Star Wars: The Old Republic

supernaturality

Mar 14, 2013

2

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. First of all, I have to congratulate Bioware for giving men very ample buttocks (unlike, for instance, Star Trek Online which doesn't have the ability to make a cute guy). Although sexy backsides are out of place on the uglier guys in the name (and there are plenty), there is plenty of NPC eye candy to go around. However, that brings me to a big problem. Running around massacring cute guys is not my idea of fun. For instance, there's a section of Coruscant where ordinary guys supposedly were given vigilante control. I can't remember the name of them, but it's a very thin plot idea, particularly with the way things are set up. We aren't talking about a small gang here, but a giant sprawling army, spread into little pockets everywhere. The army is equipped in some places with medical guys who are very cute, both in terms of face and body, and it's frankly very sad to be forced to shoot them. In fact, one of them looked exactly like my in-game husband (the Legacy system let me marry my other character), which was not only surreal but offensive. It also makes little sense from a Star Wars morality perspective. I'm supposedly a light side character and I get off on killing vast amounts of people like medical assistants because my character is a "scoundrel"? This isn't Star Wars at all. This is really Massacre Central. The only light and dark morality consists of lame dialogue and lamer plot options. I can't believe so much money was spent to make this game. Shoving big-breasted women at me, one after the other, with flirt options is heavy-handed, too. There is no man-to-man alternative unless you're talking about very limited ghetto options on pay-to-gay Makeb. The inability to run for free players is too punitive, as is the inability to have two function bars visible. It's also lame that you are awarded an item that lets you modify your companion's appearance but can't use it. What kind of game gives people items and says what you were given is completely useless? That's not a reward system. A game developer walks a very fine line between being patronizing to players and motivating them to spend money.

People say they play the game for the story, but as a gay player, the only thing I'd be interested in at all is finding some romance, and there is none to be had. I got my fill of massacring bored groups of milling creatures and men right away. Plus, even if romance with my companion, Corso, were possible, something would have to be done about his face. Oh, that's right... can't use the customization item that I was rewarded with. It's ironic that the most memorable thing to happen to me in this game was feeling sad when looking down at the fetching body of a medical dude in that Coruscant section. I did not feel like a hero, only a butcher.… Expand

okristian

Mar 13, 2013

0

The beginning was about as interesting as watching paint dry. The NPC dialogues were horrific and you were basically just asked to go around fixing and/or disabling stuff for people you don't care about. This is bad in a game that promised good stories and interesting NPC's.

The companion you get is very annoying and you basically have to keep using him unless you want to get molestedThe beginning was about as interesting as watching paint dry. The NPC dialogues were horrific and you were basically just asked to go around fixing and/or disabling stuff for people you don't care about. This is bad in a game that promised good stories and interesting NPC's.

The companion you get is very annoying and you basically have to keep using him unless you want to get molested by the enemies in the game while not in a group of real people since the game is balanced around using your companion. It got better once you get to the first Flashpoints and group missions. The game started actually being fun after trudging trough the first 10 or so levels.

It was all good until I hit lvl 16 and Bioware/EA whatever decided to KEEP MY ACCOUNT HOSTAGE.
Now all I get when I try logging into my character is this line:

"To continue playing this character, you must validate an email address for your account. You may validate your email by visiting https://account.swtor.com/user/info."

It just takes you to your basic information page on swtor.com. No apparent place to to any kind of validating. My e-mail is already there and I have even bought stuff on the account while being registered with that e-mail. Inputting a different e-mail address sends this to the new e-mail address you use:

Locrin:

"We have received your request to update your email address for the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ website. To complete this request, simply click here to verify your email address.

Remember, if you have a linked EA account, it will be changed with the new email address."

Clicking the link in the mail only gives you this error: "An error has occurred.
Your email address could not be validated.

Please check the URL and try again."

And since I am not a monthly subscriber, but only a guy that sometimes use the real money market for the stuff I want I AM CUT OFF FROM ANY KIND OF CUSTOMER SUPPORT.… Expand

SumoScott

Mar 9, 2013

10

Although in terms of gameplay mechanics The Old Republic closely resembles World of Warcraft, it's not just another MMO. It's a full-blooded RPG that makes your character important from the start and tells stories that are worth following. It also allows you to enjoy them alone if you're not keen on that whole multiplayer thing.The addition of free-to-play has further broadened it's appeal!

Gargus

Mar 8, 2013

1

The issue with this game is it's just more of the same thing on the market now. Yes it has a few new trappings and cool ideas thrown in but the core mechanic that makes up 90% of the game is still the same thing as all of the other mmo games. The novelty factor wore off after a couple weeks of playing and I found myself doing dailies, doing the same routine every time I logged in and IThe issue with this game is it's just more of the same thing on the market now. Yes it has a few new trappings and cool ideas thrown in but the core mechanic that makes up 90% of the game is still the same thing as all of the other mmo games. The novelty factor wore off after a couple weeks of playing and I found myself doing dailies, doing the same routine every time I logged in and I quickly fell into a sense of familiarity with this game. That's when it hit me; I was bored before my free 30 day subscription was even up.

All the good things in it I liked are the same things I liked about rift, world of warcraft, everquest and so on so I'll just cut to what I didn't like about SW:TOR.

1) The engine and game isn't optimized at all. Even my computer (which is way way above reccomended specs and will run any game on the market with headroom to spare) never ran it smoothly, especially at any higher end settings. It always felt like it was running just a little too sluggish. Bioware said the massive complaints about performance were due to so many people running inferior computers but that isn't the case really. The games engine simply isnt optimized well enough. The graphics are subpar as well. I am never one to think that good graphics will equal good game but given a game where you're basically repeating the same actions day in and day out it should atleast look pretty while doing it. WOW looks better to me and it's a dated engine, but it's wonderful use of color and art direction makes it stand out while TOR has this underlying feel of looking like a dozen other games.

2) It requires you to use EA's origin service. This is ultimately why I canceled my subscription and won't play this anymore. Origin was the last straw for me in my list of complaints. Origin IS spyware, it tells you it is in the EULA you agree to when you agree to the terms and conditions to install it. It also was recently changed to say you can't sue EA. There is a reason why germany (yes the whole country) took action against Origin because it invades privacy. I detest origin and again was the last straw in my choosing not to play battlefield 3 anymore. And as someone tried to point out in the comments section that origin isnt required, yes it is and the gams official FAQ says so. http://www.swtor.com/info/faq#170974

3) The game is a theme park much like WOW. Once you start playing you're constantly guided through the game via quests and so on. It never felt like I got to explore anything on my own or discover anything because the game was always holding my hand and telling me where to go. There was no sense of awe, no sense of exploration, no sense of discovery because you're constantly having the game tell you what and where to go next as you progress through the game. It's like there is a invisible path of quests you have to follow through from level 1 to 50.

4) The game is too easy and that makes most people you meet insufferable to be around. Much like everyother mmo out now the game is geared toward allowing in anyone who wants to play to get maximum subscriptions. In order to do that you need to appeal to the lowest common denominator by making your game as easy as you can get away with. Much like wow it takes little effort to level up and do things aside from the occasional time you need a party to do something (which makes it feel inconvient). You never get this feeling of accomplishing anything by overcoming a challenge because the game has no real challenges or penalties. The problem with a MMO like this and it being easy is that when it becomes easy then players get bored easily and bored players become obnoxious players and obnoxious players are players I don't want to play with. There is a reason why the majority of the player base for like WOW are petty, obnoxious and sarcastic brats and why the majority of the everquest player base are friendlier, kinder and more helpful and that reason is because WOW makes players lazy and bored by being way to easy to play and everquest requires work and teamwork. Even death has virtually no penalty, there is no real reason to be careful or thrill of being almost taken down. In this if you die it is just sort of a ho-hum experince and you go on not really caring, thus there is no element of danger.

5) Everything feels like one big corridor. It always feels like you're being funneled through this corridor from one objective to the next. There is no sense of a large scale and all the areas feel so small and cramped. Once you have checked out a area it feels even smaller. At first everything was fine but it didn't take long before all the area, dungeons and so on all just start feeling like little compartments in a rat maze.… Expand

electroRogue

Mar 8, 2013

2

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I like this game, yet the restraints placed onto free to play players are immense. The total game killer for me was being limited to 200,00 game currency credits, yet all the things I need'd to "Unlock" my character were well above that :S, so ok you can buy straight from the cartel and not go though the player run economy (GTN) but still the same issue raise's again and again for things not in the cartel and only available though luck of looting or buying on the GTN.

Other retarded things include skill bar slots you have to unlock via cash, to use all your available skills.
Only two characters per server reduced XP, reduced gold, less choice in quest awards, only 3 space battles per week instead of infinite, 1/2 the inventory space, no cargo hold space, only so many flash point (special instance) rewards per week, No support only 3 races to choose from, no custom skins for companions, sprint training lagging behind subscribers by 10 lvl's same for speeder training, many more but the total game killer is the 200,000 credit limit. If you think you will subscribe, then may be worth trying, I personally didn't get enough out of it to make it worth losing money every month for. As a dip into game and buy something occasionally direct from the Cartel, would be nice, but too many restrictions on that method.

The story is a little one dimensional, though nicely scripted with only minor issues in enemies being immune at the wrong time ect, or kills or switch's not activating the next step in the quest. Reasonable voice acting really help set the mood, music is good yet sparse. Planets are confusing, especially Taris with a map from hell I was forever trying to work out 3 dimensions on a 2d mini-map, with no visual clue or arrow system to help point you in the right direction. No voice support for mic which is a bad call for a MMO with PvP.… Expand

DustyPig

Mar 6, 2013

7

I've never been immersed in an MMO before, but I felt like giving SWTOR a try due to it being, well, a Star Wars game. It didn't make me like the combat system commonly used in an MMO, but I began to see why someone would. The graphics aren't great but they do the Star Wars world justice; after all, who sees Star Wars for the realistic and detailed content? Being a Sith Lord is awesome,I've never been immersed in an MMO before, but I felt like giving SWTOR a try due to it being, well, a Star Wars game. It didn't make me like the combat system commonly used in an MMO, but I began to see why someone would. The graphics aren't great but they do the Star Wars world justice; after all, who sees Star Wars for the realistic and detailed content? Being a Sith Lord is awesome, and anyone who appreciates Star Wars will enjoy emulating their favourite character or creating their own. The free to play option is decent; it's annoying to get less XP and be forced to grind to progress in the story, but it doesn't feel restricting in terms of PVP battles and space missions. Overall, my main complaint is the grinding, but it's only bad because of the story focus something that is rare in MMOs. And if the player finds it that bad, all they need to do is get a subscription.… Expand

jamvaru

Mar 5, 2013

8

My first impressions (after a year since playing the beta, which i loathed) is that SWTOR is a good MMO with lots of potential for growth and improvement; it does seem to be interested in being the star wars mmo that the people want, though they are moving a bit slowly on the 'f2p', or 'premier account' option; i bought the $5 digital upgrade pack for the speeder and the 'premier pack' atMy first impressions (after a year since playing the beta, which i loathed) is that SWTOR is a good MMO with lots of potential for growth and improvement; it does seem to be interested in being the star wars mmo that the people want, though they are moving a bit slowly on the 'f2p', or 'premier account' option; i bought the $5 digital upgrade pack for the speeder and the 'premier pack' at $10 (about 1000 cartel coins) for the early speeder access and a couple of other things (only affects one character)... so $10/character gets you a very playable game, plus the $5 for the account, all characters

-read my full breakdown on tumblr:
http://jamvaru.tumblr.com/post/44304219941/my-swtor-review-of-sorts-that-is-too-big-for-a-raptr… Expand

Ellixer

Mar 3, 2013

8

ToR is an interesting game, that doesn't mean it's necessarily good (though I for once certainly enjoyed the hell out of it), it's because TOR is a genuinely innovative as an MMO because it tried (and succeeded for the most part) to have 8 distinct epic class stories that suit any Star Wars fan's desire to role-play his own character, packed with the usual Bioware's consistentlyToR is an interesting game, that doesn't mean it's necessarily good (though I for once certainly enjoyed the hell out of it), it's because TOR is a genuinely innovative as an MMO because it tried (and succeeded for the most part) to have 8 distinct epic class stories that suit any Star Wars fan's desire to role-play his own character, packed with the usual Bioware's consistently well-written characters and plot.

Let's get ToR's uninspiring if competent parts out of the way as quickly as possible. The music is decent but not used often enough, the visual is well-designed but technically unimpressive and the environment is hit and miss. Voice acting, on the other hand, was consistently good (or at least I thought it would). Gameplay is competent if uninspiring. I've heard many people say the combat is very similar to WoW but I've never actually played that one beyond a few levels at a friend's house so I can't really confirm that. Combat in ToR is neither as tactical as Dragon Age nor as action-packed like Mass Effect 3, rather it tests the player's ability to juggle numerous abilities to maximum effect. For the most part all you'll be focusing managing your cooldown and force bar (or other equivalents of a mana bar). Beyond that there are also many other usual MMO stuffs that I don't care for for the most part such as Guild stuffs, raids, PvP (which was surprisingly good according to most people), etc.

Now onto the part that Bioware is known for, and for good reasons too. The writing and characters were on par with Bioware's usual standards, the lore was intriguing as well as fleshed out and the characters are numerous and distinct, if artificial due to the affection system. The story has ups and downs however. While they were well written and interesting, the pacing itself was severely hurt by the MMO format. Backtracking and endless side quests were the 2 biggest issues for me. Side quests kill any sense of momentum gained by the interesting class story and any remaining sense of flow is then finished off whenever you die by accidentally attracting a mob while fighting something else. Thankfully, the stories themselves when you finally get to them, are distinct and intriguing. Shockingly enough, the MMO doesn't just hurt the story-telling, it actually bolstered it in some ways. Having other people around actually helped me be immersed into the world sometimes. More importantly, having 8 classes mean that Bioware had to write full stories for characters that no one would actually write for a full Star Wars game, such as the story of the Imperial Agent, the Sith Warrior/Inquisitor, the Smuggler, etc. While there are ones that many people like and ones that most people hated, they essentially cover almost everyone's taste: the Imperial Agent is basically a sci-fi James Bonds (incidentally my favourite story so far), the Jedi Knight is your typical Star Wars story and the Smuggler is a humorous/adventurous story of a rogue living in the Star Wars universe. Furthermore, having all these classes provide the player with the ability to see the same universe through 8 different perspectives. As for the F2P model, yeah it has countless annoying restrictions but they're ultimately harmless in my opinion, at least up until you reach level 50. These restrictions are nearly all just either cosmetic or simply serve to slow you down. As a F2P player myself, I can confirm that these things are indeed infuriating but I willingly levelled my way up to 50 without paying any real money and that has to be a plus. But really, the game started out as a subscription game and getting a F2P model can't be a bad thing (for consumers) so I suggest you grab it if you have any interest in the game and see how it goes with the prologue.

