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Choosing Your Choices: SWTOR and Story Skipping


Ylliarus

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Ok, lets say they do implement this. It would only make sense if this was only for Experienced players that have gone through the story line at least once or it WILL cause problems and complaints...

 

Example:

 

A New player comes to SWToR and sees the level 75 token and uses it to create a fully completed character at level 75. The choices pop up requiring multiple decisions about how your Character will end up in the game's story line. They will have NO IDEA WHAT ANY OF THESE MEAN. So random choices are made because they mean NOTHING to them and will not know how or what to choose. New player then proceeds to find out that they do not have the companions they want or that they have gone traitor to their faction. New player will now come onto these forums and moan and complain how the Game is Garbage that the game did this to them or they did not expect that outcome, ect.

 

Don't think it won't happen either. I have a friend that has NEVER played SWToR. Saw the Level 75 Token, made a character then proceed to try to do Directive 7 Flashpoint, Solo. Yes they got there butt totally kicked, repeatedly. Yes they did complain like a drunken sailor. Yes they did blame the SWToR for THEIR Stupidity.

 

It would need to be restricted to Veteran Players ONLY and the requirement would be (wait for it) The COMPLETION OF THE ENTIRE STORY LINE for it to be available.

 

Also No Titles, Bonuses Or extra Companions should be included these need to be EARNED by completing their individual story's to receive them. No Romances either. In order to Romance you need TIME to FLIRT with your intended. You can not simply choose from a list like your choosing a PokeMon.... " Lana Baniko I CHOOSE YOU". This is to be your Romantic Other not a piece of MEAT be it Beef or Fish.

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Ok, lets say they do implement this. It would only make sense if this was only for Experienced players that have gone through the story line at least once or it WILL cause problems and complaints...

 

Don't think it won't happen either. I have a friend that has NEVER played SWToR. Saw the Level 75 Token, made a character then proceed to try to do Directive 7 Flashpoint, Solo. Yes they got there butt totally kicked, repeatedly. Yes they did complain like a drunken sailor. Yes they did blame the SWToR for THEIR Stupidity.

 

It would need to be restricted to Veteran Players ONLY and the requirement would be (wait for it) The COMPLETION OF THE ENTIRE STORY LINE for it to be available.

 

Also No Titles, Bonuses Or extra Companions should be included these need to be EARNED by completing their individual story's to receive them. No Romances either. In order to Romance you need TIME to FLIRT with your intended. You can not simply choose from a list like your choosing a PokeMon.... " Lana Baniko I CHOOSE YOU". This is to be your Romantic Other not a piece of MEAT be it Beef or Fish.

 

There is no level 75 token, and yes basic class titles should be granted. A Jedi, whether they use a token to start at level 60 or level 70 should at least have the title Jedi, for example. They should then grant some missing titles at the end of Onslaught such as Master to Jedi if they choose to rejoin the Order, Colonel to Troopers, etc.

 

If something like this were to happen it would likely be done similarly to the Lana romance fix. It would only apply to the level 70 boost as the level 60 boost does not skip FE/ET/Traitor, which is where these faction based decision occur, and would likely only be available immediately prior to talking to Lana to start Jedi Under Siege. Since the general advice is, if you are new do not use a boost token, then people can complain all they want but they should not have used a token to skip over 95% of the story. If it is put in as a non-purple mission then people who do not know would likely just go talk to Lana, since Lana is standing right in front of your character when you load a new level 70 boosted character, with a purple icon over their head, rather than seeking out this other mission, and they would get the default skip choices anyhow.

 

The potential for people complaining because they were new and decided to skip over most of the story without knowing how to play the game is not a good reason to not do something.

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I haven't really dived into my companions just yet to see who else is dead

Spoiler:

 

Koth Vortena

 

I should have realized exactly what skipping was going to do but trusted that it would be done right.

