Holonet History Presents: Knights of the Old Republic (Let's Play)

[Tam_OConnor]

NOTICE 28.2.2014: Holonet History is remastering and re-releasing Knights of the Old Republic on Tumblr. Check it out!

NOTICE 5/5/2012: Due to Imageshack limiting free accounts to 500 pictures, this LP is going to become imageless shortly. I am going to preserve a copy for my own records, and eventually hope to make that copy available to the internet at large. Thanks for reading, and sorry for the inconvenience.

Here at Holonet History, we're committed to bringing you, our viewers, the highest quality entertainment and education possible. That's why, in the face of our current galactic conflict, we're beginning a new series about a very similar time in our history.

The galaxy had just emerged from the chaos of the Mandalorian Wars, when the Republic had united under the generalship of two young Jedi Knights. But those Knights, unwilling to give up power in the wake of their crushing victory at Malachor V, began a military coup against the Republic.

It was the beginning of the Jedi Civil War. Several years into the conflict, Jedi Loyalists attempted a surgical strike at the leaders of the opposition, now calling themselves Darth Revan and Darth Malak. The operation was a partial success. Revan was eliminated, but Malak remained in power. Raging at the treachery of the Loyalists, backed by seemingly limitedless numbers of battle droids and warships, Malak began to force the Republic back along the hyperspace corridors. It is here, as the Republic begins to crumble, that we begin.

Holonet History means to bring you an intensely personal view of the Jedi Civil War, as seen through the records surrounding

Out-Of-Character: Important information concerning update schedule and spoilers.

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Welcome to the Let's Play of Knights of the Old Republic! Oddly enough, neither the SomethingAwful or OotS boards have had a KotOR Let's Play yet. The Old Republic MMORPG is due out fairly soon, so I figured that I'd provide a re-cap for those of us who don't want to slog through Taris again.

As the rest of the post indicates, I'll be writing these from the point of view of a Clone Wars-era Holonet program, scavanging what they can from nearly 4000 year old records (TVTropes warning). Anything out of character will be in these ending spoiler blocks: they could be rants on the gameplay, comments on the philosophy or just items of general interest that don't fit into the narrative.

Since this is the internet, I'll be scattering copious amounts of hyperlinks about, most of which will direct you to the relevant Wookiepedia entry. There may be occasional Youtube videos, either of cutscenes or of particularly hilarious moments. For the most part, though, this Let's Play will be text and picture.

I'll update Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until we finish this game. Unlike most Let's Plays, this one will be less 'what do we do next?' and more 'storytime!' And let me emphasize something: Don't post spoilers, or I will be very cross with you. I know the spoiler limitation has run out, but try to be courteous to those who haven't played the game.

One question for you guys and gals: would you like the updates in spoiler blocks or out in the open like above?

Episode List:

