KotET Chapter by Chapter - Chapter 9: The Eternal Throne

It's finally happening! After a total of 24 chapters of "Knights of..." (16 KotFE chapters plus 8 KotET chapters so far) we are finally approaching the finish line for the story of the Outlander, Valkorion and his family. I'm oddly proud of having managed to do all these detailed write-ups. Will there be spoilers in this one? You bet! And if you missed the last one...

Click here to go back to Chapter 8.

The Story

So the last of Valkorion's recalcitrant children has been taken care of... what's left? Ah yes, apparently the Eternal Fleet needs someone to sit on the Eternal Throne to behave. (Funnily enough, Vaylin wasn't sitting on it just a moment ago either and the fleet was still perfectly compliant at the time... oh well.)

The chapter starts with your character having a dream/vision of the Eternal Throne in flames and surrounded by the corpses of both friends and enemies. Valkorion tells you that you are ready, but just as you want to sit down and claim the throne, Vaylin appears behind you and stabs you. You wake with a start aboard the Gravestone (strange time for a nap, considering, but I guess you must have been really tired after everything that's been going on). Lana tells you that she's been studying the holocron you brought with you from Nathema but still doesn't know what it really does. An annoyed Valkorion chimes in to mock the idea that this "dusty trinket" could harm him. The Emperor doth protest too much, methinks!

Soon it's time for the Gravestone to punch a hole through the ranks of the Eternal Fleet ships surrounding Zakuul, while you launch yourself into the general direction of the Spire inside a boarding pod. Depending on your previous choices, you'll either be accompanied by Senya and Arcann or by Theron and Lana. Your aim is passable and you land near the mid-level entrance to the structure.

At the door you get accosted by several Knights of Zakuul backed up by a couple of walkers. Fortunately Indo Zal and his rebel friends are at hand to help you take them down. I always feel like there should have been an option to reason with the Knights here. "You are not mindless robots, why are you defending an empty building while the fleet is out of control and raining death upon your people?!"

You fight your way past some more Knights and skytroopers inside, and take the lift up to the top. Valkorion uses this as an opportunity to try to convince you that your closest companions are actually dangerous and need to be disposed of. Have you lost all sense of subtlety, old man?

In the throne room, if you have a redeemed Arcann with you, there is a touching scene where he recalls his previous life but consciously turns his back on it. You can even offer him the throne and he will reject it. When you sit down on the throne, a strange power crackles through it and the Eternal Fleet stops attacking, but suddenly Valkorion appears and declares that it's time for him to take over your body to resume ruling the Eternal Empire. You can try to defy him, but it's futile; he forces you to bow to him and then knocks you out.

You awake in a dreamscape similar to the one you traversed in KotFE chapter 2, but... in Valkorion's body? You express confusion in his voice, while your own voice calls to you from far away, telling you that Valkorion tried to kill you and that you need to save yourself by finding the holocron.

What follows is a hilariously surreal section in which you run around what's supposed to be your own shattered mind, while in Valkorion's body and using his Force abilities against hostile "echoes of memory". Eventually your own voice instructs you to cleanse your corrupted memories or you will be trapped inside your own mind forever. This involves visiting tableaux of a couple of key scenes from the story, during which Valkorion monologues about how everything was part of his plan. He reveals that he was trapped inside your mind the entire time, with his departure in KotFE chapter 12 having been nothing but a ruse, and that he's been toying with you merely to sate his curiosity, until he decided to just hollow out your mind and take over.

Eventually you reach a representation of the Eternal Throne, which is located on top of some ancient looking stairs inside your mind. The holocron from Nathema awaits you there and allows you to regain your own body (mentally anyway). In the real world, we can see that you're still passed out and some skytroopers have decided to attack, which your companions are desperately fighting off to protect you.

Valkorion appears, amused by your continued resistance. He then raises Vaylin (and Arcann, if you killed him) from the dead, commanding their spirits to fight for him. Meanwhile, if you didn't release Lord Dramath from the holocron in chapter 7, you can call on him here to fight for your side. If Arcann is alive, he uses the holocron to join you in your mind and help you against Valkorion while Senya continues to defend your body. Dramath (if he was present) self-destructs at the end of the fight and attempts to take Valkorion with him, but only pierces his armour. After defeating Vaylin's (and possibly Arcann's) spirit, you manage to turn them to your side and you attack Valkorion together.

You seem to be doing well, when suddenly he pushes you all away and destroys the holocron. However, you push back, and when you utter the words "Kneel before the dragon of Zakuul" that conditioned Vaylin to be unable to attack, he is suddenly powerless. You have reclaimed your mind and the imagined environment follows your own rules again. Senya appears too (if she's alive, she has joined Arcann's meditation after successfully fighting off the skytroopers; if she's dead, presumably her spirit was inside you somehow, just like Vaylin's) and also strikes Valkorion. He denounces his entire family as "motes of filth" and you strike him down one last time.

Finally you awake in the real world as well, to claim the throne properly this time. You can either declare yourself a peacekeeper, intent on making sure the fleet is used to rebuild, or announce yourself as the new Empress. Either way, your Alliance is on top of the world.

The chapter ends with Lana and Theron talking outside the base on Odessen, where there's clearly been a celebration going on. Lana reveals that she's already worried again because she can sense "dark forces amassing" against the Alliance. Theron reassures her that you'll overcome whatever the galaxy decides to throw at you, but either way, that's a concern for another day.

My Thoughts

"The Eternal Throne" is a suitably epic conclusion to KotET (and KotFE). Even on my third playthrough there were sections that gave me the chills. It does have some issues, but the good outweighs the bad in my opinion.

First off, I absolutely adore the bit where you run around in Valkorion's body inside your mind. Bioware isn't always very good when it comes to making story and gameplay line up (e.g. important end bosses being pushovers vs. random trash mobs killing you hard), but this is a prime example of how great it can be when they get it right. I mean, on the one hand getting to play as Valkorion is simply hilarious. I think I actually broke out into giggles the first time I got to this part. And who else immediately checked whether Valkorion can /dance? (Sadly, he can't.) But on the other hand it's very strange and confusing for the player, and that's exactly how your character is supposed to feel at this point.

I also like the multiple ways in which the big showdown is slightly different depending on how you dealt with Valkorion's family in the previous chapters. It's incredibly satisfying to see it all come together. Seeing actual fear in Valkorion's eyes when he's confronted by Dramath. Vaylin getting some revenge even after her death, and the same for Arcann and Senya if you killed them. If they are alive, even better for them. It just feels right. Incidentally, the final fight is also pretty fun from a mechanical point of view, which isn't always true for Bioware's boss fights.

Personally, it also really tugged at my heart strings to see so many of my companions smile in the end, more so in the light side ending but to some extent in the dark side ending too - Lana and Theron look so damn happy that you survived! It makes you realise just how grim things have been for a long while and that things are finally looking up for the galaxy now. (As an aside, as a player I feel a little bit like that too - finally we're done with the Eternal Empire and can get back to the factions I actually care about!)

