Lit Unpopular EU opinions

Unpopular EU opinions? No problem.

I think the first arc of Dark Times was really good, the second fine too, and after that the series tanked fast. I don't understand the love for Blue Harvest - the story wasn't great, and it was bloated enough that it could have been told in two issues. Out of the Wilderness actually made me actively dislike the characters, especially Jennir, and stop following the series. I also think Wheatley is hugely overrated and his inability to stick to schedules kind of unprofessional. Basically if this wasn't Randy's pet project it probably would have been canceled after the first arc.

Similarly...I'm not really a big fan of JJM. I think about a third of the original KOTOR run was great, 1/3-1/2 mediocre, and the rest kind of bad. And KOTOR: War was one of the worst Star Wars products I've read in the last few years. Knight Errant was decent, but that's it. I will say I like the worldbuilding he does for the Last Tribe but that's kind of a unique format.

To a lesser extent, I think the X-Wing novels are overrated, and Allston's attempts at humor are pretty lame.

And perhaps the biggest one: I'm re-reading Heir to the Empire for the first time in years right now, and....I don't think it really holds up. I can't put my finger on it, but something about it just isn't clicking for me this time. This is the first time I'm reading it since I really started getting immersed in the EU and it just doesn't feel like it gels within the larger framework, but more than that, I think later EU works are better quality. Including Zahn's own Hand duology and Outbound Flight.

Finally, so it's not just negativity: I really like the Crimson Empire series. All of it. I consider it a crying shame there is no chance a DESB-style Crimson Empire Sourcebook will ever get made.

 

It won't gel because it was the first real EU book (not counting Splinter) and so had no way of matching, I still think the story holds up well, that said you could chop out chapter 17 in the book and it wouldn't make a sliver of difference to narrative or the story.

While I thought Mara's story of Vader losing his hand in punishment for the Death Star (which wasn't his fault anyway), was a dumb idea back when I read first read the book, even more so now so I simply ignore that in my canon .

I also thought Luke should have been a bit more annoyed with Karrade, since he kidnapped him, rather than simply saying "gee you didn't hand me over to Thrawn, your the best"

Otherwise still a great story in jmo.

 

GO TO YOUR ROOM. THIS INSTANT.

AND PLAY VIDEOGAMES.

 

first post ever on these forums.. really excited to find them..

my (unpopular?) opinions on EU....
Bantam Spectra '91-'99 will always be the best
anything prequel / earlier timeline than Han Solo Trilogy is non-canon p)
Adventures of Lando Calrissian (L Neil Smith) are the best SW books.. Tales From.. series being second, Brian Daley Solo Trilogy up there as well
Bounty Hunter Wars get a lot of hate... I liked them!
Darksaber gets recommended alot... re-read it a couple years ago and thought it was maybe one of the worst ever..
Correllian Trilogy gets forgotten alot.. really good IMO
This is the one true Boba Fett backstory

Don't know if those are unpopular opinions or not as i've never talked to many ppl about this
I read up through most of NJO back when they were released.. haven't read anything past that but definitely going to catch up soon!

 

I can assure you that is not an unpopular opinion

 

Turns out "unpopular opinion" is defined as "an opinion someone, somewhere in the world may not agree with".

 

hehe good to know ! last time i read it i actually went online right away trying to find out if i was just crazy or if it was really that bad. believe it or not i did actually find quite a few places recommending it as one of the essential EU books

 

Darksaber is one of my most favorite books ever.

 

whoah interesting! care to elaborate on why?
it's been a year or two, but from what I remember.. I thought the Hutt enemy seemed silly and sorta stereotypical cartoon villain-esque, and the plot seemed unrealistic (a Hutt wanted to like rebuild a Death Star laser to take over the galaxy or something?) and I also think the character writing / dialogue was a little cheesey.. again, can't remember too specifically as it was a while ago.

to be honest, after re-reading the Jedi Academy Trilogy as well, I realized I didn't think Kevin J Anderson was really that good of a writer. I thought the storyline and characters of that trilogy was really strong and obviously became a big part of the story of that era, but I thought his writing was quick and not very deep. This was also right after reading Children of the Jedi which I thought was much better, with a real palpable tension and atmosphere in that book, as well as a much slower pace of story. Not hating KJA at all though, his editorial work on the 'Tales' series is some of my favorite SW ever, and he's contributed tons to the universe so infinite respect to that guy.

