Impressions of M4-78 EP (Version 1.2 only)

[Hassat Hunter 571]

You mean the droidparts (I tried to enrich them with sub-quests) or the start of the player character going about?

 

And CS-36 VO will be replaced.

[JustOutside 0]

Hello,

 

I just finished a playthrough with m478, wanted to do it since its release but real life always get in the way. It's a great job, thanks to every persons who participate!

 

This mod seem to have a bad reputation over the internet, not sure why, the vo is very good for most part, and having so much of it in a mod that size is miraculous. I didn't see the boring parts either, investigate what happened before the PC arrived is interesting, and I didn't need to do too much running to complete the quests, at least not more that on the vanilla planets.

 

If you said that it was made by Obsidian, I would have believed it. Anyway, I have a few questions.

 

I sent HK-47 to do the radiation cleaning, and there was a conversation about HK-01 in the central zone, but coudn't find anything more on it later. Is there something more to this?

 

I assume that the 'important looking droid' that give the elimination mission to HK is working for GO-TO?

 

Is there a way to prevent m4-78 to reinitialyse ES-05 at the end of the main quest? 

 

Almost forgot, I played on a french GOG version, and switching the dialog.tlk to a english one from the korriban academy to the end of M4-78 allowed me to do the mod without problem.

[zbyl2 811]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

 

HK-01 reference was just an easter egg. Later on you can learn that the droids have been on M4-78 for around 64 years. HK-47 didn't exist in that time, but HK-01 did, so a droid wasn't familiar with any other HK models.

 

Unfortunately, there's no way for ES-05 not to lose her memory at the end.

[aleph01 0]

Hi all

 

I just completed M4-78 1.2 (after having done 1.1 on an earlier play-through I think). It went better this time but I find my main gripe about the mod remains the same: pacing. There's a LOT of running around to find things or droids, then double back to a droid in order to open up the next area, rinse and repeat. 

 

For instance, I think the whole radiation sub-plot at the start is something of a waste. You run around, covering a lot of territory, in order to get rid of the radiation, so your PC can run around the same area immediately afterwards and do more fetching quests in the same area. It's tedious, and for me, it isn't fun gameplay.

 

Now, one way to get around this would be to just remove the radiation subplot completely and have the Industrial Zone etc PC friendly from the get-go, thus saving 15/20 mins of running around. That would speed things up, certainly.

OR have one of your droids do the most of the leg work for this mod, and rid the radiation towards the end, when the Environmental Zone can be accessed - this is where the player takes over the Exile and sees Vash.

 

That's just my two cents, though.

[Madeus 0]

When will the next update be?

[Advo_Pro 0]

I thought it was a very well made mod and added a lot to the game. Only bad thing I have to say is that the directions were very confusing, trying to remember all the robots names and where they were located got tedious. But not a big deal, just gives you more time to explore the location! 

[Hassat Hunter 571]

When will the next update be?

When it's done.

[aleph01 0]

When it's done.

Now where have I heard that before? 

[rede9 0]

3.3 Patch fixlist:

 

! Changed learning "Niman" to "Juyo" for Sentinels, Assassins and Watchmasters.

Can Sentinels get 6 APR with +1 Juyo, +2 two sabers, +2 Master Speed, +1 Flurry?

 

EDIT: Damn.

[adogface 1]

Hey guys,

Just completed (I believe so) the storyline of M4-78 and among everything that has been already discussed at the forums I haven't found answers to one question that bothers me the most: why in the world did Kaah get killed on the way to Ebon Hawk? Who are these random droids who shot him and why did they do that? This sequence - when he suffocates and then gets murdered - is happening right in front of player character getting out of the main behavior core, and literally nobody is concerned with what just happened. Neither your character nor anyone on this whole planet wants to talk about this in any way. It just... happens, right after you become the new colonist and all the "reprogramming" stuff is no more. And then the story just ends... Am I wrong? Is there is something else?

