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A Galaxy Far Far Away...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 263 / 401
Date: June 11, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I was privileged to attend E3 this year, and I was witness to the amazing new product that is Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided.

All I can tell you is this; wives and husbands that have spouses that play MMORPG's, get used to being widows/widowers. Fans of Star Wars, be prepared to live out your dreams.

This game does not just cater to the power player that just wants to become powerful and rich. This game allows a person to simply immerse themselves in the Star Wars worlds. If you have 10 minutes and just want to escape, you can come to this galaxy and just relax, there are plenty of things to do, like hang out at the local cantina, or chat with a star faring smuggler about his adventures.

Identity is amazing. The sony developing team have gone beyond the scope of any developers so far. Your characters are so customizable it's scary. Want to be a lanky Twi'lek (jabba's dancer), how bout a hulkingly fat Wookiee (too many wookiee cookies)? it's all here for you to make yourself individual and identifiable.

Welcome to a galaxy far far away.... You will be drawn in, you will want to roam the worlds and live an adventure of your own. Who knows, perhaps you too could rub shoulders with a fledgling Luke Skywalker or feel the wrath of the powerful Darth Vader....

may the force be with you

Not just another Hack n' Slash MMORPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 246 / 328
Date: September 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have been following the development of this game for a year and have been involved in many development discussions on the dev boards.
I am very impressed by the attention to detail that is going into this game. The developers are paying special attention to the casual gamers and gamers who were disappointed by previous MMORPGs (Massively Multi-player Online Role-Playing Game).
If you were frustrated by the "camping" and lack meaningful player-skills in Everquest... this is the game for you.
If you got frustrated by the lack of controls on Player-Killing in Ultima Online... this is the game for you.
If Dark Age of Camelot seemed too limited to adventuring classes of players... this is the game for you.
Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) will have a very dynamic player-run economy with limited reliance on Non-Player Characters. Have you ever wanted to try your hand at being a Farmer, Miner, or Merchant in an MMORPG?... then this is the game for you. SWG will have 25+ professions you can persue besides the classic Jedi, Smuggler, and Bounty Hunter - something to interest every type of gamer.
Player-Killing (PKing) will be strictly controlled to prevent griefing players who don't want to participate in PKing while encouraging large PK battles.
Camping will be controlled by random & dynamically spawning creatures... a valuable spawn won't appear repeatedly in the same place. Thus preventing the lines of players waiting for something to appear.
Twinking (the practice of older players equiping their new characters with over-powering gear) will be limited by item decay. And the best gear will come for player-crafters rather than uber (super-powerful) creatures that are competed for by high-end players.
SWG will acknowledge the many requests & complaints MMORPG players have had from previous games. SWG won't be just another Hack n' Slash... this is the game for you!

AWESOME GAME! Whiners be gone.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 61 / 94
Date: July 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I rate games by the degree to which they destroy my social life. I once thought Civilization III and Medal of Honor were bad, but Star Wars - An Empire Divided, could end a marraige or turn you into a hermit (at least in real life, plenty of friends can be made in-game). This game is AWESOME!

I've never seen a game this complex and engrossing. To start, you customize the character you want from one of six species, then modify the 3-D model's body, face, and features. You choose from one of five novice professions, which can branch to like 20 elite professions. For example, if you want to be an architect, you start as an artisan, concentrate on the homebuilding tree, gain experience, then become a novice architect and go from there. This is what originally interested me in the game, since I've never really liked fantasy. But the chance to become a medic, architect, or musician, instead of just a swordsman dwarf or archer elf, seemed interesting. Indeed, it has been.

The player economy seems to work very well. Because one person cannot be a master in more than two fields at once, and you can't have more than one player per server (each server is a galaxy), players cannot be self-sufficient. They have to buy and sell to get what they need. And with the diversity of demands, everything from tailors needing hide, to architects needing metal, to pistoliers needing more advanced firearms, the economy is quite vibrant.

