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It’s funny how you could potentially know full drat well that he’s guilty of murder, yet you can still get him off the hook while still abiding by the Jedi ethos of maintaining galactic law and order (and they can’t exactly claim to be upholders of the truth, considering the whole Revan situation).
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Feb 15, 2020 10:18
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I never really got "why can't the Dark Side be, like, more nuanced?" takes. It's called the Dark Side ffs. They're the bad guys. Maybe if you want a carefully depicted map of intra-galactic intrigue and greyscale political ideologies playing a great game of diplomacy, propaganda and sabotage, the setting that was based on literally copy-pasting a simplified guide to universalized world mythology is not the best place for it? I mean, we have bad guys whose official ideology is based around "why can't I be a total rear end in a top hat with absolutely no consequences?" IRL. There's not a lot of nuance to them either.
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Feb 15, 2020 10:29
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Because overly simplified black and white good/evil doesn’t map to real world actions whatsoever, mostly. Not even here in a fictionalized, pretty simple setup. Like I know Lucas intended it to be that simple: LS good, DS bad. And for three movies sure works great. For anything else and the cracks get huge. Also, just here. is it good to knowingly perpetuate a lie and just tell yourself “for the greater good” ? That question is interesting. That question requires there be nuance to what “light side” means.
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Feb 15, 2020 14:16
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Although I doubt its canonical any more, parts of the EU expanded a lot on the Force and the determination of LS vs DS. Basically it depends on personal viewpoint and deep rooted convictions. Mara Jade, for example, had not fallen to the DS despite being the Emperor's personal assassin, because her deepest convictions said that she was absolutely doing the right thing. I always felt thats why so many Jedi fall to the Dark Side, because they get led to believe that so many things are bad and woops you did Bad Thing A and now you're going to space hell for it!
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Feb 15, 2020 16:41
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Xander77 posted:I never really got "why can't the Dark Side be, like, more nuanced?" takes. It's called the Dark Side ffs. They're the bad guys. And with a few exceptions, little of that's actually in the gameplay. The Dark Side choices are almost all just pointless thuggery, and most moral decisions come down to "Should I do things like a normal person or electrocute this baby for its candy?" Even Sheev "I love being evil" Palpatine has more subtlety that. Decisions like choosing to kill that guy who tried to enslave Juhani aren't, like, super deep, but I think they do a lot better job of showing the Dark Side as a quicker and more tempting path that it's easy to slide down. Lord Hydronium fucked around with this message at 17:05 on Feb 15, 2020 |
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Feb 15, 2020 17:01
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I'm always extremely pleased that Cam Clarke or the voice director felt the Sith Prosecutor (who us also the Embassy door guard at the end there.) should just be full on Liquid Snake all the way through
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Feb 15, 2020 17:13
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Regalingualius posted:It’s funny how you could potentially know full drat well that he’s guilty of murder, yet you can still get him off the hook while still abiding by the Jedi ethos of maintaining galactic law and order (and they can’t exactly claim to be upholders of the truth, considering the whole Revan situation). Well, IRL, as a defense attorney your job is to defend your client, guilty or innocent. If there is reasonable doubt they committed the crime without justification (ignoring the recording and casting the victim as a Dark Jedi there certainly was such doubt in this case), you find that doubt and emphasize it to the judge & jury. Then the verdict is their decision. We did our job here.
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Feb 15, 2020 17:23
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I mean, "I have super special force powers, and I want to use them to bully everyone who doesn't have super special force powers. Enlightened self-interest and the invisible hand which I use to force-choke people will eventually lead to only the specialest force-chosen force-users being in control" isn't even an exaggeration either of attitudes people would definitely have IRL if the force was real or of the Sith philosophy as explained in-game.
