A More Civilized Age: A Star Wars Podcast - 115: Detoured to Dxun (KOTOR II 06)

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

You can watch Austin play through this section of the game right here. In search of the missing Jedi Masters, the Exile and the crew of the Ebon Hawk head towards Onderon. I say "towards" Onderon because before they land, they're driven to the nearby beast moon of Dxun. And that's not the worst of it: Before they can enter the jungles and reconnect with one a series' favorite... they first have to spend a full two hours basically just talking to various crew members, new and old. Whoops. Next Time: Finish up Onderon! Show Notes Star Wars Galaxies Restoration   Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Chia Contreras (@a_cado_appears) Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)    

Let us return once more to a more civilized age, a Star Wars podcast. I'm what's left of your host, Rob Zackney, joined by Alia Kampora, Austin Walker, and Natalie Watson. We are, as always, supported by you are listeners via patreon.com slash civilized. So head over there. You'd like to support the show and get access to all our Q&A episodes. it's apologies for any scheduled disruption. I, you know, we're moving house soon.

So I think I'm explaining this a few places, but if you haven't heard it elsewhere. So we're moving house soon, right? And you know you're just not going to, you're not going to like buy a new rug if you're moving house. So if your dogs have chewed a hole in that rug, that's just, that's not a problem

so you're going to throw the rug away. Yeah, that's old house rug. That's not a new house. Right. I see. But you don't buy new rug for soon to be old house. You just make old rug last. Right. Until you move. I see what you're saying. I thought you were saying, yeah, I understand. I understand. And you're used to this rug. No complications here. You're familiar with that little hole. It's not going to cause any problems. It's certainly not going to grab hold of the Ottoman with like the strength of an industrial clamp as you're just trying to walk across the room and just sort of nudge it aside with your foot. yeah it wouldn't do that it wouldn't do that yeah and obviously your reflexes your proprioception you'll sense if like the ottoman stops moving you won't like try to step through in a movable

object no no no no of course not you certainly won't like try to do that and then just suddenly black out i guess and find that you have broken your fall on your beautiful coffee table with the like ceramic top no and slammed the edge of the ceramic top and slammed the edge of the ceramic top onto your shin and within like five seconds of the impact, the area below your knee looks like a water balloon. I got to tell you, I mean, that part sounds really bad, but it almost sounds like you got away okay, all said. Honestly.

What you just described action-wise feels like I thought there was something else. You know what I mean? I was like, oh my God, did you not tell us about some other huge thing? The concussion. Well, it's funny. I thought I banged my shin on the ottoman. It was M.K. who set me straight three days later. She was like, hon, I cleaned blood off the coffee table. And I was like, no, it was the Ottoman.

And she was like, no, you caught yourself and stepped over the Ottoman. And put your leg under the coffee tables. You fell into it and slammed it into your shin. So, I just didn't remember how the incident had happened. Because what I remember was just looking at this thing blowing up. right and being like that doesn't seem good yeah um and then like er trip later they're like it's just a bad bruise no problem it's hurting worse and worse and starting to throw some alarming symptoms go to uh an orthopedic uh urgent care at some point sure and they're like oh that's a hematoma

that should have just been drained but it's too late now because it'd be like trying to suck jam through a cocktail straw because of uh the way the blood's coagulated in there plus the fat layer below your skin has separated from the dermal layer. So you've also just got like collagen floating around in there. And so you're just not sticking the needle in and getting that out. Yeah. And then the guy looks at me and he's like, hey, what do you do for a living? And I have never been so pleased to say, I'm a fucking podcaster.

That's right. I didn't say I'm a fucking podcast. But I was like I do video game tech podcasts. Okay, good. Yeah, the Star Wars podcast Star Wars stuff. I'm pretty good. Yeah, you might've heard of it. Maybe you're excited for the new season of Mandor. Sorry about that. He was like I was a fan. I was a fan, but you know, I didn't cancel the Patreon. I stuck through it. I'm not happy about it. You know, I got some Cotor when I was young, so I'm like, I'm pretty happy. I'm pretty, I'm pretty good. I hear you guys are going to meet Mandelaar the Preserver soon. I can't wait. Yeah, man.

So, yeah, and then it's just an escalating series of bad news. Like ER doc, it'll take weeks to clear up. You're in for a bad few weeks. Orthopedist. This is going to be months to clear up. Ultrasound tech, who was verified and had like a clot in my leg. She was like, I've seen things like this take over a year to clear up. But then also, she told me a story about like she used to play rugby in college.

And you know what? Someone's always had it worse than you. There you go. She was explained she was a tournament and just like tore every ligament in her knee in her legible and, you know, just spent a year wearing a boot and showering with a bag over her leg. So, you know, on the scheme of things, right? Like, yes, like do I get to choose between having my leg driving me insane with itching below like really tight compression wraps or have insane pain from.

changing pressure. Yeah. Yeah, that's my choice, but it could be worse. That makes sense to me. So that threw off our schedule a little bit because, like, y'all, it's so bad, it's actually tough to sit at a desk and play video games. Oh. That's how you know it's bad.

It's, yeah, like, you know things are dire because usually you'd be like, I'm a little laid up. Who, who, who, who. Can't wait. Yeah. Time for my treats. Yeah, time for my gaming mode. That's right.

Yes. And instead, it's like just. sitting there leg elevated like all right uh well thank you got eight hours of tour de france coverage lined up you know dig into that yeah the thing is i think when you're a kid the sick day is the best day in the world like the best day of your year is your sick day when you get to stay home and game all day long and you've got like a little fever you're you know you're a little sick or whatever but the game your your love for gaming is so powerful. It transcends illness. Like, you're able to overcome. I don't know, mom.

I guess I just to stay home and play court tour, you know? Yeah. That isn't, that doesn't happen now when you're, you're this age and you get. The other thing is, as a kid, like, okay, you miss a day of class. Okay. It's not great, but like, whatever, you do some, you have some catch up homework. You have to do some reading. The capitals aren't going anywhere. That's right. You miss a day of work all when you've grown. Uh-oh. I had to do that work from the day I missed still. That was a day of stuff I had to do that I still have to do. Now I have to do it the rest of the week for real, you know? And so I think it's harder to just like, for me, I can't speak for everybody. It's harder to be like, oh, right, I can just shut off my brain and focus on resting

and recovering. Because actually, as a kid, what you do need to do is chill the fuck out and place some video game. Your body is trying to save you, you know? Yeah, yeah. You're little. You're little. You need all the rest you can get.

Well, and also like, um, you know, not to say like that, you know, I had my lash key era as a kid as well, but like fundamentally, there were usually parental figures around

to make sure the house was running. And so stuff like, oh man, the kitchen is just like there's no place left. There's no food left in the house. Like, no, that stuff just cut.

You didn't have to sweat that. much. In fact, like, things of Gatorade might just show up. That's true. Little, you know, like, oh, here's some ginger ale. Oh, just sit here, sweetie. Here's a plate of cookies and some Tylenol on the side. Great. Love it. Now,

your mommy. You're mommy. Like, you just have to, you have to do it for you have. And you know what? It just hits different. You know who isn't very mommy, though? Crea. Well. It really.

You know, mamacita? We all have different relationships with our moms, though. And sometimes moms just have different modes. Okay, there's a mode that I don't know that anybody else got. I need to know because Kraya does have the mom mode that is sort of the like none of those other girls, like none of those girls in your life are good enough for you in my play through. Don't, I don't know if that's going to come up for anybody else. One, because I don't know if how deep into the handmaiden comment.

you got or how deep into the craye conversations you got. And I think I'm the only one to have got a new female party member in this episode. I don't know that that's true. But because I went back into the ship after landing on Duxon, there was someone new on the ship. Oh, you mean the unbeatable. Sorry. Oh, you did get it. I haven't seen what's not the other side of that fight. Oh, okay. Which fight? Don't worry about it. We'll get there. Okay. Well, now we have a way. What I will say Rob is and just I'll give you a preview. Craio was like, I'm in a dump situation again. You're in a dump situation again.

Okay. Nothing in that entire, nothing, nothing was hard. Everything is like, watch out from these monsters, just buzz sawing through this planet. Go in there and like, there's a lady in an evening gown and she is the hardest thing I've faced since. Yeah. Okay. Well, you'll, you know. I thought you were talking about a different unbeatable fight, which we will.

also get it. Interesting. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. As for my gamer's honor, I've never been more happy that I've recorded all of this and people can see where I do struggle. Though I will say, I have to admit something from last time. I also lost that motherfucker in the dungeon before the Secret Academy. I did not have that dude. He also, people had to message me like, also look at this timestamp. Look, you lost him in the crates. I was like, I guess I lost him in the crates. All right. They were right. It's impossible. It's impossible.

It is. I guess I'm the only true gamer here. You're the only true gamer. Well, we'll see. Hang on. I threaded him through there. You got it. It was like using, I didn't.

It was like using a fish hook to like pull some like, you know, to like pull some cabling through a, through a like through conduit. It was nightmare. But I didn't get him out. Rob, Craya will tell you after that, that fight, don't fuck her in the same way that she will tell you, don't fuck the handmaiden. She says some shit that he is wild. we'll get there. And I think that that stuff is a little... Let's just get into it

because honestly, first of all, I didn't realize that this game is just like the Star Wars version of the Sloop John B. Say more. Yeah,

you're gonna have to explain that one of me. So Sloop John B is basically a song about a fun family cruise like gone horribly wrong and everyone now hates each other. That's right. And it has become,

it's a very jaunty fun song. It's about like, I did not expect this to be an emotionally scarring voyage. Yeah. With grandpa and friends, but instead we're going to pull into port and then we're never speaking of this. Maybe we're not speaking of this to each other. It's the end of every verse and the chorus is I want to go home. It's literally like, we got drunk, I've ever been on.

We've been arguing with each other. My uncle and I got into some beef. I feel so broke up. I want to go home. It's really good. And that is kind of the vibe on the Ebenhock. This was, so before I did anything, so at the end of the last session, we got the Handmaid.

Yes. Who is the tallest, like, drink of milk at the entire, like, secret academy. They're all, they're all various, like, flavors of milk. But this is, like, the, this is, like, the whole milk. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And you can see all of it if you do the training. Anybody hands up?

Did you spar with the handmaiden? No, I didn't get the opportunity. Oh, my hand is up. I got, oh, your hand is up. Wait, wait, hang on, do you mean sparring at the handmaid's place? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. You can spar with her on the Evan Hawth?

You sure, Ellie, take it away. Okay, wait, time out, time out. Time out. We have to, can we get a high level? Can we structure what happened in this episode before we talk about, before we start zooming in all over the place. I think we have chapters. we have chapter.

Chapter one is gaping on the even Ebenhock. That's chapter one. Yes. Chapter two is uh-oh, moon time.

Moon time. We get, we get, okay. Chapman is real good with the handma. No. So the thing, yeah,

so, uh-oh, moon time. You crash land on, not Anderan. You're going on d'eron, but instead you got to go to Dixon. Believe it's Duxon. And you get to attack.

Hey, do you miss the turret battles? Did you miss them? I did the turret battles. Oh, I did not do that. Can you skip them in this, though? Yeah, I don't want to do that. You could tell, I was like, I'm good. Moon time immediately.

It's so funny to give me that option. They heard y'all from last game, be like, fuck these. But yes, you were rerouted to Duxon because of some ongoing civil crisis on Anderon. Well, like, somebody actually, like, attacks you. like get the fuck out of here. So. Yeah. Something is going on.

And then you're on the jungle. Then it's fucking Cotor, maybe. Chapter 3, Cotort is back. Yes. Okay. Yes. Yeah. You're on the moon.

And the jungle moon is basically like a lot of hallways. You remember the floor chic in the last game? I almost wrote that in the notes. Yeah. This is that And you go through there And you run into the Mandalorians again They're hiding out there wearing their

Rarely seen uncircumcised armor That's right They're just hanging out And they're like, we have a bunch of fetch quests for you to do A curious thing of the life forms on this planet You know the Canox? The guys who were eating all the shit from T-LOS That was sort of being used to put the planet back together

They fucking love eating rare equipment. They do. So if you go out there and you kill a bunch of them, they will, let's call it drop certain important valuables

and quest items, but you don't know who's carrying what, so you just have to kill as many as you can until you get enough stuff to repair our busted-ass base. Also, you'll learn to connect

with alien life forms as the Jedi does, using a thing called beast control. It's true. meanwhile you're being hunted by uh colonel tobin uh rough name cuts yeah voice actor sounding really familiar i can't place him but again it feels like so hk droid yeah have we talked about the voice actor because he sounds so much like i'm a pc from the i'm a mac he is not

i think we've had this conversation in the first season of our co-tore coverage the first set yeah uh it is a guy named christopher tabori um who has been in some other stuff but not not anything that we were like oh yeah that guy you know um a lot of voice acting a handful of other video games is not oh my god whatever that act that comedian's name is yeah but yeah and colonel tobin is just like a classic uh star wars martin that like great great performance of a stock character uh type which is just an officious prick um sort of bullying his way uh through through his through his ship but while you're there on Mandelor, the person who sets you on these fetch quests is none other than Mandelor himself. What? Wait. How are you Mandelor? We killed Mandelor. Well, if you've read the comics by Kevin J. Anderson or Wikipedia entry about this era of the Mandalorians, you know that Mandelor is whoever we think is the biggest Mandalorian of the mall. It's an honorary title. That's right. And this guy, you can tell he's special because he has special armor. He does. And he needs you to go on these fetch quests and go find various things to make yourself useful around the planet for this Mandalorian base because they're hiding out because the Andoranians don't like them for some reason.

Might have something to do with the fact that basically this is ground zero of Mandalorian war crimes in the galaxy. And the Mandalorians can totally take them. Just not right now. Yeah, yeah, we'll get to it. Not a good moment. But in the meantime, fight. Club? Uh-huh.

This game loves a fight club. Someone comment in... Who is doing fight clubs? Someone asked this on the, like, two episodes of the last play ago, and the response that I gave them was like, I think this game is so heavy on fight clubs because they're cheap to make. And they had 10 months or whatever to make all the content in this game, probably less because it was like their whole shipping time was a year.

So they had to probably be content locked six months or eight months in or whatever. And so, you know, it's cheap? All right, you stand there. I stand here. We fight. Let's do those with the handmaidens. Let's do it with the Mandalorian. Let's do that with the handmaiden again on the ship.

Like over and over again, there are fight clubs in this game. Rob, you see what we left out. I wanted to give them, oh, go ahead. I wanted to give them the benefit of, oh, we're just, like, really enforcing these, you know, like, combat flows. Like, really just allowing you to embrace different styles of combat, use different techniques. Yeah. Coach for our fight system is so, it's mild. Yeah.

Like, this is the Souls games before Souls games. That's right. That's true. Sometimes it feels that way, including cheesing the fuck out of a fight because that shit is bullshit. I'm excited to hear what all this is. Uh-huh. Yep.

You left something out, though, Rob. Whose voices Mandelor and the Preserver? Did you look this up? No. Wait, are you being for real? I did not look up, because I figure, you've been telling me, you've been letting us know who the voices are.

So I figured we would have. Well, who it is doesn't really You, did you recognize the voice? Wait, no. It's not our boy. Rob. It's not a fool. Allie, you understand.

Do neither of you, you haven't, what did you think Craig was talking to him about? Okay, I'm not going to say anything. We'll just have to get there. What? Okay, don't worry about it. Is it candorous? Is it candorous?

Because he says like, The order of clan, the order of clan is still strong in that. He sure does. I did hear him say that. That was an interesting. It's John Saigon, the voice of Candorous Ordo. Is he Ordo? Great question.

I don't know. Who could he be? I just didn't think, I just didn't think that you could talk candorous out of the tank top and the never-ending gun show. Like, I kind of figured he was just always going to be broed down. Right. Sure. Yeah, yeah. You know what?

I feel, I feel, you know, maybe I shouldn't have said anything. Wait, does this take place after that book that I hated? No, that book you hated is like way after this. Okay. I don't know, is after this, yeah. Okay. Yeah, there's that whole conversation that Craya has with him about how, okay, okay. Yes, I know.

There might be context in there that you might have thought meant something different, but we'll get there. Yes, yes. what are we chapter four yeah yeah but after you've done all these various tasks for the Mandalorians they will give you passage

to Anderon so you gotta go back to the base and then they will then they will take you on their shuttle but if you decide I want to swing by the Eben Hawk you'll find there's a visitor

that's right because he says Mandalor of the Preserver says if you want to go if you have any business back your ship. You should go now because you're going to get on my ship afterwards. I should have gotten on a ship. You should have. And you will find a new arrival, uh, who I guess we have not all seen yet. Who has a lightsaber. Yeah. I thought I thought bow and Etton could hold it down,

you know, I thought that they needed a little guy time. I took cray and he made it out into the jungle and we, uh, did some male bonding anyway for saying. Oh, I'm very excited to hear how that experience was. Okay. So let's rewind. So the handmaiden has just shown up. Yes.

