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[Teneb]

Ooh, did it fix the dialogue skipping bug?

Also, dead weight? Bastila carried me through that fight. In fact, I had to save-scum several times so that I could run around the arena dodging bullets while she killed everyone, due to my feats being spent on non-combat bonuses (I also ran out of medpacks). She could easily destroy everyone in that room. She's only level three, but jedi levels are incredibly powerful.

Probably because I did not skip xp and actually made my character into something combat-worthy. (The reason for that is that in my first run I did invest heavily into non-combat stuff and, as a result, got wrecked in the endgame.)

[Akura]

One of these days I’ll manage to update regularly. But that day is not today.

Spoiler: Something Witty (click to show/hide)

The following section requires that either the player character be a scoundrel with points in sneak, or having Mission in your party. See, this area requires stealth. It also is the very first (and maybe last) area in the game where you MUST use solo mode. Otherwise party members will follow your stealthed character around.

Last I checked, you can just run up to the pile and plant the stuff. Then run before the Rancor eats you.

Spoiler: There *is* another place stealth/solo-mode is used (click to show/hide)

But not until you get to Korriban. And that's only if you want either Light or Dark Side points. Blasting your way in(or royally screwing up the part after the stealth section) keeps you neutral.

I don't really have any opinion on whether Bastila is dead weight in that fight. Either way, I think she's a stuck-up bitch.

[ATHATH]

Well, I'm not aggravated by her, if only because she isn't in my party often (being replaced by a fully upgraded assassin droid whose name I won't spoil, and a certain old guy who tells great stories).

[Teneb]

What if we had sided with the Beks though?

Spoiler: Swoopin’² (click to show/hide)

BONUS - Visible Beks

The Black Vulkars


: Brejik stole that engine from Gadon! It was never yours to begin with!
Kandon Ark: Well I didn’t go to all the trouble of acquiring this prototype just so you could steal it back for that old fool!
Bodyguard: Would you like me to dispose of these Bek spies, Kandon?
Kandon Ark: No – hold on a second. I see you aren’t wearing the Hidden Bek colors, so I’m guessing you aren’t a part of that feeble old man’s gang. You must be a freelance merenary.
: Enough yapping! Hand overthat accelerator.
Kandon Ark: Instead of stealing the prototype for the Beks, why don’t you come work for us? The Black Vulkars could use someone like you.
: Forget it! I know all about you Black Vulkars!
Kandon Ark: Be smart; Gadon Thek is old news! He’s a blind fool in more ways than one! Brejik is a visionary – soon he’ll control the entire Lower City! Don’t shackle yourself to a losing team.

Guy sure is a smooth talker. He will actually be missed.

: Forget it – I’m not going to betray Gadon!
Kandon Ark: *Sigh* I can see there’s not much chance of convincing you to come work for us after all. Most unfortunate.
Bodyguard: Now can I kill them, Kandon?
Kandon Ark: Yes, darling. Kill them. Kill them all.



It’s not a tough battle, and the accelerator is just beyond him. On the way out,  however, we got some company.

Not that it’s hard, mind you, unless you’ve been avoiding experience.



Gadon Thek: You have returned. Do you have the prototype swoop engine accelerator with you?
: I have the accelerator right here.
Gadon Thek: I was beginning to wonder if you would make it. The race is tomorrow, and my mechanics need time to install the prototype into the swoop engine of our bike.
: Okay, I lived up to my end of the deal. Now you better come through!
Gadon Thek: Don’t worry, I’m a man of my word. I promised you could ride in the swoop race under the Hidden Bek banner, and I’m still going to let you do that. And I’m even going to go one better – I’m going to let you ride the swoop bike with the prototype accelerator installed on it. Without it, you won’t stand a chance.
Zaerdra: Gadon! You can’t be serious! We need one of our best riders on that bike! We can’t let some rookie take the prototype engine into the race!
: Why are you doing this, Gadon?
Gadon Thek: I have to be honest with you here – there’s a reason I’m letting you take the prototype engine. The accelerator isn’t stable; there’s a good chance it could explode during the race. I can’t ask one of my own riders to take the risk – they’ll be running unmodified swoops in the race. You’ll be the only one using the prototype. If you can complete the track before the accelerator overheats then you’ll win for the Beks. If you die, then one of my other riders could still come through for me.
: Sounds like you’ve got all your bases covered.
Gadon Thek: You don’t get to be leader of a swoop gang if you don’t know how to work all the angles.
: Okay, I’m ready for the race.
Gadon Thek: You can stay here tonight. The mechanics need time to install the accelerator on the engine, so you won’t be able to practice your riding. But I’ve got good instincts, and you have the look of a racer about you. Just try to relax and in the morning we’ll take you to the swoop track.




