After Bioware's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic wowed audiences with its in-depth storytelling and RPG mechanics in 2003, publisher LucasArts decided that a sequel would have to be made as soon as possible. Much akin to how Majora’s Mask came out barely a year after Ocarina of Time changed the game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II was fired out as soon as developer Obsidian Entertainment could possibly make it and released a little less than a year and a half after its predecessor. Considering that an entirely new development team of just seven people took over for this entry while still meeting that narrow deadline, it’s truly a miracle that the final product turned out as good as it did. As a standalone that was evidently rushed to market, KOTOR II may overall feel weaker than its predecessor, but it also does a fantastic job of maintaining the high standards previously set in storytelling and gameplay.
Before we get too into the weeds, we think it bears mentioning that this re-release on modern platforms brings with it the opportunity to finally play the game KOTOR II was originally envisioned as before the demands of the deadline necessitated that the dev team cut content. A free post-launch patch — The Sith Lord Restored Content DLC — is coming which will bring this missing content back by reworking the entire final act of the game with a whole new level, hundreds of bug fixes, adjusted cutscenes, new enemy encounters, and expanded dialogue with important characters. Those of you who have played this in the past on PC may already be familiar with the content (which comes courtesy of a fan-developed mod) but suffice to say this is an exciting new chapter for a game viewed by many as not living up to its full potential in its original form. If you're after the 'complete' KOTOR II package, this re-release will offer that — if not at launch.
KOTOR II picks up a few years after the events of its predecessor, which took place roughly 4,000 years before the events of the films in the pre-Disney canon. You play in the role of a Jedi named “The Exile” who was cast out by the Jedi council due to your actions in the Mandalorian Wars. The story picks up with The Exile—suffering a convenient case of amnesia—being hunted down by the Sith, and you’re soon joined by a rogueish, Han Solo-esque pilot named Atton Rand and a mysterious force-sensitive woman named Kreia. With the Sith hot on your trail, you lead your small, growing crew across the galaxy in search of the last few remaining Jedi Masters; either to kill them for their decision to exile you or to ask for their help in fighting back against the Sith threat.
The story here hits all the expected thematic beats for a Star Wars adventure and features some nicely obscured plot twists, but the real draw of the experience is how The Exile’s journey is determined by the moral decisions you make throughout the plot. Whether you adhere to the Jedi way or allow yourself to be corrupted by the hatred of the Dark Side is up to you, and it can lead to some fascinating outcomes depending on who you end up aligning with. Dialogue with any character usually gives you a range of responses from comically mean to overly compassionate which will gradually push you towards either the Light or Dark Side as you progress.
Gameplay follows the same basic blueprint of its predecessor wherein you travel from planet to planet and explore dungeon-like environments rife with treasure chests, enemies, and simple puzzles to solve. We especially appreciated the puzzles here, as this is another area where player decisions have a large role. For example, an early sequence necessitated that we find three partial clips of a deceased character’s voice to open a locked door. Going through the motions of searching the environment for computers with the clips and convincing unwitting NPCs to help us in this process netted us a lot of experience, but we alternatively could’ve simply shot the locked computer with a blaster bolt to get the door to open.
As you’re scouring environments for characters and MacGuffins needed to progress further, you’re sure to come across all manner of aliens and droids who will do their best to cut your journey short. Combat plays out using a system that feels a bit like a primitive version of the combat in the Xenoblade Chronicles games, mixing together live action and turn-based elements in a dynamic fashion.
Each character in your party will auto-battle with basic attacks while the player is responsible for manually positioning characters and firing off various Force powers and special attacks in their arsenals. Importantly, every attack and ability is governed by an old school d20 dice roll system that controls parameters like accuracy and damage—so even when it looks like a flashy live-action battle is taking place, the characters and enemies are really just taking turns behind the scenes.
Though the battles can feel a little stiff sometimes, we enjoyed the deliberate and strategic pace they bring. Tracking the action and firing off needed buffs, items, and attacks at just the right time can be a surprisingly fraught experience, ensuring that you’re anxiously following every attack in the deadly dance of a fight. And for those of you who feel that there’s not quite enough time to make decisions, there are optional features you can enable in the menu to automatically pause the action at certain intervals to turn combat into more of a pure turn-based battle system.
