Star Wars: The Old Republic

[Dansen]

Pre ordered the collectors edition months ago and can't wait...but Skyrim is holding all my SWTOR hype away for the moment. I loved the beta, but now I'm just going to play Skyrim until it comes out.

Damn I feel so damn lucky. I went from Dark Souls...Skyrim...Now SWTOR. Im the RPG King! XD

I'm not sure Dark Souls can be called an RPG... doing that would open a bag of worms that could start labeling almost everything as "RPG" just because of class mechanics... Hello RPG Modern Warfare.

Did you do Deus Ex? That's a type of RPG.

---

No Thanksgiving beta or early access for you?

I was going to take your post seriously until I saw you calling Dark Souls not an RPG and calling human revolution one. There both RPGs but its laughable that Dark Souls is as RPG as you can get when human revolution is basically gears of war 3 meets splinter cell. But both are great games never the less.

I got the email for thanksgiving beta access but again, won't do it because of Skyrim. But I will do early access

Assumptions are probably the worst thing that Humanity ever invented. In any case, I still disagree that Dark Souls is an RPG, all it has is a basic RPG and class mechanic system, which would allow far too many things to be called RPG's if it was labeled one as well. As for Deus Ex, its current iteration is definitely RPG-style if you look at it. I like to think of Dark Souls as a Thriller Adventure game, though you could MAYBE call Deus Ex an adventure but I think that's a major stretch. Splinter Cell is definitely not related to either though, not in any sense from what genre that is.

Strange Skyrim was dull to me, but I tried TOR and I couldn't put it down.

Have you even played Dark Souls? Honest question, because you sound like you haven't.

 

[Zing]

Well my country was completely excluded from the beta as well as the initial release, still I caved and pre-ordered the game on amazon(the only way to get TOR at release).

I still hate EA with a passion but I won't let it spoil my enjoyment of the game(if it's good).

Well dammit now I just look silly.

Spoiler

 

[Delsana]

Well my country was completely excluded from the beta as well as the initial release, still I caved and pre-ordered the game on amazon(the only way to get TOR at release).

I still hate EA with a passion but I won't let it spoil my enjoyment of the game(if it's good).

Well dammit now I just look silly.

Spoiler

Primarily only silly because you haven't learned how to hide all those taskbar icons with a nice looking up arrow that declogs the screen.

That and because there's this GIANT W symbol on your launchbar for some reason, no idea WHY... you should hit it and poke it until it leaves.

Then of course... you have AIM. I was unaware anyone even used AIM anymore.

 

[RobCoxxy]

I must not cry. I have wanted in on the beta for the past five years. I only got invited for this next weekend. Which is my oldest friend's weekend-long bender. OH GOD. D:
WHY

 

[Zing]

Well my country was completely excluded from the beta as well as the initial release, still I caved and pre-ordered the game on amazon(the only way to get TOR at release).

I still hate EA with a passion but I won't let it spoil my enjoyment of the game(if it's good).

Well dammit now I just look silly.

Spoiler

Primarily only silly because you haven't learned how to hide all those taskbar icons with a nice looking up arrow that declogs the screen.

That and because there's this GIANT W symbol on your launchbar for some reason, no idea WHY... you should hit it and poke it until it leaves.

Then of course... you have AIM. I was unaware anyone even used AIM anymore.

I like my taskbar icons. Don't hate on them.

I have AIM only to keep in touch with old american wow friends who are too anti-social to get facebook. But now that I think about it, I have them all on Steam anyway.

I have no excuse for WoW really, I launch it through SmoothPing anyway so it's pointless. Well I did when I played.

 

[Saltyk]

I'll be playing it this weekend. I can't wait. A friend of mine plans to come over to watch it, much to me surprise.

I doubt he'll be too excited to watch it, so be sure to give him a little time with one of the classes... It's only accommodating and kind to be expected for you to do.

I planned on it. Then again, we have both spent plenty of time watching each other play games. Lol. We're weird like that. I'm sure he'll bring something else to hold his attention. And we're gonna Bar-B-Que. Might have others coming over anyway, because I offered them my home before I realized it was the Beta weekend. I thought it was going to be the one that just passed initially.

No... the other classes were as prominent.

---

TOR isn't a traditional MMO, but people can only find that out if they at least try out the game.

---

I'm hearing about a lot of suppositions and hypotheticals but it seems those against it haven't really looked too into it outside of a video or trailer or some such. I can tell you that the bad rep from other MMO players pretty much vanished almost in entirety when they actually spent a quality amount of time playing the game. Yes, at first they saw similarities as all games will have based on such a foundation, but they quickly became hooked and quickly saw how, while it may not be the next generation of MMO's or some such, it is a quality game and something special.

