Finally A Mara Jade Game! - Jedi Knight: Mysteries Of The Sith Retrospective

[@maesterchris2120]

I clicked on this video thinking, 'wait is this the guy that did that great Dark Forces 2 video', saw how low the view count was, and doublechecked. You're incredibly underrecognized for the quality of work you put out, please keep making these videos

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Thanks man really appreciate it! Cant wait to start on Outcast for the next video. It's been so long since I played through it

[@maesterchris2120]

@@BBQBARNES-GAMINGLooking forward to the video!

[@DIEGhostfish]

40:52 the biggest issue is you never get your sniper back after being a prisoner. (And the conc rifle is a pain to get back too.)

[@MihajloLjubenovic90]

DF2 and this were two of my favorite games. I also saw your Academy and Outcast videos. The nostalgia I felt was incredible. I will have to reply to these games as soon as possible. I didn't realize it back then, as I wasn't thinking much about it, but this game really has no story. I liked it though, and I liked how different the levels felt compared to DF2 levels. Subscribed to the channel. Great work man!

[@super_luke]

This was the first of the Jedi Knight games I played, and despite all of it's problems, it's actually my favourite.

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

That's pretty crazy. That's like having Blue Shift being your first Half-Life game lol

[@ConnorGuru]

Never, ever change to be like others. This is just such incredible content. It’s AMAZING, dude. What an in-depth, fun an amazing video. Thank you for always being true to the roots you follow.

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Thank You! I really apricate it. Working on a Jedi Outcast video next so hope you enjoy it as well! ps might be a few weeks script is twice as long as this videos was.

[@aaronhemme8913]

37:36 Nostalgia childhood/Father son bonding memory again. My dad did the same thing he couldn't see a damn thing used force sight and literally gasped and I mean gasped and crouched in the water. Me as Lil kid "Dad I don't think the Rancor can see you yet." 😅😅😂😂

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Key word "yet" lol had to be crazy seeing that for the first time back in the day

[@DIEGhostfish]

31:11 Watching the Stormtroopers just be police was interesting, and those ship models other than Mara's are ports from X-Wing Alliance. (As were many of the ones in Dark Forces 2)

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Man I need to go back and play those old X-wing games. I didn't appreciate them as a kid as much as I should have so it would be cool to see how my opinion on them has changed now that I enjoy those kind of games more

[@Po3oB]

Back in the day, they LOVED to make expansions way harder than the original, and I think that was great from a certain point of view)) Doom II Plutonia Experiment, MechWarrior 2 Ghost Bear Legacy (I still cannot complete it!), MechWarrior 3 Pirate's Moon are top examples, Return to Na Pali, BTW, and Mysteries of the Sith goes to this category as well! Man what a time that was!

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Very true! It was the developers utilizing there knowledge of the game engine to create what normally would have been too risky to put into the main game. The risks taken in most of those expansions when it came to difficulty and level design is part of why they are remembered so fondly.

[@mathiasthewise]

How does this only have 1.2 k views? This is a great quality video. Informative, entertaining, great production. Definitely getting a subscription from me.

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Thanks man really appreciate it!

[@starlighter93]

19:37 If you fire at your allies for a second time, the computer voice will inform you that the target has been destroyed. Kyle then will say "what have I done?" and you will get a mission failed. :D

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Man i should have done it lol

[@IcyJuggernog]

Awesome review man. Funny enough, MOTS is my favorite "Dark Forces" title. It is just so unforgivingly bold in it's EU content that it pushes ahead of all the rest for me. It's set firmly in the EU timeline, pushes the story forward from the base game and gives us the only experience where we can play as Mara Jade in all of SW gaming. Nohgri, Vornskyrrs (both from Zahn's original books, love that you pointed that out). Given that they were on a limited budget and timeline from some of the behind-the-scenes stuff I've read, the fact that they pulled off an equally-long experience that felt new and fresh is just amazing to me. It DEF has it's issues as you mentioned, and I also could not really recommend this to anybody other than the Dark Forces hardcore fan. But that's what most of us in these comments are, so again thanks for covering this awesome game!

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

oh 100% story wise involving so many EU elements makes it a must play for people who love the Star Wars universe as a whole

[@romanclark3274]

@BBQBARNES I'm curious why you played Dark Forces 2 and Mysteries of the Sith in software mode? They would have looked so much better had you used a 3DFX glide wrapper.

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

I tried so many times to get it to work but unfortunately kept crashing or just not starting at all. Seems like a lot of people online have the same issue so chose to run it as i did. The extra lighting offerd by 3Dfx is pretty cool if you can get it workering though

[@bulutcagdas1071]

The missions being disjointed one time affairs is honestly fine by me. They depict the routine stuff that a Jedi might go through. Not everyone has the epic awesome destiny/conspiracy stuff to deal with. Also this mission structure is pretty much what they used for Jedi Academy, you get 4-5 disjointed missions, then a story mission, rince and repeat for 3 acts for an epic series of finale missions.

