Force PersuadeFollow

Maybe it's only me, but I'm finding persuade options to be very interesting for my experience as a player. When to use them and when not to use them is a constant struggle, which I think is great. Using persuade to force that big thug on Coruscant to surrender? Yeah, no problem. Using it to get the Twi'lek pilgrims to back down? Sure--it's a dire situation and probably the only way I could spare their lives.

But then you get some really, really interesting ones. (2 Spoilers for Knight quest through early Alderaan, with as little Knight plot info as possible)

SpoilerFirst was on Tattooine, when you face Lord Praven. He's a light-sided Sith Lord--he's deeply loyal to the Sith due to his pureblood heritage and sense of honor. So much so that he spares the lives of Republic innocents where ever possible; he considers it shameful to kill someone who is not a warrior. To facilitate that, he actually offers you the chance to have an honorable duel so others don't get in your way, which would save many lives regardless of who won (something very important to him).

Before the duel, you have the ability to try and make him understand that the Jedi are not the destroyers he believes they are (he doesn't see the evil of the Sith, and is convinced that the Jedi exist only to exterminate his people) or to Force Persuade him into helping. That really made be think. He offered the honorable duel as a way to save lives, so would using FP be fair? I ultimately decided not to, and just tried to convince him the Jedi weren't evil. We fought, yes. But afterwards, I had the option to spare him and then even got him to joint the Jedi. Before that, though, I was curious as to what FP would actually do so I tested the conversation (after making my ultimate choice) just to see--turns out he'll give you the code you want, but then be outraged at your trickery that he attacks. I'm guessing you lose the ability to convert him.

That was a very hard decision, lol.

SpoilerThe other one was the first quest on Alderaan, which I actually regret my choice. Without revealing too many details, an unfortunate death leads to your knight getting arrested along with another scientist. You are able to convince them to let you go free, but the scientist gets imprisoned, or force persuade them into letting you both go. I chose the latter. And, honestly, I really wish I hadn't. The interesting thing is that I suspect my decision was the greater good choice, for reasons I'm putting in the next tag because they're actually a big part of the Alderaan story.

SpoilerThe scientist was a Sith Assassin, and actually the one who killed the count. If she's jailed, I suspect she would have killed those guards. So persuading them to let us both go free actually saved their lives. But I still think I made the wrong decision. They were being more than fair in letting me go free as long as she stayed imprisoned as well, and Alderaan is a bastion of equality. I feel like I just smeared mud all over that. I actually decided I wanted to choose the other option before the conversation ended, but the game lagged and the esc didn't register until the convo was over (the next quest starts instantly upon completion of the scene. What's interesting about this choice in general is that there's no real implication about her going free or not until later in the story--you're forced to make a choice without much info to go off of, and it's interesting.

WOMP.

YOU SpoilerMEMORY WIPED T7? You are an evil, EVIL disgrace of a Jedi.

Well, I've been taking mostly the neutral path with her. More power to fight the Empire sounded good at the time.

I remember Force persuasion being a big thing on both my Knight and Consular. Warrior and Inquisitor haven't had any Force persuade options available yet. Usually it's just [Kill him/her] options galore.

You would think so, but a lot of punks with blasters and vibroswords think they can take you down. This seems to happen a lot on Nar Shadaa.

Non force wielding classes can do the same thing it's just not labelled force persuade. It's just the dialogue option least likely to start a fight. Having that ability is really just an aesthetic.



Jedi Option: You don't want to fight me.(He surrenders himself)
Trooper Option: Your activities have caught the attention of Havoc squad. Surrender.(He does)
Smuggler Option: You've got the attention of the republic army now.(He surrenders)

Edited, May 5th 2012 7:00am by snieh

I find that a lot of Imperial officers possess a complete and utter lack of respect for the Sith. I like that you can reprimand some of them for not calling you "My lord" while others get to verbally abuse you while asking you to help them with a mission.

Sometimes I hate that I'm going Light Side on my Juggernaut, but Vette is all over me for it.

Remember that Force Persuade invalidates their free will, where the other two persuade forms appeal to it. That's a big difference, in terms of morality, as free will is generally seen as one of the greatest moral goods.

So, assuming FP is only moral when it serves the greater good (which is what Jedi philosophy and rules say), then the force persuade has to be in service of a good great enough to make up for that.

So, when you're in a crowded cantina and you need to bring a criminal in, taking away his ability to freely resist serves the greater good by both preventing the inevitable harm to bystanders a blaster fight would cause, as well as ensuring he lives to see another day (for you wouldn't be able to rely on your ability to contain him in such a situation, due to the risk he poses to others).

Persuading some guards that those are not the droids they are looking for serves the greater good when the droids in question hold the key to the freedom of the whole galaxy.

Persuading a drug dealer that he should think about his life choices potentially gives him a new path. But more importantly, the potential to give his customers back their free will justifies forcing him into contemplation. Addiction is often seen as disabling free will, so selling addicts drugs is a great moral evil because they can no longer freely choose not to buy them.

Etc.

I feel bad about my one choice because I used force persuade to bypass (fair) local laws for my own reasons. It was in the name of the greater good, but I could have reached the same good result without committing a morally wrong act. The only reason I chose not to do so was primarily emotional. Therefore, I shouldn't have persuaded them.

Had I done that purely through reason, it would be a very different story.