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Anyone else finding the consular story...very dry?


spacepuppy

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I play as a duo with my partner, our first characters were a smuggler and trooper, which I mostly enjoyed. We ended up trying Jedi and I went consular. I had heard the consular story wasn't that great...and so far I have to agree. It really is slow and tedious. Now I am only level 14 or so but does it pick up? I am trying to motivate myself to stay with the class but its feeling like work.
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Honestly, I dropped my consular at about the same level that you are now in favor of Sith Warrior. Unfortunately I don't have any insight as to whether it gets better later on, but I haven't heard many good things about the Jedi consular storyline from other players. :(
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My consular is 33rd right now, and I play her with my bf's jedi knight, so I've got a bit more motivation to work on her. :)

 

The story IS a bit dry, though there are some interesting parts here and there in act-1. Haven't started act-2 yet, so we'll see what that brings.

 

Overall, it's not bad, but it's not great. At least to the point where I am right now.

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I enjoyed it. I think you kinda have to be "in-character," or have a particular type of motivation and mindset to enjoy playing a consular, in the first place... and after playing through as a sage, i can see how it may not exactly fit the "shadow" mindset. From what i understand, the advanced classes have no bearing on the story progression, other than the abilities and tactics used during action sequences.

 

Idk. Whatever. It was enjoyable for me, and i thought it only got better as i progressed further through it. I did begin to get impatient in my 40's and sort of rush it a bit, and i guess i'll admit, it does sort of "get old," the way everyone, everywhere, seems to expect you to do everything for them, as you save each planet you visit along the way. It actually seems to be a bit of a joke at some points, with some of the dialogue options referring to guilt-trips and self-sufficiency. Some characters even "claim" partial credit for your heroism, while they in fact did nothing at all, other than to ask you to do it for them. Such is the life of a Jedi, i guess... doing everything "normal" people can't do for themselves.

 

I would definitely say it's a story that will most likely be most enjoyed from a particular perspective and mindset.

 

edit: i will add, it seems more drama-oriented, rather than action-packed. That said... lvl 14 is no time to decide anything about any of the class-stories. You've just scratched the surface at that point. I mean... you JUST got sprint. You don't even have your ship. You have no idea what's going on! (which was the single factor that ended up compelling me to respond at all) lol.

Edited by gumbology
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I am level 36 and I am perfectly satisfied with my Consular story. The only right way to play it is from a perspective of classic Lawful Good character. It's really down to earth, it's modest, without many "git in blow stuff up git out", jedi order centered story. It feels personal. I don't know about "dry", but it does seems more like a job, not and adventure, and it's really satisfying to speak with all the leaders, shadow dealers, senators, princes and princesses, because it makes me feel myself as an agent with an actuall duty to attend to, not a random stranger. I like companions too, Qyzen is a real bro, it's nice to be a jedi who are supposed to understand and learn from diffirent species and actually do so. I think it takes a bit of diffirent state of mind to play a diplomatic and lore heavy story like that, but I think I get it.
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For me, I nearly unsubbed. It was horrid. I could not believe a story driven mmo had such a dreary story. Each chapter is a brutal exercise in repetition. I knew EXACTLY what was going to happen and I can't understand how anyone could write such a story and how it got approved. It left such a bad taste in my mouth, I can barely stand logging in to grind dailies for credits for my other alts and yet I think both advanced classes are fun to play.

 

Oh, and I must be a masochist because after I hit lvl 50 on my lightside sage, I pushed to 31 as a darkside shadow, but its gathering dust now. I have seen zero consequences for my choices. Thank god the smug lets me stealth/heal and that class story is like jumping into a pool of pure spring water after weeks baking in the desert.

 

 

 

This is all you will get from the story.

 

Act 1. A Jedi master has disappeared/acted strangely. Go find them. Go shield them. Rinse and repeat until you want to stab out your eyes.

 

Act 2. Oh thank god that is over with. Now lets... Go gather allies to fight the Empire. Rinse and repeat as before. /sigh

 

Act 3. Okay, surely all this suffering will lead us to some great reward. This is Bioware. Story is their thing. And we get...a clumsy betrayal and a tedious hunt for him. Traitor set up 4 fortresses to fight the Imps. Now you must clear them and hunt him down in some epic confronta- Wait, what? Well that was a short fight with a stupid mechanic. (Interrupt him and win or he insta kills.) :/

 

And that whole Child of the Emperor plot device. :rolleyes: Its almost as silly as when they give you your Bagboy (Barsen'thor) title. The one that only two other Jedi had earned previously, the one that you can now see floating above every mid level Consular in fleet.

 

Oh and as for the darkside. They keep sending you out to save the Jedi masters even though you just keep butchering them. Brilliant.

 

 

 

But who knows, you may love it. :p

Edited by nosuchname
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Short answer: No. No it does not. It's as thrilling as watching paint dry. There are a bunch of threads already about this in the consular forums but for the sake of laziness I will just re-post what I posted there because I don't see the need to retype the same thing. And I don't know how much of that thread you'd want to actually bother reading.

