Blaise Russel

Too climactic, too early on. We'd all be spent from watching an ENTIRE PLANET BLOW UP, and then we'd see Telos and its dinky little shuttles and dumb little turrets and HK-50s and stupid little arctic bases and be totally disappointed. "What? I crash-land a shuttle and, instead of tearing a continent-sized planet chunk off into space, all I get is this dumb little trench? What a rip!"

I AGREE

Ambiguity, I would have thought; the failure of Jedi and Sith philosophies to triumph against each other and the universe, and how they are insufficient in dealing with life's problems and adversities. This is shown in Kreia's interpretation of Revan's fall, her own advocacy of her Nietzschean ideology, and your ending position as Greyside avatar, standing independant of the Force and thus of Force-based belief systems (Jedi and Sith again).

Because it matters so much.

This may just be the result of thinking of different things when the same phrase is uttered. To be honest, I'd rather have somebody without the extensive baggage of Revan or the Exile. I've already spent two games with extremely large elements of discovering more about the person I previously was; I'd rather not do it again. Of course, this doesn't necessitate a blank, featureless, anonymous amorphous player character... just one that doesn't have A Terrible Secret that drives the game in place of the actual character I'm supposed to be playing. If I was doing it, I'd have the new character be a Force-sensitive that was being trained as a Jedi, but whose master disappeared and turned to the Dark Side when Revan and Malak left the Jedi Order. The character's training was abandoned in the chaos and they left the Order, living out a peaceful-ish life as a trader/farmer/goatherd/whatever in some rural, barely settled area of a backwater planet. (This equilibrium could then be disrupted by the arrival of T3 and the Ebon Hawk... let's say by having the ship crash-land on the PC's little farm, utterly destroying his faux-life and providing the means for him to take the mantle of hero, adventurer and True-Sith-defeater.) No secrets, no grand revelations or underlying mysteries that distance one from one's own character; no time-consuming delving into the past when we're supposed to be hurtling through the climactic conclusion to the KOTOR trilogy; just the Player finishing what Bioware (Revan) and Obisidian (the Exile) started - saving the galaxy. I don't know... just reckon it'd be nice for character development to be driven by current events, not what happened five years ago or in a previous life. Harder, but maybe more satisfying.

The problem with a level 20+ Revan is not one of coming up with new ways to advance the Jedi classes, but an issue of the game breaking down simply because the player has just got too much of a HP buffer protecting him from dying. We've already seen the combat experience break down in KOTOR 2's endgame. For the best if we start over at level 1 again. Another issue is that Revan's story has been *resolved*, as has the Exile's. Yes, yes, they're off in the distance fighting the True Sith, but there's little point in playing as them again because we've already gained all that we can from being in their perspective; we have already leeched all of the introspective who-am-I, how-do-I-deal-with-my-past, was-I-really-Darth-Revan, what-do-I-do-about-my-Force-wound? from Revan and the Exile by playing as them. Both KOTOR 1 and 2 end with a resolution of the two characters' internal conflicts (a side-issue, almost, in 1; the main plot in 2); not only is there nothing left to be gained from playing as them again and just going through the motions of an epic story with a character that isn't developing any more, but if you added new personality conflicts to Revan or the Exile in order to justify playing them again, it would cheapen the previous games and render their arcs meaningless. A new character does not suffer from the problem of already having been done. He also allows the creation of a trinity of KOTOR Jedi heroes, working together against the True Sith, and everybody loves a three. Threes are important. Also, a new character offers us a break from "You play a character we've already partly written, start a new game and allow us to suddenly ambush you with background information you should have known about beforehand." No, it's not that bad, but several people have complained about being saddled with pre-generated characters, and it'd be a refreshing change to play as somebody who just happens to have strong Force ability and the will to save or destroy the galaxy. Or close enough, at any rate.

