Sledgeweb Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I'm not up to speed on all the EU stuff, but can someone answer the following? In the opening cinematic that played when I launched the game, there were a couple Jedi and a smuggler featured. They are attacked by Sith forces and attempt to escape. One Jedi gets away with the smuggler and crew while the other stays to fight two Sith lords. The Jedi is killed, and one of the Sith badly injured. The injured Sith is then killed by the surviving Sith victor. Then, when I started my game, after choosing Imperial faction, I had a cinematic of a group of Sith attacking the Jedi - lead by the Sith lord wearing a mask. Who are the two Sith in the first cinematic, and who is the one in the second? I didn't understand if that was suppose to be the same character or not. Or does this story make more sense later? I was just thrown off by how the two cinematics were connected, if they were at all, and what relevance they will have in the story as I get further into the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rouge Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 (edited) Darth Malgus is in all three cinematics. In the chronologically first trailer, Return, set in 3681 BBY he is with his master Vindican and meets Satele Shan the first time. In the second trailer, Hope, set in c. 3660 BBY, he fights Satele Shan again and gets injured. In Deceived, set in 3653 BBY and some 10-12 years before the game, Malgus leads the attack in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Edited February 24, 2012 by Rouge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sledgeweb Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 Maybe it's just me, but I didn't pick up on any of the story in the opening cinematics (and I was never presented with the second cinematic). I'll have to watch them again — but to me, I felt the opening movies were really well done technically and artistically, but suffered A LOT from a pure story-telling perspective. At the end of the opening cinematic, my initial reaction was "That was cool! But, who were those people?" I watched it again, and still didn't know what the setting was or who the two Sith were. I went ahead and selected my faction and saw another cinematic, this one the raid on the Jedi temple. Again, I thought... "That was awesome! Was the Sith in this one supposed to be the same guy from the first cinematic? He looks similar, but very different - without any explanation? Is it the same guy? And if so, why does he look so different? Has a lot of time passed? If so, how much?" Then I started my game, and was presented with my own cinematic arriving on my planet, and I was left wondering, "What were those two opening cinematics... how were they related to each other... and how does any of that related to my story?" It's a very confusing intro into the game world. I think it is a little bit of a failure from a story telling approach to have two cinematics play and not introduce the character that is featured in both of them, or explain that some time has passed, or how this all related to what you're doing in the game, etc. Especially when Star Wars has a built in mechanism for conveying such information... an opening text crawl. If the first cinematic had started with a crawl identifying the two jedi, and the smuggler and the two approaching Sith lords... that would have made me a lot more invested in the story and those characters. Then, the second (well, I guess it's the 3rd) cinematic could feature a crawl indicating how much time has passed since the first cinematic, and again identify the Sith lord approaching - that way we know it's the same person from the first cinematic. Finally, the crawl for the character intro, which does exists, could then relate in the opening to that last cinematic (XX years since Magnus' raid on the Jedi Temple, A Bounty Hunter...). As it is right now, I started my game not really understanding the connection between the two cinematics I saw, not knowing who the Sith were that seemed important to the story, not knowing it was definitely the same guy in the opening cinematic and the second one I saw, and not knowing where I fit into that story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rouge Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 The cinematics really work together with few other TOR items in other media. Deceived came out first and eventually the Sith in it was revealed to be named Darth Malgus. Then we had the Threat of Peace comic - available here - that introduced Satele Shan, Angral, Baras, Harron Tavus etc. After that, we got the Hope cinematic and it took a long time before the Jedi in that was confirmed to be Satele, although Malgus was identified immediately. Satele appeared in a prominent role in the novel Fatal Alliance, Malgus in Deceived novel, and then came the third cinematical, Return, earliest in chronology. Malgus' master Vindican and Satele's the then master were named a few weeks after the cinematical came out. So the knowledge is a bit scattered, but if you go to for example Wookieepedia, you can find this information quickly from the cinematical etc articles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sledgeweb Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 Thanks! I'll check that stuff out. I still think the in-game cinematics should be strong enough and independent enough to tell a story by themselves, why the other materials additional insight or more background. A lot of people will come to the game, like me, not being familiar with those other sources. But, I really love the cinematics and will definitely check out the other materials you mentioned – and then probably have a better understanding of and appreciation for the story! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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