Read Mixed User Reviews for Star Wars: The Old Republic on PC

josephene

Jan 16, 2012

5

SWTOR delivers both a watered down MMO experience and single player RPG experience. It seems that where they have stumbled is tying their story content to the world in which it takes place. It is as if your story line takes place in a cocoon rather than in the huge universe that is the Old Republic. Bioware made a nice attempt at the story content ( it can be fun ) however some of the verySWTOR delivers both a watered down MMO experience and single player RPG experience. It seems that where they have stumbled is tying their story content to the world in which it takes place. It is as if your story line takes place in a cocoon rather than in the huge universe that is the Old Republic. Bioware made a nice attempt at the story content ( it can be fun ) however some of the very cool features of the typical Bioware Single player RPGs are not there:
1. Companions - you can never lose a companion and everyone will end up with the same ones which makes the companion "story-ing" and interactions meaningless.
2. Your choices have zero impact on the world.

Now as far as the MMO goes:
1. there is really ZERO to do outside of questing / battlefronts 2. crafting is not a game within itself, its all done by your companions
3. Linear questing - swtor gives you no choice of leveling areas it is linear and you have no choice but to follow the line at the theme-park.

Personally the linear questing did it in for me as I could not get past level 30.… Expand

Sptiz257

Dec 28, 2011

5

Just wasn't the game I was expecting. I was expecting something to totally blow me away and instead it just reminded me of other MMO's and video games of the past. Very overpriced game Character creation is almost as basic as World of Warcraft. Quests where the same boring stuff we have done in most MMO's for the past 8 years. If your new to games then this will be a hit, but if yourJust wasn't the game I was expecting. I was expecting something to totally blow me away and instead it just reminded me of other MMO's and video games of the past. Very overpriced game Character creation is almost as basic as World of Warcraft. Quests where the same boring stuff we have done in most MMO's for the past 8 years. If your new to games then this will be a hit, but if your a seasoned gamer then you will probably find this game some what boring. Of course this is my own opinion and I would atleast give the game a shot when theres a free trial to see if you like it.… Expand

Shinywalrus

Jan 4, 2012

5

Star Wars: The Old Republic is a bit bi-polar. As with many long-in-development games, it has a terrific amount of polish and plays quite smoothly, but it also feels very specifically engineered to be marketable to a certain market segment: players of World of Warcraft. That is a bit unfair, of course. The truth is that it is two games in one, which is why I don't completely understand theStar Wars: The Old Republic is a bit bi-polar. As with many long-in-development games, it has a terrific amount of polish and plays quite smoothly, but it also feels very specifically engineered to be marketable to a certain market segment: players of World of Warcraft. That is a bit unfair, of course. The truth is that it is two games in one, which is why I don't completely understand the reviews that insist upon giving TOR a "0." One of these games is a slightly slimmed down but generally entertaining third part to the generally well-received Knights of the Old Republic single player games. There are eight reasonably well developed, interesting and thoughtful single player plotlines in TOR to follow with a good bit of foresight, occasional difficulty and all too rare instances of player choice. These alone make this game worthwhile for a good group of Star Wars fans, if not the miracle that everyone was hoping for. The MMO components feel, rather unfortunately, tacked on to the single player component in an unwieldy way. Combat gameplay is simplistic and lacks any inventive mechanics. Player skill as a deciding factor in either difficult PvE or PvP interaction is minimal. Numbers and equipment are back to being the absolute dominating factor. The cartoony graphics, the repackaged magic skills and the marginal class differences between factions make the MMO component of this game feel like little more than World of Warcraft with Lightsabers. Your character will likely not feel different from anyone else's like it would have in EQ. You will likely not become attached to a particular part of the world, a particular city like in SWG. You will not likely feel any faction pride like you would have in DAOC. The strong opinions here give testament to that. Those who enjoy the simple, waypoints-for-everything, slick presentation, easy to step into game with very little differentiation like WoW will likely love this as a bit of change of pace. Those who were hoping for a genre-changer, a game that would take Star Wars Galaxies and expand it, fix its broken mechanics but keep the open feel, the control over the world and the broad fear of exploration that was what made MMOs popular in the first place (EQ)...well, those people are very disappointed indeed. It is average, but that's just the midpoint. If you love WoW and lightsabers, you will adore this game. If you liked KOTOR and aren't expecting anything grandiose here, you'll find it an adequate use of a couple weekends and a worthy purchase. If you were expecting the Next Great Game, you will abhor everything about it.… Expand

rucknrun

Jan 2, 2012

5

I just can't get into this game. I put 30 hours or so into it. I am almost lvl 20 and there is very little to explore. Where is the next area? The space combat feels like an after thought. I really wanted this game to be great. I don't mind that is feels like WoW a little bit. I love WoW. It just isn't good enough to pay 15 a month for, 60 for the client is way too much too. TheyI just can't get into this game. I put 30 hours or so into it. I am almost lvl 20 and there is very little to explore. Where is the next area? The space combat feels like an after thought. I really wanted this game to be great. I don't mind that is feels like WoW a little bit. I love WoW. It just isn't good enough to pay 15 a month for, 60 for the client is way too much too. They need to start giving us the clients if they are going to charge a monthly fee.… Expand

Dominii

Dec 26, 2011

7

In many respects The Old Republic is identical to WoW: its static battle mechanics, the levelling system, uninteresting skill trees, equipment durability, crafting without player customization. In some respects, improved: character alignment, companions, crew skills. Its triumph is the story. Unlike any other MMO, The Old Rebublic, gives players a reason to listen to and follow everyIn many respects The Old Republic is identical to WoW: its static battle mechanics, the levelling system, uninteresting skill trees, equipment durability, crafting without player customization. In some respects, improved: character alignment, companions, crew skills. Its triumph is the story. Unlike any other MMO, The Old Rebublic, gives players a reason to listen to and follow every quest, even the minor quests. The main arcs take you across each world. They branch into other stories, create relationships with NPCs who update you from time to time with their goings on reminding you that had you not done or said something that they'd be in jail, in the dumps, or in a ditch. The dialogue options, albeit a feature familiar to BioWare and its players, force you to choose between being true to yourself, or sucking up for favors. Every choice has the possibility to impact your companions' favor of you and the reward outcome. Suck up and garner favor and fortune. Answer genuinely, and watch all of the other Jedi wave their enhanced sabers at you and your basic training blade. The story is why I play and will continue to play. This game could be great, it could rival WoW in popularity, players, and South Park parodies, but it needs to be the next step in MMOs, and not what WoW should have been when it launched. What could make this game great?

The battle system is likely too large and too complex in code to receive an overhaul. Instead, we should hope and ask for skills that require thinking and tactics; no one likes every battle following the same sequence, no matter who you're fighting, of 3-5-4-1-2. The crafting system needs to allow real player customization. Not recipes, but the ability to take raw ingredients to make whatever you want, with the stats you want in the colors that you want (granted you meet the level requirements). It could also do with more interactive, though please not mindless WoW gathering, crafting missions where player input during a companion's crew mission affects the outcome, your alignment, their affection, and possibly the availability of quests. "Hey, Dominii, I found the treasure, but it's guarded by a local tribe. Should I destroy the village if they get in my way, or should we abandon this one?"… Expand

Avadon

Dec 22, 2011

5

A few key points from my experience in the beta and at launch: THE GOOD: - Cool voiceovers - Class stories are great for MMO standards (mediocre for single player standards but anyway) - The game is pretty stable and ping times are ok - Some of the planets are very well designed and put a smile on your face. THE BAD: - Terrible engine is as heavy as Witcher 2 but looks like WoW withoutA few key points from my experience in the beta and at launch: THE GOOD: - Cool voiceovers - Class stories are great for MMO standards (mediocre for single player standards but anyway) - The game is pretty stable and ping times are ok - Some of the planets are very well designed and put a smile on your face. THE BAD: - Terrible engine is as heavy as Witcher 2 but looks like WoW without antialiasing. It also dislikes more than a couple players on screen at the same time, which is not great for an MMO - Long queues to play - Heavily instanced and phased, which hurts the MMO part - Laughable "space combat" - Refuses to break the mold that WoW set, instead follows it to the letter - Combat system is disappointing, one would expect action-style combat in a game with lightsabers and rifles, but no, they might as well be shadowbolts - PvP needs a few years of class tweaking before it can be taken even remotely seriously - No endgame content. As Warhammer and AoC showed pretty clearly, any MMO that ships without lots of endgame content under the mentality of "we'll just focus on the leveling for now and add that later" will simply bomb regardless of launch sales, because noone will sub after their month is over. Catastrophic mistake by Bioware. In general, if you have a month with lots of free time, this is a game worth buying, you will get your money's worth, but it is certainly not worth suscribing to. Play your month and check back in a year or two, if it still exists, for some endgame. Shame.… Expand

checktheemails

Jan 3, 2012

6

I'm the type of person that has never played an MMO except one month of WoW the first month it came out then I dropped it for fear of addiction. First of all, Star Wars is way too expensive for what it is; it is worth 50 bucks max considering how buggy and unfinished the game is. I am currently a level 40 imperial agent, and I have to say that the game has a problem when the best way toI'm the type of person that has never played an MMO except one month of WoW the first month it came out then I dropped it for fear of addiction. First of all, Star Wars is way too expensive for what it is; it is worth 50 bucks max considering how buggy and unfinished the game is. I am currently a level 40 imperial agent, and I have to say that the game has a problem when the best way to level up and gain gold is to PvP yet the PvP is terribly constructed. There are three maps that you play in PvP warzones and matchmaking is a joke. You get matched with level 50s and level 14s all in the same queues, so basically you have gods running around the maps while other ppl just get owned and are incapable of any combat. Also, the map designs are buggy and in some cases assanine. For some reason they decided to include two air vents in the center of the Huttball map that randomly decide which way to throw you into the air. This means that your enemy can grab the ball, run into the vent and then get magically placed onto a much greater field advantage while you jump onto the vent chasing them and are launched basically into an acid pool. Maps are not supposed to decide winners and losers they are supposed to be the blank canvas that the game is played on. That is one thing they need to remove. Secondly, sometimes you get thrown into a PvP that is already losing just because the team had a few leavers, (ppl leave because their teammates are level 14s, etc.) It isn't a huge deal considering you still get some xp for doing basically nothing but joining the match, but it makes you realize how much the PvP is just a joke. They really need to make PvP cross-server matchmaking such as in League of Legends (hate to say it) where you have a huge pool of players that can be mixed and matched to the best balance instead of just choosing from what they have on ONE server.

I have to say that when people bring up the character creation, I didn't even realize how much better it could be but having only humanoid characters is a **** disaster. ITS STAR WARS. WHY CANT YOU BE A TRUE ALIEN? FAIL BIG TIME THERE BUDDIES.

Also traveling around the planets is a pain in the **** ass you have to go through so many air locks and lobbies and lifts before you get there. Cant you just fly your spaceship onto the planet? I mean WTF? DIDN'T THE MILLENNIUM FALCON DO THAT?

I wish I could give this game a 6.5, but a 7 is too high for something so buggy. Definitely not renewing for another 15 bucks a month I already got jipped paying 60.… Expand

Chickensalad

Dec 31, 2011

5

Another mediocre MMORPG. The only thing innovative about this one is the voice acting, which, personally, I don't care about at all. Hearing someone tell me I need to "kill 10 of x" isn't anymore immersive to me than reading it. SWTOR is basically WoW with lightsabers, except with less features. No LFG tool, bad UI (Even FFXIV lets you move around and resize the things on your screen),Another mediocre MMORPG. The only thing innovative about this one is the voice acting, which, personally, I don't care about at all. Hearing someone tell me I need to "kill 10 of x" isn't anymore immersive to me than reading it. SWTOR is basically WoW with lightsabers, except with less features. No LFG tool, bad UI (Even FFXIV lets you move around and resize the things on your screen), no combat log, etc. The planets are sharded so even on a high population server you may see only a handful of people around you at once. As MMOs continue to steadily evolve into glorified lobby games, I have to question why we are still being charged $15 a month for them.

BioWare played it too safe with this game, choosing stick with the generic WoW-ish formula instead of trying new things. While not a terrible, it is incredibly average and simply feels outdated, as if it should have been released 4-5 years ago. If you have a hard on for Star Wars or Bioware you might like it, but otherwise it's probably best to pass on it until they release a free trial.… Expand

northwoods21

Jan 5, 2012

6

Graphics 8/10
Gameplay 6-7/10
Creative/Original 2/10 PvP 3/10 PvE 7/10 replay value: 5/10 Continued... (accidentally pressed submit on previous one sorry! lol...) Ok here are some very important gripes I think at least some players or ex players can agree with. Since publications like PC gamer and other "non user" reviews are writing nothing but pure gold about this game untarnished inGraphics 8/10
Gameplay 6-7/10
Creative/Original 2/10
PvP 3/10
PvE 7/10
replay value: 5/10

Continued... (accidentally pressed submit on previous one sorry! lol...)
Ok here are some very important gripes I think at least some players or ex players can agree with.

Since publications like PC gamer and other "non user" reviews are writing nothing but pure gold about this game untarnished in any way... I'm just going to focus on the Cons or reasons this game really didn't meet any expectations I had for it.

1.) character creation does not really let you create a unique character. You set your appearance, pick your race comprised pretty much of human looking people and aliens, pick your class and enter the game. For me, this is the opposite of what any player wants.I want to be able to spend hours thinking how to set up my character template before I even go in the game... and when I enter the game I don't want to be like every other player of my same class/lvl with just a different skin and face appearance. That's what us players call cookie cutter.

2.) This game does not have a suggestion forums. I'm sorry but I think that's a pretty straightforward sign of how game development is going to go on this game. If your dev team is interested in what the players have to suggest or what their million base community wants from the game, they should have suggestion forums, no excuses.

3.) The factions empire and republic only vary in storyline and character appearance. Republic fleet/ Empire fleet, the central hub of the game (think stormwind.) look almost exactly identical to eachother. The classes on both the empire and republic are practically mirrored, just like wow's classes.

4.) There is like 8 sets of endgame pvp gear for any class and its 2 subclasses, aside from some color changes all these endgame pvp sets look the same... So out of 4 classes, and out of 32 endgame PvP armor sets, there is 4 seperate armor models! pure laziness. Endgame pvp'ers should at least have 2 choices of style on their endgame armors... come on.

5.) the PvP Balancing is laughable. huttball a new pvp gametype for mmos and a lot of fun. the other two consist of a 3 point capture and hold map, and an attack/defend map that plays 2 rounds with teams alternating sides because it is not balanced enough to have attackers/defenders w/ the same advantage play only 1 round without swtiching sides. First off they will put lvl 10's with max level players in PvP matches and boost the lvl 10's stats by a lot... I've noticed leveling characters and playing a lot of PvP that sometimes as you gain levels your character will actually become weaker in a PvP match because you wont get as much as a boost.

6.) getting your spaceship is exciting, but other than lookin around, exiting ship, and use you nav display/space combat... its kind of like just another zone. Never being able to fully control your spaceship and leisurely fly around and explore is a big letdown. I have very high hopes for space MMO's and they are never met.

7.) server imbalance on every server. across the board there is about 7-8 empire characters for every 2-3 republic players. So we can throw any decent attempt at world PvP out the window.

8.) the warzones are limited to 8 vs 8 matches. Truly nobody can call that "Massive Multiplayer"...

9.) the lightside/darkside character choices do little other than display an imediate cutscene based on your choice. there are only a few items that require darkside/lightside levels and they mirror eachther, so it doesnt really matter which way you go.

10.) chracter creation, zones, quests, pvp, warzones, flashpoints.... all these things copy wow completely in every way but A lot of the nice features that WoW has developed over the years, such as being able to refund an item you accidentally bought with hours worth of PvP marks, have been questionably left behind.… Expand

TheangryOne

Dec 26, 2011

5

Well, after more than a year of waiting and all the hype Bioware put behind it, here it is, WOW:TOR. This game has truly become a shining example of Bioware's stagnation and ineptitude. To summarize: This game takes all the classic mistakes all gaming companies love to make and thrusts them into one giant $15/mo flop. The most obvious shortcoming is that gameplay is literally the EXACTWell, after more than a year of waiting and all the hype Bioware put behind it, here it is, WOW:TOR. This game has truly become a shining example of Bioware's stagnation and ineptitude. To summarize: This game takes all the classic mistakes all gaming companies love to make and thrusts them into one giant $15/mo flop. The most obvious shortcoming is that gameplay is literally the EXACT same thing as WOW was; it even has the same problems (extreme lack of customization, massive grindfest, limited character creation, specialization issues, bad endgame). Considering how much was spent on this game, there is absolutely no excuse for this kind of laziness; it's 2011, Bioware. WAKE THE F*** UP! Next, is the stories which Bioware was basing all their success on. These stories are hit-and-miss, as are the companions (Some are epic, some just fall flat.). I've been saying for years that Bioware shows extreme favoritism in their character and story design, and if this doesnt prove it, nothing does. The only true saving grace here is that, despite everyone's whining about the voice acting, I actually thought it was pretty good. Still, would it've killed Bioware to make a few selectable voices for your character? They spent 300 million (yes, million) dollars on this. However, all of these things can be ignored, since it is a reliable system, even if it is outdated. I'll probably get alot of flak for that but it's the truth. I won't bother talking about the graphics for the same reason; ultimately, they make little difference in an MMO as long as they work. The one thing, however, that cannot be overlooked, and the one thing that kills this game (and killed WOW) is the monthly subscription. Not cool, Bioware, not cool. There are plenty of free MMOs out there that can more than match this, so close your wallets and open your eyes. Learn from SWG, learn from GW. You are not the powerhouse you once were, and Warhammer 40k's lore more than beats Star Wars'. Learn.… Expand

Scritty

Feb 19, 2012

6

I love it when others tell me why I don't like a game. "You are a hater" - "You know nothing about MMO's" and the best one "Go back to WoW". I don't hate this game at all. It's ok. It has a very solid combat mechanic and decent graphics. I have no problem with lag (and BTW the word "lag" should be reserved for talking about your internet connection not your GFX hardware's inability toI love it when others tell me why I don't like a game. "You are a hater" - "You know nothing about MMO's" and the best one "Go back to WoW". I don't hate this game at all. It's ok. It has a very solid combat mechanic and decent graphics. I have no problem with lag (and BTW the word "lag" should be reserved for talking about your internet connection not your GFX hardware's inability to render at an appropriate speed..that's just "underpowered" hardware).

