NJO Worth Picking up?

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Post by HemlockGrey »

Time and time again, Vong Biotech has been shown to be incredibly lacking. Their frigates can be destroyed in less than two minutes by a single squadron of X-Wings with 6 torpedos. And Dovin Bassals suck.
I must have missed that, because mostly I recall the Republicans whining about how the little mini-blackholes sucked up their shots, the Vong ripping through Republic fleets, and your average Vong warrior being lightsaber-resistant and killing Jedi.
As for the force thing, they had to have an opponent for the Jedi, and without have dark jedi, Sith, or droids, thats what they had to do. I had no problem with it.
But instead of coming up with a suitable enemy who is able to outwit or outmanuever the Jedi, they just make the Vong immune to the force and their armor lightsaber resistant through the magic of handwankium.
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Post by Ace Pace »

Hemlock, then its obvious you never read past the earlier books, after a while, the NR adapts, invents new tactics, same with the Jedi.

Hemlock, if you think its so easy, make one yourself, I'm not excusing their choice in enemies, but if you can find something better, I'll be suprised.
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Post by HemlockGrey »

Hemlock, if you think its so easy, make one yourself, I'm not excusing their choice in enemies, but if you can find something better, I'll be suprised.
You mean, can I find an example of a fictional enemy who was challenging to the main characters due to their intellligence and ability? Um....yes, yes I can.
Hemlock, then its obvious you never read past the earlier books, after a while, the NR adapts, invents new tactics, same with the Jedi.
My philosophy on literature is that I'm not going to excavate a mountain of shit to get to a diamond when there are diamonds aplenty elsewhere.
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Post by Ace Pace »

Well, we disagree on wether NJO is shit, but I agree with you on that philosophy.
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Post by Crown »

Let me put it to you this way Stravo; if you enjoy really average fanfiction, then you might like the NJO.

Here is a quick synopsis; Jedi get castrated for no particular reason, the Republic senate act like two year olds, worlds are devestated for no particular reason by Uber bio-tech - destroying the enemies bio-tech (the same bio-tech that is used as weapons and factories to produce more weapons) is Teh EvIll!!!!shift+1!!, Luke acts like a baby, Jaina is the Galactic slut, Jacen is a whinny no good fuck for most of the series, the bio-tech kicks ass - oh no wait a moment, no it doesn't! - oh wait a little more, yes it does! (repeat over and over again). Beautiful Coruscant is destroyed and turned into a fucking jungle, I don't know what the fuck was happening with the Chiss - lets just not go there - and the Remanent, oh the Jedi suddenly become Uber again (think DE only more), the Jedi get castrated again, etc, etc.

Most horrid thing? At the end we don't have a Republic or an Empire, we have the GFFA ... the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances ... :roll: :finger: to the NJO.

My advice, go pick up some prequel books, there are some real gems in them - and most of them are stand alone so you don't need to wade through 20 odd books for 4 or 5 gems.
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Post by HemlockGrey »

So did Jaina ever fuck that Chiss dude?
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Post by Ace Pace »

HemlockGrey wrote:So did Jaina ever fuck that Chiss dude?
In writing? I don't think so.
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Post by Stofsk »

Crown wrote:Let me put it to you this way Stravo; if you enjoy really average fanfiction, then you might like the NJO.
That's hardly fair. It's not like KJA wrote the NJO.
Here is a quick synopsis; Jedi get castrated for no particular reason,
Because you need to have a villain that can handle their superpowers.
the Republic senate act like two year olds,
Politics. Have you ever seen a session of 'question time'? Our so-called leaders act like two-years olds pissing in the sandbox all the time. Fuck, I keep on expecting Kim Beazley to throw feces at Costello.
worlds are devestated for no particular reason
Dude, it's a war. Shit happens in war.
destroying the enemies bio-tech (the same bio-tech that is used as weapons and factories to produce more weapons) is Teh EvIll!!!!shift+1!!, Luke acts like a baby,
I don't know what you're referring to, but perhaps Luke was merely afraid of falling to the dark side. Either way, struggling to find morality in warfare isn't a bad thing, and can lead to good stories.
Jaina is the Galactic slut,
The hell?
Most horrid thing? At the end we don't have a Republic or an Empire, we have the GFFA ... the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances ... :roll: :finger: to the NJO.
So what? the Free Alliances bit is a bit redundant, but a Galactic Federation is a good name.

