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Iokath... Republic vs Empire


Vaspar

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*WARNING SPOILERS CONTAINED IF YOU HAVEN'T COMPLETED ALL CHAPTERS LEADING UP TO IOKATH*

 

So my Jedi Knight. I WANT to side with the Republic. I do. I just completed Eternal Throne and getting ready to go into Iokath story where I know I'll lead up to choose a side to fight for. Granted, I don't know the full ramifications of choosing a side here on Iokath, but I'm just having a hard time with the decision.

 

When I did it on Empire, it was Empire all the way. Wasn't even a question. But as a Republic character, I WANT to side with the Republic here.

 

My problem is: The Empire came to help me during a previous chapter. The Empress was convincing enough for me to form an alliance with her. This was furthered when they DIDNT try to retake the throne while I was stuck on Iokath. As opposed to the Republic who tried to have me assassinated.

 

Then this is furthered through the mail / reports that the Republic felt it was best to wait for Zakuul to wipe me and the Empire out because its better for them in the long run, and that they need to "distance" themselves "from these events", meaning they just gonna cower and hide while the Empire and my forces do all the heavy lifting.

 

Is there another side I'm missing? Like I said, I WANT to side with the Republic, I'm a Jedi Knight! (My Dark III alignment aside). I just haven't seen anything from the Republic to warrant such blind loyalty.

 

Wondering what others thoughts are.

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I agree with you that the case for the Republic looks bad although that letter was forwarded to you by Sith Intelligence so they could be conning you and the assassination attempt was done by Saresh so mitigating circumstances as well.

 

Still, out of my current pub toons (since there's no third option):

 

Trooper: Game rule override. My toons do the actions that collect their old comps.

Smuggler: When she gets there, probably imp both for the reasons mentioned and her disgust at how the high and mighty in the Republic live. Not to paraphrase Episode III too much but, from her point of view, her class story combined with the planetary arcs showed how, except for a few exceptions, the Republic Government and the Jedi are no better than the Sith.

Jedi Knight: (Still in Chapter 1 of class story so personality could change) She's the crusader type. There can be no peace while a Sith draws breath. Pub side. (Yes I imagine that's going to make things awkward between her and Lana.)

 

In the end, it kinda comes down to what you see as your toon's motivations.

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The only real advantage I can think of for choosing the Republic over the Empire, all former loyalties aside, is that no matter how reasonable Acina's plans are, it's very likely that the Sith will collapse back into the old power struggles again. Even more so since so many Sith were killed during Zakuulan occupation - I imagine it's left a nice little power vacuum for the Empire to put up with. I'd say that in general, the Republic are less prone to self-destruction and working with them long-term will be less of a headache in that regard.

 

Me personally, I'm only doing two playthroughs for lack of time - one with the Empire (Sith Warrior, already done), one with the Republic (Republic Trooper).

Edited by Myddelion
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If it helps, I seriously doubt there'll be any repercussions, since it's possible to grind reputation with both factions on Iokath--you can choose a different side every day, if you want. Choosing sides in the story seems to just be a quick, temporary gimmick that was likely there mostly for publicity's sake.
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I think it may well have some significant story repercussions, with future characters and so forth. Gameplay wise, it probably won't. But given what happens with Elara, it conceivably it could prevent you from recruiting Kira or something.

 

In addition, the Sith Empire is still an evil Empire and Jedi are still sworn to protect the Republic. If those reasons are not compelling for a Jedi character, then it sounds like they are a character that was never loyal to the Republic in the first place, so it's hard to see why siding with the Sith Empress would be so out of character for them.

 

If they are a Darkside Jedi Knight, maybe they still have never fully let go of any hatred or contempt for the Empire for what they did in the class stories?

Edited by OldVengeance
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As opposed to the Republic who tried to have me assassinated.

 

One note: it was Saresh that tried to kill you and Acina...not the Republic. In a message from the new chancellor he denounces Saresh's actions. Granted, this might just be the Republic "disavowing" any knowledge of what Saresh's intentions were, but we may never know The Republic's actual level of involvement.

 

Just my opinion, but Saresh saw the opportunity to grab power. Remember, strictly speaking she was no longer Chancellor - although Lana felt the new Chancellor was just Saresh's puppet. Saresh wanted to be in the command chair again, not just pulling the strings from behind the curtain.

