Star Wars Dark Forces Archive.org

[Kimbery Challacombe]

StarWars: Jedi Knight:

Dark Forces IIProduction informationDeveloper(s)LucasArtsPublisher(s)LucasArtsRelease dateOctober 9, 1997[1][2]Game engineSith EngineGenreFirst-Person ShooterModesSingle player, MultiplayerRating(s)ESRB: Teen (T)Platform(s)Personal computerSeriesDark Forces/Jedi KnightChronological informationTimeline5 ABY[3]PreviousStar Wars: Dark ForcesNextStar Wars: Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith[Source]Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II is a first-person shooter computer game released on October 9, 1997,[4] by LucasArts. This was the first game in the series to include multiplayer capabilities over the Internet or over a LAN. It was also the first computer game to allow players to take control of a Jedi character using both the Force and lightsabers in a multiplayer setting.

Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II takes place a year after the second Death Star has been destroyed. In their search for the map to the Valley of the Jedi, the Seven Dark Jedi led by Imperial Inquisitor Jerec capture and kill Jedi Master Qu Rahn. Meanwhile, the mercenary Kyle Katarn chases the informant droid 8t88 for a data holodisc that belonged to his late father, Morgan Katarn. After retrieving the holodisc, Katarn returns to his home on Sulon, where he is able to read the holodisc's contents with the help of his droid WeeGee. He receives a lightsaber and a quest to protect the Valley of the Jedi after watching a hologram of his father in the holodisc.

Throughout his quest, Katarn receives help from his trusted partner and pilot Jan Ors, as well as guidance in the ways of the Force from Qu Rahn's spirit. He encounters the Dark Jedi and eventually locates the Valley of the Jedi on Ruusan. At the Valley, Jerec plans to absorb the ancient Force power contained there. His plans are, however, stopped by Katarn, who arrives and defeats him in a lightsaber duel.

Kyle Katarn arranged to meet the droid informant 8t88 in the Smuggler's Bar on Nar Shaddaa, where he learnt that his father, Morgan Katarn, had been murdered by Jerec, a Dark Jedi. When 8t88 tried to force Katarn to decipher a data holodisc, Katarn refused and fought against 8t88's hired thugs. 8t88 then escaped with the holodisc, forcing Katarn to chase him over the Nar Shaddaa cargo docks and take down several hired thugs. Katarn caught up with 8t88 just as the droid was boarding a shuttle, and managed to shoot off the droid's arm holding the holodisc. Shortly after 8t88's shuttle took off, a TIE bomber appeared and started firing at Katarn, but Katarn's partner Jan Ors showed up in their ship, the Moldy Crow, and shot down the TIE bomber.

Katarn then went below the landing pad and retrieved the holodisc after arranging with Ors to pick him up at the top of the building. He made his way across cargo storages, conveyor belts, and other areas, all the while fending off attacks by 8t88's hired thugs. By the time he reached the top and Ors picked him up, he was so badly injured that he had to spend the night recuperating in a medical frigate. While resting, he had a Force vision of Jedi Master Qu Rahn, who told him about the Valley of the Jedi and how he was destined to become a Jedi Knight.

Upon returning to the old Katarn family compound on Sulon, Katarn noticed three Dark Jedi - Sariss, Boc and Yun - loading pieces of the stone ceiling into an Imperial shuttle. Once the shuttle had left, Katarn sneaked into his old home and found it overrun by Grave Tuskens. He fought them as he made his way through the compound and entered his father's workshop, where he found his family's old droid, WeeGee.

Switching on WeeGee, Katarn inserted the holodisk and watched a recording of his father telling him that he had left behind two items for him. The first was a green-bladed lightsaber which previously belonged to Qu Rahn. The second was a map to the Valley of the Jedi embedded in the stone ceiling. The ceiling had been taken away by the Dark Jedi so Katarn needed to find an alternative means to locate the Valley. Since the exit was blocked, Katarn had to find a way out of the house via the irrigation channels. Along the way, he defeated several Grave Tuskens and other creatures such as Drugons and Mailocs until he reached the rendezvous point, where Ors picked him up in the Moldy Crow.

Katarn and Ors set off to find the map, which led them to the city of Barons Hed on Sulon. The city had been occupied by the Imperial Remnant, which had constructed a fortress known as the Dark Palace in the middle of the city. Believing that he could find 8t88 in the Dark Palace, Katarn infiltrated the city via the irrigation channels and eventually made his way into the heavily guarded fortress.

Katarn managed to track down 8t88 just as the droid had finished sending the deciphered map to Jerec. When he confronted 8t88 and demanded the map, Yun suddenly appeared and used a Force blast to knock him back. Katarn defeated Yun in a lightsaber duel but spared his life, much to Yun's surprise and confusion.

