Spent 15 minutes on the HINTLINE! Here's what I found out...

[Guest Darth Wart]

I figured what the hell! The bill won’t arrive for a month. Awfully depressing conversation, though.

 

Here are my questions, including her answers (the text of some of these questions were pasted from the back of my guide). Her answers are obviously paraphrased.

 

1. Q: “The booklet says that although you can complete the game on Easy, many of the game’s secrets are only revealed on Jedi mode. But I can personally assure you that you can get absolutely everything on easy (all characters, the saber, all levels), and there seems to be no difference in the nature, location, or number of the icons or the level of playing difficulty. So what are the differences, if any, between Easy and Jedi?”

 

A: “The programmers messed up. Originally it was supposed to be easier on easy but they changed that at the last minute.”

 

Q: “So there is no difference whatsoever between Easy and Jedi?”

A: “No.”

 

2. Q: “I can’t seem to unlock stuff on two-player. What gives?”

 

A: “No, you can’t unlock any of the unlockable stuff on two-player; there’s no way. You have to play through the game as one player alone to do that.”

 

3. Q: “On Naboo and also on the Streets of Theed, there are points icons at certain locations hanging high in the sky that I can only get with my Gameshark. When I play without it, I can’t get them no matter what I do. How are you supposed to get them?”

A: “You can’t get them. Those are leftovers from when the programmers were testing the game. They had cheat codes which enabled them to get them, and they were just put there for practice and never taken out.”

Q: “About those cheat codes….”

A: “They were later erased.”

 

4. Q: Once you’re in the middle of the game, is there any way (short of completing the game) to check to see if you’re on “Jedi” or “Easy” mode? What if I forgot? It seems like there isn’t.

 

A: “No; there isn’t.”

 

5. Q: Although I obviously know how to “get through” the color maze at the end, what is the underlying logic to the pattern you walk? This escapes me. Is it random? Suppose I lost the pattern, how would I figure out how to get through it in a hurry?

 

A: “There’s no logic other than in what order you have to walk the rooms. There is no pattern I’m aware of that determines that.”

 

6. Q: Sometimes when I just stand there blocking everybody, I can’t do anything else. Other times, with BLOCK on, I can swing the saber and do combos, then I immediately return to blocking. What determines this? Why can I hold L1 and still swing at some times but not at others?

 

A: “Hmmmmm. That’s really weird.”

 

7. Q: What does the defense bonus do? Does it give you better blocking power? That doesn’t seem to be the case. And I’m not talking about each Jedi’s special L2 + C ability, awarded for maxing out Tatooine. I’m talking about the “defense bonus” you’re given for maxing out levels 4 and 7. At first I thought it increased the strength of your L2 + C, but that doesn’t make sense: you get one on level 4, then the L2 + C ability on level 5. Others have suggested it increases your blocking ability, or increases your “hurt” threshold, so it takes more hits to kill you. But none of this seems to be the case. So my question: exactly what can your character do after levels 4 and 7 that he couldn’t do before?

 

A: [she had to consult with the testers and call me back -– at her expense! –- before she could clear this one up.] “That bonus makes you tougher. It doesn’t have anything to do with your blocking threshold. It means that if you have a full green bar, now it takes more hits to kill your guy.”

 

8. Q: Sometimes the “points thermometer” after the completion of each level rises gradually, other times it shoots to the top. What gives?

A: “If you’ve already maxed out the levels, it’ll skip the bonuses and shoot to the top; it doesn’t mean anything by this, though.”

Q: “Well, once you’ve maxed a level out pointwise, there’s absolutely nothing more you can get from it, right?”

A: “Right.”

 

9. Q: “Obviously, since there are less monsters to go around, the points benchmarks for two player are much lower. But what are they exactly?”

A: “Sorry, I only have the list for one player.”

 

10. Q: “There have been many rumors floating around that Yoda, Ki-Adi-Mundi, or a double-bladed Maul might be highly secret unlockable characters in the game. Are they?”

A: “No.”

Q: “Hold on a second, honey, everybody’s just going to hear that and say they simply didn’t tell you for marketing reasons.”

A: “We’ve had a lot of calls about that, so I asked the programmers about it specifically. They said there are no other characters than the three you can unlock that everybody knows about. There WAS something like that before; they hid a secret Naboo fighter in a certain game and didn’t tell anybody until the movie was released, but that was for copyright reasons. They’d have no reason to do that with this game.”

Q: “Everybody’s just going to say they’re lying to you…”

A: “There’s a remote possibility that they are lying to me, but I doubt it. I asked the testers and they said there’s DEFINITELY no unlockable characters other than the obvious ones; and they’d have no reason to lie to me whatsoever.”

Q: “But what if the testers themselves don’t know?”

