Knights of the Old Republic EP29: 30 Repair Parts!

By Shamus Posted Thursday Nov 12, 2015

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 61 comments


Link (YouTube)

Man, I just never got the hate for this philandering hunter. The game seems to think you’ll relish killing him / letting him die. Bastila is even down for killing him, and I’m not sure why. Is she THAT into monogamy?

You could say this option is there for Sith characters, but this sort of leads into just how lame and petty the Sith options are in this game. Can you imagine (say) Darth Maul or Vader showing up and choosing to let this guy die because he’s an unrepentant cad? Or maybe Count Dooku saying, “THIS is what you get for being unfaithful to your own wife!” That’s just weird.

Then again, you’re kind of supposed to bump into this guy in town before you come out here, and I don’t remember doing so as a female character. It’s possible he comes off as such an awful creep that you WISH you could attack him, thus setting up this moment of evil catharsis? I don’t know.

Also, the credits list me as being from “Space-Ireland”, but it turns out I’m actually a city in Iran somehow?

 


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61 thoughts on “Knights of the Old Republic EP29: 30 Repair Parts!

  1. Warclam says:

    Bastila, what the fuck?! “I say leave him”?! WHO is nagging WHOM about being evil in this relationship, exactly?

    1. Gruhunchously says:

      Having silently accepted being dressed up in Dark Jedi robes, red lightsaber and all, by her partner in arms, she’s just decided to give up and roll with it.

      1. Warclam says:

        This explanation is completely satisfying, and I accept it without reservations.

  2. Rick says:

    You can meet him in the hunter’s lodge if you do that before heading out to the dunes. The other hunters have nothing but contempt for him hunting using droids, and he doesn’t care for the ecological impact of doing so, but it’s not anything that deserves being left in the desert to choose between dying of thirst or being blown up by his droids. He comes off better than the tach hunter on Kashyyyk, although admittedly that’s not saying much.

    Regarding a female PC, “If the player is female then Tanis will flirt with her in the Hunting Lodge, calling the player ‘darling.’ This can result in Zaalbar growling at him, Carth Onasi to react poorly, telling him to ‘talk to her with a bit of respect in your voice or you end this conversation, minus a few teeth.”” (From Wookieepedia.)

    It definitely seems that we’re meant to dislike him more than the game justifies.

    1. Hector says:

      I could never understand the logic they supposedly used in the number-order puzzle. Even knowing the answer it just didn’t make any logical sense to me.

      Can anyone lay out why it works that way? Am I just stupid or did that not actually follow? I can’t recall, but I think I always picked Bioware’s option (2) just like they did.

      4 * 14 * 11-14 * 31-14 * 13-21-14 * ? * ?

      1. Henson says:

        I really get frustrated by these kinds of number puzzles, where the solution has nothing to do with math. I had to look it up.

        The key to figuring this one out is by treating each set of numbers as individual digits, and not a single number. So ’14’ isn’t ‘fourteen’, but rather ‘one-four’.

        1. Hector says:

          This entire time I was treating it like math puzzle. Gah!

          Strangely, this is why I had an easy time with the KotOR2 puzzle. I suppose this is just the way some brains work.

      2. Tapkoh says:

        First number is 4.

        From there you start counting how many of each digit is in the previous number. In this case, there is one four so the number is 14 (“one four” = 1_4 = 14 with no space).

        In that number (14), there is one 1 (1_1) and one 4 (1_4), thus 11-14. The hyphen is not a minus sign, but rather a way to tell you that there was a 1 and a 4 in the previous number as opposed to one hundred eleven 4’s (which would make it 1114).

        Then, you have three 1’s and one 4 still: 31-14

        And the last one I’ll demonstrate is that you have one 3, two 1’s, and one 4, thus: 13-21-14. And so on and so forth, but now you have a 1, 2, 3, and 4.

        1. Syal says:

          And I’m not sure if Bioware thought the puzzle was too hard or something, but I never missed that one despite not figuring out the pattern until somewhere around my sixth time at it. The right answer is pretty much the only one that even superficially resembles the pattern.

