Is there any genuine reason to go for dual sabers or saberstaff?

[Ninjamestari]

I can't figure out any way to make either setup even remotely as powerful as the single saber. Strong style basic slashes are seriously OP and the fast style has several special moves that are just killers. Has anyone actually figured out any real benefits to having two sabers or a saberstaff?

[Basan™]

Imho, the finishing move of the Saber Staff and other related Jedi's movements related to it are simply too awesome and powerful to let it slide by.

And although the Dual Sabers finishing move isn't damn near inneffective unless you draw Saber wielding foes real close the rest of that Style's move were nice too, if I'm recalling it right.

Tbh, the single Saber style with all those 3 different stances cn sure fill in a lot of blanks and may indeed be better than the Dual Sabers stance/style, but imho it still can't beat the Saber Staff because in it you can choose between using the initial Single Saber style and then swap into the Saber Staff whenever you wish for those awesome moves and finisher trick.

I humbly suggest you to take take a closer look at all those Saber styles and/or stance that alreay are inside the game's 'Manual' to display how you can successfully pull off any of those.

[Ninjamestari]

The strong style alone seems to eat saberstaff for breakfast, add to that the special moves from the fast style and you're just stomping on everyone. The medium style you get as the single saber style for the saberstaff is the single worst style in the game and the only reason to use it is to get access to saber throw. The special moves of the saberstaff sure are fancy, but they're slow, clunky and inefficient. So far I've seen nothing that can even remotely compare with the overhead slashes of the strong style and the impaling and lunge attacks of the fast style.

[Basan™]

Originally posted by Ninjamestari:

The strong style alone seems to eat saberstaff for breakfast, add to that the special moves from the fast style and you're just stomping on everyone. The medium style you get as the single saber style for the saberstaff is the single worst style in the game and the only reason to use it is to get access to saber throw. The special moves of the saberstaff sure are fancy, but they're slow, clunky and inefficient. So far I've seen nothing that can even remotely compare with the overhead slashes of the strong style and the impaling and lunge attacks of the fast style.

To each his/her own preferences. Have to rtespect that and expect the same in return.

Although, from past personal experiences, I've played the Single Player campaign experimenting with all those styles several years ago (i.e., initially got Star Wars, Jedi Knight: Jedy Academy upon CD-DVD and later on reacquired it upon Steam with a discount mostly because my more recent PC's no longer had a CD-DVD drive) and I've had my fair amount of fun by trying all those different Sabers and/or Syles combinations.

[Ninjamestari]

I'm not interested in preferences, I'm interested in performance. I can respect anyone going for the saberstaff for the cool factor alone, that's not what I'm after. I'm simply trying to get an understanding on whether or not the single saber is simply objectively better than the other options as it strongly seems to be, and I was wondering if there's something I've missed about the saberstaff and dual sabers.

I'm currently playing the final act again with the staff trying to see whats what, and it just doesn't seem to be as effective at killing as the single saber with its fast and agile specialized moves that fit any situation. Granted the game is ridiculously easy either way, the single saber simply seems to overperform the staff. The maneuvers are faster and simpler and have greater damage and reach. So far I see zero advantages for the staff.

I haven't done any testing on the dual sabers recently, but that seemed to me to be the weakest form of them all back when I last tried them out.

[Snake]

Single user here (though I've used all of them pretty extensively over the years). Been playing the game since 2003 on both console and PC. for background.

Single is the easiest and least technical to use. Heavy stance has the potential to two-tap enemies with the right swings and placement. Medium is easy to control with solid average damage. Light, frankly, is generally terrible. The damage it does hardly justifies the range you need to be in to land a hit, and its lacking defense means you'll likely be disarmed in trades, which will never be worth it. It's usually only effective against bots or unsuspecting players, once.

Dualies have higher defense than the other two styles, but has the highest execution barrier. Its most effective swings aren't intuitive to perform, and they require the most precision and footwork to both land hits and avoid them yourself. That said, they hurt, and their swings, though unwieldy, are fast. The damage can rack up quickly if you know what you're doing, but they take the most practice out of all of them to use effectively.

Staff is, in my opinion, the strongest style in the game. It's basically single's medium stance on steroids. Its effective swings, though shorter range, are faster with practically identical damage (roughly 45 on average, from a 200hp pool), and they have less end lag, meaning you can move at full speed faster after swinging, or even get an extra hit in if you're willing to risk it. This is significant because you can slip in and out of threat range to land hits without trading with the right footwork and execution, something that's invaluable in a game that predominantly revolves around trades. The caveat is that, while not as high-execution as dualies, there's still a higher execution barrier and fundamentals (spacing, movement, jumping, timing) requirement than single to bring out its full potential. But if you master it? Hoo boy. The best players I've ever seen in the game on either platform have been staff users, and the competition barely came close.

