I waited 39 years to get over my fear of math and dice to finally attempt my very first Dungeons & Dragons game with internet friends I have known for ages. I have conquered part of my fears, but not all of them, as Roll20.net makes die rolls 100000% easier to beginners! Our DM decided since we were all practically new, we’d start out with level 10 characters because she decided to run City of the Spider Queen. She adjusted it for 5e as much as she could and also tossed in a lot of home brew elements too.
I have been having an absolute ball playing Anthracite Ironbelly, my cleric, with my husband, Shawn, who plays Boddlur’s the Germanic-sounding bard, our DM Lil, and our Rogue Zalima with the Paladin, Corvin. I sure hope this highlight of our game play amuses you too!
If you dig it, you can usually check us live streaming our D&D games every Saturday (when health and life participates) on my twitch channel found here: Pinkatron2000. You can also follow me on twitter here: Pinkatron2000, for live stream announcements and schedule updates. <3
In my life, there’s been a lot of games that I’ve beta tested for that had a lot of great focus in the first few levels and then…nothing later. There have been even more games that started well and turned into a festival of sad poop because of expectations. (Not naming any names.)
But one MMORPG that I have been beta testing the stuffing out of and eye-humping it since I’ve started has been Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. I managed to get myself into Beta 2 and have been gleefully screaming down the fan-girl slide since. Oh–yes; there are issues they need to fix. There is balancing that will need to be done and this game is certainly not a very easy MMORPG. Hell, just figuring out how to do anything in your Square Enix account is a challenge and a half and I don’t even want to talk about the company’s idea of sharing information on the beta forums and in emails.
They screwed up with the last game and they know it. And they set out to fix it. And boy-oh-boy, have they did. Not only have they fixed it, they’ve given us a completely different game. It’s good. It’s very good. I recommend trying it when it goes open beta.
Quick and Dirty, ladies and gents–a why and why for, about Age of Wushu: a free to play world PVP kung-fu MMORPG. (Immature giggling goes here)
Does this dress make my flowers look big?
Why you should play Age of Wushu
If you are a fan of ancient china, chinese mythologies, the ancient kung-fu movies or wuxia dramas then you are going to enjoy looking at Age of Wushu.
Despite being run on a graphics engine a bit out of date enough to rely on bloom, it’s still gorgeous and many places feel as if they sprung out of painted scenes.
One of the better kung-fu/Martial arts F2P out there
World PVP (after a certain level) adding an edge to danger to everything
Crafting is a viable source of income and helpful to progress
Team Practice your Kung-Fu with fellow Kung-fu practicioneers to ‘speed’ the experience of your deadly arts
Belong to a school (Wudang, Emei, Shaolin, Beggars, Royal Guards and so on) and enjoy benefits from belonging to a group
Spy on enemy/different schools and earn rewards and experience.
Be evil: Kidnap people and sell them, all while maniacally laughing and stroking your whiskers.
Pay for being evil: repent your sins (if you are part of a good aligned school) at the temple or go to jail to pay for your crimes of PKing and kidnapping!
Pick up the arts: learn calligraphy, learn painting, learn chess, poetry or music
Protect and escort supplies between important families or individuals of import
Save the girl or guy
Win friends
Farm, mine, fish, chop wood, skin animals, cook food, make poisons, heal through herbs, weave clothe, make legendary weapons
Find a guild: go to war, make an alliance, group up and roll out
There is never nothing to do.
I could, like, sit here all day, man
Why you shouldn’t play Age of Wushu
It’s a free to play game and so some of the unique issues that always seem to crop up in f2p’s do.
Gold spam everywhere. In all the channels so far except school channels (as far as I have observed). You can put them on ignore (add them to blacklist) but that gets full in a day. That solution isn’t viable.
Punks everywhere: f2p seems to bring out the best and the worst more so than anything else. You will get punked at sometime, anytime, especially by yourself. There will always be those guys that smell new player from a mile away and swoop in on their epics and kill you in one click thinking they all that and a bag of tea.
With that in mind: if you get upset easily by being pk’ed by kids or people having a bad day, right off the bat “open pvp world,” should turn you away.
