That's actually just as GL put it down. "Ever is the dark side tempting with the quick and easy path." The Light side is supposed to be difficult to follow. That's part of the point. The universe is morally grey, but a Jedi can't be. Kreia's just encouraging a non-interventionist, selfish darkside path, the way she does for most of the game... and there is some in game evidence that she instigated the beggar's mugging by mind-clouding his attacker, just to be able to claim the Exile had erred.
I never stated KotOR II contradicted established Star Wars principles. What I did say is it expanded them and added complexities that were never considered before. The entire Jedi Council remained on the path of the Light and because of it they went extinct. The point of KotOR II in many ways was to show that the Light side was not infallible and that one had to embrace a more open-minded and inclusive understanding to truly understand the events unraveling.
The films have never been morally grey. Jedi have always followed the Force and the Sith have always followed the Dark Side. There is no ambiguity in the films whatsoever in terms of themes of Light and Dark. You missed the point of her entire purpose in KotOR II then. Kreia despised the Jedi (the Force) and the Sith (the Dark Side). She had been a part of both and had been ostracized by both. Her entire point was to show how much in common the Sith and Jedi actually shared, and that their moral compass was the only element that separated them.
As far as your latter part, that's pure speculation and nothing more that need not apply. The point of KotOR II was to show a galaxy that wasn't dominated by the overarching and transparent themes that we had come to expect in Star Wars. We saw a new kind of threat that wasn't dominated by the Sith. We encountered a side of the Force we had never seen as it is rare that anyone has experienced both the Force and the Dark Side and live to tell about it.
The genius of that scene (and Kreia in general) is that she scolds you no matter what choice you take, because your actions, good or bad, have consequences beyond your understanding. KoTor 2 was generally fantastic with escaping the good/bad binary (although it weirdly encouraged you to go full dark or light) and examining morality systems in general. Love that game so much. Kreia is the best character.
Absolutely. KotOR II is by far one of the greatest RPGs ever made, and it's largely because of the moral ambiguity and the dark tone set throughout the story. There really was no "right" or "wrong" as there was evil on both sides and many of the characters were just ultimately pawns in the game.
Of course it played into her ideology - it's a contrived and ham-fisted illustration of it, pretending as if the only two possible results are the two results that her ideology predicts. That's what makes it an author tract.
Kreia being a phenomenal character doesn't save the scene from being terribly executed as any kind of Aesop about morality, or from just being an instance of trolling the player from a design POV.
But the actual scene is totally arbitrary. It's the equivalent of the person just screaming "THE BOZAKS ARE COMING!" and running shrieking off the edge of the platform to his death, with the moral being that sometimes people will spontaneously break down into a fit of temporary insanity and commit suicide.
But the consequence isn't beyond your understanding. It's totally understandable. It's just unpredictable and structured so as to troll the player no matter what choice you make. This is in total contrast to the scenes on Dantoine where you can play both sides against each other, and Kreia praises you for it. On Dantoine, you're an active agent. Kreia's praise - and illustration of her morality - only comes when you earn it. That's a well-done scene.
The writer wanted to make it transparent that a good choice does not translate into a good response. This had always generally been the case in Star Wars (especially the games), which is why this scene was so incredible and needed. You can make the argument that it was "forced" and was not well-executed, but that is clearly your opinion and many here have stated to the contrary with respect to that scene.
You entirely miss the point then. The purpose of the scene was to take control out of the hands of the player. To take your choice and to flip it on its head. It was a basic statement of how what you intend does not always translate to reality. To argue it was poorly-written and a "troll" just misses the entire purpose of how crucial that scene was setting the tone for the rest of the game.
Isn't Darth Traya a complete lunatic whose actions would probably kill everything in the galaxy if she ever succeeded in her likely impossible goal?
Is Kreia a lunatic? Perhaps. Then again, I'd say that most of the Jedi Council and the Sith Lords were just as insane as she was, in their own respective ways. Kreia saw the Force as the ultimate evil in the galaxy. She had been betrayed by the Jedi and the Sith. She had a unique perspective that no one else could truly understand. Would destroying the Force kill the galaxy? Who really knows? The point was all sides of the spectrum were flawed, no matter how "good" or "bad" they were. Kreia just merely saw the hypocrisy of the Force and wanted to exterminate it.
Back on topic though, as I illustrated above moral ambiguity and moral dilemmas could add a lot of potential opportunities for Dragon Age. It's likely these types of decisions will not make it into DAI, as BioWare doesn't really have a strong history of building these kinds of choices. I would love seeing a more prominent presence of these kind of scenarios in the future, however, as they make the player think and second guess the choices he/she actually makes.
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