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Feb 15, 2020 18:07
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It's more the way dark side is basically just being a petty trigger-happy loon even when it does not benefit you whatsoever. The Closed Fist had the same issue in Jade Empire, where on paper it's mean to be the "Pull yourself by the bootstraps/teach people to be self-reliant instead of saving them all the time' philosophy, but in practice it's literally the puppy kicking side. Renegade Shep had some where it's not "Making hard choices" it's half the time "throwing a tantrum for no good reason"
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Feb 15, 2020 19:24
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Renegade Shep is also weirdly space racist the other half of the time in ME1; at least they toned that down for the sequels.
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Feb 15, 2020 20:01
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Robindaybird posted:It's more the way dark side is basically just being a petty trigger-happy loon even when it does not benefit you whatsoever. The Closed Fist had the same issue in Jade Empire, where on paper it's mean to be the "Pull yourself by the bootstraps/teach people to be self-reliant instead of saving them all the time' philosophy, but in practice it's literally the puppy kicking side. Paragon/Renegade was a good way to try to work around the problems with light side/dark side points, because you get yourself out of a lot of writing snarls caused by "so, uh, how many Good or Evil points is this dialogue option worth" unfortunately the fact that writers weren't always on the same page regarding what those subjects meant resulted in fun conversations like the following: "Hi Commander, can we have your endorsement?" RENEGADE: "gently caress off, civilians, what makes you think you can talk to me." "we're incredibly racist" RENEGADE: "you now have my full and unconditional support"
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Feb 15, 2020 20:45
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The fun thing is, if I remember right, you can avoid the Dark Side points associated with going full-on "Sunry is innocent" when you know he's guilty by simply not finding the proof that he's guilty. If you don't have the proof that he's guilty, as far as your character/the game can tell, you're not lying when you go full ham in proving he's innocent and the Sith framed him.
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Feb 15, 2020 20:58
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BlazetheInferno posted:The fun thing is, if I remember right, you can avoid the Dark Side points associated with going full-on "Sunry is innocent" when you know he's guilty by simply not finding the proof that he's guilty. If you don't have the proof that he's guilty, as far as your character/the game can tell, you're not lying when you go full ham in proving he's innocent and the Sith framed him. Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! posted:Paragon/Renegade was a good way to try to work around the problems with light side/dark side points, because you get yourself out of a lot of writing snarls caused by "so, uh, how many Good or Evil points is this dialogue option worth" DMorbid fucked around with this message at 03:41 on Feb 16, 2020 |
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Feb 15, 2020 21:05
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Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! posted:Paragon/Renegade was a good way to try to work around the problems with light side/dark side points, because you get yourself out of a lot of writing snarls caused by "so, uh, how many Good or Evil points is this dialogue option worth" Though it wasn’t until 3 that they solved the whole issue of “gotta stay 100% good or evil at all times so I can meet the requirements for important story/dialogue choices” by just making it one combined bar.
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Feb 15, 2020 21:47
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Regalingualius posted:Though it wasn’t until 3 that they solved the whole issue of “gotta stay 100% good or evil at all times so I can meet the requirements for important story/dialogue choices” by just making it one combined bar. Even in ME2, I made the occasional Renegade choice when I thought it was a viable action for even a Paragon Shep. Don't think it bit me in the rear end, but I could be forgetting something.
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Feb 16, 2020 02:57
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Yeah, if you import a ME1 save you get enough points carried over that you as long as you're mostly favoring one side you'll unlock everything. I usually end up about 3:1 paragon:renegade every time I play through the series.
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Feb 16, 2020 03:14
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My paragon Shep totally headbutt that Krogan. But... it also brings into question what's the point of the gauges if I'm allowed to do that.
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Feb 16, 2020 03:15
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Keldulas posted:My paragon Shep totally headbutt that Krogan. But... it also brings into question what's the point of the gauges if I'm allowed to do that. And my Paragon wound up going ballistic on that one Quarian admiral who ordered an orbital bombardment on their position in 3. Making your reputations into one universal bar was such a small but great change for making your dialogue options feel more situationally appropriate, instead of feeling like you’re pressed into being a goody two shoes or total jackass to be “optimal”.
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Feb 16, 2020 06:02
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Keldulas posted:My paragon Shep totally headbutt that Krogan. But... it also brings into question what's the point of the gauges if I'm allowed to do that. Seriously who wouldn't headbutt that Krogan?
