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Part 33: Sunry vs. The Sith Empire Last time, we escaped a mind prison and did some sidequesting with Canderous and Juhani. With those quests completed, we can finally continue our search for the Star Maps, and that means we're heading to Manaan.  But first, more stimulating conversations with old men.  Jolee still doesn't want to talk about the Exar Kun war, seemingly because some of those memories would be best left unexplored.  However, this is a BioWare RPG and that means we'll make him talk no matter how much he doesn't want to.    My wife's name was Nayama. She was the Ukatis enforcer who shot me out of the sky, if you remember.  Nayama was a marvel of a woman. Fiery, determined, smart... she dragged me to the capital and foiled three of my attempts to escape prison. Oh, and that body...Err... please focus on the story, Jolee.   At any rate, I wanted to train her in the Jedi way. The Council refused my request, naturally. I was still a Padawan at the time. I was an experienced Padawan, surely... but not yet ready to be a full Jedi and certainly not ready to train another. Especially not one so old as my wife.  I believed in her and trained her in secret. I ignored her willful nature... I loved her too much to see fault in her. And she loved me, too. I know she did. At the time, our love was a shared bliss... better than anything I had known before or since. So what happened? Exar Kun is what happened. Nayama was inspired by Exar's promises of a new Golden Age. She wanted to join him. She came to me, pleading with me to throw aside what she called the decrepit trappings of the Jedi... to join her in Exar's war.That's what we figured after the last conversation.   She would have none of it. Finally, in frustration, she attacked me. She drew her lightsaber and attempted to strike me down. It was a scene being repeated everywhere throughout the galaxy. Pupil against master. In my case... it was a long and terrible battle, but I defeated her. You killed her? No... no. I had her at my mercy, disarmed and defenseless. She looked up at me and she knew... she knew I couldn't do it.  And I let her go. To my shame, she went on to kill many Jedi during the war until she, herself, was slain in the final battle. I grieved for her death, inevitable as it was, even as the Jedi Council put me on trial for my actions once the war was over. They put you on trial? I had trained Nayama against their wishes. I had failed to kill her when I had the chance, and she went on to kill others. Not to mention that I had remained a Padawan throughout the war. A formality, perhaps, but with the trial it had to be decided if I was worthy to become a Jedi at all. It was a travesty, of course. I told you that even the Jedi were capable of great injustices, didn't I?Well...   What? Seriously? How?  They said I had learned wisdom the hard way. For all I had done during the war, they wished to raise me to full Jedi status at long last. That... that was when the Jedi left me. That was when they failed me.  They may have been able to forgive me. I... could never forgive myself. Thanks for all the dialogue options there, guys.  Yes, I do, I suppose. Does that surprise you? Ahhh... it is all so long ago. Lost in the winds, I suppose. Nobody cares what an old man believes anymore, do they? Let's continue on with the task at hand. I would prefer to think of the present today.Got it.  Next stop: Manaan.  Right, this again.  We briefly saw the Manaan Star Map in the big reveal cutscene, and it's very clearly at the bottom of the ocean. Of course, Manaan is all ocean, so that really doesn't narrow it down very much. No GIF this time because     And here we are. Ahto City, the capital of Manaan.  However, before we go anywhere, Jolee's got one more story for us.    It wasn't as if my travels were pleasant, either. There were plenty of folks who distrusted the Jedi after the war... or worse.  I got so sick of the treachery and deceit I left the civilized parts of the galaxy and headed instead for the uncivilized parts. So that's when you went to Kashyyyk? Actually I was on my way somewhere else when I crash-landed on Kashyyyk. The ship I was using was a rust-bucket.  If you say so...  They did at first, oh yes. I can't say I was overly pleased to encounter a group of indigenous giant carpets either, I can assure you of that.  You helped them? When I could. I would assist the few young ones who would get lost in the Shadowlands or attacked unexpectedly by the wildlife. I must say... for a while there, the Wookiees actually thought I was some kind of benevolent forest god. Amusing, really. I set them straight eventually.  Later, when I started to understand some of their grunting, I realized they would say prayers to the 'hairless one' before descending into the forest. Hmph. Hairless one. I used to have plenty of hair, I tell you. *Ahem* Well, at any rate, it took a few bruises, but I set the record straight. A few bruises? I traveled to Rrookworro and met with the chieftain in front of everyone. Freyyr swatted at me just to see if I was real or not.That's not at all how you spell or pronounce Rwookrrorro, but I guess it is a bit of a mouthful.  Why didn't you stop the slavery of the Wookiees, then? At first, when the slavers took to hunting down lone Wookiees in the fringes of the Shadowlands, I did my best to divert them. Later, when Chuundar made his deal I didn't see any point. I wasn't here to save them from their own sad follies, after all. Wasn't it all a bit primitive for you? Not really. Kashyyyk is a place you can feel very small in. It felt good to devote my time to helping people and living simply.But still, though. 20 years in the Shadowlands?    Oh no. Please don't tell me this is going where I think it is.  They did in fact go there, the cheeky bastards, and I shall hate them forever. What was it they did, you ask? Well, they paraphrased the famous words of popular early-00s poet Fred Durst and his evergreen masterpiece "Nookie", of course! I'm sure whoever wrote that thought they were so clever at the time, and regretted it ever since.   Gardeners? You remember the alien computer, correct? Kashyyyk was meant to be an agricultural planet. The Wookiees were made for a reason.The Wookiees? Actually, never mind. We're not doing that again.  At any rate, we should be moving along, don't you think? If you sat around this long in the Shadowlands, a tach would eat you.Sure thing.  We'll take Jolee along because there's a big sidequest involving his friend Sunry on Manaan, and Juhani joins us because... eh, why not.  Welcome to Ahto City, or at least one of the docking bays in Ahto City. Let's have a quick look at our map before we do anything.  The two other docking bays are reserved for the Sith and there isn't much of interest there at the moment. We can just about see that the ship in the leftmost docking bay seems to have the blue "enter" marker, but we can't actually access the dock itself. Interesting.  Jolee levels up and learns Master Critical Strike and Stasis Field. We also give him the Eriadu Strength Amplifier to boost his STR from 12 to 14.  Hm? What's all this then?   Ha! Don't make me laugh, you gutless simp! It's the destiny of weak-minded fools like you to be ruled over by the strong, like we Sith! I'm warning you! Don't push me, or you'll get just what you're asking for! You break their laws, you pay the price, Republic scum. But I can see that you're not man enough to back up your words anyway. If you ever feel like relieving yourself of your worthless existence, feel free to come by our enclave here. We have many, many ways to fulfill your wish. What was that all about?  Maybe this Republic soldier will tell us.    Is there anything I can help you with?Well, you can start by telling us what that whole display with the Sith there was about.   Why are there Sith on Manaan? Well, for the kolto, of course. Really that's the only reason anyone would want to be here. It's the only reason the Selkath built Ahto City in the first place: to export kolto.Ah yes, kolto. The not-bacta BioWare invented for this game so they could have this whole plotline.   Well, that, and they threatened to destroy the only natural source of kolto on the planet if anyone tries to attack them. But I think they're underestimating the lengths the Sith will go to get what they want... They're probably planning something already. Is there anything else you require? Hey, it's worth a shot.  No, sorry, never heard of it. Never mind, I must go. Of course. If you have any other questions you should probably see Roland Wann, he's the Republic diplomat here. He's by the Republic enclave near the visitor residences. If you don't know where that is, go north from here, then south past the port official and the first courtyard, east into the second courtyard, then north then east again. You got that?Not really. That was a lot of information to process at once. Mind repeating it one more time?  Well, never mind then. I'm sure we'll find our way to the Republic enclave eventually. The directions will also be in the quest journal in case you get lost.  This merchant doesn't have anything interesting to sell so we'll move on.  How about this fellow?  The Selkath dialogue could best be described as horrible gurgling noises repeating endlessly, which is absolutely fantastic because Manaan is perhaps the talkiest part of the entire game and a lot of the talking will be done by the Selkath.  Anyway, he wants to buy exotic species.   We could convince him to take our gizka, but they're part of the crew by this point.  Sorry, Nubassa, we won't be seeing you again.  Let's head to Ahto City proper.  Ooh, fancy. This is the visitors' area where people can wait for their turn to talk to the port officials.  NO PAZAAK  Looks like they take security pretty seriously around here.  Okay, let's see if the official will let us into the city. I would certainly hope so.    Simple enough. What else?   Any confrontations between the Sith and Republic are dealt with swiftly and decisively. Is this understood?Yeah. We also understand that the Sith are blatantly taking advantage of the situation and trying to goad the Republic soldiers to attacking them so that the Republic would get into trouble, but since they're not technically breaking any laws the Selkath won't mind. We could complain about this, but I doubt this government drone is at fault.   Of course there is. Why wouldn't there be?  I'm not sure why I even bother trying to haggle with these officials.  This time, it doesn't work anyway.  I think we can just about afford the 100-credit fee.  The gates of Ahto city are now open to you. You may come and go as you please, so long as you do not leave the planet. If you do, you will have to pay the docking fee once more.They didn't actually give us a map, which is something we can easily confirm by going to the map screen of our menu. It is all fogged up and we need to uncover it as we go along, like usual.  