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Episode One: In which we meet our heroes, amidst explosions.
Episode Two: In which gaming takes place, and hostilities flare.
Episode Three: In which our heroes fall in with base criminals, and grapple with trust.
Episode Four: In which our heroes deal with aliens.
Episode Five: In which criminals reveal their base nature, and a heroine reveals her undergarments.
Episode Six: Which concerns Mandalorians.
Episode Seven: In which truths, lies and blaster bolts are exchanged.
Episode Eight: In which the Jedi Council is consulted.
Episode Nine: In which our heroes learn many new things.
Episode Ten: Which concerns justice and war.
Episode Eleven: Which concerns the Dark Side and the importance of names.
Episode Twelve: In which our heroes discover a mysterious Star Map.
Episode Thirteen: Which concerns a family feud.
Episode Fourteen: Which contains threats and flirting.
Episode Fifteen: In which our heroes receive their mission, and dangers are spoken of.
Episode Sixteen: In which old men talk about war, slavery and trade. And play Pazaak.
Episode Seventeen: In which feet are placed in mouths, shipments go awry, and sand gets everywhere.
Episode Eighteen: In which problems are found, Crusaders are slain, and a droid is acquired.
Episode Nineteen: A translation of the Epic of Janni, part one.
Episode Twenty: A translation of the Epic of Janni, part two.
Episode Twenty-One: In which our heroes quarrel, and an opportunity appears.
Episode Twenty-Two: In which the history of the Sand People is related.
Episode Twenty-Three: Which concerns tactics, amphibians and quality time with hydrospanners.
Episode Twenty-Four: Which concerns missions on Manaan, candid discussions of emotions, and political dialogues with strangers.
Episode Twenty-Five: In which a secret organization is revealed.
Episode Twenty-Six: In which a great deal of discussion leads to the violent solution.
Episode Twenty-Seven: Which contains an appalling amount of violence in an embassy.
Episode Twenty-Eight: In which the local courts are ineffectual, and treaties are revealed to have been broken.
Episode Twenty-Nine: Which deals with madness in the depths.
Episode Thirty Which deals with decisions on the ocean floor.
Episode Thirty-One: Which concerns mental trickery, police custody and senators.
Episode Thirty-Two: In which our heroes decide to go on vacation.
Episode Thirty-Three: In which a secret history is revealed.
Episode Thirty-Four: Which concerns Jedi Generals, Hutts and the importance of family.
Episode Thirty-Five: In which our heroes arrive on Kashyyyk and confront slavers.
Episode Thirty-Six: Which contains violence against animals, sentient or otherwise.
Episode Thirty-Seven: A translation of the Epic of Hanni.
Episode Thirty-Eight: Which concerns old men lost in the woods.
Episode Thirty-Nine: In which rogue Mandalorians are dealt with, and ethics is debated.
Episode Forty: Which concerns rituals and rage.
Episode Forty-One: In which another family dispute is resolved.
Episode Forty-Two: Which concerns betrayal, relationships and droid repair.
Episode Forty-Three: Which contains romance and difficult decisions.
Episode Forty-Four: In which our heroes are tortured, and a riveting slicing sequence takes place.
Episode Forty-Five: Which concerns vengeance, violence and unfortunate meetings.
Episode Forty-Six: In which revelations are made.
Episode Forty-Seven: Which concerns trust.
Episode Forty-Eight: In which the term 'swirling force' is discussed, and new information comes to light.
Episode Forty-Nine: Which contains chance meetings, planned meetings, meetings with idiots, meetings with smugglers and meetings with Crusaders.
Episode Fifty: Which contains tests and torture.
Episode Fifty-One: In which fatherhood is discussed and minor betrayals occur.
Episode Fifty-Two: Which contains scheming and betrayal.
Episode Fifty-Three: Which contains monsters and betrayal by idiots.
Episode Fifty-Four: Which contains philosophical discussions under the threat of torture, and very little betrayal.
Episode Fifty-Five: Which contains traps, spirits, and absolutely no betrayal.
Episode Fifty-Six: In which tests are successfully concluded, and there is much scheming, but no betrayal.
Episode Fifty-Seven: In which, making up for the previous two episodes, there is a great deal of betrayal.
Episode Fifty-Eight: In which wits are matched.
Episode Fifty-Nine: In which our heroine speaks with old men about their personal lives.
Episode Sixty: Which contains rodians and betrayal.
Episode Sixty-One: Which contains love advice from old men and unfortunate patrols.
Episode Sixty-Two: In which angry natives and marooned survivors appear.
Episode Sixty-Three: Which contains glories past and future.
Episode Sixty-Four: Which contains regrets about the past and planning for the future.
Episode Sixty-Five: Which contains Temple invasion.
Episode Sixty-Six: In which the Imperial Censorship Bureau runs rampant, and a confrontation occurs.
Episode Sixty-Seven: In which the Star Forge is invaded, and ablative armor is put to use.
Episode Sixty-Eight: In which all outstanding details are resolved.

Appendices:
Appendix A: Sources and Appendix B: Gameplay.
Appendix C: Mission and Appendix D: Juhani
Appendix E: The Darker Path and Appendix E: Orthodoxy

[Ignition]

I prefer spoilers, honestly; it's just easier to compartmentalize for my limited mortal brain

Good luck with it, though! If you can get past Taris, you'll be farther in the game than I ever cared to be.

[Squark]

Sounds interesting.

[The_Werebear]

Ah, another tab for my copious list.

I'll be reading avidly.

[king.com]

I am the only one who read Holonet History and thought "TALES. OF. INTEREST!"?

Anyway a great game and look forward to the lets play.

[dgnslyr]

This looks fun. KotOR is an awesome game, and it gave me my first taste of d20. Who's going to be in your party? All Jedi, (like me, sadly)? It's strong in battle but not particularly fun or skillful. I'd like to see how this pans out.

[SITB]

SA does have a KOTOR LP it's just slow going. And evil.

Rwgarding the actual LP, did you decide the name of the MC or do you want the readers to propose one?

[Tam_OConnor]

I've got a name for the main character. Thematic naming! Unless I hear folks speaking against it, looks like the updates will be spoilered.

Thanks for the link; I don't browse the SA forums, just the LP archive, so that explains why I missed it. It's pretty much diametrically opposed: a video LP with a male main character run by the goons. They should turn out to be very different.

[Mando Knight]

I just recently got a hankering for some KotOR action myself. Turns out my old disk version didn't work on Win7, and the online-granted solution didn't either, and I don't know how to register a physical copy of the game on STEAM (is the requested number the CD key, or what? Can't find my KotOR manual anyway...), so I had to shell out $10 for a fresh, direct-to-drive copy...

[Tam_OConnor]

Welcome...

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(Cue Music)

...to Knights of the Old Republic.

Episode 1

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Our story begins on the Endar Spire, a Hammerhead-class cruiser in orbit over the planet-city of Taris.

The Hammerhead was the workhorse of the Republic Navy, sharing a similar role to the modern Venator-class. Right now, the Endar Spire is outmatched, ambushed by multiple Crusader fighters and capital ships. And, in a starboard dorsal cabin...

The comm systems chatter open:


The hull rings as magnetic docking clamps engage, and Crusader marines pour onto the Endar Spire.


