Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
| Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Obsidian Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | LucasArts |
| Engine | Upgraded Odyssey engine |
| Platform(s) | Xbox, Windows |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | RPG |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (KOTOR II) is a role playing video game released for PC and the Microsoft Xbox. The Xbox version was released on December 6, 2004, while the PC version was released on February 8, 2005. It was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by LucasArts.
Overview
The game is the sequel to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (a.k.a KOTOR or KotOR), which was widely regarded as a major commercial and critical success. The original game, however, was developed by a different company, BioWare. According to the game's producers, the change of developers was primarily due to BioWare's occupation with other titles, such as Jade Empire and Dragon Age. BioWare is understood to have recommended Obsidian as an alternative developer, having worked with many of Obsidian's key members when they were part of the now-defunct Black Isle Studios. The Sith Lords was constructed using an updated version of the original KOTOR game engine, Odyssey, which Obsidian obtained from BioWare.
The game takes place approximately five years after the conclusion of the first game, focusing on a different set of characters. The conclusion of the first game varied depending on the choices of the player, with either the Light Side or Dark Side of the Force emerging triumphant. At the beginning of The Sith Lords, players have the choice to specify (indirectly, through dialogue choices) which of Revan's outcomes they wish the sequel to follow; if the player skips the dialogue though, it's assumed that Revan was a male who embraced the light side. Regardless of how the original game ended, the beginning of The Sith Lords sees the Sith Order having almost completely destroyed the Jedi Order. The character whom the player takes control of is a Jedi Knight banished from the Order, and is thought to be one of the last remaining Jedi, known simply as the Exile or Jedi Exile.
Among the new characters who join the main character are Kreia, who acts as a mentor to the main character, and Atton Rand, who acts as the ship's pilot. Several characters featured in the first game are also brought into this sequel, and a few can join the main character's party. Enemies include Darth Sion, a Sith Lord whose shattered body is held together only by "his hatred and the power of the Dark Side". The new planets which the character may visit include war-ravaged Telos, the planet of Onderon and adjacent jungle moon Dxun, and Peragus. Korriban and Dantooine, which appeared in the original game, are also revisited. The Ebon Hawk, the ship used by the main character in the first game, once again makes an appearance as the player's transportation.
Characters
During the course of the game, the player (as The Exile) meets a great number of other characters, though some are encountered only through specific actions.
- Atton Rand
- Bao-Dur
- Brianna the Handmaiden (only by choosing male as main character's gender, if player is female the Handmaiden will not join her after the conversation)
- Mical the Disciple (only by choosing female as main characters's gender, if player is male the Disciple will not join him after the conversation)
- G0-T0
- Hanharr (only by choosing dark side as main character's alignment)
- HK-47
- Kreia
- Mandalore
- Mira (only by choosing light side as main character's alignment or remaining neutral)
- Remote
- T3-M4
- Visas Marr
- 3C-FD (an astromech droid similar to T3-M4; only in the prologue)
- B4-D4 (only if player chooses to help the Ithorian's side on Telos and can only be used on one mission)
Other characters met along the way include:
Locations
The game is played over numerous planets in the Star Wars universe:
- Dantooine
- Dxun
- Korriban
- Malachor V
- Nar Shaddaa
- Onderon
- Peragus II
- Telos
- M4-78 (cut from the final game)
Dantooine and Korriban are two crucial planets from the first game. Korriban is significantly shorter in gameplay time than in the first game, whereas Dantooine is of comparable or possibly longer time.
Telos, mentioned heavily in the Carth Onasi subplot from the first game, is seen for the first time.
Players also visit other locations:
- Citadel Station (in orbit around Telos)
- Goto's yacht (in orbit around Nar Shaddaa)
- Ravager (in orbit around Telos)
- The Harbinger (docked with Peragus)
- Migin's Block Ship (unused)
The Ebon Hawk is the player's ship, used for transportation from one location to another. Several minor occurrences can occur there, primarily in the form of character-to-character dialogue that can upgrade an NPC's abilities.
Game Features
KOTOR II boasts several improvements over the original game's features, allowing for a wider variety of tactics and opportunities for players.
Influence
In the first KOTOR, if the player acted in a way contrary to his/her companion's alignment, the player would receive a verbal berating with little to no consequence. In KOTOR II, an influence system was introduced, allowing a greater depth for gameplay. The player's influence over a character can determine whether or not sub-plots will develop, as well as increasing both the party member's statistics and the player's.
Influence can be gained by performing actions that a party member approves of. For Light Side-oriented characters, such as Mira, this could involve sparing someone's life. For Dark Side-oriented characters, such as HK-47, influence can be gained by violent acts, such as inciting a mob to violence. Influence is lost in a similar manner. Opportunities for gaining or losing influence are not always clear, though some are.
