Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
Posted December 29, 2004
Five years after the events in the original Knights of the Old Republic, the Sith Lords have come back and are systematically exterminating the Jedi. The Mandolorian War campaign is over, the Jedi Civil war has rocked the galaxy and the Republic is rebuilding much of what has been destroyed.
Few Jedi remain and the fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of a lone exile. You take on the role of that exile and it’s up to you to decide what path you wish to walk. Do you want to defeat the Sith and restore the Jedi code? Do you want to eradicate the Jedi and take your path down the Dark Side? Either way it’s entirely up to you and there are more choices that affect your alignment now than in the first KOTOR.
Gameplay:
Sith Lords weaves an intriguing tale from the Star Wars mythos and the amount of character interactions are more frequent and important than before. One of the new features in this sequel is the fact that your decisions and manners through conversation and action not only affect you, but can affect those around you as well.
You can gain influence with your party members by learning their personalities and telling them what they want to hear. If you leave a positive impression they will become closer to you and follow you into the Light or Darkness. It’s a great addition to the series and adds more depth than you can shake a vibroblade at.
As if that wasn’t enough there are a plethora of new feats and Force powers that have been added. Another new addition is something called Lightsaber Forms. Once you acquire a lightsaber you will be able to learn new techniques that will aide you in battle. Each form has strengths and weaknesses and you will want to learn them well because they provide big combat bonuses in the right situations. You won’t have to worry about this addition until later in the game because it takes a while for you to piece together your blade.
For the most part Sith Lords looks and feels exactly like the original KOTOR so veterans will feel right at home. Obsidian took the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it approach” and really didn’t tinker with much of what Bioware had lain out before them. Don’t worry though if you never played the original game you won’t be lost in the pazaak shuffle. The game walks you through many of its aspects and you don’t need to know what happened in the last game in terms of story.
Controlling your character is accomplished by using the left analog stick and toggling the camera is control by the right. If you see an icon appear with a description of what it is, chances are you can interact with it by pressing the A button. You can cycle through objects and persons on screen by using the shoulder buttons.
You can have a part of up to three characters at a time and are given a decent roster to select from as you progress in the game. By pressing the black button you can switch to control any of the other characters in your party. If you engage in combat you do have some commands you can dish out to your AI partners, but for the most part they know what they are doing.
Fighting is where one of the beauties of KOTOR lies and there are a few key fundamentals you should know. You have melee and ranged forms of weaponry as well as grenades you can throw and Force powers to use if the character has the ability to do so. Each party member can equip a weapon or two depending on restrictions and you’ll want to experiment with everything for each character to find out what you like best. Do you want to control someone using a blaster rifle or do you want to charge in with dual lightsabers? The choice is entirely up to you.
As you fight you will gain experience and be able to level up. Not only do you gain vitality and force points by you can also increase skills, feats and Force powers for all character in the party. Skills boil down to how well someone does with computers, demolitions, security, persuasion, etc. and feats offer improved attacks and weapon proficiency. For characters attuned to the Force they can gain powers like healing or choke, but truly all of these examples don’t even scratch the surface of what’s available.
The customization in Sith Lords and the depth you can take a character is greater than before. You want to be sure you spread out skills through party members so if you have a high security door or deadly frag mine you will be able to take care of it. A little bit of experimentation is all it takes to fall in love with the freedom of this system.
Once you start someone down a certain path of feats it’s best to keep them on that path if it’s working for you. If you know you’re going to want to use crazy lightsaber skills then you’ll want to spend time with that character building their dueling and weapon proficiency. If you are going to have a character use a rifle you will want to give them the ability to use sniper powers and precise shots. There is always some way that you can improve a character and you will spend much of your time doing so.
You can also create and upgrade weapons and items. Everything ties in together in relation to this feature. A high skill will yield more components when you break down an item and several things require a certain level of skill to create. Creating powerful upgrades to your weapons or armor is an addicting thing and there is also room for experimenting so if you install something you don’t like you can just remove it.
There are several planets and locations for you to explore and traverse and in each of those locations are several missions and sub missions. Conversations spawn the ability to take on new tasks and possibly gain some experience and credits out of them too. Other times missions will give you items or just a shift in your Force alignment. It is impossible for you to see everything your first time through and probably even your second, so be sure to explore as much as possible.