The ambushing forces stay their fire, though snubfighters continue to dogfight around the craft. The cruiser is wracked with explosions as the systems begin a cascade failure. The first of the escape pods blaze away, falling into Taris' atmosphere.

Throughout the Endar Spire, Crusader and Loyalist Jedi clash. The Crusaders were distinguished by their uniformly red-bladed lightsabers. Loyalists bore a wide variety of saber colors, but defaulted to blue, green or yellow.

Meanwhile, Specialist Jan Ni had equipped herself and made for the bridge. Republic military records list knowledge of a wide variety of languages, including Dosh, Durese, Huttese, Mando'a, Rodese and Shyriiwook. However, if she had been on board solely as a linguist, she would have been ranked as a 'linguistic aide.' The paucity of her records indicate advanced commando training. There are two grades of commandos: vanguard or elite commandos, like our modern ARC Troopers, and hidden commandos, whose missions are kept strictly confidential.

Specialist Jan Ni was the second kind. She made her way to the bridge, leaving a trail of corpses behind her. The bridge had fallen, and she avoiding Crusader Jedi and troopers to make it to the nearest bay of escape pods.

Waiting for her was Commander Carth Onasi. He had been decorated for valor in the Mandolorian Wars on multiple occasions, most notably for his actions of Serroco that saved thousands of lives.

The two boarded an escape pod, and evacuated the Endar Spire just after the Crusaders resumed firing on the vessel. Debris from the exploding cruiser battered the pod, damaging the gyroscopic stabilizers and sending it into an uncontrolled spin. Both soldiers blacked out due to the gravitational forces, and the pod screamed downwards at the planet-city of Taris...

Commentary

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The Endar Spire serves as a tutorial for the game, so I cut out large swathes of it to stay in character. That, and what exactly happened on the ship wouldn't make it into the historical record.

A terminology clarification: the game refers to 'Jedi' and 'Sith.' However, from an outsider's perspective, there are only two Jedi factions: the Loyalists (who didn't assist the Republic in the Mandolorian Wars) and the Crusaders, Revanchists or Malachians (either in opposition to the Mandolorian Neo-Crusaders or in reference to their leaders, Revan and Malak). Properly, Malachians and Revanchists referred to sub-factions within the Crusaders during the Mandolorian Wars, and to the leader during the Jedi Civil War. Crusader and Malachian are synonymous during the events of Knights of the Old Republic.


This is the character screen. Because this is an RPG, we start at 1st level, in defiance of common sense. Thankfully, we leveled up on the Endar Spire. Here's Jan when we got into the escape pod:

For contrast, here's Carth's right now:

The big contrast (besides most of his numbers being bigger) is the background behind each character. Knights of the Old Republic tracks Force Alignment, with blue and white indicating Light Side actions, and red and black indicating Dark Side actions. We can see that Carth is pretty strongly Light Sided. In D&D alignments, Carth is Lawful Good. He's fiercely loyal to the Republic, but he recognizes social injustices and fights against them. Later on, we'll see precisely how he integrates his goodness with a willingness to kill.

By contrast, Jan Ni starts at Neutral. Rather than picking an alignment and living up to it (or not) as in earlier Bioware games (Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights), we decide our character's alignment in play.

Once we actually get Jedi in the party (not a spoiler; it's a Star Wars game about the Jedi Civil War, for crying out loud), their Force Alignment will affect the force point costs for various powers. If one is Dark Sided, one gets a discount on Force Lighting. The more strongly Dark Sided one is, the cheaper Force Lightning is. For non-Jedi, Force Alignment is just a handy 'likes kitty-smushing' or 'loves puppies' guide.

Next time, on Knights of the Old Republic:

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[Irbis]

Ah, the arena. I wonder who will shake in their boots?

[Terry576]

Ah, the arena. I wonder who will shake in their boots?

VICTOR FROM THE BLUE TEAM, LEAVE THE ARENA NOW AND REST.

[Fayd]

VICTOR FROM THE BLUE TEAM, LEAVE THE ARENA NOW AND REST.

You've earned it?

[Irbis]

THE MYSTEHIOUS STHANGERRR!

[Tam_OConnor]

Welcome...

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(Cue Music)

...to Knights of the Old Republic.

Episode Two

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Taris is a planet-wide city, much like Coruscant, though less affluent. The shifting importance of hyperspace routes have removed Taris from its former profitable position, leaving it a faded world. Recently Taris, under Senator Kin Robb, joined the Council of Neutral Systems. At this point in time, though, Taris was still a factor in galactic politics, one of the multiple points of contact between the Republic and Crusader-controlled space.

The escape pod pinwheeled through the atmosphere, ablative re-entry armor being shed in its wake. Commander Onasi, hovering at the point of unconsciousness, manages to engage the emergency stabilizers, and lapses into blackness. The escape pod skips across a mercifully empty plaza, and comes to a stop on the very edge, just shy of falling.

