Author Archives: Sam

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I really wish you could make a companion dream team in Swtor. Obviously it would (should) change based on the character. I have my personal favourites though.

T7-01 because you can never go wrong with an R2-D2 styled droid.

Kira Carsen for the Jedi aesthetic (she wields two green lightsabers like Ahsoka)

Bowdaar because wookie (Chewie’s loyalty just predisposes me)

Mako for her tech skills, her light teasing nature, I just think she is cool.

Risha because of all the charm and sarcasm and flirting. She’s smart and sneaky, what’s not to like?

Fortunately I think there’s always been one companion that I could tolerate on each of the classes, though it sucked if the first companion was annoying as they tend to stick around for a while.

Ahh I’m getting nostalgic now. Smuggler is the last class story that I have to play through and then I will have done them all. I have already decided to replay Bounty Hunter as I began that back in 2011 so it’s a distant memory. All the thinking about it though is tempting me to replay Jedi Knight and Imperial Agent.

I remember when I did the Imperial Agent I googled for the correct responses because there are several outcomes for the story and I wanted to be sure I got the one I wanted – independent secret agent. Not that it probably matters in the long run but it’s still cool.

Anyway my smuggler is on Tattooine so…

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I’m annoyed that my female smuggler can’t romance Risha because I definitely feel like there are sparks there.

True it’s probably just that they didn’t change dialogue responses so it’s the same no matter the smuggler buuuuut I don’t care what the games intention was – I am seeing potential.

Ah well they can’t stop headcanon

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I’m always very confused when I read drawing advice. In one breath it says “draw what you love! Have fun, bring the passion!” and in the next it says “don’t do a passion project to start” so which is it?

I mean I can see arguments for both. Doing what you love helps keep you going because you love it but also it is hard to let go, easier to be perfectionist and any criticism will go to heart more as care more.

So I don’t know.

My want does exceed my ability by a huge margin but how will I ever close the gap if I never start? This dilemma is a big part of why I haven’t started as I don’t know what to commit to doing.

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Today I went on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour (aka the Harry Potter experience) and it’s really well done. I definitely thinking going on the first tour of the day is a good idea as it made for a much more relaxed entrance. I have difficulties with crowds and I was apprehensively that I might ruin the day, or cause it to end early, if I had a panic attack and had to leave. However, maybe I should have had more faith in the Harry Potter brand.

I have never been anywhere where there were lots of people but so little noise. I don’t know for certain (as I’m not an expert in these things) but I reckon that they had experts who laid the tour out. So exhibits were placed to manage the flow of people and also the amount of noise. There were screens next to some of the exhibits showing a short video about them and they were easily heard. Even more amazing is that it was a big warehouse and it wasn’t echoey. I didn’t feel like I was being beaten on all sides by the hum of chatter.

Sorry I know it’s probably weird to focus on this (and not on the tour itself) but it’s a huge deal for me. I went to the space museum in Leicester last month and had to leave early after having only seen maybe a quarter of what I wanted. I always find that embarrassing and so to be able to essentially ‘complete the day’ means a lot to me.

Anyway the actual place! Well some of the sets are huge! I think the scale is what struck me the most. In the backlot they have facades of three houses. Then inside they have the Great Hall, Gringotts Bank – Diagon Alley! I had read of course that these exhibits were there but reading they exist and actually stepping inside them are two different things. The sheer scale was jaw dropping in person. I think the Concept Art wing might have been my favourite. Seeing the VFX and how they blended models, paintings, live action, green screen etc.

They had lots of card models done to scale in the Concept Art wing. They blew my mind just on their own because my fingers are much too clumsy. Then of course that led up to the main model – Hogwarts castle. The detail was staggering. I read that the turrets had a 1000 tiny tiles on them (again my fingers much too clumsy). They used the model in conjunction with digital VFX to film the scenes were the camera sweeps down corridors and stuff in the castle. You know it’s weird sometimes. Sets that I think are real are actually digital and sets which are so huge I’m sure must be digital, are actually real!

