An End, Once and For All!

This has been a day I've long been anticipating.

Throughout the past two days, I finally managed to drag my Powertech through her remaining chapters of Fallen Empire, completed Eternal Throne, slogged through Iokath and the Traitor arc, and took a breath of fresh air on Ossus and Onderon.

This may not seem like much, particularly to the more altaholic readers out there, but I have very specific reasons to be celebrating this.

I'm done. 

Never again will I have to sit through Fallen Empire and its subsequent storylines. At long last, I have all characters from each base-class caught up to one another again, a feat that hasn't been accomplished since partway through 3.0 - almost, if not over, five years ago.

Appropriately, since Phirella is the last of my characters to be going through these storylines, I thought I'd shake things up somewhat just as a "last hurrah". I hatched the idea of maybe making her my saboteur while she was finishing up her class story at the start of 6.0 and the threat of Fallen Empire et al. loomed ever nearer. So it was that when she started Iokath and eventually Ossus, she became my first and only character to support a faction opposite to her own.

I didn't look up any videos of saboteur activity pre-Onslaught as I had heard second-hand that some of the choices made by a saboteur, particularly during Hearts and Minds, were absolutely hilarious. Having now seen the speech given to Imperial troops with a character who deliberately flubs the speech, I can confirm that part of it caused me to burst out laughing. Grey Griffin's voice-acting certainly added to the hilarity, so I'm curious to hear what the other Imperial VAs sound like when delivering their own flubbed speeches.

