Frock Chick

Chapter 3, Dark Reunions

Vaylin launches an attack on The Gravestone sending Koth into hiding and the ship guarded internally by Skytrooper Droids.

I have to admit I love that they are droids. As a kid I used to think TKs were droids. I mean they just got trashed and I didn’t understand that people could do that to so many other people. Innocence of youth yes? I still avoid mobs in games where I can. Stay on target, do no more harm than you need too. Sure it helps me avoid hand stress as well 🙂

The fact that they are droids I hope will be addressed in future chapters, as of writing I’m not yet finished, but I know enough story to have Ideas(tm) about what this should mean.

So the next step is for the Commander to get the Gravestone back, Vaylin and SCORPIO are on board.

One of the first missions cause me a lot of frustration hands wise. It’s another mission where you pilot a vehicle, well mini-vehicle, and so have restricted abilities/movement (the camera zoom changes when you change size be it larger or smaller- and it can automatically move in/out due to what the environment is like directly behind you.) This time you pilot a mouse droid.

A concept I adored. I loved loved loved the idea as the mouse droids in the OT do great focus pulling and I love their reactions.

Unfortunately I do not have any screencaps of this mission. However another blog does:

http://fibrojedi.me.uk/swtor-kotet/dark-reunions-chapter-3/

On the frustrating side I found the Skytroopers were not just triggered by the mouse droid in the area suggested, but behind them as well nor did it feel like the electric shock actually had a range of 3m. This may be in part down to my lag due to my wifi connection and the cast time (it’s 11 months until we get fibre- most of the suburb has it just not where I am!)

The video in the link above shows there is however a clear path where you can avoid the Skytroopers and I even managed to avoid needing the ability at all! So the only real issue for me to replay now  is how the camera zooms in and out, I found it a bit painful (physically) to manage my mousing and keyboard. But ultimately this is a case where there is the option to evade! Woot!

This is also the chapter where we see the full effects of Vaylin’s training, as seen in the trailer, as we confront her soon after.

It’s a difficult story, especially if you have experienced anything remotely close in reality-being manipulated at any age, but especially in formative years- I appreciate that later I can call Valkorion out on what is revealed. On a personal level I never wanted to use this against Vaylin, for everyone’s safety? That was tricky. It challenged my values and I do really appreciate that. I may not even like what I chose. But choose I did.

The next mission step was also physically trying.

In order to stop the Gravestone and the alliance ships outside, you have to destroy power Cells against a timer. Usually timers are quite long, enough to not only do the mission but to figure out how to do the mission. This time there was less wiggle room.

As per a previous post my tendons are all a bit borked. This mission pushed them to the point I had to quit. Well this and the mouse droid combined.

What made it hard was how dark the environment was and not being able to environmental hazards to trip on/get caught on. I did manage on my third try. I have recently reset my monitor (AoC) and I may have to adjust graphics again. But it’s not possible to do so during a countdown 😉

The blogger linked above also had the same physical pain, and difficulty on this mission. I’m glad to hear you can do this one grouped. That is an option that is not always available to me, but at least I know I can ask a friend to help on their account at some stage 🙂 The timer doesn’t start until you go into the corridor so this should mean being able to be AFK and go back to the area start.

The end of this story though? Chills! And vindication for my interest in SCORPIO’s story.

“The Gravestone wants to go home.” SCORPIO basically is very much not acting just out of self. She freed the GEMINI, gave them autonomy. They are ancient, and understanding how they came to be controlled should be something the Commander of the Alliance should want to understand too.

History repeats after all.

Chicken walker funtimes.

I will be spoilering, but also talking about the new game play and how it affects my ability to play. I love challenges. But there are some things that are very much locked out or create a different kind of tension than the rush of tackling a challenge 🙂

Chapter 1: Wrath and Ruin (link to another spoonie gamer blog)

First up, the story was amazing, sad, but  built on that long term play and so that connection to Voss and the people and what was happening in real time in the story. I was invested from the start.

We arrive on Voss to see it burning.

You start with limited abilities, as was the case with KotFE, but the actual difficulty of this area is scaled well in story mode to have a fairly short run through. This also is a chance to check how your UI matches up with intended rotations. I have my UI so I have the best view of the area including spotting mobs- the minimap does show them but this helps with immersion.

Okay so I wasn’t paying full attention so the remote mines, which are named mines, got me once. I do choose to scale my UI down so as to view everything so that is on me. They are on the map and they do have nameplates. The area is also relatively free of obstructions which makes running around to target them possible. My fingers make this kind of zipping around difficult, so I appreciate when the environment doesn’t get in the way!

At this point if you haven’t already been aware, the Voss we knew is in the middle of being destroyed. The planet. So

Right in the feels.

Board the Storm Rider

Reach the Shrine of Healing

Defeat the Zakuul Walker

“No. Pilgrimage path is the only way.”

This was the first point where I had difficulty. Well that makes it seem like a purely skill issue. But a hint, the above is technically true but you can avoid some mobs by getting creative with your path. Not all but some. The trick there is of course some mobs may be scattered in ways that make it harder to gather them all with your new ability.

In this part of the mission you operate a walker and you have limited abilities. No healing- and the repair stations are in regions where mobs can still target you. Once you take damage it stays. You can be targeted while in the repair stations also.

When defeated you go back to the start area. Fortunately the mobs you did defeat don’t appear and over time you can clear the map if you are in the same situation. I am not sure how long you can be AFK to rest hands, I know in KotFE there were times I was sent a heck of a long way back in a map. So it’s not something I want to test.

The area is not very large so this repeat play was at least possible to work around. It took a bit of extra time, was frustrating but I had a reasonable idea of the time that could be involved and was able to balance my time playing vs time away from the keyboard.

From here it’s mostly normal gameplay, some click this to get that, some mobs.

Though the story did get very intense. At this point I was spoiler free and was just hoping and hoping and hoping …. I did a little spoiler hunting to see if there was a possibility of what I hoped would happen.

And Valkorion is still messing with your head.

By using the truth.

And SCORPIO seems to be doing something I suspected. I knew she was not Vaylin’s lackey and that she was following her own story. What I did appreciate is how important her story is. Any feelings of being betrayed pale when you realise what she is trying to do.