Anywho - I had a pleasant gaming experience for the most part. But the issues are rather big when you've played for 100+ hours. Firstly, while accepting it's a theme park MMO (like WoW and many others) it is very "light" in terms of things to do outside combat. Crafting and harvesting has no real depth. YOu don't even need to risk your own neck to harvest "above your level" just press "N" and send your companion out "Bye - see ya later" He or she will pop back (while you are in the middle of combat normally) and without looking up from what you are doing you will likely press "N" then a number from 1-3 then hear said companion mutter something about "Back later" and that's it. Crafting is exactly the same as harvesting "Off you go companion"....."Oh you're back with........ nothing of any value what-so-ever" Yes you can reverse engineer everything you make (and you should do this) but I am still yet to find a single item or mod worth using ( I craft appropriate to my level - if not a little beyond - I always have any spare companions out gathering or crafting, yet still have found nothing worth using) I've read that maybe I picked the wrong profession..Oh well.

I LOVE MMO trading. I DO NOT MEAN I indulge in RMT, never had, never will. But to get any fun out of a trade network it needs to be developed a little. SWTOR's is so basic you'd be better off selling anything of value over the trade channel. Even the filters seem not to work very well, All in all, pretty dull and not much extra. Add to this, no secondary professions, no "side goal" quests to get stuff (like a X faction mount or something decorative) and you have a game that relies far to much on combat and combat alone. And after killing your 4000th group of mobs, going through the same rotation over and over and over again gets VERY dull. I would like to just stop and feel obliged to go somewhere to gather materials to make an item I actually need, or to go "asteroid fishing" or see what the items I have in my pack are fetchin X faction..noe of this (and any of the other things that add a little depth to a theme park MMO) are available.

Perhaps wore than this is rolling Republic on just about any server. Forget multiplay. You're on your own. Well of course you're not totally on your own, but watching guilds evaporate as even the true blue republicans decide to leave to look for a better served server for th republic (which is guesswork) or give up and roll an Imperial (just so they can do the multiplayer content) or in many places, just give up and do something else instead

The much vaunted story for my class (Jedi Counsellor) is terrible. Planet one. Rescue (ahem - I won't spoil it) protect (ahem)...then what? Go to planet 2 and do the exact same thing...then what..Oh I know, why not go to planet 3 and do the exact same thing..then what ...... It's more like an episode of "Dora the Explorer" than an epic space quest. Again I'm told other quest lines are better - guess I just picked wrong again. SWTOR is a theme park with one ride...Combat..it's a good one, but it's the only one in town.
I don't hate the game - I give it a 6, if it was a single player game (which while I'm playing it seems to be) iwould probably give it an 8. It probably does have a future, it needs more "stuff to do" and maybe free character migration for those with Republic characters sitting on their own waiting for a groujp that's never going to come. Please Bio give us more than combat. 6 is fair, it's higher than the average score this game has on this site at time of posting, and that probably sums up my feelings. Could be a great game, but needs a lot more content, not just "depth" (i.e more end game content added) but content width as well. More than just combat ...PERLEAAASE… Expand

intruder313

Dec 21, 2011

7

They really have played it safe with this one, largely cloning WoW but adding a few nice touches that make things even easier and allows you to focus on the fun rather than the grind (so far it seems). Highlights include Space Combat events, Companions and Crafting by proxy.

Very much marring the experience though are the horrendous PvP Instances, the blatant dominance of the "Mage" ClassThey really have played it safe with this one, largely cloning WoW but adding a few nice touches that make things even easier and allows you to focus on the fun rather than the grind (so far it seems). Highlights include Space Combat events, Companions and Crafting by proxy.

Very much marring the experience though are the horrendous PvP Instances, the blatant dominance of the "Mage" Class (this was abundantly clear in Beta so no excuses for going live like this) and the gigantic queues (which will subside).

Treat it as a solo Bioware game and it's great, the MMO aspects needs a bit more work though to escape the WoW-clone badge.… Expand

Stormie

Dec 22, 2011

5

Competently executed, but completely lacking in innovation, this is really a 2005 MMORPG launched six years too late. Mechanics are largely copied from WoW, which is not uncommon, but really doesn't work to well in a sci-fi/space opera style of game. The unique selling point is the voice-acted storyline, but I didn't find the story to be significantly above other MMOs in quality, and feltCompetently executed, but completely lacking in innovation, this is really a 2005 MMORPG launched six years too late. Mechanics are largely copied from WoW, which is not uncommon, but really doesn't work to well in a sci-fi/space opera style of game. The unique selling point is the voice-acted storyline, but I didn't find the story to be significantly above other MMOs in quality, and felt that the voice acting was rather poor - half of the voice work was stilted and wooden, the other half was "zany" and over the top. And none of the conversations felt anything like conversations, they just felt like two voice actors reading from a script. Hugely disappointing, especially when the game really has nothing else going for it that isn't already provided by WoW, LOTRO, EQ2, Rift, and other such games of this style.… Expand

Publicius

Dec 20, 2011

7

There's been a mixed bag of reviews here. Plenty of WoW comparisons, however I've never played WoW, but have played other MMO's such as Swg, Lotro, and Sto. As such I find this game somewhat difficult to judge. The VO is a nice addition to MMO playing, but you also have your typical kill that, kill this quest (which every MMO does). The class story lines are decent, some predictable,There's been a mixed bag of reviews here. Plenty of WoW comparisons, however I've never played WoW, but have played other MMO's such as Swg, Lotro, and Sto. As such I find this game somewhat difficult to judge. The VO is a nice addition to MMO playing, but you also have your typical kill that, kill this quest (which every MMO does). The class story lines are decent, some predictable, others not. The zone design and planetary design is very linear..however there is room for expansion. Having played in beta I've paid attention to the various progressions of the game. There is certainly room for improvement, in many areas of the game. However, if you like the star wars genre, you'll most certainly appreciate the game. The game has a decent ground to build off of, provided it's handled in thecorrect manner, which remains to be seen. For the most part it is your typical MMO, theres nothing surprising or jaw dropping from any other MMO (except maybe the VO), however it can be quite fun if you look past some little flaws. I would encourage to make your own conclusions based on your play, but would recommend the standard edition only, as the game is not worth spending the cash on the collectors edition.… Expand

ravenblade

Feb 28, 2012

6

This is my 2nd review of this game, in my first one I barely touched the game. A second review should be common thing these for MMO reviewers anyways. I will start with what keeps me playing this game for now: Story. Story is the strong point of this game although when talking about story I have to emphasize on class storylines because alot sidequests get lost in the same stereotypical "beThis is my 2nd review of this game, in my first one I barely touched the game. A second review should be common thing these for MMO reviewers anyways. I will start with what keeps me playing this game for now: Story. Story is the strong point of this game although when talking about story I have to emphasize on class storylines because alot sidequests get lost in the same stereotypical "be a hero and save the world." theme not being shy of being hyperbolic in many cases. It is quite common to spend more time listening to the voiceover quest dialogue than for the quest itself. #
As hinted sidequest content qualities are not exactly an evolution and often backwards, bonus objectives in 99 out of 100 cases start with a kill x of y and if there are stages involved they are often followed up by a x of 5*y type of kill quest. Alot sidequests simply don't go beyond kill x, catch y, click z to destroy/interact. There is no timed challenge, no mini-game which could spice it up and certainly no alternate paths involved which would hint the same level of evolution they offered via their dialogue/voiceover introduction.#
Speaking of alternate paths it needs to be mentioned that all quest progression follows the same road for every class, the game is heavily guiding you through content while also limiting you in your abilities to explore. Random invisible walls and entire area potential wasted for instancing, some even class-specific are common and a step backwards. If that didn't wreck your immersion already then the fact that despite all the instancing the game does it knows little to nothing of story persistence aka phasing. At least, you could say, you can have world PVP, but unfortunately there is little of that.#
World PVP is again very limited to a few planets and even then it is better to go your way because on the occasion you have met - which is very difficult with the few Republic players out there - you have almost no incentive to do anything than classical ganking. It is in fact easier to group for instanced PVP.#
Instanced PVP as well as the only exclusive world PVP zone in this game suffers from the same thing as other games within the genre: It is too much of a treadmill and hindered by mechanical as well as technical limitations. Especially the latter deserves some mentioning.#
The biggest issue of this game is its lack of fidelity. The reason for that is a blatant neglect of technological standards and a very unpolished client design. It is very common for some players to deal with the lack in case of many players being in the same area. Even then if you can enjoy higher framerates it becomes quite clear that beyond the poor optimization, animation, texture resolution and shadow qualities are one of the worst I have seen in a long time. Adding to that world design qualities are greatly lacking, the amount of sterility and lifelessness, the impression of a paint brush effect, the lack of small details and variations are putting quite a dent into the immersion and cannot be fixed by the sheer existence of voiceover alone anymore.#
With this said I want to add that I have left out alot of other things especially spoiling ones and things like companions, travelling nightmares and crafting imbalances but these are what I see as biggest outstanding issues. Bioware emphasized too much on voiceover and hoped that it will be the strings that tie the game together. Unfortunately their new pillar of gameplay may break under the burden if they are not beginning to be a little bit more critical of their own design and design choices and start improving. As of now the only saving grace is it being in the Star Wars universe but it will have a hard time to stand up against contenders in this genre who in fact are making and already have made a leap of faith forward.… Expand

Crimsonking58

Dec 26, 2011

6

It seems impossible for this game to stand on it's own. Angry hardcore players comparing it to WoW, rabid Bioware fans assuming its absolute perfection, the treatment this game is receiving is simply unfair. On it's own, without any comparisons to WoW or the existing MMO genre, this is pretty much a mediocre Bioware game with multiplayer capabilities. Which, in thee end, isn't too shabby,It seems impossible for this game to stand on it's own. Angry hardcore players comparing it to WoW, rabid Bioware fans assuming its absolute perfection, the treatment this game is receiving is simply unfair. On it's own, without any comparisons to WoW or the existing MMO genre, this is pretty much a mediocre Bioware game with multiplayer capabilities. Which, in thee end, isn't too shabby, but nothing that will go down in gaming history.

You can easily get to max level in this game without interacting with a single other player, if that's your sort of thing. After dealing with the typical MMO role-shortages (no heals, no tank, no DPS), I gave up on group quests and flashpoints (dungeons) around level 20, and never interacted with anyone until I got to max level. Did it hinder my experience? Not really. However, upon playing the game solo, I couldn't help but think that the game could've been so much better if they had simply made it a single player game and released it as KOTOR 3. I believe that result could've been the best game of the decade so far. The problem that I faced around level 35 was a lack of memorable characters or situations. I thought hard one night of everything that had happened in the game so far, what characters I had met, the situations I had been in, the plot twists, the character development, all standard Bioware fare. I was disappointed to find that I couldn't remember anything spectacular. Memories of all the fantastic scenarios from Mass Effect 2 and KOTOR came back to me then, and all I could feel was disappointment. Thankfully, the plot picks up quite nicely again around level 40, but never gets fully up to speed. As far as a single player experience goes, it feels long and not that spectacular, but much more entertaining and cinematic than a faceless kill-em-all MMO.

But what separates an MMO from a standard RPG is one thing: The endgame. I have yet to experience operations (raids) or any heroic flashpoints, but from what I can see they seem cinematic yet standard, like the rest of the game. I don't see where people are coming up with the statement that "there is no endgame", for there are 15 heroic flashpoints, 2 operations, an entire PvP planet, a higher replay value than standard MMOs, crafting, and more. There is certainly plenty to do, but an MMO veteran might not get the same rush as a new player would. It certainly brings back feelings of Burning Crusade WoW if I have to compare it to anything else.

In conclusion, I believe Bioware has created their most mediocre single player experience to date. But given Bioware's standard of quality, that doesn't mean it's bad. The hours of voice acting and thousands of quests to complete will either bore or immerse you, depending on your Star Wars enjoyment and previous MMO experience. For new players trying to decide between this or WoW, I would go with this, for it will feel much more like the plot-driven games that many are used to as opposed to a faceless trek through 85 levels that WoW feels like nowadays. For veterans, I would steer clear for now. If plot doesn't interest you, and you've already gone through the raiding motions in other MMOs, this will just feel like an elongated single player game with nothing at the end. For now, a 6 for slightly above average. If the end game proves to be as engaging as Burning Crusade was, and Bioware manages to keep content flowing nicely with patches on a regular basis, I'll bump it up to an 8 or a 9. Here's to hoping.… Expand

requiamer

Dec 21, 2011

5

Medium quality game. The Bioware touch is nice, but not to the point they could avoid a better work on the gameplay. The polish is nice, but only because usually mmo are buggy mess, some people praise the polish of this game, but i found it pretty medium. Finally i never felt as playing a star war game, but as playing a mmo with a star war skin, this alone deserve a negative review, butMedium quality game. The Bioware touch is nice, but not to the point they could avoid a better work on the gameplay. The polish is nice, but only because usually mmo are buggy mess, some people praise the polish of this game, but i found it pretty medium. Finally i never felt as playing a star war game, but as playing a mmo with a star war skin, this alone deserve a negative review, but i'll keep my rating at 5.… Expand

kamryu

Dec 23, 2011

7

2 out of 3 story (at times generic and predictable but the addition of voice acting makes you care unless your one of those people looking for a grind fest where you can just pick up a quest go do it level up and get your gear soon as possible,plenty of choice quest wise also)
1 out of 3 game play (yes its a wow clone)
2 out of 3 Social/Multiplayer (people calling it a solo game full of2 out of 3 story (at times generic and predictable but the addition of voice acting makes you care unless your one of those people looking for a grind fest where you can just pick up a quest go do it level up and get your gear soon as possible,plenty of choice quest wise also)
1 out of 3 game play (yes its a wow clone)
2 out of 3 Social/Multiplayer (people calling it a solo game full of **** they are not gonna do a flashpoint solo or a heroic unless they are over leveled for them same as any other MMO also the addition of social conversation choices adds a good little mix to it never know if your party member wins the role you might be about to kill a ton of innocents or end up having to go the long way round).
1 out of 2 for graphics (cartoony one or two bugs)
1 out of 2 customization very limited character image choice races seem to similar only 4 body types user interface not very customizable, on the plus the advance class system means not all consular are going to be the same you ll become a sage or a shadow knight becomes guardian or sentinel and this is before you start deciding on a talent tree to advance through.
total 7 out of 10.

Now into some nitty gritty. As I said sometimes the quests can be predictable for instance training a militia you know is going to be a case of go out kill some things and return (boring and predictable) but at the same time you ll get some quests which will make you have to decide for instance recover some medical supplies for the army only to find out refugees are the ones who stole it and they need them you ll be presented with a social choice leave them with the refugees or take them back for the army this in turn has an effect on whether your light side or dark side points go up (some grey would be nice like splitting the supplies between the two). The voice acting is good and if your someone who actually CARES about story and reasons why your doing things you ll enjoy it if however your one of those people who plays games like wow and never even reads the quest because all that matters to you is what is the reward for doing it then it will be nothing more than annoying to you.
Gameplay is such a clone of all other previous MMO's its almost an insult the few features such as cover (limited to smuggler and imperial agent) add some interest but otherwise be prepared to be playing as you always have (oh yeah no auto attack which personally I feel is actually a good thing) I would have gave 0 out of 3 for this but truth is the system does work it might be boring but reality is the click buttons feature works (just as point and click works for fps I are not going to give an fps review 0 because its point and click why should I give tor 0 because its the same as the others).
Social would be 3 if not for the simple fact planets are instanced so you don't see lots of people sure you can chat with them and if you want you can chance the instance your on to another version of it very easily just bring up world map and click the pull down menu for it down the bottom right. Flashpoints are pretty good again the addition of rolling on decisions within them adds a nice element never forget how annoyed my first group was when I passed on the free money at the end of our first instance and won the roll meaning no one got the money to you this may seem annoying the point is it adds a new layer of social interaction your going to care about who you group with and such. Heroics also add to social interaction since your not going to solo these quests yourself they are designed for group each planet has around a minimum 3 or 4 of these and they each tell a story its not just a case of go kill this elite mob because well its an elite mob sure your going to be killing an elite mob but before your killing it your going to run around sabotaging his ship because he is using it to smuggle slaves.
Graphics are cartoony and have a few glitches I would not say it doe snot work the thing is its an MMO it needs a wide audience so of course its not going to be the best graphically and people who expect it are the same people who have blown thousands on their PC not everyone can afford to graphics score for me is out of 2 cause I don't prioritize them.

People saying not a WoW killer and scoring 0 saying just a WoW clone your not reviewing the game your comparing it to WoW there thats not a review.… Expand

Sov

Dec 26, 2011

5

If it wasn't for the IP or developer name attached to it this would have garnered very little attention. It is incredibly stale and formulaic while missing out on many opportunities to do something fresh. In many ways it feels like a lobby with many tacked on mini-games and instances to try and keep you riding the theme park or "break things up" as they say. It really offers nothing to aIf it wasn't for the IP or developer name attached to it this would have garnered very little attention. It is incredibly stale and formulaic while missing out on many opportunities to do something fresh. In many ways it feels like a lobby with many tacked on mini-games and instances to try and keep you riding the theme park or "break things up" as they say. It really offers nothing to a seasoned MMO gamer and while playing you might find yourself asking, "Where did all the money go?"… Expand

Littlebomb

Dec 20, 2011

5

The best word to describe this game is mediocre. They straight copied WOW and spent way too much money on boring Voice Overs. I wasn't interested in why Timmy the NPC needed 6 bundles of wood and I most certainly don't want to listen to 5 minutes of why he needs bundles of wood.

Also the corridor's are crazy. I spend so much time running. The game is mostly empty space. Even the mobsThe best word to describe this game is mediocre. They straight copied WOW and spent way too much money on boring Voice Overs. I wasn't interested in why Timmy the NPC needed 6 bundles of wood and I most certainly don't want to listen to 5 minutes of why he needs bundles of wood.

Also the corridor's are crazy. I spend so much time running. The game is mostly empty space. Even the mobs hardly move at all. The wolrd feels very dead. The cities are even phased so you don't have the feeling of a mmo.

Really it bums me out because I want ot like this game.

