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extrapenguin) wrote2021-03-21 11:25 pm
extrapenguin) wrote2021-03-21 11:25 pm
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SWTOR: Imperial Agent ch 2
I slowed the fuck down, so I completed chapter 2 in 23h 38min less 14h 11min -> 9h 27min, rather than the perhaps expected 5h or so, but given how intense yesterday was, I decided I should take my time and massacre some weak mobs to get towards 1k kills with each companion. Taris was good; I think I killed, like, 700 rakghouls and Republic troops. (There's a very nice section with troops in clusters of 4 going south from the Imp landing zone and then turning east.) Screenshot album.
Taris: ~15h 30min to 17h 15min -> 1h 45min
(visit to Dromund Kaas + a heroic to catch up on levels)
Quesh: 18h 36min to 19h 4min -> 28 min (including killing a bunch of stuff to get Vector to 1k companion kills)
then I did the Boarding Party + The Foundry story flashpoints, and, uh, ended up overleveled, oops
Hoth: 21h 36min to 23h 10min -> 1h 34min
Chapter 2 complete at 23h 38min.
Okay, so after foiling a terrorist plot and discovering that it was all due to a Sith Lord's plotting, we're asked to pretend to defect to the Republic so we can bring a SIS leader down. Initially, it goes well, but plot twist: the SIS guy Ardun Kothe activates some sort of conditioning in you that forces you to obey and makes you unable to tell anyone about the brainwashing. This was a really great use of the video game UI, since we could pick from options like "[Kill] Oh no you don't" but what actually came out was "Yes, sir". (Side note: I really wish that we'd gotten something like that for the Jedi Knight's story. Even as one conversation with the Emperor! It would've sold the brainwashing thing so much better, sob.)
So we end up doing missions for the SIS while desperately trying to figure a way out of the brainwashing. The first one's a short one on Nar Shaddaa, the second one is on Taris trying to stop a Jedi dropout who's founded her own cult – except that it turns midway through into retrieving one of Dr Godera's (whom you may remember from the Jedi Knight's story) devices from her clutches, the third one is on Hoth retrieving a Republic shuttle from the ship graveyard, and the fourth is on Quesh, using the codes from the Godera device and the coordinates from the shuttle to retrieve another Godera device – a first strike missile system that could destroy all of Kaas City.
Also this was such a badass moment – a scientist we're saving tries to shoot us, and unloads the entire clip, missing every shot, and the Agent doesn't even twitch.
While that's going on, there's the whole breaking out of mind control thing. We get Watcher X's spirit/memory imprint/??? as a voice in our head, giving us hints and instructions, and the big plot twist is that the conditioning is actually Imperial standard, given to us after our defeat of Darth Jadus. (Can't have the regulars thinking they can take on a Sith Lord, after all!) The question of who leaked the control word is left open (and mole-tracking/counterintelligence will probably be what happens in Chapter 3), but we do manage to figure out that the conditioning is a chemical and can be overwritten with a second dose of the same, so that's what we do (hence our visit to Quesh). It takes time to come into effect, but we manage it just in time to stop Ardun Kothe from taking the Godera missile barrage system.
Brainwashing side effects include fainting.
There were fewer showstopper choices in chapter 2 – I only recall the way to deal with the brainwashing chemical subcontractor on Quesh – but the thing was nonetheless really interesting, both in its usage of the fact that it's a video game to show the brainwashing, and also the end boss Ardun Kothe. He doesn't have a cool mechanic like Darth Jadus's (Jadus couldn't be killed, and we had to get him to 1 hp before we sliced each individual system), but he is intriguing. He used to be a Jedi, but quit because he couldn't hold himself to the moral standard. (This was nicely foreshadowed, too, with his remarks on the Jedi cult leader and how he always finished with "May the Force be with you".) I chose to let him give himself a nice sendoff, locking himself behind a force field and turning the defensive turrets on himself. One of his underlings, Hunter, escaped, however. He wanted to run around the galaxy with me as his brainwashed to obedience slave. How lovely.
