Part 41: The Temple Summit

Part 41: The Temple Summit

Last time, we managed to convince the Rakatan Elders to allow us inside the Temple of Ancients. The temple houses the controls for the planetary disruptor field that must be deactivated if we want to get off the Rakatan homeworld of Lehon and also to prevent the entire Republic fleet from crashing to the planet's surface when they arrive in the system.



At this point, KotOR largely stops offering lore tidbits in the loading screens and just drops these mostly useless gameplay tips instead.



The interior of the temple is mostly very dark and entirely very brown. Let's start our exploration by taking a look at this large door in front of our faces.



Naturally. I guess we'll go look for a way to unlock this door, then.



This temple is clearly where the cutscene of Malak torturing Bastila happened. We know Malak is back on the Star Forge, but what about Bastila? Is she still here?



One thing I do appreciate about the temple is that it actually does have some windows to let sunlight in, so it's not completely dark all the time. Just most of the time.



Before we fight the droids in the corridor, let's check out this room. Maybe there's some way to get rid of the droids.



Or maybe there's just one of Malak's followers waiting for us. The Sith Acolytes aren't massively stronger than the Dark Jedi we've been facing thus far, but there are lots of them inside the temple. Most rooms just contain one or more acolytes and some crappy loot, so I'll keep most of the encounters offscreen.



Fine, let's fight the patrol droids then.



I didn't know you could Whirlwind droids. Also, lightsabers occasionally look a bit janky in this dungeon for whatever reason. Another emulation glitch, I'm sure.



Some room contain these bigger Sith droids. They're not actually red, that's just the target highlighting. They're also not very difficult to take out, either with Destroy Droid or simply chopping them into pieces.



Err... Miss? Shouldn't you be attacking us?



These Dark Jedi are remarkably chill.



Or not. The game is just being glitchy again, as tends to be the case fairly often.





I don't recall seeing any female Dark Jedi models in the game until now.



"Lord Malak was most displeased... no, wait, that's not right, we're not supposed to say that anymore."



So now we'll fight, and they have us in a pincer attack position due to the game acting wonky. That shouldn't be too much of an issue, though.



That, however, might be. We should pop Force Immunity for this fight.



There we go.



The Sith Power Gauntlets are a +3 boost to STR, so they'll go on Juhani. Her STR is now 19.



Before entering any of the other doors, I decided to run around the perimeter to take out any enemies along the way. It might've made more sense to look for a computer room first (in fact, we could've seen on the map that there was one right next to where we fought the patrol droids in the north corridor).



But hey, there's another one.



Please stop that. Drain Life is not doing much to us here, but it's annoying.



Jolee still has the highest Computer Use rank between the three of us, so he'll get to work the terminal again.



The east guard post has some scary droids. That is actually where we're supposed to be headed, as there is a door with a zone transition to the east. There is another computer room where we can disable the shields on the prototype droids, but there isn't really any need to do so.



The west guard post has two more assault droids. We could corrupt the targeting programs on all these droids, but it's not worth wasting a bunch of spikes on that.



We will, however, deactivate these turrets in the obelisk corridor for 5 spikes. That also turns out to be a complete waste as we'll see shortly, but we have 44 spikes so whatever.





This door has a cutscene! That's always promising.





It's actually just a Sith Master training against a droid and wrecking it with ease, so nothing too exciting.



I intensified my training ten fold in the hopes I would get the chance to face you in mortal combat! I am glad to see my training has not been in vain.



Let's test our might, then. He manages to debilitate us with Insanity, which is kind of irritating because that stuns us for 18 seconds.



Alright, that's better. We've got Master Speed active, so let's whack this idiot with a Master Critical Strike from the side. I think that just might give us the sneak attack bonus as well.



There's a dual saber Master Critical Strike with Master Speed active. Had all four of our attacks hit, that would've killed him.



Needless to say, he doesn't last very long.



The Upari crystal is pretty good. It provides a damage boost of +1-8 and Attack +3, so if you're going purely for damage it's an excellent option. However, Zila's sabers are built mostly for criticals, so neither of them has a free slot for another damage/attack boost crystal and it goes on Juhani's saber instead when we find a workbench.



Oh, there's one right there. Convenient! The various boxes and containers contain more stuff we don't particularly need.



That's pretty solid. Good damage, and nice extra damage against droids as well. That will come in handy with all these droids wandering around the temple corridors.



Somehow, we actually see these mines this time. We can't disarm them, though, so we'll have to run into them anyway to interact with the pillars.



