Star Wars: The Old Republic - Legacy of the Sith
As well as a new central story, Legacy of the Sith has also introduced some major system changes to the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic. From my own perspective as a returning casual player, these changes are measured and appropriate. Firstly, my Smuggler has had some of their skills rationalised. Some buffs which you previously chose to use, such as Smuggler’s Luck, are now passive skills. Other minor skills, such as Flash Grenade, have been removed. I don’t consider any of these changes to undermine the class and welcome the decluttering of my quickbars. Perhaps more advanced players may take a different view. Change is not always welcome, especially if it removes choice. I however approve of these alterations and the way the UI has been redesigned to display your gear, outfit, combat style, loadouts and companion details.
As well as a new central story, Legacy of the Sith has also introduced some major system changes to the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic. From my own perspective as a returning casual player, these changes are measured and appropriate. Firstly, my Smuggler has had some of their skills rationalised. Some buffs which you previously chose to use, such as Smuggler’s Luck, are now passive skills. Other minor skills, such as Flash Grenade, have been removed. I don’t consider any of these changes to undermine the class and welcome the decluttering of my quickbars. Perhaps more advanced players may take a different view. Change is not always welcome, especially if it removes choice. I however approve of these alterations and the way the UI has been redesigned to display your gear, outfit, combat style, loadouts and companion details.
Secondly, another major addition to SWTOR in this expansion is Combat Styles. Prior to Legacy of the Sith, each class had two advanced classes, with three disciplines to choose from as they progressed through the game. My primary character in SWTOR is a Smuggler that has chosen the Gunslinger advanced class. I have then selected a DPS focused discipline by allocating points into a skills tree. Now I can select a second Combat Style (the new term for an additional advanced class) and hot swap between them. There are some limitations. As a Smuggler I can only choose Combat Styles from the Trooper and Bounty-hunter and Agent class. Similarly Jedi and Sith characters can only choose from each other. This new system offers a great deal of flexibility and variety. Once a player has completed chapter 3 they are offered a second Combat Style. New characters are now offered this option upon creation.
At present I have decided not to rush into choosing a second Combat Style. I am still trying to refine my current default one and determine what is the optimal skill rotation. When playing MMOs I tend to focus on one task at a time. I recently completed the Makeb story arc from Rise of the Hutt Cartel. Although I accepted the Seeker Droid and Macrobinocular missions I have yet to undertake them as I find that travelling back and forth between multiple tasks detrimental to following the various narratives. I decided to do some solo Flashpoints but found accessing them a little confusing. I wasn’t sure where to find the appropriate NPC to bestow them but eventually discovered I could access some via the Groupfinder panel. I recently discovered the Swtorista website and it has become an invaluable resource. SWTOR, like many other MMOs, doesn't do especially well at providing essential information in-game.
From my personal perspective, I have chosen a good time to return to SWTOR. I have managed to refamiliarize myself with the game and my existing characters skills quite quickly. The latest expansion has rationalised those skills making combat easier. I have a wealth of content ahead of me. SWTOR is also a very solo friendly MMO which suits me as I do not have the time to join a guild and participate in social gaming. My next goal is to play through Shadow of Revan. I am currently level 63 and will see if I can reach the level cap just by playing through the main stories of the game. I am also trying to keep abreast of the lore, which can get confusing at times. My Gunslinger defeated Darth Malgus on Ilum but it would appear that he returns in later expansions. This is why I try to do content in chronological order to maintain narrative continuity.
I have two monitors on my desk. The first (which is the primary monitor as far as my PC is concerned), is on the left and the second is on the right. The primary monitor is a 24 Dell U2412M, which has a resolution of 1920 x 1200. It therefore has an aspect ratio of 16:10 which adds a little extra desktop real estate, which I prefer when writing. The second monitor is a 24 inch Dell S2421H with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. It has an aspect ratio of 16:9 which is standard FHD. My chair is adjacent to the middle of my desk and I can turn according to each monitor I’m using. I tend to use the primary, larger monitor on the left for tasks such as writing via Google Docs and emails. The second monitor on the right is used for YouTube and gaming. This is because of its FHD format. I also have a Nintendo Switch connected to the second monitor for the same reason.
I resumed playing Star Wars: The Old Republic at the start of December 2024, after a two and a half year break. This is an MMORPG that I have never consistently played, compared to The Lord of the Rings Online or Star Trek: Online. I bought the game at launch and spent about a year or so slogging through content. Gameplay was a lot slower back then and I got stuck at a certain point in the Smuggler Class story, so I moved on to something else. I returned to the game when it went free to play but didn’t stay for long. However, when I came back to SWTOR in 2022, the game had significantly altered and I found that levelling new alts was a lot less grindy. I discovered that the best way to play the game as a solo player, was to treat it as an RPG and work my way through the class stories as each one is unique. My recent return has focused on completing the last three class stories I had outstanding.
Bree Royce, editor-in chief at Massively Overpowered, recently asked the question “what is the most expensive MMORPG right now”. My first thought was to search through my old draft blog posts and track down an MMO cost analysis I wrote circa 2019. It includes data such as subscription rates and the price of current expansions. There was also information on what were the most popular cash shop items at the time. However, I then read some of the comments that had been left on Bree’s post and I quickly realised that this wasn’t just a matter of financial expenditure. Whether or not an MMO is expensive is also determined by one’s disposable income, respective wealth and personal relationship with money. The latter is perhaps the most important, irrespective whether you consider yourself rich or poor.
