The other day by accident I saw the trailer of the force unleashed II. Horrified but driven by a morbid curiosity, I investigated further. I saw the trailer of the force unleashed I and the ending of both games. I thought, has that been ever considered canon or even close to canon? I am glad Disney labelled everything as legends.

What I saw was so so so far away from my Star Wars world (that of the movies), I could not believe it. I blame you Lucas for selling your soul to that! For what? so you could buy you a new house in Miami!

Past my moment of rage against Lucas, I understood the damage was done already, long ago in a console far, far away. Now I understand why my vision of the setting of star wars is so diametrically opposed to that of others. Something that has not happened to me when I have played games based on Middle Earth, Cthulhu Myths, Arthurian legends, Dune and a long list of settings.

Wow, I will take my hat if this RPG is able to merge all the fans of Star Wars under a single set of rules.

And for the future I hope Disney takes more care on creating a more coherent world of Star Wars.

Eff-You is indeed the low point of the Star Wars franchise.

Quite possibly the nadir of human existence, in fact.

In our game, the rogue Alliance Bad Company squad is actually regarded as heroes in many quarters (despite them being essentially terrorists) because they killed Monobrow Boy and kept his eyebrow as a trophy.

I enjoyed FU myself. But I recognize it for what it is. Over the top, ridiculous, and not exactly "Star Wars."

Like most EU its great for mining bits and pieces, but it's not something I think I'd want to see the movies become.

What I saw was so so so far away from my Star Wars world (that of the movies), I could not believe it. I blame you Lucas for selling your soul to that! For what? so you could buy you a new house in Miami!

I take it you weren't familiar with the EU at all then? Was it the over-the-top feats of Force Unleashed?

Darth Sidious wipes out a rebel fleet in the Dark Empire trilogy: http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130619025605/starwars/images/d/df/Battle_of_Pinnacle_Base.jpg

"The storm rolled down the plateau and rumbled across the forest. Hundreds of forks of searing lightning shot down from the sky-- and the forest erupted. Trees burst into flames the blaze racing through the branches and spreading out in all directions. The underbrush smouldered, smoked and ignited; and a wall of fire swept across the planet's surface" (Darth Bane: Path of Destruction).

Above quote is Darth Bane destroying an entire forest with Force lightning. In a later book in the trilogy, Bane stops a rain storm using just his lightsaber-- deflecting every single drop of rain with it.

"Anakin blinked and rubbed his eyes again. Maybe he was still a bit flash-blind—the Korun Master seemed to be fading in and out of existence, half swallowed by a thickening black haze in which danced a meter-long bar of sunfire." (Revenge of the Sith)

Mace Windu moving so fast that he seems to be fading in and out of existence, during his fight with Darth Sidious.

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20060614172257/starwars/images/4/48/Jediacademi_01_20.jpg A Jedi Padawan throws a Star Destroyer (albeit at the cost of his life).

The Expanded Universe was a crazy over-the-top place. Which is a good thing for some people, who liked the crazy-over-the-top stuff, and for others it just shattered their suspension of disbelief.

I think it could be irresponsible to ignore the EU completely, though -- after all, your players want to feel special. Not that I think they should be able to use the Force to drag a Star Destroyer out of the sky ala FU, but... letting them do wicked cool stuff that seems impossible otherwise makes the game that much better, at least imho.

@ColArana: No, I am not that familiar with the EU. I have read the Heir to the Empire trilogy (good books in my opinion), Allegiance and Choices of One (not bad books but neither good) and Shadows of the Empire (honestly, this last one was hard to finish).

Now, since I read your post I will have to lobotomize an even larger part of my brain. **** you!

@ColArana: No, I am not that familiar with the EU. I have read the Heir to the Empire trilogy (good books in my opinion), Allegiance and Choices of One (not bad books but neither good) and Shadows of the Empire (honestly, this last one was hard to finish).

Now, since I read your post I will have to lobotomize an even larger part of my brain. **** you memory!

The EU has a lot of good stuff and a lot of bad stuff. Despite me using it as an example, the Darth Bane trilogy was fantastic, and even referenced in the (still Canon) 2008 Clone Wars.

It also has stuff like Dark Empire, which was so poorly written you could have sworn it was written by a six year old.

The Knights of the Old Republic games are also good, despite having some over-the-top Sith like Darth Nihilus who was able to kill the population of entire planets with little more than his presence.

General Grievous takes down six Jedi, including two Jedi Council members by himself (plus a seventh offscreen)

The Expanded Universe was a crazy over-the-top place. Which is a good thing for some people, who liked the crazy-over-the-top stuff, and for others it just shattered their suspension of disbelief.

