STAR WARS: the Old Republic...Anyone Playing?
POSTED BY: HKCavalier
UPDATED: Monday, April 23, 2012 01:53
VIEWED: 16284
PAGE 6 of 13
Congratulations! So, what did you do with the prisoners? I got the first two right according to my handler (sent the assassin to Imperial Intelligence, killed the old failure in cold blood), but I let the faux forger go. He seemed an insignificant creature, too insignificant to waste my power on. Got a lecture on how I have to keep my mind on the big picture: even if the man is innocent, he is in posession of state secrets having seen the inside of the Sith Academy. I was like, oh, right, the Sith version of Abu Ghraib and MIT are the same thing. I won't be making the same mistake again, Maw-staw. Priceless.
HKCavalier
Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.
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Somewhere, an employee of Bioware breathed a sigh of relief, and said "At least this guy I play with isn't going to corpse camp me over this."
My Sith Consular is still level 3. I really liked how well the dialogue choices matched up with how I want to play the character, but, well, I may not like Jedi, but I'm even more uneasy about the Sith...
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Well hell the first one was obvious - tough, resourceful, immoral (although IMHO, a bit of a whiner) I considered that she did pull off the assassination, and arranged payment in such a fashion that she couldn't betray the client even she wanted to, very professional, that.
Imperial intelligence could do a lot worse, and usually does...
The second one, I made a different call - again you don't inspire loyalty by take, take, take - even Vader knew this, Thrawn ever more so, and the old fool did give many years of service.
What made up my mind is that he never questioned the necessity of his own death, he accepted willingly the penalty for his failure like the warrior he was, and am I not a Sith *warrior* ?
Is not he ?
So yeah, he dies standing, a simple enough gift and one that costs us NOTHING, but pays off in that loyalty given is loyalty earned, something the other Sith are too damn stupid to see - if you agents get the notion you'll sell them out in a heartbeat, they *will* turn on you when someone makes them a better offer.
The third was even easier - okay, he's not innocent, I mean he's done time in a Republic prison for this, and now one of ours, which means he don't take sides, AND he held to his story even under pressure, on top of managing to cover his tracks well even though he was likely sold out by one of his own clients.
Bloody hell, he'd be even MORE useful for Imperial intel but as usual they're too stupid to see the big picture - but let him walk, and now he OWES me, and someone unaffiliated with either side who's a damn good and professional forger could come in very handy in the future, oh yes indeedy.
And the idea that the forces of the Republic don't already know the layout and operations style of a freakin Sith academy is flat out ludicrous, that's the same kind of hidebound, shortsighted ignorant blindness which got their butts kicked so hard the first time around, that whole this-is-how-we-do-things mindset they can't seem to step out of which makes them ultimately predictable and easily defeated, morons.
Speakin of which, you would have enjoyed the conversation which followed, cause I really do mean to kill the bastard I am currently working for if I can contrive it, he's a coward and a hypocrite even for a Sith, working at cross purposes for his own benefit at the expense of our goals and has the nerve to get on MY case and tell me I ain't lookin at the big picture ?
Please.
Most of my responses to him are in the "Yeah, whatever" category, but when he started into that little bit of stock-stupid kick-the-puppy garbage I told him right to his face I didn't HAVE to justify it to him, and I liked the way it came across as a quite, quite malicious when I told him so.
Especially when I pointed out that I really didn't give a rats ass what Darth whoever thought - damn wuss didn't even have the guts to try and intimidate me himself, but has to threaten me with someone ELSES wrath and pass the buck ?
*chuckles darkly*
I do mean to kill him, he's a fool, and I've never suffered those gladly.
If I am reading the guage right I walked out of there en route to the taxi station with 150/50 Lightside/Darkside, but not that it matters to me, I'll do what I will do irrespective of what others think about it and without regard to someone elses rules - and if the Force approves, so much the better.
I rather liked that snarky Twilek, too - I get a chance to spring her, imma likely do so.
ETA: A better understanding of how this is gonna go can be had simply by comprehending the inevitable Tropes backing it.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NobleDemon
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AboveGoodAndEvil
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PragmaticVillainy
As opposed to card-carrying stupid-evil, which prettymuch describes the rest of the Sith IMHO, and also encompasses why they usually LOSE, cause they're morons.
-Frem
I do not serve the Blind God.
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Okay, imma maybe rant a bit, cause I was thinkin on this while doing the rounds...
That jerk I am working for ? (Sith Warrior storyline)
I know this guy, I know wHO he is, and WHAT he is, and he's gonna die for it.
He is the Sith version of the corporate ladder climbing buttsucker toady, too stupid and incompetent to advance himself and so he means to use me to further his own goals and then step forward and take all the credit while quietly disposing of me - kinda like how corporate america treats contractors and temps, really.
