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*Our* First Impressions


txa1265

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Hey all:

 

Until we get a PC section, let's have a nice *non-spoiler* thread regarding our experiences with the game.

 

I just installed and played for ~1 hour, but it is already totally delicious :)

 

Impressions:

- Graphics are fantastic.

- Movement, camera and combat controls are perfect so far.

- 'Training' works very well also, without being like NWN. They integrate training into the story very well.

- Bugs: nothing so far. Some audio clipping sounds when I pause, but nothing else.

 

All in all, everything I was hoping for ... and more.

 

Mike

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I got mine yesterday and I have to say I am totally blown away. The encouraging thing visually is that I only have a GeForce2 and it still looks great with most of the detail setting lowered and running at 800x600 smoothly. I can only imaging how awesome it is going to look when I get my upgrade. There are lots of cutscenes (video for the spaceships, planets and so on, and game engine for the character stuff) that really help fill in the story and move it along.

 

The sound is brilliant, with great "mood music" and of course familiar sound effects for weapons and equipment. Also, the voice acting so far is some of the best I've heard.

 

I found the control system took a little getting used to. The mouse controls the camera and thus where you are looking. The keys control your walking direction, and it took me a little bit to get the hang of using them both together. But before long it becomes second nature.

 

One nice thing is that for the first part of the game you have characters that help you learn what all the menus do and how to accomplish certain tasks. Without this, I would have been a bit lost I think. It is all done as part of the conversations, so it is kind of funny to hear characters talking about your mouse and screen, but it is useful :) The good thing is that you also can skip through this stuff, so if you know it you don't need to listen to the information.

 

At first all the menus and info screens seem a little overwhelming, but I soon got the hang of where everything was and before long it was all second nature. There are just so many things you can control (like different weapons, upgrading weapons, equipment, journals, and so on).

 

I like the combat system quite a bit, at least for an RPG. It is a bit wierd after playing so much JA and JO, and not having touched Baldur's Gate II in a long time. The combat is really quite simple to use, but the end result is lovely. There are various settings for how to do combat, from pausing after every "round" to not pausing at all. The way mine is set up is that the game pauses when you encounter an enemy. Then you can select what actions you want to do and what weapons to use. You also have various "feats" that give you special actions, and you gain these as you progress. I assign actions for each of your characters, and then unpause. The fight unfolds in cinematic fashion, with great action, especially the melee fights. Since you can control the camera when this is going on, it really does look like a star wars movie. :)

 

As a side note, before getting a lightsaber, I wondered why you would use a sword when you have a blaster. The neat thing is that swords and melee weapons are necessary for close quarters combat, where guns are at a disadvantage. In some areas like rooms on ships, melee weapons are more handy than blasters. But in some of the long hallways, blasters are great. They did a great job of making both melee and ranged weapons useful in different situations.

 

My only "complaint" so far is that there is so many options in regards to your character, that it is sometimes hard to know what the best thing do do is. There is a "recommend" option for most things though (but I like making the decisions myself). There are so many skills, feats, weapons, equipment, and classes, that I find it hard to decide what I want to do. I have only played for about an hour or so, so I don't really know yet what the most useful things are, but I suspect that it will turn out that whatever I choose will be good in its own way. But this is also a strength, since you really can create the character you want.

 

So far I have encountered no bugs and the installation was simple and completed without a hitch.

 

All in all, KOTOR is truly a fantastic game and an instant classic. Simply a must for any Star Wars or RPG fan.

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Glad to hear you have it, Prime - and that it runs well on your 'ancient' hardware ;) . Couple of questions:

- Did you play NWN? Having played that I found the controls easy ... but then I have also just been playing BG2 as well ...

 

- What type of character are you playing? I decided to start as a scoundrel ... my typical 'paladin' would have me as a Soldier/Guardian ... but I'm trying Scoundrel/Consular. Should be interesting ...

 

Mike

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Yep, I'm Danish.

I know that cdon.com is getting it for the 28th (339 DKK :)). I've heard that some other stores should have it as well. I know that EB Games prolly dont know if they get it yet. They keep claiming that it wont be released for the PC this year. I'm gonna buy a copy of the game, and go show them. I would really like to see their faces when I show em the PC version :D.

 

Hope I helped :thumbsup:.

 

-Clemme

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I just got the game and.... WOW! I love it! The game looks awesome graphics wise and it runs great on my computer at 1024x768 with shadows and everything cranked! The fighting is very cinematic and it looks great! I love the dark/light side path thing, I've been basically being the biggest asshole the whole game :D I can't wait to start tapping into that force power mmmmmmmmmmmm :cool:

 

If you worried about system reqs, don't worry :p they DO have a pop up thing that says you meet the reqs or not, it said I met the minimum but not the recommended but I still run it on full detail and 1024x768. btw, here's my system

 

Athlon xp 1800+ @ 1.5ghz

G4 TI 4200 128MB

512 MB RAM

WIN 98SE

 

Runs like a dream. :) Back to playing!

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Originally posted by txa1265

Glad to hear you have it, Prime - and that it runs well on your 'ancient' hardware ;) . Couple of questions:

- Did you play NWN? Having played that I found the controls easy ... but then I have also just been playing BG2 as well ...

