Review KotOR2 grooves IGN

[Mr. Teatime]

NeverwinterKnight

Surely an instant ban?

 

[Vault Dweller]

I've noticed the skill checks in dialogue. It kind of makes me wonder why someone would want to be anything but a Jedi Sentinel.

I always prefer to start a game with a plain and more straightforward character, and then play something more interesting and see the things that I'd missed. I also wanted to see all the new combat options (feats, forms, etc) first.

Anyway, my starting stats are 15,10, 14, 16, 10, 10. That's enough to have 4 skills, I also took Class skill: repair feat to improve my mad crafting skillz . I scored some [Intelligence] dialogue options, but probably missed some Wis/Cha options.

Edit: For some reasons, my post is above the one I replied to. Mystary!

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

It IS overly long, but I consider it a lesser sin then overly short areas. It IS mostly combat, but then again, it has the same gameplay as KOTOR, so I didn't expect anything else. However, unlike the orginal that had boring combat AND boring dialogues, KOTOR 2 offers better quests, interesting less black-n-white dialogues, and skill checks like awareness, treat injury (to understand medical stuff), and even Intelligence to figure something out. The NPCs are better written and better looking too.

I've noticed the skill checks in dialogue. It kind of makes me wonder why someone would want to be anything but a Jedi Sentinel. A Sentinel with a 14 INT gets five skills they can consistantly keep maxed out. So, not only do they get access to all those skills, they also get all the cool dialogue options. In exchange for that, they give up getting a few combat options a guardian probably wouldn't use much anyway.

 

[Mr. Teatime]

The dialogue is better than the first game, with more interesting responses. Unfortunately the majority of the game so far is combat, broken up by dialogue, and the combat is terrible. It's utterly tedious, and appears to make up 80% of the game. It's got that 'bioware shitty combat' feel all over it, and that's understandable since it's virtually identical to KOTOR1 combat.

Bioware really have mastered the art of making terrible combat.

 

[Lemon]

[...special Force bond with another Jedi, etc.

That part is patently ridiculous, bad enough in the first Kotor but to drag up again in the second?

 

[NeverwinterKnight]

NeverwinterKnight

Surely an instant ban?

huh? am i missing something?

 

[Volourn]

"i hope you're planning on doing a review when ya finish it, i'm actually pretty curious as to your view on it"

Volourn's Review: KOTOR2 may be as buggy as TOEE, and BL... combined.


"The dialogue is better than the first game, with more interesting responses. Unfortunately the majority of the game so far is combat, broken up by dialogue, and the combat is terrible. It's utterly tedious, and appears to make up 80% of the game. It's got that 'bioware shitty combat' feel all over it, and that's understandable since it's virtually identical to KOTOR1 combat.

Bioware really have mastered the art of making terrible combat."

That's right. Blame KOTOR2's weaknesses on the company that did NOT make it. Krea from what I've seen is a peon and boring. The second guy though I had one convo was more interesting.

The best part of KOTOR are the better use of skills out of combat. Otherwise, outisde of that the game is not impressive even without the bugs.. I may not even bother to fight through them like I did with BL which was at least worthwhile.


"huh? am i missing something?"

You like NWN. That is evil here... <>

 

[Vault Dweller]

The best part of KOTOR are the better use of skills out of combat. Otherwise, outisde of that the game is not impressive even without the bugs.. I may not even bother to fight through them like I did with BL which was at least worthwhile.

Care to elaborate?

 

[Volourn]

What's to elaborate? The game is buggy as hell. The combat is worse as its easy. I haven't even been at lesss than half my hit points even once while the playing the retarded droid. Kreia has some sepcial connection to you basically ripped from the first. The male dink was interesting at first; but now he's being annoying much like Carth; but at least Carth was Carth not Carth's replacement. HK is cool at least even though they have it where even though you are his "master" he ignores a direct order. R00fles! The writing is ok. The atmopshere is good - would be better if everything esle was not annoying. Item creation is ok; but not really needed so far. The power your PC gets is a joke - so many "bonus" feats for no reason. The non amensia amensia thing where you know nothing about your characterl; but everyrone else does... The two enjoybale aprts of the game so far are the way your skills/ability scores are used and I'm intirgued by the murder mystery though it's kinda obvious whose responsible.

