Evil was more fun than I thought it would be
Have been obsessed with finishing KOTOR for the past week or so. Blame Liz. She's the one who took over my computer to play. (If I weren't at work when she was playing, I'd point and laugh as she yet again runs in tiny circles trying to get around minions who keep getting in the way.) Normally I wouldn't be so interested in finishing a game as fast as possible. (For example, I never managed to get out of chapter three or whatever of NWN. Sprawling place is good, annoying the gamer with far too many 'fetch' tasks is not.) But I got interested in playing Dark Side. (Pug mentioned it had a better ending and I wanted to see for myself. Personally, I liked the LS movie more than the Nazi-esque rally in worship of my Sith self. Though the idea of crushing the Republic in an iron grip is better than cheap jewelry, flowery words, and a 'get out of jail free' card for something I have no memory of.)
I've never really roleplayed evil before. I had fun strolling down the path to the Dark Side, every once in awhile accidentally gaining light points because the computer didn't understand my motivation for the scene. On Kashyyyk (Kashyyk? Hell if I know- they're just Ewoks on steroids), for example, I chose to side with the 'good' Wookie chieftain because the bad one tried to blackmail me. Never piss off former Dark Lords. They sic Wookie outcasts on you. I got light points for it. Just for that, I had to go and Force Choke Gizka until I regained my prior bad-ness. And while it didn't make me feel bad, per se, it's like kicking puppies. Not very satisfying.
Did you know if you finally get around to feeding them Gizka poison that there will still be Gizka on the Rakatan world? I saved right before that one blew itself up on a mine and kept reloading and cackling. Thankfully Liz was out and not completely freaked by sadistic gamer. Though she would be later. Something about going to me for advice on how to write a psychotic bad guy?
I was still gray on Dantooine, so I got to bring Juhani back to the light without feeling like too much of a pussy. (Still got light points, even though I mostly did it because I was working on sucking up to the Council until they finally gave me permission to enter the ruins and they wouldn't have if I'd killed the idiot. Or so was the motivation of my character. Fourth-wall-wise, I knew it didn't matter either way.) Though I then went on to break up the Mantale-Sandral fight by telling the star-crossed lovers that they were idiots and it would never work out and there was much sobbing, until at last they finally saw my truth and cussed each other out and stormed off with daddy never to see each other again. 'Specially considering my ex-apprentice decided to torch the place. Can't blame him at all, the manipulative back-stabbers had it coming.
Had fun on Korriban by killing everyone. You don't use ex-Dark Lords. They use you. Take that, you tattooed freaks. (Stabbing both principal and his secretary in their respective backs with the lightsaber they had me get was especially fun. I hear if you're LS, you can try and convince the secretary to go good, but my LS character obviously had poor persuasion skills, since my DS character got more of her back story than the LS one.)
The real split between light and dark (besides the Genoharadan quests that my LS character refused to take part in, the sissy) comes with the Rakatan Temple. (Besides the fact I'd killed all the One guys the first time and all the Elders the second time.) First go round, Bastila ran away like any good little Sith in deep shit should. (She who fights and runs away has time to come up with a better plan!) The Dark Side story, however, was some freaky shit.
Jolee and Juhani got upset when Bastila and I decided to destroy Malak and reclaim the Star Forge. Something about giving up on being a better Jedi, and how'd they stop me. So Bas and I killed them. (What was annoying was I only got 100 XP for killing the two of them.) And then I get back to the Ebon Hawk, for more betrayal by comrades-in-arms. Sort of.
Carth had a hissy and ran away, swearing that he'd find a way to bring me back to the light. (More likely just to shed some unmanly tears about Bastila's "I do believe the poor fool is in love with you" comment. *snerk* My character was such a lying bitch.) Canderous, of course, had no problems with regained Revan-ness- indeed, said he'd stand by me no matter if I was light or dark (no doubt due to the fact that the Republic destroyed the Mandalorian clans, and that he'd get honor in battle by following me in my conquest of the galaxy). Too bad he's not a romance option. ;) The droids didn't care- well, T3 didn't. I think HK short-circuited in joy- yet more things to kill, at his master's command. I love that droid.(Still didn't get to fix his assassination protocols, alas.) Zaalbar was, of course, upset, but a Force Persuade about him owing me a life-debt had him come around. Mission was fun. She, bratty do-gooder that she was, said that she wouldn't let me get away with what I was doing and that I'd have to kill her. And that she didn't think I could.
