Imperial Storylines: Simply Better?

[Cavell]

Perhaps it's just me, but it seems like the Imperial story lines are, if not better in terms of plot, then at least better in terms of storytelling and characterization. With the Republic, it feels like the writers were writing archetypes rather than characters, whereas the Imperials...well, even the worst Imperial story line is, by general consensus, decent, and the PCs themselves seem way more interesting.

 

I think part of the problem is that the Republic's weighed down with two Jedi stories. The JK story is epic, don't get me wrong, but the JK himself comes off as some sort of kitten-rescuing robot if LS, and a mustache-twirling vaudeville villain if DS. Same pretty much goes for the JC. The Sith, on the other side of the fence, get much, much more range.

[Ranadiel_Marius]

Considering that the SI is considered by myself and some others(no idea if we count as a majority or not) to easily be the worst story out of all 8 in multiple regards, I don't think you can really say that Imperial storylines are "simply better". Some of the Republic stories are better than some of the Imperial stories. Some of the Imperial stories are better than the Republic stories. And a lot of it simply comes down to personal preference.

[AlyxDinas]

I'd say people weigh it that way because of the Agent, which has some of the game's finest writing. But honestly? Having just completed a lot of new level 50 alts, I can't say that I prefer one side to the other. For instance, I don't find anything inherently better to the Smuggler story than, say, Bounty Hunter. They more of less get the mythos and feel of their archetype down while also suffering from similar pacing problems.

 

Plus, it's bit and pieces. I love the enemies and antagonists in the Warrior story but the Trooper line had one of the only decisions in the game that genuinely agonized and affected me. For me, the good is spread about.

 

Except Agent....Agent is amazing and everyone should play it.

Edited July 12, 2012 by AlyxDinas

[iRoof]

Id have to agree w op imo.

 

while it does come down to personal preference i have yet to be really drawn to the storylines of the republic. I havent got 8 50s so I havent seen all the storylines in the game. but so far ive seen the imp agent, sith inquis, in there entirety and have lvled a consular up to 30 so far and a commando up to 32. and now i am working on a warrior. and so far i think the emp storylines to have more depth to them.

 

but it does come down to personal preferences among characters/ plot/ agendas ect. i hope the rest of consular and commando can make up in acts 2/3 for a pretty lackluster act 1 and maybe the knight and smugg storylines can be as intriguing and entertaining as the sith storylines.

Edited July 12, 2012 by iRoof

[JacenScheild]

So far I like both sides, I like the Trooper story as much as I like the Bounty Hunter, again its personal preference so everyone has there own opinion on the matter.

[GenSphinx]

I have played through 3 of the story lines so far, Inquisitor, Bounty Hunter, and Jedi Guardian. My personal favorite if the Guardian story, it was what I thought Kotor 3 story line would have been close to, either way I liked the ending, but most of all I enjoyed all 3 stories. I am playing through the Jedi Consular story right now and plan on going through more later. My goal is to have 8 50's that way I could have gone through each of there stories.

[TheBetty]

I have only played Warrior and Agent and they are both really good story lines. I hear people saying that the BH storyline is not bad.

[epicfear]

well, if i have one thing to say about smugglers, its that they get some pretty good one-liners. but corso was seriously a bad choice for first companion for the smuggler.

[WickedDjinn]

People bash the Inquistor storyline unfairly. The story itself is quite good, it's just a very *different* story than the Sith warrior.

 

The Sith warrior storyline is the Sith experience most people expect, especially if you are playing Dark Side. SI isn't that, but it's by no means a bad story.

[Sacrmeno]

I have only played Warrior and Agent and they are both really good story lines. I hear people saying that the BH storyline is not bad.

 

Bounty Hunter storyline is AMAZING!!!!!!! I actually hated my nemesis, loved my companions, and there were SO many amazing plot twists!!!!!!!!!!!!

[WickedDjinn]

Bounty Hunter storyline is AMAZING!!!!!!! I actually hated my nemesis, loved my companions, and there were SO many amazing plot twists!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Yeah, he was one of the best villains out of all the storylines. Even when he wasn't around, there was always a sense that he was somewhere pulling strings and setting you up for a fall.