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Given its Mara Jade i wish i did have a more standard structure, but its perfectly fine for an expansion to do. The game is mostly a way for them to just try new ideas which i love. Really cool seeing how far they pushed that game engine

[@rudolphantler6309]

Lucas didn't really hate Mara Jade. He was just participating in some comedy skit. I think it was for Robot Chicken.

[@rudolphantler6309]

Though he might as well hated a good character that yet again wasn't made by him, cause not only did he sell out SW to disney but now further enslaved it to Bob Iger instead saving it with Nelson Peltz.

[@rudolphantler6309]

There are two Millennium Falcons on the same map. Probably an oversight.

[@rudolphantler6309]

One of the FOUR types of new criminal NPCs might be generic, NOT four, but they intentionally added one which is believably not so special. We had Grans, Rodians, and Gamorreans in the first game. Now we got extra Weequays, Ithorians, Humans, and an unknown species. It was nice to see they were some humans too. And two new hero criminals. Abron Mar of an unknown species, and Kaerobani (multiplayer only) a human.

[@rudolphantler6309]

These are not regular Noghri. These are sith alchemy mutated Noghri modified by the Prophets of the Dark Side, possibly Cronal, the father of Sariss. Edit: Oh you actually mentioned this later, but not from the first instance when it was relevant. ALL of the Noghri in this game are mutants.

[@andrewglazer]

MOTS is great but has a difficult layout at times that was 10x in Jedi Outcast. The opening and closing missions are excellent.

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Strange enough I actually had far less problems with the layout of Outcast vs MOTS. it seemed more logical than the random vents in some of MOTS levels.

[@DIEGhostfish]

48:52 Okay so this "Original" gorilla depiction is actually based on the Heir to the Empire comic, which had them look like this, but that was itself contradicting the Heir to the Empire SOURCEBOOK appearance which was IIRC their first actual illustration and far closer to how the book described them. The Dark Force Rising and Last Command comics shifted to the regular design.

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Interesting. I don't mind the change but i do wish they made that design for a different species because its pretty cool

[@Anismun1213]

5:30 and Batman in The Batman (not to be confused with Matt Reeves’ The Batman film)

[@BlusViews]

You're a legend!!

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Thanks!

[@romanclark3274]

"THAT is how you subvert someone's expectations.... You hear that Rian Johnson?" - YES!!!!! Preach that truth from the highest mountain!!!!! Also, as someone who played this game and Dark Forces 2 at time of launch, You have the patience of a saint to stick with the game to the end. I love those games but they are a serious exercises in frustration.

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Haha yeah those last levels are something. But at least now I can move on to Jedi Outcast which is my favorite of the series so cant wait to get started making that video

[@justacomedian]

I actually played this one as a kid and yeah, definitely a harder play coming from Dark Forces II. Still nice to see someone actually mentioning it though lol

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

I don't know how but i somehow missed the entire Dark Forces/Jedi knight series of games growing up until Outcast came out. Guess I was too busy constantly playing Unreal Gold and Half Life but playing through them for the first time now has been a blast. They still totally hold up!

[@SmellFX]

re.: the vornskr, you touch them, you take damage. the trick to beating them is to ALWAYS be on the retreat while using fire 2 and NEVER move towards them also things will be a hell of a lot easier if you have Force Protection

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Yeah protection and absorb can be very beneficial on those final levels. Unfortunately first playthrough didn't really optimize my powers lol

[@miczuu92]

In Outcast and Academy you can use push on cocnusion rifle shots

[@CMCC1138]

Mon Mothma sounds like Jennifer Coolidge doing an impression of Keira Knightly

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

haha that's a interesting way to put it but i kinda see what you mean

[@jumpy.]

It's a shame you never had the chance to play online and modded, that was tons of fun

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

I could totally see that. I played a lot of Academy's multiplayer but this seems like it would have been a blast as well

[@steppin-razor]

Damn how do you not mention Shivering Isles when talking about expansion packs?!

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Was trying to stay mostly in that era of games, so 90s. But man Shivering Isles was a top tier expansion. Far better than knights of the 9 which was pretty good itself

[@edmo1450]

i remember playing this demo on my pc gamer demo disc as a kid. it would creep me out ngl. haha

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Hey there are a few parts i could totally get that haha

[@txcrix9236]

"It's not something you typically see in an asteroid." Yeah no shit Sherlock lol that line always cracked me up. MotS has a fun variety of maps and gameplay but definitely not the best lines for a Star Wars game. 😂 "Even the flowers are evil!" I died laughing 🤣🤣

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Haha hey those flowers killed me more times than those damn Nogry for some reason

[@daemonredfield3211]

Something that always confused me is why Mara Jade is apprenticing with Kyle Katarn? Shouldn't it be the other way around? She has more formal experience using the force during her time as an Emperor's Hand.