Stravo, check your PM box. ;)
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Post by Kazuaki Shimazaki »

Stofsk wrote:That's hardly fair. It's not like KJA wrote the NJO.
I think most people rate KJA < Average.
Because you need to have a villain that can handle their superpowers.
Then give them their own Force powers. That would also make the amphistaff blocking part more plausible. A bunch of organic matter managing to energize a shield that can block a lightsaber? I mean, really. This is just orga-wank.
Politics. Have you ever seen a session of 'question time'? Our so-called leaders act like two-years olds pissing in the sandbox all the time. Fuck, I keep on expecting Kim Beazley to throw feces at Costello.
Most politicians are dumb. But when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, they still managed to unite. Even in BFC they finally managed to pull together a little. Pull together a little is all they need, and they can't do it!
I don't know what you're referring to, but perhaps Luke was merely afraid of falling to the dark side. Either way, struggling to find morality in warfare isn't a bad thing, and can lead to good stories.
The story of Alpha-Red, as I understand it, is one. Luke's thinking in the Battle of Coruscant is another. Behind them: 1 trillion+. In front of them: Maybe 1 million. Luke wonders whether it is a good idea to shoot through the hostages at the Vong fleet. Help me.
So what? the Free Alliances bit is a bit redundant, but a Galactic Federation is a good name.
Never mind the name of the thing they replace the NR with. The Zenoma Sekot ending sickens me. Honestly, their complete and utter destruction and the survivors permanently re-rated sub-sentient and indomesticated is the only thing those Vong (I've just read a Wiki article saying that calling 'em "Vong" offends them, but that's just what I want) deserve. They are fundies, they are genocidal, they are sadists and masochists.
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Post by Crown »

Stofsk wrote:
Crown wrote:Let me put it to you this way Stravo; if you enjoy really average fanfiction, then you might like the NJO.
That's hardly fair. It's not like KJA wrote the NJO.
Point. But it was close enough to it.
Stofsk wrote:
Crown wrote:Here is a quick synopsis; Jedi get castrated for no particular reason,
Because you need to have a villain that can handle their superpowers.
How about, you know, not. The Jedi in the Prequels were just barely managing to get by, and they numbered in the thousands. In the NJO there was barely a hundred of them, so why make them total pussies? Power up the Vong by all means, but don't castrate the Jedi because you're too fucking lazy.
Stofsk wrote:
Crown wrote:the Republic senate act like two year olds,
Politics. Have you ever seen a session of 'question time'? Our so-called leaders act like two-years olds pissing in the sandbox all the time. Fuck, I keep on expecting Kim Beazley to throw feces at Costello.
And if Australia was being invaded at that time, with millions of its citizens being turned into slaves, and entire states being raped and turned into wastelands - you might have a point. As it is, I don't know what the fuck you have right now.
Stofsk wrote:
Crown wrote:worlds are devestated for no particular reason
Dude, it's a war. Shit happens in war.
You can tell this and it would have the same impact. Showing it over, and over, and oh look, over again is fucking rehashing the same point and boring.
Stofsk wrote:
Crown wrote:destroying the enemies bio-tech (the same bio-tech that is used as weapons and factories to produce more weapons) is Teh EvIll!!!!shift+1!!, Luke acts like a baby,
I don't know what you're referring to, but perhaps Luke was merely afraid of falling to the dark side. Either way, struggling to find morality in warfare isn't a bad thing, and can lead to good stories.
He fought the Empire, because it was evil, what the Vong were doing synched with Palpy circa DE, for him to go all goody two-lightsabres now was just wrong.
Stofsk wrote:
Crown wrote:Jaina is the Galactic slut,
The hell?
Is it Kyp? Is it Fell? Is it forgettable former Dark Jedi returned to the Light?
Stofsk wrote:
Crown wrote:Most horrid thing? At the end we don't have a Republic or an Empire, we have the GFFA ... the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances ... :roll: :finger: to the NJO.
So what? the Free Alliances bit is a bit redundant, but a Galactic Federation is a good name.

Stravo, check your PM box. ;)
No. Republic is a good name. Empire is a good name. Federation is just argh! And honestly you picked this point? It's highly subjective and I can't expect others to agree with me. The emoticons applied to 'all of the above' not to the last point. :wink:
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Post by Ace Pace »

Kazuaki Shimazaki wrote:The story of Alpha-Red, as I understand it, is one. Luke's thinking in the Battle of Coruscant is another. Behind them: 1 trillion+. In front of them: Maybe 1 million. Luke wonders whether it is a good idea to shoot through the hostages at the Vong fleet. Help me.
Maybe because Luke dosn't want to shoot civilians and is someone who's kinda hung up on anything relating to the Dark Side?
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Post by Ace Pace »