It is customary for me to write an end of year summary of my gaming activities but I suspect that on this occasion it will be somewhat short. For me, 2024 has really hammered home the notion of the ephemeral nature of video games as well as their commercial ubiquity. The moment a game fails to satisfy for whatever reason, rather than complain or worry about it, I just move on to something else. It’s not as if there’s a shortage of games out there. I have a substantial back catalogue of games that Epic and Amazon prime regularly giveaway. I have bought numerous discounted bundles in the past, in the pious hope that I’ll play one of the games included, at some point in the future. Games may well be enjoyable and engaging but many are also disposable. That’s not to say they’re bad. While playing them you are indeed “entertained”. However, when you’re “done”, it’s amazing how you quickly find another and forget what you were previously playing.
The MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic recently added Dynamic Encounters to the game in the latest patch. These are repeatable, time limited public event quests that randomly appear at present on the planets Tatooine, Hoth and Rishi. Some events are combat focused with a set amount of enemies to defeat before a boss appears. Others are more leisurely, involving herding Banthas or catching juvenile Tauntauns. Dynamic Encounters vary in difficulty, ranging from easy to hard. All players participating in Dynamic Encounters share progress with NPC kills. Thankfully, there is no sharing or competing for item looting. Dynamic Events run for between 30 and 60 minutes and repeat every 2 hours. Overall these are broadly similar to comparable events in Guild Wars 2 or The Elder Scrolls Online.
If you’ve ever played an MMORPG, then you have more than likely encountered this problem. Especially if you start playing a game that has been long established. You diligently create your character and spend time and effort customising them to suit your needs. All you’ve got to do next is choose a name, so you type in a pithy and droll title only to find that it has already been taken. So you quickly come up with another and that too is rejected. Next you try the same name but with some “alternative” spelling but the game resolutely tells you that even that permutation is already in use. I have found that even with a list of names that I’ve drawn up prior to playing the game, it can still take anything from 5 to 30 minutes to find one that is available. Naturally, this process is very frustrating, which is hardly the ideal user experience for a new player.
A recent email prompted me to return to the MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Developers Broadsword are “encouraging” former players to log back into the game to prevent the potential “release” of character names from “inactive” accounts. This has happened in the past, so I decided it would be a good time to return to the game. I last played in early 2022 when I created Trooper, Sith Warrior and Imperial Agent alts. The great thing about SWTOR is that all classes have unique stories so alts are never dull. This time I intend to complete the Jedi Consular, Jedi Knight and Sith Inquisitor classes. So I reinstalled the game, subscribed to enjoy full access to all content and also purchased a few Cartel Coins in case anything in the game store took my fancy. Hence the latest instalment of this recurring post, after a sizable break.
“The MMO genre is rife with its own set of tropes; recurring themes and motifs that have become established and ubiquitous. All of which are ideal material for a hastily produced, lazily conceived, recurring blog post”. One of the integral game mechanics of the MMORPG genre is the acquisition of loot. As you travel your virtual world of choice, committing random murder against all forms of flora and fauna, you acquire miscellaneous items by looting the corpses of the slain or stealing from houses and NPCs. Oh it’s a glamorous genre, the MMORPG. These random items can be crafting resources such as hides or ore. They may be food items or healing potions that provide some kind of statistical buff. If you’re fortunate, they may be gear that corresponds with your class or specific build, providing a much needed upgrade. Loot may also be the in-game currency, thus boosting your respective wealth. As you can see, loot comes in all shapes and sizes but how important is it?
“The MMO genre is rife with its own set of tropes; recurring themes and motifs that have become established and ubiquitous. All of which are ideal material for a hastily produced, lazily conceived, recurring blog post”. I was in London recently, idly walking to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, when a group of tourists started running for no discernable reason. Someone I was with asked “ I wonder why they’re running” and I replied “perhaps they think they’re in an MMO”. The quips fell on deaf ears but that is a cross I often have to bear. This anecdote highlights one of the points of this post. Namely, why do our avatars in the MMORPG genre run by default? I would also like to discuss the manner in which MMOs address the issue of travel around an ever expanding virtual world. Is fast travel lazy? Our mounts a boon or a bane?
I last wrote a post in this series in June. Back then I wanted a break from MMOs as I had invested heavily in Star wars: the Old Republic and The Lord of the Rings Online. Because I was still enjoying the Star Wars vibe, I decided to try Jedi: Fallen Order. Sadly, despite the story showing a lot of promise, the PC version of the game handles poorly and the controls are sluggish. Often it felt like my character was wading through mud and there was a tangible amount of skills lag. So I uninstalled it and moved on to something else. One of the odd things about gaming is that despite amassing a library of free and discounted titles, we often end up buying something new, instead of playing that which we already own. And that is exactly what I did. I purchased Stray amid all the excitement surrounding the game, but to date I still haven’t played it. Make of that what you will.
The Lord of the Rings Online was my first major MMORPG. I started playing in late 2008 and quickly discovered that there was a necessity to become familiar with the game world. Although the game provides quick travel options they were not ubiquitous at that point and often a player would simply travel on foot to travel costs down and to take the most direct route. Back in 2008 you could not own a mount until level 30. Hence I began “learning the maps” in the game and to this day still remember how to travel from one side of Moria, to another. The maps in the base game remain clear in my mind as they were so well trodden. Not so those in the regions. There are far more stables with fast mounts present in the game now and so convenience trumps any requirement to become so familiar with newly added zones. Nowadays Standing Stone Games designs new zones that tend to funnel players through them from quest hub to quest hub.
