Star Wars Collection chronological play order

[HEL(L)ICOPRION]

i've just bought the collection and i'd like to know the suggested play order of all its games. since i have nearly zero knowledge of the star wars universe, would be cool if someone could point me out the right order in which i should play the games...
-tnx

[razdaz]

You'd have to get a pretty hardcore fan to lay everything out for you since the Star Wars saga spans thousands of years. At least the old republic saga predates the films by thousands of years, you won't recognise much compared to the films but the Knights games are some of the best RPGs out there.

The Knights games use a modified dungeons and dragons roll dice ruleset rather than real time combat.

[HEL(L)ICOPRION]

uhm, i'm not sure i understood what you are saying...you mean that the SW universe it's so deep and complicated that it's not possible to make a list of the suggested or chronological play order of 14 games? am i correct?
in case i've misunderstood you then, sorry

[funewchie]

I'm not completely sure of the order, but I'll try. (Star Wars Expanded Universe bases it's timeline on the Battle of Yavin (i.e. Star Wars episode 4: A New Hope). So if it says 30 BBY, that means 30 years Before the Battle of Yavin, likewise with 30 ABY (30 years after the Battle of Yavin in Ep 4: A New Hope)

• Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 are the earliest (3,000 BBY).
  
• Next would be Star Wars Starfighter (~40 BBY (About the time of The Phantom Menace))
  
• Now you're getting into the Clone Wars era, with Republic Commando. At the same time you have Clone Wars: Republic Heroes, and Battlefront 2. (These happen pretty close together, and tend to overlap.)
  
  I'd say that Commando happens first, then Heroes, and finally Battlefront (which goes from just before Order 66 in Ep. 3, clear to the Death Star Escape in ep. 4)
  
  
• Next up is both The Force Unleashed games. (I don't know the year, but it was sometime between Episode 3 and 4. The Rebellion was just getting started by this point, but wasn't quite on it's feet yet))
  
  
• Okay, now the timeline gets tricky because two game arcs happen at roughly the same time: Empire at War Gold Pack (specifically, the vanilla game: which goes from just before Ep. 4, clear to the Battle of Yavin); and at the same time, the Dark Forces games happen (which feature among, other things, stealing the Death Star plans)
  
  
• Now you're moving well into the movies, to just after the Battle of Yavin, with Empire at War Gold Pack's expansion: Forces of Corruption (which goes from after the Battle of Yavin to...I'm not quite sure, to be honest. I know it's at least the Battle of Endor (Ep. 6: Return of the Jedi))
  
  
• Okay, I have to confess: I haven't played the Jedi Knight games (except for Jedi Outcast), so I'm not sure where they go in the timeline.
  I do know Jedi Outcast takes place at least 7~8 years after Return of the Jedi (because Luke Skywalker had long since established his Jedi Academy on Yavin 4, which happened 7 years after Endor)
  Furthermore, Jedi Academy takes place after Jedi Outcast.

Whew, that's all I know about the timeline. I'm sure others can fill you in on the Jedi Knight games (which all feature the adventures of scoundrel-like Jedi Kyle Katarn). Sorry if I'm a little off on the details.

[Dirtnose]

Just letting you know, that none of this lore is canon anymore. Lucasfilm declared all the Star Wars video games as non canon now. However, you can still play them in order. Funewchie's list is correct.

[funewchie]

Eh, the Expanded Universe has always been separate from the movies.

It's the reason that Kashyyyk is different in the books/games, than it was in Episode 3. (In the EU, the whole planet is one colossal forest, and no one ever goes to the ground floor and lives to tell of it. In the movies, it's just a regular earthlike planet, only with a lot of large trees.)

I almost get the feeling that Disney/Lucasfilm is just trying to tick off the Star Wars EU fans. It's almost like they're saying: "Sorry, but your little fanfiction er, "books" are no more. We won't tolerate any more mentions of those stories. All hail Disney!"

So in short, Lucasfilm can say whatever they want about the Expanded Universe, but I'm ignoring them. I recommend doing likewise.

[Commodore Camacho]

Originally posted by Goku:

Just letting you know, that none of this lore is canon anymore. Lucasfilm declared all the Star Wars video games as non canon now. However, you can still play them in order. Funewchie's list is correct.

Partly true. As of now they're only trashing post Episode VI canon to accomadate the new movies. Everything for the prequels, Clone Wars and in between Episodes III and IV is still canon as of now.

[HEL(L)ICOPRION]

tnx for your replies guys

[Dirtnose]

Originally posted by Caboose:

Originally posted by Goku:

Just letting you know, that none of this lore is canon anymore. Lucasfilm declared all the Star Wars video games as non canon now. However, you can still play them in order. Funewchie's list is correct.

Partly true. As of now they're only trashing post Episode VI canon to accomadate the new movies. Everything for the prequels, Clone Wars and in between Episodes III and IV is still canon as of now.

Wow, for real? So all the KOTOR stuff is still canon? That is great. I'm not a huge fan of the lore after the films, I like the Jedi Knight series but that's about it, but the stuff before the films is just as good if not better than the films, it should stay canon.

[Dr. Gori]

Originally posted by Goku:

Originally posted by Caboose:

Partly true. As of now they're only trashing post Episode VI canon to accomadate the new movies. Everything for the prequels, Clone Wars and in between Episodes III and IV is still canon as of now.

Wow, for real? So all the KOTOR stuff is still canon? That is great. I'm not a huge fan of the lore after the films, I like the Jedi Knight series but that's about it, but the stuff before the films is just as good if not better than the films, it should stay canon.

Should have taken the chance and made the prequel movies non-canon too. :/

[Sand of Thym]

Everything that isn't movies 1-6 and the animated series The Clone Wars is currently non-canon. When Star Wars: Rebels is released along with the new movies, they will continue the canon.

[funewchie]

Originally posted by Sand of Thym:

Everything that isn't movies 1-6 and the animated series The Clone Wars is currently non-canon. When Star Wars: Rebels is released along with the new movies, they will continue the canon.

Which is pretty much how it's always been.

That's why it's called The Expanded Universe, to tell it apart from the canon story (i.e. the movies, and shows made by George Lucas).

[Mister E]

Does that mean the Star Wars Christmas Special is canon too?

[HEL(L)ICOPRION]

just as a side note...do you veterans SW players and fans think that playing all the games collection following the release date order is also a viable way to enjoy this universe? again, i haven't watched the films so i don't know nearly anything about plot and lore...i'm just thinking of playing this collection trying to enjoy the plot or at least trying to figuring out the events throughout all the games...if it's possible of course
-tnx

[TheWolfFate]

I would recommend at least watching the original trilogy before playing any of the games. (apart from KOTOR 1&2)

[funewchie]

Originally posted by Mister E:

Does that mean the Star Wars Christmas Special is canon too?

Hahaha, probably not, since George Lucas has gone on record as saying that he would love to find and burn every copy of that special.

It would probably be safe to say that it should be considered non-canon (and that Lucas wants to shoot those copies with a cannon :) )