Onasi regains consciousness first, and rouses Specialist Ni, and the two of them flee the crash site ahead of the Crusader investigation team. The pair take refuge in an abandoned apartment. For a few days, they laid low, patching wounds received during their escape. Onasi begins a journal, one of our most valuable sources from this period. He writes:

Presumably, he refers to the incident aboard the Arkanian Legacy during the Mandolorian Wars, which, among other things, involved elite Mandolorian, Arkanian and Republic forces, including the future Darth Malak, in a close-combat encounter that resulted in massive casualties on all sides. Also note that he uses the derogative 'Sith' to refer to the Crusader Jedi; the term is present in the original text, and is indicative of Onasi's time and place. Holonet History is committed to bringing you an unvarnished view of history; this sort of casual racism was an unfortunate symptom of the close-minded nature of the early days of the Republic.

Onasi continues:

This sort of determination under unconceivable odds is why Onasi was so often decorated for bravery. Fortunately for historians, Onasi wasn't writing this journal for his own consumption, but as a log of his time behind enemy lines. Because of this, he explains for the ignorant reader who Bastila is. He notes her as Force Commander, a rank inferior to the more common Jedi General, implying a shared command with a career officer. Additionally, he specifies that, despite her youth, she has mastered the rare talent of Battle Meditation.

He lists their available resources, which were extraordinary sparse. Between Onasi and Ni, they had less than a hundred credits to their name, and only what armaments they had managed to retain during their flight from the crashed escape pod. However, there is one spot of hope:

They make their way to a local cantina, where Ni starts to remedy their credit deficiency:

Compared to surviving the destruction of the Endar Spire, cheating at Pazaak (an archaic form of Sabaac) was a simple matter. Ni cleaned out the local cardsharks while Onasi learned that several escape pods had crashed in the lower levels of Taris. On the prowl for more credits, Ni had an offer from a local Hutt.



Without stopping to consult with Onasi, Ni accepted. The following tapes were in syndication for decades afterwards. (Cue Music)

















A spectator described the last duel:

"It was like one of those duels from Corellian holovids. They locked eyes across the arena. I could hear everyone in the arena holding their breath. I know I was. They showed the replays for days: Twitch drew first, but the Mysterious Stranger shot first. And just like that, it was over. No grenades, no vibroblades. But it was the most exhilarating duel I'd ever seen."


Onasi, understandably, was less than pleased with Ni having her face plastered over viewscreens three meters high.

Onasi doesn't record exactly how that particular situation was defused, though it's possible that the prize money convinced him. He does, however, express further suspicions about Ni. Onasi notes that she was added to the crew roster at the last minute by Bastila and the Loyalist Jedi.

Commentary

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Ripping through the Taris Duel Ring like a neutrino through plasma bumped Jan up two levels. Carth's still at 5th, on account of him not doing anything. They're fairly financially solvent at this point, though.

One thing you may have noticed during the fight with Gerlon Two-Fingers: that yellow arrow over Jan's character portrait indicates that Jan's leveled up. While it's usually in your favor to level up immediately, there's another benefit. Leveling up completely refills your hit points. At this point in the game, Jan's fairly delicate, which means that a free heal can save her space-bacon, as it did during the fight with Ice. That woman hits hard, and she's just as good hand-to-hand or at range. Marl you can just run away from and shoot as he tries to catch up to you, and Twitch can be out-shot (with the help of an energy shield or three), but Ice...

In terms of equipment: I've gone for weight of fire over accuracy, and kitted both Carth and Jan out with dual blasters. Jan also found an upgradeable vibroblade in the Endar Spire, and will be using it whenever she needs a melee weapon.

I should mention that I'm using several mods. None of them are particularly large, but if you see a weapon you don't recognize, feel free to ask. I did try a mod to reduce vibroblade to the size they're supposed to be (knives, not swords). However, while the mod worked fine, it did so by treating vibroblades as stun batons for the weapon animations, which meant they couldn't be dual wielded. So much for my dreams of parrying daggers.

Carth's trust issues are starting to break through. This is the point where he starts to lose control of the whole situation. He outranks Jan in a technical sense, but he knows now that she's going to take her own initiative. Which, in an independent operative, is an excellent trait. It's less helpful when working as a team, especially when your teammate has problems trusting anyone already.

You'll notice that I'm skipping over what seem to action sequences (the flight from the escape pod). Sadly, they're not. It's just a little inconceivable that Carth manages to lug Jan and the entire inventory away from the crash site before being noticed. I also cut out some brawling in the streets with Exchange thugs (interplanetary criminal organization), mainly because it just provides a heavy handed opportunity to start to shift your Force Alignment.

Pazaak is essentially a blackjack variant. The version in KotOR is outrageously stacked in the computer's favor, but I've got the power of the savegame on my side. Anyone want to see a few matches played out?

I'm blowing through Taris at a fairly brisk clip; anyone want me to slow down? At this rate, I'll have finished the planet in four-ish more episodes. Anything in particular that the viewing audience wants to see? Spoiler and note those requests, if you have them.

Next time, on Knights of the Old Republic

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[The_Werebear]

I'd like it if you could throw in the Villain ball Vendor Igear in the Undercity. I'd like to see how he gets justified in history.

[Terry576]

You should mod it with either restored content or the mod that updates all the graphics, so it's prettier.