I don't wish to sound like I'm blaming the victim here, but you *could* have come to the forums and asked us what happens... We might have snarked about the incorrectness of the solution chosen by BioWare, but we would have told you what would happen.

 

I'd also say that while it was done not the best way possible, the solution chosen is far from the worst possible. As noted earlier in the thread, more than one forumite (including me, but not *just* me) thinks that at the very least they should have made it based on your alignment toggle (with an option to preset the toggle when you create the character).

 

Anything more detailed than that suffers from a fatal flaw without an additional feature, and it's a flaw that doesn't get mentioned very often, if at all.

 

Quite simply, access to the "detailed presets" mode must be available only to people who've played through the to-be-skipped story content step-by-step at least once. To do otherwise exposes the fatal flaw: the "detailed presets" mode contains 100% USDA-approved high-grade spoilers for the skipped content. That's not important if you've already played through at least once, but it's a potential issue for new players.

 

And no, it doesn't matter how many spoiler warnings you put in there. People will click through them and then claim to have accidentally triggered the spoilers. (People *have* complained about the autocomplete process that happened when they "accidentally" triggered by jumping to the Jedi Under Siege story on Ossus. To do that, you have to watch a brief cut-scene with a KotOR-style confirmation *and* a pop-up confirmation panel, and somehow they claim to have gone through that "accidentally".)

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  • 2 months later...
I'd also say that while it was done not the best way possible, the solution chosen is far from the worst possible. As noted earlier in the thread, more than one forumite (including me, but not *just* me) thinks that at the very least they should have made it based on your alignment toggle (with an option to preset the toggle when you create the character).

 

I would like to keep this topic alive as it's an issue for me.

I am one of those who agree with SteveTheCynic and want "at the very least they should have made it based on your alignment toggle."

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone :sy_lightside:

 

 

o/

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Even if they did this for those who want it, many of us would still play so we can pick our LIs anyways. So if they're worried no one will play it anymore they shouldn't be. My main reason for replays is to see my favorite romances again. The only time I'd skip would be to get to a new romance option. Edited by Suzsi
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Even if they did this for those who want it, many of us would still play so we can pick our LIs anyways. So if they're worried no one will play it anymore they shouldn't be. My main reason for replays is to see my favorite romances again. The only time I'd skip would be to get to a new romance option.

 

Yes that is a draw to the game that wouldn't be harmed by allowing people to pick at least light/dark choices while skipping.

The main reason for me for allowing at least the light/dark toggle to be a deciding factor when skipping is the characters that I've played through vanilla and made LI and other choices I would want to keep with the light/dark choices I had already made. It makes no sense to skip kotxx as an imp if all my choices before were light sided and vice-versa for pub going dark side. The choice to go light or dark is a huge part of the game; by making imps only dark side and pubs only light side when skipping is a back hand to those who want to skip that part of the game; feels like it's a punishment. It doesn't induce me to play through kotxx; that's not happening. It deters me from going to new content at all.

 

=-=-=-=-=-=

Edited by Tseeva
clarifying
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Even with skipping available:

I took darkside jedi shadow through it all so he could kill everybody allowed including Theron (I will never do that again) he also dumped his girlfriend to matry Lana.

 

I took a sith warrior through it all so he could keep Vette romanced and side with the Republic at Iokath but Empire at JUS so hls old friend would be Emperor.

I took female r sith warrior through to Iokath and conspiracy to keep Quinn romanced.

I look female bounty hunter through so she would stay romanced with Torian.

I took an imperial agent who turned double agent through Iokath and conspiracy so he could side with Repulbic at Iokath and then again in JUS.

I am working on getting a loyalest agent through it all so he stays romanced with Kaliyo.

I took a trooper all the way through Iokath and conspiracy to keep his romance with Elara Dorian

I have not yet took a female troo[per through it all to keep her romance with Aric Jorgan

I took a jedi through it all so she could romance Theron

I am working on a bounty hunter romancing Koth.

so yes people would still play through to keep romances and or because they want to control who runs the Sith Empire or because they want to switch sides at Iokath before the make that choice again at JUS.