First thing's first though. I actually want to talk about you got to be quick to catch T3 wandering around the ship. It's so funny. But if you catch T3 and it's, hey,

what's up, little buddy? Wait, tweet, tweet. Oh yeah. Well, why did you lock the astrologation logs? Oh, that doesn't sound good. What do you mean?

You were sent, hereby friend. Boot do, dude. Oh, like a different, you're sent to look for me? What happened to your old friend? Ooh. Audio, video log time.

There it is. Finally. Bastila? Yeah. What? Y'all got to talk to your fucking party member. I talked to him. I taught him.

We just chopped it up. I'm just chopped it up. I'm so nice to him all the time. I must be picking. the wrong things because I'm so nice to him but I I guess it's probably did you repair him I repaired him last session I did a partial repair okay I think there's more repairs I can implied that like there are levels of repair skills that to get further down the the like that seems to be how they're doing affinities like you build influence and you do things for people and

you'll get there like there's a lot of persuade and influence checks that it's not like a skill check it's just hey you are not down this track far enough with this character come back later when I know you better. That's right. Yeah. But T3 is like, oh, yeah, no, here's what's up. And a big missing piece is filled in here. Uh-huh.

Because Bastila has recorded a message for T3, which is basically in my version, because I had redeemed Revan and Bastila. And it's like, hey, Revin's having like scary visions of something out there on the edge of the galaxy. and he needs to, he's trying to protect me because he loves me, Bastila, so much because we're soulmates. Oh, right, of course.

And not because of any sort of MK Ultra, like operating conditioning that I did upon him. This is the real thing. This is love. Don't question it. But he left me, again, but because of love.

That's probably it. He was just so protective. He went out there to the edge of the galaxy to see what this threat is. But if he doesn't come back, we're going to have to get some other help. Yes. And I figured out why they did not get Vassila.

Did you all get a different message from T3? Okay. If your Revin was a woman, you get Carth instead of Vassela on this message. Come on. Yeah. And I've also seen, Rob, I think that you succeeded at a computer use check. A computer use 15 check. That is what I have not been able to get.

So it's 15. is what you need to succeed at that. But yeah, so they would have gotten the same message we got. Well, I guess you and I both got a slightly different message because I got evil Reven. You got good Revan, which is basically this. It's basically the same because it's still Bastila being like, oh no, he could be in trouble. But is she a like suicide girl? She's not.

It's just regular Bastila. It's not the dark side Bastille. You get at the end of the dark side thing. I'm pretty sure. Maybe the hologram didn't show me enough detail. But instead of being like. you know, oh, he's, he's been so good for everybody and, you know, we don't, it's a shame. We're going to, we might lose him.

I'm afraid for him. She's like, someone could threaten his power out there, his dark, sexy power. You have to, if he gets in trouble, come find somebody. So it's the same thing. And then Carth, maybe does Basilis say the same thing where she's like, he's going to leave me behind? Because Carth is like, she's going to leave without telling me. I know. Oh no, you get down bad car?

Funny. Uh-huh. Yeah. Bro, she's not coming back. Yeah. She's not coming back. Which again is what Mandelor said. What Kray says about Mandelor later.

All right. Okay. We'll get there. We'll get there. So, yeah. So the other thing is like you have a choice now. It's another moment of like how do you define your character? How, why did, why did Revin?

send T3 to find you and why was the Evan Hawk delivered to you despite the fact that you were in exile and apparently without force powers why did T3 still seek you out and my options were Revin needed the last hero of the Jedi the last hero of the

the Mandalorian Wars or Revin needed someone who'd be willing to make the hard choices and do what needed to be done which I went with because I don't think there's any way construct the exile as a hero of the Mandalorian Wars. Like this is more like the way I put it is

it's like you went on like the first or the second crusade. Yeah. And it's not like anyone's coming back from that and being like, man, it was so good what you did out there. Like that was so awesome and like virtuous. We're sort of on the, we're sort of on the other

side of that. So I just didn't feel like, but apparently I gave the dark side response, I think. Oh, interesting. You got dark side points. I think I did. I think I got a lot of dark side points, just being. Just being you. Just being me.

Just being you. Are you red on the thing at this point? Are you, I'm still pretty light side. You're still pretty light side. It's honestly hard to bring it down without just like straight up picking the dark side options every single time. I had to intentionally this run. Look, I was, I gained a couple light side points and I was getting so far up in light side. I was like, I need to just be a bitch for like a few days here because. I can't have people think I'm fucking dormant. No, it was coming off like I was like like yeah, love Jedi. Love peace. Love light. Love good side. No, I'm I'm supposed to be, you know, somewhat ambiguous. Somewhat, you know, kind of.

conflicted about my relationship to the forest and it's hard to hard to bring it down without just going gaga mode Austin you can fill me in if there's spoilers that you want to like cut out here like not cut out of the show but like just steer clear of yeah is this just a dais x here is why here's why revin is not in this game or is there more stuff we're gonna learn like about the final fate of revin not in this game I we'll learn more about

Revin a little bit in this game, but this is the book Allie Hates. The answer to this stuff is the book Allie Hates. Which we're going to have to read. Which we're going to have to read. That book comes out a decade after this game. And it's promo for The Old Republic, the MMO. Right? And so it's setting up Revin content in that game. It's being, which takes place hundreds of years

after this. And in some ways, it's key to some of the big interesting ideas that are in that game eventually but it's also like I kind of think Reverend gets sacrificed on the altar of we have to tell another story set in this ancient time period and so we kind of need like you know so the story the thing we get from Bastila or Carth here is

Revan goes to the edge of known space to investigate something what could it be and that game answers like twice wrong that's what everybody thought at the time actually rob like at the time i think i said this because they have a reference to them they have the reference to them in the previous game and then here there's like oh my god they're at the edge of the galaxy the usual for for folks who don't know or we've talked about it briefly were a primary antagonist in the book series uh as the the post movies canon in the books kind of continued they were a group that can you remind me the exact way it's phrased like you know invisible to the flanks in the force blanks in the force yeah yeah exactly

Exactly. And so it became pretty, at the time, it was like, oh, my God, is he going out there to find the, the Jung Vuong early? Is there some other force that's out there? Is there like an ancient empire we've never heard of? He's gone, like, I said this last time, but like, it was the hottest topic among Star Wars video game playing nerds that year. We all were like theorizing, where did Reven go? And it's a great, it's a great blank page. It's a great, like, open-ended question, but yeah, this game does not give you a hard answer to it because they wanted that. He definitely wasn't ghosting on his toxic girlfriend. Or his sad boy boyfriend. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's not what he was doing. This was not the equivalent of like, I'm going out

for smokes and never coming back. And he brought T3. It's like he went alone. You know, he's like, yeah, T3, you and me were going to the edge of the galaxy. I gotta send you back With like a death certificate Tell everyone not to come look I'm gonna miss you like crazy buddy But for the good of the galaxy And for me

You gotta go back and tell Bastel and everyone that I'm dead So That was interesting I think Bastel is pregnant in that book by the way Which feels like the context of like, I had to go get some smokes. Wait, she had to me. Oh, sorry. Her great, great, great, great granddaughter is, like, the trailer character and fucking

the Star Wars the Old Republic. Sure. Tell Shaw. Sure. Something like that. Yeah. Uh-huh. So, yeah.

This is why I've heard of Bastila before. That's right. Yeah. She comes up in, in that game, 100%. You met her cool. Like the Old Republic, I have a lot of fondness for bits of it, but I do think there's a degree of like, this is a stupid thing to say about Star Wars. There's like a little lore brain happening with it where like they had to make it a Cotor sequel, which I understand because no one wanted that game. They wanted Cotor 3, right?

And then so they had to be like, we're making Cotor 3. It's just Star Wars, the Old Republic. And like, given that it's an MMO, I actually think they did a pretty cool job. of making it feel in narrative structure sort of like a single player RPG of this type like going to the planet

you get your main quest you get side quests it's all voice acted you're making dialogue options that feel like they're changing the outcomes of stories and quests but also

if you play with friends in that game that their options can help influence like if you're all in a party together while you approach a dialogue tree

like everyone can vote it's so wild it's so fun what's streaming content we make this is what I'm saying this is what I'm saying we should we should we need to do this we should revisit it we should figure it out it'd be like a Scarlet Monastery

we're suddenly interrupted by a vote literally what do you think this should what do you think the job I've had dreams of gaming gaming like this that is how the they're called flashpoints which are like the instances work

where like literally you come to a decision point and you're voting on what to do next. And I think there might be a vote system where it's like who voted the most but there's also a dice roll system. It's like who rolled the D100 highest? They get to fucking decide this one. Wow. And it'll swing the outcome of the whole thing.

You know, I'd be so mad if like the algorithm, it just picks Natalie. It has no idea what's been happening for the last like 30 minutes. Come on. He's like, what's his quest? Rob understands how I play M-O-M-O. It's okay. I take that. Sorry, I've been fishing.

I literally Uh-huh Okay, well Yep, yep That is exactly what I would be doing Do they have fishing in Old Republic? How they have crafting? Do they have fishing?

I don't remember, let's see. I have to also say really quick So I know a game that does have fishing And it's the Star Wars Galaxy has all sorts of fucking other shit Talk about we need to go back I'm like falling down this hole right now Can I read you a message?

I was hanging out in a Discord server and someone, this is the galaxy was the the first Star Wars MMO, and someone posted that they've been playing a restoration of it, basically, and the specific thing that they said that made me go, fuck, I should need to be playing this game. They said, I had my quote-unquote inciting incident in Star Wars Galaxy happen, and I love how hard it is to become a Jedi in this game. The inciting incident is when your character touches the force for the first time. no real easy way for it to happen. It just kinds of, kind of happens. For me,

it happened when I was 1V4 in space combat against tie fighters. I was like, well, I got to fucking play that game now. Fucking Christ. It's like, it's unbelievable. And, you know, that game is wild. That game was like, you, Rob, you and I've talked about this. Didn't they have a pretty built out

Starfighter gameplay system? It is a whole, if you go look at footage, it is like a third, third, like it is like an arcadey space sim. 100%. Because I remember vividly, it was like, wait, they've like killed off the X-Wing Tie Fighter series, but like they're putting a bunch of good ideas in the fucking like obscure galaxy's MMO? Yeah, that is exactly right. Yeah. And so yeah, I've been I've been eyeing and considering playing Star Wars Galaxy's Restoration. Watch the space. Yeah, watch the space. I don't, you know, it's, it's all, it's, I just, you know, any game where

you're like, there's 32 different classes and one of them is chef, I have to consider. I have to consider. you know what I mean it's like that style of like you know player built cities you could be a jiz musician like that could be your one of your key classes this is so this this this and matrix online right exactly the two poles of like this weird experimental era of like nobody knows what MMO is going to be yep and then once World Warcraft comes out this is what MMO is going to be there it is you just level up you just level up you just level up And then, like, you do high-end radio content. No, I want, like, weirdo, crazy life sim stuff.

Yeah. No, no, you don't. No, not enough of you like that. No, you want one of three skill trees per class. That's it. Oh, you could be, like, you could be the, you'd be like shorter cook in a diner. You literally could do that, Rob. That is literally.

I could be dancing on the table. You could be dancing on the table. I'm going to find the class list. I'm finding it. I'm reading it. I'm going to read it. So, we'll read it later. Continue.

No, no, no. I did not. Okay, I did. I did. I found it. All right. I found it. I'm gonna go through it. All right. Okay.

There are. It's like career counselor. Like, hey. That's exactly right. I'm almost like graduating, uh, tattooing vocational school. Yeah. Austin, like what's out there for me? Okay.

Let me go through it. Architect. Love it. Armorsmith. Artisan. Preserker. Resurker. Bioengineer. You can become a bioengineer. Bounty hunter.

Okay. A carabiner, like a, like a rifleman, like a rifleman, like a, or I guess a carbeneer, not a carabiner. Carabiner's the little climbing thing. Like that's a really specific. Hey, what do you need ham? People climb. Yeah, Carbineer. A carboneer is probably how you pronounce that. Chef, creature handler, combat medic.

which is great because it reveals that bioengineer was not just another word for combat medic commando dancer doctor different than by than combat medic droid engineer entertainer fencer image designer what medic is different than combat medic i'm just talking about image designer you're doing like portfolio work like trying to hustle like all right so entertainer and it allows you to customize characters well beyond what's possible at basic character creation. Oh my God, it is. Yeah, it literally is. It gives you more hair styling options. You can be like, I can help you get your branding right.

It literally is that. Yes. It literally let you adjust the height, weight, muscle, and torso sliders of other people. It unlocks tattooing. It's, this is so good. Oh, my God. Yes. And cosmetics to other players. Yes. Merchant. So like, you're fucking, you're the fucking dude's from nip talk. That's right. Someone's like, I don't want my default character. And you're like, tell me what you don't like about yourself. Yeah, I need the Drake abs. I'm just imagining like a somebody in the town square in like slash say chat and just being like BBLs, BBL's 100 K gold.

100 K credits, yeah. BBL. Second life market marketplace. Literally what it is. Like that is the thing. Like second life is in some, galaxy is in some ways closer to second life than it was like. Wow. In some way.

All right. I'm going to go through the rest of them very quickly. Merchant, musician, Lancer, Pistolier, politician, Ranger, scout, sharpshooter, shipwright, smuggler, sniper, squad leader, Taylor, Teris Casai artist, and weapon smith. Wait. Okay. I kind of love. Uh-huh. So you have, like, a bunch of different medical professions.

That's right. you got dancers you got dancers and musicians but then you have detailed okay the squad leader the sniper the combat medic it's like a full like five man fire team

situation as profession well people are just recreating this like like people are logging on to GTA4s online to like do this totally you're so right they do want this they've always wanted this

they actually really do Bro. They want it. Release this. G-TARP is one of the most popular things people watch on Twitch. Yeah. People want this. People want to live lives.

People want to live. They want to live. We're trying to live out here. It's not good. We got to live there. I'm looking right here. It says that politicians, politicians get to place civic buildings like cloning centers and shuttle ports. I need a shuttle port outside my house.

It's so bad. They won't extend any of the trains up near me. But the idea of like, this is server generated. So the idea of like, I'm getting stuck on the server with the one politician who won't put a clothing facility in my town. Yes. And people need jobs. People need jobs. And we don't have any clothes.

Yes. Right. I mean, that's the thing, right? There was a time where you're like, oh, yeah, we cracked how to make Bestcar stuff on my server. Y'all ain't got that yet? You know what I mean? Like, oh, y'all have a master blacksmith? you would feel that back then in these games we got to go back anyway and I like the old

republic I like I like some of the old Republic quests what the fuck do they know about Star Wars I you know anyway real quick yes because we just talked about various professions yes we were I checked him about her yeah and I was like hey buddy what's up yeah cool little probe you got and he was like yeah I built him on a kid now he's my little pro buddy and it's like woo and it's like hey neat and then he shoots people he doesn't like but it's a little

trobe god so just sets their clothes on fire it's fun but hey so like what did you do after the war oh you know just kind of ran from my massive untreated PTSD me too absolutely and then then what were you doing on telos I decided to single handedly try to destroy the Zirka organization

oh and how that go not good wait I didn't have that conversation with Boudor you may have had the first time you meet him because you could have that conversation

then and you may have already just run through all those options yeah probably probably I had a different conversation with him he had well what was your conversation mine was about why Boudre asked me a question

and said and asked me why I decided to fight in the war Yes, I got this one. And I told, it's funny because he opens a conversation. He's like, I didn't want to talk about the war, but can we talk about the war? They're bros. They're bros. And I was like, yeah, what's up?

And he's like, so why did you decide to fight? And I told him the kind of, this is the through line I've been going with, which is that the Jedi served no one with an action. The fact that the Jedi weren't doing anything, we're just sitting around discussing what to do rather than doing anything has been like my main kind of argument so far in my play-through. And Boudre says, The war went poorly before Revinan and Jedi led aid to the Republic.

Many of us believed the Jedi to be cowards who were afraid to fight the Mandalorian threat. I remembered when word of the Mandalorian attacks arrived in Eridonia. My people had colonies across the outer rim, many of them were among the first systems to fall and you you ask him like so did you want to revenge and he says revenge and to crush the mandolarians to send them back to wherever it was they came from i did not join because i wanted to protect though i hated them i wanted to destroy them to give them the mercy they gave the people they conquered i remember the thrill i felt

when we fought them in battle. Victories were rare, but we celebrated every Mandalorian's death. Do you know how it felt? And I was like, yo, yay, yay, yay, whoa, whoa. I mean, I, you know, we, you know, I felt some ways about it or whatever, but he's, I was, he was like, yeah,

wasn't that fucking awesome when, like, we were killing Mandalorians? This is why I brought him to meet the Mandalians later. Same. And he said basic. He was like, yeah, I could repair the sensor, the sensor dome. And I was like, all right. I was like, bro, we're here in the shits with the, with the guys that we were.