Anyway, now we can actually explore the city.  Unfortunately we can't stand around enjoying the cool sea breeze, because we've got a job to do here.  Let's go check out this kolto distribution center while we're here.  Inside, we find some Republic and Sith troops going about their kolto-related business. Let's see if any of these Selkath wants to talk to us.  Oh. Okay then.  The Republic enclave is to the east, so of course we're going west.  There's a lot more to explore to the east, anyway, but that's not to say there isn't anything important in Ahto West. Quite the contrary, because all the important sidequests on Manaan start in this area.  This would be the first one.   I didn't. Nobody knew where you were, not even Sunryl But I heard the Selkath mention you and your friends. The Force has brought you to help us! Why? Whatever could be the matter, my dear?You know perfectly well what the matter is! We heard from your friend on Korriban that Sunry was being accused of murder! Did you forget already?   This scene is completely identical regardless of whether you've met Jolee's old buddy, so it just seems like Jolee's going senile in his old age.  Calm down, Elora. Where's Sunry now? Sunry's being held at the Selkath courts. They won't let anyone in to see him. Please, go to the courts, talk to the Judges. Maybe the Selkath will listen to you. Don't worry, Elora. We'll get to the bottom of this and help Sunry... somehow. Before we talk to the judges, we should check out the mercenary enclave on this side. There seems to be something going on out front with the Republic officer and the Echani mercenary.    Huh. I don't recall the Republic hiring mercenaries, especially at exorbitant rates as seems to be the case here.   Maybe the officer will tell us what's going on.    He insists it's nothing, but something about this situation seems... I'd say fishy but that'd probably be the wrong word to use on Manaan. Sketchy? Yeah, that'll do.  Maybe we can find something out at the actual merc enclave.  Err, okay then. What's up?   To be honest, we've talked to three Selkath before Nilko here, and they weren't that bad.   The beauty of Manaan is delicate. Our ecosystem is complex and fragile, and I fear for the preservation of my planet.  Alright...   The Republic has been hiring mercenaries - many more than usual. As an official of the Selkath people, this is of great concern to me. I only seek the reason for this change in Republic policy.Apparently, we're not the only ones who thought that whole situation seemed a bit odd.  That said, why can't Nilko carry out this investigation himself?  The Sith cannot be trusted to give me an accurate report of events - they will twist the truth so that it furthers their own goals. And the mercenaries are well aware of the high wages the Republic is paying - they would not report anything that might slow the flow of credits into their accounts. Uncover the truth behind the Republic's actions, and I will pay you 500 credits.We're not doing this for the money, but because we actually want to know what's happening.   Juhani encourages us to help, but Jolee isn't so sure.  That's the first we hear of the mercenaries not returning. What is going on?   Very interesting. We'll get back to Nilko when we find something out.  Yes?  Ah, the old man is trying to pick a fight.   Oh, really? Well then, Jedi - you must know about the Manaan laws about keeping the peace, so you just...a... keep that lightsaber where it is.If we wanted to teach this guy a lesson, we wouldn't need a lightsaber to do so. I don't think the Selkath have the means to monitor, say, someone getting Force choked or idiots getting mind-tricked to jump into the ocean.  NO  Let's leave him to his miserable existence and talk to this Selkath instead.  You could say that.    I am not a fool, I know the Sith do not respect our laws as the Republic does. Were it up to me, I would do everything in my power to aid the Republic in the war against Malak. But intergalactic politics stay my hand. Still, I know the Sith are evil - and I fear what they will do to my people. And what they may be doing now.  These disappearances coincide with the arrival of the Sith, and I cannot dismiss the connection. The Sith are up to something, human. Something sinister - I can feel it!With the Sith, that is usually a reasonable assumption to make.   There is no one else I can turn to, human. The Republic agents are too closely watched by the Sith, and the Ahto City authorities cannot act without proof of Sith involvement.Sure, we'll help him out.   Spoiler: They don't.  We'll find out what's happening, don't worry.  What's going on here? Looks to be more merc recruitment.    This is war. In war certain distasteful acts cannot be avoided. But ask yourself this - when we win the war, would you rather be against the Sith, or with us? Excellent. Report to the Sith Embassy tomorrow for your assignment.Clearly, the Republic aren't the only ones hiring mercenaries around here.   These Sith, on the other hand, seem more interested in hitting the bottle than recruiting mercenaries. The Drunk Side, indeed.  Okay, fine.  Her equally inebriated male counterpart is a lot more talkative.  Who knows, he might be drunk enough to blurt out something.   But I don't really want to talk about that right now. I'm just here to have a couple drinks and try to unwind, you know?I guess not. Oh well, it was worth a try.   Hey, I just thought of something! If I said you had a great body, would you hold it against me? Ha ha ha!Wonderful.  That's more than enough of that. Let's return to the Republic recruiter outside and see if we can get anything out of him.   Apparently not.  Great, thanks. We'll just be on our way now and let him get back to his recruitment business.  This must be the court Elora mentioned, and in that case those stern-looking Selkath would be the judges we need to talk to about the Sunry murder case.    This again. I guess this sort of thing happens quite often around here.    Ah, it's just like I'm back in elementary school.   I should throw all parties involved into the Ahto City jail. But since no Selkath were harmed in this conflict I will show mercy and levy a fine of ten thousand credits to both sides. The court is dismissed, though I warn you that further disturbances will not be viewed with such leniency. We can see that. Let's see what the judges have to say about this Sunry thing.  If you have legitimate grievances with another party then you should speak to me. You should first, however, consult with the Republic Embassy before pressing formal charges. Is there something you wish to bring to my attention?  This Arbiter is a neutral party that can investigate and present evidence in the trial, and argue on the defendant's behalf. As you are a Jedi, I believe you could fulfill this role adequately. I suppose you're Sunry's only hope. We have to at least try to help him. So be it! You are now appointed Arbiter in the case of Sunry vs. The Sith Empire. Your name and position have been recorded in our files. I will now inform you of the pertinent facts in this case. You have a limited amount of time in which to investigate and organize a defense of your client, and I advise you to use it wisely. Witnesses claimed to have seen the killing and are being detained at the hotel in question pending the trial. The manager of the hotel has now been informed of your appointment. Elassa was found dead of a blaster wound with an incriminating Republic medal clutched in her hand. This information has been uploaded to your datapad. It would be wise to review all information before the trial starts. You may question Sunry or the witnesses. The evidence in this case is heavily stacked against Mr. Sunry. I believe it will take some doing to absolve him of guilt. Yes... but it almost seems too heavily stacked, doesn't it? Very suspicious. You may also interview the judges here, including myself, to get an idea of the pertinent factors in this case. Since this is also your first case, and you are an off-worlder, I feel compelled to add "good luck" as my final missive.Alright, let's do this. Judge Shelkar has appointed us Arbiter in the case of Sunry vs. The Sith Empire case, which sounds a bit more grandiose than it probably should. We've learned the murder victim - a Sith named Elassa - was found with Sunry's Republic medal in her hand, which seems more than a little suspicious and we should go investigate the hotel as soon as we get the opportunity. But first, we should talk to the judges to see what they have to say about the case.    We can ask the same three questions from each judge:  Sunry is known to us as a hero of the Republic in your perpetual conflicts with the Sith Empire. While he may have been severely injured in the line of duty, I personally hold him in quite high regard. Speaking of that injury, has it been taken into consideration, your honor? In no way does his disability hamper him, though. Rest assured that my personal regard for Sunry will not affect my judgment. While emotion may rule your Senate, the cold hard hand of the law rules here on Manaan.Okay, so it seems that Sunry's disability would not have prevented him from committing the crime, so we probably shouldn't use that in our defense come the trial.  Is there anything suspicious about the case? Yes, there is something that has been bothering me: the medal that was found clutched in the Sith's hand. I find it most odd that such a blatantly incriminating piece of evidence would be left at the scene of the crime. We have analyzed the evidence and it does not appear to be a replica, but I still have my doubts. In the midst of the crime, though, Sunry could well have lost it. I have seen much more improbable things happen in my tenure to the courts. Hmmm. Simply because it was real does not mean Sunry would have overlooked it being in Elassa's hand. Is there another matter you wish to inquire about, human?Is Sunry the kind of person who would bring his medals everywhere he goes? We should talk to him about this.   I do not delude myself into thinking that either of your states holds any great love for us, but we are necessary so you will let us hold our autonomy. I try not to concern myself with intragalactic policy. I find it stretches the letter of the law too much for my tastes. I have no more questions for now. Very well. When you feel you have gathered enough evidence, you may speak to the warden in charge of the prison where Sunry is being held. He will bring Sunry to us and the trial will commence.That'll still be a ways off.  Let's talk to the other judges, starting from Duula on the left here. They all look and sound exactly the same, so there will be times when I will have absolutely no idea which one of them is talking.  Good, I don't care about anything else.  So, let's repeat the three questions.   