Neirai the Forgiven
Christian Guilds List Manager
Admin note: SWTOR's NDA has been lifted.
This is long. The Verdict is at the bottom, you can't miss it.
Credentials: I've played 3 weekends of TOR. I've played 7 years of WoW. I've read everything produced by the WoW developers for over a year, as well as dabbled in developer chat from other companies and commentaries from decent sources. I've played several other MMOs and fake MMO-like products over the last decade.
A Warning: Some of my comments may ruin the game for you. By this I mean, they will pull back the veil of illusion from the game and show you inner workings that you might not naturally be aware of. If this happens, you may find yourself seeing and being annoyed by something you normally would never have even noticed. To prevent this from happening, I'm going to try to couch these thoughts in spoiler tags.
I'm also going to try to keep this from being a "SWTOR vs WOW" review.
Basic Comments: Gameplay Balance, Graphics, Classes, Quest Tracking
Let's start off basic. The game is pretty sweet looking. It's very much a true MMO, with a fully playable game world and not a lot instanced. Graphics are good. Very good. And smooth. I was impressed by the game's ability to give me polish without giving me lag and low frame rates.
SWTOR is very different than some other MMOs in one huge aspect: to get anywhere, you have to play through the story. You won't get professions, "advanced" -- or actually, real, classes, or companions until you get to them in the storyline. And each of the eight classes gets a different story, so the pace at which you get your stuff is different each time. I like this and don't like this, to be honest, but I will admit this: SWTOR is much more organic feeling and less of a metagame than any other MMO I've seen.
Also, SWTOR implements a number of the same mods-turned-real-UI upgrades that WoW has, better. In particular, the map in SWTOR always tells you where you are going to need to go in order to quest. Not the actual, pin-point locations, mind you, but the areas. It will tell you which buildings are interesting, which taxis will save you time, and so on. And it will do that for your party-mates, too.
The Good: Star Wars
By and large, this is the game for Star Wars fans. If you're a big Star Wars fan, but you don't know if you'd like the game, stop wondering and go pre-order.
Seriously, this is the closest you'll ever get to being a real live character in a real Star Wars universe. Yes, it's set in the Old Republic era, so you won't get to brush shoulders with Han Solo and Corran Horn -- and that's a shame -- but you will feel like a Jedi. Or a bounty hunter. Or a smuggler.
The Good: Voice Acting
Adding the polish to seal the deal on you feeling like you belong to the world is the voice acting for your character. You can choose a personality and stick with it, and you will feel like your character has that personality.
I've played a Jedi Knight that is always submissive to his masters but feels like he is better than all the other Padawans.
I've played a Bounty Hunter that cares only about money and never alters the deal, but who has a soft spot for other women in need.
I've played a Smuggler who was absolutely catty to everyone.
I've played a Trooper who was strong, dependable, and had a heart of gold.
I've played a Jedi Knight who was rather innocent and inquisitive.
The voice acting takes up a lot of the game, but it's very top-notch. The choice system is robust and makes the game shine.
The Best: Multiplayer Voice Acting and Unpredictable Stories
Easily the best experience I've had in the game was playing in a group with another player. The game contains Group Conversations which you must try to do as often as possible. In a Group Conversation, the players compete with each other for dominance, based on combinations of how influential their race, class, gender and conversation choice is on the character -- and based on what the NPC wants to hear.
In addition, when you're in a Group Conversation, whoever wins pushes the story forward in the direction of their choice. Which means that you can't predict the storyline when you're in a group. Infinite replayability Also, your light/dark influence is independent of the storyline, which means that you can still get light points for choosing the right choice while your friends push the story to the dark side -- or visa versa.
The Bad: Being a Jedi (and sleeping with Twi'leks.)
On a philosophical note, and especially remembering that we're Christians here, I need to make a small rant.
/rant
Jedi are not Christians. Do not kid yourself. The light side of the force is not analogous to Christianity. If you play as a Jedi, to get light points you are going to have to choose very atheistic options, learn that emotions are wrong, and place rationalism on a high pedestal. In short, you'll have to pay lip service to the fallacy that runs rampant in our culture.
