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This seems to be a thing with a lot of the early bioware games, is the starting section ends up being too convoluted or too much of a drag to be tolerable on repeat runs, Candlekeep wasn't so bad as you can pretty much zip through, but Irencius' Dungeon and Tanis here looks to be maddeningly irritating.
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Dec 21, 2015 19:59
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Psion posted:Yeah, Taris is garbage. I like KOTOR and so do many people. I don't know anyone who actually likes playing through Taris, at least not more than once. And yes, Taris is an absolutely ridiculous slog, even in vanilla KotOR which has the cut-down version of Taris (which still takes forever to get through). Fortunately, the guys behind K1RP restored all of the content that was removed (and I hear there is a lot of it), so we'll be spending quite some time on this rock. I may or may not be regretting my decision to play the K1RP version of the game. 
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Dec 21, 2015 20:09
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Psion posted:Yeah, Taris is garbage. I like KOTOR and so do many people. I don't know anyone who actually likes playing through Taris, at least not more than once. It's at least better than the shithole that is Peragus.
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Dec 21, 2015 23:13
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I like taris  The first time I played the game as a kid taris blew my mind.
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Dec 21, 2015 23:26
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Silegna posted:It's at least better than the shithole that is Peragus. In related news, this game really doesn't want to play nice with my recording software. I want to capture video so I can take screenshots from that instead of grabbing them during gameplay, but it's not working too well. Maybe I should ask GMArcturus for help.
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Dec 21, 2015 23:37
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Peragus is really great for setting up mood. It just gets very old very fast and that three-hour slog gets very tedious at the same time.
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Dec 21, 2015 23:37
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is it just me or do the screenshots have a lot of JPEG corruption?
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Dec 22, 2015 02:31
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Siegkrow posted:is it just me or do the screenshots have a lot of JPEG corruption?
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Dec 22, 2015 02:39
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Part 06: Many Vulkars Died When last we left off, Sera and Carth were about to go exploring the two apartment complexes in the Lower City before heading down to the Undercity.  Let's get in there and see what we can find.  Looks like big bad bounty hunter Calo Nord is about to do his thing again.  Calo Nord actually is a little man. His height is officially listed as 1.5 meters (about 4'11") and his character model is a lot smaller than most others   Rodian Thug: The only way you'll collect that bounty is over our cold, dead bodies!  : That's the plan.     Ice cold.  Calo Nord walks past us without saying a word, and we can now explore the place. The Lower City apartments have identical layouts to the Upper City ones, which I guess makes sense because they're on the lower floors of the same buildings.  Naturally, the apartments are packed with hostile Vulkars.  Nothing that some grenades can't handle, though.  We murder enough people for Sera to gain a level. She is now level 4, and this may be the last time I actually level her up on Taris (I might get her up to 5, but that's it). We will be getting a lot more EXP here, enough for four more levels or so, but I will save those levels for later. Those who have played this game will know why.  I raise her STR by one, add a point to Persuade and Security each to get both skills to 7, and put two points in Computer Use to raise it to 3.  Well hello, this is new. Maybe we need to register for the big swoop race ourselves with K1RP installed? Let's check it out.  Worker: Oh great, a human. What is it?    : Would you like to add anything else?Koth'yan: No, I would not like to add anything else. : What do you do here?Koth'yan: I get paid minimum wage to sit down in this hell hole of an office and organize all the rosters for the upcoming swoop races. I also double as the medic if anyone gets injured while racing... though my services are rarely required in that respect. Usually if a swoop crashes all that's left is a melted heap of plastoid, plasteel and flesh.  I guess we'll leave him to his lovely minimum wage job. I wonder if the protocol droid in the corner is any more helpful.  I guess not. You guys are really bad at customer service, did you know?  At least we can steal their medical supplies. Hey, he said his services are rarely required.  The door opposite Koth'yan leads to the swoop platform. In vanilla KotOR, you only get to go to the platform when you begin the race itself, there is no door leading to it.  There isn't much here in the first place, except for some swoop fans standing around and Sith troopers patrolling the area.  More grenades is always good, though. The antidote kit might come in handy as well.  That thing is supposed to be a swoop bike. Now, is it just me, or does that look absolutely nothing like a bike? It's more like a landspeeder or something.  Yeah, you have fun with that.  