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[Baller. PhD]

And that's where Drew K. establishes that Sith can't heal...which TOR contradicts.

You understand that BioWare made that call, right? And they made it so the game could be balanced? Can you imagine an MMO where only one faction could heal? Give me a fucking break. He moved to Austin after writing the first Bane novel, don't blame him for lore inconsistencies. This game is what's fucking everything up. Since we still want to play it, we can't say shit when they take liberties with the lore.

 

[kodt]

Wow its that many books? Are most of them worth reading?

I would read:

The Darth Bane novels

The Thrawn Trilogy

Outbound Flight

The Han Solo Trilogy

Shadows of the Empire (actually I don't think this book is all that great, but it is a classic story in the EU)

I haven't read all of them of course.

 

[Darklord]

And that's where Drew K. establishes that Sith can't heal...which TOR contradicts.

Actually, the movies contradicts it and whatever is in the movies trumps everything. Anyway, this is the series with 5 levels of canon, shit has been changed many times before.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Video game mechanics are not real good indications of lore or canon. So many times they have limited the force powers that should be usable on both sides to a dark or light, weapons are completely represented wrong, etc. Pretty much on par for most licensed games. TOR is not going to be any different.

Even as head lore guy and writer of Mass Effect, the games contradicted Drew K several times.

 

[IcedTea]

So I cant get any of these books digitally can I?

The Thrawn and Bane books both just came out like a week ago on Amazon.

 

[Baller. PhD]

The Thrawn and Bane books both just came out like a week ago on Amazon.

Just about every Star Wars book came out a week ago on Amazon. It was a big deal, "Star Wars now available on Kindle." Before that the pickings were slim.

 

[Gvaz]

Well, it's totally relative on where you look for them. Of course, you can get them on amazon.

 

[Emitan]

Just about every Star Wars book came out a week ago on Amazon. It was a big deal, "Star Wars now available on Kindle." Before that the pickings were slim.

My wallet is empty, but I want them all on my Kindle. Even the ones I own in paperback. Curse you, digital future!

 

[Emitan]

This is my worst take, but screw it. Here's my little review/sample of that Logitech USB desk mic. It's pretty good considering it's $20. I recommend it.

"um...um...um...."

 

[bill0527]

The Thrawn and Bane books both just came out like a week ago on Amazon.

Almost every Star Wars novel is also available on iTunes.

I'm halfway through book 2 of the Darth Bane series on my iPad.

Funny enough, I'm at the point where Bane has to send his apprentice to sneak into the Jedi Library to learn healing powers.

 

[Rodney McKay]

Lore wasn't even consistent from Mass Effect 1 to 2 (that ammo explanation is bullshit)

How so?

They wanted to add "ammo" to the gameplay and they made a reasonable explanation for it in the fiction. Instead of waiting for the guns to cool down, you slap in a new heat sink. At least that's what I remember the explanation being.

 

[Emitan]

But it was still a normal ammo system. What they should have done was give each gun a certain amount of thermal clips and you can either wait for the gun to cool down like in the first game or just eject the clip to cool down instantly. It wouldn't have broken the fiction because what I just proposed is what the game tells you you're doing

 

[Rodney McKay]

But it was still a normal ammo system. What they should have done was give each gun a certain amount of thermal clips and you can either wait for the gun to cool down like in the first game or just eject the clip to cool down instantly. It wouldn't have broken the fiction because what I just proposed is what the game tells you you're doing

Maybe I just don't think of the ammo counters as being "ammo." It's just an indication that you have have X amount of shots left before the heatsink dies. Sure they could have left in the "wait for your gun to cool down" mechanic, but wouldn't a soldier want to instantly re-cool the gun instead of waiting? Fiction wise it makes perfect sense to me.

 

[CzarTim]

I would read:

The Darth Bane novels

The Thrawn Trilogy

Outbound Flight

The Han Solo Trilogy

Shadows of the Empire (actually I don't think this book is all that great, but it is a classic story in the EU)

I haven't read all of them of course.

