#drew karpyshyn hate life

[firealder2005]

Whew! Took me awhile to get this out!

Alderreads #3!

STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC: REVAN

By Drew Karpyshyn

So, at first it was a little hard to get into but I pushed through and found that I liked it!

A 9/10, well done!

As someone who hasn't played ANY of the video games, I can say this book DEFINITELY made me want to look into them- Revan is such an interesting and cool character!

Meetra I loved to, sucks she got stabbed in the back. Literally.

Scourge. Scourge I have no clue if I love you or I hate you you are a very well-written character one moment I'm like "well, maybe he's not THAT bad" then he goes and praises slavery....or he stabs someone in the back.

And the Emperor. Very interesting, that one. His backstory is captivating and horrifying. Sucking the life out of an entire planet to feed his own power? Disturbing and fascinating. Then putting Revan into a coma to feed off of his power? This guy has me hooked.

And then ending the book on a semi-cliff hanger.

Drew, you know how to reign in an audience!

My next installment will be Warriors: The Silent Thaw. I also gave three other books ready to go.

#revan #star wars #darth revan #star wars the old republic #star wars legends #star wars eu #star wars expanded universe #meetra surik #the exile #lord scourge #darth vectivus #vitiate #t3 m4 #bastilla shan #canderous ordo #darth nyriss #sechel #darth xedrix #murtog #alderposts #alderreads #alderranks #drew karpyshyn

[azems-familiar]

X and Y for the ask thing!

X - top 5-10 characters who are yoUR PRECIOUS BABIES AND YOU WILL DIE DEFENDING THEM

oh lord do i really have to pick? okay. okay. i am going to try to mostly exclude OCs but a couple of them will end up in here because obviously, other than that, in no particular order -

1 - Vyl, for my one (1) OC slot

2 - Revan - this includes all versions except for Drew Karpyshyn's and versions who lean into the same horrible Everything

3 - Orgus Din, my Beloved

4 - Mical. everyone seems to hate him and find him boring but like??? he's my beloved so

5 - Scourge. half of the swtor fandom does not understand him whatsoever and i know like 3 people who write him correctly and i Will go to war over this man and his 300 years of trauma

6 - Ulic Qel-Droma, who AGAIN half the fandom simply does not understand. i am taking him away from the fanboys. he is Mine Now write him badly and you die by my sword

7 - Nomi Sunrider, except this time i'm also taking her away from the writers who created her in the first place. none of you have any rights over this woman

8 - FRODO BAGGINS THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO DISLIKE HIM AND THINK HIS SECTIONS OF THE BOOKS ARE BORING WHEN HE'S LIKE..... THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE he's the little folk he's the connection we have to this grand world of gods and kings and magic and yes i have into the west playing rn and yes it is making me cry but that's not relevant i am simply a Frodo Enjoyer For Life

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)

oh lord there's a few of these. uhhhh spn (look.), incredibly vaguely asoiaf, stranger things, steven universe? also the fucking. thrawn novels era of star wars because you blog about it a lot so now despite never having read them i'm attached to Thrawn and Eli

#asked and answered #kotor 2 #swtor #totj comics #thank you for the ask beloved #there are More characters i will kill over but i tried to like... keep the list small akjdshfgkjhfg #WAIT I SHOULD'VE ADDED FRODO THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY DISLIKE HIM DO YOU KNOW THAT #edits the list

[badsithnocookie]

oh no. what a shame.

[image description: a screenshot of a twitter conversation. conversation reads as follows:

Jake Kinsella @jaker1006

@DrewKarpyshyn I just finished Revan and I was wondering if there is a follow up that finishes the story of the Emperor and Lord Scourge?

Drew Karpyshyn @DrewKarpyshyn

Revans story continued in the SWTOR online game. And if you played as a Jedi Knight, you could see how Lord Scourges story continued. I would love to write a follow up novel, but I think the powers that be feel the story has been told. [shrug emoji]

end image description]

#drew karpyshyn hate life

[lesbiannova]

I really hate Drew Karpyshyn’s Revan novel’s erasure of the Jedi Exile’s companions in KotOR 2.

One of the major plot points of KotOR 2 is the Exile’s uniquely strong ability to form connections with lives around them through the Force, and said connections are even stronger with Force-Sensitive individuals, which is why many of the Exile’s companions are Force-Sensitive. Official materials of Star Wars Legends had established that the Exile was canonically light side and a woman before the Revan novel even existed, so the Exile was supposed to train her Force-Sensitive companions to Jedi who would rebuild the Jedi Order after the events of KotOR 2.

