No.10648 [View All]
All right you slimos, let's do this. There are guides floating around for TCW and star wars vidya, but nothing concrete about the novels or other EU material besides GIB DARTH PLAGUEIS. Let's fix that, shall we? Pics related are a blank template to fill out, and my take on it, respectively. I'm still a bit of a newfag to the EU so my contribution is limited.
In addition to what I've started up here such a guide could probably benefit from a bit of color-coding, with colors denoting:
>must read, buy it or you're a fag
>okay but only good if you like the characters/other books in the series
>not great but honorable mention (could be an asterisk instead of a color-change)
>very…different and highly skubtastic Yuuzhan Vong I'm looking at you.
If you have something to contribute or disagree with one of the existing judgments feel free to bring it up, and post the edited template.
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No.29770
>>29380
Splinter of the mind's eye should be in Green. The fight at the end and his duel with one of the creatures of the world alone should warrant it being on the approved list.
The Han Solo adventures (not the 3 newer novels like paradise snare, the old ones), at least of what I've read (2/3) I would consider good. Others may not though due to the more adventurous tone that some of the other EU books lack, as well as the absence of the empire. They take place in Authority Sector controlled space (what is, or at least was when Han Adventures were written, its own entity), and as such the villains are different. So, I guess purple for them. I have enjoyed them thus far, others might not
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No.29771
>>29669
>tfw I seem to have skipped most of Padawan and gone to knight
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No.29772
>>29770
Gotcha, unless someone objects it will go in the next update.
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No.29783
>>29772
Would it be possible to add the books that are missing to list while still keeping it reasonably readable? I've noticed a few things are missing, like the Rebel Force and other YR/YA novels, along with a few CYOAs. I suppose having a separate list for that and the reference books would be useful.
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No.29785
>>29783
It could probably be done, but compiling a separate pic would likely be easier.
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No.29792
>>29767
Yeah, it's yet another goddamn superweapon, but that's par the course for a lot of EU works. It's dumb, but I never felt like it wrecked the overall world, plot, or characters. That invites the debate over Kyp Durron, but then we would end up arguing about the morality of destroying the Death Star and such.
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No.29867
Has anyone read the Black Fleet trilogy? It any good?
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No.29872
>>29867
It's alright. Less of a swashbuckler and more on the sci-fi side, and not as laid back as the X-wing series. You get three separate plotlines (main conflict + Luke and Lando doing their thing) that don't meet until the very end and if you don't like one of them it can become something of a drag. Interesting for New Republicfags who want to learn a bit about their military. Also some underrated wookie bits.
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No.29873
>>27078
>Dark Empire
>significant contribution
As much as I love the art style and what the narrative was attempting to work towards, even I have to admit that you could take it out of the timeline and literally nothing would change. It's ending was far too conclusive.
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No.29876
>>29589
This misses out a few things and seems to also screw with the timeline a little. E.g you've got all nine republic volumes occurring between 32-19, but volume eight covers the stark hyperspace war which happens earlier in 44. You've also missed out the Knights Errant comic series that takes place just before jedi vs sith.
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No.29877
>>29876
exactly, it's from 2007 and not really properly organized
the Del Rey novel timeline isn't perfectly chronological either and is missing stuff. Most of these official lists aren't that great, you kinda have to rely on 3rd party stuff like starwarstimeline.net and wookieepedia
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No.29888
>>29873
It had some lasting impact on Luke, which came up in I, Jedi. Because of his experience serving the reborn Emperor, for a while Luke became convinced that everyone had to have some kind of close brush with the dark side before their training was truly complete, and that flawed approach crept into his teaching.
Of course, just to play Alderaan's Advocate, you could argue that his confrontation with Vader and the Emperor over Endor would also lead to this mindset, but that wasn't nearly as dramatic an exposure to the dark side as his service to Palpatine reborn.
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No.29897
>>29888
>as his service to Palpatine reborn.
The problem I have with this is that, whilst I loved the mysticism of Byss and the further extrapolation of the dark side, the plot itself was far too by the numbers. We never really get a sense of Luke's fall or inner conflict - one panel he's nasty, the next he's good again. It came across as amateur; a real missed opportunity. RoTJ did a much better job and even that was inadequate in a lot of ways. Like I say, it's a real shame because Dark Empire was a perfect medium through which to explore the corrosive and seductive nature of the Dark Side in real depth.
Instead, we got a ham-fisted rehash.
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No.29921
>>29770
I don't think the setting being so far from the core with a tight enough local authority that the Empire is not immediately relevant warrants taking the book (There's a collected version and it's not all that big) and being a slightly different genre takes it down to purple
>>27116
How is Galaxy of Fear for an adult reader anyways?
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No.29928
>>29897
You're right that it's not a very good story, but the fact remains that multiple books reference its events, which makes it significant.
