Star Wars Galaxies makes quiet debut

[Julio Franco]

After three years of development and a rumored $20 million budget, LucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment launched Thursday their massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the Star Wars universe: "Star Wars Galaxies".
Now the question is, have you been hearing a lot about this game? I really haven't, although I must admit I'm not much into this type of games I remember I did hear a long time ago of Sony (famous in the genre for Everquest) developing this same kind of game but with a Star Wars theme.

Both CNet and Wired are running stories regarding the quiet launch of the game, using some sort of long-term approach marketing, LucasArts and Sony say they will concentrate the first few months on core genre gamers that have been following closely the development of the title, while at the same time, fixing bugs, putting up more content and fighting preliminar hype that we know can kill a title.

 

[acidosmosis]

I will not be playing it. There is no way I am paying a monthly fee for a game. That is just insane.

 

[Unregistered]

It's not insane to pay monthly. You're silly

It's insane that we have to pay $50 for the game and then $15 monthly, though.

$20 for the game and $10 monthly would still make them a nice, big profit. They are bad and I hate them. They keep children in cupboards.

 

[acidosmosis]

Monthly fees in any fashion is bad for gaming. This kind of thing would cause me to never buy a game from the developer again.

 

[Julio Franco]

I have never played this kind of games (everquest for example) however IMHO if so many people pay for it, it must be for a reason... I could be wrong but I believe constant development is some of the things you get for the fee.

 

[elandys]

As a reformed EQholic, I can say that there is/was a lot of draw for a persistent world type of setting. A game where you can meet people consistently day in, day out from anywhere in the world (not just your regular bunch of friends arranging a LAN/IP party).

And there are economic advantages too; while I was paying $10 or so a month, I was saving on my usual 4 - 6 games a month habit. Was the 2000 - 2001 gaming scene unusually bleak? EQ might have been the reason.

But after the game starts to wear thin, and you realize that now you are paying just to keep your character with hard earned skills and equipment from being deleted, your enthusiasm starts to wane. I personally might not ever try SWG, just in case it *was* as good as EQ. It's NWN and KotoR for me, for a while.

 

[Phantasm66]

Fee or not, I am seriously thinking about taking part in this.

Not just because I have an Evil Jedi obsession, but also because it really does look like the gaming format of the future.

However, I do think think some of the fee-paying costs are a little OTT. George is already incredibly rich, given that he finances Star Wars movies from his own pocket and gets to keep all of the returns.

 

[Phantasm66]

Originally posted by elandys
But after the game starts to wear thin, and you realize that now you are paying just to keep your character with hard earned skills and equipment from being deleted, your enthusiasm starts to wane.

That's a good point. I think everyone should listen to it.

 

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Phantasm66
That's a good point. I think everyone should listen to it.

That, and 'Naked Number One' by Di Leva.

Hmm, I really should register here. 5 posts in 2 days. Even if 2 of them were random off-topics and one of them was about RL, that's still a lot.

 

[Phantasm66]

Yes.............why not..............You would be..........hardly any worse...............than some...............of the others................who post here........................y'know?

 

[negroplasty]

Regardless of all the errors that supposedly await new players, I, as Phant said, am seriously giving thought to buying SWG. I think with a few patches here and there, they should be able to sort out all the problems of their rushed release. And anyways, how often do you get the opportunity to play a MMORPG based on the amazing universe of Star Wars? I, for one, think that SWG looks like a very promising game and has a lot of potential.

 

[Phantasm66]

I think its worth thinking about.

 

[Unregistered]

I beta'd, and I like this game a lot. But I think a lot of negative reviews have some statements that need to be taken into account.

(Random Waffle - please skip this paragraph if you're in a rush) All of the negative reviews I've read so far (well, 2. And a very long forum post) have shown in intricate detail what makes the game bad, either through design, lack of vision, or bugs. But, to me at least, it seems like they expected the greatest game ever, got an enjoyable flawed fun game in the EQ vein, and so gave it 25% or whatever (now that I think about it, I can't actually remember any scores. Hopefully there were lots of 85%s, because ignoring future potential, that's what this game deserves right now. Good score too, IMO). But if you take a modernist approach, all it takes is a little context to prove SWG is a good game, despite not being the Last Game You'll Ever Need To Buy as some expected. Just compare it to Asheron's Call 2. SWG is SOOOOO much better than AC2 it's unbelievable. AC2 is so dull, I can't even remember any reviews of it. In fact, maybe it's a figment of an incredibly dull part of my brain. But, um, anyways... Oh yeah, I'd better leave this waffle paragraph and get back to what I was supposed to be talking about...

Ahem.

OK, negative reviews say this could be a good game in 6 months (they mean an even gooder game, and considering some of the English I've seen in these reviews, that's just how they'd phrase it, too ). I think a lot of people can't NOT buy this game, so no point me trying to sell it (or not) to them. Other people have other factors to consider, like some negative views (I like the word 'negative' today), the Insano-Price™, and mildly steep hardware requirements. To those people, I say: well, you've got nothing to lose by waiting, have you? In six months, you'll have a slightly slicker game, an established community, and perhaps even an upgraded computer on which to play the game!

So, um, my point is.... SWG is a good game, it will be a great game, but there's no rush to buy it. Those negative reviews have seemed to list completely correct points (although some of them have changed since the review was obviously written - would it kill ya to update your reviews with information that is correct? I've read at least three points that were fixed in the last 2 weeks of beta. I suppose playtesters playtesting when they've got a Prestigious Review to write would be too much to ask).

Gosh I go off-topic an awful lot. Yes. Negative reviews are over-emphasizing the bad points, but (most of) the points are still valid. Just try and, um, 'neutralize' the Reviewer's comments .

And it's a good game. Buy it if you want to play it, don't rush to buy it if you're not overly-bothered, and whatever you do, make sure you email both Sony and George about the ridiculous price. Thanks for reading