What are the rules of a good Star Wars product?

[Ivan the Terrible]

In the case of Star Wars, I think there's a very specific atmosphere that needs to be created. One cannot set a War and Peace style story in the Star Wars galaxy, or even a Planescape: Torment style story; it just doesn't work that way. Rather, you have to capture certain elements from the movies which grabbed the attention and fascination of people while removing those elements which....*cough*....didn't (or at best did so in a very negative way; witness the Ewok and Jar-Jar backlash.)

 

So, in your opinion, what are the elements that are essential to conveying the whole Star Wars atmosphere?

 

My thoughts:

 

1) Good and evil. For all my bitching about the 'Chaotic Stupid' behavior of the Sith in KOTOR, it remains pretty obvious that the Star Wars universe was not designed for a deep, philosophical examination of human morality. The Republic/Rebellion are good and fight for justice, freedom, and the Light Side; the Sith/Empire are evil and fight for tyranny, oppression, and the Dark Side. The few 'grey' characters still tend to lean heavily one way or the other; Han Solo is leaning towards the Light (especially now that Greedo shoots first), while Jabba the Hutt and Boba Fett-style criminals are leaning towards the Dark. Even Jolee Bindo, despite his absolute grey status, was far more Light leaning than Dark.

 

For all that, however, I believe the best Star Wars stuff acknowledges that 'evil' does not mean you have to write every Dark Jedi as Snidely Whiplash with a lightsaber. The Empire Strikes Back did a marvelous job of portraying the Empire as 'bad guys' without evil cackles and pointlessly sinister dialogue; the only Star Wars novel I've ever read, the first book in the Admiral Thrawn series, also seemed to do a great job, so much so I remember actively sympathizing with Imperial characters at times. Hopefully the writers of KOTOR II draw their inspiration more from those sources than the original KOTOR when making their villains.

 

2) Scale. The Star Wars galaxy is supposed to convey a sense of the epic; ships aren't just like a Earth battleship in space, they're practically floating cities, and there are dozens or hundreds of them often lead by an even more gigantic ship (think Vader's Executor Super Star Destroyer.) The new Imperial super weapon can't just be a powerful new ship or something wimpy like that; it has to be a base the size of a small moon that can annihilate an entire planet in an instant. Wars take place across an entire galaxy; cities and deserts cover entire planets. If you see a pit somewhere in the Star Wars universe, you can be sure it keeps going down and down and down.

 

This one is kinda tough for KOTOR and KOTOR II to get much mileage out of, given that most planets consist of about five screens....but they tried, if only by having cool scenery extending into the distance, or by showing a cut scene which emphasizes countless Sith ships as far as the eye can see, or a factory big enough to be seen next to a sun.

 

In one respect, I hope they deliberately don't emphasize scale; namely, I think we've seen enough Star Forge/Death Star/Sun Crusher-scale all-powerful Superweapons by now.

 

Ok, I've offered two examples, and I'm tired of writing. Can anyone else think of any?

[uncdeez]

I think saberwhips are essential to a good Star Wars experience.

[GhostofAnakin]

I pretty much agree with that, and that's one of the reasons why I'm not one of those who thought KOTOR "failed" as some would have you believe. Yes, parts of the game could have been better, but overall, comparing it to Fallout or Baldur's Gate and saying "See, this is what they should have done" just doesn't work because the SW universe is completely different than anything else out there, so it's unfair to compare its setting to any other and try to point out its so called faults.

 

This is especially one of the reasons why I don't think Hades' quest for a non-Jedi hero would fit in THIS setting. The story of the game required a specific type of character with specific types of skills (namely, Force powers) and thus why I think KOTOR chose correctly by limiting which classes could be used.

 

I think more than anything, anything Star Wars has to remove the "grey" area. If it has grey area, or neutral choices at the end, then it's just not capturing the whole idea of what SW is about. In all the books, movies, etc. eventually everyone chose a side, good or evil. Han Solo and Lando Calrissian are perfect examples of "neutral" characters who chose a side to fight with. In the Thrawn trilogy, the smuggler named Talon Karrde was basically a fringe bad guy who didn't care about either the Empire or the New Republic, but by the conclusion, he'd chosen which of the two he'd support. This is the kind of thing that happens in SW and allowing "grey" choices throughout the entire game just misses on this aspect.

[artemis79]

(especially now that Greedo shoots first)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

This is changed again in the new SW Trilogy DVD, Han and Greedo both shoot at each other at the same time.

[KOTORFanactic]

Again with these bloody saberwhips

They are useless

They just wouldnt work in normal physics

 

On topic

Those r good. Admittedly KOTOR did fail in some areas of gameplay, and ur suggestions could help it alot Ivan. Problem is, i hav no idea how they would fit that kinda scale into KOTOR2 without a massive amount of extra work.

[Laozi]

Its the classic heros of 1000 faces story lines in the games and movies.

The scope of star wars is so great, the fact that the Jedi infinitely the most powerful individuals in the story can affect a whole galaxy by there actions. That the force, the lifeforce of the entire world, act through individuals.

If one thing is essential to any star wars game, for me to play its the force. I would not be as excited to play a game , star wars battlefront, without it.

[Ivan the Terrible]

(especially now that Greedo shoots first)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

This is changed again in the new SW Trilogy DVD, Han and Greedo both shoot at each other at the same time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah, I know, but that seems like a compromise that satisfies neither party and (if anything) makes even less sense. Not only does he shoot at point blank range and miss, but Han shoots at the same time, thus rendering the whole point of Greedo shooting first (to show that Han isn't a bad guy) rather meaningless.

 

Another necessity of a good Star Wars product is for the present day George Lucas to keep his involvement to a minimum.

[darth_habbo]

saberwhips?

 

I have heard them brought up b4. Where did this reference come from?

[Jad'en]

peoples imaginations

[Influence]

(especially now that Greedo shoots first)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

This is changed again in the new SW Trilogy DVD, Han and Greedo both shoot at each other at the same time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Perhaps this is to further emphsize Han's transition. but who knows, seems like an odd thing to edit.