Going into this game, based on what I heard, I was thinking that I would play some kind of super sad, alcoholic character. That I would take every opportunity to get drunk or high, and just fuck my character up. Afterwards being super sad, but not taking any steps to improve my behavior.

Buuuut, turns out I have a weak stomach for misery.
So I shifted to playing some kind of sad, naive fellow. Choosing to be horrified and regretful of my life choices, but seeing this amnesia a chance to start totally from zero. Also not understanding anything about the world and needing everything to be explained to me like I was 5.
I guess I have an tendency to play morally good characters in most rpgs and don't really like harming characters in the game.

What kind of cop did you think of playing when you started the game? And what kind of character did you end up with?

Keep in mind I only made it to day 2 before losing track of the game and finding out about the new version coming.

I played similar to you. Originally I tried a character with a high ability to figure things out, but super weak empathy. He blew. Then I rerolled into a character that had super high encyclopedia skills and also a good amount of empathy, because empathy in an rpg tends to, based on historical experience, always pay off.

Very eager to get back into this, but I just picked up Mass Effect Legendary on sale, and also have a few Switch games to get through that are on the shorter side. This is one I have earmarked for the fall in between football games.

Very cool we have a similar approach to rpg characters though. I do not enjoy playing an evil character or making my characters miserable.

It is a problem when you have so many games and not enough focus to stick to one. I have a similar dilemma but with this game, a few Neverwinter Nights modules I want to play, Nerhim, Hellblade and then uninstall it to get space for Subnautica, only need to play the ending that just got released.

It's funny how evil characters are never that interesting to play. When you play an empathetic and helping character you often get better dialog, more quests, and don't feel like a total dick most of the time. I can never really stick to being an asshole, even when it's just fiction I just feel bad.
It would be fun to play a game where being an evil character actually had a point, like if you where a commander of an army that was locked in a siege with a walled city.
Maybe you could storm the gates, kill the army, burn the city but let 50-70% of the population live. Or starve them out, leaving the buildings intact only 20% of the population alive. A choice where you could get the option to do something bad for the grater good, or be more "humane/less brutal" but create a worse situation in the long run.
Most of the time it's be a "hero" or say "fuck you" to every one while you murder-hobo your way through the game.

Agreed 100%

Just out of interest, have you ever played Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (1 or 2)? In those games, being evil is so much more fun than being a good guy.

Generally being "evil" in a game just boils down to either being a bit of a dick (e.g. stealing stuff, or promising not to reveal someone's crime for a reward, then revealing it anyway - minor stuff basically), or killing everyone (which usually results in missing out on quests, unless you do it after the quests have been completed, which feels stupid).

To answer OP: have you ever watched the movie "bad lieutenant"? I feel like Harvey Keitel's character in that, especially at the start. Maybe not to that level by the end - but with more random mental issues. So I'd be doing drugs, getting drunk, asking people for money (or tricking them out of it sometimes), but overall still getting the job done.

BTW low empathy leads to some of the most hilarious dialogue in this game. The two I can think of are "Cock Carousel" and "Fuck the hat". I won't spoil any further if you haven't seen these, but man did those go on. The first one even gets its own quest. ;)

Mass Effect though - IMO Renegade is the best way to play that. I didn't do 100% renegade actions - the first game I managed to get both to a high level, so ended up with more options, and would usually choose the one that made the most sense (or gave the most rewards). Although there were some parts that were pretty messed up as renegade for sure...

Yeah, started to play Old Republic 1 but the game didn't really hook me, and when I got to the Wookie planet I stopped playing because the annoying sounds they make while talking.
Chewbaka works in the movies because his lines are short and used sparingly, but being forced to listen to animal sounds for long dialog scenes made me quit the game. But I also was a bit bored at that point, so it was more that I didn't really like the game.

In regards to the Mass Effect games, my preferred play style is Paragon, but with alot of Renegade actions. Like telling certain characters to shut up, murdering NPCs if they try to betray me, and kicking that dude out of the building in the second game. Only choosing one side locks you out from alot of fun dialog-options.

What kind of story do you get if you choose the drinking and stealing options in DE? Can you even progress in the story? Or are you to drunk to function?