          1. Chauzuvoy says:

            This actually became my go-to puzzle for frustrating my math nerd friends. Which has come up far more often in my life than it really should, now that I think about it.

            1. Falterfire says:

              My favorite is the ‘cosmic number’ one – Given a number, you iterate until you get to 4. Every number eventually leads to 4.

              This works best in person, incidentally, because how they phrase things can matter. You ask them for a number, and then walk through step by step how it becomes four.

              For example: If they say “three” it goes to five, which goes to four. Six goes to three which goes to five which goes to four. Twenty Seven goes to eleven which goes to six which goes to three which goes to five which goes to four.

              The trick here is that the next number is just the number of letters in the previous number. This is important, because it means that “One half” and “Point five” follow different paths on their way to four.

              Anyways, it’ll drive math-minded people up the wall because the solution has nothing to do with numeric relationships.

              1. MrGuy says:

                And now we need a new meta-comment:
                “Four comments. Four is the only number whose value equals its number of letters.”

              2. Agamo says:

                Interesting. I wonder if this property is generalizable to other languages.

                1. Daemian Lucifer says:

                  I already have an exception in serbian,so the rule doesnt fit for all languages.The converging number for most is three(spelled tri),but the exception comes when you go to four(četiri)and six(Å¡est),which loop between the two indefinitely.Though if you use the alternate spelling of four(čet’ri),usually reserved for songs,you can get around that loop.But that would be kind of a cheat.

                  In german it fits though.Four(vier)is the converging number.

                  1. Agamo says:

                    Very interesting, thanks!

                2. Ayegill says:

                  In Danish, both 2 (to), 3 (tre) and 4 (fire) are terminal values, so it doesn’t work.

      3. Wide And Nerdy â„¢ says:

        KOTOR 2 was worse as I discovered recently. When you attack the Sith base on Dxun you come to an Ancient Terminal which you can hack by solving a math problem. Specifically filling in the signs in an equation (plus, minus, etc). The last blank was between a 9 and a 1. So I put “/”. The game wanted “*”. Yeah. I failed the puzzle because the writers didn’t realize they’re both correct.

        1. Bubble181 says:

          Actually, which one is counted as “correct” will switch between play-throughs. Absolutely idiotic and an oversight.

          1. Wide And Nerdy â„¢ says:

            Wow. Just. Wow. Its capable of detecting both and it will still ding you. That is a very special bug.

        2. Daemian Lucifer says:

          They are not both correct,because 9/1 is 9,while 9*1 is 9.See how completely different those two solutions are?

        3. MrGuy says:

          Wait until they ponder the nature of negative zero…

          1. Wide And Nerdy â„¢ says:

            At least one of the applications isn’t that hard. -0 degrees Celsius means below freezing. Makes sense that if they’re going to round to the nearest number that in this case they’d still want to know if they’re rounding from below or above.

            And I’m guessing this has application in Limits?

            1. Daemian Lucifer says:

              Yup.Signs in limits show which side of a number the array is on.Much more convenient to write than “on the left” and “on the right”.

          2. krellen says:

            I thought Negative Zero was an action flick starring this guy.

        4. djw says:

          Its been a while, but I thought that the point of that problem was that you had one of each operator (+, -, /, and *) and you had to distribute them through the problem correctly. Even though 9*1 = 9/1 you have to use the operator that isn’t being used elsewhere in the calculation.

          1. Hector says:

            This is correct, and probably why I had an easy time with this puzzle and a hard one with the KotOR1 puzzle. The answer does *not* change between playthroughs: It’s checking if you created a valid equation and used each operator. I’d have to dig out the two questions they ask, but that may mean there are two equally valid correct answers for the two questions, but I don’t have a convenient save file to check them again.

          2. Wide And Nerdy â„¢ says:

            Actually I already used the “*” because yes I assumed that is what the game wanted.

            I put 6*2 – 8 + 9 /1 = 13

            It wanted 6*2 – 8 + 9 *1 = 13

            I did it the first way specifically because I, like you, thought you needed to use each sign once.

            1. djw says:

              That does sound like a bug then. I’ll have to check it out next time I play Kotor 2.

