#this is how i felt about my Oggdo Bogdo

[swgoji2001]

My Thoughts on Jedi Fallen Order

So after upgrading to a new, stronger laptop (pretty sure my stupidity in attempting to run this game on my old laptop hastened its tragic, untimely demise), I finally finished Jedi Fallen Order last night. I had mixed feelings going into this game, as I have some friends who said it was amazing while others said it was a mediocre story with decent gameplay.

Now after playing, was it the greatest Star Wars game I’ve ever experienced? No, but it was very good. Some minor gripes here and there, but overall I had a blast playing the game.

Warning: Some spoilers will be included, I’ll try to keep them as minor as possible though.

Story:

So I’m not gonna go overly deep into the story as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who still hasn’t played the game, but to be honest I found the plot of Fallen Order to be a bit generic at first. It’s a classic light side vs dark side narrative with a redemption arc or two sprinkled in. In fact, I found the plot of Fallen Order to be quite similar in structure to the Disney Trilogy. Both have MacGuffin hunts (holocron and wayfinder), both include journeys to different planets following the trail of someone else (Eno Cordova and that one assassin dude mentioned in IX), both have mentors who have distanced themselves from the Force (Cere and Luke), and both have antagonists who were failed by their masters (Trilla and Kylo). 

Fallen Order splits off from this more generic route after returning to Dathomir and does it’s own thing, but I found myself asking why I enjoyed the first 75% or so of Fallen Order when I absolutely hated the DT. I found the answer to lie mainly in two things: the characters and the world they found themselves in.

Characters:

Cal Kestis: I absolutely loved Cal’s character arc. He has his own deep personal struggles with his past, feeling responsible for the death of his master. He faces those fears and comes to terms with his past, determined to make a better future. Cal not only comes out of his journey a Jedi Knight, but as a stronger person. Compare this to Rey, who had no meaningful flaws or personal struggles. Plus Cal’s the first ginger Jedi! Score one for diversity!

BD-1: My fourth favorite Star Wars droid, only behind HK-47, KOTOR 2′s T3-M4, and K-2SO. He’s cute, adorable, and loyal to a fault. What more could you ask for in a droid? (Other than a tibanna-powered blaster rifle and a bloodthirsty, anti-meatbag personality of course!) Plus there’s a revelation about his history towards the end that only makes him better and better.

Cere Junda: Star Wars has always had its mentor characters, but in all honesty I found Cere to be pretty generic. A Jedi Master who failed her Padawan and touched the dark side, only to be horrified by it and renounce the Force. Throughout learning her story, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had already seen something like this before. Her arc isn’t bad, it’s well done and feels natural to her character, it was just rather generic.

Greez Dritus: Gotta say Greez grew on me as the game went on. He has his flaw in his gambling problem which bites Cal in the ass a couple times, but towards the end I really felt the connection between him and the others grow. He’s also the source of a good deal of humor.

Nightsister Merrin: Sadly, Merrin being an eventual ally was spoiled for me, but I love the subversion because it was built up that she would be an eventual boss fight. Merrin might be my favorite character besides Cal, I wish there were more interactions with her in game! She’s hot, has a great accent, a wicked sense of humor, and is powerful with Nightsister magick. But beyond all that, she’s a parallel to Cal. Both are survivors, the last of their kind, and I’m hoping that if a sequel is made, it goes deeper into their relationship because Merrin and Cal have great chemistry. I also love how Merrin challenges Cal and Cere’s plan to train the next gen of Jedi using the holocron, putting that idea in a more realistic, less idealistic light.

Prauf: I really feel bad for him. I liked him and you could feel the camaraderie between him and Cal, how he wanted Cal to succeed and do great things. He didn’t deserve what happened to him.

Oggdo Bogdo: Fuck this frog! He killed me so many times!

Trilla Suduri (Second Sister): The Jedi Padawan that felt betrayed by her master and became an inquisitor. I always love it when antagonists have a personal connection to the protagonists in some way, shape, or form. Trilla shakes Cal’s faith in Cere, and plants seeds of doubt in him. She wants revenge and the Emperor’s favor, and therefore we know why she chases Cal across the galaxy. She has motivations for all her actions, which is something that Kylo lacked in the DT.

Taron Malicos: I knew something was off about this guy the second I met him. I quite enjoyed the clash of beliefs between him, Merrin, and Cal. Malicos proposes a way forward, a new Jedi Order, but one founded on darker teachings. He offers Cal that power, but Cal proves his stature as a Jedi in refusing it.