In short, I had a blast at the game and I didn't have to pay anything for it (I know probably should). People may say that I gave it too high a score after pointing out so many that was wrong with it but ultimately it boils down to how much those shortcomings bother you. Yeah I'd have prefer it to be a single-player episodic series (so we can have all 8 classes) in order to solve the dumb pacing issues and absurd amount of production money but what is here is a very entertaining but flawed MMORPG that provides a new take on the genre in term of narrative. Since it's also free, definitely check it out if you're either a fan of Star Wars or a fan of Bioware story-telling.

p.s. Also I should point out that this is my first review and I rarely play MMORPG so avid fans of the genre should take note of that.… 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

AlienSpaceBats

Feb 16, 2013

5

It's Star Wars meets World of Warcraft! Players will no doubt get more out of this game if they are 1. insane for Star Wars or 2. love MMORPGs. If that's your cup of tea, jump right in. The Old Republic has done little to convince me to stick around, however. It's not badly made, it's just bland, and throughout I wondered why time was wasted making it an MMO when an excellent single playerIt's Star Wars meets World of Warcraft! Players will no doubt get more out of this game if they are 1. insane for Star Wars or 2. love MMORPGs. If that's your cup of tea, jump right in. The Old Republic has done little to convince me to stick around, however. It's not badly made, it's just bland, and throughout I wondered why time was wasted making it an MMO when an excellent single player game could have been made. I am impressed that the player character is fully voiced (Jo Wyatt, Jennifer Hale, Grey DeLisle) and there is a conversation tree similar to the one used in BioWare's Mass Effect and Dragon Age II but the majority of game time plays out as tedious fetch quests and lengthy, unnecessary and boring point-and-click combat.… Expand

Scornholio

Feb 13, 2013

9

A high quality MMO with an immersive storyline. The companions is revolutionary and each class having its own unique story is really darn cool!! The end game has me a little bored which is why this did not het a 9 or 10, but the journey there is absolutely incredible. Whether you are a Star Wars fan or not, this is a great game.

Capo_Marmaglia

Feb 9, 2013

10

Beh Star Wars The Old Republic veramente un bel gioco. Ma può anche essere bruttissimo, se lo si gioca in stile WoW o normale MMO... bisogna ascoltare, bisogna saper seguire la storia, straordinaria anche nelle quest secondarie. Bisogna intuire tutto l'immenso lavoro che BioWare ha fatto. Non un gioco perfetto anzi, ha tante pecche... ma siamo già alla versione 1.7, esiste conBeh Star Wars The Old Republic veramente un bel gioco. Ma può anche essere bruttissimo, se lo si gioca in stile WoW o normale MMO... bisogna ascoltare, bisogna saper seguire la storia, straordinaria anche nelle quest secondarie. Bisogna intuire tutto l'immenso lavoro che BioWare ha fatto. Non un gioco perfetto anzi, ha tante pecche... ma siamo già alla versione 1.7, esiste con possibilità Free to play e per di più esce già un'espansione (Rise of The Hutt cartell) questa primavera. Non ci vuole uno psicologo sociale per capire che chi dà giudizi negativi lo fa perchè attaccato ad altri giochi, ed ha paura che la fama di swtor possa in qualche modo intaccarli (impossibile, cmq, perchè swtor ha un pubblico molto più limitato del mondo fantasy, ed un bene così): 865 voti negativi (i fan di altri giochi) 1000 e passa i positivi (i fan di swtor) e solo 230 quelli medi (che lo hanno provato, e onestamente dicono la loro opinione). Da provare. Poi può non piacere, ma assolutamente un bel gioco, fatto da persone capaci a cui bisogna rendere onore! … Expand

Pureray

Feb 8, 2013

10

This game is Fun, Massive, and addicting once you get into your story. I'm not enjoying the free to play restrictions that they have since I used to be a paid subscriber. I'm still rating this as a 10 because of all the fun I had during that time, and the quality is wonderful like actually being part of the star wars galexy. Also Their are no quest boxes which is annoying and never readThis game is Fun, Massive, and addicting once you get into your story. I'm not enjoying the free to play restrictions that they have since I used to be a paid subscriber. I'm still rating this as a 10 because of all the fun I had during that time, and the quality is wonderful like actually being part of the star wars galexy. Also Their are no quest boxes which is annoying and never read they actually communicate with you with your own response and decision to make a good or bad choices which makes this game a must get now that its free.… Expand

AnEwOkSeXsLaVe

Feb 4, 2013

1

'Star Wars mask' to SELL TRASH. NO GOOD, GUYS. Talking about a WoW clone? Dude, they took the WORST aspects of WoW and cloned them. lol The retarded juiciness of the WoW art/story style at least made that game enjoyable. Let me tell you something, a basic quest chain in WoW had more story then this entire game. ALL OF MY BUDDIES and I played this game, every class. Empire are the'Star Wars mask' to SELL TRASH. NO GOOD, GUYS. Talking about a WoW clone? Dude, they took the WORST aspects of WoW and cloned them. lol The retarded juiciness of the WoW art/story style at least made that game enjoyable. Let me tell you something, a basic quest chain in WoW had more story then this entire game. ALL OF MY BUDDIES and I played this game, every class. Empire are the only enjoyable storylines (as far as the enjoyment goes...). Republic is BLAND. It is serious trash. It is BORING. 2 of 3 of us played Republic preferrably... could not stand any of the storylines. Consulars are notoriously craptastic and just painful to sit through. Nothing happens in that story. The game just follows the same pattern all the way through... generic and unoriginal. #1: IT'S NOT KOTOR PEOPLE. If you played Knights Of The Old Republic you most likely loved the sh@# out of it. Knights 2, sadly was rushed in development by corporate greed and had content chopped out and rushed to market (which explains a lot) they cut an entire planet for godsake. But still... decent and good game. This is nothing like those 2, at all. It is a sh#$ WoW clone, yet not fun. WoW was somewhat fun, this isn't fun at all. The dialogue/options and effects do not exist. 3 options all same result. No dynamics no change no effects. 0, I've played to 50, me and friends have palyed different classes. We've been subscribers. COMBAT IS TERRIBLE. Bland and so unimaginitive. You WILL BE BORED. Hit buttons for few more points of damage. Slowing skill. Ranged skill. The End. Tons of skills doing the same sh#&. No combos. You will see vendors everywhere, tons of gear, but that doesn't make a game. Who cares. Item customization? Modification? KOTOR2 had it for real. This game does not, it's yet again, a mask of something bland and terrible. Nuff said. Worst part of game: REPUBLIC AND EMPIRE ARE THE SAME THING. They mirror each other in classes and skils and skill-trees. SAME stuff, different names. The names and icons ar ethe difference. Period. The mark of horribleness. SPACE COMBAT? Rail shooter. You don't fly freely. Missions repeated. Shoot things poping in on screen. Character CUSTOM? Everythings human: Chiss: Blue Human Miraluka: Green Human Cyborg: Human with 1 additional custom option, (metalic crap on face). TwiLek: (almost exclusively Republic unless unlocked, only closest thing to an alien). Rhatataki: White Human etc. etc. No wookiees, no rodians, no trandoshans. Nothing. Companions, 1 at a time only. Trade professions, done almost all exclusively for credit-cost and by companions in backround of game. Same with crafting. 5 possible companions on each tpy eof class you pick (total): most all classes you pick, between 4 and 5 companions (all) are boring as hell. Flat personalities and wooden. Aliens add difference and can be fun, but almost none have personalities anyway. Vette was fun on my Sith Warrior. That was IT. Out of the other 15-20 companions on other classes I experienced, they're boring. You get a buncha dudes or you get what looks like underaged girls with poor voice acting (who all sound identical....) for romance options. Generic. Everyhting is mirrored in this game. COMPANION QUESTS? Terrible... mostly brief talking chains. My system is a few years dated... but still runs intense games well. This game... the WORST game for running on a system. Even with LOWEST GRAPHICS POSSIBLE this game lagged and glitched like Hell. Every time I naturally exit this game I get Windows Error Reports. Other times, my computer will hang on the desktop for literally 10 minutes.... NOT OTHER GAME DOES THESE THINGS. It's intoleralbe. My buddy has a max-performance system for gaming.... he gets stuttering all the same regardless. As most wil tell you too, with GRAPHICS, Highest and Lowest almost don't matter. My comp runs Highest settings amost exactly the same as the lowest.... program issues. Frankly the grpahics and LOOK of the game is awful and dated. The 'doo-dadds' to put in the world, like misc. objects like consols and trees... etc... few exist. You see Computer Consols stuck everywhere and htere's only 3 different types. There's computer consols on bridges for godsake... it's just a bunch of designer flunkees out of college rushing thorugh on a timeline with no care for quality. Push Product make reslease-date, charge-for or patch rest. 1 year passes, nothing changes either. Cartel Market. Real money/points store... there's not even anything in it. Different colors of same objects you get in-game. Or just junk like unlockable storage spaces.... you can unlock a playable Race for both sides for any class (yes, even if you subscribe, you are restricted as to the races to classes that you can play still). And that CARTAL DOLLAR SIGN IS RAMMED DOWN YOUR F#$#%NG THROAT. It's all over your windows and HUD.… Expand

dkao12

Feb 1, 2013

4

I waited till I turned lvl 50 on one of my characters before I reviewed this game. My honest thoughts are that this game was nothing but disappointing experience. as a MMORPG game, it's not bad but it's like any other generic MMORPG. As a Star Wars game, it was a huge disappointment to me and for a fantastic franchise such as Star wars you expected a lot. Bioware and EA failed to live upI waited till I turned lvl 50 on one of my characters before I reviewed this game. My honest thoughts are that this game was nothing but disappointing experience. as a MMORPG game, it's not bad but it's like any other generic MMORPG. As a Star Wars game, it was a huge disappointment to me and for a fantastic franchise such as Star wars you expected a lot. Bioware and EA failed to live up to our expectations. The cinematic CG trailers and the fully voiced characters were only the best parts of this whole game.
- The gameplay was stale and uncreative; it does nothing to new to the MMORPG genre. There is not a single dynamic quest or instance (where is the Duel of Fates-inspired jedi battles or anything that doesn't have you kill this guy then go to the next objective and kill the next guy), it felt tedious like a chore. The space battles was a huge let down; just an on-rails shooter. Sadly, it was one of the only moments where it felt like Star Wars. 3/10 (Though I scored it low on this because the gameplay was terrible and unplayable, but as a Star Wars game it could have been a lot better)
- The graphics on high definition looks okay but it could have been a lot better, espicially coming from Bioware. Character models look very ugly and literally everyone looked the same, if you compare to games such as Star Wars kinect (I know that game is awful but the graphics were better than this game). 4/10
- The story was fairly interesting because it is separated into three chapters and each chapter has a different goal to reach. Characters and NPCs are fully voiced by many recognizable voice actors which I enjoyed a lot. The only real reward I got from each class quest was to see the story progress. Most companions were funny and interesting, and each of them had unique personalities for you to explore (even romance). 6/10
- The music was great and fantasitc. What do you expect from Star Wars, it's awesome! 8/10
- The lasting appeal I got from this game wasn't very good. Badly placed checkpoints, lots of bugs and glitches, barely a "free-to-play" game (ex. I had to pay either real money or game credits to HIDE MY HELMET), small server spaces, stuff in the cartel are too expensive, had to be lvl 15 to RUN!? (unless you're a subscriber...) and have to pay for an expansion. 1/10 Overall, I thought this game was extremely disappointing and the only reason I had to kept playing this was to meet my subscription fee's value. If you like the old MMORPG style gameplay and love the Star Wars franchise, I say at least give this game a go. AND I CAN'T BELIEVE THE HORRIBLE CLOSURE I GOT FOR ONE OF MY FAVOURITE STAR WARS CHARACTER OF ALL-TIME (I'm sure a lot of people know who I'm talking about here).… Expand

Aatirah

Jan 31, 2013

10

I had my good experienced in this game. I usually dont MMO but firstly when i saw SWTOR promo in year 2010, it was like 'Awesome' i will play this game... and i dont have any regrets because its an amazing game.

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

Socratease

Jan 23, 2013

0

My hatred of TOR does not stem from the fact that it was a bad WOW clone, or even that it was so repetative and boring.

No, my hatred of TOR stems from the fact that bioware turned KOTOR, perhaps the most classic star wars series ever, into A **** MMO!! Instead of just giving us KOTOR3 like they SHOULD have, bioware instead opted for the crowd that would give them the most money.My hatred of TOR does not stem from the fact that it was a bad WOW clone, or even that it was so repetative and boring.

No, my hatred of TOR stems from the fact that bioware turned KOTOR, perhaps the most classic star wars series ever, into A **** MMO!!

Instead of just giving us KOTOR3 like they SHOULD have, bioware instead opted for the crowd that would give them the most money.

Bioware has no artistic integrity left. They sacrificed it on the alter of greed.

Expect more TORs and ME3s from now on.

The days of Baldurs gate, KOTOR1, and Dragon age: origins are over.… Expand

BalicanBreeze

Jan 20, 2013

7

The game was pretty fun when it was first released, albeit a bit too similar to wow in how combat worked. The space combat was really disappointed, and dwarfed by SWG that's a lot older. The questing is fun on your first chars, but having to redo the same quests on alts is very boring. They dropped the ball on this game, it could have been awesome. I still recommend playing it onceThe game was pretty fun when it was first released, albeit a bit too similar to wow in how combat worked. The space combat was really disappointed, and dwarfed by SWG that's a lot older. The questing is fun on your first chars, but having to redo the same quests on alts is very boring. They dropped the ball on this game, it could have been awesome. I still recommend playing it once since it's gone free to play.… Expand

Aristides1337

Jan 11, 2013

10

Although the game did start off slow and many people left, after the key issues were addressed, this is probably the best MMO that I have played. So many different things to do and so much customization. This is truly a great game.

ookami

Jan 11, 2013

2

I was motivated to try it after it went F2P. After experiencing how heavy handed (and ridiculous) they are with what you can do as a F2P player I subscribed for a month. Playing a Sith Marauder I found the storyline quite enjoyable.. I admit it was hard for me at first because I played SWG Online on release and I kept comparing, I know they are different games but its still the same IP toI was motivated to try it after it went F2P. After experiencing how heavy handed (and ridiculous) they are with what you can do as a F2P player I subscribed for a month. Playing a Sith Marauder I found the storyline quite enjoyable.. I admit it was hard for me at first because I played SWG Online on release and I kept comparing, I know they are different games but its still the same IP to me. Anyway, while it took some time - I warmed up to SWTOR. The plus side is the storyline which is quite enjoyable, and if you focus on that, it is worthwhile. Regretfully in the end I must say that the storyline is the only thing I enjoyed.