Usually I keep subscribing to an MMORPG, even if I’m not playing it that much. I like to have options in case I decide to log in on a whim. Especially if an absent friend returns to a particular game presenting an opportunity to catch up. However, the current economic climate is no longer something that I can ignore. Although far from having a low income, the current ongoing increase in the cost of living is becoming apparent, so I have been fiscally prudent and cancelled my monthly subscriptions to Star Wars: The Old Republic and The Lord of the Rings Online. Both have provided me with a lot of entertainment over the last three to four months but until new content becomes available, I can happily dispense with them for the meantime. Not only have I saved £17.98 on subscriptions, I shall no longer be making ad hoc purchases of in-game currencies. Something I have been doing a lot more than usual of late.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is over a decade old. That is quite a significant achievement for an MMORPG. Maintaining a stable player population is not easy and a lot of MMOs find themselves in a state of managed decline and then eventually shut down long before they’ve reached such an age. However, that is not the case with SWTOR. I recently returned to the game in February and as far as I can see, there is still a very active player base. However, I did come back just as a new expansion was launched. Conversely, as well as active players, there is also a lot of evidence of inactive players, by dint of the fact that I have really struggled to secure a “suitable” character name for one of my new alts. Specifically a Sith Warrior. It would appear that a lot of names are currently taken. I tried over thirty names before I found one that was available.
I have confined my gaming to three MMORPGs in recent months and have not strayed into anything new. Time has been an issue due to a great deal of change in my domestic life. Hence The Lord of the Rings Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Star Trek Online have proven suitable for my needs. Being able to log into a game and commence an activity without any complicated preamble is convenient and currently suits my schedule down to the ground. I will be buying Sniper Elite 5 at the end of the month as this is a franchise that has always proven entertaining and engaging. While recently perusing the various game launchers I have installed, I took the opportunity to remove several games that I’m no longer playing or that have proven to be a “five minute wonder”. Hence I said goodbye to GreedFall, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and Days Gone. Their removal is no reflection upon their quality.
A little over two months ago I returned to the MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic. I have written recently about how this has been a pleasant experience and I certainly haven’t wanted for content to play through. SWTOR has always offered well conceived and complex stories. This is essentially the MMOs primary appeal to me. Hence I have recently caught up with Rise of the Hutt Cartel, Shadow of Revan, Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne. The episodic nature of the last two expansions have both good and bad points. However, the central story was solid and engaging. However, when I moved on to the next instalment of the main story, everything changed. Essentially, the plot had backed itself into a corner. So the writers took the easy way out and pursued a new storyline that completely invalidated everything that had happened previously. This infuriated me so I’ve stopped playing.
Before I begin, this post comes with a massive caveat. In fact let’s go so far as to say it is a massive, highly polished and lavishly tooled caveat. There are gamers out there that play video games to challenge themselves and to be the best. Some do it for bragging rights. Others just do it for their own self satisfaction. This is fine. You do you. As long as your gameplay and gaming philosophy doesn’t impact anyone else negatively, then that’s fine. Let me state for the record that I am not that kind of gamer and this post is aimed very much at the average person who plays for entertainment, fun and to unwind. You know, the majority of people who play video games. So any responses to this post that fall into the “git gud” school of thought are irrelevant and can politely “go forth and multiply. Now we have established our frame of reference, let us proceed.
I returned to the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic a month ago. After a few days orienting myself as to how to play my primary character, I quickly got back on the levelling treadmill and started playing through all the story content that I’ve missed since 2013. Yesterday, I reached the new level cap of 80 and spent some time and money trying to get the best gear I can from the Galactic Trade Network. I’m not especially concerned about having the best build I possibly can but I don’t want to gimp myself. Hopefully I made appropriate choices. I now have a healthy item rating of 305, for what it’s worth. Broadly speaking, I haven’t run into too many tricky situations as I’ve levelled, although every now and then there’s a boss fight that seems disproportionately one sided. The Ugnaught Leader in “Little Boss” being one example with their annoying one hit kill, knock back.
There was a perennial question being discussed over at Massively Overpowered recently. Justin Olivetti asked “why do you play MMOs solo” and as you would expect, there was a wide variety of answers. I have written about this myself in the past, as when I first started playing MMOs, I was very enamoured by the social element and therefore very disposed towards group content. However, that experience between 2008 and 2011, when I played The Lord of the Rings Online most days and dedicated Friday and Saturday nights to raiding, was very much down to circumstances. I had the time and inclination to spend hours online. That is something that I don’t have now. Plus the novelty of the social element has worn a little thin over the years. Nowadays, I do not have the luxury of waiting for a raid group to assemble, nor do I have the tolerance for the inevitable delays that always stem from any kind of human interaction.
This post is a public service announcement. One that I’m making because of a lesson I learned the hard way. I am talking specifically about the two currency caps as they currently stand in the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic. I’m sure many long term players will be aware of the current status quo. However, there may be many others who are not. If I can stop someone from making the same mistake that I made, so much the better. I would also like to highlight how developer’s BioWare has done very little to address these in-game issues. When using a vendor in SWTOR, if you are approaching the currency cap, you do get a message in the chat window. If you are not aware of the currency cap, or do not see the message and you’re moving Credits between characters then there is scope for problems. There should be a far more clear in-game alert.
As well as a new central story, Legacy of the Sith has also introduced some major system changes to the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic. From my own perspective as a returning casual player, these changes are measured and appropriate. Firstly, my Smuggler has had some of their skills rationalised. Some buffs which you previously chose to use, such as Smuggler’s Luck, are now passive skills. Other minor skills, such as Flash Grenade, have been removed. I don’t consider any of these changes to undermine the class and welcome the decluttering of my quickbars. Perhaps more advanced players may take a different view. Change is not always welcome, especially if it removes choice. I however approve of these alterations and the way the UI has been redesigned to display your gear, outfit, combat style, loadouts and companion details.
Star Wars is an interesting franchise in the way it elicits such a strong emotional reaction among those that venerate it. To cut a long story short, I recently reinstalled Star Wars: The Old Republic and the moment I reactivated one of my previous characters and logged into the game I was immediately smitten with what I can only describe as Star Wars “feels”. There is something about the aesthetic associated with the franchise, both visually and musically (the latter is in many ways unique to Star Wars) which taps into my subconscious and prompts a wave of nostalgia. The Star Wars theme is a unique piece of music, insofar as whenever I hear it, it never fails to make me feel like a ten year old boy again. A boy who was enamoured with the Star Wars universe. Perhaps I still am on some level.
