E3 2011: Gameplay Impressions

E3 2011: Gameplay Impressions



Darth Hater once again sent a substantial team to E3 and experienced a new demonstration of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Several staffers share their personal impressions of various classes on Tatooine in the following pages, and you are welcome to ask them questions about their experiences at tonight's Q&A. Please note that even though Orionark and Emlaeh also attended, they both felt their time spent with the game was too limited comparatively to give substantial written impressions.

Individual Impresssions Pages


Algiebba's Impressions


I played the Level 26 mission on Tatooine several times as both Imperial Agent Advanced Classes and also as a Sith Assassin. I'll start out with some general impressions, and then move on to more class-specific thoughts.

In general, the game felt familiar enough to be intuitive. The user interface was easy to navigate and comfortable to use; the default key binds were easy to guess at (like "M for the map), and the game's mechanics didn't have any unpleasant surprises. I went through several combat passes before I remembered that there was no auto attack, so apparently it wasn't even a big enough deal that I noticed it missing. The only general problem that I had was that I didn't know my abilities nearly as well as if I had leveled the character from the start, so I had to spend a bit of time reading tooltips, and this made combat less fluid than it could have been.



Aggro range for mobs seemed to be a little on the short side, but not so markedly short as Lord of the Rings Online. In the open world, it was possible to dodge around groups of creatures without entering combat-though I would frequently see the "alerted icon illuminate as I zipped by on my speeder.

Speaking of speeders, Tatooine seemed quite large, and transport was definitely nice to have. Although it may not be an indication the game would release with this feature, my speeder was usable inside as well as outside. This was particularly nice given the length of some of the caves and passages I had to get through.

Both Operative and Sniper were a lot of fun to play, though it took me longer to kill things as an Operative. I'm not sure if that is the intention, or if it is just a reflection of the positional requirement of Operative combat. It could also be that I'm just more used to gunning things down at range. I was able to do a lot of sneaking about as Operative though, which sped up my mission runs considerably; it is way easier to just walk past the mobs than to fight them.



The Sniper was a ton of fun. On occasions when I crit on my "Ambush opening move, I was able to one-shot one of a group, and Scorpio's crowd control grenade would take another out of the picture for long enough that we could burn down a third while taking minimal fire. Cover Pulse was an amazingly handy ability when melee mobs closed; it would knock them back and keep them at range for a few seconds, which was usually enough time for me to take care of them. The only problem I had with it was in the final encounter of the mission chain, when my Cover Pulse knocked a mob I needed to kill over a balcony, which triggered an evasion glitch.

The Sith Assassin was also a lot of fun to play. I had plenty of area effect melee attacks, and was able to kill groups of mobs in pretty short order. I didn't seem to take much damage, but I'm guessing that's because Dover was doing his job as a Powertech and keeping all the baddies pointed at him.

Overall, the game was a ton of fun to play, and I'm even more excited to get to actually play it on release.
  • Previous
  • Page 1 of 5
  • Next
    Infamous

Comments

  • Gamorrean Thug
    Necro's avatar
    • Posts: 35
    #28 Necro Posted 6/16/2011 11:01:39 PM
    i believe the reason - or part of the reason why Bioware did not would be that specs are still in the process of being changed. You mentioned it saying that it suggested a minimum of 2 players - does this include companions as in, 2 players plus companions or player plus companion. Great preview!
  • Dark Lord
    darthuser2815's avatar
    • Posts: 307
    #41 darthuser2815 Posted 6/17/2011 1:58:56 PM
    I didn't feel companions helped me that much to be honest. I believe it means 2 player characters minimum. So 4 total with companions. I think dungeons are different in that respect where you can substitute a companion for the unfilled spots.
  • Dark Lord
    DarthSerious's avatar
    • Posts: 355
    #47 DarthSerious Posted 6/18/2011 1:01:24 PM
    As far as we know the sand people have it coming to them, but I wouldn't be surprised in the fashion that BW introduces thought provoking themes that there is something else to the sand people, which makes our decisions more impactful. This E3 quest has me intrigued, and I can kind of for see the possible plot which I look forward to unravelling.
  • Nerf Herder
    farcrow's avatar
    • Posts: 2
    #21 farcrow Posted 6/16/2011 8:02:34 PM
    Thanks for the great write ups. My main concern is how choppy light saber combat animations looked in a lot of the demo videos. Would you guys elaborate on that?
  • Nerf Herder
    Algiebba's avatar
    • Posts: 26
    #34 Algiebba Posted 6/17/2011 4:01:36 AM
    So, in the line they had monitors available so that you could watch as people played through the demos, and some of the combat did indeed look kinda choppy. My impression was that that was mostly due to people mashing just one button again and again, though; when I got to try out the Assassin, I made a point of making my way across lots of different buttons to test it out, and things looked much more fluid.
  • Jawa Trader
    darthuser379's avatar
    • Posts: 64
    #19 darthuser379 Posted 6/16/2011 7:29:21 PM
    Great read. Thanks DH :)
  • Gamorrean Thug
    Adaram's avatar
    • Posts: 51
    #18 Adaram Posted 6/16/2011 7:27:30 PM
    The only problem I had with it was in the final encounter of the mission chain, when my Cover Pulse knocked a mob I needed to kill over a balcony, which triggered an evasion glitch.


