The series is finally done, the critics have spoken, and so have all your friends. Revenge of the Sith has landed firmly in the “meh” sector as far as movies go, and the first two Star Wars prequel movies were only slightly north of Battlefield: Earth on the suck-o-meter. From Anakin’s completely unsubtle lamenting to the excessive saber fights, Episodes 1 through 3 didn’t soar as high as the originals. It’s not all bad, though; we’ve been treated to three great Star Wars stories, and none of them required dealing with sticky floors and eight-year-olds kicking your chair.

Three companies, under the watchful eye of LucasArts and The Man himself, managed to create three of the most engrossing Star Wars stories (and best video games) of all time. KOTOR was so good, it sold Xboxes when owning an Xbox meant you were a sucker who didn’t mind your consoles erupting into flames. Jedi Knight 2 showed the world you didn’t need the star of the story to be a symbol of human virtue; Raven gave the digital equivalent of Han Solo a light saber and stole everyone’s heart in the process. Raven, Obsidian, and Bioware did it better than Lucas, and they didn’t even need James Earl Jones. How’d they do it? Outside of the oft-complained “Lucas can’t write” scapegoat, one reason is the most prominent.