The only complaints I have about the game are the server down-time and bugs. Yes, they could have waited in Beta more, but the more players they have reporting bugs the more errors they can find. In a game this wildly complex there will likely always be a bug or two. Like books, software isn't necessarily completed, it's simply released. However, instead of beta-testing for another 6 months, I'm glad they released the game now. It's worth playing, there's a bug report function in the game, and server downtimes are announced on the Star Wars Galaxies site. Also, your first month with the game is free to give you time to determine whether or not you like it.

There are lots of great things about this game, but one of the most interesting is the fact that you're dealing with other people, and you can make friends through this game. That, and that the escalations your characters go through while gaining experience are really neat. While a lot of players are upset that they aren't an uber-character straight out of the box, people who stick with the game grow attached to it because they make characters very strong. It's rewarding to come across a newbie being chewed to death by kreetles (large Tattooine insects), flailing for life, and you easily destroy all the bugs and their lair in six shots because you've mastered the Pistolieer profession.

The animated battles in this game are great. The characters dodge, roll, blast, shoot from under the belt, dive and shoot, trade swords, or parry pike thrusts. There's even an unarmed martial art in this game.

I've had the game a month now, and no one I know of has become a Jedi or opened a force-sensitive slot. Some fanboys seem upset about this. Well, just because it takes months to even discover how to become a Jedi, and there's no guarantee you'll unlock your character's force slot, doesn't mean the game is bad. On the other hand, if there's a Jedi in a galaxy, that player's a legend. This stands up with the esteem of Jedis in the movies. They're rare, legendary, and powerful. If you want to be an insta-Jedi you can always pick up Knights of the Old Republic.

Another thing about this game that's really cool are the player cities. I'm in one now, and it's basically all friends who play at the same time of day and have professions that compliment one another. We have a PA hall at the end of the street, then a street full of player houses, stores, etc. There are constant block parties and you never have to scrounge and scrape to get a hunting party going. We have doctors and entertainers in the PA hall, so if you come back from a hunt or mission or raid, the doctors and dancers and musicians heal you, you give them a slice of the mission reward, and everyone's happy. The artisans in our guild (tailor, armorer, weaponsmith, architect) give us discounts, since I supply materials, and money-trading is done within the guild in case someone needs to buy something big like a factory or whatever.

The game can be disheartening if you're just starting out. It's hard to find your niche in the economy, and it takes time to gain experience. But, so what? It imitates life. And if it takes you a month or two to gain an elite profession, just think how long it takes in real life. And in the meantime, you come across other people with your level of talent and you bond with them. Or, if you're not socially inclined, you can just be a lone wolf and take destroy missions for money.

Overall, it's a very cool game. There have been a couple development bumps along the way, but if your computer is a steady mount, this game will go nicely. Also, the bugs and servers have improved steadily in the past month. There's a lot more I'd like to say about how fun this game is, but the best thing I can say is go buy it.

Also, if you get the collector's edition, your character starts off with sunglasses, which aren't available or tradeable. Definitely look kinda leet and cool with those. Wish I'd bought 'em!

-- JJ Timmins

View from Beta Test

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I spent about 2 weeks in SWG Beta test, principally learning how to play the scout class. My expertise is limited but my experience was very positive. I expect the game to gain a strong following. My previous MMORPG experience is with Everquest through the end-game environment(65 shaman 52 ranger etc).

There are still some rough edges in the game but I found three aspects very interesting and attractive.

First, there are beautiful spots in these worlds. The mountains of Naboo and the wildflower covered prairies of Cordelia come to mind most immediately. I found it pleasant to just sit (healing) and look at the scenery.

Second, the advancement system is non-linear. My sense is that over the long run this will make the game less of a grind of exp gathering. By mixing and matching skills players have the opportunity to customize their characters to most directly suit their needs and interests rather than opting for a one-size-fits-all class.

Third, the crafting system offers opportunities for activities other than MUD-like hack-and-slash. Useful items are player created from raw materials that can be culled from the environment by many means, from hunting to surveying and sampling. The player based economy will I think end up significantly richer than the drop-intensive system of EQ.

One of the slogans circulating about the game is that the goal is to "live in the Starwars universe." I find this remark telling. There will be many players who are drawn to a game-life of combat. SWG will provide ample opportunities for them. Abundant opportunities. But for others this game provides the opportunity to have virtual vacations, to camp in the mountains, do a little hunting, do a little fishing, admire the view.

