EA/Respawn presents Star Wars: Jedi, Fallen Order

There may not be a Fallen Order Novelizarion, there is a comic series:

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Fallen-Order-Dark-Temple-ebook/dp/B07T81P4LK/ref=nodl_



And the Art of Fallen Order:

 

Oh... I've completed it already. Was loving the setting of the final level and all the back-story to the inquisitors and then it's just over!?

Can't deny I was actually expecting many more planets to appear on the galaxy map, the rooms and lower deck of the ship to open up it only took me a few nights of playing to reach the end and then that's it. Sigh.

Ok so when's the next one? 2025?

 

Reflective opinion time... warning: SPOILERS

I enjoyed the game, it was good fun, dated gameplay at times, but still good fun. Felt very Lucas Arts, but upon reflection is sadly a very linear, albeit beautifully cinematic, 3D platform game. Wish I could have spent weeks with it, not just a few nights.

The world building was wonderful, really loved how much it referenced the Clone Wars, Rebels and Solo-era Star Wars in particular, there's so many little touches I didn't expect to see like AT Haulers, Rebels-era AT-ATs, the witches of Dathomir etc. plus the music that was such a loving homage to the whole franchise. You could tell it was made by people who loved working on a Star Wars game and thoroughly researched their work.

However... I did not like how linear it was and how there was literally no element of any kind of personal accomplishment to developing the story and your crew.

The crew literally don't matter, this isn't Mass Effect or Fallout, whereby your actions may result in obtaining a companion or never seeing them again; sadly when Merren joins the crew, it's just because you've got to that point in the progression, not because you've made any kind of unique accomplishment. And it means nothing, she's just a useless NPC on the ship. In, say, Mass Effect, I'd have felt like I'd turned a powerful enemy into an ally and felt the reward of a new companion and their powers on my side, having used diplomacy skills to forge a unique allegiance with a witch of the Nightsisters, instead it just means I've completed Dathomir and now the eastern European druid lady has been unlocked to sit around uselessly on the ship and make out-of-character jokes.

I hated how I couldn't go to the Dark Side after facing Rey's dark-side mirrored wall... not that I wanted to turn evil, I just hated how it wasn't even an option. Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight let me take a different route if I wanted to and a different result if I turned to evil, and that was what, 1997? Considering it even toys with Cal in an Inquistor's uniform, I'd have loved it had I been able to let hatred take control of me after that vision, and then say, an ending where it turns out I'm the eleventh brother or whatever would have been a wonderful option to take and reason to play through again. But nope, I'm just morally righteous all the way through and my only replay factor is for more boring colour-clashing ponchos?

The final level on Fortress Inquisitorius was wonderful... and it was also bloody short. Kashyyyk was an absolute draaaaaag that made me feel like I was in a 1997 3D platform game on the N64 or PS1, I got so little 'Star Wars' from it, yet finally when we're in a place that not only makes Rebels feels so much darker and more adult due to the insight into what inquisitors really were like, but at long last it was back to an imperial facility with wonderful set-design rather than bland swamps, trees or caves; however it's tragically over within like an hour tops. And of course, there's also the big man himself who sadly doesn't accomplish very much.

I wasn't expecting Knights of the Old Republic, but I also wasn't expecting something with all the simplicity of Shadows of the Empire with a modern lick of paint.

It's an absolutely fine 7/10, and the the world-building is utterly utterly wonderful, I can't stress that enough, I had great fun playing it for the most part, but I was also left thinking once it ended that I'd played Star Wars games a thousand times deeper and more varied over 20 years ago. The only difference is the production values are so much better, but the gameplay's not evolved much at all in 20 years.

And yet the live-action FMV of Jedi Knight, that would take the path of whether I chose light or dark, felt far more rewarding than a new poncho or paint scheme for my ship. And the fact that in KOTOR I would build a crew that mattered and here it's set-dressing. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and appreciated how much it tied into everything from the prequels to the sequels, but I just did't like how I had no control over it whatsoever.

Anyway, like I said, a solid 7/10, hope it sells well so EA realises we need more single player Star Wars games. I don't want anymore multiplayer slot machines. However why can't we have great looking Star Wars games that also offer deep and unique gameplay? The power is there for incredible experiences, yet I feel we're getting simplistic experiences under buckets of beautiful paint.

