Let's Play KotOR!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1
Endar Spire - Grab Your Gun and Bring in the Cat
Taris - Energize!
Taris - It's the Shith!
Taris - Scarface Jackson: Bounty Hunter (Part 1) *INCOMPLETE*

Endar Spire - Grab Your Gun and Bring in the Cat


Obligatory cover art.

It ain't half bad, except for the random Selkath. Honestly, what the hell is he doing there? The only ones we even meet are scientists, judges, and little girls. No badass assassins like in the cover. Extremely deceiving, if you ask me. But enough about Manaan; that won't be for a while. Hmm...Bastila looks a tad different too. But that's for another time as well.

Anyway, in addition to the cover art we have our obligatory Star Wars opening crawl, which is actually pretty crappy in this game (kudos to Vadakin for pointing this out). The font for "A long time ago..." is all wrong, they used the wrong shade of yellow, and the timing is way off. But anyway, instead of repeating the crawl I'll give it my own twist. There's also a chance that I'm too lazy to take some screenshots and upload them to Photobucket.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....

Star Wars: Knights of the blah blah blah

Seven years ago, the Mandalorians invaded the Republic. Or was it three decades ago? No one knows. The Jedi Council, in their infinite dogma, decided to wait it out in order to see what the "true" threat was, before taking any action. The biggest cop-out in galactic history, second only to Han and Greedo firing at the same time. Eventually, some of the Jedi rebelled, helping the Republic in their war effort. Among these were Revan and Malak, who came to lead the cause. By the wars' end, Revan and his followers were heroes, and they chased the Mandalorians back from whence they came.

In a startling turn of events, Revan, Malak, and his followers (save one...but that comes later) fell to the dark side and declared war on the Republic. Calling themselves Sith, Revan and Malak led a crusade against the Jedi Order for two years, until a Republic strike team led by Captain Jax Foreshadowing boarded Revan's flagship (which is never named, but from here on out I'll call it the Lotan, another word for "Leviathan", which of course is Malak's ship). Along with the Republic soldiers were four Jedi led by Bastila Shan, who has a rare Force power called Battle Meditation that allows her to repair plot holes in the blink of an eye. In another startling turn of events, Malak turned on Revan, hoping to eliminate all of his enemies in one swift (read: cowardly) blow. The Jedi escaped, and Malak took control of the Sith Empire for himself.

Flash forward one year.



Our main man, Scarface Jackson, is a soldier aboard the Endar Spire, a Republic cruiser...or is it a frigate? A battleship, maybe? No, it's too small to be a battleship. Let's look it up on Wookieepedia...

Carrier? I don't remember seeing any fighters onboard. Hell, Carriers are bigger than battleships, and that thing is tiny. It's got like two decks, and there aren't any hangars. No word on what exactly an endar spire is, either. Is that supposed to be some play on Endor, or is it some obscure Neverwinter Nights reference? Maybe we'll find out later. In any case, I was right; it's a cruiser...according to Wookieepedia, at least. I guess we'll have to ignore their BS about it being a carrier. Ten to one odds that it's either fanon or from one of the crappy Essential Guide re-releases.

So, our heroic soldier has served aboard the Spire (wouldn't that be a decent name for a towering base, instead of a ship?) for about a year, and is about to be rudely awakened...



Huh? Oh, right, we haven't picked out our character yet. All right, portrait and name we already know. We're starting out as a Scoundrel because they're the best with blasters (Sniper Shot and Sneak Attack...kickass). We'll be picking Guardian once we hit Dantooine to balance that off. And there's our starting attributes. We're ignoring Strength entirely since we're focusing on blasters. And we just pour points into the big ones, Constitution, Dexterity, Wisdom, without going over 14 and having to spend extra. We also build up Intelligence to 14, since K1's skill system is so unfair. Seriously, we don't even have Treat Injury as a class skill, and there aren't any cross-class feats to fix that like there are in K2. Oh wait, TI is a class skill for everyone in K2, so there's no need to fix it.

Anyway, the remaining two go into Charisma. We'll probably put a few more into that later. As for feats, we only get one, which is also a complete ripoff. We're throwing it into implant level one, which we don't get automatically. Yes, another ripoff. People say how K1 is so balanced because it isn't as ridiculously easy as K2. You just have to look at the feat and skill systems to see how wrong that is. K1 crosses the line from reasonably difficult to extremely annoying many a time. But enough of my ranting. For skills we put one point into Stealth, so we can actually use it, one into Treat Injury and Repair, since that's all we can afford, two into Computer Use because...well, you'll see later, four into our most valuable class skilss, Demolitions, Repair, and Persuade, and the rest into Awareness. Now, it's time to get into the real game...



Ok, we're sleeping on the job. Nice way to start a career as a hero. Hey wait a minute, Hancock started the same way. Fortunately K1's ending isn't nearly as confusing and anti-climactic.



...and we wake up.



What is it, boy? Meatloaf surprise gone bad? Trouble at the old mill? Is Mulletman trapped in a well?

We've been ambushed by a Sith battle fleet! The Endar Spire is under attack! Hurry up - we don't have much time!

The Sith? Well that isn't predictable. Three exclamation points right there, by the way.



Wow, that must have been some party. He slept through a battle and can't remember a damn thing.

Did you fall out of your bunk and hit your head? The Endar Spire is the ship we're stationed on - this ship! You probably don't even know who I am, do you?

Hey, hey, hey, no need to get cheeky.

I'm Trask Ulgo, ensign with the Republic Fleet. I'm your bunk mate here on the Endar Spire. We work opposite shifts; I guess that's why you haven't seen me before.

Two guys, alone in a room. I'm not making any judgements...

Now hurry up, we have to find Bastila! We have to make sure she makes it off the ship alive!

Who's Bastila?

Bastila's the commanding officer on the Endar Spire. Well, not an officer, really. But she's the one in charge of this mission. One of our primary duties is to guarantee her survival in the event of enemy attack! You swore an oath just like everyone else on this mission. Now it's time to make good on that oath!



He says something different here depending on which class you picked. Because we chose to be a Scoundrel, we're automatically treated as a common criminal. I think it's a bit stereotypical, and it gives all us Scoundrels a bad name. In fact, it's really unfair. If we picked soldier, we'd get:

"Word is the officers haven't seen a recruit with your kind of potential in twenty years. But all that potential doesn't mean a thing if you can't deliver when it counts!"

And even Scouts get:

"People with your skills and abilities are hard to find; it's no wonder the Republic recruited you for this mission. But now's the time to prove yourself!"

I'm not even going to bother pointing out how many exclamation marks there have been so far. In any case, Scoundrels are stuck with:

And I'll admit, the Republic is in desperate need of someone with your kind of skills. Desperate enough to overlook your shady past. But now that you've signed on for this mission you're part of the Republic fleet. And Bastila needs all troops at her side during this attack!

Missing comma after "mission".



Meh, both options suck equally. I don't feel like a bastard at the moment, so we're going to help Bastila. Besides, she might be able to get us off this ship alive.

So hurry up and grab your gear. You need to suit up so we can get out of here.

Where can I find my equipment?

Hey, we're too wasted to remember what ship we're on. Little help, here?



Er...what?

Can you repeat that?



Right...I'm just going to ignore you for now.

Ok, we get our stuff from a footlocker in the back of the room. Again, it's different depending on class. Supposedly you get items that match your class' strengths. For instance, Soldiers get a rifle instead of a pistol. It's a nice touch, except it doesn't really make a difference right now, because the Spire is of course ridiculously easy, and your PC is going to suck at shooting no matter what weapon you use. Trask starts at Level 3, and he's a Soldier, so he has a much higher base attack bonus (BAB) than the PC, and he'll be doing all the real work.

We still haven't gotten dressed yet.



Juma juice doesn't exactly get along with hand-eye coordination, you know.

Use the EQUIP screen to equip the armor and weapons from your inventory. You can access this screen by selecting the EQUIP menu icon in the upper right corner of the screen. Use the mouse to look through your inventory slots. The menu on the right displays items you can equip in each slot. Left-click the mouse to select an inventory slot, then scroll through the available items on the right and...

...blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

I'm going to stop here for a bit to rant about how dumb and offsetting the character of Trask is. He, and the Endar Spire in general, are just there to serve as a tutorial for the player. That's fine and all, but when he starts babbling "left click this, right click that, check your equip menu", it really takes you out of the game.

But in any case, we've got some clothes, a blaster, and a sword. Say goodbye to Scar's superhero underpants. We'll be seeing them again later...well, twice, to be exact.

Okay, let's move out.

Meh, it's supposed to be "O.K.", or "OK", or "ok". Never "okay". Fools. And it shouldn't even be in Star Wars! Bah, his left click speech was bad enough.



(Insert redshirt joke here.)



Trask has become our official first party member. They gave him a name and a portrait and everything. He’s in Bastila’s slot, which means you know he’s a gonner immediately. Other than him, our party screen is pretty empty, but you can see the silhouettes of everyone else (except Bastila) who’s going to join us in due time. We’ll get six of them on Taris, and Jolee on Kashyyyk. The other two are optional, but we’ll be picking up HK on Tatooine for sure, and I’ll put up a vote for Juhani once we get to Dantooine.



Er...did Trask just teleport to the other side of the room? Whatever, just shut up and open the door.



This screenshot doubles as proof that I actually called my character "Scarface Jackson". Two birds, one stone.



Yes, I did mod the game to give Carth and Scarface Republic uniforms. Sue me.

That was Carth contacting us on our portable communicators. He's one of the Republic's best pilots! He's seen more combat than the rest of the Endar Spire's crew put together. If he says things are bad, you better believe it. We have to get to the bridge to help defend Bastila! There's a map of the Endar Spire and a copy of Carth's message in your electronic journal, just in case we get separated.

Let's move out.

Finally, a line that doesn’t make Scar sound like a stoner or a five-year-old. Anyway, we walk for a bit and come across another door.

That door's locked, and I don't have the codes to open it. You'll have to use your SECURITY skill on it if we want to get past.

If we didn’t put any points into Security, he’d slice it for us. How convenient.



Let’s just stand back and watch the Sith shoot this guy.



Hey, he was wearing a red shirt. Bound to happen.



Ok, now Scar has mysteriously teleported into the hallway. Hmm...

For the Republic!

(Just had to quote it.)



All right, folks, this is our first battle. It goes pretty quick, so don’t blink. As I said, it’s Trask that does most of the work. He took one down on his own before I got the second to half health. Even with sniper shot, the most damage Scar can do is 12 points, if he’s really, really lucky. Fortunately the Sith are worse shots than us. In fact, we don’t even get hit. If we were, Trask would chime in about using a medpack.



We fight some more guys and eventually find a footlocker with some nice items. Well, actually they suck, but they’re even better than the sucky stuff we have right now. There’s a combat suit in the footlocker, which means you can say goodbye to Scar’s Republic uniform. Maybe we’ll see it again later.



Unfortunately, the placeable names don’t change once you open them, so you’re liable to open the same one twice.



Also, party members don’t get out of your f***ing way.



I do like that Sith corpse, though. Anyway, we head through the next door and...



Major fight. In fact, this is probably the best scripted sequence in the game. Well, come to think of it there’s the Vulkar fight and the Wookiee revolution. So there are a few more. Oh, and the duel between Gerlon and Duncan, which will be in the next update.



The frame buffer effects are pretty cool sometimes.



This guy throws a grenade...



...killing one of his own guys. Typical Sith thinking.



Speaking of grenades, we’ve got a few. Let’s give it a try...



Owned.



Bah, two more just show up in out of nowhere.



Where’d they come from? This door is completely busted. We can hear something from behind the door, though. Sounds like...lightsabers? We also get a nice view of space through the cracks in the door.



And over here too (look up). Damn, they just don’t make ‘em like they used to. But all in all, this is a pretty cool area; sadly it’s just used for this crummy tutorial level. But at least Obsidian was able to reuse most of the assets for the Harbinger. My only complaint about the Spire and Harbinger modules is that they’re so empty. It’s all just hallways and vacant rooms. And while the curved walls look cool as hell, they’re really a waste of space. But I’m probably being too picky. Anyway, onward we go...



Coward.



Well, maybe she could help if you’d helped her instead of watching her die. Coward. But we whoop these Sith too. Although...where did these guys come from? Let’s take a look.



Hey, that’s the same busted door we saw a few minutes ago. They couldn’t have come from here. What the hell is going on?

Oh, and that was our first glimpse at lightsabers in action. Looking back at this, I’m kind of disappointed, since it’s not nearly as symbolic as the first appearance in EpIV, EpI, or even K2. In EpIV we get to hear the story of how Luke’s father was a war hero, and Obi-wan’s poetic explanation of the Force. In EpI we see Qui-Gon and Obi-wan turn on their sabers together, back when the Jedi Order was alive and kicking. And in K2 Kreia gets her hand cut off by Sion, and the Exile literally feels her pain. But anyway, moving on...



I should equip a melee weapon, too. Either that, or I'll have to stay back and use my blaster.



But, like, what if they have lightsabers, dude?

Your melee weapon is made using a cortosis weave. It's strong enough to stand up against anything, even a lightsaber.

Well, we’re not going to be meeting anyone with a lightsaber any time soon, and with the blaster we have a +2 attack bonus, due to our high Dexterity. Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid. So we pull this cheap trick:



We equip a sword so the door opens...



And then switch back to our blaster immediately. Horray for game mechanics abuse.

Oh, and I just realized I have small text turned on. I can make it bigger for the next update, if it matters.



The bridge fight is actually pretty cool. There are still a few Republic soldiers left alive, fighting some Sith up ahead. The only problem is that I bet no one ever notices it. I didn’t until the last time I played through the Spire, and that would have been for at least the tenth time. In any case, another random explosion kills them, and Trask and Scar take care of the rest.



Uh...Trask? Where did you go?



COWARD!

Looks like we’re on our own. And they knocked Scar down to 2% health. Better use a medpack. Oh wait, there’s another annoying part of the tutorial coming up that makes you level up before leaving the bridge. I only realized this after I used the medpack to heal myself. Oh well, we’ll have hundreds of them by the end of the game, so no sweat.

Oh and no, I didn’t set that up. Honestly, the game bugged and threw Trask out of the room. Probably because we didn’t charge onto the bridge with swords. Oops.

Well, no sign of Bastila here. It's time to bail.



Hey, what’d ya know, Trask found a way to teleport himself back with Scar. We’ll find out how this teleporting thing works in the next update.

There’s something behind here.

How the hell he knows that, I have no clue.



They actually remembered the capital D in “Dark Jedi” this time.





So Trask runs off to take care of this Dark Jedi while Scar heads for the escape pods. There’s only one problem...



The door to the escape pods is the one closer to Scar, while Trask went through the one on the right. Either the door was locked, or Bandon didn’t know they were there, or else he’d have opened the door himself. So why the hell didn’t Trask just head for the escape pods? He might seem like he’s redeeming himself for his previous cowardice by sacrificing himself for the player, but in the end he’s just an idiot redshirt. And that’s my ode to Trask.

Anyway, we’re all alone again, and we’re going to our second module, the starboard section of the Endar Spire. As soon as we enter, we get another message from Carth.

This is Carth Onasi on your personal communicator. I'm tracking your position through the Endar Spire's life support systems.



I have no idea why they decided to loop the angry animation for these lines, but it looks hilarious.

But be careful. There's a Sith patrol just down the corridor. Use your STEALTH skill to sneak past him.

What, and miss out on the XP? Screw that.



And there’s only one guy. Wow, Carth is more of a coward than Trask. And he’s picked up Trask’s tutorial hat pretty well.



Well, there are some more in the next room. Actually, this is where a melee weapon comes in handy. We can charge at him...



...and deal ridiculous amounts of damage before he can pull out a sword of his own. Except that’s one aspect of the combat system that the tutorial in this game never actually tells you about.



One of the funny things about the number of exclamation marks used in the game is that it doesn’t match the voiceovers at all. Add the angry animation to that, and you get the picture that Raphael Sbarge is shouting at the top of his lungs...except he’s not. He’s still the same mild-mannered, stuttering Carth.

