: Star Wars: The Old Republic

I was invited to participate in the closed beta of Star Wars: The Old Republic this weekend. Unfortunately, I've been sick the past five days or something, so I haven't been able to play as much as I wanted. But I got to test out two of the classes. One I liked very much, and one I... Well, I didn't dislike it, it just wasn't as fun in my opinion.

Also; The non-disclosure part of the Game Testing Agreement has been lifted, so I'm free to write about the game and what I think about it. So, here I go.

Smuggler

The first class I tested was the Smuggler. I chose this class because I thought it was some kind of rogue-class, purely based on the name, and when it comes to games like this I am very  fond of rogue-classes. It also uses an energy system very similar to the one Rogues in World of Warcraft use. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The Smuggler seems to be a purely ranged class, mainly focused around taking cover behind stuff, as several of the skills can only be used while in cover-mode.

Cover-mode can be activated anywhere, but the Smuggler will merely crouch down unless there's a cover-point nearby. If there is a cover-point nearby, the Smuggler will leap to it when you press the cover-button. Cover-points aren't usually visible, but they will appear once you target an enemy.

This is the class I didn't like too much. I think the cover-based combat is a bit too much of a hassle, but that's maybe because I'm not used to playing games with cover-systems. I think this might've been my first? I can't really remember.

Jedi Knight

The second class I tested was the Jedi Knight. I chose this class only because I wanted to try a melee class, and this was, as far as I could tell, the best choice. Playing this class was a lot more satisfying to me, it felt much better to run (or rather leap, once you get the skill) into the midst of my enemies and cutting them down, than to shoot them from behind a rock.

This class seems to be focused around stances, but it's difficult to tell. I only got up to level 9 I think, and therefore only had one stance available. Aside from that, though, I got quite a few nice skills already at that low level, and using them was fun and felt good.

The Jedi Knight uses a resource system that is sort of similar to a Warrior in WoW, called focus. It's generated by regular attacks and certain skills, like the leap skill, and degenerates when out of combat. It's fun alternating between skills to generate and use this resource.

Other Classes

There are two more classes for the Republic, Jedi Consular and Trooper. The Empire has four other classes, though I didn't check them out. The only one I remember is the Bounty Hunter. I imagine they're not too dissimilar from the Republic classes, but I can't say. It seems there's also some kind of advanced classes, two for each base class, but I think you have to choose them at level 10, so I never got to do that.

Gameplay

The actual combat in this game is overall more satisfying than other similar games, like WoW, no matter which . There's no auto-attack in this game, you have to actively choose every single action you perform. It's not as extreme as Age of Conan, where you have to perform combos by attacking from different angles and stuff like that. That system was a bit too much if you ask me. I like this better, and the resource systems are rapid enough to prevent much "downtime" during fights.

There seems to be some kind of companion system in this game, where you get NPC's that follow you that you can control. While playing my Jedi Knight I got my own little R2-D2-clone, called T7-O1, to help me, and it seemed like I got to keep him as a permanent companion, and I'm guessing there's a system where you gain more companions and can choose which ones you want to bring with you at all times. I don't know for sure, though, but that's what it seemed like.

Presentation

The game looks and sounds good for an MMO, in my opinion. I had to turn down the graphics settings, even with my "super-laptop", but it still didn't look bad. Graphics and sound isn't what I focused on during my short play-time, though, so there's not much more I can say.

Conclusion

There's still a lot more to this game than what I experience in my short time playing it, but I only saw some hints at some of it, and I assume there's a lot more that I had no chance of seeing that early in the game. But the little I did experience left me wanting more. I'm very much considering getting this game when it's released. I might even pre-order it, to get an early start in hopefully not-as-laggy areas. And I'm not even really a fan of Star Wars.