Empire or Republic. And why?

[XiamaraSimi]

I have played all 8 class stories, and hands down I preferred empire over republic. The stories were a lot more interesting to me, as well as much more interesting scenery. Then there are the voices. Granted my characters are female, being one myself I just can't relate to the male version of the stories. But I much prefer the female imperial voices.

 

Female smuggler voice makes me want to shoot myself in the face to end having to hear more of it. I dislike it -that- much .

[exiliox]

Both!

 

When I started I thought there was NO WAY I would EVER play an Imp.

 

For over a year I just stuck with Pubs...wow was I missing out. I decided to try a couple Imp classes and now, they are my favorite classes to play.

 

While I agree with the overall ethos of the Republic, playing Imps is too much fun! The way Jedi have been written they are so boring in SWTOR...but the imps have personality and range...especially playing light side choices.

 

Don't just stick to one side, play em both and thank me later.

[DomiSotto]

Republic girl here. I feel very uncomfortable with the Imperial culture of cruelty, discrimination and abuse.

 

I hate to see what it makes even nice at the core characters into (poor sod Quinn, enslaved Vette, delusional Mako, etc). Most of my companions on the Imp side I'd trade for the NPCs the game forces me to kill. I would also gladly shoot 99% of the Imperial characters I interact with on the imp side. A couple I meet on the Pub side are actually nice.

 

I hate it that my Sith Warrior doesn't have intelligent answers in any philosophical debate with a Jedi and comes across as dumber than dumb.

 

I hate killing people I admire; Balmorra is my favorite planet on Republic side (both of my most beloved NPC characters are Bal Res) and the most dreaded place on the Imp side. Every solo character I had, I drove in complicated patterns to avoid killing Bal Res and just do class quests, then go catch up on levels on Nar Shaddaa. Imp Agent in articular, I would strangle her myself given the chance. I am afraid to think about playing 4 paired characters on Balmorra because my husband is a completion-ist, so he'd want to do every sidequest .

 

I feel a bit more comfortable with a BH and Inquisitor because they did not chose their destiny, but I loathe my DS Sith Warrior and pity my LS SW. My most special hatred and derision is reserved for my Imperial Agent. In the beginning I was planning to play two, to see both male and female to see both romances, but deleted the male as soon as I saw the class quest on Balmorra on the female one.

 

Imperial voicing on the F!Inq and both Agents is really unpleasant to me, F!Warrior is too loud compared to the other chars, and it bothers me. On the Pub side I am not a big fan of the F!Con, but both Smugglers, I totally adore, and I am Okay with everyone else's voices.

 

Imperial armor looks stupid to me, with its masks and spikes.

 

About the only thing I like about the Empire more is the battle moves animations.

 

As I said, I am a Pub girl

Edited August 18, 2014 by DomiSotto

[Nickious]

Republic girl here. I feel very uncomfortable with the Imperial culture of cruelty, discrimination and abuse.

 

I hate to see what it makes even nice at the core characters into (poor sod Quinn, enslaved Vette, delusional Mako, etc). Most of my companions on the Imp side I'd trade for the NPCs the game forces me to kill. I would also gladly shoot 99% of the Imperial characters I interact with on the imp side. A couple I meet on the Pub side are actually nice.

 

I hate it that my Sith Warrior doesn't have intelligent answers in any philosophical debate with a Jedi and comes across as dumber than dumb.

 

I hate killing people I admire; Balmorra is my favorite planet on Republic side (both of my most beloved NPC characters are Bal Res) and the most dreaded place on the Imp side. Every solo character I had, I drove in complicated patterns to avoid killing Bal Res and just do class quests, then go catch up on levels on Nar Shaddaa. Imp Agent in articular, I would strangle her myself given the chance. I am afraid to think about playing 4 paired characters on Balmorra because my husband is a completion-ist, so he'd want to do every sidequest .

 

I feel a bit more comfortable with a BH and Inquisitor because they did not chose their destiny, but I loathe my DS Sith Warrior and pity my LS SW. My most special hatred and derision is reserved for my Imperial Agent. In the beginning I was planning to play two, to see both male and female to see both romances, but deleted the male as soon as I saw the class quest on Balmorra on the female one.

 

Imperial voicing on the F!Inq and both Agents is really unpleasant to me, F!Warrior is too loud compared to the other chars, and it bothers me. On the Pub side I am not a big fan of the F!Con, but both Smugglers, I totally adore, and I am Okay with everyone else's voices.

 

Imperial armor looks stupid to me, with its masks and spikes.

 

About the only thing I like about the Empire more is the battle moves animations.

 

As I said, I am a Pub girl

 

Have you actually played through an entire imperial character before quitting? I consider my imperial characters as light side reformers rather than the traditional dark siders content with the status quo of their society.

 

My LS Sith warrior kept his compsure better than most of the Jedi he meets, even when Jedi are basically goading you into killing them. Funny really.

