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The Standard By Which All Games Should Be Made

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: April 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have read the reviews of those who only reached the city and gave up after twenty minutes, and I shake my head. Twenty minutes?

I have been watching this fully player-controlled mega-movie unfold for about forty hours of gameplay! And I'm STILL not through with this game yet. That's actually the BAD news, believe it or not!! The GOOD news is that every single hour--well, with a few abrupt exceptions I was glad to get past--were THOROUGHLY ENJOYABLE and SO much fun to conquer.

There is more storyline content here than all of my other XBox games combined. The game feels like an interactive movie, it's fun, it's fast-paced enough to be an action game (though it has WAY too much dialog if strictly action is what you are looking for), it is customizable and detailed and thoughtful and creative enough to pass as a complete RPG, and it's immersive enough to suck you in all through the night and weekends.

In fact, it's 2:39am on Sunday morning right now, and I'm only just now taking a breather.

Now don't get me wrong, this game isn't perfect. What game is? I have complaints--the initial city map is a boring start, for instance, but in retrospect I am glad that the game gets better and funner over time, rather than worse. There are also a few bugs and gameplay design flaws. Right now I'm stuck in a level that seems unpassable--I'm certain that after some sleep and some fresh air, I'll be able to return and figure out this puzzle.

But for all the weaknesses of the game, there are several strengths. Some of my favorites are:

- Character development, not just of you, but even more so of all your companions; this game is like a movie, where every character is very unique; unlike a movie, you have full freedom to get to know your companions' thoughts and personalities very well, when you choose, as the game goes on. In fact, the game sort of nags you (encourages you) to remember to do it.

- Content breadth. Here's a spoiler for you (close your eyes, scroll away, if you don't want to read it). Some six or so planets, each of which you will get to know personally, each you will explore, although the explorable maps cover only a small fraction of each. Add hours, and hours, and hours--days, weeks?--of high quality recorded audio dialog. To make dialog fit on the DVD, I must confess, for about half of the dialogs, the creators did a little bit of "cheating", by taking five or ten alien language recordings and randomly playing them while displaying text in English ("Basic"). Nonetheless, there is more real voice-acted content than you could hear on the AM radio for many, many hours.

- Creativity. Originally, I was a little bummed that so much of the story here echoes so many facets of the original Star Wars movies, both in creatures and characters, as well as in storyline. But now that I'm about four fifths (4/5) finished with the game--or so I figure--I'm finding myself pretty content with the level of artistic expression and creativity the game developers produced. (SPOILER...) There are game scenes in deserts, grassy meadows, deep ancient forests, ancient ruins, starship halls, underground "sewer cities", caves, and even gameplay on the ocean floor, and stomping around on the outer surface of a starship using gravity boots and space suits. There's Pazaak--which, if I understand and remember blackjack correctly, Pazaak is very similar to blackjack--there's swoop racing, and there's the old classic spaceship vs. spaceship fighting. There are tens of mini-stories and opportunities to do hero work, from returning a kidnapped stowaway to vindicating a friend's fallen companion. There are several family father/child and sibing/sibling issues and resolutions to watch unfold. There's even a little bit of romance. The list just goes on and on and on!

- Action. This game can slow down and let you do turn-by-turn gameplay, or it can go fast and get you on the edge of your seat. The neat thing is, it's all your choice. If you want to go turn-by-turn, just pause the game, select the moves for your players, unpause, wait for about one second to let the moves initiate, then pause again and select the next move. Or, if you want to sit back and let the players manage themselves, go right ahead. You can be as involved as you want to. But be assured, whether or not you're involved, there's plenty of action. The light sabres and other weapons have excellent sound effects, great action graphics (no jaw-droppers, but no serious weaknesses, either). There are grenades, pistols, rifles, swords, light sabres (of course), and all kinds of "magical" (Force) methods of blowing away your enemies, all of them are at your disposal. Great fun!

- RPG. Character development can be as detailed as you like. You can get started in the game with a character that matches your liking in as little as two minutes or as long as an hour, to fiddle with all the character adjustment settings. A warning, though--KOTOR is LESS about adjusting numbers and toggles and switches and MUCH, MUCH more about gameplay. Your character will become who he/she is to become according to what you do and what sort of dialog choices you make. That is, in my mind, the best way to offer an RPG. Long-time RPG game fans won't appreciate the depth KOTOR goes through in making character development adjust itself according to player decisions rather than bumping numbers around in a control panel. Their loss. Tragic. But good news for them nonetheless: the control panels are there!!

