Last time, we outwitted a Rancor in order to gain access to the den of the Black Vulkars.
Now lets TRY to be stealthy. After all, Bioware wouldn't put a stealth skill in the game if they didn't give you an opportunity to use it, Right?
Wait-No-Varen, stop a second.
"Silence, foolish Narrator! I will DESTROY ALL who DARE challenge ME!"
Ok then.... I guess....you can...do whatever you want. Just...Just don't blow up any planets, all right? Please.
We also come across a deactivated robot.
In KOTOR, you can use your repair skill to reprogram robots to do your bidding. Its a bit hit-and-miss, honestly. Mainly due to poor pathfinding, and how many repair parts it takes up to make them the least bit effective.
Even the bartenders in this place want us dead!
We find a cowering girl and a robot guarding her.
The Bartender just tried to murder us in cold blood! Excuse me if I think you're full of shit.
"How did you end up in the Black Vulkar base?"
You can't hear it, but she delivers this line in a cold, emotionless, drawl. Very nonchalant about the whole parent murder and slavery thing, young lady.
"You better give me some information if you want to live."
"Those meanies!"
"Where can I find the prototype accelerator?"
"Leaving you alive is too, risky, plus, you're lying through you're teeth. Sorry sister, looks like your number is up!"
"Getting killed by a samurai wookiee? Not a bad way to go. You should feel priveledged to die in such a manner, fool."
After that, we officially fall to the dark side. Redemption is possible, and fairly easy this early on, but until that, the game categorised us as a hero with a dark side. Now, we're just plain evil. In case you didn't realize that by now.
Even
The Cook is a badass in this place. Damn, the training regimen in the Vulkars must be harcore.
One of things I love about this game is the hacking. Not the mechanics itself, those are pretty basic and don't make much sense, but in what you can do with the hacking. You can wipe out entire ROOMS of enemies with some computer spikes. Awesome.
Speaking of which....
heh heh heh
I bet that last guy is shitting his pants.
We also locate the camera leading to our objective. Sadly, those turrets will make mincemeat out of us if we go anywhere near them.
Thankfully, Anonymous hacks the Black Vulkars systems and disables the turrets. Gawd Bless you, Anonymous.
Goddammit, Zaalbar. Your big fat head is ruining the shot. No, I wouldn't say that to your face, thanks for asking.
After we kick the crap out of the invisible man, he cowers in fear. I think the Vulkars recruited him so that he could make them tea. Kind of like Nick Clegg.
"What are you talking about? You're a Vulkar, aren't you?"
Oh, God. Another "Back in
my day" rant.
The funny thing is, we're never told anything about what the Vulkars were like before Brejik took over, so we have no point of comparison, and this asshole could be just lying through his teeth.
"If you hate Bejik so much, why don't you just leave the gang?"
Which is why we haven't seen a likeable or interesting character in your entire gang.
"You better give me some information if you want to live."
"Where can I find the prototype engine swoop accelerator? I kind of have an idea, but the person who gave me that idea is now lying in a pool of her own blood."
"We got that sorted already, nimrod. Because you didn't give me any useful information, i'm just going to kill you now."
"If it makes you feel any better, I was just gonna kill you anyway. I'm just sorta like that."
A couple of rooms over, we find the room we electified to death. On a dead body, we find the key to the elevator.
"Mission, where did the other guy go? The one that was still alive. There isn't another body here..."
"I DEFINITELY DIDN'T SACRIFICE HIS BODY TO THE DREAMING ONE CTHULU THEN EAT HIS FLESH."
"Oh. Well, thats alright then."
Elsewhere in the base, we find an inexplicably booby-trapped pool.
More party banter. I really like these kind of scenes whenever they pop up in RPGs. KoTOR II did it the best, in my opinion, because each scene, more often than not, contributed to the overall plot and character development.
In case you haven't realised this by now, Zaalbar is essentially written as a well-spoken gentleman who just happens to be a member of a naturally brutish race. Thing is, I never really got the whole "Wookiees are hairy Klingons" from the proper movies. Chewbacca was essentially the handyman, and while he wasn't especially good at his job, the characters let him keep doing it. In the prequels and in the Expanded Universe, the Wookiees literally became the token warrior race of the day. I think Zaalbar was essentially a "take that" against that notion, and for the most part, it works well. A lot of people hate Zaalbar, but I like the big lug.
"You're both idiots. Am I really going to be stuck with you for this ENTIRE game?"
The turrets waive us through.
This place is REALLY cool, and reminds of the pod-race garage from the Phantom Menace. In a good way. However, it is ruined by this: How the hell did the Black Vulkars, a space biker gang, build an underground base for their swoop bikes? Ah well, I shouldn't really complain.
LOTS of bad guys here.
Aha! There's the key we're looking for. Time to go get this engine, and get the hell out of dodge.
We also come across a random boss disguised as a common mook.
After a tremendous battle, he falls. I'm no kidding, this guy was seriously tough. I didn't even know he was there, so he really screwed me over. Still, we manage to pull through, and get some great loot for our trouble.
By the way, if you're wondering what he looked like, he looked just like the robots we've been making mincemeat out of. But, just imagine it looked like if Robocop, the Terminator, and an AT-AT.
...I don't even know.
This is going to be a bit of a tangent here, but have you ever though about how TERRIFYING it would be to be the random mook in an RPG dungeon that the hero's party is just
ploughing through? Its like imagining yourself as a marine during a Zerg Rush. That shit'll keep you up at night. If they ever make a Starcraft movie (and by god, how generic and uninteresting would that be), that should be the opening scene. A bunch of marines sitting in front of a barracks, when all of a sudden...
0_0
At last, we come to the room where the prototype engine is being held. But, it looks like acquiring it won't be easy....
"I'm more like a person-shaped doomsday weapon for hire, but yeah, I guess you could say that. What about it?"
"You've got my attention. What's you offer?"
No, Mission.
I am your father.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Sorry. I had to.
Man, every person we've met here have been professional bullshitters.
Face-heel-turn much?
"You were about to tell me your offer, Kandon."
So, there we go. Our first major choice. Do we:
A) Betray Gadon and the Hidden Beks in order to get Bastila easily
or
B) Continue with Gadon's plan, knowing full well that it may go horribly wrong.
Vote now, or forever hold your peace, fellow escapists....
