Realm's recent post reminded me that I owe deepest gratutide to all you gents here at BreakmanX.com for sort of introducing me to the comedy bistro that is Penny Arcade.
Last semester one of my gamer friends kept bugging me about going to some website about games and fruit and hojillionaires, but I never payed him much attention. Then I started cruising http://www.shoutcast.com for internet radio stations to keep me entertained at work. I stumbled upon BreakmanX's stream during a rerun of the Greg Snook show and was immediately hooked. Then, one fine May morning, I happened upon the Penny Arcade banner at http://www.breakmanx.com, and recognized it as the website my friend was always harping about. The rest is history.
So thank you, BreakcrewX.
[/makes libations]
Why I must bow to the BreakcrewX
short answer: noYankee wrote:Hmmm Star Wars fan Jevin? You wouldn't happen to be playing SWG would you?
not so short answer: when it FINALLY came out several months ago I resolved to upgrade my hardware just so I could play Galaxies. I had it up to speed by the first of this year, but by then I had heard so many bad things about Galaxies that I didn't get it after all.
I'm a huge SW fan, and a bit of a purist where the books are concerned (Boba Fett / Jaster Mereel controversy, that kind of sutff) and I just didn't want to be disappointed by Galaxies
when I get back to my LAN connection at school in August, should I pick it up?
That's what I consider a very good question. I too am a huge SW fan. Let me break it down to you with how I've experienced Galaxies and then you can judge for yourself.
My experience with Galaxies started when they first announced it. I followed it's development and played the game during Beta Phase 3. At first the game rocked, but as I got into it I discovered how buggy it was. The one that bugged me the most (pun intended) was the fact that you would buy a shuttle ticket, click on the droid and the damn shuttle would eat your ticket and you'd end up where you were leaving from, then you'd have to go buy another ticket and wait another 10 minutes for the shuttle to arrive. It was a serious time/money drain. On top of that I was playing by myself. Eventually I just sort of stopped playing little by little and moved on to other things.
This April my interests peaked again in the game and I decided to check it out to see if most of the bugs had been taken care of. They were and the game even had the addition of vehicles (walking everywhere sucked so bad). The graphics are great, the gameplay is simple and doesn't take long getting used to. I would say the biggest thing to learn on that side of things is the multitude of ctrl + letter functions.
The Star Wars immersion is there, but not to the extent I would like it. I decided to go Rebel with my character and have met all the big names: Leia, Luke, Ackbar, Chewie, Han... etc. Once those missions are over though, your part in the GCW is sort of a moot point and pretty much deals with only doing missions to increase your rank or PvP against an Imperial.
Then there's the grinding. It takes SO MUCH xp to get from one box to the next in your skillset. So much in fact that you stop playing the game in order to find the mob with the highest XP ratio and just sit and kill them all day long. This gets tedious and boring and is why I took a little break from the game the past few weeks.
That being said the devs are putting some things into future patches. First off there is going to be a Combat rebalance. Right now if you're planning on doing any sort of PvP, you had best be a Rifleman or a Teras Kasi artist or you'll get slaughtered. So they're going to fix that and balance everything out. The next is the Galactic Civil War. This is going through a whole revamp in order to increase player immersion in the Star Wars Universe and also so that when the Rebels win a victory over the Imps something actually happens. Right now there are no consequences, so there is in fact, no point to the fighting. After that patch, the Jump to Lightspeed expansion comes out that looks absolutely incredible.
So.. to answer your question: Depends.
I would say if you really liked games like Tie Fighter and X-Wing and enjoy MMORPG's and having fun grouping with other players in a Pseudo-Star Wars universe.. pick it up.
If you enjoy soloing, action at all times, and are very strict about your beliefs in SW continuity (in SWG right now there are Super Battle Droids that are 8 feet tall and a group of Mandalorians in a bunker on Endor) then this game might piss you off.
My advice: You get a month free when you get the game, so I'd get it and give it a try. If you don't like it you can always trade it in towards another game at EB Games. If you do decide to pick it up though, hit the Starsider Server and look me up: Dalzell Axost. I'll help you get started.
My experience with Galaxies started when they first announced it. I followed it's development and played the game during Beta Phase 3. At first the game rocked, but as I got into it I discovered how buggy it was. The one that bugged me the most (pun intended) was the fact that you would buy a shuttle ticket, click on the droid and the damn shuttle would eat your ticket and you'd end up where you were leaving from, then you'd have to go buy another ticket and wait another 10 minutes for the shuttle to arrive. It was a serious time/money drain. On top of that I was playing by myself. Eventually I just sort of stopped playing little by little and moved on to other things.
This April my interests peaked again in the game and I decided to check it out to see if most of the bugs had been taken care of. They were and the game even had the addition of vehicles (walking everywhere sucked so bad). The graphics are great, the gameplay is simple and doesn't take long getting used to. I would say the biggest thing to learn on that side of things is the multitude of ctrl + letter functions.
The Star Wars immersion is there, but not to the extent I would like it. I decided to go Rebel with my character and have met all the big names: Leia, Luke, Ackbar, Chewie, Han... etc. Once those missions are over though, your part in the GCW is sort of a moot point and pretty much deals with only doing missions to increase your rank or PvP against an Imperial.
Then there's the grinding. It takes SO MUCH xp to get from one box to the next in your skillset. So much in fact that you stop playing the game in order to find the mob with the highest XP ratio and just sit and kill them all day long. This gets tedious and boring and is why I took a little break from the game the past few weeks.