It's going to be along wait for the next Star Wars game and that's so frustrating given how quickly Lucas Arts used to turn around titles, in the last year we'd have undoubtedly had a Last Jedi game, a Solo game, a Mandalorian game, probably two Resistance games (one action, one racing) etc. had it been the Star Wars gaming era of yore. Instead... just this. And now it's probably 5 years to the next one.

Plus, surely the options for great Star Wars games are obvious:

GTA/Wildlands... but Star Wars
Mass Effect... but Star Wars
No Man's Sky... but Star Wars
Fallout 4... but Star Wars
etc.

I'm not a game designer, but just copy good games and give them lightsabers and we'll be happy. We don't need genre-defining games, we just need games. Lucas Arts almost always just copied somebody else and we had so many classics

 

You sure you played the game?

Spoiler

Merrian wasn't useless. She saved Cal on Dathomir and without her they never would've gotten on to the base. She did have less screen time I'll give you that, but to say she was useless is just wrong.

This is a CANON game, having player choice would be difficult in terms of canon.

 

My point was, there's not an option to *not* have her join the crew. In many other modern games, like Mass Effect or Fallout, if I didn't win her approval through my own game-built skills and choices, she wouldn't be there to save my life and my ending would have changed accordingly, we'd have drowned following the duel with Vader and that would have been the end.

There was no dialogue tree for "join us", it's just a case of you reaching that point in the storyline and she does anyway.

Her role in the game is simple; I complete Dathomir, she joins the crew. My life is saved by her in a scripted event. I can't go to the final planet unless I've already beaten Dathomir and she's joined the crew because of it.

There's no choice to having her join my crew and change my character's fate.

Even Mortal Kombat Mytholgies: Sub Zero in 1997 had a different result if you spared or killed Scorpion early in the game. And that game suuuucked, but it had heart and good intentions.

And by your rationale, does that mean there should be no player-choice now in any Star Wars games due to adhering to canon? We'll never get a Star Wars RPG ever again because the storyline has to be pre-determined with a linear result? Because it's that true, that's tragic for video games.

Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight had some level of canon in the old EU, and follow-up novels were built on that. The game's moral choices were treated as such: "light side was the true ending, dark side was your 'what if' version to enjoy for yourself". Videogames should still give us the choice, even if there's a true storyline to it.

I mentioned Mortal Kombat before and that's a fair comparison, you can play the main tournament and win it as any character from a "what if" perspective, but there's still a singular canon story that occurs regardless. Otherwise what's the point of even letting us play as Kano or Shang Tsung in the first place? Might as well only give us Liu Kang as a selectable character if the only experience is the canon one.

 

I’m having a blast playing through this game. Where I’m at right now:

Spoiler: Spoiler

I’ve killed the Ninth Sister and am traveling through Dathomir now.

The combat and puzzles are fun but challenging. I’ve gotten stuck plenty of times already. I really like the characters: Cal Kestis, BD-1, and the Second Sister are all great. The new planets are nice additions to canon. The story is decent enough; I’m glad they’re doing something new instead of doing another Jedi/Rebellion story. All in all, it’s a fantastic game!

Can’t wait to finish and share my full thoughts!

 

I imagine there will be DLC and expansion packs at some point that will add maps. They did this for some other Hack n’Slash games like “The First Templar,” “Assasin’s Creed Saga,” and “The Old Republic.”

 

I've really enjoyed it so far as well. Aesthetically it is very pleasing; the story is compelling and well crafted (so far - I have only played for about 6 hours) and I'm looking forward to see the other worlds. Also I love BD-1. The only thing I'm not a fan of is the holomap; that's probably just me but I find it inconvenient and difficult to read.

 

Ninth Sister's fate:

Spoiler

They pretty much confirmed that she is still alive with her codex kinda puts a question mark on her fate. Also, the ending is like "where to next?

The games ending certainly hints at a sequels or dlc.

 

Fallen Order is the Jedi Goodness to balance with The Mandalorian. I hope Disney keeps this balance of Lightsaber and Blaster for the future.

