Replies and Comments Now, I’ve been doing a lot of action-packed stories, so I think this one will be a little calmer. It’s a bit of Family, in a sense, and a bit of Keep On Keeping On. For Sale Notes

I could've sworn I'd already gotten him to 10, but maybe he was 8 or 9. Still, maybe a little warning or explanation about those mechanics ahead of time would've been nice.

Eh, I'm either way on this. If the gameplay were more than just "See unskippable Skytroopers, deploy AoE, win," I'd like to see more of it, and if the story were more than "The Eternal Empire is the super duper awesome overlords that broke all your toys and they win everything forever unless you use their stuff and basically become them," I'd like to see more cutscenes. The story of KotFE and KotET seems to have felt the need to trample the (vastly better written) core game's story at every possible opportunity, just so that you remember how much better of a story you could be playing through. Like, I love cutscenes and story, but only when they aren't miserably frustrating to watch. Yeah, my main is a Smuggler whose gear was kinda really not-good when he ran KotFE (and I readily acknowledge that I pretty much needed to git gud), but I basically had to grind the first boss over and over to recruit Bowdaar, which I really wanted to do because I was a Smuggler. Like, having that content there is fine, and I might try to finish it at some point, but don't lock one of my highest-influence companions behind it. I'd rather actually have people who aren't in Schrodinger Land to talk to. I'd prefer if they were my companions instead of the standard-issue batch of generic "main characters," but heck, I guess I do really like Lana and Theron. Theron more so, which is why it sucks that he's killable now. Yeah, they say he'll still be plot-relevant, but they're almost certainly lying. That said, the opportunity to kill Broonmark was both appreciated and thoroughly enjoyable. I hate that furball even more than Quinn or Skadge, but hey, we can kill them too, so there's something for everybody on that front. Absolutely. I want two faction-specific quest chains and a bunch of sidequests around them, just like all the planets whose writing isn't awful (except for Rishi and Yavin - those were the beginning of some annoying trends, but they were still before the writing took a turn for the lazy). I'd love separate class stories, but I know that much will never happen. Also, for the love of all things holy, bring back the companion conversation missions. For all the time we've spent with them, even Lana and Theron have received fairly minimal development because every private conversation with them is extremely short and just exists to move the plot along. I mean, maybe it's different if you romance them, but not everyone does that. Yeah. I'd rather Zakuul never existed, but if we have to put up with its stupidity, I'd at least like to actually learn something about them. That pretentious windbag Valkorion prattled on about the pageantry and superstition of Zakuulan culture, which we basically never saw, beyond the Scions being stuck-up jerks about knowing the future and a few random references to a pantheon of deities exemplified primarily by a crazy fringe cult.

Started conceiving this one as Family and it ended up as more of a First Impressions. I took another shot at introducing my Smuggler, so my Trooper’s going to get the same treatment. I Want One Notes

Comments: Alright, so I had a Turning Point half-written for my Smuggler when the new prompts went up, so I’ll just finish this and post it. I wrote this up since I wasn’t really happy with the first one I had for him and Rikynn, so I wanted to show his personality and backstory in more detail. The H-Word

I don't want this to turn into an off-topic argument about KotFE KotET, especially since that's all water under the bridge at this point, so I'll just concede the point. In terms of the conversations, though, you're exactly right. I'll use Lana as an example. What's her homeworld? Who trained her? Why'd she leave Sith Intelligence? Is Darth Zhorrid still in charge of the Sphere of Intelligence? Why's she so quick to work with Republic agents like Theron or pub-aligned player character when the average Sith probably wouldn't be caught dead doing so? I mean, even Darth Marr took a lot of convincing, and he's one of the more reasonable Sith you can meet. Why doesn't her dark side corruption show up the way it does on most people (I guess by gameplay terms maybe she's just Dark I and only has the eyes)? And most importantly, what product does she use to make her hair stay all fluffed out like that? These are all things that we don't know because they couldn't be worked into the main narrative, but could easily be explored in separate conversations.

