Star Wars: Galaxies Preview

LukeG writes "Ferrago.co.uk has just gone live with a brand new preview of Lucas Arts' upcoming MMORPG, Star Wars: Galaxies. This game represents what could turn out to be the most popular online universe ever-created, especially if Everquest creators Verant can deliver the goods as fans hope. "

I hate RPGs.. but..

[Xerithane]

From what I hear this will actually be pretty different in the structure. I hate dealing with the I'm IRC'ing feeling that I get while trying MMORPGs. It's IRC with a lot of clicking.

That being said, City of Heroes [cityofheroes.com] looks pretty damned cool. One thing I think a lot of the RPGs are missing is an actual real-time realistic combat system. If I'm holding two swords, or a sword and a shield, I want to be able to use both the way I want to. I don't want any autoblocking, or a 'Two handed slash attack'. I want to see realistic fighting in these games.

I know it takes a lot more resources to code, and handle, but damnit it would be sweet.

Re:judging games before they come out

[dmouritsendk]

I dont know why anybody would call anything "the best whatever" is beyond me, I must all pretty much come down to personal taste. And the salesfigures cant have anything to do with how good anything is, cause then titanic would be the best flick ever :)

BUT, I know why i look forward to this game. Because, if LucasArts keeps what the promisies theyve made in the offical FAQ. Its going to revoultionize the MMORPG genre, with the most complex infrastructure(youll have land, you can hire NPC , you can create towns. If youre really good at making blasters you could open a store(and hire a npc to sell em..) etc etc etc) everseen in such a game.

Re:they'll probably mess it up per SOP

[Manaz]

DAoC (Dark Age of Camelot, website here [darkageofcamelot.com]) was pretty bug-free when it was released.

In fact, I think they've introduced (and then had to fix) more bugs in patches than they've fixed bugs which existed in the first place (before patches). If that makes sense...

Re:Full text mirrored below...

[Chester K]

... and superb games such as Dark Ages of Camelot and Everquest ...

Never trust a gaming article that misspells the name of Dark Age of Camelot.

Re:game

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope to god the creators of Everquest can create a game this time that doesnt require a fuckin Gig of ram to run decently. Not like I don't haveit...it just shouldnt take that much. Hopefully better planning will go into the game.

Test Of MMPORGs

[Little Dave]

Star War Galaxies will be an interesting test of the viability of MMPORGs in the mass market I believe. At the moment, we're seeing a potential deluge of games being sold to a limited audience - and the majority of the games are suffering. Games that require such a wholehearted commitment are petulant bitches who will suffer no rival for their time, so having two or three of the things on the go at once is simply not an option.

What seems to be happening is that the next big thing will come out (DAOC) and people will tentatively set foot outside the last big thing (EQ) before realising that abandoning their year's investment is simply not an option and returning to their (perhaps inferior) previous game. DAOC is going through this at the moment - when I was playing a few months ago, there would be a regular 1000+ players at anyone time... last night when I looked, it was more like 300-400.

Publishers are having to try new ways of distributing to get the attention of gamers. Recently, several MMPORGs have gone to the free download or magazine giveaway model (WWIIOnline, Darkspace, Jumpgate, EQ) in an effort to snare punters commitment free. Only time will tell if this works.

Star Wars Galaxies on the other hand represents something of a new beast - a can't-succeed business model, with a can't-lose license. I'm interested to see how it will fair.