    This makes me happy, and concerned. I love the knock off high places mechanic, but I am concerned that the evasion glitch will be far too common. Thanks for the wonderful review.

    Sado
    The situation always defined the kit I used.

    Dude, this is exactly the way I would approach this too. I am so glad it is easy to change things up! I can't wait to give this game a try ... and reading what you have all seen makes it even harder to wait! /sign thanks!! :)
  • Nerf Herder
    Algiebba's avatar
    • Posts: 26
    #33 Algiebba Posted 6/17/2011 3:58:43 AM
    Well, as far as the evasion glitch goes: I actually mentioned that to Dallas Dickinson at the meet and greet that night, and he sort of rolled his eyes and said "Oh, that bug? Yeah, that's one of the big ones we're working on right now" or something to that effect. Sorry I can't remember exactly; BioWare was buying the drinks that night, so things are a little fuzzy. . . . :D
  • Nerf Herder
    caslav's avatar
    • Posts: 14
    #17 caslav Posted 6/16/2011 7:18:40 PM
    I think that the speeder should be equipped with some sort of advanced seat/butt support/cushion technology xD
  • Spice Runner
    Whitering's avatar
    • Posts: 113
    #13 Whitering Posted 6/16/2011 6:29:09 PM
    Nobody familiar with ergonomics had anything to do with designing that speeder, but the game looks great. Thanks for the write-up.
  • Spice Runner
    Raithnor's avatar
    • Posts: 149
    #16 Raithnor Posted 6/16/2011 7:17:22 PM
    The whole "hang off the back of the speeder"-design reminds me of the STAP speeders from Phantom Menace. The front end of the speeder looks like the front end of the Droid AAT hovertank.

    The mention that when they created the STAP the design was specifically made for Droids since they'd be able to hang off the back without feeling uncomfortable.

    Personally I liked Darth Maul's Speeder bike, it was small but it looked bad ass.

    I'm interested in seeing what the other speeders look like. The current design looks a little impractical, but I'm not going to rage about it just yet.
  • Spice Runner
    darthuser2633's avatar
    • Posts: 129
    #49 darthuser2633 Posted 6/19/2011 6:51:16 AM
    Personally, I want to ride Scooty Puff Jr. or the hoverboard from Back to the Future II.
  • Spice Runner
    Dejarik's avatar
    • Posts: 208
    #20 Dejarik Posted 6/16/2011 7:39:36 PM
    Yes it's a shame Darth Maul's speeder didn't spring into their minds but here's hoping they're saving that coolness for the faster vehicles.
  • Spice Runner
    Convertible's avatar
    • Posts: 239
    #22 Convertible Posted 6/16/2011 9:03:19 PM
    Think they will save such design for later, higher levels, ranks, etc.

    http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/images/features/friday/11_21_08/sith-speeder.jpg
  • Dark Councilor
    Kraxis's avatar
    • Posts: 971
    #29 Kraxis Posted 6/16/2011 11:26:56 PM
    It is impractical and I too dislike the speeder. It just gives off the wrong vibe. It is too big for such an uncomfortable way to be ridden, a STAP would be more reasonable for that, yet too small to be impressive. It is neither neat and perky like a citycar, nor is it cool and fun like a real speederbike.

    Anyway, this isn't the only mount. If you look at te E3 intro movie, at 1:33 you see a STAP-like mount with a seat. It isn't impressive, but it is practical and I wouldn't mind having it, especially not if the current mount is the alternative.
  • To post a comment, please login or register a new account.