Back at the apartment complex, we find our first mine. The big bubble you see is the mine's active radius, and it will not show up if your Awareness is too low. Fortunately, our 2 Awareness is more than enough to see this minor frag mine.  We also have enough Demolitions skill to disable the mine. If your skill is high enough, you can also recover them for later use or to be sold as vendor trash. Mines are relatively valuable, and since I rarely use them I tend to just sell them as soon as I get the chance. There's quite a few Black Vulkars standing in front of the door around the corner, and we all know what to do in that kind of situation.  You grenade the poo poo out of them, that's what. I ran out of frags, so I used a sonic grenade here.  Before we get to see what's behind the door those guys were guarding, the Vulkars in the next room decide to attack. The one in the back is using an energy shield, which absorbs up to 20 points of energy damage but doesn't help against melee weapons. The guy with the red shirt and the sword is just some random inhabitant of Lower City, and for all we know this is his home we're fighting in.  There's some decent loot in here. If you have armor that can be upgraded, you can add the armor reinforcement to, uh, reinforce it. We also picked up a combat suit from one of the Vulkars, so now Carth has a bit more defense.  The room those Vulkars were guarding has this nice lady in it. We leave her be for now.  Then, Carth decides to be all weird again and we need to chat with him to find out what's up.   oh what the hell Carth    : Maybe I'm just avoiding your questions. Is this really necessary?: I just would like to know you better.: Oh. Well, if it's an interrogation you wanted, why didn't you say so?: Excellent. Soon all your secrets will be mine!: All my secrets are purely the mundane variety, unfortunately. Nothing worth extracting, though you're welcome to try. Let me ask you something first, though. I've been going through the battle aboard the Endar Spire over and over in my head since we crashed. Some things just don't add up for me. Maybe you could tell me what happened... from your perspective.Uh... okay? What's with him now?   : Hmm. I guess that no Jedi ability, no matter how powerful, makes up for being completely surprised and outmatched. We didn't choose that battle, anyway. It got forced on us. Hell, I'm just surprised that any of us are alive to talk about it. Come to think of it, it's more than a little surprising that you happen to be here, isn't it? Just what is your position with the Republic fleet, anyway?: I used to be a smuggler, if you must know. I was recruited into the fleet for my knowledge.: A smuggler? I should have guessed. Isn't it odd, however, that a smuggler who was added to the crew at the last minute just happens to be alive?What the hell is this passive-aggressive bullshit? See, this kind of thing is why everyone hates Carth.   Well, that's new. No one has mentioned anything about Bastila requesting Sera's transfer to the Endar Spire until now.  Sera has absolutely no clue what the hell Carth is going on about. This was news to her as well.  : Considering your connection to Bastila and the Jedi... whether you know it or not... your presence here seems a little convenient. I'm probably wrong and this is probably nothing, I know. I learned a long time ago not to take things at face value. And I *hate* surprises.: Shouldn't we be trying to work together?: I am working with you. I'd be a fool not to. I'd also be a fool not to expect the unexpected. Pictured: the perfect expression for this conversation.  : And no, I'm not going to discuss them. So can we just keep our mind on more important things?: I consider this important.: Alright, alright. You must be the most damned persistent woman I've ever met. We'll talk about it... but later. Right now I just want to get going.Another stimulating conversation with Carth Onasi. With that, we're done with the first Lower City apartment complex. The entrance to the other one is right opposite the Upper City elevator.  Here's the map of Lower City. As you can see, there's not much to this area and it's really just one S-bend with a few places of interest along the way. On the far western side is the Undercity elevator, and to the east -- past the other apartment building and the Upper City elevator -- is the main entrance to the Black Vulkar base. We can't do anything there because the door is firmly locked, of course. I believe this is the first time I've actually shown the map screen, so let's talk about the options. Party selection is self-explanatory, and "Return to Hideout" is this game's fast travel option. When you return to the hideout (which is a free heal and can be cheesed if you're really desperate), you can then select "Transit Back" to go back to where you were.  Naturally, we get to kill some more Vulkars on the way to the apartments. I'm showing off poison grenades here; the grenade itself doesn't do damage, but poison in this game is no joke and those guys are now very easy to dispatch.   In the other apartment complex, we come across this sentry droid. If we had enough repair parts, we could fix its weapons and shields and send it to patrol the building, killing hostiles until it gets destroyed, but we only have one part so that won't help us very much. As an aside, I like how the UI icon for the Computer Use skill is an oldschool CRT monitor.  Once again, there are plenty of Vulkars for us to kill here. I've used a concussion grenade to stun these guys, and with Sneak Attack (or Sneak Attack II, which is what we have at the moment) you can do a shitton of damage on stunned enemies. I'm basically running straight through these Vulkars.  