 

I am aware I have been very negative regarding this subject countless times, but I cannot stress just HOW MUCH this story pissed me off.

 

Long answer:

 

Consular storyline is horrible. Worst of all the classes I have tried so far. I did get to 50 on mine and stopped playing right after I finished because it pissed me off so much. The companion characters are all unlikeable and boring except for Nadia, who is still boring but at least she's a bit likeable. Whoever did the voice acting for the females put little to no emotion into their performance and time and time again I wished I could punch whoever did it in the face along with whoever okayed the performance.

 

Prologue - I was excited to play this class and hoping for something good.

 

Chapter 1 - Feeling VERY skeptical on how things were going.

 

Chapter 2 - Not interested at all. Playing for the love of the class mechanics.

 

Chapter 3 - COMPLETELY PISSED OFF at how terrible the story and companions are but want to finish hoping the ending makes it worth the effort.

 

I felt SO cheated at the end off all this, as if they forgot to write the scenario for the class and then threw in some half-formulated ideas and ran with it hoping no one would notice. Qyzen Fess is boring. Theran Cedrax is a jerk (I would use harsher language but can't), Zenith is as interesting as drying paint, Iresso is a generic soldier (woo hoo for a boring military man), Nadia is cute at least. I felt like I wasted my time paying attention to the story. I finished my final class quest and thought to myself..."This is it? I thought at least something interesting would have happened. Even my final title I get at the end of the story is garbage." All the "big reveals" were predictable and the pacing is GODAWFUL. Slow in the beginning and rushing at the end as if they want you to hurry through so you don't have to think about how stupid and boring things really are in this story.

 

I knew I was playing a diplomat who could also throw down in a fight, but I guess I expected too much (You know, a good story.) I was hoping for some interesting political intrigue or at least something that had even the slightest bit of substance. I've read more interesting children's picture books if you want me to be completely honest. I would have quit and re-rolled if not for me enjoying the class itself and been really hoping things would pick up. I kept thinking, "this is boring but it's got to get better!" It never did.

 

There are some who enjoy the story which really astounds me, but to each their own I suppose.

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The only disappointment for me was the companions, but most other aspects I loved.

 

It's not a story to impress by throwing big plot twists and shocking moments at you. The only plot twist is hardly astounding when it comes.

 

It's a story you'll enjoy if you identify with what the Consular is and the things that they do. If feeling like you're building up the allies of the Republic and cleaning mess within the Order doesn't appeal to you you probably won't enjoy it.

 

I levelled alongside my gf on her JK. We went to all each other's Story instances and would pear over the other's shoulder while they're on a ship holo call or comm call. I guess that objectively her story was better written, but I definitely enjoyed playing the Consular more than I would have a JK, because what you achieve throughout the story is far more satisfying for me.

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The only disappointment for me was the companions, but most other aspects I loved.

 

It's not a story to impress by throwing big plot twists and shocking moments at you. The only plot twist is hardly astounding when it comes.

 

It's a story you'll enjoy if you identify with what the Consular is and the things that they do. If feeling like you're building up the allies of the Republic and cleaning mess within the Order doesn't appeal to you you probably won't enjoy it.

 

The problem I have with what you're saying (Not saying your opinion is wrong since it is an opinion as well as what I'm about to say) is that plot twists and shocking moments COULD have been implemented. Just because you're playing a Jedi diplomat does not mean the story can't be exciting. I've read many books about boring subjects that turned out to be fantastic because they had memorable characters, expected as well as unexpected plot points that were delivered in a way to promote overall enjoyment of the story presented.

 

One of the main flaws of the consular story, at least in my mind is the repetition. Sure when you play a JK it's go here and save this then go over and save that but at LEAST you're facing different foes with different types of plans and your companions actually HAVE REASONS FOR COMING WITH YOU. I cannot stress the irritation I got because with the exception of Nadia, no one who is on your ship as a companion has a reason to be there for any reason whatsoever.

 

There is no excuse for lack of entertainment just because "you're a diplomat! You shouldn't expect dramatic plot twists and excitement!" I don't mind "cleaning up messes" within the order or "helping in republic diplomatic relations" all of these things I felt had the potential for some serious fun factor plot wise which I felt was not there. There is also the fact that a lot of plot points don't seem accounted for if you play dark side or neutral. This story felt like they passed it off to someone who forgot they were supposed to be writing a story and then handed in a very rough draft that was accepted because they had no other options.

 

I really felt they dropped the ball, the interesting lore and potential they had with a Jedi diplomat was so great they may have just been setting themselves up for failure. They just did not deliver on any count except for class mechanics. (Even those have some of their own issues but that is something altogether not plot related) Some of my favourite games of all times are visual novel games and plot heavy rpgs where sometimes I just want to skip all the battles because I want more story! I don't need tons and tons of action to feel a story is good. So please, please do not think I'm just hating on it because "I want bash things with my lightsaber!!"

 

You know what? tl:dr - Just because you're a diplomat doesn't mean you can't have an exciting plot. Excitement doesn't have to be SUPER ACTION, it can just be well written memorable things you need to overcome to help diplomatic relations or some such. Lack of action isn't the problem, it's lack of good characterization of the people surrounding you and lack of depth to the story itself.