Nah, the only negative of drugs and alcohol is that one of your stats is reduced (either health or psychological health) - but sleeping will fully restore you, and if you need the extra health for an upcoming challenge roll or are on your last legs and about to die (or go insane), you just pop whichever healing pill you need.

The game is kind of stingy on the physical health pills at the start (and that's the health that alcohol will wreck), but the mental health pills are all over the place, you can easily end up with more pills than can be displayed at once.

And the bonuses you get from these are generally worth it - but that's modifiable by various "thoughts". Some help you with NOT doing certain drugs, while others give bonuses to them. If you become a fascist (I mean "Nationalist") then alcohol actually gives you 2x the bonus at no extra penalty! Well there is a penalty but it's not related to drugs or alcohol...

Apart from that, the long-term effects appear barely noticeable - in that they won't stop you from completing the game (nor stop you from getting any of the endings), but they do affect how people talk about you throughout the game, as well as the finale.

One time I quit alcohol completely but instead did crap-tons of speed, and at the end I was like "No, I haven't had a drop in days. But I have done tons to speed", and your partner is like "whatever, don't care, just as long as you stop drinking you can snort whatever you want".

Whereas if you keep drinking on throughout, they comment on how you reek and look like an alcoholic (you don't need to be drunk at the time).

As for the stealing and being a dirty cop - most of it you can get away with (unless you count Kym's disappointing comments), and some Kym even "fixes" for you (he reversed one of my more corrupt decisions).

There was actually a point I was searching through a medicine cabinet for some speed, and Kym seriously asked what the benefits of it were. Since my rep with him was good, he was apparently "thinking of trying it, maybe" (he didn't at the time, but he was contemplating it, as opposed to just acting disappointed).

One game I got busted stealing by multiple people - it basically just ends with you looking really embarrassed, taking some psych damage usually, then being left with no other option than to buy the item in question (assuming you want it). Some of the responses are gold!

Actually something worth doing if you go this path: see if you can pass the "composure" check with Renee, after the "incident" with the "shotput.." er... boule... Failing it is pretty funny, passing it is funnier and you get an item. Runner-up is passing the check with Gaston to get his sandwich.... ;) I pretty much did the opposite - mainly renegade with a fair bit of paragon occasionally to provide more options. ME was very simplistic in its approach though...

SW, yeah I can see why you might not enjoy the first one - it's a very basic SW plot (albeit with a nice twist at a certain point, which makes the dark side make even more sense). It's definitely not a game to be played for its combat - although there's a mod that adds cut content, and that includes an additional difficulty level, which is actually somewhat challenging at times.

SW:KOTOR II on the other hand - that is much, much better in terms of plot. The combat is probably even easier than the first one, but there are more/better options as well. There's a lot more nuance in that game for sure, even if you hated the first one with a passion (or were bored out of your skull), I suggest definitely giving that one a go. Apart from overall better plot, you can also influence your party members - either getting them to love you or hate you, both of which tend to unlock extra dialogue and usually also bonuses (most of the characters can become Jedi).

Agree with you on the wookie talk - it's probably more grating because they repeat the same "phrase" over and over. This doesn't improve in the second game, though you only get THAT wookie if you're evil. Apart from his annoying "speech" (which I always just click through in both games for most aliens since I can read way faster than they "speak", especially when it comes to the wookies!), he's a very interesting (and messed up) character.

Hm, then I think I will try KOTOR 2, because I know the basic plot and think it's interesting and I'm a very big fan of the SW expanded universe, more so then most of the movies. So if you recommend it even to a person that dislike the first game makes me want to try it out.
I'll just pick it up on the sale that's going on now.

How do you edit down quotes by the way?

Do you mean like I've done just now with your quote above?

Just delete the bits that you don't want. ;)

Just make sure to keep the correct " [quote" at the start, and the " [/quote" at the end (including up to the next ']'). If you want to keep some nesting then there'll be multiple of those, and it's easy to get things go screwy (either not working at all, or quotes look like they came from the wrong person).

