The Semi-Official Jedi Knight Thread

[Pronounceable]

I have recently been introduced to the wonderful cheat code of Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy. This one particularly wonderful cheat is "g_saberrealisticcombat 1" which makes sabers behave as they should. One slash and limbs go flying. In Outcast, you don't even have to swing. Run into the (non-jedi) enemy, Kyle's deflecting moves make saber go through the space enemy is occupying and CZZZT! Enemy becomes mincemeat. Academy tones it down a little, you actually have to click the mouse to cut the enemy into ribbons.

The first time I tried the code, it was in the Bar. I ran up to the blaster rodian and slashed. Off went both of his knees. Good times.

Of course, it works for the enemies too. A single glancing hit removes full shield, second glancing hit lops off your saber arm. This takes one slash shorter if you have less than 50 shield. The saber behaves as the ultimate weapon that it is (I think I'm repeating myself here). Heads literally roll. The duels become much, MUCH more fun and exciting.

Did I say sabers become as awesome as they should've been?

Anyone else tried this?


On another note, I managed to disintegrate Alora today. I thought enemy jedis were immune to guns. Even the lowest, saberless cultist can evade disruptor shots and consistently push concussion shots back at you. Or so it seemed.

Now I want to disintegrate Kyle, but I think that was a glitch. Alora seemed stuck in a small niche near the lavapit after I tried futilely to throw her down into a fiery death. I retreated behind a crate and sniped at the head. She disintegrated on the second charged hit.

Oh, she dies (as does Tavion and Kyle) on the second hit with the code on.

I had a jedigasm on Korriban this morning. Was darksided, so slaughtered every single living being on the maps.


Feel free to post whatever else you want about JO and JA here. Wish I had previous games...

[SolkaTruesilver]

I remember downloading the JK2 demo, wondering how it was. At first, hated it. I mean, why call it "Jedi" if you don't have a lightsaber?

...until I realised the Demo started with quite some weapons, Lightsabers included. I had a lot of fun hacking my way into Stormtroopers..


until the Duel. I was mesmerized. It was AWE-SOME! Trully, I saved-game there, and simply re-loaded it continously. I never had so much fun with Star Wars game before.

I have to say.. Jedi Academy was a disapointment. I don't even know why... the Dual-saber and double-sable aren't as cool as they should be. The whole combat is more arcade-like than Jedi Outcast, which was a little more.. ehh.. finessable?


I admit loving to use the g_saberrealisticcombat. It made lightsaber duels a really touchy business (but makes Force Speed simply overpowered. Sadly, the AI doesn't use it a lot), and non-jedi ennemies are simply laughable (except those with sniper rifle.. damn those. Why can't I dodge them in matrix-moves?)

[Maxymiuk]

(except those with sniper rifle.. damn those. Why can't I dodge them in matrix-moves?)

You can, at least in JK. What you need to do is equip the lightsaber, stand still, and point your targeting reticle at the sniper. When he shoots, you dodge.

It eats up a large portion of your Force bar though, which makes the whole excercise rather futile, unless you can take cover after 1-2 shots. And if you can take cover, why not do it in the first place?

[Beleriphon]

You can, at least in JK. What you need to do is equip the lightsaber, stand still, and point your targeting reticle at the sniper. When he shoots, you dodge.

It eats up a large portion of your Force bar though, which makes the whole excercise rather futile, unless you can take cover after 1-2 shots. And if you can take cover, why not do it in the first place?

Also if you max out the Force sight power and trigger it, you'll automatically dodge sniper shots while its active.

[Nibleswick]

I have to say that Dark Forces is still one of the most fantastic games that was ever made, JK is even better, JKO is better than that, JKA is disapointing. That is all I have to say.

[Jerthanis]

I've never played with realistic lightsaber combat, but I've beaten the game on Jedi Master, where 4 blaster bolt hits kill you from 100 shield and 100 health, to say nothing of what enemy lightsabers do to you... so it sounds like that cheat would make the game kind of easy. Probably extremely fun, but also easy. (the hardest part of the entire game on Jedi Master BTW, is not one of the lightsaber fights, it is the one room on Artus_surface which is in one of the AT-ST hangars where you have to get in to shut off the Ion cannons' shields, the room is packed with troops and there's no cover to hide behind, and any one of those 3 black-suited officers who actually uses the blaster rifle's burst fire will kill you in one volley.)

Jedi Outcast is simply fantastic. One of the things I really think defines a game is the feeling of scale from the first level to the last. Jedi Outcast is a masterpiece of scale. You start with a blaster pistol and sarcasm, and you end with the ability to practically wire-fu jump, practically outrun blaster bolts on foot, throw entire platoons of stormtroopers around with impunity, and you don't really notice when it was that you got so badass. The choice of making you fight Dessann in an unwinnable duel early in the game was genius. You finish the game with a profound sense of accomplishment.

