Let's Play: Knights of the Old Republic COMPLETE
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Actually, I do. And that's something rather amazing.Supertegwyn said:
See, when I started this LP, I had no idea our main character was going to be the cartoonishly insane supervillain she turned out to be. So, with every choice made, I was cringing at the sheer evil at it all. I'm a good roleplayer at heart, always trying to save everyone, get the best ending, all that jazz. The thought of doing some of the things Varen does in this series would have apalled me. And yet, around the time we got to Dantooine, I began to relish the delicously evil shit that occured so frequently.
So, my point? KoTOR makes you evil!
[HEADING=2]Update 29: Companion Quests: Bastila/Mission Part 2, and more![/HEADING]
Wow, this was a longer hiatus than I had ever intended! I apologize to any readers who got miffed due to the lack of updates (if there are any of you left out there), things have been turbulent in the house of Woodaba this past month and a bit, but we should be getting back to more regular content updates, i'm aiming for three a week. Anyway, enough rambling, on with the show!
Question Time! Is there any aspect of a work fiction that just bugs the hell out of you but everyone else seems to accept? For me, the
biggest one is the aforementioned Mind Trick nonsense, as its something we see the "heroes" do in almost every single piece of Star Wars
fiction starring Jedi, yet the ethical implications of it are VERY rarely talked about, if at all.
Wow, this was a longer hiatus than I had ever intended! I apologize to any readers who got miffed due to the lack of updates (if there are any of you left out there), things have been turbulent in the house of Woodaba this past month and a bit, but we should be getting back to more regular content updates, i'm aiming for three a week. Anyway, enough rambling, on with the show!
Last time, we were confronted by this asshole.
This is Darth Bandon, and he comprises perhaps the second-most difficult fight in the entire game, just below the Final Boss on the overall difficulty charts. His most annoying move is his propensity to spam Force Drain, a stupidly broken Dark Side move that I have this far avoided because of how easy it makes the game. Bandon has no such qualms, meaning that every time you do a good amount of damage on him, he'll just heal up while hurting you, like so...
What a pain. His two Dark Jedi followers are cannon fodder individually, though they can be a real pain in the ass if you are not careful, and break up your party quite badly. The fact that Mission has all the life-preservation skills of a Game of Thrones character does not help.
So, the best idea is to take care of his Dark Jedi cronies first, before setting lose your main damager on him, with Bastila healing you up, and Mission doing the oh-so enviable job of kiting (running around in a circle getting the enemy to follow you. Benny hill music optional.) If you keep at this tactic, eventually...
...eventually...
...Bandon will bite it.
"That was for Corporal Tutorial, you son of a *****."
You can pick up his armor, but it isn't Jedi armor (for some reason) and thus is detrimental to us. However, his armor is VERY good for tanking, so it's ideal for Canderous or Carth if you've levelled him that way, which we have not.
With the Holocron recovered, it's time to head back to Anchorhead.
Inside, we return to Bastila's mother.
"Finally, you two were boring me to death over here."
You don't get any dark side points for this, which I found odd, because the "dark-side" ending to this particular arc is rather sad. In fact,
I honestly believe that the person who wrote the companion quests was not the same as the person who wrote the rest of the game. The script
for the majority of this game is loud, bombastic, filled with Star Wars quotes, and ranges from white knight goodness to cartoonish evil.
The Companion quests are somewhat different. With a couple of exceptions, (Carth, Mission) the Companion quests have more ambigous morality,
lower-key themes, and are generally more personal. In fact, a couple of the quests, (that we will no doubt see) are the best parts of the
entire game, in my opinion. The Dark side ending of this quesst features no force-lighting, no sl
avery, no murder, you just...walk away. And
I found that more sad, more relatable, than any point where a Dark Side character kicks a a puppy, clubs a seal, or eats a chicklet.
After that despressing moment, let's go see Griff before we leave Tatooine.
There's the smarmy ass.
Griff is meant to be evocative of a lovable version of The Three Stooges, inept, useless, unlucky, and with a strange accent that I think is
meant to be a brooklyn accent, though I honestly wouldn't know. Thing is, Griff does not come across as lovable. He comes across as a
complete ass-clown, the kind of character that Hollywood continually creates as a "lovable" author surrogate that we are meant to sympathise
with, but in reality we sympathise with the grumpy roomate who throws them out and tells them to get their act together. Unfortunately, the
game does not give you the option to do that, and while it makes sense given the phisophy of the Light Side of the force, the game basically
calls you an asshole if you try to get him to sort himself out, and learn how to be a functioning human being. Instead, it encourages you
to basically give Griff what he needs to get back on his feet, meaning that he does not learn any kind of lesson about self-suffiencey and
continues to rely on the kindness of strangers, like asshole AI in Civ IV who pester you for technologies, which you give them to make
friends, but then they use the technologies to fuck you in the ass FUCK YOU SPAIN
...where were we?
"Get to the point, Griff."
Secret recipe...turns out, its Rodian spit, Tach Glands, and Bigotry. In that order.
"What does this have to do with me?"
And the bad decisions just keep on coming...
"That's what you get for dealing with the exchange."
Hmm, somehow, I'm not being convinced by that. Let's ask Mission for her opinion.
"I want to talk about your brother."
"You said it, Mission! Let the Exchange take care of that slime!"
"Why do you care? He left you to die on Taris!"
Once again, we end a Companion quest by walking away. Though, this time, it's less sad and more awesome. Well, that was a brief break from
the Main Quest, it's time to return to Kashyyyk!
But first, back on the Ebon Hawk, we have a few words with Bastila before we set off.
"So, you kept the Holocron. Good move. We need a new Hard Drive for the computer, and that Holocron would do nicely."
"Why do we need a new Hard Drive?"
"Steam Summer Sales are coming up."
"...oh. We're gonna need more credits."
"Mhm."
"So, yeah, the Holocron. You kept it."
This soldifies Bastila staying shtum for a while. If we gave the Holocron to her mother, she goes on about the Jedi teachings and how well
she learned them and how awesome you are for stickig to the Jedi code.
Back on Kashyyyk, it's time to explore this planet and find the Star Map.
Onward, to The Great Walkway, or, a Long-Ass corridor with nothing interesting to do, or, a looking glass into the future of RPG's. Or
present. Whatever.
Oh, its those weird arm-chinned spider things from Dantooine!
They go down easily enough. There is a lot of them on this walkway, though. Padding, really.
There needs to be a samurai soundtrack going on right now.
"What can I expect to encounter?"
Oh shit...this isn't going to be the plot of the movie Thor, is it?
"We'll deal with that when the time comes."
Around the corner, we find...this.
"My name is Varen VonBadDoom, Deciever of Manaan, Destroyer of the Sand People. What happened here?"
"Does this make you mad, Zaalbar? I'll bet it does."
"Do it. Kill them. Make them pay."
Yeah, I know it's more evil to side with the slavers...but...this is a tradition I do with every KoTOR LP. Every time, even on a White Knight
playthrough, these guys must die.
Plus, on their corpses, we find a key to some goodies later on
Meanwhile, our Wookiee Space Samurai sapper gets to work defusing some mines.
...yeah. Bey you didn't think you were going to read that sentence today.
Later down the path, we find these things. They're cool looking, but they go down if you so much as breathe on them.
There's a lot of boring fights against boring enemies, but we eventually level up. I know I normally don't bring these up, because showing
off my pathetic excuses for builds embarrases me, but I want to discuss something for a minute.
Yes, affect mind, or the famous Jedi Mind Trick.
If I were to design a Star Wars RPG, or, if i'm running a game of the tabletop Star Wars RPG, using a Mind Trick would always, no matter the
context, be a Dark Side action. Why? Well, because you are manipulating someone's mind. You are brainwashing them. I don't care how Georgie
Lucas wants to slice it, controlling someone's mind is fucking evil. That is why Varen is going to make extensive use of this ability.