With experience you get from fights and successful completion of puzzles, you can then level up characters in a hands-on stat tree that gives you plenty of control over character growth. If you just want to get a move on or feel intimidated by all the options, you can just choose the ‘recommended’ option and let the game do it for you. For those who want to roll up their sleeves, you can choose to distribute stat points manually into skills like Intelligence, Will, or Charisma, each of which will be ‘rolled’ every time you try to attack, dodge, lie to an NPC, slice a computer, or do virtually anything. It’s very easy, then, to build your character ‘wrong’ and make KOTOR II needlessly difficult, but we enjoyed how many directions you can take your character and how that can fundamentally change the way you approach the adventure. Between this expansive character growth system and the focus on player decisions in the story, there are a lot of ways to retread this game on subsequent playthroughs.
Visually, KOTOR II looks about as good as it can. The simplistic environments, boxy characters, and stilted animations betray this release’s age, but features like the (mostly) 60 FPS performance, high-resolution textures, and occasional use of dynamic lighting help to present the aging graphics in the best light possible. KOTOR II is far from a showcase of the marvels of modern hardware, then, but you eventually adjust to it well enough.
As for the soundtrack, we were impressed by how seamlessly classic Star Wars tunes were mixed in with new tracks that maintain the same spirit. More importantly, this soundtrack was recorded with a live orchestra in Seattle and the increase in quality compared to standard MIDI music is noticeable, especially if you wear headphones.
We hope that the patch bringing the DLC mentioned above will come with some important bug fixes, too, because KOTOR II certainly feels a little rough around the edges with its performance. For example, we had one amusing sequence where a party member evidently decided he was done with the adventure and refused to move from where he stood no matter how much we tried to coax him. After we left him there and later triggered a cutscene that he was in, we watched as our character talked to thin air while the camera would awkwardly cut back to the party member—behaving like a stage actor late to his show—sprinting through hallways as he tried to catch up to us while still saying his lines. When he finally reached us after running across half a starship, the game crashed and we lost nearly half an hour of progress. The adjustments made to the Switch release of the original game post-launch suggest this could improve in the future, so fingers crossed.
On top of funny but annoying gaffes like this, we noted instances where the music would cut out and be replaced by an awful buzzing. The only solution to this was to close out the game and start the application over. Additionally, we ran into some areas where the frame rate would notably drop into the low 20s, which simply feels absurd for a game that launched on the original Xbox. It’s quite clear that this port of KOTOR II could use a little more spit and polish; it feels like this game just gets tired the longer you leave it in rest mode and then it starts slowly coming apart at the seams.
Conclusion
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II does a solid job of building on the foundation of its predecessor, capitalizing on engaging combat, player-driven storytelling, and deep character-building systems to make for a satisfying and very replayable RPG. The downsides of this Switch port are that it’s rather buggy in its launch state and the game is often content to simply repeat the ideas that made its predecessor successful without adding to them in any notable way. We've got hopes that post-launch improvements will come alongside the upcoming (and free) Sith Lord Restored Content DLC — a very welcome addition that will really complete this package. Despite its faults, we’d still give KOTOR II a strong recommendation, though we’d suggest you play the original game first and then move on to this one if you still want more.
Comments (32)
I always enjoyed the second game over the first. Although it is more buggy, it felt more ambitious.
Yup thats Obsidian for ya. A lot more heart but a lot less talent.
Wild how they're just putting this on Switch and apparently not improving the performance when that's 100% possible.
I prefer this to the original. In fact, I consider it one of the best games I've played. For newcomers, though, a few points: 1) Definitely wait for the DLC. This game's legacy was hugely improved by the fan restoration project, which the DLC is based on. The original release is essentially incomplete. 2) Get out of the starting area. It's a huge drag and a terrible way to start the game. It lasts forever, too. The pace picks up after you leave. 3) The way the virtual world is put together, well, it requires a certain level of abstraction to appreciate. NPCs just sort of lifelessly stand there. Battle arenas are just connecting hallways. This is partly because the bones of KOTOR are the isometric RPGs from the 90s, like Fallout and Baldur's Gate. And a lot of stuff that worked fine from a distant isometric perspective looks really awkward and stiff in proper ground-level 3D. The writing in KOTOR and especially KOTOR II are really good, though, so you still get immersed. Just keep in mind that, mechanically-speaking, you're walking around a glorified game board. It's always been this way. That's just KOTOR.
Sheesh played this when it came out and I remember being disappointed with it. I think you can buy these old Star Wars games on PC and Consoles (Xbox and PS4) for €10 each right now which is great value if you ask me.
Real question, why don't they put a fresh coat of paint of games like this before release?
