Jediphile

Judging from the ending of K2, it would seem that the plan for K3 is indeed to see what became of Revan and perhaps see him/her again. Also, from a certain point of view (as Obi-Wan would put it), you could argue that Revan appears in K2 during the vision quests in the force tomb on Korriban, which I think is a premonition of things to come.

Don't thank me - thank Jodo Kast 5. I just replied to his post (which had the picture).

The real difference between the Star Forge and Malachor V is drama. The Star Forge had buckets of it with multiple cutscenes to add to the tension and set the mood - every time you defeated one of the waves of baddies Malak sent against, you got a new scene with a smug Malak talking about how it was all just to slow you down until he bring his *real* threat to bear or so. It may have been very clich

I see someone got their Jedi Swimsuit Edition... " :D

I can see it now... Maul's lawyer: "I submit to this court that my client never acted out of evil intent and only committed those acts because he was mislead and misinformed - he was just following orders!" Sorry, but I don't buy it, and that defense didn't work for the Nazis during the N

You can get to a point where she just tells you to clear out by giving her mostly DS answers. That way you won't be "in her service". But it really makes no difference - the missions the plot will put you through will be just the same in any event, so don't worry about it. IIRC, the light/dark side outcome of the conversation depends on a total evaluation of the entire conversation rather than individual points along the way. So if you're playing light side, you can take a few defiant or DS options along the way without consequence as long as you don't do it more frequently than the LS choices. That said, I don't consider disagreeing with Atris on adherence to the jedi code to be DS. Indeed, saying that saving thousands of lives is more important than following a rigid jedi code is more LS. But it's the net evaluation of the conversation as a whole that determines whether you get LS or DS points.

Odd, I always go to Dantooine first, and once I've left the ship, she's always waiting for me when I come back, even if I just turn right around and reenter the ship on the spot.

I guess you have to be a chick to truly appreciate Peragus. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> No, I don't think so. Peragus isn't bad, it's just that you spend far too much time wandering aimlessly about there. Plus you have no companions for a long time. Being alone for the first, what, 8 or so experience levels is bad - it's the time of the game when you need companions the most, but nope - they won't go with you... And Peragus just lasts too bloody long with no sense of progress - you just wander through endless levels without accomplishing anything

I've never known her to turn up until you go to the next planet after Telos (usually Dantooine in my case, but it's a choice). Once you get there, you can exit the Ebon Hawk and immediately reenter to get the Visas confrontation. Never fails for me. Might be a bug if it does for you, though, but you do need to go to the next planet after Telos first.

Yes, the game was frequently too easy. On my first play through, my sentinel/weaponmaster cut the enemies to pieces no sweat. Nihilus went down way to quick, and you felt challenge only in few encounters. The second time through with my sentiel/Sith Lord was even worse - Force Wave followed by a few Force Storms and the enemies go down like flies, and Sion was Force Crushed into oblivion, bringing me to the conversations much too quickly and actually making his threats of invincibility rather laughable... As for T3, I have the same problem with most NPCs - you use a few and forget all about the rest. HK-47, GOTO, and Hanharr I will only deal with for influence. Mandalore I won't use at all. Among the potential jedi, I spread out the force powers a bit, but usually the same crowd ends up the in the group with the PC and Kreia (since she gives xp bonuses). I'd actually suggest fewer or temporary NPCs in K3. K2 had more NPCs, and I only used those who could become jedi... We certainly don't need more force powers - we need less. How many of us actually use Revitalize, Force Body, Force Barrier, Battle Meditation, Force Deflection, Slow, Fear, Force Suppression, Throw Lightsaber, Drain Force, Force Scream, Mind Trick or any of their progressions? I might use one if an NPC has it (especially Battle Meditation), but in most cases they are totally redundant. Force Suppression and Force Resistance used to be excellent powers in K1, but in K2 you never use them because by the time you actually meet hostile force users, you've long since become too powerful for them to have a decent chance of affecting you. Powers like Force Body or Force Deflection are totally redundant and may be removed completely - I don't think anybody uses them *ever*. I usually let my NPCs take them just so somebody in the group has them, but I've never really used them... The shortage of lightsabers is due to the random loot. We really need to cut down on that. For one thing, we need the enemies to carry stuff they'll actually use. Why would Sith assassins drop laser rifles when they only ever fight melee? Silly. The reverse is also true, though - if the enemy fired on me with a blaster, then I want to find a blaster when he's dead! K2 is well on its way to totally random and senseless Monty Haul loot like in Diablo 2, where swarms on mosquitos can drop heavy plate mail armors when killed " Don't agree with the criticism of villains either. K2 has a more intricate and open-ended plot, but even so the villains are far more interesting and complex than Malak ever was. Just thinking about Sion's shattered bones makes my skin crawl... Nihilus was a bit of a wasted potential, but then I don't think his story is quite over yet, as I've said before... The mines are still rather redundant, yes, though I find them very useful when I needed Mira to escape from Visquis' lair and didn't want to level her up until she had become a jedi...