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Feb 16, 2020 07:38
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Yeah even when played as a goody two shoes Paragon Shep I almost always picked the Renegade interrupt actions since they usually end up being badass. My favorite Renegade action has to be in ME2 where after a mook says they have nothing to say to them they push him out the window of a very tall skyscraper and says "How about goodbye?" Punching that dumbass reporter in the face is also good.
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Feb 16, 2020 17:38
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wafflemoose posted:Punching that dumbass reporter in the face is also good.  Even if she's a lovely reporter, it's kind of not a good look for Shepard as the poster boy/girl for humanity to go around punching civilians in the face (although being able to punch the racist Terra Firma dipshits would be worth it), and it looks really bad if it's Manshep hitting an unarmed woman. DMorbid fucked around with this message at 18:35 on Feb 16, 2020 |
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Feb 16, 2020 18:25
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Xander77 posted:I mean, "I have super special force powers, and I want to use them to bully everyone who doesn't have super special force powers. Enlightened self-interest and the invisible hand which I use to force-choke people will eventually lead to only the specialest force-chosen force-users being in control" isn't even an exaggeration either of attitudes people would definitely have IRL if the force was real or of the Sith philosophy as explained in-game. It's not, and there will be people like that, and those will likely be kicked out of the Order posthaste. The problem is that for all of the talk of "struggling with the light" and other bullshit that is showing the dark side as road to hell paved with good intentions, the need for vigilance over yourself to understand that basically having cheat sheets for everything doesn't make normal people just things and pawns (you got force persuade jesus christ) etc. your dark side choices are almost invariably KICK PUPPY HURR HURRRRRRR. A hobo asks you for money? Tell him to do some shady poo poo for you, and you'll pay, use force persuade in manipulative ways, blam people instead of giving them over to the law... there's so many ways to tempt people into abusing their power and most of the time you are only offered the pettiest poo poo possible. For a McGoon that might be enough, but you're a protagonist.
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Feb 16, 2020 18:32
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Yeah, having Shepard professionally tear her arguments apart felt way more gratifying to me than just going for the punch. Plus you do get the opportunity for that kind of touching Paragon scene in 3 where they both set aside their differences.
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Feb 16, 2020 18:33
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The dark side doesn't need nuance in a "Sheev had some good points" way, but the Sith in the films tend to do evil for a reason, whereas in KOTOR it's just banal chaotic stupid a lot of the time. Kylo Ren was the closest dark sider to just doing evil for evils sake but it's not like he was wandering around kicking babies for funsies. The dark side options overall is a letdown because there's no real RP reason to do a lot of it beyond "I want to be dark side." I think one of the reasons male Revan works a bit better for me is that the Leviathan torture and the loss of romanced Bastila feels like a natural turning point where it sort of makes story sense to go dark. It doesn't help that it's so drat easy to get money and loot that stealing and threatening people like often gives you dark side points is totally needless. I started replaying Dragon Age Origins and it has the opposite problem, kind of. You lose opinion with characters like Morrigan and Sten for doing sidequests. And they do have a point, we're theoretically on a timer as the darkspawn invasion progresses. Except we can spend all the time in the world doing minor errands and the story will not progress until we want it to, so the choice to take their advice isn't a real choice. You don't gain anything, you just lose loot and XP.
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Feb 16, 2020 18:49
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Regalingualius posted:Yeah, having Shepard professionally tear her arguments apart felt way more gratifying to me than just going for the punch. Plus you do get the opportunity for that kind of touching Paragon scene in 3 where they both set aside their differences. Not to mention there's something kind of slimy about basically advocating punching reporters even if they're being dicks - especially as in ME3 you can bring one on board to give fawning reports about your activities. But yeah, some of the Renegade options is just stupid, like the Reaper-created Rachni Queen, only a complete idiot would let anything Reaper-made near the anti-reaper weapon.
