[ragnar]

I recently played KotOR (the first one) and enjoyed it. But there are quite some problems with it. The biggest being, the dark side seem real boring. There were never any (oh well, there was one that looked mildly interesting) interesting dark side quest and it was much easier and more rewarding to go with the light side. Especially when everyone in the game warned so much about it being very difficult to resist the dark side. It was almost comical at times.

Another problem I had with the game was that the main story was not very interesting. It was all the side stories and side characters that held up the game.

Oh, and I probably will buy KotOR II soon too.

[MDMaster]

So, you just played KOTOR... what now?

[ragnar]

That *is* the question, isn't it?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

So ANSWER it!

[jjacob]

Don't worry, I have a sneakin suspicion we'll get to see a full line of KOTORs

[pleto4_ryan]

the dark side seem real boring.

i wouldn't say "boring"...at least it had a purpose and it could be understood from the hero's point of view.
You should play the "dark" side in Fable...now *that* was out of contest.


You really should play 2...you will find a really deeper story and the dark and light side options are equal and perfect balanced.
(and when you finish it read the actual ending in the net... )

[Phantom]

Originally Posted by MDMaster

So, you just played KOTOR... wot now?

fixed.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

LOL!!!

[MDMaster]

Originally Posted by Phantom

fixed.

Hahaha!

[Zack]

Hey guys, it's Zack, and I just wanted to let you know that I beat KOTOR earlier today.

I loved playing the game, and it took me many months to finish it (I've been playing it since late last year). Without really ruining anything, I started playing the game by aligning with the light side, and I finished the game by joining the dark side at the very last minute, and I reclaimed my character's true identity. That's all I think I should say, just in case I spoiled something.

As for Darth Malak, well I want to say thank you very much to the people who gave me some good tips on how to fight him. I made sure to use my energy shields and I buffed myself up with Stimulants before I started fighting Malak. I tried to use Force Wave as my first move on Malak, but he resisted it, so I just used my combat feats on him. The only combat feat that I had truly mastered was the Flurry Technique, but I had the Improved Critical Strike feat, too. I used the Force Power Destroy Droid on the captured Jedi, when it was time to do that, and then just continued to fight Malak with my combat skills, while pausing the game to heal myself with my Med Packs whenever I got hurt, and recharging my energy shields. Last time I played the game, I was no match for Malak, because I didn't have the right Force Powers and Skills to fight him. This time, on my second Playthrough of the game, I was his match. AND IT FELT GREAT WHEN HE DIED AT MY FEET!.

I honestly think Knights of the Old Republic was the most entertaining game I've played in years, and I give this game 4 1/2 out of 5 stars. I'm looking forward to playing it's sequel someday.

P.S. By the way, the game's ending movie sequence showed my character still wearing the Mandalorian Assault Armor I had worn while I fought with Malak. I couldn't see my character's face, but I am guessing she had a really evil look in her eyes, considering that she had joined the Dark Side. It was interesting to see that.

[Simon]

I finally finished the game today (goody-two-shoes Light side), about a year after starting it. It's probably the longest period of time I've had from starting to completing a game. My total playing time on my last save was about 38 hours, but I just had long spells of not bothering with it for weeks or months. It didn't really have me hooked most of the time.

I love the idea of huge sprawling RPG worlds, but often it felt like I was just getting drawn into the same quests and fights, just under different guises, everywhere I went. I went from doing absolutely everything on the earlier planets to doing much less on the last few, because I knew there was only so much traipsing around the rigid zones that I could take. You might say that there's no problem there, i.e. the side quests can be left alone for the less hardcore player, but they're there if you want them.

Spoiling criticism of late in the game:

Spoiler:

What was with the ridiculous amount of Sith troopers and Dark Jedi on the decks of Star Forge? Is it to make sure the player is levelled up for Malak? It felt idiotic, just wave after wave of the same bad guys. Turns out there are ways to get round it, but it just felt like a big waste of time, and got in the way when the plot was building towards a dramatic finale.

Maybe I've made it sound like I disliked the game, but I thought it was mostly great, one of the best RPGs I have played in a while. The core plot works really well, especially when everything tightens up in the last ten or so hours of play. The dialogue was good, and how your choices tie in with your light/dark alignment was great. Those tempting opportunities to double-cross, blackmail, or threaten were always entertaining, and I really appreciated the depth of things like weapons customisation, Pazaak and swoops.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

And I'm waiting patiently for Jade Empire, Bioware's next release.

[Simon]

Yeah, that looks great, I will probably play that at some point.

