The Battle Bar, Our Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy

Started by Stealth Moose3,287 pages
Originally posted by Nephthys
Y'all are nerds.

... says the guy with a crap gaming laptop.

OH SNAP!

Playing KOTOR, it's funny how the female model's hair looks like a thousand times better in an 8 year old game than it does in pretty much every recent Bioware game. The hair options for chicks in ME and Dragon Age blow.

This feat made my skin bristle:

"At the apex of the pyramid, Dorsk 81 stood barefoot on the sun-warmed flagstones that had been locked together to form an observation deck. The Jedi trainees frequently came up here to watch the rainbow-filled sunrise at the limb of the gas giant overhead.

Tall fires in the jungles surrounding the temple complex crackled and rose into the sky. Below, squadrons of mechanical scout walkers and ground-chewing siege machinery worked their way toward the Jedi stronghold.

The Imperials had figured out that the Jedi Knights were no longer at the Temple of the Blueleaf Cluster; now that the trainees had gathered in the tallest temple, Pellaeon's attackers would soon direct their strike at the ziggurat.

Dorsk 81 tilted his smooth face up to the sky and held his hands at his sides, fingers spread. The stone felt strong beneath the soles of his feet, and he calmed himself, reaching within him for threads that he could spin together with the others.

Kyp and Kirana Ti, Kam Solusar, and all the other Jedi trainees-some he knew well, others he had barely met-also focused their abilities. Dorsk 81 recalled how they had banded together to fight Exar Kun, and now he felt the same invisible whirlwind surrounding him.

The new Jedi Knights joined together with invisible cords of light. The bonds were strong, reinforcing their skills from person to person. Dorsk 81 stood in the middle, the eye of the storm, where he could draw upon the Force, magnify it with a strength greater than he had ever conceived.

In his mind an evil shadow of doubt flickered. He suddenly wondered if it was indeed impossible to move such a huge fleet. His doubt began to grow and he recalled again the face of his elder clone, Dorsk 80, scowling at him-You'll never accomplish anything more important than what you could have done on Khomm.
Why don't you stay with us? the younger Dorsk 82 had pleaded. Everything will be fine, just the way it always was.

But Dorsk 81 wanted more. His life had a greater purpose. He had sensed that from early on, but had ignored it for so long. Now he was a Jedi Knight. A Jedi Knight.

His determination formed a crushing vise in his mind that obliterated the doubt-and before he could be distracted by other thoughts, Dorsk 81 reached out and grasped the threads of Force the other trainees offered to him. He felt as if he had tapped into a huge power source, an overload of energy that he channeled through himself without hesitation.

He reached upward with his hands, picturing the Star Destroyers in orbit: seventeen wedge-shaped engines of death bristling with weapons, loaded with more TIE fighters and assault troops. His thoughts soared outward, leaving the emerald jungle moon behind, and trailing behind his presence came a battering ram of invisible, irresistible Force that would be undetectable on any Imperial scanners. The Star Destroyers waited, overconfident, powerful-unsuspecting.

He found them. Touched them with his mind. They were huge, greater in mass than he had imagined; even so, he used the Force to push.

Dorsk 81 strained, touching the cluster of ships... but they proved immovable, too large. The Force held them, yet it could not do what he needed it to do. He tried harder.

He drew more energy from the others. He could feel the determination and controlled anger of Kyp Durron, the clean fighting prowess of Kirana Ti, the powerful deep knowledge of Tionne, the grim pain of Kam Solusar, the childlike wonder of Streen-and more... more. He took all of the Jedi trainees within himself, braiding the threads together, becoming a vast and complex set of memories, strengths, and skills. He reached deeper and deeper.

The Force seemed to be a bottomless well, offering more than he had thought possible-but as Dorsk 81 pulled it inside himself, he also felt the danger, the destructive potential: too much of this strength could be his downfall.

He pushed again, straining harder, abandoning all caution.

The Star Destroyers moved slightly in space, bucking and resisting-but it was still not enough. In his mind Dorsk 81 saw yet another wing of TIE fighters launched with orders to finish the destruction of the Jedi Knights.

That must never happen.

Dorsk 81 exerted his mind to the breaking point. His body trembled. His yellow eyes saw nothing around him now, because every thought was focused out into space where Pellaeon's Star Destroyers waited.

You are a Jedi Knight, Kyp had told him, and sometimes that means we must make difficult decisions.

Dorsk 81 knew this, knew it in his heart-and he didn't allow fear. The Force was with him. Perhaps more Force than he could handle... but he still had a mission to perform. No matter what it might take.

All the other Jedi Knights depended on him alone, and he knew that this was what he had to accomplish. This was the deed that his predecessor Dorsk 80 would never be able to comprehend.

Without a second thought, without hesitation, Dorsk 81 reached all the way down, drawing from the deep wells of Force that the thirty gathered Jedi Knights had opened for him. He took more and more without restraint, hoarding it within himself, letting it build as he absorbed the full searing power amplified through the Great Temple, focused it through his body and launched it at the fleet of Star Destroyers.

