Just because Star Wars: The Old Republic is the same old crap… doesn’t make it a bad “same old crap” game. I enjoy playing SWTOR, I really do. But you don’t expect me to lie to you and say “It is innovative!!” or “It pushed the genre forward!”… I would be lying to you. Design wise, it’s a piece of shit. No creativity or innovation whatsoever. Don’t give the lazy designers (if there was any for this game) any credit they don’t deserve.

A Designer is a creator and there’s nothing “creative” in SWTOR.

I have a good analogy for MMORPGs since 2004. The situation feels like 10 guys wanting to make a cake… and every one of them goes to the supermarket and buys a Sara Lee cake then one of them might cover it with chocolate, the other might serve it with ice cream and another might dip the cake in hot-sauce and garnish it with jalapeno. Regardless of what’s on top of the cake, it is at its core a freaking Sara Lee cake you bought from the supermarket.

We need someone to bake his own cake and not just buy it from the super market. Heck, why cake? How about a….. STEAK?! (Just in case you’re wondering, I’m hungry as I am writing this post).

My point is; all these MMORPGs take the SAME CORE game design and just add dressings/toppings on it and call it a day. We need to destroy the very foundations of this WoWish standardized design. We need someone to rip it from its root, throw it away in a trash can and start with NOTHING… ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Just an empty plate and your own imagination. We still have visionary people with a hint of imagination in the industry? Yes? Yes? ….No? Ahhh crap.

MarkvA wrote a “11 awesome and very important MMO improvements in Star Wars: The Old Republic” review on swotr.wikia.com and I feel responsible to clarify his inaccuracy and I think he’s over glorifying this game. His review doesn’t bother me because of his personal opinion – which I disagree with – it bothers me because of the several shocking fallacies that I feel obliged to address. I will go through all his 11 points on how he thinks SWTOR “improved” on the genre.

1. Voice Over

Now this is an opinion and everyone is entitled to their opinion and it is true that SWTOR is the first MMORPG to implement a complete Voice Over from the beginning to the end, however, it is not the first. In 2004 EverQuest 2 started this and in 2008 Age of Conan had a complete VO experience from level 1-20 in Tortage.

Now, I disagree with MarkvA and I think VO are over rated and in most cases unnecessary in an MMORPG. It beats the purpose to communicate with other people by providing a personal cut scene for you only to listen to. My first experience in Black Talon flashpoint (dungeon) was me being insulted and cursed because I was watching the movie scene (to know what the hell was going on, it was my first time). People in groups expect you to move forward fast. I don’t blame them if this was their 5^th time and there’s a newbie in the group still watching the movie.

Also, I started a Sith Warrior and chose a Marauder (which I didn’t like) then I decided to roll a Juggernaut instead so I had to go through the same story again. Not a pleasant experience having to press Space, Space, Space… All this money Bioware spent, all the effort… is really not appreciated. If this money was invested, say, in adding more flashpoints or more classes/races to the game it would have been much better. Of course this is just my opinion I know a lot of people love this feature in this game more than anything else that would have been implemented. In conclusion I think VO is just a waste of money and it could have been invested on something that would retain their player base instead of just a so so first time impression.

2. Choices

Yes, there are dialogue choices in SWTOR but they rarely affect the overall out come. You are going to go to do this mission as a next step whether you like it or not and regardless of your choices. Your choices only affect your alignment meter and some minor cut scene dialogues that really don’t matter at all. Now I set the interface to show me which choices give me +dark or +light alignment and I just choose these regardless of the dialogue. Especially on my second time playing this particular dialogue and you’re bound to get these if you run any alt of the same faction eventually.

3. Companions

Now, this is one thing I agree with you MarkvA. Companions are an excellent addition to the game. The fact that you can send them to sell your trash loot, craft, sends them to do missions or even harvest raw materials is just marvelous. This I agree with.

4. A Huge Amount of Locations

Really? Let me explain to those who didn’t try SWTOR… In SWTOR you basically have 2 starting areas for each faction. Then once these two areas are done you’re stuck to one and only one area. For instance if you start as a Sith Warrior or Sith Inquisitor you start in the same planet and once done you go to Dromund Kaas and nothing else but Dromund Kaas. There’s no other option. Compare this to WoW where each faction has 3 starting areas (Elywin Forest, Dun Morogh and Taldrassal) with plenty of options afterwards for the next higher level area.

Heck compare this to EverQuest which was released on 1999 which gives you 13 newbie starting area options and dozens of non linear areas to go afterwards.

Let’s stop fooling ourselves, SWTOR offers fewer locations in comparison to games released 12 years ago. That’s a fact not an opinion. Also World of Warcraft (a game I consider shallow) has a complete seamless world where SWTOR is not (you just zone from “planet” to “planet).