That being said the devs are putting some things into future patches. First off there is going to be a Combat rebalance. Right now if you're planning on doing any sort of PvP, you had best be a Rifleman or a Teras Kasi artist or you'll get slaughtered. So they're going to fix that and balance everything out. The next is the Galactic Civil War. This is going through a whole revamp in order to increase player immersion in the Star Wars Universe and also so that when the Rebels win a victory over the Imps something actually happens. Right now there are no consequences, so there is in fact, no point to the fighting. After that patch, the Jump to Lightspeed expansion comes out that looks absolutely incredible.
So.. to answer your question: Depends.
I would say if you really liked games like Tie Fighter and X-Wing and enjoy MMORPG's and having fun grouping with other players in a Pseudo-Star Wars universe.. pick it up.
If you enjoy soloing, action at all times, and are very strict about your beliefs in SW continuity (in SWG right now there are Super Battle Droids that are 8 feet tall and a group of Mandalorians in a bunker on Endor) then this game might piss you off.
My advice: You get a month free when you get the game, so I'd get it and give it a try. If you don't like it you can always trade it in towards another game at EB Games. If you do decide to pick it up though, hit the Starsider Server and look me up: Dalzell Axost. I'll help you get started.
Currently Playing:
World of Warcraft (PC)
World of Warcraft (PC)
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Realm
- The Alpha and Omega
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To quote Break, "once the StarWarsyness wears off it's just endless levelling." I was hardcore SWG for a while, both before and after the player cities/mounts/vehicles updates. I think SWG's fun comes from novelty and uniqe-ness, where else can you run around the Star Wars Universe? But once the novelty wears off, and you've already met Jabba, Leia, and R2D2, it's just becomes a pain in the ass. Making money takes an extreme amount of time and dedication, and no matter how hard you try you simply can't compete with the power levelers. It's the same with combat. Joining a guild can be fun, if it's run well, but the game really comes down to endless repitition, boredom sets in, and then the moment happens when you realize that there's no fucking point! There's no purpose. *insert Agent Smith's Matrix Reloaded rant about purpose here*
If you've got the hardware and love Star Wars, I'd recommend Knights of the Old Republic instead. Excellent RPG, beautiful graphics, and a plot that kicks George's ass.
If you've got the hardware and love Star Wars, I'd recommend Knights of the Old Republic instead. Excellent RPG, beautiful graphics, and a plot that kicks George's ass.
I have spoken.
Or wait until September if you're into first person shooters and get Star Wars: Battlefront. If you're Battlefield fans like Realm and I you should dig this... Battlefield with StarWars. Should be pretty fun.
Currently Playing:
World of Warcraft (PC)
World of Warcraft (PC)
Wow, Battlefront looks great. And it seems to be oriented more towards pitched battles (not unlike Halo) than tedious jumping puzzles (Jedi Knight, which gave me mad motion sickness). I'm definitely going to try it out.
After reading your generous posts, I'm still afraid to try Galaxies and here's why:
My gaming per day is already more limited than I would like it to be, so I have to ask myself if it is worth it to start a game that I KNOW I'll get hooked on (not unlike cocaine), but that I'll probably (based on your input) look back on and wonder why I wasted the time and money that I had (not unlike previous romantic relationships). I have some buddies who played EQ forever and woke up one day wondering "why the hell am I still chasing these triangle-headed wolves? This sucks.". If I'm going to start on an MMORPG (I'm an MMORPG cherry, Galaxies would be my first), I want to be sure that I'll be satisfied spending the time that I want to spend in it. Rather than playing it now and wondering what else I could have been doing, I think I'll wait for Lucasarts to slap me upside the head with a Galaxies upgrade I can't refuse. That, or wait for WoW.
Plus, if Morrowind and KOTOR are any indication, I wouldn't like Galaxies right now anyway.
P.S. Thanks for the great responses.
After reading your generous posts, I'm still afraid to try Galaxies and here's why:
My gaming per day is already more limited than I would like it to be, so I have to ask myself if it is worth it to start a game that I KNOW I'll get hooked on (not unlike cocaine), but that I'll probably (based on your input) look back on and wonder why I wasted the time and money that I had (not unlike previous romantic relationships). I have some buddies who played EQ forever and woke up one day wondering "why the hell am I still chasing these triangle-headed wolves? This sucks.". If I'm going to start on an MMORPG (I'm an MMORPG cherry, Galaxies would be my first), I want to be sure that I'll be satisfied spending the time that I want to spend in it. Rather than playing it now and wondering what else I could have been doing, I think I'll wait for Lucasarts to slap me upside the head with a Galaxies upgrade I can't refuse. That, or wait for WoW.
Plus, if Morrowind and KOTOR are any indication, I wouldn't like Galaxies right now anyway.
P.S. Thanks for the great responses.
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BreakmanX
- The Creator
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- PSN Name: BreakmanX
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Glad you like PA, man. I've been reading it since it was the small site back in late 99 early 98. Since then I've become friends with then, and gotten that much more respect for the Arcade.
I don't know if you've seen my interview I did with em back in 2003, but it is definately a worthy view for a fan.
And don't pay attention to Afro... he's just an attention whore.
I don't know if you've seen my interview I did with em back in 2003, but it is definately a worthy view for a fan.
And don't pay attention to Afro... he's just an attention whore.
I haven't watched the video but I've listened to the mp3, complete with SUPER ASS BLASTING WIND EFFECTS-effects-effects-effects. Gabe and Tycho seem like some pretty solid guys in real life. Last I heard they're supposed to be visiting the Dallas/Fort Worth area soon and I'm planning on being there.