Hi guys

 

So after watching the movies for the first time two weeks ago I wanted to start getting into the eu as I became a instant fan. I decided to read the before the republic era stuff as there was not much and it did interest me greatly, I am currently reading Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void book and have Force Storm, The Prisoner of Bogan and Force War comic books.

 

I also ordered just about everything in the old republic era up to this game + the Darth bane trilogy as I hear its a great read.

 

While I am sure it will come more clear as I get though the materiel, is there a certain class anyone recommends first? What is the best way to approach this game? (I have played a bit and liked it but am now waiting to catch up in story as it is the main reason I wanted to play). Also how much can I solo as not many of my friends seem super keen on mmos.

 

The only other question I have is I did order "the old republic: Raven" book but held off on Deceived and Fatal Alliance as I got told they where more ads and not really worth reading just wondering what you guys think are they also worth the read?

 

Thanks for any comments, May the force be with you .

 

P.s Forgot to add if anyone can recommend a server that would be great, I want to play on the west coast as I am in Australia.

A lot of the Extended Universe stuff suffers from one problem: they take the hero's powers and the villain's weaponry to ridiculous levels. Weapon that can destroy planet -> weapon that can destroy star (and is smaller than a shuttle) -> weapon that can destroy any star in the galaxy remotely -> weapon that can destroy galaxy. It just gets ridiculous.

 

Anyway, lore-wise this game is a continuation of Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) and KOTOR 2, released a decade ago. Recommended, if you can find them in bargain bin or on Steam sale or whatever. Simpler, but good storyline games.

 

This game's strength is in its class stories, and there are 8, somewhat inter-related. Best way to play it is one character at a time, to level 50 or so, so you can experience a continuous story line through the quests etc. Voice acting is quite good, cut scenes are decent, and most story arcs are ok, with some being outstanding.

 

You have to do combat to progress and level up and see more of the story quests, but because you get companions that complement your abilities, the whole thing can pretty much be soloed. Follow your class quest, get into the planetary story arcs at each planet, and otherwise take some side missions as necessary to gain some extra XP. Or do the flight PVE missions, queue for PVP, or whatever, if you want to take a break from the questing.

 

I do recommend, though, doing the first group scenario (they call them flashpoints) on each side (Republic, Empire) at level 10-11 - they are called the Esseles and the Black Talon respectively and they're like a mini-story. You get showered with light/dark side points, social points, XP, and some orange quality items, and it's fun.

 

As far as which class to play first, I would recommend the following order:

 

Jedi Consular

Jedi Knight

Sith Warrior

Imperial Agent

Smuggler

Bounty Hunter

Trooper

Sith Inquisitor

 

Consular and Knight stories are slightly related, and the Consular has relatively easy gameplay so you can learn the game as you go, Knight is melee so it's slightly more complex but the story is pretty heroic. Then you check what the lore says on the opposite side with Sith Warrior, whose story line will relate to the Knight in the later chapters.

 

Followed by Imperial Agent, which is a pretty good "here is how life is for those without force powers" type of story, and a pretty good continuation from Sith Warrior. Then Smuggler (which has the same combat mechanics as the Imperial Agent) and a story that's a bit of comedy relief, followed by the other three in no particular order, actually.

 

Or, you can go by what's "best story", which seems to be:

 

Imperial Agent

Sith Warrior

Jedi Knight

the others

although people have different opinions about what's best.

 

As you play, remember that you can hit ESC to cancel out of cutscenes, which basically allows you to re-try (and cancel) all possible conversation options before you pick the "best one" for your character. Sometimes the dialogue turns hilarious suddenly, so it helps to check all replies to each line of dialogue to see what the options may be.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Merouk

Thank you so much! Great information to go with.

 

Yea I really want to extract as much information as possible, I want to soak myself in the Pre Republic and Old Republic era's. Couldn't help myself and watched some of the movies available from the log in screen Hope, Deceived and Return I believe, some of the best I have seen for a game, in fact I am going to watch them again.

 

Thanks again for the wonderful information it helps a lot.

Edited April 5, 2014 by JimbowTheJedi

You're welcome.

 

On the other hand, I can totally ruin it, too, with

from long ago.

Warning: first minute contains some profanity, you may want to skip to 1:03.

I would also recommend alternating the faction and advanced class (AC). By that i mean do something like this:

 

-Jedi Sage

-Sith Assassin

-Jedi Guardian

-Sith Marauder

-Vanguard (trooper AC)

-Mercenary (bounty hunter AC)

-Gunslinger (smuggler AC)

-Operative (agent AC)

 

See this way you are alternating stories and you are also alternating advanced classes. Jedi Consular and Sith Inquisitor are the basic mirror classes. The advanced class mirrors are Sage>Sorcerer and Shadow>Assassin. So you do sage to see the Consular storyline and to see what the Sage playstyle is like. Then you play an Assassin to see what their story and playstyle is like.

Balmorra and Taris are planets you'll visit with both factions, but at different stages of in-universe development (read : time frame).

 

I still haven't worked out which is when, though. Others are better thajn me in this respect.

Balmorra and Taris are planets you'll visit with both factions, but at different stages of in-universe development (read : time frame).

 

I still haven't worked out which is when, though. Others are better thajn me in this respect.

 

For Taris, at least, the Republic is there, doing their restoration thing, then the Empire shows up, starts causing trouble for the Republic, pushes them back, and forms their own main base (sadly, you can't go visit that spot as a Pubbie. Made me sad.)

 

Haven't been to Balmorra on my Trooper yet. I'm assuming it's the other way around, since Balmorra and Taris switch spots in the storylines for each faction. (IE Starter>Dromund Kaas>Balmorra>Nar Shaddaa for Imperials, Starter>Coruscant>Taris>Nar Shaddaa for Pubbies.)

Whichever way you start (and there is some good advice in this thread!) I recommend playing Agent LAST. It's arguably the best storyline in the game, and it touches on everyone else's story (so you'll get more of the references if you play it after all the other storylines).

Or play Agent again, at the end. The choices you make affect the ending(s), so basically you can get a slightly different experience with that particular storyline. Not super-different, but different enough. Plus you'd get more of the lore. It's like seeing a mystery movie again, to understand the plot lines better.

 

EDIT: Also, if you're paying attention to the lore, then I definitely recommend keeping a journal (in Notepad or whatever) of your exploits for each character. Each character experiences almost 10 planets, with multiple noteworthy NPCs talking to them, and by the time you're done your journal will be like a novella. I have pages and pages.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Merouk