I started playing MMORPGs over a decade ago, at a point when the genre was growing. It seemed at one point that every developer wanted to produce the game that usurped World of Warcrafts crown. I therefore ended up trying many of these massively multiplayer online games yet ended up sticking with few. All too often many of these titles were too generic or had an inherent flaw or flaws that killed my enjoyment. Sometimes it was just a case that the game just didn’t chime with me. Naturally over time, I have revisited some of these MMOs and a few have become a mainstay of my gaming activities. The Lord of the Rings Online, Star Trek Online and The Elder Scrolls online are three such examples. Yet there are numerous other games from this genre that I have not returned to or if I have, I still found them to be problematic, so they have not become part of my leisure activities.
There’s one particular topic that appears with tedious regularity on MMO subreddits and forums. That old chestnut about how the genre has become too solo friendly and that it’s to the ruination of the genre. It usually hails from the raiding community and follows a predictable path about high end gear and those who do and don’t deserve it. When you look beyond the initial arguments, you’ll frequently find that such positions are very emotive, couched in judgemental terms and often end in the sentiment “why even play an MMO?” or something comparable. The reason I mention this perennial debate is because it appeared recently on a forum that I still occasionally visit. It saddens me to a degree because, this point has been debunked so many times, yet it still persists (a bit like many political talking points). It also smacks of that attitude I see all too frequently these days. A concern and borderline resentment of what others are doing, irrespective of whether it impacts upon you or not.
Having recently returned to The Elder Scrolls Online, there is a lot of excitement within the community regarding the introduction of housing in the next major game update in February. So far from the information that is available, there’s a wide variety of house styles and customisation options available. Properties can be bought furnished or unfurnished and players can further embellish their respective dwellings by crafting specific items for them. Housing also includes the usual fast travel options to and from their location and access can be shared among friends and alts. There’s a more detailed breakdown at The Elder Scrolls Online website and so far, ZeniMax seem to be offering all a comprehensive version of the current popular MMO mechanic.
I decided to return to SWTOR today, not because I wanted another MMO but instead required a narrative driven RPG. I’ve been convinced by several websites and podcast that BioWare has effectively given us KOTOR 3 via Knights of the Fallen Empire and so I decided it was time to revisit the proverbial galaxy far, far away etc. I initially played SWTOR upon its launch in late 2011 and returned to the game after the F2P conversion, when Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion was released. Although I enjoyed the game more second time around I still felt that it sat somewhat uncomfortably between an old school MMO and a more contemporary variation. The less said about Galactic Starfighter the better, as that expansion just wasn’t to my liking. Essentially my return to the game is based on the promise of a single player RPG experience and the underlying appeal of the franchise.
Anthem Open Demo
Before I start with my thoughts on the actual nuts and bolts of Anthem, let me just say that it’s nice that the concept of “the demo” still exists. There was a time when I use to buy various computer magazines in the late nineties, and they would all have a cover disk filled with game demos. I discovered many great games that way (MDK, Hidden and Dangerous), simply by having access to a few levels of a new title. Game developers seem ambivalent towards the concept of “try before you buy” these days. More often than not we get early access instead, which is not the same thing at all. But a functional demo that gives you a decent representation of the full product is a far better proposition. For the gamer at least. Because if you play it and like it, then you are sold. Unlike early access where you may see a product with prospects but whether it comes to fruition is another thing entirely. However, demos are a double edge sword, because may also come to a clear and unequivocal conclusion that you don’t like the game in question, or that is simply not for you.
Before I start with my thoughts on the actual nuts and bolts of Anthem, let me just say that it’s nice that the concept of “the demo” still exists. There was a time when I use to buy various computer magazines in the late nineties, and they would all have a cover disk filled with game demos. I discovered many great games that way (MDK, Hidden and Dangerous), simply by having access to a few levels of a new title. Game developers seem ambivalent towards the concept of “try before you buy” these days. More often than not we get early access instead, which is not the same thing at all. But a functional demo that gives you a decent representation of the full product is a far better proposition. For the gamer at least. Because if you play it and like it, then you are sold. Unlike early access where you may see a product with prospects but whether it comes to fruition is another thing entirely. However, demos are a double edge sword, because may also come to a clear and unequivocal conclusion that you don’t like the game in question, or that is simply not for you.
Because so many gamers see criticism and analysis as a personal attack on their opinions and therefore an assault upon themselves, let me make this first point very clear. I do not think Anthem is a bad game (from what I have seen). At its core, it is a fun, exciting experience. It does exactly what it sets out to do and appears to do it well. Got that? Good. Because a lot of the other stuff, IE the story, the characters, and the overall aesthetic are arbitrary. Again, let me stress they are not bad, just adequate. Up to a standard to coin a phrase. But far from unique, not outstanding or in any other way exceptional. I have written in the past about the misrepresentation of the word “adequate” and that not every game has to be a genre milestone. But this is a BioWare game being published by EA. It’s got multimillion-dollar, big bollocks, in your face, hyped up bullshit written all over it in large neon letters. If you want the full experience (Legion of Dawn Edition) it will cost you £70, all but a penny. Call me old fashioned but if I part with that amount of cash, I want more than what I’ve described.
