Lightsaber Forms

[Lamented]

Hey, guys. I know something like this has been done in KotOR II and the OJP mod for JKA and I'd very much like to see something similar in the JKA Gold Pack. See, it's always been a pretty stupid idea for Luke to invent saber styles with bad setbacks in each style in my opinion, like...

 

Blue - Great speed, low offensive and defense

Yellow - Balanced but it makes me feel too unorthodox

Red - What's the point of using this style if the opponent will already be moving before you can get a hit on them or you just get slashed across the chest while your arms are drawn back?

Duals/Staff - Should only be accessible if other Lightsaber forms are taught.

 

I remember Luke saying...

 

"Here, we will train you in the ways of the Force. You will learn to defend yourself with a Lightsaber."

 

Meh... I didn't feel too convinced. So here's my idea, I'll go down a list of lightsaber forms.

 

• Form I: Shii-Cho (The Way of the Sarlacc/The Determination Form) - Now, if I'm correct, Jaden may have had a lightsaber, but did he have any exact lightsaber skills? I suppose he had fun in his garage and somehow keeping from decapacitating himself, but I'd imagine that his style would have been deemed wild, raw and unidentifiable by the Cultist that Jaden first came across. Basically, if you know how to hold a lightsaber, you know Shii-Cho. I'd prefer if this was the beginner style that the player uses when in JKA SP, and maybe the player can have training sessions in the Jedi Temple that Luke DID promise, didn't he? Though, I'd prefer that it can be a mastered style. For instance, Kit Fisto handled Grievous quite well by using a dual-bladed variant of Shii-Cho. Though it should be kept in mind that Shii-Cho is best against multiple opponents, and Grievous had multiple sabers.

 

• Form II: Makashi (The Way of the Ysalimari/The Contention Form) - Makashi quickly replaced Shii-Cho years later since it actually focused on Lightsaber dueling, and Shii-Cho was basically as unbalanced as Luke's styles. This artful style can be clearly identified as Dooku's primary lightsaber style, so I think this mainly speaks for itself. It'd also be cool if there were was a recommendation for a curved hilt when using this Lightsaber Form, as it is essential to making this style much more useful, which I hope someone could implement in some way. Not only that, but it'd be nice if there was a dual-bladed variant for this Form. And why not a staff variant as well? One idea I had for that was Lus-ma--it was actually trained to Grievous, his MagnaGuards and Savage Opress by Dooku. Basically, Lus-ma was a staff form that wasn't so much Maul's style as it was another one that involved a lot more twirls and overwhelming concentrated tactics. It also had very precise counters and it was the answer to Soresu, Obi-Wan Kenobi's mastered style of defense. Shaak Ti also used this in the original Clone Wars cartoon, that's probably the best display of Lus-ma anyone can get.

 

• Form III: Soresu (Way of the Mynock/The Resilience Form) - Soresu was Obi-Wan's primary style of defense. This style's conceptual tactics basically involved creating an inpenetrable defense while using as little effort as possible, and its attacks were probably best used as counters. You see, Obi-Wan's attacks were not mainly that of Soresu--rather, Ataru. So yeah, I think the basic idea is easily understandable and Obi-Wan's fight scene against Anakin is probably a very good example. In addition, a staff variant should be implemented. Darth Bane, creator of the Rule of Two, had an apprentice named Darth Zannah. She didn't have enough muscle to practice Djem So, so Darth Bane trained her to use a lightsaber staff and master Soresu using it.

 

• Form IV: Ataru (Way of the Hawk-Bat/The Aggression Form) - Ataru was actually an acrobatic form, used by Yoda, Obi-Wan in TPM and used by Ahsoka Tano. I am unsure if this kind of training would involve more than teaching the player the conceptual tactics of Ataru. However, there have been known variants of Ataru displayed by Ahsoka, like a reversed-grip variant and a dual-bladed variant. I think what would help with this style is certain bonus-kata attacks, like the yellow and red leaps we already see in base JKA.

 

• Form V: Shien/Djem So (The Way of the Krayt Dragon/The Perseverance Form) - Shien was the variant of Form V best displayed by Galen Marek (Starkiller), and Djem So was the primary style of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. They're both iconic characters and some of you have no doubt already seen their displays in lightsaber combat, so yeah. In base JKA SP, it'd be fun to be able to learn one of these forms. I'd say that the Shien variant could be the best way to learn and master the reverse grip, and Djem So would be a great chance to follow the path of Anakin Skywalker in lightsaber combat.

 

• Form VI: Niman/Jar'Kai (The Way of the Rancor/The Moderation Form/The Diplomat's Form) - Niman was mainly a style that had no specific strengths, but no specific weaknesses either. It incorporated elements of many other styles and chained Force powers with its attacks. The Jar'Kai variant was also a martial dual-bladed style, that focused on a lot of creativity rather than the rote responses common to other forms. Considering this has already been done in JKA, I'd say that not too many changes would have to be made, considering a lot of it would already be done for you. However, that depends on what how much you want to do with it, if you're going to do anything with it. Also, a staff variant should be added with this Niman style, considering Maul displayed such a variant in TPM.

 

• Form VII: Juyo/Vaapad (The Way of the Vornskr/The Ferocity Form) - Juyo was basically Darth Maul's primary single- and double-bladed style. You'll note that this style was extremely vicious, not requiring any fancy lightsaber twirls in nearly every move. It also had a dual-bladed variant, as displayed by Darth Sidious against Darth Maul and Savage Opress. In addition to Form VII, Mace Windu created his own Vaapad variant, though it was more than a swordplay form--it was a state of mind, but it was said to be extremely fast in lightsaber combat, and it was shown in ROTS.

 

 

So yeah...

I hope you get the idea.

 

[Omicron]

This would require a massive amount of work to implement into JKA. Just use OJP Enhanced lol

[Circa]

Would be cool. Probably won't happen as far as this much work goes. Some people have shown interest in adding new saber styles though, like @@katanamaru. But it'll probably be one or two styles at first. Maybe more eventually.

[Lamented]

Sigh.

Okay.

[Onysfx]

A combination of form III and form V would be a very powerful form to use as a duelist. (not requesting it, just saying)

[Lamented]

I believe the Hero of Tython used that, so agreed!

 

Emperor's Wrath... probably all dual variants of Shii-Cho, Ataru and Juyo.

[katanamaru]

I'm still totally into the idea of making more styles. It'll have to wait till after I get a new computer though. I can barely run XSI and then I don't have any tutorials available since I don't have the internet at my apartment.

 

I'm not really into the descriptive versions of the 7 forms though. All those descriptions do is tell you the mindset of the form. It doesn't do anything to tell me how it should move or behave. I can use all 7 of the forms with the basic three that you get in JA with those descriptions.

 

I have 3 different staff styles, 3 dual styles, a large amount of single styles, and some misc weapons like spears and such planned. All I need is to learn the new tools to make them and then someone who can put them into SP and MP or show me how.

[Futuza]

JKG wants to do this...but none of us really animate at the moment and we're still experimenting around with just one saber style at the moment.

[katanamaru]

Once I get saber styles going your free to use or modify them however you want. So if you want to snag the backhand styles go for it.