The cash shop isn’t pay to win–it’s pay to level faster basically. Mounts, bags, extra warehouse, all of this isn’t permanent. Mounts and bags last a set amount of days (100, for example.) Bags currently are purchased from players or picked up from drops only, mounts are cash shop or random quest rewards (as far as I can tell), and the only current way to get extra warehouse space (bank space) is to pay Snail Games real cash money dollar bills for in game gold to become a VIP member to expand it. Plus, as a VIP member, you “cultivate,” your Kung-fu off line and faster than those who play free. (Cultivate = experience = level it up, pretty much.) Right now, there aren’t any pills, buffs, exp medicines or the like in the shop either. So like I said, it’s not so much pay-to-win as it is pay-to-get-to-win-faster. (I could be wrong! Feel free to let me know in comments!)
Solo play is going to be difficult. Without a guild to help you with instances or fighting off random player killing, the casual gamer or gamer who likes to explore all the areas and things might find it a challenge.
Grind fest. No matter how fun everything is–or how fun I find it–I know it’s going to be a grind to get it anywhere better. I know it, and the game doesn’t even bother to hide how many hours of repetition I’m gonna put into it to get it there. I guess it’s almost a positive the game doesn’t hide it?
Lost in translation: I believe that some of the better aspects of the game may have been lost in the translation from Chinese to English. Quest descriptions are abrupt and in some cases appear to have nothing to do with the quest they are giving you. Your quest tracker and the ability to click-auto-path is going to be awesome for some.
Within the school of Emei
So should I try it or not?
It’s a free game that despite it’s very real and very obvious flaws to an American market; is trying its best to carry its weight. And it’s doing okay. I think that Age of Wushu is one of those free-to-play games that fits a niche market and not a broad one to appeal to everyone. And that’s okay, I think that there needs be more games happier to cater to a wildly loyal few than try and appeal to a broad mass and fail. Whether Age of Wushu will collapse under it’s gold spam and free to play is something we will have to see. As it stands, I think it’s a remarkable game for free to play and Martial Arts and one that it cannot hurt to be tried.
Seven years ago Shawn and I beta tested a little game called Everquest 2. Years before that, Shawn had beta tested a game called Everquest and said to me, “I liked it–but at the time I felt like the game and what it was trying to do was limited by technology at that time, and thought that in a couple of years it would really shine.”
Well. Then they made EQ2. And we were hooked.
Purple angry unicorn with wings? HELL YEAH!
When we played, we were crafters by heart. Without a group, there was very little content that could be soloed for some of the classes–Of course, I was a Templar and he a conjurer. He had better luck at it than I would, so gathering and crafting called to us much stronger. We played before there was imbuing, gems, and during the time that any crafting station–the stove, forge, engravers table and so on could kill you if you screwed up. Crafters were entirely dependent on one another too. A carpenter couldn’t make certain things without nails and metal parts. These were made by armor or weapon smiths. Nobody could make anything without the help of an Alchemist–which is what my husband was.
Then EQ II changed that. For a while there, being an alchemist was worthless. Everyone could now make all the parts they needed for themselves and no longer did they need to depend on one another. They were phasing out the being-ship-wrecked-on-an-island-everyone starting as either warrior-mage-priest thing, and it was painful for us. We stopped for a while.
Then, of course, with age? Things, in my humble opinion, got better. Yes, even moving to F2P seemed like an improvement–for even though general chat was always a lot like Barrens chat–there are still people everywhere in that game, seven years later.
And that’s how long we’ve been playing, off and on, too. Though EQ II sweetened the deal for me by handing me an entire Mistmoore Estate for my 7 year anniversary. Let me tell you, there is nothing better to bribe me into coming back, or playing a game forever, than giving me something I can decorate myself, make unique. Housing, mounts, clothing, decorations….this is the way to worm money out of me. Pay attention games! I logged in, looked at my vet rewards, squealed like I’d just been given a unicorn and ran to claim it. Now I have a huge estate with nothing in it. Now I have to run around the game trying to find the just right things I want in it. Some of it I will craft myself (being a carpenter), others I will have to level in order to get it from certain quests and or as drops from dungeons.
See what u did thar, EQ II.
And, it worked.
