Staying dark is HARD

[Valkirus]

We have different ideas of what 'meaning' choices then. The journey through the story is more important than the end. And I'm care more about how I got to that ending rater than what dramatic shift occured. When I create character I try and create the 'most interesting' story possible, and the fact that conversations can have multiple outcomes is what makes it interesting. I don't care about how much credits I got, but the fact that I was able to bribe the trooper rather than kill him is important to my ongoing story.

 

Going back to the OP topic, creating FULL DS character is a chore and boring for me; because no one wants to watch a movie where the villain is the main character (IMHO), at most people will watch an anti-hero, or some sort of redemption at the end.

 

Good points. I think the big game breaker for me is when I found out you could even toggle off the Sith corruption part. Really made playing the Dark side choices trivial. Put the icing on the cake to use a old term.

[Revelationjp]

At first I really enjoyed the Light/dark choices, but the only real effect they have at all is companion affection and maybe the email you get 20 minutes later. Don't get me wrong, I still find them fun, I just wish they had more long lasting effects on your story.

 

Also, some of the choices are silly:

 

NPC: "good morning my Lord"

 

Option 1) "shut up you noob! leave me alone! (shock him)

Option 2) "Hi there buddy, good to see you!

Option 3) "Hello! can I get you a coffee? A chair? Fetch your slippers? Perhaps there's a suicidal mission you'd like to send me on after which you'll pay me a pittance and kick me off your planet because you don't like my type?

[Jandi]

At first I really enjoyed the Light/dark choices, but the only real effect they have at all is companion affection and maybe the email you get 20 minutes later. Don't get me wrong, I still find them fun, I just wish they had more long lasting effects on your story.

 

Ok, this is exactly what bugs me with these sorts of complaints. It's not true at all. Many people that you save come help you in various stages in the future or make cameos. Without spoiling anything, in the JK Corellia section, ALL the strong jedi you saved along the way join you and make references to what they been doing since you saved them back in act 1.

 

A BH ending can have massive consequences in the future. I mean, you can get a full pardon from the Republic if you choose the lightside option. Just because the choice doesn't jump out of your screen to shake your hand, doesn't mean it's not there, stop claiming it's meaningless. The whole game is meaningless if you look at it like that, I mean what does pvp really matter? Nothing except fun. That's what the stories, choices etc are, FUN, they aren't SUPPOSED to change the universe, only your place in it.

[TKMaster]

Sith PB Warrior.....that bitting brit accent and bright red skin with your fleshtache....how can you not be an evil *****? It came so, so naturally.

[Revelationjp]

Ok, this is exactly what bugs me with these sorts of complaints. It's not true at all. Many people that you save come help you in various stages in the future or make cameos. Without spoiling anything, in the JK Corellia section, ALL the strong jedi you saved along the way join you and make references to what they been doing since you saved them back in act 1.

 

A BH ending can have massive consequences in the future. I mean, you can get a full pardon from the Republic if you choose the lightside option. Just because the choice doesn't jump out of your screen to shake your hand, doesn't mean it's not there, stop claiming it's meaningless. The whole game is meaningless if you look at it like that, I mean what does pvp really matter? Nothing except fun. That's what the stories, choices etc are, FUN, they aren't SUPPOSED to change the universe, only your place in it.

 

First, you're taking what I said waaaaaaaaaay to seriously. Lighten up a bit. and second, those things you're talking talking about are not the result of your light or dark affiliation, they're the result of SINGLE choices. As a BH you can be DS all the way through your story and then not kill (spoiler, you know what I'm talking about obviously) and *POW* you're a great guy and everything's forgiven. It's the complete opposite of games like KOTOR 1, where it took the accumulated total of ALL our choices and then furnished the appropriate ending.