- Forced curiosity. There are not only murder mysteries and such activities where you have to go exploring for witnesses and such, but maps themselves force you to explore the area in order for you to proceed in anything. If you don't know where anything is, guess what--that just makes the game that much more realistic and involving.

I could go on (and on and on, as does the game) with more things to say about this game, but instead I think you should just buy the game and encourage you to play it for about four to eight hours nonstop to get about halfway into the Taris level, before you make a decision for yourself.

A word I might add, though. If you're not the kind of person who has hours to spare, you won't like this game. You'll play it for a few minutes and then turn it off to play a few brainless minutes of an action game. Forget it. This is an RPG, about 30% dialog, 40% running and exploring, and 30% fighting. It is not Halo 2, so don't expect a 95% fighting shoot-'em-up.

One of the best games I've ever played

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: April 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have never played many video games, largely because I didn't get my first game system until last Christmas at the age of 20. However, I was a bit of a video game junkie in my youth, and I'm afraid that "Knights of the Old Republic" could very well turn me into one again.

It's hard to express just how good this game is. Even though each game takes at least 15 hours to get through, I've played three or four already since I picked this game up last month. This game is absolutely addictive, and it in many ways reminds me how I fell in love with "Star Wars" to begin with. It's sad but true that the characters and acting in this game are more compelling than anything the two prequels have delivered. I may be a huge geek, but I found myself actually caring about what happened to such characters as Bastilla and Carth. For a mere game to achieve this is quite a feat.

The gameplay itself is almost without bugs, and is very easy to navigate through. The gameplay is wide open, as you can basically be any type of character you want, from a noble hero to a despicable villain. Rest assured, once you begin this game, you will be at it for at least a couple hours at a time. I'm not even a big fan of RPG's, so I can say that anyone can enjoy this game.

With that much lavish praise, I'm afraid there are a couple of downs I have to address. These mostly don't detract from the immersive experience, but they are worth mentioning:

Difficulty- on its default setting, the game is not particularly hard. Sure, you'll have some tough battles, but the reload frequency here is nothing like you would see on, let's say, a "Thief" game.

The Environments- though they look great, they do seem a little small sometimes.

The Alien Dialogue- though there's a fair variety, it gets repetitive after a while.

The Ending- it's a bit anti-climatic. For one, Darth Malak himself is pretty easy to kill, providing that you're a Jedi Guardian or you see how to use the "mine strategy". Also, the final cutscenes for both the Light and Dark side feel a bit rushed. I would argue that your duel with Bastilla is the true climax of this game.

However, these flaws are pretty minor overall. "Knights of the Old Republic" is a great game, and at the bargain price it's at now anyone should pick it up. I have never played its sequel, "The Sith Lords", so I guess I have to try that next.

I'll add my voice to the praise

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: June 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I'm late in coming into this game, but this is to date my favorite Star Wars game and my favorite X-box games as well!

I never played D&D or any other standard RPG, but it didn't hinder my first time playing, except I let the system do my upgrades and the like, resulting in my not being able to defeat Darth Malek at the end. I just started over and really paid attention to the skills and attributes (especially Force powers) and, while I am only about half way through, I'm already finding my new character to be much more powerful than if I had let the computer select it all for me.

If you've hesitated picking this one up, don't! I'm 36 and really have a blast with it.

BUY THIS GAME

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

THIS GAME BY FAR IS THE BEST STAR WARS GAME EVER MADE. If you have an xbox or xbox360 buy this game!!!

(I think it's better than halo + halo2)

Best story, best RPG!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

First off, this game rocked my world. I actually avoided this game up until last month because I didn't think my 50 bucks would be well spent. I'm not a Star Wars fan, so I thought there was no way I would enjoy KoTOR, since it was about Star Wars.

I played Halo with my husband and I don't like shooter games, so I, stupidly, avoided Halo, thinking there was no way I could get into it. I was wrong. I loved it. Then, it occurred to me that if Halo lived up to its hype, maybe KoTOR would, too.

KoTOR didn't just live up to it's hype, it exceeded my highest expectations for an RPG. The plot twists in the story are amazing and believable. The story knocked my socks off. As corny as it sounds, the story was so well done that I came to care for the characters, and they evolve as your own character does.

The game controls are a little confusing at first, but after a bit, they become second nature. KoTOR works off of d20 DND rules. Your character gains levels as he/she gains experience, and with levels you can choose feats, powers, and add skill and attribute points for your character, customizing the route you want him/her to take. You decide his/her strengths.

