[keg in kc]

And another, this one more bloggy:

Star Wars: The Old Republic reveal playable species with our hands on

Today, thegalacticstruggle.com managed to get some serious hands on time with Star Wars:The Old Republic and firstly, everyone will be pleased to know that the game is coming along very nicely indeed. After speaking with the guys at LucasArts and Bioware, it’s clear that this game needs to be right when it launches as the expectations from the community are very high. I don’t think any game has so much riding on it and this is probably down to the factors of combining Star Wars and Bioware.

We won’t go too much in to the quest we played today – we will leave that to the other media sites but with our hands on time, we were placed on Hutta as a level 6 Bounty Hunter, taking part in a new story on the planet but probably the most interesting thing was that we were playing as a Ratataki – yes folks – there WILL be playable species in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Players will be able to customise their characters as well. Jake Neri confirmed in our interview that it probably wont be as indepth as the customisation found in Star Wars Galaxies but there will be some variety for players.

During our time with the game, we discovered many neat things dotted around the map – some of which are still work in progress but we did get a chance to take a look in a Spaceport, noticed a few vendors and managed to see inside a Bazaar(auction house). How these elements will play out in the future, we just don’t know as they were not working. Also for the first time, we actually managed to play along side other players – which was alot of fun. I managed to jump in and rescue a couple of others who were pinned down by some of the vile gangsters you will find roaming around Hutta.

Badass Bounty Hunters on Hutta -

The cover system adds a new sense of depth to combat. Instead of the traditional ‘button bashing’ MMO combat, you now actually have to re-think how you will attack. Often, I found myself having to move behind the enemy who were using the crates/speeders/trees as cover, so I could get a clear shot at them and it made the whole experience very engaging.

It’s not Shakespeare but its a damn good story

Personally, one of the biggest surprises was the ’story’. Like some of you, I really didn’t give a rats ass about story as I just wanted to get in to the action and play the ’story’ out myself by actually playing the game. However, once I sat down and the NPC (non player controlled) characters I was interacting with started to speak to me, I suddenly found myself actually CARING about the story and the decisions that I made. This was fantastic! Why? Because from an early stage, you can determine whether you will be a player who actually cares and build up a reputation for being like that, or someone who is a cold hearted killer. By instigating threats for example, you can see how the NPC’s react and importantly, respond. Soon you discover that SWTOR doesnt just become a just game any more – it becomes an engrossing and throughly enjoyable experience. You actually do enjoy the interactions with your surroundings – a great achievement, if you ask me.

Most of the stuff we saw was still work in progress and some ideas might not make the final cut of the game. The developers are trying out lots of new ideas that are either ‘borrowed’ from other MMOs or something that they have created themselves. Amongst traditional Amour/Weapon vendors, we noticed ‘Speeder vendors’ but they werent actually selling Speeders. Instead they appeared to be some sort of taxi service that might put you on a hired speeder bike/transporter and guide you to your chosen Taxi stop. If you think of how the flight masters work in WoW, this is probably how Bioware see this working (IF it stays in the game).

We also saw some kind of personal shuttle device, that might be able to call a shuttle to your location and whisk you away to a different part of the planet, or a new planet altogether but it’s clear that transportation is being taken seriously but how the general mechanics behind how it will work, are yet to be revealed. Our time on Hutta was very enjoyable and as a Star Wars Galaxies vet, I found SWTOR to be very enjoyable and I am extremely excited about the future – bring on the beta!!