I felt there were dozens of small problems with Jedi Academy, none of them so glaring as to make the game unplayable, or simply awful, but it just didn't have the polish of Jedi Outcast. The various lightsaber styles varied too much in power, and the Double Bladed lightsaber was simply too overpowered. On most difficulty modes, if you connected with its spinning blade attack it would kill the endboss outright. The story of the game was lacking too, with Tavion returning to be a relatively minor threat, and with too little explaination as to why. The avatar of the player never getting any real development or depth, and the sidekick other guy who telegraphed his painful fall to the dark side too obviously... the fact that almost all of the levels were, "Look out!"*fight* and didn't have any reason behind them... the "fall to the dark side" being represented not by decisions over the course of the game, but by a single binary choice that warned you ahead of time that it was the choice that mattered... It's like they had an okay idea for a arcadish action game with the same engine as JKO, but because it was a sequel to a game with characters and plot, they had to throw in some paltry attempts at both.

Also, don't you think it'd be awesome if in the next game, you play as Kyle Katarn, and you train the padawan yourself through a robust system of AI and training options, and programs tracking your overall play style when on missions together with your Padawan. If you turned off your lightsaber and walked between battles, it would record you as teaching your Padawan patience and consideration. If you used Mind Trick to make someone your ally, and then struck them down in cold blood while they thought you were their ally, it would teach the Padawan trickery and cruelty. And then based on your training regimen and your playstyle, it'd determine whether your Padawan would succeed on their solo missions, and whether they'd fall to the dark side before the end of the game. The AI would have to be really rediculously good to be able to not screw up continuously. The sections where you have to focus on keeping allies alive in the previous games can be a pain because you can't get them to do intelligent things sometimes, and they sometimes just screw up in combat.

[Assasinater]

Although Outcast is better in general, I liked Academy too, mainly because the missions were very interesting on their own. I agree that they don't make so much sense in comparison to the main plot, but anyway...

What I advise that you play Academy only with single lightsaber, red stance. It's like swinging a greatsword along, and timing becomes much more important than those fights that you lose yourself jumping around and hacking at the air (which generally happens when you choose saberstaff or dual sabers).

[Maxymiuk]

About the only thing that stood out for me in JA was the mission that had you flying on hoverbikes (or whatever those things were called), slashing at enemies with your lightsaber as they passed you. Now that was an adrenaline-boosting level.

What made it even more exciting for me was that initially I didn't even realize I could employ the lightsaber in that mission. So I finished the entire first section on nothing more than guts and well-timed sideswipes that sent the opponents crashing into walls. :smallbiggrin:

[king korath]

Outcast was better because every mission was linked. In JKA none of the missions deal with each other, except for the mission sets before your powers get upgraded.

[Pronounceable]

Although JKA was pathetic in terms of story, characterization, and whatnot; the worst of all, is that a mere padawan on her third field mission can outforcelightning Palpatine himself! WTF is that?

But who wasn't thrilled when they saw they could wield a saberstaff?

But it is indeed overpowered, so the game throws hordes of staff wielders at you just to make things interesting.

Assasinater: Single saber with red stance rocks! I've been playing exclusively on that lately. It's very satisfying to slice a stupid dual wielder in half as he idiotically twirls his sabers around himself with the Force. BTW, what sort of brainlessness is that move?
And staffs are for the noobs!

Maxymiuk: You know, I didn't realise the damn thing had blasters. I sabered my way through the buggers on my first try. That was the most frustrating mission on my first run.
And I once tried to go without the bike. It didn't end well.

Jerthanis: I can feel your anger. And you are right. JKA sucks when compared to JKO, but that's because JKO is so great. But JKA is a good game on its own.
I've also finished the game on master. And I remember that effing room. I spent about one hour trying to get those three officers. I'm gonna cheat myself a saber, grip 3 and lightning 3, then warp to that room and make a save called "Who's your daddy?" in front of the door.
Then there's that accursed ATST right at the start. Its rockets wipe out the ammo of the turret that I'm supposed to use to help the prisoners. At least I'm invulnerable while manning the turret, I'm spared from hearing Kyle's death screams over and over. That is the single worst point in the entire series, which depends entirely on luck to pass.

[Tormsskull]

Also, don't you think it'd be awesome if in the next game, you play as Kyle Katarn, and you train the padawan yourself through a robust system of AI and training options, and programs tracking your overall play style when on missions together with your Padawan. If you turned off your lightsaber and walked between battles, it would record you as teaching your Padawan patience and consideration. If you used Mind Trick to make someone your ally, and then struck them down in cold blood while they thought you were their ally, it would teach the Padawan trickery and cruelty. And then based on your training regimen and your playstyle, it'd determine whether your Padawan would succeed on their solo missions, and whether they'd fall to the dark side before the end of the game. The AI would have to be really rediculously good to be able to not screw up continuously. The sections where you have to focus on keeping allies alive in the previous games can be a pain because you can't get them to do intelligent things sometimes, and they sometimes just screw up in combat.

I'd buy this game in a heartbeat. I'm not sure how much replayability it would have, but I think it would be really cool the first time through. Also, they should allow you to customize your character (or in this case, your padawan) more in-depth, and fancy up the graphics a bit.

[Om]

I found Outcast to be nothing more than average. Average story, average plot, average characters, average fighting, average pacing. Average.

Dark Forces on the other hand was an amazing game when it was first released.