THE SITH LORDS
It is a perilous time for the galaxy. A brutal civil war has all but destroyed the Jedi Order, leaving the ailing Republic on the verge of collapse.
Amid the turmoil, the evil Sith have spread throughout the galaxy, hunting down and destroying the remaining Jedi Knights.
Narrowly escaping a deadly Sith ambush, the last known Jedi clings to life aboard a battered freighter near the ravaged world of Peragus....
We fade in on a ceiling --
Though as we look around the freighter's cockpit; we get the feeling these mechanical eyes (or photoreceptors) are not our own --
Rather they are those of a lone astromech droid:
T3-M4. This is the game's Prologue and tutorial, and we will play as T3 rather than our character for its duration. T3 doesn't talk much, but he's a resourceful little guy. As we'll soon discover --
The ship turns out to be called the
Ebon Hawk. The ship's computer gives us a rundown of our current predicament:
No lie -- the ship creaks and groans and hisses around us; as if it will fall apart at any moment. This old woman seems strange to us -- she doesn't look like your average spacer. Perhaps we could investigate.
It's Meetra! It looks like she's fading fast. We'd better find a way to get to the Medical Room before we lose her.
The damage to that starboard engine looks serious -- it looks like we might be able to patch the hyperdrive together. Enough for a single, short jump to what the computer refers to as the Peragus mining station -- whatever that is. It can't be worse than floating aimlessly through this asteroid field. Waiting for a gravity well large enough to pull us to our deaths...
A look at T3-M4's character sheet. He's smart, nimble, and can take his share of hits. Of particular note is the Light/Dark morality scale to the left of T3's character model. Unlike the first KOTOR, this scale can actually shift independently for both the player character and her companions. More on this later as it becomes relevant.
The Ebon Hawk's Galaxy Map. Unfortunately, it does us no good until we fix that hyperdrive. To do that, we'll need enough parts. Let's explore the rest of the ship -- see if we can find the parts we need. And check on Meetra and that old woman.
A look at the game's Journal. It may look ugly -- a fact owed to the game's console roots. But it's actually quite functional. We'll be checking this often as we explore the Ebon Hawk and throughout the rest of the game.
In the small communications room right off the cockpit, we find a Computer Spike. These are used in concert with a character's Computer Use skill to slice into computer systems and mainframes. The higher a character's Computer Use skill, the fewer Spikes he'll end up consuming. Unlike in the first KOTOR, Spikes themselves are actually somewhat rare -- typically you'll have to craft them if you want to use them.
With this spike we've found, T3 will be able to slice into communication room's control panel --
And open the door to the ship's Main Hold.
Bingo! A security camera showcases our successful slice. That threshold leads right to the center of the Ebon Hawk:
The Main Hold. The is the ship's central hub. From here, we can travel to any room in the ship. At least, we usually can --
Due to the damage the Ebon Hawk has sustained (how DID we end up in such bad shape, anyway? Perhaps we'll learn more in time), much of the ship is sealed behind blast doors. If we want to even reach the hyperdrive -- much less the rest of the ship -- we'll have to find ways around these damn doors. Fortunately, T3 is very good at these sorts of things.
Someone -- or something -- is banging on the other side of this blast door. We're unable to get inside however. And honestly, we're not even sure if we want to. We get the distinct impression something VERY bad went down on this ship -- and not too long ago...
Well that answers our questions re this old woman -- she's dead. Evidently killed by whatever happened to this ship. We do find a keycard on her body though. Perhaps it will prove useful.
T3 bashing open a locked footlocker. Hopefully we find some Spikes we can use to access the central computer. Or some Parts to fix the hyperdrive with.
Some Spikes -- and a Broken Item. When opting to bash open a container rather than opening it with a character's Security skill, there's a high probability you will break items inside. They are rendered useless -- but they can be broken down into Components for use in crafting -- more on this later.
All the items we've found in our inventory so far. Unlike the journal, the inventory is a total mess. There are a few ways to sort items, but at the end of the day you'll end up with huge lists of everything you're carrying.
With those Spikes, we're able to slice into the central computer and get an assessment of the ship's interior. Some blast doors are operable -- some aren't. Some we can tunnel -- some we can't.
One of those we CAN tunnel is the door to the port cargo bay. T3 is a good tunneler and slicer, with skill in both Computer Use and Security.
Inside we find a Field Survival Pistol --
And activate some remotes we can use for target practice!
Equipping the Survival Pistol. Anyone versed in 3rd Edition D&D will understand all these stats. This little sucker doesn't do much damage, though it does deal extra damage on critical hits. It's also fully upgradable -- most equipment in TSL can be upgraded using add-ons you'll sometimes find but mostly craft. The best add-ons are crafted, and the best items are built with the best add-ons.
