Our thoughts on SWTOR’s Legacy of the Sith finale, Legacy Reborn story chapter. We discuss the dramatic final moments, gameplay elements, level design and tech performance, choices and consequences, and we look to 8.0 and beyond!
This review contains spoilers. We recommend you play through the Legacy Reborn mission first, then come back to read it.
Vulkk’s Thoughts
This was a solid ending to the longest expansion in SWTOR’s history. I loved the ending of the story and all the characters and references included. I didn’t enjoy playing with characters that are not my own.
Story and Choices
The Legacy Reborn storyline had ups and downs. It had a few key moments every one of us will remember for years to come, regardless of your faction or personal choices.
The start was expectedly tough as we met with our faction leadership to deal with the consequences of our decision in the beginning of Master’s Enigma.
The surprisingly quick and abrupt resolution to the Saboteur story arc threw me off, though. It was way too quick, lacking details and was kind of glossed over. I expect we will deal with that, at least to some extend, in the early stages of the 8.0 era. I want to think that it made sense to turn attention to way more pressing concerns, like the events on Khar Shian.
Broadsword needed to deal with the Saboteur and I am glad that they finally decided to do something about it. I just wish they did more here and not leave the details for after six+ months.
The ending of the storyline was absolutely magnificent, despite the very abrupt and massive cliffhanger.
For me, it was a pure joy witnessing how they handled the connections and references to the Deceived novel (Amazon affiliate link) with the illusions Malgus was seeing in the Fortress. This was brilliant. One of the best moments in the entire expansion.
And the fact that they made this strong and direct connection to a resource outside of the game itself, made me even happier to be such a Star Wars nerd, who has read nearly every comic ever released and most of the novels.
On my following playthroughs, however, a thought slowly formed and surfaced in my mind.
What would a player feel during these incredibly intense and dramatic moments if they had not read Deceived. Who is that Twi’lek? Why should we care that Malgus killed yet another being?
The devs did a solid job filling the gaps of knowledge with some post-factum lore notes, but it just isn’t the same.
I regret to admit that most of the gameplay during the chapter was boring. We were not presented with any meaningful choices to make either.
With 6 massive storylines on top of the origin stories and nearly 15 years of developing this narrative, it is getting harder and harder with each dialogue line for Broadsword to keep giving us meaningful and impactful branching choices to make.
So, Legacy Reborn lacking those options, was understandable, I think. And I expect we might be seeing this more and more in future stories.
Playing as other Characters
The moment I heard the announcement and saw the Lana gameplay preview clip during the 7.9 Livestream, I knew I will not be a fan of playing as other characters. And, as I expected, I ended up not enjoying it.
Those are not my characters and I do not want to get into someone else’s shoes, even for a brief moment, even if I have known some of these as my trusty companions for many years.
I am glad Broadsword is doing these experiments, but my personal preference is that we don’t control other characters. What if instead of Jekiah and Rass, my own Bounty Hunter Mercenary steps in? This is Endonae’s idea, and he talks more about this in this segment below.
The biggest issue I had playing other characters, was the different abilities I had to learn. Knowing that the level of challenge in these segments will be minimal (because Broadsword figured out most players will not want to learn the new abilities), it was even more difficult for me to force myself to learn the skills’ priorities and synergies (I had to include these in the Mission Walkthrough).
I do actually prefer watching a slightly longer cinematic of a character or companion’s actions, than me doing the gameplay segment controlling them. What do you think? Did you enjoy actively controlling your companions?
As a Malgus fan-boi, I must admit, I liked his segment. Malgus was also by far the most overpowered character and his skills had more synergy than the rest, I thought.
Level Design and Visuals
It has been clear as day that the dev team is working really hard to improve the visuals of the game since 7.0. Each chapter and each new or revamped old environment is more beautiful and complex than the previous.
With that said, I was not happy with the narrow corridor experience inside the Fortress. The lighting was amazing, the textures, most of them, were highly detailed (for a 15 years old game, this is amazing!).
The level design was a significant step back compared to the unbelievable experience in the Biomes of Darth Nul’s ship from the previous chapter, and the stunningly detailed and complex design of the frozen Fortress we visited on Ilum in Galactic Threads.
With their work on Nul’s ship interior, and earlier, with the release of the Dantooine Crash Site, the devs raised the bar so high for themselves, that I expected more from Naga Sadow’s ancient fortress. The decorations and greebles made the corridors look cool, but they were too long and repetitive.
The scenes in the large chamber where the machine was were all incredibly detailed and beautifully designed.
On the positive side when it comes to design, both the Power Droid with the cables all around the area and the Sith Monstrosity looked amazing. I especially like the lore reference to Sadow’s past “work” on the Massassi.
Looking forward to 8.0
The massive cliffhanger Legacy Reborn ended with, left me literally hanging on the very edge of my seat. I need to know who will be the ultimate villain in 8.0. Will we get to see what happens to the Saboteur? Will we split up from the faction we chose to support once again? What will Jadus do after that resounding defeat he suffered in Legacy Reborn?
We all know that 8.0 PTS will not feature any new story elements, so we have at least a good five or six months ahead of us with no new SWTOR story content. There will be other cool things to occupy our minds, like new systems and mechanics we have come to expect from each expansion.
The quality of the animations and some of the shadows in Legacy Reborn (and in the entire game overall) are heavily dragging down the cinematic storytelling experience. While SWTOR today looks amazing compared to SWTOR from 10-15 years ago, it needs an upgrade.
And DirectX 12 is coming on the horizon. This could be exactly what the game needs. Well, it also needs more frequent story content drops. Six months apart is too long.
Our Space Barbies and Space Kens would love a visual upgrade to show off their beautiful outfits, stand proud with their extremely long and rich history, but also stand with wide-opened eyes toward the horizon of 2027 and beyond.
