GameBanshee Forums

I wanted to be the first one welcoming everyone to this most excellent of forums: namely the forum for discussion of KOTOR2. I have had no part in its creation, and as a matter of fact I just accidently noticed it, but as there have been no posts I couldn't resist making the first one. I mean, hey, it's not every day you get to be the initiator of something. Not that I'm really the initiator, but a first post is a first post. That goes without saying of course, since a first post can't be anything other than a first post, because a first post is per definition the post that is first. But that does not diminish its importance. When this forum grows and becomes world-renowned (with more posts on it than the combined toe-hair of all the posters), people shall look back and remember me. And that would undoubtedly lead to me gaining some sort of power. And in the end power is all we have. Not that I'm power obsessed or anything, I'm just being relistic.
Anyways, while it's not that late in my obscure (not really) time zone, I'm as tired as a... I can't think of a witty metaphor. I don't know what the hell I'm talking about and deep down I suspect the above made little sense.

And to make this post KOTOR2 related let me ask you this: is there a beta floating around somewhere? And was KOTOR1 any good? I never actually got around to playing that game.

Also: what do you think is the future of RPG's? With more and mroe MMORPGs and the dismissal of Black Isle Studios (damn you interplay! May cockroaches feast upon thy eyeballs and fill your skull cavity with their miniature feces!), is the prospect of good RPGs as bleak as it seems? And by good I mean Baldur's Gate/Torment/Fallout level. Not Neverwinter Nights level (even though I understand the purpose of NWN wasn't single player).

Didnt know there was going to be a Kotor2 is this confirmed? Couldnt find anything at the Bioware site.

Kotor1 was a good game. Good gameplay, great story (atleast the first time) maybe somewhat linear. And you have the darkside/lightside system that's quite obvious.

Let's hope this improves in Kotor2. I will surely get it when it's released.

Well, there is talk about Obsidian Entertainment taking on the sequel, but until I see some release dates/developer notes or screenshots, I'm not putting much stock in that, even if two magazines are featuring articles for it.

IT just doesn't make sense for Lucas Arts to give the Star Wars license to Obsidian Entertainment, with them being a new group of developers, with little to no actual experiance designing games, much less a new engine (which they would have to do, as Bioware owns the rights to the Odyessy engine). In the long run, it wouldn't be as profitable for Lucas Arts to give the project to another developer, as it would expend costs in designing a new engine, as well as the fact people would be more leary about shelling out money for a game made by an unfamilar developer, who have barely had time to cut their teeth in the industry.

Of course, the counter argument is that Bioware is working on Jade Empire for the Xbox, but that is nearing completion, and it wouldn't be long before Bioware would be able to focus their efforts on KotOR2...

I'll be curious about whether whomever develops the game enriches it to the extent that Bioware took BG to a new level in BG2. For me, KotoR was an interesting but ultimately routine RPG, far too easy to beat, very linear, with little interesting action between party NPCs, and extremely confusing in its understanding of what deserved LSPs and DSPs. Will KotoR2 do better? I certainly hope so. There's a lot of possibility in the new engine, and with that part of the game out of the way, the devs should have a lot more time to play with enhancements.

Just in case you hadn't seen it already, I posted this on Friday:

http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/static/ ... oFnTcQ.php

Since I consider Ziff Davis a fairly reputable source, I'd say this more or less confirms that a sequel is in the works... which is exactly why I added this forum =).

Originally posted by fable
I'll be curious about whether whomever develops the game enriches it to the extent that Bioware took BG to a new level in BG2. For me, KotoR was an interesting but ultimately routine RPG, far too easy to beat, very linear, with little interesting action between party NPCs, and extremely confusing in its understanding of what deserved LSPs and DSPs. Will KotoR2 do better? I certainly hope so. There's a lot of possibility in the new engine, and with that part of the game out of the way, the devs should have a lot more time to play with enhancements.

I can only agree 100% with this.

I do hope a (possible? ) KotoR 2 will be a more deeb RPG then what the original presented (RPG Lite as I like to call it). I got rather dissapointed after the first "whoah" feeling over the graphics and getting to play with lightsabers had passed (around the time when I left for Tatooine (first planted I visted).
I also sincerly hope that while adding more gameplay they increase the length of the game - I don't like these games that can be completed in about 24-30 hours of effective gameing, I feel ripped off from it.

