SI story was disappointing (minor spoilers)

[JeStrickJ]

I absolutely loved the SI story line.

 

Do none of you realize that by the end of the story line you're the most powerful SI in the game? Possibly the most powerful Sith in the game?

Depending on your choices at the end, you still have all of those ghosts in your control, and whats stopping you from getting even more?

 

[Vyrion]

I absolutely loved the SI story line.

 

Do none of you realize that by the end of the story line you're the most powerful SI in the game? Possibly the most powerful Sith in the game?

Depending on your choices at the end, you still have all of those ghosts in your control, and whats stopping you from getting even more?

 

The fact that it doesn't actually help you or do much of anything. Basically the SI can be summed up as a cross between Indiana Jones and Pokemon. That's it. You're either hunting for things that belong in a museum or you're trying to catch em all.

 

Then you fight Thanaton, who is among the most boring and uninspired villains in any RPG I can remember, and you get to be on the Dark Council, but not really because that's the only time you even get to be inside the chamber or talk to any member. Oh and I really can't overstate how much of a useless putz Thanaton is.

 

I mean he is a Sith traditionalist that wants to kill you because you "killed" your master? What the ___?! That IS Sith tradition. But it's ok because he is rankly incompetent and leaves your unconscious without killing you not once, but TWICE, and then he runs away and cries about it. It's just pathetic.

[Tendrin]

There's a reason the other Sith aren't super sympathetic to Thanaton's crusade, you know. Moreover, he's actually hunting you for Zash's crimes, not your own. He actually pretty clearly feels bad about doing what he feels he has to in killing you.

 

I'm not saying the storyline is above complaints. There's a fair bit there to gripe about that wasn't perfect -- but some complaints would be solved if people actually paid attention to what people re doing and why in the storyline.

[Vyrion]

What crimes would those be? Killing her own former master Skotia? As in the "crime" that Thanaton himself promoted her to Darth after? And even if he meant some other crimes (this was never well explained) then again, why did he promote her to Darth? Or did he just magically find out about these the day after he did that?

 

Oh and by the way didn't Thanaton kill him own master before he became a Darth? Point is that they try to portray him as someone who is beholden to duty and tradition and is acting out of that but the underlying tradition has no internal consistency.

 

So maybe next time you should pay a bit of attention and actually think critically about whether or not a plot contradicts itself before giving your condescending "herp derp Thanaton didn't really want to kill you, it's the law" response.

[MSpectre]

Yup, weak-sauce imo.

 

Unmotivating/uninteresting/passionless story. Never felt like an Inquisitor or even a character for that matter. Errand this, errand that.

 

That's an MMO for you I guess.

Edited January 29, 2012 by MSpectre

[justadude]

I liked the story.

 

Act I had a nice crescendo leading up to the final confrontation. To me Zash's motive to take over my body explained the general disconnect (ie me being an errand runner). My character had the potential she wanted for herself.

 

This is nicely complimented by the fact that she speaks highly of you to everyone of her followers ans sets you up as the next in line. By following you, the apprentices are doing exactly what Zash wanted, because she thought she would be you. This, to me was the novelty of the first act. Only I know what really was supposed to go down.

 

Thanaton is trying to prevent someone from stepping into the void created by Zash's death. This, to me is extremely logical. The fact that not every Sith is chasing me, tells me that it is his personal goal to do so.

 

Everywhere I go in Act II, people say to me "I have heard of you." So I realize that I am making a name for myself, but am only a minor player compared to Thanaton. The Forcewalking gives me great power, but leads to a more pressing problem than Thanaton.

 

In the end I will win and become a major player in the Sith empire. No surprises there. All in all I find it to be a good story about a rise to power.

 

I was, however, greatly disapointed with the handling of the Ashara story. The setup yould have made it so easy to put her in a position to use her impatience and passion to cause her to fall by making a more active choice to give in to the teachings of the dark side.

[Ellakkrin]

I love how people skip out the good bits... you know, like, deciding on what to fire what is essentially a proto-death star cannon at.

[Votum]

What's more manipulative than fooling your master into thinking you are a weak minded buffoon only to find her true intentions and kill her? Artifacts for yourself. I k.ew the whole time something was up, partially because apprentice kills master. It was like when Vader killed palpatin, think he saw that coming?

