# Tell me about Knights of the Old Republic **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-knights-of-the-old-republic/305154 "2005-05-23T20:27:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-knights-of-the-old-republic/305154/21 "2005-05-24T06:00:41Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Get the patch… the game crashed a bit and had a nasty memory leak for me until I had the patch and it went more smoothly. If your card isn’t up to snuff, it may not work as well, but it may do better for you. Well, Hopefully it’ll run. The game is a a couple years old, yes? I can run Call of Duty(and the expansion pack) with few problems, so hopefully KOTOR will be similar. ---
**Author:** ![Tarrsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@Tarrsk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarrsk)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-knights-of-the-old-republic/305154/22 "2005-05-24T06:58:54Z")
Just realized that I didn’t actually answer the questions in my post. > [@HPL](#): > > A.) How does it play? Does it play like the Jedi Knight games(I liked the interface on JK2, but not the puzzles)? KOTOR and Jedi Knight are fundamentally different. The JK games are first-person shooters, whereas KOTOR is a Bioware RPG. It has a very distinctly “Western RPG” feel, by which I mean it falls within the paradigm of RPGs made by non-Japanese developers. For example, the main character does not speak out loud and is named by the player, rather than following a pre-defined arc as in most Japanese RPGs. > [@](#): > > B.) How’s the story? How linear/non-linear is the game? The first and last segment of the game are more or less linear, although you are generally free to explore a given world at your leisure. You get a choice of planet visitation order during the lengthy middle segment. Since many of your party members are obtained at specific worlds, and they will often interject in conversations once in your party, your choice of world order will affect your game experience. The main plot points will occur regardless of the order you choose, but certain character-driven options will open and/or close depending on who is in your party. > [@](#): > > C.)Is there more to do then just the main storyline? One of my favorite series Fallout 1/2 had plenty to do other then the main quest and a lot to explore. Is it like that? or More like Go to A-B-C-D in that order? There are a good number of side quests. Not as many as the lengthier PC RPGs, but certainly far more than your average console RPG. Plus, since every line in the game is voice-acted (although the aliens tend to repeat spoken lines, even when their dialogue text is different), it’s a blast to just walk around and engage NPCs in conversation. One thing that hasn’t really been mentioned much is the light/dark dichotomy. I found this particular feature to be absolutely fascinating. Although it doesn’t directly impact the plot much, it greatly modifies your interaction with the characters in the game. Going dark side is surprisingly disturbing, as you can do some really screwed up things to people, ranging from threatening them into giving you money to crimes on the level of what happens in Return of the Sith. > [@](#): > > D.) What is the fun factor invovled? Does it evoke the best of the movies and of the pulp genre it descends from? The story is the best part of the game. I personally found KOTOR to be a far superior tale than any of the prequel films, and there are plenty of great moments to be found. The characters are vibrant and well-scripted, the plot is interesting, the villains are genuinely menacing (no General Grievouses here!), and the battles are enormous fun, particularly once you become a Jedi. > [@](#): > > E.) How long is it? My first run-through (light side) took about 50 hours; my second (dark side) took about 45 hours. > [@](#): > > F.) What else should I know about the game? It combines the best aspects of traditional pen-and-paper RPGs with the technological possibilities of video game RPGs. The aforementioned battle system is a case in point- as in Bioware’s other RPGs, you have an incredible amount of control over character statistics and powers, and combat is based on AD&D-based rolls. However, by playing out in pseudo-real time, you also get the flashy lightsaber battles and gunfights that make Star Wars what it is. > [@](#): > > G.) Should I buy this game? I bought it right after it came out and thought it was a bargain then. For $20, it’s a steal. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-knights-of-the-old-republic/305154/23 "2005-05-24T07:27:36Z")
> [@Waverly](#): > > And don’t get too caught up oogling Mission. She turns out to be 14 :eek: I thought Bastilla was much cuter. Interesting fact: early on, before you get anything useful for a Jedi to wear, there’s no downside to having Bastilla run around in her (skimpy) bra and panties. ---
