Another another, update month.
Sure, there's the HK Chapter, but this will be a part of its own HK-reward themed post so not much reason to include it in a generic recap.
Anyway, on to 4.7!
~~~
Chapter XVI: The Battle of Odessen
Here we are; the big one. What it's all been building up to.
There really isn't much that I can say about this which isn't spoilery, so I'll keep this brief.
Chapter XVI is a decent chapter. I'd still say that Chapter XV was better, but that's mainly because following on from unexpectedly having a lot of Companions following you then, the same effect has been spoiled somewhat for the conclusion as that makes more logical sense.
However, in spite of this there are decent things worth talking about. Firstly, there are aspects similar to a certain part of the Sith Warrior story very shortly after the beginning where you decide which Companions go and complete which tasks. Secondly, again continuing on from what Chapter XV and now Chapter XIV have done, you can pick up certain tools which add an interesting level of gameplay variety to the mix.
Notably, you can find a Zakuul Knight shield on your travels and use this to reflect attacks back at your attacker. This is something which unavoidably crops up in the final battle as well, so it's definitely worth getting used to while you can.
As for story surprises, I have to say that there actually were a couple of surprises throughout this chapter, but they won't be up to everyone's liking. As for the big "plot twist" they mentioned at the Cantina, I have a feeling I know which moment they were referring to, but it's nowhere near as surprising as I believe they wanted it to be.
Furthermore, there's actually another element of "plot twist" for those who made a certain Companion disappear earlier in the story, although perhaps this makes one realise that the strange action of one character later in the Chapter is their way of creating a loophole whereby in both possible outcomes one of our biggest assets is no longer as necessary as it would otherwise have been.
There are some interesting fights spread throughout this Chapter. If you go a long way around before facing a Skytrooper boss, you'll come across an Exarch wearing the new Scion armour, and they function exactly the same as the Exarch in the Star Fortress. The aforementioned Skytrooper has a lot of floor mechanics to watch out for, as does a Zakuul knight who turns up later.
Then there's Arcann. This fight was actually fairly interesting, if only because of the aforementioned compulsory flavour. Amusingly, that special weapon which we had to forge in Chapter XII is not a necessary tool. It would have been a nice touch if the fight had a certain bit where the weapon was needed, similar to the shield, but as it is the weapon feels very... unnecessary.
Was Chapter XVI a nice way to end the story? It's hard to say. If Chapter XV hadn't have played the "your entire crew joins you!" card early then there'd be more positive things to say about it. Additionally, the setting is very similar to that of the previous chapter as it takes place on board Arcann's flagship. It would have been more interesting to take part in an actual ground-battle rather than yet another affair on board a ship.
Still, it does leave the story open in quite a nice way, and I'm interested in seeing how it develops in the future.
There really isn't much that I can say about this which isn't spoilery, so I'll keep this brief.
Chapter XVI is a decent chapter. I'd still say that Chapter XV was better, but that's mainly because following on from unexpectedly having a lot of Companions following you then, the same effect has been spoiled somewhat for the conclusion as that makes more logical sense.
However, in spite of this there are decent things worth talking about. Firstly, there are aspects similar to a certain part of the Sith Warrior story very shortly after the beginning where you decide which Companions go and complete which tasks. Secondly, again continuing on from what Chapter XV and now Chapter XIV have done, you can pick up certain tools which add an interesting level of gameplay variety to the mix.
Notably, you can find a Zakuul Knight shield on your travels and use this to reflect attacks back at your attacker. This is something which unavoidably crops up in the final battle as well, so it's definitely worth getting used to while you can.
As for story surprises, I have to say that there actually were a couple of surprises throughout this chapter, but they won't be up to everyone's liking. As for the big "plot twist" they mentioned at the Cantina, I have a feeling I know which moment they were referring to, but it's nowhere near as surprising as I believe they wanted it to be.
Furthermore, there's actually another element of "plot twist" for those who made a certain Companion disappear earlier in the story, although perhaps this makes one realise that the strange action of one character later in the Chapter is their way of creating a loophole whereby in both possible outcomes one of our biggest assets is no longer as necessary as it would otherwise have been.
There are some interesting fights spread throughout this Chapter. If you go a long way around before facing a Skytrooper boss, you'll come across an Exarch wearing the new Scion armour, and they function exactly the same as the Exarch in the Star Fortress. The aforementioned Skytrooper has a lot of floor mechanics to watch out for, as does a Zakuul knight who turns up later.
Then there's Arcann. This fight was actually fairly interesting, if only because of the aforementioned compulsory flavour. Amusingly, that special weapon which we had to forge in Chapter XII is not a necessary tool. It would have been a nice touch if the fight had a certain bit where the weapon was needed, similar to the shield, but as it is the weapon feels very... unnecessary.