Yet none of that are acknowledged in the Revan novel. The Revan novel strips away almost everything that makes the Exile a unique character, and erases the Exile’s relationships with her companions, in favour of reducing her to a Revan fangirl whose story and motivations entirely revolve around Revan, who was made canonically a dude in Star Wars Legends.

Out of all of the Exile’s party members in KotOR 2, literally the only ones who appear or are mentioned by name in the Revan novel are Canderous, T3-M4, HK-47 and Kreia. The others never get even a throwaway mention. In the case of Canderous, T3 and HK, it is only because they were also Revan’s companions in the first KotOR game. As for Kreia, the Revan novel only acknowledges her as Darth Traya, without bringing up the fact that Kreia also travelled with and trained the Exile during the events of KotOR 2. It is worth noting that the Revan novel never acknowledges that Kreia used to train Revan as well.

The Revan novel has an offhand mention of the existence of a new Jedi Council after Kreia’s defeat in Chapter 17 of the book, but the book never brings up the possibility of the Exile’s Force-Sensitive companions being part of the new Jedi Order.

As a huge fan of KotOR 2 who is attached to many of the party members introduced in the game, and who finds the Exile’s relationships with their party members one of the most interesting elements of KotOR 2, the fact that the Revan novel treats those party members and their relationships with the Exile as if they did not exist is one of the many, many reasons I loathe the Revan novel.

To be frank, this is also part of why I hate it when KotOR 2 haters act like them disliking KotOR 2 is an "unpopular opinion". Guess what? Drew Karpyshyn’s Revan novel, an official tie-in novel, also hates KotOR 2 and pretends many things from KotOR 2 did not exist or happen. Not to mention Karpyshyn treats the Jedi Exile as nothing more than a prop for Revan’s story.

#swtor #kotor #kotor 2 #knights of the old republic #jedi exile #vg: star wars: the old republic #vg: knights of the old republic #revan novel hate life #drew karpyshyn critical #leilukin does meta #llkmeta: swtor #llkmeta: kotor2

[stillwinterair]

2020 in books so far! All 21 of them!

Season of Storms by Andrzej Sapkowski -- Finished January 1st. My least favorite Witcher novel. In a series that managed to surprise and endear me at every turn, this one final romp did almost nothing for me. 2/5 stars.

Star Wars: Hard Merchandise by K.W. Jeter -- Finished January 17th. The final chapter in the Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy, and by far the worst of the three. 2/5 stars.

Migration by Julie E. Czerneda -- Finished February 18th. The middle chapter in Czerneda’s excellent Species Imperative trilogy, fun and charismatic, sciencey and cute. Didn’t hit me quite the same way as the first in the trilogy did, but still had fun. 4/5 stars.

Star Wars: Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn -- Finished February 2nd. It was okay. 3/5 stars.

To be continued under the cut, including thoughts on The Expanse, which has taken over my life this year:

Mass Effect: Revelation by Drew Karpyshyn -- Finished February 25th. Borrowed from a coworker, was immensely disappointed, decided once and for all I wasn’t going to touch tie-in novels for the rest of the year. That wound up being a great decision. 2/5 stars.

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty -- Finished March 12th. The first of Chakraborty’s Daevabad trilogy, this was a great little historical fantasy fiction about a half-djinn caught up in about a thousand tropes I usually hate, but were written with care and nuance and charm. 4/5 stars.

Midway through The City of Brass, news of a virus overseas begin making waves.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie -- Finished March 29th. The first of Leckie’s Imperial Radch saga. So, so, so many incredible concepts that I loved dearly... but all just slightly off to the side of where they would normally hit me. I wanted to love this book so badly, and it kept almost hitting me, but never quite did, at least not as hard as I wanted it to. Still, I enjoyed the world and the characters enough that I bought the sequel and will read it soon. 3/5 stars.

AAAAAND PANDEMIC! I began this book when I was still working, and finished it while in quarantine. So that’s fun. From here on out, all of these books were read from my couch or my bed.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison -- Finished April 16th. Another book I wanted desperately to love and... succeeded a bit more than with Ancillary Justice, thanks to how ceaselessly charming it was. But the names. Oh, god this book is full of fake fantasy names and titles and you have to remember all of them and the glossary isn’t always helpful. But, still. I found myself so endeared, I couldn’t put it down. 4/5 stars.