My schedule is kind of unpredictable, so I don't like to mess around with group content when I might have to drop out in the middle. I'd still mostly do solo regardless, but I'd probably be doing more flashpoints and stuff if I had a good hour or two when I knew I wouldn't have to drop everything. Plus, I'm just not all that great at the game, so I don't want to screw things up for the rest of the group. For example, I only just got around to trying to put augments on all my gear, I spent years thinking alacrity was only for healers, and I've only just started to learn my specialization's stat combos and rotation. I guess I'm in the process of gitting gud (I am getting the augments, I have learned the optimal stat combos for my spec, and I do mostly have the rotation down at this point), but if I were to log on right this minute and try to do high-level mutliplayer content, I'd be a liability to the group.

The gear pieces I use the most are Nico Okarr's duster (since every one of my characters gets it for free in the mail and it looks reasonably cool, I might as well use it for stuff) and the Imperial Battle Ace Pilot set (again, free and good for an armored-up Imperial Officer look - all of my Agents wear at least the gloves, pants, boots, belt, and bracers). I love the Humble Hero set on my Knight. He flips between that and a white-and-red-dyed Alliance Pummeler set, sans helmet. My Smuggler main uses a real mishmash of stuff, but he's got the classic wide-brimmed hat (no face covering), recently switched his chest piece from one of the model TOR Fashion classifies as SCJL06 – 1604 (don't remember the specific item, but I'm pretty sure I picked both it and the hat up from missions on Voss) to the Tier 1 Galactic Command coat (because that one has shinies and a less comically oversized collar), and the rest of his gear is mostly from Sogan Sur's armor set. It's dyed black and light grey. He has an alternate outfit using Saul Karath's chest piece and the RD-07A Viper eyepatch/scanner thing, now dyed dark blue and red to look a bit more Republic-y. I also get some mileage out of the Battleborn set for Jedi characters, since it seems to be the standard robes for TOR-era Jedi. Oh, and I love Kallig's Countenance and Lord Kallig's lightsaber for Inquisitors, because they're sensible picks in terms of lore. My main Imperial character is an Inquisitor and he hasn't removed either item since he got them. I just wish the mask didn't hide hoods (or lekku, for my other two Inquisitors).

I never understood why we couldn't have more separate conversation missions like the ones from launch. Yeah, I get that they're trying to have the companions affect the main story a little more, but my Smuggler is married and it's been years (in-universe and out, even discounting the carbonite deep-freeze) since he's so much as had a private conversation with his wife. The old companion conversations helped us genuinely get to know the companions, and they weren't intrusive on the main plot. Non-sucky plot (KotFE in particular has some of the most truly atrocious storytelling in the Star Wars universe and KotET felt like pure damage control, while Iokath handled Imp vs. Pub - which I usually support - in exactly the wrong way) is the first priority, but I'd happily take an entire update of nothing but one or two new conversations for each companion. I'm getting really sidetracked here, but my main point is that if we do get a new romance option or two, I'd like to be able to actually talk to them. Lana and Theron managed to survive without the conversation missions, but only because they were constantly shoved in our faces as critical to the main plot. I like them, but I'd appreciate being allowed to actually pick which companion I bring with me every now and then. You know, like in literally all the story before KotFE.

