Given the other games that have come before in this series, this one's a bit unexpected, no? Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II- The Sith Lords, ah, too long of a damn title. To the point, I figured I'd change it up a little bit, and of the two KOTOR games, I played the sequel most recently -- this year. I very much intend to talk about the original incredible KOTOR, made by the Edmonton-based Bioware, but KOTOR II is still fresh in my mind, and warrants some discussion of its own!
KOTOR II, was released on the Xbox December 6, 2004, and the PC a few months later. While its predecessor was created by Bioware, KOTOR II was instead developed by Obsidian, known for Fallout: New Vegas, and the recent South Park: Stick of Truth. KOTOR II is, I think, a great game. It was however, plagued by glitches and bugs upon release (much like New Vegas), and suffered from multiple instances of cut content. Despite what feels like a splintered product, the game does offer multiple gameplay improvements over the first KOTOR, as well as a new story that connects to the first game.
Several years after the end of KOTOR (which can be one of two endings), the Jedi have slowly been eradicated by the legions of Sith forces, and now the remaining Jedi have gone into hiding, save for one who is known as the Exile: you. Meeting a mysterious woman named Kreia, with whom you develop a Force Bond, you and a continually growing group of droids, rouges, and former soldiers journey to distant planets to investigate the powers of the Sith, and find the remaining Jedi.
Compared to its predecessor, KOTOR II's story is not as strong, and lacks many of the surprises and strong moments found before. Its still not a bad story though, and the characters you meet along the way are absolutely memorable. The infamous droid assassin HK-47 even makes a return as a party member!
Gameplay remains mostly similar the first game, with you and two party members journeying around different locations in the Star Wars galaxy, completing side quests and the main storyline. The big draw of both KOTOR games is that you are given choices in dialogue and in story moments to shape your character (and your party members) either along either the Light or Dark side of the Force. Some members, including your character, are capable of wielding the Force, and the powers can differ depending on your alignment. New to KOTOR II is a more visible and dramatic change in party members should your influence affect them. It gives a more tangible and organic component to the characters, and should you choose to teach certain members the ways of the Force, the affect is even more apparent and appreciated.
Combat is made up of queuing different actions towards enemies, either in real-time or by pausing the game, and these actions consist of using different attacks depending on the character's weapon, such as a blaster, sword or lightsaber, and powers of the body or Force, as well as items. How a character deals and receives damage is based on invisible "dice rolls" that happen unseen within the game, and these rolls can be modified with stronger weapons or upgrades (which can be used at workbenches or tables found throughout the wolds). These rolls, and ultimately how combat works, is an interesting ordeal, if sometimes rather annoying. It hearkens to classic tabletop RPG's like D&D, so as to add a layer of unpredictability. Yet the rolls for weapons other than a single lightsaber or vibroblade can be just silly. If, for example, you decide to use a double-sided lightsaber early on, you'll have to pour most of the points you get when you level up from XP into the tree that allows for Two-Weapon Fighting, lest you continually see an enraging barrage of "miss" above an enemy. So there is a bit of forethought required.
Throughout the game one might recognize multiple famous themes from Star Wars, as well as some original music of the game's own. The original music found here is quite good in its own right, and makes way into the Star Wars lore fittingly. Graphically, KOTOR II has aged about as well as one might expect from a 10 year old game. The character models are rather stoic, but recognizable. The faces are saved yet by the still-strong voice acting, however. But nothing can really be saved by the multitude of game glitches and bugs, even more if the game is left un-patched. There are several known game-breaking and quest-breaking glitches that make saving multiple times in multiple slots a necessity. It's unfortunate, yet there is a ray of hope for PC users, where several fan-made patches were introduced along with the official ones to combat these glitches. In fact, on top of the patches, there are multiple fan-made mods that can improve the game in considerable and commendable ways. One famous and excellent mod actually brings back much of the content that was cut, albeit in an unofficial way. I suppose it goes without saying, then, that I recommend playing KOTOR II on the computer, along with the available patches and mods!
Indeed, despite not being as polished or original as the first KOTOR, the second game is still a solid entry and one worthy of a playthrough. KOTOR II, was, in fact, the first of the two games I played! Ha, in retrospect it did spoil a bit of the first game, so I think while I'm recommending the second game, I'll go ahead and recommend the first one as well!
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