The Sapith crystal is garbage. Damage +3 and attack +2 just sucks compared to... pretty much everything we have at this point, really.



This room has a broken droid we can repair to help us out. Might as well.



We've reached the east guard post with the prototype droids. Our repaired droid should be joining us in a moment, although we don't really need it to dispose of these buckets of bolts.



Jolee apparently decided to replace his lightsaber with a light wall for a second there. I'm not sure what caused this particular glitch, but there you go. At this point of the game, I was basically hoping it would hold together until the end.



At any rate, the prototype droids aren't very difficult to kill. Destroy Droid works wonders here.



Cool, 5000 credits we literally cannot use. Thanks, guys.



That's obviously progress, but before heading down the ramp we'll explore some areas we missed.



The turrets in the obelisk corridor are still active and hostile after we deactivated them via the terminal, they just can't fire at us. That's not how that worked the last time we deactivated some turrets, but let's just roll with it.



There is nothing in this corridor anyway, so that was a waste of five spikes as I said earlier. Lovely.



The door at the bottom of the east ramp leads to the Temple Catacombs. That sounds like a good time.



Thanks, that's very helpful. At this point, the only person we can even play with is Mission.



More droids to greet us. They meet the same fate as their droid brethren upstairs.



Maybe we should check what's in the footlocker over there. I vaguely recall something important being in this room.







Ah, that does seem important. Let's find out what it says.


Alright, that is definitely good to know.



The pillars in the other corner are rigged with three deadly frag mines, which nearly kill us. All that for another worthless Sapith trinket.





These are obviously the sequencer tiles mentioned in the datapad. That, or someone's playing a clever trick on us.



The orientation of the H pattern doesn't matter. Just be careful, because the controls can be a little touchy and you might accidentally hit the wrong tile. All that happens if you fuck up is that the pattern resets and you have to do it all over again, so it's not a big deal. Also, I'm not 100% sure but I could swear the PC version doesn't automatically put you in solo mode for this. This is the only time in the entire game you actually have to use solo mode, so chances are you've forgotten it even exists by the time you get here.



Perfect.



The door leads to a large room with a computer in the middle. Maybe this is where we can turn off the disruptor field?







I recognize your appearance from your last visit, which is stored in my databanks. However, I am detecting some significant changes in your composition since your last visit. Your neurological patterns exhibit subtle yet substantive alterations in both thought patterns and information processing. These changes have been noted and recorded in my database.





Would it have killed them to put some sort of lighting in this scene? Talking to a computer is already not the most exciting action ever seen in a video game, but it's even less so when you can't even see what the hell is happening. Vigil from Mass Effect this is not.



Due to my systems' ability to monitor and repair themselves, you will find all the data within my archives has remained fully intact. Please choose the topic you wish information on.

Tell me about the Star Forge.

The Star Forge was constructed during the apex of the Infinite Empire's power. A true technological marvel, it is an enormous space station that serves as both factory and battle dreadnaught.

Yes, we've figured out that much. Anything else?



In many ways the Star Forge is like a living entity. It feeds, it hungers, it draws on the energy flowing through all living things - what you called the Force the last time you were here. This ability to feed and consume the living energy of the Force is the key to the Star Forge's power, but ultimately it was also what led to the destruction of the Infinite Empire.

What do you mean?

The Rakata are by nature a cruel and savage species. The Star Forge fueled itself with the hatred inherent in its own creators, and in doing so it accentuated these traits within the Builders. In your terminology, the Star Forge is a tool of the dark side. It corrupts those who use it so that it can generate greater and greater amounts of negative energy to fuel itself.

So the Star Forge isn't just a Death Star that can also build infinite spaceships, it's also got a symbiotic relationship of sorts with whoever uses it. It draws on the user's dark side power to amplify its output, which corrupts the user even further and allows the Star Forge to operate at an even higher capacity, and so on and so forth. As my memories of the endgame were pretty vague until I reached this part of the LP playthrough, I kept wondering why the Star Forge was such a terrible thing that had to be destroyed at all costs. Why not capture it and use it to pump out ships for the Republic instead? But yeah, that's clearly not an option due to the corruption aspect.



Civil war destroyed the Infinite Empire... a lesson to remember. Only one who is immensely strong in mind and will can harness the power of the Star Forge without suffering a similar fate.

I want to ask you something else.

Due to my systems' ability to monitor and repair themselves, you will find all the data within my archives has remained fully intact. Please choose the topic you wish information on.



