Star Wars: T.O.R - the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Hey there SCAN readers! Last month we covered a piece on Archeage. This month we will be continuing down the same gaming vein, MMOs. This is yet another fantastic game that is held very near to many. Star Wars: The Old Republic is an MMO released in 2011 that harkens back to the single player RPGs of Bioware's past. It is a massive game with fully voiced NPC's and immense story lines. In this review we will be looking generally at what makes this game amazing, as well as where it struggles most.

The Good

There are several areas where this game shines, so due diligence has been taken to point all of them out.

1. True RPG Storylines: The Old Republic achieved something that has only been attempted in a precious few previous MMOs; it gave us an incredible story based experience. To clarify, Star Wars: The Old Republic gives not just one amazing storyline, it gives us eight. No, that is not a typo, there are eight immense single player storylines that take place on several planets from the Star Wars universe. Each storyline is based on the class that you choose in character creation, with dynamic options and endings depending on the morale decisions you make throughout the game. Bioware does an incredible job of making both a satisfying and unique set of class storylines while also tying in hundreds of pertinent side quests to immerse you more than any MMO has before.

2. A Fully Voiced Universe: Another major plus of this game is that it comes gloriously equipped with fully voiced NPCs and PCs. Everything that lives and/or speaks in this game has a voice, and they are stunning. There is nothing more immersive than having a truly organic conversation between your character and whomever it is you are speaking to. The lines are not only well delivered, but very well written and important. This huge detail makes the game feel that much more immense and satisfying to explore.

3. Customization: This game offers so many options in the way of customization that it is almost a hassle, however to be clear it definitely isn’t. The sheer volume of cosmetic pieces, all of which can be modified for specific stats, is immense and it is sure to leave you satisfied. Not only have they succeeded in creating amazing custom pieces for your enjoyment, they have also made available the costumes of many of the popular characters from the “Knights of the Old Republic” series of games. Several outfits can be bound to your character that can be switched to at will. Regardless of whether you are wearing the items that the outfit contains, as long as you have bound them once you can display that costume even if you don’t own the item anymore.

The Bad

As unfortunate as it is that sections like this need to be included, it is only fair to review the not-so-great aspects of the game.

1. The Metagame: The Old Republic truly has a lot of story, however there is little to actually do once you have completed it for all of the classes. This is a phase of the game you must be very dedicated to reach, or if you are not interested in more than one or two classes. There are no traditional raids in this game at all, or really anything that is a major PvE challenge like those we see in most other top tier MMOs. This game has several flashpoints which are long story centric missions which usually require between 2-4 players to complete. Some of us may look at that and think that is a small number for a raid equivalent, and that’s because it is. With the release of the latest major expansion for the game, player companions are exceedingly strong, so filling a two person party with their respective companions is more than enough to play through these long, but largely pointless, missions. The gear is mediocre at best, most of the time, and the experience reward is menial if you don’t complete them at the first or second recommended level.

2. The Population Balance: This is something which several people have a major problem with. The server population across the board is painfully unbalanced. Star Wars the Old Republic organizes its servers based on playstyle, with the selection being: Role Playing, Player versus Environment, and Player versus Player. (RP, PvE, PvP) The most populated servers are of the PvE playstyle, but by no small margin, the PvP servers that are available are dreadfully barren, so if you prefer the excitement of contested zones and Jedi versus Sith confrontations, you are out of luck.

The Ugly

There is only one major problem that goes into this category, however it must be extensively discussed.

Pay to win: This game, despite all of its wonderful story and design has one enormous flaw. It is one of the most pay to win models yet. If we start at the beginning the first thing we notice is that subscribers, for the majority of the year, have received 12x the amount of experience gain for story missions. This was originally implemented to allow characters to comfortably reach the highest level of the main storyline to make it simple to play the expansions as they were released. That being said, this is a hugely gargantuan bonus to achieve this goal. Subscribers who choose follow only the story will reach every new area at a level past the max. For example if you finish your story on a level 8-15 zone, you will enter the next zone which is level 16-21, at level 22. It renders all side quests meaningless by way of experience, and will only grant you 6 points of EXP if you do choose to do them. The second issue that this pay to win brings is customization blocks. The races you may choose from are very limited if you do not pay for membership. The races you are able to choose from are faction exclusive normally and four races may be spread across all four classes. This severely limits the feeling of freedom in character creation. All of this paired with overpriced item bundles and the subscriber-only quality of life changes that are available only through cash purchases, is a clear sign that the biggest problem this game has is it’s “Pay to win” nature. If spending money on a game you will play frequently is something you are willing to do then more power to you, however for those of us who cannot afford the monthly charge are trapped in a morbidly slow experience grind through a storyline which is best enjoyed when it is streamlined.

Thanks for taking the time to read this article! I as the author really do recommend this game to anyone who loves traditional RPGs. It gives storylines that players deserve and an addictive MMO experience and I would recommend it overal very highly!

Grant "Maleok" Johnson