The Force Awakens - Spoiler Review

EDIT: It turns out I am stupid and the whole post is visible all the time. So just make sure you scroll down very quickly to the next post.

Sooo here is everything that I didn't include in the No Spoiler Review, for obvious reasons.
Only read this if you have seen the movie or really don't care about spoilers.
Honestly

I will be discussing my fealings regarding all the important plot points, so stay away if you have yet to see The Force Awakens.

I will try to make my introduction as long as possible to make sure no spoiler will is visible on the front page, but no promises.

Of course this is a good time to talk about spoilers in general.
I think this whole spoiler hysteria went out of hand. I mean look at Final Fantasy VII. The original that came out in 1997. That was 18 years ago. It can now buy alcohol, drive a car and have sex.
It's plot is generally common knowledge. We all know that Aerith dies, Cloud has fake memories, or that Sephiroth was dead all along. I knew all of these and more when I had my first playthrough. And guess what. I loved every minute of it. Well written moments work just as well if you know they are comming. *cough* I am your father *cough*. Plus it is not the same to read: Snape kills Dumbledore in an internet forum as reading or watching that scene in the context of the whole story. If a huge blockbuster in 2015 can't affect its audience as well as a nearly two decades old console game it has failed miserably.

With that out of the way let's look at the movie!













You ready?






Your sure?









Okay. So TFA was awesome. There is no point denying that unless you are obejctively wrong.
Sure there are a few details we can nitpick about - and I totally will - but none these minor things are worse than the plotholes of the Original Trilogy, or Back to the Future II or The Matrix. Or Terminator 2 for that matter. And Jurassic Park.
So yeah, you get the idea. Yet we ignored all of those cause everything else worked. So we shall give The Force Awakens a free pass as well.

Most of the legitimate complaints against TFA can be traced back to two issues.

1. It was predictable. Very predictable. The guy who looks a lot like a young Harrison Ford, plays Han Solo's son. The tech savvy orphan living on a desert planet turns out to be Force sensitive. She's also a very good pilot.
Oh, quick question: If a good guy wants to redeem the villain while standing on a long bridge above a bottomless pit, what will happen?
If you answered: The good guy dies, you win.
And come on. Everyone figured out R2 has the missing map piece as soon as 3PO mentioned that it is impossible.

2. Very little new stuff was in it. Of course when I say new stuff I mean stuff that didn't pay homage to the OT. Granted I loved all those moments, but appart from the Knights of Ren and their 2-3 seconds of screen time, everything had at least a little bit of: "I have seen this before" flavor.
Of course it is understandable why the movie was playing it safe.
If we don't count the special editions, we have gone for 30 years without a star wars movie that wasn't utter garbage. We have also gone for 10 years without any kind of star wars movie. The last time Lucasfilm revived an old IP, it turned out to be a disaster. The last time JJ revived a sci fi frachise, he didn't quite grasp the essence of it, And quite a few people doubted that Disney is the right company to produce new star wars movies.
Considering all this it was probably a smart move by the people involved to create a movie that is essentially a soft reboot that mixes Episode IV and V and leave the experimentation to Episode VIII and IX. Now that the new team has our trust they can steer the story in all sorts of interesting directions.


Han's death and the Luke reveal also passed the FFVII test. It wasn't as shocking the first time because of its predictability, but at least the second viewing didn't take away the effect.

Another thing worth mentioning is the ammount of world building the movie and the visual dictionary does. We got a nice glimpse at what people eat on Jakku and at the entertainment in Maz's bar. We also got several new organizations, planets and events. Rakata Prime is back in canon and the VD also mentions the Scourge of Malachor. I have a feeling SWTOR will soon be completely decanonized by a Kotor remake. Whatever happens, the Lore Vampire is happy with the new details it can chew on.

Star Wars - Just let it in

And it is finally here. The actual trailer for Star Wars The Force Awakens. And it is freakin awesome.

I will eat crow and my hat and a crow wearing my hat if it is not true, but I'm going to say it. This will be awesome.

The action looks great, the acting looks great (hey look, emotions. Haven't seen that in a star wars movie in 30 years) and I'm getting strong star wars vibes from it.

