History VideoGame / DarkForcesSaga

* AppropriatedTitle: The ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Dark Forces]]'' title was replaced with ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Jedi Knight]]'' when the second game (''Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight'') proved more popular.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Often, after an Imperial officer commands his troops to attack you, a stormtrooper will say something like "Let's see some ID!" and then open up on full-auto.

* SimultaneousWarningAndAction: Played hilariously straight.

* RestartAtLevelOne: Invoked by Kyle Katarn in ''Jedi Outcast''; he cut himself off from the Force so he wouldn't fall to the dark side again.

*** A less subtle piece of LampshadeHanging is a sample of EnemyChatter in ''Outcast'' where a stormtrooper will express his frustration over the armor's helmet, claiming that it obstructs his sight.
*** And again in ''Academy'': in the mission in which you infiltrate some catacombs, you can overhear two mercenaries talking (providing that you don't kill them as soon as you see them), with one of them complaining about how his helmet obstructs his sight, much like back when he was a stormtrooper.
*** Another variation in ''Jedi Academy'', where a snowtrooper in the first main story mission mentions that he was a champion racer on speeder bikes, selected to be a scout trooper, but couldn't see out of the helmet, caused a pile-up that destroyed about a dozen speeder bikes, and was immediately kicked back out.
*** All of which can be considered a call-back to Luke's ([[ThrowItIn possibly ad-libbed]]) complaint in ''A New Hope'': "I can't see a thing in this helmet!"

** And

'''Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy''' (2004), essentially an ExpansionPack in the body of a true sequel, featured a brand new character, Jaden Korr. This character is customizable, with male/female voices for several species as well as hair and clothing variations (though later novels pin down canonical species and gender as human/male, respectively). You can also choose from a selection of lightsaber hilts and colors, and later in the game can upgrade to dual wield or use the double bladed version. Jaden has somehow constructed a lightsaber without any prior Jedi training, and news of this remarkable feat results in being transported to the Jedi Academy, where you become the apprentice of Kyle Katarn. The game consists of progressing through missions assigned by Luke or Kyle until you become a Jedi Knight. Unusually, the game takes a free-form yet tiered approach--as an initiate, you can pick any of five missions to take in any order; at apprentice level, you gain a set of five new missions; and at Jedi Knight level, you get five more. Also noteworthy is that you need finish only four missions to progress to the next level, though as you get more powers with each of these missions it's in your best interest to do them all. In between each level of difficulty is a compulsory mission, linked directly to the main story. The story involves a group of Sith Cultists seeking to resurrect an ancient Sith Lord, Marka Ragnos. Like Dark Forces 2, there are two endings, one for each side of the Force (as usual with LucasArts, the light side one was eventually determined to be canonical).

** ''Dark Forces'' did this with MIDI using the [=iMuse=] system, previously used in [=LucasArts=] adventure titles and the ''[[VideoGame/XWing X-Wing]]''/''VideoGame/TieFighter'' series.

* DummiedOut: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy both have unused programming for level 4 Mind Trick, which (when enabled through console) lets you directly mind control enemies. Its incredibly glitchy, but still has its moments of hilarity (such as jumping Reborn off cliffs, or shooting stormtroopers in the back with rocket launchers).

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Most notably, enemy [[SuperpoweredMooks Force users']] perfect reflexes and control with their powers: they always push-deflect missiles and concussion blasts, straight back at you and with perfect accuracy.

** [[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} Brooklyn]] is [[JeffBennett Kyle Katarn.]] I guess [[ScrewedByTheNetwork the franchise's various woes]] [[TookALevelInBadass preventing him from taking that level in badass]] worked out all right for him in the end.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Often, after an Imperial officer commands his troops to attack you, shortly before being killed himself, a stormtrooper will say something like "Let's see some ID!"

