Ebony Moon

There's a certain set of fans who tend to want to keep the lore like a museum piece, not to be sullied by independent imagination. They want the story to be kept perfect and in complete continuity. You see that a lot in today's Morrowind fandom. I have seen it here and in some forums. They want to keep the Tribunal in sacred awe in a museum. Lore isn't supposed to be like that, it's supposed to be dynamic and living. Vibrant. Like everyone had impressions of those old great myth makers the Greeks. Everyone assumed their classic statues were pure, pristine, and serene and unmovable in time. Research revealed that the Greeks painted those statues in brilliant colors and the Greeks were a dynamic people, not ivory towered scholars. The devs are god, their words, whether those words make it into the game, or is fourth walled in later on, are divine decree. Unless they had left the team. Like Michael Kirkbride. He later said that Morrowind, the Elder Scrolls, was supposed to be open ended, the player's experience. i.e. the Coda. The so called purists derided him. I came across a bit that had been posted on 4chan. One of Morrowind's writers left the project because he was opposed to how Bethesda wanted to make Morrowind with a strict continuity. That was when corporate thinking started in video gaming, I suspect. They wanted a linear plot to continue a series. Yeah, the original writers of some of these games took a turn or two at table top rpg. In fact, the guy on the KOTOR team named Revan took the name from one of his villains in his old Dungeons and Dragons world. Which is absolutely awesome. Because that's how I named my first character in KOTOR, after one of my old anti-paladins in my game world tthat I DM'd. Dark sider. Played him like he was going to become a Sith Lord. Because why not? I always wanted to play a Sith Lord but no GM would let me. I had absolutely no idea what this game was about, I was completely un spoilered. And did it deliver. I wonder, exactly why was it declined that KOTOR could use Nomi and the other characters? One would thnk Dark Horse, or the writers would be thrilled, as well as welcome the income. But, I wonder, if the writers of The Tales of the Jedi saw what was proposed- this "dev's intentions" of a Sith Empire that would have survived Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh? I bet Kevin James Anderson said no. Because that would have made the characters Ulic Qel Droma and Exar Kun pointless if some Sith near gods, or some grotty old Sith Emperor was in the dark and Exar Kun not THE Dark Lord of the Sith. The theme of the Golden Age of the Sith is that empires cannot last under the divisive rule of dark siders, but the dark flame was passed on to fallen Jedi of the modern galaxy. The retcon goes against that.

Had these games been written in the 80s or 90s this would have never happened. The spirit was different then. More open ended because that was when what I called the golden age of role playing and infinite variations was the rule. One of the writers of the Dragonlance series stated that he didn't care that if some of the stories that spun out of the original Dragon Lance books conflicted, because that is what mythology and classic lore has always been like, some accounts don't line up with others. Dungeons and Dragons and other table top rpgs focused on the player's experience and their stories. Today you have people who want to be told what the characters are, the characters and their backgrounds written out for them. People who wanted Revan written for them actually used the word "closure" in wanting to know what happened to Revan. So the corporate powers that be indulged them. Kevin James Anderson, one of the authors of Tales of the Jedi, even had a suggestion through one of the characters of the Jedi Academy that the time after the Golden Age of the Sith be left largely unknown, or be just legends- funny how Disney is doing that, however, I do not like the idea of these movies they are making of the Old Republic. What else are they going to ruin? What's worse you got those who dogmatically cling to lore like it is linear, not a rich tapestry, are going to love the movies and argue that mods and viewpoints must align with the lore, etc. Remember the Dragon Broke that came out of Morrowind? That was the old guard who respected variations of lore going out while the new guard of linear continuity stepped in. That's why there's hints that Morrowind was supposed to be have at least two different paths, siding with the Tribunal, or with Dagoth Ur. You were supposed to be able to speak with the Heartwights - and they were telling you it wasn't too late to change your mind and join them instead. That's how Mad God was able to write his mod and work so well. And today we have Revan who, I heard, was made to go dark side again in the MMO and so he could be killed, and the Exile, his number one fangirl getting stabbed in the back so she could be a ghost cheer leader for poor Revan carrying on a mental battle with the so called emperor of the retconned(yes) Sith Empire. (KJA meant for the new Sith Empire be the one re-established by Exar Kun, not something lurking in the background somewhere.) K1 and K2 borrowed heavily from the Tales of the Jedi. K1 was supposed to be a sequel. "Dev's intentions" of a Sith Empire that survived Marka Ragnos is retcon to the Tales of the Jedi. That's why I am cautious of asking what did the character do during this time, someone will be all to glad to fill that in for everyone. My Exile would laugh at the "canon" version. Right, like Revan would be stupid enough to go off by himself deep into no where. And I'll just tag alone and be his cheering squad. What spice are you chewing? Yeah, he's a smart ass, too. He keeps Visas Mar around. I much prefer the non-restored ending of K2, and the purpose of rebuilding the Jedi Order. Or Sith. It has a greater purpose, imo, than just sending the Exile off to Revan to fight some Sith Empire. There's scarier stuff out there. And Kreia's sacrifice would better serve the more noble purpose of restrarting a new Force wielding order. I say have fun with what the Exile was doing during those years of wandering, with only the guidelines that it didn't involve the Force, and ending up on the Harbinger on the way to Telos for the Argricultural Corps.