What doesn't work so well? Okay, I know that the Force is basically magic and we shouldn't question it too much, but everything that's going on with the holocron in this chapter made my head spin. How can I use its powers to unleash Dramath and weaken Valkorion in my head, while the real thing is lying several feet away from my unconscious body? I know it's a MacGuffin and we're not supposed to question how and why exactly it does the things it does, but come on.

Also, I know I've harped on and on about how certain situations in KotFE and KotET are super awkward for non-Force users, but this chapter is probably the pinnacle of it all. Yes, the commander of Havoc Squad, Cipher Nine etc. are all outstanding individuals, but able to defeat the immortal Sith Emperor in a straight-up contest of wills? The high point of awkwardness for me personally was when using the holocron transformation in the final fight actually caused my trooper to start wielding a lightsaber. Say what now?

You could also argue that while the chapter really delivers on an emotional level when you defeat Valkorion (by evoking feelings of vengeance, dispensation of justice etc. depending on your angle), there's also a certain sense of: "That's it?" After all we've been through fighting the Sith Emperor/Valkorion, all it took to take him out was basically someone taking him on at mind-wrestling? Talk about going out with a whimper instead of a bang. It's all dressed up very nicely, with cool cut scenes and dialogue, but the moment you stop to think about it even a little, it's easy to come away feeling disappointed.

Some have also criticised the duality of the final choice. Why can you only be a well-meaning steward of the Eternal Fleet or an evil Empress? Where are the options to leave the power to someone else or to be a proper ruler, but benevolent? Well... would I have liked to have these options? Sure. But I'm under the impression that Bioware is going to use our choice here as a springboard for how the rest of the galaxy is going to treat us going forward, and in that case I can see how it would make sense to limit the options a bit. Despite of how it's all framed, this isn't really the end. This is an MMO, remember?

Despite all of the chapter's flaws, I came away from it feeling very satisfied. Not every part of the story was wrapped up perfectly, but Valkorion and his family were given a proper send-off that hit all the right buttons for me, and I was left feeling optimistically excited about whatever comes next.

What about you?

KotET Chapter by Chapter - Chapter 8: End Times

Time for another detailed and spoiler-laden discussion of a Knights of the Eternal Throne chapter. We're up to chapter eight! Though if you missed it...

Click here to go back to Chapter 7.

The Story

You arrive on an Odessen under siege by a vengeful Vaylin, who has nothing holding her back anymore. The Gravestone was caught in dry dock when the attack happened and hasn't been able to join the fight yet. While the Eternal Fleet does its usual thing of just floating in space, with the frontline ships pew-pewing the surface a bit, you land your shuttle and, with Lana in tow, do what you can to help out your ground forces.

You commandeer a walker and get to play through another version of the walker assault on Voss from chapter one - only with the ability to heal at will as long as you're out of combat. While fighting your way through the Odessen Wilds, you make contact with various allies until you reach the Gravestone, where you meet up with either Arcann and Senya, or if they're dead, Theron. You manage to protect the ship just long enough for it to be able to take off and shoot a bunch of enemy walkers that are approaching your position. Then the Gravestone is off to help in the space battle.

At this point, you either continue with Lana and Theron, or Senya and Arcann, with Lana and Theron conveniently buggering off somewhere else. At a comm station, you contact Vaylin just as one of her underlings informs her that the battle is as good as won even though it's still going to take a while. You bait her into coming to the surface to face you (and potentially her mother and brother) personally, and she cannot resist.

After another brief stint in a walker, you receive distress calls from both Torian and Vette, both of whom claim to be pinned down. Valkorion unsubtly whispers in your ear that you can't possibly save everyone, and you are forced to choose to go support either one or the other. When you arrive at their location and try to raise the other on the comm... they are not dead, but Vaylin happened to land right on their head and has taken them prisoner. She gives you coordinates where she'll want to meet you. Your new target ends up being the Alliance base itself.

Just outside the base, where you usually bum around with other people while waiting in queues, picking up daily quests and stuff, Vaylin awaits you with some troops and her prisoner. After Valkorion shows up and they exchange some taunts, she angrily hurls her prisoner to the floor... but just as you kneel down to help them, Vaylin uses the Force to twist their neck.

With that final gauntlet thrown down, it's time for the big showdown, in which Vaylin's barely contained power cracks the very walls of the base, but with the help of your allies you finally defeat her. Her forces immediately break and retreat upon her death and it seems that the fight is finally over.

When you talk to your closest allies, they express grief about the death of either Torian or Vette, and Arcann or Lana comment that they could feel Vaylin's power flowing into you, though unlike her father she doesn't seem to have possessed the strength of spirit to live on in your head. Just then, you receive distress calls from the Sith Empire and Zakuul, and the Republic is under attack as well. The Eternal Fleet has gone rogue and is bombing planets everywhere into oblivion. Valkorion opines that the only way to stop it is to take control over it via the Eternal Throne. So you ask for the Gravestone to be readied as you have to pay Zakuul one more visit.

My Thoughts

In a nutshell, End Times is what Battle of Odessen should have been: an actual planetary battle, with armies clashing, people dying, and a big showdown at the end. (In fact, I accidentally keep referring to this chapter as "Battle of Odessen" in my head... KotET chapter 16 is more of a "Showdown with Arcann".) It's not perfect, but I certainly found myself sufficiently engrossed by the events to be excited about what was going to happen next and not nitpick any details until later.

The walker section from chapter one makes a return and feels less annoying due to the ability to heal up wherever you want, but at the same time the fact that there's two vehicle segments along the road makes it feel like the mechanic is overstaying its welcome a little bit. On replaying it, I found that it didn't actually feel as long as it did on my first playthrough, but the problem is that it's way too easy to run into some kind of nuisance. For example you cannot voluntarily exit the walker, and for some reason it walks quite slowly and has issues with obstacles that your character could ordinarily leap over with ease. During my first playthrough of this chapter, I realised fairly late that I had missed a companion for the bonus mission near the start... but since I was in a walker bit at the time, I had to plod back to the start really slowly, making the whole thing take forever. On this playthrough, which was on veteran mode, I died a couple of times and it respawned me way back at the start every time, enforcing a really annoying run back. I've also heard that the walker doesn't play nice if you want to bring a friend along to the chapter - since they can't get into the walker with you, they basically get swarmed and killed by the mobs every time.

The choice between Torian or Vette is simultaneously great and a bit cheap. It's contrived because you have several highly competent characters with you who can single-handedly turn the tide of many a battle, but for some reason you can't freaking split up? But it's also great because it really forces you to think and makes for a great talking point with other players. The emotional punch hits all the harder because while Valkorion pretty much warns you that the one you don't choose to help will die, nothing happens right away, allowing you to keep hoping that things will be alright somehow until Vaylin delivers the killing blow at the very last moment. Ouch.

