Star Wars Was KOTOR even worth a play?

[TedNugent]

Reddit in the extreme. I did enjoy Mass Effect 1 and 2 because it was a fun shooter though.

kill yourself

Nah, I never played Skyrim.

 

[Gahbreeil]

KotOR was worth playing. It's essentially a Black Isle RPG (Extensive Dialogue Trees). Some of BioWare's finest.

 

[__scribbles__]

KotOR was worth playing. It's essentially a Black Isle RPG (Extensive Dialogue Trees). Some of BioWare's finest.

Boiling down the Black Isle style of RPGs to "extensive dialogue trees" is very superficial.

 

[Gahbreeil]

Boiling down the Black Isle style of RPGs to "extensive dialogue trees" is very, very wrong.

Well, I do prefer RTwP but KotOR really is the best I've seen since NWN as of the date of release. And I didn't mean boiling down, rather the most BI thing in KotOR. Improved, as well.

In other words, is DA:I Black Isle at all? That's what I mean. BioWare was making good games, once.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I tried playing KotoR for the first time about 10+ years after it was released. I couldn't get into it. I didn't enjoy the combat, and playing a Sith was like being a schoolyard bully robbing lunch money and torturing insects. I didn't make it off of the first planet.

 

[Eirinjas]

KOTOR is a good once you get off Taris. That opening is a slog. The overall story is pretty good. The game mechanics regarding the force, light side/dark side, and lightsaber configurations were solid. There is no lack of character interaction. The NPCs were memorable. HK-47 had some gut-busting lines, easily my favorite character of the series. And the way the game crescendos feels appropriately like a Star Wars epic. The end boss fight was satisfying. KOTOR II is a better game in some ways, but the boss fights felt like a letdown compared to the first.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

KotOR was one of those average RPGs that you play and totally forget about, released during the start of the decline, so it was in good company. Not completely horrible, definitely playable, but absolutely nothing to stick with you as good games do.

Stripped down DnD combat from BG/NWN to make it more cinematic and purdy but nearly braindead, hubs with small maps, functional by the book writing, companion bs. Yawn.

 

[Gandalf]

Let me think. It could have been better, but still it had some cool things in it and I still remember the aesthetics of it. Yeah, it was worth it.

 

[Roguey]

the usual chucklefucks will now try to retroactively rewrite history and pretend KotOR wasn't fun back in year 2003
there are limits to tryhardism

It was always console decline.

 

[Jaesun]

I only remember playing KotOR one time and finishing it. Never was interested in playing it again. Then KotOR II came out. I was like holy fucking shit YES! This was the Star Wars RPG I have been wanting to play. I think I've replayed it 2 or 3 times. And perhaps someday I'll probably play KotOR II again. No interest what so ever in playing KotOR again.

 

[Gahbreeil]

the usual chucklefucks will now try to retroactively rewrite history and pretend KotOR wasn't fun back in year 2003
there are limits to tryhardism

It was always console decline.

Baldgur's Gate 3: The Illithid Boogaloo

 

[__scribbles__]

In other words, is DA:I Black Isle at all? That's what I mean. BioWare was making good games, once.

I haven't played Inqusition.

But the Black Isle style of RPG isn't a text-heavy isometric turn-based RPG, but rather a RPG with a focus above all on crafting a believable and dynamic world. It's essentially an evolution of the Ultima format.
C&C in the Black Isle sense derives from immersing the player into a believable world, where choices the player makes is followed up with a logical consequence. For example, high perception characters notice things characters don't, intelligent characters think of questions and arguments dumb characters don't.
It's not just a character build thing however, choosing which faction is in control or whether or not to save a settlement is going to have an impact on the world around you.

KOTOR doesn't follow this philosophy. What's the impact of choosing to give the rakghoul serum to Davik instead of the clinic? What's the impact of having high intelligence or wisdom when talking to somebody? Beyond just picking a reward for quests and what role you play in combat, KOTORs C&C may as well be non-existant because the world is inflexible, static.