 

As to "the Empire helped and aligned with me", well my JK was willing to hear Acina out but when she said that the alliance between the Eternal Alliance and the Empire would pave the way to wiping out the Republic - as in same old imperial dogma - it made my decision a LOT easier to side with the Republic.

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They came and helped on Voss, after that you could have turned away their help.

 

Would you really trust a Sith who sits on that throne? Not all Sith are Lana or Marr, and as we see if you chose Rep side, Acina is still power hungry.

 

Republic didn't try to kill you or take your throne, that was Saresh, also, did you have a throne or were you peace keeper? That seems less a throne and more a position of leadership. Do you want to lead your people into a society that tells aliens they're lower class? That believes in killing any beneath you for what ever reason?

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It's bugged for me. They both give their little speeches, and then I have to choose one of them. The option to tell them both to take a long walk off a short pier is missing. (And frankly, even if I had picked "peacemaker" at the end of KotET, I would want to do that, probably more strongly than if I picked "rule as empress"(1).)

 

In my opinion, the choices should be:

* Peacemaker / light-oriented character, ally with both.

* Emperor/Empress / dark-oriented character, ally with neither.

 

(1) The peacemaker wants to keep the super weapon out of Imp/Rep hands so that nobody will use it (since a peacemaker will not use it). The emperor wants to keep it so he has the option to use it and the Imps/Pubs don't. Also: picking one side is hardly conducive to ruling as a peacemaker.

 

Conclusion: I refuse to play this defective story.

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This decision felt clunky for me too. I've only done it on one character (a guardian) and sided with the pubs. More because I thought a jedi would be inclined to side with pubs, all things considered. But I agree, considering I spent the first third of my story rooting out superweapon I think my character would have preferred to keep it out of either factions' hands. Also, I technically did have an alliance with the empire... but then that's inevitably going down to sith infighting and power mongering anyway...

 

Summary: it felt forced/awkward to make a decision. As a LS 5 jedi knight, I wasn't feeling a very LS option here. I have to side with one of 2 factions thst are both lacking substantially morally.

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my LS heretic SW chose the republic without any hesitation or regrets, why? because he has a lot in common with the republic besides where someone is born, he also got both Quinn and Elara as well as companions. he has no place to discriminate, he just chose the republic because the galaxy doesn't need to be beholden to ideals that wouldn't go anywhere like the Sith would. fighting each other is pointless and destructive and anyone left to rise from the ashes would have to build on the remains of the old empire and effectively start from zero.

 

Also having the assistance of the republic could mean he could help some light side sith cornered by dark side sith and get them out of trouble and show the republic that not every sith despite their training are all evil sadistic monsters, some want to save lives, act selflessly and continue to follow the sith code. The Jedi should be more welcoming of people like this, who only have good in their heart.

 

He is proud to be a sith, but he just as proud to help people and giving without a thought to himself. he allows his passions and emotions to run free and he uses it for the right reasons even though it's very perverted.

Edited by Celise
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Newsflash, for force users, you are no longer Jedi or Sith; you have transcended. Even Satele has become amenable to the totality of the force : light and dark.

 

At this point you are neither a citizen of the Republic or the Empire. You are the ruler of your own world; Odessen. So, whichever, side you choose is up to you.

 

Most of your companions were loyal to YOU, not the empire or republic ( no idea why they did Dorne like that, at least Quinn showed he was loyal to you and not the empire).

Edited by Yezzan
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At this point you are neither a citizen of the Republic or the Empire. You are the ruler of your own world; Odessen. So, whichever, side you choose is up to you.

Really? How do I choose "neither"? How do I choose "my side, the Eternal Alliance of which I am Emperor"?

 

And of course the Bounty Hunter was *NEVER* a citizen of either the Empire OR the Republic, so for a BH, this statement is not news.

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Newsflash, for force users, you are no longer Jedi or Sith; you have transcended. Even Satele has become amenable to the totality of the force : light and dark.

 

At this point you are neither a citizen of the Republic or the Empire. You are the ruler of your own world; Odessen. So, whichever, side you choose is up to you.

 

Most of your companions were loyal to YOU, not the empire or republic ( no idea why they did Dorne like that, at least Quinn showed he was loyal to you and not the empire).

 

Jedi and Sith Outlanders still act like they are Jedi and Sith respectively. Dorne aligning herself to the Empire again would have been very out of character.