I was a big Potter fan as a kid but I was more interested in the cinematography behind the scenes details, than on the Potter stuff and I wasn’t disappointed. I had an extra talk as I had ‘Behind the Seams’ tickets so they talked all about costumes and the process of designing them, and showing us costumes up close and the details and also why the designers made the choices they did etc. That was super fascinating.

But even more than seeing how they did it, I was fascinated by the depth of the world building. It’s a bit like neuro-linguistic programming I guess. They talked about that in the costumes talk, about how everything about the design was intended to evoke certain reactions in the audience, and that was probably done subconsciously. It’s the same with the rest of the small details. Super-fans (and tumblr) probably notice but the GA likely doesn’t, however they are still probably influenced/drawn into the story more because of them. It’s what makes a living, breathing world I guess as well as being subconscious manipulation in terms of foreshadowing or prompting a particular emotional response.

Anyway as a creator, this gave me a lot to think about from a world building perspective. I am guilty a lot of the time of skipping over details. This showed me why they are important and also how they can deepen and enrich the actual story. It was a lot to think about and a lot to take in. I mean intellectually I knew that detailing was important but again I think like the scale of sets, it’s one thing to know, and another to actually see it.

So yeah 10/10 on management and solid content. Would recommend.

Swtor and future fear

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I have thoughts about the impermanency of the world and how hard it is to let go. For instance I googled about the future of Swtor as I’m getting back into the game. I like to avoid the doom and gloom brigade but someone stating simply about the licence being up in 2023 and how Disney was unlikely to renew it – that gave me pause. It wasn’t some frothing rant about the state of the game, just a fact and given that Disney did that to Marvel Heroes and now that game is gone… well lets just say I have already experienced the bitterness that brings.

So with this in mind I had a leaden feeling in my gut because the games days might well be numbered and then I thought “2023 is four years from now” and then I thought about technology. Without emulators games days are always numbered even if you buy them and have them on disk because technology evolves. The Lego games I am liking so much through Steam might not work in ten years or so (which is the timeframe for upgrading my PC) because the games of my childhood no longer work on the machine I have now.

I have issues letting things go because if I like something then I want to keep it forever and I do find it an unsettling prospect that something which I like, and work on, can disappear. But it happened with Marvel Heroes, I had invested a good amount of time (and admittedly money) into that game and there is nothing but memories left. I still miss it and I’m looking for something to fill the same itch. The Lego games are good (I just got to the point in Superheroes when I’m at the X-Mansion) but the Lego games are designed by nature to be comedy so it’s not quite the same. I’m hoping the Ultimate Alliance will help should I ever manage to get my hands on a Switch.

But anyway nothing in life is permanent, not online games or offline games because technology evolves – that’s the takeaway. It’s sad but at the same time due to that evolution there is new stuff to play. Games improve over time as well and with nostalgia culture, emulators and then graphical improvements sometimes old games can get a new lease of life.

So I think I have to be ok with the fact that there is a clock on Swtor. There might not be if the rumours of a Knights of the Old Republic movie is true because the game might get a resurgence. I mean there’s a reason why they bring out video games with new movies. I certainly get that itch after seeing it on the big screen to dive inside the world and play with it myself. Anyway that brings me to my point about the future being uncertain. Swtor might be doomed or might have another fourteen years – nobody knows.

I guess we just make the most of what we have when we have it. There is nothing more we can do because like so much of life we individually have no control over the outcome. EA/Disney will only keep the game running if it makes enough money and that requires hundreds of thousands of players – one voice is nothing. I try not to think about that powerlessness as it applies to far more serious things than just a game and it’s not a nice feeling.

Live in the moment. Good advice and not just when it comes to Swtor.

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Just watched Ahsoka refuse to return to the Jedi which explains why she wasn’t in Revenge of the Sith but now I’m sad 🙁

Not because I disagree because Ahsoka is right. The council’s hand was forced, it was politics, but the problem is in one breath the order is family, and in the next it is expediency. She had a right to expect her family to show a little faith, even if politically they couldn’t.

It’s just I like Ahsoka and so I’m sad that it happened to her and I’m also sad because Anakin came within a hair of confessing about Padme and Ahsoka’s “I know” seemed to suggest she knew. It makes me wonder what would have happened if Anakin has had someone to confide in during Revenge of the Sith. I have read lots of “what if he had told Obi-Wan and then Obi-Wan could have given him perspective” (because Anakin getting caught in his own head and only seeing one path was a big part of the problem).