The fact that you run most of the chapter either with Arcann and Senya or Lana and Theron makes for some interesting variety too. Personally I find facing off against Vaylin with her mother and brother by my side the much more satisfying option, but that may just be me. Considering the emphasis the Betrayed trailer put on the relationship between Senya and Vaylin (plus everything we saw of the two of them interacting in KotFE), the final confrontation between them feels kind of subdued, but that's what you get when Senya could theoretically already be dead by that point and the moment has to be more about you than about any of your companions.

Onwards to Chapter 9!

KotET Chapter by Chapter - Chapter 7: Into The Void

Time for another detailed and spoiler-laden discussion of a Knights of the Eternal Throne chapter. We're up to chapter seven! Though if you missed it...

Click here to go back to Chapter 6.

The Story

We start the chapter with a view of Valkorion on his throne, flanked by his two sons. Adult Vaylin appears and tells him that he should have left her on Nathema. He responds that Zakuul is where she belongs and hands her a lightsaber. There is a brief moment where it seems like she might strike at her father in anger, but then she kneels to him instead.

Your character wakes, revealing that this was something you dreamt. Valkorion's ghost comments that this is a sign of your increasing connection, since what you saw was one of his memories. You ask about Nathema and he explains that it's a "blighted, forgotten world where the Force has been corrupted" (if you read the Revan novel, you know all about that already) and that he sent Vaylin to be taught and conditioned there. He also suggests that the timing of this dream is a warning that Vaylin is seeking to return to Nathema to break her conditioning.

When you walk in on Theron and Lana speculating where Vaylin's disappeared to shortly afterwards, you suggest Nathema as an option. Theron locates it and realises that Vaylin had communications with someone there during the party. If Arcann is one of your followers now, he expresses fear of returning there and that being exposed to its taint might undo everything he's achieved since Voss, which is why he wants to stay behind.

Either way, you travel to Nathema by shuttle, only accompanied by Lana and Theron. Lana immediately starts having headaches upon arrival, as the Force is kind of "hollow" on the planet, and it feels like the void wants to devour her. Valkorion's ghost appears to flicker in and out of existence as well. We see Vaylin landing at a remote facility, speaking to an Anomid scientist and insisting on entering alone, without her guards. You land nearby to retrace her steps with Lana while Theron stays with the shuttle.

Meanwhile, the player sees Vaylin walk through a sort of indoor garden where she's assaulted by a number of monstrous beasts that bear some resemblance to Acklays. She is momentarily frightened when she realises that she can't use her Force powers here to swat them aside, but then she simply pulls out her lightsaber to cut them down manually. The Anomid scientist we saw her talking to in chapter six, Jarak, expresses distaste for her lack of control and the killing of his "pets". However, he also says that he made a breakthrough in terms of breaking Vaylin's conditioning and offers to show her to the main lab.

You and Lana fight your way into the "sanitarium" in her wake and find traces of what Vaylin must have gone through in her childhood, from her literal cell to holojournals detailing the gruelling treatments she underwent at the hands of Jarak, who was given free reign to do whatever he wanted to her short of getting her killed.

The scene returns to Jarak and Vaylin, where the scientist confesses that none of his lab rats survived his new treatment so far, but he is sure that Vaylin will be fine due to her strength. We see her getting engulfed by green lights and scream in pain as she unleashes a destructive wave of power. Even you and Lana can feel it and push ahead to stop the process. You run straight into Jarak, who's trying to flee the scene. He worries that Vaylin's power will destroy the facility and that there isn't enough time to escape. He offers to lead you to a safe place however, provided that you help protect him on the way.

Your safe haven turns out to be a vault that is shielded against Force powers due to Valkorion having used it to store particularly powerful and dangerous artifacts. Soon after you enter the vault, we see Vaylin freeing herself from the painful grip she in in. If Senya is still alive, she will wake from her coma during the height of Vaylin's pain, which makes for a nice throwback to the Betrayed trailer.

The burst of power has overloaded the circuits that open the vault door, forcing you to look for a way to restore backup power. A mysterious red holocron catches your eye, and when you touch it, it reveals the spirit of a Pureblood Sith Lord, who seems to have expected the Emperor - to whom he refers as "Tenebrae" - to come and torment him again. He reveals himself as Lord Dramath, the Emperor's father and former ruler of the planet - until his son murdered him and turned the planet into a wasteland by performing a dark ritual, similar to what he did on Ziost.

Dramath begs you to release him from imprisonment and end his existence, while promising that his holocron will serve you as a tool to destroy Valkorion. You can grant his wish or keep him trapped inside the holocron to make use of him later.

Your rummaging around has awoken some monstrous vault guardians that kill Jarak (if you haven't already offed him yourself). Once you defeat them, you can escape the vault. Vaylin is shown to already be back on her flagship, and she enjoys demonstrating her newly unfettered powers by killing most of her own guards without even breaking a sweat. She also channels her hatred into destroying the sanitarium, forcing you to make a run for it to make it out alive, but Theron manages to pick you up before things fall apart. Once off Nathema, Valkorion reappears and confirms that Vaylin has broken her bonds and is now more dangerous than ever. He also seems worried that you might have found something dangerous in the vault.

The chapter ends with Bey'wan Aygo calling you on the holo: You are needed on Odessen urgently as it's under attack.

My Thoughts

I thought that "Into The Void" was another interesting chapter. Nathema is compared to Ziost, and similar to that planet there is less of a focus on combat and more on letting the sheer deadness of the environment weigh you down. While there are more enemies to fight on Nathema than on Ziost, there are still fewer of them than in most chapters, and Bioware definitely lets the heaviness of the place sink in.

However, the focus is less on Nathema's own dark past and more on everything Vaylin went through. Even if you never saw the trailer for KotET, this is a turning point where you get to feel some sympathy for Vaylin upon seeing her prison and understanding what she must have gone through. While the story does point this out, the environment invites you to take a closer look and draw your own conclusions. For example I found it quite heart-breaking to find the "cell" that Vaylin clearly was confined to, containing nothing but a small cot, a desk and a chair. On the desk you can also spot what looks like the little toy she crafted in the trailer... though that would be a continuity error as the trailer also shows it lying in a puddle on Ord Mantell later... but who knows, she might well have made another one. There is a corner with beat up skytrooper dummies that are arranged in a similar fashion as the "knight pinata" she attacked in the trailer - was this the one place where she was allowed to try and exercise her powers sometimes?

You also wonder about the lives of the other people inhabiting the facility - while searching for a key card, you rifle through some books, and on flipping one of them open, I noticed that a postcard from Alderaan had been used as a bookmark - an odd splash of colour in an otherwise very grey environment. Personally I also couldn't help but wonder why the place was such a mess though, with rubbish and random papers on the floor everywhere. There were people living there after all, did they never bother to do even the smallest amount of tidying?

