User Reviews (1 - 11 of 209)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

A Half Great Game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 218 / 252
Date: February 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Oh, man, here we go with the name calling already. Re reviews below: Ray is not an "idiot" L.L., he just expected his game to run since Kotor I ran okay on his system, and the engine is basically the same. I've had the opportunity to play Kotor II on the Xbox (friend's copy and console), and now I've just finished the PC version (hoping Obsidian/Lucas had learned something in the last two months). No such luck. The game is inexcusably buggy (even after all the feedback from the Xbox version players). This is a serious and distracting problem throughout the game (and Lucas/Obsidian tech support is not good) -- beware!

To be fair, I should note that Kotor II is a darker, more complex, more philosophical story than Kotor I. The GAMEPLAY is somewhat better with a whole new system to build a great Jedi character (Dark or Light) and to handle combat more effectively (new Dark/Light Force powers are available along with new moves, feats and Jedi or Sith "prestige classes"). But the STORY, as realized, is often tedious, confusing and even puzzling (read boring) -- it often simply doesn't make sense (Like why am I doing this?). Quests end for no apparent reason without resolution or explanation. The ending sequences are especially bad. Storylines begin involving NPC's in your party who you care about, but you have no idea how they're resolved. The ending just creeps up, and then it's suddently game over (credits roll). It's almost as if they didn't get a chance to finish the last 25% of the game completely (time constraints?). This looks like a rush job for the Christmas 2004 (Xbox) shopping season which is really a shame. With a little more development time, testing and polish, this game could have really been great. I guess it's all about money.

The new characters/party members are okay, but not quite as interesting as Kotor 1. You do have a "bond" with one of the NPC's, but she's not a pretty young Jedi -- just the opposite in fact. For those of you who enjoyed the "romance" and other sidequests involving party members in Kotor 1, there will be major disappointment. If you liked the random dialog (sometimes very funny) between certain NPC's in the first Kotor, forget it. Most of the dialog in Kotor 2 seems to be pretty much scripted. The new "influence" system is a nice touch if you like to talk a lot (and know how to say the right things). If you handle things exactly right, you can even make apprentices (Jedi or Sith) out of certain party members.

In a couple places the game forces you to split up your party and use party members you don't like, don't want and didn't equip (this really bothered me). If you like combat, you can build a real "tank" type Jedi and mow down scores of "enemies" (this can get a little old after a while). I often felt my character was actually too powerful -- even with the game setting on "difficult". Remember, this time your character starts the game as a Jedi exile with some Force powers (but no light saber -- you must acquire the components and construct it). The weapons balance (melee vs. ranged) is MUCH improved as is the ability to switch weapon types during combat.

So, as I said in my Xbox review, this is a half great game. The gameplay is great, but the story/quests/characters are not so great. There's no way this game deserves 5 stars (except to real Star Wars fans who admit the game has problems but still give it 5 stars. Hmmm). For more objective people, I'd give it 3-1/2 stars if I could. It's a pretty good game. Perhaps upcoming patches will fix the bugs; perhaps not. I loved Kotor I but felt kind of let down by this one. Consider carefully before you buy.

Might have been great, had they finished it

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 164 / 181
Date: March 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Knights of the Old Republic 2 is, in most ways, extraordinarily similar to the original. All the gameplay mechanisms are the same. There are a few new force powers, more feats to acquire, and more items and upgrades. This is not a criticism: the original KOTOR was a great game.

This is not, for one simple reason: it isn't finished. By this, I don't mean that the door is left wide open for a sequel, although it is. I don't even mean that the game is buggy, although it is. The game is literally not finished.

Plot points appear and disappear at random. For example, and without spoiling anything, in the first part of the game, your actions cause a significant problem on one of the other worlds in the game. You get a quest to fix the problem. You find a way to do so. The quest abruptly ends there--there is no way to let anyone know you've solved the problem. Then, at the end game, people complain to you that you never solved this quest. And that's a minor example. Frankly, more of the end game is explained by the brief blurbs on the loading screens than anything that happens in the game itself.