I sicced Zaalbar on her.
I'm still getting shivers of evilness thinking about that. There was cute Zaalbar angst, him kneeling beside her corpse. Too bad I had him equipped with a weapon, or he could've really been a mad-claw.
You suppose I should be worried over the matter I found that entire scene funny as hell?
The conversation between Bastila and Dodonna was fun. Destroy the Sith forever, indeed. You just keep thinking that, Admiral, whilst we steal the Star Forge out from under your smug nose and destroy *you*.
Speaking of smug noses, Malak was even less of a challenge than he was the first time. And this is after I'd forgotten he sucked the Force out of mostly-dead Jedi. (Which I then proceeded to beat him to every single time.) Of course, the first time, I completely ignored the fact that I had grenades. This time, I just alternated an adhesive grenade to keep the idiot still and thermal detonators to do serious damage. I had forty of the things. Never bothered using force powers- I didn't have the 'overcome buffs' powers. Was more interested in Force Storm and Kill and Death Knoll, or whatever that one is.
Whee.
My 'incoming fighters!' skills are getting better. While I still get six or seven little fighters to kill every time they show up, no longer am I dying for half an hour before finally succeeding. I've gotten pretty good at getting them all on the first try. Admittedly I was usually in the 'warning, serious hull damage' zone, but after all the practice I got trying to escape the Leviathan, I learned how to aim better and only lose half my life. (Though the funniest story I have there involves eight fighters and killing the last one right after getting 'The Hawk won't hold!' shout and then getting a screen load for the landing scene. Guess the Hawk held after all.)
Still can't do swoopraces to save my life. Though I managed to get pretty good on the Manaan track. Sort of. I spent easily an hour just swoopracing and my best time was 23:30. Too bad the second tier time to beat is 23:25, hm? I never managed to break 26 seconds on Tatooine. Because I just suck like that.
Is KOTOR2 on the cheap shelf yet? I'm not paying more than $20 for it. Learned my lesson with NWN and its expansions, thank you very much.
I've never really roleplayed evil before. I had fun strolling down the path to the Dark Side, every once in awhile accidentally gaining light points because the computer didn't understand my motivation for the scene. On Kashyyyk (Kashyyk? Hell if I know- they're just Ewoks on steroids), for example, I chose to side with the 'good' Wookie chieftain because the bad one tried to blackmail me. Never piss off former Dark Lords. They sic Wookie outcasts on you. I got light points for it. Just for that, I had to go and Force Choke Gizka until I regained my prior bad-ness. And while it didn't make me feel bad, per se, it's like kicking puppies. Not very satisfying.
Did you know if you finally get around to feeding them Gizka poison that there will still be Gizka on the Rakatan world? I saved right before that one blew itself up on a mine and kept reloading and cackling. Thankfully Liz was out and not completely freaked by sadistic gamer. Though she would be later. Something about going to me for advice on how to write a psychotic bad guy?
I was still gray on Dantooine, so I got to bring Juhani back to the light without feeling like too much of a pussy. (Still got light points, even though I mostly did it because I was working on sucking up to the Council until they finally gave me permission to enter the ruins and they wouldn't have if I'd killed the idiot. Or so was the motivation of my character. Fourth-wall-wise, I knew it didn't matter either way.) Though I then went on to break up the Mantale-Sandral fight by telling the star-crossed lovers that they were idiots and it would never work out and there was much sobbing, until at last they finally saw my truth and cussed each other out and stormed off with daddy never to see each other again. 'Specially considering my ex-apprentice decided to torch the place. Can't blame him at all, the manipulative back-stabbers had it coming.
