Discussion of Force Unleashed storyline (Spoilers Duh...)

[Ford Prefect]

I'm not actually sure whether I am annoyed that the slicing subplot was cut. On one hand, randomly attempting to kill Starkiller was PROXY's raison d'être. On the other, the Core subplot (while cliched) was also rather interesting. Certainly more so than the IG-88 supremacy stuff.

He can also deflect bolts with his hand. I'm sure I've seen it in the game.

He can. Darth Vader does it more consistently, but occasionaly Starkiller will use his hand to block.

[Mad]

On a side note, someone claimed it was a fully functioning ISD you force grip. In all versions it's a damaged ISD careening for the canon. If it was a normal clip and not an actual level the ship would have arrived rather fast. Instead it's slowly moving in while you maneuver it to keep from dying.

In the 360 version, it starts at a 90 degree angle to Starkiller. Starkiller slowly turns it to face him at Kota's urging, and then Kota tells Starkiller to "rip it out of the sky," which Starkiller does. Slowly. The cutscene has him giving it a final shove toward the ground (it's already very close at this point) and then trying to slow it down as it slides to him. He fails and has to retreat.

[Ford Prefect]

Amusingly, Kota paraphrases Yoda after Starkiller balks at the idea of pulling the star destroyer down. I had actually expected that sort of line, of course, but Kota's literalism was still a bit of a smile moment.

[Vympel]

I've gotten my hands on the TFU comic - here's excerpts from Haden Blackman's intro:-

Over the next two hours, I walked Lucas through our proposed storyline - a tale of Darth Vader's secret apprentice, who begins on a quest to kill the last of the Jedi but ultimately ends up battling "dark Jedi" in an attempt to save Princess Leia and redeem himself for his past actions. And that's when the trouble really began ...

Lucas approved our desire to cast the player in the role of Darth Vader's secret apprentice. He even spent a great deal of time describing how Vader would motivate his apprentice (through fear and a promise of overthrowing the Emperor together). He approved the story's setting between Episodes III and IV, a time period that had previously been largely off limits, and offered us great insight into the political events of that era. Even ideas that we ultimately felt were too outlandish and would eventually drop from the story - such as the notion that the apprentice might commune with the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn or Mace Windu- weren't rejected.

However, Lucas did have three major concerns about the story that would dramatically alter our plot. First, he was not comfortable with Princess Leia being protected by the Apprentice. Second, he felt that the Emperor- who never made an appearance in our original draft - needed to have a much larger presence in the game. And third (and perhaps most important) he was adamant that we needed to populate our story with new characters who fulfilled familiar Star Wars archetypes in new ways, charters who would later become a Jedi mentor who transforms from a militant general to a blind drunk, yet still manages to teach the Apprentice something about the Force; a comic sidekick who is dangerous as he is naive, and proves that even Darth Vader's apprentice can feel friendship and loyalty; and a love interest ...

I should also note the comic explicitly says that the events of TFU take place two years before the Battle of Yavin.

The comic begins with Bail Organa and Juno Eclipse recovering PROXY's wreckage off of Corellia - he still works, the rationalization being that obviously he was designed to take lightsabre damage - the Apprentice fought and defeated his programs enough time.

The comic skips over several things - the mission to kill Kazdan Paratus on Raxus Prime isn't in the comic, the ISS Empirical, and Kashyyyk levels are largely glossed over, and the fight with PROXY on Imperial Raxus Prime isn't in (i.e. where he takes the form of Darth Maul at the end, a program the Apprentice had not seen up to this point). The duel with the Shadow Guard on Bespin is in, however.

[Vympel]

On a side note, someone claimed it was a fully functioning ISD you force grip. In all versions it's a damaged ISD careening for the canon. If it was a normal clip and not an actual level the ship would have arrived rather fast. Instead it's slowly moving in while you maneuver it to keep from dying.

In the comic and novel it's a damaged ISD. In the PS3 and 360 version, it's a fully functioning ISD that comes down after you blow up the shipyard.

[Ford Prefect]

the mission to kill Kazdan Paratus on Raxus Prime isn't in the comic

While I can see why they'd cut it out for space (it's basically the only Jedi fight which has no effect on Starkiller), at the same time, I think Paratus was the most interesting of all the new characters. Paranoid and delusional, right to the point of making dopplegangers of the Jedi Council. That could be played in a delightfully creepy way, which for obvious reasons aren't easy to include in a videogame boss battle.

Even ideas that we ultimately felt were too outlandish and would eventually drop from the story - such as the notion that the apprentice might commune with the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn or Mace Windu- weren't rejected

I can't believe it. I had actually mused about how plausible it would be to encounter Mace Windu's ghost (lulz fanfiction) and dismissed it as being outright ridiculous. Lucas doesn't agree.

[Darth Yan]

My opinion is that if Lucas had just stayed the fuck out of this the game could have been truly great. Originally, the climax was supposed to be the battle of Toprawa, where the rebals got the death star plans. Starkiller would fight the other secret apprentice, and then choose between resuming his apprenticeship, and destroying the rebellion, or sacrificing himself to save the rebellion by attacking vader. Also, in a making of guide, it was mentioned that lucas is the one who encouraged the design staff to use palpatine as the big bad. Shame it cant be undone, but one can dream.

[Ghost Rider]

Again, a tad dead.