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey -- Finished May 3rd. The first book of The Expanse, and I fell in love instantly. This one hit all the right buttons and didn’t stop: good science fiction, fun space adventure, charming characters, perfect level of tension, the list goes on. And reading this one was... the beginning of a certain obsession I’ve had this year. 5/5 stars.

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks -- Finished May 21st. The latter half of this book? Great. Stellar. The first half...? Uhhhhh. Eh? By far one of the most insufferable protagonists I’ve ever had to slog through, but some really cool scifi concepts here (and also some really bad ones -- the whole desert island cannibal thing was stupid as hell, but the Damage Game got me). 3/5 stars.

Caliban’s War by James S.A. Corey -- Finished May 30th. The second book in The Expanse series. I could not put this one down. Everything I loved about Leviathan Wakes, amplified a thousand times. The additions of Bobbie, Prax, and Avasarala made me ascend. This book fired on all cylinders and I loved every moment of it; it stands as one of my three favorite Expanse books so far -- but we’ll get to those. Anyway, I can’t give it 6/5, so we’ll have to settle with: 5/5 stars.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut -- Finished June 1st. A book I’d been meaning to read for a while and finally got around to. Literally finished it in two sittings. Mostly it made me sad. 4/5 stars.

The Strong Shall Live by Louis L’Amour -- Finished June 2nd. A collection of wild west short stories. A couple were great, a few were awful -- most were just okay. I’d been reading it slowly since December, and finishing felt more like a weight off my mind than anything else. Still, some of these stories were incredibly memorable. 3/5 stars.

Larissa by Emily Devenport -- Finished June 4th. I read this in about three sittings overall, which is a lot faster than I usually read. It wasn’t particularly good, but it was the exact sort of scifi junk I eat up for some reason. This is... a very, very weird one. It was very progressive for the time (the book is as old as I am), so much so that I wasn’t surprised to find her on Twitter very publicly supporting BLM and decrying the current administration. It’s about a black woman in space, wealth disparity, and a bunch of other stuff. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t, but Devenport was trying, all the way back in 93. It’s also the sequel to a book I didn’t know existed until I’d already finished, but I guess that one didn’t matter so much to the plot of Larissa? Anyway, had a blast, even though I can’t quite put a finger on why. 4/5 stars. (I actually had this one marked as 3/5 stars, but my memories of it are all very positive, so... it was worth the bump.)

Abaddon’s Gate by James S.A. Corey -- Finished June 13th. Third in The Expanse, and not my favorite. The pacing in the first half was a little wonky, but once it gets going, boy does it go. 4/5 stars.

Regeneration by Julie E. Czerneda -- Finished June 25th. The final entry in the Species Imperative trilogy. This might have been my least favorite of the three, unfortunately, as much like Ancillary Justice it always seemed to hit just to the side of where I wanted it to. The first one was by far my favorite, and the third installment just couldn’t recapture that magic, but I love the protagonist and was happy to walk with her to the end. Plus, as always, there’s some damn good science fiction here. 4/5 stars.

Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey -- Finished July 4th. HELL YEAH MOTHERFUCKER, this one has everything! I don’t even want to spoil what, just know that this is exactly what you want after Abaddon’s Gate, and had everything it was missing and more. This one rocked my fucking world, and is one of my three favorite Expanse books so far. Another one I’d rate higher if I could, but for now... 5/5 stars.

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold -- DNF, July 8th. This book had me until the 35-year-old protagonist started trying to hide his arousal while he was watching the two teenage girls he was tutoring swim, and it was played off as like... cute? I don’t know man, fuck this book, it made me miserable.

Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey -- Finished July 16th. Once again, HELL YEAH MOTHERFUCKER, HELL YEAH! This book begins with some of the slowest pacing in the series so far, but god, have they earned it. It feels so good to just take a break and walk a mile in the shoes of all your favorite characters. And then when things hit? Boy do they fucking hit. The third in my trifecta of favorite Expanse books so far, and another I’d rate higher if I could. 5/5 stars.

The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke -- Finished July 21st. I really thought this was going to be a fun pirate book. Instead, it’s a book about a fun pirate slogging along with the most obnoxious man in the history of fiction, who she is also falling in love with, apparently, for some reason. I don’t know. This is a duology but idk if I’m even interested in the sequel. Which is a shame, because I really liked the protagonist. 2/5 stars.