Oh, and we picked up a unique vibroblade just now. We’ll save that for later, maybe give it to Zaalbar or Canderous.

You could reprogram the damaged assault droid to help you, if you have enough repair parts. Or you could use computer spikes to slice into the terminal and use the Endar Spire's security systems against the Sith.

Meh, we probably could just gun them all down, but we’ll do things his way. We’ll take our chances with the computer, since we’ll be able to get spikes for free later in the game.



In this footlocker there just happens to be enough computer spikes and repair parts. How convenient.



Is that window cracked? Yeesh.



A computer slicing tutorial? Are you f***ing kidding me?



The computer’s worse than Trask and Carth put together.



Useless fact #1: You actually can bring the required spike number down to zero with a high enough computer use rank, despite what the description says.



Hey, that’s the patrol that’s on the other side of the door. Looks like they’ve started the party without us. That’s just not cool. We should teach them a lesson.







That’s probably my favorite trick in the whole game. Well, there’s something even more funny coming up, but that’s not for a long, long while.



In any case, with the Sith all dead we can move to the next room.

You made it just in time! There's only one active escape pod left. Come on, we can hide out on the planet below!

He actually is shouting this time.

Who are you?

Bah, we’re back to stoner Scar now. He’s only the guy who’s been barking orders to you for the past ten minutes, you bleeding heart hippie.

I'm a soldier with the Republic, like you. We're the last two crew members left on the Endar Spire. Bastila's escape pod's already gone, so there's no reason for us to stick around here and get shot by the Sith. Now come on - there'll be time for questions later!



It’s our only hope of survival. Nah, I think we won’t step into the escape pod. Might be dusty in there. [/sarcasm]



And there goes the Endar Spire. ‘Twas a good ship, even if it was empty and boring and the only other people onboard were whiny cowards and Sith who wanted to kill us.

Next time we’ll see our first planet, and get some of our questions answered. Who exactly is Bastila? How come she couldn’t use her Battle Meditation to tie up all the plot holes on the Endar Spire? Did the Republic gain transporter technology from the same people who designed their uniforms?

And there’ll be a player choice for you next time, I promise.

Taris - Energize!

Last we left off, our hero escaped his beloved ship as the Sith turned it into space dust. The Endar Spire was a decent tutorial level, but there are so many questions left unanswered. Perhaps on this small, backwater world we'll finally get some. Er, I mean get some questions answered. Why are you looking at me like that?

Oh, and by popular demand, Scar grew six inches overnight. I really didn't mean for that to sound dirty, honestly. I just mean I changed his appearance to make him taller. Yeah, moving on...



Hey, we're sleeping on the job again. Dreaming, too.



Huh, this is interesting. Two Jedi fighting. Well, one Jedi and one Dark Jedi. Wait, could this be the almighty Bastila Shan we've heard so much about? Hmm, and that's definitely not a Republic ship they're on. Bah, I guess we're not getting any answers just yet.



...and we get up again.



It's actually the same animation from when we woke up on the Endar Spire; they just changed the camera angle. Also, it seems BioWare screwed up, since half of that little clip actually took place on the Ebon Hawk.



Right. I'm Scarface Jackson, by the way. How did we get here?



And that's enough of that. The next part of the game is so dull that I'm not even going to bother with it. Instead, I'm going to talk about a little thing we writers call exposition. Basically, it's the stuff the audience doesn't know that they need to know. With any book, movie, game, etc that is driven by plot, there is bound to be a ton of information the audience needs to process as soon as possible. So, how do you get that across?

Well, what Carth is doing is called an exposition dump. Yes, it's as bad as it sounds. This is a very standard scenario: One character knows everything, and the other knows nothing. So Character A tells Character B the situation, allowing the audience to take in everything they need in order to move on to the next chapter of the story. It's a very common method, and to be honest it's exposition at its worst. It's almost always painfully dull, often encyclopedic in nature, and oftentimes the audience ends up knowing more than they want--or even need--to know. And when Character A is one of the major characters of the story, it throws out a perfectly good opportunity to establish their traits early on. Just because all the stuff Carth spins out sounds like it came from Encyclopedia Galactica 117th Edition, we immediately start to hate him. If Carth had some of the hilarious lines that Atton has in K2, or if he were a personal enemy of the player like Atris, the exposition dump could have gone a whole lot smoother.

But enough of that; I've already told you everything you need to know in the last update. In fact, you can pretty much figure everything out from the opening crawl. In any case, we'll need Bastila's help, so we're off to look for her.



But before we go, there's a footlocker in our little apartment here. Let's check it out.



Hey, our friend Mulletman from the Spire's left us a nice, shiny present! Oooo, Regeneration 2, nice.

There's a slight chance I may have used KotOR Tool to make these items. Hey, there's no VP regeneration in K1; sue me.

Now, let's blow this joint.



Aww, do we have to?



Meh, the text doesn't match the vioceover. There's a comma missing too.

There was a patrol here just yesterday, and they found nothing! Why do you Sith keep bothering us?

Also, that Duros was supposed to be a Bith at one point. They even recorded voiceovers, but no Bith ever talks in this game for some reason.



For the life of me, I couldn't get a screenshot of him actually shooting the guy, and I was too lazy to record video footage. Thank you, Corel Painter.

That's how we Sith deal with smart-mouth aliens! Now the rest of you get up against the wall before I lose my temper again!

Typical Sith behavior. I don't even get why is he just randomly shooting aliens in the first place.

Hey, what's this? Humans hiding out with aliens? They're Republic fugitives! Attack!

Meh, voicover doesn't match again.



Two of them turn around immediately, allowing us to shoot them in the back. We're still one level behind Carth, but not after we get some XP for blasting this guy. I'll level up in a bit.

Poor Ixgil. He should never have talked back to that Sith. Thankfully you were here to step in and help us, human. This isn't the first time the Sith have come in here to cause trouble for us, but hopefully it will be the last.

Won't someone come searching for this patrol?

Don't worry about the bodies. I will move them so it looks like they were killed elsewhere. That should throw the Sith off the track. With any luck, they won't be bothering us again for a while.

He's not lying; the Duros and the bodies just disappear when you come back. They do this with something called a boolean. Basically, there's a two-dimensional array (2DA) file that has a list of all sorts of conditions--for instance, whether the Duros and the bodies are there or not. The boolean can be set to either 1 or 0--on or off. Some can triggered more than once...I can't think of anything in K1 at the moment, but in K2 there's a boolean determining whether or not Vogga is sleeping. The way the Aurora/Odyssey engine is set up, everything is local. So if you leave the area and return, everything is reset...unless there's a boolean telling it otherwise, of course.

But enough of my technobabble. It it looks like we're going to be living here for a while, so let's go meet the neighbors.



Hmm, I like that placeable. Too bad it doesn't show up very often. I don't even think it's in K2 at all...I could be wrong, though.

Howdy.

I know it's really none of my business, but you look like someone who might need to purchase one of those new teleporters. They're the latest thing, you know. Very high tech.

Larrim's our first merchant, the first of many. His items are crap, though.

What's so special about teleporters?

When you use one it surrounds you with a radiant aura-particle mesh that sends you to any location. Pretty handy in a getaway.



Ah, so that's what was happening back on the Spire. I told you we'd be getting some answers.



This is our first side quest of sorts, and it seems we haven't quite finished the nightmarish tutorial yet. This one is so we can familiarize ourselves with the rapid transit system, which was created in order to replace another system that the developers thought was a bit too convenient. It involved a droid that would let you use a swoop bike to transit to any module on the current planet. There was even some dialogue with Carth recorded, in which he explains how to activate the droid.

Anyway, they thought that was too convenient (it sort of is, to be honest), so they replaced it with a "return to Hideout" (or "return to Ebon Hawk" later) function; when you do that, it heals you, to make up for the lack of VP regeneration. If you don't do it now, you get a message later on in the game telling you to. Please don't ask me how I know that. Anyway, let's give it a try...





MY BRAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIN!



Return to hideout! Return to hideout!



Fine. Killjoy.



I'm sorry. I was just investigating the area.

