A Plague Upon Your Houses!!!!: A review of the Jedi Consular Story part 8

So your new Jedi has been travelling the galaxy trying to stop a mysterious plague that's affecting various Jedi Masters, pulling them under the thrall of a Lord Vivicar. Each time you're confronted with a possessed Master, you have the option of either killing them or using an obscure healing technique learned on Coruscant to save them (I've been killing them).

Once you've completed the class quests on Alderaan, Taris, Tatooine and Nar Shaddaa, Master Syo Bakarn summons you to the Jedi home-world of Tython.  Things are bad. More Masters are being affected by the plague. You tell the council What you've pieced together so far:  all of the Masters initially affected were all stationed once on the planet Malachor 3 and the name Parkanus comes up a lot. As it turns out, the Masters who wound up on Malachor 3, stumbled upon the apparition of a dead sith and had to leave one their own behind i.e.,  Parkanus.  The poor guy was possessed by said Sith Lord and resurfaced recently with this plague as Lord Vivicar.  Yuan volunteers to try and contact Lord Vivicar telepathically even though that might make her vulnerable to the plague again. It does, Vivicar possesses her and you fight. At the end of the confrontation, you have the option of killing her or  using the healing technique on her.  Since I played my Consular dark-side, I killed her.

All is not lost however. Yuon was able to give us a location and so off we go to Lord Vivicar's ship.  The confrontation with him is the same as with all of the bosses so far but with an extra fight or two. The dialogue is either about vowing to put him down (dark-side) or offering him redemption (light-side). I frelling killed him. Unfortunately that meant that a lot of the Jedi Masters he had infected in the meantime died with him. You even get an e-mail from the Council with a list of all of these dead Jedi.

Having played this Darkside, I was disappointed that there were no consequences to having fallen. I mean it's not even a subtle thing. My dark-side Jedi was ruthless, cold, vengeful and without compassion. It's not like he saved the day either: a whole bunch of Jedi Masters have died not the mention the five my character killed for the crime of getting preyed upon by Vivicar. The most that comes of this obvious slide down the slippery slope is Grand-master Satelle Shan throwing some shade about 'your methods'.

Here's the thing: I appreciate what Bioware tried to do with the Consular in Chapter1 but it didn't work for me. It seems that the story was supposed to be reminiscent of KOTOR II. The Malachor system and  the search for Jedi Masters are obvious references to the darker story-line of the KOTOR II. One broad similarity between KOTOR II and the Jedi Consular story as a whole is the feeling of being behind the scenes. The events of the former game were taking place inside of a secret history that few people in the era of the Old Republic are even aware of.

Your consular, however you choose to play him or her, is dealing with issues that are not public knowledge, unlike the Jedi Knight who is more front and center in Galactic events. This crisis of Jedi Masters going crazy is, on the surface, perfect for that kind of story. But SWTOR and KOTOR II are completely different contexts for such similar events. In the case of the latter, the Jedi were almost extinct, the atmosphere was bleak and the story took place on the margins of Republic space. SWTOR features a more powerful Republic with a strong Jedi Order, evenly matched with The Empire and its Sith.

Here's an idea: if Bioware wanted to reference KTOTOR II in the first chapter of the Jedi Consular adventure, then why not do so more explicitly. Instead of all this nonsense about LordVivicar, why not have a character from  KOTOR II be the villain? Say, someone who could conceivably live on as a Force Ghost?

I sincerely hope that they at least tried to include Kreia but just couldn't swing it for whatever reason. Because this version of the story writes itself.  Kreia was a historian and a keeper of secrets. She discovered the Sith Academy in the Malachor system. She was a Consular, epitomizing the concept SWTOR described for the class.  She hated (and I mean hated) the Force and almost succeeded in making it inaccessible to Sith and Jedi alike. Attempting to do so again through the Consular in SWTOR would have been more interesting than the plague. What if she had possessed Master Yuan in an attempt to find the perfect apprentice? The best thing about her was her perspective on Galactic history, what might she make of what's happening in the 'present tense'? Didn't she foretell the Sith Empire returning? God help me, I might write a fan fiction myself just to prove how awesome it might have been.

Until then I have Chapter 2 to review. While I have been somewhat critical of Chapter 1, things improve quite nicely from here on out.  Stay tuned!!!

I'm just a war machine...

A love letter to the Zentraedi:

Of all the things that the Macross Franchise gave me, one of the most cherished is the Zentraedi. Quite possibly one of my most favourite alien species in any medium.

