Playing The Old Republic
So, The Old Republic finally came out about two weeks ago and Graham and I have been playing since then. Actually, we've been playing since a few days before the official release date because we got into the early access for customers who had preordered the game.
It's been a lot of fun. As I said before, the space setting is not something that ever gave me any particular desire to immerse myself in it, but it's been working out well so far as the game is fun and the stories are engaging. I haven't got this kind of enjoyment out of a game since my early days in World of Warcraft. The slightly scary thing is that Graham is currently even more into it than I am, something that was never the case with WoW - and since he had time off over the holidays, he's been playing all. The. Time. While he tried not to put any pressure on me, it was still hard for me sometimes to tell him that no, I didn't want to play right now, and that since I wasn't on holiday, I had work and other things to consider.
The company has been pleasant too. Ben and Pittsy's old Star Wars: Galaxies guild has welcomed us with open arms, and Graham even got Mark to overcome his scepticism and give the game a try. It feels very "old school" to me, with guildies helping each other out at every corner instead of everyone doing their own thing like it is in WoW most of the time these days. Today we also found out that one of our new guildies actually lives in Reading too. Here are some screenies:
Here's Graham's character and mine dancing in a cantina on Coruscant shortly after we had started playing the game. The dances are not as varied and funny as in WoW, but they do well enough to show that you're in a bit of a silly mood.
When we ran a flashpoint (instance) with some guildies, the guild leader was quite amused by being grouped with three troopers and asked us to pose heroically for a picture. We were happy to oblige.
Here we have guildies assembling on the sands of Tatooine to face a big nasty monster. Too bad they didn't make the Sarlacc a raid boss.
Afterwards we went to the swamp world Taris and took down the local giant frog man as well.
Some of the landscapes are quite exotic and beautiful. Graham was particularly enamoured with these "sky fishies" that you get to ride around Alderaan.
I expect that we'll both be playing this game for quite a while. I've even let my WoW subscription lapse, though I'll be resubscribing for a bit more tomorrow to take up rated battlegrounds again. But ToR is definitely my game of choice right now.
It's been a lot of fun. As I said before, the space setting is not something that ever gave me any particular desire to immerse myself in it, but it's been working out well so far as the game is fun and the stories are engaging. I haven't got this kind of enjoyment out of a game since my early days in World of Warcraft. The slightly scary thing is that Graham is currently even more into it than I am, something that was never the case with WoW - and since he had time off over the holidays, he's been playing all. The. Time. While he tried not to put any pressure on me, it was still hard for me sometimes to tell him that no, I didn't want to play right now, and that since I wasn't on holiday, I had work and other things to consider.
The company has been pleasant too. Ben and Pittsy's old Star Wars: Galaxies guild has welcomed us with open arms, and Graham even got Mark to overcome his scepticism and give the game a try. It feels very "old school" to me, with guildies helping each other out at every corner instead of everyone doing their own thing like it is in WoW most of the time these days. Today we also found out that one of our new guildies actually lives in Reading too. Here are some screenies:
Here's Graham's character and mine dancing in a cantina on Coruscant shortly after we had started playing the game. The dances are not as varied and funny as in WoW, but they do well enough to show that you're in a bit of a silly mood.
When we ran a flashpoint (instance) with some guildies, the guild leader was quite amused by being grouped with three troopers and asked us to pose heroically for a picture. We were happy to oblige.
Here we have guildies assembling on the sands of Tatooine to face a big nasty monster. Too bad they didn't make the Sarlacc a raid boss.
Afterwards we went to the swamp world Taris and took down the local giant frog man as well.
Some of the landscapes are quite exotic and beautiful. Graham was particularly enamoured with these "sky fishies" that you get to ride around Alderaan.
I expect that we'll both be playing this game for quite a while. I've even let my WoW subscription lapse, though I'll be resubscribing for a bit more tomorrow to take up rated battlegrounds again. But ToR is definitely my game of choice right now.