Maybe we should ask about the disruptor field, since that's why we're actually in the temple right now.



How can I get to the upper levels of the temple?

My systems control the doors to the upper levels, allowing only those who are worthy of the Rakata legacy to pass. The last time you were here, Revan, I unsealed the doors for you. However, the subtle neurological changes I detected in you earlier likely caused a failure in the recognition system that would have opened the doors for you. I have updated my databases to recognize the new configurations in your mind, Revan. The doors to the upper levels will once again open for you.

Stupid automated systems, never working properly when you need them to.





When the Empire fell, the Rakata fled back here to their homeworld. They sabotaged the Star Maps so the enslaved species could not use them to discover the Star Forge or this planet.



The Star Maps were created with the same technology as my own self-sufficient systems. Over the millennia the maps have been slowly rebuilding and repairing themselves. As you informed me during your last visit to this world, the Star Maps are still in a damaged and incomplete state. It is not possible to locate the Star Forge using a single map. However, the Star Maps have repaired themselves to the extent that it is possible to discover the Star Forge's location by combining bits of data from several of the maps, as you did.

Tell me the history of the Infinite Empire.

We already heard the important bits from Keeper Orsaa, but might as well get the story from the computer as well.



But the glory of the Infinite Empire was built on war and slaughter; it was inevitable it should collapse upon itself. Conflict among power-hungry warlords escalated into full civil war. Worlds were ravaged and millions of lives were lost. Sensing the weakness of their oppressors, the slaves rebelled and overthrew their masters. And then came the plague.

I wonder how the Rakatan in the mind prison fits into all this. He said he led a rebellion. Was he one of the slaves who rebelled against their masters and got imprisoned as a result? That certainly seems like it might be the case.





The Infinite Empire crumbled into dust as the few Rakata survivors fled back here to their home world. All evidence of their existence was destroyed by the species they once enslaved. But even hidden here on their secret home world they were not safe. Millions died from the deadly plague, many more died in the never ending civil war. The history of the Rakata ended twenty thousand years ago. Now they are nothing but a few scattered tribes descended from the priest and warrior castes, still waging our never ending civil war.

And that, friends, is the full story of the fall of the Rakata empire. We've heard everything the computer had to tell us, so let's get going.





The massive door opposite the entrance is now open.



It leads to the west guard post we saw in the surveillance footage earlier.





Past the droids is a ramp leading up to another door. The temple summit lies behind, so let's go shut off that disruptor field.



Alright then. There are some medpacs and various other items in the containers to the left if you need them.



However, there is only one way we can go from here. That looks like someone up ahead, but we can't make out who it might be. Another Dark Jedi, perhaps? Who else would be here? Could that be Bastila?



Definitely looks like a Dark Jedi from here. We should go get a closer look.



Oh no. No no no.





Malak has apparently succeeded in his efforts to turn Bastila to the dark side. If that is the case, we're fucked.



Bastila seems conflicted. She's not even looking at us while she speaks.





Yep, we are officially fucked. I guess there was some hope that she was just pretending to do Malak's bidding to get away from his grasp, but that is clearly not the case and she has actually turned.



The Sith now have her Battle Meditation ability on their side. We know what that can do. She can influence entire armies, entire fleets. The Sith fleet was already crushing the Republic with sheer numbers thanks to the Star Forge, and now they have the most powerful Battle Meditation user in the galaxy in their ranks. We have to do something about this, and we have to do it right now.



They speak of the dark side as if it something to be feared. But in reality their only goal is to manipulate those who are strong in the Force. The fear of the dark side is a tool to maintain control. Why do you think the Jedi forbid you and Malak from joining the Mandalorian Wars? They knew you would realize your true potential and break free of their domination. Malak has shown me how the Jedi Council have been using me the same way they once tried to use you. They've been holding me back because they knew one day I would surpass them all.



We try to bring her back to her senses, but it's too late and our efforts are futile. That's not going to convince anyone.



Malak forced me to acknowledge my anger and pain. He showed me the liberating power of these emotions. Then he made me see how the Jedi Council has denied me what is mine by right! The Jedi Council gladly used my Battle Meditation in their wars, but they still treated me like a child - like an inferior. They were jealous of my power... of what I could become! They wanted me to bow and call them Master and follow their Code and obey their every order. But all the while they were exploiting my Battle Meditation for their own use!