Crown wrote:
Is it Kyp? Is it Fell? Is it forgettable former Dark Jedi returned to the Light?
Uh...where are you going with this? Only Kyp was intrested in her, she never did anything with him and other then him and Fell, what other person was there? :?
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Post by Crown »

Ace Pace wrote:
HemlockGrey wrote:So did Jaina ever fuck that Chiss dude?
In writing? I don't think so.
I believe Kyp would have bum-rusher her if she ever fell asleep on her stomach - he was hitting on her pretty hard. :lol:
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Post by Crown »

Ace Pace wrote:
Crown wrote:
Is it Kyp? Is it Fell? Is it forgettable former Dark Jedi returned to the Light?
Uh...where are you going with this? Only Kyp was intrested in her, she never did anything with him and other then him and Fell, what other person was there? :?
I forget his name (Zimm?), the one from the Jedi Academy Children's Books by KJA - he was the whole 'unrequinted love' in the NJO ... oh like I give a fuck!
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Post by Ace Pace »

Crown wrote:
Ace Pace wrote:
Crown wrote:
Is it Kyp? Is it Fell? Is it forgettable former Dark Jedi returned to the Light?
Uh...where are you going with this? Only Kyp was intrested in her, she never did anything with him and other then him and Fell, what other person was there? :?
I forget his name (Zimm?), the one from the Jedi Academy Children's Books by KJA - he was the whole 'unrequinted love' in the NJO ... oh like I give a fuck!
Zack, just checked the book.Don't look at me that way, I only have the books out because I'm re-reading all the EU

And it never continued beyond the start of NJO, then she was all over Jag.
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Post by Crazedwraith »

Ace Pace wrote:
Crown wrote:
Ace Pace wrote: Uh...where are you going with this? Only Kyp was intrested in her, she never did anything with him and other then him and Fell, what other person was there? :?
I forget his name (Zimm?), the one from the Jedi Academy Children's Books by KJA - he was the whole 'unrequinted love' in the NJO ... oh like I give a fuck!
Zack, just checked the book.Don't look at me that way, I only have the books out because I'm re-reading all the EU

And it never continued beyond the start of NJO, then she was all over Jag.
Zekk actually. So the grand total of three blokes fancy her, she has a relationship with one. how does that make her a slut?
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Post by Ace Pace »

Crazedwraith wrote:
Ace Pace wrote:
Crown wrote: I forget his name (Zimm?), the one from the Jedi Academy Children's Books by KJA - he was the whole 'unrequinted love' in the NJO ... oh like I give a fuck!
Zack, just checked the book.Don't look at me that way, I only have the books out because I'm re-reading all the EU

And it never continued beyond the start of NJO, then she was all over Jag.
Zekk actually. So the grand total of three blokes fancy her, she has a relationship with one. how does that make her a slut?
*smacks self* How can I forget spelling inside 15 seconds? :(

And exactly my point, its not like she shagged half the galaxy, just going through teenager stuff like boys...plural.
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Post by Stofsk »

Crown wrote:
Stofsk wrote:
Crown wrote:the Republic senate act like two year olds,
Politics. Have you ever seen a session of 'question time'? Our so-called leaders act like two-years olds pissing in the sandbox all the time. Fuck, I keep on expecting Kim Beazley to throw feces at Costello.
And if Australia was being invaded at that time, with millions of its citizens being turned into slaves, and entire states being raped and turned into wastelands - you might have a point. As it is, I don't know what the fuck you have right now.
I think it's a sign that the Republic has finally lost it, that the New Republic was doomed before it even started and the Rebellion, though it had the best intentions, ultimately failed. Hence why we have the GFFA come in and replace the corrupt NR.
Is it Kyp? Is it Fell? Is it forgettable former Dark Jedi returned to the Light?
Well Ace handled this point, but really I have to ask: why is she a slut if she has a lovelife?

I define slut as follows: walks the streets for money. Nothing more, nothing less. She didn't do that. Hence, not a slut.
No. Republic is a good name. Empire is a good name. Federation is just argh! And honestly you picked this point?
Yup. :P I don't see the big hoo-hah, but whatever - it's just a name.

Now here's the kicker: I haven't actually read the series. :oops: ;) I just felt like jumping in, guns blazin'. But I wanted to address a couple of your points, and it seems like you answered them.
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Post by Crown »

Stofsk wrote:
Crown wrote:Is it Kyp? Is it Fell? Is it forgettable former Dark Jedi returned to the Light?
Well Ace handled this point, but really I have to ask: why is she a slut if she has a lovelife?