Still what if it had been Ahsoka? Especially as she had gone through this when Anakin was mistrusting the council she would have understood and he would have known that and therefore maybe trusted her opinion on the matter more. Also given Anakin’s unattractive possessiveness, Ahsoka not being Obi-Wan means no rivalry clouding things.

I reckon master or not she would have sat on him until he listened. Which makes me think that if Bariss hadn’t acted on her own, then Palpatine would have taken Ahsoka out of the picture himself eventually. Isolating Anakin and driving a wedge between him and anyone who would support him was essential for the manipulation. So I guess in that light Ahsoka’s decision probably saved her life.

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I was just scrolling this blog (I hit follow after) and I was reminded of this writing craft book I read. I’ll have to search for it (I think it’s on my kindle) but the part I’m remembering was:

“challenge your first idea”

because the first thing that pops into mind isn’t necessarily the best fit. Now I’ll defend cliches (tropes) so I’m not hating on them but I did accept the point that the stereotype could be challenged with why?

For instance in my case as I was scrolling this blog I was thinking of an original story and my cast of characters and wondering if maybe I went with my gut, my first idea too quickly when it came to them. I was wondering if maybe I should have asked why a little more, and if maybe I could do something about it.

My problem though is I get attached. I have tunnel vision. Once I have thought of something I’m not good at brainstorming options, it’s like my brain says “you have your solution” and its very resistant to changing it. I get locked in.

Anyway I don’t know this is what was in my head and so I’m rambling about it. Sorry by the way if these rambling text posts are getting more frequent I’m trying something new. I need to let go of my perfectionist tendency. Like sometimes I’ll say in tags “oh I could write an essay about…” but then I don’t because I feel like it’s been said before better, or it’ll take more effort than I have in me to write a decent post about it. But why? Challenge that too. As can’t I just blurt out the thought? Not everything has to be justified, this isn’t uni I don’t need to research references or even worry about being wrong because “it’s just my opinion dude” and if I want to ramble about it then why can’t I?

So yeah. Unfollow or blacklist my rambling tags (I tag everything thoroughly) as I’m trying to embrace that yeah this is me and that is ok.

While I was sleeping Swtor became a pretty great game… or maybe it was me that changed?

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I’ve played Swtor on and off since it launched, a month here and a month there, I said this when I posted last week about medical probes becoming standard for all levels of players (not just for subs).

Back in the day I made a post at the height of my Swtor enthusiasm saying why it was worth subbing to both Swtor and Warcraft. A few months later I made a post explaining why I was unsubbing from Swtor, the primary reason being I was burning out of Warcraft and the mechanics of Swtor were too similar to be a change. That is true enough as they are both MMORPG’s but there was also another truth and I can’t remember if I acknowledged it or not – familiarity.

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“There are going to be Jedi who disappoint us Ahsoka but so long as we know there are Jedi who fight for what’s right, it makes it all worthwhile.”
— Anakin Skywalker (The Clone Wars)

Excuse me here one minute because the irony of this quote is practically painful. I wonder if Ahsoka remembered it when she learned of Anakin’s fall?

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So I rolled a new Bounty Hunter in Swtor (I’ll ramble more about why later) but I called her Tano’ti after Ahsoka and Shaak Ti and gave her the same orange and blue colouring.

My OG Bounty Hunter was a cyborg which I felt was more thematically appropriate (using every advantage available) but I had no other reason to roll a Togruta. Anyway I am headcanoning that she is force-sensitive but got lost in the shuffle of war like Ventress and is disillusioned and cynical by it all. Hardly original I know but the background works for me /shrug

Not that it matters as I don’t always stick to it. For instance I started playing my Jedi Knight as morally grey/in it for the credits as I was thinking she was related to my OG Bounty Hunter but then I got a bit suckered into the whole “Jedi Knight” fantasy and went straight.

Anyway mark this down as reason for liking Swtor, it engages me in the story rather than just mashing buttons.