Fate is a tale whispered to us by the Force
Just finished playing the first 9 chapters of the new Fallen Empire expansion, on a Light Side Jedi Knight and a Dark leaning Imperial Agent. Presentation wise, the game hews very close to the cinematic feel of Mass Effect, even more so than the base game or previous expansions. The two main things that I took away from the playthroughs are consequences and questions.
[Warning for a ton of spoilers and speculation]Right now, most consequences are usually quite subtle. For example, a trooper on board Darth Marr's ship survives to join Koth's crew. Depending on the player's choice to evacuate the ship or ram the Eternal Fleet, the face to face meeting can be grateful or angry. Another example, in what seems to be a rare reference to Light/Dark alignments, Lana notes that my Light Side Knight has changed when he gives her the go ahead to kill a Zakuul Knight during the escape. In contrast, the same action by my Agent elicited no such comment.
The biggie, though, would be Valkorion's power over the player character. My Knight, having faced the Emperor before and worked to foil his world devouring ritual, refused to kneel. Arcann, seizing an opportunity, freed the Knight, who then stabbed Valkorion. That wasn't the end of the Emperor though, not by a long shot. He takes up residence inside the player character's head, and at that point, my Knight is definitely "Again?! WTH!!!" Subsequently, at various times through the story, Valkorion offers his power in assistance against the dream Monolith, to save Lana, against the Scion leader and against Arcann. The Knight only took one of those offers, he couldn't risk losing Lana seeing how integral she was to the resistance. Despite sharing a body with a power hungry mass murderer, everything seemed strangely uneventful.
The unpleasant surprise, I soon found out, was for my Imperial. Pragmatic Agent that he is, he adopted a "live to fight another day" attitude and knelt to Valkorion. Again, there were the same four offers of power and again, he used one to save Lana. Then, preparing to face Arcann on his own, two small lines of text popped up: Valkorion dismisses your choice. You have surrendered too much power to him.
Oh man, the Emperor really did it this time. My Agent never forgave Ardun Kothe for using the control code, even when he was long dead and gone. This is so much worse, especially after Valkorion going on about cooperation and needing each other. This is definitely going to turn into a one heck of a grudge. Storytelling-wise though, it definitely played on the choice/illusion of choice that so fascinated me during the middle part of the Agent story. And the implications further down the road ... How much surrender is too much? I think I've read that it's possible, without kneeling, to accept two offers of power without triggering the takeover, but I think my Knight, and subsequent characters, will have to tread softly after this. As for what it means for my Agent ...
Interestingly, after the fight with Arcann, he says Valkorion's power feels different, weaker. And this is irrespective of whether the Emperor took control or his offer was refused.
As for questions, well, there was never any doubt that Valkorion is Vitiate. After all, in the throne room, the man was facing the Jedi Knight who fought the Sith Emperor as well as the de facto leader of the Dark Council. The question is, however, why this apparent change of heart? Why the change from consuming all life in the galaxy to peaceably ruling Zakuul? During the class story, I remember the Knight asking him if he wanted to be the ruler of nothing after devouring everything, and the reply was "there are other galaxies". It's pretty hard to reconcile that image with the benevolent ruler that Koth and most of Zakuul saw. Which is why I say again that I would really, really like to have Lord Scourge make an appearance to shed some light on the Emperor's plans. Still, during the dream sequence, Valkorion did say something interesting. "Our flesh is not who we are. Voices ... Hands ... Children ... I no longer require those crude vessels. At long last I am truly free." Does that mean his immortality ritual worked, that he is beyond death? But it doesn't explain why he's now in the player character's body, it still feels like a vessel thing.
Another question is of course about the origins of the Eternal Fleet and the Gravestone, but the codex entries don't reveal what technologies they're based on. The Eternal Fleet being automated and manned by droids reminds me of the Infinite Empire, the Star Forge and the droid manufactury of the Foundry, ie Rakata tech. Which is also tech that responds to the Force, as the gathering Zakuul items quest for Yuun showed. If so, could the Gravestone have been Esh-kha? They are a major Rakata enemy and the look of the Ancient Monolith inside the Gravestone kind of reminds me of Esh-kha. Admittedly, I don't think we actually have examples of Esh-ka architecture to compare. It was stated that the Gravestone defeated (not destoryed) the Eternal Fleet, then the owners of the ship scuttled it. So with all these facts, what is the actual background to the ancient confrontation between the Gravestone and the Fleet? It is also stated that rumors of the Eternal Fleet was what led Valkorion to Zakuul, where he managed to find the Fleet, reactivate it and put it under his control about a century ago.
