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Nov. 26th, 2011 10:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
joiedecombatI've had the opportunity, earlier this month and again this weekend, to participate in weekend beta tests of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and since the NDA has been lifted, some thoughts:
I'm not much of an MMORPG player; City of Heroes is basically my only experience with the genre (although I did get a character up to level 50 so I'm not completely new to the territory). And I'm generally not the person to ask about gameplay mechanics in any game. So I don't have much to offer in that respect.
In any case, TOR is very much a Bioware RPG, albeit one with two million other players in. For one thing, they weren't kidding about the voice acting. Everything is voiced - your character, quest-givers, the random guy hanging out outside the Jedi Temple of Tython to direct you to your class trainer, everything. Most quests, aside from the "while I'm out here I might as well kill x number of these enemies" bonus objectives, involve a cutscene or three, with the Mass Effect/DAII Bioware-standard dialogue wheel. It's all pretty story-heavy, at least as far as I've managed to play thus far.
The last beta weekend, I tried out a Jedi Knight (up to about level 6 or 7), a Republic Trooper (up to level 5), and a couple levels of Smuggler. Last night I tried out an Imperial Agent (up to level 7). In terms of gameplay, I found the first few levels of Jedi Knight pretty difficult up until I got Force Leap, if only because the initial missions involve fighting things with blasters without any ranged abilities of my own. From my limited experiences, Smuggler and Agent seem to benefit the most from being part of a group thanks to their dependence on cover, which is usually available in abundance but not always easy to get to before some guard droid is firing a heat beam at you. (That said, I haven't actually grouped up with anyone so far, and aside from one sticky bit where my Agent died a good few times in short succession because I was not being careful enough, I didn't have too much trouble going it solo. This also means I'm not quite sure how all the storyline stuff works when you're in a group.)
At least at the lower levels, the storylines are set up to prevent the dozens of other PCs running around from ruining immersion too much; sure, there are padawans all over Tython, but since the first few quests involve flesh raiders attacking a training ground it's not surprising that there'd be a bunch of padawans fighting flesh raiders. And the starting areas on Ord Mantell and Hutta for the Trooper/Smuggler and Agent/Bounty Hunter are war zones, so people running around fighting in the streets is to be expected. (Although I can't help but feel there should be some kind of social penalty for Agents who go around with their "Agent" title on display while they're supposed to be undercover. Really, guys!) I don't know how well this will hold up at higher levels, although I saw remarkably few other players during the last couple missions I did with my Agent last night.
As far as the story goes, I'm finding the Imperial Agent's the most engrossing, unexpectedly enough. (Republic Trooper places second - the opportunities for snark are ungodly.) It help that you can play Light Side as an Imperial; no idea how it works with a Sith, but with the Agent, at least, there's ample opportunity to play as a cool-headed professional who dislikes the Sith for the inefficiency of their chronic backstabbing and their penchant for going off and ruining nice orderly plans with their crazy. Freaking Sith. >:| Sometime this weekend I'll try out a Jedi Consular, and maybe see if I can get one of my characters far enough along to pick up a companion character and see how those work.
Actual mechanics mostly aren't too dissimilar from my experience with CoH in most respects, aside from the equippable gear and the cover mechanic for the Agent and Smuggler, the use of which is necessary to their skillsets. Fortunately they can combat-roll a pretty significant distance to get into cover.
Overall, at least from my perspective, it's pretty cool so far. I'm looking forward to playing some more (if a little disgruntled at getting sucked into an MMORPG again. Oh well).
Meanwhile, on another note, regarding Persona 4 The Ultimate In Mayonaka Arena, aka the Persona 4 fighting game:
Akihiko. What have you been doing?
Gracious.
I'm not much of an MMORPG player; City of Heroes is basically my only experience with the genre (although I did get a character up to level 50 so I'm not completely new to the territory). And I'm generally not the person to ask about gameplay mechanics in any game. So I don't have much to offer in that respect.