I define slut as follows: walks the streets for money. Nothing more, nothing less. She didn't do that. Hence, not a slut.
Nah, I call them prostitutes. Slut for me is just a general derogative, like ass-hat, dick-turd, fucker, etc. Freely interchangeable with bitch, whore and the 'c' word that if I say out loud 99.999% of the females in the room want to smack me (I don't get it, my sister doesn't get it, maybe its a skip thing - hehe).
Crazedwraith wrote:Zekk actually. So the grand total of three blokes fancy her, she has a relationship with one. how does that make her a slut?
See above, and I can't recall whether it was just Dark Journey or if it spilled into other books (maybe Star by Star) but she would use her sexuality - or their attraction of her - as a weapon to hurt them, hence the word.
Ace Pace wrote:And exactly my point, its not like she shagged half the galaxy, just going through teenager stuff like boys...plural.
Look if I want to see that crap, I'll put on the OC - I actually like the OC, it's so bad it's good - but I don't, okay? I'm just giving Stravo what I thought about it, and since his tastes run similar to mine (except that Kirk fetish - I have no idea what's going on there :P ), it seemed appropriate to add so he had a heads up.
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Post by Knife »

Ace Pace wrote:Just to add to Knife's post, I agree with most of his points, but I'll add to Destiny's way.

THAT was the uber NJO book, it was simply awesome, had Ackbar atlast showing off.
Ah, yes. That was the one with Akbar's trap thingy in the deep core? I remember now. It was a good book.
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See above, and I can't recall whether it was just Dark Journey or if it spilled into other books (maybe Star by Star) but she would use her sexuality - or their attraction of her - as a weapon to hurt them, hence the word.
I have NO idea what you are talking about. The Vong certainly wouldn't be attracted to her, and I highly doubt she intended to harm any of her fellow Jedi, so what are you talking about?
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Post by The Original Nex »

HemlockGrey wrote:
Time and time again, Vong Biotech has been shown to be incredibly lacking. Their frigates can be destroyed in less than two minutes by a single squadron of X-Wings with 6 torpedos. And Dovin Bassals suck.
I must have missed that, because mostly I recall the Republicans whining about how the little mini-blackholes sucked up their shots, the Vong ripping through Republic fleets, and your average Vong warrior being lightsaber-resistant and killing Jedi.
Only for the first few books or so. Then they figured out how to counter these strange new weapons. By the latter half of the series, Jedi are cutting through the average Vong grunt like so much butter, leaving only the elite Vong able to hold their own.
As for the force thing, they had to have an opponent for the Jedi, and without have dark jedi, Sith, or droids, thats what they had to do. I had no problem with it.
But instead of coming up with a suitable enemy who is able to outwit or outmanuever the Jedi, they just make the Vong immune to the force and their armor lightsaber resistant through the magic of handwankium.
No arguements here.
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Post by Noble Ire »

Quote:
Time and time again, Vong Biotech has been shown to be incredibly lacking. Their frigates can be destroyed in less than two minutes by a single squadron of X-Wings with 6 torpedos. And Dovin Bassals suck.


I must have missed that, because mostly I recall the Republicans whining about how the little mini-blackholes sucked up their shots, the Vong ripping through Republic fleets, and your average Vong warrior being lightsaber-resistant and killing Jedi.
How many of the books did you read, honestly? By the third or fourth, the dovin bassals were made extremely ineffective through a combonation of strike patterns from both fighters and capital ships, the only reason the Vong tore through the fleet is because of its overwhelming size (and it still took them three years to get to coruscant), and even the most inept Jedi is able to kill at least half a dozen Vong warriors before going down, even if their by themselves and surrounded.
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Post by The Original Nex »

Then give them their own Force powers.
George Lucas explicitly forbade the use of Force-users as villains.
No. Republic is a good name. Empire is a good name. Federation is just argh! And honestly you picked this point? It's highly subjective and I can't expect others to agree with me. The emoticons applied to 'all of the above' not to the last point
To be fair, they call it the "Galactic Alliance" in shorthand, not the "Federation."
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Post by Crown »

Praxis wrote:

See above, and I can't recall whether it was just Dark Journey or if it spilled into other books (maybe Star by Star) but she would use her sexuality - or their attraction of her - as a weapon to hurt them, hence the word.
I have NO idea what you are talking about. The Vong certainly wouldn't be attracted to her, and I highly doubt she intended to harm any of her fellow Jedi, so what are you talking about?
Clearly you don't. I'm talking about how she was playing with Kyp, Fell and Z dude in Dark Journey and (I think) Star by Star not the Vong. And if my memory serves she had every intention of hurting their feelings.
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