Also Vulcans?

A NEW CHALLENGER APPROACHES!!!

[Fri]

Just popping in to say I'm enjoying this in-universe-pov lp

[Starbuck_II]

Huh, I thought Something aweful had one. But this is interesting.
Scoundrel or Scout seem most popular Main characters.
You know I rarely see Soldier/Jedi.

[Terry576]

Huh, I thought Something aweful had one. But this is interesting.
Scoundrel or Scout seem most popular Main characters.
You know I rarely see Soldier/Jedi.

I always played Soldier, even before I consoled. I enjoyed being known as "Revan, Soldier of the Republic, Warrior of Justice."

I did name my character Revan. Even before I knew who Revan was.

[Mando Knight]

*nitpick* "Sith" was a perfectly appropriate term, and probably more likely to be used by the Clone Wars-era Republic to refer to Revan's Sith Empire than "Crusader Jedi" even millennia after the Jedi Civil War. After all, that's what they called them during the war, that's what the Empire called itself during the war, and that's how all the official records were likely written.

Unless this is a publication by an anti-Jedi media outlet, of course. In which case the Dark Side ending would be a very possible outcome, showing the corruptibility and evils of the Jedi.

I always played Soldier, even before I consoled. I enjoyed being known as "Revan, Soldier of the Republic, Warrior of Justice."

My first playthrough was as a Soldier, but since then I've come to prefer the Scout for the not-Jedi class: lower BAB, HP, and fewer feats, but gets Implants for free and also gets Flurry/Rapid Shot and hella lot of skills compared to the Soldier, which means that it comes out to roughly the same end feat-wise to me, ending up trading a couple points of BAB and HP (minor, since I usually grab Toughness anyway so I get the DR 2/- from Tough2, which is useful early on, and my attack bonuses are rather irrelevant quickly enough anyway) for enough extra skills that I don't have to run to T3 or Mission every time I need something other than Persuasion and healing.

Master Flurry, in my opinion, is a better feat than Master Power Attack if the implications from the text is correct (MPA only applying to the next weapon attack rather than all attacks in the round, and I haven't tested this thoroughly) since MF grants an additional attack for only a -1 penalty to your attacks... which is potentially much stronger than a single-attack MPA, since it grants what could be an additional 2d8+Helluvalot rather than +10, and at less of an attack penalty.

I did name my character Revan. Even before I knew who Revan was.

Malak: "They never told you, Revan? Even though they had you keep the same name?!"
Revan: "Oh, I'm that Revan! No wonder I've got the same name as him (/her)! It all makes sense now!"

[Terry576]

Revan: Suddenly the awkwardness Bastila felt around me makes so much more sense!
Malak: ...Revan, did they give you a few concussions before they let you out?
Revan: Probably.

[Tam_OConnor]

A Public Service Announcement from Holonet History
We understand that this is a beloved subject of many of you, but please, for the sake of the ignorant among our audience, hide your spoilers. And remember that senatorial elections are this week, so get out to your planet's polls and vote. Just because we're in a war doesn't mean that democracy can fall by the wayside.

Welcome...

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(Cue Music)

...to Knights of the Old Republic.

Episode 3

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Commander Onasi and Specialist Ni have left the gleaming upper levels of Taris, descending to the neglected lower levels, trying to reach the escape pods that crashed into the Undercity. Onasi records that they visited a few of the local cantinas, chasing eyewitnesses and sampling the local Tarisian ales. He notes with disgust that a bounty hunter, one Calo Nord, showed no hesitation whatsoever in detonating a flash grenade in the middle of the cantina in order to secure his bounties.




(Sounds of blaster fire, and bodies hitting the ferroconcrete floor)

During their investigations, they learned of the two leading gangs of the Lower City: the Hidden Beks and the Black Vulkars. While the Beks were somewhat reasonable, and only demanded small fees for passage through their territory, the Black Vulkars would outright attack tresspassers into their domains.



After a few days of chasing rumors, Onasi records that they sought out the Hidden Bek base, hoping the gang leader would be willing to sell them the precise location of the pod crash. After paying a hefty fee, the gang leader, Gadon Thek, gave them the location of the crash, and more:



Onasi is filled with a sudden burst of optimism, sharing perhaps more than he intended:



Thek seemed to ignore Onasi's implication that Bastila was a Jedi, though later events do not bear this out. His next statement seems calculated to crush Onasi's hopes:



Thek: "Brejik's probably got your Republic friend hidden away someplace safe until then. You'll never find her."



Thek: "The race is for Lower City gangs only. I could sponsor you as a rider for the Hidden Beks this year. If you win the race, you'll win your friend's freedom."



Thek: "But the Vulkars stole the prototype from us. They plan to use it to guarantee a victory in this year's swoop race. I need you to break into their base and steal it back."

Onasi and Ni beg off for a few minutes to confer. Onasi asks, "How do we know we can trust you?"



With no real option, Onasi and Ni agree. And then Thek makes his hand obvious, by suggesting that they find one Mission Vao and enlist her services.



