Experience with politics, and a decent relationship with the Republic... Hmm, if I could choose based on those parameters, I think I'd choose Senya. As Valkorian's ex-husband, she probably does have some knowledge of politics. Plus, she helped out during the war with Zakuul, so I imagine she does have fans in the Republic.

"Buddy" is pretty light-hearted term. A far cry from calling someone a basement dweller. At least, that's what I always thought. If I'm wrong, then I'm sorry. As for the opinion piece, well, with the general attitudes many of the critics have, it's pretty hard to tell the difference between guys who understand their opinions are, well, opinions, and the jerks who honestly think their views are absolute fact. (I'll admit I can get kinda snippy due to the MANY critics I've come across who are beyond insulting towards people who actually like the sequels.) But you implicitly DID advocate against the idea of people enjoying when you talked Lucas not showing up to the premiere, and that the whole thing serves as "a cautionary tale to every creator to only let go of creative control of their IP on their deathbeds." Whether you meant it that way or not, it basically sends the message that "this movie is bad, an insult to the original creator", which implicitly suggests that we are bad people if we enjoy it. It comes off to me as a "no true fan would enjoy this" attitude.

I said "in part". Obviously there was more to it. "Usual suspects in the basements of their mothers." Lovely attitude you've got there. I'm not making assumptions about YOUR lifestyle because of your opinions. Speaking of which, treating so many of your assessments of the plot of the sequels as if they are factual statements and not as the simple matter of opinions they actually are, THAT is what I call "obtuse". On another note, have the early reviewers explicitly confirmed Palpatine is alive? 100% with no room for doubt? Because the fact Palpatine never showed up in person in the trailers, even though his voice can be heard, have led me to speculate he might just be around as a force ghost or something. Either way, I would much rather watch the film and make a judgement for myself instead of following what some dude on the internet tells me to.

? The original trilogy is still around. Disney only retconned the EU from existence. (And Lucas had no involvement in that, and from what I hear, was indifferent towards.)

Buddy, people have been hating on Lucas for years over changes to the original trilogy and the events of the prequels. He sold Star Wars, at least in part, because he was sick of all the criticism he got and wanted to avoid being blamed. To be honest, all the hate on the sequel trilogy has ultimately proven to me that Lucase was right. The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi aren't that bad, but Star Wars fans have made it clear that will NEVER be satisfied with movies beyond the original trilogy... at least until another trilogy comes along. (People once hated the prequels. Now that the sequels have been made, suddenly it's no longer cool to hate the prequels. I am willing to bet that if Disney ever makes another trilogy, people will suddenly start calling the sequels great movies while hating on the new trilogy.)

Nah. (For the record, you're not alone. I like the sequel trilogy so far too.) There are... certain people on the internet who'll think otherwise, but you are allowed to like what you like.

What makes you so sure this is what Valkorian wanted? He feared death, and this plague doesn't sound like it's bringing him back. It's just a spiteful "if I die, I'm taking you all with me!" move. Furthermore, it's a matter of debate whether Revan or the Exile would even know about the plague (they didn't know ALL of the Emperor's plans), and considering how much trouble has already been caused, I have to ask why Revan and/or the exile WOULDN'T direct Scourge to a chance to put the Emperor down forever?

It's pretty obvious to me that Malgus is going to be the Big Bad of the current story. He obviously has his own agenda separate from Acina/Vowrawn, and he will likely end up as an enemy to both the Republic and the Empire.

It's your character, so only you can say what the right answer for them would be.

Just because you might be okay messing around doesn't mean your partner has to be.

Count me in the camp of people who actually enjoyed the new expansion. Admittedly, I tend to enjoy a lot of the story in the game (I seem to be just about the only person commenting who actually enjoyed KOTFE and KOTET), but what I like is the fact this expansion actually gives some real motivation to play through multiple times. While I enjoyed Shadow of Revan up to KOTET, I considered it less than great that the story was basically exactly the same no matter your class or allegiance. Which meant there was basically no replay value. I like how this expansion has a story that actually CHANGES depending on whether you're Republic or Empire. Ever since Shadow of Revan, the only characters I have played were my Jedi Knight and Sith Inquisitor. Now, I actually am considering dusting off some of my other characters so that I can see other possibilities.

The species description all but confirms that the red-skinned guys we know today are referred to as Sith Purebloods in order to avoid confusion between references to the species and to the guys who are flinging around lightning.

Me too. But I'm pretty sure the Alliance is sticking around, so I'm not worried.

You can already sort of do that. Although there's no outright neutrality option, there is an option during the interview/speech to decide whether the Alliance is merged with the Republic/Empire, or simply working with them.

For the Republic, just about any Race/Class makes sense due to the Republic's openness towards aliens. (Although Chiss and Sith Purebloods don't make much sense due to their Imperial affiliations. Though a Chiss Smuggler is plausible. Also, Miraluka make more sense as force-wielding classes.) For the Empire, things get a bit trickier. The SIth Warrior story makes basically no sense if you play as anything other than a human or Sith Pureblood. You're supposed to be a scion for a prominent Sith family, and Tremel favors you over Vemrin because of your bloodline. If you're an alien, this story is nonsensical. The Sith Inquisitor, on the other hand, is a former slave, so any race aside from Sith Pureblood or Chiss makes sense. (The disgraced families thing makes a Pureblood inquisitor plausible, but it still is more sensible to be something else. The Chiss make zero sense because I don't see the Ascendancy tolerating the Empire enslaving its members.) The Bounty Hunter is an independent mercenary. Basically anything aside from, again, Sith Pureblood makes sense. The Imperial Agent is probably the most open of the Imperial Classes. The Empire might not be fond of aliens, but there have always been exceptions, particularly with the very pragmatic minds leading Imperial Intelligence. Even Sith Pureblood agents aren't out of the question, since there are indeed some that aren't force sensitive.

In terms of pre-release stuff, the only thing I am fully aware of is that certain companions could be killed, but numerous complaints from people who apparently didn't actually expect them to die resulted in it being removed. I also heard that in the Jedi Consular story, you would originally receive debuffs for using the shielding technique to save the infected masters. If what I heard is correct, then I imagine it was changed because of how badly it would gimp light-sided players. In terms of post-release stuff, I've heard that originally the class stories were meant to be expanded beyond their endings, but when the game didn't do as well as expected, EA gut the budget. Thus, the unified story we have today.

It sounds to me like OP isn't actually a Sith Player, but an agent player who's saying "if I can't have your companion you shouldn't be allowed to have mine!"

Completing the Voss Star Fortress will result in one of the bonus objectives during the starting mission of KOTET being completed automatically, and Rokuss (the companion you get from the Star Fortress mission) and his allies can be seen fighting the Zakuul forces. On another note, I like to imagine that the Outlander does not gain control of the Star Fortresses when they take the Eternal Fleet. I personally headcanon that when the KOTET story is completed, any Star Fortresses that haven't been destroyed will rebel against you, justifying why they are still considered your enemies.

Lana and Theron both stay with you regardless of what you choose. The only consequence so far in terms of companions is whether Elara Dorne or Malavai Quinn joins the Alliance.

You should be getting a special quest around this point. It's exclusive to Smugglers and Bounty Hunters, and Mako and Akaavi return.

I can think of 2 notable examples in regards to my Sith Inquisitor (who, for context, is a grade-A Dark V jerk). First, Ashara Zavros. My Inquisitor thinks she is a naive fool who preaches peace in a cruel galaxy that will inevitably kill her. Out of character, she's actually my favorite Inquisitor companion. And for the Fallen Empire companions, there's Koth Vortena. When he betrayed the alliance, my Inquisitor was left with a seething hatred for the man, and vowed to kill him for what he had done. Which he eventually did do in Eternal Throne. But out of character, Koth's betrayal made me like him MORE, not less. After several light-sided did nothing but whine and complain when you did Dark-sided stuff, I was impressed that Koth had the guts to get off his a** and DO something about it!

Jedi Knight: Kira Carsen (with T7 in a close second) Trooper: M1-4X Smuggler: Corso Riggs Jedi Consular: Nadia Grell Sith Warrior: Vette Bounty Hunter: Torian Cadera (with Mako in a close second) Imperial Agent: Dr. Lokin Sith Inquisitor: Khem Val

Nope. Still hate her, still play the game, and am still alive. I just didn't see anything worth responding to in that post. The guy wasn't exactly throwing undue praise the way most of Thana's fans do. Plus in general I got tired of wasting my time with subjects I hate.

I imagine it as being reasons somewhat similar to the Empire having the Death Star, rather than Coruscant, as their seat of power.

Well, that could explain why it's taking Kira (and other Jedi companions) so long to show up.