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extrapenguin*makes resolution to post more*
*immediately doesn't post for a week*
...anyway. Back with your irregularly scheduled content of SWTOR class story playthroughs! I finished the Jedi Consular's first chapter. Arahat Jina, pictures here.
I'd already spoken about Taris. Next up was Nar Shaddaa, where the Jedi Master under Vivicar's control was a redheaded guy whose schtick was that he wanted to take on the Hutts. On Nar Shaddaa. Which would cause large and negative consequences for the Republic! So this planet's conflict was less "dude is doing something completely unconscionable" and more about bowing to politics. The quest to get to him was fun enough, with some impersonating a hacker with the support of an exotech specialist, Tharan Cedrax (companion #2). The end decision had a few more dimensions than the Taris one, in that giving the Master to the Hutts was also an option, but Jina managed to negotiate her way out of that without bloodshed. It was at this point that I figured out who Vivicar was/had been. (If 3/3 victims keep shouting about Parkanis, well... Who else could it be?)
Also there was this hilarious bit where we got to impersonate a Sith to get into an Imperial drug factory or something.
Then Master Nar Shaddaa's daughter went nuts and we went to stop her on the spaceship she was on! She was injured somewhere and then Vivicar impersonated a Jedi Master, came aboard the ship, and healed her ... and gave her the mind control plague. Jina shielded her as well.
Jina is Not Impressed
Planet #3 was Tatooine, where a Jedi Master had gone to live amongst the Jawas for cultural immersion and went off the deep end and ran off to make Tusken Raiders into the perfect soldiers. This one had some cool worldbuilding about Tatooine and the Jawas and Tuskens' past, but was mostly a bit forgettable.
Cheekbones!
Planet #4 was Alderaan. Now, I'm a bit of an outlier in terms of the playerbase and Star Wars fandom in general in that I hate the fucking planet and think it's the most overrated piece of shit ever. The SWTOR background music sucks, I do not give a flying fuck about any of the nobles, and think their battle for the throne is uninteresting and overrated. Master Sidonie, victim of the week, was supposed to be hosting a peace summit, but is instead trying to make the war continue! She also added some hoops so that Jina couldn't come to the summit immediately but had to curry favor with a minor Alderaani house to make them send her as their representative to the summit. Jumping through them was enjoyable enough gameplay, and the cutscene where Sidonie tried to assassinate everyone with a statue was also nice. Jina shielded Sidonie and talked the Alderaani down into organizing a second peace summit later on.
The negotiating table.
Chapter 1 planets ranked: Taris > Alderaan > Nar Shaddaa > Tatooine. I had no idea Alderaan could possibly be so enjoyable.
The chapter 1 final confrontation had the player character finally realize that hey, Darth Vivicar might be Parkanis Tark, the 6th and only unaccounted for member of an expedition that went very badly. Jina and Yuon meditated to figure out where Parkanis was, in the process removing the shield on Yuon that then had to be reapplied.
The final confrontation happened on a pretty generic spaceship, but eh, it was fun enough to play through! So many Scorekeeper points for Qyzen. Jina, recognizing that part of the reason Parkanis is like this is because he accompanied her master on an expedition that went horrifically wrong (everyone got possessed by the dark side for a bit, and the others only escaped by leaving Parkanis behind), decided to save him by shielding him from the original Sith Lord who created the plague. Parkanis went back to Tython; Jina was told to make a recording of her experiences for the Jedi Library. The transition between chapters was pretty smooth – Master Syo told us to rest a bit, but that the Senate wished to talk to us.
Confronting Parkanis.
Companions:
Tharan Cedrax (and Holiday): technically a love interest in that you can have a fling with him, but it's more the polarity inverted form of "don't stick your dick in crazy" than anything. He's head over heels for his AI assistant/friend/lover Holiday, who has the cringiest breathy giggly voice ever. They went for the eccentric genius trope, and I ... well, so far I am not impressed. He does not reach anywhere near the cringe levels of Doc or Corso, but his "Ah, Holiday has told me our liaison must end!" speech after Jina going "Nope, no liaison-ing" on every opportunity was supremely annoying.
Holiday hacking into stuff on Nar Shaddaa.
Qyzen continues to be the best Trandoshan. I have stealth, but lbr, I'm just running around murdering stuff with my Trandoshan friend so he gets the Scorekeeper points.
