Preview KotOR2 offerings at IGN

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Obsidian Entertainment; Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords

Finally, another <A href="http://pc.ign.com/articles/530/530494p1.html">preview</a> of <A href="http://www.lucasarts.com/games/swkotor_sithlords/">Knights of the Old Republic 2</A> over at <a href="http://pc.ign.com/">PC.IGN</a>. Here's the intro:
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<blockquote> I loved the original KOTOR and the announcement of a sequel sent happy little butterflies flittering through my body. I have to admit, however, that I was a little uncertain when unknown developer Obsidian Entertainment was given the task of bringing Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords to Xbox and PC. Having seen the game a twice now (once at E3 and today a LucasArts' Editors' Day), I'm at ease. While there are no significant changes to the combat or graphics (aside from some very nice lighting effects), there's actually quite a bit of cool story and gameplay elements that could actually make KOTOR II better than the original. Yeah, you read that right. </blockquote>
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Maybe if you'd done your homework on who <a href="http://www.obsidianent.com">Obsidian</a> was, you'd have been at ease in the beginning.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</A>

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Apparently, you just can't spell ignorant without IGN.

 

[Volourn]

"Maybe if you'd done your homework on who Obsidian"

Yeah, the company that brings Slam Dunks tm. to our gaming platforms.

 

[errorcode]

that's odd that he references KOTOR2's showing at E3. It looked pretty bad, at least from the floor.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

The screenshots so far aren't that great either. Then again, I'm more interested in what they do with the scripting and other things than how pretty the fluff female in the party is.

 

[TFVanguard]

Obsidian isn't bad, really, but how can anyone honestly tell me that they craft better stories with their track-record of heavy dungeon-crawls that are decidedly light on story - by their own admission?

 

[Transcendent One]

Obsidian doesn't have a track record. But if you consider them to be the former BIS... how quickly we forget PS:T and Fallout 2.

 

[TFVanguard]

Obsidian doesn't have a track record. But if you consider them to be the former BIS... how quickly we forget PS:T and Fallout 2.

I would think that PS:T, with it's extremely rigid story, would be a bit counter to pretty much everything I'm seeing people want out of a Fallout game anyway. There's a such thing as being too fixed on how things must play out.

As for Fallout 2... eh, I thought it was a pretty weak story comparitively, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Volourn]

"with their track-record of heavy dungeon-crawls that are decidedly light on story"

As above, Obsidian has NO track record. None. Zilch. Zero. Nadda.

It's funny though, that certain members there may have worked on the dungeon crawl known as IWD series; but they also had a part of PST, and the FO series which by the way whetehr one lieks them or not are as far from 'dungeon crawls who are light on story'.

That makes it 3-2 in favour of non dunegonc rawls.

TFVanguard loses here.

 

[Transcendent One]

I would think that PS:T, with it's extremely rigid story, would be a bit counter to pretty much everything I'm seeing people want out of a Fallout game anyway. There's a such thing as being too fixed on how things must play out.

As for Fallout 2... eh, I thought it was a pretty weak story comparitively, but that's just my opinion.

PS:T has a rigid story? If you mean it's very linear and hinders freeform progression, then definitely yes.

But what's with the Fallout reference? No one was discussing Fallout in this thread.

And Fallout 2... I brought that in as an example of a non-dungeon crawl former Obsidian employees helped develop. It's story was pretty lame though.

 

[TFVanguard]

"with their track-record of heavy dungeon-crawls that are decidedly light on story"

As above, Obsidian has NO track record. None. Zilch. Zero. Nadda.

Assuming that Obsidian is just Black Isle continued, of course...

But a lot of the people that were part of Planescape and Fallout 2 aren't with the company anymore (having wisely left long ago). I don't think there's anyone from Fallout 1 still there, though I would have to check again.

The current 'staff' consists of guys primarily from Icewind Dale 1 and 2... and some aborted projects. That's batting zero for the deep stories, parsing it like that.

But, even being generous and throwing in FO2 and PS:T, you're getting another largely dungeon-crawl game with some depth in story elements , and a very fixed novel. So you're only batting 25% here.

Not being mean, I just don't get the uber-love-fest with Obsidian. There's no reason to hate them, but no reason to assume they're the best damn thing since sliced bread, either.

 

[TFVanguard]

PS:T has a rigid story? If you mean it's very linear and hinders freeform progression, then definitely yes.

Yep, that was my point.

But what's with the Fallout reference? No one was discussing Fallout in this thread.

It was cited as one Obsidian's legacy games, that's all. Nothing to do with the hellstorm that is Fallout III right now.

And Fallout 2... I brought that in as an example of a non-dungeon crawl former Obsidian employees helped develop. It's story was pretty lame though.