"Move!" he shouted.

The words themselves were like power incarnate, white-hot energy flaming out of his mouth, from his fingertips, surging through his body and burning, burning.

The inside of his head went bright like a star going supernova behind his skull, and his consciousness rode along with the tidal wave of Force. He felt it strike the seventeen Star Destroyers, and they slammed backward like twigs in a typhoon. The Shockwave flung the entire fleet far out, cast them helplessly beyond the fringes of the Yavin System, their computers fried, their propulsion systems wrecked, still accelerating from the storm of the Force.

Pellaeon's fleet of Star Destroyers went... away.

Dorsk 81 also rode the storm-to its ultimate, unknown destination.

The Force dropped Kyp like a severed rope. All the Jedi trainees tumbled weakly to their knees. When he could see again, blinking through colored spangles in front of his eyes, he saw Dorsk 81-or what remained of him-still tottering at the center of the observation platform.

Though his own legs wanted to collapse, Kyp struggled forward to grab his friend. Dorsk 81 collapsed and fell against him. The two of them slid to the sun-warmed flagstones.

"Dorsk 81," Kyp said, looking down in horror as the cloned alien's skin sizzled from within, as if the tissues had been brought to a boil. Dorsk 81's wide yellow eyes were now only smoldering sockets. Steam rose from his body.

A breath of words curled out of his gaping, blackened mouth. "They're gone, my friend," he said.

"Wait!" Kyp said. "Wait, we'll find a healer. We'll get Cilghal back. We'll find-"

But Dorsk 81 was already dead in his arms."

Originally posted by Tzeentch._
Playing KOTOR, it's funny how the female model's hair looks like a thousand times better in an 8 year old game than it does in pretty much every recent Bioware game. The hair options for chicks in ME and Dragon Age blow.

Hair is like the one thing technology refuses to replicate at this point, unless you're in a Capcom-produced computer enhanced film.

That's quite a way to go, Arhael. Well-written. What book is that?

Definitely the best TK feat in the entire mythos. Jedi can do some truly epic things when they push themselves past their limits. I'm reminded forcefully of Rivi-Anu.

We need more Legacy fans, most threads with them end up with me just trying to establish the baseline of their power (I don't know why there's a tendency to assume that the era is just weaker).

Its precisely because no-one knows anything about them. There's also the argument that the characters aren't actually Sith. I personally dislike the whole concept myself.

I think I was in that camp as well, though I still enjoyed the Legacy comics to some degree. It was a fun collection of Sithy characters (though I just pretended they were Dark Jedi wannabes when I read).

Yes, I heard that there's very good storytelling there, but I'm simply opposed to there being Sith after Sidious. I was able to wave Caedus off because he sucked and wasn't a real Sith Lord anyway. But Krayt takes over the galaxy pretty much. It's hard to discount them as mere Dark Jedi when they're just as successful as Sidious is. It cheapens the Star Wars Saga as a whole imo. That's why I simply have no interest in Legacy.

And don't even get me started on the Fate of the Jedi Lost Sith bullshit.

Yeah I haven't paid too much attention to that.

As far as Darth Krayt conquering the Galaxy... he comes into power when even the Jedi Order is split against itself, and the Galactic Alliance is struggling to maintain control. And there are a metric ton of Dark Siders thrown in.

Considering Sidious did it mostly by himself, with the occasional help of an apprentice or some other pawn, it still is impressive.

But I agree, the whole 'Sith after Sidious' thing was one of the few times I was actually irked by the EU. Most times I'm just mildly entertained and that's enough for me.

True, but I still feel that it cheapens Vader's sacrifice and what Luke achieved. A few generations after him and the Sith take over again. It just bothers me.

That's how I feel as well. It's only when they do something like this that it gets to me. I felt the same about how they handled Jacen's turn to insanity and the way Revan squatted down and shat all over Kotor's 1 and 2.

I definitely still agree, no matter how I try to make it fit in my head.

See, I didn't even keep up with Jacen. And honestly, haven't played KOTOR2... I'm a casual fan, I guess?

If you haven't played KOTOR2 then you aren't a fan at all. estahuh

Originally posted by Nephthys
If you haven't played KOTOR2 then you aren't a fan at all. estahuh

Some of the best atmosphere and dialogue in an SW game since the OT.

LOL

//Notices Neph has a new avatar/signature/tag-line......

//FAWLLLLLLLLCOOOON PAAAAAAAAWNCH!!!

Yus! Yus! Yus! Cawm'on!
Show me ye mooooves!

So I am about to download Revan (The novel) just to see what all the hate is about.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Don't torture yourself with it!

Don't worry, I'm reading Clash of Kings before it and Storm of Swords after it. So hopefully the quality will smother the bullshit.