Star Wars: The Old Republic extended impressions

I've still got seemingly countless hours to go before I save the galaxy in the name of the Republic. Now that my Jedi Shadow Bukowski has reached level twenty-three in Star Wars: The Old Republic, I've been able to spend some time delving into things like crafting, assigning points to my skills, and have even participated in some epic-looking space combat in my new personal starship. With a few caveats, these additional systems and gameplay mechanics have continued to add welcome layers to the MMO that is engaging me in a way that few others have before. My first impressions of the game chronicled Bukowski's rise from Padawan to Jedi Consular, gaining a companion character, and building his first lightsaber. Since that time, I've taken to the stars in my own personal ship to participate in both combat and escort mission, adopted the Jedi Shadow progression path (instead of Jedi Sage), dabbled in crafting a bit more, and upgraded to a double-bladed lightsaber. Each character type in Star Wars: The Old Republic must choose one of two class specializations upon reaching level ten. For example, as a Consular, I was able to choose Jedi Sage, a healing-based class, or the Jedi Shadow, a stealth-based combat class. The double-bladed lightsaber, relegated to the Shadow class only, ultimately made my decision for me. However, a close inspection of the overwhelming skill tree revealed that I could focus on building out skills in Infiltration--stealth-based abilities--combat, balance, or a combination of all three. The available skill trees are quite large, and deciding which skills to focus on can be a bit daunting. With each level achieved, I'm able to add a single point to an available skill of my choosing, but I've been pretty happy just picking skills that sound the most useful at a given moment. Despite agonizing a bit about each point assigned, I don't yet regret any of my choices. I was on Coruscant, about level fifteen when I completed the necessary class-specific quest to unlock my brand new spaceship. The moment when I first entered the hanger and saw it parked there--gangplank invitingly deployed--I got a little giddy. Allowing every player to unlock their own personal spacecraft is really a stroke of genius, one that speaks directly to a common fantasy of long-time Star Wars fans. As I entered the ship, I was also pleasantly surprised to note that it consisted of several rooms, and included both a holo-terminal and an on-board computer from which new missions could be obtained. The space-based combat missions themselves are a currently a bit of a mixed bag for me. I've only played a few so far, in a couple of different varieties: escort and assault. Presentationally, space combat is excellent. The violent ballet of fighters and capital ships is visually stunning, and the scenarios are all punctuated with the trademark laser blasts and epic score that really bring the early films to mind. Given how great the space battles look and sound, it was a bit disappointing to find that each of the missions I played was an on-rails experience for only one participant. Making my way through these battles was extraordinarily simple, provided that I'd outfitted my ship with the the appropriate degree of upgrades, much like companion characters. With movement relegated to the mouse, and a left-button/right-button laser/missile combo, early battles are a cakewalk, and a good way to rack up some easy experience points. Just don't expect anything close to the sim-like complexity of X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter. The simplicity of space combat aside, BioWare has already revealed that it's got big plans to expand this aspect of the game with things like Guild-controlled capital ships. It's probably not unreasonable to hope that PvP space combat makes it into the mix somewhere down the road. After I'd had a sufficient dose of space combat, I had Bukowski take the ship's helm and fly it to the planet of Taris. I grinned ear to ear as I watched through the forward view port of my ship and witnessed the ensuing jump to hyperspace, followed by my destination planet coming into view. Once a galactic nexus of trade, the planet had since seen economic decline and a civil war. Ostensibly a two-layer city reclaimed by nature (with the poor living below the rich), the planet's denizens struggle to rebuild Taris back to prominence in the Republic, while fending off a scourge of Rakghouls, the Sith-spawned mutants that also appeared in Knights of the Old Republic. The story-driven quests surrounding the Rakghoul plague remained engaging throughout, though I was ready to move on to Nar Shaddaa by the time Bukowski had reached level 22 or so.

Welcome to downtown Nar Shaddaa.

The bustling metropolis of Nar Shaddaa stood out from the other planets I'd explored to that point, giving off a seedy Las Vegas vibe with its towering skyscrapers and garish neon signage. A more eclectic array of alien races are on display in the bounty hunter/smuggler's paradise, and urban touches like different types planters from which holographic trees sprung really add a lot to the atmosphere. Perhaps the one downside to Nar Shaddaa is that the map layouts seem a bit more labyrinthine, and therefore a bit more frustrating to navigate. Another aspect of The Old Republic that I've spent a bit more time with is the game's companion-based crafting system. Up to three related abilities can be trained, and are shared with all companions. Jedi Shadow Bukowski first teamed up with warrior-ally Quyzen Fess, but also received a protocol droid companion shortly before obtaining his ship. He mostly stays in the ship, because, in the words of C-3PO, "Nobody worries about upsetting a droid." Crafting skills fall into three categories, and players can select one from each category at a time. My current choices--Artifice, Archaeology, and Diplomacy--allow me to send my companions off to hunt for crafting materials, manufacture lightsaber upgrades, or retrieve gifts that can be given to companions to improve their opinions of you. Crafting is a neat idea, but is a lot easier to pursue consistently while adventuring in groups. When soloing, my character often needs his companion to run interference in combat--something that he can't do if he's off hunting for a new power crystal. The upshot for me was that utilizing my companions' skills often had to wait until I knew I'd be safe from combat for a while. Grouping up makes companions less necessary, so they can more easily be sent off to do your bidding. One minor issue I discovered is that some combinations of equipped items can create annoying visual glitches. You'll notice that in some of the screenshots included in this article featuring Jedi Shadow Bukowski that his hair clips through the top of his hooded robe. This visual issue was caused when I equipped a stat-boosting helm that I'd found, which apparently doesn't play nice with the robe I'd equipped. Bukowski has since moved on to statistically superior (though visually sillier) attire, but I played several hours in my glitchy hair-robe before then. The journey of Jedi Shadow Bukowski is far from over. Stay tuned for more mid-game impressions from Star Wars: The Old Republic, coming soon. After Nar Shaddaa, it's off to the planetary dustbowl of Tatooine. If there are Sarlacc pits to be found, I'm sure I'll manage to fall into one.