To be fair, that whole show was a ton of over the top stuff to make the Jedi into ubermensch, and given all the hype from LucastArts about what a badass jedi killer Grievous was supposed to be, he also was worked up. But at least it fit with what led into Revenge of the Sith as the Clone Wars cartoon ended right where the movie started up (as opposed to the 3D Clone Wars).

@ColArana: No, I am not that familiar with the EU. I have read the Heir to the Empire trilogy (good books in my opinion), Allegiance and Choices of One (not bad books but neither good) and Shadows of the Empire (honestly, this last one was hard to finish).

Now, since I read your post I will have to lobotomize an even larger part of my brain. **** you memory!

The EU has a lot of good stuff and a lot of bad stuff. Despite me using it as an example, the Darth Bane trilogy was fantastic, and even referenced in the (still Canon) 2008 Clone Wars.

It also has stuff like Dark Empire, which was so poorly written you could have sworn it was written by a six year old.

The Knights of the Old Republic games are also good, despite having some over-the-top Sith like Darth Nihilus who was able to kill the population of entire planets with little more than his presence.

You can find things in Force Unleashed that are very good for SW. It actually had a very good and solid story behind. You have Vader raising a powerful Force User (a child of a Jedi) and forging that person to purely be a weapon. We are talking over a decade of pure training in lightsaber combat and using the Force as a Weapon. He is sent to kill Jedi Masters as a secret weapon and then betrayed by Vader. Of course that was a double blind trick that Vader and the Emperor used to have Starkiller bring together Rebel Factions and actually introducing were the Rebel Emblem came from. Then the one of two endings. Starkiller replaces Vader (darkside) or he dies protecting the new Alliance (lightside). Reality the lightside version is the real ending.

Story for FU2 not on the same level. The best things from that game are the new Dark Troopers and Hunters.

Of course Force Unleashed really does live up to the name, because it was not just Starkiller who was OP, but the other force users - Especially Vader. Of course your lead character was able to take on Jedi Master's One on One.

Yeah the powers were ridiculous in the size and scope of power. What made that game so much fun was the control you had over Force Powers. You could lift a crate, hold it in the air, adjust it, and then chuck it at enemies or just use it to block them as your approached. Which was very different way we used the Force in previous games.

In all reality the game is Star Warsy, but an Extreme Version where of Force Powers take center stage. It is it's own thing and even leaves the thought that Luke is just as powerful if not more powerful than Starkiller. I would like to point out that as powerful as Starkiller is, Blaster Bolts kick his butt quickly if you are not careful. Especially once you go up in difficultly (I.E. Sniper's are no joke).

In all reality the game is Star Warsy, but an Extreme Version where of Force Powers take center stage. It is it's own thing and even leaves the thought that Luke is just as powerful if not more powerful than Starkiller.

ok ok, finally I watched the youtube link. I missed the girl in bikini that appears in all b movies...

In all reality the game is Star Warsy, but an Extreme Version where of Force Powers take center stage. It is it's own thing and even leaves the thought that Luke is just as powerful if not more powerful than Starkiller.

In the EU Luke could create singularities, and his telekinesis was so powerful it was stated to be stronger than a black hole's gravitational pull.

....Yeah I'd say he's more powerful. Grand Master Luke Skywalker is the epitome of over-the-top, where he actually got so powerful that the writers ran out of things to challenge him with, so they just jumped to after he had died of old age.

That is true, I should have phrased better. Luke in the timeframe of RotJ is where the comparison to him and Starkiller is.

I don't doubt that the game was a good game, entertaining wise. Equally, I acknowledge the story arc may be good. My point is that its implementation is out of what I think Jedis are in Star Wars.

Telekinetic powers like the gravitational pull of a black hole... really? I am going to ask the admin to close this thread right now!

I enjoyed force unleashed. It is fun hurling storm troopers and tie fighters to their death. Very Cathartic. But I also recognize it is just pure silliness.

Not what i want in my star wars role playing.

I don't doubt that the game was a good game, entertaining wise. Equally, I acknowledge the story arc may be good. My point is that its implementation is out of what I think Jedis are in Star Wars.

Telekinetic powers like the gravitational pull of a black hole... really? I am going to ask the admin to close this thread right now!

I got that was your point, but I want to bring up the other really good parts to FU. Also that FU is not about Jedi and never meant to be. Starkiller is really never either Sith or Jedi. It is about the Force and the role it plays in combat. If you look at level of power early in the game it really reflects what we have seen in SW Canon. At the end of the game when Starkiller is at his most powerful is on the what one would call being a Legendary Character. That being reserved for the most powerful Force Users - Yoda, Vader, etc...The whole Myth of a super force user ability type stuff.

Something that is barely obtainable in FFG. I mean I am talking about Maxing out 5 or more Force User Specialization trees and buying all the upgrades to Force Powers to even be able to attempt some of those things.