That's no excuse. You can't just go around barging into people's apartments because you're curious! But at least you're more polite than that pig, Holdan.



Just one of Davik's men who can't keep his hands to himself. But all he got for his trouble was a nasty scar from my vibroblade! Too bad I'm the one still paying the price.

That has side quest written all over it. We better inquire further...

What do you mean?

I... I don't want to talk about it. I'm in enough trouble already. Besides, I don't know if I can trust you.

Meh, figures. This is where Persuade comes in handy. Too bad it isn't a class skill for...oh wait, we picked Scoundrel, so it is! Hooray for class system abuse! Seriously though, it doesn't make any sense. As charming as he is, Han Solo doesn't talk his way out of a dirty situation; he just takes aim and fires. Then again, I don't think Soldiers or Scouts would be the most persuasive of people either, which is why Persuade should either be a class skill for all or none. None would suck, so I'd make it all. And later it will be available to all classes, but by then you can just talk with your lightsaber. Doesn't make much sense, does it?

Anyway, where was I? Something about Persuade?

[Persuade] You can trust me. Maybe I can help.



Holdan's a spiteful little Hutt-slug. He went and put out a bounty on my head for what I did! That's why I'm hiding out here.

Yup, definitely side quest material, but if we say we'll help, she'll probably whine and moan until we do. And maybe we just want to double-cross her and turn her in ourselves. So let's shut up for now.

I'll be going now.

Good. I don't much like strangers in my home.

Schutta. Actually, if we'd promised to help her, she'd be more friendly at this point. This is done in a similar way to booleans, only it's local instead of global, so there's no need for a separate 2DA. Anyway, we'll decide what to do with her in due time. We have someone else whiny to talk to until then.

But before we go, let's steal all her stuff!



Nice. Anyway, as I was saying...



Actually, I don't, but I want to get his personal side quest open as soon as possible.

Me? Well, I've been a star-pilot for the Republic for years. I've seen more than my share of wars... I fought in the Mandalorian Wars before all this started. But with all that, I've never experienced anything like the slaughter these Sith animals can unleash. Not even the Mandalorians were that senseless. My home world was one of the first planets to fall to Malak's fleet. The Sith bombed it into submission, and there wasn't a damn thing our Republic forces could do to stop them!

You're talking like it's your fault. Like you failed somehow.



Carth is so angry that he tries to pick his nose with his blaster.

I'm sorry, Carth. I didn't mean to upset you.

I know. Don't worry about it. I just... must not be making much sense. You probably mean well with your questions. I'm just not accustomed to talking about my past very much. At all, actually.

Fine, fine, I don't care. I asked for your name, not your life story.



Great, another whiner. This guy has the Generic Old White Guy appearance. We'll be seeing a lot of him. Funny thing is that you can claim to not remember him, saying you're not good with faces.

Sorry, I didn't know.

Well, alright then. No hard feelings.



Hmmm.... you look like an off-worlder. What happened, you get stuck here because of the quarantine? Can't see any other reason someone would want to rent that old apartment.

I want to ask you some questions.

Don't know how much I can tell you, but seeing as how you're new here I guess I can try and help you out.

Where can I get some equipment?



Just keep following the apartment complex ring until you come to the elevator. It'll take you out to the Upper City streets. From there just head south a ways. You can't miss it.

I'll be going now.

I should get back to work anyway. I'll probably see you around - I'm here most of the time. This building doesn't clean itself, you know.

He really does sound like a crazy old man, because he's either mumbling so that you can barely hear him, or screaming at the top of his lungs. Whoever the voice actor is, he's brilliant. Anyway, let's head out. Carth wants to go on a shopping spree. Yeah, he's like that, if you know what I mean. Speaking of which, now that we've talked to Carth, we can level up. I'm not going to bore you with the details, and we only get some skill points anyway. Moving on...



Ah, this is Taris. Hey, I can see our escape pod from here. Anyway, Taris is actually quite nice, if your computer can handle it. It's huge, there are lots of NPCs walking around, and there are a whole bunch of street encounters. Taris is my favorite planet in the game...well, it's really the only planet I actually like in the game. Yeah, it's long and you're not a Jedi yet, but it's still nice, and it's proof of how polished games like this can be, when given enough time. And the funny thing is that Taris has a whole lot of cut content. I'd wager that there was as much cut that there was kept. I'll probably drop in a word or two about it here and there. Anyway, Carth is our walking tour guide for the planet.



From what I hear, the wealthy live on the tops of all the tall towers. And if you're poor, you live down in the shadows... and it gets worse the lower you go.



...and from over here, you can see BioWare's shoddy skybox.



Let's stop at the local clinic. We may have some kickass bling thanks to Mulletman, but it won't be enough if we get into a serious brouhaha.



Why does everyone keep saying that?

Do you require healing or medical supplies? I can treat almost any injury or ailment right here at the medical facility, except the rakghoul disease, of course.

Rakghoul disease? What's that?

The terrible affliction has plagued Taris for many generations. It is spread by the rakghouls, horrible monsters that live in the Undercity below Taris' great skyscrapers.



Is there no cure?

There is no antidote for the disease, though I heard the Republic scientists at the military base here on Taris were close to perfecting a cure. Then the Sith arrived. They overran the military base and now they refuse to allow anyone access to the laboratories inside. The Sith are keeping all the serum for the patrols they send into the Undercity.

I think that's a reference to cut content. At one point you could break into the military base before going to the Undercity. Presumably there would be a sample of the serum in there.



Oh, this has side quest written all over it too.



Meh, the first option is so idiotic, and as with the Dia quest, we want to keep our options open, so we just shut up for now. And come to think of it, we really don't need any medical supplies just yet. Yeah, I lied. I just wanted to open up this side quest.



"Lab Personnel Only". Psssh, yeah right.



What's this?



He gets real pissed.

Hey, I recognize those comatose dudes. It's the Jones twins--Mulletman and Bruce!

You... you recognize these soldiers? But how? Unless... unless you're a friend of the Republic.

Persuade time again! Actually, we could have just convinced him to show us the soldiers without breaking in. I don't think it makes a difference either way, except maybe this way we get a smigen more XP for unlocking the door.

[Persuade] I'm a friend of the Republic. You can trust me.

Actually, I think he tells you what's going on no matter what.

Since the space battle overhead, people have been secretly bringing in these Republic soldiers who crash landed on the planet. I had to take them in. What choice did I have? Their injuries are terrible, most won't survive. But at least I can make their last days more comfortable. And at least here they are hidden away from the Sith.

Well, for that you have my thanks. It's good to know that at least some of these men ended up in compassionate hands.

Carth chimes in here. If we had Bastila, it'd be her doing all the praising. If we had both, it'd be just Carth, since he comes first in the dialogue tree. That's how it works, and that's why certain bits of dialogue in the game are bugged. One character in particular really gets the short end of the stick.



Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me.

We could blackmail him, in which case Carth/Bastila would get mad (but we still could do it), though that'd be rude, and it's not really worth it.

Thank you for keeping my secret. I only wish there was more I could do, but medical science has only come so far.

Meh, all I'm hearing is failure.

I'm afraid there is nothing more anyone can do for these soldiers. Now, if you'll excuse me I should return to the front in case anyone comes in needing medical attention.

He says that, but he still leaves the door wide open. Someone forgot to set up a boolean.



Recognize him? The trigger-happy Sith we gunned down looks just like him. It's the Generic Black Guy appearance. Zelka was Generic Old Black Guy.

An offer? What are you talking about?

Zelka isn't the only one who wants to get his hands on the rakghoul serum. Davik Kang will pay you ten times what Zelka can if you can get the cure.

Davik Kang? Who's that?



You mean Davik's a crime lord?

I prefer to think of him as a role model. He started with nothing, and now he's got it all: credits, power, women. It's the Tarisian dream, right?

Hell, yeah.



Davik's interested in anything that can turn a profit. He could make a fortune selling the serum to anyone infected with the disease - not like Zelka, who'll practically give it away.

I'll keep your offer in mind.



Hey, hey, hey, I just said I'd think about it. No need to wave a gun at me.