You know, Bastila is not entirely wrong about that. The Jedi Council absolutely was treating her like a tool, and nobody except Master Vrook and maybe Master Vandar displayed even the slightest bit of concern for her as a person or considered that it might not be a great idea to place all the responsibility in the galaxy on the shoulders of one young Padawan. She was the last, best hope of the Republic, so of course they wanted to make use of her abilities, but she was not ready to shoulder the burden. She constantly struggled against the dark side, and we saw how hot-headed and, well, arrogant she could often be. Malak preyed on her insecurities, and this is the result.



This is a weak effort from us and we know it. There are no Sith lies in play here.



You used to be Revan, Master of the Sith, but no longer. You are simply a pawn of the Jedi Council and the Republic they serve... like I was until Malak freed me from their shackles! A pity the power you once had is so diluted in you. You could have been strong as I am now... stronger, even. But that will never happen, now. With the power of the Star Forge Malak will destroy the Republic and conquer the galaxy. And I will be the apprentice at his side - after I prove my worth by killing you!



Yeah, no. That's not going to happen. Bastila is strong, but we are far stronger.



Gah! Okay, that wasn't great.







Remember: I was there when you nearly died in the trap set by the Jedi Council. I used the Force to preserve your life, Revan. We are forever linked by my actions on that bridge!



We keep trying, but our words still ring hollow.



The Council tried to exploit the bond between us. They hoped I would draw out your memories to lead them to the Star Forge. We were slaves to their will - like all who follow the Jedi Code!

This also isn't entirely incorrect.





But you know, we came back and we're more powerful than ever. Maybe Bastila could do the same. She's our friend and we promised to support her, and that is what we're going to do. We'll help her as best we can, help her leave the dark side behind. We just need to find some way to get through to her.



You deserve to be the true Master of the Sith, not Malak. I see this now. Together we can destroy your old apprentice. Join with me and reclaim your lost identity!





Once long ago you defied the Jedi Council, freeing yourself from their control. You claimed your rightful title of Dark Lord of the Sith. Together we can defeat Malak and take back what is yours!

We defied the Jedi Council because we wanted to help people, not rule the galaxy. That purpose got corrupted along the way and we did terrible things, but we want no part of that life now.



I mean, if we wanted to, we could say yes. We could take her up on her offer and become the Dark Lord once more. But that is not what we want.





But you, Revan - the power of the dark side is yours to command! You can use it to destroy Malak! With my help you could rule over the entire galaxy!



I really wish these light side responses weren't all "I'm a servant of the light and the Jedi Code is cool and good" because you sound like a moron with a stick up your ass.



Unsurprisingly, going on about the light side and how great it is does not impress Bastila in the slightest.





Master Speed, anyone? Force Wave? Stasis? No?



Guess not.





And with that, Bastila is gone. The disruptor field doesn't affect Sith ships, obviously.



We are now locked into the light side ending path. If you choose to accept Bastila's offer, she rejoins your party and you have to kill Jolee and Juhani. You also get a huge chunk of points towards whichever alignment you chose, and the number of points you get increases the farther you are from the side you picked - e.g. if you're full light side or close to it and choose to turn to the dark side here, you get 40 dark side points which will put you around the middle of the alignment bar. Of course, as I said before, actually doing that only makes you weaker because if you played the whole game as a light side character you'll probably only have light side powers, and now they'll require more Force points to cast. Since you've probably hit the level cap by now as well, you can't even learn any dark side powers.



Let's disable this disruptor field and get off this planet. We need to stop Malak and save Bastila, whatever it takes.





The temple energy shield has to be shut down or you can't exit the temple.



We'll get her back. We have to.



Just one quick stop before we return to the Ebon Hawk. This is completely optional.



I wanted to make sure the Elders know we didn't betray them this time. Presumably, if you did betray them you'd be able to slaughter them all here, but I'm not sure about that.



Not exactly. I have to go to the Star Forge to stop Malak.

Then we wish you luck, Revan. For far too long we have kept ourselves hidden away on this lonely world, hoping to keep the Star Forge from unleashing its evil upon the rest of the galaxy. Perhaps... perhaps once the Star Forge is destroyed it will be time for us to leave this world, to rejoin the galaxy we have isolated ourselves from for so long.



Maybe "welcome with open arms" is going too far, but it's been so long since the days of the Infinite Empire that I don't see why the Rakata wouldn't be able to integrate themselves back into the galactic society. (Spoiler: They won't be able to do so, and eventually die off completely. You don't see any Rakata in non-KotOR Star Wars works, do you? Dave Filoni, if you're reading this, put some Rakata in the next season of The Mandalorian! Or don't, because the Rakata are honestly kind of lame)



Farewell, friends.