[Darth_Wicked]

Have you actually played through an entire imperial character before quitting? I consider my imperial characters as light side reformers rather than the traditional dark siders content with the status quo of their society.

 

My LS Sith warrior kept his compsure better than most of the Jedi he meets, even when Jedi are basically goading you into killing them. Funny really.

 

IMHO, one of the finest moments in that storyline is when...

 

Nomen Karr, for all his hypocrisy and pointless taunting, reveals his true colors. How many more like them are there?

 

Plus, if you're DS, your SW says

I absolutely reveled in it.

 

Edited August 19, 2014 by Darth_Wicked

[LordArtemis]

Are we giving our own opinions or judging others opinions?

[BuriDogshin]

Yes, but killing your superior is not really a meritocracy. It is a very degenerated form of meritocracy at best. And if you notice, those people plotting are not really earning the position (which is what meritocracy is about), they need your help to do the job for them so that they can claim the credit.

Sounds like a reasonable criteria for choosing administrators: can they muster support from others?

 

Proving that you are willing and able to do what it takes to accomplish an objective demonstrates your merit. And the talents that one uses to eliminate competitors/superiors (intelligence, strength, insight, persuasion, guile, and so on) all have broader applications.

 

So therefore, The Empire is a meritocracy, just one with a completely amoral "civil service exam."

[BuriDogshin]

Are we giving our own opinions or judging others opinions?

 

I would say yes.

[Aries_cz]

And I'll leave this to you, yet again...

 

Once more, I'm not imposing my view on the code to anyone but rather relying on what other characters in the game say about it. Your view differs considerably from theirs.

 

That's all.

 

I am not imposing anything on anyone, just claiming that if one bothers to actually study the code, instead of mindlessly repeating it like a parrot, he or she will find that it is much more liberal than most think. It is still a code that forbids something (or at least warns about dangers associated with something), but it is not a "celibate", as many claim.

 

There are very few Jedi in game or game related materials who bother to do that, which is sad. As per the link, "while many study the Jedi Code, very few understand it".

 

However, this is a discussion we could continue forever.

[Darth_Wicked]

I am not imposing anything on anyone, just claiming that if one bothers to actually study the code, instead of mindlessly repeating it like a parrot, he or she will find that it is much more liberal than most think. It is still a code that forbids something (or at least warns about dangers associated with something), but it is not a "celibate", as many claim.

 

Again...

Also, it seems to me that you do not really understand the Jedi. They are allowed to have passion, emotion, sex, fun, etc. Basically the only requirement is that they do not allow their attachments to cloud their judgment (so some Jedi preach the "there is no emotion" quite literally, even when it is not meant to be interpreted that literally). Hell, the Grandmaster of the Order has a secret lovechild (that she had to give away, exactly for the purpose she was afraid that she would be willing to do horrible things to protect the child). (...)

I ask for you to tell me which Jedi have you met that would actually agree with that assessment, a Jedi the likes of Satele Shan, Orgus Din or Kiwiks.

 

There are very few Jedi in game or game related materials who bother to do that, which is sad. As per the link, "while many study the Jedi Code, very few understand it".

 

It's not sad.

 

In fact, it's fair to assume that people are bound to have a different interpretation of the code. That's the key word you are apparently missing: Interpretation.

 

However, this is a discussion we could continue forever.

 

There is no discussion, not from me anyway. I do not wish to presume what the Jedi Code actually infers, nor do I wish to impose my view upon others.

 

Again, my point is merely to convey that I can't remember of any widely known Jedi who preaches that sort of stuff in the game.

 

EDIT:

 

That sort of stuff being this...

(...) They are allowed to have passion, emotion, sex, fun, etc. (...)

Edited August 19, 2014 by Darth_Wicked

[DomiSotto]

Have you actually played through an entire imperial character before quitting? I consider my imperial characters as light side reformers rather than the traditional dark siders content with the status quo of their society.

 

Uhm, this thread will probably get buried under all the GSH threads, but since I can never stir away from the direct questions, I wanted to correct that I did not quit any single class, as I want to see all 8 class stories, I just deleted a second IA alt that was a male duplicate. I did finish 2 Pub stories so far, and my highest Imp character is L44 now (a SW). I play 8 characters in perma-pairs (4 of each class) with my husband, and 4 - solos.

 

But, I find playing the Imperial classes unpleasant. I don't see how the game will accommodate an LS 'reformer' well, as even the LS character does despicable things for the Empire. Besides, I don't want the Empire to be reformed. I want it to collapse.

[ThirdDementor]

But, I find playing the Imperial classes unpleasant. I don't see how the game will accommodate an LS 'reformer' well, as even the LS character does despicable things for the Empire.

 

Without going into spoilers, Sith Warrior is indeed pretty awkward as lightside. The Inquisitor, however, has both a backstory and a, err, story-story that accomodates lightside nicely and in a way that makes a lot of sense. Not to say they don't fit darkside, but going lightside Inquisitor is legit and rewarding.

