I feel very nostalgic right now.
I was a massive fan of Star Wars Galaxies. I followed it like thousands of others as it floored people during e3 2000 and 2001. I also loved the game despite all its faults and I played for years. The original rumors for SWTOR years later had everyone think that it was a match in heaven. How virtually everyone felt could be summed up in this comic:
SWTOR is made and conceived at a point when the world was not tired of fetch quest MMOs. By the time we collectively had grown tired of the "WoW-esque" games it was way to late.
I played in the betas and I played around release. My Jedi got to lvl 28 and then I called it quits. Then I went back again. And again. And again. I played different classes- I always enjoyed my time with it, but I never really had the time to see it to lvl 50. Then there was a 12x bonus event and I made a Sith Warrior that I saw until the end, and it was awesome. I played other classes- Inquisitor and Agent were really interesting. But my Jedi Knight was my main and I had never gotten it levelled, so thats what I have been doing for the last few months.
I deleted it and made a new one. Took it all the way to lvl 50- Saw the amazing ending to its class story. Was blown away by the conclusion. Then I played Rise of the Hutt Cartel which was cute. But it was the Forged Alliance missions that was really cool. Being back on Manaan.. It really struck a nostalgic nerve with me. It reminded me of KOTOR so much.
Then Forging Alliances flashpoints were also wonderful. (both the empire and republic one). Thanks to the changes they made to flashpoints allowing you to play in solo mode the first time you go in, I was able to see many of the flashpoints playing by myself. I had never seen that before as groups always said "SKIP"."SKIP FFS". It was really nice seeing many of the flashpoints story. The Jedi Prisoner was really interesting.
I liked Shadow of Revan expansion too. Yarvin 4 was a cool planet!
At this point... My Knight had seen so much story in such an intense amount of time. It was very overwhelming. What a journey. And it was levelling a character that had been 6 years in the making. Very unusual to level your main later than your other characters. In many ways David Hayter has a wonderful voice and he fits the Knights persona.
So the two new expansions.. KOTFE and KOTET.. They are a saga. What a journey that also was. I miss my old companions. Holy shit is it weird. Your ship... Empty. It is disturbing. With that being said, the many new characters and returning characters were great. Acina was great. As was Marr. I liked how the plot got beyond the "light vs dark" narrative. I felt it expanded on the mythos of star wars.
My main complaint with the new expansions is the amount of backtracking. Too many times they ask you to go back the way you came loaded with new enemies. the pull of seeing more story made parts of the game a chore to play to see more story.
KOTOR is one of my favorite games. When I watch old clips like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiO5QkxoFcw < I am reminded of the legacy SWTOR has to stand against. I love the absolute gigantic and monstrous amount of voiced high quality story in SWTOR, but I wonder about the future of the franchise and of the Old Republic as fiction. I find the Old Republic perhaps even more compelling that the era of the movies.
I've had a great time with this game. I am really happy I got to see a conclusion to KOTOR 1 and 2. A sort of satisfying finale. I think many people are too harsh on the game. By all means, SWTOR is not a champions MMO. Not by a long shot, but I think it earns its place for what it does with its story, and I think its a damn shame if many star wars and KOTOR finds skip the game. So much of the critique on the game are on its MMO gameplay. As a story delivery RPG in the Bioware format this game can give you a shit ton of fun.
Something I've learned; The game works better when you stop going 100% light or dark. Turn off alignment gain and alignment mouse over, and make your choices from a neutral grey perspective. the light/dark options matters less. There are moments when the characters reactions break. one moment you sentence a NPC to die and the next moment the other npc who was furious with you is all happy and "greetings to you". Those sort of story breaks are unavoidable. I think making logical choices as you feel instead of going to be evil all the time or good all the time, give you a more gradual and sensible story. Trooper and Jedi Consular has been a lot more interesting playing them as flawed. I've executed prisoners of war, lied to command, tortured traitors and done a lot of things I wouldn't have done if I was hunting light side points.
