Part 30: Onderon: Say You Want a Revolution

Let’s check in with what’s happening back at the Ebon Hawk.





As I’ve said a few times, they tried to write in different personalities for all the droids on Ebon Hawk. This isn’t as easy as it sounds since there’s four of them, and well - they’re robots.



They even tried to write in a personality for Bao-Dur’s remote ball. They tried to build him (it?) up as the snotty little brother to Goto’s big grumpy droid. There’s no sound in our LP obviously, but the remote is quietly hovering over Goto’s shoulder going beep-beep and annoying the shit out of him.









“I am impressed with your work, though less so with your remote itself.”
“What's wrong with my remote?”
“I find his use of resources - energy spent on frivolous things - to be an unsightly waste. But it is obvious you have some skill, however slight, in the upgrading of machines. I want you to provide me with similar upgrades.”





There’s various cutscenes you get on the Ebon Hawk where Bao-Dur upgrades all the droids with little bonuses like +1 dexterity, constitution, etc. G0T0, T3, remote… all except HK-47, which got cut. Here are the cutscenes where that was suppose to happen.



“I don't understand why you won't let me take a look.”
“Statement: I have had quite enough tampering at the hands of unskilled meatbags such as yourself. I am not eager to submit to this treatment now or in the future.”
“Unskilled meatbag? I'll show you unskilled-“
“Appeasement: I did not mean to imply that you were an unskilled meatbag, as incapable of performing rudimentary repairs as holding a hydrospanner. It is only that I am quite particular with my repairs. Perhaps when I am more confident in your abilities, I will allow you to examine my internal components.”

The reason this all got cut was that the trigger for the follow-up scene got cut too. Later, some HK-50 assassin droids are suppose to show up on the ship (don’t worry I’ll get to that cut scene later too). The encounter between HK-47 and his upgraded versions would have prompted some feelings of inferiority from HK-47:

“Finally decided to let me take a look at your circuitry?”
“Answer: Indeed I did. I hope you understand how difficult it is for me to trust a meatbag with something as delicate as my inner mechanics.”
“Explanation: Our encounters with my copies has convinced me that I should look into upgrading my capabilities, in order that I may be able to destroy them with greater impunity.”
“Worried you might be going obsolete? I understand.”
“Objection: Nothing of the sort. I am programmed to improve my capabilities, if it will improve my chances of destroying a target. Even as unsavory an avenue as this.”
“You don't have to suffer on my account. Maybe you are better off not letting me dig around in you.”
“Retraction: You must understand, my previous interactions with meatbags have rarely been pleasant.”
“Disclosure: After all, most of those meetings involved the termination of said meatbags.”
“It obviously couldn't have been your charming personality. Now, if you want me to see if I can upgrade your functionality, just let me get to work on you.”
“Answer: In that case, please go ahead. Just be careful not to damage any of my delicate parts.”

…

“Analysis: My self-diagnostic indicates that my performance has indeed been improved. Also, many of my systems are reporting improved efficiency.”
“Commentary: I am most pleased with this turn of events. It would appear that my initial analysis of your mechanical abilities was incorrect.”
“You're welcome.”
[HK-47 has received a permanent +1 bonus to his Constitution.]



Back in Onderon, we’re still looking for this guy:



We know he’s with the Queen, so we just to have figure out a way to get to him.



Well that should be easy, why don’t we just ask for an audience?







Damnit.



There’s a couple of ways Force Persuade can fail; the first if you’re like Mandalore and you’re trained against it. The second is if you try to make them do something completely out of character. I guess it’s suppose to be like hypnosis that way.

“I'm on an important mission. I need to see someone in the Palace.”
“There's no chance of that, off-worlder. The Palace is locked down tight, and only authorized personnel are allowed in.”
“Who are you?”





“I was a soldier when the Mandalorians took our world, and I fought in the resistance. When we drove them from Onderon, I served on the Wall for ten years after.”



Maybe Mandalore’s most consistent trait is his pride in the strength of his people.

“Such a view could be considered treason. Onderon was responsible for much of the fighting during the last days of the war. Without General Vaklu, the Republic would have fallen.”
“What do you think of General Vaklu?”



It doesn’t look like we’ll be able to get past him to the palace, so we’ll have to look for some other way in.



There’s a guy being shaken down by the cops here. No surprise.

Oh, he’s white. What the hell’s going on?



This is kinda your obligatory media suppression scene.

“We have a right to free speech!”
“No, this is a time of war! Liberties must be suspended!”
“Help! Help! I’m being repressed!”

And so on and so forth.