    2. John says:

      The last time I played a female character the guy had the world’s cheesiest head-bob going as he hit on me. It was weird. I don’t remember it from previous games.

    3. Micamo says:

      Carth

      You’re going to get mad at *him* for being a sexist pig toward me?

      Talk about calling the kettle black, Mr. White Knight.

      1. Gruhunchously says:

        Hey, Carth doesn’t want any other dudes muscling in on his action.

        That…came out weird.

    4. Daemian Lucifer says:

      What?He hunts with droids?!How dares he?!When you hunt with droids,you take something away from the experience!

      1. MrGuy says:

        Hunting isn’t a real sport, like fishing is.

  3. Gruhunchously says:

    I love the way this planet looks, the contrast between the shadows and open desert, the way the foreground melts into the background, it’s so great at giving off a deserty vibe. Though that’s kind of undercut by having everything of importance be two dozen feet away from each other, but whatever.

  4. ehlijen says:

    Bastila’s reaction was excessive and dark side, no doubt. But it’s not about monogamy.

    From all we know about him and his wife, she went in expecting a monogamous relationship, and he betrayed her. That betrayal, and his unrepentedness of it, is what pisses both the wife and bastila off.

    I can see why Bastila wouldn’t be a fan of this guy. She’s the jedi that stayed behind, the one who didn’t go with Revan and Malak to betray their masters and probably disliked those who did for their action, and she was threatened with a future as a sex slave not too long ago on Taris. An unfaithful husband and all round asshole could absolutely get on her nerves big time.

    And while she’s not technically advocating murder (the guy *might* figure out how to free himself after all), this is, I think, meant to be another hint that she’s not the jedi she thinks she is just because she sticks to the letter of the rule.

    1. I think that your idea of this being subtle foreshadowing for Bastila‘s heel face turn is a good idea, but I also think this was an odd place to do that.

      Bastila is all on board with the whole “Jedi don’t kill prisoners” thing and has shown that when she captured you (before the game) on your flagship rather than killing you, or even leaving you to be killed by Malak Having her morality start to slip on a matter she hasn’t already made such a strong statement on would make what happens seem more organic, the result of a gradual evolution, rather than something shoehorned in by the writer.

      1. ehlijen says:

        I really do think the key is meant to be that she advocates leaving him, not outright killing him, and that that is not meant to be a guaranteed death sentence.
        More a ‘he’ll figure it out and helping him might prevent the lesson from sinking in’. It’s heartless and cruel, but not necessarily murderous?

        It’s really hard to tell how impossible to survive this situation is meant to look. He is within sight of anchorhead, after all.

        1. They’ve received the mission to tell him hi and leave him, so leaving him is within the strict wording of the mission given. Totally light side.
          I played a female and he has the head bob, amusing. He flirts not just by saying darling but by very clearly implying he wants to cheat on his wife with you just like he’s done with anyone who is one or more of female, human and not his wife.
          I was going to say anything with boobs, then I remember in SWTOR all humanoid aliens use human body models. Would he include rodians, kubaz? Do female hutts have breasts? What hell is worse? Bikini hutts or bikini mon calamari?

        2. MrGuy says:

          We are talking about a world where a LIGHT SIDE Jedi “master” faked her own death and made her own student blame herself, hide in the woods in shame for years, causing a corruption that resulted in numerous attacks on nearby innocent citizens. Just to teach the student a lesson in humility.

          Bastilla’s reaction here is therefore canonically light side.

          1. ehlijen says:

            Did they ever say it was years? The impression I got was that it was days.

            1. MrGuy says:

              According to Wookiepedia linked above, it was three years.

              1. guy says:

                Nope, it was days, happened during the PC’s training. The three years bit is referring to Revan becoming Dark Lord of the Sith. And the impression I got that it was less the master faking her death and more being in critical condition, hence why she can’t show up in person.

        3. Wide And Nerdy â„¢ says:

          There’s also the interaction with Mission where she uses the force to knock her over. She’s irritable and arrogant in general and that move is a stepping stone to “eh, leave him.”

