Say hurray for Galaxies !!!

Yup, that's Coronet.

 

Is this the most we've seen PrinceXizor in a thread?

 

It has been a long time since we've heard from him in other threads. I imagine that he is playin Galaxies at this very moment.

 

Hum, I'm playing it less than you may think.

And actually, I'm just lurking around these days... Don't have time to post as much as before.

 

this sucks, I've only got 900 MHz and 128 RAM. No way thats going to work! I can't justify buying a new PC just to play one game........or can I?

I'll just have to wait for KOTOR in july. Maybe it will be better anyway, you get to be a jedi so that's something. I was really looking forward to playing Galaxies though

 

Galaxies does sound interesting, but finishing Starcraft and its Brood Wars expansion took nearly four months. Not to mention Jedi Outcast before that . . .

Outside the comp screen, there's a harsher reality there. A reality, the rumours whisper, that demands you work for a living . . .

I'll just imagine I played it . . .

 

I was being facetious!

 

the second one is cheaper

 

I'm going to have a vague warning here:

If you love the Star Wars backstory, and know just about everything there is to Star Wars, you will utterly hate Star Wars Galaxies.

Ask around for people who have played the beta, most have quite a mouthful to say.

edit: for those curious, why do you think they would leave the NDA up until the last minute? Come to your own conclusions from that.

 

Not necessarily. I'll come to that. However, I'm still waiting for them to lift the kriffin' NDA, which they were supposed to do today. EDIT : But apparently won't.

I've got a review (and more) waiting on my harddrive, for a simple copy & paste right here.

 

why do you say that? Too many contradictions?

 

They didn't kept it to the last minute, apparently. Well, the NDA (non-disclosure agreement) has been lifted, so I can now say a few words about my experiences in the game. So, raise the volume of you computer, turn off the lights and your monitor, and it'll be much more enjoyable.

Star Wars Galaxies, or Star Wars : Running Simulation, by Lucasarts

Ouch... Maybe I'm starting a bit roughly here. Maybe I should first try to define what SWG is. It's a massively multiplayer online role playing game. MMORPG, for short and especially for lazy people like me. Now, I guess most of you haven't played one of those MMORPG yet, so basically have only a very vague idea of what it is. Let me explain it very simply : it's a SW life simulation. You know, like that mysterious "real life" thing, but in a galaxy far, far away. What does that imply ? Well, basically you do your everyday stuff, in some kind of unexciting way. Some sort of neverending routine. There's not a story for you to live, no path to walk on. You are free. And by the Emperor's black bones, freedom sucks.

Now, don't get me wrong, I like my freedom, but usually to get me interested in something it takes a story to chew on. In that sense, SWG is an utter failure. But did I expect something else ? Not really. Then comes naturally the question : what did I expect from SWG ? Well, basically see things I've only imagined so far. I like to see precise shapes, given colors, and hear definite sounds, something unlike the mess I tend to have in my brain. From that point of view, SWG is a success. I've seen many beautiful things, and most of them made my fanboy nerves tingling.

Okay, let's get it out of the way : there's so many different things you can do in this game, you'll probably eventually find something that you find so addictive you can't stop doing it. I have no doubts Lucasarts and Sony will end up as winners on this one. You can craft things, fight creatures, raise creatures, entertain people, heal people, chat, explore and Vader knows how many other things. So, there's always something to spend (lose?) your time on, and you'll probably never run out of things to do. Personally, I've taken on myself to explore as much as possible, which was after all my initial goal when I started playing.

Thus come some words about that 'Running Simulation' I mentionned in the title. Well, when you start exploring, that's basically what this game is all about right now, and will be at release. Since there are no player owned vehicles, you have to go on foot. And since the planets are huge, you run for hours ! It takes about one hour and half to run in a straight line from North to South. And unfortunately, most of the time the way is empty, that is no points of interests, just more or less aggressive creatures that roam in the wilderness. But that's what you would expect of wilderness, won't you. But from time to time you come across interesting things, which make it worth the trip. You still which you could have done it in a landspeeder, though.

I sense some people here thinking 'wow that must be boring', and yes, sometimes it is (especially in deserts - Vader knows how much I hate Tatooine), but that won't always be the case. MMORPG are evolutive. Player vehicles will be eventually added, and that'll make exploring a lot more interesting.

That leads me to some interesting foresight : the day SWG is released, millions (well, not exactly, but bear with me) of keyboards will suddenly cry out in terror... Most people will expect a well polished, finished product, which SWG isn't. It's a work in progress, and in my opinion it'll take a few months before it reaches its full potential, as more content is added and things are better balanced. That doesn't mean it's bad now, but it can be much better. I've seen enormous progresses in my time during beta, and have no doubt it'll continue improving. Just don't expect it to be perfect on lauch, or you'll be very disappointed. Moreover, the game is complex. There are so make things you can do, that - unless you're fam

 

Some more infos before I begin

Most of the screenshots you're gonna see were taken during beta, which theoritically you shouldn't be seeing. However, it seems that the devs don't mind seeing those shown on the net as long as it doesn't interfere with the sales, so that's why I'm adding this.

