My character's personal story and why I believe it's important to have one.

[RGSlayingChaos]

As a relatively new player, I have came to a realization that I feel is important to share with the community. This will not be a guide but rather an observation that I feel has made The Old Republic a much more enjoyable game for me. If you are playing the game for the story, then I feel this will benefit those people most. However, if you're here more for the online aspect of the game, but you find it hard to continue with character quest lines due to getting bored with them, then hear me out as this may help better your experience.

 

I'll share a little bit of a background on me and why I came to these conclusions. I originally started the game and I wanted to fulfill my childhood fantasies of being a dark side Sith and being as evil as possible; as I'm sure many people have. Wanting to be stronger with the force, I decided to play an Inquisitor. Without boring you with all the details of this character, I came to a cruel realization around level 37 in the game. I became bored with the character and I didn't really have much of an attachment to him. I started to feel like the planets were a grind and because I like to complete everything and didn't want to leave missions behind, started to get to where I couldn't wait for the planets to end. I was pure dark side on my character and no matter what the decision was, I always chose that option. For some people, this is how they prefer to play the game. When they choose a Jedi, they are pure light side and with Sith, pure dark side. There is nothing wrong with playing that way and to each their own. For me however, it ruined the mystery in the game. It made it to where I knew what decision I was going to make before it even presented itself and therefore I didn't actually think about the situation and make a decision. If YOU want to play the game that way then that's fine. But this is simply for those people who want to become more involved with the story and more involved with their characters.

 

The first thing I did was I turned off the alignment notifications when speaking with non player characters in the game. This a personal choice and you don't "have" to do this to implement these strategies. However I feel it is beneficial because when making a choice in the game, you won't have any outside influences hinting at you to make one choice or the another. You simply act on your gut and make the choice that YOU feel is right.

 

The next thing that you should do if you're wanting to become more invested in your character is the most important aspect of this observation. You need to come up with a set of morals and a small back story for your character. I'll use my Inquisitor as an example. When I created my new inquisitor, I had a few things that I was going for before I even started on the character customization. My character wanted to be Sith and my character understood some things that made this a little easier. My character understood that the path to power isn't for the faint of heart. She knew that she wanted power by any means necessary. She is not a sociopath though, and does not kill people for pure enjoyment. If it is beneficial to leave somebody alive to her, then she will do that even though the "dark side" option is just kill everybody. She also has a soft spot for the imperial military. She understands that Sith alone will not win a war and that it's important to have good ties with the military. Therefore, she is more understanding of military failures because she understands that not all heroes are force users. She admires the courage that anybody joining the military possesses. However she will punish military incompetence if it is bad enough. She has an uncanny hatred for the following people and has no mercy when it comes to them regardless of the benefits/consequences. Traitors, defectors, imperial soldiers who refuse to follow orders and anybody else who directly opposes her. She also despises Jedi and the code that they live by. She does not serve the empire, she serves herself and when it comes to gaining power, the decision is irrelevant. The point I'm trying to make is that my character is evil and she knows that. She is selfish and only cares about gaining more power. But let's be honest. Some decisions in the game both light and dark side are for lack of a better term silly, and I feel that if you are invested in your character and you have alignment notifications turned off, you won't feel inclined at all to pick one of those options unless that's what you want to do. Some players feel like when it's a light side/ dark side choice, that they pretty much have to pick one of those and can't delve deeper into the conversation or even remain neutral. My character looks at situations from a tactical standpoint and some of the dark side choices in the game are silly because no intelligent Sith would make that decision unless they were pure evil. Which again, if that's what your going for then more power to you!

 

Finally, I didn't create this post to gain notoriety or anything like that. I created it because I noticed a trend among players (myself included) where they became bored with their characters because they didn't create a set of morals and understandings for their character before playing the game. In playing the game this way, you will ensure that every choice you make is unique and not generic. You get to where you can't wait to make your next choice even if it's the smaller side missions. The game will remain fresh through your entire level up process and you will feel that you are actually involved in your character instead of being a generic "all good" or "all evil" character.

 

In closing, I can't promise you that this will work for you. I can only tell you that this worked for me and it made me more invested in my characters personal story. I believe that any story can be enjoyable if you go into it with the right mindset. But there lies they key. You can't use my morals and ideals for your character, and you shouldn't. What you should do is mold your own into your character and just act on your gut, not your alignment notifications. If you made it this far, I thank you for taking to give my observations a read. I hope some of you find this information helpful.

 

May the force be with you,

RGSlayingChaos

[Joluka]

Yep, very good post.

 

I played full Light or Dark back 2 years when I quit for a while. I enjoyed the stories, but I did feel something was missing. I came back a few months ago and decided to do every storyline on every class for the 12x XP. My writing mind matured over the course of my hiatus, so when I came back I had a way better idea of how to make a character memorable-- by having them make mistakes and by giving them a personality and motives.

 

I hoped right back into a Sith Warrior, whose main goal in life was to be the best warrior in the galaxy. But by best he did not only feel like skill was the sole thing he needed, no-- but honor, which included having mercy on innocents, killing worthy opponents, being cunning in his missions, and being loyal to his last breath. I ended up Dark II after Makeb with a Light Side Jaesa, which fit really well because he's simply using her as a poster girl for the Empire. He makes her an icon that says, "The Jedi are liars and full of dishonor." It was much more interesting.

 

Then I went Impeial Agent. One word-- wow. Best story to follow OP's advice on. Working on Consular, who's the quintessential Jedi, but my Knight is going to be modeled after Anakin Skywalker, modeled after a reckless Jedi.

 

Great advice!

[Amadahy]

We actually play very similar, OP. I agree with everything, and this was an excellent post!

 

The first thing I did, after I figured it out, when I started playing was to turn off the alignment notification. This way I would not be tempted to pick something just because it's light or dark.

 

The second thing, and most important thing for me, was to come up with a story regarding my legacy. Additionally, a story that connect the three matriarchs of my legacy. I came up with why/how they ended up being on Tython/Korriban, what their morals were, personalities, how far they would be willing to go and for what.

 

By doing this, I thoroughly enjoyed my JK, SW and SI. So much that I actually did continue on with my legacy story for their daughters. My agent & bounty hunter (Wrath & Pierce's daughters), and smuggler (Nox & Andronikos' daughter) and did the same thing as before. It was an absolute blast!

[RGSlayingChaos]

It's a very basic way of role playing in my opinion. To utilize the suggestions I mentioned above, one doesn't have to write a novel about their characters back story. It can be very basic. Of course if you want a rich back story than that's perfectly fine. I will definitely be considering them when I make additional characters. I'm glad you all have enjoyed the post and I'm glad we could get a discussion going. I always appreciate the opportunity to learn from others and share ideas.