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Feb 16, 2020 21:34
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I agree with The Dark Id's take - "did you even know Emperor Palpatine's name was loving Sheev? I certainly don't expect you guys to recognize it or to use it without sniggering" (paraphrased).Robindaybird posted:Not to mention there's something kind of slimy about basically advocating punching reporters even if they're being dicks - especially as in ME3 you can bring one on board to give fawning reports about your activities. Rather explains ME2 and why the writers apparently considered working for Cerberus a self-evident move that requires little motivation. Xander77 fucked around with this message at 02:42 on Feb 17, 2020 |
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Feb 17, 2020 00:20
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Xander77 posted:I mean, ME has a lot of fairly fashy mil-adventure tropes "only unaccountable agents who dowhatmustbedonegoddamnit can sav [well ok, they're accountable to the sissy beuracratic civil authorities, but that's a bad thing by golly]" right beneath the surface. I have no idea what you're talking about. It's not like one of the bad guys is a politician who isnt a real leader like the military man we support.
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Feb 17, 2020 00:30
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:The dark side doesn't need nuance in a "Sheev had some good points" way, but the Sith in the films tend to do evil for a reason, whereas in KOTOR it's just banal chaotic stupid a lot of the time. Kylo Ren was the closest dark sider to just doing evil for evils sake but it's not like he was wandering around kicking babies for funsies. The dark side options overall is a letdown because there's no real RP reason to do a lot of it beyond "I want to be dark side." I think one of the reasons male Revan works a bit better for me is that the Leviathan torture and the loss of romanced Bastila feels like a natural turning point where it sort of makes story sense to go dark. DA Origins is *far* better about this because money has a huge effect on gameplay. Large amounts of the best gear in the game is locked behind exorbitant prices with vendors so genuinely extorting people for huge amounts of cash is completely reasonable from both a moral and practical gameplay standpoint. Thing is, if you do things that way, even if you get disapproval for starting quests, your Morrigans and Stens end up approving more in the long run.
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Feb 18, 2020 01:35
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Robindaybird posted:Not to mention there's something kind of slimy about basically advocating punching reporters even if they're being dicks - especially as in ME3 you can bring one on board to give fawning reports about your activities. That fawning reporter is the very reporter you choose whether to punch in ME2  I chose punch the first time, and paragon response the second time. If I ever replay it, I'll take paragon response every time. She (the reporter) basically steps into a rhetorical trap, which you then calmly use to not only turn the tables, but demolish her whole argument. It's awesome. I especially like it because hardly any games give your character a chance to say anything intelligent, let alone make an opponent look like an idiot. Very satisfying when it finally happens. Also, these Selkath judges, whew! They must be fun to have around at parties. They should've made a spin-off Ace Attorney-esque game in which you try cases in front of these jackasses all day. The meme potential would have been endless!
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Feb 18, 2020 04:02
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EggsAisle posted:That fawning reporter is the very reporter you choose whether to punch in ME2 Your on-board reporter is a different character, with the digital likeness of a real-life IGN journalist. And you can bang her. Not sure which part of that is more gross, honestly.
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Feb 18, 2020 05:42
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Her character’s model also suffers hard from the Uncanny Valley effect, and her line delivery was just... Really dull.
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Feb 18, 2020 05:51
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I didn't realize she can be banged but I play with a femShep, but yeah that's kind of loving weird.
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Feb 18, 2020 06:39
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The “relationship” with her is so thin that you don’t even get the achievement for romancing someone if you go with her, IIRC.
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Feb 18, 2020 07:46
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There are three distinct reporters in the series and the best one dies offscreen while live tweeting her kamikaze attack on a reaper, so it's a bummer that we couldn't have had her on the Normandy.
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Feb 18, 2020 09:36
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Gnome de plume posted:There are three distinct reporters in the series and the best one dies offscreen while live tweeting her kamikaze attack on a reaper, so it's a bummer that we couldn't have had her on the Normandy. The most offensive part is that said offscreen death was part of the pre-release promotional stuff for Mass Effect 3, so there's literally no in-game indication of what happened to her. ALSO worth noting about Miss Al-Jilani is that you can only get the Paragon "make peace with her" bit if you never punched her. But uhh, maybe we're getting a bit off-topic? I mean, if that's okay, then proceed. Just wanna kinda bring attention to the fact.