I understand people have opinions, but there's a lot of knocking of this game for no literal reason outside of it being an "MMO" or having RPG style mechanics. If you would only play it as a SP RPG then perhaps it's because you want more control and you'd probably get that, true, but you do yourself and BioWare, and the universe of Star Wars a disservice by judging it so harshly without even trying it out.

I've heard that Troopers and Bounty Hunters are surprisingly capable. Almost too capable! Like people have run 4 man parties with nothing but Troopers. Then again, both classes can tank/heal/dps so it's not hard to imagine that it would be a good party.

Are you aware that there is a group on the Escapist devoted to SW:TOR?

 

[Delsana]

I'll be playing it this weekend. I can't wait. A friend of mine plans to come over to watch it, much to me surprise.

I doubt he'll be too excited to watch it, so be sure to give him a little time with one of the classes... It's only accommodating and kind to be expected for you to do.

I planned on it. Then again, we have both spent plenty of time watching each other play games. Lol. We're weird like that. I'm sure he'll bring something else to hold his attention. And we're gonna Bar-B-Que. Might have others coming over anyway, because I offered them my home before I realized it was the Beta weekend. I thought it was going to be the one that just passed initially.

No... the other classes were as prominent.

---

TOR isn't a traditional MMO, but people can only find that out if they at least try out the game.

---

I'm hearing about a lot of suppositions and hypotheticals but it seems those against it haven't really looked too into it outside of a video or trailer or some such. I can tell you that the bad rep from other MMO players pretty much vanished almost in entirety when they actually spent a quality amount of time playing the game. Yes, at first they saw similarities as all games will have based on such a foundation, but they quickly became hooked and quickly saw how, while it may not be the next generation of MMO's or some such, it is a quality game and something special.

I understand people have opinions, but there's a lot of knocking of this game for no literal reason outside of it being an "MMO" or having RPG style mechanics. If you would only play it as a SP RPG then perhaps it's because you want more control and you'd probably get that, true, but you do yourself and BioWare, and the universe of Star Wars a disservice by judging it so harshly without even trying it out.

I've heard that Troopers and Bounty Hunters are surprisingly capable. Almost too capable! Like people have run 4 man parties with nothing but Troopers. Then again, both classes can tank/heal/dps so it's not hard to imagine that it would be a good party.

Are you aware that there is a group on the Escapist devoted to SW:TOR?

No, but I should have considered that, of course, I'm not "devoted".

I'm "devoted" to the expanded universe of course.

 

[Delsana]

I must not cry. I have wanted in on the beta for the past five years. I only got invited for this next weekend. Which is my oldest friend's weekend-long bender. OH GOD. D:
WHY

So you desperately wanted in for 5 years, missed the first weekend beta, and now have a shot at the 2nd weekend beta (which really they invite everyone to anyway) and getting drunk for a weekend is apparently more important to you? I'm not going to even TRY to say what's wrong with that statement, BUT, I will state that the likelihood of you being able to get drunk other days is probably extremely high and now knowing a small thing about your interests, I can assure you that you need not fret about lack of opportunities for you to destroy your brain cells over prolonged periods of time, as you'll have plenty of opportunities.

In any case.. you could just drink while playing... I might smoke a good cigar with a glass of wine while playing, possibly.

 

[isometry]

What makes an RPG an RPG has to do with the prescence of statistics and how they determine success or failur rather than the abillities of the player.

There is no universal definition of RPG, but here are the main ones I see people applying:

1. Story games with engrossing characters and plots.
2. Statistical / Arithmetic games where player actions and character progression are abstracted to stats and dice rolls.
3. Roleplaying games, where the player is allowed to choose a role and play in way that thoroughly reflects their choice of role.

All three of these attributes are independent. I take (3) as my primary definition of "RPG", because it emphasizes roleplaying. I do acknowledge, however, that historically RPGs have tended to use statistics and dice rolls, but I think there is a good reason for that.

What the statistics and dice rolls are really about is abstracting a large number of possible actions and events to be a part of a simple-to-make and simple-to-play system. For example, if a game lets a player roleplay breaking into safes, then instead of doing all the work to make a safe-cracking mini-game and forcing the player to learn it, just give the player a safe-cracking statistic and simulate the event with a dice roll. This way the player can choose from a much larger set of actions then if the developers had to animate and create an interface for each activity.

That's why tabletop RPGs and early computer RPGs use statistics and dice rolls to facilitate the roleplaying. But game design and game development budgets have come a long way, and presently it's possible to do roleplaying without relying on statistics and dice rolls.

Applying definition (3), we see that games like Deus Ex and the Elder Scrolls series are roleplaying games because they let us choose how to roleplay different situations. Series like Final Fantasy and Mass Effect, while they are statistical / arithmetic games with great stories and characters, are not RPGs because for all of Shepards dialog options, he/she has only one option in most gameplay situations: "move forward, shoot gun / gun-like ability."