This room is quite tough, mainly due to the fact the guy with the energy shield is a Vulkar gang boss and far stronger than the regular Vulkars.  Carth levels up during the fight, and I teach him Rapid Shot. This is the blaster equivalent of Flurry, and Carth uses it to great effect.  Carth also decides that the best course of action is to run right up to the enemy and then shoot him. Whatever works, I suppose. The Vulkar gang boss certainly bites it. The blue up arrow on Sera's portrait shows that she has a buff active, in this case it's an energy shield (I'm not sure why the blue glow around her isn't showing up here, but it does in the next couple of screenshots). A red down arrow would mean a negative effect such as poison. The gang boss had a heavy blaster on him, and we give that to Carth because it's a straight upgrade to the regular blaster he has in the off hand.  For some reason, this guy gets a cutscene. He's a Black Vulkar Scout, which means he's a bit tougher than the regular cannon fodder Vulkars but massively weaker than the gang boss we just took out.  He does not last long.  Once we're done with the Vulkar scout, we can focus on the stuff behind him. In the middle of the room is a security crate surrounded by six hologram projectors, each with a different name. In order to open this crate, we need to activate the holograms in the correct order.   The desk in the corner has a datapad. If we read it, it tells the history of a band called the Twisted Rancor Trio. The names of the different musicians that played in the group match the holograms, so what we need to do here is to activate the holograms in the order these members joined the band. The Twisted Rancor Trio posted:Guts and Glory: A Chronicle of The Amazing Story of The Twisted Rancor Trio  The correct order is obviously Elinda, Ujaa, Ujii, Loopa, Fodo, Ashana. Once you get it right (which is not hard if you're even vaguely literate, since all you need to do is match the names with the datapad), the crate opens automatically. If you activate the wrong hologram, you're told to activate them in the proper order or get blown up by the anti-theft explosive the crate has been rigged with. If you get it wrong a second time, the room blows up and you die, although it's possible to keep Carth outside the room and have him pick up the stuff from the remains of the box after the smoke clears. But really, this puzzle is almost impossible to screw up.  The Echani Fiber Armor is easily the best light armor we can have right now. It has +5 defense, one point more than our combat suits, and a +5 max dexterity bonus. Most importantly, though, it is upgradeable. We got that armor reinforcement earlier and if I wanted to, I could use the hideout's workbench to install that right now for some extra defense, but that's not exactly critical at the moment and I can do it later. In case you were wondering why this whole hologram thing is here, allow the security crate to explain: Security Crate: Gilthos: Sorry I couldn't be there with you, but here's the package I promised. Remember, activate the holographic security system in the proper order to open it or… BOOM! Just activate the holograms in the same order that they joined the band. Since you're The Twisted Rancor Trio’s manager, you should be able to figure out the code. I still think this is a mistake. Davik won't be happy if Ashana can't fill in for her sister. And you don't want to get Davik mad or you might never come out of that estate again. Anyway, good luck. And if this works, think about what a great chapter it'll make in that biography of the band you’ve been working on.  In the last locked apartment, we find this guy. His name is Matrik and he used to work for Davik, until he grew a conscience and testified against a bunch of Davik's criminal buddies. Davik wasn't impressed and put a bounty on Matrik's head, so now he's sitting here in this apartment hiding from Zax's bounty hunters. He's pretty sick of it by now, so we suggest he could try and fake his death to get the bounty hunters to leave him alone.  In order to pull it off, he'll need to cause an explosion so big that Davik won't be wondering why there's no body to be found, and for that he'll need a permacrete detonator. Those are only sold in Upper City stores, so we have to go fetch one for him. Of course, you can also just kill him and collect his bounty if you're a dick, but that's not how we roll.  We'll be getting his detonator in due time, but first we've got more important stuff to do. We've explored the apartments, so now it's time to go down to the Undercity. Let's hope these security papers do the trick.   : Unless you've got the proper security papers you better just turn around and go back the way you came.: I've got my security papers right here.: Let me see... hmm, these look to be in order. Okay, you can go down if you want. Can't say I envy you, though. The Undercity is crawling with mutants. Rakghouls, they call 'em. If you see anything moving down there, shoot first and ask questions later. I'm sure we can handle a couple of mutant critters. We've already killed what must be a third of the Black Vulkar gang today (frankly, Gadon should give us a medal), so how bad can a bunch of these rakghouls be? Next time, we meet the Undercity dwellers and get very well acquainted with rakghouls. Look forward to it. DMorbid fucked around with this message at 07:10 on Dec 23, 2015 |
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Dec 22, 2015 05:38
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For the most part I really like Taris, but I always find the next part to be tedious.