Thek: "She and her Wookie friend Zaalbar are always looking to stir up a little excitement. They like to go exploring in the Undercity, despite the dangers."

Onasi includes a rare comment from Ni, made after they leave Thek's presense. "The Undercity. It's not like it's an entire layer of the planet-wide city or anything. Of course we can find them." He doesn't mention any eyerolling or rude hand gestures.

As they make their way to the indicated elevator down to the Undercity, Onasi mentions witnessing some Black Vulkar thugs being shaken down by an enforcer for the Exchange. The Exchange was an intergalactic criminal organization, existing on a scale comparable to the Republic. The local Exchange boss was a human named Davik Kang. He employed two other notables: the bounty hunter Calo Nord and a Mandolorian enforcer named Canderous Ordo.



Onasi digressed from his narrative at length to rail against the Mandolorians, and other such tired racist rhetoric.

He does, however, record a lengthy conversation between himself and Ni:




Onasi: "But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop watching you or being wary. I'm just not built that way. Period."

Ni: "And what, exactly, are you watching me for?"









(The Bomarr Order)

Commentary

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Jan leveled, bring her up to Carth's level (probably where she should have started). I could go off on a rant here about levels, but I'll just direct you to this essay and this D&D variant if you're interested.

I do feel that this was a wasted opportunity for the game. One of the frequent complaints about the game is that it takes entirely too long to get off of Taris. This is primarily, I believe, because there's really only one path to get off Taris. You have to a) obtain the Crusader soldier uniform to get into the Lower City, b) trade that uniform to Gadon to get a passcard so that the guard will allow you into the Under City, etc. Essentially, it's a long series of hoops, and there isn't an alternate route (though the Dark Side route allows you to double back and break some of the hoops).

Let's talk about Carth some more. Since you play the protagonist, Carth is obviously intended to be your Lancer (TVTropes warning). However, divorcing the story from the game from the moment, Jan could be seen as Carth's Lancer. The problem is that neither of them is really assuming a leadership position. Once we actually get a few more party members, then all the archetypes will start falling into place. And, fortunately enough, we pick up our third party member next episode.

Right now it'd be fairly easy to see a typical buddy-cop movie, albeit during wartime. Two soldiers, one a hero, the other a glorified assassin, on a mission to rescue a POW. Very much a Del Rey Han Solo or Lando Calrissian Adventures feel. No hokey religions, just good blasters. Ironic that it happens during the Jedi Civil War, no?

Again, I'm leaping over the boring 'open door, kill every gang member inside' sequences. Partially because the Vulkar's aggression doesn't make all that much sense, partially because Jan and Carth were entirely too busy trying to track down fallen escape pods. Trying this back into the missed opportunity, this could have been a great spot to emphasize the dialogue, instead of murdermurdermurder. Keep the bounties, but allow you to reason with the roaming gangs, Vulkar and Bek.

Next time, on Knights of the Old Republic:

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[Irbis]

One thing you may have noticed during the fight with Gerlon Two-Fingers: that yellow arrow over Jan's character portrait indicates that Jan's leveled up. While it's usually in your favor to level up immediately, there's another benefit. Leveling up completely refills your hit points.

Um... levelling so quickly might be a bad idea. You see, when you get to [censored] your class changes. And some levels of the starting classes are just bad, meaning they're a good cut-off point.

I know I beat the game three times with level-holding everything but the first two (compulsory), making Scoundrel 2/[censored] 18. Yup, even Starkiller is beatable if you know what you're doing as weakest class - on hard!

I'm blowing through Taris at a fairly brisk clip; anyone want me to slow down? At this rate, I'll have finished the planet in four-ish more episodes. Anything in particular that the viewing audience wants to see?

Why slow-down? Later planets are larger, you have a lot of ground to cover. And KotOR II if that comes to that. Don't slow, just insert more from yourself and make a few cliff-hangers where readers could decide!

Two soldiers, one a hero, the other a glorified assassin, on a mission to rescue a POW. Very much a Del Rey Han Solo or Lando Calrissian Adventures feel. No hokey religions, just good blasters. Ironic that it happens during the Jedi Civil War, no?

Han Solo was excellent. Triply excellent. Serial based on that would be the best thing Lucas made since TESB

Lando? Completely different. It was full of hokey religions and nonsense, and no blasters, too

[Fri]

No, this isn't going too fast. And anyway it's better to finish an lp fast rather than dawdling in my opinion.

[Tam_OConnor]

With regard to holding levels:

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I've beaten Starkiller with a second level character before (kite, kite, kite the Mandolorian). But it's annoying, and you've got that level-up icon over your character portrait, which makes the screenshots less pretty. Plus, I'm a firm believer in retraining, and I've got a utility that lets me do it. Actually, if you count it out, I'm not exactly running a 25 point buy character either.

With regard to the Lando Calrissian Adventures:
You know, it's been years since I read them, so thanks for catching that error. It's a wonder I remembered them at all. Should probably re-read the Han Solo Adventures when I have a few spare hours.

