Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is here, but before you and your BD-1 Droid run off across the Galaxy, there are some things you should know! Fallen Order is influenced by a few other games, drawing on their best ideas, and then injecting a Star Wars twist. There are ways to maximize your use of certain mechanics, saving you time and possibly a limb. Here are just a few tips that I wish I had known before starting my quest to rebuild the Jedi Order.
Early tips and tricks for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
1. Use Meditation Areas Effectively
Fallen Order makes use of meditation points that are similar to bonfires in Dark Souls. Stopping in these areas will save your game, creating a checkpoint. You will have the option to spend points in the skill tree or even rest. Resting will replenish your health and equipment such as stims. However, resting will also revive all of your fallen enemies. You’ll have to decide whether or not it’s worth it to repopulate a given area with enemies. I would recommend only doing so if you anticipate a battle and need health stims, or you’re moving into a new area and won’t have to fight those reanimated baddies again.
2. Block. Do it.
I know this is pretty simple, but hear me out. If you’re anything like me, the second you get a lightsaber you’re going to want to come out swinging. Blocking and parrying effectively, however, is paramount to your survival against higher-level enemies. A fully offensive strategy may work against low-level peons and troopers, but you WILL need to learn to party and block promptly to defeat high-level melee enemies like Sith.
3. Use your Holomap
BD-1 is more than a cute little Droid. He’s a good boi with the ability to project a holographic map for you, on command. This holomap is more than a lore-friendly player map. BD-1 will record all of your travels and note passageways and shortcuts for you. Jedi: Fallen Order features Metroidvania-like passages that may become accessible with new powers and it is worth it to check your holomap and backtrack to those areas. Usually, you’ll be rewarded with cosmetic items from player skins to BD skins, or even lightsaber parts.
4. Use all of your skills
One gratifying part of leveling up early on in Jedi: Fallen Order is seeing just how necessary and useful all of your skills are. Leaning on one maneuver and ignoring the rest really isn’t possible. Use a mix of your Force powers and physical moves in combat. Restraining one enemy using the Force while delivering crushing blows to another is satisfying, useful, and a deadly combination if used well. There are also a few alien enemies who rely on a speedy charge in your direction to do damage. Rather than simply dodge rolling away, using the Force to slow them down and delivering an onslaught of your own blows could end the battle much more quickly.
5. Scan everything
As you explore ancient Jedi temples or alien landscapes, you’ll receive prompts to scan various items. From interesting fauna, to rock formations, and more, you’ll be able to scan these anomalies and collect data on them. This information could help you defeat new enemies or unlock memories in Cal that awaken dormant powers. I was stuck in a particular area that required the wall running ability and couldn’t progress until I backtracked and found a clickable item that unlocked that power. Save time; interact with everything as you come across it and save yourself some backtracking. The information you gather can also be revisited in the codex along with some interesting lore, for those of you that enjoy some light reading on the in-game world.
6. Isolate your enemies
Low-level enemies aren’t a challenge on their own, but getting surrounded by a pack of them can lead to death by a thousand cuts. Being attacked by a handful of melee enemies along with ranged foes can bring a quick death, sending you back to the last meditation spot you visited. I’ve suffered a few deaths by running into a combat scenario with little to no planning. Stake out the area if only for a moment, and identify the enemies you need to dispatch first.
I would recommend making a beeline for troopers with blasters or even rocket launchers before dealing with baton-wielding troopers. Using your slowing Force powers on ranged troopers as you run towards them will also slow their blaster bolts. Oh, and don’t try to block a rocket with your saber the way you do with bolts… just don’t.
7. Create your own saber
With Jedi: Fallen Order being a linear experience in terms of narrative, customizing Cal is one of the small perks for players who enjoy options. Make sure to visit the workbench in the back of your ship to apply new parts and even crystals to your saber. You’ll be able to change the material finish, various parts and switches, and even the color of your blade. You know what they say: It’s the saber that makes the Jedi.
8. Look for red objects when climbing
Another inspiration that Fallen Order takes from greats such as Tomb Raider and Uncharted are large platforming sequences. You’ll be climbing, sliding, and leaping from great heights while the massive setpieces are either transforming or falling apart around you. Thinking quickly on your feet is essential in these moments. A single color is often used to tell the player a surface is either used as a ledge or climbing surface, with yellow being used in the aforementioned Tomb Raider series. In moments of chaos (and there will be a few) just look for red ledges and climbing surfaces and keep it moving. That maglev train is not going to wait for you to find the next ledge before falling apart under imperial blaster fire.
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