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Ive deliberately only read the question so you get my true response, for me personally, Prologue, Act 1 and the start of Act2 are good, the rest all had potential but i agree was very dry. I love BW but it seemed like the story had great potential but was a bit lazy, e.g. the little things like the lack of the epic medal ceremony music at the end etc

just my opinion

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I've played all the classes to level 20+, many to 40+ (except Sith inquistor, played alongside a friend who was one and the idea of being a ghostbuster in a star wars environment was too stupid to contemplate).

 

Don't play Jedi Consular for the story, companions, or dialogue. Other classes have much better in all these categories (Story - IA, SW, Trooper; Companions - Smuggler, IA, BH; Dialogue - Smuggler, smuggler, smuggler). But being a sneaky tank with good dps (jedi shadow) and some of the other possibilities is one of the more enjoyable classes to play for pure game mechanics.

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It's the Obi-Wan experience. You're in a story, but it's not centered on you, and it's not about you. You're in a story about war and change across a grand scale, and though you are someone who sees it happen first hand - and you are even an agent for that change - it's not your story so much as it is the story of the galaxy at large. You're just the man or woman on the spot, nothing special. If you didn't exist, then someone would have to do the things you do - but it's fallen to you to do them. It's not about destiny, but duty. So yeah, it's kinda dry.

 

 

For example, you're not the subject of Parkanis Tark's revenge. But you are the person who stops him. You're not the leader of the Rift Alliance, but you are the one who helps them grow strong, and advises them towards victory. You're not the First Son's best friend or apprentice, but you are the one who stops him or saves him.

 

 

I can certainly understand why folk would find the other stories more engaging, but I don't think the Consular storyline is without merit. It's just a bit different.

Edited by smartalectwo
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I really loved the intro series on Tython, I found it really fun and the lead up story to the final battle there was really enjoyable. After that, I pretty much hated the story and gave up shortly thereafter (a little after getting my ship) because I was just bored with the story and the outlook for things improving didn't seem very good.
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It's the Obi-Wan experience. You're in a story, but it's not centered on you, and it's not about you. You're in a story about war and change across a grand scale, and though you are someone who sees it happen first hand - and you are even an agent for that change - it's not your story so much as it is the story of the galaxy at large. You're just the man or woman on the spot, nothing special. If you didn't exist, then someone would have to do the things you do - but it's fallen to you to do them. It's not about destiny, but duty. So yeah, it's kinda dry.

 

 

For example, you're not the subject of Parkanis Tark's revenge. But you are the person who stops him. You're not the leader of the Rift Alliance, but you are the one who helps them grow strong, and advises them towards victory. You're not the First Son's best friend or apprentice, but you are the one who stops him or saves him.

 

 

I can certainly understand why folk would find the other stories more engaging, but I don't think the Consular storyline is without merit. It's just a bit different.

 

This.

 

It's the Obi-Wan experience. You're in a story, but it's not centered on you, and it's not about you.

 

If a Knight story is a story of a Knight, Consular's is more like of a monk and a mediator.

 

Who would expect a "jedi consular" to be anything Other Than a diplomatic monk mediator type?

 

Did you all just spacebar through all the dialogue?

 

Are you all "those people" who refuse to pay attention to what is going on, or ever read a subtitle?

 

I think the real problem with the consular story, is that the people who seem so dissatisfied by it, are the ones who just have no clue what a jedi consular is supposed to be about, in the first place.

 

I think most of you must have rolled a consular because you heard it was OP, or you heard it was the one with the double-bladed lightsaber.

 

Excessive and unwarranted expectations and misconceptions strike the microwave generation, once again.

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I actually like the consular story. On Nar Shaada I thought there were funny parts

 

 

Like wen you pretend to be a sith, or when to distract a guard, I argued that I was arrested without due process and that I need a lawyer, to which the guard says, "This is the Empire, you don't deserve a lawyer"

 

 

But I hate it ow Qyzen is just like, you are the herald, I will follow you. I wanted to scream, WHAT PROOF DO YOU HAVE????? All I did was kill a sith wanna be. Ooooh, I must be that good. You don't become a sacred idol just by doing something that millions of Jedi have done before me. What should have happen is that Qyzen sees that Yuon is ill and follows you so that you can get to the bottom of this.

Edited by lcemaster
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My Sage is only level 35, and I haven't played any other classes, so I have no basis for comparison -- but FWIW, I've enjoyed the Consular story immensely, so far. A lot of the moments seemed pretty epic to me, even if it is ultimately a story about diplomacy:

 

 

Heck, on Alderaan I got to Force Persuade an entire planet to declare peace!

 

 

YMMV, but despite the widespread criticism of the Consular story, I think at worst it's about as good as any solo-pve story content in other MMOs. It might be mediocre or even terrible when weighed against other class stories, but that doesn't mean it's bad as far as game stories go. Everything's relative, after all.

Edited by Invictos
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