Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Jedi Masters VS Sith Lords Versus Script


MARTIAL ARTS
Something that can not be ignored in this match-up is the respective teams cohesiveness and ability too work together. On the Jedi side of things, you have, well, Jedi: They have all shown themselves capable of working perfectly with others, fighting in perfect harmony with people they never even met before, not to mention that two of these Jedi fought in a war side by side. As for the Sith? Bane and Krayt hate each other, Vitiate is to condescending towards "lesser life forms" to bother, Malgus will ignore everyone and just charge in and the fact that he is utterly insane will ruin Palpatine's chances at teamwork. In short, the Jedi might have there differences but they have proven capable of setting these aside when the situation calls for it. The Sith work together about as well as you would expect. However, the Sith do perform much better in an individual sense.: Although I do believe his skill has atrophied since ROTS, I would still peg Palpatine as a better duelist than Satele Shan: She won't be speed-blitzed and will last for a significant amount of time, but ultimately she would fall to the Dark Emperors blade. The Sith also come out on top with Cade vs Malgus, where I actually believe Cade to be the better swordsman, but Malgus is the better warrior, which ultimately is significantly more important in a battlefield engagement such as this. However, the Sith have no such luck when it comes to Krayt versus Windu as, for all his skill, Krayt is exactly the kind of warrior Vappad (And Windu) is optimized to defeat. This finally leaves us with Luke vs Vitiate and Bane vs Yoda: Although the first is something of a forgone conclusion (Vitiate has no more chance of beating Luke with the blade than he did the Hero of Tython) the second bears a closer look, as both Yoda and Bane are master swordsmen and duelists. However, although Bane is certainly skilled, his skill set simply wasn't made to overcome a warrior such as Yoda, while the Grand-master will have bo such limitations as he has faced Bane's kind before. With a margin of two to three, I give the martial arts edge to the Jedi team.

FORCE POWERS
Considering that we have ten of the most powerful Jedi/Sith here, a comparison not only between the characters involved, but between the Light and Dark sides themselves. Since I have offered my opinion on this subject before more than once, I will be brief here: Although the Dark Side does offer more flashy and grandiose powers, it is not necessarily more powerful: The Light Side may not offer the ability to destroy planets, but it is longer lasting and ultimately more influential: the Dark Side burns bright, but it burns short. However, philosophical advantages won't save you in a combat situation and the ability to destroy a planet is more combatively applicable than peace of mind. Anyways, on to the actual Force Powers edges. Although she is certainly a Master of the Force, Satele Shan is sorely outclassed by Palpatines power, as with most Jedi (and Sith). Darth Bane and Master Yoda are much closer as, although I would consider Yoda to be the much wiser and enlightened of the two, this has not provided him with anything Bane can't match. Although Vitiate is mostly reliant on rituals for truly impressive displays of the Force, he still has enough skill and power to match Luke, at least from this point in Skywalker's life. Malgus and Cade are polar opposites when it comes to the Force: Cade is a natural with the Force with a comparatively small amount of training, while Malgus has a good deal of experience, with comparatively little natural ability and ultimately neither can really claim the advantage. And finally you have Mace Windu and Darth Krayt, both of whom are near equally skilled in both arcane and more standard abilities, although Windu does have much greater telekinetic power. With three ties and both the Jedi and Sith each taking a single advantage a piece, I declare the Jedi and Sith equals in terms of Force Powers.

PHYSICAL SKILLS
Unlike the two previous edges, there isn't really anything more I can think to say about the differences between the Jedi and Sith when it comes to physical skills. As such, I see no reason why not to just get to who gets the physical advantage and why. First and most obvious, the practically unkillable but still swift and agile Darth Bane gets a major edge over the swift but fragile and well past his prime Yoda. Although Vitiate can survive his physical death, he can only do this with great effort and it does not even out the difference between him and the much younger Luke. Although Krayt is tougher than Windu, the Jedi is no weakling  and is younger and much faster. Cade may be in more than reasonable condition, but Darth Malgus is pretty much the definition of the human tank and is just as quick as Cade. Satele Shan may not be quite as fast as Sidious, but she also doesn't have his physical or mental instability, evening things out. With two, admittedly minor edges, to the Sith's one edge and one tie, the Jedi get the mostly pointless Physical edge if I am completely honest: Force Valor kind of makes this category pointless, at least to some extent.

