So I took some time over the holidays to run two of my 10 characters through the last expansion with is Knights of the Eternal throne.
There are lots of spoilers here so I'll spoiler tag them.
In terms of story line I thought it was amazingly well written, there were basically 9 chapters. Overall it took me about 12 hours of game play to run them through.
Spoiler!
At the end of KOTFE Arcann had been defeated and his crazed sister had taken over the throne and control of the Eternal fleet with the help of your former companion Scorpio. the Sith Emperor in the guise of Valkorian was pushing for you to take the eternal throne.
So this chapter was all about getting rid of Vailyn, who it turned out had been conditioned by her father to be controlled by the phrase "Kneel before the dragon of Zakul".
Anyways the first chapter starts with Vailyn invading Voss, the home of the force sensitive mystics. It turns out that after another companion Senya had betrayed you and taken her son Arcaan there to be heeled and redeemed. This was the first big choices matter moment as you have the option of killing her and going after her son or saving her and going after her son. This could have a major impact later on in the story. But at the end of the day, I decided to work with her and save her son which is funny because these were my two darkest characters.
Funnily enough the Sith Empire comes to your aid and you head to Kaas City to meet the Sith Empress, in this chapter you are betrayed and shot down. It seems like former Republic leader Sareesh has betrayed you and tried to kill you so you can take over the alliance. Of course you survive and have the choice of imprisoning her and killing her. She ate 3 feet of concentrated laser beam. nobody cried
Another choices matter came shortly after that, Koth another of your companions returns. In the last story depending on your actions he could have either stayed with you and commanded the GraveStone or stolen the Gravestone. So your focus was on taking the gravestone back after Vailyn tries to steel it. But your choice was either to forgive Koth, punch him out or execute him. Because I hated him I slammed my lightsabre through his chest.
Right after that you and the eternal fleet are transported to a new planet that's entirely run by AI. It seems like this is the home of the eternal fleet and Scorpio. While Vailyn tries to steal back her fleet, your just concerned with survival. You fight your way to the controlling AI and kill it. Then Scorpio shows up and tells you that she wants to upload herself to the computer and you will never hear from her again. You have a choice to allow her this or kill her. I couldn't bring myself to kill her.
The next chapter is a fun little chapter with very little fighting as you have to infiltrate Vailyn's party disguised as a Knight, this is very much a spy chapter as you plant bombs throughout the palace to free the slaves. The end is really cool as Arcaan returns. He either comes back to help you if you spared his mother or kill you if you killed his mother. Since I had spared her I gained a powerful companion.
Vailyn of course wanting to get rid of her father's restraints returned to where she was raised which was the Sith Emperor's homeworld. While you couldn't stop her from undergoing the ritual. you did find the Emperors vault and found an ancient holocron that contained the spirit of the Emperors father who had been imprisoned and tormented for a thousands years.
Once you escape you find out that Vailyn has invaded your alliance base. You return to find a full fledged war and you are given the choice of either saving Vette or Torian one of your two companions. I choose to save Vette because she's really just a kid. Vailyn brutally snaps Torian's neck using the force. The two of you fight and you eventually kill Vailyn. The war is over.
Or is it, with no control of the eternal throne the fleet goes insane and goes back to its basic programming of extermination. Zakuul, the republic and the Empire are all in danger of being destroyed. you have to according to Valkorian take the throne and restore peace.
you travel to Zakuul and reach the throne and take control of the fleet. But this is where the Emperor betrays you, his intent is to take over your body and seize the throne. The rest of the game is a battle in your own mind against the Emperor. Again this is where the choices matter. If you choose to imprison the Emperor's father he helps you out as Valkorian still has control of Vailyn's spirit. you eventually defeat her and you convince her to join you in killing her father. At the same time if you chose to save Arcaan he joins you as well.
In a stunning twist you manage to defeat the Immortal Emperor by using the phrase "Kneel before the dragon of Zakuul" which works because your mind your rules. You kill him forever and return to take aver the throne as either a brutal dictator or as the head of the eternal alliance.
The story ends with word of uprising and the Empire and Reppublic arming for war.
Thats the story. the game play itself was actually a sharp improvement you also got to do things like control a maintenance droid and take command of a walker during the invasions of Voss and the defense of your base.
The engine has undergone some really strong graphical improvements and nowhere was it clearer then on the new worlds. Also the characters faces were sharply improved.
In terms of outside of the story game play the crystals that you used to upgrade your armor and weapons are gone. Everything is done through command boxes that you gain by gathering command points. This means that the game is a bit grindier as you have to participate in flashpoints, heroic missions, Galactic starfighter missions and the new Uprisings. Also it means that the contents of the box can be somewhat random which can be frustrating.
I don't know where this game can go storywise, the main villain the Emperor is clearly dead and you are either the Emperor or the head of a peacekeeping fleet. I guess the next story line will be a war between the Sith and Republic with you as a third faction.
But I really enjoyed it.