Babylon’s Ashes by James S.A. Corey -- Finished August 5th. Definitely my least favorite Expanse novel so far, mostly because the narrative was stretched very thin. This one hit really fucking hard toward the beginning, and again at the end, but in the middle? The middle was very... nebulous. A lot happens and I’m not interested in all of it, which is something this series has thus far managed to avoid doing. Still, very good, just not quite up to the standards I’m used to from this series. 4/5 stars.

And... it’s August! And I haven’t picked up another book since the 5th, which feels weird, but is due to a lot of factors. I’m in the middle of moving, so I don’t have as much time to read during the day. But also I’m waiting on a shipment of books to come in, and it hasn’t yet, and that’s stressing me out. Of those, there are a couple I’m leaning toward reading, but if the ol’ Read The First Page trick doesn’t work on any of them, I’ll probably hop back to Imperial Radch.

[theboywhocan11]

Ben Solo, the Reincarnation of Light!Revan??? (A Fringe Theory Analysis)

Okay, I know this one is NOT likely going to happen and it’s just a crackpot theory, but let’s take a moment to look at this as a thought experiment, shall we.

Disclaimer: The following post covers a fringe theory. A fringe theory is defined as a theory that is not based entirely within the Official Star Wars Canon lore. The purpose of this fringe theory is to go over a what-if scenario in regards to the subject of interest at hand. This post is not to advocate for any certain perspective, but instead it is to educate an alternative point of view in regards to characters and/or events in the Star Wars Lore (both Canon and Legends).

To start off:

This is Revan and Ben Solo/Kylo Ren. Two characters, one legend (might become canon) and one canon. According to Pablo Hidalgo, Revan is not the sole inspiration behind Ben Solo’s background story. However, over time, there have been many call backs to the Knights of the Old Republic story (Revan’s story).

For instance, in Star Wars Rebels, Kanan Jarrus mentioned the “Jedi-Mandalorian Wars” where Revan led a team of renegade Jedi who disobeyed Jedi Council orders in order to fight and stop the Mandalorian advance.

There’s another instance where in the official Star Wars Databanks, there’s a mention of “a mysterious connection" linking the two in analogous of the Force Bond between Revan and Bastila Shan.

In Legends novel, Revan, by Drew Karpyshyn, in Chapter 17, Bastila Shan stated, “I led that strike team. I don’t know why, but I took it when Revan fell. Perhaps even then I sensed our fates were intertwined.”

Now, with letting aside the background info about Revan and the possible connections on the elements of Legends and Canon material possibly linking Revan’s story and Ben Solo’s, let’s get to the main points of this “Fringe” theory.

In legends: When Revan was about to die at the Foundry (Emperor Vitiate’s Fortress), he was split into two: Light!Revan (good) and Dark!Revan (bad) as explained in the video below.

Then, there’s the deleted Clone War scene (below) where Dark!Revan talking to the Son of Mortis. Dark!Revan in the clip below tells the Son, the key to silencing his pain is to control the Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker.

Yes, during the [Star Wars: The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan] story, both Light and Dark!Revan did merge in the end. However…

Many fans hated this “Shadow of Revan” arc in addition to how that scene alone did not jive with the deleted scene in the Clone Wars (as shown above).

So, in alignment with the narrative of this fringe theory, what may have happened is that Revan did die in his fight with Emperor Vitiate in [Star Wars: The Old Republic]. Revan helped the Jedi Outcast to defeat Emperor Vitiate. Upon Revan’s death bed, Revan thanked the Jedi Outcast and reconciled with his descendant “Satele Shan”. When Revan passed away, his spirit was split into two: Light and Dark.

Dark!Revan remained in the “Chaos” realm of the Netherworld of the Force. “Chaos” is basically ‘hell’ where the dark siders reside. This Dark!Revan would make his way somehow to communicate with the “Son of Mortis”.

As for Light!Revan, thousands years into the future, he was re-born as Ben Solo. The possible reason for Light!Revan for being reborn as Ben Solo is stop a much darker entity who is bringing imbalance to the Force. When reborn as Ben Solo, Ben’s memories of his past life as Revan was no more. 

Why would Light!Revan’s memories be erased when reincarnated as Ben Solo?

