Tag: darth thanaton

SWTOR Class Storyline Review: Sith Inquisitor – Chapter Two

On By VrykerionIn Class Storyline Reviews, The Old Republic3 Comments

<– Chapter One || SITH INQUISITOR || Chapter Three –>

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the second chapter of the Sith Inquisitor storyline in Star Wars: The Old Republic.  To see a spoiler-free summary of the storyline please check this page instead.

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Well, you have sort of outsmarted your former master and become a powerful figure within the Sith ranks.  Let’s see how quick this goes downhill for you, shall we?  Chapter Two kicks off with meeting Darth Thanaton who you might remember popping up in the Prologue and Chapter One at points.  He is impressed with you – you’re NOTHING like Zash – and wants to test you to see if you are ready to enter his super special hidden circle.  He just needs you to go into a super dark and spooky tomb, way off in some corner of Dromund Kaas where no one goes all alone to fetch a dead Sith’s notes on alchemical poisons for him.  Do you see where this may be a bad idea? Good. Because you’re character doesn’t! You get ZERO agency in this.  Your character will just stumble into this trap as blindly scripted.  Yes, that’s how we’re starting out this Chapter, by walking head first into ANOTHER trap.

And just like before with Zash, it’s up to Ghost Grandpa to bail you out and save you from the insane Sith ghost that was trying to kill you.  You know…  Ghost Grandpa…  who said at the end of Chapter One that his task was done and we wouldn’t be seeing him again.  He’s here. To save us again.  Somehow.  But this time he REALLY is using the last of his strength to help us. For truth-sies.  Anyway, Ghost Grandpa tells you to find a different Sith ghost who will teach you the art of Spirit-walking – the ability to bind the souls of the dead to yourself and absorb their power.  Before you even ask, NO. There’s is NO Shang Tsung jokes anywhere in this storyline.  I will probably be making a few to make up for it.  Now you can go back, steal the Sith ghost’s soul (Flawless victory) and get his notes.

When you take the notes back to Thanaton he is less than pleased.  He kinda wanted you to die in that tomb (Wha? Noooo. Say it ain’t so.) and he needs you dead because Zash’s entire power base must be destroyed (No one tell him about Khem!)  So, he kills you.  The end.  OR IS IT?  Well, we know it’s not. It seems you actually survived thanks to binding the dead souls to you.  They actually seem to function as ‘Extra Lives’.  Your barely alive body is dragged off to safety by your two apprentices whose names are not important enough to remember so I’ll just call them Jesse and James.  Which… wait.  Hold on a minute.

Remember in the Chapter One review, where I mentioned the ‘people saving you streak’?  Yea. Assuming you didn’t break between Chapter One and Chapter Two, you have just walked into your doom THREE times only to have your butt pulled out by a third party each time in less than an HOUR.  A. SINGLE. HOUR.  Do you know how much of an idiot your character looks like at this point?  You routinely walk into traps, sometimes after being TOLD it is a trap, with no plan prepared other than ‘wing it and hope we live’.  Would it be so hard to have a moment where your character actually PREPARES for these things, or comes off as a slightly hesitant or cautious?  Maybe show how they stand to gain from doing these dumb things?  Like planning on surviving due to the Spirit-Walking so you can let Thanaton think you are dead so you can strike at him from behind.  You know, SOMETHING?!

Anyway, you use this revelation of your survival to formulate a new plan: gather more souls to kill Thanaton.  Well, at least we’re not a lackey anymore.

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Taris

Our first destination is Taris, where there have been stories about a grumpy ghost hanging around.  The thing is that there’s only one person who can actually get this ghost to show up is a Jedi padawan.  So your first goal on Taris is to gather some intel on this padawan and as you soon find out – it’s Ahsoka Tano er… I mean Ashara Zavros!  Who is kind of an Ahsoka Tano expy, I won’t lie.  She’s disobedient, rude, and somewhat short tempered.  Her emotions tend to get the better of her and that kind of has her on the outs with her Jedi Master and peers and thus provides an excellent opportunity to manipulate her into getting what you want.

