SWTOR: Republic Ziost
1 May 2021 20:00![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
extrapenguinZiost: the transitional bit between Shadow of Revan/Yavin 4 and Knights of the Fallen Empire/Zakuul. Billed as the chapter 5 (SoR) epilogue. Basic plot: Vitiate, Emperor of the Sith, awakened on Yavin, and is now doing stuff on Ziost. You and the SoR NPCs are all there investigating.
I had of course already done Ziost on my Inquisitor, but hadn't managed a few of the achievements around the People's Tower – I didn't spot the turret (de)activation questgiver, and didn't manage to free those 5 civilian prisoners or kill the "world boss" – so I paid special attention to doing all that with my Jedi. Also, the whole helping people thing was 100% fitting for a Jedi, more so than the average "kill 5 rats" sidequest. Though the civilian-freeing around the People's Tower was super buggy; I think I had to kill off 10+ possessed groups with civilian hostages to get 5 of them to realize they were free.
Kurebir got to be annoyed/disgusted at the Emperor!
The world boss (at least, killing him dropped a world boss equipment crate) Grundorsen Maelo was surprisingly easy to kill for someone who gave me enough trouble to drop it with Midwan. I also visited the Landing Zone pre-cataclysm to kill off the Aegis Squadron ZX-1 walker. The story doesn't bring you there otherwise, but it's IMO the prettiest bit of Ziost. Black rock and snow and railways and some cool scenery!
The plot itself is exactly the same as for Imps, even when it makes no sense, like with Agent Kovacs. While he works in Sith Intelligence, he's secretly a Republic mole, so when an Imp discovering him speaking with Chancellor Saresh, it makes sense to have a huge reaction of betrayal. When a Pub discovers him speaking with Chancellor Saresh? "Agent Kovacs is reporting to the Chancellor, not just Theron!" Okay, but why should I care, I'm a Jedi and we all work for the Republic, idgaf about SIS internal disputes. This huge reaction of betrayal works for exactly zero of the Republic characters.
A mirror situation where an Agent discovers ImpInt's mole in the SIS is actually reporting to Darth Darksider, yes, I can imagine an Agent having opinions/feeling betrayed, but not any other character. If a Pub character could be an SIS officer, sure, the canon reaction would make sense, but the way "our mole also reports to the Chancellor" was narratively handled exactly like "our trusted agent is actually a mole for the Republic!" on the Imp side was baffling and loltastic. This also included some truly WTF dialogue options, like betraying Agent Kovacs to Lana (...because he...spoke to the Chancellor and wasn't just Theron's agent?), and, okay, what. I didn't know the saboteur plotlines started that early!
Not shown: the dance party Kurebir had on the arm of the Sith statue.
While the plot was the same, some things came off much differently – mainly the bit at the end with the possessed Jedi and Lana barging in to be all "we need to invasively poke in her brain to see how Vitiate controls her!" – with a Jedi vs with a Sith. With the Inquisitor, Lana turning up felt natural. With a Jedi, she barged in all my way or the highway, and demanded a Jedi be dismantled despite the existence of a planetful of potential volunteers from the Mind-Controlled by Vitiate club. Getting to call her on the existence of a mass crowd killer in the center of Adesta City was also good.
The actual death of the planet was a bit less impactful when one knew it was coming, but the death itself was beautifully animated. I didn't do the dailies, since I have no need for any of the three items on the reputation vendor. I did check out the surface – not quite as pretty as the Landing Zone pre-cataclysm, but definitely better than the grey boxes of all the other zones. Kurebir looked very un-yellow:
I think I'll take her through KotFE 1-9 (where we get to Odessen) tomorrow and then do no more KotFE until ... next weekend.
I had of course already done Ziost on my Inquisitor, but hadn't managed a few of the achievements around the People's Tower – I didn't spot the turret (de)activation questgiver, and didn't manage to free those 5 civilian prisoners or kill the "world boss" – so I paid special attention to doing all that with my Jedi. Also, the whole helping people thing was 100% fitting for a Jedi, more so than the average "kill 5 rats" sidequest. Though the civilian-freeing around the People's Tower was super buggy; I think I had to kill off 10+ possessed groups with civilian hostages to get 5 of them to realize they were free.
Kurebir got to be annoyed/disgusted at the Emperor!
The world boss (at least, killing him dropped a world boss equipment crate) Grundorsen Maelo was surprisingly easy to kill for someone who gave me enough trouble to drop it with Midwan. I also visited the Landing Zone pre-cataclysm to kill off the Aegis Squadron ZX-1 walker. The story doesn't bring you there otherwise, but it's IMO the prettiest bit of Ziost. Black rock and snow and railways and some cool scenery!
The plot itself is exactly the same as for Imps, even when it makes no sense, like with Agent Kovacs. While he works in Sith Intelligence, he's secretly a Republic mole, so when an Imp discovering him speaking with Chancellor Saresh, it makes sense to have a huge reaction of betrayal. When a Pub discovers him speaking with Chancellor Saresh? "Agent Kovacs is reporting to the Chancellor, not just Theron!" Okay, but why should I care, I'm a Jedi and we all work for the Republic, idgaf about SIS internal disputes. This huge reaction of betrayal works for exactly zero of the Republic characters.
A mirror situation where an Agent discovers ImpInt's mole in the SIS is actually reporting to Darth Darksider, yes, I can imagine an Agent having opinions/feeling betrayed, but not any other character. If a Pub character could be an SIS officer, sure, the canon reaction would make sense, but the way "our mole also reports to the Chancellor" was narratively handled exactly like "our trusted agent is actually a mole for the Republic!" on the Imp side was baffling and loltastic. This also included some truly WTF dialogue options, like betraying Agent Kovacs to Lana (...because he...spoke to the Chancellor and wasn't just Theron's agent?), and, okay, what. I didn't know the saboteur plotlines started that early!
Not shown: the dance party Kurebir had on the arm of the Sith statue.
While the plot was the same, some things came off much differently – mainly the bit at the end with the possessed Jedi and Lana barging in to be all "we need to invasively poke in her brain to see how Vitiate controls her!" – with a Jedi vs with a Sith. With the Inquisitor, Lana turning up felt natural. With a Jedi, she barged in all my way or the highway, and demanded a Jedi be dismantled despite the existence of a planetful of potential volunteers from the Mind-Controlled by Vitiate club. Getting to call her on the existence of a mass crowd killer in the center of Adesta City was also good.
The actual death of the planet was a bit less impactful when one knew it was coming, but the death itself was beautifully animated. I didn't do the dailies, since I have no need for any of the three items on the reputation vendor. I did check out the surface – not quite as pretty as the Landing Zone pre-cataclysm, but definitely better than the grey boxes of all the other zones. Kurebir looked very un-yellow:
I think I'll take her through KotFE 1-9 (where we get to Odessen) tomorrow and then do no more KotFE until ... next weekend.
no subject
Date: 2021-05-01 21:28 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-02 07:28 (UTC)(That said, if you want to try SWTOR, it's a free download on Steam. There are some limitations on pure free to play accounts who've never subscribed, but it's a good trial and I enjoyed it. It's also 100% possible to play the plot stories solo.)
no subject
Date: 2021-05-02 16:38 (UTC)