Facing front door: Mistmoore Estate OH GOD HOW DO I DECORATE
I think that EQ2 finally found the perfect balance for all kinds of gamers finally. Do you want to craft? Great, go for it. Do you want to craft and solo adventure? No problem, there’s a quest for that. You want to ignore crafting and power level and just get All The Things? No problem. You want to do all of this, at any given time, and just spend a day collecting shiny things to play the market? Go for it. And now–you want to design your own in game object and earn real life cash money money dollar bills from it? Yep. Do that too.
So–I’ve been having fun with my Dirge, Ssinjin, and her guild since ’04 (Queens Guard, hoooo!) exploring new regions I never got around to, quests that are fun and frustrating. Gathering shinies and resources. And it’s funny, because, I have also had my time eaten up by searching for my own home. In real life. Yes–the husbanator 2000 (That’s Shawn, or bariguy, by the way) and I have finally decided that no better time than now to take advantage of things and try for a home. It is both awesome and frightening. Wish us luck.
P.S. If you know any epic quest lines that will help us furnish it….
While I love SW:TOR, while I love guild wars–the game that has always held my heart the most has been Star Wars: Galaxies. Never before has a game allowed me to play a completely non-combatant, socially driven character relying on interaction in order to survive. Outside of (and perhaps equal to) EQ II has there really been a game that has offered the same sort of character home customizing and decorating. The game catered to and pandered to people who liked a challenge (Pre CU and NGE to be specific) and who wanted to make their mark–however small or large–on the game.
SW:G was the first game that showed me how amazing a game community can be. And SW:G keeps calling me back.
Thanks to the SWGEmu project (Star Wars: Galaxies Emulator), I have had as well as enjoyed coming back to the pre-CU and pre-NGE game I loved and remembered. It was quite a damn trip remembering how to do some basic things. The game is not for WoW gaming mentality. If you want results and you want them quick…you’ll be disappointed. There is no such thing as quests; welcome to a sandbox game. Tailored clothing, player housing, player vehicles with work being done by hand and by scratch to bring the features and additions we all adored back to the game.
I’ve been following for several years. First as LittleSparrows, where I logged in when they had one planet and a blue frog. I drifted away and lost my log in and pass, replacing it later with my usual handle elf_fu. I’ve been playing a pink twi’lek there named Ameria’ for a bit.
Large crowd gathers outside of Theed Starport hearing rumors of the Royal guard’s restlessness.
The community is the same and yet different. There is a lot of the same sense of helping, but also a lot of the sense of a lot of players doing their own thing by themselves. Of course, the release of GW2 also scattered
the community a little bit too. Yet it’s the same game I fell in love with. The same game I adore. I have a guild there, it’s an RP guild and a city. It’s been fun to be back.I sometimes wish when I play newer MMO’s that they would give a nod to what worked here in SW:G, the total non-combat classes, the merchant system, the player homes and decorating–I think that a lot of the MMORPG’s out there today would be able to appeal to an even larger audience than usual. The one MMORPG in the works that reminds me a lot of SW:G is The Repopulation, which I am very, very, very much hoping to be able to beta test and play.
SWGEmu just fills a lot of the holes I think are missing in the MMORPG’s that have come out recently. It’s a hankering to come home to a place that catered to the imagination and asked its players to explore and do on their own, without being hand held or directed. It’s…a long, long time ago, in a game galaxy far away that keeps drawing me back.
Tera online is a fantasy-ish MMORPG in beta, with no NDA restrictions currently even though it’s still in closed beta. This weekend I had the chance to try Tera Online.
The best I can do to sum up my experiences (and forgive me, those of you who have me added to your Facebook or Google+, as this will be a repeat performance) is: overtly sexualized child characters, jiggly tits, and Aion with a different UI and slight difference in combat.
I played roughly an hour, hour and a half. I played my first character, an Elin–whom I originally thought cute (one of the child-sized immortal characters)–and got her to level 4. That’s right. Level 4. It was a massive struggle to even play that long and level her that much. The game to me seems like such a blatant rip off of Aion (with some reminders of Rift graphically) and I found it intensely boring immediately within the starter area. I spent more of that hour time in the character creator than playing, and I enjoyed that more.
And I couldn’t fail to notice by the way, that the character creator is pretty much Aion’s character creator with a different background. Stunning jolly good first impression, if I do say so myself.
