Raithe

Well it starts out with you being the new guy put into the Republics Elite of the Elite special forces group, otherwise known as Havoc Squad. That's about how far I managed to get into it during the beta trial weekend last year before the game was released. Since I did that then, I've been leaving the Trooper as one of my last toons to play since the game came out. The companion you first get is an officer busted down to nco, who has a chip on his shoulder. He tends to be a ranged tank if I recall. Then you get the cute girl - combat medic type, who used to be an Imperial but defected to the Republic. So there's all those trust issues brought up. The third companion you pick up is that Droid featured in the above video. He being a mean prototype stolen by a group involving one of the Havoc squad defectors, and you manage to restore his original programming.

I do wish they hadn't used Jennifer Hale for both Satele Shan and the Republic Fem-Trooper. Also, it means that Fem-Trooper does come across a bit too much like Fem-Shephard

For the day's weirdness... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPcapo5ZB_o

The fun of insomnia reducing th joys of the day, and then leaving you poking at a few half-healed emotional wounds in the silence of the night.. Joy. And to further increase the fun, one of my harddrives has suddenly disapeared from Windows and Bios.. So I shall have to have a poke and see what's causing that and if the whole drive is trashed or what.

Last few nights haven't been able to get to sleep till going 4-5am. So kind of having a few off-days of not being quite so sharp and aware.

The Smuggler has a good Prologue and Chapter 1, they tie together nicely and hit the theme of rogue and pushes the emotional buttons. Chapter 2 isn't quite as connected but is fairly decent, but Chapter 3 certainly looses it's way. The Bounty Hunter is again, very three seperate parts. Prologue and Chapter 1 being that combination of vengeance-seeking and competion for the Grand Hunt. Then Chapters 2 and 3 take swerves away. Both work, but they don't really feel as connected or hung-together. The Jedi Knight actually seems to connect Chapter 2 and 3 together fairly well, but Chapter 1 is very much a collection of random "find and deal with x on planet y".

That I can certainly agree with to a certain level. Although the Inquisitor tries to push some of the more "force secrets / mysticism" elements as behind the betrayals and wotnot. But yes, it does feel like the expected themes have been switched between the two. Either way, they still seem to come across as some of the better written - at least in regards to coherency between prologue and three chapters.

The Inquisitor seems to fall more into the betrayal/treacherous nature of the Sith, and the Apprentice/Master relationship. Although it tends to slide more into the fallout of those events more then the actual elements themselves. With the Sith Warrior, it certainly turns more towards the "grand orchestration" of plans. Darth Baras' whole "super spy network" does feel like something you'd expect from an Inquisitor more, but I can see how a Warrior can turn towards that. More the working precisely and taking out vital support points rather then just thundering around wildly and causing mass destruction. Edit: Well, to be fair, the Trooper is meant to be special forces type, and thus sneaking isn't quite so out of character.

Dark side does have some fun options at times, but there can be a few "stupid evil" routes. Even with my Sith Warrior who I intend to push Dark gets a bunch of light options because they make more sense (in-game, as it were) for some long term goals or if you're actually wanting the best results for the Empire... Still getting into chapter 2 with my Sith Warrior, but I have to agree with Calax that it has some damn good writing. Moved my Bounty Hunter along to Voss now, and having a pause with my Jedi Knight since I don't want to run Republic Belsavis so soon after having done it on the Imperial side with my BH. Still using my Sith Inquisitor and Smuggler now and then to run dailies and crew missions to gather and craft. Plus the odd spot of high level pvp'ing... The Smuggler storyline has a fairly good feel through the Prologue and Chapter 1 - big emotional payoff when you get your ship, and then later when you manage to deal with the guy who stole it. The Jedi Knight is a big.. wandering over the place. Doesn't quite have the same coherent feel as a lot of the other class storylines. The Bounty Hunter starts with a mix of competition and vengeance at the start, moves onto "proving yourself" to the big boys, and then seems to slide into some pseudo-conspiracy/hunted thriller for chapter 3. I think I have to say the SI and SW have the most enjoyable storylines so far, although I was a little disapointed with the Inquisitor in how unsubtle and non-political / manipulative you got to be. Still, the Inquisitor's attempts to undermine a cult and then grow your own on Nar Shaddaa was certainly interesting.

