f13.net

So with this game, RPing is actually kind of fun. You can actually RP without running around shouting shit in middle english in chat (I know, I know that's not how it's actually done).

Myself and two buddies are all playing Republic. I'm playing a Jedi guardian who is basically a goody two shoes who will hit on any woman he has the option to (giving me more dark side points then you might think. Another friend is playing a tropper who will do anything for the Republic, no matter how evil, and the last is playing a smuggler who only ever looks out for number one.

Let's hear your stories.

I just want to make Blizz happy. Though for Empire, the Nar Shaddaa casino has a large amount of creepy, creepy cybering arepeers.

This the first bioware game I've ever been able to play something other than normal, sensible dude in my conversation choices. I think knowing I'll have a bunch characters is what makes it work.

However, the terrible light/dark alignment system can go fuck itself. The writers clearly had no consistent idea of what light/dark is meant to mean in this game.

I'm playing basically what ends up coming off as a ridiculously idealistic, Mr. Smith-Goes-To-Corusant trooper. Always does the right thing, disobeys orders that go against protocol (i.e. executing innocent people, not disclosing info to the senate/fellow military organizations/etc), always orders enemies to surrender first, and so on. Surprisingly trying to play that stereotype leads to some semi-realistic results where Garza is really fucking annoyed with me but can't really say much since I pretty much annihilate everything she points me at.

Yeah really, there's nothing light side about being slightly less evil than a psychopath. You poison the slaves so they die instantly? Watch out guys we got a Ghandi over here.

With my Commando I actually joined a casual RP guild for the first time since EQ launch.

I'm surprised they took me in since my toon's name is Puppies.

It's really added an interesting dimension to the game.

A few of them are just "would you like to kick the puppy? Y/N" questions out of the blue. I think I got some dark side points in my class quest for doing something sensible and not alignment based at all (basically, asking for more money when no lives were on the line. Which you're allowed to do for no alignment hit at all every fucking quest)

We did Streets the other night, and your light/dark options are: Aim system defense weapons at an unpopulated moon (light), aim them at the Imperial Fleet in orbit (dark). Excuse me, but I just killed like 5,000 imperials for laughs. How is attacking their fucking battleship the path to the Dark Side?

There's really no need to overthink it, is there? (http://www.hulu.com/watch/2318/saturday-night-live-genital-herpes)

I'd imagine it's some vague difference between people who are actively in your way, shooting and stabbing you, and ones who don't, especially when there's technically the whole truce/treaty going.

Personally i'm just disappoint my two-sabre sith didn't get to actually eat her enemies raw after the fight, like she declared she would.

My consular is a nice lady with a hugely overactive sense of empathy, which occassionally leads her to making dark side choices. Most of the time she's in control of her emotions, and she is forgiving to the point where most people think she's goddamn crazy, but once in a while she takes a dark side hit because she tells someone what they need to hear instead of the typical Jedi platitude. She also could not give less of a fuck what her companions think of how she does things, which means Qyzen is not her biggest fan (he isn't into helping the weak, how will they learn to pull themselves up by their space bootstraps if they can keep suckling at the Jedi teat?) and she occassionally takes rep hits from Tharan for being too jedi-y (he doesn't like "mystical jedi nonsense" so whenever she's all blah blah the force guided me, you can HEAR his eyes roll and you get a rep hit, which I find amusing <3 ).

My smuggler wants to strangle Corso. That is her main personality trait. She's mostly greedy (she always at least asks for money unless the quest involves slavery, then it's a 50/50 chance) and will shoot motherfuckers that need shooting as often as not. She'll also keep secrets if she thinks it's better than the shitstorm the truth would cause. So still mostly light side, but she's done a lot more dark side choices than any of my characters. Including my Empire people.

Still figuring my manquisitor out, but he's mostly a nice guy in a shitty situation that is still a billion times better than the shitty situation he came from, so he's pretty willing to do whatever he needs to in order to not go back, but he enjoys being as subversive as he can, just to fuck with everyone.

Obviously it isn't meant to say you're on the light side in an absolute sense, you're just at the 'not completely insane' end of the dark side with choices like that. The light side/dark side stuff is all relative to the side you're already on.

