First impression Star Wars The Old Republic
As an avid Star Wars and role-playing fan, I have always been looking for a video game where I could create my own character and then make the galaxy unsafe with my own personality. Starting with the character’s individual appearance through to the character’s attitude and fighting style. What a dream it would be if you could experience all of this in the Star Wars universe….
And this is exactly where Star Wars The Old Republic comes in. As I wrongly assumed until 3 May 2024 that you had to pay a monthly fee to play this online MMO, I always avoided the game despite its excellent reputation. One evening, as I was browsing through the Steam store on my PC again, I decided without further ado to finally download and test the game. It’s a free-to-play game, so apart from the memory used, the only thing that could have been a mistake for me was the time invested. I confidently started the download and waited until the 52.07 GB installation was complete.
But what was my first impression of the game? Does the gameplay for which the computer game is so well known also work for me and will it offer me many hours of fun in my beloved epic? Let me give you my first impression of Star Wars The Old Republic in this article. Have fun.
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Chapter 1
Charakter Editor
Right at the start of the game, you are faced with a fundamental decision. Will your character act for the light or dark side and thus represent a Jedi or a Sith? At first I was surprised and admittedly quite overwhelmed by this decision, but in the end I decided in favour of the dark side of the Sith. Now it was straight on to the character editor.
Between various face templates, beards, scars, face paints and the choice between humans or aliens, you could also choose your fighting style. After trying out the available components for a while, I had my Sith ready and started my adventure full of anticipation.
Chapter 2
The beginning of the epic Sith Warrior story
The Sith Warrior
The SITH IMPERIUM is tightening its grip on the galaxy. The Galactic Republic and its Jedi defenders are weakened and vulnerable after the Empire’s successful military campaign. After negotiating a fragile peace, the Empire sends all potential Sith to the Academy on the inhospitable planet KORRIBAN for cruel and deadly trials.
Today, one of the greatest talents among the budding warriors has been secretly summoned by an influential overseer to face the trials of the dark side much sooner than expected …
Immediately after the text, which is presented in typical Star Wars style, a ship loads up on a planet called Korriban. It is our warrior, who climbs out of the spaceship with two metal sticks strapped around his back and makes his way to a person already waiting on the landing pad. Not even in front of the waiting person, he introduces himself. So we are dealing with “Warden Tremel“, who has the task of supervising the Sith tests. These tests are used to determine whether a candidate is worthy of the Sith Order or not.
And it is precisely this test that we must also undergo.
Chapter 3
The controls
Afterwards I was able to walk my first metres with the previously created Sith and had to realise that the controls take a lot of getting used to! At the time of writing this ‘first experience with the PC game Star Wars The Old Republic’ report, I was completely overwhelmed with the controls. First of all, I should mention that I play the game on a PC and am therefore used to a certain type of control. However, the game breaks with this conventional control method and replaces it with a non-interchangeable, cumbersome and decelerating control system that has cost me a lot of nerves and still does. So you don’t move your character with the classic AWSD buttons, but run forwards with the W button, as you normally would. However, to manoeuvre your warrior sideways (!) you have to stop and turn the camera to the left or right using the A and D buttons in order to continue running in that direction. As confusing as the control behaviour I have just described sounds, it also plays well. Even after 3 hours of active playtime, I haven´t got used to the controls in the smallest way. As the battles all take place in real time (not statically), you take a lot of avoidable hits – at least at the beginning – which caused me some frustration. I’m curious to see whether the, in my opinion, very unusual controls will keep me from continuing to play for a long time, despite the great gameplay loop and the superbly staged atmosphere.
Chapter 4
The Sith Trial: Retrieve the blade from Ajuntha Pall's tomb
So we head towards the tomb of Sith founder Ajuntha Pall to carry out our mission. Fortunately, once we have received the mission and reached our destination, all that separates us geographically is an inner courtyard adjoining a cave or tomb. We enter this and encounter our first opponents. 4 K’lor slug worms attack us at the same time. However, due to our low level, we can only defend ourselves with one attack at a time.
After a few recurring K’lor snail worms, we reach level 2 after a few minutes of play. And this is where the game achieves something that many role-playing games do: You feel vindicated in what you are doing and become stronger to boot.
Once you have defeated the K’lor snail worms, the next adversaries are waiting for you just a few metres further on. On the plus side, they are much stronger and more powerful than you, but attacking them remains optional. I attacked the waiting troops during my playthrough and, with a little skill and patience, was able to defeat them. One expansive yet manageable corridor follows the next until we reach a large room full of coffins. A few defeated enemies later, we stand in front of the grave of the modern Sith Order founder Ajuntha Pall and can complete our quest!
Chapter 5
Explanations
The Videogame Star Wars The Old Republic is a very deep and complex game with what I consider to be quite hacky controls. To ensure that you don’t feel lost as a player, the game repeatedly displays tutorial windows that introduce you to helpful basic functions of the game.
I’ll be honest: The combat system is great, but unfortunately my primary goal was not really clear to me at times. Of course, all the basic things are explained to you, but I can only speak for myself when I say that I often felt overwhelmed. But it didn’t spoil the fun of the game.
As an interim conclusion (playing time one hour) to the game, I realise that I’m having a lot of fun with Star Wars The Old Republic and I’m really looking forward to investing more time in this great game so far.
What do you think of the game? Have you played the game yourself? What do you think of the concept of your own Jedi or Sith? Would you like to see more games like this in the Star Wars universe?
Let us know in the comments | !
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