There’s no sympathy for clickers in Tera Online, either. If you are a mouse clicker you’re out of luck. The game gives you WASD for movement, but your skills/spells cannot be used without pressing a key. You can map two skills to your left and right mouse buttons, but that’s generally only good for base skills. Everything else is key press.
And before I get the comment, “But key pressing is more efficient and fast!1!11one!” I know it is. But the plain fact of the matter is, there are people out there that mouse click. It’s what they are comfortable with. As such, they are going to hate Tera Online, a lot.
Another key ingredient into this sour tasting recipe of my early squick into my closing the game after and hour? Intensely uncomfortable playing the Elin race. It was my first choice out of–well, I admit it–cuteness factor. The cuter
A pink tree. Well...that's okay I suppose.
the character is in game the more I want to play it. Enlin are a childish looking, child-sized, well…child character (Hey. Did I say child yet?) with some uber sexualized poses and movements that ended up jarring me out of wanting to play them.
Story wise I found it lacking right after character creation as well. Players are given a bit movie that I’m not sure how it factors into anything once the game starts. Then a short movie of you flying into the starting island with, again, no backstory given as to anything other than “:D YEAH! GO DOWN THERE AND FIGHT 😀 😀 :D” The quest NPC’s are the old fashioned “click & kill.” Click on the quest. Skip reading any of it, accept. Glance at your quest log on screen to go see what you have to kill and how many. Do it. Turn in quest. Rinse, repeat. I did see one cut scene that panned out to an enemy I had to kill with a 30 second voice over–but I gotta tell ya babies….SWTOR and Mass Effect and Skyrim and many other games have spoiled me when it comes to lore and backstory. To sum it up in an overtired, over used internet meme: Son I am disappoint with Tera Online’s idea of story and quest writing.
This really was the most modest female garb a--HOW DOES IT STAY ON??
The nail in the coffin for me were the gravity defying, jiggly, nipples-pointed-at-their-chins female models all in horrible comic super hero postures. The most modest suit, frankly, was an outfit for the female archer that was slit from the top of her knee and open all the way past her side-boob to her neck. With no discerning explanation as to why every time she bound across my screen like a sparkly princess with a bow, everything didn’t just flop out all wibbly jibbly. I can only think these breast-defying suits are being held up with MAAAAAAAAAAGIC 😀 Picture me doing jazz hands sarcastically to accompany this.
In short?
2phatgeeks gives Tera Online a big fat no thanks. Perhaps things will change for the game in a couple of months of patches, member feed back and such. But right now as it is: I think it’s a pretty disappointing game given MMORPG’s this day and age.
If this game doesn’t go free to play in a year I will be pleasantly surprised. It’s definitely not a game tailored to a broad audience and it’s reallllly not for me. I’ve played a lot of free to play games over the years that have had more story and more thought given into their style than this. If you want a game that looks like Tera Online? Aion did it years ago and better. I actually recommend people trying out Aion instead of this.
This post an opinion based on personal preference of the poster. It does not represent everybody in the entire universe and 2phatgeeks doesn’t imply to be everybody in the universe.
Since August of this year, Shawn and I have been beta testing possibly—if not the most popular up and coming MMORPG’s–the most talked about: Star Wars: The Old Republic.
And the thing is, is other than flailing about the internet squealing and telling people we were in the beta, that was it. We couldn’t tell them what we thought of it, what we liked, what we didn’t, how the game was doing, our reactions or anything. As long time Star Wars, Bioware fans neither Shawn nor I wanted to jinx our chances at having the ability to continue playing the game as well as testing it. So the best we could do when countered with questions about whether it was any good or not was tell people, “if you get into beta, try it. You might like it.”
On November 18th, the most glorious of days arrived. The NDA was lifted and no longer were we doomed to bouncing around like two excited kids on a bed chanting Iiiiiiiiiiii caaaaaaaaaantttttttt teeeelllllllll yooooou. And so without further ado, here’s everything I couldn’t talk about and want you to know, what I think, my opinions and more of the game that quickly became my all-time favorite.
A taxi ride in Dromund Kaas.
