Publisher: LucasArts
Developer: Obsidian (founded by five famous games developers, namely: Feargus Urquhart, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, Chris Avellone and Chris Jones.
Platform: PC
Alternate Version: XBOX
Format: CD-ROM
Genre: RPG
ELSPA Rating: 12+
Release Date for XBOX: December 6 2004
Release Date for PC: February 10 2005

Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (which will be referred to as KOTOR II) has been long awaited by fans of the original. Some may have become worried about the change in developer from Bio-ware to Obsidian. Rest assured the Star Wars magic is here, albeit not as fine-tuned as Bio-ware's masterpiece.

The story is involving and creative (what did you expect when some of the people working on this game created Planescape: Torment one of the best RPG games ever). You play as the last Jedi, an exile shunned from the Jedi Order for participation in the Mandalorian wars. You awake in an seemingly abandoned mining facility and have to work out what happened and how to escape. But after escaping you begin to uncover the plots against you and understand more about the characters past. But rather then spoon-feeding this to you (by having some an anonymous and mysterious character explain everything) and patronising you, this left for you to discover for yourself, which is how a good RPG should be. As you travel you'll meet people from the past, visit places broken by the carnage of the wars and finally confront your past.

When you awaken you'll find that the D&D engine is the same as last time (no complaints here) but certain things are better implemented. The skills you choose to increase now have a more direct role then just what it says on the tin. In the original, the skill "repair" was just a way to fix droids and machinery. Now "repair" can also be used to spot things out of place (like for instance, signs of sabotage...). A welcome change among many. What fans of the original will find different is that you can now change how your party reacts to you. You influence them and change their alignment (or even their class in some cases). How you get influence is through your actions and what you say to them- some are impressed through kindness or charity and some by vicious acts. You're no longer a stagnant being, not having an effect on the people around you. You have to consider carefully what you say and do. Although the system is impressive, at times it doesn't seem quite complete and isn't always well implemented for the characters you get quite late in the game.

Also good: HK-47 is back. Fans will love this, as a thousand meatbag references are born. Just like HK-47, non-of the party members are stereotypical and boring. One of them might start off looking stereotypical, but don't be fooled, because when you delve into his past it'll really surprise you. The choices you make aren't so simple any more- it is no longer a matter of how "can I get this reward and an alignment change"- it's a matter of ethics. Which is how an RPG should be as it is both stimulating and challenging. It has you questioning your alignment (which can be light or dark like the original). In fact choices like charity aren't always the best idea or the most beneficial for a person- something Kreia, your mentor points out. She makes interesting and insightful comments which leave you questioning your choice.

Unfortunately as good as the storyline is, the problems of the last game still hound it. Some of the quests are boring and tedious- take "A to B and kill C" (not all of them are like this but there is enough to annoy you). There isn't enough to the game either. It doesn't feel as big as the original and there aren't as many sidequests to get lost in. Something that I still don't understand (which was in the original) is how I can go around stealing stuff from lockers and no one comments on this fact. I would've expected an alignment change but there is never reaction to you stealing from people. There are only a few cases were a reaction happens- which should have been implemented all over the galaxy. The dungeons aren't as well designed and the layouts make you run around for ages, which can get quite tedious. The Transit system has been removed which means you end up walking even more.

Still these were problems in the first game and some improvements have been made. You can now create and upgrade items with a new system and get components to create the items by breaking down anything you don't need (or can't sell...). Your party members are also more implemented in missions on their own without you, which means they're more involved (a major fault of the original) in the plot and the game, although this means you might be stuck using a weak character you don't like.

