E3 2019: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Stream Impressions

I would not consider myself a die hard Star Wars fan, but I would consider myself a fan of Star Wars. I’ve watched most of the main Star Wars movies, played most of the Star Wars games and have read some Star Wars novels. So I would say that this game would be right up my alley.

I didn’t watch this stream live because I really didn’t want to disrupt my sleeping schedule just for E3 so it was one of the first streams I watched when I woke up. I am going to say the 15 minute or so gameplay footage they showed did not disappoint and if I did stay up to watch the stream I would have been okay with it overall. As the stream progressed I noted down some of the positive elements that stood out to me which include:

• Single player action game only
  • This is good news to me (and probably other gamers out there too). Most of the Star Wars games that I have enjoyed playing have been single player only games such as Knights of the Old Republic, Jedi Outcast, etc.
• “Thoughtful” combat
  • It was mentioned that the combat was designed in a thoughtful way and it showed. From the enemy variety and placement, choice of using your lightsaber and force powers; it really was designed to have you think while fighting the enemy with many ways to go about completing the encounter.
  • The transitions between using your lightsaber and force powers looked fluid and smooth. Actually the entire gameplay was fluid and smooth.
  • At times there were “cinematic” moments while you were in combat such as when you were in the process of finishing off an enemy. The camera would pan around slightly, now I don’t know if this was done using one of the analog sticks or part of the game however.
• Buttery Smooth Movement
  • As smooth as the combat was, so was the traversing and movement around the environment.
  • You can tell that this game took inspiration from Titanfall in regard to the wall running, clambering and climbing; it was made by the same developers.

You have a companion droid which looks to provide you with health when you are low (limited supply and you need to prompt for it, leaving you vulnerable) and it can unlock paths, provide you with Star Wars lore, and generally help you out to progress to the next area. Being an action game I know the focus will be on the combat and moment to moment set pieces, but I also really do hope that there are some puzzles in the game to break up the pace a little. We did not get any further information about the skill points and how they will be used or spent other than they can be used for force abilities. I would have liked to see that; will it be a skill tree? Or will it just be a “pick an ability” option?

If I was to be fairly critical of the game I noticed that it did not look the best or something coming out late 2019. I don’t know if it was the stream, but I was watching it at 1080P at 60 fps and for a 2019 game, graphically I had seen better looking games. It did not look bad but I would have expected some of the models and textures to look a little better. Some of the fire and smoke effects were also not the best I have seen. Lighting, shadows and the foliage were generally okay however. Having this quality shown is far better than having something look amazing and then when the game is released have it significantly downgraded, so kudos to Respawn here on that.

Maybe it was just me but the facial animations at the beginning of the gameplay along with how the character’s face was sitting looked a little off too. Now it was nowhere near as bad as Mass Effect Andromeda’s facial animations but it just did not look right. Being focused as a Jedi story I knew going in that you will not be choosing a force side, ie. light or dark. I don’t know why Greg would ask them this question. As someone who prefers the force abilities on the dark side and generally plays a Sith or dark Jedi I am a little disappointed but it is not a deal breaker. Perhaps I can choose to wield some of the dark side force abilities?

Overall from what I have seen so far of the game it looks like it is going to do well. There will be more shown at the Microsoft E3 2019 event which will be great and I will have a blog post about that whole event separately. Being a single player only game and because I buy all my games digitally now, it will be a game that I buy when it is on sale for at least 40% off; I don’t see it having much replay value (I could be surprised). If you want to check out the official Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order stream then use this link (I have timestamped it so that you don’t have to wait for the actual stream to start). Enjoy 🙂