sfsdfd

I'm about eight hours into KOTOR 2, and I'm pretty much hating it.

I guess I should be more specific, though. Many of the aspects that really shone in KOTOR 1 are still here, and just as much fun: the combat system, the interface, the graphics engine. I don't like that it's just more of the same, but at least these things are intact.

But the rest of it is lousy.

First, the story line looks to be a complete retread of KOTOR 1:

This isn't just a borrowing of standard genre elements - it's almost exactly the same story. And when it's crammed into the same exact engine, it feels like you're just playing the first game over again.

Second, the characters aren't nearly as appealing as in the first game. From what I've seen so far, your companions seem a lot more generic - almost devoid of personality. I don't really care about them, and I don't really want to talk to them. NPCs are even worse: they're one-dimensional and obviously functional, rather than true NPCs with an interesting story and a problem.

Oh, and this is a big one: Instead of the fearsome opponents of the first game - what's with the masquerade-like face covering? Am I fighting Darth Clownius? How am I supposed to get motivated to defeat that thing? It's silly and stupid.

Third, the presentation is much less polished. There are substantially more bugs and crashes; the story line is sometimes confusing and even contradictory; the levels don't feel as polished. There are more instances of "NPC pretending to type on a terminal, but is actually standing 5 feet away from it" scenarios.

In short, this feels like an expansion pack of the first KOTOR, but one that was designed by a different company with markedly less vision and imagination.

- David Stein

Birrman54

Really? I'm roughly as far as you, I think. I'm enjoying it so far.

I dreaded talking to Carth and hearing him whine, and Bastila wasn't much better. I've found in KOTOR2 that (to me at least) the line between Good v Bad in the conversations is a lot less clear, and I'm enjoying the ambiguity.

To each his own, I guess. I can't wait till I get a lightsaber back

birrman54

DealMan

That statement is pretty true, actually.

I'm about 15 hours into my light side quest and am enjoying it quite a bit. The story is a bit "eh" but it's still a very fun game to play, especially if you didn't have monumental expectations for it.

RVP

Actually you begin the game as a Jedi with limited use of the force and no lightsaber. You may want to finish the game to better understand the story line, there are a few twists along the way.

Bluebomber

Out of your complaints only 2 and 3 are valid, the first one changes. The story is pretty much the evolution of what the first was talking about in terms of good and evil, Jedi and Sith. It isn't the same though and personally I was disappointed with how straight forward and obvious it was . But i'm definatly right there with you on stale characters and buggy as hell gameplay/presentation. I couldn't believe the amount of slowdown happening when my character was doing nothing but walking through an empty corridor or street with a few people on it.

Flay

The story is not a complete retread of Kotor 1. Before you label it as such, perhaps you should play through the entire game instead of just 8 hours.

I disagree with your second statement. Yes, your companions are a little more bland, but they can be influenced by you to whatever outcome you wish. Also, if you think Darth Clownius is your arch-enemy, you are sadly mistaken.

Your 3rd statement is valid. This game is more buggy than the last.

Josh H

I haven't picked it up yet for reading too many reviews and impressions similar to yours.

The only reason I liked the first game was the story and the SW atmosphere. The gameplay was just meh for me. I don't really care much for american style RPG's with open endedness, action combat systems, tons of customization etc. I'd enjoy it much more if it was a japanese style RPG. Think Final Fantasy in Star Wars setting.

If the story in KOTOR II is a big let down, the whole game will be a big let down for me. I'll probably wait for it to be a platinum hit and pick it up at best buy for $14.99.

Giantrobo

I generally like this game but like I said in another thread, it just seems too damn tedious. I mean you run....and run...and run....get involved in too many side quests...then you run...and run...kill some aliens... upgrade you charactrers....pick new guns and other shit...then you run....and run...... Geezus!

This is not to say the same didn't happen in KOTOR I. But it just seemed to pay off a bit more.

