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Great Fun, but Framerate and Glitches Hurt Enjoyment

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: December 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Kotor II is a great game, which I recommend to fans of the original. Additions include an influence feature that improves character interactions with crew members and new armor and weapons. Players also are given additional upgrade options for weapons and armor. A reader can find out about specific game features from a variety of online sources, so now I'll focus on the actual gameplay.
I enjoyed the character interactions and voice acting--possibly the best aspect of Kotor I and II. The story is also on par with the first one, but may be a little clumsy at times since it attempts to tie into the events and history of Kotor I. As far as a role-playing-game goes, there is nothing else like Kotor II on the Xbox. Like the first game, Kotor II allows you to choose what type of character you will play as--good, neutral, evil or any combination of the three. But I don't know how much playing as a different character type changes some of the game's major missions. Regardless, it's fun to have the opportunity to choose how you will play. The series is fun because it's like deciding how a character in a movie will act.
Obviously, I like the game. However, I also hold Obsidian accountable for Kotor II's framerate issues. The developer also failed to address glitches that were carried over from the first game, though they were widely known. Kotor II is based on the same engine as the first game, but the graphics have more environmental effects, more characters, and more animations. The expanded graphical content has the unfortunate impact of causing the framerate to drop significantly in certain locations. Locations with a lot of characters and lighting affects suffer the worst, especially during battles.
Some fans have dismissed these problems as the result of a faulty disk, a dirty disk drive, or having an XBox with a lot of saved games. Don't believe them. The framerate issues, glitches, and long load times are facts addressed in reviews by every major video game magazine or online reviewer. Problems with load times became significantly worse late in the game, though the load times are much shorter in the beginning of the game. Save alot because every once in a long while it will crash.
The environments seem more alive to me than the first game, but come at the cost of a better framerate. Nonetheless, an RPG is about story and character development--two aspects that Kotor II excels at. Despite my criticisms, the game is a massive adventure that I loved playing through.

Nothing stands out

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: January 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game isn't terrible, but then it doesn't really stand out either. The first game was amazing with a killer story, but the sequel doesn't offer anything remotely comparable. The story is weak and half the time I found myself not even following the plot and it didn't bother me. The ending just plain sucked. The dialog trees offer more choices when deciding on how to reply to npcs, but I never really felt like I had total control of my destiny like in the first game. In the first game I played through twice just to get the light and darkside experiences. And it was awesome each time. I couldn't handle playing this game twice, no way. One other thing that I simply have to comment on...the fetch quests. I can understand one or two per world but it seems like this is all you do in this game... how dissappointing. If you liked the first one than by all means play this one. Just be forewarned you're getting a watered down version with no imagination.

It's an OK game, but definitely unpolished, lots of bugs.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I was a big fan of the first Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic game. This 2nd edition leaves a lot to be desired, in my opinion. Yeah, it's a fun game, and if you are into the Star Wars games (as I am), sure, you'll probably buy it regardless of what I write. And, don't get me wrong, I do indeed enjoy playing the game, to some extent. It's better than a lot of games. But, I need to warn you, save your game often, and save it in various slots so you can go back. This is more true in the 2nd edition than the first. Why? Well, they've made the game more complicated. I'll give you an overview, and outline what I mean as I go. (And, the worst of all, this game is riddled with bugs!! I'll go into more detail about the bugs at the bottom of this review.)

The format of the 2nd edition game is just like 1st edition game. It's a first person storyline game. You wander around and explore various planets, picking up friends and enemies along the way. There's a lot of fighting, but you don't actually control the fight moves. You just tell your player to fight, and instruct your player on what moves to make, and the computer does the fighting for you a la "Dungeons and Dragons" style (the more powerful your player, the more likely you are to kill the opponent, and vise versa). If you're looking for a game of coordination and button-pressing skills, this game is not for you (nor was the 1st edition of this game). It's definitely a storyline and choice-making game. In this game, you are a former Jedi Knight, exiled, and disconnected from the force. You must try to reconnect with the force, and regain your Jedi status (or Sith status if you want to go down the dark path).

But, they've made the game much more complicated, and in my opinion, it's not for the better. The choices you make affect your influence on your friends. Your friends are infighting all the time, and if you choose the side of one friend, you alienate the other. This is more "realistic" I suppose. But, it just doesn't make the game fun to me. And, you have to set up your player for how aggressive you want him/her to be, and what fighting style to use, etc. It's a nice concept for some people, I guess. But, for me, I just don't want to deal with all of that junk. I just want to play the game and enjoy it, and not worry about fine-tuning my fighting style, and worry about alienating my own friends. I don't want to need to become friends with my own droid before it will allow me give it a tune-up. It's just a lot of clutter that takes up too much time.