This is a rather controversial topic, but I felt I needed to get my opinion out there because...I actually don't know why. But maybe you had
fun reading? Maybe?
...
I should stick to the lame jokes...
(Ahem) Further up the path, we find a computer. Upon using the card we...appropriated from the Czerka captain...
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODIES
Further up the path, we come across some familiar faces...
HOORAY FOR RECYCLED DIALOGUE
So much lighting...
The Sith hit hard, but they go down fast.
Finally, we reach the end of this long, boring, corridor.
"You will not take me anywhere, mongrel!"
Zaalbar gets kicked out of our party. We replace him with HK, because one of my favourite lines in the game is coming up with him.
We are brought before the cheiftan of the tribe.
Oh, man, Chunndar has a blingin' necklace.
"A nice lest of lies you have constructed."
"No, I was actually complimenting you. Good job, Chunndar."
"Is there a point to this? If this is going to end in a fight, i'd like to get on with it."
"You underestimate the power of the Dark Side."
"I'm not about to abandon Zaalbar to you. He is making a useful slave."
Interesting, apparently Varen in wookieespeak is "RAAHAGGHTGARRAGH". Sounds about right.
"He's standing against you. The first of many, perhaps?"
"Do your own dirty work. I have more important things to do."
"Keeping Zaalbar makes this propositon even worse."
"You see, Chuundar, there *is* someone. Uh... make it good, Zaalbar."
"He makes sense, Zaalbar. Perhaps you should listen to him."
We're summarily kicked out of Chuundar's hut.
Before we head out, we have a couple of things to do.
First, talk to HK!
"Let's restore some of your memory."
"Let's get started."
"What now?"
"And what gruesome fate awaited him?"
"You sound proud of that carnage."
"Why? How was he killed?"
"You would have ppreferred to stay on Sleheyron?"
"Do you remember anything else?"
God, I love these little stories from HK.
No.2 thing we have to do: Quests!
Given that this is a village, there are suprisingly little side-quests here. However, there is one fairly big one. We go into a nearby house
in order to find this quest...
"I'm Varen. I'm here with Chuundar's permission."
Oh dear, looks like we have an insane Wookiee...
"Can I ask you some questions?"
"Who was Rorworr?"
The childlike language of this guy makes me think that he was probably once a child, but changed for some reason. That, or he has some kind
of subtle learning disability.
"When did he go missing?"
"Not after that display, asshole. We out."
One more person to talk to before we go, the Holder of the Laws.
"Can I ask you some questions?"
"I'm not a slaver! God! Everyone in this damn village is a humancist!"
"When did Rorworr go missing?"
"Why do you think it is strange?"
"Would there be a reward for finding him?"
"See what I mean? Complete humancists!"
"...that isn't even a word."
"SHUT UP, ALIEN SCUM! (Ahem) I could go look for him, if you get me a reward upon my return."
"I'll be going now."
Time to return to the Great Walkway, to make our way to the Shadowlands.
Yes, the Vermin we have consistently had no trouble with. Watch out for them!
Eventualy, and uneventfully, we reach the Elevator basket.
"Just unlock the thing and lower me down."
"Jehovah's witnesses. Prowl these areas. Very annoying."
And with that horribly offensive "joke", we close. See you guys next time, where we meet my favorite character in the whole game.
This is Darth Bandon, and he comprises perhaps the second-most difficult fight in the entire game, just below the Final Boss on the overall difficulty charts. His most annoying move is his propensity to spam Force Drain, a stupidly broken Dark Side move that I have this far avoided because of how easy it makes the game. Bandon has no such qualms, meaning that every time you do a good amount of damage on him, he'll just heal up while hurting you, like so...
What a pain. His two Dark Jedi followers are cannon fodder individually, though they can be a real pain in the ass if you are not careful, and break up your party quite badly. The fact that Mission has all the life-preservation skills of a Game of Thrones character does not help.
So, the best idea is to take care of his Dark Jedi cronies first, before setting lose your main damager on him, with Bastila healing you up, and Mission doing the oh-so enviable job of kiting (running around in a circle getting the enemy to follow you. Benny hill music optional.) If you keep at this tactic, eventually...
...eventually...
...Bandon will bite it.
"That was for Corporal Tutorial, you son of a *****."
You can pick up his armor, but it isn't Jedi armor (for some reason) and thus is detrimental to us. However, his armor is VERY good for tanking, so it's ideal for Canderous or Carth if you've levelled him that way, which we have not.
With the Holocron recovered, it's time to head back to Anchorhead.
Inside, we return to Bastila's mother.
"Finally, you two were boring me to death over here."
You don't get any dark side points for this, which I found odd, because the "dark-side" ending to this particular arc is rather sad. In fact,
I honestly believe that the person who wrote the companion quests was not the same as the person who wrote the rest of the game. The script
for the majority of this game is loud, bombastic, filled with Star Wars quotes, and ranges from white knight goodness to cartoonish evil.
The Companion quests are somewhat different. With a couple of exceptions, (Carth, Mission) the Companion quests have more ambigous morality,
lower-key themes, and are generally more personal. In fact, a couple of the quests, (that we will no doubt see) are the best parts of the
entire game, in my opinion. The Dark side ending of this quesst features no force-lighting, no sl
avery, no murder, you just...walk away. And
I found that more sad, more relatable, than any point where a Dark Side character kicks a a puppy, clubs a seal, or eats a chicklet.
After that despressing moment, let's go see Griff before we leave Tatooine.
There's the smarmy ass.
Griff is meant to be evocative of a lovable version of The Three Stooges, inept, useless, unlucky, and with a strange accent that I think is
meant to be a brooklyn accent, though I honestly wouldn't know. Thing is, Griff does not come across as lovable. He comes across as a
complete ass-clown, the kind of character that Hollywood continually creates as a "lovable" author surrogate that we are meant to sympathise
with, but in reality we sympathise with the grumpy roomate who throws them out and tells them to get their act together. Unfortunately, the
game does not give you the option to do that, and while it makes sense given the phisophy of the Light Side of the force, the game basically
calls you an asshole if you try to get him to sort himself out, and learn how to be a functioning human being. Instead, it encourages you
to basically give Griff what he needs to get back on his feet, meaning that he does not learn any kind of lesson about self-suffiencey and
continues to rely on the kindness of strangers, like asshole AI in Civ IV who pester you for technologies, which you give them to make
friends, but then they use the technologies to fuck you in the ass FUCK YOU SPAIN
...where were we?
"Get to the point, Griff."
Secret recipe...turns out, its Rodian spit, Tach Glands, and Bigotry. In that order.
"What does this have to do with me?"
And the bad decisions just keep on coming...
"That's what you get for dealing with the exchange."
Hmm, somehow, I'm not being convinced by that. Let's ask Mission for her opinion.
"I want to talk about your brother."
"You said it, Mission! Let the Exchange take care of that slime!"
"Why do you care? He left you to die on Taris!"
Once again, we end a Companion quest by walking away. Though, this time, it's less sad and more awesome. Well, that was a brief break from
the Main Quest, it's time to return to Kashyyyk!
But first, back on the Ebon Hawk, we have a few words with Bastila before we set off.
"So, you kept the Holocron. Good move. We need a new Hard Drive for the computer, and that Holocron would do nicely."
"Why do we need a new Hard Drive?"
"Steam Summer Sales are coming up."
"...oh. We're gonna need more credits."
"Mhm."
"So, yeah, the Holocron. You kept it."
This soldifies Bastila staying shtum for a while. If we gave the Holocron to her mother, she goes on about the Jedi teachings and how well
she learned them and how awesome you are for stickig to the Jedi code.
Back on Kashyyyk, it's time to explore this planet and find the Star Map.