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

yeah that's true. I guess Kyle could be teaching her how to tab into the force though the jedi methods. Prior to turning to the light she used the force in a more frantic way rather than the calm way of the jedi.

[@Daveinhampshire]

Maybe I’m crazy but I get the impression that this game made you a bit jaded.

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

haha maybe slightly. I'll admit I was kind of relieved finishing it however looking back at my notes and re-watching the footage to make the video, the game does have a lot of good in it as well

[@bringbackmy90s]

what exactly is this Lucas footage lol ?

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Its from an old Robot Chicken skit

[@36inc]

you know it kinda rings hollow to say stuff like "how can you design things this way" when you also regularly show you have very low awareness and miss things right in front of you all the time. not a criticism ; but its a funny habit you seem to fall into that kinda throw how hard things are into the relative space. those cats are not a joke you arent missing anything but if i never played this series i dont know how sure id be that you didnt just miss something slightly less intuitive than a pointing arrow. its good youre honest when it comes up- but you can see how flipping between "how am i supposed to do this" with "I havent even tried this for entire games" would inspire some skepticism. but enough of that I loved these games as a kid. and im glad that you put a decent amount of time into all of them. that takes dedication i dont have (and i completed all of them decades ago.) its like stepping back into the 90s and being a kid again. I really wish this old legends stuff got remasters so they were more playable on modern hardware but what can you do.

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

haha I get that. I probably could have articulated some of my complaints better. I'm also a 90s kid so raised on Half-Life, Original Unreal, and Decent so I'm right there with you on not enjoying games holding your hands through it however I think most level puzzles should act similar to portal where you should struggle but upon finding the solution it should seem obvious. DF 2 i though did a great job at that but levels like the second part of the space port seem intentionally deceptive simply to pad out the time in the game. Overall that's why i try to be upfront with whether or not I played it before in the past so that the video is more of my first time impressions of the game rather than me being a pro at it. But thanks for watching. I'm jealous you got to play these growing up because this would have blown my mind as a kid. No idea how my dad didn't have them while having so many other games lol

[@36inc]

@BBQBARNES-GAMING oh don't worry i was blessed with a middle income busy dad who worked with alot of machines(i got my win95 the year the 98 came out and basically was handed new os as they upgraded) however 2008 dad retired the whole economy inploded and weve been avoiding homelessness on and off since. XD I'm glad i never developed a snobby personality from it. Maybe all them hey arnold episodes saved me some.

[@davidb9639]

Expansions- an old word for "good DLC"

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Ahhh the good old days

[@TolgendavReetur]

I was lookin forward for this video so long and all it did was remind me how BULLSHIT this game was xD man no way Ill go trought that game again . Up Next ! Jedi Outcast!

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

haha yeah it can be a little rough at times but there are a few levels that are top tier like the the mercenary base. Its one of those games I'm glad I played but don't see myself going back though anytime soon

[@hyperboreen4854]

Opposing Force great and Return to Na Pali lame? lol, it's 100% the opposite!

[@BBQBARNES-GAMING]

Man I don't get that at all. OP felt like a whole new game. Return to NA Pali felt like reused cut levels.

[@hyperboreen4854]

​@@BBQBARNES-GAMING A whole new game really? I remember being so disappointed with Opposing Force at the time (not a Half-Life fan anymay I must admit, and a big Unreal one), while Return to Na Pali was such a blast, with great new music tracks, environments and cool enemies (fighting humans was something). With Opposing Force I was hoping to be part of those killer marines, to really be on the other team and see the other side of the story. I mean, in the main game those guys are there to kill everything indiscriminately, their mission is basically to erase all traces, and it was so politically correct in the end. A big waste of potential.

[@pavelklimes90]

I appreciate the video but don't like your whining about Disney from time to time. There's a lot of mediocre but also awesome stuff they've done. Totally on par with the old Legends stuff (most people know only the good stuff, though). Just FYI, the Disney Noghri are actually the accurate ones, they were supervised and approved by Timothy Zahn himself (same with Thrawn character). In Thrawn Trilogy novel, they are described as DIMINUTIVE creatures with grey skin. Then the comic adaptation of the Heir of the Empire came with totally different version (large "gorilla-like" creatures with arms longer than legs - it was depiction the Mysteries of the Sith took!), then the other two comic adaptations (Dark Force Rising and The Last Command) came out with more accurate Noghri. Later, Jedi Academy took their more acurate look, but still not exactly true to Zahn's intent. Same with the occasional appearances in comics. Then for the Rebels they called Zahn to consult and decided to do a book-accurate depiction. Also, the Bonus level footage is modded version. Surprisingly, the level does not contain Vader (Vader was only in multiplayer of this game). For the first encounter in the carbonite chamber it was Dark Mara and for the "I am your father" encounter there is Kyle. I know, makes zero sense nowadays, but should be stated for the clarity.