Star Wars Galaxies is another MMORPG from the great Sony empire, in conjunction with Lucas Arts.

Sony are probably most familiar for Everquest. Those who hated the original Everquest will find comfort that a lot of things have improved in Star Wars Galaxies - but it should still be popular with Everquest fans.

======Interface and System Requirements==============

The interface has several 'modes' where commands / mouse look and other interface issues can be altered to make the game look and feel like something you are familiar with. As a fan of Dark Age of Camelot I found that the default settings were familiar enough - there are other settings for FPS players, Everquest players, etc.

System requirements wise this game is quite a beast - ignore the minimum spec - you NEED at least 1GB RAM for it to work, and a good graphics card (nVidia or ATI and MINIMUM 128 meg) is a must too.

In general I find that with some detail like flora turned down the game runs fairly well - loading can be a little slow but Sony have accounted for that by having a timer on zoning so that you don't always get aggroed by NPCs while you are loading. I don't think this timer affects PVP though.

There is a problem with lag in certain areas, but it isn't as bad as can be encountered in some other games such as the now dead Earth and Beyond.

=========Professions and Skills==========

When you start the game, you are given the option to play one of several races (Wookiee, Human, Zabrak, etc) each of which have their own benefits and down sides.

You can then pick up a starting profession, and meet your wonderful (read insanely irritating, stupid and annoying) helper droid.

This droid guides you through the basics of what you need to know in your chosen starter profession. He also incessantly reminds you of his presence and re-appears for each profession you pick up.

The skills in Star Wars Galaxies are handled fairly nicely.

The basic professions are Medic, Scout, Brawler, Marksman, Entertainer, Politician (a wierd one you must qualify for) and Artisan.

By learning skills within these professions you can progress to other 'Elite Professions' - a master of the Pistols tree in marksman can become a Pistoleer, for example, or a master medic can become a doctor.

Some 'Elite Professions' require more than one basic profession - a Combat Medic, for example, has to be a master Medic and have learned the entire ranged support part of marksman.

It is possible to master up to three total professions (basic and elite combined) depending upon your choices.

You get 250 skill points to put into your chosen professions, at 15 points per base profession, 14 points per tree in each profession (there are four boxes per tree, costing 2,3,4 and 5 points each as you work up the base professions - and counting DOWN for the same trees in the elite professions) plus 6 points for each master box those points get eaten up quickly. It also costs 6 points for each Elite Profession you take.

Hopefully when the expansion Jump To Lightspeed (Space combat - X-Wings anyone :>) comes out people will get more points to account for the fact that new professions will be added.

This use based skills system is quite nice - to progress in a certain skill you need experience related to it. You can dabble in whatever skills you want, and drop / swap skills as you wish.

Your skill with a weapon will affect the con of monsters that you fight - if you have a pistol equipped and are skilled with a pistol then the monster may con, say white (roughly even to you) - swap to a carbine that you are less skilled with and the monster will go up in con to yellow (slightly above)

The colours should be familiar to anyone who has played any other MMORPG - they are consistent with most of them.

==========So You Want To Be A Jedi?==========

One of the main appeals for some people is that Star Wars Galaxies gives you the chance to be a Jedi.

When the game first came out the way for this to happen was unknown. Eventually it was found out that professions were the key - you had to master five. (Four that special 'holocrons' would tell you and a fifth secret one). So 'Hologrinding' began - mastering professions as quickly as possible, dropping them, and moving on to the next.

As more and more people started doing that, the number of professions needed to become a jedi increased. I believe it was up to eight by the time they changed the Jedi system.

The new system is slightly better than the old hologrind.

You have to gain a number of 'badges' for doing special things like visiting famous places or doing elaborate quests related to film characters - known as Theme Parks.

Once you have done enough of these you will be 'glowing' - sit around in the desert for a while and an Old Man will visit you and give you a crystal. Some Sith will attack you and try to take the crystal from you. Do a quest to do with the Sith and you will gain access to 'The Village'

This village is in the middle of Dathomir - a nasty planet full of high level creatures.

At the village you must do more quests to unlock Force Sensitive skill slots - these require 1 point each, and you must spend 24 points to master 6 trees.

You can only unlock one three every 3 weeks, and after you have unlocked that tree you must convert normal experience into force sensitive experience - combat classes have a conversion ratio of 30 normal xp : 1 force sensitive xp - crafters get around 10:1, some 9:1, but either way it is a LONG and HARD grind to get a Jedi under this system.