I suppose I should say I did not engage in PVP... I never do, in any MMO I've involved myself in, I generally avoid PVP whether SWG, WoW, EVE, LOTR, etc. Anyway, back to my cons on SWTOR. The space missions are entirely guided, you cannot really control your ship, and you'll find the map has only about 3 varieties, it got boring quickly. The environments are just boring and uninspired I really couldn't care what planet I was on. In most MMO's I can pick an area or world that I enjoyed. WoW - I loved Darkshore and Stranglethorn Vale (Before Cataclysm which I hated), SWG - Corellia... You get the drift..

One thing that really killed it for me was it did not allow me to play a middle ground Sith. At ALL times I was REQUIRED to play light or dark. Even some of my choices, while I thought were just good strategic choices, were considered evil, or good... seemed to me to be a massive hole in the storyline process, despite certain... revelations in the game that I won't mention . They further press this point in your equipment as certain items and relics can only be equipped if you are one side or the other... this was not how I wished to play my char, and yet was forced to do so I could equip certain items.

Other issues I had were minor but significant to me, like not being able to create my own waypoints on the map... Bioware's classic conversation selection was a killer for me too where your char does not say what you actually wish them to. I really mean this, you select the option for your char to say, "That doesn't work for me." and your char says, "You have failed me for the last time!" . I'm thinking... "waht?" Misspell on purpose.

After my month ran out I chose to transition back to F2P. I chose to do this because there were other games I wanted to play though I had intended to at some point come back and try other storylines, happily thinking I would again subscribe. By this time I was maybe level 47, had not finished the storyline yet. To my surprise the heavy handed status returned. Although I was considered "preferred status" I could no longer have a title, all my rested XP that I had saved up was removed, my Piloting lvl 3 skill was downgraded to level 2 (after putting down a lot of credits for an extra 10% speed oooooh... ) some other skills that I obtained and spent a lot of credits on were removed or downgraded. My purple items I had obtained... nope, you don't benefit from those enhancements anymore. Heck, I couldn't hide my helmet any longer. This was so over the top for me that I just detached from it, I uninstalled the game, and will never touch it again. Bottomline is if you are willing to suffer and persevere through the nonsense of F2P then you can enjoy the storyline. For me I won't come back because beyond the storyline its just uninspiring and the heavy handedness of their F2P/Subscription system is over the top.. This game could have been so much better. If I could, I would give the storyline a 10... but everything else a 0, so I've compromised and given a score of 2. It is storyline, and nothing more.… Expand

critterman

Jan 8, 2013

9

I haven't reached the level cap yet, but so far this game IS living up to the hype. I actually find myself listening to the person/droid giving me a quest, (or mission if you want to be pedantic about it). The cut scenes are welcomed and the story line for the two types of characters I'm playing are entertaining. The very small gripes I have about the game are minuscule compared to theI haven't reached the level cap yet, but so far this game IS living up to the hype. I actually find myself listening to the person/droid giving me a quest, (or mission if you want to be pedantic about it). The cut scenes are welcomed and the story line for the two types of characters I'm playing are entertaining. The very small gripes I have about the game are minuscule compared to the overall value of the now "free to play", experience. I'll admit that some of the character models are a wonky and somewhat cartoonish, but that sensation is easily forgotten as one becomes further immersed in the story line and game play. I would also like to see Bioware/EA open up the source for add-ons, but this is far from a deal breaker. If you have the hard drive space and the patience for the very large download, it is well worth your time and energy.… Expand

CaptainChaos

Dec 29, 2012

10

I have about 40 hours into this game and so far, I would say it's a 10. I dk the reason so many people disliked it, other than all I can say is that I have been an avid PC gamer my whole life, but shied away from MMOs, except Anarchy Online which I never could really get into. They just weren't my thing. However, this combination of story driven/MMO really bridged the gap for me. I canI have about 40 hours into this game and so far, I would say it's a 10. I dk the reason so many people disliked it, other than all I can say is that I have been an avid PC gamer my whole life, but shied away from MMOs, except Anarchy Online which I never could really get into. They just weren't my thing. However, this combination of story driven/MMO really bridged the gap for me. I can play alone or with others at any time, it's great. The graphics are retro but clean crisp, the stories are really fun, and the Star Wars atmospheres are just amazing, both in creativity and in breadth (politically as well as environmentally). And it's free, so if you're not sure, try it out. If you like it, try buying a few Cartel Coins to get a couple of unlocks and you will become a Preferred Player which is better anyway and not that expensive.… Expand

calxllum

Dec 26, 2012

0

Personally I haven't been able to play the game, why? Because of the security system. So far I have attempted at around 9 different accounts with different emails. I have had so much trouble because their system is stupid, and once I didn't even get the code I need. I have a text file on my desktop with the security questions and answers. Game looks good, probably is OK if you can getPersonally I haven't been able to play the game, why? Because of the security system. So far I have attempted at around 9 different accounts with different emails. I have had so much trouble because their system is stupid, and once I didn't even get the code I need. I have a text file on my desktop with the security questions and answers. Game looks good, probably is OK if you can get around the silly system. Oh, and I forgot I also have to put a capital letter in my password. Lately I have tried again but the website has decided my display name isn't allowed to be correct no matter what I do.
0 out of 10, probably will go to a 4-6 if they change the stupid security.… Expand

Minsc

Dec 19, 2012

2

Ohh what a let down. I was so happy when I first heard about SWTOR, I got a deluxe edition bought the game guide and took a few days off work, thinking it was going to be great. Ive played a few MMOs in my time, but I didn't even make it to level 20 before I was soooo bored, I just gave up. Combat is a simple sequence of keys, and nothing more. Once you know your skills, it ends up justOhh what a let down. I was so happy when I first heard about SWTOR, I got a deluxe edition bought the game guide and took a few days off work, thinking it was going to be great. Ive played a few MMOs in my time, but I didn't even make it to level 20 before I was soooo bored, I just gave up. Combat is a simple sequence of keys, and nothing more. Once you know your skills, it ends up just being press 1 + 3 + 4 + 2, and move on. So dull. There is no innovation in this game. Its just a rip off of all the basic MMOs, but with Star Wars stuff in it. Space combat is simple and also boring. Now that its free up to level 20, check it out and you will probably get bored before you have to pay anyway.… Expand

reg345

Dec 19, 2012

10

The voice acting is marvelous and like nothing ever done in MMOs before, It's the type of thing that's bound to influence the genre (and it has). Great game! I think at its current state it has soooo much potential but it's up to EA/Bioware to make it happen. It's a very game as is and I think it can get way better. Truly one of the better MMOs in recent times.

Zackis

Dec 19, 2012

7

F2P review. much more polished than the original release. Pro: More people on the world to interact with, new content seems consistent,PvP keeps getting added war zones, fully customizable gear and clothes. Con: after the end of you story line it becomes a gear grind, not a ton of end game content. Still worth a look as it is free.

AlphaLlama

Dec 17, 2012

8

Where do i start with SWTOR ? to start with i wont lie this game upon release was very very buggy. There is also no doubt in my mind at least that it seems like the developers released this game way too early to meet a unrealistic marketing schedule. But after playing this game for a while now and seeing the game overcome the initial bugs and unbalanced issues i will say the game is now aWhere do i start with SWTOR ? to start with i wont lie this game upon release was very very buggy. There is also no doubt in my mind at least that it seems like the developers released this game way too early to meet a unrealistic marketing schedule. But after playing this game for a while now and seeing the game overcome the initial bugs and unbalanced issues i will say the game is now a lot more highly polished and worthy of most gamers time. If you are a star wars fan this game is now a no brainer, the cost of the game is low and is either free to play of a very low monthly sub to enjoy a game with a few more shinies than the free to play players. I can honestly say ive wasted a lot more money on games not half as good as this game so give it a whirl. If you are a new player you are coming to the game at just the right time.… Expand

lostsideproject

Dec 15, 2012

3

This game is buggy. Free to play players cannot submit a help ticket. This is a strategy to get subscribers. They let you play until issues inevitably arise, then, the only way to get help is to pay up. Bingo. Another subscriber. When my game kicks me out to windows at the last part of a group instance and I cannot do any other quests because of the order of things being locled up, itThis game is buggy. Free to play players cannot submit a help ticket. This is a strategy to get subscribers. They let you play until issues inevitably arise, then, the only way to get help is to pay up. Bingo. Another subscriber. When my game kicks me out to windows at the last part of a group instance and I cannot do any other quests because of the order of things being locled up, it makes the game unplayable. Get the bottom-line board room execs out of my gaming experience. They are most certainly the main characters in "The Old Republic".… Expand

kane148

Dec 13, 2012

7

I went into this game with very high expectations but was significantly let down. It's not a bad game, and in fact I would call it a good game, but it has some serious issues which bring it down a lot. There were numerous features lacking or underdeveloped such as auction sorting, group matching, and chat options. These oversights are inexcusable in my opinion, because they have long beenI went into this game with very high expectations but was significantly let down. It's not a bad game, and in fact I would call it a good game, but it has some serious issues which bring it down a lot. There were numerous features lacking or underdeveloped such as auction sorting, group matching, and chat options. These oversights are inexcusable in my opinion, because they have long been implemented in other MMOs, especially WoW, and since SW:TOR seems to copy so much else from that game, they should have done a little more stealing and at least had a decent auction house and chat system. On top of that, the character creation is pretty lousy with very few customization options for an MMO--especially if you don't want your character to look silly. I did however like that the racial bonuses are pretty much just cosmetic, so you don't have to choose between the race with the best stats and the one you want to play for aesthetic or role-play reasons. Where the game really shines is in its fully-voiced quest dialogue and relatively-strong storylines, which do a decent job of making your actions seem significant. However this becomes time-consuming after awhile--especially when you are re-running instances or playing a second character--and I felt that, in the end, Bioware had not done such a good job of blending their signature singleplayer RPG dialogue/story with the demands of an MMO. I played for a couple months and then quit, having already leveled 2 characters and gotten bored. Hopefully it has improved a lot since then, but even as a big Star Wars and Bioware fan, I don't miss it enough to give it a second try.… Expand

Nala

Dec 13, 2012

10

Star Wars the Old Republic, is the first MMORPG in a long time to hold my attention for more than a few months. The game's story is engrossing and fun. Yes, it takes many of its mechanics from World of Warcraft, but it's a worth game in its own right. The game gets a bad rap for not meeting every player's dreams for the game, but it is only a game. It can't fulfill every person'sStar Wars the Old Republic, is the first MMORPG in a long time to hold my attention for more than a few months. The game's story is engrossing and fun. Yes, it takes many of its mechanics from World of Warcraft, but it's a worth game in its own right. The game gets a bad rap for not meeting every player's dreams for the game, but it is only a game. It can't fulfill every person's needs. It's a good game and I recommend anyone try it, especially now that it is Free to play.… Expand

ubergeekzilla

Dec 11, 2012

10

THiS GAME IS AWESOME BECAUSE ITS NOT THAT **** ASS **** OF A GAME GUILD WARS 2!!!! THE OLD REPUBLIC IS DA BESTZZ GAMETS VERZ!!! EVERY OTHER MMO SUCKS BECAUSE ITS NOT THE OLD REPUBLIC

DarthPreamp

Dec 10, 2012

5

Bottom line - I played this game for several months; the story/s and voice acting are the best in the business. But this/these great Star Wars stories are eclipsed by Bioware's and EA's money making scheme almost entirely. Story = 10; EA's money grab that is imposed on the ENTIRE design of the game = 0. Score = 5

Hendrixius

Dec 6, 2012

0

The sad death of my respect for BioWare as a company is now complete. They have committed the most fatal blow to an RPG I can imagine by destroying the role-playing aspect of the game for a large part of the existing community.

I was an original subscriber to SW:TOR at launch - my characters have the "Founder" title - and I was on an original server called Fa'athra. I moved across theThe sad death of my respect for BioWare as a company is now complete. They have committed the most fatal blow to an RPG I can imagine by destroying the role-playing aspect of the game for a large part of the existing community.

I was an original subscriber to SW:TOR at launch - my characters have the "Founder" title - and I was on an original server called Fa'athra. I moved across the country this summer and cancelled my sub while I resettled financially. Last week I decided to get back to playing my Sith and discovered (thankfully, due to the F2P model, without paying for a month's game time) that Bioware MOVED ALL OF MY CHARACTERS TO A NEW HIGH POPULATION SERVER WITHOUT MY CONSENT AND THEREFORE CAUSED ME TO LOSE ALL OF THE NAMES THAT I WORKED SO HARD TO GET BY BEING A DAY ONE SUPPORTER.

So, there it is. The game was pretty fun for a while - had interesting combat, the best gathering/crafting system I have seen to date (your crew does it for you), had pretty good scaled PVP battles and decent graphics despite what people say - but this is just unforgivable.

The heart of an RPG is the role-playing - many of us have built characters and become quite attached to names over the years in various MMOs and offline RPGs - and to take your base community (the people who got you off the ground to start with) and slap them in the face like this is entirely unforgivable.

I will NEVER play this game again and i will have to think long and hard about whether or not to ever play a BioWare or LA title - especially online - ever again.

My the farce be with you...always.… Expand

Rugi

Dec 4, 2012

7

Ok, it's been a year since release and the free to play patch is out. Time for a new review! Let my start by saying that this is NOT KOTOR. The writing is better than your standard MMO, but they are a little below the quality of our favorite Star Wars RPG franchise. The stories for each class are very entertaining in their own right. Don't listen when people tell you that the Agent is theOk, it's been a year since release and the free to play patch is out. Time for a new review! Let my start by saying that this is NOT KOTOR. The writing is better than your standard MMO, but they are a little below the quality of our favorite Star Wars RPG franchise. The stories for each class are very entertaining in their own right. Don't listen when people tell you that the Agent is the best story in the game or that the Consular story is a snoozefest. It's all opinion and different people will enjoy different things. Now on to gameplay. You're probably going to what a mid range machine to get enjoyment out of this game. I run 8GB of DDR2 RAM with a dual core CPU and a GTX 620 graphics card. A tad dated but I can run most settings on high. Except for shadows. I turn shadows off on every MMO I play simply because it is such a huge drain on processes and disabling them gives a massive performance boost. The enviroments which you will be running around in are very detailed and fun to look at. Except Tattoine. That place is mostly sand, so not much going on there. ToR goes for a more realistic look compared to MMO's such as WoW which are more cartoony. Persoanlly I prefer the realistic style, but your mileage may vary. Speeder training has been brought down to level 15 and makes running around between misssions so much faster. This was a complaint brought up by players as it used to be level 25, 10 levels after you get your starship. Doesn't make much sense, huh? Well, BioWare listened! There is also the Legacy system now. Through this system you can purchase character specific perks such as XP boosts as well as unlock things for all of your characters account wide. For the roleplayers you can also assemble your various characters that you have made into a family tree within your legacy. Now your Sith Warrior can have that Jedi son he's always wanted! There are also bind to legacy items now, so once you get a character to 50 you can gear out your next ones so that they fly through the beginning content. End game there is PvP, daily missions, and Operations (better known as Raids to the WoW crowd) so you will always have something to do once you reach the level cap. All in all the game is solid, but not perfect. If you want an MMO with voice acting, great story, and solid gameplay then give The Old Republic a shot!… Expand

Amberes

Nov 26, 2012

10

Forget all the people who are saying that they played it for 3 months during which they hated it.