A man who can barely walk killed a Sith warrior in her prime? Preposterous! But I wouldn't put it past the Republic to try and arrange such circumstances to see her dead. The Sith are much more straight forward about their intentions. Is that all? Is there anything suspicious about this case? I find it presumptuous to assume that the cripple Sunry could kill Elassa. I think that there must have been another there who killed her. Perhaps one of the 'witnesses'. I do not know the reason for the medal clutched in Elassa's hand either, but it may have been that she fought them off even as she died. I think this may be the work of some Republic conspiracy and I am not afraid to say so! If the only means I have of hurting the Republic is through Sunry, then so be it!Uhh... right. Duula seems to think Sunry could not have killed Elassa due to his injuries, but instead he believes the whole thing was orchestrated by the Republic.   I particularly enjoy the way they obliterate planets from orbit. Very fresh.  If I was given the power to decide, Manaan would join with the Sith, forcing the Republic to accept the new face of the future. But sadly, it would appear that I am wiser and more farsighted than my immediate superiors. I am relegated to civil judicial matters. I will judge this case. And I will find Sunry as guilty as he is charged to be.   Jolee, please don't dunk on the judges even if they are incredibly dumb.  Quite. Okay then, next judge.  That'd be Kota here. No relation to General Rahm Kota from The Force Unleashed, presumably.  What do you think of Sunry? Sunry was a great warrior in his time. He fought for the Republic against the Sith aggression and proved valorous. I have great respect for his accomplishments and find it tragic that he finds himself in his current condition. If the Republic had more individuals like him right now, I do not believe the Sith would be so great a problem for your people.At least Kota doesn't seem openly hostile like Duula back there.   But knowing the Sith, there was probably some deception involved. They seek to do the same thing to us here. There has been much pressure by the Sith on our government - and even on the judges themselves - to deliver a guilty verdict in this case. But the letter of the law is absolute, and we will not be compromised for Sith power-games. Is there anything else you need?Did anyone mention yet that Elassa was shot in the back? I don't think they did. It also appears the Sith are putting considerable pressure on the Selkath to get the verdict they want, but at least Kota seems to be ignoring them as best he can.   For all its faults, your tottering Republic has benefitted the vast majority of the galaxy for many millenia. To see it fall into ruin in such a short time... I do not like the Sith, that I make no effort to hide. I will even admit that if given the option, I would rule that we should join the Republic. But I must remain impartial and rule on this case as the law requires.So he's genuinely pro-Republic. That may or may not help our case, at least to a certain extent.  Naleshekan, you're up next.  Ah, he's another rude one. I'm sure this'll be a blast.    I think not. I think Sunry maintains his contacts with the Republic and seeks to escalate the situation here. Is there something else you require?Yeah, we require judges whose heads aren't quite so firmly lodged in their own asses. Naleshekan seems to believe that Sunry and the Republic are actually trying to escalate the situation on Manaan. Has he even looked at what's happening out there on the streets, or does he just not care?   What do you think of the Republic and the Sith Empire? I do not buy into the Republic line that this is some epic battle of the 'good' Republic against the 'evil' Sith Empire.I don't know. The Republic definitely has problems, but they generally don't blow up planets.  It is simply the turning of history, where the old is swept away by the better now.Have fun getting conquered or blown up by the Sith, then.  Yes, but we're clearly not obtaining any such thing from you so we'll move on to the next and last judge.  Alright, Jhosa, please be less of a jackass than Naleshekan.    Sunry is a former Republic officer who is highly regarded by your people. He is admired by your people here on Manaan, and even seems to maintain some sort of relations with them still. If he is as capable as some of the Republic citizens still believe him to be, he is certainly capable of actions that would result in this murder. Is there anything else you wish to ask in relation to this case? Is there anything suspicious about this case? Well I have often wondered, if Sunry were so innocent, why was he seen fleeing the scene of the crime?Hm. That's new.  This case seems fairly simple and obvious to me. You Republic types stick together, however, and I assume you will go to lengths to defend him. What do you think of the Republic and the Sith Empire? Both empires are at fault for this current conflict. The Republic in the past for laying the foundations upon which the Sith Empire grew. And the Sith now, obviously, for starting the war. But no matter the wrongs that had been done in the past, the Sith now have no cause for renewing hostilities. It almost seems as if they just want to conquer everything! I believe the Republic has every right to defend itself and drive the Sith back where they came from. Unfortunately for them... and perhaps for us... they do not seem to be doing too good a job of it.It almost seems as if the Sith just want to conquer everything? I wonder what could possibly give you that idea. That aside, Jhosa at least seems relatively sensible.  We're done with the judges, so we should go hear from Sunry himself.   If you wish to begin your trial, you must make the request with the warden. It shall then be passed on to the judges.Alright. We're not in any rush here, so we'll want to learn as much as we can before starting the trial.     Just like old times, eh Jolee? You come swooping in out of nowhere to save my tail from the fire. You saved my wrinkled butt more than a few times as well, friend, if I recall. But there'll be time for catching up later. Right now we need to focus on the case. The case is a complete frame-up. Anyone looking at the evidence could see that - or so I thought. But the Selkath seem to think, well that there's enough to go to trial. There aren't any witnesses. All that evidence against me is circumstantial... and completely flawed.  Oh?  It was going well, too... Until she turned up dead... Hm... maybe the Sith had found out I was turning her and had her eliminated... But let's look at the facts they've given:  My war injuries make it difficult for me to walk even to hold things. See how my hands are shaking! How could I kill a Sith warrior at close quarters? I ask you! Further: They say they found my Hero's Cross at the crime scene. Would I leave my war medal behind if I killed someone? Even I'm not that stupid. Obviously the Sith planted the Cross. And what about the lack of forensic evidence? Skin and hair samples, clothing fibers - why isn't there anything like that at the crime scene? Sounds like an obvious frame-up to me.The medal does seem too convenient and it wouldn't be a surprise if someone planted it on the scene. However, while Sunry insists he couldn't have killed a Sith warrior, we know for a fact Elassa died of a blaster shot to the back, and we also learned he ran away after the blaster shot was fired. That's not to say we think Sunry killed her, just that his condition is not as airtight a defense as Sunry seems to believe. Also, the line actually says "difficult for me to walk even to hold things", that wasn't a mistake by me.  Anything else I can help you with? I want my Arbiter to be well prepared before we go to trial.  But I think you'd be better off investigating the Sith themselves. Maybe you could find some proof they planted evidence to frame me - though that might mean figuring out a way into the Sith Embassy. There's a few things we have to clear up. Go ahead, ask... ask what you need to. I've got nothing to hide.  I heard some of the witnesses said that too, but I swear she was alive when I left! I wonder if the Sith have been putting pressure on people to get them to convict me... It wouldn't surprise me at all. They've had it in for me since the war... You should ask everyone about that... they might admit to helping the Sith under pressure.That'll be all for now.   There certainly is.   All right. Next time, we'll investigate the hotel and interrogate the witnesses to learn more about the murder, and maybe we'll even find the Republic embassy! DMorbid fucked around with this message at 22:54 on Feb 8, 2020 |
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Feb 8, 2020 22:50
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Obey the laws on Manaan, human.
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Feb 8, 2020 23:29
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Request- when it's trial time, please if it's at all possible, have Revan do a Phoenix Wright "Objection!" bit.
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Feb 8, 2020 23:30
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Man you didn't like the Limp Bizkit bit? That was one my favorite little things in the game.
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Feb 9, 2020 01:49
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Tater Love 
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I swear that the Selkath sound like the most heavily distorted parts of “Intergalactic”.
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Feb 9, 2020 02:09
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zakharov posted:Man you didn't like the Limp Bizkit bit? That was one my favorite little things in the game. This and the dialog option "I hate you, old man." at the end of his story about the guy who gets tossed into an engine are some of my favorite parts of the game.
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Feb 9, 2020 02:48
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zakharov posted:Man you didn't like the Limp Bizkit bit? That was one my favorite little things in the game. As a general rule, I don't particularly enjoy anything even tangentially related to Fred Durst, and I especially dislike the song being referenced here. Maybe if it was Rollin', I'd be more receptive. 
DMorbid fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Feb 9, 2020 |
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Feb 9, 2020 06:25
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Doc M posted:I almost physically cringed when I saw it for the first time, and even now it manages to be so jarring that it completely takes me out of the whole scene. Chocolate Selkath and the Kolto Flavored Water
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Feb 9, 2020 17:57
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I believe the next part of this quest is one of the very rare parts of the game where an alien has his own dialogue, in which you can actually hear him saying proper nouns, instead of just using the generic loops.