After seeing all of that, you can't help but feel for Vaylin a little when she's trapped in Jarak's machine and in pain. After she breaks free, there is some great work with facial expressions done in the cut scenes, as she slowly goes from a slightly confused "I'm alive?" sort of expression to a sardonic victory grin.

Meanwhile, your character is in a bit of an odd place because you keep chasing Vaylin around but don't really achieve anything on that front. The only interesting choice you get to make is whether to free or keep Lord Dramath, and the significance of that doesn't really become apparent until a bit later.

That said, just seeing Nathema realised in game and talking to Dramath feels great if you've read the Revan novel. So while this chapter is heavy on exposition and explaining Vaylin's (and to some extent Valkorion's) backstory, with a limited amount of action for your character, I've enjoyed it every time because it's just so atmospheric, achieving a very different feel from any other chapters of KotFE or KotET.

Onwards to Chapter 8!

KotET Chapter by Chapter - Chapter 6: The Dragon's Maw

Time for another detailed and spoiler-laden discussion of a Knights of the Eternal Throne chapter. We're up to chapter six! Though if you missed it...

Click here to go back to Chapter 5.

We've reached what's probably my favourite KotET chapter... but more on that later.

The Story

With the fight on Iokath wrapped up one way or another, things seem to have calmed down a bit, except that Vaylin having retaken control of the Gemini droids also means more attacks on Alliance patrols and outposts. Since she's in a celebratory mood, she wants to throw a grand party, with its main event being the execution of some Zakuulan rebels. What she doesn't know is that her "party organiser", a guy called Indo Zal, is a traitor too and has gotten in touch with the Alliance to disrupt the festivities and free his compatriots before they can be killed.

The plan is for Lana and T7 to slice the security grid while you and Theron infiltrate the party dressed as Knights of Zakuul and plant ion charges around the building that will allow you to break all the prisoners' shock collars in one fell swoop. This serves as a fantastic advert for the Zakuul Knight armour set by the way; I thought my characters looked really snazzy in their disguises! Wonder if that increased Bioware's sales of that particular item set... I was kind of tempted myself, but still couldn't think of a way that wearing this set would make sense for any of my characters outside of this particular scenario.

Anyway, you and Theron successfully infiltrate the party and pick up the ion charges from Indo, and then comes the part that I love but which I could also see people hating: a puzzle section during which you spend your time running around the building, trying to get access to all the locations where you need to plant the charges. This involves the solving of some simple problems, such as pretending to be the food delivery person for the guards to gain access to their barracks. If you get stuck, there is an in-game hint button you can click. I'm not going to describe all the steps in detail here; if you need a walkthrough I can recommend Fibrojedi's for the main mission and this post by Calphaya for the super secret bonus mission that isn't even displayed. 

While you plant the charges, we're treated to a scene of Vaylin talking to an Anomid via holo, who assures her that they are close to freeing her of her "weakness" (aka the conditioning). Indo walks in on this conversation and manages to immediately look highly conspicious... one has to wonder how he managed to fool Vaylin for as long as he did if merely walking in on her in the middle of a conversation is enough to cause him to blow his disguise. Unsurprisingly, he gets added to the shock collar squad.

You finish planting the charges just in time for Vaylin's speech, which is when you decide to ditch the armour and crash the party. Vaylin just has enough time to throw the rebels into her beast pit before you activate the ion charges and say the magic words to trigger her conditioning. Right on cue, an unknown shuttle also attacks the building, and out comes... Arcann, accompanied by some soldiers. In the ensuing panic, with people running all over the place and various blast doors getting shut, you manage to jump into the beast pit where Indo and the rest of the rebels are unarmed and exposed to various beasties (though if you did the secret bonus, all but the rancor will be friendly to you). You defend and free them and then have the option to order them to serve as your cannon fodder or encourage them to get to safety.

Vaylin has fled the scene to the sky deck, where she is confronted by her brother and they fight. As soon as you arrive, Vaylin uses a speeder to make her escape, leaving you to confront Arcann alone. Interestingly, he's very different depending on whether you chose to help or kill Senya in chapter one. If you made the kind choice, Arcann himself has turned to the light side while he was away. As a gesture of how much he's changed, he's even got rid of his face mask. (I kind of thought he needed that thing to survive but I guess he just wore it to look edgy and hide his scars? Unless the ritual on Voss also healed him physically so that he doesn't need the mask anymore.) If you killed Senya, Arcann is more or less his old self only even madder and angrier.

Redeemed Arcann vs. "Darkann"

Light side Arcann will pledge his allegiance to you and helps you fight off some Horizon guards. Dark side Arcann wants to fight to the death as usual, but this time you finally get to kill him. (This is what, your fifth attempt to do so?) Since there are lots of holo cameras watching, you also get to frame the event in a light or dark context regardless of which version of Arcann you're dealing with. Either you're a benevolent rescuer, backed by the former ruler / ridding the planet of the previous tyrant, or you're showing off your power, having the former ruler kneel to you / killing him on camera to demonstrate your might. Also, Valkorion chimes in to make some douchey comments to his son either way. The bastard.

Vaylin has escaped to her flagship and orders the fleet to bombard the site to kill everyone, but Lana and T7 help you escape. You return to Odessen victorious, either with a former emperor in tow to support you from now on, or having absorbed his strength while killing him (as commented on by Lana and Valkorion). Either Arcann or Valkorion also comment that Vaylin remains a challenge and won't remain chained by her conditioning forever. And indeed, the chapter ends with the player watching her ship arrive above a dead world where she plans to break her chains.

My Thoughts

I absolutely loved the puzzle section of this chapter. Adventure games were the first PC gaming genre I ever fell in love with as a teenager, and the tasks you have to take care of in this chapter certainly harken back to that kind of gameplay. Now, since this is quite different from what we usually do in SWTOR, I could also see people hating it, but I would hope that only few would have quite such a strong negative reaction. Even on the forums I only found this post by a guy proclaiming that this chapter had "chased him off", but most of the replies seemed vaguely bemused by this rather than in agreement. Bioware actually does have a long history of inserting random puzzles into their content, yet they remain infrequent enough that it's still a surprise every time it happens. I think this chapter does a good job in terms of setting expectations though, as it's explained from the start that your goal is to succeed via subterfuge instead of fighting, so you avoid the pitfall of suddenly running into a "puzzle wall" in the middle of a combat mission.

I also love the hidden bonus mission. It's cute, rewards people for paying attention beyond what it says on the objective tracker, and especially on the harder difficulties it's actually quite handy to complete as well - while your "pets" aren't particularly strong, effectively having four extra "companions" following you around and helping you fight things is definitely useful in terms of dps.

