Star Wars: Galaxies Player Diary #1
Star Wars: Galaxies Diary

Being with the site for over 3 years now I have done so many different things here at GamerÆs Hell. I started as PC reviewer but soon took over most of the console stuff why IÆm now bearing the way too long title ôSenior Console Editorö. I coded part of the Content Management Systems that allow me and my co-workers to post news, reviews and release dates and tweaked much about the old Bulletin Board before we moved to the current one. I have written countless reviews, previews and interviews in the years but I never did one thing: write a diary of a game IÆm playing. So I happily accepted the challenge at hand when I was asked if I could do a diary of Star Wars: Galaxies for our all-new MMOGHell.

Diary Number 1 - 8.12.2003-24.12.2003

Oh my god itÆs Star Wars Galaxies! This ambitious game was in development for quiet a while and in the short time since it was released already caused some fuss. Some people love it, some people hate it. While opinions on certain games often differ a little Star Wars: Galaxies is one of those games that really divide gamers into two parties and after almost a month of playing I have to admit that I understand both parties.

Lesson 1: The Empire is your friend!

DonÆt laugh! After signing up you can finally login and after updating (the developers made already huge updates especially regarding new content) you will likely decide to play the tutorial first. I canÆt help myself but the all-evil Empire û the game is situated right during the time the original (and good) movies take place û was simply too nice. Although the ôaccidentallyö destroyed my starship they apologized to me, gave me a few credits and sent me off to a planet of my choice. EXCUSE ME?! Are we talking about the guys that destroyed countless civilizations, blew a handful of planets to rubble and slaughtered millions? Ok itÆs only the tutorial but stillà

Lesson 2: You need time û and lots of it

I have to admit that I underestimated the game right from the start. I thought of Star Wars Galaxies a little like a multiplayer version of Knights of the Old Republic and like most players that start the game I was hoping to wield the title of a Jedi Knight in a hopefully not so distant future. Yet so many species with different attributes, so many professions and specialized professions and more and more being added with every update û donÆt make the same mistake I did at first and haste with character generation. Unlike (many) other Online games Star Wars: Galaxies is a really long term MMOG and thatÆs perhaps one of the reason why opinions differ so drastically.

Statement: Most gamers will never be happy with Star Wars: Galaxies in its current form.

Why? Because most gamers simply canÆt spare the time to immerse themselves in the world of Star Wars: Galaxies.

Hardcore gamers will be disturbed by the fact that after two weeks of gaming they are still far away from having built the character they were hoping for. Level or more exactly skill gaining takes its time in SWG. ôMeleeö characters will need to butcher countless critters and enemies before they gain access to improved weapon skills and more specialized professions, players that decided to follow an artisans profession will spend many an hour watching their avatar harvesting for resources and medics may spend a large amount of their time waiting for another patient. 3.245 banthas, 3.246 banthas, 3.247 à

For players that only play on occasion it will likely be even worse. If you spend only a few hours per week in the game you will likely soon get the feeling that you achieve nothing at all if you havenÆt earned a single new skill in several weeks. Many first time players will give up too soon I believe if they spent hours and hours watching their avatars harvesting, running to complete delivery missions and fighting critters. Yetà

Playing Star War Galaxies is a lifestyle. You NEED much time to play it and if you donÆt have it û or donÆt want to invest most of your gaming time into a single game û be aware that I donÆt want and cannot recommend this game to you. BUT if you are looking for a game that you can play for many, many months without the slightest chance of having seen everything nor having tried everything then I HIGHLY recommend SWG to you.

After these words of introduction letÆs start with what a diary should be about.- my adventures in the world of SWG.

Let me introduce my first character that by now is no more. I learned much while controlling him yet soon it turned out that I wasnÆt doing a good job with him and decided to start all over.

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Meet Loranà

Loran was a human scout and wanted to be a Jedi once. Being a total but motivated newbie he decided to start his adventure on the planet Tantooine û take a guess why. His first hours in the game he spent exploring the vast deserts of Tantooine. He killed a few critters û and a few critters almost killed him. But on the other hand he soon learned how to harvest them for resources û meat, hide and bones. My first problem was that I underestimated the size of the planet or more exactly the distances between the settlements which brings us toà

Lesson 3: Keep on running

à and perhaps most frustrating aspect of Star Wars Galaxies: you spend way too much time running around. I spent over twenty minutes running from one settlement to another. I helped myself by using some office material to temporarily jam the ôupö key of my keyboard because it was really getting boring looking at my character running and running and runningà. In this particular case it was all my fault although. I did underestimate the distance but while this was perhaps the longest run I had to accomplish running around is one of the things you will do many times in Star Wars Galaxies. DonÆt get me wrong û I was right away impressed by the size of gaming world and even the randomized landscape was pleasingly ôrandomö but still so much time wasted for (almost) nothing *sigh*. Rest assured that I now use the on-planet shuttle transportation system more often although it isnÆt cheapà

Lesson 4: What the desert taught me

Still I learned a few things pretty soon partly thanks to my extended trip through the desert. Loran, being a newbie scout was one heck of a bad fighter. Even the smallest critters could easily kill him, his skills with guns are not worth mentioning so I decided to invest some skill points into more aggressive but not exactly scout skills. After a while (and much time spent lying unconscious after an attack) I could at least take on the most basic critters without fearing for my avatarÆs life. Yet I was not happy with butchering countless critters only to harvest them for a few resources. What I liked more was building things. As scout my options with building things were of course limited û a few traps and other equipment for scouts.

Still about this time creature mounts were introduced into the game. The creature handler is one of the advanced professions Master Scouts can learn. With more than one long ôrunö still fresh in my memory I was pretty quick with the wish to become a creature handler myself and ride some mighty creature, crush my enemies and reduce my travel timeà

But more on this in Issue 2 of our SWG Diary were you will read about player mounts, LoranÆs death and resurrection, a visit to a battlefield and much moreà

- Thomas Cap, Contributing Editor.