Review: Star Wars Galaxies
by ds_master

One year in review

Many may wonder why a year after the initial launch and with the first addon already coming our way I started writing this review. The fact that I was asked to do it is only part of the reason. Another part of the puzzle is the fact that I was curious how the game will develop and now want to share my thoughts on how it DID develop.

MMO Games unlike their offline counterparts for PC and console are never really done. Or they shouldn't be at least. New content, new features and new adventures are what keep an online game alive and healthy. What sounds like an all-advantage at first can also be a severe disadvantage because the games are more "sensitive" as well. Bugs, security issues and wannabe cheaters – offline they influence the game for only a few, take it online and one serious bug or nerdy cheater can ruin the game for hundreds, even thousands of players. So I want to start this article by expressing my respect to all these people who (successfully) make sure that such games run stable and secure – the quality of the games is yet another thing though.

A not so long time ago in a galaxy not so far away

When SWG was released reviews did differ a lot. Scores ranged from 40% to 100%, some magazines praised it as revolution others condemned it as cheap rip-off of the Star Wars universe. After six months of playing – with huge gaps in between I have to add – I can't agree with either of them.

The main problem for many gamers (and reviewers alike I had the impression) was that their expectations were too high at launch day. The game was still buggy, key features like the holy-grail-job of a Jedi, mounts, vehicles and so many more were missing. Many players weren't willing to spend their hard earned credits for the expensive shuttles in the beginning so they were in for a loooong walk. And running through Tatooine's desert for half an hour to earn a few credits CAN be frustrating…. ok, so point your fingers at me and start laughing alright.

Further the tutorial didn't cover anything but the basics of gameplay and only the basics. While people knew how to run around, interact with objects and start a basic fight afterwards, the more complicated fields like crafting, healing, surveying, gathering resources and advanced combat were left unexplained. Of course if you were willing you could still learn those – an extensive online manual, the extensive forums at www.starwarsgalaxies.com and of course other players were and always will be there to help you. But tell you a secret? Many players simply didn't and still don't know what to ask or what to look for in the forums. Having spent many, many hours in-game (but still nothing compared to the numerous SWG fanatics who seem to LIVE online) I'm still nothing but a humble newbie and I learn something new every single (playing) day.

The SWG Commandment

If you SERIOUSLY want to play Star Wars Galaxies and become a powerful and experienced player I have a tiny, little hint for you:

Thou shalt not have games before Star Wars Galaxies.

Readers who think that they find some irony in this self-thought-up commandment of mine… – think again. Ok, honestly: of course you can play the game for "only" 2-3 hours a week and still make progress but… - Sisyphus anyone? Greek Mythology lecture: in ancient Greece Sisyphus was a man who angered the gods and as punishment was banned to the underworld, the Greek's equivalent to hell (not to be messed up with our offices). There he was forced to roll a block of stone against a steep hill, which tumbled back down when he reached the top - over and over again for all eternity.

So what is my point? You can try it this way but your efforts will remain fruitless for a (too) long time. Before you master your first advanced skills and for god's sake even master you first profession countless bits and bytes will be transferred between your computer and your Galaxies server. Playing once a week is not enough unless you really want to put your patience to a test.

And this is the one thing that splits admirers and haters of SWG. That you can (or have to?) spent days, or weeks in-game before your first big breakthrough and several months before you even scratch the surface of what lies beneath the many possible professions and quests. Blessing or curse? "Patience young Padawan" hits my mind – do you have what it takes to be a Star Wars Galaxies player or not? Or is it the other way round, should we in fact worry that a game who asks players to sacrifice the major part of their free time is such a success?

Ok, before we get to metaphoric let's sum it up: you need time and lots of that. Players who don't want / can't afford that – tough luck, this game isn't for you.

Meet: my other me

Over the months I started over with 3 characters. My first experiment was a human scout who soon was replaced with a Mon Calamari artisan. I wasn't too pleased with the state of the game back then and my artisan didn't make any noticeable progress so he was put to sleep about the time vehicles were (finally) introduced and I more or less stopped playing until recently.

I have a large variety of reasons that influenced my decision to give the game another chance about two months ago. I made a fresh start and while I moved my puny artisan to the waste bin my newest character was yet again.a Mon Calamari artisan. In SWG you can pick from 8 races: Bothan, Human, Mon Calamari, Rodian, Trandoshan, Twi'lek, Wookie and Zabrak. Each species has special attributes giving them a bonus in certain fields of work but none of the species is really restricted in any way.

Possible starting professions besides my artisan are brawler, entertainer, marksman, medic and scout. Choosing your starting profession is the first important decision you make in your SWG life. While it is always possible to start learning a new profession starting over once you decided for a job can be a little expensive and time consuming hence not advisable for newbies.

The developers took a step into the right direction by means of extending the tutorial. While you still start on an Imperial Star Destroyer (the game takes place during the time of the first trilogy) where you still learn only the must-have basics new players are now given an additional helping hand – or should I say prehensile arm?

The moment you land on your starting planet a distant relative of everyone's favourite Astromech R2-D2 will meet up with you. This helper unit will lead you through a series of specially tailored missions were you get the chance of learning the basics of your selected profession. If you follow the advices given you will have no problem completing these missions and even will get small rewards for being an attentive pupil which will ease your start. You are still left with countless things you need to learn though, and SWG can be a real grinder at times if you are new.

Picking a job

Deciding on your starting profession is in fact the least of your problems. From the moment you start playing you should know what Elite profession you want to master. Take my artisan for an example: once I master the artisan profession I can chose to become an Armorsmith, Weaponsmith, Architect, Merchant, Chef, Tailor or Droid Engineer. But that's not all. Perhaps I decided to build a hybrid character and started learning more than one profession. Harder to achieve since you need more XP (… time…) but my Artisan combined with some Brawler / Marksman knowledge could become a Smuggler or Commando. Those are just the jobs I can learn based on ONE of the six starting professions.

There is not really a point in going over all possible jobs in this review – their number is legion and with every release ("patches" issued by the developers that introduce something new e.g. with the Release 10 the path of the Jedi is finally open to everyone) new ones are added. There are jobs for everyone.

Conclusion:

The least thing to say about Star Wars Galaxies is that it is unique. Not having played too many MMOGs that maybe is any easy thing to say for me, yet I feel I'm not alone with this opinion. I dare even say that SWG is a science of its own. The possibilities are not countless but so numerous that I doubt that more than a handful of selected SWG players could really name them all. But this is at the same time the game's weakest point – the diversity and depth of gameplay you have to master to make any real progress is breathtaking in the beginning and maybe even too much.

If this article made you curios go ahead and give it a(nother?) try. If not – don't. Just don't forget to have plenty of the one thing most needed: time. If you listen to people who condemn(ed) this game because they couldn't dedicate enough time to it: think again. There is no guarantee you will like the game even if you have enough time - but you *might* be missing something.