An excellent example of the potential rewards of the influence system can be found in HK-47. Once the player has enough influence, HK-47 will feel secure enough to confide in the player the various methods that he has used in the past to kill and/or break Jedi. The knowledge he shares increases the player's statistics greatly.
Jedi Training
In addition to the influence system, one of the improvements this game has over its predecessor is the ability to train party members to use the Force, and to choose the Exile's Jedi class at the beginning of the game. With the exception of the three droids (not including Bao-Dur's remote), Mandalore, and Hanharr, every party member can be promoted to a Jedi class. Even though these promoted Jedi don't have as many Force Powers as the Jedi Exile, Kreia, or Visas, they nevertheless become considerably better warriors. The Handmaiden, especially, can become very powerful as a Jedi Guardian, and could overpower Visas and Kreia in battle. Out of all of the Exile's disciples, Handmaiden is second only to him in skill and strength.
Training a character to become a Jedi requires a very large amount of influence, and consequently many players (and reviewers) have managed to get through the entire game without even knowing it was an option.
Item Upgrade and Creation
Items such as armor, melee weapons, blasters, and lightsabers were often marked as upgradable in the first KOTOR. However, this system was overhauled for the second game. The first game presented relatively few upgrade items; armor was restricted to an underlay and an overlay, and the effects of one or the other varied from armor to armor. In the sequel, there are now numerous upgrade items, each bestowing a different ability, regardless of the item it is applied to.
The number of upgradeable items has also increased. For example, lightsabers in the first game only had three upgradable components: two focusing crystals, and a color crystal. In KOTOR II, there are an additional three slots: emitters, lenses, and energy cells. The combination of these six items allows for high level of possible item combinations, increasing the game's replay value.
In addition, the player can create various items from raw materials. Weapons and upgrade items can be manufactured at workbenches out of Components (unwanted items can be broken down into their base Components for item creation). Other items, such as explosives, implants, and utility items are created at lab stations out of Chemicals (similar to Components, unwanted items can be broken down). The amount of Components or Chemicals received in a breakdown or used in creation depends on the player's level in the Repair and Treat Injury skills, respectively.
T3-M4 can be used as a mobile workbench.but only for upgrades and computer spikes which he will give you for free
Deleted Content
There has been some controversy regarding the game's third act, or "endgame". LucasArts pressured developer Obsidian to finish the game for a 2004 holiday release, leading many to speculate that the development had been rushed. The game contains a sizable number of bugs, which occasionally cripple gameplay. Also, some of the content from the game proper appears to be missing, though much of it can be found inside the game files.
While some gamers are quick to dismiss late-game plot holes on the rushed ending, many of them are beginning to discover that many of the "plot holes" are explained in sizable detail, if the player is willing to spend the time to accomplishing this task. For example, each party member has considerable backstory and plot revelation, which is only heard in-game if the party member likes the player character. Since many actions cause the gain or loss of influence with party members, it is not uncommon to find that a critic has never gotten acceptable influences with certain party members. The originally planned ending would have provided in-game fates - and in many cases, deaths - for all of the characters who travel with the main player character. In-game, the game ends with a Force User revealing the party member's futures. By explaining their futures, instead of showing the events leading up to the finale, it leaves just what happened to the designers of KOTOR III.
In a gesture to the fans, Obsidian Entertainment provided the PC version of the game with many resources meant to be used for the original ending, such as screen plays, voice-acting, and even another planet. Pressure from LucasArts to release the game in time for the Christmas season may have forced Obsidian to abbreviate the ending and cut an entire planet (and corresponding missions) from the game.
Specific cut content included:
- The Genoharadan organization on Nar Shaddaa, and its leader Dessicus, were supposed to be found on the second level of the Jekk'Jekk Tarr. Its purpose was to hunt down the player character.
- Another companion of the player, Dvakvar Grahrk, who was a Devaronian Jedi found on Korriban. He was replaced by the Disciple, who shared a similar background story.
- The character of Kaevee was supposed to be found in the ruined Jedi Enclave in Dantooine. She was a young Jedi who survived the destruction of the enclave, and was responsible for the laigreks fighting salvagers.
- The droid inhabited planet of M4-78, in which the player is alerted to the presence of G0-T0, the Mass shadow generator, and the HK droid factory, was completely absent. References to the planet still exist in-game, though many of the plots and quests were moved to other planets:
- The Jedi Master Lonna Vash and her apprentice Kaah Ohtok were supposed to be found on M4-78 instead of Korriban, with corresponding quests.