There are some irritating bugs and missing parts to the game which annoy me greatly. Sometimes you can't walk through doors because of an invisible barrier. Some of the dialogue is missing and some of the story line has plot holes or parts which just seem to be forgotten (or were left in, but not implemented). What happened to the quests you got from your party members? The ones in the original that got you xp and would help you understand more about each member. The audio quality isn't as good as the original- particularly for the aliens who seem to repeat the same sounds. It also turns out that most sounds were recycled from the original and from other Star Wars sources. Another annoying bug- some of the sounds for T3 seem to have just disappeared when I talk to him leaving irritating gaps. Your party still has no battle co-ordination, which means they often end up doing stupid things, like running over mines and trying to get as close to the big enemy, which can kill you in a few hits. It's a real shame for a game this good.

That being said, the story is story brilliant and the game is as addictive and fun as last time. If you can ignore the problems it can be a fun game to play. I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the last game, enjoys a good story or is just wondering where Lucas's movie magic went to.

Final comments
An intelligent, thoughtful, adventure with a minor annoyances here and there.

Specifications:
DirectX 9.0c
OS: Windows 98 SE/ME/2000/XP
CPU: 1 GHz(Pentium III or Athlon)
Memory: 256mb RAM
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon 9200 or NVIDIA GeForce4 recommended
CD-ROM: 4x CD-ROM
Input Devices: Keyboard and Mouse

Warning: Minor Spoilers


As much as I love Star Wars:Knights of the Old Republic 2. There is little doubt that towards the end the game starts to feel much less coherent and finished. This is not so much the fault of sloppyness on the part of the writers as it is the fault of a rush to get the game on the shelves.

It has become apparant that there are chunks of the game that have been cut out from the game yet are still included on the disk. You can find details on some of the missing content here

http://tubertarian.com/kotor2missingcontent.php

Content includes:
Scripts and sound files for your party that are supposed to come into play near the ending where they confront the final boss. This would have been a much more satisfying ending to them simply being forgotten and you going off to face the ultimate evil alone.

Some surprises from your party, includings some deaths and a confession of love. Also, extra dialogue that seems to be triggered if you have pushed them towards the dark side

The conclusion of the GOTO/remote face off that occurs in a cut scene towards the end but is left unresolved.

An important peice of information from Jedi Master Vash. That, if included, would have cleared up a major plot hole regarding your force bond with Kreia. Its actually quite staggering that this is left out.

An extremely funny line from HK-47 mocking your allies from the first game.

An entire level: The HK-50 droid factory.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (often shortened as KotOR II) is a role-playing videogame developed for Personal Computer and Xbox. The Xbox version was released 6 december 2004, while the PC version was released 8 february 2005. The game was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by LucasArts.

General description


The game is a sequel to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which was considered a commercial success and appreciated by players.
The original game was developed by BioWare. The developers at BioWare suggested LucasArts to hire Obsidian Entertainment to create the sequel because they were involved with other titles, such as Jade Empire and Dragon Age: Origins. BioWare suggested Obsidian because they often worked together with many developers of the latter company when they were part of Black Isle Studios.
The Sith Lords was built using an improved version of the Odissey engine, which Bioware licensed to Obsidian.

Plot


The game is set five years after the events seen in the first chapter, or 3951 years before the battle of Yavin seen in the fourth episode of the Star Wars esalogy, and includes new characters. At the beginning, the player can choose, indirectly and through dialogues with other characters, what happened to Revan, in order to retain consistency with the previous plot partially influenced by the player; if dialogue options are skipped, the canonical facts are chosen, that is, Revan is set as male and aligned with the Jedi. The beginning of the game sees the Sith victorious over the Jedi, now decimated and reduced to a mere handful of individuals. The protagonist of the game and main player character is a Jedi Knight who was banished by the order, who is thought to be one of the last Jedi. He is referred to as ''Jedi Exile''.

Some characters seen in the first game make a comeback as additional party members or are seen around. There are new locations, such as Telos, Onderon and its moon Dxun, Peragus II, Nar Shaddaa and Malachor V. Korriban and Dantooine, which appeared in the first chapter, are revisited.

