Trials of Obi-Wan Announced

[Evil Avatar]

Sony Online Entertainment has announced (http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/content.jsp?page=Trials%20of%20Obi-Wan) a new Star Wars Galaxies expansion pack, Star Wars Galaxies: Trials of Obi-Wan (http://www.lucasarts.com/games/swgalaxies_trials/).

Like Obi-Wan Kenobi after his death, Star Wars Galaxies has become "more powerful than you can possibly imagine." Appropriately, Trials of Obi-Wan allows players to better understand the meaning of these final words spoken by Luke Skywalker's mentor, as they embark upon missions delivered directly from the spirit of the revered Jedi Master himself. From the very shores of molten lava where he defeated Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan guides players on quests that span the planet Mustafar - some of which might even convert devotees of the dark side over to a more virtuous path. This expansion features many new high-level quest rewards, including the ability to find a fiery red crystal found only on the volcanic planet that creates a lava-like lightsaber for the lucky owner. Players who fulfill all of Obi-Wan's directives will also receive a rich reward.

Mustafar colonists present many exciting trials of their own, too, as Trials of Obi-Wan includes more than 50 new quests for the galaxy's bravest adventurers, from rescue missions to the exploration of a crashed Republic cruiser. Many quests also revolve around a prominent figure from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic who returns 4,000 years after his prime with one simple mission in mind: Eliminate all meatbags.

[Justin_McElroy]

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far from the gamer conciousness.

[Nojiko]

xD Sweet-ass. HK-47 was my favorite character from KotoR. Too bad it's in a game I don't play, but that's still cool. The rest sounds a little weak for an expansion, hope there's more to it than just more missions.

[Evil Avatar]

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far from the gamer conciousness.

I think Star Wars Galaxies falls into the "Free is good." category. With that Sony all access pass, you get so many MMORPG's for the price of one these days that you should just play the ones you like and not worry about the others.

[DevDict]

I think Star Wars Galaxies falls into the "Free is good." category. With that Sony all access pass, you get so many MMORPG's for the price of one these days that you should just play the ones you like and not worry about the others.

I thought 'free' meant 'no money'. Does that mean I was mistaken?

[Heretic Machine]

I think Star Wars Galaxies falls into the "Free is good." category. With that Sony all access pass, you get so many MMORPG's for the price of one these days that you should just play the ones you like and not worry about the others.

If you go out and buy each one for their normal retail price first.

As for this expansion... Seems sort of cheesy, considering that it's still pretty tough to become a Jedi.

[Evil Avatar]

If you go out and buy each one for their normal retail price first.

No, you don't need to buy anything. Just hit FilePlanet for the 14-day Trial version of any game on the all-access pass and you can install it and play it as part of your pass.

That is what I did for Star Wars Galaxies. (I've got the all-access pass.)

You might need to buy some things, but you should be able to get used copies on Ebay or from your local store for dirt cheap. (The Matrix Online, Older EverQuest 1 stuff...)

It is one of the best values available for gamers right now.

[Heretic Machine]

No, you don't need to buy anything. Just hit FilePlanet for the 14-day Trial version of any game on the all-access pass and you can install it and play it as part of your pass.

That is what I did for Star Wars Galaxies. (I've got the all-access pass.)

You might need to buy some things, but you should be able to get used copies on Ebay or from your local store for dirt cheap. (The Matrix Online, Older EverQuest 1 stuff...)

It is one of the best values available for gamers right now.

...Wait... So you can download free trials, and upgrade them to the full version through the Station Pass without actually buying the software?

pwnage.

[Chris_D]

Anyone else think that SWG would have been a much better game if players couldn't become jedi? Having 100s of jedi running round 9is totally not in keeping with the movie.

Anyway this latest expansion seems like content for jedis only, glad I quit.

[Heretic Machine]

Anyone else think that SWG would have been a much better game if players couldn't become jedi? Having 100s of jedi running round 9is totally not in keeping with the movie

Well, the last time I played the Jedi had just came out basically... so I still remember achieving Jedi status as being extremly hard. Maybe that's changed. All I know is that I don't care how many people are Jedi, as long as I get a friggin lightsaber.

[Justin_McElroy]

I have the same problem with playing Galaxies that I had with Shadows of the Empire, and I know this is silly, but I hate running around doing meaningless shit when I know that there somewhere in the galaxy there's a bunch of bad asses running around with lightsabers.

It'd be like if I woke up one day and one out of every ten guys was Superman, and I got passed over. What a boner in the back that would be.

It'd be like buying a Bond game and having to play a guy that worked at Speedway, and every few hours James Bond would come driving through in a radical care having sex with two chicks.

It's just depressing.