Edited by OldVengeance
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My problem is: The Empire came to help me during a previous chapter. The Empress was convincing enough for me to form an alliance with her. This was furthered when they DIDNT try to retake the throne while I was stuck on Iokath.

 

Yes they came to help you on Voss, but that was after what Valiyn had done to their cities etc. Yes it was good then but then when you go back to Lokath, Acina who was supposed to be your ally goes behind your back and tries to take Lokath for the empire.

 

Yes the republic did the same but they never claimed to be your ally at the time.

 

 

As opposed to the Republic who tried to have me assassinated.

 

Saresh was the one that tried to kill you, not the republic. She wasn't even the chancellor at the time. She only wanted one thing power and your alliance gave her means to do that. This was her doing, not anyone's else. She planned it and executed it though it backfired on her when the commander survived and had to face the commander.

 

Even if you kill her you get a letter (off the record lol) approving of what you did to Saresh, even if in the public they had to make it sound that you were wrong.

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Most of your companions were loyal to YOU, not the empire or republic ( no idea why they did Dorne like that, at least Quinn showed he was loyal to you and not the empire).

 

 

Quinn is only loyal to the warrior. Not anyone else and that is because of the history the warrior and Quinn has. He is loyal to the empire if you are from the republic or an agent, etc. The loyalty Quinn shows is only to the warrior and honesty he not going to be stupid again, and betray the warrior again......

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Most of your companions were loyal to YOU, not the empire or republic ( no idea why they did Dorne like that, at least Quinn showed he was loyal to you and not the empire).

 

Yeah, what happened with Dorne felt odd. I mean, it's clear Havoc was effectively denounced and discharged from official service to the Republic when they went off to stage a guerrilla campaign against the Eternal Empire. The top brass wouldn't have wanted Dorne around any more than they wanted Aric Jorgan or Theron Shan. Heck, if you side with the Empire, Jace Malcolm says "Once an Imp, always an Imp." I just looked at Dorne and wanted to yell "Are you not hearing this?!"

Edited by BradTheImpaler
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Elara's a very by the book person, abandoning the Republic military to fight an unsanctioned guerrilla war that is disavowed by the Republic (especially after the Supreme Commander offered her a job that helped her) doesn't seem like the type of thing she'd do. Unless Saresh or Malcolm specifically ordered her to commit warcrimes, I doubt she'd leave the Republic after everything she did to get there.
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Elara's a very by the book person, abandoning the Republic military to fight an unsanctioned guerrilla war that is disavowed by the Republic (especially after the Supreme Commander offered her a job that helped her) doesn't seem like the type of thing she'd do. Unless Saresh or Malcolm specifically ordered her to commit warcrimes, I doubt she'd leave the Republic after everything she did to get there.

 

by ironically becoming the monster she detested and defected from?

whats your reasoning for that?

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  • 8 months later...
Ultimately it came down to personal preference but what swayed me was when Acina said she wanted to wipe out the Republic, whereas Malcolm claimed he wanted to stabilise the Republic. Either side could have ulterior motives but as my JK chose to be a peacekeeper (SW plans to run his own empire), I sided with the Pubs. While I am worried about the ramifications of breaking the war time alliance with the Empire, I can’t condone the wanton destruction of anyone as a peacekeeeper, especially with a superweapon.
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And when I say to Lana "Can't we just tell them both to get lost?" she says that with the Eternal Fleet frozen we don't have the manpower to fight both sides at once... which seems like a cop out, except technically our initial ground team is a scouting operation while the others came to invade.

Still sucks that "Get off my planet" wasn't a viable option.

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my LS heretic SW chose the republic without any hesitation or regrets, why? because he has a lot in common with the republic besides where someone is born, he also got both Quinn and Elara as well as companions. he has no place to discriminate, he just chose the republic because the galaxy doesn't need to be beholden to ideals that wouldn't go anywhere like the Sith would. fighting each other is pointless and destructive and anyone left to rise from the ashes would have to build on the remains of the old empire and effectively start from zero.

 

Also having the assistance of the republic could mean he could help some light side sith cornered by dark side sith and get them out of trouble and show the republic that not every sith despite their training are all evil sadistic monsters, some want to save lives, act selflessly and continue to follow the sith code. The Jedi should be more welcoming of people like this, who only have good in their heart.

 

He is proud to be a sith, but he just as proud to help people and giving without a thought to himself. he allows his passions and emotions to run free and he uses it for the right reasons even though it's very perverted.

 

Our SW's would be buddies!

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