weekend last month only and saw that this game offers nothing more to me than other solo-to-cap themeparks. Maybe a bit more replayability (alts) than others because of story differences.

  • chaod1984chaod1984 Member Posts: 271

    Originally posted by pierth

    Originally posted by chaod1984

    Originally posted by Faidian

    I think your review is a little sub-par, you didn't go over a whole lot or in detail about what you did go over.  Also, the fact that you're not "into story" and Bioware is selling this game as a "Story-driven MMO" means that this game isn't for you already and therefore makes your review a little on the bias side.  

    If you want a story, read a book...A good story does not make an MMO worth playing.  The game itself minus the story, doesnt lack, but it also doesn't at all excel.  As for details, Im not a detail oriented person....I have chest hair and dig chicks.

    I think this falls into the category of "not all games are intended for all players." One of the biggest hooks hyped regarding TOR is the stories and how much more intricate they are than other cookie-cutter themepark MMOs- that is a selling point. If you aren't interested in story then of course this wouldn't be a game that stands out for you.

     

    I agree that a good story doesn't make a MMO worth playing. There should definitely be a good amount of lore/backstory for the environment and that lore should be held to- the stories should by and large be something that comes from the players. There are currently zero quest arcs from any MMO that are memorable to me, whereas events and things that happened to me, my guild, and friends are the truly memorable "stories."

     

    I found your review to be accurate from what you posted, though. I played a beta weekend last month only and saw that this game offers nothing more to me than other solo-to-cap themeparks. Maybe a bit more replayability (alts) than others because of story differences.

    Yeah, i should have added in my review that im not a story person.  Like I said, I love a visual story.  Imma big fan of Funcom because of that...whereas many hate Funcom to death. 

    Like you said, it's just another MMO.  That's not at all a bad thing, but it's nothing groundbreaking.  I think the genre itself is starting to show it's limitations and all MMO's are suffering from it.

  • Laughing-manLaughing-man Member RarePosts: 3,654

    Originally posted by chaod1984

    Originally posted by Faidian

    I think your review is a little sub-par, you didn't go over a whole lot or in detail about what you did go over.  Also, the fact that you're not "into story" and Bioware is selling this game as a "Story-driven MMO" means that this game isn't for you already and therefore makes your review a little on the bias side.  

    If you want a story, read a book...A good story does not make an MMO worth playing.

    It does if thats the reason you buy it...

  • VegettaVegetta Member Posts: 438


    Originally posted by mmoguy43
    I reject your "review" because you don't even mention character story.

    I didn't like the story at all
    Sith Inquisitor story is pretty dismal :(

    One thing I think that people do not realize is that the actual class story part of the game is only about 10% of your quest content. The remaining 90% of the quests (story) is the same for every class.

    Because of this Re-rolling on the same faction can be a bit tedious.

    image

  • DraemosDraemos Member UncommonPosts: 1,521

    Originally posted by chaod1984

    Originally posted by eluldor

     but do you have any comments on the story? Light side / dark side etc?

    Sorry, I'm not much for story, just a fun game.  I don't really get into the story much.  I guess it was good...Waiting for the npc to stop talking so I could go kill stuff got pretty old.

    As for leveling becoming slow...it probably felt slow because I play alot of FTP MMO's and leveling til about mid-way through the level scale is typically lightning fast....so this felt very slow compared to that.   I might just not be used to that.

    Why did you even play this game then?

  • DraemosDraemos Member UncommonPosts: 1,521

    Originally posted by chaod1984

    If you want a story, read a book...A good story does not make an MMO worth playing.  

    That must be why Bioware has been so unsuccessful in the gaming market... oh wait...

     

    Seriously, why in the hell would you play a Bioware game, and then review a Bioware game, if you have no interest in storyline?  It would be like me reviewing Portal 2 when I hate puzzle games.

  • PainlezzPainlezz Member UncommonPosts: 646

    Sadly, I fully agree with every negative thing said about this game and disagree with every counter argument.

    As stated:

    The "story" in this game is actually a VERY small part of each character/class.  A vast majority of the game is shared questing/stories.  You play it once and you've pretty much seen it all

    Combat: 

    Mob AI is pretty bad.  You can die, yes, but only because they have more hp/damage than you do.  Didn't once encounter anything that could have killed me bacause it used tactics or abilities that I had to avoid or counter in order to survive.

