Dark Side Influence

[psycmaster421]

So...I just recently beat the game going lightside and it was the first time I had ever played it with TSLRCM and M4-78. Having played the Xbox version several times, I loved a lot of the extra content and changes that were made.

Some time soon I want to try and play it again, this time going darkside, but I had a question. I have no problems getting enough influence with my party to train them as Jedi when I go lightside, but I noticed on this version, some of the actions that resulted in an influence gain/loss on the original did not make a difference. Plus, when you go darkside you have to be careful with your choices or you don't get Mira (she's better than Hanharr in my opinion) and (since my PC is always male) I remember if you are too emersed in the darkside, Handmaiden stops talking to you and you lose the possibility of training her as a Jedi.

Any tips on how to try and avoid this?

[raubrey]

Honesty, the game is much more fun as a darksider without worrying about these two characters, if only because of their alignment and conflics. That or playing as female and obtaining Disciple whom you can turn into a jedi before you even leave the enclave with enough negative influence and the jealousy issues isn't there to deal with.(In a way that matters).

Granted, I rather have Mira than Hanharr just because the wookie sound is annoying. But you'll have to get her quickly, (help the refugees and not be more than 25% or so darkside -- can google for the exact cutoff) and sacrifice a lot of DS points (useful for Atton esp.) to get her ...once you do you can turn her DS mostly on the Ebon Hawk.

I always play female so can't attest to handmaiden but know from reading it is a struggle with Visas and Visas is a more natural fit as a darksider companion.

Here is some more info on influence with Handmaiden.
http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=160951

Lastly if you go the negative alignment route -- the companions are lightside and you can't train them.

The thing is the game becomes SO mechanical, as in tedious, when you concern yourself with both alignment and opposing alignment in your companions. If you're not as concerned about max alignment (until late game, if at all.) it is much better.

[psycmaster421]

Yeah, I get what you're saying.

I have played as a DS character before and still gotten both of these characters (i.e., Handmaiden and Mira) to train as Jedi. The trick was to go back and forth on LS and DS decisions to where I was either barely LS or a grey Jedi when I finished the main missions on Nar Shaddaa. After that there was still plenty of chances to be completely DS and get the +3 alignement bonus

[Hassat Hunter]

Some wrong info with raubrey's post... also "in this version", while some changes were made to inf (very few though) I generally assume there 'not' being any increase is because you're maxed out (if you have 100INF and get a +INF for that character no popup appears since the influence didn't change). Sure it wan't that.

You can train companions with both low *and* high INF. Some cutscenes run only with high INF and some low INF, so it's hard to see them all. Especially the Atton-Disciple conflict is hard since Atton likes both random DS and LS acts so you really need to use those few personal discussions where you can chew him out.

[funewchie]

Kreia can help as well.
If she's in your party whenever you do a darkside option, she will speak up, and it often can prevent INF loss with the other party member.
(To prevent losing any INF with Kreia herself, simply go with "I will think on your words")

[psycmaster421]

I remember on the Xbox version that you could repeatedly ask Kreia about Visas' planet being destroyed and get influence everytime. Is that still available or is it no longer effective?

[Metr0]

Originally posted by raubrey:

Honesty, the game is much more fun as a darksider without worrying about these two characters, if only because of their alignment and conflics. That or playing as female and obtaining Disciple whom you can turn into a jedi before you even leave the enclave with enough negative influence and the jealousy issues isn't there to deal with.

Granted, I rather have Mira than Hanharr just because the wookie sound is annoying. But you'll have to get her quickly, (help the refugees and not be more than 25% or so darkside -- can google for the exact cutoff) and sacrifice a lot of DS points (useful for Atton esp.) to get her ...once you do you can turn her DS mostly on the Ebon Hawk.

I always play female so can't attest to handmaiden but know from reading it is a struggle with Visas and Visas is a more natural fit as a darksider companion.

Here is some more info on influence with Handmaiden.
http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=160951

Lastly if you go the negative alignment route -- the companions are lightside and you can't train them.

The thing is the game becomes SO mechanical, as in tedious, when you concern yourself with both alignment and opposing alignment in your companions. If you're not as concerned about max alignment (until late game, if at all.) it is much better.