If you're not a criminal or a military target, the vast majority of Jedi probably won't do anything bad to you. Yeah, I guess they might steal your children, and I won't try to argue that that isn't bad, but the Sith will quite happily do the same, and possibly kill you for fun while they're at it. Otherwise? Ask a Jedi for help, and maybe they won't, but if they don't, that's the end of it. Ask a Sith for help, and you run the risk of getting Force-choked for being weak. Fight a Jedi, and you can probably surrender. A DS player character Jedi can get away with things that no other Dark Jedi would because you're the player - they can't strip away your Force powers and throw you out of the Order because that would kill the story, and not letting you make your DS choices would kill your choices. That's why I just play LS on most of my Republic characters. Fight a Sith, and you'd better hope they kill you, because being tortured to death for information or condemned to a life of slavery is not a very good outcome. Name any bad thing the Republic's done, and I'll counter it with something worse from the Empire. Kept children of inmates prisoner to preserve the secrecy of a prison's location? The Empire subjugated the entire planet of Balmorra, including people who weren't even related to their enemies. I also have no idea why or how so many inmates were even having kids, so really that can almost be chalked up to incompetent administration. Didn't fight the Eternal Empire, which was trying to conquer the galaxy? The Empire had already been trying to conquer the galaxy for themselves, and only stopped when they became the EE's vassal state. Wanted to wipe out the Sith (I'm referring to the Sith Order, not Revan's scheme with the Foundry)? At least the Sith are an organization of actively hostile combatants who were the aggressors in the war. The entire population of Uphrades? Not so much. Saresh puppeteering the Republic as her own personal dictatorship? Nothing compared to Vitiate's crimes, and he was the founder of the SWTOR-era Sith Order and Empire. Darth Marr was happy to leave Makeb to rip itself apart as long as he got his hands on some shiny new droid fuel. Darth Acina bowed down to the Eternal Empire in return for a figurehead position and betrayed them as soon as it looked like they might lose. And even addressing Saresh directly, the only reason she's such a frustrating antagonist is that the Republic isn't used to having such bloodthirsty, incompetent leadership. With the Empire, it's par for the course. The Foundry doesn't count, because all evidence points to Revan being rogue and the Republic not having fully understood the extent of his plans. Finally, I just want to address the idea of Jedi "intolerance." Think about what the Dark Side does to people. It's very clearly psychoactive to some extent. Darksiders simply don't act in a manner consistent with normal human behavior, and there's usually a distinct tipping point where they "fall." After this point, they become violent and dangerous. The Jedi, as an organization, have witnessed firsthand the destruction darksiders can cause, and have often borne the brunt of it. The Jedi think that their way of doing things is a good way of not falling to the Dark Side, and considering that the vast majority of Jedi don't fall, I'd say they're right about that. Where they go wrong, perhaps, is saying that their way of doing things is the only way of not falling, or that someone who does things their way can't fall. Those last two statements are obviously not true. That said, the Sith are an organization that embraces the Dark Side. The goal of Sith training is to make you fall, whether you want to or not. It doesn't always work, but Sith philosophy encapsulates more than what's directly stated in their Code, and part of that is their embracing of the Dark Side. It's not unreasonable for the Jedi to consider the Sith's existence a threat to Galactic stability. Do they go overboard with their paranoia? Probably. Is it a reasonable reaction given the in-universe context? I'd say so, but that's down to opinion at that poitn.

Jedi: Self-righteous, have highly questionable recruitment tactics, and fight their enemies (who are usually the aggressors anyway). The worst of the Jedi tend to either commit their crimes under the radar (e.g. Jun Seros) or are disavowed by the Order (e.g. Mandalorian Wars-era Revanchists, who I bring up primarily in relation to Malachor V). There's a general understanding that if you fall to the Dark Side, you are by definition not a Jedi anymore (at least if they catch you). Sith: Actively perpetrate slavery, racism, and genocide on an unprecedented scale, make a habit of torturing prisoners and executing subordinates, and believe in the absoluteness of personal power above and at the expense of all else. Even "reasonable" or "light side" Sith like Lana Beniko don't seem to have much of an issue with these kinds of behaviors, or else they wouldn't associate themselves with an organization that practices them so extensively. Now, it is a plot point in the movies that the Jedi are not nearly as infallible as they'd like to believe, but it's a massive stretch to say that they're "no better" than the Sith.

I'll just add that all vanilla romances are functionally nonexistent as of KotFE. You're lucky to get one conversation with your LI. That leaves us with four fleshed-out romance paths that are still "active," and the only female one is Lana, who a lot of my characters avoid for one reason or another. I'd be happy with just getting new vanilla-style conversation missions with old companions, but I doubt even that'll happen, and it still doesn't solve the general lack of F/F options.

