Tag: Sony Online Entertainment

Star Wars Galaxies: Week 3


*Note: I finished writing this before the double exp update, this does not include any gameplay spent after today’s update*

Hallelujah! Week 3 of Star Wars Galaxies is over and done with, and I am finally off of Tatooine. Although my time working for Jabba was just grand (A little run in left me with -450 standing with the Hutts, but 3305 with Jabba, if that makes sense), I was finally able to get the droid head I’d been looking for and get my fully functional R2 droid from Watto. I was quite surprised as to how long that particular quest series took me, and by the end of it I was still level 21, still working my way towards end-game.

Despite what tone my opening image may convey, I’m finding this game extremely addictive. Despite some issues with availability over the past week, I was able to get two levels, although I finished the Jabba The Hutt line (for now) and even managed to speak with the big guy himself. Walking around Jabba’s building adds to the atmosphere I talked about in earlier articles, because there are certain places you cannot go until you raise your faction rating with Jabba. I wasn’t even allowed to be in the same room as Jabba until I finished mission lines for two of his followers, and even then I had to complete missions for his assistant, Jabba himself, and then a torture droid to finally get the head I was looking for.

The Hutts are just as seedy and disgusting as you could hope for in a Star Wars game, and my missions involved sabotaging competing pod racers, killing their champions, murdering opposing traders, and just generally enforcing Jabba’s will wherever it need be enforced. At the end, however, I was forced in a mission to bring information to either a Rebel or Imperial messenger (this sets up your allegiance). I chose the Rebels over the Imperial scum, no offense to any Imperial scum reading this.

I can’t get away from the issues with context response in this game, however. As in the first image, there are problems with interconnecting rooms and being able to shoot through them, but not be within line of sight of the enemy. Having to step into the room just to shoot a guy through an open doorway takes away from the immersion, as do my attempts to move from target to target, even though the game tends to go completely off screen to someone who is out of range, rather than the guy standing two inches away from the person I just killed.

I only gained two levels, but I did accomplish a lot. From now until who-knows-when, my smuggler has been transferred to Naboo, where I am working for the Rebel Alliance, getting in good with the Royal Security Forces on Naboo, meaning I can look forward to missions involving killing thugs, gangs, and murderers rather than helping them along. Oddly enough, I still have a higher status with the Empire than the Rebel alliance, but that is because I started out at a disadvantage (missing that rebel checkpoint in an earlier article).

Leveling has slowed down, a lot, likely because of the insane amount of time spent traveling from spot to spot to finish quests. On Tatooine, having to travel five thousand kilometers or more just to get to one area, then kill ten mobs and have to travel three thousand kilometers to the next, is not uncommon. I can only hope Naboo will provide quicker leveling.

My house will stay on Tatooine. I have still yet to go back and put some of my new posters on the walls. This may just be my time playing, but I’ve yet to see any players since the prior week.

But still, if you haven’t played Star Wars Galaxies and want to check it out, I would suggest doing so. If you’re a “veteran,” even a disgruntled one, come back and give it a go. Create some new memories before the game goes offline for good.

LucasArts Breaks Silence: Talks Galaxies


With all the talks from Sony Online Entertainment regarding Star Wars Galaxies shutting down, LucasArts has been silent on the issue. Not anymore. In a letter from LucasArts, Gamepro has published the following:

 The decision to shut down the game has not been an easy one. SOE and LucasArts investigated every option to keep the game open, including taking it to a free to pay model. However, that model just isn’t financially viable. Changing the business model for an experience like Star Wars Galaxies takes a major investment and overhauling of the existing infrastructure of the game. We’re unfortunately at a point in our life cycle where a change of this magnitude is just not possible. The harsh reality is that we’ve reached a point where the game is no longer a sustainable business. None of us wanted to see this point, but we’re extremely proud of the last eight years of the game and the community that has supported it.

We have a lot planned between now and December and we want to make sure that from now until then, we send off Star Wars Galaxies in a style befitting such a great game. We’ll be right there in the game with everyone else, counting down until the end, making sure we connect with all the friends we’ve made over the past eight years. It may be bittersweet, it may feel like it’s happening before it should, but we have approximately five months remaining where we can all enjoy the game together. We sincerely hope the community will join us.

Well it’s certainly a response, and it does show that a free to play model was at least considered.

Much Ado About Vanguard


I took the liberty of stocking this article with tissues, as I’m sure there are a few Vanguard fans who will be shedding tears over this article. No, Vanguard is not shutting down (as I’ve talked about in previous articles). Massively has an article up about Sony Fan Faire 2011 regarding Vanguard today, where Salim Grant has confirmed that there are two updates to Vanguard planned to go into effect this fiscal year.

