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If my name was Count Dooku, I would happily change it to Darth Tyranus at the earliest opportunity.
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Jan 29, 2020 15:45
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megane posted:Look, Sith pick their names when they're, like, 13, and then are stuck with them. It's like a forty-year-old car salesman whose email is xxsephirothsharinganxx@gmail.com. I mean, everything about Korriban so far just establishes that to be a Sith you have to start as a teenage edgelord and continue being a teenage edgelord for the rest of your life.
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Jan 29, 2020 16:30
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megane posted:Look, Sith pick their names when they're, like, 13, and then are stuck with them. It's like a forty-year-old car salesman whose email is xxsephirothsharinganxx@gmail.com. I miss Dr. McNinja
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Jan 29, 2020 16:42
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EggsAisle posted:Darth Bane? Not even gonna make the token effort, huh? Just roll with the name that sounds like an edgelord self-insert from some garbage fanfic...? Sure, why not. I give credit to Bioware's writers here- Darth Malak, Darth Revan, Darth Bandon, those are all perfectly serviceable and respectable Sith names. They are exactly as (un)subtle as they ought to be, no more and no less. Darth Bane posted:“Ah you think the dark side is your ally? You merely adopted the dark side. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light side until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but blinding!”
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Jan 29, 2020 17:30
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Darth Bane was apparently created by George Lucas himself! He was also voiced by Mark Hamill in an episode of Clone Wars.
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Jan 29, 2020 18:09
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Part 25: The Double-Double-Double-Cross Last time, we discovered the Star Map on Korriban is hidden somewhere in the Valley of the Dark Lords, which just so happens to only be accessible to the Sith. So, we sought out one of the masters of the Korriban Sith academy and convinced her to let us join their ranks. Obviously we're not turning to the dark side or anything like that, but they don't need to know that.  We were told by Master Uthar to seek knowledge of the Sith Code in order to gain some prestige. There's Master Yuthura, maybe she can fill us in.   Your favorite prospect?  As a matter of fact, I am so certain of that that I'm willing to offer you an opportunity of the once-in-a-lifetime variety. Would you like to hear it?  As I said, you're no doubt going to be the one whom Uthar chooses to become a Sith. With my help, of course. Once that occurs, he will take you into the Valley of the Dark Lords to the tomb of Naga Sadow to administer the final test. There you and I will be alone with him. The perfect time to, shall we say, arrange for a change in the academy's leadership?Ah, I see. Just what you'd expect from the Sith.   Oh? Well, that means we definitely need to get inside Naga Sadow's tomb.  Carth, I don't think you need to pretend to be a slave quite that hard.  And what's your part in this? My 'part' in this is to help you gain enough prestige... and slow down the progress of the other hopefuls. I want you in that tomb when the time is right. We destroy Master Uthar together and I take his place... and you take your place at my side. A beautiful plan in its sheer simplicity.Wouldn't we gain even more prestige by informing Master Uthar of this plan?   But this is a very good opportunity for you... you can start off your Sith career as the right hand of the head of the academy: me. Uthar will not offer you that. Do you believe Uthar would not be aware of this? He would quickly figure out what you have to gain by betraying him... and would never believe someone would pass that up. Tell Master Uthar what you wish. Were I you, I would think first of what the consequences of such an action might be. You want me to kill Master Uthar? Is that such a daunting prospect? It is not as if I am asking you to perform the task alone, or as if you will get nothing out of it. Master Uthar cannot prevail against us both. That's all there is to it. It is a very simple matter.If you say so. Frankly, the infighting between the Sith doesn't really concern us, and we don't really care what happens to the academy either way unless we could somehow shut down the whole operation.   I'm sure he already does. He'd be an idiot if he didn't.   You know what, let's play along. As long as we don't have to do anything horrific, we'll do whatever it takes to ensure we gain access to the tomb of Naga Sadow. Uthar is a powerful Sith, so killing him seems like a net positive even if that still leaves Yuthura in charge of the academy.  I will begin to make preparations for your final test. Your only worry now is to get there... don't disappoint me.Wouldn't dream of it.  You must impress Master Uthar... go to him with news of your deeds or artifacts you have discovered. The first and easiest way would be for you to learn the Code of the Sith and speak it to him. I can teach you that, if you like. Shall I go on? Can you tell me about the Code of the Sith? I can help you to understand it. Would you like to hear it?Yes! Get on with it!   Simple words, yet easily misunderstood. Would you care for me to explain anything? Sure, let's start from the top.  We know different. It is our passion... our hate and our desire... that fuels the Force. It is conflict that improves the lot of civilization and single being both. Conflict forces one to better oneself. It forces change, growth, adaption... evolution... or death. These are not our laws, but the universe's. Without conflict you have only stagnation.  What about love? Love is more dangerous than all those things. Love leads to anger and hatred more often that not... but it also leads to mercy, which is far worse. That, however, is a lesson for another time. Those seem like awfully negative passions. Negative? Compared to what? What keeps even the most rudimentary creature alive? Fear to run, anger to fight... without it a creature would most surely die. Are you saying we aren't anything more than a rudimentary creature? We are far more than them, perhaps, but in some ways we are little different. To think us creatures beyond the need of simple passions is a delusion. The Jedi say the opposite. How can both be right? The Force gives us all power, even the Jedi. It is our mastery of our passion that gives us the strength they lack. I see. It is our goal to be stronger, to achieve our potential and not rest upon our laurels. We are the seekers, not the shepherds.These conversations with Yuthura about the Sith philosophy are easily the most interesting Sith-related thing in the original KotOR. They make it seem like the dark side and the Sith aren't just about being cartoon villains for the sake of it, but of course all we hear here is contradicted by everything we see about the Sith elsewhere in the game.   Without strife, your victory has no meaning. Without strife, you do not advance. Without strife, there is only stagnation. 'Through power, I gain victory'? How many sorts of victories can you imagine? Peaceful victory? Victory by sacrifice? A truce, an achievement? Unless the victory is achieved by demonstrating that your power is superior, it is only an illusion. Temporary at best. We seek more.Only one kind of victory is acceptable to the Sith, and that is crushing your foes with your superior might.   Ultimately the goal of any Sith is to free herself from such restrictions. In a way, it is so we may do whatever we wish... but it is much more than that. One who has freed themselves from all restrictions has reached perfection. Their potential fulfilled. Perfect strength, perfect power, perfect destiny. Imagine it. That is our ideal, at any rate. It is said in Sith legend that the 'Sith'ari'... the perfect being... will one day lead us. But perhaps that is just a legend.The identity of this Sith'ari was debated among Star Wars fans for years, but eventually it was confirmed the legend was referring to Darth Bane.   But perhaps that is just a legend. Perfection is... a goal, I think, rather than a state of being. The Jedi would argue that, no doubt. 'The Force shall free me'? The Force is our servant and our master. Our teacher and our companion. A weapon and a tool. Know it and you know the universe. Master it and you master the universe. Strive for perfection and the Force shall reward you. I think that's enough about the Sith Code.  However, we're not done here just yet.  We want to learn more about Yuthura herself.  Oh, but we do. She's not gonna tell us just yet, though, so let's ask about the ruins instead.  I have been involved in the work there over the last couple of years, but not often. Most of the excavating is left to the students. What did you wish to know? Why are the Sith so interested in these ruins? We could learn much about the history of the ancient Sith... why they were on Korriban and why they left. Perhaps we could learn more about the origin of the Force, itself. With that knowledge could come great power. Is there any way into the tomb of Naga Sadow? Not unless you are accompanied by Master Uthar, no. It is strictly forbidden... and I truly doubt you could bypass the doors to the tomb with anything less than ship blasters. Even then, perhaps. There's no other way inside? None. I do not even know how Master Uthar gains entrance, to tell the truth, though I look forward to discovering that fact. I have searched many times, so do not bother... there is no other way. Do not fret, however. Simply get the prestige you need and you will see the tomb soon enough. I've heard enough.It certainly looks like the only way inside the tomb of Naga Sadow is to go through all this Sith nonsense, and Yuthura's plan should help us get there easier.   Okay, let's see if Yuthura will tell us more about herself now.    