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KOTOR2 gets a surprise patch, high resolutions, Steam Workshop and more

  • Thread starter Deleted member 7219
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Hassat Hunter

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Mar 23, 2014
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Well, with the 5 workshop crash issue that seems to happen, it will only make people bury their own grave.

I'm kind enough not to do so, even if they totally don't deserve such friendliness at this point.
 

Infinitron

I post news
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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
What was that?

Hassat Hunter's mod that lets you choose whether you want Mira or Hanharr, uploaded by somebody who wasn't Hassat Hunter. Offered to remove it if the original owner requested, then changed his mind when the original owner said he wouldn't upload it back himself.

Typical modder drama, in other words.
 
Last edited:

Starwars

Arcane
Joined
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Sweden
In other news, I'm replaying this game at the moment.

Seriously, fuck the combat of KOTOR1 and 2. Fuck it forever. It's so damn bad.
 

racofer

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25,577
Location
Your ignore list.
In other news, I'm replaying this game at the moment.

Seriously, fuck the combat of KOTOR1 and 2. Fuck it forever. It's so damn bad.
It killed my last playthrough of KOTOR2.
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Deleted member 7219

Guest
Yeah, to be honest you can just spam Force Storm or put attribute points into Str and just Force Jump & one hit kill everything.
 

Starwars

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
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Location
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I know that you can break the game easily, that doesn't mean that it's not boring as shit.
 

Jools

Eater of Apples
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Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Insert Title Here Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2
So, in the last week or so, I took the chance to play Kotor2tsl again. Twice. I'm nearing the completing of the 2nd playthrough (one LS, one DS). I hadn't played it in a few years, so here's some "updated" thoughts. For the record, I played with TSLRCM and a couple of others merely aesthetic mods (namely: updated shader, hidden-headgear, HD backdrops).

Prologue: one of my favourite prologues in the history of videogaming. It does a lot of things very right, from introducing the player to what's going on, to creating a few knotty threads that the player will have to unravel, to creating a feeling of "suspence" and sort of "mystary".

Peragus: this is the "actual" tutorial level of the game, and a chunky one at that. Well, it's plain hideous, and I always found it to be so. No wonder there's even a "skip Peragus" mod.

Telos: the first "real" location, and it boils down to a handful of copypasted corridors and a couple of exteriors. Yet, there is some stuff going on, a few C&C, and it has a certain "feeling" to it.

Dantooine: 3 exteriors, 3 interiors: the exteriors really suffer from cheap level design, being mostly devoid of anything of interest. Supposedly the player finds xirself in the middle of a big struggle/conflict, but the whole thing is played out fairly low-key, sadly. Again, Dantoine from kotor comes to mind, and the content it delivered.

Nar Shaddaa: probably the "beefiest" location. There is A LOT to do on NS, the level design is fucking terrible (no other way around it, especially when the same location was much better crafted in the much older Jedi Knight games). Again, C&C, a few characters to pick up and a lot of chances to develop party members. Some interesting quests.

Korriban: "a wasted chance" is the way I'd describe it. One devoid exterior and 2 semi-empty interiors. NOT cool, considering how important this planet is in the SW universe. Not much going on here, which is disappointing. Korriban really sucks in TSL, and the devs didn't manage to make it seep that awesome "atmosphere" it carried in kotor.

Dxun/Onderon: Dxun is a corridor-like jungle, to be cleared. The Mandalorian settlement is a joke in area design (HUGE, grassy spaces with 5 relevant NPCs). Onderon provides some awful level design too, the areas are, again, really poor in models, textures, and content. There is one single major quest to be completed here at first, and it will take about 10 minutes (the investigation). Things get slightly more interesting upon returning to Onderon to resolve the civil war, and yet again a planetary-scale civil war is resolved over 2 areas and a couple of fights.

Malachor: more meh. 2 areas total, which you'll have to navigate through more than once, only on different characters. It's only really functional to the narration, otherwise it's another failure: after nagging the player the whole game about Malachor, and eventually bringing xir there, this turns out to be a bit of a letdown both in design and writing.

Ravager: actually this one's ok, for a spaceship.

HK factory: just uninstall. It's abysmal from every possible point of view.

