Part 37: Korriban: The Tomb of Ludicrous

Korriban is by far the shortest planet, with only two major areas to explore and no real sidequests. There’s the Sith academy itself, which is further down the valley.



And then there’s the cave.







You have to remember, there’s no showering facilities on the Ebon Hawk.



It’s actually called the Shyrack cave. Shyracks are these annoying flying things which look kinda like Mynocks.

If you don’t know what a Mynock is, don’t worry about it.



This cave is another reused art asset from KOTOR 1. I don’t really remember what was in here in the first game; I think there was a minor sidequest and then a Terantatek at the back of the cave? Something like that.

If you don’t know what a Terantatek is, don’t worry about that either.





Near the back of the cave, we find the first living people on Korriban – a bunch of Sith assassins.





Well this is what we came here for – the last unlooted tomb. This is where the Sith Lord Ludo Kressh was buried; Naga Sadow probably shoved him in this hole after he killed him.

“You will have to face the challenges of this tomb alone. Are you ready?”





There’s some cut lines that should have come at this point explaining why your party can’t come with you.

“This tomb has not been plundered. Its mysteries may still be intact! But so might its traps. Take great caution!”
“What... is that? Can't go any further...”
“I sense a great presence within this tomb. Master, it calls to you.”
“Observation: The tomb ahead was devised to keep out sentients not strong in the Force.”



Before we go in, I’ll try to explain this place a little.

It’s meant as a companion sequence to the Dagobah cave scene from Empire Strikes Back, where Luke hallucinates and faces a vision of Darth Vader. Here, the Exile is going to reliving his past and trying to come to terms with it. The question is, “Was it all worth it?”

There’s no real plot advancement of note, no mind-boggling loot. Just some really good writing. You’ll notice most of the exposition is in the Exile’s options, not from the NPC dialogue. So sit back and enjoy.



Hey look it’s… Malak.



“Already the Mandalorians have taken three systems along the Rim. They will only grow more powerful with time.”







Malak here was a Padawan with the Jedi Academy, and was the first to go with Revan to join the Mandalorian War. This ‘memory’ would have taken place some 8 or 10 years before this game. Long before he became Darth Malak, the jawless idiot Sith Lord we all know and love from KOTOR 1.

“I have heard of you. Your masters speak well of you, of your skills in battle. Join us.”



“I am proud that Revan and I will be taking up our lightsabers for the good of the Republic, without the blessings of the Council.”





He says ‘you will’; this is a subtle thing that happens here. Up until this point, the scene taking place is drawn from the Exile’s memory of what happened. Suddenly the perspective shifts, and Malak breaks character and stops using present tense to talk about the war. At this point it’s no longer the ‘real’ Malak, it’s actually the Dark Side energy in the tomb trying to tempt the Exile.



“You should trust in yourself - and in your instincts.”





“Yes, that's right - without us the Republic would've been no more. And the Council... Their vaunted wisdom bred only inaction. And that would've led to destruction greater than anything born of the dark side.”



“Would you do it any different? Knowing what it costs you, knowing what it costs the rest.”



I do like the multitude of RP choices in this area. If it was just a straight up Light Side/Dark Side dichotomy for example, we wouldn’t have had option #1 here. And yet it’s probably the most compelling choice.



What do they say about regret again? Changing the nature of a man and all that?



Interestingly, if you picked Revan as a Light Side female at the start, I think this is the only time you’ll see Bastila in this game.



Well, Bastila was always the tattle-taling, bitchy older sister type anyway.



“It is a familiar path... there were those who wished to follow you to war, yet remained behind. They came to hate you for the choices they wished to make.”

Foreshadowing a bit?



Yep.



Atris, the Handmaiden, Kreia, the Jedi Masters… they all wanted to know why the Exile turned down joining Revan after the Mandalorian War, and turned away from the Force altogether. He was the only one to return to face trial before the Jedi Council. This sequence gave a chance for the player to decide the real reason why.

“Are you so certain? Every step along the way we did what we thought was right. Perhaps the same path lays before you.”





Wait, they all attack?



Bit of trivia: the 4 non-Bastila/Malak Jedi here all have unique names.

- Cariaga Sin
- Talvon Esan
- Xaset Terep
- Nisotsa

They all look like anagrams of developer names or something. ‘Xaset Terep’ is definitely ‘Texas Peter’; I don’t know about the other ones though.



Pretty soon, only ghost Malak remains. His ghost lightsaber still really hurts though.



Shyrack breeding ground? Doesn’t sound that bad.



Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh







We’re in another of the Exile’s memories. This time we’re on Dxun, about to assault the Mandalorian stronghold. We’ve already been there, so we’ve seen the downed ships, dead bodies, broken droids… and all the fucking annoying animals.

“But we won't help by throwing our lives away to storm the path. Too many Mandalorians, too few of us. We already lost half the men just getting to the path. They've got the rest of the company pinned down by the crash site. You can't possibly ask the troops to go forward.”









Well, it must be a little hard to sit by and watch all your troops die all over again. I dub this sequence the ‘Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome’ vision.

We’ll have the Exile take point this time. That would be a Jesus thing to do.



Oh fuck, those are the mines?



Well it’s a good thing the Exile took Demolition as a skill.

