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    Star Wars: The Old Republic

    Game » consists of 5 releases. Released Dec 20, 2011

    Star Wars: The Old Republic is a massively-multiplayer role-playing game set 300 years after the events of BioWare's Knights of the Old Republic series, but still approximately 3,600 years before the events of the films.

    Full Game - First Impressions

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    Seppli

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    #1  Edited By Seppli

    First things first. Opposed to my predictions, I bloody love the game.

    During my beta weekend - playing a character who's gonna expire immediately, just made the whole game seem like a huge waste of time, which made me judge it very harshly. Playing a proper persistent character now, my attitude has completely changed. I'm on the Sith side of things too and everything has so much more flavor. The gameplay is the exact same (Inquisitor opposed to Consular in Beta), but the whole 'Force Lightning' variants of the same powers feel so much more rewarding to use than hurling pebbles at buttugly Fleshraiders. Everything about the Korriban setting feels magnitudes more epic than the Jedi starter world Tython.

    I can see me playing SW:TOR for a good long while. Darth Volition is already growing on me. Building an idialized version of myself, rather than an uber-cute green chick, does help me take the game more seriously too. Rather than just ogling my home-brewed honey's rump all the time, I'm engrossed in being as badass as possible in combat and capturing the action with neat camera work. Only thing that's bugging me right now? That I can't turn off 'auto-center' for the camera. At least I didn't see it in the options. Other than that, it feels perfectly solid and smooth and completely bugfree. Fully featured and ready to compete. Even the texture issues at the beginning of dialog scenes are all gone.

    How about you guys?

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    CL60

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    #2  Edited By CL60

    Still waiting to get in. Hopefully tomorrow so I can invite people to the guild, and give everybody the ability to invite.

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    lethalki11ler

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    #3  Edited By lethalki11ler

    @Seppli: Good to hear, still waiting on my invite to come :)

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    zyn

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    #4  Edited By zyn

    I'm on the waiting boat too...

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    CL60

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    #5  Edited By CL60

    @zyn said:

    I'm on the waiting boat too...

    I don't know about you, but I'm reading the official swtor forums to pass time. It's pretty pathetically hilarious.

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    Marz

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    #6  Edited By Marz

    guessing you immediately preordered in July, cuz anyone else after that didn't get their early access e-mails :(

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    adz117

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    #7  Edited By adz117

    I have been playing constantly since 12pm GMT, I was literally hooked wanting to know where my BH story was leading, so refreshing to find an MMO that can keep me entertained for hours like the old WoW days. Loving it so far.

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    alistercat

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    #8  Edited By alistercat

    My disc was supposed to come today but it didn't... and now that I've got access I am hastily downloading it. 25GB takes a loooooong time.

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    BabyChooChoo

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    #9  Edited By BabyChooChoo

    @AlisterCat said:

    My disc was supposed to come today but it didn't... and now that I've got access I am hastily downloading it. 25GB takes a loooooong time.

    STEP YO INTERNET GAME UP, SON!!! lol, but seriously, do they plan to pull a Blizzard/Turbine/anyoneelsewhodoesthis and allow you to download part of the game while the rest streams in while you play? Seems like a nobrainer to try and implement this somehow, but I'm going to assume adding such a feature is a much harder task than it seems else they would've done it.

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    project343

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    #10  Edited By project343

    @Seppli said:

    First things first. Opposed to my predictions, I bloody love the game.

    During my beta weekend - playing a character who's gonna expire immediately, just made the whole game seem like a huge waste of time, which made me judge it very harshly. Playing a proper persistent character now, my attitude has completely changed. I'm on the Sith side of things too and everything has so much more flavor. The gameplay is the exact same (Inquisitor opposed to Consular in Beta), but the whole 'Force Lightning' variants of the same powers feel so much more rewarding to use than hurling pebbles at buttugly Fleshraiders. Everything about the Korriban setting feels magnitudes more epic than the Jedi starter world Tython.

    I can see me playing SW:TOR for a good long while. Darth Volition is already growing on me. Building an idialized version of myself, rather than an uber-cute green chick, does help me take the game more seriously too. Rather than just ogling my home-brewed honey's rump all the time, I'm engrossed in being as badass as possible in combat and capturing the action with neat camera work. Only thing that's bugging me right now? That I can't turn off 'auto-center' for the camera. At least I didn't see it in the options. Other than that, it feels perfectly solid and smooth and completely bugfree. Fully featured and ready to compete. Even the texture issues at the beginning of dialog scenes are all gone.

    How about you guys?

    I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!

