One of my all time comfort games. Josh Strive Hayes mentioned how it is a MMO for people who already played MMOs before, can't agree more, it has a terrible new player experience but some of the best Star Wars stories i played.
I started playing in 2015 and got Legendary (finishing all 8 class stories) around 2019.
I started playing in 2015 and got Legendary (finishing all 8 class stories) around 2019.
I've put more hours into this game than it probably deserves, but there's just something about how it actually follows the 'RPG' part of MMORPG that keeps me in there, even though I've already beat all the class campaigns multiple times. The vanilla stories are just fine, and the weird nature of Flashpoints (most important ones are pushed on you but some others are really hard to initiate and can't be done solo even though they're important to the story) make progression not as smooth as I would like.
The DLC's haven't all been masterpieces, but the later ones I think are what made this game finally form an identity of its own, and I like seeing what sprawling wacky adventures they take my character on.
The DLC's haven't all been masterpieces, but the later ones I think are what made this game finally form an identity of its own, and I like seeing what sprawling wacky adventures they take my character on.
Initially turned off by the WoW-like MMO appeal of the game, I think I've quickly turned around and now I genuinely believe it is among the best WoW clones around.
If you've played KoTor 1&2, some aspects of this game and it's world do work as a non-direct KoToR 3. Admittedly not a lot of stuff carries over from those games but it still works well as a standalone game set in that era of Star Wars. The Old Republic style is very distinct and different from the Skywalker saga of Star Wars media and it shows. It does feel like technology is ancient even though practically it looks fancier and newer and that alone brings a lot of charm to this game.
The game has a whopping 8 main class storylines to complete (4 for Republic and 4 for the Sith Empire), plus a few large expansions so you don't have to worry at the lack of stories in this department. Inevitably with this much content, the quality caveat is more apparent than ever as some quests range from tedious filler busy work quests to genuinely well written companion side quests and main quests. I finished the Imperial Agent questline and it is probably the one that's most well received by people as it takes some odd and unexpected twists in the story. On top of that you can shape your character's morality by deciding fates of characters and making important story decisions.
Some of the location specific side quests overlap between characters and are a slog sadly but if anything it does make you flesh out your character with some interesting dialogue choices.
The best part about the game though I think is the fact is that yes it is an MMO but I feel like it is mostly a singleplayer game that you can play with friends. There are some MMO heavy aspects that you can partake in (and sadly in some cases need to partake in) like the PvP, which I never was a huge fan of and the Flashpoints, which you need more people to play with, Galactic Starfighter, Strongholds etc. Some of the equipment as well is pretty MMO-esque as you need to do the aforementioned activities to gain some of them and of course the MMO nature of it's microtransactions. It's an MMO, it's bound to have these and it doesn't really bother me personally. Some of the cosmetics do look out of place, even for this era of Star Wars and you can actually tell which cosmetics came first in the game's life cycle.
On the other end of the microtransactions, the game isn't nearly as bad as it used to be with it's Premium subscription (15 dollars/month but be wary of monthly billing and make sure to cancel when the time is right if you're going to go through with this), as even with the F2P model you get access to all 8 main storylines. Premium gets you all the extra expansions released before the time of your purchase so I'd say it's a pretty good deal.
Even though it isn't that bad in the grand scheme of this game, I still don't like the combat. The WoW-like ability based gameplay is just not for me and with the Imperial Agent, I found a groove of spamming the same abilities and it just got incrementally more tedious, but still something I was willing to put up with to get to more interesting parts of the game. Credit with some bosses though, they do require you to engage in doing other abilities that aren't just mindless spam attacks.
Not a fantastic experience and absolutely very flawed and dated, even with all the updates years later, it still overall feels like an older BioWare game and that's saying something. Under different circumstances it very well could pass as an official KoToR 3. I have omitted lots of stuff as I think you could basically write a whole book about this game, but overall if you can excuse some frankly ugly pastel MMO graphics (not all is bad, the skyboxes and the distant landscapes look stunning) and gameplay, you can find a pretty compelling story based RPG that you can spend dozens, nay hundreds of hours on.
If you've played KoTor 1&2, some aspects of this game and it's world do work as a non-direct KoToR 3. Admittedly not a lot of stuff carries over from those games but it still works well as a standalone game set in that era of Star Wars. The Old Republic style is very distinct and different from the Skywalker saga of Star Wars media and it shows. It does feel like technology is ancient even though practically it looks fancier and newer and that alone brings a lot of charm to this game.
