Spoiler Warning: There will be spoilers ahead for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and for other iterations of the Star Wars franchise.
Welcome back to Jedi: Fallen Order! If you missed the previous instalment of this playthrough, you can find it by clicking or tapping here. Last time, Cal and the gang left the planet of Bogano bound for the mysterious, dark world of Dathomir. I was hoping I’d made a good choice opting to head to that planet, but I ended up losing my first fight in Jedi: Fallen Order so far! Let’s go through how we got to that point.
After arriving on Dathomir, Cal was ready to disembark the Stinger Mantis and set out in search of the Zeffo – the race that Jedi Master Eno Cordova tasked him with learning more about. The route from the Mantis’ landing spot into the first area of the level was well-indicated, and I like the deserted, alien feel of Dathomir with its red-tinged stone and rock. Red often makes a good choice for an otherworldly terrain colour. After moving along the path a short way, a section of it collapsed and Cal had to jump and climb along some conveniently-placed vines to access the first area, which contained a patrolling monster. I really thought this was going to be a young Rancor monster (a larger one tried to kill Luke Skywalker during his mission to Jabba the Hutt’s palace in Return of the Jedi) as it looked very similar to the young Rancors seen in the Knights of the Old Republic games. As Cal is still quite low-level, I decided to sneak around at first, seeing what else the area had to offer.
The patrolling monster was easy to avoid, and Cal climbed up to a higher elevation, where several smaller monsters were easily dispatched – though these spider-creatures dissolve in a pool of acid when killed, injuring Cal unless he leaps out of the way in time. Taking on one or two at a time is no real challenge, but here I began to see why a number of reviewers said Jedi: Fallen Order isn’t a walk in the park! One or two of these monsters pose no threat, but on Dathomir there’s a long way to go from the Stinger Mantis to the first save point – save points/meditation spots are where Cal can rest and heal – and each fight against one or two of them adds up, knocking a few points from Cal’s heath, then a few more, then a few more – leading to consequences we’ll see in a moment! BD-1 can heal Cal if asked, but this can only be done twice in between save points (though I suspect that can be upgraded down the line).
After taking out several groups of these monsters, I came to a somewhat confusing point. A narrow gap in a doorway, window, or crack in the ruins of Dathomir clearly opened out into a room just beyond, and by moving the camera I could see something in that room to interact with. Yet despite Cal previously being able to climb through tight spots, there was no way in to this obvious room. I even tried smashing my way in with Cal’s lightsaber! There was nothing to interact with to allow Cal access to the room; he just ignored it and acted as thought nothing was there. Perhaps it’s possible to gain access via another route, or to come back here later when Cal has learned some new skill or other, but it was very odd.
Beyond the inaccessible room was a bridge; BD-1 scanned an artefact which led to an ominous reference to the Night Brothers – remember last time I asked if there were Night Brothers to go with the Night Sisters? There are! An entry in the databank says that the Night Brothers were second-class citizens in a female-dominated society that once flourished on Dathomir. Count Dooku apparently was responsible for the destruction of the Night Sisters after they tried to assassinate him – something which might have been included in The Clone Wars animated series as I know Dooku was a character there. I haven’t watched The Clone Wars so I can’t be sure, though. After cutting a rope which provides a shortcut to and from the lower part of the level, Cal proceeded across the bridge.
A cut-scene triggered after crossing the bridge, with cute little BD-1 scanning some markings on the rocks that Cal identified as being evidence of the Zeffo. However, before they’re able to do anything with the markings, a hooded figure materialises out of thin air. Waving her arms and using green “magic”, she summons two shirtless men. Cal tries to talk her down – though telling her he “can’t leave” Dathomir is not what I’d have said in that situation – but the woman disappears and her minions attack. This was Cal’s first encounter with a Night Sister – not so extinct after all!