Comments OK, let’s call this one Turning Point. Ripple Notes

@Iheaca: In regards to the Mandalorians, I'll put it this way - one of my favorite moments in KotOR is the conversation between Carth and Canderous about the difference between soldiers and warriors. I find Carth's low opinion of what he calls warriors in general and Mandalorians in particular to be fairly reasonable, especially compared to a more Karen Traviss-esque view of the Mandos. Hence, the portrayal as boorish, violent henchmen in my story. @frauzet: Without going into too much detail on where his character arc eventually goes, I can tell you that Pholux would most definitely say he was not lucky.

I've been farming gathering mats on Iokath. For about a half an hour's work, I can make one or two million per day. Not sure if I've got the best farming spot or anything like that, but it's been working out for me. I should warn you about Slicing though: opening all those credit cases is fun, but it's considerably less profitable than my other two skills (archaeology and bioanalysis).

Comments Alright, I’ll start with one for Camouflage. I've got an idea or two for Turning Point that I might post later. Pholux A/N

OK, this I do agree with. The story is poorly written in many ways, especially how it forced us to participate in the abuse which was perpetrated against Vaylin. It's the people who claim Vaylin wasn't that bad of a person or should've been redeemable that make me want to draw a line. Whether or not, on a moral and philosophical level, Vaylin's actions are fully "her fault," she was beyond help. I'd rather have been able to kill her without Valkorion's "help." Same with Arcann. Ultimately, Vaylin's a bad person who had worse things done to her. Did she deserve it? No. Does it make her an innocent victim? No again. As I said in a previous post, an explanation is not the same thing as an excuse. I'd give the story credit for introducing these moral complexities, but I really don't think the writers thought all of this through.

You've misinterpreted a lot of my points. In situations like this, I usually try to assume it's my fault for not communicating properly, so I'll try to explain. Nope. If you have something the Empire wants? They'll kill you and take it. If you don't? Better hope you're not in their way, or they'll kill you then, and take whatever you do have. If they have to work with you to get what they want? They'll stab you in the back as soon as you're done. Why? Because that's the Sith way. Trust no one, and seize power by any means necessary. Keep in mind that most of the Republic-aligned soldiers and civilians on Ord Mantell are also Mantellians. The simple fact that there are Separatists doesn't mean that the entire planet has unilaterally agreed to secede from the Republic. Either you're conflating two different points or I am. The Sith Order is an organization with decidedly evil ideals - the accumulation of personal power at the expense of all else. The Foundry is not targeting just the Sith Order, it's targeting people of Sith blood, which is a much larger category. I was not condoning the Foundry. Yes, plenty of good people come from the Empire, like Elara Dorne or Lord Praven. In all seriousness, most of the citizens are decent people, and many of the Force-blind Imperials are just doing their jobs, but the Sith run everything, and they are evil. Some Sith are lucid enough to be reasonable and deal with common threats, but they operate a fundamentally oppressive regime. I was referring to the idea that the Republic is more corrupt than the Empire. Would you not characterize all of that as corruption on an extreme level? And they have... how much choice in this course of action? They have no reason to believe they won't get crushed by Zakuul's stupid unstoppable fleet. You work with Sith and Imperials and thus tacitly condone countless prior Sith atrocities. You exploit the loyalty of the Knights of Zakuul, whose ideology is based on blind obedience to an all-powerful dictator. Saresh very nearly co-opted the entire organization, and only your personal intervention halted that. A "light side" Outlander happily works with Arcann, who is personally responsible for most of the Eternal Empire's atrocities. Hell, I received no option to object to Lana's little wisecrack about "interrogation techniques" which pretty blatantly refers to torture. And, of course, since both the Republic and Empire are so bad post-timeskip, the Alliance is guilty of siding with one of the two. Or both, if you switch after Nathema.