Arcann coming back in two different ways depending on your choices in chapter one is also really well done and undoubtedly one of the better ways in which Bioware managed to live up to their "choices matter" mantra. Initially I wasn't sure whether I liked light side Arcann because in my opinion he comes across as a bit odd - even if you helped Senya, he was confused and hostile the last time you met and his change of mind isn't really explained. However, he grew on me over time and I found his portrayal actually kind of realistic in the sense that he clearly went through a life-changing experience and is now totally focused on it - like someone who converted to a new religion or otherwise changed their lifestyle, found that their life changed for the better afterwards, and is now trying to prove his devotion to his new way of life at every opportunity. Incidentally, the SWTOR Facebook page revealed the other day that 76% of players so far have chosen to redeem Arcann.

Finally, I thought that Indo Zal was a pretty good character in the sense that they managed to give him a fair bit of characterisation for someone who was only just introduced and remains a minor character throughout.

The only negative thing I have to say about this chapter is that the layout of the building feels like it's designed to artificially prolong the chapter, especially towards the end when certain doors suddenly close without explanation, forcing you to run all around the houses to get to where you need to be. I did love the overall atmosphere though.

Onwards to Chapter 7!

KotET Chapter by Chapter - Chapter 5: Ascension

Time for another detailed and spoiler-laden discussion of a Knights of the Eternal Throne chapter. We're up to chapter five! Though if you missed it...

Click here to go back to Chapter 4.

 

The Story

After the revelation that Aries is the one in control of Iokath, he personally confirms via holocall that he was indeed testing whether any of you were "worthy" of inheriting the planet (though he never explains what exactly that would have entailed) but since nobody passed his test, he doesn't need you anymore and just sends more droids to eliminate you. We see him trying to blow up Scorpio as well, but she, too, manages to evade him.

Soon afterwards, Scorpio contacts you again via a secure channel to let you know that Vaylin has escaped as well. We see the latter reunite with what's left of her forces and pushing a Gemini droid to its death for expressing anxiety about the situation. Scorpio suggests that Vaylin's antics may be sufficient distraction for Aries to enable you to defeat him.

Your conversation is rudely interrupted when a colossal war droid next to you suddenly comes to life and needs taking out. As soon as it goes down, the rest of your crew finds you. You tell them of what you've learned, and Theron suggests a new escape route via his shuttle, which was parked in the Gravestone's hangar... he just hadn't thought of trying to contact it before. You're still penned in by the droid swarm, but now you've also got a giant war droid, only lightly damaged. You patch it up to use it against the swarm and your character looks ridiculously pleased about getting to pilot it while the rest of your crew make their way to the shuttle.

Another vehicle section follows, this one - in my opinion anyway - the most fun example of these in KotET. You get to stomp on enemy droids en masse, and since you have an ability on a short cooldown that temporarily makes you immune to damage while healing you to full, the fight is trivially easy... but hey, if you're going to sell the feeling of being a giant, nigh invincible war machine that stomps things, you might as well go all the way, you know?

The droid explodes shortly after you eject from it, and you and your team manage to make a break for it with Theron's shuttle. However, Scorpio warns you off that the planet is still surrounded by a deadly energy shield that prevents you from escaping. Aries adds some urgency to the situation by telling you that he's re-energising the weapon that he used to knock you out at the start of chapter four... but this time it will be set to kill instead of stun. He clearly enjoys telling you all this way too much though, as his speech goes on for long enough that it gives Scorpio time to locate him and the energy shield controls, so she can send you the coordinates.

You and Vette get dropped off at Aries' location while Theron flies off to hunt down the Gravestone, arguing that the shuttle is too vulnerable to hang around. He could have left you more than one crew member to face down the big bad though... While you fight your way into Aries' base, Vaylin and her soldiers have found the Eternal Fleet and are reclaiming it. However, they are just as penned in by the planetary shield as you are. A random droid that tries to shoot Vaylin triggers her wrath and sends her into a childish hissy fit during which she uses the Force to smash its dismembered torso left and right. Even her underlings are quietly shaking their heads about that display.

Theron manages to reclaim the Gravestone but can't come to your aid as he's got to dodge the Eternal Fleet ships. Vaylin's broken droid toy meanwhile reveals to her what's going on with Aries and his plans. He also comments that the Gemini droids are obviously corrupted by Scorpio's free will programming and offers to reset them to the factory setting. (Really? Is there anything this random dismembered droid can't do?)

You and Vette eventually find Aries, whose real form is that of a blocky, pretty damn ugly droid. Things heat up as Vaylin starts bombing your position (she doesn't want to be blown up by Aries either) and Aries tells his superweapon to fire as soon as it's finished charging. But in typically heroic fashion, you defeat him and manage to prevent it from firing just in time. When the defeated Aries gets up again to take one last stab at you, Scorpio shows up and finishes him off. She also deactivates the planetary shield for you and tells you about her intent to upload herself to Iokath and merge with it. You can let her proceed or destroy her before she has a chance to go through with her plan, but either way you urgently need to get away afterwards, because the charged weapon is going to overload and explode after all, threatening to cover the entire area in radiation.

Vaylin's closest Gemini captain relates this turn of events to her Empress and advises that they must flee too, but Vaylin won't hear of it and orders her broken droid toy to go through with resetting the Gemini to make it obey her. You make it to the Gravestone and jump to hyperspace just in time to avoid the explosion. Then we cut to Vaylin and see that she is suddenly in hyperspace too, and only a number of vessels she had sent to pursue the Gravestone got destroyed by the explosion. Whatever happened to "We must stay and kill my enemies"? That part always confuses me a bit.

You return to Odessen, and in the unlikely event that you allowed traitorous Koth to survive, he takes off at this point (without stealing anything). Lana reports that Iokath will remain too dangerously irradiated to go back and do any exploring for a while, but if you let Scorpio live, she sent you some helpful info to help with upgrading the Gravestone. If Senya is still alive, you're told that she's still comatose. If you killed her, your spies report that Arcann has required extensive cybernetic upgrades while underground. You also share the secret of Vaylin's conditioning with Lana. Valkorion's ghost warns you to not get too complacent just because things are going well. And Vaylin makes her droid toy reset all the remaining Gemini before finally crushing it for good.

My Thoughts

Ascension always strikes me as a bit of a low point of KotET, though that might change with more replays - who knows. It's not terrible or anything, but it always makes me feel like I want to move on and just get to chapter six already. Aries isn't given enough time to develop into a villain we really care about beyond not wanting to be blown up by him. Fun fact: During my first ever playthrough, when Vette starts the chapter with the line "Aries controls Iokath?", I was initially confused because I hadn't even caught on to who Aries was (he mumbles a bit during his introduction and I don't have subtitles on).

Also, while stories like these always require some suspension of disbelief, I felt that there's just too much going on in this chapter that just doesn't make sense. There's that random droid conveniently revealing everything to Vaylin, having way more power and knowledge than you'd expect any random mook to have, and helping her reprogram the entire fleet... for no benefit to him. Or what about Vaylin raging about not wanting to leave before her enemies are dead but then conveniently being in hyperspace already while the Outlander and her crew - who've been trying to escape the whole time - barely make it?