The first task is to bribe another Sith Lord to use his assassins to stage a scene.  You go and dig up some random thing of no significant importance (and no, that’s not setting up a dramatic reveal that it IS important. It’s not. It’s just a random errand.)  Using the bartering power of the McGuffin, you convince the Sith to borrow the assassins.  The fun part about the whole exchange is actually being able to decide how much information you let the Sith have about what you are doing.  Do you let him in on the plot? Do you play coy?  It is his man power at risk here, especially since the plan is to have them ambush Ashara and then you save her to gain her trust.

Honestly, the whole plan comes off as simultaneously dumb and yet it works brilliantly because Ashara is just that kind of dense.  She gets jumped by a bunch of Sith Assassins and you just in and stop them (either by killing them or by less lethal means) and just like that she trusts you enough to let you help “cast out” the ghost.  She actually sits there and dumb foundingly asks why a Sith would attack other Sith.  Really? Do they teach you ANYTHING about the Sith work?  Or just to kill them wholesale?  And this is pretty much Ashara in a nutshell.  She is not bright, she doesn’t think she’s through, she simply reacts to her emotions and follows her gut instinct. Sometimes this makes her a sweetheart, and other times you just wanna bop her with a rolled up magazine and say “NO! THINK!” Don’t get me wrong, I actually really like Ashara but DAMN is she a teenager in the worst sense.

SO you actually manage to convince the teen to let you into the Jedi Sanctuary to help purge the ghost, and  you make sure to tell her not to tell anyone.  So of course she tells two Jedi Masters. Fricking Narc. You fight them, you bind the ghost who appears to be a VERY ticked off ancestor of Ashara – who was also Sith? I think? It’s not exactly clear but he does wear Sith Inquisitor Columni armor.  The choice is the usual: Fight the ghost and enslave it, or make a pact with it promising to free it once you’ve done what you need it for.

Then…  then the plot gets stupid.  Okay, so this entire time some no-name office clerk of a Sith has been helping you to put this whole thing together.  Actually, it’s more like he gets you started.  He shows up.  Says Thanaton will make him a Lord if he delivers your head.  So that whole element of surprise, Thanaton thinks you’re dead thing?  Apparently not.  Thanaton clearly knows you are alive, and is hiring goons to come and finish you off, despite you finishing off his goons before and forcing him to take you out himself.  Do I even have to go into how completely counter to the established plot this reveal goes?  And it doesn’t stop here.  Oh no.  You’ll see.

Quesh

Because no sooner are you done with recruit Ashara and getting back on the ship, than your other two apprentices phone in.  Ya know, the two that jumped the Zash ship at the end of Chapter One and dragged your charred unconscious body out of a ditch and right back into Thanaton’s office at the start of Chapter Two?  Well apparently they decided to wander off and steal the key to Thanaton’s private meditation chamber.  Now they’re being chased around the galaxy by another one of Thanaton’s flunkies.  Now it’s never established, and certainly never explained or answered – but do we think that these two little morons are the reason Thanaton knows I’m still alive?  Cause I’d venture a guess that yea, that’s the case.  Thanaton, despite being a mustache twirling snively whiplash of a villain, is not stupid.  These two however will believe whatever they are spoon fed.  So they crash on Quesh and you have to go save them.

Or not… I guess? By the time you show, they’re dead. Lord Cineratus has killed them.  Now he is on orders to kill you too.  In a nice and brilliant tactical move, you can buy him off, not only skipping having to fight him but also gaining his loyalty, service and most importantly silence.  Or you can just shut him up by killing him too.  That works.

