Nope. Though to be fair, she's not really a "romance" for anyone not the original, level 1-60 Agent. More like a one-night stand. But level-60-created Agents don't even get that, I don't think.

Yeah, constantly sneaking on and off Zakuul is starting to make them lose credibility. How many times has the Outlander practically been in your lap, now, Arcann? And how many times have you not noticed or let them get away? I would dearly love for us to go deal with the Pub/Empire soon. Especially Saresh, my Pub Outlanders have a few choice words to say to her, and I know my Quizzy is eager to knock off Acina and make himself Emperor.

7.5/10. Loved seeing Kaliyo again, loved seeing how she's changed in the past fives years. There was an appropriate amount of difference between her reactions to seeing an Agent Outlander to a non-Agent Outlander, which was good, and there was a very bittersweet feel about it with a romanced Agent. The story was interesting--I appreciated seeing more of Zakuul's culture, and I liked that we got something other than a recruit out of it (that data for the Spire), which helps it feel less like filler. I liked the Arcann and Vaylin were shown waging war with the Alliance at the beginning and end, and I like that a power struggle seems to be looming on the horizon. And finally, I liked that Koth would get fed up and leave if you did too many things he didn't agree with. Pity my LS characters can't get rid of him, they'd never agree to bombing an innocent city. The combat sucked. Trash mobs that break my stealth and attack me from across the map are not fun. It was such a slog it knocked off 2 points alone. The last .5 comes from the other characters getting shafted to the side--I was hoping to see more of Theron, Lana, and Senya, but we barely get anything out of them except a bit at the end. Overall, looking forward to Chapter 11.

Agreed. With all of this.

Agreed. It was a pleasant surprise to see how many callbacks she made to stuff from the Agent story. My male Agent romanced her, and it was...bittersweet. She's pissed when she sees him again--like pull a gun pissed-- then decides to put that aside to focus on the mission. The Agent gets a lot of chances to hint about how he wants to resume things, and she just responds with this kind of annoyed/tired/sad tone, at one point stating the woman he loved is long gone. But there's a very "amicable exes" feel to it, and at the end he can restart things with her again.

It's Kaliyo. I love her, she's a great character, but I take anything she says with a grain of salt. She tells half-truths at best, and that's to the Agent--her closest "friend"/lover. Some random shmuck she doesn't know or care about? She'll play them all day long if it suits her. That said, I am very intrigued to see what direction they'll take her in, and the "different dilemma" Agents will have with her. If the Agent romanced her, I fully expect her to punch him in the face. Tl;dr--I'll give her the benefit of the doubt because I like her, but I'm going to keep my cards to my chest.

Agree about Baras. Dude was fantastic as a character, actually felt like a mentor to the Warrior, and had just enough successes (unlike, say, Skavak) and failures (unlike Darth "Plot Armor" Thanaton) as a villain to hit that note of a perfect archenemy. He's with you long enough for you to form an emotional connection, and his VA did fantastic work. Jadus was uber chilling and very much a twist. He's classic Sith, but with a Jedi-esque spin in that he's utterly devoted to his goals. And that decision you have to make when you face him is legit one of the hardest and most compelling in the game. Jun Seros from the BH story, solely for the fact I have never hated an enemy as much as him. He did an excellent job of making the set-up between you two very personal. Disappointments, I'd say the Voidwolf wasn't around enough to make an impression. Skavak steals your ship at the start, so you instantly hate him, but the Voidwolf was just too "shadowy figure" for me to really get invested. He didn't even come off as much of a credible threat, and I felt there was a missed opportunity to pitch your portion of the Underworld against his in an all-out gang war. Tarro Blood tries to be Jun Seros and fails, mostly because he acts like a child throwing a temper tantrum when you foil him. It was still satisfying to shoot him in the face, but in the way you'd take satisfaction in shooting Jar-Jar--you do it because you're relieved about getting rid of an annoyance, not a good enemy. He just did not command respect. Vitiate is getting old. He was good in the JK story, but now he's becoming repetitive. Stretched out, like a piece of gum. He's scary, but his characterization is jumping all over the place and none of your victories are really meaningful, so it just becomes tiring to fight him. If he doesn't have a good reason to go from "world eater" to "evil overlord", and if it takes too long to be revealed, he's going to lose the cred he has for character derailment and a dragging plot.

I wasn't getting anything but a friendship vibe from her, though. I mean, she calls him "my FRIEND" at the end when she says goodbye. Not saying Finn/Rey couldn't happen, but it seems unlikely what with her going her own way to train. Finn/Poe would be...progressive. They certanly had chemistry, but I don't know if Disney would be ballsy enough to make a same-sex couple happen. Kylo/Rey would also be interesting, kind of an inverse of Anakin/Padme--love damned Anakin, love redeems Kylo. Buuuuuuuut it shares a problem with Finn/Poe in that it kind of relies on Disney going "out there", and there's the whole "are they related or not" caveat (personally, I think no, I think she's a Kenobi, but time will tell). Poe/Rey don't even interact this film, and I think it's even less likely they will next film.