Modders will re-skin games for fun in a short amount of time, but for a full retail re-release they can't add a few polygons and textures?
Might try the first one while we wait for that patch.
Hey is the rule of two still a thing with the Disney continuity?
KOTOR may be more of a crowd-pleaser but I actually find KOTOR2 to be the more interesting of the two. It plays really well as a classic Star Wars story, while also pointing out how reductionist the light side-dark side dichotomy really is.
Even with the clunkiness derived from its rushed development schedule, this may well be my favorite Star Wars game.
@relinqued Obsidian has less talent than Bioware? Only if you mean from technical side. Their QA has always sucked. In this case it seems more like issue from porting because patches (with only technical fixes not adding story) came in years after releasing the game. There was only 1 game I ever encountered and played which had so many fixes: Vampire - Bloodlines. I only hope that with fan-made mod will come also technical fan-fixes.
If we are speaking about story-telling and characters Obsidian is in top 3 companies who can make cRPGs with entertaining story and believable characters with understandable motivations. Other studios who could do that are old BioWare, Larian and CD Projekt Red.
@Odined All their games have been released in a far worse state than the originals (f.e. Fallout New Vegas vs. Fallout 3 just to name one of 35 possible examples), so yes, I would say, they honestly are less talented at programming.
I pre-odered the game and want to start this evening, but I wonder if it would be better to wait for the content patch. The first game is one of my all time favorite games, yet I somehow managed to never play the second one. Replaying the first on Switch was awesome, so I decided to finally play the sequel that seems to be liked even more by so many.
I still prefer KOTOR 1, but this one has some great improvements: Party members are more important and they vary based on your character choices, your actions effect more of the story, you start as a force user, and there is no level cap.
As per the other Star Wars ports, give it a month or so and they will fix most of the issues. KOTOR 1 had audio files missing, the combat textbox and other issues but they patched it and it’s way better now than it was at launch. Also might as well wait for the DLC to come out.
The "expected thematic beats?" KOTOR2? The whole point of KOTOR2 is that it doesn't do that.
@relinqued main issue at Obsidian is not in programming. Their main problem is testing. I absolutely agree with you and it will be really interesting to find out the reason why it is like that (from QA point of view).
@Gryffin It has never been a rule, when you look at the old Republic lore that was approved by Lucas Arts at the time.
Just because Yoda said it once in one of the movies, it was highly contradicting since in that same movie we had Palpatine, Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus (Jedi turned Sith) and Darth Maul (who never really died and recovered). Then after the death of Count Dooku, Anakin Skywalker turned Sith and became Darth Vader. So then we had Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader and Darth Maul. The latter two training a bunch of Sith Inquisitors to hunt down remaining Jedi (either kill them or convert them in more Sith inquisitors).
So the rule of two is just a terrible written dialog in that movie and should have been catched and edited out.
Blaming Disney for breaking that rule in the last trilogy is idiotic at best, when Lucas himself never followed that rule either.
We just leave it at Yoda becoming old and senile and not being able to think clearly anymore at the time.
@Jeronan The “rule of two” refers to a master and apprentice not the amount of Siths that exist. In the prequel context it’s seen as just two Sith existing because by the events of episode 1 the Sith have largely been wiped out and it was believed until Maul showed up that they went extinct. The Jedi during the events of episode 1 were glorified peacekeeper diplomats for the senate when they were not practicing their religion and had no real combat for thousands of years due to the lack of Sith that they used to fight a bunch of thousands of years ago.
Palpatine and Maul were the original pair in episode 1. Then it was Palpatine and Dooku during the gap between episode 1-2.
Then finally Palpatine and Vader during the events of 3. The Jedi had a similar ideology where you can’t have more then one Padawan to train which was why Qui Gon couldn’t have both Obi-wan and Anakin.
Sith inquisitors don’t have a formal master/apprentice relationship. They have their own hierarchy system and are lead by the Grand Inquisitor who reports to Vader.
It’s perfectly reasonable to blame Disney with their scorched earth approach to Star Wars canon when their own canon from just three movies was an inconsistent mess that wasn’t even planned beforehand and they just hip fired one movie at a time with different people involved.
Good, NintendoLife, good.
@Jeronan oh interesting. My memory was that the rule of two was from the books, established by the first sith lord.
Back in the day, the second never hit me like the first. Like it wasn't a bad game, just not the total classic that I thought the original was.