Could the timelines tie in with KotOR? 300 years ago, Revan finds the Sith Emperor, comes back as a Darth and goes after the Rakata Star Forge. After the Star Forge is destroyed, the Emperor realizes the potential of Rakata tech and goes looking for the Eternal Fleet. Once the Fleet is under his control (about 100 years ago), he launches the return of the Sith, the Galactic War and so on in preparation for the ritual that culminates in Ziost. Darth Marr mentions the silences throughout the years, which could be when the Emperor was building up his empire in Zakuul.
Finally, all this talk about destiny. First Koth, who believed it was destiny that they would free the Outlander and then find the Gravestone. Here, I have to admit that finding the ship was a bit too fortuitous to be a coincidence. The Scions of Zakuul also believe heavily in destiny. They believe the visions they see are set in stone, although how they receive these visions isn't clear. Heskal, leader of the Scions, says of Arcann "His destiny is to fall. We have seen as much, but his final fate remains unclear. When he is at your mercy, what will you do?" Implying that they can see his fall, but not what comes after. Player agency muddying the waters, which Valkorion also comments on "Scions believe there is no greater power than destiny. They cannot believe you exist outside its influence, but we know better." I also didn't feel anything was amiss when I did Yuun's gathering mission on my Knight, but when the objects responded to my non-Force Agent as well, I got Yuun to admit that there seemed to be some kind maelstrom around the player character. Even pragmatic Lana, on Odessen, did tell the Agent that she eventually came to believe that what happened was destiny.
And finally, this rather alarming exchange on Odessen, which I take to be the developers being evil and making us worry about our favorite companions. Sigh.
Satele: They still have far to go, but at this rate they will one day pose a challenge to the Eternal Empire.
Marr: Perhaps. A pity so many of them will have to die ...
[Warning for a ton of spoilers and speculation]Right now, most consequences are usually quite subtle. For example, a trooper on board Darth Marr's ship survives to join Koth's crew. Depending on the player's choice to evacuate the ship or ram the Eternal Fleet, the face to face meeting can be grateful or angry. Another example, in what seems to be a rare reference to Light/Dark alignments, Lana notes that my Light Side Knight has changed when he gives her the go ahead to kill a Zakuul Knight during the escape. In contrast, the same action by my Agent elicited no such comment.
The biggie, though, would be Valkorion's power over the player character. My Knight, having faced the Emperor before and worked to foil his world devouring ritual, refused to kneel. Arcann, seizing an opportunity, freed the Knight, who then stabbed Valkorion. That wasn't the end of the Emperor though, not by a long shot. He takes up residence inside the player character's head, and at that point, my Knight is definitely "Again?! WTH!!!" Subsequently, at various times through the story, Valkorion offers his power in assistance against the dream Monolith, to save Lana, against the Scion leader and against Arcann. The Knight only took one of those offers, he couldn't risk losing Lana seeing how integral she was to the resistance. Despite sharing a body with a power hungry mass murderer, everything seemed strangely uneventful.
The unpleasant surprise, I soon found out, was for my Imperial. Pragmatic Agent that he is, he adopted a "live to fight another day" attitude and knelt to Valkorion. Again, there were the same four offers of power and again, he used one to save Lana. Then, preparing to face Arcann on his own, two small lines of text popped up: Valkorion dismisses your choice. You have surrendered too much power to him.
Oh man, the Emperor really did it this time. My Agent never forgave Ardun Kothe for using the control code, even when he was long dead and gone. This is so much worse, especially after Valkorion going on about cooperation and needing each other. This is definitely going to turn into a one heck of a grudge. Storytelling-wise though, it definitely played on the choice/illusion of choice that so fascinated me during the middle part of the Agent story. And the implications further down the road ... How much surrender is too much? I think I've read that it's possible, without kneeling, to accept two offers of power without triggering the takeover, but I think my Knight, and subsequent characters, will have to tread softly after this. As for what it means for my Agent ...
