JA SP- Worth Playing?

[DF mod Feedback]

I jumped right into the multiplayer. Should I bother with the SP if I didn't enjoy JO SP much at all?

[TK-8252]

Why buy Jedi Academy if you're only going to play half of it?

 

Get your money's worth and play single player.

[Kurgan]

It's certainly improved in terms of lower frustration level, more force/saber action and more locales and longer.

 

But if you desire a deeper story, deeper characters, etc you won't find that here.

 

Basically they gave you access to more force powers and moves, but some inherent weaknesses of the JK2 SP experience remain:

 

-weak weapons (other than the sabers) vs. MP where they are useful.

 

-the animations/movement feels a LOT LESS tight and precise vs. MP (though I suppose some would say it's "more cinematic" or something)

 

-The silly "auto dodge" function that only works on the easy difficulty settings is again used instead of the more common sense/less random ability used in MP (in both games) of blocking disruptor shots with the saber and/or using Force Seeing Level 3 to auto dodge EVERY shot that hits above the waist.

 

At least with hit location, you can sometimes score head shots on enemies to kill them instead of having to pound round after round into their bodies while they just kind of shrug it off while running around as in JK2 SP.

 

Sure, play through JA SP, give it a go for a few levels at least. Can't hurt to try it. It's easier than JK2. Frankly, other than the less deep story/characters, I had just as much fun playing through it as JK2, though with less frustration (the puzzles and gun only levels in JK2 were just tedius).

[txa1265]

Originally posted by DF mod Feedback

I jumped right into the multiplayer. Should I bother with the SP if I didn't enjoy JO SP much at all?

Personally, Jedi Academy is one of my top-5 all time SP games, which I've now played 6+ times (>half through 7th). But then, I absolutely *loved* Jedi Outcast. It replaced Jedi Knight as my all-time fave game, and is still in my top 5.

 

So ... if you don't like JKII, you'll probably not like JA. But as much of JA is comprised of 'quick missions' rather than multi-level missions, you might like it better.

 

But ... how will you know unless you try. And, you *have* the game ...

 

Mike

[DF mod Feedback]

Well it's a moot point now anyways; sp is borked for me. I've reinstalled, upgraded to 1.1, and tried almost every setting in game (inlcuding safe mode), upgraded to the latest ATI drivers for my Asus 9600XT, and made sure all my other hardware and XP Pro Updates were as they should be.

 

JA SP loads fine, except when I get to the first cutscene inside the transport it just zooms around an empty ship while I hear invisible people talk. When the first level begins after the crash landing I can't see myself in 1st or 3rd person mode, can't see my lightsaber or anyone else, but I can still move around. Pretty ridiculous.

 

Judging by the lack of buzz around the 'net when this game was released I'd wager that I'm not going to be missing much more than standard fps fare with a force/saber twist. :\

[Amidala from Chop Shop]

I have to agree with txa1265 and disagree with my friend Kurgan. As much as I liked Jedi Outcast SP, and I liked it a lot, I think people unfairly overrate it compared to Jedi Academy SP.

 

JK2 SP was good once you got your lightsaber and Force powers, but people forget how tedious those early missions were before your first confrontation with Desann. Remember crawling through those mine tunnels with those crab creatures chasing you? Ugh. It got a lot better after you got your lightsaber and Force powers, but even then some of the missions were a little bit too much of the same thing (like on that cortosis mining facility). You also didn't get to pick your Force powers, so there was no variation in that. Again, I liked it a lot, but it wasn't perfect.

 

But with Jedi Academy, there are more varied locations, and you can pick which Force powers to enhance. The first time I played it I maxed out all the Light side powers before increasing Dark side powers (so I was mostly Light side), stuck with single-saber, and picked the "light side" ending. The next time I maxed out the Dark side powers first (so I was mostly Dark), again picked single saber, but picked the "dark" ending. Currently, I decided to max out Heal first, then Dark Rage, then Mind Trick, so I could Dark Rage and then quickly heal, and use Mind Trick to get stormies to fight each other, or Mind Trick a Rocket Trooper Officer to wipe out the baddies for me while I sat back and watched the show.

 

And, that doesn't even include choosing dual sabers or saber staff to play the last third of the game. I think because of all the different options, the replayability factor is higher (if you are smart about it). It was very different playing with mostly Dark side force powers compared to mostly Light side powers. When I had mostly Dark side Forces, I had to remember to not shoot or saber the last bad guy so I could Drain the life out of him and replenish my health like a vampiress.