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Dec 22, 2015 07:44
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Depending on what kind of a character you intend to do, it's not necessarily a good idea to save all of the the level ups, although in this version it probably has some additional advantages. I can think of one at least compared to the XBOX version...
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Dec 22, 2015 08:00
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The space station vendor?
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Dec 22, 2015 17:57
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So are you planning on ignoring Carth after a certain point?
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Dec 22, 2015 18:00
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I lie to play as a
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Dec 22, 2015 19:13
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GMArcturus posted:So are you planning on ignoring Carth after a certain point? Siegkrow posted:I lie to play as a
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Dec 22, 2015 23:31
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My first playthrough, I went through all of Taris at level 2. That might have played a factor in how much I accept the other party members' quirks. Can't be mad at Carth for being suspicious when he's doing most of the fighting, now can you?
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Dec 23, 2015 00:48
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Something that never really bothered me about this whole bit until reading this LP (because I haven't touched the game in years) is the fact that we're breaking into the Vulkar base where they are presumably keeping Bastila, in order to steal a gizmo that they stole from the Beks to win a race to save Bastila. I mean, we're going there already, why can't we just throw in a rescue mission?  e; vvv Oh. I can read gud 
Grizzwold fucked around with this message at 03:50 on Dec 23, 2015 |
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Dec 23, 2015 03:37
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Grizzwold posted:Something that never really bothered me about this whole bit until reading this LP (because I haven't touched the game in years) is the fact that we're breaking into the Vulkar base where they are presumably keeping Bastila, in order to steal a gizmo that they stole from the Beks to win a race to save Bastila.
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Dec 23, 2015 03:47
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Part 07: The Underdwellers Last time, we killed a lot of Black Vulkar gang members and made our way to the Undercity elevator. Our goal is to find Mission Vao, the young Twi'lek who is supposedly able to get us inside the Vulkar base to steal back the swoop accelerator, but we should be careful because the Undercity is apparently crawling with horrible mutants known as rakghouls. I hope you like grey and brown, because those are the main colors we'll be seeing in the foreseeable future.  We run into a welcoming committee as soon as the elevator reaches the Undercity. These guys don't seem to be rakghouls, though, they look more like common beggars.    I'm getting used to it by now. At least these guys aren't actively trying to kill us, which is already an improvement over the Lower City.  It's not like they're asking for a whole lot of credits, either. From the look of these guys, they are pretty down on their luck, but maybe we should ask who they are before we do anything else. : Who are you? What are you doing here in the Undercity?Outcast Beggar #1: We are the Outcasts, banished and reviled by those who dwell above! Outcast Beggar #2: Here in the filth and darkness we claw out a wretched existence, scavenging and begging just to survive long enough to see another wretched day. Outcast Beggar #1: This is our village. We live here in the undercity. You have to pay us five credits for using our elevator.  I get the feeling they're being sincere. We've got plenty of credits so we can spare a bit of change, maybe giving them 20 credits will get them to stop harassing folks for a while. Or they might start harassing more people because they know they can get money out of them, but somehow I doubt that will happen with these two.  Outcast Beggar #2: Hush, or the others will hear us! They'll want our credits! We'll have to hide them! We earn some light side points for helping out the beggars. If you've played KotOR II, you may remember a similar situation where if you give the beggar some credits, you find out he gets ganked by some thugs immediately afterwards. Then your mentor character will yell at you. Naturally, if you don't give the guy credits, your mentor will also yell at you, so I'm not sure what you're supposed to do there. Your mentor wants to teach you a lesson and by god, you'll be learning that lesson no matter what.  As the beggars run off, this woman shows up yelling in their wake and apologizing to us. Apparently, those guys do their thing fairly often. Eh, maybe we got swindled out of 20 credits, but I still get the feeling they needed that spare change more than we do.  