The funny part is I'm more than 25 hours into the game, playing full on Darkside, and probaby waaay behind the rest of you. However, most of those hours were: Taking too long to upgrade, rehashing areas to make sure I did everything I was supposed too, and literally falling asleep with the controller in my hand and the character standing there for 20 minutes or more.

nickdawgy

I thought KOTOR II was better then KOTOR, myself. I never got to finish KOTOR II, though.

Setzer

I just started playing this past weekend and I'm roughly 10hrs in and loving it so far. Wish I had more time to play it but WoW has taken a huge chunk out of my free time. :P

Yah the story is slightly along the lines of the first game but I'm enjoying it despite that. I'll wait until I beat it before coming to any conclusions of how good this game is but usually I can tell how good an RPG is by how well the story draws you in and I feel KoToR2 is doing a good job of that....so far.

Abbadon74

For a game I had been awaiting so impatiently, had been so excited for, KOTOR II was a tremendous let down. I won't spoil anything for anyone, but even my wife, upon seeing the ending asked, "Is that it?" Sadly, that was it. I don't know if anyone else has sensed this, but it just seems as if there's not as much there. I recalled in Kotor I, the worlds actually seemed far denser, as if there was just so much more to explore. In KOTOR II, I think only the Peragus mining colony was giving similar consideration and depth. The other worlds felt a bit more like very, very short and limited exercises. They may have taken some time and a bit of running to suss out, but the maps seemed far more limited.

And, personally, I was very disappointed we couldn't start off right after the first game. I mean, I doubt I would have liked the Empire Strikes Back quite as much if, instead of Luke, Han, Leia and Chewie, it was Jack the sometimes Jedi, and his three nerf-herding cousins. I thought the exile could have been decent, but the writing didn't explore who he was enough. In this regard, Obsidian really should have borrowed more from Bioware, I think. I recall all those little flashbacks that worked so nicely to build suspense and, ultimately, the story.

But, in all fairness, Lucas Arts' overly aggressive deadline had more than a little to do with the story short-comings (particualry the ending), as I recently became aware of the ENORMOUS amounts completely removed from the game, including original endings, and even an entire planet.

Hey, maybe the next one will actually live up to the first.

-B

Chris_D

Just what I posted at EA:
Finished KOTOR2. Not as bad as many make out and does a few things better than the first game even.

However no excuses for the absolutely apalling number of bugs, needed 3 more months in QA. 95-99% of the bugs are purely aesthetic (like characters facing the wrong way in cut scenes, use of wrong gender for your character), but it's stuff like that can really take you out of the experience.

Also the ending really needed more time to be fleshed out properly (see the other post on bits that didn't make it in time). Still as a whole it's good enough that I'm playing it through darkside again just to check out the differences. The differentiation between light and dark choices is one thing that seems to be done much better than in the first game.

With a bit more work could have been the best KOTOR yet .

Giantrobo

Speaking of glitches....


Sometimes getting your character to go after a specific enemy is a joke. While you're trying to switch to another enemy the character takes forever to do what you want. This was not an issue in KOTOR I. Also, whenever I go to the menus during the game to upgrade or change weapons etc the game
locks for a secod or two and I can hear the cd spinning/accessing.

Does anyone else have this happen?

Omyard

I grew tired of KotOR II after a few hours, but managed to push on until my third or fourth planet. Then I eventually gave up. I have no desire to continue playing the game. The characters are so bland that I don't care about any of them including my main character. The massive amount of bugs and glitches is just too annoying. I was constantly saving my game because I got tired of playing and getting so far only to reset because my game decided to freeze up.

After giving the game one last chance a few weeks ago I put it away never to play it again. The first game was awesome, but the second one doesn't even hold a candle to it.

RockStrongo

I played and beat it. It definately is not as good as the first one, but I did not experience the same issues as you. The storyline is different.

The main problem with this one, is that the story is very slow in the beginning. After that, it seems alot like the first.

Overall, I would give Star Wars KOTOR an A and KOTOR2 a B+.

Both are great games, but the second definately does not expand and add anything new. It is more of the same (which is pretty damn good though!).

Duran

I liked it, but the ending was terrible beyond belief.