Everything else is basically the same. Just swap conversations around for the other bikers and have Brejik be more obviously evil and that’s it.

[BFEL]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure any actually smart person would have just left Bastilla to die there and went to go be awesome on their own.
She literally has no purpose other then being "SOOPER SPECIAL" and that's a crock of bullshit large enough to drown a Krayt Dragon in.

[Teneb]

Back to your regularly scheduled neutrality.

Spoiler: BFFs (click to show/hide)

PART 12 - Party

Bastila Shan's Theme











The other ship if opening fire on the both the Jedi and Revan are, in case it’s not clear from the above picture.



And so it was that Bastila valiantly defeated the dreaded Darth Revan. Way to go.


: You mean you don’t have a plan to get off Taris yet? What have you been doing all this time?
 
Our Jedi, dear readers.

: We were trying to find you, remember?
: I see. Now that I’m back in charge of this mission, perhaps we can start doing things properly. Hopefuly our escape from Taris will go more smoothly than when you “rescued” me from Brejik.
: I know you’re new at this, Bastila, but a leader doesn’t berate her troops just because things aren’t going as planned. Don’t let your ego get in the way of the real issues here.

Why does everyone hate Carth again?

: That hardly strikes me as an appropriate way of addressing your commander, Carth. I am a member of the Jedi Order and this is my mission. Don’t forget that! My Battle Meditation ability has helped the Republic many times in this war, and it will serve us well here I am sure.
: Your talents might win us a few battles, but that doesn’t make you a good leader! A good leader would at least listen to the advice of those who have seen more combat than she ever will!

No, seriously, why?

: He’s right. You aren’t showing much leadership ability right now, Bastila.
: You know, I had my doubts about this mission but I figured the Jedi Council wouldn’t put you in charge if you weren’t prepared. But here you are, acting like a spoiled child!

Can’t we just leaver her behind, power level and shoot Malak in the face?

: I see. It’s true I that [sic] don’t have much military experience; perhaps I should not be so quick to judge. Very well, Carth: what do you suggest we do?
: First off we can’t get hung up on who’s in charge; we all need to work together if we want to get off this rock. The answer’s out there, we just have to find it.
: Well said, Carth. And the sooner we start looking the better; I’ve already been a prisoner of the Vulkars and I don’t plan on being captured by the Sith.
: Okay, so what now?
: I think we’ll need some help getting off Taris. Maybe if we ask around one of the locals can help us out. We should probably start by asking around in the cantinas. Is… is something wrong? You seem as if something is troubling you.
: Something weird happened when we first met. Like a vision.

It’s called love revulsion. I’m allergic to self-righteousness, see.

: A vision? A vision of what?
: Of you. Fighting a dark Jedi. Revan, I guess.
: That is… strange. Such visions are often a sign of Force sensitivity.
: Force sensitivity? What do you mean?
: I… I’m not sure. It may be that you have some connection to the Force. It would not be unheard of. When we first met, your natural talent may have fed off my own Force abilities. It is possible that in the excitement of the battle’s aftermath the Force allowed you to witness one of my more intense memories.
: So does this mean I could be a Jedi?
: The Force is complicated; even I with all my training cannot fully understand it yet. This is a matter best left to the wise Masters of the Jedi Council. Once we escape Taris we can seek the guidance of the Council, if you wish. They will understand the significance of your vision… if there is any. However, I think it would be best if we all stayed focused on the task at hand right now. We can’t afford any distractions; we need to find a way off Taris.