That said I might want to get this just to have them both on my Switch, especially considering how they did some well needed improvements to the game finally. Pretty sure I'm going to wait for a physical edition this time though.
Both KOTOR titles are phenomenal. I'm glad Aspyr has been porting older SW titles, even if they are not canon. Edit: I mean to say that I am glad Aspyr is porting SW titles, because most of them contradict modern canon, and Disney can get awkward on that.
Hopefully, their next ports will be Dark Forces, Jedi Knight: DFII, and its expansion pack, Mysteries Of The Sith. These games are the predecessors in the series that Aspyr has already released Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, and its sequel, Jedi Academy. I also hope Aspyr ports the Rougue Squadron series by Factor5.
@Why_Do_I_Exist I love your profile icon
@IronMan30 From what I have played so far, and from someone who had recently played the Xbox original version, the game runs smoother and has yet to crash (knock on wood) as well as the speaker destroying audio issues are gone. I am around 4 hours or so in so can't say if it gets far worse later on or falls into old habits of the original release.
@RubyCarbuncle The Kotor games aren't on PS4, and Xbox One has the original buggy Xbox releases that still suffer many bugs (missing in the switch 'remasters'), and are not wide-screen. When not on sale the games are about the same price too. PC versions you need to install mods to get similar experiences (or far better ones) than these switch versions.
It would of course be nicer if these were remastered more than they are, but it's cool to see these aren't locked in some vault. Wonder what other Star Wars titles we can expect from Disney that isn't locked in with EA rights holding (sucks to think the good battlefront games won't get a re-release).
I must say it is bewildering to read all the positivity toward this game. Too the extent that I am questioning whether people are actually talking about the same game that I remember playing. I played KOTOR 2 when it was first released on the Xbox and it was an extremely disappointing experience. A shell of a game really when compared to the first game. The problem is this, it starts ok, and will lead the player in to a false sense of security that things will get better as the game progresses. That just doesn't happen. At the time it was a running joke that the second half of the game had not actually even been made, such is the jarring, abrupt and disjointed nature of the second half of the game. As a player you will really feel ripped of. It isn't really about the game being buggy, that is not the main problem, the problem is that there is no coherent second half of the game. Here is someone else's review from back in the day, and it really does sum things up well I think. Anyway you have been warned, prepare for a massive disappointment, you will really grow to resent the waste of the time that you have put in to this game, it absolutely does not reward you. "All of the positive reviews for this game must not have come from playing past the first half of it, or else they would have run smack into the horrible, unfinished half. Actually, that's not quite right, the second half of the game was never made. Perhaps more precisely, I'm referring to the last third of the first half, in which they shoehorned the second half of the story and shoved it out the door for Christmas. The opening of the game is great. The midpoint of the game is interesting. And then, just as soon as things seem to start coming together, omigod fightthissithlord fightthatsithlord fightthethirdsithlord whatjusthappened whoknows gameover rollcredits."
@Screen you definitely should it’s incredible especially if you like Star Wars.
@XenoShaun Ahh figures. Thought it was too good to be true. Regardless thanks for letting me know.
I bought this game at launch.. Yes it was good but not near as good as the first.
Did they add the cheat menu that the first one has?
I had a funny problem back in the days when the game was current. My save had been crushed soon before the last part of the game, so I still don’t know what it is in the final of Kotor 2.
As I remember, the sequel felt more cheap on details, but it had a more adult story than its predecessor. Anyway, I’m glad the game is returning to modern systems. Maybe once I finish it .
Obsidian, for some reason, was commonly given fairly unreasonable deadlines for many of the sequels they developed, notably KotOR 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Fallout: New Vegas, though a lot of the efforts in their developments had to do with having to properly tie the far deeper, gray area, branching narratives, which are in sharp contrast to the typical black-and-white decision-makings of their respective predecessors. When all bugs get ironed out, the Obsidian sequels are arguably better RPGs by far. The predecessors are filthy casual kiddie RPGs by comparison.
So how exactly did you complete this for review? Cause theres a game breaking bug and wide reports that it cant even get past half way. Did you somehow not get a buggy port or what? This review and others with no mention of the bug really makes me question your reviews. I bought this based on your review and now can’t finish the game i bought and got Nothing warning me from you. Shame…
7 for a game you can’t complete? You don’t mention that bug? Surely a game like this - completing the main story is a prerequisite no?!?
Yeah, this review did not age well. Kind of makes me question the whole review process you guys got if a game that can’t even be finished gets a 7/10…
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