Customer Reviews

Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(114)

 

 

Quite possibly the very best idea for a MMORPG, and also, quite possibly the very worse execution as well. The idea of an online game set in the Star Wars Universe was definitely the most enticing game idea I had ever seen. I actually had to buy a whole new computer to play it two years ago.

This game has, or to say, had dozens of new innovative ideas. It was the first MMORPG to use a skill system, instead of a level system, since I had played UO. It had the greatest crafting system I had ever seen in any game. It was also the first online game I know to include professions specifically aimed towards casual gamers. Players could choose to be Dancers or Musicians. You could place your own houses all over huge sandbox style planets.

Most of things were flawed, and had issues with something being too strong, or not strong enough. For the longest time the game's developers tried unsuccessfully to balance and fix the flaws with the game. A great deal or progress was made in the twenty-two months since the game's launch, but evidentially not enough. The developers created a patch called the "Combat Upgrade" or CU for short.

The combat upgrade fundamentally traded a very flawed, though original and innovative combat system, for a very flawed bland overused combat system. The upgrade switched from a skill based system, to the overly used level system that so many other games have. A unique armor system that involved different damages and certain enemies and armories having certain protections and vulnerabilities was replaced with simply all armor having very similar protections to everything, as well as every enemy having the exact same protections now as well.

Though it was named the Combat Upgrade, this change greatly effected all the non-combative professions as well. Medical professions lost the ability to craft their own medicines, and now simply heal without them. (much like priests or clerics in other games) They may only heal in combat now, if they wish to advance through their profession. Crafting has been made much more simple, and weapons and armor now all very similar stats, and the difference between an exceptional craftsman and a inexperienced one is now very little.

As for it being Star Wars, it's more like Everquest with Star Wars names and characters pasted over it now. The game is set between Episodes IV and V and yet there are dozens of Jedi running around. Ithorians, a pacifist race according to the Star Wars Canon, have 3 suits of exclusive battle armor and can learn just as many destructive skills as other races. The rebels in the game are never hiding and always very much out in the open.

To be a Jedi in the game you must travel a very long, boring, and tedious path full of time sinks and tons of grinding. If you become a Jedi, all that remains is to continue grinding to learn new Jedi skills. They only way to gain XP as a Jedi, good or bad, is to simply kill things over and over again with a lightsaber. Jedi in Star Wars Galaxies is simply another combat profession with different weapons. After you reach Jedi there are no quests or missions for you, at least none that a Non-Jedi could do.

The Total Experience is priced extremely cheap for the reason this game isn't worth much anymore. Both the expansions mostly eye candy and offer little replay value. Jump to Light speed adds a player's chance to fly in space and fight other starships. However space combat is very redundant and the quests and missions for space are all very much the same. NPC ships only tactic seems to be fly circles around you and make you chase them until you get off enough hits to kill them. Rage of the Wookiees added the Wookiee homeworld. However, unlike the other ten planets in the game, which were massive sandbox styles maps that could take a great deal of time to explore, Kashyyyk is simply a large themepark to amuse players. You're limited to trails which lead to instanced dungeons, there's very little to explore. The quests on Kashyyyk are simple quests that offer novelty items from the movies. Such as a suit of Clone Trooper Armor, or a picture of General Grievous.

I've been playing since the game's launch late in June of 2003, and have been playing it regularly since. The developers at Sony Online Entertainment have constantly ignored concerns and requests from the player base, and continue to make horrible decisions based on things they never explain to it's loyal customers. The most recent change to the game as left me with no friends left to play with, and can't even find a reason to log on anymore. SOE seems to not only know nothing about Star Wars, but also nothing about managing a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game as well. If you like Star Wars I'd recommend Knights of the Old Republic, Battlegrounds, or Episode III. If you like online games you might want to try City of Heroes or World of Warcraft. But even if you like both Star Wars and Online games, I wouldn't recommend this game to you.