Graphics:
Hardly improved upon from the original KOTOR the graphics are still beautiful for the most part. Environments are lush and lively and your surroundings can seem sprawling at times. The character models are on par with the original with few details or facial expressions that haven’t been seen before. I swear my character in Sith Lords is picture perfect to my character select from the first game. It’s kind of funny really.
With barely any improvements on the visuals you will get a sense of been there done that. Another factor in the graphics that makes a return is the amount of annoying glitches that spawn up all over the place. Characters will simply disappear in front of you when their usefulness is done, the framerate drops like an Ewok from a tree and choppy animations infest nearly every aspect of the game.
You will notice when you get into battle with several enemies that most everything will slow down to an annoying amount. At one point I had a glitch that looped itself for about ten seconds leaving me to believe the game crashed but thankfully it fixed itself. It’s commonplace to see characters magically move from one position to ten feet away without any animation in between.
Granted this is an annoying problem that thankfully doesn’t happen all the time. While it doesn’t hurt gameplay it gives off the impression this game shipped out incomplete. If you played the original KOTOR and were hoping for a fix you are going to be left hanging. There isn’t even any Live awareness so a patch download will be out of the question.
Audio:
If the graphics department was sleeping on the job, the sound department was putting in some serious over time. The musical score in this game is completely original and rivals anything created by John Williams for the Star Wars movies. The sweeping tunes will wash over you and convey emotion and sense of urgency unlike many other games can.
The voice talent in Sith Lords impresses almost as much as the soundtrack does. With nearly every character in the game having a unique voice and more lines of dialogue than you can shake a stick at, this gives the impression that the universe is alive and flourishing. Most all of the characters have enough believable acting and personality even if some of the voices and NPCs sound alike.
Conclusion:
With over 40 hours of gameplay, different endings and several differences between Light and Dark and male and female characters there’s way more bang for your buck here than the first KOTOR. The improvements on gameplay are great and add more depth to the series and character development than most any other RPG on the market today. While the graphics are glitchy and give the impression that this game was shipped incomplete they are passable and provide a rich look at the Star Wars universe. The soundtrack is amazing as well as the voice acting and I would love to pick up a soundtrack of this game that’s how good it is.
The game may have its flaws, but it truly is a worth sequel in terms of story, gameplay and sound. It may not be game of the year material like the first KOTOR was, but this one is sure to be a Platinum Hits game in no time if you don’t have the $50 to shell out right now. Any Star Wars fan must play this game and if you enjoyed the first one you owe it to yourself to try this baby on for size.
Few Jedi remain and the fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of a lone exile. You take on the role of that exile and it’s up to you to decide what path you wish to walk. Do you want to defeat the Sith and restore the Jedi code? Do you want to eradicate the Jedi and take your path down the Dark Side? Either way it’s entirely up to you and there are more choices that affect your alignment now than in the first KOTOR.
Gameplay:
Sith Lords weaves an intriguing tale from the Star Wars mythos and the amount of character interactions are more frequent and important than before. One of the new features in this sequel is the fact that your decisions and manners through conversation and action not only affect you, but can affect those around you as well.
You can gain influence with your party members by learning their personalities and telling them what they want to hear. If you leave a positive impression they will become closer to you and follow you into the Light or Darkness. It’s a great addition to the series and adds more depth than you can shake a vibroblade at.
As if that wasn’t enough there are a plethora of new feats and Force powers that have been added. Another new addition is something called Lightsaber Forms. Once you acquire a lightsaber you will be able to learn new techniques that will aide you in battle. Each form has strengths and weaknesses and you will want to learn them well because they provide big combat bonuses in the right situations. You won’t have to worry about this addition until later in the game because it takes a while for you to piece together your blade.
For the most part Sith Lords looks and feels exactly like the original KOTOR so veterans will feel right at home. Obsidian took the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it approach” and really didn’t tinker with much of what Bioware had lain out before them. Don’t worry though if you never played the original game you won’t be lost in the pazaak shuffle. The game walks you through many of its aspects and you don’t need to know what happened in the last game in terms of story.
Controlling your character is accomplished by using the left analog stick and toggling the camera is control by the right. If you see an icon appear with a description of what it is, chances are you can interact with it by pressing the A button. You can cycle through objects and persons on screen by using the shoulder buttons.
You can have a part of up to three characters at a time and are given a decent roster to select from as you progress in the game. By pressing the black button you can switch to control any of the other characters in your party. If you engage in combat you do have some commands you can dish out to your AI partners, but for the most part they know what they are doing.