[Icebergy]

My personal rankings are:

 

1. IA

2. JK

3. SW

4. Smug

5. RT

6. BH

7. SI

8. JC

 

So no, I would not say that the Imperial ones are "simply better". And if you don't like the JK story then I don't know what to tell you because we have very different taste.

Edited July 13, 2012 by Icebergy

[Ranadiel_Marius]

People bash the Inquistor storyline unfairly. The story itself is quite good, it's just a very *different* story than the Sith warrior.

 

The Sith warrior storyline is the Sith experience most people expect, especially if you are playing Dark Side. SI isn't that, but it's by no means a bad story.

 

Disagree. The SI class quests are easily the worst out of all the classes. The class quests do have some good ideas(and some really bad ones....Balmorra comes to mind), but the execution is where it falls flat. It simply has the worst execution of any class. It really just needed a few more rounds with an editor to make the ideas work.

 

The fact that it fails at being the type of story it was supposed to be(Palpatine/Manipulator) just makes it worse on top of the poor execution.

[undeadsithdread]

Disagree. The SI class quests are easily the worst out of all the classes. The class quests do have some good ideas(and some really bad ones....Balmorra comes to mind), but the execution is where it falls flat. It simply has the worst execution of any class. It really just needed a few more rounds with an editor to make the ideas work.

 

The fact that it fails at being the type of story it was supposed to be(Palpatine/Manipulator) just makes it worse on top of the poor execution.

 

This Sith inquesitor should have been scheming behind the scenes to achieve his goals not spend 90% of story collecting staff and acting like stupid.

[Slowpokeking]

I played IA, SW and SI's story, I will give 9.5/10 to IA, 8 to SW and 6 to SI.

[HellbirdIV]

I'm not sure why people throw so much praise on the Imperial Agent storyline. I've played Agent up to Belsavis so far (Same with Inquisitor) and I just... Don't see it, really. It has some nice things yes, but a lot of it feels contrived, some of the reveals are ridiculously predictable and there's very little true emotional investment, even during the rather intense Act II.

 

Does it get WAY better in Act III, or is it just opinion based?

[Slowpokeking]

This Sith inquesitor should have been scheming behind the scenes to achieve his goals not spend 90% of story collecting staff and acting like stupid.

 

Yes, till the end, Zash was still the one who set up all the plans and did the research.

[Sinemetu]

I think people who don't like the Inquisitor come in with certain expectations of what the story or character ought to be. See above with people wanting the inquisitor story to be all about being a schemer and scheming when really

it's about a slave's rise to the Dark Council by amassing power and just being better than everyone else.

I didn't think it was awesome, but it was certainly better than the Trooper or Consular. One is a military story written by someone who is clueless about military culture and customs and the other... I won't even get into.

[rymah]

Seven of the eight classes are established in one way or another in SW lore, you could argue about the Trooper but for the most part its theme of

betrayal and defection

has been done before. But the Agent story is unique as others have stated previously in that it's the only unexplored archetype in SW, and a brilliant bit of writing on BW's part. Certainly there are elements of Bond and Bourne in there but what spy story hasn't used those themes before. If I had to rate them I would do this:

 

1. Agent

2. Warrior

3. Knight

4. Smuggler

5. Bounty Hunter

6. Trooper

7. Inquisitor

8. Consular

 

The only reason I have Warrior above Knight is how their respective act 1's ended, and I love how the endgame of both stories tie together.

[Ranadiel_Marius]

I think people who don't like the Inquisitor come in with certain expectations of what the story or character ought to be. See above with people wanting the inquisitor story to be all about being a schemer and scheming when really

it's about a slave's rise to the Dark Council by amassing power and just being better than everyone else.

I didn't think it was awesome, but it was certainly better than the Trooper or Consular. One is a military story written by someone who is clueless about military culture and customs and the other... I won't even get into.

 

I came in with no expectations about the SI storyline because I knew that it wasn't the Palpatine storyline, despite the pre-release claims that it was, going in to my SI playthrough. That failure is just icing on the cake.

 

 

The problem with the SI storyline is that the SI is shown to be completely incompetnt at everything except for electrocuting people throughout the entire storyline. The only reason he is able to make it through the storyline is because Kallig keeps saving his *** and because Zash does all his thinking for him through out the entire game. I feel the whole slave's rise to power was cheapened by gandpappy Kallig making the rise less about the SI's efforts and more about Kallig. The SI fails horribly at "just being better than everyone else" because the only thing he is better at than anyone else is blowing stuff up.

