I have had the opportunity over the past couple of days to squeeze in some play on Star Wars: The Old Republic. There’s a lot I have to say about this game, some good some bad. For the most part it is good. It is very story-
oriented, which is what you expect from Bioware. As a writer I kind of like that part. Go figure.
I am still a little uncertain about the replayability of the game. World of Warcraft has more of a sandbox theme (it’s not really a sandbox by Eve Online definition, but those elements are there) than the linearity of SW:TOR but there are many little things about the new Star Wars game that I am finding enjoyable.
I will post a more exhaustive review later once I get deeper into the game, but so far I can say I am finding it enjoyable. I have been looking for a new MMO and I may have found one. I am only ever a casual player anyway, and this game seems to fit that general need.
As I was blogging about earlier I rolled a Jedi Consular and chose the advanced class of Sage. She’s sort of like a warlock from WOW, a mid- to long-range DPS class I enjoy playing. As I was making her she sort of came out to have the old Yvonne Craig look from a Star Trek episode, haha. Anyway, she’s pretty cute. Her name is Gaella:
Hoover's Corner 
I’m enjoying this game a lot! The Sith Warrior story is excellent, and I’m also enjoying things like hunting for the datacrons hidden on each planet. I think the game is very replayable in the sense that there are 8 separate stories, each of which is probably worth playing through. Each story has multiple possible endings, I’m told–mine has already begun branching according to the choices my character has made. I’m sure I will want to level several characters to 50 just to play through the different stories. I might even play through all eight of them; we’ll see if my interest holds that long.
I love the companions and the crafting system. The game really starts to take off once you’ve got your ship and at least 3 companions, IMO.
As for endgame, I’m less confident. The flashpoints are less sophisticated than WOW’s most recent dungeons, and are tedious in that there can be 20 trash pulls in between bosses. The Black Talon is a great flashpoint–try to do that one, if you get the chance. The rest, pretty meh. But we’ll see. I’m only level 34, and it’s possible the end-game flashpoints and raids are better than the mid-game ones.
I am enjoying the story a lot myself. It is a big differentiation from WOW and a nice one. I’m glad to hear the replayability factor for this game might be high. That will insure continued subs and a long life.
I am beginning to notice that the choices I make now for my character are having real consequences. That wasn’t so much true for me on my home planet, but it seems more pertinent now. For the Horde! I mean…yay!
I’ve played some of the Heroics with other people, then are mostly fun. I’ve queued for some PVP and enjoyed it, but Huttball isn’t my fave. I am looking forward to Black Talon, though. I still haven’t gotten the crafting thing down yet. I got my ship, too!
I started off thinking I was going to play dark side, but hey what can you do I started making light side choices because that seemed to fit her character best. Sometimes I go neutral though if I think that is the choice my character would make.
I really like the game a lot so far and so do my kids. I’m having fun…which is all I ever ask from any game. š
Not to give my age away, but I still REALLY prefer to play the board game versions of games like Dungeons and Dragons and StarWars and Lord of the Rings. I like to confront my opponents head on, spitting fire in their eyes. Yeah! But you wrote a great preview to this video game. Actually, I really like the female character you built. A heroine, not a princess.
I stopped playing D&D when we moved from Mississippi and I lost my awesome gaming group. I, too, cut my teeth on that game and I have very fond memories of it. š