Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - action adventure from Respawn Entertainment

[PrettyDeadman]

Force unleashed was kind of shit from what I recall, but the force powers where you could throw stuff and people around were cool.

 

[Pablosdog]

Force unleashed had a stupid edgelord author insert character who somehow could defeat the emperor/Darth Vader at the same time.



As much as I liked some parts of the Eu(mainly Thrawn/Kotor 2/Golden Age of the Jedi) there was some stupid fucking shit in it. Still better than NU-Wars

 

[DalekFlay]

They really should have adapted the Thrawn trilogy for the three new flicks. Either recast or alter the story to make the characters older. I'm sure they thought they could do much better than some random batch of novels though, because Hollywood types are arrogant like that.

 

[Zibniyat]

Finished it yesterday. A good game, from 1-10 I would give it a solid 8; for reference: 1 (not recommended to even bother to check it out) to 10 (Star Wars KOTOR II non-patched). The encounter with *redacted* was particularly impressive, as he was portrayed as some sort of nearly-unstoppable force able to control material reality around him with ease, and the only way to "fight" him was to actually run away from him. I played on the Jedi Master difficulty, which is the second-highest available one.

I will not write a review or a summary, instead I will just say something about the exploration.

Individual locations, when first explored, are very linear; there are no alternative paths to get to a particular location and instead there is only a single, predefined path for the player to follow. The non-linear aspect comes into play later on, since not all areas of any particular location are accessible in the beginning, and instead rely on your return to them with new abilities (double-jump, Force pull etc.). When repeatedly visiting the same locations, shortcuts and alternative paths unlocked previously come in very handy, to save the player his time and effort in traversing them. The motivation to return to them is mostly for what the game calls "Secrets", which give you either additional "stim canister" (health-restoring packs) or increase your Force/Health meters. The maximum number of "stim canisters" is 10. I don't quite remember and I don't feel like checking right now, but I think there are about 30 "Secrets" all in all (the planet Zeffo has the greatest number - 14). For those much more invested into exploration, there are also 1. "Echoes" (places where something in the past happened, but which the player character is able to "read") which give you additional experience and thus allow you to progress further to acquire "Skill points" which the player then spends upgrading existing skills or obtaining new ones, 2. as well as cosmetic upgrades to his Lightsaber, outfit, BD-01 (the robot) and Mantis (the ship); however, most of these "Echoes" are easily obtainable on the first run, few require additional abilities to access to.

These cosmetic upgrades are located in chests littered over the locations, and I must say that - aside from precisely that cosmetic aspect - there is little worth in them; some of them even look plain ugly (almost all ponchos for example), and I feel that these chests were placed just so the developers could say there is "something" in the game world the player is able to interact with, beside an occasional secret, "Echoes" and enemies. At first, since I did not follow the development of this game at all, nor have acquainted myself with any information regarding it, when I first obtained a cosmetic upgrade, I spent a few moments searching the UI for information on "what does this upgrade do?", only to be disappointed that it does not do anything in fact, except for changing the look of something. This is aggravated furthermore by the fact how some of those cosmetic upgrades imply functional upgrades too - for example, you have "Duty and Resolve" and "Duty and Resolve II" as upgrades for the sleeve of the Lightsaber, and whilst I don't know how a sleeve could be functionally upgraded it still leaves a bad impression. The conclusion is that the player can freely leave aside chests and not bother with them, unless they simply enjoy the challenge of getting to them and obtaining them all (which is fine in my book). But objectively speaking - it brings nothing new for the player in terms of mechanics and function.

Art direction of the locations is very good; I particularly liked exploring the three tombs of the Zeffo sages. What is a particularly nice "touch" so to speak is how different tombs indicate and "speak of" different eras of the Zeffo civilisation, and starting from the oldest and thus the first tomb: the first one glorifies the Force, the second one glorifies power and achievements of the Zeffo civilisation, partly based on manipulation of the Force (notice the fall here: from being focused on transcendent and immaterial to being obsessed with the material, complete with hedonism and vanity; this is actually both subtly and directly spoken of within the game), and the last one glorifies a particular individual, the last of the Zeffo sages who was also a tyrant. In "terms" of the Force, this progression is like: the Force itself, then the Force corrupted with carnal desires, then deformed Force (the Dark Side). Liked this a lot, and it might show the influence of Chris Avellone on writing and world-building, which I consider good of course. All these tombs also show different styles, but still similar enough for one to be able to say they belong to the same civilisation, just in different eras of its "life" (or decadence and fall, if you prefer).

Well I think this is it for now.

 

[Zibniyat]

On top of it, there are no weapons other than the light saber and force powers are limited, so it doesn't have the variety that Jedi Academy had.

Within the game world as presented, these criticisms are not valid. As for weapon variety, we are basically talking about a very young individual, possibly even a teenagers still, who has spent a majority of his life from childhood up to the moment the story starts - in hiding. The Empire is present everywhere, Jedi are hunted down, and we have a kid trying to survive in an unforgiving Galaxy; expecting him to be able to wield just about any weapon with ease is not justified. In Jedi Academy, the Padawans went to particular missions, where they gradually honed their skills both with a Lightsaber and with other weapons. There was no such opportunity for the kid here; he barely escaped death when he was still a preteen.

Similarly, the number of Force powers (Force push, Force pull, Force stop/speed, double-jump) is in line with the main character - a Padawan. In Jedi Academy, one is ultimately able to wield other powers and stronger ones at that because one gets to be a true Jedi Knight; in Jedi Fallen Order, the main character is never truly a Jedi Knight, only symbolically so at a certain point in the story. Notice also how Jedi Academy limits one to either the "Light Side" or the "Dark Side" at some point, when it comes to choosing which Force powers to acquire, whilst in Jedi Outcast one could become essentially a Jedi Master, able to wield all powers equally and without any penalties.

