Because I know you’re wondering:

My Jedi Knight has hit Level 34 (ding!) and I FINALLY finished Chapter One. Excellent story stuff in the run up to the climax, and I have to wonder what could have happened had I chosen differently in a few spots.

I also unlocked the Legacy feature which currently allows me to choose a surname (Beezo, natch) and assign it to any other characters I create on this server, to give them a familial relation. Kinda neat.

@bowlisimo you get one ‘free’ month for your $59.99, but that’s as close to a trial as they’ve got. I think they’ve got mad cash to try and make back.

@UMD Shit, that’s a tough one. I really wish that music video for Toto – Africa would stop popping into my head. Guess I’m going to need a Land Rover and a machete for this round.

@feenwager Is there a trial? I’ll totally fuck around for 7 days or whatever, at least until that box price drops. I always hated paying that initial 50 bucks. I vowed never to do that again after Star Trek. I know, I know, I backed the wrong horse on that one, but still…

@unmanneddrone the problem with that way of thinking is that there is PLENTY of online goodness to be had in TOR, and without friends to experience it with, it’s not as much fun. I mean, do you really want me tackling the Empire alongside Smokeymcbluntzz, Knight Of The Republic?

@feenwager As much as I love Starwars, I don’t think I can justify paying a subscription to a game that sounds like it could have worked as a single player as aptly as a multiplayer game. If it were a Guild Wars-esque “pay for the game, online is free” style of heavily instanced encounters, sure.

But damn, is it crazy and a reassuring sign that we’re seeing a @beige/@bowley/@shingro-level of enthusiasm for perhaps your “Dark Souls” in levels of enjoyment and satisfaction.

Yes, Community is most definitely awesome.

You know what else is awesome? The Old Republic. I just hit Level 27 and Act 2 of the story, and it just keeps getting better. It really feels like my choices are starting to matter.

C’mon, Squad…open your hearts (and wallets).

And now for your nightly “Why you should be playing The Old Republic” minute.

I’ve spent the last few nights questing on Taris, dealing with the 300 year-old Rakghoul menace that Revan couldn’t be bothered to truly take care of last time around.

I thought I had done everything I could do, and was on my way back to the ship to start the next “story” phase, which would take me to a new planet as well, when I got a “Taris: Bonus Series” quest line that has defeated my ability to stay awake. It legitimately looks to be at least another solid day of quests, and then MAYBE I can finally leave Taris.

There is so much to do. Even if I run out of stuff eventually (and obviously I would), I’ll have EASILY gotten my $60 worth out of the game. And other than one Flashpoint with Pete (which was rad), I’ve done basically nothing but solo the whole game.

Which means there is a ton of content waiting for Squad Republic Night.

Just sayin’

On another note, 2011 ended with a Bastion marathon and 2012 continues my Metal Gear Solid-ucation (after the amazing MGS3) with more Big Boss and some Mother Base building in Peace Walker, and at the same time *finally* getting back to Italy to hang with Ezio and the Ass Bros.

Edit: Anyone want to try Peace Walker coop? It seems like craziness. I mean, cardboard box tank, you guys.

@feenwager Curious to hear more about SWTOR on the podcast, specifically whether or not you think you’ll be playing it in a month. All reports seem to be that it’s well made, but very much an mmo-ass mmo.

SquadCast is about 50% edited right now. Taking a break for lunch, then back to it later this afternoon. Should be up either today or tomorrow.

The Old Republic is brilliant. So there. Even better, they don’t lock you out from playing on other regions’ servers, meaning I can play on American servers for once and, should you feel the need, you can play on European ones, too. This is a Good Thing.

I have a Jedi Knight at level 22, a Jedi Consular on Jeff’s server at 12 (I think) and I briefly tried an Imperial Agent on another friend’s server last night. She (my Agent, not my friend) has LadyHawke’s voice. I think I’m in love.

Any day now, you’ll have a brand new Squadcast to listen to, and you’ll hear Pete & I gush about how cool Star Wars: The Old Republic is. Let me say this: my dude was level 5 at the time of that recording, and is now level 20. Be happy we didn’t do the show today or you’d have never shut me up.

In many ways, this is the game I’ve been waiting for for 20+ years. It’s that good.

@feenwager I got on your server. I’m a Twi’Lek Jedi Consular called Chandraka. Add me and feel free to hit me up for some partying if you see me online. Only level 2 at the minute but I can probably catch up to your 5 pretty quick.

OK Feen, I’ll see if it’s possible for me to create a character on there later. My Euro character is a Jedi Sentinel named Amarysse on Shaltin Tunnels.

@angryjedi I’m on Kayiss Obelisk, playing a goody-goody Jedi named Konradd.

@feen: I’m playing and loving it. It feels like a BioWare game, only with other people wandering around to be helpful when you want them, and unobtrusive when you don’t.

I dig the multiplayer conversation system. It’s a very “pen and paper RPG” approach but it works well and flows reasonably nicely.

What server are you on? I’m not sure if I can create a character on American servers, but I can certainly see them in the server browser. If enough buddies sign up, I’ll see if I can get on an American server as well as the European one I’m on.