I do enjoy the pvp though and the class design though they need duel spec ASAP. (tons of features missing that are very basic like chat bubbles)… Expand

Necrotaur

Dec 20, 2011

5

Don't think of Star Wars: The Old Republic as an MMO. It's closer to a single-player game where you have the option of playing alongside others, sort of a Knights of the Old Republic with co-op and pvp. It's very story and dialogue driven, which is refreshing, but also somewhat amusing when you spend a couple minutes talking to someone only to get a quest to kill 10 droids. In that respectDon't think of Star Wars: The Old Republic as an MMO. It's closer to a single-player game where you have the option of playing alongside others, sort of a Knights of the Old Republic with co-op and pvp. It's very story and dialogue driven, which is refreshing, but also somewhat amusing when you spend a couple minutes talking to someone only to get a quest to kill 10 droids. In that respect TOR is like most every other MMO out there - kill quests, fetch quests, 'go here, activate terminal' quests etc. etc. It's been done to death so badly even WoW is trying to avoid it, so why isn't Bioware? Graphics are bland, particularly the character models/equipment - it feels like they were pulled straight from 2003. Animations and character faces are awkward and wooden, and there is a distinct lack of racial choices. Who seriously thought 8 flavors of near-humans were a good idea? The voice acting is decent enough, but nothing particularly stellar. Gameplay is heavily instanced and jarring at times when you run into a huge red barrier that says you can't enter because you're not the appropriate class .Combat is the typical MMO button mashing affair, with a couple added twists such as actual companions with interaction (good) and the occasional starship piloting sequence (on rails - could have been better). I can't really speak about PvP in any serious depth, so perhaps that might interest you. In conclusion, SW:TOR *might* be worth a try solely for the story, but it's very doubtful it will have anything to draw you back once you finish it, which is absolutely essential for an MMO.… Expand

Uachet

Dec 20, 2011

5

SWTOR is a very mediocre offering that who's only claim to fame is a voice overs. The mechanics of the game are dated, the graphics are dated and glitchy, and the world itself seems to be tomb-like. Let me explain more on why the world seems like a tomb. Though you may see an indicator stating there are over 100 people in your particular area, for some amazing reason you only really everSWTOR is a very mediocre offering that who's only claim to fame is a voice overs. The mechanics of the game are dated, the graphics are dated and glitchy, and the world itself seems to be tomb-like. Let me explain more on why the world seems like a tomb. Though you may see an indicator stating there are over 100 people in your particular area, for some amazing reason you only really ever see about 5 to 10 other people. Also the worlds lack any fauna and talkative npcs outside of quest givers. It also lacks a day and night cycle, so depending on the planet you are on it is always day or always night (I felt no feeling of a passage of time).

Anyhow, the developers seemed to have squandered there budget on voice talent (which is pretty good in some instances and poor in others). It is unfortunate for me that the most expensive online game created yet, is also the most shallow one I've experienced. This offering truly feels like a quick cash grab, instead of an attempt to make a game that is lasting.… Expand

EndOfRine

Dec 22, 2011

5

I miss the days when reviews weren't paid for by the publisher of the game being reviewed. This game has some good points, to be sure, but any knucklehead giving it an 8-10 is deluding themselves, or flat out trolling. Personally, I didn't enjoy the game, as it was way, way, way too similar to WoW, but if that's your thing, more power to ya, but PLEASE don't try and obfuscate the factI miss the days when reviews weren't paid for by the publisher of the game being reviewed. This game has some good points, to be sure, but any knucklehead giving it an 8-10 is deluding themselves, or flat out trolling. Personally, I didn't enjoy the game, as it was way, way, way too similar to WoW, but if that's your thing, more power to ya, but PLEASE don't try and obfuscate the fact that it IS a WoW clone, and they STATED that straying from the WoW formula was bad business.… Expand

ref

Dec 20, 2011

5

A modest attempt from BioWare. Star Wars: The Old Republic isn't an awful game -- but it is a game we have all played before. This is basically every other MMORPG with voice overs. Quests are what you expect -- fetch 10 of this, kill 20 of these. It is one of these MMO's. The thing people like to bring up is how it is voiced -- the voice work for these fetch quests for the most part isA modest attempt from BioWare. Star Wars: The Old Republic isn't an awful game -- but it is a game we have all played before. This is basically every other MMORPG with voice overs. Quests are what you expect -- fetch 10 of this, kill 20 of these. It is one of these MMO's. The thing people like to bring up is how it is voiced -- the voice work for these fetch quests for the most part is average and not inspiring. Where this voice acting does immerse you is in the class stories. Most of the class stories are interesting, while others are predictable and subpar. A step above Dragon Age 2 writing quality, in my opinion. The classes themselves, are alright. All of these abilities you will be using should be familiar as they mechanically similar to every other MMO out there. This game has dungeons, raids, standard run of the mill features in an MMORPG. Basically, SWTOR is "meh". The voice acting and story does not make up for this reused and worse done game play that we have all seen before.… Expand

Sevvy88

Dec 20, 2011

7

For years many gamers have watched and waited for a game that would pique their interest in the same way WoW did (and for many continues to) did years ago. The MMO market has been a dreadful one, and Bioware promised alot with this game. Did they deliver? Early signs are pointing, for the most part, yes. The game is extremely well put together. The zones flow well, the story clicks along,For years many gamers have watched and waited for a game that would pique their interest in the same way WoW did (and for many continues to) did years ago. The MMO market has been a dreadful one, and Bioware promised alot with this game. Did they deliver? Early signs are pointing, for the most part, yes. The game is extremely well put together. The zones flow well, the story clicks along, and the combat is solid, albeit traditional. If WoW expanded upon Everquest in all the right ways, then I believe SW:TOR continues this trend. MMO veterans will feel comfortable immediately with the UI and combat, but before you walk out, give it a chance. The story is what Bioware has been pushing HARD for this game, and at first I was skeptical. Let me tell you, the story in WoW never interested me, and I am an AVID reader to boot. Not the case with SW:TOR. I find myself "stepping into my character's shoes" quite constantly. The voice overs add immersion and, get this, Bioware did a FANTASTIC job of making sure that even if you are grouped, voice overs can be seamless. The voice acting is not Hollywood level, but for a video game, it is certainly above standard. Bioware is famous for their storytelling in games, and SW:TOR absolutely shines here. Gameplay wise the game strikes a fair balance between fairly easy and challenging. The game will require you to group at times to complete certain missions, many of which your companion will not be enough to make up the difference of lacking another player's help. I welcome this return of group questing. Fear not though, group quests are not overdone. There are far more solo quests than group quests, and while the solo quests are fairly easy, they are not insulting to the player's intelligence. That may be because I am still learning my class. :) Those who claimed this would be a "single player MMO" are only imposing that on themselves at this point. The most fun I have had in game has been in groups, and I find FREQUENT opportunities to play with others.

The instances are fun and click along at a nice pace, here again, the story does wonders. Watching your group members gasp at you when, despite all of their choices, you win the conversation roll and choose a dark side option will never get old. It creates alot of opportunity for discussion and friendly banter. Great stuff. The instances are very do-able, but again, I didn't feel like my intelligence was insulted.

Crafting feels traditional in some respects, but contains a twist: you can send your companion to gather materials and run "crew skill missions" for you while you quest, group in an instance, or just chill out in a city socializing. This is a GREAT addition. I've never met someone who enjoyed farming. There are still many nodes in the open game world for players to collect for materials as they quest as well. Again, Bioware striking a great balance. That really is the name of the game here: balance. Bioware didn't re-invent the wheel by any means, they kept it simple and traditional in many ways, but the spins they have put on it are refreshing and fun. If you are looking for a game that is unlike any MMO ever, then sadly, you will probably be disappointed, the game is by no means a "WoW clone" anymore than WoW was an "EQ clone." Good ideas build off of one another, they don't exist in vacuums. So why the 7 and not a 10 or a 9? Well, because the game can improve in many ways. There are still many bugs afflicting players, and Bioware's support team has been less than transparent about them. The UI cannot be customized, not even resized, and quite frankly, I find it maddening and unacceptable. The game could use better group forming tools, as right now you simply much spam a chat channel for a group. High res textures are also not working. The game still needs alot of love, and I don't think anyone will deny that if they take an honest look at the state of things.

Overall, the game is solid, and I truly believe it has great potential to see success. Personally I am having a BLAST, and haven't enjoyed an MMO this much since my first journeys in WoW back in 2006. Great jobs Bioware, now just keep up the good work. That's going to be the hardest part... and the true test.… Expand

ufte34

Dec 20, 2011

7

hold on a sec, i see where this is going those people who are calming to reach max level, gave the game a rating of 0 on the first day, is that even possible (not even possible if you got access to the game before 5 days of release)?. those people who compares the game with XXX gave a rating of 1 or 2. those people who reached level 32 gave the game rating of 0(it's been 6 hours since thehold on a sec, i see where this is going those people who are calming to reach max level, gave the game a rating of 0 on the first day, is that even possible (not even possible if you got access to the game before 5 days of release)?. those people who compares the game with XXX gave a rating of 1 or 2. those people who reached level 32 gave the game rating of 0(it's been 6 hours since the game has been released). those people who are complain about a game being a grind gave the rating of 0-2, note to self if you are going to play an MMO it's a grind. those people who say it's a clone of another XXX mmo, every MMO has been an clone of others, get your brains examined. any one who compares this game to WOW gave a rating of 0. and most of those people never even played SWTOR.… Expand

Superfly3176

Dec 20, 2011

7

Personally I like this game, it doesn't really do anything out of the ordinary but does some good things for the genre. Questing feels immersive, as a sith sorcerer every quest feels like I'm doing something to help win a war. The voice acting is above average, but it's new for the MMO genre. I can't count how many times I've accepted a quest in wow, and went right to the bottom where itPersonally I like this game, it doesn't really do anything out of the ordinary but does some good things for the genre. Questing feels immersive, as a sith sorcerer every quest feels like I'm doing something to help win a war. The voice acting is above average, but it's new for the MMO genre. I can't count how many times I've accepted a quest in wow, and went right to the bottom where it said "Collect x number of y". SW:TOR doesn't leave you feeling detached.

The main quest for a sith seems to be pretty good so far, I'm level 20 on the 3rd planet. Combat is smooth, but not as smooth as wow's is. It seems to have a little bit of delay and just lacks that polished fluidity.

Crafting/Collecting skills are half great, half a major pain. You can set your companions to do crafting or collecting missions, which really streamlines your leveling. The problem is it take forever for them to do it. One minute to craft a belt? Come on now. It also doesn't seem easy to find materials for things you need to craft.

The game has more faults, while there's a lot of group quests, there doesn't feel like there's a lot of bosses or instances thus far up to level 20. Feels like there's less opportunity to group up in instances. It leads me to wonder if I decide to play Jedi 3 months down the road if there will be anyone around to do the group quests.

The worlds don't seem very big during the first 2 planets, although I'm on the 3rd one and it feels much larger then the previous two. But even still for an entire plant to feel like it's the size of one zone in wow (think duskwood is just about korriban). The difference is SWTOR puts you in a lot of tunnels and "sub zones" for quests.

Overall I'd give it a 6.5/10, it has potential but unless they come up with some endgame this is just going to be a leveling ordeal, in which case they should have just made it single player.… Expand

shadus

Dec 20, 2011

5

This game is a disappointment. That being said It's not a bad game. First the good points... The sound is one place the game really shined, but sound alone doesn't make a great game... and when I say sound I mean ALL of the sound. The music is very good, the voice acting and cut scene sounds are top notch productions as far as I've played in the game. If top end sound is a priority forThis game is a disappointment. That being said It's not a bad game. First the good points... The sound is one place the game really shined, but sound alone doesn't make a great game... and when I say sound I mean ALL of the sound. The music is very good, the voice acting and cut scene sounds are top notch productions as far as I've played in the game. If top end sound is a priority for you give this a try, it really does show where the future is headed and what can be done with a good budget and being willing to put forth some budget on the sound. The crafting system is also an improvement over the sit for 15m and watch a bar repeatedly zip to the top 400 times system that has become common place in many games. The downside is the combat and feel of the game is pretty much carbon copied from another large aaa game with a sci-fi skin pasted on it. The choices you have with your character feel contrived and limited as far as real skills go. The instancing level the game exhibits with 300 carbon copies running around doing exactly what I am doing being "the one" is a complete disappointment and is highly immersion breaking. The problem is, in my aspects it copied from another aaa game, but failed to innovate on the same formula. After the previous attempt with making a mmo with this ip it's easy to understand Bioware wanted to be more conservative, but they exceeded the bounds of reasonable in the degree of conservatism they are exhibiting. People have been playing games using roughly the same formula and style since the mid/late 90s and many are beginning to tire of the exact same formula. The biggest issue is that the game lacks the innovation you would hope to see in such a big aaa title. The game also lacks the polish you feel in the older games in the genre that it is similar to. The game already feels dated because of the many choices they made with regards to combat and core game play with many of the free to play games showing better feature sets even. However, if you're looking for a very well designed game that is largely a sci-fi re-skin or you're looking to be a part of the star wars universe as your primary concern, look no further-- this is the game for you. If you're looking for something different, something unique, and a change in functional way a game plays, this is not the game for you it fails completely on that front.… Expand

Mozu

Dec 20, 2011

5

Rethinking my earlier review somewhat, I think a two is a bit harsh. A five is more in line with what you should expect from TOR. Mediocrity. It is simply a clunky WoW clone (in space!), with instanced zones, "romances", and tons of voice acting. I genuinely wanted to like this game, and for it to actually be the "WoW-killer". Instead we got a mediocre single-player game with MMORethinking my earlier review somewhat, I think a two is a bit harsh. A five is more in line with what you should expect from TOR. Mediocrity. It is simply a clunky WoW clone (in space!), with instanced zones, "romances", and tons of voice acting. I genuinely wanted to like this game, and for it to actually be the "WoW-killer". Instead we got a mediocre single-player game with MMO features that feel tacked on somehow. There's not much I can say that other reviewers haven't pointed out already. Bioware and EA took an IP with a ton of weight behind it, and a rabid fan base, and instead of making something that could've been huge and game-changing, as far as the MMO genre goes, they played it safe and lazy, frittering away time and absurd amounts of money, deciding that a WoW clone would be the easiest way to cash in on both the IP and the sense of familiarity that comes with being yet another WoW-wannabe. The only reason that I'm giving the game a 2 and and not a 1 is that the music really is excellent. My suspicion is that many of the 10s on here are either blind followers of all things Bioware, trolls, or shills for Bioware hiding behind false identities (which has happened before).… Expand

JoeCool

Dec 25, 2011

6

This game is not an MMO, the hole world is instanced, creating a rather empty feel when you play it. You'll run into other players but not a whole lot. Once too many players enter a zone another instance is created and you'll always have the same feel. While that may be good for immersion, it is blasphemy in MMO country. The game revolves around the story. While that story is often quiteThis game is not an MMO, the hole world is instanced, creating a rather empty feel when you play it. You'll run into other players but not a whole lot. Once too many players enter a zone another instance is created and you'll always have the same feel. While that may be good for immersion, it is blasphemy in MMO country. The game revolves around the story. While that story is often quite good, and as a single player game it would certainly have disappointed a whole lot less. However as an MMO you just have to label it the failure it is. If you're look for a Star Wars game, then this is one. If you're looking for an MMO, let alone a good one, better pass on this one.… Expand

HunterZolomon

Dec 20, 2011

5

The Old Republic is not a horrible game. It's just so mind-numbingly mediocre, average, bland. Bioware is one of the finest gaming companies on the planet with a proven track record. How could they release a game that not only feels unfinished in some areas, but also a game that disappoints you from the start?

Character creation is a joke. There are only identical humanoid speciesThe Old Republic is not a horrible game. It's just so mind-numbingly mediocre, average, bland. Bioware is one of the finest gaming companies on the planet with a proven track record. How could they release a game that not only feels unfinished in some areas, but also a game that disappoints you from the start?

Character creation is a joke. There are only identical humanoid species available, same body, different skin. I was expecting at least a few alien species in addition to much more customization. The Star Wars universe is so rich with alien beings, why settle for virtually unknown "races" that all look the same? Questing, boring. Combat, boring. Bland, boring environments, graphics and animation. Horrible UI, no really, you can't even scale it. No surprises whatsoever, nothing grabs your attention. It's a derivative, cookie-cutter mmo if I ever saw one. It should have been released 5-6 years ago.

The ONLY thing that sticks out as good are some of the storylines and voice acting is really good. True to form, Bioware delivers on that count. But it simply doesn't blend well with the traditional mmo parts. The quests feel detached from the storyline.… Expand

kendrickdk

Jun 20, 2014

7

It is definitely a great game. The combat system is out of date but there is no denying that the voice over and story is top notch. If they would just update the combat system this game would be a real contender.

Goosebump

Dec 23, 2011

7

*** Pros (in no specific order other than as they come to me): Fantastic voice acting throughout. Decent graphics. Star Wars! Nice twist on professions by letting your companion(s) grind em while you get on with other stuff. Decent stories and class chains. Good travel options (only let down by the ridiculously long fleet recall cd). Various levels of mob difficulty for their*** Pros (in no specific order other than as they come to me): Fantastic voice acting throughout. Decent graphics. Star Wars! Nice twist on professions by letting your companion(s) grind em while you get on with other stuff. Decent stories and class chains. Good travel options (only let down by the ridiculously long fleet recall cd). Various levels of mob difficulty for their respective level. Bioware, Lucasarts are two greats in the industry. Reasonable UI options but can get very cluttered with frames overlapping side action bars and the likes. Your own space ship is cool and some space fights are great fun. Two options to take on how you want to res when you die - this is really good. Everyone can resurrect people out of combat. Nice chat choice roll system when in a group on quests. Dark and Light side is another bit of fun to focus on when levelling. *** Cons: PvP - just don't bother. Dire combat mechanics for melee - WoW is light years ahead in terms of combat fun for a melee class in this regard. Ranged combat seems ok and doesnt feel anywhere as awkward or clunky as melee combat. The deposit scaling with buyout price and auction time is insanely high and totally discourages people posting things on the auction house - especially while levelling where credits are tight. The taint of EA is in the back of players minds that have been stung by their awful support and/or dollar-grabbing previously - I truely wish Bioware would cut all ties with these guys. *** Summary: From my six years of WoW, this is not a WoW killer imho for those interested in it as a potential challenger. It's something that can be played alongside WoW purely for the whole Star Wars thing goin on but I have my doubts about the longevity of the game unless Bioware can keep it interesting - we'll just have to wait and see. The frustrating combat mechanics, bad deposit system on the auction house and after thought PvP are enough to make me cancel my sub when my 30 days are up however. This is not a bash at the game by the way - it's an honest opinion - there's alot to love in the game too as you can see in the pros above and maybe the cons are things that you can live with - if so, great - have a blast! 7/10… Expand

Ravager

Dec 20, 2011

5

I want you to imagine World of Warcraft back in 2004.

Now replace the Warcraft universe with the Star Wars universe and add in a lot of voice acting.