Edited by RameiArashi
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I would like to keep this topic alive as it's an issue for me.

I am one of those who agree with SteveTheCynic and want "at the very least they should have made it based on your alignment toggle."

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone :sy_lightside:

I dunno which will come first but the solution for me could go two ways. Either they do let you pick what choices you made or they streamline it to the point where playthroughs become more bearable and it's no longer a big pain in the rear end. Two things will have to be handled in that respect: Flash Points that are part of the story and Sky Troopers.

 

It was a mistake to make FPs part of the main story line and they've persisted with it. They need to undo that somehow. Then the endless waves of sky troopers and filler content. The chapters in KotFE/ET should be about twice as short to play through, instead of being bogged down in these exercises in futility. It might take more than just sky troopers but you get the idea.

 

And somehow I doubt they can streamline that much but a guy can hope right? Alternatively people should get to pick the main events, kinda like Mass Effect did. But either way, SoR is annoying basically because of those FPs that you have to slog through every single time. And KotFE/ET has FPs and too much filler combat that just keeps you from progressing through them smoothly and quickly. And then beyond that there's more FPs. I don't even remember doing Iokath but also that place was full of filler combat.

 

Ossus finally got better in essence. So really anything from SoR to Ossus (but not including Ossus) needs to be streamlined and/or get the option of picking choices. They made them stories undesirable for too many players and they need to make a solution for it. If they want the content to stay relevant in the long-term then they need to streamline a lot. If that's too much work then make skipping a better experience.

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I dunno which will come first but the solution for me could go two ways. Either they do let you pick what choices you made or they streamline it to the point where playthroughs become more bearable and it's no longer a big pain in the rear end. Two things will have to be handled in that respect: Flash Points that are part of the story and Sky Troopers.

 

It was a mistake to make FPs part of the main story line and they've persisted with it. They need to undo that somehow. Then the endless waves of sky troopers and filler content. The chapters in KotFE/ET should be about twice as short to play through, instead of being bogged down in these exercises in futility. It might take more than just sky troopers but you get the idea.

 

And somehow I doubt they can streamline that much but a guy can hope right? Alternatively people should get to pick the main events, kinda like Mass Effect did. But either way, SoR is annoying basically because of those FPs that you have to slog through every single time. And KotFE/ET has FPs and too much filler combat that just keeps you from progressing through them smoothly and quickly. And then beyond that there's more FPs. I don't even remember doing Iokath but also that place was full of filler combat.

 

Ossus finally got better in essence. So really anything from SoR to Ossus (but not including Ossus) needs to be streamlined and/or get the option of picking choices. They made them stories undesirable for too many players and they need to make a solution for it. If they want the content to stay relevant in the long-term then they need to streamline a lot. If that's too much work then make skipping a better experience.

 

I don't know how they'd separate the FPs but they could reduce the stormtrooper-spam and there's been other posts about streamlining or reducing that mind numbing whackamole effect which would be an improvement. However there's so much content that it would still be prohibitive. Even spacebaring through cutscenes I'd still be subjected to story I don't want to play. A combination of streamlining and options to skip individual kotxx chapters with decision choices (toggles?) as you go through would go a long way to solving this issue for me. A girl can hope right? :D

 

=-=-=-=-=-=

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I am working on getting a loyalest agent through it all so he stays romanced with Kaliyo.

Stick with this one. The KotFE Chapter II/III Love Interest letter from Kaliyo is a real prize, totally unlike all the others, but in that way that only Kaliyo can do, and the reunion itself is totally in-character for Kaliyo.

I have not yet took a female troo[per through it all to keep her romance with Aric Jorgan

I've managed to break it off with Aric in favour of Lana on four different Troopers. It turns out that even if you don't finish the romance in the class story period, if you go down the romance path and play through to the end of the class story without ever talking to him again after that, you end up having to reunite or break it off.