Jeff Mattas

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January 5, 2012 1:00 PM

Jeff Mattas posted a new article, Star Wars: The Old Republic extended impressions.

In our second look at Star Wars: The Old Republic, I take a look at space combat and crafting as I quest my way to the shady metropolis of Nar Shaddaa.
- mopic42
  
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  January 5, 2012 1:14 PM
  
  I'm on the same path. Your droid is just as capable of crafting; you should keep him going as much as you feel you can afford (credits-wise) when you're out adventuring with Quyzen Fess.
  
  The hair started clipping through robe hoods in a patch a couple weeks ago. It used to get rid of your hair, so it wouldn't clip.
  
  The hooded robes are really annoying, because they look bad and hide hair/head accessories. There's no way to turn them off, since they're not officially in the "head" slot. Most MMOs implement a /hood command to "put down" the hood, switching to an alternate model for the robe. SWTOR needs this, badly.
  - LoioshDwaggie
    
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    January 5, 2012 1:19 PM
    
    They do need /hood. We asked about it on the reddit chat, but the reply was it would require major work and not to expect it anytime soon.
  - xxiv
    
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    January 5, 2012 1:21 PM
    
    robes also give you an ass bigger than kim's.
    - Psydswipe
      
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      January 6, 2012 3:44 AM
      
      Yeah, the problem is the game puts belts on the outside of robes which then makes the robe bunch up and stick out in the back. I don't think Jedi ever put their belts on over their robes in the movies, they tend to keep their lightsabers hidden under their robes.
      - HL3dsx
        
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        January 6, 2012 4:25 AM
        
        But it makes your waist look smaller and your legs look longer!
  - Jeff Mattas
    
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    January 5, 2012 1:21 PM
    
    Good advice, re: crafting with the droid. It's funny, because it took me far too long to realize that I could use my ship's droid for crafting while my other companion was actively following me around.
    
    The hair-clipping on the other hand: Ugh. It's totally a cosmetic problem, but it's pretty annoying.
    - Teirdome
      
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      January 5, 2012 2:04 PM
      
      I'm with you on the clipping Jeff. One of my alts is a "big boned" female trooper (she joined the Republic because they had better food). When she wears a chest piece with a breast plate her boobs clip through. Thankfully they're just the color of the undergarment all characters wear when naked otherwise the ESRB would have to reclassify the content.
    - xsikal
      
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      January 5, 2012 2:42 PM
      
      I got tired of clipping, found an orange (item classification) chest piece that had a graphic I liked, and am just keeping that upgraded via mods. I'd prefer an actual appearance tab, but it works in the short-term to allow me to have my avatar appear as I want (and gets me away both from cone-head hoods and ridiculous superman capes)
      - Jeff Mattas
        
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        January 5, 2012 3:30 PM
        
        Yeah. I finally got rid of the robe when I found some better armor, but now my character looks like some new-wave disco knight. (There's a shot of the new duds in the gallery--the one where my character is standing next to a Hutt.)
        
        Someone call the fashion police.
  - Teirdome
    
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    January 5, 2012 2:07 PM
    
    It's odd because the hoodless models exist already for the twilek jedi. My twilek gets screwed and can't wear a hood at all. Instead I'm left watching the bizarre lekku physics cause them to fly in all directions.
    - walker270
      
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      January 5, 2012 3:40 PM
      
      The hoodless models exist for everything. There are certain head pieces that will "put down" a hood.
      
      My character has on some Geordi-style eye-piece that does exactly this.
- holinka
  
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  January 5, 2012 1:51 PM
  
  I'm not a huge fan of the Consular story line. The Trooper's was a bit more interesting. I'll have to give the Sith ones a try too.
  - mopic42
    
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    January 5, 2012 5:32 PM
    
    I wish there were elements - dialogue text, special dialogue choices, or even different quests - that referred to my decision to be a Shadow instead of a Sage.
    - Sailor of Fortune
      
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      January 5, 2012 6:39 PM
      
      I plan on playing one spec as Light and the other as Dark. Should keep it different enough but to experience the combat
    - snot3353
      
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      January 6, 2012 6:42 AM
      
      It might just be a question of scope. Having there be 8 classes that splits into 16 classes means they only had to do story-lines for 8 instead of 16. It's already an incredible amount of spoken dialogue, it was probably just too much more work to add anything more.
  - rhuntley12
    
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    January 6, 2012 6:50 AM
    
    I think the sith inquisitor storyline is great, I only went to about lvl 30 on it though. Didn't like the 2 Jedi stories myself, have liked every other one though.
- Lukiopimp
  
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  January 6, 2012 6:01 AM
  
  The whole storytelling - is it still as interesting with your third or fourth char? After hitting cap with their main I see many people annoyed with the whole cutscenes and dialogues when playing their alts.
  - skinlab133
    
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    January 6, 2012 7:13 AM
    
    The main storyline quests are still interesting, but after you've done the side quests a couple times (seeing light side outcomes and dark side outcomes) you just spam spacebar through them.
    - Teirdome
      
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      January 6, 2012 9:54 AM
      
      This is exactly what I do now.