Yes, it's me, on the topic of *gasp* Force Users! *plants flag*
I was going to delay on this for a bit, but with a little encouragement from some other members of the community, I guess I shall broach the subject now. Be warned: Elephants are in the room!
So I know everyone is probably here because they like Star Wars. Most likely. There may be an odd one of you here or there who just wants to RP something different, but most of us are fans of the franchise in some way or another.
Star Wars, first and foremost, is a science-fantasy. Everyone agrees with that. We see spaceships and people with supernatural powers all mixed into one universe. But, in actuality, it's not so simple. Did you know that Star Wars is heavily influenced by the western genre? One of the most famous characters of all time defines the 'cowboy' role with his gunslinging and coarse behavior and wearing that famous vest all the time. And to expand on that, we have war drama (The weapons, starships, starfighters, and battles are based and loosely modeled off of real-life weaponry, especially from the World War II era.) and even cyberpunk/steampunk (From the dark, cyber playground of Coruscant to the dreamworld facade of Cloud City, and on to the Jawas of Tatooine.). Essentially, Star Wars is bound to have something that many people can enjoy, aside from just spaceships and 'wizards'.
So why is there so much emphasis on the Jedi and Sith, both in the EU and on this site?
That's actually an easy question to answer. They're fun. They're unique. And they do stuff we wish we could do, but know we never will be able to. That's the foundation of fantasy.
But why are Jedi and Sith the only story to be told? Honestly, they're hardly galaxy-changers, if you look at the films. Yes, Palpatine ascended to power through political chicanery and a bit of Force trickery, but the Forcies have little direct effect when it comes to major events. No Jedi was going to win the Battle of Naboo (Qui-Gon said this himself. "I can only protect you. I can't fight a war for you."), and no Jedi was going to even survive Geonosis--even against dumb droids--without thousands of 'ungifted' people joining the fight. There's a reason why Palpatine never sought to take over by sheer force, Force, and willpower. Dooku tucked his tail and ran when the clone army arrived. And hundreds of Jedi would be slaughtered by clones later on.
And for all of you original trilogy purists who believe the prequels are a sin, then you should be even more inclined to agree with the muffling of Force powers. Luke, the savior of the galaxy, uses a blaster more often than he uses a lightsaber or any fancy Force techniques. And while Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine show a bit more aptitude with the Force, they still don't do anything beyond ripping out equipment from a Cloud City 'boiler room' and zapping electricity at the Son of Skywalker.
And let's not forget Yoda, the most powerful Jedi of all, as he and our favorite Palps (likely the most powerful Sith of all) will be the control for this discussion.
One of the most famous scenes of Star Wars is the event on Dagobah, when Luke tries to pick up his X-Wing, but only manages to lift it a couple meters. (We are talking about the character with the most natural Force 'talent' in the entire franchise.) Subsequently, Master Yoda, who has asked us if we judge men/creatures by their size, hauls in the starfighter, slowly but surely. It's magical, and I'm sure when you first watched The Empire Strikes Back, you were probably marveling at this moment. You hadn't seen anything like this in the movies before--not even from Vader. It must take decades, and perhaps centuries of perfection and meditation to reach master levels like that!
Similarly, in the prequels, we see Count Dooku skool Little Ani and Master Obi at some saber combat, and here comes Master Yoda, who shows us some more tricks we've never seen before. Here's an 870-year-old little green guy taking Dooku's electricity sparkles and winging 'em right back at him. That is cool. And Dooku--about 50, maybe 60--doesn't have a good counter that will last against Yoda's abilities, so he yanks a column from its anchoring and lets it fall while he makes his cowardly escape.
Here's where Yoda shows us the kinetic strength of the ultimate Jedi Master. And we see that it's taking all he's got. He can't even push the column back up. He just has to redirect its path to save his comrades.
Palpatine? Well, he takes on four Jedi by himself, killing three fairly quickly (My least favorite scene of Star Wars. RIP Kit Fisto. :'( ) and battling the second-best Jedi Master of the prequels, Samuel L. Windu. Turns out Palps is kinda tired after taking three souls and can't stand up to Mace's baldness this round. It's now clear, he's not invincible.