I'l reserve judgement on whether TOR is an RPG until we get more of a picture of the late game situations that all the classes have to deal with. It's easy to feel like a rogue in a story written about being a rogue, the test of an RPG is for a warrior and rogue to be presented with the same situation but to handle it differently according to their roles.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Last weekend was my first time with it. Excellent dialogue branches and decisions on missions, though the third dialogue branch is too often a rather abrupt 'RAWRAWR I'll kill you!!' option that would only make sense if you were a cartoon villain and/or Sith. Definitely a selling point if they can keep that up all the way to level 50. I also liked the companions and colour-coordinated drops to help you avoid trash, and sell it when you're full on stuff.

Bounty Hunter was my favourite of the classes I tried, but that's partly because it's hard to target individual enemies in combat when they're moving, and Tab-targeting is unreliable at melee distance.

Bounty Hunter also gave me the only group quest I had difficulty with, the Sith warship battle after departing the starter world. We had a party of four with one representing each of the Empire's base classes. It was probably the crowning moment of awesome for my playtest, even if we died a lot to the bosses. When you're alone in the field on the other hand, the quick enemy respawn rate can catch you off guard sometimes.

Dunno if I'll get it right away come launch day, but when I do I'll be starting Bounty Hunter, just have to get into the right mindset for it.

 

[Delsana]

Well my country was completely excluded from the beta as well as the initial release, still I caved and pre-ordered the game on amazon(the only way to get TOR at release).

I still hate EA with a passion but I won't let it spoil my enjoyment of the game(if it's good).

Well dammit now I just look silly.

Spoiler

Primarily only silly because you haven't learned how to hide all those taskbar icons with a nice looking up arrow that declogs the screen.

That and because there's this GIANT W symbol on your launchbar for some reason, no idea WHY... you should hit it and poke it until it leaves.

Then of course... you have AIM. I was unaware anyone even used AIM anymore.

I like my taskbar icons. Don't hate on them.

I have AIM only to keep in touch with old american wow friends who are too anti-social to get facebook. But now that I think about it, I have them all on Steam anyway.

I have no excuse for WoW really, I launch it through SmoothPing anyway so it's pointless. Well I did when I played.

We're talking about the icons on the right, not on the left. The tiny ones that are spam-tastic.

I just recalled that your taskbar is a shade of red and while a nice looking shade of red, it is still the abysmal color known as red.

 

[Delsana]

Last weekend was my first time with it. Excellent dialogue branches and decisions on missions, though the third dialogue branch is too often a rather abrupt 'RAWRAWR I'll kill you!!' option that would only make sense if you were a cartoon villain and/or Sith. Definitely a selling point if they can keep that up all the way to level 50. I also liked the companions and colour-coordinated drops to help you avoid trash.

Bounty Hunter was my favourite of the classes I tried, but that's partly because it's hard to target individual enemies in combat when they're moving, and Tab-targeting is unreliable at melee distance.

Bounty Hunter also gave me the only group quest I had difficulty with, the Sith warship battle after departing the starter world. We had a party of four with one representing each of the Empire's base classes. It was probably the crowning moment of awesome for my playtest, even if we died a lot to the bosses. When you're alone in the field on the other hand, the quick enemy respawn rate can catch you off guard sometimes.

Dunno if I'll get it right away come launch day, but when I do I'll be starting Bounty Hunter, just have to get into the right mindset for it.

Not even I liked the RAWR evil lines, but to be honest, that was the only way I could shock anyone, and I liked to open up conversations with a nice shock to show them what I was willing to do if they tried to toy with me. Sadly that usually led to more resistant targets which makes no sense since you're not all that resistant (99% of the time at least) when you've just been electrocuted. Still, I enjoyed it, though I didn't like how some good choices were actually dark and how the best dark choices turned out to be LS, which was just dumb (not because of plot, but because of poor wording or imagination, but this was relatively uncommon in my experience) in my eyes. In any case, I think they'll do well and I'm excited for future chapters that are added as content additions.

Don't forget about swtor.com/tester you might be in the thanksgiving weekend test.

 

[Zing]

We're talking about the icons on the right, not on the left. The tiny ones that are spam-tastic.

I just recalled that your taskbar is a shade of red and while a nice looking shade of red, it is still the abysmal color known as red.

I don't really find them spammy. I actually don't like hiding them with an arrow, they all serve as quick access to vital drivers/programs.

There is a reason for the red task bar, believe it or not. It matches my theme:

Are we done judging my desktop now? ;D

 

[Delsana]

We're talking about the icons on the right, not on the left. The tiny ones that are spam-tastic.

I just recalled that your taskbar is a shade of red and while a nice looking shade of red, it is still the abysmal color known as red.

I don't really find them spammy. I actually don't like hiding them with an arrow, they all serve as quick access to vital drivers/programs.

