I find Quinn's "romance" the most dysfunctional and creepy from them all. It is pure, uncomfortable sexual harassment from Alpha to Omega. To me, he never seemed to warm up or whatnot at all - more like realize the dreadful inevitability and go with it because he literally has no other choice - if the Warrior doesn't kill or maim him for resisting/looking for transfer, I also find it amusing when people who fume about Corso romance because Corso is forceful and can't take a hint, gush over Quinn's romance, where the player character treats Quinn way fouler and more forceful than Corso treats the Smuggler.

You know, this here thing is actually "in favour of Sage" camp. Since rocks are not commonly found in starships, warships particularly, your Sage needs to materialize it from somewhere...or something else before hurling it. That's damn powerful magic!

Well, my smuggler was secure in her own power and skills, so she didn't feel the need to prove anything to anyone and didn't give a fig about what others thought; 'sides, being underestimated is often useful in her chosen profession. The same went for Corso - as long as he kept providing certain services for free, he could believe whatever and talk about his feelings all he wanted -- my gal had pretty good white noise filters in her head. Yep, it's all about how you play'em.

I used to do that for any conversation I suspected Corso would disapprove of, like cutting deals with drug lords or cynically profiteering from orphans. His emotional indignation is so much better than passive-aggressive snerk you get from the most of other companions, and for that alone I couldn't hate this dude.

Well, Jedi are canonically humble, unassuming people so it made sense to make their diplomat a guy who would quietly and without drawing much attention do their good deed and then take an English exit. Whereas Sith are supposed to be extremely over-the-top, scenery-chewing large hams, and there's nothing hammier than spamming Lightning Storm wherever you go (cackling "Power! Unlimited power!!!!" for bonus ham). And hey, one invisibility is pretty much like another invisibility, but lightning spam > rain of pebbles.

The OP already played an Inquisitor, it's just that later people ran the topic over and derailed it into discussing Agent' - sorry for my part in that, OP, but a few more words. Helig up there made a valid and extensive point on totalitarian regimes and people genuinely loyal to them so I don't have much to add but -- 1) Never underestimate power of propaganda, 2) when you are neck deep in shoit and can't get out because of Iron Curtain or Will of Space Cthulhu, you'll start looking for the bright side and will eventually convince yourself it's not that bad and hey, even maybe good, and heeeeey, if I try I might make it to the top and so on -- that's how people work. And every regime in human history, no matter how cruel and seemingly nonsensical, had its apologists and supporters. And while again I agree that Empire is cartoonishly evil (no real evil doer would go calling themselves Darth Eatskittens von Killspuppies, for starters), but even such a caricature can believably have loyal patriots. Also, this whole derail is a testament to Agent's story quality - so far haven't noticed, say, Sith Warrior story discussions hijacking threads with realpolitik-involving arguments.

Anyone would have to be an idiot to be loyal to Sith empire - in fact, it should not even exist, because people with a mindset of petty, spoiled, extremely self-indulgent preschoolers, which makes the absolute majority of Sith, cannot create something like an empire, let alone run it - you need to possess at least basic concept of something called "long term goals", which again is obviously outside the grasp of the Sith majority. However, the canon is apparently "It is because of Space Cthulhu's will", so Space Cthulhu's will is what writers had to work with, and I think the Agent's story, with it deliberately highlighting the idiocy of Sith and raising questions about, well, how a mook like Agent can be loyal to such an implausible embodiment of Stupid Evil, did its job particularly well.

I actually thought for some time that Miel Muwn, the Sullustani cop from Smuggler's story, was going to land a spot in the crew and was quite disappointed he didn't. Liked the little guy.

Really subjective thing. E.g., I hate Alderaan with a fiery passion of millions of voices suddenly crying out in terror and getting silenced, so I didn't enjoy any of the class stories as well. Still, to pick faves - Voss has good synergy with all Force user stories and is rather gorgeous planet itself; Tattooine was v. important for the Agent and was v. memorable for introducing a critter rarer than a unicorn - a reasonable Sith with common sense, namely Lord Silthar. Alderaan can go impale itself on Death Star's beam though. Seriously.

Maybe we didn't find the "big names" because there weren't any? Just some pawn type dudes like, say, Sanju Pyne or Ardun Kothe's team or that SIS dude pretending to be imp tech in Nar-Shaddaa bonus series. You don't need some Bigname McBrainwasher to make Sith disband Intelligence - these idiots have had their heads up their arses for so long that **** eventually replaced their brains and they would never even presume someone, anyone, were manipulating them - and that made them an exceptionally easy target. It's been said in the game that they have been eyeing Intelligence's assets for quite some time - to tear apart and use for their own petty, Empire-sabotaging schemes. They didn't need a reason, all they needed was an excuse, and things this small can be done by any low-level, no-name infiltrator. And thank goodness Hunter -- or anyone else -- didn't happen to be Minister's long lost bastard son or something equally melodramatic. Things like that belong in daytime soap operas, Saturday morning cartoons and Force users storylines.

Some things to prevent disappointment: it is not a wish fullfillment power fantasy like, say, Sith Warrior story. If you go in with expectations of being the mostest awesomest Agent to out-awesome everything in the Galaxy and be told by every NPC how totally AWESOME you are all the way up to the point your Agent saves the galaxy, solves all mysteries in it and is given cookies of awesome by all the most influential people of Galaxy -- well, you won't like the story then. The Agent is not a Chosen One, and in his/her personal story s/he won't be treated as the Saviour with superpowers. Quite on the contrary, if I may hint as much. And the story is not about saving the Galaxy either - although you get involved in hugely important things, they're just means to emphasize the true focus - evolution of Agent himself. Tl;dr: Cons: you are not awesome. Pros: the story is all about you.