* CantStayNormal: After his brushes with the DarkSide in ''Jedi Knight'' and ''Mysteries of the Sith'', Kyle gave up his lightsaber and the Force, only to come back to it in ''Jedi Outcast'' after certain plot developments.
** And resumes life as a Rebel agent in the meantime.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Most notably, enemy [[SuperpoweredMooks force users']] perfect reflexes and control with their powers: they always push-deflect missiles and concussion blasts, straight back at you and with perfect accuracy.
** As a boss in ''Academy'', [[spoiler:Kyle]] can force pull your saber clean out of your hand, something that's impossible for anyone else.

*** If you use console cheats and set your Jedi Mind Trick to level 4 you can mind control Desann to see how broken he really is. He'll block blaster fire and force push stuff like rockets back at opponents automatically, and some times he'll force choke or push/pull enemies on his own without you even inputting any commands. Hell, try mind controlling him and spawning five or ten high-level Jedi enemies and see how easily you turn them all into Jedi sandwich spread.

*** Some enemy Force users have limitless Force energy, allowing them to break free from drain and grip at any moment. They can actually abort their special swings to avoid attacks and tend to aim at your model - sometimes killing you by hitting something that seems empty space for the player (oh yeah, they also invisibly "evade" your attacks - slashing their face will occasionally leave them unharmed except for a visible burned mark in the middle). Their Force Throw is perfectly targeted - it will stop right where you stand and keep swinging until it kills you or is parried. Yours, on the other hand, will pass further and stop at maximum range.

** Also the duel against [[spoiler: Rosh]] and the 2 Reborn Master twins in ''Jedi Academy''.

** Speaking of Jerec, he is shown to be without eyes, but yet Force Blinding works on him perfectly fine in-game (although I guess you can argue that Force Blinding would cut off his ability to see through the Force as well)

* FisticuffsBoss: In one level of ''Dark Forces'', Kyle is captured and stripped of his weapons by Jabba the Hutt, then forced to fight at least one kell dragon unarmed. After he is done punching it to death with his bare hands, another kell-dragon infested part of the level opens up, but the odds can end up a little more balanced in his favor if he chooses to force some grenade-carrying Mooks to part with their weapons.

* GunsAreUseless: Once you get your lightsaber, you will only ever use 3 guns again, one for stealth kills, one for long range kills and one for robots.

* HarderThanHard: Jedi Master difficulty. In ''Outcast'' and ''Academy'', you have 50% health and 50% shields, and enemy Force Users are much smarter. Also, in ''Academy'', major bosses like Alora, Tavion, and Marka Ragnos can take 4 times as much damage as they normally can.

*** A less subtle piece of LampshadeHanging is a sample of EnemyChatter in ''Outcast'' where a Stormtrooper will express his frustration over the armor's helmet, claiming that it obstructs his sight.
*** And again in ''Academy'': in the mission in which you infiltrate some catacombs, you can overhear two mercenaries talking (providing that you don't kill them as soon as you see them), with one of them complaining about how his helmet obstructs his sight, much like back when he was a Stormtrooper.
*** Another variation in ''Jedi Academy'', where a snowtrooper in the first main story mission mentions that he was selected to be a scout trooper, but couldn't see out of the helmet, caused a pile-up that destroyed about a dozen speeder bikes, and was immediately kicked back out.

** Also, in ''Outcast,'' retrieving [[spoiler:your lightsaber]] involves a combination of depressing a switch, using force speed, and force pulling it to you, even though the gaps in the bars are ''huge'' and Kyle could realistically just reach in and grab it.

* JustToyingWithThem: When Desann challenges a de-powered Kyle to a fight in ''Outcast''. He mostly just stands there and lets him try to hurt him.

* KillHimAlready: After their respective defeats, Yun, Maw and Jerec each try this on Kyle. [[spoiler: Maw succeeds.]]

* [[{{TakenForGranite}} Taken For Carbonite]]: ''Mytseries'' introduces a special carbonite rifle that freezes enemys in, well, carbonite.

