Ten-or-so years ago, while playing Knights of the Old Republic, it hit me. I think Bastila Shan might have said it:

"We should concentrate on the task at hand."

That's an interesting phrase, I thought. I've never heard that before. It sounds sort of... Jedi-like. I like it.

And then she said it again. And again. And then Carth said it. And then Mission Vao said it. And then everyone was saying it every time I turned around.

Fearful, I delved into my Star Wars d20 books. And there it now was, popping up everywhere in the SAGA line like an uncontrollable weed:

Task at hand... task at hand...

Then came EotE. New blood! Fresh air in the corridors! Let's have a look inside!

Task at hand... task at hand...

It's everywhere. It's all around me. It's closing in. Like the 'Wilhelm scream' of the Star Wars RPG, These three words are becoming so boilerplate that I wince in anticipation of them. Good god, surely there must be some other phrase the writers can use!

Task at hand... task at hand...

AAAAaauugghh!!! Get them off me!!!

[Disclaimer: this post is in no way a serious criticism of FFG's absolutely lovely work; I just feel that this particular phrase needs to take a little nap for a while. Does anybody share my pain??? ]

If I could help you by removing kotor from the timeline, I gladly would.

KOTOR was excellent. As enjoyable as I find SWTOR, however, I dislike it as a follow-on from such a classic title - primarily because of how they turned Revan from an awesome character to the Emperor's *****-puppet.

I got a bad feeling about this... thread.

I think I use that ... a lot ...

I must have subconsciously picked it up from the book, because I always use it as shorthand for "current adventure objective" which is painful to say once, much less several times in a conversation.

I mean, three single-syllable words, ten characters. I don't think it gets more concise than that.

If I could help you by removing kotor from the timeline, I gladly would.

Remove KOTOR?

Are you trolling or doing a hipster gamer thing?

I just literarlly cannot believe you didn't like it.

That's an interesting phrase, I thought. I've never heard that before. It sounds sort of... Jedi-like. I like it.

I find this really odd, to me this is a pretty common every-day phrase. For when you want people to to focus at....the task at hand... instead of something else. Heard it all the time in several languages throughout my education.

If I could help you by removing kotor from the timeline, I gladly would.

Remove KOTOR?

Are you trolling or doing a hipster gamer thing?

I just literarlly cannot believe you didn't like it.

"Oh, I was into hating KOTOR before it was cool after it was cool to like KOTOR before it was cool."

"..."

If I could help you by removing kotor from the timeline, I gladly would.

Remove KOTOR?

Are you trolling or doing a hipster gamer thing?

I just literarlly cannot believe you didn't like it.

I am not trolling. If I'm a hipster because I don't share the same viewpoint, then so be it. I did not like Kotor 1, 2, or SWTOR.

I did not find the characters particularly compelling.

HK-47 was funny for a few minutes I admit, but his whole thing was 'hating meatbags'

The visuals of lightsabers bothered me. When a character is hit with a lightsaber and just shrugs it off kept reminding me I'm just playing a game.

The story I found predictable and the surprise twist wasn't one.

The mechanics bothered me.. I tried to make a Jedi that talked things through. Reason and logic solving the issues, as well as charisma. What I found was I built the character wrong. The end boss was just a fight. No matter what I did, first and foremost I had to make a combat-centric character.

The game felt very linear to me, slogging through sub-quest after sub-quest. I had no freedom to really do what I wanted to do.

I tried to like the game, but as Yoda says, Do or Do Not, there is no Try. I do not like it.

My favourite RPG of all time, which has YET to be surpassed, is Planescape: Torment. This is a game that let me play a character that engaged in combat as little as possible and high mental stats gave me more dialogue options, and the end boss I REASONED with them. I didn't fight. I talked and swayed his viewpoint. There are very few games that do that.

I wan't to play a Jedi that uses a lightsaber as the very last resort. I couldn't do this with Kotor.

I have a different viewpoint from most people, and I won't force myself to like something because the masses do.

If I could help you by removing kotor from the timeline, I gladly would.

Remove KOTOR?

Are you trolling or doing a hipster gamer thing?

I just literarlly cannot believe you didn't like it.

"Oh, I was into hating KOTOR before it was cool after it was cool to like KOTOR before it was cool."

"..."

Ha!

I have a different viewpoint from most people, and I won't force myself to like something because the masses do.

I can accept that you didn't care for them. I was just taken aback because I enjoyed them so much.

Hey man, some folks don't like the game, some do. Doesn't matter either way, right?

Can't say I've ever heard of Planescape, but from what you've said, I now want to give it a looksee. What was it about? What computer system? And when was it released?