You dont play a game for months unless it's addictive, fun and well thought out.

Just try it yourself, (spend 5 bucks to become 'premium') and enjoy the ride.

PCforever

Nov 25, 2012

3

I came across a post which pretty much sums up accurately what is wrong with this game that I couldn't put my finger on:

- No being able to assist through the tank, like every other GOOD mmo out there allows you to do - No being able to heal through the mob, like every other GOOD mmo out there allows you to do - Full groups are forbidden to enjoy one of the most endearing aspects ofI came across a post which pretty much sums up accurately what is wrong with this game that I couldn't put my finger on:

- No being able to assist through the tank, like every other GOOD mmo out there allows you to do - No being able to heal through the mob, like every other GOOD mmo out there allows you to do - Full groups are forbidden to enjoy one of the most endearing aspects of the game; your companions. That's right, play with your friends and we get punished by having our companions banished. - Not being able to take companions on Operations. If I want to fill my raid slots with gimped DPS and healing AI over real humans, that should be MY choice. - Groupmates being forbidden to watch certain class quest cutscenes. I am standing RIGHT next to my Mercenary friend, why can't I see the cutscene of him having a conversation with the other NPC standing right in front of me? Oh no, you have to stand there tapping your foot, not being able to enjoy your friends class quest cutscenes. What amateur did you hire off the street to design this illogical, immersion killing nonsene of being forbidden to see many of your friends class quest cutscenes WHEN I AM STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO THEM? ADD AN OPTION TO SOCIAL "Watch Class Quest Cutscenes instead of standing around being bored waiting for your friend." How's that for a SMART idea? The single player/story part of this game is amazing. The MMO/Grouping dynamics were designed to make you hate grouping and go solo. Don't care and won't be reading what other players think, this is my feedback to Bioware and hopefully they'll hire COMPETENT devs to fix these problems.… Expand

Lako

Nov 25, 2012

9

This is a great game. I've been playing since the beginning and I'm still a subscriber. This game is for people who like to play games like World of Warcraft or Everquest 2 and are also fans of Star Wars or like the general theme of Star Wars. Most of the bad reviews come from either "Knights of the Old Republic" or "Star Wars Galaxies" fans. I understand perfectly why they don't like "TheThis is a great game. I've been playing since the beginning and I'm still a subscriber. This game is for people who like to play games like World of Warcraft or Everquest 2 and are also fans of Star Wars or like the general theme of Star Wars. Most of the bad reviews come from either "Knights of the Old Republic" or "Star Wars Galaxies" fans. I understand perfectly why they don't like "The Old Republic", it's not the same game as either of those two games. So my question is, why are they reviewing this game? I don't enjoy Star Wars movies. They don't interest me. Because of that, I don't think I have a valid opinion and don't review Star Wars movies. The bad reviews of this game come from people telling how it's not like KOTOR or SWG. Which was never the point. It's an MMORPG that takes place in the same timeline as KOTOR. And if they think remaking SWG was the way to go, they're wrong. SWG never saw anywhere near 1000000 subs and barely sold 1000000 copies. The Old Republic had a rough start, but sold 2 million copies in the first couple months. They started off with way too many servers, which alienated users. There was no good system to find people to group up for flash points. You couldn't edit the UI. They've fixed a lot of those problems. There are less servers and they are packed. They now have a random flashpoint/operation/group quest queue system. The UI can be completely customized, although there is no addons/mods for it. This game is a lot like WoW, as far as game play. The way the stories in the game are told are completely different. I think SWToR does a much better job. The story is probably SWToR's best feature. It makes leveling up not such a grind. One thing that bothers me is both fleets republic/sith look exactly the same. I don't care if the lore states they had the same contractors, that's just plain cheap. In most cases I would recommend reading a negative reviews to get a better picture of how a game is. This is not the case with this game. The people who give this game a bad review either want a completely different game or have never played an MMORPG.… Expand

TheVindelator

Nov 25, 2012

9

It's WoW with Jedi's. Does that sound like something you'll enjoy? For me it is. I had my doubts about this game from the beginning, but the more I play it the more I like it. Also, F2P is a nice feature. Sure they nickel and dime you for little things but you actually do it a lot for a little money. (Better than Everquest 2, Lotro and many others.)

Ordish

Nov 23, 2012

7

Just because it is Star Wars the game starts with a score of 5 instead of zero. There is a lot to like about Star Wars: The Old Republic, and there is a lot that could have been done better. The Good:
The graphics are good and mesh very well with the whole Star Wars universe. The sound effects are excellent also keeping in line with the Star Wars universe. The greatest strength of thisJust because it is Star Wars the game starts with a score of 5 instead of zero. There is a lot to like about Star Wars: The Old Republic, and there is a lot that could have been done better. The Good:
The graphics are good and mesh very well with the whole Star Wars universe. The sound effects are excellent also keeping in line with the Star Wars universe. The greatest strength of this title is the story line, which is both compelling and action packed. The story makes good use of decisions affecting your character build. The Bad: After more than a decade of MMO's that use the age old, and tired, grind fest for leveling, this game will leave you feeling less than original. The story line is good but not even a fresh coat of paint will cover up a bad base coat. The game play is typical of most MMO's of the last decade. Get quest, kill x number of bad things, return to quest giver for reward. Rinse, repeat. Overall, you can't beat the price (free) and if you are a Star Wars fan you will likely enjoy many parts of the game. Just not for very long.… Expand

tentimes

Nov 20, 2012

2

Soul-less, poor graphics, cookie-cutter 'levels' as opposed to worlds, clunky, sould destroying and awful. I played for 3 months and it basically put me out of the MMO market, and I've been playing MMO's for 13 years. This totally finished it off for me.

I don't know what they were thinking. It's like Mass Effect in Space. It is more a multiplayer game than an MMO, with littleSoul-less, poor graphics, cookie-cutter 'levels' as opposed to worlds, clunky, sould destroying and awful. I played for 3 months and it basically put me out of the MMO market, and I've been playing MMO's for 13 years. This totally finished it off for me.

I don't know what they were thinking. It's like Mass Effect in Space. It is more a multiplayer game than an MMO, with little interaction and broken social cohesion. Even when it goes FTP this month I still won't play it. The graphics are like KOTOR, well slightly worse.

Oh, but it has good voice acting (which you will skip through out of boredome eventually.).

Totally ruined my faith in the whole market. I'm going to take up golf or maybe open a sandwich store or something - I'm done with MMO's after this cynical $200M train wreck.… Expand

Serwar

Nov 18, 2012

0

Awful F2P mode. Before F2P, the performance of the game was bad, but you still could play and enjoy it somehow. Now, they only try to cash you for money ... even for running or showing titles you must pay with real money! Even some interesting and different mechanics like the crafting system, now is worthless and useless if you are a free player. You are basically "filling the space" soAwful F2P mode. Before F2P, the performance of the game was bad, but you still could play and enjoy it somehow. Now, they only try to cash you for money ... even for running or showing titles you must pay with real money! Even some interesting and different mechanics like the crafting system, now is worthless and useless if you are a free player. You are basically "filling the space" so paying customers can feel that their game is full of people. And today I found something funny. If after completing a mission you close the rewards window with the "X" in the top right corner ... you lose the experience, the money and the item from the reward! WTF!?… Expand

kuehnau

Nov 18, 2012

3

Please keep in mind, I am reviewing this game after the "free 2 play" model has been implemented. As a free to play user you will constantly be punished for your status. The game is severely limited to what free users can do in game. Experience rates are jacked up, vendor costs are higher, drop rates are lower, you cannot use cargo holding (banking), join groups, start guilds, trade withPlease keep in mind, I am reviewing this game after the "free 2 play" model has been implemented. As a free to play user you will constantly be punished for your status. The game is severely limited to what free users can do in game. Experience rates are jacked up, vendor costs are higher, drop rates are lower, you cannot use cargo holding (banking), join groups, start guilds, trade with players, mail players and much much more. As a free to play user, there are much bigger, better, well managed free to play MMORPGs you can find. Don't waste your time on this.… Expand

Tata

Nov 18, 2012

2

Whenever I played this game (which wasn't much time) I thought "Where did all the money go when they made this game?". If you're planing on trying this game out, try to memorize your first hours as well as possible. The game feels fantastic at the start, but it goes drastically quickly downhill. The starting area was a blast (For the Imperial Agent, atleast), but once you get to the secondWhenever I played this game (which wasn't much time) I thought "Where did all the money go when they made this game?". If you're planing on trying this game out, try to memorize your first hours as well as possible. The game feels fantastic at the start, but it goes drastically quickly downhill. The starting area was a blast (For the Imperial Agent, atleast), but once you get to the second planet, it becomes repitive very fast. The only thing that kept me playing on the second planet was a quest line concerning the major character of the KOTOR games. If we're already at the setting; Despite being the most expensive game ever made, the world is as unchanging as possible. No matter what you do during your quest, they make little, but mostly no change to the world around you. The optimization is also bad. Despite not having great graphics, some place (Dormund Kaas wilderness, for example) stutter so much that you feel like you're playing Witcher 2 on Ultra graphics, but the graphics are still medium. The combat can be very unresponsive, both because of lag and bad coding. The dialogue the Mass Effect wheel choice system despite it not belonging in the Old Republic games completely. You can also exit dialogues anytime you want, which makes it feel like casualized "Ohh, I angered the character, let's push ESC and try another dialogue option.". It's obvious they made an "MMO" because of one reason: money. The multiplayer part is either bad or non-existent. And this is the point where we have to ask: Wouldn't have it been better if they made an RPG that would have worked and everyone anticipated instead of an MMO that turned out a financial disaster because the developers had no idea how to make an MMO? In fact, maybe a KOTOR3 wouldn't have worked, either. They completely raped the story of both KOTOR and KOTOR 2 and tried to make a contiunity to those despite the game being 300 years later after those games. About the Free to Play option. It's extremely restrictive, a lot more than, let's say, LOTRO. In fact, I could do more in the Free Trial version than I could in the Free to Play version (a monumental WTF, if you ask me.). The only exception is the fact that you can get to maximum level, but the repititveness makes work of it that you don't get there.… Expand

Jintoss

Nov 16, 2012

0

So I jumped on board after SWTOR went F2P, thinking that I only ever wanted to know the story and wasn't interested in WoW gameplay, so it should be great right? I might even buy a few things right? After a day, I can conclude that the game feels like a typical Korean f2p rpg. Que generic spells, grind, collect item quests, etc. etc. The story is not that interesting, mostly genericSo I jumped on board after SWTOR went F2P, thinking that I only ever wanted to know the story and wasn't interested in WoW gameplay, so it should be great right? I might even buy a few things right? After a day, I can conclude that the game feels like a typical Korean f2p rpg. Que generic spells, grind, collect item quests, etc. etc. The story is not that interesting, mostly generic rubbish. The voice acting is passable, but the characters are ALL forgettable. You end up skipping dialogue just to see what they want - unthinkable in other BioWare games. I couldn't care less about what happens to my level 8 trooper or whether the Imperials are involved in the Ord Mantell rebellion. You are constantly reminded of the little things you have to pay for, either subscription or one off (no difference in my mind - you basically pay). And these are the most petty small things, like having the right to display titles. Is it so much to ask to have 'Sergeant' in front of my name? Since you know.. I'm supposed to be an elite badass spec ops ninja, running around collecting meds for the refugees? Oh and you have to pay to sprint as well. Funniest **** I've ever heard.

Just by glancing at the forums, it seems they haven't yet polished the game for subscribers and they are already trying to export it F2P style to the cash cow masses. Seriously feels like StarWoW with a LucasArts skin and some token voice acting. A meager game that's been sacrificed to try and milk a little bit more money before the end of its run.… Expand

64BitGamer

Nov 15, 2012

8

Swtor is the only mmo-rpg that i ever got into. The story line for the different classes is what keeps me interested in the game. And all the fun operations. It took me allot of time before i got to lvl 50. I kinda sucked at the game before i got my rotation down. But i am addicted to the game now when i know what i am doing. And i never grow tiered of the interesting dialog in the game.Swtor is the only mmo-rpg that i ever got into. The story line for the different classes is what keeps me interested in the game. And all the fun operations. It took me allot of time before i got to lvl 50. I kinda sucked at the game before i got my rotation down. But i am addicted to the game now when i know what i am doing. And i never grow tiered of the interesting dialog in the game. And that is a major feature in the game in my opinion. Fully voiced dialog in a mmo. What madness is this. I love it and now i can't play any other mmo where you have to read the quest. Yeah i am a bit lazy that way. And i blame it all on this amazing game. Go get it. F2P is probably out by the time you read this. let's hope that the game don't get populated by twelve year old WOW veterans...… Expand

nightshark

Oct 25, 2012

0

The reason I gave this game a 0 is because I did not enjoy it in the slightest. It plays like WoW because it is WoW, with a different skin. But rather than improving on WoW (which I have never been too fond of), it fills the game with boring quest dialogues which are voice acted. Even worse: when you are grouped, you can not cancel these voice dialogues without possibly annoying your otherThe reason I gave this game a 0 is because I did not enjoy it in the slightest. It plays like WoW because it is WoW, with a different skin. But rather than improving on WoW (which I have never been too fond of), it fills the game with boring quest dialogues which are voice acted. Even worse: when you are grouped, you can not cancel these voice dialogues without possibly annoying your other group members. You have to sit and watch something you weren't interested in, in the first place. You feel a lot like you are just playing a minor part in watching a story, rather than being free to create your character for what it is. The story "choices" do not affect this feeling with me. It's just a pre-written story.