And, unless you have cheat codes or something, there's no way on earth that you'll be able to enjoy all of the powers and attributes they've programmed into the game. Just like the first edition, with experience points, you can choose which skills and powers you want. And, that's cool with me. But, what I don't like is that you'll NEVER become the ultimate, with all skills and powers. At best, you might be able to get about 1/4 or 1/3 of the powers. It looks like there are some fun powers to play with in the game, but if you want to enjoy them all, you have to play the game about 5 times and select different powers each time. Very frustrating!! I guess some people will say that this style is more "realistic", and yeah, I guess they're right. But, I don't want realistic, I just want to have FUN with the game. And, hey, lightsabers and Jedi Knights aren't exactly realistic in the first place, so, any argument to make the game more realistic is a little strange, if you ask me.

Furthermore, they've complicated the pazzak game, by adding more crazy cards, and tougher opponents that can hit 20 almost every time (because they have a deck of very flexible cards). That's fine and all. But, for me, it just detracts from the main game. I don't want to have to spend 1/2 of my day trying to get lucky enough to beat a tough opponent, or spend most of my cash buying cards to compete with them on an equal level.

And, the swoop races are back. But, now you can jump your swoop, there are mine fields, etc. Why didn't they just make the swoop tracks more FUN, and not just make them a repeat of the last boring swoop games with mines and obsticals to jump. And, believe me, it's tougher to get the top time in the 2nd edition game than it was in the 1st edition (which already wasn't easy). And, I don't want to spend my day trying to master a boring swoop game. If they want to make you play that stupid thing over and over, at least they should make it more fun, rather than making it a boring straight line. Frankly, the swoop races go exactly AGAINST what the rest of this game is supposed to represent. The whole idea behind a storyline game is to get away from the jumping skills and hand-eye coordination, and repeatedly trying the same thing over and over and over and over before finally memorizing the course and being able to hit every boost exactly right, and avoid every obstical exactly right. Uuugh. I'm pretty good at that kind of thing, but this is ridiculous. The appeal of Knights of the Old Republic in the first place is that you do NOT have to go through that kind of garbage. But, then they throw this swoop race game in there which goes against the whole concept. You need to race this thing 30 times before you can master it. And, hey, I guess that would be fine with me if it was even remotely FUN to race the thing. But, no, it's not fun, it's boring. You just go in a straight line, avoiding mines and walls, etc. Uuugh.

Which brings me to my next complaint.... Why in the world, with today's technology at our disposal, do we have to wait 30-45 seconds every time we go into a new room or start a new swoop race. And, when the swoop race is done, we have to wait 30-45 seconds to go back to the cantina. Then, you have another 30-45 seconds of dialog and garbage. And, the race costs money, so, if you don't want to blow all of your cash, you need to reload your game every time you race (add another 30-45 seconds). Basically, you need to wait about 2-3 minutes every time you want to try the race again. This becomes VERY frustrating when the swoop game is one of those try-again-again-again-again hand-eye-memorization games. Where's the "start over" button? So, to be honest with you, I gave up on the swoop racing altogether. I just simply refuse to play it.

And, with today's technology, why can't they just make the game "read ahead"? There's a ton of memory and horsepower in the XBOX. The programmers should have made this game do like some of the other games do... when near a new part of the world, start loading that disc data ahead of time, just in case the player chooses to go through that door, or whatever!! When near the swoop race track, start loading it in case the player decides to race!! When near a new room, start loading that room ahead of time in case the player decides to go through the door!!! Uuugh. But, no, they didn't program it that way. Instead, if you go through a door, wait 30 seconds, and hope you didn't do it by mistake, otherwise it's another boring 30 seconds to leave that room and go back into the hallway. Uuugh.

Now, all of that being said, yeah, it's still a fun game overall. I mean, I wouldn't have played it if I didn't enjoy it on some level. So, please don't assume this review is just a rant-fest about a bad game. I don't mean it that way. It's not a BAD game. It's OK. But, you've already got a hundred reviewers out there talking about good stuff, I figured I could illustrate some of the bad....

