Facial Deterioration

[Sabahattin Dere]

If new face models are being done for Kotor, we should also expect more imaginative ways of getting Ugly as the PC becomes devoured by the Dark Side.

 

Green skin and yellow eyes were nice (!), and one PC grew a beard which kind of established a sense of virtual-adventure-time-scale. How about having a sagging face a la Palpatine? That would go well with the Hoods, which it appears we'll be able to sport in TSL.

 

Anyway, which hideous faces can you imagine for your character? Perhaps the devs. could implement some, if they still have time.....

[Judge Hades]

Why do Dark siders always look ugly. I would think the cruelest evil would be one who looks almost super modelish yet just as depraved and decadent as a Sith Lord. I mean, evil=ugly is so cliche.

[Sabahattin Dere]

Given the context of the game, it's not likely that the character can get 'more beautiful' as he/she falls to the DS.

 

Going ugly is easy: Yellow eyes and purple veins around the face. No one will deny that looks devilish, so it goes well with the game.

 

It was a fun feature of Kotor, I wouldn't mind seeing even sillier evil faces in TSL. It's not the last of the cliches in Star Wars.

[Sorwen]

Why do Dark siders always look ugly. I would think the cruelest evil would be one who looks almost super modelish yet just as depraved and decadent as a Sith Lord. I mean, evil=ugly is so cliche.

It's a Star Wars Universe thing. Starting out you could be, but once your corrupted by the darkside as much as The Emperor it degrades your body physically.

[Astatine]

Since there's Force Sense, I expect in KOTOR2 NPCs will react to the PC being obviously turned to the dark side, unlike in the first game -- so a power that conceals it and makes you look "normal" for a little while would be nice After all, "the dark side has clouded our vision", etc, etc... :D

[Dark Wanderer]

Hmm, this wouldn't be a "natural" change of being a DS, but I'll still make it: how about some sinister-looking face tattos like those Uthar had? It'd have an impression of power but still not exactly be a beautiful thing to add to your face. Still, as far as the rest goes, I believe that yellow eyes (hmm, they could add red eyes, through. Haven't any Sith Lords had red eyes?) and the pale skin change is good enough, but if anyone has more ideas, then... . Oh, and why not have scars too? Few if any Jedi or Sith goes through his/her life completely unscratched.

[Kdy-worker 1138]

This time they will add a neat Clown mask enjoy.

[Vivid]

I think they could go a bit farther then just Facial features, like skinnier limbs, hair loss, or perhaps even loss of physical strength with growth of your power, ex. Less damage/effect with physical attacks, flurry, power attack, but more damage/effect with force attacks, Lightning, Drain.

[Topaz Quasar]

Emperor Palpatine was an old man, so the darkside effect had a more grotesque effect. Revan was fairly young, so the darkside effects weren't that extreme.

[Ivan the Terrible]

Why do Dark siders always look ugly. I would think the cruelest evil would be one who looks almost super modelish yet just as depraved and decadent as a Sith Lord. I mean, evil=ugly is so cliche.

True, but that doesn't fit with the universe this takes place in. Evil dresses in black and is ugly, and by now the principle that the Dark Side disfigures is pretty much ingrained in the Star Wars mythos.

[Sorwen]

Emperor Palpatine was an old man, so the darkside effect had a more grotesque effect. Revan was fairly young, so the darkside effects weren't that extreme.

Also the amount of time. The DS slowly deteriorates your body over time. They rushed it so to speak for the game. I never really thought about it, but could be explained as you were a lot more powerful that then Emperor so it happened quicker to you(Reven).

[Dark Wanderer]

Also the amount of time.  The DS slowly deteriorates your body over time.  They rushed it so to speak for the game.  I never really thought about it, but could be explained as you were a lot more powerful that then Emperor so it happened quicker to you(Reven).

 

Hmm, I'm not so sure about tha tlast sentence, because that in Dark Empire (the comic), the Emperor's clone took 5 years to return to the state in which the emperor had been when he was killed by Vader (or that's what it looks like, at least)... But that could, of course, have two natural explainations:

 

1. The clone was weaker than the original body and therefore was broken down by the dark side quicker than the original body

 

and/or

 

2. Any jedi or sith increase their power during their life. By that I mean: Palpatine was probably much weaker in terms of the power he could handle when he was young but he grew more powerful the older he become, thus the strenght he commanded grew little by little and the more it did so, the more his body was affected. Thus, when he moved into his new body, he carried his full strenght instead of only a small part of it, thus it went more hard on his body than it should have, if the process had been "natural".

[Darkwaters]

Emperor Palpatine was an old man, so the darkside effect had a more grotesque effect. Revan was fairly young, so the darkside effects weren't that extreme.

