Shaak Ti should have points taken off for being so darn irritating in TFU. But then again, Luminara Unduli should loose points for dressing like a goofball.

Eh, who really cares? This wasn't much of a fight to begin with, basically it's a straight up lightsaber brawl until someone kills someone else. Agile offense against a flexible defense. Fairly dull stuff, I'm sure Aurbere will call it when he gets around to it. Well, Ti was one of the rotating members, I believe. That doesn't strictly speak to her being more powerful than Unduli hands down. Membership wasn't appointed based on strength but rather to keep the council's membership somewhat fresh and level headed. Unduli could easily have been appointed in the next round of rotating memberships. But about Vader, it is true that many writers and artists have gone completely overboard, turning him into a God Mode Sue. His dueling technique certainly improved after his injuries because he had to learn caution and precision since a mistake would cost him his life (much like post-Orbalisk Bane). But his force powers were diminished and without his agility he lost a considerable amount of his options in combat.

Stand and fight, coward! How perfectly dreadful. Apparently everyone and their sister is now the "greatest duelist of their age". I thought Mace and Yoda were the greatest of their age, with Anakin and Obi-Wan a step behind. Or perhaps, in context the quote means, "After Vader and the 501st killed every other duelist, Shaak Ti was the greatest duelist of her age, by virtue of also being one of the only duelists of her age." But yes about the Vader vs. Marek fight. It was obviously a painful smack down for Vader, no matter what way you cut it. Vader was tough and a very skilled fighter, but he was really starting to get past his prime at that point and Marek was young, powerful, and extremely proficient. George Lucas has repeatedly said that Obi-Wan and Darth Vader were significantly weakened by the time of the films and that the duel in ANH was "a cripple fighting an old man".

I think you're drawing a conclusion based on the fact that Shaak Ti lost to Marek and Unduli lost to Ventress. That's kind of irrational, since Ventress was able to drive Unduli back but not kill or wound her, while Marek slaughtered Shaak Ti. Such comparisons are both irrelevant tough to assess accurately, so it's best to leave them alone. The fact is, both Shaak Ti and Unduli are regarded as skilled and masterful duelists, but Unduli has the edge in defensiveness due to her evasion and flexibility, while Shaak Ti relies far more heavily on acrobatics for both defense and offense. So it stands to reason that Shaak Ti's fighting style will tire her out more rapidly, while Unduli's defensive edge will allow her to hold out long enough for Shaak Ti to start getting sloppy. I think they're close enough in Force Power that neither will be able to gain a decisive edge over the other in any sort of a hurry.

Good lord, you cling to the novelizations like a drowning man! They are merely supplements to the games and movies they accompany, no more. The novelizations can provide some insight into the thoughts of characters or actions which occurred off screen, but they do not supercede what is clearly portrayed in the visual media.

It's interesting that you're slowly compiling these overview threads, but it does concern me that some "Force Powers" which were introduced as individual gimmicks for a certain character or group of Force Sensitives may slowly end up applied across the whole spectrum of Force Users. As you said, pyrokinesis is pretty rare, and not really a stock power. Just like Force Walking is almost a unique ability for the Kalligs, there are certain abilities which are tied more to particular characters than Force Sensitives in general. One thing which has annoyed me tremendously was the Battle Meditation splurge. Initially, Bastila Shan was a really valuable character to the Republic because of her ability to use Battle Meditation. She turned the tide of entire engagements simply through the Force. Since then, more and more people have remarkably developed Battle Meditation, and numerous characters were ret-conned into having it. At this point, it's pretty much par for the course that a powerful commander or Sith Lord must have Battle Meditation. Originally, it wasn't a "learned skill" but rather an innate power which could only be refined, not taught. I feel that pyrokinesis is similar in this respect.

Interestingly, I just read an article over on Gamasutra that had an interview with one of BioWare's founders who recently retired. He said that EA had been wonderful to work with on SWTOR and Mass Effect, and that they gave the game dev's unilateral creative freedom and didn't get in their way at all. Basically, they financed the game and trusted BioWare to produce a good, profitable product. So if EA ended up buying the license to produce Battlefront 3, that means we would actually see a Battlefront 3 instead of these lame half-promises that LucasArts kept offering. I'm glad Disney made the decision to put the nail in LucasArts' coffin, they were pretty irritating and hadn't gotten their act together to make a good game in years. Disney will not throw away the potential of Battlefront 3. The material exists and only needs to be refined and streamlined. We may not see the game for several years, but I imagine that just as Episode 3 was tied in with Battlefront 2, so may Episode 7 or 8 be. Things will be pretty frantic while getting Episode 7 together, but sometime between that and the release of Episode 8 I would expect to see a deal closed with a studio to develop Battlefront 3.

This is perfectly hilarious. I'm trying to read through it all, but the daily episodic structure is quite well done. This would make a great web series or something of that nature.

That is the difficulty in writing elaborate plots. I don't know if it's like this for you, but I'm constantly fighting the temptation to just set the galaxy ablaze right away and start the mayhem.