Winner is you.

 

[Giolon]

I used to be a heavy Star Wars novel reader as a kid, but as I re-read some of the books in my adulthood, I realized that so many are incredibly bad. The Thrawn Trilogy still held up though.

Yeah, I don't think the Jedi Academy trilogy is particularly well written or anything, but I think it is important because it sets up a lot of framework that is used extensively later in the rest of the post RotJ EU.

And that's where Drew K. establishes that Sith can't heal...which TOR contradicts.

Have you played TOR to know that there's no explanation? If anything it's Drew K that's contradicting established lore. Darth Vader is able to temporarily heal in at least one book (though I can't remember which - I believe Shadows of the Empire), and there's the entire Legacy series which has Cade healing through the Dark Side too.

Really though, I've learned to stop caring about Star Wars EU contradictions a long time ago b/c the whole damn thing is just riddled with holes and retcons, especially with what they've done since Clone Wars started.

 

[Shrennin]

Have you played TOR to know that there's no explanation? If anything it's Drew K that's contradicting established lore. Darth Vader is able to temporarily heal in at least one book (though I can't remember which - I believe Shadows of the Empire), and there's the entire Legacy series which has Cade healing through the Dark Side too.

It also seems that Sion possessed some healing abilities as well - I mean, healing (especially Sith healing) shouldn't always mean restoration of original state.

It may be kinda a stretch though.

 

[StormyTheRabbit]

I actually just started reading the Thrawn Trilogy after getting recommended it from my friends.

The first book was awesome! The second is cruising along very nicely as well. I'm very psyched to finish it all. I'll probably give Death Troopers a go after just for something a little more "out there" and fun.

 

[Emitan]

This is sort of off topic but I just realized school starts a lot later than I thought. I'll actually have money and can get a new keyboard

 

[Fonds]

This is sort of off topic but I just realized school starts a lot later than I thought. I'll actually have money and can get a new keyboard

Sometimes the pieces of the puzzle fit just perfectly.

 

[barnone]

Anyone else have trouble with Origin and viewing purchase history? I have the confirmation email but 9 times out of 10 I can't view my purchase history on ea.com/profile. And the DDE doesnt appear in my list of games on the Origin client or the website

 

[Baller. PhD]

Anyone else have trouble with Origin and viewing purchase history?

Yeah, everybody. Do a live chat with their support. If they say that can't help (50/50 chance) then call the number during their business hours. Origin itself is fucking shitty, but their support is actually pretty awesome.

 

[Luigi87]

And that's where Drew K. establishes that Sith can't heal...which TOR contradicts.

I thought in the Bane novels it wasn't that Bane couldn't heal, but rather that he refused to heal in the methods that Jedi would do so.

 

[Gvaz]

Please don't take anything Drew K writes seriously. He writes at the high school level, it's really almost insulting (looking at his mass effect books here, made me want to retch. They were the gutter trash of scifi)

 

[bill0527]

Please don't take anything Drew K writes seriously. He writes at the high school level, it's really almost insulting (looking at his mass effect books here, made me want to retch. They were the gutter trash of scifi)

I posted something along those lines in the EU thread after I finished the first Dart Bane book. I wasn't quite as harsh though.

I really don't care for his writing style at all. Its very, very simplistic. The only reason I kept reading the trilogy is because I'm interested in the events of Darth Bane's life. I think this guy is a terrible writer though. His exposition in many key events and moments is either completely non-existent, or very poor.

 

[Baller. PhD]

I posted something along those lines in the EU thread after I finished the first Dart Bane book. I wasn't quite as harsh though.

I really don't care for his writing style at all. Its very, very simplistic. The only reason I kept reading the trilogy is because I'm interested in the events of Darth Bane's life. I think this guy is a terrible writer though. His exposition in many key events and moments is either completely non-existent, or very poor.

Yeah I agree with this, but I was very interested in Darth Bane's life so I still enjoyed the trilogy. The first book is clearly the best, you can tell that's the one he spent the most time on. 2 and 3 felt very rushed. It's a shame really.

