Disconnection between Act 1 and Act 2+3 in many class arcs

[Pietrastor]

Anyone else irritated by this? Completed most stories at this point and only Bounty Hunter and Inquisitor had strong connection between Act 1 and Act 2+3 (Warrior & Smuggler excluded as I haven't finished fully yet) which felt like a natural progress. I don't mind "adventures/episodes of..." type of construct for class stories, but it becomes a problem when act 1 is disconnected from other 2 that ARE connected with each other strongly. It should be either a 1 continous/evolving arc or a collection of different adventures throughout all 3 acts (and Prologue too).

[stormdrakelord]

I agree with the Smuggler Story. Chapter one being about treasure and the rest being about being the Han Solo of TOR is bad. Trooper however, makes a lot of sense.

[Little_Judas]

I would have been irritated if it was all one story, the difference in objectives always made the game and story more interesting.

 

Also, there is still some connection with for instance the Smuggler.

First you make a name for yourself + an enemy for chapter 1 and an enemy for chapter 2/3

and then you are recruited by the republic to help them out.

If you didn't make a name for yourself or had the enemy from chapter 2/3, you would have been nobody special and the senator would not have contacted you.

 

It's the same for most chapters I have played Jedi Knight, Sith Inquisitor and Smuggler (just started Jedi Consular ch.2)

Prologue & Chapter 1 --> Making a name for yourself

Chapter 2/3 --> getting contacted by someone to deal with a bigger issue. (or in case with the SI getting contacted by the bigger issue)

 

And I do believe the great hunt for the Bounty Hunter has the same principle behind it.

[Darth-Obvious]

I like having the chapters separate with some connectivity here and there.

 

My favorite storylines for the chapters are the ones that tell a complete (or mostly complete) story within a single chapter, ie you're introduced to your primary antagonist and then face them at the end of the chapter, then some amount of time passes between then and the next chapter.

 

Early on they said the chapters were designed to be like TV seasons, but it is weird that in most cases Chapter 1 is usually it's own thing while Chapters 2 and 3 get blended together, especially as the class quests get fewer and further between.

 

It always annoyed me when the villain of Chapter 2 would carry over into Chapter 3 as well. "I'm still dealing with this guy? Really?"

Edited December 2, 2013 by Darth-Obvious

[cjlcw]

I like having the chapters separate with some connectivity here and there.

 

My favorite storylines for the chapters are the ones that tell a complete (or mostly complete) story within a single chapter, ie you're introduced to your primary antagonist and then face them at the end of the chapter, then some amount of time passes between then and the next chapter.

 

Early on they said the chapters were designed to be like TV seasons, but it is weird that in most cases Chapter 1 is usually it's own thing while Chapters 2 and 3 get blended together, especially as the class quests get fewer and further between.

 

It always annoyed me when the villain of Chapter 2 would carry over into Chapter 3 as well. "I'm still dealing with this guy? Really?"

 

I mostly agree. The problem is carrying over a conflict has to be done right to be engaging. So if the packing is bad or the conflict it self is poorly developed the story will fall flat. This does occur with some of the class stories. It isn't fun to fight a character you don't feel any emotions towards.And so when such a story is carried over to another act the player looses interest.

 

My favorite two stories are also ones that don't really blend the final two acts. WethaI guess the agent has a character carry over, but everything is so different it hardly counts. And the Warrior is fighting completely different people in each of the acts, which does benifet it.

 

I think the only classes that truly blend acts two and three are the inquisitor , Knight and smuggler, the first two do so to the greatest extent. This does cause the story to suffer for the inquisitor. I feel like the Knight pulls it off, by having a better structure for the storry progression. You learn more about the conflict by act 3 and so your motivation changes. Your defeat in the middle also carries a lot of whieght (I'm comlarirson to the Inquisitor) This increases the feelkng of intensity. So while the Knight does blend the acts, it has good pacing which compensates. With the smuggler you don't have a primary antagonist I'm act two, but you have two background antagonists. One becomes your primary enemy through act three but then you side with him to take down another one. Still your job is primarily the same throughout. Which does harm the story.

[OldVengeance]

Act 2 was shorter than the other two. I get the sense that in sort of served mainly as a bridge between the two bigger story brackets.

[dazednconfuzed]

I liked the breakdown of the Consular acts. Each one touched on something that would fall under the 'Consular' remit - investigating ancient force techniques; diplomacy; and the traditional Jedi type duty - hunting down evil force users.

 

Granted, apart from acts 2-3, there is very little to conenct them together, but that doesn't matter. It fits the class well.

[Darth-Obvious]

I mostly agree. The problem is carrying over a conflict has to be done right to be engaging. So if the packing is bad or the conflict it self is poorly developed the story will fall flat. This does occur with some of the class stories. It isn't fun to fight a character you don't feel any emotions towards.And so when such a story is carried over to another act the player looses interest.

 

My favorite two stories are also ones that don't really blend the final two acts. WethaI guess the agent has a character carry over, but everything is so different it hardly counts. And the Warrior is fighting completely different people in each of the acts, which does benifet it.

 

I think the only classes that truly blend acts two and three are the inquisitor , Knight and smuggler, the first two do so to the greatest extent. This does cause the story to suffer for the inquisitor. I feel like the Knight pulls it off, by having a better structure for the storry progression. You learn more about the conflict by act 3 and so your motivation changes. Your defeat in the middle also carries a lot of whieght (I'm comlarirson to the Inquisitor) This increases the feelkng of intensity. So while the Knight does blend the acts, it has good pacing which compensates. With the smuggler you don't have a primary antagonist I'm act two, but you have two background antagonists. One becomes your primary enemy through act three but then you side with him to take down another one. Still your job is primarily the same throughout. Which does harm the story.

 

Yeah, I was specifically thinking of the Inquisitor's chapters when I posted that. Both Chapters 1 & 2 build towards these big finishes and/or have them, but all the carry over from Chapter 2 to 3 really hurts the story. You become insanely powerful to accomplish something, then only do you not complete that goal (in Chapter 2 or the satisfaction of the final blow in Chapter 3) but your character becomes "sick" and as a result Chapter 3 feels a "Wait, why did I do all that stuff in Chapter 2?"

[Pietrastor]

Early on they said the chapters were designed to be like TV seasons, but it is weird that in most cases Chapter 1 is usually it's own thing while Chapters 2 and 3 get blended together, especially as the class quests get fewer and further between.

 

It always annoyed me when the villain of Chapter 2 would carry over into Chapter 3 as well. "I'm still dealing with this guy? Really?"

This is my point. I'm not criticizing the idea of self-contained Acts/Arcs, but the fact that most class stories use BOTH self-contained method and continious method. Act 1 is separate while Acts 2 & 3 are basically one with literally no connection whatsoever. The writers should decide on either one, otherwise it just feels inconsistient in its own structure.

[ShadowMudkip]

As I understand them, Act 1 is about building your character and your surroundings. Act 1 is like the summary on inside the inside of a book, it gives you the plot, and general description of the characters, but it leaves open questions and mystery near the end.