Darth Hater

Star Wars: The Old Republic News, Interviews, Media & Podcast

Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik On Testing SWTOR



Penny Arcade's Mike "Gabe" Krahulik posted his impressions from the SWTOR game testing program. He's been in testing for about a month as part of the "friends and family" invites and received approval from BioWare to share his thoughts:

First of all, a lot has been made about the new "fourth pillar" of story telling. Is it really all they are making it out to be? In my personal opinion, yes, it really is a big deal and let me tell you why. In the short time I've been playing SW:TOR I have already given more thought to my character than I ever did in all the years I played WOW. I've had to make hard choices with my Bounty Hunter that have made me honestly think about who he is and what he's like.

Head over there to read the rest of the article about how he feels about the game so far. It should be noted that Mike mentions early in the piece he's viewing the game as an "enthusiast," not as a member of the media.

Hat tip to @dirty_heathen for the heads up.

Comments

Page 1 of 2
  • 1
  • 2
  • Davidicus's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #23 Davidicus Posted 6/24/2011 11:21:07 PM
    His enthusiasm is real, and I like that, but I also like some of the quick write-ups that people wrote after playing at E3. Though they only got to play for a few hours, they did a good job of presenting both positives and negatives.
  • KatoRyx's avatar
    Nerf Herder
    • Posts: 25
    #21 KatoRyx Posted 6/24/2011 5:15:34 PM
    I love the PA guys, they're so genuine and honest about everything they do because they aren't limited by the concerns of game review sites. They have a loyal fanbase that truly care about their opinions and I think Gabe pushing an honest, positive review about the game will win over some allies in this proverbial grudge-match every single GW2 fan seems to engage in when referencing TOR.
  • salmonleap's avatar
    Gamorrean Thug
    • Posts: 42
    #19 salmonleap Posted 6/24/2011 5:19:06 AM
    I have nothing nice to say about this except I do not doubt that Mr. Krahulik's enthusiasm is genuine.
  • Mein_blut's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #18 Mein_blut Posted 6/24/2011 2:10:19 AM
    Awesome to hear he is enjoying the game, but just felt more a PR stunt than an actual impression. Not trying to be neg as anything ground breaking would've been edited out. Good read none-the-less!
  • Shadowlance's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 61
    #22 Shadowlance Posted 6/24/2011 6:49:50 PM
    As I understand it PA had final edit on this, not BioWare. They could have written whatever they wanted regarding TOR.
  • Akerfeldt's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 85
    #17 Akerfeldt Posted 6/23/2011 9:54:39 PM
    It's funny how many official forumites and other sites are so willing to accept this write up as paid shilling by Bioware, yet the same people eagerly gobble up anything negative about TOR as FACT, such as with EA Louse.

    I guess people will believe what they want to believe.
  • Valentus's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #20 Valentus Posted 6/24/2011 9:29:18 AM
    Ah good ol EA Louse with his "SWTOR will be the biggest MMO failure ever" jazz lol. People like to feed into negativity though, and get excited about wanting to see things fail for some reason, so I'm not surprised forum goers would be quick to start making something out of nothing. I mean if anything I do think Mike was careful with his words realizing the privileged position he was in and not wanting to step on any toes with negatives, but that's about it. Holoprojectors? Hell yeah!
  • stapdrayin's avatar
    Gamorrean Thug
    • Posts: 34
    #24 stapdrayin Posted 6/27/2011 8:52:32 PM
    Similarly with the May '11 PC Gamer(UK) issue. He had a whole lot of negative things to say, which i thought were very unfair. It seems like he was just angry that the Empire characters speak with a British accent. Like Bioware is deliberately making the English out to be evil or something.
  • EvixVortana's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #15 EvixVortana Posted 6/23/2011 9:21:33 PM
    The hyperlink to their site has a typo. An a before the c in arcade.

    http://www.penny-aracade.com/

    Nice read. Thanks, DH.
  • Baelor's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 190
    #16 Baelor Posted 6/23/2011 9:24:35 PM
    Fixed. Thanks!

    I am the light that brings the dawn.

  • CornbreadChrist's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #13 CornbreadChrist Posted 6/23/2011 7:43:33 PM
    Hey Mikey! He likes it!

    In all seriousness, nice right up. He didn't spoil anything for anyone, recognized that the game was still in development, and gave a nice run down of his general impressions. You can't ask for much more than that.

    I enjoyed the read, and I'm glad to hear that the story element really is as good as I hoped because if there's one thing that stinks it is suffering through a bad story in a game where you just don't give a rat's behind about what people are talking about.
  • tarliam's avatar
    Nerf Herder
    • Posts: 3
    #11 tarliam Posted 6/23/2011 7:03:05 PM
    Going crazy waiting on launch
  • Xavier's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 497
    #10 Xavier Posted 6/23/2011 6:53:48 PM
    The following quote succinctly explains why I'm so geeked about TOR's potential,

    "In most MMOs taking quests is what you do so that you can go play. In SW:TOR, taking quests is playing."

    So many games have only played lip service to the leveling experience. It was only a means to an end(game). And while it still is to a lesser extent, BioWare is giving the leveling experience equal footing with endgame and I can't wait to try it out.

    Also, I had heard that you could use the holoprojector to get the next leg of a quest chain, but using it for multi-character dialogue is just genius. Abs-solutely loved that.
  • Thera's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #7 Thera Posted 6/23/2011 6:14:46 PM
    Wow good read. If i wasn't already excited about the game, this guy just made me. One thing i have herd from so many is TOR is nothing more then a WoW clone. Let those guys read this article and it sorta destroys that hole haterade comment. Great job Penny Arcade.
  • zunin's avatar
    Nerf Herder
    • Posts: 28
    #3 zunin Posted 6/23/2011 5:43:47 PM
    He basically stated why I'm excited about this game without spoilers.
  • To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Page 1 of 2
  • 1
  • 2

Most Commented Articles

Go to Articles

Tag Cloud

More