As for the other saboteur-specific stuff? Well, it means I finally got to see Emperor Vowrawn at last as well as properly meet Jedi Master Sal-Deron first-hand rather than through someone else's recordings, so I'm happy about both of those. It's a bit too soon to gauge how other choices will impact things, especially as with letting the Republic fleet escape I proceeded to choose the Dark Side option in the subsequent conversation with Malgus. No spoilers for people who haven't done or seen the saboteur storyline yet, of course.

~~~

I don't begrudge anyone liking the Chapters as a means of storytelling. Heck, I myself can appreciate the theory behind them and some of the stuff that's been in the Chapters have been among my favourite story moments in the entire game. However, as time went on and as more and more characters of mine reached the point where Chapter I: The Hunt became their next mission, I began to feel very disillusioned with them.

More than anything, this is simply because of the sheer onslaught of cutscenes that is presented to players nowadays. When 4.0 launched with its Chapters, The Alliance was the break-point, and it made good logical sense. With each addition to the story, however, the break-point got extended further and further to the point where, unless you stop yourself deliberately (while making sure to do so in an area that doesn't launch you straight back into a Chapter the moment you enter the phase), you will be presented with all twenty-five Chapters back-to-back. At least as they were coming out we had the means to start them deliberately at our own pace!

I know, I know, people will say "you know you can stop at whatever point you like, right?" but I feel this is still indicative of the issue I have. Yes, I know I can halt a chapter after it starts and take a break, but you still can't prevent any chapters from starting outright. Once you initiate the final cutscene of any given chapter, hey-ho, it's another cutscene and possibly an entire loading screen that greets you afterward. At least with the subsequent storylines, while you mostly get given the missions automatically, you can start them from scratch whenever you desire.

I'm pleased BioWare indulged in experimenting with the Chapters as the content we're seeing now feels like a BioWare making use of the experiences they picked up from writing them while merging them with the more traditional open-world story content of the base-game.

However, I'm even more pleased - in fact, I'm going so far as to say that I'm thrilled - to have finally escaped them at long last.

Since I haven't been updating my blog in the past few months (because... reasons...), I should also follow up on my Vanguard, whose progress I also last briefly touched on back in Tasks and Signals. Like my Powertech, I've only just got my Vanguard up to all the story content within the past week, so this has been too long I've spent on Iokath this week alone.

Still, at least it meant that I finally got to see the Trooper's conversation with Elara Dorne as well as the Hunter's reunion with Torian and Mako this week. Extra rewards to be reaped for having to put up with all that other nonsense!

Wiping the Slate Clean (More Nathema Conspiracy Spoilers)

With The Nathema Conspiracy beginning to tie our characters to either the Republic or the Empire for a more substantial alliance than that on Iokath, there are a fair amount of potential scenarios we could be seeing as a direct result of our choices since last April.

As of Iokath, Acina or Malcom could be deceased and the decision made here decides who the leader of either faction is. Vowrawn steps into the breach left by a dead Acina while Malcom's demise leads to the infuriatingly faceless and voiceless Supreme Chancellor Jebevel Madon stepping down and allowing Galena Rans to succeed him.

The Nathema Conspiracy adds to this by setting up the eventual option for the facilitator of either of the changed outcomes to actually join the faction they potentially screwed over back on Iokath. Alternatively, of course, they could just continue on with their previous alliance and thus avoid any awkward outcomes.

This is a fair amount of variety that we could be seeing going forward, and this isn't even going into what else could be factoring into the factions' strength. This is something which BioWare have attempted to address with Nathema by reintroducing or introducing people who are or used to be important politically and killing them off for certain Classes. Given who some of these individuals are and how difficult it would be to align them with both the political status we've been given throughout KotFE and KotET and how they could severely impact a future balance, it's relatively safe to assume that all of these characters have been given a final farewell.

However, that doesn't mean that there still aren't questions and observations that need to be addressed. Be aware that every significant character a Class will face during the Nathema story will be mentioned here, so if you don't want to know who you'll face before you do, I advise you to stop reading here.

Veteran Outlander: Chapter Difficulty, Part I

As mentioned last week, I've still got a fair few things to start talking about. Veteran Chapters, the Eternal Throne story, Uprisings, and so on and so forth. Today, I'm going to be tackling the Veteran Chapters, a new 'feature' of 5.0, whereby you can replay most of the Chapters of Fallen Empire and all of the Chapters of Eternal Throne in a harder difficulty. 

Because I want to talk about the Eternal Throne story before I discuss how each of those Chapters work as Veteran, today will be dedicated entirely to Fallen Empire's Veteran difficulty.

Let's get started!

KotFE Retrospective: Story Issues

Knights of the Fallen Empire is over. Done. Kaput. Now that all sixteen chapters have been released, it's time to start looking over this season and see what worked and what didn't work.

This post will look at my personal issues with aspects of the story. This will not include the mantra of "Choices Matter!" given that everyone knows by now just how much of an illusion this really was now; the only 'choices' hinged upon whether or not there was a get-out clause for both eventualities.

Notably, if you had banished Koth, Kaliyo, or Aric, the subsequent chapters only featured them in the barest of supporting roles for those who had kept them around and so their presence could easily be missed without consequence.

This will also not mention the lack of 'proper' new PvE group content, even though this definitely has harmed several guilds throughout 4.0. This is purely going to focus on story moments.

Let's get started!

Thoughts on 4.3 [Spoiler-Free]

Another month, another update.

4.3 brings with it many changes and new features, including quality-of-life changes to Guilds and Strongholds, and the first new 8-player Warzone since Patch 1.6 in 2012 brought us Ancient Hypergates. Oh, and it also provided perhaps the most interesting Fallen Empire chapter yet.

There's a lot to dive into, so let's get started!

4.0 Impressions: The Characters

One of the strongest anchor points of any BioWare RPG, alongside the story, is the cast of characters thrown into the mix. The character list of Fallen Empire is no exception to this, providing a slew of decent, entertaining, and interesting characters onto the already quite sizeable pile of characters one can encounter in this game.

Before I begin, this list is only looking at the main characters/followers and villians in order of appearance; the various Alliance Specialists and related Companions will get their own post next week.

4.0 Impressions: The Knights of the Fallen Empire Story

BioWare have always claimed that Fallen Empire was going to be their big chance to return to their roots, something which was met with both enthusiasm and scepticism. With the expansion having launched, we can finally see for ourselves how successful they were in achieving this outcome.

4.0 Impressions: Universal System Changes

So 4.0 has finally hit and whilst not everyone has access to the story, which I shall cover next week, or Level 65, everyone has access to the changed systems such as Companions and Level-Sync. This is just to look over what has changed and what my feelings are on the matter.

The Developer Stream and Changes to SWtOR

Finally, after such a long period of nothing but promises and actually quite interesting Class Change blogs, the Developers of The Old Republic allowed a Twitch Stream showing more than just basic Companions changes and Story spoilers. Sure, there were those included as well, but they were a part of the overall larger scheme of showing off more of what was changing in the game.

It was a very informative Stream, and only one aspect was announced at not being covered: the Alliance system. Nico Okarr is becoming a part of this for all eligible players once the first nine chapters of the story were completed, but as they detailed Companions separately it is to be assumed that this is a whole other system entirely which just happens to feature potential Companions. The more, the merrier.

This is just to offer my thoughts on what we'll be seeing when the expansion launches. Order of topics based on that of the Stream, of which you can find a write-up here and a YouTube mirror here.

Accompanying Personnel: Companions I'd choose to keep

So Knights of the Fallen Empire has had a lot of questions being asked about it, particularly focusing on how Companions will be handled. Transpires that our own personal roster of Companions shall be permanently affected in some form or another; not only do we need to forage for various Companions but the implication seems to be that we can choose to not recruit a certain character; indeed, a further indication is that we can recruit or even kill a Companion belonging to another Class.

I'm reserving judgement on this last point, because I for one enjoy the diversity of the Class Companions. Whilst some are extremely difficult to work with - just try getting Ashara to like a Dark-Side Inquisitor - and some are just unpleasant - a certain Houk comes to mind - I enjoy having to spend time analysing their characters and what they like/dislike in the long run and having to adapt accordingly. I can understand the appeal for picking-and-choosing, however.

In spite of my attitude towards the matter, the question definitely rears its head; if you could choose which Companions could accompany you into the future, who would you choose? For this, I will be approaching it from the perspective of the original classes and not from the perspective of a future "potential owner", if you will.

The Companions listed, I must point out beforehand, are those which I would hold on as tightly as possible to rather than a complete list of those I could "bear to keep around". You'll notice that not a single Agent Companion makes this list, for example.

Cascaded Imperial Chivalry

Knights of the Fallen Empire has received a great deal of much-deserved attention from virtually all quarters.

Indeed, it's safe to say that it has received much better attention and to some extent publicity than Shadow of Revan, which was pitched as "the" big thing for SWTOR. This completely free update has received a fully-animated CGI Trailer rather than using the in-game engine to render cutscenes for trailers as what happened with Rise of the Hutt Cartel and Shadow of Revan. A full-CG animation hasn't been done for this game since the brief HK-51 Reveal back in 2012, which even then was under a minute and just a teaser, and it's excellent to see another CG trailer even if it's still strange knowing that a free update received one whilst the two paid full expansions did not.

Some information was, as many know by now, leaked accidentally on Saturday but I decided to hold off on presenting my thoughts until the announcement was officially broadcast.

The full trailer can be viewed here, you can read the press release yourself here, and a Developer Blog update detailing more about the update, including the new Level Cap of 65, here.