I was gifted SWTOR today, so I said what the heck and signed up. Here’s what I’ve noticed so far: The retail version is WAY more polished than the beta was. I’m digging it. A lot.

Damn.

@bowlisimo I stuck to massively single the whole time.

@feenwager That makes sense. Have you tried going through the story with a group? I only ask because that’s what I’m most interested in (from a distance), and it sounds like you were massively single.

In theory, several players roleplaying their own place in the dialogue could be amazing with friends. It could also be shitty and annoying with random people. I also have no idea how it could possibly work without a DM running things on the fly.

@bowlisimo Here’s what I think your friend was referring to: When you enter a “story” phase, which is basically a small instanced area, one character is designated as the “owner”. You can choose to have a group do the story with you if you like, but that’s actually a setting you have to change. The owner of the story is noted at the top of the screen, and only his or her dialogue choices matter, since he or she is advancing their own particular plot. It makes sense, but if you don’t realize how it works early on, I can see where it would be confusing.

@feenwager Thanks for the impressions. Heard some weird things about the way dialogue works from a friend who was also in that beta. From what he said, when choices come up, everyone can pick, but only one person has final say. For instance, he said he was Sith and two players chose to kill an npc and one guy chose to spare him, so the guy was spared. Without any more context I’m not sure how I feel about that, but maybe it’s justified. God, multiplayer dialogue must be a nightmare, but it’s the only real draw for me.

Anyway, you’re better off. From my experience, it’s generally not a good idea to buy MMOs on release. On top of that I have my doubts about that 15 dollar subscription holding up in the face of F2P.

@cptcarnage lol, nice. That whole boss fight was absolute bananas. Beige’s stadium sized rage trap almost singlehandedly saved those top two lanes, too bad he didn’t get any credit. We’ll have to level you up and make another run one of these days.

@beige *Fist bump* Dark Souls 1.3 veterans.

@redswir1 I didn’t get far enough into the game to see any space battles.

@feenwager Hold up, so what’s with the whole Star Fox-like ship combat I hear about?

This is the first and last time you’ll hear me interested in an MMO.

Final thoughts on Star Wars. I couldn’t really play too much last night because it was kinda laggy/buggy, but here’s what I put in the comments section of the post-test survey I received:

I really don’t like the art direction and visual presentation (UI, text, icons, etc.). It made it hard to enjoy the game. I really enjoyed the quests, dialogue, and story options, but not enough to get over the hump of the uninteresting world, fidgety UI, and overabundance of combat with boring, undistinguishable enemies. I will probably consider a purchase after the first major patch/revision. Thanks for the opportunity to test the game out. Much luck with it.

I don’t think I can put it any better than that.

@feenwager Thanks for the further impressions. I’m actually more intrigued about your fine self indulging in TOR than TOR itself!

More Old Republic impressions. I think my beta deal is only good for this weekend, so I’m trying to actually spend some time with it and dive in as much as possible.

• The art style is growing on me a bit.

• I hate the UI. I hate mouse and keyboard. Jesus Christ on a hockey stick, would I love to be playing this with a gamepad.

• The transparent map overlay is a good idea.

• I know it’s an MMO, but there is too much combat, especially when just trying to get from point A to point B. Also, it’s disconcerting when a bad guy spawns right next to you when you’re checking your inventory.

• And now for the shocker: I ACTUALLY CARE what is happening in the story. I’ve already started to like my character, and I’m looking forward to playing tomorrow so I can see what happens next. Crap.

• Also, in case you’re wondering, this is an extremely BioWare game. The side quests, the light/dark choices, even the character models and camera angles. The true test will be how well the BioWare/WoW mashup stands up after 20 hours or so.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you whether I think I’ll be ready to shell out my actual money for this thing.

It’s certainly early, but here are few thoughts:

• first off, I usually have no love for MMO’s. I got a character in WoW up to 35 and gave up because it started forcing me to group. Bleh.

• Any attraction to SWOR is due to my combined affection for both Star Wars & BioWare

• The art style is…weird. It kinda reminds me of Star Wars by way of WoW mixed with the character models from TellTale (especially Monkey Island).

• You can’t ask for better music than using the Star Wars themes

• For a “beta” it ran very smooth, at least for the hour or so I played. I also like that I got a little survey at the end of each quest to rate the quality of various parts, and I got an overall survey of my experience when I logged out of the game.

• Ranged combat is pretty satisfying, but I wish the enemies looked more like…enemies. I pretty much don’t ever know if I’m supposed to attack something until I mouse over it.

So the million dollar (or $14.99 a month) question: can I see myself subscribing? If I’m being totally honest, probably not, based on the fact that my history with this kind of thing is pretty consistent. That said, even the tutorial quests have the BioWare feel, and I could see myself happily playing this for a few hours a week in “Massively single-player” mode if that makes any sense. The question for me is if there really is anything resembling an overarching story, or if I’ll just be doing a bunch of short little smuggler vignettes.

I dunno. I sort of expected to hate it, and I’m intrigued to at least put it through its paces for the beta weekend.