Trials of the Force: Episode 3- Destiny's Knights

Oh, there will be a Trials movie one day

We'll make it happen

 

Up, for old times sake

 

Ok, I know I said I wanted to take the time to give a good response to the questionnaire, but I don't think I'm fooling anybody.

But, to my credit, and maybe I'll be the only one who thinks this is something to be proud of, but I answered all the questions without looking at anyone else's responses for help. So nyah!

So without any further ado...



1. What did you and didn't you like about Destiny's Knights?

Whooo! Well if that the grand-daddy of all whoppers. O_O Say can I make a deal with you guys? Pretty much I?ll be able to sum up what I did and didn?t like much better by answering all the other little questions?otherwise, I?ll be up here forever. So can I save this one for the end? Thanks! ^_^

2. How did you feel about the characters?
A. Arcturus?
Turu was definitely a kick in the pants. In some ways he kinda makes me think of someone like Han Solo or Dash Rendar as a Jedi. Plus the sorcery angle for his powers was a novel twist, and another great read on the mysterious workings of the force. Turu turned out to be a very interesting hero?a break from your normal Jedi personality, and generally just plain fun to read about. Plus, the whole concept at the end, with having him fight Mephisto soley by his own strength and abilities was a nice tough to his character, granting him some maturity without making him a totally unrecognizable character.

B. Jace?
Ah Jace?I liked Jace too, but in a different way than Turu; which is fitting because they are quite different. In some ways Jace is more of the classic Jedi persona than say Turu, yet at the same time just slightly off kilter than what I was expecting (which is GOOD ) Crippling him was a an interesting, and in the end I think a good choice. Overcoming one?s flaws and shortcomings is a classic heroes trial, and one that was pulled off very well.

C. Kelli?
Heh, Kelli was another interesting character, and what I like best about her is how she played off of Jace. For being his support; she accomplished that very well and the two of them make a great team.

D. Mazza?
However, out of all of the characters?I must say Mazza is my favorite. I blame it on my ?Batman Complex?. Batman has always been my fav superhero for as long as I can remember, because out of the whole Justice League, he?s the only one without any ?superpowers?. And yet he?s arguably one of the more effective heroes because of his ability to out-think and out-wit his opponents (Anyone remember when Bats took down Superman? Can you say kryptonite gloves? ) In this same way, Mazza was the only one of the four main characters without Force Powers. And while this oftentimes held her at a severe disadvantage against her Force-using opponents, she still held her own against Dulcie, a Sith Maiden. And in my book, that counts as one darn cool trick!


3) Were each of the heroes developed enough? Were they believable as not only heroes by humans? Were they too over the top strong or too weak?
<Sigh> There?s another one of those questions without a really clear answer. To put it simply, in the realm of fiction, you guys did a good job with this story. Taking into account both where the characters started back in ?A Different Rebellion? (I think that was the title?) and where they ended up, it?s clear that the characters are a product of their trials and adventures, which is all that counts.

4)Were there any problems we should fix in the characters personalities?
None that stood out. And besides, personalities are something I rarely nitpick, unless they are way unbelievable. So don?t wqorry about that department. ^_~

5) Was Spectre finally given the right amount of time? As the series will no be re-invisioned, my original plan to keep him in the shadows for most of Dawn and Hand of Fate will be scrapped. Was he a dynamic enough villain? Any flaws we should fix?

YES! YES! YES! YES! ALL OF THE ABOVE! W00T!

Heh heh, yeah Spectre has come a long way from the shadowy and somewhat removed villain he was at the beginning?whic

 

QUICK! CALL THE ENQUIRER! ROK SIGHTING!

 

*excal faints dead away at the sight of Rok's reappearance

Holy glamoley! Thank you good sir! I was afriad you had been abducted by the aliens from The Simpsons and been subjected to watching bad re-runs of FRIENDS or something.

I don't know. I'm very thankful for the commentary, as is Jaxx. We will do our best to analyze and utilize your thoughts and appreciate the compliments. Makes all the effort worth something.

I'm out!

excal

 

I know it's been awhile, but I think it's time I finally do this. So here goes. I'll try to do this to the best of my ability since the story isn't super fresh in my mind anymore...

Jaxx's questionaire:

1. What did you and didn't you like about Destiny's Knights? You know, from what I can remember, I don't really think there was anything that I didn't like about it. It was just generally an all around great story.