Companions: Atton, Kreia, Visas, Brianna, HK47 (winner) definitively stand out for being mostly interesting and quite well written. Mandalore, Wookie, G0T0, T3, Disciple and Mira, well, not so much. The influence system is a bitch, especially when having to cope it with LS/DS alignment. Converting everyone to a Jedi/Sith is entertaining and adds a "purpose" to the influence system (being dependant on it), rather than the latter just being there for shitty romance options (bioware, hello?).

Itemization: mostly terrible. The items in the game just suck, end of the story. I can't think of anything even vaguely positive to say about items in kotor2. Jedi/Sith robes, on top of everything, 1.are mostly identical and 2.look horrible (and you'll have to look at them a lot, of course).

Economy: risible. It doesn't really have a purpose, there is way too much money available to the player (coming from junk, pazaak, podracing, quests), and close to nothing to spend it on.

Combat: the game is obviously combat heavy, and it's fairly easy, to the point that it's ridiculous after 1/3rd of the game or so. Some force powers are just overkill (TM), especially the lightning thing. Even for melee characters, master flurry really breaks the game, especially when combined with master speed. Whatever the player's build and party composition, combat really becomes some kind of a chore or nuisance after a short while. On the other hand, there are some in(s)ane difficulty spikes in encounters, namely those "1-on-1" unavoidable fights the player is faced with, often with a party member that's not the PC, or a party member the player never really used. Some of these greatly vary in difficulty depending on how early they are met, which depends on which "order" the player tackles the different planets. Honourable mention: Atton VS Lesbo Twi'lek Twins.

Story and writing. Hands down, it's quite good. The writers really make the most out of the medium, that is the videogame, to work through the narration. Making the player use different characters, split his party, complete the same levels from different points of view, it's all nice devices that really enhance the story. C&C are both long- and short-term, and LS/DS add a further layer of "C&C" to the whole game experience (although I usually go for LS, this game and its story are really better if played on DS, btw).

General thoughts: I quite like this game, despite all of the shit I just finished writing about it. It's probably because I'm a storyfag, and TSL really caters to those like me. I think the major aspect in which TSL doesn't live up to kotor is level and area design: the fact that a few locations are brutally recycled from the first game, and that most of them are quite uninspired, shallow and lacking content, really doesn't cope with the story that is being narrated through, and at, these locations (edit: for the record I just counted the locations in both games: kotor has 82, tsl has 63).

Seriously, it's a great game (if and only if once TSLCRM is installed).
 

Hassat Hunter

Educated
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Messages
70
I think the major aspect in which TSL doesn't live up to kotor is level and area design: the fact that a few locations are brutally recycled from the first game, and that most of them are quite uninspired, shallow and lacking content, really doesn't cope with the story that is being narrated through, and at, these locations (edit: for the record I just counted the locations in both games: kotor has 82, tsl has 63).
And then one remembers those 3 maps of Tatooine... or having to walk under water on the ship in spacesuit.

Area design is quite the oddity in your post... first you state you want every NPC close together, prefferably nicely stacked (hello action RPG hub), then you complain levels are too big... and finally, you complain there are not enough maps to go through. These things don't quite works together in my mind?
 

Jools

Eater of Apples
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And then one remembers those 3 maps of Tatooine... or having to walk under water on the ship in spacesuit.

Area design is quite the oddity in your post... first you state you want every NPC close together, prefferably nicely stacked (hello action RPG hub), then you complain levels are too big... and finally, you complain there are not enough maps to go through. These things don't quite works together in my mind?

Tatooine and the underwater section came to mind yes, despite the alcohol and the rohypnol.

Please don't read "GIB ACKSHUN RPG HUB" in what I wrote, because I really did not mean it that way.

My complaints are as follows

1.Not enough areas, especially considered some of those existing are recycled
2.Poorly designed areas. I'm all for exploration but Tatooine in kotor or Dantooine in tsl are really horrible examples. Even so, Tatooine made sense because, well, it's a desert.
2.5.I don't want NPCs at every corner, or an NPC hub. But I would have liked something interesting to see in a few "empty" large areas, such as Dantooine or Iziz town. In the latter, for example, there are a lot of thugs around, salvagers, beast cages, and stuff that is nothing but props and have no function. Dantooine lacks even the props, the areas are really meh: grass+rocky wall+1 tree and that's it. They're neither functional to the game, nor pretty to look at.
 