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Feb 9, 2020 20:50
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Part 34: Ahto Confidential Last time, we arrived on Manaan and were appointed Arbiter in the Sunry murder case. Our next order of business is to find out more information about the murder, as well as locate the Republic embassy here in Ahto City.  We should talk to Sunry's wife Elora again to see if she's got any useful information.   That's not at all what they're claiming, actually. According to the judges, the victim was found with a blaster wound on her back.  Guys? Blaster wound to the back?  Hmph. I'm a Jedi... and one who was living alone in the Shadowlands until recently. That keeps you in shape, drat it! We're talking about Sunry, here.Again, we're not saying Sunry killed this Elassa, but we should at least keep the established facts in mind. Sunry is being accused of shooting Elassa in the back, which does not involve much overpowering.  I don't know. We need to find some concrete evidence soon.  Find the real evidence, that's all I ask. The real evidence will prove Sunry didn't do this. That's all there is to do in Ahto West for now, so let's head back east.  Oh, great. More of this.  No, I'm pretty sure Malak is stupid enough to do that.  Of course, the Sith also have a massive numbers advantage so they probably would win a straight fight, especially now that Bastila's not there to help them with her Battle Meditation skill.   He probably could.   It's nice to see everyone's getting along here on Manaan.  We won't be visiting the general store because there isn't really anything we need to buy at the moment. We're doing well in terms of healing items, and if we want any equipment we'll stop by Suvam's.  There's Hulas, who was mentioned in the suspicious datapad we got on Tatooine. If we talk to him alone, he'll send us on assassination missions around the galaxy and we earn some pretty good equipment from completing the jobs. The targets are also terrible people such as slavers so you probably shouldn't feel too bad for killing them, but since the quest also gives you a shitton of dark side points we'll simply avoid it.  This shady Rodian sells Pazaak cards. We will not be purchasing any Pazaak cards.  Instead, we'll head north. Here we can find two doors - the west door leads to the hotel, the east one to the Republic embassy.  We'll go to the hotel, because that's where the murder occurred and where the witnesses are.  Let's start by talking to the proprietor, Ignus.   Going straight to business.  Okay, nothing new so far.  Why does everyone keep calling Sunry "a cripple"? Isn't that a straight-up slur?  In any case, Ignus says Sunry started running after the blaster went off. That's consistent with what we heard from the judges.  Alright. Let's just make sure there's no way he couldn't have left before the blaster shot.   No, I don't think so. I mean, it's possible, just barely, but I wouldn't say that to the court.Okay then.  Somehow, I feel like we shouldn't try to persuade him to change his story for the court.  Let's ask about Sunry and Elassa instead.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out what was going on.Sunry said he was trying to turn Elassa into a double agent, but Ignus seems to think there was something else going on.  There were only two other people in the hotel when it happened. One was a Rodian named Gluupor. Seems like a really dirty, shifty type. Normally I don't let his kind in here - I'm a reputable business man, you know! - but there weren't many people here, so I decided to take a chance.Gluupor the Rodian, okay. Anyone else?  Don't know anything about him other than that.Firith Me the Pazaak player. Got it. Hopefully we don't have to play Pazaak with him.  The hotel has four rooms, all of which can be found along this small hallway.  Well, make it three rooms because this door is just decoration. It does look like there is an actual room here on the map, but we can't access it. Was this Elassa's room that is now sealed off?  Guys, you're kind of in the way. I had to take control of Juhani to free Zila from the dead end.  Now that we're free from that slightly embarrassing predicament, let's go hear what Firith Me has to tell us.   I told the drat fish everything I knew, what more do you all want from me?  Kept the rest of the building up half the night with their drat antics usually!Okay, that doesn't sound like turning someone into a double agent. Or maybe it does in some cases, but Sunry assured us nothing like that was going on.  We should confront him about this.  And there isn't any rule against Sith and Republics seeing each other for personal reasons. Although if you think her Sith Master didn't know, heh, you must be fooling yourself.Now hold on a second...   I'll bet.   Wrong answer. Let's try that again.   Well... one time... I saw Elassa coming in wearing this big cloak. I was on my way to my room, and she normally wears stuff like that so I didn't pay her too much attention. But this time I accidentally brushed up against her - accidentally of course! - and her cloak fell open... Now I don't have no qualms about the Sith! I leave them alone and they leave me alone. And seeing as how Elassa had a Sith lightsaber under her cloak, I'm not going to poke that hornet's nest.A lightsaber? How about that.   Now that's all I'm going to tell you. I'll testify it to the court, but you aren't going to get anything else out of me.No, that is not how this goes. There was another dialogue tree we didn't explore, so let's talk to Firith again.   Being still alive - and therefore smart enough not to stick my head out immediately - I didn't go out right away. I looked out after a minute and saw Gluupor in the hall by Elassa's room, and Sunry running like the wind. You can't tell me that someone who was running like that - and he was pretty fast for a cripple! - isn't guilty. I have nothing more to ask for now. Yes, well I'll be right here... Not like they're letting me go anywhere else... This room was locked, so I thought it might have been Elassa's room but there's nothing in here except a footlocker containing a single medpac. That's not gonna help us much, so let's find Gluupor in the last room.  Unlike most aliens in the game, Gluupor actually has some unique voice lines. You can hear him say "Selkath" and "Gluupor". This isn't the only time this kind of thing happens (Ajuur the Hutt on Taris would say his name and "Bendak Starkiller") but it's extremely rare.   Let's hear it all, Gluupor.    Using Gluupor's chance to live better for a while.Good for you, Gluupor.   Gluupor see nothing else. Nothing else at all. Especially not in Sith lady's room!Okay, well, that is incredibly suspicious.   Someone absolutely paid Gluupor to do something in Elassa's room.   Well... Sith man came up to Gluupor after murder, before Selkath arrive. He say he give Gluupor good money if Gluupor put medal into Sith's hand. Gluupor good. Gluupor plant evidence and leave no trace. But Gluupor not recognize Sith man anyway. Gluupor not recognize humans very well. No use to Selkath, so not bother to tell them. Well, that, and the Sith man say he kill Gluupor if Gluupor speaks. Uh... Oh, no...Why, thank you, Gluupor. This has been very enlightening.  Carry on, Gluupor. So, we've learned that 1) Elassa was a dark Jedi, 2) she and Sunry had a relationship, and 3) the medal in her hand was indeed planted by the Sith as anyone with half a brain (which excludes most of the Selkath judges) could've figured. If Elassa was a dark Jedi, her master would surely have known of her relationship with Sunry. If Sunry was indeed trying to turn her into a double agent while they weren't too busy with... other things I'd rather not think about, there is a distinct possibility the Sith had Elassa killed and tried to pin it on Sunry by planting evidence on the body. Still, we shouldn't jump to conclusions.  When we exit the hotel, this shifty fellow stops us on our way.   We've figured out that much, thanks.  Eh?   Hmm, dear dear. I'm saying they both had something to do with it! They've both kept their hands in this from the start! Well, the Republic embassy is right behind him, so it'll certainly be easier to check that one first and see if there's any pertinent information to be found.  What's this guy's agenda, though?  And if you take my advice, what have you to lose?Surely, he's not doing this out of the goodness of his heart.  I suppose we should follow his advice just in case. But first, we'll head back to Ahto West to confront Sunry and question Elora again.  Not the most pleasant topic of conversation, but we need all the info we can get.   Understandably, Elora isn't too pleased about us suggesting her husband was having an affair.  After all these years we've been together he just... just dropped me like that. Not publicly, oh no, but inside that's what it feels like. He started seeing Elassa last year. I... I had my suspicions for a while, but he was careless. Pretty soon everyone knew.Sunry is kind of a piece of poo poo, isn't he?  Maybe the Sith woman attacked him and he had to defend himself?That's unlikely. Even if we ignore the fact (as everyone seems to be doing) Elassa was shot from behind, we know Elassa was a dark Jedi. If she had attacked Sunry, Sunry wouldn't have had a chance.   That was a long time ago, in a war far, far away. He's changed now... settled down. Just please, prove his innocence.We'll certainly try.  Let's talk to the man himself and see how he responds to the information we've learned.  I grow weary of staring at these four bare walls. But I suppose you know what you are doing. You know the role of Arbiter cannot be taken lightly.Yeah... about that.   We knew this already, of course. There was no reason to assume Elora was lying about Sunry and Elassa. Speaking of Elora and Elassa, why do they need to have such similar names? I keep accidentally typing the wrong one.  Please, I know I made a terrible mistake getting involved with Elassa, but I was going there to break it off with her. I did it, but found out later that she was dead. I don't deserve to go to jail just for having an affair, do I? You have to help me prove that I wasn't the killer!Well, maybe the next bit of info we learned will help with that.   That's... not really relevant to the matter at hand, is it?  The evidence of a Sith conspiracy keeps getting stronger, doesn't it? But I suspect there is still stuff you want to clear up.Gluupor didn't say anything about any other evidence on the scene. I guess he might've simply forgotten.  Before we go to the Republic embassy, we should check out the east part of Ahto City just to make sure we don't miss anything.  Oh, do so entirely piss off.     In Ahto East, we find the swoop registration office. We'll go there in a minute, but first let's have a look at the rest of this area.  Yortal sells droid parts. We have no business in his store, but there's a little cutscene there so let's check that out.    Yes, I have a fine piece right here. A little dented, but still serviceable. And a real bargain at that price. I thought this garbage was free! You actually sell this junk? You fish are a strange breed.Umm... Yortal is not a Selkath, so calling him a fish doesn't even make sense.  I've got real customers to worry about - I don't need you coming in here and making fun of my inventory every day!Every day? drat. This Sith really needs to find another hobby.  