That was one of the, like, biggest, it's, it's, because I was like, clearly, yeah, we land on ducks and I'm going to bring Crea and I'm going to bring Boudor. Right. Crea is, like, harassing me about walking the path of, of, of, of, that I've walked before of the battle zone. And Boudor was here with me. So clearly I got to bring him out. And the fact that we're talking to the guys, and, like, we, I mean, I kind of get it. We need to get off this, this moon. We're not going to, like, be like, anyway.

No, but, like, there's not, he doesn't, they don't give him enough. It's not acknowledged. Yeah, you're right. You're right. There was, like, a couple of brief moments. But, like, he, in contrast to some of the other characters in this game, who you will see will get a lot of big side stuff, this was a great opportunity for Bayarder to be like, general we're back where it all started how do you feel about it you know anything anything and he's

just silent so anyway back to this conversation your options are to either say something like uh you know Jedi are trained to resist strong emotions which is what I said um or you can be like yeah I felt it too the rush of life as the Mandalorians were cut down and uh I I was like you know we're We're not supposed to be talking about, like maybe you felt that at least, you know, we're supposed to resist these things. And Bauder is like, I can't do that. I couldn't do that. It was almost as though the battle took control of me. And he's like, it's always on my mind now.

That loss of control blinded me, turned me into a weapon. I just needed to get that off my chest. And I have to say one thing before we talk about the actual material of this. because right before this, I talked to Bauder's remote and I did some selection of dialogue options that got him to start singing. And then I started talking to Bounder and had this whole conversation. And the remote was just singing the whole time. And I had to like, I couldn't get out of the conversation because I didn't want to lose it.

And I get out. And then I was able to stop the remote from singing. But it was so funny. Bauder is like Is like I don't know Anyway it was it was A part of Bauder

I really wasn't expecting Like his his character to To what Rob was saying right Which is like he's like I'm gonna kill these Zirka Motherfuckers myself And I was like whoa right right right You're like soft spoken but you kind of Like to kill people that you think are

You know This guy's got like Unabomber manifestos Just like Hanging out in his draft where it's like, hey man, what you have to? Just tinkering on, you know, some, some electronics here. And I'm almost had that thing fixed up. Like, I'm catching up my work orders.

Planning on destroying the largest corporation in the galaxy. Yeah. And all its management class will burn. What? Anyway, the ship will be back up and running in like six hours. Oh, he does have dude who fought in the Iraq war and then came back and was like, is like becomes loud lefty like anti-war we're not really anti-war anti-capitalist guy you know he has that energy he's like yeah i saw it i know what it is i know what they're doing to us we got to burn

all this shit down you know yeah that's his energy um but very soft-spoken very i i love his characterization so much it's why i'm so bummed that he doesn't get more to do there's still some good conversations coming um i got another one that we can save to to wait on here but like you know, I guess maybe a recurring thing for anybody who did repair any of T3 stuff is that there's like a real Zen in the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance plot here where like your character, your exile will be like, you know, oh wow, I just lost some time while I was repairing T3. Like I just felt so focused. And you talked to line is literally, literally named for like that book, right? Is it called that? I literally didn't

check. I think it is. That's funny because that's what the vibe is. Like it is very much like the exile just kind of like zones in you know not zones out i guess zones out but like finds it finds themselves in the moments of of doing that you can talk to be able to about that stuff we can dig into that next time uh once other folks have that conversation but like that's a recurring thing with him but he just doesn't have um and he'll have some other big moments but there aren't he's clearly your first side companion and not one of the pillars of the game and it breaks my heart because he's so cool so yeah um nothing too interesting happened with aton on this conversation when i went and chat with him but like again his character is kind of weird because

i'm sassy and i'm sarcastic and i'm in love with you what hey you just got this like aura that like inspires the shit out of me man like you look so connected to the force not like you were a few days ago, like, I just have to say it. He treats the men like this? Yeah, he treat, well, we are, we are, we are, I will, I will ring a bell. We're hitting one of the big couture two themes, which you also get, I think a little of, uh, you will get some of it from Bayeodere, but you also, Kraya starts to talk about some of this stuff. If you ask her about leadership. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Um, and what she thinks about what her role is in the galaxy. And Maybe we should just have a big Craya conversation.

After you had a hidden chat? Huh? After we hit the handmade? Let's hit handmaiden first because I think we'll have some bounce. We'll bounce between them a little bit, but we should as much of handmaid as we can first. Because I need you to understand. But the end is just what I'm saying. Well, and then the only other, the only other end thing is he is still completely under the thumb

of Craya, because when you do get to Duxin, he's like, yeah, we can probably have this ship repaired and we get out of here. And she's like, no, I think there are things to do here on the planet Duxon. and he's like, yeah, we can't go anywhere until it's... She's openly blackmailing him in front of other people. No, I'm pretty sure there's no way that the ship can leave until we can complete our business here. It'll take exactly as long as our quests do. And then she walks off and she's like,

I don't know why this old battlefield spooks you so much unless maybe you don't like thinking about the war or things you did in it. Oh, an all-timer. Anyway, so the only thing I'll say about Atten is that I think I locked myself out of having a specific conversation with him because I talked to Atten after I had my big long convo with Crea and I didn't save before talking to Atten and I was like, hey, care to explain where you got your Ashani training like I was starting that conversation with him, which I think we talked about last time. and he's like, huh, what are you talking about? And I don't know what compelled me to do this, but I was like, nothing, never mind

because I wanted to like restart the convo or something and then I got out of the conversation and I lost that option to ask him about the Ashani training. So I went back. There's not much there. There's really, truly not. And you may, there's a chance you actually did that last time. and what is there now is just like

the remnants of a conversation you already went through all the way you might not affect yourself what do you feel what do you think you've missed I think I missed there was like a option to gain or lose influence where you force persuade him or like you try and you can try and like force him

to tell you about why he has Ashani training yes I will tell you that that evens out what happened is you lose points with him. And then if you're like, whoa, chill, sorry. I was not trying to, like, be bad. I just wanted to know if you had other, like, skills that I could use. It just evens you back out.

So you didn't, like, lose any opportunities to push him positive. Okay. I guess theoretically, you could have pushed him negative and then left it there and not, like, tried to walk it back if you were trying to, like, destroy your influence with him, which is a valid way to play the game. Again, you can, you can specifically target people's influence to decrease it. at low levels, it's like having high influence with them. It's what you don't want is that mid-level shit.

So, yeah, and he just kind of shrugs it all off, right? He's just basically like, stop interrogating me. I don't want to tell you, you know, there's nothing here. If there's ever a moment where we need to tell each other some shit, we'll tell each other some shit, but that's it, right? Okay, I just wanted to make sure I didn't, like, whatever future conversations that I didn't lock myself out of those. There was no big craya convo that you missed with him.

There's no, like, there was a, No, after the Craya Convo, you could come back and be like, bro, I just had a wild talk with Cray. I did like the bit of self-awareness of the Aten we know is a construct where he's like, you know, I just mostly pretend to do a Chani shit like to win bar fights without like, you know, people like, you know, it's like saying I know Kung Fu. Yes. I'm black belt and karate. Yep.

And but it's like, no, the handmaidens were not talking about you that way. They were not talking about you as someone who was like, oh, he knows like one stance. He's fronting. They were like, no, that dude's trained. And so there's a bit of like, have we ever even glimpsed the real Latin? Yeah.

Now, do I think, if I seen anything in the characterization that makes me think like that's going to deliver on that front? I don't know. But I do like the bit of awareness where he's like, I make jokes. I, you know, keep it light. I'm sarcastic. don't push me beyond that

like don't ask me what's what's behind the curtain did y'all get the Atten Handmaiden scene that might be tied to the duels or the spars so let's wait I'll mention the end let's talk about handmaiden in general

yeah which um okay there's a few things for me here uh huh you ever hang out with someone who's like really attractive, but either was homeschooled or self-taught.

And you're like, no, yeah, totally. I know what you're, I know what you're saying. Yeah, that totally makes sense to me. But then increasingly you start to think, that does not make sense to me. This is not, hey, this is actually really fucking weird what you're saying. And then it dawns on you that like,

maybe this person doesn't know how weird they are, either because the homeschooling or because like pretty privilege means nobody's ever like, what the fuck are you talking about? But she's just like, don't you think that like martial arts and combat sports is just like where the soul was revealed and your moral code is like instantiated in reality and held for all to see? That's what I believe. And I can tell you believe that too.

And your options are like totally. Tell me more. Hey, do you think Atris is still? So, like, so say if Atrice and I sparred, like, do you think, what do you think she'd reveal if we, like, got in a fight? Or you can, or you can be like, no, I totally agree, right? Like, fighting is just, like, so meaningful and spiritual to me. I'm, like, on the exact same page.

Or you can be like, yes, I agree. I, too, will destroy and dominate my enemies and crush them before me. And this is a place where I felt like the game was not. letting me sort of express what I was actually feeling, which is, oh, my fucking God, you're a crazy child. Like, you're just a weird fucking kid who got like, you like read the book of five rings. And you're like, this is my whole deal now. You can kind of be a little bit less.

You can be a little bit more inquisitive in a different conversation about a similar thing. when you follow the prompt of asking her why she's called the last of the handmaidens, like there's more to that, to her philosophy behind, you know, battle as a means of communication, but you have more options for being like, so you'd consider slaughter a means of expression.

And then she goes into talking about... Yes. Her answers, yes. Yeah, she's like, It was to the Jedi Trader Malik. It was to the Jedi Trader Revin. Well, and it's crazy. It's so funny, too, being on the other side is where she starts, like, let me tell you

what Revin revealed when he, like, destroyed Malik in the final battle. And me flashing back to Benny Hill music, maybe he's being whipped over my shoulders, but also Revin wanted Malik to experience the pain of betrayal. And I'm like, no, we basically like. Atticus Finch, that rabid dog, is kind of what we did. I don't know that there was a whole thing there, but sure. She doesn't know. She only knows what Atris taught her, right?

Atris, you know, Atris told that whole story different. Well, and also, okay. And then just stuff that's wild, like, yeah, no, Atris told me I shouldn't trust you because you're just like a total fucking animal who does what he wants and like doesn't give a shit about anyone. and it's hot as hell and it's like what is happening here like what is this conversation i we are approaching some just told me you're the you're the biggest bad boy in the galaxy honestly i should stay away from you because like you're you're bad news uh no matter how no matter how interesting

you might seem to be but you know i don't hold that against you because like your combat's interesting i'll bet you fight good yeah uh-huh um i think this is where i have to explain oh you know Maybe she's only, maybe she only says it about Vsos and not about, hmm. And also, your character, all the conversation options are various options of, I'm so down bad for Atress. Yes. Which is also like either it's, I want to kill my ex-wife, which is in a way still bad. It's still, it's not in a way still bad.

It is bad. It's, where it's like, yeah, I'd love to see what's an actress has had when I split her skull open. Or it can be like... So what she say about me? What do you, but like, do you think there's anything like she feels that maybe she doesn't say? Like, when she says she hates me and you shouldn't trust me, do you think that's like she, like, I hate him and you shouldn't trust him? Or do you think it's like he broke my heart because I loved him so much? And you can just tell him, like, I don't know.

What do you think, though, that's, you know, she's so hard to read, but maybe you know more. Yeah, you know her, you know her, you know her. And I'm like, this is like, this is not, this is not the behavior I want from my exile here. Oh, yeah. But the game is saying, like, these two characters are not over each other. At least those are my conversation options were 100% like this is a, an ongoing, badly ended romance. Yes, yes, yeah. You've not left, uh, you've not left Atrice's mind or importantly decision making, you know?

Um, I don't think that there is a, uh, a way of, uh, a way of. of understanding that stuff that isn't, there was deep attachment between the two of you that neither of you have really shook loose yet, you know? Is it different if you're a woman again, though? Because, like, they were... Well, none of this was be there if you were a woman. Handmaiden was written for men.

Oh, that's right, of course. Oh, right, right. Literally, none of this stuff, which changes all of it. Like, you have to think, we are, in a way, this might be the most important mod we're playing with in terms of it's probably not true, but it's like, it's really up there in terms of changing the feel of the game

because, for instance, I can't. Allie, do you want to talk about the sparring? And think about the fact that that's only for dude characters? It's now, it is now occurring to be because what the handmaiden does when you leave Telos or we went back and returned the bounty,

she gets a Xerkesi, secret catalog because you fight her in full lingerie. She is like big booty fucking, yeah. I got you a screenshot. A little G-Stre gone. Sure, those things are thagged. She doesn't have jiggle physics. I'm shocked by.

Well, they just didn't have that shit in those in the, if they had more than one year to make the game. If they had it, they would have done it. They would have done it. They would have. And like, you know, it is, it is like from the, it is like the most basic. psychosexual, like, imaginary you could, you could think of because, oh, what's the all white,

you know, everything handmade and her white hair and her white robes and her white, you know, everything have underneath black brawant panties, right? Like, it had to be that. That's the sexiest possible. It's the sexiest possible answer. And yeah. And wait a second, wait a second. Why does she have those on, Allie? Oh, because when you fight her, it has, it's the Echani rules, obviously that you have to be like completely shed when you fight somebody so I mean you know now weird though because we thought people

we fought other Achani back at the academy and they weren't rocking it like this oh it's so funny too you know what shout us to them this is actually far less sexy than the like default outfit like this is the oh it's still a 90s

It's a spirit of a 90s video game here. Uh-huh. And it's like, how about we go back to the sweater dress? Why does she even, why is a choker included in the unbears? So I showed this to Friends at the tables, Gene Hawkins, to beg, oh, my God, I forgot about this stuff. And Ginny was like, oh, are they hiding her, like, neck seam? Which is totally possible.

Oh, that's so funny. They could totally be doing that. Honestly, my Bastila Her teeth texture was breaking through the hologram Uh-huh This game, again We have a mod for that

Things are holding this together With like bailing water With glue If you want to fix that There is a mod in the mod list You could try to install it It's I think it's very funny At the end of the same time

I'm fucked up teeth and eye sockets Yeah, I think that's fair Um Yeah so you can do those But you can do those sparring sessions It is further for reference and planning you get one of them at like level eight I want to say like when she first shows up you can do one of these

if you win um uh one if you win the next time you come on the ship Atten and the handmaiden have a little tete-a-tete they have a little quick like martial arts exchange and he like blocks her shit in a way that is like whoa he reacts super fast in a way that's like

surprising oh you mean like Stolling scars garden Ronin that's exactly yeah where uh De Niro knocks the cup off the table, and he snatches it out of the air before we're going to hit. Exactly. And she's like, yeah. And he's like, yeah, I'm just good. I'm just good. And she's like, that's the third form or whatever. Like, how do you know that? I'll wait. We can dig into that when the rest of you all get that. But yeah. So, and so that whole thing is this sort of like, I say the psychosexual part of it because there is a, there ends up being a running

conversation in this game with Kraya about the other women on the ship. And, and, and, about what Kraya fears you might to do if you were a guy, which is hook up with them. And she is very, don't hook up with those ladies about it. Just do not. Mm-hmm. Do not fuck the handmaiden. Do not fuck the handmaiden.

Do not fuck anybody else who shows up. It would be bad. Is this separate from your leader and people follow you and you have influenced over people? It is a different conversation. But we should talk about that stuff. unless we've other handmaiden. I mean, I guess we have one other handmade thing,

which I don't know if anybody else got because I think it might be tied to the sparring stuff. Though actually, no, I think about it, it might be tied to, it might actually be tied to

a Kraya conversation where we learn about her mother. Did you all learn about the name and face stuff? The name, well, not just the name and face stuff, but who her mother was.

No, I didn't get that yet. Okay, I'll wait on that. The very short answer on that is like, has a particular, did something in recent memory, was part of the galaxy in recent memory, not a character we already know or something like that, but like we learn name and we learn that there was a, was in the war, was a Jedi who was in the war, is the very short version

to wet your appetites. So there's that. But then there is also, I'm trying to find this quote and I thought I copied it down. I don't have it. So let's just wait for it because I think Well, we should talk about handmaid and Vsauce and the sexual, the psychosexual imagination of this game as more women pile onto your ship. And as you can start to feel a very particular set of tastes emerging is what I guess I will say. Which you can already sort of see, but it'll only get more clear. It's the sexy sloop, John B. It, that, I will tell you, I had a cat fight on my ship already. so oh no

sort of they're just oh no we hate to see it it's not a literal can't fight but there is the girls can't be fighting way before

way before Jack and Miranda in Mass Effect 2 arguing over who got to bone down with Shepard we're going to get that exact formulation here so

or the Dragon Age version of that Morgan and Lailiana like that stuff happened for years in by Oregon games after this, they were like, hmm, can I copy your homework? Can I copy the the most boring parts of your homework? Parts of it that I like, but it's not. It's, I would say, deeply imperfect, let's say. What if all these powerful badass women characters just wanted to take a boy to prom? If only I thought that this game was like, you know, it's truly, I have to be

very careful here. Because in my heart of hearts, I think it is extremely, okay to tell stories where like sexual interest gets run through questions of power and submission and dominance. But I think this is about this game is like doing it in ways that are they don't catch the checks they're writing. Again, we will see how it's talked about in the future. I don't want to, I don't want to jump too deep into this right now. But I know people want to, I know people who watch the let's play saw some of this stuff. So I'm just flagging for those people. We will talk about it when we all get there, you know. Well, is the crazy. stuff, a little bit of an outgrowth of this as well, because some of this, like, the game's

whole perspective is like, as important as it made you feel to be Reven, this game is all like, there is a special destiny attached to your character. There is a, the exile, whenever the exile's not around, people have been asking what is the exile up to? Yeah. And so when you go talk to Kray, it's like, you know, what's up, Kraya? Kray is like, how many fucking people are you going to add to the space. Like, how many people... She's like, the ship isn't the galaxy.