Lastly, there's the Death Star. If Jedi/Sith can truly accumulate enough power to produce wormholes and supernatural weaponry of that magnitude, then why would Palpatine need a Death Star to keep the local systems in line? He could just fly around in his Ultra-Super Star Destroyer: Space Yacht Edition and threaten anyone who doesn't pay their taxes and quarter Stormtroopers. It would save a lot on money and manpower, and there wouldn't be a giant orb floating around for everyone to know that that moon was actually a planet-destroying space station. If this power was even feasible, he'd train Vader to do it, too. I mean, he only has the 'Chose One' on his side. They're unstoppable, right? Oh yeah, Vader has an escort of Stormies and Snowtroopers to pave the way for him. Maybe because he can't take on the entire Rebellion--or even the entire crew of the Tantive IV--by himself.
Is a Force user more (combatively) powerful than a non-Force user? Absolutely. Is he more powerful than 10 non-Force users? Maybe. But the next time you insult an NFU by plucking his ears off while simultaneously blowing up his entire platoon of The Few The Proud The Galactic Marines, think about the sense of it and the fun the other player might (or might not) be having--and how much fun you could have, while you're at it. I don't know if you've ever gotten to that point in a video game when you've 'prestiged' and are more annoyed by enemies rather than challenged, but that's kind of what this is. Why do we play games? Why are Luke's heroic adventures in Star Wars so riveting? It's not because he has UNLIMITED POWAH. It's because that boy is our only hope.
So let's face it. Jedi are awesome! There's no denying that. But they are also human and have limits on how much they can do and what they must do to achieve such levels of proficiency. In all likelihood, your Jedi is not 500, or--based on character demographics here--even 50 years old. Is your 25-year-old Jedi plucking starfighters out of the sky and hurling tanks like the Incredible Hulk? Unless you're playing a Gen'dai, you may need to take a step back and think...
What could Yoda do?
I was going to delay on this for a bit, but with a little encouragement from some other members of the community, I guess I shall broach the subject now. Be warned: Elephants are in the room!
So I know everyone is probably here because they like Star Wars. Most likely. There may be an odd one of you here or there who just wants to RP something different, but most of us are fans of the franchise in some way or another.
Star Wars, first and foremost, is a science-fantasy. Everyone agrees with that. We see spaceships and people with supernatural powers all mixed into one universe. But, in actuality, it's not so simple. Did you know that Star Wars is heavily influenced by the western genre? One of the most famous characters of all time defines the 'cowboy' role with his gunslinging and coarse behavior and wearing that famous vest all the time. And to expand on that, we have war drama (The weapons, starships, starfighters, and battles are based and loosely modeled off of real-life weaponry, especially from the World War II era.) and even cyberpunk/steampunk (From the dark, cyber playground of Coruscant to the dreamworld facade of Cloud City, and on to the Jawas of Tatooine.). Essentially, Star Wars is bound to have something that many people can enjoy, aside from just spaceships and 'wizards'.
So why is there so much emphasis on the Jedi and Sith, both in the EU and on this site?
That's actually an easy question to answer. They're fun. They're unique. And they do stuff we wish we could do, but know we never will be able to. That's the foundation of fantasy.
But why are Jedi and Sith the only story to be told? Honestly, they're hardly galaxy-changers, if you look at the films. Yes, Palpatine ascended to power through political chicanery and a bit of Force trickery, but the Forcies have little direct effect when it comes to major events. No Jedi was going to win the Battle of Naboo (Qui-Gon said this himself. "I can only protect you. I can't fight a war for you."), and no Jedi was going to even survive Geonosis--even against dumb droids--without thousands of 'ungifted' people joining the fight. There's a reason why Palpatine never sought to take over by sheer force, Force, and willpower. Dooku tucked his tail and ran when the clone army arrived. And hundreds of Jedi would be slaughtered by clones later on.
