posted on Jan, 1 2012 @ 03:52 AM
Here's a little review of my 2 and a half days /played with this game so far.
I had played WoW since August 2005 to around February this year. It was an on and off experience, but now SWTOR is my new online home. I even gave up
BF3 and MW3. I only have time to play one online game if any, and I really had no intentions to play this game but my best friend and cousin picked me
up the game for Xmas with 60 days of game time.
I'm running an older E8400 Core 2 Duo, 4GB of ram, W7 64-bit and a GTX 460 and I'm getting 60 fps with shadows on low. The game looks and runs
great.
Most people want to hear the prominent difference between WoW and TOR. I'm in a mood to type so I'll split this into a few sections. I'm currently
a level 27 Jedi Guardian on server Gardens of Talla. We have a guild with Teamspeak 3 called Void, if anyone is interested in that just message Abydos
or Cezton. We just started and already there's little trolling and a lot of interest in working together, in guild and in questing mode. The way they
have the system causes the player to take hold of a single player approach that's best described as being close to Mass Effect. You can make your SP
quests MP if people wish to join, and it will branch off from single-player based voice overs to multi-player based for the ability to get social
points.
The in-game UI is just like WoW. It looks of a similar template as StarCraft II uses but aside from a few optimistic differences like the mini-map
being on the bottom, and the chat being on the top, you'll get it quickly.
Races and Classes
Available races are Chiss, Cyborg, Human, Miraluka, Mirialan, Rattataki, Sith, Twi'lek and Zabrak.
At first, obvious enough, the plot takes place before the movies, about 3000 years into the past during a constant invasion and cold war with the
Sith. You choose the Light or Dark side and are greeted with a cinematic.
Light side: Trooper, Smuggler, Jedi Consular, Jedi Knight
Dark side: Imperial Agent, Bounty Hunter, Sith Inquisitor, Sith Warrior
Each class gets broken into 2 choices. Ex. Jedi Knight gets either (Jedi) Guardian or Sentinel. For example, the Guardian is a tank/dps peacekeeper
with one light saber. Sentinel is sheer dps with dual wielding light sabers. Once your defining role is chosen you are greeted with 3 talent trees.
This offers a large system of diversity between gameplay. As a Jedi I've been following good decision making, for the good, never against the senate
or other Jedi, and from this I've become Light Level 2. Reversed, I could be a Jedi with Dark Level 2, which would allow me to wield an orange or red
light saber. I can only assume it works in the opposite way.
Even if you made another Light character, the Commando or Consular would differ from the Jedi Knight in many ways. Having created a Bounty Hunter, it
is obvious the major difference between factions... between motives, environment, location, decision options and a different visual experience.
Combat
Combat is standard WSAD to walk, 1-9 and keybindings but the game is compatible with many new mouse and keyboard choices that allow much easier key
binding for the game.
You get at least half of your skills early on, and then it slows down a fair bit. Combat is immersive and there's a lot of visual "finesse" when
swinging light sabers and taking down others, no matter your class. It's much friendlier and more fun in the combat department, more than what WoW
offers, in my opinion. Your companion, droid, human, whatever, can also be a combat partner, to which you can accept them as your padawan.
There's also space combat which is a bit disappointing at present. It's more of a railgun shooter but isn't bad on the eyes and is good for a
mini/bit of daily XP.
Professions
Also called "Crew Skills", they range from Crafting skills like Armortech, Synthweaving, Artifice. From armor to crystals, to mods. There's also
gathering skills, treasure hunting, archaeology, scavenging, bioanalysis, etc. Of the same skills are missions, diplomatic or combat based. You can
have up to 3-4 of your companions gathering or assembling things for you so as it's a large system that makes your character feels more important.
For example, all at once, my companions are on my ship or with me questing... my smaller droid is out doing archaeology, these missions all cost a few
hundred each, he brings back different gems and stones. My other droid is out treasure hunting, while my Padawan is using gems to create new light
saber crystals.
Movement
The world is huge. Places to visit beside the Republic Fleet are any of the 17 planets. These are Tython, Korriban, Hutta, Ord Mantell, Coruscant,
Balmorra, Alderaan, Tatooine, Dromund Kaas, Taris, Belsavis, Voss, Hoth, Nar Shaddaa, Corellia, Ilum and Quesh.
System
PvP is a loose end at present. They've stated that they are working on a matchmaking system of a brand new nature. Presently there are BG- like "War
Zones".