 

But our choices really don't matter other than a couple of important ones. In the bounty hunter story, I murdered some guy in cold blood because my son bumped my mouse hand. I regretted that I couldn't save and reload, because I'm an rp'r and that was against my characters nature. But no one in the galaxy gave a crap that I did it. Everyone was scared of my Sith Inq, even though he was full LS. Everyone loved my JK even though he was full DS. My point is that No one in the game cares what you're alignment is, they only care about specific decisions, and those only if they are specifically affected by those decisions.

 

I was never intending to say that the choices weren't fun. In fact, I said in my post to the contrary. Fun is, as you say, the only reason to play a game. But having choices matter long term, and having your overall alignment taken into consideration is more fun, IMO, which is what I was saying. I love this game and many things about, and am not one of those people who exist to complain.

 

I'm terribly sorry I hurt your feelings though. Forgive me?

[Sinaroc]

We can't have repercussions for choosing light/dark for the simple matter that some people would WHINE that their actions have repercussions and demand that it be changed. So everything has to stay bland,boring and politically correct even in a game.

[SajmanPeetee]

Mass Effect 3 anyone? Anyone at all? Anyone?

 

*crickets*

[NermalDetonator]

My BH is a mandalorian, not a common thug. He have a sense of honor and seek interesting prey. Killing weak is not worthy of him. He ends up with 1K DS, and 9K LS.

 

Anyway, to OP, I have the same feeling, I can't play a full DS character, some choice are just horrible, and I really feel remorses. Even if I know they are just NPC and they don't have feelings, I still feel bad for doing it.

 

I'm a good guy IRL, and IG.

 

Mine is fairly the same. He offers those who cant get justice recourse in the empire. I'm hovering around the upper end of light 2, with 2k+ in dark side choices. If you're a criminal, or "in the game", you're fair game as far as I'm concerned, which includes mob accountants and other upper end non-combatant types.

 

But lots of the dark choices are just so stupidly pointless I have a hard time justifying them to even evil characters. And lots of light side points seem awarded just to make sure there is a light side option for many choices, as opposed to it just being simply neutral. Why exactly do I get light side points for letting Thana Vesh live? She's a, homicidal psychopath. If my evil inquisitor likes her (and wants to bone her), its not exactly a "good" choice to not kill an ally. Same with some options where you take bribes to not kill people or whatever. The biggest "what" moment is that rescuing the killik joiner chick, who was abducted and fed personality altering drugs (Stockholm syndrome on crack), awards DS points. So if a cult kidnaps someone, drugs and brainwashes them, and their parents want them back, we're supposed to take the word of the temporarily insane person that they really want to be with their kidnappers?

Edited June 8, 2012 by NermalDetonator

[trussasp]

Probably someone else mentioned it already, but there is a joke there somewhere, right in the title of this post.

 

I don't quite have it yet, but almost...

[Blondesolid]

I kinda felt (on my war and sorc) that my dark side choices were more, umm, douchey than "dark" or "evil" My light side choices for the most part felt more "smart evil" or "smart dark"

 

Does that make any sense? Because it totally felt that way to me

[Innocente]

If being Dard Side is hard for you, I am afraid you don't belong where the real power of the Force resides.

[Jandi]

 

I was never intending to say that the choices weren't fun. In fact, I said in my post to the contrary. Fun is, as you say, the only reason to play a game. But having choices matter long term, and having your overall alignment taken into consideration is more fun, IMO, which is what I was saying. I love this game and many things about, and am not one of those people who exist to complain.

 

I'm terribly sorry I hurt your feelings though. Forgive me?

 

As a JK, Satele tells you that you've fallen to the dark side and thus cannot be made a master at the conclusions of the story if you're below neutral. As a Consular, you get told pretty much the same thing. As a SW, if you're light, Jaessa is a completely different person and you get told by many that you are too noble and good for a Sith and that the dark council will destroy you. As a SI, many encounters with the force apparitions are vastly different based on your alignment, not your choice. So yeah, no, you're just simply wrong. Obviously it doesn't make that much of a difference with the non-force classes because the dark vs light struggle isn't as focal to them, and rightly so, they shouldn't be about good vs evil.