 

Speaking of which, the ability to be one of six "species" as Jaden was also a welcome change. Especially when I used my [shameless advertising] Human Female (Jaden) Skin Expansion Mod and Tavion Extreme Makeover skins [/shameless advertising].

 

 

 

The voice acting is much better for the female Jaden than the male Jaden (it was done by Jennifer Hale, the same actress who did Bastila in KOTOR). And being able to play as my very own creation gives Jedi Academy the win over Jedi Outcast, for me at least.

[txa1265]

Originally posted by Amidala from Chop Shop

I have to agree with txa1265 an

 

JK2 SP was good once you got your lightsaber and Force powers, but people forget how tedious those early missions were before your first confrontation with Desann.

Ahem.

 

Actually I loved the first several levels and saw them as homage to Dark Forces. As I've said repeatedly, my intent before the release of JKII was to play the series through. Well, I had just played Dark Forces in Aug 2001, and was still playing MohAA, so I skipped it and did the JK/MotS combo. I finished with >1 week to spare. What to do?!?! Play DF, of course:D So I finished it right before getting JKII, and it was a perfect lead-in for me. And I savored the saber all the more because of it.

 

Originally posted by Amidala from Chop Shop

The voice acting is much better for the female Jaden than the male Jaden (it was done by Jennifer Hale, the same actress who did Bastila in KOTOR).

Very much agree ... she had spunk and wit - not Cate Archer sassy, but she was fun.

 

Which is why after two male Jadens, the rest of my plays have been female.

 

Mike

[Crow_Nest]

Um, i do recommend playing and completing (if you can) single player before moving on to multiplayer. At least you get to get used to the game (Eg. Force powers, controls, your lightsaber... etc) before moving on to the advance which is online play.

 

Players can easily tell whether which player is a "newbie" or in other words, "n00bs".

[txa1265]

Originally posted by DF mod Feedback

Judging by the lack of buzz around the 'net when this game was released I'd wager that I'm not going to be missing much more than standard fps fare with a force/saber twist. :\

You'd be wrong.

 

The lack of buzz is not due to the quality of the game - any more than the lack of buzz with NOLF 1 or 2 or Gothic I or II indicates lack of quality. It is like movies or music - the deafening roar of buzz over Britney's latest will drown out high quality releases such as Dave Holland Quintet's 'Extended Play' CD. But that doesn't mean anything about quality.

 

Last September, the gaming media was in feeding frenzy mode over two things, and two things only - Half-Life 2, with its' anticipated Sept 30 release, and Call of Duty, due to the WWII gaming craze.

 

Let me restate - I'm no gaming n00b. Sure I love Star Wars, but I'm not blind to crap games (TPM for PC, Flight of the Falcon for GBA). I know what I like and the Jedi Knight series captures that well. But for many it does not - especially those tuned to FPS mode. The JK series plays differently than a standard FPS, that's just how it is. Some like it, others do not.

 

Mike

[DF mod Feedback]

True enough about the hype, although I didn't convey properly that I meant gamers in gaming communities, not the worthless gaming media outlets.

 

Let me ask you, though:

 

Does JA SP play differently from and better than other FPSes simply because of the focus brought by a melee weapon and force powers (and the gameplay options created there in, as opposed to just guns), or because the rest of the game (level architecture, level progression, npcs, storyline, etc) is a diamond in the rough amongst other FPSes?

[DF mod Feedback]

...And while I'm here if anyone has any ideas i'd appreciate the help. I've got the same problem (described above) as these two guys

 

http://forums.lucasarts.com/thread.jspa?forumID=3&threadID=994&messageID=7695#7695

[Amidala from Chop Shop]

In regards to your technical problem, often times 3rd-party MP mods and maps will interfere with the Single-player game. Make a copy of your GameData folder (Copy of GameData) and delete all non-Raven .pk3 files from the base folder. Make a shortcut to the jasp.exe in Copy of Game Data and use that to play Single-player only, and your original GameData for MP only.

 

In regards to JA SP being different from most FPS games, it is different because you can't use guns against many of the bad guys. They either dodge, deflect, or push your shots right back at you, causing you to harm yourself. You are forced to use only your lightsaber and Force powers to fight them. The exception is one mission where your lightsaber is confiscated and you are limited to guns and Force powers only.

 

As I said in my earlier post, single-player is actually quite fun. Also, there is no whining about "laming".

[txa1265]

Originally posted by DF mod Feedback

Does JA SP play differently from and better than other FPSes simply because of the focus brought by a melee weapon and force powers (and the gameplay options created there in, as opposed to just guns), or because the rest of the game (level architecture, level progression, npcs, storyline, etc) is a diamond in the rough amongst other FPSes?

