Star Wars Episode VII: The Return Of The Addict
If you've been following a few of the recent comments, you may have noticed that I've been dabbling with the idea of re-installing Star Wars Galaxies...
Well, last night the idea turned into reality, as I tried to get SWGEmu working. After 30 minutes or so of unsuccessful connecting, I decided to see if the original game was still functioning - and more importantly, if my characters where still present. After spending about 6 hours downloading all the updates (it's amazing what 3 years does), I logged onto Bria to find my Lazlow character still up and running. It appears the game has given me a 21-day trial, as the account expires mid-February.
As I've not played in, oooooooh 25+ months, my character was still on the old profession system - I believe I quit the game as I was a Master Doc/Master Swordsman/Master Politician (or there abouts). As soon as I logged in I was presented with many windows asking me to choose my various veteran awards (which I'm still yet to do). I was also asked to re-spec my character - so I chose Jedi, which seems to be the equivalent of Novice Brawler now. As my character was pretty high-up in terms of professions originally, I immediately jumped to Level 70 (of 90), which is apparently starting off as a round 4 Jedi (out of 4). The exact terminology I don't know, as the game has ruined itself.
Yes, you heard it hear. The previous addict of this game (for a mere 11 months) finally realises, or as the case may be, doesn't realise what all the fuss was/is about. I mean, when we first started playing, it was fun - a good way to waste the odd evening. But that soon expanded to day as well, engulfing the weekend and Monday to Friday too. I was soon addicted and it took several friends months of persuasion for me to finally use nicotine (or the Star Wars equivalent).
Before you all start shouting and raving (raver!) about how my addiction will return - don't worry. The game is soooooooo bad now, that it's laughable in every respect. I'll give you a few examples. For a start, combat used to involve some form of skill - hence why Jedi was sooooooo hard to obtain, and to succeed in PvP you had to have an element of skill. Now though, it's pretty much click the left mouse button to attack, click the right to use a secondary attack. At this stage I'll mention the one and only improvement - combat looks better, but a little OTT. Lasers look like disco lights and the smoke to go with them. I was often engulfed in a ball of what can only be described as slime, whilst attacking some minions.
Secondly, no-one seems to play it. Or if they do, they're hidden away and keeping themselves to themselves. In the early days, you could roll into Coronet to find your PC running at a reasonable 3FPS (if you were lucky) from all the spamming traders just outside the starport - heck, Adamskii and I could be found trying to flog Heavy Flamers for 80K in the past. Last night I rolled into Coronet only to find 5 characters, 3 of which were NPCs. That's ridiculous.
Thirdly, the economy has collapsed. Maybe some current players will argue against this, but everything seems to be dealt in millions now! How the f*ck can any new player (n00b) succeed if they've got to raise a few million before doing anything. I remember when 100K was the norm, with millionaires being looked up to and admired. Now even a Bantha has a Swedish bank account, full of credits.
Fourthly, the whole game feels sluggish and backwards. The interface is largely the same, but movement has been nerfed in a way which I can only describe as a Paralympics sprinter on speed.
So, don't worry, I wont be staying long - you see, I have this plan. I have already found one house full of Pre-CU (pre-combat upgrade) items, and I'm pretty sure I have many more dotted around the galaxy. I'm visiting them whilst bored over the weekend, to grab as much as possible to flog on the trade forums. I've already had a price check for over 30 million credits on one item, which means I should make a tidy profit selling my credits on eBay. Afterall, those 11 months should be worth something.
Oh, and lastly - one thing that really annoys me is a comment on the trade forum: the clothes and weapons probably aren't worth much, most people use looted weapons now. What? That explains the lack of spammers at starports and merchants selling their wares.
Prepare for some flaming, along with several updates from me - especially about how my money making scheme is going...
There are 35 comments:
Adamskii said:
Aye its totally ruined, I used the 21 day trial too to have a look. Its prob going to run out soon. The game was good before just really really buggy, now it really is contender for worst game. glad I gave up when I did before it got shit on even more.
27/01/2007 15:37:21 | Permalink
Matt said:
I have a plan behind my madness... but I've logged out now for the day.
I've been through all the buildings I knew I still owned and wiped them out of decent items - which are now all up for auction. They're going for many millions at the moment, so hopefully I'll raise 100M or so. Then I'll sell the credits on eBay, netting myself about £50. If only we'd done this when we actually played the game - it could have been a full-time job. I should get Ben in on the money making action for WoW.
Everything is retarded in the game now and all the original bugs still remain - warping; standing up and walking along with your back bent for a few seconds; destroying buildings and then left hanging in mid-air for a minute. You'd think after 3+ years they would have sorted it all out.
Anyone know of any little Chinese men to work for me as money-making monkeys in SWG, WoW and the likes? I think I've found the business idea for Sparkhouse.
27/01/2007 16:03:59 | Permalink
Matt said:
Adamskii - I got your in-game mail. I challenge you to a duel tomorrow afternoon, in Coronet. I managed to make my light saber with some crummy crystals I found on the bazaa - it's got a PINK blade! Mince!
Take a look at me pwning! Well, hardly, nothing to be scared of really. Reply here when you're on or text me.
27/01/2007 23:19:42 | Permalink
Matt said:
Oh, BTW my auction has raised 29.5M so far (with a day to go) for the charity named 'Prevent Lazlow from becoming another addict'.
27/01/2007 23:21:22 | Permalink
Adamskii said:
Yo my internets been weird lately i would have gone on last night but couldnt. If you reply to this within next hour or so Ill go on server.
