alanschu

People play it to roleplay their character, not necessarily for their own personal amusement at "the suffering of others." Sometimes a darker story can be a more interesting story.

Me too.

I do not care about my post count. To be honest I fail to see the point of post counts since I don't feel they serve any real purpose. And considering my replies are generally on topic, I also do not see how it could border on spamming. I never said experience and levels were not relevant...they are just arbitrary. I understand that they are a measurement of power, but it is all relative. It's a method of progress, but the fact that a player starts at 0 XP does not have to mean he is an absolute n00b. If this was the case nobody should have 0 XP, since nobody has zero experience. It is a tool for measuring progress, agreed. But since no one can say what 0 XP is or 1000 XP or level 1...it's just relative. A level 4 character is more powerful than a level 1 character. But to say that a level 4 character is "weak" for someone and their history is taking the rules farther than one has to (which would make sense, seeing as you have a beef against the game so you will bring out as much as you can against it). No! A game style of an action game or a CRPG is a means of telling a story. There is absoultely no reason at all that some story-related event that happens in an action game cannot happen in a story-related event in a CRPG. The act of playing the game is fundamentally different, but that is not the discussion...the actions that happen to characters is up for discussion. It's not about "mirroring" the game, it is just utilizing a story-related idea from it. I didn't say he "couldn't" use his abilities....I'm saying he didn't. If Revan was truly a great tactician, if he felt that this Jedi that was following him around was not very talented yet, he would not utilize him nearly as much as the rest of the Army. As you said, a 0 XP Jedi is a n00b fresh out of the Academy...I would think he'd be Revan's last resort since there was almost undoubtedly Jedi that had more than 0 XP. As for the "KP" duty or whatever....it was a euphemism. I simply used it as a way that the PC we will play did other things than get involved in the combat. Jedi Masters struggled in a fight against overwhelming odds in Episode 2. And why would he have more battle training than a non-jedi n00b? They both have 0 XP. Wouldn't a soldier, someone bred for battle, have more preliminary training than a Jedi that is utilized for much more diverse roles than combat?

Just a note, I don't think sidequests make a game non-linear. It just gives you extra stuff to do. Linearity has to do with how you play through the story, and perhaps more specifically the sequence you play through the story. Games that provide multiple solutions to problems are non-linear, or allowing you to perform quests in a different order. I still consider Baldur's Gate to be an excruciatingly linear game....just one with lots of sidequests.

I remember a cool fight with a death claw in Fallout. I snuck up close enough to get a blast with my shotgun on it. It came at me and I fired again. It went nuts and I was down to my last chance since I was down to really low HP. I fired my shotgun and hit again and I was hoping that my next shot better take him out or I'm fugged....but I need to do heavy damage (I assumed). So I took a chance, aimed for the head and BLAM...got a critical (which resulted in the animation that blew its head off to boot) and lived to tell about it

Or how in the early 1900s, patent offices believed that eventually everything that can be invented will be shortly

As somebody who loves how my Radeon 9800 Pro performs with EVERYTHING I can throw at it that isn't KOTOR (and KOTOR runs fast, it just crashes at random on area transitions...), this guy is just a chucklehead ATI fanboy. As for x800 XT vs. 6800 GT... the 6800 GT actually out-performs the x800 XT in Far Cry in many areas because it has SM 3.0. The 6800 GT in particular kicks ass for the price. Since Far Cry is the most graphically intensive thing out there right now, that should tell you something. Of course, Far Cry also runs great on Radeon 9800 Pros... but KOTOR pukes? Hmm... Seriously. I just upgraded to a 9800 Pro and have the latest drivers and have no problems running the game.

Nothing is done without an FPS loss.

Didn't we already know this?

I really should open a new window and add all my comments into a single post On a side note, for some reason I bet Hades_One wouldn't have a problem with a 0 XP Scoundrel...no matter what his response will be.

Revan was first and foremost a tactician and general he wouldn't let personal feelings get in the way of sound tactical judgement. Perhaps because the Jedi is a 0 XP n00b out of the Academy, Revan didn't use him since he would not be useful.

Except it was already illustrated that a Jedi probably would not take part in a big battle. The Jedi would not be able to take down 10 to 15 soldiers because hundreds would have been fighting him. Futhermore, the battles were probably also fought primarily in space. And would a single 0 XP fresh out of the Academy Jedi take down 10 to 15 soldiers? As for being a veteran....it has already been illustrated that a veteran does not have to see combat. He could have been the best Jedi Chef in the fleet.

Since we are all about game mechanics...how about this. The PC is a "veteran" of the Mandalorian wars in that he was there. Unfortunately he was unable to make any constructive use of his abilities, so he still has 0 XP. When he returns from the war, the Council fearing his closeness to Revan may have tainted him, take away his lightsaber and exile him.

Your strict adherence to the rules is your biggest setback. The rules of d20 are an arbitrary depiction (and a poor one at that) of the Star Wars universe. They inspired (since you yourself admit that KOTOR does not follow them) the rules for KOTOR. Since they are not the exact same rules however, the game mechanics that exist in a PnP RPG rulebook do not apply. Sorry for the inconvenience. Yup.

Now who's ignorant. Casting something aside simply because it is not the style of game you like?

0 XP is arbitrary. What exactly is 0 XP. If 0 XP is a "n00b" out of high school....what's a kid? Negative XP. Why does training not result in XP? If they have no practical use of it, then they have not been trained properly (I assume trained in their given profession). XP are an arbitrary measuring stick, and it's all relative. Taking it a bit further...what is 10 XP, or 100 XP. Or level 2 vs level 3? It's just a method created to indicate the progress of your character in some sort of tangible nature.

In KOTOR, HK tells you about all the time he spends with people with Revan no where around. In fact, it sounds like over the course of his travels he has spent more time away from Revan than with him.

No less than 27, otherwise Obsidian is just a bunch of money grubbing thieves j/k OE

I think the PC goes off to the war. Revan turns to the darkside, fearing that you have been tainted by Revan they exile you from the Order.

Because you do not see a lightsaber does not mean that he does not have one.

That probably had a lot to do with the fact that there were no Jedi (evil or otherwise) in the original trilogy to fight a war.

This isn't really an argument and for the most part I don't disagree with what you said. But from what I read on these forums, wasn't Exar Kun blocked from using the lightside of the force?

Only if you take it too seriously. You look at it and you laugh, and then you continue on. If it ruined the feel of the game for you than that's your own character flaw. I was able to get right back into the grittiness of the game.

Because 0 XP is an arbitrary value which in and of itself does not mean anything.