Eliot Lefebvre: You can't know how a game is going to play at release based on just a single instance, but you can certainly make a reasonable guess. That thought kept moving through my head as I mulled over my play session for Star Wars: The Old Republic -- a positive thought, given how polished and comfortable the game felt from the second I sat down to play. I was expecting to see something much rougher around the edges, but what I wound up with felt like a finished game already.The flashpoint started with our party meeting a diminutive Jedi master who outlined our task. We were to travel to Taral V, invade a fortress of the Sith Empire, and retrieve a computer needed to navigate through a particularly dangerous region of space. Presumably there would be more lead-up to the flashpoint in the full game, but as it stood, it was more than adequate for the purposes of giving players at least some understanding of what we'd be up against.
Conversations were handled by a variant of the now ubiquitous conversation wheel, just like Mass Effect and Dragon Age II. All party members have a chance to pick one of the conversation options, at which point a lot is rolled and the winning character speaks up. It sounds fairly arbitrary, but it creates a relatively convincing illusion of an organic conversation. Unfortunately, there weren't any significant choices to be made during this preamble, but that would easily have complicated the demo beyond functionality.
A few moments later, we were off on the shuttle to Taral V, hoping to cut our way through Sith forces and get what we needed before reinforcements arrived.
The cool factorI'd like to thank whatever kind soul at BioWare argued in favor of equipping every demo station with a Naga. I've sung the praises of the mouse before, but it was certainly a welcome addition as I tried to learn how to play a tank without much preamble. I was the Trooper Vanguard, the main tank for the group and a reasonably formidable front-line fighter in my own right. It was a good trial-by-fire for both the game experience and for the frequent question of how the non-Jedi classes can possibly compete with the Jedi or Sith for cool factor.
The answer? Gadgets, flash, and general awesomeness. Playing a Vanguard felt fun right off, with my weapon capable of tossing grenades, electrical discharges, and suppressing fire at the click of a button. If enemies got close, I could also use my personal shields as a tool, overloading them for stuns, knockbacks, and simple damage. I was reminded of playing a Spider in City of Heroes in some small way, although the party dynamics were quite different.
Most of the abilities on my bar were managed not by cooldowns but by the central resource system of the class. The Trooper uses an "ammo" system as a resource, with various abilities costing certain amounts of ammo. Each pip regenerates after a few seconds, and there are a few triggered cooldowns to help reload in times of stress or need. Understandably, you can't just chuck high-explosive grenades endlessly to manage enemies, but neither do you ever feel as if you're out of options. It's a nice balance.
Visually, the game was a treat right off. The graphics have been tightened up and refined nicely, and everything moved fluidly. A few animations from the trailers have looked a touch stiff, but that isn't conveyed when you get to playing. The entire flashpoint was also filled with some impressive incidental graphics and surrounding events, keeping a sense of urgency up as your team moves forward.
Into the fightThe Jedi master who had briefed us continued to provide direction as we started moving through the surrounding foliage toward the Sith base. It was a little low on the volume, but the effort at continued immersion was appreciated. Our first few skirmishes were against the local wildlife, but we quickly found ourselves taking out Sith scouts as quickly as possible to avoid arousing any unnecessary suspicion at the heart of the fortress. Meanwhile, the Sith were dealing with the predictable problem of all their tromping about in hostile territory filled with unpleasant native species, which meant several fights between the wildlife and the Sith.
As we were moving along, we happened to notice a handful of Sith research stations, no doubt tuned toward analyzing the local environment and weaponizing their aggression. We destroyed a couple as a bonus objective, although what our overall reward would be for the added objective wasn't altogether clear. It did reward us for going slightly out of our way and contending with more enemies, however, which kept the run engaging as we moved forward through enemy forces.
The first boss of the flashpoint had two of the native vine cats under his command, which meant the fight involved a lot of damage on me while the team focused on burning down our main target. One of the nice parts about combat is that it's far more forgiving than the usual holy trinity model -- taunts are present, but the loss of aggro doesn't equal party death. Things are a bit more bouncy and frantic, and it looks like most classes have tools to get out of trouble when necessary.
Moving into the core of the base, things became much more frantic than any sort of pull-rest-pull dungeon, with droids and troops patrolling about and a lot of enemies coming at us from several directions. There was a slightly loose feel to combat here, with a number of things happening without becoming overwhelming. Having an ironclad hold on enemy attention wasn't nearly as important as keeping awareness of the battlefield, and it's nice to see that the small party size is being used to push players toward a greater variety of roles.
Unfortunately, the final boss was also where we got bottlenecked due to the mechanics of the fight. Essentially, the boss needs to be pulled away from his pet, but I wound up tanking both and the group wiped a couple of times. That's not exactly a ding against the game, though, seeing as how all of us were going in cold. (Larry had some choice words about the expected off-tank just the same, though he saved them for after we were talking the experience over.)
Final thoughts
Star Wars: The Old Republic is an immensely polished, clean, and playable game. It imports elements from the familiar formula of MMO design, but the elements are handled with a grace and aplomb, and they feel natural. For a game that's several months out from launch, it seems to be playing and working astonishingly well. It's not full to the brim with revolutionary elements, but even the classic elements are both refreshing and well-organized. If there was any negative takeaway from the event, it was the simple fact that the game isn't out yet.
Overall, it's renewed my already substantial enthusiasm. While there are people who won't like the themepark aegis of the game, there's clearly a lot to like as the game draws ever closer to release.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is finally here, and the Force is with Massively! We've prepared a Hutt-sized feast of class introductions, gameplay guides, lore roundups, and hands-on previews to help you navigate the launch period and beyond. And don't forget our weekly SWTOR column, the Hyperspace Beacon!