Interlude: Korriban

Now that you’ve lost two of your three apprentices (Aww… you almost collected the whole set), Zash Val recommends you head to Korriban to pick you out a fresh one from your old pal Harkun.  This mission is short, sweet and only really serves to lord over your new position as an actual Sith Lord to Harkun while also setting up a later companion.  I guess which of the random assortment of scum it will be?  Maybe the one that killed two potential recruits already and the camera holds on for an uneasily long time? Hmmmm? (I warned you there’d be spoilers. It’s Xalek.)

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Hoth

And of course now we come to Hoth.  Apparently we are here because Andronikos heard some stories about some weird stuff happening and a ship carrying Sith artifacts crashing a while back and they were all spoopy about it.  Like the laaaaamp was tuuuuurning itseeeelf on!  OooooOOoooOoo!  Yea, anyway since Hoth is a giant ice ball where anything sitting outside for more than a few days is pretty much buried and frozen in a block, you’re going to need some help for this one.  Enter Talos Drelik.  Oh, so THIS is where the damn elves sent Talos after the White-Gold Accord.  (Ha. Crossover humor.)  He’s a wormy little archeologist that is a certified genius when it comes to figuring out where crap is.  He’s also delightfully fun, warm, and intelligent.  Thus making him the only one on the ship with a college education (No, Zash doesn’t count.  Her brains didn’t exactly work out in her favor.  Seriously, ‘Go ahead and bring the Dashade’ HA!)

Talos essentially helps lead you across a giant version of World of Warcraft’s archeology profession, only not as tedious.  It does however lead you to the ghost p0ssessing an ortolon (those blue elephant looking things) who demands that you ran sack Naga Sadow’s ancient assassin training school because he reeeeeally didn’t like Assassin’s Creed Unity.  Talos of course helps you break in to raid the tomb, because hey it turns out that is exactly what he was on Hoth looking for.  It’s a giant hole in an ice wall.  I am suddenly regretting complimenting Talos’ intelligence.

This leads to the hands down dumbest light/dark choice ever: Do you let Talos scan the relics before you bust them, or just say tough noogies and start smashing.  Seriously.  You don’t even have to do anything extra or get punished for choosing the Light Side option here other than watching a short cutscene of Talos scanning stuff.  That was pointless.  Really.  Oh and a little tip for this mission: There will be a time when Talos leaves your party to open a door and you have to defend him from three waves of progressively harder droids.  If you step back to where Talos is before the first wave spawns, you won’t immediately draw agro and can summon another companion to help you fight them off.  Very useful for say…  a healy sorcerer.

Finally, you get your last bit of direction to finding the ghost’s actual resting place: a crashed starship in the starship graveyard.  Good thing we didn’t even think to look in the Starship Graveyard of crashed starships for our crashed starship, which we now find out didn’t actually crash but landed gently after being piloted to safety by the ghost after the crew died and/or bailed.  Only downside is you have to fight through a ton of dudes who are mind controlled by the ghost because…  the ghost is a jerk who likes making you jump through hoops.  No really, that’s his reasoning.  So you do the whole sacrifice/deal schpeal and then head off to space.  But wait! Talos is there and he wants to come along.  Resigned from the IRS (That’s Imperial Reclamation Service) and everything.  Well, okay bookworm. Head on board.  We gotta go kill us a Sith, and you’re a healing companion so you might be handy.

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Finale

Back to Dromund Kaas to sneak into Thanaton’s secret meditation chamber with our secret key and oh bugger he’s waiting for us isn’t he?  Yeeeeup. With a hench goon that we’ve never seen before to actually fight no less while Thanaton sits in a bubble.  But not before he taunts us about how if we bribed Cinderblock on Quesh that he’s already wasted our money on women and drink on Nar Shadaa.  So there’s another brilliant play that went down the toilet.  Oh well, kill the bastard.  Or the bastard’s assistant, I guess.

