Need help from Lore-Nuts: Pre-KOTOR / 1&2 / Bridges

[Endtropic]

I would really appreciate some guidance from lore-knowledgeable fans in an endeavor I've decided to undertake.

 

So after playing an underwhelming first chapter of the "canon" story (LS JK), I read up a bit on wookipedia about Revan, Vitiate, and Malgus. I realized, first, that this underwhelming story as it is so far, would eventually touch on or move through several topics I find very interesting; second, that, wow, I've forgotten a lot from the KOTOR games! Also, I forgot how much more interesting the Old Republic era is to me than any other in SW canon - so I want to explore it properly!

 

So I proposed to myself a lore project.

 

First, I want to play all three games in the most lore-friendly, canon, story-filling way possible. The question, then, is: What gender, role (warrior, consular, etc.), powers, main companions, etc., would be most appropriate for each game? If KOTOR2 isn't as covered by a canon storyline, I assume that a grey consular would mesh best with Kreia (she is one of my favorite video game characters, ever - I want to milk the most/best dialogue from her possible!). Yes, I'll be downloading the extra content mods to re-add subtracted content. But I need to know how to build my character and at least a few RP guidelines (when do I "fall," is Revan good before a certain story point, what are some main story branches that I need to take, what is my character like in canon, etc.). I don't mind basic spoilers for that purpose.

 

Second, I need to fill out the story and background. I feel lost, often, in the sea of Old Republic information and setting. A book leading me into KOTOR with good background and setting would be hugely helpful, but I don't want to get caught reading a series. I hear the the book "Revan" bridges 1 & 2 very well - or is there something better for that? Finally, something tying 1, 2, and TOR (3) together, or bridging 2 and 3, would be helpful, as well. Perhaps even a last one wrapping it all up afterword, though I couldn't find a central book covering Vitiate. If I'm looking in the wrong direction, a "best of" list of a few important Old Republic era books. I can do it all in order with the games, too; I'm in no hurry.

 

Third, what's the best "other" path in SWTOR, besides LS JK, to fill out the story, setting, and characters? I've heard that despite the poor storyline, the consular intersects a lot of setting characters - I'm thinking a Kreia-esque "philosopher-sage" force-wielder, a la a grey SI or JC, whichever is going to work better for the character idea (SI or JC for consistent and satisfying greyness?).

 

Thanks so much for any help

[DarthDymond]

I would really appreciate some guidance from lore-knowledgeable fans in an endeavor I've decided to undertake.

 

So after playing an underwhelming first chapter of the "canon" story (LS JK), I read up a bit on wookipedia about Revan, Vitiate, and Malgus. I realized, first, that this underwhelming story as it is so far, would eventually touch on or move through several topics I find very interesting; second, that, wow, I've forgotten a lot from the KOTOR games! Also, I forgot how much more interesting the Old Republic era is to me than any other in SW canon - so I want to explore it properly!

 

So I proposed to myself a lore project.

 

First, I want to play all three games in the most lore-friendly, canon, story-filling way possible. The question, then, is: What gender, role (warrior, consular, etc.), powers, main companions, etc., would be most appropriate for each game? If KOTOR2 isn't as covered by a canon storyline, I assume that a grey consular would mesh best with Kreia (she is one of my favorite video game characters, ever - I want to milk the most/best dialogue from her possible!). Yes, I'll be downloading the extra content mods to re-add subtracted content. But I need to know how to build my character and at least a few RP guidelines (when do I "fall," is Revan good before a certain story point, what are some main story branches that I need to take, what is my character like in canon, etc.). I don't mind basic spoilers for that purpose.

 

Second, I need to fill out the story and background. I feel lost, often, in the sea of Old Republic information and setting. A book leading me into KOTOR with good background and setting would be hugely helpful, but I don't want to get caught reading a series. I hear the the book "Revan" bridges 1 & 2 very well - or is there something better for that? Finally, something tying 1, 2, and TOR (3) together, or bridging 2 and 3, would be helpful, as well. Perhaps even a last one wrapping it all up afterword, though I couldn't find a central book covering Vitiate. If I'm looking in the wrong direction, a "best of" list of a few important Old Republic era books. I can do it all in order with the games, too; I'm in no hurry.

 

Third, what's the best "other" path in SWTOR, besides LS JK, to fill out the story, setting, and characters? I've heard that despite the poor storyline, the consular intersects a lot of setting characters - I'm thinking a Kreia-esque "philosopher-sage" force-wielder, a la a grey SI or JC, whichever is going to work better for the character idea (SI or JC for consistent and satisfying greyness?).

 

Thanks so much for any help

To answer your questions in reverse order:

Other Story Lines in TOR besides the LS JK: All of the class stories flesh out the storyline, setting and characters, and there is no definitive canon for which LS/DS decisions happened (Wookieepedia uses DS as canon for all Imperial characters and LS for all Republic, but that's just an internal style convention rather than a reflection of any established canon at this point). Pick a class you want to play and have fun with it, they all add to the overall story and many intersect in interesting ways.

 

Books fleshing out or bridging KOTOR 1, 2 and TOR:

The novel Revan actually acts as a bridge between the KOTORs and TOR as much as it does between KOTOR 1 and 2, and it has the most comprehensive look at Vitiate of any source. A lot of the KOTOR era simply hasn't been touched on outside the games, but Revan covers a lot of what has been established.

For background and setting leading into KOTOR, the Knights Of The Old Republic comic book series based around Zayne Carrick (whom Carrick Station is named for) establishes the run-up to the Mandalorian Wars and Revan's Crusaders defying the Council, although all of those plot points tend to happen tangentially or in the background from the main plot of the comics.

If you want to go a bit further back, the Tales of the Jedi comic series establishes a lot of characters and conflicts that form the distant background for KOTOR and TOR (the original Sith Empire comes from Golden Age of the Sith, Jolee Bindo's background deals with the Great Sith War from Dark Lords of the Sith" and "The Sith War", etc.).

For immediate background to TOR: Deceived focuses on Darth Malgus in the time surrounding the Sacking of Coruscant. It's also one of the better TOR books out there.

 

Lore Friendly Playthough:

KOTOR 1:

Appearance: Caucasian male, dark brown hair, you'll want him to look as much like this as you can: TOR Revan Pic

 

Class/Role: I've heard a lot of people on these forums say that Guardian is the canon class for Revan, but personally I've always felt Consular makes more sense: Revan's a great lightsaber duelist, but where he really seems to stand out is as a master of Force "sorcery". As near as I can tell the main basis for him being a Guardian is the color of his lightsaber crystal, which seems fairly flimsy to me. The non-Force class is up in the air, but I'd say Soldier by virtue of it being the most generic.

 

Main Companion: The romance with Bastila is canon, so I would say you should definitely have her around as much as possible. HK-47 considers himself Revan's "Most loyal servant", and from the canon novel Revan it's clear that Revan is pretty attached to T3-M4 and made a genuine impact on Canderous so those three should definitely play a significant role in your play-through.

 

Alignment & Plot Points: You'll definitely want to be Light Side overall, but not necessarily locked into 100% light-side choices, Revan paints him as having at least a little bit of Gray in him. All the *big* decisions should probably be Light Side though.

Since there is a Twi'lek Jedi named Yadira Ban in TOR, you should probably redeem Yuthura Ban on Korriban.

Kolto is still around in TOR so you should definitely spare the Progenitor on Manaan.

 

KOTOR 2:

Name and Appearance: The Exile's canon name is Meetra Surik, Caucasian female, light brown hair, looks like this: TOR Meetra Surik Pic (the picture is through a blue filter, the Revan novel establishes her hair is brown.)

 

Class and Role: Probably either Guardian or Sentinel. Her lightsaber crystal was cyan.

 

Alignment and plot points: Light-side, probably throughout and definitely for any major plot decisions.

Train all the companions you can as Jedi.

Revan, as far as I recall, doesn't mention anything about a romance between her and any of her companions, so pursuing the Rand or Disciple romances are purely optional, and not pursuing them may even be canon.

 

Enjoy the play-through and reading!

[Endtropic]

Wow - you're AWESOME! I wish this forum had something like karma points

 

I've been reading around in places, looking at other forum posts by other people asking similar questions - even read a very long and involved forum argument over Revan's class (and was probably going to settle on Sentinel; the reasoning that he built a droid is flimsy, but it seemed like the best compromise if otherwise unsure). But I kept coming back to this one, on my bookmarks bar, to see if someone answered, and had assumed it was buried.

 

This is *extremely* helpful, and you've contributed nicely to a good chunk of my near-future spare time! Especially great is getting the pictures from TOR that I hadn't found before, and since I'm looking to wrap everything up into the neatest ball possible, consistency between my KOTOR looks and TOR's renderings will be great. The book advice is great, too, since I don't want to read a library, but would like to (a) get a big picture (Revan), (b ) get the backstory to TOR (Deceived), and © as a bonus, get more info about Vitiate, since he's both fascinating and so mysterious in TOR so far (Revan).

 

So , sweet, I'm off to the races. KOTOR 1/2 on my laptop, books on Prime from Amazon, and TOR on my desktop. Now we'll see if my girlfriend sticks around for my nerdfest