GusVIII Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Bioware dropped the ball on this one. They missed out on an opportunity to continue a storyline with great potential. In Kotor, the Promised Land was originally described as a project started during Taris' civil war. A super advanced society, hidden beneath the Undercity, where droids would serve the inhabitant's every need. There was no reason why it couldn't have survived the bombardment intact. Bioware changed it for swtor, instead of a super advanced Atlantis-like society, it simply became the site Taris' first colony, which apparently consisted of a network of abandoned subway tunnels. When I first heard that Taris would be one of the planets that we could visit in swtor I was excited for one reason, a continuation to the Promised Land storyline. It had the potential to be the major storyline associated with Taris. Think about it. A super advanced city and all of its inhabitants safely hidden beneath what had once been Taris cityscape for centuries. Our characters could have taken on a major mission to find the Promised Land and have its people and their technology help rebuild the stricken planet. It would have been ironic considering the fact that the inhabitants would be the descendants of people once considered outcasts. Instead, it turned out to be a minor side mission. And guess what, they met a tragic end like everyone else. The only people who survived, as shown in another side mission, where the leaders of Taris who froze themselves in carbonite as soon as Malak's Sith Empire invaded. You know, the same elitists who made Taris such a horrible place to begin with. How the hell is that a satisfying conclusion. I know that Bioware was probably trying to go for a dramatic storyline, but seriously, did every aspect of Taris have to be mind numbingly depressing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranadiel_Marius Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 I disagree. I thought this was awonderful way for the storyline to conclude. Was it depressing? Yes. Was it well done? Definatly. And if it makes you feel better, the Tarisian leaders get killed off in an Imperial heroic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChimaeraUK Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 I was hoping to see them thrive, but i thought the story was excellent, slowly finding each holocron and seeing their peace turn to hell. Yes it was depressing, but thats life, advanced atlantis style hidden civilizations only exist in disney movies i'm afraid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregordunbar Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Not at all, the entire idea of the promised land smacked of a religious myth that didnt seem possible and was just a story that was meant to give hope to the hopeless. They played it out perfectly. I would have been rather pissed if there was a special place that "the chosen ones" could go to survive on a planet that should have been decimated not only by a war but by a plague as well. That would have been a story for a fantasy game, not a sci-fi game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanorDM Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 They missed out on an opportunity to continue a storyline with great potential. Just because you didn't like the ending, doesn't mean they missed out on anything. Besides the main story on Taris was the Rakghouls, there wasn't really room for a second story line there. I know that Bioware was probably trying to go for a dramatic storyline, but seriously, did every aspect of Taris have to be mind numbingly depressing? On the republic side I thought Taris had a more or less positive ending. By the time I left, the reconstruction was back on track, and perhaps even going faster then planed. They had access to the data from the first settlement to go over, I helped to bring about the end of a given type of disease among republic citizens, and may have saved what could one day become a fully sentient lifeform and member of the republic. I'd hardly call all of that depressing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavyhill Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Besides the main story on Taris was the Rakghouls, there wasn't really room for a second story line there. Gods, don't remind me. All of Taris on my Republic characters feels like: "Hey could you go kill some rakghouls?" "Hi! I heard you're really good at killing rakghouls, would you kill some for me?" "So I heard you've been killing rakghouls, would you mind going out and getting infected by them so I can see if this immunization thing I've been working on works or not?" "Hey guess what? We found out that the rakghouls might be semi-sentient. But we still want you to go kill them anyways." "Ok, now the rakghouls are using the Force, we want you to go see if you can still kill them." "Please don't kill these rakghouls. They may be mutant zombie monsters that are keeping a Jedi captive so they can feed off his suffering when they torture people in front of him and I may be teaching them the dark side, but it'll all work out in the end. You can trust me. I'm a holocron and not crazy in any way." On the republic side I thought Taris had a more or less positive ending. By the time I left, the reconstruction was back on track, and perhaps even going faster then planed. They had access to the data from the first settlement to go over, I helped to bring about the end of a given type of disease among republic citizens, and may have saved what could one day become a fully sentient lifeform and member of the republic. I'd hardly call all of that depressing. And then you do the Empire side of Taris, which certainly seems to come after the Republic one chronologically, and find out that everything the Republic did on Taris was futile. The Empire won and all you did on Taris for the Republic was kill some rakghouls and give people false hope. Good job. Man all that really motivates me to play through Taris again the next time I make a Republic alt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeBranch Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 (edited) I wasn't disappointed with what is in game. But I do have to admit, Gus, what you have presented sounds like it would have been infinitely more entertaining. The game is rather formulaic to the point that I feel the story part was a myth. That would have been more of a story. Edited February 9, 2012 by JadeBranch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnu Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 A super advanced city beneath the ground with robots... Hmm....a series of games comes to mind.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmalygris Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 I disagree. I thought this was awonderful way for the storyline to conclude. Was it depressing? Yes. Was it well done? Definatly. And if it makes you feel better, the Tarisian leaders get killed off in an Imperial heroic. Absolutely right.. It had Pathos.. it showed how fragile civilizations are. Wasn't it Newton who said he stood on the shoulders of giants to get where he did in physics. I take that to mean civilizations everywhere. mal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanubis Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Gods, don't remind me. All of Taris on my Republic characters feels like: "Hey could you go kill some rakghouls?" "Hi! I heard you're really good at killing rakghouls, would you kill some for me?" "So I heard you've been killing rakghouls, would you mind going out and getting infected by them so I can see if this immunization thing I've been working on works or not?" "Hey guess what? We found out that the rakghouls might be semi-sentient. But we still want you to go kill them anyways." "Ok, now the rakghouls are using the Force, we want you to go see if you can still kill them." "Please don't kill these rakghouls. They may be mutant zombie monsters that are keeping a Jedi captive so they can feed off his suffering when they torture people in front of him and I may be teaching them the dark side, but it'll all work out in the end. You can trust me. I'm a holocron and not crazy in any way." And then you do the Empire side of Taris, which certainly seems to come after the Republic one chronologically, and find out that everything the Republic did on Taris was futile. The Empire won and all you did on Taris for the Republic was kill some rakghouls and give people false hope. Good job. Man all that really motivates me to play through Taris again the next time I make a Republic alt. And guess what happens to all the hard work you do on your Imperial char in Balmorra when the republic char gets there... again, chronologically later. I've got say, killing an NPC that another of my characters had slept with was a first for me in an MMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intarabus Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 (edited) This was sad, but story-wise, one of the best side quests I played. It has even somehow a mean streak, considering some klicks away there are frozen and in good health the people who were somehow responsible for the suffering of those in the undercity in the first place and other things, like the attitude to aliens on Taris (remember in KOTOR when the little kids throw rocks at the Duros?), and you actually save them, because the republic needs there knowledge. Edited February 9, 2012 by Intarabus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restepor Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 At the begging a little bit, but at the end I was on the verge of tears. It was well done and didn't fall prey to a campy story line in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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