[Vodamin]

Republic.

 

Empire is just too depressing. I like their advance clsses, the animations, posture, everything is so awesome.

But the atmosphere is just awful.

Edited August 21, 2014 by Vodamin

[DomiSotto]

Without going into spoilers, Sith Warrior is indeed pretty awkward as lightside. The Inquisitor, however, has both a backstory and a, err, story-story that accomodates lightside nicely and in a way that makes a lot of sense. Not to say they don't fit darkside, but going lightside Inquisitor is legit and rewarding.

 

I play LS and DS versions of both.

[Khaleijo]

I prefer the Empire, first of all the stories, then of course the design of clothes, ships , architecture and stuff, i just like it better.

The only story i like on the Republic side is the knight, but not because of the final ending, which is kind of to be expected from the beginning, but the really great and atmospheric twist before that.

 

With the other classes and the quests on the planets themselves i had the feeling the the republic is only about corruption, schemes, and struggle for power influence or wealth. No serving the people but serving myself. All that while telling everyone its for the greater good. There may be less open killings to achieve positions compared to the imp side, but as for example the BH story tells, the republic doesn't refrain from dirty actions to achieve their goals either, false accusations included. It's just not such a strong element of the player story, but crushing opponents is happening in the republic too, it is just not as open or as lethal as in the Empire.

 

The whole Planet Belsavis is not really a prime example of the republics ideals, its something you would expect from the bad evil empire, but its build and conducted by the Republic, with all its experiments and punishing children for deeds their parents did when they weren't even born. The trooper/counsellor story is also a lot about powerplays between republic institutions and what the senate doesn't know won't bother him, we have rights but to achieve our goals we can just ignore them, leading to "the end justifying the means" which is not really a big difference to the imperial credo. Manipulating election campaigns by forwarding delicate or even false informations about a candidate is also not unusual.

 

The Empire as a whole is not a place for fairness either, but it is more open with its goals and upfront with its measures to reach them. Not telling this is the ideal we follow and doing in fact the opposite of it. And i just pfrefer that to the in my opinion hypocritical Republic.

Not even mentioning all these mass murder "kill x opponents, than y and yet another bunch" quests, i felt were a lot more common on republic toons than at the imp side. Which are rendering the ideal "we are peaceful and the light side" a bit absurd while comitting massacre after massacre. Or is this justified because it is "the enemy" ?

One reason i don't like starting a new pub toon are these many many killing quests on Coruscant. You have them at the imp side too, but there the second and third stage are much more often "use crates, nodes computers or stuff" instead of killing another dozen guys.

 

The reactions towards a dark aligned jedi during the class quests are also a bit weird... as if i could be the purest evil but as long as i safe the Republic and/or Jedi order, it doesn't really matter, i'm even decorated for my actions.

I just had to laugh discussing the evilness of the opponents while sitting there with dark V corruption and getting almost no warning about changing my path to the light.

 

At the empire a light side sith is unusal and gets comments about that too, but as long as i achieve my goal, i showed my superiority and that's it, how i did it doesn't really matter as the measuring is "who is stronger" and i proved my strengh by defeating the opponent and as such followed the imperial credo. So a more or less light aligned sith feels much more convincing for me.

 

Of course i wouldn't support the empire in a real world scenario, but i wouldn't do that with the rebublic either as both are rotten, just in different ways.

In the end for the game scenario both have light and dark or are just grey, it comes to personal peference with design, story or where your friends play.

[LilyJedi]

The whole Planet Belsavis is not really a prime example of the republics ideals, its something you would expect from the bad evil empire, but its build and conducted by the Republic, with all its experiments and punishing children for deeds their parents did when they weren't even born. The trooper/counsellor story is also a lot about powerplays between republic institutions and what the senate doesn't know won't bother him, we have rights but to achieve our goals we can just ignore them, leading to "the end justifying the means" which is not really a big difference to the imperial credo.

Key difference -- the Republic has laws against such behaviour, and the perpetrators can be brought to justice. In the Empire, it's just policy, and you can't do anything about it.

 

On the Imperial side, most of the time, a light-side choice can, at best, save a handful of people. (The only possible exception comes in the IA story as to what is done with the Black Codex -- but that too has a cost).

[DomiSotto]

I agree with Lily-Jedi. Every time I encounter corruption and rot on the Republic side I get a practical option to change things for the better. Senators resign or get punished from Coruscant to Corellia, and all that.

 

On the Imperial side, I actually get penalized for doing the right thing. Like when I swapped the explosives not to kill the civilians on Balmorra, the man who suggested the swap got severely punished, and all I could do was to stand by idly. Which is a good piece of writing on Bio side, surprising RL, but depressing.

 

Empire seem to work the best with a DS character who has no moral scruples, and only cares for his or her own elevation, at least from what I have seen so far.

Edited August 21, 2014 by DomiSotto