OK, you raise some fair points, but I'd still like to point some things out. 1: The Republic's certainly not purely good, sure, but treating the Empire and its enforcers as anything less than evil is absurd, which is my main point. Plus, while (the following statement is bolded for emphasis) I won't try to argue that the Republic is strictly good, I don't think they're as bad as you've made them out to be. 2: Why would anyone want to settle in an extremely remote Flesh Raider-infested wilderness where the galactic power with jurisdiction has made it clear that you aren't welcome? It's been a while since I've done that bit of Tython, but I recall wondering just what the Twi'leks were doing there of all places. 3: On Ord Mantell, the dilemma is that the Republic has to choose between supporting the war effort and aiding civilians. Keep in mind that if the Republic loses, the Separatists are not going to treat those refugees much better. They didn't make the more moral choice, but what they were doing isn't the kind of pointless cruelty the Empire embraces. Don't really recall the Republic soldiers stealing and threatening people, though, DS Trooper notwithstanding. 4: Coruscant shows that the Republic is weak and inefficient. Compared to massacring slave rebels on Dromund Kaas, Coruscant looks like a paradise. 5: Pre-Zakuul, the only other large-scale Force-using organization in the galaxy is the Sith. See also: megalomaniacal backstabbers. The Jedi's more totalitarian tendencies, while morally questionable, stem from legitimate concerns about what happens to Force-users who aren't trained to keep themselves under control. 6: I've never run the Foundry story arc, so I can't comment on it all that well, but I thought that that was Revan's rogue pet project and the Republic didn't know how far gone he was? 7: See also: megalomaniacal power-mad slave-taking backstabbers who live to subjugate others. Wiping out the Sith Order is entirely reasonable. 8: Darth Jadus wanted to massacre his own side's civilians because he thought spreading fear was cool. Darth Baras attempted to lie and cheat his way into a hostile takeover of the Empire. Lord Grathan declared open rebellion against the Empire as a way of advancing his career, and NPCs on Dromund Kaas treat this as nothing out of the ordinary. Vitiate was possibly plotting to wipe out all life in the galaxy (or at least conquer it), and had been siphoning funds from one of his Empires to the other for centuries. Darth Acina bowed down to Arcann in return for a figurehead position in charge of the Empire, Philippe Pétain-style. Saresh is extremely corrupt, but can you really say she's as corrupt as they come next to all of that? 9: Taris is a mess. I'll grant you that point. 10: Belsavis is another point in your favor. No argument here. 11: Correction: The Power Guards were a cancelled Republic program. Obviously, the process works, so why would the Republic stop the program when the Empire was perfectly happy to use it? Again, I'm not saying the Republic's wholely good, just better. 12: They're manufacturing combat adrenals, which are portrayed as common and fairly standard military equipment. Working with the Hutts looks pretty bad, though, so I'll give you that. 13: My entire argument was that the Republic's portrayal has shifted post-timeskip. And keep in mind that the Republic only remained neutral, and the Empire only sided with you when it started to look like you were winning. Honestly, a lot of the Republic's problems stem from the Prequels. Within the saga of the movies, the Rebellion are the real heroes, so the Republic had to be sympathetic but just bad enough to deserve what happened to them. That's all well and good for that story, but 3,000 years earlier when the Republic is the only heroic faction we have to work with (other than a nonsensical alliance made up of people with nothing in common but mutual hatred), it wears kind of thin. So, in conclusion (these points lettered instead of numbered to distinguish from the earlier list): A: The Empire is bad, and is never going to not be bad. B: The Republic was at one point portrayed as being at least not as bad. C: The Republic is now being portrayed as equivalent to the Empire. D: The Eternal Empire is bad too. E: The Alliance is just a nonsensical mishmash of Imperial, Republic, and Zakuulan personnel held together with nothing but mutual dislike of the EE, and it really seems to have inherited most of the faults of all three factions. F: Therefore, currently everyone is evil and dislikable and I have no reason to support any side on moral grounds.