That is a tough question. Let me see what I can come up with:

- There is something inherently different about the gameplay. For instance, when I played Call of Duty, it felt just like playing MoHAA. When I played Far Cry, it felt just like playing Soldier of Fortune II (I actually just replayed SoFII and confirmed that feeling), and when I played Tron 2.0 it felt just like playing Elite Force II ... and not that much different from the first several levels of Jedi Knight II. JKII and JA just *feel* different.

- There is a major contribution of saber and force, no doubt about it. It isn't just a melee thing - because with force powers you're a sort of combined fighter/mage.

- I believe there is a Star Wars component to it as well. Take Elite Force II - if it weren't for the various Enterprise and Klingon and other Trekkie things, the game would have been far less enjoyable. The JK games have that as well - slicing Stormies is more satisfying than popping Nazis for me. That is also part of the reason why I love Hoth ... and Bespin ... and Tatooine ... and so on. And why I like Hoth more than NOLF 2's Siberia or SoFII's Kamchatka ...

 

So I guess some is objective, some is subjective and some is that visceral mix we call gameplay.

 

... oh, and I'm sorry to say I have no clue about fixing the technical issues - I've not had a problem on the two PC's and Mac I've played it on.

 

Mike

[DF mod Feedback]

Originally posted by Amidala from Chop Shop

In regards to your technical problem, often times 3rd-party MP mods and maps will interfere with the Single-player game. Make a copy of your GameData folder (Copy of GameData) and delete all non-Raven .pk3 files from the base folder. Make a shortcut to the jasp.exe in Copy of Game Data and use that to play Single-player only, and your original GameData for MP only.

 

I just did a fresh fresh install... there are no non-Raven .pk3 files or any other non-Raven files anywhere. Same deal. I give up... I never had to deal with this nonsense in Dark Forces or Jedi Knight.... or even JO. Thanks all for your input... continue to debate here if that suits you.

[Giddamon]

Originally posted by Amidala from Chop Shop

JK2 SP was good once you got your lightsaber and Force powers, but people forget how tedious those early missions were before your first confrontation with Desann. Remember crawling through those mine tunnels with those crab creatures chasing you?

Well, at least JO had a serious plotline and some surprises in it...JA is just a collection of short missions with three long missions used as separator. You say the first missions were tedious, ok but at least they had some realism (except for the dumb level where you have to recover the saber), in JA many "short missions" are simply stupid. A few examples:

 

 

- The mission where you help that Wedge dude to capture a Imperial refinery. You can approach the base with your crappy fighter and imperials don't even bother to send a squadron of TIE Fighters after you or at least to have a group of Stormies ready to shoot at you while you're landing.

 

- The Dreadnaught mission: same as above, they capture Kyle's ship and there's no sign of any guard in the hangar bay. Yay for McGiver kind of guards!

 

- Droid's Recovery: Kyle tells Jaden that he/she will learn diplomacy..actually it's a kill-kill-kill mission like all the others.

 

- Blenjeel mission: giant hungry sandworms...wow,what an original idea!

 

- Tatooine mission: Raven dudes have been really cheap on this one. I guess it was too much for them to create a Han Solo model.

 

- The intro to the final mission. You arrive at Korriban with your Z-95 and you exit hyperspace right near a imperial ship. Of course no one aboard cares to stop you (at least they could have added some space dogfight sequences!)

 

And last but not least, Rosh Penin! The most annoying SW character after that Jar Jar Blink

 

 

 

 

IMHO...

Jedi Academy SP sux and the first impression when I got the game was "Ok, LucasArts stole me 20 bucks" (I paid JA $40 but the MP half is worth of the $20).

 

Jedi Outcast is good but the real King is still the original Jedi Knight with its cinematics and the best bad dudes ever seen in a SW game.

[Hiroki]

Originally posted by txa1265

slicing Stormies is more satisfying than popping Nazis for me.

 

Eh, Stormies, Nazis, same thing, different level of technology.

[TK-8252]

Originally posted by Hiroki

Eh, Stormies, Nazis, same thing, different level of technology.

 

Lies. *Looks at my name, title, avatar, and signature.* I'm no Nazi!

[Amidala from Chop Shop]

Originally posted by Giddamon

Well, at least JO had a serious plotline and some surprises in it...JA is just a collection of short missions with three long missions used as separator. You say the first missions were tedious, ok but at least they had some realism (except for the dumb level where you have to recover the saber), in JA many "short missions" are simply stupid. A few examples:

 

IMHO...

