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What if...
shirlnt
Member UncommonPosts: 351
In the past I've seen fans of NGE tell people re-trying NGE that they needed to treat it like a new game rather than going back comparing it to what it once was. According to the challenge, people would like the current game if they did not expect it to be like the pre-cu. So I started thinking recently:
What if the pre-cu version of the game had never existed and the game had been like its current state when I started, would I have liked the game? Would I have continued playing it as long as I played?
I currently went back in the free trial. I do not like combat the way it is and there was not much motivation to stand around with a level 90 entertainer so I created a new entertainer on Bria to kill time during the last week of the free period while waiting on a game that goes open beta soon. Thinking back to when I first played SWG, my first character was not a combat character so my dislike of the current combat system would not have been a factor. I did a combination of entertainer and crafter which would not be possible in the current system but I would have been allowed two characters on the same server so I still could have done both. The first time I played, it took a second account before I had a combat toon. So I thought would I have realized I wouldn't like combat before I made the mistake of buying the second account? Actually, the second account was originally added to be a merchant for my first account but I went for CH as I had met a MCH and enjoyed the pets so merchant fell by the wayside. With the current system, my crafter would have plenty of merchant skill as a part of the tree rather than needing extra skill points to get all the skills I wanted.
Back to whether or not I would have enjoyed the game if I'd never known the joys of pre-cu...I started the game with the entertainer skill first so lets assume I would have made an entertainer first (and my first toon was on Bria). With my newest toon I skipped the tutorial but as a noobie, I would have done the tutorial so lets assume I land in Mos E with some knowledge of how to play the game. As I followed the noob droid, I most likely would have followed the path the game sent me on...off to npc Gendra I go which sends me to the ME cantina a few times then introduces me to the ent mission terminal. When the noob droid sent me to the ent terminal, I took a mission that sent me to AH. When I arrived in AH, I wasn't quite sure how to do the mission (didn't realize how long I had to perform in order to complete the mission) but there were people around so I hung around and ended up learning about things like flourishes. AH was also where I saw someone spamming about clothing vendor. The first time I ventured from AH, I didn't realize upon my return that there were 2 cantinas in AH and, because the one I found was empty, I ended up moving on to Bestine and other areas of the game. This time I also got a mission to AH (intentionally this time because I knew more about game). The cantina in AH was empty this time of course and I did not venture on to Bestine to see what it was like. Even assuming that after going through the tutorial, I would have known to look in my datapad and find that it took 10 minutes to complete the mission, what would I have done after that? I know one thing, hopefully the economy wouldn't match the current one. 10k for a pair for shorts....hmmm, at little over 1k per ent mission at 10 minutes per mission plus travel time? to play in empty cantinas or cantinas full of mostly AFK players? assuming that I even figured all the game basics out as help would have been hard to come by? Definitely would not have been as positive of an experience as my first go-round. Add to that having to do my crafter as a second toon and never having the financial support of a combat toon......
Hmmm, not so sure I would have been around for long with that type of game experiece.
Oh, and as to the current population.... I was quite surprised...Bria was listed as "Heavy" so I was curious what "Heavy" population looked like these days. There were quite a few people outside the Mos E spaceport and the cantina was quite full. For a moment I thought "maybe fans of NGE are right about the population" but then Bloodfin was announced to be back up and down the population went....and looking at people's bios one warned to stay away from Theed. Considering how full the Mos E, AH, Bestine, Theed, and Coronet cantinas use to be, a cluster of people in one cantina does not a population compared to pre-cu make.
Comments
Even if I treat it as a new game, it sucks.
SWG is by far the least polished, and most buggy MMO out there. And it's nearing 5 years old. UNACCEPTABLE.
Nevermind, I found the key statement there.
"What if the pre-cu version of the game had never existed and the game had been like its current state when I started, would I have liked the game? Would I have continued playing it as long as I played?"
Well I for one did indeed "forget" preCU and attempted to look at the game through fresh eyes. I gave it quite a long time to make a positive impression on me. There were some things I liked but more that I dislike, or more accurately, were indifferent too.
The biggest gripe I have on the game right now is that it does nothing to distinguish itself. All those unique features others tout are things left in from preCU. Everything else has been homogonized so much that it might as well be called "Industry Standard MMO; SciFi/Fantasy Edition."
I can get the same game experience from the free MMO's out there. Why should I pay money for something that offers nothing more than what I can get for free?
http://mmo-hell.blogspot.com/
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/rejad
"What if the pre-cu version of the game had never existed and the game had been like its current state when I started, would I have liked the game? Would I have continued playing it as long as I played?"
I would NEVER have even been interested in this game as it is now - the box would have been left on the retailer's shelf to collect dust (and finally end up in the bargain bin). I bought SWG Pre-CU for the very elements it DID have. The very things that attracted me to the game and thoroughly enjoyed have been removed, and the current devs keep moving the game further from the type of game I enjoy.
For a game working on its fifth year, there is very little to show for it...and the ghost-servers say it the best.
The only reason this mess is still on the market is the IP itself.
It's basically WoW without the smooth gameplay, the polish, and the elegant interface, and it doesn't have dwarves, elves, taurens, orcs, and all that Tolkienesque fantasy stuff.
CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.
Once a denizen of Ahazi
if the NGE version had been released back when the Pre-CU version came out, I imagine I would have played it for a bit.
