Re: Why are there spiders in Star Wars!!!

I wrote a lengthy message in that other anti-spider thread, detailing just how traumatic it was for me to run into the first Wyyyshokk on Kashyyyk (well that was a mouthful :D). It involved screaming, the accidental dropping of the keyboard and crying after a nightmare that night, which was induced by jump-scare spiders trying to strangle you to death with their webs (clearly inspired by that first encounter by the workbench). 

So, I don't want to go into too much detail here, but I'm 27 and I still can't shake my arachnophobia that I've had since childhood. I can't really explain this to anyone who hasn't felt this primal fear, but it's like getting a panic attack every time I see a spider or a (realistic enough) picture of one. I feel cold, my hands are shaking and I start to hyperventilate. The bigger and more sudden the appearance of the spider is, the more severe my symptoms are. I tried to overcome my fear with a therapist so many times over the course of two decades, but the best I could manage was learn to cope with the small household spiders that pop up in my home from time to time. I don't panic about this anymore, though I always insist that my father or boyfriend or someone reloce them outside as soon as possible - preferably alive. (After all, its not their fault that I'm so afraid of them, they shouldn't die just because I have a phobia.)

But this is completely different in FO, because the Wyyyshokk spiders are huge, vicious, disgusting and quite realistic. They chase you around, strangle you with webs, try to impale you and grab you with their pincers, it is the literally the worst nightmare any arachnophobe could fathom - huge spiders chasing you around and trying to kill you.

Although everything in me screamed otherwise, this morning I decided to tackle the challenge and complete the second half of Kashyyyk and fight the spiders. I forced myself to look at their models and tell myself that they aren't real. I felt dizzy, I was shivering and by the third encounter I needed to vomit. I asked myself, is this why I bought this otherwise fantastic game? Am I having fun? I pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition because I love Star Wars so much, but is it worth to suffer psychological trauma scarring because of a game? Is this entertainment or torture, because it sure feels like both at times.

I started this game on Jedi Grand Master, just to see if I can impress my boyfriend, who wanted to impress me by playing on Jedi Master. To both of our surprise, I actually got the hang of it and really started to enjoy the challenge of the encouters and got to the second part of Kashyyyk with a nearly 100% exploration score in all areas. After I'd realized that how much I loved looking into every nook and cranny and uncovering every secret, I thought I might beat this game to 100% on the Jedi Grand Master difficulty. Alas, I never expected that the real challenge would come from facing the spiders and my deepest childhood fears.

Sorry for going off on a bit of a tangent here, but any non-spider solution I'd be forever grateful for. A friend of mine suggested using the pre-animation placeholder textures or models or just depixellate the spiders until they're not recognizable. You don't have to change any animations or replace them with different beasts, just allow us to fight the white placeholder cubes or circles or whatever instead. I'd far prefer that, even if it is a bit immersion breaking.

The Dathomir spiders that were in the arena, I'm ok with, I'm not a fan of them, but I don't get these panic attack inducing stress signs. I guess it's the smaller size and the lower overall grossness and also they die pretty easily. Dead spider models are also fine as long as they don't get up and try to eat me.

I'm sure there are lots of other people who have varying degrees of arachnophobia. You'd be doing us a huge favor by giving any option. I'm also OK with removing them entirely if that is the simplest solution. You could turn this on if you're like me or leave it off if you are fine with spiders.

You know what? Why don't you make a bit of fun of this and give an achievement for people who actually dare to face them? Give us an anti-spider mod and an achievement for all those people who complete the game without ever using it. Something like "I conquered my fear of spiders". That's one achievement I'd never get :D 

Thank you, I'd appreciate any help in this regard.