Two new companions were introduced: Dr Lokin and Raina Temple. Lokin came on Taris, and he actually has two things going for him: he can transform into a rakghoul at will, and he used to be one of the Watchers of Imperial Intelligence. Talking with him is akin to a methodical verbal spar, and I like how running around with him gives approval for being crafty and spy-y and smart. In the ex-Watcher sense, he's exactly the type of companion an Agent should have, and the rakghoul Jekyll-and-Hyde stuff is just an extra bonus on top. He also has some pretty hilarious dialogue on Hoth during the meeting with the SIS people!
Despite this image to the contrary, he does manage to keep his labcoat on when transforming back.
Raina Temple, OTOH, has a bit less going for her so far. She's Force sensitive, but not a Sith or a Jedi, just a soldier who left the Empire for the Chiss Ascendancy so that she wouldn't be sent to Korriban to die. Her father was a Cipher, too. We convinced the SIS dude to not kill her off, despite her being a witness, and the SIS dude impersonated a Watcher and told her she was getting reassigned to us and Imperial Intelligence. So far she's been a very eager recruit.
In the realm of romance, I managed to smooch Aristocra Saganu on Hoth by picking all the Flirt options, which, um. The flirt dialogue is super cringey and would work just as well if you appended "har har har" to the end of each line and the female Agent's voice direction is "would sell you to Satan for one corn chip" – fine for offing all of Kaliyo's exes, less suitable for flirting. Nonetheless, Saganu wants to tap that, and after what is definitely under three days in-game, he declares that were things different, he'd be marrying you. I guess he has a thing for bad girls who are also extremely competent? :P
I also started with the Vector romance. His "An enemy defeated ... somewhat to our surprise" combat dialogue is very much Talos Drellik energy and I can't help but approve; he's also kind of fascinating and his flat affect plus trouble reading humans after so long in the Killik hive means he's significantly less ... assume-y? than, say, Doc or Andronikos. Even if he did just blatantly ask if I was single. So far, I've invited him over to my rooms and gone on a date in a spacer Killik hive, but no kiss animations yet.
With regards to the other type of bug, apparently if you send a companion on a crafting mission, you duplicate them!
As for the two flashpoints, well, the digs were nice...
..but mostly what struck me was how silly Revan sounded from the POV of a non-Force user. Like, it all runs on video game logic anyway, but while there's a symmetry to a Jedi or a Sith turning up here, for anyone else, Revan has brought a glowstick to a gunfight. Also the scale of the morality and destruction feels ... different in a way that makes an Agent go "wtf mate".
Taris: ~15h 30min to 17h 15min -> 1h 45min
(visit to Dromund Kaas + a heroic to catch up on levels)
Quesh: 18h 36min to 19h 4min -> 28 min (including killing a bunch of stuff to get Vector to 1k companion kills)
then I did the Boarding Party + The Foundry story flashpoints, and, uh, ended up overleveled, oops
Hoth: 21h 36min to 23h 10min -> 1h 34min
Chapter 2 complete at 23h 38min.
Okay, so after foiling a terrorist plot and discovering that it was all due to a Sith Lord's plotting, we're asked to pretend to defect to the Republic so we can bring a SIS leader down. Initially, it goes well, but plot twist: the SIS guy Ardun Kothe activates some sort of conditioning in you that forces you to obey and makes you unable to tell anyone about the brainwashing. This was a really great use of the video game UI, since we could pick from options like "[Kill] Oh no you don't" but what actually came out was "Yes, sir". (Side note: I really wish that we'd gotten something like that for the Jedi Knight's story. Even as one conversation with the Emperor! It would've sold the brainwashing thing so much better, sob.)
So we end up doing missions for the SIS while desperately trying to figure a way out of the brainwashing. The first one's a short one on Nar Shaddaa, the second one is on Taris trying to stop a Jedi dropout who's founded her own cult – except that it turns midway through into retrieving one of Dr Godera's (whom you may remember from the Jedi Knight's story) devices from her clutches, the third one is on Hoth retrieving a Republic shuttle from the ship graveyard, and the fourth is on Quesh, using the codes from the Godera device and the coordinates from the shuttle to retrieve another Godera device – a first strike missile system that could destroy all of Kaas City.
Also this was such a badass moment – a scientist we're saving tries to shoot us, and unloads the entire clip, missing every shot, and the Agent doesn't even twitch.