I'm still pumped for his Revan book, for the same reason I was pumped about Bane.

 

[MaddenNFL64]

So, i assume you all saw the black talon flashpoint leak. (its on betacake).

They're overleveled for it, but it was oh so fun to finally see an Agent over the level of 5 & knew how to play.

 

[BrettWeir]

So, i assume you all saw the black talon flashpoint leak. (its on betacake).

They're overleveled for it, but it was oh so fun to finally see an Agent over the level of 5 & knew how to play.

That looks great. I can't wait for this just for a change from the norm in "fantasy" MMOs I've played the last 10+ years. Environment looks great.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

Why isn't this game out yet, so I can stop wasting money and time on WoW to waste away the time till this game is released. ARGH!

 

[Spire]

So, i assume you all saw the black talon flashpoint leak. (its on betacake).

They're overleveled for it, but it was oh so fun to finally see an Agent over the level of 5 & knew how to play.

I did. This game is going to be my life. It's frightening.

 

[DodgerSan]

Almost every Star Wars novel is also available on iTunes.

I'm halfway through book 2 of the Darth Bane series on my iPad.

Maybe in the US.

In the backwater pit we call the UK, we have the following:

Fate of the Jedi, Outcast
Darth Bane Dynasty of Evil
Star Wars a Musical Journey

and that's it.

I seriously don't get the logic.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Please don't take anything Drew K writes seriously. He writes at the high school level, it's really almost insulting (looking at his mass effect books here, made me want to retch. They were the gutter trash of scifi)

Bit harsh, but yea he usually is pretty simple as there really is no style to his writing so it comes off bland. The stories, action, and characters are generally fine, but the writing itself is pretty stale when it comes to Drew K. Though the first ME book was pretty bad, scared me off from reading the rest.

 

[Sigfodr]

Yeah, I don't think the Jedi Academy trilogy is particularly well written or anything, but I think it is important because it sets up a lot of framework that is used extensively later in the rest of the post RotJ EU.

Just started it myself and I would agree with this estimation.

 

[BattleMonkey]

JA trilogy was a big bummer being the follow up to such an amazing arc that was the Thrawn trilogy. Kevin J Anderson also goes overboard with the power of the force in his books, same with Troy Denning

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

JA - Does that have the same plot as Jedi Academy the game? I loved Kyle Katarn, and his legacy. In Dark Forces be was among the forces (as a mercenary) that got the blueprints for the Death Star (lots of Bothans died.. RIP).

In Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight he discovers that his father was a powerful Jedi, and the story continued in Jedi Outcast which is arguable the most famous in the series (such a fantastic game) but in Jedi Academy, Kyle has retired and the player takes the role of his apprentice. Apparently Luke Skywalker sets up a new Academy on Yarvin 4 to revive the Jedi Order.

Some times I wonder if it would have been smarter to put SWTOR in post-ROTJ to the point where lots of jedi and sith are running around again. It might not matter thou.



When people talk about Star Wars novels, I get really fascinated about the stories about Exar Kun and Ulric - Those stories sound (haven't read them) more bad ass than the stories in the movies.


And I've been told that the Thrawn books are so well written that it does not matter if one does not like Star Wars. Apparently they are just that good.

 

[BattleMonkey]

JA - Does that have the same plot as Jedi Academy the game? I loved Kyle Katarn, and his legacy. In Dark Forces be was among the forces (as a mercenary) that got the blueprints for the Death Star (lots of Bothans died.. RIP).

In Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight he discovers that his father was a powerful Jedi, and the story continued in Jedi Outcast which is arguable the most famous in the series (such a fantastic game) but in Jedi Academy, Kyle has retired and the player takes the role of his apprentice. Apparently Luke Skywalker sets up a new Academy on Yarvin 4 to revive the Jedi Order.

Some times I wonder if it would have been smarter to put SWTOR in post-ROTJ to the point where lots of jedi and sith are running around again. It might not matter thou.



