Star Wars: The Old Republic, Also known as the love child of WoW and Mass Effect Options

[KarmaInferno]

So I'm in my free trial month in SWTOR and kinda having fun.

Currently leveling a lil Sith Inquisitor on the Jung Ma server. Whisper "Ayala" if you wanna chat.

If anyone's played either World of Warcraft or any other recent Bioware games like Mass Effect or Dragon Age, you'll see a ton of influence from both.

SWTOR borrows heavily on the game mechanics side from WoW. To be fair, WoW also borrowed from a lot of other games, so you might say that the reason Bioware adopted them for SWTOR is because, well, they work. Flight paths, skill trees, death costing money from gear repairs, mounts, 'heroic mode' content, hearthstones, etc.

From their own other RPGs, they used the social interaction system where you respond to NPCs with one of 3 choices on a wheel, usually one being "good", one being "neutral" or "sarcastic", and the third being "evil". More or less. As promised, every conversation is fully voiced, though your character is likely to repeat certain phrases quite often. I have no idea how many times my Inquisitor has uttered, "Murder and mayhem await!" in that cute British accent of hers. Because I suppose in the Star Wars universe, the British are pretty much all evil.

Bioware also uses a companion system like they do in their other games. You over time collect a half dozen or so NPCs that hang around your ship. You can only have one with you when out and about, but the others can be tasked with crafting or gathering duties while you're away. Each companion has their own likes and dislikes, and you can gain or lose affection with each depending on what you do or say. Having a companion also means that to some degree EVERY character in SWTOR is a 'pet' class, and you're really most powerful when you coordinate attacks with your companion.

All in all, so far, SWTOR doesn't stray too far from familiar MMO tropes. But that's not necessarily a bad thing - it's familiar and approachable. What SWTOR does have that most other MMOs can't even begin to approach is tons of story content. Instead of a simple quest box pop up when talking to an NPC, for example, you have a full on conversation with him. It definitely helps the immersion and makes the NPC more 'real', I guess, rather than a "click me to dispense quest" vendor machine. Each class also has an ongoing storyline that follows you pretty much your entire leveling career.

I don't know if I'll stay with the game for a long time, but its definitely got my attention for the moment.

If you wanna chat me up in-game, do be warned, Jung Ma is a RP-PVP server. There are many areas where you are force-flagged to player-vs-player mode, and you can be attacked by opposing faction folks. Just today someone ambushed me from stealth atop a river dam. Unfortunately for him, Sith Inquisitors have a shockwave-push attack that can knock opponents back several feet. So attacking one at the edge of a deep drop was probably not the wisest move my opponent could have made. I do admit to yelling "FUS RO DAH" at the screen.

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-k