[thecrazyd]

I have the same problem with playing Galaxies that I had with Shadows of the Empire, and I know this is silly, but I hate running around doing meaningless shit when I know that there somewhere in the galaxy there's a bunch of bad asses running around with lightsabers.

It'd be like if I woke up one day and one out of every ten guys was Superman, and I got passed over. What a boner in the back that would be.

It'd be like buying a Bond game and having to play a guy that worked at Speedway, and every few hours James Bond would come driving through in a radical care having sex with two chicks.

It's just depressing.
I understand, but there is some seriously cool shit you can do right out the gate. I spend most of my time doing the space combat, and thats pretty much a game in itself.

[Evil Avatar]

...Wait... So you can download free trials, and upgrade them to the full version through the Station Pass without actually buying the software?

pwnage.

Yes. That is what I did for Star Wars Galaxies and PlanetSide. I had to do it for Planetside a long time ago since my Planetside CD's got trashed.

Sadly, my Battlefield 2 CD just got trashed as well. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that one. I guess I'll play it enough I'll probably just buy a second copy.

[Deadend]

Sadly, my Battlefield 2 CD just got trashed as well. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that one. I guess I'll play it enough I'll probably just buy a second copy.

OmG c4n 3y3 have j00r k3y d00d?!?!

I am all for more HK-47. I think Lucas should re-edit the Prequals to replace Jar Jar with HK-47, and replace Anikan with a Ewok.

[Mason]

On a contrasting note, I think it is in shockingly poor form for SOE to appropriate a Bioware character in order to try and rekindle attention for their continually-decaying game. Of course in one sense it is part of the SW license and thus fair game; I'm not saying they shouldn't be allowed to do it. But grasping at any possible ties to the few good SW games stinks of desperation and a lack of creativity. Plus, how funny can HK be when he's sending you to kill mobs and deliver packages?

[bean19]

Mason - I think people who do work on Star Wars properties are paid well for their fiction. In Bioware's case, it was their biggest financial success and it made them famous. They have become incredibly well known and loved (perhaps more loved than their abilities warrant if "Jade Empire" is any indicator).

Anyway, glad to hear about HK-47. I still won't play SWG though. Especially if they are being coy about unlocking Jedi. Fuck you if you want me to spend ~$30 and an extended period of my time leveling up and doing missions that are sure to be hella difficult just so I _might_ get a Jedi character. The only way I'll buy their game is if they turned it INTo a Jedi game. . . like KOTOR. I don't want to unlock Jedi, but I'd play one out of the box if the game was fun.

[thecrazyd]

Anyway, glad to hear about HK-47. I still won't play SWG though. Especially if they are being coy about unlocking Jedi. Fuck you if you want me to spend ~$30 and an extended period of my time leveling up and doing missions that are sure to be hella difficult just so I _might_ get a Jedi character. The only way I'll buy their game is if they turned it INTo a Jedi game. . . like KOTOR. I don't want to unlock Jedi, but I'd play one out of the box if the game was fun.
Think of how shitty a persistant world it would be if it was nothing but jedis running arround stabbing each other. Or if you started the game as a jedi and had to spend weeks stabbing womp rats. It would sorta kill the whole thrill of being a jedi.

[bean19]

Think of how shitty a persistant world it would be if it was nothing but jedis running arround stabbing each other. Or if you started the game as a jedi and had to spend weeks stabbing womp rats. It would sorta kill the whole thrill of being a jedi.

Or maybe they could create content that is appropriate for Jedi?

I know the idea of content in SWG is a bit absurd, but most games actually design their game around interesting quests and missions.

[thecrazyd]

Or maybe they could create content that is appropriate for Jedi?

I know the idea of content in SWG is a bit absurd, but most games actually design their game around interesting quests and missions.
Hahaha... thats rich... have you ever played a MMO? Any MMO? They are nothing but fetch quests and killing mobs. At least SWG has space combat to break up the tedium.

And even if the quests were appropriate for jedis, a persistant world filled with nothing but jedis would be simply idiotic. I mean, what if every character in KOTOR was a jedi? Not just the playable characters, but everyone? HK-47 weilding a light saber, along side that T1 droid and everyone you talk to. It would be really stupid. And it would be even worse in a MMO.

[bean19]

While I can't defend MMOs as being universally content-rich. They CAN come up with content that is suitable to powerful characters (look at CoH).

Also, KOTOR is a good example. Not every character in the SWG universe is created equal and certainly Jedi are by far the most effective, but there are ample examples in that game on how you could have a world that is predominantly played with Jedi but also contains other character classes. I think you would see a lot of people playing assassing droids, melee/Teras Kasi experts, heavy armor/heavy weapons (commando), and rogue (specialty feats and heavy skill/social users) if the game were built so that these skills were useful and the game was less "huge galaxy - wonder around killing rats" and more epic instanced hand-crafted quest after hand-crafted quest.