Also, I want to be clear in that this is all from the perspective of someone who has played multiplayer at a higher level for most of the game's lifespan, and I made a point to focus on the potential of the style in that environment as per the original question. With the sole exception of the uppercut in single's light stance, special moves and the like aren't a factor there because using them will get you killed. For single player, none of this stuff matters anyway.

[nemésis]

Staff/duals were implemented for players to spam side swings and thus to cover area in multiplayers TFFA&FFA mode (or in SinglePlayer).
Using staff/duals in duel versus single saber is highly unfair, and whole game becomes tedious experiance when you try to defend and objectively attack spamming staffer/dualler, mainly because staff uses yellow style with enormously huge chance to block on sides, and duals on the other hand are extremely inaccurate weapon that is ideal for players who loves to glitch jump around (cartwheels, overjumping etc).
Single saber was meant to be the meta, as you can "easily" just switch styles and the swings durations according to the distance between you and the opponent.(with intermediate knowledge and muscle memory of switching styles)
DMG differences between particular styles are there just to slightly balance the TFFA,FFA and Singleplayer experiance.
Simply, dont take duelling versus staff or duals any serious in the game, SPECIALLY if opponent is on medium high ping (98-128) versus yours solid 30-48ping...
Latency = extra duration of each swing, which makes staffers on unstable or higher medium pings UNBEATABLE. :-)))
Things may seem very clear and super simple as it was described by the guy above, the guy I have never seen in the game in my 20yrs career (approx 30K hours)
or if it is the snake i used to know, It is TnG}{Snake, the famous cheater.
GL/HF!

[Snake]

I truly mean this in the least incendiary way possible, but I found the above post a bit hard to follow beyond it being a rant about staff users, which, honestly, I get it. That said, it didn't do much to answer the initial question of 'are staff and dualies overshadowed by single.' Even the bits that reinforce the idea that staff is incredibly strong in the right hands don't really do so with substance.

And no, I've never used Snake as a name in-game on any of the platforms that I've played the game on. Glad to see I'm not the only around who's been playing for that long, though.

[nemésis]

I value your rhetoric! That is truly something rare to see in this world, specially on internet!

To clarify the above mentioned:
-• History of this unique platform for frenetical melee FPS goes back to 2002 ->Jedi Outcast.
Would be clever to notice that there were no staffs or duals implemented at first, teh intention was clear by its developers, and the engine and sabering method did change only VERY SLIGHTLY on single saber POV, thus they added staff and duals, as community of StarWars fans wanted to have the choice for SinglePlayer. (every true SW fan knows that dual sabers and staffs were not common form, mostly reserved for special roles in Jedi Order such as guardians, prison keepers, Siths and all those who needed to intensify and accelerate the confrontation)
As of this, implementing such weapons into wide multiplayer society without possible choice to disable such weapons on your server, made the experiance lack on technicality and to lack on balance which logically leads to frustration.
[O.T] - In lore, Jedi Order taught lightsaber forms, all of them were practiced with single blade, specially for its ability to be held in both hands respectively, making such weapon incredibly flexible in terms of cooperation between master and padawan trying to for example guard Queen or to disable BountyHunter in his attempts to succesfully hunt down some high dignitary. - [end of O.T]
-• To get back to the core of the topic, the game...
Staff and duals were implemented to JediKnight series with its last continuation, the Jedi Academy.
Development was harsh and it lead into implementing these new types of lightsabers without deeper understanding of what it is going to be played like,or how it is going to affect existing ways of enjoying the unique Lightsaber experiance.
[interview with RavenSoft devs]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCd1g062xzc

Whole the gameplay is kinda alchemy when you think about for example blocking not being controllable other way than by conscious aim, distance keep and timing of your reactions.
Staff and duals doesn't fit in it, they are fairly out of the ideology of duelling, Kendo(DOJO), Knightley approach, and overall, they are OP.

Think about it anyhow, but this all above mentioned can surely give you little insight on how tempting it is for players to make it easier for them, to go instant OP, demotivating your opponent by passive staffing, or utterly aggresive chasing.

-• Balance, that is what everyone always seeks when there is intention for competition. The best duels I had were always draws..
Or, atleast it should be like that, who needs to win at all costs,eh?
Isn't it, by fair accident, rather a passion for the mechanics, to measure some measurable "skills" with tradition and predictability?
-• Does staff or duals truly fit in such idea?