Well, with that out of the way, let’s talk to our best friend.

: I want to continue our discussion from before.
: I thought I said I didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
: Don’t you think you’d feel better if you discussed it?
: Not particularly, I… guess it wouldn’t hurt, exactly, either, though I don’t know why you’re so interested. When I think of all the men who have betrayed us, the one that stands out above them all is the one I respected the most. Saul.
: You say that name like I should know it.
: You don’t? I thought everyone did. Admiral Saul Karath is the commander of the entire Sith fleet. He’s half the reason Malak has done so well in the war. Saul was my commanding officer back when the Mandalorian Wars first began. He taught me everything about being a soldier… and I looked up to him. Saul approached me before he left. He talked to me about how the Republic was on the losing side… and about how I should start thinking of my survival. I know now that he was trying to recruit me into the Sith, but I couldn’t have conceived of it back then. I argued with him and he got angry and he left. I never saw him again.
: You didn’t think he would betray the Republic?
: Saul was my mentor… he led us to so many victories against the Mandalorians, even when things looked to be at their worst. I just… I couldn’t conceive of it. He… he couldn’t be serious. I was wrong, of course… he not only left us for the Sith, he… he gave them the codes to bypass our scanners. I remember waking up as the first Sith bombers snuck past our defenses and began destroying half of our docked ships. I knew right away what had happened. I… could have stopped him. I could have stopped it all.
: So you blame yourself for trusting your friend?
: I blame Saul, not myself. I was… I was stupid and I ignored the danger. He nearly destroyed us all. I’ve fought Saul for years, now, and if I ever catch up to him… he will regret what he’s done. He will regret it.
: So that’s all of it, then?
: No. No, it’s not.

And there ends the conversation. If you know anything about RPGs, or even stories in general, you know we’ll be meeting Saul. I’ll make sure to take Carth for it, too.

Zaalbar still has nothing to say to us. Mission, on the other hand…

: I want to talk to you about your brother.
: I… I was a little snappish when we last talked. I’m sorry about that. I get a little touchy when it comes to Griff. It’s kind of embarrassing telling people about him.
: Embarassing? Why?
: It’s complicated. Griff wasn’t the most popular guy, he had his faults. But I still loved him, you know? Sometimes people don’t understand. I never knew my parents, my brother always looked out for me. He’s the one who brought me to Taris. I was just a kid, only five. But I remember the trip – if you can call it that. We were stuff inside a packing crate in a star freighter’s cargo hold with just enough food and water to make the trip. Not exactly first class, you know?
: You were stowaways?
: I don’t know the whole story – I was pretty young. But my brother owed a lot of money. Might even have been a few arrest warrants out for him, I don’t know. The only way to get off the planet was to smuggle ourselves out. I mean, I don’t want to make it sound like we were criminals… well, maybe my brother was. See, this is why I don’t like to talk about it. It makes Griff sound worse than he really was. My brother had his problems, but he always looked out for me.
: What kind of problems did your brother have?
: He gambled. And drank. And he was always borrowing money for his latest get rich quick scheme. But he had a good heart, you know? He taught me how to survive. He showed me how to slice into a computer’s security system; how to get inside a locked building without the entrance codes, and how to spot a wealthy mark for a quick shell game.
: Pretty handy skills to have, Mission.
Yeah, Griff did righ by me. I really miss him since he left. I keep hoping he’ll come back some day. He promised me he would.
: Why did he leave?
: He fell in with a bad crowd. It’s all Lena’s fault. She’s the one who took him from me! Just batted those long lashes at him and off he went!
: Who’s Lena?
: I don’t want to talk about Griff and Lena – just the thought of that space tramp makes my blood boil! Subject’s closed as far as I’m concerned! If I’m going to be any help to you I can’t be worrying about my brother running off with some intergalactic skank! So, is there anything else you need?
: Nothing. Never mind.

