KotoR 2 so far is very good

[EvoG]

Doing a marathon run of 6 hours last night, KotoR 2 is turning out to be much more intriguing than 1 and feels darker. You're thrust into a creepy-ish(mysterious is probably a better word, but then 'gets' creepy later on) situation right from the onset, and when all is said and done in just the first 'area', there's a great feeling of enigma and purpose.

I was indifferent about wanting to play KotoR 2 just a month ago(no fault of Obsidians), but after those last several interviews regarding characters and your interaction with them, I'm glad my mind was changed. I'm far more interested in the dialogue than the first game, and after my rather lengthy interaction with the HK "Protocol Droid"(if you played the first game you know what I'm talking about, meatbag) , I had a big smile and lots of enthusiasm for this story. Good Stuff.

Cheers


ADD : I neglected to mention how terrific the voice acting is. Probably some of the best if not THE best in gaming. And on this 'note' (I AM clever you know ), the music is as haunting and epic and wonderous as ever there should be in a Star Wars game let alone any game.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

You're not the only one spending ridiculous amount of time on it, still on nar-shaddaa which is the first planet i went to.

 

[EvoG]

Err, I've just now made it to Telos. How is it your first planet is Nar Shaddar? Oh and dont tell me anything as again, I'm only just settling in to Telos after leaving Peragus. Odd.

Cheers

 

[Stainless]

I hate you EvoG. I still have to wait another 4-odd months for it here.

 

[EvoG]

You're filled with an awful lot of hate. I think you love me. Wait where am I?

 

[jiujitsu]

My brother got it. I think he's enjoying it considering whenever he's actually home all he does is play.

 

[protobob]

I just finished the game. I played light side, jedi consular/jedi master (both the force heavy classes). Took about 43 hours. Heh, my key stat, Wisdom, was at 41 at the end of the game due to various items, etc. And that bonus (+15) gets added to defense too. I had like 770 force points. I could spam powers all day.

Other than it being too easy I thought it was excellent. I'd consider playing it on hard, though there are a few parts that can be difficult, the rest of the time combat was a breaze.

The plot was good, the writing was excellent. The dialgue trees were great, stats & skills always seemed to be giving me some option or another. Lots of cool 'grey area' moral choices had to be made, which was excellent. More than once I was in agony over which way to decide.

There were some bugs and a few rough edges here and there. The worst was a bug that made my screen go black, I had to reload and replay 20 minutes due to that.

The game never forces you to play mini-games, thank god.

I give it a thumbs up.

 

[Whipporowill]

Damn, that actually sounds promising.

 

[dipdipdip]

For those who have finished the game, I've read that you actually get different party members (two) depending upon your choices in the game, so there's some more replay value for ya -- on top of the slide-show endings, morale choices, and influence stuff.

Though I like most of what I see and was obviously enjoying myself in the early parts of the game, I have concerns regarding the influence system. I'm wondering if it really amounts to anything in the long run...? I'm assuming/hoping that, at the very least, this will affect some of the late-game scenes, if nothing else. The game seems to have taken a bit of a cop-out, seemingly only allowing you to affect characters who are "sensitive to the force." In the game, this translates to three characters who are, coincidentally, romanceable females.

I have a party member or two, both non-jedi, who, it seems, can't be affected by influence at all (Mandalore, Bao-Dur [You can't even talk to this guy!])

Admittedly, though, I'm a light side guy, and I'm thinking being a dark side fella would have the greater impact.

 

[protobob]

I think the influence system works well.

Sometimes you can get influence while talking to a companion, some companions more so than others.

Some characters don't have much to say, but if you travel with them, they will respond to your decisions and you will gain or lose influence with them based on their outlook on life. They will often become more talkative as well.

For instance, DipDipDip if you travel with the second person on your list of 'those who do not talk' you will find they open up and you can gain influence with them (well, that assumes that your actions and his outlook is compatible).

I played a light-side character so I didn't influence any of the 'dark' companions.

Of course you could be a doppelganger and act certain ways around certain characters...but you're not going to 'unlock' them all in one game.

I could go into more detail but I don't won't to spoil anything.

Key stats/skills for getting the most out of the dialogue: INT, WIS, Persuade, Awareness.

 

[protobob]

The game seems to have taken a bit of a cop-out, seemingly only allowing you to affect characters who are "sensitive to the force." In the game, this translates to three characters who are, coincidentally, romanceable females.

I forgot to mention that this isn't true. Apparently you are just spending too much time with romanceable females...tsk tsk.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

I forgot to mention that this isn't true. Apparently you are just spending too much time with romanceable females...tsk tsk.

Well, gee. I wish I could spend more time with romanceable females. :wink:

Nice to see Obsidian following the examples set by grandmaster BioWare.

 

[PennyAnte]

I got annoyed that Bioware games haven’t allowed same-sex romancing when they allowed (or rather included hints of) in-game sexuality. I think it’s discriminatory.

 

[Quigs]

are you offended because you're a homo, or because you just feel like taking up someone elses cause? What about the fact that handmaiden says she wants to fight unencumbered (which for some reason means stripping down, but still wearing a hand clasp bra, yeah, real unencumbered), but doesnt fight naked? thats descriminator against nudists!

 

[dipdipdip]

The game seems to have taken a bit of a cop-out, seemingly only allowing you to affect characters who are "sensitive to the force." In the game, this translates to three characters who are, coincidentally, romanceable females.

I forgot to mention that this isn't true. Apparently you are just spending too much time with romanceable females...tsk tsk.

I only say this because the only two party members I've seen take a dramatic shift in alignment have been Visas and Handmaiden. It's good to know that you have to adventure with party members to really get into their heads. This does mean a fair amount of replay value.