Onward, to The Great Walkway, or, a Long-Ass corridor with nothing interesting to do, or, a looking glass into the future of RPG's. Or
present. Whatever.
Oh, its those weird arm-chinned spider things from Dantooine!
They go down easily enough. There is a lot of them on this walkway, though. Padding, really.
There needs to be a samurai soundtrack going on right now.
"What can I expect to encounter?"
Oh shit...this isn't going to be the plot of the movie Thor, is it?
"We'll deal with that when the time comes."
Around the corner, we find...this.
"My name is Varen VonBadDoom, Deciever of Manaan, Destroyer of the Sand People. What happened here?"
"Does this make you mad, Zaalbar? I'll bet it does."
"Do it. Kill them. Make them pay."
Yeah, I know it's more evil to side with the slavers...but...this is a tradition I do with every KoTOR LP. Every time, even on a White Knight
playthrough, these guys must die.
Plus, on their corpses, we find a key to some goodies later on
Meanwhile, our Wookiee Space Samurai sapper gets to work defusing some mines.
...yeah. Bey you didn't think you were going to read that sentence today.
Later down the path, we find these things. They're cool looking, but they go down if you so much as breathe on them.
There's a lot of boring fights against boring enemies, but we eventually level up. I know I normally don't bring these up, because showing
off my pathetic excuses for builds embarrases me, but I want to discuss something for a minute.
Yes, affect mind, or the famous Jedi Mind Trick.
If I were to design a Star Wars RPG, or, if i'm running a game of the tabletop Star Wars RPG, using a Mind Trick would always, no matter the
context, be a Dark Side action. Why? Well, because you are manipulating someone's mind. You are brainwashing them. I don't care how Georgie
Lucas wants to slice it, controlling someone's mind is fucking evil. That is why Varen is going to make extensive use of this ability.
This is a rather controversial topic, but I felt I needed to get my opinion out there because...I actually don't know why. But maybe you had
fun reading? Maybe?
...
I should stick to the lame jokes...
(Ahem) Further up the path, we find a computer. Upon using the card we...appropriated from the Czerka captain...
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODIES
Further up the path, we come across some familiar faces...
HOORAY FOR RECYCLED DIALOGUE
So much lighting...
The Sith hit hard, but they go down fast.
Finally, we reach the end of this long, boring, corridor.
"You will not take me anywhere, mongrel!"
Zaalbar gets kicked out of our party. We replace him with HK, because one of my favourite lines in the game is coming up with him.
We are brought before the cheiftan of the tribe.
Oh, man, Chunndar has a blingin' necklace.
"A nice lest of lies you have constructed."
"No, I was actually complimenting you. Good job, Chunndar."
"Is there a point to this? If this is going to end in a fight, i'd like to get on with it."
"You underestimate the power of the Dark Side."
"I'm not about to abandon Zaalbar to you. He is making a useful slave."
Interesting, apparently Varen in wookieespeak is "RAAHAGGHTGARRAGH". Sounds about right.
"He's standing against you. The first of many, perhaps?"
"Do your own dirty work. I have more important things to do."
"Keeping Zaalbar makes this propositon even worse."
"You see, Chuundar, there *is* someone. Uh... make it good, Zaalbar."
"He makes sense, Zaalbar. Perhaps you should listen to him."
We're summarily kicked out of Chuundar's hut.
Before we head out, we have a couple of things to do.
First, talk to HK!
"Let's restore some of your memory."
"Let's get started."
"What now?"
"And what gruesome fate awaited him?"
"You sound proud of that carnage."
"Why? How was he killed?"
"You would have ppreferred to stay on Sleheyron?"
"Do you remember anything else?"
God, I love these little stories from HK.
No.2 thing we have to do: Quests!
Given that this is a village, there are suprisingly little side-quests here. However, there is one fairly big one. We go into a nearby house
in order to find this quest...
"I'm Varen. I'm here with Chuundar's permission."
Oh dear, looks like we have an insane Wookiee...
"Can I ask you some questions?"
"Who was Rorworr?"
The childlike language of this guy makes me think that he was probably once a child, but changed for some reason. That, or he has some kind
of subtle learning disability.
"When did he go missing?"
"Not after that display, asshole. We out."
One more person to talk to before we go, the Holder of the Laws.
"Can I ask you some questions?"
"I'm not a slaver! God! Everyone in this damn village is a humancist!"
"When did Rorworr go missing?"
"Why do you think it is strange?"
"Would there be a reward for finding him?"
"See what I mean? Complete humancists!"
"...that isn't even a word."
"SHUT UP, ALIEN SCUM! (Ahem) I could go look for him, if you get me a reward upon my return."
"I'll be going now."
Time to return to the Great Walkway, to make our way to the Shadowlands.
Yes, the Vermin we have consistently had no trouble with. Watch out for them!
Eventualy, and uneventfully, we reach the Elevator basket.
"Just unlock the thing and lower me down."
"Jehovah's witnesses. Prowl these areas. Very annoying."
And with that horribly offensive "joke", we close. See you guys next time, where we meet my favorite character in the whole game.
Question Time! Is there any aspect of a work fiction that just bugs the hell out of you but everyone else seems to accept? For me, the
biggest one is the aforementioned Mind Trick nonsense, as its something we see the "heroes" do in almost every single piece of Star Wars
fiction starring Jedi, yet the ethical implications of it are VERY rarely talked about, if at all.
That Mind trick thing si rediculous. I do it to get better deals and BAM dark side(though it did make sense when I made the thugs on Nar Shadaa jump of the walkway). Seriously? Didn't Quigon Jinn do that same thing and did his face turn grey NO!(I love how in kotor 2 people actually say eugh what happened to you face?) So are you going to free the wookies or side with the slavers because in your little blurb I was not sure if you were just talking about that little instance or the whole of kashykk. Oh and you are missing a link for this update in the OP.
My problem with Mind Trick is that it is fundamentally evil on my moral compass, in that you are twisting and manipulating someone to your own ends. It's not the cause that is eveil, in fact, you may be doing it to attain a good cause. However, that does not change the fact that the act of brainwashing is, for me, fundamentally evil. In fact, in relation to Qui-Gonn, one of the main problem I had with the Phantom Menace was the fact that Qui-Gon was kind of a manipulative bastard.The_Lost_King said:
I'll give people a choice, as always.
He was? I neveer noticed but the last time I watched Episode 1 was when I was like 6. I just watched the original trilogy though and it was just as amazing as I remembered. But really is force persuade any better than a real high persuade? You are still manipulating someone into a train of though that is more pleasing to you.woodaba said:
I think in the original trilogy the use of Mind Trick by light side characters (Obi Wan, Luke) was usually offset by the fact that they were using it on evil characters and doing it in the interests of the greater good or to avoid violence.
I agree in general though, brainwashing someone is hardly a light side thing to do...
I agree in general though, brainwashing someone is hardly a light side thing to do...
Oh, yeah, he really is. Cheating at gambling, brainwashing gungans to achieve his own ends, attepting to effectively steal a hyperdrive part from Watto, in fact, it's so bad that the Expanded Universe officially labels him a "grey" jedi, wherein he is ostensibly good but sometimes uses rather dickish methods to achieve good.The_Lost_King said:
I think there's a big difference between persuading someone with your silver tongue and forcibly changing someone's mind to your own ends. But hey, that's just my opinion.
I just realised that the argument I used was pretty much the ends justify the means. Oh God! You were right KotOR does make you evil.woodaba said:
[HEADING=2]Update 30: No planet for Old Men[/HEADING]
This area of the Shadowlands is a little more in depth, with a few side quests. The first of which, we are about to encounter.
AH JEEZ EXTREME CLOSE UP
Yes, you just saw a Wookiee have a swordfight with a mandalorian. Yes, this game just broke the awesome scale.