The choice to get rid of Scorpio one way or another is an interesting one in principle, but the execution is lacking. I can forgive that the way she almost pleads with the Outlander seems pretty out of character, but as xLetalis observed in his review of KotET (warning, contains spoilers for the ending) the whole dark side cut scene is just weird. Scorpio is plugged into the console already, why withdraw and ask for permission to upload herself? And why, after standing right in front of said console the entire time, is she suddenly too far away from it to reach it in time if you deny her? Yeeeah...

Finally, I always feel terrible for the Gemini droids in this chapter. While Scorpio granting them independence did not work out well for the Alliance, there was still something noble about it in a way. Seeing Vaylin erase all their progress on a whim to make them into mindless slaves again, so they won't shy away from blowing each other up for no reason if she commands it, is pretty damn horrible if you think about it. Yet it isn't really addressed again after this.

Still, I do really like the part you spend stomping around in that giant war droid. I'm not sure it's "in character" for all my Outlanders to look so smug when they take the pilot's seat, but I as the one behind the keyboard definitely enjoyed it.

Onwards to Chapter 6!

KotET Chapter by Chapter - Chapter 4: Where Dreams Die

Time for another detailed and spoiler-laden discussion of a Knights of the Eternal Throne chapter. We're up to chapter four! Though if you missed it...

Click here to go back to Chapter 3.

The Story

The Gravestone and the Eternal Fleet are in hyperspace on their way to an unknown destination. Officially you are in command again, but the hyperdrive is locked and you can't really do anything. When the Gravestone drops out of hyperspace, Scorpio leaves on a shuttle and tells you that you've been brought to the place where she, the Gravestone and the Eternal Fleet originated. However, Vaylin and her remaining soldiers are still on board and sabotaging the ship, which requires you to go on a clean-up mission. Meanwhile, the Gravestone continues on her course into her home world, which is a giant Dyson sphere. However, while you are off to repair the omnicannon, Vaylin overwhelms the companions you left on the bridge and taunts you by threatening their lives. Before you can take any steps to fight back, a blinding light overwhelms you and you pass out.

You awake on the inner surface of the Dyson sphere, which has a post-apocalyptic look to it: technologically advanced, but covered in moss and with plant overgrowth everywhere. A strange diamond-shaped device decides to follow you around and basically serves as your temporary companion while you are unable to raise anyone on the comm. You wander around the largely abandoned area for a bit, only encountering "custodian" droids occasionally, some of them hostile, some of them neutral. There is a bonus mission here to access various "technoliths" around the area which teach you that the "planet" is called Iokath and that its former rulers enjoyed building experimental war machines. They also appear to have been very long-lived or at least good at thinking on a grand scale, as their experiments are described as stretching across millennia and involving the casual annihilation of entire civilisations.

One technolith presents you with a talking hologram that introduces itself as Aries and offers to provide you with more information but constantly seems to encounter errors when trying to do so. Torian shows up behind you, confirming that he had a similar experience to yours, passing out from the bright light and then waking alone on the surface. You also encounter some Knights of Zakuul fighting droids, presumably having been transported down from the Eternal Fleet, and get tasked to kill the lot of them... before you get any ideas about possibly wanting to co-operate with them in such a strange and hostile environment. Theron manages to reach you on the holo and informs you that he's found a safe place to gather. He also warns you however that since everyone seems to have been transported to the surface, it stands to reason that Vaylin must be about somewhere too.

The all-knowing player behind the keyboard is not kept in suspense for long, as we then cut to a shot of Vaylin waking in what appears to be something like a padded cell, only without the padding. She quickly gets angry about her imprisonment and starts using the Force to tear at the walls... when suddenly, he dead brother Thexan appears out of nowhere and tries to calm her down. Vaylin is wary of him but certainly distracted.

You meet with Theron, who's managed to get the rest of your crew together. He's been trying to find the Gravestone but his cybernetic scanners only go so far. You get a chance to talk to your remaining companions here - no proper cut scenes, but a little bit of dialogue voice-over plays when you click on them. Several of them express a feeling that you are being tested by being separated and placed in a strange environment. Vette has activated another technolith in the meantime and got Aries the hologram to tell her more about Iokath - basically the cliff notes of the codex entries you might already have uncovered earlier. It's also revealed that Zakuul was one of the worlds that was being experimented on.

A cut reveals Vaylin talking to Thexan some more, clearly torn between affection for her dead brother and scepticism about why a dead person would suddenly appear in front of her. Your chat with Aries is suddenly interrupted by Scorpio appearing on the holo. She confirms that you're all being used as test subjects and suggests working together to escape. You get interrupted once again by a bunch of droids storming your shelter, which you then have to fight off. After a drawn-out and annoying fight, Theron has the bright idea to shoot a panel that causes a force field to go up and prevents any more droids from coming in. Why couldn't you have thought of this earlier, Theron?

Vette fiddles with the technolith some more and almost accidentally opens another door. You don't know what lies behind it, but it's gotta be better than all those purifier droids, right? You eventually find another technolith, and realise that it's surrounded by lots of little capsules which appear to form a crypt for Iokath's creators. Through it, Scorpio manages to contact you again and tells you of how Iokath's own creations turned against their creators and killed them, though their memories were locked so they couldn't remember their origins.

We also see Vaylin trashing her cell and escaping, after having tricked "Thexan" into revealing that he's not really her brother. Turns out the one hiding behind Thexan's face was no other than Aries, the hologram that shared information earlier - he's not just a hologram, but another AI created by Iokath's founders, and now also the one in control of this entire world.

My Thoughts

Most of KotET's chapters stand pretty well on their own, but chapters four and five are very closely tied together, with chapter four being pretty much a set-up for everything that happens in chapter five. Because of that, not much really happens in chapter four! There isn't even a single dark/light or otherwise story-defining choice to be made here. However, I didn't even notice that myself until someone else pointed it out to me, because I was too busy admiring the pretty scenery. The overgrown parts of Iokath in particular are very good at creating an appropriate atmosphere and look beautiful to boot.

While the matter of the Gravestone, the Eternal Fleet and Scorpio's origins had come up repeatedly during Knights of the Fallen Empire, I have to admit I was kind of surprised to find KotET devoting two whole chapters to it, especially at this point. It all comes a bit out of left field and only has a fairly tenuous connection to the rest of the story in my opinion. I'd rather they had saved this particular plot thread for later and instead incorporated the scions into KotET somehow - they were one story thread that originally felt very important but then just vanished completely.

Anyway, even though the chapter's main purpose is to introduce you to Iokath and there isn't much else to it, I quite enjoyed it because Iokath is simply a fun place to be, which adds another reason to be excited about patch 5.2 (when we will return there).