After Yun escaped through the roof, Katarn continued his pursuit of 8t88 and made his way across the top levels of the fortress, fighting off a Kell dragon and several Imperial forces along the way. He reached his destination too late, however, as 8t88 had just flown away in his shuttle. Shortly after that, Ors showed up in the Moldy Crow and picked him up.

Katarn and Ors followed 8t88's shuttle to a fuel station where the Sulon Star, a freighter owned by Jerec, was docked. To avoid alerting the Imperial Remnant to their presence, Katarn sneaked on board the freighter by going through the station's giant fuel lines. He emptied the fuel lines so that he could pass through them, and defeated Imperial forces and Trandoshan mercenaries along the way.

Once he had boarded the Sulon Star, he traversed down to the docking bays on the lower deck and cleared out Imperial forces. Eventually, he came to 8t88's shuttle and found the droid standing in front of him. When he pointed his Bryar pistol at 8t88, the droid's head fell off. Gorc and Pic, the two Dark Jedi known as the "Brothers of the Sith," appeared and attacked him. Katarn managed to defeat them and claimed 8t88's head. Then, he returned to the upper deck of the Sulon Star, where Ors picked him up in the Moldy Crow. Using 8t88's head, they found out that the Valley of the Jedi was on Ruusan and made their way there.

Upon arriving at Ruusan, the Moldy Crow landed in a mountainous area to avoid detection by the Imperial Remnant. Katarn then made his way across the mountainous terrain, clearing out Imperial forces and other hostile creatures such as Mailocs and Drugons until he reached an elevator that would take him to the landing platform where the Sulon Star was.

As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, he was attacked by Maw, a Dark Jedi who had to use the Force and a repulsorlift carriage to move about after losing his legs. Katarn dueled Maw and eventually defeated him. Maw then tried to provoke and goad Katarn to the dark side by telling him how Morgan Katarn died. Shortly after Katarn gave in to his anger and killed Maw, Jerec and the Dark Jedi showed up with a captured Ors. Jerec made Katarn an offer to join him and kill Ors to prove his loyalty, but Katarn managed to calm himself and rejected the dark side.

Disappointed, Jerec used a Force blast to knock back Katarn. However, the Force blast was strong that it damaged the Sulon Star too and caused it to start collapsing. Katarn got on board the falling freighter and, in a desperate race against time, managed to reach the docking bay where the Moldy Crow was held, and flew out of the Sulon Star before it crashed and exploded.

The impact of the explosion caused the Moldy Crow to crash too. Shortly after that, Sariss, Boc and Yun came to the wreckage and pulled out an incapacitated Katarn. Boc taunted Katarn and destroyed his lightsaber with a rock before leaving to join Jerec in the Valley. Sariss then drew her lightsaber and prepared to finish off Katarn, but Yun intervened and was accidentally killed by Sariss with a reflex blow. Before dying, Yun said that Katarn was a Jedi and deserved a battle. By then, Katarn had regained his strength and he claimed Yun's yellow-bladed lightsaber as his, using it to defeat and slay Sariss.

Katarn then used a cargo conveying system to reach the Valley's outer perimeter before navigating his way through the airflows of the mining exhaust ports until he reached the Imperial excavation site leading into the Valley. He made his way through underground tunnels until he reached the ancient ruins of the Valley, clearing out all the Imperial forces along the way and taking out two Kell dragons in the tunnels. In the Valley, he found Ors tied to a pole and saved her. Just then, Boc, who had been disguising himself as a statue, revealed himself and attacked Katarn with his two lightsabers.

As soon as Katarn had defeated Boc, Jerec, who had been basking in the Valley's power, awoke from his meditation and engaged Katarn in a lightsaber duel. As they dueled, Jerec set in motion the ancient machinery that would grant him the Valley's full power, but Katarn stopped him at every turn and ultimately defeated him. Disarmed and at Katarn's mercy, Jerec tried to tempt Katarn to the dark side by reminding him that he was the one who killed Morgan Katarn. However, Katarn replied that he had not forgotten, and then picked up Jerec's lightsaber and threw it back to him. Jerec then activated his lightsaber and charged at Katarn, but was cut down and his physical form faded away.

With Jerec's defeat, Katarn fulfilled an old prophecy and freed the spirits of the Jedi who had been trapped in the Valley since the Seventh Battle of Ruusan. To honor his father and Qu Rahn for their sacrifices, Katarn carved statues of them in the Valley while Ors and WeeGee watched him as he finished his work.

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