Satsu, BRIAN BLESSED, MIGHTY AND WISE Junpei Iori: Ace Detective, Maccaffrickstonson von Lichtenstafford Frabenschnaben, Polite Krogan, Robert Baratheon
Well, there's some fairly significant early game spoilers about Starkiller's escape from Kamino, but IGN has a walkthrough with Haden Blackman of the first 10 mins of the game. It shows some of the new combat, enemies, Mind Trick, and Force Fury.
Here's my thoughts. Really good move throwing some MORE conflict on Starkiller / 1157's identity. I still think that he's a clone deep down... The targeting system now just giving a fuzzy glow around the objects is nice, and it seems to be MUCH more user friendly, but only actually getting to test it out will tell. Some of the Force powers seem a little bit flashy & maybe a little too... special effects-y from thier previous incarnation (like Force Grip's wavy lines). Some of the stuff seems fast forwarded, like the lightsaber throw, or the health orbs zooming back. Force Gripping, crushing, and throwing mechanical objects / enemies is really cool, and something that I've been hoping to see in game, since seeing it in the cinematic trailer.
The lightsabers LOOK like Lightsabers, and act like them - 3:36 - FUCKING DISMEMBERMENT!!!!1 (looks like it's a part of a generic kill move). Also - the differences in tactics for Mind Tricked units is great. Attacking back, or some weak-willed Storm Trooper units just running off cliffs. The new types of units is good to hear, as well as the ability to fit more on screen at a time. I'm hoping that the 25 total don't also include the TIE Fighters / Republic (Imperial) Dropship we saw. The tactics, and I mean REAL tactics used against the enemies this time around are absolutely awesome, and it'll make the QTE kill events feel a lot more earned, rather than a "woo. i killed it." after the first time or so. Really glad to see and hear about the mixed gameplay. They were right about TFU having one overall feeling that wasn't bad, but wasn't -always- amazing. Hopefully it doesn't get TOO crazy with it, but the feeling of StarKiller being more than just the hunter is really nice.
The DMM improvements are obvious, but hopefully the textures on some things get amped up a little bit, like in the Dropship shooting through the building portion. Force Fury is really neat. All Lightsaber combat getting a range, and seeing the ability to force grip and AT-ST and just chuck it is pretty cool, and the force push against the stooper was is amazingly brutal, though it makes me rather excitedly nervous for the sorts of bosses / battle fight that will be able to put up with Starkiller amping his force powers to 11.
Overall, I'm eagerly awaiting this game, and a chance to get my hands on it.
As the tank loads, you can hear Darth Vader's respirator, and when the page loads, the Medical droid is gone, and sure enough, he's standing there on the left, watching you silently.
I'm doing the Audio logs first. This is also where things start to move into the gameplay elements we've seen released to far, so if you haven't read through my other posts, there's some BIG spoiler stuff here.
The first audio diary states that, "When not sedated 1157's capacity has reached beyond the tank, allowing him to manipulate and attack the droids. Due to restraint procedures, 1157 can not breach the ingrity of the tank, nor can he hurt himself."
The second states, "Observations of recent hallucinations reveals "unacceptable" anxiety levels brought on by genetic memories of (Juno Eclipse). No amout of imprinting can change his behaviour, If this imprint access fails, a revised, external, desensitization training will need to be enacted."
The puzzles are the Orb Balancing Game, the Letter Game, and the Wall Pong Game.
The first vision shows him approaching Vader's Personal TIE Fighter, and the doors behind him being wrenched open by Vader with the force, as he follows 1157. - At this point, 1157 yells inside the tank, and force push attacks his vision of vader, and splinters the tank.
The second vision shows him meeting Rahm Kota. They appear to be sitting in a ship, having a slightly heated conversation. Kota starts, "Well, I may be blind, but I'm still connected to the Force! I-" - 1157 interrupts "You're not listening to me, I'm NOT StarKiller." (brief vision of him attacking towards the camera on Dagobah, and of him lying on the ground on Kamino) "I'm a clone. I was grown, in a vat-" (vision of the Rogue Shadow flying by a sun or something else bright and firey) "to take his... place..." Kota starts laughing over the top of him. "Ho ho ho W-w-well i-i-i-is that what Vader told you?"