With regard to terminology:
Yeah, Sith would be the technically accurate term. However, one of the things I liked about KotOR 2 is that it introduced the term "Jedi Civil War." The average citizen was likely to have been confused on why the heroes Revan and Malak were now at war with the Republic. Hence "Loyalist" and "Crusader." From a purely historical perspective, take Carth's advice and don't trust anyone. What's the motivation behind this history?

With regard to graphics:
Unfortunately, I'm playing this on my netbook. This computer whines when I try to get it to run Valve's Source engine (Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines). So better graphics are sadly not happening.

Four more episodes should see us off of Taris.

[Tam_OConnor]

Holonet History would like to apologize for the delayed nature of this presentation, but our station's Holonet transponder was damaged by debris from the Battle of Coruscant. With Count Dooku neutralized by General Skywalker, we can only hope that this horrible conflict in near its end.

Welcome...

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(Cue music)

...to Knights of the Old Republic

Episode 4

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Around the elevator leading to the Lower City huddled a small village of outcasts, living off of scraps from the world above.



But when Onasi asked about any downed escape pods:



While Onasi went to talk with Gendar, Ni stayed behind, asking Igear why he was in conflict with the headman:



Have received vague directions to the crash site, the two left the convines of the village. They heard the sound of crying, and followed the noise to its source, a young Twi'lek girl.

Ni: "You're Mission Vao, right? Gadon Thek said you could help me."



Vao: "Me... me and Zaalbar were just wandering around here in the Undercity. You know, looking for stuff we could find, just kind of exploring. We do it all the time. Only this time, they were waiting for us. Gamorrean slave hunters. We didn't even have a chance to run. Big Z threw himself at them, and he roared for me to run!"

Ni: "If we help you get Zaalbar back, you have to get us inside the Vulkar base. Gadon said you knew a secret way in."



The trio set out, gunning down mutants as they made their way to the fallen escape pod, still smoking from the crash.




Poking through the wreckage, they found a Republic soldier, greviously injured by the crash and the claws of mutants. As Onasi and Vao tried to patch his wounds, Ni injected him with a stimulant and asked about Bastila.



Though Onasi was skilled in battlefield medicine, the soldier was too far gone, and succumbed to his wounds soon thereafter. Sceams and blaster discharges drew their attention, and the trio raced to the source of the sounds, finding the Mandolorian Canderous Ordo, surrounded by corpses of mutants and men.



Ni learned from Ordo that the Exchange boss Davik Kang had sent Ordo and his time to loot the Republic escape pods, but had arrived too late. The Mandolorian advised Ni and company not to waste their time, and led the remains of his command back to the Lower City.

Vao led her new companions to the nearest sewer entrance, and then directly to the Gamorrean compound.





Ni freed the wookie from a tiny cage, and he made a surprising pronouncement:



Zaalbar: "When the Gamorreans captured me, I thought I was doomed to a life of servitude. I have been saved from such a fate, and the only way I can repay that is through a lifedebt."



Ni: "I am honored to accept your vow."



Vao: "So... I guess I still owe you one secret path into the Vulkar base. That was the deal, wasn't it? Don't worry, I know a backdoor into that scum den!"

Onasi, noting that he lacked the requisite commando skills to effect an entrance into the base unnoticed, left via the sewers. He encountered a Crusader force, and managed to mislead them into thinking that he was assigned to guide them to downed escape pods. Onasi led the Crusaders to the escape pod that they had previously visited, right into a pack of roaming mutants. Only he survived the ensuing firefight.

In the village of outcasts, though, he was seized by an old man, calling himself Rukil.

Rukil: "By finding my apprentice, you have proved yourself worthy, up-worlder! You will be the beacon on our path to salvation! You will guide us to the Promised Land!"

Onasi makes not mention of finding any sort of apprentice. Despite this, the old man refused to let Onasi onto the elevator until he had recounted the entire history of the outcasts, originally rebels from Tarisian food riots.



Onasi, after listening to the old man's ranting for at least a quarter hour, managed to pry himself away from the outcast. But before he could board the elevator, he was approached by the shopkeeper Igear.



Igear: "He's gone senile, but Gendar still insists that we waste food on him. I don't suppose that you'd be willing to-"

Onasi didn't let Igear complete his thought. He reports relishing the punch immensely, perhaps too much. With Igear coughing out teeth behind him, Onasi boarded the elevator and ascended to the Lower City.

Because Ni, Vao and Zaalbar kept no surviving records, we only have two holo-stills of the infiltration.




Having secured the rear entrance by means of extensive mining, Ni, Vao and Zaalbar fought their way to the front of the Vulkar base. There, Vao took up a guard at the main entrance, while Ni, Onasi and Zaalbar pressed further into the base.






Ni managed to slice open the Vulkar's strongbox, adding thousands of credits to their liquid funds. Eventually, they came face to face with the base commander, who very notably was not Brejik. The twi'lek, Kandon Ark, had a proposal for Onasi and Ni:



Ark: "Brejik has grown tired of this petty war with Gadon and his pathetic followers. He needs someone to get rid of Gadon... permanently. If you do this task for him Brejik is willing to offer a very substantial reward. How does 500 credits sound? Oh, and we'll throw in that young Republic soldier we captured, too."

