I tried to roll on the Republic side, being that it's more in my nature to play the token good guys than the evil ones. I had decided I'd play a Jedi Guardian and a Trooper Commando, for Tanking and DPS respectively. Being overdosed on lightsabers, as the Star Wars universe tends to be, I figured I'd play my Trooper first and at least get my bad *** cannon before making the Jedi Guardian my main. Now that we've got pretense out of the way, here's my point: I am disgusted by the early Trooper story.

I eventually quit and decided to go Empire, and I'll be rolling the mirrors to my chosen Republic classes. I had figured that I'd get a rigid and militaristic storyline from the Trooper, with a chance to put myself in harm's way to protect the innocent, and push back the lines of the enemy to help those in need. It may be naive to want to play war hero, but it is a Bioware RPG. That being said, I was met with ridiculous adversity in trying to be the good guy. That's something I figured the Republic of all factions would cater to. I realize some people want to be the odd Light Sith or Dark Jedi, but let's be honest, the sides have their token side of the good/evil coin to be on regardless.

Nearly everyone I interacted with already hated me because I was in the Republic military. I'm fine with that. Corruption in the ranks means I have a pre-disposition to overcome and rise above the corrupt to be a shining example of what a Republic soldier really is. I realize it's Ord Mantell, but I was getting lip from even the people I was helping. People who should be grateful that I've stuck my neck out for them. I figured it was the classic formula of "do something good, prove pre-conceived notions wrong, restore hope to the people." I was wrong in spades however, and it grew to be more effort than was worth it and I saw the story going nowhere pleasant fast.

What pushed me over the edge was this particular segment:

I realize everything isn't supposed to be sunshine and rainbows. I don't want it to be, I'm the hero there to change things for the better. It stops being a story that makes you want to overcome and expose the corruption, and becomes a story where you might as well go with the flow since few if any people will honestly be grateful you're risking your life for theirs or to make it better for them. That's my two credits.

Welcome to Ord Mantell. There's a REASON the people are rising up against the Republic there. It's not just that the Empire is manipulating them; the Republic soldiers there ARE quite corrupt.

You'll run into some that aren't, though, or are trying to make things better. Once you leave OM, you DO get to become "The Hero" that you're after. People see you and react positively. "Havoc Squad? Wow! I'm glad YOU'RE here!"

But yes, Ord Mantell is kind of a hive of scum and villainy. Don't give up, though! It gets better.

Don't give up, though! It gets better.

You're absolutely sure about this? When I hit Coruscant people will be as relieved to see me as they were to see my Consular? (I quit him because I was bored to tears hunting items for others as a SI, and apparently was as a JC as well.) The thing is that I literally lost motivation to go above and beyond the call of duty, my whole intent when playing the Trooper. It's the earliest point of the game. They should have done more to draw you into that role so you'd want to continue and achieve greatness and do away with the corruption.

Did you stop after that side quest or did you play out the class story to level 10? If you didn't I think you should go back and at least finish the story, as you might be surprised by how things progress.

By the way, the missions you mention specifically are not part of the Trooper story line, but are side missions for smugglers too, who are also yelled at. Personally I think it's good that they show that the Republic isn't so nice and noble as it tries to portray itself. Besides, on Corusant you get to do away with all the corruption and bribery if you want to.

One of the things I have a problem with is how Black and white the dark side/light side options are, and several of them are just wierd, like the Khatar lady

But then, I didn't expect more from Bioware, as they've done the same in all their other games; KOTOR, Mass Effect, etc.

Personally I think it's good that they show that the Republic isn't so nice and noble as it tries to portray itself. Besides, on Corusant you get to do away with all the corruption and bribery if you want to.

Well I'll certainly keep an eye out for the opportunity mentioned in the latter half of this quote. The thing is that the Empire by comparison is everything you'd expect it to be. The Republic seems to be this pre-teen barely in control of his own bladder while the Empire is this steroid boosted bodybuilder who can punch a hole in a brick wall. I'd have expected either a more established "go forth and right what is wrong" feeling from the Republic outside the confines of Tython, or some intrigue regarding people being good in the Empire who aren't just snuffed out because they're good and not evil.

Either way, I'll give it another go. Thank you for the input, everyone. Except that first response that I feel is just borderline spam.

The thing is that the Empire by comparison is everything you'd expect it to be.

 

The Republic seems to be this pre-teen barely in control of his own bladder while the Empire is this steroid boosted bodybuilder who can punch a hole in a brick wall.

 

I'd have expected either a more established "go forth and right what is wrong" feeling from the Republic outside the confines of Tython, or some intrigue regarding people being good in the Empire who aren't just snuffed out because they're good and not evil.

 

.

The Empire is controlled by the Sith, and the Sith are the the Sith, they are absolute. It's evil leading masses of evil, it could not be any other way. Good is weakness and the weak do not survive.

The only good you'll meet is Light player Sith (and player Sith are OP'ed anomalies) or heretic Sith likely about to be crushed for their weakness. Any one anywhere in power in the Empire is evil.