EQUIPMENT
Since I have been putting comparatively little focus into the edges in general and pretty much glossed over the physical skills, I think you can guess how in depth the weapons & equipment edge is here. Although Windu has experience against dual wielders, Krayt still has twice as many options thanks to his second blade. Cade Skywalker's blaster may be rather pointless against Malgus due to the Sith's skill with blast deflection, but the firearm does give him at least slightly more options. Although Darth Bane's Lightsaber is a much more advanced weapon than Yoda's short and simplistic design, I think all we have to do is ask Count Dooku if this really makes a difference. Luke almost never uses his Shoto so this won't give him any lead over Vitiate and Palpatine is familiar with Saberstaffs, which removes Shan's weapons shock value, leaving it with no real advantage over a normal blade. Although the Sith do get the equipment edge two to one, the importance of this should be questioned.

THE VERDICT
Before we get to the verdict, I would like to once again apologize for the relative briefness of this video. There was simply no way I was going to realistically be capable of covering these ten in depth. I hope you are all familiar enough with these characters that it isn't that big of a deal. Anyways, on to the finale! These two teams are made up of some of the most prevalent and powerful members of the Jedi and Sith and it's time to see who wins this. The Jedi will immediately Realize that there greatest strength is to combine there strength and advance on the Dark Siders as one. The Sith on the other hand argue and attack each other before they notice the Jedi. Realizing that they would fall in short order if they attempted to fight as a single unit, the Sith instead each pick out a target and charge. The Headstrong Cade and Malgus are the first to collide, with Windu and Krayt not far behind. Shan ducks around the other Sith but is drawn into a duel with Palpatine, while Yoda, pegging him as the biggest threat left, attacks Bane. Finally, Luke and Vitiate face each other bantering, before Luke deflects his attack and draws his blade. The battlefield quickly becomes a blur of Lightsabers and Force powers as the two teams of juggernauts collide. The first serious blow is leveled against the Jedi: Palpatine briefly compliments Shan's dueling skills, before disarming her (Literally) in the blink of an eye. With an almost casual ease, Palpatine obliterates her mind, killing the Grandmaster. However, Palpatine pragmatically decides not to aid his fellow Sith: he has no reason to help his potential rivals and is confident in his ability to kill whatever Jedi survives. Not long after, Vitiate lets lose a furious howl which is quickly silenced: Luke has knocked the Emperors weapon away and is now rebounding his Force attack back at him. With an explosion, Vitiate is consumed by his own Force energy. Not waiting around, Luke sees Cade beginning to falter under Malgus's onslaught but his path is blocked by Palpatine. Realizing that the Jedi are actually likely to win and unite against him, Palpatine decides to step in. Luke furiously tries to get around Palpatine, but he is not quick enough and Malgus fells Cade. A now ticked off Luke turns his attention to Palpatine and begins hammering him back. Meanwhile, Krayt is finding himself increasingly overwhelmed: For all his skill, Krayt is playing right into Windu's hands, fueling his Vappad and failing to stop his use of Shatterpoint. With a last desperate move, Krayt leaps away towards the duel between Bane and Yoda. However, both Windu and Yoda see this and simultaneously leap to aid there fellow Jedi. The two Masters jump past each other and strike at Bane and Krayt, both of whom moved to block the other Jedi instead. The creators of both the Rules of One and Two are finally equals, as they are both felled. Yoda and Windu both recover and turn to aid Luke, who has been knocked backed by Palpatine. The Dark Emperor is stopped from from delivering the fatal blow by Yoda and Windu's Force pushes. Palpatine gets back up, but is faced by all three Jedi with there Lightsabers ignited, ready to end the fight. Malgus, watching from afar, tactfully decides to let Palpatine deal with the Jedi, while he will live to see another day. Cowardly, sure, but Malgus really did not want to require another rebuild. Palpatine snarls and draws one of his fallen comrades blades to his hands. He knows the battle is lost for the Sith, but by the Force he will take the Jedi down with him. Palpatine charges and... at this point I feel I should point something out. The way I am presenting this, A Jedi victory is reliant on there ability to work together and aid there own. However, while this is certainly an advantage, it is NOT necessary. Yoda, Windu and Luke can each more than handle there foes. Although Palpatine will pretty much destroy Shan and I give Malgus the likely victory over Cade, these two Sith are not anything the remaining Jedi can't handle. Luke just needs a small push to beat Palpatine, and he is probably the least powerful Jedi left standing. As for Malgus, yeah: That's not happening. In short, whether you take these teams as individuals or as a, well, team, the Jedi are the superior Force. I declare Masters Shan, Windu, Yoda Skywalker and Skywalker the winners.