Space isn't infinite. It's so funny. What point. Then she lays into you with... You are going to draw people to you because you are a leader. I, Crea, am not. I am a mirror. Yep.

I tell people what they don't want to hear. I don't inspire anything. I just, I speak the truth. and give perspective those who need that. But you are a leader and people can feel that. Whether or not they agree with you, they will define themselves either by their agreement with you

or in opposition to you, but they will still be defined by what you do. Yes. And she also sets up, now this gives you an opportunity, but also responsibility, as a leader you need to figure out, these people are tools.

How best do you use them? I said, You're right. I do need to figure out how to, like, use these people effectively. Because the other option was, no, they're my friends. And let me tell you what the vibe is not on the Ebenhawk. Who is this is not the, that's it. Right? Yeah.

Who else? But bail, I'm still like figuring it out. Like, I have respect for that man. But you have history at the very, y'all went to war together at the very least. No, but he was standing you. You know what I mean? You're right. It's true.

He's not my friend to stand. That is dangerous. That is dangerous territory. I, yeah, I think you're right, Rob. That was exactly how I felt. I was like, well, my options here, this is where rare case, where the light-sided option is clearly not right in the way that the dark side. You know what I mean?

Like, normally we get the dark side options being like, well, that's a little much. But this was the one where I was like, no, actually, they're not my friends. They're generally not. Again, T3 maybe, but I don't even know T3 and I don't go. back like that. I just like droids. You know? I don't know. So, but it was like dark side. That was a dark sided response. And it's like, I feel like the moral universe needs to have positions outside friends. And, and also it doesn't even necessarily what Kraya is saying, Kraya does think you should use people like tool. But that doesn't necessarily what you're saying

when you reply. Like, right. You're saying like you need to figure out how to use what these people can do. Like you have this fractious group of people. You need to figure out how to make this group go so you can complete the mission right and that does feel authentic to this like the interesting thing about this game is this is not like mass effect where it's like and then we're all going to be the best friends and we're going to go on the best friend mission at the end and first we're and go hang out and party on citadel and like have a big friend bash like first of all we've been to the citadel there's nowhere to party on that place in this game different citadel but yeah but like there's just not going to be these are not people are going to be hanging out years after the events

of this game like it is not going to be this is a group that's going to break apart uh and there might be still like connections between these people but it's never going to be like as simple as like hey we're brothers right we're we're family and we stick together that is not the vibe here that is and i think the thing that's interesting is in that conversation um you the first half of it is, I'm not a leader. You're a leader. And in fact, it's kind of grounded in something, which is like, and maybe she comes back to this later in a different part of the conversation that, like, that's also when she thinks about Revin as a historical figure, that's what Revin did. Revan gathered people to him and then changed the galaxy with that. She can't do that.

She sees herself as lacking in her ability to do that. All she is is a teacher. She's like, I can't do so I teach the people who move the universe are people like you who can gather people around them and even change them. Because she says in that first conversation, you know, you can say to her, I noticed Atten changing recently. This is in relation to what you were saying, Rob, where Atten is just like, whoa, bro, you're just like listening right now. Like when he's in that mode, you can talk to Kray about it in this conversation. And what she says is the fool dances in your shadow for your favor, the woman she worships you, the alien obeys you, even with the machines there are echoes and is emphasizing that like, oh, you're changing these people. It isn't just your. So in a way, she's saying, you know, it's not just you're using them like tools.

Don't forget. like you're not bros necessarily but what people like you and reven do is change how other people are that is her theory of part of the we're like this is creifact I'm adding it to the creifact board believes leadership

can change others and history which is interesting and I think that one thing is I always have turned to with crea is there's crea's presentation of crea right and then there's what's actually going on here that's right

Because I would still say, Cray is 100% a leader. She is leading this group. She is like, you have been assigned the mission by her. And she is in your ear providing guidance. And she's going behind the scenes blackmailing Atten, for instance, like getting him in line. Like it is a different style of leadership. But there is the, her argument that like, I don't make things happen. The force makes things happen.

And great leaders make things happen. But that's obviously not me. And then the opening chapter. this game is an old student being like, oh, I should have figured you'd show your fucking face, you little bitch. You get a flashback to the Jedi Council being like, so we need to do something about Crea's teaching and what has been going, or at least Atris feels that way. Atrice feels that way. It is clear that the council though is familiar with this conversation. Yeah. That like what to do with Crea is a thing, like it's a quigon situation, but way more

uncomfortable of like we have somebody who's way off book yeah out there and we some of us are cool with it because like you know cray is it brilliant whatever and there are some who's like this person's a heretic and is like leading to massive schisms which did unfold uh-huh and like wiped out the Jedi in several star systems so like there's her position of like I am just I'm just a whittle teacher yeah yeah now there is something interesting that's happening mechanically that I don't know if anyone's noticed because we, at this point, my guess is it might not be too noticeable unless you're really paying close attention. And maybe it might be the case of the first person where it's really noticeable is Vsas,

the character who we are going to get whenever everybody goes back to the ship and beats that fight that Rob has talked about. Has anyone been paying close attention to other people's light side, dark side points? I haven't seen I've been looking but I haven't seen too they shift I think Cray is my darkest character

and she's squarely now well it's weird Crayas doesn't really change but everybody else is shifts with yours everyone else through your conversations with them and through your actions

shifts and so we can start building a systems based understanding of what Crea means she sees herself as a teacher she sees you as a leader because when you act other people's relationship to the force and the force's vision of morality starts to change.

And she can't do that seemingly. Or mechanically, she can't. She can't do things independently of you, the player character. This is where I think this game is also like, this is a game about games. This is a game about who the player character is and how the player character shapes a story and shapes characters and RPGs. And what's the responsibility that they have for that in the narrative? and like, what's that special, that's a special ability.

The only the player can make it so that Aton starts kind of gray and starts to turn a little blue, right? And so that's the thing to start paying attention to going forward. The other half of this is, and I think Natalie got this, did you all get the chance to ask Kraya if she were a Jedi or a Sith? Yes. Okay. I'm just going to, you didn't, you said?

Or you did right? No, I did. Okay. Allie did not. I just want to say, while we're talking about Krea, talking to her is really hilarious, because you get like three or four different questions that you can ask her like, do you know Atris, do you do the Sith who are following us,

something about her past. And for every single one, I get influence failed. And she's like, we can talk about that later. You don't need to know about that. I got one big influence bump with her in this conversation. And I did get a couple failures, specifically when I asked her about Jedi Sith. and what I asked her about if she knew Revin.

But after I gained influence with her, I talked to her again, and I was able to open up some of those blocked conversations. You can say, Craia, what are you? Are you Jedi, a Sith? And she says, does it matter? Of course it does. Such titles allow you to break the galaxy into light and dark, categorize it. perhaps I'm neither and I hold both as what they are pieces of a whole know that I am your teacher

and that is enough and then if you have the right influence you can push her further on it or if you've intelligence of 14 or wisdom of 18 you can push her on it but I think everyone here has at least has one of those two I think the consular should all have in 14 by now so you can say then what were you if you have intelligence 14 which I really love and she says what do you wish to hear, that I once believed in the code of the Jedi, that I felt the call of the Sith, that perhaps once I held the galaxy by its throat, that for every good work that I did, I brought equal harm upon the galaxy, that perhaps what the greatest of the Sith Lord's knew of evil they learned from me, what would it matter now? There's only so much comfort in knowing such

things. And it is not, it is not who I am now. And then you can be like, no, I want to hear more. No matter what you choose there, she continues. There are dark places in the galaxy where few tread ancient. Oh, and in fact, actually, I think this is the cutscene. Natalie, you got this cutscene? Rob, you got this cutscene? The Craya cutscene? What you're quoting now is not ringing about. Okay. Okay. I will not continue. Because this is this is, it's, it's like extremely big and we kind of have to make a decision about whether we should wait to see it. I think it's interesting that the game can show you this now is what I will say. And I have not been gaming Kraya influence. Like I've not been, I'm not playing this

game, you know, with a, with the strategy guide up. I'm playing the game and making the choices, right? I got as far in the conversation with her as Sith, Jedi, these are categories. Okay. You do not hear any of the stuff I just said. Okay. Then I will go no further. Sounds real interesting. Like, yeah, I will say that. I will, let's wait until at least half of the show has seen this, this thing. And I will close the things we know about Crayfax document.

You mean it goes to. Don't read the rest of it, Natalie. I'm not, I'm not, I'm just looking at my notes. I'm looking at my selections, like what I said. You mean it like goes into like a, like a cutscene that you can't interact with. That's correct. She is narrating and some stuff is happening. okay yeah no you see her in a different outfit no okay yeah okay okay interesting interesting

you would know so yeah so my there is big stuff there so then instead of that i will read you can i read you the other thing that i did end up finding where she's like stay away from that girl where she's like stay away from that girl let's let's i'll give you this juice instead which is a much less important spoiler uh but is still i think think let's have that conversation a little bit instead um because it is so uh it is so much so you you this happens as you gain influence with handmaiden um and as you start to like train not train her but train with her the way that alley you and i have been doing uh with her in her underwear. And she says at one point, you know what, fine. You know what? I'm going to give you

a word of caution here. If you got to spend time with the handmaiden, spend time with the handmaiden. But your loyalties need to be the galaxy and to yourself. Not to her. And you're like, okay, what do you talk? Like, I have, I have, I got my, my loyalties and my friends, my loyalties to our mission. I'm a Jedi. I don't have attachments. You all of them, literally all of them are like, I don't have those. And then there's one where that's like, my feelings for her aren't your concern. But like, there's none of them that are like, I feel strong, I feel strong about the hand. None of them are. So Craig just from there jumps to. Ah, so then perhaps I was mistaken in my judgment. Never have you wondered what it would mean in the Achani rituals if the two

of you sparred and fought and you won completely and utterly. If perhaps she would give in, surrender herself to you. Few are the thoughts that can hide in the shadows of your mind exile and such passions are not strength, but erosion. And you can again be like, bro, you could say, I never felt anything like that. My feelings for her, nothing like you, like that, and you know it. If you think you know me, you were wrong. Maybe you should keep your thoughts to yourself. And perhaps and perhaps not, we shall see.

And then if it's the first set of those, she's like, no, well, then perhaps I was mistaken. I'll just keep my judgments to myself. And the second one, the second set, she's like, I cannot help but hear you at times. And such curious thoughts they are, not at all like a Jedi, but I shall keep such thoughts to myself, I think. And you should as well. bro what are we doing what

Kraya is constantly writing fan fiction in her head I was like this is the most A03 coded shit Are you kidding me Have you ever wonder what happened You sparred like really intensely

If you won completely and utterly If perhaps she would give in surrender herself to you Lock in because this language is going to be all over A lot of these conversations coming up She is really just trying to develop her real estate

portfolio in your brain. Like, she is looking at all, all opportunities. Like, let's, let's take it from this angle. Let's take it from that angle. Let's get a little something by the park. Let's get a little something in the city center. It's like every, every fucking area, every zone. She's in there. She's, I don't Jesus from the myth of consensual sex. I consent. I can send. I don't. Craya is there between you and the handmaid and being like, mm-mm, I used to remember. I don't agree with this well it's also interesting because the game i don't think is actually done the legwork of establishing these relationships as romantic beyond just the cues of sexy character model that's

right but beyond that it's like this is kind of a weird girl and but the game's like object of desire and so craya's there being like you know i can hear you think about how badly you want her and so it's like so you're telling me my exile is all horned up all the time yeah once you've seen once you've seen a woman breasting boobily like you are in love with her that's right that's how it works well and i think it speaks to one a presumed um player right oh yes this is a guy who's 17 in playing this game and is like ooh look how hot the handmaiden is oh she took her clothes off and now she has a, she has black lingerie on. Be for me.

She's for me. She must be doing this for me. A Madonna in the streets. Right. And so then Craya historically is looking at the player and being like, bro, chill. But that's not how any of us are playing the game at all. And instead, without that assumption that the player is going to sexualize the head maiden, the game is just jumping to do it first.

You know what I mean? It's like, whatever you're critiquing isn't here. You didn't do the legwork because it means she, she, she isn't critiquing a relationship because there's no relationship. She's critiquing a presumed, you know, like male gaze from the presumed male player in a way that is like falls flat outside of a very particular context. And I don't, I don't remember at all what happens with the disciple who is the other, who is the dude character you get if you're playing as a woman.

I'm very curious to see how that stuff, how Kray responds to him, how that stuff ends up working when we do recruit him because I bet it's not this. got very, yeah, he said he has a pretty limited depth to his character. He isn't the fucking, I mean, he has, he has, there's an interesting setup for him. That's what I will say. I replayed the game with him once. But it sounds like he doesn't cook the way that the handmaided. I just don't think he's interwoven with the most interesting stuff in the game, which is like

the atrous relationship in the same way. I see, I see. And so I don't remember if he has black brown panties on underneath. I don't, I don't recall that. I hope at least that we are going to get. black bra and panties for men otherwise like how are we supposed to know

as women how are we supposed to know that we want to fuck this man if he is not in some shorts we get the opposite did you know anybody try to change mandolors armor after landing on his ease no you can't take that shit off

we got the Mandalorian is here oh that's so good that's the problem in this game that's the problem I got up to it and he was like I have to ask you a couple of questions and I turned

I closed the game immediately because I was afraid. Yeah. I would, yeah, it's like this is probably consistently one of the weakest parts of this game so far is that the game's presumption

about like how desire is working and like it's part of it is just very unusual even who the characters are, like, if you had characters who were interesting, as interesting as Crea across the board, like, some of the stuff would lend better, but, like, again, the handmaiden is a weird homeschooled, like, martial arts kid who was raised by your ex, or at least is, like, the student of your ex. And the whole thing is, like, there's no there, there. And so, you know, it's a, it's a quote, Lubowski, right? Like, the mind.

is the greatest erogenous zone. And it's like, no, actually, big titty. The big is the biggest erogenous zone. It's trying to be clever, because it's like, well, big titty is necessary for fighting. And fighting is the most erogenous zone. Because fighting is mind. Therefore, mind is the most erogenous zone.

Like, it also thinks that it's just dressed up in such a way so that she can take her clothes off and keep them off, by the way. She does not put those back on. She doesn't. She's like a sapiosexual, but for fighting. That's right. Like her Twitter bio, absolutely.

Which is just, don't do that. That's not fucking real. Yeah, it's, it's, it's a little grim. And I think it also, in an interesting way, we'll see how the story unfolds, but the thing that kind of bugs me is that Atris, complicated history with that character, complicated relationship with you and like,

sense of responsibilities if they just cut out the middle man or the middle woman in this case and then like atrice joins the party to see what you're up to and is she corrupted in some way can't she be is she trustworthy does her prejudice about you blind her to what's going on we would have a really interesting like situation on that ship where your evil fairy godmother is like don't trust that woman do not let this happen again. And your embittered X is like, I don't think you have it in you to do good because when you had the chance, you let me down and you let all of us down, but also secretly maybe you were right and I'm ashamed of that. That's a fast and dynamic. But instead, they uncomplicate that.

She's left off to the sidelines. And instead she's like, hey, mini me without that complicated history, how about you just go out there and get close to this guy? And then the game is like, here's your romantic, here's your romantic lead in this story. And so, but who is she? She's just atrice minus context. I will say you will get more from her as we continue. We're not like, again, there's these three different sparring moments. Each of those have lore associated with them and story about who she is, her history, her relationships.

Most importantly, the thing that I think is unique about this, that is part of, that does take advantage of this version. of the story is one of the big points with atrice's story is she doesn't have any students no one she doesn't train any jeni she doesn't have that in her she never has you do and so now there's this which is not a romantic relationship with her and in fact is this like fucked up different layer of psychological you know ex-warfare what happens if you start training of a handmaiden what if you can do what she has atre's can't offer her. That's right.

The Handmaiden talks about having so many questions about the Jedi feeling there's one really, I think it might have come up last episode, but there's one really poignant conversation with her where she's like, it's such a shame that all these cool Jedi techniques are just, you know, basically being hoarded by Atris in the library. And like no one can access it except Atris and also just that, you know, there could be a, such a loss of Jedi knowledge is like something that, you know, worries me. And you can be like, you think about this? Like, you're, this is what is occupying your thoughts?