The third vision shows the arena from a distance as a vision, Kota - his face scarred with cuts, "By the Force. I knew you were alive." 1157 force throwing something by some columns, raising his lightsaber to attack something towards camera he appears to have pinned down, him handing from a ledge by one hand. Then comes the voice of Yoda, "That which you seek-" (vision of Vader, and then himself with a Red lightsaber, igniting a second while standing in front of Kota as something growls) "inside, you will find."
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Storyline Speculation/analysis: large spoilers (if I'm correct).
Now this gets interesting. His "hallucinations" of Juno can't be accessed or modified, so they're choosing to desensitize him externally, as shown in the Gameplay trailer by forcing him to kill Proxy droids that look like Rebels / Juno. The odddity is that he seems like a very successful prototype, and they seem to be testing what works, and what doesn't, but all that gets thrown full force into shades of grey, when you're not sure if this is a cloning tank or a bacta tank.
Color me fucking twisted on 1157's identity, but here's my current, very stong opinion. We KNOW he's being cloned. That much is a full fact, but I'm getting this really awkward feeling that 1157's not a clone, and he was brought from the Death Star to Kamino and revived in a Bacta Tank. Here's why:
Jango Fett was cloned, but NONE of the Imperial Troopers suffered from issues with Genetic Memories. The ONLY reason for preservation and identification of Genetic Memory would be for the Emperor's Cloning Facility. Genetic Memory specifically implies that it's not something due to his force capabilities. In that case, they would need to come from the host, and Starkiller would have had to have been preserved with ALL of his memories, post the end of the first game. In the background, you can still hear droids saying things like:
"Beginning containment, beginning containment procedure."
"Initiating next step in rapid accelleration process."
"Beginning arbitrary restraint procedures."
"Administering sedation."
"Are you feeling blue?"
"Time for your medicine."
"Don't be frightened by the children."
"There we go."
There is NO WAY that current clones are all suffering from the same genetic memory issues, because they managed to pull this off with seeming ease and VAST experience with that army. There's also a good reason Vader would be standing outside your tank. He wouldn't come down here just when they've started to make some progress. It seems like they're attempting to imprint OVER Starkiller's memories, and turn him back obedient, since he won't fall to the Dark Side so easily, as was shown before. At the same time, they're trying to clone an army with his obedient self. Even if the tests fail, with enough information from him, and the select memories imprinted, they can have obedient clones who can use the force, though they'll probably still end up going mad rather swiftly.
I think Vader tossed him aside lightly to the Troopers so that he'd escape, and gather back with his allies, and they'd wipe them all out with the Clones of StarKiller and have a stronger hold on the galaxy. The only worthy true test of the clones. It ALSO explains why he's having visions of the future, when it's a force power he'd only barely developed.
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I'm gonna write up a LARGE list, and update a full post for the 1157 files. Keep an eye out.
Update: (6/22) I edited out most of the information in the first post to detail everything shown in the 1157 minigame so far. I'll likely add in some links to the trailers and whatnot, but it's late, and I've gotta work tomorrow. More to come to be sure, as I think I've figured out what's going on here, but it doesn't make it any less enthralling.
Update 2: (6/23) Massive update to the first post. Please go take a look, I'm sure you'll be most intrigued. Storyline speculation details to be added as I feel that I have time to write them.
Update 3: (6/23) Aaaand done with the speculation bit for now. I may decide to add links to Youtube versions of the videos, but likely I'll just leave it as is, and let people that want to watch them look on their own, or play the game for themselves.
Update 4: (6/25) Cleaned it up a bit with sizing, spacing, and naming the spoiler tags. I think that it's one of the better looking posts that I've put together in quite some time. I love speculating on content, and interpriting. There should also be links to the relevant medical conditions as well.
Update 5: (6/25) Videos for all the Visions have been added. (I know the youtube time and the listed time are different). This should be the format that I'm using for everything from here on out. If you have any ideas / suggestions / comments, let me know.
Update 6: (6/26) Analysis/Specilation section has been updated pretty heavily with content, and interpritations of what's been seen so far, and how it all facters into the game. Also - moving these updates to the first post to make it easier to check.
The 1157 minigame updated, and it's REALLY neat. No game this time, just load the site for an awesome vision. I'm hoping to get time to look at it & break it down soon in post numero uno.
New Gameplay footage has me VERY pleased. Click the below link to check it out.
Well, considering Boba Fett is bringing expendable troops, and Vader's ordering him to fins Juno, he's likely setting up a trap. The whole idea is that the Empire can use Juno to manipulate Starkiller.