Earlier today, I fired up the demo and quickly got into the game. There were no logon or server issues this time round. I found myself in a Fort Tarsis and quickly got funnelled to the expositonary NPC and quest bestower. As Anthem uses the Frostbite Engine, everything looks fancy although I found a lot of the production design to be somewhat generic. As it’s a limited demo I repeatedly got onscreen messages telling me that I cannot interact with NPCs and items. Nope BioWare wanted me to go get in my Javelin exo-suit and sod off and start shooting stuff. Now I noted that this first part of the game was all in first person. Whether that is the case in the full release I do not know. Let it suffice to say that if all the RPG elements are conducted in such a manner, then that’s another stumbling block for me. So, I subsequently donned my fancy armour and found myself with three other random players out in the combat zone. Everyone promptly ran off in different directions and started experimenting with the game controls. I was hoping there would be some semblance of a tutorial but no, you just have to figure shit out for yourself. It is however very intuitive and easy to work out.
Well let me save both you and I a lot of time. If you played Destiny 1 or 2 then the combat is pretty much the same. The only difference here is that you have thrusters to fly for limited periods and you have the benefits of a third person view. You have two ancillary weapons, which on the ranger class javelin are explosive projectiles and you have a melee skill. The game is fluid, requires situational awareness and robust twitch skills. The added verticality adds to the challenge requiring you to get above and behind enemies and objects, hover, shoot and move on. If you are young with good reactions, have played other games that require you to interact with similar three-dimensional environments and are adept with keyboard and mouse, or a games controller, then the combat in Anthem will really appeal to you. If you are of an older group, you may find it harder to keep up with the game. I played overall for three hours and during that time quickly got the measure of the game. Because while everyone else was flying around, shooting mobs and efficiently traversing the environment, I was adjusting my pince-nez, sipping my Amontillado, trying not to be distracted by the garrulous in-game voice over and trying to determine which key did what.
The thing is with Anthem, a player such as I will probably have to work twice as hard to train myself not to over steer, get disorientated and fall behind the group. Because the combat is pretty much the foundation of the game experience, you need to be proficient to get the most out of the game. I don’t think its strength will lie with its narrative, characters and production design. As I said, these are all adequate (from what I could see) but nothing more. A decade ago I would have been happy to put in the time and the effort to improve my performance and prove a point. But not now. I play to have fun primarily and if I’m not up to the task, then I am happy to move on. I don’t blame the game or myself and I’m not under any obligation to “git gud” to embrace some spurious philosophy that the only good game is a competitive challenge. So Anthem is not for me. Let those who enjoy the demo, purchase the full edition and go have their fun. I’ll find mine somewhere else. As for those who are expecting the much lauded BioWare storytelling experience, I’d be interested to know in a few months from now as whether it’s there or not.
I started playing MMOs in late 2008 by which time the genre was clearly established and dominated by one particular title, World of Warcraft. I chose to play The Lord of the Rings Online, mainly because of my love for the intellectual property the game is based upon. I still play LOTRO today. However, I was very aware of popularity and significance of WoW at the time. It pretty much set the rules for how you design a MMO and it did much to move on from the previous gameplay parameters set by such titles as Ultima Online and EverQuest. It was also the MMO that every other developer was trying to beat. Another compelling factor regarding WoW is that everyone I knew at the time was either actively playing it or had done so at some point. It was for many gamers, the go-to title for socialising. Finally around early 2010, I tried a free trail of WoW to “see what all the fuss was about”. Simply put, I felt that it wasn’t for me.
Over the course of the last 16 years, the MMORPG Star Trek Online has changed greatly. What started as a disjointed, rushed game with unfinished systems and a lack of overall cohesion has now evolved into streamlined MMO with clearly defined systems and very strong narrative arcs. Let it suffice to say that STO makes very good use of its license and the intellectual property it is built upon. Although new content has been continuously added to STO over time and refinements are regularly rolled out, the developer’s have also removed content from the game in the past, that they feel is substandard or too dated in it presentation. Hence in October 2018 Cryptic took out the following eight missions from the game, with the proviso that they would be updated and replaced at a latter date. Until fairly recently, STO players had given up hope on this ever happening and the episodes being reinstated. Eight years is a long time.
One of the things that I enjoy when playing a new video game is character customisation or character creation. I will spend hours trawling through settings, changing the most minute and consequential aspects of my avatars appearance. I am certain that there is a psychological aspect to this particular game mechanic and that it says something about you as a person. Are your creations shaped just by a need to look good in-game or is there more to it? Are they external manifestations of your sexual preferences or thoughts on body image. Do you treat them as characters from a book that exists in your mind. Do you aspire to recreate the likeness of people you know or admire? Do you strive to make your avatar look like you? Whatever the reasons, it would seem that character creation is something that a lot of gamers enjoy. Hence I am not alone in my borderline obsession. What you look like in-game is equally as important as your character’s name.
I was playing Battlefield 6 recently and was experimenting with the mortar. If you stick with it and take some time to become familiar with its foibles, it can be an effective weapon. It can suppress the enemy, destroy equipment and provide useful cover for your own team. I remember thinking “I wonder if artillery could sustain a game on its own”. Artillery is an interesting feature in Hell Let Loose, although it is a little more complex in its game mechanics. I believe artillery is also available in Wardogs. I therefore spent a while looking online to see if there was a dedicated artillery simulator available or at least a game where it was a key feature. There nearest thing I found was Iron Nest, a dieselpunk heavy artillery game which looks interesting but isn’t quite what I seek. So I parked this idea and moved. Tonight, while perusing YouTube, I stumble across a teaser trailer for a game called Flak Simulator, currently under development by Horseman Interactive. It appears to be exactly what I am looking for.