Cade Skywalker versus script


MARTIAL ARTS
As he never completed his Jedi training, I doubt that Cade Skywalker practiced any of the classic Lightsaber forms (Although this could have changed with his training under the Sith). A former bounty hunter, Cade Skywalker had A varied combat style but was first and foremost A Lightsaber duelist. A candidate for the greatest single duelist of his day, defeating Shado Vao, disarming Darth Nihl, getting the better of Darth Talon more than once and even slaying the Dark Lord himself, Darth Krayt, in A one on one duel. Cade Skywalker also had zero problem with blast deflection and especially fighting multiple enemies at once, cutting through waves of Sith more than once. Cade may not have been on par with his ancestors Anakin or Luke, or even the likes of Jaina, but he was an extremely capable warrior in his own right.

FORCE POWERS
Heir to the Skywalker legacy, Cade nonetheless had his natural potency with the Force impaired by his lack of training and temporary death stick addiction. However, he still proved to be A powerful Master of the Force, tossing around both Jedi and Sith with telekinesis, easily lifting enormous objects, being adapt at Force healing and, most prominently, an incredible amount of natural strength with the Shatterpoint ability. Although he wasn't quite on par with Mace Windu's Shatterpoints, Cade could still use the power to great affect, including to exploit the weaknesses in others.

PHYSICAL SKILLS
Although we do not know for sure, I believe Cade Skywalker was A Human male in his late twenties/early thirties. Cade, despite A brief Death Stick addiction, was still in the prime of his life. He was as strong and agile as most Jedi and Sith, fast enough to outpace Darth Talon and tough enough to power through injuries that would kill most sentient people.

EQUIPMENT
In addition to his green bladed Lightsaber, which was of standard make, Cade Skywalker still used the powerful Blaster he had wielded when working as A Bounty hunter.

Mace Windu versus script


MARTIAL ARTS
Master Mace Windu was a nearly legendary duelist, often considered to be on par with Yoda and Palpatine. Although he mastered all seven forms, Windu predominantly used Vappad, a variation of form seven that he himself created. Drawing from ones inner darkness, as well as there opponents aggression, Vappad was a highly aggressive form best used against dark siders. Windu Has outmaneuvered Ventress and Grievous, Overcame both Depa Billaba and Sora Bulq and held his own against Dooku at least twice. However, he has had his fare share of defeats and the ROTS game does display Windu losing A duel to Anakin. Windus most famous and most impressive accomplishment was his duel and defeat of the dark lord Darth Sidious (in one alternate universe even killing him) via A combination of Vappad and Shatterpoint. 