Actually it has been said that the reason Palpatine was so messed over was b/c he used something similar to Battle Meditation, but he used it constantly and across his entire empire. Essentially the strain was so great and long lasting that it slowly caused his body to erode.

 

There were of course times when he was not so focused on his forces, like during the battle of Endor when he was more devoted to turning Luke to his side. Supposedly the Empire should have easilly won that space battle, but without the Emperor's aid they were a confused mob of space cruisers.

 

That concept is discussed in Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Omnibus.

[Sorwen]

Emperor Palpatine was an old man, so the darkside effect had a more grotesque effect. Revan was fairly young, so the darkside effects weren't that extreme.

Actually it has been said that the reason Palpatine was so messed over was b/c he used something similar to Battle Meditation, but he used it constantly and across his entire empire. Essentially the strain was so great and long lasting that it slowly caused his body to erode.

 

There were of course times when he was not so focused on his forces, like during the battle of Endor when he was more devoted to turning Luke to his side. Supposedly the Empire should have easilly won that space battle, but without the Emperor's aid they were a confused mob of space cruisers.

 

That concept is discussed in Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Omnibus.

The part about Palpatine using Battle Meditation is correct, but I don't remember him ever saying that it was related to that. Other EU sorces and the d20 game state it was due to the Darkside. Actually I think I first read it off of Star Wars.com, but would have to double check.

[JawaJoey]

Palpatine at Battle Meditation. Woah.

 

I remember reading it somewhere, the visual dictionary I think, that the Dark Side of the Force can prolong your life at the expense of twisting physical effects.

 

 

AHA! I found the quote:

"While the Force has twisted his face, it has also sutained him beyond his years, and even in his old age the Emperor remains a figure of terrible power."

 

In KOTOR, I don't think there's much to add to DS disconfiguration, except for maybe some more 3D effects. In the first game, your skin and eyes changed color, but you didn't actually get all wrinkly, and the rest of your body didn't reflect the change.

[OrganisedChaos]

All male DS characters should grow beards as the game goes on and they grow darker, this made the game more realistic by giving a sense of time passing.

Scars would also be good, more pronounced veining perhaps....

 

Also what would be really good would be to have your party members changing as well, or at least any Jedi who gain DS points. This would be another good feature in the new DS/LS system. It was a shame Bastila looked exactly the same as a darksider as she did when she was a lightsider, hopefuly TSL will do this to party members. B)

 

Oh yeah and npc, people in bars etc, should definatly react to seeing an obviously

evil person around them. When you talk to them they should say something like

 

"Whats wrong with your face, freak."

"Are you feeling okay"

 

be more realistic that way

[OrganisedChaos]

Also what was wrong with the emperors eyes in Empire Strikes Back?

When he appeared as the hologram he had some massive bulges all around the eyes, yet in Return of the Jedi they were normal again. What happened there?

 

Is this another effect of the darkside or did he just walk into a door...............

[ShadowFaxIV]

I don't really care as long as the female portraites are prettyier than they were in the last game! I mean what happened to all the blondies for gods sake! From the screenshots though it looks like that problem has been repaired.

[Markus]

I don't really care as long as the female portraites are prettyier than they were in the last game! I mean what happened to all the blondies for gods sake! From the screenshots though it looks like that problem has been repaired.

what was wrong witht he blondes in the first place?

[jaguars4ever]

Why do Dark siders always look ugly.  I would think the cruelest evil would be one who looks almost super modelish yet just as depraved and decadent as a Sith Lord.  I mean, evil=ugly is so cliche.

Trias anyone?

[Meshugger]

Another thing worth mentioning would be the movement, if your alignment is in way botton of scale(DS), then your character would not be able run as smooth as a regular person, even less as a Jedi. Same goes with the rest of the animations.

[Archmonarch]

I really dont think penalizing someone for wanting to play DS is really all that fair. Sure their face will change and all that, but they shouldnt lose abilities if the jedi dont as well.

[Meshugger]

Let me erabolate, those 'features' should be restricted to the "Sith Lord" class.

[Archmonarch]

Well if the player knows about it going in and gets reciprocal benefits, then I guess its okay.

[Topaz Quasar]

Also what was wrong with the emperors eyes in Empire Strikes Back?

When he appeared as the hologram he had some massive bulges all around the eyes, yet in Return of the Jedi they were normal again. What happened there?

 

Is this another effect of the darkside or did he just walk into a door...............

When they made The Empire Strikes Back, they used an old woman in prosthetic make-up with the voice dubbed over. When they made Return of the Jedi, they got Ian McDiarmid to play as the Emperor.