Had fun on Korriban by killing everyone. You don't use ex-Dark Lords. They use you. Take that, you tattooed freaks. (Stabbing both principal and his secretary in their respective backs with the lightsaber they had me get was especially fun. I hear if you're LS, you can try and convince the secretary to go good, but my LS character obviously had poor persuasion skills, since my DS character got more of her back story than the LS one.)
The real split between light and dark (besides the Genoharadan quests that my LS character refused to take part in, the sissy) comes with the Rakatan Temple. (Besides the fact I'd killed all the One guys the first time and all the Elders the second time.) First go round, Bastila ran away like any good little Sith in deep shit should. (She who fights and runs away has time to come up with a better plan!) The Dark Side story, however, was some freaky shit.
Jolee and Juhani got upset when Bastila and I decided to destroy Malak and reclaim the Star Forge. Something about giving up on being a better Jedi, and how'd they stop me. So Bas and I killed them. (What was annoying was I only got 100 XP for killing the two of them.) And then I get back to the Ebon Hawk, for more betrayal by comrades-in-arms. Sort of.
Carth had a hissy and ran away, swearing that he'd find a way to bring me back to the light. (More likely just to shed some unmanly tears about Bastila's "I do believe the poor fool is in love with you" comment. *snerk* My character was such a lying bitch.) Canderous, of course, had no problems with regained Revan-ness- indeed, said he'd stand by me no matter if I was light or dark (no doubt due to the fact that the Republic destroyed the Mandalorian clans, and that he'd get honor in battle by following me in my conquest of the galaxy). Too bad he's not a romance option. ;) The droids didn't care- well, T3 didn't. I think HK short-circuited in joy- yet more things to kill, at his master's command. I love that droid.(Still didn't get to fix his assassination protocols, alas.) Zaalbar was, of course, upset, but a Force Persuade about him owing me a life-debt had him come around. Mission was fun. She, bratty do-gooder that she was, said that she wouldn't let me get away with what I was doing and that I'd have to kill her. And that she didn't think I could.
I sicced Zaalbar on her.
I'm still getting shivers of evilness thinking about that. There was cute Zaalbar angst, him kneeling beside her corpse. Too bad I had him equipped with a weapon, or he could've really been a mad-claw.
You suppose I should be worried over the matter I found that entire scene funny as hell?
The conversation between Bastila and Dodonna was fun. Destroy the Sith forever, indeed. You just keep thinking that, Admiral, whilst we steal the Star Forge out from under your smug nose and destroy *you*.
Speaking of smug noses, Malak was even less of a challenge than he was the first time. And this is after I'd forgotten he sucked the Force out of mostly-dead Jedi. (Which I then proceeded to beat him to every single time.) Of course, the first time, I completely ignored the fact that I had grenades. This time, I just alternated an adhesive grenade to keep the idiot still and thermal detonators to do serious damage. I had forty of the things. Never bothered using force powers- I didn't have the 'overcome buffs' powers. Was more interested in Force Storm and Kill and Death Knoll, or whatever that one is.
Whee.
My 'incoming fighters!' skills are getting better. While I still get six or seven little fighters to kill every time they show up, no longer am I dying for half an hour before finally succeeding. I've gotten pretty good at getting them all on the first try. Admittedly I was usually in the 'warning, serious hull damage' zone, but after all the practice I got trying to escape the Leviathan, I learned how to aim better and only lose half my life. (Though the funniest story I have there involves eight fighters and killing the last one right after getting 'The Hawk won't hold!' shout and then getting a screen load for the landing scene. Guess the Hawk held after all.)
Still can't do swoopraces to save my life. Though I managed to get pretty good on the Manaan track. Sort of. I spent easily an hour just swoopracing and my best time was 23:30. Too bad the second tier time to beat is 23:25, hm? I never managed to break 26 seconds on Tatooine. Because I just suck like that.
Is KOTOR2 on the cheap shelf yet? I'm not paying more than $20 for it. Learned my lesson with NWN and its expansions, thank you very much.