Lovely.   I suppose we can take a look at his inventory.  But that is no excuse for my tone. I apologize. Please, let us start off on the right foot. Welcome to the used goods store of Yortal Ixlis. If there is anything I can help you with, all you need to do is ask. I'd like to take a look at your inventory. Of course, human. My stock is all second hand, and some of it has minor damage. But with the repairs I have done to them, my items are as good as new - for a fraction of the price. I'm not sure if his prices actually are any cheaper than other similar shops. In any case, we don't need to buy anything right now so let's get out of here.  The Sith embassy is at the end of the corridor. It's heavily guarded, but of course they can't shoot us on sight because that'd get them into trouble with the law.  Before we continue the investigation, let's race some swoops. We could always use a bit of extra cash.     Of course, with the destruction in Taris, we're in a bit of a rebuilding phase. Our Sector Champion was one of the casualties there.Oh, that's a shame.  Again, we could say we won the race on Taris but he won't believe us because we have no way to confirm that.  100 credits must be paid for each officially timed attempt that you make. This amount will be due before each race.Of course it will. Same deal as Tatooine.  I seem to remember the rewards working differently on Manaan, so let's ask about that.  What does each round pay? Round One pays 500 credits. Round Two pays 2000 credits. Round Three is 5000 credits. These are relatively standard values for the sport.Well, that sucks. No race bonds here, which means we can't sell them to Suvam at 2.6 times their value and the maximum amount we can earn from the Manaan swoop races is 7500 credits. Well, 7500 minus whatever track fees you have to pay. In the absolute best case scenario, that means 7250 credits. Still a decent amount of money, but nowhere near as much as we'd get from selling race bonds to Suvam.    Here on Manaan, Round One is the domain of hobbyists and amateurs. I mean no disrespect by that. They just can't afford the faster swoops yet. Round Two is populated by the beginner touring racers. They have decided to invest in the sport, and are attempting to make it pay. Round Three is usually only attainable by seasoned professionals. There have been exceptions, but only rarely.Alright, nothing too complicated there.   Currently our biggest attractions are Casandra Mateil and Hukta Dax. They are the only touring professionals present for this tournament. But, even with such auspicious competition, Queedle is the racer getting the biggest responses. He's a local favorite, and very talented.That's supposed to be Hukta Jax, not Dax. But that's enough of that, let's go racing.    Like on Tatooine, you only get this discount once.   Queedle is a local favorite, but this won't be much of a race. His swoop simply isn't professional quality. Time to beat, 0:23:82.Alright, let's get this started.   The Manaan swoop races take place on the surface of the ocean, which is pretty cool. The course itself is absolutely littered with obstacles, and some of them are in very tricky places so you'll easily hit them if you're not careful.  Just barely missed that one.  Well, we beat Queedle's time by 1.5 seconds, so that's a solid start.  Celebratory fistpump!  And the crowd goes wild.  We'll record this for future reference, and wish you well on your attempt to reach Sector Champion. Let's talk to Queedle here. Hopefully, he isn't a sore loser.  What? No!   I really wanted to make a go of it... but I guess you can't always do what you want. Well, you can. Nice racing. Good luck on your career.No, he's got it all wrong! We're using the Force, which is basically cheating!  Come on, buddy, don't give up just because you lost to a Jedi!  Thanks anyway, but I'll be leaving now. Back to the processing job, I guess. This was fun while it lasted. Goodbye.Holy poo poo, that's depressing. I completely forgot this could happen, because if you talk to him before the race you can actually give him money to upgrade his bike. If you do so and come back after returning to the Ebon Hawk, Queedle will become the Sector Champion and you'll have to beat his time in the final round. I totally hosed this up.   Those must be Hukta Jax and Casandra Mateil. Let's have a chat with them and see what's up.   Wait, you're that new racer. I don't give out racing secrets, if that's what you're asking for.Always nice to bond with our fellow racers.    Of course you do. Everyone wants time with the fabulous Casandra Mateil. There just isn't enough of me to go around. How long have you been at this? Two years, but that's more than enough time to know the secrets behind the sport. It's all about the image you portray. What do you mean by that? Hukta is the thug; people like him because he's mean. I'm the pretty one; the one that people want to take home. Even if we don't win, we're easy to remember. That keeps the fans coming back, so race organizers want us at their tracks. Local racers don't bring in off-world crowds. They need us. At least, they would if there was still a functioning circuit.Okay, that's all. Let's leave her in peace because she clearly doesn't want to talk to us.  Rude.  Somehow, I don't think Hukta's going to be any friendlier.    Yeah, okay, but you keep it short. I got no reason to talk to you. I want to ask about you and racing. How long have you been at this? Lots of years. I got my swoop after we raided... I mean, I got my swoop when someone left it to me. It was sad, but happy too. Nothing, and I'm not saying any more.Alright, fine. Let's go.  See you on the track, friends.  This terminal in the room shows our best times, as well as those of our opponents. Apparently, Hukta's time is 0:22:50, which is slower than our Round 1 run. This shouldn't be too difficult.  Racing fans, your attention! A new challenger will now attempt to unseat Casandra Mateil! Let them hear you!I really wish the game would take into account the fact we've already smashed everyone's records.  I actually hit that obstacle, which slowed our swoop down quite a bit.  Even with that, we easily beat Casandra's time. I bet she'll be a delight after this.  Celebratory terrible dancing!  The next round of races will determine Sector Champion. You'll have to be flawless to achieve that.I think we've got this. Even though we hit one of the obstacles on our last run, it was only 0.13 seconds off Hukta's best time, so as long as we don't screw up we'll be fine.  Nobody was expecting a warm hello from you anyway.  Looks like our mighty Sector Champion is getting a little worried about our pace out there.  Oh no, that'd be terrible. Whatever will we do?   See you after the round, Hukta!  Manaan race fans! A new contender now addresses the time of Hukta Jax! A race to end all races! Beginning now!They've now misspelled the word "opponent" twice. VIDEO: Manaan Swoop Final  Still not quite as fast as our Round 1 time, but more than good enough to unseat Hukta Jax as the Sector Champion. I'm sure he'll take the loss in stride.  One more fistpump.  You have won a great deal of money. The payment for becoming Sector Champion is 5000 credits! That will be the last amount offered for now. When we begin a new round of races we will make certain you are notified.That was the final swoop race, and I think it's safe to say we've won all of them in style.   So, let's collect our winnings and go taunt Hukta Jax.  Not here, because Selkath cameras are watching. l's too smart for that. I get you when you least expect. You just wait.I could've sworn Hukta ambushes you when you try to leave Manaan, but apparently he never does and you won't see him again at any point.  Casandra is her usual charming self.  Now that we've got that little diversion out of the way, we should finally visit the Republic embassy.  There's the man in charge, Roland Wann.   Let's see if he knows anything about the case.  Guess not.  I wouldn't put it past the Sith, but once again we'll need more evidence.   If you want to solve this mess, I would focus on the Sith. That, or check out the murder scene at the hotel. Talk to the other guests - maybe they know something.Way ahead of you. Well, as far as the hotel goes, anyway.   Let's ask about kolto while we're here.  As long as we have the permits, we will continue to harvest kolto and ship it to our Republic soldiers battling against the Sith. Of course, the Sith enjoy the very same privileges. If there was some way we could gain an edge over the Sith in our kolto supply... But the Selkath are fiercely protective of their neutrality in this conflict. They do not want to grant either side an advantage. Oh yeah, the mission. Almost forgot about that in all the excitement and running around (mostly running around, because Manaan has a lot of that).  I seek a Star Map, the remnant of an ancient and forgotten race. An ancient and forgotten race... and you think it may be here on Manaan? Hm... You know something? Well... perhaps. But if you want to get information about that, you'll have to do something for me first.What? Since when have Jedi had to run errands before Republic representatives will help them?   But while it was returning to the surface it encountered difficulties and was disabled. Its automatic systems floated it to the surface, but we could not retrieve it in time. The Sith were applying subtle pressure to the Selkath authorities for some reason we have not determined, and were able to delay us long enough that they could retrieve the droid before we did. The droid's data centers are heavily encrypted, so it will take the Sith several days, we believe, to get to its data. It was captured 12 hours ago. It is imperative that we get it back!Of course. And we'll be the ones to get it, I presume.   That is what we would ask you to do.Well, I'm glad they're not asking for anything difficult.   The first method that's possible is to help us interrogate a Sith prisoner we managed to catch after he tried to infiltrate our base. He is being held just inside our enclave. We think he may be able to give us the passcode that the Sith give their informers to enter the base. He has proved most resilient so far...Eh, maybe. Let's hear about the other methods.   The encryption system to unlock them is very difficult however, but if you are more skilled than our technicians, you may be able to gain access that way.Okay. Anything else?   Visiting Sith masters use this bay to land, then take a speeder over the water to an external entrance to the Sith enclave. That's the dock that had the blue "enter" marker on it on the map.  The Sith base itself is very heavily guarded. If they became aware of your presence, I fear you would be quickly outnumbered and killed. Here is a passcard to get you inside our facility. You should find all you need to get started in there. You can choose whichever of the methods you want as long as you get in the base and get the data recording back. Which method do you think you would like to try first?Hmm... let's see now.  Decrypting the passcard would give us a good excuse to use one of the Republic computers and maybe find some information about the Sunry case, so let's start with that.  