Jedi Guardian gripes

[deganawida]

I'm posting this in the SPOILERS forum simply so that one piece of info won't spoil anything for those who haven't played yet.

 

I have several major gripes with the treatment of Jedi Guardians in KotOR2. The bulk of them stem from the Force Jump/Leap ability of the Guardian. I'll detail the gripes in a nice little numbered list.

 

1. Force Jump pt. 1. Guardians get the shaft through the first half of the game. How? Well, Force Jump is utterly useless until you rebuild your lightsaber. The Sentinel and the Consular both get to use their special class abilities throughout the game (even if there are fewer enemies who stun you, the Sentinel's Force Immunity still comes in handy in the early portions when enemies Critical Strike or Sniper Shot at you), but the Guardian has nothing. The Guardian gets no use whatsoever from his special abilities and class-specific feat (Weapon Specialization: Lightsaber) until he recieves his lightsaber, which in my playthroughs was around level 13 (just to put it in perspective, upon leaving Peragus with my various Guardians I was level . It would have been better if you got your lightsaber earlier in the game, because as it stands currently the Guardian is a wasted class until level 12-14. Now, I know that Guardians get more feats and VP than the other classes, yet they also recieve fewer FP than the others, and since WP: Ls is a class-specific feat that counts as a class ability, they end up unbalanced when compared to the other two classes in the first half of the game.

 

2. Force Jump pt. 2. Ugh, I hate how I will leap towards an enemy, get halfway there, have a cutscene trigger, and find myself back where I started before I leaped with my party members already fighting the enemies. Not only that, but for some strange reason, though the game says that I'm already engaged with an enemy, my character stays where he is and makes no move to attack the original enemy unless I manually order him to attack a different enemy and then reselect the original enemy. This is pretty flaming annoying, let me tell you.

 

3. Party Member AI. I realize that there is a series of feats that allow bonuses for party members ganging up on the same enemy, but do they have to gang up on the same enemy all the freaking time? I mean, for crying out loud, my Guardian can take all the enemies in single combat. It would be nice, then, for the other party members to keep other enemies occupied and off his back. Further, the ganging up means that half the time my Guardian doesn't have a clear path to the next enemy, and so by the time he gets around his companions to the enemy in question, their already dead thanks to the party members. Finally, I enjoy the new animations, but when using other party members I don't get to see them, because when they all gang up the enemies go down in 1-2 rounds. It would be nice if all this were rectifiable by queuing actions for your NPCs, but the AI kicks in as soon as gameplay is resumed and overwrites your commands. Not fun.

 

Anyway, these are my main beefs with the treatment of the Jedi Guardian in this game. Anyone else experience some of these same issues?

[drcloak]

Just solo with your Guardian. There is no need to bring party members with you, unless this is your first play through. Guardian is way overpowered. I was killing Jedi Masters in 1-2 Hits.

 

But taking a 3-man group with your Guardian is just overkill, even on 'Difficult' setting.

 

- dr cloak

[Fearless_Jedi]

This is odd because I have heard complaints that Guardians are actually weaker when compaired to Sentinels.

[deganawida]

Not surprising, since Sentinels and Consulars both get the same BAB as Guardians, and Sentinels are only one feat behind Guardians.

[Epiphany]

Not surprising, since Sentinels and Consulars both get the same BAB as Guardians, and Sentinels are only one feat behind Guardians.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I didn't realize it was that close, I thought that Guardians got 1 feat per level... Sucks to pick them then.

[Force Reaper]

Just solo with your Guardian.  There is no need to bring party members with you, unless this is your first play through.  Guardian is way overpowered.  I was killing Jedi Masters in 1-2 Hits.

 

But taking a 3-man group with your Guardian is just overkill, even on 'Difficult' setting.

 

- dr cloak

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Soloing is stupid because you miss out on the dialogue and the influence crap. I know there's barely inter-party dialogue, but still.

[Epiphany]

Just solo with your Guardian.  There is no need to bring party members with you, unless this is your first play through.  Guardian is way overpowered.  I was killing Jedi Masters in 1-2 Hits.

 

But taking a 3-man group with your Guardian is just overkill, even on 'Difficult' setting.

 

- dr cloak

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Soloing is stupid because you miss out on the dialogue and the influence crap. I know there's barely inter-party dialogue, but still.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

influence crap...

 

Such truth.

[Force Reaper]

[Icon]

Not surprising, since Sentinels and Consulars both get the same BAB as Guardians, and Sentinels are only one feat behind Guardians.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Huh??? No, I haven't played the game, but, uhmm, are you sure? Why would anyone play a guardian then? Thats the whole point, more feats, and easier to hit the target! Whose idea was this? GAH! Thanks for pointing that out for me, I'll keep it in mind when the PC version arrives and I can finally play.

[deganawida]

Linky.

 

It's a little deceiving at first, because sometimes the Sentinel gains a feat after a Guardian, and sometimes before, but the net difference is 1.