When people talk about Star Wars novels, I get really fascinated about the stories about Exar Kun and Ulric - Those stories sound (haven't read them) more bad ass than the stories in the movies.


And I've been told that the Thrawn books are so well written that it does not matter if one does not like Star Wars. Apparently they are just that good.

JA game story has nothing to do with the JA trilogy of books. The JA books are about Luke's search for other force sensitives and starting up a new Jedi Academy on Yavin. Even set post ROTJ, it would be hard to put in Jedi and Sith as the Sith don't return for a long time, and even then the Jedi order still is rebuilding it's numbers..... some 40+ years after ROTJ they state in one of the books that there is around 300 trained Jedi only. Kyle Katarn does appear in the recent novels and is Jedi Master. Jaden Korr, his student you play as in JA also is a recurring character and lead in a current series of books.

TOR is set in an era with tons of Jedi and Sith and they got the freedom of having no books/comics to work around.... and obviously Bioware wants to continue off what they started with KOTOR

 

[Giolon]

JA - Does that have the same plot as Jedi Academy the game?<snip>

Some times I wonder if it would have been smarter to put SWTOR in post-ROTJ to the point where lots of jedi and sith are running around again. It might not matter thou.


When people talk about Star Wars novels, I get really fascinated about the stories about Exar Kun and Ulric - Those stories sound (haven't read them) more bad ass than the stories in the movies.


And I've been told that the Thrawn books are so well written that it does not matter if one does not like Star Wars. Apparently they are just that good.

No, the Jedi Academy game is completely unrelated, though academy that features in that game is the same place later on. The Jedi Academy trilogy deals mostly with Luke setting up the JA, finding his set of initial students, and the events that happen thereafter. If you want to know about Exar Kun you will hear some about him in it. This may in fact be the origin of the character (These were some of the earliest Star Wars novels, with only the Thrawn trilogy coming before I think? Not counting the really old Han Solo Adventures or Splinter of the Minds' Eye)

Edit: Yep, http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_novels_by_release_date (notice that the production of novels as a regular thing only really started in 1991).

 

[Garryk]

After the Thrawn books, I really liked I, Jedi. Also, another +1 for the Han Solo trilogy.

 

[Marco1]

Nice avatar GarryK.
I never played galaxies but I can still remember picking up a box in my local game store and salivating at the prospect of a star wars MMO.

 

[Giolon]

After the Thrawn books, I really liked I, Jedi. Also, another +1 for the Han Solo trilogy.

I wouldn't recommend reading I, Jedi w/o reading the Jedi Academy trilogy as it concerns the same time period and offers a different (somewhat retconned) take on many of the same events. It is a fantastic book though. It'll also mean more to anyone who's read the 1st three X-Wing novels first (I didn't at the time I read it and kept thinking "Who the fuck is this Corran Horn guy?).

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

Nice avatar GarryK.
I never played galaxies but I can still remeber picking up a box in my local game store and salivating at the prospect of a star wars MMO.

When this game out in 2003, people were shitting bricks; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXoqR6ni7yA

It's funny how Blizzard got depressed about SWG. I think it was after e3 2002, they had left e3 and had become so scared and intimidated by SWG and all the hype around it. Had SOE played their cards right, things would have been very different.

SWG is still like one of the most amazing game experiences I've ever had. The game had almost no assholes... which created the best community that I have ever seen in a game. But the game had classes just focused on community building and entertaining other players. And SW fans were generally older... target audience was people who grew up with the films in 70s and 80s = so less kiddies

 

[Garryk]

I wouldn't recommend reading I, Jedi w/o reading the Jedi Academy trilogy as it concerns the same time period and offers a different (somewhat retconned) take on many of the same events. It is a fantastic book though. It'll also mean more to anyone who's read the 1st three X-Wing novels first (I didn't at the time I read it and kept thinking "Who the fuck is this Corran Horn guy?).

Good call. The first few X-Wing books are a good read. I believe they are written by the same guy that wrote I, Jedi.

