Atton: "What's up?"
Bob: "I met someone on Nar Shaddaa who says he knows you."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00611_zps200ac783.jpg.html]
Bob: "He implied that you weren't 'Atton' at all, and that you came here during the Jedi Civil War."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00613_zps600e2dd4.jpg.html]
Bob: "Is there anything you want to tell me?"
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00615_zps53a07ae5.jpg.html]
Bob: "If you've got a problem, let's settle it, right now."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00617_zps545bce84.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00618_zpsa6a06456.jpg.html]
Bob: "Why are you trying to protect me?"
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00620_zps1465b452.jpg.html]
Bob: "I want to know where you were before you arrived on Nar Shaddaa."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00622_zpsbf48df87.jpg.html]
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Bob: "I DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE ON MALACHOR V!...I...In the war, I did a lot I wan't proud of. A lot of people died who didn't deserve it. On both sides. I'm...sorry...for the lives that were lost."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00626_zps47a52584.jpg.html]
Bob: "It wasn't like that."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00629_zps13e7a7b0.jpg.html]
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Bob: "Why do you believe that?"
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00636_zps70381a7b.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00637_zpsbead809b.jpg.html]
Bob: "What do you mean?"
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00639_zps7aed9b0a.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00640_zpsd945cdcf.jpg.html]
Bob: "Don't paint the many with the sins of a few."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00642_zpsefe4a6bd.jpg.html]
Bob: "Look, Atton, I'd like to know your past, if we're going to travel together."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00645_zps7770fbeb.jpg.html]
Bob: "Why not?"
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00648_zpsce681aec.jpg.html]
Bob: "You served in the war?"
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00650_zps12ece31b.jpg.html]
Bob: "You...were Sith?"
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00652_zps68cd48a1.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00653_zpseeee7e59.jpg.html]
Bob: "Why did you desert?"
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00655_zps5cbbbf45.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00656_zps82a45de3.jpg.html]
Bob: "The Republic isn't perfect, but answering war with war is wrong."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00658_zps2f08db78.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00659_zps986b3fd6.jpg.html]
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[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00661_zpsbbf80d12.jpg.html]
Bob: "I think that's more because Eres III's fire department is rather lackluster. I mean, any fire department that seriously advocates the benefits of gasoline in putting out fires needs a bit of an overhaul."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00662_zps8fefa5b9.jpg.html]
Bob: "Instead, you all became Sith."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00664_zps9ac3b768.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00665_zps57e28166.jpg.html]
Bob: "So you followed Revan, like I had."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00667_zpsa88fba87.jpg.html]
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[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00669_zps0867d89a.jpg.html]
Bob: "You fought Jedi?"
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00672_zps82c9d131.jpg.html]
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[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00676_zps571691de.jpg.html]
Bob: "You make it sound...easy."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00678_zps340f0f2e.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00679_zps6f6a1078.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00680_zps9cf00995.jpg.html]
I know this is all great stuff, but I just had a mindgasm about how fucking awesome the writing is here.
Atton is essentially saying that he pretended to be a shallow, smarmy Han Solo rip-off to avoid his targets discovering his true nature and motivations,
in exactly the same way that the writing presents Atton as the resident Han Solo stand-in to obfuscate his true identity to the player!
[http://media.photobucket.com/user/LLSamSam/media/Gif%20Folder/tumblr_lqriwxsOkO1qh4y4vo1_250.gif.html]
Bob: "So, you force emotions? To stop someone reading your mind?"
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00682_zpsa42249e1.jpg.html]
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Bob: "What do you mean?"
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00688_zps27c459d2.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00689_zps43fc49f4.jpg.html]
Bob: "Capture Jedi? Not kill them?"
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00691_zps01ef7d05.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00693_zpsa5cd6143.jpg.html]
Bob: "That doesn't sound like something someone can just walk away from."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00695_zps495f6a8c.jpg.html]
Bob: "Why are you telling me this? You're telling a Jedi that you killed Jedi."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00697_zps9dd45a27.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00698_zps1af38be4.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00699_zps484b7f3b.jpg.html]
I can't help but feel that this section were would be more powerful if it were possible for a companion to have died at this point, but it's a minor nitpick.
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00700_zps03535056.jpg.html]
Bob: "But why did you leave the Sith? It didn't strike me as an organization you could just up and leave whenever you wanted."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00702_zps17fcd698.jpg.html]
Bob: "Were you assigned to kill her?"
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00705_zps22934f12.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00706_zps148f560a.jpg.html]
Bob: "Truth about what?"
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00708_zps177de963.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00709_zpsfcaf0604.jpg.html]
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[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00712_zps1204297b.jpg.html]
Bob: "So what did you do?"
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00714_zps3409d6b9.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00715_zps194fa0a4.jpg.html]
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[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00717_zpsdde29fa4.jpg.html]
Bob: "That sounds more like 'creepy stalker obsession' to me. But, then again, that is what being a Jedi is all about too."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00720_zpsfe436158.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00721_zps8c38c5ea.jpg.html]
Well, that's crazy person logic for you.