Anywho...

 

[errorcode]

What's to elaborate? The game is buggy as hell. The combat is worse as its easy. I haven't even been at lesss than half my hit points even once while the playing the retarded droid. Kreia has some sepcial connection to you basically ripped from the first. The male dink was interesting at first; but now he's being annoying much like Carth; but at least Carth was Carth not Carth's replacement. HK is cool at least even though they have it where even though you are his "master" he ignores a direct order. R00fles! The writing is ok. The atmopshere is good - would be better if everything esle was not annoying. Item creation is ok; but not really needed so far. The power your PC gets is a joke - so many "bonus" feats for no reason. The non amensia amensia thing where you know nothing about your characterl; but everyrone else does... The two enjoybale aprts of the game so far are the way your skills/ability scores are used and I'm intirgued by the murder mystery though it's kinda obvious whose responsible.

Anywho...

whoa...you're seriously jumping to some wrong conlcusions after playing like the first 20 minutes of the game.

 

[Pegultagol]

I am sure (or sincerely hope) there will be some forthcoming patches to address some technical and gameplay issues. I think I will give this game a try, based on the impressions I've got so far. Thank you VD and others. I've one more question: is there a difficulty option to make the game a bit more challenging?

 

[bryce777]

What's to elaborate? The game is buggy as hell. The combat is worse as its easy. I haven't even been at lesss than half my hit points even once while the playing the retarded droid. Kreia has some sepcial connection to you basically ripped from the first. The male dink was interesting at first; but now he's being annoying much like Carth; but at least Carth was Carth not Carth's replacement. HK is cool at least even though they have it where even though you are his "master" he ignores a direct order. R00fles! The writing is ok. The atmopshere is good - would be better if everything esle was not annoying. Item creation is ok; but not really needed so far. The power your PC gets is a joke - so many "bonus" feats for no reason. The non amensia amensia thing where you know nothing about your characterl; but everyrone else does... The two enjoybale aprts of the game so far are the way your skills/ability scores are used and I'm intirgued by the murder mystery though it's kinda obvious whose responsible.

Anywho...

I am surprised it is so buggy.

Does it use the same engine as the first one, or is it a new one?

Are the bugs annoying?

 

[Volourn]

"whoa...you're seriously jumping to some wrong conlcusions after playing like the first 20 minutes of the game."

woah. I don't take people seriously when they can't tell time. R00fles!


"Does it use the same engine as the first one, or is it a new one?"

Same; but from what graphics I've seen in it; other than character models (which are improved) the graphics are worse.


"Are the bugs annoying?"

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Your character dancing in place non stop may be funny for 2 seconds until you realize the only way to stop it; is to log out of the game completely, and reload it crossing your fingers; it'll work. And, that's just one bug.

 

[errorcode]

"whoa...you're seriously jumping to some wrong conlcusions after playing like the first 20 minutes of the game."

woah. I don't take people seriously when they can't tell time. R00fles!

well, since the things you pointed out as not making sense are explained in the first 20 or so minutes i assumed you'd only played for 20 minutes. Sorry i didn't take you being "special" in to account when guessing at the amount of time you played.

 

[bryce777]

"whoa...you're seriously jumping to some wrong conlcusions after playing like the first 20 minutes of the game."

woah. I don't take people seriously when they can't tell time. R00fles!


"Does it use the same engine as the first one, or is it a new one?"

Same; but from what graphics I've seen in it; other than character models (which are improved) the graphics are worse.


"Are the bugs annoying?"

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Your character dancing in place non stop may be funny for 2 seconds until you realize the only way to stop it; is to log out of the game completely, and reload it crossing your fingers; it'll work. And, that's just one bug.

Wow. Well, I had been considering picking it up in the bargain bin, but that is pretty bad.

It is also sad to have so many bugs with the same engine. Kind of pathetic, really. Maybe I will try the first one some day.