Finally, her royal sueness herself.

: I would like to know what happened after you crashed on Taris. I’m curious as to what you and Carth were doing before we all joined forces.
: We were looking for you.
: Yes, I realized that of course. But surely there was more to it than a simple search. I doubt there were flashing signs pointing you in my direction; yet somehow you found me. You also avoided detection by the Sith, discovered I was a Vulkar prisoner, gained sponsorship for the race and became the Taris swoop champion. That’s quite a resume.
: I had a lot of help: Carth, Mission, Zaalbar.
: Your modesty is admirable. But though others helped, you were the catalyst for these events. When you were chosen to join this mission, I doubt of us expected this much from you.  A Jedi could have done such things, of course. But only by drawing heavily from the Force.
: I think you are underestimating us non-Jedi.
: Perhaps. But the Force works through all of us to some degree or other. There are some individuals outside the Jedi Order that we considered “Force Senstive”. It is obvious to me that the Force has been working through you. There is no other explanation for your great success, though I am not certain what to make of this discovery.

“You are clearly not Sue enough to do any of these things by yourself, so it clearly must’ve been the Force acting through you. I refuse to accept a regular soldier is more competent than a Jedi.”

: Perhaps if you weren’t  - well, if you were younger the Jedi might take you for training, but as it is...
: What are you trying to say?
: I’m sorry; I’ve overstepped my authority. I’m speaking of things that are best left to the Jedi Council. For now let’s just accept the fact that you are… gifted. Hopefully between your abilities, my Jedi training and the skills of our companions we can find a way off this planet.

I’m ending this content-light update here. It’s already 4 pages long in MSWord.

[Iituem]

Wow.  Bastila makes me want to plunge into the Dark Side and not look back.

[ATHATH]

Admittedly, she does have a point. From what we've seen in the Clone Wars and such, jedi are apparently worth a thousand droids (except for R2-D2, in the main series and the Clone Wars, T-3 in the second game and the assassin droid in at least the first game). I assume that the effectivity of droids to clones is at least 1:2, so a jedi is worth at least five-hundred clones (which are around the same level of competence as Carth and the main character (so far)). Their Heal power also makes them walking, regenerating medpacks. There's a reason that some people leave the main character at level one until they can take jedi levels (it's not a spoiler if everyone knew it was coming, right?).

[Teneb]

Admittedly, she does have a point. From what we've seen in the Clone Wars and such, jedi are apparently worth a thousand droids (except for R2-D2, in the main series and the Clone Wars, T-3 in the second game and the assassin droid in at least the first game). I assume that the effectivity of droids to clones is at least 1:2, so a jedi is worth at least five-hundred clones (which are around the same level of competence as Carth and the main character (so far)). Their Heal power also makes them walking, regenerating medpacks. There's a reason that some people leave the main character at level one until they can take jedi levels (it's not a spoiler if everyone knew it was coming, right?).

It's not. It's about two or three updates away anyway. Depends whether or not I can wrap up Taris in the next update.

For the droid vs clone effectiveness, I think the only Star Wars thing that really shows how effective the droids can be is the Republic Commando game. If you don't have the anti-armor attachment (or have no ammo for it), it takes your entire squad, firing for about half a minute non-stop, to take down a single super battle droid. And remember: in that game you play as a commando, who are the best clone troopers around.

Jedis are quite OP, yet still manage to get shot down by a dozen or less clones comes Order 66.

EDIT: I changed the music link for the last one, because it actually fits in pretty well. Otherwise I'd have to wait until at least Bastila's personal quest to drop it.

[BFEL]

If you played the second KOTOR then there was a conversation where Kreia notes that without the force Jedi are just regular people, and that relying on it makes people like the scoundrel Atton more generally competent then them.

So basically any old soldier would whoop ridiculous amounts of Jedi ass if they didn't have magic plot armor.

