dhollmusik Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 Hi all. I finished this masterpiece the other day after 2 weeks & almost 70 hours of gaming - I enjoyed it so much that I've been reading this forum and Wookiepedia ever since. I thought as an act of post-game therapy I'd record my impressions of it here...some of you might want to read it or comment and note your own impressions too. Just a note on how I played: PC version as Level 1 male Scout and later Consular - Normal difficulty, with all pauses turned off (by the time I got to fighting the Raghouls anyway) and music & subtitles also off. This created an intense and real atmosphere, especially for the battles. I generally had exclusively Jedi in my party. Order of planets: Kashyyyk - Manaan - Tatooine - Korriban (no reason for this order, had no clue what to expect). In all roleplaying games I like to act as I would in real-life, so pretty much followed the light-to-grey tho' took liberties in the bounty hunting and the odd unimportant moment, then after finishing the game reloaded my Temple savepoint to join Bastila to finish it darkside. I cheated twice...ouch! When I couldn't find the Changeling in the Shadowlands and when I couldn't work out how to clear the runed-up pillar blocking the bridge in one of the Korriban temples I relented and looked the solutions up in a walkthrough...it took some skilful skimmed reading to make sure I didn't read any spoilers inadvertantly! How I killed Malak: Thermal Detonators! Main impression: ---------------- - Knights Of The Old Republic made me love the Star Wars universe again...not since I stopped playing with my toys back in the late 1980's have I been so interested in Star Wars. Not even the prequel films managed it (their poor dialogue, contrived plotting and over-reliance on CGI caused much disinterest). Story bits I liked (in order of when they happened): ---------------------------------------------------- - The Promised Land: such a small side quest yet has so much depth you could write a book about it...I hope they made it. - The Kashyyyk computer: this was the moment when I realised I am so into this game, the fascinating Q&A with the computer, realising that I had to answer darkside to get it to open...brilliantly written and presented, and perfectly matched to the eerie Shadowlands environment. - Hearing of how the Selgath went crazy and were ripping the scientists to shreds...horror imagery at its most suggestive. - The Sandpeople story, expertly relayed by HK-47. - What? I am Revan? Wow! I was expecting Revan to make an appearance but more as a temporary addition to your party at some point later in the game. I really grew into the role and preferred to be Revan so never chose the "I'm not Revan anymore, I'm blah"...yet still remain on the grey or light side. I had some delusions of wanting to unite the Sith and Republic but it never panned out like that! - Valley Of The Dark Lords was a great addition...dark and mysterious and interesting. - The Unknown planet had a well-balanced sense of mystery which was cleared up well by the game's dialogue and story arc. - Zaalbar slaying Mission...man, that was so dark. Ol' Madclaw always did carry an air of tragedy about him anyway. Other bits I liked: --------------------- - "1...2...smart" - The Duel Announcer on Taris...he was great! - Bastila trips up Mission using the force, hehe. - The funniest line not to come from HK-47? When Bastila for the umpteenth time goes on about "Beware of the dark side, for temptation is bad blah blah blah" and I answer "Ok, you better warn me. How about, blink once for Light and twice for Dark?" Hahahaha! - One of my favourite battles was with Seffron (Soffru?) and his Mandalorian gang on Dantooine...it got really messy and chaotic, then it was just me and him left...I lured him behind a speedster where I had previously set mines...he still survived but was weakened, as was I...I risked a frag grenade at close range...BOOM! I survive with like 1% health and he dead! Phew! - A clever touch after Dantooine was Garth complaining (for a change) that he's been feeling left out because I'd been using Canderous a lot while Garth didn't take part in Dantooine at all and likely felt miffed that the Mandalorian was personally present as the Jedi Council discussed the top-secret Star Forge plans where as he, the Republic war hero, was on kitchen duty! - "You can't get me, fishy fishy...oh no you can't...because I'm quite safe, yes...safe from you fishy wishy." Proper crazy! - The Leviathan: which party member should attempt our rescue? That's easy...T3 was so perfect for the job I was actually convinced he would have been the only choice anyway...only later I found out in these forums you could use the others as well. T3 was already a bit of a legend as he was my bounty hunter for the Glenoradran while I solo'd off talking to the merchant or hiding behind hillls...thus rendering me innocent should I get caught! Suspending disbelief they call that. - So I'm at the Sith Academy and these Sith apprentices are challlenging me to say something interesting to save some sad hopefuls..."Let me tell you the one about the Mandalorian..." Haha! I bet Canderous would have found it funny too but I don't think he was in my party at that point. - "I choose...me." After the final temple on Korriban: ripping the hell out of the