Plano Skywalker

yes, that was really good.

I remember the load screens of the first KOTOR and there was talk about how there are many places inside the galaxy that are unknown to the Republic because of the dangers involved in exploring new hyperspace routes. So, "Unknown Regions" does not necessarily mean beyond the Outer Rim. I agree that we hear alot about the Outer Rim but probably because it is, just that, the border zone and the area most likely to fall first in a galactic invasion. There is also the "Mid Rim"...I believe Katarr was referred to ingame as a Mid Rim world. I agree that the main reason we don't go to the Core Worlds is that they are most stable and, thus, more boring from an adventurer's perspective. But Corsuscant would be cool....I think most people would like to go there even if we don't have to draw a weapon one time.

As long as we are in the current story arch, we will most likely be riding around on the Ebon Hawk. however, as others have suggested, it would be interesting to have a 2nd ship late in the game when the game has presumably gone multithreaded. also, being able to commandeer a capital ship and to navigate from the bridge would be a nice touch late in the game.

my main motivation is seperate what might be used (gameplay, for instance) from what will not be used (storyline ideas). not a huge deal, though...

no, it's just that storyline ideas really are their own animal and, truth be told, the ones least likely to be implemented. I think it would make sense to have a seperate place for proposed storyline.

I agree with more dynamism in games....for instance, even in Morrowind your first Mage Guild quest is always the same, your second Mage Guild quest is always the same, etc. Add voice acting to this, and the chances of them making it more dynamic are actually less. HOWEVER, at some point, they will have the ability to have dynamic voice acting. I mean on-the-fly artificial voice that sounds just like Orson Welles, Vincent Price, or whomever you are talking about. When they have a $300 system that can do that, we may see this kind of dynamism. But not until.

hmmm, maybe we can try and get the mods to create a "KOTOR 3 Storyline" thread.

I have to admit that voice acting and graphics help create a really immersive experience. It is not a substitute for what hard core gamers are looking for in an RPG but it really does help if everything else is there. The fact that Oblivion is coming out with next-gen graphics and voice acting and (presumably) KOTOR 3 will be next gen along with 2 RPGs from Mistwalker, etc I think clinches the deal for me. I also like the idea of the Nintendo Revolution and being able to download any game ever produced by them on any platform....this will help me catch up with the JRPGs like Final Fantasy.

now that IS a gaping hole....at the very least, they need to fix that <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It makes sense when you think about it. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> no. either drop the shifting alignments (which is more realistic, anyway) of your NPCs or provide updated content when they do shift. how could anyone argue with that?

now that IS a gaping hole....at the very least, they need to fix that

in addition to "party members" you can also have hirelings and hostages on your ship....and passengers (a senator needs transport and will pay for it)....non-sentient reconnaissance droids to scout out difficult terrain, etc.

it's about a good idea that is still in its adolescence. (BTW, I think they wanted to have NPC-specific side quests but there just wasn't enough time.) I think most of us develop favorite party members and having to take the party member out to get influence kinda stinks (though somewhat realistic). I would like for the padawan to also have a Persuade skill and the ability to gain influence with party members....your padawan would be like your First Mate on the ship. Having that coupled with more multithreaded adventures would allow you to get to know all your party members better (which involves seeing how they react during certain scenarios).

I think that could actually happen. During the endgame, it goes multithreaded. In one of the threads, you play a 2-person party of Revan and the Exile. You also have your PC thread and possibly your padawan thread. Something like this could work...it's just that seeing a returning character as the PC is highly unlikely.

I'll be honest, that caught me off guard too at first. This was all about "Design Your Own Backstory" and doing it in the middle of the game and via dialogue....I don't think many cRPGs do that. It is a way of having a rich backstory (which allows for more immersion) and still allowing you to have some say in your backstory....from a storytelling perspective, it was light years ahead of the Revan idea.

right, that is one "giveaway" as to what the devs were thinking about the character anyway....with the Exile, it is not quite as obvious.

yes, and that is one area where having a padawan a real padawan would be nice...your padawan is leading one of the threads while your PC is leading another.

as someone else recently posted, the problem with returning characters in this franchise is that the games were simply not paced to do so. a 20th-level character is essentially a god in this system. if K3 was current gen, then I think the Exile would be a good returning character...why? because of the way he draws Force powers, deleveling him would actually not be that cheap of a device....with Revan, however, deleveling him would be really cheap IMO. however, if K3 is next-gen and gets a major media blitz and attracts alot of newbies (which it probably will) then the idea that K3 needs to be able to stand on its own feet is that much greater and the chances of a newbie PC is almost assured. K3 can introduce a new protagonist but it needs to wrap up ALL of the dangling plots out there (and there are many). Giving Revan some real resolution is essential, IMO.

not a bad idea except that LA and the devs have learned their lesson about giving you a predefined name.....and only a character with a predefined name is going to make it into the EU anyway....