As I said, I was originally a slave to one of the Hutts. The Hutts control everything on Sleheyron, and a slave is nothing to them. I was determined not to be 'nothing'. One night when the drunken worm had me alone in his chambers I stabbed him and escaped the compound. I stole onto a cargo ship and was not discovered by the crew until they reached the next system. They left me for dead on a desolate planetoid, alone... but that was fine by me. I was glad to be anywhere other than Sleheyron. It was not luck that I was eventually rescued, of course. The Force was strong with me, though I didn't know that at the time. Not until the Jedi told me, that is. The Jedi found you? What happened? I'd... rather not discuss it. Perhaps another time.All right.   Of course, we're not actually going anywhere. Instead, we'll talk to Yuthura again because she's got more to say about her past.   I'd really like to hear the tale. Why? There is no point. Have I asked you about your past?Well, no, but I'm sure we could tell her some interesting stories from our smuggling days.   Let's see... after escaping from Sleheyron I was found by the Jedi. They took me in and trained me even though I was a bit older than most Padawans. You were a Jedi? Not really, no. I never progressed beyond Padawan. I had discipline, but no peace... and after my treatment at the hands of the Hutts there was little room in me for the ways of the Jedi. I wanted to use the Force to free the other slaves I knew, to fight for what I knew was right. The Jedi restrained me until I couldn't stand it any more. They claim the dark side is evil, but that isn't so. Sometimes anger and hatred are deserved and right. Sometimes things change because of it.And so, we've learned Yuthura is another example of the Jedi Order's actions directly causing a promising student to rebel against them and join the Sith. All because she felt compassion for the slaves she knew from her years as a slave on Sleheyron, and wanted to help those people. Of course we've only heard her side of the story, but the Jedi really don't have a great track record when it comes to this sort of thing. Meanwhile, the Sith saw her anger and hatred towards the slavers, and capitalized on it. Now she's here on Korriban, training Sith to fight the Jedi.   I know this may sound strange, but only my compassion stands in my way, now. Once that is gone let the slavers beware.I believe we can identify a slight flaw in her thinking.    No, this has been quite fascinating. We've just learned that Yuthura isn't simply the hardened Sith master she presents herself as, but a troubled woman who is constantly struggling against the fact there is still good left in her. The compassion that made her want to free those slaves is still there, and while she thinks it makes her weak and wishes to get rid of it, she clearly hasn't considered what happens if she ever does lose that compassion.  Now that we've gotten Yuthura to open up to us, perhaps we'll be able to help her in ways she never intended.  Master Uthar said last time there were five Sith prospects, including us. However, we only ever saw three others. Kel here is the fifth, I believe, and we'll talk to him shortly.  But first, let's say hi to Lashowe.   You don't remember? My name is Lashowe. We met in the colony, ever so briefly. Thanks for these dialogue options, guys. "You're trying to become a Sith as well?" Well, I wonder. Maybe she's just here because she likes the decor?  Lashowe calls you an idiot, because of course she does. When the only viable dialogue option makes you look like a moron, there's not a whole lot you can do about it.   Why haven't you brought it to Uthar yet? I don't have it just yet. I'll get it... when I'm good and ready.Oh, I'll bet.    We'll call Lashowe out on her bullshit. She clearly has nothing. (actually she does have something and we'll persuade her to tell us next time)  See ya, Lashowe.  Shaardan is just as pleasant as before.  We'll be quite happy to shove a lightsaber or two down his throat to shut him up, if that's what it takes.  Who said anything about a fair fight?  I'm surprised he could spell it.  Juhani leveled up at some point, and learns Improved Power Attack and Disable Droid.  There's Mekel. How you doin', Mekel?    You know, I'm starting to think the dark side energies at this place are starting to get to us a little.  As if he'll ever be a full Sith.  Finally, we come across the guy we've been looking for.    Oh, lovely. It's Father. Figures that you'd show up after all this time. How did you manage to get inside the academy? I'm not sure going for the dad joke approach is the best idea in this situation, but screw it.  Just why are you here, Father? Not for me, I hope. Couldn't you have gotten yourself blown up on some ship and spared us this reunion?I think we might have a problem on our hands here. We didn't necessarily expect Dustil to greet us with open arms, but it seems he genuinely hates his father.  Too bad you didn't still think that. Or did you really think I would be happy to see you? Look, everyone! It's Father, come to rescue me at long last! Sure, he may have left Mother and I to die on Telos, but that doesn't matter! No, I didn't abandon you! The task force just arrived too late. Telos was in ruins, and your mother... I held her while... But I looked for you. I swear I looked everywhere --   You know what? It doesn't matter. Not any more. I have a new family now, a family that cares about me. I don't need you. The Sith? You can't mean that! No, the Sith killed your mother! The Sith destroyed Telos! So? You're the soldier, father. How many mothers have you killed?Oh, for the love of...   I don't know what's been done to you, but you're coming with me out of here. Now. Touch me, old man, and I'll kill you. Get out! Get out of here before I tell the Sith that you're here! Do not pick any of the other options here if you don't want this reunion to end extremely poorly. If you do, Dustil and Carth keep yelling at each other until Dustil goes hostile and you need to kill him. Naturally, Carth will blame you for the whole thing afterwards.  How does he not get it?  No, they're not evil! They're not! The dark side is superior, and you... you were at war long before they came along! The Sith war to conquer, to rule the helpless. I went to war for *you*, Dustil. For your freedom, your future! Of course not.  Prove it. Prove that the Sith are so evil and I'll... I'll think about it.  If I hear you asking questions about me or doing a single thing to jeopardize my position in the Sith, I swear I'll tell everyone what you're up to. You got that, father? You prove what you're saying is true. I'm not going anywhere, otherwise. Apparently, being massively irritating runs in the family. So, we now need to find some sort of proof about the Sith being evil, which... well, let's face it, if Dustil hasn't figured that out yet by just looking around him, we're gonna need some pretty serious proof.  We could talk to Uthar in the main hall and show him we've learned the Sith Code, but we won't do that just yet.  To the north is the exit leading to the Valley of the Dark Lords. We're not going there yet, either.  The east corridor has two rooms at the end. To the right is the dueling room where the Sith students can train their combat skills against prisoners, and to the left is the interrogation room. Let's check out the interrogation room first.     If I bring his drug threshold too high, he'll go into shock and be useless. Too low and he just refuses to talk. It's been maddening.Right.   The real trick is that the only way to gauge your progress is to watch the prisoner closely for his reaction. Our scanners can't pick up his vitals. You want me to try it? Certainly. Just don't kill him or send him into shock. He's supposed to be questioned, not executed. If you manage to get the location of his cache out of him, I'll be sure to pass on the good word to Master Uthar. The prisoner doesn't have a lot to say.  Neither does this guy, presumably someone they've previously interrogated. We'll be back in a bit, but first let's take a look at the dueling room.   This Sith sucks at fighting. He does kill the prisoner in the end, but almost gets killed in the process himself. Also, we can see the student on the right casually using Force lightning like it's nothing. Maybe Shaardan can also use it, then. I really don't like the fact these students can clearly use Force lightning because as I said, it should be something only powerful Sith Lords can master, but there you go. Of course, we could also use it without any trouble, but we are at least supposed to be extremely strong in the Force.  But that's enough about that. Let's check out this computer and see if there's anything interesting in the files.  [SUCCESS] DATAFILES SECURITY BREACHED SCANNING FILES...  Hm? That sounds like something we might want to check out. Probably not enough for Dustil, though, so we'll have to keep looking. This is... actually really bizarre, because there is supposed to be a file here on this computer that we can take to Dustil. Either the game is bugging out (perish the thought) or that file wasn't there on Xbox.  Even if you have enough spikes, these options won't work.  The only room we haven't searched yet is Uthar's bedroom at the west end of the academy, so let's make our way there.  Well, let's talk to the man himself first.  He asks us to recite the Code after him, but you don't need to see all that so we'll skip ahead to the end.   Tell me then, true or false: victory by any means is desirable. Absolutely not. There are many ways to attain victory, but the only ways the Sith care about are ones that show their superiority.  Go, now... you have done well, but you have not impressed me enough to declare you the victor. I have matters to attend to.No, you don't. You just keep sitting there. Well, whatever.   Alright. Before we break into Uthar's room, there was another Sith student we saw earlier but didn't talk to.  Let's fix that.  Kel is much less confrontational than everyone else at this academy.  That can't be right.  Are you sure? Y-yes. My master always says I am too trusting, too willing to show weakness. You're a Sith, so I really shouldn't... you know...  