The Republic on the other hand is controlled by Politicians, Politicians are fickle, they can be good, bad, corrupt or pure (or any combination of grey). As such the Republic is not inherently good, bad, corrupt or pure ether, it completely depends on the person who is charge of the situation. (The people in charge of Ord Mantell are corrupt.)

However it seems that when the Jedi get involved, things suddenly become squeaky clean, pure and good, pretty much any quest that involves (non-player) Jedi will have you throwing yourself in the fire to save the helpless masses.

The Empire is controlled by the Sith, and the Sith are the the Sith, they are absolute. It's evil leading masses of evil, it could not be any other way. Good is weakness and the weak do not survive.

 

The only good you'll meet is Light player Sith (and player Sith are OP'ed anomalies) or heretic Sith likely about to be crushed for their weakness. Any one anywhere in power in the Empire is evil.

 

The Republic on the other hand is controlled by Politicians, Politicians are fickle, they can be good, bad, corrupt or pure (or any combination of grey). As such the Republic is not inherently good, bad, corrupt or pure ether, it completely depends on the person who is charge of the situation. (The people in charge of Ord Mantell are corrupt.)

 

However it seems that when the Jedi get involved, things suddenly become squeaky clean, pure and good, pretty much any quest that involves (non-player) Jedi will have you throwing yourself in the fire to save the helpless masses.

Two major things wrong with that: One, yes, the empire is COMPLETELY controlled by the Sith. If you play the IA storyline there are several mentions of the fact that even high ranking non sith are little more than dirt to the Sith of the society. The Empire caters to the Sith, and the Sith only. The rest are just tools.

Second, you must not be paying attention to the situation of the Jedi in this storyline. The Jedi are currently on the outs with the Republic and have very little to do with it, seeing as the politicians used them as a scapegoat for losing the war. You'll see a few jedi here and there lending their hand to the fight, but not much else, and certainly everything isn't "peachy keen" wherever they go.

You're absolutely sure about this? When I hit Coruscant people will be as relieved to see me as they were to see my Consular? (I quit him because I was bored to tears hunting items for others as a SI, and apparently was as a JC as well.) The thing is that I literally lost motivation to go above and beyond the call of duty, my whole intent when playing the Trooper. It's the earliest point of the game. They should have done more to draw you into that role so you'd want to continue and achieve greatness and do away with the corruption.

i made it to tatoonie before i ended up deleteing my trooper got so bored

liked some of the choices but all around it just lacked any real reason to get in to it

i made it to tatoonie before i ended up deleteing my trooper got so bored

liked some of the choices but all around it just lacked any real reason to get in to it

The trooper story isn't for those who aren't big fans of the Empire/Republic War. Out of all the class stories the trooper focuses on it the most. Helping the Republic itself was my motivation

How happy would you be about people fighting up in yo crib. You wouldn't care who was in the right, you'd be like, take this fighting somewhere else, you are breaking my furniture. Well that's how people feel when they have to sleep out in a tent over a stupid war. Ord Mantell is meant to feel like the toilet of the Republic so you don't think the Republic is all lollipops and teddy bears.

Probably easier to play through Ord Mantell as a smuggler because of this... don't have any attachment to the planet from the start.

I thought it was awesome and I was surprised at how miltary centric the story was.

Very impressed with it and I don't see your issue here.

There is corruption within the ranks and you are exposed to that corruption. You get a choice to either go with the corruption and possibly profit from it or be the good guy and do what is right.

By the sounds of your rant however it would seem you would rather have a "everything is great and we are all happy friends together" situation and have no options to what you can and want to do.

By the sounds of your rant however it would seem you would rather have a "everything is great and we are all happy friends together" situation and have no options to what you can and want to do.

I think what it is, is he wants them to be more appreciative when he helps them, but he's not looking at the entire picture.

Average Ord Mantell Citizen: My parents have been killed, my kid has been kidnapped, my home has been destroyed, I'm sleeping in a tent, I'm sick and I have no medicine, the only way to get food is to risk my life in Republic sponsored death games.

Trooper comes along and fixes one of these issues, well overall, life still sucks. Not to mention this entire war is because the Republic seems to have a blood in, blood out policy. When you are worried about if you'll die of random disease A, you don't care which group of warring bastards get to wave their flag in the middle of town.

If you persist in both JK and Trooper stories you'll find the Trooper actually gets more respect than the Jedi. Many of the Ord Mantell quests had frustrating outcomes but that's not all the same. Once you rise in rank people start respecting you A LOT more, trust me

I think it has more to do with the trooper is more 'real' and has skills that aren't out of the realm of other normal people due to training. The Jedi's ability tend to be more tied to them being born with their mystic mojo and seem more unnatural.

Of course some people think that if their force abilities are nullified or countered, they are pretty much easily taken down. In most cases this is true for your average Jedi.

This is actually something I have enjoyed about the trooper. I decided to play the arrogant, trigger happy, bloodthirsty DS trooper, purely in it to get the girls and kill everything he can, yet its sometimes hard to do this, like

... ouch...

So yeah, its pretty cool that they have put together a story and sidequests that really make you think at times about the decisions you make, especially if you are trying to play one side of the coin or the other