The Amazeballs (aka: The Good Things)
Story
The websites, commentary and other quips about Star Wars the Old Republic’s focus on story and attempting to involve the player as much as possible isn’t just hype. Anyone who is a fan of a) Star Wars, b) Bioware, c) Knights of the Old Republic, c) RPG’s and last but never least: story, I believe, will find something to like about this game. Every NPC has their own little quirk and background and you’re introduced to them almost straight away after leaving character creation. Story is key. Like most Bioware games we have come to know and love, the plot and fate of your character comes first and foremost.
Armor & Weapons
I realize that for some players, having giant spoons, forks, or hot pink bubble guns might be fun. But for Star Wars and my little lore-laden heart, I am happy to say that this hasn’t been seen in game (except for the hot pink pants of boots of a texture not rendering properly!) Your armor and your weapons are going to fit into the environs and story of Star Wars: The old Republic. Guns will be appropriately gun-like, light sabers–despite the early out cry from people of them appearing too cartoony–do not look that way anymore. Armor doesn’t run into that issue where your pants are orange, your shirt is green and your cape is hot purple. Blacks, grays, blues and reds, muted or with panels and buttons to fit into the story and the mood of SWTOR abound.
In a previous beta build and no doubt will be re-instated (if it hasn’t already. Forgive me, I’ve been playing Skyrim!) there is an option in the social panel to match gear with chest piece. This essentially combats any further mis-matched armor a player may have by making everything fit in better, color scheme and appearance wise with the players currently equipped chest piece.
Planets, Graphics & Environments
Never have I ever been so happy to learn skills and buy speeders that make me move faster than I have when playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. I love the environments. Bioware has not failed on this sense of scale; when you are on a planet even if you are on one that has a predetermined area the game wants you to hang out in, the sense of being a little pea in the pod of the universe can overwhelm. As you progress in level and are sent to different planets, the scale grows and even though there is something magnificent to catch as well as look at on all of the planets; the need for a speeder will grow simply to be able to get to point A and point B sometime that day.
The attention to detail is fantastic. When you are standing in front of the Republic Senate, you are filled with a sense of awe (and maybe a bit of the sense of over compensating too–but it’s so pretttty!). The empire’s strict, metallic, hologram red or green or blue infused architecture garnished with ancient relics of the Sith, it’s bowed head statues carry the sense of power and dread.
Since starting my testing in early August, the graphics have undergone several tweaks for clarity, sharpness and texture fixes. I am in love with the armor styles. They are very true to Star Wars and very true to which side your are one: Empire armor and robes are definitely more sinister than Republic or Jedi. I have found myself, on more than one occasion wasting fifteen to twenty minutes finding the right spot to take the right screen shot. They only thing the game is missing (as of the last time I beta tested) was the inability to use anti-aliasing, so shadows and characters and textures despite clarity had jagged and pixelated outlines.
Voice over acting
I cannot lie and tell you that this isn’t one of the main reasons why I am in love with this game. To me, the fact that every NPC in this game has his or her (or its) own voice is amazing. I remember eons ago when I was beta testing Ever Quest II and I was so tickled pink with the fact NPC’s had voices. Limited things to say, but voices still–and the NPC voice overs in SW:TOR bring a whole new level of fun. Not that I am adverse to reading Quest text…But hearing the NPC with dialects and accents and emotion is a level above.
Flashpoints, AKA Dungeons The first thing I want to tell you about Flashpoints–otherwise known as Dungeons in other games–is make sure you have your shiznit together before running them, especially if you’ve a) never run them before or b) have people in the group who have never run them before either. Get your drink. Go to the bathroom. Repair your gear. Make sure you have enough whoofizzles for your jiggliemoo. Feed the cats. Put the kids to sleep, whatever it is you need to clear at least an hour and a half free of interruptions. Especially if you enjoy taking your time and listening to all the voice over, thinking carefully about your choices–like I do.
I also recommend not running any new Flashpoints with a group that speeds through them like hamsters on crack. You miss so much if you do because all you’ll be thinking of the whole time is how to catch up with everyone else and keeping up.
Flashpoints are another aspect of the game that Bioware has ensured they go above and beyond. They have mingled cut-scenes with dialogue and Dark/Light side choices with each step, as well as a good sprinkling of trash mobs and bosses. Some of the bosses will require a strategy, especially if you’re going in with three or two people and their companions. If you’re lucky to have a full four member party in decent gear you might be able to luck out and just use the “KILL ALL THE THINGS,” strategy.
