Just too good being bad...

[Darth_Solrac]

Having a blast playing my Dark Side Sorc. Choosing the worst options, power, etc. To me, doing the 'right' thing in game is cliche, hypocritical as the Jedi are self serving in their own ways too. Also, I think it's probably gonna be less fun.

 

So, even when I do get around to playing Jedi/Light side/Republic, my Knight will probably be a Dark Jedi. I'll go goody goody with my eventual Consular (they seem most apt to resisting the Dark Side anyway).

Edited February 26, 2012 by Darth_Solrac

[Mechavomit]

It's more fun to play a light Sith and a Dark Jedi.

[VictorVinoda]

To do good is fun, not because I get my way of things, but because I like to be the hero of the story.

 

And why do we continue to argue on whether the jedi are hypocritical? They may not be perfect, but they would save your life if its in danger whether a sith would just take the opportunity.

[Teddygram]

I seem to play all of mine as light side (even my BH) with the exception of my SW. She is the biggest most hateful witch you'd ever meet and wouldn't lift a hand to save a kettle of burning kittens. If anything, she probably started the fire!

[Kheldras]

I play my Trooper and Smuggler as light, cause i love to do the moralically correct and be a hero.

 

DID try to play Sith but the ways of the Sith make me feel wrong and bad.

Edited February 27, 2012 by Kheldras

[Oneiros_IV]

imo most dark INQ lines are very shallow and childish I was tempted to go LS while lvling. BH lines are perfect both LS and DS

 

while SW dark lines are very good (yet bit repetitive) his LS choices sound fair and mature most of the times (tho there ARE alot of exceptions when it's totally out of place)

 

I play my Trooper and Smuggler as light, cause i love to do the moralically correct and be a hero.

 

DID try to play Sith but the ways of the Sith make me feel wrong and bad.

 

There's no LS/DS there's only stupid side, both red triangle and white snowflake fall to it now and then.

Edited February 27, 2012 by Oneiros_IV

[LyriaFrost]

My sorceress is light-side (though not purely; I go by how I envision her being, which is essentially a good person put into a rather unpleasant situation (forced to be sith), and trying to make the best of it). She has a temper, though, which is why she has some dark side to her too. Sadly, much of the snarkiness and playful "up yers!" that the sorceress had on Korriban is gone as the story progresses. Only rarely do you get to see that impish side come out.

 

My BH, on the other hand, is a stone cold *****. Someone gets in her face? She shoots them. Someone insults her? She shoots them. Someone tries to stiff her out of her payment? Well, see above. She's callous and vicious, but she's not really PROACTIVELY evil. She won't go out and start trouble, but god help someone if they start it with her. Mako's influence is probably the only reason she's not a murderous psychopath. If Kaliyo had been her first companion? Oh lord...

Edited February 27, 2012 by LyriaFrost

[urborror]

The empire side is mainly fun in a "Hitman," "Grand Theft Auto" kind of way.

 

The Jedis are just boring as a main character archetype. Evil characters want something--glory or money or pure evil, but at least they have motivation.

 

An emotionless monk doesn't want anything or change as a character, he has no inner conflict or even potential arc. He doesn't learn anything. Jedis are bland.

 

Think about "change," "conflict" and an "arc" in reference to Revan or KOTOR 2--yeah, big difference. Evil is preferable when "good" is sheer storytelling sleeping pills.

 

Lucas certainly ran into this problem on the prequels--once you take your "wise old man" and turn him into a main character, it's probably storytelling disaster, automatically. He's no longer wise or old--he's just there.

 

I couldn't bring myself to go dark side in KOTOR because of the quality of the storytelling. You actually feel like you're betraying your companions and everything you've fought for. You feel like you're betraying your mythological arc of redemption.

 

TOR ain't got no arcs except "rise to power" in the empire stories.

[Guildrum]

TOR ain't got no arcs except "rise to power" in the empire stories.

 

I disagree. Save for the BH story, I find the Empire stories lacking in any logic or sense.

 

I have never liked the bad guys being the main characters, why? Because they are then the good guys, and you are supposed to be sympathetic to the good guys, but when the "good guy" is going around murdering, lying, cheating, stealing, all sympathy is gone and all you want to do is wait for the real, non-main character good guy to go ahead and gun him down. Only this is an MMO, and that never happens.

