Influence System Observations

[EnderAndrew]

Very true.

[Jad'en]

Bad example but take Darth Vader for example... he had no hesitation putting Han into a Carbon freeze that may kill him and slaughtered many peoplehe once cared about...

 

But seeing the Emporer hurting his son made him angry and upset... would you call him lightside for that?

[Naso]

But seeing the Emporer hurting his son made him angry and upset... would you call him lightside for that?

 

I think Lucas did, just look at the ending

 

As for the descriptions of what happens, with the influence, I won't be able to tell until I see it, and neither side is completely convincing.

[bodrock]

I don't think it's buggy.

 

Let's consider what some people are complaining about.

 

Let's say your dark, and you twisted the Handmaiden dark.  People are complaining that you lose influence with her with some dark options.  Influence isn't based simply on light and dark.  You gain inlfuence with one person with overty cruelty, and lose influence with another person.

 

But, in this case, Handmaiden objects to a particular cruel action that she witnesses.  A true Sith Lord hides their cruel behavior.

 

Either way, if you gained influence by doing whatever you are naturally inclined to do, then you'd max influence with all the party members with no effort.

 

That is a broken system.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Agreed -- I don't see morality in black and white, and neither does this game. Well, not as much as the last, anyway!

[Baneblade]

I don't think it's buggy.

 

Let's consider what some people are complaining about.

 

Let's say your dark, and you twisted the Handmaiden dark.  People are complaining that you lose influence with her with some dark options.  Influence isn't based simply on light and dark.  You gain inlfuence with one person with overty cruelty, and lose influence with another person.

 

But, in this case, Handmaiden objects to a particular cruel action that she witnesses.  A true Sith Lord hides their cruel behavior.

 

Either way, if you gained influence by doing whatever you are naturally inclined to do, then you'd max influence with all the party members with no effort.

 

That is a broken system.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Spreading it a bit thin there aren't you ?

[NeverwinterKnight]

ive only played through one time so maybe i should hold back on this comment until ive had a chance to play again a couple of times, but...

 

i dont know if i like how difficult it is to gain more than 1 or 2 of your partys full influence within one play through. in order to gain someones influence you have to have them in your party for a great deal of time. since you have 10 party members, its difficult to make sure all of them get ample 'playing time'. which means you either a)use 3 or 4 only to gain full influence with them or b)use all 10 evenly, gaining barely any influence with all of them.

 

i know this was done for replayability, but since the extra dialogue and influence gained doesnt really have a big impact on the story (or does it?) i dont see myself playing through multiple times just so that i can learn all their backstories and/or get them all to change alignment. especially since the party members dont have any sidequests really specific to them like the party members did in kotor1.

[EnderAndrew]

 

Spreading it a bit thin there aren't you ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No. The fact remains that people are asking that once you start someone on a certain path (dark or light) that the NPC then give you influence for doing things along that new path. However, that means simply by playing whatever path you want to, you automatically will gain influence with your NPCs.

 

Influence should be somewhat of a challenge. You have to think before choosing dialogue options.

[PhantomJedi]

 

Spreading it a bit thin there aren't you ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No. The fact remains that people are asking that once you start someone on a certain path (dark or light) that the NPC then give you influence for doing things along that new path. However, that means simply by playing whatever path you want to, you automatically will gain influence with your NPCs.

 

Influence should be somewhat of a challenge. You have to think before choosing dialogue options.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

exactly. One of the main points of this game was to make you think. This is one way they did it.

[NeverwinterKnight]

for what its worth though, i dont think the influence system is 'flawed'. in my current play through as a ls male

ive been able to turn visas marr completely to the light side (her ls meter is literally at its highest possible) just by choosing the right dialogue options when speaking to her, despite the fact she starts out as a darkside character.

 

 

i think its implementation and idea works fine too. i think the problem people are having is they are always picking the 'extreme' answer when they talk to a npc based on their alignment, and that just doesnt work. it seems if someone is a darksider and they want to turn a lightsider to the ds, theyll respond with all the 'darkside' options rather than choosing the option that would manipulate the npc.

 

i think senator palpantine is the perfect 'real' example of how the influence system works. by all intents and purposes hes a darkside character to the max. yet when you see him around 'npcs' hell tell them what they want to hear and sound sympathetic to their plight.

[Dark Wanderer]

i think senator palpantine is the perfect 'real' example of how the influence system works.  by all intents and purposes hes a darkside character to the max.  yet when you see him around 'npcs' hell tell them what they want to hear and sound sympathetic to their plight.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Indeed. If you want to manipulate people, the first and foremost rule is to never reveal your true intentions to them. Choosing darkside options would mean that you show your true self to those you want to manipulate, not the side of yourself that you want them to see, menaing that they'll guess or perhaps even know your true intentions - and thus will not trust you, which means that you voice/opinion don't mean a bird's poo to them...