Unless you want extra skill points or to repair HK-47, I wouldn't worry about intelligence. Also, when I played on console, I usually played soldier/guardian and I didn't worry about charisma, left it at 10, but always put a point in persuade in level up. Made most of the persuade checks, especially later in the game. I had always wanted to take full advantage of soldier and guardian, specialized in melee and lightsaber, and having that Force Jump. And I wanted to repair HK-47. And have a couple more Force powers so I could get Throw Lightsaber in addition to the others I like. That means having Repair as a class skill, too, as I always found the need to max out Persuade and Awareness. And a relatively high intelligence. So I've been doing my tweaking. Trying those cheat mods had been unintentionally hilarious, My lightside Guardian casting Force Lightning when I am controlling another character. Had to pick something on level up! Then go into KSE to delete anything I don't want him to have. 😄 So yeah, some individual tweaking might be in order, simply due to the hard level cap of 20. I don't see why Repair couldn't be a class skill for soldier/Guardian. They have to repair their own weapons and armor, right? And we have the example of Anakin Skywalker, the perfect example of a Jedi Guardian and could repair anything.

If anyone doesn't mind a more cheaty mod to get more feats and powers, try this 3 powers, 3 cheats. https://www.moddb.com/mods/3-feats-3-powers-per-level It affects the entire party, too. And you don't have to worry about holding back on leveling before training to become a Jedi, and you will get the most of both classes. And, at least to me, it feels like getting some of the benefits of K2 in gaining more powers and feats. A second mod- with the warning that it is OP- you'll want to up the difficulty of the game and it won't be every one's cup of tea. All skills are class skills, even for your companions. But you'll start with what we used to call in Dungeons and Dragons flat stats- all 18s. But you'll be able to repair HK-47 to the max.

Got them off the Wayback Machine. upgrades1.0_to_1.02.rar upgrades1.02_to_1.03.rar

Some of those you tubers were right on the money with those leaks. spoiler for spoilers

I haven't tried it with K2- probably because I like the prestige classes and I find the extremes interesting. The game does push you one way or another. Kreia doesn't respect you for being middle of the road, lol. I did in K1. Was actually kind of meh. Scored Dark Side points with punks and thugs and other people who probably are jerks., Light Points for companion characters and the little guy characters. Light Side for Kashyyk and Dark Side for Korriban. Then, being horrified by the revelation, my character went full Light Side. Truly neutral responses and reactions don't get a lot of experience points. Both games are set up that way. It would be interesting to have more neutral play options.

Probably odd jobs and the such. Maybe a merc depending on the character. An enforcer. Ran a backwater world bar. Be a tour guide to core world denizens on wild planets. A miner. A travelling chef. A field worker or farm laborer - which eventually leads to the destination of Telos. This is the kind of thing I like to fill in myself, instead of having it defined for me. I don't like it when everything has to be filled in. Next thing we know we'll have some novel or comic about Meetra Surik (or whatever the name is) the day laborer who volunteered to go to Telos to grow muja fruit. The one defining point, though, is that whatever it was the Exile did during that time, it had absolutely noting to do with the Jedi/Sith, or the Force. My Exile probably kicked back in some back water world and read everything in whatever library. Sometimes went fishing. Hunting. Maybe some skilled labor. Moved on when he got bored. Finally signed on for a job on Telos just to see how much Malak screwed up that world.

Ngl, Hayden was eye candy. I like him a lot in SW. I think Lucas should have let him have more reign in portraying a nascent Darth Vader. I think he had a good feel for Vader; he was constrained by the directing which is why so many say his acting was wooden. I think Anakin should have been a little older, at least as old as Padme. But Jake Lloyd had a lot of spirit. Yeah, Lucas went without a lot of good advice. But, yeah, I like the prequels overall.

