Maybe I'm an idiot, but it didn't really look like there was a clear path for you to follow once you finish training on Dantooine. I don't remember any of the Jedi Council saying where I should go first, so I picked Kashyyk. Mostly because I wanted to see if it was as fabulous as I remember from the "Star Wars Holiday Special."
It is.
It goes without saying that you should take your walking carpet friend Zaalbar out and about with you on his home planet. Especially considering his asshole brother has entered an unholy alliance with the Czerka Corporation to capture wookies for slavery. Oh, the howls of indignation...and man do they howl. I think I actually jumped the first time one of the other wookies snarled at me. Luckily they're all being subdued by The Man, so if you want to practice your Dark Side skills, insulting an oppressed species like wookies is a good place to start.
You've also acquired a new companion from Dantooine: Juhani, the redeemed Catha (She's a cat-humanoid, get it?) Jedi you rescued from the Dark Side in the Star Map ruins on Dantooine. Personally, I'm going to keep Bastila in my party.
More Mandalorians show up on Kashyyk, still up to their typically nefarious tricks, and they're pretty tough. They wait until you unequip your weapons before decloaking and attacking, forcing a bit of planning with the shields and the adrenal doses and whatnot. I like how the game essentially forces you to figure out how to use the queue and mix up Force and melee actions in order to survive (it definitely comes in handy on Tattooine).
Yet most of this takes place on the ground, in a sinister place called the Shadowlands...a whole planet full of tree cities and you spend two-thirds of the time running around on the forest floor. Nice.
Once you get the Star Map, you find Zaalbar's disgraced father, recover the fabled sword of Bacca, and help overthrow the Czerka and their Wookie accomplices. Cue triumphant fanfare.
Lots of Dark Side opportunities here. I used Force Persuade more times than I care to admit (not that it did me a lot of good) and the final puzzle for the Star Map goes a lot easier if you answer from a Dark Side perspective. A lot easier...I couldn't see a clear way to do it in Light Side fashion. It was so bad, apparently, that my fellow Jedi-cum-romantic subplot Bastila expressed concerns about my turning evil.
All of your cohorts continue to have personal issues: Bastila would like to look for her parents on Tattooine; Mission wants to find her brother, "Griff," who ran off with some Twi'ilek skank and left her on Taris; Canderous is still having inadequacy issues about losing to the Republic; and Carth just needs to be bitch-slapped.
You also acquire a new companion: Jolee, an ex-Jedi who is reminiscent of an older Samuel L. Jackson (no relation to Mace Windu that I can figure out). Jolee's vaguely insulting and condescending banter offers a welcome change from the friendly and/or conciliatory approach you have to take most of the time.
One more thing: I can't emphasize how refreshing it is that (so far) no character in the game appears to have any connection whatsoever to anyone in the movies. In case you hadn't heard, Lucas is going to put Chewie, Grand Moff Tarkin, and (allegedly) the Millennium Falcon into "Episode III," thus managing to include almost every character from the orginal trilogy in the prequels (Lando and Han may actually miss the cut, though I wouldn't count out their appearance as scruffy street urchins, a la Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger). Bah, I say. Obviously, setting this game 4000 years in the past allowed the game developers to avoid that little pitfall, and kudos to them for it.
Next, on to Tattooine.
I'm all but through with Tattooine at this point, though Calo Nord hasn't shown up yet. I guess he didn't die on Taris, though I bet he's going to be pissed as hell that I've got his armor.
I managed to talk my way through the sandpeople enclave, with the help of HK-79, who is hands down the funniest character in the entire Star Wars universe. I've been initiating conversations just so I can hear him calling me "meatbag."
I went to Tattooine first after Dantooine, and now I'm on Manaan(?). On Tattooine you need to either do favors for some Sand People, or kill them all. I chose to do the favor, and then kill half of them. Save your money, you need to buy a new companion, another droid, before you can get very far. Since I did this early in my tour of the galaxy, I had to go out and earn some money before I could afford him, even after some Dark Jedi threatening and pursuading; I wonder if the price goes up if you've got more in the bank.
Oh, and that Calo guy showed up again on Tattooine. I was wondering if he always shows up in the same place, or if it matters what order you go in.