Who’s playing? A friend of mine got it last week, and it’s friggin’ amazing. I’m nearly tempted to go out and buy an X-Box just to play it, but alas, Munch cannot afford. Maybe I’ll go by a used gaming store to see what they’d price all my consoles and games at.
For those of you unfamiliar, KOTOR is a true RPG based on AD&D 3rd edition rules for the X-Box. It’s set 4000 years before the Star Wars chronology, right after the Republic Civil War. The galaxy is the middle of a large Sith invasion and you are key character in that conflict, as you develop your force powers. You can go light side or dark side, and the entire galaxy sways by your decisions.
It appears to be just the post-Halo killer-app that the X-Box has been waiting for. Is this going to remain an X-Box exclusive? A first-rate Star Wars RPG is exactly the kind of game that would get people to buy an X-Box.
It’s X-Box only, at least until they release a PC version late Fall.
I’ve yet to find a decent KOTOR forum. The one at BioWare seems to delete any mention of plot points or walkthrough questions. They make you register your game to enter the owners-only area, and that’s no use to me. Found anything yet?
I got the game 4 days ago, and have since logged about 20 hours on it. To the point:
Un-freakin’-believable.
The presentation is just spot-on. No game I’ve played has captured the pure, distilled essence of Star Wars so well. I’m currently playing through as a Han Solo sort of character (the “Scoundrel” class), with a heavy emphasis on force powers and long-range fighting (I don’t think it spoils anything to reveal that your character is strong in the force). The reluctant good guy, who’s impatient with authority, and has a weakness for the ladies. I’m already planning a second play-through as a stoic bad-ass good with blades and lightsabers, and maybe a third as an evil dark side-type.
The combat is amazing. It’s turn-based, but it feels real-time, and never gets boring. Seriously - every battle I fight, I enjoy, which is quite a feat for RPGs.
Oh, and the BZZZHHHHT sound of your light-saber turning on, and seeing your character whirl it about their head briefly in preparation for combat, is just plain sweet. And your first light-saber battle against another jedi… drool
And I won’t go into the story and dialogue (which easily trumps anything Lucas has put out in the last 5 years), the way-nifty level advancement system, the cool characters, or anything else that I could spend pages prattling about.
Yeah, so I highly recommend this game. It’s wonderful. And I’m not even much of a Star Wars fanboy, though I’ve always enjoyed the movies.
I know it’s not a forum based on the game, but hometheaterforum.com’s video game section has a very large discussion thread and a growing help thread for the game. Definitely going to rent if not buy this one…