Just What I Needed...

Another time-consuming, Star Wars obsession.  Seriously, I didn’t need this.

So, my brother gave me the PC game “Star Wars: The Old Republic” for Christmas.  He was late in giving it to me, so it didn’t make the list of things I shared with you guys back during the holidays.  I was really psyched when he gave it to me, I had been wanting to play some sort of Star Wars game and this one sounded cool.  I have to warn you (although I’m sure it’ll become apparent the further you get into this post) that I’m no gamer.  The last time I seriously rocked at any game was on my Nintendo 64.  I dominated on Mario 64 and Zelda, though.  Trust me.

Anyway, I was a little disappointed when my brother told me that it was an ‘online’ game, similar to World of Warcraft (which he played but I never have/had).  I dabbled in SIMs for awhile and I liked just walking around and being by myself, I didn’t want to get into any ‘online’ community.  Little did he know that I felt I had taken that route a little too far in my other Star Wars obsession, namely, this little Blog.  He assured me that one could probably play the game without having to ‘meet’ other people or whatever.  I’m a married woman, I really don’t want to get picked up via an avatar.  That was my main concern, because yes, I just think everyone wants to kidnap and rape me because I am that awesome (or because of all those CSI shows I watch, who knows?)

So, I sat on the game for a little while and didn’t play it right away.  Oh!  Because one more little tidbit.  It costs money to play this game.  A monthly, flipping fee!  I’m sorry, but if they started charging for this blog, I don’t think I’d be posting anything anymore.  It’s bad enough I’ve spent a small fortune on a bunch of books that I maintain a weird, psychotic, love/hate relationship with.  So, there was that, too.

But, lo and behold (is that how you spell that?), one day a week or so ago I was bored enough that I popped the game into my computer and committed to at least use my 30-day free trial.  What could it hurt?  My kids were all really psyched (9 & 11 year-old boys) and they babysat my laptop while 2 or 3 DVDs loaded very slowly.  I was no stranger to that, though.  SIMs took forever and was way more DVDs or CDs, whatever they are.

Okay, so then I start.  I won’t go totally into it, but I had a few false starts on what I wanted ‘to be’ in the game.  You could choose the Republic or the Empire and then you had choices within each of those.  I tried a Jedi, a Sith and then a Smuggler.  I stuck with Smuggler.  I much preferred shooting people from far away, hiding behind conveniently placed pieces of scrap metal, than the hand-to-hand combat that being a lightsaber wielder necessitated.  Does this say something about me as a person?  Who knows?  Just rest assured that if I ever feel the need to find all of you and murder you one day, you’ll never see my face and you’ll never know what hit you.

My kids were totally coaching me on this warfare stuff.  I really don’t want to fight at all, but it seems to be at the crux of the game, so okay.  If I can run around an enemy and avoid confrontation, that’s what I do but my kids are telling me that I need XP (experience points or something) so I am fighting.  When someone dies, you’re supposed to kneel beside them and steal their wallets and stuff.  Yes, that is what my young children have learned from the likes of HALO and MW3.  Awesome.  So, that’s what I do.

Well, right away let me tell you that my smuggler has her own ship and it looks a lot like the Millennium Falcon.  Do you think they did this on purpose?  Are you following why I might’ve liked being a smuggler better than being a Jedi?  But while I was out fighting with people I didn’t want to fight, my damn ship got stolen and now all I’m worried about (me and my avatar) is getting my ship back.  Seriously, I was stressing out over my missing ship! 

This is her:

Fast forward to two nights ago when something happened that caused me to write this blog.  I’ll start off by saying that this game was just freakin’ cool to me because of the fact that I was in the Star Wars universe.  Just flipping walking inside of it.  That would’ve been enough of a game for me without XP’s and missions and nothing else.  But I digress.  So, I started off on Ord Mantell and when I finally flew to Coruscant, I got goose bumps when I ‘saw’ the Senate towers for the first time.  Yes, I know on how many levels that really, really just seems so wrong, but it’s the truth and…I’m sad to say, it only gets worse.

I kept trying to get my ship back and couldn’t defeat this one last guy that was literally standing in front of the hangar door that my ship sat beyond.  Okay, so you can see people chatting up in the upper left hand corner of your screen and they can just be talking to anyone, a ‘general’ chat, or whatever.  So, I see this guy asking if anyone needed help, saying that he needed XP points, so I said yes.  Yes, I wanted my ship back so badly that I initiated an online ‘relationship’ after swearing that I would never do that. 

So, this guy was a Jedi and a few levels above me and he accompanied me to fight this guy and just really kicked his ass.  When the guy was defeated and the hangar door opened to reveal my ship, I seriously wanted to kiss that Jedi!  See?  This is exactly what I was worried about.  But I just gushed my gratitude and he said I was welcome and disbanded the group.  For a minute I felt slightly dirty, but then I refocused on my ship.    

Let me just tell you that it was an indescribable feeling as I walked toward the lowered ramp.  Up until this time, I had not ‘walked’ inside my ship.  There had just been a little video of me driving it and then I went on those missions and I watched of video of it getting stolen.  I felt like I did when I got my first car.  I had the goosebumps again and my heart was palpitating.  There are no words sufficient enough to describe how nerdy, and yet elated, I felt all at the same time.

And it gets better (or worse).

I walked inside my ship and there’s a C-3PO type droid waiting for me.  He belongs to me.  He’s mine!  How cool is that?  The corridors of my ship are rounded and, I swear, I feel like I’m on the Falcon.  Better yet, like I own the Falcon.  I walked back to my cargo hold and there’s a guy in there encased in carbonite!  My brain just couldn’t process the awesomeness that was this moment.

Then I worked my way to the cockpit.  I sat in the captain’s chair.  I pulled up my map of the galaxy to see where I wanted to go and there are all these worlds that I’ve been reading about, places like Tatooine and Hoth!  I nearly flipped when I saw I could go to Alderaan!  By that time, I was too enthralled to realize how far gone I really was.

Oh, one more thing, did I forget to mention that I got ‘a companion’ that follows me around and tells me how wonderful I am and agrees with everything I say?  He is so cute and I think I’m in love with him.  This is him:

Now my brother is going to start to play and my kids want to get their own games so we can have a ‘group’ of our own.  I have about 15 days left of my free trial, but really?  That’s all a moot point by this time.  Do you really think I’m going to walk away from my ship and my boyfriend pictured above?  I really think George has his hooks in me again.  It’s embarrassing. 

I'm not even sure if it's a decent game or not.  Like, WOW players could be laughing because this one is so lame.  IDK.  Maybe one of you guys know how it rates or compares.  But it really doesn't matter to me. 

They had me at Star Wars. 

So, I wrote this blog as a warning.  Consider it a sort of public service announcement.  If you don’t have any more time to commit to your Star Wars obsession…stay away from this game. 

Stay far away. 

Don’t even look at it.