Khem Vaal - Gone with the cosmic wind?

[MayhemofChaonus]

So considering that we've recently gotten a new Dashade companion, does this mean that my beloved morose monster: Khem Vaal is gone? Will I never see that big red lug again? Or is the new Dashade just essentially a second Khem because you can never have too many Dashades?

[JasonPogo]

I think the problem is that other than an Inquisitor there is not much point for any other Outlander to work with Khem. Or more importantly why Khem would care to work with anyone but an Inquisitor Outlander.

[Darth_Advent]

It was claimed in one of those developer livestreams that Khem Val wasn't gone and Akgal Usar wasn't meant to be his replacement, but I have my suspicion that a replacement was intended and they went back on that plan after the fact. Apparently they just haven't been able to think of a way to bring him back that respects the choice you can make at the end of his companion arc on inquisitor characters.

 

If he comes back, it might be one of the last ones we see. Probably sometime after Jaesa.

[JLazarillo]

It was claimed in one of those developer livestreams that Khem Val wasn't gone and Akgal Usar wasn't meant to be his replacement, but I have my suspicion that a replacement was intended and they went back on that plan after the fact.

 

I suspect that's still the plan, but they don't want to rule out the chance, especially since at this point, there aren't many characters left that can come back via Alert missions for season 2.

[Darth_Advent]

On the surface it seems like there's an easy enough fix. Back when KotOR II: The Sith Lords came out, Obsidian either couldn't or didn't have time to implement something like the save data reading feature in the Mass Effect games and let players determine the ending of the previous game by letting them answer open questions about it in the introductory dungeon.

 

Something like that might be used to decide...

 

Whether the Dark Lord allowed Khem Val to keep his body or helped Darth Zash displace him into a Rakata mind trap

 

 

But then, how would anybody other than an inquisitor have the in-character knowledge to make that judgement. I guess it would have to be done through interactive clues in the environment, but the challenge there is maintaining immersion while giving the player clear cues about what he's setting up to get at the end.