Another interesting point to note is that even though both you and your companions as well as Vaylin and her subjects basically get trapped by a force more powerful than both of you here, this isn't used as an opportunity to allow both sides to find common ground or even form as much as a temporary truce. When you run into the Knights of Zakuul fighting droids, you just kill them both. At your temporary base, if you have Koth with you, he will say that a Zakuulan wanted to surrender to him but died to the droids before they could make it back together. Despite of the sheer magnitude of what you discover on Iokath, the story makes it very clear that you're supposed to still consider Vaylin your primary problem.

Onwards to Chapter 5!

KotET Chapter by Chapter - Chapter 3: Dark Reunions

Time for another detailed and spoiler-laden discussion of a Knights of the Eternal Throne chapter. We're up to chapter three! Though if you missed it...

Click here to go back to Chapter 2.

The Story

Chapter two ended with the player seeing Koth inadvertently inviting Vaylin and Scorpio onto the Gravestone because he stepped right into a trap of theirs. Chapter three starts with the Alliance receiving a distress call from Koth, asking for help. You decide to go and help him even if he stole the Gravestone from you at the end of Fallen Empire... because obviously you don't want Vaylin of all people to have it!

When you arrive, Vaylin and Scorpio are sitting on the Gravestone's bridge, puzzling over why the ship remains shut down and refuses to let them reactivate it. The Alliance fleet engages the nearby Eternal Fleet ships while you and Lana board the Gravestone via a boarding pod.

You land in the power generation room, stuck behind a locked door and having to play a little mini-game that involves remotely manipulating a mouse droid outside to open up the doors. On your way to the bridge you take out a couple of skytrooper patrols until you suddenly run into Koth. If he stole the Gravestone from you, he makes an awkward peace offering, which you can accept or reject, but for the moment you need to work together anyway, while Lana tries to create a distraction. Koth explains that he was suspicious of Scorpio from the beginning and installed additional security measures to prevent her from taking over the ship, which is why it's floating dead in space at the moment. However, on top of this he fitted the ship with a so-called quantum bomb, which will cause it to go boom big time if Scorpio actually manages to break the code and takes control, meaning your first priority is to disarm said bomb. On the bridge, Vaylin and Scorpio can be seen turning to torturing Koth's crew to learn more about the encryption he used.

When you make it to the bridge yourself in order to take the last step to disable the fail-safe however, nobody but the crew is there. Koth is confused to find his security broken, yet no actions taken that would have triggered the bomb. After he tells his crew to get to the escape pods, Scorpio calls on the holo to say that she manipulated Vaylin into leaving the bridge so you would have time to disarm the bomb, as she doesn't want to see the Gravestone destroyed either. Now Vaylin has cornered Lana at the bomb's actual location however, and two powerful Force users duking it out right there is bound to get dangerous.

You and Koth rush to the Dark Sanctuary, where you find Vaylin pounding Lana into the ground. You interfere and fight her, but she is powerful. Suddenly Valkorion performs his time-stop trick again and steps between you. Vaylin snarls at him, expressing her hatred of the fact that he caged her as a child (which I think is the first time we hear about the events of the KotET trailer in character), but he counters by uttering the phrase "Kneel before the dragon of Zakuul", which has a strange effect on Vaylin, shutting down her ability to fight. She flees the scene, but the fight did set off the bomb's timer. You rush around the nearby rooms to bring down the shield around it, so Koth can disarm it. There is a bonus mission to do this within three minutes, but I have no idea what happens if you take longer... I guess the game just pretends that you still made it in time, you just don't get the bonus reward?

Valkorion explains that Vaylin has been conditioned to respond to the phrase he used and that it renders her unable to use her powers. Meanwhile, Theron arrives in a shuttle with reinforcements and informs you that the Eternal Fleet has jumped into hyperspace. Koth is pleased that the situation has seemingly been resolved to everyone's satisfaction - though if he stole the Gravestone from you and you refused his peace offer, you can punish or even kill him for it now.

Vaylin is shown limping onto the bridge and tries to attack Scorpio for playing her, too, but under the influence of the conditioning she can't bring her full powers to bear. Meanwhile Scorpio announces that the technology that created her, the Eternal Fleet and the Gravestone all come from the same origin, and that she's about to take the Gravestone elsewhere.... "home" as she calls it shortly afterwards. The ship jumps into hyperspace with you and your crew still on board, and you are unable to do anything about it.

My Thoughts 

Chapter three is probably the shortest of all the KotET chapters, and mainly seems to serve two purposes: to resolve "the Koth situation" and to reveal Vaylin's secret weakness.

Initially I found it kind of odd that Vaylin of all people would go and set a trap for Koth herself. Doesn't she have an army of knights that can do that sort of thing for her? It's a well-worn storytelling trope that the ruler/boss likes to lead the charge themselves even if it doesn't necessarily make sense from a strategic point of view, but still... yet as I thought about it some more, I realised that it actually does make a lot of sense for Vaylin of all people. She appears to have been the executive arm of the law for the entirety of Arcann's reign, and maybe even before that, and she doesn't really take well to just sitting on the throne and letting others get things done. This makes for an interesting contrast with Arcann in particular, whose habit of perpetually sitting on the throne and brooding instead of actually doing anything for most of KotFE was pretty legendary and became the butt of many jokes. The way you and Vaylin chase each other in circles around the Gravestone while continuously missing each other does get a little silly though. There aren't that many different corridors to the bridge!

Valkorion interfering directly and revealing Vaylin's conditioning is an interesting twist. It also gives our characters an opportunity to learn in game what we as players already knew from the trailer: that Valkorion had Vaylin locked up as a child. (Previous mentions of him restraining her powers at a young age had been very vague.) Seeing her frightened expression when her powers desert her makes her at least a little bit sympathetic, despite of her cruelty and raving insanity.

As far as the Koth situation went, I had mixed feelings. People have been clamouring for an opportunity to kill him since the moment he betrayed you at the end of KotFE chapter ten (if you made certain choices), not to menion him running off with the Gravestone afterwards. If that happened to you, getting your revenge does feel pretty satisfying. You get to kind of "betray him back" by coming to his aid at first and then killing him once the worst of the danger has passed, and seeing Lana's reaction in particular is quite heart-wrenching: She is visibly pained by seeing him die, but still stands by stoically as you execute him, knowing that he earned it.

As someone who leans more towards the light side and who had more characters with friendly relations with Koth though... it's all a little disappointing. Like Koth's brief appearance in chapter one, the events of chapter three kind of feel like they were written specifically with Koth the Betrayer in mind. If he's a loyal member of your Alliance, why is he off chasing Eternal Fleet ships in the middle of nowhere? Why is this former soldier that came off as clever and resourceful during the first nine chapters of KotFE acting like such a buffoon now? Not to mention that from my point of view, I would have been more interested in how a loyal Koth would have come to reconcile his adoration for his Eternal Emperor with the fact that I was the one who killed said Emperor in KotFE chapter one and that I continued to fight against his unliving spirit until the end. But I guess that would have required more complexity than they had time for.