Come on now Carth, there's no need to be a dick to her about that. Anyway, that's enough of that, let's ask her who she is. : My name is Sera Dakari. Who are you? : My name is Shaleena… you're from the up-world, aren't you? I've… I've never seen it. I was born here in the Undercity. Is it as nice as they say up there? Well... I suppose the view isn't too bad. Shame about all the horrible people and the prejudice and that kind of thing. : I've never been to the surface, but sometimes I think I can see it in my dreams. The sun, the sky, the stars… it all sounds so… so… so wonderful. Gendar, the leader of our village, tells me I should spend more time trying to improve things down here and less time dreaming about something I can never have. Maybe he's right. You probably think I'm a fool, having dreams of a place I've never even seen. But when I was little, Rukil used to tell me stories of what it was like up there.: Rukil? Who's that?: Rukil's the oldest man in the village. The kids call him Rukil Wrinkle-Skin, but he's a kind man. He used to tell me the greatest stories when I was a little girl. I still like to listen to his tales about the Promised Land, even though I know they're just legends. But it helps to make the Undercity seem less… less dark, somehow.: The Promised Land? What's that? : *sigh* I guess we have to make the best of what we have though. If you really want to learn more about the promised land you should speak to Rukil.Ah.  We should maybe talk to Rukil later.: Where can I find Rukil? : He's wandering around somewhere on the south side of the village. He doesn't move too far… it's hard on his bones. He's over 100 years old! The children laugh at him and people think he's crazy because of his stories about the Promised Land, but he's really just a kind old man.We could ask Shaleena about the escape pods or other "up-worlders" coming here recently, but she doesn't know much about those and suggests we speak to Gendar, the village leader. Maybe she can tell us about this village, though. : Tell me about this village. : Everyone here is an Outcast… or the descendant of one. It's tough down here, but we survive. I guess it's easier for me, since I've never known anything different. Some of the people have given up all hope; they've become bitter and depressed. But most of us are good people… despite what our ancestors may have done. Gendar could probably tell you more. Or maybe Rukil. You could talk to them if you want.This place is getting more depressing by the minute. We say goodbye to Shaleena (who seems disappointed and tells us we can always come talk to her if we need something or want to chat, as she doesn't get to meet up-worlders very often) and go take a look at the rest of the village.   Over here in this corner is Esala, the Outcasts' healer. She tells us how villagers infected with the rakghoul disease are quarantined behind that gate so as to avoid more villagers getting the disease, and there is nothing anyone can do for them but wait until they transform into rakghouls and kill each other. Even if someone were to get their hands on the cure, no one would voluntarily walk into such a death trap so the infected are simply left locked up. If we had the cure we could try to help them, but since we don't there is little point in marching into the cage. Esala does, however, provide a very important service -- instant full party heal anytime you want, no charge. We will be making good use of that.  Here in the central part of the village you can find Rukil and Gendar. From what Shaleena told us, Gendar seems like the person to talk to for information, so let's speak with him first.   Holy poo poo Carth, at least try to behave yourself. I mean, what he's saying isn't wrong, but you're not supposed to say that.  : Who are you people? Why do you live here in the Undercity? : We are the Outcasts – shunned from the surface for our crimes and banished here to the Undercity. We banded together to form this village that we might survive in this hostile environment. I am Gendar, the leader of this village: as my father was, and as was his father before him. Many of us have been here for generations, our ancestors cast down long ago. There is no return to the surface for us, or our descendants. But somehow we manage to survive amidst the filth and roaming bands of deadly rakghouls.: What a horrible way to live!: Life down here can be difficult. It can break the spirit… many in the village have become bitter and hopeless. Especially those newly cast down. But life goes on, and we must try to make the best of what we have. And maybe someday we will find a better life… Ha! Listen to me. I'm starting to sound like Rukil.Okay, let's just think about this for a second. There is "no return to the surface" for these Outcasts. However, this village is right next to a working elevator to the surface. The elevator itself doesn't require a keycard or anything like that. There is one Sith guard and a few gun turrets at the top. The turrets