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Reader Comments (17)

Posted: Nov 15th 2009 2:44PM (Unverified) said

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It's nice to see someone taking the time once more to give SWG a go, and see for themselves, as opposed to reading and taking at face value the posts or reviews of former players who still spurn the game for one reason or another, that SWG has indeed come a long way to resolving the problems let loose after the NGE fiasco, now several years behind us.

It has been well stated by Galaxies's development team that certain choices made to make SWG more accesible to casual gamers was both smart and not so smart; however, they really have busted thier collective back-sides to make SWG an amazing experience. Sadly, for me anyway, the game is still a bit graphically hectic, as the vast open terrain reeks havoc with my PC memory. And, as today's pic shows, if the game can not be played with all the graphic bells and whistles on, you really loose alot of the immersive feeling.

If you're a purest, and can get past the fact that Jedi exsist in fairly large numbers now along-side the Galactic Empire, SWG is a worth while time spender. And, for everyone else, if you've got some coin to spare, even if these tough times, and are looking to take a break from one MMO or another and try something to appeal to the Star Wars fan (proud card carrying member) in us all, you can not go wrong with SWG....at least until The Old Republic launches and SWG becomes a Free to play, which...I mean, come on! It's the only choice that will make sense. But, that's a topic for another time.

Posted: Nov 15th 2009 10:41PM Lateris said

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There are some nice SWG mods such as a full DX10 update that SOE will never do that fans pulled off over at swgmods. They really bring the game alive by adding a flavor of star wars and graphic updates made by fans for the fans. That engine is so toned down with all the graphics turned up compared to when it was in development. The lag comes from the fact that the engine was never meant for the NGE combat system as it is coded.

To the OP you really need to upgrade your PC. This game is seven years old- no offense. My second PC handled it fine with a nvidia 7800. Before that I cant remember what I had back in SWG beta. You can get a good deal for older hardware that will work fine.

The game as it stands now is better then it was when the "NGE" was released. It is a million years better. I still miss the skill system and a lot of time was wasted having to repair the damage that LUCAS ARTS and SOE did with the way they launched the NGE when WoW started to kick their ass. But I still love the player house system and crafting.
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Posted: Nov 15th 2009 2:59PM Zensun said

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"If you're a purest, and can get past the fact that Jedi exsist in fairly large numbers now along-side the Galactic Empire, SWG is a worth while time spender."

Um... 'you're a purest' and 'can get past...Jedi exist in fairly large numbers' just shouldn't be said in the same sentence.

I was with SWG at launch and have tried going back now and again since NGE, but until SOE drops the level-based system and Jedi as PCs, it won't keep my interest for more than a session or two.

SWG was THE sandbox style game that let you play *in* the SW universe. I loved it, though some of the professions still needed considerable work before CU and NGE (e.g., droid engineer, bioengineer).

SOE (and Lucas) made a huge mistake by allowing players to create characters on par with Luke, Leia and Han.

Posted: Nov 15th 2009 3:43PM (Unverified) said

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While I do still have an active SWG account, and have been playing for about 5-6 years now Ive seen it all. As much as I hate the NGE, SOE has pulled itself around with nifty new content updates Such as the Deathtroopers, and the GCW update that is coming out soon.

But with all the goodness they are bringing there are still some downsides. One being that the game has returned to its precu "buff stacking" state, the cookiee-cutter template's, and I still do not like the nge combat mechanics. A bit of the reason why I could never get into fallen earth. I just cant grasp the feel of hybrid FPS/TPS.

Posted: Nov 15th 2009 9:00PM (Unverified) said

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"I'm currently doing some "research" into Star Wars: Galaxies to find out if it deserves its bad reputation."

To truly see if it is deserving of it's bad reputation - you must go back in time to when the game was popular, before the changes. If you were there to ride that wave, then and only then will you see why it has such a bad reputation. It's not the same game at all. What you're judging now is not the same SWG it was upon release - when they had a real fanbase, and a REAL game.

Posted: Nov 15th 2009 9:45PM RogueJedi86 said

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You gotta learn not to live in the past. For people like you SWG can't ever recover from its past reputation by moving forward, it has to move backward to improve. If you go backwards, you aren't progressing. Judge SWG for what it is now, not what made it what it is today. Sure it did a big change that served as a warning to all MMO developers, but the game has outlived Matrix Online and Tabula Rasa and others, which is something at least.

I resubbed recently, and it ain't that horrible. It's like new nostalgia. It's both old and new. 90% of the good stuff I enjoyed(housing and using the wide range of clothing and armor and appearance customization to look exactly how I want) are still in there. That alone makes it still a fun game for me.
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Posted: Nov 16th 2009 8:54AM (Unverified) said

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@RogueJedi86

To say that longing for the PreCU is to look back, is actually a rather subjective statement. - For those of us who felt betrayed by the catastrofuck that was the NGE, or even the CU, it wouldn't be a regression to return to that. It WOULD be a progression.