Repetition: This game has lots of it. No matter which kind of mob you are fighting, no matter which area you are in, you are essentially just hitting the same keys and watching a long boring fight. The area looks a little different, the mob looks a little different, but the gameplay is exactly the same. After around level 24, I couldn't stomach it anymore. My mind was made up: this game is awful.… Expand

The_Ommadawn

Oct 16, 2012

8

Much like Rift, this MMO has taken the best bits from the past 10 years, polished them up, and created a fantastic game. People have been marking it down because it doesn't bring much new to the table (and this is true), but worth a perfect score because it is perfect in the MMO genre. The voice acting alone make it stand head and shoulders above the rest of them. I'm loving this game ...Much like Rift, this MMO has taken the best bits from the past 10 years, polished them up, and created a fantastic game. People have been marking it down because it doesn't bring much new to the table (and this is true), but worth a perfect score because it is perfect in the MMO genre. The voice acting alone make it stand head and shoulders above the rest of them. I'm loving this game ... REALLY loving this game. ---------------------------------> UPDATE 13/05/2012 ... Sadly, this game is dying. I haven't played for over a month and didn't renew my sub. There is a lack of people playing which led to hours where I played alone. Group quests were skipped as there was nobody to quest with. As a game, Star Wars is very, very good and I stand by my initial score. It doesn't deserve the bad press but had some VERY tough competition with Tera and Guild Wars 2 on the horizon. Will I play it again? Yes if it becomes FTP. Sadly, I won't be re-subbing any time soon.… Expand

houjo2000

Oct 13, 2012

10

This game has easily the best levelling experience in any mmo I've ever played. Maybe, for people with 12 hours a day to play, they'll grow bored once they blast through. But, for someone with a job who plays one or two hours a day, I'm nowhere close to running out of content, and am never bored as the story I love in regular RPGs is in this game rather than constantly killing 12 boars forThis game has easily the best levelling experience in any mmo I've ever played. Maybe, for people with 12 hours a day to play, they'll grow bored once they blast through. But, for someone with a job who plays one or two hours a day, I'm nowhere close to running out of content, and am never bored as the story I love in regular RPGs is in this game rather than constantly killing 12 boars for some jerk I'll never meet again. Perhaps a bit linear- in fairness most RPGs are linear, and stories tend to be linear.

If you like having a huge world where you can just do anything (like kill 12 boars in a snowy place, or in a forest, or in the sea for some reason) you'll love GW2 instead which is free roaming mediocrity. I expected this game to be a mostly single player story with the option to multi play- and got exactly what I wanted.… Expand

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

hakblood

Oct 11, 2012

7

Fun game from 1-50 with interesting stories and voice acting, game is hindered by a terrible game engine / design and get boring very quickly at max level. I found it was more fun to level a new toon to max rather than grind the same old same old everyday at end game. After lvling 3 toons to max and beating all the raids i moved on with the intent of returning later, but to be honest theFun game from 1-50 with interesting stories and voice acting, game is hindered by a terrible game engine / design and get boring very quickly at max level. I found it was more fun to level a new toon to max rather than grind the same old same old everyday at end game. After lvling 3 toons to max and beating all the raids i moved on with the intent of returning later, but to be honest the game engine is so bad, i doubt i will ever return now that my sub has lapsed. I did enjoy the time i played it however, just done with it now.… 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.

The-Crow

Oct 3, 2012

4

I forgot to cancell my pre-order in the end but I put a lot of time into the early accessn the better part of 7 days or something.

In Brief. 1) It really is an unabashed WoW clone and it shows, the gameplay feels dated. 2) Theres nothing specifically bad about the game but there is nothing outstanding either, leaving me indifferent to it. 3) Storylines I tried thus far wereI forgot to cancell my pre-order in the end but I put a lot of time into the early accessn the better part of 7 days or something.

In Brief.

1) It really is an unabashed WoW clone and it shows, the gameplay feels dated.

2) Theres nothing specifically bad about the game but there is nothing outstanding either, leaving me indifferent to it.

3) Storylines I tried thus far were poorly paced, dull and predictable. Infact the Bounty hunter one is full of cliches which would be tolerable if they were not such poor representations of the cliches in question. The great soundtrack is not even used to good effect building to dramatic or "tragic" events.

4) Worlds feel dull and lifeless.

5) Everything is on rails, areas have specific paths to your next goal and there is very little "getting off the beaten track" or exploring.

6) Game engine is dated & fairly average, graphics only slightly better than KOTOR & KOTOR2 which are quite old games. This would not be such an issue if the gameplay was not so slow and boring.

7) By level 10 in both Jedi knight & Bounty Hunter I was bored.

8) pacing of the game is quite slow even for an MMO, they really want you to hang around and subscribe as long as possible.

9) You could be forgiven for not realising Bioware made this game, it lacks polish particularly in the storytelling which is what Bioware games are famous for. Quite a dissapointing effort from one of my favourite studios. That said ME2 and DA2 were both had a similar lack of polish & care and i guess early signs that the quality control Bioware was once famous for was fading fast.

10) there are several Free 2 Play MMO's using unknown IP's that I have enjoyed more than this.

I ended up selling my unopened box copy because the game is just plain boring.

Star Wars: The old Republic is Star Wars but mediocre, im not sure even going F2P can save it.… Expand

Orctownorc

Oct 3, 2012

6

The reason I'm the best reviewer in here is because I can put things into their true perspective. This game is, was and may forever be, the BIGGEST failure, the BIGGEST disappointment, and the BIGGEST lost opportunity in the history of Game design up to this point. I'm not saying that what we got at publication, or what they have patched it up to now is bad. Its not. the problem with SWTORThe reason I'm the best reviewer in here is because I can put things into their true perspective. This game is, was and may forever be, the BIGGEST failure, the BIGGEST disappointment, and the BIGGEST lost opportunity in the history of Game design up to this point. I'm not saying that what we got at publication, or what they have patched it up to now is bad. Its not. the problem with SWTOR is what it could and should have been. What it failed to be. The budget was there but the vision was lacking. For those of us who saw the first Star Wars movie in the cinema back in 1975 (?) This IP was a life changing influence in the same way as Tolkein was in the field of literature. We all know how George Lucas had a gift for failing with Star Wars, for wrecking things, or rubbing the luster off it. But Bioware had a good track record of doing Star Wars well. KOTOR 1 and 2 were great. Mass Effect, though a unique IP showed that the Canadians were capable of great things here. So WTF happened? My guess is they played it way too safe, and tried to copy WOW as closely as possible with a few fatal dashes too many of Bioware's legendary (And in this case diasterous) 'STORYTELLING'.! Hey guys a little advice after the barn has burned down: GAMERS WANT TO WRITE THEIR OWN FACKING STORIES! We don't want to get dragged around like marionettes on strings you pull, or strapped into chairs of the scenic railroads you lay for us! We want to be the heroes of the story in our own terms! SWTOR could have ignored WOW. It could have got a few ideas from EVE and X3, heaps of inspiration from the best of the movies and then a glorious freewheeling sandbox in a galaxy, where you can play any of dozens of races, on dozens of planets explore the galaxy and pursue any numbers of skill sets developing the kind of hero you wanted to be. Luke Skywalker had a thing for droids remember! We could have all been free to develop all sorts of fun non-combat skills for the purposes of ROLE PLAYING. Eventually, after many adventures in many places the players might even have got introduced to the force, or its dark side and found the option to choose to become a Jedi knight or a Sithe warrior. Sadly that was all to 1995 for Bioware. This game offered ZERO EXPLORATION. ZERO meaningful race choice, near ZILCH in character development. Near NOTHING in player choice. You start off affiliated to one of two factions, and well on your way to mastery of skills which in the lore of Star Wars were supposed to be rare and special. Bioware designed a game, and planned for a situation where there would be literally millions of high level Jedi's and Sithe running around! A mad dream that has nothing to do with Star Wars lore. Built without vision, this game fails to impress where it should. It suffers a Bioware malaise: No sense of place. Each area you go to is a sterile set, where you plod about waiting to be cued on a conveyer belt to your next fixed 'plot point'. You don't become a bounty hunter or anything in this game by trial and error, by wandering about and earning the membership rights to a skill set. Instead you make a single choice with character creation that then becomes a RAILROAD OF SUBSEQUENT non choices. Which can also be described, when you think about it (as I so capably do) THE ANTITHESIS OF ROLEPLAYING. What some of the targets of these reviews need to understand is that I was designing games at a professional level at the age of 16, back in 1982. I'm not blowing bubbles out of my arse. The game still scores 6/10 because it has plenty of fun content. You can't burn $300 million without getting nice assets, animations, sincere efforts, good voice acting and a lot of good content, which this game DOES offer. It's pretty well a game everyone should look into when it goes free to play. it may even get patched up enough to earn a green score. I hope so. But it will always be too late. SWTOR cannot now become the masterpiece it should have been. When they set aside the budget for this game, it was a grand chance to be daring and to redefine role playing forever. What we got instead was a boring version of WOW in space. Lost in Space, where is that robot waving its arms crying "warning, warning"? TOO LATE.… Expand

Marmalade

Sep 29, 2012

9

Ok, I'll say it - I'm a former WoW player, and I was skeptical about trying this game, because I've been sucked into the hype of other would-be "WoW-Killers" like Warhammer and Aeon that ended up being profound disappointments - but my WoW friends talked me into it. You can imagine my shock when I ended up LOVING this game moreso than WoW (shocking, as I'd been convinced that WoW was theOk, I'll say it - I'm a former WoW player, and I was skeptical about trying this game, because I've been sucked into the hype of other would-be "WoW-Killers" like Warhammer and Aeon that ended up being profound disappointments - but my WoW friends talked me into it. You can imagine my shock when I ended up LOVING this game moreso than WoW (shocking, as I'd been convinced that WoW was the best game I'd ever played). Part of me is mystified as to why SWTOR failed as an MMO, because it contains so many revolutionary ideas - I love the crafting system, I love the fact that my character can actually have conversations with quest givers and I love the individual story lines of each class - and hey, I'm a female player so I LOVED the fact you could romance your companions. The only reason I stopped playing is because all of my friends left and went back to WoW, which pissed me off because I loved (and still love) SWTOR. It was my first BioWare game and ended up being the gateway drug that led me to try Dragon Age: Origins (Best. Game. EVER) and the Mass Effect trillogy (fantastic - if you ignore the ending of ME3). If you like Bioware games (the ones that were good ;)) this game hearkens back to the greatness that was once Bioware, and if you're not an MMO player, this game has a single-player feel that deserves to be played through (and it's apparently going F2P soon). I admit, there are essential features that were missing from SWTOR that led to its loss of subscribers - there was no Looking for Group feature, the end-game wasn't fully developed and (sadly) once your class story line was complete, that was it - nothing else. As well, one thing Blizzard has on Bioware is the fact that they create their games with both a PC and Mac platform (because, for all their faults, Blizzard can obviously see that Apple is on its way to taking over the world - LOL - and that the more people you make the game available to, the higher your subscriber base will be). I almost didn't get the game because I have a Mac (but ended up getting SWTOR and Windows 7 for Christmas), and I believe that Bioware was short-sighted in this decision and missed out on a lot of subscribers because they only released it on a PC platform. On the good side, the writing and stories of the classes I played (Imperial Agent, Inquisitor and Consular) were fantastic. The quests were engaging, humorous and well-written - and hey, there was sex and relationships in the game as well, which gave it an adult feel (not a panda in sight - or a Jar Jar Binks). I loved how I could make my character either dark side or light side, and was fascinated by the added lore to the Star Wars universe, as well as the several call-backs to KOTOR. I was a little disappointed in the battlegrounds (Huttball...oh, Huttball...why did I always get f'ing HUTTBALL?!) though the strength of this game lies in the rich class stories and the quests. I also loved the space battles, though it would have been cool if they'd included PvP space battles on release (and the features they promised us that came too late, like Legacy and same-sex options for romanceable companions). Honestly, and I might get down-voted for this because we're all pretty pissed at BiowarEA for ME3 and DA2, but I truly believe that SWTOR is better than WoW as a game, though perhaps it wasn't as successful as an MMO because it felt like a single player game WITHIN an MMO, which I believe tore away at the fabric that makes an MMO successful - the social aspect of the game, something Blizzard has down to a science. Because of your companions, you didn't particularly NEED another person to quest with, though it was still fun to quest with my friends. I was pretty angry when my friends all left SWTOR to go back to WoW (the population was tanking and it got harder for them to find groups, though in SWTOR, I didn't really care about doing dungeons/flashpoints because the questing and story aspect of the game was so engaging). I ended up going back with them until MoP came along. It made me sad that SWTOR isn't doing well, because I truly believe this is a high-quality game, and I will play it again once it goes F2P. I almost want to go back and pay a monthly fee, because it's worth it, really it is, but after ME3 I don't want to give Bioware any more of my money. I highly recommend this game, and believe it's lack of success lies in Bioware releasing the game before it was done (adding features like Legacy points long after people had already left) and their lack of flexibility when it comes to releasing the game on a Mac platform. What they did release was fantastic and I will play it again, but the features that keep MMO players around were missing, and BioWare wasn't savvy enough to release the game when it had the features needed to retain a subscriber base.… Expand

louish1982

Sep 28, 2012

10

This game is amazing, as a Star Wars fan i am very pleased, i don t get what people are complaining about, i think people are just so sad they have to bash on things. This game is pretty much like WoW in the Star Wars universe with voiced dialogue and better graphics like most people say. How is this a bad thing??? Wow has been the leading MMO for nearly a decade and its not like a lot ofThis game is amazing, as a Star Wars fan i am very pleased, i don t get what people are complaining about, i think people are just so sad they have to bash on things. This game is pretty much like WoW in the Star Wars universe with voiced dialogue and better graphics like most people say. How is this a bad thing??? Wow has been the leading MMO for nearly a decade and its not like a lot of other mmo out there are innovating much beyond this model. There are some bugs here and there but hey, which mmo hasn't? I deeply enjoy this game and hope it will fair better on the business point because i want it around for a long time. Screw the haters and their miserable lives....… Expand

OhRly

Sep 26, 2012

4

The cut scenes, acting, and dialogue are amazing but that's not what a game is, the game play is what the game is, and the game play is flat, it's WoW with a Star Wars setting, massively disappointing.

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

91metalhead

Sep 24, 2012

8

Tor does a lot of things right, and in my opinion is the best MMO out there right now. Endgame doesn't do much for me anyway, so i won't comment on it, however, what i have played is fine. The game is constantly evolving and making the experience better. i usually play it on and off, because (like any game) it gets boring if you "overplay" it, but anygame does that, and some people justTor does a lot of things right, and in my opinion is the best MMO out there right now. Endgame doesn't do much for me anyway, so i won't comment on it, however, what i have played is fine. The game is constantly evolving and making the experience better. i usually play it on and off, because (like any game) it gets boring if you "overplay" it, but anygame does that, and some people just fail to realize that if you blow through the content without breaks, it's going to tire you out.… Expand

tallanx

Sep 21, 2012

1

let's see here, animations are basically the same stock animations from the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series. Mechanically the game is practically an exact copy of WoW (not necessarily a bad thing, but certainly not innovative in any way). The story and cutscenes are nice in a way and the VA is generally decent to good quality, but it does get a bit tiring after a while. Is this alet's see here, animations are basically the same stock animations from the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series. Mechanically the game is practically an exact copy of WoW (not necessarily a bad thing, but certainly not innovative in any way). The story and cutscenes are nice in a way and the VA is generally decent to good quality, but it does get a bit tiring after a while. Is this a horrible game? no, is it a great game? no. It's a mediocre game. And for me it also feels very much like a single player game with optional multiplayer elements, which may very well be what Bioware was going for. For me, personally that means the game is not worth subbing to.