The only thing I can nitpick is that very little seems new. Most of the stuff so far seems to be lifted from the OT and polished. Of course after a whole trilogy of disappointments this might be a sensible approach, but I would prefer some innovation.

There are few bits here and there. Finn seems to have taken ideas from Kyle Katarn (big bonus point) Maz Kanata is apparently a female yoda (different species, but still a small grinning gremlin, strong in the Force) and a pirate queen at the same time aaand there are the Knights of Ren.

The Knights of Ren are a weird bunch. We don't even know if they are all Force sensitive or not, but Kylo seems to be the only one with a lightsaber. While Kylo is working for the First Order, there is no indiacation that the Knights as a whole are affiliated with them, Or any order of Force users like the Sith or the Witches of Dathomir. Not inquisitors either as all of those had lightsabers.

So in other words, they are all new.

Star Wars The Poster Awakens

Hellllo people.
Sorry for not posting anything lately, but I have been busy. But now I return just a day before early access for Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire begins and the first actual trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Speaking of which, the official poster for TFA finall hit today. It is a good time to be a star wars fan.

It's so dense. Every single image has so many things going on.

A few random thoughts:

• Wohoooo Leia is here. Havent seen much of her beside her hand.
• Finn AKA Black Kyle Katarn looks badass with that saber.
• 3PO! Mr Plinkett called. He wants to not what is wrong with your faaaaaaace? Seriously his face looks freakish from this distance.
• Maz Kanata (if that is her) looks a lot like an Asura from Guild Wars 2. It's already exciting that a woman became a pirate leader (a very manly job) but if she's this small, imagine how badass she has to be to ear her respect. It's really hard to pick a favorite character for this movie.
• Rey looks super cool with that staff. We don't have enough melee weapons that aren't lightsabers.
• Starkiller base is very weird. On the poster it looks like another death star with a bigger gun (go figure) but we saw it in a trailer and it was an ice planet with an atmosphere and everything.
• The Joker is conspicuosly absent. Err I mean Darth Bane.

Knights of the Fallen Empire and why we are being had

Hello everyone. Terribly long title I know. Still I will try to make it up to you somehow.
Soo, Knights of the Fallen Empire. Next in the line of Star Wars: The Old Republic expansions. It will come with lots of gameplay tweaks, a new storyline and absolutely no new neat little feature.
I mean seriously. Why can't we have a working casino on Nar Shaddaa where we can play Sabbacc?
But enough of that. Let us focus on the story. You see, something isn't right. Or well lots of things aren't. Let's review what we know officially without data mining. Oh, SPOILER ALERT
Bioware hates spoiling the story. The Sith Emperor can't be in two places at the same time. Valkorion is a human with three children. Knights of the Fallen Empire will have its first 9 chapters released initially followed by an additional 17 chapters in an episodic format. You will be frozen in carbonite at the beginning of the story.
Nothing too crazy so far. However we saw and heared some stuff on official streams that hint that something is amiss. For example.
Valkorion is actually the Sith Emperor. He kills Darth Marr in the very first chapter. You only get frozen in carbonite at the end of chapter 2. In chapter 3 Valkorion is already dead.
Yeah, so what the hell is going on? Apparently Marr dying, the identity of Valkorion and him dying is not a spoiler. So what IS a spoiler? Short of the Knights of Ren appearing in Chapter 9, nothing should reasonably top this.
Speaking of the Knights of Ren. What knights is the title referring to? The Republic has knights but is not an empire. The Sith Empire is an empire but has no knights. The Eternal Empire is an empire and has the Zakuul knights, but they are the main antagonists of the expansion so they won't be fallen for a very long time.
And this whole Vitiate is Valkorion business makes absolutely zero sense. Assuming what we know of Vitiate is true. He is supposed to be a Sith Pureblood and not a human in white robes.
Oh wait. Oour first look at the emperor was exactly like that. He even had a similar haircut to Valkorion's sons. Look up the scene in Blood of the Empire where he gives Teneb Kel his mission. Looks a bit like Arcann without the face mask. Were the clues always there? Maybe.
But with all this self contradictory info comming our way I have a fealing that the first title we will unlock in Knights of the Fallen Empire will be 'Chump'.
Thanks for listening to my thinking out loud. Next time I will explain why I think the Smuggler is the best character to use as the Outlander.