While that's going on, there's the whole breaking out of mind control thing. We get Watcher X's spirit/memory imprint/??? as a voice in our head, giving us hints and instructions, and the big plot twist is that the conditioning is actually Imperial standard, given to us after our defeat of Darth Jadus. (Can't have the regulars thinking they can take on a Sith Lord, after all!) The question of who leaked the control word is left open (and mole-tracking/counterintelligence will probably be what happens in Chapter 3), but we do manage to figure out that the conditioning is a chemical and can be overwritten with a second dose of the same, so that's what we do (hence our visit to Quesh). It takes time to come into effect, but we manage it just in time to stop Ardun Kothe from taking the Godera missile barrage system.
Brainwashing side effects include fainting.
There were fewer showstopper choices in chapter 2 – I only recall the way to deal with the brainwashing chemical subcontractor on Quesh – but the thing was nonetheless really interesting, both in its usage of the fact that it's a video game to show the brainwashing, and also the end boss Ardun Kothe. He doesn't have a cool mechanic like Darth Jadus's (Jadus couldn't be killed, and we had to get him to 1 hp before we sliced each individual system), but he is intriguing. He used to be a Jedi, but quit because he couldn't hold himself to the moral standard. (This was nicely foreshadowed, too, with his remarks on the Jedi cult leader and how he always finished with "May the Force be with you".) I chose to let him give himself a nice sendoff, locking himself behind a force field and turning the defensive turrets on himself. One of his underlings, Hunter, escaped, however. He wanted to run around the galaxy with me as his brainwashed to obedience slave. How lovely.
Two new companions were introduced: Dr Lokin and Raina Temple. Lokin came on Taris, and he actually has two things going for him: he can transform into a rakghoul at will, and he used to be one of the Watchers of Imperial Intelligence. Talking with him is akin to a methodical verbal spar, and I like how running around with him gives approval for being crafty and spy-y and smart. In the ex-Watcher sense, he's exactly the type of companion an Agent should have, and the rakghoul Jekyll-and-Hyde stuff is just an extra bonus on top. He also has some pretty hilarious dialogue on Hoth during the meeting with the SIS people!
Despite this image to the contrary, he does manage to keep his labcoat on when transforming back.
Raina Temple, OTOH, has a bit less going for her so far. She's Force sensitive, but not a Sith or a Jedi, just a soldier who left the Empire for the Chiss Ascendancy so that she wouldn't be sent to Korriban to die. Her father was a Cipher, too. We convinced the SIS dude to not kill her off, despite her being a witness, and the SIS dude impersonated a Watcher and told her she was getting reassigned to us and Imperial Intelligence. So far she's been a very eager recruit.
In the realm of romance, I managed to smooch Aristocra Saganu on Hoth by picking all the Flirt options, which, um. The flirt dialogue is super cringey and would work just as well if you appended "har har har" to the end of each line and the female Agent's voice direction is "would sell you to Satan for one corn chip" – fine for offing all of Kaliyo's exes, less suitable for flirting. Nonetheless, Saganu wants to tap that, and after what is definitely under three days in-game, he declares that were things different, he'd be marrying you. I guess he has a thing for bad girls who are also extremely competent? :P
I also started with the Vector romance. His "An enemy defeated ... somewhat to our surprise" combat dialogue is very much Talos Drellik energy and I can't help but approve; he's also kind of fascinating and his flat affect plus trouble reading humans after so long in the Killik hive means he's significantly less ... assume-y? than, say, Doc or Andronikos. Even if he did just blatantly ask if I was single. So far, I've invited him over to my rooms and gone on a date in a spacer Killik hive, but no kiss animations yet.
With regards to the other type of bug, apparently if you send a companion on a crafting mission, you duplicate them!
As for the two flashpoints, well, the digs were nice...
..but mostly what struck me was how silly Revan sounded from the POV of a non-Force user. Like, it all runs on video game logic anyway, but while there's a symmetry to a Jedi or a Sith turning up here, for anyone else, Revan has brought a glowstick to a gunfight. Also the scale of the morality and destruction feels ... different in a way that makes an Agent go "wtf mate".