    Skill usage -> Skills are very boring.  You can play to 10 and on almost any class it won't matter what order or combination you spam buttons and wait for cooldowns in.  I'm sure endgame with full talent trees will require a set rotation to get the highest DPS.  But the grind to max level should require some brain power during combat.  Face-roll on the keyboard wasn't enjoyable.

     

    Some good notes:

    Crafting seems pretty decent.  Doesn't look like you have to stand around AFK while progress bars complete.  You send companions off to do timed missions (same progress bar) but you can do other things while they're away.

    This is now a WoW killer, which means GW2 will have plenty of people to play it!  And DIablo 3 as well!

  • eddieg50eddieg50 Member UncommonPosts: 1,809

      BIG STAMP SLAMMING DOWN AND IT SAYS--------Op review not relevant! And imcompleate

  • maskedweaselmaskedweasel Member LegendaryPosts: 12,173

    Originally posted by Painlezz

    Sadly, I fully agree with every negative thing said about this game and disagree with every counter argument.

    As stated:

    The "story" in this game is actually a VERY small part of each character/class.  A vast majority of the game is shared questing/stories.  You play it once and you've pretty much seen it all

    Combat: 

    Mob AI is pretty bad.  You can die, yes, but only because they have more hp/damage than you do.  Didn't once encounter anything that could have killed me bacause it used tactics or abilities that I had to avoid or counter in order to survive.

    As you get to the higher levels you find mobs using a lot better tactics and some bosses that you have to do something specific to beat them or they will literally, 1 hit kill you... its not always that they just have more health.

     

    Skill usage -> Skills are very boring.  You can play to 10 and on almost any class it won't matter what order or combination you spam buttons and wait for cooldowns in.  I'm sure endgame with full talent trees will require a set rotation to get the highest DPS.  But the grind to max level should require some brain power during combat.  Face-roll on the keyboard wasn't enjoyable.

     

    Its more than just a rotation,  nearing end game, you have to pay attention to the mobs.. they also have healers, they also have tanks and CC.  If you just spam a rotation you'll die.. you need to know your abilities and plan ahead of time. 

     

    Some good notes:

    Crafting seems pretty decent.  Doesn't look like you have to stand around AFK while progress bars complete.  You send companions off to do timed missions (same progress bar) but you can do other things while they're away.

    This is now a WoW killer, which means GW2 will have plenty of people to play it!  And DIablo 3 as well!

     



  • Honeymoon69Honeymoon69 Member Posts: 647
    up to level 25 was fun , at level 30 omg same quests over and over and over is this just another WoW clone?, at 40 damn when will I hit 50?, at 50 wow time to cancel and move on to other mmo. I see about 35% cancel after the 1st month.


  • xZeRGzxZeRGz Member Posts: 118

    Pretty much how I felt as well... The only thing I can say is if you have any experience playing mmo's, you've played swtor before. That's not saying the game is broken or terrible. It actually it functions pretty well. I cannot think of anything broken-wise off the top of my head... just a lot of been there, done that.

     

    My opinion

  • corqcorq Member UncommonPosts: 6

    Originally posted by chaod1984

    Originally posted by eluldor

     but do you have any comments on the story? Light side / dark side etc?

    Sorry, I'm not much for story, just a fun game.  I don't really get into the story much.  I guess it was good...Waiting for the npc to stop talking so I could go kill stuff got pretty old.

    As for leveling becoming slow...it probably felt slow because I play alot of FTP MMO's and leveling til about mid-way through the level scale is typically lightning fast....so this felt very slow compared to that.   I might just not be used to that.

    Hmm... I thought the "story" part was one of Biowares biggest selling points. Seems this game isn't for you at all then.

  • WizardryWizardry Member LegendaryPosts: 19,332

    From the latest stuff i have seen  ,i got exactly the same feeling of this game as the OP.I knew this before the game was even playble,Bioware would deliver a linear console type game and it seriously looks like that.

    I still see some people talk about story,well i was already getting the feeling that dialogue was boring and i would rather hurry through it becuase it had little meaning.he mentions he picked dark so he could killa few,hmm i don't think you need to wait for dialogue to kill something in a game.

    IDK this just looks more and more less EPIC for a great IP,looks more like a typical Bioware game to me.Yes playable ,but VERY average game design.I wonder if all these Beta testers are going to remain excited enough to go back and do this again on release?I do not see this game as having any longevity at all,maybe for those that find pvp fun,i don't care for pvp unless it has really good maps,something SWTOR doesn't seem to have.

    Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.

  • MetentsoMetentso Member UncommonPosts: 1,437
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