Ninth Sister (Masana Tide): Probably the weakest of the villain characters for me. Ninth barely has any presence in the game at all other than the start and to serve as a boss battle on Kashyyyk. I honestly just don’t think she fits into the story as is. Perhaps if they tweaked it so that Ninth and Cal knew each other back before Order 66 she would have fit better. Ninth just doesn’t have any personal connection to Cal and the Mantis crew (like Trilla does) and doesn’t really serve as a trial like Malicos does. Remove her from the story and not much changes.

(If you somehow haven’t had this next one spoiled yet, I’m impressed. Please skip to ‘World’ if so)

Darth Vader: I absolutely loved how he was portrayed. A terrifying, unstoppable force. You won’t last in a fight with him, your can only hope you can outrun him.

World:

Fallen Order’s worldbuilding was on point. Cal’s ability to sense Force Echoes lets you get a more detailed understanding of the environment around you. It’s a small-scale Star Wars story, but the planets all feel lived in if you take the time to explore them. It’s the small details like the probe droid witnessing your initial use of the Force on Bracca or the side-stories you can discover like the tragic tale of the family running from the Empire on Zeffo or Malicos’ corruption and manipulation of Merrin that really flesh out the world. Compare this to the galactic-scale story the DT told, which somehow made the galaxy feel extremely small and uninteresting.

My only complaint with the world-building is the Zeffo. They’re just... there. Very little is explained about them. Who were they? Why were they important? What happened to them? Why did they disappear? Perhaps this was to leave room for a sequel but to me the Zeffo just felt like discount Rakata. I wish the devs had gone with the Rakata instead, but maybe that’s just me.

Also the wildlife on every world is more than capable of killing you if you aren’t careful so you almost always have to be on your toes for them, which rolls us into the next part...

Gameplay:

The gameplay was great fun in Fallen Order. Leveling up and unlocking new abilities was exciting and once I got the hang of them all, it was so much fun just cutting through your enemies. I played on Jedi Master difficulty (died approximately 75 times, give or take a few I may have missed) and it felt really well balanced. It forced me to study my opponent’s moves and adapt to them instead of being a hack-and-slash type of game. Combos are fluid and fun to pull off, parrying opponents leaves an opening to attack, and you can experiment with different fighting styles.

Customizing your lightsaber and appearance was also great fun. So many different options and combinations for everything! Plus you got rewarded for exploration with these extra customization options, so it adds incentive to do that if you care about appearances and whatnot. You can become the General Grievous of ponchos!

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

Overall Fallen Order was a great game that could have been even better. Of course I have to admit I’m looking at this through the nostalgia of games like KOTOR 2, which flipped Star Wars completely on its head. I would have preferred if Cere’s story had been a bit more nuanced, the Ninth Sister had more reason for being in the story, or if the game had Cal seriously question the use and role of Jedi in the galaxy (he does a couple times to BD-1, but it’s never really built on).

And then there’s my overall gripe about this type of story set after Order 66. It sets up questions like... where was Cal during the OT? Was he dead? Somewhere in the Unknown Regions doing something else? I know the ending of the game sets up the opening for Cal’s story to continue, but still, these types of stories usually end in death for the Jedi protagonist, so I am a bit nervous for his future.

Despite that though, I am super happy I finally decided to play this and am eagerly awaiting a sequel to continue this story.

[wackapedia]

Arena

a/n: a part of this anthology,apparently.but can be read as a stand alone

"Nobody around? Think this is some kind of trap?" Cal points out. BD-1 trills affirmatively. It had been a day of running around, force-pushing stormtroopers, and dodging blaster shots for Cal. And if it wasn't enough, he came across Trilla, the Second Sister inquisitor, and Cere's former padawan. "Seems like we've been walking into a lot of them.." Cal replies to his droid. He kept his guard up while walking through the empty imperial base. "Wait, do you hear that?" Cal ducks, preparing his lightsaber for another stormtrooper. The sounds of boots clicking against the metal flooring echo through the hollow hallway. As the footsteps grow louder, Cal makes out a whistling tune coming closer. He lights up his lightsaber as a figure emerges from the corner.