Sith master, his double-crossing apprentice, and the entire academy. I was so strong at this point that battles were easy...and it felt so right, me rediscovering my Revan-ness and all. I dispatched those two in quick time, then went to the academy and took care of all of them like the anteater hoovers up his prey. The Dark Lord reborn! Yet still I was lightside. I enjoyed that. - The mysterious box: what an interesting concept. Would have been good to have tied this in with the Unknown World story a bit. The best characters: -------------------- - Canderous & Jolee...Canderous is definitely morally bankrupt ("I killed women and children") and Jolee tries to pass himself off as a typical old coot...but both are very deep, funny, true characters who would have enriched the prequel films. - HK-47...I got him quite late on as I did Tatooine second-to-last. I was so entertained talking to him, what a star! General things I liked: ----------------------- - The Force Powers were a joy to use. - All the voice acting was absolute top, from the alien voices the male Twi'lik's were particularly good. - The Czerka Corporation was well realised as a believable entity. - Julhani might have been a bit boring, but she was hot and a great fighter. Only now thanks to reading these forums do I hear she has lesbianic tendencies...which makes her even hotter. - The Star Forge is a worthy chase. More interesting than even the Death Star. Observations, suggestions and things that might have been better: ----------------------------------------------------------------- - The repeated faces and alien speech got wearing. - Between scenes of movie all audio would cut out and my screen would for a split second return to desktop before starting the next movie scene...is this a common issue? - To get the Tatooine Star Map via the Krayt dragon was a bit weak after the drama of the others. - Let Jolee wear the Star Forge robe for God's sake! - Jawa voices a little too fast and high-pitched when compared to the films. - Would have been cool to be able to have watched the Holocron recordings you picked up. - Some of Bastila's arcs were a little contrived: her 'saving me' by fending off Malak and our later falling in love. - Bandon & other Dark Jedi masters were too easy...I had more trouble with Mandalorian raiders. Tho' once in the Star Forge the Dark Jedi were quite hard. - A Landspeeder to get around might have been a cool idea. - Inventory system was a nightmare! - Maybe one or two really killer blasters would have been good. - All 3 sub-games were poor (Pazaak, Swoop & turret shoots) - All that fuss about Malak having time to prepare the Star Forge defences and all I have to face are some weedy robots...I didn't even have to destroy them, just disabled their generators and opened the door to find Malak. - Malak started off well, as the evil bad guy, but soon developed into nothing more than baddie cliche, with weak dialogue and cheesy laugh. Only at the very end did something interesting come out of his...erm...mouth. The final battle was challenging but might have been more interesting, say using the force to throw furniture and stuff. - When your party members block your path...aarrgghh!! -------------------------------------------------------------- Well, I'm glad I wrote all that...had to get it out of my system so to speak. I think I'll wait a few months before playing Sith Lords: have Tomb Raider Anniversary half-finished from last year so it's probably about time I say hi to that again soon. I think Kotor has already made my top 10 games of all time...and I've been playing games for 20 years, tho' not very regularly. I can see why people are still actively posting on it, 5 years after it first came out. Oh and if anyone's wondering why I chose this forum...I checked out about 5 different forums but Lucasforms appeared the most mature (me being 30 years young and all). Anyway, happy gaming you all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascendant_Justice Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Interesting opinions that I think I'll just endlessly comment on because it's going on midnight and I have nothing better to do. You play like I do with the gray-light mentality. The preservation of the Republic is always my priority, but I don't like the extreme of the light side, at all, which makes Jolee one of my favorites as well . If I were in the Star Wars universe I'd hate to be a jedi. Anyway, It's good that you chose to play the way "you" would. I think a big element of this kind of game is lost when someone restricts themselves to extremes of good and evil on the first playthrough. What's the point in choices when you know the answer before the choice even comes up, eh? I always have subtitles off. I've never tried no pauses, and music is very important to me in games. It helps flesh out atmosphere and mood. I do love games that effectively rely on silence at key points, though. Sometimes no music can add much more tension and atmosphere, I'll admit. I don't think I could play a Star Wars game without music though . I also helped ol' Rukil Wrinkle-Skin with his Promised Land. I don't much believe in it, but that's not the point for me. The entire prospect of banishing criminals to the Undercity is a horrid practice that is simply testament to the massive corruption of the (former) Tarisian government. They