My smuggler is the nicest, most helpful person you've ever paid to save you. Until he's alone with his crew, and then it's pretty much a lot of eye rolling about the dumbasses they keep fleecing. We downvoted the idea of putting space spinners on our ship, because it might make it harder to imply we desperately need a bit more money to save your orphans. Operating expenses, you know.

I mostly <3 my smuggler, but I do believe my primary companion's job in life is to sit in the back of cutscenes where my smuggler is being an idiot and give her smugface "you are an idiot" look.

Ok, maybe with less Baldwin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGOVbXF7Iog

Hey baby, there's a spot in the back of the jedi temple where all the padawans go to-

+50 Dark Side

Damn force cockblocked me again!

My consular has a harem.  :grin:  She totally disapproves of Kayce (Ing's jedi knight) and his making kissy face with his ladyfriend, but she is pretty sure "no attachments" doesn't mean "no lovin'," so she will totally make out with anyone who asks, and then smile politely if they "break up" with her ... as she was not aware there was anything to break up in the first place.

See, the hypocrisy of the so-called Jedi "Masters" knows no bounds!

You're just pissed I'M a master and YOU aren't.  :oh_i_see:

My Sith Juggernaut is an arrogant, racist dick.  His racism stems more from his birthright as a pure blood Sith who is strong in the force - naturally, all other species, including most humans, are inferior.  He is loyal to the Empire, but particularly loyal to his master.  At least, as long as his master stays worthy of loyalty.  He has developed an inexplicable soft spot for Vette.  She is a terrible influence on him.  Not only has he removed her collar, but he has effectively made her a partner.  He occasionally tempers his actions based on how he thinks she might feel - but only on things that don't matter.  If the job at hand is not central to his mission, he will even feign to be interested in the credits, if only to impress her.  In reality, however, everything he does is based on a deep seated desire to prove his strength to himself and others.  When it comes to matters of pleasing his master or serving the Empire, he never compromises, Vette be damned.  Despite her negative influence on him, at heart he is still a cold blooded killing machine who believes himself to be better than everyone around him.  He is a surprisingly fabulous dancer.  He also had sweaty intercourse with Darth Lachris, and he better not find out that anybody else has too!

Also, he hates Revan, the Revanites, and everything they stood for.  Don't fucking go there.

Empire is the only side that works for me.  I play Republic like I'm a puppy that shows up to do whatever you want... I think my single most common dialogue voice-over is: "So, how can I help."  If there is any element of RP choice it would be: "hey, don't have to sell me on saving the orphans, no I don't need to know their history, where the fuck are they, how do I get there, and could you please stop talking?"

Empire, however, I'm trying to play both characters as members of the old Empire aristocracy... true believers in the virtues of order, civilization, and culture.  Its a little tricky since the moral reckoning of Empire from Star Wars (Lucas?) pov is a pretty simplistic Nazi/Communist/Borg blend... still, neither character will ever murder an innocent (unless the choice is Murder/Torture... in which case we skip the torture as culturally insipid and go right to murder) and they think the Sith Lords are mostly chaotic fucks out for themselves ruining what was once a perfectly good empire.  The Sith Pureblood Warrior is a sort of Roman pater familias; the Chiss IA more of an Austro-Hungarian bourgeois technocrat.  I'm not sure this really fits into any sort of Star Wars canon (I mean, Empire is not really portrayed as corrupted good, just unmitigated evil, right?), but I gives some guidance to choices and makes reading the Empire text more interesting than Republic.

I play my Imperials as Americans.  They want to believe in the glory of the Empire, but see it has some deep flaws and corruption is ruining it, so they'll do what they can to make things right.

How nice they are and what those means are vary a bit from character to character.  Vhashik is arrogant and does think she is superior, but that means she needs to be better than everyone, too.  She doesn't take well to being given orders from people she consider inferior, which being Sith Pureblood is just about everyone.

Kylantha is a bit softer since she was a slave.  Not nice, per se, but is only an outright bitch if someone gets in her face, at which point all nicety is gone.  And she will stick up for the innocent and downtrodden.  Ky likes Zash a lot, since she may be scheming and power hungry, but isn't a puppy-kicker type of evil.  She really hates the puppy-kickers.

