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Ups the ante on Star Wars games

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

One thing about KOTOR 2 that greatly impressed me is how Obsidian, taking the KOTOR franchise over from BioWare, did not mess with a winning formula. They faithfully carried over the first game's visual style, presentation, and atmosphere, which means those who played KOTOR 1 can jump right in.

Just like KOTOR 1, the game hinges on its story rather than fancy gimmicks or better graphics or more features. KOTOR 2's storyline runs parallel to KOTOR 1's, and introduces a new protagonist whose only tie to the first game is that he/she fought in the Mandalorian Wars. Again, the characters can be a bit flat/stereotypical, and will do most of the talking throughout the game (you mostly choose how you'll respond to others through your dialogue choices).

The main reason why I would actually rate this game higher - yes, higher - than KOTOR 1 is the intelligence of the script. What I mean by that is how the game's characters challenge you (both the main character and the person playing the game) to think long and hard about some things that are regarded as "truths." Yes, I'm talking some serious philosophy here. For example, Kreia, one of your allies, challenges you to think about how a random act of kindness actually robs the person that's being helped of the chance to struggle, fight, and become stronger for it. And a Jedi Master will challenge you to think about what to do if a cause you believed in strongly ends up doing just as much harm as it prevents. In another instance the game shows the dangers of both blind allegiance AND independent thought (yes, the latter also has dangers). And the best part is that all of this is presented within the context of the game's various scenarios, without ever sounding preachy.

As far as the gameplay mechanics are concerned, Obsidian spiced up the battle interface with new Force powers and feats, which open up a new dimension to strategizing and outfitting your party. Unfortunately it seems all the bugs and glitches from the first game were carried over as well, such as the "doorway bug" and the "menu bug." And playing Pazaak is still just as hard.

As a nod to those who played the first game, Obsidian decided to insert many references to KOTOR 1 here and there. For example, KOTOR 2 recycles two planets from the first game, Dantooine and Korriban. The maps are identical to the ones from the first game, but this time you explore slightly different parts of the planets. And people in the game are constantly referring to the Mandalorian Wars (the war that was fought five years before KOTOR 1's timeline) and the Jedi Civil War (the events of KOTOR 1). In fact, you'll find that the Jedi Civil War casts a very large shadow over the lives of many people you'll encounter in the game, including most of your allies. You'll find that having played the first game certainly enriches this one, although it's not crucial.

So, in summary, if you're suffering from post-KOTOR withdrawal symptoms, your prayer has been answered - go buy this game NOW.

Let down

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: July 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Let me tell yah- KOTOR I is one of the classic Xbox box games. KOTOR 2 suffers from a Rush job to get the game out around within a year of the 1st. Game suffers from CRASHES which should Not be the case on a Xbox or Playstation type system. If the programmers and testers had spent a bit more time with the game it could have added to a classic legacy. Instead you get a Decent game with some Minor interface improvements and the nice idea that if you go good/bad so does your team.

PROS:
1- great to be in this storyline = the old time story of sith vs jedi is something that needs to be explored in movie format = someone please have Lucas make one of these flicks ASAP!!!
2- nice that the computer is aware that you progess so gives you hints when you talk to others as to what to say.
3- fun to get to be follow the dark or light so Much replay available to see how it all goes.

Cons:
1. Crashes - make sure you save goes your XBOX will slow and crash at ceartin areas from time to time.
2. Storyline- the 1st KOTOR had amazing story and characters- this one felt rushed and just didnt make as much sense. Maybe cause the DVD jumps and misses some of the key stories if you should make some odd choices- like it wants to force you into the story arch and since the developers were rushed they couldnt make it as "smooth" a story development as the 1st game did.
3. Some spots dull- not much in the way of surprises, 1st game had dome real WOW moments this one had the tend to fall into hack and slash with much less in story.

Overall go with the 1st Knights game for One of the All time Great Games on Xbox and than come to this one after you play it a few times just to have a decent time in a fun universe- playing a jedi (or sith) is never dull even if the game is not the best ;).

Peace

Not what I hoped for

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 16
Date: December 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I enjoyed the original KOTOR like I hadn't enjoyed a video game in a long time....most of all the story was very enjoyable.

I just got KOTOR II .... and although it is the same gameplay, same kind of graphics....it just doesn't feel the same.

