Star Wars Galaxies

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Star Wars Galaxies (abbv. SWG) is a Star Wars themed MMORPG for Microsoft Windows developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts. The current subscription price is $14.99 USD per month, with discounts for multi-month plans. Star Wars Galaxies access is also available as part of SOE's Station Pass.

[edit] Gameplay features

As with all MMORPGs, the feature set of Star Wars Galaxies is subject to change.

Timeline

The game events are set between the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

Geography

The game covers 10 planets: Tatooine, Naboo, Corellia, Talus, Rori, Dantooine, Lok, Yavin IV, the forest moon of Endor, and Dathomir. In the 2nd expansion Rage of the Wookiees, the Wookiee planet Kashyyyk was added. In the 3rd expansion Trials of Obi-Wan, the planet Mustafar was added. Each of the original 10 planets are represented by approximately 225 square kilometers (15 km x 15 km maps) of game space. In contrast, the expansion planets of Kashyyyk and Mustafar are smaller, constructed differently (e.g. instances) and in some cases imposed different rules than the original, such as terrain that is not traversable (i.e. mountains or hills that cannot be climbed over).

Graphics

The game is generally praised by reviewers for its realistic character models, detailed architecture and lush environments.

Points of interest and cameos

Examples of characters and points of interest that players can visit within the game include R2-D2,C-3PO, their escape pod on Tatooine, the Naboo Royal Palace, the abandoned Rebel bases on Dantooine and Yavin IV, the notorious pirate Nym in his stronghold on Lok, Ewoks and Rancors. Other main characters include Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Emperor Palpatine, Admiral Ackbar, Jan Dodonna, Boba Fett, Jabba, Bib Fortuna, Salacious Crumb, Max Rebo, Wedge Antilles, Gavyn Sykes, HK-47, Boss Nass, Admiral Thrawn, the "reincarnation" of General Grievous as NK-Necrosis, and the Force ghosts of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Exar Kun.

References are also made of characters from the Star Wars Expanded Universe, such as Grand Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade from the Thrawn trilogy, and HK-47 from the Knights of the Old Republic series of games.

The game also references the other two Star Wars spin-off films, in that the player may encounter the Gorax species from Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, and the base of the Sanyassan Marauders, as seen in Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.

Species and professions

The 10 species available to players include: Human, Twi'lek, Zabrak, Wookiee, Trandoshan, Rodian, Mon Calamari, Bothan, Sullustan and Ithorian.

There are 9 professions: Jedi, Bounty Hunter, Smuggler, Commando, Spy, Officer, Medic, Entertainer, and Trader. In addition to these professions, a character can also choose among three Pilot sub-professions and optionally enter the Politician sub-profession. Characters can specialize in different areas of their main professions by selecting "expertise" options, including Beast Mastery.

Ships

The Jump to Lightspeed made individual ships attainable by players for the first time. this allowed players to acquire and pilot ships of various sizes. these ships ranged from fighter-sized ships up to ships like the Millennium Falcon. Some players chose to play most of the game in space, while others went back and forth between space settings and planetary settings.

Combat mechanics

Ground combat is currently real-time and similar to a first-person shooter. The player must aim a targeting reticule at a target and left-click the mouse to fire. Auto-aim and auto-fire features are available, creating a more traditional combat experience, but players eschewing those options are rewarded with an increased chance to do maximum damage. As characters gain levels, they gain access to additional combat abilities called "specials" which are activated by using the right mouse button. These specials usually have a cool-down period. In addition to providing especially powerful damage attacks, specials are also used to heal, buff, debuff and crowd control. Players gain the ability to use more powerful weapons as they advance in level.

Players also earn "Expertise Points" as they level up which they can use in their professions expertise "tree". The player can allot 45 points into various abilities and attributes to make their characters more diverse, from weapons specialties to healing and armor proficiencies.

Player housing, guilds, and cities

Characters can erect, own and decorate a variety of buildings, including houses, cantinas, guild halls and city halls. These buildings, when grouped, can be organized into cities. Players hold elections via ballot box for Mayor. Elected mayors grant city members certain rights to place structures within the city and eject players from cities as needed. Reelections are held every two weeks. If another player wishes to run for mayor they can add their name at any time to the ballot box to run against the incumbent. As cities grow in population, they become eligible to add services and facilities such as vehicle repair garages, shuttleports, cloning facilities, hospitals, cantinas and garden displays. They can show up on the planetary maps alongside canonical cities such as Theed and Mos Eisley.

The gameplay design encourages realistic social institutions such as a dynamic player economy and other real-life social phenomena like a complicated division of labor. According to Star Wars Galaxies and the Division of Labor, the division of labor in Star Wars Galaxies around April 2005 produced in-game results similar to those in real life. Galaxies' original game design socialized players to specialize their characters by mastering one or two professions, and to join guilds, in which players relate to one another primarily in terms of their professions (eg: "I am the weaponsmith, so I make weapons for the guild") — just as in real life, people are tied to one another by organic solidarity.

Other features

• Single- and multi-passenger ground vehicles and starships: (landspeeders, speeder bikes, swoops, X-wings, TIE fighters and even several of the YT series of ships)
• Player-run economy where player characters are responsible for creating many in-game items including blasters,starships, clothing, armor, food, housing, furniture and even a wide variety of droids. Items are created from player-collected raw materials and looted items.
• An extensive set of emotes, moods, and associated animations, which affect not only an avatar's physical appearance but also the text used to describe a character's speech, and even the shape of the speech bubble displayed on-screen.
• Standard MMORPG features such as player guilds, chat functionality, and other community features.
• The ability for players to place bounties on opponents that kill them in PVP. Player character bounty hunters can then pick up another character's "bounty mission" on the terminals and track the character down. A bounty can be claimed at anytime, regardless of the target's PvP setting. Up to three bounty hunters can be tracking a character at any given time.
• An extensive character creation system. Characters can hire Entertainers to change their appearance in-game, with even more options than those available at creation. Every visual aspect of a character is thereby changeable at any time after character creation except species and gender.
• The game references and features elements from The Star Wars Holiday Special, such as Lumpy's stuffed bantha, and the customs of Life Day, when the player visits Kashyyyk. The red Life Day robes the Wookiees in the special wore are also available during special events in the game.
• All of the names of the galaxies (servers) in Star Wars Galaxies are references to starships or vehicles in the Expanded Universe.

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