Using Canon Endings for KOTOR III

[Traveler]

I noticed that, on wikipedia's site, they seem to believe that the "canon" endings for the first two KOTOR games were LSM based. I'm not sure if they're very reliable to begin with, but in any event, I wonder if the developer would ever consider incorporating the canon stories for either the Exile or Revan into KOTOR 3.

 

I suppose it might piss off some KOTOR fans, but from the dev side, it would certainly make things easier. I could see the devs pouring over all the possibilities from the first two games and thinking, "Screw this. They were both LSM, ok?"

 

Personally, I guess it wouldn't really bother me. If the previous LSM endings are actually canon, then there really is only one legit ending anyway.

 

What do you think? Would it affect your decision to buy the game if they made any major assumptions about how you played the previous games( i.e. made one or both characters LSM)?

[Mira Dona]

Personally I hate the cannon endings and as far as I'm concerned they are total crap. If the devs decided to just go with the cannon endings and "screw" everything else, I would deffinately not buy it.

 

But I'm sure that the devs are smart enough not to do something so stupid, and considering that they haven't done it before in K2, I doubt they will do it in k3.

[Commas]

it wouldn't really make a difference to me since i played a LSM in both games, but there are a lot of folks who didn't, who would be angry if the devs did this. besides, considering that they were able to pull it off with K2, i doubt that they would deviate much and do the same in K3

 

K3 will be pretty much exactly the same as K1 and K2 were, with minor tweaks. the biggest change i could see happening would be a graphics change, but the devs know enough not to deviate from the established systems of K1 and K2, be it the way the game is played, or how the story works. they will find a way to account for all alignments and genders of the previous games.

[fresnosmokey02]

Just because wikipedia says they're canon does not make them so. They only did this to be able to put them in the whole Star Wars timeline, at least the timeline according to them. IMO no path or ending for either game is more valid than any other. When they do make K3 they will have to make *some* assumptions about the NPC's from the previous games and the Ebon Hawk and whatever else, but they will have both a dark path and a light path in the game, and the assumptions they make will not really affect the game at all.

[Darth333]

For me Revan is Female and the Exile male. I think it woul d be a bad move to retain the LS male for both games. They would also have to pick an appearance and after spending hours and hours building characters, a lot of players would not be happy about it.

[RedHawke]

Personally, I think LA might have to change their stance concerning cannon endings, but I think we would all have a better chance of winning a powerball lottery!

 

But either way I don't really care what LA calls cannon... We all know what our Revan and Exile were, and that is all that really matters, to me anyway!

[Prime]

I noticed that, on wikipedia's site, they seem to believe that the "canon" endings for the first two KOTOR games were LSM based.

They are correct. Lucasarts has officially stated that the LSM storyline is the canon version, and that is the same for all Star Wars games where applicable, (Like the JK series). The reason they do that is so the KOTOR stories can be used in the overall Star Wars lore as a concrete series of events.

 

I don't see what the big deal is really. Revan is considered a LSM in the EU, but the developers still gave you the option to have whatever you want. They could have made it like the JK series and made the sequels completely disregard the dark side endings...

[Bob Lion54]

........We all know what our Revan and Exile were, and that is all that really matters, to me anyway!

 

Hehehe, To me Revan will always be my PC from my first playthrough. I played the game both Male and Female with different heads, but to me, the one I used the first time IS Revan. Same goes for the Exile, too.

 

Although,I would like it if before you started the game, a few questions would pop up. Like so:

 

Was Ravan a man or a woman?

1. Man

2. Woman

3. What are you talking about?

 

Was the Exile a man or a woman?

1. Woman

2. Man

3. Still no clue?!?!

 

Same goes for DS/LS endings. To me, Atton's questions seemed akward. I'd rather just chose the options from the "get go." Plus, IF they make more than three games, it might be easier that way as they get to game 4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11.......35............(hehehe, yea, I wish!)

[RedHawke]

^^^^

Unfortunately, most players don't want to take an exam just to play a game.

 

The way they did it with Atton was about as slick as they could do it, since all it does is set global numbers... I would expect some more conversations like this with an NPC or two in the third installment.

 

It really isn't that bothersome, we know what the conversation is doing and at least it is a softer blow than a blatant 20-questions session at the games beginning, for a FPS sequel to like JK:JA this would be acceptable, but that would be a lot less professional for an RPG to do, to me anyway.

[IndianaSolo]

They are correct. Lucasarts has officially stated that the LSM storyline is the canon version, and that is the same for all Star Wars games where applicable, (Like the JK series). The reason they do that is so the KOTOR stories can be used in the overall Star Wars lore as a concrete series of events.

 

Actually, I don't think the Exile's gender has been 100% finalized yet. Revan is LSM, but Exile is still being debated about. Tasty Taste (Lelland Chee, the continuity guru for LFL) on the official Star Wars forums said he's pushing for a female Exile to be canon.

 

As for the topic, IMO whichever works best for the story. If they can craft a beautiful story around having the gender being open to choose from, great. But if the story would be that much better if they chose the canon gender/alignment for Revan and Exile, great. I see Revan and the Exile as a specific alignment and gender, but I'm flexible enough to overlook it if the story makes sense.

[Prime]

Actually, I don't think the Exile's gender has been 100% finalized yet. Revan is LSM, but Exile is still being debated about. Tasty Taste (Lelland Chee, the continuity guru for LFL) on the official Star Wars forums said he's pushing for a female Exile to be canon.