FORCE POWERS
Although he was most renowned for his skills with a blade, Windu was no slouch with the force as well. Even in his most subdued appearance, the 2008 clone wars series, he force crushed entire Droideka squads and dropped an entire wall on a tank. In his more advanced appearances he effortlessly manipulated his surroundings and destroyed entire armies with a wave of his hand. His most powerful ability, however, was probably his skill with shatter points, allowing him to see the weaknesses in just about anything, including Sith lords.

PHYSICAL ABILITY
Unlike most of his peers, Windu was relatively young at only 53. Windu was strong enough to punch through droid armor and tough enough to be shot, stabbed, deprived of sleep and beaten to the point of unconsciousness and kept going. His speed was even more impressive, as he could become almost invisible at top speeds, even to train Force sensitives.

WEAPONS AND ARMAMENT
Aside from his lightsabers rare lavender blade and Electrum finish, Windu’s armament was not particularly remarkable.

Yoda versus script


MARTIAL ARTS
An undoubtedly skilled sword master, Yoda mastered all seven forms of Lightsaber combat and I have little doubt that in his younger days he used all seven freely and in hybridization. However, in his advancing age it is implied that before Geonosis Yoda mostly stopped using his blade, period. This caused him to scale back his martial prowess, mostly becoming A user of Form four Ataru. Yoda remained one of the best duelists of his age, forcing Count Dooku to flee twice, and even possibly disarming Darth Sidious (although it is just as possible Sidious willfully put away his blade and secured the high ground to use his Force powers). The pinnacle of Yoda's martial prowess is A little known sparring match wherein Yoda took on and defeated master duelists Depa Billaba, Plo Koon and Saesee Tiin and defeated them all, Without A Lightsaber.

FORCE POWERS
Beyond a shadow of A doubt, Yoda is most widely renowned for his skill in the Force. First and foremost, his skill with telekinesis was nigh unrivaled for his age, His skill with Force Valor remains one of the highest in the saga and He was also very knowledgeable in the more arcane, being highly skilled with illusions, Battle Meditation and Tutaminis. He also achieved the penultimate Force ability, living on in the Force after his death, effectively becoming immortal. All this being said, Yoda's focus remains on enlightenment rather than combative applications.

PHYSICAL SKILL
A member of an unknown species, Yoda was an ageing male, well over eight hundred years old, and as such suffered many degeneration's, including a near crippling amount of arthritis. Although noted fro his overwhelming speed and agility, This was largely due to Force Valor and Yoda's strength and endurance were minimal at best.

WEAPONS & EQUIPMENT
Yoda's Lightsaber was positively ancient, although it's Hilt was modern in design and, aside from it's emerald blade and much shorter length than the norm, it was unremarkable.

Monday, December 29, 2014

(DE) Luke Skywalker versus script


MARTIAL ARTS
To put it simply, Luke probably had the most natural skill with Lightsaber combat out of anyone in the Saga. Briefly trained under both Yoda and Kenobi, Luke was mostly self taught via old Holocrons and sheer natural ability. After less than A full year of training, Luke engaged and defeated his father, the infamous Darth Vader, in there second duel, with Luke dominating the fight even before he gave into his anger. Luke continued to prove himself A extremely skilled warrior after the fall of the Empire, defeating Lumiya once he overcame her unorthodox weaponry, matching his own clone and Executor Sedriss in martial combat and, although he was initially outpaced and disarmed, defeated the extremely powerful reborn Emperor Palpatine, albeit when empowered by his sisters meditation.

FORCE POWERS
The son of the Chosen One himself, Luke Skywalker demonstrated an amazing amount of power in the Force, even while "just" A Jedi Master. His telekinesis was powerful enough to destroy Imperial Walkers and precise enough to destroy combat droids internal mechanics. Luke was A practiced hand at Force Choke, could project incredibly realistic illusions of himself, Had zero problems with the Jedi mind trick, etc. Even at this young age, Luke was shown spontaneously becoming One with the Force, albeit not voluntarily.