I'm sure that played a part, too. A big part. It can get tiring. Sickening what Ahmed Best, Hayden, and Jake Lloyd have been through. While I think their roles could have been written better in the movies,. it's not the fault of the actors. It should be a meme: Now we wish we were kinder to the Prequels.

My understanding was that it was Kathleen Kennedy who made the final choice of which cut to produce. But it really doesn't matter. The trilogy was made by people who had no real understanding of Star Wars. Sure they mimicked it well at times, but with no understanding of what made Star Wars work. There was no true Hero's Journey with Rey like there was with Luke. Lucas is a fan of Joseph Campbell, who studied myths and legends and why they carry such strength through the ages. Lucas followed the formula of the Hero's Journey. This, combined with a certain aesthetic from such artists like Ralph McQuarrie, is why Star Wars became so huge. Plus Lucas knew how to break the rules a bit to make a fresh take on an old story, such as the hero being the son of the villain- which was ground breaking at the time. Lucas wasn't even sure if it would work, which is why he had Splinter in the Mind's Eye written to be a back up sequel to Star Wars, if Star Wars was a flop. In the book Splinter in the Mind's Eye Darth Vader was not related to Luke or Leia. But the rest was history and we got a truly great sequel. One would think that Disney understood this, considering the works they have put out over the years, but I guess they didn't. There was the famous account of one Disney executive who simply could not understand why women liked Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow. Perhaps they had lost their touch when they morphed into a huge conglomerate consuming anything they could get their hands on. But, then again, Disney was the ones who invented the myth of lemmings migrating themselves into the sea by forcing the poor creatures to do exactly that for a film. Lucas should have never sold Star Wars. He wanted to focus on his family, a very understandable reason. But I think it would have been better to let it rest uncompleted than to turn it over to someone else who could never do it justice. Or he should have retained greater control, at least a strong veto on whatever Disney was trying to do. I can't imagine what he must be feeling now, no matter how much like a Jedi he is in outlook.

I'm not even going to watch it. Learned enough of the spoilers that I don't want to. If they had gone with Lucas' cut it had a chance, but not this. The Mandalorian, though, is getting really good, more than makes up for it.

Could I have it, too, please?

I took a quick look earlier and it seems that there's a couple more files needed for that to work. Couldn't find a vanilla version so it's a good guess that script needs a condition to fire. There's a dialogue and another script with Sion in that module that is triggered by that dlg, but no source script to tell what the Sion script does.

I would also like a copy of this mod, please.

There are a few dialogues here and there I would like to add to, to avoid the cheesier stuff- like "I'm Revan Reborn," or "I am a servant of light" to the Red Rakata. More subdued options would be nice there. Or give an option to not flirt with Bastila at all when playing a male. I might do something like that, really lightweight additions. There is a mod with more tempered responses. I don't think it adds anything, though. There's nothing wrong with richer dialogue, a lot of people like it, it just doesn't work so well with me. I think a lot of people will welcome more dialogue options for KOTOR 1, especially rich dialogue.

I certainly don't think the same way. One of the reasons I love KOTOR is that it doesn't have the extensive "rich dialogue" like other bioware games have. Not everything is spelled out for you like it is in other bioware games- or K2. I am more free to fill in the details and backstory myself, going by nonverbal clues of which are many in the game. After I played Dragon Age Origins I appreciated KOTOR 1 even more, because I get tired of "rich dialogue." Rich dialogue is ultimately too limiting for me. It even feels manipulative of Companion characters- which ironically suits the Exile in K2 who is essentially manipulating Companion characters into becoming Jedi, or to give bonus powers. However, I can never fully immerse myself into roleplaying my Exile as I can my Revan, light side or dark side. There's too much defined for the Exile in many of the dialogue options, which doesn't really reflect my own reactions. KOTOR 1's looser style lets me be more immersed. I know a lot of people prefer a rich dialogue, or having their character more defined for them, but that's a matter of preference, not that a game is shallow because it doesn't have a lot of rich dialogue. If you want to make and release a mod that provides more definition and rich dialogue for the player character, that's great, because I do believe in options and it might encourage more people to play and perhaps mod for KOTOR 1, so I would support it for those aspects. But it doesn't mean the game, or the existing dialogue, however imperfect in other ways, is shallow.

A K1 version would be awesome, too, if possible. Maybe find him in Dantooine with Sherruk 😂

Looks like Mungo hasn't been here since 2016. But it would be nice to have some of those old mods re-upped. Like this saber pack, An Extra Starport Visa, and DarthDac's Warpband V2.0, among others from the old Gamefront.. Some of the mod authors don't seem to be around anymore.