So I’ve been on a bit of a Star Wars gaming binge lately thanks to the big Star Wars package recently offered on Steam. I’ve played through Knights of the Old Republic, some of the Jedi Knight series, and have even been giving Star Wars Galaxies a try. I’m definitely starting to feel more than a little burned out though, not on Star Wars mind you, rather I’m getting tired of lackluster games and frustrating bugs. I’ll say it right now, the ports for some of these games, especially for the Jedi Knight games, have been pretty abysmal.

But let’s start with the good: KotOR. This game well deserves its sterling reputation, it is just an enjoyable experience through and through. Oh sure, it’s not perfect, but it does a great job of capturing that Star Wars feel that so many other games have failed at. This was not my first playthrough of this classic RPG, though it was the first time I went full on Dark Side. I have tried to go through KotOR as a Dark Jedi many times in the past but I always ran into a host of technical issues that impeded my progress, fortunately I was able to get through the entire game this time though my experience was hardly bug free.

Now, many people complain about good and evil systems in games today with the chief complaint being that you just don’t feel evil at all, you feel more like a complete sociopathic asshole as opposed to some terrifying villain. I will say this for KotOR’s alignment system though, it’s damn fun being bad. More than once I found myself letting out an evil cackle as events found themselves transpiring against those around me. It really makes me interested in seeing how Bioware handles alignment in their upcoming MMO.

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I spent a good chunk of time during my weekend playing Star Wars Galaxies and trying to get a hang of how the game plays. I guess it’s time to write some impressions of my own to add on to or contrast with what Elandarex was saying in his Star Wars Galaxies Impressions article.

For the most part though, let me spoil you now by saying that I am looking at this game without any knowledge of the New Game Experience. Whether pre-NGE was better than its current iteration is beyond me, but as it stands, the game has good and bad points, and I suggest that people try it out for themselves to make an informed decision of their own rather than simply reading my opinion on the matter. After all, I’m on the trial phase still and not the purchased portion of my free game time.

I rolled a Commando on the Farstar server in order to meet up with and get some additional training from Petter of Don’t Fear the Mutant. As such, I learned quite a bit more  about the game than what most newcomers would find, which included hanging out in Petter’s in-game home, as well as learning about beneficial buffs from Entertainers and Medics.

If you’ll read the blog post of Elandarex linked above, you’ll note some minor concerns with the character creation system, and I share those concerns myself. Starting off with a naked body and scaling it first before working outwards onto clothing options would have been a much more useful way of customizing the character you start off with. Luckily, my character looked Asian enough for me to be happy with, so off I headed to Tansarii station with my blaster in tow.

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Yesterday, Star Wars Galaxies was on sale on Steam. I bought it, and now, I’m still not using the code because I decided to use up the trial first.

I’ve yet to see what the game has to offer, but I’m hoping it’s quite good, even if it looks rough around the edges.

That said, what the hell do I do now? I fixed Han Solo’s ship, and can leave the training station, but I have no idea where to go or what I should be doing. The only thing they mention in the prologue is that I should be making my own destiny or something to that effect.

Anyone want to give me some pointers?

Star Wars Galaxies is available on Steam for five dollars. That’s thirty days of  play for five dollars. I wish my EQ2 account didn’t just top up right before this thing happened, but I’ve been told I can use the thirty days up at a later time.

Also on Steam for Five Foozles: Titan Quest Gold.