I love Star Wars. It's the first film I ever saw on the big screen, a long time ago in a cinema far, far away...
I don't mean the other film of that name. The one that's more often referred to as Episode IV and/or A New Hope. The one that goes out of its way to make Han Solo a less interesting character. The one with the not very good 90s CGI. I don't like that film nearly as much.
In fact there's nothing in Star Wars that I like as much as the original film. No, not even The Empire Strikes Back. At least nothing that I've seen, which is most (but not all) of the movies and not much else. I know that the Star Wars Expanded Universe is a thing that exists, but I know next to nothing about it, or about the various animated shows, or most of the video games.
I'm not much of a Star Wars fan, is what I'm saying. I mention this at the outset for the same reason I talked about my history with Dungeons & Dragons and Star Trek when I was starting my runs with games based on those IPs* – when a game is based on an existing property then how I feel about that property will consciously or otherwise influence my reaction to the game, for good and bad. Not being a fan of Star Wars – at least in the sense that 'fan' is most often used these days – then Star Wars: The Old Republic will mostly have to stand or fall on its own merits as an MMO.
That could be a problem. I've spent some time in SWTOR over the years, though I've only once went beyond level 25 or so and I've never yet finished a class story, and I already know going in that while there are things I like about this game there's a lot more I dislike. There's a good chance that I'll go way more negative than I usually do during the course of this run.
Still, I'll try to be fair, or at least try not to repeat myself too often when I'm being unfair.
*I try to avoid using the term 'IP' because it's so bland and corporate – it's a term that should only be used by lawyers and accountants, but has at some point in the last decade or so entered the general lexicon.
SWTOR does get off to a strong start, with 8 distinct class stories, and 4 distinct starter worlds. In this case I've gone with the Republic Trooper, who looks like a stormtrooper but is one of the good guys because something something prequel trilogy? I guess that people have certain expectations for anything with the Star Wars name on it, and that includes Jedi, Sith and grunts in white and black armor.
This is why nothing ever changes in the Star Wars universe. SWTOR, like KOTOR before it, is set a thousand years or more prior to the film series, but you'd never know that from looking at it. Oh I get why – set a prequel far enough back and nothing you do will directly contradict the later continuity because there's a thousand years or more in between for things to sync up in, assuming you don't blow up a planet ahead of schedule. I don't blame anyone for wanting to deliver the iconic characters, settings, sounds and visuals that define this universe, but what that leads to is there being only one setting in all of Star Wars, regardless of the time period any particular work is ostensibly set in. Just as there is only one plot, which is Jedi vs Sith, with the main variable being exactly how many of the buggers there are running around.
In SWTOR there's no shortage of Force users, though not on Ord Mantell, where the trooper story starts. I like Ord Mantell. It's probably my favourite of the starter worlds, with a story that flows smoothly and some interesting scenes of the Republic army's handling of the low intensity conflict against the separatists. It's not an altogether flattering portrayal either – the laziness, corruption and brutality of some republic troops is a recurring theme – and the writing does a good job of delivering on a wide range of tones and attitudes.
My favourite of these so far being Lamalla Rann, a reporter so cynical and morally deficient she appears to have wandered over from a Saints Row game.
"Think of it as an adventure. Wait – no, don't do that. You'll wander off aimlessly. Think of it as a job."
Ord Mantell is good at avoiding feeling too linear, even if it is. The visuals are clean and sharp (mostly, except for some of the armors) and the sound is excellent – especially the music, which really captures that Star Wars tone. As I approach the Separatist Base that forms the finale of this world there's really not much to criticise. Not yet.
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