I guess there's no sense in talking about the framerate and glitches since everybody has mentioned it, specially during the battles...so I'll focus on the gameplay and the story.

Storywise it hasn't quite gotten me hooked on it. I couldn't wait to get home from work to continue playing the original KOTOR, with this one I turn it off after about an hour of playing. It is kind of confusing what has happened since the first game, and the fact that since almost the beginning you find out you were a fallen Jedi who followed Revan takes away a lot of the mistery. The other characters are not as interesting either...at least the few ones that have showed up so far. Their full stories still have to show up but not very intriguing.

There are some repetitive plot points: Amnesia, damaged ship, forced landing. The bond with Kreia is a rehash of the bond between Revan and Bastila in the first game. The whole amnesia thing seems to be the only way they can come up with for a character to start up from scratch. Things that worked out fine in the first game, may not be very surprising or interesting a second time.

The gameplay is pretty much the same, just added the ability to construct and deconstruct items in the workbench. I find my character advancing levels pretty fast and with the experience from the first game now I know which skills and force powers are most useful so it would have helped if they had played with that a bit. Battles have been easy so far also...i haven't died once so far, and I don't have any sophisticated armor or equipment. The glitches and framerate issues do get confusing during the game.

I'm giving the game 3 stars for the time being, since I've just started the game...but it is not what I hoped for so far...I really hope it improves as the game advances.

Same basic gameplay, FAR worse story

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 9
Date: November 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I will reiterate what so many other people have said about this game: if you played KOTOR 1, you're going to be disappointed with this sequel. Even when I first bought this game, I knew it wasn't going to be as good as its predecessor because very few games can stand up to the greatness of KOTOR 1. However, I wasn't prepared for just how much the new game developer, Obsidian Entertainment, would disgrace the good name of KOTOR.

First, I'll go over the few pros that this game has to offer.
- You are now a Jedi from the start. (although you can't get a lightsaber until MUCH later, about 1/3 through the game)
- It has the same great battle system as KOTOR 1, plus a bunch of pretty cool new Force powers.
- When you reach level 18, you can get a "prestige class" that lets you customize your character a bit more.
- The new planets are (for the most part) fresh and exciting, though they sometimes look bland due to the generally poor graphics.
- There are more faces for your main character that you can choose from when you begin the game.
- I'm having trouble thinking of anything else good about this game that wasn't copied-and-pasted from the original KOTOR.

Now come the cons. Bear with me, this is going to be long.
- You can't get a lightsaber until even later through the game than in KOTOR 1.
- The graphics, as stated above, are generally pretty bad, at some parts even worse than in the original game that came out two years before this. That's just inexcusable.
- For the first five hours or so, you don't get to go outside onto a planet's surface at all; you're stuck running around in bland-looking, gray space stations, which gets extremely boring after a while.
- The characters are all dark and grim and unlikable, with no comic relief whatsoever (except for everyone's favorite HK droid, HK-47, but they stole him from KOTOR 1).
- It's a real chore to get HK-47 into your party - I couldn't even find all the necessary parts to repair him on my first play through.
- The story is ridiculously convoluted, probably the worst of all the game's faults. Instead of the lean story of KOTOR 1 (which still managed to be dramatic and compelling, by the way), we're now treated to a whole mess of philosophical jargon, apparently in an effort to make the story "darker." However, it really only succeeds in making it more confusing - I still don't fully understand what's going on in the story after forcing myself to play through the game twice.
- The game was rushed out for Christmas, so many parts of the already-bad story are incomplete. As if convoluted character arcs and 25,000 villains wasn't enough, there is an amount of plot holes in this game as I have never before seen in any story, movie or game.
- The three titular Sith Lords either have no backstories, or they have backstories so convoluted that they're beyond mortal comprehension. I tend to believe the latter.
- When you fight any of the three Sith Lords, your character ALONE can pwn them in a few attacks. In particular, Darth Nihilus (the badass-looking guy in the skull mask on the box) is a huge disappointment. Your party members refer to as a "void in the Force," giving the appearance that he is the ultimate nemesis. That is, up until your level-20-something character walk up to him and kill him in under a minute.
- There is no ending. You probably don't believe me; I didn't believe the multitude of reviews who said this until I played the game myself. After you beat the final boss, you just fly off into space in your ship. And all of your party members just disappear into a plot hole after you land on the final planet.
- This game's "big plot twist" toward the end is more convoluted crap. Instead of making me go, "Oh, my God, no way!!!", it makes me scratch my head and say, "What the hell? That makes no sense."
- Another big one - it's filled with bugs and glitches. Frame rate problems, characters getting stuck in walls, atrocious pathfinding, and worst of all, freezing altogether.
- Toward the end of your game, your player character gets ridiculously overpowered. Although it seemed restrictive at the time, you can see that Bioware knew what they were doing when they made it impossible to level up past level 10 in the first game. Once you get up in the 20's, you can dispatch entire legions of Dark Jedi in just a few seconds, even without the help of your party members.
- Minor, but still annoying: workbenches are now needlessly complicated, with the new option of creating medpacks and such out of parts that you collect as you go along.