PHYSICAL SKILLS
At the time of the rise of the Dark Empire, Luke Skywalker was A Human male roughly 29 years of age. He was, as with all Jedi and Sith, significantly faster, stronger, tougher and more agile than most sentient beings. Luke had A cybernetic right hand which, despite giving him some problems as it was made by the Emperor, still gave him A advantage in unarmed combat.

EQUIPMENT
Luke Skywalker was armed with the traditional armament of A Jer'kai specialist: A standard Green bladed Jedi Lightsaber and A much less used red bladed Shoto.

Satele Shan versus script


MARTIAL ARTS
Trained by three separate Jedi masters, including a renowned Battle master, Satele Shan became extremely skilled with both standard Lightsabers and Saber-staffs. The only Jedi to survive the first battle of the Great Galactic War, Shan fought on the front-lines throughout the war. Needless to say, Form four is generally believed to be Shan's weapon of choice. Shan was also quite skilled in fighting multiple enemies at once (cutting down seven Sith warriors in one go on Alderaan) . Although Shan has been defeated before, It was mostly Darth Malgus, who was for all intense and purposes the best Lightsaber duelist the Sith Empire had to offer at the time. Against lesser opposition, even Dark Council members, She served much better, indicating it took a top tier to break it. Even other highly regarded warriors such as the infamous Darth Baras have proven unable to break her.

FORCE POWERS
The descendit of powerful Jedi, Satele Shan had a incredible amount of strength in the Force. She could protect herself from the vacuum of space with a Force shield, she mastered Tutaminis to the point she could bloke Lightsaber blades, she has some skill with foresight. Her greatest power however, by a wide margin, was her unbridled power with telekinesis. Although later in life she used it to easily destroy Hexes, while just a Jedi knight she felled three Sith warriors at once, dropped a tree on Malgus half way through there duel and practically blew up a mountain.

PHYSICAL SKILLS
Although her in-game avatar does not indicate as such, Satele Shan was a human female roughly in her sixties. Even in her advancing age Shan continued to practice a acrobatic fighting style and unarmed combat. Shan also had an extremely strong constitution, soldering through Darth Malgus's brutal assaults on multiple occasions.

WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT
 Over the course of her carer, Satele Shan built at least three separate blue bladed saber staffs, all of which were built with identical designs of aesthetically ornamental, but technically standard.

Friday, December 26, 2014

Darth Malgus versus script


MARTIAL ARTS
Darth Malgus, to put it simply, was the epitome of the Sith warrior. A brutal warrior, honed by years of front line battle against Jedi and Sith alike, it is unknown what Lightsaber Forms Malgus prefers, although it is generally theorized to be Form five. Malgus fought in A strong offensive style, although he also has enough tactical insight to avoid the pitfalls of most Juyo masters. Fueled by hatred and A desire for vengeance, Malgus has dozens of kills to his name, including the renowned Masters Kao Cen Darach and Ven Zallow. However, he failed to kill Satele Shan on more than one occasion and was eventually ended by A Republic strike team. Leading the sacking of the Jedi Temple and taking on the role of Warlord after the Emperors death, Darth Malgus was one of the most accomplished warriors and Sith Lords of the day.

FORCE POWERS
Unlike most Sith warriors and martially focused Sith, Darth Malgus had A good deal of strength with the Force as well, especially the Dark Side. His telekinesis could send even Jedi flying with lethal Force and his Sith lightning could kill on contact, if he wished. Malgus could use both of these powers to break though most Force users shields. His most notable ability, however, was his Force shield and rage: The former protected him form having A mountain exploded on top of him and the later allowed him to improve his fighting abilities ten fold.

PHYSICAL SKILLS
Darth Malgus was A middle aged Human male. Although he sports deathly white skin and yellow eyes, this does not appear to lesson his physical skills. Darth Malgus was fast enough to keep up with the most agile Jedi, strong enough to kill with his bare hands and tough enough to survive missals, grenades, avalanches and still engage and defeat Jedi afterwards.