Well, I guess when obsidian and torika are all out of business maybe the original black isle peeps will all be back together again. heh.

 

[Spazmo]

Well, I guess when obsidian and torika are all out of business maybe the original black isle peeps will all be back together again. heh.

...in the unemployment line. Or in an EA cubicle farm. I can't say which is worse.

 

[bryce777]

Well, I guess when obsidian and torika are all out of business maybe the original black isle peeps will all be back together again. heh.

...in the unemployment line. Or in an EA cubicle farm. I can't say which is worse.

Harhar...yeah I was thinking of a new company.

I know all too well what it's like in the EA cube farm. There is a guy there who literally lives there. They take him home every few weeks to other programmers' houses to shower and get a haircut and crap. I wonder if he is still there.

 

[errorcode]

EA cubicle farm is worse.

 

[Kuato]

EA sounds like a very unpleasant place

In fallout 1 and 2 I know that you can make a pretty wicked unarmed or melee character right from the start with the right point distribution and traits although if you do opt for this type of character its much more rewarding with the trait Bloody Mess

 

[Vault Dweller]

What's to elaborate? The game is buggy as hell.

Haven't seen any bugs yet other then a few minor glitches. No CTDs, no freezes, no slowdowns. My specs are P4 1.6 512MB and an old and crappy GeForce 4 MX 440.

The combat is worse as its easy.

It's easy, but it gets harder after you leave the "training" area. The rest gets better too, so play some more and stop whining.

I've one more question: is there a difficulty option to make the game a bit more challenging?

Don't think so, but, like I said, it gets better later on.

I am surprised it is so buggy.

It's not.

 

[errorcode]

Volourn is being a wee but melodramatic tonight.

 

[NeverwinterKnight]

You like NWN. That is evil here... <>

i see. how intriguing.

 

[Seven]

It would be better if only once you have a lot of skill in the force a lightsaber is actually useful and if you dont have it you are better off fighting from afar. To my thinking anyhow.

id mentioned that on the obsidian forum once. i dont think its part of the d20 rules but theyve deviated enough that i dont think it would matter, but my idea was that until/unless you learned how to actually wield a lightsaber, you could still use it but risked doing damage to yourself as easily as damaging your opponent.

Well I dont know so much about cutting your own leg off, but at close range unless a jedi is able to block the lasers blasts with the sword he should get blown to pieces.

At further range while you are both moving around I can see them missing a lot or hitting you in areas largely protected by armor, but if some joker with a light saber rushes boba fett, then unless he was amazing at blocking blaster shots he would be toast in a heartbeat, and I would think only the strongest jedi would be that good, let along good enough to take on a dozen bounty hunters with just a light saber.

You realize that you're talking about lasers, right? Don't you think that when discussing something like speed of light energy weapons (and the ability to dodge such weapons) that being slightly further a way isn't going to make that much of a difference in your ability to dodge it? I know that you're advocating the Jedi getting his ass-kicked because of practical logistics, but when we're talking about StarWars I don't think that it's very practical to discuss practicality.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I am sure (or sincerely hope) there will be some forthcoming patches to address some technical and gameplay issues. I think I will give this game a try, based on the impressions I've got so far. Thank you VD and others. I've one more question: is there a difficulty option to make the game a bit more challenging?

Yeah, there is. There's a difficulity slider in the options menu. Alternatively, you could just make a character with a 16 Charisma like I did. That makes combat more interesting at the beginning.

Then again, I raised my Charisma to 17, so I can now use the Dark Jedi's SHOCK powah, and I'm laying waste to the sith assassins with no problem.

 

[Lomer]

Yeah, there is. There's a difficulity slider in the options menu. Alternatively, you could just make a character with a 16 Charisma like I did. That makes combat more interesting at the beginning.

Even on maximum difficulty the game is unbearably easy for me, but I have fought only droids so far. I hope that the above mentioned Sith Assassins would impose a greater challenge. Perhaps I was wrong to start with a Jedi Guardian (with 16 Str and 14 Dex).