NumberWan

As I said earlier – we are most likely missing something here. For instance, there was an article, that one of the shots with Rey in Rebel helmet might mean more than just a nod to classic Rebellion and her fondness of the Galactic Civil War stories. Can you see it? If no, there is a hint below (it might lead to spoilers)

@@Cerez Not sure here either. Perhaps the Jedi IS there, we just don't see him in TFA until very last moment. My opinion is that Episode VII will get the new meaning/understanding when Episode VIII gets out. I mean, that the story is deliberately incomplete, as I stated above – we know Vader betrayed and murdered Anakin Skywalker. But with new story we get, that it was quite a different kind of betrayal and murder.

Not sure. But I think of J.J.Abrams, that he, when he was a child – well, his generation thought, that being a Jedi is some sort of magic, available to everyone. And that this very idea was very important for the fans, thus it's present in TFA – that the Force applies to everyone in one way or another. My opinion is that this notion isn't that important: Star Wars has a lot of characters not related to the Force, yet affected by it. So they wanted to start from this idea, given the fact, that, well, this is perhaps the first film in entire Star Wars Saga where we see no Jedi at all for the first 100+ minutes? For comparison – we see Obi Wan Kenobi in the first act of ANH, and Luke is almost a Jedi in Episode V (while Yoda appears in Act II I guess). The same is with Episode VI, with Luke being a Jedi in the film, almost. Episodes I-III need no special comment in this regard: the Jedi are there indeed. TFA shows a member of the Church of the Force instead, only mentioning the Jedi. Later we see Kylo Ren and Rey, both of which are not Jedi in current state. Maz Kanata says herself she isn't a Jedi, but understands the Force – this the leitmotif of the current trilogy it seems.

I am not very keen on the new title, but I wasn't quite satisfied with Attack of the Clones at the time either. I believe A New Hope and The Phantom Menace sound probably the best, setting in both cases a mystery and making us wonder what do they actually mean. In TPM you understand, the Empire is ahead, and believe Darth Maul to be the harbinger of the Dark Times, though in reality it's Anakin himself. Even though you do understand and see what they mean, you don't actually believe it at once. In case of ANH it works the same way - there is hope, which we believe is the last known Jedi Obi Wan Kenobi. Even though we might think that is it, and even others believe that (like Leia), in reality it's Luke Skywalker. And through him it's again Anakin Skywalker. TFA tried to use the same approach, but the the final result is disputable indeed. I do believe, that the Episodes come in pairs in terms of meaning. ANH+TPM, AOTC+TESB, while Revenge of the Sith makes a reverence to Return of the Jedi. Attack of the Clones and The Empire Strikes back are probably the least mysterious and least philosophical titles in Star Wars (plot doesn't count). So perhaps Episode VIII follows this pattern, even though it does include the "Jedi" in it. For now I am not supporting Episode VIII in any way. I know a few interesting things, which might indicate it would be far better than TFA. However before its premiere I also believed in many very cool things to appear in Episode VII, which I longed for. The rumours suggested, the story would be fantastic (and having put all the things I knew - it was actually like that - great). However the film omitted just so much! But I was on the right track, given the fact how much was removed from the final cut (you can see for yourself - there are already several deleted scenes, which imho were essential to the atmosphere of the film at least!). So I must say, for Episode VIII I have this feeling right now: they've had a good start in production and they've chosen good places to shoot and interesting actors, and some plot moments (if they are true) are quite captivating, yet the final cut might be different (!), and thus the expectations might fail you here.