As far as I know the best means to tackle Flashpoints when you are at level is a full group of four. You can eek through them with companions if you’re smart and utilize all the tools available; and of course, if you’re way over level.
Companion Characters
From level 1-10, you are set loose on the world of your origin, be you Trooper, Inquisitor, Bounty Hunter, Jedi, Imperial Agent or Smuggler. During your class quests on these planets you will eventually be introduced to your first Companion Character–or as some have even called them. ‘Pet.’ If you aren’t familiar by now, Companion Characters are player controlled party members that do a pleathora of things from healing you, being ranged DPS support, being a damage dealer or tank and also being the extension of your invetory selling and crafting.
Yes!
Not only do your Companions have things to say depending on where they are and what triggers them, they are also the vehicle to your crafting and selling of gray vendor trash. You can send them off wherever you are to sell all gray items and this usually takes roughly a few minutes. When you send them to craft, you can send them to craft up to 5 items at a time (with each item you ask them to craft adding minutes on their timer away from you.) Eventually you will get more Companions and that means more back up support choices depending on where you are and what you are fighting, more conversation items and more crafting!
You can even send your companions out to collect harvest-able materials for you if they are near by.
Towers
The Lacking (aka: The Not-So-Good Things that may still need work.)
Character Customization
Now if you’re coming from a game that lacks a lot of customization (IamnotlookingatwowIamnotlookingatwow) and that’s your only experience with character customization (alsonotlookingatRiftnotlookingatRift) than SW:TOR might seem pretty satisfactory in the character creation and customization department. I’ve played a handful of MMORPG’s out there that went out of their way, above and beyond really, what you could do to create your own unique looking characters–and I was instantly spoiled. I know that for some, character customization matters little to the mechanics as well as how great the game play is. To me, having a character that is semi-unique, in facial features and hair at least is important.
I’m going to be staring at my own avatar (and my guild mates avatars) for the entirety of playing the game. I’m also playing a game set in a vast, open universe and staring at 230923293829323 cookie-cutter twi’leks, Chiss and humans takes a little bit of the wind out of my sails. Obviouslynot enough for me not to tell Bioware to SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!11!!! but enough so that I am a touch disappointed. I had hoped for more and I am also hoping that with release as well as after, that more customization options will be offered.
Companions: you don’t need to click/pick that up, do you?
One of my biggest annoyances–aside from the fact that Bioware has yet to figure out how to fix the fact elevators completely confuse companions and also sometimes they fall to their death on them or just stand there like how is elevator formed?– is companions always seemingly being in the way of looting. Be it a dead body or a material for crafting, when I went to click with the mouse or select with a keyboard short-cuts, nine times out of ten it seems like my companion will be in the way. Even when they move out of the way they somehow move..just…further in the way.
Alts & Replayable factor
The truth of the matter is, despite how fantastic the story lines are–once you go a certain point outside of your class beginning planets the stories for all classes on the same side start to converge and eventually everyone gets all the same quests more or less. Running the same Flashpoints over and over again will probably get wearisome too. Of course, your class quests remain unique to said class, but what’s found on the planets all classes share tend to be a like. Meaning if you start an Empire side main character and go back to create another Empire side character, different class–eventually you’ll find yourself doing the same quests as before. That means the same voice-overs and same cut scenes and for a few this might become boring, quickly, finding themselves clicking through conversations quickly so as not to listen to the same dialogue you’ve already heard. The re-play value is a touch lacking. But when I think about it, this is pretty much the way it is for most MMORPG’s out there anyway. Most
RP add ins, Player Housing, Small things that may only bug Me
Ship is supposed to be player housing, but don’t see a lot of room for player decorating and customization on the inside at all yet.
Unable to sit on chairs, benches or interract much with the environment other than shooting and maiming–although did add in Juke boxes.
Social clothing is a bit of a work out to get. Level up social points. Then spend credits to buy a token.
Legacy idea, neat, but having to hide it so that all my characters aren’t related to one another bad. Want different names for different characters on account, not one for all. Also, want to share hubby’s character’s last name.