But the biggest problem, is Bioware's attitude. This game by itself deserves a 6, but Bioware blatant lies, broken promises and just general asshat behaviour towards their customer makes me drop the score down to 1. If they hadn't lied so much about the game prior to release maybe people wouldn't have been as pissed that the game did not live up to what was explicitly promised multiple times.… Expand

beladrim

Sep 20, 2012

6

Being a Kotor and starwars fan, never have i been so excited about a game like this one. For three years i have followed it's evolution. Untill it was finally released.

Now i have waited a long to to review it and i wanted to try GW2 before giving my final opinion. When i critic this game, i do so as a kotor fan and an mmo player. As a Kotor fan, the game did "satisfy" me. TheBeing a Kotor and starwars fan, never have i been so excited about a game like this one. For three years i have followed it's evolution. Untill it was finally released.

Now i have waited a long to to review it and i wanted to try GW2 before giving my final opinion.

When i critic this game, i do so as a kotor fan and an mmo player.

As a Kotor fan, the game did "satisfy" me. The leveling process in this game is basicly playing Kotor 3, and for that it scores some points. However, this game is not Kotor 3, it's an MMO based on the first instalment of the franchise. Being an MMO, you quicly discover that your actions in this world are without true consequences. Yes you will make choices there and there. Some very hard ones might i add. But in the end, none of the them matter. You have ONE endind to your personal story. And once you are done with it's over. What ever you have accomplished in your story will never be mentionned again nor will affect your experience at level 50. Now... I understand that as an MMO, you can't possibly be the next great sith lord to rules the universe when thousands of other players share this world with you. However, it is worth noting that the MMO nature of this game severly limits the outcome and consequences of your personal story. Which is one of BW's strong points. As an MMO, this is where the game misses the mark. Bioware didn't dare to innovate and break the mold. I know you read this before, but i will say it again. This is WoW in space. The quests are your typical go kill that, and gather 6 rat tails missions. PvP is your typical warzone, open PvP is joke, the game play is slow, characters are unresponsive, animations lag. PvE fairs better, but not much. Every new boss, and operation comes with it's bag of bugs, making the experience very frustrating. The PvE encounters are "interesting" enough, but nothing ground breaking either. Now we have GW2. And while i am not a fan of phantasy (i am a sci-fi geek) i have to say that Arenanet has more balls than Bioware. Yes it's still an MMO at it's core. But this is the first mmo that finally feels "fresh". They are no healers or tanks, you just change weapons (in combat) to either increase your dps, resilience, or utility. The combat is dynamic. It's fast and be really confusing at time. But boy is it enjoyable. They are no PvE raid in this game, just dungeon and world event that keep. The level ajustment system is the what make GW2 a solid AAA MMO. Basicly, you go anywhere in the world, and your level will adapt to the region you are in. This is an amazing feature, in this game the whole WORLD is your playground. Not an instance area, the world is alive and kicking. And this is what every MMO should achieve.

Starwars was great as i leveled my characters. But past that, the MMO features are just lacking. I honestly don't have high hopes for this game. The only thing that will save it is the fact that is the current Starwars MMO. With million of SW fan, this MMO will be around for the time. But take out the SW lore and the story line questing and you have lifeless, uninspiring game.

With Dragon age 2, this game is a great disappointment from Bioware.… Expand

Snipestrifer

Sep 13, 2012

8

Top complaints: 1. OMG SERVER QUEUES ARE SO LONG! Lol every MMO launch has these and by MMO standards TOR's launch has been incredibly smooth. 2. OMG LAG. Again, every MMO launch has this and it will go away soon after launch, new servers have already been confirmed to be added very soon. Also, it could be your Internet, and if it is, you may need a better service provider. 3. OMG NOTop complaints: 1. OMG SERVER QUEUES ARE SO LONG! Lol every MMO launch has these and by MMO standards TOR's launch has been incredibly smooth. 2. OMG LAG. Again, every MMO launch has this and it will go away soon after launch, new servers have already been confirmed to be added very soon. Also, it could be your Internet, and if it is, you may need a better service provider. 3. OMG NO INNOVATION. Ok, complain about every single FPS then. Complain about the consistency of the Elder Scrolls series and the Mass Effect series, as well as Pokemon (Among many more, especially Nintendo titles). Didn't think so. Bioware EXPLICITLY said that they weren't redesigning the combat, something people over-centralize on, and what they did say was that they were adding a fourth pillar (Story) and making exploration more rewarding, something that this game succeeds at very well, with meaningful decisions within the quests. That and there are very long questlines, which personally for me, is awesome. Holocrons located within tricky to reach areas (No doubt the wiki will have the guide to reach them all already down by now though) makes exploration more rewarding, as well as receiving a generous amount of EXP for every newly discovered location. 4. OMG BAD GRAPHICS. Really? Firstly graphics are one of the least important aspects of a game and treating them with more importance than the basic mechanics instantly makes you a moron. This is a game, not a movie. Secondly, the graphics were DELIBERATELY downgraded so the game could run on slower computers, so Bioware is actually doing you a FAVOR by making the graphics wors, to a degree, it would've been nice had we been given more graphic options to the game though. The style will age better than more realistic graphics however. Examples of this include WoW and Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker which still looks awesome despite being around a decade old now (At the time of this review). Besides, the animations are far better than any I've seen in an MMO (That was needed for story character animations and Bioware's "Cinematic" combat, which they talked about a lot). 5. This isn't how a Star Wars MMO should be (Something along those lines anyway). Star wars Galaxies fanboys sad about how their game is being shut down around the release of this one. This isn't another SWG, and if you thought it was you didn't listen to Bioware. It's not their fault that they decided to go in a different design direction than you. Doesn't make the game bad, it would only be bad if their design was sloppy, which it isn't. In conclusion everyone who complains about these "Issues" are stupid or didn't listen to Bioware. You can't judge an MMO at launch (I got early access and played it for around two weeks straight now at the time of this review) because there is so much in it that you can't judge it within a couple of hours and launches are particularly stressful periods for MMOs. WoW's servers literally died at their launch. Now that I;ve finished ranting and gushing over this game, let's get a little more objective and calm. The combat and skill trees are nothing new, and even though BW did let us know this in advance to be honest I did epect SOME level of innovation. The combat has style, but the same substance that WoW had, and I honestly expected some differences that I failed to find. Crafting, is... Bad. Just leave it there. Otherwise i will rage my sad little heart out. At the end of the day however there is only one flaw that matters: The lack of endgame content. I have nothing to do at the end of the game other than couple of dungeons and PvP! The meat of te game is in the story so they seem to have forgotten the endgame content, leaving me bored and frustrated after the story ended. Perhaps they should have given us some endgame story missions or something, because there's not much to do after the grind is over. My advice: Pick this up, do the class stories, then cancel your subscription. Because the stories are amazing, but there's not enough endgame content to justify sticking around after that.… Expand

BlackPhoton

Sep 9, 2012

3

When the creators of SWTOR entered E3 with their ''parade'' I knew that this game will go down the same road as ME3 did. In short this game is not worth the price and you have to be a heck of a Star Wars fanboy to be able to play this game. The game basically is singleplayer story/dialogue, but with an useless multiplayer added on. I did enjoy the Sith Inquisitor and the Bounty HunterWhen the creators of SWTOR entered E3 with their ''parade'' I knew that this game will go down the same road as ME3 did. In short this game is not worth the price and you have to be a heck of a Star Wars fanboy to be able to play this game. The game basically is singleplayer story/dialogue, but with an useless multiplayer added on. I did enjoy the Sith Inquisitor and the Bounty Hunter story, but the rest especially all the republic stories are boring. Not to mention that there is a bug in the Inquisitor and Trooper story that can get you stuck and you would have to replay everything. I don't know why did the designers think that putting countless abilities that do the same thing would be a great idea especially talking about the Inquisitors many lightning attacks. The environment and the graphics are slim and very laggy due to the garbage that gets dropped in to your RAM. I guess the creators expected that most of the player population will be at their capitals so they made them huge, but everybody spends their time in the fleet causing massive lag there. Talking about lag, EA has turned most of it's servers down and will be using them for their next repetitive FPS game. Leaving the most laggiest servers for SWTOR, no matter how fast is your internet or your PC you will be experiencing fatal lag. The great promise of this being the next gen MMO that will destroy WOW was all an advertisement by EA as the same for other games that EA had over hyped, but differently than ME3 or BF3 where players buy a copy once, SWTOR has a monthly payment that players stopped paying after the first month. This has caused a financial disaster for EA, actually this may be the greatest financial disaster ever. 155 million dollars the largest production cost in history of gaming and it certainly hasn't paid off. The game isn't worth buying especially when you have to buy it through Origin and play it trough Origin. In a nutshell I hope this will destroy EA for good, cause ME3 and BF3 have been disasters for EA too, the cost of mass advertising exceeded the benefits. SWTOR, ME3, BF3, MOH, NFS, SC, Sims, EA Sports after all this everybody is the looser EA , the market, developers and the players. EA tried to benefit from false advertising, but it hit them the hardest. Goodnight Electronic A$sholes!… Expand

Topster

Sep 3, 2012

3

Do NOT be fooled by this game's vastly overinflated metascore. First, the good: The storylines for this game are very well-done, especially the Imperial Agent's, and it adds a bit of single-player charm to the game. It almost make syou wonder why they wouldn't simply make a single-player KotOR game.

The bad: Absolutely everything else. I would almost suggest buying this game just forDo NOT be fooled by this game's vastly overinflated metascore. First, the good: The storylines for this game are very well-done, especially the Imperial Agent's, and it adds a bit of single-player charm to the game. It almost make syou wonder why they wouldn't simply make a single-player KotOR game.

The bad: Absolutely everything else. I would almost suggest buying this game just for the class storylines if each plot point weren't separated by hours of quest grinding. At first the "fully-voiced" dialogue (about half of which is alien language so you'll be reading most of the time anyway) will be cool, but very soon you'll find yourself skipping through it all because it all breaks down into "kill X number of these guys" or "collect X amount of these things". There's a shockingly small amount of content, which is unforgivable in a day and age where there's a plethora of other MMOs with at least twice the content out already. As of this writing there are exactly two lmax-level flashpoints (dungeons).

Of course there's PVP, which is fine, although again the options for warzones are meager and get boring very quickly.

In a nutshell, this game fails to make any MMO element worth the (as of right now) $20 pricetag of the game. If you personally don't mind endless hours of monotonous grinding, I can suggest this game for you. If not, I can't in good faith suggest you spend your time on this. You WILL be wondering, as you kill your 347th rakghoul, "why, WHY can't they just have removed all these MMO mainstays and allowed me to just play through the story?"

The obvious answer is "because no one would opt to pay $15/month when they could run through a class storyline in about 4 hours." And I don;t know about you, but that's not a good enough answer for me.… Expand

Bladrak

Aug 31, 2012

8

Star Wars: the Old Republic is a good MMORPG. Not a perfect one, yes, but good nonetheless. The story lines are incredibly addictive, graphics are quite good (not top the line, but it's a MMO), and the game is full of information regarding the SW Lore.
The companion system is really interesting: having the ability to get a character fighting beside you, sharing your adventure with you, isStar Wars: the Old Republic is a good MMORPG. Not a perfect one, yes, but good nonetheless. The story lines are incredibly addictive, graphics are quite good (not top the line, but it's a MMO), and the game is full of information regarding the SW Lore.
The companion system is really interesting: having the ability to get a character fighting beside you, sharing your adventure with you, is helpful and story-wise really nice. Moreover, they're the ones doing your crafts for you!… Expand

you_aint_Z

Aug 29, 2012

3

Bleh. It was moderately fun and exciting for the first 15-20 levels or so but the game became stale at an alarmingly quick pace after that. For some reason I stuck with it until my toon hit his mid 40's but the game was an ultra grindfest. The support team was and is awful. The Dev team really didn't come through on there promise for frequent content updates. This game should have beenBleh. It was moderately fun and exciting for the first 15-20 levels or so but the game became stale at an alarmingly quick pace after that. For some reason I stuck with it until my toon hit his mid 40's but the game was an ultra grindfest. The support team was and is awful. The Dev team really didn't come through on there promise for frequent content updates. This game should have been free to play from the start.… Expand

dukediem

Aug 24, 2012

9

I have played all major western MMOs since Asheron's Call (even had my hand on Meridian and UO before that). And SWTOR is one great game.... or so it was, until you got to the endgame.
The endgame was too lacking, too easy (when not bugging) and a bit too many bugs.
Now some of the bugs are gone, but still the game lacks endgame. The Game is GREAT when it comes to smooth and greatI have played all major western MMOs since Asheron's Call (even had my hand on Meridian and UO before that). And SWTOR is one great game.... or so it was, until you got to the endgame.
The endgame was too lacking, too easy (when not bugging) and a bit too many bugs.

Now some of the bugs are gone, but still the game lacks endgame.

The Game is GREAT when it comes to smooth and great storylines for all except 2 of the classes. The last two classes had decent one IMHO.