5. Ships

It would have been great if ships actually fly in real space between planets… but they don’t. It’s just an instance… another boring unreal instance detached from the world. If ships in SWTOR fly like spaceships in EVE then …wow! Great! But they don’t…….. People are just too excited about instances with whatever decoration the lazy designer might through at them… It’s just another embarrassing excuse of a feature.

6. Multiple Play Styles

Actually it’s the contrary. In SWTOR everyone is a “pet class” because of companions. So, you will not feel unique when you roll a … wait.. there are no pet classes in SWTOR! I rest my case.

7. Canon

Seriously? According to this I, as a Sith Warrior, should be able to betray my master whenever I feel to and attack him when he’s least expected. I can’t because the game prevents me from doing this and my only options are pre-made options… I am on rails. Your Canon theory fails and what other MMORPG you have tried that doesn’t have that?

8. A Massive Amount of Unique Races

Not massive… just 9-10 races (EverQuest had 12) but the problem is not with the number of races… the problem is there’s only one race in SWTOR with different face options and skin tones. That’s the truth. EXACTLY same character models and emotes. In WoW you get to choose between completely different character models. Big, Medium and tiny and all which have their own unique emotes (dance animation, walk animation, idle emotes..etc) and all of them have their own starting city and culture. This is also true for EverQuest. Even the faces of most of these “races” you mention are the SAME and the only difference is skin tone, some facial features and accessories and maybe a tentacle or two. You call these races?

9. Unique Missions

What’s unique about looting 5 shards? What’s unique about fetching an item? What’s unique about killing Boss X? It’s same old crap again.

10. Space Combat

If you are referring to that retarded Arcade Game then you’re easily amused. It is a pre-determined route that your ship takes with an option for you to maneuver through obstacles shooting stuff. It has no impact on the real world, another instance another redundant mini-game. However, if you mean actual PvP space combat I’ve yet to see this but I guarantee you it’s going to be an instanced PvP Battle Ground… Yeah, it can be fun but again it is detached from the world and is definitely a mini-game.

11. MMO

I guess with people like you considering this excuse of an MMO an MMO I decided that I don’t like MMORPGs anymore. What’s Massive about SWTOR? With the introduction of cut scenes people are even more distracted from being involved in a player-to-player interaction. Even trading is done through the auction house (surprise surprise!) God forbid these people have to actually talk to each other to make a deal!!

Dungeons (flashpoints) and Raids (Operations) are instanced. Heck even grouping now done with 4 players instead of 6 or 5. There’s nothing massive about SWTOR except its budget. But I don’t blame you… you’re probably new to this genre and you think everything is “nice and dandy” while we just curse the minute Blizzard decided to ruin it for us and introduce the MMORPG idea to the mainstream clueless average Joes. What do we get? We get this shallow and stupid MMORPG experience. A theme park after another theme park eliminating any reason for player-to-player interaction. The game dictates how we play and there’s no freedom. Every new title we get less content and less freedom. Until one day you’re going to login and the game play itself for you and I bet you… you will still going to think it’s “nice and dandy”.

Having said all that… you will be surprised to hear me say that SWTOR is a decent game. It is a quality product and definitely worth playing. Not as an MMORPG… Not as a game of innovation and great features… No, just for what it is… a decent game and nothing extra special. Unless it’s your first “MMORPG” experience then that’s another story.

There are very few games – in my 25 years of gaming experience – hooked me so much that I can’t go to sleep and if I do I can’t wait to wake up and jump in again to continue my adventures. Games like Eye of the Beholder, Baldur’s Gate, EverQuest, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines and now Skyrim. Sometimes when I am in Skyrim I can’t hold my emotions so I end up weeping while chanting the Nordic Theme of The Elder Scrolls “La lalalal ala lallala LALALA LA!!” wearing no pants with a gigantic boner erected and I also usually end up laughing hysterically and collapse. Regardless of what my Therapist might say towards this emotional out break; I am certain he would agree that Skyrim is the main cause of this kind of behavior.

I’m not a good writer and I can’t write reviews worth a rat’s ass but if you’re considering buying this game; Just buy it now. Not because you’re going to like it; who cares about YOU? I don’t give a fuck. It’s just because Bethesda deserves all the money they can get developing such a master piece and I need to help make this title a hit regardless of my credibility. Hey, at least I’m honest.

But jokes aside Skyrim provides a non-stop breath taking non-linear (to an extent) adventure experience. I’ve tried games like Dragon Age (1 and 2), The Witcher (1 and 2) and  Two Worlds (1 and 2!!) these games were compact, boring with a lot of restrictions and linearity. Nothing comes close to the openness and epicness of Skyrim.