Even if it hadn't been rushed out for Christmas (which is blatantly obvious due to the lack of an ending and so many plot holes), I know that I would only have given this game 3 or 3 1/2 stars. It just lacks the creative spark and classic STAR WARS feel that made KOTOR 1 so great. I played the original masterpiece about ten times, playing as light side, dark side, male, and female, and trying to complete every single side-quest because I actually CARED about the characters and the plot. The only reason I even went on a second run through KOTOR 2 was to try to get the uber-cool HK-47 into my party.

KOTOR 2 is basically just a rehash, and a rehash with a terrible, convoluted, incomplete, plot-hole filled story at that. If you don't believe me, KOTOR fans, then buy the game and see the atrocity for yourselves - but you have been warned.

Let's hope that either Obsidian and Bioware comes up with a KOTOR III manages to bring the KOTOR franchise back to the light side of the Force.

Adds to the Original, but not without problems

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: December 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'm about 14 hours into the game so far, so I feel I've played enough to give a solid review:

The game is typical KOTOR. If you've played the first one, you won't be disappointed with the gameplay and controls. Everything is very streamlined and intuitive. The story is very engaging. I have no idea what's going to happen next, so it keeps you on your toes. There is a lot more interaction with your party too. Also, weapons and armor upgrades come a lot sooner and it's easier to upgrade them (you don't have to just do it on your ship), which is nice. Overall, I'm pleased enough with these aspects to give this game a solid rating.

Here are some cons:

- There are several glitches and frame problems. Interactions with characters screws up sometimes, and often a character will "forget" that they already talked to you, meaning the dialogue options for a previous conversation remain there even though a Journal update should have indicated your next conversation would be new.

- This is just a personal preference, but like I said, I'm 14 hours in, so you'd think you would have a lightsaber by now, right? Wrong. I only have 2 of the 3 pieces to build one so far. One reviewer said he got his in 7 hours. I don't see how. I checked every character I could for help and every merchant to see if they could sell me the parts. No dice. I really want a lightsaber, cause I'm getting tired of the swords. I also want some lightsabers for my Jedi party members. Their combat stats are pretty weak with only the swords.

- Finally, this game might just be too long. 14 hours in and I've only been to half the planets. If I had to guess, I bet it will take me 40 hrs of game time to beat it. That's 10-15 hrs more than it took me to beat KOTOR I. I'm glad to have more game to play, but I also want to feel like I'm getting something significant done when I play for 2 hours. You get bogged down in many, many, many missions. Way more than in KOTOR I, so it's hard to keep track of them. Some people may like this, but I could stand for a little less. So in KOTOR 3, I hope for a compromise between I and II in terms of game time and mission amounts.

In conclusion, I think the game is definitely worth the money if you really liked the first one. If you weren't a rabid fan of KOTOR I, but still want to get your fix, I might wait until the price drops.

Excellente! But with one problem...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: June 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is an excellent game and the gameplay is great. New force powers and abilities are awesome. I would have given this game one hundred stars if there was not a serious problem. A word of advice: if you buy a game used, buy it on a friday or saturday so you can play it non-stop to see if there are any problems. I got mine and it worked fine...until about the time I got my lightsaber. From about the time I left Peragus (a level in the game which is very early on) to about the time I got halfway through Nar Shadda (my first choice in planet selection) and it would freeze up entirley. I could not even get to the start menu it froze up so much. Plus with all the loading times, it would literally freeze probably every five minutes, but if you buy it new, it should be fine. So don't listen to me...except about the excellent part.

