Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience

List Price: $29.99 Discount Price: $49.89

Features:

• Compilation pack in Star Wars Galaxies series
• Includes An Empire Divided, Jump to Lightspeed, and Rage of the Wookiees
• Adventure through over 100 story-driven quests
• Visit and discover points of interest and adventure zones
• All-new combat system with new weapons, armor, effects, and more

Accessories:
Lego Star Wars Death Star II	LEGO Star Wars Imperial Dropship	PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine	LEGO Star Wars Rebel Scout Speeder

Customer Reviews:

Star Wars: The PVP Wars [Posted on 2006-07-26]
It is my honest opinion having played the game from it's inital release until now that the game is far below what it used to be.

Role-playing is no longer an option. It's just not possible. There's no way to be a roleplayer in this game and have it be fun. Also, the game has been re-designed for the people who love to PvP, or do player vs player battles. For people like me, who don't enjoy PvP battles, this leaves very little to do.

The quests, almost exactly 8 months later, are still broken and not working. I've done a number of them (and attempted to on others) and while some work, for every 1 that does there's 5 to 10 that don't. A fine example is that when you hit a certain combat level or non-combat level with your character, you get items that initiate quests. All of these items post-30 are still broken.

When the game came out it was buggy, but it got better. Last november they made the game an over-glorified beta test, and it's to this date still no better than toilet paper.

Once The Best is now The Worst Game EVER [Posted on 2006-09-04]
When I played Star Wars Galaxies: Ane Empire Divided during it's beta phase, it was the most amazing, immersive and fullfiling game I'd ever played. A major statement for a game veteran like myself. I thought I would be playing it for years to come, and did truly stick with it for two years. I watched the most disturbing decline of quality ever imposed upon a community by a developing company. The game literally changed entirely, classes were wiped, the remaining were given extreme handicaps which made them useless in combat, skills were dumbed down, the whole format changed directions in one of the most drastic and devastating moves I have ever witnessed post release.

This is one of the saddest stories about an amazing game, completely limitless in potential, turn into a half-baked, uninteresting, confined and dumbed-down version of it's former self. As a result of systematic changes after it's released that altered the entire game style, thousands upon thousand of people left Star Wars Galaxies for other MMORPG's (Namely, World Of Warcraft.) Had they stuck to their post beta product in the state inw hich it was released, it would stand as one of the finest games on the market. This is a worst case scenario of a development company shooting itself in the foot multiple times in an effort to 'improve.' How this game is still struggling along, I do not know.
They have changed the game to such a far degree that they have had to release things like 'Starter Kits' to get people acquainted with the new style. The new style is great if you're three years old and trying your first mmorpg, desiring no real challenge or individuality or entertainment. The beauty of the old Game was that it was for everybody, the hard-core gamer and the casual gamer; the social group or the loner. The world was huge, wholly interactive and alive. Now it's dismal and benign. It was never a grinding game, it was all encompassing and left to the player to create their own experience. Sadly, that was before it became exactly what people were trying to get away from. Now SWG is it's own worst enemy.
When I began I was a nurse who worked in a hospital in the City of Keren. I'd have combatants come in, and we'd chat as I healed their wounds and I made many friends. The implementation of player cities, once something we eagerly waited for, segragated the community and destroyed spontaneous interactions, diminished the necessity of casual players not affiliated with a player city and created massive dead-zones where the NPC cities once sat. From that point on the game went downhill, instead of allowing spontaneous interaction it created a forum for forced societies, a series of cities in which cliques gathered and anyone unfamiliar was alienated. Then they weakened the classes entirely, especially the beloved 'Creature Handler' quest while actually removing many of the subclasses forcing players to become too similar, and their behavior in combat mechanical. So weak were are the classes now that you are forced to group, because soloing is virtually impossible.
The gaming community has already erected an RIP marker for SWG. It's former incarnation is considered a grea loss to those who loved it. What stands now is a mere shadow.
Don't waste your time or money on this game.