Endonae’s Thoughts
Khar Shian and Naga Sadow’s fortress were gorgeous, as was Heta Kol’s corruption by Naga Sadow, but it’s unfortunate they don’t quite have the resources to ensure the cinematic quality remains on par with that reveal throughout the story.
Textures and Animations
Low-res textures are rampant, even on armors worn by main characters, like you got Rass and Jekiah wearing the equivalent of Systech gear from all the way back in 2.0 instead of one of the myriad Mandalorian outfits released to the CM in the past few years.
Animation was super rough. The devs should have taken another week or two to finish it off, and maybe they will. I wish I had waited a couple weeks to play it so I can avoid distracting, game-breaking bugs like this.
The Story and its Difficulty
The boss fight against Heta Kol was probably the most upsetting part for me, as a Sith Lord alongside 3 of the strongest Mandalorians alive. The Hidden Chain Shocktroopers didn’t have nearly enough presence to be a threat and Heta Kol’s top brass should have been there to back her up.
In general, as a very seasoned player, the boss fights in 7.0 story haven’t felt threatening enough to me. I wish they’d format these as chapters and offer VM/MM difficulties.
Even after the boss fight, we should have had a choice to heal Shae ourselves or choose a side instead of throwing both of them away in almost the exact same way as the tragedy on Jedha in Jedi Survivor.
Perhaps that was the plan, and Broadsword is just listening to the players by ending the Mandalorian era here and now with mild-mannered Jekiah Ordo in charge. I can’t imagine they’d want to support two Mandalores like they do for the Sith Emperor given how much (IMO undue) hate these characters have received.
Ignoring these mechanical issues, I found Shae’s ending quite touching and well done, and I am happy with the one that was chosen for me. It’s like, yeah, I am upset my flight was cancelled, but at least Broadsword Airlines has booked me a stay at the Ritz Carlton.
Broadsword has continued to experiment with different methods of storytelling and less obvious ways to tell the most comprehensive story possible without relying on too many Skytroopers or KOTOR cutscenes.
While I applaud their efforts, I didn’t like Legacy Reborn as much Galactic Threads and especially Master’s Enigma in this regard.
Incorporating a space mission was an excellent idea, but I don’t understand why it relied on their polymorph system they use for walker piloting rather than the existing space combat system(s).
It ended up being a lot more janky and simplistic than it would have been had they used one of their existing and far more robust systems for this task.
I can’t imagine we’d get something as good as the StarFox levels available at launch, but I was fighting the camera and controls a whole lot more than the giant ships I was tasked with destroying.
Other Playable Characters
The ability sets on the playable characters were creative and thoughtful as well, but I felt overwhelmed and distracted from the story trying to learn what all the buttons do, only to have such characters ripped away right when I was starting to get in the groove.
Testing out the L.A.V.A. Suit during the Trial by Fire encounter on Hoth is a better way to incorporate this sort of gameplay, though random timed access isn’t the best vector either.
I also find it odd that these playable companions’ movesets didn’t replace the abilities for the companions themselves. It wouldn’t be practical across the board, but they could replace some attacks at least, like why are you suddenly using completely different attacks when you aren’t fighting alongside me?
That being said, I find it more problematic to have us play as other characters in the first place. SWTOR is a highly customizable RPG and some of these toons are almost old enough to get their driver’s license.
Letting us pilot a walker or our own starship doesn’t break that illusion because it’s still our character behind the wheel. Running around as Lana or Malgus means it isn’t our story anymore and that’s not what SWTOR has ever been about, nor should it be.
On the whole, I did enjoy the ride, even if I didn’t have as much agency as I expected. The overall conclusion to Legacy of the Sith reminds me a lot of the Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi where the protagonist doesn’t end up with complete and total victory.
8.0 and beyond
I am looking forward to seeing the ramifications of Malgus’ broadcast, and while cliffhangers are maddening, it’s good that the story ended here. It gives Broadsword a lot of latitude to adjust the impact according to player reactions.
I may be misinterpreting this a bit, but I feel like the characters could be making a mountain out of a molehill. Nul’s machine doesn’t amplify Force sensitivity; it’s just a special sort of antenna that’s strong enough to reach individuals who are weak with the Force.
Is the galactic order really going to be upended because a bunch of people got the Force equivalent of a $5,000 inheritance from their long-lost great aunt Raniah?
Unless Jadus or Malgus can mold these individuals into an army fast enough, I think the galaxy ought to be more worried about Vaylin.
With our Alliance Commander on the outs with their associated faction, I think this is a great opportunity for Broadsword to do something radical.
Post launch support for SWTOR has never been able to offer proper continuations to each origin story, but they do try to offer moments that fit better for each class throughout.
What if the 8.0 story took a step back and treated each of the 8 origin stories as companions and members of the alliance in lieu of beloved characters like Krovos, Xarion, Daeruun, Tau, and Shae?
Broadsword would be able to tailor moments more heavily towards specific origins; better account for the Force vs tech power debacle; enable A/B plots without sacrificing player agency; and minimize the budget dedicated to redundant animation.
It’s easy enough to give everybody a full stable of generic toons to make it playable or just expect players to do that stuff first. I can’t imagine there are too many people who are playing the current story who don’t already have or are close to legendary status, and they’ll have plenty of time to get there before 8.0 drops or the subsequent story update releases with 8.1.
They can even leverage the Legacy systems like Ventures and the Family Tree so altoholics can choose which 8 toons (or 4 on each faction) partake in the next Era of SWTOR.
What do you guys think? Did you like Legacy Reborn? Would you want to bring 8 toons from your legacy through the new story at the same time?
