Revan: Analysing SWTOR's take on the Expanded Universe Legend

Revan's time in SWTOR has been brief compared to virtually every other event going on: for the most part, he's mentioned more than he physically appears, and when he actually does appear in person it's only in Flashpoints, Operations, and the Weekly Enemy Within mission. That said, he has been the subject of many a debate, comparing him to the Revan of KOTOR, often to a negative result: indeed, I've seen numerous people claiming that SWTOR "ruined" everything that made Revan a great character in KOTOR.

As someone who is a self-confessed "KOTOR Nut", I have to say that I do see where some of these claims are coming from. Acting as a climactic finale to the "Analytical Weeks" of late, I have decided to look over Revan's story as it developed since KOTOR all the way through to Shadow of Revan, with particular focus on SWTOR and associated material. For all the good number of developments that happened to Revan's legacy, how many of these are, well, good?

Featuring Spoilers from: KOTOR, KOTOR II, Galactic Timeline, Revan, SWTOR, and Shadow of Revan.

Critiquing Class Stories #8: The Imperial Agent

Here we are, folks, the final Class Story critique!

The Imperial Agent is the second of two Imperial classes who many claim to have the best story in-game, the other of course being the Sith Warrior. It's my own personal favourite, but, looking at it analytically, does it also deserve its high pedestal?

Spoilers, spoilers everywhere (and not a drop to drink).

Critiquing Class Stories #7: The Sith Warrior

The Sith Warrior is one of two classes which has a story claimed by many to be the best. It's easy to see why, as you're constantly in-action and constantly gaining more and more power until eventually right at the very end only the Dark Council can attempt to withhold you.

Beginning to run out of ways to say "Spoilers!", thank goodness there's only one of these left!

Critiquing Class Stories #6: The Sith Inquisitor

The Sith Inquisitor is another class whose story has received criticism for being "boring". Going into this critique, this stance seems to me to be one which is more privy to points-of-view more so than any other, because whilst most stories can appeal based on mission objectives and character, this story features history and archaeology extremely heavily, more so than anything else.

Spoiling spoilers.

Critiquing Class Stories #5: The Bounty Hunter

I'll be honest; deciding on which class to kickstart the Imperial faction critiques has been rather difficult. I decided to go from weakest to strongest, which was fairly easy for the Republic. Empire, though, has very strong stories and so deciding which is the "definitive weakest" is difficult. That said, the Hunter's storyline is the one of the four which I feel I could be most critical of.

Spoilers have returned after yesterday's neutral foray.

Critiquing Class Stories #4: The Jedi Knight

The Jedi Knight's story is deferred to by many as the "definitive best" of the four Republic classes. With this statement in mind, how does it hold up?

Spoilers spoil things.

Critiquing Class Stories #3: The Republic Trooper

Today I close off the Ord Mantellian team by looking at the Trooper's story, mainly designed around a character whose primary purpose was to execute rapid infiltration and exfiltration missions. How do the developments from simple Sergeant to influential Major hold up?

Spoilerphobes be wary, as ever.

Critiquing Class Stories #2: The Jedi Consular

The Jedi Consular is privy to a story which many deem as the weakest. As someone who played through both a fully-light and a fully-dark take on the story, I must admit that whilst it was more fun going Dark the Light story did feel lacking. Overall, though, how does it hold up?

As usual, spoilers!

Critiquing Class Stories #1: The Smuggler

It's been a very slow two weeks for this blog. I haven't really found much to report on that's new save for the proposed Operation Victory and the bug which the Patch Notes for 3.1.1 pointed out with regards to the Appearance Modification Station.

In an attempt to keep things flowing for the next few weeks until something new actually does present itself, I'm going to satisfy my "inner critic" by turning to everything that has been in the game since get-go which is uniquely class-based, from class stories to companions, every couple of days. Unlike my Rishi class missions "glance-over", which kept details to a bare minimum, these posts will be laced with spoilers and so should be avoided if you've yet to complete the particular class.

So, without further ado, I launch this with a detailed look-over and critique of the story of the Smuggler.