Weakened from battling a number of those spider-creatures en route, Cal didn’t do very well against these two assailants, the Night Brothers. Taking one down felt like a good accomplishment, but the second was able to kill Cal fairly quickly thereafter. I’m still getting used to Jedi: Fallen Order’s combat; evidently I need to work on blocking and parrying, as well as dodging attacks! Getting better at those key skills will help as we progress through the game. Cal respawned at the Stinger Mantis. Being already back at the ship, and with no other meditation spots on Dathomir that I’d seen so far, I took Cal aboard and used the one in the rear cabin. I had two unused skill points; one had been awarded for defeating the first Night Brother, though I’m not sure how long I’d been sitting on the second! I chose to increase Cal’s maximum Force points, which will allow him to use his Force abilities more often and/or for longer. The second point was invested in Cal’s blocking ability, which should reduce the damage he takes from attacks while blocking. A solid use of two points, if I do say so myself.
Now I had to progress back through the level to get back to the fight, and using the meditation spot meant that Dathomir’s monsters and enemies had all respawned. Luckily Cal had unlocked that shortcut earlier, allowing several of the smaller spider-creatures to be bypassed. I also stopped to take on the monster I misidentified as a Rancor; it is in fact a different kind of creature unique to Dathomir according to its entry in Jedi: Fallen Order’s databank. It also wasn’t nearly as difficult to fight as it looked!
I wasn’t sure if I’d need to sit through the cut-scene again after crossing the bridge, but fortunately Jedi: Fallen Order is better-designed than games of the past had been! The two Night Brothers were both back to full health, but after jumping and dodging and a fair amount of hopeful lightsaber swinging they both went down, leaving Cal – to my surprise – still with a fairly full health meter. After swinging, Tarzan-style, across a couple of vines, we finally found Dathomir’s first meditation spot/save point. Cal had been awarded another skill point during the second fight against the Night Brothers, but there was only one option on the skill tree this time, some kind of dash-attack.
Immediately after the meditation spot Cal came under attack from another group of Night Brothers, including one who was using a ranged weapon – some kind of blaster in the form of a longbow. Having practiced on Stormtroopers during the escape from Bracca at the beginning of the game, it was relatively easy to bounce the shots back to the archer – though this was made more complicated by a second Night Brother attacking from close range. A second archer was similarly defeated, as was another Night Brother in the next hallway. Cal then came upon a locked door. As with the inaccessible room from earlier, there must be a way in; whether this is something we’ll find as we explore or whether it’s an area we’ll have to come back to later isn’t clear.
I’ve encountered a couple of graphical glitches since arriving on Dathomir. The first one came right at the beginning of the level, while Cal was climbing the vines near the Stinger Mantis. His hands, arms, and part of his head appeared to clip through the ledge he was supposed to be holding on to:
This wasn’t a big deal, and though I spotted it I wasn’t particularly put out by it. Evidently what’s happened is the game has designated the “edge” of the ledge incorrectly, slightly too far inside the actual texture of the rock. No biggie, and I might not have brought it up but for something that happened later. After defeating the Night Brothers and archers, Cal entered another narrow hallway and was attacked by another single Night Brother. But the camera swung wildly as Cal dodged an attack, and it was impossible to see what was going on:
I couldn’t get the camera unstuck and back into a normal position during the fight, nor could I find a way out of the hallway. I’m not blaming the camera movement for Cal’s defeat in this fight; I was already low on health and hadn’t used BD-1’s stim-pack to replenish it. But it definitely didn’t help, and while it’s the first time there’s been a problem like this I did want to bring it up because this is all part of the gameplay experience for me.
Even though we haven’t got very far into Dathomir or actually done very much, I had to get on with something else so I took a break – we’ll pick up from the save point next time and press on further into the ruins of Dathomir. Hopefully those last two points don’t feel too much like nitpicks; I just want to be as comprehensive as possible in a playthrough like this. I’m not an especially competent gamer these days, and it often takes me several tries to beat a difficult level or hard boss. As mentioned in Part 1 of this series, I am playing Jedi: Fallen Order on its easiest difficulty setting. I do this as my health is poor, meaning things like button-mashing and millisecond-perfect hits are things I’m just not capable of for the most part. The first fight against the two Night Brothers definitely caught me off-guard – the fact I was able to easily beat them on my second try is, I think, evidence of that! Hopefully the next phase of exploring Dathomir will go smoothly!
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is out now on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is the copyright of Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts. The Star Wars franchise is the copyright of Lucasfilm and Disney. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Trekking with Dennis 