Impressions (MANY SPOILERS)

[Nightmare]

Well, I finished the game for the first time. I enjoyed it very much, though it was rather short, easy, and didn't have the depth I thought it would, being a Bioware game. I was actually quite surprised how short and easy it was. I went through being an uber-lightside scout/guardian. I mostly used Carth and Bastila, with HK-47 and Jolee after Bastila was taken.

I enjoyed Manaan, as there was a fair bit of things to do. Kashyyyk and Tatooine were rather focused though, with their Star Maps very easy to find. Korriban was so focused that there wasn't anything besides the main plot to do.

Many of the "dungeons" were really short and small, too. I liked the Levithian event very much...probably one of my fav. parts of the game. It was very well done, and the dungeon aspect of it was nice.

I think the game would've been much better had some quests been much more far reaching and complex. Even the much hyped "trial" on Manaan was a joke, in my opinion.

Combat was, by far, a breeze. My main character had a normal defence of 32 at the end of the game, with a +29 to hit or so. I liked how the XP was given out through the game, with my main reaching the cap right before going to the Star Forge, and the NPCs reaching it while at the Star Forge. The hardest battles were the continuous battle at the Star Forge, though the enemies were just fodder. Malak was an absolute breeze. I suppose he has to be, being as you take him on solo. Large groups of tough enemies were easy too, esp. with a high Wisdom + Stasis Field + Lightsaber Throw.

The DS/LS system worked well, though I think if it were tweaked for actions (not just dialogue) and changed from much more things it would be better. Also, penalties for using opposing force powers should be much greater.

I think for my new game, I'll play a very darkside character, probably a scoundral/consulor. I'll probably use Canderous and Bastila/Jolee for the most part, I suppose.

My main question is this: are there any mods for the game that create new content, or tweak the game to make it harder, by adding more enemies at certain points or improving the AI, or different, by changing some stats/feats/powers?

Thanks in advance.

[Obi-Wan-Evan]

Not that I know of, but if you want a longer game try out Kotor 2. Not all the difficult though..

[Nightmare]

KotOR II comes out next month for PC, I think. I don't own an Xbox (nor am I planning to). Is it any good, with the new developer?

[Obi-Wan-Evan]

Well it's okay though it cant hold a candle to the first one. In my opinon it has better gameplay and better items i suppose but the story line isn't as near as good as the first one. And also if you want the first game to be longer try finnishing the compleate game ( finnishing all sidequests). Overall I was happy with the second Kotor.

[fierydemise]

I agree nightmare, its really fun but after the 8th time and being able to say word for word what the characters are going to say it gets really boring. I found it easy in places but hard in others so it all balanced out. My suggestion if you have any saves from just before you leave for the starforge replay the starforge with different people, the frantic fights never get old. I've had february 14th (I think thats when I heard its gonna come out) marked on my calander with a big red pen since I finally heard a release date. Hope KOTOR 3 when comes out is much longer with a lot more choices of how to play. Ok I've rambled enough.

[sun_facer]

Changing the difficulty of gameplay will not change much of anything. You will still find the game easier to play.

I think if you want more of challenge, there is little that Star Wars games can offer. If you want some challenge, try some other RPGs. I find Heros of Might and Magic rather hard to play.

If you want a longer story with very interesting and bizarre plots, I recommend that you try the famous Jap Final Fantasy... not the newer ones.. try FF7.

If you want team play, try Bioware's NWN with expansion. Play it with some frens.. and things become fun even when easy.

If you want MMPOG, I think Ragnarok Online is pretty deep in character development.

If you still want Star Wars game with more of everything, I guess you can write in to LucasArts, pray and wait. If you want to talk about it, we are all here to listen.... right fellas?

[Xandax]

@Nightmare: I agree much with almost all of it, and it matches my own experiences with the game as well.

I would think one thing that Bioware could have done to make this game loads better, would have been to expand the areas much much more then they did, they were simply to small and to confied for a RPG and gave me the feel of a FPS instead. It gave no freedom and the liniarity of the game was massive.
I also don't understand why the game has to be so easy in regards of puzzles (if one can call them this) and combat. (Well - unfortunally - I understand why - I just don't see the logic/reason for it)

[Macleod1701]

Well I've got to say some of the puzzles do require some thought, finding the odd number out in a sequence, etc but as a whole there aren't really enough to keep your mind occupied.

[Aegis]

[QUOTE=Xandax]@Nightmare: I agree much with almost all of it, and it matches my own experiences with the game as well.