@@Cerez I do believe this is a rare case (among the fan-made films), when I enjoyed the story and actors more than the environment. Despite the latter, I like, when people pay attention to details, and here they tried to do that (respect for this). Actually for a fan-made movie, it's very well done. I didn't read the description at first, and thought, that we would see Caedus. The girl revealed herself as Jaina quite quickly even before the plot put this fact before us directly. This reminded how I looked for all of the fan-made movies on Star Wars, made back in 2000s. The first being Troopers, sure. It was quite funny. There were a few others, which draw my attention at the time, like Sins of the Jedi, it captured more of a feel about the Dark Times, when a Weequay Jedi master and his apprentice hide on a planet with Medieval architecture, occupied by the Empire. It even included a cantina. The most impressive about it is probably the Weequay Jedi Master himself, but the dialogues are a bit artificial, I think. The adventure includes a bunch of stomtroopers. It was never finished, as I recall. There were a few others, including the Italian film, which tells the story of the Jedi Order in the distant future, with only a cameo from R2-D2 and a surname of Organa for one of the very old Jedi members. I do believe it takes place in some 150+ ABY. It's quite easy to find it on youtube. A Light in the Darkness had some interesting ideas in the story, which is shown from the perspective of a dweller of the planet, first occupied by the CIS droids and later – by the Empire. It shows, that for ordinary people the aftermath of the Clone Wars wasn't clear at all, because no one could understand why and how the Clones would attack their fellow masters. The main character is actually young and is quite impressed with the Jedi he remembers from his childhood. The most peculiar of all was, perhaps the Revelations, which had quite the beginning, and brings in the familiar elements from the Expanded Universe, such as the Emperor's hand (hinting, there were more than one). In this one I like mostly the locations and the Galactic Senate dissolution scene.

I tried the emulator last year. It misses some aspects of the original though, but nevertheless is quite enjoyable. There were two servers as far as I remember, one being a test platform, where you can try all the game mechanics, develop your character (quickly), explore the skills, objects, trade and NPCs, as well as travel to various peculiar locations, such as Tatooine, Yavin IV, Corellia, Kashyyk and Naboo. Actually there were many! I didn't play the game at the time of it's active life though, only tried the demo, by creating an explorer and participating in a few quests aboard the space station. So the emulator was a lot of fun for me only for some time, it was a bit difficult for me to enjoy some things there. People often compare it to Star Wars The Old Republic. The two games are actually quite different, although in SWTOR I like more the level design and dialogues, while Galaxies seem to be far superior in terms of individualism of the Players and a very personal approach for fans. From the early days of the SWG, the online MMORPG allowed characters to play the game on different sides, but it wasn't that important to follow a strict plot line, you could make Star Wars adventure very special for you and your friends. With the introduction of Houses, you could make not just your personal apartments, but start a small town on Tatooine, with mayor and shops. This one is perhaps among my favourite, even though I am not much into houses. I guess, there is no need to explain, that Jedi Knight Galaxies was in many ways inspired by the Galaxies, especially when you walk through the streets of Mos Kreetle. Really good things die hard I won't hide, that Galaxies affected me in many ways too, when I work on my own projects. P.S. Anchorhead is probably the only original location in both The Old Republic and Star Wars Galaxies to be explorable by Players. You also visit it in KOTOR. All three are seen on screenshots below.

I must say, that Tarkin is probably the only thing, that both Rebels and The Clone Wars did remarkably. In both cases they are voiced by the same actor (who is an active participant in both shows and voiced multiple characters by now). In TCW era Tarkin was suppressed by many things: rank, Republic rules, the Jedi and public opinion – all of this was no longer during the Empire, where Tarkin had to rely only on one thing (perhaps) - Emperor's approval. Nothing else matters to him, when it comes to dealing with upcoming issues, etc. Season 1 of Rebels was far better. Some parts of Season 2 too, but Season 3 was a disappointment for the most part – well, that's what I could say about the majority of episodes in the first half of the season. Maul is again overused, while Thrawn doesn't show his coolness in any way.

Now that the film premiere is in the past, new and new info on the film production pops up. One of the latest is about the Deleted scenes for Rogue One, which caused a discussion in the community, whether it's a completely new scene, cut from the film, or the original story, that was ultimately cut from the movie. It's funny, that one fan from the reddit pointed out, how they used of the older pictures to create a familiar location (picture inside):

With the quantity (and quality) of the models made for Jedi Academy, I wonder if there is any other game, which received so many modifications from fans? I guess, there are. But the speed and quantity of models per year surpasses the number of the early JK projects. We've got just so many, that I feel, there might be not a single character in Star Wars not to appear in Jedi Academy, be it Beru Lars, Salacious Crumb, Nuvo Vindi, general Riiken or Jira.