You get to be an atheist with spiritual powers.
/rant off.
Oh, and while I'm talking on this vein, you also can have sex.
It's not graphic sex. You don't get to see it at all. But if you flirt with people too much, you will actually have sex with them, story-wise. I will strongly defend that this isn't gratuitous sex and that it's not porn -- but I would be very careful letting your kids flirt with the various women in the game.
Note: some of us don't want games with any sex in them at all. If you are in that category, do not buy this game.
Again, for the record, I defend BioWare's choice to put sex in a game about choices and relationships. But some of us don't want our kids sleeping with Twi'leks. It's your choice, but you deserve to know. And if you feel that you might be sucked into a habit of trying to have affairs with every woman in the game -- at which point, the game is porn for you -- do not play it.
Missions and Questing
The Bad: Is it just another MMO?
A big factor in choosing whether or not I'm going to stick with WoW or go to SWTOR is the end game.
The weakest part of my review is that I never hit level 50. Or got close. But I'm going to say this:
WoW has raiding, battlegrounds, heroic dungeons, achievements, and, if you care, arenas. If you've played WoW as long as I have, you are either sick of these things or you like them enough to enjoy them if they are very well designed.
SWTOR has raiding, battlegrounds, heroic dungeons, achievements, and I'm not sure about arenas. But if you don't play WoW because you're sick of these things, you won't like them for long in SWTOR.
Mists of Pandaria promises to add things to the list of what WoW offers in end-game. I think that's a serious promise.
I'm not sure whether or not SWTOR has anything more to add to their list. I'm going to have to watch for longer than I have so far before I know.
Before someone says "yes, but x thing in SWTOR is way better than it is in WoW," the things that make those things better in SWTOR are things that WoW can duplicate or even outpace given enough time and money. And if there is one thing that Blizzard has, it's money. So, they will duplicate or outpace those things -- if they are worth duplicating or outpacing.
The Worst: Crew Skills
And now, the worst part of SWTOR: crew skills, or professions.
While I agree that being able to have your companions work on professions without you sounds like a good idea, the gameplay on professions needs to be better than "I press a button and lose my companions for 6 minutes and then get a loot." Or don't, as it may be.
When the game was being developed, BioWare told you that you could also do professions yourself. But this seems to be limited only to the gathering professions. So you get to pick up materials as you play, but it doesn't seem that you can actually build stuff yourself.
Certainly, the "Mission Skills," seem to be only able to be done by your companions. So you have to send them off for chunks of time in order to even start the profession rolling. It's not that this is bad, it's just not very compelling.
When you're playing multiplayer in groups, losing your pet isn't a bad thing, because the two of you are able to cover for each other. But the game is balanced for two characters -- you and your companion -- above level 10. So going out into the field and working on a profession is hard to do without a friend. With a friend, the professions are decent because you don't need the backup.
They still aren't very compelling.
Oh, and there are quite a lot of them and you can choose a fair number, but it's hard to tell what is and isn't a good combination. You can find out, but it basically is way easier just to google it. Once you find a good combo, it works well, but if you don't have a good combo, you are pretty much screwed.
Hopefully they work on these more.
THE VERDICT
Overall, this is an awesome game.
If you're a rabid Star Wars fan, get this game.
If you're looking for a new MMO to learn about MMOs, this is a great place to start.
If you hate WoW but want to play a real MMO, get this game.
If you play WoW and want to know if it's time to jump ship, wait a year, let your friends hit level 50, and then watch them play sometime. Keep what I wrote in the spoilers in mind.
If you play WoW and you're wondering if Mists of Pandaria will be worth buying, it probably will be.
Right now, my money is on WoW. But these games develop as they go, and BioWare has promised to keep upgrading SWTOR. Which means that both games are worth watching.
This is long. The Verdict is at the bottom, you can't miss it.
Credentials: I've played 3 weekends of TOR. I've played 7 years of WoW. I've read everything produced by the WoW developers for over a year, as well as dabbled in developer chat from other companies and commentaries from decent sources. I've played several other MMOs and fake MMO-like products over the last decade.