I would think one thing that Bioware could have done to make this game loads better, would have been to expand the areas much much more then they did, they were simply to small and to confied for a RPG and gave me the feel of a FPS instead. It gave no freedom and the liniarity of the game was massive.
I also don't understand why the game has to be so easy in regards of puzzles (if one can call them this) and combat. (Well - unfortunally - I understand why - I just don't see the logic/reason for it)[/QUOTE]
Still harping on the Hanoi puzzle, eh Xan

Let things go, my friend

@Nightmare: Yeah, you're very much right. It's interesting on how much praise the game received for it's genre, and yet, the genre it's marketed as, is not what it truly is (Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm slipping into pseudo-troll mode here). It lacks the major components of what makes an RPG great, namely a strong and compelling story, with a basic free form construction. Developers, even Bioware now (I'll avoid harping on NWN... If Xan stops harping on the Hanoi puzzle ) seems to think that all that you need to have an RPG is a character that you roll up stats for, and allow for slight input on character development. The issue, though, lies in the fact that the games these days are all geared towards the action aspect of gameplay, effectively making other feat/skill trees almost pointless in the game, because of the minor roll they play in it.

Oh well... I'm going to stop before I say somethings that'll really get the fanboys on my back... Namely because dusting them off with a broom, while not difficult, is time consuming, and I have a busy enough schedule as it is.

[Xandax]

[QUOTE=Aegis]Still harping on the Hanoi puzzle, eh Xan
<snip>
[/QUOTE]

Never - it is my crusade, well that and other such foolishly simple puzzles in the games.
Oh well - I'll let go of the Tower of Hanoi with 4 levels and 3 pillars. (Sheez - move first to middle, move second to left, move first to left, move third to middle, move first back to right and so on.... )
I'll just start with insanely stupidifying (new word ) "puzzle" in the ancient temple on Dantoine... I mean come on.
But that is a general problem, much like the "turn statues and pull leavers" puzzle of NwN

And not to troll or anything, but I totally agree with you (as you most likely know), that today the RPG seems to have decayed into simply "create a character, roll statistics and level up".
Where is the challengde other then 15 monsters instead of 10 with half the amount of hitpoints. Oh well - that is my crusade, if I only had influence in the gaming industry.... maybe I should start blogging my views

[fable]

[QUOTE=Aegis]It's interesting on how much praise the game received for it's genre, and yet, the genre it's marketed as, is not what it truly is (Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm slipping into pseudo-troll mode here). It lacks the major components of what makes an RPG great, namely a strong and compelling story, with a basic free form construction. Developers, even Bioware now (I'll avoid harping on NWN... If Xan stops harping on the Hanoi puzzle ) seems to think that all that you need to have an RPG is a character that you roll up stats for, and allow for slight input on character development.[/quote]

The Diablo Factor. Spend enough money convincing kids that all an RPG ever requires is a few rolled up stats, enchanted goodies and lots of movement, and you have a hard time convincing them it ever was anything else.

And, and you're both right. That Tower of Hanoi puzzle had me groaning over the complete lack of imagination shown by Bioware at that point. And NWN was a complete letdown as a singleplayer product (though the second add-on is a lot better).

As for Nightmare's original question: if you want content-based mods, look to Morrowind and Baldur's Gate 2. There are some excellent examples of mods that increase the content for each title. KotoR simply didn't cause the enthusiasm among an old enough crowd who would take the time over mods, whatever the critics might think.

[fierydemise]

As much as everyone rags on ths game its still fun for the first couple times through. I agree on the simplicity and how its been dumbed down for mass consumption. Still at least we got a halfway decent non buggy RPG which sold well. Just hope the markeing people see the sucess and the potential cash cow and maybe we'll get a few more, maybe even one that has the complexaty and difficulty of the great games of the past. Remember what you learned in the "Life of Brian" "Always look on the bright side of life, Always look on the bright side of life. Lifes a piece of s**t when you look at it so always look on the bright side of life."

[Nightmare]

Hmm. Its been out for a while, I'm a bit surprised by the total lack of mods. And I suppose the game was very much geared towards the Xbox rather than the PC, unfortunately, and that explains away many of it's faults. All the puzzles in the game were solved by a Datapad you could get right before the puzzle itself. And the Tower of Hanoi, I've done that before in school years ago with far more disks...

Though, I must say, I still enjoyed KotOR, unlike NWN. But that's another discussion.

I'll probably go through once or twice more, then either reload Planescape or BG2. Even though I've played them through multiple times, I never get bored. THOSE are what RPGs should be like.

I'll also see if I can get a copy of Morrowind, but I've heard its really long...which is awesome, but being in my final year of high school, I'm rather short on time for games.

Thanks!