I read comments on Rotten Tomatoes and in the Peter Cushing fan association, and if among his fans there were one or two, who commented with infuriation on the CGI character, in other instances people actually praised the CGI additions. I would agree, that we didn't need to see Leia, however a view from her back only could mean something else for the fans - that this is not actually Leia. I mean people might hate CGI, but at least we could have to guess, whether it's human actor or a CGI impersonalisation. As for Tarkin, a friend of mine didn't know about Cushing at all. He thought it was the real actor. The only way to say it's a pure CGI is to be quite proficient by seeing a lot of it. If one "bathes" in the field of computer graphics, and is actually fond of such things, then it's most likely such a person will notice the difference. I am actually very glad, that the character is in the film the way he is. It was a nice tribute to the actor, and it builds a stronger continuity. Given what they did to recreate Tarkin, I would praise the creators - it was a long work of studying many works from the XXth century, various films, photos and footage.

@@milestails Yes, that's the point. I also enjoyed seeing familiar faces a lot. In terms of Jan Ors reference and other aspects, yes, they could have moved farther from the already existing stories. As for the Hammerhead And for your comment on Chirrut Îmwe, well, someone made a picture

I don't think it's possible to make or expect such a game now. Not from the current developers. JA as well as other titles were made in the golden era of gaming (imho), when many genres were still popular. My friend in the game design field said, that many of these are less popular these days, like quests for instance. They might even die out. Star Wars at those years were a combination of quality and novelty (even though there were some bad games too!). Thus we had action (Dark Forces I-II), adventure (Shadows of the Empire), podracing, flight simulators (Rogue Squadron), role-playing adventure (KOTOR), strategic games (SW Galactic Battlegrounds, SW Empire at War), and yes, we also had Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy, which were close to the classics (DF), as well as went in line with then popular shooters of other franchises. JO and JA also were among some of those, who offered a more personal experience with Star Wars: while JA directly allows you to create a new character for yourself, JO was the first to become a major hub for fans to make something new, which laid path for mods and skins, and this very forum

Mon Mothma is great for sure. I also enjoyed Saw Guerrera, who showed the darker side of the rebellion as an idea (not just of the Rebel Alliance). The episodes with Onderon were among my most favourite in The Clone Wars, after all. But here I voted for Krennic: he is a nice depiction of the Empire, of what's happening within the New Order behind the veil, and not on the scene. Just like Saw, he is an illustration of the obvious, but previously almost unseen sides of the Empire, which has ambitions among its members. Episode IV includes a dispute between the Imperials, and Episode V introduces Piett as a young Imperial military guy, who quickly climbs the career, even though he does little himself for that.

Now, that Rogue One is released, people wonder, when the trailer for Episode VIII would come out. The studio says, that we will see something in early 2017 (obviously), while Adam Driver hopes, there would be no trailer at all. I find it funny, that they say, Luke isn't actually alone on Ahch-To before Rey's arrivel: small creatures, which look like puffins, dwell on the islands as well, and will be seen in the film.

I found a video (now obsolete, I guess), where someone combined the last scene of Rogue One together with Episode IV opening scene. There are several things, which come to my mind now: - In A New Hope Vader says, that Leia's ship received several transmissions from the Rebel spies, which might or might not mean, that there was something else aside from the Death Star plans (my personal idea – is that Kyle Katarn stole the other part of the schematics on Danuta and also transmitted his part to Leia ) - I can now clearly say, that while A New Hope can exist and bring the story without any Expanded Universe, Rogue One certainly fails to do the same without A New Hope.

The work on the appearance is just wonderful. I guess, we can't imagine a better variant for Gorc. But I would like to see a more guerilla+ET approach, like in the originals, despite we have a Gamorrean here. I think, this would show a newer look to the species, as well as fall into the idea, that both Gorc and Pic came through many deformations, turning into unrecognizable abominations. If you listen to Gorc in Dark Forces II, he sounds nothing like oinking, which is common for the porceline species in Star Wars. The armor however looks just like it should, even though the original concept establishes a different apparel.