And by the rules of his game that might work, IF I was playing his game...
What really convinced me to do for him though was that pureblood comment though.
Most stupid bad guys, where they FAIL is cause they're not alphas.
http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/alphabehavior.htm
If the only "reward" one can expect from you is being sold out or a horrible demise - WORD GETS AROUND.
Feh, even other bad guys won't help you cause there's nothing *IN* it for them, and if you can't appeal to even the greed and self-interest of others you're an incompetent failure as a villain.
The amusing part is that I have begun to suspect Darth whoever actually knows this, and has poison-pilled the bastard by forcing him to rely on me, knowing full well that this'll prolly get the useless dimbulb killed, and keep ole Darth maybe-not-so-stupid with clean hands...
And yanno, I might pull this by proxy too - the guy is such a coward he not only passed the buck on trying to intimidate me, but also introduced me to his daughter (adding nepotism to his list of stupidity) as what HE thinks is a check against me assassinating him, which I found laughable cause his daughter there doesn't seem cut to be Sith, although the thought of manipulating her into offing him for me does hold some amusement - I suspect though that she lacks the guts since that apple prolly didn't fall far from the tree, leastways it looks like it didn't.
Still, ya never know.
Anyhow, the REASON top villains get to BE top villains is cause they know power flows up from the bottom, not down from the top - people give it to you in order to advance THEIR own interests, and if you consistently fail to do that, you wind up thrown down and crushed, often by your own power base.
The Sith don't seem to comprehend this - for a fact the only reason the Jedi purge worked for them is that AT THE TIME, a damn lot of their power base supported it cause they were sick of living under that oppression, right up till the Sith decided to enact their own brand of oppression and thus sparked the rebellion via people withdrawing their consent.
Fact is, without mooks, triggermen, flunkies - without people willing to carry out your orders, it doesn't matter how grand or brilliant your agenda is, you'll lack the resources to pull it off, and thus you MUST secure the loyalty of your grunts.
Now fear may work, in a short term sense, while you're there and watching - but they will only do the minimum necessary and the instant they can get out from under your wrath they'll turn on you, and worse it's INEFFICIENT, cause you have to set watchers on them, then watchers to watch the watchers...
(See Also: US Government, DHS, TSA, etc..)
No, the best coin with which to secure loyalty, is loyalty - a mook who loves you and believes in you is gonna stay true even if captured and tortured - but only if you PAY UP when your end of the deal comes.
(This is why the mission-failure Sith got to die standing)
This is what killed Palpatine, his constant shortening of command lines, trying to shove more and more under her personal hand, refusing to repay the trust of his officers and troops with anything but suspicion - an act which is strongly hinted at to have caused the original death star operator to delay firing on Yavin 4 for an inexplicable amount of time, and eventually caused sufficient resentment amongst Imperial forces that his death was considered less of a loss than Vaders flagship.
Mind you - Mon Mothma kind of gets inadvertently verbally dope-slap
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So yeah, I finally got to whack Tremel-the-toady, and even better, on the express orders of Darth not-so-stupid, it was like xmas came early, it was... 
To his credit, he went out like a Sith, no pleading or whining, though he did prattle on and on till I was like okay just SHUT UP and chopped him - unlike the four? five? (I stopped counting) acolytes who've tried to murder me, only to get pounded into the ground and then have the nerve to pule and whinge and WHINE while begging for mercy - survivors could tell em they'd do better standing their ground, if there were any...
Seriously, is THIS what the Sith have been reduced to, cowards and bullies scrabbling for scraps in musty old tombs, whimpering about the glory days and blaming a legacy of FAILURE on impure blood, REALLY?!
And yeah, Tremel-toady's daughter tried for me too, only to get mocked, then killed, prolly for the best cause she was so not cut out for this anyways.
Darth not-dumb starts going on about throwing off yon toadys shackles and I call BS on him and point out they've just been exchanged for his, and rather than deny it he goes on about them being comfortable, with more room to grow, and then starts on the whole tradition rant only to get brutally cut off and snarked at by me - a conversation which I cannot help envisioning with me bearing this I-am-so-gonna-kill-you smirk and him just beaming with paternalistic pride...
But what *IS* it about these guys that they gotta rationalize and justify everything three times over, like they're trying to convince themSELVES, seriously, shut up and go DO something.
(Side note: Voice acting is very very good, nuanced, too)
Funny that when I get snarky, snappish and downright insolent with him and he calls me on it, I can tell it's just for forms sake and that he's actually enjoying it.
Oh yah, and I told that stupid brainwashed Jedi the straight truth NOT as an act of mercy(1), oh no, not even close, but because the inquisitors are totally incompetent - he goes back with his all-too-easy and convenient escape and they're gonna KNOW anything he has is false, but if I give him this to work with they'll turn right around and suspect it might not be and we're covering our butts - at the very LEAST it will confuse them and rile up their inherent paranoia, meh heh heh.