And for all of you original trilogy purists who believe the prequels are a sin, then you should be even more inclined to agree with the muffling of Force powers. Luke, the savior of the galaxy, uses a blaster more often than he uses a lightsaber or any fancy Force techniques. And while Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine show a bit more aptitude with the Force, they still don't do anything beyond ripping out equipment from a Cloud City 'boiler room' and zapping electricity at the Son of Skywalker.
And let's not forget Yoda, the most powerful Jedi of all, as he and our favorite Palps (likely the most powerful Sith of all) will be the control for this discussion.
One of the most famous scenes of Star Wars is the event on Dagobah, when Luke tries to pick up his X-Wing, but only manages to lift it a couple meters. (We are talking about the character with the most natural Force 'talent' in the entire franchise.) Subsequently, Master Yoda, who has asked us if we judge men/creatures by their size, hauls in the starfighter, slowly but surely. It's magical, and I'm sure when you first watched The Empire Strikes Back, you were probably marveling at this moment. You hadn't seen anything like this in the movies before--not even from Vader. It must take decades, and perhaps centuries of perfection and meditation to reach master levels like that!
Similarly, in the prequels, we see Count Dooku skool Little Ani and Master Obi at some saber combat, and here comes Master Yoda, who shows us some more tricks we've never seen before. Here's an 870-year-old little green guy taking Dooku's electricity sparkles and winging 'em right back at him. That is cool. And Dooku--about 50, maybe 60--doesn't have a good counter that will last against Yoda's abilities, so he yanks a column from its anchoring and lets it fall while he makes his cowardly escape.
Here's where Yoda shows us the kinetic strength of the ultimate Jedi Master. And we see that it's taking all he's got. He can't even push the column back up. He just has to redirect its path to save his comrades.
Palpatine? Well, he takes on four Jedi by himself, killing three fairly quickly (My least favorite scene of Star Wars. RIP Kit Fisto. :'( ) and battling the second-best Jedi Master of the prequels, Samuel L. Windu. Turns out Palps is kinda tired after taking three souls and can't stand up to Mace's baldness this round. It's now clear, he's not invincible.
Lastly, there's the Death Star. If Jedi/Sith can truly accumulate enough power to produce wormholes and supernatural weaponry of that magnitude, then why would Palpatine need a Death Star to keep the local systems in line? He could just fly around in his Ultra-Super Star Destroyer: Space Yacht Edition and threaten anyone who doesn't pay their taxes and quarter Stormtroopers. It would save a lot on money and manpower, and there wouldn't be a giant orb floating around for everyone to know that that moon was actually a planet-destroying space station. If this power was even feasible, he'd train Vader to do it, too. I mean, he only has the 'Chose One' on his side. They're unstoppable, right? Oh yeah, Vader has an escort of Stormies and Snowtroopers to pave the way for him. Maybe because he can't take on the entire Rebellion--or even the entire crew of the Tantive IV--by himself.
Is a Force user more (combatively) powerful than a non-Force user? Absolutely. Is he more powerful than 10 non-Force users? Maybe. But the next time you insult an NFU by plucking his ears off while simultaneously blowing up his entire platoon of The Few The Proud The Galactic Marines, think about the sense of it and the fun the other player might (or might not) be having--and how much fun you could have, while you're at it. I don't know if you've ever gotten to that point in a video game when you've 'prestiged' and are more annoyed by enemies rather than challenged, but that's kind of what this is. Why do we play games? Why are Luke's heroic adventures in Star Wars so riveting? It's not because he has UNLIMITED POWAH. It's because that boy is our only hope.
So let's face it. Jedi are awesome! There's no denying that. But they are also human and have limits on how much they can do and what they must do to achieve such levels of proficiency. In all likelihood, your Jedi is not 500, or--based on character demographics here--even 50 years old. Is your 25-year-old Jedi plucking starfighters out of the sky and hurling tanks like the Incredible Hulk? Unless you're playing a Gen'dai, you may need to take a step back and think...
What could Yoda do?