Most Anticipated MMORPG Ever on the Verge of Release

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 4
Date: June 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

As a beta tester of SWG for more than 5 months, I can assure all of you who purchase this game, that it lives up to all the hype. It is the best MMORPG I have ever had the pleasure of playing. It is dynamic, beutifully rendered, exceptionally conceptualized and more and more. Not only will it outsell any other MMORPG ever created, but it will keep going strong for years. SWG has over 500,000 registered fan members. Yes, count them. They're all there. Ive been on the fan boards and just about every thread I read Ive enthusiastic people ready to become part of this epic journey. ---May the Force be with You---

What are the minimum requirements?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 36 / 43
Date: May 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Computer
100% DirectX 9.0 compatible computer
Operating Systems
Windows 98 SE, Millennium, 2000, and XP

CPU
Required: Intel PIII 933 MHz or AMD Athlon 900 MHz
Recommended: Intel P4 1.5 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 1500+

Memory
Required: 256 MB RAM
Recommended: 512 MB RAM

Graphics Card
Required: 32 MB 3D Graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting (T&L) Capability
Recommended: 64 MB 3D Graphics card with Vertex Shader and Pixel Shader (VS/PS) Capability

Sound Card
Required: PCI, USB or Onboard Audio Device

CD-ROM
Required: Quad Speed CD-ROM drive

Input Device
Required: Keyboard and mouse

Connectivity Requirements
Required: 56K modem or faster Internet connection

DirectX
Microsoft DirectX 9.0 is included on this CD. NOTE: DirectX may require the "latest" updates for your operating system. This may also include the latest drivers for your particular motherboard, sound and video hardware.

Installation
Installation requires 2.0 GB of free hard drive space. It is recommended that you have at least an additional 500 MB of free space available after installing the game for the Windows swap/page file and additional patch downloads.

Supported Chipsets at the time of release:
ATI Radeon 7200/7500
ATI Radeon 8500/9000
ATI Radeon 9500/9700
Matrox Parhelia
NVIDIA GeForce 256
NVIDIA GeForce 2 family
NVIDIA GeForce 3 family
NVIDIA GeForce 4 family
NVIDIA GeForceFX family

Additional Chipsets supported.

Extremely addictive game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 12
Date: June 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Gameplay: Not sure what I give gameplay, it is so differant from any other game in the options you can do that, that in itself is a 10. You want to hang in the cantina and that's all you do, you can.... and get xp if your a entertainer or chef/bartender. You can hang out in the med center and wait for pt's. You can just gather resources and craft all day. The options are many and varied.
Graphics: 10, the game is beautiful, much nicer then anything out there, nothing can come close at this time. Customization is fantastic, and will soon be the standard I think, not many will like anything less if they ever play another MMO. You can literally make your character as beautiful or ugly as you want.

Sound: There are still a few issues with sound in my mind, the music is great, but it doesn't play all the time (which may be a good thing) but sometimes it just starts, and you don't know why. And of course you have combat music. All sound is very star warsy, blasters sound like blasters, the droids sound like droids. Great, but needs a little tuning in my opinion. Also I would love to hear wookie sounds, its just wrong seeing them, and not hearing the howling.

Professions: There is a fantastic diversity of what you can do, this game I think caters more to crafters then anything else. Alot of professions still need work, but they will tweak them after release I'm sure. Many are limited by the pvp choice that the developers have made. Some are limited by the fact that there is no player space flight or vehicles. Some professions just need to be made more entertaining. I think many will be happy though.

Star wars appeal: 10, super high, its a star wars game, if you like star wars, play the game, easy as that. They are true to the game world, but if you think about it, some play styles will only act out a small part of it. You will not be Luke Skywalker or Annikin, or on par with these types of movie personalities unless you have a roleplaying PA that will act all of this out with you. Roleplaying will be like any other MMO, hard to find in my opinion. You may think you are the next coming of the chosen one, but don't be surprised when a chubby little bothan droid engineer calls you a loser noob, and to get a life.