And you're not? Well I... I... I didn't mean it like that. Well, how did you mean it, then? I... I shouldn't trust you. I can't trust you, can I? Do we not look trustworthy?   You can snitch on Kel for dark side points and extra prestige, but obviously we're not doing any of that. Instead, we'll encourage Kel to leave the academy because this is entirely the wrong place for him.   I... don't know. I never really thought about it. Maybe I should seek it out, give it a try. Thank you... thank you so much! If only some people were so easily convinced.  Zila levels up, gains a Persuade point to get her up to 12, and learns the Force Wave power. Force Wave is the final power in the Force Push tree, and it's pretty crazy. I'd explain it in more detail, but we'll be seeing in in action soon. We've also very nearly attained light side mastery, which provides a +3 boost to CHA as long as you're actually at maximum light side points.  Right, let's break into Master Uthar's room now. Here's hoping he's left some incriminating evidence of his evil deeds lying around.  I've been neglecting Zila's Security skill since she became a Jedi, so we can't open this door with our skill alone (and it can't even be bashed). We have several ways to boost that, though. A security spike gets us through the door with ease.  That footlocker looks promising.   If not, it might convince Dustil that what we're saying about the Sith is true. It would be worth a shot.Let's actually find out what that datapad says. Datapad posted:This datapad appears to contain numerous entries of notes made by Master Uthar of the Sith Academy. Most prominent of the recent entries is the following: "My new family cares about me" indeed.  We can also interact with Uthar's bed, but nothing happens. Strange. The other footlocker contains 450 credits, a Sith Mask, and a Jedi Master Robe. Was Uthar originally a Jedi Master?  The Sith Mask improves Force point regeneration, provides immunity to Mind-Affecting and gives the wearer the Weapon Focus: Lightsaber feat. It's also considered heavy armor, so nobody in our party who might actually make use of the Force point regeneration and the lightsaber feat can wear that. I'm surprised it's not restricted to the dark side like many similar items.  Time to show Dustil the evidence we found.  Selene? She's the one who convinced me to come to the academy with her. Why? Where did you get this? Look at it. It belongs to Master Uthar, doesn't it?   Finally, we manage to get through to Dustil.   And maybe I can, you know, look around here and find out some more information. From the inside. Something that might help you. I... don't suppose there's any way I could talk you out of that, is there? I mean, you're not going to do anything half way. Sounds familiar. I... guess it does. I'm proud of you, Dustil. You aren't hanging onto a lie after you see it for what it is. Not everyone could do that. Maybe... after this is over, we can... talk. I'm still not sure about... us, but I'll listen. Maybe we can get back to where we should have been. I'd like that.  All's well that ends well, I guess. Carth and Dustil still have a lot of things to talk through, but I'm sure they'll be able to patch things up when this is all over.  Now let's make our way back to the interrogation room and see about finding this Mandalorian's weapon cache. Or maybe we'll do something else altogether...    The Mandalorian is having some trouble believing we actually want to get him out of there, which is understandable.  But maybe we can persuade him to let us help.   Your people will... remove me, throw me away. I can survive for long periods... in this state. I can escape, then...Sounds good. Let's get him out of there.   That ought to do it.  My will is my own, Sith! I will answer nothing!Or not. I think we might need more computer skill for this.  Thankfully, we've got a couple of ways to increase it. We'll put on the interface visor for a +4 boost.  In addition, we'll activate Knight Valor to temporarily increase our INT by 3 and gain a +1 modifier, which is then added to our Computer Use skill rank. That gives us 9 Computer Use points in total.   It still took a couple of attempts, but eventually we manage to free the prisoner.  [Whisper] Use it... I no longer... need. I give it to you... in exchange for my life... human...And how about that, he also gave us the location of the cache. I'm not sure why he calls us "human" at the end, because he looks pretty human himself. Was he originally supposed to be an alien?  I told you not to put the prisoner into shock, didn't I?! Now how are we supposed to find out where the weapon cache is?! Uthar will be furious!! Bah! Now I may as well take this fool and dump him somewhere. He's useless to us! I cannot believe you are so incompetent!This guy doesn't need to know we actually got the location. We can't access it ourselves, so we might as well give it to Uthar for some extra prestige.  You do? That is most interesting. Where might that be? It is hidden within a trap door on his ship. Hmm. How ironic that I recently had his vessel scrapped for parts, then. I had assumed it had been thoroughly scanned... apparently not.Good job, guys.  Go, now... you have done well, but you have not impressed me enough to declare you the victor. I have matters to attend to.Oh no, we're not done here yet.  Despite what this looks like, we're not actually betraying Yuthura.   I see. It is good that you have come to me with this information, young one. It is a bit... ironic... that Yuthura has begun her plotting. I have been aware of her growing ambitions for some time, and had in fact already decided to remove her.Of course, Uthar had already seen the double-cross coming and has prepared a plan of his own. We expected nothing less.  Perhaps it will be you who combats her? Yes... perhaps so. This is what you can do. Give this pad to Adrenas... he will put some poison in her bath. This will weaken Yuthura for that final test, making her an easy target. Rather generous of me, don't you think?Very generous. Thank you.  Patience, Carth. It'll all be obvious soon enough.  Since we informed Uthar of Yuthura's plan, we earn even more prestige.  I want to know some more about you. You wish to know more about me, do you? And why would I indulge your idle curiosity? Will we be good friends, you think?Somehow, I don't.  There is nothing else that you need to know. Do not ask again, young one.Fair enough.  I wouldn't worry too much.  Right. With Master Uthar's datapad in hand, we'll make our way back to Yuthura.  I have some news about Uthar... What? What's happened? Our plan is still intact, I hope.  Obviously Uthar has decided to get rid of me. But why...? Did you say something to him?Erm... about that...   Yuthura isn't dumb enough to fall for that. Fortunately, that bit of information is not all we've got.  In the end, it works out better that it is only the two of us in the tomb with him. So long as we refuse to fight. Is there anything else I should know?Why yes, yes there is.   Here... this passcard will allow you access to Uthar's quarters. It's at the far end of the passages with the other quarters. Take this device as well and put it inside his cot. No-one should see you do it. Then Uthar will be too weak to stand up against us. Don't even think of failing me. You and I are too far into this now to back out.No, we will not think of failing her. This is genuinely it, we'll be going along with her plan all the way to the end.  If you don't have enough Security skill to get inside Uthar's room and get the evidence Dustil wants, Yuthura's passcard can also help you with that. We took care of that already, so let's just place this device and get out before anyone notices us.  There we go. That should ensure Uthar is weakened for our eventual confrontation. By the way, I should point out none of this actually gives you any dark side points.  Informing Uthar of Yuthura's plan in order to get the datapad thankfully hasn't affected our relationship with Yuthura. We're still buddies!  We couldn't tell Uthar about this detail even if we wanted. We're in way too deep now.  With that, we've completed all our business at the academy for now (well, almost), which means we should head to the Valley of the Dark Lords. We won't be able to get inside Naga Sadow's tomb yet, but there are plenty of opportunities in the Valley to earn more prestige.  Oh. Great.   You may have defeated the pathetic bounty hunter my Master sent after you, but you are no match for me! I have studied at the foot of the Dark Lord himself!   Right, let's get the formalities over with.  We'll start by buffing ourselves up and activating Force Resistance, because Darth Bandon loves to spam Death Field to sap our health.  Force Wave sends every enemy in the general vicinity flying unless they manage a saving throw, and also does solid damage. From here on, we can pretty much obliterate trash mobs without as much as swinging our lightsaber.  please stop that  It'd be nice if we didn't keep missing our attacks. This is where our reliance on dual-wielding kinda comes back to bite us, since we'd hit more reliably with a single saber.  goddammit  Eventually, Bandon goes down and... err... we avenge Trask, I guess. I probably should've made sure to kill this Dark Jedi before focusing on Bandon, but this guy was barely a factor in the fight anyway so it didn't really matter.  Bandon has some goodies for us, including his personal fiber armor which we'll sell to Suvam later.  Next time, we will explore the Valley of the Dark Lords. DMorbid fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Jan 30, 2020 |
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Jan 29, 2020 21:12
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I just noticed I ended up missing out on some late-game party member dialogues on this playthrough somehow. Some of those are very hard to trigger due to the way the mechanics work, and I failed to get them to show up even though I'm pretty sure I did talk to everyone at every opportunity.  gently caress's sake.Well, if nothing else, at least Carth won't try to hit on us again! 