- The HK Manufacturing Plant below the Telos Military Base, ran by G0-T0 to produce HK-series assassin droids. HK-47 was supposed to infiltrate the factory at the end and help the HK-series droids to rebel against G0-T0.
- A confrontation between Bao-Dur's remote and G0-T0 at Malachor V, in which HK-47 and the reprogrammed HK-series droids would show up and turn against their former master, was removed.
- The player was originally to be "killed" by Kreia on Dantooine after the Jedi trials, with Kreia taking off to Telos on the Ebon Hawk without him/her. The player was supposed to find an alternate form of transport to Telos.
- A confrontation between Darth Nihilus and Darth Sion over the fate of the player and Kreia was removed.
- The player's love interest (Atton Rand/Handmaiden) were supposed to duel rivals (Disciple/Visas Marr) if Dark-Sided and had low influence with the Exile.
- An ending for Bao-Dur was removed in which Bao-Dur sacrificed himself. Though it may be speculated that he was killed on M4-78, cut dialoge from Grenn when arriving on Citadel Station during the Sith attack says otherwise.
- More NPC abilities, such as Bao-Dur upgrading droids, HK-47 ranged weapon training, Visas teaching Lightsaber forms, Kreia teaching Force abilities, and Disciple studying Holocrons, were not developed.
Modding
The primary aim for modding KOTOR II is to recover many of the lost cut content and cutscenes from the final and rushed-through release. Two main projects are currently being developed:
The Restoration Project
A team of modders calling themselves Team Gizka created the The Sith Lords Restoration Project which is the biggest project currently taking place to restore the cut content of KOTOR II. Some features, such as a quarter of the cut cinema, are forever lost, but some dialogue and other points of interest found on the PC version and elsewhere are being restored. They will be using the tools from the KOTOR and KOTOR II modding community (including tools from Holowan Laboratories) to restore the missing content and release it as a mod.
The mod has been in production for over nine months. Each of the cut components from the epilogue is featured on the site. According to the site, about 70% of the cut components are ready (mainly the Mira/Hanharr cutscenes and Kreia's dialogue and scenes remain to be fully done); however, when asked when the mod is to be finished and released, the typical response is "It'll be done when it's done". Considering it's current completion, it should be released by the end of 2006.
M4-78 Restoration Team
The planet M4-78 was omitted from the game in the final production version. The project to re-insert the planet is the second biggest restoration mod for the game, putting the entire planet back into the storyline. According to the modder's site, M4-78 is a planet maintained and inhabited by droids originally sent there to prepare the planet for colonization. The droid in charge of this operation is called M4-78 (hence the planet's name).
Possible sequels
Although the game wasn't as warmly accepted as the first one, with many people of strong opinions on either sides with regard to its quality, it has been speculated that there will be more games in the series, being compared by some to The Empire Strikes Back middle episode of the original Star Wars Trilogy, with its open-ended climax. Obsidian Entertainment said that, among plans for Neverwinter Nights 2, there are also plans for further games in the series, as that they can exploit every time a different story, set in a different timeline of the vast Star Wars saga. It has been further speculated that the story of a sequel will be centered around the exploits of Jedi Exile and Revan in the Outer Rim and the old Sith Empire. LucasArts has not announced any sequels yet.
Obsidian Entertainment is currently finishing work on Neverwinter Nights 2. CEO Feargus Urquhart has mentioned that they would like to create Knights of the Old Republic 3 should LucasArts desire it in the future. With the new live-action TV series in production, other games in the franchise would be particularly helpful to boost their popularity. Fans are also speculating that new games of the franchise will be made with the new Elektron-engine of Neverwinter Nights 2.
- "LucasArts' recent silence by no means equals inactivity. On the contrary, Knights of the Old Republic 3, which we believe is in development with Obsidian Development, is in the early stages of creation for a late 2006 -- most likely a 2007 -- release. The game should feature more seamless interaction between NPCs and the lead character, as well as better, more economic interactions between party members. We predict the combat system will go entirely realtime, as opposed to partially realtime (the way it was in KOTOR 1 and 2), and RPG fans will be able to enjoy more distinct shades of gray recognized by characters instead of the black and white distinctions made in the first two iterations of the series."
It should be noted that this statement is by no means official, and is just rumor and speculation on the part of IGN. There is absolutely no concrete proof for any of the issues discussed in this statement.
External links
- LucasArts official KOTOR II site
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords at MobyGames
- Collection of Reviews of the game
- TheForce.net editorial about game problems
- Gamespy editorial on the storyline
- Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: the Missing content -links to more cut content as well
- KOTOR II Restoration Project
- KOTOR II Restoration project forums
- http://www.xboxcircle.com/news/lucasarts_quietly_working_on_sequels.html
- Online petition to restore Knights of the Old Republic II
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