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Feb 18, 2020 21:09
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I'm still amused that I'm blocked by the Mass Effect Twitter account for asking why the token Asian character in ME3 has cybernetic slanty eyes.
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Feb 18, 2020 21:14
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Xander77 posted:Nope. First of all, the same reporter can be punched (or head-butted) in all three ME games. You are entirely correct, that was my mistake. I feel like it's really both of those aspects together that make it gross...
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Feb 18, 2020 23:33
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Part 36: Minor Diplomatic Incident Last time, we managed to convince the Selkath court that Sunry - who was in fact 100% guilty of murder even though the person he killed was a Dark Jedi - did nothing wrong. Now that Jolee's old friend has been acquitted, it's time to get back to the main quest and that means entering the Sith base in Ahto City and find the Republic droid they stole.  Hey, we've got a passcard. What could possibly go wrong?  I'm a flooring inspector. I tell you what, I am not impressed by what I'm seeing. The absolute state of this place, it's disgraceful.  Or I guess we could show off the passcard we've got.   Commander Grann, report to the security desk immediately!Great. Off to an excellent start, as usual.  I presume Commander Grann is the one not made of metal.  I don't know them... and their identification doesn't match up! They're spies! Balls. What was even the point of getting the passcard in the first place, then?  I guess we'll have to handle our diplomatic visit to the Sith embassy in a slightly less diplomatic manner.  The computer at the reception doesn't work, so we'll have to find another terminal if we want to open any doors or blow up any power conduits.  Let's start our exploration of the base by heading east.  More doors. The one to our left is a dead end, so we'll proceed forward.  GAH  Would someone please warn us about those mines? Do Jolee and T3 think it's funny when we get blown up? (I'll admit it's a little funny) I decided to equip this ugly headgear to boost Zila's awareness, but her awareness is so low that the headgear does precisely jack poo poo to help.  This is the flow control room. Before we can do anything in there, however, we'll have to take care of the formalities.  T3 is now equipped with the Baragwin Flame Thrower, which only does half the damage of the Advanced Flame Thrower but has infinite uses so he can go hog wild and incinerate absolutely everything.  These doors leading to two identical hallways are going to be important very soon.  Water Pump Analysis posted:Commander Hasek: I could have sworn the adjutant's section was not in the Xbox version, and looking back at the footage that appears to indeed be the case. The text just ends after the commander talks about getting to the Selkath. Wait a minute... Selkath at the Sith base? Interesting. Anyway, the adjutant's section appears to have been added to the PC port because the original hint was too vague.  We'll play around with the ridiculous flow control system in a bit, but first we shall head west.  Force Wave vs. Force Lighting, which one is better?  In this case, Force Wave clearly wins out.  Well, we aren't going that way. As Commander Hasek lamented before presumably catching a hockey puck while standing on his head, the ludicrous pump mechanism is the only way to the north part of the base, so we'll have to go play with that.  However, we still have more rooms to check here in the south part.  By rooms, I of course meant hallways. This place has more hallways than the Raccoon City police station.  We do have some rooms as well. The door to our right is just decoration, so we can choose between the disassembly room to our left or whatever is up ahead. Let's try the door in front of us first.  Err, hello.  Okay, let's try something else, such as not dying.  That's more like it.  One thing I don't think I've pointed out yet is that droids use repair kits instead of medpacs. The difference is purely cosmetic, as each type of medpac has its repair kit equivalent. The construction kit is just a life support pack for droids.  Before we go any further, let's check the disassembly room. There is a broken droid we can repair if we need to, but we'll be fine.   We don't need any extra firepower to dispose of these chumps.  There's some decent droid accessories in the footlocker in this room. We already have the Security Domination Interface so we don't need the Decryption Interface, but the Universal Computer Interface (Computer Use +6) is a straight upgrade so that goes on T3.  However, what we actually came for is right here. This is the Republic probe droid, and we need to retrieve its data module before the Sith can decrypt it.  