The game is filled with "Huh?" moments as a result. The end game, in particular, expects you to know things that are never revealed anywhere because those aspects were cut. Side plots are built up and suddenly dropped. One of the end-game cutscenes suggests a critical decision is about to be made, then is completely ignored.

Then there's the ending itself. Sheer garbage. There's no payoff for wading through the disjointed story. There's nothing but a brief little dialog that goes nowhere.

What's particularly sad is that, what story is there is very interesting. This game was designed by the designer for Planescape: Torment, one of the great RPGs. It has a similar feel, full of regret and melancholy, and the weight of decisions made in the past. I'm quite sure a complete story was developed. Some genius decided to start cutting so the game could get out the door sooner. It's a sad waste of potential, and leaves a bitter taste.

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2 The Sith Lords.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 77 / 115
Date: October 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Story Line: Five years after the events from the award winning Knights of the Old Republic, the Sith Lords have hunted the Jedi to the edge of extinction and are on the verge of crushing the Old Republic. With the Jedi Order in ruin, the Republic's only hope is a Jedi Knight struggling to reconnect with the Force and faced with the galaxy's most dire decision: To follow the light or succumb to the dark side...

The Sith Lords is the next chapter to Knights of the Old Republic; winner of more than 35 "Game of The Year Awards" featuring an all-new and perilous storyline set approximately 4,000 years before Star Wars Episode I.

New Characters:
Mira: A bounty hunter scout who combs the Republic and the Outer Rim for anyone and anything with a price on its head, Mira reels them in and cashes them out. While driven by a mercenary need for cash, she avoids contract killing. In the past, she has killed only in self-defense, and even then reluctantly.
Mira comes equipped with bounty hunter-specific weaponry, including a versatile wrist-mounted rocket launcher that allows her to target a single opponent with concussion or tranquilizer darts, or decimate hordes of enemies with buster or ion rockets-the ideal way to level the playing field when you're outnumbered.

Atton Rand: Disaster follows Atton Rand wherever he goes. While his primary talent is cheating death just long enough to stumble into the next crisis, Rand is also a skilled pilot, mechanic, gambler and liar. He thinks of self-preservation before all else; barring that, his most pressing concern is finding the next cantina with a Pazaak game. Initially imprisoned on Peragus, he is one of the first companions the player encounters.
Rand is a solid fighter. He possesses a wide range of armor and weapon proficiencies and non-combat skills, while his preservation instinct actually makes him stronger the more dire the situation becomes. So long as another party member is standing, Rand cannot be knocked down, and he will stave off unconsciousness and keep fighting if he has party support. This survival instinct also makes Rand very difficult to stun, paralyze or poison.

Kreia: The elderly mentor Kreia forms a powerful telepathic bond with the player, determined to help him rediscover the ways of the Force. She is, in fact, quite willing to sacrifice herself if it means the player will survive and reconnect with his teachings. Throughout the game, Kreia will teach the player new ways to listen to the Force, permitting him to gain new powers and abilities.
When she is an active party member, Kreia gives everyone an earned experience bonus. Even better, the unique bond she shares with the player allows him to Force Chain attacks and defense. Any Force Power cast on Kreia or the player will be automatically applied to the other party members as well.

Old Characters:
T3-M4: His chassis dented and scored by blaster fire, T3 looks as if he's narrowly missed a proton core explosion or two. This battered astromech droid is the first character to appear in The Sith Lords. His opening mission is to repair the Ebon Hawk and pilot it to safety before it's crushed into space dust in the wilds of the Peragus asteroid field. Once docked at the Peragus mining facility, however, a much greater threat confronts the crew.
The talkative T3 communicates only with clicks and beeps, but he's got a grand story to tell and plays a pivotal role in the conflicts to come. He is an expert in security, demolitions, computers and mechanical repair, acting as a portable workbench for the player. The player uses him to break down equipment into its component parts, clearing inventory and assembling more powerful weapons and items.