The Good

As I am writing this review I am almost level 42 in the game and I already finished the Main Quest. I will try not to spoil the game for you but just so you’d know I still have A LOT OF THINGS TO DO in the game. This clearly states that this game is big enough for a Single Player Game. It is too big for my own personal experience in terms of Single Player Game Scale.

I decided by level 10 that I am going to stick to Two Handed Weapons + Heavy Armor with little healing support. I realized that this was the character I wanted to play and surprisingly it worked! This is the first time in a game I am given complete freedom to choose from sets of ability that doesn’t end up gimping my character. And just so that you know while I was ENJOYING every second of my current character I am also planning to roll a new one once I finish everything in the game with this one. Maybe a Battle Mage on Expert Level (Shield + Destruction/Conjuration spells + One Handed Weapons) or maybe an elusive Khajiit Thieve. This just tells you how fun the game is.

The Graphics by far stands out in this game. It delivers the feeling of being in a harsh mountainous environment. Add the sound effects, music, high quality voiceovers and simple yet involving game play and you get one hell of a game!

The “main story” is the best of all the TES games I’ve played and it blends in beautiful in the adventure a lot more than my experience with Oblivion. I have to admit when I first heard about the dragonborn and “shouts” business I wasn’t excited at all but now that I got the game I have to say it adds a lot to the experience.

 The shouts in Skyrim enhance the game experience a lot. Even out of combat they are sometimes useful. What’s more interesting is that sometimes the NPCs you might face (even undead ones!) are also dragonborn and can shout.

The Bad

Crashes, Crashes and Crashes. This game crashes so many times on the PC it’s unbelievable. A big portion of these crashes turned out to be from Steam Community Feature; once that turned off I stopped crashing every 15 minutes.  I still get an average of 1 CTD every 2 hours though.

Besides stability I can’t really think of anything bad about Skyrim except maybe for the absence of Stats. It is a little bland for me and I do miss having stats a little. Now you end up with Magicka, Health and Stamina (which also increases the weight you can carry). I don’t understand the wisdom behind this. But luckily the Perk system balance this lack of customization out. I wish they made the perk interface more basic like WoW’s Talent Trees than a 3D FFXIII style which is inconvenient and unnecessary.

Speaking of UI… heh.. Okay, let me bash this game here for a change. I AM SICK AND TIRED OF CATERING TO THE STUPIDIST COMMON DENOMENATOR. Why do we have to suffer – PC gamers – just for the sake of these retarded console limitations????? The game UI is designed for Console which is WHY the interface is……. unintelligent? It’s such a shame that I can’t use my keyboard number keys (1, 2, 3…etc), for instance, for fast pre-set swaps of spells/weapons combos. This thing made me die a little inside. I feel violated and invaded by the console monster… a 20 year old PC game of long history… catering to Game Controllers…. BLASPHEMY!!

Note: I just found out that if you mouse over an item in your favorite list and hit a number key, it will bind that number as a hotkey. HALLELUJA!

Note 2: Now that I am level 42 the game seems to be too easy that I had to slide the difficulty bar to Master (most difficult) and still is easy. That’s one problem I hope they fix with an expansion or a DLC.

The Beautiful

Nothing is ugly in this game and the most beautiful thing about it is the PROOF that LESS means MORE in terms of combat mechanics. In Skyrim you’re limited to Right + Left mouse buttons and Z for your shouts (or abilities), as simple as that. Yet, the combat is more involving, intense and millions of times fun than your average MMORPG post-2004 combat. I can’t explain why this is true but it is.

Another beautiful thing was when I met my first random dragon (which was too late for me; at level 18). Theme music kicked in out of nowhere… the Dragon shrieking and screaming flying around. It was midnight and we were both alone (that’s romantic ). You and I.. you and I my friend.. bring it on! An exciting 5 minutes of hit and run, dodge, shooting arrows, heal spells, Melee… It was intense. The Dragon AI is weird because it flys over trying to burn you from distance with their fire breath (or ice) but they do land sometimes. The fight was epic; this alone is worth the $60.

There is a lot of “creative actions” you can do in Skyrim. That’s why I can’t wait to replay it and try to progress in an unorthodox way. For instance you can collect corpses in one spot and raise them to invade a town all on your own with your army of the undead. Another incident with my Imperial Warrior is that I was asked to pick a lock and I really had to because I wanted to finish a quest.. But the stupid NPC didn’t know I was not born to do such ilusive errands. Me with my heavy armor and clumsy, yet powerful, hands I failed and got caught by the guards. But my pride didn’t allow me to yeild so I ended up massacring the whole town. Hey…. it was NOT intended to end like this. I had NO CHOICE.