As for what was done with Grand Master Luke, I have not been a fan. One reason I did like the move to separate what is now Canon and what are in Legends.

Much like Ghostofman and Daeglan, I enjoyed Force Unleashed for what it was: a deliberately over-the-top take on the Force in a video game, allowing the player to simply run roughshod over most of their enemies, particularly in the opening level.

The EU had good bits, bad bits, very silly bits, and downright horrible bits. Personally, I detest anything that came from Kevin J. Anderson and generally despise the Vong and NJO on general principle. People really like Corran Horn, but I find him a boring Marty Stu of a character that was just a little bit better than most other characters even when he was just a member of Rogue Squadron and before he got an upgrade into being a Jedi. And don't get me started on the Mando worshiping that Karen Traviss forced on the franchise; I was so glad when The Clone Wars pretty much kicked all the stuff she'd written about Mando culture into the trash bin where it rightfully belongs.

However, there were some good stories in the post-RotJ era, such as the Thrawn Trilogy and to a slightly lesser extent the Hand of Thrawn duology. Yoda: Dark Rendezvous was a pretty enjoyable read from the Clone Wars era, showing Yoda as something of the eccentric mentor we got introduced to back in ESB. The novelization for each of the prequel films did a lot to make them far more enjoyable, particularly the one for Revenge of the Sith by Matt Stover, and the Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader follow-up novel by James Lucano after that, both getting very much into the mind of Anakin/Vader and making him a far more interesting character than what we got on the screen.

You've also got the KOTOR games/setting, all of which are pure EU and thus "not canon" or "Legends" at this point in time. Though I've not played the MMO, I have played the hell out of the KOTOR games and very much enjoyed the KOTOR comic series, with Zayne Carrick probably being one of my favorite Jedi protagonists simply because he wasn't a super-powerful Force user.

There's also the Legacy Era of the comic books, which aside from Cade "Whiny McEmopants" Skywalker was generally pretty solid, and created a very fun setting for a Star Wars campaign since it combined so many elements of prior eras, letting you have your Jedi vs. Sith action while also having a tyrannical Empire to oppose or simply ignoring all that and living life on the fringe. I know DarthGM is running a campaign in the Legacy Era, and from the sounds of things he and his players are having an absolute blast. And once I've got the Force and Destiny core rulebook in my hands, I might very well run a Legacy Era campaign myself.

[...] and very much enjoyed the KOTOR comic series, with Zayne Carrick probably being one of my favorite Jedi protagonists simply because he wasn't a super-powerful Force user/

Just wanted to quote this to express my agreement. Zayne is my poster child for starting PC level up to Knight-level play. Plus the first volume of stories in this comic was awesome. The second... well.. It had its moments.

The EU had good bits, bad bits, very silly bits, and downright horrible bits. Personally, I detest anything that came from Kevin J. Anderson and generally despise the Vong and NJO on general principle.

No love for Kyle Katarn?

And don't get me started on the Mando worshiping that Karen Traviss forced on the franchise; I was so glad when The Clone Wars pretty much kicked all the stuff she'd written about Mando culture into the trash bin where it rightfully belongs.

This is really the only part I disagree with you on that. If we are referring to only the Legacy of the Force Series- I can see what you mean and that is not an issue. When it comes to the Republic Commando Series that is where my disagreement starts.

Mandalorians were already had a significant presence and it was not Traviss who forced it on the franchise. She just further defined a Culture that was already present, but had little known about it more than their combat prowess. She also better explained Jango's part in the creation of the Clone Army.

While many direct things are now in legends. The Clone Wars TV Show pulled a lot from the ideas she put forth in the Republic Commando Books.

The only good thing I will bring up from Travis that came out of Legacy of the Force was the notion that Imperial Knights from the Legacy Comics were spawned from Jana Solo's interaction with the Mandalorians.

I am not a big fan of the klingons in SW neither, I mean mandalorians!

I am not a big fan of the klingons in SW neither, I mean mandalorians!

Then you'll like:

i liked what Karen Travis did with the Mandos in her Clone wars books. They were good but not infallible. I think the Legacy of the jedi stuff went off the rails from my understanding...

I am not a big fan of the klingons in SW neither, I mean mandalorians!

Then you'll like:

The EU? Slap!

Top!!

Hilarious! but true!

The EU? Slap!

Top!!

I never understood the popularity of that character. He's barely in the movies and really doesn't do anything besides follow the Falcon for a bit and then let Vader know where it's going. That's really it. You don't see him in any fights being a major badass, so...

I never understood the popularity of that character. He's barely in the movies and really doesn't do anything besides follow the Falcon for a bit and then let Vader know where it's going. That's really it. You don't see him in any fights being a major badass, so...

but in the EU....