Here's the Wikipedia entry for Planescape: Torment

No game before or after has lived up to this game. It is the bar that all other computer/video game RPG's are measured against for me.

The first NPC you meet is a floating skull named Morte (like latin for death). The game gets weirder as you go on.

It, like kotor, involves a character with amnesia at the start.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planescape:_Torment

http://kotaku.com/5989197/why-people-love-planescape-torment

Here's the Wikipedia entry for Planescape: Torment

No game before or after has lived up to this game. It is the bar that all other computer/video game RPG's are measured against for me.

The first NPC you meet is a floating skull named Morte (like latin for death). The game gets weirder as you go on.

So swift!

If I could help you by removing kotor from the timeline, I gladly would.

Remove KOTOR?

Are you trolling or doing a hipster gamer thing?

I just literarlly cannot believe you didn't like it.

I am not trolling. If I'm a hipster because I don't share the same viewpoint, then so be it. I did not like Kotor 1, 2, or SWTOR.

I did not find the characters particularly compelling.

HK-47 was funny for a few minutes I admit, but his whole thing was 'hating meatbags'

The visuals of lightsabers bothered me. When a character is hit with a lightsaber and just shrugs it off kept reminding me I'm just playing a game.

The story I found predictable and the surprise twist wasn't one.

The mechanics bothered me.. I tried to make a Jedi that talked things through. Reason and logic solving the issues, as well as charisma. What I found was I built the character wrong. The end boss was just a fight. No matter what I did, first and foremost I had to make a combat-centric character.

The game felt very linear to me, slogging through sub-quest after sub-quest. I had no freedom to really do what I wanted to do.

I tried to like the game, but as Yoda says, Do or Do Not, there is no Try. I do not like it.

Well, in all honesty there was a try as you seem to have completed the game anyway.

Also I think your expectations going into the game were a bit on the high side… It is after all still a big title computer game.

You liked Planescape but not Kotor 2? I suppose that's valid, but weird as they were made by (some of) the same people.

You liked Planescape but not Kotor 2? I suppose that's valid, but weird as they were made by (some of) the same people.

"You liked 'The Sixth Sense' but not 'The Villiage'?"

I never managed to finish Planescape: Torment, mostly because at the time, I was more interested in Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. The little bit I did play of it, I found fascinating, though. With the release of the Enhanced Editions of Baldur's Gate I and II, I've been playing my way through those again. I'm hoping they'll re-release Icewind Dale and Planescape: Torment as well.

I love pretty much anything with the Infinity Engine.

Can we please keep to the task at hand? The original poster really wanted to discuss something.

Sorry, I really couldn't help myself.

... I will be over here in the corner.

I got a bad feeling about this... thread.

Kaosoe, I feel like I see you popping into a lot of threads and and announcing your disapproval of said thread. That must be such fun!

I think I use that ... a lot ...

I must have subconsciously picked it up from the book, because I always use it as shorthand for "current adventure objective" which is painful to say once, much less several times in a conversation.

I mean, three single-syllable words, ten characters. I don't think it gets more concise than that.

Don't get me wrong - I don't think there's anything wrong with the phrase itself per se, just that it's being dumped all over everything swrpg like maple syrup at a Canadian breakfast buffet (I'm Canadian, I'm allowed to say that).

I should also say that 'task at hand' isn't the only phrase that's getting up my nose: I think 'moreover' is running a close second. I swear, every product preview that FFG does says 'moreover' in it somewhere, and I think it's making me crazy. And when I see people using it in regular conversation! Oy.

To a lesser degree comes 'be mindful of'. Every time I hear someone actually say this to another person, I giggle a little bit inside - 'cause I'm 80% sure that the speaker hopes to be viewed as someone akin to a wise, kindly Jedi Knight.

That's an interesting phrase, I thought. I've never heard that before. It sounds sort of... Jedi-like. I like it.

I find this really odd, to me this is a pretty common every-day phrase. For when you want people to to focus at....the task at hand... instead of something else. Heard it all the time in several languages throughout my education.

Maybe my "I've never heard that before" was a bit off. I mean, I'm sure it popped up here or there, but it never really grabbed my attention to the extent that it has since it's been liberally peppered over everything swrpg (in EotE, it appears twice in one paragraph! ).

Can we please keep to the task at hand? The original poster really wanted to discuss something.

HA!

Anyway, thank you guys for indulging my foolishness, and not getting too flamey. It's just a bee in my bonnet that I had to rant about for a minute.

(p.s: I like KOTOR! No interest in TOR, though.)

Thanks for the links, folks: Planescape actually looks really interesting.

If you're interested in trying it, you can buy it at Good Old Games for $9.99. I didn't get far into it, but I remember being impressed by the dialogue and some of the characters.

Cheers Thaliak.