Bioware has finally released a game play video of Star Wars: The Old Republic that shows what low-level grouping looks like and I have a few complaints. See the video for your self (you must enter your date of birth before you can view it):
My first reaction was that the graphics do not look that great. For a brand new Grade-A title, it seems they have lowered the bar a tad too low. Sure, you want your game to play on as many machines as possible, but not at the expense of looking dated on day one. In my opinion, it looks too much like Star Wars: Galaxies, which as been out for years.
Another complaint I have is how the user interface looks. I do not like the design aesthetics at all. Just as I mentioned above with the graphics, the UI looks dated, and to put it bluntly, ugly. They have a long way to go to match the quality of World of Warcraft’s UI.
A third complaint is with the Jedi Consular in the player group. The Consular is the healer for the group, so for the entire video, she heals her group mates and never uses the light saber in her hand. Is the light saber just for show on this class? That would be terribly disappointing if it turns out that way.
There are a few things I liked in the video. The sound effects are very good, especially the sound of the Trooper’s gun when he fired it. The “spell” effects were not bad, either. The flames that erupted around the large droid were nice and I liked the way the ground cracked underneath it when it hit the ground after jumping at the Trooper.
The group dynamics were interesting to see. The Jedi took on the “adds” that appeared during the main fight. I am not sure what to think about that. The Jedi reminded me of how an Everquest Ranger played back during its initial launch. The Ranger could tank decently for a time, and was excellent at handling adds. I would have thought that a Jedi would be reserved for taking on the meanest of the bunch, but it may not be that way.
I am not sure what the Smuggler was supposed to be doing. The narrator said that she was supposed to be doing damage from the sidelines. Well, from what I could tell, she didn’t do anything for half the battle. It is possible she was doing other range damage that did not involve firing her gun, but if she was, I could not see it.
I was most impressed with the Trooper. He obviously carried a big weapon and stood toe-to-toe with the large droid. What worries me is that the Consular focused almost all her attention on healing the Trooper. That can only mean that this game relies heavily on the “must haves” in a group. The old “can’t do anything without a tank and healer” argument seems to be valid here. The narrator even said that if the Consular makes a mistake then the group is done for. Those players looking for new game play dynamics may be disappointed.
I know that I am being fairly harsh on a three minute video that shows off low-level grouping, but it does worry me how the group play is turning out. I certainly hope that there will be more than one way to “skin a cat.” I look forward to seeing more of the upcoming game play videos.