Just Another Spooky Face?

[funcroc]

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_...503/ai_n8964055

 

Just Another Spooky Face?

 

Darth Nihilus was the poster boy for The Sith Lords, but he actually played a relatively small role in the game. We asked Lead Designer Chris Avellone why....

 

 

[witchzenka]

But the doggone game says (through HK) that HK was built during the Jedi Civil War, even though HK says in the first he was made during the Mandalorian wars.

[Odinson]

Before I ever got the game, that was what I read. That Nihilus was easily taken down. I thought he waould have an impact. He's not boss quality. It's strange that the poster boy is so limited in term of development.

 

I'm not going to bash OE. There's too much of that already. But Nihilus was shocking. I was wishing he was Revan. Instead we learn little of him and from him.

[Zilod]

for the difficulty consider that all the game is pretty easy, so should not surprise that Nihilus (and other big guys) are not very challening, also consider that his main power is to drain force and as he can't use that power on you, he can't show his real strenght in that battle.

 

For Nihilus past i liked the decision to keep it a mistery, it makes it looks like a sort of ghost and define better is role of primitive force.

Also his past is pointless at this time as he is no more a man, if we knew who he was probably he will be less "fascinating"

 

His role in the game is not so "useless", he is probably the main threat to the galaxy with his capacity to drain the force (and the life itself) form livings, he destroyed the miraluka planet, almost all jedi order, and will consume the galaxy itself if not stopped.

 

Said that is not useless we can't even say that is really a main one, the game is mostly a path of enlightment, not good vs evil, so, even if in essence he is probably the main villain, he could have not too much space in the story or probably he will weaken the main plot (who is alredy quite difficult).

 

i must admit that i wish to had some more about him, maybe a cutscene with the attack at Visas world... probably a drammatic scene and also usefull to understand better his true power and the nature of his threat.

[Brunhilde]

I would have liked to have seen him without his mask on. I mean, what was he anyway? He didn't speak Basic, was he an alien, or so corrupted with evil that he had no mouth anymore or what?

 

I liked Visas response when you ask her what she saw, but I still would have liked to have seen it...

 

"...a man, nothing more"

[Stargate: 2000]

While I thought the amount of info given about Ni during the game was enough to base the character on I would have liked to have seen more of him during the game maybe had a run in or two during the course of the game instead of just hearing about how bad he was during it. I agree that a cut scene showing his distuction of the miraluka homeworld would have also been nice to show the extent of his power, But I think it might have been too much wanton distruction for them to show in this type of game I mean we already have two worlds that get killed during the game did we really need to see another?

[Ace]

I do think having a flashback/recording of the Exile giving the order to destroy Malachor V, and Visas giving a force vision of the destruction of Katarr would have been two excellent scenes.

 

While we can imagine what they were like, the visual impact of seeing these scenes would have been great. Bao-Dur taking the solemn (or eager) order to destroy the world... Visas being alone on the surface of her dead world while Nihilus looms over her...

[Stargate: 2000]

your right it would have been interesting to see those two flaskbacls since they would give another way for the player to connect to the characters. But the question I guess would be is how would you show the distructiopn of both planets? It would be difficult to show that level of distruction in a video game to a level that is belivable enough for the gammer while not being so violent as to raise the age level of the game from teen to mature (since ripping someone from the force is suppost to be unbearably painful, not like gassing a room where everyone just drops to the ground dead from the gasses)?

[tu2thepoo]

Showing the destruction of Malachor would probably have been doable, given enough development time. You could have an in-game cutscene where the Exile and Bao-Dur are on a republic warship (you could even re-use the Harbinger bridge), the Exile nods to Bao-Dur, he flips the switch. Then you switch to a Bink video (the video type they used for the cutscenes) of the mass shadow generator sending out some kind of energy wave that crushes all the Mandalorian/Republic ships caught in it. Not any more violent than most Teen-rated games, methinks.