Maybe I just missed something vital to the story and thus am confused now, so please give explanations to what I've just witnessed. That is, if you have any.

***

Looking back at the mod as a whole I actually liked most of it. I rarely had problems with the voice acting, only when the droid-ish voice changers literally hurt my ears. I did not encounter any major bugs, but didn’t like the fact that going through the quests in one order and not another may block some of them from being completed (I'm talking mostly about the bonus mission). I LOVED the pacing and the intrigue building up through the story... well, until this very story seemingly forgot about its own existence and/or importance. Starting very strong, the story just doesn't know how to unfold. Dialogue lines of different characters talking about the same things doesn't correlate with each other, they just get thrown at you. Master Vash gets killed because the main game story needs her to be killed, and it shows, because no proper logic on why M4-78 kills her is given - "she was a threat", and then he tells he NEEDS organics to maintain his functionality, yet he had just KILLED an organic. Kaah is literally "deus ex machina" as he appears in the main behavior core when he NEEDS to appear - what was he doing since he left the Environmental Zone?! - and then he does things to make the story end. Also Kaah says he shut down M4-78's own memory core and uploaded the backup files of Environmental Archon to M4-78 memory, but it DOES NOT ACTUALLY HAPPEN. M4-78 behaves as usual, and by the way the Environmental Archon does not feel the consequences of her memory being wiped as she perfectly remembers out last conversation.

And the ambience of the lifeless planet inhabited with droids is great! You are concerned about this planet and genuinely care to find out what happened! And when you finally do find this out, you wish you'd never do it...

Overall the technical part and the ambience were great and on a par with the original KotORs', but the story was mostly lacking: with a good, intriguing start, it seems like your writer(s) did not know how to take advantage of it and ultimately failed to reunite all the story arcs in the end and create a logical and coherent conclusion.

***

And above all else, please tell me you have a logical explanation of why Kaah got killed in front of me, and nobody on the planet gives a damn about it.

[N-DReW25 1,336]

why in the world did Kaah get killed on the way to Ebon Hawk? Who are these random droids who shot him and why did they do that? This sequence - when he suffocates and then gets murdered - is happening right in front of player character getting out of the main behavior core, and literally nobody is concerned with what just happened. Neither your character nor anyone on this whole planet want to talk about this in any way. It just... happens, right after you become the new colonist and all the "reprogramming" stuff is no more, and then the story ends... or am I wrong and there is something else?

I am not 100% sure but I am pretty sure the main AI M4-78 ordered all droids to kill Kaah right before he is reprogrammed. But I didn't make the mod so I can't be 100% sure.

[adogface 1]

I am not 100% sure but I am pretty sure the main AI (M4-78) ordered all droids to kill Kaah right before he is reprogrammed. But I didn't make the mod so I can't be 100% sure.

And he didn't change the command after Kaah himself reprogrammed M4-78 and "made friends" with him? That would not make sense. And it still doesn't explain why nobody talks about it afterwards.

[N-DReW25 1,336]

And he didn't change the command after Kaah himself reprogrammed M4-78 and "made friends" with him? That would not make sense. And it still doesn't explain why nobody talks about it afterwards.

I do believe M4-78 when he was reprogrammed forgot about the command entirely so that's why he didn't change it because he didn't know he just gave a kill command to every battle droid on M4-78

[adogface 1]

I do believe M4-78 when he was reprogrammed forgot about the command entirely so that's why he didn't change it because he didn't know he just gave a kill command to every battle droid on M4-78

Oh okay, thank you. That, if true, is still a very weak way to kill a character, and it's a shame the story ends like that. But it at least proves that there is some kind of logic behind Kaah's death, even though it is never actually explained or hinted at.

 

 

[Hassat Hunter 571]

Well, pretty much all of these *are* explained ingame, so let's go over them;

 

why in the world did Kaah get killed on the way to Ebon Hawk? Who are these random droids who shot him and why did they do that? This sequence - when he suffocates and then gets murdered - is happening right in front of player character getting out of the main behavior core, and literally nobody is concerned with what just happened. Neither your character nor anyone on this whole planet wants to talk about this in any way. It just... happens, right after you become the new colonist and all the "reprogramming" stuff is no more. And then the story just ends... Am I wrong? Is there is something else?