If you're looking for a game to start up with, and like Star Wars, now that most of the bugs are gone, its a great game to play.… Expand

scorched595

Aug 22, 2012

0

I waited for this game ever since I beat kotor 2 after it first game around and there were rumors of a kotor mmo in the works, for anyone keeping count, that's about 6 years. Now, I know you can't expect a game to live up to such legendary hype as this game had, but this game pulled a Duke Nukem Forever and gave us a game that was not even half decent. This game is going free to play inI waited for this game ever since I beat kotor 2 after it first game around and there were rumors of a kotor mmo in the works, for anyone keeping count, that's about 6 years. Now, I know you can't expect a game to live up to such legendary hype as this game had, but this game pulled a Duke Nukem Forever and gave us a game that was not even half decent. This game is going free to play in september for a reason, bioware is losing subscribers and is trying to save the ship from sinking, but alas, it won't work, mainly because this game sucks balls. This game fails right off the bat for one reason, it focuses mainly on story, so it's basically a single player rpg with multiplayer added on, The genre is called Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game for a reason people, because it's a MULTIPLAYER rpg focused mainly on MULTIPLAYER. This game couldn't have been saved even if it was a different company for that reason alone. But aside from that, there are quite a few reasons this game is bad. Let's get to the biggest problem with this game first, which is that Most of the class stories just plain suck, especially on the republic side. The republic stories are that of a cliche mary sue character (The jedi knight), a guy who has no real motive to be helping the republic (smuggler), a badly written martyr character who's quests are similar to the jedi knight's (the jedi consular), and a generic, cliche special ops character (The trooper). So, republic stories fail right off the bat. Sith empire only has 2 good stories as well (The bounty hunter and the Agent), Both of which are sort of cliche, but are still fun, the bounty hunters story being one of betrayal and the imperial agent's story being one much like James Bond's . The other two classes are just generic mustache twirling villain stories (Sith warrior and Inquisitor). The next reason that this game fails right off the bat is that the way this game is structured makes it feel so empty and yet so claustrophobic, every zone has invisble walls you can't pass, restricting exploration, you also have to take a speeder bike everywhere almost every time to get to the next zone. The third reason that this game fails is that the community is non existent, probably due to the lack of players. The nail that seals the coffin on this game is that the flashpoints and pvp just suck ass, the flashpoints are mainly generic imperial/ republic space ships or space stations, and the pvp is just so unbalanced it's not even funny, atleast with wow it's a 50/50 split on who wins, but with swtor, it's usually imperials who win. TL;DR version: **** game, end of story… Expand

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

DrumBuDum

Aug 7, 2012

9

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Yes, this game takes many mechanics and game styles from WoW. But this game does some things differently that make it a truly great modern MMO. I have reached max level and played through multiple characters stories, and this alone is a reason to come back to the game. They have also included some great starting Warzones, and Ops that provide a decent amount of Endgame content, although they could definitely improve in this aspect. With the recent addition of Rated Warzones it has put in even more replay value that will keep me subscribed for months to come. With the addition of a new Dynamic event later this month, and 1.4 which will provide a new Warzone, 10 new Space Missions, and a new Op... I think Bioware has finally realized that they need to release content more often to keep a strong player base and they will be doing just that in the months to come. If you are looking for KOTOR 3, I guess you could give this a go. It does feature story elements from the past KOTOR games and *SPOILER* You will come across Revan *SPOILER*. That being said, this is an MMO and it is not specifically tailored to be a story driven game, although when compared to other MMO's this certainly has the best story out of any that I have played. The Dialogues and cutscenes make it feel as if you make a difference in your story and it allows for so many possibilities later on in your story line. But the one thing that this game has perfected... is the crafting system! You get companions as you level which allow you to send them out on missions collecting mats, and once they have collected the mats, they can be sent to craft your items. This means that you can be crafting while in a Flashpoint or Warzone rather than having to sit at your trainer using the Anvil to craft new gear. You can have a total of 6 companions and can send 5 out at a time at lvl 50 which allows for some serious crafting and profit!! Overall I think that all MMO players need to give this game a shot. Yes in the first few months it was slow with patches and content releases, but Bioware has kicked it into gear and are finally responding to the community!

Overall this game has great story elements and well balanced class PvP. They could use a few more Warzones and Ops and they definitely need a better World PvP system. Other than that I have no complaints and will stay subbed for a loooong time!

Hope to see you in Game!!!… 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.

Janton

Aug 4, 2012

2

These are all the things that I believe are wrong with SW:TOR (in no particular order):

1. The class story lacked real choices (didn't go through all of them but the stories I did see lacked any meaningful choice) 2. Class story on republic side was boring (I wanted to play a Jedi Knight but couldn't stand the story) 3. Lack of exploration (some of the planets like Coruscant or NarThese are all the things that I believe are wrong with SW:TOR (in no particular order):

1. The class story lacked real choices (didn't go through all of them but the stories I did see lacked any meaningful choice)
2. Class story on republic side was boring (I wanted to play a Jedi Knight but couldn't stand the story)
3. Lack of exploration (some of the planets like Coruscant or Nar Shadaa are just hallways)
4. The planets are very static with no weather, no day/night cycles, and the mobs just stand there waiting to die
5.The music is good, for the small amount of time it plays, but on every planet I have to listen to the sound of my speeder for just about the whole time I am there; unless the speeder sound randomly cuts out, which unfortunately happens often.
6. OPs are easy, when you don't hit bugs, and gear from them is way too easy to get
7. I can't level alts, after leveling a character on each faction, without having to replay the same story in the same order. Yes there are class quests, but they are far and few between.
8. PVP is gear based without it you get slaughtered. Didn't mind 1-49, though it got tedious playing the same warzones again and again. It is also unbalanced, not that I expected it to be as it is a difficult thing to do.
9. World PVP happened to me exactly once while leveling.
10. cant swim all the water features are shallow
11. Need to entice people into playing heals and tanks for shorter queues
12. I disliked the aesthetics in this game, didn't feel very much like Star Wars
13. The game runs terribly
14. Combat is not very fluid and there are ability delays
15. The game copies heavily from WoW
16. No same gender romance options
17. Lack of in game combat logs
18. Lack of addons. Some people hate them but for people with disabilities it can be very beneficial and allow them a much better gameplay experience. I'm not disabled I just saw a post about this and it made me realize how it could allow much better access to the game and content for some people.
19. No alien species, I mean seriously they are all pretty much recolored humans. Would have liked to see Togruta or Trandoshans as playable.
20. Character customization is seriously lacking; a lot of clones. They should make an appearance tab so you can use the design of gear you actually like. They have started to address this issue but they are far from where it needs to be.
21. No way of character customization changes after creation; ie changing hairstyles or adding scars.
22. Nothing to in end-game that is non-combat like pazaak, swoop racing, or pod racing
23. No chat bubbles
24. Can't sit in chairs
25. Space Combat is unintuitive and on rails
26.Crafting needs a lot of work
27. Lack of intuitive guild features
28. The amount of bugs and the time it is taking to fix them (1.2 sound bug still present)
29. Gear design was terrible (I liked the gear I got in the beginning better then tier gear)
30. Can't have my companions in my legacy tree; this is a very bad oversight.
31. Social points were a good idea but they are poorly implemented.
32. No reputation grinds; it adds to re-playability and can give cool non-combat rewards
33. Can't customize my ship
34. Too many loading screens (this game's travel system is terrible)
35.The fleet was poorly done all the vendors on the fleet should be on Dromund Kaas and Coruscant. Also the Republic fleet looks terrible.
36. The GTN needs a rework
37. Customer service; they had closed many of my tickets without resolving them. Also the Hoth incident accusing player of being liars and fraudulent; when they weren't.
38. The hood up/down toggle would be nice
39. Twi'leks need to be able to see their headgear 40. Way too many money sinks in this game
41. need more ways for pvp'ers to get credits… 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

Kimikaze

Aug 2, 2012

6

The game sadly didn't meet my expectations. It has it strong sides and is probably one of the best story based mmo's released, but the characters just doesn't seem that interesting. Still I would say it might be the perfect game for some players who loves the Star Wars universe as it is a polished and solid release.

pheroras

Jul 31, 2012

3

SWTOR has been hyped as a 'Story Driven' MMO. I admit that story is the best feature of the game. The major problem with this is that the main Class story is a bit thin, merely serving as a pretext to hop from one planet to the next. The story in SWTOR is nothing like the story of KOTOR and is not even as good as that of the somewhat baffling KOTOR II. Planet quests are largely presentedSWTOR has been hyped as a 'Story Driven' MMO. I admit that story is the best feature of the game. The major problem with this is that the main Class story is a bit thin, merely serving as a pretext to hop from one planet to the next. The story in SWTOR is nothing like the story of KOTOR and is not even as good as that of the somewhat baffling KOTOR II. Planet quests are largely presented in the 'story' rubric with voice acting and animation cut scenes, but these are typically disconnected and provide little if any overarching theme. *It would be great if the studio had the resources to tie these secondary story quests into an overarching whole, since these comprise more content than the Class story in the leveling process. Another minor gripe is that I have to always wonder why I can pilot an interstellar space craft before I can pilot my scooter. I get my spaceship at level 15, but I can't use my scooter until I am level 25. Something seems backwards in this sort of progression but it is only one of the many illogical things that break the continuity of the game. There is now a free trial up to level 15. These early levels seemed like some of the best in the game, though perhaps they would be judged mediocre in contrast to other games. I can't see recommending the game as it is on a pay to play basis.… Expand

titans300

Jul 30, 2012

8

I'll start by saying I'm a huge star wars fan. Maybe not a total know-it-all fan, but love the genre and love this game. Sure It's not perfect, but what game is? I think the storyline is great, especially when you get to make decisions like a choose your own adventure story. I started with a Sith Warrior and took him to lvl 50 and I've started 6 more classes. I will say for the most part II'll start by saying I'm a huge star wars fan. Maybe not a total know-it-all fan, but love the genre and love this game. Sure It's not perfect, but what game is? I think the storyline is great, especially when you get to make decisions like a choose your own adventure story. I started with a Sith Warrior and took him to lvl 50 and I've started 6 more classes. I will say for the most part I don't have all the problems with game-play as a lot of people say they do and sure, I may lag from time to time, but what on-line game doesn't. I bought the game from the store, loaded it right up, and started playing without a hitch( I've been playing for 6 months now). I'm not a computer genus, but I did build my own computer and think maybe some of the problems I've seen on the forums may be operator error. If you read a review from a WoW vet, take it with a grain of sand. I didn't like WoW, played it for three months and cancelled. However, I love this game. I'm sure to the die-hard player that expects nothing but perfection, this game has a numerous if not an infinite number of issues, but to a person that loves Star Wars and likes an RPG with some social aspects, then here you go. I think that this game will only get better with time.… Expand

MinnieMouse1308

Jul 30, 2012

10

Awesome Game with many options for a different story line depending on player's choices. If you love Star Wars you'll love this game. May the force be with you!!!!!

Mutica

Jul 29, 2012

4

I waited 3 years for this game, bought the collectors editions and drank the cool aid. Almost right way at launch I saw problems, but was too deluded too much a fanboy to be honest. There are major server issues, the game engine can't really handle a modern day MMO. There is a general lack of character responsiveness, your abilities don't fire correctly and combat isn't smooth; theseI waited 3 years for this game, bought the collectors editions and drank the cool aid. Almost right way at launch I saw problems, but was too deluded too much a fanboy to be honest. There are major server issues, the game engine can't really handle a modern day MMO. There is a general lack of character responsiveness, your abilities don't fire correctly and combat isn't smooth; these things coupled with empty worlds, the linear style quest progression (lack of open world/ sandbox ) really break immersion. Also, no weather or day/night cycles... not interactive environment (can't sit in chairs..etc) hmm, no chat bubbles; well these may seem like minor things, but there are so many of these things. I would run out of room here to list everything. In the end, you don't truly feel immersion in the Star Wars universe, you feel frustrated. I hope in the end other game studios can learn from the failure of SWTOR; in the end the reason we first and foremost play games is the gameplay, we don't want games where the character, your avatar feels unresponsive, where you don't feel in complete control of all the actions. The SWTOR game engine and servers don't seem to allow for this responsive, fluid gameplay... now some of the fanboys will say this issue sometimes called 'ability delay' has been fixed from SWTOR, but its just not true, 6 months after release, these issues still break immersion. The fact that this issue hasn't been dealt with, leads me to believe that there are limitations to the game engine itself that the developers can't code around. Now SWTOR went with a unfinished HERO Engine and maybe the fact that it was unfinished has lead to these issues. Other things: limited end game content, either a bit too easy, or a bit too bugged. I don't even want to get into the frustration of not being able to finish raids because of bugs, lots of bugs. Limited character customization; broken crafting system, lack of crafting economy; poor auction house (although its improving) ... the list goes on and on.

Even if you are a die hard Star Wars fan, please do yourself a favor, play the original KOTORs, and then get yourself lost in another MMO, if you really want an MMO, this game in the end will only break your heart. A wasted opportunity.… Expand

Jools86

Jul 24, 2012

9

Brilliant sharp graphics, great end game dungeons + Star Wars universe. Since the 1.3 patch, the group finder and server merges have been a revelation, all of sudden thousands of people playing and groups are found in under a minute.

The only disappointment is the lack of PvP open world encounters during normal questing.

Needs wookies :P

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

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

CursedKnight187

Jul 15, 2012

9

I'm a big fan of the two Knights of the Old Republic games for which this game is a loose sequel. I have to admit I was worried that the Old Republic wouldn't live up to the achievement of the original games. Though TOR isn't as groundbreaking as its predecessors, it is still a damn good game. The sheer size of the game gives you the freedom to go anywhere you would want to as a Star WarsI'm a big fan of the two Knights of the Old Republic games for which this game is a loose sequel. I have to admit I was worried that the Old Republic wouldn't live up to the achievement of the original games. Though TOR isn't as groundbreaking as its predecessors, it is still a damn good game. The sheer size of the game gives you the freedom to go anywhere you would want to as a Star Wars fan, and the missions that accompany this universe are actually quite addictive rather than repetitive. The combat is still pretty good, and it far outranks the button mashing fps games of today's world. The plots have an epic feel to them, however, much like the companions, they lack the personal feel that was present in the KOTOR games. Besides that point though, I have to say that Bioware have still got it, and TOR is an impressive and inventive game. However, I believe it would have fared better as just an RPG, rather than an MMORPG, as it would have allowed more room for the personal points of KOTOR to be integrated into it.… Expand

gummyrabbit

Jul 13, 2012

2

I tried to like this game, but it's basically a stripped down version of WoW. The NPC dialog was ok at first, then it got tiring and I started to just spacebar through it all. Graphics were nowhere near what I expected it to be. Being released in 2011, I expected much better graphics after seeing Rift. Characters...you have 4 classes...and they're cloned from RebelI tried to like this game, but it's basically a stripped down version of WoW. The NPC dialog was ok at first, then it got tiring and I started to just spacebar through it all. Graphics were nowhere near what I expected it to be. Being released in 2011, I expected much better graphics after seeing Rift. Characters...you have 4 classes...and they're cloned from Rebel side to Empire side. Only the names are a bit different. Trying to get a group for some of the quests was the worst (though I've heard they finally added a LFG option). This game is also a bit too idiot-proof. You can… Expand

Aralakh

Jul 12, 2012

3

The Old Republic is a prime example of a game that has suffered from being over-hyped. The anticipation for its release was so intense and so prolonged that for many it built expectations that simply weren't realistic. As someone who had been looking forward to an Old Republic MMO before SWtOR was even announced, I can say that I probably let myself get sucked into that hype train withoutThe Old Republic is a prime example of a game that has suffered from being over-hyped. The anticipation for its release was so intense and so prolonged that for many it built expectations that simply weren't realistic. As someone who had been looking forward to an Old Republic MMO before SWtOR was even announced, I can say that I probably let myself get sucked into that hype train without giving it much thought. That said, the game does some things right.. The story-driven questing and voice acting really make you feel immersed in the Star Wars universe, and that's fantastic. Unfortunately, once you reach max level it all comes to a screeching halt. It's quite clear that BioWare aimed for the longevity of this game to focus on players creating alts and playing through the stories over and over, and that's just not realistic. Though each individual class has its own unique story, you're still faced with doing the same bland area quests and visiting the same environments over and over, and that gets repetitive and old very fast. The end game is nothing memorable, with a few varied raid dungeons that I assume are meant to keep us occupied until the next content patch (which are released at a horribly slow pace, and even when released are very lacking). As an example, my own operations group cleared the newest raid on hard-mode within two weeks of its release.. Now what? We sit around for months paying a subscription until the next piece of content comes out to do it all over again? No thank you, BioWare.… Expand

Nicolt

Jul 12, 2012

8

Great MMO that really adds some novelty to the genre. The stories told are really good, there is one different story per class, great voice acting . It's really worth it to level up multiple characters. I have so far 2 lvl 50 on republic side and leveling 2 more on empire side. There is a lot to do after lvl 50 : operations, world bosses, pvp, space combat.
Only down sides would beGreat MMO that really adds some novelty to the genre. The stories told are really good, there is one different story per class, great voice acting . It's really worth it to level up multiple characters. I have so far 2 lvl 50 on republic side and leveling 2 more on empire side. There is a lot to do after lvl 50 : operations, world bosses, pvp, space combat.
Only down sides would be customization of characters and graphics that aren't state of the art but they are still pretty good.… Expand

shinki

Jul 11, 2012

10

SW: TOR is a very formidable adventure MMORPG, with a lot of polish and a great sense of atmosphere. If you enjoy games like Lord of the Rings Online, World of Warcraft, or Rift, and you love Star Wars.