I have not played MWN, so how similar or different it is I don't know. The last RPG I plaed was Baldur's Gate II, and since there was no real 3D views in that I have found KOTOR to be quite different. It really is a small thing though, as it only takes a very short time to get the hang of it. Other than movement, most of the weapons selection and combat seemed quite similar to what I remember about BG2. It's sort of the select enemy, select attack, and determine the the results sort of thing.

 

Originally posted by txa1265

- What type of character are you playing? I decided to start as a scoundrel ... my typical 'paladin' would have me as a Soldier/Guardian ... but I'm trying Scoundrel/Consular. Should be interesting ...

Well, I started out playing a soldier, although I am thinking about starting again with a scout, just to be a bit more rounded. That being said, so far I haven't really found a huge need for the various skills, and it is really nice being good at combat.

 

I will be switching to the Jedi Guardian when the time comes. Also, I will only be leveling up when I have to before becoming a Jedi, so that I can have as many Jedi levels as possible. I will be interested to hear your experience with the Scoundrel class, as it sounds like you are going the opposite road from me :)

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Originally posted by Reborn Outcast

Just wondering... the one thing that might keep me from getting the game... is it turn-based? And, is it fun to fight and control up to three characters? Thats my only worry about the game now.

Well it's not turn based which is good for me, because I hate turn based games. If it is than it's set up in a way that I can't tell it.

 

Fighting just point and click choice of attack kinda like SWG in some odd way.

 

As far as controling 3 charecterts you only have to do your charecter, but you can do all. There is even a solo botton to go off on your own but it's not wise I guess. I fined when I give them all comands I have a greater chance of winning a fight then if I just leave them on their own.

 

The world maps I was hoping for my freedom like Morrowind I guess "big free world maps." Your path through the world is restricted you can't jump over things, swim, or walk up hills.

 

All in all it's stilla really good game and worth buying.

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Oh good haha. I'm glad its not turn-based, I can't stand those types of games. Well, my day was just made. :D

 

Originally posted by Cosmos Jack

The world maps I was hoping for my freedom like Morrowind I guess "big free world maps." Your path through the world is restricted you can't jump over things, swim, or walk up hills.

 

Aww thats kind of a drawback for me. :);)

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Originally posted by Prime

I will be switching to the Jedi Guardian when the time comes. Also, I will only be leveling up when I have to before becoming a Jedi, so that I can have as many Jedi levels as possible. I will be interested to hear your experience with the Scoundrel class, as it sounds like you are going the opposite road from me :)

Although I'm assuming what we *will* have in common is single blade saber and light side path (I'm already racking up the points ;) ).

 

I am also glad it is not turn based like TOEE and things like that. I like the real-time, initiative based combat that Bioware uses.

 

When I started BG2 last month, I was wondering what it would feel like controlling a party rather than a player. In NWN you control yourself and have a bit of control over your henchman (you can choose ranged or melee). SoU gave you inventory control as well. This feels like a natural progression from that - you get the "I'm the character" feel from NWN (which I found diminished in BG2), but it is still about working together. I like that.

 

Mike

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I got the game yesterday, words cannot describe it. The graphics were wonderful, the story was tense and captivating, the characters are memorable... and the combat was great!

 

Although I don't really want to, I've been waining towards the light side. :p

 

I hope to use dual sabers because my character does great with dual vibroblades. ;)

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- Bugs: nothing so far. Some audio clipping sounds when I pause, but nothing else.

 

This is NOT a bug. It's a technical limitation. Sound is never streamed continuosly. Instead, it's buffered either in DirectSound internal buffer or if you have a state-of-the-art sound card, it has some internal ram to buffer the sounds. The game's pause function can't have effect on the directsound module, since in practice, you already executed the function call to play the contents of the buffer.

 

 

As for the game, it's good. Nevermind the fact that it crawls on my PC. It's still good :)

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But if it isn't turn based, is it comparable like you play morrowind in 3th person? a little mix of neverwinternights and morrowind, or just like a shooter like enter the matrix?

I'v played morrowind and neverwinternights for quite a time, and well :-) just become an addict of it.

Really curious about the fighting system...

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Greetings all.. I have a question. I'm getting some slow down in fights as I go into the game. I'm also finding my character moving erratically when I enter into circular hallways with my character suddenly appearing at a different point in the hallway. I have a Compaq 6024 Pentium 4 1.8 GHz with 512 MB Ram. I meet all recommended specs except for my video card which is a GeForce 2 MX 100/200 with only 64 MB of video ram. Do you all think my difficulties are due to my "old" video card. This game is so awesome I want to be able to enjoy it completely, so I'm considering upgrading my video card if it will smooth out the game play. Thanks for the feedback.

 

Brian

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Originally posted by flyerke

But if it isn't turn based, is it comparable like you play morrowind in 3th person? a little mix of neverwinternights and morrowind, or just like a shooter like enter the matrix?

I'v played morrowind and neverwinternights for quite a time, and well :-) just become an addict of it.

Really curious about the fighting system...

I don't know Morrowmind, but I see it as a hybrid between NWN and BG2, fighting wise, and just tremendous in terms of graphics. 'Turn-based', means that if you have 3 allies and 3 enemies, there are 6 sequential turns per round. 'Real-time' means that it all happens at once, but you can still get extra hits per round. There are still rounds, but initiative bonus can get your hit in first.

 

Mike

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