Interestingly, after the fight with Arcann, he says Valkorion's power feels different, weaker. And this is irrespective of whether the Emperor took control or his offer was refused.
As for questions, well, there was never any doubt that Valkorion is Vitiate. After all, in the throne room, the man was facing the Jedi Knight who fought the Sith Emperor as well as the de facto leader of the Dark Council. The question is, however, why this apparent change of heart? Why the change from consuming all life in the galaxy to peaceably ruling Zakuul? During the class story, I remember the Knight asking him if he wanted to be the ruler of nothing after devouring everything, and the reply was "there are other galaxies". It's pretty hard to reconcile that image with the benevolent ruler that Koth and most of Zakuul saw. Which is why I say again that I would really, really like to have Lord Scourge make an appearance to shed some light on the Emperor's plans. Still, during the dream sequence, Valkorion did say something interesting. "Our flesh is not who we are. Voices ... Hands ... Children ... I no longer require those crude vessels. At long last I am truly free." Does that mean his immortality ritual worked, that he is beyond death? But it doesn't explain why he's now in the player character's body, it still feels like a vessel thing.
Another question is of course about the origins of the Eternal Fleet and the Gravestone, but the codex entries don't reveal what technologies they're based on. The Eternal Fleet being automated and manned by droids reminds me of the Infinite Empire, the Star Forge and the droid manufactury of the Foundry, ie Rakata tech. Which is also tech that responds to the Force, as the gathering Zakuul items quest for Yuun showed. If so, could the Gravestone have been Esh-kha? They are a major Rakata enemy and the look of the Ancient Monolith inside the Gravestone kind of reminds me of Esh-kha. Admittedly, I don't think we actually have examples of Esh-ka architecture to compare. It was stated that the Gravestone defeated (not destoryed) the Eternal Fleet, then the owners of the ship scuttled it. So with all these facts, what is the actual background to the ancient confrontation between the Gravestone and the Fleet? It is also stated that rumors of the Eternal Fleet was what led Valkorion to Zakuul, where he managed to find the Fleet, reactivate it and put it under his control about a century ago.
Could the timelines tie in with KotOR? 300 years ago, Revan finds the Sith Emperor, comes back as a Darth and goes after the Rakata Star Forge. After the Star Forge is destroyed, the Emperor realizes the potential of Rakata tech and goes looking for the Eternal Fleet. Once the Fleet is under his control (about 100 years ago), he launches the return of the Sith, the Galactic War and so on in preparation for the ritual that culminates in Ziost. Darth Marr mentions the silences throughout the years, which could be when the Emperor was building up his empire in Zakuul.
Finally, all this talk about destiny. First Koth, who believed it was destiny that they would free the Outlander and then find the Gravestone. Here, I have to admit that finding the ship was a bit too fortuitous to be a coincidence. The Scions of Zakuul also believe heavily in destiny. They believe the visions they see are set in stone, although how they receive these visions isn't clear. Heskal, leader of the Scions, says of Arcann "His destiny is to fall. We have seen as much, but his final fate remains unclear. When he is at your mercy, what will you do?" Implying that they can see his fall, but not what comes after. Player agency muddying the waters, which Valkorion also comments on "Scions believe there is no greater power than destiny. They cannot believe you exist outside its influence, but we know better." I also didn't feel anything was amiss when I did Yuun's gathering mission on my Knight, but when the objects responded to my non-Force Agent as well, I got Yuun to admit that there seemed to be some kind maelstrom around the player character. Even pragmatic Lana, on Odessen, did tell the Agent that she eventually came to believe that what happened was destiny.
And finally, this rather alarming exchange on Odessen, which I take to be the developers being evil and making us worry about our favorite companions. Sigh.
Satele: They still have far to go, but at this rate they will one day pose a challenge to the Eternal Empire.
Marr: Perhaps. A pity so many of them will have to die ...