[Assaultrooper]

From my experience SI story Compared to others (lets take my main a Bounty Hunter), simply lacks highlights. I mean as have been said u get a kind of crescendo in act 1, which quickly devolves into a ghostbuster story, to a "ooops maybe I went too far".

 

Now in comparison the Bounty Hunter first 2 acts are equally if not more repetitive. HOWEVER they do have important highlights that bring a certain momentum to the story (even if the momentum is lost through the course of the days you'll probably be playing) Act 3 is masterful. I have only played in the empire side, and will probably only play in the empire said, yet I had never TRULY hated Jedis until I experienced the end of Act 2 in my Hunter, it was an amazing "True Start" to the Hunter story.

 

Well there goes my two cents with no spoilers for yall that want to make a hunter

[Votum]

What's more manipulative than fooling your master into thinking you are a weak minded buffoon only to find her true intentions and kill her? Artifacts for yourself. I k.ew the whole time something was up, partially because apprentice kills master. It was like when Vader killed palpatin, think he saw that coming?

[Pijinz]

I liked it. Acts 2 and 3 couldn't ultimately live up to the end of Act 1 because that was so comical in how it turned out. But you did feel a real hatred for Thanaton, and the end was very satisfying. So yeah, I liked it.

 

But I have to give my disdain to the Ashara storyline and, in fact, any light side Inquisitor story.

 

 

The way it is explained in game, so far as I can tell, is that a light side Sith wants to change the Empire to be more rational and less racist/prejudice so that it is more powerful. But it never comes up that the Empire is essentially a fascist police state that doesn't tolerate anything but obedience. I was kind of hoping for more, like that the Sith operated on some sense of honour, or that the Jedi were the real evil by hiding their emotions and therefore causing people to be unhappy.

 

Basically how it turned out, the Empire were objectively the bad guys. You can't be a light side Sith. I mean you can't be a Sith who actually thinks he's a good guy. About the best thing you could say about the Empire is "the Republic are just as bad, look at Belsavis".

 

And with that the whole Ashara thing just didn't seem real. If she was as goody-two-shoes as she sounds by her one-liners, then she would never ever agree to join the Empire.

 

Edited January 29, 2012 by Paralassa
content

[Pashgan]

Most disappointing part was there is no actually inqusition-like quests (torture, investigation, mass brain washing) except for

 

 

a single quest in the beginning on Korriban with torturing a guy to get a name.

 

 

Being an evil Indiana Jones style isn't exactly what I may call "sith inquisitor". More like "sith archeologist".

Edited January 29, 2012 by Pashgan

[danielweberdlc]

I thought the story was pretty good - not great but not bad, either.

 

The prologue was probably the best, to be honest. Becoming an apprentice against all odds, and then the way the prologue finishes was really great.

 

Act 1 I I thought was pretty strong as well - each planet had at least one really high point and the climax was well done, even if you saw it coming.

 

After that, I guess it depends on how you feel about Thanaton. Personally I thought he was kind of a putz, but he was a real sneaky jerk, I have to give him that.

[Tendrin]

What crimes would those be? Killing her own former master Skotia? As in the "crime" that Thanaton himself promoted her to Darth after? And even if he meant some other crimes (this was never well explained) then again, why did he promote her to Darth? Or did he just magically find out about these the day after he did that?]

 

That she was promtoed to Darth is also part of the tradition. There was no *immediate* proof, though everyone knew Zash was behind it. But it's n

 

Oh and by the way didn't Thanaton kill him own master before he became a Darth? Point is that they try to portray him as someone who is beholden to duty and tradition and is acting out of that but the underlying tradition has no internal consistency.

 

So maybe next time you should pay a bit of attention and actually think critically about whether or not a plot contradicts itself before giving your condescending "herp derp Thanaton didn't really want to kill you, it's the law" response.

 

Aww. I think your feelings got a little more hurt than I'd intended to. Not that I intended to hurt them at all -- but its clear you didn't actually scratch even a little beneath the surface on some of the things Thanaton actually said. So let me make it a little more clear for you.

 

This is the most important part of it all: Thanaton is a hypocrite. A huge one. That his actions are in direct contradition of his stated beliefs is not exactly super surprising. He demonsrtrates his capacity for intense hypocracy several times through the stories, nor do many other Sith seem to share this view of the world with him.