If you find the rakghoul serum, just take it to Zax in the Lower City bounty office. He works for Davik. He'll pay you what that cure is really worth!

Like I said, definite side quest material. Parties A and B want Item 1; Party A is all goody goody, while Party B has cash. We'll decide who we'll give the rakghoul serum to once we get it. For now, let's get out of here. I believe I heard mention of a cantina.



Aww, ****, I was afraid that might happen. See, in K1 all the party members have backstories and will gladly talk your ear off for a time. After that they'll shut up until you get some XP and level up. Since there's a level cap of 20, ideally you should talk to them right after you level up, or else you might miss the opportunity. The screenshot above is the game's way of telling you that. Now, as I said before, I want to open Carth's personal side quest ASAP, so it looks like we'll have to talk to the buffoon again.

Is this a good time to ask you some more questions?

I guess I did say you could ask me questions later, didn't I? Is this really necessary?

Meh, someone's a bit pushy. Carth, like Atton in K2, is ten times better when your player character is female. Obviously Carth becomes your obligatory romance option (instead of Bastila), and so you get some really funny (albeit flirtatious) dialogue. There's even some spanking at one point. But because Scarface has a certain part that chicks don't, we're stuck with a whiny, paranoid control freak. Lucky us.



It is tempting, but we're going with option number one.

No. No, I don't have a problem with it, really. Go ahead and interrogate me.

Excellent. Soon all your secrets will be mine!

Couldn't resist it.

All my secrets are purely of 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.



Fair enough.

Like you said when we first met: Bastila didn't have time to use her powers.

True. Bastila is as powerful as they say... she's the one who defeated Darth Revan, after all.

That's not foreshadowing anything.

Hmm. I guess that no Jedi ability, no matter how powerful, makes up for being completely surprised and outmatched.



Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've seen first-hand how sucky Republic forces are. See, he's not all that crazy.

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?

He has a point there, too. Who is our mysterious hero? Does anybody know?



Meh, not this crap again. We get it, we get it, our PC is a shifty-eyed son of a murglak. Enough already! That's another one of those class-based thingies, by the way. I think there's only one left; Bastila will interrogate us when she joins our party. Figures, right?

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 is that supposed to mean?



No. Well... maybe.



Don't get me wrong, it just seems odd that someone Bastila's party specifically requested to transfer aboard happened to survive.

It doesn't make any difference. Go ahead and be paranoid.



The Jedi requested numerous things when they came on board... hell, they practically took over the ship, as far as I could tell.

I'm of the opinion that it was Carth's ship, though there are several subtle references to the contrary. Meh, whatever.

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, however. And I *hate* surprises.

What do you mean by surprises?

I mean I have to expect the unexpected. Just to be safe.



Look... it has nothing to do with you, personally. I don't trust anyone, and I have my reasons. And, no, I'm not going to discuss them. So can we just keep our mind on more important things?

You haven't heard the last from me on this.

Scar is getting a bit pissed off, for good reason. Seriously, we've just met this guy, and he's already accused us of conspiring with the Jedi and blowing up his ship. Come on!



We'll talk about it... but later. Right now I just want to get going.

So do I, you paranoid, shifty-eyed, orange-shirted son of a murglak.

Scarface needs a drink in order to induce some permanent memory loss. The crazy janitor said there's a shop by the cantina, so we can stop there along the way.



This looks like the place.



You guessed it--the Generic Black Woman appearance.

You looking to buy some supplies? My shop's the largest one in all of Upper Taris. Best selection on the planet. Whatever you need, I've got. Well, mostly.

Mostly? What do you mean by that?

The Sith confiscated all my heavy weapons. And they impounded all my ships and swoop bikes. But I've still got a real nice selection, if you're interested.

I want to ask you some questions.

Anything I can do to help a potential customer out. What do you want to know?

She's a lot friendlier than most people on Taris. Hell, she's a lot friendlier than most people on Earth, especially store owners. Seriously.



I heard a couple of pods crashed down in the Undercity. I bet the crash sites have already been stripped clean by the Sith though - unless the swoop gangs or Davik's men got there first.

What do you know about Davik?

We do seem to be hearing an awful lot about him. This is another exposition dump, by the way. This one is done a lot better, since it's optional, the dialogue is pretty well written, and the voice actress is very good to boot.

Oh, Davik's a legitimate businessman, if you get my drift: smuggling, slaving, extortion. Uh huh. They say he's a member of the Exchange - you know, the big intergalactic criminal organization.



I have to pay him a protection fee every month, but it's reasonable. And I get most of my inventory through Davik and his suppliers - I'm just smart enough not to ask where it came from, you understand?

Is Davik working with the Sith?



Davik stays out of the way, and the Sith don't bother him. The swoop gangs could learn a thing or two from this tidy little arrangement, instead of always going after each other.

I learned the hard way that once you ask her questions, you lose the opportunity to see her inventory.

I was wondering how you feel about the Sith?

Uh, heh. It's not smart to say bad things about the people in power, if you get my meaning. I just wish the Sith would ease up on the quarantine - they're killing my business! I can't say I like having them here in the Upper City, but it could be worse. And we're still a lot better off than the Lower City, what with those swoop gangs and all.

You have to exit the conversation and then talk to her again. Kind of annoying. Anyway, we don't need to hear about the swoop gangs just yet; someone else will fill us in on them later. For now, let's check out her supplies. I didn't mean for that to sound dirty either.



She's got a few items, but it's mostly stuff we already have. If we run out, we'll come back. The only thing of interest is this little bugger:



We might need that later, depending on which option we take with a certain side quest. So we won't buy anything here just yet either. Let's go get drunk in the cantina instead.



Here's the cantina. It's the first of many. Well, there are...four more. I think it's four, anyway. There's one more on Taris, and one on Tatooine, Manaan, and Korriban. Yeah, four. Anyway, here's an embarrassing story: The first time I played, I tried to use Security on the door to the cantina. When it failed, I walked away in shame until I figured out that the door isn't actually locked.



Nice place. There are lots of weirdos here.



Case in point. She does seem like my kind of girl, though. I'm a pazaak geek, in case you don't know. I actually made a deck at one point, but I seem to have misplaced it.

And of course she's Generic White Woman, one of several in the cantina alone.



Here's Generic Black Woman again, with Generic White Guy. We're going to be seeing a lot of him. Seriously, it's the most used appearance in both games.

Who cares? It's Duncan and Gerlon fighting. It's not like we're going to miss anything good.

Shh! They're about to start, so quit complaining and just watch the view screen!



There's a zoom-in effect here that I can't quite capture in a screenshot.



This scene is wonderfully scripted. I think I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.









Uh-oh.



That's not good.



Ouch.



Well, that was quick, wasn't it? So I give you the winner... Gerlon Two-Fingers!

Nice match. Let's mingle for a bit.







Surely you understand what I'm talking about. I'd guess you've experienced many lonely evenings... something I'm hoping to avoid tonight.

Right, I think I follow. This guy's looking to get some...questions answered.

(Actually, he's looking for some dumb chick to give him money for a "backstage pass" to meet with the band. He'll only talk to you if your PC is female, in which case you can tell him to buzz off or be an idiot and give him money. Either way, he runs off, and one of his former marks comes in looking for him. Dumb schutta. She'll tell the player what's up if they were stupid enough to give the guy money. It's little things like this that makes playing as a female PC worthwhile, you know. It's also little things like this that make Taris so great.)

Anyway, back to mingling.



I like, I like. And as Scorchy once said, we can check the Bith band and Twi'lek dancers off of our list of obligatory Star Wars clichés. That's #873, I believe. And it's something to drink to. I think the bar's in this side room...



Seriously, what's wrong with the way I dress?!

Order? I have no clue what you're talking about.



Er, right. "Careful, don't call her a brat!" doesn't really help in this case, Carth.

Why is the help here so incompetent? One word from Daddy and I could get you fired!



How dare you speak to me like that! Daddy's going to hear about this!



She runs off. Ok then. I think I've had enough insults for one day. We're outta here.