M4-78 commands him to be killed when he's trying to reprogram him. You can actually ask Kaah about this before he runs out of the behavior core. Your character is NOT in the Central Zone if it happens (and definitely not at the entrance to the behavior core as you can see when Kaah walks out). Like Kreia on Nar Shaddaa though, there's no good way to tell something happens in a different area without swapping back and forth multiple times, so that wasn't done here, but the initial shot should tell you the PC still isn't in the Central Zone itself.

Also CS-36 will comment on this in 1.3.

 

but didn’t like the fact that going through the quests in one order and not another may block some of them from being completed (I'm talking mostly about the bonus mission).

Which are you talking about, all of them except for Recent History: M4-78 can be finished in any order.

Dialogue lines of different characters talking about the same things doesn't correlate with each other, they just get thrown at you.

Again, examples?

Master Vash gets killed because the main game story needs her to be killed, and it shows, because no proper logic on why M4-78 kills her is given - "she was a threat", and then he tells he NEEDS organics to maintain his functionality, yet he had just KILLED an organic.

An organic who just murdered all the Sith on the planet, reprogrammed many droids and did many acts of sabotage in the colony. It's not very logical to appoint the person killing all your colonists the new colonist. The player or Republic never harmed M4-78 in a direct way like Vash and Kaah did.

Also Kaah says he shut down M4-78's own memory core and uploaded the backup files of Environmental Archon to M4-78 memory, but it DOES NOT ACTUALLY HAPPEN. M4-78 behaves as usual, and by the way the Environmental Archon does not feel the consequences of her memory being wiped as she perfectly remembers out last conversation.

It's just a memory wipe from their convo in the core, not an entire reset. I don't quite recall Kaah's take on that, I would have to look that up. I don't think it works the way as said above though.

[Lawkmt3 17]

First of all MAJOR props to all the people who worked on this MOD. I can't believe so many people did all this for free. However, my main impression is that I have no idea what to do, the descriptions and directions are very vague.

[Guest]

I've been reading through this thread and yes I did play through M4-78 once.

But I thought the overall plotline was somewhat interesting but I don't think it had enough going on; I think perhaps it should've been a bit more explicit as to whom the original colonists were.

I think personally it would be quite interesting if the original colonists were; in fact; the original Sith that Kreia mentioned at the end of K2.

 

I don't like custom VA work, never have but we'll see if that can be improved in 1.3.

 

I think as far as bugs go and things like that; this mod is very well made, very well put together. I appreciate the work.

 

My final criticism would be the areas are far too similar, and apart from the initial ramp and the droid core- don't leave a distinct mark in my mind like every other area in the game.

 

I'm currently working as a concept artist and actually I would be happy to contribute some drawings (trying to use only the architecture found in TSL so that it would be achievable)- some of my ideas on how some areas should be completely overhauled and redesigned, suggestions and criticism welcome if I'm given the go ahead.

[Sith Holocron 2,478]

But I thought the overall plotline was somewhat interesting but I don't think it had enough going on; I think perhaps it should've been a bit more explicit as to whom the original colonists were.

 

I see someone hasn't played the side mission with the droid that broke it's own programming.  There's a pretty big hint about who the colony actually belongs to in that mission.

[Lawkmt3 17]

Here's my question, after playing Korriban do you have to go straight to M7-48? I ask because I don't get a message to return to Onderon after I finish Korriban like you would without the MOD. I'm just confused because I thought you had to get Kavar before Vash.

[Guest]

I see someone hasn't played the side mission with the droid that broke it's own programming.  There's a pretty big hint about who the colony actually belongs to in that mission.

 

I played every side mission I could find, but this was when 1.2 was first released. So forgive me if I don't remember everything- who were they? 