Development


Obsidian began developing the game when Knights of the Old Republic was released on the Xbox.
Interview regarding development
The Sith Lords is built on an advanced version of the graphic engine "Odissey engine", which was used for Knights of the Old Republic as well. New characteristics include a larger number of combat stances and animations. Video on Gamespot

Obsidian Entertainment left much material and resources in some folders of the PC version of the game. This was to be used to create more scenes and cutscenes, which were ultimately removed from the final version of the game.
Producer Chris Avellone, during an interview, stated that he would have liked "to have more time" to work on the project, and that several pieces of storyline - including a planet inhabited by droids, M4-78 - were eliminated due to time constraints. Interview with Chris Avellone
Source files can be found in various folders. The missing content

Characters


*Main character
The player character (also known as Jedi Exile) can be customized in regards to gender, facial features, class and name. The character already starts with Jedi features (Force powers and ability to use a lightsaber). The Exile doesn't have a canonical name, but LucasArts specified that she's a woman, opposing Revan which has been established as man.

Gameplay


The game shows more advanced gameplay in contrast with what was present in the first chapter.

Building items


There are items which can be built and improved, for instance implants, grenades and med packs. Besides the working bench on the Ebon Hawk, the player can operate on T3-M4 the astromech droid, which works as a portable laboratory to create items, and can use the Disciple's help to make medical equipment.

Influence


The game introduces the concept of "influence", which is the amount of "trust" a character in the player's part has towards him. Influence allows the player to access "nodes" in the main story and to receive more tips and information about a given character (for example having a high influence on Atton will make him reveal his secret past as a criminal), or to discover some new abilities for them. Discussion about the influence system

Influence can be gained by behaving in a manner which is considered "appropriate" by a character in the party. For characters which are aligned with the Light Side (the good) an appropriate action could be saving someone's life, while for those aligned with the Dark Side (the bad) reacting violently to someone could be the appropriate thing to do. Influence points are lost in a similar manner, though in some cases the cause for point loss is not always clear.

Jedi training


It is possible to train some companions to become Jedi, so that they can use Force powers. With the exception of the droids, Mandalore and Hanharr, every companion can be turned into a Jedi. Even though they can't match the power of the Exile or that of Kreia or Visas, they become much more powerful than before.

Training a character requires a high number of influence points, for this reason many players, during their first playthroughs, miss the opportunity of turning their party members into Jedi.
The characters can be trained on both the Light and Dark side.
*Atton can become a Jedi Sentinel
*Bao-Dur can become a Jedi Guardian
*The Handmaiden can become a Jedi Guardian
*The Disciple can become a Jedi Consular
*Mira can become a Jedi Sentinel
Discussion about Jedi training of companions

Classes for the player


The class is set while creating the character.
*Jedi Guardian: good combat skills and resistance, poorer Force powers
*Jedi Sentinel: average combat skills, resistance and Force powers
*Jedi Consular: poorer combat skills and resistance, good Force powers

Prestige classes


These classes can be set when the character reaches level 15 and asks Kreia to intensify and specialize the Jedi training.

Light Side Dark Side
*Jedi Weapon Master *Sith Marauder
*Jedi Watchman *Sith Assassin
*Jedi Master *Sith Lord

Music and movies


Obsidian has released two data packets which improve music and cinematic quality. Cinematics are rendered with a resolution of 1600x680 instead of 640x272.
The screen must be capable of supporting a resolution equal to 1600x1200 pixel in order for them to display correctly. Which patches/fixes for Kotor2?

The sound track is compressed in MP3 format at a sampling rate of 10.9 kHz mono. Music is degraded to *MONO* 10kHz @ 48 kbit/s (analysis) Obsidian has released an additional patch for the music, which replaces the low quality files with high quality ones.

Cut content


Part of the original plot was cut due to time constraints and pressures from LucasArts. Some volunteers are developing and restoring cut material to be added to the main storyline ("cut content"). See ''The Sith Lords Restoration Project'' for more information.

External links


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