wishihadaname Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 A lot of people think that the imperial stories are better than the republic ones. For me personally, I think it has to do with the fact that the imperial characters are simply more interesting than the rep ones and the imp players are part of the drama as opposed to being mediators/above the drama. The best example of this is the new Oricon area. Both sides do exactly the same thing in terms of objectives, but the imperial story is a lot more fun to play. Here is why: -In the rep story, you land, complete objectives, watch the local commander break down, make a pair of out of the blue and out of context light/dark decisions that don't have any visible consequences, learn that the dread masters are totally nuts and evil (go figure), and then go to the new ops. -In the imp story, you immediately see the strain in the local team, the sith lord whose seen the horror of the dread masters and looks for redemption, the assistant counting down minutes until your team is overwhelmed. You are forced to swallow your pride and rescue republic troops for help, you are confronted with your own nightmares and tempted into joining the Dread masters, your decisions seems to actually carry weight. When the dread masters broke through and demanded to know one of my agents fears I was expecting some sort of cheesy reply, instead the actor seemed to break down himself a bit as he described the haunting fear of losing himself in his own web of lies. That is story!. Even the dread masters appeared more interesting in the imp story. In the rep story they simply show up and are bent on killing everything. In the imp story they confess that they are going mad, that their own power is breaking them and that they desperately need a sixth. They aren't just some absolute evil to blast away, you almost feel sorry for them, until they threaten to kill your entire team and break your humanity that is. I think that one of the big stumbling blocks for the writers of this game has always been the "good is boring" stereotype. The pubs need to get their hands dirty, they need to be forced to get their hands dirty. Their light side decisions have to carry bad consequences sometimes. They need to stop being above the troubles of everyone around them. One of the biggest immersion breakers for me playing my trooper was that he seemed to be unaffected by the fear on Oricon. The whole team was seeing phantoms, ghosts of the past, and facing the darkest parts of their own minds. And the trooper just ran around and shot things. Why didn't he have a confrontation with his fears/misdeeds like the imps had? Why weren't the dread masters trying to corrupt the republic players? The pubs have too much of a light/dark dichotomy and disconnect from whats going on around them. For the trooper and smuggler in particular, there is no reason why they shouldn't also feel the force crushing their sanity on Oricon. For future content it would be really nice to see all of the characters have to struggle with their morality and their humanity. In trying to make the pubs heroic, the writers seem to have made their characters very shallow and far too perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausstig Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Honestly I think they had better writers, or the writers were able to explore more options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMCA Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I disagree. Darwinism is more prevalent within the Sith Empire and the rivalries, betrayals, and deceptions amongst the Sith and Imperial Intelligence creates more intrigue than a monastic order and special forces who get an objective and carry it out. Spies and apex predators tend to have juicy conflicts, which people like. I really like espionage movies and books so I can't get enough of the Agent That doesn't make Republic inferior though it just makes them different. What are the Jedi gonna have blood feuds about? How do elite volunteer military servicemen get into squabbles with other companies? What does the Smuggler care about politics lol. I agree there ought to be more dramatic consequences for the Republic story lines, but those are things you want to build up to. I think Bioware knows that and has something cooking for the Republic to lose that seemingly invincible momentum they have right now. If it's constantly dramatic at every turn for Republic then it becomes a soap opera and this is not As the World Turns it's Star Wars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausstig Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Well compare the Agent and Jedi Councilor stories, one has a lot of twists and turns and reacts to your decisions, the other is a really standard story. All the bad guys work for the Empire, that's why they fight you. Pretty sure the Republic could do false Flag ops and internal fights too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexDougherty Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Well compare the Agent and Jedi Councilor stories, one has a lot of twists and turns and reacts to your decisions, the other is a really standard story. All the bad guys work for the Empire, that's why they fight you. Pretty sure the Republic could do false Flag ops and internal fights too. You can't compare the JC and the Agent stories, The JC is a rise to the Jedi Council it's equivalent is the SI story, were a Sith rises to the Dark Council, again the Imperial story wins hands down, but the stories are comparable. Personally I feel the equivalent to the Agent Story is the Trooper story, both are in service to their governments, and are doing Black ops missions. Again the Agent story wins, mind you the Agent story is the best of the lot. Bounty Hunter and Smuggler are equivalents too, both are outside the normal chain of command, both have no real ties to that side, and both are initially looked down on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlrikFassbauer Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Honestly I think they had better writers, or the writers were able to explore more options. This is what I believe right now as well. Someone has already brought up the point that the Empire just isn't that "defined" like the Republic is - and that therefore the writers had more "creative freedom" at hand. When I started the Trooper, I expected a story of something like The A-Team - but it never happened. Instead, the Chaos Squad - one of the BEST army groups in the Republic ! - got a story of ... wait ... going after a few individuals ... How much worse can it be(come) ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benovide Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 During the making of the game, they actually interviewed former KGB and CIA agents when constructing an interesting twists/bends in the manner in which the Agents storyline for example went together. Integrating between military units, and covert type assignments, to dissolving the orgenization you worked for, to deleting your identity, etc. Inquisitor and warrior storylines they took snapshots from the Pros Edda, and the Illyiad. Play the story lines again, and tell me you don't get flashbacks from the great warrior controlling the spirits to battle higher forces, or the Lone Warrior left to die who returns to destroy his lord, and serves the greatest lord of the lands almost to the power of a God. The Bounty Hunter Campaign, from the great hunt to the very end, also reads/watches like several tales from the Pros Edda. Crossed with their interviews of former Military to Mercenary people they had interviewed. The storylines overall for the imp side, they went to far greater lengths to create, than they did for the republic side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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