Also - the latest vision on the site is intense.
1138 raids the facility, finds and apparently kills 1157 in the tank, though the audio diary apparently hints that he's not dead. I should have a video of it later today. There's also a reveal about 1138 that's sparking some crazy conversation. I added an area in the analysis about it, and I'm revamping most of my information around it.
I'm assuming that you're 1138, and that 1157 is your mega nemesis, since the footage of 1138's assault on the facility looked like gameplay, but I'm not 100% sure that's true.
I've also done a massive revision of the main post to make the information current.
The main website has been updated as on 7/28/2010 with donwloadable versions of the main trailers, new wallpapers, and screenshots from the PS3, 360, Wii*, NDS* versions of the game (*previously unseen). They have information on 5 of the main characters, Juno, Starkiller, Kota, Vader, and Baron Tarko. There's also Concept Art of the locations, Kota, Starkiller, a 1 armed Proxy, a Carbonite War Droid, and another new enemy. There's a News section that will link to the Twitter / Facebook accounts (mousing over will show the latest updates).
They've released a little clip with Yoda & Starkiller's introduction.
“Starkiller, having escaped the clutches of Darth Vader on the planet Kamino, senses something calling out to him from the planet Dagobah. Arriving there, he encounters a familiar face and one of the most powerful Jedi to ever live – Yoda. Outside of the iconic Cave of Evils, Yoda provides Starkiller with crucial insight about the inner turmoil tearing his mind apart and his quest to reunite with Juno Eclipse.”
That actually looks pretty damn good, I do want this game now.
[Rant]
I wasn’t to thrilled by the first one. Combat put me off a bit. The Lightsabre combos were to long and you had to get just the right timing to get them to work. Or you could just use a force power and insta-kill everything in one go. When the Lightsabre has become impractical in it’s own universe and the least used weapon of the Jedi you’re playing as you know the game has gone wrong somewhere. Also it was annoyingly short and made you go back to the same levels more than once. <_<
However I agree with the wiki article:
Reviews offered mixed response, praising The Force Unleashed for its compelling story, robust physics, impressive art and soundtrack, but also citing frustrating gameplay.
Pretty much sums up how I felt about the first game. It did look stunning, the physics were wonderful & I quite liked the story.
But after completing the first one did anyone else think:
Hang on a minute, Luke Skywalker was supposed to be some legendary Jedi Warrior but he could only move a single lightsaber by starring at it for 5 minutes. Starkiller on the other hand can kill everything in a room with force powers without breaking a sweat and is capable of defeating both Vader and the Emperor. For the sake of a couple of boss fights at the end the makers of this game have made the protagonist so ridiculously powerful that it screws up the story somewhat. He was capable; so why didn‘t Starkiller just kill both Vader & the Emperor? Because striking down an enemy in hatred and in cool-blood is wrong?
Bollocks.
Taking down the entire Empire was worth one guilty conscience, or one Jedi doing the wrong thing once. The ending left me feeling disappointed.
One of the things that I'm most hopeful about is in the early reviews (I think some of the videos that I've got in the first post in the gameplay section). They talk about how TFU was basically one pace the whole game, and other issues that the game had, and how they are working to keep the good parts, and vastly improve what didn't work.
In answer to your question:
The impressive thing about Luke is that he develops a vast array of his talents and abilities without much formal training, he hangs out with Obi-Wan for a bit, and then trains with Yoda, but he's able to take on Vader, (even though Vader is an old man / cyborg who's been through a shitload of combat). Not to mention if you move on with the other EXU stuff he continues developing into a hell of a Jedi.
Starkiller was trained to use the force to the extremity of his limits by Vader, apparently his whole life which would put his abilities above Luke's then, but Luke does some equally / more impressive stuff in the EXU, the trilogy is really the beginning of his journey.
I think that part of the thing is that Starkiller's probably a clone, or possibly 2 clones in the first game. Those clones are powerful, but eventually would've gone crazy, but both of them die - one's killed by Vader and shot into space, and the other wakes up on the Empirical.
The second game probably has some more answers about this though.
I think that Starkiller does try to take them both on with his attack at the end that kills him (the crazy force repulse). I've got some pretty big theories about Starkiller for this game, but I've only got a couple weeks to wait to find out if I'm right.
Glad I pre-ordered it, so I don't have to worry about funds now.