[Lawkmt3 17]

I'm just guessing but I'd think GOTO set up the colony, but why and for whom is another thing entirely. Oh how I loath GOTO! Really, I think that GOTO should have been a meatbag or a different character should have been included. He's not much use when you have 7 Force users a T3 and an HK-47! What you actually needed was another Consular Jedi! At least Mandalore is needed for story purposes, but I can't say that a broken droid turned Exchange Boss is all that compelling or interesting to me.

[zbyl2 811]

Here's my question, after playing Korriban do you have to go straight to M7-48? I ask because I don't get a message to return to Onderon after I finish Korriban like you would without the MOD. I'm just confused because I thought you had to get Kavar before Vash.

You can go to M4-78 wherever you want. You can even do Korriban first then do M4-78 as your last planet.

 

 

I played every side mission I could find, but this was when 1.2 was first released. So forgive me if I don't remember everything- who were they? 

It's never stated who the real colonists are, and I never gave an answer either. It's just a lot of hints in the game which you can't piece together without some EU knowledge.

 

Hint 1) is that the colony is 68-ish years old, and if you use HK-47 for the droid quest, one of the units refer to you as HK-01. Both are references to something called Great Droid Revolution. Original idea was that planet's origin were linked to that conflict, but I believe we scrapped that. Colony was still founded around the same time.

Hint 2) is from the side quest SH mentioned, which is pretty easy to miss and I know most people never finished it. You learn that colonists were sending regular transmission to M4-78 for a while... and then it stopped. You can help the droid locate the source of those transmissions: a space sector, called Quelli. That's where Praven Prime is located - you may recall the planet from one of HK-47's stories. That's where the mistranslation led to a brutal war. IIRC they stopped sending transmissions around the time that war started.

 

That's what I recall anyway, it's been years since I talked about M4-78's background to anyone. There's no indication of how the colony came to be in TSL's files, so the whole backstory was up to us. I decided it's best to leave it vague.

[Sith Holocron 2,478]

HK-47 wants to remind you all of something, for some reason.

 

https://youtu.be/0UErCpfnrVU

 

(Not in mod.)

[Lawkmt3 17]

OK so the theory is one of these alien races had plans for a colony, and the Sith stole it, and Vash and her Padawan fried them in a microwave? Personally, at this point my only real complaint with this MOD is that the vague theoretical plot doesn't truly connect to the plot of the game as a whole. You don't learn about your "Force Emptiness" problem. You don't help heal or destroy anything to 'help' or 'hurt' the Republic. I also have to question Vash and Padawan's ethics in trapping all the soldiers in a super-microwave! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Vash! Glad to see her back in game, but as a person who does more writing as a creative hobby than anything else, I think the story needs deeper roots, more grounding in the Kotor/TSL (I ignore TOR) world.

[N-DReW25 1,336]

OK so the theory is one of these alien races had plans for a colony, and the Sith stole it, and Vash and her Padawan fried them in a microwave? Personally, at this point my only real complaint with this MOD is that the vague theoretical plot doesn't truly connect to the plot of the game as a whole. You don't learn about your "Force Emptiness" problem. You don't help heal or destroy anything to 'help' or 'hurt' the Republic. I also have to question Vash and Padawan's ethics in trapping all the soldiers in a super-microwave! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Vash! Glad to see her back in game, but as a person who does more writing as a creative hobby than anything else, I think the story needs deeper roots, more grounding in the Kotor/TSL (I ignore TOR) world.

You kinda can help/hurt the Sith Or Republic with this mod. You can send medical supplies to other sith colonies or to the citadel station or you can send M4-78 fuel to Citadel and then receive reinforcements from M4-78 during the fight! This mod kinda didn't have much to work with considering it's meant to be a Restoration and not a custom overhaul of some of the game's entire plot though I do believe someone if they can make another M4-78 mod here are the modules to begin with- http://deadlystream.com/forum/files/file/16-m4-78-droid-modules/ (Not that another M4-78 is necessary of course  )