Fighting is where one of the beauties of KOTOR lies and there are a few key fundamentals you should know. You have melee and ranged forms of weaponry as well as grenades you can throw and Force powers to use if the character has the ability to do so. Each party member can equip a weapon or two depending on restrictions and you’ll want to experiment with everything for each character to find out what you like best. Do you want to control someone using a blaster rifle or do you want to charge in with dual lightsabers? The choice is entirely up to you.
As you fight you will gain experience and be able to level up. Not only do you gain vitality and force points by you can also increase skills, feats and Force powers for all character in the party. Skills boil down to how well someone does with computers, demolitions, security, persuasion, etc. and feats offer improved attacks and weapon proficiency. For characters attuned to the Force they can gain powers like healing or choke, but truly all of these examples don’t even scratch the surface of what’s available.
The customization in Sith Lords and the depth you can take a character is greater than before. You want to be sure you spread out skills through party members so if you have a high security door or deadly frag mine you will be able to take care of it. A little bit of experimentation is all it takes to fall in love with the freedom of this system.
Once you start someone down a certain path of feats it’s best to keep them on that path if it’s working for you. If you know you’re going to want to use crazy lightsaber skills then you’ll want to spend time with that character building their dueling and weapon proficiency. If you are going to have a character use a rifle you will want to give them the ability to use sniper powers and precise shots. There is always some way that you can improve a character and you will spend much of your time doing so.
You can also create and upgrade weapons and items. Everything ties in together in relation to this feature. A high skill will yield more components when you break down an item and several things require a certain level of skill to create. Creating powerful upgrades to your weapons or armor is an addicting thing and there is also room for experimenting so if you install something you don’t like you can just remove it.
There are several planets and locations for you to explore and traverse and in each of those locations are several missions and sub missions. Conversations spawn the ability to take on new tasks and possibly gain some experience and credits out of them too. Other times missions will give you items or just a shift in your Force alignment. It is impossible for you to see everything your first time through and probably even your second, so be sure to explore as much as possible.
Graphics:
Hardly improved upon from the original KOTOR the graphics are still beautiful for the most part. Environments are lush and lively and your surroundings can seem sprawling at times. The character models are on par with the original with few details or facial expressions that haven’t been seen before. I swear my character in Sith Lords is picture perfect to my character select from the first game. It’s kind of funny really.
With barely any improvements on the visuals you will get a sense of been there done that. Another factor in the graphics that makes a return is the amount of annoying glitches that spawn up all over the place. Characters will simply disappear in front of you when their usefulness is done, the framerate drops like an Ewok from a tree and choppy animations infest nearly every aspect of the game.
You will notice when you get into battle with several enemies that most everything will slow down to an annoying amount. At one point I had a glitch that looped itself for about ten seconds leaving me to believe the game crashed but thankfully it fixed itself. It’s commonplace to see characters magically move from one position to ten feet away without any animation in between.
Granted this is an annoying problem that thankfully doesn’t happen all the time. While it doesn’t hurt gameplay it gives off the impression this game shipped out incomplete. If you played the original KOTOR and were hoping for a fix you are going to be left hanging. There isn’t even any Live awareness so a patch download will be out of the question.
Audio:
If the graphics department was sleeping on the job, the sound department was putting in some serious over time. The musical score in this game is completely original and rivals anything created by John Williams for the Star Wars movies. The sweeping tunes will wash over you and convey emotion and sense of urgency unlike many other games can.
The voice talent in Sith Lords impresses almost as much as the soundtrack does. With nearly every character in the game having a unique voice and more lines of dialogue than you can shake a stick at, this gives the impression that the universe is alive and flourishing. Most all of the characters have enough believable acting and personality even if some of the voices and NPCs sound alike.
Conclusion:
With over 40 hours of gameplay, different endings and several differences between Light and Dark and male and female characters there’s way more bang for your buck here than the first KOTOR. The improvements on gameplay are great and add more depth to the series and character development than most any other RPG on the market today. While the graphics are glitchy and give the impression that this game was shipped incomplete they are passable and provide a rich look at the Star Wars universe. The soundtrack is amazing as well as the voice acting and I would love to pick up a soundtrack of this game that’s how good it is.
The game may have its flaws, but it truly is a worth sequel in terms of story, gameplay and sound. It may not be game of the year material like the first KOTOR was, but this one is sure to be a Platinum Hits game in no time if you don’t have the $50 to shell out right now. Any Star Wars fan must play this game and if you enjoyed the first one you owe it to yourself to try this baby on for size.