Seriously, if I work hard on a Neverwinter Nights map, I can pull it off with interesting options and objectives in under a week. This map can take as much as 30 minutes to an hour to complete.

The next generation of MMOs will probably have 10-20 full time world-builders, content designers. That's 5 to 10 hours of custom content/week if they stay on top of things and design really good world-building tools.

I have really high hopes for a sequel of SWG, but I don't want it to come out before there are more examples of really well-crafted content in MMOs The only one in the current generation is Guild Wars and I think people will look back on it as a turning point in the genre with a lot of cred going to CoH as they seem to be actively expanding their content design tools with more options/objectives in quests. If DDO delivers, I expect that most of the following generation of MMOs will be heavily instanced and provide a level of content previously only seen in single player games.

[Mondopest]

Right now the only way to become a jedi in the game is to kill thousands of mobs and their lairs then use that experience to convert to what they call "Force Sensitive" experience. The problem is that std experience converts on a scale from 5:1 to 30:1 for exp. It can take upwards of a year now that they have raised the conversion table for std to fs experience. Fine and dandy for SOE but I was not aware that the way to becomming a jedi was to kill a bunch of stuff. On a RP aspect I would rather see more questing than killing initially to become a jedi.

So what, everyone wants to be a jedi, everyone's money is the same and so they are all afforded the opportunity to become them. However, with the only way to become a jedi now being to grind for upwards of a year, the only folk who will be jedi are those people with that kind of time. Basically, it removes the casual player from the mix entirely - who might have to work at odd hours, etc.

Not a problem unless you take into account many folks join the game just to be jedi as every single ad for SWG features some shots of jedi in it like the class is something you can just obtain like a new blaster. Talk about false advertising.

[Zanzibar]

I suppose it's too much to hope for that anyone would roll their eyes at the idea of a droid that's 4,000 years old.

Here, on behalf of all of us:

:rolleyes:

[thecrazyd]

While I can't defend MMOs as being universally content-rich. They CAN come up with content that is suitable to powerful characters (look at CoH).

Also, KOTOR is a good example. Not every character in the SWG universe is created equal and certainly Jedi are by far the most effective, but there are ample examples in that game on how you could have a world that is predominantly played with Jedi but also contains other character classes. I think you would see a lot of people playing assassing droids, melee/Teras Kasi experts, heavy armor/heavy weapons (commando), and rogue (specialty feats and heavy skill/social users) if the game were built so that these skills were useful and the game was less "huge galaxy - wonder around killing rats" and more epic instanced hand-crafted quest after hand-crafted quest.

Seriously, if I work hard on a Neverwinter Nights map, I can pull it off with interesting options and objectives in under a week. This map can take as much as 30 minutes to an hour to complete.

The next generation of MMOs will probably have 10-20 full time world-builders, content designers. That's 5 to 10 hours of custom content/week if they stay on top of things and design really good world-building tools.

I have really high hopes for a sequel of SWG, but I don't want it to come out before there are more examples of really well-crafted content in MMOs The only one in the current generation is Guild Wars and I think people will look back on it as a turning point in the genre with a lot of cred going to CoH as they seem to be actively expanding their content design tools with more options/objectives in quests. If DDO delivers, I expect that most of the following generation of MMOs will be heavily instanced and provide a level of content previously only seen in single player games.
Oh, comon. Do you honestly believe that anyone would be anything other than a jedi if given the choice? Thats like saying someone would want to be Mouse in the Matrix Online instead of Neo. Sure, it would be great if MMOs were like single player games linked onward to eternity, but if that were to happen, expect the fees to soar. I do not see MMOs going in that direction anyway. People play them for the social aspect, not for compelling naratives.

[Blue]

Oh, comon. Do you honestly believe that anyone would be anything other than a jedi if given the choice? Thats like saying someone would want to be Mouse in the Matrix Online instead of Neo. Sure, it would be great if MMOs were like single player games linked onward to eternity, but if that were to happen, expect the fees to soar. I do not see MMOs going in that direction anyway. People play them for the social aspect, not for compelling naratives.

Actually, I would be much more inclined to be a Bounty Hunter than a Jedi. I'll be honest in saying I don't know a good deal about SWG and how they handle their characters and the interface/custimization options - but as a whole, the idea of going after paid targets, having my own ship and - even - being feared by these elite force-users is much more appealing. Couple that with the fact that I don't think Jedi should really be running around at all during this time period and I would say my chosen profession is pretty solid.