HOWEVER,

I just reached the final area, and it's total shit. I say it's worse than the Star Forge in the original. I'm not terribly motivated to continue playing.

Folks, keep your expectations real low for the ending.

 

[PennyAnte]

are you offended because you're a homo, or because you just feel like taking up someone elses cause? What about the fact that handmaiden says she wants to fight unencumbered (which for some reason means stripping down, but still wearing a hand clasp bra, yeah, real unencumbered), but doesnt fight naked? thats descriminator against nudists!

Whether I'm gay has nothing to do with it.

In my opinion, if someone who is gay is playing an RPG and they are railroaded into RPing only heterosexual behaviors when the game has romantic elements, it's exclusionary. What if a heterosexual gamer was railroaded into homosexual romances by the design of some RPG? Same difference.

Imagine if Jolie the cranky old Jedi kept trying to cop a feel from a male Revan in KOTOR. Some heterosexual gamers would find it extremely offensive. I'm sure gay gamers also would find it extremely offensive if they're playing a male Revan and can't hit on the male Twilek in the Smuggler's HQ because Bioware has passed judgment on their sexuality.

On a total flip side, there are probably plenty of heterosexual male gamers who would like to have a female character in an RPG hit on a female NPC because they think lesbians are hot. Who cares?

My point is the game design is discriminatory, or at least exclusionary. I don't think your point about nudism is in the same ballpark. The nudity issue is a legal one in a way sexual orientation isn't. Indecent exposure is illegal, being a lesbian is not. I will say this though: I have no problem, personally, with nudity mods in "realistic" games like the Sims or Morrowind.

EDITS: Adds Quigs quote and a little more in the last line.

 

[Quigs]

Too bad. Tell me, are there more black people in the world, or homosexuals?

Now, your not complaining about the fact that you can't have more black npc's in the game, or more interaction with black people. Why not?

Thing is, most buisnesses aren't stupid. They tend to have a target audience when they sell a product. The target audience in this case is young white males. The majority of young white males are not gay. But... to be fair, obsidian should have made the game about a bunch of black queers, because they exist too, target audience be damned.

Thanks for the new sig btw, good for a laugh.

 

[PennyAnte]

I made a new topic for this because I can see us going around the barn a hundred times. I'm going to post a reply to your latest there.

 

[protobob]

I just reached the final area, and it's total shit. I say it's worse than the Star Forge in the original. I'm not terribly motivated to continue playing.

Folks, keep your expectations real low for the ending.

Yeah the finall area is pretty bad. Areas devoid of anything interesting other than killing hoardes of bad guys (bloodlines, anyone?). I just spamed Force Wave, which I could do with my nearly limitless amount of force points.

It won't take more than an hour to get through though...suck it up and go for it.

 

[Deathshadow]

im working on Nar Shadda right now and i too have spent rediculouse amounts of time on this game as well as lost lots of sleep......... its affecting skool... but oh well..... but i cant seem to find out where the hell to go on Nar Shadda i cant find gotto and i cant find the stupid jedi.

 

[dipdipdip]

You basically have to do every little side quest you can get your grubby little hands there, and you'll eventually be contacted by those whom you seek.

Now for teh melodrama: KOTOR 2 kinda broke my heart.

Rather than rambling on about a game most here haven't played yet, I think this summary about says it:

"KOTORII offers an intriguing perspective on the events of the first game, but perhaps spends too much time doing so, neglectfully leaving its own story to crash and burn."

 

[protobob]

I'm replaying the game dark-side, jedi sentinel. On highest difficulty. It makes the game better. Now combat isn't such a walk in the park, and things like shields and stims actually make sense now, whereas in the mid difficulty you never really need them.

As far as class goes, it's nice having all those skills, and stealth can be handy at times, but I sure do miss all those force points that the consular gets.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

I'm replaying the game dark-side, jedi sentinel. On highest difficulty. It makes the game better. Now combat isn't such a walk in the park, and things like shields and stims actually make sense now, whereas in the mid difficulty you never really need them.

As far as class goes, it's nice having all those skills, and stealth can be handy at times, but I sure do miss all those force points that the consular gets.

Does stealth come in handy now? Is it actually good? Is it actually useable?

 

[protobob]

Stealth has come in handy a few times. I was able to steal a bunch of loot without pissing of the owners of said loot at one point, and occasionaly you can use it to listen in on peoples conversations. Also there are places where you can stealth through enemies (droids) and get to a computer station and turn said eneimes off. Plus you get some kind of backstab with it, I think. Also in some portions of the game you are by yourself and it could come in handy if you want to skip combat.

But it's not something I use constantly. Plus, I'm not sure how it was in the first game, but when you stealth in KOTOR2 you have to go into solo mode as well (I think it was an option in the first game)

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Stealth has come in handy a few times. I was able to steal a bunch of loot without pissing of the owners of said loot at one point, and occasionaly you can use it to listen in on peoples conversations. Also there are places where you can stealth through enemies (droids) and get to a computer station and turn said eneimes off. Plus you get some kind of backstab with it, I think. Also in some portions of the game you are by yourself and it could come in handy if you want to skip combat.

But it's not something I use constantly. Plus, I'm not sure how it was in the first game, but when you stealth in KOTOR2 you have to go into solo mode as well (I think it was an option in the first game)

So the virtual inhabitants of KOTOR2 actually can notice you stealing their stuff this time around? That's actually a good improvement from KOTOR1 in my opinion, where you could just walk in and grab their possessions with no reaction at all.

Yeah, you had to go solo mode to 'sneak' in KOTOR1 as well, but I don't really know. Sneaking isn't my way of gaming, but an improvement is an improvement.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Well, gee. I wish I could spend more time with romanceable females.

So do I. So do I.

*sigh*