Deleted member 7219

Guest
So, in the last week or so, I took the chance to play Kotor2tsl again. Twice. I'm nearing the completing of the 2nd playthrough (one LS, one DS). I hadn't played it in a few years, so here's some "updated" thoughts. For the record, I played with TSLRCM and a couple of others merely aesthetic mods (namely: updated shader, hidden-headgear, HD backdrops).

Prologue: one of my favourite prologues in the history of videogaming. It does a lot of things very right, from introducing the player to what's going on, to creating a few knotty threads that the player will have to unravel, to creating a feeling of "suspence" and sort of "mystary".

Peragus: this is the "actual" tutorial level of the game, and a chunky one at that. Well, it's plain hideous, and I always found it to be so. No wonder there's even a "skip Peragus" mod.

Telos: the first "real" location, and it boils down to a handful of copypasted corridors and a couple of exteriors. Yet, there is some stuff going on, a few C&C, and it has a certain "feeling" to it.

Dantooine: 3 exteriors, 3 interiors: the exteriors really suffer from cheap level design, being mostly devoid of anything of interest. Supposedly the player finds xirself in the middle of a big struggle/conflict, but the whole thing is played out fairly low-key, sadly. Again, Dantoine from kotor comes to mind, and the content it delivered.

Nar Shaddaa: probably the "beefiest" location. There is A LOT to do on NS, the level design is fucking terrible (no other way around it, especially when the same location was much better crafted in the much older Jedi Knight games). Again, C&C, a few characters to pick up and a lot of chances to develop party members. Some interesting quests.

Korriban: "a wasted chance" is the way I'd describe it. One devoid exterior and 2 semi-empty interiors. NOT cool, considering how important this planet is in the SW universe. Not much going on here, which is disappointing. Korriban really sucks in TSL, and the devs didn't manage to make it seep that awesome "atmosphere" it carried in kotor.

Dxun/Onderon: Dxun is a corridor-like jungle, to be cleared. The Mandalorian settlement is a joke in area design (HUGE, grassy spaces with 5 relevant NPCs). Onderon provides some awful level design too, the areas are, again, really poor in models, textures, and content. There is one single major quest to be completed here at first, and it will take about 10 minutes (the investigation). Things get slightly more interesting upon returning to Onderon to resolve the civil war, and yet again a planetary-scale civil war is resolved over 2 areas and a couple of fights.

Malachor: more meh. 2 areas total, which you'll have to navigate through more than once, only on different characters. It's only really functional to the narration, otherwise it's another failure: after nagging the player the whole game about Malachor, and eventually bringing xir there, this turns out to be a bit of a letdown both in design and writing.

Ravager: actually this one's ok, for a spaceship.

HK factory: just uninstall. It's abysmal from every possible point of view.

Companions: Atton, Kreia, Visas, Brianna, HK47 (winner) definitively stand out for being mostly interesting and quite well written. Mandalore, Wookie, G0T0, T3, Disciple and Mira, well, not so much. The influence system is a bitch, especially when having to cope it with LS/DS alignment. Converting everyone to a Jedi/Sith is entertaining and adds a "purpose" to the influence system (being dependant on it), rather than the latter just being there for shitty romance options (bioware, hello?).

Itemization: mostly terrible. The items in the game just suck, end of the story. I can't think of anything even vaguely positive to say about items in kotor2. Jedi/Sith robes, on top of everything, 1.are mostly identical and 2.look horrible (and you'll have to look at them a lot, of course).

Economy: risible. It doesn't really have a purpose, there is way too much money available to the player (coming from junk, pazaak, podracing, quests), and close to nothing to spend it on.

Combat: the game is obviously combat heavy, and it's fairly easy, to the point that it's ridiculous after 1/3rd of the game or so. Some force powers are just overkill (TM), especially the lightning thing. Even for melee characters, master flurry really breaks the game, especially when combined with master speed. Whatever the player's build and party composition, combat really becomes some kind of a chore or nuisance after a short while. On the other hand, there are some in(s)ane difficulty spikes in encounters, namely those "1-on-1" unavoidable fights the player is faced with, often with a party member that's not the PC, or a party member the player never really used. Some of these greatly vary in difficulty depending on how early they are met, which depends on which "order" the player tackles the different planets. Honourable mention: Atton VS Lesbo Twi'lek Twins.

