Man. You're making me seriously consider getting Kotor for the Switch. Confession time: I bought the CD-Rom version for PC. I have re-purchased it Steam. And I still haven't beat it. Because Kotor on PC is weirdly a mess, and I've always had issues strike before getting to the ending. If I even made it that far because Taris round 2 is a slog. Taris round 3 or 4 are awful. I actually haven't beaten Kotor 2 for similar reasons. But it's been years and years. Maybe it's finally time for a replay.
Hard agree, though, that Kotor 1 and 2 are the best Star Wars games of all time. DnD fans already knew about them, but Kotor is what put Bioware on my radar. There's never been anything like them since.
It's super cheap if you want to get it by itself (About £13... so I think $17-18?) both games are certainly not short of bugs, to be honest I prefer to play it on original Xbox; I haven't modded my system but if you do, there are even ways to put the cut-content on your disc I believe. I recommend setting the combat to Easy and toughing it out until you've done your first planet after becoming a Jedi on Dantooine (usually Tatooine is recommended first) if you still don't get on with it? Nobody can say you didn't try :) I hope you get into it, the plot twist in this game is brain melting
There was a time where I would have easily labelled Bioware my favourite dev but holy shit did they fall off a cliff after Mass Effect 3, that game wasn't as good as 2 but Dragon Age Inquisition was a game I thoroughly disliked and everything since seems to have been a disaster
KOTOR is one of the few proper RPGs I've played, I played it on the original Xbox. I was also floored by the twist, I agree with you about the combat. Especially the final assault at the end of the game with endless enemies, I truly hated the turn based system at that point.
Even replaying it for this review that part got on my nerves and I've finished this game many times. Fantastic title though, excellent choice if you're going to play an RPG, very respectful runtime too, I don't like 50+ hour games, KOTOR's 20-30 is enough.
Perhaps I wasn't clear, I did enjoy the game overall. The story was excellent and I loved the characterisation. The combat system just made me wish I could have carried out the actions myself.
KOTOR is the game that put me off of playing any modern Bioware games for all time. That first planet is such a drag, and the REAL reveal isn't the player character's backstory but that the whole first planet and everything that happened on it doesn't matter and even the classes and skills and mechanics you were taught there don't matter, it's all force powers and lightsaber attacks from here on out. And every time I heard people glow about how good the series was and thought 'maybe I should give it another chance' I'd sit through two hours of idiots whiffing blaster shots thinking 'there's no way I get to any theoretical good part this time either.'
So you're wrong, Jedi Knight is the greatest Star Wars Game Ever Made. At least blasters and grenades are still relevant in that after you touch a lightsaber.
I can't actually disagree with any word of this... but I still love KOTOR. Jedi Outcast and Academy are awesome too though (I wish Night Dive would get Dark Forces II remade/remastered so I can get them both on Switch 2.)
Same but for the Team Beef VR port of Dark Forces 2 - the VR ports of Outcast and Academy were insanely fun. Being able to play one of my favorite games ever in a headset is going to be a dream come true.
Enjoyed this review. I'll be even more curious to hear your comparison of KOTOR 2.
My story is this:
I never owned an OG Xbox but picked up used copies of these games to play, backwards compatible, for the Xbox 360, which I got within a few months of launch. So I wouldn't call that a truly retro playthrough, more like 3-4 years old.
I immediately fell in love with KOTOR 1. It is the only CRPG I can remember beating and then IMMEDIATELY replaying, to make different choices and try a different build. I think I completed it a total of 4 times, to build both a Light Side and Dark Side melee type and caster type.
Then when it came to KOTOR 2, I have just never been motivated to complete it. I feel like I was around halfway through. Perhaps a decade later I picked KOTOR 2 up for Steam, with some recommended mods (including some that I think were supposed to fix unfinished parts of the game), and I again made it about as far as the first time.
And just like you, I remember hearing the opinion that it wasn't as good as KOTOR 1, to which I could only nod and agree. Until suddenly, years later, everyone agreed it was vastly superior and I was an idiot philistine for not enjoying it.
What I still can't sort out is to what degree I had just played KOTOR 1 to death, and to what degree I genuinely like 1 better. I suppose I would find an answer to that question if I get around to replaying 1.
