Good point about feudal Japan. I was thinking about the right of Samurai to cut a peasant in half because of whatever, but yeah - Sepuku is unlikely I still disagree with your main premise, but clearly we have different backgrounds that influence our opinions. IMO the slave economy and institutionalised racism (pre-Malgus, anyway) cast a shadow over everything else potentially positive about the Empire.

You win today's internet Glad to see Mr. Karpshyn back. I'm not a huge fan of his novels, but he writes very good game stories.

"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others." - Winston Churchill. The Empire, as a system, is evil. The Republic, as a system, is corrupt and inefficient. If the republic is RL western democracy and free-market capitalism ramped up to an extreme level, then the Empire is an extreme feudal Japan. Feudal Japan sounds like a pretty sweet deal if you're in the samurai class, not so much if you're a peasant. I really don't think you can make a relativistic argument for the Empire by pointing out the flaws in the Republic. The Republic isn't 'good', but I know I'd pick the nominally democratic society over the feudal one any day.

Because a) A power doesn't typically charge its own people with war crimes - that's for the other side to do, and b) such trials typically don't occur until after a war is won/lost. Given the nature of the galactic war (no holds barred, total conquest and/or destruction), you can be sure that if the Sith won, they'd be summarily executing any Republic leader figure that opposed them, regardless of their actions. If the republic won, they'd most likely sweep any of their own war crimes under the rug.

A parsec is equal to about 3.26 light-years (source) - a pretty respectable distance by any measure except SW as-fast-as-the-plot-requires hyperspace travel.

The Sith Warrior story is really good, I've just finished it myself. But I think you might want to play one of the Jedi classes before you commit to that opinion. The Jedi don't really understand the Sith, and vice versa, so you really shouldn't form an opinion based on the propaganda and misconceptions of one side. The SW literally owns their first companion. Sure, you can take her collar off, but she's still a slave. Sounds pretty evil to me

You greatly underestimate the amount of person-hours required to build a new engine, from scratch - there's a reason why the majority of game developers don't do it. On top of that, it would be delegation of resources into something with an uncertain return of investment. Then there's the porting of assets over to the new engine, the rebuilding of assets that are no longer compatible, the testing of everything...

Forged Alliances, said by my Agent, but I think its generic: "Are you the one in charge here? Before you answer, I've been ordered to kill the one in charge here."

It's one of the best, IMO. Definitely more of a 'Jedi' story than the knight (who a lot of the time amounts to a trooper with a lightsaber). It feels very behind-the-scenes at times, which I personally like but may be one of the reasons it gets so much flak. There's a couple of companions I find incredibly irritating, but that's true for ALL the class stories.

Yeah, it was pretty much ruined for me in Act 3. There was potential for some really great story during your time with the Emperor, but the way it was rushed/glossed over and then forgotten about was quite disappointing to me. I understand why - it had to fit the same structure as the other classes, but yeah... Especially given the events of the consular storyline (occurring at the same time, after all...), you'd think the Jedi Council would be a little more cautious.

Its only 'lazy' if the writers don't have it worked out behind the scenes. Leaving plot elements ambiguous is a perfectly valid storytelling technique. I like unanswered questions, its far more interesting than spelling everything out. Clearly certain members of the republic/empire knew Revan was active - Us, the PCs. Revan is a potent enough force-user, and had enough spies in both factions to know he didn't kill off the PCs on Rakata with his orbital bombardment. Revan's goal was to bring about the Emperor's resurrection in order to destroy him, and I'd imagine that was the Emperor's idea, anyway. Its also important to remember that the amount of time that passes is kind of ambiguous, something that admittedly bugs me a bit. The whole SoR arc takes place over days or even weeks. If you include Forged Alliances, it'd be months. Just because one mission happens immediately after another, and travel between planets is instantaneous for the player, doesn't mean it flows that way in-game. I personally liked how the alliance felt. It was very tense, and quite clear to me that it only worked because of the restraint on both sides. Given that the emperor was a threat to everyone, why wouldn't Marr tell his enemy about it? What would he have to gain by keeping that secret? At the end of Makeb he says something like "Despite the propaganda, [The Emperor] will not be mourned."