They really have it all. They're giants. They travel in armadas of cool-looking spaceships. They have their own language. They own the colour green.  Their basic fighter mecha is a headless ostrich. Most of all, they're interesting.

The Zentraedi are the creation of a series of civilizations known as the Protoculture. Having a taboo against killing one another, the Protoculture did what any pacifist would do:  get someone else to kill for them.  So .

Wheels are for amateurs

they engineered an entire species of giants to engage in warfare by proxy. We don't get much detail on the nature of this conflict. There are references to a 'Supervision Army' which the Zentraedi are fighting against. In fact, the
SDF-Macross itself is a Supervision Army vessel, and looking for it is how  is how the Zentraedi stumble upon Earth. But other than that, we see the Zentraedi primarily through the eyes of the people aboard the SDF-Macross

What the Zentraedi lack is an everyday life. Leisure, relationships and creativity are all absent from their existence. Watching Super Dimension Fortress Macross, it's fascinating to see them collectively wake up as they are exposed to things like pop music and movies. It is worth noting that consumer culture is celebrated as much as popular culture in Macross. The things are as important as the ideas in this case.

As the fictional universe of Macross progresses and expands, we see the Zentraedi integrate into the surviving human population. While many Zentraedi still reproduce through cloning and live in armadas, some of them have children leading to... you guessed it, giant babies!  Others still form families with human partners creating a demographic of Human-Zentraedi hybrids. The Macross franchise has a fair number of characters who are one-half or one-quarter Zentraedi.

The animated feature film Do You Remember Love? was a redesign not only of the ships and mecha introduced in the series, but also of the Zentraedi themselves. This redesign becomes the basis for how the species is represented in the rest of the franchise making the change not only a reinterpretation  but also a bit of a retcon. Here, the  Zentraedi look a little less human and are given their own language.

All in all, the Zentraedi are one of the main ingredients of this enduring anime franchise. Their development from antagonists to allies is one of the great triumphs of the series. The Zentraedi characters in the cast are some of the most memorable of my youth: Breetai, Exedor, Miriya, Kamjim, Laplamitz, Warerea, Loli and Conda.

Robot Motorcycles: 'Nuff Said.

There are fantasies and then there are futuristic motorcycles that transform into body armour with missiles.  I first got to know Genesis Climber Mospeada through Robotech where it was 'season 3'.  Of the three anime series that Robotech adapted and mashed up together, Mospeada was deviated the least from it's original form. 

I might not love Mospeada as much as I love Macross but I feel affection for it all the same. The latter clearly had an influence on the former, as one can see from its own transforming fighter jets, the Legioss (a clear descendent of Macross' Valkyries).  Mospeada however is on a different scale and there's not a love triangle in sight. It is, above all, a post-apocalyptic drama, following a half-dozen characters on a journey through the Americas after an alien invasion.

In 2050, a swarming mass of aliens called the Inbit descend onto our planet Earth. They win. Humanity is reduced to pathetic remnants scattered over a desolate world. Luckily for these few helpless refugees, there were several colonies elsewhere in the solar system. The human colony on Mars sends multiple waves of their Earth Recapture Force. The story begins in 2080 as the latest wave from Mars has been defeated by the occupying Inbit. We follow a single survivor as he makes his journey to Reflex Point, the Inbit capital to hopefully reconnect with other survivors of the Recapture Forces.



The characters are, of course, a motley crew of misfits who are added to the party one by one as they embark upon their quest. I liked most of them. Stick (known as Scott in Robotech) I rather enjoyed as a cold, stoic person who gradually softens as he bonds with his rag-tag group of freedom fighters. Ray (a.k.a. Rand) was a likeable contrast to Stick. A scavenger and a rogue, he's the one who tries to see the bigger picture beyond the war. Houquet (Rook), is reserved young woman who hides her vulnerability behind a tough-chick exterior. Yellow Belmont (Lancer) is a cross-dressing singer whose ability to pass as a woman provides him with a cover for his freedom fighting. Lunk is a deserter from the war who redeems himself by joining the rebels. Aisha is a mysterious amnesiac. Mint is a teenage girl who ... just tags along.

Romance abounds over the course of this trek. The three couples are Stick with Aisha, Ray with Houquet and Yellow Blemont with Solzie. These pairings don't take over the show. Rather the bond between the group of rebels is the primary relationship explored over the course of the series. Seeing them get to know, work with and rely on each other is one of the joys of Mospeada.

Another pleasure of this anime is the transforming motorcycle. It just has cool written all over it in giant glowing neon letters. One can't get away from the inherent romanticism of the motorbike and this series provides it in spades. The bike also fits with the freedom fighter/ small group vibe of Mospeada.