I recently tried to use DLSS 5 Manager with the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out. Today I undertook a similar experiment with AMD Neural Rendering, which is a broadly comparable product. Both utilities use 3D-Guided Neural Rendering, an AI technology that alters how lighting, reflections, and textures look in a game. Instead of just upscaling the image like older versions, DLSS 5 uses an AI network to instantly "re-render" lighting and material responses over the game's layout, achieving photorealistic details that would normally negatively impact a graphics card's performance. Or to put it in less fancy terms, the game graphics are enhanced and modified, although it is highly subjective as to whether the end results are an improvement. However, as a game such as LOTRO is unlikely to ever receive a major graphical overhaul, tools such as these are the nearest players will get to revised graphics.
The core game code and engine for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, is about 24 years old. LOTRO began originally as Middle-earth Online, developed by Sierra On-Line in 1998. Turbine took over full development of the project in 2003/2004 when their parent company, Vivendi Universal Games, acquired Sierra. The content that had already been developed by Sierra was abandoned and Turbine created a new game using structural elements such as the UI and game engine from their previous release Asheron’s Call 2 from 2002. The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar was officially released in April 2007. Hence, the active public release code is 19 years old. Despite continuous expansion and updates, along with a recent migration to 64-bit architecture, the foundations of LOTRO retains a nearly twenty year old legacy framework. This frequently contributes to modern technical hurdles and engine constraints.
A few years ago, there was a fan created project to provide voice narration of NPC dialogue in the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. This mainly involved capturing the text in the quest dialogue windows and then sending it to OCR software, before using a text-to-speech program to read it. LOTROVoice as it was known, broadly worked but the creator stopped developing it as it proved troublesome to maintain. However, I recently discovered Khazad Voice TTS which is a separate project that does pretty much the same. I went so far as to install this “immersive AI narrator for LOTRO” after seeing a YouTube video of it being used successfully. Sadly I ran into issues configuring Khazad Voice TTS, because I have two monitors and LOTRO runs on the secondary (by my choice) and not the primary. I couldn’t “lasso” the dialogue windows in LOTRO during the calibration set up, which effectively prevented me from completing the process.
Throughout yesterday and early today, there was an issue logging in to the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. Upon starting the game launcher, it would attempt to connect to the patch server to download the latest game update. This process would start but then subsequently stall at 33%. The launcher would then attempt to reconnect to the patch server every 60 seconds but could not make any further progress. Some players found that if they left it long enough, it would eventually complete the download and the launcher then progress to the next screen where they could input their username and password. However, for the majority of LOTRO players the problem would simply persists and the launcher would be stuck in a loop. Some players attempted to reinstall the game or use the repair data facility in the launcher but neither of these proved to be successful workarounds. The patch sever needed to be bypassed to resolve the issue.
I’ve been playing Fall Guys since its launch in early 2020, during the start of the pandemic. It is a fun, family friendly multiplayer game which is has proven popular with my grandchildren. Despite the game’s acquisition by Epic, it has maintained a sufficient level of popularity that has seen it ported to all major gaming platforms. Fall Guys is free to play but like most multiplayer games, there is a season pass and an in-game store. However, these monetised aspects are not essential to enjoy the game and the overall marketing of emotes and skins is nowhere near as invasive as it is in Roblox. In fact many of the players I see while in-game have default skins, indicating a regular casual player base. However, although game seems to be maintaining its popularity, it has several bugs that appear to be be persistent. Bugs that the developers claim have been resolved. Some can be addressed by players. Other at present cannot.
I find the concept of in-game radio stations fascinating. They’re an enjoyable aspect of open world video games and I have discovered several artists this way. They’re certainly a big deal as far as Rockstar Games are concerned, because the music selected for GTA VI is another important facet of the overall marketing campaign. So far, between two trailers and the sprawling extended look on Netflix, it has been determined that Tom Petty, the Pointer Sisters, Sexyy Red, Depeche Mode, Phil Collins, Birdman, Lil Wayne and the Bellamy Brothers are all part of the game soundtrack. That’s a very eclectic selection so far. Furthermore, there will be a 34 track album released on physical media (vinyl and CD) in conjunction with Atlantic Records.
Two years ago I wrote a post about fine tuning your graphics in the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. Apart from installing ReShade and using AMD Adrenalin, the options were somewhat limited, due to the game’s age and multiplayer status. Since then, I’ve been playing LOTRO with the game settings maxed out, a custom ReShade profile to make the colour palette more vivid and Radeon Image Sharpening enabled within the AMD software. The game looks clear, crisp and the draw distance is pretty good for an ageing game but I still wish the graphics could be tweaked further. Hence, I’ve been trawling the internet in a vain attempt to see if I can find any third party utilities that could be used to enhance LOTRO further. During the course of my search I stumbled across DLSS 5 Manager. This is an open-source, intelligent utility and one-click mod installer designed to inject and manage Nvidia's DLSS 5 neural rendering features, ReShade, and OptiScaler into PC games.
Hellraiser (1987) was one of he most innovative and intelligent horror films of the eighties, with its cerebral and sophisticated exploration of pleasure, pain and the supernatural. Sadly what was a great concept for a single film was turned into yet another horror franchise. The resulting series of increasingly inferior sequels ultimately diminished the central idea. However, in recent years several horror “brands” have found a new lease of life via the medium of video games, so the announcement of Hellraiser: Revival last summer piqued my interest. The fact that author Clive Barker was directly involved certainly raised my expectations. However, even though video games have a history of depicting sex and violence, would the medium be able to fully embrace the true nature of Barker’s original novella and original film. Having played through the newly released demo for Hellraiser: Revival, I believe the answer is a yes.
Are video games becoming easier? It’s a perennial subject that is frequently discussed by those who play them. Often the question of whether they have actually become easier is not the focus of the debate, as it seems to be broadly recognised that it is the case. Instead, discussion of this matter tend to drift into the rectitude of this change. Debate’s of this nature are usually awash with subjective opinions and personal preferences which are then put forward as objective facts. It’s not just a question of video games becoming easier, it’s the fact that making them easier is “wrong” and those who want them as such are “not proper gamers” etc. The hours that have been lost to this pointless, tedious debate are uncountable. However, I digress. Let us return to the matter of video games becoming easier, because although fans discuss this a lot and have plenty to say, you don’t often hear from the developers on this subject.
