Ann C. Crispin's Han Solo Trilogy, hands down!

Drew Karpyshyn's Darth Bane: Path of Destruction is very good, but I was a little dissapointed with the sequels. The series about Rogue Squadron are also very good books of the EU

Edit: Oh man, I almost forgot Thrawn's Trilogy!!! Bad karma, bad karma...

Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi are my favorites, but it is hard to choose sometimes with all the great books authors have put out.

BFett wrote:What is your favorite Star Wars Book Series?

Lum wrote:Ann C. Crispin's Han Solo Trilogy, hands down!

Drew Karpyshyn's Darth Bane: Path of Destruction is very good, but I was a little dissapointed with the sequels. The series about Rogue Squadron are also very good books of the EU

Edit: Oh man, I almost forgot Thrawn's Trilogy!!! Bad karma, bad karma...

The Han Solo Trilogy is what got me into reading the books around the films, and i'd add 'Splinter of the Mind's Eye' to the that trilogy as being some of the best. I didn't get into the Thrawn stuff much, and had real issues with the books that dealt with Leia and Han getting married and having kids etc. I came to the conclusion it is just very hard to write good stuff about Star Wars, in the same way it is very hard to make good games around Star Wars!

Zak Gordon wrote:The Han Solo Trilogy is what got me into reading the books around the films, and i'd add 'Splinter of the Mind's Eye' to the that trilogy as being some of the best. I didn't get into the Thrawn stuff much, and had real issues with the books that dealt with Leia and Han getting married and having kids etc. I came to the conclusion it is just very hard to write good stuff about Star Wars, in the same way it is very hard to make good games around Star Wars!

I know what you mean regarding Han/Leia's books. They're sort of weird. "Splinter.." is very good, indeed.

I think Shadows of the Empire is a very very good book. It linked very loose parts and succeding with elegance against a lot of problems. It was also an innovative enterprise. Creating the full package without having a film to start with: book, soundtrack (very good!), games, merchandising. Lucas saw the potential in that and it played dividends.

Regarding the difficulty to design games or write good stories in the franchise... well, it's always difficult to make something when the frame is already set. It simplifies some of the aspects, of course, but it also places limits. But I think Star Wars is a forgiving universe. There is so much undiscovered, both in time and space. You only must pick a topic with little relation to the main story arcs, create your own story. Only when your new story stands on its own right should you try and tie here and there with some part of the main arcs. That's the best ground to start writing in the SW universe. IF you have free hand, that's it. Maybe your editor wants something specific from you and there you go right into your tiny place to manouver...

While I have not read any Star Wars books, I quite liked the writing in the game, Knights of the Old Republic. I might be part of a small minority but I actually feel that the writing In Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords was even better. I found the moral and philosophical explorations therein quite interesting even if the plot was somewhat contrived. Alas, Obsidian did produce an incomplete and buggy mess even if, in their defense, it must be said that it was Lucas Arts that curtailed development to meet a pre-Christmas 2004 release. Properly patched and modded Sith Lords becomes a decent game with some excellent writing even if the denouement is unsatisfactory and clearly cut short of what was originally planned.

I think the first part of The Sith Lords is one of the best starts to a game I've seen. Didn't finish it, and I lost the saves of the first one, but I enjoyed it while I played pretty much more the second one than the first one.

I'm totally in agreement with you Tom. KOTOR was a hell of a game in many ways. Bioware have (had?) a good touch in such projects. SL could have been huge, doubling KOTOR in many "not that good" points. Shame for the darn deadlines. So much potential direct into the WC. Anyway, as you say, SL was even better in terms of plot and writing. KOTOR had that dramatic moment when you discover who you really are. I dare to throw some blasfemy in the room, but I want to compare that with Vader's "Luke, I'm your... waitforit... dary!" (or how it really was? don't remember... ). Although in SL you're sort of waiting for that dramatic moment and it's clearer what it can be from, say, 50% of the game, the point is that the trip throw the middle nuances and shades of gray are a lot deepor than in KOTOR. It's a shame that Bioware sold its soul to EA to bring us "that other MMO" instead of a much bigger, deeper, KOTOR 3...

I loved the Jedi Knight series of games.

Kyle Katarn FTW.

Just_Ice_au wrote:I loved the Jedi Knight series of games.

Kyle Katarn FTW.

One of my favourite FPS games for sure. Ok we love lists i expect so here are my top Star Wars games in order:

1. X-Wing - it was one of the first computer games that really blew me away, and as a deep space combat simulator let me be 'Luke' vs the Empire like in the original films. Some of the later missions were nearly impossibly hard!

2. Tie-Fighter - while a better game overall than X-wing, i never could feel as comfortable playing as the Empire as i could the Alliance.

3. Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II - one of my favourite FPS games of all time.

4. Dark Forces - rougher than part II, more 'Doom like', but still awesome.

5. KoToR - nearly the perfect Star wars game.

6. Jedi Knight II: Outcast - more Jedi Knight goodness.

7. Star Wars: Supremacy ('Rebellion' in the USA) - took me a while to love it, but it still remains the deepest strategy game you can play in the Star Wars universe, especially if you use the RebEd tool. If only you could pause the game AND access the in game encyclopedia at the same time, i could easily look over some of it's other issues. Despite all that it is the best non-action game about Star Wars.