Hi, everyone! We haven't been very active in the forums or social media this year, though we tried to keep informed those of you, who showed interest in The Dark Pastime mod. You might remember, that I mentioned several months ago, that the main task was to complete Chapter I (which currently includes about 7 maps), and that due to technical aspects of the Jedi Academy, we came across multiple obstacles, when we started working with the last map in the Chapter, which was simply known to some as "the forest". I also mentioned, that I would make an explanation, why it took us so long to deal with this map. Our silence made some believe, that we no longer work with our project, but that is untrue. Below are some news, facts and screenshots, so that you could see that the work never stopped. But first is the so-called "Article", which includes the above mentioned news. I hope, it will answer some questions and help avoiding further thoughts about mod being frozen. So here it is. The main idea, which you must read here and remember: the mod is alive and is in process of major work. It's been in development for so long, why haven't you released it yet? Those, who've watched the project here and on moddb (or who contacted me personally), would know, that for the last seasons we've been working on Chapter I, specifically with one map (actually the last in the chapter), which created a lot of obstacles and headache due to technical issues from the Jedi Academy (which ones, see below). Technical Issues. - [solved] Menu (UI) Limitations - you can have only certain amount of this, thus we had to minimize the number of datapads and infoboards in the mod. - [solved] Brushes per map limits - we were making a forest map, so making smooth hills and mountains was a difficult task, but we made it, though with some losses. - [solved] Models limitations - we had to replace all misc_model to misc_model_static or similar, due to issue #2 (misc_model converts into brushes after compilation) - [solved] Shader glitches 1 - this came up after we replaced misc_model with misc_model_static (changed shader code) - [solved] Shader glitches 2 - this came up after we changed the shaders; so we had to change the texture path (sometimes possible only through HEX editor) - [solved] Speeder Bike animation wouldn't work - we remade the model for speeder bike, but it wouldn't work with Cinematic animation for JA. Had to make model #3 for this. This caused another issue: the animation wouldn't play, due to map's name (had to change it). - [solved] GtkRadiant 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6 contradictions - the basic idea is the same. The interface is slightly different, and 1.5. often changes entities within maps without you knowing that (e.g. renaming entities like dog1 to dog01, secretA to secretA02, etc). - [solved] Fx Files glitch - came out of nowhere, but gladly we fixed that. - [solved] Other tiny issues - there were so many caused by JA and the game engine, that I can't name them all. In one way or another we've overcome most of them. There are other reasons too: - the mod is made by fans, who do it for fun and joy, without getting any reimbursement. - we work, when we have free time: most people have permanent jobs and families, and surely free time is divided between all of them, with the mod standing after people. - the team is based in different geographical regions: which means we contact online each other and send messages, which also greatly affects the whole process. - certain things looked good in the past, but seeing on them now – urged us to update them. So we changed these, including textures, models, scripts, locations, and even some dialogs and scenes. The mod is divided into several parts. You already know that. Basically these are the Chapters, the first one being the most important. It's a right decision, because: a) it forms sort of a plan for the project, and b) we can release the content and see the reaction. However when we began the work, we were making different parts of it at once. Thus missions 7-10 are complete, while mission 6 caused so much trouble (see Technical Issues above), and so on. What else? I must say, that we changed in a manner we work with the mod. When we started The Dark Pastime, we had a basic idea for the plot, a scenario and three people, two of which were eager to work with Gtk Radiant, downloaded from Internet. We also had Jedi Outcast, the game with which we started, we had a few models and absolutely no idea about shaders, scripts, modelling, texture creation and other aspects. It took several years to leave the amateur ways and choose a more professional approach. A new Sentry Droid model for the Areem Corporation, created some months ago. As time passed each of us learnt new skills, and new people came to our team. Thus now we know how to make good quality materials, be it textures or sounds, among other things. I myself wasn't able to do a lot of things, but due to changes in my professional fields, I learnt a great deal about game design, graphics, texture creation, photo and sound editing, modelling, scripting, typography, shading, etc. You can help! Our team has never been too big. It's actually the help and support from our friends, family and fans, which allows us to move further. Some people come and go, some work for a longer period of time, with only one thing in common – we all do it for the idea. We want to tell a story in our own way. Currently our team, even though consisting of only several individuals, has all we need for the most part. Neutral Imperials such as this Technician is the result of the interaction with fans: we specifically ask about the game experience and keep in mind suggestions from the JK community. But we are always open for new talents and cooperation. If you like to be creative and ready to create things regarding a Single Player mod for Jedi Academy, don't hesitate to send us a message, either on www.JKhub.org or www.moddb.com Before you go. Below are a few things to look at. You might have seen them previously, but we changed each of the levels, but visually there is sometimes no difference. Other aspects in this section might also explain you the above mentioned problems and the tasks we put before us. Screenshots Section: Thanks again for your support and comments. We'll be glad to stay in contact and answer any questions.