**Author:** ![Tarrsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@Tarrsk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarrsk)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-knights-of-the-old-republic/305154/24 "2005-05-24T10:04:10Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > I thought Bastilla was much cuter. Interesting fact: early on, before you get anything useful for a Jedi to wear, there’s no downside to having Bastilla run around in her (skimpy) bra and panties. I preferred the Bastila you see on the game box. 😉 Why did they have two separate character designs for her, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-knights-of-the-old-republic/305154/25 "2005-05-24T13:17:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Look, I hate PC RPGs. The great, great majority of them, I think, are hideously flawed. I’ve NEVER liked RPGs despite dozens of attempts to play them. But I loved KOTOR, absolutely adored it. It’s just a fantastic, fantastic game. How many do you play? There’s like, maybe three actual ones released a year. In a good year. This really tics me off because of all the endless military sims and their expansions. And I can’t even play Jade Empire because it won’t be coming for PC. ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-knights-of-the-old-republic/305154/26 "2005-05-24T13:34:07Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > I thought Bastilla was much cuter. Interesting fact: early on, before you get anything useful for a Jedi to wear, there’s no downside to having Bastilla run around in her (skimpy) bra and panties. Bastilla was cute, but Mission was cuter and had better voice acting, IMO making her the better character. I’m ashamed to admit that several female characters put in some underwear time during our adventuring. In Kotor 2, the slave costume also shows quite well, though the ‘dancing’ is decidedly un-erotic. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-knights-of-the-old-republic/305154/27 "2005-05-24T18:18:21Z")
I was really very underwhelmed by KOTOR. Good voice acting, but bad dialog. The plot wasn’t all that interesting, and I only kept playing because I heard there was a big twist towards the end. Once I got to that, I stopped playing altogether. Never bothered to finish it, even though I suspect I was only a couple hours from the end. And worst of all, the combat was just dull. Dull, dull, dull. It’s another of those idiotic “phased real time” combat systems, that takes all the worst elements of turn-based gaming and fuses it it with all the worst elements of real-time gaming, leaving a tedious mess that just makes you cringe every time a fight starts. Combat consists primarily of pointing your characters at a group of enemies and watching them hack away at each other until your health meter gets low, then pausing the game to juice up on med-kits. Repeat ad nauseum. The real-time element of the combat means that tactical considerations are largely non-exsistent, but the turn-based element means that fights lack any sense of excitement or urgency. And the combat animations just look lame. KOTOR II was much better. Same crappy combat system, but for whatever reason, I found the story and the characters infinitly more engrossing, even with the aborted finale that didn’t really make a whole lot of sense. Even so, the way these games are always getting favorably compared to _Fallout_ bugs the heck out of me. They’re simply not in the same league. Not even close. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-knights-of-the-old-republic/305154/28 "2005-05-24T21:33:45Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > I thought Bastilla was much cuter. Interesting fact: early on, before you get anything useful for a Jedi to wear, there’s no downside to having Bastilla run around in her (skimpy) bra and panties. I’m really glad I’m not the only one who did that. :o ---
**Author:** ![Nightsong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nightsong/32/3083_2.png) [@Nightsong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightsong)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-knights-of-the-old-republic/305154/29 "2005-05-25T01:40:29Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > I thought Bastilla was much cuter. Interesting fact: early on, before you get anything useful for a Jedi to wear, there’s no downside to having Bastilla run around in her (skimpy) bra and panties. Heh. How come the guys got all the eye-candy in KotOR I and II? We females didn’t have anywhere near the amount. Carth running around in his undies leaves a lot to be desired. (Or Atton, Disciple, and Bao-Dur in II.) And if you play a female character, we don’t even get a kiss! Grrr. :mad: Yea, yea, we’re talking about a game here, but still. Equal eye candy for all! (And as a side note, you can make Bastila switch to ‘evil undies’ if you are tired of looking at her normal ones.) * * * \<\< Now that the deadline’s past, can I please have the spec? \>\> [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-knights-of-the-old-republic/305154.md?page=1)