Not long ago, I even approached the NGE as a completely different game. The aspects that got me to pay for a few months were those that had not really changed from Pre-CU though. Things like going out and hunting down resources for architecture (used to be Master Architect) were what kept me playing more so then the class system or game play.
In the end, I only played a couple months. More so out of nostalgia for what was and optimism about what could be. But the game didn't hold my interest and eventually I was unable to seperate my memories of the game from the current experience.
So, based on my experience, I would think it is hard for any vet to come up with a non-biased idea of "what if...". The original game was good enough to cloud any thing that has come after in my opinion.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
I agree with salvaje. SWG should be free-to-play. I just don't get it why people pay for that crap and some have more than 1 account? Thats just nuts
Maybe because there still is NO game currently on the market that touches the posibility's that are STILL posible in SWG. Regardless it's bugs unpolishness or whatever many of you feel about the current state. I mean if there was such a game would you think we still see many post here, i think not, i think most of you would totaly forget about SOE and SWG if you have found a game that was as good it was back then for many of you including me though i have been back but aint playing currently.
EVE online has more possibilities than SWG ever had, even Pre-CU.
Only if your heavy in to pvp and space.
SWG still has one of the better setups for crafters imho.
Sure the crafters that are there aren't happy. But after playing most MMO's... that's how I feel.
When I go back for a "vet trial" I don't have any problems selling my trash. I mean I never see anyone (relative statement) but I can sell stuff.
Most of the newer games.. well if you don't like crafting I guess it wouldn't matter. I just feel that part is still better than most games.
btw I was trying to say something positive. I have more than enough posts flaming the nge (so I had to do this to retain balance and not nerf my ability to flame).
I agree sort of that EVE has got tons of GREAT feature's, but seriously the game still does not come close to what I FELT for pre-cu SWG, i mean i can not come out of my ship and walk on a spacestation or planet can i in EVE?....atleast not yet and do wonder when they put in avatars how it wil work out for EVE, kinda looking forward to them doing so. Overall EVE TO ME and in MY OPINION is more of a great online space sim game then the feel of actual MMOrpg, though community wise the game might feel somewhat MMO-like but again for me the mmorpg feel in EVE is very minor compared to a game like SWG. This is my opinion, just like you have your opinon.
Had it been NGE from the get go, I think I would have stuck around about as long as I have in every other game I've played in the last two years... about 2 months... tops. If it was NGE from the get go, we wouldn't be here talking about it right now. It would be a very distant memory.
I've heard the "You've gotta play it as a new game" argument. I did just that. I went and I tried it. Did my damnedest to keep an open mind. And you know, it's just like every other game out there right now. It sucks.
SWG? Pull the plug already!
I agree sort of that EVE has got tons of GREAT feature's, but seriously the game still does not come close to what I FELT for pre-cu SWG, i mean i can not come out of my ship and walk on a spacestation or planet can i in EVE?....atleast not yet and do wonder when they put in avatars how it wil work out for EVE, kinda looking forward to them doing so. Overall EVE TO ME and in MY OPINION is more of a great online space sim game then the feel of actual MMOrpg, though community wise the game might feel somewhat MMO-like but again for me the mmorpg feel in EVE is very minor compared to a game like SWG. This is my opinion, just like you have your opinon.
Within the next year you will not only get out of your ship and walk around, you will be able to do all sorts of things on stations (including running businesses) and be able to walk around on planets. Those are the next major features being added.
Sure, it's not in the game yet, but name me even ONE other MMO publisher who is even talking about a sandbox skill based Sci-Fi MMO with a ground and space game?
And don't tell me SWG. SWG WAS once a sandbox, now it's WOW in space. A piss poor WOW in space.
Only if your heavy in to pvp and space.
Only if your heavy in to pvp and space.
Ok let's not even get into a discussion about the timeline in SWG because any person who's ever played this game knows that SOE has gone out of it's way to DESTROY the timeline Lucas established in the movies. The "content" they add to this game has consistently had nothing to do with the time period between ANH and ESB. As far as I am concerned, SWG is more like an alternate reality of the SW universe and has very little in common with the Star Wars universe we all saw in the movies as children.
I still don't really get the draw of 'crafting'.
I think it would be different if you could mod the visuals of the weapons and really tweak damage types our output... i mean, something really inventive. But to just look at a list of material requirements, put the goods in a hopper, 'experiment'... ? What's so cool about that?
I mean, I've NEVER played a game to 'craft'. I know, I know... that's my personal preference. But still, what is the draw there?
I don't think I've ever picked up a game, taken it home, installed it, logged in... and the first thing I do... "OH MY GOD THE ANTICIPATION IS KILLING ME.... SWEET JEEZUS WHAT IS THE CRAFTING LIKE!?!?!??!?!?"
Is crafting 'Star Warsy' or 'iconic'?
For me it appealed to my style of working as a group to achieve something big - like a player city. I liked the idea of physically changing (as much as you can in a virtual world anyway) the surrounding landscape. I like playing as a support class, and being there for my friends when they needed something.
But of course when I grew tired of playing that role I simply dropped those skills and picked up others as I felt I wanted to try.
I hear you on the visual aspect of weapons and such, and I thought there was an option for that very early on with respect to weapon power-ups. I also thought there would have been an option to make custom houses, but even without those abilities I still found crafting fun.