According to many real life reincarnation theories, there are instances that when a person was reborn as another person, that person would not remember his/her past life. In order to remember such past lives, they have to undergo either hypnosis or some form of meditation. The only time a person can remember a past life if only that person suffered a traumatic event before death. Such memory would stick with that person even after being born in a new body, many years in the future. As for Ben Solo’s case, it’s uncertain on why the Force would not allow Ben Solo to remember his past memories as Light!Revan. Maybe it was done to hide his dormant power during childhood before being reawakened at later time, assuming Ben Solo is indeed Light!Revan reincarnated.

Furthermore, as Ben Solo, he would live his life as an individual harnessing the light and dark side of the Force as he was years ago as Revan. But, this time being more pulled to the light side of the Force. Thus, another source of Ben’s light is not only the light force itself, but the light from within…the light of his past life as Light!Revan. Also, Light!Revan, as Ben Solo, would bring back elements of his past life as a force user of light and dark in addition to wearing clothing similar to that of his past life when he was Revan. This may explain why Kyo Ren’s clothing is similar to Revan. This is something Ben Solo sub-consciously pulled out in designing his Kylo Ren clothing without realizing he was Revan in the past life. 

Furthermore, the ADDITIONAL reason (not the main reason) for Kylo Ren’s compassion for Rey and his so-called mysterious connection with Rey is either of the following items below:

(1) Rey is the reincarnation of Bastila Shan even though this may not be likely in canon.

or

(2) Within Kylo’s sub-conscious, the inner Light!Revan may have caused Kylo’s perception to confused Rey as Bastila Shan since Bastila Shan resembles Rey. See below.

or

(3) Rey is not a descendant of Bastila Shan and Revan, but her force signature is coincidentally so similar to Bastila’s that this caused this “force connection/link/bond” to happen between Kylo Ren (Light!Revan reincarnated) and Rey herself.

(Above) Adam Driver (Kylo Ren/Ben Solo) and Revan.

According to various reincarnation theories in real life, when person(s) reincarnate in their next body, they maintain their past live’s facial features. So, Kylo Ren/Ben Solo maintained his prior life’s appearance of Revan.

An example of this reincarnation theory in real life is the following picture(s),

(Above) Jennifer Lawrence and her Egyptian twin-actress Zubaida Tharwat.

(Above) James Dean and James Franco

Now, whether this particular reincarnation is true or not, that remains to be seen. But if you look at the following documentary below about this particular reincarnation theory, there may be something to consider.

Note: it’s uncertain on whether the above video’s content is authentic or not.

Issues with this theory: 

So, far there is nothing in canon thus far suggesting reincarnation is an actual occurrence in the Star Wars Universe. Even though [The Phantom Menace Visual Dictionary] mentioned how the Chosen One Prophecy implied a reincarnation process of a Chosen entity coming back again and again to restore balance to the force, there is no official word from Lucasfilm story group confirming if reincarnation does occur in the Star Wars Universe. 

In addition, the narrative focus for Kylo Ren and Rey is that they are stand alone characters with NO BIG DIRECT connection to the heroes of the ancient past, i.e. Knight of the Old Republic. Rey’s narrative is about a normal individual from a completely separate family who can make a difference in a galaxy far, far away. Kylo Ren/Ben Solo’s narrative is about just another Skywalker trying to regain his humanity. Both of these characters do not have to rely on being a reincarnated entity to achieve their ends.

Now, there is a possibility of reincarnation occurring in the form of Ahsoka Tano coming back as a wolf being in [Star Wars Rebels Season 4]. However, some people stated that it could just be Ahsoka Tano as a Force Wielder entity who can shape shift. Others say said that the wolf is something separate from Ahsoka Tano itself. 

If “reincarnation” were to be canon, how is it going to be applied in the greater scheme of things in the Star Wars Canon?

Two ways:

(1) Use Force Wielder-type characters to be the reincarnation-based characters. Also, assuming the "Daughter" is to be alive, then the “Daughter” can be the one to pull off the reincarnation technique of being reborn in a fresh and blood body. 

(2) A completely new character who is not Ben or Rey, but either be Ben and Rey’s child or a friend/associate of Ben and Rey (after Episode IX).. This particular character would either be a wise man who is reborn again to help Ben and Rey in a future conflict or be another character who remembers memories of his/her past life and these memories help Ben and Rey to get out of a sticky situation in a future story (post-Episode IX).

