I am unaware if these are common bugs, but it's the first time I have encountered them. Thought it no harm to report. I have been resuming an old character who had gotten to Yavin 4. While there, at the end of the initial quest line I couldn't interact with the war table to initiate the heroic missions. Afterwards, on Ziost when you have to use the weapon to open the path in the tower, some circular object was still blocking my path behind the blown-off door. I also encountered a mesh glitch when using force charge on the two enemies on the ramp after climbing the statues. In both cases I switched instance and could proceed, so it wasn't a huge problem, but it's a bit annoying when the game consistently doesn't function properly.

It is bothersome, but I was only really thoroughly annoyed when the damn thing popped up alongside renown level up screen. Everything was covered because the damn things don't just layer on top of each other.

Is it? Doesn't the overseer on Korriban call you slave right from the start?

Wait, so I can actually complete the Taris bonus series on my most recent consular now? There was apparently a quest in the chain, that I had already completed, which left the NPC unable to give the quest again, that's fixed now?

Where we're at in the story so far, there is yet to be an option to "oficially" join the enemy, but you can turn back to your original nation and stop being a saboteur, if you don't pick all the saboteur options (or at least not the final one?) presented to you.

There's no doubt some classes have more obvious conflicts than others. I think the non-force classes can all make sense with any race for the most part. Although I'm still kinda curious about ranged weapon Miraluka, I still don't quite get how extensive their "force sight" is. The Jedi can also be pretty much anyone, like you mentioned. It's only really the sith that are very restrictive and one of the classes makes up for that with the slave background. I don't know how much the warrior meshes with aliens, but given the supposed ancient bloodline I just have difficulties imagining the class as anything other than pureblood or human myself.

I don't really see the conflict. The Inquisitor was a slave and any race could realistically fall into slavery. For my own consular I just had a head canon that she was abandoned outside Chiss space when her force powers manifested and then got a lucky break, being discovered by a jedi that happened to encounter her.

I haven't watched the movies so I can't comment on Anakin any more than what I've been told, but doesn't he go through a period of struggle with the jedi doctrine beforehand? I know his change is sudden too, but I always got the idea that it came from a conflict of philosophy that was already displayed beforehand. I felt like Jaesa suddenly desired power that she hadn't really hinted at wanting before she encounters the warrior.

"I hunger little Sith, there are not enough tasty Jedi here." "You will never be as powerful as my old master" "Yo, quizzy my dude, have I ever told you that I like murdering things in inventive ways?" All Khem Val quotes.

More gradual and maybe subtle? I like Jaesa well enough, but I always found her dark side turn oddly sudden. The same girl that a ligh side SW can convince to help change the empire can also do a 180 and find random interest in torturing Vette, given the option. With my neutral alignment Warrior, even though she had not behaved in any other way other than light side when confronting Jaesa's contacts, family and master, Jaesa still showed an odd interest in the power of the dark side. A power my character directly refused because of the corruption it brings. That SW had to tell her to stay light side, which I found very odd. Jaesa had even read her alignment and knew she was no dark sider.

Isn't Xalek also the last companion you can get even compared to all classes? I can't remember when specifically you get him, but I'm pretty sure it's after Voss? While I was on Voss with my Quizzy, I was really hoping that the force-sensitive Gormak we encounter would be our new companion.

But I was talking about the traitor/nathema flashpoints, since that's when Zehal is talking about, I'm aware of the Chiss references in the original agent story, I know Chiss were originally restricted from most other classes. I remember force-users in Chiss society being mentioned on other characters, but Zehal made it seem as if they were specifically remarking upon their Inquisitor as a force-using Chiss, which is the first time I've heard of a class/race combination outside the original restrictions being mentioned.

Out of curiosity, is this inquisitor-specific? The only class with Chiss I'm planning to catch up in the story with, is a consular. I wonder if all classes of force-sensitive Chiss get some kind of remark.

You know, I don't actually disagree with Kaliyo or Skadge, but it's kinda funny the companion I always dread the most for my jedi knights are Doc. Although Doc is still basically a good person, if full of himself, there's just something about his initial presentation and ongoing smarmy charm that makes me want to leave him. I feel similar with Kaliyo and Skadge, but imo they don't stand out in the same way. Somehow I feel Doc's personality stands out more. I just found Skadge forgetable and Kaliyo sort of funny.

Like Dragondog said, there are other things that would play into those choices more than just the race. Assuming you haven't started the character at all there's a couple of different things you can consider depending on alignment. It seems to me that Sith PB's who don't possess force abilities are somewhat ridiculed? I remember a non-force sith pureblood we encounter in one of the stories, who seems to settle for serving the emire as best she can, although she appears bitter when talked to. Similarly, given what takes place in the agent story I would imagine it'd be difficult for a sane person to feel any sense of trust of loyalty towards their nation when that's coupled with the attitude towards non-force sith. It's basically being dealt all the most confrontational cards, questioning who you are and what your worth is. From that you could decide what their mindset is based on alignment. A dark side agent with this background might decide that he's best off on his own. I haven't ever joined Jadus, so I dunno what that choice is like compared to sticking with intelligence. A light side agent could choose to forgive their nation, it seems to me that many in the imperial administrative structure are quite apologetic towards "necessary" measures undertaken by their nation. I'm not sure if they would join the republic, I don't see why you couldn't rationalise that choice too. With my most recent, and favourite agent, I played human neutral alignment who maintaisn his independence even into the current point of the story, but is otherwise loyal to the empire, viewing himself as a patriot. This kind of choice could really be supported by any personality and I think it's the most realistic choice for the agent, if you aren't playing overly forgiving or just downright morally good.