Thats all The Old Republic is.

If you enjoy MMOs, I'm not going to deny that you will enjoy The Old Republic. If you are looking for something a little different, you wont find it.

CashewsOfChaos

Dec 20, 2011

5

You got your Single Player RPG in my MMORPG! Unfortunately these two great genres don't necessarily taste good together. I'll admit I'm biased because I have a lot of good memories of the late Star Wars Galaxies. Before the infamous"New Game Enhancements" SWG was a very bold MMO and in my opinion was far superior than the competition including WOW. When SWG was at its peak guilds wereYou got your Single Player RPG in my MMORPG! Unfortunately these two great genres don't necessarily taste good together. I'll admit I'm biased because I have a lot of good memories of the late Star Wars Galaxies. Before the infamous"New Game Enhancements" SWG was a very bold MMO and in my opinion was far superior than the competition including WOW. When SWG was at its peak guilds were building their own cities, there was a complex economy, and the game tried its best to give guild politics some civility in the form of elections. Star Wars Galaxies delivered in its name, it allowed players to influence the world(s) around them. Now we have Star Wars: The Old Republic, a game that focuses in delivering a Single Player Experience, but unfortunately the MMO is sadly neglected. The game is functional, I can see why many people will enjoy it. But it lacks ambition. The "Single Player" stories for each class are good with great Voice Acting, the actual goals for each quest are not too memorable but that's a trapping that every MMO has suffered so it's forgivable. But the end game, it's what you've experienced in so many MMORPGs and its just by the numbers. There's not much I can really say about it other than that you've played it in many MMOs. I imagine that Bioware will be adding a lot to the end game in coming months but with the way many MMOs (including EA's Warhammer Online) just crap out after they launch I'll be cautiously optimistic. At this stage I wouldn't recommend buying The Old Republic. Bioware needs to get out of their comfort zone, people don't play MMOs to watch stories. They play MMOs so they can create their own stories.… Expand

Superstring

Dec 20, 2011

7

The game is average. The only new thing that makes it stand out is VO, which is quite controversial. Everything else is good old WoW with lightsabers.

GigaHz

Dec 20, 2011

6

I pre-ordered my game and have been playing it through Early Access. I have been trying to give the game a fair chance, but in all honesty, I feel as if the game is a massive disappointment.

I'm not sure where to start. The game isn't terrible, it just isn't great. There's something about the gameplay and overarching design philosophy that feels very dated and I don't know why I wasted soI pre-ordered my game and have been playing it through Early Access. I have been trying to give the game a fair chance, but in all honesty, I feel as if the game is a massive disappointment.

I'm not sure where to start. The game isn't terrible, it just isn't great. There's something about the gameplay and overarching design philosophy that feels very dated and I don't know why I wasted so much time trying to convince myself that it's acceptable. I'm not so much referring to the mechanics that were ripped from WoW or other MMOs, it just feels as if the team that worked on this game lacked any sort of passion to separate this game from its competition.

Yes, the game has the standard Bioware cutscenes and they do give a sense of importance to certain quests, but that's basically the only unique thing this game has going for it. And really, there is only so far you can take something like that without it turning into a gimmick. Having fully voiced cutscenes for the majority of quests is a great idea... in theory. After a while, it starts to become a bit ridiculous. I don't care how you act out an unimportant fetch quest, a fetch quest is a fetch quest. You don't need to pretend that I'm looking for buried treasure or Al Capone's vault, I won't suddenly convince myself that your quest offer is less redundant than it already is.

I also really tried to connect with my character (Smuggler/Gunslinger) to immerse myself in the plot. Despite the character playing out as a glorified Han Solo simulator (which I mean in the best possible way), I must have heard 'I can do it blindfolded!' 3 times in the starting world alone. If they're going to pride themselves on having fully-voiced cutscenes, they could at least be clever about how they recycle dialogue lines.

As some have said before, the worlds are incredibly linear. As old and criticized as WoW is, at least there is a sense of free-roaming and unique set pieces to differentiate each zone from the next. SWTOR's world design takes uninspired to new heights. It doesn't matter what zone you're in, there is a universal sense of monotony and sterility to everything. It's like the game was designed for corridor fetishists. If you're in an indoor or outdoor zone, everything feels (and is) closed in or restrictive. I can't even think of a single prop or locale in these locations that have stuck out on my mind. If Bioware or EA were seriously looking to keep people playing their game for years instead of months, they should have put more emphasis on the design and aesthetics of these locations. Right now, the only positive description I can think of for these zones is that they are functional, and that doesn't mean much.

Oddly enough, the Combat system is what I enjoy most for this game. It's not unique either, but at the very least it's fun. I've ran into a few issues with the Smuggler/Gunslinger class. These are not so much glitches as they are poor design choices. For instance, if I'm doing a Heroic instance with others as a Gunslinger, there are times when I am forced to go into cover to activate the abilities that I need. There are also times when I would like to keep my distance on the target and use my portable/holographic cover instead of rolling behind an object. In unfavourable circumstances, I will sometimes automatically roll to a place I don't want to be instead of just deploying my cover. If they were to add in an option to turn off this roll, that would solve my problem, but for now, it's a sloppy mechanic. It's a little ironic that when you're starting out as a Smuggler and you don't have portable cover, it's cumbersome to roll behind an object to mitigate damage taken.

Everything else feels out of place or tacked-on. PvP doesn't play as good as it could have, Space Combat is just an on-rails shooter with plenty of repeating segments, and while they are pretty useful, the game almost forces you to utilize your companion. Why is it that I have to delegate crafting to my companion instead of crafting items myself? Is working with my hands beneath me? Do Star Wars players have God Complexes? I don't get it. However, I am a fan of sending my companion on side-missions. Only because then I don't have to put up with his spineless, good-for-nothing personality.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that The Old Republic is nothing more than a shameless cash grab. Maybe plenty of people who do their research on this game were aware of this already, but I was genuinely optimistic and unaware. Now I know why there were so many CG cutscenes to promote the game instead of actual content.… Expand

ColdestForever

Dec 20, 2011

5

My SWTOR experience has been limited to a few months of beta testing; My last experience with TOR had been in the beta weekends spanning from September to October. Although SWTOR does offer something new to the MMORPG genre it hardly offers any innovation. SWTOR essentially utilizes the same old stale MMORPG formula that we've all grown to love and loath. The cutscenes did not add much toMy SWTOR experience has been limited to a few months of beta testing; My last experience with TOR had been in the beta weekends spanning from September to October. Although SWTOR does offer something new to the MMORPG genre it hardly offers any innovation. SWTOR essentially utilizes the same old stale MMORPG formula that we've all grown to love and loath. The cutscenes did not add much to immersion and seemed like a novelty at best. As SWTOR hardly offers anything new to genre, aside from another Star Wars title to replace SWG, I've decided to opt-out and hope for something better in the future.… Expand

Serpentu

Dec 24, 2011

6

Good job on screwing up the launch by making it unavailable for half the globe.
You've essentially diminished the interest of many, many players who would've otherwise gladly given you their money -despite- it being an EA published title.

Disgust

Dec 20, 2011

5

I had high hopes for TOR... I was an avid fan... until I got to play it. The only word worth describing it with is Mediocrity. Nothing new gameplay wise... copy pasted gameplay from World of Warcraft... terrible PvP balance...the absolutely most stagnant world ever created for an MMO and horrible repeatable combat.
So much money spent on development just to copy what we've already playedI had high hopes for TOR... I was an avid fan... until I got to play it. The only word worth describing it with is Mediocrity. Nothing new gameplay wise... copy pasted gameplay from World of Warcraft... terrible PvP balance...the absolutely most stagnant world ever created for an MMO and horrible repeatable combat.
So much money spent on development just to copy what we've already played hundreds of times.
By supporting this product you support the cloning of gameplay. Buy it if you enjoy WoW style MMOs but don't complain when there's no other titles that could provide you with alternate gameplay.

and No... the voice over does not make up for all it's flaws. It's nice in the beggining but gets tiring very very fast...you have a nice conversation with an NPC only to get the typical "go kill 10 x" quests...… Expand

Egomaniacal

Dec 20, 2011

5

The MMORPG is one of the most stagnant genres in gaming. New features usually revolve around social or aesthetic elements rather than trying to alter game play. The Old Republic falls victim to this as well. While it's interesting on your personal quests to hear dialogue, the generic quests you run into while you race towards the level cap are entirely unnecessary. They tend to bog downThe MMORPG is one of the most stagnant genres in gaming. New features usually revolve around social or aesthetic elements rather than trying to alter game play. The Old Republic falls victim to this as well. While it's interesting on your personal quests to hear dialogue, the generic quests you run into while you race towards the level cap are entirely unnecessary. They tend to bog down progression and quickly become a nuisance rather than a treasured feature.

The claim of being a hero in a game full of heroes was never a great premise; you end up doing what you do in every other MMO: fighting a gigantic boss with other people. That's fine. That's what you're supposed to do -- play an MMO with people. The focus on your character and your character alone doesn't work with such a large crowd. Stunted animations, boring looking gear, oddly balanced PvP brackets and of course a community that seems to want to be the immovable object in regards to shortcomings and you have a game that feels entirely sophomoric.

If you were looking for something exciting and refreshing, this isn't the title for you. If you were looking for a quality MMO to leave Rift or World of Warcraft for, give The Old Republic a few months or better yet.. don't.… Expand

donkeycum

Dec 20, 2011

5

It feels very unpolished. Ill consider trying ti again in 6-12 months, hopefully its been patched and polished a little more by then.
It doesnt feel innovative and in fact feels like a clone of WoW minus the 10 years of polish.

GrayGhost79

Dec 20, 2011

5

First off no this isn't something completely new and different. This is a theme park MMO, though it is a fairly polished MMO. Whats refreshing is the voice overs, the scifi setting and the SW IP. What SWToR is, simply put, is well done. I don't need to combat a myriad of bugs and exploits to try and gleam some enjoyment out of the game. It's a lot more fun than many MMO's that have comeFirst off no this isn't something completely new and different. This is a theme park MMO, though it is a fairly polished MMO. Whats refreshing is the voice overs, the scifi setting and the SW IP. What SWToR is, simply put, is well done. I don't need to combat a myriad of bugs and exploits to try and gleam some enjoyment out of the game. It's a lot more fun than many MMO's that have come out lately, but it's not an extremely long game if you just start baging out quests. Me, I've been treating it like a sandbox to an extent. I'm going out exploring and filling my coffers and getting levels in the mean time. When I get bored with an area I'll turn in the quests and start in a new place. SWToR is simply a refined theme park MMO. Nothing massively innovative, but it is highly polished and it's built upon a lot of the core mechanics traditional MMO's have used. When you combined that with the scifi setting and the SW IP well you have something that's fun and will only get better with time. When taking a look at a lot of these reviews here about SWToR please keep a couple of things in mind. 1) Anyone saying this is Torcraft of a WoW clone should instantly be ignored. What TOR is, is a theme park MMO so yes it will share many mechanics and features with WoW just like WoW does with EQ, EQ2, Rift, Aion, etc. etc. etc. This isn't cloning, this is simply whats been standard themepark since before WoW. TOR has as much in common with WoW as it does LoTRO or SWG (Post NGE). 2) Be wary of the SWG fans, SWG just shut down with the launch of TOR and many fans of SWG are extremely jaded and looking for someone or something to blame other than an aging game that had little to moderate appeal at it's prime. If your on the fence about SWTOR simply wait for a free trial or wait for actual reviewers to review the game as many people with their own agenda's are out in full force with the launch of TOR.… Expand

obro

Dec 21, 2011

6

The only good things in this game are voice acting and music. Both of those things do not make a video game. Gameplay pretty much WoW so why even bother playing it if it's the same thing I have been playing for years now? Huge lags and ques and instanced zones. No sense of exploration since it's instanced. Animations are terrible for a 2011 game but then again BioWare never had goodThe only good things in this game are voice acting and music. Both of those things do not make a video game. Gameplay pretty much WoW so why even bother playing it if it's the same thing I have been playing for years now? Huge lags and ques and instanced zones. No sense of exploration since it's instanced. Animations are terrible for a 2011 game but then again BioWare never had good animations in any of their games. All in all completely average MMO interesting only in the beginning because of the voice acting but you soon start to skip it all because no choice you make matters.… Expand

DeathTouch

Dec 20, 2011

7

Can use some more polishing, but have been enjoying myself quite a bit. All I can say is get a friend(s) to group with and have fun, better yet get into a guild with like minded people.

grammarye

Dec 20, 2011

7

TOR has managed to revitalise the tired MMO market with an actual story; nay eight actual stories, that have the same level & quality of Bioware storytelling we've all become used to in Mass Effect, KOTOR and the like. Sure, it's now in an MMO which means some aspects of flow have been sacrificed, and there are some key MMO typical features that seem absent, but nevertheless it fitsTOR has managed to revitalise the tired MMO market with an actual story; nay eight actual stories, that have the same level & quality of Bioware storytelling we've all become used to in Mass Effect, KOTOR and the like. Sure, it's now in an MMO which means some aspects of flow have been sacrificed, and there are some key MMO typical features that seem absent, but nevertheless it fits together pretty well. Extremely stable, sounds great & looks gorgeous.

The game presents you with a series of worlds to play on, tailored to a set of levels, although the story will have you returning to earlier worlds and tougher areas at points. Pacing is fair, perhaps a little fast, when compared to, say, World of Warcraft, and indeed it's hard not to compare the two; the mechanics are quite similar. Where they diverge is the involving story & fully voiced content, along with better crafting mechanisms & more diverse & useful skills. If I compare my experiences between levelling up a character in WoW and one in TOR, I would say I have experienced less burnout, less frustration, and more fun in TOR.… Expand

Solitaire

Dec 20, 2011

6

SWTOR je u principu solidna igra. Ne postoji nista u sta bi mogao uperis prst i kazes da ne valja. Kontrole su zategnute, grafika je na nivou, dijalozi dobro izrezirani, borbe drze paznju...
Medjutim, problem je u tome sto u igri isto tako ne postoji nista sto je stvarno zablistalo, sto je vanserijski. Izuzev dijaloga, sve sto SWTOR nudi MMO konkurencija ima barem na istom nivou, ako ne iSWTOR je u principu solidna igra. Ne postoji nista u sta bi mogao uperis prst i kazes da ne valja. Kontrole su zategnute, grafika je na nivou, dijalozi dobro izrezirani, borbe drze paznju...
Medjutim, problem je u tome sto u igri isto tako ne postoji nista sto je stvarno zablistalo, sto je vanserijski. Izuzev dijaloga, sve sto SWTOR nudi MMO konkurencija ima barem na istom nivou, ako ne i bolje. O non-MMO konkurenciji da i ne govorim.
Sami dijalozi jesu nesto do sad nevidjeno medju MMO igrama, i kada se uporede sa resenjima koje ima postojeca konkurencija (WoW, EvE, LOTRO,GW), ali i buduca (GW2,TSW,TERA), zaista deluju kao nesto impozantno. Medjutim, kad stavis Busmana medju kepece i on ce izgledati kao dzin.

Dijalozi u SWTORu su jako staticni, zbog cega deluju arhaicno i na nivou onih iz ranih dve hiljaditih. Uz to, ne pomaze im ni jako ogranicen izbor koji stavljaju pred igraca, a koji je postavljen po BioWareovom tradicionalno lobotomiranom kljucu - Psihopata/Patrijarh Pavle uz povremeno "daj jos para". Pri cemu su efekti tog izbora minorni ili zanemarljivi za dalji tok radnje.
Mrzi me da ulazim dublje u ovu tematiku, ali sve u svemu - iako su dijalozi u SWTORu za MMO standarde zaista impresivna stvar, kada se stvari gledaju iz sveobuhvatnije perspektive, tesko da su oni nesto sto bi zaista moglo da SWToR svrsta medju izuzetnije naslove. U ovoj oblasti, standardi su postavljeni jako visoko, i tesko da bi me SWTORovi dijalozi mogli impresionirati posle verbalnih duela iz Deus Ex: Human Revolutiona ili ultradinamicnog ludila iz Alpha Protocola.

Realno, SWTOR ce biti, barem u pocetku, komercijalno uspesna igra. Fransiza i pedigre joj to garantuju. Ono sto smo videli iz bete nam pokazuje i da ce biti solidan naslov. Medjutim, u ustima fanova ce ipak ostati gorak ukus razocarenja, jer je BioWareov Kotor MMO imao potencijala da bude nesto mnogo, mnogo vise.… Expand

ItsJustPj

Sep 28, 2016

5

A Mediocre Star Wars Game? sadly yes it's true, but it shouldn't be a surprise since it's an MMO. It's basically another watered down MMO with uninteresting characters plus it's single player is boring. The best part of this game was the CG trailers and that's saying something....

