Star Wars: the Old Republic Launches [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

Today marks the official launch of Star Wars: the Old Republic, a new MMOG from BioWare, EA, and LucasArts. The game's population has been building throughout the week as players who pre-ordered were granted early access, but now the gates have been thrown open to everyone. By using the Star Wars universe and a 'story-driven' approach to MMO gameplay, BioWare hopes to draw in a new group of players who don't typically consider themselves MMO gamers. Since the game is still largely unexplored, comprehensive reviews have yet to be written, but Shack News has a write-up about the early game. An article at Eurogamer discusses whether this sort of game launch marks the end of an era for the MMOG industry — the game's budget is estimated to be as high as $100 million, and it relies on a traditional subscription model when many games are making the switch to free-to-play.

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[The 1 2 P]

So has anyone here been playing this? As a strictly console and handheld gamer I don't even have access to this. But I'm curious how it's turned out so far. I'm also a huge fan of Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic 1 and 2 on the original Xbox and was wondering how similiar to those games this one is.

[captain nintendo]

I bought the game, because a friend of mine did. I needed to upgrade my video card (did that just now). My PC is an older rig, but it's above the standards required. I'll try to pop back and let you know what I think of the game.

- CN

[BHvrd]

Yeah, i'm playing it.

The best thing I can say about the game is that it is the best designed MMO if you are a casual player. It plays alot like WoW, with better art direction and single player content.

Honestly the game is a refreshing change of pace, it doesn't have alot of the necessary grind of other MMO's, really it could be called an MMO-lite. That isn't to say that it doesn't take time to raise crafting and levels high enough to be able to solo content.

Companions are a casual players dream come true. They come along during quests and can be your healer/tank/dps depending on which one you pick and how you rotate their skills. They can also be sent off akin to the game "Torchlight" to sell your items or go on harvesting or questing missions, which they can even do while you are offline. These companions are the best thing ever in any MMO, they are fully customizable and it's honestly one of the best features of the game, no doubt.

The game has challenging parts and quite a few world bosses require a group, but all around I would recommend the game to people who do and do not like MMORPG's. It has just enough for both types of players that all can enjoy. The genre is definitely evolving an Star Wars: TOR is a great example of how companies should start making MMO's more accessible.