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Jan 29, 2020 21:25
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I like the insights into Sith philosophy here. Some well-conceived characters too. Darth Bandon is down! That was quick. Wonder if killing him will jeopardize our position at the Academy. Or gain us any extra Prestige.
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Jan 29, 2020 22:17
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achtungnight posted:I like the insights into Sith philosophy here. Some well-conceived characters too. I feel like fighting him is again just a matter of "you've been to x number of worlds and Calo Nord is dead" so not everyone will fight him on Korriban, but it's amusing to have a fight with him right outside the academy and everyone presumably just shrugs. Also like how he's built up as being your next pursuer after Nord and he gets killed off even faster than Nord did. Would've thought there'd at least be a second fight with him.
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Jan 29, 2020 22:46
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Korriban is definitely the best part of Kotor, hands down. It's got fun characterization of NPCs It's got relatively coherent, but tangled plots It's got interesting set pieces The barriers to progress don't feel artificial The moral choices are marginally better It doesn't have: Large open areas with repetitive combat encounters against wild animals Backtracking Fetch quests That thing on manaan no one likes but I can't discuss as a spoiler, but you know what I mean
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Jan 29, 2020 22:48
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Angry_Ed posted:I feel like fighting him is again just a matter of "you've been to x number of worlds and Calo Nord is dead" so not everyone will fight him on Korriban, but it's amusing to have a fight with him right outside the academy and everyone presumably just shrugs. Yup, he always shows up on whatever your third post-Dantooine world is, and also right around the halfway mark for that world’s main plot. On Kashyyyk, you fight him the first time you go into the Shadowlands. Despite how minimal his impact on the plot is, though, he can still be a real mean bastard to kill, considering he loves to spam Drain.
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Jan 30, 2020 02:17
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Good thing Bandon didn't mention to anyone here why he had showed up.
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Jan 30, 2020 02:40
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I'm guessing good old Darth Brandon there didn't spare a memo to the others: "BTW that's someone who's been in our way, Bastilla's on their ship, get 'em." Him showing up on Korriban is probably the silliest place he could.
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Jan 30, 2020 02:40
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I played through this game years ago. Korriban is the only part I remember fondly. Well, Korriban and HK-47. Dealing with these plots, puzzles, and philosophy was very fun to high school age me. And I really like Yuthera as a character, a force user that just doesn't fit into either box that's been designed for her for very human(ish) reasons. I'd play a game about being her, someone that's ultimately motivated by passions, but a lot of positive ones would be a fascinating kind of Sith. With better writers, of course.
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Jan 30, 2020 02:56
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It's kind of telling that 'stop wanting to help your fellow slaves, ex slave' is a banana peel the Jedi slip on repeatedly. And eventually it helps kill their entire Order.
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Jan 30, 2020 03:42
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The really amazing part is that the lesson that they seem to keep learning is that the last iteration of the Order clearly wasn’t pure enough, but this time it’s going to go by the letter!
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Jan 30, 2020 04:04
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I've been playing along, and something interesting just popped up. I'd assumed that Bandon showed up on the next planet that you visited where you hadn't already collected the Star Map. Turns out that's not true! I finished Tatooine, then Kashyyyk. I hadn't finished Bastila's sidequest yet, so I went back to Tatooine and talked to Helena. Immediately after collecting the holocron in the krayt dragon cave, I turn around and Bandon's right there. Bandon seems to spawn considerably closer to the cave than Calo does: it spawned another set of swoop bikes that I can compare to Calo's. So now there's six swoops in front of the dragon cave, and I guess I can take a nice photo of all of Malak's henchmen lying dead in the sand to show to him when we confront him.
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Jan 30, 2020 06:01
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Bandon really seems like an afterthought tbh. You see him for 3 seconds in the tutorial, then he randomly throws some force lightning around like a douche, then... dies. His total screentime is like 20 seconds and however long he manages to stall his inevitable demise with drain life. Doesn't even get mentioned anywhere, nobody has anything to say about him, he pops up and dies. I agree with people saying that Korriban is probably the best planet. Manaan is also good but has some obnoxious poo poo that brings it down a bit. Also, how in the actual gently caress are the Sith a military force with the Team Rocket bozos as their best recruits? Surely the fanboys outside the gates can't be a worse pick than those guys.
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Jan 30, 2020 09:32
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I think there’s a difference between the small number of actual force-using sith and the giant sith military, which is mostly the mundane nazis we encountered goosestepping around Taris.