How can you hate on wookies man

[Chomusuke]

Every time I decide to replay this game, I end up hating myself for it; I know what will happen in the end, and yet I still get disappointed with the ending...

[raubrey]

Originally posted by Hassat Hunter:

Some wrong info with raubrey's post... also "in this version", while some changes were made to inf (very few though) I generally assume there 'not' being any increase is because you're maxed out (if you have 100INF and get a +INF for that character no popup appears since the influence didn't change). Sure it wan't that.

You can train companions with both low *and* high INF. Some cutscenes run only with high INF and some low INF, so it's hard to see them all. Especially the Atton-Disciple conflict is hard since Atton likes both random DS and LS acts so you really need to use those few personal discussions where you can chew him out.

Excuse me, please clarify which information is wrong? I'm not immune to innacuracies but you didn't explain yourself. Also, you talked about cut scenes which isn't the question.

I said you can go high/low (negative) influence so I really don't know what you're referring to.

Atton & Disciple is not difficult, you can Jedi him on Nar Shadda and then his INF doesn't matter. You can Jedi Disciple when you meet him, again his INF doesn't matter unless you're training him for darkside jedi (and not caring about your DS alignment),

I am referring to juggling all of this AND max alignment early on as I mentioned...and overall.

As for +3 bonus for alignment maxed out, that is lightside. Plus in addition to below is the Korriban goodies/content.

http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Knights_of_the_Old_Republic_II:_The_Sith_Lords/Alignment

[raubrey]

Originally posted by funewchie:

Kreia can help as well.
If she's in your party whenever you do a darkside option, she will speak up, and it often can prevent INF loss with the other party member.
(To prevent losing any INF with Kreia herself, simply go with "I will think on your words")

The first part is true and a good tip but this current game (latest TSLRCM) I would lose Kreia's influence despite this choice of response. I don't recall when this may have changed. There are INF changes as the OP mentioned.

Originally posted by DiscreeT:

Every time I decide to replay this game, I end up hating myself for it; I know what will happen in the end, and yet I still get disappointed with the ending...

Yes, me also. Though it's a good game to love to hate. I don't hate the ending so much, just wish there was a sequel.

[BotZero]

Originally posted by DiscreeT:

Every time I decide to replay this game, I end up hating myself for it; I know what will happen in the end, and yet I still get disappointed with the ending...

same. Ive played the 1st game numerous times more because the ending doesn't disapoint me while Kotor 2's ending still does even with the TSLCRM there's no fix for that non ending.

The revan novel is a must read if you want an ending to the sith lords.

[Hassat Hunter]

I thought I was pretty clear; I even stated in that post (that you quoted) what you said incorrectly.

You said:
"Lastly if you go the negative alignment route -- the companions are lightside and you can't train them."

So I replied:
"Some wrong info with raubrey's post... You can train companions with both low *and* high INF."

Also the OP worried about Handmaiden, and the cutscenes is in response that negative influence can add up whole new cutscenes and options you will miss if you go pure +INF.

As you probably also know INF is required to jedify Atton, so it's not as much a non-issue as you state. True after you jedified him all's done, but to get to that point early you already need to carefully consider you words, or let Atton get a few random DS/LS hits.

Talking about random DS/LS, the common "Kreia" conception. In the BASE game it would be -8 +1, for a total of -7. With TSLRCM it's -8 +8 so exactly the same, a reverse of what you mentioned.
Also influence in Nar Shaddaa's docks raised or lowered everything by a whole whooping 1 point. TSLRCM? 8 as everywhere else.
The Refugee Sector on Nar Shaddaa also had an outdated script allowing higher or lower bonusses to influence than intended. As you can imagine, we fixed that too. So yes, there have been quite a bunch of fixing all around.

I'm not quite sure what the alingment bonus or Korriban was in reply to.

Yeah... and then you realise thanks to LucasArts, that book and TOR there is no proper KOTOR3 to follow this up.

[Chomusuke]

Originally posted by I'm Stylin:

same. Ive played the 1st game numerous times more because the ending doesn't disapoint me while Kotor 2's ending still does even with the TSLCRM there's no fix for that non ending.