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No.29991
>>29921
>and being a slightly different genre takes it down to purple
I have the 3 in 1 version.
I agree on it should be green, I just thought others might not like the more adventure driven tone and setting. If you think they would, put it in green
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No.29997
>>29792
Kevin J Anderson gets hate because he tried to retroactively rewrite scenes from the movie. The Death Star being IG-88 for example.
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No.29998
>>29997
Kevin also wanted to kill Luke, Han and Leia.
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No.30006
>>29997
>>29998
Now that is what I was expecting to garner such a level of hatred. Why the hell would he want to kill off the original trio?
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No.30008
>>30006
I guess he just wanted to be a special snowflake. People gave a lot of shit to Traviss and might've or might not have deserved some of it, but most of it was due to her getting so much coverage. By the mid 2000s KJA had faded from memory and he was lucky the internet wasn't around during his reign and that better authors were called in to rewrite his shit and retcon it, otherwise he would've truly gotten more hate that was well deserved. He wasn't Chuck Wendig-levels of bad, but he almost came close.
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No.30014
>>29602
After watching the Jedi launch Star Destroyers from orbit in Darksaber, I found the anti-jedi sentiment in the Republic Commando books very pleasing. That was many years ago and I can see why people hate them now. Tripple Zero put me to sleep, I liked Order 66, and Imperial Commando was just a transition story for a book that would never come out. I would agree that the power wank on those guys was too much. I think there is so much room for a "PT Jedi aren't suited to be soldiers or deal with a clone army ect", but Traviss executes it poorly. I liked the clone/mandalorian culture, but I haven't read all of them so my judgement isn't total.
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No.30015
Added The Han Solo Adventures, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, and the Black Fleet Crisis based on anon recommendations. Also changed up the rating of Republic Commando a bit to highlight how skubtastic and contentious it is, as everyone seems to have an opinion on it.
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No.30034
>>30015
good call and a clever/accurate visual edit on the republic commando stuff, but you should find a way to also visually connect Imperial Commando to Republic Commando as it's basically the same series, just with an updated name. Direct continuation from Order 66 and you typically read it right afterwards.
>tfw matthew stover Imperial Commando sequel never ever ;_;
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No.30051
>>30015
>revan is red
Are the old repbulics bad? Is the story bad, the prose, something else?
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No.30052
>>30051
<old republics
Old republic books I mean
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No.30056
>>30051
I remember it reading like a shitty young adult book. Simple characterization and motivations, and dumb shit like Revan going undercover as "Avner" or everything ever being part of some keikaku by the Dark Side version of the anti-Christ. You'd think it'd be better since it was written by the head writer of the first KOTOR game and the Darth Bane novels.
Most of the fiction that is part of the TOR MMO is pretty underwhelming. It's like filler at best.
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No.30057
>>30052
>Old republic books
I've always heard good stuff about them, I think "Deceived" (Paul S Kemp) was the fan favourite and from what I understand you don't have to know anything about the MMO. Ironically, it was the non-Revan books starring literally whos that seemed to be more popular.
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No.30058
>>30015
>crucible is bad
well that's a disappointing way to end it all
Should I read outbound flight before or after survivor's quest?
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No.30060
>>30051
I can only speak for the Revan book. Imagine the lead writer of kotor 1 getting asshurt over kotor 2, retconning it, shitting on it, and plagiarizing it at the same time. It's a shitty bad end for the protagonists of the first couple of games just so TOR's protagonist can meet Revan. It also kills off T3-M4 because fuck you.
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No.30061
>>30058
They're both pretty standalone books, it's your choice whether you go in chronological order (outbound->survivor's) or publication order (survivor's->outbound).
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No.30062
>>30060
>I can only speak for the Revan book. Imagine the lead writer of kotor 1 getting asshurt over kotor 2, retconning it, shitting on it, and plagiarizing it at the same time. It's a shitty bad end for the protagonists of the first couple of games just so TOR's protagonist can meet Revan. It also kills off T3-M4 because fuck you.
Well that's really fuckin gay. Makes me wish we had just gotten kotor III
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No.30095
>>30052
>>30051
>>30056
>>30057
>>30060
>>30062
The Old Republic is the TCW for the Old Republic Era. It does a whole bunch of damage to established characters like Revan and the Exile, completely ignored previously established events such as the ending to KOTOR II and what happened to the rebuilt Jedi Academy on Malachor. And it also looks visually different from everything else (the visual design makes it look like it takes place in the Rebellion era or Legacy comics than it does in the TotJ/KOTOR era). Neither is it really referenced at all in non-TOR expanded universe novels.
It's a shame too, because Darth Bane was an excellent book trilogy. I don't know if Drew Karpyshn turned into a hack over the years or what but it really fucked with Old Republic lore.