In the beginning of the game, you choose between 3 classes (soldier, scout, scoundrel) and you decide the gender of your character. Eventually, you evolve into Jedi classes (Jedi Guardian, Jedi Sentinel, Jedi Consular). Once you are a Jedi, you can start selecting powers when you level.

If you've played Bioware's games before, all this should be familiar. I've played Neverwinter Nights, so the feats and powers were very easy to understand.

In true Bioware fashion, the voice acting was spectacular. The story was wonderfully done. It was well written, believable, and the romance wasn't corny; in fact, the romance subplots were intriguing (not going to give anything away!). I mention the romance, because it's not everyday a video game actually pulls one of those off without causing snickers and giggles. I also love how the plot works out differently if you're light side or dark side.

This game actually outshined NWN for me, and I loved that game. I was so against it in the beginning because it was about Star Wars, but this game has done more to make me a Star Wars fan than the last two movies put together!

Speaking of the last two movies, a lot of people (including myself) have said that the story that goes on in this game is better than episodes 1 & 2. I truly believe that if this story written by Bioware was made into movies, it would have done better than the original trilogy, bringing the saga to a whole new level (no offense to the Star Wars fans out there).

As far as gameplay goes, the way combat is set up is interesting. You can set the game to pause after every combat round so you can decide what to do next. I love being able to pause (I don't set it up auto-pause; I do it manually) because sometimes fights get so clustered that it gives you the ability to re-target and switch characters.

The problem with this game is bugs. It starts out smooth but gets more and more potentially buggy towards the end. I've managed to stay out of trouble by saving frequently, which is a good idea to do anyway if you do something that shifted your character towards wrong side (your actions decide whether you're light side or dark side). I'd advise frequent saves regardless.

This game has done more to draw me into the Star Wars universe than any movie or game that came before it. If you own an Xbox, get this game. You'll see exactly why people insist Halo and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic are the two games that make the XBox worth owning. Despite the bugs, this is one of the best RPGs out there. RPG and Star Wars fans, you've got to check this out.

Totally Rocks!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: July 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I originally rented this game at BlockBuster, but it was so excellent I had to buy it. The story line for this game is brilliant! That you can explore the story from either the light side or the dark side is another cool feature. Although you can pretty much figure out which decisions will lead to the "light side" or the "dark side" it is none the less fun to mess around. Great characters too. The mix is neat because you can be a Jedi and run with some bad characters, or a Sith sympathizer and run with the good charaters....makes for very interesting dialogues too!

My only complaint is that this game is not long enough...not that it is short, but I like it so much that I definately would like more!!!!! Best game like it hands down in my opinion.

Great on XBox, Better on PC

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is probably one of the best ever made. From customizable characters to interacting with your environment and overall story line, you can really immerse yourself in the Star Wars universe. While playing the game, you can't help but feel the sheer size of an entire Galaxy at your fingertips. Beautiful cinimatics, excellent plot twists, and the best of all, you can choose your own path. Okay, the best of all is that you can weild two lightsabers and walk into a room and force lighting everybody within 10 feet.
The only drawback is that while it is fun to play on XBox, and originally designed for if I understand things correctly, it's much easier to play on PC, what with the whole mouse thing and all. Plus on PC you can que up moves instead of having to click attack every 1 and a half seconds. It may be turn based combat, but it's still in real time, so it doesn't feel like it at all.

An Absolute Must-Have.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

THIS GAME IS SO FREAKIN AWESOME! Even if you don't like Star Wars much, you'll still like it. Being able to choose whether you're dark or light is great. I HIGHLY reccomend this game for non and to die-hard Star Wars fans. I give it five stars for lasting appeal, mainly. The gameplay, graphics, and sound get a five, too. You can play this over and over and practically never get bored. You can do it different every time!

The best star wars game ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: May 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is the best star wars game ever and the best role playing game ever, the fact that you can go light side or dark side is great, the game is very fun and addicting. I played it twice, light side and dark side although the game stuck on me at the end on dark side and it would not let me reboot so I did not get to see the ending on dark side I only hope the next game will have better graphics and fewer bugs. This is a great game and comes highly recomended!

GREAT GAME

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: July 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have played many star wars games and been terribly disappointed. I rented this game think it was going to been another easy game. I thought i could beat it in 2 days. i didn't even GET CLOSE. I had so much fun though that I just had to buy it. I have had it for about a year I still occanally play it.

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