In addition to new content, Grant also confirmed that developers who had previously worked on the game are being brought back to fill in the empty areas of the game. The content, as stated by Grant, will be implemented in a way that it cannot be burned through quickly by veteran players, and will fill the gap for some time.

When asked about free to play, Grant confirmed that the idea has been tossed around the board room, but no consensus has been reached and such an implementation is not yet on the table. Doing so would require some form of revenue, meaning a Station Cash injection into the game in the form of a cash shop.

Oh the times they are a-changing. When John Smedley talked last year about Sony not being done with Vanguard, it looks like he wasn’t just blowing smoke up our collective-assuming that Vanguard can get a small number of developers together to introduce more content, perhaps the game could get that influx of old players necessary to really give Sony a reason to work on the free to play system. The recent price drop in Sony’s All Access Pass should also be enough of a reason for players to get involved in Vanguard who may not have tried it before.

Of course this is just well wishes from an old player. Maybe I’m just surprised that Sony is giving the game real acknowledgement other than “yes, I love my son, which is why I home school him and keep him locked in his bedroom.” Hopefully much more on Vanguard to come.

Star Wars Galaxies: Week 2


Week 2 into the Star Wars Galaxies “Let’s Play This To Death,” and I’m still going strong. As of the end of Week 2 (Sunday) I’ve managed to attain level 21 and my quest line as a smuggler on Tatooine has taken me to Jabba the Hutt’s own palace, where my attempts to shoot the bastard in the face with my blaster pistol have proven fruitless. Instead, I’ve been doing a large number of quests that involve pretty much what you’d expect from the Hutt family. Stealing pod racer parts, killing competing champions, finding ingredients for Jabba’s dinner (no jokes).

I can see what Sony was talking about with the community being engaging and friendly. I’ve come across a few players in my travels who were very kind, talkative, and willing to do some quests with me. The first, pictured above, Neesli Ofe. The second, to the left, Ihaf Iypisen. In both instances, I had to log off before our questing party was finished, so I apologize to both. Generally I’m not the one to finish first.

Having a friend to play is a big help in some areas, as population density makes Star Wars Galaxies a game of shoot once, pull ten mobs. Luckily for me the game has a system where your first “death” simply incapacitates you for ten seconds. Get up and allow the timer to run out (three minutes approximately) and you won’t have to worry about death. This feels like a copout, but it’s a blessing in an otherwise very unforgiving game.

The world of Star Wars Galaxies is massive, and I haven’t even left Tatooine. You can easily spend ten minutes just going from waypoint to waypoint for a quest, and that is with the added speed of a mount. Despite the game’s aged graphics, the game holds up rather well and instead opts to focus on the living, breathing world rather than trying to keep up with the current generation of games.

Speaking of atmosphere, the rebel vs empire battles are great. I occasionally see pockets of rebel and alliance, and at one point I came across a shootout outside of Tatooine between a storm trooper, Imperial officer, and a few rebel soldiers. The whole fight lasted just a few minutes before the rebel soldiers were cut down, but the spontaneous aspect kept me watching and observing. At this point in my Star Wars career, I assume I’m not affiliated well enough to engage in such a fight.

I want to talk about some of my gripes with the game, however. In a few aspects, the game has aged rather poorly. Although Galaxies is more action than its previous incarnation, I often find that putting my reticle on an NPC and firing is not sufficient in actually engaging in combat. Instead, I have to place my reticle and hit tab to target, and more often than not this still doesn’t target the NPC I want to target. When you are in the midst of fighting more than one person, quickly tabbing can be the difference between life and death. For me, this generally means death as the targeting system will skip over the person I mean to attack and focus on someone 200m away out of range, or worse someone in-range causing me to fire and bring yet another mob into the fight.

The targeting is my biggest issue this week, as it is my chief cause of death. Other than that, I’m really enjoying my escapade through Galaxies. The quests are well fleshed out, there are a ton of factions (as seen below) and the music is well done if not repetitive. With that in mind, I will cut this short until next week.

Smörgåsbord of Sony Online Entertainment News


Sony Fan Faire 2011 is still live until tomorrow, but there has been a plethora of information coming from the Las Vegas convention center. New expansion packs, updates on upcoming games, and more.

Everquest and Everquest II respectively are set to receive yet another expansion in the coming months. In Everquest, Veil of Alaris opens up a new continent, and releases Guild Hall exteriors so players can place their guild halls in neighborhoods which will be part of a further revamp. When the expansion launches this November, it will also raise the level cap to 95. In Everquest II, Age of Discovery brings with it a ton of new content, including new hired mercenaries and the ability to design your own dungeon. Also coming this November, the expansion will bring in a new class: Beastlord.