    There. Now that that's off my chest, I feel like I can have a civilized conversation. Sorry for the outburst, but I probably won't be getting in for another couple days (late October pre-order, sigh). And I'm super glad to hear that you've switched your mind. I actually really liked the Inquisitor, but I just found the Sith side to be so horrifically dark, which I'll grant, was sort of an expectation. When I swapped over to Republic, I felt more at home. Ord Mantel was a bit exhausting with the constant-war-time feeling, but Coruscant just encapsulated me. I kept gawking at the size and expanse of this gorgeous city, and taxi rides from sector to sector almost became an outright pass-time. Something about densely populated science fiction cities make me numb in the knees--a very similar feeling came from Omega and Illium (of Mass Effect 2). And Taris was equally breath-taking in scope, but tinged with some delicious pepperings of nostalgia. People keep going on about the story, and boy do I love a good Bioware story, but the real triumph in my opinion are the environments.

    On the Inquisitor choice: I'm just going to tease that things get progressively more interesting with each planet you complete. A fantastic storyline that really has some memorable moments that you won't see coming (at least, up through the first two planets). I thoroughly enjoyed it. Did you roll an assassin or a sorcerer? All 3 trees for both ACs look incredibly interesting. It's with this class that I discovered that the "shared" tree can be so different; example, Assassin - Madness seems to alter what is ostensibly a Rogue into an Enhancement Shaman, but Sorcerer - Madness converts a Fire Mage into an Affliction Warlock.

    And I'm also glad to hear that the texture issue is fixed. It was a little jarring, but I've played enough Mass Effect to be entirely unmoved by someone's facing gradually growing into place as I greet them. I actually have a question: many had technical issues running the game throughout the beta. Just, unnecessary framerate drops, and poor stability all-around (in comparison to prior builds). I mean, I had to sacrifice some graphical fidelity in order to keep the game running at an acceptable framerate, and I can easily handle Battlefield 3 on max with a solid 45 fps. This begs the question: have you noticed any improvements on these issues?

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    Bwast

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    #11  Edited By Bwast

    My pre-order got jacked and I'm still waiting to hear back from customer service. Dudes are probably busy. Hopefully I'll get in on the 15th.

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    Seppli

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    #12  Edited By Seppli

    @project343:

    May your hate make you stronger. And no, I didn't notice any technical hiccups. Just the missing AA is troubling me a bit. Guess I should just force it via Catalyst. Running a single HD 5870 in my system.

    Then again, I grew up on Commodore C64, so my demands to technical fidelity are comparatively low. Seems perfectly fine to me and definitely smoother than the beta weekend build from 2 weeks back.

    Now off to sampling BF3's Back 2 Karkand offerings. Simply because I must, and late night gaming is better fueled by pure adrenaline and not by addicitve story and character immersion.

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    demonbear

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    #13  Edited By demonbear

    @CL60 said:

    @zyn said:

    I'm on the waiting boat too...

    I don't know about you, but I'm reading the official swtor forums to pass time. It's pretty pathetically hilarious.

    Name one mmo forum that aint... in fact, name any forum that aint! :P

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    cornbredx

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    #14  Edited By cornbredx

    I'm hoping the game works, it ran really really poorly in the beta. But I know betas so it is highly possible it will be playable for me now. That'd be nice. Otherwise I have to wait until I can build my new computer.

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    project343

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    #15  Edited By project343

    @Seppli: So great to hear! :D

    And you can edit the .ini file and force the option within the game itself if you need to. Have no idea why they wouldn't include it in the in-game options.

    @demonbear said:

    @CL60 said:

    @zyn said:

    I'm on the waiting boat too...

    I don't know about you, but I'm reading the official swtor forums to pass time. It's pretty pathetically hilarious.

    Name one mmo forum that aint... in fact, name any forum that aint! :P

    You want to know an even more entertaining read? Stephen Reid's Twitter (SWTOR Community Manager). Man, watching a guy tackle so many internet neckbeard nerds is hilarious and almost cringe-inducing. Guy is practically a saint for putting up with them.

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    deactivated-63e39f84edec3

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    Glad your liking it :)

    I had the same problem in the beta weekends, i prety much unistalled it really quickly thinking that I would have to do all that again in a month or so.

    And by the way, All praise Stephen Reid'. I would not want that guy's job for all the money in the world. It's crazy the things that comes out of people mouth.

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    Funkydupe

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    #17  Edited By Funkydupe

    Does he ever sleep?

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    Barrock

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    #18  Edited By Barrock

    I'm really, really enjoying it too. Playing as a smuggler and it feels almost shootery.

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    CL60

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    #19  Edited By CL60

    @Barrock said:

    I'm really, really enjoying it too. Playing as a smuggler and it feels almost shootery.

    I would love to get in so I can invite people to the guild. :P

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    Funkydupe

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    #20  Edited By Funkydupe
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    DarknessMyOldFriend

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    From the early game content I played around with in the beta it sure seems like the Empire side has far more interesting storylines and decisions.

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    project343

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    #22  Edited By project343

    @Funkydupe: That is absolutely gross. He literally just had a 16+ hour shift of nothing but people whining, begging, and cursing. I would not survive that job.

    @DarknessMyOldFriend said:

    From the early game content I played around with in the beta it sure seems like the Empire side has far more interesting storylines and decisions.

    I agree/disagree.

