I agree the companions are inferior (with the exception of Kreia), the locations are dull, and the gameplay isn’t much improved over KOTOR I, but you’ve to be kidding about the motivations behind Kreia! Her motivation is probably the most interesting villain motivation in the entire Star Wars canon.
The dominant Jedi/Sith paradigm is shallow, very cinematic, but not very philosophically interesting. Kreia is interesting. She hates the Force, she hates that it has a will, that it uses people for its own ends. She rejects both Jedi and Sith and comes up with an entirely new metaphysics for the Star Wars universe. Even as a kid, I thought she was fascinating. Yeah sure it was cooler to be Revan, but being the reluctant student of a compelling, convincing Dark Lord is a fantastic premise I’ve never seen done anywhere else
I love all that too! I just don't love it as much as the first game and I think people are so obsessed with that part of KOTOR II that they overlook the fact that in almost every other area where it counts, it falls short of the original.
I sort of ran out of time with this review and my second Substack has put the pressure on but I also wanted to say that I don't think KOTOR II's place as the middle part of what was supposed to be a trilogy helps it.
You know I’m not so sure about that. Im not sure it was possible to execute a concept like “Revan goes off to fight the ‘True Sith’ by himself” well. It’s the perennial problem with sequels, the even BIGGER bad off screen that sorta undercuts the conceit of the prequels. His plan also never made any sense to begin with, which is a tough starting point for a story. I think they’d have been better off with using the Mandalorian Wars. It’s perfect game fodder.
Had I been both an adult and in charge of the series, KOTOR 3 would have been an early Xbox 360 exclusive and would have seen the True Sith Empire invading the ailing KOTOR II Republic, with the Exile and Revan: their 2 greatest threats, having been captured as established in The Old Republic and thus the road to galactic conquest wide open. I'd have written so the player was the first of a new generation of Jedi, hastily trained and sent out to war by Bastila and other surviving Jedi; the Mandalorian Wars underpin the events of both games and I'd have that continue in part III by having the player's path to war mirror that of those who went off to fight; I feel like the Jedi get a pretty bad showing in both KOTOR games so Bastila and her love for Revan would be a break from the old dogma. The alignment struggle and the main quest would come from the player's insufficient training, the realities of war and the realisation that the 2 most powerful force users of the age: the Exile and Revan both blur the lines between light and dark as you work to find where they are being held and free them.
But I'm neither a developer nor a writer of any renown so this is all just food for thought.
The thing about Kotor II is it's been remastered and Kotor I has not. I'd love to play a modernized version of I. You also didn't mention crafting which was a great add. Also, EASY combat? It's already so easy, especially with the aforementioned crafting.
I've never had to use it because I always play on Easy haha, it's not really a difficulty thing for me, more like: "This is the worst part of both games and I want to get through it as quickly as possible."
Great read; finally got caught up on it. Helps crystallize my own thoughts on KOTOR 2, even if you like it much better than I ever did.
I think you really nailed what stopped me from enjoying this game: the pacing is bad, rooted in fundamentally bad level design. As soon as I look at screenshots of those levels, a sense of boredom washes over me.
I'll be honest; all of my favorite games are games that I could theoretically enjoy while skipping all the text. This doesn't mean I DO skip the text, but even a game like FF6 or FF7 I can enjoy while skipping the text, because the environments themselves are compelling. They convey a joy of exploration. Good exploration has always mattered for me as much as, sometimes more than, good gameplay. And more than good writing (since writing is a skippable part of video games anyway).
So if you tell me, "This sequel is worse than the first game in most ways, except it has much more interesting text," that's pretty uncompelling for me as a gamer. I could just play the better game, and then go read a book.
Though it feels like most of the main cast (Kreia aside) are under-explored, I actually thought some of them, such as Bao-Dur and Visas, plus what lore surrounded them, were amazing contributions to the general Star Wars mythos, more so than Mission/Zaalbar or Jolee in my opinion.