After which you face off with Thanaton proper in a cutscene!  You channel all your ghostly powers and when their powers combine you are…  apparently dead.  Yea, it seems that the binding ritual was only meant to be done with ONE ghost at a time.  Any more than that and you leave yourself vulnerable to the spirits taking control of your body and mind and doing who knows what.  Of course, the ghost that taught you the ritual didn’t say that because he knew you were the schmuck that would dig up as many souls as possible and then he and the others could – as they literally put it – have some fun with you.  I AM AWARE OF THE MANY WAYS TO INTERPRET THAT LINE.  Also, Thanaton got thrown into a wall and ran away.

So Chapter Two ends with your companions showing up to help/save you from yourself YET AGAIN, and depending on your dialogue choices you can crack a joke and everyone has a hearty laugh.  Freeze frame. Roll credits with sappy 80’s sax solo rendition of theme song! The end.  Of chapter two at least.

My Thoughts

While this isn’t as completely POINTLESS as the Chapter Two Trooper storyline, there is a LOT of wasted potential here.  Every chance your character has to look intelligent or cunning is either pulled out from under them making them look like a complete idiot or is swiftly undone off camera somewhere.  Enemy thinks your dead giving you the upper hand? NOPE.  Get the secret key to the secret meditation chamber? He’s there and waiting for you.  Bribe an enemy agent to work for you instead? Pisses it away on booze and lets your enemy know about it.  The Inquisitor does not catch one break this entire chapter, and boy does it get frustrating to have your plans get foiled instantly over and over.

I mean, I kind of get it right? They want to show you that Thanaton is this super mastermind that can totally outplay you and write it off as child’s play. But you’re doing it at the expensive of making the protagonist – the PLAYER – feel like a complete moron.  Even worse when OTHER NPCs are saving you from obvious traps and then explaining how it totally was an obvious trap.  Why not have Thanaton think he has outplayed you, make him counter your every move but him thinking that your goal is different.  Like you were looking for relics or some ancient weapon or something Zash would do to help defeat him.  Then have it be established among you and your crew that – say around just after Quesh – that because of something Lord Cementtruck said you learn that Thanaton has it all wrong. WHAM.  He seems to be winning and outplaying, you get to see what a master at playing the game Thanaton is, and then you have the ace up your sleeve of the ghosts to smack him, but then it goes all wrong.

And that ending I will say is done very right.  The ghosts turning on you and the force walking being your undoing is not only a great twist, but is also not a knock against your character.  There is no WAY the Inquisitor would have seen it coming because the Ghosts ALL LIED.  Not one even tipped their hand or showed the slightest hint that this ritual had unintended side effects when used this way.  But they knew.  They knew and they waited to use it against you.  That I did like.  Downright LOVED.

So yea, that was the Inquisitor Chapter Two.  A lot of potential, and a lot of screw ups.  Not the worse, could have been one of the best, but no.  It just falls in the middle somewhere.  Pity.

<– Chapter One || SITH INQUISITOR || Chapter Three –>

SWTOR Class Storyline Review: Sith Inquisitor – Prologue

On By VrykerionIn Class Storyline Reviews, The Old Republic5 Comments

|| SITH INQUISITOR || Chapter One –>

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the prologue of the Sith Inquisitor storyline in Star Wars: The Old Republic.  To see a spoiler-free summary of the storyline please check this page instead.

Welcome to my new series, where I look back, review, discuss, joke about and rip apart the different class story lines in the Old Republic.  For the WoW readers who haven’t messed around with TOR, allow me to explain.  Throughout the leveling game in TOR, you have several types of stories.  There are one shot mission stories, overall stories for each world you visit and there are your class storylines.  The first two are things that everyone does.  They have a little extra flair here and there that are tossed in for your class. Usually in the way of some changed lines of dialogue or unique choices on the dialogue wheel.  The latter on the other hand is the exclusive storyline of your class only.  It’s what makes playing the game 8 different times worth while.  Now which class stories shine and which crash and burn?  Well that’s what this here series is about.  I’m going to go through each class as I level them, break down the stories of the prologue and three acts, and then write about what I think their strengths and weaknesses are.  I hope you enjoy!