 

Agent story is about how both institutions, Sith and Jedi, are destroying the galaxy. BH is about being the best hunter in the galaxy. Smuggler is about the criminal underworld. Trooper is about the grunt work. These aren't about good vs evil by design.

 

Oh and there is no need to be condescending about it. I keep my posts relevant and to the point, that doesn't mean I'm angry, sad, happy or cheerful.

 

EDIT: You can make every single lightside choice in the game as Jedi Knight, get your alignment to dark 1 with dip and you will get denied the rank of master. You still get the title cause crybabies cried, but you get told by Setele that you've fallen. Just to make my point clear.

Edited June 8, 2012 by Jandi

[ZenMorph]

OP, I get you. I had the same problems on my Tankassin. I started off trying to adhere strickly to DS choices, but I just couldn't stomach it. Some of the DS choices just seem silly, and others were like pure indulgence in sadism. I know it's just a game, but I get so engrossed in the story that I can't stand the cognitive dissonance. So, I got my Sith Assassin to level 23 on DS choices and then started going LS and started RPing it as a redemptive move (has a very Star Warsy feel) and I've actually begun to enjoy the character a lot more.

[Karabal]

After discovering that your alignment really has no bearing on your end game I created an operative and decided to make decisions entirely based on what I would do in that position. Regardless of the light/dark shift. at level 50 now I have found most of the choices I made were the neutral choice. Not because they were neutral. But because they were sensible.

I find myself much more attached to my Operative now than any other character.

[Revelationjp]

As a JK, Satele tells you that you've fallen to the dark side and thus cannot be made a master at the conclusions of the story if you're below neutral. As a Consular, you get told pretty much the same thing. As a SW, if you're light, Jaessa is a completely different person and you get told by many that you are too noble and good for a Sith and that the dark council will destroy you. As a SI, many encounters with the force apparitions are vastly different based on your alignment, not your choice. So yeah, no, you're just simply wrong. Obviously it doesn't make that much of a difference with the non-force classes because the dark vs light struggle isn't as focal to them, and rightly so, they shouldn't be about good vs evil.

 

Agent story is about how both institutions, Sith and Jedi, are destroying the galaxy. BH is about being the best hunter in the galaxy. Smuggler is about the criminal underworld. Trooper is about the grunt work. These aren't about good vs evil by design.

 

Oh and there is no need to be condescending about it. I keep my posts relevant and to the point, that doesn't mean I'm angry, sad, happy or cheerful.

 

If you felt I was being condescending, I genuinely apologize. I was making a point that my original post you responded to was an attempt at lightheartedness and perhaps to make people a little less serious, because I'm in a good mood today.

 

I don't disagree with anything you're saying, but it seems you and I are looking at things from two different perspectives. You're talking about the story line itself, and that's certainly part of it. But once the story is complete, there is a persistent world that is unaffected by anything you've done. Obviously they can't change the control of Corellia or anything like that, But for example every single NPC reacts with fear/loathing to my SI, even though he's spent his whole life rescuing kittens from trees, running soup kitchens, and helping old ladies cross the street. That's the kind of reactions to our choices I'm talking about.

[Lionflash]

But for example every single NPC reacts with fear/loathing to my SI, even though he's spent his whole life rescuing kittens from trees, running soup kitchens, and helping old ladies cross the street. That's the kind of reactions to our choices I'm talking about.

 

I'm pretty sure that's because Sith have a bad reputation in general... 90% of all SI armor is menacing as da*** and regardless...irregardless... of your LS/DS choices people stereotype Sith.

 

It's a new form or prejudice I know, I know... when will people stop stereotyping...

[Jandi]

If you felt I was being condescending, I genuinely apologize. I was making a point that my original post you responded to was an attempt at lightheartedness and perhaps to make people a little less serious, because I'm in a good mood today.