ALL jedi are mary sues.

[ATHATH]

If you played the second KOTOR then there was a conversation where Kreia notes that without the force Jedi are just regular people, and that relying on it makes people like the scoundrel Atton more generally competent then them.

So basically any old soldier would whoop ridiculous amounts of Jedi ass if they didn't have magic plot armor.

ALL jedi are mary sues.

If you played the second KOTOR then there was a conversation where Kreia notes that without the force Jedi are just regular people, and that relying on it makes people like the scoundrel Atton more generally competent then them.

So basically any old soldier would whoop ridiculous amounts of Jedi ass if they didn't have magic plot armor.

ALL jedi are mary sues.

Well, the force is kind of their shtick.  It's like saying that Gandalf sucks because he would just be an ordinary old guy without his magic.

The traitorous clones took them by surprise and/or used shotguns. Many of them waited until their jedi were exhausted and out of mana force points and/or were in bacta tanks or something and/or were carrying remotely activated explosives to kill them. They planned this for a long time, and waited until the timing was near-perfect.

[Iituem]

Order 66 had somewhat more oomph than Orders 65 ("Clone, get me a sandwich!") and 67 ("Rub my imperial feet, clone!").

[Teneb]

Extra long update is long.

Spoiler: Fusion (click to show/hide)

PART 13 - Dreaded Ettin

Taris Upper City



: That’s right.
Courier: I have a message from Canderous Ordo. He says to meet him in the cantina.
: Thanks for the message. I’ll go meet them in the cantina.
Courier: A wise choice, human. I would advise you not to wait too long. Mandalorians are known for many things, but patience is not one of them.

And so we are again pointed to Plot.


: No, I was conscious. But my Force powers were exhausted from using my Battle Meditation in the battle for the Endar Spire. Without my help you might have never gotten off the ship alive.

Can you feel the arrogance yet?

: Fair enough. But I’ve seen you Jedi in action. There’s no way those thugs would have stood a chance against your lightsaber.
: My lightsaber was… misplaced. I couldn’t find it after the crash. I looked *everywhere* in that pod. The Vulkars came and overwhelmed me even as I was searching for my weapon.
: Wait a minute, let me get this straight. You *lost* your lightsaber? Ha-ha! I mean, isn’t that a violation of some kind of Jedi code or something?
: Maybe losing lightsabers is a side-effect of her Battle Meditation.
: This is no laughing matter! During the crash my lightsaber must have… it must have fallen from my belt and rolled under my seat! The Vulkars probably found it there when they searched the wreckage.
: Hey, hey, hey, don’t get mad. I’m sorry. It’s just funny to think of a legendary Jedi losing her lightsaber. Take my advice: this is one detail you might want to keep out of the history texts.
: I hardly consider myself a legend, Carth. Though I will consider your advice when I relate these events to the Jedi Council. There is no need for them to know *every* detail of what transpired.

Reader, I feel that BioWare, at least during the time they made this game, needlessly kept needlessly adding people’s names to dialogue. Maybe, Reader, we have too short attention spans to remember who they are talking to. Don’t you agree, Reader?

Anyway, remember when I mentioned that, while I’d done all sidequests on Taris, but there was something else I wanted to show? It’s in the clinic.


Gurney: Maybe if Zelka charged a little more for his services he could pay me what I’m worth – and maybe this place wouldn’t be struggling so hard to stay on business.

Here’s what Zelka has to say on the cure.

Zelka: Davik’s doing everything he can to protect his monopoly. All the samples he provides are treated, making it impossible to analyze their composition and create my own stores of the serum.

Don’t worry, Zelka. I have a feeling it won’t be relevant for much longer. But this is not what I wanted to show off.

This is.




This is funnier than it has any right to be.