A: “They’ve played the game 8 hours a day for 3 months. They know everything there is to know about it.”

Q: “Maybe not. Possibly those could be secret characters unlocked by a punch-code only. LucasArts may have arranged this so that in 6 months when such codes are released, there is renewed interest in the game.”

A: “The programmers have told me there were cheat codes put into the game during the testing phase, but they were removed when the final version was cut. They are inoperable on the version you have. SO NO SUCH CODES WILL EVER BE RELEASED. There are no codes at all to this game, released or not.”

 

Please do not respond angrily to this post, acting like I'm the guy responsible; I'm just the messenger.

 

 

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Wart

 

There is a complete online JPB strategy guide available at:

http://JediPowerBattlesGuide.homestead.com/JPB.html

[Guest Jedi Kanigget]

Huh...only three unlockable characters, and only one of them is a Jedi. That's pretty weak.

 

You actually called her "honey"?

 

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Darth Wart's Strategy Guide in a friendly, easy to use form!(Sorry, that was bad.)

http://JediPowerBattlesGuide.homestead.com/JPB.html

[Guest Jedi-Qui-Gon]

Aw that's to bad.....

[Guest Thermal]

I didn't get mad at all Wart. She just confirmed what I had already told several people; ie: The reason they hid the Naboo fighter in Rogue Squadron was because they wanted to wait until the movie was released. There just isn't any reason for them to do that in JPB.

 

I'm torn here. On one side I'm completely bummed by the fact that Ki Adi isn't in the game. On the other hand I'm proud not to have given into the temptation and spent time searching for something that I truly believed was not there. Oh well.

 

Hey Wart, a couple of questions.

 

1) Did I read that correctly? There is NO difference at all between Easy and Jedi? NONE?

 

2) I've been playing 2 player with a friend for the past week and we finally beat the game yesterday as Ploo(him) and Obi-Wan(me).

We unlocked the queen and Panaka(since I was Obi) and The Droidekas level(since he was Ploo). We also unlocked the Gungan Roundup by getting the 3 Gungan Artifacts. Has no one else been able to unlock things in 2 player mode?

[Guest Jedi-Qui-Gon]

I wish there were still characters to unlock....didn't someone who called the hintline say that they told them there was other things we didn't find?

 

Any way i found some things on me disc. I ripped some .tim files off of it. The are texture files i believe.

here are some interesting ones i found.

I found these with the purple lightsaber texture. Maybe the programmers made a LEC Logo character as a joke and deleted it

 

Peck creature could he still be in the game?

 

Wish it was Ki-Adi-Mundi's Haven't found a sign of him though.

who is this? Male pedestrian from credits?

These are the clothes that he wears

 

[This message has been edited by Jedi-Qui-Gon (edited May 08, 2000).]

 

[This message has been edited by Jedi-Qui-Gon (edited May 08, 2000).]

[Guest Sith Lord Rage]

That's a real shame. It really would have helped game sales I think.

 

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Formerly Maul, Sith Lord

"At last we have had our revenge"

[Guest Adi_Gallia]

<font face="Calligraph421 BT"><font color="lightblue"> Is it me, or did we get ripped off with the codes in this game?!!We should be able to get all 12 council members. Oh is that a purple saber I see?!!!

 

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Jedi Master Adi Gallia

 

~The Sith should not be ignored.~

[Guest Jedi-Qui-Gon]

I'm with you adi! When I found the purple lightsaber texture my heart nearly stopped. Then I found the Lec Logo texture next to it I felt very low..(ya know how it has a purple lightsaber in the begining movie of the game?)Then I saw this post! this day is going lower and lower and lower........

Hope there's no other depressing news!

 

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[Guest Adi_Gallia]

<font face="Calligraph421 BT"><font color="lightblue"> Sad...

 

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Jedi Master Adi Gallia

 

~The Sith should not be ignored.~

[Guest Darth Killa]

hehe i guess their last minute changes sucked =-).

[Guest Darth_Simpson]

Those changes sucked as hell!

 

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Hunger leads to donuts...

 

[Guest Maul Clone]

A few comments:

 

1) He is right about the defense bonus. I really noticed the difference after getting it and going back to fight Maul with Plo.

 

2) Waited exactly 6 months for the Naboo Starfighter because of copyright problems huh. Then why did they wait exactly 6 months for Shadows of the Empire and Masters of the Tera(sp?) codes?

 

3) You should have asked him why Ki-Adi's name is in the credits. I appreciate the other info though.

 

4) LucasArts wouldn't tell him about Ki-Adi even if he did ask the right person, which he didn't.

 

5) Those hint line guys tend to lie and pretend they know more than they do.

 

6) You guys are gullible, no offense.

[Guest ShadeShifter]

It's hard imagine that LucasArts would do such a bad job with JPB.