Dromund Kaas
The Overall
First, I know I have missed so many details. There is so much more to this game, like Datacrons and Holocrons and the different healing and how do they stack up and PVP and companion story lines and gear and gear slots and lightsabers and grouping mechanics and showing Sith corruption on a Sith character and matching clothing to chest piece social options with social clothing and race specials–but if I were to go through all of that I would end up writing MORE and as it is, this post is already short novel length. There are hundreds of fantastic sites out there for you to learn so much more about SW:TOR, such as some of my personal favorites (but never limited to)
Star Wars: The Old Republic R2-DB Torhead Greetings, Meatbag TORSyndicate Community
Admittedly, despite being a super-duper-fan-girl of immense chubby proportions, I can admit freely that there are aspects to this game that might impede other’s enjoyment. You still have to go here, kill 10 of these–oop, here’s your bonus quest to kilk 30 more! There is a grind and a repetition to the questing. The formula isn’t something we haven’t heard of before in being sent out to do something, come back to the Quest giver, and being sent out to the same place to do more.
It is a bit linear.
For those not familiar with Bioware’s games and not a fan of RPG’s/ not a fan of MMORPG’s, the heavy RPG aspect might be a turn off while the MMORPG fun of playing with thousands of players–some of whom make the moniker ‘douchecanoe’ look like a compliment–might also turn players away.
The game is not perfect. There are balance issues between classes that need ironing out still and there are glitches and issues that still need to be addressed. I do not tout that it will be a WoW killer or the GAME OF THE CENTURY! CENTURY! ENNNTURREEE! URRREEE! EEE! (<—That was me writing out the echo sound effect. Because I am funny, god damn it.)
What I do think is that Bioware has made an almost perfect marriage of the two things I like: their games and MMORPG’s, story and grind, questing and exploring. I think this is a truly magnificent start to what may be a long-lived game if Bioware pays strict attention to the mistakes and pluses of other games gone before them, during them, and after.
I am going to be playing this game at release (pre-ordered) and if lifetime subs ever become a reality, I am sure Shawn and I will be having them too. This is a game that I want to be part of through thick and thin and one that I do highly recommend.
There were two phat geeks who made posts, but life and distractions (Like Google+) came and endangered the meandering writing habits of two huge nerdlings.
It’s been a long time since we last joined our heroes, Mel and Shawn for their epic adventures in cooking, life, loving, laughing and things they liked. What could possibly be worthy enough to keep us from updating frequently? Other than Shawn having a full time job of course and his wife having a severe case of oooo what’s that?
Star Wars my friend, Star Wars.
Specifically both Shawn and I were lucky enough in August to be invited to beta test Star Wars: The Old Republic. If you aren’t familiar with what that is, it’s an MMORPG created by Bioware. The delicious people behind such classics as Never Winter Nights, Jade Empire, Knights of the Old Republic and my personal fan-girl favorites: Dragon Age. Shawn and I have been following Star Wars: The Old Republic, like many Star Wars and Bioware fans since it’s announcement. We both have accounts created on the official site that have been there since 2008 (as probably many people there do too.)
But…due to the NDA I cannot say anything else. I mean, I love you guys and those of you that have stuck around with us for so long–in between forever posts and through all our craziness–I do. But I love Star Wars as much and I can’t tell you anything else.
It’s killing me, let me just say.
Bioware’s publicity department has been doing a fantastic job eeeeeking out class information, videos, planets and so much more information from their official site: http://www.swtor.com/ And then of course there’s my personal favorite site to get further information: http://www.greetingsmeatbag.com/. Greetings Meatbag just isn’t pure info–it’s pure fun. There are interactive quizzes, well written break-downs of videos and articles as well as super friendly administrators. *Waves her hand,* You will go visit and tell them 2phatgeeks sent you.
Shawn and I would like to highly encourage you to give this game a chance. More and more these days, people tend to judge a game by a screenshot of a single video and that really makes me head tilt. Good games are going untouched by the tendancy to spout negativity about them well before testers or players get their hands on them. Sign up for the site, apply for beta testing and wait until the NDA is lifted before making the call.
And so–there you have it. Where Shawn and I have been all this time and where we will–no doubt–be for a long time yet.
What games are you playing at the moment and what games are you waiting for?