Conclusion: First, I still suck at writing reviews. Secondly, if you own a PC, Xbox or a PS3 buy this game now. Buy it NOW! And if you don’t own any of these platforms buy the game anyway.

P.S: Am I the only one who grins whenever the Black Smith lady in Whiterun say “I help my father in more ways than people realise”????

Two names guys; The Elder Scrolls and Civilization. What do they have in common?

You guessed it, they are both not managed by John Smedley (Currently President of SOE).

When you have an IP and a Game Brand which has its own demographics of a specific target audience and filling a specific Niche in the genre… you should take care of it and evolve it WITHIN what makes it the unique experience it was.

Sid Meier released Civilization in 1990 then released 4 sequels. Civilization was a Turn Based Strategy game and still is. It was released back when the Real Time Strategy games didn’t exist or weren’t very popular. After the release of Dune 2 and then Command and Conquer series then Warcraft.. did Sid Meier switch to that hype and mutated his Civilization game to try to grab as much money of THAT different market? No, Civlization remained a Turn Based Strategy game. That’s why it’s still a success and that’s why the fans are happy.

The same applys exactly for The Elder Scrolls and look at Skyrim now, the hype meter is unbelievable.

Compare these two games to EverQuest. Thanks to the clueless bald guy called Smed… (I hate him I cannot be political about it.. sorry) the idiot completely changed the whole identity and vision of what made EverQuest the game we all loved. He wanted to compete with WoW by releasing a mutation of a game HE called EverQuest 2.

Smed, learn from Sid  and his Civilization IP. Learn how not to compete in a market that doens’t belong to your game’s demographics. Learn how to respect the fans of that specific IP and stick to its root. Just because StarCraft was a BIG hit doesn’t make turning Civilization 3 into an RTS game a good idea. Got that? Got that? Got that?

No, you didn’t get it. Because I KNOW for a fact you will fuck things up with EverQuest Next. It’s your expertise.. it’s why you exist; to ruin games and you’re good at it.

I have several hobbies and interests  but I’ve never seen any group of people complain about something as much as I see complaints in MMORPGs forums and communities in general. I’ll give you an example, being a Board Gamer and checking BoardGameGeek.com everyone is enjoying their hobby.. there are GREAT titles being released every year. It is the golden age of Board Gaming I think. The Game Designers innovate and still keep classics available for gamers. Everytime there’s a new release everyone’s excited and satisfied.

But when you come to MMORPGs and check MMORPG community websites like MMORPG.com you’d be shocked at the amount of disatisfaction of the direction this gaming genre is heading. I believe a big part of this problem is the fact that MMORPGs no longer represent the abbreviation they are carrying.

First, they are no longer Role Playing Games. The amount of tools we get to Role Play are getting reduced so much that they were elemenated by the years. Don’t even expect any kind of RPing or Immersion anymore. Everything is convenient and the whole immersive environment idea is long gone. Numbers flowing left and right on UI, off UI.. everywhere. A lot of flashy colors used for the user convenience to pop the “Gamish” part of the “game”. There’s no Mystery, there’s no Belonging to the World, There’s no surprises or danger.. there’s no Role Playing.

Secondly, MMORPGs are no longer Multiplayer. They are 80% single player with a chance to do a dungeon once in a while with friends or other 5 random people. Okay so it IS Multiplayer but part of the time. Rest of the time you’re doing errands alone to “level” up picking up mushrooms and killing 10 rats. To me that’s a Single Player experience with a chance of Multiplayer mini-games.

Lastly, MMORPGs are not Massive anymore. The whole idea of being in a massive world no longer exist. You get a main city hub where you can see other people but your interaction is reduces to almost ZERO. Buying/Selling is done by a program called Auction House (or Broker) you don’t need to bargain or interact with other players.. you just use a Search Engine and find the best price in a split of a second.

There are no mechanics in the recent MMORPG to encourage interaction between players. Heck, there are mechanics that DISCOURAGE interaction with other players (Quest Driven Content, Instancing, AH..etc).

So, these MMORPGs are actually nothing but Online Games with a CHANCE for Multiplayer Experience. The whole point is for you to “level” up, collect gear.. rinse and repeat. Boring, unimaginative, tedious and stupid.

If this is what MMORPGs stand for, then I guess I don’t like MMORPGs.

Mildy Multiplayer Online Repeatetive Pieceofshiet Games. That is a genre I am not interested in.

P.S: StarWars: The Old Republic is going to be something like that. Another Crappy Game which can be amusing to frogs with brain damage and there are a lot of frogs with brain damage out there.