Good to know the project is progressing. I'm not sure I've heard about the Nihilus enhancement. It's mentioned on the site, but what are the significant changes? I know it was mentioned in this topic, since I recall the group stating that they would only restore cut content and not alter or add things, such as making Nihilus more of a challenge, but I don't remember any specifics of what is about to be restored. Also, on another topic in these fora, it has come up that the party members sent to Freedon Nadd's tomb on Dxun (when the party is split and the Exile goes to Onderon) aren't very informative about their experiences when the Exile returns. Is anyone on the Restoration team aware of content that was cut in relation to this?

True, but the Exile never knew that, so that can't be the reason why he chose to come back. Nothing suggests that anyone forced him (or her) to return to the Republic, so it must have been his own decision. Yet we never hear what that reason was, which I find very odd.

Well, I do realize that any RPG system will always have to be an approximation of reality. I never really intended it to be completely realistic. I just wanted it to be close enough that I didn't have players pointing out glaring improbabilities that I would then have to defend to retain game balance. A system that is not compelling and convincing does not serve to suspend the disbelief in the plot or setting. The question is where the line is drawn between what you can get away with and what is feasible. For example, I considered having two levels for all skills - one for practical use and one for theoretical possibility. However, it simply did not work well as an idea, and so I dropped it very quickly.

Not necessarily. There's almost 4000 years of history between KOTOR and the events in the movies. That's more than enough time for them to rectify the situation and set up events for the movie in a novel or series of novels (or possibly even another series of RGP). <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes. I mean, Palpatine/Sidious wiped out the jedi order and ruled the entire galaxy with impunity, and look how long his reing lasted...

"I know you won't break the rules - there aren't any"... And yet old Max managed to do so anyway

I don't hate Malachor V. Of course it's gloomy and depressing - it's supposed to be. I have no problem with it on the outside, except for the cut stuff with GOTO and remote. The trouble comes with all the stuff that was cut (what the h... happened to my companions?!?) and the fact that the Trayus core is just filled with cannonfodder dark jedi for no particular reason... Except for the confrontation with Sion and the final showdown with Kreia, the Trayus core is just dull and boring with nothing but boring hordes of Sith to bash - if I want a monster-slashing dungeon, I'll play D&D or something like that. In KotOR2 I expect plot.

No, quite the contrary - they should be free to do whatever they like, but it has to count off the clock, the enemy has to have the same option, and there should be a lot more uncertainty as to whether it turns out the way they planned. After all, things rarely turn out as planned in a combat situation, because few plans rarely survive the first confrontation. Combat is chaotic and random, and you fight that chaos as much as you do the enemy. I wanted that bit in there. Player choices are often very opportunistic and convenient in combat, and I wanted something where cooperation, planning, and strict adherence to a plan would be rewarded. That rarely happens in most RPG systems. Yes, except I wanted to count up and not down. One headache is how to manage the bookkeeping. I wanted no classification of how easy or difficult maneuvers were - it was all going to be individual and timed. Well, that's were I got stranded. The idea seemed to float, but how long does it actually take to swing a long sword? How long to cast a spell? They had Speed Factors in AD&D, but are they realistic? I don't know, and since I have little first hand knowledge of actual combat or melee, it was difficult to assign numbers to it all. It would be simpler, yes, but as you say, it would take away from the realism of it. Another problem is that it would make the Dexterity modification to timed actions all but impossible. Yes, that was my plan. Basically everybody rolls intiative a bit like in AD&D 2e, except you only determine the sequence of who goes first. Going before the other guy doesn't mean you act first, however, because the other guy might be quicker. If you act first, but the other guy has higher Reaction (presence of mind to act) and also has higher Dexterity (performing actions quicker), then he might finish his action before you do, similar to the classic gunslinger duel - one guy might go for the gun first, but the other guy is quicker to react and faster to draw his gun and therefore shoots first. Precisely, and so it serves to bring the confusion and uncertainty of combat across by the rules for the players to experience directly. I frequently see players look around for advice from their friends on what to do, and even though I try to penalize them for it, it still happens. This would punish indecisiveness on the spot. But it would also punish players who respond too strongly and does something that may cause trouble. As you say, it'll keep them on their toes, and it'll speed up combat too, because the players will have no time to consider their actions strategically - it'll force them to act far more on instinct. Yes, that always bugged me in WoD. It doesn't ruin the game, but it does slow it down, so what's the point? I planned to have you roll some dice, add up the numbers and add your relevant skill level, then try to hit the difficulty set by the GM. Fast and efficient. The other guy might get a chance to parry or block in melee, but that's fast-paced too.

Watch the badass Sith fight out here. Hilarious, I think, though not very serious "

That's one way of looking at, and it's doubtlessly what the "will of the Force" thinks of the situation. To Kreia it was a bold and unusual decision, however. She admires the Exile's state-of-mind to make the decision just as his ability to sever himself from the force.