I wish you luck in your task. Should you retrieve the data recording from the droid, return it here to me and we can see about getting you that information. We can just about see the Sith prisoner in the cage, but of course we won't be interrogating him at this point.  Past the cages is a locked door that leads to the submersible bay. That'll remain inaccessible to us for quite some time.  So, let's see about decrypting this passcard.   This is our main computer room here. We've got the box of passcards we got from the Sith, but we haven't been able to break their encryption yet. We have been able to decode the numeric system they use, but there are holes in our terminal sequence patterns.  Oh, good. Math. My specialty.  The second-last matrix has a pattern looping back on itself, or something, and the last is divided into smaller subparts. Maybe the pattern for that is within each part... But I have to admit, all this is a bit over my head. I haven't even been able to slice past the first matrix and I've been at this for hours. I've ruined a dozen cards already... But the good thing is we have a whole box of them, so you don't have to worry about running out any time soon.Well, that's good at least.  Let's get started.  And by that, I mean let's have T3 slice into their data files.   The top and bottom options will not work even if you have the spikes, because that would be silly.  And we've gained access. Let's see what we can find.  Hm? That looks promising.  Looks like the Republic had the hotel bugged with hidden cameras.  That'll be Elassa and Sunry. Wait... if the Republic had cameras in the hotel room, did that mean someone had to watch... never mind. Let's get back to the surveillance feed, shall we? Yes, let's move swiftly on.  Oh, poo poo. Sunry, what have you done?  This is inconsistent with the hotel owner's account as he said Elassa and Sunry were in the room for a couple of hours before the murder happened, but that doesn't really matter. What does matter is that we now have video evidence of Sunry murdering Elassa - evidence the Republic tried to hide, no less.  What are we going to do now? If we show this evidence to the court, Sunry will surely face severe punishment, maybe even execution. Technically speaking, justice would be served and Sunry would pay for his crime. However, if we expose Sunry we might also cause problems for the Republic and possibly even cut off their supply of kolto here on Manaan. Besides, Elassa was a dark Jedi and would surely have gone on to kill many others if Sunry hadn't killed her. Sunry is clearly a terrible person in many ways, but is it really worth exposing him? We'll have to confront him about this and figure out our next move.  Right now, we should focus on the task at hand. Let's see if we can figure out these math problems.  Alright, here we go.  Starting things off easy. The addend increases by 1 for each number in the sequence to form the next number, i.e. 1 + 1 = 2; 2 + 2 = 4; 4 + 3 = 7, and so on. Following that logic, we just need to find the correct answer to 16 + 6, and that's obviously 22.  Of course, as the technician said, it's the last two matrices that are supposed to be the difficult ones. I'm not showing this "Matrix terminated" screen again because it's the same message every time, just with a different matrix name.  Again, quite simple. 21 - 18 = 3; 18 - 16 = 2; 16 - 15 = 1; 15 - 15 = 0. When we reach zero via subtraction, we'll get back to addition: 15 + 1 = 16. Next in the sequence would be 16 + 2, which of course is 18.  Now we're multiplying each number in the sequence by 2. 32 x 2, as the old Atari Jaguar commercials were keen to point out, is 64.  And now we're dividing by 2, which is also the next number in the sequence.  Okay, here's where things start to get a little tougher. We're looking at the exponential matrix here, so 1 can be safely ignored since it can't be multiplied with itself and we should look at the rest of the numbers instead. 32 is 2^5, 81 is 3^4, 64 is 4^3, and 25 is 5^2. Next up has to be 6^1, which of course is 6. (I'll admit I looked up the answer for this one when recording. I'm sure I would've figured it out eventually because it's not that difficult, but I wanted to get through this without spending a million years on each matrix)  Our final test is the logarithmic matrix. Even if I learned about logarithms at some point (which I'm not so sure about), I've long since forgotten it and this sequence might as well have consisted of random gibberish so I looked up the answer and still didn't know what the whole deal was. Anyway, I think I've finally understood how this works, so let's see if I can explain it. This sequence uses 2 as the base, and logarithm operation is the inverse of exponentiation. 2^0 is 1, so log2(1) = 0. 2^3 is 8, so log2(8) = 3. 2^5 is 32, so log2(32) = 5. So, what is log2(128)? Well, at this point even I can tell that it's 7, because 2^7 is 128.  And that'll do it, there's our card. It's honestly a lot easier to interrogate the prisoner or just kick the door down. I'm not sure why we can't use T3 to just bypass the whole thing, because surely his computer brain would easily make these kinds of calculations in an instant.  We'll get to that soon enough.  However, next time we'll start with Sunry's trial. DMorbid fucked around with this message at 13:43 on Feb 11, 2020 |
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Feb 11, 2020 00:00
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Sunry's trial is probably my favorite side quest in the entire game because of what we've just seen. An actual moral dilemma and not just the choice between kicking the stray puppy and finding it a loving owner. Kind of surprised you're choosing to finish it before knocking over the sith base given our anonymous informant suggested we hit both.
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Feb 11, 2020 01:12
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As far as I know, there isn't actually any evidence in the Sith base and the informant is really just there to let you know it might be worth looking into the Republic's files. I also wanted to get the Sunry trial out of the way first so we can focus on the main quest for the remainder of Manaan.
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Feb 11, 2020 01:21
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Derp, you're right. I could have sworn there was something there the same way I also have memories of that swoop jockey jumping me entering one of the camera free zones on the docks.
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Feb 11, 2020 01:27
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FoolyCharged posted:Sunry's trial is probably my favorite side quest in the entire game because of what we've just seen. An actual moral dilemma and not just the choice between kicking the stray puppy and finding it a loving owner. Bioware reused things a lot, and Sunry's trial is a redo of one of the only subplots in the first Neverwinter Nights that was any good; the trial of a random soldier. complete with "if you don't grab this detail the case is very simple, and also you'll be completely wrong." they honestly do a better job with it in this one than they do in NWN2, because in NWN2 while the trial is much more involved and ornate, the entire thing is on rails to the only conclusion that moves the plot forward. in this one, you're free to fail.
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Feb 11, 2020 01:34
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I’m sure HK-47 could do just as well with those calculations as T3-M4, but meat bags don’t usually recognize his cognitive ability.  This trial is getting more complicated than I thought it’d be. Especially since killing Dark Jedi should be something that you get a free pass on. Like slave traders, which the game also punished you for killing with Dark Side points.  Out of curiosity, which is worse? Selling pazaak cards or death sticks?
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Feb 11, 2020 01:46
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achtungnight posted:This trial is getting more complicated than I thought it’d be. Especially since killing Dark Jedi should be something that you get a free pass on. Like slave traders, which the game also punished you for killing with Dark Side points. You don't have to be on the planet long to realize the local government is in some serious denial about their ability to stay neutral in the war and maintain the peace on their planet.
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Feb 11, 2020 01:52
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Elassa couldn't have been that good a Dark Jedi if she didn't sense she was about to get shot in the back 
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Feb 11, 2020 02:30
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Angry_Ed posted:Elassa couldn't have been that good a Dark Jedi if she didn't sense she was about to get shot in the back well of course she didn't sense a back shooting, it's not the same thing as a backstabbing
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Feb 11, 2020 05:54
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Sith just don't pay much attention to anyone without a lightsaber.
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Feb 11, 2020 06:35
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mateo360 posted:well of course she didn't sense a back shooting, it's not the same thing as a backstabbing She probably sensed the impending backstabbing plenty if you know what I mean, so she just got used to it. Truly 200 IQ tactics from Sunry if you think about it.
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Feb 11, 2020 09:45
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Can't really buy "Jedi good at not being shot in back" based on the order 66 montage
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Feb 11, 2020 14:35
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Is it not canon that Jedi have a hard time predicting their allies suddenly turning on them? See: Order 66, and a certain conversation in KOTOR 2. Yoda saw it coming but he's a Jedi Master and Elassa here was an apprentice.
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Feb 11, 2020 15:25
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What happens if you mess up the riddle section, assuming that's possible? ... Should have asked this a while ago, but - do you get xp for NPCs killing each other in combat? I know that this is the case in Kotor 2.
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Feb 11, 2020 15:27
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zakharov posted:Is it not canon that Jedi have a hard time predicting their allies suddenly turning on them? See: Order 66, and a certain conversation in KOTOR 2. Ki adi mundi is also a master and went down like an absolute bitch. Yoda was saved by plot armor
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Feb 11, 2020 15:31
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ikanreed posted:Ki adi mundi is also a master and went down like an absolute bitch. Aayla Secura just took one shot in the back like a chump.
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Feb 11, 2020 15:37
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Xander77 posted:What happens if you mess up the riddle section, assuming that's possible? It's a Game Over as you're stuck in the box forever.