Why would you doubt that Shaak Ti would get desperate? When she couldn't overwhelm Marek through Ataru and Makashi assaults, she resorted the suicidal tactics that allowed him to kill her. Marek was a patient, methodical fighter who flowed easily between using Shien and Soresu for defense and Juyo for attack. Unduli is a tenacious fighter, who managed to fight Ventress to a draw despite being blinded. That duel went back and forth, leading me to believe that Unduli will rise to the occasion and match Shaak Ti strike for strike. Remember, Unduli is no slouch at saber combat, and is highly regarded by her fellow Jedi. If the fight drags on, Shaak Ti will begin to tire and start getting sloppy. Unduli's superb flexibility and Soresu will be more than enough to counter Shaak Ti's offense long enough to frustrate Shaak Ti.

Chapter Fourteen

I don't really have the time to read through all the arguments that have been put forward, but judging from the first and last pages, I'll just weigh in. Shaak Ti is an aggressive and talented duelist, but Unduli has demonstrated an ability to fight through and endure pain and disability. Shaak Ti was worn down by Galen Marek, and ended up attacking him suicidally. She has also demonstrated a distinct tendency towards a lone wolf mentality, and doesn't appear to know how to back down. Unduli is a methodical, practical fighter. Her flexibility and Soresu give her an incredible defense, and she is certainly powerful enough in the Force to contend with Shaak Ti. Her impressive defense would lead Shaak Ti to quickly wear herself out with her fancy acrobatics, and drive Shaak Ti to increasingly reckless and desperate attacks, much as during her duel with Marek. I would have to say that unless Shaak Ti gets lucky and manages an early victory (unlikely given Unduli's concentration on defensive forms) then she will be worn out and killed when she makes desperate attacks.

Hmmm. There's a certain level of foreshadowing that makes revelations about a certain character's plans satisfying, but on the other hand if something doesn't matter to the viewpoint character (the Master, in this case) then you're left sort of detached from the plot. Since the focus was on the speech, it seems like it should matter. Otherwise, wouldn't the focus be on the parts of his plan that the Master cares about?

It's more that the story hasn't really focused on any setup for a mass uprising, so it's a jarring transition to swallow as a reader. There's been a lot of ducking around in the shadows without any clear outcomes aside from capturing the prism and using it as a battering ram.

Huh. I was kind of expecting a little more of an evil plan than the old "Communications Override Request" for the people to rise up against their government...

Sorry to hear about the cat, I've got a rather old cat back home who's starting to slow down herself. Glad you could incorporate the idea, I frequently have more ideas than will reasonably fit into my own work, so I might as well throw them out there and see what sticks for another writer.

This is just depressing. First Han Solo loses, then the ICON OF STAR WARS ITSELF, Darth Vader, is defeated by a bit-character like Yoda. (I will find the people who voted for him, and "convince" them of the error of their ways.) I'm going to have to find that clip of Yoda getting smacked around by Sidious to make myself feel better about the universe and humanity, otherwise I might need to punt a puppy...

Heh, nice. I wouldn't have expected something like that off the Disney channel, although they do have a long tradition of inserting subtle jokes and asides to keep the adults entertained while the kids are watching.

Yeah, this is pretty much the situation we're looking at here. It's silly to think that Plagueis will be able to just power through Vitiate's attacks and ignore his mental domination and eventually emerge victorious. Alright, that is just a simplistic thing to say. The only argument for Plagueis was "He'll stab Vitiate with his lightsaber, because he's really fast and might not die from lightning!" The arguments for Vitiate were: He's flattened numerous force users with his lightning and dominated the minds of thousands of powerful Force users who are at least the equal of Plagueis. His lightsaber skills are adequate for short term defense at the very least, and his mastery of the dark side is almost unfathomable after centuries of study. Really, I'm kind of annoyed at Beni for talking up Plagueis so much. He's not that impressive or accomplished. Most of the information on his combat abilities comes from a single confrontation with non force using assassins that he barely lived through anyways. His one credited kill in a duel is the partially trained apprentice of Tenebrous, "Darth" Venamis. The basis for this outcome seems to be that lightsaber mastery overwhelms all else, which is just silly. Power and knowledge over the Force will crush an inferior Force User nine times out of ten, just ask Yoda or Sidious. The mere possibility that Plagueis could survive Vitiate's attacks seems to have outweighed numerous advantages, the least of which is PRECOGNITION. That's a pretty essential component of lightsaber combat, which can only partially be compensated for with extreme speed. Add to this the supposition that Plagueis can withstand Vitiate's incredibly powerful telekinetic attacks and lightning barrages without any room to evade, and that his respirator will also hold up during the "lengthy" fight, and it appears that the entire argument for Plagueis' victory revolves around Beni making a very big deal out of Plagueis' performance against Non Force Users. Very disappointing outcome, even though I hate both of these characters, and can understand the desire to downplay a clearly overpowered character like Vitiate.... there's still the fact that he's tremendously overpowered!

The Jedi were kind of a side thing. Revan's main focus was capturing the galactic infrastructure intact to prepare the Republic for war with the Sith Empire.

Totally unrelated, but I love your signature. It had me laughing for quite a while.

Vitiate could certainly resist a Force blast from Plagueis, and return equally powerful blasts in kind.

Someone a few posts up said the same thing first, you didn't flip out on them. It's a legitimate grievance (heh heh). They really made Gen. Grievous into an incompetence schmuck in the show (both versions).

Your dedication is admirable, but the game's writers seem to think otherwise.

He was uniting the Jedi. He had whole programs in place to capture and turn the Jedi, that's Atton's backstory. And where is it said that the Jedi would retreat to Telos from Dantooine? Dantooine was always a secondary training center to Coruscant.