In conclusion: Ben Solo may not be the actual reincarnation of Revan. But, Ben Solo may borrow certain traits from Revan himself, assuming Ben Solo is aware of Revan’s existence during his time as a Knight of Ren. If reincarnation were to be canon, it’s most likely other characters from other canon sources like the “Daughter of Mortis” or new characters being these reincarnated beings.

#reylo #kylo x rey #rey x kylo ren #ben x rey #rey x ben #benrey #reyben #kylo ren x rey

[badsithnocookie]

lesabear replied to your post “gayjuhani replied to your post: “you know what though seeing people...”

Their treatment of the exile in particular feels like really nasty/petty - downgrading her to Revan fangirl, literally stabbed in the back by Scourge, then gets to be a force ghost for hundreds of years just to help Revan....who goes crazy anyway because yay

yeah definitely!! it just ends up feeling like they’re salty about the way k2 was recieved (the factthey didn’t even make it?) (that and combined with the fact the exile being a woman was canon, iirc, before bioware and or karpyshit got involved, makes the whole thing stink of standard issue bioware misogyny)

#lesabear #replies #drew karpyshyn hate life

[badsithnocookie]

every time i think i am bad at naming characters i just remember vaner

thank you, drew karpyshyn, for helping me to feel better about my own creativity

#drew karpyshyn hate life #shitposting

[badsithnocookie]

re: the discussion on my dash atm about dk's revan fic

when I skimmed it I was skipping all the shit not involving scourge cause idc about dk's oc and tbh I am more glad than ever that I did. fuckin yikes

#drew karpyshyn hate life

[badsithnocookie]

fancyfade replied to your post: “like realtalk for a sec i always used to kinda half sideye ‘karpyshit...”:

wait that happened? I didn't remember that story well enough and :xxxxxxx.

yeah i forget the exact circumstances but for some reason surik and t3 have to go Undercover on kaas with scourge, and Obviously it makes the most sense for them to pose as his slaves (i think he’s trying to get them into spy on v or something??), so surik wears skimpy af clothes and a (deactivated) slave collar (and can’t have her lightsaber either, obv), while t3 has a (deactivated) restraining bolt and it’s just

a whole world of petty YIKES

#fancyfade #replies #drew karpyshyn hate life #slavery tag

[badsithnocookie]

interesting tidbit on theforce.net’s forums about the original swtor writing + expansion plans

Revan's flashpoints were added much later into the story development and were not a part of the original story design. Revan and the Exile were considered out of bounds until Drew Karpyshyn was convinced to join BioWare studio at Austin. Only after he has joined the team, BioWare planned out the fate of Revan and the Exile (Taral V, Maelstrom Prison, Boarding Party, and The Foundry flashpoints). There was no "original plan" to what to do with them before Drew joined them. This is the main reason why these flashpoints felt a little "outside" of the main story. As for the scrapped expansion (the chapter 4), it was planned for a pre-launch and the most of it was in the early stages of writing. Unfortunately it was cut due to time restraints. It turned out later that the project got extended for other reasons so they actually would have had time anyway.

drew k is entirely to blame for the shitfest that is the revan storyline in swtor, you heard it here... multiple times before probably, on reflection...

#swtor #drew karpyshyn hate life

[badsithnocookie]

like i was gonna save this for a rainy day but nah i’m gonna vent about it now

the jk voss story completely fucking undermines the sw one and i fucking hate it just because of that

the sw is sent to voss because baras managed to outmaneuver V and he is stuck in the body of a voss in sel’makor’s party dungeon, and cannot leave because Reasons. (i am ignoring kotfetet as non canon. also stupid.) the SW is required to stab the emperor (in his voss body) so that V can leave the voss host and be bound into something new (for a loyal, orthodox sith, btw, this would be a hell of a headfuck. first of all, the emperor got outplayed by a mortal sith. who has it in for you. you are fucked beyond all possible description. secondly, you have just been charged with stabbing god.)

also on voss is lord fulminiss, creator of amongst other things, the dread seeds. we know these were a commission he made for the emperor, so it seems reasonable that he’s at least aware of the Hand and they have his number saved in their little black book. fulminiss is on voss to do some deal with sel’makor that will empower him further.

w8. why would he work with sel’makor, who the hand know is Trouble? what sel’makor knows, the Emperor likely knows, and thus it’s probable that even if fulminiss has been sent to Voss by Baras-posing-as-V, Servant Two would be able to realise something doesn’t add up and have someone who doesn’t speak entirely in metaphor buzz fulminiss and give him the skinny on what’s going on - or at the very least, order him the fuck off Voss.

