Ivan the Terrible

Has anything been done (or is anything planned to be done) about some of the more overpowered Force powers, ala Force Wave?

What bothered me was not so much the superiority of Light Side artifacts over Dark Side, but that Dark Side artifacts often seemed to be useless for the Consular. Revan's robes gave a bonus to strength....which meant absolutely nothing when you're strangling your opponents at a distance or using Force Lightning on everyone. Meanwhile, all the Wisdom modifying artifacts were Light Side only, which meant a Light Sider could end with a Wisdom of over 30+ (with Master Valor) while his Sith counterpart still hovered around the 18-19 range. I'm hoping this time around they'll acknowledge the Dark Side Consular....or, for that matter, the Light Side Guardian.

BTW, I wouldn't sell my soul to Beta test anything, anymore than I'd sell my soul to eat a steak that isn't quite cooked all the way yet. My experience with Beta tests (outside of the let-everybody-sign-up-and-run-wild-to-see-if-our-servers-crash-and-burn MMORPG approach) is that they're hard work, not fun.

I'm looking forward to it, but it ain't Planescape: Torment II. (Note: speaking in the figurative sense of another game with a storyline and characters of such quality, as I'm among those who believe the Nameless One's story is finished. )

KOTOR makes it very clear the Star Forge is a powerful instrument of the Dark Side, almost like a living entity which both feeds off of and strengthens those who use the Dark Side. We also know, however, that it drove the Rakata mad. Already an aggressive species, they turned on one another in an endless civil war, and became all the more cruel and barbaric because of the influence of their own invention. We can also see the first stirrings of that madness in Malak, who seems more intent on laying waste to the entire galaxy by destroying planet after planet rather than pursuing the more sensible course of simple conquest. The computer in the Temple on the Unknown Planet makes it clear that only one of very strong will can use the Star Forge without losing himself to it. As such, regardless of whether you went Light Side or Dark Side at the end of KOTOR, I think this is what they'll use to ditch that walking plot complication named Revan. With the Dark Side KOTOR ending: Revan begins to go mad due to the overwhelming presence of the Star Forge. While he still has the will to resist, he orders the entire thing destroyed, hoping to retain his sanity and believing he has more than enough ships and men already to conquer the Galaxy. As an explanation of his exile, the Sith beneath Revan don't understand this order, see their 'ace in the hole' blown to bits, and rebel en masse, rising up to drive him into exile and leading to the reigning Sith Lords we face in KOTOR II. With the Light Side KOTOR ending: The Star Forge is already gone, so that's no worry. However, Revan did fight his way through one of the most concentrated centers of Dark power in the entire Star Wars galaxy; even with his redemption, he could thus feel his sanity slipping away from such prolonged exposure to the Dark Side. Fearing a fall back into his old ways, he submits himself to voluntary exile away from the still-raging Sith war, and while he's gone the Sith begin to win again. Voila. Revan is removed from the equation, and whatever fate they have in store for him is set up.

Yes, there are other possible influences. But, connecting the dots, you have to admit there are a lot of specific similiarities between the Empire and Nazi Germany. That doesn't mean I'm married to the idea. It just means I'm not going to ignore the evidence sitting right in front of my face, especially when Star Wars came from the same mind as the Nazi-centric Indiana Jones series.

Did you even bother to read my follow-up post?

At first the Emperor said he was trying to protect the Republic. Do you actually think he was still saying that when he dissolved the Senate? By that time, the message of the Empire was clear: Emperor Palpatine was going to rule a government in which all the red tape and 'democratic' trappings of the Republic were abolished in favor of swift and decisive action originating from him. There would never again be an indecisive Republic, but rather a bold and powerful Empire. There was no 'transitional phase', even in rheotoric. Honestly, I would understand if you were just casually offering counterpoints, but you sound positively worked up that anyone could say the Empire was inspired by the Nazis. Why, exactly, is this such a big deal to you?

Ironically, just finished a book on the Russian Revolution, and have read quite a bit about Stalin outside of that. You're missing some very, very important words above. "The Soviets seized power with the purported objective of creating a 'classless' society in which all people were equal and the working class and proletariat had absolute control, after the supposed 'transitionary phase' of absolute dictatorship. They were a dictatorship that pretended to hold on to power for a limited time, claiming to be preparing the way for a 'better' society." If you're still missing it: The Soviets said they were creating a better, more equal society while murdering millions and enslaving millions more. Their message sounded good while their methods and actual goals were ruthless and evil. The Nazis said they were forging a racial Empire with the Aryans at the top of the food chain. Hitler never pretended he was going to bring freedom to anyone, ever, but rather emphasized that dictatorship worked better than democracy. The message sounded ruthless and evil from the start, and continued to be ruthless and evil straight through to methods and actual goals. Do you follow me now?