In any case, TOR is very much a Bioware RPG, albeit one with two million other players in. For one thing, they weren't kidding about the voice acting. Everything is voiced - your character, quest-givers, the random guy hanging out outside the Jedi Temple of Tython to direct you to your class trainer, everything. Most quests, aside from the "while I'm out here I might as well kill x number of these enemies" bonus objectives, involve a cutscene or three, with the Mass Effect/DAII Bioware-standard dialogue wheel. It's all pretty story-heavy, at least as far as I've managed to play thus far.
The last beta weekend, I tried out a Jedi Knight (up to about level 6 or 7), a Republic Trooper (up to level 5), and a couple levels of Smuggler. Last night I tried out an Imperial Agent (up to level 7). In terms of gameplay, I found the first few levels of Jedi Knight pretty difficult up until I got Force Leap, if only because the initial missions involve fighting things with blasters without any ranged abilities of my own. From my limited experiences, Smuggler and Agent seem to benefit the most from being part of a group thanks to their dependence on cover, which is usually available in abundance but not always easy to get to before some guard droid is firing a heat beam at you. (That said, I haven't actually grouped up with anyone so far, and aside from one sticky bit where my Agent died a good few times in short succession because I was not being careful enough, I didn't have too much trouble going it solo. This also means I'm not quite sure how all the storyline stuff works when you're in a group.)
At least at the lower levels, the storylines are set up to prevent the dozens of other PCs running around from ruining immersion too much; sure, there are padawans all over Tython, but since the first few quests involve flesh raiders attacking a training ground it's not surprising that there'd be a bunch of padawans fighting flesh raiders. And the starting areas on Ord Mantell and Hutta for the Trooper/Smuggler and Agent/Bounty Hunter are war zones, so people running around fighting in the streets is to be expected. (Although I can't help but feel there should be some kind of social penalty for Agents who go around with their "Agent" title on display while they're supposed to be undercover. Really, guys!) I don't know how well this will hold up at higher levels, although I saw remarkably few other players during the last couple missions I did with my Agent last night.
As far as the story goes, I'm finding the Imperial Agent's the most engrossing, unexpectedly enough. (Republic Trooper places second - the opportunities for snark are ungodly.) It help that you can play Light Side as an Imperial; no idea how it works with a Sith, but with the Agent, at least, there's ample opportunity to play as a cool-headed professional who dislikes the Sith for the inefficiency of their chronic backstabbing and their penchant for going off and ruining nice orderly plans with their crazy. Freaking Sith. >:| Sometime this weekend I'll try out a Jedi Consular, and maybe see if I can get one of my characters far enough along to pick up a companion character and see how those work.
Actual mechanics mostly aren't too dissimilar from my experience with CoH in most respects, aside from the equippable gear and the cover mechanic for the Agent and Smuggler, the use of which is necessary to their skillsets. Fortunately they can combat-roll a pretty significant distance to get into cover.
Overall, at least from my perspective, it's pretty cool so far. I'm looking forward to playing some more (if a little disgruntled at getting sucked into an MMORPG again. Oh well).
Meanwhile, on another note, regarding Persona 4 The Ultimate In Mayonaka Arena, aka the Persona 4 fighting game:
Akihiko. What have you been doing?
Gracious.
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no subject
Date: 2011-11-26 10:12 pm (UTC)In which case, I may see if I can meet up with you and kick it Old Skool. Well, Old Skool with way better graphics. ;)
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Date: 2011-11-26 10:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-27 12:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-27 01:48 pm (UTC)Plus, if I read the website correctly, the game should come out after I've finished up most of my main requiring-spare-time stuff, so I can play it with a sort-of-clear conscience. :)
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Date: 2011-11-28 02:43 pm (UTC)I'm a smuggler kinda guy, myself.
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Date: 2011-11-28 05:27 pm (UTC)