First up is the inquisitor. The Sith inquisitor was one of the first classes I really latched on to as a concept.  For me it wasn’t necessarily the ability to shoot lightning as much as it was the idea of a secretive, scheming Sith who liked to play chess master all over the galaxy.  Yes, I dreamed of manipulating my foes, setting traps, and executing masterful Xanatos and Batman gambits.  What I did not dream of was blindly stumbling into my station in life while working for someone who does all that.  /sigh.  Welcome to the world of the Sith inquisitor.

Korriban

After your opening crawl, you will find yourself on the ancestral territory of the Sith, Korriban.  Where you are quickly brought in and abused by your overseer.  You are a slave, and not exactly well-respected by the Empire, and doubly so if you are any race other than human or a Sith pureblood. Actually, I’ve played through this entire world a few times. All as different races.  The interesting thing I noticed is the number of conversations on Korriban and to a lesser extent Dromund Kaas that actually change depending on if you are an alien or not.  Oh, you’re treated like dirt no matter what.  Even if you are a distinguished Sith pureblood, which are normally held up as measuring stick to all others.  I’ve often wondered exactly how a Sith pureblood would end up in slavery.  My first inquisitor I had constructed a lavish back story that mirrored the Count of Monte Christo.  A betrayed pureblood was exiled and captured by slavers after being framed by a rival.  Seemed plausible enough.

The general storyline of Korriban is that you and a bunch of other slaves are being tossed into the Sith academy in an attempt to weed out one individual to become the new apprentice of Lord Zash.  You’re put through trials by Overseer Harkun, who seems to be passionately rooting for a Sith pureblood named Pfon to win the prize.  It’s been commented a dozen times across the web that there may be something to Harkun’s almost idolatrous fawning over Pfon.  Some have read potential sexual undertones to the whole thing.  I honestly just saw as a fanatic worship of the pure blood, something the Sith seem to have going for them. At least on Korriban. (This theory is extremely weird and hard to believe if you are leveling a Sith pureblood however. Might just wanna go with the sexual idea. Why not?) I haven’t seen it turn up much anywhere else so far.  Needless to say, Harkun is quick to praise this ‘rival’ and punish you.  He will routinely assign Pfon easy assignments and send you into death traps, and when you succeed he accuses you of cheating.  The general idea, as explained by the crazy old Sith in the tombs during your first mission, is for you to hate Harkun and Pfon.  In this regard, it absolutely succeeded.

During your various trials, you eventually are met by a blonde woman in Sith robes.  This is the mysterious Lord Zash.  Which your character – who has never met or seen an image of Zash at this point – immediately recognizes.  The only reason I knew this was because I happened to have the subtitles on during this scene.  I can’t tell if I – the player – was supposed to know who this was.  If I was, it’s really poorly established.  She never says her name. In fact, I doubt I would have caught it without subtitles until the next conversation with Harkun when one of the dialogue options is to mention that you were chatting with your ‘future master’.  Honestly, out of everything, this is probably the biggest problem with the entire Korriban segment of the storyline.  Why doesn’t she just introduce herself? It would be simple! “I am Lord Zash.” There. Done. Ambiguity removed. WHY IS THIS HARD?

The conclusion of your trials have you freeing a creature known as a Dashade and retrieving a star map.  You are able to triumph over Pfon, who had a head start, by Lord Zash appearing and revealing the secret to freeing the monster after he had left. Finally, a lucky break for your beaten down… uh… hero?  You go into the tomb and free the creature, who calls himself Khem Val.  He was a servant of Tulak Hord.  Which begs the question of why Tulak Hord sealed him away in the Tomb of Naga Sadow.  I honestly haven’t the clue. It gave me pause originally, but in all likeliness it has more to do with the fact that once you go back a few thousand years in Star Wars history, I stop giving a damn.  Of course, if Khem was IN the tomb of Tulak Hord, he probably would realize that his former master was dead, instead of sitting there waiting for him to return.