Yup, No Mars. No aliens. No terraforming. Just Earth. The UK and Australia instead, with the rest of the world being a toxic No-go zone for some reason... Australia being "The Colony" where workers get paid crap and commute to the UK through a "chunnel" that goes through the center of the planet (in 18 minutes no less).

Happy birthday Malcador. Enjoy what you can..

Isn't it the North Koreans or some such for that one? Following in the steps of Homefront... Now, Total Recall - they do manage to throw in the three-breasted girl early in the film for that shout out, and for some reason they've combined the characters that Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside originally played into the one played by Kate Beckinsale. It's got some really silly "shut-off-the-brain-and-enjoy" elements to the whole thing, especially since they've changed the Earth/Mars into the UK/Australia... A few other small nods to the original film turn up here and there, but I couldn't really be bothered to pay attention to it enough to immediately notice some of them. The whole "The Fall" elevator through the center of the Earth does have some brain jarring elements, but you can do your best to ignore it and enjoy Kate and Jessica running around with Colin doing his "confused but rugged" action hero thing.

Whiling away the odd hour here and there with TOR at the moment, although should have Sleeping Dogs turn up this friday, so that will no doubt have some weekend gaming plotted.. Uninstalled Batman: AC, since I'd completed the storyline, done all bar 1 side mission, and just couldn't be bothered going back to wrap up all the Riddler Trophies.. Have to say, Stana Katic did good voice for Talia. Keep meaning to plug away at Space Marine , but I just can't seem to be in the mood for that run of linear violence..

The friends trial only gives you a bonus if they then actually take a subscription. And then it's pretty much a fancy speeder.

Hm, wrapped up chapter 1 with my Sith Warrior. I have to say, its quite fun to goad Jedi to use the dark side. What's very weird is that the Sith Warrior does a better job at turning Jedi to the dark side then Sith Inquisitors. Which does seem a bit strange. The SI gets that whole "corrupt the padawan" length storyline, but still you end up with a fairly lightside padawan who attempts to merge elements from Sith and Jedi teachings rather then follow one or the other. With the Sith Warrior, you can either keep Jaesa light side and attempting to change the empire from within, or you turn her dark and she's all psychotic bitch and sexpot. I think Jaesa Wilsaam has to standout as the only companion available in that depending on what you do as you do that "recruiting" part of the storyline, will either be Light or Dark, not automatically the same regardless.

Picked up an independently epublished book from Amazon called "Quicker" by Laurence Dahner. Not a heavy read, but a fairly fun "light" near future sci-fi story. Got me interested enough to pick up the next 3 novels he's done on the series. Definitely has that feel that crosses something from Honor Harrington with EE Doc Smiths area, but aimed more for the teenage audience. Each one's around 200-250 pages, but they hold together fairly well with some interesting characters. The sci-fi is fairly minimalistic, but nicely thought out. It's not earth shaking, but it's entertaining.

But did you get a good suit?

Trying to read through JDP01 for a bit, conduct research on light armored vehicles for some comparison issues on a project, look at some news articles related to a potential work opportunity that an old project could be pushed for if we can talk to the right people.. And for some reason it's being one of those days where my mind's totally not focusing and linking things like I normall do. So it's making the whole thing even more effort to keep juggling.

Part of the fun of that movie was seeing Ceasar and Marc Antony having a blast together again. You almost got a sense they were having a laugh even whilst being serious.

And the latest news.. Joss Whedon tapped to direct Avengers 2 and to develop a Marvel TV show for ABC

I've never actally used any of the EU side servers.. I went with Corellian Run on the East coast from the beginning..

Not seen yet, but for that general bumpf around the upcoming Judge Dredd.. io9 - karl urban takes us step by step through the process of becoming judge dredd

I have to admit, I fairly loathe Corellia. I understand they were trying for the whole "horrors of war, semi-destroyed, rubbly city" etc. But to me it just feels like such a drawn out, grindy crapsack of a planet. It's definitely one that after completing it all (world quests + class quests) for one imperial character and one republic character, I'm hoping that my minor levels of OCD will just let me run through the character quests alone and forget the world ones.. Alderaan is at least kind of pretty as a background...

Finished off the story of Batman Arkham City. Done the majority of "side-quests", apart from the Riddlers, and I haven't found all the political prisoners to save. Hm, I'm tempted to uninstall it now. I'm just not sure if I can be really bothered to go back in just to wrap those up and find even more riddler trophies and suchlike.