New Planets:
Dxun and Onderon.
Peragus II.
Telos.
Dantooine.
Korriban.

New Force Powers:
Force Crush: This power enables a character to call upon the dark side of the Force to telekinetically shatter an opponent's body. With a single gesture, the character can lift an opponent into the air, then shatter the bones in his body, bypassing any armor or other defenses and leaving the opponent a quivering, bloody wreck. If the opponent is especially strong-willed or tough, they may fight off some of the effects by sheer force of will, but this power often kills any lesser beings it hits.

Battle Meditation: Battle Meditation is a rare and powerful skill that allows a Jedi to influence the outcome of even a large battle. The Jedi develops an image of the battle in their mind and projects it to both sides of the conflict, inspiring their own troops while demoralizing the enemy. Used in both small skirmishes and larger conflicts, Battle Meditation can turn the tide when needed most.

Force Scream: Masters of the dark side have learned to focus their rage into a primal scream that penetrates the very hearts of their enemies, leaving them crippled, weak, and confused - perfect victims for a more conventional massacre at the hands of the dark Jedi's minions.

Force Furry: Sith Marauders learn to feed upon their own hatred, filling themselves with the essence of the dark side until they erupt in a terrifying rage. While in this horrifying state, the marauder slaughters all nearby foes with furious abandon, their power growing with every kill.

Force Sight: This power allows a Jedi to see using the Force. Some obstacles can be seen through and sentients glow with an inner light based on their current alignment.

New Jedi Classes:
Jedi Master (Consular Type).
Jedi Weapons Master (Guardian Type).
Jedi Wathman (Sentinal Type).

New Sith Classes:
Sith Lord.
Sith Maurader.
Sith Assasin.

New Bad Guys:
Darth Sion: His body has been torn and knitted back together into a patchwork of mutilated flesh. His skeleton has been shattered and meticulously rebuilt. Darth Sion is a Sith Lord in eternal pain, his broken body held together by sheer force of will. Only his hatred and the power of the dark side keep him alive.
Sion is exceedingly difficult to kill-his mastery over his own battered body has lent him supernatural vitality, and his enduring agony has given him a threshold for pain and bodily harm far beyond that of a normal human. Or a Jedi.
Sion leads a sect of Sith assassins sent to wipe out the Jedi Order; his path and the player's will inevitably cross. Like most of the Sith, he is cold, calculating and brutal, delighting in the pain and suffering he inflicts.

New and Improved Additions:
New pazzak, swoop racing, and a new work bench.
New Character faces to choose from.
Characters follow the paths you choose (Light and Dark Side).

Update Information:
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2 The Sith Lords has launched an official sight. Just go to www.LucasArts.com, double-click the picture of Kotor 2, and WHALA.

I do hope this is usefull information.

Profits over Quality and Customer Satisfaction!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 19 / 22
Date: March 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

"So many bugs, too epic a story, too little time," is what Obsidian must have been saying as the shelf date of it's first collaboration with Lucas Arts was drawing to a close.

The game play was to be flawless; the story was to be epic, more so than the first installment in the series had been. But strapped for time and with Lucas Arts pushing for the game to be on shelves by Christmas, Obsidian was forced to put out a glaringly obvious UNFINISHED GAME.

Many of us, loyal KOTOR series fans, rushed out to buy the game. But as we approached the 45-hour mark, the horrible realization set in that this was, indeed, a rushed game. We fought through the bugs, the moderate load times, the game freezes harder than we fought through any programmed foe and as we approached the end of the game, the last battle, the cold fact was, that many of the plot lines were left dangling, whole subplots discarded; subplots that you spent at least 6 hours of the game attempting to complete! We pressed on anyway, fought the final battle, only to have a promising ending fall completely flat, left with more questions than answers.