Technically speaking, we're done in this base and could just go back the way we came, but where's the fun in that? There's plenty more to find and kill in this base!  See?  Killing the Sith in the west lounge nets us enough XP for Jolee to level up, so he gets another point in Wisdom and learns Force Resistance. Force Resistance/Immunity is not as crucial to companions as it is for the main character, but it's still good to have. We could've taught him Force Wave, but I'm pretty sure I've never actually seen companions use it. Even when we're controlling someone else, Zila will only use Force Whirlwind despite the fact she normally can't use that anymore after learning Force Wave. This presumably happens because the Force Wave screen effect would be really disorienting if the power was used by someone you're not controlling.  T3 gets another DEX point.  North computer room, you say? That sounds like we might find a terminal there, so let's go check it out!   On second thought, maybe let's not.  The EVIL RED STEAM (yes, I know it's just supposed to be the lighting making the steam appear red) will gently caress you up so you do not want to go into that hallway. I think you might be able to facetank the steam if you have enough health, but it's not worth it. There isn't anything important at the other end, except a computer that lets you turn the steam off because I believe that is where you would enter the base if you chose to go through the Ahto City docking bay.  This door is purely decorative as well.  Alright, let's take a look at these doors. We can see the one to the left has a blue gauge next to it, indicating the chamber behind the door is filled with water. The chamber to the right isn't, as indicated by the gauge being white.  Like that.  This panel does not work, so let's try the one on the north wall.  That would flood this chamber, or at least it would've before the safeguards were installed. If we try to transfer the water to the chamber we're in, it just won't happen.  Right. Because the south hallway is blocked off due to the malfunctioning panel, we have to figure out how to get through this hallway instead.  Again, can't transfer the water to the chamber we're in because that would be bad.  There goes the water to the next chamber.  That gauge on the south wall is white, so maybe that'll work.  It still gives this warning, though.  It's very easy to get confused here, because if you're anything like me you'll see the warning and think "Well, if I press this it'll just yell at me about flooding the chamber again and won't let me do it, so what the gently caress am I supposed to actually do here?"  However, it actually does let us transfer the water. The addition to the water pump analysis datapad makes this so much easier to figure out.  Um, guys? I'm kinda about to flood that chamber so if you'd please...  I warned you, you know. Your companions are a total pain in the rear end in this segment, because they just keep getting in your way in these cramped spaces. Well, RIP Jolee and T3, I guess.  Now that we've successfully murdered our party members and made it through the water pump hell, we can access the north part of the base.  Oh, I guess they're fine. Never mind, then.  Not going back that way.   This little room to the south has a few Dark Jedi waiting for us. No big deal.  Another thing I haven't shown off is the fact you can bash containers if you don't have enough security skill to open them, as in regular D&D. Some will still require a key or security skill, though. There's actually no penalty if you choose to bash every container you find, so you don't necessarily need all that much security skill if you don't mind having to smash everything like a cave troll. In KotOR II, certain items in bashed containers can break so you have to be slightly more careful.  dammit  More Sith. What a surprise.  You know, I kinda feel like Stasis, Force Whirlwind and Force Wave might be overdoing it a little when it's just this one guy.  We've finally located a terminal, so let's see what we can do with it.  We'll start by zapping the soldiers in the east barracks.  There's the force field in the security room.  We'll disable that so we actually have a sane path to the south part of the base. We could disable the droids, but I chose to corrupt them instead so they attack each other.  In the training room, we see a Selkath with a Dark Jedi. Is the Selkath a prisoner? If so, why does he (she?) have a gun?   Murdering all these people gave us enough XP to level up, so Zila gets another Persuade point and finally learns Burst of Speed. Manaan has so much backtracking that this is essentially mandatory, and the upgraded Knight Speed and Master Speed powers are actually really helpful even if you don't care about the speed boost. They give you extra attacks each turn! I never realized this until someone in the thread pointed it out, so thanks very much for that.  