Story and writing. Hands down, it's quite good. The writers really make the most out of the medium, that is the videogame, to work through the narration. Making the player use different characters, split his party, complete the same levels from different points of view, it's all nice devices that really enhance the story. C&C are both long- and short-term, and LS/DS add a further layer of "C&C" to the whole game experience (although I usually go for LS, this game and its story are really better if played on DS, btw).

General thoughts: I quite like this game, despite all of the shit I just finished writing about it. It's probably because I'm a storyfag, and TSL really caters to those like me. I think the major aspect in which TSL doesn't live up to kotor is level and area design: the fact that a few locations are brutally recycled from the first game, and that most of them are quite uninspired, shallow and lacking content, really doesn't cope with the story that is being narrated through, and at, these locations (edit: for the record I just counted the locations in both games: kotor has 82, tsl has 63).

Seriously, it's a great game (if and only if once TSLCRM is installed).

It's weird, KOTOR 2 is one of my top 5 RPGs but I can't argue with any of that. Very fair and very sensible criticisms.
 

Hassat Hunter

Educated
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Messages
70
Fair enough. The areas is mostly due to the time limit, and if M4 would have been in along the HK factory the areas would be much higher. Of course as we all know M4 is such a big area that it was impossible to feel crowded or as dense... just to get the minimal we got brings the game to it's knees for most players on modern systems.
 

Starwars

Arcane
Joined
Jan 31, 2007
Messages
2,829
Location
Sweden
Made it out of Telos. The game takes a much more interesting turn once the real story dialogues begin. The first dialogue with Atris for example is pretty damn nice. The idea of the player character having a history with Atris, and discussing/arguing with her, works very well in the game. The overall atmosphere of the game is pretty nice as well.

Those are the high points of the game, those conversations. Shame that most stuff in between just isn't very good.
 

Jools

Eater of Apples
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Messages
10,652
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Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Insert Title Here Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2
Hassat Hunter's mod that lets you choose whether you want Mira or Hanharr, uploaded by somebody who wasn't Hassat Hunter. Offered to remove it if the original owner requested, then changed his mind when the original owner said he wouldn't upload it back himself.

Typical modder drama, in other words.

This comment really shines if read while listening to the theme from "Dallas" in the background...
 

Androv

Novice
Joined
Aug 3, 2015
Messages
30
I quite like this game, despite all of the shit I just finished writing about it. It's probably because I'm a storyfag, and TSL really caters to those like me.

I too, am a storyfag and I do not condone this message. Maybe because my conclusionboner weighs heavier than my story-homosexuality.

There are some great scenes here and there but at the end of the journey I just feel empty.
 

Jools

Eater of Apples
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Messages
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Mêlée Island
Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Insert Title Here Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2
I too, am a storyfag and I do not condone this message. Maybe because my conclusionboner weighs heavier than my story-homosexuality.

There are some great scenes here and there but at the end of the journey I just feel empty.

I think that is a deliberate, intended side-effect, considering the "what is good? what is evil? is there a middle ground?" nature of the whole plot...


I wonder, have you played the game with TSLRCM, or vanilla? I had two completely different experiences, especially in terms of story-enjoyment...
 

Androv

Novice
Joined
Aug 3, 2015
Messages
30
I think that is a deliberate, intended side-effect, considering the "what is good? what is evil? is there a middle ground?" nature of the whole plot...


I wonder, have you played the game with TSLRCM, or vanilla? I had two completely different experiences, especially in terms of story-enjoyment...

As LucasArts wanted the game shipped early and Obsidian had to haste through most of the final areas and yaddayadda I find it more believeable most of the ending just got scrapped and hasted through(Like everything Malachor V) due to make the deadline.

I have not played the Restored Content mod though so I have no idea what that adds to the story, I'm afraid.

But I assume it's like Fallout New Vegas mod equivalent? With some cut minor npcs here and there and some extra dialogue and collisions?
 

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