Attention to detail: Well the game needs a little more polish if thats what you meant. The programmers did a great job, but they missed things here and there. If you mean it in the sense of how close did they pay attention to the star wars lore, well they had someone whose job it was to do this, and he did it well. Even the gungans talk as annoyingly as jarjar.

Creatures: The creatures are very nice, some are super tough, and will chase you down and kill you. Not very civilised near Coronet, but that's what blasters are for. I think the creatures are diverse, and entertaining. You may not connect with them in the same way as other games, but it depends on where you go and which ones you meet.

Overall rating: Well there are things that I don't like about SWG that have to do with design decisions. I would have loved a better PVP view then the one they took, which is sad in my opinion. Single Character servers is just a copy, bilking players for more money, its already the most expensive MMO, and yet you will not get the same options as other MMO's. SCS will not save the player economy, and there will still be what everyone considers griefing, in my opinion, SCS is just a greedy move (probably more a corporate decision then a developer one).

But enough with my complaints about the development decisions. I will play the game, the game will hopefully be alot of fun. You can almost look at it as a tool that they are giving to the players to do with as they will. I hope players will get into it, and make it fun for themselves and each other. If you run around expecting an involved story to unfold before you, it won't happen. Everyone knows the story already, this is set after episode 4, and there will be no amazing historic changes. You can interact with many of these characters, but not affect very much.

Great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I have been on the Beta for the past few months and can tell you. WOW. This game puts the Massive back in MMORPG. The planets (Zones as it were) are huge and full of adventure. The PCs are very customizable, and with many missions and skill paths to choose you won't loose interest.

Oh, and to the comment with the one star, (Has to be an arse in every crowd), Ever hear of BETA TESTERS?!?!?!?

Beta NDA lifted

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The Beta Tester NDA got lifted a couple of days ago, so I can offer a review from a fairly knowledgeable viewpoint. I have been in the beta test for a while now, and can at least tell you what your initial experience will be like.

I have to give it 5 stars; SWG kept my interest even before most of the bugs were fixed. It isn't perfect yet, but it is certainly playable. I am sure that the Developers won't have fixed everything by release and there will be things that don't work perfectly. But the things a new player can do ought to give ok results with only an occasional weird string where there should be text and similar problems. Stability has gotten pretty good; the game hasn't been crashing often in late Beta and you won't loose your stuff if it does. If you are a power gamer, or a former beta tester, you might reach some of the high end content before they get that fixed up as well. If so, use the /bug command so the folks behind you don't have to fight the same problem.

The monthly price is also a commitment from Sony and Lucas to make continuous improvements. I expect it to get better and better over the next few years. I think that there is a good chance I will still be playing then, and I do expect to get my money's worth from that fee.

When you start, you can expect to be amazed by what you see and to be pleased to be able to move around in an environment that looks and feels a lot like the movies. You can also expect to be confused about how things work and what to do. One strong suggestion: go through the tutorial! It may be tempting to just go play, but the tutorial gives you the basics of what to do. The user interface isn't quite like other games (though you can customize it later), so you will want to learn how to work it.

It is designed well for a casual player who doesn't want to invest a lot of time each week. You can go places and do things with your friends even if they have played a lot more than you. It seems to me a little expensive on a long-term basis to just be an occasional tourist, but it is certainly feasible. I do expect, though, that many of the subscribers will be on 10 to 20 hours every week. The rich and powerful inhabitants of that galaxy will be on more than that.

How can it be a long time ago when is comes out June 25th?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: June 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Now I have a friend who has been working with lucas Arts with the demo and said that the graphics are breath taking, the abilties of the game are incredible. Now we all have been thinking "hey i've been waiting for a game like this to come out"

Now I think we all know the plot, it takes place during the later episodes. We all dont know that you can be what ever you want to be meaning if i wanted I could be a droid jedi or a wookie bounty hunter. It sounds like much fun, I think im going to wait on buying it until later, so the price goes down.

Ok lets sum it all up it's a StarWars RPG, you can do whatever you want and you can interfere with the storyline with the original story. I hope everyone has fun on June 25th

Colin Nickell

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