 

And all of that still doesn't touch upon the biggest problem with the SI class stories. There is a serious lack of a sense of PC agency in the class quests. The character seems incapable of doing anything (other than possibly randomly shocking people) without being told that he should do it by another character. This lack of agency ties into the failure at being a manipulator, but it is more extreme and is a failure of the attempt at interactive storytelling in the class quests. No other class has this problem.

 

The SI class storyline fails because it comes off as the story of a persn who is being manipulated by his betters(such as Mandalore the Lesser), but that isn't the story which is intended.

 

 

As RT and JC, they are fine. They won't top the list, but they aren't the train wrecks that the SI class storyline is.

[Ausstig]

To the OP, yes I agree.

 

Also I really liked the SI story, because it is the only one where I feel the odds against me. The SI takes power where they can, they earn what that have. You get saved once and warned once by a ghost. After Act 1, you are the one making the plans, every other class, except for the Smuggler, is being told what to do by others. Does the SI make mistakes, yes. But it is also the only class, as far as i know, to fail in a mission.

 

I felt like I was achieving something against the odds. Also I love shooting people with Lighting

[HellbirdIV]

Does the SI make mistakes, yes. But it is also the only class, as far as i know, to fail in a mission.

 

Trooper has some pretty good moments where you fail critical mission objectives and simply have to make do, and, more often, achieve bittersweet victory at horrendous costs.

[Sinemetu]

As RT and JC, they are fine. They won't top the list, but they aren't the train wrecks that the SI class storyline is.

 

You gotta be kidding me. Act I JC is possibly the worst in the entire game. There's no tension and it's internally inconsistent. I'm not sure there's a decision in the entire story that actually felt like it had weight to it. And then you have things like...

 

 

On Hoth, you kill the unkillable guy for the first time, and you have his body there and I'm thinking, "I should probably take his head off and bring it with me just to be sure, cause this isn't the first time someone thought they killed him." Sure enough...

 

You claim no other class has the same lack of agency as the SI, but that's not true. You ever pay attention to the decisions you make on Corellia? Here you are, the leader, and really for the final few assaults you're basically choosing how you want to phrase the premade decision. The rest of the game you just take orders from the Council.

 

The reason you think the SI lacks agency is that you're nominally independent. The rest of the classes (haven't played smuggler) take orders from someone. The agent talks to Keeper, the trooper talks to General Garza, the warrior talks to fatso, etc. The plot is moved along by them telling you what to do. With the SI, you're theoretically a free agent and the boss of yourself, but the game system isn't very good at smoothly showing that. So you take "advice" from your companions and various minions, making it functionally like the rest of them. I imagine the reasoning is that the player doesn't really know he needs to go to Belsavis to find a ritual, so they have companions and story characters tell you that.

 

 

You're complaining about a feature that is in all the class quests but only appears wrong for the SI because you're supposed to be more independent.

[TheronFett]

I have x5 50's and working on a 6th. x3 Imperial and x3 Republic characters, and I agree with the OP.

 

Bounty Hunter story was iconic.

Imperial Agent story was epic.

Sith Warrior story was full of twists and turns.

....tried SI once and hated it. Didn't get far.

 

Trooper story was one-dimensional.

Jedi Knight story was cliche and boring.

Smuggler is fun...so far

 

This topic comes up in general chat in game often, and it seems to be the general consensus (at least on my server) that most people like the Imperial stories better. They're just more dynamic.

Edited July 14, 2012 by TheronFett

[lokdron]

To the OP, yes I agree.

 

Also I really liked the SI story, because it is the only one where I feel the odds against me. The SI takes power where they can, they earn what that have. You get saved once and warned once by a ghost. After Act 1, you are the one making the plans, every other class, except for the Smuggler, is being told what to do by others. Does the SI make mistakes, yes. But it is also the only class, as far as i know, to fail in a mission.

 

I felt like I was achieving something against the odds. Also I love shooting people with Lighting

I actually I disagree with this the SI spends majority of the time falling on their face and its the NPC'S in the story that comes up with all the idea's and plans and the SI just follows them.