Actually, Nihilus already has a role. He's a warning; what the player can and will become without control. He's also a failure - according, at least, to Kreia's philosophy, which is the ideology given the most screen time in the game. He's not meaningless, it's just that he was portrayed as having more meaning than he actually does by the artwork and stuff. He's built up to something more than he is or needs to be. Firstly, your explanation still fails to show what Nihilus provides an evil character. Secondly, your 'Light Side' explanation still veers towards the standard romantic tale, with Nihilus being a means for the hero to prove himself, like a giant Force-breathing dragon. Fighting him doesn't contribute anything towards the Exile's self-discovery; the main quest would still be over once the Exile had spoken with Kreia. Yes, of course, of course; it does work. However, it doesn't do it for me, mainly because I'm still seeing KOTOR 2 as journey of discovery, and this doesn't fit. Eh... that's just me. Kreia *was* a climax. A bad one, because Malachor V is so, so rushed, but cut out the prophesying, make the fight more dramatic and 'master/apprentice' and add in a proper denouement, and you're set. A Nihilus-Boss-Fight is not necessary for a climactic ending. And Sin City doesn't have things like 'the Force' and 'Jedi' and 'Sith' which are necessary to explore certain ideas (like, I don't know, the reaction of a control-freak Sith to an all-pervading all-controlling transcendental entity and her subsequent planning to remove it by creating a Force-less Jedi). What's wrong with diversity, man? Why all the hate, man? Actually - again - I think you ascribe too much importance to him. He was wasted in terms of difficulty; the player doesn't feel the significance because the man who purportedly destroys planets and can hold a massive ship together through sheer force of will can't even scratch two Jedi and a soldier, before he wastes himself by trying to drain a vacuum. However, his story significance was small - he was just another enemy of Kreia's that the old witch wanted to eliminate. You might as well say that the HK droids were underused, and THEY should be the final boss. Just that Nihilus has charisma, I guess. Vague mumblings, damnit. Nihilus means nothing to the Exile; how can his defeat mean the Exile suddenly finds inner peace and calm? *Kreia*, yes, her death brings peace because a) the Exile surpasses his mentor and b) she's no longer messing with his mind. Nihilus? He has sod all to do with the Exile, apart from the invisible relationship you draw out of nowhere. Allow me to clarify: I was talking in terms of Nihilus offering the Exile answers to his questions. If the entire game - not half of it, not a lot of it, but all of it - is driven by the Exile's need to answer questions about the way he is, then shouldn't the final antagonist have something to do with this goal? I mean, why not just have a Krayt Dragon crash land on Malachor and battle the Exile to the death, it'd have the same relevance! Okay, firstly: antithesis means opposite. There is no such symbolic tie between Nihilus and the Exile the same way there might be between, say, a Jedi who drew upon the power of life (yes, the Force) and a Sith that drew upon the power of death (the Exile or Nihilus' anti-Force, so to speak). Even then, such a connection would be tenuous. The Exile and Nihilus are the same, it's just that the Exile can control his vampiric nature. Sword of steel versus sword of iron, not sword of iron versus the olive branch. Because two stories are set in the same milieu, they should be the same? Once you come up with an idea, you can only take that idea in one direction? There should only be the one kind of story? What the hell kind of thinking is that? Why, I mean, why limit yourself? Why limit yourself to only one kind of story per universe? Why does Star Wars have to mean "the movies, but with different people involved"? Does every Star Wars story have to be "young hero with magic challenges big evil bad guy"? If so... don't you ever get tired of the same old stuff, every time? Ye gods.

I suggest you watch the movies again. I'd rather new Star Wars games struck out in their own storytelling direction, rather than tell us the same old story again and again. We've *done* epic good vs. evil; now let's try something else, maybe, like morally ambiguous tales of self-discovery in a murky and unclear universe. It's bad enough that KOTOR 2 heavily echoes Torment without it being turned into a clone of KOTOR/Original Trilogy but with the names changed. I've already explained why KOTOR 2's focus is on the Exile's uncovering of his past, not on stopping Nihilus. Your initial statement of Nihilus being set up to be the game's super-bad-ass killing machine is erroneous. Yes, he is set up to be *a* super-bad-ass killing machine, but he's unimportant to the central story. You could cut him out easily and all you'd lose is a big battle in space over Telos and Visas Marr; the main storyline would remain intact, if a little shorter. How does fighting Nihilus make him 'whole'? Hell, if the Exile has already 'come to terms' with his previous actions and Malachor V, why does he need to go after Nihilus in the first place? What, he gets 90% of the way to 'enlightened' and discovers that he needs some insight that he can only receive by hitting Darth Nihilus with a stick several times? Nihilus isn't the Exile's father, or his tormentor, or his long-lost best friend or whatever; he carries no emotional baggage whatsoever. What could he possibly have to offer? What could the Exile gain from beating Nihilus in combat that he doesn't already possess from chatting with Kreia? Nihilus is not the Exile's antithesis. No idea how you came to that idea. Partner in Force-sucking-crime, yes. Antithesis? Hahahahaha. Bah. Wallow in the movies if that is all you want. Diversity of entertainment is better for all concerned, even if it means you can't have everything be 'Star Wars'.