Hey, wait a minute. I don't remember seeing him when we came in. And if that surname sounds familiar, it does for good reason; good old George once planned to call a certain character "Luke Starkiller" back in the day. Since then, the name has made cameos in a whole bunch of Star Wars works, including the upcoming game The Force Unleashed. But I'm not going to rant about that game today; we're sticking to K1 here.



What, you don't recognize me?

Er, you're wearing a full-body suit of armor. How the hell am I supposed to recognize you?

I'm Bendak Starkiller, the most famous blaster-slinger on Taris. Over 100 duels without a loss - every one of them a death match!

How come you don't hang around with the other duelists?

I'm retired now. Once death matches became illegal I just got bored with the game. I've got no interest in using stun blasters! There was nobody left to challenge me, anyway.



I want to ask you some questions.



I'll be going now.



Isn't he cheery? Someone should smack him around a bit...and maybe later, someone will.

There's still one guy I want to talk to. You might recognize him.



Just fifty credits and I'll sell you all my cards. I'll even throw in a free lesson to boot. It's a great deal, if you can afford it.

Sure, I'll buy your deck.

Trust me; it'll be worth it.

Glad to see you're interested in the grand old game. The rules are pretty simple. Here: I'll load them up into your datapad so you can check them out anytime you want.

That takes care of one of Taris' twelve side quest, actually. We finished the Rapid Transit System already, so that leaves ten real ones. Hey, it's like Hercules' "twelve" labors. Or Heracles, rather. Damn, now I'm just getting geeky. Anyway, moving on...

Good luck: I hope the game's as good to you as it was to me. Now, is there anything else I can do for you?

I'd like a Pazaak lesson.



Well, here we go. Basically, pazaak is the Star Wars version of blackjack (or 21, if you call it that). There's also a Star Wars poker called sabacc (though it's very blackjack-like as well), which, as all Star Wars geeks know, is how Han got Lando's ship. It's also how Lando won Cloud City. Anyway, the goal is to reach 20 instead of 21, and we have some special cards to help us out. Right now our cards suck, which is why we won't be playing for credits just yet. Anyway, we pick ten, and then are randomly given four out of those ten when we start playing. We only get four per match, so we have to spend them wisely. Each match consists of several hands; the first to win three hands wins the match.



The tutorial is annoying, but effective. In the first round our opponent hits 20, but we're able to play a side deck card in order to tie.



In the second hand we get a natural 20, and our opponent busts.



Come the third, it's our turn to bust.



This time we strategically play a side deck card, winning our second round.



...but it doesn't work so well this time. So it all comes down to the final round...



We get ridiculously lucky, winning our third hand. And that means we win the practice match! Yay!

We'll be having more fun with pazaak later. That red-headed fellow next to the pazaak groupie is a player, and we'll be whooping his professional butt in due time. All in all, pazaak is a fun game, and it's a nice little addition.

But aren't we supposed to be finding Bastila instead of playing a hand of pazaak? Kebla said that most of the escape pods crashed in the Undercity, so that's where we're headed. Trouble is, we're going to need some sort of disguise in order to get into the Lower City, since (in case you weren't paying attention) the Sith are guarding this place like a fortress. Seriously, they're even staking out the cantina. So what should we do? Shall we try sweet-talking some off-duty Sith in the cantina? You decide!

Taris - It's the Shith!

I really have to keep it short on these updates; I've gone over the limit twice now and have had to do some trimming. Anyway, we last left our two heroes at a bar where, after a long day of searching for some British schutta who'd gotten their ship blown up, they decided to stop for a drink. Most of the clientèle were not very friendly at all, and so the dauntless duo were about to leave when...



Something struck their eyes. Struck some body part, at least.

...

What, too dirty? Meh, whatever. Let's see what she has to say.



You're from the military base? You don't look like one of the Sith.

I'm off duty right now, so I'm not in uniform. My name is Sarna - junior officer first class with the Sith occupation force.

I'm not exactly sure what a "junior officer first class" is, but meh.



I'm actually a little surprised you're talking to me at all... most of the people here on Taris can't stand us Sith. It can make this a pretty lonely job.

Again, this is where Persuade comes in handy. If we didn't put enough points into it, we'd have to either take our chances wandering the streets, or...well, let me finish up this conversation before I get into the cut content.

[Persuade] You're just doing your job, right? I don't hold that against you.

[Success] That's true, but people don't appreciate what we've done for them. We could have slapped a curfew on this whole planet, but we didn't. You know, it's like everyone on this backwater planet is in a permanent bad mood. Don't they know we have to make the best of things?

You've got a pretty positive attitude.

One of the benefits of putting points into Persuade is the ability to blatantly lie to people without getting caught. Or maybe it's a combination of hormones and hypocrisy.

Exactly! It's all about attitude. I didn't ask to be assigned to this backwater planet, but I try to make the best of it! It's pretty easy to get depressed on an assignment like this, but we do what we can to keep our spirits up.

It must be tough, being stationed on a hostile world.

That's true. It's nice to meet someone who understands what I'm going through. It's good to talk about this stuff - it gets pretty lonely up at the military base.

How lonely we talkin'? "I just need a good friend to talk to" lonely, or "hold me close and keep me warm" lonely?

I have to get going soon - I've got a shift at the military base. But some of us junior Sith officers are having a party tonight to blow off some steam. I'd really like to see you again.

Would you now?

Why don't you drop by the party? I'll show you where it is on your map.

Sounds good. I'll be there.





And she runs off.



She must have one of them teleporter thingies.

Oh wait, I was going to explain some cut content, wasn't I? Right. There's another Sith officer in the cantina, Yun Genda. He's a dude, and Scar's a dude, which means you can't flirt with him. He just shuts up after a while. Sarna does the same thing if your PC is female. Only that's not supposed to happen; you're supposed to be able to give them two hundred credits as a bribe in order to get them to invite you to the party so you can steal their uniform. But due to a scripting error it never shows up. But the story isn't over there. At one point you were able to give them two thousand credits in exchange for a keycard that will get you into the Sith base. There you'd eventually come across a uniform to steal, and you'd be able to steal the launch codes you'll need to escape the planet.

My guess is the developers thought that breaking into the Sith base this soon would distract the player from the Bastila quest. Yes, it makes the planet more linear, but it also works better for the story; remember that it's our mission to go find Bastila, not escape Taris. That comes later.



All right, we're done with the cantina now. There's a whole 'nother area of Upper City Taris we have to explore.



Uh-oh, what's this?



Well, they're a bunch of pushovers, so no harm done. Wait a minute, Gana Lavin...she's that schutta we insulted in the cantina last update. Except that's totally not her. The one we talked to was a blonde. Also, she was supposed to say something like "These thugs are going to teach you some manners!", except the two Rodians get aggressive too soon, so the voiceover never plays. The most you get is a flash of text that disappears too fast to read. Yes, K1 has a lot of errors, bugs, and glitches, but for the most part they go unnoticed because they aren't nearly as severe as K2's.

But back to the game.



Gana runs off, so let's follow her.



Blast, she's got a teleporter too.



Oh well, let's head off.



What's going on over here?

Davik doesn't like you missing payments!

I'm too lazy to make an Aqualish emoticon at the moment.

Here - I've got fifty credits! A down payment. That should buy me some time, right?

Sorry, you're out of time. Now it's all or nothing. Davik can't have people not paying his debts!



That's too bad. Davik's going to want to make an example of you! You're coming with us.

No - help! Somebody help! They're going to kill me!



I'm over here, Carth. Hello?

Hold on a second. Looks like we got ourselves a witness here!

Davik doesn't like witnesses.

Great, now look what you've done.

I don't like your attitude. I better teach you a lesson.

This really was the least idiotic of the options, I swear. Well, the third one wasn't that bad, but you end up getting the man killed.



I forgot to take screenshots of the fight, but you know how it goes. Funny thing was that one of the Sith patrolling the area got too close and started helping Scar and Carth gun down the two thugs.



Should have listened to the lady. It's just like Mr Carlin said:

"If a man speaks in the forest and there is no woman there to hear it, is he still wrong?"



We're not going to waste time giving him all our credits--what would be the point of that?--but we're not going to kill him either, if he only has fifty credits on him. Carth might whine about that. And that's also the most idiotic line in the game, as far as I can recall.