IMO the forum editor at GOG could stand to do with some improvements. That said, it's not like their competitors are much better - but there are plenty of other forums (not associated with selling stuff) that do a much better job. Well none of the movies have really approached the level of the OG trilogy anyway. And to be realistic, even though I am a fan of the originals, they are effectively fantasy fairy tales in space when it comes down to it.

I haven't delved too much into the SW Universe (except those couple of times I lost hours reading up on stuff on Wookiepedia), so not too sure if the second game is similar to other expanded universe stuff - but it's definitely a lot more complex than any other SW work I've come across. That isn't exactly to everyone's liking of course - SW:KOTOR II does somewhat "subvert" things, by which I mean, make things a lot more gray than they usually are in Star Wars (whereas the first game was a lot more conventional).

As long as you don't play these games to get some challenge out of the combat, because that's not going to happen - if anything the second game's combat is even easier than the first (with a couple of notable exceptions, although the only one I personally have struggled with a lot is an optional combat near the start of the game, and it's actually possible to lose it with only minor consequences, so I usually only try hard to win it with certain builds).

Well then let me recommend something to you.
The Darth Bane trilogy is very good, they tell a really fun dark side story. I think it was these books that explained why there are only two Sith Lords at a time, and yeah, this is most definitely a fantasy story first an foremost. Don't read it expecting any Isaac Asimov twist to blow your mind at the end. But they are fun books and maybe the only time I've rooted for the villain of the story.

The Captain Phasma book is really great too. It gives a bit more insight to what kind of organisation the New Order was and it also tells how Phasma went from being a part of a tribe living in caves that had no technology, to becoming one of the head honchos in the New Order. Very fun book.

And if you rather watch a tv-show, the Star Wars-Rebels cartoon is awesome. The first few episodes might be a bit childish, but it quickly becomes a series that fleshes out the Jedi, and the Star Wars society.
It was this show that made me like Star Wars in the first place, before I thought that the OG movies where kind of boring but after watching this it really got me hooked on the fantasy and philosophical elements of the Star Wars Universe.

Thanks, will have to look into those.

Don't worry though - I never expect anything approaching hard science fiction in anything Star Wars related. ;)

The two Sith Lords thing is something like the "Rule of 2" or something right? Didn't Palpatine bring that in, or was he the one who constrained it more? Makes sense though, since otherwise when there are no more Jedi to fight, they just turn on each other.

Nah the "rule of two" was Darth Bain's doing, the novels gives it a bit more dramatic edge but the main theory is that because the Sith are prone to in-fighting, he thought that dark side users where only going to grow weaker over time. Because when one master would grow too strong the other Sith lords would team up to kill that master and every time leaving only the weak survivors, who would then later also turn on each other.
So his solution was one master to wield the power of the dark side, and an apprentice to crave said power, killing their master when they've grown the stronger of the two.
And with them always working in the shadows, they would constantly gain power and grow stronger until they could one day strike down all of the Jedi order.

It's pretty ham, but I like it. Gives it an air of Shakespearean drama to the whole thing.

Yeah it's ham but it totally fits with the SW Universe - that kind of thing is par for the course there. And since the OG (and some of the games) managed to do this with a really cool style, it works. At least for me it does.

And yeah I think I confused Palpatine's "Rule of One" - where he didn't really like the idea of an apprentice eventually usurping him, so he basically made sure everyone else was weaker than him and could never take over.

I don't think that I've heard you the "Rule of One." Was that he was babbling about in Rise of Skywalker? Let me google it, just a sec.
Ahhh, ok. Now I know why there are a bunch of inquisitors running around in Star Wars-Rebels and the new comics.
I don't think that the Rule of One has ever been outright said by Palpatine in any comic or show, but it's clear that it's from that point of view the writers of the "new" EU are writing from, because in the comics set before A New Hope there are many new dark side users, but Palpatine and Darth Vader are the only ones ever been called Sith.
Palpatine seems to at least be paying lip-serves to the Rule of Two in the Darth Vader comics, praising Vader when he tries, but fails, to build a secret army to take over the empire, stating that he is a true apprentice and a true embodiment of the Sith.
So Palpatine want at some level still keep the Rule of Two, but probably believes that Darth Vader will never succeed in killing him and becoming the new Lord of the Sith and that having a collection of weaker dark side users is a smart investment.