Onasi: "I thought she was being offered up as the prize in the swoop race."



Ark: "Whoever wins the swoop race gets the girl. Kill Gadon and we'll give you 500 credits, sponsor you as a Vulkar rider and equip your swoop with the accelerator. You can't lose!"

(The holos stretch and flicker with interference, finally resolving into a clear picture. Which holo does the screen show?

Option one: betraying a criminal:



Option two: loyalty to a criminal:



Votes will been taken until Friday, October 15th, 12pm central time)

Commentary

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Let's meet Mission Vao




and Zaalbar:




They're another pair, brains and brawn, protector and ward. Zaalbar won't distinguish himself story-wise for quite some time, but Mission adopts a ready dynamic with Carth and Jan. It's not one that we'll actually get to view in-game, because of a) story reasons that will soon become apparent and b) because she's more or less identical to Jan, but worse. Carth and Mission adopt an annoyed father/teenage daughter dynamic that is interesting the first time and just starts to grate after that.

Fortunately or not, we just went past Mission's only mandatory relation to the plot. The main problem with Mission is that she's easily replacable. She's a decent ranged attacker, but most of her damage comes from sneak attack, which is much easier to get as a melee attacker. Because we already have a scoundrel in the party (Jan), her skills are redundant (and will become even more redundant shortly).

I can't help but compare Mission to Imoen, from the Baldur's Gate series, another early-game thief-type. Imoen, though, had backstory connections to the main character (as your adopted sister) and could dual-class from thief to mage, making her much more versatile. Thief skills in Baldur's Gate were also exclusive, unlike KotOR, where any character can potentially learn Security (lockpicking) and Stealth. Imoen also had the advantage of not being fourteen-year old alien gutter trash. (My prejudices are showing!)

Zaalbar will get his spotlight section later on in the story, so I'll be sparse with the details until then. I will say that he's very much a stereotypical wookie, with less initial characterization than Chewbacca. And you can actually understand his lines, unlike Chewbacca, so the blandness is even harder to accomplish. He is, however, a complete monster in melee combat. His ability to wear armor, even mitigated by his high Constitution, means that he's squishy, even compared to Carth or Jan.

Speaking of our original pair, they leveled up. Twice.



Carth is starting to move down all of the ranged talent trees (Power Blast, Rapid Shot and Sniper Shot), more for variety of cinematics than power. He's already got Improved Two Weapon Fighting and Weapon Sepcialization (Blasters), and so hits often and hard, even without using feats.




Jan is likewise on Improved Two Weapon Fighting, but is picking up ancillatory feats like Implant (not that kind; think cyborg-esque enhancements) and the Toughness feats (because the Scoundrel only gets 1d6 hit points per level, and that just won't be enough. Also, Improved Toughness gives damage reduction 2/-).

I do have to rant briefly. Going by KotOR, technology hasn't advanced in the three thousand years between Jan Ni and Jan Ors. The Tales of the Jedi series kept the iconic appearance of the Jedi similar intact making the technology distinct from the Clone Wars/Rebellion era. And KotOR is close enough to that in timeline that Bastila was originally Vima Sunrider, though the character was changed because of some legal nonsense. I'm just a little disappointed that no effort was made to make the technology distinct from the movies. At all. Did I mention that I hate the concept of Medieval Stasis (TV Tropes warning) in fantasy as well? (No wiggling out with the 'Star Wars is just fantasy with bolts painted on' argument!)

On Igear: Werebear, I tried. I really did, but there's no way to spin it so that Rukil doesn't come off crazy and Igear doesn't twirl his (invisible) mustache before tying puppies to the swoop tracks. For those that haven't played the game, the quest goes like this:
1) Rukil asks you to find the journal of his apprentice.
2) You do, and he rants how you're going to lead them to the Promised Land, and would you kindly find the journals of his father and grandfather.
3) Igear stops you, and asks you to bring the journals to him instead, because he's important here, and in the Promised Land he would be irrelevant. Not 'I don't believe in the Promised Land,' which would be a theoretically defendable position. But 'I don't want these people to be happy because it would make me less important.'
4) You find the journals. You can
a) give them to Rukil, who gives you nothing, and convinces Gendar to abandon their village and go off into the mutant-infested wilds to get there, probably killing them all.
OR
b) sell them to Igear, for 100 credits (or 200, if you can drive a hard bargain), who destroys them.

The whole quest is mind-numbingly stupid, from either perspective. It's just also cartoonishly evil if you take Igear's side (and slightly more profitable).

Next time, on Knights of the Old Republic:

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[Mando Knight]

...You do realize you can down the Rancor with just a single frag grenade and a vial of the scent-chems found on the severed arm? Mines are good money.

[Fayd]

My vote: Stick with Gadon. I disliked the Vulkar far more during my playthrough, as they actually attacked me.

[Tam_OConnor]

Mando_Knight: Yes, yes I do. It's just more fun to be glaring stupid sometimes. Also, the opportunities for mine use are limited, so I relish planting a whole bunch at once. Also, it takes fewer screens to illustrate.