Randomness of Lightsaber crystals?

[Sadam]

I'm on my 6th playthrough of TSL, and so far I have never encountered an Ankarres Sapphire or Kaiburr Crystal, and have only once found an Ultima-Pearl (on Malachor, where it was pretty redundant by then).

 

Are there any specific points in the game where these Crystals may turn up, so that I can save just before and keep loading until I get one of these special Crystals, otherwise I don't think I'll ever find them?!

 

Thanks all

 

Sadam

[Gavroche]

Mmm I often find the Ultima Pearl in Freedon Nadd's tomb, but I dont remember any of the two crystals you speak about...

 

Of course the crystals you find are random, and I read something saying your level influences on the equipment you find in the game... So there is a moment when saving and reloading is useless.

[Jediphile]

Treasure in KotOR2 is random, though level-based. If you ask me, it's far too random. I do know they tried to control it by increasing the odds of finding good stuff in one place if you found none in the last one, but honestly, I do expect to find gear appropriate to the enemies I kill. It's pretty silly, for example, to find a lightsaber when you kill a Boma or vie suits of Exar-Kun's light battle armor (which has happened for me...). It's quite as silly as in Diablo II (where killing a swarm of insects can cause them to drop a suit of plate armor, which has also happened for me), but it's too close for comfort... And when I kill a bunch of exchange bosses all using blasters, I do expect to find blasters among the treasure...

[Sadam]

Jediphile,

 

I agree the "randomness" of some item distribution does seem a little weird, for instance if that Boma has eaten a dose of Adrenal Alacrity, why isn't it faster when I'm fighting it?

 

That aside, if the item distributiuon is truly random, can anyone explain why I haven't found either of the crystals I mentioned above? Unlucky, or am I too powerful by the time I reach the point at which they would normally "spawn"?

[Char Ell]

The dice haven't rolled in your favor. That's all.

 

Random doesn't mean the game checks to see what crystals you have in your inventory and eliminates those as a possible result. As I understand it the game does keep track of items it has spawned and the possibility of getting a rare and powerful item like the Kaiburr Crystal or the Ankarres Sapphire increases each time you don't get one. But there are other items in the same category as those two crystals and the game will randomly pick from any of those items in the category.

 

@ Jediphile - 100% agree on the nonsensical items spawned on dead creatures/opponents in TSL.

[JawaJoey]

I don't like the random loot table, either. It makes for disappointing rewards for beating tough fights and bosses and finding chests, and nonsensical rewards for doing random mundane stuff.

 

Plus, getting two Circlets of Saresh, especially when I already got one in the last game, is kind of ridiculous.

[Jediphile]

That aside, if the item distributiuon is truly random, can anyone explain why I haven't found either of the crystals I mentioned above? Unlucky, or am I too powerful by the time I reach the point at which they would normally "spawn"?

 

As Cutmeister puts it, chance just hasn't favored you. And some of those items are really difficult to get, even if you're level 50. Indeed, some of them are supposedly impossible to get at random from what I hear.

 

This was done to some extent so that every playthrough of the game would be different, since it would yield different treasure, but I really don't think it works out the way it was originally intended. I mean, stuff like Exar Kun's Light Battle Armor or the Circlet of Saresh really should be unique, and I've managed to find three or four Exar Kun's Light Battle Armor in the same game... Surely the game should have checked that and replaced it with another unique item. But it seems there are a few bugs in there, which is apparently also why some stuff (like Malak's Armor) is unavailable, if I have understood things correctly.

 

My advice is to not bother with the randomness factor, because it just yields wierd results. If you've already been through the game's plot several times, then I see no problem in cheating a little and explore what's really in there. I recommend the KotOR Savegame Editor (KSE), which is very easy to use and which can be found here:

 

http://www.starwarsknights.com/tools.php#Kotor

[master jedi101]

People should go to the crystal caves at higher levels except to get "your" crystal that way the possibility of getting rare crystals are higher

 

This is unlikly though, but a thought none the less

[Ztalker]

Hmmm...

 

I remeber there was a thread on this subject a long time ago. It had something to do with the loot generator being broken.

For example, it's impossible to 'loot' some of the coolest Jedi robes in the game because of that (Malaks Armor is one of them).

 

Maybe the same thing is going on for the crystals. it would surely explain much.

I have never found those crystals either.

[Mace MacLeod]

I actually have managed to come across both of the crystals in question, but only at very high level after spending many tedious hours in the infinite Hssiss-respawn room on Korriban. By the time I found them, I was already pretty much invulnerable and all my jedi had super-whoop-ass, insta-kill lightsabers by that point, so those crystals wound up being pretty much redundant. Still, my game shows that they are actually out there without having to use cheats or mods.

[Emperor Devon]

I've found both of those in Freedon Nadd's tomb, and the (modded) cave on Korriban. They're actually not as good as some of the other more common crystals, though.