Which brings me to my final BAD comment about the game, and definitely the very MOST frustrating.... This game is FULL OF BUGS (or untested unpolished programming). This drives me nuts. Sometimes you tell your player to fight, but your player stands there and does nothing, and the opponent kicks your behind. You try and try to make your player fight, but it just says "combat mode already engaged", and still your player just stands there. Uuugh. OK, back off, break off the combat, run around somewhere else for a few seconds, and then go back and start combat again, and OK, your player will fight. And, hey, it's not like I stumbled across something that almost never happens, and the developers just didn't know about it. It happens pretty often, and it's clear that the game wasn't tested well enough. Also, sometimes you tell your player to open a container, but your player doesn't get close enough to open it, and the simple container doesn't open unless you find the perfect angle. Sometimes, even during the cut away scenes, the game locks up. I don't want to stand there and watch while I can't hit start, I can't break out of the mode, and be frustrated while I've played the game for 15 minutes without saving, only to find out I have to go back and play that last 15 minutes over again because the stupid game locked up. Uuugh. They obviously were rushed to get this game on the market, and didn't spend nearly enough time polishing this game, fixing all of the bugs, etc. In my opinion, they should have spent MORE time fixing bugs, and LESS time adding a bunch of crazy complicated functions that do nothing but make the game less fun to play. I'm sure that the developers thought it would be cool to take Knights of the Old Republic to the "next level" by adding a whole bunch of new crazy game features. But, I think they missed the mark, and would have been better off spending that development time fixing the game's problems.

Rushed, bugged & unfinished.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

* MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

I really can't understand the amount of accolades and awards this game has been getting. As a huge fan of the original I went into The Sith Lords assuming that nothing could go wrong. Obsidian (the developers)are made up of the people who created classics such as Fallout, The Baldurs Gate Saga and Planescape: Torment.

After a few hours into the game however it suddenly becomes apparent that LucasArts decided to publish a unfinished product. It contains a myraid of bugs, unfinished dialogue and underwritten characters. With most of the new NPC's you can use up all your dialogue options within a few hours of recruiting them. As for the ending it consists of a five second (I kid you not) video. No explanation or conclusion. Nothing.

A few skilled individuals at the official Obsidian forums have delved into the games files, and found *huge* cut quests, dialogue options, planets and a ending that is so well written it rival's that of Planescape: Torment.

All this is for naught though, as you will see after playing through the game that LucasArts decided to take the quick buck and knocked the product out for a Christmase release (in the U.S.) without giving Obsidian time to implement these final additions.

This has resulted in a huge profit for LucasArts, but leaving the majority of gamers who brought the product with the sense that they have been ripped off. I urge those who feel as dissapointed with the game as myself to go to Obsidians forums and see the evidence for yourself. (You'll have to be quick though as LucasArts is currently trying to close them down, due to a petition started there asking LucasArts to fund a patch.)

Buy the game if your a fan, but don't expect to find a worthy sequel to Knights Of The Old Republic.

The Greatest Star Wars Game Ever Made

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Obsidian has done the impossible and made a SW game even better than the origianl KOTOR. The choices you have will astound you. Now I think I can speak for all of us and say that playing on the dark side is way more fun as crulety is contagious. Use your evil influence and persuasion to bilk innocents out of their hard earned credits or simply kill them because they are in your way. In this KOTOR, you have the option the further train your charcater in the Force by becoming a Jedi/Sith class. There are 6 total which include the Sith Lord, master of the dark side, who uses the Force to kill and annihilate your opponents. The Sith Marauder is the most skillful with a lightsaber, new powers fuel your rage and add strength to your attacks. The Sith Assasin uses stealth to kill his enemies, using the Force and the lightsaber as equals.
You can also train some of your allies as Jedi/Sith. Atton is the easiest to begin training. Any charcter you can train in the Force will aid you greatly as you will have many lightsaber battles and blasters won't quite cut it. Keep at least 2 allies with who use just blasters. The assasin droid and Mandalore are usually the best to use as they come with you trained with distance weapons. Talk to Kreia often and get your influence as high as you can. You will learn some astounding things about her and her past. She will teach you about the Force, someitmes increasing your FP's. Eventually she will train you to become your new Jedi/Sith class. She also with stregthen your lightsaber crystal to fit your current level.

Fans of the original will be disappointed

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Fans of the first Knights of the Old Republic will load up this new disc and think "This is right on track - I get more of what I loved in KOTOR." And they'd be right, for much of the game. Everything seems just like you remembered it, but better - you can do more to build your own items and weapons, you can influence the disposition of your party characters, and each character is positively teeming with juicy, just-out-of-sight backstory. But after a while, worry creeps in. When am I going to learn what's going on? When will the big plot twist happen? When will the story actually get going? Why does it feel like the game is ending? And then the game *does* end, and you're left feeling like you've played a rushed, uncompleted game. And you have. KOTOR II should have been fantastic, and it certainly tries for a while, but the jawdropping story, complex characters, and interesting sidequests just aren't there. The influence system that lets you turn your party members towards your own alignment doesn't do nearly what you'd like (it takes only a few minutes conversation to turn an evil dark Jedi into a pure and noble soul), and the item customization lets you trivially create equipment that allows you to breeze through the game without much effort. The game also sports as many, if not more, software bugs than the original, in some cases leaving the game unplayable. If you're really craving new material, and you haven't got your hopes up, play this game. Otherwise, load up the original again.