I've been redeeming Sith, talking to Empire officers who are clearly trying to be decent within the system, etc., as part of my Republic storylines, so no, I would not say it is just cartoon evil as far as the eye can see.

Tyburon the Jedi Knight is goody two-shoes, but that's mostly because he's fixing his Karma from all the dark shit he's done in the past that no one knows about and he won't speak of. He's always saying and doing the right things as far as his jedi masters are concerned and his only dark side hits have been when it came to hooking up with Kira and telling that senator's aide back on Coruscant to go fuck himself sideways.

Threnody, the pureblood Sith Juggernaut is playing it as best she can, considering she has absolutely no respect for her master, Darth Fatass and less respect for the Sith in general who she believes have become, weak, indolent and self-serving. She has a so-so relationship with Vette, whose collar she has removed, an action she sometimes regrets because sometimes Vette just needs to shut the fuck up and let me slaughter those that have gotten to the point of pissing me off enough to deserve killing.

Xevious, the inquisitor is just a flat-out dick. Why? because he can be. "I was a slave, motherfuckers, and now I'm not and I'm strong enough in the force to fuck up anyone of you assholes that has any kinda notion that I'm gonna go back to that old life."

Shadow is the reasonable, light side type -- they're supposed to be more inclined to use their brains from what i gather, so she'll usually try to find out the details of situation first, see if someone else that's technically responsible for handling it can't do it next if it happens to be some extra activity not related to her main task, and only then get involved (or not, if it happens to be something more than borderline suicidal like getting self injected with the zombie sickness) After the starting planet arc i was thinking she'd slowly slide to the dark side under influence of some of the discovered teachings, but i couldn't really justify not saving most of encountered people, so she keeps growing net light. Is bit of a scrapper though so maybe that's where her eventual downfall comes from, will see.

Sniper has some vague past i didn't bother to define, that left him with half face burnt and some discrete marks of cybernetic replacements, both of which he hides with emo haircut. Oh, and deep dislike of the sith which he sometimes can't fully get under control. Generally will try to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, in part out of personal decency and in part out of belief the Empire has more use for its people alive than dead. When he isn't playing a role for the job at hand he acts largely cold and reserved, though Kaliyo seems to trigger some snark from him.

Scoundrel is well, a scoundrel. She does not have the heart of gold and will generally do whatever pays her more or skips her the trouble. Maybe with a bit softer spot for some other twi'leks. Corso is her guiding moral compass, and there's few more scary experiences in her life than getting a recent, short streak of approvals from him :oh_i_see:

Marauder is a pure blood sith, very proud as result but ignorant and dumb like a brick -- when she was given her academy tests, she's completely unintentionally failed all three :grin: Loves lording it over all the little people and is probably the closest i can bring myself to playing a 'classic' sith. Does have occasional moments when she tries to act collected and/or reasonable as result of her lessons (or just mood swings) but these are few and brief.

Guardian is a stalwart and devoted defender of innocent and oppressed, and he'll murder without remorse anyone who tries to do something to those. :ye_gods:  Has every intention of following the code, but just happens to find it difficult to resist the lure of a shiny lightsaber crystal, or nubile twi'lek in dire need of some comforting... and then opts to repress any memories of those things happening.

SergeantLieutenantCaptainMajor Zaphir, the rising star of the Havoc Squad is pretty much Garza lite: he gives no shits as long as it's "good for the Republic". If there's an opportunity to hurt the Empire without endangering the mission, it's on. Killing innocents / civilians or breaking from procedure (such as executing an enemy instead of capturing him) is a no-no though. Surprisingly I've managed to keep him mostly lightside, getting Light IV by the time I finished the storylines / Corellia and hit 50. I guess being ruthless is OK if you're a soldier. :awesome_for_real: Actually I'm pretty sure it's because of all the "I'll spare you, have fun in prison" choices instead of blasterbolt-through-the-head.

Zalika - my sage - is a really high-and-mighty "I know better than you" type... very arrogant, not compassionate at all. She obviously became Qyzen's BFF immediately. She refuses to do menial shit for people (= only following the main consular questline), but doesn't really kick puppies either. If it wasn't for me doing tons of lightside diplomacy missions, her light/dark-o-meter would still be hovering around the neutral zone.