“What? Well, you can't be serious? You accuse me of propaganda? I have proof that Vaklu is withholding information on the so called 'Republic-“
“One more word of treason out of you... What are you looking at? This is none of your business.”
“Please, sir, help me. Vaklu's troops won't listen. I- I'm just a journalist, not a spy.”



The game was written in 2004, which was an election year in the US. I’m sure some of that stuff snuck into the game.



“It was specifically meant for us to pick up spies like this before they could leave Iziz or go underground.”
“Do you have proof of any sort?”
“That is classified military information.”
[Awareness] “How many other journalists are being rounded up today?”
“I don't have time to answer your barbed questions, off-worlder.”
“A journalist would be a poor cover for a spy. They're not well-known for their discretion.”









“So let him go. But watch it, both of you. If I hear even a hint you're up to something I'm coming back.”
“I don't know how to thank you. I'm getting out of Iziz now.”





Uh oh, filthy beggars on the streets. Shoo.

“What do you mean?”
“My husband... was killed by General Vaklu's troops. Our home was seized, and we were cast out. We have seen many wars on Iziz, and I know war is coming. I want to spare my children from bloodshed.”



“I've told you our story, please, won't you help us?”





“Over time he became convinced that Vaklu was trying to kill Queen Talia. He... he tried to kill Vaklu, to protect the Queen.”



This woman is one of 5 people in the city trying to get an open visa to escape the city. Maybe we can find someone else more convincing to give a visa to.

Although, the whole ‘boohoo my dead husband and 2 little children’ thing is a little hard to beat.



There’s a Deus Ex-esque news terminal here in the main square that has a hologram reporting on the news of the day. As you do various things in Onderon, the news changes a bit to reflect it.

Blargh. I’m thinking about it and now I want to play Deus Ex again.



Notice they’re blaming the space attack on the Republic. Vaklu and Tobin were the ones who started the whole thing but it’s being passed off as a Republic attack to turn the public further against Queen Talia.



They spend a lot of time setting up the whole political situation here, so we’ll spend a lot of the update getting a feel for it.



This merchant I think is voiced by the same guy who did Griff in KOTOR 1, Mission Vao’s brother.





“But this is good news! You have a starport visa, right? I can only sell my best weapons if you have that. These soldiers ensure that I don't forget these formalities.”



“No need to be alarmed, my foreign friend. Pay this soldier no heed. Pretend he isn't here. A large variety of weapons, my stock is very good. You might want to buy some before the General decides he needs more blasters.”



“I can only sell to off-worlders like you that have the proper clearance. And now offworlders can't come here because of the blockade and searches, but it's a wise policy.”
“So you're happy about this then?”



“Then weapon merchants, like myself, have the honor of providing them to him at a substantial discount. Even below what it costs us... We do it happily or else...”





I would have felt bad for this dude, but I keep thinking of Griff every time he talks, and I hated that guy.



Okay, this has nothing to do with anything, but I couldn’t think of a good time to show it off.

The game has a first person mode, which lets you see through the eyes of the various characters. I can’t think of a good use for this except for me to take nicer screenshots with.



Since you’re looking through their eyes, some of the characters have a bit of flavour built in. If you look through T3-M4’s view, everything is in blue.



HK-47 and G0-T0’s vision is a hunter-killer red.



And Kreia and Visas Marr are both blind, so when you look through their eyes they’ve got built-in Force Sight.



And we don’t have Hanharr in our party, but he has a Wookiee Rage ability that makes his vision look like this.



Onderon has a lot of the real life socio-political commentary stuff that the prequels had, so if liked the Galactic Senate scenes in the movies then you might like this stuff.



On the other hand, if you thought the Senate stuff was just horribly scripted filler with the unfortunately monotone Natalie Portman trying too hard to look stoic and concerned, then you’ll be bored to tears here.



Most of these news reports are actually kinda biased towards General Vaklu, implying some further media influence.



There’s also a revolutionary trying to stir up trouble here.









Gee, Jesus and Mandalore don’t stick out in a crowd at all. You really can’t tell who the offworlders are here.





Mmm the sweet smell of impending civil war. So just to summarize:

Restricted civil liberties? Check. Cover-up of the cause of a battle? Check. Stifling of the media? Check.







One of these attacks was of course, the boma that escaped its cage outside and attacked us.





Lastly we got these two aliens.









Well Queen Talia sounds a little soft, but other than she seems all right.







On the other hand we know all about misunderstood war heroes with a grudge against the Jedi and the Republic. Vaklu probably just his people to be strong again, and that’s probably not likely under Talia.













So you’ve heard each side, who do YOU think is correct?