Varen senses some irrational hatred within her for these Mandalorians, so she leaps into battle.
The mandies fall quickly, and through the powers of the Fourth Wall, we learn that this wookiee has the best/worst name ever.
Yes, really.
"Why should I help you? Why are you worthy?"
"That is no answer. I refuse to help you, weakling."
No prizes for guessing who said what.
"Alright, fine! I'll heal the ungrateful shit, if only for the inevitable side quest."
"What can you tell me about your attackers?"
"Say no more. All mandalorians are scum and must die. Except for Canderous. He's pretty cool."
So, yeah. This is a little mini-game, if you will. You have to run around this forest empty-handed in order to attract the pussy mandalorians to your position.
...like so.
You take your weapons out as soon as the Mandalorians revealed themselves, which sort of makes the whole excercise redundant.
With the first group of mandalorians defeated, we learn due to datapads on the corpses that this is a training excercise for trainee mandalorians, and they are ambushing people with stealth field generators on their swoop bikes.
And here's the swoop bike in question. Sadly, we can't do anything with it just yet, but we'll be back soon enough.
Yep, more of them. I'll spare you from it though, because it is basically the exact same fight as last time.
Up ahead, we discover....this.
0_0
Let's go pester it!
Mysterious...
"Why have you acknowledged me?"
"What do you mean by behavioral reconfiguration?"
"And I don't fit that pattern?"
"That seems very helpful. Why have I been allowed access?"
"Do you not know why, or are you restricted from saying?"
Ah. Shit.
"What limitations have been placed on your programming?"
"What gaps are missing?"
Well, isn't this a sarcastic ancient AI construct?
"I want to ask questions about you and this installation."
"Who built this installation in the first place?"
Mind. Blown.
What this holo-dude is basically saying is that the things that make Kashyyyk what it is, the trees, the wildly varied life, even the animals that don't appear to be particularly suit the climate, were never originally from here. Whoever built this installation, presumably the Builders we talked about waaaay back on Dantooine, probably used Kashyyyk as a planet-sized laboratory, or something, only it all went horribly wrong for some reason.
So, who are the Builders?
"Wait...if this place was built 30,000 years ago, then it predates the Republic itself!"
"Why was agricultural reformation needed?"
So...Kashyyyk was intended to be a massive factory? Would that make the Wookiees...intended slaves?
"That is a very short period of adaption for native creatures."
Technobabble!
"Who installed this holo-interface?"
So, the AI is actually a very recent addition. So who put it here?
"Wait...five years ago is about the time Revan passed this way."
DUN DUN DUNNN!
So, it's very probable that Revan placed the hologram here, presumably on his search for the Star Maps. But why?
"But there was an entry at some time?"
Evasive bastard...
"Who last accessed this installation?"
"Was there any further contact with the installer of this interface?"
"What is the current function of this installation?"
"Defense of what? The Star Map?"
"Oh, fuck you."
"I seek information on a Star Map."
"Original system memory? So, the map is as old as the installation?
"What do I need to do to get access to the Star Map?"
"How can I match them if I don't know what they are?"
Oh, wonderful. A personality quiz. This should be good.
"What do you mean by that?"
Ominous...
"Alright, let's get this over with."
"Not bloody likely, but go on."
"How do you know about him? He isn't here."
"Accuse him. What else is he there for but to manipulate and exploit?"
"Why pit me against my companions?"
"Amen, brother!"
"Get on with it then."
"I prepare my forces to attack in ten days. I do nothing in the city."
"That's right. The deaths of their fellow people will spur my minions on."
"I let the attack happen."
Any good Civ player knows this
"Why test me? Who have you done this for? Revan?"
Hooray! 3 out of 4 Star Maps! Only one remains, though seeing as its on Korribann, I doubt it will be quite as easy to reach...
After we leave the Star Map, we fight another group of invisible Mandalorians, and on their corpse, we find a Signal Device foe their swoops.
This fight is significantly more challenging than the other Mandalorian fights, with the Red Mandalorian having a lot of health, and dealing a lot of damage. However, he's not too tough, thanks to his weak allies, and having three Jedi wail on you can hurt a lot.
We find this stuff on his body. Sadly, you can't run around with a mandalorian helmet. However, we can return it to the Wookiee With an Awesome Name.
"The mandalorian hunters are dead. I killed them all."
"Yes, yes, heartwarming. Now, where's my reward?"
With that done, we continue our exploration of the Shadowlands. We find what Chunndar sent us down for...
That's Jolee talking. The camera sort of bugs out here.
The Wookiee is easy enough, though more challenging than most of the things we've faced down here.
So, here's where we leave off. We must decide whether to...
1) Hear Freyyr out, discover why he was banished, and help him?
or
2) Blindly follow Chundarr's commands and kill Freyyr?
Question time! What do you all think of the Escapist's new layout? I think it's pretty cool, though I miss the ability to easily access your last two posts.
Last time, we began our descent to the surface of Kashyyyk.
Ooh. Purdy.
And this is the Shadowlands. Sadly, we don't get to spend much time here, as Kashyyyk is easily the shortest planet in the game, and the Shadowlands consists of only two areas. It's a shame, because I do like the Shadowlands. Especially with some revelations we learn soon...
One of the enemies we find down here are these weird...dinosaur...lizard...things. I don't really know what they are. I do know that I want one as a mount.
Further up the path, we see a...Jedi? And he's fending off the dino-lizards?
Ok...
"Who the hell are you, and what the hell are you doing here?"
An astute question.
"You use a lightsaber. Are you a Jedi?"
I like him already.
This is hut. Reminiscent of Yoda's famous abode, though lacking the scenic swamp. Although, the lack of said swamp would probably reduce the risk of damp.
"Yes, I feel there is much you can tell me."
"Hey, asshole, my condecension is about the only thing keeping your heart in your chest. So shut up, if you want your next breath."
"I want to know about you."
"Don't play dumb. What about the Lightsaber?"
An old man character who does not want to regale us with tales of his youth? My god! Have we stubled upon an alternate universe where 90% of writers aren't uncreative, cliche-reliant dullards? Seems like the only reasonable explanation.
Jolee is what is known as a grey jedi. These Jedi are force-users who do not follow the dark or the light side, instead straddling a balance between the two. Qui-gon, in the expanded universe at least, is an example of such a jedi. Think of them as True Neutral. Generally, Grey Jedi can be very interesting characters, and it just so happens that the best characters in KoTOR 1 and 2 are Grey Jedi. But, as Bastila rightly pointed out, Jolee is slightly slanted towards the light, and it is difficult to say whether or not he is a true Grey Jedi. But, we'll talk about that later.
"Have you any knowledge of Star Maps?"
"Get to the point, old man."
"You are rambling, old man! Get to the point!"
"Why should I trust you, you crazy old coot?"
Love this guy.
"Where are they? How many men?"
"Hmm...by my calculations...that would require...lots of lightning. Lots."
"Why not just go get rid of them yourself? You do have a lightsaber, you know."
Yeah...you've really asked the wrong person, Jolee me old pal.
"Yeah, alright. I'll never turn my nose up at a chance to cause wanton slaughter."
On our way to the Czerka camp, we find a highly damaged droid. Upon inspecting it, we discover this exchange.
"I'll scrap what I can from you."
Oh shit...
"Ow. Ow."
After we get our face blown off, we continue down the path towards the Czerka camp. Along the way we discover...
A weird monkey thing, called a Tach...
...and a dead Wookiee. On his corpse, we find...this.
Oh dear. It would seem that the idolized wookiee we were sent to find was, in fact, kind of a bastard. We'll follow up on this lead next time. Lets get to the Czerka camp.
Ah, another delightful gent. I think his name is John Ricchatello.
"Hey, asswipe, I paid the docking fee. Who cares where I go?"
"I might be interested in some work."