My point was that Master Syo and the Emperor's First Son come across as two entirely separate personalities - one cannot be held responsible for the actions of the other since he didn't even know the First Son existed, much less be able to actually control the First Son. Vaylin, on the other hand? If she was brainwashed into being evil, we have no reason to believe there's anything left of the person she was before. Valkorion certainly had a hand in what she became, but a spooky ritual and glowy orange eyes is not conclusive proof that she's under any kind of mind control. For the sake of clarity, let's break this into what seem to be the three options. 1 - Mind Control: Vaylin is under Valkorion's direct control, and would act differently were that control removed. This strikes me as unlikely - why would he need a trigger phrase to force her to obey if she's already doing exactly what he wants? 2 - Brainwashing: Vaylin's upbringing irreparably affected her behavior. She may not have turned out this way without Valkorion's intervention, but there's nothing that can be done for her. This is most likely what the writers intended. 3 - Free Will: Vaylin's behavior is no one's fault but her own. Valkorion sought to unlock her power, bring out her darker urges, and force her into obedience. Her psychopathy, however, derives entirely from her own personality. This interpretation admittedly has a twinge of victim-blaming. Consider this, though: Does an abusive upbringing automatically make someone an evil psychopath? I think that's an even worse message to send. As such, I prefer to think that Vaylin could have stopped and simply chose not to.

Ah, OK. I got all that. My concern was that the post I was quoting specifically said "KIA," not "disappeared under ambiguous circumstances." As for the topic of going back to Republic vs. Empire, I have mixed feelings. I overall prefer the Republic, but what's entertaining about the Empire is that they make interesting villains. When I start an Imperial class story, it's because I want to play the bad guy for a little while, even if it's a particularly nice bad guy. Post timeskip, the writers seem to be trying to sell the two factions as morally equivalent rivals fighting over petty political differences. If my Republic characters are going to go back to fighting the Empire, I want to be the hero and I want the Empire to be the villain. If my Imperial characters are going to go back to trying to conquer the Republic, I want to be evil and I want my enemies to be suitably honorable. I mean, the Empire is the private playground of a cult of megalomaniacal backstabbers. They happily take slaves, commit genocide, and enforce multiple different flavors of caste system, all on a scale that the Republic at its worst has never replicated. There is no moral equivalency to be had here, and even if there is, it just means that both factions average out to be equally dislikable, which is exactly what we got on Iokath. So do I want to go back to Republic vs. Empire? Yes... but not like this.

Where was this established? One of the things I love about SWTOR is the idea that all my characters are running around at the same time and their existences are not mutually exclusive, so I think I may have just picked up another reason to despise KotFE and KotET. Like, at that point, what's the point of the legacy system if all of your characters are necessarily experiencing separate continuities?

Eh, I don't think I'd go that far. At no point (trigger phrase notwithstanding) are we lead to believe that Vaylin is not in control of her own actions. Her reasons don't really matter; she's taking out her rage on innocent people. There's an explanation for why she does it, but an explanation is not the same thing as an excuse. There's a world of difference between Vaylin and, say, Syo Bakarn.

I stopped in the middle of Rise of the Hutt Cartel to go do Shadow of Revan when that came out, and haven't even thought about finishing RotHC until now. I don't really remember what was happening too well, so if I hit the "abandon" button, will I be able to start from the beginning? I'm guessing not, but I thought I'd ask just in case.

You do realize that the Sith are supposed to be evil, right? Sure, some Sith are more rational than others, and a few have even been redeemed, but those are all explicitly noted as odd cases for acting in a decidedly un-Sithy manner (e.g. Lord Praven from the Jedi Knight story). "Your average Sith" is a very bad person precisely because they do things like killing subordinates for failing. Frankly, I found even Arcann's redemption to be kind of distasteful. No degree of repentance excuses what that man did, and by all accounts Vaylin is worse. While she's got a sad backstory, she's quite clearly way too far gone to be helped by anyone. Note that outside of flashbacks, she's only ever characterized as a generic one-note psychopath.