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Feb 11, 2020 15:39
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Xander77 posted:Should have asked this a while ago, but - do you get xp for NPCs killing each other in combat? I know that this is the case in Kotor 2. Yep! Anytime a hostile drops for any reason you collect XP. This is most obvious when you repair a droid and it wanders around murdering, but there's a few times you can provoke a fight around armed strangers- the bouncers in the lower level of Taris come to mind, but the drunks who try to fight you on the upper level can get themselves gunned down by the Sith too.
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Feb 11, 2020 15:47
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I remember doing these math puzzles too, in particular the final one, because I was in high school at the time and we were, no poo poo, learning about logarithms in math class. I had to laugh, I'd always heard that learning math in school would come in handy someday, but I hadn't been expecting it to be quite so direct. Bioware and Obsidian were really fond of trials during this time, weren't they? Both NWN games had one, both KotOR games have one, the first Dragon Age has one (convincing the nobility to abandon an antagonist)... was there a trial in Jade Empire? I read the (very good) LP of it a few years ago, but I can't recall.
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Feb 12, 2020 00:38
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There's also one in Mass Effect 2 but you can solve that one simply by Being Commander Shepard.
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Feb 12, 2020 06:47
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Gnome de plume posted:There's also one in Mass Effect 2 but you can solve that one simply by Being Commander Shepard. Tali's trial was far more politics than actual trial. One of the Being Commander Shepard solutions is to convince the spectators that the trial is BS and raise the crowd into a riot. It does make sense, as long you accept Shepard's charisma.
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Feb 12, 2020 11:50
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EggsAisle posted:I remember doing these math puzzles too, in particular the final one, because I was in high school at the time and we were, no poo poo, learning about logarithms in math class. I had to laugh, I'd always heard that learning math in school would come in handy someday, but I hadn't been expecting it to be quite so direct. I'm racking my brain to remember the trial in nwn1. 2's was memorable, but if 1 had one it was deep in some side quests
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Feb 12, 2020 14:36
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NWN2's trial is really well better set up, but then you're forced into a trial by combat no matter how well you do, I get the game's rushed (given again a female PC got their romances shafted again), and several characters' subplots got dropped namely Caesvir's and Qara's) when really the set up should've been picking a choice, so it doesn't have a 'lol it doesn't matter' - let the more charismatic/social characters have their trial or the ones who are 'Grok'hah CRUSH' have their trial by combat, not force both.
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Feb 12, 2020 16:15
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ikanreed posted:I'm racking my brain to remember the trial in nwn1. 2's was memorable, but if 1 had one it was deep in some side quests it was a sidequest nexus in, i want to say act 3?
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Feb 12, 2020 17:27
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Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! posted:it was a sidequest nexus in, i want to say act 3? I thought that was the word stones. To be fair to both of us, the game is hella forgettable
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Feb 12, 2020 17:37
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Omobono posted:Tali's trial was far more politics than actual trial. One of the Being Commander Shepard solutions is to convince the spectators that the trial is BS and raise the crowd into a riot. It does make sense, as long you accept Shepard's charisma. Yeah, the three "Being Commander Shepard" ways of doing that are to 1) Help enough people to be able to rally the crowd to her support, 2) Paragon your way through it and argue that Tali's history of literally helping to save the galaxy should more than suffice for her defense, 3) Call out the Admirals, and yell at them to "leave my crew out of your political bullshit" ...You don't get any of those options here.
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Feb 12, 2020 23:50
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Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! posted:it was a sidequest nexus in, i want to say act 3? It's this. There's an alliance between Neverwinter and the local barbarians, a Neverwinter soldier got shanked and a barbarian warrior was accused of the crime. The quest is to get him acquitted. IIRC it was fairly complex for a NWN1 quest, but it was kinda presented kinda low-key. I only remember it because I was playing through a bunch of my old RPGs a few years back.
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Feb 15, 2020 01:37
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Part 35: The Verdict Last time, we discovered via a hidden recording that the Republic war hero Sunry, accused of the murder of the Sith Elassa Huros, was in fact guilty of the crime. While killing a Sith, let alone a Dark Jedi, is hardly the worst of crimes, this revelation poses a slight problem to us because we're supposed to defend Sunry in court.  Let's start by having Sunry explain himself.   So Elassa was apparently a spy, at least if Sunry is to be believed. He has changed his story a few times so we can't be sure, but that would certainly explain what Elassa saw in Sunry in the first place. It can't have been his winning personality, that's for sure.  They found the illegal monitoring device that the Sith had planted in the room, altered its recording to hide my part in it and cleared up the evidence. I figured that was the end of it.Ah, so it was the Sith who planted that camera in the room. For some reason, I assumed the Republic was behind that because they suspected Elassa might have been a spy and decided to keep an eye on Sunry, or something like that. Or maybe Sunry is lying. Who knows.   And so they planted their own evidence. Elassa must have stolen that Hero's Cross from me long ago and given it to her Sith masters, like some kind of trophy. I just thought I'd misplaced it. But when the Cross turned up on her body, I knew the Sith had put it there. So now you know the whole story, what are you going to do?That... is a very good question.  Sunry is absolutely a pile of sentient trash who cheated on his wife with a Sith mistress whom he then killed in cold blood while she slept (because he knew he couldn't take her in a fight) when he realized she was a spy. Technically speaking, this should be a slam dunk. Sunry is guilty as sin. However, she was a Dark Jedi, and her death is very much a net positive despite the deplorable means Sunry resorted to.  I think we're in the hundreds by now, definitely. Not to mention what Zila might have done in her past life as Darth Revan.  Generally speaking, we've been killing hundreds of people in self-defense like any self-respecting RPG protagonist, so I suppose Jolee is correct.  This is also not wrong.  I wonder what would happen if Sunry just confessed.  Maybe he should've considered this before killing his girlfriend on a planet inhabited by people who take their laws incredibly seriously. Sith or not, that was a bad move.  I'm not so sure about this answer, frankly, but agreeing to keep Sunry's secret actually gives you dark side points. KotOR's ultra-binary morality system has no idea what to make of this quest.  If you turn me in, the Republic will likely lose its kolto export privileges and then we'll lose the war for sure. Are you going to send all those thousands, millions - like on Taris - to their deaths, just for your sense of 'justice'?No, I just wanted a neutral dialogue option.   No, I'll rot in here if I have to, but I won't betray the Republic. Do what you have to, but know what the consequences will be.Right. Let's get this trial started.   You off-worlders have a tendency to ignore the rule of law in favor of some rather irrational causes. What is it that I can do for you now? Actually, before we start the trial, we might as well ask the warden if he knows anything about the disappearances of various young Selkath.  It is likely, though, that it has been perpetrated by out- worlders... ones such as yourself perhaps...Perhaps. Okay then, that's enough messing around.   You must be certain your investigations are complete before you request a trial. This is the role of the Arbiter. Are you certain you wish to begin the trial now?So yeah, you should make absolutely sure you've got all the evidence you need before you proceed with the trial because there are no do-overs.   Well, here goes nothing.  We talked to the judges earlier and found some of them probably shouldn't be allowed within a mile of a courtroom. Shelkar is okay, though. He's got common sense unlike some others among the presiding judges.  Jhosa is fine as well.  Naleshekan is an idiot. He's not the biggest idiot among the judges, but he's up there as he claims he doesn't see any difference between the Republic and the Sith.  Kota is a big fan of the Republic and will gladly say as much to anyone who would listen. These guys are supposed to be impartial, obviously, but... well, we will see how that goes when the trial gets underway.  Duula is a loving moron who doesn't think the Sith have ever done anything wrong and actively wishes for the Sith to take over.  Representing Sunry in his defense is a member of the Jedi Order. Do you have any opening statements?Well...  ...no, we do not. Let's get on with this thing. If we wanted to get this trial over with really quickly, we could present the video evidence and Sunry would get sentenced to death. We could also try to mind trick the judges to find Sunry innocent (well, we can't because we don't have the Affect/Dominate Mind powers), but that will go about as well as you might expect.  I'll bet he is.   And I will see Sunry is executed for the crime he has committed. Oh, crap. Which one was this judge again? That's Kota, I think, based on the camera angle of the shot. Would it have killed BioWare to create more than one Selkath model or at least swap their colors around a bit? Even their Rodians have differently colored outfits.  Right, let's start by questioning the hotel owner.   That's Jhosa. Okay, I think I've got this.  We could've persuaded or bribed the hotel owner to lie to the judges to potentially get Sunry acquitted more easily, but that's a little bit unethical.  After each witness has given their testimony and you have cross-examined them, you may ask the presiding judges for their opinions on the current state of the case. This is a special privilege given by Manaan law only to the defendant, so use it wisely.In case you were wondering, I am not looking at any guides for the trial. It's been almost a decade since I last played this section, so I'm just winging it and trying to pick the options that don't look completely idiotic.  There's Firith, the Pazaak player we questioned at the hotel.  