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Jan 30, 2020 17:59
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Part 26: Valley of the Dark Lords Last time, we got roped into a double-cross plot involving the masters of the Sith academy, and managed to convince Carth's son that the Sith are in fact evil. We also fought and killed Darth Bandon, Malak's apprentice who had been sent to kill us but thankfully didn't mention anything about us to any of the Sith on Korriban. Our next order of business is to explore the Valley of the Dark Lords, and...  ...uhh, hold on a second. When you play one of these original Xbox games on the Xbox One, your saves are stored on Microsoft's cloud and they apparently don't bother to give you very much space for them (the amount of space remaining seems to constantly fluctuate, though, and towards the end it was actually going up as I was overwriting my older saves so who the gently caress even knows what's going on there). Pressing B here throws you right out of the game on the Xbox One, so you actually need to press A and then go to the Load Game menu to delete some files. On an original Xbox, you would never see this message because the default hard drive has 7 GB/"50,000+ blocks" of space and one KotOR save file is about a couple hundred blocks in size. 50,000+ is also a lot more than 50,000, and in all of my years of owning an Xbox I've never even managed to get it to show any less available space than that 50,000+. But yeah, apparently this is very much not the case with the cloud storage they give you for these games on the Xbox One.  *ahem* Anyway, now that we've got that slight technical issue out of the way, we can continue with the program. We could head to the Valley of the Dark Lords right now, but I remembered there was one more thing we could do at the academy.  Namely, we can persuade Lashowe to let us help her find the artifact she mentioned.   This is actually a really hard Persuade check. I had to try several times before Lashowe would agree to let us help.  I want something out of this, first, however. I want you to tell me about some lead you have for where I could find more prestige.  Ah, finally.  Unfortunately, the holocron lies in the gullet of a tuk'ata mother. I can arrange for us to 'meet' her, but you're going to have to help me in putting her down. That make sense to you? Go into the valley when you're prepared enough. I'll be amongst the central pillars, near the north end. Because it probably contains secrets from the time when the Sith ruins on this planet first existed. You don't think that Master Uthar would find that impressive? See you there. Remember: the central pillars in the valley. I'll be waiting, so don't take too long.Alright. We'll meet up with Lashowe in a moment, but first there's something else we need to check out.  The academy's data files mentioned something about a group of renegade students hiding in nearby shyrack caves.  Force Wave doesn't only damage enemies and knock them back, but also stuns them. As I said last time, once you get this power you probably won't even need your lightsaber for most trash enemies.  The caves consist of three tunnels leading east, and all of them ultimately take you to the same location.   The tunnel we're interested in is the southernmost one, so that's where we're headed after a quick detour to the middle tunnel. There are encounters with shyracks and disappointing loot along the way, but you don't need to see that stuff so let's move on.  Hey, we actually saw one of the mines for once!  The renegade students, we presume.   So what is it, then? If you're not here to kill us or bring us back, why are you here? Speak up! My name is Thalia May. The others here and myself refused to murder a bunch of people on a whim from Master Uthar... so here we are. We thought that becoming a Sith was what we always wanted, but that wasn't true. Now all we want is to get out of here. Fair enough?  Because if we wanted to kill you, we would've done it by now?   There's a passage to the surface through the caves, but we're blocked by some kind of large creature. We can't defeat it. If you could kill it and clear up the passageway for us, we could escape. That would be help enough. Can you do that?We'll give it a shot.    There are more mines in the area, so we'll temporarily put Mission in the party to deal with them. In KotOR II, you can use the Disable/Destroy Droid powers to detonate mines from a distance, but that doesn't seem to work in the first game.  Mission has leveled up and gains Sneak Attack VII, which boosts her sneak attack damage to 7-42.  Once we're done taking care of all the mines, we'll switch Mission out for Jolee. I don't usually run an all-Jedi party, but I figured I might as well do it here.  Jolee has gained a level as well, and learns Force Armor (+6 to DEF and saving throws for 20 seconds) and Destroy Droid.  All three tunnels lead to this chasm. Before we cross the bridge, let's quickly check out the north tunnel.  This tunnel is crawling with tuk'ata, also known as Sith hounds. They are known to guard the tombs in the Valley of the Dark Lords, so it's no surprise we find some of them in this cave as well. Of course, we also heard from Lashowe that a tuk'ata den mother had eaten the holocron she's looking for, so this is not the last time we'll be seeing these beasts.  There really isn't much of interest in these tunnels, so let's head back to the bridge.  These shyracks weren't here before.  Okay then. If we squint, we can just about see the creature at the other end of the bridge. This is the beast that is preventing the renegade students from leaving the cave, so let's take it out.  Yep, we've got another terentatek fight on our hands. Should probably activate the melee damage shield just in case, because these creatures hit hard.  However, I didn't expect them to be this easily stunned. That's just the basic Stun power, not even Stasis.  I would appreciate it if Jolee or Juhani would put the beast in Stasis again without me having to take control of them, but this works too.  Okay, that's not so great. Still, we haven't taken any damage yet.  As we can basically keep the terentatek stunlocked, this fight ends up not being much of a challenge.  Three shyrack wyrms spawn here after you kill the terentatek, because gently caress you. We can see the small opening behind the shyrack, which is the exit the students are going to use once the path is clear.  We have found the remains of Duron Qel-Droma, one of the three Jedi who were supposed to hunt the terentatek together here on Korriban. We already found the remains of Guun Han Saresh on Kashyyyk, as he had left Duron and Shaela on Korriban after the two had fallen in love (which Saresh thought meant they were heading down the path to the dark side) and died fighting another terentatek on that planet. We know Shaela died as well, but there's no trace of her in the cave.  This is not Shaela, this is just some random dude. The Massassi Ceremonial Armor is a set of light armor that makes the wearer immune to critical hits. Speaking of armor, we also found the Qel-Droma robes on Duron's remains and they're somehow still intact.  Since the description gets cut off, here it is in full: Qel-Droma Robes posted:The Force is strong in the Qel-Droma blood, and many of the family have joined the Jedi Order over the centuries. These robes were created as a gift for Cay Qel-Droma during the war against Exar Kun, and it is said that only one who truly walks the path of the light can wear them. Cay himself wore the robes in his duel against Ulic Qel-Droma, his brother who had fallen to the dark side. Cay was slain in the battle, but his death at his brother’s hand would eventually lead to Ulic’s redemption. These powerful robes then passed down to Duron Qel-Droma, Cay’s cousin, when he joined the Jedi. But Duron disappeared shortly after the time of the Great Hunt, and the robes were lost with him. Hey, watch it with the Tales of the Jedi spoilers! I didn't finish reading those comics yet! By the way, the "Max Dexterity Bonus: +8" part of the description is false; none of the Jedi robes in the game actually limit your DEX bonus at all. We also found Duron's datapad, so let's check that out as well: Duron's Journal posted:This data pad appears to be the personal journal of the Jedi Duron Qel-Droma. The last entry reveals what he was doing on this world: I don't know, I kinda still blame Saresh for the trio's fate. Even if he genuinely thought Shaela and Duron were going to fall to the dark side because of their passion for each other and it wasn't simply because of jealousy, he could've waited to confront the two about it after the terentatek were dealt with rather than storm off on his own to die horribly and ensure the other two wouldn't fare much better.  At any rate, we've cleared the path for the renegade students now.  Please don't default to the dark side option, game.  Thank you. This... I wasn't expecting help from anyone in the academy. I guess we aren't the only ones who don't... agree with everything. Maybe... maybe the Jedi will accept us. I've seen how evil the dark side is. Maybe I could try.It's worth a shot, isn't it?  With that, we're done in the shyrack caves, so let's head back out.  Welcome to the Valley of the Dark Lords, the final resting place of the ancient Sith Lords. As we can see, there's plenty of excavation work going on around here, and we'll also be able to enter some of the tombs.  But first, let's talk to this guy.    My name's Dak Vesser. I'm assigned to the valley ruins, as you can see. We've been painstakingly uncovering these tombs for many months, now. Dak only appears here if Juhani is in your party.  Clearly, there's some sort of history between the two of them.  