didn't shoot us immediately, so the guard clearly has to activate them before they fire. What exactly is there to stop the Outcasts from gathering together a group of guys to get into the elevator and take out the guard, after which they'd be free to escape the Undercity, maybe get in touch with Gadon? Hell, the guard is there to stop people from getting in (speaking of which, how did Mission get past him? I assume there's another path to the Undercity somewhere else), not from getting out, so you might not even need to shank him. I doubt the Sith care about the Outcasts and their banishment at all (especially since that happened generations ago), for them they'd just be another group of Lower City misfits. Frankly, nothing about their existence as it is makes any sense if you think about it at all. But that's enough  for now, let's ask about the rakghouls that live down here. : We know of no cure for the disease, and for the good of the village we must banish any who become infected, lest they transform and turn on us.We may want to go ranged if we're going to fight rakghouls, getting in those guys' faces sounds like a recipe for disaster. Anyway, let's see if he knows about Mission. : I'm looking for a Twi'lek named Mission Vao.: Yes, I have seen this Twi'lek many times, though I have never spoken to her. She and her Wookiee companion often pass through our village on their way to explore the sewers.Sewers. Great. Looking forward to that. : How can I get to the sewers?: There are two entrances into the sewers from the Undercity: one to the north-east of our village, the other to the south-east. But the sewers are dangerous, UpWorlder. If you dare to travel those dark tunnels you would be wise to go heavily armed, unless you wish to become a meal for the rakghouls and other foul creatures.Well, at least we've got that part covered. I do wonder what those other foul creatures are, though.  In any case, we got what we needed from Gendar, so let's have a chat with Rukil.   : Are you the herald of prophecy? The beacon to guide us through the darkness? Or are you merely another harbinger of shattered dreams and unfulfilled promises?The what of the what now?  Carth really doesn't like being down here. Rukil doesn't seem dangerous to me, more like a harmless old kook at worst. Shaleena said he was a kind old man, and I don't see why she would've been lying. : Speak to me, up-worlder! Tell me what fate you unleash upon us – salvation or damnation! Speak, up-worlder – I beg you! I suppose that counts as talking.  : Perhaps I can make things more clear. Some things, at least. My name is Rukil, the oldest Outcast here in the village. Rukil Wrinkle-Skin, the children call me sometimes.: I'm Sera Dakari. What do you want from me, Rukil?: Once I was honored for my wisdom, but over time the villagers fell away from the true path. Eventually there was only a single apprentice who followed me – and now she is gone, too.: The true path? What does that mean?: No, no, no. Not yet. I must be wary. Careful. You may be a false savior. Dare I share my secrets with you? No… not until you prove yourself. We still have no clue what the old man is talking about, but might as well play along. Does this have something to do with the Promised Land myth?  : Please, up-worlder – will you help an old man? Will you seek out my apprentice in the Undercity? Her name is Malya. I must know of her fate, whatever it may be. I must know what she… found. Sure, why not. We're going to go explore the Undercity anyway, and we can keep an eye out for Rukil's apprentice while we're there. Even if we do find her, though, I doubt we'll be able to bring Rukil any good news. She has apparently been lost for quite some time, and the Undercity doesn't seem like the kind of place you want to loiter around in if you can help it.  Rukil seems to believe we can bring him something, if nothing else than the ultimate fate of his apprentice. He seems like a nice old man, just like Shaleena said, and it would be a shame to disappoint him.  As we explore the village further, we find this kid standing around in the corner all creepy-like. For a second I wonder if we've found some restored content again, but it's just the AI being weird.   We also meet this fellow. His name is Igear, and he's running a store here in the village. Mostly salvage and things, but he's got some useful stuff in his inventory.  Carth is immediately suspicious of Igear. I can't say I blame him this time, because Igear sounds even shiftier than the guy who wanted us to give the rakghoul serum to Davik.  Igear sells the Echani Battle Armor, which is a suit of medium armor with fairly decent stats (+7 defense, +3 max dexterity bonus). It also costs a fortune (1,312 credits) and we can't afford it, and even if we could it wouldn't be worth the money. What is worth the money, though, are these antidote kits. We buy all of them, as we will need them.  Before going out, I have Sera equip the blaster rifle. As I said earlier, we do not want to be fighting rakghouls at melee range.  One of the Outcasts is doing something -- I assume scavenging -- outside the main gate. He doesn't notice the shambling creature in the distance.  