* OneManArmy: Kyle Katarn. Notably, in the first game, before he gets any force powers, he sneaks (i.e. shoots his way through) on board the ''Executor'' (Darth Vader's personal flagship!), just so that he can get on board an inter-ship shuttle to the Arc Hammer, where the Dark Troopers are being created. He then shoots his way through the ''entire ship'' (which is about half the size of the Executor, but still larger than a Star Destroyer), kills a ''dozen'' Dark Troopers (six of which were enough to take out an entire colony's defenses), destroys the most powerful Dark Trooper yet made, then ''destroys the Arc Hammer''. While ''Vader'', apparently unaware until now, watches from the bridge of the Executor. ''[[UpToEleven Then he got force powers!]]''

* PrecisionFStrike: Luke, of all people, drops a quiet "Damn" in one of the latter levels of ''Outcast'' after learning that [[spoiler: the villains are stockpiling a rare mineral that can deflect lightsabers.]]

*** Of the two Rancors you can fight, one of them is a mutant version with a corrosive breath.

* UnholyNuke: In ''Jedi Knight'', Jerec can use the "Destruction" Force Power. It's a Dark Side attack that consist in a fiery ball of flames and negative energy that destroy everything on its path.
* UnusualEuphemism: Borrowed from other parts of the StarWarsEU.

* DarkActionGirl: Sariss, Tavion, and Alora are all female dark Jedi who are among the most dangerous characters in their respective games.

** Similarly, Force Choke's first level is mostly useless. Its second level can damage someone, but leaves you vulnerable. Max-level Force Choke allows you to slam every non-Force user enemy in the game off of the ceiling and floor, and makes even Force users ludicrously easy to kill if there's a bottomless pit or lava pool nearby.

* MythologyGag: The Imperial blaster rifle is the [[ImperialStormtrooperAcademy least accurate gun]] in the game.

* UniqueEnemy: The Rancor in ''Mysteries of the Sith''.
** ''Jedi Academy'' has quite a few. For example, Howlers are only fought on Yavin, Sand Creatures are only seen on Blenjeel and Interrogator droids are only seen in a single room in Vjun. There are a lot of other enemies limited to one or two levels as well.

* EnemyChatter: Done to a considerable degree in ''Jedi Outcast'' and ''Jedi Academy''.

* BlackAndWhiteMagic: In ''Jedi Knight'', Kyle can use the light side (healing and support skills) or the dark side (only does damage and instant death). In ''Mysteries of the Sith'', Kyle becomes TheRedMage (although he can use all the available powers) because the plot requires him to do a quick FaceHeelTurn, only to be redeemed by Mara. Jaden can take his or her pick over what light or dark skills they pick.

* BlackAndWhiteMagic: In ''Jedi Knight'', Kyle can use the light side (healing and support skills) or the dark side (only does damage and instant death). In ''Mysteries of the Sith'', Kyle becomes TheRedMage (although he can use all the available powers) because the plot requires him to do a quick FaceHeelTurn, only to be redeemed by Mara.

** His most notable accomplishment is beating at least one Kell dragon to death. ''with his fists.'' Note that each Kell dragon is as tall as a human, at least three times as long, and normally ''eats humans for breakfast'' (at least the one Kyle fought did). And he did this ''before'' [[BadassNormal learning to use the Force]].

* EnemyCivilWar - Mostly averted, in relation to your Imperial foes, save for some hints that stormtroopers were fed to or accidentally happened upon some kell dragons in ''Jedi Knight''. Also, in one case in ''Jedi Outcast'''s second level, some turrets in one room appear to be programmed to kill stormtroopers, as well as the player. Mooks working in the underworld seem much more prone to this sort of behavior, however. One notable example is a BarBrawl between a number of Grans in Baron's Hed in ''Jedi Knight''. In ''Mysteries of the Sith'', the palace of Ka'Pa the Hutt also has a few sequences in which Mooks attack one another.

* Ax-crazy: Boc in Jedi knight.

** This troper swears he has seen one stormtrooper blatantly shoot another in the back with no provocation, then take his place on the ledge saying: "Outta my way..."