 

I did do the romantic reunion with him on one character, but she later fell victim to the Delete button.

so yes people would still play through to keep romances and or because they want to control who runs the Sith Empire or because they want to switch sides at Iokath before the make that choice again at JUS.

Absolutely for sure they would.

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  • 10 months later...
I don't tend to comment, but I searched for this and just wanted to say that this is the reason I keep opening the game and then quitting almost immediately every couple of months or so. I love my characters, everything about them and their stories has been carefully crafted and I have put so much time into this game, but I just can't bring myself to play through Rishi, KOTFE, KOTET etc. again, I just can't. I'm happy to pay for upgraded characters or skip sections, but I know that if I do this, after all the effort I've put in, it'll be so dishertening to lose control of such important aspects of the story; decisions will be made that won't be mine, and won't feel right for the characters I created. It would be so incredible to have the key decisions available for you to read and select, so that players can continue onto new content and have the experience they're after.
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I don't tend to comment, but I searched for this and just wanted to say that this is the reason I keep opening the game and then quitting almost immediately every couple of months or so. I love my characters, everything about them and their stories has been carefully crafted and I have put so much time into this game, but I just can't bring myself to play through Rishi, KOTFE, KOTET etc. again, I just can't. I'm happy to pay for upgraded characters or skip sections, but I know that if I do this, after all the effort I've put in, it'll be so dishertening to lose control of such important aspects of the story; decisions will be made that won't be mine, and won't feel right for the characters I created. It would be so incredible to have the key decisions available for you to read and select, so that players can continue onto new content and have the experience they're after.

 

This is exactly why I haven't been able to face bringing all my 57 characters up to KotFE/KotET or further. I have to choose "do they get pigeonholed into lightside on Republic side even when those weird moral choices come up?" or "do they get turned into insane murder hobos if they're on Sith Empire side even if I play lightside?" and it kills me. So I can't play my characters unless I slog through all the story up to current. WEEKS of solid playthroughs every day, for ONE character. Don't get me wrong, I love the story, but having to go through all that... it's as exhausting and time consuming to go through multiple times as the main quest in FFXIV, which is also great. But I also can't do it for this exact same reason. It's too much to have to go through EVERYTHING for, every single time I want to bring a new character other than a SINGLE main up to current story.

 

At least giving us a "do you want to be pigeonholed into pure lightside or pure darkside, on EITHER Republic or Sith?" would be a GODSEND. I could actually get back to playing the game more, and you guys show I'm not the only one.

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I just can't bring myself to play through Rishi, KOTFE, KOTET etc. again, I just can't.

 

This is exactly why I haven't been able to face bringing all my 57 characters up to KotFE/KotET or further. I have to choose "do they get pigeonholed into lightside on Republic side even when those weird moral choices come up?" or "do they get turned into insane murder hobos if they're on Sith Empire side even if I play lightside?" and it kills me. So I can't play my characters unless I slog through all the story up to current. WEEKS of solid playthroughs every day,

 

You two may find this thread on Reddit interesting. It details how you can play certain parts of Fallen Empire and Eternal Throne whilst skipping the rest. For example, using the information in this post it would be possible for a light sided Sith to skip ET and still keep Senya and Arcann.

 

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You two may find this thread on Reddit interesting. It details how you can play certain parts of Fallen Empire and Eternal Throne whilst skipping the rest. For example, using the information in this post it would be possible for a light sided Sith to skip ET and still keep Senya and Arcann.

 

 

That seemed useful initially, but it actually talks about how you still get default choices no matter what you do unless you use a really involved method, and at that point it's easier to just run the content. (And I'd be running KotFE and KotET normally anyway, since it's everything preceding that that wears me out to run over and over.) And it only covers events from KotFE and KotET, not prior to that, which doesn't help with the default choice faction lightside/darkside skip issue. So a solution here would still be necessary.