I'm getting out of here before any more of Davik's goons show up. You should do the same.



He's got a teleporter too. If he can afford one of those, maybe he's got more credits than he's letting on. You know what that means...



RELOAD TIME!





Yeah, fifty credits. Oh well, it was worth a shot. Again, he runs off and teleports away at the last minute. Why didn't you do that earlier when the two thugs were hounding your for credits, you bleedin' idiot? We even provided a distraction! Whatever, time to reload again and let him go, so we get rid of those unwanted DS points.



Also, we want to steal all the credits off those two thugs. They've been pounding on people all day, so they have a bit of cash on them, fifty credits each.



Now, let's check out that other area.



Great, drunks. I hate drunks. They're always babbling about their feelings.

Shouldn't you go back to the Lower Cities where you belong, shlummie?

Well, this is rich.

Carth actually speaks up for the first time this entire update. Oh wait, he spoke up during the last encounter, but he didn't have the chutzpah to face me, guess I forgot.

Yeah, like he said, these shtreets are for the Upper City citizens! You better get out of our way if you know what's good for you!



[Success] A drink? Hey - for a shlummie you ain't so bad! Come on boys - this shlummie's buying the next round!

If we failed the Persuade, they'd attack us for some reason. They're drunks, after all. They're not supposed to make any sense.

No way! Forget it! No more drinksh! We're late enough as it is.



Don't worry; we'll be seeing them again later.



I wonder what this guy is raving about.



My name is Gorton Colu. Will you join my cause? We must band together if we are to stop the spread of vermin and scum throughout Taris!

Taris is a lot like Earth. Drunks roaming the streets, bullies beating on people, crazy old guys ranting about the end of the world, no one ever makes eye contact.

Are you refering to the Sith?



That is why I, Gorton Colu, have formed the Anti-Alien League. The time has come for action! We cannot sit idly by while aliens blight our glorious planet!



Remain true to the cause, friend. Enlightened humans such as yourself are few and far between - but we shall triumph when the day of reckoning comes!

We'll just leave the crazy old guy to his rantings. No need to start another fight. Now, there's just one area left to explore before we head to that party.



This is the elevator we need to use in order to get to the Lower City. Bastila's escape pod crashed in the Undercity, even lower. However, the Sith are looking for Bastila as well. They've quarantined the planet and set up guards at each elevator, so that no one will be able to get anywhere until they find Bastila.

It's obvious from the way you're dressed that you're not one of the Sith patrols, so unless you have the authorization papers you must move along!

Oh, I'm too lazy to make a Sith emoticon too.

Where can I get authorization papers?



I'll be going now.

Move along then.

*whispers* We're going to need some kind of disguise if we want to get past this guy.

He's right, you know. One of those Sith uniforms would work, and we've been invited to a Sith party. Hmm...



Whoops, wrong door. This is Largo, a guy with a bounty on his head, which would explain all the shifty-eyedness. Hey, Firefox just accepted that as a word, and here I was thinking I was making stuff up again.

What are you babbling about?

He said it, not me. Also, why is this guy afraid of us? He's got a freakin' blaster pistol, come on.

You mean you're not here to kill me? But... I thought you were one of Davik's bounty hunters. If you're not here to kill me, what do you want?

I'm just looking around.



Oh, but Scar's is so much bigger.

...

His blaster, I mean.

Now, let's steal Largo's stuff while he's too scared to do anything about it.



Jackpot.



Ah, this looks like the place.

But before we start the party, allow me to explain some more cut content. As I mentioned in the last update, our choice is to sweet talk Sarna/Yun in the cantina, or take our chances looking for some patrol to gun down. I'm glad that you all voted for the former, since the latter is kind of dull, and you're never told where the patrol is, or that there even is one, so you end up wandering around Taris for a while. But I digress.

If we hadn't talked to Sarna, this apartment here would be empty, and the one next door would contain an alien being interrogated by some Sith who suspect the alien stole some uniforms from the base. The conversation eventually leads to a shoot-out, no matter what you say, and you're able to grab a uniform off their corpses. Ick. Anyway, at one point in development, you didn't have to choose between Sarna/Yun and the shootout. If you got a uniform from the dead Sith, you could wear it to the party and get some remarks about how you should change. And on the other end, if you broke into the Sith base, you could show up at the interrogation in uniform and inform the officers of the deed. Observe:

Hey, we don't need any reinforcements. All we're doing is searching for some missing Sith uniforms.

I know... I'm the one who stole them!

What??? Traitors! Spies! Attack!

A shame it was cut. Well, the dialogue itself wasn't cut, but you can't get it without cheating or using mods. Anyway, back to the real game.



You have to try this Tarisian ale - it's fantastic! We should have conquered this planet ages ago!



That's Yun, the guy I mentioned earlier.

Who cares? We're not on duty tomorrow - let's live a little! Come on - drink up!



The classic fade to black...



Everyone was so drunk that they blacked out. Let's steal all their stuff before they wake up.



This is exactly what we need. Let's check it out.



Stats are pretty decent. Only a +2 to defense, but no Dexterity limit--well, the limit is higher than we can get at the moment. Only problem is that we lose our only uniform in a bit. Well, unless we cheat. But for now, let's try this baby on for size.



Everyone will recognize us as Sith from now on. It makes stealing their stuff ten times easier!







How many additional dialogues did the devs bother to write up?







The drunks!

Careful... don't do anything shtupid! [hic] We don't want no trouble with the Shith. [hic]



Shall we head to the elevator now? Of course not! Let's randomly wander around talking to people to activate all these hidden dialogues. First stop: Zelka's clinic!



Little rat.



Hey, whadayaknow, he closed the door finally. Of course, we can open the door and he doesn't say anything.



I want to ask you some questions.

Questions? Oh, I... I don't know anything. Nothing you Sith would find interesting, anyway. I'm just a simple shopkeeper.

I'll be going now.



Wow, there can't be any more...can there?





Then you shouldn't be in full uniform! If you're off duty go change your outfit. If not, get back to your patrol route!

Killjoy. We can't enter the cantina while in uniform, and we can't put the thing on once we get inside. Two to one odds the devs did this so they wouldn't have to add new dialogues for everyone in the cantina.

Also, at one point you weren't able to just change out of your uniform in front of everyone. You would need to return to the apartment to change. The devs, in their infinite wisdom, realized this was way too annoying, and so they cut it.

Yeah, Taris has a bunch of cut stuff. A lot of players think only Sleheyron and some stuff on Dantooine were cut; they have no idea.



Oh, but it's not over yet! This is the droid shop of the area. I'm only mentioning this because we didn't visit earlier, and we will be visiting again later.

I want to ask you some questions.

Questions? But... I don't know anything. If I did, I'd tell you right away. I've got no secrets from the Sith.

Let me see what you have for sale.





Here's her inventory. We don't have any droid party members yet, so everything's worthless. She does have an infinite number of parts and computer spikes in stock, but we don't really need them yet, and you should never pay for spikes in this game--never.

She also sells some droids.



That doesn't sound good at all. But enough screwing around. It's time to say goodbye to the bright, cheery Upper City, and hello to the slums. Let's go back to that elevator we saw earlier.



You better watch yourself: those gangs will take a shot at anyone - even us! It's too bad we don't have the manpower to just sweep those slums clean.



And that's it. We just completed our first official main quest. Congratulations! Well, the first stage of the quest, at least. The quests in this game aren't outlined very well (to be fair they aren't in K2 either)--kind of a mess. Our main quest right now is "The Search for Bastila", and there are several stages, the first of which is finding a Sith uniform.

There's no choice for this update, but there'll be three next time. Remember Dia and Largo? They both have bounties on their heads, and we'll be able to decide what to do about that. There's also another guy with a bounty, Matrik, who we'll meet in the Lower City next update. So keep that in mind, folks!

Taris - Scarface Jackson: Bounty Hunter (Part 1)



Ah, Taris. It's lovely in the summertime. Welcome to the Lower City, everyone. Right now we're miles below the streets of the Upper City. Yes, we're in the slums. Our first visit and we get the slums. Well, actually the area we just left was supposed to be low-income. Lots of illegal aliens and the like. I dunno... the game is very nonspecific when it comes to geography. The devs didn't really make any great effort to make the planets seem like... well, like planets instead of small cities. With Taris it isn't too noticeable, but it becomes really bad later on.