Zelka: You… you recognize these soldiers? But how? Unless… you are a friend of the Republic.
: [Persuade] I’m a friend of the Republic. You can trust me.
Zelka: [Success] I guess… I guess I better tell you what’s going on. I only hope the Sith don’t find out what I’ve done. Since the space battle overhead, people have been secretly brining in these Republic soldiers who crash landed on the planet. I had to take them in. What choice did I have? Their injuries are terrible, most won’t survive. But at least I can make them their last days more confortable. And at least here they are hidden away from the Sith.
: Well, for that you have my thanks. It’s good to know at least some of these men ended up in compassionate hands.
Zelka: I hate to imagine what the Sith would do if they discovered these soldiers here. But since their initial questioning, the Sith have not returned, so it may be my fears are unfounded.
: Is there anything I can do to help?
Zelka: I’m afraid there is nothing more anyone can do for these soldiers. Now, if you’ll excuse me I should return to the front in case anyone comes in needing medical attention.

Back to Plot.


: Who are you?
: My name’s Canderous Ordo. I work for Davik Kang and the Exchange; the hours aren’t great, but they promised me a fortune to work for them and I have nothing better to do. Mandalorian mercs like me are in high demand. But lately Davik hasn’t been paying me what he promised. I don’t like getting cheated, so I figure it’s time for me to break the Sith quarantine and get off this backwater planet.
: How do you plan to do that?
: I’ve got a plan to escape Taris, but I can’t do it alone. I need someone I know can get the job done to help me. That’s where you come in.
: Careful. Mercs like this haven’t a lick of conscience… they’ll betray you in a heartbeat. This could be a trap.
: I ain’t talking to you. I’m talking to your friend, aren’t I? I saw you win that swoop race, and I started thinking. Anyone crazy enough to race like that is probably crazy enough to break into the Sith military base. I need someone to steal the Sith launch codes from the base. Without these codes any ship leaving the atmosphere will be disintegrated by the Sith fleet’s automated defense guns.
: What’s in this for me?
: Here’s the deal: you bring me those launch codes and I can provide the vehicle to get off the planet – Davik’s flagship, the Ebon Hawk!
: How are you going to manage that?
: Uh-uh. Not yet. First, you bring me the launch codes. Then I’ll tell you the rest of my plan.
: How am I supposed to get inside the military base?
: Getting in wouldn’t be easy: the Sith protected by an encrypted security system. It would take a top of the line astromech droid to slice through it. Lucky for you, I know just the place to get a droid like that. Davik was having one custom built by Janice Nall. Just tell her Canderous sent you and she’ll sell you the droid. Then you can use it to get the launch codes from the Sith base.
: Won’t Davik get mad if I take his droid?
: Davik paid for the droid, but I’m the guy he put in charge of this mission. He won’t care how I come up with those codes. Normally I’d do this myself, but everyone knows who I work for. If I broke into the Sith base, they’d send an army down on Davik’s estate to get those codes back. That’s why I need you.
: Okay, Canderous – you’ve got a deal.
: I don’t sense any deception from him, which is surprising. This may be exactly what we need.

Stop being prejudiced, already.

: I’m going to wait in Javyar’s cantina. You come find me when you’ve got those launch codes and I’ll make sure we both get off this rock.

Now, through the magic of screenshots, we go to the droid shop.


Janice Nall: That’s the nice thing about droids. A yearly maintenance check and a few replacement parts here and there and they can last forever.
: Canderous said you’d sell the T3-M4 droid to me.
Janice Nall: Oh, Canderous sent you! Well, why didn’t you say so? Okay, the droid is ready. You can have it for 2000 credits.
: Here you go.

That’s a steep price. But I grinded pazaak offscreen, so that is very little for me.

Janice Nall: Wow… look at you, big spender! Okay, the T3-M4 unit is yours. Pleasure doing business with you. A real pleasure.


So, we have a new party member, who will be mandatory for this next section. As such, let’s talk about T3. T3 is a droid, and astromech one at that. What does that mean? It means it can use special droid items (which Janice sells) instead of regular gear, as well as droid arms (exclusive to astromech, and it is the only one) that give it special combat abilities such as shocking enemies, stunning, flamethrowers and so on. T3 can also equip ranged weapons. To top it off, it is the best hacker/mechanic in your party aside from maybe the player character. The problem? No personality. Zero. T3 is R2-D2’s boring cousin. I may call on it to hack something occasionally, but other than that and the upcoming section, it’s the bench for it.

