a journey into Star Wars Galaxies

After playing Guild Wars I have to admit my interest in MMORPGs was made tangible. In order to drum up interest in the Jump to Lightspeed expansion for Star Wars Galaxies, Fileplanet offered up a free 14-day trial of the game a couple of weeks ago. Despite my previous inclinations to avoid this game altogether, curiosity got the better of me and I jumped into a queue. At 1.9 GB, I figure there was about 3 CDs worth of data to be downloaded. I would never have guessed that at the end of it all I would be trying to convince myself of reasons not to buy the game, or its expansion due in October.

Around this time last year I had dismissed Star Wars Galaxies as a failure, because the consensus among MMORPG gamers and Star Wars fans was that it felt rushed out, and didn't use the Star Wars license to its fullest. I've also always seen MMORPGs as a tough investment to choke down when the boxed game is $70 on release. Mostly I felt disappointed in the fact that SWG would not be my first MMORPG; given the numerous delays of World of Warcraft at the time I was hoping it would be.

But a year later, the price of the boxed game has come down, and the game world itself has changed dramatically. Looking at some recent developer comments, and seeing the effects of some of the content publishes that have been released in the past year, it's clear that LucasArts and SOE are making a solid effort in trying to make this game better. Most importantly though, Jedi are becoming more prominent based on quests a player accepts, instead of being some sort of super-secret easter egg that only the lifeless would have time to develop.

The First Hit is Always Free

First comes the fun part: installation. The downloaded file took just over half an hour to decompress, create a trial key, and install. I then had to set up a Sony Station account and log in for the first time. Once you log in, the game begins to update files that have been published since the original's release. That alone was torture in itself, because after the long install phase all I wanted to do is play. Why not just issue an image of the current state of the game for downloading? I have to admit that I wasn't too thrilled after all this, probably the same way people felt after getting into Final Fantasy XI.

Character Creation

As with any MMORPG, there are a large variety of physical appearances, facial features, etc. based on the race you choose. I was a little disappointed at the number available, given what we have come to expect from the universe shown in the films. Probably the most interesting to see were the Bothans - a race that was only mentioned in Return of the Jedi, and visualized in many of the comics and reference books released years from the movie's original release. I found it equally interesting that the Zabrak were playable, a race that was introduced to us in Episode I via Eeth Koth on the Jedi Council, and of course Darth Maul. I think for some players the lack of Jedi at the launch of the game made it more infuriating to have this race as an option.

There are also only six classes to start a character with: Artisan, Brawler, Medic, Scout, Marksman and Entertainer. In the long run, though, this doesn't matter because of the astonishing depth of the skills and experience system. You can take on as many professions as you like; it's just a matter of being able to spread the experience around. Obviously some of the classes complement each other, too. My first character was a human Scout/Marksman. The Scout's main special abilities are setting up camp, where players can heal faster, and harvesting resources from slain creatures that can be used to make clothing or trade for credits. A Scout alone isn't much fun to play, and so I took on the profession of Marksman to improve my combat abilities. Even then I found many of the "Search and Destroy" quests became repetitive and downright impossible to beat without teaming up with people. I soon abandoned this character, and almost with it the game itself.

Something drew me to the Artisan though, after hearing about the inventive crafting system that had been implemented in Galaxies. I quickly whipped up a Rodian Artisan, heading out to the deserts of Tatooine to forage for raw materials. With liquid, gas or metal materials, you can construct devices, weapons, clothing, armour or various item upgrades. I found this profession infinitely more interesting to play, but wandering the wilderness without much combat skill tended to be hazardous for my health, so I took on the Marksman profession. It was satisfying to find a potent mineral deposit, and be able to create my own weapons and tools after harvesting some. The quests were similar in nature though - you either build a part and deliver it, or you wander around surveying for rich deposits of minerals. The Surveying quests served a dual purpose, though, as I often collected extra materials to fabricate tools and weapons for myself.

The interface is completely easy to get used to, and keyboard shortcuts are intuitive and not a problem to remember. Shockingly, no character can jump. That became really annoying in some areas where there were small walls or curbs blocking your path and you were forced to walk around. The map and waypoint system make it easy to navigate the game world, and inventory management is straightforward.

The Skills and experience tree seems very deep, giving you free rein on how your character improves their abilities. You can only upgrade your skills via trainers, or players who have already learned the skill. If you get bored with your current profession, you can also sacrifice a skill to gain back that experience to be spent elsewhere. Each profession has a multiple goals: my Artisan, for example, could end up as a weaponsmith, droid engineer, or a planet-renowned cook.

Game World

Every new character starts off on Tatooine, which has a decent share of creatures to kill, quests to complete and sites of interest from the films. I was able to buy a ticket to get off Tatooine easy enough, but I can't say Corellia struck me as being that different. Sure, the lush forests and cityscapes provided some nice visuals, but you get the same types of quests to complete. There are just different monsters and NPCs to dole them out. I also noticed that many players tended to stick to Tatooine, because when I landed on Corellia in Coronet it was practically a ghost town. The coming expansion rightly seeks to address interplanetary flight, because as it stands now all you get is a loading screen. Galaxies would be a lot more fun if you were waylaid on the way. Just like the movies, everything should be an adventure.

Waypoints of Interest - mainly landmarks from the trilogy like Jabba's Palace or Ben Kenobi's hut on Tatooine - are automatically uploaded to your datapad on each planet you visit. They were fun to visit for novelty's sake, but unless you wanted to take on some Jabba faction quests there really wasn't much point. In fact, taking on many of the NPC-dealt quests risks pledging allegiance to certain factions or groups and creating enemies elsewhere. As a new character this isn't that big of a problem, but it definitely comes into play as you develop your character. An Empire Divided alludes to this dynamic, as you will have to get involved with a faction eventually.

