Grumpy Old Nerds

Like so many of our fellow gaming nerds I spent turkey weekend playing the semi-open beta to The Old Republic. And like fellow contributors Numbspoon, Coolstorm and Ravenbran, I spent most of that time on ventrillo shooting the shit, comparing notes, and all in all enjoying this well put together game. However I noticed several levels of interest even among us die-hards. And since I've seen several varying levels of satisfaction with the game from other people. However take heart, I have come to rot your brains with an opinion article based on the class I wont be playing at launch (but not for lack of interest mind you).

After the Beta several of the guild members we have had expressed different oppinions on what they wanted to play. This is well and good because they got to test drive the cars so to speak and really see what fit them. Myself I spent more time playing the class I'll still roll first on Republic side (Jedi Knight) than the Empire's Bounty Hunter, yet I felt that this beta had such a profound effect on my oppinion on the class alone it was due it's own article. So without further adue Papa Mimic presents his beta experience of TOR: The Bounty Hunter.

First of all let me tell you a story. When Bounty Hunters were announced I assumed every Fett wanna be from here to kingdom come would roll one and throw around with two pistols and a flamethrower while chanting in general chat "He's no good to me dead..." I was not excited for this class and honestly had no interest in even giving it a second look. There was a by-God Jedi to play, and you midichlorian deprived bastards could get to the back of the line where you can cry about how I deflect your blaster bolts without looking.

However after seeing that the Bounty Hunter got a jawa companion... well I got intrigued. That was no fair. A jawa with a rocket launcher, you say? Epic is not strong enough a word. Chuck Norris with a Death Star belt buckle didn't cover the badassitude of said companion, so when I got my weekend beta access I figured I was due to see if the Bounty Hunter could keep my attention long enough to recruit the little psychopath and enjoy the endless conversations with a squeeze-toy armed with extinction level hardware. Because nothing says 'bad day' like getting blown up by a midget in a dirty robe packing a shoulder cannon.

I went into the class, even it's opening cutscene and dialog before getting to move around and such with the idea it would be a huge gimmick. Lots of toys, hardware and a love of credits and possibly a loyalty to the Empire to solidify them as a darkside character. In fact looking back on the first four or so levels, my bad attitude towards Bounty Hunters was preconceived and entirely dependent on the jokes I'd made when I first heard about them being a playable class for one faction. So yeah... I was not thrilled. In fact I expected it to be sorta like this:



Instead after I got into the story and really let the dialog sink in after a pretty powerful scene (which also happened to be beautifully scored with some great music) I came to a realization. I was not, in fact, reliving the early adventures of some Fett ancestor. I was not recreating Canderous Ordo or Dengar or even Durge. I was forging my own story one step at a time that had little to nothing to directly do with the Empire. In fact the whole Imperial association is sort of out of my character's hands as it ties him to it in order to get revenge. How much did my opinion change? Well by about level six my mind changed the movie poster. It looked more like this:



That's right, folks. I had stepped out of the cliched credit hungry super gunner ideal of a Bounty Hunter and walked into the lonely road of a well written western. Just one that happened to be in space. My character was better than the rest, but he had to prove it. He came from nowhere, had everything taken from him, and thanks to my dialog choices he was hell bent on revenge. But along the way he wasn't an evil man. He was, in fact, a good man. One who remembered that even the worst criminal was sometimes a victim of circumstance more than desire to be a petty bastard.

With the gruff voice and very underworld feel of working for the man (or Hutt) who owned the town and everyone in it, I felt like I was in some sort of space aged Clint Eastwood movie. One that showed what one person had to do to get even with the big bad guy (or his big bad guy) and even then in the scheme of things it didn't matter. This was just one man's story, and it made it all the more powerful because of that. You aren't saving the galaxy, you're just trying to get some peace. And you have to do some pretty ugly things to attain it.

How many levels did I play, you ask? A mere eleven and I already got that feel. Right up to traveling to the second planet in the game's series where you're quest leaves the small town where it all began to meet the larger world head on. This feeling was not trivial by any means, and I found myself not caring if I got the Jawa over the weekend. This was a well written and wonderfully scripted story that I would actually have liked to see in a book or movie, but being able to play it as a worn do-gooder or a maniacle bastard just added something.

Say what you will about lightsabers (and I will have one launch day) but the Bounty Hunter shows that writing doesn't have to be about galactic threats to hold your interest. In fact it doesn't have to be anything really big other than the drive of one determined man. This I found to be the diamond in the ruff of all the class stories I sampled. Despite numerous quests related directly to KOTOR, and telling the story of what happened after Revan was long gone, I still found myself imagining a murky and slimy world filled with desperate people and one man who flew in on a rusty old ship.

Through the beta I also played the Jedi Knight (level 20), Sith Warrior (level 10), Sith Inquisitor (level 11), and tried the Trooper out, but didn't get very far. As wonderfully crafted as all the stories were, I have to say how much I liked how wonderful places like Coruscant and Taris looked. They had a unique feel and the quests delved not only into the idea of killing ten bad guys and bringing back their left pinky toes, but of actually feeling like there was a reason to go out and take on the galaxy.

All in all Star Wars: The Old Republic is most likely the MMO you'll love if you like story. If you want to rush forward to get to end-game content I recommend DC Online for that sort of thing, but TOR offers something new and different in that you can enjoy your favorite RPG with friends. Will this game stack up to it's hype? Well that's for you to decide, but ole Papa Mimic feels that it has more than earned it's credit not with the dynamic hero feel of the Jedi Knight, or even the conquering destroyer of the Sith Warrior. But of the story of just one guy with no past I can't help but see walking through a dusty planet out of sight.

That's all I got time for, but stay tuned for other articles about our weekend experiences, and as always remember to have your Grumpy Old Nerds spayed or neutered: Only you can control the Grumpy population.

~Mimic