A brilliant variation on Star Wars' light/dark divide

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I'm sick of everyone picking on this game. I'm sick of people complaining about plot holes that don't exist (keep talking to those characters, folks); I'm sick of the complaints about the characters, and I'm sick of the Obsidian putdowns. Even the New York Times got into the act last spring, pairing a favorable review of BioWare's Jade Empire with an extraordinarily nasty put-down of The Sith Lords.

Yes, KOTOR was (and is) a great game, and a hard act to follow. No, the twists in KOTOR II don't quite match those in KOTOR, especially the big reveal in the middle of that game. OK, your character gets too powerful toward the end -- but frankly, I like having a lightsaber duel with a bad guy that I can win. You can't stand and fight Darth Malak in KOTOR: You have to run away, heal up, run back and get a quick blow in, run away, and repeat the process three or four hundred times. Anyone who runs away from KOTOR II will miss a great game and a fascinating spin on the moral absolutism that runs through much of the Star Wars universe.

I won't reveal any of the plot here, since the game is one big mystery. But the themes come out pretty quickly, and are explored in fascinating detail. Are the light and dark paths the only ways? Do the Jedi really help the people in this universe? Is the Force a tool to make men better, a way to increase their power, or a sinister element that bends people to its will, whatever their choices?

Many Star Wars products -- including KOTOR -- prefer to frame the whole light/dark divide like a Monopoly game: "If filled with anger, go directly to dark side." But it's no surprise that Obsidian Entertainment, created by the people who gave us the equally ambiguous (and underrated) Fallout 2, confront the either/or premises of this long-ago and far away galaxy and find the gray areas in between. The characters are about as well-developed as they were in the first game, but Kreia (an excellent performance by Sara Kestelman) is a standout, a fascinating blend of wisdom and menace who becomes the heart of the story.

Like KOTOR, it's still a lot of fun to charge in crowds of soldiers, bring lightning down on Gamorreans and help people out or cause mayhem. KOTOR II builds on the strengths of the first game, and bravely questions some of the key assumptions of the Star Wars universe. If KOTOR was composed in a major key -- bright and effortlessly complete -- KOTOR II is its minor key variation: dark, tense and extremely satisfying upon its conclusion.

"Follow up to Game of the Year is not worthy to be call such

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: March 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The combat is lacking. I could probably beat the entire game as a level 5 Jedi. The storyline is complex and very difficult to understand 90% of the time as it has an incredible number of holes in it due to the fact that a lot of very important content was cut at the last minute. There was some very telling content cut due to Lucas Arts posting an impossible release date for the developer (Obsidian) to complete the game by. Among the cut content was the original ending which, telling from salvaged sound files, was incredible enough to put any of George Lucas' work to shame, especially the the Star Wars prequels. I would say that this game isn't- I mean - wasn't worth the $50 that I wasted on it because the plethora of bugs in this game will astound you. Do yourself a favor and wait until Wal-Mart is selling this game for $20 a piece, but even then I'd have a hard time convincing myself to buy it. Trust me, go out and buy a game that doesn't bare the Lucas Arts insignia or perhaps continue playing Knights of the Old Republic 1.

Decent...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: December 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

As many people probably have noticed: sequels don't tend to fair very well; Sequels in movies, books and, yes, games. The same pattern rears its ugly head in this game. The first game (Knights of the Old Republic) was an exceptional game. The story was phenominal (or so I thought), it had great plot twists, enjoyable quests, and was a fresh look on games of this type.
Though the first chapter in this rather short book was very good, the second definately had some factors found wanting. The plot is almost laughable, you spend the whole game thinking something cool is going to happen when all it turns out to be is another 'kill the badguy' story. And to top it all off the story goes in the complete opposite direction of where it ends up...and not in a good way.
LucasArts outdid themselves with their creation of Knights of the Old Republic (the first one) but they let some slack get in the line when they created its offspring.

Overall a fun game, but while I was playing it I sort of wished I was playing the first one.

Too many gltiches!!!!!!!!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The story is fine and everything else about the game tops the original but t's totally broken with far too many glitches and choppy frame rates and freezes etc. that totally ruin the epxerience. Obviously Obsidian released this game way way too soon before they had a chance to iron out the problems. Buy this game only if you don't mind losing 30 hours of your saved game due to a glitch or constant slow down or pop up or game freezes etc. Very Frustrating!!!!!!!!!

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