The story on Korriban wraps up with you returning with the star map that Zash wanted and the Dashade following your command, as Harkun tries to pull the fast one on Lord Zash and attempts to convince her that Pfon obtained the map instead.  In a move that royally ticked me off, Zash kills Pfon.  Really?  You couldn’t give me that? After dealing with that annoying punk for 10 levels, I have to sit there and watch my new master kill my rival?  Oh whatever. If anything it gives me a reason to hate the eerily nice and cheerful Zash even more.  Your new master invites you up to her office, where she tells you to meet her on Dromund Kaas, hands you her old lightsaber, and you are quickly introduced via henchmen to a new rival – Darth Skotia.  Have fun pronouncing that one. It’s pronounced no less than two completely different ways during the next 10 levels.  Also, she just hands you a lightsaber.  That’s it.  Nothing else.  There’s no fanfare or celebration.  I know this doesn’t seem like a big thing, but that’s because this is the first one of these posts.  I’ve played every force class to the point where they receive their saber, and they always have a nice dramatic cinematic for it.  The Jedi use the force to assemble theirs, and the Sith warrior breaks open an ancient tomb and claims one from a dead Sith lord before battling a half dozen mummies.  But the inquisitor?  You get one handed to you.  Zash keeps it in a drawer of her desk.  I suppose there’s some sentimental value because it was HER old lightsaber.  But really?  That’s IT?  C’mon!

Dromund Kaas

When you first arrive at the homeworld of the Empire, you immediately are greeted by the very Darth Skotia you had just heard about.  He is a giant, mostly robot, Sith lord who gets a nice reverb to his voice that makes my cyborg characters insanely jealous.  He drops a warning to you that he ‘knows what Zash is up to’, which is either foreshadowing of what is to come in act one, or old news if you are a paranoid sort who doesn’t trust Zash from the moment she called you over in Harkun’s office.  You then go to meet up with your master and deliver Skotia’s vague threats.  Zash immediately lets you in on the plan.  Or part of it, at least.  Zash needs a secret relic for her ritual and a fancy new office, so you’re going to kill Darth Megatron. Oh. Okay. Well, that was blunt.

The plan to destroy the Darth is two-fold.  First you are sent to find an ancient tablet that will force his trandoshan bodyguards to stand down or obey.  This is, of course, kept in a super secure secret facility under a mountain.  It’s actually a relatively simple smash-and-grab operation, only really spruced up by the side missions you get while you are the giant mountain being carved into a statue.  However this tablet will really prove to be more fun later.  The second half of the plan is to find a scientist that is being imprisoned by the rogue Sith lord Gratham.  The scientist has developed a tool that will severely damage Darth Skotia’s mechanical parts.  Naturally, the scientist doesn’t have it on him, so you have to go down into the lab to get it.  Again, other than the choice of what to do with the scientist, this is just another smash and grab job.  There’s not a ton of suspense, just you playing fetcher monkey to Zash.  This actually sets a good tone because that last sentence can be used to describe about 90% of the next act of the Sith inquisitor’s story.  Not that it’s dull. There’s fun to be had in the process.  At least you can actually mouth off to Zash about being her gopher.  I appreciated that.

After you’ve retrieved the doo-hickey and the thinga-ma-bob, it is time to face off against the Darth and get the boss a promotion! Zash, being smart enough to establish an alibi, goes off to a party with some other Darths and Lords in town while you meander down the hall to find Darth Mega Man.  You first get to take control of his body guards with the tablet you retrieved earlier.  The choice is ordering them to stand down and leave or tell them to kill Skotia.  I always chose the latter, not because Skotia has any sort of affection for them but because I like the idea of him destroying his own defenses.  I’d like to think he’d learn a lesson before I kill him but I know he doesn’t.  Then as soon as the fight has begun, you ‘taze him bro’ with the thing you got from the scientist and then just wail away on him.  Despite being a boss level mob, he goes down pretty easy after you zap him.  Now that Darth Robocop is dead, you can join Zash at the party to celebrate (or more so give Zash a reason to leave the party as she seems bored out of her mind).