Plenty of updates were announced for DC Universe Online (including a fight against Brainiac at the Fortress of Solitude), Free Realms and a cross promotion with McDonald’s Happy Meals for Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures.

What is likely to draw the most attention is Planetside 2, which Sony revealed will bring back all three factions and has been redesigned from the ground up to not only ensure that most if not all of the field is worth battling over, but so even players with old computers can play. Players will fight over resources and will have to coordinate with their individual goals to boost their faction’s overall progress. There was also talks of player generated content, customization with weapons and vehicles, and user generated content. Planetside Next will be PC exclusive and still has no release date.

Everquest Next received very little information, other than a screenshot and a note that the game would also run on the same engine as Planetside Next.

Check out this trailer for Planetside Next:

Planetside 2 Announcement Coming.


Hold your BFR’s folks, something big is coming from Sony regarding Planetside 2, and hopefully not like March’s announcement. A clock has appeared on the Planetside 2 website, at 45 hours currently, putting the countdown to end sometime late Friday EST. Stay tuned for more information.

http://www.planetside2.com/

How High Can I Get? Star Wars Galaxies Edition


I did this back when Tabula Rasa announced that it was shutting down, and wanted to do the same with Chronicles of Spellborn but never managed to download the proper client in time. When Star Wars Galaxies announced that it would be shutting down this December, I took it upon myself to start up an entirely new character, no aid from others, and see how far I could level it before that time. Those of you who know me will know I am notoriously slow at leveling in any MMO, so the idea that I might not get to 90 in the course of six months is a very real proposition.

My character, a Twi’Lek smuggler class, is currently at level 13, and I will be posting updates on my progress in the weekly “Week in Review” section. Hopefully I won’t have my usual distraction from the handful of games going free to play this summer-oh hey Hellgate and Age of Conan!

DC Universe Adds Microtransactions


I’d love it if WordPress didn’t write my URL before I’ve finished writing the title for the post. DC Universe today launched its move into microtransactions. Right now the game only offers three items, with more on the way no doubt. The items are proto-bots offering convenient repair on the go, vault tickets offering access to the vault instance, and a pack of five vault tickets.

I’ll let you guys throw around the slippery slope theory on how this is the lead up to free to play and pay to win, and call Sony ‘$OE’ and John $medley.

Sony Station Pass Discount Is Here!


Much talked about, not really examined deeply, Sony has come through with their promise to reduce the price of Station Pass. Starting today, players can gain access to the entire Sony Online Entertainment library for $19.99 USD. In addition, players who purchase longer term plans will find that the prices have come down on 3, 6, and 9 month subscription packages.

You can find the whole list of details here. I’ll remind you again that certain games must be owned for the subscription to become active. For example, you must purchase the client to Star Wars Galaxies before you can play the subscription as part of the package. Star Wars Galaxies will only be part of the package until October 15th, in preparation for the game shutting down.

Star Wars Galaxies Shuts Down December 15th


Six years. Back when the New Game Enhancements and Combat Upgrade hit Star Wars Galaxies in 2005, players asked: How long can the game last now that Sony has alienated its core group? The answer is six years. What can be called the biggest PR blunder in the history of the gaming industry, spawned a game that survived six years, countless updates, and a steadily dwindling player base. Here at MMO Fallout, I always hate having to write these articles, and thankfully for the past two years I’ve only had to write them once every few months. I’m the only person in my room currently, so to say that the room fell silent at this news may not make sense to anyone but those dwelling in my mind.

Over at the Star Wars Galaxies website, John Smedley has announced that Galaxies will shut down on December 15th.

In recognition of your incredible loyalty, we are extending special Fan Appreciation offers to the current SWG community. We also plan to go out with a bang with a galaxy-ending in-game event in December and hope to see you all there. The details relating to these offers and events as well as the timeline and specifics regarding the discontinuation of the service, are provided below.

In an interview with John Smedley at Massively, Smedley reveals that the contract for Galaxies was up in 2012, and with the release of The Old Republic late this year, the two companies mutually decided that now was a good time to end the game. Smedley talks about numerous things, but most interestingly he brings up the NGE.

There’s really nothing we can do about it. We’ve taken some hard-knocks for SWG in years past with the NGE. We’ve apologized for it. It was a mistake, and not one we’re going to make as a company ever again. But we’re really proud of the great work that we’ve done over the years since then. I’m really proud of the game. It’s great. Is it going to bum people out that it’s over? Yes. Including us. Maybe even especially us.

On one note, according to Smedley no one is losing their job over this. They are moving to an undisclosed project.

You can read the entire announcement above. For those of us who have followed or played Galaxies since its inception, this will truly be the end of an era.

More on Star Wars Galaxies as it appears. And just before Galaxies’ birthday…feliz navidad.