Oh! Oh! I know what to do here!   I've never played Ace Attorney. I probably should fix that.    I came out into the hallway after hearing the blaster shot and saw Sunry over there limping down the hall out of the building. Heh. A very obvious point, your Honors. The accused was seen leaving the scene of the crime after the blaster that killed Elassa was fired. A very pertinent point, prosecutor.Even if you bribe the hotel owner, the witnesses will still say they saw Sunry leave after the blaster shot was fired.  All right, Firith, let's do this.   Your point is well-taken Arbiter. Do you have additional questions?Why, yes. Several, in fact.  I think it may have been. I mean, you'd have to pretty stupid to leave something that important lying around, wouldn't you?Indeed.  Jhosa seems to agree.    No, this piece of evidence is very important. It establishes the character of Elassa and perhaps her intent in dealing with Sunry.We might be getting somewhere. Questioning the witnesses at the hotel and persuading them for extra information was definitely a good idea.  That'll do for now, I think. We won't bring up the fact Sunry is disabled (the game will not stop calling him "a cripple" which isn't exactly a term you should use in court or anywhere else for that matter) because we know Sunry was always accused of shooting Elassa in the back. Some of these seemingly stupid options will actually help convince a particular judge at the cost of weakening your case with the rest of them, so there is an optimal way to go through this.  Nah, not yet.   The prosecution may question the witness.We learned that Gluupor was paid by the Sith to plant the medal on the body, but before we can reveal that information we'll have to sit through the Sith prosecutor going on and on.    Perhaps, Sith, perhaps. It is the turn of the defense to question the witness now.Wait, that's it? Okay, I'm not complaining.  Zila was actually stuck in this pose and expression here, completely frozen in place with a permanently raised eyebrow. I don't remember seeing this glitch before.  But... Gluupor not see him really kill Sith... Do you wish to ask the witness anything else? Okay, good, she's no longer stuck. Now that that's sorted out, we should talk about the medal that anyone could see was planted on the scene.  Gluupor just think these things happen. It is just... odd...It certainly is, Gluupor.  Something... really shouldn't say fishy in front of the Selkath judges... err... dodgy is going on with Gluupor's testimony, and Kota can tell.  Of course, we know why Gluupor is acting strangely.  Don't do it, Gluupor...Hm? Did the esteemed prosecutor perhaps pay Gluupor himself?   Naleshekan chiming in as well now.   You are certain of this Gluupor? Gluupor certain... This new evidence puts the entire case in a new light. Again, that's all for now. Let's take the opportunity to poll the judges.  We've got Shelkar.  Jhosa as well.  Naleshekan needs more convincing.  We have Kota too. That means we've got a majority at the moment, so if we keep this up Sunry will walk.  Not even trying to be impartial there, Duula? Duula and Naleshekan will both require more before they're convinced and a full consensus can be attained.  Next, we've got Elora to question.  He was crippled in that war. Do you not believe he'd blame the Sith for his injury? Why wouldn't he?  I don't think that holds up as well as Mr. Prosecutor here would like.  Certainly.    Be silent! You have already questioned the witness, prosecutor. He had been seeing her for some time, I think. *sniff* But he said he was going to change! But now things have become so very complicated... That is very enlightening evidence. It will influence our deliberation considerably. Do you have any more questions, Arbiter?Let's see what we've got.  No, I don't think these questions will cut it.  Polling the judges gives us the same result as last time so we've still got the majority on our side.  I wish to call forth Sunry himself, your Honors.Well, that makes sense at least.  Hopefully, Sunry manages not to do anything stupid while he's up there in front of the judges.    Come on, he's clearly leading the accused! Sadly, we don't actually get the option this time.  Well, yes I... I was... I had been having an affair with Elassa on my wife, yes... But I realized how wrong I had been and I was going there to end it! You were having an affair with a Sith! You wanted to end it quickly and quietly, so you killed her from behind and tried to flee! No, I... I think we can see the answer clear enough, Mr. Sunry!I think the prosecution should perhaps calm down a little. This is a courtroom, after all.  The Sith prosecutor is making such an rear end out of himself that Duula tells him to knock it off with that bullshit. Nice job.   Alright, here we go again.  Was she? That's what we've been told, at least. I don't know if this option actually helps our case much, but my guess would be no.   Yeah, I don't think that went down quite as well as we'd hoped.  The fact remains: Elassa was a Sith and likely a spy as well.Still, Jhosa seems to be convinced. Too bad we don't really need to convince him any more than we already have.   Right, the medal. He said Elassa might have stolen it earlier and given it to her Sith master.  It's possible the Sith had stolen it and had it planted on the body. No, it really isn't. We already know Gluupor was paid by the Sith, possibly this fine fellow himself, to plant the medal on the body.  Kota likes it, but again he's not one of the judges that still require convincing.   They... they might have killed her for her failure... or they might have thought she'd turn against them or something like that. No, they're a lot worse.  Naleshekan isn't having any of his poo poo.  I think we're looking pretty good at this point.  That said, Duula and Naleshekan still aren't convinced.  I think the facts in this case are very straight forward: Sunry was having an affair with Elassa. He sought to end it, and the simplest, quickest method given his hatred of the Sith was to simply kill her. *Ahem* Witnesses saw Sunry fleeing the scene, and material evidence places him there at the time of the murder as well. I am confident that any informed observation of the facts will lead the judges - your Honors - to this very conclusion. Indeed. And your closing statements, Arbiter?Okay then, here comes the moment of truth. Our last chance to convince the judges of Sunry's "innocence".  This is true, of course. No one can prove Sunry did it. He was acting suspicious for obvious reasons, but no one saw him pull the trigger and there were no fingerprints or anything else on the scene to prove it was him.   The prosecutor clearly isn't reading my comments.  Is there another point you would make? We'll go with this one, which seems to be the most sensible argument.  Your time for arguments has passed, and you would do well to remember that! The Arbiter's argument does bring up a valid point. Is there anything else you would state? NO NO ABORT ABORT  We'll only hurt our arguments with this one, but for some reason that completely escaped my mind when I was recording. Sunry is the only one going on about the whole spy thing and no one believes his stupid rear end, but I guess he kept yelling it loudly enough that my stupid rear end decided to mention it here. I suppose I might've also had some sort of half-baked thought along the lines of "Well, the Sith killed Elassa because Sunry was ending the affair, and while doing so they figured they might as well pin the murder on Sunry... and they didn't totally shoot down the idea of Elassa maybe having been a spy." I guess the hidden camera in Elassa's room was installed by the Sith, but we only have Sunry's word for that as well. Honestly, nobody looks good in this whole debacle.   Jhosa does consider this a valid argument, but again he is not the person we need to convince, and we have run out of opportunities to convince the ones we have to.   Yeah, I think we're good. While some of the seemingly dumb arguments will help convince certain judges, I don't believe these will do much for our case.  Alright, fingers crossed. Honestly, we don't really care what happens to Sunry one way or the other, but we definitely don't want the Republic to receive any sanctions from the Selkath because that could be a disaster. Sunry is a shithead and probably deserves some sort of punishment, but not like that.  Mission accomplished, I guess. Had we managed to get all the judges on our side, the Sith would also get some sanctions slapped on them and some of the kolto they're getting would be handed over to the Republic instead. Still, at least we managed to stop things from getting worse.  The Sith prosecutor reacts in his usual dignified manner.   We'll take it.  Based on what we've seen, Sunry does not deserve Elora.    Try not to cheat on your wife with any more Dark Jedi, Sunry.  All's well that ends well, I suppose.  With the trial finished and Sunry a free man once again, it's time for us to forget all about that business and continue the main quest. Yeah, we still have a Star Map to find, and that means we first have to go to the Sith base and retrieve the data from the Republic probe droid they stole.   But we Sith have long memories. Soon there will be a day of reckoning - very soon. So what are you doing here? We managed to create a fake passcard for the Sith base when we cracked their encryption last time, so let's show our shiny new pass to this friendly Sith guard.  Well, excuse me for assuming we needed to present our passcard like we've had to do everywhere else.  Next time, we will kill a lot of Sith. I'm sure that won't land us in any trouble whatsoever. DMorbid fucked around with this message at 03:27 on Feb 15, 2020 |
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Feb 15, 2020 02:45
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Well, that was something, alright. I’m surprised that there wasn’t some additional surprise witness, evidence, or any other “gotcha!” by the Sith. Then again, maybe that’s just my Ace Attorney experience speaking.
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Feb 15, 2020 05:14
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Thanks for the Ace Attorney bit. Glad that could be included. I suck at those games, but I like their memes.  Didn't realize SA had an emoticon for Objection!Nice of them to make this challenging by including different ways to defend that don't work on all the judges. I also liked that they had the defendant testify, even though I'm not sure I would have had him testify had I the choice and if the trial had been subject to US rules. I wonder if the Sith prosecutor will be among the Sith we fight as we raid their embassy. Probably not, but it would be a nice touch if he was.
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Feb 15, 2020 06:29
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Identical judges aside I think this bit works better than most now that I’m looking back on it. Casting the player in a defense attorney role where the job is to defend your client - one you know is guilty! - is a lot more interesting of a situation than the typical noble paladin / stupid evil that is LS/DS most times. It’s one of the few times you could have a nuanced take on what it means to be light/dark side in this title. Of all the things that aged poorly in this game, I’m surprised to find I think this is the least bad so far! But seriously, the identical models on the panel of judges. Ugh.
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Feb 15, 2020 08:51
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