Originally posted by Buck Satan
Just in case you hadn't seen it already, I posted this on Friday:

http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/static/ ... oFnTcQ.php

Since I consider Ziff Davis a fairly reputable source, I'd say this more or less confirms that a sequel is in the works... which is exactly why I added this forum =).

True enough, but it wouldn't be the first time gaming media has been fooled. Rare, but it happens. If it is true, I don't see the logic in it...

Since it appears Obsidian has been chosen for KotoR2, more power to 'em. I wish 'em the best, but I can't help thinking that several recent games in which they all had important roles were nowhere near the be-all and end-all that they professed during development. Presumably, they made a detailed presentation to Lucasarts of what they would do, as did other companies, and the latter liked Obsidian's prospectus best. Now, we'll just have to wait and see what they produce.

News from the front. According to PC Gamer, Obsidian and Lucas Arts are only in the discussion phase of negotiating for the project. Nothing has been confirmed yet. I'd post the link, but I found this in the latest issue of PC Gamer, of you guys want to check it for yourself.

SWKOTOR 2? impossible! I don't thrink it is RPG game but we had to wait and see! But if there is, I will look forward to it

Originally posted by Aegis
Well, there is talk about Obsidian Entertainment taking on the sequel, but until I see some release dates/developer notes or screenshots, I'm not putting much stock in that, even if two magazines are featuring articles for it.

IT just doesn't make sense for Lucas Arts to give the Star Wars license to Obsidian Entertainment, with them being a new group of developers, with little to no actual experiance designing games, much less a new engine (which they would have to do, as Bioware owns the rights to the Odyessy engine). In the long run, it wouldn't be as profitable for Lucas Arts to give the project to another developer, as it would expend costs in designing a new engine, as well as the fact people would be more leary about shelling out money for a game made by an unfamilar developer, who have barely had time to cut their teeth in the industry.

Of course, the counter argument is that Bioware is working on Jade Empire for the Xbox, but that is nearing completion, and it wouldn't be long before Bioware would be able to focus their efforts on KotOR2...

1UP.com is reporting that Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic 2 will be featured in the June issues of EGM and Computer Gaming World (on stands late April). Yep, surprising that they are making a sequel huh? Ok, perhaps not. The only information mentioned on 1UP already is that Obsidian Entertainment (the Feargus Urquhart company) will be working on the game. Since BioWare & Obsidian are developer buddies, don't worry too much about this.

Big Brother, please refer to my last post, about Urquhart releasing information to probably the most credible source for PC gaming, PC GAmer, that they are still only in negotiations. As I said, I do not have the magazine article, so I cannot scan the article for you, but it would not be difficult to find.

In this particular case, it is likely that 1UP has jumped the gun somewhat in releasing the information, giving more than actually exists.

I just hope that the sequel is compatible with my save game from SWKotOR1, after all I've got this romance thing going and would love to see how it goes in the sequel

I wouldn't expect a sequel to keep your original character (though I could be wrong). I mean, he or she has just destroyed the leader of a rebellion featuring millions of ships and an ancient dark artifact. After that, anything would be an anti-climax. You've saved the galaxy in KotoR. Kinda hard to top that.

The original BG led naturally into a sequel, since the basic issue of your character being a Bhaalspawn was left alone, while the subsidiary issue of an attack by another Bhaalspawn was the main point. As I see it, a sequel could feature another, new character, with the possibility of at least a couple of party NPCs drawn from the original group, depending upon the timeframe. (If it's too late, only the robots will be available, as all others will be dead.)

But in any case, such speculation is as useful as deciding how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Let's just wait, and see.

True but I thought the ending was quite open, especially the bit Vandar said about Jedi being vigilant. But then again I might be reading to much into it and with the possibility of new developers..........oh well here's to hoping and praying

However open the ending of SW:KOTOR 1 was, I doubt you will continue with the same character.