Well, and again, you can, part of what happens with the handmaiden here is you can bring that up to her here and be like, have you ever thought about training to maybe do some force stuff? And she's like, I would never betray Atress like that. That would be, I took an oath not to do that. I would never do it. And like, oh, okay, this has juice. And it doesn't have juice as a romantic entanglement so much. This is a story about like a divorced family and the kid. This is like the exile gets the kid for the weekends, you know?

And I think the thing that kind of, and maybe that's the juvenile like romantic lens on this really works against it because like the exile is positioned in this. as someone at their prime of adulthood. That's right. They've been on their own enough to have made some major irrevocable mistakes and created reputation that cannot be hand-waved away as like a misspent youth. It is as a fully actualized adult,

did you fuck up? That's kind of TBD, but in the eyes of a lot of people you did and you disgraced yourself. And now you're coming back and people need you and you're trying to do the right thing. But then the way the game is

positioning you as you're like 18, 20, something like that. So like, of course, you know what I mean? It's kind of that where your options are going to be, okay, but like date this girl who's basically at martial arts academy. That's right. And don't get into it with your ex who you were clearly together with in some fashion, like his colleagues and then maybe as like romantic partners for like a decade right because you have to imagine if you're an 18 year old dude who's who i think they're imagining is playing this game you might identify with that well the thing that you identify with is not i i i'm a 34 year old or whatever which is how the exile feels like the exile feels like 38 to me the exile feels like was a general in the last war so not like a 20 year old you know

definitely 30s 30s for sure right um and you know the the the i think the 18 year old the imagined 18 year potentially, was like, oh, they'll see themselves as going in to get yelled at by the principal. They'll see themselves getting in trouble with authority figures. And that 10-year gap doesn't exist in their minds. They'll see that cutscene of Atris and the rest of the general counsel, like, berating them for this and them stabbing the lightsaber into the rock and all of that and feel like I'm aggrieved.

I have, you know, beef with the people who say they know what's good for my life. And so that they, you will feel presumably young because authority figures told you you weren't allowed to do the thing that you knew was right in your heart. And so now that just maps nicely onto handmaiden, this other character who is young, who is stuck in a situation, blah, blah, blah. But, you know, coming to this game, I'm going to be 40 in a week or whatever. And like, that is, that is not how I relate to the character. I relate to the character the way that you were just talking about, which is like someone

who has a reputation that is established. The world is the world. You've been in it. you your reputation is out there people know who you are I think it's that the character's at the exile they're most interesting when you think about them as someone who has had a life already

well and like that handmade relationship gets a lot interesting if we follow the divorce metaphor right where it's like I have been told that you are bad news and I shouldn't trust you but there are things I'm not getting and there's questions I have that like nobody will answer for me and then

your position as like well that's not how I would have related this story. And that's an interesting and the game does have that little bit of terrain but it's compromised by this sort of juvenile like but do you think we get out of these clothes and just strip down for a little sparring

before we work through all this? And what's the stuff that's actually interesting is like so my mom says you're an evil corrupt prick but you don't seem like an evil corrupt prick but like I don't know you real well but

I've heard about you my whole life. That is a fruitful, like, that is an interesting place to have this story positioned. Natalie gasped a moment ago. I just want to confirm, confirm one thing. Yeah. Atris is the handmaidens, is not the handmaidens mother. That is correct. The thing that separates, the thing that we actually misspoke.

She has the same father as everyone else. That is right. The handmaidens all sure. Yes. The handmaids all share a father. This is a Chinese bullshit, right? This is a Chinese bullshit. They all share a mother.

They all share a father. They have a different, specifically, the handmaiden on our ship has a different mother than the rest of them. But are the other handmaiden's mothers confirmed to be Atris? No. No. No, no, no, no. Okay. Aitris just kept and hooked to these girls.

Oh, okay. Yeah, we don't really know exactly where that, what happened. there. Okay. Okay. Okay. I just have like a nightmare scenario. They kind of are both. Yeah. Uh-huh. I had like a nightmare scenario pop in my brain where I was like, please don't tell me that like atress and the exile dude are. The parents. I see. Oh, we're going full edible. Like just like just like. No. Yeah. Just like something just like disastrous.

They would have, they would have to change her skin color to begin for my, for my exile. Which he did not do. But yes. Okay. Yes. Good. Okay. I just wanted to like triple down that that is not possible.

I think so far as we're in the, that space, the edible or electric space, it's only in the metaphorical sense, not in any sort of literal sense. Right. And I also, I do think so often the stuff, you know, obviously my circle of like teenage and 20 year old dudes was not entirely normal. Like, but at the same time, like, I think there's a lot of selling people short and especially like young men short when you come to this sort of stuff. Yeah. Dude, like, even at that age, you knew the shit was cringe. Like, it, like, this is not adult relationship type stuff. And you can so easily see the themes behind it.

Yes. The thing's annoying is like, we talked about this a little bit with that. And it's happening here again a little bit. Well, obviously young men can't empathize or inhabit characters who are not also young men. like in the throes of like late puberty or adolescence and who are not and it's like no that's part of like this is why we read fiction like it is interesting at 20 to contemplate what it would be at 35 to have done all the shit you were warned about doing right and coming back and facing that reckoning or hey let's face it a lot of us by that like by the time you're 15 or whatever

you know that your family has a lot of people like this and so it's easy to see these, these stories and the analogies. But the insistence on positioning it is kind of a gratifying, like everyone's just in you, man. Like, everyone's just like, their sexual, their orientation is,

is the exile. Everyone just, everyone just, like, wants what, what you have. And it's kind of frustrating. I think that's why Craya, because she doesn't play that game. She's one of a few characters. She was like,

I don't think. you're special at all like you're special but like you're fucking idiot right but like she's the one who's like pushing this perspective of the handmaiden onto you like you know there's a more I guess we haven't explored the way their romance with the handmaiden actually goes but the like interesting way to write this is for her to be like wouldn't it be great if she fully submitted to you and then you actually have this like really intimate and like nice relationship with a handmaid that's like away from this like you know just power scale of things so like to have the like avatar of this this weird romance come from this like 50 year old evil woman is and also

make it so much about powers what feels like such a pause about what makes it not enjoyable to pursue it as a player well and i you know alley we had said earlier i was like when i reminded you that this is a character you would not get if you were playing as a woman in the base game you're like right that kind of because you could imagine you know this is a game that's filled with toxic yori if you're playing with the mods and there's like something kind of like i think that that might hit different you know but here uh less so out like what you're describing there is like crea going on a manosphere podcast basically just like yeah nice guys think it is about romance and feelings and emotions but actually true alphas realize that it's about dominance and submission. So true, Crea. And, like, it's so refreshing to hear you say

that. Like, I think a lot of women don't just admit that because, like, they're afraid of what that would mean. Well, I'm not like other girls. Now am I. Yeah. A hundred percent. Pick me, crayon. Anyway, so you got just one stupid last thing before we wrap up

our, the conversation on this stuff, because we'll have more for sure. And in fact, I have to self-incriminate, which is I was like, yeah, Rob, exactly. But then the second you meet the traumatized goth girl, let me tell you, 18-year-old Austin was off that, oh, yeah, this is cringe shit.

Like, that, it's going to get me. But what I will say is, I think I think we should, two things. One. Oh, you mean the girl that we were introduced by her being choked? Yeah, that girl. 100% by her, yeah.

18-year-old Austin was like, we got to get her out of there. You deserve better than this. 100%. Also, it was probably 19 when this game came out. Anyway. the two lines that we should keep pulling on and keep thinking about as we play forward because I think they're core to it.

One is, yes, Rob, I think you're right that part of what is a brace of about the game is everyone's fawning over you. Part of what's interesting about the game is the game is also interested in what's your responsibility when people are fawning over you or when you do have influence over other people. You know, Cray is hitting with a hammer over the head and sexualize. it when she's talking about the handmaiden here. But, you know, a different version of the underlying question is like, hey, what's it

mean to have the sort of emotional power over someone that you could reshape what they think and where their loyalties are and what their other relationships are? And you can get them to admit things that they wouldn't admit to someone else, whether that's because they trust you or because they feel they have to, because of positions of power you have over them, and what enables that? What is it in you that lets you do that? And is that a good thing. And I think that is like one of the big core questions of the game. It's not something the game is unaware of. And I think the things that I'm saying now and the things that we already do like about the game are part of why the game is so high in people's

estimation, especially in retrospect, is because you forget that the handmaiden, you know, duels you in her bikini and what you remember is well the relationship between the handmaid in the exile and atress is fucking wild I never played another RPG at that time that got into that and most of the big ones since then

would never get into any of the sort of you know relationship dynamic stuff that this stuff does or would explore a game where everyone fucking hates each other so much I think I keep coming back to Dragon Age 2 as the successor to this game because that game is filled with people who

fucking don't like each other. And it's also filled with like some wild psychosexual relationships and other stuff. And I think that game is like deeply underrated because of it doing stuff like this. And because it's the game in the Dragon Age series that I think also most has my favorite part of this game, which is like person A and person B are talking without you in the room. And it's filled with that stuff.

It's so good. We'll get to another one of those scenes actually as we finish up the Duxon part of this. So yeah, stuff lines to keep following, lines to keep pulling on, pay attention to that. stuff. I'm not talking about some other stuff that came up in the in the let's play yet. We'll get there when we get there. One, do we want to talk about Crea's relationship with Atris and how she, how she of her? I didn't get much of that. Yeah, we should wait until we have the bigger Crea

conversation and until we get the additional handmaiden content also, I think is probably worth. We should have all that at once. So having dealt with just a series of Two hours, start of the session. That was half of my video, Ralph. Dixon is actually really scanty. Yes, it is. For me, there's kind of two Cotor twos. One is the conversation we just been having where it's like, all right, everyone,

gather around the table and do a round table with your characters. And let's hang out with Craya, the coolest of Macbeth's witches. And then there's Cotor 2, early 2000s RPG. And when you arrive on Dixon on your way to Anderon and are immediately intercepted by Colonel Tobin and attacked by his spaceships where you have the forking, so many decision branches to see how the story plays out. Do you get in the turret or not? Let's just go to the, let's hide in the jungle planet. Or you can get in the turret and shoot down six enemy fighters. And then Atten's like, we need to hide on the jungle planet. So you just go and hide on the jungle planet. Those ships are cool, though. I do like the enemy ship design. They're very cool. Okay, that's it.

Cool little, like, flying blades. Yeah. They're neat. Yeah. But, once you're on the planet, it is jungle as series of hallways filled with trash mobs. Yes. There are the, what was it, the, the coraxes, the cult, the, the, the, the canocks are like the main ones. The canox.

yeah and those things uh you can stun them and just chop them up and then there's the like cat creatures creatures that are like evil chester cheetah cheetahs the mall rosses m a a l a r i'm sorry m a l r a s yeah and you just beat the shit out of those and then there's like plump comodo dragons that you also beat the shit out you do and there's nothing they're called bomas for The Boma babies. Nothing is happening on this planet, man. It is just a series of nothing encounters.

We're going to run into a bunch of Duros bounty hunters. I forgot about the Doroz bounty. You're just going to, you're going to flatten them. You're going to have another HK battle, but now you're massively leveled, so you're also just going to like chew through those. I didn't get those. You didn't get that?

Did you all go to Citadel Station to turn in the bounty? No. I did. Allie, did you fight the HKs on Citadel Station? So I did that. So I think that's it. I think we've gotten our, and that's the last HK part you need. So you can go repair HK now. Yeah. Which is why they're not there anymore, which also just super, super quick. When I went back to Civil Station, you know who I ran into. B44 and T1N1 on their way to NAR. I got to have that conversation. They're still there. Maybe you can go catch them. I just, you know. They're Thelma and Louising. Yes, they really are. So. So good. So like, There is, those are the moments where I'm like, Cotor is oppressive.

But honestly, it's like, it reminds me of why I didn't get an RPGs. For a long time, I was like, so many people talk about how good RPGs are, and I just don't fucking get it. Because like, every time I play these games, I don't like them very much. I didn't like, never winter nights. I got great reviews. I was like, cool, I'll give that one a shot. They say, it's great.

Bored out of my mind. Like, just so many RPGs did not hit for me. and I think part of it is there's a lot that just don't have they have the worst parts of pen and paper systems they're highly deterministic but also

they don't have the tactics game identity that like D&D does and so it turns into spam powers and just truck over people and the Jedi powers are completely out of the game

I don't think either Cotor game really knows how to scale enemies worth a damn to you because like they're either trivial or they're impossible they're either like missing every saving throw and getting into every stun lock or status effect debuff or they are all your powers are useless and it's just like three characters punching each other in the gut yeah there is no um there's no i should say before every fight because most fights are nothing. And so when you do stumble into, oh, my God, there's 30 of them, which like happens before you get to the underground base back on Tilos, which I think for me was like the first

hard fight in the game. I was like, oh, my God, there's just so many guys. Fuck, I almost lost. Like, I didn't, why would I save before that fight? I've been fighting seven guys the whole time and it's not a problem. They just drop. And I think that that is, you know, I think that that is a, you know, I think that is a, a sign of how little time this game specifically had for to be balanced, which, by the way,

that was the other thing I was going to say. Another thing to look forward to is how quickly you can influence some of these other NPCs or these other companions when you get them really feels like this is a game that was undercooked. There's a character you'll get soon. You can get them from zero influence to max influence in a single conversation tree. And I think that sort of reflects the little. amount of time they they spent on and had to, I guess, spend on overall gameplay balance and

pacing. I think you're right, Rob, that like this is just, I mean, I think you're right in the sense that I think this is, Andoron, or Duxon is like 17 fights that don't fucking matter at all. And it's just like two Canucks, two Bomas, four. Oh, wow, the colonel sent down some scouts. Is this going to be different? No, it's not.

And I think the difference between you and me is that. like, um, uh, I happened, for some reason, brain go off, lightsaber could turn on. That's me. That's me. That's me. That's me. I'm, I'm totally happy to just like click the buttons and get in the point go up. The point go up.

And, and sometimes clicking the buttons is not enough. And I have to like activate brain, uh, for whatever is coming. But I do think, I do think the game somewhat. signals you, like I do think I'm starting to kind of recognize, oh, uh, if I see a lot of like loot, loot opportunities in one area, then I'm probably like hitting quick save at the very least. If Mandelor says, if you want to go back to your ship, now's the time to do it. You're like, save, got to save because there's going to probably be some shit coming next.

Oh, yeah, for sure. When he said that, I was like, okay, something is happening after this. Also, where the fuck did the thing in the beginning of the game where they were like, you have a special sense that will tell you if things are about to get. Oh, yeah. Where did that go? It's gone. Oh, you know what that is.

You know what that is, actually. Tell me. Because when you, when you, one of the quests, so you, you know, you get to Mandelor, get to, get to Ducks in. Right. You're wandering through the jump. Right. The Mandalorians are like, you got to come with us. Like, you got to meet our leader.

and you can be like fuck y'all and like kill them all and then you'll still get forced to be taken to the leader does it just force you there immediately yeah it does they're like okay enough of this enough of killing our guys like you still got to come over um or you could just be like yeah all right because because craya tells you like oh could be interesting to to see what this leader's all about like you know more influence more influence alert right um so i was like yeah okay let me go check check this guy out and see, you know, what he's all about. So you go and he's like, there's a long, you know, kind of intro to him that we can talk about in detail. But essentially, in order to help you get off Duxin, he's like, you got to do six quests and earn the approval of the Mandalorians.

I think you only have to do like four out of six of them. That's probably right. I don't know the number. But what are you going to do? Not kill 12 Canucks and go save the dumbest Mandalorian alive? It takes like two seconds. The longest thing is the battle circle, which we'll get to. But one of those quests is to kill like the legendary beast of the area.

The Zockeg. Yes, the Zockeg. And when you're approaching the Zockeg, you get like a flash of the Zockeg ahead. And Crea, doesn't Crea say to you like, all right, looks like, you know, the guys ahead is aque. I did not bring Crea. I brought Bail Dere and Handmaiden. So, and I don't think I got any Craya like mine flashers. I brought Craya and Handmaiden.

Oh, interesting. Did they be able to? Did they talk? No. Okay. No one has anything to say about this section. It's weird that they don't, but. Well, like I suppose.

So yeah, that's what I think that premonition thing is. It drove me crazy, the battle circle. So one of the quests is there's a battle circle. You've got to fight your way at the battle circle. The Mandalorians don't like you, but by rights, you're allowed to, like, challenge the lowest-ranking dude on the battle circle. And then, like, slowly climb your way up. And they have, they believe something very similar to the handmaiden in terms of, like, oh, you know, fighting is where truth is. you know fighting is like is is a way to understand the world fighting is where you're most

yourself you know when you meet mandolore he has the whole thing where he's like the jungle is is you know challenge hones us it's all that shit handmaiden don't have shit to say about any of this handmaiden you want to talk about fighting her and her bra and panties we can talk but you want to talk uh you know to her about hey how's you how's the achani philosophy and the mandolarian philosophy overlap. None of that's happening. Now, maybe that'll happen later once Mandelaus is around. But it's like...

