A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Star Wars Galaxies is without a doubt my favorite game of this year (next to Vice City and hopefully Half-Life 2)!! SWG is an Massively Multiplayer Online Epic RPG, I am not sure if I will be able to describe the greatness of this game, so what I am going to do in this review is try to explain the basis and situations of this game as best as I can (I will try to make it quick, for I am needed back on Tatooine soon)!
First things first, this is a MMORPG not an FPS, the game is not based on combat, but there is awesome combat in the game if that’s the type of character you are. Everyone except for a few NPC’s (*Non-Player Character’s) are REAL people, meaning that everyone you are interacting with and conversing with are real players from around the globe. Obviously the game takes place in the wonderful Star Wars Universe which makes ‘this’ MMORPG extra fun for fans like me.
You start off creating YOUR character with a massive customization creation system and then you pick your starting profession; Artisan, Brawler, Entertainer, Marksmen, Medic, or Scout. Now those professions are just the tip of the very big epic Iceberg that awaits you through you climb of the “Skill Tree’s”, the starting profession is the basis that branches of to other Hybrid and Elite Professions. For example, lets say you pick “Artisan” as your starting profession you pick a series of different paths to take within that skill tree (Here is a website where you can mess around with the profession/skill system:
http://swgcb.yogn.net/swg-cb.php and lets say you start working up the “Engineering” path, once you meet certain requirement with experience points you can become a Novice Armor-smith or Architect, but oh no it doesn’t stop there, once you meet the requirements for that skill tree, you open up ANOTHER skill tree within the one you were just in, making the character customization much more “Unique” than any other MMORPG where it is “Level based” and repetitive like that.
Ok so after you make your character and pick a starting profession you start on an Imperial Customs Station and go through a little tutorial to teach you the ropes (controls and gameplay is very user friendly) and give you a little taste of what the game will be like once that is done you pick your starting Planet and City, the starting Planets are Tatooine, Corellia, Naboo, and Talus (and I think one more but whatever..) and once you pick your Planet it gives you a choice to what City within that planet you want to start on. Once you pick that you get shuttle there. Then from there the SAGA of YOU begins, and that’s where I am going to leave it for the ‘beginning’ process.
Enough about you, lets talk about me! I am Dhan Bolmgrhen on the server Chilastra, I spend most of my time on Tatooine and make weekly retreats to Endor to go fishing (finding Fish is hard in the desert, and yes there is fishing!). I work and live with the famous Master Gunsmith Gunsmith Glock (at least on Chilastra), He pays me around 10000c per week for working his resource harvesters for him (c stands for ‘Credits’, aka Dollars) and I get guns for either free or extremely cheap (Glock is the best!!). I also hang out with many buddies I got to know through SWG and we hang around the Cantina’s and go on big-game hunting trips to forbidden lands. Essalis (aka Ethycs[2404]) and I play together often as well, Essalis is a big red Trandoshan who can kill anyone with his bare hands and without the assistance of a blaster (He is a Teras Kasi student which is basically the Kung Fu of SWG) and my current skill status is of Master Marksmen, I can basically kill anything with any type of ranged weapon (ex: Rifle, Carbine, or Pistol type blasters) and I am working on becoming a Smuggler so I can sell ‘Spices’ (*cough* SWG Drugs *ahem!*) and become a well skilled ‘Slicer’ (SWG Hacker) which means I have the capability to Slice into weaponry and make it ultra-powerful or Slice into banking terminals and steal money!
Anyways Star Wars Galaxies is just extraordinary and if anyone out there doesn’t have it yet and is into Star Wars and ever dreamt that you were a Bounty Hunter or Jedi, this is more than anything you could ask for, But it comes with a price, but it my opinion the price is more than worth it. The system requirements are no joke either, as long as you have a fast computer with lots of RAM and an Excellent Graphics card you will run this puppy just fine! So I give this game a 10/10 for Gameplay/Situation Excellence and an Infinite amount of re-play ability. Also I must add that this game gets patched almost everyday (don’t worry it downloads and installs the hot-patches for you, so you don’t even have to do anything, just log on and your in!) so stuff is constantly being fixed and patched for the better, also within the next months new features will be added to this already excellent game, such as: Creature Mounts (riding Dewbacks sounds good to me), Player Controlled Cities, and Player Vehicles (like Swoop bikes and Land Speeders) and this upcoming year LucasArts will be releasing the Space Expansion which gives players the capability of Owning, Building, Controlling, and Piloting your own personal Spaceships, whether you be an Intergalactic Taxi for players, or Smuggle Illegal Spices Across the planets, or are Apart of the Galactic Civil War and are fighting epic battles against Rebels or Imperials (depending on your Faction standing of course) and are the one to make a difference in the galaxy!
This game has a lot of life in it and am excited to see it expand, and hopefully some people from 2404.ORG will become apart of the Galaxy and come hang out with me and Essalis (just don’t forget to create your Character on CHILASTRA). So now everyone you wants it go and get it this is a heck of a game! Experience The Greatest Saga Ever Told... YOURS!