This is what's known as Third-level deception, one of the BASICS of intelligence work, but the Inquisitiors in their hide-bound stupidity have apparently never been introduced to it - at the very least using that trick sends things into the trainwreck confusion of escalation...
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IKnowYouKnowIKnow
As I said, incompetence galore, *sigh*.
At least I did get to spring the Twilek, which is good, cause if there's one thing the freakin Sith need desperately it's a sense of humor - I let her speak her mind freely cause she's a natural Jester, and the inherent role of a Jester is truthsayer, to tell you the things no one else dares.
Like when we finally made it off that dustball and on arrival we find that Darth jerk has sent us a message, and the messenger is this whiny, servile, bootlicking milquetoast-quisling that I guess Darth lazybum couldn't be bothered to choke out hisself cause he HAD to know what was gonna happen to the sodder - wasteful old coot coulda just sent e-mail, instead.
So when he gets chopped I hear from behind me "Wow, starting the bodycount early, are we?" and tell her "You bet, let's go.."
Cause, yanno, there's WORK to be done here.
*strides off humming the imperial march*
Afterthought: So far most of the imperial troops and officers I've run into have been polite and respectful, something I heartily reciprocate - these guys do the often inglorious grunt work which keeps the Empire running smoothly, and as such they deserve our respect for it, and when they bring something to me, ask my help for something they can't handle, I get on it, cause that's *MY* job.
You wanna be one of the big guns, you better be willing to heave to battery.
I think it is their refusa
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I do believe Frem has been seduced by the dark side. Or at least the rather grey snarky side.
Yeah, but something tells me it probably is kinda fun to tear through the Sith when they're being so dumb.
I won't manage much play this week, though I might finish the Smuggler's storyline on coruscant sometime this weekend, I might have thoughts.
Eventually I'm gonna have to actually play my Sith more so I know what ya'll are talkin' bout.
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Oh, but Frem, you like cute things, right? There's this droid companion that makes playing a Jedi Knight almost worth it.
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I dunno about that, I reeeeallly dislike Jedi...
But I do have a smuggler - and damned if that Sullustan law enforcement officer don't remind me of Anthony, I was gonna let him die till the thugs got stupid with me (i.e. suicide-by-smuggler) and wasn't real happy with him but his infallible politeness and moral stance won me over, heh.
Companionwise, Corso is kind of a bonehead, not sure about him, but I do like Vette, she is quite entertaining.
As for the path of carnage I am leaving as a Sith, yanno IF after tryin to kill me and getting pounded into the dirt, instead of whimpering they played the "My Life is Yours" gig, I might spare them to avoid being wasteful, or even if they stood their ground and were willing to die for their belief...
But that whimpering-cowering crap, combined with the attempt to murder me in the first place, usually by ambush, just convinces me that sparing them will immediately lead to perfidy and having to eventually kill them anyways - and from a slightly different perspective, I'm doing the Sith a FAVOR by cutting loose the deadweight.
But yeah, it's quite entertaining to finally have a game LET you chop down such cretins, I'm sure the moral guardians will scream a fit soon enough - hey, maybe we could encourage them to try installing to multi-core/Win7 machines, that'll keep em busy a while..
(Not that they'd actually play it before bitching, but we can dream...)
Tremel-toady was VERY much a case of STOP HELPING ME.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StopHelpingMe
And I really, really did get mucho satisfaction out of putting paid to him, mocking his wuss of a daughter and finishing the job - I am sure Darth jackass did too, considering the second fight took place right outside his open office door.
Not a complete goon though, I did lie to the temple guard about his kid - no harm in it, hell if the game woulda let me I'd have dragged the remains down in there and left a bunch of chopped baddies to make it look like an epic last stand for the poor blighter, let him die a hero - cause IMHO how far he actually got is meaningless, it's that he was willing to sell his life in the trying...
As opposed to the pricks who probably used him for bait and then snuck by while he was getting chopped.
-Frem
I do not serve the Blind God.
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The Frem is placated, revenge on hiatus.
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Darth Frem maybe ?
I can dig it... I had to SERIOUSLY intimidate some yahoo in the real world today, after running around all over town trying to get this key cut, and finally this one podunk hardware store has a blank that's close enough - but he starts goin on about how they're not supposed to...
*cue death glare*
And then just slowly backs away as I proceed to cut the freakin key myself and do a little rough-n-ready work on it by hand (apparently there's some kinda petty stupid legal issue about this) and toss five bucks on his counter and walk out, snagging one of his business cards on the way just in case he had any notions of carrying tales.
And to my great amusement I was picturing that little "Darkside Points" Icon poppin up the whole bloody time.. 
-Frem
I do not serve the Blind God.
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