The game has a whopping 8 main class storylines to complete (4 for Republic and 4 for the Sith Empire), plus a few large expansions so you don't have to worry at the lack of stories in this department. Inevitably with this much content, the quality caveat is more apparent than ever as some quests range from tedious filler busy work quests to genuinely well written companion side quests and main quests. I finished the Imperial Agent questline and it is probably the one that's most well received by people as it takes some odd and unexpected twists in the story. On top of that you can shape your character's morality by deciding fates of characters and making important story decisions.
Some of the location specific side quests overlap between characters and are a slog sadly but if anything it does make you flesh out your character with some interesting dialogue choices.
The best part about the game though I think is the fact is that yes it is an MMO but I feel like it is mostly a singleplayer game that you can play with friends. There are some MMO heavy aspects that you can partake in (and sadly in some cases need to partake in) like the PvP, which I never was a huge fan of and the Flashpoints, which you need more people to play with, Galactic Starfighter, Strongholds etc. Some of the equipment as well is pretty MMO-esque as you need to do the aforementioned activities to gain some of them and of course the MMO nature of it's microtransactions. It's an MMO, it's bound to have these and it doesn't really bother me personally. Some of the cosmetics do look out of place, even for this era of Star Wars and you can actually tell which cosmetics came first in the game's life cycle.
On the other end of the microtransactions, the game isn't nearly as bad as it used to be with it's Premium subscription (15 dollars/month but be wary of monthly billing and make sure to cancel when the time is right if you're going to go through with this), as even with the F2P model you get access to all 8 main storylines. Premium gets you all the extra expansions released before the time of your purchase so I'd say it's a pretty good deal.
Even though it isn't that bad in the grand scheme of this game, I still don't like the combat. The WoW-like ability based gameplay is just not for me and with the Imperial Agent, I found a groove of spamming the same abilities and it just got incrementally more tedious, but still something I was willing to put up with to get to more interesting parts of the game. Credit with some bosses though, they do require you to engage in doing other abilities that aren't just mindless spam attacks.
Not a fantastic experience and absolutely very flawed and dated, even with all the updates years later, it still overall feels like an older BioWare game and that's saying something. Under different circumstances it very well could pass as an official KoToR 3. I have omitted lots of stuff as I think you could basically write a whole book about this game, but overall if you can excuse some frankly ugly pastel MMO graphics (not all is bad, the skyboxes and the distant landscapes look stunning) and gameplay, you can find a pretty compelling story based RPG that you can spend dozens, nay hundreds of hours on.
The absolute level of cruelty and evil your characters can commit in this game is a sight to behold. Genuinely some of the funniest stuff I've seen in my life. My friend cut a mans head off while he was still alive and then dropped that head on his wife's floor. Also the combat is really fucking good and even the most unimportant npc's are given a lot of character. And the planets are fucking beautiful. Not bad for an mmo that was rushed out the door on launch and reuses assets and voice actors on every planet. Really reinforced why I love this game so much. I just wish it wasn't a stupid ass Free-To-Play with a subscription and microtransactions.
Has the best story of all time, It is just so chock full of great Star wars content. Personally I love all the empire stories they are the best by far and its so cool this game lets you play as the villains. The interactions with your crew and the choices you make add so much depth. Plus the combat being WOW like is fin with me its fun enough. Its grindy and repetitive at times buts its got so much depth and there is so much to do. I love this game.
Rating: Great
As of writing this, I’ve only completed the Agent, Warrior, and Knight class stories and completed all the story content minus operations as my Sith Warrior. Agent story is the best so far, Knight is the worst. The Eternal Empire stuff is actually pretty good, I must admit. They really should have set this game during the New Sith Wars though. Getting to create your own characters is the biggest highlight here, definitely makes me more forgiving on some of the sub-par writing. The Revan stuff is terrible, it should have been revealed to be Malgus or some other impostor at the end of the Shadow of Revan expansion. I may or may not write some fake wiki pages for my characters.
As of writing this, I’ve only completed the Agent, Warrior, and Knight class stories and completed all the story content minus operations as my Sith Warrior. Agent story is the best so far, Knight is the worst. The Eternal Empire stuff is actually pretty good, I must admit. They really should have set this game during the New Sith Wars though. Getting to create your own characters is the biggest highlight here, definitely makes me more forgiving on some of the sub-par writing. The Revan stuff is terrible, it should have been revealed to be Malgus or some other impostor at the end of the Shadow of Revan expansion. I may or may not write some fake wiki pages for my characters.