Jedi Academy SP sux and the first impression when I got the game was "Ok, LucasArts stole me 20 bucks" (I paid JA $40 but the MP half is worth of the $20).

 

Jedi Outcast is good but the real King is still the original Jedi Knight with its cinematics and the best bad dudes ever seen in a SW game.

 

Most of the things you criticized were "lack of realism" setting up the scenario (hey, they didn't scramble a squadron of TIE fighters to intercept Jaden. Hey, that ISD didn't shoot at Jaden), but the actual missions themselves were fun (in my opinion). Maybe they don't meet your expectations for plot and setup compared to DF2:JK and JKII:JO, but are plot and "realistic" scenarios ALWAYS necessary for an enjoyable FPS game? How about DOOM? DOOM II? Quake? Quake II? Serious Sam?

 

I tried playing Jedi Knight AFTER I had played Jedi Outcast, but the dated graphics, 12 poly-count models, corny acting, and primitive lightsaber made me quit after a few levels.

[Hiroki]

And after playing JO, Amidala, did the JK graphics sort of hurt your eyes a bit?

[Master William]

It is indeed worth it... beat it on Light and Dark and then load fun maps with the DEVMAP command in the console.

 

example:

 

devmap t3_rift

 

once you enter, type GOD, GIVE ALL, SETFORCEALL 9, NOTARGET is only if you want an NPC to completely ignore you though.

 

spawn fun stuff if you wish, or just type playermodel luke or whatever and feel the 200 point force bar flow through you...

 

also type IKNOWKUNGFU in the console for the fists, use them like you use katas and you'll have great fun...

 

if you've got skins or models, they work. I have Bastila from KOTOR, so I just type playermodel bastila and I get the skin.

 

Malak's the coolest in SP though, Revan is for some reason oversized...

[DF mod Feedback]

Originally posted by Amidala from Chop Shop

I tried playing Jedi Knight AFTER I had played Jedi Outcast, but the dated graphics, 12 poly-count models, corny acting, and primitive lightsaber made me quit after a few levels.

 

Youch! I feel a tad bit sorry for you since you weren't around to enjoy JK when it originally came out. I guess you never experienced the glory known as Dark Forces in its heyday either?

 

It's funny, most gamers I noticed when JO came out who adored the game, and to a lesser extent adored JA, never experienced the first two Dark Forces games either. The rest of us seemed to expect them to build more on the JK formula than they did for JO, especially given all the gameplya advances in the industry since then. To me the DF series was always about leading the way, not settling. JA MP appears to be more of the game JO should have been... too bad I can't play the SP to complete this picture.

[Amidala from Chop Shop]

Originally posted by DF mod Feedback

Youch! I feel a tad bit sorry for you since you weren't around to enjoy JK when it originally came out. I guess you never experienced the glory known as Dark Forces in its heyday either?

 

 

Actually, I tried to play Dark Forces but it is the only FPS game that ever gave me motion sickness, so I couldn't play it.

 

Now Jedi Knight also made me nauseated, but for different reasons....

[Giddamon]

Well, I'm a old fan of Lucasarts (prolly I was playing TIE Fighter when most of you were at the kindergarten ) so I admit to be a bit biased, yet IMHO no JK-X level will ever reach the atmosphere and pathos of the Sith Palace map in MotS (i.e. the Sith Undead )

[lukeskywalker1]

I loved the 1st levels of JK2! It was like the 'han solo' levels, kinda.. then the rest were the 'luke skywalker' like levels. That game rocked. JA was good, better graphics (play around with them, compare JO's lowest settings, to JA's lowest settings, theres a big difference! Type in r_subdivisions 80 both games, and youll see a huge difference between the two, unlike what most people say, the graphics jumped up a few notches. And lets face it, JK2's graphics are still good right now, maybe not amazing, but still good.

 

 

When I got DF2, I thought it amazing That saber rocked (back then) now JK2/JKA are much better. I hated that twi-lek though. And still, DF2 was unrealistic, I mean, kyle being a jedi for so little a period took out Jerec, who could heal himself, was super powered by the valley of the jedi, and was a jedi for many many years before Kyle... well.. thats unrealistic. At least in JK2 Kyle was powered up by the valley, and had some experience before he fought desann.

[Giddamon]

Well, even Luke Skywalker apparently became a kick ass jedi by jumping around for 2 minutes in the Dagobah swamps

 

Anyway, DF2 Kyle used the holocron of the Jedi beheaded by Jerec in the intro movie (I forgot his name), I think to have read that somewhere in the novel (and no, I don't usually read EU books but since it was included in the JK box )