The Soviets seized power with the purported objective of creating a 'classless' society in which all people were equal and the working class and proletariat had absolute control, after the supposed 'transitionary phase' of absolute dictatorship. They were a dictatorship that pretended to hold on to power for a limited time, claiming to be preparing the way for a 'better' society. The Nazis seized power with the purported objective of absolute dictatorship, with a strict hierarchy leading up to one all-powerful leader who could make decisions quickly and efficiently, without the encumbrace of Senates and commitees and such. They seized power, and they never pretended they were ever going to give it up. Which sounds closer to the Empire?

Since I've only posted this once and it's not so much annoying as an attack on one's faith in humanity and all that's good in this world, I can only assume the last definition is the one you're thinking of. In my defense, I would argue this is not so much nonsensical as a concise philosophical argument for Nihilism.

God have mercy on Leonard Nimoy's soul.... http://homepage.mac.com/evanbaumgardner/iMovieTheater6.html

You're missing the forest for the trees, though. As an individual puzzle piece, it means nothing; connected, it's pretty clear. - Minions who call themselves Stormtroopers (though they had different functions in the two states; in the Empire, they're the grunt soldiers, and in the Nazi regime they were the brown-shirted thugs who beat up opponents of the Nazis prior to Hitler seizing power but never had any real military function.) - Officers in Feldgrau (Field Grey), usually associated with the World War II German army. - While the whole 'Emperor hates non-humans' thing is mostly a product of the EU, one can't help but notice that the OT's Imperial officer corps consisted entirely of white male humans. - An emphasis on 'super-weapons' to bring victory. German propaganda towards the end of the war always focused on 'wonder weapons' which were about to be rolled out which would save Germany from defeat, but which actually sapped a tremendous amount of their resources for very little practical gain; by the same token, the Empire builds one monolithic Death Star rather than god only knows how many Star Destroyers they could've built using that time and those resources only to see it disappear because of a single X-Wing fighter. Anecdotal evidence on it's own, admittedly....but seriously, I'm utterly baffled how people can deny the connections. I've certainly never heard Lucas deny it, and to me it seems patently obvious.

Alternately, it could mean they were victims of a gangland execution and are now moldering in a shallow grave somewhere in the Nevada desert while Feargus searches for cheap Mexican labor to help patch up the game's loose ends.

Are we actually back to this again? Yes, she's ugly. She'll get prettier in the final product, just like the new Atton Rand looks significantly less gay.

On the subject of the Scythians and the Empire: I don't know much about the Scythians, but I'd wager any mind which produced a flappy-eared comic relief character who's best line was 'Ex-squeeze-me?' did not make such a connection.

It actually isn't very far-fetched. I think George Lucas himself has said he modelled the Empire on Nazism. Think about it: a scheming politician is appointed Chancellor in the midst of a collapsing Republic, with the duel hope that he can bring strength to the government while at the same time acting as a puppet for the forces that appointed him. Once in power, however, he declares an emergency situation, destroying the people who brought him to power and seizing absolute control for himself. Starting slowly at first, he plays to people's desire for safety and strong leadership; by the time the worst of his policies are unveiled, it's already too late, and he is absolute master of his country/Empire. Palpatine is Hitler, Hitler is Palpatine, right down to the title they used before they seized absolute power and became Emperor/Fuhrer, respectively.

'Triumph of the Will', Triumph des Willens. And the only reference I can think of off the top of my head is the line-up of Stormtroopers and Imperial Officers that greet the Emperor in ROTJ. As you can see, the line-up awaiting Adolf Hitler was rather more impressive. I guess Lucas couldn't afford tens of thousands of extras in Stormtrooper outfits....

Is it just me, or are there way too many Darth Sion avatars floating around?

And the Feldgrau outfits of the Imperial Officers. And the 'stormtroopers', a reference to the SS. And the whole 'Palpatine as racist' thing. Let's face it: the entire Empire was Hollywood Nazis in Space. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I think there are times when success of a sequel, at least in terms of cold, hard cash, can be assumed. The sequel to KOTOR is only slightly less likely to fail than Half-Life 2, Doom 3, or any other continuation of a game that sold a gazillion copies and was fawned over and worshipped by game reviewers everywhere. That being said, if KOTOR3 is developed internally by Lucasarts, someone is going to be coughing up a lung soon.

I honestly wish I knew. Catches the eye, though.

Nah. I've played the game; I don't think that character is supposed to be a Yoda-guy.

Huh? The posts above make no sense. Given that Episode I never happened and George Lucas died in 1998, I am unable to explain what you mean by these 'midichlorians.'

By contrast, I remain willfully ignorant so I can point and laugh.