"What does the job pay?"
"I want the job. How do I hunt these Tach?"
Yep. I'm certain this asshole has majority shares in EA.
Yeah... this nightmare of a shot is my pathetic attempt to capture the fight with the Tachs. Thing is, the Tachs die when you breathe on them, which makes it difficult to capture whatever fight there is of them. Plus, their weakness casts poor light on the skills of the men who lost their lives to these fucking things.
On their corpse, we take their...gland. Eww. Returning to John Riccitiello, we find him turning into a member of the Blue Man Group.
"I've got a Tach Gland to sell you."
"Huh. You're just a Czerka slaver. Nothing special."
"I should just kill you. No one will ever know."
Well, it was inevitable.
John Riccitiello is actually pretty badass. He has samurai sword training, and while his friends are cannon fodder. John can actually do quite a bit of damage. However, as with all the foes in our wake, he falls, freeing the games industry from his dark influence forever, and avenging the loss of Origin Studios.
...if only...
(ahem) With that done, we return to Jolee.
"The poachers are... er...gone."
"Sounds awesome!"
"I kill what I want. Don't argue with me, old man."
"You aren't going to tell me 'what I should have learned'?"
Well...Bastila just got told.
"Will you help me find the Star Map now?"
Jolee joins our party! Woo! I love this guy. Snarky, funny, yet wise, and actually says some pretty profound things. Plus, he's a Jedi Consular, and I always specalize him with support and healing powers. We can also officially have an all-jedi party, and due to the overpowered nature of Jedi in this game, we will never have to use any other character ever again, unless we want to.
Further up the path, we see the Czerka generator Jolee mentioned earlier.
"Why place this thing here?"
"You haven't answered my question. (Sigh) Just shut it down."
Indeed.
Ooh. Purdy.
And this is the Shadowlands. Sadly, we don't get to spend much time here, as Kashyyyk is easily the shortest planet in the game, and the Shadowlands consists of only two areas. It's a shame, because I do like the Shadowlands. Especially with some revelations we learn soon...
One of the enemies we find down here are these weird...dinosaur...lizard...things. I don't really know what they are. I do know that I want one as a mount.
Further up the path, we see a...Jedi? And he's fending off the dino-lizards?
Ok...
"Who the hell are you, and what the hell are you doing here?"
An astute question.
"You use a lightsaber. Are you a Jedi?"
I like him already.
This is hut. Reminiscent of Yoda's famous abode, though lacking the scenic swamp. Although, the lack of said swamp would probably reduce the risk of damp.
"Yes, I feel there is much you can tell me."
"Hey, asshole, my condecension is about the only thing keeping your heart in your chest. So shut up, if you want your next breath."
"I want to know about you."
"Don't play dumb. What about the Lightsaber?"
An old man character who does not want to regale us with tales of his youth? My god! Have we stubled upon an alternate universe where 90% of writers aren't uncreative, cliche-reliant dullards? Seems like the only reasonable explanation.
Jolee is what is known as a grey jedi. These Jedi are force-users who do not follow the dark or the light side, instead straddling a balance between the two. Qui-gon, in the expanded universe at least, is an example of such a jedi. Think of them as True Neutral. Generally, Grey Jedi can be very interesting characters, and it just so happens that the best characters in KoTOR 1 and 2 are Grey Jedi. But, as Bastila rightly pointed out, Jolee is slightly slanted towards the light, and it is difficult to say whether or not he is a true Grey Jedi. But, we'll talk about that later.
"Have you any knowledge of Star Maps?"
"Get to the point, old man."
"You are rambling, old man! Get to the point!"
"Why should I trust you, you crazy old coot?"
Love this guy.
"Where are they? How many men?"
"Hmm...by my calculations...that would require...lots of lightning. Lots."
"Why not just go get rid of them yourself? You do have a lightsaber, you know."
Yeah...you've really asked the wrong person, Jolee me old pal.
"Yeah, alright. I'll never turn my nose up at a chance to cause wanton slaughter."
On our way to the Czerka camp, we find a highly damaged droid. Upon inspecting it, we discover this exchange.
"I'll scrap what I can from you."
Oh shit...
"Ow. Ow."
After we get our face blown off, we continue down the path towards the Czerka camp. Along the way we discover...
A weird monkey thing, called a Tach...
...and a dead Wookiee. On his corpse, we find...this.
Oh dear. It would seem that the idolized wookiee we were sent to find was, in fact, kind of a bastard. We'll follow up on this lead next time. Lets get to the Czerka camp.
Ah, another delightful gent. I think his name is John Ricchatello.
"Hey, asswipe, I paid the docking fee. Who cares where I go?"
"I might be interested in some work."
"What does the job pay?"
"I want the job. How do I hunt these Tach?"
Yep. I'm certain this asshole has majority shares in EA.
Yeah... this nightmare of a shot is my pathetic attempt to capture the fight with the Tachs. Thing is, the Tachs die when you breathe on them, which makes it difficult to capture whatever fight there is of them. Plus, their weakness casts poor light on the skills of the men who lost their lives to these fucking things.
On their corpse, we take their...gland. Eww. Returning to John Riccitiello, we find him turning into a member of the Blue Man Group.
"I've got a Tach Gland to sell you."
"Huh. You're just a Czerka slaver. Nothing special."
"I should just kill you. No one will ever know."
Well, it was inevitable.
John Riccitiello is actually pretty badass. He has samurai sword training, and while his friends are cannon fodder. John can actually do quite a bit of damage. However, as with all the foes in our wake, he falls, freeing the games industry from his dark influence forever, and avenging the loss of Origin Studios.
...if only...
(ahem) With that done, we return to Jolee.
"The poachers are... er...gone."
"Sounds awesome!"
"I kill what I want. Don't argue with me, old man."
"You aren't going to tell me 'what I should have learned'?"
Well...Bastila just got told.
"Will you help me find the Star Map now?"
Jolee joins our party! Woo! I love this guy. Snarky, funny, yet wise, and actually says some pretty profound things. Plus, he's a Jedi Consular, and I always specalize him with support and healing powers. We can also officially have an all-jedi party, and due to the overpowered nature of Jedi in this game, we will never have to use any other character ever again, unless we want to.
Further up the path, we see the Czerka generator Jolee mentioned earlier.
"Why place this thing here?"
"You haven't answered my question. (Sigh) Just shut it down."
Indeed.
This area of the Shadowlands is a little more in depth, with a few side quests. The first of which, we are about to encounter.
AH JEEZ EXTREME CLOSE UP
Yes, you just saw a Wookiee have a swordfight with a mandalorian. Yes, this game just broke the awesome scale.
Varen senses some irrational hatred within her for these Mandalorians, so she leaps into battle.
The mandies fall quickly, and through the powers of the Fourth Wall, we learn that this wookiee has the best/worst name ever.
Yes, really.
"Why should I help you? Why are you worthy?"
"That is no answer. I refuse to help you, weakling."
No prizes for guessing who said what.
"Alright, fine! I'll heal the ungrateful shit, if only for the inevitable side quest."
"What can you tell me about your attackers?"
"Say no more. All mandalorians are scum and must die. Except for Canderous. He's pretty cool."
So, yeah. This is a little mini-game, if you will. You have to run around this forest empty-handed in order to attract the pussy mandalorians to your position.
...like so.
You take your weapons out as soon as the Mandalorians revealed themselves, which sort of makes the whole excercise redundant.
With the first group of mandalorians defeated, we learn due to datapads on the corpses that this is a training excercise for trainee mandalorians, and they are ambushing people with stealth field generators on their swoop bikes.
And here's the swoop bike in question. Sadly, we can't do anything with it just yet, but we'll be back soon enough.
Yep, more of them. I'll spare you from it though, because it is basically the exact same fight as last time.
Up ahead, we discover....this.