Michael Giacchino is great, and did a great job in Rogue One. However it works just fine in the film, it's not the same, when you listen to it separately, unlike the music for Episodes I-VI. A similar problem was with Episode VII, though a few themes come to my mind, if I try to recall. The very first track sounded especially good. Saw Guerrera has indeed a smaller role in the film, than I thought, but I am glad, we don't see him joining the main team. I would also say, that I felt relieved, when I saw, that Saw had his own group and goals, and stepped away from the Alliance: thus we don't see or hear about him in A New Hope events. Naturally. Jyn Erso is indeed a very simple character: I would even say, that the first minutes of her in the film could remind us of any movie about a girl, losing her parents, the pattern is in there. Yet, it's still interesting to see what's what next. I do believe, that somehow it's complicated to create an original heroine here: most of the films showed quite a lot already, and even more difficult to surprise an old-time Star Wars fan these days (hey, we are on JK forum after all!). We might compare her to Kyle Katarn, who wouldn't be original these days either, but he was lucky enough to be created in an interesting period for Star Wars franchise – between OT and the prequels, and more importantly he regained his personality despite huge changes to his status, from a stormtrooper to rebel agent, and later to Jedi Knight and even Master. One of the really good sides about Jyn, which I actually admire – is that she is not a Jedi. And she doesn't intend and doesn't become one. In this regard I like Rogue One above some others, as it brings back the words of Kreia: This concept is quite true to the Original Trilogy, as by the time of Episode VI release, the common idea was that everybody could be a Jedi. The midichlorians in Episode I slightly changed the concept, which undoubtfully remained the same: there is a level of the Force within the individuals, but their resolve, their efforts and other qualities might or might not pave the way to become a Master of the Force at one point – if they desire. Nevertheless this time I feel more satisfied as a Star Wars fan, because I got the necessary dosage of excitement like when I watched A New Hope for the first time, and when I saw The Phantom Menace release, marking the return of the Galaxy to my #1 interests.

It's interesting, that Rogue One has so much of clever details, connected to other films, books, etc. For instance you can see Tooka in one of the scenes – it's a little toy from the Clone Wars era, first seen during siege of the Ryloth by CIS, when Clones save a little Twi'Lek girl Numa. And many more.

It is said, that they are both CGI. It is true, the actors worked in both cases, but a CGI mask was used even at the very end. The actress behind was revealed, and she herself made a tweet, revealing her secret, that was indeed involved in Star Wars Rogue One. The other characters, which make an appearance in A New Hope, were also restored, but we may assume it was a much easier task.

Okey, I've watched the movie just a few hours ago. And it's absolutely hilarious! It's a wonderful film as it is, but it is also great in terms of Star Wars. Buy tickets now and go and watch it! I am so envious, that some of you will see the film in a few hours/days, while I've already seen it. I don't want to spoil. So this is the last phrase with no spoilers in my message. End reading it here now. I will mention only a few things I like. Spoiler-mentioning below. DO NOT READ, IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED ROGUE ONE YET! Some things were confirmed, some proved wrong. Whatever, it's worth to see all for yourself.

@Noodle I remember a discussion on this matter. With the old EU the words of Yoda could still be true - some old Jedi Masters left the path (fell to the DS like Jerec), left the Force or weren't fully skilled, thus unable to teach. When I watched Episode VI years ago, being unaware of many other stories, I believed Yoda to be the only Jedi at all. Even though I knew the Jedi of old were gone, I never thought they'd been so many of them to form an Order. It was actually very sad. I do believe that ROTJ is perhaps the sadest of all. The Followers of the Force were introduced in TFA, in order to explain the Force presence without making new Jedi in the films. So Rogue One is the first major project in this regard.

It seems, there is yet another cameo, which hasn't been spotted very much yet. You might see it in this video below:

Some videos are more spoilers than others. For instance like this one, featuring (Spoiler!)

Haven't heard about Star Destroyer sequence, but the last thing I read is that Kylo Ren will have a slightly different apparel in Episode VIII. It was said previously, that a new type of stormtroopers would appear in the film.