I forgot to deactivate the steam vents in the red hallway, so let's do that now.  There we go, we can get to the north computer room now. There's nothing in there, but we can get to it.  Let's just keep heading further to the north part of the base, I guess.  This random trooper is having a really bad day.  That's where the force field was. We can see the droids are now attacking each other, but they are very inefficient and this will go on forever unless we help them out a little.  There we go, that's better.  The Selkath at the base are not prisoners but apprentices. I think we can figure out what's going on here.  This apprentice attacks us on sight so we have to defend ourselves. Hopefully, there will be others who are less hostile, or we're gonna have some extremely bad news for Shaelas.  At the end of that hallway is a large room with three rooms, one of which leads to another hallway.  I guess we'll check the dormitory first.  Well, we've found Shasa. Hopefully, we won't have to kill her because that would be really awful for Shaelas.   So they did have a palette-swapped Selkath model, but instead of mixing them up for variety they decided to only have these identical groups of Selkath.    Shasa is the only one of the apprentices who has a name.   The Sith are teaching us mastery of the Force. Our alliance with the Sith will bring strength to Manaan and the Selkath people!I bet it will.  You know what, let's try something out.   This cannot fail!  Yeah, pretty much got it in one.   After the Revan reveal, you occasionally get a chance to try and convince people you used to be Revan, but the results tend to be more or less what we see here (the exception is siding with Uthar on Korriban after the reveal). And why wouldn't they be? You're some rando claiming to be a dead Sith Lord, and Revan wore a mask so the general public doesn't know what she looked like.  Looks like we'll have to convince Shasa some other way, then.  The Sith have promised to guide us in the use of the Force, as a sign of their good faith. And once the Republic is defeated, the Sith have promised to withdraw from Manaan and respect our independence.Great. Dustil's back, in fish form.   This is useless.  Did he now? That's odd. The Sith don't usually look favorably on apprentices who try to leave the fold.   Yep, we're doing the Dustil quest again.      We will not report your presence to our Sith Masters yet. If you bring us proof of Sith lies and torture we will return to our families and report this to the Ahto City authorities. Until then we shall stay here and continue our training in the ways of the Force.What training? You're just standing around, not doing anything.  Right. Let's hope one of these rooms nearby holds the answer, because we've explored the rest of the base and found nothing. I guess if BioWare wanted to be dicks, they could put the evidence in the north computer room on the other side of the base, but thankfully that is not the case here.  In the training room, we find another Selkath apprentice practicing against some droids. Unfortunately, the Selkath is also hostile so they won't help us find any evidence of the Sith's evil deeds.    Well, let me guess! You intend to collect this reward, right?I like how this Dark Jedi went from "wait what the gently caress" to the canned Dark Jedi line. "Oh yeah, poo poo, I need to say the line Malak gave us or I'll look like a dumbass... *ahem* LORD MALAK WAS MOST DISPLEASED..."   Jolee is pretty good.  Well, if you insist.    Nice knowing you, fellas.  Past the Dark Jedi master and his apprentices, we come to what is presumably the master's room. That footlocker looks promising...    Hm. Another datapad. Let's see what this one says, wouldn't be the first time the Sith leave incriminating evidence lying around. Datapad posted:These appear to be the personal notes of the Dark Jedi Master in charge of the Sith base on Manaan. It seems that the Sith have been trying to turn impressionable young Selkath over to the dark side. Well, what do you know? The Sith are evil and want to take over the planet!   We certainly have! We probably should've checked the last room in the training annex before returning to Shasa, but that's okay.   I... I cannot believe it. And yet, the evidence is right before me. The Sith wanted to use us to betray Manaan! I must apologize for doubting you. The Sith are truly as evil as you have claimed.You don't say.  The other Selkath students wander off.  It's nice to see they weren't too far gone to listen to reason, unlike some of the other apprentices we met.   Um, Shasa, they already left.  We'll go tell Shaelas the good news once we get out of this base, but before we can leave we should check out that one last door. That leads to the medical area of the training annex.  Oh no.  Shasa is safe so we won't be able to tell her about this guy, but this is the student who the Sith supposedly allowed to go home. Galas, I think his name was.   