Now, I hear you asking now, cliffhangers? No, not cliffhangers, glaringly obvious plot holes, sucking any satisfaction out of your being that you might have had, in completing a 45-hour long game.

The unrealistic time constraint imposed on Obsidian by Lucas Arts, to rush the game out before Christmas was obscenely detrimental to both the game's play and storyline. Lucas Arts seems to have made the choice long ago that profits come before quality and customer satisfaction, a disturbing trend in the gaming industry today; one that must be stopped. We need to show Lucas Arts that bullying smaller production companies into unrealistic time expectancies is unacceptable.

That games that win awards by default and not merit do not win over consumers!

Over the past few months since the games release, PC gamers have found strings of code, and sound clips from what was to be the games original ending, it was to be of EPIC proportions and lead designers of the game have acknowledged the time constraints as a major reason for the cutting of that material. Chris Avellone, lead designer, has even mentioned asking LA for permission to do a content patch, but has yet to hear back.

DO NOT PURCHASE AN UNFINISHED GAME. DEMAND A COMPLETE ONE.

http://www.petitiononline.com/kotor2

~Emily C. Lang

Fool Me Twice

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 17 / 19
Date: March 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Remember a game, way back when, called Outpost? Probably not. But I remember it. Hyped to death by the gaming press (then much smaller and generally more honest), it was a flaming car wreck. I mean, not just a bad game, basically almost no game, and certainly nothing like the glowingly complimentary picture painted by gaming journalists.

The price of that game from my perspective was that it was a very long time before I bought a Sierra game again. This time it's going to be a very long time before I buy anything from LucasArts.

Let's be clear here. KOTOR 2 is a role-playing game. It's not a first-person shooter. The combat is fun, but it's ultimately secondary to character development and storyline. So I can tolerate combat imbalance, though it's remarkably unbalanced at times in this game. What I can't tolerate is a poor execution of a story. And as every other reviewer has noted, the story is a disaster. It would be one thing if it was overly short but coherent, but instead, it's simply missing gaping chunks as you approach the last third of the game.

Your character is someone who is supposedly regaining memory as time goes on, rather like in the first KOTOR, but in this game, as your character regains memory, you start to lose it. You ask yourself, "Hey, what happened to that character?" or "Wasn't that droid destroyed?" or "What the hell is all that stuff about Mandalore in the conclusion? I never heard ANY of that before."

Etcetera.

This really breaks faith with the gamer. There has got to a price paid for it. In my case, it's this: no more Lucas Arts. Period. Not until I see them seriously apologize for this failure and seriously set out to make it right--not just this game, but reorganization so that it doesn't happen again.

Not a bad game . . . but you might want to wait for the price to drop before buying.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: July 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The first KOTOR was, in my opinion, one of the greatest games ever. Though it had its flaws, they were few and far between. Obsidian and everyone involved with putting out KOTOR 2: TSL deserves an enthusiastic round of applause for their efforts to make a follow-up to such a stellar game. They managed to come up with a sequel that, while plauged with bugs and other issues, is nonetheless relatively enjoyable.

First, the good stuff:

TSL is fun to play--most of the time--and delivers much the same kind of experience as the first KOTOR (after all, what can compare to barbequing hordes of Sith with Force Storm whilst laughing maniaclly to yourself?). KOTOR 1 was good, and TSL tries to continue in the same tradition. Though there are plenty of problems with the game (see below), it is worth the time, to play through a few times. Many of the new features, like the streamlined weapon-change function, or the "Empty" label for looted containers, or the fact that new datapads are automatically opened to be read, are small but very helpful add-ons. The new prestige classes add a lot to the experience, giving much additional replay value. The companion influence system is interesting, if a bit stifling at times. Aside from the gameplay, I feel compelled to praise the new Jedi/Sith robes in the game: unlike KOTOR 1, TSL boasts about four different, full-length types of robe, with probably two dozen different color schemes/stats/features--it is most gratifying to walk around in a flowing robe, something very Star Wars-ish that the first game just didn't convey despite the brilliance of everything else. The music is quite good, as is the feature on the main menu that enables you to listen to the different songs you've unlocked in the game.