OP, didn't you make a post about how stupid and grindy SWTOR was and that you were quitting for another MMO?

"I have decided the galaxy is more....interesting with you in it."

Lt. Iresso You get plenty of comments from Tharan Cedrax, but I just imagine him in an engineering role, watching a screen and clinging desperately to his chair.

Kaliyo, for sure. On entering one of the casinos on Naa Shadaa: "Bit a guy's ear off in here, once. Security bootlegged the footage. I don't like casinos..." On Makeb: "You know I'm a city girl, but that view ain't bad. Wanna spit over the side?"

You win, sir.

Very much enjoyed Ziost part 1. Dense with dialog and cutscenes, which I hope is a sign of things to come. Just a couple of very small crits for Devs to keep in mind going forward 1. Try not to railroad us too much on dialog. I tend to understand why it happens, but there was a couple of points where the dialog 'chosen' for me didn't feel in-character. 2. As a Jedi, I'd much rather see the force-blast animation/effect for blowing open hatches/switches etc than lobbing grenades. Thanks, BW. More, please!

Its as immersion breaking as getting your advanced class gear before you've finished the starter planet, effectively enabling a Jedi to get a saber before they go and build their saber. Just like you can choose not to open the box with your AC gear until its appropriate, you can choose to travel through the works. You'll be going there if you want the 'cron anyway.

I just hope he's secretly as much of a jerk as R2. Not as much as chopper, though - that guy is a full on sociopath. Do people really get hung up on realism and practicality in star wars? Seriously? I suppose it would keep one busy - there's A LOT besides double bladed sabers to pick apart.

Overall, probably Consular(Shadow), but its a hard comparison. I love the gameplay of the shadow, and the storyline is a close second behind.. The Agent. Loved the story, disliked the gameplay and most of the characters (except Kaliyo), which is why it doesn't top my list. The other classes I've played all have great elements: The smuggler for the companions and dialog (The "duel" on Alderaan is my all-time favourite swtor moment ). The Sith warrior for having everyone gulp and say "My lord" whenever you approach, as well as Vette's dialog. The Knight for at least one boss fight that felt really cinematic - He has some force throw ability that would send me flying across the room, but then of course you get to force-leap back into it.

Its not an easy thing for RPG writers to find realistic motivations for evil characters. Its easy to motivate the good guys, almost as easy to motivate self centred, neutral types (reward them), but evil AND self-centred? I think you just have to have a level of allegiance to your faction's cause if anything in the plot from chapter 3 onwards is going to feel right. This isn't unique to the Imp side - A smuggler will have to find a reason to assist the republic beyond credits if they're going to get involved with Makeb, let alone the Dread Masters or Revanites. If a player insists on their character being completely self-centred, then its unavoidable that certain plots won't make a lot of sense.

My favourite thing: People who presumably know next to nothing about game development calling developers lazy. Friendly Tip: If you want to voice suggestions/complaints to someone, it will likely be received better without calling their work ethic into question.

You make a good point, and it makes me more inclined to read some of the Pre Ep 4 Legends stuff. I've read the new canon novels (except Heir to the Jedi - I tried, but...ugh..) But I think I'll have a look at some Legends stuff, particularly from the authors I know I like. My head-canon ignores Midichlorians as well (most of Eps 1-3 tbh, although I accept that the events it portrays happened). Going to load a bunch of trials onto my Kindle now, and find what tickles my fancy.

I reported your post. I mean no offense, and its not a spoiler for me, but please remember there might be new players browsing these forums, especially General Discussion.

Or the Balmorran super-weapon at the end of the pub faction story, or the Gormak cannon (can't even remember what that does) on Voss. Its been done enough, is my point