 

I don't disagree with anything you're saying, but it seems you and I are looking at things from two different perspectives. You're talking about the story line itself, and that's certainly part of it. But once the story is complete, there is a persistent world that is unaffected by anything you've done. Obviously they can't change the control of Corellia or anything like that, But for example every single NPC reacts with fear/loathing to my SI, even though he's spent his whole life rescuing kittens from trees, running soup kitchens, and helping old ladies cross the street. That's the kind of reactions to our choices I'm talking about.

 

How would a random NPC know you've done this? When a Sith Lord who sits on the council approaches... you don't say "hey man, whad up?", no, you cower in fear, hoping you are too insignificant to murder.

 

I get your point though, but, I also understand the reason from a feasibility standpoint. Adding an alignment variable in a meaningful way would bloat the game by a huge margin.

[RAVM]

I really wish they'd get rid of the light/dark side gear restriction so I can RP the way I want. Most of the time I'm picking light side, most dark side options really go against the grain for me. But there have more than a few times I wanted to choose dark side, but gear-wise it would be moving in the wrong direction.

 

It doesn't help that some of the options that present themselves as light or dark side are baffling. Like the politician on Coruscant that wants to 'legally' bring the planet over to the imperial side (or something like that). Helping the person who wants to expose him is dark side since we had to steal some information off one of his droids to do it. I thought it was stupid I had to take a dark side points with that one.

[Lostpenguins]

[Jandi]

 

It doesn't help that some of the options that present themselves as light or dark side are baffling. Like the politician on Coruscant that wants to 'legally' bring the planet over to the imperial side (or something like that). Helping the person who wants to expose him is dark side since we had to steal some information off one of his droids to do it. I thought it was stupid I had to take a dark side points with that one.

 

Because it goes against freedom to advocate whatever you wish, no matter how stupid. Not only that, but it's also theft. When you decide what people should and shouldn't say, it's no longer democracy.

[Revelationjp]

How would a random NPC know you've done this? When a Sith Lord who sits on the council approaches... you don't say "hey man, whad up?", no, you cower in fear, hoping you are too insignificant to murder.

 

I get your point though, but, I also understand the reason from a feasibility standpoint. Adding an alignment variable in a meaningful way would bloat the game by a huge margin.

 

"My Lord! you're reputation precedes you! we've heard all about you from the millions of people you've helped all over the Place" This kind of comment is given all the time in game. I don't expect a "whut up? and of course they should be respectful to a Sith Lord, but the constant "please don't tear my eyeballs out with a spoon, I didn't mean walk by you too fast" is what gets to me.

 

Lol, I've spent too much time being serious. I wanted to make a joke about the silly LS/DS choices, but I've fallen flat on my face there, so I'll bow out gracefully and return from whence I came.

[Jandi]

"My Lord! you're reputation precedes you! we've heard all about you from the millions of people you've helped all over the Place" This kind of comment is given all the time in game. I don't expect a "whut up? and of course they should be respectful to a Sith Lord, but the constant "please don't tear my eyeballs out with a spoon, I didn't mean walk by you too fast" is what gets to me.

 

Lol, I've spent too much time being serious. I wanted to make a joke about the silly LS/DS choices, but I've fallen flat on my face there, so I'll bow out gracefully and return from whence I came.

 

No need for that, the ** at the end was my indication of not being serious either.

[flyersfan]

There is currently absolutely no reason for anyone to attempt to stay "grey'. Any gear that has an alignment prerequisite is either light or dark.

 

Not to mention that the Star Wars world and this game are based around picking one side or the other making "grey" not make any sense.

[Jandi]

Not to mention that the Star Wars world and this game are based around picking one side or the other making "grey" not make any sense.

 

Smuggler and Agent stories beg to differ. You should play them.

[Revelationjp]

No need for that, the ** at the end was my indication of not being serious either.

 

Oh, I wasn't getting huffy with you, just answering your question about how NPCs ought to know I'm a heart-of-gold sith who buys lunch for hobos and calls my Grandmother at least once a week.