That's why I disagreed with the statement that KOTOR is "essentially a Black Isle RPG" because it had extensive dialogue, because Black Isle RPGs are about so much more than just having long dialogue trees. It's about simulating a world that feels alive and reactive in a way that KOTOR just doesn't really commit to.

 

[Gahbreeil]

^

I agree, I did not play Inquisition either. I guess the C&C in KotOR is meant to immerse you in the world through alignment changes. Save the rakghouls, imagine the world 'round you change together with you 'lignment.

 

[Maxie]

the usual chucklefucks will now try to retroactively rewrite history and pretend KotOR wasn't fun back in year 2003
there are limits to tryhardism

It was always console decline.

so was morrowind, you utter transsexual

 

[Roguey]

the usual chucklefucks will now try to retroactively rewrite history and pretend KotOR wasn't fun back in year 2003
there are limits to tryhardism

It was always console decline.

so was morrowind, you utter transsexual

Morrowind was a PC game that was ported to xbox. With kotor it was the other way around. Most obvious with things like user interface. Oblivion was the one with the console interface.

 

[Lord_Potato]

KOTOR was an ok game from early 'middle Bioware', when they were searching for identity after biding farewell to Forgotten Realms. It is carried by fun setting mostly.

KOTOR2 was the real deal, but it had solid foundations to build on.

 

[AndyS]

If you like classic Star Wars, KOTOR is worth playing. If you don't like Star Wars, you can probably skip it. It's one of those examples of a licensed game that honors its source material quite well even if it isn't a remarkably good and gracefully aged game.

 

[Falksi]

Worth playing? Yes. Amazing game? Nah. I enjoyed it a decent amount on my first playthrough back in t' day, but I tried replaying it a few years back and it didn't hold my interest for long.

 

[NecroLord]

Save the rakghouls

I assume you meant kill the rakghouls and save those infected before turning into them?

 

[Maxie]

Save the rakghouls

I assume you meant kill the rakghouls and save those infected before turning into them?

KotOR predicted covid

 

[Hellraiser]

KOTOR is a good once you get off Taris. That opening is a slog.

I like Taris, first time I played that game I remember enjoying walking around this seemingly open Star Wars megacity, breaking into apartments and "exploring". Of course a few years later when I replayed it I noticed it is just corridors with some token branching (better than Mass Effect 1 in this regard I guess), so the exploration is not that good in hindsight. Also while not starting as a Jedi has its mechanical/power gaming disadvantages, it was kind of fresh to be "supposedly" just some republic soldier stuck on an enemy occupied planet-sized city, looking for allies and resources under sith noses and using shit like vibroblades or blasters.

As for KOTOR as a whole, the RtwP is obvious decline especially clunky regarding positioning due to the third person camera view, and the character system is streamlined D&D3E/D20 (or how the hell it was called) where they only limited feats/powers by classes without any other stat requirements not to confuse casuals/consoletards, but some of the "boss" encounters are quite good. By that I mean you can't just powergame a jedi munchkin build that can just auto-attack through them while AFK, you actually have to use consumables, buffs, crowd control powers, need to think about resistances, force powers like the anti-droid one are actually very useful. Hell, I think there are some cases where it is good to swap weapons for something better for a given enemy (ex. blasters with extra shield shields, belts with +resistances to enemy powers/debuffs). Shame those encounters are inside a RtwP framework with extremely poor control over positioning and camera, they do the right things but this gets overshadowed and goes to waste by the decline that is the RtwP combat.

Hell the game gives you decent haxx options for maybe not a fully non-combat route but to really make combat easier (shame there is none for the final boss IIRC) and some dialog options (crude by the standards of Black Isle), although the stealth itself does suck.

The story/writing is good as a star wars story, it hits the right heroic space opera pulp adventure notes without being a creatively bankrupt derivative of the movies the way the Shitney SW Trilogy was.

 

[NecroLord]

Taris was pretty good.
Peragus can go straight to hell...
Nice atmosphere though.

 

[Gregz]

I remember enjoying it a lot, but that was a long time ago in a Gregz far, far away....

 

[Comrade Goby]

KOTOR 1 and 2 are both KINO for different reasons

 

[MerchantKing]

No. KOTOR is not worth playing.