Being in a BioWare RPG mood now, I'm going be playing Planescape: Torment next. I don't really know what to expect, but people seem to still be praising it no end, 5 or 6 years later, so it's probably worth investigating.

[Hiro Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Simon

Yeah, that looks great, I will probably play that at some point.

Being in a BioWare RPG mood now, I'm going be playing Planescape: Torment next. I don't really know what to expect, but people seem to still be praising it no end, 5 or 6 years later, so it's probably worth investigating.

Without a doubt one of the best RPGs that I have ever played, and one I go back to every year or so. But be forewarned, this is a veeeery talky RPG, so if you don't like reading pages and pages of dialogue, then you will get very bored very quickly.

[AGA]

Heh, indeed. I think Planescape: Torment was probably the most eye-strain-inducing RPG ever though. Awesome amount of backstory and dialogue.

[Crunchy in milk]

RE: Planescape - Very hard to play 'wrong', you can win at this game by player smarts and dialogue choices. The hard coded resolution may put you off a little. While it lets you see the excellent character designs you really feel cheated at just getting glimpses of the beautiful (or deliciously ugly) scenery.

RE: Light side favouritism in the original KOTOR -

Spoiler:

I think this was mostly to give greater impact to the plot twist. If you played a schmultzy light sider akin to the movie ideals the twist had a little more oomph. Not to mention as a first in the series it had to get past lucastards screening. I feel the sequel plays out better as a dark or neutral aligned Jedi, certainly it fosters doubts about the hard line 'fundamentalist' attitudes in both the Jedi and Sith traditions.

RE: Simon's Spoiler

Spoiler:

The game is trying to foster in you a sense of urgency. The star forge is under direct attack and you're either trying to save it (DS) or help the fleet destroy it quickly (LS). Stopping to 'clear the area' completely of all badies and taking your sweet every loving time about it doesn't really fit with the action going on outside. Taking a party and clearing it is possible, but frustrating (since they won't leave combatants alone). A far more rewarding experience is going solo and blasting your way through quickly, tackling only those you must. Your party mysteriously dissapears anyway when it comes time for the fight in the big hologram room

[samIamsad]

I enjoyed Kotor, too. But compared to standards set by BG/PS:T it's really more like an interactive movie, than a game. And the good/evil choice is ridiculous. Do/say eeeeevil things -> character joins the dark side. Do/say good things -> character joins the light side. And then the combat system... Aim. Click. Kill. Nice presentation, but the gameplay doesn't do it justice all the time.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Hiro Protagonist

Without a doubt one of the best RPGs that I have ever played, and one I go back to every year or so. But be forewarned, this is a veeeery talky RPG, so if you don't like reading pages and pages of dialogue, then you will get very bored very quickly.

If it's good dialogue and telling a story that grabs me, I have no problem with reading oodles of text. I'm looking forward to it (should be coming in the post soon). It's pretty old now, I hope it's going to run on XP.

RE: Crunchy about the end

Spoiler:

That approach sounds much more sensible. I wasn't dying loads on the Star Forge, but it was taking forever, pressing on through was going painfully slowly. I have a save on the temple summit, so maybe I'll play nasty and do it again, if I can get past the Star Forge stuff more easily. I also read that the whole robots/generator puzzle is avoidable, you can just bash down the door and follow Malak for the duel!

Originally Posted by samIamsad

I enjoyed Kotor, too. But compared to standards set by BG/PS:T it's really more like an interactive movie, than a game.

Yeah, it is kind of linear. The way I described it was that it's quite close to an adventure game, every quest is waiting for you to find it and solve it, and with the rigid, fenced-off areas (even outside of cities) you're exploring, you do find it all. It doesn't quite feel like a living, expansive, Star Wars world, so I hope next time they put a Star Wars RPG out it feels less restrictive and enclosed. I want to feel like there's more to discover all the time.

Originally Posted by ragnar

The biggest being, the dark side seem real boring. There were never any (oh well, there was one that looked mildly interesting) interesting dark side quest and it was much easier and more rewarding to go with the light side.

I felt the opposite. The light side dialog options were pretty corny at times and I thought that the dark side quests were a bit more rewarding and interesting. Also, the Dark Side ending is much better than the light side's.

[Hiro Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Simon

If it's good dialogue and telling a story that grabs me, I have no problem with reading oodles of text. I'm looking forward to it (should be coming in the post soon). It's pretty old now, I hope it's going to run on XP.

It's a great story, and very good dialogue...just lots of it. And I haven't had any problems running it on WinXP - I actually have never run it on anything but that, so you shouldn't have any issues there.