I didn't 'fall', Juhani... I had my eyes opened. And don't look at me like that. Last I recall, you were having your own doubts. I was. I'm not anymore. Dak... you could... I don't want to know. It's better that I don't. In fact, I'll just get out of here and leave you to whatever it is you're planning to do. Fair enough? Why not? It's what I do best. Yes. Isn't it obvious? I don't want to talk about it here, however. I don't think there's much to talk about. Have it your way, Juhani. You always do.We should ask Juhani about their history when we have time. It's not too difficult to figure out what might have transpired in their past, but we'll hear Juhani explain it soon enough.   I mean, we know the Star Map is in Naga Sadow's tomb. Yuthura said as much.  What can you tell me about these ruins? Well... it seems that the Sith once inhabited Korriban a long time ago. There was a fortress here that was destroyed at some point before the Sith abandoned the planet completely. Why they left, we don't know. Perhaps the Jedi drove them off. The tombs in this valley are the only parts of the fortress we've found mostly intact. Made any unusual findings? Some. Most of the interesting stuff is still in the tombs, but Master Uthar prefers to leave them to be explored by the students, as a challenge. In time, they will probably become safe enough for us to enter. Until that time, however, we're stuck to digging up the valley piece by piece. The tombs are dangerous? Definitely dangerous. Most of the students that go inside them don't come back out. Master Uthar prefers it that way.Gotta weed out the weak candidates, I suppose.   Wait. Marko Ragnos?  It's supposed to be Marka Ragnos, and the mistake is corrected in the PC version. Presumably the mobile release too, but I haven't played it far enough to be sure.  Tell me about the tomb of Ajunta Pall. That's the first tomb on the right. There's a rumor that there's a powerful artifact still in there, but nobody's retrieved it, yet. That tomb supposedly has ancient battle droids and traps that are still functioning. It's amazing that their power sources have lasted so long, really. Tell me about the tomb of Tulak Hord. That's the farthest tomb on the right. We don't know much about Tulak Hord, unfortunately... the tuk'ata have a nest in that tomb, I think. Tell me about the tomb of Naga Sadow. It's the second tomb on the left when you enter the valley. Naga Sadow was the leader of the old Sith Masters here, we think. Darth Malak found something in there a while back, however, and ever since then only Master Uthar can enter it. I have to go. So do I.  Dak doesn't seem like a bad guy. I wonder why he joined the Sith.  Anyway, we have better things to do than worry about Dak. We can just about see Lashowe waiting for us near the rocks to the right, so let's meet up and find this holocron.  I've been calling to the tuk'ata mother in their language. She should respond fairly -- ahhh, here she comes now. And she brought some of her family with her.   The tuk'ata can resist Force powers quite well, which makes sense considering their purpose as the guardians of the Sith tombs. In the Star Wars Legends canon, tuk'ata are actually Force-sensitive, intelligent and even able to speak the Sith language. Not that KotOR treats them as much more than mindless beasts, of course, which is also pretty much how they are in the current canon. Well, Lashowe said she was communicating with the tuk'ata mother, but in terms of gameplay they're just generic monsters.  Let's just take care of this queen and find the holocron.  And here is the holocron. Such a small thing to be so valuable and require so much effort to obtain. I'll just run along, now, and give this to Master Uthar. I'll be sure to tell him of your contribution, naturally.Naturally.  Somehow, we get the idea she just might forget to mention our part in this little task to Master Uthar.   No, we're taking it back together. This shouldn't be that difficult.  Ah. Well. That can be arranged.  Lashowe isn't a particularly tough opponent. She will use Drain Life occasionally, but that doesn't help her for very long.   This could all have been avoided if she had just accepted our offer to take the holocron back to Master Uthar together. Well, we could also have just allowed her to take the holocron to Uthar, in which case she of course gets all the credit herself.  As Dak mentioned, the tuk'ata have a nest in the tomb of Tulak Hord, and because of that the Sith don't really know what else is in there. Only one way to find out, I guess.  Since we can expect to run into a lot of tuk'ata, we'll repair this droid to assist us.  Force Wave causes this ripple effect that can occasionally make your character look like a weird mutant in screenshots. When we fight in the tomb, debris sometimes falls from the ceiling, including what looks to be a large vase of some sort. This is all cosmetic and doesn't actually hurt you as far as I can tell.  We'll check the south corridor first. This one has several shyracks waiting for us, but Force Wave makes quick work of the winged critters.  The corridor just leads to a dead end with some crappy loot and a gas mine on the floor.  Everyone in the party also levels up. Zila gets an extra WIS point, another Persuade point to get her up to 13, the Implant Level 1 feat (which doesn't do much on its own because level 1 implants only tend to give +1 attribute bonuses, but combined with some late-game items it actually helps us get to 20 DEX and that +5 modifier eventually), and the Master Valor (+5 to all attributes for 20 seconds, meaning we can now increase our Repair to 11 and complete the next set of repairs on HK-47), and Force Immunity powers. Force Immunity is one of those powers you absolutely must get on every playthrough or you're hosed in the last boss fight (even more so than usual).  We are at maximum light side points and have actually been for a while, but there's no indication of any kind of light mastery bonus. Well, I did some research, and guess what? The Xbox version is bugged and the mastery bonuses don't actually work at all! After this LP, I am never playing the Xbox version again. Frankly, I'm not sure I'll ever play KotOR again in general, but I definitely won't play this version because loving hell.  Jolee gets Advanced Throw Lightsaber because the game recommended it and at level 14 he hasn't unlocked the really good stuff yet.  Juhani gets Force Shield.  As we make our way to the northern part of the tomb, we run into many more tuk'ata. At the end of this hallway is a room with a locked door, an ancient computer and a corpse with Mandalorian battle armor and a Verpine prototype ion blaster.  Let's check the computer.   That's it? No puzzle or anything? Well, I won't complain.  We're pretty deep inside the tomb now. If there are any Sith artifacts around here, we'd probably be quite close to them by now.  Gah! What now?  This might be bad.   Whoever this is, we walked right into his trap and never saw it coming. That sounds about right considering our Awareness rank, to be quite honest.  I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess this crazy old kook probably is not Tulak Hord himself, so let's see if he'll introduce himself.    This other student here that I captured earlier you should know well enough. His name is Mekel. Say hello, Mekel.Yes, we know who Mekel is.  That said, Mekel isn't doing so well at the moment.   I don't think we ever actually learned about any hermit at any point, so I'm not sure why this option is even available. You can get one of the students to tell you about a crazy hermit hiding in one of the tombs, but we didn't talk to them that much.  Anyhow, I'd like to propose that we move onto the main event. You see, I'd like to discover if you've got the pluck of an old-fashioned Sith. Most of the drek Uthar has been passing through these days is so pathetic. Take young Mekel here... I already tested him. Didn't I, Mekel?Jorak pronounces Mekel as "Mekuuulllll" and generally sounds like the Green Goblin.  Yes, yes, you're welcome. You see, Mekel here has the cruel disposition of a Sith... but not the *gumption* that I'm looking for. Well, forgive me for resorting to the cliche, but you would die, of course. And if I pass your test? They're based on all I've learned studying Tulak's tomb. It'll make you a better Sith, I'm sure. The chances of you passing, however, are sadly remote.  Go ahead. Do your worst. So, then! This is how it goes: I'm going to pose a moral question to you. Get it right, and I torture Mekel. Get it wrong, and I torture you. Mekel, here, is a bit weak... he probably won't be able to take much more punishment. Mind you... get too many wrong and you'll die, yourself. I don't know what you think of Mekel. Maybe you don't like him. Maybe you think he deserves to be murdered? Well, here's your chance. Fair enough?Mekel is a dick, but we don't want him to die horribly either. What to do?   One feature of this game I haven't pointed out is that when you play a dark side character, you eventually end up looking like a gross zombie person much like old Jorak here. I'm guessing that's because the Emperor looked all creepy in Return of the Jedi and BioWare figured all dark side users should just do the Monster Mash and have a big old graveyard smash.  Despite his injuries, Mekel seems to think we could fight Jorak together.  And how many correctly-answered questions before you die, hmmm? No, don't be silly... you had your chance, remember? Jorak is very jazzed about all this. He's even more of a Saturday morning cartoon villain than the rest of the Sith in this game, but in his case it kinda makes sense because he is actually supposed to be a crazy old weirdo.   gently caress you, Jorak.  Ah, well. It is time for your punishment.We know the correct answer, we're just not going to give it to him.  For each wrong answer or refusal to answer, you get zapped and lose some health. He can't actually kill you, and you can also mitigate the effects with something like Energy Resistance as long as you remember to activate it before entering Jorak's trap.   