Star Wars. MMORPG. BioWare. Star Wars: The Old Republic. The Force is strong in this one, as EA’s ambitious online offering featuring one of the most popular sci-fi franchises of all time is set to officially launch in just a few hours. Newcomers to the genre prepare to take up lightsabers and don Twi’lek garb while MMORPG veterans wonder if it’s just par for the course fare (Read: "WoW clone") set in space. The truth is, while Star Wars: The Old Republic has plenty of “standard” MMORPG aspects – it’s a whole new game of Huttball.
Before we get going let’s make it clear that reviewing MMORPGs is sketchy at best due to the ever-changing nature of the games and that I have not yet experienced level capped gameplay – so discussion of the endgame isn’t going to occur here.
The first aspect that you’re going to find completely different is the fact that there is an entire galaxy of story driven single-player content. Tons. The lush RPG experiences that BioWare has become known for crafting are here, painted on a pristine canvas with a practiced Star Wars lore brush. As your character moves through personal development and makes choices, you’ll find yourself aligning with light or dark sides that factor in to accessing special pieces of gear. Set people free or brutally murder them in front of their children – the choice is yours.
If you choose to embrace in darker pursuits, you’ll even find your character experiencing aspects of Sith corruption visually (although you can turn this option off in the settings if you’d like to keep your toon picture perfect).
The storylines are engrossing and every bit equal to excellent single player RPG titles, and typically lead your character to important game boons such as companions, ship travel, and more. There are plenty of Kill X or Collect Y quests out there too, but when you’re working on a major plotline hours deep, you’re much more willing to ignore the droid slaying quest and focus on bigger issues at hand. Players looking for a well-spun interactive yarn will not be disappointed by Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Next up – Companions! Players acquire a variety of NPC characters as they journey through Star Wars: The Old Republic, and are able to call upon the services of these Companions to fight, heal, tank, and perform all crew functions from going on treasure hunts to performing gathering and crafting skills.
Companions can function as a party member to help you fight tougher mobs meant for two people or take on tougher challenges without the assistance of other player characters or spend their time digging up choice goods and creating items. That’s right, all of the crafting options in Star Wars: The Old Republic can be handled by your loyal crew. Mission and task times range greatly, as the components and treasures become higher level the time it takes to perform tasks increases accordingly, but you can reduce this time via the affinity system. It’s actually a wonderful way to handle crafting and removes the grinding pains commonly associated with production tasks.
That’s right, there’s even more to the Companion system! Based on things you do and say in the game world while your loyal crew members are around, they will applaud or decry your choices, gaining or losing affection points. You can also ply your Companions with gifts that can be purchased from vendors or discovered from missions. Companions with better affection will do their tasks more quickly and have a better chance of bringing back rare goods or crafting choice gear.
There are dungeons too, called Flashpoints. While I have personally decried the problems and community destruction potential that LFG queuing brings to the table, it’s just such a convenient option that it is difficult to go back to “LFG HEALER NEED ONE MORE PLZ”. Especially in today’s age of waxing and waning server populations, this feels like something that should be there. Getting a group for Black Talon probably won’t be too hard on release, but as players start pooling at different levels it may be difficult to find group mates for any given flashpoint.
PVP comes in three different flavors in warfronts, and although getting your team to figure out exactly what the **** is going on in Huttball is challenging, they’re all fairly fast and fun. Interestingly enough, level 11’s are allowed in the same warfronts as level 50’s – everything gets boosted and scaled appropriately, but higher level players definitely have a bigger “toolbox” of instruments to wield. PVP is completely disconnected from the story, has a queue, and is a great option for fast action-on-demand with oodles of rewards to purchase via the PVP currency.
Bundle all this up with the standard MMORPG conventions of the day and freeze it in carbonite and you’ve got Star Wars: The Old Republic. Star Wars: The Old Republic comes with something for everyone, from world boss raider to PVP enthusiast to single-player story seeker.
Personal Note: Truth be told, when I plunked my credits down for this sci-fi MMORPG title I was expecting your traditional fantasy MMO with lightsabers instead of swords and speeder bikes instead of horses – but the Force is strong with this one. Star Wars: The Old Republic brings a deep personal adventure to play alongside all the traditional tropes and trappings of a MMORPG.
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