With a heavy heart I write this review [Posted on 2006-11-10]
I was a BETA vet, there from the first days...things have changed as they do in online games. First, I am a HUUUUGE star wars fan, borderline nerd is my title. I remember before this game came out there was sooo much anticipation for this game, I even 'dreamed' literally of playing it. I 'pretended' to play SWG in Jedi Outcast. And finally I got into BETA.

I fell in love with the fact there the devs did their homework when it came to filling the worlds with places, history, and characters of the star wars universe. There was even stuff from the Expanded Universe (EU) in SWG that even *I* didn't know, which says alot.

This game has reeeaaallly come down hill, I can't say it enough, and coming from me, that's a sad thing to admit. I had so much faith in the devs, hung in there with them for 2+ years but things just got worse and worse. When the game came out it had it's flaws, but man was it exciting. There was sooo much to do in terms of professions, and everyone seemed to teem with excitement about how to obtain the Jedi profession. I remember the unbelievable excitement that would sweep over me if I had the priviledge to hear a lightsaber in the open city. Fast foward to today, most of all the professions are gone and now the entire population is made up of Jedi characters since they are now a starter profession.

I had never played World of Warcraft (WoW) before and heard everyone was going over to that game, but I held my guns and remained faithful. Over time the interface changed, the professions changed, the game layout, the quest system, the skill system...all changed. It wasn't until I finally gave up and went over to WoW that I realized that the SWG interface (which was previously superiour and just fine) ahd completely changed to fit the EXACT look and format of the WoW interface...in fact, everything in SWG I realized had 'upgraded' to mimic the bestselling game. How sad that this once leading game for one of the biggest franchises in the world has degraded to a online wannabe.

New players might enjoy it for awhile, but it gets repititous real quick and if you ever play something like WoW you will realize what a waste of time SWG is since it's nothing buy an attempted (and not successful) attempt to be a clone of the famous game.

I can't tell you how much this saddens me, I had so much hope and expectations for this game, but it's hollow and has long lost that unique flare and excitement, I've moved on and just look for the next LucasArts game, hoping it will help me forget this disapointment.

An Old Vet from a Different Perspective [Posted on 2006-11-26]
I've been playing this game since launch, watching it since beta. I've been leading a role playing guild(rover) on the Bria server since November of 2003. Its seen its changes and had its drama, but thinking of it from the perspective of someone who is just coming in, this is a good game to buy.

I can say with full honesty that I'm having more fun now the game then ever before, and it all seems to be improving. The PVP(Player vrs Player combat) has gotten better, and the PVE(Player vrs Environment combat) has gotten better but that really doesn't encompass what Star Wars Galaxies is and is controversial anyway. Star Wars Galaxies is about community.

The game has never been about grinding, and its never been about raiding high level places(for the most part). You can still get all of that out, going to level 90, getting Mandalorian armor, doing Restuss(PVP only zone) missions, grinding gcw points, all that fun stuff. But the majority of players either go out with guilds and have fun, PVP, or roleplay.

Trick with Galaxies is finding a good group to do it with. You got griefers to your left and trolls to your right, all a bunch of scum that can put a downer on your day if ya don't got a good guild to call home.

The system is on the upshot, looks like it will continue improving, but it should've had these improvements done three years ago. Us vets have been jerked around left and right by a Dev team without a coherent vision they could get us behind. They still don't have a coherent mission statement for us, and we don't have much trust for them. This has created bad blood between the Dev team and the vets like me, and I got strong feelings on the politics of it all.

As a new player though, thats all dust in the wind to you, and chances are you will find a fun game with good people. If you decide to pick it up, make a character on the Bria server and send a mail to Kazer. I'll straighten you out or point you to a group that might fit your play style.

Destroyed [Posted on 2006-11-29]
Used to be the most amazing game I had ever played. How the developers destroyed the game was heartbreaking. I'm now having fun with WoW, but just can't shake my nostalgia for the early days of SWG.

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