 

Thanaton is, yes, a hypocrite. He's a slavishly devoted to Sith traditions, especially when they're convenient to him, and is perfectly willing to find excuses to shun them when they're not. He honestly wants you to die because you're part of the legacy of Zash. Zash, incidentally, whose obvious murder of his own minion in Skotia (who worked for Thanaton, recall) *made him look bad*. It's not just the law. It's pretty clear, when he talks about several times how 'A Sith that can't protect his own powerbase isn't any kind of Sith at all".

 

When Zash murdered Skotia, through you, explicitly countermanding Thanaton's direct orders to her, it *made him look bad*. That's the real reason he was plotting to get rid of Zash (something Zash and you take care of for him) and the reason he's getting rid of you. It's not just the 'law' (recall, incidentally, that the power bases of other Sith are destroyed during Sith internecine warfare on a regular base and that this fact is actually mentioned in several codexes) but also a matter of personal pride. You made Thanaton look bad. You made people doubt his capacity to maintain order amongst his underlings and to protect his own powerbase. That Zash did it in a highly sloppy and disrespectful way to him personally is just salt on the wounds that you're a constant, nagging reminder of. All the conservatism and crying about the law and more is really just garbage hiding his real motivation: a desperate fear of being seen as weak. It really -isn't- personal for him, at least at the start, but as long as you're alive, you're a living reminder of his own weakness and his own fear of being *seen* as weak by the others.

 

Its this fear that drives him, as fear drives all Sith. I mean, it's the chief passion they rely on as part of the Dark Side.

 

That he ultimately makes the same kind of move on his own superior that Zash did on Skotia only shows the depths to which his hypocracy sinks. It's okay when *he* does it. But it's not okay when its disrespectful to *him*.

 

Anyways, like I said: There are plenty of problems in this story. Thanaton's motivations aren't one of them, nor are his justifcations for killing you. They're not explicitly stated as clearly as they perhaps could be, but it *is* there, beneath the surface.

 

I've got my own beefs with the SI story, though.

Edited January 29, 2012 by Tendrin

[Cleavy]

Hey dude...

 

 

 

Vader is Luke's Father! And Leia is his sister!

 

And the is no Santa Claus! The presents are from your parents!

[Atemus]

Do not agree in the slightest.

[SpikeRosered]

Getting on the dark council is a nifty conclusion but Dark Council members aren't the type who go out there where the action is, they sort of sit around and scheme and let their minions carry out their will.

 

Its odd that once you're on the council you just run around like business as usual.

[evileeyore]

Aww. I think your feelings got a little more hurt than I'd intended to. Not that I intended to hurt them at all -- but its clear you didn't actually scratch even a little beneath the surface on some of the things Thanaton actually said. So let me make it a little more clear for you.

 

This is the most important part of it all: Thanaton is a hypocrite. A huge one. That his actions are in direct contradition of his stated beliefs is not exactly super surprising. He demonsrtrates his capacity for intense hypocracy several times through the stories, nor do many other Sith seem to share this view of the world with him.

 

Thanaton is, yes, a hypocrite. He's a slavishly devoted to Sith traditions, especially when they're convenient to him, and is perfectly willing to find excuses to shun them when they're not. He honestly wants you to die because you're part of the legacy of Zash. Zash, incidentally, whose obvious murder of his own minion in Skotia (who worked for Thanaton, recall) *made him look bad*. It's not just the law. It's pretty clear, when he talks about several times how 'A Sith that can't protect his own powerbase isn't any kind of Sith at all".

 

When Zash murdered Skotia, through you, explicitly countermanding Thanaton's direct orders to her, it *made him look bad*. That's the real reason he was plotting to get rid of Zash (something Zash and you take care of for him) and the reason he's getting rid of you. It's not just the 'law' (recall, incidentally, that the power bases of other Sith are destroyed during Sith internecine warfare on a regular base and that this fact is actually mentioned in several codexes) but also a matter of personal pride. You made Thanaton look bad. You made people doubt his capacity to maintain order amongst his underlings and to protect his own powerbase. That Zash did it in a highly sloppy and disrespectful way to him personally is just salt on the wounds that you're a constant, nagging reminder of. All the conservatism and crying about the law and more is really just garbage hiding his real motivation: a desperate fear of being seen as weak. It really -isn't- personal for him, at least at the start, but as long as you're alive, you're a living reminder of his own weakness and his own fear of being *seen* as weak by the others.

