Star Wars: Galaxies
What kind of game was it? Star Wars Galaxies was the first major MMORPG in the Star Wars universe and was released before the still-active Star Wars: The Old Republic. Unlike SWTOR, the story of Galaxies was set between Episode IV and V. So, you were traveling during the era of the old trilogy.
The game world included various planets known from the movies, which you could travel to and complete quests on.
However, quests were only a small part of the game. Galaxies was not a theme park, but a sandbox MMORPG. You could let your creativity run wild and write your own stories. Activities included crafting, PvP, housing, and animal breeding.
What was so great about it? Star Wars Galaxies impressed with the typical Star Wars atmosphere. If you were familiar with the Sci-Fi epic, you felt right at home. Sandbox fans, on the other hand, enjoyed the extremely complex crafting.
There was so much to do that you couldn’t master all the skills with one character. Additionally, there were various rare collections you could eagerly unlock.
The housing allowed for very creative ideas, and players could build entire cities in the wilderness. There was even a politician profession that could manage cities.
Why did it have to die? Star Wars Galaxies was a solid game, but never the huge mega-hit. The player count peaked at just under 300,000. A lack of fresh content also led to repeated player departures, as many players eventually got bored.
But that alone was not the reason for the game’s demise. Over the course of its three expansions, the 3rd expansion in 2005, “Trials of Obi-Wan,” brought about the much-hated word “NGE” (New Game Experience) for many fans.
The NGE aimed to change the gaming experience and make it more beginner-friendly. It completely overhauled many elements of the game, including character progression. Many aspects were significantly simplified, and the once very difficult-to-unlock Jedi class became available to every noob as a starting hero.
This angered many veteran players who had been loyal to the game until then. Masses of players left, and player settlements turned into ghost towns overnight.
The hoped-for influx of new players fell below expectations. Six years later, in 2011 and just five days before the launch of SWTOR, Star Wars Galaxies was finally shut down.
Since 2015, Star Wars Galaxies can be played again thanks to some eager fans via an emulator.
Anthem
What kind of game was it? Anthem was supposed to be an open-world looter shooter hit. The game focused on shooter action, an opulent sci-fi setting, a top story from BioWare, and cool battle suits.
These suits, called Javelins, came in four different varieties, and each Javelin could be equipped differently.
From a heavily fortified city, your Javelins would fly off to complete missions and raids in the inhospitable surrounding area. There was plenty of loot to collect, which you could use to upgrade your suits.
Between missions, you could explore the city and get to know its sometimes very quirky inhabitants. This is where the story of the game unraveled even more.
What was so great about it? There was a special feeling when you launched out of the city with your Javelin and explored the colorful and mysterious jungle world surrounding you in a thunderous flight.
The Javelins with their different weapon systems all felt pleasantly different to play, and there was much to tinker with and experiment with. The feeling of the sometimes massive suits and the gunplay was wonderful.
Moreover, there was a truly fascinating world that you wanted to explore and whose mysteries would certainly provide material for tons of extra content.
Why did it have to die? Unfortunately, Anthem soon suffered from a critical flaw. The loot was often so poor in the endgame activities that no one really wanted to grind. And new content was not released quickly enough. Soon, many players left the game, and it did not improve.
Gradually, it emerged that the developers were completely overwhelmed and the project planning was extremely poor. Apparently, there was a lack of a clear concept and above all, a reasonable roadmap for post-launch.
As a result, Anthem quickly ran out of steam and the game lay dormant for a long time. There were reports that EA and BioWare were working on a relaunch as a sort of Anthem 2.0, but in the end, they decided to pull the plug.
Recently, a former BioWare boss weighed in: The famous BioWare magic had always been bullshit.
MeinMMO author Mark Sellner played Anthem back then and shared the following thoughts:
I’m not really a BioWare fan, but Anthem looked really good from the first trailer. After a long time, I finally decided to preorder the game, and man, what a harsh disappointment. Anthem was fun and felt good, but in my eyes, it wasted so much potential.
The story promised a really cool world with a strong background, which ultimately fell completely flat. The character development seemed extensive and full of variety at first glance, but it was not. The world could have been a huge open-world playground but became boring within just a few hours.
I don’t miss the Anthem that left us, but damn, I miss what Anthem could have been.
Mark Sellner, author at MeinMMO