Time to head back to the Ebon Hawk. After you complete the Temple, there are no more enemies out here and even the Elders' electric traps are disabled.







How did Carth know Bastila was even on the planet?



Anyway, time to break the bad news.



Carth takes the news of Bastila's turn about as well as you'd expect him to. If you turn as well, he'll go apeshit over your betrayal and run off, never to be seen again.



Juhani, you're kind of blocking the shot.







Remember the bond that was forged between you when she rekindled the spark that was your life. Through that bond she touched your memories... and also the echo of the dark taint within you.

There wasn't really all that much Zila/Revan could've done about it in the first place, to be fair. She was lying there half-dead on the bridge of her ship when Bastila chose to heal her, and that is what caused the connection that eventually led Bastila to explore the darkest parts of her mind. Bastila coming along on this whole adventure probably didn't help matters, but Zila could realistically have done nothing to prevent this situation.





We are not going to abandon her.





On the dark side path, this scene will turn out in a way I'd best describe as "". Carth runs off, of course, but then you still have your remaining light side companions to deal with - Mission and Zaalbar. Obviously, you can kill them both yourself if you're the hands-on type, but if that doesn't satisfy your lust for pointless cruelty you can also Force persuade Zaalbar to kill Mission instead. He does so reluctantly and then attacks you a bit later if he's in your party, at which point you kill him. I should probably point out that Mission is 14 years old, so you are murdering a literal child.



We, of course, are doing no such thing. Instead, we'll get back on board the Hawk and finish whatever conversations we still can.



We'll start with Canderous. Well, and technically end with him as well, because he's the only one to still have new lines due to the fact we didn't do the romance paths with Juhani or Carth.



I think... I think I need something more than killing and fighting in my life. I need a purpose or something like that.

It seems Canderous finally has an idea what to do with his life.





Honor in battle. Cheating death. Comrades in arms. The code of the Mandalore. I think I'm something different now. Maybe more, maybe less.





Once my time with you is done, once you have moved on to greater things, I'll find my own way once again. Maybe the Mandalorian clans will be reborn again. Maybe even under the Republic... or the Sith. But dreaming about the future is stupid right now. We should get down to our business and finish it. If we survive all this... maybe we could talk about it then.

Sounds interesting. Maybe we'll find out more some day. No one else has anything new to say, but since I was hoping to show off the Juhani romance dialogue I'll just pretend I didn't fuck it up and put a transcript here.



This may be the last time I will have a chance to talk to you... I just want you to know that I... that I...

...Yes?

I… I… I care for you. I do not know why. I do not know if anything will be possible or if you even return what I feel, but I do know it is there. I am sorry if this upsets you. I am so sorry if I am wrong, but I cannot deny what it is that I feel.

I feel the same way, Juhani.

Now that I have put myself in this position, I know not what to say.

You do not have to say anything.

Yes. I thank you. But as much as I may care for you, and you for me, first we must deal with Malak. After there will be time to sort things out between us.

You know, I don't think I've ever actually seen this scene before. It's kind of nice. Looking into it, it's also very buggy and the triggers to activate the romance dialogue with Juhani are wonky at the best of times. That is probably be the result of LucasArts making BioWare cut the majority of the Juhani romance out of the game.

If you want to see the Carth romance scene, I'll probably just put a link to an existing YouTube upload in the final update.



Well, this is it. The end is in sight.





We are leaving Virmire Lehon behind, and only the final area of the game remains.





Wookieepedia doesn't say whether Admiral Dodonna here is an ancestor of General Jan Dodonna, also known as that bearded Rebel officer giving the presentation about the Death Star's exhaust port weakness in the original movie, but I'm going to guess she is because that's the kind of reference I could see this game making.







I kinda like this scene, both versions of it in fact. It has something resembling actual cinematography and looks more like a Mass Effect scene than a KotOR scene.







I remember wishing all the cutscenes in the game looked more like this.







Welp, we know what that means.







We have to figure out some way to stop Bastila from using her Battle Meditation or we've got no chance against the Sith.



Hey, some good news for once. Not everyone in the Dantooine enclave died in the Sith attack!







That just might work.









Damn right we are.



The dark side version of the scene has Bastila contacting the Republic and luring them into an ambush by pretending everything is in order and saying it's safe for the fleet to begin their approach. Meanwhile, Revan's standing in the background with an evil smirk.



Next time... well, next time we'll board the Star Forge for the final showdown and bring this LP to an end. See you then!