Maybe. I have to imagine that this was just like a lack of time thing where like none of the side care. Because Kraya doesn't even really talk that much about it being the war zone. Like as when I brought her out, like she's not really like, ooh, you feel anything? Like walking around. So nobody is really talking about the fact that we're at the place where the shit went down.

Right. I think I have to imagine that it was just like a universally uncooked aspect of the writing. Like they just like it must have been like a cut for time sort of thing is what I imagine. Because there's just the idea that no one has anything to say is just too bizarre because there's too much lined up for them to say for them not. not to say anything. There are a handful of spots, again, where Beauder will voice some, something. Like, he actually says, like, you know, I don't like the Mandalorians, but it was good that you saved that dumbass who was stuck up on that rock.

That was good of you, General. And it's like, now you speak up? But we were, like, walking past where we were in a firefight 20 minutes ago. You didn't say shit then? I just am imagining everyone walking around, and it's awkward. As fuck, like, everyone is so quiet and just, like, anyways, like, this is so weird that we're here and no one talking to each other. Yeah. And Rob, yeah, to go back to your point of, like, there are two Cotor's, this is, this is turn your brain off, do six quests mode.

And if you don't like it, like, if it doesn't, if it doesn't scratch some part of your brain, it's not going to, it's just going to be bad, right? And I think the thing that I was saying before, I was trying to, like, think about comparisons to, like, what's it feel like. It, it, doing this stuff in this game feels like, um, uh, doing a, like a franchise mode in a sports game, like, like, where there's like a ton of games and like anyone game kind of, especially in like an NBA game or a MLB game. Any one game is like, it doesn't matter, but like the moment to moment, I'm in it. I'm in the blur of it in a way that I think is a relaxer and a relief from the leaning forward reading every word mode. What I think is missing, and I will say, you know, I talked a lot of shit about other

Western-style RPGs or like RPGs from BioWare and stuff that miss what I'd like here. The big thing that they added that I think is huge, especially in games like Dragon Age Inquisition, is that your NPCs will talk to each other then, right? We don't get as much chatter back at base between NPCs in specific cutscenes in those games, but we do get, like, you know, Vivian and Dorian in your party. They have different opinions about how magic work in the world of Dragon Age and Thetus. And they will, like, go back and forth on some shit while you're running around. And that feels like hanging out with people, even if they're not, like, commenting all the time about the particular side quest you're on.

And this game would benefit a lot from having out, if you had out, you know, handmade in Crea, the fact that they are not constantly chirping at each other is a huge missed opportunity. you know but it's just like not what the game is I guess um but yeah I will say um I so game's also just showering everyone in stat buffing here it's so busted dude so I'm just like oh I'm curious if you got what did you get because remember we're getting different gear what was your big stat breaking oh I have I have so many gloves and shit they give you massive deck bonuses I see I have like one pair of gloves I found like both in infiltrator gloves that are like plus six skill to demolitions in a roomful of mines. But again, this is actually, the game attacked me with like 80 droids.

I'm like, this could be a bad fight. Except I have destroyed droid. Kraya has like second level force lightning. And so it was just the two of us just spamming these two abilities and nuke the room. And eventually, these toys fall over. But I did turn handmaiden into. basically a dervish, like gave her the dual wheeled buff

and finesse. So like she is like blade in each hand dexterity is now counting as the staff for all her weapons. She's got massive dex bonus to her 19

dexterity or whatever it is. Yeah. In the in the character sheet. The stats are just wild. So it's just like I point her at the monsters and I'm like, do basic attack and it's like feeding them into a wood chipper uh which was that was that was the entire planet was just a series of wood chipper encounters and i'm like oh i'm way over level for this game i totally back to the ebbin hawk we'll get to that i see i see it's my party is overleveled

it's the same it's the fucking dup's polo shit again i don't know how the party the entire thing is sent up as look i am the quarterback of my offense i see but i guess but i I got my running back. Why don't you have forced lightning? I'm a good boy. Oh, okay. I see. You should take the story.

Because joids aren't people. You should give you a forced whirlwind or whatever, the force push line. Yeah, that's universal. It has some good, some good damage eventually. I went all in on stasis. I see. Very powerful. And then a lot of support abilities.

Like, let's do force valor. But everything is about, all right, I'm just going to make this party functionally unkillable. Which works great until the game's like. until the game's like, this isn't a party-based RPG. I see. It's a Jedi dueling game. Yes.

Now I understand what's happened to you. Yeah. It's a different game. It's a different build. Yeah. Gosh, I should have made Crea the support. Yes.

And I should have been the fucking dervish. Yes. That's what I did. That's what I did. Or you would be the lizard. And then that would impress the shit out of the handmaiden. Oh, yeah.

And she'd have been like, I have no choice but submit to your incredible dual wielding prowess. And I'd be like, that's not what I was here to do. But, yeah. Yeah, but hop on the back of my speeder bike, babe. Let's get out of here. I am curious while we're talking about this, like, where people's builds are at quickly.

Because I have decided to make Bauder and Handmaiden. I've become unarmed-pilled for them. They both get big bonuses. They both get abilities that are unique for it, I think. Or Bender at least has, like, multiple active things that he can do. shock ability that I think it like has a chance to stun or something I forget

Yeah, it's something like that But yeah My exile is like very much Force power centric But mostly offensive And I've turned Crea into like my buff machine But Crea's force region

Is dog shit? Yeah Is it? it's so bad for me like she is like you give her the feet did you give her the force regent feet okay well there's your problem

the what there's a feet you can give her okay hold on no not F EET I was like there's feet there's yeah did you give her the feet no there's a

there's a a feet I think I did yes yes that is just a passive force regent yeah it does just come back kind of slow um in general but like i haven't noticed that meanwhile my exile is like never without force interesting which is weird that makes me wonder if either there's an equipment thing or a or whether or not maybe you didn't give her that feat and so it's just like coming back super slow i don't know maybe an important thing i noticed recently was like a thing that separates this game mechanically from d and and like other dd type type games there's no manna

potions in this game no you cannot take a force juice you can't you can't slam down on some mid-chlorian mixer to get why everyone's got to do drugs before a big battle that's right because this is your last we can staff but we can't replenishment battle we have to juice and then we go fight I feel like I never take advantage of the juicing and I should. You should take advantage of the juicing. Anytime the game's like here's a ton of dudes lined up in like an ambush position around the corner. I'm like, all right, everyone, let's roid up. And then we and then the shields like again, the ways this game is busted.

Like massive temporary stat boost that will last like two encounters. And then the shields are just like, so the first 200 points of damage you're just going to soak. And that ain't going to hit you. By that point, you probably have your force defense abilities up. You'll be unhittable or you'll just be absorbing. It's ridiculous. But also, I think it does mean, like, some battles, I'm like, I barely touch the force point pool. But if we do not, like, roll them fast, we're going to be in trouble because, like, the whole thing is built for speed, not endurance.

I see. Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, I, so I'm the only person not playing a consular. I'm playing a Sentinel, which is the like thief-ish equivalent for Jedi. It's the high-skill count, but not the melee build or the ranged or the force build. It's like in the middle, which also makes me more survivable in some ways because I think it's not as much HP as Guardian, but Sentinel has high, what do you call it, roles, save roles. So, like, if someone's throwing a stun grenade, like, that shit's not going to, I'm not going to get stunned on that. So, like, those moments are pretty safe.

Like, those are the things that sometimes can throw a good fight against you. It was like, oh, shit, I got stun locked or I got, like, carbonite frozen for two turns. Like, now I'm behind. And so that shit could fuck me up, but I have those feats. So that protects me. And then I'm doing dueling single saber, which, by the way, we should all have lightsaber parts by the end of this. thing. So we should all have a lightsaber ride for the next session. If you

don't, call in Baye-O-Dur because you can swap your... I think you cut a mechanic's stomach. Yeah, that's where I got my last part, too. Yeah. Though I thought I got one from the encounter we're going to talk about later, Rob, on the ship. So I don't know, I think, or maybe Mandelor gives you a part two.

I'm not 100% sure where all the different parts are. But if you don't have one yet, my guess is you have all the parts you need. Call Baye-Durr into your party and talk to him and be like, hey, do I have one? I need for the part to for the lightsaber and he'll be like yes you do general let's make you clear sit what type do you want you want a double-sided one or what sort of gem do you put in there pretty pretty underwhelming lightsaber I was like I was expecting like a gungy moment

uh-uh I love this you know this is why I love this moment because it's just like yeah it's just a sword yeah I'm not I had I did the gungy moment when I was 15 15 years ago now I'm trying to get another sword to fight people with Like, there's no big cutscene for it. It's not a big, and it's not your lightsaber. Atris has your lightsaber. Yeah. Right?

Like, that's part of the thing that I like about it being so kind of nothing is like, that's true. You left you embedded in that really unimpressive stone. That's right. I don't know how it got stuck in there. That's not how I understood lightsabers to work, but okay. It's weird, though, that it's like there's no bravado around it, though, because his reason for making it for you is saying, you're not you without a lightsaber. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't know about that bound. And I'm like, I felt like me with that damarine axe. It does feel like it may be that lends itself to the public identity or identification of a Jedi with their lightsaber is so cemented. Whereas, like, the conversations that if you ask Craya about lightsabers and stuff like that, she's also quite dismissive of lightsabers. And if you ask her, like, can you teach me how to build one? She's like, you know how to build one.

Like, I don't have to teach you that. That's right. So it's interesting. Maybe there's something to that where, like, for you, for Bauder, this is like such an honor to be able to help you reconstruct another. lightsaber, like the way he talks about it is with some reverence and things like that. But the actual practical experience of it for you is upgrading any other weapon. It really is nothing.

And I think what you pointed out, the fact that this isn't your lightsaber, this is a lightsaber that you're making is important. Well, it's funny because the first game, you remember like you go to Dantuin and they're like, oh, you have the, weird. We think you might have the force. Maybe your connection to Bastila, because you saved her. Some of the force rubbed off on you. And you should go on a quest to get a crystal.

You go to the crystal. Remember we have to go to like the crystal cave and fight out your fucking bullshit enemies, like spiders or whatever. And then you come out with your crystal and then you bring it back to the. And even that, I just looked it up, is you walk over to the workbench. You know, one of the Twilic Jedi is like, oh, yeah, you have your crystal now. Now we can begin the construction of your lightsaber. And then it's like canned animation, walk to workbench, workbench. UI pops up, put the crystal in, you now have lightsaber.

And it's like, they were going for, this is a whole big deal and it didn't hit. And I think that like, in contrast, this being like, yeah, did I get a lightsaber again? Yeah, Baylor made me one in the fucking jungles of the beast moon. I happen. And where did I find the crystal? Yeah, in a plastic steel container on some bullshit space station somewhere or some, you know, I happen to find a bronze crystal, a color I didn't know they came in. Yeah, I'll use that one.

It's fine. You got bronze? Yeah, it's just a different type of gold or yellow. It's not even... No, but I didn't even realize that we would be getting different crystals. I thought we'd all have the same one. I don't even know where I got this crystal, and it wasn't like a... It felt like a random drop.

It didn't feel like a special... What color are your lightsabers? Mine's green. Did everyone else get green? I haven't built one. Oh, okay. I see. Okay, well, we'll find out.

I'm doing pretty good with that dual blade. I bet you're doing fine. I think that's probably, it's true. It's fun. Well, there we go. Well, now we know what Keene means. Yes. This thing that I realized when I sat down to play for this session is that my dexterity is

actually above my strength, and I've been using a sword the whole time. Well, you could get that fee. It's a blaster time, I think, yeah. You could get that fee that lets you use your dex bonus, weapon, finesse. Oh, for melee? For melee, yeah. I'm doing fine. with a sword.

I mean, with the blaster. Are you going to go blaster Jedi? Oh, that's kind of cool. That's their part is like this game is just like, lightsabers are so important in Star Wars, but they're just not here. Like Crea, yeah. You know that like illegal like stun blaster

that the exchange lady had back on? Cray is just standing back there plinking people with the stun gun. Yeah. And it's like, actually, you know what? Shoot lightning. Shoot the stun gun. you can hang back though you don't need to go like let let handmaiden

and me go forward we'll deal with this bullshit you just hang with your with your with your with your like illegal war crime like pistol and just do it I've said this before

Blaster Jedi it works in this game it's a popular build for this game it's a cool idea Blaster Jedi in that episode of the Clone War they never finished producing we could have had anacan's john wick moment i forgot about that and then his fall would have been ever more tragic because we would have been like remember how a few weeks before he like turned to the dark side he went full john wick uh in that like smuggler's den god that would have

been cool they should have made that um yeah i want to say you even get um maybe you don't maybe i'm misremembering this i don't know we'll see keep keep playing i think i think it would be sick of one of us under them going blaster mode in the whole game. So. I'm on my path. Yeah, I love it. Wait, but the handmaiden is better on on, uh, what, like, without an weapon? So she has, unarmed. Yeah, she has,

um, she and Baylor both have the, and so do you. Unarmed. Secret monks, basically. So are you. You also get unarmed combat. All Jedi get an unarmed combat bonus every level. So like, it's always worth just unequipping your weapon to check to see. If your punches and kicks do more damage than your sword, it's sometimes it can happen.

I had a period here where I didn't notice, but a commenter noted it afterwards was like, you're actually doing better damage and higher accuracy without a weapon equipped. And it's just the number is higher. And then, of course, like, I built a lightsaber and that just instantly changed that, basically. But the handmaiden does get, I want to say, a Chani fighting or something like that, a feat with a name like that, that is an explicitly, like, extra bonus to melee, um, uh, melee combat, basically. Yeah, it's called, uh, a Chani strike and, uh, yeah, she gets unarmed specialist.

And a Chani strike is like a special damage thing that she can use. You know, when using unarmed attacks against any opponent, she deals extra damage and has a chance of knocking down the opponent if they fail, fortitude save, uh, of equal to 15 plus the handmaid's level. This damage stacks with any unarmed specialist stuff. So as she levels up, she'll start doing like, at the top level, a bonus three to 12 damage. So I average seven and a half damage and have a 20% chance of knocking someone down, which is like a stun you basically, right? Every strike, which is really good. Cool. Yeah, but I'd like putting swords on people's I do too. I gave her the Gimori and axe. I found one of those axes, Rob, and I gave it to her,

or maybe I gave it to the other character we're not talking about yet. I gave her, yeah, I gave it to the other character who had a light saber in one hand and then the fucking axe in the other which I think is a look more... That's like my worst nightmare honestly. Yeah, it's a nightmare, right? Absolutely not. You know what? Imagine how much better rogue one would be. Yeah. It's like that scene with the rebel troops in the hallway and

like lightsaber and then huge fuck off axe? Like he's like a custom character in a video game, yeah, 100%. Ugh. So you do these quests. Yeah. At the end of it, it's so funny because Mandelor is like

I see you did the battle you did the battle ring and you helped us repair our roof. You must have killed a lot of mechanics. It's like each individual Yes, it's so funny. I guess I did the same thing. I waited to turn them all in at the same time and he's like and

you repair the wires and you fix the computer and you saved that guy. It's like turning your tickets at a carnival. It is. It's like oh you get the you get the You get the big bear. That's right.

It's so funny. Also, the game, they're kind of lampshading, just how, like, we need an RPG-ass area for this. Because, like, even Mandelor is like, look, you want to do this shit or not? Yep. Like, yeah, I know it sucks. I know you don't want, just go, go find me the shit, go fix this place up, and then it'll give you the ride to the next place. Or you can just leave. That's your choice.

but like that's the that's those are the terms and so everyone seems just like fed up and bored with this rainy ass planet yeah uh well and so we don't really get a lot for mandelor here um like this initial conversation alley like you said like the second you talk to him on aziz he's like i have some questions for you and you're like whoa okay i'm gonna hit end recording actually i mean pause here we'll come back um but the the the stuff that you do get from him is very much like yeah the war started here uh yeah um we're hiding out here like you said rob you were like he talks about like the on deronians don't like us but like we're just kind of licking our wounds here the i said before the jungle is a place that like helps us because of how much you have to

struggle to live here um but the only time you you end up getting real shit from him is after you finish all the side quests which again i just don't think there's any of them that bear we don't even need to talk about the droid cache like i think we could of course we're good at our jobs, we could talk about all of those side quests and say funny things about the droids in the shed, but we don't need to. Nothing happens, I think. Until, at the very end, you turn it all your quests, he goes, hey, do you want to go back to your ship, or do you want to go to Izzy's right now? And this is where I fucked up. Do you want to talk about that now, and then we'll come back and talk about Mandelor and Kray's conversation?

Yeah. Tell me what happens. Oh, go ahead. Well, I was going to say there's only one, there's only one quest that I did want to talk about, which was the missing Mandalorian quest, because there is something you can do that is very funny, which is a guy gets stuck on a rock, essentially. Because he, you're sent out to go find him,

because the the Mandalorians are like, yo, we lost a soldier, go find his body. And you're like, oh, he's dead. And they're like, go find him. And you're like, he's probably dead. And they're like. Oh, I thought it was the opposite. I thought you're like, how do you know he's dead? And they're like, well, if a Mandalorian doesn't come back in a couple days, we assume he's dead.

