Have you thought that the Force powers are not very spectacular in Jedi Academy?

[Mizore]

I'm re-playing Survival mod 2: Revenge Of The Droids for Jedi Academy and I thought that the Force powers of Jedi Academy (same with Jedi Outcast) are not very cool or spectacular. It is only my opinion and I also think that better with these powers than without them, but there goes this reflection.

 

Force jump is essential, but I think the jump would have to be faster and add more parkour elements such as clinging to edges or even flying. It might also be good for Force jump to have its own cooldown, independent of the other powers, so that you are not totally helpless.

 

Force speed could be very good. Bullet time is usually a skill that I would like to include in almost every game, but in Jedi Academy it doesn't give me a great sense of speed. You also cannot regulate the time you spend in this hyperkinetic state. Also no enemy will activate that power without you having activated it before and probably a Force user will kill you by also using this ability without you knowing what has happened. I also miss more speed of the protagonist permanently and something like dash, which is basic in many hack and slash games.

 

Force sense is very useful, but I feel that it is not fully exploited. I miss more solvable puzzles with Force sense, night vision, invisible enemies except with Force sense, or enemies that detect you if you activate Force sense. I also think that a passive variant of Force sense would be good, something that tells you that something is not going well but without giving details, because otherwise, what reason does the Jedi have to use Force sense in the first place?

 

Force push and Force pull are useful but in very specific situations, let's say they are too niche and I don't see them spectacular. Force push does not allow you to easily reject missiles, as you have to wait a brief moment between each push. And even more difficult is to reject shots from the concussion rifle, which will probably require Force speed, but in turn this requires normal player reflexes. Force pull is very useful at level three to disarm enemies, but what about enemies that grip their weapons very strongly? To disarm a group of enemies, a telekinetic field that overrides any mechanism within its range of action would be preferable. The lightsabers would not be affected because they are shielded by their wielders. Of course, this would make obsolete the ability to deflect projectiles with the lightsaber, but I would leave this skill for the apprentices and that telekinetic field for the masters.

 

Force heal, Force protect and Force absorb are very useful, but they are examples of something practical but not very cool. In my opinion, the practical but not very cool must be passive, while the practical and cool must be active: replace Force heal with self-regenerative health, Force protect with Force imbued armor and Force absorb with some minigame. Of course, health would regenerate slowly and the enemies would have to be very aggressive so that the fighting is not too easy. Also, as in many other games, it would be nice to be able to permanently increase your health. Some Force users of Jedi Academy have more health than you. This is usually implemented to compensate poor AI, but with enemies that have special powers and usually outnumber us, I think it would be worth it that the protagonist's health could be permanently increased. Force protect acts as armor, I think that it is better that it is directly a imbued armor, whose appearance could be customized and the fact of being imbued would allow degrees of hardness and that it can be repaired by the wearer. Force absorb could be passive against minor telekinetic threats and active against major telekinetic threats, something like a minigame.

 

I also feel that mental trick is not fully exploited, because in single player there are no enemies that can use it against you and other possibilities are not explored such as adopting the appearance of an enemy or change your keybinding temporarily under an enemy's mind trick. In addition, the possibility of using mind trick outside combat, in dialogues, is not explored.

 

Force rage can be overpowered if you can kill the boss before it runs out, and then you heal. For this reason it would be better to activate only if some condition is met, not at will.

 

Force lightning is only useful at level three, but against non Force users, which are not the most dangerous enemies. Against the most dangerous enemies, that is, certain Force users, lightning is useless. Besides the sound of Force lightning does not impose on me; it would have to have two variants: punctual, like the lightning of the storms, causing a terrible sound and a great reach, and the lightning you can throw in the game.

 

Force grip can be fun to throw non Force users through chasms, but for those there are many ways to kill them. The most threatening enemies are probably immune to Force grip. Also remember that Force grip is rather a deterrent power in its origins and does not seem spectacular, it is not as if you tear apart someone's head, which should be a separate power, or cut someone telekinetically. I would also add a telekinesis variant to grab beings, whether alive or inert, without harming them, both for purposes in combat and to solve puzzles.

 

Force drain does not seem spectacular or too useful. I think Force heal is preferable, but if we follow that path, I would make Force drain more brutal and visceral, something vampiric, tearing flesh and feeding on enemies, which for some reason the darksiders are considered the incarnations of evil.

 

I do not consider that Force throw, Force attack and Force defense to be powers, but skills, which can be practiced if you have a lightsaber. Even so, I don't feel Force throw is spectacular, the lightsaber would have to move faster and turn on itself and go further. You should also be able to learn to capture lightsabers that enemies throw at you and to being able to pick up the lightsabers of defeated enemies. Force attack and Force defense would merge them with different fighting styles with lightsaber, each with different degrees of mastery.