Oh, I mustn't forget: I did like the inclusion of yet another little puzzle segment, this time with the mouse droid, though I wish you didn't have to restart from scratch after every step and could instead do the whole segment in one go (if you are skilled enough).

Onwards to Chapter 4!

KotET Chapter by Chapter - Chapter 2: Run for the Shadows

Time for another detailed and spoiler-laden discussion of a Knights of the Eternal Throne chapter. We're up to chapter two! Though if you missed it...

Click here to go back to Chapter 1.

The Story

The moment that many of us have been waiting for since 4.0 has finally arrived: We get to find out what's going on in the Sith Empire and the Republic. Well, one of them anyway, as the Outlander visits Empress Acina on Dromund Kaas to discuss the possibility of an alliance. With the Alliance. This is going to be a bit of a pain to talk about, isn't it?

You, Theron and Lana are welcomed by a certain Moff Minister Lorman, who starred in the Annihilation spin-off novel, but even though I actually read that book and even wrote about it on here, I have to admit that I had zero memory of him and wouldn't even have made the connection if someone else hadn't pointed it out to me. He takes you to Empress Acina, who welcomes you quite warmly and quickly gets annoyed by Lorman's comments, urging you to have a private chat with her in her personal shuttle. You agree and the two of you go on a ride across the jungles of Dromund Kaas. I have to say that first scene where the camera slowly zooms in on you inside the shuttle while it whizzes across the canopy amazes me every time! Even if it's a bit off from a logic perspective that Acina doesn't even bother to take a single bodyguard...

While Acina tries to convince you that allying with her is a good idea, the shuttle suddenly gets shot down. You manage to jump out before it crashes but find that communications aren't working as they should, so you can't call for help. Meanwhile, you (the player) see an incredibly chipper Minister Lorman tell Theron and Lana that you and the Empress have died in a tragic accident.

When you and Acina reach the shuttle crash site, you find that the emergency beacon is destroyed and a party of GenoHaradan scouts is looking for you... to make sure that you're dead. At the same time, Theron receives a call from former Republic Chancellor Leontyne Saresh, also offering her condolences about the Outlander's "death" and suggesting that her leadership skills would be a big boon to the Alliance. Theron and Lana say eff to that and decide that they really need to find you (alive, preferably) as soon as possible, even if the bad storms will make it difficult.

Meanwhile you traipse through the rainy jungles of Dromund Kaas with Acina to find the GenoHaradan's camp. When you do, you also find a datapad which reveals their employer: none other than Saresh herself. (Republic players who did the story mission for the Scum and Villainy operation probably already suspected this, as Saresh was shown to be their last known employer back then.) Immediately after this discovery a shuttle with more GenoHaradan shows up and they try to blast you straight from the sky, but you manage to scurry away into a nearby ancient Sith tomb before its entrance collapses behind you.

On the Eternal Throne, we see Scorpio informing Vaylin that rumour has it that you're dead. Vaylin shrugs this off as obviously false, but Scorpio informs her that the upheaval caused by the Outlander's disappearance is the perfect opportunity to strike a blow against the Alliance. Back in Kaas City, Lana and Theron's attempt to sneak off to search for you is thwarted by some guards that Minister Lorman posted in anticipation of this move.

You and Acina make it through the ancient Sith tomb, avoiding a bunch of traps and vicious critters along the way, just to run into the leader of the GenoHaradan accompanied by "Minister" Lorman at the end. As soon as you defeat the GenoHaradan, Lorman tells you to stay back as he claims to have your friends as hostages, but when he tries to prove this via holocall, it turns out that Lana and Theron have easily overwhelmed their captors. They tell you that Saresh is already on her way to Odessen to instate herself as the Alliance's new leader, leaving you to only deal with Lorman before hurrying back yourself: You can let him go, encourage Acina to make him her slave, or team up with her to execute him.

On Odessen, you bust in on Saresh, just as she announces to your Alliance that you're dead. She panics and tries to run, but of course you stop her with ease. She expresses no regrets about her actions, and you get to punch or even kill her, though you can also simply take her prisoner. Theron will love you for it either way!

Acina calls in one more time to apologise for everything that happened on Dromund Kaas and asks whether you'll still agree to an alliance with the Sith Empire, which you can either agree to or refuse.

The chapter ends with a view of a small freighter being chased by Eternal Fleet ships and a female voice calling for help. The Gravestone appears and Koth comes to its rescue, but as he takes the damaged freighter in for repairs, we see that its crew consists of none other than Scorpio, who was merely impersonating the ship's former captain, Vaylin and some of her troops.

My Thoughts

I was one of those people who has been waiting to get back to the story of our original factions, so I was initially delighted by this chapter, but I finished it with a sense of bitter-sweetness.

While it's great to return to an iconic starter planet like Dromund Kaas and see for yourself how the Sith Empire is holding up under its new Empress' reign, the chapter only goes on to cement your position as an outsider in this brave new post-KotFE world. Acina lectures you about how the Sith used to do things vs. how they do them now, which leaves Imperial characters wanting to scream: "I know all of this! I'm one of you, remember?" There is no way of seeking true reconciliation if you still consider yourself loyal to the Sith Empire.

While the chapter focuses on the Sith, Republic characters aren't really much better off in terms of connecting to their old home. As a trooper in particular I found it absurd that Saresh would seek to assassinate me after I had defeated one of the Empire's greatest generals in service to her, but I don't imagine it feels much better if you're a different flavour of hero of the Republic. Didn't she give the consular a medal at the end of the original class story?

The ending on Odessen feels like an attempt at fan service targeted at those who've expressed a strong dislike for Saresh for ages, but to me her blatant attempt at taking over just rang hollow. Yes, she was set up to be a dislikeable character, but her background has always been that she suffered a lot at the hands of the Sith Empire and is therefore willing to go to extreme measures to defeat them. I didn't feel that simply trying to take over the Alliance in what's portrayed as a mere grab for power fit her previous portrayal at all, and shunting her off the stage by either imprisoning or executing her struck me as a waste of a great character. Either way, the new Supreme Chancellor sends you a letter afterwards, in which he takes a similarly distant approach as Acina, talking about respecting your sovereignty and stuff. Why won't you let me be friends with you again? /cry

Those bigger issues aside, "Run for the Shadows" is another chapter that finds a good balance between story and gameplay. The character of Lorman is pretty funny and his over-the-top outrage at not being addressed by the correct title was a genuine laugh out loud moment to me. The Sith tomb also contains a bonus mission that requires the use of binoculars, which can additionally be used to spot and avoid traps. I completely missed that second use the first time around and just stepped into every flame and onto every spike like a noob, but it's nice to have another optional bit of puzzling thrown into the mix.

Speaking of traps though, what's that about Koth running straight into a trap...?

Onwards to Chapter 3!