Request/Proposal: Temporary Arena Equipment for K1

[ZeldaTheSwordsman 40]

One of the issues of KotOR 1 is that due to the level cap of 20 (which was hardcoded, last I heard), you're encouraged to refrain from leveling up too much while on Taris, lest you gimp your Jedi progression. I wouldn't go past 7 or 8, personally. But this isn't without its own troubles. Starter world though Taris may be, the enemy NPCs aren't toothless, and beginning with the Black Vulkar Base the fights can be problematic for a PC trying to stay that low. But at least with the dungeons you have the option of relying on other party members.

The Duel Ring, not so much. I seem to recall both Marl and Bendak being hard to manage at those levels (Twitch on the other hand seems to have a hard time dealing with you shoving a vibroblade in his face).

One way to counteract that would be buffed equipment that you could obtain to even the playing field a bit. But I feel that runs the risk of being overpowered for that point in the game. So I think a good mod would be temporary equipment that you can only use in the Taris Duel Ring somehow. Is that something anyone would be interested in making, if it's even possible?

[TamerBill 135]

1 hour ago, ZeldaTheSwordsman said:

you're encouraged to refrain from leveling up too much while on Taris, lest you gimp your Jedi progression.

You're not, is the thing. Deliberately refraining from levelling-up is deviant behaviour counter to the game design. They give the PC bonus force points as a jedi specifically because they come to it late, it's intended.

You could just lower the stats of the duelists if you wanted the duel ring to be easier. Or since the trouble is self-inflicted, just turn the difficulty slider down to Easy.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman 40]

Just now, TamerBill said:

You're not, is the thing. Deliberately refraining from levelling-up is deviant behaviour counter to the game design. They give the PC bonus force points as a jedi specifically because they come to it late, it's intended.

You could just lower the stats of the duelists if you wanted the duel ring to be easier. Or since the trouble is self-inflicted, just turn the difficulty slider down to Easy.

No, you're still effectively encouraged to refrain from leveling up too much. Because bonus Force points or no, if you don't refrain you get gimped on Force Power progression. I say this as someone who was once Level 12 before leaving Taris.

[Thor110 497]

4 minutes ago, ZeldaTheSwordsman said:

No, you're still effectively encouraged to refrain from leveling up too much. Because bonus Force points or no, if you don't refrain you get gimped on Force Power progression. I say this as someone who was once Level 12 before leaving Taris.

You are certainly not encouraged to refrain from levelling up, considering the Endar Spire forces you to level up once ( mainly to teach you I guess ), but no one would have known prior to playing it that doing it this way would have gained you extra force power progression meaning that it is an after-play tactic.

I myself remember being a high level leaving Taris the first time I ever played it, the Arena is meant to be a challenge, defeating the final opponent is not meant to be easy and nor is getting to them.

As suggested it would be easy to do this by either altering the module or just adjusting the difficulty slider, definitely don't think it's something that needs modding into the game.

That's just my opinion though, if you think it is that worth doing grab ERFEdit and K-GFF editor and dive into the level to alter the characters stats.

[TamerBill 135]

5 minutes ago, ZeldaTheSwordsman said:

No, you're still effectively encouraged to refrain from leveling up too much. Because bonus Force points or no, if you don't refrain you get gimped on Force Power progression. I say this as someone who was once Level 12 before leaving Taris.

...did you grind on respawning Rakghouls or something? You're meant to leave Taris at level 8 or 9. That's the intended progression.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman 40]

3 minutes ago, Thor110 said:

You are certainly not encouraged to refrain from levelling up, considering the Endar Spire forces you to level up once ( mainly to teach you I guess ), but no one would have known prior to playing it that doing it this way would have gained you extra force power progression meaning that it is an after-play tactic.

I myself remember being a high level leaving Taris the first time I ever played it, the Arena is meant to be a challenge, defeating the final opponent is not meant to be easy and nor is getting to them.

As suggested it would be easy to do this by either altering the module or just adjusting the difficulty slider, definitely don't think it's something that needs modding into the game.

That's just my opinion though, if you think it is that worth doing grab ERFEdit and K-GFF editor and dive into the level to alter the characters stats.

I'm not talking about making it easy, just about making it less like "taking on the TSL Handmaidens' first challenge when you're not built for unarmed fighting" (I.E. You miss most of the time while they hit most of the time, and can do a lot more damage), which Marl and Bendak can sometimes get like if you're level 7 or 8. And I figured that modding in situation-restricted equipment would be a good way of achieving that balance without nerfing them or making you overpowered outside of those fights. Or maybe my memory's messing with me and they're not actually that problematic at those levels...

And you know, I did specifically say that you're encouraged to refrain from leveling up too much while on Taris. Not that you're encouraged to refrain from leveling up at all, just encouraged to refrain from leveling up too far too soon.

13 minutes ago, TamerBill said:

...did you grind on respawning Rakghouls or something? You're meant to leave Taris at level 8 or 9. That's the intended progression.

I don't think I was? But that run was a long time ago. And I resolved never to have another run like it again.

[Thor110 497]

6 minutes ago, ZeldaTheSwordsman said:

And you know, I did specifically say that you're encouraged to refrain from leveling up too much while on Taris. Not that you're encouraged to refrain from leveling up at all, just encouraged to refrain from leveling up too far too soon.

At no point does the game suggest you do not level up, therefore there is no encouragement to refrain from levelling up too far too soon.

I think you are mis-remembering it to be honest, I remember it being tough but I remember it also being a satisfying challenge to complete, it is also a challenge that not everybody takes on, which I think is also part of the point, not everyone does all the side quests for various reasons. Be it that they have done it before or they don't have the time, or that they just don't want to.

Personally I like to do them and I like them to be challenging, if you can find something in the game that truly encourages you to refrain from levelling up, I would like to hear it because I am confident that there is no such suggestion or encouragement, other than that which comes from online guides or people who have already played the game.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman 40]

The game doesn't explicitly encourage you, no. The encouragement comes from the experience of the game basically punishing you for not refraining. It is encouragement in effect.

But never mind this thread anyway...

[Thor110 497]

5 minutes ago, ZeldaTheSwordsman said:

The game doesn't explicitly encourage you, no. The encouragement comes from the experience of the game basically punishing you for not refraining. It is encouragement in effect.

But never mind this thread anyway...

It only punishes you, from a certain point of view. ( namely the view of someone who has played it before )

P.S. I am taking your suggestions seriously and trying to consider them in the context of the worlds as I understand them and the games, I would also happily point you in the right direction and make suggestions for making these sorts of edits, I am also trying to take on-board suggestions from the community at the moment for improving both games.