          In her defense, I like to think that her moodiness might stem from an influx of feelings from having a force bond with the player character.

    2. Daemian Lucifer says:

      From all we know about him and his wife, she went in expecting a monogamous relationship, and he betrayed her.

      Did he ever lead her on however?Did he encourage her to think it was going to be monogamous,or did she never thought of asking about that?If its the lather,she is the douche,not him.

      1. ehlijen says:

        They are married. Generally speaking marriage vows either specifically include promises of fidelity or specifically don’t include them.

        Given that she openly accuses him of cheating and he doesn’t even bother to dispute that, yeah I think we can assume he broke a promise to her.

  5. Pyrrhic Gades says:

    I can’t be the only one that thinks that the battle cry of the Sand People sounds a lot like Fat Albert.
    Or am I?

  6. Metal C0Mmander says:

    I didn’t get an answer to this on the last episode. I think it might be because I ended up commenting to late. So I’m reposting this here if you don’t mind.

    I've been wondering for a while when Josh is playing for spoiler warning if what he's doing could be considered roleplaying? I mean when he was playing Fallout it kind of worked because he was just out to hurt people but here where he switches between good actions and puppy kicking ones at the drop of a hat I'm not so sure. And it's reflected by the game being unable to understand and respond to his character (although this game can't really recognize most sort of nuance anyway) and, in my honestly biased opinion, makes for a worst viewing experience.

    Anyway the word of the immortal Yahtzee Croshaw explains it far quicker. “this is a roleplaying game so let's motherfucking roleplay!”

    1. Wide And Nerdy â„¢ says:

      Its partly that they keep nudging him back and forth and partly that they want to show stuff so they can talk about it. So they do light side some places and dark side others to show different things.

      But I think a lot of the blame lies at Bioware’s feet for making the morality system in this game so binary. Any waffling back and forth is going to look like inconsistent roleplaying rather than nuance because its either salt of the earth or cackling Snidely Whiplash.

      Which is funny considering you have Jolee Bindo who’s character is all about shades of grey and seeing both perspectives.

  7. Daemian Lucifer says:

    Camera sway:For when you cant bunnyhop.

  8. Josh says:

    I always thought Shamus was a performing killer whale of French origin, but resident of Space-Ireland is even cooler.

      1. Henson says:

        That’s what I get for replying without actually looking at the link above. Dammit. And I thought I was clever.

  9. Deda says:

    Do the sand people have big white moustaches? Or am I just seeing things?

    1. djw says:

      Its just the nutritious bantha milk they drink every morning.

      1. Daemian Lucifer says:

        Yes…milk…thats what it is….

  10. Blackbird71 says:

    “You could say this option is there for Sith characters, but this sort of leads into just how lame and petty the Sith options are in this game. Can you imagine (say) Darth Maul or Vader showing up and choosing to let this guy die because he's an unrepentant cad? Or maybe Count Dooku saying, “THIS is what you get for being unfaithful to your own wife!” That's just weird.”

    It should be noted that in the SW universe, there is a difference between “Sith” and “Dark Jedi”. As illustrated by the above examples, a Sith likely wouldn’t care about this hunter’s fidelity one way or the other and really wouldn’t give it any thought. Betrayal and deception are a regular part of life for the Sith, and they also tend to be selfish, caring little about anything that does not affect them directly.

    On the other hand, someone trained in the Jedi order is taught to uphold law and order. A Jedi who has succumbed to the dark side could very easily have these views twisted in their mind, and could be focused on enacting their own idea of “justice” by meting out severe punishments for any perceived unlawful or immoral behavior. They could in essence become a zealot, driven by a passion to enforce what they see as right, resulting in a shift from enforcing justice to vengeance.

    So yes, I don’t think a Sith would give this hunter a second thought, but a Dark Jedi could very easily want him dead for his actions.

  11. Wide And Nerdy says:

    I forgot to mention, that bar you’re in at the start of the episode, has some of the funniest dark side options in KOTOR 1. You basically go in there and one by one assert your dominance over the other customers through petty intimidation and force persuasion.

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