A Warning: Some of my comments may ruin the game for you. By this I mean, they will pull back the veil of illusion from the game and show you inner workings that you might not naturally be aware of. If this happens, you may find yourself seeing and being annoyed by something you normally would never have even noticed. To prevent this from happening, I'm going to try to couch these thoughts in spoiler tags.
I'm also going to try to keep this from being a "SWTOR vs WOW" review.
Basic Comments: Gameplay Balance, Graphics, Classes, Quest Tracking
Let's start off basic. The game is pretty sweet looking. It's very much a true MMO, with a fully playable game world and not a lot instanced. Graphics are good. Very good. And smooth. I was impressed by the game's ability to give me polish without giving me lag and low frame rates.
SWTOR is very different than some other MMOs in one huge aspect: to get anywhere, you have to play through the story. You won't get professions, "advanced" -- or actually, real, classes, or companions until you get to them in the storyline. And each of the eight classes gets a different story, so the pace at which you get your stuff is different each time. I like this and don't like this, to be honest, but I will admit this: SWTOR is much more organic feeling and less of a metagame than any other MMO I've seen.
I was disappointed to learn that the classes in the game aren't as diverse as they look. Smugglers are Agents, Troopers are Bounty Hunters, Jedi and Sith Knights and Counselors and Inquisitors are simply recolors of the same thing. Troopers and Bounty Hunters use different guns (Blasters vs. Rifles,) as do Smugglers and Agents, but if you look closely, the two gun categories are exactly the same, except that certain classes are arbitrarily unable to use them.
The Good: Star Wars
By and large, this is the game for Star Wars fans. If you're a big Star Wars fan, but you don't know if you'd like the game, stop wondering and go pre-order.
Seriously, this is the closest you'll ever get to being a real live character in a real Star Wars universe. Yes, it's set in the Old Republic era, so you won't get to brush shoulders with Han Solo and Corran Horn -- and that's a shame -- but you will feel like a Jedi. Or a bounty hunter. Or a smuggler.
The Good: Voice Acting
Adding the polish to seal the deal on you feeling like you belong to the world is the voice acting for your character. You can choose a personality and stick with it, and you will feel like your character has that personality.
I've played a Jedi Knight that is always submissive to his masters but feels like he is better than all the other Padawans.
I've played a Bounty Hunter that cares only about money and never alters the deal, but who has a soft spot for other women in need.
I've played a Smuggler who was absolutely catty to everyone.
I've played a Trooper who was strong, dependable, and had a heart of gold.
I've played a Jedi Knight who was rather innocent and inquisitive.
The voice acting takes up a lot of the game, but it's very top-notch. The choice system is robust and makes the game shine.
The Best: Multiplayer Voice Acting and Unpredictable Stories
Easily the best experience I've had in the game was playing in a group with another player. The game contains Group Conversations which you must try to do as often as possible. In a Group Conversation, the players compete with each other for dominance, based on combinations of how influential their race, class, gender and conversation choice is on the character -- and based on what the NPC wants to hear.
In addition, when you're in a Group Conversation, whoever wins pushes the story forward in the direction of their choice. Which means that you can't predict the storyline when you're in a group. Infinite replayability Also, your light/dark influence is independent of the storyline, which means that you can still get light points for choosing the right choice while your friends push the story to the dark side -- or visa versa.
The Bad: Being a Jedi (and sleeping with Twi'leks.)
On a philosophical note, and especially remembering that we're Christians here, I need to make a small rant.
/rant
Jedi are not Christians. Do not kid yourself. The light side of the force is not analogous to Christianity. If you play as a Jedi, to get light points you are going to have to choose very atheistic options, learn that emotions are wrong, and place rationalism on a high pedestal. In short, you'll have to pay lip service to the fallacy that runs rampant in our culture.
You get to be an atheist with spiritual powers.
/rant off.
Oh, and while I'm talking on this vein, you also can have sex.
It's not graphic sex. You don't get to see it at all. But if you flirt with people too much, you will actually have sex with them, story-wise. I will strongly defend that this isn't gratuitous sex and that it's not porn -- but I would be very careful letting your kids flirt with the various women in the game.