Abbadon74

Maybe you guys should post over on Obsidian's board. I've really agreed with just about everything you guys said (except the B+ score--I want to grad it that high, but there's no way I could objectively do so). Who knows? Maybe if enough people write about issues, they may be addressed in KOTOR III.

And, yeah, that ending is BAD.

I played it on the XBox and got really tired of all the glitches there, too. I mean, after a while, I can ignore the strange, random patches of hair peeking through my character's face, but I'd rather not. I'd also rather not freeze in mid battle, too. But that's just me.

And I STILL would have preferred something with the characters from the first game. Completley replacing them with the characters we got was...disappointing to say the least.

-B

Breakfast with Girls

Nah, it doesn't suck, but the first was better. I'd give the first one an A+ and the second one a B. As the game progresses things get more interesting.

wmansir

I'm about 8-10 hours or so in myself on the PC version. I can't comment on the story but I am disappointed with the characters. I remember really getting attached to the characters in KOTOR, but I could care less about the characters in this game. Part of that might be the whole influence system. It makes the conversations too much of a puzzle. Instead of just going with the flow of the story (and just worrying about light/dark side, being true to your character) you have to game each character, which puts the character/story further on the back burner. I can appreciate the goals of the system, and it does add another element of gameplay, but I think it does more harm than good to the overall enjoyment of the game.

And I'll echo everyone's comments about the horribly buggy gameplay. Many times the camera just jumps during a cut scene for no good reason, or NPC don't do what they should, and I've had a few crashes. On time an NPC was suppose to enter thru a doorway and have a cutscene with my character, instead he stops in front of the door, the door closed, and the scene continued as though he were in the room.

One thing I will say about the story is that I don't blame them for starting with new characters. It would be difficult to start a game with the super buff characters you have at the end of the first one. At least a few of the old ones make cameos. And it appears HK-47 will return. And I also have to give them props for the balance of lightside/darkside play. For the most part the missions in KOTOR, and the overall story were light sided, with a dark side path that often seemed forced. KOTORII seems to do a much better balancing job.

Chris_D

I actually found the characters more interesting and engaging overall than the ones in KOTOR (with a few notable exceptions - baodur, what was the point of him?). Also there seemed to be an abundance of well done dialoguge, in particular, kreia. Atton had some great lines that actually made me laugh.

Of course on the counter, I found it almost impossible to gain influence with almost any of the characters when playing as dark side which really kills off your conversation options.

JasonF

With respect to the ending, from what I hear, Obsidian wrote a much better ending, but because Lucas Arts was pressuring them to get the game out within a certain time-period, they basically had to scrap the ending and wrap everything up very quickly. So while there are still remnants of the old ending that people have found in various files on the discs, we're stuck with a crappy ending.

I'll say this for KOTOR2 -- its release prompted me to pick up KOTOR, which I had missed the first time around. I'm playing through KOTOR -- I just found

and I'm enjoying it very much, even if combat does get ridiculously easy once you get Jedi healing powers. But my plan was to pick up the sequel once I finish KOTOR, and it's looking less and less like I'll do that.

spainlinx0

This game would have gotten a much better review from me had the loading not been so obscenely frequent and tedious. It's real fun solving the when you have to make 400 trips in and out of buildings each time requiring a load. And god forbid you turn the wrong way and accidentally step back to where you came. That's ten more minutes of your life wasted. Still, I did beat it so it must not have been that bad.

Chris_D

Yeah its disappointing. Some areas like Goto's ship are great where you would literally have 30 or so mins of play without a load. But doing the sidequests on Telos was a nightmare. Something they should have worked harder at.

I've just started playing Shadow Hearts 2 where the loads between the admittedly very small areas are only a second or so. It really stands out after playing KOTOR.

BizRodian

The loads were no problem for me, if anything, they were too fast because I never could read the tips on the loading screen

I actually like this game's plot more than the first one. The ending WAS a let down though... I actually liked what happened, but the final battle... that was it? Disapointing...

Hey, is there a KOTOR 2 spoiler thread? I could swear there was one, but I can't find it.

nodoubt

quick question, do u have to have played KOTOR 1 to play/enjoy/understand KOTOR 2?