0_0
Let's go pester it!
Mysterious...
"Why have you acknowledged me?"
"What do you mean by behavioral reconfiguration?"
"And I don't fit that pattern?"
"That seems very helpful. Why have I been allowed access?"
"Do you not know why, or are you restricted from saying?"
Ah. Shit.
"What limitations have been placed on your programming?"
"What gaps are missing?"
Well, isn't this a sarcastic ancient AI construct?
"I want to ask questions about you and this installation."
"Who built this installation in the first place?"
Mind. Blown.
What this holo-dude is basically saying is that the things that make Kashyyyk what it is, the trees, the wildly varied life, even the animals that don't appear to be particularly suit the climate, were never originally from here. Whoever built this installation, presumably the Builders we talked about waaaay back on Dantooine, probably used Kashyyyk as a planet-sized laboratory, or something, only it all went horribly wrong for some reason.
So, who are the Builders?
"Wait...if this place was built 30,000 years ago, then it predates the Republic itself!"
"Why was agricultural reformation needed?"
So...Kashyyyk was intended to be a massive factory? Would that make the Wookiees...intended slaves?
"That is a very short period of adaption for native creatures."
Technobabble!
"Who installed this holo-interface?"
So, the AI is actually a very recent addition. So who put it here?
"Wait...five years ago is about the time Revan passed this way."
DUN DUN DUNNN!
So, it's very probable that Revan placed the hologram here, presumably on his search for the Star Maps. But why?
"But there was an entry at some time?"
Evasive bastard...
"Who last accessed this installation?"
"Was there any further contact with the installer of this interface?"
"What is the current function of this installation?"
"Defense of what? The Star Map?"
"Oh, fuck you."
"I seek information on a Star Map."
"Original system memory? So, the map is as old as the installation?
"What do I need to do to get access to the Star Map?"
"How can I match them if I don't know what they are?"
Oh, wonderful. A personality quiz. This should be good.
"What do you mean by that?"
Ominous...
"Alright, let's get this over with."
"Not bloody likely, but go on."
"How do you know about him? He isn't here."
"Accuse him. What else is he there for but to manipulate and exploit?"
"Why pit me against my companions?"
"Amen, brother!"
"Get on with it then."
"I prepare my forces to attack in ten days. I do nothing in the city."
"That's right. The deaths of their fellow people will spur my minions on."
"I let the attack happen."
Any good Civ player knows this
"Why test me? Who have you done this for? Revan?"
Hooray! 3 out of 4 Star Maps! Only one remains, though seeing as its on Korribann, I doubt it will be quite as easy to reach...
After we leave the Star Map, we fight another group of invisible Mandalorians, and on their corpse, we find a Signal Device foe their swoops.
This fight is significantly more challenging than the other Mandalorian fights, with the Red Mandalorian having a lot of health, and dealing a lot of damage. However, he's not too tough, thanks to his weak allies, and having three Jedi wail on you can hurt a lot.
We find this stuff on his body. Sadly, you can't run around with a mandalorian helmet. However, we can return it to the Wookiee With an Awesome Name.
"The mandalorian hunters are dead. I killed them all."
"Yes, yes, heartwarming. Now, where's my reward?"
With that done, we continue our exploration of the Shadowlands. We find what Chunndar sent us down for...
That's Jolee talking. The camera sort of bugs out here.
The Wookiee is easy enough, though more challenging than most of the things we've faced down here.
So, here's where we leave off. We must decide whether to...
1) Hear Freyyr out, discover why he was banished, and help him?
or
2) Blindly follow Chundarr's commands and kill Freyyr?
Question time! What do you all think of the Escapist's new layout? I think it's pretty cool, though I miss the ability to easily access your last two posts.
Help Freyyr out, then betray him later. Civil war within the wookies would hurt the more. Also you get a sweet sword out of it.
The new Escapist design is nice, but I do miss the last two post thing. I was able to quickly find out if you had updated the Let's Play or not, because of the name change.
The new Escapist design is nice, but I do miss the last two post thing. I was able to quickly find out if you had updated the Let's Play or not, because of the name change.
agreed on all this, it is most beneficial in nearly every way, and gives a nice little plot game changer (plus sweet ass sword!)gamptrak said:
it's a bit different, i think i prefer it over the previous change, but we'll see in the long run i suppose.
I want to see how the betray him turns out. I have never not killed him.
Well I miss the drop down menus on the old layout. It made getting to miracle of sound and zero punctuation much easier.
Well I miss the drop down menus on the old layout. It made getting to miracle of sound and zero punctuation much easier.
I've never taken the dark side to this part of the story, but you betray him when:AD-Stu said:I honestly can't remember how the "betray him later" part of this plays out (I've probably only played this world light-side) so yeah, let's see how that works
After you get help Freyyr get Bacca's blade, you'll go confront Chuundarr. Freyyr and Chuundar get into an argument and Zaalbar is forced to choose a side. You influence his decision and you can side with Chundurr and kill Freyyr.
[HEADING=2]Update 31: Return of the Betrayer[/HEADING]
Question Time! Two today, although one is only for a specific group.
1. For those of you have played it, how did you find Mass Effect 3's extended cut. Ultimately, I think it's an improvement, but not by much, and its too little, too late. Love the LI scene before the beam, though.
2. What is the most egrecious case of character derailment you have ever encountered? By this I mean a character completely changes their outlook and personality with little development in service of the plot. Commander Shepard in the final moments of Mass Effect stands out, big time, but the golden turd simply must go what they did to JC Denton in Deus Ex: Invisible War. I'm... not even going to say how many things were wrong with that.
Last time, we were attacked by a deranged Wookiee called Freyyr. However, for the first time, the electorate of this thread decided to be merciful (for now), and hear Freyyr out.
"I'm not here to kill you! Just listen!"
"Do you know Zaalbar and Chunndar?"
"I'm Varen Von BadDoom, future Empress of the galaxy. I came here with Zaalbar."
"No. He follows me because of some stupid Life Debt that is supposedly different from slavery but not in any practical way."
"What exactly happened between those two?"
"When did you learn the truth?"
"But, why would Chunndar want you dead now?"
"So, what happens now?"
"How? Everyone is on his side, despite the fact he is almost as cartoonishly evil as me. Well, not quite. Maybe almost half as cartoonishly evil. But that's still pretty overtly evil."
"Where is this obvious macguffin?"
"Where can I find it?"
...well, duh.
"Alright, I'll have a look. Can you give me any direction?"
So, we're looking for a corpse in order to bait this mysterious beast. Thankfully, we've been creating fresh viper kinrath corpses ever since we arrived in this particular 'hood of the Shadowlands, so we just go to collect one of those...
...like so! Then we stuff the body into our infinitely large backpack, or bag of holding, or whatever, and bring it to the Ritual Site.
The ritual site in question is indistinguishable from the rest of the forest, bar this rock. Examining it reveals a number of useful tidbits.
With our pointless lore-mongering complete, we begin the ancient and incredibly complex ritual, which consists of tying a corpse to a vine.
After tying it to the tree, the beast is baited from its hole...revealing that the great beast is in fact...
My god... IT'S A TERENTAREK! KILLER OF JEDI! DEVOURER OF SITH! TRULY THIS IS THE TERROR OF THE SHADOWLANDS! FLEE! FLEE! BEFORE IT...
...dies easily in a matter of seconds.
What.
What.
WHAT?
When I first played that section, it was all I could do to resist staring, mouth agape, at the screen. Here was an enemy, first hyped up back on friggin Dantooine, and, after we've come this far, it dies in a matter of seconds? I mean, what the fuck? We've literally fought SAND PEOPLE tougher than this thing. Was this a glitch? A balancing issue? Or an intentional troll? Well, they've certainly had experience in the latter...