I was just taking odds with the idea that 'Obsidian means you can breathe easy' when, really, Obsidian's BIS track record wasn't great, and Obsidian itself has no track record to latch upon.

 

[Volourn]

LMAOROTFLMAOATWTKKATWUYAADYT

Sorry, but the Fallouts and PST are wesome. Don't try to belittle them. It won't get far. FO series are top 4, while PST is top 5-top10 and maybe at worst top 20. Sweet games.

 

[TFVanguard]

Sorry, but the Fallouts and PST are wesome. Don't try to belittle them. It won't get far. FO series are top 4, while PST is top 5-top10 and maybe at worst top 20. Sweet games.

And where did I demonize them? I'm just saying, seriously, that to immediately leap to the idea that 'KOTOR 2' will have a better story than 'KOTOR 1' because of the magic that is Obisidian is behind it makes no sense - particularly when Obisidian itself seems much more focused on the combat aspects of the game rather than much else. :S

 

[Araanor]

PS:T has a rigid story? If you mean it's very linear and hinders freeform progression, then definitely yes.

Yep, that was my point.

That may be true, but you'll find that many here appreciate the level of writing in PS:T. This is just what's needed for a story-focused game like KOTOR. Bioware has so far failed to immerse me in their linear treks, I could only see it getting better with Avellone and his monkeys at the helm.

I believe the non-combat parts of the IWD games are appreciated too.

 

[TFVanguard]

Bioware has so far failed to immerse me in their linear treks, I could only see it getting better with Avellone and his monkeys at the helm.

Different in tastes, certainly, but there's a lot of people who would cite Bioware first for story, and then Black Isle and Obsidian. I also don't find any Bioware game all that linear in comparison to the entirety of the CRPG market.

 

[Dhruin]

BioWare for story? I'm not anti-Bio but where is the great story in NWN's "find the four Waterdavian creatures" or KotOR's "find the five Waterdav- oops - Star Maps"?

 

[TFVanguard]

BioWare for story? I'm not anti-Bio but where is the great story in NWN's "find the four Waterdavian creatures" or KotOR's "find the five Waterdav- oops - Star Maps"?

About the same as 'find the water chip' or 'unlock the seven portals'?

 

[plin]

BioWare for story? I'm not anti-Bio but where is the great story in NWN's "find the four Waterdavian creatures" or KotOR's "find the five Waterdav- oops - Star Maps"?

About the same as 'find the water chip' or 'unlock the seven portals'?

find the g.e.c.k.

 

[Volourn]

Bioware does the bests tories except posisbly Sqauresoft. Outside of SOu; there stories are pretty good even NWN's thoguh the 'find x stuff' was sad. However, the OC's story was mcuh more than that.

Vanguard, huh? I never said KOTOR2's story would be better on the basis of Obsidian. I think the story will be about equal thoguh the game should eb better if they're smart and listent ot he complaints about KOTOR1. As for Avellone, he's meh and overrated.

 

[TFVanguard]

The original post from Saint Proverbius...

Sounds like a Transformer combiner team, that it does...

 

[Volourn]

Yeah; but that's Saint. He doesn't count. Outisde of Bethseda and a few others; the box shoe down the street would be better than BIO developed games in his opinion. Don't take him too seriously on that subject.

P.S. That said, his review of the NWN OC was pretty fair for the most part.

 

[Dhruin]

BioWare for story? I'm not anti-Bio but where is the great story in NWN's "find the four Waterdavian creatures" or KotOR's "find the five Waterdav- oops - Star Maps"?

About the same as 'find the water chip' or 'unlock the seven portals'?

Well, no. Four Waterdavian creatures; four areas - N,S,E,W. Dull as dishwater. However, there isn't much point in debating a subject as subjective as this so if you think Bio's stories are the best, fair enough.

 

[Transcendent One]

I don't know. I'd infinitely prefer Fallout over NWN in terms of story. NWN was lame, full of stupid plot devices. In Fallout you had to bring back one item - not that the game revolved around that, considering that everything is accessible without doing a single story quest. In NWN you had to bring back four items... then two more... then three more... And it makes you wonder "hey didn't I just do this in the last chapter?". All the while silly predictable events happen in the background which you just couldn't care less for. OH WOW ARIBETH IS DA TRAITOR WOOPEY DE DOO NEXT TIME DON'T SHOW HER PICTURE IN THE INTRO MOVIE WHILE TALKING ABOUT MYSTERIOUS VILLAINS YOU MORONS! (and yes, I'm willing to spoil it for everyone who doesn't know. Sue me)

 

[Volourn]

It's been out for two years. i'd wager who wnated to give it a whirl alreayd have one way or other. I do agree with your point about the stupid fetch it aspect; but I disagree about the Aribeth rant.