Technological Advancement

[HerbieZ]

Hey, i have been meaning to ask this for ooooh about two years but i forgot. When i first got Kotor, one of the things i did is question the technological advancement of equipment in the game. Il give you a few examples:

 

• The over the top use of holograms, and this was further shown in Kotor 2. I thought this was inconsistant with Star Wars as the holograms projected in Kotor don't even seem to be emmited from anywhere unlike the holograms in the films which i believe had some base or suspended projector.
   
  
• T3's frame (ooh err) was another. I liked the design of T3 because he did indeed look very primitive and to be honest i have no arguments here. This is an example of how the technology in Kotor fits in with Star Wars.
   
  
• Speeders and swoops. Especially the ones seen on Taris, i questioned these alot. The speeders in the game, despite only consisting of two models spread over the two games seemed too sleek compared to the bulkier versions in the movies and as the movies are set 4000 years later, they hav'nt really changed much apart from seemingly de-evolving.
   
  
• Weapons all of which. The design of them was very basic and very warn which fitted in but the execution of these weapons was too similar to the movies. I would have liked to see older projectile weapons feature abit or weapon malfunctions would have added to believability. Never-the-less, i believe the swords made up for this as they added a ye-olde look to the whole thing. Which convinced me.
  

 

Bearing in mind, alot of random technological advancements between the movies and Kotor can be explained by the fact there are a multitude of planets all at different technological stages of evolution. There is also a big gap of 4000 years between the two so many wars could have happened that have destroyed the basis for certain technologies thus causing re-inventions.

 

I was wondering if anyone questioned anything else about the technology of Kotor when you first played the first game. Are there somethings you questioned?

[Lantzen]

Yeah, the armour. They have de-evolve. In Kotor you can take like 100 laser hits, in the movie they die after one, or it could be that the blasters are very weak at the Kotor era:xp:

[Mace MacLeod]

Well, considering that the Star Wars universe really doesn't seem to do any technological developing at all for several thousand years this shouldn't be a shock.

 

RotS: Senator and the lovely Mrs. Organa can't have kids. Hello? In-vitro fertilization never got invented? Padme never realizes she's carrying twins? Ultrasound anyone?

[milo]

Well, considering that the Star Wars universe really doesn't seem to do any technological developing at all for several thousand years this shouldn't be a shock.

 

RotS: Senator and the lovely Mrs. Organa can't have kids. Hello? In-vitro fertilization never got invented? Padme never realizes she's carrying twins? Ultrasound anyone?

I think Padme wanted it to be a suprise or something. Though I have noticed how little the star wars galaxy changes even after a couple thousand years.

[RC-1162]

she wanted to keep her marriage and pregnancy secret. like d'uh?

 

but i agree about the armor. in ANH, the stormtrooper that leia shoots dies in one hit, but in K1, you hardly take any damage. and even the lightsaber duels. a master flurry almost always causes damage to the opponent, but only a small part of his/her life, depending on your strength modifier. but if anakin used master flurry on dooku and the latter could not block it, he'd have been chopped meat. that thing was really unrealistic, IMO.

[igyman]

When I saw what the world of KoTOR 1 looked like, I was astonished. It really looked like a world 4000 years older than what we've seen, well, except for those Sith warships that look a bit like the good old Star Destroyers, but I guess you can't have it all.

Unfortunately, when I saw TSL, namely the Ravager and those shuttles on Citadel Station and Telos, that was a little too much like the movies for me and it was supposed to happen only five years after K1 (I mean Ravager looked like a regular Star Destroyer and those shuttles had an uncanny resemblence to those Tydirium shuttles from the movies), the movie-like Jedi robes just ruined it completely for me, oh and let's not forget G0-T0's appearance - Imperial interrogation droids, anyone?

[jonathan7]

see i didnt mind the jedi robes, in fact i enjoyed the new jedi robes mainly, as the jedi wouldnt follow fashion to the slightest degree, so to me it would make sense that robes would generally the same over say the 25,000 years of the republic. i do agrees about the shuttles and goto (i have began a mod to reskin goto to make him look better) the ravanger was too star destroyer like - what i dont understand is it a mandalorian ship, as the republics were like the harbanger, an the leviathon of malak was again very different!

[Clone L68362]

You guys, if blasters and lightsabers killed as easily as they do in movies, the game would be too easy. Come on.