Anyway, brief update: some dumb schutta is down here, and we're supposed to find her. Because she's powerful or something. Rumor has it her escape pod crashed into the Undercity - that's the area below the Lower City. Whether it's on the surface of Taris or actually underground is debatable. I say it's a bit of both.

The Lower City is ruled by street toughs - picture West Side Story only with aliens, and bigger buildings. And less dancing.



Speaking of dancing... er, I mean speaking of gangs, here are some of the supposedly tough gangsters. There are two major gangs here: the Black Vulkars, and the Hidden Beks. Yes, that's right - only two gangs on an entire planet. See what I mean?

They fight for a bit... the dialogue isn't very Shakespearean so I'll just show you some pretty pictures.



This is our first hint at the underlying theme of KotOR: er... what is it? Does anybody know? Well, it's not really a theme so much as a motif... anyway, I'm rambling. Throughout the game we'll see two major factions: the ordinary citizens, and those that are stronger than the common folk. The good guys try to help the helpless, while the other group believes the weak should serve the strong, and the old should die so the new can live. It's not the most profound of ideas, and since there's no message, technically it's not a theme. Allow me to elaborate...

Themes are recurring thoughts, ideas, motifs, etc in a work that help deliver the work's message/moral. Usually something is revealed to the protagonist - that's the main character or hero - during the final act, or something they suspected is confirmed. (Although in contrast, the message can be something the protagonist fails to discover or accept. In such stories, the theme is usually "some people never learn".) Here are a few examples I'm sure you're familiar with:

In Star Wars (AKA A New Hope), Obi-wan helps show Luke that anyone can be a hero if he stands up for what he believes in.

In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke ignores Obi-wan and Yoda's warnings about how he isn't ready to face the challenges that lie ahead, and so Luke ends up with his hand chopped off, his friend frozen and sold to a giant slug, his other friends tortured, one of his pet droids dismembered (again), and even all that is nothing compared to the emotional trauma he suffers after discovering his father is the source of all evil. The lesson? Stay in school. Well, there's also a bit about how there is darkness within us all.

Finally, in Return of the Jedi, Luke helps bring his father back to the light side of the Force, and in turn showing that it's never too late for redemption. And does he do this by hitting Vader with a lightsaber until he gives in? No, quite the opposite. He surrenders and submits to punishment. Even the epitome of evil, Vader, cannot stand to watch his son suffer, and so in one last redeeming act he kills the Emperor and brings balance to the Force, whatever that means.

Now, back to KotOR. What's the theme? Well, we haven't finished the game yet, so we're not supposed to know. But I'll let you in on a little secret: there isn't one.

!

That's right, folks. Instead we're presented with what could be part of a theme. We have the struggle between strong and weak, old and new, good and evil. But the struggle itself is not a theme. The outcome - and the message that is delivered through the outcome - makes the theme. And as we'll see later, the outcome is determined by the player's spontaneous whim. That's not what a theme is. It just isn't.

But anyway, as I was saying, we're presented with the Black Vulkars and the Hidden Beks. They're both gangs, only one is benevolent while the other... not so much. The Vulkars happen to be bigger and stronger, so they think they have the right to push people around. They will continue fighting forever, because... well, never mind that. The important thing is that you get to decide which side wins. Not the story, you. This is where the line between story and video game is breached.

The conflict is not there to carry out the story; it's there to make the game longer and less boring (the latter is debatable). If you side with the Beks, they don't win because they're right or because the story says they're right or because that's the way the world is, or any of that good stuff. They win because the player says they win. Same goes with the Vulkars. Is the player an all-powerful demigod? Even that could be tied to a theme, as it is with K2 in some respect. Except it isn't here. This is my one major complaint about K1. It's this fatal flaw that I just can't accept... everything else I can bear, but this...

Well, anyway. Pay attention to that weak vs strong motif, and more importantly notice that every time it comes up, it doesn't help the story one bit. It just serves to preserve the charade, to give the player the illusion that there is actually a story going on.

The game is a hell of a lot of fun, but it is by no means an epic story. Still, it's enjoyable for what it is... until the replay value diminishes.

Back to the game.



Useless fact #2: If you take off the Sith armor before triggering this cutscene, he'll say "More strangers" instead of "Sith aren't welcome here either". Anyway, they attack us. Typical.



Before we start fighting, let's slip into something more... well, less sucky. As I said last time, only +2 to Defense. Our combat suit has +4.



Carth can handle a couple of hits - he has more VP. He probably has a higher Defense than us anyway, since he's a Soldier. I forget how it works in K1, but I think Soldiers start with a higher Defense, or they get a bonus more often... or something. In short, our class sucks at fighting. For now. As I've said, the class system in K1 (and in K2 as well, to be fair), sucks. The main problem lies in one issue: this is not a Star Wars game. Oh, it might have the words "star" and "wars" on the cover, and it does have Jedi, Sith, a Republic, blasters, lightsabers, hyperspace, and the lot, but remember that this is a BioWare game first, and a Star Wars game second. And in that respect, this is more of a Neverwinter Nights game than a Star Wars game - after all, the Aurora engine, the engine which K1's Odyssey was developed from, is from NWN. Wow, I really think I could have worded that sentence better. Anyway, BioWare basically took NWN and gave it a Star Wars twist. Go read the plot summary and you'll see.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights

Well, go ahead, I can wait. Just replace "Aribeth" with "Bastila", "Morag" with Malak", and "Source Stone" with "Star Forge", and you get K1.

Anyway, this conversion applies not only to the story, but also to the game mechanics. What makes sense in the NWN universe doesn't necessarily make sense in Star Wars. Oh, hell, no it most certainly does not. Instead of changing their system to fit the Star Wars universe, BioWare decided to change the Star Wars universe in order to fit their system. It's like trying to shove a square peg into a round hole. Or more rater, trying to shove a square universe into a... you get the point. You can really see the crux of the problem when you look at the skills and attributes. I typed out a long rant about this which I'll post as an addendum at some point.

Well, the battle's over by now. Don't worry, you're not missing anything exciting.

As with many RPGs, the best place to go to for information in KOTOR is the nearest bar - or in Star Wars terms, the cantina. Taris has two of them; we've already visited the Upper City one. Javyar's Cantina isn't that far from here, so let's head there.



Ah, here we are. Notice this door appears to be locked as well - it's to prevent you from going in while wearing your Sith armor. But like the other cantina it's not actually locked. In we go.



I wonder why.

:: But nobody up there carries the kinds of Pazaak cards I sell. Are you interested in purchasing some individual cards to bolster your Pazaak deck?

:: What are you talking about?

:: I'm talking about Pazaak. You know - high stakes gambling. Each player brings their own deck to a Pazaak match, and the better your cards are the better your chances of winning. My name is Uriah. Everybody knows I'm the man to see if you want to add some cards to your Pazaak deck. My prices are quite reasonable. So, what do you say? Are you interested in buying some of my Pazaak cards to augment your own deck?

Eh? Pazaak cards? Ooo, goody.

:: Show me what you have for sale.

:: I haven't been able to restock my inventory since the Sith quarantine started. But I've still got a pretty good selection.

That's everyone's excuse for having crappy items.



We don't have enough credits, but we'll be coming back to this guy later. Pazaak is a quick way to get cash, but our cards suck right now. First we need to find some side quests that give us money for free.



:: Why were you banned?

A simple misunderstanding. Some of the other Pazaak players don't understand the finer points of the game. So what if I won fifteen matches in a row? That doesn't mean I cheat! There's no justice. My lucky Pazaak deck was confiscated and I was banned from the Upper Cantina! Since then I've been desperate to find a match.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Needless to say, this guy cheats. Well, more than the computer usually does. Yeah, we're not playing him. Maybe later we can conduct some experiments to see just how much he cheats; it's actually possile to beat him, and he never gives up. We shall see.



So, let's head to the bar. Oh, what's going on here?

Go away.



*still working on it*