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Tag: Star Wars
Well, since I previously talked a bit about replaying Knights of the Old Republic, I figure I should revisit its sequel as well.
Set an uncertain amount of time after the original, the player takes the role of the Jedi Exile. The Sith have returned to the galaxy, wiping out most of the jedi, and they’ve now set their sights on the Exile, believing him/her to be the last remaining Jedi.
Unlike the first game, the sequel starts you on your Jedi path straight away. While owning a lightsaber only comes much later on in the game, right away you get to start selecting force powers. The upshot of this being, that as you proceed into the later stages of the game, you’re a veritable Jedi powerhouse, cutting down enemies with lightning, and healing your companions from near-death with ease.
This game also introduced the influence system with your travelling companions. As is usual with these RPG games, as you travel to different locations new NPCs join your party. What was new in this game however was that your actions could determine the amount of influence you had with these party members. So if you helped out someone in trouble with the local mob, then your good-aligned companions would look more favourably on you, while you’d lose influence with those more inclined to the dark side.
The great thing about this system being that having increased influence would mean that your companions would only tell you certain things once they trusted you, and for some of them, once that trust reached a certain level, you could actually train them in the ways of the Force, and they’d become Jedi characters. Really helpful having a couple of jedi around to use Force Healing in the tougher fights.
However, the game suffered from one big flaw. Lucasarts had been incredibly keen on a tight development timescale for this game, so as a result, it was rushed onto the market. As a result of this, bugs are rife (some causing big gameplay issues), and huge sections of the game had to be abandoned, leaving several parts where its clear something was significant, but doesn’t actually lead anywhere.
Despite this, I still love this game. Revan’s character in the first game was very well defined (in terms of his/her backstory), whereas I find it more easy to role-play the Exile, as their past and motivations are a blank text. Getting influence with your companions and having them become Jedi was a great addition to the game, and gives you lots of different things to attempt on various run-throughs.
The new Sith Lords are great as well. Darth Sion is a really great, freaky creation, and Darth Nihilus had a great sense of mystery.
The bugs are the main downfall. Just the other night, I had a quest which stuck whenever I tried taking the light-side path to completing it, and so I eventually just had to take the hit and gather some darkside points in order to progress. Perhaps not a huge issue in terms of making progress, but in a role-playing game it really drags you out of the character.
Oblivion had petitioned LucasArts to allow them to complete the game in a later patch, straightening out the bugs, and providing some of the missing content, but sadly LucasArts said no. Some of what was intended (The HK Droid Factory for example) can still be found in the depths of the PC data files, and there is a project making progress at trying to restore some of this content.
Overall, I really do love this game. Its just such a shame it was never completed to the developer’s original intentions, as I reckon it’d have surpassed its predecessor. As it stands, the first game probably pips it to the post for stability, and having a more complete, coherent storyline, which is a shame, because the potential really was there.
So, last night I cracked and started playing through Knights of the Old Republic again.
It and its sequel are two fantastic games (although the second has its problems due to its rushed nature), and I never tire of playing them. I tend to play through each of them a couple of times a year, especially since Bioware seems to have moved away from making PC games.
It was a great idea, picking a time in Star Wars lore that wasn’t as well known, and being able to build up their own story with it. Especially since its now spawned the fantastic Knights of the Old Republic comic series which is acting as a prequel.
Sadly, it does now mean I’m going to end up sleep-deprived for the next few days.
I was chosen to be best man at a wedding over the weekend, but the bride and groom decided that they wanted to steer away from the more traditional best man gift. As a result, I’m now the (very) proud owner of a Master Replicas ForceFX Lightsaber.
I’m amazingly impressed by it. I’ve seen them in shops before, but it doesn’t compare to actually getting to try one out. The metal construction is fantastic (especially when you’re used to the cheaper plastic toys), the blade gives off a fair amount of light (as you can see), and the sounds are clear and crisp.
While they’re more expensive than the plastic versions, they have been dropping in price over the last year, and I can’t recommend them enough to anyone that’s ever thought of nabbing one. Well worth it.
Right, I really should talk about something other than my Linux setup for a change 
I picked up quite a few comics last week (by my standards). Countdown #51 was interesting. It didn’t blow me away, but it was a solid enough first issue. Largely I’m on board with it at the moment for Kyle and Donna. Although I’m definitely interested to see how they develop this new multiverse. I think its going to cause confusion having new worlds that are not the worlds from the original multiverse, but it’ll be interesting to see how its managed none-the-less. Key things I think I’m looking forward to are the inevitable JSA/JSA teamup, and also Kyle meeting the Jade on Earth-2.
Star Wars Legacy #11 was excellent. I’m not a huge fan of the Vong, as I got bored with the New Jedi Order books shortly before the halfway point. But I’m definitely intrigued to find out what they’re doing under the ruins of the Jedi Academy on Ossus.
Marvel Zombies: Dead Days was a disappointment though. Although not entirely sure about Marvel Zombies, I must admit to enjoying the first mini series, and the Army of Darkness prequel that’s currently running. However there’s something about Marvel turning them into a big brand that I find unsettling. At the end of the day, there’s obviously a demand for these products and Marvel’s in the business of making money. I can’t really argue with that.
But while I like the tongue-in-cheek tone taken by the two miniseries, this prequel took a more serious approach, and I’m just not sure how I feel about the Marvel icons being turned into monsters like this (of course, its not actually the Marvel icons we know and love). I think I definitely prefer the titles that are just indulging in some over-the-top black humour. Something about this one-shot just felt a bit unneccessary. We’d been told these things had happened. We didn’t really need to be shown it in wonderous technicolour.
Ran the latest bunch of Ubuntu updates last night, which nicely killed my installation. Fortunately I eventually twigged that the updates had included a new kernel image, and was able to reboot off the old one. Fiesty Fawn (Ubuntu 7.04) was released yesterday, so that’ll be the weekend’s project.
Finished replaying Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic again the other night. I do love those games. Work’s been quite busy lately, so I’ve been tired at night, so not really in the mood for anything real time. So the turn-based combat of KotOR was pretty appealing. I’ve played through it and its sequel loads of times now. I really do wish they’d get round to making KotOR3. I’ve been quite dissappointed that Bioware seem to have started favouring consoles over PCs for their games. Admittedly, its where the money is these days, but as a PC gamer, I do miss having good, new Bioware games to play.
With it finished though, I do need to try and play through the new Oblivion expansion: The Shivering Isles. I’ve started playing it, although so far I’m not sold on the new area. When it comes to RPGs, I tend to prefer running around woods and grasslands, bumping into towns and such on the way, which is probably why I liked Oblivion so much. However, the new area is designed to be a bit weirder. Still, I imagine once I start finding my way around it, I’ll get settled in.
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