Now the not so good . . .

The one word that comes to mind when playing TSL is "Potential." This game had *enormous* potential to be utterly amazing, but unfortunately . . . it's not. I've seen other reviewers griping about Lucasarts pushing Obsidian too hard, about the game not being completely finished when released, etc. I'm not going to get involved in all that, but there are a great many things that disappoint in TSL, and it looks like TSL was indeed *not* entirely done when released (Pardon me while I sigh miserably over the lost content).

The incomplete state of the game is the biggest issue for me. This means that there are vexing holes in the story--especially near the end, where, as I think someone else pointed out, the little tidbits of info on the load/save screens are more informative as to what's going on than the game itself. The first KOTOR really delivered a strong, continuous main plot that kept you riveted till the very end; TSL pales in comparison. The story is *there*, you can sense it, but it was not fully brought out and clearly delineated--again, wonderful potential, but it falls flat. The end of the game is nice, to be sure, but KOTOR 1's was, simply put, totally cool, and made your adventure worth playing. In TSL, well, it's more than a little disappointing.

The NPCs you find seem sadly, madeningly dull compared to the first KOTOR. They don't have nearly as satisfying backstories or personalites--with the notable exception of Kreia; she is in the same league as KOTOR 1's characters. Occasionally, you'll get a juicy emotional cutscene or something where you actually connect with the others in your party, but those are infrequent. Also, the influence system makes its doubly hard to find out any stories that the NPCs actually have. (After hearing Atton make a woefully not-funny comment for the hundreth time, you'll start getting nostalgic for Jolee or HK-47 and their side-splitting remarks.)

The sidequests involve a lot of tedious running back and forth, and many quests simply cannot be completed, or end with irritating abruptness, a symptom of the game's unfinished state.

Many of the locations you visit in TSL are disappointingly flat. Unlike the unique and vibrant locales in the KOTOR 1, TSL's areas seem to be studies in how many shades of brown, gray, and black can be used (ah, for Manaan, or the Rakatan world).

There are other complaints, too: countless bugs, typos in the dialogue subtitles, items mysteriously vanishing from inventories, plot-critical quests failing to trigger, etc.--while I've been fortunate enough to avoid the bulk of these, I've heard many others complaining bitterly about them.

All in all, TSL is fun, but is lacking on many levels. If you liked the first KOTOR, I'd recommend getting TSL, but you'd be better off waiting for the price to drop.

Meanwhile, I think I feel inspired to go replay the first KOTOR, and hope that the rumored KOTOR 3 will be polish the many rough spots in KOTOR 2 . . .

Just as good, and sometimes better, than the original!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 20 / 25
Date: December 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

At the time of this writing, the average Amazon.com rating for KOTOR II is 3 stars out of 5. I simply can't believe this! There were a few reasons I held off getting this game (after playing and very much enjoying the first):

1. I knew it was so much like the first that I didn't want to start it right after the first, because I feared I might get tired of too much of the same thing.

2. I bought KOTOR for $19.99 and I hoped KOTOR II would drop in price as well (from $49.99).

3. So many reviews I read about KOTOR II criticized it to the point that I worried it wasn't even a good game.

Well, reason #1 stopped being an issue after a couple of months. Reason #2 disappeared when Amazon had the game for around $23. So I was stuck wondering if the game was still worth playing despite the negative reviews -- and the answer is yes!

In all honesty, I don't understand the criticism leveled against this game when it is so much like the original. Yes, you can argue that it does not improve the graphics much (it uses the same engine, Bioware's Odyssey engine) and so the game does have a sort of "more of the same" feel to it. But I enjoyed this game even more than the first, if that's possible, and here are some reasons why:

1. I was a little put off by the combat system in the first game. Either minor tweaks have been made in KOTOR II, or I'm just used to it now, but it seemed to be a lot smoother in the second game (although still the same system).

