Call me weak minded, call me what you will. George Lucas is the true Sith Lord (and SOE apparently his apprentice), and I got a little taste of it this weekend when I was unable to resist the call of Star Wars: Galaxies, An Empire Divided.

Now I got a chance to play a little of the game in beta, and I will admit that I was unimpressed and uninspired to play, and played for a whopping 30 minutes before going back to DAOC. Every report I had heard confirmed that I had made the right personal choice; bugs abound, the not so (link warning: Spoilers) mysterious path to becoming a Jedi, and reports of hideous PVE downtime all conspired to fuel my disinterest in the game. However, after watching Eenae dance away on her (strangely attractive) Twi'lek entertainer and hearing more and more about the game from others, I finally succumbed to the Dark Side.

I was strangely impressed with the box. There were two references to becoming a Jedi (something the developers have stressed will be VERY difficult), but rather small and not all together incorrect, so it looks like Marketing was reined in a little on that score. Happily, the beta was still installed on my system so installation was fast, and I was up and running after a (relatively) short 20 minute patch. Being warned about the server population controls and that 4W's apparent designated server is regularly "Heavy", I was also very pleasantly surprised to have been able to make a character with no hassle. Character creation was as enjoyable as I remember, so I rolled my Zabrak entertainer, christened him Gaedan Mentheren the second, and entered a galaxy far, far away.

After a brief consultation with a few people, I landed on Rori, Naboo's habitable moon, which I found immediately to be rather quiet and under populated. Desirable for a resource gatherer like Deveryn, but fairly disappointing for an Entertainer, I would find. However, after setting up hot bars, trying a combat mission with no Marksman abilities, getting my butt kicked and returning to the hotel, I was able to find a pair of gents in need of some entertainment. Out came the slitherhorn (an instrument akin to an electric saxophone, you perverts) and I was rewarded for my battle fatigue fighting efforts with a few good tips, and some worldly advice that the big money is down on Naboo, but the charity is up on Rori where performers are scarce.

Dev and I met up a little later, being an artisan, he quickly whipped up some clothes, a decent blaster, and surveying tools to help me follow the path of the crafter as well. I got to train some basic skills, ran a few more combat missions, and even did some surveying, literally sampling a bit of everything I could that SW:G has to offer a newb like myself.

Gameplay wise, I'm impressed, but unconvinced. Combat, especially player vs. computer combat, is a cornerstone of most MMRPGs and it's a little difficult to understand in SW:G until you get the hang of things. The first thing that will cross your mind once you wield that blaster is "Hey, I can run away while shooting!" And well you should, but not everything can be fled from easily so sometimes you just have to go toe to toe and hope that Han Solo's advice holds true about a good blaster. That being said, its far easier to advance against the limited range but quick on their feet newbie monsters if you have trained in the Marksman profession for the Point Blank Shot abilities (there's a single target attack and a very cool area effect spray attack). Training marksman isn't a big deal if you have a friend that can do it, and it's only a few hundred creds from the NPC trainer. My largest complaint so far about combat is that sometimes its a little hard to decipher exactly what's going on; when the blaster shots are flying, you're presented by a barrage of numbers on screen for various damage. It's a little tricky to get used to, but combat is slow enough against most opponents that you'll quickly get a handle on how the fight is going.

Artisan, my second profession, is rather interesting. It comprises of actual item construction (which is a massive undertaking, whole guides could be written on the subject) and resource gathering. Surveying and sampling become two very important skills as you wander the countryside in search of resource pools using your survey tools as a divining stick. A "hot/cold" system makes searching for better locales pretty fun, kind of like Easter egg hunting. Once you find a good place, you can begin sampling and digging, and even set up camp while your teammates patrol the area and keep you safe from wandering monsters. While on a mission, Dev did just that, ran out while I played with a nest of nightspiders, set up camp where I could heal my mind wounds, and mined while I ran about looking for the nest. All in all, a pretty cool experience, in any genre.

Entertainment. Borrowing liberally from the few cantina scenes in the original trilogy, the developers have devised a system that should make cities infinitely more popular than they are in, oh say, Everquest, where some past haunts of the newbie are now quest fodder or simply deserted. The premise is simple. Over the course of battle, a character will develop a level of fatigue that can't be cured in the field, this is called "Battle Fatigue" and excessive amounts will render your abilities to the point of ineffectiveness. To rid yourself of the rigors of fighting, one must travel to a hotel, cantina or theatre in a city and watch a Performer do their thing. Dancers and musicians gain experience playing for others, and its a well established procedure to tip (and tip well) a performer (or healer for that matter!). Performers can group together for a greater effect and better experience, and in grouping, can synchronize their performances for a good visual effect. In short, they can form a band.

While performers are in short supply on Rori (which is a benefit when you get a bloke with a lot of battle fatigue and credits to match), I found out on Corellia (famous for being the home planet of one Han Solo) they are in wide supply, making the search for group mates much easier. Having a bustling city as a base of operations is a must for aspiring rockstars, I can see this now.

All this being said, I've enjoyed playing. Will further play just lead to more of the same (like very mmrpg out there), and if so, will it be as enjoyable? Who knows, perhaps not, its the nature of a game to get old after a while, but there's great potential in SW:G's rather innovative skill system and the fact that you can surrender skills means that you may never need recreate a character again, wholly a good thing I'd say.

Of course, there's always the quest to become a Forum Jedi and survive the onslaught of trolls, clearly agents of the Sith.