2. How did you feel about the characters?
A. Arcturus? I liked the characterization of Arcturus much better this time around. He had more flaws. I think in the past, he was just kinda this perfect tough guy who just kicked everyone's butts. But now he has weaknesses and vulnerabilities...and that's a good thing. Makes for a more interesting character.
B. Jace? Jace I think progressively got better throughout the trilogy. He developed as a character, and he changed a lot from being a shy reclusive teenager, to being a very heroic and dedicated man.
C. Kelli? Kelli has been, or has become, my favorite character of the four mains. She's a perfect balancing point for Jace, she's sweet, loving, and practical...and she can kick butt when she needs to. She's also had a fair amount of charcter progression throughout the trilogy.
D. Mazza? Mazza's character has always rather interested me. She's a story focal point, but she is often in the background at the same time. And I think it was a wise choice to train her in some sort of fighting skills, thereby enabling you guys to give her even more focus in the final fight and the skirmishes beforehand, too.

3. Was Spectre up to snuff? Many of you commented he could have used some development, and excal gave that a shot as he went along. Do you think it was enough, too much, or needed more? Spectre definitely got more interesting as things went along. I think that the development was right on par, not too much, not too little. He was often a tragic character, really, and some good choices were made with him.

4. Reactions on Mephisto. Terrifying...

5. Reactions on Dulcie. I think she could've been much darker and much scarier. Not sure how you would go about that, but she seemed almost too secondary to Spectre and Mephisto.

6. How about this whole Tarahumaran concept? Did it work? I think it was kind of confusing at times. A very good concept, but maybe could use a bit more development, and better character integration.

7. Were there too many characters to follow this time around? If so, what would you rather have seen? I think it was just confusing because it wasn't exactly like reading a book, where if you so desire, you can keep reading and thereby get a little bit better flow. But that's not really anything you could help doing it this way. I'd rather you do it this way on the boards than post the entire story at once (which would have been completely overwhelming).

8. Did the action scenes (pretty much any and all of them) exceed or fall below your expectations? Far exceeded.

9. Was the climax spectacular or was it too huge and overarching? Was it satisfying or incomplete? It was satisfyingly spectacular.

10. General comments? I commend you guys on a job well done. This was really a great story, and I can't wait to see what you guys do with it in the future.

excal's questionaire:

1. What did you and didn't you like about Destiny's Knights? (see Jaxx's)

2. How did you feel about the characters?
A. Arcturus? (see Jaxx)
B. Jace? (see Jaxx)
C. Kelli? (see Jaxx)
D. Mazza? (see Jaxx)

3) Were each of the heroes developed enough? Were they believable as not only heroes by humans? Were they too over the top strong or too weak? I think sometimes, at least in the other two books, Arcturus was bit too strong, so maybe a good thing would be to sort of have a better progression for him in terms of the growth of his powers. Cause really, there's a low point for him in terms of powers, and then just this huge plateau. So, yeah...

4)Were there any problems we should fix in the characters personalities? No, I th

 

Thanks Yoda. The comments are definitely appreciated

 

Just giving it an up for old times sakes

See if anyone else wants to read the entire thing, lol. Not that anyone would...but it's worth a shot, hey

But yeah. Trials was, and still is, an amazing part of my life. Everyone who's a part of Trials is undoubtedly a part of my life. Just wanted you all to know that, if you ever read this.

 

Aww, Jaxx. That's precious. No, really.

In all seriousness, though, I'm glad that I've been able to be a part of your life thus far. Trials is an amazing story and I can't wait to see what you and excal do with it in your revisions.

UP for old time's sake.

To anyone just happening upon this story, it's phenominal, and you should definitely take a gander. Don't be intimidated by it's length.

 

Hi guys! Thought I'd drop by on my rare board visits (how I miss the old times when I could spend almost the whole day on here.) Anyway hope you guys are doing well.

BTW excal promised the text version of all three installments. At last I may be able to read all 3 parts of this wonderful fic now that I'll be able to take it along on my pocket pc. THanks guys.

 

An UP for posterity's sake, and for the New Year.

Thought it might be nice for those who happen to be surfing the Classic Stories forum to give them to links to the rest of the story, this being the third part of the trilogy, after all.

So here ya go.

Prequel to Trials of the Force: A Different Rebellion (Sorry, Jaxx, I just had to do it. It gives a bit more of a complete picture, anyways. )

Trials of the Force: Episode One - Dynasty's Dawn

Trials of the Force: Episode Two - The Hand of Fate

And of course, you're already on this page, but I'll give ya the reference to page 1 anyways.

Trials of the Force: Episode Three - Destiny's Knights

So there they are. I would recommend that anyone who happens on this thread read those first. Don't let their length scare you, they are solid gold terrific stories!

FORWARD!

 

And UP!