like. if anything, the sith should be subtly aiding-and-abetting the jedi in their ‘kill sel’makor’ aims - the enemy of the enemy is still my fucking enemy, but releasing V takes priority.

nice going btw, jk - yeah, you killed sel’makor, but you also returned the Emperor to the Empire, at full strength - since he no longer needs to be bound to a new body, he doesn’t need to go to the Dark Temple for the ritual or stay there to recover, meaning that a) he’s not there to be sucker-punched by the JK at the end of C3. b) he is able to move far more decisively against his enemies, meaning that Baras’s powerplays from Voss onwards simply fail to happen (mostly because Baras is failing to happen) - no Quinncident, but more importantly, a much stronger Imperial showing on Corellia (or maybe just none at all, if V is there to see the Star Cabal’s shenanigans and pull out entirely, leaving Hunter somewhat in the lurch)

but, you know. the jk story. drew karpyshyn. competent writing. shrug emoji.

#swtor critical #jedi knight spoilers #sith warrior spoilers #imperial agent spoilers #drew karpyshyn hate life

[badsithnocookie]

the thing with tarnis's ''''betrayal'''' in the jk storyline is that he's there and gone before you really know what the frell is going on, and any impact it might have had is ruined

like. there is exactly one (1) conversation where he is present before suddenly he's ''missing'' and eventually turns up chowing down on the scenery and cosplaying a sith (i mean why does he even change clothing? how was he hiding the decay that the Force had wrought on his body? why are he and angral the only sith in this dumb game with ds3+ skin but normal eyes?)

and angral, angral literally comes out of nowhere instead of being built up into actually the villainous mastermind - his reveal is a 'wat', not an 'oh noes'. the exposition that he led the attack on coruscant doubly so (malgus who, sorry?) - like,this is not mentioned anywhere or, iirc, referred to ever again, it just comes and goes like so much useless, consequencesless shite in the jk story

like people like to dump on the consular story for being bitty and poorly hung together (though if you actually pay attention to it, it is quite the opposite) but the jk story is nothing but this collection of poorly thought out action sequences that are barely coherent within themselves, never mind as a greater whole (and indeed frequently undermines not just itself but everything else within vanilla)

like there is more closure on the ultimate fate of the death mark in the fucking SI story than the JK one. not to mention it is literally the only place in the game (other maybe than power guards showing up again later in the jk story? but even then i think they were on angral's ship so im not sure it counts???) that you see acknowledgement that superweapons are pandoras boxes - once they are invented and unleashed, there is no stuffing them back in the bag and hoping nobody noticed. that shit is out there, forever - but the jk story has the attention span of SHINY, so ofc the chapter 1 weapons are never so much as breathed about after the close of c1

and this doesn' t even begin to get into the stupidity that the story descends into after the c1 finale...

#swtor critical #jedi knight spoilers #drew karpyshyn hate life

[badsithnocookie]

anyway this is my first time playing it through myself rather than watching a youtube but just seeing that on my map really makes me finally realise that

this place is everything i hate about the ‘mental asylum used as a lab/mental patients as lab rats/mental health professionals as sadistic fucks’ horror tropes (and all associated with them)

it’s not enough that vaylin is coded ND in kotfe - we are explictly then told that she is sent to a literal asylum where she is ‘treated’ - experimented on, after the researchers there have worked on their ‘technique’ using other patients as guinea pigs - and ends up the way she is as a result, traumatised and hurting - and then lana-as-the-writer’s-mouthpiece turns around and asserts that nah, she was always a monster and

what i’m getting at here basically is fuck you drew karpyshyn

#swtor #kotet #kotet blogging #kotet spoilers #kotet critical #drew karpyshyn hate life

[badsithnocookie]

alright, let’s do this.

war for iokath #1

[ part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 ]

spoilers for the entire fractured alliances chain (5.2 onwards)

okay. first of all. arcann terrorised way more. but nbd.

secondly. are we like. including worlds from the republic and empire in this? or the cartel controlled worlds? there are very few neutral worlds in the gffa - even shitholes like darvannis are cartel controlled. places like tatt are the exception because, as i’ve noted elsewhere, it’s basically unconquerable - try, and the desert will eat you. and even then, its inhabited-by-humans areas are largely exchange or cartel-controlled.