So let’s get its minimal dialogue out of the way.

: You don’t talk much, do you?
: Weep-boop-beep-beep!
: Just chime in if you have any advice.
: Beep-boop.
: I want to ask you some questions.
: Beep-woop-woo.
: You don’t even know what I was going to ask!
: Weep-boop-beep-beep!
: Never mind.

How droid equipment looks:







Inside the Sith Base


: [Persuade]Look, here’s 50 credits – just don’t hit that alarm.
Receptionist: [Success] 50 credits? You’ve got a deal! The Sith have made my life a living hell ever since they took over this base. You know, it’s about time someone stood up to these Sith! Just do me a favor and wait until I’m out of here before you start blasting the place up.







I start doing the usual thing with cameras. Which is to say, thin out the enemies.









This does not affect the droid by the elevator.




With that silliness out of the way, time to clean out the base.

This seems to be an activity log for the day. Of interest is the following entry:

“The power conduit we installed in the elevator seems to have solved the shield outage problem on the droid. Finish tuning it today.”

We find a familiar face eventually. He’s one of the Duros that were being shaken down by the Sith in our apartment block. Last we saw him, he was going to hide the corpses. Looks like he failed.


: Right. I remember you.
Duros: I am in need of your help once again. The Sith are going to execute me for removing the Sith corpse from your apartment complex. Please, help me get out of this cage.
: How do I get you out?
Duros: Switch all the panels on the wall to the red “off” position and I will be released. It is not as simple as it sounds – switching a panel will also switch the panel beside it. You must be careful as you do this, human. If you set all the panels to the green “on” position my cell’s termination program will engage and I will be executed.

Who even makes a system like this? It makes no sense at all. Damn it Bioware, at least find a better excuse to shoehorn in a puzzle. If I recall, this is perhaps the last opportunity (may be wrong there) to get points in either direction of the karma alignment scale. It is insignificant, however, so I just free him.


Duros: Now I must leave this place before the Sith discover I have escaped. If you are wise, you will do the same. If the Sith capture you I doubt anyone else will come by to set you free.

Back to clearing out the base:




Eventually, we come to a door…

…and behind it, a boss battle.


Guard Droid Battle

I should have placed this soundtrack earlier, so have it instead of the base music for the boss fight.


The guard droid can be extremely hard if you don’t deactivate its shields first. If you are holding up on leveling, it can be even harder. That is not the case here, but it actually gave me some trouble.

Anyway, once it is out of the way, let’s see what is behind the elevator, shall we?


Sith Guard Encounter

I lied, of course, this is the real boss fight (with more music that I could’ve used earlier!). But, before that, there needs to be some good old bragging from the villain.


Sith Governor: Who dares break my meditation? You will pay for interrupting my… wait. I sense the Force is strong with you. Very strong. Who would have thought a Force Adept could be found on this insignificant planet? But your talent is no match for a disciple of the dark side!
: You Sith must be brought to judgment for all the blood you have spilled.
Sith Governor: You are a fool – this is a new age! The Sith shall be the ones passing judgment now! We are the new order of the galaxy! This meeting is a stroke of luck for me – my master will surely reward me with my lightsaber once I kill you!



He’s pretty strong for a Mary Sue Sith without a lightsaber. It could’ve been harder, except he focused on T3 almost exclusively for some reason. He also has some nice loot.



After looting, I leave the base, swap out T3 for Bastila and go meet Canderous in the Lower City.

Sith Guard: It’s obvious from the way you’re dressed that you’re not one of the Sith patrols, so unless you have the authorization papers you must move along!
: I’ve got my authorization papers right here.
Sith Guard: Well why didn’t you say so? Hmmm… everything seems to be in order. Okay, I guess you can go down to the Lower City. Just be careful down there. Those swoop gangs will take a shot at anybody. Even our Sith patrols have come under fire!