The visuals are definitely one of the game's strong points. Verant/LucasArts have crafted an incredible engine, but it's tough not to compare it to Guild Wars. Also, pop-in is pretty bad for most terrain outside of the cities, even after adjusting the draw distance to maximum. Strangely, I could walk through most objects (vehicles, trees, character models). Willams' familiar score is constantly present, accentuating action and events as necessary, and even mixing in some themes from the prequels. For me this made the world easier to immerse myself in, despite the seemingly randomized terrain.

Quests

Quests are handled by terminals that are located in different parts of each city. Depending on your profession quests can range from going to a bar to dance/play in a band, to searching out a womp rat warren and exterminating them. I found the whole game world very terminal-heavy - it's impersonal, and reinforces a lack of Star Wars in this game. Did LucasArts really expect players to adventure in their world alone? It's not impossible to develop your character and complete quests by yourself, but it hardly seems like a good approach for this type of game.

I also found the lack of some sort of quest monitoring utility annoying. You can take on a few quests at one time, and even though the waypoint system does a decent job of keeping track it would have been nice to have some sort of summary screen where you can see what's been done, what has to be done and the rewards for each.

Combat is a simple point and click affair that takes care of itself: any enemy creature that is targeted will be attacked until it is killed. Loot is handled reasonably: whoever initiates combat with the hostile creature is the one that will get to claim the rewards or harvest resources when it is killed. The only problem I foresaw was the lazy bastards that shot creatures once and waited for someone else to finish the job. Respawning herds of monsters in the wilderness is kind of unbelieveable, though. This can be downright boring in most cases, as if you were playing Diablo II, not a game based in a persistent world. On the same token, I often saw NPC swoop gangs or bands of raiders attacking the outskirts of towns randomly, and PC bystanders entering into combat to defend the city.

In most quests there's way too much running. Given that vehicles aren't readily accessible to new players (such as swoops and speeders) running as a mode of transportation gets old very fast. I was even able to scale almost vertical mountainsides, and run for miles without getting tired or hungry. Creature mounts and personal transportation weren't actually added until a game update after Galaxies had been launched. Creature mounts are only available to those who earn experience as an animal handler, whereas personal transports can be bought or rented from select dealers (or other players).

Items are handled by Bazaar terminals, and I found it to be a malformed attempt at having a commodities market within the game world. You simply bid on an item, and if you have enough credits the purchase is immediate. Even when you purchase items from the bazaar terminals, you may still have to run to another population center to pick up items you've bought. I think a real bazaar-like setting would have been better, because it would encourage PC interaction with the game world itself and even with PC vendors. You can buy items off of certain NPCs labeled as Vendors, but they will tend to have a more specific selection of wares. The game world's market is reflected in classic supply/demand dynamics - a powerful blaster rifle or particularly snazzy jacket will be selling for more credits than they are probably worth. Furthermore, the market is primarily driven by players, who will constantly upload clothing, weapons, and various upgrades that they have crafted.

Player Community

The aspect of this game that completely surprised me was the warmth of the player community. Every player I talked to was very helpful, and for the most part I was able to upgrade all of my skills with the assistance of fellow players instead of trying to hunt down NPC trainers and pay the 1,000 credits (plus earned experience) cost. Although high level characters gain experience for teaching, I felt that these transactions were community-building. Partying up with people to complete quests is easy, and getting help for harder quests was never a problem. It seemed the experienced players were more than happy to help out the new players. In one of my Scout/Marksman's many vermin extermination quests, someone wandering by actually came over to heal me after I had been cruelly incapacitated by a swarm of creetles. Granted, they gained experience for doing so - but they didn't encroach on my mission at all or expect some sort of recognition. After a daring expedition with my Artisan/Marksman into a desert raider's camp to gather some resources barely escaping with my life, I stopped by a Scout's campsite to quickly heal my wounds before heading back towards town. We talked a bit about the game: its strong points, the more annoying aspects, and whether it was seeing its full potential. This scene may not have been very movie-like, but it was a relaxing feeling. It was like I wasn't even playing a game anymore. These were just examples of some experiences that left me feeling like a part of this persistent world.

It was obvious that the population had a definite spike in new players once the free trial became available, and many trial account holders I talked to were signing up for full accounts after only a few days of playing. To me, this is a sign of the game's lasting appeal in its current state, and makes me believe that things can only get better with more subscribers.

The Force Will Be With You, Always

Star Wars Galaxies is a good game if you're not expecting anything outside of the standard stat-mill MMORPG. Initially I was at the outskirts of Mos Eisley with my Scout character for some time blasting away at Lesser Womp Rats and Krills, figuring I had to start somewhere. But it didn't get that much different in my first 5 hours of play, except maybe an increase in the amount of running around. My biggest gripe though is that the world seems interchangeable. There's too much randomly generated terrain for something based on such a familiar and specific setting like Star Wars. For a MMORPG, there should be real consequences for your actions. The developers should have spent the time to create a more defined world with a constantly advancing story, with a visible goal or end in sight. Not a bunch of quests with brief descriptions taken from a machine. As it stands you're only given minimal information through select NPCs, and the world clearly can go on without you. Not everyone can be the hero, but every player should at least feel a part of the larger picture. But because this so-called "larger picture" is so poorly defined, it becomes one of the game's critical errors, one that should not be left out of any MMORPG.

Regardless, I found myself wanting to play every day. I think this was more a result of me wanting to advance my character before my trial was up, and the incredibly welcoming player community that I would regularly interact with. Regrettably, the game's popularity suffered from the initial reviews that were essentially based on an unfinished game. Based on my experiences from playing Galaxies regularly for two weeks, I can say that both the developers and the player community seem intent on creating a real contender for a piece of the MMORPG market.

at the crest of uncertainty