Tacoss23

Oct 11, 2012

5

This is a great RPG with amazing storyline/Role playing elements, but falls short as MMO. Just like I was expecting from Bioware, an amazing compelling story line(s), great art/graphic fidelity without destroying your graphics card budget, and an overall enjoyable "journey". I wanted to love this game, and I did when it came out, I have to admit partly because of my fanboism of Star WarsThis is a great RPG with amazing storyline/Role playing elements, but falls short as MMO. Just like I was expecting from Bioware, an amazing compelling story line(s), great art/graphic fidelity without destroying your graphics card budget, and an overall enjoyable "journey". I wanted to love this game, and I did when it came out, I have to admit partly because of my fanboism of Star Wars and Bioware. As I had a blast with this game for several weeks, eventually I started to get bored, when finally I found myself login in for couple hours a week, if that. See, the storyline is great, the journey through leveling is as good as it gets and the world itself is incredibly fun and full of features to explore/enjoy. However, Bioware, didn't quite get the point of a MMO-RPG, and that's that you have to have enough "compelling" content at end game, and subsequent patches of content, not only fixes. Conclusion: SWTOR would've done great as a standalone singe/multiplayer RPG game, but as a MMO it's just doesn't cut it. There was very little to do, and most importantly very little "FUN" things to do once the main storyline was over. Because of this reason I can't consciously give SWTOR a good score, because it is a MMO-RPG and as such falls very short. Is it worth the base price tag? In my opinion yes, but not the subscription. Now that it's going free to play, we will see, but at the end of the day it's not the subscription fee that drove away its players, it was the lack of content. So with or without subscription, if there is no appealing FUN content added to the game, it would still be in the situation it's right now. You do get the fun value out of the original price by playing through the story lines and leveling, that's for sure.… Expand

TheGamer31

Sep 3, 2013

5

This is one of the most disappointing games I have ever played. After playing KOTOR 1 and 2 several times, I heard about this and was so excited. Even finding out it was going to be an MMO I was still excited. Then the game was finally released, I found out that it was a subscription game, so I held off until it was free, and I did. So I played it. It starts out good, but after the firstThis is one of the most disappointing games I have ever played. After playing KOTOR 1 and 2 several times, I heard about this and was so excited. Even finding out it was going to be an MMO I was still excited. Then the game was finally released, I found out that it was a subscription game, so I held off until it was free, and I did. So I played it. It starts out good, but after the first few times of leveling up, you get very bored with the game. I mean, somehow this 2011 game looks worse than KOTOR 1 which came out in 2003 if I'm not mistaken. The gameplay lacks and is way too easy. And the plot, while interesting and amazing, is predictable, only once or twice was I surprised by the story out of my nearly thousand hours of playing. While there is still that choice of what you want to say, it all turns out the same on the ending of the quests. But I do have one good thing which saves this game from being a negative review, and that is the loot. The loot, while sometimes being wasted time, is usually very rewarding. I could only recommend this game to one type of person. The die-hard Star Wars fans.… Expand

Jaz

Feb 23, 2013

6

I am a Star Wars fan, played Star Wars Galaxies and the Knights of the Old Republic 1-2. I expected more from this game as did so many others. It isnt bad but it isnt great either. Pros: Star Wars, companions, crafting, combat animation, dungeons, personal stories. Minus: End game, repetitive combat, wasted transition time between planets, space combat, lacking small MMO details that makeI am a Star Wars fan, played Star Wars Galaxies and the Knights of the Old Republic 1-2. I expected more from this game as did so many others. It isnt bad but it isnt great either. Pros: Star Wars, companions, crafting, combat animation, dungeons, personal stories. Minus: End game, repetitive combat, wasted transition time between planets, space combat, lacking small MMO details that make world "real" like night/day etc. I was a subscriber, left and when i got back i found out that their "f2p" model is bad, even for me. I d still recommend to play it, raise a character to max lvl from each faction and thats it, dont ask for more.… Expand

ULTROX

Aug 5, 2013

6

Its actual classic MMORPG with pay 2 win system. The story is good with many recognizable elements and details from SW expanded universe, you can choose your path but its will be hard if you dont behave like side you choose. Fine cutscenes where (probably for first time) you can see other players from your group in it. The game have good PVP. I personally think that SW galaxies was muchIts actual classic MMORPG with pay 2 win system. The story is good with many recognizable elements and details from SW expanded universe, you can choose your path but its will be hard if you dont behave like side you choose. Fine cutscenes where (probably for first time) you can see other players from your group in it. The game have good PVP. I personally think that SW galaxies was much better but this is not so bad either and fans of SW and MMORPGS will like it.… Expand

JustMy2

Jun 10, 2016

6

This game is at the same time grandiose in scale and vision, and the pinnacle of mediocrity in execution. It is truly one of a kind, and never shall anything quite like it be created ever again. To understand the peculiar way the stars aligned to make this game possible, let's recap the story of its creation:

In the beginning was the legendary Bioware game Knights Of The Old RepublicThis game is at the same time grandiose in scale and vision, and the pinnacle of mediocrity in execution. It is truly one of a kind, and never shall anything quite like it be created ever again. To understand the peculiar way the stars aligned to make this game possible, let's recap the story of its creation:

In the beginning was the legendary Bioware game Knights Of The Old Republic (2003). This game was a fantastic achievement at the time, and it remains an enjoyable game to this day (if you can look past the parts that are a bit dated for obvious reasons).

Millions of fans wanted wanted more KOTOR, and another studio was tasked with creating a sequel. The sequel turned out good but not fantastic, and it clearly suffered from being forced out the door before it was ready. The dream of Bioware some day returning to give us a REAL sequel stayed alive in the hearts of fans for years.

Then WoW happened, and game developers saw that this new MMO thing could rake in money like there was no tomorrow. Everyone wanted a piece of that action! Bioware was no exception, and they knew you have to bet big to win big, so they gambled some serious BIG MONEY on their first MMO.

This was a project that couldn't afford to fail, so they did what people always do when failure isn't an option - they bet on what they perceive to be A Sure Thing (TM).

People LOVE WoW, people LOVE Star Wars, and people LOVE Knights Of The Old Republic too! Put these three things together, supercharge with stratospheric production value, and boom, WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?!!

Quite a lot, as things turned out...

The worst problem with SW:KOTOR, is that it feels forced as an MMO; it clearly has the soul of a single player game. The MMO aspects of the game simply aren't very impressive. And when judged as a single player game, it's unfortunately much worse than it could have been if it hadn't been forced into the MMO mold in the first place.

It's a BIG game though, all that money spent sure bought a metric F-ton of lovingly crafted content. But it's all MEDIOCRE! The story is mediocre, the gameplay is mediocre, the visuals are mediocre.

This can't really be blamed on lack of trying, the game oozes of love and care! It's clear everyone involved gave it their very best!

But they had too many checkboxes to tick, and the game is an Overconstrained Design as a result. They were tasked with creating something that was fully WoW *and* fully Star Wars *and* fully Knights Of The Old Republic, all at the same time. They were given the resources to pull it off, but were then clearly hampered with a risk averse leadership that wished to play it safe.

The result was a mess. And a surprisingly dull gaming experience. Players went into it expecting to have their minds blown, got disappointed, and quit. The scores of servers Bioware started out with were emptying out fast, and many players who wanted to play after all got stuck in ghost towns.

But Bioware refused to admit defeat, and took way too long to merge servers. When they finally did, it was more or less too late, the remaining population was low. Certainly far lower than they had hoped for at first.

Heads rolled, the team that created the game was replaced because "it takes a different skill set to run an MMO from creating one", as Bioware diplomatically put it. The new team set out to convert it to the free-to-play model to pull in more players. But they didn't want to lose the few subscribers they had, so they came up with a convoluted 3-tier hybrid pay model where you can play most of the game for free, but are nagged to subscribe and nickled-and-dimed for ridiculous little things like having to pay to hide your helmet (!).

All that said, the game isn't BAD, it's just not all that good either. And it needed it be AWESOME to live up to expectations from players and investors alike.

It has been polished and improved a lot over the years, and at this point it is without a doubt the finest free-to-play single-player "MMO" experience out there! If you want to waste some time grinding mobs mindlessly and being rewarded with snips of a little light heroic story, then this is your game! All for free!

I haven't actually paid a single cent for this game, but I have played three characters to level 50, and have three more at level 15 waiting to go when I have some time to waste. Tier 1 free-to-play players actually only get 2 character slots, but I preordered the game and ended up being registered as a former paying customer, which elevates me to tier 2. This in spite of the fact I canceled my preorder in disappointment after trying the early access...

Sometimes you only want to play a dumb bog-standard mob-grinding MMO to give your brain a break for an hour or two. This is just the game for it. It beats anything in the "market" for games you care enough to play once in a while, but not enough to actually pay for.

Which must be considered a colossal failure.… Expand

OldGamer99

May 2, 2021

7

This game is worth is if you love star wars and a respectable RPG story line (some classes are better than others).

TL;DR: fun enough for someone looking for some star wars action, but well past its prime. By 2021 standards graphics are mediocre with a very poor color scheme which will leave you playing your PCs in every shade of brown, but hey, the movies are pretty much jedi=brown,This game is worth is if you love star wars and a respectable RPG story line (some classes are better than others).

TL;DR: fun enough for someone looking for some star wars action, but well past its prime.

By 2021 standards graphics are mediocre with a very poor color scheme which will leave you playing your PCs in every shade of brown, but hey, the movies are pretty much jedi=brown, sith=black, so it is true to the franchise.

Aesthethics aside, the game had a far amount of enjoyment, less so for returning players, but very much so for new to the game.

It's respectable even as creaky and out of date as it is. Hopefully, there will be a decent, up to date successor eventually.… Expand

Fedaygin

Jul 31, 2020

6

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Graphics: 7/10 Cartoon Network's low polygons even w highest settings
Gameplay: Tab Target. No Action Dynamic Combat :( Stiff Animations & Ctrls. Idle animation gives Statue look. Theme Park design = Many loading screens :/
Storyline: Class Storylines are Immersive. They end to 3.0 :( Can go through as F2P.
Difficulty: Blindfolded. Eaware applied big storyline / world combat Nerfs :/
Grind: None & Dumb Prog. changes by 'lost' Dev crew after 2015 made Raids to be semi pointless & also Pvp. They even released Raid in pieces :D :(
Lil bit of my Swtor story & some Swtor's History:
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Hardest Review to write ever since started to write after jumped to Pc world in 2004. Cause of Commitment & love poured down to SWTOR from 1st beta day & launch at Dec 2011. Continuous Sub to Q1 2016. Resub at Q2 2018 & Q4 2019, but couldn't longer than Few hrs cause of Nerfed Content & Game-Engine :( No Sub Renewal. Been Following Development & still no resub & relogin worthy news :/ Talent Trees Axed & Traveling got nerfed for Lazies from 3.0 forward :/ Combat Nerfed at 5.0 & Forward :/ Teleporting to Planet's HC Missions & many other Dumb gameplay Nerfs.

Few years i was part of 2x good Guilds. Longer on Progenitor after many servers like loved Rp-Pvp that i loved vanished in result of 1st servers Merge :( Eaware acquired too many SMALL Servers in Early Days.. Forceflux Guild on Progenitor had many fine people. We did prog. Raiding, premade Pvp trips (also relaxed PvP = No veins popping out) & Guild meetups at Guild ship. Good World Pvp Memories On PvP Server before WPvP was removed cause of old Game-Engine :( Later our guild & Veterans had the same fate as tons of others from Na & EU :( Started at 5.0 & esp. from 5.0 forward. REASON: Charles "sleeky smile" Boyd & LDR after to blame for lack of development & bad calls :( Also LACK of Focus to Feedback & no Survey given out for Plrs to Fill.
GOOD Suggestions Ignored by Devs since launch:
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On official forum (where CAN'T write if not feeding EA w monthly sub) There's over 10x good Suggestions. Improving Galactic Starfighter, Many Day & Night Cycle Requests to bring more 'LIFE' (Many Mmo's have it) into SWTOR. Interactable Furniture to Hubs (Cantinas & Fleet).. Many Requests for both mini-games Dejarik & Pazaak. Mini-Games could be played in big Cantinas. SWG has them, but Neither in Swtor :( Swtor that's made to Outdated Hero Engine & still running on fumes when near Q4 2020. Much wanted Day & Night Cycle since 2012: Each planet to have their Lore-specific Day-Night cycle & each bogey to behave accordingly. Same with timed Vendors & or NPCs. Weather should influence Planets more often.
IMAGINE Raining in Nar Shaddaa & brings Blade Runner vibes. Sadly not there.. No Day & Night Cycle :( ESO, Wow & FFIXV has proper Weather & D&N Cycle. IF ONLY SWTOR had been made w CryEngine or Frostbite Game-Engine.. *Drools when thinks of images.*
Changes that DROVE Away Veterans w real Eyesight:
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From 3.0 forward: Swtor's Skeleton Dev crew made Bad Development calls, slow pacing & no comms with their Customers :( (Sry player base) Command Lvls & RNG Grind.. Dumb moves to start Single Char's Storyline @mind numbing KOTFE & KOTET :/ Those Expansions w many chapters having mind seizures cause too many scripted parts where Sky Troopers jumping down. Just to be put down Fast. Y most plrs use OP Companion after Comps they turned Invincible :( Changes drove away Single Plr & Group Plrs. I'm one of Old School plrs who LOVED to Equip your comp. before got ruined to Terminator mode (tank, heal & dps) & their modding Vanished :( Eaware's Skeleton Crew at Meetup during pre 5.0 patching: - Let's give RNG to everything - Both PVE & PVP. What could possibly go wrong ? Was Sad to Witness.."
More DUMB Changes without Feedback Survey to Plrs:
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I & hundreds of others got Attached to our Characters & their Respective Factions that we spent Years with. At mind numbing KOTFE all of that VANISHED cause of dumb Charles "sleeky smile" Boyd & his few Skeleton Devs working in HQ's Broom Closet :( REASON: A new totally Random & OP as He** Faction suddenly invades the Galaxy while our characters are in a Coma. Making the Jedi, Sith,Republic & every accomplishment our chars made completely pointless & irrelevant. In my eyes that made years of their writing Meaningless..
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Immersion breaking Cutscenes like DW Char uses only other weapon from 2x :o :( I can't recommend newcomers (New Souls to be Milked by EA) to Sub cause you can do all Storylines without Feeding EA. [Link omitted per site rules]… Expand

bancandrei

May 15, 2020

6

This game has brought me an important insight. How does a game make you "feel" like a Jedi? And the answer was unexpected for me. It's the music. And this game delivers.
This is basically a game of two halves. One is a story driven RPG, one is an MMO. The story would have been a much better fit on a different type of game. It is good. I just know about the Jedi Consular and the SithThis game has brought me an important insight. How does a game make you "feel" like a Jedi? And the answer was unexpected for me. It's the music. And this game delivers.
This is basically a game of two halves. One is a story driven RPG, one is an MMO. The story would have been a much better fit on a different type of game. It is good. I just know about the Jedi Consular and the Sith Inquisitor, and I feel they are both very adequate and satisfying. I imagine that's why you would play a Star Wars game. To be a Jedi. Or a Sith
The MMO part is simply not for me. It is very similar to WoW. While some details maybe felt better I think it was a mistake to try to combine these 2 games. You have to get through the gameplay to get to the story and it is hardly worth it. It was dated when it came out, I would prefer something forward looking… Expand

FrodoFraggins

Jul 20, 2013

6

Great fun for the first playthrough. The combat response was horrible on launch as was endgame. Too much money and time was devoted to voice acting and not enough to the other areas of this WOW clone. A Star Wars MMO needs to launch with amazing space combat to set it apart. This game failed on almost every front.

WildFire15

Aug 10, 2013

6

This game has so many great ingredients: Star Wars, MMO, Bioware, the Old Republic Lore (rather then whiny, badly written George Lucas stuff). However, once the awe has washed away the impression that this game was either designed by people who don't care or by a comity who forced a list in front of Bioware's least experienced employees can't be helped.
At it's most basic, SWTOR is WoWThis game has so many great ingredients: Star Wars, MMO, Bioware, the Old Republic Lore (rather then whiny, badly written George Lucas stuff). However, once the awe has washed away the impression that this game was either designed by people who don't care or by a comity who forced a list in front of Bioware's least experienced employees can't be helped.
At it's most basic, SWTOR is WoW with a different coat of paint. For an alleged $200 million budget it's shameful what Bioware has done with this, not taking a single risk or taking advantage of outstanding features anything other then WoW had (no Global friends list is bad enough, but no sidekick feature is even worse). Gameplay is very much by the numbers with a bias towards the NPC enemies if you're evenly matched. There's been so many fights I've gone into with my Bounty Hunter at even level with decent equipment and still been flattened.
Speaking of equipment, the in-game store added after the change to F2P is an embarrassment, mostly working on random boxes that frequently give you very little with a few 'ok' sets of armour that need modifications adding to them before they can be useful and other bits and bobs.
I came to this game after City of Heroes shut down. For the longest time, I got on ok with the game as I enjoyed some of the story, but as time progressed I realized just how terrible this game is and wouldn't recommend it at all.… Expand

Nataraja

May 31, 2013

5

What was an intriguing concept proved too vast to be carried out. What was unique, fun and challenging in the beta got whined away. What this game could have been was destroyed to appeal to a "broader audience" like the millions who love Star Wars regardless were not enough.

Some of the story telling is top notch such as the Imperial Agent and the Republic Sage but some stories areWhat was an intriguing concept proved too vast to be carried out. What was unique, fun and challenging in the beta got whined away. What this game could have been was destroyed to appeal to a "broader audience" like the millions who love Star Wars regardless were not enough.

Some of the story telling is top notch such as the Imperial Agent and the Republic Sage but some stories are truly atrocious such as the Republic Smuggler and Knight. It was too much to write essentially 8 separate stories and then wonder why no one felt like it was a MMO at the end. The PVP was AWFUL and the PVE ran out of gas at level cap.

Bioware is a competent single player game developer, but needs a LOT of help with its MMO aspirations.… Expand

Sacrelicious

Oct 10, 2012

6

This game still has potential. If they´d add decent space combat, housing and make the planets more dynamic and better looking it could get great in the future. Right now it´s far from perfect, though enjoyable at times. Game needs a major graphical overhaul and more different gameplay mechanics.

eempc

Jan 26, 2013

5

An average game in my opinion. Of course there are some nice touches such as the voice overs but the game was just too inconvenient and frustrating for me. I define games by how much they don't irritate me as well as how much fun they are. This is an MMO, and repetition is part of daily life - therfore cutting down on the daily grind is important. So here are some criticisms. TRANSIT - IAn average game in my opinion. Of course there are some nice touches such as the voice overs but the game was just too inconvenient and frustrating for me. I define games by how much they don't irritate me as well as how much fun they are. This is an MMO, and repetition is part of daily life - therfore cutting down on the daily grind is important. So here are some criticisms. TRANSIT - I think my biggest gripe was with getting from A to B. The only automation was in the form of auto-forward (NUMLOCK) but you still needed to steer manually, and the distances were huge. Furthermore your path can be blocked by enemies who don't seem to have any purpose other than to annoy you. I discovered that sometimes the quickest way to get to your destination was to deliberately get killed and respawn. As for the taxis, I would go to the toilet only to come back and see that I was still in the taxi and had not reached my destination. Of course I get to see the beautiful environments but it gets boring after the first time, I just want to reach my destination! LOOT ROLLING - This has got to be one of the worst systems ever for distributing loot. The number of abusers of the system is ridiculous. I gave up on flashpoints and world bosses because of this stupid system. AUTO PVP FLAG - I wanted to play on the PVE server at first, but for some reason, every time I healed someone or shielded them, my PVP flag would turn on, simply because the person I healed had theirs on. I just kept thinking to myself, "What is this nonsense?" I understand the loophole in PVP where a non-flagged healer could heal a PVPer, but I'm automatically guilty for assisting my team mate in a quest? PRICE-PER-UNIT - The auction house did not have a price-per-unit column. I got tired of getting my calculator out to find out the price per unit. OTHER ISSUES - No barber. No interplanetary chat so it can be hard to recruit for the heroic missions. Lack of multiple windows (for shops, character stats, etc) - only 2 maximum at a time - and they close inconveniently when you try to get two particular windows open......... Some say the F2P game is just a trial - well I went through the trial and decided it was just not for me. Think this is the first BioWare game I failed to complete.… Expand

Bmane

Sep 29, 2016

7

A fantastic mmo experience, especially if you love narrative story telling. While the narrative here isn't on the same level as the Knights of the Old Republic or Mass Effect, it is on a far higher level than any other MMO currently in existence. It's also enjoyable to take part in if your co-opting with your friends, being able to participate in conversations with other players isA fantastic mmo experience, especially if you love narrative story telling. While the narrative here isn't on the same level as the Knights of the Old Republic or Mass Effect, it is on a far higher level than any other MMO currently in existence. It's also enjoyable to take part in if your co-opting with your friends, being able to participate in conversations with other players is certainly innovative. But... it's not perfect, and there are several parts of the game that leave me scratching my head, such as certain quest giving npcs which are solo/same class only, meaning your friends can't take part in the dialogue.

