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[personal profile] lieselstarwarsgames
Time to explore Tatooine!



First off, Happy Belated 25th Anniversary to The Phantom Menace!

We land at Mos Espa, Padme demands to be taken along at the queen’s command, and now we’ve gotta find someone who can sell us the parts we need. The first person we talk to mentions that Watto’s slave boy (hmmm, who could THAT be?) is good at fixing things, but says the kid has misplaced some blueprints lately. How the guy came about that info, I have no idea, but it’ll probably be our job to find said blueprints since this is a video game and all.

Also since this is a video game, the first thing I did was go exploring behind the ship to see if there was anything behind the starting point. Rule of thumb in video games – if you’re supposed to go right, go left first because you never know where a secret might be hidden. And what do you know, I was right – there was a Kyber Brick buried under some junk right behind the ship. These developers know exactly how gamers think.

There are some banthas nearby that you can hitch a ride on, or if you’re feeling sadistic, you can also lightsaber them to make them cry out in pain. What? I said these developers know how gamers think, so they also know that of course people are going to try to hurt innocent animals just to see what happens.

There’s also a speeder you can use for fast-travel to another location on Tatooine, but since right now we’ve only been to Mos Espa, the speeder is useless for now.

I found another Kyber Brick and a woman who says R2 needs a propeller hat to boost his confidence. Well that was random. Is she selling propeller hats, by any chance? Also, when you reach the shopping district, you find a boombox playing the Mos Eisley Cantina music . . . but if you stop to listen, a Rodian just comes in and randomly starts punching you. Hey! Not cool! So of course I lightsabered him . . . but then that got a siren blaring and more Rodians came rushing in to fight us. Hey, that other guy started it! I’m innocent!

Anyway, since Padme and R2 are now playable, I checked out their skills. Padme has a punch and a blaster, but weirdly enough, the punch is assigned to the regular weapon button while the blaster is assigned to the ZR button. I didn’t even realize she had the blaster at first since I was pressing the regular weapons button. Hell, why would anyone WANT to use the punch instead of the blaster? As for R2, he can attack with his little stick-out-arm-thingy . . . but he can’t fly anymore. Why the hell not?? Making R2 and the other astro droids fly was one of the most fun parts of The Complete Saga. Maybe he unlocks his flying ability later? I damn well hope this isn’t catering to the people who whined about him flying in AOTC.

Like in Theed, you can get on top of the buildings and enjoy the view all around, which is way more satisfying than it has any right to be. It’s just fun to see everything from above, I guess. Also, I found another boombox that you can turn on to make the second part of the cantina music play, but I wasn’t sure if it had any purpose beyond being just for fun. At first I thought it might make people dance, but nope, nobody took any notice.

Oh, and sometimes when Padme stands idle, she puts on a Queen Amidala headdress! Hmmm, could that be a subtle hit at something? I have no idea what.

I also just found out that you can ride on R2. It looks pretty damn funny, but Qui-Gon seems to be enjoying himself – he gets this big smile. Also, R2 leaves skid marks in the sand. I always love little details like that.

While I haven’t felt the need to talk about all the puzzles you need to solve to get Kyber Bricks, there was one puzzle here I particularly enjoyed. It involves using the Force to move differently-shaped water pipes into place to direct the water into a water tower that houses a Kyber Brick. Once you get the water flowing the right way, the water tower bursts open, delighting the citizens who now have more water and letting you collect the brick. It reminded me a lot of that retro game Pipe Dream (yeah, I’m old).

Okay, finally time to head to Watto’s shop. Inside, you’ll find Shmi cleaning the shop and Anakin working at a workbench and you can even talk to them before you talk to Watto, but they both say they can’t help you right now and you’ll have to speak to Watto. Hmm, should I see what happens if I lightsaber them?

Why am I even asking that question?

Of COURSE I made Qui-Gon lightsaber his Chosen One, why wouldn’t I? Anakin cries out in pain and then he stares at you with this terrified expression, trembling in fear. Hey, maybe I’m doing this for the galaxy’s own good. If Anakin’s afraid of Qui-Gon, then he won’t go with Qui-Gon to the Jedi Temple and he’ll never become Darth Vader.

If you lightsaber Shmi, she screams and then glares angrily. Good, now she won’t trust Qui-Gon to take her kid. The galaxy is saved!

Okay, we should continue the story even though we’re dooming the galaxy by doing so. By the way, Watto has a chainsaw in his shop – have no idea what THAT’S about. Since Tatooine doesn’t have any trees to saw down, maybe Watto’s a secret chainsaw murderer.

Talking to Watto triggers a cutscene that condenses Watto refusing to accept Republic credits, Anakin meeting Padme, Qui-Gon realizing that Anakin’s strong in the Force, Anakin telling the gang about the podrace, and Qui-Gon betting Anakin’s freedom all into one scene (while Jar Jar’s getting his tongue caught in a machine). Whew, good thing I’ve seen the movie or else that would be a lot of information to process at once (though I don’t know why you’d play this game if you haven’t seen the movies).

This seems like a good time to take a break. I’ll see you for the podrace and in the meantime, here’s Weird Al’s classic Phantom Menace song that will never not be awesome.

Date: 2024-05-22 01:36 am (UTC)
scorpionspear77: (Default)
From: [personal profile] scorpionspear77
The combat system in this game is different- the normal weapon button is now a melee button only, while blasters use the triggers. Lightsaber users can use Lightsaber Throw with the triggers. This comes into play more in major boss battles.
ladyofleithian: (rey restless)
From: [personal profile] ladyofleithian
Oh Christ, the animals bit gave me some KOTOR flashbacks. Basically, one thing you get to do in both games is basically…you have these kath hounds that are attacking you. What are kath hounds? They’re basically the Star Wars equivalent of feral dogs and you basically have to end up killing them in both games. Which actually distressed me a bit given that I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for dogs. I mean, they are trying to kill you and can really do wonders to knock off your health points, but still. And then you have Sith dogs called tu’kata, and the Korriban level revolves partially around killing the poor bastards when you’re not going through a convoluted route to find a Jedi Master. (It doesn’t help that the Sith decided to starve the poor things to make them more “efficient” in attacking their enemies, so you can add “animal abuse” to the list of the Sith’s many, many crimes. Kind of makes Snoke’s “rabid cur” speech even worse)

So yeah. Unfortunately, the animal abuse is not limited to LEGO Star Wars. I always wished there was a mod in KOTOR that could allow you to pet the pups instead of kill them or at least distract them with a game of fetch, because killing them is a bit too Michael Myers for my tastes.

I just…look. I have a soft spot for puppies. I nearly cried at the end of the book Cujo partially because they had to kill the poor dog even though it was a rabid beast of nightmares. I have a dog, and even before that I mostly got along with the dogs in my neighborhood. A bit of fear and respect, but the worst thing I had was a golden retriever who somehow got into the family garage who turned out to just want to play (she was the neighbor’s dog). I think I’ve been ridiculously lucky though.
Edited Date: 2024-05-23 08:21 pm (UTC)
ladyofleithian: (rey restless)
From: [personal profile] ladyofleithian
Nah, it’s not your fault at all. I guess I was going momentarily “What the fuck, LEGO?” But that’s good to know, really. Sorry if I came off as upset. I wasn’t, really.

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