Is the Inquisitor Learning to use the Dark Side Tendrils technique ?

[Kayriel]

I am not sure if this would be considered a spoiler at this point in the game's life , but it if does , please stop reading the thread now : mild SPOILERS ahead!

 

Now that we got that out of the way , lets talk about what i recently watched again

 

So i was browsing the forums without a specific aim , when i stumbled upon a thread that reminded me of the cinematic from the Makeb starting quest. When you start the mission for the planet , a cinematic starts for every class , where it shows your character doing whatever thing is related to your class and for the Inquisitor , who is searching for ancient knowledge , we find him messing around some artifacts and experimenting with some ritual ; then you can see some tentacles appear out of the tablet , which , at the time , didn't seem to be too relevant.

 

I've read of some of pages on wookiepedia , where they describe the dark side powers that the Sith were able to learn and it hit me that the things that the Inquisitor manages to summon , look surprisingly similar to what i got from the description of the dark side tendrils.

 

So my question for everyone is : Is it implied that our character is so strong in the Dark Side of the force that he is learning or has already learned ( given the fact that some time passed between Makeb and SOR xpacks ) this technique and is now or he is going to be able to basically obliterate his enemies , with something that , as far as i know , has no counter ? I am aware of the fact that the technique needs a tremendous amount of concentration to pull off in combat , but i am thinking that a 5 ghost ( i ate the Voss one as well and kept them all ) empowered Inquisitor would be able to pull it off without the effort that Zannah had.

 

For more information about the technique and what it does , here is a link to the page on wookiepedia :

 

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_side_tendrils

Edited January 26, 2015 by Kayriel
typos

[Leaveshill]

Nox is a master of the Dark side, and with all his knowledge and resources he's not unlikely to learn rituals such as this. *Thanks for adding the link by the way, saved me the trouble of googling!*

I'd like more rituals for the Inq, but I don't think they're going to add too many rituals in future expansions as people clearly find them boring. That's why people tend to claim that Inq C2 and C3 suck, even tho I personally prefer the Inq-game from Alderaan and out. Love every planet, especially Voss with the Dream-walking. Would be so interesting if they added a hunt for some dark ritual in a future expansion.

As you stated, the five ghosts give a lot of potential power, power you can use which will probably keep your body from degenerating at the same time as it's a much bigger amount of power than what's natural. Especially if you forces the ghosts(After all, a willing ghost is easier to bind, but by leaving the ghost's will one does also draw less of it's power-stated by Ergast). So I'm pretty sure that it'd not be impossible for Nox to make it, given he finds a way to learn it.

Edited January 26, 2015 by Leaveshill

[jovianus]

I honestly didn't overly care for Chapter 3. Personally I would have scrapped the whole 'ghost sickness' thing and made it all about building your powerbase.

 

Like after the confrontation at the end of Chapter 2 Thanaton runs away, and Zash/somebody warns you that he'll be turning his entire powerbase on you, and you need one of your own. So you add an army of convicts to your ranks on Belsavis, gain support in the Imperial Bureacracy/Dark Council on Voss, gain your fleet/Imperial military allies by aiding in the fight on Corellia, etc. And then cut down the Kaggath to a major fleet confrontation or something, with the rest of it playing out the same way after you defeat Thanaton in the duel.

 

The whole 'need to recover from ghost sickness' thing was kind of annoying to me, even if dream walking was interesting, and it felt kind of odd how you suddenly gain all these fleets and superweapons and stuff in a couple of really short between planet missions.

 

On topic though, I thought the Makeb cutscene was amusing, Nox(*cough*Occlus*cough*) is doing whatever weird dark side rituals something weird tentacled things from ancient artifacts....and then looks up in annoyance at the phone ringing and finally goes to see why they're bothering him.

 

My impression was that the tentacles were something he was drawing out of the artifact, not a power he was using himself.

Edited January 26, 2015 by jovianus

[Kayriel]

I found the inquisitor story to be my favorite one out of all the empire ones , Warrior was competing for that position , until i realized that hes basically the dog on a leash that just runs around doing other people's errands )

 

@ jovianus , well if you take a look at the link i provided , the skill itself describes tendrils of pure dark side energy that rise from the ground and take the form of serpentine tentacles , taht swarm the victim of the user , so i in a way it is a summoning ritual , but Nox ( i played my Inquisitor without the DS or LS options highlighter , since i wanted to choose the option that made more sense to me at the time , so i got both LS points and DS points , but still ended up going DS 3 when i finished the class story ) still has to learn the spelss , so i figured that the tablet from where the stuff spawns is where the spell is actually written.

[DarthDymond]

I got the impression that the tendrils coming from the artifact where just an interesting bit of visual storytelling to convey that the Inquisitor, as head of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge, is playing around with dark and dangerous artifacts in his downtime between overthrowing false emperors and taking on Hutt archons.

 

I thought it ties nicely in with the character being one who seeks power through ancient and possibly forbidden knowledge (with the occasional fleet-killer superlaser thrown in for good measure).

[Leaveshill]

I honestly didn't overly care for Chapter 3. Personally I would have scrapped the whole 'ghost sickness' thing and made it all about building your powerbase.

 

Like after the confrontation at the end of Chapter 2 Thanaton runs away, and Zash/somebody warns you that he'll be turning his entire powerbase on you, and you need one of your own. So you add an army of convicts to your ranks on Belsavis, gain support in the Imperial Bureacracy/Dark Council on Voss, gain your fleet/Imperial military allies by aiding in the fight on Corellia, etc. And then cut down the Kaggath to a major fleet confrontation or something, with the rest of it playing out the same way after you defeat Thanaton in the duel.