Considering that Nihilus is just the Exile's Force-draining condition made flesh and taken to an extreme, I don't think there's enough there to have him as the game's final antagonist - to have him as the single object which the entire game has been spent building up to. *Kreia*, now, *Kreia* has things to say. She has a relationship with the player character. She has her fingers in pies throughout the game. She is the architect behind the entirety of the game; the whole thing is her training the Exile to be the UberJedi. She drives the game, she drives the plot. In contrast, what does Nihilus offer? He's a wandering ghost feeding on the souls of the living; a walking death machine. He serves as a warning for the Exile should he submit entirely to the Force - 'give into your Force hunger, and you shall become a puppet of the Force'. Yes, he's Malachor V's avatar, but Malachor V is the past. We've done it already. Kreia is the big bad evil behind it all. Nihilus is just a, a, a lackey and a sub-boss. Kreia, a real, breathing character, has a relationship with the Exile. Nihilus is just one of two demonstrations of the Force's manipulation of its users (which, by the by, is part of Kreia's big story, not the other way around with Kreia being an example of Nihilus' story, whatever that is). Kreia has a lot to offer as a personal antagonist because there's just a lot, lot *more* of her. Nihilus has sod all because he is *just* a concept, just an idea, not a real person any more, as the game states many times. Besides, the plan as proprosed (Kreia, then Nihilus) is silly. Right-o, Exile. Way to carve a new life path for yourself, man! Actually, shoehorning a 'standard Star Wars plot' is exactly what Drakonnen wants to do. He wants something that has - that is, something that ends with Luke the Exile dueling with his father, Darth Nihilus, on board the Death Ravager while the Battle of Endor rages above Telos. He wants the story to be about the hero saving the galaxy by charging up to the bad guy and running a lightsaber through him. He wants an epic story; he wants Star Wars. KOTOR 2 doesn't do this. From the start it focuses on the Exile trying to find a place for himself following the devastation of the Mandalorian wars and the recent Jedi Civil War. It focuses on the Exile's fledgling Force ability and how he develops it, how he uses it and comes to terms with it. The big 'look for four things' quest is driven by the character's need to discover things about his past. The Exile doesn't look for the Jedi Masters because only they can tell him how to defeat Darth Nihilus, who threatens the galaxy with his Force hunger. Nihilus is a sidequest... he's a giant black neon sign that tells the player to get on with the game - not because he'll blow everything up if the player dawdles, but because he's what the player will become if he doesn't sort this nasty Force-hole thing rather sharpish. The small role he plays is connected to the player's personal quest for identity, not to a grand epic story. That is why Drakonnen is attempting to turn KOTOR 2 into KOTOR 1 with this proposal, and that is why I called him on it. KOTOR 2's storytelling flaws (which you point out above) have nothing to do with this basic decision of KOTOR 2 being about the Exile, not about somebody called Nihilus attempting to destroy the galaxy. And the problems won't be solved by switching from one idea to the other.

Save that KOTOR 2 is not about 'stop the evil Darth villain, blow up his superweapon and save the galaxy', and crowbarring the standard Star Wars plot into it won't really help it any. Nihilus is a non-entity. The entire story is about the Exile's rediscovery of himself through Kreia and her manipulations, not about Nihilus, regardless of how awesome you imagined him to be.

Good god, sir, I don't know what I'd do without you. I've never understood this point. No, TSL is not Star-Warsy. Why is this a problem? Are you incapable of enjoying both epic romantic hero tales and dark, ambiguous, gritty, philosophical stories? Inadvisable to let fanboyism blind you to greater varieties of entertainment, I say. Oh, hahaha.

A problem with UK CDs meant a crash whenever you tried to get to the second half of Dorn's Deep from the glacier.

