Game feedback

[GuardianD671]

i have played through 2 times now, and loved the game but i wanted to do some feedback without spoilers. this is primarily for devs use and i dont expect replies btw. after all this will be subjective - everyone will like different things etc.

the story i liked just fine - but after playing them once, it would be nice to have skippable cutscenes. this should be added as a priority please. i know its supposed to be like being inside a movie and you nailed it believe me (please pass that to the devs!). a lot of recurring star wars 'themes' happen in game - but then thats part of what George Lucas said he was exploring in the movies.

it really feels like star wars and BD-1 is wonderful, as are cal's idle animations. (actually its kind of epic and also funny when he slaughters a bunch of assorted stormtrooper types and switches off the weapon and stands and smooths his hair - reminds me of the Fonz himself lol).

it also needs a new game + once you finish, allowing you to load that save and continue from the start again - but with all unlocked abilities and customisations. some of us would love to do that, i would maybe go up a difficulty level if that existed. being able to load up and go find more hidden things is nice but it isnt like full replayability? i am replaying it but not many people like me remember the original dark forces games.

outfits and ponchos - cals best (for me) outfit was outlaw, but its tough to try get until very late on or unless grinding a lot of updates and leaving the story alone. and there were not many outfits but lots of ponchos. i liked the chest hunting, and secrets also.

some people want achievements on steam - would be nice but i understand the devs cant really have 3 versions of code hanging around for each launcher to implement that.

its not all positive... i dont mind a few sliding sections. but there are two issues - one with so many and so long. i dont mind that as much as the fact that as you unlock more abilities and get more powerful, you seem to speed down the sliding sections much faster for no reason and steering is really less and less easy to the point you can revisit a place and slide straight on at even not really very sharp turns and if there is just empty space on the outside, you are back to the start of the slide. thats really frustrating. then again i would have loved an alternate route for every single slide even if it meant i had to fight a lot of fights and a couple of optional boss fights to get through.

enemy AI seems good although i prefer story mode. and i have to say in that mode (not sure about other difficulties) distant enemies which are usually ones with ranged weapons, dont fire all that often sometimes. that means you have a lot of time to wait to deflect or to close and kill. there are a lot of nice touches with the enemies - i could listen to them speak to each other for hours, and you could make a lot of fake star wars outtake clips for youtube and call it 'stormtroopers say the funniest things' or something. that is just part of the detail which makes the game really feel like its Star Wars.

travel between planets; it happens too quick. now i like the conversations being had during the jump sequence, but i think you missed the chance for them to end by commenting and then fading with a Star Wars wipe effect to 'later' and the arrival - say having cal comment about catching up on his sleep after the last [names what he just achieved on the planet they left] or something, then a Star Wars style screen wipe to cal getting called to the front. and its odd that he stands all during the jump to hyperspace, but has to sit down for coming out. but these are minor things, and dont detract from my fun.

since i mentioned talking; i like the conversation 'choices' you can get - but aside from differing responses, im not sure it has any real effects on the story? its nice, but i hope more can be made of it in future.

BD-1 is great! really love the droid, and you really nailed it. cal and his hair... the hair annoyed me slightly. customisable hair for next hero please?

----- suggestions and ideas

well apart from needing a cutscene skip button/key control..

im not sure if there are dlc planned for this game. i get the feeling this was a one off, and any dlc might only be able to be more lightsaber customisations etc. if there could be more planets, perhaps three different ones with differing climate and battlefield, where there is a war raging between empire and the rebels; you can drop in on one or randomly get a message from a rebel leader or someone asking for aid and you can go there and maybe fight endless waves of stormtroopers with occasional random 'boss' fights, like have any boss from the story appear, or an AT-AT you need to deal with or something and then you get a kill count. im not sure the kill count is very jedi though it would be nice to have statistics.

if you cant add something like the optional battle planets, then a whole bunch of sequels. dont change too much about the fighting; yes there are lots who want a dark souls version but that was never what star wars was about. the devs understood this with this game - yes you get limbs cut off but it isnt a gore fest as the movies were not. apart from one scene in the original movie (now called episode iv) where obi wan cut off the arms of bad guys in a cantina, every died without gore. this game does it perfectly, dont change it.