All those screenshots were taken on my modest computer : AMD Athlon 1GHz, 256 Ram, ATI Radeon 64MB, on which I can't display many details, so basically what you'll see is with almost minimal details. If you have a state of the art computer - which you should have for this game, it'll look much better. Then keep in mind some of those may not look exactly like that when the game is released, there might have been changes since I took them - most of them being good changes. (And I'll try to avoid posting screenshots of bugs, despite the fact some of them really are funny.)

Basically my screenshots won't make the game look bad, if something would, it'd probably be my review above. I judge the screenshots I'm gonna show you as interesting and/or beautiful, so if someone thinks the contrary, "it's not my fault".

There, I hope this is enough and I won't get any trouble for posting those screenshots - but really I shoudn't given what I just said.

Okay, time to move on, this time it's the real deal.

NB : My story didn't happen exactly like that. I'm coming up with some things to make it more interesting to you and introduce the screenshots.

 

Wow, Xizor. Gabe from Penny Arcade! said exactly the same thing...

 

I know. I wasn't really surprised when I saw it on PA.

 

[image=http://www.pxart.com/starwars/img/swg/intro/intro01.jpg]

Hi ! Why don't you sit down and relax ? Would you like to drink something while I tell you my story ? Some Juri juice, maybe ? I love the nights on Naboo, especially here in Keren, it's so quiet. So you want to hear about what I visited in this galaxy ? I'll tell you, and even better, I'll show you. I've got some holos here you'll love.

But first let me tell you about me. I know you probably don't care much about it, but don't worry I'll try to keep it short. So, first I believe we weren't formally introduced. My name is Lorak Kre'bes. I was born on Bothawui, but moved to Kothlis with my family about the time when Palpatine declared himself Emperor. My parents had sensed trouble brewing up on my homeplanet and had prefered to flee trouble. Can't blame them.

I grew up as quite an uncommon Bothan, not that much interested in politics and family affairs. What I really wanted to do was play music. I'm a huge fan of jizz, and always dreamed of playing nalargon. But as it turns out, I'm not that good with music. When I was old enough to decide things by myself, I moved to Corellia, hoping to find celebrity.

[image=http://www.pxart.com/starwars/img/swg/intro/intro02.jpg]

But all I found was poverty. I ended up playing my nalargon on the streets of Coronet for a while, and finally found a job in a very small cantina in Vreni Island, a charming but almost deserted place south of Tyrena, right in the middle of the sea. After a year or so, I finally realised I had to do something else with my life. This wasn't ambitious enough for me. So I sat down one quiet evening at the local open air theater, and thought about my options.

[image=http://www.pxart.com/starwars/img/swg/intro/intro03.jpg]

Well, it didn't help much, but I came to the conclusion that I had to try to see if there were more opportunities elsewhere. So I sold my nalargon, packed my things, took a shuttle to Coronet and went to the star port. By that time, I still didn't know where to go. A quick look at the departures and arrivals board didn't help much either.

[image=http://www.pxart.com/starwars/img/swg/intro/intro04.jpg]

I finally bought a ticket for where things happen - or are supposed to happen - the very core of our galaxy, Coruscant. This wasn't a good idea. I should have sensed that something was going to turn awfully wrong. The atmosphere was very tense that day, people where screaming at each other everywhere.

[image=http://www.pxart.com/starwars/img/swg/intro/intro05.jpg]

And I didn't mention the heavy presence of the Empire, a surprisingly not so common sight on Corellia. Something was amiss, but I was so taken by my thoughts I didn't notice it.

[image=http://www.pxart.com/starwars/img/swg/intro/intro06.jpg]

Until it happened, that is. A fight broke out in the star port, apparently some smugglers resisting arrest. Several CorSec officers went down that day, it was quite a nasty sight.

[image=http://www.pxart.com/starwars/img/swg/intro/intro07.jpg]

My shuttle got delayed because of it, and I thought things would go better once on board. I was wrong. We'd only left the planet's gravity shadow when an Imperial star destroyer ordered us to stop. The pilot of the shuttle had the bad idea to try to outrun them. Of course the engines were promptly disabled by the destroyer, and after a short time stormtroopers boarded the shuttle and arrested everyone.

[image=http://www.pxart.com/starwars/img/swg/intro/intro08.jpg]

We were then transferred to a space station orbiting some planet I couldn't recognize, where some kind of Imperial witch gave us strict instructions about how people should behave in the Empire. They told us we were arrested because they thought there were smugglers on board, but that apparently wasn't the case.

[image=http://www.pxart.com/starwars/img/swg/intro/intro09.jpg]

I was finally set free after a while, and they directed me to a shuttle that would take me off the station.

[image=http://www.pxart.com/starwars/img/swg/int

 

Now, for a real screenshot:




Hunting Kimogilas on Lok:

[image=http://www.swg-crimsonstar.com/images/kimo.jpg]

 

Man I hope you can run faster than those things [face_shocked]

 

Doubtful - maybe with burst run.

It takes a group of 15 average people, or maybe 6 very skilled people, to take one of those bad boys down.

I have yet to see a Krayyt dragon though.

Zion
www.swg-crimsonstar.com - SWG Guild