    Most games that feature 'choice' assume you to be good, and tempt you with evil. Playing Empire on this side assumes you to be evil, but tempts you with good. The feeling is almost completely original, and for that reason, makes for an incredibly engrossing moral dilemma. I don't think the decisions on Republic are any more or less narratively interesting, but we've seen the shady character who tempts you with an evil alternative from the shadows far too many times.

    The only other game I can think of that assumes you to be evil, AND gives you the option to be good is Overlord.

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    Libberate

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    #23  Edited By Libberate

    Did they make the companions quieter since the beta? Hated hearing other players companions yelling at me from haflway a cross the planet, was my biggest complaint of the beta.

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    sins_of_mosin

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    #24  Edited By sins_of_mosin

    A friend got in last night. Not exactly jealous as I know I preordered late so as long as I get in by Friday, I will be quite happy.

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    project343

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    #25  Edited By project343

    @Libberate said:

    Did they make the companions quieter since the beta? Hated hearing other players companions yelling at me from haflway a cross the planet, was my biggest complaint of the beta.

    That was a bug. Even if you were completely alone, you could hear non-existent companion chatter at full volume. I believe it is fixed, yes.

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    adoggz

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    #26  Edited By adoggz

    is the text absolutely tiny for anyone else?

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    Metalhead79

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    #27  Edited By Metalhead79

    @Seppli said:

    First things first. Opposed to my predictions, I bloody love the game.

    During my beta weekend - playing a character who's gonna expire immediately, just made the whole game seem like a huge waste of time, which made me judge it very harshly. Playing a proper persistent character now, my attitude has completely changed. I'm on the Sith side of things too and everything has so much more flavor. The gameplay is the exact same (Inquisitor opposed to Consular in Beta), but the whole 'Force Lightning' variants of the same powers feel so much more rewarding to use than hurling pebbles at buttugly Fleshraiders. Everything about the Korriban setting feels magnitudes more epic than the Jedi starter world Tython.

    I can see me playing SW:TOR for a good long while. Darth Volition is already growing on me. Building an idialized version of myself, rather than an uber-cute green chick, does help me take the game more seriously too. Rather than just ogling my home-brewed honey's rump all the time, I'm engrossed in being as badass as possible in combat and capturing the action with neat camera work. Only thing that's bugging me right now? That I can't turn off 'auto-center' for the camera. At least I didn't see it in the options. Other than that, it feels perfectly solid and smooth and completely bugfree. Fully featured and ready to compete. Even the texture issues at the beginning of dialog scenes are all gone.

    How about you guys?

    You know, it's funny, I'm in the same boat. During my several months of beta testing (and several character wipes), I enjoyed the game but never got into the characters I played. I was always trying this class, that class. They were all fun, but seemed kind of...empty...to me. When I played a trooper, each time I would go to my hangar I'd let out a little sigh of disgust at how ugly my ship was. Now, though, I'm rolling my vanguard and I'm totally IN to him. He looks as much like me as I could manage. It's like how I felt about my warrior back in the early days of WoW. Every time I see my ship, I smile a little. Because you know what? She might not look like much, but she's got it where it counts. I'm so glad beta is over and the real game has begun.

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    Seppli

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    #28  Edited By Seppli

    So, my young Sith Lord Volition is lvl 15 now. Did my first handful of heroic group quests and the Black Talon instance, once with a group of four and then solo with companion. Some arsehat had an ID the first time around and didn't tell, so I missed the first story bits and had to re-do it to get the whole experience. It was lunchtime and I didn't find anybody - so I just said: 'What the heck!' and went and did it solo. Don't think any other class than the Sith Sorcerer can do it solo at lvl 11. What a beast of a class and the starter companion is a great tank.

    Crafting - the revelation. It's the first crafting system in a MMORPG that makes sense to me. I can craft while adventuring. I can learn from experience and not just from teachers. There's neat little stories attached to companion missions. It's bloody genius. Can't wait to have more than one companion, though as a Madness sorcerer regular quests are child's play despite lacking the companion. Simply love how versatile the class plays. Heal, support, crowd control and good damage output. I guess that's the 'soft trinity' I've heard of whilst skim reading SW:TOR threads. Loads of fun.

    And yeah - the story angle totally pays off. I definitely start to see all the unique designs and concepts SW:TOR brings to the table and I love 'em. The devil's in the detail and I've finally caught a glimpse of what Bioware set out to do - other than being a fully featured 'WoW competitor'. What they do differently, is a worthwhile and unique addition and great fun. What's the same, can go toe to toe with Blizzard's juggernaught.

    Well fucking done!

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    project343

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    #29  Edited By project343

    @Seppli: So, did you finish the Dromund Kaas Inquisitor story yet? :3

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    Seppli

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    #30  Edited By Seppli

    @project343 said:

    @Seppli: So, did you finish the Dromund Kaas Inquisitor story yet? :3

    Currently exploring. Sidequests and heroic quests and such. Looking forward to some mainquest bloodshed though.

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