Do you have a link for that? I'd like to read it.

 

In any event, Lucasarts stated stance on games and canon is that the Male Light Side version is canon. Whether they follow that for TSL remains to be seen.

[jedi3112]

First of all I don't think LA or anybody else should declare one ending canon. And I really don't want to see fixed endings for K3, all endings should remain possible. I also don't want them to change how the characters feel, like they did in K2 with Revan (the whole he went DS to save the Republic BS). Quite simply Revan went DS because he felt like it. And I'm not really in the habit of having my characters go through surgery if that is required for the story. With the exception of Carth who instead of being killed can go through surgery in front of the Sith troops, during the DS K1 ending.

[IndianaSolo]

Do you have a link for that? I'd like to read it.

 

Ask and ye shall receive:

 

Tasty Taste states he's pushing for female Exile here.

 

Excerpt:

 

I'm certainly pushing for the KOTOR2 player character to be female, but nothing yet has been decided. Coming up with a name would be a whole 'nother issue though.

 

There's also some links within that thread where some of Tasty Taste's other posts point towards the various questions of what gender/alignment Revan was, etc.

[BattleDog]

I think there's a subtle hint to what Reven was in K2 manual. On page one there's a picture of a Jedi, its the shaved-headed-white-guy-with-scar-under-eye from K1. You know its from K1 because the similar head in K2 is blond.

 

I know there's a corrupted dark side version of the same guy on page twenty three but the light sider is the first thing you see when you open the cover of the manual.

[REDJOHNNYMIKE]

The simple solution which is the most likely, due to time and work, will be to play as one, with a few very early options in which your actions will determine your previous character, something will happen, and you'll be back at level 1 again, then you'll talk to someone, during conversation you'll explain your history and how and why you are where you are, then, this could be either immediate, or worked in slowly, you will eventually explain the other's history or follow the pattern of TSL, either way you will learn something you never would have dreamed of before (they did leave that open for both characters)

 

My choice though would be to choose Revan or Exile at the start of the game and have two different stories playable, you will use each of them to piece events together, and as a combined product, you will partake of a third story which you use both, one, or the other, every single variation of these will yield a unique story, resulting in replayability hours in the high hundreds, with a streamlined version for the impatient (all side quests optional)

 

I would have to disagree with D though about Revan, simply because Bastila is a better story choice than Carth, there didn't seem to be as much interaction with him as Bastila, leading me to believe that male was the intended gender, even though there was good support for female as well,

I think it is the reverse, Revan M, Exile F, seeing how their respective strengths are Power and Manipulation;) (yeah kinda a joke, but still a little sense to it.)

[Traveler]

That's an interesting idea, but it would be virtually impossible to script for all of the possibilities from the first two games while including both the Exile and Revan as playable characters in the third game. You would almost certainly have to make some assumptions about the way the previous games were played to make that happen.

 

That said, I would ultimately rather see the devs incorporate a canon ending into a K3 game instead of trying to handle completely open ended stories from both games. I know that leaving both characters ambiguous avoids offending anyone, but the story could turn into an unintelligible mess as a result. But, who knows, maybe they'll come up with something more clever than I think.

[Jamps]

For 'canon' purposes, why not make them both LSM? Since there are problems in both games which refer to them as he, just set it up as the 'canon' way of the story.

 

But that doesn't mean people can't enjoy the game with any gender/alignment. It's just the light side male thing seems to be 'canon' as far as the storytelling and dialogue problems go.

 

Oh, as for K3, forget forcing one alignment/gender to the previous characters. Have the quiz thing for people so they can enjoy the previous characters. Let everyone continue as they played the first two. A female player who did darkside is going to have NO idea what people are talking about, but of course set a 'canon' for the character.

[Soogz]

Seriously I don't realy care, considering I play Light Side.

[RedHawke]

Seriously I don't realy care, considering I play Light Side.

Me neither, and I play DS Females!

[REDJOHNNYMIKE]

Well, a quiz will totally screw up the experience for a newcomer, which is something you always want, newcomers, not bad experiences.

 

@traveler, it wouldn't be that bad if it was done as a continuing part of gameplay mechanics, it doesn't have to be to detailed, the history probably won't remember wether or not you talked with a janitor, or helped some guy who was getting mugged.

 

Look at the series as a tree, with KI as the stump, each branch will require more work, but there will be a comfortable branch for everyone.

 

@redhawke, BRILYUNT:D

[fresnosmokey02]

Quizzes really aren't necessary. In K2 you have to answer a couple of questions from Atton, but I noticed it really doesn't matter. When talking to people, Revan sounds vaguely darkside no matter how you answered the questions from Atton. It would be an easy thing in K3 to say that Revan accomplished this and that task and Exile accomplished this or that thing and be vague about their alignments or even not mention them (the alignments) at all.

[REDJOHNNYMIKE]

I think the reason Revan sounds vaguely darkside, because that was the galactic public opinion of him, all people know is that he attacked the republic, even though their were implications that he could have had a more lightside reason that the war in some way fought or defended against a "greater evil" somewhere, if that was the case, it wouldn't be public knowledge as secrecy would be key to it's success.

[Soogz]

Me neither, and I play DS Females!

 

 

 

hahah same here. When I need to play darkside. I only play female.