 

For the destruction of Katarr, it'd probably be simplest to go from the conversation (where Visas starts talking about waking up on her dead planet) straight to a Bink video of Visas waking up in, say, a grove of dead trees or something.

 

[if you were really going for the auteur feel, you could have her sit up slowly, and frame the shot so that it reminds the player of when you first see Visas, meditating on the Ravager. This time, though, instead of feeling the Exile through the Force, she's trying to reach out to any other miraluka who may be alive.]

 

She looks up, Nihilous is standing before her, she says something like "why...?" or "who are y-..." before he force chokes her and makes her "see". Let's assume they had a character model of Visas without her shroud (or her shroud pulled back), and then you zoom into her face. Her eyes go from white - a la Kreia, who also has the gift of force sight - to black (as she sees the galaxy for the crude matter it is), then to grey as Nihilous lets her go; she can use her Force sight again, but has been scarred by the experience.

 

[again, doing it like that would be referring to the scene on the Ravager where Nihilous force chokes her for suggesting that the Exile may be beyond his reach, or whateva. Film majors around the world would roll their eyes ]

 

Doing it like that would let you get the feel of being on a destroyed world, without having to have piles of bodies surrounding Visas. But, I dunno, just a few "what if's" and "if they had more time and money" ideas.

[witchzenka]

That actually sounds wonderful.

[Hurvilo]

It feels like I've played that, because it totally makes sense.

 

Why shouldn't we fans write KOTOR3 instead?

[Kiwegapa]

I love your suggestions, tu2thepoo. Only one problem. As per the Star Wars D20 RPG, all Miraluka (Visas' race) are born without eyes. Force Sight is their ONLY sight, and always was. This is why what Nihilus did to her was so devastating.

 

I too believe that while Obsidian wanted the impact of Visas' story to come from the revelations of her story unfolding rather than simply showing a cinema scene, I think that the destruction of Katarr and Malachor would have made powerful scenes if executed properly. Scenes that would have added to the story rather than taken away.

 

Nihilus, like Darth Maul, deserved more story, more grandeur. But I do believe that in the case of Darth Nihilus, that story was originally intended to be there.

[tu2thepoo]

I love your suggestions, tu2thepoo. Only one problem. As per the Star Wars D20 RPG, all Miraluka (Visas' race) are born without eyes. Force Sight is their ONLY sight, and always was. This is why what Nihilus did to her was so devastating.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

oh, hah! i just figured they were born blind or something.

[Stargate: 2000]

Nihilus, like Darth Maul, deserved more story, more grandeur. But I do believe that in the case of Darth Nihilus, that story was originally intended to be there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I read some place on these forums that Ni was supost to meet the exile at peragus along with sion or maybe in place of sion I am not sure. I also think he was suppost to be the main bad guy... though thats more speculation than fact on my part.

[T.A.M]

I personally didn't mind Nihilus's background being so vague, in his case it suited the character. Though a Malachor flashback would have been great.

[AlanC9]

But the doggone game says (through HK) that HK was built during the Jedi Civil War, even though HK says in the first he was made during the Mandalorian wars.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No, HK says no such thing in KotOR 1. He specifically says that he was created right after Revan and Malak began their war to conquer the galaxy. His first target was in Mandalorian space, but that doesn't mean that the assassination had anything to do with the Mandalorian War.

[Aegis]

As per the Star Wars D20 RPG, all Miraluka (Visas' race) are born without eyes. Force Sight is their ONLY sight, and always was.

 

I remember reading somewhere that they used to have eyes, and they sort of evolved force sight that replace normal eyesight. At the time of KotOR (i.e. 4000 years or so before the movies), the Miraluka still had eyes, they were just not functional (sort of like bats).

 

I'm no expert, though. Just something I read somewhere, and it's not a big leap of faith. If nothing else, Obsidian could've suggested it to LA and LA could've made it so, problem solved.

[tu2thepoo]

Didn't HK say something about someone sending him against mandalore in KOTOR1? I remember you could tease him about biting off more than he could chew.