Oh wait, he didn’t.

There’s only one way to clear the mines now.



Ow.



Ow. Ow. Ow.





By the way, we don’t get any experience for killing the visions. What do you expect when you shoot at hallucinations?



The troops all disappear after the battle is over.



Further along we find this body.





This was originally suppose the body of Dustil Onasi, the son of Carth Onasi. If you look closely at the player model for the body it’s the same head as Dustil’s model from KOTOR 1. Dustil was featured in that game as Carth’s long lost son who ends up enrolling in the Sith academy on Korriban. Revan had the option to redeem him; there was also the choice to kill the whiny little runt and laugh about it to his father’s face.

In fact, Dustil was suppose to be alive in this tomb, albeit briefly.

“Another vision! Don't think I can't see through this deception.”
“Who are you?”
“Yes, questions. Visions always have questions for Dustil... before the killing starts. I won't answer! Hear me apparition! I won't answer!”
“You are Dustil?”
“Of course the vision knows my name. It probes my thoughts. But I am learning the tricks, I am. Soon I will block them out entirely.”
“I am not a vision.”
“I am not a vision" says the vision. Ha! Well then, I am not Dustil Onasi, son of Carth, no. I am not a Jedi either.”
“Carth? You are Carth Onasi's son?”
“The vision speaks of my father, not knowing I killed him twenty two times, and he has killed me, but I did not die. He won't be coming back for me, not again. With his tricks. His tricks! Oh, father! Why did you leave?!”
“You are a Jedi?”
“I am Jedi. So proud, so proud to be. I escaped the dark side only to return. Why did I return? Why? The other Jedi wanted to. They tricked me. Oh, they tricked me. I did not know then that they were all visions. Visions all.”
“Do you know what causes the visions here?”
“Ah, the existential vision. What causes me? Why am I a vision? Deceptive vision. Dustil the Jedi is wise to your tricks.”
“I'll be going now.”
“The vision leaves, only to sneak up later when I am less aware. Better to silence it now. You won't have me! You won't have me!”
[Dustil Attacks]

I love the line about the existentialist vision. As for why he got cut – looks like the dialogue and the map was set up for him all ready to go, so I suspect either LucasArts nixed the idea or somebody wanted to save him for a future storyline. After all, there’s no way to avoid killing him here.



After you click on the corpse here, 2 Hssiss dragons spawn to attack you.

This is, of course, the famous infinite experience bug, because you can just keep clicking on the corpse and it’ll keep spawning Hssiss, two at a time.



Click ten times, and you soon end up with stupid shit like this.





Finally, a familiar face in here. Except for the creepy Sith outfit.



So we’ve dealt the moment when Exile joined the Mandalorian War, and we’ve visited the war itself. Now it’s time to deal with the consequences of it in the present.



“Your confusion is natural. The others and I will help you understand.”



… you can’t get fooled again?





There’s a pretty funny chain of dialog here that lets you RP the Exile as really exasperated and pissed off at the whole situation.

“Atton, I've had enough of your snide contempt!”







“You're threatening Atton with a lightsaber, and I'm supposed to just stay out of it? No!”





Hey look, even T3’s here. It’s a party. Break out the fruit punch and piñatas.



“Think again, Kreia! Your dark influence will end!”
“Your "friends" are all arrayed against me. Will you stand for this?”



This is where the leash starts slipping from Kreia’s hand. Remember, she’s been corralling the Exile from one end of the galaxy to another, carefully orchestrating what he sees and doesn’t see. This Dark Side acid trip is taking place inside the Exile’s head, and it’s finally something she doesn’t have control over.

On the list of things Kreia doesn’t want the Exile to see, this is probably right up there.





All of the party members, including Visas, Mandalore, etc. are suppose to appear here, but that never got scripted. Instead, we only get all the party members that we had with us when we left the Telos Academy.



If you pick Kreia’s side, the rest of your party attacks.

Jesus is just gonna stun them all…



And he’ll take a nap over here while Kreia does the rest.



Now that we’ve dealt with the present, we’re going to meet the ghost of Christmas future.



We finally meet the Great and Mighty Revan herself.



There’s bit of a glitch here that has to do with some cut content.

Behind Revan is a Dark Side version of the Exile himself – it’s suppose to be evocative of the cave scene where Luke Skywalker gives in to the Dark Side briefly and sees the consequences. Here, you’re suppose to see what would have happened if the Exile had joined with Revan when she fell to the Dark Side.



Except that the evil version of the Exile disappears after a few seconds. I believe originally, you were suppose to fight both Revan and evil mirror universe Exile at the same time.



The game starts you off like 3 feet from Revan when the fight begins, so we use the standard Jedi Jesus tactic of running…



… and hiding behind a pillar to fuck with the horrible enemy pathing.



My Exile can beat up your Revan.





“You overestimate the power of the tomb. Any change you feel is coming from within yourself. Instinctually, you know your true path. Trust in your feelings. They will lead you in conquering the many challenges that the future holds for you.”
“Was I supposed to learn something from this?”
“Sometimes, a momentary insight is worth lifetimes of experience.”



Pssst. She’s just confirming the cave is just a big foreshadowing device.





Only one thing left to do here: loot the mummified Sith Lord.



And so the acid trip ends.