Objectively, it's the characters that have content that extents into and past the expansions especially those that play an actual role and don't just return, simply because it adds more content. Personally I always liked the exclusive flavour from vanilla romances, which rules out Lana for me, even though I quite like her romance also. I've not played a Theron romance all the way through. Of the characters that fit all those requirements I've only done Jorgan and Vette. I really like the Vette romance, especially because I enjoy playing light side warrior and I think Vette is a really nice fit for a MC that can seem quite stoic. I always felt Jorgan was a bit laborious to romance, especially if you don't hand him the promotion and you're otherwise more subservient/apologetic/loyal to the republic bureaucracy. Had I known I could romance Elara when I played through the game with my female trooper I might not have romanced him at all, I do like his apperance in the expansions though. Of the romances that return I've just done Nadia with a female consular so far along with resuming romance for Mako and Raina Temple. I really hope they are going to add a bit more content and flavor for our romances in the future, because even though I like the implications of the budding Nadia romance, I feel like it's left sort of unexplored. Same goes for Mako and Temple, just some scenes to give the apperance that our MC has a life besides their work. Supposedly Bioware is planning to update all old romances for all genders, I just read that on the forum so don't know if true. Given the recent additions for Scourge, Kira and Elara I am hopeful though. Maybe i'd romance Ashara on my Inquisitor, although I'm still hoping something's going to come from having flirted with Acina and Malgus for her too. Risha was always the perfect partner for my smuggler, very similar personalities, so I'd totally go for her if she was available for female romance some time in the future. So I guess my personal top 5, for what's available currently that I've played myself would be something like: 1. Vette 2. Nadia 3. Lana 4. Jorgan 5. Mako/Temple

I don't like restricting items, in a game like this I think the player should be free to make the design they like. As for choice I'm all for that, but most of all I'd love it if neutral alignment was also a viable option and something that would be brought up now and then.

I always agreed with (was it Malcom who said it?) that the empire had already voided their alliance the minute they went behind the alliances back to infiltrate Iokath, a planet that they recognised as belonging to the alliance even then. The first character I was really conflicted on with the choice was light side warrior, but that was mostly because I actually think Acina is a much more interesting leader than Vowrawn.

I don't think that's very hard either! I'm about to spread some shade around. Either or for knight, female consular, female smuggler, female trooper, male agent, male warrior, male BH, female inquisitor. Those are the most multipurpose. Female warrior's voice actress is too good at sounding sinister to me to be 100% light side, but I played her neutral. Male inquisitor is the only one I really dislike though, he just sounds cartoonish evil, like it's all a bit too over the top. I can't play male smuggler because their voice actor voices every NPC in every other video game ever and I can't unhear that. Female BH is the only one I just lack any interest in. Male tooper is Varric from Dragon Age and female agent is female Hawke and Ciri in Witcher, therefore I prefer the opposite option for those. Nolan North I find miscast for the male consular, I would have payed cartel coins to have him voice the male smuggler.

I don't think the Jaxo choice was hard per se. It was sad though.

It sure is a better alternative than just going for a set canon like Revan's gender. As for your followup question, that's a very open question as we're talking about eight diferent potential character stories here, with different implications for the republic and the empire depending on who became leader of the alliance. If I were to design this system though, I think the main points I would ask the player for would be "class," "allignment" and the details for some of the planetary missions and the expansions. Not many characters in the vanilla story play a extremely central role any more, not since the fall of Vaylin. This is a result of the way they designed the story since Rishi, it's basically turned into Lana's story at this point.

I don't think it's all consistent either, but I always read her "loyalty" as dependent on her survival. As long as she can live and prosper, she will serve whatever sovereign that'll let her use her talents. It's not really loyalty in a moral sense, to a cause or nation. The Chiss are as likely to dislike her for her force sensitivity as the sith, right?

I did spare Savik, but not for any speculative future gain. My light side SW just thinks that kind of punishment is absolutely disgusting, he stands up for others. My neutral BH also had her spared, because he views her fate as his responsibility as a saboteur (he hates having to be undercover), so to him it's as much you killing her as Malgus, and she deserves better for having served her nation loyally, even in failure. Nothing really happens when she's spared other than her being present for the briefings. I think she sends some mail thanking you, but I don't seem to recall her playing a real role in the rest of Onslaught besides that.

I feel like all this isn't necessary at all. I think if the developers just confirmed we'll be able to officially defect "in the story" but that this won't show up in how previous content behaves, most players will understand. Like your last line suggests. So much of the games underlying functionality is woven into the original factionalism, I think it's too tall an order to hope to make the developers unravel and resemble the entirety of it. There's really no point either, it doesn't make sense in the story of the mission that characters could go back and do missions that were relevant for the vanilla storyline anyway.

I don't really think the SI story suffered too much because of the villains, though I agree that Thanaton was an "eh..." end boss at best. The reason why it's become my least liked story is because I feel like the main character gets too many lucky breaks while the story itself tries to portray itself as a rise to power. The story is almost better if you imagine viewing it from Khem Val's perspective, from being found in the prison, to sharing a body and to finally be rewarded or betrayed by your master as they rise to power and you free yourself from Zash or are killed after enduring forced servitude.