Registered: Jul 2008
Location: Stuck In the future where Akus evil
The Force Unleashed Novels
I used the search and found nothing.
I wanna start by saying I am a HUGE fan of The Force Unleashed 1 Game, Graphic Novel, and Novel. Ive went through the first game literally 25 time at the least back when it came out....I just love the story and the character of Galen Marek!
I was only recently able to buy the actual Novels of both. After I read the first book I loved it more then the game. I feel the changes made it that much better! Im just about to start the next book. Im really really hoping 2 has the same effect as 1!
__________________ Recently Produced and Distributed Young but High-Ranking Political Figure of Royal Ancestry within the Modern American Town Affectionately Referred To as Bel-Air.
Registered: Jul 2008
Location: Stuck In the future where Akus evil
Re: Re: The Force Unleashed Novels
lol I feel he was a great character. The second game wasn't what I would call great but the first game, the story of how he started the rebellion....Starkiller was amazing IMO...I love his force ability of "repulse"...although I hated the amp in the 2nd game that made it disintegrate his foes. I loved his very diverse mentality. I like how he uses/holds his light saber. I mean it's kinda like me asking why some people enjoy Anakin Skywalker.....
sure his character was essential as was his turn to the dark side but all he ever did was wine and cry like a baby all the time....but Im sure some people actually enjoyed his character.
Registered: Jul 2008
Location: Stuck In the future where Akus evil
You make a great point! I like the book the most because of how you get into the minds of the characters. I also like how it gives more detail about some of the fights....such as the last fight with darth vader. In the book it describes how the apprentice gives up his anger and actually feels sorry for vader. plus it gives a whole lot more development to juno and the feeling they start to build for each other.
No one enjoyed Anakin Skywalker. Like Marek, his action sequences were... "cool". But as a likeable/relatable/interesting protagonist, both of them fall flat. Anakin moreso, at least Marek didn't whine as much.
__________________ Recently Produced and Distributed Young but High-Ranking Political Figure of Royal Ancestry within the Modern American Town Affectionately Referred To as Bel-Air.
Yeah, that makes sense. In the game they don't really go into much detail about their relationship and Galen comes off as a character archetype rather than a person. But I kind of like it for that. Plus theres a personal satisfaction in kicking the shit outta Darth Vader twice in a row. ^_^
I havn't played or read the Force Unleashed 2 though. Apparantly its terrible.
You should at least play it. Bask in the disappointment like so many before you have.
__________________ Recently Produced and Distributed Young but High-Ranking Political Figure of Royal Ancestry within the Modern American Town Affectionately Referred To as Bel-Air.
I liked Marek in the 1st game. He wasn't that bad for a video game character. I liked that he had a clearly defined arc that made him grow into a better person eventually sacrificing himself for a cause greater than himself. He's no more bland than Luke was in ANH imo (dont quote me on this)
I mean, he's got more of a defined personality than someone like Revan or Jaden but no-one gives those games shit for having 'bad' protagonists.
I don't know about Jaden (I've not played Jedi Academy), but KotOR isn't good because Revan's interesting, it's because everyone else is interesting. I don't play that game for its silent protagonist, I play for Canderous, Jolee, Malak, Yuthura etc. That and the interesting story--the gameplay itself is noticeable aging, but still entirely tolerable.
But I only play The Force Unleashed for the gameplay--which is fine. It's also the only reason I play Call of Duty. But I've never confused my appreciation of the gameplay with the story or characters. They're very bland and forgettable (decaduply so for the sequel). Luke at least had something to him--people b*tch that he was "annoying" or "whiny", but he was supposed to be; he was a kid and an inexperienced newbie. If he was calm, straight-faced, or tough from the get-go, his character would be unbelievable and boring. The OT's style of storytelling necessitates a fresh-faced green-horn so that we can mark his growth and accomplishments. Marek and Anakin Skywalker (AotC onward) are already trained, disciplined, and experienced when they're introduced--but combine that with their youth and ostensible (and frankly never-seen) "growth" throughout their stories, and it makes for an unrelatable/unlikeable/uninteresting character. They both had the potential to be otherwise, but their respective developers obviously couldn't be bothered.
F*ck sake, apparently the notion of a concise reply is beyond me.
__________________ Recently Produced and Distributed Young but High-Ranking Political Figure of Royal Ancestry within the Modern American Town Affectionately Referred To as Bel-Air.
__________________ Recently Produced and Distributed Young but High-Ranking Political Figure of Royal Ancestry within the Modern American Town Affectionately Referred To as Bel-Air.
In the middle of reading The Force Unleashed novel. The first one that is.
I'm actually really enjoying it.
As a side note not sure why people think The Apprentice is weak in Sabers since I started reading the novel. The comic gives that impression but the novel's version of events (most canon version) is not showing that at all.
Your threshold for pain must be immense. That book is bad enough to have been written by Drew Karpyshyn, been mislabeled as an entry in the Warhammer 40k universe, or retitled Crystal Star.
^ Lol. Well enjoying the way Darth Vader fathers his apprentice, as well as the extra depth Juno has compared to the game/comic. It never really made sense before why she suddenly joined the rebellion.
But never actually read a whole SW novel back to back, only extracts, so I've made a commitment to make this my first.
I actually liked TFU2 better, but both novels read as transcripts with a few bits off fluff to increase the page count. While hardly a masterpiece, William C. Dietz's The Flood is a much better example of how to novelize a video game.
Personally, I think you'd have been better off with something from Stover or Luceno.
My inner nerd is screaming at when Marek penetrated Kamino's planetary shield by ramming it with a cruiser, apparently moving in "far excess" of 800 mph. The theater shield on Hoth was powerful to "withstand any bombardment" from a fleet of ISD's and The Executor. If a large cruiser ramming it can break the shield, then they would be completely useless.
I only have the second novel, and it's not bad, I guess. It's just too easy to tell that it was written around a game.
He isn't. Its just that his lightsaber skills aren't as impressive as any of the crazy Force powers he throws around so it tends to get overlooked. The in-game database says that Marek's lightsaber skills are 'almost perfect' which is an insanely impressive description.
The other reason he isn't regarded as too impresive is because of the trouble he had with Darth Vader is lightsabers, and people don't rate Vader particularly high either.
Well I've got Dark Rendezvous and Shatterpoint (Stover) next on my list.
Ah right well I haven't got to the Vader fight yet. But I'm guessing in TFU they did want to show Vader as better in Sabers than people have generally thought of him.
Anyway so far in the novel he's been able to switch to Soresu when on the defence, and to Ataru as an attacking form. I already know his main form is Juyo although there's no mention of that yet.
I've also noticed he's not actually lost a lightsaber duel yet (unlike the comic which shows him losing saber duels then using the force to win).
The closest he came to losing a Saber duel was against Shaak Ti, when he stopped her blade from hitting him telekinetically. But he simultaneously stabbed her in that move, so it seemed like some kind of suicide attack.
Also the whole fight was a mixture of them using Sabers and the Force on each other, so it would be speculation to say how a pure Saber duel would have gone between them. And Shaaki Ti's command of the Force was clearly much greater on Felucia than what we saw of her back in the Clone Wars.
Anyway I'm only about half way through and he already seems to have had an upgrade. While rescuing Kota he achieved a greater connection to the Force than he ever had before.
Last edited by Darth Thor on Mar 14th, 2012 at 11:00 AM
Mar 7th, 2012 04:57 AM
Well I've got Dark Rendezvous and Shatterpoint (Stover) next on my list.