Note: some of us don't want games with any sex in them at all. If you are in that category, do not buy this game.
Again, for the record, I defend BioWare's choice to put sex in a game about choices and relationships. But some of us don't want our kids sleeping with Twi'leks. It's your choice, but you deserve to know. And if you feel that you might be sucked into a habit of trying to have affairs with every woman in the game -- at which point, the game is porn for you -- do not play it.
Missions and Questing
Although the voice actors are awesome and they add incredible depth to every quest, the quest mechanics seem to be limited at this point to "kill X monsters," "get X items," "interact with X objects."
Yes, the game can do a lot -- a lot more than WoW, which already did a lot -- with those limited choices, but I feel that a seasoned WoW player might get very tired of questing in the game. Especially because WoW has a lot more quest mechanics now.
Yes, the game can do a lot -- a lot more than WoW, which already did a lot -- with those limited choices, but I feel that a seasoned WoW player might get very tired of questing in the game. Especially because WoW has a lot more quest mechanics now.
A big factor in choosing whether or not I'm going to stick with WoW or go to SWTOR is the end game.
The weakest part of my review is that I never hit level 50. Or got close. But I'm going to say this:
WoW has raiding, battlegrounds, heroic dungeons, achievements, and, if you care, arenas. If you've played WoW as long as I have, you are either sick of these things or you like them enough to enjoy them if they are very well designed.
SWTOR has raiding, battlegrounds, heroic dungeons, achievements, and I'm not sure about arenas. But if you don't play WoW because you're sick of these things, you won't like them for long in SWTOR.
Mists of Pandaria promises to add things to the list of what WoW offers in end-game. I think that's a serious promise.
I'm not sure whether or not SWTOR has anything more to add to their list. I'm going to have to watch for longer than I have so far before I know.
Before someone says "yes, but x thing in SWTOR is way better than it is in WoW," the things that make those things better in SWTOR are things that WoW can duplicate or even outpace given enough time and money. And if there is one thing that Blizzard has, it's money. So, they will duplicate or outpace those things -- if they are worth duplicating or outpacing.
The Worst: Crew Skills
And now, the worst part of SWTOR: crew skills, or professions.
While I agree that being able to have your companions work on professions without you sounds like a good idea, the gameplay on professions needs to be better than "I press a button and lose my companions for 6 minutes and then get a loot." Or don't, as it may be.
When the game was being developed, BioWare told you that you could also do professions yourself. But this seems to be limited only to the gathering professions. So you get to pick up materials as you play, but it doesn't seem that you can actually build stuff yourself.
Certainly, the "Mission Skills," seem to be only able to be done by your companions. So you have to send them off for chunks of time in order to even start the profession rolling. It's not that this is bad, it's just not very compelling.
When you're playing multiplayer in groups, losing your pet isn't a bad thing, because the two of you are able to cover for each other. But the game is balanced for two characters -- you and your companion -- above level 10. So going out into the field and working on a profession is hard to do without a friend. With a friend, the professions are decent because you don't need the backup.
They still aren't very compelling.
Oh, and there are quite a lot of them and you can choose a fair number, but it's hard to tell what is and isn't a good combination. You can find out, but it basically is way easier just to google it. Once you find a good combo, it works well, but if you don't have a good combo, you are pretty much screwed.
Hopefully they work on these more.
THE VERDICT
Overall, this is an awesome game.
If you're a rabid Star Wars fan, get this game.
If you're looking for a new MMO to learn about MMOs, this is a great place to start.
If you hate WoW but want to play a real MMO, get this game.
If you play WoW and want to know if it's time to jump ship, wait a year, let your friends hit level 50, and then watch them play sometime. Keep what I wrote in the spoilers in mind.
If you play WoW and you're wondering if Mists of Pandaria will be worth buying, it probably will be.
Right now, my money is on WoW. But these games develop as they go, and BioWare has promised to keep upgrading SWTOR. Which means that both games are worth watching.
I feel the Crew Skills could be fleshed out more, it is pretty basic at the moment, but I am glad I don't have to run around with an ax and chop up trees like in LOTRO or spend my time at a forge when I could be leveling.
