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I've just started this game. My initial feeling is to follow the light side. I read in the FAQ that you get more missions that way.

I would like to know if there is a specific point where you must choose light versus dark or does your orientation depend on what you do from the beginning. In the SWKOTOR I there was a moment at the end of the game where you could make a choice - Light or Dark. That way, I was able to see both endings. Can you do that in this game? Or do you have to pretty much play light or dark from the beginning? Or is playing the middle ground the best?

Any advice is appreciated. Right now, I've just got my 2 droids running around fixing the Ebon Hawk. I'd like to know before I go much further.

-cwineman

in kotor 2, things throughout the game are affected by your alignment at that point. certain characters are only available if you are ls at a certainpoint, others if ds. and during levelling up, your alignment changes which prestige classes are available to you. also, as most of the missions have at least two ways of doing them, you can pretty much play an alignment from the start. as for extra missions, there are not really extra missions for ls, just different ways of completing missions/slightly different missions. just play the game how you see fit and when you notice you are edging towards ls or ds, choose which direction you want to go in.

I would suggest going lightside first then start again darkside. Also try darkside male and female AND lightside male and female. You could even do that with different Jedi ie, Consular, Sentinal or Guardian.

[QUOTE=ianpaul1]I would suggest going lightside first then start again darkside. Also try darkside male and female AND lightside male and female. You could even do that with different Jedi ie, Consular, Sentinal or Guardian.[/QUOTE]

why ls first? nothing wrong with that just curious as to why you find it better to be ls first. i generally go ds first then ls.

* Possible SWKOTOR I Spoiler *

Thanks for the feedback.

I think that I'm going to play light first.

In SWKOTOR I, there was a definitive point in the game where if you joined Bastilla, you would become dark side. I had been playing light the whole time and I suddenly became dark side. I assume the opposite would have been true if I had been dark side, and then chose the light side option in the battle with Bastilla.

Because of that I was able to play through the light side way and see that ending. Then I reloaded the game from the Bastilla battle, and took the dark side path, and saw that ending. So I didn't have to start at the beginning of the game or something.

Is there a moment like that in this game? If so, is it somewhere near the end of the game?

no there is nothing like that in this game. your alignment is pretty much something you build up all game and i've never had it suddenly change on me because of one decision

[QUOTE=mr_sir]why ls first? nothing wrong with that just curious as to why you find it better to be ls first. i generally go ds first then ls.[/QUOTE]

Just personal preference I guess, no real reason.

There is no such single once-and-forever decision point as in Kotor 1, no. How you finish this game depends mostly on how your light/dark alignment develops while you play.

BUT... there is a tricky point (and I'm trying to explain it the best I can without spoiling).

You will be sent on a quest to four different planets, much like Kotor 1; but unlike the Star Map quests, you get a (very obvious) lightside/darkside choice as to how you behave towards the "objects" of your quests (at least on three of the four). You may choose all three LS or all three DS, but once you have done one quest on the DS, you are forced to do those you have still coming up on the DS too, whether you want or not. On one of these planets (hint: it's the one where you are not able to land directly on it), it's very easy to get on the dark side path without noticing it, and quite some players have found themselves later on to have either to continue along the DS path or to start again from a save a long time back. Therefore, if you want to play LS and are on this planet, beware of who you ally with - and beware of assassinating any officials.

I hope this was helpful (and not only confusing).

LostJedi,

Not confusing at all. I think I see what you are saying. I'll try to be alert as I progress.

Right now, I'm still on the Pergus asteroid. And my character is still in his underwear.

[QUOTE=LostJedi]
You will be sent on a quest to four different planets (snip) but once you have done one quest on the DS, you are forced to do those you have still coming up on the DS too, whether you want or not. On one of these planets (hint: it's the one where you are not able to land directly on it), it's very easy to get on the dark side path without noticing it, and quite some players have found themselves later on to have either to continue along the DS path or to start again from a save a long time back. [/QUOTE]

I have played the game through 6 times and never found this. What you do on the planet you mention does NOT affect your choice of Light or Dark on any of the other 3 planets you can go to (I've always been given all the relevent conversation options, and have even tried taking them). You can still choose Light or Dark on the other planets.

Your choice on 'the planet you can't land on directly' affects which path you are on when you return to THAT planet (only) later in the game.

In summary, the first (Peragus) planet has no seperate Light/Dark paths. The second (compulsory) planet has Light and Dark paths. So do 3 of the 4 planets that follow in any order you choose. They're independant; you can follow Light or dark paths on any of them. Once you've beaten all 4 planets, you go into the end game, which effectively has no chance for Light or Dark decisions (unlike the equivalent in KOTOR).

There is a much better balance between Light and Dark in KOTOR2 than in KOTOR. In KOTOR XP and objects could often be gained by killing people, where nothing much was gained by saving them. In KOTOR2 many of the LS/DS points come from conversation choices, not actions. And where they are actions, often if you help the person you get the same amount of XP, and the same object as a reward that you would have got if you'd killed them.

Whereas in KOTOR there were DS only quests, but no LS only quests, in KOTOR2 there are both, and quite a few of both. In general, I've found that if I play through the game trying for every possible point without wrecking my alignement, I come out about level 28 whether DS or LS (assuming no use of exploits...there's one XP exploit that really only works if you're DS)

Alcina,

Well, that seems to contradict earlier advice. I guess I'll find out sooner or later.

...if I play through the game trying for every possible point without wrecking my alignement...

I'm not sure what you mean by this, but it may be the same thing that I try to do in these games. I try to play as many missions as possible. And the FAQ said that the best way to do that was by being on the light side.

I'll probably play by basically being light side, but walk a pretty fine line. I don't want to miss any missions by being too much of a goody-two-shoes.

Anyway, my character is no longer in his underwear and now wearing a mining uniform. So things are looking up.

most missions have more than one way of completing them, and that mission will change depending on how you go about completing it. so its often impossible to do all the ds stuff and all the ls stuff on a planet in the same game as sometimes you have to make a choice one way or another for that mission.

Most quests and side quests can be completed in 2 ways, either LS or DS. You get XP and/or rewards for both in almost every case. I'd say this is true of at least 95% of quests.

A few quests can only be solved in a LS way, and a few only in a DS way. Off the top of my head, I can think of 3 actual quests which can only be done in a way that gets you LS points, and 4 that can only be done by getting DS points. There are also a few things that aren't official quests (appearing in your log) which you can only do if you get DS points (an example: in one place you can pick a fight with a man guarding a door, for no good reason, and kill him. There's nothing else you can do with him except say 'bye')

In KOTOR, you made a choice, while talking to Bastila, which determined which ending to the game you got. KOTOR2 has no equivalent choice. Once you have completed the 4 planets whcih you visit in any order, the end game starts. Which ending you get depends on your Light/Dark scale position at that point, not on any one specific thing you do.

There's one good reason to play LS first, though. It's perfectly possible to play the game through DS and never find out what the main plot is; the DS ending is short on explanation, and if you pick all the DS conversation options all through the game (Shut up and prepare to die), you miss out on most of the info about what's happening.

i agree. so what i did was that i drew out the convos as long as i possibly could, then (if the mood struck me) i would pick "shut up and die already" and if it didnt then i would help out. or id just forget them and not speak to them again hee hee... so as a total i usually came out LS but never LS mastery. on the meter i would get to the point right when the exile just got his stance for the LS... eh... im more of a grey sider i guess... *shrugs*