I play this as a Free-to-Play game, I'm not a subscriber. As a Free-to-Play game the restrictions are not heavy, if anything they are rather generous, with the max level you can reach being 50 for F2P (60 for subs). But perhaps the most criminal aspect of this game is their support for F2P players. There is no support for guys like me, even ones with preferred status (something you get when you buy off the market). I have never known a game to completely shut off any customer support to F2P players, and not just that, but to do it to even preferred status players. It's a complete joke and the only reason why I'm not giving this an 8. Bioware is not exactly known for its stellar support, nor is EA, but they've gone too far this time. Your pretty much screwed if you run into a bug, a technical issue or even have trouble logging in (something I've had).… Expand

MenaBanana

Jun 30, 2015

7

This game has many rights, and many wrongs. The main issue is that it is not a typical MMO, where players focus on a single class and enjoy a single story. This is a game designed to encourage players to finish all 8 of the campaign stories. Unfortunately this was an over reach for bioware, resulting in some misguided decisions. The most interested parts of the lore are not exploredThis game has many rights, and many wrongs. The main issue is that it is not a typical MMO, where players focus on a single class and enjoy a single story. This is a game designed to encourage players to finish all 8 of the campaign stories. Unfortunately this was an over reach for bioware, resulting in some misguided decisions. The most interested parts of the lore are not explored enough, while the most basic parts are over explored.

Too many side quests, not enough end game content. PVP is sorely abandoned.

That being said it is by far one of the best MMO's you will find out there. It is far more interesting than WOW, and much more re-playable than ESO. The unique classes will keep you entertained as you learn how to play them all. It has by far the most original costumes than any MMO you will find. You will be able to make not one, but 8 distinct characters that are unique to you. This is a prime game for role players.

That being said, be warned of the community. Star Wars is a wide spread IP, and it draws both the experienced players and the newest of noobs. Expect drama in practically every community you meet, and expect role players to take themselves far too seriously. This is "Star Wars" and the ultimate nerd ego bolster, so the role players tend to be overly brutal in their treatment of other people and there is a lot of guild politics and bullying. There are the "loremaster" types who like to use their "expansive" knowledge of lore to justify god modding and metagaming. Don't fall for it. Walk away if someone makes you feel bad There are great role players in the game, you just have to find them. And if you do it will be one of the best role playing experiences you can have in any MMO.

If you love star wars you will love this game even with it's flaws. I have been a subbed player for almost 3 years now. I have leveled 10 characters, and have 12 more. I think it's possible this game could become the best MMO out there if bioware does their expansions right. We'll see.… Expand

Sparkyte

Jan 11, 2016

7

This game is absolutely fun if you play it for the story, avoid all of the multiplayer **** While I do recommend other games before this it's not a terrible or great game.

tehCrazedrebel

Jun 21, 2016

7

It's a great game, really. The storyline is pretty well thought out, companions are memorable, gameplay is just like any other free MMORPG, that doesn't make it any less fun. Now, the reason I'm only giving it an 7/10? The unrelenting free to play restrictions, yes, this is a free to play game and I understand IN-GAME restrictions, but I've never seen a free to play game dev team do this:It's a great game, really. The storyline is pretty well thought out, companions are memorable, gameplay is just like any other free MMORPG, that doesn't make it any less fun. Now, the reason I'm only giving it an 7/10? The unrelenting free to play restrictions, yes, this is a free to play game and I understand IN-GAME restrictions, but I've never seen a free to play game dev team do this: You are denied access to the forums and support if you're free to play or a preferred player. So, basically, if you have an in-game problem that can only be patched by the devs, you better be ready to pay up and become a subscriber.

The game is fun! It really is! Even as a free to play player, it's still very fun, try it out! But these restrictions are a real turn off.… Expand

RevUBrah

Mar 11, 2021

6

This game truly is the epitome of mediocrity. Of the eight storylines available, only two of them are actually well-written and engaging (Sith Warrior & Imperial Agent). Not to mention how it butchers the lore of previous entries in the Old Republic series in order to make the mediocre Jedi Knight storyline look more important. Aside from that, it's pretty much your basic MMO.

Naners

Jul 18, 2012

6

I wanted nothing more than to love this game being a huge Star Wars fan and self-proclaimed Hutt Lover, however take away all things Star Wars and what you essentially have is a pretty mediocre clone of the Game That Cannot Be Killed. Fully voice acted class cut scenes were certainly nice, and rolling alts to unlock all of them was definitely entertaining. But unfortunately, it's simplyI wanted nothing more than to love this game being a huge Star Wars fan and self-proclaimed Hutt Lover, however take away all things Star Wars and what you essentially have is a pretty mediocre clone of the Game That Cannot Be Killed. Fully voice acted class cut scenes were certainly nice, and rolling alts to unlock all of them was definitely entertaining. But unfortunately, it's simply not enough to keep you playing for years on years...or even months. A truly squandered opportunity for Bioware when they have license to a franchise with infinite potential.… Expand

TUHD

Dec 15, 2013

5

If you're planning on being an sub the whole time, go ahead. The storyline is neat (it could use some improvement, but it is better then in the most MMO's), gameplay isn't too bad... it's worth your money if you've got the time for it. It easily deserves an 7-8 at least.
If you're planning on going F2P: STAY AWAY! You'll get nickle-and-dimed every second, and no amount of Cartel CoinsIf you're planning on being an sub the whole time, go ahead. The storyline is neat (it could use some improvement, but it is better then in the most MMO's), gameplay isn't too bad... it's worth your money if you've got the time for it. It easily deserves an 7-8 at least.
If you're planning on going F2P: STAY AWAY! You'll get nickle-and-dimed every second, and no amount of Cartel Coins will make this go away. While sure, you can play the storylines for free, the amount of grinding necessary at later levels is absurd (from level 20+ you're getting an 25% XP penalty!) and the amount of restrictions and 'in-your-face-you're-not-an-sub-thus-not-an-customer'-moments is close to being spiteful of you. There's way too much to say about the F2P option... and with Rise of the Hutt Cartel (the expansion, which you'll need to buy at €17/$20 as F2P-player while subs get it free!) it has become even worse. For the F2P-option I can give an 3, max. Stay. Away.… Expand

survivor_686

Sep 25, 2012

6

The Old Republic is perhaps the example of when developers fail to address key issues and it drags the rest of the game down. TOR is by no means a bad game, but for price it charge ($15 a month) its bugged by a few issues that drag the rest of the product down.

Graphics are well done and look splendid even on a lower end rig such as mine. If its made within the past five years, yourThe Old Republic is perhaps the example of when developers fail to address key issues and it drags the rest of the game down. TOR is by no means a bad game, but for price it charge ($15 a month) its bugged by a few issues that drag the rest of the product down.

Graphics are well done and look splendid even on a lower end rig such as mine. If its made within the past five years, your computer can run it. Bioware's technical team certainly deserves some praise in this regard. The PVE aspect of the game is perhaps one of its strongest suit. Storylines have the trademark Bioware seal of quality, almost all NPC's are voiced over (a rarity in an MMORPG) and it manages the capture the essence of being free to travel the galaxy at ease, something very few games have done.

That being said the Character selection could use a little bit more diversity. There basically four extremes one has to choose from and facial hair is limited in its selection. The Flashpoints/Operations are one of the game strong points...and its weakness. After the beauty that is "Esseles" (the first one), the other flashpoints feel a bid drab and lack the group interaction and morality that "Esseles" had. Mind you they certainly feel unique from each other, and have different enemies to fight against and require a degree of coordination. Operations are simple Flashpoints on a bigger scale and enjoy the same strengths....and the same weaknesses

The PVP aspect on the other hand....is a major letdown. With only four maps available at time of review and an staggering imbalance present during play (In general Imperial characters tend to be slightly powerful than their Republic counterparts), even after a year post-launch. Given the slight imperial majority (Have to admit their accents are kinda attractive) and Bioware's lack of PVP experience in balancing classes, one should avoid PVP if one chooses to play as the Republic....especially if as Commando (its all glass and no canon). Imperial characters feel powerful and almighty, whilst Republic character needs local superiority to even get a chance to win. Another sad aspect of PVP is the lack of a proper Matchmaking system. New players will be dumped in the same arena as experience players and be expected to survive. Granted this may be due to the server itself, but one should expect so attempt at balancing this issue. In the end TOR is not a bad game...but its not a great one either. Its a game that has great aspect which are ruined by some shortcomings. At $15 a month...its simply not worth the price of admission. Wait till it goes Free-To-Play then try it out....Unless you're Imperial than have fun. 6/10… Expand

heerobya

Aug 3, 2012

5

The experience is polished. However, that experience is the same type of grind-heavy content we've seen in every MMO since 2004. PvP is tacked on, companion-focused PvE is a chore, crafting is tacked-on and useless as well. The stories range from OK to awful with no feeling of impact on the game or your character. Choices in the story feel more like selecting a quest reward in WoW thanThe experience is polished. However, that experience is the same type of grind-heavy content we've seen in every MMO since 2004. PvP is tacked on, companion-focused PvE is a chore, crafting is tacked-on and useless as well. The stories range from OK to awful with no feeling of impact on the game or your character. Choices in the story feel more like selecting a quest reward in WoW than they do like a compelling story choice from Bioware's other games. All that being said, now that it's going F2P it's worth a free download if you are a Star Wars and Bioware fan - but don't expect to stick around long after you finish your story - if you can stomach it that long.… Expand

vandana

May 3, 2012

5

Now that nearly 6 months passed and I experienced all that SWTOR has to offer I can repeat a phrase that so often comes up when people review SWTOR: "I really wanted to love this game". That's because I was excited for Star Wars MMO and the game launched with much success and made a great first impression fuelled by amazing, fully voice-overed questing experience which made even "kill 10Now that nearly 6 months passed and I experienced all that SWTOR has to offer I can repeat a phrase that so often comes up when people review SWTOR: "I really wanted to love this game". That's because I was excited for Star Wars MMO and the game launched with much success and made a great first impression fuelled by amazing, fully voice-overed questing experience which made even "kill 10 boars" quests interesting and adding emotional touch to them. It also seemed that the game had all the ingredients for success: proven developer, big budget, legendary IP (setting) and plenty of time for development. The developers were not pioneering and could have learned from the experience of others. Only they didn't. The money was spent on marketing, voice-acting production and (I guess) IP rights. The proven developer turned out to have absolutely no experience in MMO. The learning from mistakes of others turned to copying from World of Warcraft in a state it was when the development of SWTOR started 5 or so years ago - it seems like they stopped in time at that moment and didn't move forward, sometimes going backwards (archaic talent system, no swimming, no real world PvP due to design decisions - just to name a few examples). Since the money was not spent primarily on the technical development itself Bioware adapted a "do it yourself", cheap, licensed engine to create the game which to this day results in lags and low fps even on more modern computers due to lack of optimization. That already resulted in a fiasco of removal of world PvP zone from the game which simply was not working for majority of people. As its stands today most embarrassing bugs have been fixed, the difficulty of PvE endgame content is improving, rated Warzones are coming and things start to look better. There is a potential for positive changes - as a Star Wars fan and passionate computer gamer in my 30s I especially look forward to space combat (I won't even start on the current one) which is on the devs' table. Currently, I give this game a 5. The only reason I am still playing it is my guild and friends I brought and made in the game. I still want to love this game only I donâ… Expand

Vladaimmortal

Jun 25, 2012

5

This game even tho it has really interesting story (one of rare Mmorpgs that really made me WANT to read all quests) and pretty graphics...still cant hold you stuck to if for long time. I got bored and quit after just 2 months of playing somehow this whole genre got bit boring as all games are totaly same ..they also failed with puting ton of servers at start of game insted of much lessThis game even tho it has really interesting story (one of rare Mmorpgs that really made me WANT to read all quests) and pretty graphics...still cant hold you stuck to if for long time. I got bored and quit after just 2 months of playing somehow this whole genre got bit boring as all games are totaly same ..they also failed with puting ton of servers at start of game insted of much less amount..thus making many players end up on servers that have like 3 players per area..or something...its ridicilous… Expand

jigme

Jul 9, 2012

6

Started at launch, had fun playing up to 50, then it got boring fast. I tried to level a few alts, but the repetitiveness was just too much. Dropped out. I also never could accept the cartoon style art.

MrZ

Dec 1, 2013

5

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. MMO wise, this game is solid. If you enjoy Star Wars, even better! However, if you were a fan of the original KOTORs, then this game is a let down. Although it has many interesting features, it truly is as some would say a "WoW clone." Bioware had promised something that they couldn't deliver. They preached it would alter the MMO scene. This never really caught on. The worst is what they did to Revan. He goes mad and dies an unsatisfactory death in one of the flashpoints. It truly was saddening. But, if you enjoy MMOs, I guess that you could manage to like this game. I still play it simply because I am a Star Wars fan and because I enjoy MMOs.… Expand

Troublewalking

Mar 6, 2014

6

Sadly this game had great potential but the ball was dropped on so many levels that it just ended up being an average MMO.MMO is Massively Multi-player Online, If you are not familiar with these types of games. Usually RPG's with several thousand players. I played till cap with 2 other members from my family. I played pretty much all classes on both sides. I played this game when itSadly this game had great potential but the ball was dropped on so many levels that it just ended up being an average MMO.MMO is Massively Multi-player Online, If you are not familiar with these types of games. Usually RPG's with several thousand players. I played till cap with 2 other members from my family. I played pretty much all classes on both sides. I played this game when it first came out, you had to pay for the game and pay for the subscription each month. The game fell quickly from it's pay to play hopes. Falling faster than any AAA MMO that I know of, to the failed Free to play realm MMO's. Especially for one designed to be a AAA pay to play MMO. And which is probably one of the most expensive MMO's ever made. Because of it's high expectations, and high development cost most MMO fans consider this game an epic failure.

This was because the game was spun by the PR people at EA to be 3-10 of the KOTOR series. As a sequel to the Knights of the Old Republic games this game fails epically. The game does not even come close to delivering the story, the mini games or replayablitiy, of the KOTOR series.

However, if you were looking for an average MMO, with no real ties to the KOTOR series and was set in the Star Wars universe, set way before the Star Wars stories, that is super easy to play. Then this might be the game for you.

As far as MMO's go, SWTOR seems to be very weak and buggy on it's PVP. The PVE story is fine and the classes are interesting enough. It has a on "rails" space ship mission series that is an okay mini game. And the game is very soloable for an MMO. The graphics, playability, UI, and everything about the game are average at best for an MMO.

The only thing to make this different from any other MMO is it's class story instances. It tried to copy choices meaning something from the KOTOR series but fails epically. In the end people just choose all light or dark side choices to get sets of gear. Neutral choices actually punish you, as there was no neutral gear rewards when I played. But in truth the only thing that makes this game unique in MMO's is it's based in the Star Wars universe. And sadly, Star Wars Galaxies was a Star Wars MMO that was much more loved than SWTOR was. SWTOR forced SWG out, only because George Lucas only gave the rights to the Star Wars Universe to one real MMO at a time. So SWG had to have it's plug pulled. Thus SWTOR is the only Star Wars MMO standing by virtue of a newer more lucrative pay out to Lucas. Not because it was a better game.

But in the end it is very disappointing because this game was supposed to be multiple sequels to the KOTOR series, and just doesn't even come close to being half as fun or have the replayability of the single player and much older KOTOR series of games.

Though I have to rate the game fairly. And as an MMO it is average at best. And that is in the very run of the mill World of Warcraft rip off theme park MMO's category. Which makes it very generic. Honestly the game had huge potential, but ended up being just another face in the crowd, of what most consider failed MMO's. Forced into the niche and free 2 play market, way before it's time. Because EA didn't even come close to delivering the KOTOR MMO in a Star Wars universe they promised.… Expand

distractonator

Mar 15, 2012

5

i was very exited for this game but the lack of freedom and any actual improvements over the wow gameplay saddens me, although the dialog and story are very well done.