T3 blasting these remotes with the Survival Pistol. Combat in TSL is real-time-with-pause. It's quite basic: you queue up a character's actions -- basic attacks, combat Feats, grenades, special weapons, etc -- and let them go. Combat is generally on the easy side, and it's definitely the weakest part of the game (though Obsidian didn't have much choice in the matter -- they inherited the game's engine and combat system from BioWare's previous game).
Also in the cargo we find 3C-FD: a second astromech droid! He's damaged, but we can use a Part we've found to get him to stop spinning.
The actual dialogue:
"Dee-ree-deet-deet!"
[Invite 3C-FD] "Dee-deet-tree-deet?"
3C agrees! We now have him as a party member. And we'll need him to fix the ship. Functionally he's basically identical to T3, and we'll never see him again outside of this Prologue -- cherish his rust-orange chassis!
Also in here is the locker for which we found the key on that old woman's body. Inside we find a Spike, a Part, and some Droid Impact Armor:
It's nothing tremendous. But 3 Defense is better than 0, we suppose.
Now we stumble onto the medical room. And inside, we find Meetra! We find a Medpac in a nearby container --
And use it to heal her injuries. She's stable for now, but we'll have to jump the ship to Peragus if we want any chance of reviving her fully.
We find the door to the engine room. Unfortunately it's damaged beyond opening -- we'll need to locate some explosives to blast it open. You can use a character's Demolitions skill to blast open just about anything in this game: doors, containers, etc. Strangely enough this does not damage a container's contents, as bashing it open would.
The door to the Ebon Hawk's garage is also sealed. We are informed the garage itself has depressurized. This means we cannot use the ship's computer to open the INNER garage door without first closing the OUTER garage door.
Fortunately, with 3C-FD onboard; we now have two droids to work with. Using Solo Mode, we can position T3 inside the airlock while 3C shuts the first door and opens the second.
Bingo. Turns out 3C is just as good a slicer as T3 (well, maybe not AS good). T3-M4 now has access to the Ebon Hawk's garage --
Which, as we've already learned, has depressurized. Maybe it has something to do with that gaping hole in the hull. Nothing between our valiant gray astromech and the cold void of open space. In the distance: the fiery exposed core of Peragus. And somewhere in the asteroids orbiting it is the mining station we're aiming to get to. We'd best work fast --
We're instructed to use the nearby Workbench to craft a Repair Kit -- these are basically droid-equivalents of Medpacs. We break down those destroyed items we found earlier into usable Components. And we use those to craft a Repair Kit --
Which we use to get T3 back up to snuff. This little droid's as ready as ever!
With little else left to do INSIDE the Ebon Hawk, we activate the external lift and head outside to locate some explosives with which to gain access to the engine room. The durasteel lift trundles upwards --
And we find T3 and 3C trundling along the vessel's exterior hull. Distant stars all around and Peragus glowing in the distance, like a baleful eyeball.
It's quite a view --
The hull's exterior turns out to be a goldmine for Parts we'll need to fix the hyperdrive.
We're also able to do some rewiring to access the starboard dormitory back inside the ship. Excellent.
We also locate a few Frag Mines out here (why the ship's hull is mined we're not entirely sure). That bubble around them indicates their radius of detonation -- this is viewed through checking a character's Awareness skill --
And the mines themselves are either disarmed or recovered through the Demolitions skill. Obviously recovering a mine takes a higher Demolitions skill than simply disarming a mine does. Thankfully T3 is skilled enough for the former.
With the starboard dormitory now open, mines in hand, and enough Parts to fix the hyperdrive; our two intrepid droids head back down into the Hawk.
We hit up the now-open starboard dormitory. Inside this footlocker we find:
A Droid Flame Thrower! This is a special droid weapon only droid characters can use. These tend to be quite a bit more powerful than basic attacks, though they have a limited number of charges on them which are depleted through use. Droid weapons are one of the best reasons to bring droids along. They tend to do a lot of damage and confer all sorts of nasty status effects onto enemies.
We're able to use one of the mines we found to blow open the engine room:
Blammo! Make sure you stand back when you open doors this way -- you can hurt yourself if you aren't careful.
Inside the engine room. The starboard engine is badly damaged -- we won't be able to repair it until/unless we're lucky enough to make the jump to this the Peragus mining facility the ship's computer is so hyped about.
Fixing the hyperdrive. The droids have done it, by George! Now all that remains to be done is set a course for Peragus:
Accessing the Ebon Hawk's Star Map. From here we can take the ship into hyperspace to travel between various worlds. Though right now the only place we have any hope of reaching is the nearby Peragus facility. T3 inputs the coordinates and hits the big red button. And we're off -- !
But what's this? That storage compartment in the main hold! Whatever was banging on it before has managed to OPEN it --
What.
Is.
That?
And off that question, we fade to black.
And as we hear what sounds like T3 and 3C being ATTACKED -- we end the Prologue.