For those that were back on Everquest during the forum wars may understand what I speak of. We fought every Nerf Verant threw at us. We posted, we discussed, we flamed, we got banned. But we still played EQ cause at the time it was the best. Smedley (President of Sony Online Entertainment) showed up and tried to coral us in, couldn't, so he shut down the forums and turned them into an automated moderated post-it note board. Many of us knew then we could not fight to fix EQ so we left.

We wandered for a bit in the nothingness of MMORPGS at the time until we found the pre-launch forums of SWG. We found out that Verant was going to handle it as they were bought up by SOE and we felt a darkness, but we pushed on, cause we were sure LUCASARTS was in true control.

For 2 years before game launch those were days filled with debates about the timeline, weapons, classes, PVP vs PVE, city boundaries, vehicles, and every thing a kid who grew up playing with star wars action figures ever wanted in a video game. This was before KOTOR or Battlegrounds or Jedi Academy and we all felt SWG was going to be our ultimate Star Wars experience.

We watched as our game was shaped into a vision that we all could live with. We watched as Beta started and was rushed, we watched as the launch of the game by an experienced MMORG company was still handled badly. We should have known then that Verant/SOE was going to screw it up.

We watched as promise after promise was broken. Those that bought the special collectors edition, those with the sunglasses? We were promised that the sunglasses was just the start, that many more IN GAME items and options would be given to those of us that paid the $75 for the collectors set. That was one of the first promises they broke, we never received anything else, none of the Tattooes, the clothes, the vehicles we were promised before launch for buying the special edition.

We then saw as main features were pushed 6 months back from launch. We watched as classes were nerfed into oblivion and utterly destroyed to never fully recover, the creature handlers know of the great Ch nerf of Nov 03.

We watched as soon the Jedi craze became an epidemic as NO Jedi were unlocking. We couldn't even find out the WAY to unlock Jedi. We chased Hermits through the fields we wore HELPER tags and we entered every fixed building on every planet hoping to unlock the jedi secret. Rumors flew of magnificent quest filled adventures that would unlock the Jedi, yet when the truth came out, it was anti-climatic.

Then we watched as too many jedi unlocked as Christmas Holos were given out and months later we find out the jedi code was changed from 5 to 8 professions and most people at the end were having to unlock all 32 professions to reach jedi. Another promise broken.

We watched as many professions needed fixing and were ignored cause of the Jedi problems cause it was obvious there was no Jedi system in place before launch and the Devs were wingin it.

The new popular phrase became, "We will fix it in the CU (Combat Upgrade)."

This was used for every question for 8 months on anything non-jedi related. We then find out that the Devs push the CU back until after JTL cause well, they need to get an expansion out cause they promised us Space ships a YEAR ago before launch. Another promise, a HUGE one, again broken.

Now the CU comes and we find out it isn't an upgrade but a complete new game system. It has changed every single character in the game and has forced many of us to change the characters we have had for 22 months to something else. The CU hasn't fixed HALF of what they promised to fix for the last year. We still have many classes that need revamps that are barely dealt with in the CU.

Now Smedley shows up again and says the CU is a good thing and that after the CU we will be making many more changes. We have waited for the last 2 YEARS for the promised changes and now again, you push them back. Smugglers and SL have waited 12 months for revamps and still have to wait. The CU did not FIX anything, but introduced a slew of new bugs and problems instead that you will need to spend the next 6 months ironing out.

Worst of all is the fact that NOW you have FORCED all your paying customers to Beta Test a bug riddled Game system as per Dallas Dickinson Producer for Sony Online Entertainment comments in this article.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/610/610552p1.html

"Dallas Dickinson: We've been testing it for a full month, both internally and on the test center. We were simply not at the point of getting enough feedback from people. A number of things had come out, and we had fixed all of them. It's a tiered thing when you're working on a massively multiplayer game. The number of eyes you have on any system, especially one as fundamentally large as the combat system, that increases the rate at which issues are borough to the surface. We weren't getting enough new issues, so we had to bring it out in front of the community, take some pain (which we have), and get the real issues brought to our attention. That's the process we're going through right now. Issues are reported to us, and we're responding to them as fast as we can, but we had to go live in order for us to see these issues."