: Now, I know the Sith military base had a break in. I know it was you. I know you’ve got those departure codes I need. So what do you say? We join forces and I can get you inside Davik’s base – and right to the Ebon Hawk. We can go right now.
: Okay, let’s join up. But how are we going to get me inside Davik’s estate?
: Davik’s always looking to recruit new talent. I’ll tell him how you won that swoop race and mention that you’re interested in working for the Exchange. I’ll say I brought you in so he could check you out. He’ll have you stay at his estate for a couple days while he runs some background checks on you – that’s standard procedure.
: This is too risky. We should find another way.
: You got another plan, sister? Or are you just objecting ‘cause you didn’t think of it?

Canderous, proving to be the best since even before he joins our party.

: No, I… don’t have another plan. I would rather not place my life in your hands, however.
: I can say the same about you. That makes us even. Fortunately we both want to get off this rock, right? While Davik’s checking you out, we steal the Ebon Hawk and escape Taris. Come on – I’ve got an air speeder nearby to take us to Davik’s estate. The sooner we’re off Taris the better!

And so Canderous joins our party. He’s unique in a couple of different ways. First and most noticeable: he’s our first dark side party member. For the record, there is only one more dark side character, although Canderous is more ruthless than actually evil. He also specializes in heavy weaponry, the only party member to do so by default (you could theoretically make anyone who’s not T3 specialize in heavy weapons) and he regenerates health in combat at an acceptable rate. No time to banter with him right now, though: the plot must flow… next update.

I guess I’ll be finishing Taris (finally!) in the next update.

[ATHATH]

Well, T-3 is pretty much just a skill monkey in the first game, but in the second game he is a combat god, for two reasons, both of them equipment that he can use. The first is his shock arm. It does a d6 of damage per level, capping at sixty, which is a lot, considering that by the end of the game, your jedi are only doing around 18 damage per stike (although they make around 4 attacks a turn), and half of those attacks miss. The thing that makes the shock arm so powerful is that it doesn't miss. It also has infinite uses, has decent range, and can be used every turn (you have to manually make T-3 use it though, because this AI thinks that it has limited ammo). The second part is a quest reward for a really easy quest from a shop keeper. It is a prototype shield that has infinite charges, and protects against most of the ranged damage types in the game. With a high enough repair or computer skill, you can also upgrade T-3's stats (I think it only upgrades his skill-monkey ones, though). The equipment might be able to be given to HK, but I'm pretty sure it can't. The only real downside with T-3 is that he can't be buffed and healed by most of your force powers, but I'd still use him over a third Jedi.

[Teneb]

Well, T-3 is pretty much just a skill monkey in the first game, but in the second game he is a combat god, for two reasons, both of them equipment that he can use. The first is his shock arm. It does a d6 of damage per level, capping at sixty, which is a lot, considering that by the end of the game, your jedi are only doing around 18 damage per stike (although they make around 4 attacks a turn), and half of those attacks miss. The thing that makes the shock arm so powerful is that it doesn't miss. It also has infinite uses, has decent range, and can be used every turn (you have to manually make T-3 use it though, because this AI thinks that it has limited ammo). The second part is a quest reward for a really easy quest from a shop keeper. It is a prototype shield that has infinite charges, and protects against most of the ranged damage types in the game. With a high enough repair or computer skill, you can also upgrade T-3's stats (I think it only upgrades his skill-monkey ones, though). The equipment might be able to be given to HK, but I'm pretty sure it can't. The only real downside with T-3 is that he can't be buffed and healed by most of your force powers, but I'd still use him over a third Jedi.

While I knew T3 in 2 was good, I was not aware it was that good. There is a better skill/crafting monkey in 2 though (at least in my opinion): Bao-Dur. But that game is still about... 5 planets(?) away, not counting Taris. So T3 is on bench duty unless I absolutely need to pass a repair/computer check.