 

The Jedi Academy trilogy was my first SW EU Book experience ever so I will always look back fondly on that. I also liked Darksaber because of that. I love his style of writing. Fun adventure style. Star Wars is corny! I don't expect Class A literature. Why shouldn't the Hutts try to take advantage of the situation and try to take over the galaxy? Can't really stand Children of the Jedi except for Just because you keep soap in the pantry doesn't make it food.

 

hehe good points... i see what you're saying!
it's good that there is something for everyone out there..

edit: my first EU books were the Heir To The Empire trilogy (way back in the early 90s!) and I too have a very soft spot for those books. still near the top of list for me

 

The entire Jedi Knight collection (of all Dark Forces and Jedi Knight games) is available on Steam for 20 bucks. If you're willing to wait, it usually goes on sale for half price or better during the summer sale. Same with KOTOR - each game there is 10 bucks and will go for at least half off over the summer.

 

And that's why. There's absolutely now way in hell that the Exile can be done justice with the Revan novel and wookieepedia. It's like saying you don't get all this fuss about Han Solo, but haven't seen the OT. Granted, you still may not see the appeal of either of them if you played them, but learning the story secondhand really does dilute things.

I like Kyle Katarn as much as anybody, but he's really not much of a character. He's just a vehicle for incessant ass kicking. Which is all he needs to be, of course.

 

This page has reminded me of a couple things...

I've never been much of a Kyle Katarn fan. He's all right, but he's never made me sit up and take much notice. Maybe if I play Jedi Outcast, my opinion would change.

I also enjoy Darksaber. Maybe because I read it years ago and right between what I considered at the time to be the inferior and much slower Children of the Jedi and Planet of Twilight. I think I remember at the time, well into my Bantam discovering days, that it felt to the young me as more like the Star Wars I knew than many of the other Bantam books. Maybe because it had the presence of the Empire and a Hutt and Luke's old stomping grounds tour and an attempt to replicate the Death Star; I enjoyed seeing all of those familiar elements. I think I should reread it as an adult, see what I think about it after all of this time.

 

Does this count as an unpopular opinion?

Uhm, I don't have too much as far as unpopular opinions.

Oh! I thought Jacens fall to the dark side was totally obvious, and made perfect sense.

I think the Rebellion/New Republic eras of the EU are the most boring eras, much prefer Old Republic/Clone Wars.

 

You should experience Jerec before Rosh Penin.

"Trust me on that." - Kyle Katarn

 

Part of what makes Revan and the Exile (or, as we must now call her, Meetra Surik ) is the fact that the games allow you to interpose your own interpretation onto the characters. In my own personal fan fiction world, it makes much more sense for the Exile to be an older, more experienced Jedi, and so I chose to use an older Vima Sunrider as an Exile stand-in.

Kyle Katarn's character doesn't have that freedom, because while you can chose a good ending or a dip**** ending, the contents of those two branches are always the same.

 

Here's an unpopular EU opinion: Steam is quite harmless.

It's Origin you've got to be mindful of.

 

I don't like either of them.

THQ actually switched my non-Steam copy of Supreme Commander Gold to a Steam copy over a year ago, and I had never got around to installing Forged Alliance, since I wanted to see if I would like SupCom first. I still have the non-Steam version of SupCom on my computer. I still can't believe I paid for a non-Steam copy of a game only to end up with a Steam copy at a later date.

Origin is yet another reason why I don't have things like Battlefield 3, that and I don't have a computer capable of handling it.

 

blasphemy ! ! !