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Knights of the Old Republic - contains a metric ton of unmarked spoilers
Pancake
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
There's plenty to talk about when you're talking about...
Remember this game? Of course you do! It came out on July 15, 2003 on the Xbox, marking BioWare Corp's second foray into the world of console gaming and what remains one of the finest attempts at bringing the western RPG onto consoles. The superior PC version was released on November 19 of the same year, marking BioWare Corp's far from first foray into the world of PC gaming. It's still one of the best examples of the Star Wars epic we've seen in videogame form.
4,000 years before the destruction of the Death Star above Yavin IV, the Republic is at war with the Sith Empire lead by Darth Malak, the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith. Only a scant few years after the bloody end of the Mandalorian Wars, the Republic is left weakened and bloodied.
You are a newly recruited Republic soldier onboard the Republic Hammerhead-class capital ship Endar Spire, the ship assigned to transporting the Jedi Bastila Shan, a Jedi renowned for her mastery of battle meditation and her role in the defeat of Darth Revan, and currently under attack by a vastly superior Sith battlefleet.
Escaping the Endar Spire, you become stranded on the planet of Taris and manage to rescue Bastila and narrowly escape the planet before its destruction at the hands of the Sith fleet by stealing the Ebon Hawk, an extremely fast smuggling ship intentionally reminiscent of the Millennium Falcon.
You soon become involved with the Jedi Order, as the name of the game might suggest, and are spirited off on a mission vital to the survival of the Republic. You are to retrace the steps of Darth Revan and Darth Malak across the galaxy and discover the source of the power of these newly emerged Sith and put a stop to them before their vast numbers and limitless resources crush the weakened and quickly losing Republic.
There may also be some inappropriate humor.
It's a good game. You should talk about it. But not before we move on to...
Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords was released by Obsidian Entertainment for the Xbox on December 6, 2004 and then early the next year on the PC. At release, KotOR2 became infamous as a buggy, unfinished mess because it was, and even patched on the PC, still is without fanpatching. This was Obsidian's first released game and it was made in its entirety in only ten months, LucasArts forcing the game out the door in time for the holiday season, even having cut back Obsidian's deadline by six months.
But how does one truly do the game justice with a few text blurbs and some screenshots? You can't, really. It isn't an especially pretty game, even when compared to the first game in the series. Its gameplay is amazingly easy and the loot you pick up quickly catapults your stats to unbelievable heights. Its bugs are easily game breaking if you don't know how and when to avoid them or haven't installed any fanpatches, which, themselves, can sometimes break things.
And yet the game has found a home in the hearts of most that were able to overlook its flaws. And why is that, then? It seems to have plenty of flaws, perhaps outnumbering its merits. What it does do exceptionally well with is its writing. Filled with interesting characters and plot and philosophizing on the nature of the Force, The Sith Lords presents a different view of the Star Wars universe.
Far be it from being the traditional Star Wars heroic epic space opera, TSL is the dark and brooding personal story of one exiled Jedi that has returned to the Republic in the aftermath of the Jedi Civil War, the conflict fought in the first KotOR, to find the Republic on the brink of collapse and the Jedi Order all but destroyed.
A veteran general of the Mandalorian Wars under the man that became Darth Revan, the exile had lost her connection to the Force in the final battle of the war above the Mandalorian shrine world Malachor V.
Upon becoming a target for a new Sith threat and mysteriously finding herself aboard the Paragus mining facility, which she finds strangely devoid of life, the exile begins to regain her connection to the Force.
Under the tutelage of the secretive Kreia, the exile undertakes a journey across old battlefields and into ancient Sith secrets to discover those that hunt her, herself, the nature of the Force, and the truths behind what happened in those final moments above Malachor V.
It's a good game. You should talk about it.
Remember this game? Of course you do! It came out on July 15, 2003 on the Xbox, marking BioWare Corp's second foray into the world of console gaming and what remains one of the finest attempts at bringing the western RPG onto consoles. The superior PC version was released on November 19 of the same year, marking BioWare Corp's far from first foray into the world of PC gaming. It's still one of the best examples of the Star Wars epic we've seen in videogame form.
4,000 years before the destruction of the Death Star above Yavin IV, the Republic is at war with the Sith Empire lead by Darth Malak, the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith. Only a scant few years after the bloody end of the Mandalorian Wars, the Republic is left weakened and bloodied.
You are a newly recruited Republic soldier onboard the Republic Hammerhead-class capital ship Endar Spire, the ship assigned to transporting the Jedi Bastila Shan, a Jedi renowned for her mastery of battle meditation and her role in the defeat of Darth Revan, and currently under attack by a vastly superior Sith battlefleet.