I will use an example of Force pull in Jedi Academy vs this game, to examine the practical-material functionality of the Force:

- able to pull individual enemies towards oneself - both games;
- able to pull groups of enemies towards oneself - both games;
- able to pull weapons out of enemies' hands - only Jedi Academy;
- able to pull hanging ropes/vines/etc. to traverse locations - only Fallen Order;
- able to use Force pull to move objects around in order to move forward: both games;
- able to use Force pull to move miscellaneous objects around: only Jedi Academy.

I agree that Jedi Academy is superior in its usage of Force pull, but this game still does a good job and with some new mechanics (pulling ropes in order to grab them and then traverse by swinging).

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Shame that you can't fall to the dark side in this game.

 

[J1M]

Shame that you can't fall to the dark side in this game.

In this game the dark side is only for ladies with non-white skin.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Shame that you can't fall to the dark side in this game.

In this game the dark side is only for ladies with non-white skin.

Well, female (& negroid) hysteria does fit the brutish Sith archetype... :^)

 

[Grampy_Bone]

In this game the dark side is only for ladies with non-white skin.

Are there even any white women in this game? I almost barf every time the bug-eyed black chick is onscreen.

 

[J1M]

In this game the dark side is only for ladies with non-white skin.

Are there even any white women in this game? I almost barf every time the bug-eyed black chick is onscreen.

There's a female of darth maul's race wearing white face paint.

 

[vonAchdorf]

In this game the dark side is only for ladies with non-white skin.

Are there even any white women in this game? I almost barf every time the bug-eyed black chick is onscreen.

There's a female of darth maul's race wearing white face paint.

The actress is cute too.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

darth maul's race

Zabrak.
…The same race as Bao-Dur.

 

[DalekFlay]

The actress is cute too.

Character is probably the best one in the game. Some good dialogue, cool look and backstory, good actress, kind of sexy in that polygonal way.

 

[JDR13]

Finished it yesterday. A good game, from 1-10 I would give it a solid 8; for reference: 1 (not recommended to even bother to check it out) to 10 (Star Wars KOTOR II non-patched). The encounter with ****** was particularly impressive, as he was portrayed as some sort of nearly-unstoppable force able to control material reality around him with ease, and the only way to "fight" him was to actually run away from him. I played on the Jedi Master difficulty, which is the second-highest available one.

First of all, use spoiler tags if you're going to drop spoilers. Second, you serious think KotOR II is a 10/10?

 

[DalekFlay]

Second, you serious think KotOR II is a 10/10?

 

[Tehdagah]

Spoiler

The idea of Vader being an unstoppable superpowerful being was something created by fandom, because in the movies he was a fucked-up frankenstein

 

[Zibniyat]

First of all, use spoiler tags if you're going to drop spoilers. Second, you serious think KotOR II is a 10/10?

Sorry, you are right.

Yes, I do think it is 10/10.

 

[Pound Meat]

In this game the dark side is only for ladies with non-white skin.

Are there even any white women in this game? I almost barf every time the bug-eyed black chick is onscreen.

There's a female of darth maul's race wearing white face paint.

The actress is cute too.

Looks like softly galoshes.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Spoiler

The idea of Vader being an unstoppable superpowerful being was something created by fandom, because in the movies he was a fucked-up frankenstein

Literally what?
At the age of 19 — while still a padawan — he dueled Count Dooku six times. The first was a loss(but held up for quite a while), followed by four stalemates(each increasingly worse for Dooku), followed by Anakin beating Dooku.
Count Dooku was considered to be one of the best lightsaber duelists in existence. He was on par with Yoda, and along with Yoda is the only other person to be known to have best Windu while sparring.
The only reason Kenobi beat Anakin was because of Anakin's arrogance combined with Kenobi being the master of the soresu form(a highly defensive fighting style) which allowed him to stall long enough for Anakin to make mistakes. No other Jedi would have been capable of beating him, none.

None of this is even touching EU stuff.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

First of all, use spoiler tags if you're going to drop spoilers. Second, you serious think KotOR II is a 10/10?

Sorry, you are right.

Yes, I do think it is 10/10.

Terrible combat, and combat is a major part of RPGs.
I dislike the idea of overlooking a massive part of the genre to award games a perfect score, as if the combat(or story or whatever) should exist just to further the game along.

 

[Zibniyat]

I am not here to discuss definitions or what constitutes "a major part" of some genre or whatever.

As a whole, and despite its flaws, KOTOR II is a great game, 10/10. Its combat may be bad, but the quality of its characters, the plot, the breadth and depth of even philosophical and ethical themes it touches upon so much compensate for its flaws that giving it anything less than a 10/10 would be an injustice.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I am not here to discuss definitions or what constitutes "a major part" of some genre or whatever.

As a whole, and despite its flaws, KOTOR II is a great game, 10/10. Its combat may be bad, but the quality of its characters, the plot, the breadth and depth of even philosophical and ethical themes it touches upon so much compensate for its flaws that giving it anything less than a 10/10 would be an injustice.

10/10 means it has no flaws, this isn't IGN

 

[baud]

Star Wars KOTOR II non-patched

You didn't play with the the restored content patch? Why not?

 

[Zibniyat]

Not a single piece of art or entertainment, in fact not a single piece of anything that man makes, is flawless.

10/10 means not that it is flawless, but that it is in its own category of good. There is no 10/10 game if we are to go with the idea of flawlessness, and even if I would accept your definition then 9/10 is still good enough and there with the best of games.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Not a single piece of art or entertainment, in fact not a single piece of anything that man makes, is flawless.

ADOM is flawless