A Sad Day for Star Wars Fans

I am sorry to report the end of a game that was very dear to my heart.  I have always enjoyed this game on one level or another, and seeing its death saddens me.  Following the loss of great games because of developers like Earth And Beyond, Ever Quest (Yes its still running but they started posting so many updates they broke the game), Final Fantasy XI and IV (both screwy arse games) and even more obscure games I've played, this one stings.  I've lost other games though the actions of people as well... Ultima Online I felt more or less cut off from my guild, The Realm my guild not only crumbled but back stabbing became the norm, Ashron's Call (way too complicated and too many jerks), and World of Warcraft (I can never find anyone to play with and the latest expansion has killed my love of the game).

The loss of Star Wars Galaxies as outlined here in this letter is startling to me.  I truly cannot express how much I loved the original iteration of that game.  I spent more happy hours in that game then almost any other that I can remember.  I reached Jedi in that title, not once, but twice.  I held a home, had family, and was valued as a member of a community.

When the Combat Update (CU) and New Game Experience (NGE) for a very long time ruined the game for me.  I could barely stand to sit down and play it, and I tried several times.  They took my crafter and made her CU 1, they took my awesome rifle using Jedi-in-training and turned her into a baby Padawan that couldn't hold a rifle, much less a sword.  In short the CU and the NGE f'ed up the game to the point I no longer felt I could play it.

I have been waiting years for the EMU and other projects to get an original version of the game back up after a petition on the internet of over 10,000 people failed to turn the game back.  I've waited, and waited, and now EMU up.  However I decided that I'd give the original game a chance since Sony gave me 45 days free.  And now... they will be shutting it down in the middle of the holiday season.  I was finding the game to be some what enjoyable, and fun.  I was experimenting, starting to find people... and now its dead again.

Thanks Sony.  I've spent more money on your MMO games then I really care to admit.  You change your games because you want to imitate others (look at EQ2 originally, now compare it to WoW and how it plays now).  I cannot properly express how tired I am of you doing this to your games.  There is a reason I swore to never pay you money to play a computer game of yours ever again.  I've just had a great reminder of why I made that decision so long ago.

To everyone else, I welcome you to join me on the EMU servers, here's how to reach them.  You will need a copy (any copy) of the disks to play the game with EMU.  Have no fear, they sell for CHEAP on the internet.  Here's a search I pulled up on Google, and Ebay.  You can only have 1 account, but with one set of disks each person in your family can play for free with their own accounts.

And with that I'll probably play through my 45 days.  I can't see any reason not to.  However I will be transitioning over to EMU.  Until the time comes that EA decides I am worthy of a beta key to Old Republic, its my best bet for a MMO fix.  Drop me a comment some time, maybe we'll get together.  And now a moment of silence for the death of SWG...  good night, and god speed.

Edit:  Kotaku found an article by one of the original developers and is in fact where I first heard of the demise of the game.  You can read their article here and the blog article by Raph Koster here.  

Edit 2:  The man I admittedly used to think of in terms so non-politely that I couldn't form a  comprehensive sentence about has apparently also spoken out about the closure of SWG.  John Smedley  spoke to Massively about the closure, what it means, and why.  While most of it I will talk about in a post probably tomorrow after I've had some time to gain perspective and cool my heels, I did want to make one comment tonight.  In a stunning turn around Smedley said and I quote the Massively interview (Question by Massively included for perspective's sake):

"SOE has taken flak for various problems in the game's past -- do you think the company will take a reputation hit for this decision, and are you prepared for that?

There's really nothing we can do about it. We've taken some hard-knocks for SWG in years past with the NGE. We've apologized for it. It was a mistake, and not one we're going to make as a company ever again."

 I've already talked about the petition to revert SWG to a pre-NGE status.  Smedley said at the time that it was required for them to continue to move forward, and there was no way that they could, or would ever revert the game.  This was the point at which I really started to dislike the man with out having ever met him, and this admission of it being a mistake, (something I said it was when it launched) goes go a little way towards mending fences.  While at the moment I still seriously doubt SOE's ability to excite me and make me want to play any of their games once more (I even find DC Universe to be by and large boring... and I LOVE hero games) I might keep an open ear now... just in case.