The revan novel is a must read if you want an ending to the sith lords.

I'll give the novel a try, but I have a bad feeling about it (HA) because I don't particularly like how they locked in the exile canonically being female >.< Not so muh because I can't handle a female protagonist, it just kinda breaks the immersion and investment into my character and the story.

I think the biggest factor for my disappointment is just simply how the last several sections seem incredibly forced/shoe-horned into the game. I'm talking about Invasion of Telos/Ravager/Malachor V. Playing through these levels felt incredibly pointless to me, and it just made the ending just simply that much more useless. What was even the point of befriending anyone on the ship (something something charging up loading ramp)? Decisions made throughout the game seem to have little-to-no bearing on how the gameplay/story feels at the end.

1v1 Kreia and either the planet explodes or you just take over the Academy? -_- Also, played through as the Sentinel/Watchman for the first time... really underwhelming. Stealth mechanic is not very useful/well implemented.

[psycmaster421]

Thank you for all your words. Few comments and then one last question:

First, I think the fact that there was no KOTOR 3 is a big reason why KOTOR 2 draws a lot of hate. I've kinda gotten to where I compare the games to both movie trilogies. Episode IV ends and it feels complete, whereas Episode V (while probably the best movie) ends with the characters staring off into space. Same thing with the KOTOR's: first one ends with a medal ceremony, second ends with a ship drifting off into space to who knows where. If they had made a third to settle this I think people would feel more resolved.

Second, I admit in some cases it is kinda pointless to worry about influence for some characters because the skills they already have are better than any that they could get from becoming a Jedi (i.e., Mira's ranged abilities) or because it's very unlikely that you will use them after you get new party members.

Now the question: what class and advanced class do you recommend going?

[Chomusuke]

I think most people say to start Guardian and then go Jedi Master/Sith Lord. I would not recommend Sentinel, ever. It was just an awful experience.

I mean, KotOR3 would have just been about the Exile going off to find Revan, and god knows who you were supposed to be playing for that one before they cancelled it.

I have a lot of negative feelings towards KotOR2 only as it ends. The whole beginning of things is great (except Peragus), and I'd give anything to be able to experience the planets from a brand new perspective.

The game built the Exile up to be this important and controversial person within the Republic, affecting everything and everyone around them, but then at the end you just suddenly poof. The end, roll credits. I think how Kreia 'looked into the future' was a real cheap way of offering some form of closure, but it was pretty damn ♥♥♥♥♥♥, especially seeing as how there were no cutscenes involved with them, just text.

I understand that the developers for this game were heavily pressured into making deadlines, but holy ♥♥♥♥, what is this story? Why couldn't there have been a 'Kreia-sided ending' where you maintain neutrality throughout the entire story and then go along with her plan to destroy the Force? Like, where are the choices?

Concluding this game would have felt so much better if I could still play my character after the ending to observe the aftermath of the planets that I've been to, see how they are improving/degrading, etc. kinda like how Fable: TLC kinda did it. But nope, ending is it, and it's not even a thorough one. By god, Catherine was even edgier and nuanced than this, and that was a puzzle game whose morality was determined through purely binary decisions.

Oh well, time to slap on more mods and play this sad game.

[raubrey]

Originally posted by Hassat Hunter:

I thought I was pretty clear; I even stated in that post (that you quoted) what you said incorrectly.

You said:
"Lastly if you go the negative alignment route -- the companions are lightside and you can't train them."

So I replied:
"Some wrong info with raubrey's post... You can train companions with both low *and* high INF."

You're talking about bouncing around on alignment. I am talking about trying to train Disciple *after* you Jedi him as a max Darksider. By then you've exhausted a lot of dialog options -- and while you can bounce around and get some LS points, potentially, it would be a textbook process that may or may not work depending on your point in the game/convos. Most of his influence is acquired in conversation. So, no, I don't think I was wrong in what I said -- perhaps it just need more clarification for you.

And I repeat, I did say you can train them as Jedi with both types of influence.I am talking about lightsaber etc training.

Try being a max darksider, turning him into a Jedi at the enclave and then try to train him *further.* Would love to hear how it works for you as it does not for me.