brought mass "criminal" numbers on themselves with their poor management. That, and, a ton of the people down there were born there, not exiled there. I don't see a reason not to let them indulge their hopes. And, hey, maybe they actually got somewhere. Quad-lasers can only reach so far down, and those massive support columns were already supporting all that weight right? Loved the atmosphere of the Undercity regardless. One of my favorite parts in the game is talking to that computer on Kashyyyk. I look forward to that every playthrough. I actually reloaded just to go through the whole conversation again on the playthrough I'm currently on. It is a really great piece of the Infinite Empire puzzle. Manaan is my favorite planet. I'd much enjoy vacationing in Ahto City, that's for sure. Hrakert Station is a great contrast to the sterile, Selkath controlled Ahto City. How ironic it is that it is the Selkath who snap and go on massive binges of violence. Quite amusing. I always found the Sand People intriguing even when I was just watching A New Hope. Now we know their true history, based on HK-47's unbiased translations and extrapolations. Great first insight into the Builders (I do Tatooine first, then Kashyyyk...then Manaan, Korriban for future reference). They sure do seem to royally mess up all the planets they touch, thinking about it. Never saw the plot twist coming, and I'm glad I didn't as some people supposedly do. The Revelation scene was jaw dropping for me because I was able to realize all the subtle clues that alluded to you being Revan throughout the game. This and Bioshock's twist are my favorite plot twists of all time. I liked Ajunta Pall in particular. It's rare to come across a ..well...dead dark jedi that actually admits he was wrong. It was a thought provoking conversation. I think Lehon's (unknown world) a great planet, as well. It's very Earth-like in appearance, just with a lot of enormous, crashed starships and sentient hammerhead sharks. It was refreshing, to me, to finally have contact with the remnants of the Infinite Empire. I've never had Zaalbar do that! Though, that's probably because I've never done a full darkside playthrough. My first playthrough actually ended with the darkside ending. The plot twist and Bastila's fall were enough to make me join her on the Temple just for the amazing drama, but I never could stomach having Zaalbar murder Mission. --------------------- I'll address some of the problems/suggestions you posted: 1: Be glad you played the PC version first. I'm on my first playthrough on PC, having had the Xbox version for years, and I'm very much enjoying the differing generic heads. Yes, that's right, it's even less diverse on the Xbox. Almost all the bearded NPC's are PC exclusive. 3: I think I've heard that you were initially intended to fight the Krayt Dragon, but that idea was discarded probably due to time constraints. It was rather anticlimactic, but at least they had Komad point that out in-game . 8: The Mandalorian commander on Dantooine that you called Seffron is actually named Sherruk. He is toughy, and I guarantee he will be the most difficult enemy you fight if you download Shem's "Sherruk Attacks with Lightsabers" mod. It makes sense because if he collects lightsabers, and has the skill to kill Jedi, he could probably use them without lopping his limbs off, right? But, needless to say, I had to resort to a small supernova's worth of mines just to possibly bring him down, depending on the saving throws he made. I almost uninstalled that mod. 9: Landspeeder travel is a possibility in TSL, though you don't actually get to drive it. It's basically a fast-transit option. 11: Did you ever visit Yavin Station? Also an exclusive to the PC version, for the most part. If you did I take it you only visited it once? Later in the game, the Baragwin weaponry there is quite killer. The Baragwin Heavy Repeater has a damage range of 7-46 fully upgraded, which is, I believe, the highest damage range in the game. It's not available until your last Star Map (right before you leave for the Star Forge you'll have to make the quick stopover to Yavin), but I mean really, that's power. There's also the Baragwin Assault Gun that's available after your third Star Map including Dantooine. It's also a repeater and has a comparably ridiculous damage range of 6-38. HK-47 has gained new influence in my game, needless to say. 12: I never really liked Pazaak just because I always felt that the AI's hand cards were secretly interchangeable depending on the circumstances. Sometimes I just couldn't believe the luck they had drawing like five 1's that set them up perfectly for the magical +/-4 card they had for the second time. Maybe I just suck at it. I actually liked the swoop racing when I played on Xbox. However, KotOR doesn't run perfectly on my PC, even though it should according to Bioware's recommended requirements (which I think are very flawed). Swoop races laggy enough that I can't reasonably play them. So I was forced to download an easy swoop races mod just to do them. If you don't like the racing but still need the credits and want to do the quests associated with them, you might consider downloading it. I didn't mind the turret shooting, but I do hate how the encounters are random. I can't see how Sith Fighters can attack you at Dantooine. Malak would have bombarded the academy as soon as he found it with those fighters. Maybe there's a mod to fix that too. 15: Very annoying. Don't know what else to say lol. ------------------------------ One last word of advice: In regards to TSL, you may want to wait to play that until Team Gizka finishes their massive Restoration Project. It seems they're getting very close, even though the bug count shouldn't be used as a timetable. If you're planning on waiting a couple months anyway, it shouldn't be a problem. I know I'm not buying TSL for PC until Team Gizka releases their masterpiece, though. I'm very excited for it. Ok. I think I'm done. Long post...I didn't mean to hijack the thread away from you, just wanted to post my own thoughts in accordance with yours. Welcome to LucasForums! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhollmusik Posted August 16, 2008 Author Share Posted August 16, 2008 Great reply, thanks for the insights. Some very useful tips too. Seen as it's...um...1030 in the morning I think I'll reply in kind as well. Yeah, those poor Jedi. We can compare them to monks or buddhists if we want the Earth equivalent. Us grey players just wouldn't cut it in that environment. I guess one school of thought is that a Jedi-hopeful will never properly maximise force sensitivity if s/he does not veer completely to the light or dark. Much like an eggtimer will only run if completely turned to one end. If we indisciplined greys are sort of lounging to one side then the sand never flows through all the way, but rather keeps only say two-thirds of our sand in one end while the rest of the weight is kind of sifting hither and thither. Diluted, unconcentrated weight of force = jack of all trades, (Jedi) master of none. But I hazard if the Force didn't have such jacks (greys) then there truly wouldn't be a balance, an order in the Force...one end (side) would always be heavier. We greys are in fact the true saviours, our presence perpetually restores the balance in the Force... dear oh dear...what am I on? Alright next discussion: I understand why you play with the music on...I certainly love the music during the movie scenes, but during play itself It starts to grate and I lost the feel of 'being there'. I have likely missed out on some extra drama tho'...I think I read here somewhere a description of a Kotor scene where the music piped up and made the moment even more memorable. But if you do still play yourself try the no-pauses options...you feel like you're really fighting. I wouldn't be surprised if there is some fan-fiction out there detailing The fate of the Undercity crew, they almost certainly survived the onslaught and humans can survive mass exoduses as has been shown in our past many times over. The Rakata...I would like to hear more as to how they fell...fell so hard that the Republic had no mention of them, yet they were the fabled Builders of the Hyperspace routes. I think all we know so far, at least from canon sources, is that the Force disowned them...and thus their empire fell apart, yet the Starforge remained. There's more to mine from this arc, for sure. I quite like Manaan too, the political layers there are intriguing and the Selkath a good example of a race that would survive most apocalypses. But it wasn't clear if they do space travel. Regarding the Sandpeople, it is a joy to see how much depth can be created in such minor characters. I used to be a Star Trek watcher (I wouldn't say fan but I have seen most of the Original and TNG) and always thought that franchise had the biggest potential expanded universe but in fact, it is the genius of the Star Wars films (even the prequels) that has proven, to me, more expandable. I think because the Star Wars races and concepts are somehow more memorable, and thus more inspiring to fill in the blank canvas. Some Star Trek episodes were very fine drama...but I was never interested in an expanded history of any of the participants. Bioshock, eh? I plan to start a new PC build soon...then I'll be ready for these newer games. I tried the Bioshock demo but it ran not so well. Like most post-2007 games in fact. Ajunta Pall was interesting, but I was disappointed he was still ready to fight after his speech...that there was no option to pacify him, unless I missed it? I only had Zaalbar do that because, well, if I was gonna go dark then I might as well go dark. Did you have to kill Mission yourself anyway? I guess that wasn't too pleasant either. --------------------- Problems/suggestions: 8: Wow, Sherruk with lightsabres. Hard B'stard then! 11: Yeah, I went there first before any planet because it had no name and I wanted to know what it was...after the visit I actually forgot about it. Those blaster stats are nuts! If I'd have realised this I would have gone back and then also had HK instead of a Jedi. 12: What's your PC stats? My game ran perfect (apart from the slight cut between movie scenes I described in my first post). I had high textures, 1024 x 764, selected all graphical effects and had x2 filter & alias (or whatever those options were). Windows XP SP2 AMD 3000 (2.1Ghz) 1.2GB RAM NX6200 Gforce 256MB (a €50 AGP card) Semi-pro audio card Old school Nokia 21" monitor (the kind that weighs as much as a fully-grown meatbag) TSL: that's excellent advice...I'll wait for that Gizka project. Thanks for the welcome, I'm glad I found this forum. I've