Ooh, I had the everspawning-bug with wassername, Kaishas Gan on That was fun.

To a certain extent, I concur. But the ladder nature of the plot, progressing from unimportant henchman to slightly more important henchman, was, for me, slightly more fulfilling than half a game of trying to find the bad guy and half a game of walking to meet him. (And I shake my fist impotently at all those who enjoyed the game for its atmosphere.)

But it had sod all to do with the vast majority of the game. Indeed, Mr. Priest's sudden understanding and subsequent sacrifice would have meant something had he appeared for more than five minutes at the beginning and end. His little character arc is rendered emotionless by the lack of a changing middle, consisting as it did of 'Hai, Jarrod was a fool and an idiot!' and 'I'm totally feeling what you once felt, priest-dude!' Huge chunks of the *main* quest have the relevancy of *side*quests to the actual plot. This is probably just me speaking, but when three entire chapters consist of the party walking to meet the bad guy, I think there's a problem. Or did I miss something? Was IWD a road movie?

Harharharharharharharhar. But yeah, play 'em anyway. I liked Anachronox. Actually, I loved it. Sadly underrated.

How sad that you consider that a worthy response. I mean, you could have put *just* a little more effort into it. Come on, man, ain't I worth it? Even assuming that it is true (doubtful, at the very least on technical, nitpicky grounds), it's really kinda pointless. What, telling me that the majority likes IWD will, in a revelatory epiphany, cause me to like it too? "Hey, if everybody likes this, I'll like it too!" Beautiful wishy-washy life o' flip-flopping there, Sly. Not that this is really important or anything. But hey! if whining at people over the internet for not liking the same game as you makes your life just that little bit more fulfilling, all the power to you. I'll just smile and nod and slow handclap you all the while, mate.

Yes, it sucked to meander across the world map, hoping faintly that I'd bump into some story during my great search for the Big Bad. Unfortunately, I wandered into the bad guy's hideout (actually a diversion lolz), completed a rather lame 'full circle' skit and wailed on a giant goat-man with a mass-party-rush before I could encounter any sense of purpose or meaning. I mean, good god, I got bored of 'goodie runs up and kills baddie' long ago.

I dislike Icewind Dale.

I'm partly inclined to agree. Jokes based solely around "haha i know something arbitrary you don't know" generally lack punch. More absurdist stuff is okay, though.

Visceris. The best thing about this joke is all the people bitching and whining because they got their hopes up but ultimately lack a sense of perspective. A *real* bad April Fool's Day joke is faking a hacker attack on a forum by deleting, one by one, all of the hosted project forums, then most of the other forums, leaving about six out of dozens left, then screwing it up so that you have to revert to a six-month old backup, all the while changing all the posts with a filter so that everyone talks in really bad, repetitive pirate speak, thank you very much HLP. Maybe not exactly that, but close enough for my purposes.

IWD bit. Hard. GRR ARGH

Atton > Carth. Thing is, Atton is so much more of a 'buddy' for a male PC than Carth is. Carth seems to me less like your best friend and more like the guy you're a best friend to. I mean, Everybody else acts as a friend, but Carth is too busy scrounging tissues for his issues to properly lend his support as his role demands. I know, I know, it makes sense for the character - but said character just doesn't fulfil my main character's need for a dependable sidekick, a best friend. Atton, however, with his humour and interest in the Exile's life and background, does, and although he has a Dark Terrible Secret waiting to be discovered by an influential PC, it doesn't dominate him utterly as Karath's betrayal dominates Carth, and thus doesn't stop him from being a strong friend for a male (or uninterested female) Exile. I actually found pretty much all the characters interesting, although one has to account for various faults like incomplete dialogues ("Never mind.") and cut quests (Yah, droid factory). Some characters need to be seen in a certain way to get full enjoyment out of them as well, I reckon - for example, rather than seeing HK as he was back in KOTOR 1 - comic relief of a psychotic assassin bot, haha he likes killing - I get more out of seeing him as a link; as a link back to KOTOR 1 and to Revan, but also as a link to Threepio and, with T3, Artoo of the Original Trilogy. I mean, come on, obvious parallel to draw there.

The Exile was the sole *Jedi* survivor of Malachor V. The other Jedi present didn't manage to survive the backwash of so many deaths.