Escaping the Endar Spire, you become stranded on the planet of Taris and manage to rescue Bastila and narrowly escape the planet before its destruction at the hands of the Sith fleet by stealing the Ebon Hawk, an extremely fast smuggling ship intentionally reminiscent of the Millennium Falcon.
You soon become involved with the Jedi Order, as the name of the game might suggest, and are spirited off on a mission vital to the survival of the Republic. You are to retrace the steps of Darth Revan and Darth Malak across the galaxy and discover the source of the power of these newly emerged Sith and put a stop to them before their vast numbers and limitless resources crush the weakened and quickly losing Republic.
There may also be some inappropriate humor.
It's a good game. You should talk about it. But not before we move on to...
Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords was released by Obsidian Entertainment for the Xbox on December 6, 2004 and then early the next year on the PC. At release, KotOR2 became infamous as a buggy, unfinished mess because it was, and even patched on the PC, still is without fanpatching. This was Obsidian's first released game and it was made in its entirety in only ten months, LucasArts forcing the game out the door in time for the holiday season, even having cut back Obsidian's deadline by six months.
But how does one truly do the game justice with a few text blurbs and some screenshots? You can't, really. It isn't an especially pretty game, even when compared to the first game in the series. Its gameplay is amazingly easy and the loot you pick up quickly catapults your stats to unbelievable heights. Its bugs are easily game breaking if you don't know how and when to avoid them or haven't installed any fanpatches, which, themselves, can sometimes break things.
And yet the game has found a home in the hearts of most that were able to overlook its flaws. And why is that, then? It seems to have plenty of flaws, perhaps outnumbering its merits. What it does do exceptionally well with is its writing. Filled with interesting characters and plot and philosophizing on the nature of the Force, The Sith Lords presents a different view of the Star Wars universe.
Far be it from being the traditional Star Wars heroic epic space opera, TSL is the dark and brooding personal story of one exiled Jedi that has returned to the Republic in the aftermath of the Jedi Civil War, the conflict fought in the first KotOR, to find the Republic on the brink of collapse and the Jedi Order all but destroyed.
A veteran general of the Mandalorian Wars under the man that became Darth Revan, the exile had lost her connection to the Force in the final battle of the war above the Mandalorian shrine world Malachor V.
Upon becoming a target for a new Sith threat and mysteriously finding herself aboard the Paragus mining facility, which she finds strangely devoid of life, the exile begins to regain her connection to the Force.
Under the tutelage of the secretive Kreia, the exile undertakes a journey across old battlefields and into ancient Sith secrets to discover those that hunt her, herself, the nature of the Force, and the truths behind what happened in those final moments above Malachor V.
It's a good game. You should talk about it.
Pancake on
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they were the first games I tried to install when i got vista
I thoroughly enjoyed both the Old Republic games and they still hold up as some of my favourite gaming experiences.
KOTOR 1 is great as fantastic Star Wars story telling. It really catches the up and down rollercoaster of the original movies, with your party starting off into the unknown, almost failing completely at the hands of evil and then a final climactic showdown to resolve it. HK47 is brilliant and has pride of place in my party at all times, however he ends up getting me far too many darkside points from following his suggestions.
KOTOR 2 is great because it does the opposite. It takes the story and makes it internal, about you and the party members closest to you. Which opinion do you trust? How do you react when one of your party asks you to guide them in one of the most important decisions they may make? How do you co-operate on a ship when you aren't sure if most your party even mean you well or will sell you out for their own goals?
Kreia is also one of the finest bits of writing you will see in a game, as she fulfils the role of mentor and guide whilst always giving you just enough information to answer your questions, rarely outright confirming or denying your suspicions about her past.
I'll also link http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/KOTOR%202/ for those who haven't already seen it. The author does a really good job not just of making the runthrough entertaining, but also going deeper and explaining some things that you might have missed the first time round.
Dammit now I'm going to have to go get my copy of KOTOR 1 back off a friend.
I've never experienced any problems with the first game beyond some crashing because of my relatively new video drivers, but I did experience crashing in KotOR2. I would start the game up and it would immediately crash to the desktop without fail.
That one was fixed by replacing KotOR2's Mss32.dll with the dll of the same name from the first game.
I haven't finished KOTOR II. I've been waiting on the Team Gizka patch forever.
I think it's because I used a save game editor to give my character 26 on every stat and gave myself many feats. Taris becomes a lot more tolerable when few things can even hit you and most things die in one hit.
I know, I know, I'm a cheater, but after playing the game without cheats so many times, I don't really feel guilty having a little fun playing around with the stats and feats.
Funny thing is that I never felt that Peragus was that bad.
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The third time through Peragus you want to kill a bitch. It's long, there are no more surprises and there certainly isn't any challenge.
