This blog is called ManelyKPop, I want to focus on discussing Korean music, mainly. However, this is also intended to field a gaming article every 3-4 posts, and I wanted to start touching into that with a short and simple review, as this week is filled with some longer articles that take a ton of effort to actually write..
Rating: 7.5
I first want to examine the ways that this game succeeds, and there are three main topics to touch on here. First, and most importantly, this game has a great story, with a number of fun and memorable characters. Cal is a great lead, he’s grounded and inexperienced, going through a real character arc and having believable reactions to his various situations, probably one of the better original Star Wars game characters since Kyle Katarn. BD1 is a top notch sidekick, he’s an absolutely adorable droid that feels helpful and has really sweet emotional reactions that only make sense for a Star Wars robot to express. The other two standout characters are the Second Sister and Nightsister Merrin, both were well written, engaging, and well acted. Cere and Greez felt weaker, although Greez was hurt by having a number of character moments seemingly cut and left in the data logs.
Second success is the Star Wars-ness of the whole experience. This game lets you hop from planet to planet like any good Star Wars story, and Cal’s powers feel extremely grounded in what a Jedi of his level should be capable of, he’s not some Starkiller pulling down Star Destroyers, he’s a late padawan level using push and pull with some talent in a few other fields. The creatures of the various worlds seem exactly right as well, and the environmental design and the more risky dives into untold histories that the game goes on are resounding success and serve to advance and deepen the new canon, something it continues to need since the old canon was made Legends, something that Dave Filoni’s productions have been at the forefront of for me over the last few years.
My last success I want to highlight is the exploration of these very Star Wars worlds. In this game it is particularly fun to just look around and see whatever you can find, the datalog entries from collectibles are cool, albeit sparse, and a good motivator to keep exploring. It was also fun to use new powers to open up new paths in old areas, it highlighted how your new powers really open up the world to you, furthering Cal’s great characterization.Environments were always varied enough from room to room that you never got the impression that it was just the same thing over again either, which is important in a game with this metroid style retreading ground during exploration.
Those are all some great positives, so where do the negatives lie? First is the combat, this game is built in the defensive adventure game style that made the Souls series so popular with the gaming world, you learn patterns and react, doing a chunk of damage and then repeating the process. My problem here is twofold, the first is, despite the datalogs repeatedly telling me that every creature that Cal stumbles upon is extremely durable, it just did not quite feel right to slash a giant frog a number of times. Personally, I also think this style gameplay is repetitive and slow, and as such ended up going to story difficulty because the slowdown and careful repetition of this defensive gameplay has no appeal to me, it’s why I will never praise the combat in old Assassin’s Creed games, it’s just not for me, even though I accept that other people do love and appreciate it. While Cal’s force powers do alleviate this a little, particular his default force slow letting you get in for easy free damage, it does not shake up the formula enough for me to enjoy this combat system.
My second problem is again, a personal one, and that is the lack of fast travel. I praised the exploration in the game, and I stand by it being top notch, but when I’m post-game collectible hunting, retreading old rooms for the 3rd time, or more, gets old. I also think a certain character in the game can give you a lore valid way of fast traveling, if it would have had to be written off as the one non-canon aspect of the game. A post game patch adding fast travel between meditation areas would honestly bring this game up half a point to an 8 on its own.
Third is another thing that I highlighted as a positive, which are the characters. My problem is the game kept teasing you with great character moments and I would have liked more to get to know the characters better. Even with talking to everybody as regularly as possible to not miss any dialogue, I was left wanting. This is another thing that I think some post-launch content, free or paid could help, a sequel would do the same, I just really want more time with this crew, the game ends with a great group that I just wanted to see go on a variety of smaller adventures together. Also, the character that you spend the most time with throughout was my least favorite at the end, which is not what I think the developers intended to happen, so I wonder if you all feel the same.
Last negative point is about sparseness. The datalog is sparse, I love reading lore in games personally, and if they had expanded everything an extra paragraph, I would have been on board with that. Additionally, the skill tree was really well made, leveling up gave you access to cool flashy moves without letting you blatantly break the game, and I would have liked to see that tree be even bigger, but I think this one is hard, the tree is so well made and to keep that quality while expanding it further would be hard. The lightsaber modes were well designed and each had a purpose, but the dual wielding mode was left to a single move, and it would have been sweet to have it be a full third mode, dual sided for crowd control, one blade for defensive slower and heavier feeling style, think Besbin duel in Return of the Jedi, and dual wield for a fast and mobile style, with smaller hits but a more aggressive pace. Last note here is that as much as I loved my crew, I would have loved to actually interact with them in the gameplay, take one out with you on the planet and have them fight with you, each with a unique style. That’s very much a personal choice though, as I adore party based gameplay.
In conclusion, this game is a lot of fun, one of the better EA Star Wars games behind post-patch Battlefront 2 and Galaxy of Heroes. I love Star Wars and grew up playing almost all the games in the series, so I consider this a definitive step in the right direction. I will also highlight how amazing it is to play Star Wars without needing to connect with other people to enjoy the experience, since Battlefront 2 only just got real offline play, and it still needs a ton of work. I would absolutely recommend this game for the story and exploration alone, and if you like defensive counter style gameplay, crank up the difficulty and enjoy.This game is a post-launch patch, a DLC, or just a great sequel away from being one of the greats in terms of Star Wars gaming, and modern gaming in general, but for now, it is above average with a solid 7.5 out of 10.
I will not be uploading a blog tomorrow, breaking my plan of having an article every day during launch week, but I’m spending some time with family. So tune in Saturday night for my ManelyMix listening party, or come back Sunday for my next article. See you soon!