It’s at this point you are introduced to Darth Thanaton who has a brief and angry exchange with Zash.  In a great deal of foreshadowing, Thanaton will not be relevant to you in any way until you’re in the 30’s.  I really liked the fact that you get a few good looks at him early on, and establish that he doesn’t much care for Zash or her plans.  You rendezvous back with Zash at her new and roomier office to find that she’s been promoted to a Darth! Nice!  What do you get? A mission befitting Mystery Inc! Yay?  Zash wants you to go the Dark Temple (Okay, we really need these to have better names.  How many Dark Temples have I been to in my 20+ years of video games?) and pacify a ghost that is haunting the tomb with yet another relic she needs for the ritual.

Finally, you get an interesting twist during one of your tasks and discover that you do not actually need to fight the ghost.  Because you get to have your own Skywalker moment when the ghost appears and explains that you are his great, great, great, great, great, great-grandchild.  He calls himself Lord Kallig, a rival of Tulak Hord (and a part of me always laughs at Khem Val when he mentions it), and he has come from the beyond to assist you in reclaiming your family’s once proud position.  And oh boy are you going to need it.  He also informs you that Zash seeks to betray you!  Which isn’t exactly shocking, because both Skotia and the in-game codex have pretty much already told you that.  Of course, you can happily choose to deny it.  After all, Zash has been pretty cool to you since you became her apprentice, and this ghost just claims to be your grandpa and now you have to trust him?  Riiiight.

Dromund Kaas wraps up with the Ghost of Kallig’s warning, returning the relic from the tomb, and Zash giving you a new ship and some orders.  The star map you retrieved from your last trial on Korriban has helped Zash track down the location of two more relics on Balmorra and Nar Shadaa.  Which fortunately happen to be the next worlds you are within the level range to do! Pure coincidence, I am sure.  And of you go on your amazing new giant, TIE fighter looking thing! For adventure!

My Thoughts

Despite my constant joking, the Sith inquisitor prologue does an amazingly good job of setting up the status quo for the class.  You are introduced to several key characters, are given a solid purpose from both Zash – who explains that she has had visions of you becoming all-powerful through this mysterious ritual – and Kallig – who wants to see his family line restored to their rightful place.  The idea of rituals is an important one and is established prominently from the get go with the gathering of relics and items to reinforce your power, including freeing Khem Val who becomes your first companion and bound servant.

Zash is not nearly the mustache-twirler my humorous retelling would paint her to be.  She is actually very good about establishing a solid level of trust with you early on.  Unlike Harkun or Skotia, who treat you as some lesser being because you were a slave (even more so if you were an alien slave), Zash is kind and encouraging.  The first time you meet her she calls you a slave and then quickly corrects herself by referring to you as an acolyte instead.  She congratulates and compliments you on your victories, were as Harkun was quick to accuse you of cheating.  She honestly seems to be the only person you ever meet that appreciates you.  If I didn’t know what was to come, I’d write off Skotia’s warnings as sheer jealousy.  The story does a great job of actually making you like working under Zash.

That being said, there is a good amount of just being a gopher.  You don’t exactly feel very important in the grand scheme of things quite yet.  There are a few attempts to create a sort of “chosen one” mentality with things like shooting lightning at a holocron to get it to open which you’re told is something no one has done in thousands of years apparently.  It’s fine though, a lot of class stories feel that way in the prologues. It is after all, a prologue. My real frustrations with the Inquisitor’s story don’t start to further down the line.

Anyway, that’s my first entry in what I hope to be a nice full series.  As always, feedback is appreciated and feel free to leave your own opinions on the story in the comments.  I would love to hear them!  Hope you enjoy my thoughts and retrospectives on the stories of SWTOR.

|| SITH INQUISITOR || Chapter One –>