however, i think the ongoing mission might involve not around cal and the people around him; my idea is a sort of (as the 'pilot' in this game might call it as a joke) jedi padawan rescue service. we know from the star wars lore that when order 66 was enacted, the jedi tried to send away or otherwise protect their padawans. so there are likely a lot of those in hiding. more than any suspect. some might succumb to the dark side and become independent villains. they could be side quests all of their own, which can be carried out either when the rumour that the inquisitors are looking on a planet is recieved, or just while on a planet in a city looking for padawans. the dual mission would be as well as rescue, trying to thin out the inquisitorial ranks, or maybe trying to save from the dark side. not sure who the big villain will be in this one but i guess one of the moffs or something if they cant be an inquisitor. there can also be interventions - depending on what you said to what seems a random conversation in a city, you might wind up with help in a fight, or if you choose to go save some rebels and put off the main mission then they are saved from a lot of casualties and can make an upcoming boss fight a little easier by turning up - something like you saved rebels in 'planet x' and they turn up and occupy some of the spawning adds in the boss fight. that kind of thing. and of course all these choices and conversation choices will make peoples response to you differ more markedly - from distant to very willing to help by the end of the game, or more neutral, if your choices balance out.

our new hero might as well be female this time, maybe even an alien as well, though alien isnt necessary.

replacing BD-1 would be an issue if you change hero each sequel. the next droid might be a personal assistant you picked up before found, and the hero she dreams of repairing it, while doing her manual job. maybe it gets stolen and she uses the force to get it back because it means so much - which then marks her out to the empire, and causes her need to be rescued. if a droid, call it something like JA-301 (Jedi Assistant) and it has a cynical world view, and can speak when repaired, the hero is always ttelling it not to be so jaded and that there is good in people. (and it replies 'sure, sure, they're good. they were real good turning on MY jedi too.').

other suggestions; could be a series of games with marginal parts in each successive game for the characters from the previous.

cal will probably have a secret base or something somewhere in any sequel where the new hero gets taken.

lightsabers - love the customisation options; was wondering if maybe with each colour, the tone of the blade could be higher or lower so a bright white or cyan is higher and sounds more clinical (feeling wise) or the warmer yellow sounds heavier somehow, and red sound is menacing. if you already do that of course then great!

if in a sequel for some reason the hero and cal (or somebody else) wind up disguised as stormtroopers, hero should complain 'i cant see a thing in this helmet' and cal reply 'i can see EVERYTHING in this one...' sounding slightly ill. more funny dialogue lines for stormtroopers. eg 'im the galxy's second greatest liar' 'is that true?' 'no...'

NEW GAME + so you can replay story with all unlocked abilities and customisations. i liked cals outlaw outfit but its on a planet you are going to have trouble getting the outfit on until very late on in the story, or until you grind a lot of upgrades first. this would let me take my screenshots in story in his best outfit. he didnt get many outfits, and lots of ponchos.

new skills - jedi being individuals they have differing strengths. if a sequel has a different hero maybe jedi healing skill, and jedi mind trick (the trick is dangerous - you either need to take the chance and use it, or have a second skill called jedi sense which you use and can show up people who are susceptible, and they will have a blue edge if friendly or red if enemies who might detect the skill, and orange if unfriendly but susceptible to mind trick.

any sequel, cal and the people from this game would decide on not using the old jedi 'uniform' since it makes them too easy to pick out. obviously recordings will show old jedi in their robes. this can lead to a mission where they have to persuade some padawan to change, when the padawan has somehow lost connection to the force, due to trauma and the clothes are all they have left for identity.

anyways thats some stuff off the top of my head. i really love the game, and hope there are at least a few sequels so long as you dont go mad and change whats working with the gameplay to satisfy the vocal minority who want something else. Star Wars was about stories. gameplay is great, maybe add more skills, but limit the number you can learn or maybe learn them all but only specialise and make powerful a limited number of skills, new game +, skippable cutscenes, and good story telling please! Well done on this one, its now added itself to my permanently installed games on steam. Guardian Dave out.

[NerDy_the_Noble]

I would really love to see the devs add a "quick change mid combo" function to switching between single and double blade lightsaber options.  This could help make the mob clearing a bit more stylish and smooth without reducing the overall functionality of the weapon and combat structure.