Correct. Difficult, but not impossible, and I wanted something that both represented reality well and demonstrated just how difficult it is to coordinate combat. I hate in D&D that you go, "okay, I open the door, wizard cast your fireball. Okay, I close door", as if it was some easily manageable training exercise. I also hate (in AD&D) how the wizard comes quick in the round, casts his spell, and then stands around waiting for the round to finish before he can do something else, thereby giving the impression that the wizard isn't doing anything at all most of the time. You're correct in your assumptions, but not in your conclusion of how it would play out. Quite simply it would be like the GM keeping a "clock" and then counting off seconds. No player (or NPC or monster) does anything until his his next time unit in the combat sequence is reached. His action is not resolved until the time for its duration has expired, though. I also planned on adding a rule about how the GM would ask each player in turn what to do and keep a time limit for the answer - if the player took more than a few seconds to respond, then his character would be assumed to also be hesitant and suffer a "indecision" penalty to his timed action to reflect that. That would prompt players to be to the point about what they wanted to do rather than sitting around planning their actions strategically, which their characters really have no basis for doing in a combat situation. Except that is precisely what I don't like about combat rounds - why must you always "reset" and start over? That's not how it would work in the real world. If, in the real world, one guys could get five attacks to your two, then he would use them. I wanted that to be reflected in my system. But as I said, I never got it off the ground, and I might have run into severe difficulties getting the varoius combat aspects and options to fit together with such a system.

No, I wanted it all to be timed. Every single action/attack/option would have a specific duration assigned to it determining how long it took to perform (in seconds and fractions of seconds). There would then be a die roll (low - d4 or d6) to determine how long it took to 'recover' from an attack. Then the character would onto the next attack. Dexterity would slightly modify these durations, however - high Dex would let you do them slightly faster, while low Dex did the opposite. Still, all Attributes would be chosen in a point system (like GURPS) instead of random die rolls (as in D&D), so you'd have low Dex only if you chose to. Yep, that's the sort of thing I had in mind. Another problem was that I wanted a fatigue system, but didn't know how to make one that wasn't cumbersome to the players. I'd let you do all the attacks you wanted to, only you'd be tired in seconds if you took them all, of course. It was sort of inspired by the lightsaber duels of Episode I (or the entire prequel trilogy for that matter). They mostly looked very futuristic, but on the extra material on the Ep. I dvd, Nick Gillard speaks of it as being "chess at a 1000 miles a second", and when you see them practice it, it's actually much more dramatic than when you see it in the film, because it's much more convincing. In the film you know they're tricking you, but you don't know that it's actually just the backgrounds and lightsaber glows that are added in - they really do fight that fast, though they did train it for months first, of course. But it made me think when Nick Gillard said that it was so fast that they could only attack here or parry there, because there was no time for anything else. Now, I know I won't be doing jedi-battles in my system, but as a basis I liked those comments.

Yes, but all of this is cut content - none of it is in the game, and my point was that this was rather confusing. Bao-Dur's fate is a mystery, though. Nothing I've seen in the Cut Content discussion have shed light on what happened to him, and Kreia notably avoids talking about him when telling the Exile about the future of his companions.

Good point about those greek names for planets... I think the titans had cool names that could be used. Unfortunately Kronos is already taken - it's the Klingon homeworld (though they can't spell it right...) But we don't have to use greek names. Why don't we just call it Revan. That would be new. Or, for those of you who have seen "Titan A.E.", we could call it planet Bob... Disclaimer: This post is too silly to have been written by me. Therefore I did not write it and you did not read it - these aren't the droids you're looking for. Move along

Can you give an overview of what combat options you want in your game? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Didn't really have it all figured, but basically it was about choosing a stance from which to perform your attack, only each of them would leave in a position, where you would be vulnerable to certain counterattacks, so that a good warrior would want to know lots of them and thus avoid being as vulnerable. You would only be allowed to perform certain attacks from certain stances until you improved your attack forms, and only be allowed to switch from certain offensive postures to certain defensive positions until you learned to master those too. For example, one warrior could be caught in one disadvantageous position after his attack, especially if it failed (didn't hit or was parried), and might not be able to reposition into a good defensive position before the enemy took advantage of it. With greater skill he could switch between these positions easier. I also wanted a Counterattack skill that would allow you an extra upon a succesful parry. It would work like this - if the enemy attacked you and you parried rather well (depending on die result and skill level), you could make an immediate counterattack on the assumption that you had opened your opponents defense with your parry. However, if you did this with a sword, you would make the attack of whichever was lower of your sword skill and your counterattack skill. The enemy would still get to parry, though, and could also make his own counterattack, if he succeeded well, meaning that very experienced warriors would be able to make a lot of counterattacks in a very short time. Hmm, any of that make sense, or should I rephrase?

What? Because I quoted from the film? Surely not. The film was a major hit in both countries. I cannot believe anyone takes this stuff that seriously.