I agree the companions are inferior (with the exception of Kreia), the locations are dull, and the gameplay isn’t much improved over KOTOR I, but you’ve to be kidding about the motivations behind Kreia! Her motivation is probably the most interesting villain motivation in the entire Star Wars canon.
The dominant Jedi/Sith paradigm is shallow, very cinematic, but not very philosophically interesting. Kreia is interesting. She hates the Force, she hates that it has a will, that it uses people for its own ends. She rejects both Jedi and Sith and comes up with an entirely new metaphysics for the Star Wars universe. Even as a kid, I thought she was fascinating. Yeah sure it was cooler to be Revan, but being the reluctant student of a compelling, convincing Dark Lord is a fantastic premise I’ve never seen done anywhere else
I love all that too! I just don't love it as much as the first game and I think people are so obsessed with that part of KOTOR II that they overlook the fact that in almost every other area where it counts, it falls short of the original.
I sort of ran out of time with this review and my second Substack has put the pressure on but I also wanted to say that I don't think KOTOR II's place as the middle part of what was supposed to be a trilogy helps it.
You know I’m not so sure about that. Im not sure it was possible to execute a concept like “Revan goes off to fight the ‘True Sith’ by himself” well. It’s the perennial problem with sequels, the even BIGGER bad off screen that sorta undercuts the conceit of the prequels. His plan also never made any sense to begin with, which is a tough starting point for a story. I think they’d have been better off with using the Mandalorian Wars. It’s perfect game fodder.
Had I been both an adult and in charge of the series, KOTOR 3 would have been an early Xbox 360 exclusive and would have seen the True Sith Empire invading the ailing KOTOR II Republic, with the Exile and Revan: their 2 greatest threats, having been captured as established in The Old Republic and thus the road to galactic conquest wide open. I'd have written so the player was the first of a new generation of Jedi, hastily trained and sent out to war by Bastila and other surviving Jedi; the Mandalorian Wars underpin the events of both games and I'd have that continue in part III by having the player's path to war mirror that of those who went off to fight; I feel like the Jedi get a pretty bad showing in both KOTOR games so Bastila and her love for Revan would be a break from the old dogma. The alignment struggle and the main quest would come from the player's insufficient training, the realities of war and the realisation that the 2 most powerful force users of the age: the Exile and Revan both blur the lines between light and dark as you work to find where they are being held and free them.
But I'm neither a developer nor a writer of any renown so this is all just food for thought.
The thing about Kotor II is it's been remastered and Kotor I has not. I'd love to play a modernized version of I. You also didn't mention crafting which was a great add. Also, EASY combat? It's already so easy, especially with the aforementioned crafting.
I've never had to use it because I always play on Easy haha, it's not really a difficulty thing for me, more like: "This is the worst part of both games and I want to get through it as quickly as possible."
Great read; finally got caught up on it. Helps crystallize my own thoughts on KOTOR 2, even if you like it much better than I ever did.
I think you really nailed what stopped me from enjoying this game: the pacing is bad, rooted in fundamentally bad level design. As soon as I look at screenshots of those levels, a sense of boredom washes over me.
I'll be honest; all of my favorite games are games that I could theoretically enjoy while skipping all the text. This doesn't mean I DO skip the text, but even a game like FF6 or FF7 I can enjoy while skipping the text, because the environments themselves are compelling. They convey a joy of exploration. Good exploration has always mattered for me as much as, sometimes more than, good gameplay. And more than good writing (since writing is a skippable part of video games anyway).
So if you tell me, "This sequel is worse than the first game in most ways, except it has much more interesting text," that's pretty uncompelling for me as a gamer. I could just play the better game, and then go read a book.
Though it feels like most of the main cast (Kreia aside) are under-explored, I actually thought some of them, such as Bao-Dur and Visas, plus what lore surrounded them, were amazing contributions to the general Star Wars mythos, more so than Mission/Zaalbar or Jolee in my opinion.