 

The whole 'need to recover from ghost sickness' thing was kind of annoying to me, even if dream walking was interesting, and it felt kind of odd how you suddenly gain all these fleets and superweapons and stuff in a couple of really short between planet missions.

 

On topic though, I thought the Makeb cutscene was amusing, Nox(*cough*Occlus*cough*) is doing whatever weird dark side rituals something weird tentacled things from ancient artifacts....and then looks up in annoyance at the phone ringing and finally goes to see why they're bothering him.

 

My impression was that the tentacles were something he was drawing out of the artifact, not a power he was using himself.

 

I can see how many people think so (after all, most people seem to hate C2 and even C3 even more); but I do love how you get to see the "with power, comes sideeffects". No other Force users in SWTOR plays with so dangerous rituals, and in return might (probably) give him a bigger potential than the others, but at a much huger cost. I think that force-sickness was a nice suprise, I was shocked and I did find it lovely. Of course, it's as you say " a bit weird", but Thanaton has been stumping on the military's toes for ages, and you (as a loyal imperial, at least you're supposed to be loyal) makes them crave for Thanaton's downfall by your hands for a new era where old ideas are put aside for better ones. And I did love Dream-walking, I can't think of a better planet-quest line than SI - voss.

[DarthDymond]

I can see how many people think so (after all, most people seem to hate C2 and even C3 even more); but I do love how you get to see the "with power, comes sideeffects". No other Force users in SWTOR plays with so dangerous rituals, and in return might (probably) give him a bigger potential than the others, but at a much huger cost. I think that force-sickness was a nice suprise, I was shocked and I did find it lovely. Of course, it's as you say " a bit weird", but Thanaton has been stumping on the military's toes for ages, and you (as a loyal imperial, at least you're supposed to be loyal) makes them crave for Thanaton's downfall by your hands for a new era where old ideas are put aside for better ones. And I did love Dream-walking, I can't think of a better planet-quest line than SI - voss.

My 2 cents: I think the Forcewalking and overcoming the Force Sickness were both fine elements of the storyline. What I don't think was quiet so fine was how much of the story was devoted to them.

 

That plotline was great as a way of showing that the Inquisitor was gaining significant individual strength, but for the class that's partially inspired by Palpatine, I was often more interested in the aspects of the story where s/he gains 'political' power (for lack of a better term) and influence.

 

I love that, early on, a simple 'fetch quest' for your master ends up giving you control of a cult that worships you. I love that you end up gaining powerful allies in the Imperial Military and get your own Super Weapon. But those aspects get shortchanged in terms of 'screen time' (or whatever the videogame equivalent would be) compared to the Forcewalking story.

 

I just think the Class Story would have benefited from trimming (not eliminating) some of the Forcewalking / Force Sickness arcs and using that freed up story space to flesh out the Silencer arc and/or add another aspect to the Inquisitor's overall rise to power - maybe acquiring an influential spy in the Republic that gives her/him a chance to manipulate both sides of a conflict on one of the planets.

 

(I will say, that while the Class Story missions often feel like they come up a bit short, a lot of the planetary quest arcs played very well with the story of a Sith Lord rising to prominence - putting Darth Silthar's team from the Imperial Reclamation Service into your debt, making an ally of Dark Council Member Darth Decimus, securing a major diplomatic victory on Voss and making yourself a revered figure among that population in the process, etc.)

Edited January 27, 2015 by DarthDymond

[Leaveshill]

My 2 cents: I think the Forcewalking and overcoming the Force Sickness were both fine elements of the storyline. What I don't think was quiet so fine was how much of the story was devoted to them.

 

That plotline was great as a way of showing that the Inquisitor was gaining significant individual strength, but for the class that's partially inspired by Palpatine, I was often more interested in the aspects of the story where s/he gains 'political' power (for lack of a better term) and influence.

 

I love that, early on, a simple 'fetch quest' for your master ends up giving you control of a cult that worships you. I love that you end up gaining powerful allies in the Imperial Military and get your own Super Weapon. But those aspects get shortchanged in terms of 'screen time' (or whatever the videogame equivalent would be) compared to the Forcewalking story.

 

I just think the Class Story would have benefited from trimming (not eliminating) some of the Forcewalking / Force Sickness arcs and using that freed up story space to flesh out the Silencer arc and/or add another aspect to the Inquisitor's overall rise to power - maybe acquiring an influential spy in the Republic that gives her/him a chance to manipulate both sides of a conflict on one of the planets.

 

(I will say, that while the Class Story missions often feel like they come up a bit short, a lot of the planetary quest arcs played very well with the story of a Sith Lord rising to prominence - putting Darth Silthar's team from the Imperial Reclamation Service into your debt, making an ally of Dark Council Member Darth Decimus, securing a major diplomatic victory on Voss and making yourself a revered figure among that population in the process, etc.)

 

Some good input in that post. It's true that a Sidious-like character should likely spend more time with politics than what happened. The rituals are likely a bit too dominating, and especially the Silencer only gets one single quest to make it, then one to push the button. Not really hard work, would've been better if they forced you into a huge Republic-lair to find the last pieces for the weapon, or if they'd actually have a few quests for it and not just one.And I guess they could've changed Belsavis to something like; Nox gets forced to assist a team of Imperials (With some at the moment nameless sith lord) to reach the machine; and after making allies of this Sith Lord then he ventures into unknown territory and finds the Mother Machine, after also getting new allies on the way (Personally I liked to combine the Dread master-quests with the Mother Machine; I felt like I actually got help to reach the Machine by also helping the Empire secure it's prize. Sort of like helping Darth Serevin; especially since you need that quests from the madman to protect yourself from the madness in the Dark heart anyways.

 

Let's hope we get some well-played character-quests in the next expansion.