2. Many small improvements that really enhance gameplay:
- Level cap is now 50 (although you'll only get to around 28) which means you can become so much more powerful
- New Force powers: tweaks to the old powers, and new powers that you learn automatically based on your class
- Force "Forms" (sort of like abilities that you learn) that enhance your ability with a lightsaber and that improve your mastery of your Force powers

3. And most importantly: a huge, long and involved story. What I like about the story in KOTOR II, and what I think is better than even KOTOR I, is that the story plays out on two levels. First, it is a story about your character and his/her motivations. Depending on if you play Light or Dark side, you will have certain reasons for doing the things you do, and it is these reasons that drive the story forward. There is also a villain in the story (or perhaps two), but in a way this takes second place to the mystery surrounding your character. The driving force behind making progress in the game is fulfilling the desires of your character, not just chasing some Sith Lord around the galaxy until you reach the final battle with him. This makes the story very involving.

One minor complaint I had was that unlike in the first game, where you have amnesia and only learn things about yourself later, the character in KOTOR II remembers most of his past right in the beginning. Unfortunately, *you* as a player do not know his story, and many times you are presented with dialogue choices about things that happened to you. At first I thought that I had to choose the "right" answer, but I think it helps to consider it more as "whichever answer you choose *becomes* the right answer," so you are basically creating your characters past as you see fit. But still, I always had a slight sense that I didn't always know what was quite going on, but perhaps this is a result of the choices I made in the game, and maybe other paths would have revealed more information.

At any rate, if you enjoyed the first game, do not be put off by any negative reviews of this one. It is just as good as, and probably I would say it's ultimately better, than the first game.

In the Developer's Own Words

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 13 / 14
Date: March 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The following eMail from the game's developer was posted in the developer's forum discussing the game content that was built for this sequel but left unused:

________________________________________

I understand your point about putting another version together that
answers the questions that some people have voiced on the forums and
articles about the game. I wish I could say that we plan to do that and
that we will be able to go back and fill in the story where people felt
it fell flat. Unforunately, we are still a new business and we just
don't have the money to do it. Plus, I don't think that it's currently
a priority with LucasArts. Like with most games, they are onto their
next priority and our producer at LucasArts is working 60 hours a week
on another game already.

What I can tell you is that we learned a lot about making games as a
smaller developer with KotOR2 and are going to use that knowledge on our
future games. We already included our own QA team in with the budget of
NWN2 and if we get to do KotOR3 then we will do the same there.

For what its worth I do apoligize for the disappointment that you have
over the game,

Feargus Urquhart
CEO
Obsidian Entertainment, Inc.

[...]
________________________________________

I strongly recommend that anyone considering buying this game wait until the publisher, Lucas Arts, has committed the resources necessary to allow the developer to complete this product. An announcement on how Lucas Arts intends to address the growing customer dissatisfaction is expected shortly.

[...]

Incomplete in everyway

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: March 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

1/2 The quests arent complete for this game. Very buggy. More plot holes that swiss cheese.

You can tell it was rushed....if you want to know what this game was missing, all you have to do is look at Obsidians forums. To bad as had potential to be better than the first.

Most disappointing was the ending...or lack of...well unless you count the credits screen as an ending to an epic adventure after 35+ hours....

An unfinished game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: March 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Simply put, this game was published before it was completed. It has no ending, no conclusion. It reaches a climax and stops. Then there is a short cinematic that makes utterly no sense in the context of the events leading up to it. There are many plot lines and quests that cannot be completed because the endings were cut. There are a few that you discover yourself in the middle of and have no idea what's going on because the beginning was cut. The entire last 1/3 of this game leaves you feeling as if you have been slapped and do not know why. You have. By Lucas Arts, who were so determined to release this game by christmas they did not care if it was ready or not. It was not. My advice is, wait and see if they fix this game. If they do not, save your money.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions