So, I managed to overcome all the bugs, and have finally beaten this game.
I thought the way the story was tied into the first game was kinda dumb. The first game gave a complete stand-alone story, while this one added onto it in a way Stargate SG-1 did to Stargate the movie. Don't get me wrong, I love that show, but my point is that the plot required certain gross embellishments to the original story in order to work. First of all, the idea of multiple Sith Lords (instead of one Sith Lord, and one Apprentice) could've been almost viable if there were only two of them, given the divisive nature of the Sith. But I actually encoutered dozens of sissy-ass "Sith Lords" on my journey, all of whom got slashed open with great finesse and ease.
To overcome such lame additions to a story which was pretty much a done deal, here's what I would've done: Seeing as how the Old Republic games take place thousands of years before the Empire, I would've placed the sequel a hundred years or so after Revan, with an entirely new threat popping up. I hope they do something similar with Kotor III, and make it a true sequel (or how about a "Knights of the New Republic" game, dealing with Luke's New Jedi Order)! Oh, and no recycling graphics this time around! This game felt like a cheap add-on pack.
OK, on to the good parts of the story (mostly the story you make yourself): my character starts as a Jedi. He doesn't have amnesia. He has his own special crystal.
The choices he makes are entirely his own, and one can take full ownership of him, name and all. Also, I've learned some lessons about Jedi building from the first game, so that I made him way more powerful this time around (having around 22 level-ups to choose a new Jedi power on, as opposed to 12, helps as well). The amount of whoop-ass was almost embarassing at times. On the other hand, I think it's kinda dumb how Jedi games try to balance the overall difficulty level by having ridiculously powerful bosses.
I thought the gameplay was much more streamlined, and abounded with good design choices. (no opening the same empty crate twice, you can rack up several defensive skills with only one Force use, you can read notepads without digging through the inventory, there are unlimited level-ups, more complex saber upgrades, etc.) All surely the benefit of buiding on the awesomeness of the first game.
Character interaction didn't seem as deep (except for the influence feature, which was interesting), in the sense that most of the supporting cast's stories and side-quests were non-existant. But I guess the lack of depth is a fair exchange for making the interactions more user friendly. Unfortunately, the romance sub-plot was handled in a sort of a weird way, so that my dude made it only with the ugly Sith chick, when he really longed (i.e. got elongated) for the Handmaiden.
All in all, the story was less than compelling, but I still got to raise hell across the Galaxy, and see the Handmaiden in black lingerie, so I'm satisfied.