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.

Cell1e

Jul 8, 2012

5

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I am rewriting my review. I think this game does not deserve the very high score I gave it initailly. Pros- The voice acting and cut scenes are way cool! I find the stories and quests a heck of a lot more interesting and meaningful with the cutscenes and choices of responses. The crafting system is interesting but VERY expensive! The armour crafting does not let you make visually unique armours. Some romances are such a bonus and are done quite well so far, although they are triggered by the affection system which is easy to raise with gifts so I managed to get most of the romantic convos quite early and have been waiting a while for the next lot to trigger now in part two. Some roamnces are truely awful and must have been written by idiots.
It amazes me that there are so many beginning stories and storylines, way to go Bioware! The effort you put into this really shows. Gameplay/fighting is mostly good, I love the smuggler close combat moves, slap across the face, kick between the legs and gun whip, hehe.:D You are never forced into PVP. There are pvp choices and places but you dont have to worry about being attacked while you are out doing your main mission quests and side quests. You are never forced in group play either, thank goodness! Why some mmos insist on people being in groups to complete quests is beyond me. I am a solo player and refuse to pay for a game I can't play my way in. Bioware recognise people have different play styles and have gone out of their way to accomodate this. I love the space ship! But I need a quick way to get there! CC needs a heck of a lot more options. For a mmo it is sorely lacking. I am hoping too there will be a barbershop or beauty salon in game too! Oh and companion helmets? Id like the option to hide those! The textures and armour designs are truely a let down wiht most of the outfits/armours looking like they were drawn by a 7 year old with a felt tip pen. Good grief in this day and age I would think standards should be a lot higher for textures, designs, colours and other choices. Details are so important. The female armours are nasty. Well a joke really.
I have levelled a good few characters to middling levels but have got frustrated with the lack of money, the awful grind to level.
I wont go back until Biowore starts improving character customisation and perhaps makes the legacy system less of a money sink as well as the levelling. I could never afford with any of my characters to get the hugher driving license. Crazy!… Expand

KaliberX

Jul 8, 2012

3

I played SwTor from 0 to max, and well it has nice Quests for some Classes. But all in all it's just another MMO on the Market with the same Stuff like others (WoW, EQ etc) nothing new except the Voice Over.
You are not free in that Game, all the Way to the max is totally straight. Even the choices between Dark or Light does not changes the Story. Only thing why i give the Game a 3 wasI played SwTor from 0 to max, and well it has nice Quests for some Classes. But all in all it's just another MMO on the Market with the same Stuff like others (WoW, EQ etc) nothing new except the Voice Over.
You are not free in that Game, all the Way to the max is totally straight. Even the choices between Dark or Light does not changes the Story. Only thing why i give the Game a 3 was the PvP in some Way.… Expand

Miramaxx11

Jul 6, 2012

2

Dull. Uninspired. Graphics from 2005. WoWclone. Railshooter. Static. A huge disappointment. I´d prefererred Star Wars Galaxies 2, not WoW in Space. Bioware should fire their lead designers and start from scratch.

Desdicado

Jul 5, 2012

8

I don't understand all the very low reviews, I've never played WOW so maybe that's why. I have played LOTRO for a long time so I am familiar with the genre. So, SWOTR is more polished, more involving and the cut scenes really add to the atmosphere. I like how the game has been created to feel like a single player RPG. The dreaded "go and kill 10 whatevers" are less of a pain than normalI don't understand all the very low reviews, I've never played WOW so maybe that's why. I have played LOTRO for a long time so I am familiar with the genre. So, SWOTR is more polished, more involving and the cut scenes really add to the atmosphere. I like how the game has been created to feel like a single player RPG. The dreaded "go and kill 10 whatevers" are less of a pain than normal due to the fact that these are often optional and made to feel like part of your main quest. Character creation is limited and I'd like more alien options in there. I'm playing on a "role play" server which suits my playing style. I've never had any problem getting on and only noticed lag once or twice in busy areas. Graphics are ok, not Skyrim but this is an MMO. All in all a good game. On a final note, I am no longer playing after 4 months but I had fun.… Expand

robbocroft

Jul 5, 2012

5

I levelled a jedi sage (healer lvl 34) and a Vanguard (tank lvl 30ish) and honestly felt disappointed.
The novelty of full voice acted quest givers wears off fast. There are no choices in quests and you're soon left with the usual kill x of y.
Story quests are shallows too. No twists and unlikely characters. As far the game goes it's the usual holy trinity system. Been there, done that.I levelled a jedi sage (healer lvl 34) and a Vanguard (tank lvl 30ish) and honestly felt disappointed.
The novelty of full voice acted quest givers wears off fast. There are no choices in quests and you're soon left with the usual kill x of y.
Story quests are shallows too. No twists and unlikely characters. As far the game goes it's the usual holy trinity system. Been there, done that. My playing experience was hindered by the lack of a LFG tool, now implemented, that basically meant having to suffer ungodly pain to form a group. My advice is pass on the one unless you're a die hard star wars fan. In that case the settings might be enough to keep you entertained… Expand

alanj95

Jul 4, 2012

0

While TOR does have some interesting moments and some minor innovations, it is simply not worth the money. It was severely unoptimized, the voice-acting was stiff, the animations and variety in models were minimal, the gameplay is equivalent to early WoW minus auto-attack, and much of the game was broken and still hasn't been fixed.
Do not purchase this game, whatever you do. It is notWhile TOR does have some interesting moments and some minor innovations, it is simply not worth the money. It was severely unoptimized, the voice-acting was stiff, the animations and variety in models were minimal, the gameplay is equivalent to early WoW minus auto-attack, and much of the game was broken and still hasn't been fixed.
Do not purchase this game, whatever you do. It is not worth the money.… Expand

chimunga

Jul 3, 2012

8

So far I have a level 47 Shadow, and a Sorcerer, Sniper, and Bounty hunter all in their mid to late 20's. So keep in mind that I haven't really experienced the end game yet. This game is solidly fun. It's entertaining. It has all the classic aspects of an MMO, so if you're looking for something genre-breaking, perhaps you should go elsewhere. However, if you're looking for interestingSo far I have a level 47 Shadow, and a Sorcerer, Sniper, and Bounty hunter all in their mid to late 20's. So keep in mind that I haven't really experienced the end game yet. This game is solidly fun. It's entertaining. It has all the classic aspects of an MMO, so if you're looking for something genre-breaking, perhaps you should go elsewhere. However, if you're looking for interesting story-lines, and a familiar quest and battle system, then look no further. One notable thing that I enjoy about SWTOR is the companion system. Mostly because it makes it much easier to level a healer or tank (in the correct spec). You get 5 companions to meet any need you might have (Ranged and melee DPS, Ranged and melee tank, and Healer). Another aspect I like about it is the mobs. It's not just "engage one=kill one." All mobs have a varying degree of difficultly and support, and you have to plan accordingly. The class storylines are at all ends of the spectrum. The consular (shadow) storyline is very "meh," whereas I'm finding the Imperial Agent and Bounty hunter stories super engaging. Game play is what you'd expect from an MMO. Not really anything notable there. All the classes are reasonably equal. The voice acting is wonderful, and usually the best voice acting comes from your companion characters. If you don't like cut scenes, I wouldn't go for this game. There is dialogue for every quest, and every part of the quest (that you can skip through.) A few things I dislike: There is the same progression of planets for everyone. Meaning, there is only one planet for each level range. That gets boring. Aside from your class story, you are literally going through the same storyline 4 times for each class on either faction. They're very probably going to add more content with more options, but for now, it's one of the majors drawbacks of the game. Another thing I'm finding I dislike is that BioWare rarely communicates what is going on with their customers. They like to do Q&A's every week, and they have their twitter account, but it's mostly fluff with no real answers that people want. That gets annoying fast. Character creation could use more options and the legacy system could use some fresh eyes. Some of the armor is absolutely RIDICULOUS. But if you're thinking about coming back to the game after being away, I would definitely try it out again. 1.3 added server transfers and Group finder, and it's really re-invigorated the game. And if you're a new player, remember that this game is not even a year old yet, and no MMO's are perfect out of the box, so to keep an open mind.… Expand

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.

Doomsday4766

Jun 29, 2012

3

So here i am after getting to lvl 40 something, sith inquisitor. My first experiance, to this long awaited title was . . . dissapointing; Install, then update, then login (yay), then my first character.(here is the first link to wow i noticed) i have to choose a faction... I am evil so i will be sith. okay, then i choose the class some selection here, but i know what, i want Inquisitor B)So here i am after getting to lvl 40 something, sith inquisitor. My first experiance, to this long awaited title was . . . dissapointing; Install, then update, then login (yay), then my first character.(here is the first link to wow i noticed) i have to choose a faction... I am evil so i will be sith. okay, then i choose the class some selection here, but i know what, i want Inquisitor B) (they looked awesome and have double sided lightsabre) pass that. toon time. Talk about limited options. . . i mean the twiliek is the most elaborate and all he's got are tentacles. NO COOL ALIENS NONE: no Trandoshean, no ithorian , No wookie , Nada. This really bugs me because i expected this to fill the void Galaxies left. They had Rodians And Mon Calamari !! what gives Bioware? okay so i pick pale face. now i get to play (yay), oh but wait, not yay. im a lvl 1 sith with a dumb light bulb batton? (does it even hurt?) at least Kotor had vibroblades. okay whatever, so my first interaction with voice over is a Overly Zealous sith officer who calls me a slave and then orders me around. my main motivation for the next few hours is to seriously kill this guy ... anyways turns out that my "quest" is to kill slugs, and to stop robbers, big whoop. story does get a little interesting. Then i tried pvp, -_-. what im tryying to say is, the game plays Too much like wow for me, the quests, the loot system, things in the game just give this cheap copycat feel, even the dumb transportation that takes entirely too long. From somebody els i could have brushed this off. This is Bioware i am a fan of Kotor i even liked dragon age, not 2, But it was original and an honest attempt. This game makes me feel tired and listening makes me sleepy, waiting for my companions is boring, Why fly my ship if it fly's itself? where is my guild?? what is huttball !? Time to put this Wow lookalike to rest while im still ahead. this is my official review for this game. If the game changes wich i doubt then maybe so will my opinion till then Bye bioware. 3 out of 10 because i really really thought bioware had this one, and because starwars is one of my favorite things. The old republic does none of them anygood.… 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

The_Vidyam

Jun 18, 2012

10

Probably one of the most well-constructed sailing vessels I've ever had the pleasure of riding. The foundation is sturdy, the attendants are nice, and I feel safe in knowing that I'm riding "The unsinkable ship"!

I hope that Bioware can continue to manufacture more fanfictions soon.

9999/10

Kenmei

Jun 12, 2012

1

This is my third and final review for this game, and my score has gotten progressively worse each time. After almost 6 months with this game, I finally understand why this game will fail everytime and why a game like WoW will succeed. It's all in how the company treats the consumer and how they work to develop things the consumer likes. SWTOR has failed in the sense that they've completelyThis is my third and final review for this game, and my score has gotten progressively worse each time. After almost 6 months with this game, I finally understand why this game will fail everytime and why a game like WoW will succeed. It's all in how the company treats the consumer and how they work to develop things the consumer likes. SWTOR has failed in the sense that they've completely disregarded the consumer, to the point now where they are deleting posts on their website and banning accounts for saying even the slightest thing wrong about their game now. The fact that they've had to add things in 1.2 and 1.3 that should have been mandatory stuff at launch, and only after we've complained for long enough, shows they just don't really care about us. The lack of new content and the balancing issues in PvE raid scenerios make things either far too easy or way too hard some certain difficulty levels. Your forced to have a specific raid comp to complete all of the new HM dungeons, not just one or two fights like in WoW, and the lack of new content in 1.3 will send the already dwindling subscriptions numbers even further into a crumbling world. The fact that there are far too many servers with too many people spread out does nothing to solve this issue either and free character transfers won't fix that problem. It's been said that they are already preparing this game to go free-to-play in the coming patches because of the lack of subscriptions already. If that happens, this game will official be done. However, Bioware and EA aren't doing themselves any favors by firing most of the development team for this game, which really restricts how much content they can deal out. This game is bleeding out and dying a slow, painful death right now. The only reason why I gave this a 1 instead of a 0 is the fact that I met some really great people during my tenure with this game. The community is a great one but when your going to be ignored and given just stupid "upgrades" to a game that is in desperate need of new actual material to play through, then your never going to succeed with an MMO. Go back to WoW or wait for the new Guild Wars 2 to come out later this summer. Do not waste your time with this game.… Expand

X0R

Jun 11, 2012

0

For spending so much money & time to develop, this game was really disappointing. I played the beta and knew it was going to be a 50/50 chance at washing out, but had hopes that it would develop & improve over time. Well, it improved a little... unfortunately not enough for me to stay subscribed after two-months, of which I probably only played for 15-hours total. Not sandbox in any way,For spending so much money & time to develop, this game was really disappointing. I played the beta and knew it was going to be a 50/50 chance at washing out, but had hopes that it would develop & improve over time. Well, it improved a little... unfortunately not enough for me to stay subscribed after two-months, of which I probably only played for 15-hours total. Not sandbox in any way, which is something that really made this game a dull grind.

I'm a Star Wars fan, and willing to endure imperfections, however of all of the servers I had characters on - most were barren within 6-weeks. This might be fun for some people, but was really boring in my experience. Another lame MMO, or single player MMO.… Expand

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

Featured

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Review this game

Awards & Rankings

Essential Links

Critic Reviews