 

Its this fear that drives him, as fear drives all Sith. I mean, it's the chief passion they rely on as part of the Dark Side.

 

That he ultimately makes the same kind of move on his own superior that Zash did on Skotia only shows the depths to which his hypocracy sinks. It's okay when *he* does it. But it's not okay when its disrespectful to *him*.

 

Anyways, like I said: There are plenty of problems in this story. Thanaton's motivations aren't one of them, nor are his justifcations for killing you. They're not explicitly stated as clearly as they perhaps could be, but it *is* there, beneath the surface.

 

I've got my own beefs with the SI story, though.

 

 

 

Exactly.

 

I've got my own "Why Ashara Joins You" train of thought that makes a lot of what she does and why she stays with you understandable. Insane, but understandable.

 

 

And that's the problem with the SI storyline, it's not as transparent as the SW. You have to think about deeper motivations, understand human behavoir, and extrapolate in order for it to "not be stupid".

[Duradel]

Exactly.

 

I've got my own "Why Ashara Joins You" train of thought that makes a lot of what she does and why she stays with you understandable. Insane, but understandable.

 

 

And that's the problem with the SI storyline, it's not as transparent as the SW. You have to think about deeper motivations, understand human behavoir, and extrapolate in order for it to "not be stupid".

 

If you have to be a Sociology major to not think the story is stupid, it's pretty bad.

 

Sorry to burst your bubble.

[Tendrin]

If you have to be a Sociology major to not think the story is stupid, it's pretty bad.

 

Sorry to burst your bubble.

 

Like I said. I have my own problems with the SI storyline. That it isn't as clear at getting across what it needs to is one of them.

 

That said, I think Thanaton's hypocracy is pretty obviously one of his defining character traits, from Blood of the Empire to now.

[Izorii]

I agree with the original post. As a story which was hailed as one of the best full of intelligance, betrayal and insane genius it was a let down. The only guy who gets betrayed is your character over and over again. You spend the entire of chapter 3 undoing what you did to yourself in chapter 2. I am meant to being hunted by a member of the dar council but as I go from planet to planet everyone is happy to just work with me and assign me tasks. I didn't like any of my compaions (although I have been told the pirate is the unsung hero of the SI compaions).

 

WHats more at the end of it I apparently control a fleet armed with the silencer and am a member of thew dark council yet no one respects me for it. I dont get any new options "Destory the planet from space" or "No Darth Malgus you will find I will be taking comand of your fleet you may leave Ilum now". Nope no one even seems to care I am one of 13 most powerful men then the empire. I would have even liked the choice to turn down the title as it is so worthless and makes no sence when I am being given orders/missions.

[Novo]

only level 43, but i really have enjoyed the SI story.

 

meh

 

reading through though i do agree that there should have been more SI-like quests, really hoping they expand on the story and do that later down the line

Edited January 30, 2012 by Novo

[Ballroompirate]

Just started chapter 3 on my SI and not only was the story itself was bad, the romance between you and ashara was poorly written and put in.

 

I'll save everyone the trouble and just tell you it's just a fling between you and ashara, you fall in love with her but she **** blocks you by saying nope sorry can't marry cause we need the jedi council to agree on it (we know thats a no already). Then she says I'll teach your kids someday though......SERIOUSLY WHY THE **** MAKE US GO THROUGH THAT TRYING TO ROMANCE HER JUST TO SAY SORRY WE CANT!?!?!?!

[evileeyore]

If you have to be a Sociology major to not think the story is stupid, it's pretty bad.

 

Sorry to burst your bubble.

 

Who said anything about being college educated?

 

Just not mindlessly spamming the spacebar as fast as you can, slow down, read, and think about what and why people are doing what they are doing.

[Tendrin]

Who said anything about being college educated?

 

Just not mindlessly spamming the spacebar as fast as you can, slow down, read, and think about what and why people are doing what they are doing.

 

Some people don't read between the lines. That said, there's still plenty of flaws in the SI storyline when it comes to exposition about some of these things.