Bob: "So, what happened then?"
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00723_zpsaee873e8.jpg.html]
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Bob: "Then I welcome your help."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00730_zpsbee5a8ab.jpg.html]
Bob: "Thank you for your honesty, Atton. It means a lot."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00732_zps8d981584.jpg.html]
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Bob: "Then I will train you, Atton."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00740_zps4a1e673d.jpg.html]
Bob: "Well, technically, but don't worry about it. It means jack shit. After all, it's not like the giant space pyramids that abducted the people of the galaxy to train them into Jedi still exist for the rituals to mean a damn bloody thing, because it's not like the roots of the Jedi order should by mystical or anything, no, let's just make a shitty comic series that glosses over the origins of the Jedi while still making it so stupid and anticlimactic that you shouldn't have fucking bothered in the first goddamn place GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!...Ahem. I, ah. Don't know what happened there. Right. Just, uh. Close your eyes. Open your mind."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00742_zpsd77aa561.jpg.html]
Bob: "You must learn to feel the Force around you, it's currents, it's eddies."
[http://media.photobucket.com/user/gothdolllove/media/Ed%20Edd%20Eddy/Eddy/gottaloveEdytriplee.jpg.html]
This one, specifically.
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00744_zpsbadecc42.jpg.html]
Bob: "Listen to the echo of your thoughts, your heart - separated from war, separated from hate."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00746_zps63508be7.jpg.html]
Bob: "Think of what you felt when you felt the need to help me, protect me."
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00748_zpscd97764a.jpg.html]
Bob: "And, at last, Atton. Awaken."
I
LOVE
THIS
SCENE
In a game filled with so many memorable moments, it's striking that something that is actually quite difficult to trigger is so well done, so memorable, and so critical to getting the whole experience of KotOR II. In the name of conciseness, I'll make a list of why I think this scene is so good.
1. It's entirely optional. This scene is by no means mandatory, and, in fact, the means by which to trigger it can be more than a little obtuse, having to stand in a very specific spot, with Atton in your party. In fact, the first time I played through this game, I never saw this scene.
2. It's foreshadowed in such a way that you'll never see it coming, but makes perfect sense when you get to it, and on a repeat playthrough, you can notice all the little inconsistencies in Atton's behavior.
3. It shows Revan's tactical genius, badassery, and ruthlessness in a way that the game that starred her never could. I don't exaggerate when I say that despite the Expanded Universe mostly shunning KotOR II as the red-headed stepchild, EVERYTHING about Revan's subsequent characterization is drawn from this game. Yes, even that terrible book.
4. It introduces the fantastic mechanic of turning force-sensitive party members into Jedi, thereby bypassing the awkward fact of the first game that non-Jedi party members were pretty much worthless.
5. We finally get a chance in a Star Wars RPG to be the master rather than the apprentice, and get an honest-to-god Padawan to our Knight.
6. It's just a brilliantly written scene, and while it may come across as exposition, we really do get a sense of where Atton was back then, and where he is now. His reasons for joining the Sith are actually fairly logical and make a fiar amount of sense, and he isn't even all THAT remorseful for his actions, which is a really interesting touch: he left the Sith partly to save his own skin, but also because his experience with the female Jedi so profoundly moved him that it caused him to have an existential crisis and reevaluate his entire life. He didn't just wake up one day, decide that his comrades were massive cocks, and shot his way out. He behaved the way an actual human being would. It's actually kind of beautiful. He came from a sith assassin and torturer, to someone who exists solely to help another. In some ways, despite his incredibly dark past and the heavy implication that he's a couple cheerios short of a bowl, he embodies what being a Jedi is better so many other characters.
7. It's more delicious foreshadowing for the finale.
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00750_zps0952acfb.jpg.html]
Now that Atton is a Jedi, he gains a new level for his new class. Sentinel is our class, so we won't be using Atton quite as much from here on in, but we'll still pull him out from time to time.
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00751_zpsb6cc43b3.jpg.html]
[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00752_zpsc77ef281.jpg.html]
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[http://s295.photobucket.com/user/woodaba2/media/KOTOR%202%20PART%203/2013-06-02_00754_zps4c71a5eb.jpg.html]
We won't be getting Atton a lightsaber for a very long time, so it helps to have something like this to tide him over.
And, there we have it. This update was extremely heavy on story, but if that bothered you, don't worry. Next week, we'll smash enough faces to fill plenty of space.
However, before we move on, we have a decision to make for Atton's future. Obviously, as a Jedi, he can now wield the awesome might of a lightsaber, but the question is: do we want him to? The consensus right now is that Bob should keep to the fisticuffs, but should we keep Atton on the blasters akimbo, or should we give him a lightsaber whenever we get a chance?
NEXT TIME: BOB BINDO: CHAMPION OF THE DOWNTRODDEN, AND LOOTER OF THEIR STUFF.