Playing in Style

Among many others things coming in update 7.0, SWTOR is getting 'Combat Styles'. Combat Styles will fix a mistake I made almost a decade ago...

Back in 2012 I tentatively logged into SWTOR and created my first character, a Jedi Sentinel. This valiant Jedi has been my main protagonist over all these years, but something has always bothered me: I have to use two lightsabers. I really just want to use one, in a classic Jedi sort of way.

This boils down to my own stupidity at character creation stage. In my early days with SWTOR I didn't understand that Sentinels dual-wielded and Guardians had a single blade. I thought I could just equip whatever weapons I liked, and the Sentinel seemed like the most 'Jedi' class to my eyes back then. (In retrospect, it's definitely not.)

I was already invested in the early story when I realised my mistake, and for whatever reason I failed to start over. The years only compounded my hesitance to start a new Guardian and get my single saber. The more I progressed through the story on my Sentinel, the less I wanted to do away with the character. You really become attached to them as the narrative drives on.

Yes, I know you can physically use one lightsaber as a Sentinel, but you lose many of your abilities in the process. Since 6.0 and the Item Rating mechanic, without a second blade you're also not going to be meeting Item Rating 306, which means the equipment you get from missions and mobs will be far below this level.

And yes, my Sentinel looks super-cool (below), but I'd really like to explore new story content with just the one saber.

Enter update 7.0! From December, each Force-user class will have access to the advanced class (now called Combat Styles) of every other Force-user class. Similarly, every tech-based class (Smugglers, Bounty Hunters, Troopers and Agents) will have access to each others' styles. This means you'll also have access to that combat style's weapon proficiencies.

Loadouts will be implemented, making it simple (we assume) to swap between combat styles at will (or near enough at will).

Finally, I'll be able to make my Jedi main a single blade-wielding Guardian, fulfilling the dream I had all the way back in 2012. Of course I've made Guardian characters since, but there'll be something extremely satisfying about getting my main to fight in that style.

I'm excited to experiment with different styles for all of my other characters, but I'm particularly looking forward to 7.0 for my troopers. I spend a lot of time getting my characters looking just the way I want, and combat styles will definitely help with my range of Clone Trooper look-a-likes! Finally I'll be able to equip them with more than just a blaster rifle...

As many have pointed out, here come the Captain Rex cosplays!

The Best Things About... The Phantom Menace

Many people like to rank the Star Wars films in order of preference, or ask others for their top three, top five, etc. Inevitably these lists are held up against one another, the upshot being that the things people like the least are often discussed the most.

I've never cared too much for ratings or lists. Every Star Wars film is - in some way - fantastic. Here we celebrate the best things (I think) about each of them, starting with The Phantom Menace.

Style and Feel

The Phantom Menace is for me the Star Wars film that feels closest to the Original Trilogy. There's something about the feel of it, the way the story is allowed room to breathe compared to the more hectic later installments, that rekindles that feeling of Episodes IV, V and VI. The Sequel Trilogy achieves this a little from time-to-time, but no film has managed it throughout its length as well as Episode I.

While the visual effects were moving with the times - replacing more and more practical effects - their prevalence compared to Episodes II and III is much more constrained and is more in keeping with the originals.

What we end up with is an occasionally imperfect film that feels like it came from a perfect place.

The Podrace

Ah, the podrace. Every so often a film will pause its narrative mid-way through for a well-crafted set-piece. Sometimes a great film will deliver a stunning set-piece, showing you something you've never seen before and driving the story forward.

The more you watch it, the more you realise the race itself is pretty straightforward. But it's the little details and the breadth of what is happening that elevates it to something more: Tusken Raiders taking pot-shots at the pods, the vivid personalities of the colourful racers, the sound design of the crafts - especially Sebulba's hammering engines overtaking the mix as he bears down on Anakin.

It's a masterclass in how to cinematically present a set-piece.

Lucasfilm / Starwars.com

Naboo

We've been to a lot of planets and locations in the Star Wars galaxy, but few can match the spectrum of Naboo. The splendour of the Nubian cities and their architecture, the sweeping plains, the gorgeous lake country, the vibrant life-filled swamps, the entire beautiful hidden Gungan culture, the porous planetary core teeming with monsters... It's difficult to sum up Naboo in one breath, let alone one paragraph.