Edited by Nichos_Ketra
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You can keep Koth and Arcann/Senya as an imp by playing KotFE to chapter X, then skipping to KotET chapter 1 then Ossus (by making the right choices, obviously).

 

Or if you don't care about Koth (not worth it for me to play 10 chapters just to keep him), start KotFE, skip to KotET, do chapter 1, then Ossus.

 

Honestly though, it's never made any sense to me that default choices would be done per faction and not per alignment. Obviously it wouldn't work on new 70 characters, but for existing ones, that would really be appreciated.

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That seemed useful initially, but it actually talks about how you still get default choices no matter what you do unless you use a really involved method, and at that point it's easier to just run the content. (And I'd be running KotFE and KotET normally anyway, since it's everything preceding that that wears me out to run over and over.) And it only covers events from KotFE and KotET, not prior to that, which doesn't help with the default choice faction lightside/darkside skip issue. So a solution here would still be necessary.

 

Well, as I said, you may find it interesting.

 

Yes, a choose-your-own-adventure allowing us to pick everything that happens rather than default factional based choices a la the catch-up mechanic used in Mass Effect would be fabulous, but in the absence of such a system one must choose to either live with the default choices, keep their character in a pre-Fallen Empire limbo and never do any newer content with them, or decide which of the default choices matter more and make the choice to play part of Fallen Empire and Eternal Throne.

 

Although I would love the option to make all of those choices for my character I highly doubt such a thing is going to come, and since I do not want to keep my character in a pre-FE state then I must choose to either live with the choices or choose which of those default choices are most important. In the end, there are really only five choices that have any impact on the story going forward.

  • The choices that affect Koth's loyalty and, by extension, whether you forgive Koth in ET Ch 3 or not
  • The choice regarding Senya in ET Ch 1
  • The choice to romance one of the three or to resume an OC romance (very little impact on that part, so far)
  • Which side you are forced to pick on Iokath
  • A certain controversial choice at the end of the Nathema Fp

 

Those are the only choices that impact the story, which means that everything else can be headcanoned. For example, it is notated in their respective C&C files which one you chose between Jorgan and Kaliyo, but that choice makes no difference on the story going forward, is never mentioned again, and since the sole reference to it is on their C&C files it can be ignored and headcanoned.

 

The one choice that would force one to play a large portion of FE and ET is in regards to Vette and Torian. If one wished to resume the romance they would have to play several chapters of FE, and if one wanted to make the choice in ET Ch 8 they would have to play that far. If you are not romancing Vette or Torian then that choice in ET Ch 8 is rather irrelevant as neither plays a significant role in the story going forward (at least so far). Vette is completely absent whilst Torian has some lines on Mek-Sha (if with you) and is supposed to appear at the end of SoV for a brief exposition drop that is delivered by someone else if Torian is off reuniting with daddy (supposed because I did not get that appearance with a character that chose Torian, so my choice did not even matter).

 

I have a light-sided Sith that I am about to embark on my own choose-your-own-adventure. That character is not planned to romance Lana, so will skip most of Fallen Empire. I will play Eternal Throne Chapters 1-3 (starting Ch 4) so that I can choose with regards to Senya and Koth. Having them all present will allow me to headcanon the choices that character made throughout FE/ET as none of them will matter anyhow. I want that character to choose the Republic on Iokath, so will start Iokath. That choice should be locked in once that mission is completed as there is no way to reset it afterwards. Since the character is not romancing Lana and the choice at the end of Nathema is to forgive then I will skip ahead to JUS. If it all works then that light-sided Sith will have Senya, Arcann, and Koth, Vowrawn will be Emperor, and none of the rest of it will matter because it will never get mentioned again and the sole reference will be on some C&C files that I can ignore in favour of my headcanon.

 

Headcanon is best canon.

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Well, as I said, you may find it interesting.

