FunkyMonk and I started playing SWTOR (Star Wars: The Old Republic). We were planning on waiting for it to go free to play, but FM saw that it was only about $7 at Target and thought, welll…we could buy the game now and wait for it to go F2P.
And then mid-October, we decided–no, wait. I’m not sure what happened here. But we decided to start playing it anyway. But if we get a subscription for one month, we won’t be charged until the month is over. Before that happens, we could cancel the subscription and won’t have to pay.
>:)~
I’ve being reading all over game blogs/webcomics that it’s not living up to people’s expectations as a “different” MMO. It was not intended to be a WOW clone. And yet, there are still people saying that yes, it’s like WOW. (Since I never played WOW, I don’t have an opinion on that. :o)
As for me, I like it. The combat is fun. I’ve only played as a Jedi (have one character as a human Jedi Knight and the other, a blue Twilek Jedi Consular). The Jedi Knight has the Force leap, so when you’re at a good distance away from your target (not too far, not too close), you can super jump and attack them at the same time. The Jedi Consular can throw chunks of debris at enemies (this seems like it goes against Yoda’s Jedi-never-use-the-Force-for-attack speech, but it seems a lot in this game kinda goes off into its own universe*).
*I almost freakin’ remember the Jedi homeworld being Ossus, not Tython.
The thing that wigs me out in this game? There are instances (called “phases”), where by default, only one member of each advanced class can enter. But wait! You can check something in the preferences you can have more players from the same class in the same instance!
But only the owner of the instance can progress through the plot in the instance. D: If it’s to turn in a mission, only the instance owner can turn in the mission. You can watch the cutscene, but you would have to be in your own instance to turn in your own mission. (Yes, even if you’re in the same party.)
On the one hand, I can kinda see this. Bioware seems to like using these dialogue trees in their games (Dragon Age has them and so does Mass Effect). Whatever options you choose affect your relationships with characters and your affiliation with the Light Side or Dark Side of the Force.
But…in dungeon-like areas (that are instanced off from the rest of the game), all party members can choose their own dialogue options and watch random characters from their group act out the dialogue. So…
ship captain: “We need to shut down the capacitors!”
me: *chooses a dialogue option*
Mr. Giantpaper: *choose a dialogue option*
[on my side] Mr. Giantpaper’s character: *says whatever I chose*
[on Mr. Giantpaper’s side] Mr. Giantpaper’s character: *says whatever he chose*
And if we choose the same option, we get social points (which I dunno the purpose of)!
(The character that speaks seems to be randomly chosen. I don’t even know if FM and I see the same character speak at a time. :o)
Why couldn’t the other instance’d areas be like this? It kinda destroys the purpose of a massively multiplayer online game, don’t you think?
So now playing this with FM (at least, until the month is up) and Champions Online. One of the things I like in that second MMO is my character has super running and super jumping powers (the acrobatic travel power). When I exit CO to play TOR with FM, I suddenly feel sluggish, like I weigh 500lbs. I’m glad there are two types of fast travel systems, but ughhhhhhhh, you mean I have to WALK to the taxi station (and the fast travel ability takes about an hour to cooldown)?