Naboo is a colourful world that seems to invite exploration. It's my number one wished-for location in SWTOR, or any open-world Star Wars adventure game to be honest.

Lucasfilm / Starwars.com

That Lightsaber Duel

It's a testament to the evolving choreography of the Star Wars series over the decades that it's possible to look back at this Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, Darth Maul duel and see deficiencies in it. But even if it does look at times a little staged (particularly compared to the fluidity we've been spoilt with in the Disney era), the speed and ferocity are astonishing.

The Original Trilogy and The Phantom Menace established the high-point of lightsaber battles that actually told a story without words (something later encounters have struggled a bit with).

Qui-Gon's patience mixed with Obi-Wan's youthful adrenaline tells you everything you need to know about this fight and its impact on galactic history - the importance of which has been so eloquently described by Dave Filoni in Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian (well worth a watch on Disney+).

Game Changer

Battlefront II is a beautiful, expansive game and it's hard to believe it's now over three-and-a-half years old. It won me over from a rocky launch, evolving into an online / offline shooter that lets you take part in hectic battles across some of the most iconic Star Wars locations. For most of its life, however, it has also been a torturous multiplayer experience for the casual player.

I consider myself 'ok' at video games. If I put in the time and effort I believe I can even become 'quite good' at them. Playing against other human beings in a game like Battlefront II, however, is very different to wandering around on your own in something like SWTOR, and if you're not prepared for it the experience can be pretty traumatic.

Battlefront II's major mode at launch, Galactic Assault, has a breadth that just about allows less-experienced or more casual players to stay on the periphery of the action and have a good time, mostly. Any interaction with the objectives or the player enemy team in force, however, and it can quickly descend into: spawn, run forward for a few seconds, get killed, respawn, repeat.

I'll admit that Battlefront II fell out of favour with me for more than a year in recent times, largely because of this dynamic. I didn't have the time or inclination to learn in detail what I was doing wrong to compete with the really good players out there. I just wanted to jump into a Star Wars environment and shoot some stuff! The offline single player modes were a little basic compared to the scope of something like Galactic Assault, so that didn't really float my boat either.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I decided to give the game another try and found a new mode: Co-Op! (Note I am very much behind the times here and understand Co-Op is no longer 'new'!)

I had assumed, knowing nothing about it, that Co-Op would be four human players going up against map-based objectives. A bit like the multiplayer Strike mode but with enemy AI. Imagine my further surprise when I realised Co-Op was basically a mash-up of the large-scale Supremacy and Galactic Assault modes, with large teams of AI enemies and allies and four human players (all on the same side) thrown into the middle of it.

I'd finally got exactly what I wanted out of this game: the ability to dive in, not have to remember exactly how to play and have fun running around and shooting at things. Perfection.

The AI isn't super-intelligent, but it's come a long way since the launch of the game, and is suitably impressive to have fun with. And the introduction of your human teammates means there's still an element of strategy to be had: it's entirely possible to be defeated if you don't work as a team and end up splitting your energies.

I would say that Co-Op is good and demanding fun with a well-orientated team, but can be extremely difficult if the team is less experienced or divides its forces and becomes overwhelmed by the huge numbers of AI opponents that spawn.

No longer do I have to watch from the side-lines for fear of dying every few seconds...

Importantly, even in defeat Co-Op mode is exciting. It's fun to go down being swamped by twenty enemies. It's not fun being sniped by a single, jumping, rolling, too-much-time-on-their-hands human player in Galactic Assault... (Can you hear the bitterness?)

So Co-Op has completely changed how I look at Battlefront 2 and given me something of a renaissance with the game. It's the mode I now almost exclusively play. Every so often I dip into Supremacy or Galactic Assault just to see if I get a decent game, but I'm soon back in Co-Op mode. This is what I'm here for: relaxed, engaging fun. I don't want to be able to play the best at Battlefront 2, I just want to be able to play.