28/01/2007 11:47:21 | Permalink
Matt said:
OK hope you are having fun at Tesco! I'm home all afternoon/evening and by me PC (as watching the auction). Let me know when you're free to go on.
28/01/2007 13:23:39 | Permalink
Matt said:
OK I'll logon now - it's Top Gear at 8pm. See you at Coronet.
28/01/2007 18:17:28 | Permalink
Adamskii said:
within next hour i meant, my nets just started playing about ill still try and go on
28/01/2007 18:17:29 | Permalink
Adamskii said:
you know that small computer you were building? Send it back and get this! http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/01/26/via_announces_pico_itx/
28/01/2007 20:23:47 | Permalink
Matt said:
I might have to - mini-itx.com aren't returning my emails, as the original board was returned via RMA due to not working properly.
28/01/2007 21:21:08 | Permalink
Adamskii said:
Lol thanks for removing that vid, Id post it up myself but id wanna pixel out my head and delete my bloody name that is on the credits!! Good to see it only had 38 views tho :)
29/01/2007 16:23:56 | Permalink
Adamskii said:
If you want a laugh watch this dickhead. He walks in all puffing out his chest like there is something up his arse and ends up looking like he needs something up his arse.
29/01/2007 22:14:22 | Permalink
Adamskii said:
http://www.dailymotion.com/visited/search/kimbo/video/xupn8_kimbo-vs-adyran
29/01/2007 22:14:47 | Permalink
Adamskii said:
We been playing the wroooong game :( http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6162315.html
30/01/2007 10:42:10 | Permalink
Matt said:
A bit of old and depressing news there! Imagine if we'd played SWG with real money. I knew a player who duped credits in the game to fund him through College and Uni. We could be student-loan-debt free right now, retiring as full time pimps.
30/01/2007 12:33:29 | Permalink
Matt said:
Two interesting links:
Borat is one of Britain's most powerful men | LOTR Online beta
30/01/2007 15:04:40 | Permalink
Adamskii said:
Out of boredom id prob sign up for that beta but i read the terms and conditions (this afternoon weirdly!) and it said for trial games they would ask for card details and charge when the trial run out. That pretty much put me off, however it said MIGHT ask for card details so if you try it and it dont ill give it a shot. The main thing that sparked my interest was I watched a video of it and the bloke was saying how there was a monster mode where you could jump into any enemy AI and fight against the players.
30/01/2007 19:06:04 | Permalink
Adamskii said:
That lin you gave for LOTR beta is North America one, sign up here for Europe http://www.lotro-europe.com/
31/01/2007 10:53:00 | Permalink
Matt said:
Ahhhh. Not that I was going to sign-up anyway, but the idea of playing NPCs sounds fantastic.
31/01/2007 10:56:14 | Permalink
Adamskii said:
If you havent tried this HL2 (CS:Source) map then give it a look, not sure if anyone will play it online but its by far the prettiest map Ive seen a non pro make. Looks most like inferno from the official maps. http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/01/29/Shadow_of_the_Colossus_mod_for_HL2/
31/01/2007 20:24:05 | Permalink
Matt said:
Will check it out soon!
I've just logged off SWG - with Anneka! She got really annoyed with the tutorial but finally completed it and I've just been setting up a house on Tatooine. But I still can't understand the new retarded controls...
01/02/2007 00:58:19 | Permalink
Anneka said:
Your MEAN Mr Juffs!!!! You weren't supposed to tell anyone! If I didn't play I wouldn't get to be socialable with you- despite being in the same room!!!!!!! You have to admit its very shite- why would anyone get into this game?
01/02/2007 11:06:21 | Permalink
Matt said:
True, it makes you wonder why me and Adamskii used to waste hours on it...
01/02/2007 11:21:27 | Permalink
Adamskii said:
The reasons: It was years ago when games were shittier so this seemed better. The game was very popular and had a decent community. The controls were fairly solid and pissing about with Americans minds was fun. Most importantly it was better then doing Uni work.
01/02/2007 12:23:05 | Permalink
Matt said:
Ah, those were the reasons. The controls are seriously retarded, as I've still not got used to them - especially combat. The lack of a combat queue is extremely irritating, especially in laggy areas. BTW - have you got a trial working successfully yet?
01/02/2007 13:06:15 | Permalink
Adamskii said:
It says this crap every time: "We were unable to consume an account key at this time. Please try again later" What I didn't understand from the controls is that you have to click on a target to do the move/attack? Sometimes the move or lag about so much that you completely miss. I don't know why they took the stack system out.
01/02/2007 15:02:16 | Permalink
Matt said:
Ah poo it stupid game. I only played it for 20 minutes last night - 10 of which I spent killing things trying to get-to-grips with the new combat system [still]. I think I'll end up with 60M as I'm selling another item - but no online MMORPG credit purchasers are accepting Bria credits.
02/02/2007 10:41:36 | Permalink
slickhouse.com | Blog Archive » Games of 200 said:
[...] Rings universe, as such. Will it be as successful as WoW? Or will it flop like Matrix Online and SWG? Two things I can say is that I like the idea of a lifetime subscription, but I wont be playing [...]
25/04/2007 13:06:49 | Permalink
Games of 2007 | slickhouse.com said:
[...] Rings universe, as such. Will it be as successful as WoW? Or will it flop like Matrix Online and SWG? Two things I can say is that I like the idea of a lifetime subscription, but I wont be playing [...]
04/05/2008 20:44:33 | Permalink
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Anneka said:
HaHa...won't be staying long...he has been on it since 9am and is still going...!!!!!!! Grrr!!!!!!! I'm glad I met him after this little part of his life...hopefully I can ween him off it now!!!!!
27/01/2007 15:56:48 | Permalink