The following is a major spoiler concerning the end of the first game:
I think I'm just going to say fuck it and look for the leaked version of the Gizka patch. I have been itching to do a dark side playthrough for quite awhile, and I can't wait anymore.
P.S: Nice OP, Pancake!
If you see a scene where Nihilus meets Sion in the bridge of the ship and then kicks his ass, I did that.
Maybe it was, but in that case KoToR One was uber-awesome! It is superior in so very many ways!
Once Team Gizka finishes its job, I'll play the fuck out of that game...! And then I'll completely ruin my social life by reinstalling Planescape Torment.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Fine, I'll try playing it again then, I just remembered I lent someone my copy of KoToR One, anyway. So, I suppose I have no choice.
I think I hate Taris because you have to go back and forth to the upper, lower, and undercity all the time. running back and forth down those long walkways in the two upper city maps gets frickin tedious.
Peragus is a bit more linear, that and a space station versus a city with a bunch of snobby racists means that the space station is more fun.
Anyone know of any good mods for KOTOR and KOTOR2? I remember seeing some mods that allow you to make the player character use the same robes as Anakin or Obi Wan from the prequels, or anything that makes the lightsaber hilts less boring. But I can't find them again.
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Discussed cut content in great detail and sort of let everyone see the bigger picture.
Don't remember what it was, other than that it was a large compendium of screenshots and words all chapterized.
http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/KOTOR%202/
You were right, it was the Something Awful Lets Play forum.
I think I'm really the only person that was completely happy with KotOR2's ending out of the box and prefer it over "look at us waving at the crowd and now jets are flying over oh this is a pretty medal."
There are some big "What the fuck is going on?" moments in KotOR2's ending, but the final confrontations and the epilogues for my party were something I found pretty satisfying. And I'm still a bit miffed that The Old Republic basically craps on KotOR2 by almost entirely ignoring it.
I liked KOTOR2, but it just got a bit too philosophical and "out there" for my tastes.
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But getting the medals was awesome. Cause I saved the galaxy. I want rewarding for that shit, you know?
Also, KOTOR1 had better variety of locations, that were more polished in design and visuals. Other than 'oh we're back on mother fucking Tatooine' I thought they were better than KOTOR2s kinda repetitive 'grey spaceship interior again'.
The perfect game is, of course, the writing of KOTOR 2 with the game design of KOTOR 1.
At this point, why the fuck hasn't BioWare bought out Obsidian? They clearly have budget issues with all their titles, that always seem rushed and unfinished. Heck, NWN2 was unplayable until a post-release patch. But their stories are so good, and they take pre-conceptions about the genre and twist em all over.
Basically what I'm saying is we should be throwing money at Chris Avellone. Big sacks of cash money.
That's what made it so good. Usually it's dumb as rocks.
It's what made the Dark Forces series fun too. Katarn's "now I'm a Jedi, now I'm not" trips and "I'm half dark, half light, ALL BADASS" etc.
PSN: Threeve703
I'm pretty sure its a requirement somewhere. Speaking of which I just saw my younger brother playing KotOR1 a few days ago, so I'll probably be popping in 1 followed by 2 as soon as I finish my 5th ME playthrough.
...
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
Personally I'm waiting to see how Alpha Protocol turns out in October. If Obsidian produce a top quality game without the issues that have been mentioned in the past (Rushed to deadlines, patches needed to solve key problems) then I think they will very quickly get a strong fan base, similar to Bioware.
I also like the fact that Obsidian and Bioware are separate, because both seem to be trying new and innovative mechanics in their games, then the best ones get picked up as standard. Mass Effect 2 has been mentioning a dynamic "action" style interrupt for their conversations, something advertised early on in Alpha Protocol. I don't care who thought of a good idea first, if its a good idea and works well then all the better for me as a gamer.
But anyway, back on discussion, Jedi Master Vrook. (http://www.ossus.pl/images/b/ba/Vrook.jpg) Damn that guy. I go between extremes of wanting to punch him to "Drat, he is probably right, even if he is being a complete ass about it". You've got to love it when a game makes you react to a character like that though, the immersion is a little bit deeper.
This was actually an idea that was going to be implemented into Mass Effect, as was a time limit to choosing a response. You can see hints of being able to interrupt during conversations during one of the early gameplay trailers where Shepard interrupts Garus mid-sentence by grabbing him by the collar and getting in his face.
This seems to be the KotOR modding hub at the moment after gamemods.com died, though the actual community hangs around LucasForums.
I wasn't able to find any comprehensive fanpatches on either, but I have one on my hard drive. It's a nice fanpatch that also replaces several environmental textures and adds missing shaders as well as fixing bugs. I can't for the life of me remember where I got it, but I could throw it up somewhere if there's demand for it, though it does seem to break one quest on Dantooine even though it fixes pretty much every issue in the game as far as I can tell.