 

The Republic stories are the ones I prefer, mainly because they are not nearly as one-dimensional as most Sith stories. The Trooper is basically a typical soldier's story, combined with Captain America-type patriotism, with a little bit of Tom Clancy sprinkled into the mix. The Jedi Knight is essentially Luke Skywalker, but I'd still take it over a watered down Darth Vader that is the Sith Warrior. And then there's the Smuggler, which is the only story that has had me (almost) in tears laughing at any point in time. I haven't played a Consular so...

[urborror]

<they are not nearly as one-dimensional as most Sith stories.>

 

I'm not saying the Sith stories aren't a bit one-dimensional. The Sith are obviously all insane. One of the best storytelling aspects to this game is the portrayal of an empire that will collapse under its own Roman lunacy and in-fighting. You kill more Sith as a Sith than a Jedi!

 

Still, I've played my Sith as total villains--but those are the only stories that hooked me thus far.

 

I'm playing my Jedi Knight half out of obligation, mainly because I do respect the "good" and want to take out the final boss. You might be "Luke Skywalker" in theory, but Luke was a character before he came "of age." You start TOR as a fully-formed Jedi with no history.

 

Bioware and Obsidian solved the "boring jedi" problem that helped ruin the prequels pretty amazingly in KOTOR 1 and 2. How? Specificity (you are Revan and the Exile, not anyman with any personal history,) human relationships with your companions, conflict, and an arc where choosing light or dark side both made a kind of sense for that character.

 

Instead of more specificity and unique characterization for your Jedi in their massive storytelling endeavor, they went for less.

 

"Helping others is both a duty and an honor." The arc of becoming a "great jedi" feels like no arc at all, since your character starts as a jedi and doesn't seem to change.

Edited February 27, 2012 by urborror

[-Kelerak-]

the only thing i can hear from some of u guys is ''bla bla bla'' .... both light and dark side are fun to play, if u are really interested in playing the game instead of complaining about it... Edited February 27, 2012 by -Kelerak-

[Jamers]

I disagree. Save for the BH story, I find the Empire stories lacking in any logic or sense.

 

I have never liked the bad guys being the main characters, why? Because they are then the good guys, and you are supposed to be sympathetic to the good guys, but when the "good guy" is going around murdering, lying, cheating, stealing, all sympathy is gone and all you want to do is wait for the real, non-main character good guy to go ahead and gun him down. Only this is an MMO, and that never happens.

 

The Republic stories are the ones I prefer, mainly because they are not nearly as one-dimensional as most Sith stories. The Trooper is basically a typical soldier's story, combined with Captain America-type patriotism, with a little bit of Tom Clancy sprinkled into the mix. The Jedi Knight is essentially Luke Skywalker, but I'd still take it over a watered down Darth Vader that is the Sith Warrior. And then there's the Smuggler, which is the only story that has had me (almost) in tears laughing at any point in time. I haven't played a Consular so...

 

Your argument brings up a core point of reader (or viewer) empathy toward characters; extremes are boring.

 

Pure, light sided jedi are boring. Everyone knows what they will do -- the most intense possibilities for them are always either self-sacrifice or a fall. Self-sacrifice is too clichéd in these types of games to retain much of my interest at this point, so you have a fall, which precludes the pure, light side angle. To Bioware's credit, they do toy around with sacrifice of some for the salvation of many plot device, but it's too black and white as presented.

 

On the other end, wholly evil sith, while initially refreshing for many players as evil characters aren't as common, become dull and routine as well. My evil Sorcerer was loads of fun at first, and then became boring. All I did was kill and be cruel. It ceased to become compelling. I still enjoyed the story line because the environmental stimuli continued to be presented, but I didn't feel like my character was changing; just the trappings of his social status were changing.

 

The more neutral a character is, the more flaws he has if he's a generally good person, or the more positive qualities he has if he's a selfish or cruel person, makes that character more likable. For me it's a very Tolkien vs. Martin kind of argument. I read The Lord of the Rings for the history and the thematic detail. I read A Song of Ice and Fire for the morally ambiguous characters and the unabashed level of detail on the real and the mundane.

 

At times I feel Bioware has achieved a mix of both with all of their characters, but at times they fall flat. It's not really a knock on them as the level of story telling they've achieved in this game is still pretty impressive.