This blatant use of the customer base as beta Testers has crossed the line of good game ethics, as they just admitted that they have forced a flawed game on their paying customers.

After all the broken promises and trust that SOE has whittled away from us, they have the audacity to force the players to be beta testers now? It is my hope that now that Episode III is done, LUCASARTS takes SWG away from SOE finally and starts to take a true interest in the fans still here. Actually, I just hope LUCASARTS makes a NEW SWG MMORPG and shuts this one down due to poor management.

You can find the new game, the "Star Wars Galaxies: Starter Kit" which was released after nearly 7 years of development time, and nearly 3 years of that spent on live servers being paid for by subscribers to the game, on Amazon also.

From Alpha to Beta and then back to Alpha. Maybe back again if enough myrmidons stay subscribed to finance SOE through this rocky period.

A very nice pistol, the "Trandoshan Hunting Pistol" which was a quest item included in this expansion as a special quest item that could be used until it decayed, was broken, or was sold made for a very nice Jedi hunting weapon for Bounty Hunters.

What has the new patch changed in the previous statement?

1.) The "Trandoshan Hunting Pistol" is no longer useable by Bounty Hunters but instead now by spies.
2.) Since it was a biolinked weapon you cannot use it unless you want to be a spy instead of a Bounty Hunter.
3.) It's irrelevant anyway as the pistol now does the same amount of damage as every other pistol in the game, negating the 30 - 40 minute quest that it takes to get the pistol.
4.) The pistol no longer decays so you can use it forever - negating the crafting economy in the game.
5.) You can no longer hunt Jedi in the game - and Jedi are now a starting profession that 90% of the players are playing as.

I described a single quest item that I received from a quest I completed in the Rage of the Wookies expansion. I've given you 5 things that were immediately negated about it by the latest patch called the "NGE" or "New Game Enhancement" (90% of my collected items had these new 'features' that ruined them and the time spent collecting them.)

The insulting thing is that SOE has gone back to the drawing board with SWG trying to make it a copycat of WoW in order to (they hope) compete in the long-term. They hope that you (the paying customer) is such a Star Wars freak that you will continue pumping money into their Alpha-Test of a game in order to finance the development of what they hope it will eventually be.

As-is things are horribly broken. Medic is the strongest class in the game and a level 30 medic can solo-kill 4 level 80 player Jedi.

The game is upsetting to many because the original dev team working on SWG had a vision, and many people knew that vision and stuck with the game for so long in the hopes that it would be realized.

SOE seems content to head in the direction of what their "WoW playing focus groups" tell them they need instead of what the players have asked for.

To get the same effect, slam your head into your computer desk repeatedly to the tune of John William's opening Star Wars theme and flush $15 down the toilet once per month.

SOE has ruined the potential that this game had - and is running in the opposite direction from where they should have been. They blame everyone but themselves. It's captivating as a car wreck to watch - and upsetting for those of us who knew the game's potential.

We've still got our memories... fun was had in spite of what they did to the game. It's not worth playing any longer.

OK, I USED to play and love this game for 8 months. It was my favorite game ever and I played it every day. I like being an entertainer because it was the most social profession. The infamous Combat Upgrade took an entertainer's livelihood away and forced so many players out that cantinas are empty. Therefore, there is no longer people to talk to.

I liked being a Master Swordsman. However, the CU has made enemies and players into a level based system on top of a skill and class based system. It doesn't work. Why are there level 100 MOBS out there when the max level is 80? Levelling has become impossible and I get killed by things that were once easy to me. The armor and weapons I had and used to buy are now useless and prices have skyrocketed due to lack of crafters (because crafters have a 0 combat level any MOB can kill them in 1 hit, forcing many of them to leave) and products being produced.

I also enjoyed playing as a doctor. I made a lot of money selling buffs (stat enhancements) and that was how I made most of my money. However no buffs are worthless and no one wants to buy them anymore. Also I cannot gain any more experience in the hospital by healing people, I have to heal them in the wild in groups. Tell me, how am I supposed to gain experience when the population has dropped so low that I can't find a group.