Because no other way, there's no other reason why a Mandalorian would take so long. Like, you got to just die. Okay. There might be two ways to get a thing Because the way I said it was like, I think if he's been out there, he's probably dead. And they were like, you know what? You're right.

Well, if he's dead, then he's not worth anything to it. It's just bring his gear back. Yeah, maybe it was something like that. So you go and find this guy, and it's literally a cartoon. Like, there's one, there's a circle. You enter a circle area. And in the middle of the circle,

there's a giant hill. And the guy is standing. standing on top of the hill and he's like, hello! And you're like, are you? What's his name? And he's like, yeah. And he's like, and you can be like, what happened to you? You're still alive? And he says, you know, I had all this gear and then I set it down for a second and all the Canucks came and ate it all. And then I caught on top of the roof and I burned through all of my ammo. And you can be like, Isn't that like the worst, like the most sacrilegious thing a Mandalorian can do?

Or most embarrassing thing a Mandalorian can do? And he's like, yeah, I lost all my ammo. You wouldn't even be like, what do you mean you lost all your ammo? Our guns don't have ammo. I don't run out of ammo. He was like, well, I only had to. Yeah, exactly. There was damage done.

It got too hot. And so you can, I think you can like leave, you can kill him. like detonating the the bombs he put down or you can leave him there. I ended up saving him. I sent him back to the camp. Thank God you were there to kill those two low level bomas. He couldn't handle that. These guys are never getting off this moon.

They're never getting. Like these guys are fucked by the way. Also, you were right. I found it. They do say he's dead. The thing that you can say is like, do I really have to bring his body back? And the guy is like, oh yes, that is what I said. And they were like, you're right.

That would, that would be super annoying. Just get his shit. Just bring his shit. There is no, no man left behind shit in the Man of Morians. You were buried where you stuck in a Yogi Bear cartoon. Truly. Oh, no, my picnic basket. So then you come back to camp and he's there and you can talk to him and you can also

talk to the guard, to the captain that like sent you off. But first I talked to him, and he was like, thank you so much for saving me. Like, just between us, please don't tell anyone, like, what the real truth was of why I got stuck on the rock. Like, let's just keep that between us. And I was like, how much are you willing to buy my silence for? And he was like, a thousand credits, a thousand credits. I was like, all right, all right. That's pretty good for a thousand.

Pretty good. People have been off with fucking circled. He was like, here's $200 to be an evil person. I was like, I don't need all that. A thousand. Yeah, I'll do it. They're, they got the cash. They got the cash.

They don't have anything else, but they've got the cash on hand. So then you can talk to the guard captain, like, and they're standing right next to each other. And the guard captain was like, yeah, thanks for bringing, you know, whatever his name back. you know it's really his story's not really adding up like it doesn't make a lot of sense but whatever like we're glad he's back

and you can immediately rat him out you can be like yeah well the fool got all of his shit eaten by Canucks within like the first 30 minutes of being there and the guy's like wow that is actually the greatest embarrassment I have ever heard like we are going to have to deal with this guy

and if you do that first the other guy gets really upset with you the guy you save and he's like I'll never speak to you ever again you have no honor but because I already got paid off first then I just like I was like you should know that this guy

is not the guy you want to send on a mission if you need something done and then I just walked away I was like you guys deal with it amongst yourselves none my business anymore but at least at least you know at least you know what i saw so funny uh this is the only one i want to talk about one of the rare places handmaiden will say something by the way when you if you save him um she will be like even though mandolarians were your sworn enemy you would still save one in

need you are a perplexing man exile and just to give you a little taste of the man to come are the disciple the the women only companion that we'll get in the future he will say even though mandolarians or you're a sworn enemy you would still save one in need you're a woman of many levels so if a man told me if a man said to me you are a woman of many levels i would he would have to be obliterated on the spot immediately oh i can't wait to meet this guy this is you know i in my heart of hearts we should probably go to narshadah next but it is it would be fun to go to dan tween and get this guy just to see what his deal is. So we'll think about it. Anyway. Anyway, that's, that's my only piece for the quest. Oh, and again, this is where Beauder,

if you save him and you don't have Handmaiden and you have Beauder, he will say, I have no love for Mandalorians, but just letting him starve up there, I think you did the right thing. And you can be like, I had other reasons. And he's like, all right, whatever you say? Or you can say maybe one day he'll return the favor or he's just a veteran like us he deserves better than that and bail dirter to that bailed her to that will be like I agree there was enough senseless death back then to last

a lifetime which is such a different story than I loved slaughtering those Mandalorians I love senseless death but he's like confessing him like you're right when you're right you're right Bayo he's he regrets the things that he did like that is a position that he starts with

it's not like he's foot flopping though I do think he would slaughter Zirka people right now in the same way. Sure. But you're right. I think he thinks about the war as like I lost myself to it in the way. And he wants to know like did you also go through that general? You know? And

maybe not quite like that. So then yes, we get Mandelor and Crea. You go, yeah, I'm ready to leave. And we get a scene of Crea talking to Mandelor at the like shuttle that he's going to take you with, right? Because he's the short version there is that like you're not getting your ship he has a ship that can like stealthily get under the uh the blockade uh and take you from aziz to to on deron he's regularly been doing this because he needs supplies the mandolrians are not self-sufficient on duxid he is he hangs out in his office and looks at twitter all day and all of the other mandolores just fuck off like and fight each other mandolians are not self-sufficient on duxed he is he hangs out in his office and looks at twitter all day and all of the other mandolaries just fuck off like and fight each

um so he's sending them out on mission run yeah i'm imagining him like refreshing his every time he's like report in he's just refreshing his newsfeed he's refreshing the timeline um and so we get this conversation between between him and crea um uh which i guess since there's no i can play this for us if if that's i think it's probably worth doing since it's yes Let me pull it up. I have it right here. Nope, that's Aziz. That's the jungle. Here it is. Here it is. This is not my playthrough, because I might have talked over my playthrough,

so I'm going to pull up somebody else's to listen to. Okay. Three, two, one. How are the port stabilizers? They check out Mandelore. All systems are green. Good. I want the shuttle bound for Anderon within the hour. What do you want? Is all in readiness?

It is. Like I promised. Why? You want to back out now? My only concerns are for the one you escort to Anderon, Mandalorian. Would you do any less for one of your clan? Don't pretend to understand us. We Mandalorians are a breed apart. If by a part, you mean scattered, broken, and lost, then yes. You are correct. Not for long. Soon the Mandalorians will be strong again. United is one clan. under one banner, mine. Ah, yes, the Great Crusade, after the first one was ended by Revan and the Jedi.

Such a defeat was merciful, an echo of the end, when your ships were in flames, crushed in the grip of Malacour 5. But I do not need to remind you of such things. I was at Malacour 5, and I remember how many Jedi died to stop us there. And no matter how many dead orbit that planet, the Mandalorian still live. Clan Ordo still lives. See Kex there? He was serving on Narshadai's muscle for the huts.

Kelbourne was a scout for the Duros on Frontier Worlds. I brought them here, gave them a purpose. This galaxy will be ours again. I promise you. That is the future. Indeed, the future is always in motion. It is a difficult thing to see. Perhaps there will be no New Age Mandalore,

no great Mandalorian crusade. Perhaps your people fought their last battle at Malacore 5, and you have been dying ever since, a quiet death that will last centuries. And perhaps all that remains will be what I see before me, a man wounded by a Jedi, encased in a Mandalorian shell, hunted by the thought of being the last of the Mandalorians.

You've got some guts talking to me like that. You think your age or your Jedi Welp are going to keep you safe from me? No, Mandelor, you are wrong. I hope that it is you who will keep the one I travel with safe. You are loyal, and you have served many masters, even following them into darkness. Do you wonder where he wanders now, Mandelor? Why he betrayed you at the end, cast you down, left you broken at the edge of the galaxy? How do you know that?

I know many things, and I can answer the question that burns with his. your shell, Mandelaw. But there is a price. You must keep the one I travel with safe. He is important to me, more important than anything. Show the same loyalty you have shown in the past Mandalore. If there is a Mandalorian crusade, let it be for something that will carry your people's memory into the future. So when the time comes when there are no more Mandalorians, then at least their honor will remain. The one I travel with has walked your same path. And I ask that when the end comes that you remember that kinship, even if it

seems there is nothing else left. Forget the Jedi. Keep your eyes on her. Yeah, that's a good idea. So, also, maybe the set assassins. Yeah. He's down so bad. He's down so bad.

I can't believe I didn't recognize his voice. I am shocked you didn't recognize his voice. So, Candace Ordo of Clan Ordo Again, what she says is And this is what you just heard was the dark side version of it Which was you were loyal and you served many masters Even following them in the darkness If Revin was light-sided, she says

You're loyal and you've served many masters Even when they abandoned you Do you wonder where he wanders now, Mandelor? Do you wonder where she wanders now, Mandelor? Why she gave you your orders then abandered you? abandoned you at the edge of the galaxy. And then again, the dark side, why he cast you down, left you broken at the edge of the galaxy. What happened?

What did Revenue do to Kanderas Ordo? Wait, so they were on other opposite sides? No, this following them into darkness sounds like they were together on the mission. On the mission to leave. The thing that we heard T3's Bastila thing say before. Bastila, me and my best friend have to go on an adventure. to go on an adventure. And then at the edge of darkness betrayed him and left him behind?

And Mandelor, and at that point, Candor's order goes, I know what I'll do. I'll become Mandelor, the preserver, and regain the honor of my people and stop them from being scattered to the winds and stop them from being like random biker gang guys. We're going to rise again. This dude was speeding people up for the huts. And this dude works in an auto parts store. That's right You ever Today this garage

Tomorrow the galaxy Natalie Question Wait so who What What which side did Candorous fight Candorous fought against Revin

And the exile In the Jedi War In the Jedi War in the In the Mandalor Jedi War Before Cotor 1 Right Then you recruit Canderus

In Cotor 1 And he's like Err We fought on the other side. But you were so good. You're so smart. I have to, you know what, you're too good and brilliant of a commander for me not to follow. You're honestly the best Mandalorian of them all. That's right. And so all the events of Cotor happen. Then at some point, Revin leaves and he brings Canderus with him until he kicks him off the ship. So, so the exile is basically off screen all of Cotter.

that's correct like okay okay okay is in the war and so when mandelor is like same prequel same that's right same exciting same life in the right exactly yes yes and then and then reven does cotor yes one yes and the exile is in question mark do do do do do who knows out yeah sleeping it off you know copy copy copy you know what I mean yes yes you go from the bottom you know like yes excellent okay that makes a lot of sense and and the thing I also love about this is cray it is like ah but there's someone important to me ooh could I could I project my uh you know fascination my hyper obsession on this new Jedi onto you could you once again be the person to protect the brilliant Jedi general that is that really just helps shape all of the world like

she's manipulating this poor guy who's down so bad. I love it so much. I'm so excited for us to get more candorous Ordo. I don't understand Allie how being Candorous fan number one. I think it's amazing no one ever spoiled this for you. No one ever was like, oh wait. You didn't figure out what the rest of Candorous's story was in Cotor 2? Oh, do you mean Mandelora of the Preserver?

Keith and Justin and I guess a few other people were very nice to be, including you, I suppose. Uh-huh. Yeah. For once. And I appreciate that. Yeah. Yeah.

It's interesting that Kraya puts the exile in the same position as Mandelor, in the last thing that she says to him being, the one I travel with has walked your same path. And I ask that when the end comes, that you remember that kinship, even if it seems there is nothing else left. Like, she's not. she's actually aligning the exile more with Canderus himself. You're right. Rather than with Revin. It's not that Canderus needs to like protect the exile in the way that he protected Revin. It's that Cander should protect the exile in the way that he would have wished himself protected or like, like, would have, yeah.

And in a way, right, like, you both followed Revin. to the dark, right? Yes, they did walk the same path. Yeah, 100%. Oh, yeah. Exile once was like, damn, Reverend has the right idea. Death cab starts playing.

Like, for real. It's good. It's good. And now we have him in the party and we'll see what happens with him on Aziz. He's like forced into your party. He's the party member

for the rest of this planet as we land on a planet we've been to many times. Clone Wars, we've been to Izzyz. The Tales of the Jedi we've been to Aziz. Isis. Isis. I didn't do that.

Oh, I see. Because before I did the final turn in and move along, I was like, I should go back to the ship. Well, I was like, something's going to happen when I go to turn in the, surely something happened when I go and turn the quest. And I wanted a different lineup. So I'm going to go back to the ship and change my party composition. So back to the ship. And it's like, the exile is John Travolta-ing and Pulp Fiction. Just kind of like, hmm, what's going on here?

and he gets a vision of all his buddies like passed out on the floor and break room they look dead and then the lady who was choked by Mr. Speaking in Tongues dude on the fucked up Star Destroyer

she's meditating in Crea's room and you're like hey you have various options you can say but she doesn't say anything just attacks you and I can't be her at all. And I'm not saying like, man, I can't

be, it's not close. Like, she is she's hitting for about 30 points of damage a hit. The Medpack, the advanced Medpack heals about 57, 60.

She's hitting every round, huh? She's hitting every round. She stops hitting once I start like hitting potions. but like doing those like buffs absorb you have to like absorb a lot of action rounds yeah well and so by the time the fight is on roughly equal footing I'm cooked right are you are you pausing and using pausing and using like are you going into the menu yeah don't use to go into the menu I should just cheese the shit it's not even a cheese yeah yeah that's not a cheese me me running into the mandolarians every round of the battle circle so that they take a step backwards so that they walk out

of the battle circle so that I don't have to fight them. Hey, where's your fucking teeth? That's honor. Yeah. I should have beat those guys. You win the end though? Make me take my clothes off or no Jedi powers or

whatever the fuck they're doing to me. I can't beat them. What's cool? I will say that top level guy, he's like, use whatever you want and also I'm still just going to use my fists. I was like, damn, you're not to get washed but no he fucked me up still yeah I only got up to sword v sword

and I couldn't I mean yeah but by the end of that I'm like guys I have a lightsaber like are you sure about this okay I wish I made the lightsaber what yeah what I will say is that cheesing is not that easy like you really have to like you have

to push them in a very specific way you mean that in time in time before they kill you like you have to run into because they hit you so hard and I'm like four shots from getting killed. So it, it wasn't that much of an easy tactic. Let me just say that. I go to the menu I can potion up too, right? That is what we're talking about. Yes. Yes. But you can only use one item per menu. That's exactly. This is why it's not cheesing. Like it seems extremely built in. They did limit it. So you can't just take like

six potions. That's right. But you can activate a shield or take a potion or use one of those. So they basically decided it's a free action. That's right. In D&D. That is exactly. Just access to this one menu. That is exactly right, Rob. I switch to easy and turn on auto pause, and I have had no issues with this game so far. Just do it. Because, like, it is, again,

it's a lady in a fancy evening gown. It's just in my RV. And just beating the shit out of me. Yeah, that sounds great. And I will say, Rob, and you know, it's like the hottest thing that's happened in this game. So that's what I'm saying. I will say, Rob, you know, I, we have, we have, you've heard me talk

about, like, oh, I'm glad I have video recording this shit so that it doesn't sound like I'm bullshitting when I say, like, oh, I won these fights and blah, blah, blah. Like, let's be clear. I'm going to show you the screenshot of what it looked like at the very end of this fight. She almost got my ass. Look at my health. Like, I am... Oh, yeah, she's bad news.

She's fucking good at this game. She knows what she's doing. Look, my sword's all glowing red and shit right now. I feel so vindicated, though, that intro to that character, I was like, like fixable I mean this is what I'm saying Rob we're gonna talk all sorts of shit about how oh it's cringy da da da da da da da da I gotta tell you bro it's you something is wrong with my girl living in a gothic spaceship with an abusive like father figure mentor boyfriend I don't know what the whole situation but like I feel like she's not bad she's just confused she's just and look at her cool fit what are you

talking about. It's extremely slinky. That's a fit. She's getting it off right now. Like, look. No one has a look like this. And this game is filled with looks. Anyway.

No, I will say, again, unfortunately, you can get like all of her one-on-one companion conversations basically immediately. Like, if you go and watch the let's play, I've had basically all of the one-on-one shit with her. She ends up being,

she has more stuff around the world. She's like the handmaiden. When you meet your purse. person, you just know. That's not really true. But that's cool. But also that means like the cover is the book. Like you're going to meet her, you're in her whole deal.

And that's kind of like, well, we've had that relationship. No, I think that, you know, she comes up more and more. And who knows? Like I might have gotten some conversation options. Again, I wasn't trying to game. But I just actually, though, this is what I was trying to game because I think something important to say here. Actually, I should say this outright. If you get her influence, so you can beat her here, I won't get into what the conversation

with her about, but I will say you can win this fight when you do, everyone is like, you should kill her, and you can be like, no, what? My precious goth girlfriend? No, no, no, we'll put her in the med bay. She's going to be okay. And I don't think you can actually kill her out right. I think you can be like, I'm not going to talk to her. She can sit in the brig, basically, right?

