I don't know about you, but that made killing him all the more enjoyable. I think I could watch that cut-scene run on loop and never tire of it. I really only had a problem with the distance as well, and even then only when I was playing a force-user (excellent sound choice btw... spot on). I personally believe that Bioware has handled how our characters react to this new set of villains appropriately. It has more of a Kotor element to it (ie: running from... -uses google- .... Malak). I do realize that we but the point still stands. Most good stories do not have heroes waltzing in and taking down the prime villain without some encountering some setbacks first. Side point, had we stayed and fought Vaylin, who would have faced off against Arkan in the cargo room? I'd like to believe had anyone else but ourselves gone there, they would have died.

For the Empire? I'm civic-minded like that.

And if I was referring to weaponizing my actual head in order to terrorize and force Bioware into making it apart of the story? But yeah I wasn't so my mistake =)

I think I'd die from a nerdgasm long before I realized that it made no sense (And the overlap in voice actors alone would be tremendously confusing). Also, each of my previous protagonists is more than capable of handling galaxy wide problems on their own =)

Wow that sentence. Hurt. Regardless, If I deciphered it correctly, I guess so? But heroic moments also allow us to use force abilities via our legacy, so perhaps our non-force users are actually force-sensitives? Regardless, I'm head-cannoning it to be so.

Playing through it as an Imperial Agent eliminated all those problems. As an Agent, I'm perfectly fine with getting thrown around by these 'all powerful' force users... It always plays out like a James Bond film (which is perfect). You get beat down a bit against overwhelming odds, but true grit wins the day and we get that epic blaster kill shot . Although, having played alongside my Sith Inquisitor friend on his KOTFE play through I can definitely see your point. I howled in laughter when I saw Senya toss the supremely evil and ruthless Darth Nox like he was a toy. It's hard to remain an intimidating figure when an old lady whoops ya. Still nine chapters though. I'm sure our characters will come into their own and turn the tables soon enough.

I'm positive the Hand was lying the entire time, or at least withholding significant truths from the Wrath. While I believe that the Voice being trapped on Voss was detrimental to the Emperor's plans due to a significant portion of his power being invested there(focus), that did not prevent him from furthering his agenda via his dozens of other meat puppets. These meat puppets though, might not have had the sufficient strength to dispose of Baras themselves hence the need for the Wrath to clean house (and save the Dark Side cookies). However, after the defeat of the Voice by the Wrath, the Children, and the Voice(?) yet again by the JK, his ability to influence what was occurring in the Sith Empire was reduced, either due to him being weakened (maybe not physically), or simply running out of pawns to play the game. At this point, I believe he focused on Zakuul entirely, until the events in SOR take place (wherein he is just over this galaxy and wants to consume it all, until we come along and pique his curiosity). The Rise of the Dreadmasters also ties into this, when they talk about the 'Emperor's absence' almost immediately after the main story line (Explosive Conflict). In essence, the class story quests still influence the grand scheme of the galaxy (with the Imperial Agent still stealing the show ).

Well, I don't want to downplay any class stories impact on the game. However, the scope of the Emperor's power is almost a hypothetical limit at this point. With that in mind... perhaps the Emperor was able to gain a substantial amount of power back and continue his plans with more alacrity. Also, do we know the duration? There are no real timelines, so the time he spent trapped on Voss could have been of little consequence, or it could have been long enough to explain both his 'distant nature' to both the Sith Empire and Zakuul. I personally believe the Emperor to be powerful enough to be in more than one location at a time. If Jedi could ever be called that =)

At this moment, I think there there is not enough information to form a conclusion regarding the Emperor (which I know is obvious, but still). I mean, even when we knew him as Vitiate, the guy was still very much enigmatic. We had no empirical evidence as to the limits of his power, or pretty much any other aspect of him. For instance, on Ziost I FULLY believed our actions made a difference in some way... then yeah, stuff happened and I was proved woefully incorrect. It really doesn't matter is Valkorion is his 'real' body or not, to the Emperor its almost semantics. What matters is the why of it which I think somewhat determined by examining when things happened. The following isn't necessarily 100% accurate but whatever... its close enough: 1) Sith Empire is rebuilt 2) Empire of Zakuul is being built (Emperors real focus now) 3) Sith Empire Returns (Revan does his mind game stuff with the Emperor) 4) Class story stuff (Sith Emperor really stops caring about the Empire and resumes his empire building in Zakuul) 5) Emperor is disappointed in pretty much everything he's created (Including his sons ala KOTFE Trailer) 6) SOR happens 7) Emperor says !@#% it I'm eating this stupid galaxy and living elsewhere 8) Ziost happens, and -we- peek the Emperors interest 9) Emperor has a new project and orchestrates events to lead us into Zakuul space (Trailers) 10) KOTFE I really don't think the Emperor cares to much about ruling the Galaxy anymore. He seems beyond 'petty' goals like that now, instead it seems like he is more interested in how people interact with one another (but especially the outlander). This is evident in pretty much every conversation you have with him in the expansion... from our interactions with Senya, to how we handle his offers of power. He keeps saying how we are not bound to destiny etc, and I think he views us as a kindred spirit or such thing. Or I'm completely wrong. This is all conjecture anyhow...

Interesting. So what you really want, is an actual explanation as to why Valkorion was AFK'ing for so long with this invincible fleet. That is actually a good question... and I've got nothing for you on that which is concrete. But I put forward the possibility that perhaps the Empire and Republic were both too strong at the time for even the Eternal fleet to win. I mean, the Empire was quite beastly at the time of it's resurgence, and the Republic was still massive. Perhaps he required the war to linger on, in order to allow Zakuul the opportunity to take over... Perhaps he was disappointed with the result of the Sith Empire's return, and decided his Zakuul project was now his best chance. It depends heavily on when, but the Empire was a project of his at the time as well, and he (Vitiate) only started to withdraw after the Empire launched it's invasion. Maybe he had given up on Zakuul as well when he was in the 'consume the known galaxy mood'. And after his 'change' on Ziost, he decided to put on the ol' Valkorion face again and give empire building another shot (because the Sith Empire didn't really want him back). Conjecture I know, but there is so little concrete information any theory could technically be valid. Hopefully Bioware will tell us in future chapters... Regardless, the problem isn't the Eternal Fleet, it's the Emperor. He was the enabler of all these events, and he's so ridiculously powerful he realistically doesn't need the Eternal Fleet to enforce his will, he could just start nom nomming planets in a much more efficient manner than the silly Death Star ever could. At least they solved this problem in KOTFE... Sorta Anyways, I'd wager a degree of faith needs to be placed in Bioware to make sense of that particular question. But it honestly doesn't bother me to much, the same thing pretty much happened with the current Sith Empire in every way. It is just another aspect that requires suspension of disbelief.

Ok... Slightly and needlessly vitriolic post aside, I think it's prudent to remember that forums are not where people typically go to extol the virtues of a game... a point concretely reinforced by your response. 70% of users could be bashing an expansion on a forum, but that 70% is not reliably representative of the rest of player base. I will however make an educated guess this expansion was well received by the majority of early access players, as I have not seen (and I've looked) this apparent negative feedback which is so plentiful. Surprisingly there are very few forum topics regarding the new expansion, with most discussions having been created before the early access even started. Regarding another one of your points... Does imprisoning or killing Xalek does have an impact later on? Yes. He's gone, you've killed him. How does this impact the overall story afterwards? Unlike yourself who has a form of future sight and come somehow determine that there will be no LONG TERM consequences in an expansion that is in it's infancy, I couldn't tell you with a degree of certainty because I've only completed 9 of 18 chapters. What I can tell you is that keeping him alive affects the story, by the simple fact that he is alive and able to have conversations. Is it meaningful? That is for the player to decide, but the life and death of a companion character you could have had since launch is... Well sort of a big deal. I also have no idea what you mean by Tano Vik is a Trooper companion and Xalek is a Sith Inquisitor companion? They were available at launch, as in to say they were not just created for this expansion. If you knew that already, I apologize, that's how I interpreted what you were saying. If you didn't then well.. Now you know. If Bioware did indeed promise that our choices will have 'real consequences', then they've already kept that promise. I let a certain someone take over twice now, and each time, the way my character was viewed by others changed rather dramatically. I basically let thousands of people die and directly murdered potentially thousands more, because I chose >2< dark side options. Lasting consequences of those actions? Well understandably some of the less cold-hearted amongst my crew hate my guts, and I'm sure as nerf **** not winning the hearts and minds of the local populace. While my choices haven't resulted in the life or death of crucial story characters (which isn't the definition of a meaningful decision), they have influenced how these characters interact with me, how the galaxy views me, and most importantly how I view my character going into the future.

Obviously the Imperial Agent I can imagine the headline now: "The Eternal Empire has fallen thanks to the valiant efforts of...our enigmatic leader?" I personally love the idea of an unknown (at least the Agents current alias), non-force user being able to influence events in such a manner. Although having a non-force user is a little less 'Star Warsy,' it is more original. All of the force user characters already have these cookie cutter leadership qualities and roles which -although still fun- have been done to death in either movies, or even other Star Wars games..The Agent is perhaps the worst possible candidate for a leader, and that in of itself makes it more interesting to me. No one knows the Agent, and my Agent wants it to remain that way as they are more comfortable in the shadows than the spotlight. That added dynamic for me is appealing, as it provides a new unique experience. Additionally, the whole 'too weak to stand up to force users' argument is resolved almost immediately due to At that point, technically any non-force user becomes the most powerful -if you accept his offers- by default. After the remaining non-force users I'd say the Sith Inquisitor. The whole Valkorion thing seems like a natural progression to that story line.

I... I can understand your opinion however I think there are elements you are perhaps not considering. First off, I believe you contradict yourself at one point although this may have been unintentional. You ask for a classic and that is almost exactly what is delivered. The Empire and Republic and its up to your band of misfits and malcontents to make a difference each factions respective leaders are incapable and perhaps even unwilling to make. Second, the actual name of Vitiate doesn't matter (and my agent can attest to this). Whether Valkorion is his 'real' name or not is irrelevant. It's hardly realistic to expect a grand schemer like the Emperor to make a mistake like committing heinous atrocities like

Well I'd imagine you can't make a game with a manageable story arc if you were able to kill off every character you wanted. It would be similar to not rescuing Hon Solo from his carbonite prison because you wanted the option. Or just letting Luke Skywalker chill out hanging from the bottom of Bespin because I wanted the option to not save him. Bioware - a typically story oriented developer by the way - can't offer us a story (or at least not withing an acceptable time frame) if they had to account for every choice a player wanted. Instead they give enough choices (for most of us anyways), that are manageable from a game developer perspective. It'd be nonsensical to create entire story arcs for characters that may be dead in other peoples playthroughs. It's the nature of the beast, and in my opinion Bioware is unfairly criticized on it in every game it's created. But more to the point, there are companions you can kill so yeah... All your arguments are moot because you can't do simple research. The only (albeit unfair) criticism I have for this expansion stems from what I mention above. Every character you are allowed to kill off in this game in essence means that they will have no meaningful impact in this current expansion or future ones.