The lack of support from Sony Online Entertainment has alienated their customers. The first few days of the combat upgrade they had a special "combat upgrade forum" in which 80% of the comments were negative. What did SOE do about these? Did they listen? NO. Did they respond? NO. Did they ease people's anger? NO. They deleted negative posts, banned people who wrote those posts, and would send high-level MOBS at any in-game protesters to "clear them out".

The CU was only in the test server for a few weeks and was completely unfinished and 80% of the feedback of it was negative. What did SOE do? They forced an unfinished and buggy product that was disliked by most on their loyal fanbase. And yet the recent replies from SOE wonder why people left. I could go on and on about the injustices from SOE but that would just waste everyone's time.

I can no longer go off by myself. I can no longer make money.This game used to be great. It used to be unique. It used to be FUN. Now it is a clone of Everquest in a Sci-Fi shell. SWG is not unique anymore and is just like anything else...except a lot more boring. This new "total experience" is priced so low because of the lack of players in the game and so that they can attract more hopeless suckers into their product. Any of you new players who come will never experience how good this game WAS. Go play World of Warcraft or Guild Wars (Both of them I play). I wouldn't waste $1 on this game let alone $25. DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!!!!

Note to all SWG Game Developers,

Step 1: Take Everquest II
Step 2: Halve the quality of the graphics
Step 3: Add laser guns and space ships
Step 4: Ignore any bugs that result
Step 5: Put a sci-fi title on the cover, maybe Battlestar Galactica? Hmm, no, what about Star Wars? Yes Star Wars!

And we have ourselves a winner! Those suckers will be lining up!

Regards,
Sony Online Entertainment

I played Star Wars Galaxies for about 16 months and in the beginning, it was a great game. Not perfect, but still great. I lost interest in it and finally cancelled a few months ago because, simply put, it's no longer Star Wars. The idea behind this game was that you could create YOUR OWN character to inhabit and run around in THE Star Wars saga. This could have been the definitive MMORPG. Sony Online Entertainment got their hands on what was the hottest property around and utterly ruined it. I'm not going to touch upon the Combat Upgrade because that's been gone over a zillion times already: this game simply no longer has any of the spirit of Star Wars in it. Smugglers can't smuggle, medics are crippled, crafters and merchants have been run out of business, entire cities have become desolate ruins. All that's left are about twenty-seven thousand Jedi running around "owning" each other with lightsabers. C'mon: how many Jedi were SERIOUSLY running around at this point in the saga's timeline? Oh yeah, that's right: there is no sense that we're even really in the saga at all, period. It *says* that it's after A New Hope and before The Empire Strikes Back, but SOE has fubared the chronology and canon so bad that it's hopeless to believe there's any semblance of genuine Star Wars story going on here. Fercryingoutloud they put General Grievous in the Wookiee expansion... when he should have been DEAD for at least 20 years already! This game shouldn't even be called "Star Wars Galaxies": it'd be far more accurate to call it "Star Wars Costume Party" and that's how I refer to it to my friends. This game is going down the tubes so fast, that if LucasArts hasn't already considered yanking the franchise away from SOE then it doesn't deserve my buying another game from them ever again on grounds of sheer incompetence and neglect! The older players are going away and the only new players are generally the ones that bought into SOE's slick advertising that you could "live out" the Star Wars saga. They're going away now too. All that will soon be left are a bunch of Jedi wannabes screaming at each other in the middle of a Mos Eisley that's seen better days. Maybe someday LucasArts will deliver a MMORPG that's REALLY worthy the title of Star Wars, but until then keep your money (or invest it in a REAL online game, like Guild Wars) and skip over Star Wars Galaxies, because this game's had it. May Sony never be given another franchise like it again!

