Would a slow fall work on my Jedi Knight?

[Alixen]

 

"It is such a quiet thing, to fall. But far more terrible is to admit it."

 

 

 

So, my Jedi Knight is a goody two-shoes, aside from Kira being his weakness. I have decided I want to explore the dark side on the Knight, as my Sage is my real lightside character. I want to experience the Anakin to my Shadows Obi-Wan, so to speak. I heard that the plot of the Sage doesn't really fit dark side choices, and the character I designed wouldn't pick them anyway.

 

I planned to have him generally be good, but as he romances Kira, start to make more selfish, proactive, (and protective) choices and for him to steadily get more and more ruthless when dealing with the Sith as their various evils begin to erode his self control.

 

The issue is, I don't know the storyline all that well, so i'm not sure how to 'pace' my choices to the desired end. Nor do I know if being dark will even have any relevance towards the end. Is the ending satisfying either way? Is there any sort of difference? Can the character still marry Kira? In the same way her lack of regard for the rules will erode his own adherence to the Jedi, can she in turn be corrupted to the dark side like Bastilla could?

 

I'm just hoping for some advice and information from more experienced players. I don't mind spoilers, in fact they would help me chart my course some. I'm more interested in the overall journey.

[DarthDymond]

I can't speak to how being Dark Side affects the ending, since my JK is still on Voss, but from what I have seen having Kira be your "gateway drug" to the Dark Side is certainly something you can play out pretty well throughout the storyline. While she is ultimately a "good" character, and supports the Jedi and their philosophy in general, she can "tempt" your character into some Dark Side choices if you start a relationship with her early on, and she does genuinely hate the Empire and the Sith, to the point where you can gain affection points with her for some pretty Un-Jedi conversation choices - generally ends-justify-the-means comments about taking down the Sith.

 

You can't actually corrupt her like with Bastila though - the Sith Warrior's companion Jaessa is the only character in the game you can really do that with. Kira will remain an overall good person and Light Side, just one who's less than perfect and struggles with her hatred of the Sith.

 

With a relationship with Kira having opened the door, you can really kick your "fall" into gear around the end of Chapter 2, when two events can be played as having a major impact on your character and his psyche:

 

First, your character is captured and brainwashed by the Sith Emperor, who actually turns you into one of his servants for an unspecified amount of time until you are able to break free of his control. I think you could very easily play this out as having a lasting taint on your Knight, and have him come out of it a darker person.

 

Second, you join forces with Lord Scourge, a Sith Lord who opposes the Emperor but is still a believer in the Sith philosophy. From the time he joins your crew you have a full-blown Sith whispering in your Knight's ear and urging him to make self-serving/self-empowering choices. Having him as your active companion can prompt a good few "We don't have time to save these defenseless villagers from certain death, we need to get on with our mission" or "This person doesn't deserve your mercy, kill them/leave them to die" comments from the Scrouge, which you can then have your character agree with.

 

 

In terms of mechanics, building your Jedi up too high in Light Side points might make it difficult to get enough Dark Side points to end the class storyline on that end of the spectrum, unless you grind Flashpoints over and over again for the alignment decisions or use the Diplomacy Crew Skill to farm Dark Side points.

 

If you don't want him to start "evil", I would suggest taking a lot of neutral options during Chapter 1 and 2 (plus a few Dark Side choices if you feel they're appropriate for your character) so that you're only at a low Light Side rating before you start a full-blown fall in Chapter 3. If you play him as too good of a character early on there just might not be enough options available at the end to get below Neutral.

[Alixen]

Thanks, that helps a great deal. My Knight is only on the early portion of Taris at the moment, and level 18, so i'm not too far along yet. I'll try and shy away from too many outright lightside choice, as I go on. I will likely do both; i'll use Kira to have him break the code in starting their relationship, and have him come to share some of her issues, and then the other situation and companion can be what finally pushes things to the brink.

 

After all, i'm hoping the games storyline will make some headway at a later date. So the 'end' isn't really the end.