But I think it's also the case that I am not very interested in it when RPGs get philosophical. Also bounced off of Planescape Torment and Mask of the Betrayer for Neverwinter Nights 2, for example. But as a counterpoint I did enjoy Nier Automata a lot.
I remember HATING Kreia as a character, just finding her profoundly annoying and wanting to fight her, and it seems like people who really like KOTOR 2 are big fans of Kreia.
Thank you! KOTOR II is coming, I just need a week's break, I had to both play and write a lot about KOTOR for this piece and on top of working on another project that I'll be revealing soon and other commitments, it took a lot out of me.
I swear, KOTOR II and New Vegas have the exact same set of fans. Disappointing launches that were re-evaluated and updated over time and now as you say, the fans of these games act like you're a subhuman for not liking them. There was a time when KOTOR II was almost the butt of jokes, I remember it. Like KOTOR II I find New Vegas to be overrated but I won't say more because I have am lot of fondness for II as well, just for different, more personal reasons.
I like Kreia but I have a feeling that you're going to feel very gratified by some of my issues with that game.
The New Vegas / KOTOR 2 connection would make sense, since those are both Obsidian sequels to non-Obsidian games and they share some staff. Except New Vegas remains my favorite of the 3D Fallouts! It seems to me the appeal of KOTOR 2 over KOTOR 1 is different from the appeal of NV over FO3.
But I could agree that the quality gaps among the 3D Fallouts are usually overstated, especially 3 vs. NV (I accept that 4 is its own animal). I played NV less than a year after finishing 3, and I regarded it as an incremental improvement, not a night-and-day difference. So it was another case where I was somewhat flummoxed to learn on the Internet that I had just played a complete trash game, followed by the greatest game of all time.
For sure, both of them developed on an unbelievably tight schedule as well. I also think NV is the best but like you I don't find it to be night and day; both games are hideous for their release year and the biggest leap in quality with NV is the writing, most of the rest is the same.
Man. You're making me seriously consider getting Kotor for the Switch. Confession time: I bought the CD-Rom version for PC. I have re-purchased it Steam. And I still haven't beat it. Because Kotor on PC is weirdly a mess, and I've always had issues strike before getting to the ending. If I even made it that far because Taris round 2 is a slog. Taris round 3 or 4 are awful. I actually haven't beaten Kotor 2 for similar reasons. But it's been years and years. Maybe it's finally time for a replay.
Hard agree, though, that Kotor 1 and 2 are the best Star Wars games of all time. DnD fans already knew about them, but Kotor is what put Bioware on my radar. There's never been anything like them since.
It's super cheap if you want to get it by itself (About £13... so I think $17-18?) both games are certainly not short of bugs, to be honest I prefer to play it on original Xbox; I haven't modded my system but if you do, there are even ways to put the cut-content on your disc I believe. I recommend setting the combat to Easy and toughing it out until you've done your first planet after becoming a Jedi on Dantooine (usually Tatooine is recommended first) if you still don't get on with it? Nobody can say you didn't try :) I hope you get into it, the plot twist in this game is brain melting
There was a time where I would have easily labelled Bioware my favourite dev but holy shit did they fall off a cliff after Mass Effect 3, that game wasn't as good as 2 but Dragon Age Inquisition was a game I thoroughly disliked and everything since seems to have been a disaster
KOTOR is one of the few proper RPGs I've played, I played it on the original Xbox. I was also floored by the twist, I agree with you about the combat. Especially the final assault at the end of the game with endless enemies, I truly hated the turn based system at that point.
Even replaying it for this review that part got on my nerves and I've finished this game many times. Fantastic title though, excellent choice if you're going to play an RPG, very respectful runtime too, I don't like 50+ hour games, KOTOR's 20-30 is enough.
Perhaps I wasn't clear, I did enjoy the game overall. The story was excellent and I loved the characterisation. The combat system just made me wish I could have carried out the actions myself.
KOTOR is the game that put me off of playing any modern Bioware games for all time. That first planet is such a drag, and the REAL reveal isn't the player character's backstory but that the whole first planet and everything that happened on it doesn't matter and even the classes and skills and mechanics you were taught there don't matter, it's all force powers and lightsaber attacks from here on out. And every time I heard people glow about how good the series was and thought 'maybe I should give it another chance' I'd sit through two hours of idiots whiffing blaster shots thinking 'there's no way I get to any theoretical good part this time either.'