You know, this isn't a new idea. Many games hype up one enemy above all others for you to fear. However, most of those games, notably games like Resident Evil 2 + 3, and Silent Hill 2, do this by showing the enemy's power rather than just telling us about it. No one in Silent Hill 2 said "You better watch out for that Red Pyramid, he's pretty badass." By hyping them up with dialogue, the game guarantees disappointment. Especially when you can kill the enemy by blowing on them...
Maybe the fact it had a sword stuck in its side is what made it weaker. But, then, that begged the question why the damn thing didn't just pull it out. It's not rocket science, it's basic instinct.
Nearby, we find the corpse of the Jedi Freyyr talked about.
The circlet of saresh is a really good item for consulars, but, unfortunately, neither Varen nor Jolee can use it, as it is restricted to Light Side characters. We also find a Journal belonging to said jedi.
This Datapad was recovered from the remains of the Terentarek on Kashyyyk. It must have been devoured by the beast. It appears to be the personal journal of Guun Han Saresh. The last entry explains what he was doing on Kashyyyk.
Is every second Jedi we meant an arrogant ponce? Hell, we only met this one in text form, and he's still a complete pillock. Ah, well. Let's take the blade back to Freyyr.
"I found it. In the corpse of the least dangerous thing since those Tachs I massacred earlier."
"Alright, geez, take it. Calm down."
"Alright! Let's not waste any time! Let's take the fight to Chunndar himself!"
So, with the wheels of our plan in motion, we return to the Great Walkway. However, we aren't given the welcome we hope for...
Gorwooken isn't too tough, but he frequently summons more wookiees to help him out, which makes this fight longer than you would expect.
Still, they aren't too tough, so the fight as a whole isn't too bad.
With the Wookiees dead, we're free to return to the Great Walkway.
It's time to head back to Rookwooro. We don't have far to walk, though.
"Wait, you fought each other? Why?"
"Alright. Let's go."
"Do none of you hairy heaps EVER shut up?"
"For not being able to speak basic. you sure yap a lot."
"Side with Chuundar! He has the power here!"
"Yeah! Freyyr abandoned you! "Sorry" doesn't make it better!"
...well, that was quick for Zaalbar to turn on the father he loved and side with the one man he has hated more than anyone in his entire life.
With Chunndar, Zaalbar, and the Czerka slavers on our side, this is an easy fight. Almost as easy as a Jedi Devouring monster...
No, I'm not going to let that go.
"Will Zaalbar have a place here then?"
"It's time I left this village of crackpot walking carpets."
Anyone else get the feeling that Zaalbar's become really submissive in a really creepy way?
"I think that would be fitting. Besides, we can hock it to that merchant at the port."
Curious...
Well, either Zaalbar has become an evil racist, or he really has become Chunndar's *****...
So, that's the main quest on Kashyyyk finished. Seems like a pretty dark ending, with eons of Wookiee traditions destroyed, and a tyrant more concerned with profit that the well-being of his people. Except when you realize that this is really just one village, and won'ty have too much affect on the other wookiee settlements, assuming there are other Wookiee settlements. But, we still have one side-quest to resolve before we leave this village forever.
"Do you know who owns this bolt casing?"
"On the corpse of the missing wookiee, Rorworr."
Jeez...I swear, Bioware must have thought up Wookiee names by the noises your stomach makes when it's hungry.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold the freakin' phone. You mean, if he gets excecuted, I get paid?"
Hooray for casual racism!
"So, Jaraak, you won't say anything in your own defense?"
In case you haven't figured it out yet, poor Jaraak does not want to reveal the dishonorable behavior of Rorwoor, for fear of crushing Woorwill's opinion of him. This is a really touching scene, and the Wookiee honor culture in a nutshell: Jaraak is prepared to dishonor himself, and possibly lose his own life, to protect someone who was dishonorable. It's a really touching scene, as Jolee will soon attest, there's no right answer to this situation. No matter how this goes down, there is going to be someone who walks away a lesser man.
So, Varen is going to take the profitable option.
"Kill him. I found nothing to justify the murder."
"What are we waiting for? Kill him! Kill him! Kill him! Jaarak must pay for his crime!"
And so, Jaraak goes off to die with honor. This scene is really well written, and is really quite powerful. Jaraak killed a slaver, and rather than let what was perceived to be a good man go down in history as a slaver. Fuck everyone else, Jaraak may be the most heroic person we have ever seen in this game.
Godspeed, you walking carpet.
"Now...(ahem) That was very touching, but there is the small matter of my payment."
...now that is a horrifying implication that I did not need in my life.
So, our business in the Wookiee village is finally concluded. We return to the Czerka port just in time to see the fruits of our decision.
I guess this is where Casey Hudson found his definition of "Uplifting"
"It was the only outcome possible that my twisted conscience would accept."
"What are your plans for Kashyyyk?"
So, that's pretty much it. However, there is one last loose end to be tied up.
"Oh, really? Well, this Droid Head would say otherwise."
"Oh, it's probably nothing. A perfectly normal droid head."
"It recorded an ambush. Someone yelled Eli's name."
"Kill him, Matton! You know he deserves it!"
Because peer pressure makes you murder people, folks.
"I suppose that closes this little shop here."
"If I were you, I'd wipe out all memory of him."
"[Force Persuade]You *will* remember your hatred. You will not trap yourself here."
"Hooray! More people embrace EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVIL!"
"Aw, why you gotta spoil my fun, Bastila?"
Before we set off for our next planet, let's talk with Canderous.
"Tell me about the Mandalorian wars."
"Yeah, but you couldn't have won against the whole galaxy."
"What happened in the battle?"
"There was other stuff at Malachor, like a massive Gravity Superweapon and an exceptionally powerful Jedi General on the field, but I didn't think that was nesecarry to mention."
"Why didn't you retreat?"
Canderous love for Revan borders on the creepy, if I'm honest.
Let's go talk to Zaalbar about what happened on his homeworld.
"Have anything more to say for yourself, Zaalbar?"
"Perhaps the outsiders are to blame, but your people are complicit."
...so, Zaalbar has turned evil without any significant character development whatsoever. Great. Awesome. I'll go into this point in greater detail later, but this is a part of the game that really irks with me.
So, it's time to head to our final planet, Korriban, ancient homeworld of the Sith. Tune in next time for an extra long update of one of my favorite RPG levels of the last decade.
"I'm not here to kill you! Just listen!"
"Do you know Zaalbar and Chunndar?"
"I'm Varen Von BadDoom, future Empress of the galaxy. I came here with Zaalbar."
"No. He follows me because of some stupid Life Debt that is supposedly different from slavery but not in any practical way."
"What exactly happened between those two?"
"When did you learn the truth?"
"But, why would Chunndar want you dead now?"
"So, what happens now?"
"How? Everyone is on his side, despite the fact he is almost as cartoonishly evil as me. Well, not quite. Maybe almost half as cartoonishly evil. But that's still pretty overtly evil."
"Where is this obvious macguffin?"
"Where can I find it?"
...well, duh.
"Alright, I'll have a look. Can you give me any direction?"
So, we're looking for a corpse in order to bait this mysterious beast. Thankfully, we've been creating fresh viper kinrath corpses ever since we arrived in this particular 'hood of the Shadowlands, so we just go to collect one of those...
...like so! Then we stuff the body into our infinitely large backpack, or bag of holding, or whatever, and bring it to the Ritual Site.
The ritual site in question is indistinguishable from the rest of the forest, bar this rock. Examining it reveals a number of useful tidbits.
With our pointless lore-mongering complete, we begin the ancient and incredibly complex ritual, which consists of tying a corpse to a vine.
After tying it to the tree, the beast is baited from its hole...revealing that the great beast is in fact...
My god... IT'S A TERENTAREK! KILLER OF JEDI! DEVOURER OF SITH! TRULY THIS IS THE TERROR OF THE SHADOWLANDS! FLEE! FLEE! BEFORE IT...