I'm basing this entirely off the individual movies, because otherwise it feels unfair to judge the characters--the OT and PT have had three movies of development, while TFA cast has just one. So this is going solely by how the character was in ANH and TPM. 1. Rey > Luke > Anakin. Rey juuuuuuust barely wins out over Luke for her amazing acting. Kiddie midichlorian Anakin doesn't even compare to either of them. 2. Leia > Padme > Finn. Leia and Padme are both fairly strong and competent in their respective movies, but Padme is kind of boring and weighed down by the bad script. Finn, while a sweetheart, just felt underdeveloped and underused in general. 3. Han > Poe > Obi-Wan. No contest here. Poe carries Han's legacy of "snarky ace pilot" well, but he lacks the charm and overall presence Han had to really compete. Obi-Wan was the best part of the prequels, but he was at his worst in TPM--barely got to do anything, and what little he did, he didn't do it with the charisma of Han and Poe. 4. Han > Obi-Wan > Qui-Gon. Han does Obi-Wan's original job with more flair than Obi-Wan ever did, and Obi-Wan does his job much better than Qui-Gon. I don't think Qui-Gon offers Anakin more than a single piece of advice, while Han and Obi-Wan were constantly there for Rey and Luke. 5. Kylo > Vader > Maul. Like Rey, Kylo just BARELY edges out over the original. Vader was an intimidating and powerful force, but he didn't develop beyond "typical villain" until the latter films. Kylo is a far more interesting and developed character compared to ANH Vader, and he manages to match him in fear factor as well. The only thing Maul has going for him is his design--he has absoluty no personality and isn't as threatening as the other two. 6. BB-8 > R2-D2 > C3PO. The droids don't do much, so this is mostly personal preference. That said, BB-8 and R2 are cuter and do more than Threepio, who's just a whiner. 7. Tarkin > Hux > Gunray. Hux is a good enough villain, but Tarkin's cold calculation and ruthlessness are far superior. Gunray was just incompetent. 8. Snoke > Emperor > Emperor. None of the "bigger bads" do much in the first movie, either, but Snoke at least makes more than one appearance. The Emperor doesn't show till the very end of TPM, and not at all in ANH. So overall score: TFA: 5 (Rey, Kylo, Han, BB-8, Snoke) > ANH: 3 (Leia, Han, Tarkin) > TPM: 0 (#LolPhantomMenace) Yes, I do think TFA was better than ANH, though just barely--Rey and Kylo are intriguing enough a hero/villain to let it eck slightly ahead. However, this is only in comparison to ANH Luke and Vader--if I were judging all the movies together, Luke and Vader would win instead. Like I said, though, I think it's unfair to do that sort of comparison when Rey and Kylo have only starred in one movie. We'll see how they do in the next two. Bonus round: Chewie = Chewie. He's awesome either way. Phasma = Motti. She was disapponting, and I can't remember a single thing about Motti.

What a great post! It's nice to see the kids gets a break from Bad Things for once (though I still find Bad Things funny). Happy Thanksgiving!

I find it even more hilariously ironic if the Agent falls for Kaliyo of all people, who is just about the epitome of untrustworthy.

Let's face it, I think ALL of us do things in video games that we wouldn't condone in real life. *surreptitiously jabs the [shock him for lulz] button and smiles*

That's not a [Flirt], though. That's like the third option on the wheel, which seems to be exclusively reserved for being a jerk to the LI (and isn't exclusive to the Inquisitor, EVERYONE can be various degrees of an ***). The Inquisitor's top/'default" option to her asking to take things slower is "Sure, I can wait. Let me know when you're ready." You CAN play the Inquisitor as a pushy jerk of a boyfriend, but he's not one by default.

No, that's essentially correct. But I'd still rank Nadia and Quinn above her. As unnerving as her and the Inquisitor's meeting circumstances are, he doesn't try to coerce her into a romantic relationship and respects her wishes throughout it. And that's what I consider to be most important in a relationship. The Warrior is pushy towards Quinn at best and outright sexually harassing him at worst (she can even order him to kiss her at one point), and to romance Nadia the Consular has to essentially take advantage of her when she's in an emotionally vulnerable state. I like Quinn and Nadia, don't get me wrong, and I still romance them. I just ignore most of Quinn's flirts and play my Consular as very young. Otherwise the romances skeeve me out too much to go through. Also: The encyclopedia states Nadia's 22, which I just flat-out refuse to believe. There's no way that girl is older than Kira, much less Vette, Ashara, Mako and Torian.

She never says whether she told them or not. However, I think she probably kept it a secret out of fear of getting kicked out of the Order. The Jedi do a lot of lecturing on never falling prey to your emotions, and there's one guy on Tython who can be given the boot just for failing a test. Given her personality--hot-headed, stubborn, a bit proud--admitting she broke one of the core Jedi rules and putting her future in the Order at risk would have scared her a lot. And while she doesn't help the Inquisitor kill her masters, the whole encounter is essentially "I led the Sith to them, stood by as he killed them, helped him bind the ghost, and walked away alive". It screams suspicious, and that's leaving out the murder (and yes, it WAS murder, the guy had surrendered and was begging for mercy). I can't imagine the Jedi taking the news well, and apparently neither could she. Does she? I don't remember her saying anything different to my DS and LS Inquisitors in the first conversation, just a thinly-veiled threat that she wasn't going to go against her morals. The thing about Ashara is, she's an "ends justifies the means" type of person. She thinks that peace can only be obtained if the Empire is united and rational, because nobody can agree on anything as it stands. Working with the Inquisitor, killing Republic citizens, all that is necessary in the long run to her, because it'll put the Inquisitor in a position of power, from which he can change things. It's obvious to US, and to the other Jedi, that that's not a very Jedi-like way of thinking--and she does eventually admit she's not a Jedi anymore--but she is still trying to uphold their goals of galactic peace.