Given all the legal issues around the release of Macross and related products in North America, the 2008 Robotech sequel The Shadow Chronicles was essentially a continuation of Mospeda. This year, the musical OVA Live Love Alive (which centres around Yellow Belmot being interviewed while on tour) was adapted into a Robotech title. As disappointed as I was with The Shadow Chronicles, I found it much easier to take this way. Mospeada is an awesome story in it's own right and has its own strong visual identity

"Am I truly the last?"

The Last Unicorn (Animated Feature,1982):

I was six years old I think, when I saw The Last Unicorn at school. I begged my parents to rent it on video and watched it hundreds of times. And in all of those hundreds of times, I never once tired of it. This is one of those films I can revisit endlessly because after more than three decades, it holds up perfectly. Its animation is flawless, its character design beautiful, its narrative spellbinding and its score mesmerizing. This animated classic carries truths I only came to understand as an adult (although they resonated on some level as a child).

The plot follows the quest of a unicorn who is, as far as she knows, the last in the world. Leaving her forest, she wanders off into a world that has forgotten her kind. She encounters allies and obstacles alike before finally discovering the truth behind this apparent extinction. She succeeds at finding the other Unicorns but at the cost of losing her self.

The voice cast in this film is perfect. Angela Lansbury as Mommy Fortuna, Alan Arkin as Shmendrick, Mia Farrow as the Unicorn are all brilliant. Christopher lee gifts us with a chilling performance as King Haggard without sacrificing any of the character's pathos. I think René Aubejonois is in this too. Special mention to Tammy Grimes for playing my favourite character of this story, Molly Grue.

The animation for The Last Unicorn was done by Japanese studio Topcraft who were also involved in Macross Do You Remember Love?. This sets the film apart visually from what one expects to see from western animation. The film's colour palate is vividly gorgeous, lushly evoking the contrasts between different landscapes, seasons and times of day. One thing I appreciate is how the Unicorn is not simply a horse with a horn stuck on its forehead. She really seems like a four-legged person rather than a magical animal.

What makes this particular hero's journey so effective for me is the fact that the hero doesn't quite win in the end. The Unicorn and her friends encounters setbacks at every turn, often finding themselves out of their depth.  When she finally confronts the Red Bull (sigh) and frees her brethren from their watery prison, it does not alleviate her fundamental loneliness.  Her adventures have turned her into something other than a Unicorn, giving her experiences that set her apart from her brethren.

There is literally so much I can say about this film, that I'm writing about it in a series of posts. I've probably babbled about this in real life to people who had no idea what I was going on about. So stay tuned, for there is more to come about this absolute treasure of the Fantastical literature.

My Sincerest Condolences.... A Review of the Jedi Consular Story Part 7:

We're getting close to the end of chapter 1! Our Jedi fixer is basically tracking down and killing mentally ill Jedi Masters because he's fallen to the dark side and the Council's pretending that they haven't noticed. Your main quest-giver, Syo Bakarn has sent you, your sidekicks and your hot, hot spaceship off to the planet of Alderaan.

Yeah, that Alderaan.

I was always curious about what Alderaan was really like. All we ever see of the planet in the original trilogy is a pretty epic explosion. Thus, Bioware had a lot of freedom in creating Alderaan however they wished. What we get is fairly interesting:

• Alderaan is neutral: This world left the Republic when the war broke out. Both the Republic and the Empire are trying to coax Alderaan to their respective sides
• Alderaan has intrigue: Caught up in a civil war, the various noble houses who rule this planet are all plotting against each other. 
• Alderaan has mountains:  The designers decided to go with a high altitude theme. It works with the courtly/feudal/fairy-tale motif with all these pretty people living in pretty castles on sugar-coated mountain-tops.  It's a ski resort, basically. Planet Whistler. 

The planet quest is about helping the Republic back their favourite team, the Organas, in their bid for the throne. You basically do everything for them that they cannot do for themselves and get them closer to winning their civil war. This one involves helping them in heir fight against House Thul (backed by the Empire) and House Ulgo (a wildcard who cause problems for both the Organas and the Thuls). Another factor in this world's situation is it's indigenous species, the Killicks described wryly by one NPC as genoshians "with more leg".