They might follow the storyline somewhat from the end of 1 with the protagonist being - for instance - in the Jedi Council.

It would be hard to think they would allow for an import of characters from "episiode 1" because of level cap (Jedi powers and skills also) and all - unless they go the BG:Throne of Bhaal direction and implement a cap of say 40 and all new harder enemies, so instead of figthing one big bad monster you need to fight 3.
(What would be so great about running around at level 35 and needing skill 40 to hack something and killing umpteen monsters instead of level 10 with skill 15 and killing 5 monsters, I will never know )

I do hope (amongst many other things, which are another story ) they start from "zero" so to speak with a new character, following the storyline or in a new "setting".

Yeah I know what you mean, still I have grown to like my charachter and would like to see where it goes as far as Bastila is concerned but I understand your point. This also reminds me about Neverwinter Nights and how at some points in BG2 it said your save game could be used in NwN. As you know this wasn't the case and besides seeing how I played a paladin in both BG and NwN I was more concerned about the lack of Carsomyr in NwN, oh I know you could have made it yourself but I loved that sword

Whos to say it wont be a totally different storyline set closer to the Clone Wars?


/begin sarcasm

Or heck, why not a prequal? We all know those always work! *hehe*

/end sarcasm


Although I wouldnt mind continuing where I left off w/ KOTR1 but what about the people who never even played KOTR1? It would not be a wise marketing strategy to require the use of the first game to play the second. Unless it was simply an expansion pack.


I'd definately like to see a more varied storyline next time around though. It seems as in KOTR theres only two ways you can go with a given story. Dark or Light. If I were playing as a female charecter why not give the options of falling love w/ Carth, Jolee or Canderous?

Also it'd be nice to not have a pre-defined set of NPC's. I found the two droids as a waste of NPC slots after I had used them.

Originally posted by jnicklo
Although I wouldnt mind continuing where I left off w/ KOTR1 but what about the people who never even played KOTR1? It would not be a wise marketing strategy to require the use of the first game to play the second. Unless it was simply an expansion pack.

I'm confused. Who's suggesting that the development team would limit KotoR2 to having a character from the original KotoR? Has anybody encountered a game that does this?

If I were playing as a female charecter why not give the options of falling love w/ Carth, Jolee or Canderous?

Because "coded romances" are considered a very minor feature by dev teams, and typically, as Might and Magic creator Jon van Caneghem once put it, 75% of the work goes into 25% of the product. The small stuff tends to get left for last, when much of it ends of ignored in the final rush to completion. One of devs on the BG2 team told me they had another romance planned for a female hero, but cut it, as well, in the final stages.

Besides, romances add just about zip to CRPG gameplay. Whether you like 'em or not, to date I can't think of a title where having a romance gave you a range of extra strategic options. Each to their own, but still...

Also it'd be nice to not have a pre-defined set of NPC's. I found the two droids as a waste of NPC slots after I had used them.

While some people would agree with you, others prefer pre-defined characters as long as they 1) have their own characters strongly defined by party dialog, as in BG2, and 2) have a degree of autonomy from your actions--as they do, very occasionally, in BG2, and far more so in the great old strategic game, the first Jagged Alliance. You might have found the droids useless, and I didn't use 'em, either, but other people in the KotoR forum are very enthusiastic about at least one. In any case, if they're not the last word in power playing, quite a few people prefer the challenge of less "boosted" party NPCs to compensate for the braindead enemy AI.

Originally posted by fable
Far too easy to beat, very linear, with little interesting action between party NPCs, and extremely confusing in its understanding of what deserved LSPs and DSPs.

I really hope in Kotor 2 it will be more of a challenge to beat because Kotor 1 is easily beaten I mean I got through Dantooine and almost done with Tatooine in 3 hours its not much of a challenge. I also think they should have longer side quests not just ones where you go to the Dune Sea in Tatooine to fight some of Canderous's guys they need to get more into it I think. Also I agree about the confusing LSPs and the DSPs usually you can tell what will get you DSPs but even when you do something good sometimes you won't get LSPs and that kind of bugs me. But over all its a great game I'm on my fourth time playing it. Way fun! First game that I have wanted to play it over and over again.