 

I just wish to stress I thoroughly enjoyed the game, but it just felt too little after so long of waiting for a new single player Star Wars game. I shouldn't have completed it in a few nights of casual play.

I want a single player Star Wars game I can put weeks into enjoying, not 5 nights of semi-disengaged attention.

I want RPG elements and a feeling I'm crafting the story, not a 90s 3D platform game where I'm bouncing, sliding and swinging my way just to find a few more simple reward crates (that make no in-game logical sense for being there anyway... so I'm in a tomb untouched for hundreds of years but over in the corner there's a modern computer-panelled reward crate with a new paint job for my space ship just sat around waiting to be opened? Hmmm, ok).

I want worlds to *explore*, not a linear map to just find the platform paths leading to poncho packages.

The games industry has come so far in the last 20 years; in terms of the depth, experience and longevity a player can be offered. This felt like something out of the 90s; being able to see from a distance various enemy monsters and soldiers just standing on default spawn points waiting for me to enter the area felt so out-dated I literally felt I was in another decade. I'd not seen gameplay ingredients like that in literally years. It just felt so dated at times, albeit with a wonderful story and stunning graphics with incredible attention to detail. Bracca and Fortress Inquisitorius felt contemporary, Boganno and Kashyyyk felt like 1997.

Like I said, I enjoyed the game, but for all we've been waiting for, it just wasn't enough to justify the £60 I spent on the deluxe edition. I was expecting a proper Star Wars experience that would keep me engaged for weeks, not something that's over in a few days and has little replay factor. My planets all average on around 85% completion and I'm honestly fine with that; I didn't enjoy the 3D platforming enough to go search for more paintwork and ponchos now that it's over simply to get 100% on all of them.

And the fact that I can't even go back to the last level which was one of my favourite places to have visited, well that's just pure disappointment. There's not enough planets as it is, but I can't even revisit the one that seemingly mattered the most? Sigh, that's just not fair.

 

Oh KOTOR III were art thou? Fallen Order and Jedi Knight Saga is grand. But we need Bioware to give us another KOTOR.

 

Finished it the other day.

Main takeaways:

-General overall impression is very positive

- World exploration is actually pretty good, though I wish it felt more open and less platformy at parts. Something more like God of War, where worlds a centralized hub where the "dungeons" themselves were the platforming sections would make navigation a ton easier, particular on *shudders* Zeffo.

- Combat was pretty good, though I'd have preferred less animal fighting. I get it would get old only fighting the Empire, but throwing in a more fleshed out Merc faction instead of endless sheep and frogs would've been preferable.

- I legitimately forgot what the story was even about for like half the game. Not really a huge problem, as I still had fun and the story definitely picked up a lot more in the final act.

- I appreciate the customization, but I kinda wish that it wasn't tied to random boxes across the world. Or, at least, give us more options up front, and hide the others in lootable chests.

- I sometimes wore ponchos, but good lord give us more than like 4-5 outfit choices, too.

- Platforming was usually more fun that I had anticipated. But I hope Respawn doesn't get too cocky, because it seems like they overestimated how responsive it was. Stuff like wind and ice make their platform/sliding nearly unplayable.

 

After playing the game I regret not getting this... great game but hard as heck.

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 25, 2019, Original Post Date: Nov 25, 2019 ---

I don't disagree with everything you said but I think you went a bit too far... anyway I like customizing my lightsaber!

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 25, 2019 ---

Hopefully we'll get that RPG you crave... someday. Again some of what you say is true but you went a bit too far. You are a knowledgable gamer why don't you pitch a game.

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 25, 2019 ---

I knew it, no one is playing Star Wars Battlefront 2 now! haha I wonder if DICE is still updating and releasing new content for Battlefront 2 now that everyone has abandoned the game. DICE was releasing new content like crazy right before Star Wars Jed Fallen Order was released. Those money hungry guys at EA are practically predictable.

And yes I know DICE and RESPAWN are under one umbrella EA.

 

Watched footage of the gameplay.. I so wish I had a console!

 

it works on PC

 

I haven’t been able as of yet to find a PC copy or can you download it?

 

Steam or Origin

 

Thank you most kindly!