Some video games lend themselves to being set aside and resumed at a later date with zero consequences. These are often casual games with no major goals other than having fun while playing them. Fall Guys is a great example of this. You have a cartoony avatar that participates in zany group races, filled with obstacles. You run, jump, climb but the controls are far from difficult. You may well become skilled but such things are mitigated by the other players as they stumble around. You’re not at the mercy of apex players or “try hards”. It is not a game about winning and mastering techniques. The fun comes from playing it and the unique experience you have each time. I’ve been playing this game, on and off, since it’s launch in 2020 and in that time I have only ever won once (winning requires you to win a series of 4 to six individual races). However, whenever I pick up my controller and play Fall Guys, I have fun and the game lifts my spirits.
I recently completed the main story in Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. In total I spent about sixty hours playing the game. I began at the start of the year, then took a break for a while but returned to it recently because I wanted to see if I could unlock a specific ending. I did manage to do this. Like so many other RPGs, Tainted Grail: the Fall of Avalon has a central storyline, along with a wealth of side quests, based around factions in specific zones. I think I possibly completed about a two thirds of these. However, once I finished the main story, my interest in the game began to wane. I finally left my character in the last major quest hub in case I wish to return at a future date. I then logged out of the game and uninstalled it from my PC to free up space for whatever I was to play next. In this case its The Sinking City 2. None of this is a negative reflection on Tainted Grail: the Fall of Avalon. I enjoyed the time I spent playing this quirky RPG. I simply had my fill and left to play something else.
On Tuesday 11th April, Aspyr Media rather surprisingly re-released The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, a co-op action-RPG from 2011. This game was delisted in late 2019, possibly due to changing rights ownership or a license expiring. Hence, I was somewhat discombobulated by the return of this title to all major gaming platforms. Mind you, the Embracer Group (through its subsidiary Middle-earth Enterprises) still controls the worldwide commercial and video game licensing rights for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Furthermore they have explicitly stated that they have plans for more games. It would appear this also means re-releasing and updating old favourites. It is also worth noting that they own Aspyr Media, which is also a bit of a giveaway. Let it suffice to say that this re-release and sparked enthusiastic online debate as to whether any other he Lord of the Rings themed games from the same era will receive a similar makeover. Judging by the internet chatter, there’s potentially a market for them.
The next expansion for the MMORG, The Lord of the Rings Online, was announced on the 1st August, via the gaming website MMORPG.The Wolves of Mordor, which will launch later in the year, appears ambitious in scope as it will include two new game systems as well as the obligatory story update. This expansion takes place in Draugardh located in the North East of Mordor, beyond the Plateau of Gorgoroth. It includes the new zones of Heledhris, Parth Rhavas and Nan Ogol. These vary environmentally ranging from the arid, volcanic and semi-tropical. Players will encounter the Daugrim in these regions, Werewolves but not in the modern sense. This is not the lycanthropy of Eastern European legends but in the established Tolkien idiom of fell spirits inhabiting the bodies of Wolves. The region also sees the return of the Woses and players can expect to encounter Elves and scouts from Gondor. As ever with LOTRO expansions, there will be new instances as well as a raid.
This is a post about the power of nostalgia and how sometimes, interacting with something from your past, be it physically or mentally, can produce a very strong and tangible emotional reaction. In some instances, this can be the result of something that you have specifically set out to do. On other occasions you can wander into a sense of nostalgia purely by chance. Today I experienced a very strong sense of nostalgia while watching a YouTube video and then again when I sought to replicate what I had seen. The video showed someone installing Windows 95 on to an old 486 PC from that era. The Window’s start up sound really touched a nerve (but in a good way) and then when the guy in the video launched Space Cadet 3D Pinball, a game that shipped with the operating system, I felt a strong compulsion to track down a copy and install the game myself, thus revisiting something that was an integral part of my life in 1995.
RV There Yet? is possibly the most entertaining game I’ve never played. My vicarious pleasure regarding this title has come exclusively from watching two popular YouTubers, JackFrags and WillFromWork, play through the game over a series of videos. It has been immensely amusing to watch and I have empathised a great deal as the group of four players has struggled with the game’s unpredictable mechanics and their own team’s dynamic. I could go and buy RV There Yet? myself but I doubt if I would ever have a gaming experience anywhere close to what I’ve watched online recently. So in some respects watching these videos has been an interesting alternative as I’ve been entertained, which ultimately is the point of video games. Perhaps there is a deeper philosophical point here that the game developers should reflect upon, as they’ve lost a potential sale. However, that is separate discussion for another day.
I don’t keep up with gaming news as much as I use to but several noteworthy announcement have come to my attention of late. Firstly, there’s an expansion, Songs of the Past, coming for the Witcher III: Wild Hunt in 2027. No doubt this is to pave the way for the Witcher IV. Next, I also found out about Hand of Fate: Horde. I liked this franchise and was saddened to learn that the original studio, Defiant Development, closed. Hence is was a pleasant surprise to see this new game being developed by members of the original studio. The third announcement was regarding Guild Wars 3. A new MMORPG in active development by a major studio is no small feat and is certainly good news for fans of this franchise and the genre per se. However, once you look beyond this news this announcement raises several questions and has certainly given me pause for thought. Let us take a few moments to consider them.