"By the kriffing force!" You scream, dropping your blaster as a blue lightsaber almost decapitates your head. "Y/n! What are you doing here?!" Cal immediately shuts off his lightsaber upon realizing it was you. "Cere said I should come find you. Uh..She was..worried.." you answered tentatively, kicking invisible pebbles on the ground. BD-1 lets out a long string of beeps, explaining that they were on their way back to the Mantis anyway. You continued to follow the duo on the way back to the Mantis when someone in a red helmet appears out of nowhere, shooting a flamethrower gun at both you and Cal. Before you could begin complaining, your attacker throws a disk at your direction, electrocuting you. Cal screams your name before he too gets electrocuted. You wake up to Cal shaking you awake, talking fast while trying to let you sit up. "What?" "I said BD-1 is missing and whoever brought us here took my lightsaber!" He paces around the room, using the force to unhinge loose steel plankings. You look around the rust walls, shuddering at the possibilities of danger. Cal finally unhinges a door and pulls you up to find his droid. BD-1 was found in another cell, unable to leave because a restraining bolt was attached to him. The cell held other dead droids dismantled for their parts. Cal quickly sneaks in to retrieve his droid. "Cal, I found a lift!" You call out to him while pulling a shift gear to operate. The old rusty gears make a loud creaking noise. The lift pulls you up, hopefully to an exit. Alas, it wasn't. Loud music played from a large arena, the noise of different species chanting a name you've heard before. Sorc Tormo. "Hey I recognize this band!" Cal walks toward the arena. "Cal, no! We have to get out of here!" You follow him into the arena anyway, coming face to face with Sorc Tomo's giant holoform. "Finally, our challenger arrives!"  Sorc Tormo's voice blares through the speakers. "Oh, shut it, Sorc!" You yell back at his dramatic intro. "You know this guy?" Cal asks. "Yeah, Greez owed him some credits back then. We swindled our way out and he wasn't too happy about it" you explain to Cal, holding him by the shoulder so you can speak close to his ear. "Oh don't be so rude, y/n. Why don't you come take a seat and watch your jedi loverboy for a round, how does that sound?" Sorc Tormo answers. A stocky guard comes out and picks you up by the waist to take you to the grandstand and picking up BD-1 before tossing back Cal's lightsaber. "You want a show?" Cal ignites his lightsaber. Great, he wants to show off. The doors to the arena release an oggdo bogdo, whose tongue was easily severed by Cal's lightsaber. More beasts get released while Cal starts to get cocky, having a good time swinging around his lightsaber and sending you a wink whenever he gets an easy kill. "Can you believe him?!“ you comment to BD-1. This was such a stupid waste of time. The audience applauds even louder. "Are you boys quite finished? We'd like to go now!" You raise your voice to Sorc Tormo's holoform. He raises his hand to silence you. "Ah, not quite! Our handsome Jedi here must face our next challenger.." He really needs to stop boosting Cal's ego. The arena lights focus on the last gate, revealing the red-helmet, flamethrower guy, your abductor. Sorc dramatically calls out: "the Huntsman!" Flames blast from his weapon to Cal's direction. You were even more annoyed, worried, and agitated. The huntsman lands a couple of blows on Cal. You feel like you were about to rip your hair out and lose your voice screaming when he was knocked down. But Cal had the upper hand when he used the force to pull the huntsman toward him and slashing the flamethrower tank on the huntsman's back, rendering him defenseless. Cal uses the blunt end of his lightsaber to smack the back of the huntsman's head, securing victory. The crowd erupts in applause and appreciation. You pick up BD to make your way to the arena. Sorc Tormo's distant voice is heard over the speakers. "What do you mean 'incoming'?" The sound of a spacecraft crashing into the arena causes panic. Thank the maker. It's the Mantis. The door opens to reveal a displeased Cere motioning both of you to hurry up. The mantis takes off as soon as you and Cal step inside. "Hey Greez!" Cal greets. As if he didn't just defeat several beasts and some flamethrower hunter. "Hey Cal! You smell like droid oil. But I'm glad you're okay." Greez adjusts the controls. "A complication we could've avoided. Luckily, we found you two." Cere adds. Cal was entirely unbothered by the situation. You, on the other hand, felt like you were about to be executed. "As for you y/n, running away from the ship and not telling us anything.. " Cere pointedly looks at you. "I'm sorry, okay! I won't do it again!" You march out of the cockpit, Cal following you after giving Cere a look of confusion. "I thought Cere sent you to look for me.." Cal tentatively sits beside you on the sofa. You sat hugging your knees to your chest. "No she didn't. I was worried about you and the comms weren't working and I saw the imperial ship land and I just thought" "Hey.." Cal interrupts your shaky rambling, placing his hand on top of yours. "Thank you." His eyes bear into yours, his lips curl into a smile, making you smile as well. Warmth spreads to your cheeks, electricity flowing from where Cal is holding you. Fireflies ignighting from deep in your stomach. Your eyes try to blink off it's exhaustion. Cal notices this. "Maybe we should take a nap. We deserve it." He briefly let's go of your hand to stand up, offering his hand to you again to lead you to the bedroom to get some rest. "Actually, I am taking a nap and you take a shower. You smell like droid oil." Cal chuckles and playfully ruffles your hair.