 

[Morn]

When this game out in 2003, people were shitting bricks; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXoqR6ni7yA

It's funny how Blizzard got depressed about SWG. I think it was after e3 2002, they had left e3 and had become so scared and intimidated by SWG and all the hype around it. Had SOE played their cards right, things would have been very different.

SWG is still like one of the most amazing game experiences I've ever had. The game had almost no assholes... which created the best community that I have ever seen in a game. But the game had classes just focused on community building and entertaining other players. And SW fans were generally older... target audience was people who grew up with the films in 70s and 80s = so less kiddies

SOE never called the shots with SWG. They were just Lucasarts hired lapdog and they couldn't take a shit unless the Lucasarts Producer currently assigned to them said they could.

Dealing with Lucasarts is what soured Smedley on dealing with licensed games.

 

[Darklord]

SOE never called the shots with SWG. They were just Lucasarts hired lapdog and they couldn't take a shit unless the Lucasarts Producer currently assigned to them said they could.

Dealing with Lucasarts is what soured Smedley on dealing with licensed games.

SOE still did a poor job. They had heaps of delays, it was still very buggy after a year and lacked content. I will admit though. It had such an amazing Tatooine atmosphere. Man, it was like you were there. So good. It was also very ambitious in some areas like its 30+ professions.

Talking about other star wars game. People should watch GameTrailers star wars retrospective.. It's really good.

 

[MattKeil]

When people talk about Star Wars novels, I get really fascinated about the stories about Exar Kun and Ulric - Those stories sound (haven't read them) more bad ass than the stories in the movies.

Many are, in concept, but in execution they tend to be very hard to get through. Most are also written as sci-fi, and since Star Wars is fantasy it doesn't come off feeling all that authentic. Frankly I'd say you're better off reading synopsis articles on Wookieepedia.

I found Michael Stackpole's Rogue Squadron series and Karen Traviss' Republic Commando books (now officially non-canon due to events in the CG Clone Wars show) to be the best EU novels I've read.

And I've been told that the Thrawn books are so well written that it does not matter if one does not like Star Wars. Apparently they are just that good.

As far as mass-produced licensed sci-fi goes, I suppose. The Thrawn trilogy was okay, and it was nice to have some Star Wars after such a long time with no new material (when they were published, I mean). They don't feel much like Star Wars, the prequels demolished the clone backstory set up in them, and none of the established characters really behave like themselves, but Thrawn is a great character. I'd like to see movies 7-9 obliterate the EU, but I think they should keep Thrawn himself as a character. When people say they want 7-9 to actually be adaptations of the Thrawn trilogy, I have to shake my head.

 

[Darklord]

and none of the established characters really behave like themselves

I actually thought he nailed all the main characters, one of the reasons I liked it so much.

 

[Zerokku]

I found Michael Stackpole's Rogue Squadron series and Karen Traviss' Republic Commando books (now officially non-canon due to events in the CG Clone Wars show) to be the best EU novels I've read.

I loved them up until [Book series spoilers:]

Spoiler

the whole lolmaincharactercanusetheforce

bit. That disappointed me because I think it made the character less interesting with how it was done. It took away some of the appeal imo.

 

[Emitan]

I loved them up until [Book series spoilers:]

Spoiler

the whole lolmaincharactercanusetheforce

bit. That disappointed me because I think it made the character less interesting with how it was done. It took away some of the appeal imo.

Agreed. Love the books and I still recommend them to everyone, but that drops them down a few notches in quality for me. Can't they just be a dude? Like, some normal dude? Who's cool? NOPE

 

[Sigfodr]

Agreed. Love the books and I still recommend them to everyone, but that drops them down a few notches in quality for me. Can't they just be a dude? Like, some normal dude? Who's cool? NOPE

Which is why SWG was so appealing. Until...

 

[Nolimit_SS]

Betacake blog has been deleted? wtf

 

[Emitan]

Betacake blog has been deleted? wtf

What. Oh no. Oh no no no no.