I have to say while I liked Alderaan, I didn't like the Alderaanians. I felt like I was dealing with a bunch of self-absorbed, good-looking aristocrats who were kind of getting off on their own drama. On other worlds, there was a sense that choosing one side or another of  the Galactic conflict might have consequences. Here, the various nobles are thinking locally and being oblivious globally.  There's also the awkwardness of knowing this sorry planet's future.  I mean, Tatooine is more or less the same now as it will be millennia later when Luke Skywalker comes of age. But we all know that that same year, poor Leia Organa will watch helplessly as Alderaan goes BOOM!  It adds a level of hopelessness to all the work you're doing here.

But you're not just here to interfere in local politics. There's a crazy Jedi Master to cut down! She's a sort of diplomat who's organizing a summit of the various Alderaanian houses. Unlike the other afflicted Masters, this one's doing a better job of covering up just how off-track she is.  You spend most of your time on Alderaan trying to get into the summit. Each house can only send one representative to this exclusive event. Your target is already representing Organa so you have to help a small-time noble house rise to enough prominence to be invited to the summit and then represent them yourself. Then you can kill her (Dark side) or heal her (Light side).

We're getting close to the end of the Jedi Consular's last chapter. In addition to wrapping up the plot, my next post in this series will include a review of the Chapter 1 story-line as a whole.

Sand, Sun and... um, yeah. A Review of the Jedi Consular Story: Part 6

We are now half-way through the first chapter of the Jedi Consular's class story. Your Jedi is travelling through the galaxy in his or her flash spaceship with a growing crew of companions on a daring mission to ... do something with various crazy Jedi Masters. The latest stop on this odyssey is quite possibly the most iconic world in the entire Star Wars Universe. In Knights of the Old Republic, Tatooine was extremely well-realized, rendered beautifully in all of its arid, blinding desolation.  Now SWTOR  has revisited the game and given us a more detailed, larger and richer version of the same. If you don't have a speeder, now really is the time to get one because Tatooine is huge. Actually, I got mine by Taris  because that was huge too.

The main planet mission for Tatooine is one of my favourites. It has a great plot, memorable and likeable characters and nice continuity with KOTOR.  Soon after  you leave the spaceport you are contacted by a mysterious man who refuses to give details until you meet with him. Soon you find yourself drafted by Republic Intelligence to track down a secret installation left behind by the Czerka corporation.  You run around trying to stay one step ahead of a really creepy Czerka executive eventually finding something left behind by the Rakata Infinite Empire!

I really liked Czerka in the KOTOR games. They weren't quite Weyland-Yutani or Cyberdyne, but as evil corporations go, they're quite fun.  Also making a welcome appearance are the Rakata. I liked their incorporation into the Star Wars Universe through KOTOR.  I really dig the notion that the Infinite Empire had the Force figured out long before the Jedi and the Sith ever came along.

The class mission involves tracking down a sort of Jedi anthropologist who's been living amongst the Sand People. As a result of this mysterious plague, he's gone a little nuts and is trying to create an army out them. He basically wants to model the Republic on his notion of who the Sand People are. Your main contact here is a likeable character named Rowan who used to work with the Jedi you're looking for. He's almost companion material. The idea of the anthropologist 'going native' is fairly cool and there are shades of  Heart of Darkness in this part of the class story-line. I do feel that the planet mission about Czerka overshadows the class mission somewhat.

Once you're done here, it's time to visit a certain doomed world.

Damsel? Yes. Distressed? No. A review of the Consular Story Part 5.5

Between Planet Sexy and Tunisia, we get a bit of a detour. You receive a distress call from a Republic vessel named the Carida. It has been commandeered and its crew terrorized  by one of its passengers: a fairly powerful padawan. There's a lot of airlock action here, the crazy padawan blows a poor engineer out into space for kicks. Then she blows herself out of the airlock!

Notable in this mission is your first encounter with Lord Vivicar. The name has come up here and there as the entity behind the plague. His end of the conversation amounts to standard villain dialogue where he shows contempt for you and the Jedi, taunts you about Master Yuon and rants that you'll never stop his dastardly plan.

Playing it Darkside, he does point out that you haven't been using the shielding technique on the afflicted Masters you've found so far. At this point you can respond with something defensive about how you had no choice but to kill the poor buggers.  Like I said before, the Darkside Consular is all about justifying their awfulness. This stems from a sense of superiority to everyone else because no one else is in a position to know what's best!

But as for the very pertinent question that Vivicar asks (abut how you've obviously fallen), that's the only time anyone actually asks about Darkside choices! The main villain of  Chapter 1 has more to say about your transgressions than the Jedi Council! I'll get to this issue in more detail when I reach the end of chapter 1. Until then, it's off to the mother of all dust bowls...