Regarding Agent's Chapter 1 -

"Because destiny says so" is the cornerstone of story for all four Force user classes, and that's why I prefer the rest, who get to make their own destiny. And among Chosen Ones, Jedi Knight and his moustache-twirling counterpart Sith Warrior both are rampaging over-the-top Mary Sues when the other two are a bit better written. And given how both JK and SW stories look like they've been coined in Cliche factory, assembly line No. Banality, I think nobody even bothered to do anything creative with them - they're both competently manufactured, unabashed wish fulfillments (now with laser swords!) - silly fun to rock out with your saber out, but better not to overthink it.

From the stuff you quoted in spoiler tag, it seems you expected Agent's story to be a power fantasy - you know, where the valiant hero saves the galaxy, defeats the Big Bad and his Badettes, solves every mystery, punishes every crime, gets the girl and rides into sunset - no questions unanswered, no loose ends left and all in a day's work. Basically, a reskinned Jedi Knight story. Thing is, Agent's story isn't this at all. It's, well, personal. Introspective. All those things you listed? They are not important to the story, which is basically "Agent has stuff happen to him, does some thinking and then decides who he is and what he wants". Note how people who liked the story praise it, among other things, for different endings, although galaxy-wise it's all the same -- -- that's because all those endings produce very different Agents and that is the story's resolution.

No big twist yes, but no resolution? It definitely is there, just not of boombastic, "Everyone in the galaxy including the most powerful people are telling me how AWESOME I am!" sort like SW or JK gets, but then IA isn't a Mary Sue McChosen-One like these two, so it all fits.

Trooper story is poor man's Mass Effect trilogy. Act 1, you run around hunting the SOB who, a)wronged you, b)can make Very Bad Things happen to your motherland and retire him in the end. Act 2, you go around collecting your superbadarseful team of the most superbadarseful badarses that ever badarsed in this Galaxy, and oh, there is some sort of something else going around pretending to be a plot, I guess? Act 3, you are saving the world, or at least the part worth saving to, by running around doing some boombastic superdupermegaawesome stuff and wondering where the hell is your antagonist, because it seriously cannot be this lame guy, right? In short, if you liked Mass Effects, second one in particular, chances are you'll like Trooper story too.

I played a pragmatic Inquisitor who wouldn't shy from violence when it aided his or Empire's goals, but wouldn't do the mindless violence thing of "BWAHAHAHA IMA SO EVIL LOOKIT ME!!!" kind. Basically, he chose all non-stupid options all the time, be them light or dark. Playing this way felt natural - just a guy who wants to be left alone and has a modicum of responsibility to the homeland; finished in Light tier III.

I also liked Hunter as a gay villain ("Hey look, a bad guy whose gayness isn't his defining trait! And he's not a scenery chewing Knight of Ham'n'Cheese order like most Star Wars villains either!"), but him being an alien dude would have lessened impact of Hunter's very purpose in the story. After all, gender is primal component of one's identity, much stronger than cultural part and seeing Hunter never having one connects better than seeing alien pretending to be human. And it serves the story better than a good gay villain, IMO. As for homoerotic overtones, don't you get some with a female Agent then? Of course, no kissy stuff, but from the bits I read and saw Hunter kind of hints at being hot for her even after the big reveal.

Nah, because whenever I get the dialogue wheel about murdering someone gruesomely or not, my mouse gets stuck on the murder option and refuses to move. Seriously, you can avoid random acts of flirting too, and that isn't the point.

You don't get her to stay. You have an option, but there's also an option to say "I don't care, get lost" to her "Wah wah what should I dooooo?" Which makes her decision to tag along even more stupid -

"..romancing npcs a little creepy"? Seriously? I mean, the fact that your character, say, kills everyone on a ship as part of a job or torture others for their pleasure does not perturb you, but romancing npcs does? Well, then newsflash for ya, buddy - those romances aren't real! It's all pretend, part of a game, just as random violent murders your character commits is part of a game? Not real, okay? And speaking of real - you comparing videogame romances (game stuff) to "go out and find companionship" (reality stuff), on the other hand is a little creepy.

While it is quite funny to imagine a blue red-eyed fellow trying to blend in well, almost anywhere, it's better just pay no attention to details like that. Because it may lead to thinking on bigger issues, such as how in bloody heck can Empire function at all, when its ruling caste possess all the mentality - and maturity - of extremely spoiled, petulant, temper tantrum throwing, self-sabotaging preteens with no concept of long term goals. And this can lead to your immersion imploding on itself and the setting never taken seriously anymore.

Some mobs give bonus XP for those "Stage 1 - kill N things" missions. I used to test-kill one mob to see if it grants that - if yes, do the mission, if no, keep merrily sneaking past. Hit 50 on Voss with this tactics +25% boosts + always rested, no PvP or flashpoints and a few sneakable heroics. And snipers "snipe" at pistol range? Really? Well, here goes my wish to try a sniper, because pft, what's the point then?

Dude. You are confusing real Kreia, the one from KOTOR2 who wanted to obliterate the Force, with retcon "Kreia" aka the imbecile crone in Sith Warrior storyline. They're different characters.

Heh, the poster's above Imperial setup 100% matches mine. Although I didn't have preferences and picked species semi-randomly, Chiss for Imperial Agent is a must, if only for additional dialogue and Chiss-related flavour s/he gets. No other species gets that save Sith Pureblood, and it gets much less of that. As an alternative, make Agent a Miraluka and play as a sniper.