...dies easily in a matter of seconds.
What.
What.
WHAT?
When I first played that section, it was all I could do to resist staring, mouth agape, at the screen. Here was an enemy, first hyped up back on friggin Dantooine, and, after we've come this far, it dies in a matter of seconds? I mean, what the fuck? We've literally fought SAND PEOPLE tougher than this thing. Was this a glitch? A balancing issue? Or an intentional troll? Well, they've certainly had experience in the latter...
You know, this isn't a new idea. Many games hype up one enemy above all others for you to fear. However, most of those games, notably games like Resident Evil 2 + 3, and Silent Hill 2, do this by showing the enemy's power rather than just telling us about it. No one in Silent Hill 2 said "You better watch out for that Red Pyramid, he's pretty badass." By hyping them up with dialogue, the game guarantees disappointment. Especially when you can kill the enemy by blowing on them...
Maybe the fact it had a sword stuck in its side is what made it weaker. But, then, that begged the question why the damn thing didn't just pull it out. It's not rocket science, it's basic instinct.
Nearby, we find the corpse of the Jedi Freyyr talked about.
The circlet of saresh is a really good item for consulars, but, unfortunately, neither Varen nor Jolee can use it, as it is restricted to Light Side characters. We also find a Journal belonging to said jedi.
This Datapad was recovered from the remains of the Terentarek on Kashyyyk. It must have been devoured by the beast. It appears to be the personal journal of Guun Han Saresh. The last entry explains what he was doing on Kashyyyk.
#FamousLastWords
Is every second Jedi we meant an arrogant ponce? Hell, we only met this one in text form, and he's still a complete pillock. Ah, well. Let's take the blade back to Freyyr.
"I found it. In the corpse of the least dangerous thing since those Tachs I massacred earlier."
"Alright, geez, take it. Calm down."
"Alright! Let's not waste any time! Let's take the fight to Chunndar himself!"
So, with the wheels of our plan in motion, we return to the Great Walkway. However, we aren't given the welcome we hope for...
Gorwooken isn't too tough, but he frequently summons more wookiees to help him out, which makes this fight longer than you would expect.
Still, they aren't too tough, so the fight as a whole isn't too bad.
With the Wookiees dead, we're free to return to the Great Walkway.
It's time to head back to Rookwooro. We don't have far to walk, though.
"Wait, you fought each other? Why?"
"Alright. Let's go."
"Do none of you hairy heaps EVER shut up?"
"For not being able to speak basic. you sure yap a lot."
"Side with Chuundar! He has the power here!"
"Yeah! Freyyr abandoned you! "Sorry" doesn't make it better!"
...well, that was quick for Zaalbar to turn on the father he loved and side with the one man he has hated more than anyone in his entire life.
With Chunndar, Zaalbar, and the Czerka slavers on our side, this is an easy fight. Almost as easy as a Jedi Devouring monster...
No, I'm not going to let that go.
"Will Zaalbar have a place here then?"
"It's time I left this village of crackpot walking carpets."
Anyone else get the feeling that Zaalbar's become really submissive in a really creepy way?
"I think that would be fitting. Besides, we can hock it to that merchant at the port."
Curious...
Well, either Zaalbar has become an evil racist, or he really has become Chunndar's *****...
So, that's the main quest on Kashyyyk finished. Seems like a pretty dark ending, with eons of Wookiee traditions destroyed, and a tyrant more concerned with profit that the well-being of his people. Except when you realize that this is really just one village, and won'ty have too much affect on the other wookiee settlements, assuming there are other Wookiee settlements. But, we still have one side-quest to resolve before we leave this village forever.
"Do you know who owns this bolt casing?"
"On the corpse of the missing wookiee, Rorworr."
Jeez...I swear, Bioware must have thought up Wookiee names by the noises your stomach makes when it's hungry.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold the freakin' phone. You mean, if he gets excecuted, I get paid?"
Hooray for casual racism!
"So, Jaraak, you won't say anything in your own defense?"
In case you haven't figured it out yet, poor Jaraak does not want to reveal the dishonorable behavior of Rorwoor, for fear of crushing Woorwill's opinion of him. This is a really touching scene, and the Wookiee honor culture in a nutshell: Jaraak is prepared to dishonor himself, and possibly lose his own life, to protect someone who was dishonorable. It's a really touching scene, as Jolee will soon attest, there's no right answer to this situation. No matter how this goes down, there is going to be someone who walks away a lesser man.
So, Varen is going to take the profitable option.
"Kill him. I found nothing to justify the murder."
"What are we waiting for? Kill him! Kill him! Kill him! Jaarak must pay for his crime!"
And so, Jaraak goes off to die with honor. This scene is really well written, and is really quite powerful. Jaraak killed a slaver, and rather than let what was perceived to be a good man go down in history as a slaver. Fuck everyone else, Jaraak may be the most heroic person we have ever seen in this game.
Godspeed, you walking carpet.
"Now...(ahem) That was very touching, but there is the small matter of my payment."
...now that is a horrifying implication that I did not need in my life.
So, our business in the Wookiee village is finally concluded. We return to the Czerka port just in time to see the fruits of our decision.
I guess this is where Casey Hudson found his definition of "Uplifting"
"It was the only outcome possible that my twisted conscience would accept."
"What are your plans for Kashyyyk?"
So, that's pretty much it. However, there is one last loose end to be tied up.
"Oh, really? Well, this Droid Head would say otherwise."
"Oh, it's probably nothing. A perfectly normal droid head."
"It recorded an ambush. Someone yelled Eli's name."
"Kill him, Matton! You know he deserves it!"
Because peer pressure makes you murder people, folks.
"I suppose that closes this little shop here."
"If I were you, I'd wipe out all memory of him."
"[Force Persuade]You *will* remember your hatred. You will not trap yourself here."
"Hooray! More people embrace EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVIL!"
"Aw, why you gotta spoil my fun, Bastila?"
Before we set off for our next planet, let's talk with Canderous.
"Tell me about the Mandalorian wars."
"Yeah, but you couldn't have won against the whole galaxy."
"What happened in the battle?"
"There was other stuff at Malachor, like a massive Gravity Superweapon and an exceptionally powerful Jedi General on the field, but I didn't think that was nesecarry to mention."
"Why didn't you retreat?"
Canderous love for Revan borders on the creepy, if I'm honest.
Let's go talk to Zaalbar about what happened on his homeworld.
"Have anything more to say for yourself, Zaalbar?"
"Perhaps the outsiders are to blame, but your people are complicit."
...so, Zaalbar has turned evil without any significant character development whatsoever. Great. Awesome. I'll go into this point in greater detail later, but this is a part of the game that really irks with me.
So, it's time to head to our final planet, Korriban, ancient homeworld of the Sith. Tune in next time for an extra long update of one of my favorite RPG levels of the last decade.
Question Time! Two today, although one is only for a specific group.
1. For those of you have played it, how did you find Mass Effect 3's extended cut. Ultimately, I think it's an improvement, but not by much, and its too little, too late. Love the LI scene before the beam, though.
2. What is the most egrecious case of character derailment you have ever encountered? By this I mean a character completely changes their outlook and personality with little development in service of the plot. Commander Shepard in the final moments of Mass Effect stands out, big time, but the golden turd simply must go what they did to JC Denton in Deus Ex: Invisible War. I'm... not even going to say how many things were wrong with that.
1. I am probably not even going to bother. It was a piece of shit then and it will be a piece of shit now.
2. Uh...I don't know I usually don't pay attention to these things.
2. Uh...I don't know I usually don't pay attention to these things.
woodaba said:
Yeah it wasn't Revan's Tactics that won the battle it was the actions of Bao-dur and Jedi Jesus(otherwise known as the exile and general)