 

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[Guest Acid_Rain327]

Thank you Lucas Arts, thank you so much...

 

So, they openly admit that the game is entirely unfinished, messed up to hell and back, and they released it anyway?!

 

People, pardon my language, but we got screwed. Plain and simple - they knew we'd buy it, being Star Wars fans, so they pulled a total half-assed on us...

 

My confidence in LA is now wavering, and I for one, will think twice next time I get psyched up for the next Star Wars game...and think even harder when deciding whether or not to buy one.

 

Thank goodness for Blockbuster...

[Guest 84Elan]

I find it very hard to swallow the fact that there are NO codes for JPB period. I mean come on everygame has codes almost except maybe GT2 but please there has to be some codes. Only if they are as bad as TPM codes there must be some. Hats off the Wart should we take a cup and pass it around to help with the phone bill? 15min damn man.

[Guest 84Elan]

Oh man harsh words from Acid Rain but I have to agree with him though to a certain extent.

 

I mean yeah gamers will always want more and think of at least 5 things that would have made the game better right after they beat it but I mean we could do this for every game out there.

 

As for the half ass finished I do think that they left much out. For example the vibrating. I know you are saying what vibrating exactly what the hell happend to it? You could smack everything in TPM and get vibrating and sparks as well as Sound but in JPB you only get to hit what they want you to hit it does smell like it was rushed I personlly do not know why; so it comes out a month after the movie was released who cares as long as it would have been a bit better people would buy it anyway. Why? Cause its SW. all in all it is a good game but not a 10 and with a name like Lucasarts there is really no go reason for it not to be a 10.

[Guest Kurgan]

Hey there's always the chance that the next version of JPB will have that stuff added in.. ; )

 

Kurgan

 

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[Guest 84Elan]

Dude? Who cut you off on the way home tonight?

 

Ok I know this argument is getting old but still it is a valid point to make. It is true that Lucas does know of JPB and that is all but the fact still remains crappy games do not keep fans. LA has really come out with a ho hum game that really anyone could have done. It does not seem like a whole hearted effort was put forth in this game this makes folks mad and upset. If you are a big name in the industry everyone excpects big things. No one expects a world class race car from Hundi but you do expect one from Ferrari.

[Guest Adi_Gallia]

<font face="Calligraph421 BT"><font color="lightblue">If they make a new game. They really should. I mean, how did the Brits get a better game then us?!!!!We're more special!Just kidding...

 

 

Good points Shadow.Very good points in your post.

 

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Jedi Master Adi Gallia

 

~The Sith should not be ignored.~

[Guest TK-422]

Actually, I have played both jedi and easy (two player) and I know for a fact that Jedi is ALOT harder. I couldnt get past the second level on Jedi (keep in mind that it was 2 player and my brother kept dying) but in easy I am at Maul! There is definitly a difference. Secondly, its really sad how poorly the game was made. I mean, all these things that the programmers accidnelty left in!? Thats just SLOPPY! This is one reason why I like the n64 more than the PSX. N64 games take a hell of a long time to make, but if you look at it, N64 games have SO MUCH better quality than most psx games. JPB was rushed out so fast. Given 1.5 to 2 more months, JPB could have been 10 times better. Gameplay, graphics, sound, options...everything could have been improved. I especially think they should have made it so you could move the camera a little. Oh well, I still love the game. Also, this game could definilty have fit on a N64 cart. At first I was like, "This would never fit on an N64 cart because of all the FMV and stuff!" Well, it turns out there are only like 3 cutscenes. There should have been a cutscene beween each level. I dont understand how you could go from a game like Xwing alliance with so much quality to a game like JPB, which to die hard starwars gamers is a great game, but to the average person, just SUCKS. I can understand how IGN gave it such a bad review. Seriously, if any of you were not die hard starwars games, you would probably not buy this game.

Last thing: I think that in two player there are twice as many guys so the possibility of twice as mane points (I could be wrong) Also, its really anyoing that they dont tell you that you cannot unlock things on two player. I guess Ill just use gameshark.

[Cloud]

Let me point out first.... that lady knows nuthing about this game! I unlock everything on two players (except for level 14 of course) on easy of course. There is the same number of enemies in BOTH one player and two players. The only difference is that you only need to get half the point or so to get the bonus,etc. I always get higher than my dad (I was the first to get to 100 skill when I beat the game, but we replay back the previous level so he too can get it to 100). As for the yellow score in level 8(have you notice that that lady always blame everything on the developer), I believe if you hit the speed button you might be able to get it (I tried doing this on some ramp and it sent me sky high). I can't say anything about the Jedi mode since I never played it. So I dunno who the hell that lady is, but I bet she doesn't know anything that much about the game(probably has a little paper about the game in front of her...).