[Lantzen]

It was suppose to be a joke from my side, thats why the

[jonathan7]

You guys, if blasters and lightsabers killed as easily as they do in movies, the game would be too easy. Come on.

 

nah the lightsabers should be like the jedi knight series, as its lame having to take several turns to kill kinrath etc, they should jus make the bosses harder, but lighsabers are meant to be the best weapon in the galaxy - i can kind of except that when your fighting merc's, assassin droids etc they could have energy shields meaning the lightsaber does less damage, but kinrath boma's and normal lackey's should be dead in one swish!

 

agreed tho that blasters should be much weaker!

[RC-1162]

the best thing they could have done was to make the opponent parry your PCs attacks and launch a few of hiw own, which you would parry. i guess by using a combination of force powers and lightsaber feats, you can still maintain the actual strength of a lightsaber blade.

[Point Man]

Guys, the game is based on d20 role-playing games. In that combat system, you roll a die to determine if you hit. If you did, you roll another die to determine the damage done. This is not necessarily completely realistic, but it works more on the idea of wearing out your opponent, rather than one-shot battles.

[RC-1162]

but i believe a realistic lightsaber combat would add much more to the replayability value of the game.

[The Sith'ari]

I think Padme wanted it to be a suprise or something. Though I have noticed how little the star wars galaxy changes even after a couple thousand years.

 

That's not surprising. It naturally happens when techonological level has become high enough and reached a certain saturation point, and there's hardly anything left to discover.

[RC-1162]

its vaguely like the Great Depression

[RedHawke]

but i believe a realistic lightsaber combat would add much more to the replayability value of the game.

And Jimbo was rightfully saying that this isn't what these games are about...

 

You will never get 'realistic combat' in a RPG system based off of a die rolling PnP System! Never happen!

 

WotC D20 System is based off of Dungeons & Dragons... the game of nicks and cuts. Hard-core combat realism is not it's forte.

[RC-1162]

i know, i know. that's the whole problem with KotOR

i can just see Revan and Malak fighting by rolling dice.

 

R: "haha, i got a six! die, meatbag"

[Inyri]

but i believe a realistic lightsaber combat would add much more to the replayability value of the game.

I don't particularly think a 1-hit-kill resulting in my character having a severed head would increase my game's replayability, as I'd never get the chance to RE-play it .

[RC-1162]

forget the kills. do you remember the Obi vs Ani duel? it was full of moves and cool stunts, but as far as i can remember, they blocked each others moves and did their own. it was only the "high ground" that was ani's downfall

if Darth Malak and revan had a duel like that, which would obviously keep changing per playthrough, id keep playing the duel parts again and again and again.

[RedHawke]

i know, i know. that's the whole problem with KotOR

i can just see Revan and Malak fighting by rolling dice.

The issue is not actually with the game... it is your perception of said game.

 

R: "haha, i got a six! die, meatbag"

That is exactly how PnP RPG's work.

[RC-1162]

heh, i know. but it's still kinda funny to think of arch enemies playing dice

"hey! you nudged that with the force! not fair"

[jonathan7]

red hawke, i dont see why they cant change the system tho so that the people you are fighting dont get hit by the lightsaber but dodge/block it, instead of getting hit and not dying - as some charachters already do that to some degree, so they could lessen a charachters health, but improve defensive abilities, and kinrath, lagrieks etc should die quickly as they are jus annoying! it gets tedious having to fight loads of them! but things like rancor's should be hearder to kill...

[RC-1162]

the rancor in the Upper Sewers is next to impossible to kill, so i guess that part is done with. only by using Force powers can you kill it *other* than using nades and the corpse pile tactic.

[igyman]

You've actually tried to kill it with something other than a grenade in the pile of corpses? Man that must have been fun!!

[ChAiNz.2da]

Well, if you're an XP hog (such as myself) if you set your PC to solo mode just outside the Rancor Room entrance.. just run in and pop a blaster in it's back.

 

When you have it's attention and it starts to give chase... immediately run back into the entrance room tunnel..

 

The Rancor can't fit past the doors so you and your party can take pot shots at him until it's dead. Just be sure to not stand to close to the entrance as his attacks can reach a little ways into the doorway...

 

Hey, it worked for Luke, why can't we do it too? hehehe....