Star Trek Online has many in-game systems that are common to the MMORPG genre. The reputation system is one such example. In STO there are 13 reputation factions. Once a player has reached level 50 they may start progressing through the 6 reputation tiers of each one. Players gain progression through daily projects (20 hours in duration). Hourly projects are also available though they yield less reputation advancement and are limited to three times a day. Hence 20 hour projects are consider by default the most efficient way to gain rep. Projects require 30 Faction Specific Marks (earned via various activities in-game), 15,000 Energy Credits (standard in-game currency) and 2000 Expertise points. The most efficient way to tackle the reputation grind is to build up the necessary resources in advance and then at a designated time each day, start all 13 respective projects. Upon completion projects yield a player bound lockbox containing a random space or ground weapon, a console or Elite Marks which can be used to acquire faction gear.
I was recently perusing my archive of old blog posts, when it struck me how much I’ve written about the MMORPG genre over the years. Naturally, there was far more material from between 2008 and 2012 as that was period when I immersed myself in the genre and was very enthusiastic about it. I was at a point in my life when I had the time to dedicate to such games and I was happy to participate in the social aspect of they offered. I would regularly play through group content and spend time socialising online with fellow guild members. My experience remains a textbook example of how online games can be more than the sum of their parts and that where you are at in your life has a major impact upon your overall enjoyment. As I read though various old posts it became clear that my experiences where specific to this particular part of my life and that they cannot be repeated. My relationship with the genre is very different now and that’s fine.
Creating alts is an integral aspect of the MMORPG genre. Many players will create a character of a specific class or faction, play it for a while, lose interest in it or they may decide that it is just not for them. Fortunately it is no effort at all to simply re-roll a new alt and set off once again. Furthermore, lots of players never reach level cap of the MMORPG that there playing. When the going get’s tough, so to speak, you can either soldier on for another 50 levels or simply create a new alt and return to the comfort of tried and tested content. Alts also give you the chance to secure an accolade or achievement that you previously missed. They are also of great benefit to the genres social aspects. Creating a new alt so you can play along with a friend who is just starting is great fun. Developer’s love them too as it means you’re still playing the game.
I recently took a break from Crimson Desert choosing instead to to play something familiar and easy going. As I’ve been logging into Star Trek Online daily to participate in the anniversary event, I decided to look through my various alts and see how far they had progressed through the game and what resources they had. At present I have twelve alts. My primary Captain was created in 2015 during the original Delta Recruit Event. I had previously played STO intermittently since its release in January 2010 but I never kept any of those characters. Hence this decade old Tactical Federation Captain has been my main focus when playing. The other eleven alts are the result of other recruitment events or whenever I wanted to try something different, such as playing a specific class or faction. I obviously played a lot of STO during the lockdown as several alts date from that period. Several had maximum reputation across all factions.
The action, open world RPG Crimson Desert has been patched five times since it launched on March 19th and there have also been multiple hotfixes. At first glance this isn’t anything unusual. New games have bugs and issues arise once a game is released and played across a much wider variety of hardware than in QA testing. However, if you read the patch notes that accompany these sizeable downloads it quickly becomes apparent that developer’s Pearl Abyss are not just addressing bugs and software glitches. They are actively engaging with their player base and responding to suggestions and requests from that community. Although this is not a unique approach, what is surprising is the speed and quantity in which these player driven changes are happening. There seems to be an active ongoing process to refine the game and eliminate some of its “rough edges” and the players are contributing to this process with their feedback.
According to my Steam statistics, I last played Starfield on 19th December 2023. I bought the game upon its release in September of that year and played in total for 136 hours. Starfield held my interest for three and a half month and I wrote seven blog posts about various aspects of the game. Although there were some engaging aspects to Starfield, I did feel that that the game was somewhat lacking in systems and content, at that point in its lifecycle. I also think that the marketing and player expectations associated with Starfield were overblown and unrealistic. The shadow of Skyrim looms large over all new Bethesda releases and they don’t seem able to quite recapture that magic. Hence, I inevitably drifted away from Starfield and to another game and was effectively “done” with it. I have not played the game since which seems to validate the theory that game are becoming increasingly more ephemeral.
13 days after its release, market analysts estimate that Crimson Desert has already earned $200 million across the four main platforms (PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S). The game is certainly proving popular among gamers with the internet awash with live streams and “let’s play” videos. However, reviews are mixed both among gaming journalists and YouTube influencers. Common complaints about the game include that it is slow to start, the controls are poorly laid out on all platforms and that developer’s Pearl Abyss have done a poor job of explaining most aspects of the game to new players. Although such criticisms are true to a degree, I think these complaints highlight how many gamers are conditioned to expect new titles to follow a specific pattern with regard to pacing, narrative exposition and learning in-game systems. A pattern that Pearl Abyss has chosen to ignore, instead favouring an old school approach.
Early on Crimson Desert, the main quest requires the player to enter a tavern and arm wrestle a particularly strong guard. The arm wrestling match consists of a quick time event. If playing on PC you have to rapidly press the “E” key which turns a power meter from white to red. Then a white dial appears above the meter with a rotating hand. When the hand passes over a segment of the dial that is marked by hatching, the player must press the “R” key. The idea being the meter filling with red is you strength building (or waning) and the “R” key prompt indicates when to try and force your opponent’s arm. You will need to to continuously press the “E” key throughout the arm wrestling match and the “R” key about 4 times to win.
In massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), alts (short for alternate characters), are new characters created by a player in addition to their primary character (often called the “main”). Alts are often encouraged by developers as a means to keep players engaged with their game(s). Sometimes an MMO will actively reward the creation of alts either with access to exclusive content, or with additional skills or items previously unlocked by primary characters. As the myth that an MMO really begins at endgame still persists in gaming culture, some games sell boosts that will instantly raise the level of an alt to that of the current level cap. Creating alts is such a key aspect of the MMO genre, that some games will sell additional character slots, so that players can create further alts beyond the default amount allowed. There are many reasons why players create alts. Let us consider some.