4 ms·
It's worth pointing out how different (and better) Jedi Knight's morality system is from the "Bethesda model", in which you play as good/bad but at the end of t
by professoretc 3y ago
It's worth pointing out how different (and better) Jedi Knight's morality system is from the "Bethesda model", in which you play as good/bad but at the end of the game, it doesn't matter and you get to make the Big Moral Choice (purify the water or POISON EVERYONE?).
In JK you are never asked explicitly, "Do you want to do a Good Thing or a Bad Thing?". After a boss fight, you can choose to kill your opponent, or not. Those civilians running around sometimes drop health packs or ammo when they die, so maybe you kill them, or you don't. Dark side force powers are awesome, and don't require ammo to work, so maybe you put a few points into them. Then, at about 3/4 through the game, it doesn't ask if you want to be a light or dark Jedi, it tells you what kind of Jedi you were all along. You get to the point where you might expect the game to offer you a Big Choice, but instead, it points out that you already made your choice when you weren't paying attention.
- Stevvo 3y agoMetro: Exodus does it the same way. It's a lot of fun.
- jddj 3y agoThe jedi thing in general is such a great metaphor for the human experience when it comes to the intersection of capacity, morality and power that I expect it'll outlive a lot of other stories.
- idiotsecant 3y agoStar wars is morality for children. There are recent additions to the canon that aren't this but mostly there are 'good guys' who do good things and get good outcomes and 'bad guys' who do bad things and ultimately get punished by a just universe.
- jddj 3y agoMaybe you're right, that's really not what I got from it though. Admittedly I've only watched each film once or twice as a child. I can't honestly remember the specific consequences of the bad guys' actions, I was more affected by the closeness of the bad guys to the good guys. Maybe I'm remembering my own version. My takeaway was that power has a magnitude but not a fixed direction, and that it can easily tip either way. And that you can educate and train but you can't control. I think it was the first time that I considered the idea that people could, for their own reasons, use things that they have learned/acquired against those who taught/shared them. Relates to, for example, the innate risks that we take when we choose to enable other people in our lives eg. through granting powers, sharing of trade secrets, etc.
- oliwarner 3y agoAre we watching and playing the same things? Star Wars shows us again and again how the machinations of those with power (good and evil) ultimately crush those without. Do you think the death of the Emperor is real justice for Alderaan, for the countless Jedi, for the thousands of planets devastated by an industrial war machine? The good guys don't win. They just stop losing. That's war. I'm not going to pretend Star Wars has real depth, but it's far more nuanced than you're making out.
- ttymck 3y ago> points out that you already made your choice when you weren't paying attention. Witcher 3 excelled at this. It is the only game which I felt an overwhelming sense of dread and guilt after finishing.