Now, I know the forums are currently SLAMMED with people complaining that they are not in yet, or wondering when they will get in, etc. The long and short is, everyone will eventually get in, and it WILL be on/before the 20th. I counted myself as lucky to have gotten in yesterday, however I DID pre-order back in July, so I was hopeful. Quite honestly, I was excited to get in on the 15th which they originally said was going to be the start of early access, so getting in on the 13th??? That was like an early Christmas present.

 

It will happen, everyone will get in, all the complaining is going to do, is clog up the forums, and make everyone a little more agitated.

 

NOW... on to more important business:

 

My wife and I logged into the game around 7:30 last night. (Had to put the little kiddies to bed first, and deal with all the the "I want a drink" and the "I have to go pee" and "My brother hit me" nightly routines.)

 

Now, I was not in beta, and since I was away visiting family over the Thanksgiving testing weekend, yesterday was the first time that I have actually SEEN the actual game. I've read all the articles, and dev posts, and watched the trailers.... But not until yesterday did I actually get my first taste of what the game actually IS.

 

1- At first I was frustrated at the limited options to customize the UI. But I eventually decided to leave it the way it was setup by default, and try to get accustomed to it. After a short time, it started to feel a lot more intuitive, and my initial frustration diminished almost entirely.

 

2- The graphics settings are fairly customizable, but not as much as some other games I've played. All in all, that wasn't a big deal, because after screwing with things a little bit, I found that I could just about max everything out and still got smooth as silk gameplay on both my and my wife's computers.

My PC: Athlon X2 3.4ghz, 8gb DDR3 and 1gb Radeon 6670

My Wife's PC: Athlon X2 2.8ghz, 4gb DDR2 and 1gb Radeon 6670

I turned off "Bloom" and "Shadows" but that is more of a personal preference, than a performance choice. All in all, it ran a LOT smoother than I thought it would based on what I was reading about system hardware requirements.

 

3- The game is quite visually stunning. The landscapes are terrific, water reflections are nice, skills/abilities/animations are terrific. (Force Leap rocks my socks!) And with the graphics settings I am using, the actual gameplay is not too terribly far off from what the cut scenes/cinematics look like. I was very happy with the visual-nature of the game, and the graphics engine seems to be quite efficient.

 

4- The character creator is very basic. Although, the last MMO I played before SWTOR probably had one of the most in-depth character creation utilities in history, so it was actually kind of a nice change, to not spend an hour trying to create your character. I wouldn't be surprised if some future patch didn't expand the character creation/modification options, but quite honestly, I don't think it would add/detract from the game enjoyment level.

 

5- SO now I have made a character, I have watched the awesome cinematic, and I am a level 1 noob, dropped into the world and I am ready to play. WHAT DO I DO? WHERE DO I GO? What are all these NPCs? And who do I talk to? How do I use taxi's/speeders!?!?! I felt so lost.. SO very lost. But that dissipated quite quickly after a little bit of running around. A little bit more direction/guidance when you are dropped into the game would be welcomed/helpful... But like I said, with a little running about (aimlessly at times) you can certainly figure it out.

 

6- Class Missions: It is a little frustrating that same-classes can't help with class-missions. I.E. My wife is playing a Consular, and I am a Knight. We can help each other with our class missions, but my friend who is also playing a Knight, I cannot help him with his missions and vice versa. I understand the reasoning behind it, with story progression, rewards, spoilers, etc... but there has to be a way that a "team" can all together do class-missions without worrying about who can and can't enter.

 

7- Side Missions: Awesome. Shareable amongst the team/party... Nice rewards/loot, and equally impressive cinematics to the class-missions.

 

CONCLUSION:

 

My wife and I played from 7:30pm to 1:30am last night. (I had to just about force her to log off at 1:30 because she was loving the game... hehe, I am a lucky man.)

 

In that 6 hours, we created our first characters, ran around aimlessly for a while figuring things out, doing some solo class-missions, teamed class-missions and teamed side-missions. We didn't skip a single cut-scene or cinematic, and by the time we logged off, we were both around level 8 1/2 and had just created our first lightsaber. NOW... 6 hours to go from level 1 to level 8, by any other MMO's standard is really quite slow. HOWEVER, I see it this way: SWTOR isn't like other MMOs. It's a linear, story-driven game, that deserves for the time to be taken to immerse yourself in enjoying the STORY every bit as much as the actual gameplay. That is what made KOTOR (1 & 2) so good, and it's nice to see that it has transferred this well to the online environment.

 

That is my initial reaction to the game, after seeing it in person for the first time... I have a few very minor complaints, but they were massively outweighed/overshadowed by the pure FUN I had in game last night, sitting next to my wife in a galaxy far, far away.

 

And remember... Early Access woes are temporary. Everyone will get in.

Still going to 2v1 you and your wife regardless of when I get in.

Still going to 2v1 you and your wife regardless of when I get in.

 

While I'm thinking I know what that means... At first glance it sounds dirty.. and at second glance, it reminds me: I've never been a big PvPer.

 

The only game I ever really did PvP in was City of Heroes with an Ice/Energy Blapper (which was a beast)... but anyone who knows anything about CoH/V, knows that it was/is not a stellar example of good PvP by any stretch

 

I'm more of a PvE kinda guy.

nice personal review man

Just a note unless it was changed after beta, but same classes can help each other. It just only counts the mission/quest for a single player. Which means if both have it then you will go through it twice (with xp and loot for all both times)

 

The "main" person will choose all dialogue choices and appear in cut scenes.

