StarDestroyer.Net BBS

 Post subject: How would you redo Tales of the Jedi

Posted: 2012-01-09 05:54pm 

In the 90s the Tales of the Jedi Series was released and ran for five years. I read them a few years ago and while not bad they did have some crippling stupidities.

The Arcs were as follows

Part 1 and 2: The Great hyperspace War

Part 3: Nomi Sunrider: Can't really comment

Part 4: The Freedon Nad Uprising and the Darkness of Onderon

Part 5: The Rise of the Krath and Ulic's fall

Part 6: Krath War

Part 7: Redemption

The problems can be divided into two categories, maybe three.

1.) Wankery: Some of the powers achieve godlike status to the point of being beyond implausible and outright magic. Also, in the great hyperspace the sith use war beasts and spears, as do the republic. That sounds more like lord of the rings

2.) Scale: The Great Hyperspace has been touted as one of the most devastating conflicts in Galactic History yet we don't se much

Both wars last for a short amount of time and we only see a small amount of battles.

There were good things

The Great hyperspace war had potential: It could have increased the Republic's fear of the Dark side, and could have influenced the geopolitical structure in more ways than one; The near genocide of the Sith also creates a mistake that bites them in the ass (the TOR plot has potential if done properly).

Ulic's fall to darkness: He was in many ways a better executed version of Anakin's fall; despite being an arrogant prick we can see that he is fundementally a good man. However, his pride and desperation causes him to be manipulated by Aleema and Satal until he becomes even more dangerous than they were. His redemption by keeping Sylvar from walking his road was also well done.

The Krath Society: Shows what happens when douchebag aristocrats get a taste of real dark power, and the results ain't pretty.

Given that I was wondering how people would write it out if given the chance

 Post subject: Re: How would you redo Tales of the Jedi

Posted: 2012-01-09 06:20pm 

Get rid of Kevin J. Anderson.

Problem = solved.

 Post subject: Re: How would you redo Tales of the Jedi

Posted: 2012-01-09 06:54pm 

While Anderson is hardly a good writer he did do some things right. Ulic's fall was very well done and the shock and horror he felt when realized what he had become was genuinely heartbreaking. Also, the way Ulic was able to make Mandalore his bitch was awesome, while the fact he ensured the guys loyalty showed that he was an intelligent villain as well as an evil one.

 Post subject: Re: How would you redo Tales of the Jedi

Posted: 2012-01-10 02:40pm 

I can't comment on the details of Tales of the Jedi's plot, as I didn't read it and only know the broad strokes of the story, but I think that Bioware has done some retconing to make the GHW more consistent with the lore they established for TOR.

In the posted video, I get the sense that the Great Hyperspace War was probably a short but extremely intense conflict. Essentially the Sith launched a massive invasion of the Republic on multiple fronts, nearly overwhelming the Republic before they or the Jedi could react. Then, after the Sith overextend themselves and turn on each other like they always do, the Republic launched a counter-offensive that pushed them all the way back to Korriban. Essentially, the GHW was analogous to what happened on the Eastern Front of WW2, only with more betrayal. The spears and warbeasts don't seem to make an appearance in the video, though the Sith of the GHW appear to favor swords over lightsabres.

 Post subject: Re: How would you redo Tales of the Jedi

Posted: 2012-01-10 11:15pm 

Get rid of Kotor.

Yeah I think the entire Kotor story weakens Tales of the Jedi, since what 50 years after Exar Kuns wars we have another jedi falling, and not as well as Ulric either.

And so what the Sith have wanktastic powers, that actually helps cement the fear the jedi feel of their elusive foes. Also your thoughts that the scale is off is laughable since that is mostly a limitation of the medium. And they aren't that far off of what the OT showed anyway. Hell the fleets feel bigger and more threatening than the Executor and her armada.

I don't even have a problem with the spears, TOR has it going to far in the opposite direction. Why should the armor be the same and the equipment arguably more powerful and usable then what the Original trilogy has? Sure having guns and Beamers and other 'sci-fi' lazor weapons is what we expect, but the theme of the Tales book is the history of the Galaxy so why not look the part?

Even if the GHW is less of a war than your expectations you have to remember that within the story it is just Exar Kun and his side of the Sith Empire that are involved, and probably they couldn't go all in simply cause they still have to watch the other half of the empire. I don't think we really see the republic offensive into Sith space though, and that could've been the massive blood letting that the histories would've focused on.

 Post subject: Re: How would you redo Tales of the Jedi

Posted: 2012-01-10 11:45pm 

Why not have spears? Because having melee weapons (for anything other than Jedi anyway) in an era of advanced firearms is idiotic, and having FTL but not widespread firearms is idiotic.

Also, there is a difference between threatening and wank. And a Sith Lord can be deadly without blowing up whole fleets with the Force. Palpatine's greatest victories came through manipulation. Which makes him in a way more impressive than if he had just wiped out the entire Council and Senate singlehandidly with Force Lightning.

 Post subject: Re: How would you redo Tales of the Jedi

Posted: 2012-01-11 01:41pm 

While it may weaken that storyline, most, and virtually all non fans, have KOTOR as their only experience with that era and it wasn't one of the most popular games of 2003 for nothing.