After his straying to the dark side in Mysteries of the Sith, Katarn has abandoned the Jedi path and gone back to being a Republic mercenary agent. He’s back with Jan Ors and content to do challenging missions force-free. But the force isn’t going to let him go so easy. When Jan is lost on a mission, he’s going to need his powers back to stop the new enemy, Desanne, and the Empire Reborn!
Jedi Outcast Story review
Katarn gets some serious character growth and challenges in Jedi Outcast. Playing it before when I only had a Mac and an ancient XBox (now defunct) I didn’t get the time jump. While I had the novella and audio drama for Jedi Knight even before getting to play it, Mysteries of the Sith got no such treatment. Therefore I had no idea why Kyle was so distressed at being dragged back into the world of lightsaber crystals and force powers.
Once I got that, the story works better. Kyle gave it up as he didn’t trust himself with it. But then Jan is lost, and he has to deal with this fallen former Jedi named Desanne. So rather than retrain, he takes a shortcut – the Valley of the Jedi. This has consequences as well, beyond jump starting his skills back up!
One thing I loved was how the story interweaves with the original trilogy heroes without detracting from them nor letting them overpower it. This is Kyle’s journey, he just happens to know the right people and the force (and the devs!) is putting him in the right place and right time to get their help. The help includes both Luke Skywalker (it is his former student, planning to wreak havoc in his academy, that is Katarn’s problem) and Lando (who was off on his own errand and got into trouble in typical Calrissian fashion).
In the end, Kyle learns a lot from his journey and I love how that works out.
Jedi Outcast Game play review
First off, I do kind of miss the FMV live action videos we got from Jedi Knight. Like in Mysteries of the Sith, they stuck to computer animated cut scenes, though they still modeled the character off Jason Court. The voice actor for him is Jason Bennett.
This game is a bit frustrating at this point, not due to anything being wrong or even difficulty level. It’s simply that due to fan or professional mods, the previous games have been tweaked to work better on modern systems than Jedi Outcast does. Most annoying to me is that I couldn’t tab out in full screen mode (which also made Mon Mothma look out of proportion). Windowed mode I could not control the screen either, it stayed at a certain size and place and stuck there, nor could I find any mods with a fix.
their mission
Jedi Outcast is still fun, though my accuracy at shooting hasn’t improved. The first levels are challenging due to not having the force and a certain ‘creepy’ factor (bugs!) Once I get the force back it still isn’t necessarily easy. Then there are snipers, grenades and some seriously difficult jumping to deal with. Let’s not forget some puzzles thrown in there.
One tip on the Nar Shaddaa secrets: I had to turn off my weapons to get one. That threw me a bit in the cantina.
I did get a bit of a shock, in that for various reasons this time I played Jedi Outcast on padawan mode (aka easy). I have played at harder difficulty before. Normally, there is a beam in this temple room that grants invincibility. Preferably, one has to get Katarn into it before Desanne. This time the beam didn’t even come on – he killed me a few times and I killed him.
Place wise though I have a blast seeing Yavin 4, where the Jedi training and even doing practicing Push and pull, as well as jumping and force speed are required to pass the test. They are the first skills to come back (alas, no force healing as yet.) The final part includes a lot of puzzles – some of them fatal if you fail.
Continuity and Lore of Jedi Outcast
The sequel to this Jedi Outcast is Jedi Academy (the game) where instead of playing as Kyle, you are a trainee under him at the Luke’s Academy which is founded in a trilogy of the same name. Kyle is your teacher in the ways of the Force.
I regret that like Mysteries of the Sith, this story does not get a novella nor audio drama. It follows after Mysteries of the Sith and precedes Jedi Academy (the game).
The Empire Reborn in Jedi Outcast ties into the Crystal Star by Vonda McIntyre and Hethrir. It’s apparently the same movement.
Rogue Squadron gets a mention. Luke Skywalker calls them in to help get through the Empire on Ruusan. They later battle the Imperial cruiser that Katarn sabotages over Yavin IV.
CHISS BARTENDER. I have no idea why a Chiss is working at a Nar Shaddaa bar. Even though its post Thrawn, most of them live in the Chiss Ascendancy. It would be a great place to gain intel, or go on the run if he’s an exile or criminal though. As a nice touch, there is a similar bartender in Star Wars the Old Republic on Rishi. You can’t talk to him but he’s a nice Easter egg.
Kyle Katarn has a later appearance in Star Wars Tales – Equals and Opposites, in the Yuuzhan Vong War. He also appears in Fate of the Jedi as battlemaster. He also appears in New Jedi Order the Unifying Force, as well as Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi.
Jedi Academy/ Yavin 4:
A New Hope
Jedi Academy by Kevin J. Anderson is when and where this was founded. You can also read about it in I, Jedi by Michael Stackpole, Young Jedi Knights by Kevin J. Anderson, and Junior Jedi Knights by Anderson and Moesta.
For more on Nar Shaddaa
Dark Forces has visitied here before.
Dark Empire visits here.
The Han Solo trilogy by A.C. Crispin spends time here, particularly Hutt Gambit.
Star Wars the Old Republic has all characters origin story pass through here. It has a planet story for each faction, heroics, bonus stories, events, and even can buy a stronghold.
Jedi Quest by Jude Watson (the origin story, which has no number) has a slaver base here.