EQUIPMENT
Darth Malgus wielded A scarlet red Lightsaber of standard make, although it's hilt was adorned with A melee blade. Malgus was also permanently adorned with Sith armor after his rebuild.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Darth Krayt versus script


MARTIAL ARTS
Unlike most Jedi and Sith, Darth Krayt was primarily known as A wielder of Jar'kai, rather than any of the classic seven Forms. However, he was also listed as A Master of Nimen, Ataru and Dun Moch style fighting. Although he was still skilled with A single blade and would do so when he believed it necessary, Krayt still preferred the use of two weapons. As A Jedi, Krayt defeated Aurra Sing and held his own against both the Dark Woman and Obi-wan Kenobi. Latter as A Sith lord, Krayt showed no problem engaging multiple opponents and easily cut his way through large groups of Sith. Darth Krayt, as both A Sith and Jedi, also had zero problem with blast deflection Despite his advanced mastery of the blade, with many kills such as Darth Wyyrlok to his name, Krayt was eventually out dueled by Jedi Knight Cade Skywalker.

FORCE POWERS
Although he was most notable for his attempts to reshape to Sith Order into A more effective body, Darth Krayt was also A powerful Force user. His telekinesis was nothing to right home about but he could match Darth Wyyrlok (A noted Sith inquisitor). Krayt, as with most powerful Sith Dark Lords, could kill with A single blast of Force lightning. Krayt had A staunch Force shield, battle Meditation, physical augmentation, changing in Force attacks with his blade-work and most impressively he was capable of living on after his physical death.

PHYSICAL SKILLS
Born in the year 47 BBY and dying in 138 ABY, Darth Krayt was A Human male well over A hundred years old. However, Krayt remained A physically viable warrior and could keep pace with much younger duelists. Darth Krayt was tough enough to survive the Embrace of Pain and had many Yuuzhan Vong implants.

EQUIPMENT
As with Darth Bane, I will be using Krayt after he lost his iconic Lightsaber resistant armor. Unlike most Sith, Krayt's weapons of choice were both A green blade and more traditional red weapon.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Darth Bane versus script


MARTIAL ARTS
Something of A martial arts purest, Darth Bane believed that Sith should not waste  there time learning any Forms other than the fifth. Despite this belief, Bane did acknowledge that Juyo had it's uses for more aggressive Sith and he pragmatically instructed his own apprentice in Soresu. Although when in possession of his Orbalisk armor he was blindly offensive, he later became A much more controlled and resigned warrior when not in possesion of the Lightsaber proof material. A veteran of the New Sith Wars, Bane held his own against three Jedi masters at once (Although only because of the aforementioned armor) and was one of the few people capable of consistently beating Zannah's nearly impenetrable defense. Due to the schemes of his Master, Darth Bane had problems combating dual wielders, although this did not apply to Saberstaffs.

FORCE POWERS
Although Sith magic was largely beyond his grasp, Darth Bane was still well versed in the more arcane practices of the Sith Order. Bane's telekinesis had more than A little magnitude behind it: Bane could destroy entire stone temples with his this ability, as well as easily pierce even Jedi's force shields. Bane's could produce lethal Sith lightning, A death field (Although this was EXTREMELY energy inefficient and I believe Force users could withstand its effects) and could even create Holocrons and attempt an essence transfer, although this ultimately failed.

PHYSICAL SKILLS
To put it simply, Darth Bane was as close as A simple Human can get to A Human tank. Although his agility and speed were acceptable, it was Bane's strength and endurance that was truly understanding: he withstood the affects of his Armor for lengthy periods of time and even fought through the pain of losing his hand.

EQUIPMENT
Although he did use Orbalisk Armor for A long time, I am suing Darth Bane after he removed this protection. Bane's Lightsaber had A curved hilt and produced A scarlet blade.