Edited February 27, 2012 by Jamers

[Darth_Solrac]

I do wanna play as a light Sith tho. I think a light sided Assassin is more plausible than a light sided warrior, yes? I mean look at the Sith Warriors, Marauders, Juggernauts. Once they look leveled enough, it's like the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse lol.

[Isilme_Turuphant]

I've personally found that it can be fun to play against the grain, at least on the Force Users.

 

I played my Sith Inquisitor light side, and I feel that it added a lot of depth to the character. Instead of being just another baddie fully immersed in the insanity that is the Sith, she's a basically good person, trying to hold the Empire together, and derive a moral code from the Sith philosophy. She's no Jedi (And from the dick moves the Jedi pull in the Imperial storylines, I can't see her ever wanting to defect to them), but she does her best to guide her motley crew, and not let the darkness of the dark underbelly of the Sith Empire overwhelm her.

 

 

I think my favorite moment was at the end of the SI quest line, where as a light side Sith, I was able to purify and release the four ghosts I had been borrowing power from, allowing them to return to the Force at last. I did this with the Light Side of the Force, and for a brief moment when my char meditated, she was surrounded by light, not darkness.

 

 

And in the same vein, I've started a Jedi Knight, and I'm playing him Darkside. Not relentlessly so, but making choices based upon the character of a knight who is arrogant, power-seeking, and very much feels the ends justify the means. And again it gives depth to the story, how he is slipping to the dark side, while his Masters miss the signs, while praising his accomplishments. Each of his decisions is justifiable, at least in his own head, but in the end, he is seeking power for power's sake.

[bionamaster]

I play a thoroughly Light Side Jedi Sentinel so far. Someday, when I have maxed out my Jedi, I think I will make a Sith, so I can go dark side and get evil-Anakin type eyes XD.

[gibmachine]

The Republic stories are the ones I prefer, mainly because they are not nearly as one-dimensional as most Sith stories. The Trooper is basically a typical soldier's story, combined with Captain America-type patriotism, with a little bit of Tom Clancy sprinkled into the mix. The Jedi Knight is essentially Luke Skywalker, but I'd still take it over a watered down Darth Vader that is the Sith Warrior. And then there's the Smuggler, which is the only story that has had me (almost) in tears laughing at any point in time. I haven't played a Consular so...

In what way is SW story similar to Vader? Cause frankly, I found a grand total of 0 similarities between those 2. Vader was a spoilt douche with overinflated ego (ok, he's kinda redeemed via Clone Wars but still) who fell to DS because he couldn't manage to pull his head from his ***.

 

SW's story is actually a reverse (at least when DS).

 

Instead of falling, we do a bit of corrupting ourselves (Jaesa or that Jedi protecting her parents). Instead of going emo over a bunch of dreams, we MAKE our own future. Instead of becoming a complete and disposable tool when it is plain obvious that our masters is a crook, we demolish his entire powerbase and humiliate him in front of Empire's ruling body before executing him. And we even get to tell the members of that body to either tow the line or suffer the same fate at which point, rather than protesting or something, they BOW like a bunch of *****es that they ultimately are when confronted by the Wrath.

 

It wasn't SW's story that was based on Vader. It was our godawful pve set.

 

On topic, going full DS as SI makes certain degree of sense although what completely repels me are forced lines coupled with terrible (imo) voice acting). Even though you're supposed to sound cruel and / or menacing, it comes off as if your character was trying too hard to combine "I'm gonna bathe in your blood" with posh wording and accent. But nevertheless, out of Empire classes, I guess SI is the most suited for full DS as he's after the power for himself while SW has moments when it's clear he has Empire's welfare in mind.

Edited February 28, 2012 by gibmachine

[Rainstorme]

Honestly, I find going both full light and full dark equally boring. My SI was mostly light with a good amount of dark and I have to say that most of the time the logical choice (like letting people live and join you vs mindlessly killing them) was light side. It was pretty disappointing but BW has never been good at doing realistic "evil" options.

[VictorVinoda]

Honestly, I find going both full light and full dark equally boring. My SI was mostly light with a good amount of dark and I have to say that most of the time the logical choice (like letting people live and join you vs mindlessly killing them) was light side. It was pretty disappointing but BW has never been good at doing realistic "evil" options.

 

 

to be fair, writing situations like this is not as easy as many would think.