Was Chapter XVI a nice way to end the story? It's hard to say. If Chapter XV hadn't have played the "your entire crew joins you!" card early then there'd be more positive things to say about it. Additionally, the setting is very similar to that of the previous chapter as it takes place on board Arcann's flagship. It would have been more interesting to take part in an actual ground-battle rather than yet another affair on board a ship.
Still, it does leave the story open in quite a nice way, and I'm interested in seeing how it develops in the future.
~~~
He's not Slipping through our Fingers this Time!
After disappearing from 4.6, Guss Tuno has finally decided to stop giving us the runaround and has actually turned up this time!
This Alliance Alert is currently the only one to include the involvement of a previously-recruited Companion. Logically following on from the end of his recruitment mission, this is of course Blizz, and he adds a certain amount of variety and flavour to the entire ordeal.
Speaking of flavour, Guss Tuno is an... interesting... character to interact with now that he is a Jedi. There are still elements of the old Guss lurking underneath, but certainly throughout his recruitment he feels somewhat repressed. Notably, you can attempt to [Cheat] your way out of 'properly' doing the mission, but he refuses, stating that he'd far rather keep on trying his level-best. To me, that just isn't the Guss I thought I knew, but it's certainly a notable development.
Maybe this would be different for a Smuggler character, I don't know. I've only done it on my Sage so far.
This Alliance Alert is currently the only one to include the involvement of a previously-recruited Companion. Logically following on from the end of his recruitment mission, this is of course Blizz, and he adds a certain amount of variety and flavour to the entire ordeal.
Speaking of flavour, Guss Tuno is an... interesting... character to interact with now that he is a Jedi. There are still elements of the old Guss lurking underneath, but certainly throughout his recruitment he feels somewhat repressed. Notably, you can attempt to [Cheat] your way out of 'properly' doing the mission, but he refuses, stating that he'd far rather keep on trying his level-best. To me, that just isn't the Guss I thought I knew, but it's certainly a notable development.
Maybe this would be different for a Smuggler character, I don't know. I've only done it on my Sage so far.
~~~
Miscellaneous
I've already touched on the "new Cartel Pack experience", of course, and it still seems like a lot of fluff. Additionally, having seen how it works in-action now, I have to say that I really dislike how slow the entire ordeal is. The Collections reorganisation is a nice little tidbit, though.
The Sarlacc Stomper title was one of those added/brought back to the game in 4.6 along with the Social and Light/Dark Side titles, so it is curious to see it listed as a change here, but at least it's more publicised than it was.
The Companion locator terminal now returns Companions who disappear as part of the KotFE story, with the exceptions of Darth Marr, as he was a guest, and HK-55, due to his more unique circumstances.
The Eternal Championship vendors have been graced by a third which sells unmodifiable (220)-rating gear, which costs 18 Trophies apiece and is also Bind on Pickup. The real kicker is that this stuff is actually optimised (at least for DPS), meaning that it is actually a pretty damn decent set of alt-gear to get, if very slowly and only for one alt at a time. Seriously, you'd need to do the Weekly mission 30 times in order to get a full set including earpiece and implants.
Certainly for fresh out-of-the-door Level 65s, the Earpiece and Implants are an absolute must-have.
The Companion locator terminal now returns Companions who disappear as part of the KotFE story, with the exceptions of Darth Marr, as he was a guest, and HK-55, due to his more unique circumstances.
The Eternal Championship vendors have been graced by a third which sells unmodifiable (220)-rating gear, which costs 18 Trophies apiece and is also Bind on Pickup. The real kicker is that this stuff is actually optimised (at least for DPS), meaning that it is actually a pretty damn decent set of alt-gear to get, if very slowly and only for one alt at a time. Seriously, you'd need to do the Weekly mission 30 times in order to get a full set including earpiece and implants.
Certainly for fresh out-of-the-door Level 65s, the Earpiece and Implants are an absolute must-have.
A small amount of miscellaneous fixes are present throughout this patch, some of which I've touched on in the past. Let's go through them!
- The Companions' Character Sheets no longer update to show increased damage potential with a higher-level Hilt or Barrel; worth noting that damage listed in tooltips on abilities still increases, so unfortunately this may not have been as fixed as they might like
- Dual-wielding a vibrosword and a lightsaber no longer causes the character to default to the one-handed stance
- The spelling error "Your have gained influence..." has finally been fixed
Unfortunately, Tech Tank Companions still have one Force Attack and now all Companions are showing as having 0.00% Ranged and Melee Accuracy. Ah, well. At least they fixed some of the long-standing issues!
~~~
4.7 is a mixed bag. Chapter XVI and the Alliance Alert have potential but still feel a bit too restrained. The bug fixes are nice, even if there are more still out there.
It feels somewhat anticlimactic to talk about the official end of KotFE in such a short post. Still, as said earlier, it's been fun going through each of the monthly updates and analysing the changes as they came, and I look forward to potentially continuing this when Eternal Throne launches later in the year.
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