Token posted:This appears to be a small token of a personal nature. Perhaps someone who knew this Selkath would recognize it. This token can be used to convince Shasa, but requires high Persuade skill to do so. The datapad in the training room is a much better option. We're now done here at the base, so let's make our exit.  GOTTA GO FAST  With the data module from the probe droid in our possession, we should go back to Roland Wann at the Republic embassy and find out what he knows about the Star Map.  Oh, poo poo.   Don't any of you guys have anything better to do?   Our cameras recorded you entering the base shortly before contact was lost and fighting apparently began. It is the conclusion of the Ahto City Civil Authority that you are responsible for the disturbance here, and you are hereby placed under arrest. You will come with us to await your trial. As material witnesses, the individuals who accompany you will be detained at your vessel, and the vessel itself prohibited from leaving Manaan.Absolutely brilliant.  There is no way out of this. We'll have to go with them.  Well, lead the way, I guess.  At least they assigned us a lawyer, although I think we could probably represent ourselves just fine.   That's it? That's basically nothing, then. Slap us with a 100-credit fine and be done with it.   Sure, that makes sense.  Uh... well...  We had a passcard! It's not our fault their systems thought it was out of date!  Somehow, I don't think Bwa'lass believes us.   None of these options is going to help our case, so we'll go with the least offensive one that is also clearly a lie.   That should be all the information I require of you, for now. If you wish, we can begin the trial whenever you are ready.That... is a bit sudden, is it not?   This is a disaster. We're heading straight for execution.   This is absolutely not going to work. We have to do something, quickly.   Didn't you see us defend Sunry? We've got this.   Having Bwa'lass as our Arbiter is actually pretty funny and in hindsight I'm slightly disappointed I didn't choose to have him represent us. The guy is a completely worthless ambulance chaser who, if you didn't boot him out by that point, eventually tries to convince the judges that "the client is not capable of forming complex thoughts".  We don't need him, of course. We never needed him, even if he was competent at his job.  Hey, guys. Long time no see.   How do you plead? If you plead guilty, they'll put you in a cage and electrocute you. That, in case you were wondering, is a game over, so let's not do that.  This again.   I'm leaving these in so you can tell which one's which.   The gang's all here.   Given the severity of this trial, we can dispense with the normal formalities of the court and proceed directly. You have pleaded not guilty, yet there were reports of weaponsfire and detonations from within the Sith Embassy. You were seen entering and leaving the Embassy. The Sith have not conferred with the authorities about this matter, but from all available evidence, it would seem that you are the source of the disturbance. What is your explanation for being in the Sith Embassy? If you're really good at lying, you can get out of this without ever meeting Shasa or finding the datapad. Well, of course you can. Otherwise, it'd be a bit difficult to continue the main quest. Finding the evidence is the easiest and best way to get cleared, though.  Why, yes.   Have they ever.  You can also try to convince the judges with Galas' token, but why would you? At best, that would implicate the Sith in the killing of one Selkath whereas the datapad proves they're planning to overthrow the government.  Hm... This is... most disturbing. The court will adjourn for a brief period to verify this evidence and discuss its importance.  No calls or incidents from their base will be attended to until this matter is dealt with, as they are no longer subject to the protections of Selkath law.Not only did we clear our name, but we also hosed over the Sith in the process. That's always appreciated.  Alright! Hopefully, this is the last time we have to talk to the Selkath judges.  Next time, we'll go looking for the Star Map. DMorbid fucked around with this message at 07:50 on Feb 21, 2020 |
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Feb 21, 2020 02:53
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It's nice to see that we're running around this sovereign government completely making GBS threads on it's authority.
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Feb 21, 2020 06:48
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Nice of the Sith to leave easily-identified bodies and unencrypted datapads with summaries of all their evil plans just lying around their base.
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Feb 21, 2020 07:17
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