There is a reason for the red task bar, believe it or not. It matches my theme:

Are we done judging my desktop now? ;D

But didn't you just artificially change what the theme was? Because that shirt was NOT actually red and nor did it have any red ON IT. It was a DIFFERENT color. So you butchered the colors. <.<.

Man do I abhor the color red.

No, we will NEVER be done with such judgments.

In any case, what is a VITAL driver? The drivers work on their own, lol. From what I can tell, most of those programs / icons are not needed to be shown, in fact, Microsoft Security Essentials most certainly DOES NOT, nor does Steam if you've already got "Steam" as an icon over to the left with the big kids.

 

[Zing]

We're talking about the icons on the right, not on the left. The tiny ones that are spam-tastic.

I just recalled that your taskbar is a shade of red and while a nice looking shade of red, it is still the abysmal color known as red.

I don't really find them spammy. I actually don't like hiding them with an arrow, they all serve as quick access to vital drivers/programs.

There is a reason for the red task bar, believe it or not. It matches my theme:

Are we done judging my desktop now? ;D

But didn't you just artificially change what the theme was? Because that shirt was NOT actually red and nor did it have any red ON IT. It was a DIFFERENT color. So you butchered the colors. <.<.

Man do I abhor the color red.

No, we will NEVER be done with such judgments.

In any case, what is a VITAL driver? The drivers work on their own, lol. From what I can tell, most of those programs / icons are not needed to be shown, in fact, Microsoft Security Essentials most certainly DOES NOT, nor does Steam if you've already got "Steam" as an icon over to the left with the big kids.

Haha, good catch! Yes it scrolls between that and

Spoiler

Admittedly it doesn't fit as well with the red, but i'm lazy.

By vital, I mean drivers that I access frequently. And I access MSE a lot, to initiate scans and scan items. Also the right-click menu on that steam icon is better than the icon on the left, just sayin'. Same goes for my audio options(used to switch between headset/speakers), Network options for obvious reasons etc

 

[Delsana]

We're talking about the icons on the right, not on the left. The tiny ones that are spam-tastic.

I just recalled that your taskbar is a shade of red and while a nice looking shade of red, it is still the abysmal color known as red.

I don't really find them spammy. I actually don't like hiding them with an arrow, they all serve as quick access to vital drivers/programs.

There is a reason for the red task bar, believe it or not. It matches my theme:

Are we done judging my desktop now? ;D

But didn't you just artificially change what the theme was? Because that shirt was NOT actually red and nor did it have any red ON IT. It was a DIFFERENT color. So you butchered the colors. <.<.

Man do I abhor the color red.

No, we will NEVER be done with such judgments.

In any case, what is a VITAL driver? The drivers work on their own, lol. From what I can tell, most of those programs / icons are not needed to be shown, in fact, Microsoft Security Essentials most certainly DOES NOT, nor does Steam if you've already got "Steam" as an icon over to the left with the big kids.

Haha, good catch! Yes it scrolls between that and

Spoiler

Admittedly it doesn't fit as well with the red, but i'm lazy.

By vital, I mean drivers that I access frequently. And I access MSE a lot, to initiate scans and scan items. Also the right-click menu on that steam icon is better than the icon on the left, just sayin'. Same goes for my audio options(used to switch between headset/speakers), Network options for obvious reasons etc

You have no desktop icons. <.<.

I am... awed and horrified by that.

 

[Delsana]

That very blatantly ignores what makes TOR a unique experience--their story. To ignore that is just... illogical.

WoW was not as established a franchise as star wars for story, but to say that TOR is as much of a leap over all other MMOs in terms of story that it is to be considered a unique experience purely on that level alone is a bit silly.

On that logic, LOTRO would have been fantastic. Wasn't, if you ask me.

Keep in mind the story focus means the voice acting and integral relation to the gameplay rather than just an add on or reason that is or isn't ignored but primarily there only to advance the plot which leads to more killing and items. Story is the focus of this game, even in the "Instances".

 

[RobCoxxy]

I must not cry. I have wanted in on the beta for the past five years. I only got invited for this next weekend. Which is my oldest friend's weekend-long bender. OH GOD. D:
WHY

So you desperately wanted in for 5 years, missed the first weekend beta, and now have a shot at the 2nd weekend beta (which really they invite everyone to anyway) and getting drunk for a weekend is apparently more important to you? I'm not going to even TRY to say what's wrong with that statement, BUT, I will state that the likelihood of you being able to get drunk other days is probably extremely high and now knowing a small thing about your interests, I can assure you that you need not fret about lack of opportunities for you to destroy your brain cells over prolonged periods of time, as you'll have plenty of opportunities.

In any case.. you could just drink while playing... I might smoke a good cigar with a glass of wine while playing, possibly.

I like the cut of your jib.
Haven't seen said friend in a couple of years though, hence the big deal

I'll have plenty of TOR time come Christmas though. And cigars. :3