*immediately doesn't post for a week*
...anyway. Back with your irregularly scheduled content of SWTOR class story playthroughs! I finished the Jedi Consular's first chapter. Arahat Jina, pictures here.
I'd already spoken about Taris. Next up was Nar Shaddaa, where the Jedi Master under Vivicar's control was a redheaded guy whose schtick was that he wanted to take on the Hutts. On Nar Shaddaa. Which would cause large and negative consequences for the Republic! So this planet's conflict was less "dude is doing something completely unconscionable" and more about bowing to politics. The quest to get to him was fun enough, with some impersonating a hacker with the support of an exotech specialist, Tharan Cedrax (companion #2). The end decision had a few more dimensions than the Taris one, in that giving the Master to the Hutts was also an option, but Jina managed to negotiate her way out of that without bloodshed. It was at this point that I figured out who Vivicar was/had been. (If 3/3 victims keep shouting about Parkanis, well... Who else could it be?)
Also there was this hilarious bit where we got to impersonate a Sith to get into an Imperial drug factory or something.
Then Master Nar Shaddaa's daughter went nuts and we went to stop her on the spaceship she was on! She was injured somewhere and then Vivicar impersonated a Jedi Master, came aboard the ship, and healed her ... and gave her the mind control plague. Jina shielded her as well.
Jina is Not Impressed
Planet #3 was Tatooine, where a Jedi Master had gone to live amongst the Jawas for cultural immersion and went off the deep end and ran off to make Tusken Raiders into the perfect soldiers. This one had some cool worldbuilding about Tatooine and the Jawas and Tuskens' past, but was mostly a bit forgettable.
Cheekbones!
Planet #4 was Alderaan. Now, I'm a bit of an outlier in terms of the playerbase and Star Wars fandom in general in that I hate the fucking planet and think it's the most overrated piece of shit ever. The SWTOR background music sucks, I do not give a flying fuck about any of the nobles, and think their battle for the throne is uninteresting and overrated. Master Sidonie, victim of the week, was supposed to be hosting a peace summit, but is instead trying to make the war continue! She also added some hoops so that Jina couldn't come to the summit immediately but had to curry favor with a minor Alderaani house to make them send her as their representative to the summit. Jumping through them was enjoyable enough gameplay, and the cutscene where Sidonie tried to assassinate everyone with a statue was also nice. Jina shielded Sidonie and talked the Alderaani down into organizing a second peace summit later on.
The negotiating table.
Chapter 1 planets ranked: Taris > Alderaan > Nar Shaddaa > Tatooine. I had no idea Alderaan could possibly be so enjoyable.
The chapter 1 final confrontation had the player character finally realize that hey, Darth Vivicar might be Parkanis Tark, the 6th and only unaccounted for member of an expedition that went very badly. Jina and Yuon meditated to figure out where Parkanis was, in the process removing the shield on Yuon that then had to be reapplied.
The final confrontation happened on a pretty generic spaceship, but eh, it was fun enough to play through! So many Scorekeeper points for Qyzen. Jina, recognizing that part of the reason Parkanis is like this is because he accompanied her master on an expedition that went horrifically wrong (everyone got possessed by the dark side for a bit, and the others only escaped by leaving Parkanis behind), decided to save him by shielding him from the original Sith Lord who created the plague. Parkanis went back to Tython; Jina was told to make a recording of her experiences for the Jedi Library. The transition between chapters was pretty smooth – Master Syo told us to rest a bit, but that the Senate wished to talk to us.
Confronting Parkanis.
Companions:
Tharan Cedrax (and Holiday): technically a love interest in that you can have a fling with him, but it's more the polarity inverted form of "don't stick your dick in crazy" than anything. He's head over heels for his AI assistant/friend/lover Holiday, who has the cringiest breathy giggly voice ever. They went for the eccentric genius trope, and I ... well, so far I am not impressed. He does not reach anywhere near the cringe levels of Doc or Corso, but his "Ah, Holiday has told me our liaison must end!" speech after Jina going "Nope, no liaison-ing" on every opportunity was supremely annoying.
Holiday hacking into stuff on Nar Shaddaa.
Qyzen continues to be the best Trandoshan. I have stealth, but lbr, I'm just running around murdering stuff with my Trandoshan friend so he gets the Scorekeeper points.