Once you have enough experience you have to do several more missions to become a Jedi Padawan, then after that have to gain experience to become a Jedi Knight, then can work up the ranks of the PVP system.

Jedi Padawans are not really that powerful, but a Jedi Knight is almost unbeatable by a ranged profession - they have an 85% chance to block ranged shots. Rather stupid considering the Bounty Hunter profession whose main purpose is to HUNT Jedi are a ranged profession don't you think?

============PVP / High Level Content============

When this first came out it was very lacking in high level content, and to some extents it still is.

They have added some high level dungeons and made some of the ones that were already there harder. One of the new dungeons actually requires a master Artisan to complete - nice way to force grouping.

Other than a few specific dungeons though, most of the game can be soloed.

Some people claim they can solo the Corvette - one of the hardest dungeons in the game. I have not done this myself, but I can say that even at my current level of skill (Master Doctor, working on Master Teras Kasi but not there yet) I can do quite a lot, and grouped with Tineladia (she is a Bounty Hunter and Smuggler, but not a master of either of these) we can hold our own in almost every PVE area of the game.

For both PVE and PVP buffs are ESSENTIAL - I would not venture far without doctor buffs for health, action, etc and either brandy or musician and dancer buffs for my mind. The entire game is balanced around these buffs - without them you can do very very little, with them you are near invincible versus anything but the top level content.

Unfortunately a lot of PVP is about having the best loot and equipment, the best buffs, etc. The difference between a normal weapon and one upgraded with special mob drops is huge.

If you are a casual player this can be a huge deterant.

Thankfully PVP is only on a consent basis - if you are neutral you would have to be grouped with someone, or take an action to aid, a player under attack - then you would gain a 'Temporary Enemy Flag' which would allow you to be attacked for a short time.

If you choose a faction you risk getting one of those flags more often, and if you declare that faction for all to see, then any declared member of the opposing faction can attack you.

As a Jedi you risk getting attacked by Bounty Hunters, but once you're in 'the most powerful' class in the game will you really care?

This system for PVP is much better than completely open PVP in my opinion.

========Griefers and Tech Support========

Unlike Final Fantasy 11 this game has a major problem with kill stealing - anyone can attack anything most of the time, so you could spend ages working on a mob and have someone come along and steal it.

There have been other problems - people used to summon doctors droids away from them so they could not use them, although that has been fixed. Another prevalent problem is people crafting items and naming them as something else so that they can sell a worthless item as something more valuable.

The CSRs aren't that responsive normally - they DO actually respond, but usually with 'Not our problem'

The one time Sony did do anything about a problem it was duped credits - they mass banned anyone who had recieved duped money - including the unfortunate crafters, merchants and doctors who had unwittingly recieved 'funny money' as payment for their wares.

=========Conclusion===========

I've mostly mentioned problems in this opinion - that doesn't mean I hate the game, it's got a lot going for it. For starters its based in the Star Wars universe - you can do quests for Darth Vader, and meet Han Solo, etc!

The graphics are good, and the interface is slick too.

For a casual player, there's lots to do - you do feel like you've been thrown in at the deep end when you start, and if your first inclination is to go out and explore, then granted you will feel like there isn't much other than empty space broken up by the odd monster or two, but trust me, once you get into it there is a LOT to do!

For a more hardcore player the goal of becoming a Jedi, or of just getting good at PVP is a big draw - the combat is a little skewed at the moment with some classes having an advantage, but I hold out some hope that the coming combat re-ballance will sort that out.

There are regular patches and lots of new features being added on a monthly basis, so you DO get something for your money.

If you read the forums related to this game you will see a lot of people angry or bored with it - but this is true of any online game. Personally I have no real complaint with this game yet, but I'm not a TRUE power gamer - I didn't hologrind, I just play to have fun.

I play on Lowca, and there is a Role Playing guild called Citadel of Heroes on there, full of people who are sick of grinding and just want to have fun. We have our own hotel and casino where we hang out and chat. If you can get in a guild like that it does break up the monotony when you are sick of killing or crafting things for XP.

So, to conclude, yes it has some problems but so does Camelot, so does Everquest, so does EVERY MMORPG - I do think it was worth the money I paid to buy it, and it is worth my continuing subscription (I unsubscribed a couple of times but kept coming back). I will be purchasing Jump To Lightspeed when it comes out, and will continute to play for that.

Star Wars Galaxies is a constantly evolving world and it is worth giving it a chance.