VitaminK

Apr 27, 2012

5

Just very disappointed with this game. Lacking real last content and EVERYONE looks the same. Disappointed that they made the leveling so fast, seriously 1-50 in a week. Then nothing to do. Servers are already maybe half the population they had at start.

rabid_panda_1

May 16, 2012

5

SW:TOR is a bit of a letdown. IT's not a bad game, per se, it's just been done before and done better. Everything feels like classic WoW in space. The questing and combat systems are standard MMO fare. The dialouge with the NPCs starts off as rather interesting but gets dull quickly. I found myself just skipping and picking the option I thought would best improve my companion.SW:TOR is a bit of a letdown. IT's not a bad game, per se, it's just been done before and done better. Everything feels like classic WoW in space. The questing and combat systems are standard MMO fare. The dialouge with the NPCs starts off as rather interesting but gets dull quickly. I found myself just skipping and picking the option I thought would best improve my companion. Playing as a Sith Maruader I didn't feel like a powerful wielder of the darke side of the Force, but rather as someone who stumbled upon a couple of lightsabers in a dark alley. Without being able to do Flashpoints due to a shoddy grouping system there's little in the way of decent gear to put you on par with the enemies you'll encounter while questing. After around level 25 the fun really started to drop off as it became more and more difficult to even kill a simple mob. The graphics aren't bad, considering it is an MMO designed to be run on multiple system configurations, but the facial expressions seem a little wooden. The lack of any really non human looking races is a big disappointment, especially taking into consideration that Star Wars has a very diverse alien gallery to choose from. Only the Twi'leks aren't different colored humans, Wookiees need not apply. Overall the game would be ten times better if it had came out about five to six years ago when WoW hadn't done everything an MMO could do, and better too. It's a 5/10 not because it's a bad game but because it's not a great game.… Expand

Amorphous_Blob

Feb 8, 2012

5

I got this game when it came and i'm already bored of it. I feel i've done everything there is to do at level 38 and i don't see the need to grind to 50 to get a couple of extra powers and see another couple of lifeless worlds. During development Bioware raved about how the story would make this game better than other MMOs, and it would, were the story remotely engaging. I'm worried thatI got this game when it came and i'm already bored of it. I feel i've done everything there is to do at level 38 and i don't see the need to grind to 50 to get a couple of extra powers and see another couple of lifeless worlds. During development Bioware raved about how the story would make this game better than other MMOs, and it would, were the story remotely engaging. I'm worried that bioware have lost their story writing talent, because this is their second game of 2011 that has been severely lacking in the story and story-telling department. I feel like i'm just running an unconected series of errands(like in DA2) rather than contributing to anything. Think of how in dragon age origins you were given, near the start of the game, a goal(defeating the blightand killing the arch demon) and this goal was then reinforce through conversations throughout the game. In swTOR, as a jedi consular, i'm given a goal for act one(save a few dudes), buts its difficult to see exa tly why i'm doing this and it all seems quite contrived.
Anyway i'm cancelling my subscription this month because i dont see myself playing anymore. I'm giving it a five because while its not a terrible game as my 40 odd hours playtime will show, i've spent almost three times as long playing skyrim and that cost me 15 squids less.… Expand

nomercy

Jul 22, 2012

5

Before I start this review off, let me tell you that BioWare's KotOR (2003) is without a doubt the best (singleplayer) game I've ever played. I usually finish games once or twice before I put them away and the box gets covered completely in dust. However, BioWare's KotOR got me hooked so much that I've finished it a record seven times. Everything in it was perfect. The story, the music,Before I start this review off, let me tell you that BioWare's KotOR (2003) is without a doubt the best (singleplayer) game I've ever played. I usually finish games once or twice before I put them away and the box gets covered completely in dust. However, BioWare's KotOR got me hooked so much that I've finished it a record seven times. Everything in it was perfect. The story, the music, the gameplay... everything got you hooked to the game. With that being said, I was hoping I could say the same about TOR as a multiplayer game. I knew what BioWare was capable of and my hopes were high. I knew that every new MMO was called a 'WoW killer' but that no one was able to actually do it, but I saw perspective when it came to TOR. Boy was I wrong. At first you get really hooked to this game, because they were somewhat innovative by having the entire game voice-spoken. Unlike World of Warcraft, you don't have to read anything at all. Unless the Wookieees roar, of course. Each of the eight classes have their own class story and that makes it extremely fun to level up characters. However, that's the only innovative thing this game has. Once you've reached the maximum level, it's all about doing flashpoints and operations, which you can compare to heroics and raids in World of Warcraft. All of the game updates so far focussed on flashpoints and operations and not on class story, the only thing this game is unique at. You'd think they would focus more on their own uniqueness. I've been unsubbed for a while now, and one of the reasons was also the terrible game engine. I know my computer is not a good rig (3.0GHz Quad-Core, GTX560) but if I get the same performance on both high and low settings, something is wrong with the engine. In fact, I got better FPS with high settings than on low! The terrible engine got exposed once the servers had many 50s and they all gathered together on a PvP-focussed planet called 'Ilum'. In this planet you have a warzone much like Wintergrasp in WoW. The point is to take bases and kill each other off. Whenever a medium battle was going on, literally everyone was stuck with FPS between 0.8 and 5. Instead of looking into the problem, their next patch made changes in PvP that made it irrelevant to go to Ilum any longer. In other words, they avoided the problem rather than fixing it. Another thing wroth mentioning is their poorly written security key app. I have an Android phone, and the app crashes 2 or 3 times before it finally gives me a key that I can use to login. But besides that, the most funny part is that you need to sync the app with your forum account to set it up. Once you've done that you need to use the security key your app gives you to login to both the game and the forums. The thing is, I deleted the app a while ago and now I can't login to the game and forum anymore. If you think reinstalling it you're wrong. As I said earlier: you need to sync the app with your forum account. But after you did that, you need a security key to login to your forum account. Now that you removed the app, and reinstalled it, it keeps asking you for a security key if you try to login to the forum. All that you can do now is make an expensive, international phone call. There's NO other way to get it removed. I've already suggested them that they can allow you to manually remove it by answering three of your security questions, but they don't really care. That brings me to my next point:

Garbage customer service. Tickets or e-mails are not read at all. You always find yourself getting a copy-pasted answer and in most cases it's totally not the answer you were looking for. Example: I wrote them last week telling them I can't access my ingame and forum account anymore because of the security key, and suggested them a way to let us remove it manually. The copy-pasted answer I got told me to write my suggestions on their suggestions forum, even though I specifically wrote that I CAN'T ACCESS MY FORUM ACCOUNT! Lately a lot of big producers got canned and it's awfully quiet on the forum. Many people are wondering if this game has any future, and to be honest, I don't see a future anymore for this game. It had great potential, but in the end they didn't seem to know anymore what way they wanted to go with this game. It started off rather unique with the fully-spoken quests, but in the end became a straight copy of World of Warcraft. I used to play a Warrior for years in WoW, and I felt the only difference between my Jedi Guardian and the Warrior was the lightsaber. Within a week of PvPing I already found myself to be among the best PvPers, purely because they have EXACTLY the same skills. Unfortunately I have to rate this game a 5/10. This game has nowhere near the impact that KotOR had. I wish they would've just focussed on a new KotOR instead. Hell, I would even appreciate a new KotOR on the OLD engine a lot more than this.… Expand

Setman428

Aug 6, 2012

5

I believe this game is rather overhyped. I've seen the gameplay, not impressive. Seen the graphics, eh, Guild Wars had much better graphics. Only hope for the gaming world now is GW2. I'm pretty certain this game is dead after August 28th this year. No way anything (even WOW) will compete with that game. It's solid even in betas.

Dyalad

Mar 7, 2012

6

I don't believe this game should've been a MMO. It feels more of a poorly executed single player game with a co-op option. By poorly executed I mean that there's a lot of good ideas that were brought on the table, but in the end were poorly implemented. For first, the companion concept was a great idea. The inherent problem with companions, however, is that they become mandatory to killI don't believe this game should've been a MMO. It feels more of a poorly executed single player game with a co-op option. By poorly executed I mean that there's a lot of good ideas that were brought on the table, but in the end were poorly implemented. For first, the companion concept was a great idea. The inherent problem with companions, however, is that they become mandatory to kill anything at your level. Also these companions' equipment must be constantly kept on par with your own equipment. If forces you to stick to one to two companions at most, and that's quite unfortunate, because all the companions are worth experiencing. Secondly, the ship. The ship feels like the camp in Dragon Age: Origins. However the way it acts in SWTOR is more of an additional loading screen rather than something genuinely helpful - in DA you have vendors and you could equip your companions there. In SWTOR you can't do either. The ship has space combat, which essentially is a mini-game that's extremely repetitive: the music for space combat is the same for each of the space combat sequence you pick. Also, some space missions are exactly identical to another space mission, with the only difference of enemies being stronger. Concerning performance and quality, the game lags a lot. In PVP the game is not reactive at all - sometimes your keystrokes may occur up to 5 seconds later, this is very infuriating. The interface is rigid and uncomfortable. As a healer, I found that unit frames positioning is not ergonomical, and I had no way to change it to make it better for me. The status effects icons are tiny and can't be rescaled. That makes tracking buffs and debuffs extremely hard and tedious. One of the pride of the game is its story, which I did enjoy, but what I did not enjoy was the pace at which it was delivered. I played a scoundrel to level 50 and an imperial agent to 30. The first character was leveled as a solo experience, and the other character was a 2 player (bounty hunter) coop effort. What I found in both situations was that for a 2 minutes of dialog and action, I sometimes had about 1 hour worth of fighting and/or travelling. One thing that SWTOR suffers from (and that is the case of every Bioware game) Way too many loading screens. The amount of loading screens in this game blows my mind away. Get on the ship, loading screen. Get on the spacedock, loading screen. Get on the planet, loading screen. World of Warcraft does a far better job at pacing the loading screens than this game does. In conclusion: the game should not be subscription-based. You're pretty much paying for a game that you'll be mostly playing by yourself.… Expand

JakeSTALIN_RUS

Jun 10, 2012

5

This game is the 3rd MMORPG ive played.The first was World of Warcraft (I am playing it since 2006 till now), the second was Everquest 2 (1 mounth was enough for me) and now SWTOR.I can say that at first I liked this game - it was very interesting and unusual for me.But then it became more boring and boring along with laggs and server crashes. Repeating quests , dull Battlegrounds andThis game is the 3rd MMORPG ive played.The first was World of Warcraft (I am playing it since 2006 till now), the second was Everquest 2 (1 mounth was enough for me) and now SWTOR.I can say that at first I liked this game - it was very interesting and unusual for me.But then it became more boring and boring along with laggs and server crashes. Repeating quests , dull Battlegrounds and disballance in classes , laggs almost always (even at night!) soonly made me leave this game.This game was supposed to kill WoW.And now it has a low number of subscribers and just does the SAME things as the WoW done before.Shame on you BioWare!… Expand

Spango

Dec 5, 2013

5

I never got too far in this game. I really wanted to like it, but the pacing is very slow, combat seems to be boring, and I didn't find many interesting items to write home about until I paid for the subscription, in which case, they were simply handed to me. I ended up buying Guild Wars 2 a week into the bored-to-death grindfest, and had a much better overall experience.

The Story isI never got too far in this game. I really wanted to like it, but the pacing is very slow, combat seems to be boring, and I didn't find many interesting items to write home about until I paid for the subscription, in which case, they were simply handed to me. I ended up buying Guild Wars 2 a week into the bored-to-death grindfest, and had a much better overall experience.

The Story is actually interesting, I wish i could powerhouse through the grind to see some of the interesting story elements play out, but I simply hated the slow drudgery of the game's pacing.… Expand

neal121

May 4, 2012

6

I feel that giving the game a 6 is being a little too nice...

Ive played my share of MMO's - both free and paid. SWTOR is just a Star Wars version of a basic MMO. Nothing truly special. Take a basic story line, spam 1 2 3 4 5 6 and turn in the quest - thats all it is. The PVP is basic, nothing special. The end game has nothing worthwhile. EA did announce that they are not happy withI feel that giving the game a 6 is being a little too nice...

Ive played my share of MMO's - both free and paid. SWTOR is just a Star Wars version of a basic MMO. Nothing truly special. Take a basic story line, spam 1 2 3 4 5 6 and turn in the quest - thats all it is. The PVP is basic, nothing special. The end game has nothing worthwhile.

EA did announce that they are not happy with how the game turned out and they are not making enough money from it. It is also expected that about 1/3 of the subscribers will cancel by May 2013 unless they magically improve the game.

On a positive note, Bioware does send out quick patches almost weekly. They are also improving the game quickly with new content and features. Blizzard's World of Warcraft still dominates the MMO market and Bioware is trying to match it by putting the same features into SWTOR.

One example is that WOW has the Looking For Group feature for queuing into their dungeons/instances which helps greatly so that you dont have to sit in trade chat and spam "LFM blah blah blah." Bioware is introducing this in 1.3. This will help out greatly getting into Flashpoints.

Overall - its just ok. If Bioware put more time into the game and not so much its cinematics, could've been better. Even the Beta was nothing special and all the positive remarks came from players only playing the first few levels. If you play at least till level 5 you will notice a pattern in the quests and expect lots of walking and going in circles.

There is a lot of - turn in 1 quest, walk all the way to get another to find out you need to go back to do something else, it does get REALLY ANNOYING.… Expand

Smallbubbles

May 2, 2012

5

The game is a huge disappointment, graphics are not even that good, gameplay kinda unresponsive, and the races are all the same, just different type of skin color. I loved the movies and the expectations were maybe a little to high, storywise the game was great, but this is a mmo, and not a single player game.

chevy80c10

Jun 29, 2012

5

I was amused with this game until i hit level 50 and there was nothing to do because no one was ever on, they took forever with a server merge or character transfer, not even sure if they did that at all yet. Either way, its free to play now and that says enough. Great at first but this game bombed out.

sithpanda

Aug 13, 2012

6

Buggy, unresponsive, dull and lifeless... those are just a few ways I can explain the customer service and responsiveness of the company to fix the issues with an otherwise amazing game.

The storylines are amazing.... Story telling is definitely a plus in SWTOR, especially the Jedi and Inquisitor story lines.. so far my favorite.. OK, I will admit, not a fan of the bounty hunter storyBuggy, unresponsive, dull and lifeless... those are just a few ways I can explain the customer service and responsiveness of the company to fix the issues with an otherwise amazing game.

The storylines are amazing.... Story telling is definitely a plus in SWTOR, especially the Jedi and Inquisitor story lines.. so far my favorite.. OK, I will admit, not a fan of the bounty hunter story line but some people like it, it's just really not my taste.. although some of the things mine comes out with in the dialogue are quite funny.

Seriously a friend and I rushed through our first characters for two reasons, 1) the story was so captivating we couldn't wait to see what came next!, 2) We pre-ordered far in advance and started playing early.. there were a lot of people playing and we wanted to ensure that we got the Legacy Name of our chosing. We made all of our toons up front to reserve names and the Legacy name tied them all together so this was important.

We played the game, put in lots of bug reports as we were among the first to reach the higher level areas, which were soooo buggy... We would die when trying to travel on the tram in correlia, get dragged outside of the ship in voss.. our companions would die when getting on and off elevators, bug out and just lay down, etc etc

Then came the PVP bugs... still persisting from day 1 a bug that makes it possible to get permastunned - getting stunned permanently, so that the toon cannot move until and even after death resulting in not being able to move from the safe zone and being removed from the group. When this happens you receive no rewards from participating in the event. What is worse is that in rated PVP where teams are ranked and each match counts, when this happens the team is left short as when someone is removed from the group there is no way to replace the player.

The multitude of issues that were not fixed or fixes implemented that resulted in even more issues, sometimes more serious than the one fixed took its toll and people started to leave.... so many people left that servers that previously had wait times of up to an hour now had so few people that it wasn't always possible to have 4 people on a planet to do a heroic 4 mission. It got so bad that even more people left because it wasn't possible to get a PVP match or ops running....

Then came the server mergers... I am unsure how the selection was made but people who started 5 days before the game release, people who reserved their names and worked hard to get to the legacy name of choice were forced to name change... even worse there are still people who, because they have more than 8 characters that were selected to go to the same destination server, they have toons on dead servers marked for deletion that they cannot move. They have begged and pleaded to even pay cash in order to move their toons to another server that is available and have been met with silence. These are the most dedicated of players who love the game, love their toons and want to stay... and customer service treats us like a burden.

I am not sure of what happens in the offices behind closed doors.... I am not sure which of those who work behind the scenes are worthy and which are the worse offenders... What I do know is that the game has its merits, I still play. .I am not sure if anyone will step up and pull the group together and fix the game or if it will continue to die it's slow and painful death... If it dies there is one thing that can be sure.. those responsible will blame everything but themselves... and then they will go and help another unsuspecting new emerging game... sad, really... such senseless torture and devastation within a fantasy world of infinite potential.

It is going free to play so I suggest that you do check it out if you haven't already, if nothing else, for the storyline of the first 50 levels. Hopefully something good will happen along the way and we will all get a sweet game out of the deal. Fingers crossed.… Expand

Fortysixter_UK

Mar 15, 2012

5

Long time SW fan, and I've enjoyed a few of the SW games released over the years. Read plenty of SW books, seen the films a lot.

SWTOR is not going to get an easy ride from me. The game engine is competent. The character models, acceptable. The classes good to start with, of no doubt. The game falls over in a few key places, and these issue made me quit prior to my first monthLong time SW fan, and I've enjoyed a few of the SW games released over the years. Read plenty of SW books, seen the films a lot.

SWTOR is not going to get an easy ride from me. The game engine is competent. The character models, acceptable. The classes good to start with, of no doubt.

The game falls over in a few key places, and these issue made me quit prior to my first month completing.

There is no auto group system in the game ( as their is in Rift and WOW ) so looking for random groups in that first month could take hours. Not good.

The game has been in development for years, I remember it being on the front cover of issue 2 of GamesTM ( a uk based gaming mag). The game eventually got released whilst issue 116 was on the shelves. So why did the patching system cause me, and apparently many others so much grief ? If you've not had this issue this comment will mean nothing to you. It was almost a game breaker by itself for me.

The chat system, in that first month at least, would randomly bar you from a chat window, like "Party Chat" for no apparent reason. The only way to resolve was to exit the game. Then you lost your group. See my first point.

The music. John Williams wrote amazing music for the original SW trilogy. The game uses soundbytes of his music at best. Why is John Williams music not looping in game continuously and being used creatively? Some of the stuff they put in their is frankly dirge like.

I played as a jedi to level 34 and a smuggler to level 24. I found I DID NOT want to repeat many of the quests a thrid time around with alt characters. Many quests were simply dull . ( for me personally)

This game is NOT an open universe. Everything is instanced. To travel from one planet to the next requires no less than 5 load screens around 30 seconds each, plus copious amounts of running between areas in between. Very dull.

There is no open space combat, it is instanced and on wires for YOU only. Why isnt this game one vast open universe with space you can fly through real time , and planets that are genuinely open ( like WOW and Rift) ?

The game is NOT cross server compaitble, so any unusal hour sessions in game can be a somewhat barren experience without the auto group system. I score this game 5/10, it commits the worst crime, it's not good, it's not bad...it just illicits ambivalence from me, and all but 1 of the 11 friends and family members who joined me on launch of SWTOR.

I think SWTOR is a good game for a game made by committee and a dev team who were not the folks who made the original KOTOR. There is something coldly business like about it. It does not "FEEL" very Star Wars to me, it fails to illicit that warm fuzzy feeling that the old games, comics, books and films manage.
In many ways it just misses the point and doesn't tick enough boxes for my inner Star Wars fanboy.

A great opportunity missed by a fairly wide margin. I'm back to WOW & Rift already. Why mess with perfection and dev teams that seem to care ( in the case of RIFT at least ).

If I could sell my Collectors edition and account in some way, I think I would. I wouldn't miss htis game in the slightest… Expand

MrWhiggy

Jan 8, 2012

5

If you like Star Wars and MMO's, get this game. If you just want a new MMO to play, don't get this game. This is your typical, mediocre MMO mixed with the Star Wars Universe. That's not to say this game isn't enjoyable, it just loses it's freshness quite quickly.