The latest game update NGE (New Game Enhancement) has changed the game 100%. One used to have 29 prof. to chose from. It used to be that weapons and armour had different stats. Today you have only 9 professions. Within the combat profession all the weapons yield the same amount of damage and all the armour protects the same amount -even though when you examine the item it reads different stats. Each combat player has a Combat Level from 1 to 90. The higher the combat level the greater damage the character is able to yield. Once you achieve the highest combat level you can no longer upgrade the character at all. Although in total numbers there are many quests, in reality only a handful are popular among the majority of players as they are the most enjoyable. Again, once you have done them very little is left in the game.

Also, even though the galaxy is large at first glance, each planet has invisible walls that do not allow you to explore beyond them -making only about 40% of the available area explorable.

Before these so called enhancements play revolved around communities-guilds- and interacting between players for trade and commerce was thriving. Today as all weapons and resources and armour are essentially the same, the game has become bland at best. It would be worth a try if the subscription was free. However; at US$149+ subscription per year you will not get your money worth. If you do choose to try this game out I advise paying monthly.

If you are thinking of purchasing this product, I would strongly recommend you think twice. You are much better off buying City of Heroes or World of Warcraft. These games are much more fun and they actually care about their customers!

I had been a player of Star Wars Galaxies since closed beta. I am an avid Star Wars fan that had 4 active accounts at one point and loved what WAS a dynamic and emersive online game. I now no longer play and all accounts have been cancelled. Due to the Combat Upgrade, SWG has always been altered and is no longer what it once was.

Solo play has been all but removed from the game, crafting professions are no longer a viable option, the server populations have been gutted due to player dissatisfaction, and the makers of this game, SOE and Lucas Arts, could care less.

Check the forums at http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/

SOE has tried to hide the player dissatisfaction by burying the thread under Other. Go to General Game Discussion and the thread of Combat Upgrade.

I have played Star Wars: Galaxies for 782 days according to the /getvet command. I have purchased all of the expansions out to date. I was considering creating a second account. As of 11-17-05 my account is cancelled. The New Game, also known as the Starter Kit, is the third version of SWG and it is riddled with bugs and incomplete. It is a far inferior product to its previous versions as well. The NG was released after being kept secret for an unknown period of time and allowing players only a two week notice of it being published. Even less time was devoted to it being tested by sources outside of SOE. Trials of Obi Wan and the NG were released in such a manner as to call into question SOE's and LA's ethics. As represented by the employees who post to the forums SOE and LA are uncarring, glib, and/or vastly out of touch with the player community.

Most of these are not new complaints. However, with the release of the NG these problems have escalted to such a degree that the game is no longer playable. While some are content to merely switch games I am not. Simply changing the direction of the flow of money to SOE and LA will not get their attention. I am boycotting all products created by Sony Online Entertainment and Lucas Arts. I encourage others to do the same.

I do not think my actions alone with effect SOE or LA one iota. In fact, I doubt anything will change their policies. The fan base for Star Wars and other properties is sufficiently numerous to mitigate any discontent portion. While some have predicted that the NG will cause the collapse of SWG I believe otherwise. It will lose many current players but those will be replaced by SOE's and LA's new target market. SOE and LA will later use the negative comments and future subscriptions numbers to prove that they were right all along and to dismiss anyone who opposes them as being knee jerk reactionaries who are against change just because they don't like change. Because most likely the next expansion will also bring a new version of SWG as SOE and LA attempt to copy whichever game is doing better then.

I feel compelled to write and tell people looking to buy this game to stay away from it. Also, I intended to write this keeping the amount to read as small as possible.

The company that you would be dealing with uses unethical, illegal, dismissive, uncaring and calloused approaches when dealing with you and the community as a whole.

The game has recently undergone massive changes, fundementally corrupting anything you would read on the box.

The game is currently in a period of development. It is not complete, starting the game now even if you don't agree with what I write is a bad idea. If you despretely want to play a star wars MMO wait a couple of months. This game will either be over or stable at that point.

I could write a whole lot more, but these 3 reasons I feel are things everyone should take in to account before considering this. The game is average, at best. An untrue representation of star wars. I played the game when it was perfect and Star Wars, but the customer service was always pathetic. Avoid like the plague.