The CU/NGE is where the game took a huge step backwards, and by undoing those changes they will be taking a big step forward. THAT would be progression. From a simplified capitalistic marketing choice, to the original creative sandbox game with artistic integrity that was SWG.
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Posted: Nov 16th 2009 10:40AM RogueJedi86 said

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Zaniaz, like I said later in this same topic, SWG is still a sandbox in all regards. All the NGE did was add a few quests and change the combat system and classes, none of which a sandbox game destroy. SWG was/is a sandbox game because of the huge planets where players could place structures anywhere, not to mention the wide range of clothing and character customization options You want a game more sandboxy than that, try Second Life, I'm sure they'll accept you with open arms.
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Posted: Nov 16th 2009 4:40PM Daverator said

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to roguejedi:
To many, NGE was a gigantic Regression of swg. A nearly endless range of character combinations via different skill trees, and the most intricate and detailed crafting system I have ever seen exist in any MMO, was dumbed down to pick a class and level up. At the time the classes did not even have specialization trees.

One thing I found interesting about it was it the way it all worked out, my character kind of created itself, I was Trandoshan so I decided to use unarmed, I found myself killing many creatures, so I picked up the skinning (from scouting) and I liked being able to heal myself so I picked up medic abilities, then since I had medic and scouting I became a creature handler. All very organically, I was gaining that XP so I figured, why not get what I had extra xp for anyways. I still miss my Mountain Dewback named Fluffy.

The game had numerous flaws, but also had a huge amount of potential, however rather than refining, they decided to scrap it and go with the lowest common denominator approach to games, which I guess works, just not really for me.
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Posted: Nov 15th 2009 11:09PM drunkenpandaren said

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The screen shot looks almost cell shaded.

Posted: Nov 16th 2009 12:22AM ultimateq said

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I'm sure the game is fine in it's current state if you take it at face value and don't compare to where it was. Frankly, it's not even really fair to compare the Pre-CU/NGE SWG to post NGE SWG, because the 2 different patches are so vastly different.

I really did enjoy it where it was at. And I'm sure it's fine now, but I can't really see myself playing this game in it's current state without some sour grapes, my heart was broken on the combat upgrade, I didn't stick around to see the NGE.

Posted: Nov 16th 2009 1:34AM RogueJedi86 said

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It's almost ironic that you left with the CU, since it was nothing next to the big changes of the NGE. All it did was divide armor into types and give people levels.
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Posted: Nov 16th 2009 3:48AM (Unverified) said

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Yeah.... well look, the game now is ok, for what it is, it's not a bad version of the same trite run here, kill X monsters, come back get reward game. And hey if you've never played it before I'm sure you'll enjoy the game loads, the prob is that if you know pre-CU then you will not like SWG as it is now. Content or no content, it's just not a sandbox any longer.

In any case for those looking for the old skool, SWGEmu and SWG-ANH - goog'em.

Posted: Nov 16th 2009 5:32AM RogueJedi86 said

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Still plenty of sandbox. Just because they added some quests and made the combat more shootery doesn't mean it's not sandbox anymore. Maybe you're thinking of something else(or else mangling the definition of sandbox).

I know about SWG-Emu, but what's SWG-ANH?
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Posted: Nov 16th 2009 10:57AM (Unverified) said

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I guess to be a sandbox, you need people to be in the sandbox.

"It has been well stated by Galaxies's development team that certain choices made to make SWG more accesible to casual gamers was both smart and not so smart;"

There was nothing smart about it. Imagine if EVE decided to change their game style to match WoW in order to make it more accessible to the 12 year old.

There are always very emotional responses to SWG because it was such an amazing game, even with it's flaws which it had in abundance.

Someday - some company will take what worked in SWG (player housing, player towns, Star Wars lore) and put it in another game.

Posted: Nov 16th 2009 5:52PM RogueJedi86 said

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SWG still has "what worked in SWG (player housing, player towns, Star Wars lore)", so I don't see what you're complaining about. It's still a sandbox too, and people still play. I resubbed last month and Starsider is just filled to the brim with players.
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Posted: Nov 17th 2009 1:38AM (Unverified) said

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Here is what killed SWG for me.

1. The introduction of the Jedi so that every Tom, Dick and Harry could have one. The idea of Jedi permadeath was one of the greatest video game ideas ever because it matched the lore and timeline. "The Jedi are all but extinct". It also allowed immersion into the universe because everyone wasn't a F-ing Jedi running around with their lightsaber hanging out. I know this hasn't changed.

2. The run their forums like the 3rd Reich. I never met a bunch of forum Nazis like SOE. Has that changed? Will I be able to post a link to an older post in making an argument and not get an immediate ban? SOE gave the impression that they put more money in forum managment than they did game development. I'm dead on serious that the forum managment of SWG was the worst of any MMORPG that I have ever played. The impression that they constantly gave is that their company focus was to S&*t on their player base.

there were numerous other problems that perhaps they have fixed (space combat being one of them - I've moved on to EVE). If they fixed 1 and 2 - I'll give it a shot.

My recommendations is that they:

1. Go F2P
2. Do a graphics revamp like EVE did. They game looks its age.

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