Now he does, and while it may be hard to tell he is rather freaked out.  This guy is a rakghoul, and it is making its way towards the Outcast.   Rakghouls are crazy fast. This Outcast needs to get back in the village right now, or he's done for.    The gate guard is understandably a bit wary about letting Hendar in, considering the fact the beast is right in tow and the last thing anyone here wants is a rakghoul getting inside the village.      This is obviously a problem, and they're going to need someone to solve it.  Luckily for them, that is exactly what we do.  The gate guard still needs convincing, though.     He finally opens the gate, and we run out to save Hendar from the rakghoul. There is only one, despite Hester and the gate guard talking about rakghouls in plural.  Here's our first fight with a rakghoul. They can hit hard, but one of them is usually not a problem. While we can't be afflicted with rakghoul disease, we can still get poisoned by their attacks and weakened.  Both of us manage to get poisoned in this fight, but the rakghoul is quickly taken care of and Hendar is unharmed.    The Outcast healer can't get rid of poison, but it wears off automatically and isn't really a problem after the fight. If you get poisoned during combat, that can be a problem, but with these rakghouls the bigger issue is the fact they also cause Weakness (which causes a target to suffer as if poisoned) on hit unless your Fortitude saving throw succeeds. If it fails, you lose one point from all your attributes every six seconds for the duration of 36 seconds, meaning that you can lose up to six points from each attribute. Obviously, this is something you do not want to happen during a fight with multiple rakghouls because then you'll just get wrecked.  A quick heal later, we're ready to head out to Undercity proper.  We shall do that next time. I won't be posting updates during the holidays, so you guys make sure to watch the Star Wars Holiday Special and have a great Life Day in general! See you later.
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Dec 23, 2015 06:28
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I've concluded that Carth was designed under the concept of "Han Solo but without anything that made Han cool or likable".quote:If you've played KotOR II, you may remember a similar situation where if you give the beggar some credits, you find out he gets ganked by some thugs immediately afterwards. Then your mentor character will yell at you. Naturally, if you don't give the guy credits, your mentor will also yell at you, so I'm not sure what you're supposed to do there. Your mentor wants to teach you a lesson and by god, you'll be learning that lesson no matter what.
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Dec 23, 2015 07:08
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Funky Valentine posted:I've concluded that Carth was designed under the concept of "Han Solo but without anything that made Han cool or likable". Mostly because said Mentor Character is a bitch half the time.
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Dec 23, 2015 16:44
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The beggar moment in K2 is pretty straightforward to understand: Actions have consequences. Consequences are rarely - if ever - as simple as "pure good" or "pure bad." Think of it as an early moment teaching a K2 player that Obsidian didn't believe in the black-and-white morality of Star Wars. Kreia is teaching the player that lesson: Whatever you do, or choose not to do, there will be consequences for your actions. They may not be direct, but they'll happen. All she wants is for you to acknowledge this lesson and she's fine with it. There's no "right answer" to the beggar question in K2. That's deliberate. There's no wrong answer, either. Whether you like that kind of thing is up to you, but it's not complicated to understand if you have a functioning understanding of morality above that of a five year old's.  Psion fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Dec 23, 2015 |
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Dec 23, 2015 17:47
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Psion posted:The beggar moment in K2 is pretty straightforward to understand: Actions have consequences. Consequences are rarely - if ever - as simple as "pure good" or "pure bad." Think of it as an early moment teaching a K2 player that Obsidian didn't believe in the black-and-white morality of Star Wars. The unfortunate fact is that a lot of people actually didn't understand what Obsidian was going for, even when the game was beating them over the head with that scene. Hell, on my first playthrough back in 2004, I was in full KotOR 1 mode and didn't listen to a thing Kreia was saying, and found the game disappointing because it wasn't like KotOR 1 (I was a dumb teenager and a big Star Wars fan, okay). Somehow -- I swear I'm not making this up -- there were even professional reviews at the time that complained about KotOR II's morality being too black and white.