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No.30096
>>30095
>I don't know if Drew Karpyshn turned into a hack over the years or what
probably from being forced to write shitty lore for bioware for mass effect dulled his writing abilities over the years
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No.30101
>>30095
It's amazing how bad every single writer became the minute EA took over. I wonder if it was a management issue, where they didn't give a single fuck about the quality and it rubbed off on everyone.
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No.30145
>>30095
>Neither is it really referenced at all in non-TOR expanded universe novels.
unsurprisingly, based Luceno managed to sneak Valkorion/Vitiate into Plagueis
>I don't know if Drew Karpyshn turned into a hack over the years
he has always had detractors, I've talked to people on the internet that did not like the Bane novels for some reason.
Anyway, SWTORs accessibility is tied to how personally you take the kotor 2 & revan stuff. If you can get over it then there's no problem really. Unlike TCW, swtor doesn't directly overwrite anything. It brings a few things from the previous games into an unfavourable direction (I guess it depends on where you stand), but 99% of it is original and explores new territory. It's just a new chapter like dawn of the jedi. The entire point was of course to allow people to "live" in the old republic era and explore it from different povs and inject cool stories in there to keep them hooked. I think this is where the game simply excelled at in terms of making the setting feel natural and not like "filler". I love that there's massive amounts of breathing room between Revan and Bane and we can see all of it. I really like the atmosphere in the game too, I love some of the sith & jedi fashion. Even if you're not a fan of the end result, at least it was a new excuse to pour millions of dollars into the EU while giving it more visibility. Unlike TCW, it was still a new thing at end of the day and not a replacement/remix. These days, I just don't think the project is worth looking at that negatively anymore. I think people really oughta give the game another chance and to try and enjoy it while it lasts. I played it since launch and already got everything I can out of it, but I'll always remember it as a fun, adventurous part of the EU. New stories, new art, new music, new worlds, cultures etc–as a multimedia project I thought it was far more exciting compared to The Force Unleashed. In fact, if you really take it all in, it's been a massive part of star wars since late 2011/early2012. In many ways I imagine it's been just as much of an EU safe haven for some people as this board is. I love most stuff from the EU with a strong visual side, but a strong interactive side? even better. Galaxies was a great sanbox, but the aesthetic and all the planets was stuff we've seen before. SWTOR, like KOTOR 1 may have been inspired by the prequels a lot but at least it was still unarguably "new".
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No.30206
>>30145
Agreed. Though I hate how they handled Vitiate's characterisation towards the end. The idea of a sociopath learning to experience empathy as a byproduct of his own will to power was very novel. To see him reduced to yet another big bad was depressing, particularly as he always came across as a dime store knock off of the Emperor anyway. They were going in exactly the right direction initially with the introduction of Zakuul and his subsequent redemption arc. I guess ""the producers"" or whoever couldn't allow a white male to grow and develop beyond the role of villain and monster. It's a good thing that the next expansion is shaping up to be strong independent black female vs. strong independent brown female. I mean, returning to faction warfare and having every major character be female really worked for Battle For Azeroth right?
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No.30213
>>30206
It's simpler than that. Bioware have shown previously their difficulties giving their main villains nuance, and Vitiate was no exception. Should have given it over to Avellone.
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No.30216
>>30213
But he HAD nuance and then they took it away.
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No.30222
>>30216
Honestly, I thought they were always going in this direction.
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No.30234
>>30222
Only because it was the most obvious way to go. But there were hints that he could have been something far more - a monster inadvertently redeemed through his own relentless quest for power and new experience.
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No.30237
>>30234
Vitiate's earlier dialogue certainly suggested that he was meant to be something more than another bland Big Baddie. I know a lot of people didn't like KotFE/KotET but personally I was excited to see where it would go, at least in the earlier stages. It felt radically different than anything SWTOR had attempted before. I feel like the story was forced to a nonsensical closure.
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No.30240
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No.30725
>>29921
>How is Galaxy of Fear for an adult reader anyways?
Anyone know? At 12 books it's actually the longest running EU novel series since even if you count Wraith Squadron and I, Jedi there are only 10 Rogue Squadron books.
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No.30781
>>30725
Don't forget Starfighters Over Adumar.
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No.30784
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No.31446
what good books are there on the clone wars politics?
preferably something about the seperatists
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No.31474
>>31446
The Essential Atlas dives into the politics of Star Wars, including the Clone Wars. And the guide to Essential Warfare has some political information about both side's war effort.
Most of the political stuff is Pre and Post Episode 1, but there is some in some issues of Star Wars Republic.
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No.31475
>>31446
The Dark Horse Dooku comics are perfect CIS wank.
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No.31476
>>31475
examples?
wich ones exactly?
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No.31485
>>31476
Fourth issue of Star Wars Jedi titled Count Dooku.
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