Um, uh, but, uh, you can go, go talk to her immediately and depending on what your choices that you make are, you can gain the influence you need in the conversation, learning her backstory to then unlock the next tier of conversation with her. And that can just loop until you get it all, basically. Um, uh, and importantly, if it gets higher than handmaiden's, um, influence with you. Uh, one handmaiden will be like, I don't like that. you're fucking with her so much. And if it gets even higher than that, Handmaiden will be done with you. Handmaid will be like, no. And we're not doing these bra and panty training sessions anymore. We're not doing the wrong panty matches anymore. It's done and you can't go down the handmaiden's plot anymore.

It will cut you off if you get more than 30 points above influence. What if I just offer to referee some foxy boxing matches? So I think that I've managed to thread the needle and I've kept the hands. handmaidens influence high enough that I haven't triggered that, but just do all the handmaiden stuff as much as you can before you max out, or like, save before your big talk with her. This is a character named Vsas, visas, and, you know, make a save just in case you get locked out of the handmaid and stuff. It's very goofy that they do it this way.

But again, like, they are already in, what if there were two hot women in the party and They both loved you so much that they couldn't stand each other. But they do have a good conversation when the first, when you're like, once you get a little of the visas influence up, they do have a conversation that's like, hey, like, how do you see him? How do you feel? Like, what's your relationship with this guy like? Which is, like, it starts kind of heated and then it kind of like gets into that. And that's kind of, we'll see. We'll talk about it as it goes.

And I don't, I actually don't know how the mod will handle those conversations. If they're just going to refer to the women as he in that, or if this is one of the mods that has changed, that is, like, you know, tinkered with the voice acting and dropped a she in in that way. We'll find out, I guess. Oh, yeah. But, yeah.

So we can talk more about her once you all recruit her. So is the play to just avoid getting too deep with Vsos until we're ready to, like, make the decision of which woman we want? It's super not that game. It isn't which woman you want game. Like, that's the thing that we were talking about the romance. stuff. It isn't, this is not before we go fight the last boss, we're going to have our sex scene game. It isn't doing that. It is, everybody has their own influence meter. I would say that

what I did was I focused really heavy in on the handmade and stuff. I did two levels of the sparring with her. I won the first one. I won the second one. The second one on locks from your level 14. I think the third one is when you're level 18. And so what I would make, and so I did the first two, I pushed that conversation as far as I could, and then I went and did all the visa stuff, and it seems like it's fine. It seems like my handmade influence is high enough. She didn't get pissed at me, I think. Oh, I see. So if you have, if you have high enough, then, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so if you have her, and again, we don't have, we did not install the mod that let's just see the influence numbers. If any of you want that mod, I will point

you to that mod, right? I think that's, I think that the ambiguity around this stuff, is interesting enough to the degree that I thought about maybe not even telling you this could happen. But I thought it would be a bad podcast if next episode, all three of you showed up and said, yeah, Handmaiden said, she hates me now. Why? We can't do any of that. All because I talked to Other Girl. All because I talked to Other Girl, exactly.

And, you know, Other Girl is Sith Girl. Other Girl is red and dark and what's happening there. And Handmaidon's pure and beautiful and loyal. Help me drag this kiddie pool full jello on the ship. We're going to work through this. This fucking game. Highs and lows. We're all going to be buddies at the end of this.

It's going to be fine. That's right. Anyway. Very, very silly. But sadly, I will never know how that unfolds because visas is simply unbeatable. I believe in you. I believe it. With the power of menus, I think you can do it.

Wait, so that means you never went back and had that conversation. You never said, let's go forward. You stopped there for today. I was like, I need to go back a couple saves. I need to craft all the med packs. I see, I see. And I was like, I'm just got turning this quest, but like, I am stuck. I also thought like, oh, they want me, they want this to happen now.

This is a before you leave Dixon or whatever, go fight visas. And I'm like, I am just like, I dupst it. I cannot like, this makes sense. They have created a woman so powerful that Miko Nassi, cannot defeat her. I know. It means you didn't fight the two dozen Sith assassins who show up out of nowhere. No, but I did, if it was, I did fight like 50 droids.

So, you know, right. I think you'll be fine. Unless, anybody else have it. The Sithasans are nothing. Ed, you got all the Mandalarians there with you? Mandalorians have never been pushed so hard as in this one fight where they just wash these guys. Yeah, but it just kept happening. Like, at the point at which they were showing up six at a time.

I actually googled like Cotor 2 ducks and sit the ass in to be like How does this ever end? Yeah. Am I supposed to trigger something here? Well, it's funny if you like, if you kill and like too many too fast, you have to like wait a second for more to populate. You have to like keep running around and looking for more of them. Yeah. That shit that Craya said about how they're going to get stronger. I don't know, Crea.

They are not keeping up. Well, she said they're level locked to be below you. That's strong and they are. they can't they can't scale that's right oh you yeah yeah so you kill them you get on the ship you go to eases and then the last thing that happens that's like of note here is we get like an ancient obiwan and sateen situation we get one of the lost Jedi we cut over to to ises i keep saying aziz it's ises um and the queen of of uh anderan is is talking to one of the missing Jedi guys from your, from your trial, who you're here looking

for. And she is talking about a guy named Vaklu, who is Tobin's boss, the colonel's boss. And she's like, damn, there was a space battle above Anderan, that's fucked up. And the Jedi is like, yeah, it's, you know, it's weird. You know, for some reason, this populist general, everyone likes him so much, you know, and it turns out, your colonel, Colonel Tobin, he was involved in that battle, you know, and it's clear that he's just like in the advisor mode for this queen. And it's slowly setting up what the rest of Anderon is, which is, have you heard this before, there is a planet that has two sides to it. One side is peaceful and

kind of ineffective, and the other side is warlike and has, you know, evil hearts, but like the seems like they can get some stuff done. We're doing that now on, on, on, Isis, which again is the planet that saw Guerrera, or is the city that saw Garera, all that saw and Stella Guerrera stuff happened in the Clone Wars. It's where

in like a thousand years. In like a thousand years. Previously, it's where the Caldroma boys went and found that fucked up Sith Queen. Remember that? That's this city again. The city with the huge walls is the city. Clone Wars definitely wasn't in production though, right? Clone Wars would have been going off of

Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So in other words, like, this is actually stuff that could have influenced clone wars, but this was not influenced by that. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. I'll pick it up. I do want to say, before we get off this, like, episode, I guess, that, like, the perception of candorous meeting you and lying on Kray's behalf to be like, hey, can you just, like, go kill 20 monsters for me before. I can give you this ride when he already knew that he was going to do that the entire time. That's what it seems like, right? Because she says, when she says, like, is everything prepared, or are we, one of them says like everything's prepared, right? Mm-hmm. Which seems like they'd been talking separately. Yes. Yeah.

And lines up with the way that she's like, no, we have to go here now, Atten. So. But she's not a leader. A manipulator. She's sending us. And the source is moving everything. That's right. That's right.

That's right. Uh-huh. I didn't make you do anything. I just put you in situations where I knew what you did. That's right. And I just called the principal and made sure that the teacher would talk to you and invite you to extra credit. That's right. But you did it yourself, buddy.

Again, I think the game is like interested in who has power in a video game. Is it the designer? Is it the player? Does giving you options actually shift that, et cetera? So. Yeah, I was, when I was playing, I was having this moment of like, fuck Bioshock man. This

has nothing on the like, oh, I've been listening to this person orders this whole time. Like the fact that like instead there's actually this other, this character that you're with the entire time who's like weaving these things and we have so much

it isn't the veil. You know, like the entire experience of playing it, you know that you're being manipulated and all you can do is continue walking forward. and killing the little monster who's in front of you. Well, Bioshock's defense,

Atlas is a watered down Polito. And Polito, Crea has a lot of Polito energy. Spoilers. There's audio logs for Polito you find in System Shock, too, where she sounds mysteriously different from the woman who's giving you instructions throughout the opening of that game,

who has much more of a Crea, like, just do this, you sack of shit. Yeah. Did y'all, do y'all stream on System Shock 2? Or you just, you just? So I need to find, like, when Natalie has time. Okay. We need to play multiplayer system shock 2.

Oh, I didn't know there was a multiplayer. The remaster version that just came out has the multiplayer working. And I think there's no way that won't work better than Natalie and I share in character and resources. Instead, we'll both be in the game. And surely, like, there'll be enough resources to go around and, like, definitely. plans and they'll go according to plan yes we'll we'll chat through our strategies we'll execute said strategies it'll be great it'll be like a flawless like honestly a ghost run is that even possible system shot too probably not it'll be people I didn't know you could

em sim it that much as as those two just did that's incredible look at all the strategies that emerged when our minds are put together anything's possible so where are we headed next we're finishing we're just going to finish on to run here okay uh and then again i don't know where we should i haven't played through the rest of onderon but it's but what's our what's our cue that we're done like is it a like it's clear we've wrapped on deron back to the ebb and hawk yeah i again i have not played ahead yet we will Anderon, we will leave Anderan. The story will make us leave Anderan.

We'll be back in space going, fuck, where do we go now? And that is, and you talk to everybody on the ship and then we'll go somewhere else. So, yeah. And, you know, this is Anderan, if Duxed was like, Kishik in terms of like, oh, yeah, it's like the jungle and you're going through the jungle and da da da da. I think of Anderan itself as feeling like the other parts of the other type of place in Cotaur where it's like, oh, there's a spaceport, there's the merchant corridor, there's, you know, kind of like Manon style stuff is happening. Oh, there's, I mean, in more ways than one. I'll leave it at that. There's a kind of a big Manon comparison worth thing.

I mean, I guess actually all the way around, right? Because Manon was also, oh, there's two sides that are here that are kind of in shadow conflict with one another. even that stuff is here and then a much larger thing tied to the Mandalor story that's kind of interesting so do all the side stuff do buy the stuff

you want to buy from the merchant quarter I will say you cannot come back to Anderan right away you can eventually come back to Anderan when we leave after we leave

but right away so like if there's something you want to buy in the merchant shops or the merchant quarter or whatever now I believe is the time to do it the other thing not now but before you

wrap up the big story stuff there. And then the other thing worth saying, just as a reminder is you can change your party still on in Isis just by going to the menu, right? So you can't go back to the Ebenhawk, but you can't open the menu and be like, hey, I need to craft something right now, T3 come over here and be a table so I can craft

something on you. So clutch. So funny to me. I brought T3 and bow into the robot room because I was just like, fuck this. I'm going to. Cree is not the one who's built for this. Yeah, for sure. Definitely not. Yeah, so that's, I am, the thing that makes, like, shopping and equipping for me is, like, the thought of figuring out who has which mods applied to which weapon, and, like, it's so unnavigable. And I'm like, I just don't, I don't want to.

I know that I'm wearing a nice set of robes that has a good region effect on it. And, like, the game gives me new stuff. And I'm like, but I know the thing I has has the region effect. I don't. Are you parts? I just can't tell. I don't know if I just, like, break you down right away. I had the same thing because when I was going to the little

Mandalorian store with the Mandalorian who doesn't like you except that Candor said that he needs to he had like a really expensive Sith robe and like a Sith sword and I was like I'm going to give that to the handmaid and I want to fuck her up for some reason and it was a lot of money and I was like looking I was looking at my inventory and I just shut the window because I was like I don't have the mental

capacity to like think about what's worth selling. Right. Yeah, I would say give yourself a session where all you're doing is leveling stuff up. I will always think about these

or like doing gear shit. I always think about the garage sale session. Yeah, I think about it in terms of, you know, Giant Bomb used to do the endurance run where they would just play through one game every day until they were done it. And the first one of those was Persona 4

with Jeff and Vinny. And they would occasionally do what they call what I still think of when I play video games a fusing episode where all they did was fuse their personas

the whole 30 minutes all we're gonna do is sit down and like we're committing that's what this episode is gonna be if you don't wanna if you don't want to watch

us do that fucking skip this one and do the next one you know and I think about that whenever I have to do this sort of chore in a game

that isn't a chore game like you know if I'm playing a game it's about chores I'm doing the damn chores all the time but sometimes it's like okay

I know I have all these mods let me just sit down and figure out the mods and it feels a little bit like figuring out like you know how to get clear space on my computer or like what's going on with my taxes right now let me just like spend that time and it feels bad but when you're done I'm like oh cool

good close those tabs of my brain into it yes yeah yeah but the like the age of the game really shows itself here because there isn't even like a way to change the way that the stuff is sorted or anything like that you just have to like it's just you Just a big pile of shit

You and your pile I'm breaking down so much shit Because it's like I don't use grenades Right Your chemicals now Yep Yep

Yep And chemicals are useful Because you can build Healing items with them Does this blaster have any Flavor text associated with it No Yeah

Rob I guess the important thing You do have You could always Before the Vsos fight Go back to the base That has the chemical station And do all that shit there

Right And get some Yeah So I need to go turn in I see. And then I need to go. Right. Maybe craft that lights.

Can I do that at the station? You can do that. You can do it wherever as long as bad doors out. And talk to him. Yeah. I also did just remember one final thing about handmaiden, which is during those sparring fights, you can, so you have to be naked for them. You might remember this.

You can be like, no, I don't. And put clothes on. And she'd be like, stop it. You're not, you're supposed to be naked when we do this. And you can be like, oh, interesting. Are you sure? Are you just like, are you just like giving in to someone else's rules? Are you just like, because isn't strength the power to say no to something that you don't like,

like how I don't want to be naked when I have this fight? And you could like get influence her from her from that if you do it right. And then separately, you can be like, hey, can you put some clothes on? and if you pressure on that, she will eventually put some clothes on. And she's like, fine, I'll put on this robe I have. And you're like, where, whose robe is that? What's up with that? Dating a bizarro world evangelical.

Like, you literally, do you think you could put some clothes on? And she says, if you're, if you're, like, if it's post-workout and you're not in your clothes yet, you can say, she'll say, it doesn't seem to bother you. And then your response can be, yeah, well, I can walk around like this. I want to. This is my ship. Which is fucked. One, it's not your ship. Two, the subtext of that is like,

well, you're, you know, I am a again, you can only say this in the launch game of you're a guy, because it's the only way to have her on the ship. So it's like, women aren't allowed to walk around my ship naked. There's like really weird gender politics there. But if you, um... Is that her robe

though? Isn't that great question, Rob. So that just materializes where you like put some goddamn clothes on? She in this like 80s power uniform comes out. It comes on and you can say those look like Jedi robes. And she says, atrice hand me downs. She says those, they suffice for training purposes. They belong to my mother.

Who was, and you could be like, they want to your mother. Who is she? And so this is when you can start going down the who was her mother route. So like, what? Uh-huh. Wait, that's how you find that out. Put some clothes on. She puts on her mom's old things.

That's right. Great. Awesome. There's no other way to ask her about her. mom or is that the like i believe that is the i believe you could also get into mom conversation via with crea but this is the easiest way to get her to be like wait a second who's your mom and then you could go to craye and be like who the fuck is handmaid's mom this is so dumb i would just miko nas would never neg or try and control a woman's body that way

so i think this this path is foreclosed to us obviously well i mean it really teaches you something about respecting women, you know you have to put more clothes on so you could learn about them like in Mass Effect 2 where you couldn't kiss Jack I know, literally it's like the blueprint for so much Mass Effect 2 shit that is like the bad

parts of Mass Effect 2 I see. So ridiculous Jack just needed to be wiped up no, oh actually wait, nope right, no you can't hook up with her you have to wipe her up Does she, oh, right, you have to wipe, yeah, you have to wipe her up as a guy. She can't, she can't get a wife.

Oh, right. She can, yeah, famously. Despite being the butchish woman in the galaxy, she's exclusively straight. And you get an opportunity to sleep with her early. And then she's like, I don't respect you anymore. Yeah, the butcher's woman. And she says she's by. But if you're a woman, you can't actually get with her.

Oh. Yeah. It would be inappropriate. Yeah, it would be inappropriate. You're right. Mass Effect 2. A land of contrast. A land of contrast.

And fathers. That's the other thing in the game is filled with. Oh, well, with that, we've reached less said the better. With that, we've reached the end of another episode of a more civilized age.

Our show is produced by Chia Contreras and supported by our listeners at patreon.com slash civilized. So next time, wrapping up Anderan and heading back into space. Until next time,

please rate and review us on your podcast, platform of choice. That will do it for this week's episode. Hope you enjoyed it. Hope you enjoyed the 90 minutes on four conversations aboard the space shit

and then the 90 minutes about the rest of the like three or four hours of the game we played. Easy. For once it was the content of the game actually took us

took longer than the conversation because those conversations took me like an hour. They're long. Like almost two hours. They were so long. They're dense. They are.

Rich with meaning. You know? Credits to us. And credits of Cotor. Hey, way to be a rich text. I mean, I mean it, kind of. Kind of. Rich text, but also black lace.

I would prefer more Cotor 2s in some ways. Yes. You know? Yes. Agreed. Thank you. No, no.