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Dec 24, 2015 00:47
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Doc Morbid posted:I understand what they were going for, I just find the execution of that scene a bit ham-fisted in an otherwise excellent game (I love KotOR II, and Obsidian is pretty much my favorite developer nowadays) that gives you plenty of moments to learn than lesson yourself without forcing you into a situation where you can only do the wrong thing and be admonished for it. I dunno, I've never been a fan of that kind of choice. I did slightly exaggerate the reaction you get from Kreia, because as you said she doesn't get mad and you won't lose influence unless you explicitly tell her that nope, I'm still gonna help out all the beggars because that's what a "good Jedi" does (or the opposite, of course), showing her you didn't learn a thing. Yeah I was basically this way. I disliked Kotor II at first blush because it wasn't kotor I, and the bugs and obviously unfinished segments at the end made it painful, but in reality it's a way more interesting game. It actually took me reading that one guy who did the lp on here years ago explaining all the little stuff thats in the game for me to try it again and like it.
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Dec 24, 2015 01:08
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Scorchy's LP of the game was fantastic, very much so.Doc Morbid posted:The unfortunate fact is that a lot of people actually didn't understand what Obsidian was going for, even when the game was beating them over the head with that scene. Hell, on my first playthrough back in 2004, I was in full KotOR 1 mode and didn't listen to a thing Kreia was saying, and found the game disappointing because it wasn't like KotOR 1 (I was a dumb teenager and a big Star Wars fan, okay). Somehow -- I swear I'm not making this up -- there were even professional reviews at the time that complained about KotOR II's morality being too black and white. I agree completely, and this is hindsight talking but I feel like the ideal solution was it shouldn't have been a KOTOR game - or at least not billed as a direct sequel to KOTOR. That brings expectations that just didn't fit. An Obsidian Star Wars game though? Yes. Very much yes. It also should've been finished, but well, you can't have everything 
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Dec 24, 2015 01:10
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Psion posted:Scorchy's LP of the game was fantastic, very much so. Thankfully, we have the RCM now.
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Dec 24, 2015 01:35
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Silegna posted:Thankfully, we have the RCM now.  The project lead was a massive sperglord who drove away the people who did all the work, then claimed for a long time to be working on the project but no progress was actually being made (he didn't accept any help either), and eventually he shut the whole thing down because none of us NERDS would understand what it's like to have a GIRLFRIEND like he now did. Ah, those were the days. Then, the first version of TSLRCM came out of nowhere a few months (maybe a year?) later.
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Dec 24, 2015 02:21
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Funky Valentine posted:I've concluded that Carth was designed under the concept of "Han Solo but without anything that made Han cool or likable". Pretty much. That one conversation is probably the number one reason so many people hate him. If you have a female PC, he starts off by hitting on you, and unless you take the bottom choice, he keeps trying to awkwardly flirt with you. Then he follows it up by whinily accusing you of sabotage.
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Dec 24, 2015 07:42
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Did you just describe Carth or Corso?
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Dec 24, 2015 17:29
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I'm afraid I've got some bad news again.  It appears I did the wrong thing by reopening this thread even though I was under the impression everything was fine, and unfortunately you know what that means.  I am truly sorry because I like doing this LP and want it to continue just as much as anyone else in the thread does, and shutting it down really bums me out. However, as long as I keep getting accused of something I never meant to do (admittedly, I DID get the inspiration for this while watching the other LP, but I meant for this to be its own thing and never wanted to step on any toes), even after I'm told everything's cool, it's just not worth carrying on. Now, GMArcturus is a good dude and I understand where he's coming from, so please don't give him any crap over this stuff.This is going back on hiatus, and this time I won't be reopening the thread after a week. I may start another LP if I feel like it, but for now I am done with KotOR unless something drastic happens. I'm sorry to do this, but I hope you understand.
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Dec 24, 2015 20:42
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