so like. tell me. how are the republic taking it that worlds are seceding from them to join an illegal insurgency in wild space? how are the empire taking it? how are the hutts taking it? how is anyone willing to do trade with the Alliance, given as they are stealing control of these worlds out from under legitimate recognised governments? where does the Alliance get all these supplies it’s supposedly sending out - are they returning the goods stolen by zakuul? and if so, why are they only returning them on pain of joining the Alliance but still having the nerve to act like they’re the fucking good guys?

i call this sha’s “eccentric hermit who has nothing to do with this alliance gubbins” look.

what kind of aid? why does zakuul need aid more than the rest of the galaxy? like. i know this question is in here to force that DS response but. zakuul wanted for nothing, except for when the plot holes demanded it. it was a post-scarcity society. largely because it was stealing from everyone else, but still.

we really start in media res with this, which is something i’m find with theoretically but for the most part seems to be so that bioware could skip over the bits where they have to fudge a reason for the commander to give a shit about iokath and get straight to jerking it to superweapons

i know that... you know, but i still really hate this line. theron not have the Force himself, but he was raised by a Jedi, and has spent enough time around Jedi to know how the Force works. it’s awkward and it’s forced (if you’ll excuse the term) and it doesn’t fit and i hates.

i also really hate this ULTIMATE POWAH bullshit. i don’t know if drew had a hand in this but it’s the exact same bullshit you see in the JK story. everything is MORE POWEAHFUL than the last thing and GOES UP TO ELEVEN and KILLS MOAR THINGS and that’s.... after a while it stops being scary and horrifying and just becomes cheap and disrespectful and nasty. i’ve written before about how nihilus wasn’t terrifying (simply) because he was a world killer and how with vitiate bioware completely missed the entire fucking point and it applies here too. ‘ITS MOAR POWAHFUL THAN TEH LAST MACGUFFIN’ is a shitty writing trope i expect from amateurs and joss whedon. if you cannot think of something in the whole of the star wars universe more interesting and terrifying than the last boss + n then honestly i despair for your creativity. (though it’d explain why your original novels tanked, eh drew?)

i don’t even know where to start with this. the empire claiming it would be objectively bad, yes, but they are at the very least a legitimate state. i just. this entire angle does nothing but convince me of the semi-headcanon that Lana views the Alliance as her own personal fiefdom, with the Commander as her puppet figureheard. moreover, the EA’s only claim to being the dominant power is that they have the fleet, which they stole from the people of Zakuul (despite the fact that Master Kyo let Zakuul rule itself? but i guess she giveth with one hand and have the plot taketh away with the other)

i am absolutely sure, yeah. let’s not forget that it’s the sith who pushed for and developed and ultimately used the superweapons in the JK story, and a sith who is pushing me to claim and use a superweapon right now this minute

stg the traitor’s the only one here talking sense

this line, though, is  complete fuck. it’s as DS as they come, but she’s given no choice in saying it whatsoever. ‘fuck all those people whose lives were ruined by the overuse and abuse of superweapons in this plot, they’re nameless mooks so we don’t care about them anyway. waving our dick around is much more important)

i swear to god the BWA writing team would have poo-pooed the cuban missile crisis for being ‘too boring’

anyway, none of the ships in orbit work, for plot reasons, and for some reason the Alliance never bothered to keep that close eye i was promised on Iokath (outlander!Eirn finished up Iokath last night for the first time - she spared Scorpio, btw - and she was informed by her advisors that they’d be keeping a close watch on it and know the minute it could be safely explored again. apparently, however, the ALliance also has a collective IQ of ‘eggs’, because not only did they not do this, but they failed entirely to send either a decent ground force or indeed anyone at all except a sacrificial droid along with Lana)

this post has gotten long enough so i’ll start a new one for iokath itself. it’s already gonna be a long ‘un.

#swtor #war for iokath #war for iokath spoilers #kotet spoilers #kotet critical #long post #drew karpyshyn hate life #lana beniko critical

[badsithnocookie]

Am I the only one who feels like instead of that Meetra keeping Revan alive with the Force bs, Vitiate froze Revan’s aging too? It’s the only way Revan could still look the same on both Yavin and the Foundry.

wait, is that why dk!revan looks so young and sprightly?

i always figured it was vitiate’s fuckery keeping him alive, given as dk!revan blathers about how V used him ‘as a conduit for the light side of the force’ (lolwat). i’ve no idea how canon it is, though. i try to forget as much of dk’s fanfic as i can.

#enbyrevan #revan #drew karpyshyn hate life