 

Well, what do you think?

[Circa]

This is not JKHub related. Topic moved to Jedi Knight Discussion forum. @@Mizore

[Droidy365]

I feel like Force Lightning Level 2 should have a sort of knockdown effect to most enemies, kinda like this: https://youtu.be/rlRJLcy8NsA?t=17

Basically the same thing jumping on them does (which in itself is pretty stupid)

Lightning Level 3 should do the same, but then ragdoll them after killing them (much like the base game does)

Lightning Level 1 should just be replaced entirely with the regular level 2, but less shitty.

 

The higher level enemies, such as Reborn/Reborn Masters should be mostly immune to the knockdown effect, whereas Cultists and the like should be knocked down. Stormtroopers would probably die from Level 2 and above.

[dg1995]

Heal:

Force heal in JA is similar to having a longer regenerating HP than COD games. 

 

Grip: 

You have to break the camera in order to to smash an enemy to the ground.

 

Lightning:

It's true that level 1 and 2 are useless. Another problem of lightning imo is this that it won't stun the enemies. It also has this problem that level 3 is too op that makes stormtroopers too easy.

 

Force Drain:

It has this problem that you can't grab drain lightsaber weilding enemies.(Since they just push you instantly)

 

Imo Force Unleashed did force powers far superior than JA and JK 2. In TFU you will gain HP by killing enemies, Force grip is more fun to use , lightning is useful in weaker levels(You can stun enemies) and isn't op.

[Mizore]

Heal:

Force heal in JA is similar to having a longer regenerating HP than COD games. 

 

Grip: 

You have to break the camera in order to to smash an enemy to the ground.

 

Lightning:

It's true that level 1 and 2 are useless. Another problem of lightning imo is this that it won't stun the enemies. It also has this problem that level 3 is too op that makes stormtroopers too easy.

 

Force Drain:

It has this problem that you can't grab drain lightsaber weilding enemies.(Since they just push you instantly)

 

Imo Force Unleashed did force powers far superior than JA and JK 2. In TFU you will gain HP by killing enemies, Force grip is more fun to use , lightning is useful in weaker levels(You can stun enemies) and isn't op.

 

I agree that the powers of TFU are superior to JA and JO, but I dislike that TFU lacks of Force sense or Force speed. I also don't like that the only way to heal you is by killing enemies, since suppose you are facing a single boss; The boss is formidable and you need to heal more than ever, but you can't do it because there are no other enemies out there. Of course TFU solves it by adding weak enemies to the battlefield, but I feel they give me medikits instead of boss reinforcements.

 

About lightning, I agree that it should be able to stun some enemies. Although it doesn't bother me at level three, you can easily kill stormtroopers; they are supposed to be cannon fodder.  What bothers me is that lightning cannot be used as sniper attack; natural lightning normally travel several kilometers.

 

On drain, it doesn't bother me that you can't use it in Force users, but it bothers me that they can use it on you if they get you with little Force energy. I would put drain against non Force users and injured Force users.

[dg1995]

Have you played wii version of TFU 2 ? That one is the only TFU game where you have force sense.

 

Forse sense in that is used to :

1-solve some puzzles(similar to JA)

2-see those invisible enemies(terror troopers they were called I think)

 

Force sense in TFU 2 has better effects than the sense in JA.(you kinda see the environments like that character Visas from Kotor 2)

 

Force speed in TFU was replaced by Dash. Dash is poor for fast running since you have to mash the dash button repeatedly but I like the way that you can force push enemies via dash+push.(which is recommended on snipers)

[Mizore]

Have you played wii version of TFU 2 ? That one is the only TFU game where you have force sense.

 

Forse sense in that is used to :

1-solve some puzzles(similar to JA)

2-see those invisible enemies(terror troopers they were called I think)

 

Force sense in TFU 2 has better effects than the sense in JA.(you kinda see the environments like that character Visas from Kotor 2)

 

Force speed in TFU was replaced by Dash. Dash is poor for fast running since you have to mash the dash button repeatedly but I like the way that you can force push enemies via dash+push.(which is recommended on snipers)

 

I have not played the wii version of TFU 2, thanks for the information.

About dash, it would be interesting that dash did not replace super speed, something like Quantum Break.

[syainkn]

I regard Force Powers as a cheap trick. Those are just tools for fighting, no more, no less.

And even if someone has special abilities similar to Force or Magic. It's not very worth than you thought.

Whether protagonist has super powers or not, if he has an indomitable will, he can accomplish anything!

I think that's why JKA game makers developed most of Force skills not very spectacular.