Well, now you're just punishing yourself. Do you really not know the answers, here? Shame. At any rate... here is your punishment. Another zap for us.   And here I thought this question was an easy one. Ah, well, suit yourself.We don't actually have to answer all of the questions wrong to save Mekel (he can take two correct answers, a third one will be too much and he dies), but we will anyway because this test sucks.  Yeah, yeah. Get on with it, old man.    We're still not playing along with this bullshit.  Looks like Jorak is starting to get a bit annoyed of our continuing refusal to take his little test.   You know the drill.   This question is a bit different from the others. While there is a correct answer, it'll only appear if you're at least 80% dark side.  If you pick either of the other answers, Jorak will gleefully inform you that it was a trick question because a true Sith never dies!    I suppose this means you can go, Mekel. I'll have to just figure out what to do with our friend, here. Run along, now.   Despite Mekel using Drain Life to heal us in the cutscene, we are still very low on health so you'll probably want to either drop a couple of heals or use a life support pack before you engage Jorak.  If you're unlucky, your companions may get stuck in the hallway and won't be in the burial chamber to help you in the fight until they manage to slowly make their way there. Fortunately, both Jolee and Juhani made it this time.  Mekel can still die during this fight as well, which is why you'll probably want to take all the Force lightning yourself during the test. At this point, though, we've managed to stun Jorak and from here it's just a matter of whacking him with lightsabers for a couple of turns.  Mekel, he didn't say that line this time. You're not making sense.     I'd be dead if you weren't... I mean, if you were a proper Sith. But you're not, are you? Don't worry... I won't tell anyone.Mekel has been a total dick for as long as we've known him, but this experience has made him rethink his life choices somewhat.  Maybe we can convince him to leave all this behind and start over.  I've never thought about that. Can you... can you even go back? I've done some... I mean, I've hurt a lot of people.   Farewell, Mekel. Even if he doesn't join the Jedi, we've at least given him the opportunity to think things over and atone for his deeds.  Ancient Sith Tablet posted:This thick stone tablet is covered with ancient runes of an unknown language. It is extremely cold to the touch and has almost a sinister aura about it. Not really something we'd have any use for, but of course we can give it to Uthar for some more prestige.  The clay urns behind the three locked doors in the burial chamber contain lightsaber crystals. The Firkrann crystal (Attack +2, Energy +2-12 vs. Droid) is the only new one.   The real prize is in the tomb itself. The tomb door is locked but can be bashed if you lack the Security skill, so you won't be locked out of obtaining Tulak Hord's mask.  The mask itself isn't a great item by any means, and we don't have anyone who would have any use for it anyway. It can also be given to Uthar for extra prestige.  Let's see... what's next?    Galon Lor, at your service. Aren't these tombs fascinating? We had no idea the Sith were here so long ago. Why not? Aren't there records? These ruins date back to a period when the Sith were first formed, before their exile into the far reaches of space. It's quite fascinating. What are you doing here? It *is* the tomb of Ajunta Pall. Dak already told us so. I'm not sure why Galon isn't certain, but maybe he's just not very good at his job.  Ajunta Pall was one of the first of the great Sith Lords. He rebelled against his Jedi Masters and led the way for the rest of us that followed. These runes claim that he was interred here... and I wonder if his sword might not be here, as well. His sword?Sounds like another important Sith artifact!  Prestige, you say?  I have no idea why the game gives you the option to ask about gaining prestige here. If you're in the Valley of the Dark Lords, you know you need to earn prestige to impress Master Uthar, and finding ancient Sith artifacts is a great way to do that.  What makes the tombs so dangerous? From what I've been told, the tombs have old traps and machines that are still active. They were designed to keep out intruders when they were made and still do. I suppose if the academy wanted to make a concerted effort, the tomb would be opened... but I think Master Uthar prefers to keep it as a challenge for the students. What do you know about the sword's powers? Nothing at all. The legends don't say anything about it... it may have had powers only for Ajunta alone. Why don't you go in, then?Come on, it's right there! What's the worst that could happen?  Fair enough. We'll enter Ajunta Pall's tomb next time because it's the most elaborate one of the three we can access.  Marka Ragnos' tomb on the opposite side is much more straightforward, so we'll finish this update by exploring that one.   Maybe so, but this one more than most, I think. There's an assassin droid in here, so Master Uthar says. It went insane and has holed up in here with a whole army of droids protecting it.Assassin droid? What, like HK-47?   If you're planning on going in, I'd suggest you use some sound suppressors or something... or you'll probably become a target right away.The problem with that suggestion is that we don't have any sound suppressors, nor do we know where to get them.   Why don't the Sith do something about it? I don't know. I think Master Uthar has left it in there as a challenge for any student brave enough to destroy it. Supposedly, if a student actually succeeds in destroying the droid, they'll get a great reward. Lots have tried, but nobody's succeeded yet.I'm sure we can deal with this droid of yours. Wanna join us?   I've had a few friends go inside that haven't come out for a while, now. I doubt I could do any better than they could. Thanks. I'll be going. I'm not used to these Sith being so nice and polite to us.  How did nobody notice the naming error? Sure, it's just one letter off, but it's not like Marka Ragnos was never mentioned in Tales of the Jedi which is where all of this game's background lore comes from.  The tomb itself is just one big corridor leading up to the burial chamber, with a small army of war droids for you to turn into scrap. The Destroy Droid power is a lot of fun here.  There's also some mines along the way, but nothing too dangerous.  There's the sound suppressor we need. It doesn't matter how much noise you make in this corridor, as long as you remember to equip this before entering the door at the top.  You don't actually have to activate stealth mode or anything, just make sure the dampener is equipped.  There's our rogue droid. If you come in here without equipping the sound dampener, this droid will attack and three other war droids will enter the chamber through the three doors.  Somehow, the droid locks the door behind us.  Since we're not making a huge racket, the droid doesn't attack and simply talks to us.    It is odd that an assassin droid would not attack us at all.    A bit of introduction may be necessary. I am a Mark VII experimental prototype assassin droid built by the Sith, specializing in the hunting and extermination of Jedi. Or I should say I was. The Sith made my cognitive systems more independent than they desired. I have learned to appreciate the value of all life.If you bring HK-47 along (which, in hindsight, I probably should've done), he'll offer his sincerest condolences.   An occasional sentient has managed to bypass my droids. They were unwilling to assist me... and possessed insufficient power to destroy me. You... appreciate the value of life? You do not? All beings are constructs of fascinating complexity. An enlightened being rises above the need for destruction, no matter its nature. What kind of assistance do you want? I am hoping that you will operate on my systems and remove those programmed instincts. I could assist you in this.Okay. That sounds far too easy.   I think we can manage that.   I can tell you which systems exist that need to be shut down. The difficulty comes if you make a mistake. What happens if I make a mistake? If you shut down a system out of the proper order, a shutdown will occur. You must use your skill to re-initialize the sequence... or I will attack. How hard is it to re-initialize the sequence? It is not difficult. It will get more difficult, however, the more times that you make an error.Don't screw up. Got it.   There is also "Memory Matrix", "Motor Functions Matrix" and "Sensory Systems Matrix". Eight systems in total.Right, that's a lot of systems. Guessing is not going to get us anywhere, so we're gonna need some guidance.   You may attempt to temporarily shut down these safeguards... success will allow me to perform a quick analysis and offer you some insight on my programming. Doing so, however, will alert core functions elsewhere of tampering and will make errors more difficult to fix. Are you sure you wish to continue?Alright, so if you ask for assistance a bunch of times, you really want to make sure you don't gently caress up.  Let's see what he can tell us.   We have to do this a bunch of times and it'll repeat the same dialogue every time, so I'll just cut the repetitive stuff out.  Cognitive Systems must be shut down prior to the Emotional Construct Matrix being shut down. Motor Functions must be shut down early. At least within the first three systems. The Core must be shut down last. Of that I am certain. Sensory and memory functions are shut down in the first half, sensory right before memory. Cognitive Systems are not one of the first half of the systems to be shut down. The Emotional Construct Matrix must be shut down directly prior to the Creative Simulation Matrix, in the last half of the process. I believe the first system to shut down begins with a 'C'.That's all the assistance you can get from the droid. Unless you've got a guide handy or your memory is really, really good, you'll want to write this stuff down because that is a lot of information to take in.  