8. KoToR II - the remaining bugs made it impossible to finish on the Xbox (for me), so i got it again on PC and that allowed me to love this game as much as the original KoToR, almost.

9. X-wing: Alliance - follows on from X-wing and Tie-Fighters space combat awesomeness. Mods are good for this one too, so definitely worth checking out.

10. The original Star Wars coin-op - This was the first chance i had to really feel the power of the films in video game form, and it pretty much took up all my pocket money for a year! The cabinet with the seat was amazing, the sounds would rumble right through you and i'd probably consider buying one today for use at home, it was that much fun and that evocative of the films:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars ... eo_game%29

I could replace Supremacy for Racer (big podracing times!) and add Rebel Assault I and II (those were a hell of difficult games and the tech back then... wow). Oh, and of course Shadows of the Empire (PC), great game. The old Super Star Wars series for SNES were great at the time. Rogue Squadron also was very good.

On the other hand SW Galaxies was a big dissapointment, but well, MMOs were a coin thrown in the air back then. It had much potential, but the taken decissions were simply bad. About that other MMO... I have mixed feelings. Played for a year and I can say that it has very good things. Mostly because I'm no MMO hardcore player (aka, no BG, no extracting the very last DPS point out of each gear set...). I enjoyed the stories (the plot for the Imperial Agent was mindblowing from the start, so much immersion!!), blamed BW and EA for the technical decissions they took.

Oh, and a side note... I played also Yoda Stories!

I remember Shadows of the Empire! though mine was on N64, how was the PC one? what differences were there if there was any?

I know there were a couple of differences, indeed. I'll post them later

Edit: (from the wiki) "The N64 and PC versions of the video game differ somewhat. The PC version has sharper and smoother gameplay graphics when using a 3D card. Both versions have slightly different cutscenes - the PC version has full-motion cinematic cutscenes with sound effects and voices, while the N64 version utilizes artwork with text at the bottom of the screen."

Zak Gordon wrote:

Just_Ice_au wrote:I loved the Jedi Knight series of games.

Kyle Katarn FTW.

One of my favourite FPS games for sure. Ok we love lists i expect so here are my top Star Wars games in order:

1. X-Wing - it was one of the first computer games that really blew me away, and as a deep space combat simulator let me be 'Luke' vs the Empire like in the original films. Some of the later missions were nearly impossibly hard!

2. Tie-Fighter - while a better game overall than X-wing, i never could feel as comfortable playing as the Empire as i could the Alliance.

3. Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II - one of my favourite FPS games of all time.

4. Dark Forces - rougher than part II, more 'Doom like', but still awesome.

5. KoToR - nearly the perfect Star wars game.

6. Jedi Knight II: Outcast - more Jedi Knight goodness.

7. Star Wars: Supremacy ('Rebellion' in the USA) - took me a while to love it, but it still remains the deepest strategy game you can play in the Star Wars universe, especially if you use the RebEd tool. If only you could pause the game AND access the in game encyclopedia at the same time, i could easily look over some of it's other issues. Despite all that it is the best non-action game about Star Wars.

8. KoToR II - the remaining bugs made it impossible to finish on the Xbox (for me), so i got it again on PC and that allowed me to love this game as much as the original KoToR, almost.

9. X-wing: Alliance - follows on from X-wing and Tie-Fighters space combat awesomeness. Mods are good for this one too, so definitely worth checking out.

10. The original Star Wars coin-op - This was the first chance i had to really feel the power of the films in video game form, and it pretty much took up all my pocket money for a year! The cabinet with the seat was amazing, the sounds would rumble right through you and i'd probably consider buying one today for use at home, it was that much fun and that evocative of the films:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars ... eo_game%29

This.... This is a very good list. And I've played 7/10 of them!

I rank Tie Fighter over X-Wing though. Despite the difficulty spike towards the end, the entire game was truly glorious.

I didn't play X-Wing: Alliance or the coin-op game.

I did play the others, though, and with one exception, this listing is pretty darned close to my own.

I do put Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight at the top. To this day it's one of the handful of games I consider to have the greatest level designs of any game, ever. Add to that cheesy full-motion video and lightsaber battles against distinctive opponents, and you've got yourself an amazing Star Wars experience. I really enjoyed both X-Wing and TIE Fighter, but I give the nod to DF2:JK (with KOTOR not far behind).

My one disagreement is Star Wars: Rebellion. Oh, my. No, this one does not make it onto my "good" list. It's possible there was an enjoyable game somewhere in there, but Rebellion had one of the most frustratingly cumbersome user interfaces it has ever been my misfortune to encounter. Everything was harder than it needed to be. Playing this game was like clubbing yourself in the crotch with a cactus -- repeatedly -- in order to get an occasional cupcake. It's possible that mods might help it, but my experience was that the version most people saw was nigh-unplayable.

It wasn't Aquaman. But still.

The rest of the list, though? You betcha. (And do you notice how most of those are "older" games, before LucasArts got top-heavy with Executive Vice Presidents for Putting Things on Top of Other Things? Sigh.)

Yep Flatfingers, the good old times were really what that's meant to be: good and old. At some point they missed the north to never come back. What is indeed a shame.