I wanted to like this game...I really did

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 10
Date: December 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

...but like sleeping with a totall vapid yet beautiful woman, I couldn't bring myself to enjoy the experience to it's fullest. The biggest problem i have with this game is that it is a console game that is buggy. And by buggy i mean sometimes heads don't show, there are severe clipping problems, there is a stronger lag and a 200+ ping connection to Counter Strike Source, etc. This is a console for crying out out, and you can not update the software like you can with a PC version. Game designers know this and own their customers better.

Another intensive problem i have with this game is the story. I am currently on the last of the "Choose your order planets" and i know these things
--It took me about 7 hours to get a lightsaber and that was purchasing everything because i was getting tired of swords. For most people it has been taking upwards of 12.
--I have seen the main villian (the dude with the facemask on the front of the cover) twice. I have no idea who he is, what he wants, and the extent of his in game power. I know he is driven by a hunger and he is a bad bad man.
--Currently i only know i'm a rouge jedi who got huffy at the counsel and walked off, never to be seen from again until this horrible encounter with the facemask dude. Do i know anything about him, do i care?? No, it's been 30 hours and no significant plot developments have been presented. The only thing that is keeping me going is the fact that they still have the old KOTOR game play, which was a blast.

Worth the time to play through.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 11, 2004
Author: Amazon User

It plays and feels very similar to the original Knights of the Old Republic(KOTOR). However, there are some tweaks that make it much more interesting. First off is Influence. The players influence on the NPC's is a great addition. The ability to affect those around you based on your decisions is awesome. Second off is the workbench area. Not a huge part of KOTOR, but seems to be a significant part of THE SITH LORDS. The ability to breakdown items into components/chemicals, and then use them to build other things such as parts for blasters, lightsabers, melee weapons, and medpacs is very very neat. The possibilities are huge. A second weapon setup is convienent, except for the fact that the switch weapons option is located in the same area as all of the attack feats. It gets annoying at times. Most of the differences are really just tweaks. Framerate in battle has a tendency to lack sometimes. Overall, it's really Good.

Inferior to the first one

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I just finished this game. It is long enough, took me 34 hours. But I must say, the story is quite inferior to the first one. There is no great Revan scene that was such a great plot device. The bad guys are absurdly easy if you know how to upgrade your central character, only the last two fights come even close to being a challenge.

The most annoying thing however is that you never find out much of the mystery build up into the game. While the first one was ready to stand alone this one begs a sequel. I don't want to give away the VERY little you discover in this game (besides I think Amazon would censor it), but the vast majority of the questions are VERY lightly addressed. Even worse is how after the final battle there is a dialog between you and the final enemy where you are TOLD what happens in the future. They had to put that in because frankly the story amounted to nearly nothing, so adding a bit o future predictions in a dialog MAYBE there would be some closure. Fact is that this is an add on to the previous one. They use TWO worlds of the first one (and not Manaan, the most impressive one), the basic plotline is the same (find X in several planets then move to climax).

The combats are just not challenging as long as your main character tags along, but there are times when you have to play alone with one character who is not a jedi and it just drives me nuts. The bounty-hunter female NPC that joins your party drove me NUTS by being so weak and alone so often. The characters also don't talk nearly as much among themselves, so you lack that party interaction.

It could have worked, if only they had actually sat down and written a story before they started. Play it if you LOVED II and plan to play the III one (which is bound to be in production)

KOTOR 2 bugs

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I really enjoyed the first game, so I was looking forward to the second one. Now that I have it, I have had all kinds of problems. Bad saves, frozen screen of death, skiped dialoge... At first I thought it was my Xbox, since it is a first generation console (ver 1.1). But I borrowed two other Xboxs from my friends (one a new regualr xbox and the other a halo edtion) and I still have the same problems. And they aren't even mods. I can deal fine with the less than stellar graphics (after all this is an RPG) and even the complaints some have made against the ending. Over all this is just as fun as KOTOR 1, except for all the bugs. You might want to wait for the PC version, that one at least they could patch. If not the only advice I can give you is to save... a lot. Shame on you Obsidian for releasing such a buggy game. We could have gladly waited until after christmas if it meant an actual functioning game.

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