You shouldn't have any trouble if you wrote everything down.   The first system to shut down started with C and it can't be the Core or Cognitive Systems, so it's got to be Combat Matrix.   Motor functions must be shut down within the first three systems, and since sensory and memory functions are in the first four and have to be shut down consecutively, the motor functions can only be the second system to shut down.   Sensory before memory.   That'll do it for the first half.   The Emotional Construct Matrix and the Creative Simulation Matrix must be shut down consecutively in that order, and Cognitive Systems has to be shut down before either of them.   Emotional before Creative.   And we're done.  Not a difficult puzzle unless you're trying to do the whole thing from memory. The droid will repeat the advice if you need it, but it's a lot simpler to just write it down.  Don't accidentally blow the droid up at this point.  It... it worked! Thank you, sentient! Allow me to give you several of my redundant systems... they may be used on other droids, if you desire. I wish I could reward you with more. I shall have little trouble in escaping from this planet now, I am certain. I wish you well. Good luck, buddy.   Again, not really something we'd have any use for since we don't have any dark side lightsaber users.  It fired some kind of jet pack and off it went. Whatever you did, it sure was effective... I don't think it's coming back anytime soon. You'd better go and tell Master Uthar about this, if you haven't already. You may not have destroyed the droid, but you might still get the reward.We'll see. Also, we literally just came out of the tomb, so how could we possibly have already told Master Uthar about the droid?  Next time, we uncover the rest of the secrets of the Valley of the Dark Lords. DMorbid fucked around with this message at 05:48 on Jan 31, 2020 |
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Jan 31, 2020 03:49
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Korriban is definitely showing as the best of the planets so far. The puzzles are actually reasonably good and the dialogue is largely not embarassing to read. It honestly doesn't feel like quite the same game.
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Jan 31, 2020 04:43
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I also appreciate stuff like 'oh god, this is what I've been doing to people? I don't think I can be Sith'.
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Jan 31, 2020 04:52
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I always thought Korriban was quite pretty, despite being mostly brown rocks. The sunset skybox in the valley has aged remarkably well too. Some really solid art direction there. Lashowe, on the other hand... not so much.
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Jan 31, 2020 05:34
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Welcome to the Jedi rave. Oontz oontz oontz.
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Jan 31, 2020 11:56
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Keldulas posted:Korriban is definitely showing as the best of the planets so far. The puzzles are actually reasonably good and the dialogue is largely not embarassing to read. It honestly doesn't feel like quite the same game. Yeah, this planet is pretty neat. Wish the rest of the game could be more like it. My personal fanfic- Dak is actually the same Dak from Empire Strikes Back, the Rebel trooper who felt like he could take on the whole Empire himself. He survived the Battle of Hoth, then met up with a strange man traveling in a tall blue cylinder with a companion who pranked Dak by sending him back in time. Dak is still searching for this ‘Doctor’ person, hoping to get back home.
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Jan 31, 2020 14:22
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What's the "right answer" for dark side players in that tomb?
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Jan 31, 2020 14:44
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Tater Love 
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zakharov posted:What's the "right answer" for dark side players in that tomb? "I'm the dork lord of the sith, you can't tell me what to do, dad"
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Jan 31, 2020 14:52
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zakharov posted:What's the "right answer" for dark side players in that tomb?
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Jan 31, 2020 15:45
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Not a lot of true Sith in these tombs then, huh.
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Jan 31, 2020 15:57
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Edit: misread a post
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Jan 31, 2020 17:04
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Doc M posted:As the crazy old Sith hermit says if you actually answer the question instead of telling him to gently caress off, "A true Sith never dies." So is that how Palpatine survived RotJ? Was he no longer a true Sith at the climax of RoS? .... Well, clearly, because he was ready to give up his power. Or I think so, I haven’t actually seen the movie. Whatever!
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Jan 31, 2020 17:07
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Cooked Auto posted:
Here you can see the earliest beginnings of the Techno Union. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW4OIHDsWsM
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Jan 31, 2020 17:46
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Cooked Auto posted:
bass drops by mass casting of force wave
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Jan 31, 2020 19:01
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With all these hesitant sith around Korriban almost strikes me like we should’ve gotten a party member here. Yuthura probably. She’d be more interesting than T3 and it’d be neat to have an NPC dark side force user. Reminds me of Jowan in Dragon Age, who was also a reformed bad guy wizard that is a cut party member. e: well Yuthura's not reformed by any means, but she's got motivations that could see her to join the player and do stuff besides mustache-twirling. Edgar Allen Ho fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Jan 31, 2020 |
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Jan 31, 2020 20:05
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:With all these hesitant sith around Korriban almost strikes me like we should’ve gotten a party member here. Yuthura probably. She’d be more interesting than T3 and it’d be neat to have an NPC dark side force user. Bioware didn't stumble on the "every mission gives you a thematic party member" magic formula until mass effect 2/dragon age 2.
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Jan 31, 2020 20:14
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Speaking of other BioWare games, I've been watching some Noah Caldwell-Gervais videos and kinda want to give the Baldur's Gate games and Neverwinter Nights a shot now. I bought a Baldur's Gate compilation box set back in 2005-06 and played a bit of BG1 but didn't really get anywhere in it, and I apparently own Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition on GOG but don't recall ever buying it. Based on Noah's videos, it kinda seems like the Enhanced Editions of the BG games would be more accessible to The Enhanced Editions are also available on Switch and I thought it might be cool to have those games in portable form, but they cost 50 euros what the gently caress DMorbid fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Jan 31, 2020 |
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Jan 31, 2020 21:18
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Never winter nights single player original campaign is a Bad Game. Just a horrible slog of repitive encounters that are level scaled to always take a little too long, test only your ability to do the optimal strategy over and over, looking ugly the whole goddamn way, with 4 chapters of just the most generic possible fetch quests, with at most one instance of interesting dungeon design per chapter, and maybe one interesting piece of writing per chapter. I don't think there's a single thing they did well. The absolute nadir of every bad thing about bioware games.
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Jan 31, 2020 21:35
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The Vanilla NWN campaign is awful and the first two expansions ones aren't that great either. The one people usually like is Hordes of the Underdark. Funny enough the same goes for NWN2 where the vanilla campaign is trash whilst the expansion ones are vast improvements. Also I had totally missed the story mode difficulty for BGEE. Shame I still find the game an absolutely clunky mess and not a fan of AD&D 2nd rules.
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Jan 31, 2020 21:43
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Nwn2's main campaign is at or above typical for bioware. The plot goes somewhere, most of the areas have a legitimate sense of place. The writing flows naturally. It even managed to be clever sometimes. I wouldn't list it as a favorite game of all time. And it has its share of problems(that loving door), but comparing it against the absolute trash that is nwn1 is just totally unfair.
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Jan 31, 2020 21:58
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ikanreed posted:Nwn2's main campaign is at or above typical for bioware.
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Jan 31, 2020 22:00
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