Image courtesy of SWTOR

It was simply an opportunity that couldn’t be passed up.  My wife’s computer was getting ready to convert to the dark side as it was having difficulty turning on and remaining powered up.  Because of that, we headed out to get her another computer, something more up to the times.  So low and behold we were getting ready to check out with a new quad-core processor tower a 23″ LED monitor and I kept glancing over to the software titles when my wife asked why.  I quickly ran over and came back with Star Wars:  The Old Republic in my hands.  She agreed and I soon had the galaxies newest Jedi Knight on my screen, a male Miraluka named Jetsi.  That was a month ago and since then I now have a Level 38 Jedi Sentinel on the Vrook Lamar server, look me up if you are in the neighborhood.

I have been dabbling in the Star Wars Combine, a browser-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) economic simulation for more time than I care to admit but I had no experience with a graphics based MMORPG with open terrain, battle, etc.  SWTOR is looking to take on World of Warcraft by offering a fully voiced MMORPG, where every character you meet talks to you and you interact with them by choosing your response where WoW only offers text.  I made many rookie (newbie) mistakes and had to ask a lot of questions to those who I was playing with about many aspects of the games operation.  So, with the background out of the way, you are probably wondering what my thoughts are about the game.  Here they are in no particular order:

• The game is a time stealer!  I know my posting here over the last few weeks suffered but that wasn’t due to SWTOR as I usually make my posts on layovers (yesterday was Cleveland and today is Indianapolis) while at work and the last few weeks has been very hectic with international layovers with spotty internet and some vacation time.  While at home, however, there is a different story.  My wife and I compete for the computer some times since it is “her” station but it is the only computer that I can play on.  I also feel compelled to put every spare moment I have into it because of the $15 monthly subscription, therefore I feel I am missing out if I am paying and not playing.  Perhaps as the newness wears off the allure will lower some as well.  This was a concern of mine early on, I posted about it earlier when the game’s release date was finally announced.  It looks like I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain but I felt it was an opportunity not to be wasted.  It might also cause a hard choice to be made later should I feel a separation is necessary.
• The game is incredibly immersive.  You get to see and explore worlds that you have only glimpsed, like Alderaan from the last seconds of Revenge of the Sith, along with worlds that are very familiar to you, such as Tatooine and Coruscant.  One thing I didn’t know about MMORPGs before this is that there is a lot of travel between your tasks.  Normally this would bother me as it would be boring, but by listening to the background music which has soundtracks from the movies and original works that were definitely influenced by John Williams while looking around at the beauty of the landscape makes it quite enjoyable.  More than once I have simply set off in a certain direction just to see what I could see, whether it be the binary suns of Tatooine or the temple ruins of Tython.  Accompanying the concept of sound is the fully-voiced Non-Player Character (NPC) interaction which contains over 4,000 spoken lines, something unheard of until SWTOR came out, which draws you in and helps you develop a connection with the characters.
• The Jedi Knight class can teach you something.  You are constantly given choices in the game and these games influence your alignment with the Force.  Make too many bad choices and your Jedi Knight can turn to the Dark side of the Force, but a switch can also be made between the Sith to the Light side.  Throughout all of these conversations with the NPCs you have to make some hard choices.  Do you save the lives of some Imperial prisoners or do you abandon them to Colicoids to prevent a risk to your own skin is just one example of a choice that I recently had to make?  Not all of them are black and white, easy choices to make.  And sometimes I have made the wrong one myself.  However, if you listen to that your Jedi Knight has to say, along with the other Jedi in the game, they impart some great wisdom.
• There is definitely the concept of replay value within the game.  Right now your character tops out at Level 50 while WoW goes to at least Level 80.  Even if they don’t make downloadable content (DLC) such as new races, classes, map expansion packs, new quests, legacy content, etc. available there will still be plenty of the game left to play once your first character tops out.  Like I mentioned earlier you can take your character and change their alignment throughout the game, either from bad to good or good to bad.  I also have seven other classes, different sub-classes, and eight other playable species to try out and certain areas of the map are restricted to certain classes (I don’t know if there are any race/map restrictions).  Put all together that offers 144 different variations that can be done throughout one game if my math is correct.

Those are my initial thoughts after one month of playing The Old Republic.  If you are a Star Wars fan this is an experience that you must have.  You can buy the game for $39.99 on Amazon or download the game directly from the Star Wars:  The Old Republic website.  If you want to give the game a try they are offering many opportunities to play the game for free, this weekend is one of them and you can find more information by clicking here.  I am certain you will enjoy the game as much as I do.