[thecrazyd]

You are the exception rather than the rule, my good man. Personally, I would rather be a smuggler, pulling some Han Solo shit, but 99% of the players would be Jedis.

[Blue]

You are the exception rather than the rule, my good man. Personally, I would rather be a smuggler, pulling some Han Solo shit, but 99% of the players would be Jedis.

Can there be like hybrid classes? A Bounty Hunter/Smuggler? I would have no qualms about pulling in some extra credits by hiding dead bodies in the bowels of my ship.

[bean19]

You are the exception rather than the rule, my good man. Personally, I would rather be a smuggler, pulling some Han Solo shit, but 99% of the players would be Jedis.

Yes. Exactly. Although I think your figures are off. I think about 10% of the players would play a Jedi exclusively, 85% would play a Jedi and some other class, and 5% would play other classes exclusively.

Jedi are the focus of the Star Wars universe. The lead characters are Jedi and the plot line follows the fall and redemption of a Jedi. Isn't it weird that a game about a universe that centers itself AROUND Jedi doesn't allow most of the players of a game play as Jedi?

The problem is the time period they chose. You can't have a butload of Jedi during that point in the Star Wars story. So they should have done it during a fictional period or, even better, between the Episodes 1 and 2 to begin and then bring out an expansion that offers players the ability to do a series of episode 2 quests that lead to a re-instancing of the world (really more of a server move) to a world based on the time between episodes 2 and 3.

[Blue]

Yeah, I think it would have been really interesting had they started off roughly around Episode 1 or between the two, like you said, and allowed people to become Jedi in a more rapid form, had they wanted. However, come later patches, expansions, what-have-yous, they could have then pushed the story into - say - Episode 3 and beyond where those where had attained Jedi status were hunted down and killed. Those that survive this initial purge then go into hiding just like they're supposed to be in the way the game is being touted as now.

Dunno, for me, that would really add to the richness of the world and make your character that much more precious were they a Jedi and also really make it interesting for those that went the Bounty Hunter way or, heck, even a Soldier's way. Say have one of these players who's a Jedi in hiding join up with a guild of Rebellion folk and help them a) fight then Empire and too b) get protection. Would put them in danger as well, but I think that might add to it.

Lots of stuff that could have been/could be done with the game.

[Benny]

Anyone else think that SWG would have been a much better game if players couldn't become jedi? Having 100s of jedi running round 9is totally not in keeping with the movie.

Anyway this latest expansion seems like content for jedis only, glad I quit.

Do you mean like the 3rd movie where there were 100's of Jedi running around? <smack>

[Benny]

Dude...you've got "Bitter Game Face". Why the anger?

[Chris_D]

Do you mean like the 3rd movie where there were 100's of Jedi running around? <smack>

SWG is set between Episode 4 and Episode 5 when 99% of jedi are meant to be dead.

[Chris_D]

The problem is the time period they chose. You can't have a butload of Jedi during that point in the Star Wars story. So they should have done it during a fictional period or, even better,

Absolutely, the attempts to tie in characters from the first trilogy of movies come off really weak IMO. They might have had better luck working with Biowares games using a similar setting.

Having said that I don't think the game would have done any worse if they had just not allowed jedi as a playable cast which would be in keeping with the setting. I realise that is not ideal for a SW games, but its certainly not doing that great now, and a lot of people are angry. I know one of the triggers for me quitting was when it seemed like everyone but me was a jedi (not long after they first changed to jedi requirements). I had been tempted to wait to check out the space expansion otherwise.

I guess if I was into crafting etc I wouldn't mind so much, but in general I play a combat focused class, and the jedi advantage over you in pvp is such that you almost have no chance no matter how hopeless they actually are at the game.

[bean19]

I guess if I was into crafting etc I wouldn't mind so much, but in general I play a combat focused class, and the jedi advantage over you in pvp is such that you almost have no chance no matter how hopeless they actually are at the game.

Yeah, the next game needs to focus on Jedi. They are the center of the Star Wars universe, and even if you play to the strengths of other classes and assume that every character is legendary, none of them SHOULD be able to best a Jedi Master. . . so the PvP game that is played mostly during the endgame (max level) would be unbalanced for non-Jedi.

You might be able to make assassin droids viable, or have EVERY bounty hunter be of Bobba Fett strength. . . but if you stick with the theme of the movies, they'd still probably be underpowered in comparison.

What might work is if you set the game up to have squad gameplay where a single player can control a squad of lower-powered archetypes or a single Jedi. . .

It's a difficult game to design for and honestly I'd probably focus more on really high level content and let the players all be Jedi. Start the story out at the Jedi Academy and let it build from there.