Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

[bladex]

Well, this is a post discussing the game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR), and KotOR II: The Sith Lords (TSL). I would have generally posted in the General Discussion forum, but most of this post details the mod for KotOR II, hence the posting in this sub-forum.

First off, as most can tell, I'm a big Star Wars fan, both of the movies and of most of the games for the PC, PS1 and PS2 (as evidenced by earlier posts). I grew up with the later trilogy in the series. Now these games are one of the few (if not the only) classic RPGs for the Star Wars franchise. You play a character who has to travel the galaxy, gaining new party members along the way while completing the general storyline.

KotOR I was a great game. It was well-received by the general public, winning numerous awards for Best RPG, Best Storyline, Best Character Development, etc. etc. (Go to wikipedia if you want to full list of achievements). It's set ~3956 years before Episode IV, so don't expect to encounter any familiar characters from the movie (if that's what you're looking for). However, there's still your classic Star Wars lightsaber-swinging, Force-using, blaster bolt shooting mania throughout the entire game. But I won't say anymore, as it's best to play it yourself. So if you're a Star Wars fan, and you like RPGs, or you just have a lot of free time right now, give the game a shot. It'll definitely be worth it.

The meat of this post is KotOR II, however. KotOR II: TSL had to deal with the fate of all sequels, the high expectations set by the dominant predecessor. We've seen it a million times, where sequels get crushed because it didn't live up to expectations. The sad thing is, some sequels actually might have done "better" as a stand-alone game. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened, as KotOR II definitely did not live up to expectations. However, this was not due to the fantastic results of the first game. This was due to the developers.

As it so happened, the first game was developed by BioWare, and the sequel was developed by Obsidian Entertainment. To give you an idea of the capabilities of both developers (if you didn't already know) here are some popular games by each:

BioWare:
Baldur's Gate (series)
Neverwinter Nights
Dragon Age (series)
Mass Effect (series)

Obsidian Entertainment:
Neverwinter Nights II
Fallout: New Vegas
Dungeon Siege III

My last statement might be a bit misleading. Yes, the development led to the dismal performance of the game, but the developers were not at fault. A little bit of backstory: Funny thing is, the developers at Obsidian weren't allowed to play KotOR I before developing KotOR II. Therefore, all knowledge had to be obtained through reviews and the general lore of the series. Also, the development of the game was incredibly rushed, as the company wanted it released before Christmas apparently. Therefore, there were numerous bugs throughout the game, crashing was almost common, and a lot of material was cut out, making the game seem kind of shoddy and slapped together. Luckily, here's where the mod comes in.

The developers were kind enough to make a patch that resolved some gameplay issues and cutscenes. However, due to a mod known as The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod, most of the cut material was placed back into the game. This mod introduced an entire new planet, a load of new cutscenes and dialogue options, and new missions. I recently played this game again (with the restored content) and suffice to say, am pleased with the results. With the mod, the sequel reached its full potential and definitely did itself justice. Therefore, if anyone decides to play the first game, the second game is definitely worth a shot now with the mod. (Here's a link: http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-sith-lords-restored-content-mod-tslrcm).

The sequel, however, actually did relatively well. It introduced a new system, where you can influence your characters and the ending by choosing different dialogue options, which I think was a predecessor to systems seen in Dragon Age and Mass Effect, where dialogue options can literally change the ending. In KotOR II, this system was still relatively new, so you pretty much have a choice between Light and Dark Side. However, it's still a fun game, and definitely has the feel of a classic RPG, and is definitely worth a shot for anyone who is going to play the first game.