So you're wrong, Jedi Knight is the greatest Star Wars Game Ever Made. At least blasters and grenades are still relevant in that after you touch a lightsaber.
I can't actually disagree with any word of this... but I still love KOTOR. Jedi Outcast and Academy are awesome too though (I wish Night Dive would get Dark Forces II remade/remastered so I can get them both on Switch 2.)
Same but for the Team Beef VR port of Dark Forces 2 - the VR ports of Outcast and Academy were insanely fun. Being able to play one of my favorite games ever in a headset is going to be a dream come true.
Enjoyed this review. I'll be even more curious to hear your comparison of KOTOR 2.
My story is this:
I never owned an OG Xbox but picked up used copies of these games to play, backwards compatible, for the Xbox 360, which I got within a few months of launch. So I wouldn't call that a truly retro playthrough, more like 3-4 years old.
I immediately fell in love with KOTOR 1. It is the only CRPG I can remember beating and then IMMEDIATELY replaying, to make different choices and try a different build. I think I completed it a total of 4 times, to build both a Light Side and Dark Side melee type and caster type.
Then when it came to KOTOR 2, I have just never been motivated to complete it. I feel like I was around halfway through. Perhaps a decade later I picked KOTOR 2 up for Steam, with some recommended mods (including some that I think were supposed to fix unfinished parts of the game), and I again made it about as far as the first time.
And just like you, I remember hearing the opinion that it wasn't as good as KOTOR 1, to which I could only nod and agree. Until suddenly, years later, everyone agreed it was vastly superior and I was an idiot philistine for not enjoying it.
What I still can't sort out is to what degree I had just played KOTOR 1 to death, and to what degree I genuinely like 1 better. I suppose I would find an answer to that question if I get around to replaying 1.
But I think it's also the case that I am not very interested in it when RPGs get philosophical. Also bounced off of Planescape Torment and Mask of the Betrayer for Neverwinter Nights 2, for example. But as a counterpoint I did enjoy Nier Automata a lot.
I remember HATING Kreia as a character, just finding her profoundly annoying and wanting to fight her, and it seems like people who really like KOTOR 2 are big fans of Kreia.
Thank you! KOTOR II is coming, I just need a week's break, I had to both play and write a lot about KOTOR for this piece and on top of working on another project that I'll be revealing soon and other commitments, it took a lot out of me.
I swear, KOTOR II and New Vegas have the exact same set of fans. Disappointing launches that were re-evaluated and updated over time and now as you say, the fans of these games act like you're a subhuman for not liking them. There was a time when KOTOR II was almost the butt of jokes, I remember it. Like KOTOR II I find New Vegas to be overrated but I won't say more because I have am lot of fondness for II as well, just for different, more personal reasons.
I like Kreia but I have a feeling that you're going to feel very gratified by some of my issues with that game.
The New Vegas / KOTOR 2 connection would make sense, since those are both Obsidian sequels to non-Obsidian games and they share some staff. Except New Vegas remains my favorite of the 3D Fallouts! It seems to me the appeal of KOTOR 2 over KOTOR 1 is different from the appeal of NV over FO3.
But I could agree that the quality gaps among the 3D Fallouts are usually overstated, especially 3 vs. NV (I accept that 4 is its own animal). I played NV less than a year after finishing 3, and I regarded it as an incremental improvement, not a night-and-day difference. So it was another case where I was somewhat flummoxed to learn on the Internet that I had just played a complete trash game, followed by the greatest game of all time.
For sure, both of them developed on an unbelievably tight schedule as well. I also think NV is the best but like you I don't find it to be night and day; both games are hideous for their release year and the biggest leap in quality with NV is the writing, most of the rest is the same.
Fantastic games, KOTOR and KOTOR II. I only came to them in the last few years -- and thankfully managed to avoid major spoilers before playing.
KOTOR II cost me less than 3 euros on sale on Steam; I currently have 694 hours in the game. Best money I've ever spent.
(Both games are currently cheap as chips with the May the Fourth sale, incidentally...)
So glad you did, having this game spoiled would just utterly ruin it, best twist ever.
I've had sandwiches more expensive than 3 euros, what a steal, so much cut content you can add back in too with KOTOR II, a famously unfinished game.