 

Yes, a choose-your-own-adventure allowing us to pick everything that happens rather than default factional based choices a la the catch-up mechanic used in Mass Effect would be fabulous, but in the absence of such a system one must choose to either live with the default choices, keep their character in a pre-Fallen Empire limbo and never do any newer content with them, or decide which of the default choices matter more and make the choice to play part of Fallen Empire and Eternal Throne.

 

Although I would love the option to make all of those choices for my character I highly doubt such a thing is going to come, and since I do not want to keep my character in a pre-FE state then I must choose to either live with the choices or choose which of those default choices are most important. In the end, there are really only five choices that have any impact on the story going forward.

  • The choices that affect Koth's loyalty and, by extension, whether you forgive Koth in ET Ch 3 or not
  • The choice regarding Senya in ET Ch 1
  • The choice to romance one of the three or to resume an OC romance (very little impact on that part, so far)
  • Which side you are forced to pick on Iokath
  • A certain controversial choice at the end of the Nathema Fp

 

Those are the only choices that impact the story, which means that everything else can be headcanoned. For example, it is notated in their respective C&C files which one you chose between Jorgan and Kaliyo, but that choice makes no difference on the story going forward, is never mentioned again, and since the sole reference to it is on their C&C files it can be ignored and headcanoned.

 

The one choice that would force one to play a large portion of FE and ET is in regards to Vette and Torian. If one wished to resume the romance they would have to play several chapters of FE, and if one wanted to make the choice in ET Ch 8 they would have to play that far. If you are not romancing Vette or Torian then that choice in ET Ch 8 is rather irrelevant as neither plays a significant role in the story going forward (at least so far). Vette is completely absent whilst Torian has some lines on Mek-Sha (if with you) and is supposed to appear at the end of SoV for a brief exposition drop that is delivered by someone else if Torian is off reuniting with daddy (supposed because I did not get that appearance with a character that chose Torian, so my choice did not even matter).

 

I have a light-sided Sith that I am about to embark on my own choose-your-own-adventure. That character is not planned to romance Lana, so will skip most of Fallen Empire. I will play Eternal Throne Chapters 1-3 (starting Ch 4) so that I can choose with regards to Senya and Koth. Having them all present will allow me to headcanon the choices that character made throughout FE/ET as none of them will matter anyhow. I want that character to choose the Republic on Iokath, so will start Iokath. That choice should be locked in once that mission is completed as there is no way to reset it afterwards. Since the character is not romancing Lana and the choice at the end of Nathema is to forgive then I will skip ahead to JUS. If it all works then that light-sided Sith will have Senya, Arcann, and Koth, Vowrawn will be Emperor, and none of the rest of it will matter because it will never get mentioned again and the sole reference will be on some C&C files that I can ignore in favour of my headcanon.

 

Headcanon is best canon.

 

That's a really long post in response to me only saying I wish they'd let you pick broad lightside/darkside regardless of faction, not a "choose your own adventure" ME2/3 style thing. That's too much to ask for, even if I was agreeing with someone else that it'd be great if *possible*. I just wish they'd let us pick lightside/darkside flat across the board when using the skip option, regardless of faction, at least.

 

Also, you can keep headcanon, but it doesn't matter much if you have to face the consequences of the decisions you make (or the game makes for you) as you play later, since that's how this game is set up. Like something showing your lightside sith was an absolute monster until you get control of them, or you killed off or lost specific characters that you can't just imagine are still alive if the game recorded them as dead and keeps reminding you.

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This is exactly why I haven't been able to face bringing all my 57 characters up to KotFE/KotET or further..

 

For me it was the frustration of the walker missions, and chapter 4 of Kotfe is just too damn tedious. I understand the point of chapter four is to lay the groundwork for future plot points by apprising our hero on what's transpired for the five years they were on ice, but it's a slog. First time great, twentieth time, no so much.

Edited by xordevoreaux
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