BoosterGold

Jan 13, 2012

5

Fun as a single player but once you play through a class quest line or two it loses most of its interest. Very reminiscent of Burning Crusade + Kotor. The worlds are heavily instanced and often feel very empty. It fails in smoothness of game play, obtuse travel, bad static UI, no lfg tool, no combat log, no mod support, no pvp brackets, no hd textures, ect. Once you've seen the storiesFun as a single player but once you play through a class quest line or two it loses most of its interest. Very reminiscent of Burning Crusade + Kotor. The worlds are heavily instanced and often feel very empty. It fails in smoothness of game play, obtuse travel, bad static UI, no lfg tool, no combat log, no mod support, no pvp brackets, no hd textures, ect. Once you've seen the stories it goes downhill fast.… Expand

rotator

Jan 29, 2012

6

It is safe to assume the game was targeted primarily to 2 audiences: those who played the old KotORs (superb single player RPGs) back and forth and fans of the MMO genre. Let's see the break down!

Pros for a KotOR gamer: - The Star Wars atmosphere. - Two distinct walkthroughs: Republic and Imperial. See cons for more... - Quality voice acting and dialogs, class stories are generallyIt is safe to assume the game was targeted primarily to 2 audiences: those who played the old KotORs (superb single player RPGs) back and forth and fans of the MMO genre. Let's see the break down!

Pros for a KotOR gamer:
- The Star Wars atmosphere.
- Two distinct walkthroughs: Republic and Imperial. See cons for more... - Quality voice acting and dialogs, class stories are generally good.
- Slightly improved graphics (compared to the original KotORs).

Cons for a KotOR gamer:
- The old skill system is gone. There are talent trees now, which only improve your proficiency in battle: damage output and resistance. No secondary skills like persuade, slicing and others.
- Combat is realtime MMO style with the usual abilities and cooldowns, no pausing and planning.
- Dialogs are copied from Mass Effect: no real consequences and you only get a hint about your own lines instead of the full text. No persuading skills except for force persuade.
- Fully linear story, you visit the planets in a predetermined order and choices have no major impacts on the story. While technically you can play 8 classes with their own story, it doesn't mean it is equal to 8 KotOR games, because the 4-4 Republic and Imperial classes share the same 2 main questlines, which are about 80% of all the quests. Light and Dark alignment has nothing to offer in the long run except for some specialized gear.
- You can't influence companions' alignment, affection only results in companion quest unlocking and better efficiency at crafting. Also you can't kill off companions you don't like.
- You can't complete all missions by alone. There are so called Heroics and Flashbacks which require a group of people to work together. Most of the time it is damn hard to find people for that. The multiplayer part of the game feels absolutely unnecessary and irritating.
- No pazaak, no swoop racing, no slicing. The only minigame is the cheesy, but enjoyable space combat.
- Most quests are just brainless grinding and courier missions.
- If you complete every available quests, the game will be way too easy. You will be a bunch of levels above the recommended after the first 2 planets.
- No same sex romance, if that's your thing.
- The overall gameplay feels robotic, just completing tasks instead of, well, gaming in a rich world and getting involved in a nice story.

Pros for an MMO player:
- The Star Wars atmosphere, is you're into it.

Cons for an MMO player:
- Too much cutscenes and slow storytelling will probably bother you while impatiently leveling up. Friends can't help you leveling up faster either, because skipping the storyline and looting high level stuff can result in ban.
- Auction House is a joke and if you're playing well with the economy, you will just get banned.
- Except for the voiced cutscenes and dialogs, the game is a carbon copy of World of Warcraft (from around 2008) in almost every possible aspect. Too bad WoW has been improved vastly till then.
- Endgame is virtually nonexistent with just one raid.
- PVP is badly unbalanced and requires no human skills.
- UI is not customizable, no LUA scripting support.
- Available races are all strictly humanoids (because the "necessary" romancing), not even wookies are playable (not to mention all those exotic species the Star Wars universe could offer). There are virtually no racial abilities.

General pros:
- They are working hard on it, with frequent patches.
- Server and connection is fairly stable for most of the time, download speed is exceptionally good when patching.

General cons:
- While the graphics is way below the 2011 standard, you still need a pretty powerful machine for the game.
- Problems with subscribing. The official website itself has numerous glitches.
- Patching is done at the same time everywhere, unlucky players can experience server downs at prime gaming times.
- Customer support is freaking slow, it is taking them days for a simple answer.
- For a game featuring tons of closeups and cutscenes, the character generator is overly simplistic.

Final words:
Star Wars: The Old Republic is offering a very mixed experience. 90% of the game is a World of Warcraft clone and 10% of it is cutscenes and dialogs from Mass Effect. Both the CRPG and MMO aspects are dangerously watered down to accommodate different audiences. Both groups will find a lot of unnecessary things in the game, but also a lack of deepness in their own needs and ultimately nobody gets satisfied. Certainly quite a few people will find out it is just the game for them, but it might prove to be deadly to base a 300 million dollar game to appeal all but the core gamers of the touched genres.… Expand

Setsuna86

Feb 5, 2012

5

This game was a huge disappointment. With so much hype and such a highly promising development you could imagine this one being the new kind of MMOs to come. Sadly this was not the case. I have been playing quite a few MMOs so far (WoW, Rift, GuildWars) and to me Swtor didn't bring anything really innovative or revolutionary to its genre. Sure, the full voice acting is an awesome plus andThis game was a huge disappointment. With so much hype and such a highly promising development you could imagine this one being the new kind of MMOs to come. Sadly this was not the case. I have been playing quite a few MMOs so far (WoW, Rift, GuildWars) and to me Swtor didn't bring anything really innovative or revolutionary to its genre. Sure, the full voice acting is an awesome plus and the game itself is not really bad, though you can hadly call it a MMORPG game.
The character progression is way too easy compared to other MMOs, and since you level up so quickly you would imagine the developers planned it with a lot of endgame content. Sadly, not. Once you reach level 50 there's not really much you can do. The terrible aspect of the game is the MMO side: you have a companion which is really nice (reminded me of GuildWars) but that's not what breaks the game as MMO. The real problem is you're not actually forced to make a group to do anything else apart from Flashpoints (instances), and you're not even forced to do them. You could reach level 50 without virtually doing any group-quest or instanced zone, because you can simply skip such content and level up in some other ways (space battles, next zones). Quests don't really have any impact on the storyline, the choice you have with dialogues gets you to the same result eventually, so there's no point at all. This game could have been a single player game. That really shocked me: it doesn't -feel- like a MMO game, it's just a bad attempt to mix the ingredients. And the result is a flat MMO, with somewhat empty zones and a LOT of room for improvement. It wouldn't be so bad, really, if it was a free to play MMO, but paying 13â… Expand

Jinzouningen

Feb 19, 2012

5

If this game came out as a single player game (which it is) with a co-op option my score would be different. I actually played one character to level 50. People who review should play to the max level. I had to force myself to just to say that i had. Story is a plus, voice acting is a plus but this isnt an MMO. Team fortress 2 is more of an MMO than this. If I only had to pay $60 for theIf this game came out as a single player game (which it is) with a co-op option my score would be different. I actually played one character to level 50. People who review should play to the max level. I had to force myself to just to say that i had. Story is a plus, voice acting is a plus but this isnt an MMO. Team fortress 2 is more of an MMO than this. If I only had to pay $60 for the game and no monthly I would have played all the class story lines. Nothing in this game atm and i mean nothing is worth paying a $15 monthly. If you buy it, dont worry about upgrading your hardware. It wont help anything or add any benefits visually. Heres a warning i wish i had before hand. The game is heavily instanced not going to guess why but it is. You'll be able to run around a whole planet and see no one else. Background (mountains, buildling etc) are just that backgrounds. You cant explore them or even get close to them. Its like a painting back there for decoration. if you buy this choose a server that has a heavy / very heavy population. Even if it has a queue youll be glad you did. As empty as the game will seem atleast maybe with a H VH server youll have a chance to group with someone for flashpoints. Servers with Low or so called standard pops make it almost impossible to get a group without a hours worth of spamming for one. It says Star Wars on the box which hooked alot of people, but be ready to be extremely disappointed or pleasantly pleased.… Expand

Lionhearted

Feb 3, 2012

6

In a word, well there's no one word that explains my disappointment.

As a MMO, Swtor stands out as being the finest overall achievement I've seen in my 25+ years of gaming, as a MMO ... As a game? Boring. I've been bored by Bioware creations before, heck I put down Kotor a few times before coming back to finish it .. twice. But there's no sincerity to this game, there's no depth toIn a word, well there's no one word that explains my disappointment.

As a MMO, Swtor stands out as being the finest overall achievement I've seen in my 25+ years of gaming, as a MMO ...

As a game?

Boring.

I've been bored by Bioware creations before, heck I put down Kotor a few times before coming back to finish it .. twice.

But there's no sincerity to this game, there's no depth to players experience. Everything is on rails, and with as much as there is to explore it's awfully ironic.

The quests after the first couple of planets become more and more generic-y.
The combat is especially old hat and in many places has an odd convoluted feeling.
I love the gimmicky nostalgic poster "stances", but under the weight of the ad-tedium MMO keyboard gameplay, the visuals drop to back ground noise for farming MMO "stuff".

I was bored of WoW a year after it came out, why would I return for episode 2?

Thee is almost no "real" exploration, except for the platforming to gain special rewards. But again they have no meaningful gain to your character so they are basically discardable experiences in an otherwise quest grindy leveling game.

I found myself looking at everything, trying everything and being punished by being way over level to the point where I actually skipped the 2 most famous planets in the Star wars universe .. talk about frustrating.

Ya know it's one thing to create a game with a great deal of restrictions in mind for the players better enjoyment~
It's another to restrict the player and really not offer anything enjoyable.

If you are even half right brained this game will not suit you, and for a game this lives and dies on it's creativity addition.....

I guess I'll just have to say the Bioware or really EA should be thankful Blizzard carved them an advertisement pathway, because there's not much here for anyone who relishes a traditional Bioware personal story experience or meaningful food for thought.… Expand

FrankFP

Feb 13, 2012

6

Decent game, but nothing new in the MMO genre.
The storyline is good, but not good enough to make up for too many bland quest, zoned areas and a boring combat system. I enjoyed the month I got out of it, but not enough to keep paying subscription. I really wanted to like this game, but having played MMO's since Ultima Online, there is really nothing new to see here, except for dialoguesDecent game, but nothing new in the MMO genre.
The storyline is good, but not good enough to make up for too many bland quest, zoned areas and a boring combat system. I enjoyed the month I got out of it, but not enough to keep paying subscription. I really wanted to like this game, but having played MMO's since Ultima Online, there is really nothing new to see here, except for dialogues and a grand quest/story. That I can get in any singleplayer game, so no need to pay subscription for that.… Expand

Pendulous

Jan 13, 2012

6

Mediocre is really the best word to describe this game. Its easiest to take things one at a time.

Sound - This is excellent and truly the best part of the game. Yes, it sounds like Star Wars. The voice acting is also very well done. Story- This section is kind of a conundrum. The class stories are truly interesting. They remind you of great Bioware titles and what you've come to expect.Mediocre is really the best word to describe this game. Its easiest to take things one at a time.

Sound - This is excellent and truly the best part of the game. Yes, it sounds like Star Wars. The voice acting is also very well done.

Story- This section is kind of a conundrum. The class stories are truly interesting. They remind you of great Bioware titles and what you've come to expect. Planet arcs are fairly interesting as well. However, these aspects are only 15-20% of your time. The rest is boils down to "here is why I want you to kill droids". Minor uninteresting characters you never see again distract from the immersion Bioware was attempting to create. Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and other single player titles can do this, but in an MMO its just clunky. Flashpoint stories are cool as well, but again the dialogue parts are so far and few between that they don't create a sense of meaning. Gameplay- Many others reviewers are using uninspired and it really fits. Its not that its bad in any way, its just nothing new. And I mean nothing. Combat is exactly like WoW or most other MMO's. Its not that its bad, but its not good for 2011. 2006 it would have been lauded, now its tiresome. The ranged classes cover mechanics are clunky as well and have needed fix since early beta. PvE- Standard PvE fare. Kill boss, collect loot, wait for new instance, repeat. Fights (including hard mode) are not challenging which will probably turn away most hardcore players. PvP- Very far behind the curve. This game will not be an ESport in the foreseeable future, because of a number of questionable design choices. How a AAA MMO expects to not have to deliver arena combat is mind boggling as well. Guild Mechanics- Guild Chat. Ships may come in the future but on launch is not there. Overall this game needed to be launched with more features or years ago. As for the expectations of the current MMO market it meets them, but doesn't justify a Triple-A rating or the price tag (and subsequent monthly fees) in my opinion. Some will love this game, but most of us and especially PvP junkies will want to skip it. The only caveat is the hope of future updates and whenever BioWare gets to adding stuff from the mysterious "wall of crazy".… Expand

Killspre

Jan 13, 2012

5

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Swtor is a fun game to me but I am not gonna pretend it is the perfect mmo. There are plenty of problems with the game I find, graphics that look horrible and the game still doesn't run smoothly, a basic and partly broken combat system, unbalanced pvp, crappy customization and it is way too easy to max your level. I was especially disappointed with the cover mechanic, which they bragged about, for it can send you right into the middle of a crowd of enemies you didn't mean to fight because the green cover icon was off screen. Also in the tough of times it delays and is easy to knock you off which screws you over because all of your good skills are only usable in this mode. These things being said I can't honestly say I have had no fun playing, the companions are well implemented, I find myself enjoying there company much more than any random pet from other mmos. The story also has a great appeal to me and is what definitely keeps me going through the game. Though not all of them gems I do wonder how it will end although the side missions stories eventually become predictable and a bit boring. This being said though I cant help that bioware messed up by making the next Kotor into a mmo, the things I like about it were already mastered in previous kotor games. The few group things that you do need for are ruined by lack of story or even the way to difficult nature of getting a group together. Flashpoints after the first lack any story or any real choice good or evil (in one flashpoint you actually choose to either kill or imprison a group of engineers on a ship you are going to destroy), pvp has come down to whichever side has more lvl 50s, and heroics are even more pointless than the flashpoints to me. Bioware knows how to make great single player games and I can't help but think if the kept it Kotor 3 this game would've been way better.… Expand

AkiTheConqueror

Jan 28, 2012

6

The game is relatively new at this point so alot of the problems that it has can be attributed to the growing pains. Others however are more baffling. Generally I came to expect a degree of quality from bioware games, so thats why I find some missing aspects of the game strange.

Gameplay: Leveling is actually pretty good, compared to other MMORPGs. Personally it never really felt likeThe game is relatively new at this point so alot of the problems that it has can be attributed to the growing pains. Others however are more baffling. Generally I came to expect a degree of quality from bioware games, so thats why I find some missing aspects of the game strange.

Gameplay:
Leveling is actually pretty good, compared to other MMORPGs. Personally it never really felt like a drag, even though the formula is very standard, mostly of a variety go there kills/loot that, there is a voiced over story background to go along with all of that, and this makes all the difference.

The problems start to become apparent once players reach lvl 50. Max lvl is where most of the gameplay in MMOs actually takes place, that where you start to get into big groups of people and raiding very difficult content. What keeps people in the game at this point is the challenge and objectives that are to be aimed for. This can be things like gearing up, getting some rare recipes, all in the drive to progress further to get rare piece of armor and to finally kill that particularly hard final boss.

The problem with SWTOR is not that there is no end game content, but that its is poorly executed, uninspired and too easy. Arguably the last bit is particularly deadly too a MMO, there is no ammount of content in this world that will keep people happy and occupied if it is too easy. People will blow through it in no time, after that people get bored and bored people leave the game to go play something else.

I hope that in the future Bioware rectifies this problem.

Graphics:
Atmosphere in the game is great and really feels like star wars, but quality of the graphics is rather poor for a game released end of 2011. In a way they are even comparable to WoW, but that game is 7 ears old! I'm not talking about amount of pretty colors on the screen, both games have it in abbundance, what is lacking are the details on character models and armor. It all feels so flat, almost like a reskin of a base character model, this is especially visible on a character loading screen, which shows your toon in its full glory.

Game features:
This part is an absolute disgrace. For a game that involved 800 people in its creation I get a feeling that the interface and associated tools were written in year 2000 and never touched since then.

There are no tools for finding groups except the very basic LFG flag, there are no tools supporting guild beyond giving them option to chat, there are no tools to optimize the interface, no macros...it's like Bioware forgot that they are making a MMO instead of single player game.

Crafting:
Can't say much beyong that it keeps you more or less decently geared through the leveling process, beyond that, it is mostly useless.

PvP:
I am generally not into PvP aspect of MMOs, preffering to do my PvPing in games like counter strike and TF2, but this is apparently also not in the best of states.

So here is my score of 6 out of 10, with a big hope that Bioware picks this game up.… Expand

Grutzy

Jan 13, 2012

5

SW:TOR is an MMO with a heavy dose of single player gaming. To me it feels like a contradiction of the genre both in scope and playability. Somewhere along the line, the development team seems to have forgotten the credo of game development, "Make it FUN." There are heaps of blatant design decisions that either don't make sense, or were just plain not thought about, such as making sure aSW:TOR is an MMO with a heavy dose of single player gaming. To me it feels like a contradiction of the genre both in scope and playability. Somewhere along the line, the development team seems to have forgotten the credo of game development, "Make it FUN." There are heaps of blatant design decisions that either don't make sense, or were just plain not thought about, such as making sure a group of friends stay in their group when entering/exiting a warzone. Despite its many flaws, the game does have some redeeming qualities.
1) It is chalk full of Star Wars goodness
2) It has a wide variety of play style options
3) It caters fairly well to the casual audience

Ultimately, I feel SW:TOR has a very large uphill battle to fight in order to retain their customer base. I feel it's fair to say that the bar has been raised to a much higher level of expectation for new titles hitting the market these days, and if that bar is not taken into consideration with what gamers expect to see in an MMO, then the battle is half lost before the title ships. There is a sever lack of PvP and End Game content for players who have maxed out their level, and there is next to no reason to replay any of the content that has already been seen.

For all of the advancements that have been made in the genre through the many titles that have come before it, there really seems to be a lack of "Learning from other peoples mistakes" taken into account for the development of this product.

My score of 5 I feel is fair, as the nature of the universe and the store for each class have been well done and warrant at least one play through to max level, but beyond that, don't expect too much to hold your attention unless you are a die hard Star Wars fan.… Expand

19	#19 Best PC Game of 2011
8	#8 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011
9	#9 Most Shared PC Game of 2011

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