apparently, the Dark Horse comic about Revan has Revan as LS male. in the EU, a comic outweighs most other sources. BUT, this is for convenience. The fans want Revan in the EU so they make him EU. Well, if someone is in the EU, then said person has to have a set identity. But that is only for the purposes of the EU. The game is different. Revan is a customizable, unisex construct in the games. The mistake that BioWare made was not giving the PC a backstory but in giving the PC a name. That made it almost certain that the character would end up in the EU. The Exile is an improvement on the backstory idea...because there is no name involved, it allows for much more customization and does not necessarily change continuity. the sooner you kill Revan off in the games, the sooner you can level a forest in EU talking about this character...ultimately, this has to be the best bet.

for starters, yes. that is not all that could be added but knowing HOW you influenced them (or lost influence with them) has to be a first step in improving this feature. and then there is the whole alignment business. I have no problem with giving the PC the ability to try to change their alignment...but keep this seperate from what is normally thought of as the influence rating. if you are on a "Revan did the right thing/wrong thing" kind of dialogue tree, then this is obviously a LS/DS bit of conversation....you should not be able to sway their alignments and their influence rating during the same dialogue....keep it seperate. not because it is unrealistic but because it is maddening to try to influence someone without getting LS or DS points.....allow for both but keep them in seperate dialogue trees. if your PC has a high Persuade skill and, say, Master Conversation, then you get a number of extra "fluff" subjects you can discuss with them to boost their ego and get them talking about the stuff you are really interested in. for instance, if you have this feat, you get to talk to Bao-Dur about pulse phase converters....this increases his influence rating of you and, ultimately, he starts talking about the things you are interested in. But you have to work for it...you have to burn feat slots to do this. it is one thing to say "fix influence" but these are some specific ideas that could be implemented.

INFLUENCE much has been said about this topic. here, I just wanted to focus like a laserbeam on one aspect of it. at the end of a discussion with a party member, sometimes you get a message "Influence Gained" or "Influence Lost" and sometimes nothing. I think it would be nice for this to be granularized. This is what I mean: * if you acquired influence because you told them something they wanted to hear, then you get the "Influence Gained" message. (basically, you are the one who was influenced...not that this is a bad thing all of the time). * if you acquired influence because you skillfully argued a contrary position well and consistently, then you get a "Influence Successful" message or something to that effect. * same thing would apply to "Influence Lost" and "Influence Unsuccessful". some sort of concrete indication as to why the influence rating was shifted is basically what I talking about here...and to add FEATS and/or SKILLS that deal with very specific aspects of influence within conversation....Jade Empire has this to some extent.

BioWare likes to use the "chosen one" routine. Revan was, at the time, the latest incarnation of this device. However, this was an extreme case because you did not know for sure until late in the game that this was the case. They came up with a good unisex name and unisex appearance (the mask). They came up with a character that can be thought of as hero or antihero depending on your perspective (this helped the devs write one game for both LS and DS). In short, they captured lightning in a bottle. They did NOT intend to rewrite SW continuity to the extent that they did with this character. The fans misinterpreted the device and thought that Revan was supposed to be the focus of the franchise. In retrospect, we can say that they should have known better but both BioWare and LA were in some serious uncharted waters at the time. The trick now is to gingerly extricate the franchise from one character.

at the very least, we need more alien party members....I can wait on alien PCs.

while I do not think it is likely that we will see Revan as the PC in K3 (I personally hope we do not...even though I am intrigued with the character), I think it cannot be stressed enough that Revan NEEDS RESOLUTION in K3. now, this resolution could come cheaply (the Exile tells you about Revan's demise) or come not so cheaply (he plays a significant part of the story and gets alot of cutscreens). but, ultimately, he needs resolution. they really can't punt this time with Revan because, if they do, the KOTOR franchise continues to be about this character (gee, I wonder if he's going to marry Bastila?) and the whole franchise is better off if it is thought of as a time period and not the saga of one man. killing him off (again, in a meaningful way) would allow them to not set the character's gender, alignment, love interests and all the other things that people like to fill in for themselves and, again, it sets up an all-purpose storytelling device (his ghost) for future games.

Darth Nuke, I hear you. I really do. The problem, though, is that this is not a Real Time Strategy. In a sense, I wish K3 would not be an RPG and instead be an RTS to allow for the kind of thing you are talking about. Because that would be a great thing to see: Revan as master strategist. The KOTOR games have already mentioned two wars: Mandalorian and JCW and we did not get to play in either one. If K3 is about a giant galactic war, I WANT MY PC IN THE WAR not just cleaning up after the mess. I have no idea if that is feasible, however. If they could find away to incorporate some RTS elements without taking away from the RPG aspects, then I'm all for Revan being a player-controller general in a maproom somewhere.