You can assist with same class quests. There's an option under "social." Select it and you can help your knight friend.

Here is my initial reaction:

 

"Welcome, Login There is currently no active subscription on this account"

Nice review! I was in the beta for the thanksgiving qweekend so know what to expect somewhat..

 

Re #6 - you can. Ther is a setting to allow same class into your instance. They are just an observer thoguh. They can help you fight but it will not advance their own quest.

 

EDIT Ninja'd

Edited December 14, 2011 by Shinian

. (Had to put the little kiddies to bed first, and deal with all the the "I want a drink" and the "I have to go pee" and "My brother hit me" nightly routines.)

 

 

 

We need a few words about the way you and your wife raise your children.

 

First off, "I want a drink" Really? unless it's single malt the child is asking for you have obviously failed as a parent. If he specifically asked for Lagavulin, on the other hand, kudos to both of you.

 

Second, the peeing. The correct answer is "What? you peed this morning!"

 

And finally "my brother hit me" Really? May i remind you that as a parent that's your job?

Stop letting your children do the work. hit them yourself, you lazy bugger.

 

 

Just kidding, man... Nice review, though.

^^ what 2 users above (hahah) said. There are actually a large number of quite helpful things with regards to the UI/Map and grouping abilities in the options that aren't well documented. The allowing the same class in class missions thing probably being the biggest one, especially for established guilds/groups who want to play together. I think this was not a default setting because they didn't want lower levels tagging along with higher levels and spoiling the story lines later in the game, but other then that I'm not sure why. Edited December 14, 2011 by DarkhawkXY

My wife was absolutly sure she would not like this game, she is farily new ( 2 years ) to MMO's and has played a couple of them.

 

He got in the weekend beta after thanksgiving and fell in love with SWTOR

 

LOVES the game, she will be very excited tonight when she finds out that she just now got in.

I think the only thing that would "concern" me about teaming for class missions (honestly, regardless of WHICH class, because eventually I will play them all)... is that being a "spectator" on someone else's class-mission, will be nothing but storyline spoilers. And at least ONCE through, I would like to experience the story on my own, in the correct order.

 

I think that makes sense right???

 

Where is my "GO TO A BLANK SCREEN, AND TAKE A BIO BREAK/GO GET A BEER/SLICE OF PIZZA WHILE THE ACTIVE PLAYER WATCHES THE CLIP" option?

 

We need a few words about the way you and your wife raise your children.

 

I am always open for advice.... Although right now, the kids are SO stinking jealous that Mommy and Daddy are playing a Star Wars game... I let them watch the opening cinematic, and they just sat there with glazed over eyes. My sons are 8, 6 and 4... and they live and breath all things Star Wars. In THAT regard, I believe I have done a stellar job as a parent

 

First off, "I want a drink" Really? unless it's single malt the child is asking for you have obviously failed as a parent. If he specifically asked for Lagavulin, on the other hand, kudos to both of you.

 

It's a beer house. I'm more of a beer snob than a liquor snob. It's a life-choice really. However, I only let the kids drink water. Tap water. None of those silly filters either, if it's coming out brown/orange, that's the same as taking an iron vitamin supplement... And those things are expensive!

 

Second, the peeing. The correct answer is "What? you peed this morning!"

 

That is my answer EVERY time... "Didn't you JUST go??? Geez son, learn to hold your beer, because once you pop-the-cork, you're gonna be peeing all night long."

 

And finally "my brother hit me" Really? May i remind you that as a parent that's your job?

Stop letting your children do the work. hit them yourself, you lazy bugger.

 

It's called "delegating"..... Learn it. Live it.

 

Just kidding, man... Nice review, though.

 

Thanks!

 

 

My wife was absolutly sure she would not like this game, she is farily new ( 2 years ) to MMO's and has played a couple of them.

 

He got in the weekend beta after thanksgiving and fell in love with SWTOR

 

LOVES the game, she will be very excited tonight when she finds out that she just now got in.

 

We husbands with gaming wives have to stick together.

 

Wife Aggro??? What the hell is that? The only wife-aggro I get, is if I want to log off before she does

Edited December 14, 2011 by Ocho-Quatro

My wife was absolutly sure she would not like this game, she is farily new ( 2 years ) to MMO's and has played a couple of them.

 

_He_ got in the weekend beta after thanksgiving and fell in love with SWTOR

 

LOVES the game, she will be very excited tonight when she finds out that she just now got in.

 

It's a trap!

Let's review the facts regarding the concept of the video-gaming-wife:

 

1- Presumably, you find her attractive, otherwise you likely would not have married her. This qualifies her as "hot".

 

2- If she married you, that means she is probably open to the idea of having sex with you, possibly on a regular basis. This combined with #1 above, means you are sleeping with a "hot woman who wants you naked."

 

3- She plays online computer games. This makes her "awesome".

 

4- More specifically: she plays an online computer game about STAR WARS. This makes her "perfect".

 

So let's review; The video-gaming-wife is:

 

"An awesomely hot woman, who is perfect, and wants to get you naked."

 

Epic Win.

Anyway... enough of this. Move along! GO Play!

I love the humor of this thread. The review was good too haha.