been trying to wax lyrical about Kotor to a mate but he's more interested in Oblivion so this here is a good outlet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascendant_Justice Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 The Rakata...I would like to hear more as to how they fell...fell so hard that the Republic had no mention of them, yet they were the fabled Builders of the Hyperspace routes. I think all we know so far, at least from canon sources, is that the Force disowned them...and thus their empire fell apart, yet the Starforge remained. There's more to mine from this arc, for sure. Apparently after the destruction of the Star Forge, Lehon was eventually granted semi-secret membership in the Republic. However they soon died out due to their unwillingness to leave the planet and diminishing genetic diversity, according to Wookieepedia. It could come up again, though, that's for sure. Bioshock, eh? I plan to start a new PC build soon...then I'll be ready for these newer games. I tried the Bioshock demo but it ran not so well. Like most post-2007 games in fact. I have it for 360. There's no way my pc is even remotely close to being able to run that game. After I played the demo through, I was intent on buying it the day it came out. Highly recommended. Ajunta Pall was interesting, but I was disappointed he was still ready to fight after his speech...that there was no option to pacify him, unless I missed it? Actually, yup, there was. I can't remember exactly how but it probably required some skill in persuade. I think you're supposed to destroy his sword or something...idk. Could be completely wrong. Did you have to kill Mission yourself anyway? I can't even remember. My first playthrough was years ago, and that's the only time I've even touched the dark side lol -_-. I'll try to make my next playthrough pure dark and do everything as extremely dark and sithly-like as possible. Then, I'll be sure to forward my killing of Mission through the walking carpet and then expend of him as well . 8: Wow, Sherruk with lightsabres. Hard B'stard then! Oh, yes. His stats are ridiculously inflated, as well. Plus, he is very liberal with life support packs. It was very much impossible for me to kill him in combat with myself, Canderous, and Carth all at the same time. Keep in mind I also had another mod by Shem that made Carth just a bit more useful as a side effect (Carth's Republic Uniform Plus). You are well rewarded for killing Sherruk though. Shem added some very good loot to him. I actually sold off a good bit of it to keep the game balanced. Windows XP SP2 AMD 3000 (2.1Ghz) 1.2GB RAM NX6200 Gforce 256MB (a €50 AGP card) Semi-pro audio card Old school Nokia 21" monitor (the kind that weighs as much as a fully-grown meatbag) Windows XP SP2 Intel Pentium 4 (2.8 Ghz) 512 mb RAM Radeon 9250 256 mb whatever the stock audio card is. I guess SoundMax Digital? Samsung 22" Widescreen (downloaded the UniWS widescreen fix) [rant]All of my system requirements exceed Bioware's recommended reqs. with the exception of my RAM which is equal. I've already posted threads on multiple forums in regards to this and the problem seems to just be with certain video cards, even if they exceed the requirement. I dunno. I can play the game on the absolute lowest settings and get the same amount of lag I do on high settings. It's only when I'm looking at certain things or areas. The problem mostly seems to surface in urban areas like Taris and Ahto City. Something about urban textures just doesn't agree with my system, I suppose. I still blame Bioware. If they're going to port games from consoles to PC, they should do it so it's not a problem for people even four years later with $5,000 systems (not that that's me of course). But, really, spent ten minutes on google and take a gander at all the issues that come up even now in 2008.[/rant] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan7 Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 I have read all this - but my only recommendation, comment is to play KotOR 2 TSL, unlike others I would recommend - before TG release and after so you can appreciate the difference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCarter426 Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Seconded. In addition, play it at least twice before judging it, and there's a certain guide floating around which you must read as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Betrayer Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 There's a nice comic on deviantart.com about the promised land, I guarantee you'll be awed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serpentine Cougar Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 Wow, wall of text. ... there's a certain guide floating around which you must read as well. Do you have a link? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhollmusik Posted August 22, 2008 Author Share Posted August 22, 2008 I looked there but didn't find it, even via searching...anyone have a direct link? There's a nice comic on deviantart.com about the promised land, I guarantee you'll be awed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Betrayer Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Here you go: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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